Stained glass is an intricate art form dating back before recorded history. Today, we are quite familiar with the colorful biblical scenes and symbols depicted in stained glass windows incorporated into the aesthetic arrangement of many churches and cathedrals. It is believed that a rise in the use of stained glass aligned with an era when widespread church building took place, sometime around the tenth century.
A surge in stained glass popularity accompanied the Gothic age, alongside the construction of Europe’s great cathedrals. Stained glass windows portraying naturally illuminated, intensely colored images not only fashioned an artistic, visually rich atmosphere, but introduced a means of conveying biblical tales to the widely illiterate audience of the time. The depiction of God in stained glass was thought to bestow a spiritual experience rather than a mere interpretation of a story.
With the creation of new coloring methods and artistry, stained glass became an art form more similar to artistic painting in the 15th century. Focus shifted to emphasize the visual image rather than the atmosphere created, and stained glass craftsmen instead became glass painters. The Renaissance marked a time period when the grandeur of stained glass seemed to be crawling toward obsolescence, with designs becoming simpler illustrations on transparent backgrounds. Stained glass became common in homes, churches and other public buildings in plainer form. Stained glass windows even began to be removed from churches and destroyed.
The diminishing interest and phasing out of stained glass was short lived, with England showing a revived interest in Gothic architecture in the 1800s. Artists revisited and unfolded the stained glass techniques of the past, and soon the first stained glass studios were established in America by English immigrants.
Two American painters, John LaFarge and Louis Comfort Tiffany, separately became interested in the art of stained glass. The two men soon became competitors, with LaFarge copywriting opalescent glass and Tiffany becoming the frontrunner in its popularity. More advanced techniques were established, such as layering glass to depict depth and utilizing copper instead of lead to enable the creation of more detailed images.
Exploiting the emergence of electric lighting, Tiffany began adapting his technique to produce intricate lamp shades to be used in the homes of the wealthy. After the deaths of LaFarge in 1910 and Tiffany in 1933, stained glass suffered decreased popularity in the United States, aside from common use in church windows.
Stained glass art has seen a recent surge in popularity in the United States, being incorporated into the decor of new homes, church windows and lampshades reminiscent of those created by Louis Comfort Tiffany many years before.
About the Author: John Billington is the president and CEO of Five Rivers Inc., a leading online provider of home lighting, bathroom lighting and decor. For more information, please visit www.fiverivers.com.
