Stained Glass Tours In Spain And Flanders

STAINED GLASS TOURS IN SPAIN AND FLANDERS By CHARLES HITCHCOCK SHERRILL WITH SEVENTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS AND TWO MAPS NEW YORK DODD, MEAD COMPANY FOREWORD colour spell those two words cast upon the imagination, like two graceful hands beckoning us And if we wisely follow this beckoning and set out upon a ramble through the mediaeval treasures in which Spain is so delightfully rich, what will better repay us than a pilgrimage to her ancient stained glass, where light is imprisoned in colour, where material beauty is shot through with spiritual light. And such wonderful examples 1 No finer windows exist than some at Seville, Toledo, etc, , and as for Leons surpassing ensemble, one can do no better than quote a correspondent who wrote, To enter Leon Cathedral is like walking into the glory of God We sometimes forget that the Low Countries were provinces of Spain during the blossoming period of Renaissance glass, and that Spain itself was then governed by a Provincial, Charles V, born at Ghent. Windows given either by that Spanish sovereign or in his honour are to be seen in all viii Foreword the important glass centres of those Low Countries. It is therefore most appropriate that mediaeval Flanders be linked with ancient Spain in these tours, and for that purpose we shall use the golden links of the Collar of the Golden Fleece how, will later be explained. This book aspires to no more than to guide the reader in comfortable fashion to the best old glass in Spain and its one-time province of mediaeval Flanders. It needs no one so prejudiced as the author to enthuse the traveller or to add him to the constantly growing army of glass-lovers the windows of sunny Spain and war-stricken Flandersunaided can do that. Come away then, and store your memorys picture gallery with windows that for years after will delight you beside your own fireside in that far-off continent discovered by an emissary of Spain when Spanish glass was at its best. CHARLES H. SHERRILL, 20 East 6sth Street, New York City, January i, 1924, CONTENTS Contents PAGE FLANDERS . . . . . . . .178 GOUDA ........ . 190 THE HAGUE, . . . . . . .196 HOOGSTRAETEN . . . . . . . .199 LlERRE ......... 2O4 HERENTHALS . . . . . . . 2. OJ ANTWERP 209 BRUSSELS . . . . . . . .216 LOUVAIN . . . . . . . . .221 DlEST . . . . . . . . .221 LIEGE . ........ 224 TOURNAI . . . . . . . . .230 MONS . . . . . . . . .236 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TOLEDO NAVE ...., . . Frontispiece Seepage 89. FACING PAGE BURGOS CATHEDRAL, CAPILLA DEL CONDESTABLE, . 58 Glass here is German in feeling, the chapels architects, father and son, coining from Cologne. CONVENT OF LAS HUELGAS, BURGOS 62 Marks advance on San Pedro wheel window, because more ornate and double row of columillas. See page 6 1 . SEGOVIA CATHEDRAL . . . . . 78 Its 97 windows were all glazed late in i6th century. AVILA CATHEDRAL ....., 82 Looking toward apse which, protruding, forms a bastion of the city walls. EARLY WHEEL WINDOW, SAN PEDRO, AVILA, . . 86 Note that columns swerve slightly, lending appearance of rotation to wheel. TOLEDO CATHEDRAL NAVE - .90 Early isth century a stately series running along both sides of nave. Note graceful treatment of tracery lights above grouped lancets. TOLEDO CATHEDRAL, WEST ROSETON ., . 94. Constructed 1418-25. The Spanish rose at its acme of blossoming. Below runs gallery of five pairs of lancets, each pair united by a coloured circular frame shownin frontispiece. TOLEDO CATHEDRAL .98 Roseton above Puerta del Reloj Gate of the Clock. Note well balanced adjustment of roseton to the wall, general in Spain. LEON CATHEDRAL, NORTH SIDE OF NAVE . . . no Shows great size of these windows, their four anciently glazed lancets flanked by single narrow ones, formerly blocked up but res-opened and re-glazed ui modern times, as were also the triforium series seen runnbg along below. xii List of Illustrations FACING PAGE LEON, WEST ROSETON . . . . . . .114. Flamboyant effect fully developed. LEON CATHEDRAL APSE ...