Stained Glass Windows

No one is sure of the origin of glass. Many histories of stained glass windows begin with Pliny’s story of the accidental discovery of glass by shipwrecked sailors. More likely, glass was discovered by Egyptian potters who noticed the hard shiny material in their firing vessels. The oldest known manmade glass is, in fact, Egyptian beads dating from 2750 B.C.

The oldest glass windows date to first century Rome, and the glass was irregular and not very transparent. The oldest known stained glass windows are also found within the confines of the Roman Empire. Stained glass window shards were discovered on the grounds of St. Paul’s Monastery in England, which was founded in 686 A.D. The oldest complete European stained glass windows found in situ are five windows in the Augsburg Cathedral in Germany. Each window, dating to the 1140s, depicts a different figure. These windows are no longer in place; they have been removed for preservation and replaced with copies.

Techniques of stained glass window construction were described by the monk Theophilus who wrote an instructional guide for craftsmen in about 1100. Between about 1150 and 1500, a period known as the Gothic Age, stained glass windows became prevalent in churches and cathedrals across Europe.

The earliest Gothic stained glass windows needed to let a lot of light into buildings so they were usually designed with red and blue panels surrounded by clear glass. One of the first examples of the Gothic style architecture, complete with stained glass windows, is located at the Abbey of St. Denis. These and other early Gothic stained glass windows are complex mosaics of bits of colored glass and lead. Though the windows do depict biblical scenes and the lives of saints, the pictures are not intended to be illustrations so much as they are intended to inspire awe with their beautiful colors. Viewed from the ground, where most worshippers viewed them, they did not appear as pictures but as collages of black lines and colored light.
 
Arabian stained glass windows appeared in the latter half of the thirteenth century, but some scholars believe they existed as early as the tenth century. In these windows, pieces of colored glass were inserted into marble or stone filigree frames and glazed in plaster. Once these windows made their way into Europe, pierced lead replaced the plaster glazing.
In the 15th century, the peak of Gothic architecture, the way stained glass windows were viewed changed. Stained glass windows were increasingly intended to portray accurate images rather than let beautiful hues of light shine in. Paintwork became more sophisticated as stained glass artists became glass painters rather than glass stainers.

During the Renaissance and the Reformation, stained glass windows fell out of fashion in favor of heavily painted, opaque windows and medieval staining techniques were forgotten. Painted glass windows depicting both secular and religious devotional scenes became fashionable in personal residences. Religious wars during this period caused many stained and painted windows to be destroyed accidentally and on purpose.

In the mid-1800s, Gothic stained glass windows enjoyed a revival along with a renewed interest in Gothic architecture. Medieval glass-staining techniques were rediscovered and studios sprang up everywhere. The Bolton brothers, English immigrants to America, established one of the first stained glass studios in the New World. Their Gothic style stained glass windows were the norm until the development of a distinctive American style. This style, characterized by the use of non-painted opalescent glass, was pioneered by John LaFarge and Louis Tiffany, two American painters who began experimenting with glass. LeFarge held the patent on opalescent glass, but Tiffany popularized it and his name became synonymous with the American stained glass style.

Tastes changed after WWI, and, except for church windows, stained glass windows remained unpopular until the post WWII era. Following the war, the popularity of stained glass windows grew slowly and steadily until today, when stained glass windows are enormously popular and can be found everywhere – in homes, commercial buildings and churches. The renewed interest in them has also given rise to a new trend in decorative art glass, so if you can’t afford stained glass windows in your home art glass still allows you to use and enjoy colored glass in your home décor.