Little proof is needed of how greatly the glazier depended upon the
architect, or of how necessary and proper it was that his glazing should
harmonise with the prevailing architectural style. The period we are
about to study affords a striking example of this subserviency of the
window to the building it lights. In no country can there be found a
school whose glass was so dominated by its architecture as was that of
the Perpendicular in England. This Perpendicular style never crossed the
Channel, for the French Gothic of that time, instead of becoming stiff
and regular, grew more flamboyant and elaborated. Another marked
difference is that all the time the English were softening their tints
and striving for a silvery sheet of low tones (Great Malvern, &c.), the
fifteenth century French were, on the contrary, using stronger and more
varied colours than during the century before. To such excellence of
delicate drawing and tints did the English attain in their Perpendicular
windows that it may safely be said that in those respects they were
never surpassed elsewhere. This is particularly noticeable at Ross and
Cirencester. An opportunity to compare the French with the English glass
of that time is afforded by the fact that the French windows of the
Beauchamp Chapel at Warwick will be visited between the distinctively
English ones of Great Malvern and York. This Warwick glass was brought
from France because the contract exacted "Glasse from beyond the Seas,"
and we at once notice the strong hues, which differ so markedly from the
then prevailing English ones. Nothing could be more convenient than the
way in which these particular windows enable us to differentiate between
contemporary glass on opposite sides of the Channel.
When the Perpendicular architect arrived upon the scene, he found the
canopy window already well developed. The shape of the embrasures which
he provided were peculiarly suited to this agreeable method of glazing.
The straight upward sweep of his mullions made easy an effective
adjustment of the narrow canopy-framed niches, and left the artist
little to do but elaborate the more modest sentry-box of the Decorated
period. This he did in a very artistic and pleasing manner. The signs of
development are easily distinguishable, and chief among them are the
elaboration of the architectural detail of the canopy (by increasing the
number of pinnacles and drawing them in relief instead of flat), and
the completing of the frame effect by adding elaborate pedestals below
the feet of the figures. We must remember that the earlier glazier
either placed nothing below the enframed figure or else, in a few
instances, heraldic shields (as at Tewkesbury). In many instances the
earlier solitary figures within the canopies now give way to groups,
although not so frequently as in France. The glazier did well to abstain
from this change as much as possible, for although it is logical to find
a saint within a shrine, nothing could be more absurd than to install
therein a rural scene or a small battle picture. The Perpendicular
architect, unlike his Decorated predecessor, was not content to leave
the tracery lights differentiated from the rest of the window below.
Instead, he tied the upper and lower lights together by carrying his
mullions straight up through them all, and thus deprived the tracery
ones of the independence as well as the decorative success they formerly
enjoyed. In a few instances (as at Great Malvern), the glazier
accentuates the stiff regularity of these upper lights by filling each
with a canopy-enclosed figure. Lest the upright parallel lines of the
mullions lend too monotonous an appearance, care was generally taken to
make two of them (usually thicker than the others) swerve outward when
nearing the top of the embrasure, one to the right and the other to the
left. These two thicker mullions served the further artistic purpose of
breaking the line of tall lights into groups of two or three each. This
can be observed in the illustration.
The chief features of this school are as follows:
(_a_) Increasingly lighter and softer tones;
(_b_) Stiff parallel lines of upright mullions;
(_c_) Tracery lights lose their independence;
(_d_) Greatly elaborated canopies;
(_e_) Stipple shading, replacing the earlier smear shading.
It can be said with no fear of contradiction that we have now arrived at
the finest period of English glazing.