Stained glass in the art of the Middle Ages of Western Europe. Ancient stained glass windows of cathedrals and churches in France. So what kind of art was presented

In 1944, two bombs fell on the Rouen church of Saint-Maclou (XV-XVI centuries). Part of the vaults collapsed, and many of the stained glass windows that adorned this late Gothic temple shattered into pieces. Some were restored, some perished and were replaced with modern ones, and restorers filled several windows with “collages” of fragments. Pointed arches, folds of robes, footstools of thrones, fragments of faces, reverently folded palms, flying angels and scraps of inscriptions are collected according to size and shape, but do not carry any message.

“Collage” of fragments of late medieval stained glass windows. Church of Saint-Maclou in RouenPhoto by Mikhail Mayzuls

However, even fully preserved stained glass windows may seem like visual chaos to a modern viewer. Entering the Gothic cathedral, he finds himself in a stream of colored light, from which it is difficult to isolate individual scenes. To correctly read a stained glass window, you need to find the beginning and end of the story, and also understand how the geometric shapes into which it is divided are logically related.

Stained glass is a multi-level puzzle. The characters and background are made from pieces of colored glass held together with lead rims The finest details - facial features or the draperies of clothes - are then completed on the glass.. Individual scenes are often enclosed in geometric shapes (large and small squares, circles, quatrefoils, stars, and so on), which separate more important episodes from less important ones, and main plots from commentaries on them. The sequence of scenes here is constructed differently from cycles of miniatures in manuscripts or a series of episodes on frescoes; stained glass has different reading rules.

Philistine blinding Samson. A fragment of stained glass from the Sainte-Chapelle chapel in Paris. 1240s RMN-Grand Palais (Musée de Cluny - Musée national du Moyen-Âge) / Franck Raux

How did stained glass art come about?

Unlike the frescoes that decorated the walls of temples throughout Christendom and far beyond, or the mosaics in which Byzantine masters were so successful, stained glass is a typically Western art. It is, of course, primarily associated with the Gothic style - with its huge lancet windows, which arose in the 12th century thanks to engineering innovations that made it possible to effectively redistribute the weight of the vaults, and over time became higher, wider and more openwork. However, in fact, the history of stained glass goes back to the early Middle Ages. By 1100, when the Romanesque style dominated architecture, colored glass with figures was apparently already quite common (although very few of them survived from that era).

At first, stained glass windows mainly decorated monastery churches; later, the largest windows were made for city cathedrals. The cathedral, the main temple of the diocese and the residence of its bishop, was most often the largest building in the city and embodied not only the power of the Church, but also the wealth of the local residents who were able to build it, preferably outdoing their neighbors. Over time, colored glass “with stories” became available to simple parish churches, and in the late Middle Ages, small stained glass medallions (on religious and secular subjects) appeared on the windows of city halls and even the mansions of wealthy burghers.

Careless in poverty. Netherlands, 1510–1520

Saint Dunstan of Canterbury. Netherlands, 1510–1520The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Vanitas (vanity of vanities). Netherlands, 1510–1520The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In Chartres, Paris, Bourges, Amiens, Reims, Canterbury, Augsburg, Prague and many other cities in France, England or the Holy Roman Empire, the cathedrals boasted dozens of stained glass windows, each containing several dozen different scenes. In the Notre Dame Cathedral in Chartres, which has preserved the most complete set of stained glass windows from the second half of the 12th - first half of the 13th centuries, the area of ​​medieval glass is more than 2000 m² (for comparison: the area of ​​the huge painting by Alexander Ivanov “The Appearance of Christ to the People” is about 40 m²).

Stained glass windows and their spectators

In an effort to defend church images from the criticism of iconoclasts, who saw images of saints as a recurrence of idolatry, Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) wrote that images are “books for the ignorant” (or “scriptures for the simple”). They teach the basics of Sacred history and Christian doctrine to those who do not have direct access to the text of the Bible and the works of the Church Fathers. Following Gregory and a succession of theologians who repeated or varied his formula in their own way, historians for many decades spoke of the iconographic programs of medieval churches - including stained glass - as “Bibles for the illiterate,” a visual sermon addressed to the masses of the laity.

And this, of course, is true, but only partly. Medieval viewers actually saw on stained glass windows the most important episodes of Old and New Testament history, the exploits of saints and miracles created by their relics or images. Glass images glorified the relics kept in the chapels below them and popularized the cults of new saints For example, Archbishop Thomas Becket, who was killed in 1170 by order of the English king Henry II. and enhanced the sense of the sacredness of the temple. However, in terms of their plot and composition, many stained-glass windows were so complex that a medieval believer (a parishioner who saw them week after week, or a pilgrim who came to the temple from afar to venerate some shrine) without the help of clergy, apparently understood there are little more of them than a modern tourist without the explanations of a tour guide or travel guide.

Scenes on stained glass windows are often captioned Names of characters, biblical quotes and comments on them, dedications from donors, names of masters and their appeals to God, etc.. But even these signatures (if they could be seen at all) were understandable only to those who at least knew Latin, and at most were able to understand subtle theological allusions - that is, only educated clergy and a narrow circle of learned laymen. So a stained glass book was not always more accessible to parishioners than a book written on parchment.

Color and light

Stained glass is not primarily a message, but an impression. A mosaic of multi-colored glass fills the temple with red, blue, green, violet rays, sending colored bunnies resembling precious stones across the floor and vaults, altars and sculptures in niches, canon chairs and tombstones.

Fragment of Jan van Eyck's painting "Madonna in the Church". Around 1438-1440 Berliner Gemäldegalerie

The radiance of the stained glass windows likened the temple to Heavenly Jerusalem - as stated in the Revelation of John the Theologian, the walls of this city, which will be revealed by God after the end of the world, will be decorated with jasper, sapphire, carnelian, chrysolite, amethyst and other stones. There will be no need for “neither sun nor moon for illumination... for the glory of God has illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb,” that is, Christ himself.

Church in Rocamadour. FrancePhoto by Mikhail Mayzuls

Notre Dame Cathedral in Chartres. FrancePhoto by Mikhail Mayzuls

Medieval theologians saw in the sunlight and the precious radiance of stained glass windows a symbol of the invisible divine light, which spans the entire world created by the Lord and connects the Church (and each specific church) with Heaven. The powerful abbot Suger, “father of Gothic” In 1122, Suger became abbot of the monastery of Saint-Denis, the tomb of French monarchs. He was not only one of the most influential prelates of the time, but also the closest adviser to two kings: Louis VI and Louis VII. When Louis VII went on the Second Crusade (1147-1149), the abbot became regent of the kingdom. The Basilica of Saint-Denis, rebuilt on the initiative of Suger, became the first example of the Gothic style., who rebuilt the Abbey of Saint-Denis in the middle of the 12th century and decorated the Basilica with many stained glass windows with complex allegorical subjects, clearly inaccessible to the “common people,” wrote that the light passing through colored glass, like the shine of precious stones , helps the soul to ascend to the source of true light - to Christ. The Chancellor of Chartres Cathedral, Pierre de Roissy, who lived in the 13th century, believed that images created from glass are divine scriptures, since they direct the rays of the true sun, that is, the Lord himself, inside the temple and illuminate hearts there parishioners

In the 13th century, French stained glass - France, which gave birth to the Gothic style, long set architectural tastes in most of Europe - was dominated by rich red and dark blue colors. In the middle of the same century, colorless glass began to come into fashion, where the design was made in shades of gray (grisaille). From the beginning of the 14th century, craftsmen learned to give individual fragments of transparent glass (for example, the halos of saints or the crowns of monarchs) a yellow color, so that in the late Middle Ages many stained glass windows were designed in white, gray and yellow tones.

Reading order

In order for the light of the stained glass window to truly illuminate the hearts of believers, they, of course, had to understand what exactly was depicted there. The simplest options are when the entire space of the window is occupied by one or more figures standing side by side or above each other (one of the prophets, apostles or saints) or a single plot (for example, the Crucifixion of Christ or the execution of someone of the early Christian martyrs).

Stained glass from Chartres Cathedral. The Prophet Moses talks to God, who appeared to him in an unburnt thorn bush. Although the text of the Book of Exodus says that “Moses covered his face because he was afraid to look at God,” here the prophet directly looks at the Almighty. The lower segment depicts the bakers who presented this stained glass window to the temple.
Lawrence OP/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Unlike altar images, many statues and frescoes, stained glass windows, with rare exceptions, were not addressed with prayer. Nevertheless, the glass, on which sacred persons appeared as a “portrait,” could probably also be conceived as an appeal to higher powers and a tool for communication with them. It is no coincidence that on such stained glass windows you can see prayer inscriptions like “Saint So-and-So, pray for us.”

Narrative stained glass

Another type of stained glass is narrative, where some biblical or hagiographic story unfolds sequentially in separate segments: for example, the Passion of Christ, the sermon of the Apostle Thomas in India, or the military exploits of Charlemagne, whom they also sought to canonize. On such stained glass windows, individual episodes fit into identical squares, circles, quatrefoils or other shapes. Sometimes, in order to emphasize the rhythm of the story, they alternate through one (say, square - circle - square, etc.) or are arranged in more complex geometric patterns. For example, some scenes are enclosed in segments into which a central square is divided, while others are enclosed in semicircles adjacent to its edges.

Stained glass window with the story of the Old Testament Joseph from Chartres Cathedral The square standing on the tip depicts the beginning of the story of the Old Testament forefather Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers: from the moment when he sees a dream (“behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars worship me...”), for which the envious brothers hated him even more, before they dump him down the well. In the two upper semicircles, the brothers sell Joseph to merchants and bring to their father Jacob his clothes, smeared with goat's blood, so that he will believe that his youngest son was torn to pieces by wild animals. In the two lower semicircles are the money changers who donated this stained glass window to the cathedral. Photo by Mikhail Mayzuls

Schemes where the story appears in the form of a kind of comic strip, divided into episodes in separate frames, were also found in manuscripts. For example, in the Canterbury Psalter, each leaf is divided into nine squares with their own signatures, and in the Wenceslas Psalter, scenes are inscribed in circles, semicircles and quarters of circles.

Canterbury Psalter. England, approx. 1200

The narrative is told from left to right, top to bottom. The first two lines take up the six days of creation. The third line contains the creation of Eve and the fall of the first people. In the fourth - their expulsion from paradise and punishment (“To the wife he said: I will multiply your sorrow in your pregnancy; in pain you will bear children... And to Adam he said: because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree... By the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground from which you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you will return." In the last scene, Cain and Abel make a sacrifice to God. The Lord will accept the gift of only one of them, and this will lead to the first fratricide in history.

medievalists.net

Wenceslas Psalter. France, approx. 1250

The story of the fall of the first people is divided into eight scenes, inscribed in “compartments” of different shapes, and this is reminiscent of stained glass. Unlike the Canterbury Psalter, the narrative moves not in rows, but in columns (top to bottom and left to right). So, in the upper left corner the Lord forbids Adam and Eve to eat fruits from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; below, according to the teachings of the devil, they violate the prohibition, and even lower, the cherub expels them from Eden. In the lower right corner, where the story ends, Cain breaks the head of brother Abel - the first murder on earth is committed.

J. Paul Getty Trust

However, unlike a book, which is read or viewed from left to right and top to bottom, narrative stained glass is usually read from bottom to top, that is, the viewer must begin with the episodes located closer to him, and then raise his gaze higher and higher.

Stained glass window with scenes of the Nativity and Childhood of Christ from Chartres Cathedral One of the few stained glass windows from the 12th century that survived the fire of 1194. The narrative begins in the lower left corner (the Annunciation) and moves upward so that each line is read from left to right. For example, on the third level from the bottom we see how three wise men go to worship the Savior, and then return to their lands. Photo by Mikhail Mayzuls

In the simplest version, lines are scanned from left to right. However, it happens that the reading order changes with each line: the bottom one is read from left to right, then the viewer turns and continues moving from right to left, then again from left to right, etc. Such a sequence, reminiscent of a zigzag, is called boustrophedon: from the Greek the words “bull” and “turn”, since this route is similar to the movement of oxen with a plow across a field.

On some stained glass windows, the narrative starts from the top, and such an unusual order, as a rule, is ideologically justified. For example, on the stained-glass window of the Passion in Chartres, the starting point is the figure of Christ in glory, located at the very top: this once again emphasizes that this is the story of the incarnation of God, who “descended” into the world to endure torment and thereby atone for original sin, who ruled over the human race.

Stained glass window of the Passion from Chartres Cathedral

Unlike a series of miniatures located on different sheets of a manuscript, the entire stained glass window can be viewed simultaneously (often together with neighboring windows), and the route along which the gaze actually moves does not necessarily coincide with the implied one that sets one story or another. The viewer's gaze easily wanders from figure to figure, from scene to scene, picking out familiar episodes and easily recognizable characters.

Typological stained glass

Typological stained glass windows are much more complex than simple narrative stained glass windows. They combine and relate several stories to each other at once or accompany the main story with commentary borrowed from other sources. This task requires inventive "montage".

The essence of typology - as a method of interpreting Holy Scripture and as a style of historical thinking - was that individual episodes, characters and objects from the Old Testament were interpreted as foreshadowing episodes, characters and objects from the New. At the same time, we were not talking about verbal prophecies, but precisely about the fact that the events themselves described in the Old Testament contained an indication of the future incarnation and the mission of Christ to save the human race. As Christian theologians have repeated from century to century, the Old Testament finds its full embodiment in the New, and the New reveals the true meaning of the Old.

In this coordinate system, Sacred History appears as a multi-level system of parallels. Old Testament events-predictions are called types, and their New Testament “realizations” are called antitypes. For example, the sacrifice of Isaac by his father Abraham, which ultimately did not take place, since the Lord ordered him to slaughter a lamb instead of his son, is one of the types of voluntary sacrifice that Christ, the true Lamb, offered on the cross. The prophet Jonah, who escaped from the belly of the whale, is a type of Christ who was buried, descended into the underworld to bring out the Old Testament righteous from there, and then rose from the dead. Moses, who ordered the production and raising of a copper serpent to the banner in order to save his people from biting snakes (everyone who was bitten, looking at him, remained alive) is also a type of Savior: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son be lifted up to man, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

In the central square is a scene of the Crucifixion, and in a large semicircle to the left and below is Moses with a copper serpent.

Wikimedia Commons

Fragment of the stained glass window of the Passion from Chartres Cathedral

The square contains the scene of the Descent from the Cross, in the semicircle above is the prayer of the prophet Jonah, and in the semicircle below is a pelican feeding its chicks with its blood.

Wikimedia Commons

The entire geometry of the typological stained glass windows is constructed in such a way as to clearly correlate the New Testament antitype and its Old Testament types. To do this, the main plot is usually placed in the center, and its prototypes - as, for example, on the stained-glass window of the Passion in Chartres - are lined up along the edges: in smaller circles or semicircles, in the outer segments of the quatrefoil, in the rays of a star, etc.

In addition to strictly typological pairs, such stained glass windows sometimes include non-Biblical commentaries. For example, the blood voluntarily shed by Christ for the salvation of humanity has long been likened in tradition to the blood with which, as was believed in the Middle Ages, a pelican feeds its own chicks. Therefore, next to the scene of the Crucifixion, in addition to the Old Testament types, a pelican was often depicted feeding its offspring.

To understand how medieval typology works, let's look at another Chartres stained glass window, which is dedicated to the story of the Good Samaritan.

Typological stained glass window of the Good Samaritan from Chartres Cathedral Dr Stuart Whatling/medievalart.org.uk

One lawyer asked Jesus how to understand his words that one should love “the Lord your God with all your heart” and your neighbor “as yourself.” “Who is my neighbor?” In response, Jesus told him a parable:

“A certain man was walking from Jerusalem to Jericho and was caught by robbers, who took off his clothes, wounded him and left, leaving him barely alive. By chance, a priest was walking along that road and, seeing him, passed by. Likewise, the Levite, being at that place, came up, looked and passed by. A Samaritan, passing by, found him and, seeing him, took pity and, coming up, bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine; and, putting him on his donkey, brought him to the inn and took care of him; and the next day, as he was leaving, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper and said to him: take care of him; and if you spend anything more, when I return, I will give it back to you. Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the one who fell among the robbers?” (Luke 10:30--37)

The stained glass window consists of several levels: three large quatrefoils (each divided into five segments - a smaller quatrefoil in the center and four petals around) and two “floors” between them, which consist of small circles and two halves of a quatrefoil on the sides.

The story begins in the lower petal of the lower quatrefoil, where Christ addresses the two Pharisees. Then we find ourselves inside the parable itself. In the left petal the traveler sets out from Jerusalem, in the center robbers lie in wait for him, and on the right they beat him and tear off his clothes. Then, in the upper petal, the wounded wanderer lies on the ground, and above him stand the hard-hearted priest and Levite. And so - at the end of the quatrefoil - we reach the end of the parable, where the Good Samaritan takes the wounded man to an inn and leaves him in the care of his owner.

Fragment of a typological stained glass window about the Good Samaritan from Chartres Cathedral Photo by Mikhail Mayzuls

As soon as this story ends, immediately (and at first glance it is not clear why) the history of the first people begins: the creation of Adam and Eve; the fall and expulsion of the guilty ancestors of mankind from Eden; Cain's murder of his brother Abel. Finally, in the uppermost segment, Christ sits on the rainbow, holding a ball in his left hand (a symbol of the universe that he created), and with his right hand he blesses humanity.

The Gospel parable and the history of the ancestors of mankind, told in the Old Testament Book of Genesis, are connected by the fact that already from early Christian times theologians (Irenaeus of Lyon, Ambrose of Milan, Aurelius Augustine, Gregory the Great, Bede the Venerable, etc.) saw in the traveler a symbol of fallen humanity (sinful descendants Adam), and in the Good Samaritan - Christ himself, who appeared in the world to atone for original sin and thereby open the way for people to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Although in the Latin text of the Gospel of Luke the victim of the robbers is simply called “one man” ( homo quidam), the signatures on the stained glass call him “wanderer” or “pilgrim” ( peregrinus). This word here should be understood primarily allegorically: the journey from Jerusalem to Jericho is the path of humanity expelled from paradise and wandering around the world, where it is threatened by the forces of darkness.

In this interpretation, the priest and the Levite, who did not help the traveler, personify the Jewish Law, which is not capable of saving humanity. The inn, where the Samaritan took the robbed wanderer, symbolizes the Church, and the four horses tied at the entrance symbolize the four evangelists.

Details

When reading medieval stained glass, it is important to pay attention not only to how individual scenes are mounted, but also to the roll call of gestures, poses and other details that are repeated in several - sometimes distant - fragments of the narrative. Identical or very similar figures provide additional bridges between different episodes and suggest how they should be interpreted.

For example, in Chartres, the inn where the Good Samaritan brought the wounded pilgrim (remember that he personified the Church) is depicted as a tall building with a red doorway. Above, against the background of the same red gates, a cherub expels Adam and Eve from Eden. The Church, as the gate of the Kingdom of Heaven, is visually likened to the Garden of Eden - the fall of Adam was redeemed by Christ, and the path to salvation is again open.

Scene of Expulsion from Heaven from the stained glass window of the Good Samaritan in Chartres Cathedral Dr Stuart Whatling/medievalart.org.uk

The shape of objects is also important. In the Bourges Cathedral, on the so-called New Testament window (early 13th century), a quatrefoil is placed in the center of the circle, in which Christ carries his cross to Calvary.

New Testament window in Bourges Cathedral. Early 13th century Dr Stuart Whatling/medievalart.org.uk

Around are depicted four Old Testament scenes - prototypes of the Passion of Christ. Two of them are dedicated to the forefather Abraham, who, by the will of the Lord, had to sacrifice Isaac. On the left, Abraham, with a knife in his hands, leads his son to the place where he was to be slaughtered. The boy has two green bundles of firewood (for burnt offerings) on his shoulders, which are crossed in the same way as the bars of the cross on the Savior’s shoulder. On the right, in the scene where the bound Isaac is already laid on a stone, and an angel at the last moment stops Abraham and indicates to sacrifice a lamb, entangled in the bushes nearby, the boy’s legs are crossed with the same letter “x” as the cross and a bundle of firewood. These details strengthen the typological parallels between the sacrifice of Christ and the failed sacrifice of Isaac, which were already stated by the very geometry of the stained glass window.

Jesus carries his cross to Calvary. Fragment of stained glass in Bourges Cathedral

Abraham leads Isaac to the place of slaughter. Fragment of stained glass in Bourges Cathedral© Dr Stuart Whatling/medievalart.org.uk

An angel stops Abraham, who is about to sacrifice his son. Fragment of stained glass in Bourges Cathedral© Dr Stuart Whatling/medievalart.org.uk

Stained glass roses

Roses - huge round windows with petals of various designs symmetrically radiating from the center - are one of the hallmarks of Gothic architecture. From the outside you can see the most complex stone weaving; Inside, in the semi-darkness of the temple, the ribs of the petals are no longer so visible, but the stained glass windows built into the sections of the huge wheel glow.

Reading the plot of a rose sometimes turns out to be more difficult than on simple, vertical windows. The very form of such stained glass windows is not conducive to a sequential story (although there are also roses with “stories”), but to conceptual schemes - majestic heavenly hierarchies with hosts of angels lined up at the throne of the Creator, or to historical and theological constructions, where the Old Testament prophets appear around Christ, announcing the coming coming of the Messiah. To determine what is depicted in such a stained glass window, it is important to first understand who is placed in the very center. Let us take, for example, the scenes depicted on the three roses of Chartres Cathedral.

Western Rose of Chartres Cathedral

The oldest rose of the cathedral, located above the western (“royal”) portal, reaches a diameter of 13.5 meters. Its plot is the Last Judgment, therefore in the center, in the main “eye” (its scope is 2.6 meters), which resembles the entire rose in miniature, sits the Judge - Christ.

Wikimedia Commons

In the center of the rose is Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, who returned at the end of time to judge all people who have ever lived on Earth.

Around Jesus, in 12 elongated rays, are the symbols of the four evangelists (man - Matthew, calf - Luke, lion - Mark, eagle - John) and angels, and behind them are the apostles and cherubs.

Along the outer perimeter of the rose, in 12 smaller roses, there are scenes telling about the various stages of the judgment: the general resurrection; weighing of souls by Archangel Michael; the procession of sinners to hell and the righteous to heaven, etc.

North Rose of Chartres Cathedral

The northern rose is dedicated to the Mother of God and the Incarnation of God, therefore it depicts the predecessors and harbingers of the Messiah. The 12 squares depict the kings of Judah (from David to Manasseh) - the earthly ancestors of Jesus Christ (or rather, his “adopted” father Joseph).

Along the edges of the rose, in 12 circles inscribed in semicircles, are placed the Old Testament prophets who, in the Christian interpretation, predicted the appearance of Jesus.

South Rose of Chartres Cathedral

The Southern Rose glorifies God in his heavenly majesty. Almost the entire plot is inspired by the 4th and 5th chapters of the Revelation of John the Theologian (Apocalypse).

Photo by Mikhail Mayzuls

In the center of the rose, the Lord sits on a throne (with the features of Christ): “... and behold, a throne stood in heaven, and one sat on the throne” (Rev. 4:2). With his right hand he blesses humanity, and in his left he holds the communion cup, in which, as the doctrine says, the wine is transformed into his blood.

Three rings were lined up around the central figure of the Almighty. First there are rays with small circles inscribed in them - they depict eight angels with censers and four symbols of the evangelists, also taken from the Apocalypse: “... and in the middle of the throne and around the throne are four animals, full of eyes in front and behind. And the first living creature was like a lion, and the second living creature was like a calf, and the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle” (Rev. 4:6-7).

The twenty-four elders of the Apocalypse appear in the two outer rings (in circles and semicircles). Each of them holds in his hands a vessel and a musical instrument (some have a medieval violin, viel, others have a harp): “... and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which these are the prayers of the saints” (Rev. 5:8).

Under the rose, on both sides of the Virgin Mary and the Child, in the narrow (lanceolate) windows there are figures of the Old Testament prophets. They hold the four evangelists on their shoulders, symbolizing the continuity of the Old and New Testaments. Jeremiah carries Luke, Isaiah carries Matthew, Ezekiel carries John, and Daniel carries Mark. This composition is reminiscent of a phrase attributed to the 12th-century French Platonist philosopher Bernard of Chartres: “We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants; we see more and further than they do, not because we have better vision, and not because we are taller than them, but because they raised us and increased our stature with their own greatness.” Externally, the stained glass window completely coincides with Bernard’s metaphor: small evangelists climbed onto giant prophets. The fundamental difference is that in the theologians’ reasoning about the relationship between the Old and New Testaments, which are visualized on the stained glass window, there is no idea that the evangelists are somehow “less” than their predecessors. Emphasis on something else: the Old Testament is the foundation of the New. The Hebrew prophets had foretold the coming of the Messiah, and now their promises were realized in Christ. However, the message of the evangelists in every way surpasses and in many ways abolishes the Law given in the Old Testament. Evangelicals have access to a truth that their predecessors (and the Jews who refuse to acknowledge the divinity of Christ and the inspiration of the gospels) were not allowed to see.

Stained glass in the lancet windows under the south rose of Chartres Cathedral Wikimedia Commons

Donors

At the very bottom of stained glass windows you can often see figures that have nothing to do with biblical history or the lives of saints. These are donors - sovereigns, sovereign lords, bishops or canons who donated the stained glass window to the temple. The production of huge glass was extremely expensive, so such gifts were available to very few.

Having ordered to imprint themselves (and at the same time sometimes their spouses and offspring) under the feet or at the feet of Christ, the Virgin Mary or one of the heavenly patrons, the donors simultaneously demonstrated their humility in the face of higher powers, entrusted themselves to their intercession and demonstrated to other parishioners their power and wealth. At the beginning of the 14th century, the German mystic Meister Eckhart complained that many, when ordering stained glass windows and altars, decorate them with their coats of arms and put their names on them - it turns out that the reward from God is not enough for them, and they still want to amuse their vanity.

At Chartres, under the four prophets, who are held on the shoulders of the evangelists, is Pierre Maucler, Duke of Brittany (d. 1237), his wife Alix de Thouars, and behind them their two children. Interestingly, under the central figure of the Virgin Mary and Child hangs the duke's coat of arms, and the entire family is dressed in heraldic colors. After the appearance of coats of arms in the 12th century, the clergy looked at them and the entire knightly tournament culture with disapproval for some time. However, gradually heraldic signs, which turned into a class “portrait” of their owners, began to increasingly penetrate church iconography. Sometimes, next to sacred persons, instead of figures of donors, only their shields were placed, and the heavenly intercessors themselves (from “simple” saints to God himself) also began to be depicted with their own imaginary coats of arms. For Christ, the instruments of his Passion were placed on the shield, and for the Trinity, the so-called shield of faith, a triangle designed to clarify the relationship between the three hypostases: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Fragments of stained glass in the lancet windows under the south rose of Chartres Cathedral Photo by Mikhail Mayzuls

Among those who could donate stained glass windows were not only secular rulers and princes of the Church, but also wealthy artisan guilds. In the same Chartres, under many windows, carpenters and wheelwrights, winegrowers and wine merchants, blacksmiths, masons, bakers, barrel makers, etc. are depicted. At the very bottom of the window, where the life of St. Nicholas of Myra is told, we see a spice merchant, a grocer with scales (they sold a variety of different goods: from perfumes and jewelry to candles and dice) and a pharmacist pounding some kind of medicine in a mortar.

Fragment of a stained glass window with the life of St. Nicholas of Myra“Professional portrait” of a donor - a grocer in a shop Photo by Mikhail Mayzuls

At the bottom of the stained glass window with the parable of the Good Samaritan, we see how shoemakers adjust their soles, and then how they, thanks to their virtuous work, bring to the Lord their luxurious gift - the stained glass window on which they are depicted. True, it is not entirely clear what exactly is in front of us: the image of real donors or rather the ideal image of obedient and generous laity, which was propagated by the canons of the cathedral, who received their gifts in the name of the Lord.

© Dr Stuart Whatling/medievalart.org.uk

Fragment of stained glass with the parable of the Good Samaritan in Chartres Cathedral© Dr Stuart Whatling/medievalart.org.uk

Fragment of stained glass with the parable of the Good Samaritan in Chartres Cathedral© Dr Stuart Whatling/medievalart.org.uk

How were stained glass windows made in the Middle Ages? l The design of window openings from colored glass was already known in Ancient Rome and eastern countries. But only in medieval times did the making of stained glass become an art associated with religious architecture. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the art of stained glass received rapid development. Its real heyday began in the 12th century.

Features of the technology l In the treatise of the monk Theophilus, dating back to that time, the technology for making a stained glass window is described in detail. The glass was boiled in a special furnace, while simultaneously painting it in the desired color. A flat sheet was cast from glass, which was then cut into shaped plates according to the prepared drawing. A hot iron rod was used to separate it into fragments. Pieces of glass were laid out on a wooden board according to the sketch of the future panel and then painted with paints, successively firing the stained glass canvas in a kiln. The elements of the future stained glass window were firmly held together using lead wire, soldering the seams. After this, the parts of the product were placed in a wooden, and later in a metal frame. This is how the stained glass window was made.

Chartres Cathedral l One of the few Gothic cathedrals in France, in which stained glass windows from the 12th-13th centuries have been preserved almost unchanged, is Chartres, whose construction began in the middle of the 10th century. A total of 146 stained glass windows are installed in its tall lancet windows. They depict about 1,400 scenes on various topics from the history of Christianity. Along with scenes from the Old and New Testaments, about 100 scenes from the life of kings, knights, artisans, all noble persons who donated funds for the maintenance of the cathedral are depicted. These colored glass artistic “canvases” cover an area of ​​approximately 2,600 square meters. Since the Middle Ages, they have reached our time almost untouched.

l In the early Middle Ages, stained glass windows were made from glass painted in rich, pure colors. The most commonly used colors were yellow, white, purple, red, green and their shades. For example, some of the stained glass windows at Chartres Cathedral have sections of 27 layers of red and clear glass! Passing through such a thickness of laminated glass, the light acquires unique color nuances. It is not for nothing that the stained glass windows of Gothic churches were once compared to jewelry. The famous Chartres stained glass “Madonna and Child”

l Narrative stained glass windows on evangelical themes appeared in early Christian Romanesque churches in France in the 10th-12th centuries. Colored glass was carefully cut out, an image was made from it on a plane, then all the glass was secured with special lead strips with indentations. The higher the ceilings of the temples rose, the higher the stained glass windows were made, the more festive and elegant it became inside the temple.

Cologne Cathedral Stained glass opened up new opportunities for the medieval artist. Christianity gave light a divine and mystical meaning. The light pouring from the sky symbolized the light coming from God. The play of light penetrating through the stained glass led the laity away from everything concrete, earthly, and led to the intangible, luminous. The stained glass window seemed to muffle the physicality, expressiveness, and concreteness of the images of Gothic plastic art. The luminosity of the interior space of the cathedral seemed to deprive matter of its impenetrability and spiritualize it.

The technique of creating an image from colored glass was already knownin Ancient Babylon, Egypt, Greece and Rome. But this art reached its true flowering only in the Middle Ages. Admit it, which of you, having found yourself inside a Gothic cathedral, did not freeze in admiration, looking at the beautiful stained glass windows that seemed to float in the sunlight?

What is unique about stained glass art?

Why did the art of stained glass (from the Latin vitrum and French vitre - glass, a monumental work of decorative art made of colored glass) reach incredible heights in the Gothic era? Note that it has never seen such a scale either before or since.

Probably one of the main reasons for the flourishing of stained glass is associated with architectural innovations: in the Gothic era, new designs for ceilings and external supports allowed the temple to grow tall and lighten the previously heavy walls.

This created space for huge stained glass windows, which almost completely replaced wall paintings, which were popular in Romanesque times.

Source: pixabay.com

There are other reasons for this. In the Middle Ages, stained glass, part of the architectural and artistic association of arts, which was fully embodied in the space of the cathedral, acquired cult significance. Thus, stained glass ceased to be simply a utilitarian and decorative object, but rose to the level of a symbol, denoting the divine light flowing from the abode of the Lord. In the Middle Ages, stained glass windows were compared to jewelry and it was believed that they would save one from monstrous misfortunes - for example, it was believed that with the help of stained glass windows one could protect oneself from the deadly gaze of a basilisk.

Where to look for masterpiece stained glass windows?

The Gothic style historically originated in France, and the basilica of the Abbey of Saint Denis is considered the first building in the new style. The first Gothic stained glass windows also appeared there. The images placed in medallions lacked the monumentality of the Romanesque style and quickly gained popularity among contemporaries. From France, the Gothic style spread to England and Germany. Cathedrals were erected everywhere: Notre Dame de Paris, Canterbury and Bourges, the cathedral in Sens and Reims, Salisbury, York and Lincoln.

Saint Chapelle (Paris), a two-story chapel consisting entirely of colored glass, with no walls visible between them, is rightfully considered a true pearl of stained glass art.

Oddly enough, in the windows of Gothic cathedrals you can see not only religious scenes, but also historical events or everyday activities of people: the work of artisans and farmers, hunting, feasts, knightly battles. There are also images of completely fantastic creatures - dragons and unicorns.

Source: pixabay.com

Did you know that Gothic stained glass, along with book miniatures, represent the painting of an era? You might be thinking, what kind of painting is this? The stained glass window was made up of pieces of colored glass and looked more like a mosaic. And yet it is so. Let us turn to the technique of its creation, which has been considered classic since the time of the monk Theophilus, who wrote the first manual for stained glass artists in the 12th century.

How was stained glass created in the Gothic era?

The basis for making stained glass is a preliminary sketch written on a wooden board, first with zinc or tin, and then with red or black paint. It was transferred to colorless glass, and then the image itself was composed of cut pieces of colored glass, which were fastened with lead bridges and soldered at the edges. The glass was colored using colorful powders - pigments, which were added to the molten mass. And even though in the 12th and 13th centuries there were not so many colors (red, green, blue, purple), they could be combined and layered on top of each other, obtaining unique shades.

For example, it is known that in Chartres Cathedral some stained glass windows were obtained by superimposing up to twenty-seven glasses, both colored and colorless. The drawing, however, was not only made by adding colored glass pieces, but also painted with a brush in those places where it was necessary to depict small details.

When you have drawn lines on the clothes with paint, scatter them wider with a brush, so that the glass is transparent where you are used to seeing light in painting. Let the same line be first bold, then thinner and, finally, very thin. The tones change as if they were three different colors

Stained glass windows, created in the traditional manner, appeared earlier than all others. The original technologies developed in Ancient Sumer and inherited by the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans were lost for a long time after the fall of these empires, and were revived in Western Europe only by the 10th century. Since then, medieval stained glass windows have been decorating exclusively the temples and palaces of large nobles for more than 600 years - since they were very expensive and labor-intensive to manufacture. More than 70% of their stories were on religious topics, and only the remaining 30% were on all other topics. As a basis, medieval stained glass used a powerful metal frame, and the individual elements were connected to each other by soldering lead, copper or brass strips.

Only by the twentieth century the situation changed radically. The basic principles of creating stained glass remained the same, but innovative technologies for production and especially glass processing opened up unprecedented horizons for the masters of stained glass art.

Modern process of making stained glass in historical style

Currently, stained glass windows in the medieval style are produced according to the following scheme.

1. Sketch. In recent decades, it has been drawn on a computer in specialized graphic editors. The software makes it possible to predict in advance how the light will be reflected depending on the characteristics and placement of each element.
2. Profile. Manufactured to the required size. As a rule, it is made of metal - given the significant weight of the structure.
3. Bevels. This is the name given to individual elements, each of which is cut on a machine using a laser. Thus, the ancient procedure for processing individual glasses has become not only more accurate and perfect, but also thousands of times faster, which has made it possible to radically reduce the overall cost of finished products.
4. Soldering. At the final stage, using the most advanced technology today - “Tiffany” - the metal foil between the elements is soldered, the excess is carefully removed, and the seam is cleaned. As a result, the bevels form a single pattern with absolutely invisible joints, and the stained glass window takes its final form.
5. Painting. The exception is cases in which the pattern becomes overly complex, since it requires the introduction of very small elements into the product. In order not to violate classical technology, instead of inserts, larger bevels are painted with special paints, after which one or another fragment appears to be a combination of several small ones.
6. Sections. If stained glass windows in the historical style, provided for by the project, reach sizes of more than 1-2 m 2, ensuring their reliability is achieved by dividing into sections, for each of which a separate profile is prepared.

Areas of use

The main areas of application of medieval stained glass are:

• - hide dull landscapes outside and paint the rooms inside with amazing light;
• - hanging medieval stained glass visually expands the room and makes it much more festive;
• - add an incredibly fresh and bright accent to any interior composition;
• - not only successfully divide the room into separate zones, but also create the effect of additional space (especially if the stained glass windows are something like a bright picture);
• - are much more expressive elements of facades than ordinary glass with colored patterns);
• - look most impressive in dark and gloomy rooms, illuminating them with soft diffused light;
• - ideal shades and night lamps for bedrooms.

The main advantages of medieval stained glass windows

Like all other works of art of this type, historical versions differ:

• practically endless service life without deterioration in physical and technical characteristics and loss of performance;
• the uniqueness of the design - since the products are one-piece, and using the Tiffany technique they are assembled almost entirely by hand;
• unique way of light scattering.

Installation, lighting options and maintenance of stained glass windows in the interior

1. Installation. Stained glass windows, medieval in style, are mounted in finished form almost similarly to window frames. The only difference is the presence of a more powerful U-shaped, H-shaped or more complex profile with a high degree of rigidity.
2. Backlight. It is she who is assigned the role of maximally emphasizing all the advantages of a structure made of colored glass. Modern stained glass windows with a historical style are optimally illuminated with LED or halogen fluorescent lamps. Their correct placement on the back side of the stained glass panel is also extremely important.
3. Care. It is as simple as possible, since glass is only afraid of shock and strong abrasive influences. Periodically wiping the stained glass window with damp microfiber cloths or sponges will be sufficient. Heavy stains are removed in the same way, but using mild detergents without abrasive particles.

What does the cost consist of?

The final cost of the stained glass window you order will be influenced by:

• product sizes and quantity (for wholesale orders);
• number, dimensions and configuration of parts required for assembly;
• glass texture;
• materials manufacturer;
• types of metals for soldering;
• complexity of installation;
• the presence of additional wishes from the client, increasing the complexity of the work;
• the need to install lighting.

Medieval stained glass from Glass Stagecoach

Masters of the “Glass Stagecoach” using the most advanced Tiffany technique to date. View options in our photo gallery.

A Brief History of Stained Glass Art

The amazing stained glass windows of medieval Gothic cathedrals, shimmering with bright colors in daylight or shimmering mysteriously in the evening twilight, make an indelible impression on people both many years ago and today. The magical play of flowing colors creates a special emotional atmosphere in the room, a feeling of fantasticality and involvement in the unearthly. Since the intensity of light is constantly changing (the presence of the sun, time of day, clouds, etc.), the restless glare changes shades, moves, which is why it seems that the image is moving, living its own life. Most likely, the magical charm and irrational appeal of stained glass for humans is associated with this property. There was once a legend that glass could be made by fusing precious stones, which were believed to have supernatural powers. In the Middle Ages, there was a widespread belief that stained glass could be used to protect oneself from the deadly gaze of the basilisk.

The history of multi-colored glasses goes back more than 1 millennium. It is believed that glass was first produced in the 4th millennium BC. e. in Ancient Egypt and Western Asia. An opaque glaze similar to glass was used to apply to facing tiles, beads, and dishes. Various household items were made both from familiar materials such as clay and metal, and from glass, poured into molds. It is assumed that in the 1st millennium BC. e. craftsmen from Syria came up with a device that radically changed the process of glass making: they designed a glass-blowing tube, with the help of which it became possible to blow hollow vessels, and subsequently flat glass inserted into windows. Since then, glassmaking has constantly developed.

Many peoples of Eurasia decorated window openings with cut stone plates, wooden and iron bars, between the bars of which thin plates of marble, paper, glass were inserted, or the cells were left empty. The use of colored glass for these purposes cannot be considered an achievement of medieval Europe, because this was well known in Ancient Rome and in the countries of the East.

Nevertheless, it was in the European Middle Ages that compositions made from individual multi-colored pieces of glass were given symbolic meaning: theologians worked in this field. As a result, the creation of stained glass windows has become a real art, directly related to religious architecture.

Glass plates encased in lead were discovered in the Cathedral of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy. This is the oldest European stained glass window discovered, dating back to the 6th century. Plain (colored and colorless) plates were combined in a frame, forming an ornamental pattern, which is clearly visible in the light due to the lead wire running along the contours. The craftsmen made the stained glass using mosaic technology, so it is considered the oldest, at least in Europe. Somewhat later, stained glass windows began to be made by painting window glass with paints. The oldest painted stained glass window is located in the Lorsch monastery in Germany and is a fragment of the head of Jesus, created in the 9th–10th centuries.

The oldest stained glass windows with drawings of real objects of the surrounding world and figures can be seen in the German Augsburg Cathedral. The very first masters used schwarzlot, which was a substance consisting of copper and iron oxides with fusible glass, as paint for applying images. The color ranged from brown-black to gray-black. Craftsmen still use this paint today.

Professor K. Werman, director of the Dresden Gallery, wrote about stained glass in his book “History of Arts of All Times and Peoples” in 1904: “Throughout its entire history, art has not produced anything that could withstand comparison with these rows of painted glass."

The rise of stained glass art occurred in the 12th century. At that time, probably the first manual on this topic appeared - the monk Theophilus wrote a treatise in which he spoke in sufficient detail about the process of making a stained glass window. First, the glass had to be boiled in special furnaces, simultaneously giving the substance the required color. Then a flat sheet was rolled out from this raw material, and from it, using a hot iron rod, relief plates were separated according to a previously prepared drawing and placed on a wooden board next to the sketch of the intended product. All that remained was to paint the glass in several passes and then fire each one in the oven.

The finished stained glass elements were connected with lead wire, soldering its ends together, and the resulting structure was placed in a wooden, and subsequently metal, window frame. This is how combined stained glass windows were made, combining a mosaic of figured glass and painted elements.

It must be said that the “Theophilus method” is not very different from the modern one. In general, the stages of work performed remain the same. Of course, tools and materials have improved somewhat. For example, no one uses a red-hot iron rod anymore; instead, they use special devices for cutting glass, and instead of a wooden board with a pattern, paper patterns are used.

The European method of making flat glass was called “free glass”. The quality of the products was not up to par - the thickness was uneven, the surface was uneven. In addition, the glass had obvious flaws: air bubbles frozen in the glass, particles of unmelted sand. All this was the result of imperfect glass melting technology. Oddly enough, it is precisely this “damage” that gives the stained glass windows of the early Middle Ages a piquant effect. These defects refract light rays in an unpredictable way, which is why the play of colors becomes more chaotic and therefore natural, and the stained glass window takes on the appearance of a sparkling jewel. True experts in their craft knew how to make glass with irregularities in such a way as to produce amazing interweavings of multi-colored light.

In the period from V to X centuries. More common were products consisting of glasses of pure, saturated colors: red, white, blue, purple, green, yellow - and their shades. However, the choice of these colors did not limit the master - he could obtain different tones using laminated glass, when glass of different colors alternated like a sandwich. Some areas of the applied glass were processed so that the color of the underlying layer showed through.

Stained glass windows with superimposed colored glass can be seen at Chartres Cathedral in France. This building has window glass in which the number of alternating red and colorless layers reaches 27. Naturally, the shades of light penetrating through such an array become unique thanks to the exquisite nuances of the shades.

People of the Middle Ages quite rightly compared the windows of Gothic cathedrals to jewelry. In the cathedral of the Saint Denis monastery in Paris there are stained glass windows that were described as: “Pure gold, an abundance of hyacinths, emeralds and precious stones.” For a long time they remained the ideal of beauty and role models. The first example of architectural Gothic, the Church of Saint Denis (finished in 1144) became the embodiment of the philosophical views of the abbot of the monastery, Abbot Suggeria. It was he who connected the mystical interpretation of light with the practical needs of temple construction. At the same time, the boss wanted the walls to become translucent by replacing them with large windows with colored stained glass. The abbot considered the lighting and images on the windows to be very important, and the contemplation of stained glass windows was one of the spiritual ways of self-improvement, movement from “material to immaterial, from bodily to spiritual, from human to divine.” At the end of the 12th century. The example of the monastery of Saint Denis was followed by other churches throughout Europe.

In the works of medieval theologians, the architecture of the temple as an expression of the heavenly kingdom on earth acquired symbolic meaning. It is not surprising that each element of the structure was assigned a certain meaning: the side walls were perceived as images of the Old and New Testaments; pillars and columns supporting the roof are symbols of the apostles and prophets; and the portals were the threshold of heaven. In this series of symbolic interpretations, the light of stained glass took its place, which, according to theologians, personified the light of Christian knowledge. Honorius of Otensky wrote: “Clear windows, protecting from bad weather and bringing light, are the fathers of the church, opposing the storm and downpour of heresy with the light of Christian doctrine. Window glass, letting in rays of light, is the spirit of the church fathers, divine things in the darkness as if contemplating in a mirror.”

The parallel development of the art of stained glass and the style of medieval religious architecture passed through all the main stages, from Romanesque architecture to “flaming” (late) Gothic. At this time, the most remarkable monuments of stained glass art were created in the main European countries (Great Britain, France, Germany), whose colored burning windows still amaze people.

Typically, the stained glass windows of Gothic cathedrals were made up of a large number of small, self-sufficient compositions placed in their own cell of the window frame. All parts of the mosaic were united by one theme, although they were split into many small subplots. To a large extent, this was due to certain technical difficulties: the technology of manufacturing flat windows until the 14th century. did not allow making large glasses, and the structure of many individual elements gave the structure the necessary rigidity.

By the 14th century glassmakers learned to produce higher-quality colorless glass, the sheet area of ​​which increased, and accordingly there was additional space for artists. The number of lead “connectors” of individual parts of the stained glass window with each other has been reduced, and the images have become more holistic. The colors used for painting became noticeably more diverse. For example, a method of coating glass with silver oxides (“silver gold” paint) appeared, thanks to which the glass became yellow-golden. They painted both colorless and colored glass, which acquired specific colors and shades. Engraving became very popular - using a special wheel, patterns were cut out on the surface of the glass, which looked doubly impressive on laminated glass. Such achievements led to the fact that in the 15th century. people more often began to choose not colored glass in bright and rich tones, but colorless glass with multi-colored patterns.

In the manufacture of stained glass, the techniques of traditional painting became increasingly widespread, while the contour line went out of fashion, lost its strength and expressiveness, became soft, and was transformed into one of the “pictorial” means. Skilled masters of the Renaissance painted magnificent paintings onto glass, successfully solving issues of perspective, three-dimensionality of forms and the realism of captured images. At this time, stained glass was no longer used only in religious buildings, but also in secular buildings, for example, in town halls and palaces.

Until the 16th century AD, glass in residential buildings was very rare, which is not surprising, given their high cost and inaccessibility. The turning point was the invention in the 16th century. lunar method of making flat glass based on the blowing method. True, despite the fact that such glass was smooth and transparent, its quality was still not up to par.

The lunar method of making glass was as follows: first, they blew out a ball, then pressed it down, and attached an axis (something like a stick) to the bottom, getting a kind of round table with a leg.

With rapid rotation around an axis, centrifugal force turned the pressed ball into a flat disk. It was separated from the stem and annealed. In this case, a thickening remained in the center of the disc, called the “navel.”

Stained glass art spread throughout Europe and was widely used in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Great Britain, Flanders, and Switzerland. A fashion arose for small panels (cabinet stained glass windows), which were placed on the wall in front of the window. Usually the subjects for them were family coats of arms or events from the life of the customer.

At the same time, a certain decline in the development of stained glass art began. The fact is that in the second half of the 16th century. Religious wars broke out in Europe; Naturally, in these conditions, few people cared about preserving the old stained glass windows, and new ones were simply not ordered. Where the ideas of the Reformation prevailed (Great Britain, the Netherlands), i.e., a social movement against the Catholic Church, the traditions of religious-historical stained glass were interrupted, but the demand for stained glass with secular themes (usually heraldic) increased, which was used in town halls and in temples. The countries of victorious Catholicism (Italy, France, Spain) also did not avoid serious changes: the fashion for ancient forms returned to Renaissance architecture, into which stained glass did not fit well.

XVII century marked the final decline of stained glass art. The rapid development of science and rational philosophy, which had an overwhelming influence on the worldview of that era, led to the fact that the creation of multi-colored windows was practically abandoned. It was difficult to find anyone who would make compositions from painted glass. In such an environment, naturally, many secrets of mastery were lost, and the continuity of knowledge and skills was broken.

In the Age of Enlightenment, they operated with the categories of Reason and Light, but in the 2nd case they meant the explanatory light of scientific knowledge, not divine radiance. In an effort to make the interior of buildings lighter, enthusiasts deliberately destroyed Gothic and Renaissance stained glass windows, replacing them with clear glass.

Since history always repeats itself, in the era of romanticism (late 18th - early 19th centuries), Europeans again became interested in stained glass. Medieval multi-colored windows with their expressiveness and sensuality were ideally suited to the prevailing mood. Moreover, the artistic value of stained glass windows was appreciated later, but at first the romantics liked the atmosphere in cathedrals during church services, when the sounds of the organ merged with the air trembling in the colored rays. It is this synthesized perception of music, color and light that led to the emergence of art in the 19th century. specific direction of artistic search.

The Middle Ages and the philosophy of Neoplatonism played a decisive role in the resurrection of stained glass art. It was first restored in England at the end of the 18th century, where preference was given not to mosaic, but to pictorial structures on a single piece of glass. Each art exhibition was certainly accompanied by a demonstration of glass painting. The British remembered their tradition and began to decorate houses and carriages with colorful windows. Quite often, painted glass was not intended for windows, but served as a kind of painting.

It was there, in line with stained glass art, that a school of historical painting was formed, whose representatives worked on transferring classical paintings to glass. There was an opinion that transparent technology would help to take a fresh look at examples of old painting. Experiments with stained glass also influenced traditional painting - the effects of painting on glass began to be imitated on canvas.

At the beginning of the 19th century. Attempts were made throughout Europe to establish the production of stained glass. Craftsmen tried to imitate ancient works, but this turned out poorly, since knowledge about the technology was lost. The production of the same stained glass windows with images of the master's coat of arms, which set the teeth on edge, soon gave way to searches aimed at discovering new formulas for the production of multi-colored glass and compositions for painting. This took the entire 1st half of the century.

The most notable successes in the production of stained glass were demonstrated by France (Sèvres workshop) and Germany ("Glass Painting Establishment" at a large porcelain enterprise in Munich). From the middle of the 19th century. The number of stained glass workshops in Europe steadily increased. The range of types of stained glass created could amaze with its diversity. These included imitations of medieval crafts, especially in demand in connection with extensive restoration efforts to restore large Gothic cathedrals; hand-drawn paintings on glass, which irresistibly sought to rid windows of lintels and lead seams, giving preference to applying the image to a large sheet of glass, as if it were a canvas.

Times of unification of different views and ideas have nurtured and developed an endless variety of artistic and decorative forms of stained glass art. As for the plot lines of the compositions, everything here remains more or less constant: allegorical figures in a row of architectural decorations, heraldic symbols, Gothic ornaments.

In the 20th century The development of various styles and trends in stained glass art continued. Techniques and approaches were improved, and the Second World War pushed this process. After the end of hostilities, it was necessary to restore many cathedrals and other buildings, in which multi-colored glass occupied a significant place: windows and elements of interior decoration, individual objects, such as lamps, lampshades.

More than ever, artists had room for creativity, and they actively took advantage of it, experimenting with materials and techniques. The images realized in stained glass were no longer limited to the usual themes of previous centuries. Here there is realism (people, animals, plants - anything), and abstractionism, and purism (the desire for accuracy, clarity, purity), and symbolism, and pluralism, which mastered the masters at the end of the 20th century. and determined the direction of development of colored glass.

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