A Lecture on Stained Glass — Inside the Classic

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Authors: Bell, Robert Anning, 1863-1933 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2021 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Glass painting and staining Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

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Words 9,543

Reading time 42 min

Text sections 3

This digital edition of A Lecture on Stained Glass — Inside the Classic is described by source-level measurements including 9,543 words, 42 min estimated reading time, and 3 detected text sections.

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Source: Project Gutenberg record #66850

A 1922 lecture by R. Anning Bell tracing the evolution of stained glass from Gothic cathedrals to modern workshops, focusing on technical shifts in colour, line, and border design, with candid criticism of late 19th-century practices.

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A LECTURE ON STAINED GLASS

BY PROFESSOR R. ANNING BELL R.A., R.W.S.

Published at The Royal College of Art Students’ Common Room, South Kensington, S.W.7; and printed by George W. Jones at The Sign of The Dolphin in Gough Square, Fleet Street, London. Copyright. All Rights Reserved.

A LECTURE ON STAINED GLASS, DELIVERED IN THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART STUDENTS’ COMMON ROOM, BY PROFESSOR R. ANNING BELL, R.A., R.W.S., ON TUESDAY, 31ST JANUARY, 1922.

My subject of Stained Glass is a very wide, vague, large sort of subject, and of course it is quite impossible to talk about it in any thorough way in the course of an evening. You want to write books about it. I thought it would be interesting to you, perhaps, to talk about the more recent variations and changes, the evolution in the use of glass. The fact that this modification in Stained Glass is very largely the work of artists trained in this College should interest you particularly.

Stained Glass, commonly so-called--it is a misnomer, for it is really coloured and painted glass--is one of the three great Christian decorative arts: Mosaic, Stained Glass, Fresco. They are in sequence, roughly speaking, but they overlap. First, Mosaic in the earlier ten centuries. It began about the 4th century and went on to the Renaissance, when its character changed. You then get Stained Glass, overlapping it about the 12th century; and the third great Christian art is Fresco Painting, which flourished from the 14th century onward, following a long and slow development from a very early period.

These three seem to be the main arts through which the expression of the Christian religious scheme, its story, and its emotion have been conveyed--Sculpture has found expression in all religions. They have a considerable sympathy in the fact that they all demand plain surfaces, flat or curved, and are all closely associated with architecture. Each of them also has been so important, so dominating, that it has affected the architectural treatment of the buildings which it was designed to adorn.

Coloured and painted glass is the outstanding decorative treatment of the Gothic period--the age of the cathedrals. The earliest stained glass which we know is, I believe, of the 10th or 11th century, and there are but few examples existing now. The great period runs from about 1200 to 1550 or so in its full vigour. That is the big cycle of stained glass; it went on living after that, and is reviving, I am glad to say, nowadays; but those centuries showed its highest and fullest development. It was then that the conditions of life and architecture allowed its completest opportunity of expression. After that it was adapted--with a much simpler treatment, with far less colour, with more painting on clear glass--to domestic decorative work, and you will see a good deal of Continental work of a very pleasant and attractive type of the 16th and 17th centuries.

The practical function of stained glass is comparable with that of mosaic. Mosaic is an enrichment of the shadow. Buildings designed for mosaic usually have quite small windows, low down in the big domes or sparsely set in the side walls, and it is the mosaic enrichment of shadow, vaguely lit by reflected light from these windows, which gives it its highest beauty. The peculiar charm of mosaic depends largely on the gold treatment of the background, which is infinitely more attractive when seen on curved surfaces and lit from below.

Stained glass is a method of glorifying and modifying the light which enters a building; it has a wide range, from a limpid clarity to rich and even sombre depths. Its power of emotional suggestion is considerable and this, doubtless, commended it to the mediaeval mystics.

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R. Anning Bell opens his 1922 lecture at the Royal College of Art by acknowledging the impossibility of covering stained glass thoroughly in one evening. He immediately narrows his focus to "the more recent variations and changes, the evolution in the use of glass," a choice that shapes the entire talk. Bell positions stained glass as one of three great Christian decorative arts—alongside mosaic and fresco—each closely tied to architecture and each dominating its era. The Gothic period, he notes, gave stained glass its fullest expression, from roughly 1200 to 1550. But the lecture is not a historical survey; it is a practitioner’s assessment of what has changed in the preceding decades and what still needs to change.

Colour, Borders, and the Problem of Modern Dress

Bell devotes considerable attention to the practical challenges of depicting modern subjects in stained glass. He observes that contemporary clothing lacks the "rich and strong colours" and "fine textures" of earlier periods—"black broadcloth is not like the black velvet worn by gentlemen in the old days." To compensate, he advises using borders as a colour source: a window with a silvery, low-colour scene can gain vibrancy from a rich, wide border. He also notes a shift toward whiter, clearer light glass, replacing the earlier preference for a dull green that aimed to avoid a "new or modern effect." The trend toward primary colours—"red and blue and green, the sober and the sombre"—is praised for its contrast with silvery white, while half-tones of browns and greys are dismissed as producing a dull effect.

Line, Vigour, and the Workshop Tradition

Bell strongly advocates for increased reliance on painted line and the avoidance of the "flat, mat affair" that had become the workshop tradition. He calls that tradition "one of incompetence and mental idleness," arguing that it allowed cheaper labour but produced inferior work. The desired approach is a "vigorous, quick line"—more important than academic accuracy—executed with a firm, steady stroke, akin to pottery painting. Bell also notes greater restraint in pattern work on costumes and borders, with more reliance on the quality of the glass itself. Elaborate late 19th-century patterns, he says, were often used to mask poor glass, but they have become "tedious and worrying."

The Artist’s Training and the College’s Role

Bell emphasizes that the recent evolution in stained glass is "very largely the work of artists trained in this College," linking the lecture’s content directly to his audience. He mentions a school of young artists—both men and women—doing good work, and expresses hope for more. The lecture’s setting in the Royal College of Art Students’ Common Room underscores its practical, instructional tone. Bell’s criticisms of workshop traditions and his advocacy for line and colour are not abstract; they are directed at students who might become the next generation of glass painters. His remarks on the use of borders, the handling of modern figures, and the choice of glass types are framed as advice for those "attempting to treat modern subjects in stained glass."

Bell’s lecture is best read as a working artist’s report from the field, not a comprehensive history. He assumes his listeners know the basics and focuses on what he sees as current problems and solutions. Readers interested in the technical craft of stained glass—especially the interplay of colour, line, and architectural setting—will find his observations pointed and practical. The lecture’s value lies in its specific, sometimes blunt, assessments of materials and methods, grounded in decades of practice.

I remember the first time I read Bell’s lecture on stained glass, how he mourned the loss of disciplined line. It reminded me of another quiet soul, the soldier artist, whose careful hand found order in chaos. Both speak of craft holding memory. One may find a similar patient spirit in Hermann Stieffel, Soldier Artist of the West — Edition Insights, a gentle echo across the decades.