STAINED GLASS.
From early times it has been customary to colour glass. To the ancient
Egyptians a method of forming glass of various tints was known, and by
producing a mass of glass consisting of variously coloured pieces
vitreously united, and cutting this into slices, they, in a costly and
laborious manner, produced a sort of stained glass which might have
been employed for the sides of lanterns or other purposes. The Greeks
were acquainted with a similar process, and bowls formed in this
manner by them are common in our museums.
Soon after the re-discovery of glass in our own country, methods of
colouring it were sought, and cathedral windows were formed, which
were of such beauty, and were so thoroughly fitted to answer the end
of their creation, that little or no improvement upon these early
works has even yet been made, and much of the decorative glass which
we now produce is far inferior to them as regards design, colour, and
mode of treatment.
A window must fulfil two purposes--it must keep out rain, wind, and
cold, and must admit light; having fulfilled these ends, it may be
beautiful.
If a window commands a lovely view let it, if possible, be formed of
but few sheets (if not very large, of one sheet) of plate-glass; for
the works of God are more worthy of contemplation, with their
ever-changing beauty, than the works of man; but if the window
commands only a mass of bricks and mortar inartistically arranged, let
it, if possible, be formed of coloured glass having beauty of design
manifested by the arrangement of its parts. A window should never
appear as a picture with parts treated in light and shade. The
foreshortening of the parts, and all perspective treatments, are best
avoided, as far as possible. I do not say that the human figure, the
lower animals, and plants must not be delineated upon window glass,
for, on the contrary, they may be so treated as not only to be
beautiful, but also to be a consistent decoration of glass; but this I
do say, that many stained windows are utterly spoiled through the
window being treated as a picture, and not as a protection from the
weather and as a source of light.
If pictorially treated subjects are employed upon window glass, they
should be treated very simply, and drawn in bold outline without
shading, and the parts should be separated from each other by varying
their colours. Thus, the flesh of a figure may be formed of glass
having a pink tone; the robe of the figure of glass which is green,
purple, or any other colour; a flower may be formed of white glass, or
of glass of any colour; the leaves of green glass; and the sky
background of blue glass. All the parts will thus be distinguished
from each other by colour, and the distinction of part from part will
be further enhanced by the strong black outline which bounds the parts
and furnishes the drawing of the picture.
[Illustration: Fig. 173.]
[Illustration: Fig. 174.]
Strong colours should rarely be used in windows, as they retard the
admission of light. Light is essential to our well-being; our health
of body depends in a large measure upon the amount of light which
falls upon the skin. Those wonderful chemical changes, in the absence
of which there can be no life, in part, at least, depend upon the
exposure of our bodies to light; let our windows, then, admit these
life-giving rays. It must also be remembered that if light is not
freely admitted to an apartment the colours of all the objects which
it contains, and of its own decorations if it has any, are sacrificed,
for in the absence of light there is no colour.
[Illustration: Fig. 175.]
[Illustration: Fig. 176.]
[Illustration: Fig. 177.]
[Illustration: Fig. 178.]
[Illustration: Fig. 179.]
[Illustration: Fig. 180.]
It is not necessary, in order to the production of a beautiful window,
that much strong colour be used; tints of creamy yellow, pale amber,
light tints of tertiary blue, blue-grey, olive, russet, and other
sombre or delicate hues, if enlivened with small portions of ruby or
other full colours, produce the most charming effects, and by their
use we have consistent windows.
A good domestic window is often produced by armorial bearings in
colour being placed on geometrically arranged tesserae of slightly
tinted glass. In some cases such an arrangement as this is highly
desirable, for the room may thus get the benefit which a bit of colour
will sometimes afford, and at the same time a pleasant view may be had
through the uncoloured portion of the window. As an illustration of
this class of window, we extract one from the catalogue of those
excellent artists in stained glass, Messrs. Heaton, Butler, and Bayne,
of Garrick Street (Fig. 173). A good window may also be formed by
bordering a plain window with colour, (Fig. 174), or in place of the
plain centre squares of glass may be used, each bearing a diaper
pattern, as Figs. 175 to 182.
[Illustration: Fig. 181.]
[Illustration: Fig. 182.]
No architectural constructive feature should be introduced into a
window--thus, an elaborate architectural canopy overshadowing a figure
is not at all desirable. If a figure is formed of a perishable
material, and stands on the outside of a building, it is well that it
be protected from the rain by a canopy; but such a contrivance when
introduced over a figure drawn on a flat window is absurd, being
useless. Let us always consider what we have to do before we commence
the formation of any ornamental article, and then seek to do it in the
most simple, consistent, and beautiful manner. Figs. 183 and 184
represent my views of what stained glass may advantageously be.
[Illustration: Fig. 183.]
More than once in the course of these chapters I have protested in
strong terms against pretence in art and art-decoration--the desire to
make things appear to be made of better material or more costly
substances than what they have in reality been wrought from--that
leads men to paint and varnish a plain freestone mantelpiece in
imitation of some expensive marble, or to make doors and
window-shutters, skirting and panelling that the carpenter has
fashioned out of red or yellow deal, assume the appearance of oak, or
maple, or satinwood, by the deceptive skill of the grainer. In no
case can the imitation ever approach a fair resemblance to the reality
it is proposed to imitate. The coarse, rough grain of the soft
freestone, which is incapable of receiving a polish, or rather of
being polished until it becomes as smooth, and even, and lustrous as
good glass, can never be made by successive coatings of paint and
varnish to afford a satisfactory resemblance to the marble that it is
supposed to represent, however carefully the cunning hand of the
painter may have imitated the veins, and spots, and curious
diversities of colour with which Nature has variegated the surface of
the substance that he is endeavouring to copy. Nor, again, can a
coarse-grained, soft wood, however skilled may be the hand that
manipulates it, be treated so as to resemble the texture and
smoothness of hard, close-grained wood, which from its very nature is
capable of receiving the high polish that the softer material can
never take if treated by the same process--that is, unless the expense
of producing the imitation greatly exceeds the cost of the thing
imitated. And what is applicable to the treatment of wood and stone is
applicable also to the treatment of glass: for as a freestone
mantelpiece, or deal door, however suitable and pleasing to the eye
either may be when simply painted in the one case and varnished in the
other to preserve the surface from the deteriorating influences of
dirt of any kind, can never be made by the exercise of reasonable time
and skill to present the appearance of marble or oak; so glass, by the
application of colour rendered transparent by varnish, can never be
brought to resemble glass stained or painted by the legitimate method,
either in delicacy of tint, or depth, and richness, and brilliancy of
colour. The greater part of the imitative stained glass, or
"diaphanie" as it is styled, fails not only in colour, but in design;
and in this indeed it may perhaps be said to be especially faulty. The
designs, which are printed on paper, with the view of imitating glass
patterns, err principally in being too elaborate, and in representing
figures and scenery which are not in character or keeping with the
designs that are usually represented in painted glass. If confined to
simple diaper work, or borderings and heraldic emblems, as shown in
Figs. 173 and 174, or patterns similar to that shown in Fig. 183, the
artistic effect produced would be more satisfactory, although it can
never equal genuine stained glass in depth of colour or purity of
tone.
[Illustration: Fig. 184.]