Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/586

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vii. DEC. is, mo.

Chapel for workmanship only." ('An In- quiry. .. .with Hints on Glass Painting,' p. 388.) The words of the contract are, however, plain enough Thornton agreeing to work for a salary as conscientiously " sicut faceret si opus hujusmodi fieri deberit suis sumptibus et expensis."

3. Although the agreement with Thornton was not signed until Dec. 10, 1405, prepara- tions for the making of the great east window and the other windows of the easternmost portion of the new choir had been put in hand as early as 1399. In that year there was in store in the glass-painters shop (vitriario). :

14 M v. c. iij quartron (precii del c. 22s ) vitri albi empti pro magnis fenestris novi chori, precii 18 8" 6*

Item vij cent' (precii del c. 10s.) vitri colorati empt' pro eisdem 70

A kiln or muffle had also been erected : "Item ij pateH pro enelyng (vitris) barres pro eadem, precii 4s

and various other tools purchased : "Item ij soudyngirens, j par clames et j par de

tanges precii ... 4 d

(' York Minster Fabric Rolls,' Surtees Soc.)

Besides the above glass, most of which was no doubt for plain glazing, Thornton agreed to provide glass and lead (et praefatus Johes oia providebit vitih et plubu) for the great east window, but it was to be paid for "ex sumptibus Capituli," Thornton merely doing the buying "ad commodu Decani et Capituli."

4. The contract with Thornton which was drawn up on Dec. 10, 1405, stipulated that the work was to be completed within the period of three years. Many writers in- cluding Mr. N. H. J. Westlake have doubted Thorntons' ability to do this as the window measures thirty-one feet wide by seventy two feet high. But that the work was carried out within the specified time is shown by the artist's monogram J. TON and the date ccwvm under two suns in th tracery of the window.

( ' Illustrated in Ancient Painted Glass Windows in the Minster and Churches of York,' by Geo. Benson, A.R.I.B.A., p. 87.)

It has been stated that Thornton not only designed but carried out the work himself. Such a course in view of the magnitude the task and the time allowed is obviously impossible; besides being opposed to the mediaeval practice of minute sub -division of labour in the production of artistic works.

This erroneous idea evidently originated through an unsatisfactory translation of the agreement given by Browne ('Hist, of the Metrop. Church of St. Peter,' pp. 202-3), and through ignoring the clause which provides that Thornton was to engage workmen (operarios) to carry out the work. It was, however, stipulated that Thornton should " draw (portroidbit] the window and the subjects, figures, and any other things to be painted on the same " with his own hand, but he was only to "paint the same in so far as shall be necessary " (et etia depinget quatenus opus fuerit).

5. Upon the completion of the window in 1408 Thornton evidently left the employ of the Dean and Chapter and set up in business for himself in the city ; for in 1410 he was made a freeman for which honour he would not be eligible whilst he was an em-

g'oye of the ecclesiastical authorities, e was evidently established in Stonegate where nearly all the York glass -painters lived and worked. The Dean and Chapter owned property in this street near the Minster gates, and it was no doubt in one of these houses that Thornton lived. He was alive in 1433 for in that year the Chapter paid for :

ij lodiis emptis pro ten. in tenura Job.

Thornton cum j fune canabi 19;t

('York Minster Fabric Rolls,' Surtees Soc.) at which period he would be 58 or more years of age. He was probably in partner- ship or undertook work conjointly with William Pontefract of York, for in the inventory of the goods of Hugh Grantham of York, a contractor in a large way of business for the construction of churches who died in 1410 ; there is an item under the heading ' Debita non clara, De iiij li. de Johanne Thornton et Willelmo Pontefract de Ebor ' (Test. Ebor., Surtees Soc., vol. iii), whilst Coldingham Priory in 1406 owed " Willielmo Pontefract de Eboraco Iiij 8 iiij d " ('Account Rolls of the Priory of Colding- ham,' Surtees Soc., p. Ixxxi.) Whether or not William Pontefract was a glass-painter however, has not as yet been fully estab- lished.

6. With the exception of the great east window at York there is no painted glass definitely known to be the work of John Thornton. Dr. Nelson ('Ancient Painted Glass in England,' p. 41) states, without quoting any authority, that this artist was "responsible for the glass in the north window at St. Mary's Hall, Coventry.'*