Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 1.djvu/33

Rh of very small pieces of various coloured glass, varying greatly in depth, and much intermixed. The natural tendency of this arrangement is not only to give by contrast undue prominence to the lighter colours, but also, through some optical delusion, to produce confusion of colour, in proportion to the smallness of the coloured particles employed. Thus we observe, that an intermixture of very small pieces of red and blue glass, has at a distance the appearance of purple. These defects are in some measure corrected by age. The brilliancy of the lighter colours is subdued by the partial obscuration of the glass; which also has the effect of more completely separating the various tints, and of thus preventing confusion of colour. The rust of antiquity, therefore, greatly adds to the effect of an early glass painting, by increasing its breadth and harmony. A later glass painting requires no such adventitious aid. Larger pieces of glass are mostly employed in its construction, and thus its individual colours (which possess a greater equality of depth than those of early paintings) are originally arranged in broad and distinct masses. Amongst other late windows which we think have been improved by cleaning, we may mention those superb specimens of cinque cento art, the windows of St. Jacques church, Liège: and also such of the windows of King's chapel, Cambridge, as have already undergone this process.

We will now offer some remarks on the present low state of glass painting, considered as an art.

It cannot we fear be denied, that the works of our modern glass painters are, in general, inferior, not only to ancient examples, but also to the productions of modern continental artists; and that this is owing, not indeed to the nature of the materials employed,—for glass of every kind (with the important exception of white glass, that silvery white which forms so essential an ingredient in every old glass painting) may now be easily procured at a reasonable rate, and equal, if not superior in quality, to the glass used on the Continent, or in the ancient times, at the most flourishing