Medieval and Renaissance Stained Glass: 1250 - 1550

Created in France, the Netherlands and the German-speaking lands, the objects in this catalogue span a period of three centuries.  During that time, the manufacture of northern-European stained glass saw such tremendous technological and artistic developments that the earliest and latest pieces of glass can hardly be compared with each other, except on the basis of medium alone. Even this changed dramatically, with new recipes supplanting old in search of the most vibrant colours, the largest possible sheets of glass, and the most sophisticated and sensitive techniques for the shading and contouring of imagery.

In this catalogue are long-dispersed fragments from some of the medieval period’s greatest glazing programs, including the rich churches of Rouen, the Sainte-Chapelle at Dijon, the abbeys and cloisters of the Rhine Valley, and the royal foundations of Paris and the Île-de-France. Displaced from windows many metres above our heads and brought down to eye level, we can now appreciate them as remarkable and sensitive works of art that, at their best, rival even the greatest paintings of their age.