GLASS-PAINTING (in art). The application of colored glass to the artistic decoration of windows has been previously alluded to, but the very high position which it formerly attained, and which it is again rapidly approaching, renders it necessary to devote a short space to its relationship to the fine arts.
Originally, there was but one method of making ornamental glass windows, and that was to produce the pattern in outline with finely made leaden frames, into the grooves of which pieces of colored glass or of stained glass were fitted. Modern chemistry has, however, so improved the art of glass-staining, that large pictures may now be pro duced on single sheets of glaSs, as in the case of the windows shown by the St. Helen's crown glass company, in the exhibition of 1851, one of which, designed by Mr. Frank Howard, representing "St. Michael Casting Out the Great Dragon," was upwards of 9 ft. high by 3 ft. broad. It was on plate-glass, and had to be fired or submitted to intense heat 15 times, notwithstanding which, it was perfectly smooth, and although somewhat deficient in brilliancy of color, was an excellent and effective composition.
One of the best known of the early applications of glass to window decoration is that in the monastery of Tegerusee, in upper Bavaria, which was secularized in 1802, and is now a private residence; but these windows (executed in the latter half of the 10th c.), like all of the first attempts, were only tasteful arrangements of colored glass in imitation of the stone mosaics used for floors, etc. Nor did the art rise much above this for at least three centuries after its origination; but in the 13th c., to the full development of the Gothic style of architecture, it became of immense importance, colored glass taking the place of tapestried curtains in filling up the spaces within the groined arches. The mosaic patterns were superseded by elaborate designs, not only in
beautiful arabesque and other styles of decorative art, but even pictorial compositions were attempted; and to such perfection did this arise, that many of the works produced in the 15th c. are marvels of art. In all of these, the figures, with the exception of the faces, were made up of pieces of self-colored glass, combined with great skill and taste; the features were painted in enamel colors, and burned in, and the art of the artist was shown by giving ease and grace to the figures corresponding to the expression of the faces. Gradually the art of shading, by removing, certain portions of the colored sur face, and other improvements were effected. This was the culminating point in the history of the first period of glass-painting, as it is called, and seemed to have attained the highest perfection of which it is susceptible, for the efforts which followed to improve it by assimilating it to oil-painting signally failed, and with this failure began that decline in the art which was perhaps more remarkable in the instance of glass-painting than in any other, for iu a comparatively short time it began to be felt that the true art was lost. Since the commencement of the present century, rapid strides have been made towards improvement; and the renaissance bids fair to eclipse the glory of the first epoch. The great seats of this art are now in Munich, Nuremberg, Paris, Birmingham, Edinburgh, and one or two more places; and it never received more liberal patronage in its palmiest days than it now does.