Description

To explore the principal developments in and current art-historical approaches to the glazing of cathedral churches in England and France in the period c. 1170-1350.

The period saw fundamental changes in the form, technique and appearance of the medium, and there is no better location than York for its study. The Minster contains magnificent windows, dating from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries, and will be a major source building for this module.  Other monuments in England and France to be examined include Canterbury Cathedral, Chartres Cathedral, Gloucester Cathedral, and for comparison, the Ste-Chapelle in Paris and York’s parish churches.

Issues to be addressed include the materiality of stained glass as a medium, the relationship between stained glass and architecture, the relationship with other kinds of imagery in changing patterns of devotion and worship, its role in strategies for commemoration by different social groups, and its power as a vehicle for story-telling. Most of the module is organized chronologically, but the first two weeks are devoted to processes of production.

Objectives

By the end of the module, students should have acquired:

• a grasp of the principal glass-painting techniques
• familiarity with the monuments
• an understanding of the major developments and issues

Preliminary reading

(a) Technique

• Brown, S. and O’Connor, D., Medieval Craftsmen. Glass-Painters, London, 1991

(b) General Surveys

• Marks, R., Stained Glass in England during the Middle Ages, London, 1993

(c) Iconography and Meaning

You should familiarize yourself with the main events in the Gospels, particularly St Matthew’s Gospel. The following will also be useful:

• Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend, Readings on the Saints, trans. W. G. Ryan, 2 vols., Princeton, 1993. For dipping into.

For introductions to medieval images, and how to look at them:

• H. L. Kessler, Seeing Medieval Art, Peterborough/Orchard Park, 2004
• E. Sears and T. K. Thomas, Reading Medieval Images, The Art Historian and the Object, Ann Arbor, 2002
• V. Sekules, Medieval Art, Oxford, 2001