Photos of the Best Beautiful Gothic Stained Glass Windows

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Photos of the Best Beautiful Gothic Stained Glass Windows from the Gothic Cathedrals of Europe . Photos by Photographer Paul E Williams.    (TIP – use the icons below the slideshow for thumbnail photos and info)

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Photos of the Best Beautiful Gothic Stained Glass Windows

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Photos of the Medieval Stained Glass Windows from Great Gothic Cathedrals of Europe.

Gothic Stained Glass Windows

One of the great innovations of Gothic architecture was the ability to create very big high windows in churches for the first time. This innovation brought new opportunities to created artworks that would be back lit with spectacular results. This was the advent of the stained glass window.

Medieval stained glass is the coloured painted glass from the 10th century to the 16th century. For much of this period stained glass windows were a major pictorial art form, particularly in northern France, Germany and England, where large Gothic style windows were popular.

The advent of the monumental Gothic cathedral and church building campaigns in the 11th and 12th centuries saw the demand for coloured glass began to increase significantly. The oldest surviving stained glass windows still in situ are thought to be the Prophet Windows in Augsburg Cathedral, c.1065.

How Gothic Stained Glass Was Made

Before around1000 AD, most coloured glass was of a soda-lime-silica composition. In Northern Europe soda glass was eventually almost totally superseded by potash-lime-silica glass known as Forest glass. Forest glass continued to be used in stained glass windows for the duration of the medieval period until.

The colour of glass could be affected by many factors. Sources of silica were often impure, with iron oxide being one of the most common impurities. The greenish hue of glass is usually owing to the presence of a mixture of ferrous (Fe2+) and ferric (Fe3+) ions in the glass matrix. It is also possible that ‘impurities’ could be introduced at the fritting stage within the glass furnace. Tis lead coloured glass.

There are some examples of a richly-coloured blue glass that was produced in the medieval period using soda as the alkali. In the UK, a considerable quantity of blue soda glass has been identified in stained glass from York Minster, and in excavations at Old Sarum and Winchester. In France, Chartres Cathedral and St Denis in Paris both have soda glass stained glass windows.

Producing a strong clear yellow could be difficult in early stained glass. It relied upon the careful control of furnace conditions in order to create the appropriate reducing, or oxidising, environment.

Painting Gothic Stained Glass Windows

Paint was also applied to glass as a type of enamel, usually dark brown or black, formed from a mixture of: ground copper or iron oxide; powdered glass; wine, urine or vinegar; and gum arabic. Other recipes could included sugar, treacle or vegetable oil.

This ‘paint’ was applied in a series of washes, with fine details added last. Both the external and internal sides of the glass could be painted adding depth to the overall composition. The enamel was fixed by ‘firing’ the glass in an annealing oven.