stained glass -
window design

related pages:
stained glass - development and techniques
modern stained glass
gothic cathedral and church construction

labelling what you’re looking at

Commonly, specialists, when looking at the western (or any other) facade, refer to the south portal on that facade as the left portal. That is, describing it as viewed from the inside of the church. On the other hand, most people will tend to think of the church or cathedral from the outside and refer to the same south portal of the west front as the right-hand portal.

Likewise, when viewing two statues alongside each other, people will refer to ‘the statue on the left’ or ‘the statue on the right’. This is also unclear because it is not certain whether what is being referred to is the statue on the viewer’s left hand side, or a statue to the left hand of another statue.

Hence, I prefer to refer positioning in terms of north, south, east and west. This is greatly simplified because virtually all cathedrals and churches are oriented east-west.

[1st chapel: Chapels in the Ambulatory are traditionally numbered from the South,
while main bays are numbered from the West.]

reading stained glass

Before there were printed books, in particular the christianist Bible, and before most people were able to read, the christianist managers spread their propaganda (teachings, moral tales) using what are known as story windows - that is stained glass windows where the images depict stories from the bible. You will find an illustrations of typical story windows on pages for Poitiers cathedral and the St. Julian the hospitaller at Rouen. An increasing number of illustrations will be appearing, as I find time.

The choir at Troyes cathedral

As you will notice, the story windows tend to be in the lower windows, for they needed to be accessible to those being instructed by the priest. See the round medallions in the lower windows - each one depicting an incident in the bible or in the saint’s story. The higher windows, by contrast, tend to have larger pictures, such as prophets and kings. For more on stained glass layout, look at a history of ugly stained glass.

These windows come in many designs, of which I will try to provide examples. In general, and unexpectedly for most modern visitors, these windows tend to read from bottom to top, not from top to bottom, though there are exceptions.

I am developing this area mainly in terms of the stained glass, which has been a constant background for my paintings, though you might find it difficult to see the connection [An art gallery is a part of abelard.org.]

numbering the bays

There is no standard way of numbering the bays, which often incorporate small chapels. This is hardly surprising since it is often hard to decide from which position to start.

Building on most of the cathedrals tended to start from the apse, the east end. This was so the cathedral could be brought into use as quickly as possible, for services, for the priests, monks and the people. Naturally, the priests and monks would put priority on their own purposes and comfort.

The great gothic churches were built on sites with long histories, often stretching back to pagan temples. The great gothic revival was usually replacing an old Romanesque cathedral, now less impressive, fashionable and efficient to purpose. As stated elsewhere, the gothic cathedrals have some parallels with a house of cards, all parts being shored up by counter pressures from previous bays, starting from the stabilising ramparts of the apse and marching all the way to the weight of the stabilising to buttresses at the other end.

The remains of the previous Romanesque church may well stand for many decades until the advancing gothic structure is joined to it, or engulfs and replaces it with the larger structure.

Which is the last bay of the apse? Where does the nave start? Is there a full transept? At the other end, do the towers or a narthex count? As a result of all these problems, different writers, and referring to different cathedrals, use different numbering systems. Therefore, in modern works, you will usually find a numbered diagram of the cathedral plan. These problems become even more difficult with the stained glass, where there are often windows at three different levels some of which may be broken into separate lancets, small roses and ogives, or multiple medallions as in story windows. And the the detail of the stained glass extends into borders and, maybe, other subdivisions.

And it all looks so simple at first. The longer you look, the more you will see.

Numbering stained glass windows at Chartres cathedral

Using Chartres cathedral as a complicated example, the cathedral stained glass has acquired several numbering systems, each idiosyncratic in a different way. Here are the main systems we have found.

• By Canon Yves Delaporte, numbering from 1 and starting with the lower windows from the west portal, going round the cathedral anti-clockwise; then doing similarly for the upper windows, including the transepts, making 176 windows. [see left]
This system is also used by Etienne Houvet.
• The French National centre for scientific research (the CNRS or Centre nationale des récherches scientifiques) numbers from 0, from the east end, alternating windows left then right. Thus all windows to the north have odd numbers, while those to the south have even ones. Further, the CRNS include in each upper number the two lancets and rose of each upper window. Thus, the CRNS only labels 142 'windows'. [See right]
Cowen Painton follows a similar numbering system, but marks the lancets and rosettes as a, b and c.
• Both systems number the Chapel of St Piat and the Chapel of Notre Dame de Pilar separately, using either Arabic or Roman numbers.

 

There can be subsidiary numberings within each window, which may have many illustrations to catalogue and describe.
Because these systems dodge about from where in the cathedral they start, and which order windows are numbered, it is often more efficient to look for particular side chapels. abelard.org labels chapels of interest in the relevant cathedral plans.

Thirteenth-century design of stained glass windows

Jesse tree window at Beauvais	Beauvais	Beauvais

shapes of medallion windows - illus

grisaille at Beauvais - not just  woven shapes like Islamic art

glossary/technical definitions

• Ogive

  A pointed or Gothic arch.
  One of the diagonal groins or ribs of a vault.

• Vesica

  Literally, a bladder. In stained glass, an void shape with pointed end. This can be constructed from two intersecting circles with the same radius.
  

• Muldenfaltenstil

  Sharp, hairpin-like folds in clothes
  

• Lancet

  Pointed, as seen in the arches and windows with a pointed head introduced in the Gothic period of architecture. [From the point of a lance - a spear.]
  

• Halation

  Light spilling from one section of glass to another. However, these old craftsmen knew their trade, thus thickening the leading where this is most likely to occur. They even could take foreshortening into account.
  

• Medallion

  In stained glass, a medallion refers variously to a circular; oval, square or diamond shaped space, generally one of many within the overall window design, that contains a figure or figures.
  Yoked medallions are two medallions partially joined together.
  

• Narthex

  Vestibule, found in earlier churches

• Grisaille

  Almost monochrome glass, each piece shaped as a square or diamond and painted with black enamel paint. From a distance, grisaille windows have an overall greyish tint; hence the name grisaille, meaning greyness in French.

  
  Grisaille window, Poitiers cathedral

• Telamon

  Colossal male figures used as columns
  
  

• Spolia

  Reused material.
  
  

• Centrapedal rose

  xyz
  
  

recommended books

The rose window, splendour and symbol by Painton Cowen Thames and Hudson [UK], hbk, 2005 276 pages, 350 illustrations, 300 in colour ISBN-10: 0500511748 ISBN-13: 978-0500511749 £29.99 [amazon.co.uk] $63.75 [amazon.com] Previously, Painton Cowen also wrote Rose windows (Art & Imagination) pbk, 1990 ISBN-10: 0500810214 ISBN-13: 978-0500810217 amazon.com / amazon.co.uk

Extremely well illustrated - the paperback version has 59 in colour and 82 black-and-white, while I see that the new hardback version has 300 colour and 50 b/w - I will report further when I have received a copy. Densely packed with facts. An ideal primer to be carried around with you on any visit. Like so many books, written by informed hands, it is very badly organised and laid out. My Thames and Hudson glued paper-cover version started falling apart from early on, but always travels in its own protective plastic cover to keep the pages in one place. I can not resist giving this book five GoldenYaks, if only because I know of nothing better.

Painton Cowen has also produced a very useful directory of stained glass in Britain -

A guide to stained glass in Britain by Painton Cowen, # Michael Joseph Ltd (June 10, 1985) ISBN-10: 0718125673 ISBN-13: 978-0718125677 amazon.com / amazon.co.uk

Experiments in gothic structure by Robert Mark MIT Press pbk 0262630958 reprint: 1984 amazon.com / amazon.co.uk

If you want to understand the structure of the great gothic cathedrals, this is the place to go. Some of it gets a bit technical, Mark used polarised light, epoxy plastic models and wind tunnels to work out the the loadings and stresses in some of the great cathedrals. An absolutely fascinating book to read, if you can stand the hard work and the usual technical manual disorganisation.

As with Painton, I can not resist giving this book five GoldenYaks, if only because I know of nothing better.

end notes

cathedrals – introduction: reading stained glass
gothic cathedral and church construction
cathedrals, an illustrated glossary
Chartres - wonder of the world
Notre Dame de Paris, Paris
lantern towers of Normandy and elsewhere
history of ugly stained glass: Auch, Bazas, Dreux
Auch cathedral choir and stalls
Rouen and Monet
Dax and church iconography photographs, Dax
Bazas - iconography and architectural styles
Poitiers, neglected masterpiece photographs, Poitiers / photos 2
Angers, heart of the Angevin Empire photographs, Angers
Laon, the midst of the gothic transition, with added oxen photographs, Laon
Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Lyon
Notre Dame of Lausanne
Senlis - how a typical cathedral changes through the ages
Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges - the cathedral of the Pyrenees
Cathedrale Saint-Gatien at Tours

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© abelard, 2006, 23 february


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