Stained Glass Work - A text-book for students and workers in glass

C. W. Whall

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• Publié par: onno
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 45
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stained Glass Work,
by C. W. Whall
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Title: Stained Glass Work
A text-book for students and workers in glass
Author: C. W. Whall
Release Date: February 27, 2010 [EBook #31415]
Language: English
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STAINED GLASS WORK ***
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" ... And remembering these, trust Pindar for the truth
of his saying, that to the cunning workman—(and let
me solemnly enforce the words by adding, that to him
only)—knowledge comes undeceitful."
—Ruskin ("Aratra Pentelici").


"'Very cool of Tom,' as East thought but didn't say,
'seeing as how he only came out of Egypt himself last
night at bed-time.'"
—("Tom Brown's Schooldays").







THE ARTISTIC CRAFTS SERIES
OF TECHNICAL HANDBOOKS
EDITED BY W. R. LETHABY


STAINED GLASS WORK







CUTTING AND GLAZING CUTTING AND GLAZING
Frontispiece (See p. 137)








STAINED GLASS WORK
A TEXT-BOOK FOR STUDENTS AND WORKERS IN
GLASS. BY C. W. WHALL. WITH DIAGRAMS BY
TWO OF HIS APPRENTICES AND OTHER
ILLUSTRATIONS



NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
MCMXIV






Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.
at the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh







To his Pupils and Assistants, who, if they have learned
as much from him as he has from them, have spent
their time profitably; and who, if they have enjoyed
learning as much as he has teaching, have spent it
happily; this little book is Dedicated by their
Affectionate Master and Servant,
THE AUTHOR.




EDITOR'S PREFACE
In issuing these volumes of a series of Handbooks on
the Artistic Crafts, it will be well to state what are our
general aims.
In the first place, we wish to provide trustworthy text-
books of workshop practice, from the points of view of
experts who have critically examined the methodscurrent in the shops, and putting aside up a standard
of quality in the crafts which are more especially
associated with design. Secondly, in doing this, we
hope to treat design itself as an essential part of good
workmanship. During the last century most of the arts,
save painting and sculpture of an academic kind, were
little considered, and there was a tendency to look on
"design" as a mere matter of appearance. Such
"ornamentation" as there was was usually obtained by
following in a mechanical way a drawing provided by
an artist who often knew little of the technical
processes involved in production. With the critical
attention given to the crafts by Ruskin and Morris, it
came to be seen that it was impossible to detach
design from craft in this way, and that, in the widest
sense, true design is an inseparable element of good
quality, involving as it does the selection of good and
suitable material, contrivance for special purpose,
expert workmanship, proper finish, and so on, far
more than mere ornament, and indeed, that
ornamentation itself was rather an exuberance of fine
workmanship than a matter of merely abstract lines.
Workmanship when separated by too wide a gulf from
fresh thought—that is, from design—inevitably decays,
and, on the other hand, ornamentation, divorced from
workmanship, is necessarily unreal, and quickly falls
into affectation. Proper ornamentation may be defined
as a language addressed to the eye; it is pleasant
thought expressed in the speech of the tool.
In the third place, we would have this series put artistic
craftsmanship before people as furnishing reasonable
occupations for those who would gain a livelihood.
Although within the bounds of academic art, thecompetition, of its kind, is so acute that only a very
few per cent. can fairly hope to succeed as painters
and sculptors; yet, as artistic craftsmen, there is every
probability that nearly every one who would pass
through a sufficient period of apprenticeship to
workmanship and design would reach a measure of
success.
In the blending of handwork and thought in such arts
as we propose to deal with, happy careers may be
found as far removed from the dreary routine of hack
labour as from the terrible uncertainty of academic art.
It is desirable in every way that men of good education
should be brought back into the productive crafts:
there are more than enough of us "in the city," and it is
probable that more consideration will be given in this
century than in the last to Design and Workmanship.
Our last volume dealt with one of the branches of
sculpture, the present treats of one of the chief forms
of painting. Glass-painting has been, and is capable of
again becoming, one of the most noble forms of Art.
Because of its subjection to strict conditions, and its
special glory of illuminated colour, it holds a supreme
position in its association with architecture, a position
higher than any other art, except, perhaps, mosaic
and sculpture.
The conditions and aptitudes of the Art are most
suggestively discussed in the present volume by one
who is not only an artist, but also a master craftsman.
The great question of colour has been here opened up
for the first time in our series, and it is well that itshould be so, in connection with this, the pre-eminent
colour-art.
Windows of coloured glass were used by the Romans.
The thick lattices found in Arab art, in which brightly-
coloured morsels of glass are set, and upon which the
idea of the jewelled windows in the story of Aladdin is
doubtless based, are Eastern off-shoots from this
root.
Painting in line and shade on glass was probably
invented in the West not later than the year 1100, and
there are in France many examples, at Chartres, Le
Mans, and other places, which date back to the middle
of the twelfth century.
Theophilus, the twelfth-century writer on Art, tells us
that the French glass was the most famous. In
England the first notice of stained glass is in
connection with Bishop Hugh's work at Durham, of
which we are told that around the altar he placed
several glazed windows remarkable for the beauty of
the figures which they contained; this was about 1175.
In the Fabric Accounts of our national monuments
many interesting facts as to mediæval stained glass
are preserved. The accounts of the building of St.
Stephen's Chapel, in the middle of the fourteenth
century, make known to us the procedure of the
mediæval craftsmen. We find in these first a workman
preparing white boards, and then the master glazier
drawing the cartoons on the whitened boards, and
many other details as to customs, prices, and wages.
There is not much old glass to be studied in London,