DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67683#0320
GOTHIC PERIOD
118
Fig. 96. Window of Saint
Anne and Saint Joachim.
Le Mans. (Hucher)
glass, ornamented the interior. As we stand in the nave of
Chartres and look up at the three lancets and rose of the western
fagade, we are aware of a mass of the richest color imaginable,
glowing like a cluster of brilliant gems, chiefly deep reds and blues
like rubies and sapphires, relieved by a little white or lighter
hue. Upon closer inspection, however, we find that these win-
dows are carefully worked out pictures full of meaning and
symbolism (Fig. 96). To illustrate
this we shall study the Tree of Jesse
window.12 In the lowest panel Jesse
is lying upon a couch; from his loins
rises the stem of a tree that branches
out into somewhat conventional
scrolls enclosing seated figures of the
sons of Jesse, the ancestors of Christ,
holding the branches; the next to the
upper panel contains the Virgin, and
the upper, the figure of Christ, much
larger, with the dove descending from
above; on either side of the panels in
semicircular spaces are prophets who
foretell the coming of Christ; a border
of interlacing lines and conventional-
ized flowers resembling those in the
central panel completes the design.
The first and greatest impression that
this window makes is one of radiant,
harmonious decoration. Its chief
characteristics are the lack of back-
ground, of landscape, or any feeling
for distance; all is linear in one plane,
with a considerable amount of simpli-
fication and conventional representa-
tion, both in the human figures and in
the forms of nature. The purpose of the glassmaker was not to
give a naturalistic representation with background and distance,
but to keep his design flat with all details subordinated to design
and color harmony.
Let us follow a glassworker as he makes such a window. With
the dimensions of the window in hand, he draws his design in full
size upon the whitened boards that form the bench upon which he
12 For a reproduction of this window in color, see Adams, Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres,
frontispiece.
118
Fig. 96. Window of Saint
Anne and Saint Joachim.
Le Mans. (Hucher)
glass, ornamented the interior. As we stand in the nave of
Chartres and look up at the three lancets and rose of the western
fagade, we are aware of a mass of the richest color imaginable,
glowing like a cluster of brilliant gems, chiefly deep reds and blues
like rubies and sapphires, relieved by a little white or lighter
hue. Upon closer inspection, however, we find that these win-
dows are carefully worked out pictures full of meaning and
symbolism (Fig. 96). To illustrate
this we shall study the Tree of Jesse
window.12 In the lowest panel Jesse
is lying upon a couch; from his loins
rises the stem of a tree that branches
out into somewhat conventional
scrolls enclosing seated figures of the
sons of Jesse, the ancestors of Christ,
holding the branches; the next to the
upper panel contains the Virgin, and
the upper, the figure of Christ, much
larger, with the dove descending from
above; on either side of the panels in
semicircular spaces are prophets who
foretell the coming of Christ; a border
of interlacing lines and conventional-
ized flowers resembling those in the
central panel completes the design.
The first and greatest impression that
this window makes is one of radiant,
harmonious decoration. Its chief
characteristics are the lack of back-
ground, of landscape, or any feeling
for distance; all is linear in one plane,
with a considerable amount of simpli-
fication and conventional representa-
tion, both in the human figures and in
the forms of nature. The purpose of the glassmaker was not to
give a naturalistic representation with background and distance,
but to keep his design flat with all details subordinated to design
and color harmony.
Let us follow a glassworker as he makes such a window. With
the dimensions of the window in hand, he draws his design in full
size upon the whitened boards that form the bench upon which he
12 For a reproduction of this window in color, see Adams, Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres,
frontispiece.