Walk into Grace Church any
Sunday morning and your senses will be inspired. Ears will hear the glorious
music rising from the organ and human voices singing joyfully unto the Lord.
The aroma of incense--its smoke drifting upward as do our prayers--greets us,
a reminder that we are in the presence of the holy. The taste of the Body and
Blood of Christ as we are assured "that we may evermore dwell in him, and
he in us." Our hands will feel the smoothness of the gleaming oak pews
as we kneel in devotion. Our eyes may wander from the wondrous Christ the King
on the Cross suspended over the altar and then travel to each magnificent stained
glass window. All of this and much more are what make this our beautiful house
of worship.
Please join us in a tour of these magnificent works of art.
Annunciation
and Nativity, 1924.
The
Epiphany and Presentation of Christ in the Temple, 1924.
Christ Before the Doctors and the Baptism of Christ, 1924.
The
Last Supper and the Crucifixion, 1924.
Resurrection and Ascension, 1924.
Suffer the Little Children to Come Unto Me, 1950.
I Am the Light of the World, 1932.
St. Paul, the Apostle I, 1953.
St. Paul, the Apostle II, 1953.
The Road to Emmaus, 1958.
Down through the centuries the glories of stained glass have encircled mankind with their complexity of color and imagery.
As early as the third millennium before Christ, the technique of coloring glass was known in Egypt and Mesopotamia. A thousand years later clear colored glass objects were molded and by the first century AD, Roman glassmakers had mastered blown glass, which allowed vessels and thin transparent sheets to be made. Translucent and pierced screens of alabaster and glass were made in the Early Christian period, and colored glass windows in wood frames are mentioned in 6th and 7th century sources.
European pictorial stained glass began in the 9th century according to records. The earliest surviving fragments, depicting heads of Christ, were found at Lorsch Abbey in the area that is now France and dated variously from the 9th to the 11th century. In the 12th century--the Romanesque period--there was an increase in massive newly-built cathedrals, and this brought about the first flourishing of the art. The earliest surviving windows are five larger-than-life-size standing Old Testament figures in the upper story of Augsburg Cathedral, dated 1050-60 or 1100-50.
In French Romanesque stained glass, the most popular subjects were single standing figures--one above the other--and the Tree of Jesse, depicting the ancestors of Christ. In the 13th century, scenes from the Passion were dominant as well, and at Poitiers Cathedral the crucifixion is the subject of its main window. The predominant colors used at this time were blue (especially for the background) red, yellow, and green. Violet, brown, and white with a green or blue cast were secondary, and pinkish shades served as flesh tones.
With the perfecting of vaulting and the flying buttress, heavy load-bearing walls were eliminated to allow more and much larger windows in the church, which inspired a greater variety and perfection in stained glass. Rose windows--huge, circular multiform medallions that look like radiating wheels--were placed high in the west end and the transepts and usually depicted the Virgin and Child. During this--the Gothic period--the subjects of other windows were stories from the Bible and the life of Christ, the Last Judgment, prophets and evangelists, legends and lives of the saints, coats of arms, history, the signs of the zodiac and the labors of the months. The masterpiece of the 13th century is Chartres, the interior of which is a jewel of glittering color that changes with the light piercing its 176 windows, nearly all of which have endured intact.
Grisaille windows were also popular. These panes of white glass with black or brown painted outlines were used in cathedrals for variety, to admit more light, to diminish the intensity of blue or to accentuate contrasting colors, and, much later, simply to save money. The most beautiful examples in England, where grisaille flourished, are at Lincoln and Salisbury cathedrals, and especially at York Minster, where the Five Sisters--tall, narrow, pointed windows of foliate and geometric patterns--appear to be a flickering mosaic of gray, red and green.
In the early 14th century
a new color was introduced into French stained glass--silver or yellow. Popular
from that time on, the color was used for
crowns and halos. The intermediate tones of tawny brown and olive green were
added and much more white glass was used. More portraits of donors appeared
sometimes observing or even participating in biblical scenes. This courtly style
continued into the 15th century. The Renaissance of northern Europe, commanding
attention to realistic detail, influenced artists to paint pictures on glass
rather than with glass. New secular themes were presented and the art of heraldry--coats
of arms and genealogies-- was more popular than ever before.
While technical innovations were developed in the 16th century, stained glass as an art declined partly due to the influence of the Reformation. The effect of different colors could be achieved on a single large piece of glass by an enameling technique. This process dispensed with the need to use individual small panels of color which had created the beauty of earlier stained glass. Some glaziers still worked in 17th century Europe, but by the 18th century, England alone continued the tradition. With the 19th century Gothic revival, English and French restorers attempted to rediscover older techniques.
The nineteenth century and the Art Nouveau movement brought new life to stained glass. It was passionately believed by some that the antidote to the evils of the Industrial Revolution was a return to the handcrafts of the Middle Ages. Thus the Arts and Crafts movement led to the production of stained glass designed by famous painters. Of course, in this country, Louis Comfort Tiffany produced a new style in stained glass in the early part of this century which alternately enjoyed favor and suffered contempt.
Twentieth-century architectural technology has once more opened walls of buildings to artists and glaziers all over the world. These new opportunies have given rise to new inventions, such as pieces of glass with chipped and faceted surfaces that are set into an epoxy resin or concrete. In 1962 the Rose Window in the south transept wall of the Washington Cathedral in Washington, D.C. was dedicated. Its imagery was taken from the Book of Revelation. Measuring about 30 feet in diameter, it contains some 10,000 pieces of stained glass. What a magnificent tribute to our Lord!
Updated October 30, 2005
