The History of Stained Glass: A Timeline.

Glass consists of a mixture of quartz sand, soda and lime, fused at high temperature.  



It gets its various colours by adding metallic salts and oxides during manufacture. Hence, gold made a cranberry color, cobalt made blue, silver made yellow and golds, and copper made greens.





The stained glass windows as we know were first made for churches in France and Germany. The oldest surviving stained glass window dates from the 11^th century and can be seen in the cathedral of Augsburg, Germany.

Due to the fact that it wasn't possible to produce large sheets of glass, the craft of stained glass was created. It was possible to produce small sheets of glass and, by joining them with lead it was still possible to produce large windows. So you can say that stained glass was actually created because of the impossibility to make large sheets of glass.

Timeline and Development of Styles in Stained Glass.

Pre Roman and Romanesque style 800 to 1130 AD

The first stained glass was created in the late 8^th century during the Carolingian period and is called the pre Roman style. Over the years this developed into a style that we call now Romanesque. This style is very familiar to us and can still be seen in cathedrals. A good example is the cathedral of Augsburg in Germany.

Gothic Style 1130 to 1500 AD

Around 1130 AD, the Romanesque style gradually changed into the Gothic style due to technical innovations in construction.

The usage of thinner and lighter walls enabled builders to construct larger window frames. This made it possible to make larger windows, giving stained glass windows an important role. Because of this the craft underwent a revival and was used as a storytelling medium, consisting of biblical scenes.

The Gothic style is characterized by figures that are modeled less static than in the Romanesque style period. At the Notre Dame in Paris windows from this period are to be seen.

Renaissance 1500 to 1600 AD

The Renaissance (literally “rebirth”) began in the 15^th century and continued well into the 16^th century. In this period classical Greek and Roman societies were a source of inspiration for scientists, philosophers and artists.
Characteristics of stained glass during the Renaissance is the heavy lead lines and the use of yellow with a silver filigree background.

An example of a stained glass window from this period is “The Jesse Tree” which can be found in the church of Saint-Etienne in Beauvoir (France).

Art Nouveau Jugendstill to 1914 AD

Only during the 19^th century did stained glass regain another comeback.





A cheaper production method made it more accessible to a wider range of people.

This US inventor was Louis Tiffany. He used copper foil and solder to connect the glass pieces instead of lead came. This technique made it possible to manufacture in series, which made the products more affordable and accessible to a wider audience.  Tiffany lamps for example became especially popular.

Tiffany's Wisteria lamp.

The most famous lamps were the “Dragonfly" and “Did Aria” (wisteria) which are typical Art Nouveau themes from nature.In the last decade of the 19^th century Germany developed a style known as Jugendstill. 

 




Although there are many similarities, Art Nouveau is smoother than the more rigorous form and angular Jugendstill. Jugendstill is popular due to the wavy lines.

Characteristic in both Art Nouveau and Jugendstill are the use of natural motifs like stylized plants and animals.

De Stijl 1915 to 1930

The Stijl is a movement in art and is characterized by abstract, highly geometric order and the use of the primary colors red, blue and yellow.

Art Deco style 1920 to 1930 



Responding to Art Nouveau, in the early 20^th century Art Deco developed. This style which was popular in the 1920s to 1930s is characterized by clean, simple geometric shapes.

Modern from 1945 till present day




From the Second World War onward we call newly designed windows modern.







Fred Hebing