Stained Glass Windows
The history of stained glass windows is not clear but what is known is that the techniques involved in making such glass items originally came from the making of jewellery as well as mosaics. The first stained glass windows were made after the first real churches were built and by the tenth century these windows began to show Christ in various forms and many scenes from the Bible were also being painted on these windows. In particular, German and French churches used such stained glass windows and later on in England they were used with decorative design works in them.
Stained glass –made with metallic salts
Glass contains liquid and gas as well as has solid state properties. In the beginning, glass was made and coloured by adding certain metallic salts as well as oxides. Later, on techniques to make stained glass windows were modified and these techniques were best described by a monk called Theophius. The methods that he described remained more or less the same for the next nine hundred years.
The Gothic Era
The Gothic era saw a change in stained glass windows whose use became very popular and widespread. Churches in the Gothic times were a lot taller as well as lighter and their walls were also much thinner. Stained glass was increasingly being used to fill up any large sized openings in the churches and cathedrals of the time. One of the best examples of Gothic style stained glass windows can be seen in the Abbey of St Denis. These windows were truly impressive.
Show off translucent pictures
Stained glass windows are also considered as being a means to show off translucent pictures and Gothic styles stained glass windows were more complex as they used intricate patterns which were very impressive and beautiful.
Stained glass artists improved their skills and became part time painters as well. During the Renaissance, white coloured stained glass windows were introduced and this meant that much of the past glory of these windows was lost as the new windows did not have the same symbolism and innate beauty that the earlier windows had.
During the middle 1800s, England became a centre for the revival of Gothic style stained glass windows. In England, medieval style windows were being produced in studios all across the country and The Bolton Brothers who immigrated to America introduced the stained glass windows to that country as well. These were still Gothic styled stained glass windows which were used in churches in the New World to enhance churches and also to add ornamental style windows to homes. This gave rise to a distinctively American style stained glass window.
American style stained glass windows were made famous by John LeFarge and his compatriot Louis Comfort Tiffany that were excellent painters and who were not shy of experimenting with glass. They developed their own style of glass which offered greater visual effects and did so without any painting.
Today, stained glass windows are still with us and in the twentieth century there was a renewed interest in these kinds of windows. Of course, the modern stained glass windows are very contemporary and use many imaginative forms as well.
