News

 

Superb CVMA Catalogue of Stained Glass in Cheshire Published

 

 

Penny Hebgin-Barnes’ definitive study for the CVMA (GB) of pre-Gothic Revival stained glass in the northern British county of Cheshire has just been published.

The Medieval Stained Glass of Cheshire catalogues the glass found at fifty sites in the county, mostly churches, but also including domestic residences and other buildings. It has 642 pages and numerous illustrations, including 24 colour plates.

Highlights include the discovery of an important fourteenth-century regional workshop, probably based in Chester, whose output survives at nine sites in the county, including the parish churches of St Wilfred at Grappenhall (near Warrington) and St Mary at Treuddyn, in North Wales; sixteenth-century armorials and donors; a fascinating window of 1581 at High Legh which demonstrates the Elizabethan religious settlement; a unique window commemorating the English Civil War in the parish church of St Chad at Farndon; and a plethora of seventeenth-century quarries depicting a wide range of subjects such as English monarchs, classical sibyls, military drill and menial occupations. The county’s outstanding collections of foreign panels are also catalogued for the first time. [Figs. 1 and 2]

To celebrate this magnificent volume, we are delighted to announce that readers of Vidimus can buy this superb book at a massive 40% discount of the retail price. This unique online offer will close on 31 December 2010.

In conjunction with the Oxford University Press and the British Academy we are also offering special ‘recession-busting’ discounts on other recently published CVMA volumes – see below!

To take advantage of this special offer see the Oxford University Press website.

Fantastic Offers on CVMA Publications

 

 

 

In conjunction with the Oxford University Press and the British Academy we are offering Vidimus readers exclusive discounts on recently published CVMA volumes!

They include Penny Hebgin-Barnes’ widely praised 2009 volume on The Medieval Stained Glass of Lancashire; David Kings’ exemplary The Medieval Stained Glass of St Peter Mancroft, Norwich; Tim Ayers’ majestic two-volume study of The Medieval Stained Glass of Wells Cathedral; Thomas French’s pioneering The Great East Window of York Minster, and Kerry Ayre’s invaluable Medieval English Figurative Roundels.

These exclusive online offers expire on 31 December 2010.

For more details of these unmissable opportunities, please see the Oxford University Press website.

Important exhibition of French Medieval Art opens in Paris – France 1500: Entre Moyen Age et Renaissance

 

 

Outstanding stained glass panels are among two hundred items on display at a new major international exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris.

France 1500: Entre Moyen Age et Renaissance is organised by the Réunion des musées nationaux (Paris) and the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition will remain in Paris until 10 January 2011, and then move to Chicago (26 February 2011 to 30 May 2011).

The exhibition explores a pivotal period in French art during the reigns of Charles VIII (1483–1498) and Louis XII (1498–1515), and their powerful wife, Anne of Brittany, when humanism and Italian influences began to be felt.

The glass was curated by the distinguished CVMA (France) author, Dr Michel Hérold, and includes treasures from Evreux Cathedral, Sens Cathedral, the church of Our Lady at Louviers (Eure), and the archbishop’s palace in Rouen. Loan items from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Musée National du Moyen Âge-Thermes de Cluny (Cluny Museum) in Paris add to the riches of a spectacular exhibition which also features panel paintings, tapestries, sculpture and lavishly illuminated manuscripts from the National Library of France.

A hardback 400 page French-language only catalogue of the exhibition is available, price €49. An English language version of the catalogue will appear next year when the exhibition transfers to Chicago (USA).

For more details, see the Grand Palais website.

Complementary Exhibitions

The Musée National du Moyen Age (Cluny Museum) is hosting a complementary exhibition on the medieval art of Slovakia until 10 January 2011. D’or et de Feu: (Out of Gold and Fire, Art in Slovakia at the end of the Middle Ages), features panel paintings, sculptures and manuscripts. A 128 page French-language only catalogue is available, price €28. For more information, see the Cluny Museum website.

A selling exhibition of medieval art France 1500: The pictorial arts at the dawn of the Renaissance is being held at Les Enluminures Gallery at the Le Louvre des Antiquaires, 2 Place du Palais-Royal, until 28 November 2010. Several stained glass panels are among forty-five works on display which also include manuscripts, Books of Hours, single leaves and cuttings, and coffrets with early xylographs. After closing in Paris, this exhibition will travel to New York and Chicago next year. The Les Enluminures Gallery website includes an online exhibition.

A 164 page, 74 colour illustrations catalogue: France 1500: The Pictorial Arts at the Dawn of the Renaissance, by Sandra Hindman and Ariane Bergeron-Foote, is available from the website, price €30

Genealogy of Christ Exhibition in Canterbury Cathedral

 

 

 

 

A newly opened temporary exhibition in the western crypt of Canterbury Cathedral provides a unique opportunity to see some of the earliest – and greatest – painted glass in the church at close quarters.

Four figures from a major series known as the Genealogy of Christ which once filled the clerestories of the choir, presbytery and Trinity Chapel will be on display until February 2011 when they will be replaced by other figures from the cycle.

Leonie Seliger, the head of the cathedral’s stained glass studio told Vidimus: ‘Visitors will be able to see these impressive figures at close quarters and to see how the late Romanesque style moves into early Gothic. We will leave the first four figures on display until February next year, and then replace them with another group of four, with a change of figures thereafter every three or four months. We will try and have two twelfth- and two thirteenth-century figures on display at every change, to illustrate the evolution of style.’

The first four figures are Methuselah and Lamech, which were made for the clerestory of the choir before 1180, and Hezekiah and Josiah which come from the clerestory of the Trinity Chapel and date from c.1213–20. [Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4]

The Genealogy, or Ancestors, of Christ series consisted of as many as eighty-six figures of at least 140cm in height, largely based on the list of names contained in the Gospel of St Luke (3: 23–28) and interpolated with additional names from the Gospel of St Matthew (1: 1–17).When it was completed it was the largest known series of the Genealogy of Christ in medieval art (not just in stained glass). In total forty-three figures of the original series survive, nine in the choir clerestory; twenty-two in the south-west transept window (sXXVIII) and twelve in the west window (WI).

The exhibition features figures from the south-west transept window which is currently undergoing repair work to the external masonry.

The figure of Methuselah [Fig. 1] has given its name to one of the glass painters – the Methusaleh Master – involved in the glazing of the cathedral after the great fire of 1174. A recent study of the cathedral glazing has drawn attention to the figure’s sculptural qualities and highlighted the ‘precocious use of foreshortening in the right leg which is drawn up to provide a rest for his arm’ (see Further Reading: Michael). Other panels thought to be by the same artist in the cathedral include the panel of ‘Adam Delving’.

The slightly later figure of Hezekiah shows the king carrying the sundial on which God, ‘…brought the shadow ten degrees backwards’. This refers to Hezekiah’s request, made in a prayer, that he should not die before he had saved Jerusalem. When God heard his prayer he gave Hezekiah an additional 15 years of life to defeat the king of Assyria.

Further Reading

• M. H. Caviness, The Early Stained Glass of Canterbury Cathedral, Princeton, 1977
• M. H. Caviness, The Windows of Christ Church Cathedral Canterbury, CVMA (GB) II, London, 1981
• M. Michael’s Stained Glass of Canterbury Cathedral, London, 2004
• P. Collinson et al. (eds), A History of Canterbury Cathedral, Oxford, 1995

Jan Gossaert exhibition Opens in New York

A new exhibition devoted to the Burgundian Netherlandish panel painter and stained glass designer, Jan Gossaert (c. 1478–1532), has opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Man, Myth, and Sensual Pleasures: Jan Gossart’s Renaissance will run to 17 January 2011. It will travel to the National Gallery in London next year (23 February – 30 May 2011).

Many of Gossaert’s designs were used by glass-painters; indeed it is possible that he supplied some designs directly. He was among the first northern artists to make copies after antique sculpture and introduce historical and mythological subjects into the mainstream of northern painting. Most often credited with successfully assimilating Italian Renaissance style into northern European art of the early sixteenth century, he is regarded as the pivotal Old Master who changed the course of Flemish art from the Medieval craft tradition of its founder, Jan van Eyck (c. 1380/90–1441), and charted new territory that eventually led to the great age of Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640).

The exhibition was conceived and organised by Dr Maryan Ainsworth, Curator in the Metropolitan Museum’s Department of European Paintings, and is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.

For opening details see the Metropolitan Museum website.

Further Reading

To see images of all the paintings by this artist held by the National Gallery, London, see the National Gallery website

Strawberry Hill Reopens After £9 Million Restoration

 

One of the most important sites in the history of stained glass collecting has opened its doors to the public after a £9 million two-year long restoration campaign. Horace Walpole’s remarkable eighteenth-century fantasy ‘Gothic’ castle at Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, near the banks of the River Thames in London, was designed and created between 1747 and 1792.

To decorate its interior Walpole (1717–1797) bought ‘an immense cargo of painted glass from Flanders’ numbering over 450 pieces, mostly sixteenth- and seventeenth-century roundels, which he had set into the windows of the principal rooms (see Further Reading: Eavis & Peover). Although many of these panels were dispersed when the contents were sold in 1842, over two hundred still remain in the house. During the recent restoration campaign the roundels were cleaned, repaired and reinstalled by conservators from Chapel Studios. In addition to the acquisition of early glass, Walpole also commissioned and installed heraldic panels made by some of the leading glass-painters of his age. [Fig. 1]

The restoration campaign was part-funded by a £4.9 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Other partnership funding included donations from English Heritage, the World Monuments Fund Britain, the Architectural Heritage Fund, as well as numerous charitable trusts, local societies and individual patrons.

For details of opening hours and more information see the Strawberry Hill website.

Further Reading

• A. Eavis and M. Peover, ‘Horace Walpole’s Painted Glass at Strawberry Hill’, Journal of Stained Glass, xix/3, 1994/95, pp. 280–313
• J. A. Knowles, ‘Horace Walpole and his collection of stained glass at Strawberry HiIl’, Journal of Stained Glass, VII, 1937–9, pp. 100–10, 131–3, 192
• R. Marks, ‘The reception and display of northern European roundels in England’, Gesta, 37/2, 1998, pp. 217–224
• M. Peover, ‘Strawberry Hill… Horace Walpole’s Stained Glass’, Country Life, 26 October 1995
• And ‘Strawberry Hill Forever’: the restoration of a rampant lion’ in Vidimus 34

Vierge en Gloire! Exhibition at Vitromusée Extended

The Virgin in Glory! exhibition at the Vitromusée, Romont, Switzerland, has been extended until 31 October 2010.

It features six window panels from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries currently undergoing restoration in the conservation studios of the Museum.

The glass comes from the collegiate church of Our Lady in Romont and ranks among some of the most important in Switzerland. It includes a fourteenth-century panel which shows affinities with the windows at Königsfelden Abbey and panels made around 1455 by Agnus Drapeir, a glass painter who was also employed at Lausanne cathedral in 1466.

Visitors to the exhibition can see the conservators at work in the studio.

For more information see the Vitromusée website.

To see some images from this exhibition, see Vidimus 43.

Restoration of York Minster’s Great East Window Gets Funding Go-ahead

 

The York Minster Revealed project has been given a £9.7m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

The work will include repairs to the stonework of the church, major enhancements of visitor facilities and the restoration of the Minster’s famous Great East window.

Begun in 1405 and finished in 1408, the window contains the largest single expanse of medieval stained glass in the world and tells the story of Alpha et Omega, the beginning and the end, from the creation of the world in the Book of Genesis to the final prophesies from St John’s Book of Revelation.

It was made by John Thornton, a glass-painter from Coventry and members of his workshop team.

Vidimus will be carrying regular updates about the project as the conservation process gets under way. [Fig. 1]

To see more images from the Great East window see the CVMA Picture archive.

Symposium on Medieval Stained Glass in Honour of Meredith Parsons Lillich at the Corning Museum of Glass

 

A one-day symposium in honour of the stained glass historian, Meredith Lillich, will be held on 13 November 2010 at The Corning Museum of Glass, New York state.

Professor Lillich is a member of the Corpus Vitrearum (USA) and the author of many books about stained glass, including The Stained Glass of Saint-Père de Chartres (1978); Rainbow Like an Emerald: Stained Glass in Lorraine in the 13th and Early 14th Centuries (1991); The Armor of Light: Stained Glass in Western France 1250–1325 (1994); The Queen of Sicily and Gothic Stained Glass in Mussy and Tonnerre (1998); and European Stained Glass before 1700 in Upstate New York, London/New York, 2005, Corpus Vitrearum (USA) II/1. [Fig. 1]

Sessions include: ‘Devotion, Desire and Painted Glass’, with welcoming remarks by Florian Knothe; Alyce Jordan (Northern Arizona University) – ‘The St Thomas Becket Window at Angers: Devotion, Subversion, and the Scottish Connection’; Florian Knothe (Corning Museum of Glass) – ‘’”Conspicuous Distinctiveness”: Heraldry and the continuous Application of a Medieval Art-form in Glass’; Renee Burnam (CVMA) – ‘The Philadelphia Museum of Art and George Grey Barnard’s “Second Collection”, The Abbaye’; Tim Husband (The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art) – ‘The Glazing of the North Aisle of the Carmelite Church of Boppard-am-Rhein’; Michael Cothren (Swarthmore College, Glencairn Museum) – ‘Speaking Some Truth about Gothic Stained Glass’; Mary Sommar (Millersville University) – ‘Ecclesiastical Servitude in Medieval Reims’; Donna Sadler (Agnes Scott College) – ‘The Visual Program of Reims Cathedral: Prophets and Priests 11 Kings 3’; Maureen Quigley (St. Louis University) – ‘Future Tense: Philip VI, the Directoire a faire le passage de la Terre Sainte, and the Crusade Project of 1332’; Terryl Kinder (Saint Michael’s College) – ‘Pontigny Abbey: 1114–2014’; David N. Bell (Memorial University of Newfoundland) – ‘From Storeroom to Study: The Origin and Development of Cistercian Libraries’ and a presentation on the Life and Work of Meredith Lillich by Eric Ramírez-Weaver.

There will also be a guided tour of the Museum’s display of medieval glass and a visit to the Medieval Glass for Popes, Princes, and Peasants exhibition.

For more information about this exciting day, please contact: Eric M. Ramírez-Weaver at emr6m@eservices.virginia.edu or the Corning Museum of Glass, One Museum Way, Corning, NY 14830.

University of York Autumn Lecture by Sebastian Strobl

Professor Sebastian Strobl, FMGP, ACR, of Erfurt University, (Germany) and vice-chairman of the International Conservation Committee of the Corpus Vitrearum, will speak on ‘From Plumber to Conservator: The Story of Stained Glass Conservation’ at the University of York on 23 November 2010.

Organised by the University’s History of Art department, the lecture has been arranged by the MA in Stained Glass Conservation and Heritage Management team in association with the Stained Glass Research School.

The Lecture will start at 5.15 pm in the Lecture Theatre (K/133), The King’s Manor,York.

Members of the public are welcome to attend. Tickets, price £5, are available from Pam Ward, Postgraduate Administrator, Centre for Conservation, The University of York, The King’s Manor, York YO1 7EP, Tel: 01904 433997; or email: pab11@ pab11@york.ac.uk.

Please make cheques payable to ‘The University of York’, by no later than Monday 15 November 2010.

Death of Michael Lassen

 

Last month saw the tragic death of Michael Lassen, aged 61, a well known and much liked Associate Member of the British Society of Master Glass Painters. He died after falling from a ladder while working at Durham Cathedral installing a new window, given by the Friends of Durham Cathedral in memory of former Bishop of Durham and Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey. The designer of the window, the well-known stained glass artist, Tom Denny, told Vidimus, ‘I am deeply grateful to Michael for his tremendously fastidious craftsmanship and his kindness and support during the work on the Transfiguration window at Durham.’

Michael Lassen studied at the stained glass school in Hadamar (Germany) before returning to England and working for, among others, the Bristol-based firm of Joseph Bell & Son.

In 1978 he formed his own studio in Bristol and over the next few years designed and installed a number of windows including commissions at the parish church of St Peter and St Paul at Great Somerford (Wiltshire) and St Peter’s Catholic Church at Hinckley in Leicestershire.

ICON Stained Glass Group Conference 2010

 

 

Alison Gilchrist (ICON-HLF Intern, Barley Studio) reports

 

This year’s ICON Stained Glass Group Conference in Cambridge proved to be an entertaining and thought-provoking event.

Several themes stood out, with Chris Chesney, the chair of the ICON Stained Glass Group, and Professor Sebastian Strobl (Erfurt University and formerly head of Canterbury Cathedral Studios) exploring changing attitudes to conservation, with the latter looking back over previous projects which might have been approached differently today; reminding us that we should all evaluate past and present practice in order to continue to learn and improve for the future.

After a short break, Chloe Cockerill (formerly of the Churches Conservation Trust) gave a well-illustrated introduction to heraldry in stained glass, focusing particularly on depictions of the Royal Arms and the importance of heraldry in asserting identity. Elise Learner (Chapel Studio) then completed the morning session by describing the conservation of the stained glass at Strawberry Hill and the challenges she faced in dealing with problems ranging from rectifying previous repairs, the loss of paint and enamel, reconstructing lost areas and creating a custom-built protective glazing system for vulnerable pieces.

The next speaker was Professor Joost Caen (Antwerp University) who spoke about some of the findings in his recent book, The Production of Stained Glass in the County of Flanders and the Duchy of Brabant from the XVth to the XVIIIth centuries – Materials and Techniques (reviewed in Vidimus 42). His plea for interdisciplinary cooperation in conservation projects was reiterated by the final speaker, the stained glass historian, Martin Harrison. Focusing on the issue of paint loss from nineteenth-century windows (the ‘borax problem’ referred to by William Morris), Martin echoed Professor Caen’s insistence that professionals need to bridge the gaps between art history, conservation and scientific analysis.

Appreciative thanks were given to Chapel Studios who hosted the event. [Fig. 1]

Addington Roundels Website

 

Following last month’s Name that Roundel puzzle from the parish church of St Mary, Addington (Bucks), readers may be interested in seeing images of other roundels in this famous collection, which include an interesting depiction of the Conversion of Saul. For more images and descriptions see the well-produced website by David Critchley. [Fig. 1]

The inscriptions say :

Saul quid me p(er)seq(ui)ris (‘Saul, why are you persecuting me?’)

D(omi)ne q(ui)d me vis face[re] (‘Lord, what do you want me to do?’)

Further Reading

• W. Cole, A Catalogue of Netherlandish and North European Roundels in Britain, CVMA (GB), Summary Catalogue 1, Oxford, 1993, pp. 2–9
• W. Cole, ‘The Netherlandish Glass in St Mary’s Church, Addington,’ Records of Buckinghamshire, Vol XXII, 1980, pp. 73–91

Medieval Art in Hungary Websites

Two websites specialising in the Medieval Art of Hungary have been launched by Dr Zsombor Jekely of the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest: see http://home.hu.inter.net/~jekely/ and his regular blog at http://jekely.blogspot.com/

Although medieval glass is extremely scarce in modern Hungary, the discovery of wall paintings and other remains of medieval imagery suggest that the art was once widespread.

Name that Roundel!

 

 

This month’s puzzle comes from the church of St Mary the Virgin in Shrewsbury (Shropshire).

It is part of an extensive collection of roundels in the church, a building now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.

The oval panel measures 22cm x 19cm and is badly fractured.

On the left of the painting a mounted rider gestures to some men leaning out of a window while a youth restrains his horse. The rider wears decorative armour and has a crown. To his right a figure lies across some steps. Dogs are tearing at the body. Blood spatters the pavement. A toppled crown can be seen.

In the background more figures can be seen in a city landscape

What subject does it show?

Roundels and other single panels of this period typically depict a range of subjects, including stories from the Old and New Testaments, the Lives of saints, and tales from ancient history and classical literature, such as Homer’s Odyssey. Moral themes can also appear.

The solution can be found at the foot of this month’s Books section.

Diary

Lectures/Trips

Friday 15 October: BSMGP Autumn Lecture 6.15 for 6.45pm, Tom Denny – ‘Recent windows in extraordinary buildings’. For more information see the BSMGP website.

Tuesday 19 October: Stained Glass Museum Autumn Lecture, Jasmine Allen, ‘Stained Glass at the Great Exhibition of 1851’. For more information see the Stained Glass Museum website.

Monday, 15 November: Worshipful Company of Glaziers Lecture, 6. 45 p.m. Painton Cowen – ‘Lesser known Medieval masterpieces in England and France’. For more information see the Worshipful Company of Glaziers website.

Tuesday 23 November: Professor Sebastian Strobl, FMGP, ACR, of Erfurt University, (Germany) and vice-chairman of the International Conservation Committee of the Corpus Vitrearum, will speak on ‘From Plumber to Conservator: The Story of Stained Glass Conservation’ at the University of York. See our main News page for more details.

Conferences/Study Events

14–16 October: Corning Museum of Glass, 49th Annual Seminar on Glass: ‘Medieval Glass and Its Influence’. Speakers include Florian Knothe, curator of European glass at the Museum, and CVMA author, Dr Timothy Husband, Curator in the Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters. For more details see the 49th Annual Seminar on Glass brochure.

Exhibitions

Current

Until 31 October: Vierge en Gloire! at the Vitromusée, Romont, Switzerland. For more information see the Vitromusée website.

Until 28 November: France 1500: The Pictorial Arts at the Dawn of the Renaissance at the Les Enluminures Gallery at the Le Louvre des Antiquaires, 2 Place du Palais-Royal, Paris.

Until 2 January 2011: Medieval Glass for Popes, Princes and Peasants at The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York. This is an exhibition of vessel glass. For more information see the Corning Museum website.

Until 10 January 2011: France 1500: Entre Moyen Age et Renaissance, at the Grand Palais in Paris. For more information see the Grand Palais website.

Until 10 January 2011D’or et de Feu: (Out of Gold and Fire, Art in Slovakia at the end of the Middle Ages), at the Musée National du Moyen Age (Cluny Museum), Paris. The exhibition features panel paintings, sculptures and manuscripts from medieval Slovakia. For more information, see the Musée National du Moyen Age website.

Until 17 January 2011: Man, Myth, and Sensual Pleasures: Jan Gossart’s Renaissance, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Until 22 January 2011: Renaissance Art and the Devotional Imagination; Meditations on the Life of Christ, at the Museum of Biblical Art, New York. The exhibition consists of panel paintings, and manuscript illumination made throughout Europe between 1250 and 1550. Exhibits include the sixteenth-century Flemish altarpiece known as the Stein Quadriptych displaying sixty-four scenes from the life of Christ by the illuminator Simon Bening. For more information see the Museum of Biblical Art website.

Until 6 February 2011: Illuminated Manuscripts from Belgium and the Netherlands, Getty Museum of Art.

Until February 2011: Four Ancestors of Christ (First part of a rolling exhibition); Canterbury Cathedral. See this month’s News page

Until 2013: Vitraux de la Renaissance à Chartres at the Centre International du Vitrail, Chartres. For more details see the Centre International du Vitrail website.

Forthcoming

From 17 October 2010 – 17 Jan 2011: Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics, and Devotion in Medieval Europe, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, USA.

From 6 November 2010 – 27 February 2011: The Glory of the Painted Page, medieval manuscript illuminations from the permanent collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, USA.

From 16 November 2010 – 6 February 2011: Imagining the Past in France, 1250–1500, Getty Museum of Art.

From 13 Feb – 5 August 2011: Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics, and Devotion in Medieval Europe at the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

From 16 February – May 2011 : Man, Myth, and Sensual Pleasures: Jan Gossart’s Renaissance, National Gallery, London. Curated by Maryan Ainsworth; with catalogue. Previously at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (see above).

From 27 February – 30 May 2011: Kings, Queens, and Courtiers: Art in Early Renaissance France, The Art Institute of Chicago. Previously France 1500: Entre Moyen Age et Renaissance in Paris.

From 23 June 2011 – 10 September 2011: Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics, and Devotion in Medieval Europe, at the British Museum, London.