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analysis
of a stained glass story window |
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related pages on cathedrals and stained glass
new! Cathedrale Saint-Gatien at Tours
the perpendicular or English style of cathedral the fire at the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris Stone tracery in church and
cathedral construction stained glass and cathedrals in Normandy fortified churches, mostly in Les Landes cathedral labyrinths and mazes in France Germans in France on first arriving in France - driving
Transbordeur bridges in France and the world 2: focus on Portugalete, Chicago,
Rochefort-Martrou France’s western isles: Ile de Ré Ile de France, Paris: in the context of Abelard and of French cathedrals Marianne - a French national symbol, with French definitive stamps la Belle Epoque
Pic du Midi - observing stars clearly, A64 Futuroscope the French umbrella & Aurillac 50 years old:
Citroën DS the forest as seen by Francois Mauriac, and today bastide towns what a hair cut! m & french pop/rock
Cathedrals 3: Poitiers, neglected masterpiece
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changes in glass - restorationAs discussed in Cathedrals introduction: reading stained glass, the effect of glass changes by time of day and season. The presentation of the Julian the Hospitaller window above gives a good idea of the way these old windows look before any modern restoration, in fairly average light conditions of the subdued light of a cathedral where much is glazed with twelfth or thirteenth century glass. A major part of what gives life to stained glass is ‘imperfections’ in the glass itself. The best modern stained glass manufacturers and artists realise this. They do not drive out all the bubbles and surface imperfections. The artists, in fact, deliberately chip parts of inch-thick glass with a steel hammer to add to the livening effects of light dispersion. Over the centuries, the early glass has gathered pitting and a oxidised white layer on the external surface, in addition to the inconsistencies in the handmade, artisanal glass of the early centuries. A great deal of poor quality glass and poor restoration work has been done by people who did not understand these things, and tried to ‘improve’ on the originals by using consistent, even glass (often referred to disparagingly in the trade as ‘cathedral glass’). While modern restoration is steadily improving, some of the effects of restoration have much brightened the old windows. Of course, replaced glass will no longer have the oxidised white layer and, consequently, some increase of brightness will bring the windows back closer to their original state. the saint julian window in its modern stateTo the left is a photograph of the modern restoration of the same story window. I have not seen this window recently (I am planning to send one of our roving yaks to do some research at the cathedral), from the photograph, as you can see, it is much brighter than the enhanced version derived from the Metcalf archive. At the top of this page, you will see a numbered template of the (mostly) square panels in the Julian window. Notice that the window is built up in squares, as with most lancet windows. A great number of geometric patterns may be found in these windows, developed across several squares by the arrangement of the leading and glass. In the case of this window, each nine panel section can be seen to be divided into quadrifoils, the panels of nine being linked together by half-circles and circles. The whole design is surrounded by a decorative frame. Under the numbered template above, there are five close-ups of some of these square panels. end notes
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