Augsburg Cathedral c. 1100

Early Stained Glass

Stained glass began primarily as a Christian art form. While it is impossible to pin down the origins of stained glass art it is evident that by the European Middle Ages, early glass artists had been inspired by the developments of the goldsmith, the cloisonné enameller, and the tradition of tile mosaics. Having developed the ability to produce relatively large pieces of colored glass, the next step was the use of a lead instead of a gold framework to hold together pieces of glass as a window rather than a broach or a wall decoration. The medieval artist also discovered that iron filings mixed with powered glass could be formed into a paste that could be painted on glass to depict various images such as, faces, hands and drapery. When fired at a temperature close to the melting point of glass the images became a permanant part of the glass. While there are records of colored glass being used by St. Gregory in St. Martin of Tours in the sixth century the evidence for prototypes of stained glass windows is very scarce. The spread of Christendom throughout Europe, however, would make stained glass the dominant art form of the new millennium. While medieval craftsmen were often quite cultured, they depended upon the works of traditional scholars for their designs and decoration of cathedrals. The church fathers were well aware of the ability of stained glass "to illumine men's minds so they may travel through it to an apprehension of God's light", as well convey the stories and messages of the Bible to an illiterate populace. More than anyone else Suger, the abbot of St. Denis from 1122 to 1151 and confidant to kings Louis VI and Louis VII, helped bring about a revolution in architecture and stained glass which we refer to as the Gothic style.