Besides its wondrous cathedral, Chartres has another though a more
modest sanctuary which also possesses its original glazing almost
intact. This is the church of St. Pierre, a unique example of the
glazier's attempt to meet the objection of light obstruction charged
against the thirteenth century mosaic method. His treatment of the
clerestory lights is of peculiar interest. There are no transepts.
Around the clerestory each window is divided perpendicularly in half,
one side being glazed in colour and the other in soft grisaille. The
only difference in the nave clerestory is that there each window is
divided perpendicularly into three instead of two, the middle division
in each case containing colour work and the two outside ones, grisaille.
This method of glazing, plus the fact that the triforium is pierced,
produces the desired amount of illumination within, but one can hardly
say that it is produced in an altogether satisfactory manner. It is
inevitable that this sandwiching of strips of colour between others of
grisaille should reduce the value of the tints and dull their glow. The
effect is very strange--it is as if tall shutters of dark hue had been
prepared for grisaille windows, but that these shutters had only been
put up on one side of each. Whether one admires it or not, the method is
novel, and worth examining. The new demand for more light has been met,
but we have not yet reached the perfection of church illumination. For
this we must wait until the fully elaborated canopy panels of the
fifteenth century, for in those the glazier hit upon just the right
proportion of colour and translucency by means of convincingly complete
designs containing no jarring contrasts. It is well if one defers this
inspection of St. Pierre, and does not go to it straight from the sombre
glories of the cathedral. Such an immediate comparison will render it
difficult to realise what an agreeable experience the smaller edifice
affords for the student of glass (see page 67).
Do not fail to go into the Lady Chapel to see the delightful set of
twelve enamels representing the Apostles, by many considered the chef
d'oeuvre of the master of that craft, Leonard Limousin. They are
remarkable not only for their delicious combination of tones and shades,
but also for their unusually large size (two feet high by one foot
broad). One is not surprised at the great care everywhere apparent in
their workmanship when one learns that they were ordered by Francis I,
who, however, did not live to see them finished. His son, Henry II,
presented them to Diane de Poitiers for her Chateau d'Anet.
Before leaving St. Pierre, observe how excellently the architect
adjusted the relative heights of the bays, triforium and clerestory; so
graceful is the result that we depart with the impression of an edifice
of unusually agreeable proportions.