The Bible In Paintings, #27: STAINED GLASS INTERLUDE, Part 1 - AMIENS

Bing Images ^

[Hebrews 11:6]

INTRODUCTION

Paintings and statues are portable, but stained glass is architectural. I became interested in art as an architecture student; we took a full-year course on World History of Art, and soon I became a dues-paying member of the county’s Museum of Art. Our thick textbook’s photographs of paintings and statues and ceramics were quite interesting, but—befitting my architectural inclinations and ambitions—I found the churches especially appealing (flying buttresses!) and their stained glass windows absolutely captivating. I still do.

The last post in this series, #26, ended with pairs of stained glass windows at two churches in England and America, both brilliantly depicting God’s protective and guiding Pillar of Cloud and of Fire. To introduce today’s unique post, I am repeating them just below. You really must click on the link under the North Carolina windows.

So, this seems like a good place for a very brief diversion from this series’ practice of finding art which illustrates a specific passage of Scripture. We’ll examine the most magnificent stained glass windows ever made, at two 800-year-old French Gothic churches. Today we'll tour Amiens Cathedral, and next time we'll visit Chartres Cathedral.

by PATRICK REYNTIENS
All Saints Church, Hinton Ampner, Hampshire, England

“The Pillar of Cloud”……….....………… “The Pillar of Fire”
North Wilkesboro Presbyterian Church, North Carolina
To enjoy their magnificent 18 other windows, CLICK HERE
For a close-up view of any window, just click on it

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AMIENS CATHEDRAL
Setting the Scene

THE ROSE WINDOWS
For a link to 40 other Rose Windows worldwide, CLICK HERE

BELOW THE ROSE WINDOW

ROSE WINDOW DETAIL
revealing the sturdy structure which has enabled its survival for 800 years

WEST ROSE WINDOWXXXXXXXXXXXEAST ROSE WINDOW

GRISAILLE ROSE WINDOWXXXXX DETAIL 1XXXXXXXXXXXXDETAIL 2

OTHER WINDOWS

CHAPEL OF THE VIRGIN MARY

CLERESTORY WINDOWS

Bonus photo: EXTERIOR DOORWAY GOTHIC ARCH

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Again, here is the Bing page
"AMIENS CATHEDRAL WINDOWS INSIDE”,
showing various glassmakers’ conceptions.

Also, here are links to compendia of three masters
who painted Biblical scenes prolifically:

REMBRANT van RIJN

GUSTAV DORÉ
(241 wood engravings for
La Grande Bible de Tours)

JAMES TISSOT

Finally, here are links to the
PREVIOUS 26 POSTS IN THIS SERIES

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SPECIAL THANKS
to FReeper left that other site,
who allowed God to make her His conduit
for incomparable enthusiasm, encouragement,
education, advice and technical assistance!

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SNEAK PEEK: Next time,

CHARTRES CATHEDRAL

[Hebrews 11:6]

At the Holy Spirit's prompting, I am surveying "Bible art" for my own amusement and learning, and I thought others might enjoy it, too. My intent is to proceed methodically left-to right, Genesis to Revelation, as the Lord wills. Back soon with another.

The Bible encourages us to meditate on it (Ps. 1:1-3, 119:11-16, etc.); these artists have done so, and their works can assist us and enrich our own thoughts about biblical characters, incidents and concepts, and increase our faith in He who is behind it all. As you encounter and consider these images and the related Scriptures and the Spirit enlightens your understanding, please share it with us!

But it is not only oil-on-canvas that can so help us; I refer to the astonishing video series The Chosen, which strolls through the four Gospels at the most leisurely pace. The eight episodes of Season 1 are finished, and the second of a planned seven seasons is coming soon. I say "leisurely" because after an entire year’s viewing Jesus still has only seven of the apostles (although He's preparing to call up Thomas from the minor leagues--but Thomas is skeptical, of course). Anticipating a canvas of fifty-plus hours instead of a movie's paltry two hours, The Chosen turns the characters (especially including Jesus!) into three-dimensional humans and brings the Gospels alive--you have never seen anything even remotely like it! Here is the Official Trailer.

Here is a link for free viewing of The Chosen: “Works with your phone, tablet, and you can cast to your Roku or Chromecast.” Last fall I paid $34.98 for DVDs and ongoing internet access—best 35 bucks I’ve ever spent (I don’t recall how much our marriage license cost, but then it was 42 years ago).

[Hebrews 11:6]

Ping List for the series
"THE BIBLE IN PAINTINGS"

To receive an alert for each new posting
in this series, either reply here or FRmail me.

[LouieFisk]

I believe the original purpose of stained glass church imagery - other than as decoration - was to provide visual bible lessons and narrative to churchgoers who were mostly illiterate centuries ago.

[Bookshelf]

I wonder. There is a series of glass windows at our church and I thought how good it would be if I could find stained glass panels for sale or for gift of churches that are to be demolished. Or perhaps there is a site where old stained glass goes to die. Can anyone help?

[Hebrews 11:6]

That’s my understanding also. However, when the scenes depicted are eighty feet above your head.... They’re awful purty, tho!

[LouieFisk]

Sorry, not much help other than to suggest googling ‘buy old stained glass windows” or maybe contacting something like “Antiques Roadshow”.

But I suspect any church that’s going to demolish has the stained glass already removed. I believe they are collectable and probably costly. I don’t think they would just be tossed in the garbage. You could Google “church restorers” or something like that.

Sorry I can’t be of much help. There’s likely some Freepers who have some experience in the area, tho. Good luck.

[left that other site]

Gorgeous!

During the first few weeks of the quarantine, the cable company allowed me to watch several college courses for free. One of them was about cathedrals, 24 lectures, and it was awesome. I ended up completing five courses (Cathedrals, Sacred Music, Great Piano Solos, Shakespeare, and Augustine’s “City of God”) and dabbled in some others. Then , just as I was about to start up another one, the cable company shut me off from that service. Grrrrrrrr. They wanted me to pay extra because they could see how I was binging on it!

Well, I wasn’t going to pay for it, but it was nice while it lasted.

I learned a lot.

[LouieFisk]

“However, when the scenes depicted are eighty feet above your head.”
—
I’m thinking it was mostly a less grand setup - avg size churches where they could do something like going to the stations of the Cross (in glass) without wrecking their necks!

[lee martell]

Beautiful artwork and expertly welded.
I do not know, but I’m guessing it’s difficult to move those windows from place to place without damage or significant change. Every step needs to be planned and prepared for.
Be ready for the size, the weight, the small loosened areas.

I have a background in Fine Art, and was planning to take an adult course in Stained Glass design and welding, and then The Virus happened, and closed this place down for a while. It may be reopening soon.

[LouieFisk]

Yeah, they do have to be careful, the people who do it are experienced in the field and know what they are doing.

I think the stained glass making area can be very good paying as an art field, it’s in demand not just for churches but in homes and art collections.

[econjack]

I was required in college to take a two-course sequence titled The Arts, which covered art, architecture, sculpture, and music from ancient Greece up through WWI. I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but much later I had a chance to see the Cathedral at Amiens and remembered it from that course, so I took a tour. I am so thankful for those courses now.

[Hebrews 11:6]

You have at least three resources:

Architectural Salvagers
Have you ever watched Black Dawgs on TV? They're in Roanoke, VA and have harvested many church windows for resale in their shop, and there are outfits like them in every city.

Window Makers
They always need glass for their projects and buy disposed windows for their glass. They're scrapping them for raw materials, but for the right price... And they know when windows become available.

Commercial Realtors
They are often the first to know when a church building is going on the market.

[Hebrews 11:6]

I am so thankful for those courses now.

And here you are participating in an art thread. Aside from the music portion, that sounds very much like the course I took at USC in 1966. Of course, it was long prior to the internet, so we had only the textbook's photos and whatever slides the prof conjured up. In fact, I was wondering idly today just how those publishers and professors acquired those photos.

I greatly regret I've never been able to visit the French and Italian and Greek and Egyptian and Israeli sites we saw. As I mentioned, though, unlike you, my art course sparked an active interest in me--look what I'm doing now!

[Hebrews 11:6]

Well, I can’t really tell you, “Wait until you see Chartres!”, because any decent course on cathedrals ought to feature it and you should already know it well. So instead I’ll just say, um, well, “Wait until you see Chartres!”

[Hebrews 11:6]

You’re correct—they had those, plentifully, and for the reason you stated. It’s just that these enormous windows had limited utility for that.

[Irenic]

Stunning

[Hebrews 11:6]

A search on BlackDogSalvage.com for "stained glass" returns 355 results, including

Watched their crew salvage that on an episode. They offer free shipping. Of course, the R-value for stained glass is awfully low, but then there are tradeoffs on everything.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Wait until tomorrow: Chartres! Saved the best for last.

[Irenic]

I’ll be watching.

[TheConservativeParty]

Beautiful!
Thanks for the ping!