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ASCENSION OF CHRIST
Stained Glass Window
Detail of the Virgin and Six Apostles
LeMans Cathedral of St. Julien, France
1145AD
Early Influences of Stained Glass
Stained glass is generally thought of as a Christian art form because, before the Christian era, no examples of it exist. Though it is impossible to say when and where it evolved, it was a fully developed art form by the time the oldest fragments known were created.
The art of cloisonné enameling, where thin strips of metal or gold separate and hold together tiny pieces of colored glass or the tiny pieces of colored glass glittering in the mosaics of the walls and domes of the early Christian churches were likely inspirations for the making of stained glass. The delicate paintings of the miniatures and illuminated manuscripts, the carved ivories, metalwork relics encrusted with jewels and the countless scenes and figures of the sculptural programs that embellished the Romanesque churches provided infinite design inspiration and were often literally copied into stained glass motifs.
It is known that St. Gregory had the windows of St. Martins of Tours in France, glazed with colored glass.1 In 675AD, Benedict Biscop, the Abbot of Wearmouth, in Northumbria, had Gallic glaziers fill the windows of his monastery church with colored glass, alabaster, marble and wooden boards. The boards were pierced with holes into which colored glass was inserted. The glass excavated from this site shows no traces of painted design.2
The eleventh century five prophet windows of Augsburg Cathedral, the head of Christ from Wissembourg in Alsace and the fragments of the head of Christ found at Lorsch Abbey, in Germany, which date to the ninth or tenth century, are the principal models for the stained glass art form known since Medieval times.
Compared to the staid and stern manner of the five Augsburg prophets, the figures of the Virgin Mary and six apostles in the Ascension window in LeMans Cathedral are positively lively. The panels shown here are three of the existing four and are among the earliest examples of French Romanesque glass. The elongated but gracefully swaying figure of the crowned Virgin gazes upward toward the Ascending Jesus (who is now missing from the window3). Her vibrant blue robes contrast brightly with the ruby red of her background. The lively poses of the apostles on either side of Mary, who also witness Christ’s Ascension, are elegantly draped in a patchwork of predominately gold and green that provides strong contrast to the blue and red of their backgrounds.
The artistic skill of the past and the new influences of the known world combined to create a new “movement of creativity”4 that resulted in a new art form that would bring the story of God and man into an inspired and majestic light.
NOTES
1. Lee 1989, p.12
2. Lee, p.13
3. Lee, p. 69
4. Lee, p. 13
Stained Glass Window
Detail of the Virgin and Six Apostles
LeMans Cathedral of St. Julien, France
1145AD
Early Influences of Stained Glass
Stained glass is generally thought of as a Christian art form because, before the Christian era, no examples of it exist. Though it is impossible to say when and where it evolved, it was a fully developed art form by the time the oldest fragments known were created.
The art of cloisonné enameling, where thin strips of metal or gold separate and hold together tiny pieces of colored glass or the tiny pieces of colored glass glittering in the mosaics of the walls and domes of the early Christian churches were likely inspirations for the making of stained glass. The delicate paintings of the miniatures and illuminated manuscripts, the carved ivories, metalwork relics encrusted with jewels and the countless scenes and figures of the sculptural programs that embellished the Romanesque churches provided infinite design inspiration and were often literally copied into stained glass motifs.
It is known that St. Gregory had the windows of St. Martins of Tours in France, glazed with colored glass.1 In 675AD, Benedict Biscop, the Abbot of Wearmouth, in Northumbria, had Gallic glaziers fill the windows of his monastery church with colored glass, alabaster, marble and wooden boards. The boards were pierced with holes into which colored glass was inserted. The glass excavated from this site shows no traces of painted design.2
The eleventh century five prophet windows of Augsburg Cathedral, the head of Christ from Wissembourg in Alsace and the fragments of the head of Christ found at Lorsch Abbey, in Germany, which date to the ninth or tenth century, are the principal models for the stained glass art form known since Medieval times.
Compared to the staid and stern manner of the five Augsburg prophets, the figures of the Virgin Mary and six apostles in the Ascension window in LeMans Cathedral are positively lively. The panels shown here are three of the existing four and are among the earliest examples of French Romanesque glass. The elongated but gracefully swaying figure of the crowned Virgin gazes upward toward the Ascending Jesus (who is now missing from the window3). Her vibrant blue robes contrast brightly with the ruby red of her background. The lively poses of the apostles on either side of Mary, who also witness Christ’s Ascension, are elegantly draped in a patchwork of predominately gold and green that provides strong contrast to the blue and red of their backgrounds.
The artistic skill of the past and the new influences of the known world combined to create a new “movement of creativity”4 that resulted in a new art form that would bring the story of God and man into an inspired and majestic light.
NOTES
1. Lee 1989, p.12
2. Lee, p.13
3. Lee, p. 69
4. Lee, p. 13