Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/690

Rh G68 painting now existing is a window of the llth century in a church at Xeuwiller, in Alsace, representing St Timothy. The ﬁgure is rudely designed, but, with the rich b;n'der of ornament, shows that the execut-ant knew his art, which in the following century is further illustrated by windows in St Denis, near Paris, erected by the abbot Suger, which are still preserved. It was however in the l3th century, that great age of the revival of art, that glass painting att-lined its first great development, and notwith- standing the claims advanced by France, it is 111ost probable that as all art radiated from Italy as a general centre of invention and progress, as well as of faith and dogma, so glass painting partook of the general impulse. It has indeed been asserted that glass manufactured in the north was superior to that produced in Italy, and this is admitted by Vasari, but an examination of old Italian windows throws doubt upon this statement, for the Italian glass will be found to be more even in texture, more cliaphanous, and certainly not inferior in colour, whilst the beautiful, pearly, white glass of the earliest date in Italy is superior to the pale green representing white in northern glass, and assorts n1ucl1 more harmoniously with the glowing coloured glass with which it is associated. Considered as a branch of ﬁne art, Italian painted glass occupied a very high posi- tion at all periods of its history, for the designs were fre- quently made by some of the 1no.st famous of that long roll of immortal artists who have had so few equals elsewhere. In Germany the family of Hirschvogel of Nuremberg and other eminent artists, including, it is popularly believed, Albert Diirer, and in France Jean Cousin, Bernard Palissy, Louis Fauconnier, and others, equalled the Italian glass- painters, whilst both German and French artists excelled them in technical processes. The late Mr Charles Winston, author of An Inquz'r_g/ into the diference Qfslg/le o’;serz.-able -in A ncicnt Glass P«u'ul[n_r/, €.¢peciall_I/ in Eng/l«_nu__/, with his usual accuracy and profound knowledge of his subject, thus classiﬁes the consecutive styles :-—the Early English, from the date of the earliest specimens extend to the year 1280 ; the Decorated, which prevailed from 1280 to 1380; the Perpendicular from 1380 to 1530; and the Cinquecento from 1500 to 15:30. The styles successively prevalent in Italy, although they have an affinity with those following each other in northern countries, cannot be accurately designated by the titles selected in England, the last excepted. Like other branches of painting they are most readily divided and understood by centuries; as the 13th century, a style principally in- ﬂuenced by Giunta Pisano and Cimabue; the 14th century, in which the spirit of Giotto and Orcagna and their followers prevailed; the 15th century, the ﬁrst period of which was transitional, and the second early revival, as illustrated by the designs for windows of Lorenzo Ghiberti, Donatello, Paolo Ucello, Pietro Perugino, Andrea dclla Robbia, and other great artists of the time. The last age, called by Mr Winston the Cinquecento, lasted in Italy beyond t.l1e period assigned by him for its termination, and was characterized by ﬂorid magniﬁcence of design and splendour of colour, imitative of the pictorial art of that age. and the ornament resembled that prevalent amongst the omamentists of the schools of Raphael and Bfichclangelo. In this brief analysis of the history and practice of glass painting, the Italian examples of the art are selected for description as being less known than those existing in other parts of Europe, which have been minutely and ably illus- trated. Besides being classiﬁed by centuries, Italirin glass painting may be appropriately arranged under the following heads or schools :—the Pisan, Florentine, Sienese, Umbrian, Lucchese, Bolognese, Lombard, and Venetian ; for notwith- standing the lamentable destruction of painted glass in Italy even now in progress, specimens by artists belonging to GLASS [cuss PAINTING. these schools still exist, aml the names of a numerous array of glass-painters of these provinces are preserved. The best examples extant of this art in Italy of the first half of the l3th century are two couplets in the apse of the famous basilica of St Francis at Assisi. In general arrangement and design they resemble windows of the same age in oth--r pirts of Europe cl tssed by Mr Winston under the general head of Early English, being divided into panels of varied and admirably designetl geometrical forms surrounde-.l by diapers and borders of rich fancy and glowing colour, which, however, are rather more confused than similar details in c)nte-mporary glass cl.<cwhe:'e. The panels are ﬁlled with scripture subjects, and Italian skill and refine- ment are obvious in the design of the figures; this may be readily understood when it is considered that Italian artists of this time rendered the (lrcek art, uni- versally followed, with more sentiment aml power than any other people. The ornament shows tlze influence of Byzantine conventions, but the omamentists imitated natural forms of foliage sooner than northern artists. A remarkable peculiarity of the early painted windows at Assisi, which are here taken as the best aml almost the only speciniens of 13th-century glass left in Italy, is that throughout the couplets the backgrounds in each light differ in colour. The subjects for instance in the right light ' are on a blue ground, on the left on a red ground, in other examples the grounds are alternately blue and green. It might be supposed that all unity of effect must have been destroyed in this way; but such is the skill with which the general harmony of colour is arranged, that the counter- changes are less objectionable than might appea.r possible. Early Italian glass painting, like that of other parts of Europe, is characterized by an obvious ignorance of perspec- tive on the part of the designers, but there are manifest indications of attempts to represent retreating surfaces and lines ; that these have not the effect intended was not due, as some suppose, to the maintenance of a principle appro- priate to glass painting, but simply to a want of knowledge of perspective laws common to all, even the greatest artists of the time. Besides executing panel windows with small ﬁgures, the artists of the 13th century painted ﬁgures of comparatively large proportions u11der canopies of simple and primitive forms. These ﬁgure windows were placed in positions at a distance from the eye, as above in the clerestory, or at the ends of aisles. At Assisi such ﬁgures are painted at the bases of some of the windows irrespective of the idea of distance, the upper portions being ﬁlled with panels and small figures. This irrational system gave way to the entire window being ﬁlled with large ﬁgures placed over each other within canopies or geometric borders, a method of design which survived in Italy to the close of the 15th century. The coloured windows of the upper and of the lower church are associated with mural paintings which cover every available space on the walls and vaults. It might be supposed that the rcfulgent painted glass would either obscure the frescos or diminish their effect by contrast ; but in the ﬁrst place the glass is not so thick as that of northern manufacture, nor is it made opaque by the effect of climate, whilst, as already noticed, the white glass is purer, and the brilliant sun of a southern climate illumines the frescos sufficiently, notwithstanding the coloured medium through which the rays are transmitted. Such is the case at Assisi ; but at Florence the coloured glass in the cathedral darkens the church too much, from causes which will be explained afterwards. The true method of combining coloured glass in a building with the presence of pictures and sculpture in a less sunny climate will be illustrated in describing glass painting of the 16th century, the subject being im- portant at the present time.