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by Kary Pardy

Looking into the Colorful Past of Stained Glass Art

tirring scenes, epiphanies of light, color and symbolism, glowing decoration. They would then create and flatten the different colors of
recreations of nature – you may connect all these ideas with the pliable glass into sheets before selecting the sections for various parts
Sartistry of stained glass, but what about urine? Wine? Terms like of the design. From there, the pieces were cut by pressing the heated tip
“cames,” “grozing,” or “armatures?” We know stained glass today as an of a dividing iron along the outside of the pattern and breaking the glass
adornment in cathedrals and Victorian homes, or perhaps through the into rough shapes.
work of Louis Comfort Tiffany, but what about the technical magic that The pieces were
brought all this beauty to life? Let’s break apart the layers and then grozed into
better understand this magical glass and its artisans through the years. shape or trimmed
with a special
Moving from Bottles to Windows pair of pliers.
The “grozing iron”
While colored glass items came long before stained, decorated glass
was applied to windows, we suspect that a sort of stained glass window or “groziers” had
was first used by wealthy Romans in the first century AD and in some serrated jaws,
very early Middle Eastern palaces and mosques. Scholars have uncovered sometimes one flat
recognizable pieces from St. Paul’s Monastery in Jarrow, England from and one curved,
686 AD, and have found pictorial stained glass (the head of Christ) from to give the broken
the 10th century at Lorsch Abbey in Germany. Germany also holds the glass a more man-
title for the oldest complete stained glass window installation, in the ageable edge.
Augsburg Cathedral, dating back to the late 11th century. Artisans would
Stained glass reached its first heyday in Middle Age churches. The next paint brown or Stained glass in modern art is still alive and well. This
colored glass was ideally suited for windows as it was best showcased in black details using a piece, titled Solarium, is by William Lamson and was on
shining light and at houses of God; beautifying cathedrals in the Middle special paint mixed display at Storm King Art Center. The windows get
Ages was a reverential act. Abbot Suger of St. Denis, an advisor to kings from ground iron, their color and texture from sugar, cooked to various
and early patron of gothic architecture, famously used stained glass in his copper, or glass bits temperatures and sandwiched between the panes.
abbey to serve several functions and this window style only increased in suspended in urine, Image courtesy of Steven Severinghaus, taken 10/26/12
popularity. The towering, delicate windows let light into the darkness of wine or vinegar.
Romanesque buildings and filled worshippers with reverence. For the The painted pieces would go straight to a kiln, where the suspended
Abbot, the light streaming in was a manifestation of God himself. The glass mixture melted and fused with the sheet below. If the artist wanted
windows were also educational; churchgoers could view Bible scenes to add depth or further detail, they varied the layers and location of their
played out through the decorative windows. As they grew in size, scope, paint. Bold details worked best on the glass front that would be facing
and popularity, wealthy donors and worker’s guilds also commissioned the building interior, while shading or depth could be added by painting
stained glass windows, but sometimes added themes and symbols in on the back or exterior facing side.
addition to the traditional Bible scenes as a little early advertising. Once the glass pieces were cut and decorated, they were fitted
into pieces of lead called “cames,” which would be soldered to give the
structure strength and stability. Lead was ideal for this type of work
Chemistry and because it had the flexibility needed to fit between a variety of shapes
Technique but once soldered, was sturdy enough to hold the pattern in place. If the
In an earlier article artisan was working on a stained glass window, they finished their work
on glass chemistry, we by placing it into an iron frame called an “armature” and then could
discussed how different proceed to mounting it in a wall.
chemicals were added
to a sand and potash Stained Glass Revival
(potash, wood ash) After a bountiful early period, stained glass rose again in the
mixture to make mid-19th century with the resurgence of Gothic architecture. Artists
colored glass. Stained picked up where medieval makers left off and worked to learn their
glassworks in a similar carefully honed techniques, with a little flair all their own. E. S. Prior,
way and medieval Louis Comfort Tiffany, John La Farge, Frank Lloyd Wright, Piet
craftsman perfected Mondrian, and Marc Chagall modernized the stained glass window with
the art form. To create new styles and alternative shapes. Stained glass also flourished outside
Note the use of colored glass and the several painted a window, artisans windows, and the Tiffany factory still painstakingly creates lamps in the
details in this medieval window series. In a period would first construct a same method as their namesake.
where books were not available to most, these colorful template based on An exhibit from the Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass in New
scenes were a helpful tool for the masses to learn about the size and shape York called Tiffany Glass: Painting with Color and Light is traveling
holy figures and Bible stories – the more detailed, the of the window and around the museum circuit and demonstrates through educational
better. Troyes Cathedral, France, 14th century. map out their desired displays the process of making a Tiffany lamp. As with our medieval
Courtesy of Vassil and Wikipedia

42 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles