The Stained-Glass Windows of the Basilica of St Cunibert in Cologne

Following up on yesterday’s post about the basilica of St Cunibert in Cologne, Germany, here is a detailed examination of its stained-glass windows, which have managed to survive all the many vicissitudes of its history, most notably, the frequent bombardment of the city during the Second World War. (Cologne, a major industrial and transport center, was bombed so many times that the list of aerial attacks has its own separate Wikipedia page.)

The apse is dominated by three large windows: in the center, the life of Christ; to the left, the life of Pope St Clement I, to whom the church was originally dedicated; to the right, the life of St Cunibert, the bishop of Cologne (ca. 623-63) who founded the church, and to whom it is now also dedicated. These date from the time of the current building’s first construction, 1220-30.

The central window is a Jesse tree; Jesse appears at the bottom, with the ancestors of Christ to either side of a series of episodes of His life that run up the middle, while the prophets are depicted in the marginal panels. In ascending order, we see Jesse, the Annunciation, the birth of Christ, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and Christ in majesty.

Jesse (at bottom) and the Annunciation

The birth of Christ.

The Resurrection.

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The Cathedral of St Louis IX in New Orleans

A highlight of my time in New Orleans last month was a chance to visit the city’s cathedral -- the oldest continuously operating cathedral in the United States of America -- dedicated to St. Louis IX, whose feast we will celebrate later this week. In what follows, I shall make use of descriptions taken from the cathedral’s website. All photographs are mine.

“The St. Louis Cathedral is one of New Orleans’ most notable landmarks. This venerable building, its triple steeples towering above its historic neighbors, the Cabildo and the Presbytere, looks down benignly on the green of the Square and General Andrew Jackson on his bronze horse and on the block-long Pontalba Buildings with their lacy ironwork galleries. Truly, this is the heart of old New Orleans."

“Since 1727, New Orleanians have worshipped in churches on this site. Half a dozen years earlier, the French engineer, Adrien De Pauger, who arrived in the newly founded city on March 29, 1721, designated this site for a church in conformity with the plan of the Engineer-in-Chief of Louisiana, LeBlond de la Tour, who was at the capital, Biloxi.”

The current church, whose foundation stone was laid in the auspicious year of 1789 (!), has a quite distinctive aesthetic style, with the second-floor galleries, the quasi-pendentives, and the ornate painted ceiling featuring French texts, as do the Stations of the Cross. 

“The new parish church, dedicated to Louis IX, sainted King of France, was thus perhaps the first building in New Orleans of ‘brick between posts’ (briques entre poteaux) construction, an effective method of building that continued to be used in Louisiana until at least the middle of the nineteenth century.” This church was elevated to the status of cathedral in 1794 and completed in 1795. It had further additions in 1819 (clock and bell tower) and 1849-51 (remodeling and enlargement of structure).

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Which Evangelist is Which? The Answers

Last week I posted images of four stained-glass windows, and asked “Can you identify the four Evangelists?” Well, as a result of readers’ contributions, I think we have the answers. First, here are the original images, with the Evangelists unnamed; they date from 1915 and were made in Chicago by German artists.

Counter-clockwise from the top right: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.

A number of people used a deep knowledge of sacred art to deduce the answer. Here is one example from Alex P:

I am most certain about John. It is not uncommon to see him younger than the others, simply because he was younger, and the image of John resting of Christ’s breast indicates a degree of immaturity. The other sign is the red hair, another frequent trait in Western art. Leonardo has him beardless and red-headed. Yes, that is John. The Deacon is right that St. John is typically old and bald in icons, but exceptions exist, e.g. by Dionisius, no mean iconographer. 

I am fairly certain about Matthew because of the evident old age; the parted and very long beard is often a sign of wisdom. That is consistent with iconographic tradition. Mark is often younger and square-faced. Remember him running away naked? This thought adds agility to his image. The image on the stained glass also shows square, strong face. That is Mark. 

Of Luke I am less certain, but he is now identifiable by default. He is shown in contemplative mood: the book is closed. Might that point to an artist observing the features of Mary? Another hint is that he looks less Jewish; the window-maker gave him outright Nordic look, which of course wouldn’t match his Greek ethnicity, but indicates some ethnic distinction.

The clincher comes from another reader, Susan, who sent me the following photos of windows in Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church in Central City, Kentucky, in which the Evangelists are named.

St Mark, left; and St Matthew, right.

St Luke, left; and St John, right.

Q.E.D. – Thank you for your contributions!

Four Stained-Glass Windows: Can You Identify Which Evangelist is Which?

A reader sent to me these photographs of four stained-glass windows from his church. He says they are of the four Evangelists, but can find no information as to which one is which. I had a look and couldn’t be sure either, so I thought I’d put the question out to you. Can you identify, giving reasons, which of these windows corresponds to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John?

North windows

South windows

Each window was made at the Munich Studios in Chicago and installed in 1915. There is a set of twelve windows and eight of them are clearly identifiable as Apostles. These have no name attached to them nor any other clear identifying symbols or attributes that I can recognize. 

The first point I would make is that this demonstrates why, going back to the 9th century, it was an accepted practice that all images worthy of veneration should have both a clearly identifiable name (written in a language that would be understood those who see it) and have all the accepted attributes of the person. It was an Eastern theologian called Theodore the Studite who articulated these necessary conditions, based upon the criterion that we need to know a person. Here we see a very practical fallout of the neglect of this principle.

So here is the request: can anyone out there send me photographs of images that were made around the turn of the last century and are in this style, and which might indicate, therefore, the intentions of this artist? The ideal proof would be a similar set of stained-glass windows from the same studio in which each figure is clearly named.

We can speculate based upon what we see, but this is difficult. For example, there is a suggestion that because John is often portrayed as a young, clean-shaven man in Gospel scenes, the figure on the right in the north window is St John the Evangelist. 

This seems reasonable at first sight, it is common in the Western tradition in the last 500 years at least. Here are paintings of the four Evangelists by the 17th century Italian artist Guido Reni. This doesn’t help us identify the others very much. Perhaps we might say that if we knew that the Chicago artist was following the Reni schema that the left, south window is St Luke.

Matthew, left, and Mark, by Guido Reni

Luke, left, and John, by Guido Reni

However, we should bear in mind that even the portrayal of John in these cases doesn’t fit with the general portrayal of him in pictures, such as these which show the individual and which are more suited to the purpose of the veneration of the saint. According to the traditional iconographic prototype, he would be portrayed at a time closer to the end of his long life, and so we see him as an old man who is bald, with a long beard grey beard. The others would be portrayed as follows; Matthew has a full head of grey hair and a long beard, Mark has short dark curly hair, and Luke has a trimmed beard and short hair. A typical set of icons of the Evangelists is shown below. We know the artist’s intentions here because he has clearly written the names on the paintings.

For comparison, I show a Carolingian (Western) image of the four Evangelists dating from the 9th century.

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Parisian Stained Glass from the Sainte Chapelle and St Denis... In A Church in England!

Lessons for Students of Sacred Art from Gothic Masters

I was delighted to receive an email from reader Dr. Simon Cotton, who directed me to a stained-glass depiction of the Presentation that was originally in the abbey church of St Denis outside Paris. St. Denis, built by Abbot Suger in the mid-12th century, is often described as the first Gothic. Intriguingly, the window can be viewed now at a church in Twycross, Leicestershire in England, along with more glass from St Denis and from the Sainte Chapelle. A historian might classify them as early Gothic, but stylistically, these images are consistent with the iconographic tradition, and in that regard have more in common with Romanesque imagery.

The Presentation, 12th century, French (c) Copyright Painton Cowen 2008

Stained glass from this period is worthy of study, especially by those who are learning to paint icons or early Gothic style sacred art. The limitations of the medium at that time forced the artists to rely on the basics, and therefore master them. To produce beautiful sacred art of this simplicity well requires great skill. The image is described through line and flat color. There was little scope, it seems, for the controlled and graded blending of color within a single piece of glass, for example, red and blue merging to form a third area of purple. There is some possibility of shading, but it is limited and seemingly difficult to control, and therefore used sparingly. We see some black overlaid to create darker areas, and also some areas where the pigment is more concentrated, turning a pale green into a darker green. These devices, it seems to me, are at best subtle modulations overlaid onto the broad standard, which is the description of form by line and by contrast between areas of flat color. Line and flat color are basic tools of the artist in this tradition - the harmony and counterpoint - of iconography.

The color harmony is achieved, incidentally by sticking to natural pigments, which are ground from naturally occurring minerals. It is like working with flowers in a garden. Color can be used consciously to great effect - the design principle of using “drifts” of color employed in the English cottage gardens that was pioneered by Gertrude Jeckyll around the turn of the last century - but it is very difficult to find any colors in foliage and flower that actually clash when placed together, no matter how strong the colors.

The garden designed by Gertrude Jeckyll at Lindisfarne, off the Northumberland coast in England, (home of St Aidan of Lindisfarne). Notice how it starts with orange at the bottom right, drifting into dark yellow flowers with orange centers, then into pale yellow, and finally white at the top right.

Some chemically created pigments, however, can have a bright plastic look that is not necessarily ugly in itself, but stands out like fluorescent light contrasted with daylight. Today, we have a wide range of artificially created pigments, but medieval artists, of course, had no option but to use naturally occurring pigments. Anything that increases the range of colors available to artists is a good thing, but we must recognize that man has the capacity to do things well or badly. So, if you choose a chemically produced pigment, think about its quality and make sure it is going to sit happily with the others you choose!

All the photos below are from a website which is a treasure trove of images of stained glass, therosewindow.com. I am grateful to Painton Cowan for his kind permission to post his photographs from this wonderful resource. He has spent years taking these photographs and steadily building up the library of images. I encourage you to take a look, and if any of you think that this unique resource is important, consider making a donation as a contribution to the maintenance costs. You can contact Painton through the site.

Dr. Cotton wrote the following in his email:

Here is part of the famous East window at Twycross (Leics.) more famous for the zoo. This glass came from France after the Napoleonic wars. The east window at Twycross comes from a number of sources – the Sainte Chapelle in Paris, Le Mans cathedral, Saint Denis.

This pane is believed to originate at S. Denis c. 1140 (obviously showing the Presentation in the Temple). Said to be the oldest glass in England. Beautifully simple design. For more pictures of the window see here  

This glass was likely imported by John Christopher Hampp (1750-1825), who was from Württemberg in southern Germany and came to Norwich because of the weaving trade. He did so well that he became a Freeman of Norwich in 1793. Hampp bought glass for a song on the continent and sold it on at a good profit. Many medieval churches in France and Germany were either closed or ruined by the fighting during the French revolution and by the Napoleonic wars.
Hampp is buried in the south aisle of S. Giles’ Norwich, where one Simon Cotton was once the churchwarden, in his Anglican days.

Here are some more images of that east window. The upper panes are a random mish-mash of glass fragments. (All images Copyright (c) Painton Cowen 2008)

The Crucifixion

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164 Stained Glass Windows (Church of St Paul in Westerville, Ohio)

Our thanks to Mr Mark Cousineau for providing us these photos of the church of St Paul the Apostle in Westerville, Ohio, and to Mr Bruce Buchanan for his description of the project to install in the church 164 stained glass windows, many of which were rescued from recently closed churches in the Diocese of Cleveland. The project was just completed a few days a Click here to read an article about the project from the Columbus Dispatch, which quotes Dennis McNamara, whom we have featured here many times, one the return to traditional church designs, and away from “churches that look like airplane hangars.” 

In June 2010, the church of Saint Paul the Apostle in Westerville, Ohio, celebrated the dedication of its new building. About a year earlier, the artists and craftsmen of Cleveland-based Henningers Inc started work on what would eventually be 164 new and refurbished stained glass windows for the new building. Now, years later, the last of these windows are finally being installed, the end of a long and complicated process.

Working on a window of Our Lady of t Carmel

The finished product, along with St Sebastian

In 2009, the parish was about to begin construction of a new church, the third building in its history, and the largest Catholic Church in Ohio. As the building project itself was such a large one, there were no immediate plans for stained glass; that would come later, or so it was thought. The Diocese of Cleveland, however, had just undergone a significant downsizing and consolidated many of its parishes, leaving many buildings empty, and a great many stained glass windows in crates. The opportunity to re-use these discarded windows was one which could not be passed up.

Saint Paul purchased stained glass windows, all between 70 to 100 years old, from three separate closed churches. One set had incredibly colorful geometric patterns and dozens of medallions of saints and religious symbols, another group had large narrative scenes of the New and Old Testament, with ornate painted scrollwork borders. The third set had large round windows with scenes from the life of Christ. All of the windows were beautiful in their own way, but markedly different in style; the challenge would be to synthesize the windows into a cohesive overall scheme.

A decorative zig-zag border pattern was pulled from the geometric windows, then copied and used in

every new window in the church. The elaborately painted scrollwork from the narrative windows was duplicated and repeated in nameplates and decorative flourishes throughout the church, while stenciled rosettes were copied and incorporated in newly created windows over the front doors. A new background grid pattern of brown and clear swirled glass would provide a unifying framework for the various scenes and saints and symbols. Every window in the church was designed to fit in the new openings with mixed stylistic elements that could harmoniously sit together.

Given that the windows were so old, they all benefited from being taken apart, cleaned, and rebuilt with new lead, a typical procedure with older, time-worn stained glass panels. Once apart, they could be re-arranged to the new specifications. Some parts, like the geometric knot patterns and the painted scenes were rebuilt exactly as they had been. Other decorative painted pieces were too good not to re-purpose and incorporate wherever possible. New glass borders and backgrounds were cut to frame the painted scenes and medallions.

There were dozens of windows to re-arrange and fit into the new church’s design scheme, but one could hardly expect the found treasures to meet all of the needs of the new church. There were Saints and symbols that would need to be made from scratch to match the old glass. In the end, two dozen new medallions were painted to complete the clerestory, confessionals, and shrines. A series of 40 new standing-figure Saint windows were created to line the ambulatory around the perimeter of the church. Working with the parish and the donors to design the medallions and Saint windows was an incredible learning process, which gave us the opportunity to research lesser known Saints and learn more about the ones we thought we knew.

St Charles Borromeo

Preparatory work for a window of St Damian of Molokai, and the final product.

Perhaps the most satisfying design challenge of the whole project was the 12 foot rose window, with a crucifixion scene surrounded by twelve petals. The image of Christ on the cross with adoring angels was originally a tall thin lancet in three panels. Here, new glass was added to expand the sky and clouds and make a round center for the rose. The twelve petals around it, while mostly new, incorporate old glass and design motifs from all of the churches from which the old stained glass had been purchased. This kaleidoscope of glass is a new creation made from the old, so that the grandest window of this new church pays homage to the old churches that made this project possible.

Over the course of the years, it has been satisfying to see Saint Paul the Apostle Church slowly filled with stained glass. Bit by bit, window by window, patron by patron, the place has been transformed. It will be satisfying to install the last of the remaining windows, but the biggest change came last December when the final windows in the sanctuary itself were installed. The natural light in the church was forever changed. The outside world was obscured, and the sacred space inside felt different, becoming quieter and more serene. Old stained glass windows that had watched over worshippers for 100 years were once again doing their work.

(more pictures below)

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St. Cecilia in Stained Glass

For those of you curious as to what Matthew Alderman has been up to in the real world, you may be interested to hear of my recent collaboration with Lightworks Stained Glass of Lancashire, England. Founder Daniel Burke writes:

By pure chance, we recently came across the beautiful work of the American liturgical illustrator and designer Matthew Alderman and it immediately struck us how perfectly suited his illustrations would be as cartoons from which to produce stained glass. Having made contact with the [...] artist, who admitted to being greatly inspired by renowned Irish stained glass artist Harry Clarke, Matthew was extremely excited at the prospect of seeing one of his original works physically transformed into stained glass and immediately gave his permission for us to begin work on a producing a sample panel.

The result which can be seen on the right is taken from Matthew’s original illustration entitled St. Cecilia.

[...]

Having completed this initial sample, we are now jointly promoting the work with a view to securing future stained glass commissions in both the UK and USA. Such commissions, having been designed by Matthew and produced by Lightworks, will proudly bare the makers mark “MAS – LSG”.

I cannot stress just how happy I am with the result. Lightworks does exemplary work, and I am extremely impressed at how they took my tiny sketch and transformed it into a vibrant rainbow of color. I very much look forward to future trans-Atlantic ventures with the talented craftsmen of Lightworks.