Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 4.djvu/187

 HINTS ON GLASS PAINTING. 169 " The leads used until the middle of the seventeenth century, are nearly of one uniform width, and are much narrower in the leaf than the common modern leads. That this was the case, can be proved not only by the existence of the original leads themselves, but more satisfac- torily perhaps by the black lines drawn upon the glass, with which the glass painters were accustomed sometimes to produce the effect of leads, without unnecessarily cutting the glass. Many instances of this practice may be seen in plate 19. " Fig. 1. in the annexed cut represents an ancient lead of the usual width; fig. 2, its profile ; fig. 3. the profile of a German lead of the early part of the fourteenth cen- tury ; fig. 4. a piece of modern fret lead of the ordinaiy width, and which is now considered as being very narroiv ; and figure,. 5. its profile. It appears, on comparing ^or/Z.^^ 2 T" ^ the sections of these leads, that the ancient /caj ^^ ■** lead (No. 1.) contains as much material ^m^ as the modern lead, and is therefore not I^ ^ weaker than it ; though it presents a nar- '^P rower surface to the eye. The German ""'T^^^T^t^^Tn^^r lead is considerably stronger than the modern. Theophilus [Post Appendix A, chap. 25,] describes the making of the leads, which were then simply cast in a mould. Some leads of the fifteenth century, which I have examined, appear as if they had been first cast, and afterwards planed or cut to shape. The modern leads are cast roughly, and compressed between two rollers, to the proper dimension. This process makes them more rigid than the old leads. It is the practice of modern glaziers to surround each ylazing panel w ith a ' hroad lead,' — i. e. a lead three-quarters of an inch, or an inch, broad in the leaf, — to strengthen the work." Part i. p. 27. It may be noticed that the plan adopted of presenting a narrow face or front to the eye, while a considerable mass of material is preserved, w'holly accords with the principles of comjiosition which characterize Gothic archi- tecture. The first chapter, which comprises more than half the bulk of the work, is devoted to the discrimination of the styles which have prevailed, from the first known introduction of glass painting into windows, to the present day. Their changes of character, during the medieval period, appear to have followed pretty closely upon those which mark the corresponding styles of architecture. Accordingly our author adopts Rickman's nomenclature, and classifies the styles of glass painting, as, the Early English, which extends from the date of the earliest specimens extant, to tlie year 1280; the Decorated, which prevailed from 1280 to 1380; the Perpendicular, from 1380 to 1530. VOL. IV. Z