Window with Bishop Saint

Place of OriginSens, France

Date1298-1308

Dimensions77 × 25 3/4 in. (195.6 × 65.4 cm)
Frame (H x W x D): 79 5/8 × 28 1/8 × 2 7/8 in. (202.2 × 71.4 × 7.3 cm)

Mediumpot-metal glass with vitreous paint and lead

ClassificationGlass

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1945.21

Not on View

Label TextOriginally from the Cathedral of St. Etienne in Sens, France, these two windows in the tall, narrow format called a lancet each represent a figure standing under an architectural canopy, a common composition in stained glass from the turn of the 14th century. The bishop saint (on the left) raises his left hand in a gesture of blessing—a large ring on his middle finger—and carries a crozier (staff) in his right hand. The deacon saint (on the right) holds a book and a palm leaf. Almost seven feet tall, the windows are characteristic of a type frequently found in the side chapels of a medieval church, almost always installed in the clerestory, the upper part of a church below the roof. Made to be read from a distance, these figures have exaggerated, enlarged features, like the eyes, hands, and faces. The term “stained glass” is used as a general name for colored pieces of glass set into strips of lead (called cames) and fitted into iron frames as windows. However, the process of staining glass with silver oxide (where “stained glass” gets its name) was not widely used in Europe until the 14th century, although it is commonly found in glassmaking in the Islamic world from centuries earlier.Published ReferencesRaguin, Virginia Chieffo and Helen Jackson Zakin, Stained Glass before 1700 in the Collection of the Midwest States, London, Harvey Miller, 2001, vol. 1, p. 26, 33-4, 59-60, p. 4 (col.); vol. 2, TMA 6, p. 229, 236-7, 239-40, repr. p. 239.

Putney, Richard H., Medieval Art, Medieval People: The Cloister Gallery of the Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 2002, p. 38, repr. (col.) fig. 31.