STAINED GLASS.
The use of coloured glass in the windows of buildings devoted to
religious purposes appears to have been employed as early as the ninth
century, but no examples remain of anything like so old a date, and we
have only illuminated missals and primitive drawings by members of the
conventual bodies to guide us in determining the earliest styles of
coloured glazing. It appears to have consisted of more or less primitive
representations of the human form, with strong black lines to indicate
the features and folds of the drapery. The backgrounds were generally
masses of deep blue or red, and in the rare instances where landscapes
were introduced positive colours only appear to have been used. Our
oldest specimens in England are those in the choir aisles of Canterbury
Cathedral, which appear to be of the 12th century, and it is thought
that they are the remains of the original glazing that was put in when
this part of the building was rebuilt after a fire in 1174. The general
design is composed of panels of various forms, in which are depicted
subjects from Holy Scripture, with backgrounds of deep blue or red; the
spaces between the panels are filled with mosaic patterns in which blue
and red colours predominate, and the whole design is framed in an
elaborate border of leaves and scroll-work in brilliant colours.
[Illustration: A Parish Church with a Shingle Broach Spire.
(_See page 99_). Edenbridge, Kent. _Homeland Copyright._]
Of thirteenth century windows we have some magnificent examples
--unfortunately few unmutilated--as at York, where is the five-light
lancet window situated in the north end of the transept, known as the
Five Sisters of York. Of this date, also, are the large circular window
of Lincoln Cathedral, and the windows at Chetwode, Bucks; Westwell,
Kent; West Horsley, Surrey; and Beckett's Crown, Canterbury.
A little later, in the Decorated period, we get the great east window
of York Cathedral, 75 ft. high and 32 ft. broad; the east window of
Gloucester Cathedral, 72 ft. high and 38 ft. broad; and other fine
windows at Tewkesbury Abbey; Merton College, Oxford; Wroxhall
Abbey, Warwickshire; and the churches of Chartham, Kent; Stanford,
Leicestershire; Ashchurch, Glous.; Cranley, Surrey; Norbury, Derbyshire,
and others. Salisbury Cathedral has retained portions, but very lovely
portions, of the glazing of its west windows, and enough is left to show
that it was little inferior to the great windows of York and Gloucester.
Carlisle Cathedral, too, has preserved fragments of the original glass
in the tracery of the great east window, but the lower part of the
glazing is modern. Windows in the Decorated style continued to be
arranged in panels, with the spaces between them filled with flowing
patterns of foliage, in which the vine and ivy leaves predominate.
Single figures are more common than in the previous style, and when used
are generally shown beneath a simple pediment or canopy. In the early
examples they only occupy a portion of the window light, but later they
are found occupying nearly the whole of the surface and are surmounted
by large and elaborate canopies. Quarries are much used in this style,
sometimes quite plain, but more often with leaves or rosettes painted on
them in black lines, or painted with the vine and ivy leaves so arranged
that they form a repeating pattern over the whole window. At this
period, too, heraldry began to be employed in the decoration of the
windows to which it is always an appropriate and artistic adjunct, and
many authentic and valuable examples of our national heraldry have thus
been preserved for posterity.
With the advent of the Perpendicular style the glazing became more
uniform in character, the glass was thinner and lighter, the tints
paler, and the whole effect more brilliant and transparent. The
paintings for the most part consist of large figures under elaborate
canopies, frequently occupying an entire light, and in the patterns and
smaller decorations there is a greater freedom of design, and the whole
treatment is more harmonious and artistic than in any other period. The
use of heraldry became very common, and inscriptions on long narrow
scrolls were frequently employed. Among the best examples of this period
are the windows at S. Margaret's Church, Westminster; King's College
Chapel, Cambridge; Fairford Church, Gloucestershire; and Morley Church,
Derbyshire.
The Reformation, with its vast social and political upheaval, was not
conducive to the encouragement of the fine arts, and from this period
the art of glazing in England declined beyond measure, and was not the
only art that received its death-blow in the triumph of Puritanism. The
art has, however, revived greatly during recent years, thanks, among
other artists, to William Morris and Burne-Jones. A few words must
be said about the "Jesse" window found in some of our cathedrals and
churches. Strictly speaking, it is a representation of the genealogy of
Christ, in which the different persons forming the descent are placed on
scrolls of foliage branching out of each other, intended to represent a
tree. It was also wrought into a branched candlestick, thence called a
Jesse, a common piece of furniture in ancient churches. The subject is
found on a window at Llanrhaiadr y Kinmerch, Denbighshire, on the stone
work of one of the chancel windows at Dorchester Church, Oxfordshire,
and in carved stone on the reredos of Christchurch Priory, Hants.
It is not perhaps generally known that the actual colours used in early
stained glass possessed each of them their own specific symbolism.
Underlying the obvious story conveyed by the human figures or decorated
devices, there was an inner story to be read with profit by those who
understood the mystic symbolism concerning colours. Without entering at
length into this interesting subject, it may yet be stated that green
was the symbol of Regeneration, red of Divine Love, white of Divine
Wisdom, yellow of Faith, and grey, or a mixture of black and white, the
emblem of Terrestrial Death and Spiritual Immortality. These colours at
different times or in different countries had other meanings as well,
and ecclesiologists tell us that the colours chosen for depicting the
robes of our Lord differ according to the period of His life which it
was intended to represent.