:::Colour and Style in Medieval glass:::

 

Iconography in the early Middle Ages was highly stylized. The origins of the imagery can be seen in Byzantine mosaic and illustrated manuscripts but the demands of the material led to new innovations. Through glass the transmitted light needs to be controlled. Dark paint is used in various tones to stop the light flooding into the panel. Strong tonal values in the colours used give the windows more definition. Even translated into black and white they will read clearly as the images are supported by both line and the framing of the design by its decorative formal borders.

Bottom section of The Good Samaritan window Chartres cathedral

The lead line was used to outline the main figurative elements and pattern. Strong colours need definition if they are not to blur in the eye and cause distortion - for example blue and red together without white/clear glass for space reads as purple. In this section of the Good Samaritan window in Chartres you can see how the red and blue background is broken by small clear squares. Also note how the clear fillet outlines are framing the main figurative panels. To see how this image works in gray scale put the cursor over it.

Early Medieval glass use of colour was not based on our contemporary ideas of colour theory. Blue and red are used predominantly at this time but not as we currently symbolize them as spirit and matter. Red was associated with Christ's love and the Passion and thus the light of God. Blue glass signified the spirit and the transcendent world of heaven.

This image is shown without colour and the main colours used are in the palette at the side. You could download this and try to fill in the colours before looking at the image of the final panel on the How to page

Blue is the last colour to retain light as daylight fades and so it was used widely to delineate important content or figures. The power of medieval glass comes from the juxtaposition of cold and warm primary colours balanced to give spatial effects that are naturalistic. The windows were meant to shock the eyes and the senses - especially the heart!