Wakges: Medieval English Stained Glass

Illustration: Stained glass design from St Nicholas church, Wilton, Wiltshire, 13th century.

Although stained glass design is often seen and appreciated in the great cathedrals that were scattered across England during the medieval period, these were clearly not the only examples that were produced. Many medium and small churches had examples of stained glass design, some of which have survived into our own period. Although perhaps not necessarily of the quality that could be found in the great cathedrals and abbeys, this does not negate both their importance and their creation within the communities that they served.

The five examples shown in this article portray stained glass design work from various and differing sized churches from the south of England to Staffordshire. They are by no means the best, or the worst, but a very small example of the standard of glass design and decoration that was available to varying parishes throughout England during the long medieval period.

Illustration: Stained glass design of Saint Bernius from Dorchester church, Oxfordshire, 13th century.

Stained and painted glass was both studied and analysed during the nineteenth century, with the Victorian period being a particularly keen consumer of this unique style of work. However, it was not only stained glass designers who used surviving windows and indeed fragments for both inspiration and guidance. Textile, wallpaper, embroidery, printing, wood and metal designers would have been equally intrigued, particularly by the decorative details that were nearly always present in medieval glass design. In fact, it seems difficult to think of many pieces of medieval architecture, sculpture, fine or craft work that did not have some implication and understanding of both pattern and decoration. It is perhaps this inclusion of intrinsic style, colour and pattern that so intrigued the Victorians, who studied, examined and then reconstituted the medieval, transforming it into a wholly contemporary feature of their own era. This became so much the case that today Victorian medieval is seen as a stand-alone decorative style period rather than one that was merely copied.

Illustration: Stained glass design from Stockbury church, Kent, 13th century.

The nineteenth century designer and decorator did not produce a new edition to the medieval, even though inspired by the original. The Gothic Revival explored the various craft systems that had been available during the medieval period, some of which had to be re-learnt from scratch. Interestingly there was a particular emphasis on the amount of colour and pattern that had been available during this early period. There was much talk and detailed discussion concerning the role and extensiveness of painted interior and external walls of churches, as well as the part played by the distinctive coloured areas of stained and painted glass within these interiors. A number of nineteenth century publications concentrated on this aspect of medieval decoration and it was thought important to understand the role that colour played in the medieval world.

Illustration: Stained glass design of the Arms of France from Froyle Church, Hampshire.

To many ordinary people in the medieval world, high saturated and rich colours would have been rarely, if ever seen, apart from those found in nature. The church on the other hand would have been a focus for colour in a number of areas, including stained glass. The sun shining through panels of saturated colour would no doubt have been appreciated by the local population of most small and medium sized churches. Red and blue seems to have been particularly popular choices for decoration, although other colours were also clearly available. This is a world now long gone, and many of the connections with that world have also been broken, leaving us with few remnants in which to fully appreciate the working parameters of the life that ordinary people lived in, as well as the colours and patterns that they would have been aware of, understood and enjoyed.

Illustration: Stained glass design from Bushbury church, Staffordshire.

That much of England's original medieval stained glass work was destroyed through religious zeal, civil war or deliberately removed for 'improvement' is a sad and irreplaceable loss. However, enough remained for the Victorians to reignite a passion for stained glass and to produce a whole range of new work that although perhaps not always at a level with the standard achieved by medieval craftsmen, still allows us to appreciate nineteenth century stained glass as a decorative era in its own right.

Wakges

Monday, July 4, 2011

Medieval English Stained Glass

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