DOI Artikel:
Aman, Cornelia: Middle Ages and nineteenth century: the significance of historical interventions in the documentation of and research on stained glass – a short working report from CVMA Potsdam
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51154#0105
104
1. Saint Erasmus in a cauldron, 1460/1470 and Königliches Insti-
tut für Glasmalerei 1886-1889, Bad Wilsnack, St Nicholas’ Church,
window nll,2-4a-c. Photo: CVMA Potsdam, R. Roloff
and the condition of the glazing. The attached indexes al-
low one to search for artists, glass workshops, iconogra-
phies and dates, thereby providing information beyond
the scope of the specific church or region. Regarding the
extensive nineteenth and early twentieth century restora-
tions of medieval stained glass and related supplements,
only complete windows and those large-scale window
parts with a significant proportion of supplementary glass
are documented. Although all this stained glass has been
photographed,4 only a small selection of pictures could be
added to the text in the publications. Furthermore, the fi-
nancial framework of the nineteenth and early twentieth
century inventory project did not cover the use of scaf-
folds, so that observation and photo documentation at
close range was in many cases not possible. It was always
very helpful to find preliminary studies where available or
if there was a chance to consult it, a volume of the Corpus
Vitrearum Medii Aevi. In addition, the authors of the Cor-
pus Vitrearum volumes kindly granted insight into their
research, which was at this time not yet published.5
In the early Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi volumes ed-
ited by the CVMA Potsdam, formerly in Berlin, the res-
toration campaigns were covered in the catalogue section
with a standardized listing of the panels, including their
4 The photo documentations are part of the CVMA Potsdam im-
age archive.
5 Once more special thanks to Eva Fitz and Monika Böning, for-
merly of CVMA Potsdam.
measurements, iconography and the workshops where
they were produced, while at the same time they are men-
tioned briefly in the text discussing the glazing history.6
There is no detailed discussion of the iconographie or
theological background of the supplementary parts and
there is little information about their drafts or models. For
those cases, further information on nineteenth century
restoration campaigns is dependent on additional stud-
ies.7 However, in the more recent volumes of the CVMA,
the additions to medieval glazing as well as the regroup-
ings in the context of restoration campaigns and the un-
derlying motivations are given special attention within
the glazing history chapters. This provides essential infor-
mation about the original state of and the changes to his-
toric glazing. Beyond those features, this body of research
provides an insight into the specific strategies used in the
restoration, preservation and interpretation of stained
glass in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
In the online photo archive of the CVMA Deutsch-
land, which is currently under development, the photo
documentation of nineteenth and early twentieth century
glass implementations in medieval stained glass contexts
is about to be published.8 Furthermore, the CVMA Pots-
dam provides online hyper image presentations of stained
glass windows, located in eight cathedrals and churches,
that allow one to select windows, scenes and single panels
from a floorplan. In this way, both the medieval stained
glass and the supplementary parts can be studied in de-
tail.9 However, these IT approaches are for the documen-
tation and online accessibility only of medieval stained
glass and the directly added parts and panels. Those nine-
teenth and twentieth century windows that contain no
medieval glass, but which are in a coherent architectural
context with medieval glazing, have so far not been in-
cluded. Future considerations should take into account
the extent to which such glazing can be made part of
CVMAs online presentations or alternatively be included
in another online platform dedicated to nineteenth and
twentieth century stained glass, ideally interlinked ac-
cording to categories like workshop, iconography and
date/date of restoration.
The research on stained glass restorations and supple-
mentations, beyond very tangible aspects like the identifi-
cation of newly made parts and the retracing of transfers
and regroupings of medieval panels, also provides insight
6 For the publications of CVMA Deutschland, see http://www.
corpusvitrearum.de/projekt/publikationen/editionen.html [re-
trieved 19 October 2019].
7 See, for example, F. Bornschein, U. Brinkmann, I. Rauch, Er-
furt - Köln - Oppenheim. Quellen und Studien zur Restaurier-
ungsgeschichte Mittelalterlicher Farbverglasungen. Mit einer Ein-
führung von R. Becksmann, Berlin, 1996 (Corpus Vitrearum Me-
dii Aevi Deutschland Studien II).
8 http://www.corpusvitrearum.de/cvma-digital/bildarchiv.html
[retrieved 19 October 2019].
9 http://cvma.bbaw.de/cvma-digital [retrieved 19 October 2019].
1. Saint Erasmus in a cauldron, 1460/1470 and Königliches Insti-
tut für Glasmalerei 1886-1889, Bad Wilsnack, St Nicholas’ Church,
window nll,2-4a-c. Photo: CVMA Potsdam, R. Roloff
and the condition of the glazing. The attached indexes al-
low one to search for artists, glass workshops, iconogra-
phies and dates, thereby providing information beyond
the scope of the specific church or region. Regarding the
extensive nineteenth and early twentieth century restora-
tions of medieval stained glass and related supplements,
only complete windows and those large-scale window
parts with a significant proportion of supplementary glass
are documented. Although all this stained glass has been
photographed,4 only a small selection of pictures could be
added to the text in the publications. Furthermore, the fi-
nancial framework of the nineteenth and early twentieth
century inventory project did not cover the use of scaf-
folds, so that observation and photo documentation at
close range was in many cases not possible. It was always
very helpful to find preliminary studies where available or
if there was a chance to consult it, a volume of the Corpus
Vitrearum Medii Aevi. In addition, the authors of the Cor-
pus Vitrearum volumes kindly granted insight into their
research, which was at this time not yet published.5
In the early Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi volumes ed-
ited by the CVMA Potsdam, formerly in Berlin, the res-
toration campaigns were covered in the catalogue section
with a standardized listing of the panels, including their
4 The photo documentations are part of the CVMA Potsdam im-
age archive.
5 Once more special thanks to Eva Fitz and Monika Böning, for-
merly of CVMA Potsdam.
measurements, iconography and the workshops where
they were produced, while at the same time they are men-
tioned briefly in the text discussing the glazing history.6
There is no detailed discussion of the iconographie or
theological background of the supplementary parts and
there is little information about their drafts or models. For
those cases, further information on nineteenth century
restoration campaigns is dependent on additional stud-
ies.7 However, in the more recent volumes of the CVMA,
the additions to medieval glazing as well as the regroup-
ings in the context of restoration campaigns and the un-
derlying motivations are given special attention within
the glazing history chapters. This provides essential infor-
mation about the original state of and the changes to his-
toric glazing. Beyond those features, this body of research
provides an insight into the specific strategies used in the
restoration, preservation and interpretation of stained
glass in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
In the online photo archive of the CVMA Deutsch-
land, which is currently under development, the photo
documentation of nineteenth and early twentieth century
glass implementations in medieval stained glass contexts
is about to be published.8 Furthermore, the CVMA Pots-
dam provides online hyper image presentations of stained
glass windows, located in eight cathedrals and churches,
that allow one to select windows, scenes and single panels
from a floorplan. In this way, both the medieval stained
glass and the supplementary parts can be studied in de-
tail.9 However, these IT approaches are for the documen-
tation and online accessibility only of medieval stained
glass and the directly added parts and panels. Those nine-
teenth and twentieth century windows that contain no
medieval glass, but which are in a coherent architectural
context with medieval glazing, have so far not been in-
cluded. Future considerations should take into account
the extent to which such glazing can be made part of
CVMAs online presentations or alternatively be included
in another online platform dedicated to nineteenth and
twentieth century stained glass, ideally interlinked ac-
cording to categories like workshop, iconography and
date/date of restoration.
The research on stained glass restorations and supple-
mentations, beyond very tangible aspects like the identifi-
cation of newly made parts and the retracing of transfers
and regroupings of medieval panels, also provides insight
6 For the publications of CVMA Deutschland, see http://www.
corpusvitrearum.de/projekt/publikationen/editionen.html [re-
trieved 19 October 2019].
7 See, for example, F. Bornschein, U. Brinkmann, I. Rauch, Er-
furt - Köln - Oppenheim. Quellen und Studien zur Restaurier-
ungsgeschichte Mittelalterlicher Farbverglasungen. Mit einer Ein-
führung von R. Becksmann, Berlin, 1996 (Corpus Vitrearum Me-
dii Aevi Deutschland Studien II).
8 http://www.corpusvitrearum.de/cvma-digital/bildarchiv.html
[retrieved 19 October 2019].
9 http://cvma.bbaw.de/cvma-digital [retrieved 19 October 2019].