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The first recorded history of stained glass windows trace back to the 10th century. Great need for people to depict Christ and biblical scenes triggered Christian architecture in Europe. Beautiful churches began to rise and by the 12th century Gothic cathedrals dominated European cities and the lives of their inhabitants.
From a spiritual point of view the presence of beautiful pictures made out of colored glass would lift men's souls closer to God. Visually churches looked taller and lighter, the walls looked thinner and stained glass windows and doors would capture light and appear to glow from within the churches, making a more glories and powerful atmosphere. Stained glass windows in the cathedrals were so vividly expressed that it often was used as a "book" for many of those who could not read the Bible and for monks who were teaching it.
The Renaissance era put a stop to the original stained glass method and it's artistic style. Paint work became more sophisticated and stained glass artists became glass painters. The previously glorious and full of innate beauty stained glass windows were destroyed and replaced by heavily painted white glass windows.
Not until 300 years latter in the 1800s, scientists rediscovered the medieval glass techniques. John LaFarge and Louis Comfort Tiffany were two American painters who independently began experimenting in developing glass that will possess a wide range of visual effects without painting. Tiffany experimented by mixing sand, lime and soda - the basic ingredients of glass - in untried combinations, never quite knowing what effect would result. The final products glowed with a radiance and vibrancy never before imagined. In Tiffany's hands, glass came alive! |
