Stained Glass UK
The first references to stained glass UK were made in the seventh century though it took another five centuries before stained glass making evolved into a more stylish art form. In fact, stained glass making did not change too much after the twelfth century. Stained glass windows were widely being used in churches and cathedrals in the UK and consisted of pieces of stained glass that were coloured and held together in web (latticed) of lead.
Stained Glass –painting on stained glass
Most of the early works of stained glass UK had glass that had faces and hands as well as drapery that were painted on the stained glass and then fired on to the glass in either brown or black paint.
Yellow coloured stains
In the year 1300, yellow coloured stains were discovered. This discovery had considerable significance because not white glass could be changed into blue glass or yellow glass and even green glass. These colours were then used to highlight hair and haloes as well as crowns.
Continuing evolution
The evolution of stained glass UK continued and was flourishing in England until the time that the Reformation of the Church took place during the middle of the sixteenth century. During this period many changes were made in the religious outlooks of people living in England and a new need arose which was to make use of sacred art.
Declining skills
Stained and coloured glass was still being made in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries but during this period the craft as well as skill of stained glass UK was on the decline. Later, in the nineteenth century, a new and much more serious movement was begun that tried to rediscover techniques that had been lost.
Charles Winston
Charles Winston, an antiquarian and an architect called AW N Pugin made an effort to re-establish all the best principles that would revive the Gothic arts of stained glass. Winston conducted several technical experiments during the middle of the nineteenth century and managed to achieve the same level of excellence that the medieval glazers were capable of doing many years earlier.
In modern UK, stained glass UK is largely influenced by the Victorian era stained glass windows and the quality as well as craftsmanship of this era is recognised for being of a very high quality. During the latter part of the nineteenth century, a renowned firm by the name of Morris & Co was established by Phillip Webb, William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti and in a matter of fifteen years, Burne-Jones became a well known figure because he was able to create outstanding designs many of them being reused in later times and these were to be translated into stained glass by his skilful craftsmen.
Mary Lowdnes is another well known name in the context of stained glass UK art. She was an extremely talented woman who was actively engaged in the Arts and Craft Movement. Towards, the end o f the nineteenth century she and another person called A J Drury got together to form the firm called Lowdnes & Drury. They also created The Glass House which was located in Fulham and was a place where budding stained glass artists could work in an independent manner and free from the constraints of working for profit.
