Full text of "A stained glass tour in Italy"

A STAINED GLASS TOUR
IN ITALY

B1 THE SAME AUTHOR

STAINED GLASS TOURS IN FRANCE
STAINED GLASS TOURS IN ENGLAND

WINDOW OF 1560, CARTOSA IN THE VALD'EMA.
Reputed to be by da Udine.Note how the lead lines.instead of marring the
ensemble, are mostly lost in the design; also how artistically the border i:
broken to avoid monotony of parallel lines.

A STAINED GLASS
TOUR IN ITALY

By Charles Hitchcock Sherrill
With Thirty -three Illustrations

LONDON : JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD

NEW YORK : THE JOHN LANE COMPANY
TORONTO : BELL & COCKBURN. MCMXIII

DEC

WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES

HIS EXCELLENCY

ROQUE SAENZ PENA

PRESIDENT OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC

FOR MANY YEARS ARGENTINE

MINISTER TO ITALY

FOREWORD

DO you love a glowing sunset ? Of course
you do and why ? Is it not because
the charm that reaches out to you from
its mass of colour is shot through with
light ? That same charm, produced by the same
blending of light with colour, lies imprisoned in
windows of stained glass, and best in those which
have come down to us from the Middle
Ages, mellowed by the centuries through which
their rich beauty has been preserved. If you will
come with us to see the old windows of Italy
we will take you up and down the land, and
to most of the famous cities of that historical
peninsula. You shall visit impregnable hill-towns,
great cities built upon the plain, Venice, Queen
of the Adriatic, and Rome, the Immortal. We
shall often wander from the beaten track, indeed
we shall deliberately seek to withdraw ourselves
as much as we may into the far-away Middle
Ages, hoping thus to obtain a living sense of

Vll

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

the time and the surroundings of the men who
made these wonderful windows. We shall con-
sort with statesmen, monks, warriors, jurists,
despots, diplomats, artists all sorts and conditions
of mediaeval manhood. The Italy that we shall
see will not be the Italy of most tourists, for our
vision of it will be softened and warmed by the
many hues of its glorious glass.

CHARLES HITCHCOCK SHERRILL

20, EAST 65TH STREET
NEW YORK CITY
December ist, 1912

VI 11

CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION ....

ITINERARY ..... . . 35

ROME -38

ORVIETO 4-6

PERUGIA 53

Assist .,... 57

CORTONA ... . 6 3

AREZZO .... -7*

FLORENCE 7

SAN MINIATO . I01

VAL D'EMA . Io6

PRATO .... - IJI

LUCCA ... II6

PISA .... -.; I2 5

SIENA. . . . ! 33

BOLOGNA . . H 2

VENICE ... J 5

MILAN . J 57

CERTOSA DI PAVIA 166

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

WINDOW OF 1560, CARTOSA IN THE VAL D'EMA . Frontispiece

Reputed to be by da Udine. Note how the lead lines, instead of marring
the ensemble are mostly lost in the design, also how artistically the border
is broken to avoid monotony of parallel lines.

FACING PAGE

TYPICAL OCCHIO, OR EYE WINDOW 30

Designed bytPaolo Uccello. One of a series of seven below the dome of
Florence Cathedral. Note the absence of stone spokes or rose traceries
usual in Northern Europe. The Italians showed peculiar skill in adjusting
their groups to a circular space. (Seepage 86.)

MOSAICS AT ST. PAUL'S, ROME 40

The quaint drawing of the figures bears striking testimony to how much the
mosaic period of glass owed to the designers of mosaic.

SANTA MARIA DEL POPOLO, ROME 44

The obscure position of the window in the left back-ground, almost hidden
behind the high altar, perhaps explains why these masterpieces of William
of Marcillat escaped the general destruction of Rome's glass in 1527. (See
page 39-)

WESTERN FACADE, ORVIETO CATHEDRAL . . . .46

This rose window is one of the few in Italy glazed as in Northern Europe,
and therefore not given over to one unbroken circular service of glass as is
usual in Italy. The rich colours of the fagade's gold-grounded mosaics
above, vie in delicacy of detail with the army of sculptured figures below.

INTERIOR OF ORVIETO CATHEDRAL 50

brown alabaster.

EAST WINDOW OF ST. DOMINIC, PERUGIA . . . .54

The glass in this huge embrasure has been so much restored as to lose most
of its value. It is, however, typical of earty isth century window construc-
tion, and also shows the undecorated condition in which Italian exteriors
were often left.

THE LOWER CHURCH, Assist 58

On the ceiling are the famous frescoes attributed to Giotto. The long series
of low chapels are glazed in early m osaic medallions two of these windows
appear in the back-ground.

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

FACING PAGE

THE UPPER CHURCH, Assist 60

About the walls, high above the rows of fresco scenes, is the best series
of mosaic period windows in Italy. Furthermore, this is one of the rare
instances of a satisfactory combination of stained glass windows and frescoed
walls.

CHURCH AT CALCINAIO, CORTONA 68

Built by the Shoemakers' Guild. Type of structure not unusual in Italy,
and similar to the Pazzi Chapel, Florence, and the Madonna delle Carceri,
Piato. In the deeply recessed occhio is a fine window of William de
Marcillat, especially valuable for its contemporary portraits of notables.

INTERIOR OF SANTA MARIA NOVELLA 82

Bare walls are not uncommon in Florentine churches. The glass in the
distance will be seen nearer at hand in the next picture.

CHAPEL, SANTA MARIA NOVELLA 92

The splendidly warm tones of the glass are worthy of Ghirlandajo's frescoes
that surround it. Note the altar, a chef cFceuvre in Florentine blending of
coloured marbles.

INTERIOR OF SANTA CROCE 94

This T-shaped church is peculiarly well lighted, and boasts of a wealth of
stained glass, mostly of Florence's best period, the isth century.

WINDOW IN OR SAN MICHELE 98

This sanctuary of the ancient trade guilds is lighted in a manner all its own.
The three lower panels have scenes in late mosaic style, while the graceful
traceries above are glazed equally elaborately. {See page 97.)

LAURENTIAN LIBRARY 100

So rare is secular stained glass that this series of 15 windows so conveniently
stationed above the book-shelves as to be easily examined, is among the most
" important glass in Florence.

SAN MINIATO AL MONTE 102

Rising above the trees, defended by walls built in 1521 by Michael Angelo,
and overlooking Florence, this ancient sanctuary is encrusted within and
without with coloured marbles and gay mosaics.

INTERIOR OF SAN MINIATO 104

Note the strength of the pattern decoration done in different coloured marbles
and mosaics, also the pictured marble pavement. The alabaster windows are
ranged round the semicircular apse seen in the upper of the two floors into
which the eastern end of the church is divided.

CERTOSA, VAL D'EMA 108

Secluded upon its eminence, this monastic establishment preserves intact an
example of a highly important factor in the life of the long departed Middle
Ages.

PRATO CATHEDRAL 112

Note the graceful outdoor pulpit affixed to the corner of the facade. Around
the pulpit's front dance Donatello's chorus of Cherubs. It is from this pulpit
that the Girdle of the Virgin is occasionally displayed to the populace.

xii

List of Illustrations

FACING PAGE

INTERIOR OF PRATO CATHEDRAL 114

In the back-ground appears the splendid stained glass that softens the light
for Fillipo Lippi's famous frescoes. The Zebra markings done in black and
white marbles are popular in Italy.

SAN MARTINO, LUCCA 120

The courses of columns flung across the fagade are very typical of Lucca.
Here was enacted the splendid triumph described on page 120.

INTERIOR OF SAN MARTINO, LUCCA . . , . .122

The old glass here is all concentrated in the apse seen in the background.
There are no stronger or richer tones to be found in Italy.

PIAZZA DEL DUOMO, PISA . . . . . . .126

The Baptistery (on the left), the low Campo Santo and the Leaning Tower
contain no stained glass, but the Duomo's western faca.de, which faces us,
and the side windows of the nave are glazed in a most interesting manner.

INTERIOR OF PISA CATHEDRAL ....... !3o

Looking east along the nave. The aisles of this nave are lighted each side
by a row of the richest " story windows " in Italy.

CATHEDRAL OF SIENA ........ 134

The black and white courses of marble give way when the facade is reached
to the gay lines of mosaics and richly chiselled carvings. At the right are
seen the walls originally built to enclose a larger edifice, which more
ambitious plan was later discarded.

INTERIOR, SIENA CATHEDRAL ....... 138

In the back-ground is the finest occhio of the mosaic period in Italy. Its nine
compartments (see page 137) can be clearly distinguished. Note the richly
pictured pavement, the cornice of papal heads, etc.'

SAN PETRONIO, BOLOGNA ........ 144

This chapel is known to have been glazed by the great St. James of Ulm.
This picture reveals the graceful use of Gothic canopies brought by him from
the north, but cannot convey the rich colouring learned during his long
sojourn in Italy.

SAN PETRONIO, BOLOGNA ..... . . . I4 g

A chapel glazed by Lorenzo Costa, the great colourist of Bologna. Note
that his canopies are Renaissance, and also the small occhio above, one of
the many so pleasing in this city.

MOSAICS IN TORCELLO CATHEDRAL ..... 154

This typical early mosaic shows clearly that stained glass in its early stages
found well-equipped designers among the mosaic makers, who transferred to
windows the Byzantine outlines already so familiar in their mosaics.

EASTERN END OF MILAN CATHEDRAL . . . . .160

The enormous size of these embrasures, as well as the graceful lines of their
stone traceries, is clearly seen. Note the Gothic transom thrown across the
middle of these windows to balance their great height.

xiii

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

FACING PAGE
INTERIOR OF THE TRANSEPT, MILAN CATHEDRAL . . .164

As profoundly brown within as it is glittcringly white without. Note that
the window surfaces are broken up into little scenes, also the extreme loftiness
of the clerestory lights.

CERTOSA DI PAVIA 166

This view from the cloister gives only a limit of the elaboration of detail
which characterizes this splendid monument of Lombard architecture, and
gives a foretaste of the richness of ornament to be seen inside.

INTERIOR, CERTOSA DI PAVIA 168

An apotheosis of decoration. In the middle back-ground appears one of the
many isth century windows which contribute so greatly to the richness of
the ensemble.

XIV

A STAINED GLASS TOUR
IN ITALY

INTRODUCTION

A' THOUGH our tour will not take us out-
side the Italian peninsula it is an open
question whether it will be confined
to one country. And why not, say
you ? because we purpose, so far as possible, to
transport ourselves back into a time when each city
of Italy was a separate fatherland, when to the
Florentine the German was no more of a foreigner
than the Roman, when the Pisan fought the
Florentine with the same patriotism and fervour
that he fought the Turk. Even to this day many
are the traces that survive of these almost national
differences between city and city. Consider how
unlike they are one to another, especially in their
sites ; what could differ more widely^ than high-
perched towns like Perugia and Orvieto, remote

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

each upon its rocky eminence, and Lucca and Pisa
on their flat plains nestling for protection, the
former within her earthworks and the latter her
machicolated walls. Compare Florence comfortably
ensconced within encircling hills, with Arezzo and
Assisi straggling up steep slopes. What two
countries in the world can show such a contrast
as exists between Venice in its lagoons and
Rome on her seven hills ? Let us sally forth,
therefore, not with a mind to visit happily united
and strongly patriotic Italy, but on a tour among
many strangely differing Italian fatherlands. Let
us abandon the century in which we live, and
journey back into the times when artistic creation
of unparalleled brilliance, and life of keenest
vitality were at fever pitch. Although stained
glass, the main incentive for our wanderings, is a
beauty whose chief characteristic is calm splendour,
nevertheless that same calm splendour came into
being in turbulent times. Perhaps its very beauty
is due to the fact that in those ringing days the
blood of all ran high, and urged to utmost en-
deavour the artist as well as the warrior and
statesman.

Many of those who decide to join us in our

Introduction

stained glass pilgrimage will prefer to travel by rail
between the cities which they select as centres.
These pilgrims will be glad to learn that motors
can be hired in every town of any importance, and
at reasonable rates. To those who elect to desert
the railway in favour of the high-road, we have to
say that, on the whole, Italian roads are good. The
marked exceptions are in the immediate neighbour-
hood of the larger cities, where repairs seem never
able to keep up with the ravages of heavy market
carts. But this is true of the environs of cities
everywhere, except those of London, whose bliss-
fully smooth exits are beloved of all motorists. In
Italy you will not encounter the straight "routes
nationales " of France, disdainful of grade in their
devotion to "the shortest line between two given
points." Neither will you find the frequent wind-
ings which in England incline one to surmise that
the roads must be put up in papers o'nights, else
the dampness of the climate would take out their
superabundance of curl. Speaking broadly, the
Italian roads are neither so good as the English
(which, by the way, are constantly improving), nor
so bad as the French ones are rapidly becoming.

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

In the author's books of French and English
glass ("Stained Glass Tours in France," "Stained
Glass Tours in England "), one or more tours were
marked out for each epoch, but in Italy we will not
attempt that. The examples are not sufficiently
numerous, so we have only the geographical con-
venience of the pilgrim to consult. He will be led
from Rome on the south up through all the varied
beauties of the hill towns of Umbria, the cities of
Tuscany and the Lombard plain, as far north as
Venice and Milan. He will see the best of Italy,
which means that his memory will be stored with
a series of artistic memories, which will rejoice him
long after his glass hunting days in Italy have come
to an end.

Let us point out that they who go glass hunting
do not have to depend on fine weather. Indeed,
we may honestly claim that ours is a rainy day
sport ! Glass is best seen when clouds obscure the
sun, for it is then that you get an even light all
round a church, and do not run the risk of having
some good window spoiled for you by a blaze of
light coming through it, making its colours look
thin and paltry. So a fig for the weather ! and off
we start.

Introduction

A brief but comprehensive comment upon
Italian glass can be made in two sentences : first,
that it began later and finished earlier than in most
European countries ; and second, that it never
yielded itself to the craze for the stiff conventions
and light-admitting possibilities of the so-called
c< canopy glass " which throughout the rest of
Europe ran to such an extreme, and was so long
popular. What is meant by canopy glass will be
presently explained in as untechnical a manner as
possible. It is the purpose of this book to persuade
its readers to see and therefore to enjoy the beauty
of stained glass, and not to oppress them with the
technique of its construction.

The earliest sort of stained glass which we shall
observe is of a kind known all over Europe, and
generally called "mosaic," because the Mosaic ^
designs are similar to those used in all glass -
early mosaics, and because it too was constructed
by putting together small fragments of coloured
glass. It is only fair to make special mention of
these early windows because our craft was really an
offshoot from mosaic making ; instead of affixing to
the wall a mosaic picture the new craft purposed so
placing it in a window embrasure that the light

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

could shine through it, and thereby double the
value of the colour. We cannot lay too much
stress upon this last idea. After all possible has
been said about the design of a window, its success,
in the last analysis, depends almost exclusively on
its colour value. Nor must it be forgotten that
this is the only one of the arts from which we
receive not only the enjoyment which colour can
afford, but also the added pleasure of light stream-
ing through it. Together, they yield a glowing
harmony, each glorifying the other.

In the early days of stained glass there also
existed a contemporary practice of filling an em-
Alabaster brasure with some such translucent sub-
windows. stance as a i a b a ster. Of this other form
of glazing we shall see several examples during
our travels, and shall learn to love the mysterious
shifting of soft tints, so especially delightful at
San Miniato and Orvieto.

Let us put ourselves in the place of a very early
stained iglass maker. Granted that the mosaicist
provided him with the design for his picture to be

Introduction

composed of bits of coloured glass, how was he
going to support in his window frame something
which had hitherto been fastened to the wall ?
Some device must be invented to bind these bits
of glass together. In some cases a form of stucco
was used, but to hold the panes securely the stucco
lines had to be too wide, so the glazier hit upon
using strips of lead with long slender channels cut
in each side. These could be wound around
between the bits of glass as demanded by the design,
and the edges of the glass would fit into the slits
on each side of the lead. The lead lines did not
injure the picture, but on the contrary, assisted the
drawing by providing the outlines, etc. The leaden
strips were easy to handle, held the glass securely,
and so helped in the design that they were more or
less lost to view in the picture. Nothing could
have been better. The finished product was lifted
from the flat board on which the bits of glass had
been assembled and leaded together ; it was fastened
into the window embrasure, and there was the
early stained glass window ! In its primitive charm
it yielded a beauty which many believe was never
afterwards surpassed, even during the epoch of the
utmost refinement of the craft. Fortunately, it was

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

not necessary specially to educate window designers,
for so wide- spread was the art of mosaic

Mosaicists

became and therefore so numerous were the artists

glaziers. . .

engaged in its manufacture that by borrow-
ing designers of them, stained glass was in its
very beginnings as fully equipped as was Minerva
when she sprang from the forehead of Jove. This
explains why in even the earliest windows the art
seems well advanced and far from crude. Because
designers already existed in plenty, eager to lend
their gifts to this new beauty, stained glass spread
rapidly. The art of mosaic making came into
Italy and Europe from the east, and its early
designs naturally are of the rigid Byzantine type.
This same eastern influence evidences itself in all
the early windows, and affords proof if proof be
necessary that the master of mosaic welcomed this
additional field for the expression of his artistic
spirit.

It is the custom not only to call this early type
mosaic, but also to speak of its windows as " mosaic
medallions " ; a glance at them makes
m^aliToV' obvious the reason for this name. Their
glass. general effect is that of a series of medal-

lion-like enclosures breaking up the whole surface

Introduction

into little framed scenes, and thus preventing what
might otherwise be a monotonous array of diminu-
tive persons. In Italy, the shapes of the medallion
frames are more varied and fantastic than the sedate
circles, ovals, and squares, so customary in France
and England. The diminutive denizens of these
medallion frames are generally depicted in such
quaint detail as to repay close examination. They
reveal that the artist was painstaking, and did not
spare time or trouble in completing his picture,
for the winding in and about of his slender leaden
strips was very laborious. As is frequently the
case in art, this very labour had its reward, for
it is undeniable that the greater the care shown by
the glazier in drawing his figures with lead lines,
the more effective the completed picture. The
later the glass the less was the attention paid to this
fact. In most late Renaissance windows the lead
lines were allowed to run about at random, thus
becoming a blemish instead of being lost in the
beauty to which they should have contributed.

It is clear that the larger the pieces of glass used
in composing the picture the less of this Mosaic style
laborious lead winding would be required, a band ed.
and for this reason the glazier gradually developed

1 1

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

away from the use of small glass morsels, learned
by him from the mosaicist. This abandonment of
the mosaic patterns opened the field to other
designers who were not schooled in the limita-
tions of those designs, but knew better than the
mosaicists how to paint in broad colours. The
Italian painters were quick to avail themselves of
this new medium of expression, and from this time
on Italy can boast that her greatest artists helped
to advance our craft by preparing for the glazier
his designs, or, as they were generally called,
"cartoons." Far oftener in Italy than elsewhere
did the leading painters thus lend their genius
to stained glass, while in the northern countries the
glazier tended to monopolise his craft by designing
as well as constructing his windows. Nor is it at
all surprising that the Italian painters succeeded as
Italian glass designers, for they possessed, per-
versatihty. ^aps to a greater extent than any men of
any other time, a versatility which knew no bounds.
They peculiarly exemplified Huneker's definition
" versatility is seldom given its real name, which
is protracted labour." None of them seemed
satisfied to be a specialist, but strove for equal
honours in painting, sculpture, architecture, and

Introduction

every other manifestation of artistic talent. In
Florence many of the splendid windows of the
cathedral owe their beauty to men who had also
attained distinction in other arts, like Lorenzo
Ghiberti, Donatello, etc. In our travels, we shall
encounter Michael Angelo as a designer of windows
as well as a painter, architect, warrior, and sculptor.
Lorenzo Ghiberti was not content to be one of
the architects of the Florentine Duomo, but also
contributed much of her stained glass, and had
already won immortal fame at eighteen with his
bronze doors of the Baptistery opposite. When
Leonardo da Vinci was seeking to enter the service
of Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, he wrote
a letter in which he urged his case on the ground
that he was not only a painter and sculptor but
also an architect and a military, as well as a
hydraulic, engineer ! we also know that he won
wide praise for his success in organizing state
pageants, and drew what is probably the earliest
plan for an aeroplane.

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

So much for the period known as "mosaic
medallion." It began later in Italy than in the
north, but it also lasted longer. We shall first
see it at Assist, dating from the end of the I3th
century, nearly two hundred years later than it is
to be found in France and England, and when, in
these two countries, its vogue was waning. On the
other hand, in Italy the mosaic medallions persisted
until the third quarter of the I4th century, for the
windows at the Lower Church of Assisi and in the
Cathedrals at Orvieto and Siena date from about
1370. This is much later than they continued in
France and England, where they had long given
place to the craze for canopy windows.

This brings us to the next step in the deve-
lopment of windows and at the same time to the

Cano y" P artm g f ^ e Wa 7 s between Italian glass
windows. an( j t h at O f a jj otner European countries.

In the north, the so-called canopy window had
begun a sway which was to last nearly two
centuries, but not so in Italy. A canopy window
is one in which a coloured figure or group appears
installed within a more or less elaborate shrine or
niche, which latter is always (out of Italy) glazed
in lightly tinted panes showing little or no colour.

Introduction

It may be laid down as a general rule that the
Italian never really accepted the light-tinted, con-
ventional canopy of the north. But it is also true
that about his figures he often placed a bit of
architectural detail, though with him this archi-
tecture was as rich in colour as the garments of
his saint. Thus in Italy, the canopy is part of
the picture, and does not degenerate into a mere
frame as it did in the north. Now there Problem of
was a reason for this difference, to under- >"inmttion.
stand which let us first consider what happened
in northern Europe. The early mosaic windows
required in their construction such a multiplicity of
lead lines, and their glass was of such deep hues,
that together they greatly diminished the light of
the interiors. In some places, as at Amiens and
Chartres, the monks deliberately knocked out
enough of the coloured glass to admit sufficient
light to enable them to read the music of the
Mass. This need for light was brought home to
the glazier, and he solved the problem in an
ingenious manner. Even on the earliest windows
there sometimes appeared small yellow tabernacles
enclosing the figures, and he began his campaign
for more illumination by enlarging the space allotted

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

to these tabernacles which he glazed in delicate
tints. Although this expedient proved successful,
he carried his success to an extreme. Lucky chance
aided him, for early in the I4th century it was
accidentally discovered that if a solution of silver
were dropped or smeared on white glass and then
exposed to the fire it produced a permanent golden
stain on the surface. This greatly facilitated the
construction of canopies about the figures, because
it was no longer necessary to lead together bits
of yellow glass to represent architecture, for yellow
could be stained on white panes wherever desired.
To such an extreme was this style carried that in
some French windows fully four-fifths of the whole
surface is given over to canopy framing and only
one-fifth left to the saint, located in the midst of
all this shimmering magnificence. In the cloudy
northern lands this freer admission of light was
expedient and valuable, but in sunny Italy it was
not necessary. No demands were made upon the
Few light- I ta K an glazier for more light, and perhaps

c^JpSln for this reason > if for no other > he never
Italy - went canopy mad. A few of these light-

admitting sentry boxes are to be seen in Italy, but
only a few, and they are confined to the closing

Introduction

years of the I4th century. In northern Europe
the simulated architecture of these shrine-like
enclosures was of course Gothic during the Gothic
period, but changed to Classical when the Renais-
sance won over the architect to the re-contemplation
and copying of early Greek and Latin edifices. It
is only fair to admit on behalf of the northerner
that not being blessed with the constant Italian
sunshine, he needed this light-admitting device so
that his interiors should not be too much obscured
by the coloured windows. When, in 1632, Henry
Sherfield, the Recorder of Salisbury, destroyed the
Creation window in St. Edmund's Church, he
alleged as his reason for so doing that it was " very
darksome whereby such as sit near the same cannot
read in their books." It is satisfactory to record
that he was imprisoned, fined ^500, and made to
apologise to the Bishop of Salisbury ! Before leaving
this subject of church illumination, we may remark
that during the mosaic period there was a marked
difference between the French preference for
coloured glass and the more frequent use in cloudy
England of uncoloured pattern windows called
"grisaille." Italian churches demanded less light
than French ones, but England needed even more

17 c

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

light than France, and therefore the English glazier
intelligently or intuitively (who shall say which ?)
inclined as much to grisaille as did the Italian to
rich colour.

There is another convincing explanation for the

rich hues of the Italian canopies' architecture. To

eyes accustomed to the dull grey stone

T> 1 1 O r

Rich colour

of Italian of northern cathedrals there comes as a

canopies. .

surprise the kaleidoscope of coloured
marbles to be seen throughout Italy, and especially
in Florence, Orvieto, and Siena ; what is more
natural than that the glazier should reproduce their
warm tones in the edifices depicted on his windows ?
But whatever be the reason, the result is undeniably
delightful. Certain examples in Bologna, Lucca,
and Florence must be seen to enable one to realize
the deep, rich brilliancy of the canopy as developed
under Italian skies by men quick to grasp the
possibilities of the medium in which they were
working. We will remember therefore that the
Gothic canopy of yellow and grey appeared but
briefly in Italy, and was then squeezed in between
a late lingering survival of the mosaic medallion,
and an early appearance of a long-persisting classical
canopy done, not in yellow stain, but in rich

Introduction

pot-metal colour. So justly successful in popular
esteem was this strong-toned canopy that it lasted
all through the I5th century, and practically con-
cluded the course of the Italian spirit in glass.

We say " Italian spirit," for the last period
of glass making in the peninsula was but a
brief revival at the beginning of the l6thcentury
1 6th century effected by the trans- s lass -
planted Frenchman, William de Marcillat and
his school, and thus received its impetus rather
from without than from within. Although he
learned his rich colouring in Italy, his style was
undoubtedly French. It must, however, be
admitted that nothing so fine in Renaissance glass
is to be seen out of Italy as William's windows
at Arezzo. Now let us consider this ultimate
stage of the evolution of our art, when the
glazier frankly becomes secondary to the painter,
which development in Italy took place during
the first years of the i6th century. His em-
brasures have gradually become wider, and are
now filled with broad pictures made up of

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

larger pieces of glass than were formerly used.
Perspective begins to appear and at once enhances
the general effect. Nor does the artist now
hesitate to paint his picture on these larger pieces,
rather than have it made up for him of different
bits of glass already coloured and assembled in
accordance with his designs. This painting, or
rather enamelling, was effected by disposing
colour on white glass which when fired retained
the tones and tints thus lent it. Sometimes this
method proved unfortunate ; at Bologna we shall
see some windows whose effect has been seriously
damaged by the peeling off of portions of the
enamelled colour.

This reference to the changed method of
colouring that came into vogue in Italy with
Colouring t ^ ie arr ival of tne r 6th century will
methods. p erna ps excuse a modest infraction of
our rule to avoid technicalities. Let us explain
in a few words the successive manners by which
the glazier imparted colour to his glass. In the
earliest days dye was put into the pot in which

Introduction

the liquid glass was being made, and the product
was called "pot-metal" glass; it was pot _ metal
obviously coloured all through its mass. colour "
The surface of the windows were not as yet
obscured by paint, and it is to this fact that
they owe their delightful brilliancy. The use
of a little pigment was permitted to delineate
the faces, and sometimes to mark the folds of
garments, etc. Another reason for the brilliancy
of pot-metal windows is the uneven diffusion of
the colouring matter throughout each piece of
glass so treated. This made impossible the dull
even tone which so often mars modern work.
The early glazier was keenly alive to the value
of this unevenness of tint, and availed himself of
it both in his shading and to strengthen his
masses. One of the great charms of Italian glass
is that it clung to the use of pot-metal colour-
ing much longer than was the fashion elsewhere
in Europe. There was thus prolonged in it the
life of the rich, deep tone, undimmed by surface
daubing, which, although it assisted the designer,
robbed the glazier of his richest effects. Several coats
Before leaving pot-metal colouring it is of colour -
interesting to note a device by means of which

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

the glazier learned to enrich his palette. Sup-
pose he wanted a warm purple, he first dipped
his blow-pipe into red pot-metal fluid, and next
into blue. When the bubble was blown, cut,
and flattened out, the glass would prove to be
blue on one side and red on the other, but held
up to the light, the combination would yield the
desired purple. In the same manner blue and
yellow gave a fine green, red and yellow a deep
orange, etc. To such an extent was this re-
dipping carried that in France there are to be
seen examples with as many as five different
layers. This, of course, was still within the
province of pot-metal colouring. Now for some-
Yellow thing new. We have already mentioned
stain. t | iat j n the ear ] v part: Q f t j ie I4th

century it was accidentally discovered that if
oxide of silver were dropped on glass it would,
when fired, give a rich, gold tint called "stain."
This at once sprang into great favour, and was
useful for tinting the hair of angels, decorating
garments, etc., and particularly assisted the
development of the canopy. It was a great
convenience to be able to stain any desired
portion of the piece of glass instead of having

Introduction

laboriously to lead in some yellow glass at that
particular point. We shall observe this yellow
stain much used in Italian borders. The honour
of discovering this stain is claimed for many
glaziers, and although the Italians stoutly insisted
that its discoverer was St. James of Ulm, so long
a resident at Bologna, it is undoubtedly true
that it was in use fully a century before he was
born. No matter who deserves the glory of
this useful discovery, it had a marked effect on
the development of the craft, because it made
easy many of its details. Even art is some-
times guilty of proceeding in the line of least
resistance !

The last manner of colouring glass was that
of enamelling the surface, to which process we
have already referred. When this was

Enamelling

carefully done, it undoubtedly produced colour on

n- r S lass<

pleasing effects, but unfortunately it was
too often employed carelessly ; so much so that
frequently one has cause to regret that enamelling
ever came into vogue at all.

To recapitulate, the story of how glass was
coloured begins with pot-metal dyes, and goes
on to the re-dipping of the same, then to the

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

painting on the surface of pot-metal glass, and
closes with enamelling of the surface. Fortu-
nately for Italy the earliest and best method
persisted long and died hard.

Purposely, we have not, up to this point,
attempted to divide Italian glass into periods or
Division epochs. This division into periods is

into periods. Qne whkh must be effected yery differ _

ently in the different countries of Europe, for glass
not only developed by diverging paths, but also at
different moments in the lives of the nations. In
England, it is usual to subdivide it under the head-
ings generally employed for English architecture,
viz. : Early English, Decorated, Perpendicular,
and lastly Renaissance or i6th century. German
glass derived its epochs from the differing styles of
the design Romanesque, Geometric, Interpene-
trated, and Renaissance (i6th century). In France,
it happens that the epochs are so nearly co- exten-
sive with the centuries that it is more convenient to
call their examples I2th, I3th, I4th, I5th, and i6th
century windows. In Italy also we shall be able to

Introduction

employ the same subdivision by centuries, but it will
only be necessary to provide for three epochs,
naming them respectively after the i4th, 1 5th, and
1 6th centuries. We must be careful to Comparison
notice that in Italy the two periods called b y countries -
1 4th century and I5th century, show a very
different product from the same subdivisions in
France. Italian glass began later than French,
ripened much faster, and finished earlier. The
Italian I4th century glass will be found to be
almost exclusively of the mosaic medallion type,
similar to that which flourished in France up to
about the middle of the i3th century. This com-
parison at once shows how much later was the
Italian than the French development of the craft.
Italian I5th century glass is quite different from
anything produced at any time in France. Instead
of the light-tinted canopy windows that, in France,
flourished throughout both the I4th and ifth
centuries, we have in Italy, during the I5th cen-
tury, a vigorous and long-continued old age of
rich pot- metal glass, sometimes employed in storied
windows of many figures, but chiefly in single
figure subjects whose architectural background,
although frequently in the form of a Renaissance

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

canopy, is always composed of such deep tones as
to be part of the picture itself instead of merely a
frame thereof. We shall find this Renaissance archi-
tecture firmly established in Italy early in the I5th
century, although it did not reach France until the
1 6th. We must not forget that the

Renaissance

began in Renaissance originated in Italy and thence
spread into Europe, being carried into
France by the art trophies taken thither by the
soldiers of Louis XII and Francis I. This means
that a window which in France would be unhesita-
tingly dated i6th century, because of its Classical
or Renaissance design, would in an Italian church
undoubtedly be of the 15th Century. So rapid
was this development in Italy that the change from
Gothic to Renaissance was effected much more
quickly than further north, while for some time
they existed side by side. In the predella below
one of Benozzo Gozzoli's pictures in the Vatican
Gallery, one scene shows a Gothic interior, and
another a purely Classical one. By the end of the
1 5th century, Italian glass had shot its bolt.
Indeed, when Pope Julius II wished to glaze
the windows of the Vatican and certain Roman
churches, he had to send to France for glaziers.

Introduction

The genius of William de Marcillat, one of those
who came in obedience to the papal summons,
caused the ashes of Italian glass-making to glow,
but even he could not rekindle it into the glorious
fire of the previous century. William and his
school may be described as the splendid sunset of
Italian glazing.

So runs the tale of Italian glass a late begin-
ning and prolonged existence of mosaic glass, a brief
appearance but never a vogue of yellow Gothic
canopies, followed by a long and happy reign of
the Classical canopy, done in such rich pot-metal
colours as to incorporate it in the picture instead
of isolating it as a frame. Then seemingly comes
the end of all things in glass, when lo ! William de
Marcillat and his men snatch up the fallen torch,
but, although it burns brightly in their hands, it
is soon extinguished.

And now to consider where we shall see the
windows of the three great Italian periods. Mosaic
medallion glass begins at Assisi during the closing
years of the I3th century and is best studied at

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

that place. It lasted until the third quarter of
Where- tne I 4 t ^ 1 century, and its concluding

Italian glories (of about 1370) are to be seen
not only at Assisi but also at Orvieto
and Siena. At that time, by way of conclud-
ing the 1 4th century, there appeared a few
examples of canopy windows done in the manner
of northern Europe, but so few are they that
they do not deserve to be dignified by giving
their name to an epoch. These intrusions of a
northern style are exemplified in the nave of the
Duomo at Florence, in San Petronio at Bologna,
and at the Certosa in the Val d'Ema. The
1 5th century produced windows of two varieties,
those which told stories, and those of the pot-
metal canopies. The Storied Windows are to be
seen chiefly at Milan and Pisa, although there are
also examples in Florence, Venice, etc. The pot-
metal canopy can best be studied in Florence,
Bologna and Lucca. Lastly, we come to the i6th
century windows, the work of William de Marcillat
and his school ; these begin with him, and end
with the work of his favourite pupil, Pastorino,
whose masterpiece is in the cathedral at Siena.
These i6th century windows are best at Arezzo,

Introduction

but can also be enjoyed in Rome, Perugia, Siena,
and Milan.

Now for a word about some unique and purely
Italian manifestations of our craft. We have already
mentioned one of them when we told how

Peculiarities

the Italian preferred to make his canopies of Italian

rich with pot-metal tones instead of obse-
quiously adopting the pale, light-admitting canopies
of his northern neighbours. This produced at once
a marked contrast between northern and southern
windows, as all who have seen them will testify.

Even more special is his acceptance and treat-
ment of round embrasures. In the north we saw
and admired the development of the rose window
and the wheel window, and could not fail to observe
that in them the architect and the glazier always
worked hand in hand, the former providing the
traceries or spokes, and the latter filling the open
spaces between them. In Italy the glazier had the
round aperture all to himself. He seemed actually
to prefer it left a simple bull's eye, so that he might
fill it with one great picture. In Italian it is

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

commonly called an "occhio" or "eye." Sometimes,
as in the cathedral at Florence, the architect has
provided the stone spokes so usual in the north,
but has set them so far out from the surface
of the glass that they are not noticeable from
the interior. Thus they help to decorate the ex-
terior of the building without intruding upon the
surface of the glass picture viewed from within.
In Florence alone there are thirteen of these
splendid blossoms of Italian glazing. They are
generally to be found high up in the western front
of churches. There are also a number of instances,
notably at Bologna, of small bull's eye windows used
to light chapels, etc. The Italian occhio is a charming
manifestation, unfortunately rare in other countries,
and yet from the standpoint of both the architect
and the glazier so simple and graceful that one
comes to wonder that it was not adopted elsewhere.
Another method of admitting the light while
keeping out the weather was that of using trans-
lucent slabs of different hued alabaster. This was
fairly common in Italy, but is almost never seen
elsewhere. The peculiar charm of these windows
is due to the way in which their colour shifts and
changes with the varying light.

TYPICAL OCCHIO, OR EYE WINDOW

Designed by Paolo Uccello. One of a series of seven below the dome of Florence
Cathedral. Note the absence of stone spokes or rose traceries usual in northern
Europe. The Italians showed peculiar skill in adjusting their groups to a circular
space. (Seepage 86)

Introduction

Italian glass is fortunate in the simplicity that
generally characterizes its designs. It rejoices in a
" happy emptiness " to borrow a felicitous phrase
anent Giotto from Bernard Berenson, deft with his
English as any of his beloved painters with their
brushes. Simple also are the shapes of Italian
embrasures, but this time simplicity does not evoke
our approval, for we cannot help thinking with
wistful longing of the elaborate stone traceries and
pleasing groups of lancets so familiar to us in
northern Europe.

After seeing many Italian windows it suddenly
strikes the observer that almost none of them bear
the images of their donors, a regular "practice else-
where in Europe, which in France during the
1 6th century became almost obnoxious, so con-
spicuous were the kneeling figures of the generous
individuals. Indeed, in some instances, as at Brou
or at Montmorency, it is difficult to conclude which
is the more important, the donor or the religious
subject of the window ! No explanation is offered
for this modesty on the part of the patrons of
Italian glass. All we have to do is to record the
fact, and that too with a sigh of relief.

Another peculiarity of the craft in Italy is the

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

almost entire absence of that type of uncoloured
but patterned windows so common elsewhere, and
generally called "grisaille." There is a little of
this to be seen in the upper church at Assisi, but
that is about all. The reason for this absence of
grisaille is not far to seek the problem of sufficient
illumination never plagued the glazier of sunny
Italy, and as he had no need for the light-admitting
grisaille, he left it to his brothers in the cloudy
northlands, and went happily on revelling in his
gorgeous pot-metal dyes.

In view of the high standard reached by Italian
glass, and its undoubted popularity, it seems in-

Destruction explicable at first blush, that there is not
of glass. more of it to be seen to . dav> The first

explanation that occurs to one is that great quantities
must have fallen victim to the stress of war and
time. Ample encouragement is found for this
theory when we read of the ravages of artillery
salvos at Bologna, or of the seizure of the lead
from Roman windows to manufacture bullets, or of
the varied onslaughts suffered at Assisi from such

Introduction

widely differing destructive agencies as earthquakes
and stone-throwing neighbours. But a further in-
vestigation of how much harm was thus actually
done reveals that, although the destruction at Rome
was undoubtedly wholesale, both at Bologna and
Assisi, thanks to a system of constant repairing, we
have been deprived of only a surprisingly small pro-
portion of the original total. No, in the matter of
destroyed windows, Italy has suffered far less than
the rest of Europe. War has seemed reverently
to avoid the fragile beauty of her windows, and she
has never been afflicted with those periods of
boorish indifference to, or ignorance of matters
artistic, which from time to time did such irre-
parable damage north of the Alps. The real reason
for the comparative paucity of stained glass in Italy
is the greater interest there displayed in painting
church interiors in fresco. Coloured glass, by
reducing the amount of light, tended to obscure
the sacred stories pictured on the walls, and as
Italy is par excellence the home of fresco painting,
stained glass was never so widely used there as in
countries where the walls were decorated less with
colour than with sculpture.

If any of our readers care to go more deeply
33 D

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

into the technicalities of window construction, we
would recommend Lewis Day's "Windows of
Stained Glass," as the best book in English, and
"Vitraux," by Olivier Merson, as the best in
French. We trust that the reader has survived our
brief lecture upon the subject, and we faithfully
promise to abstain from technicalities in the remain-
ing pages of this book.

ITINERARY

SETTING forth from Rome we shall first
proceed northerly over the rolling cam-
pagna and into the hills 140 kilometres
to Orvieto, and from thence branch off in a
north-easterly direction, 160 kilometres to Perugia.
This lofty town should be made the centre from
which to visit Assisi, 46 kilometres to the east,
because the latter place does not possess a first-
class hostelry. From Perugia we start north-west
up the Umbrian plain, stopping after 1 20 kilometres
at steep Cortona, then going on in a more northerly
direction 54 kilometres to Arezzo. If we are in
a leisurely mood an agreeable side trip may be
taken from Cortona by visiting Monte San Savino,
25 kilometres to the west, then 7 kilometres south
to Lucignano, and lastly back 20 kilometres to
Cortona. Siecina may also be visited, lying about
10 kilometres north-west from Arezzo. From
Arezzo we drop down into the valley of the Arno,

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

and follow the curve of this river 87 kilometres
north-west to Florence. This city will be our
headquarters for visiting San Miniato (one of its
suburbs), the Certosa in the Val d'Ema, 5 kilo-
metres distant, and Prato, 19 kilometres to the
north-west. Leaving Florence we sweep off to
the west 77 kilometres to Lucca, then down 22
kilometres to Pisa, and next 100 kilometres to
Siena, lying south-east. From Siena one can go
85 kilometres south to Grosetto, but this trip
is only mentioned and not advised. Siena lies
67 kilometres south of Florence and to go from
Siena to Bologna (170 kilometres) we must pass
through Florence on the way. This fact may
influence some automobilists to retain Florence as
a headquarters for visiting Lucca, Pisa, and Siena.
If this be done it is possible to see the glass of
Lucca and Pisa in one day, although it will make
a round trip of 182 kilometres, and one's view of
both Lucca and Pisa will perforce be unfortunately
curtailed. Siena is 67 kilometres from Florence,
and from Florence on to Bologna is 103 kilometres.
After visiting Bologna one can either go north-east,
165 kilometres to Venice and thence west 214
kilometres to Milan, or Milan can be visited first

Itinerary

and Venice reserved for the last. From Milan the
Certosa of Pavia is distant 30 kilometres south, and
Saronno, 25 kilometres to the north-west.

At the back of this book will be found an index
of towns showing the epochs of their windows.

ROME

f "^HE most impressive and inspiring
spectacle that has come down to us
M out of history is the Roman Forum.

In it there stood the Golden Milestone
from which were measured distances upon all the
roads that led from this central point out to the
boundaries of the Empire, which is but another
way of saying to the confines of the then known
world. Since " all roads lead to Rome," there is
no more obvious point at which to give tryst to
our stained glass pilgrims, and it is in Rome there-
fore that we will await the assembling of our
company. They will be sworn to see, and thus
brought to love the glass we shall show them, but
at the same time all shall be free, nay, encouraged,
to drink deep draughts of those other artistic
delights which this fascinating land of Italy offers
to those who wander through it. The shimmering
beauty of our windows shall be as a string of pearls

Rome

for each traveller, but he may, at his pleasure, hang
upon it as pendants such other jewelled memories
as his fancy seizes during our travels. Certain it is
that at the end of our journey his memory will be
festooned with the pearls that we have promised a
series of never-to-be-forgotten glimpses into the
beauty of blended colour and sunlight that stained
glass, and nothing else can give him.

Roman history reeks with " war and rumours
of war," but no group of its students has been so
despoiled of its special prey as that which loves old
glass. Once there were many splendid windows
throughout this ancient city, but when it was
besieged in 1527 and the munitions of war ran
low, the stained glass contained so much lead
vitally precious for the manufacture of bullets that
utility outweighed beauty, and the windows were
broken up. Before we consider the few remains
yet to be seen of its ancient windows, let us, as is
but fitting and proper in so historical a city, turn
our attention to the history of our craft, for nowhere
else will the records tell so continuous or so
interesting a story of its development. We know
that the early designers of glass were borrowed
from the parent art of mosaic. From its earliest

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

chapels up to its architectural apotheosis, St. Peter's,
Rome possesses an unbroken exhibit of the develop-
ment of mosaic, whose designs show a steady march
forward from the crude early Christian symbolism
until they finally blossom out into the imperishable
reproduction at St. Peter's of the genius of Raphael
and a score of Italy's greatest painters. From this
very art of mosaic there branched forth at an early
date the decoration of window spaces in colour.
All that was needed to emulate the success of the
mosaicist was to do for a window what the mosaicist
had done for his wall adorn it with a picture made
up of bits of parti-coloured glass. It was Emperor
Constantine that brought this craft to Rome from
Constantinople, where it had long been practised
in Santa Sofia and other churches. From his time
down all the ages the records of Rome show that
the coloured glazing of windows was understood,
and was steadily developing as an art. In the
catacombs there have been found fragments of
painted glass showing the Good Shepherd and other
symbols so dear to the primitive Christians. Several
early Christian writers speak of stained glass pictures
as not uncommon at the end of the 5th century.
When the capital of the Empire was transferred to

MOSAICS AT ST. PAUL'S, ROME

The quaint drawing of the figures bears striking testimony to how much the mosaic
period of glass owed to the designers of mosaic.

Rome

Byzantium, art languished in Italy, and the great
church of Santa Sofia became the world's magnet for
artists, and the glories of its glass have been told
by many writers. Then came the fall of the
Empire and the inrush of the barbarians. Under
Leo III, at the beginning of the 9th century, the
art of the glazier greatly advanced. In the middle
of that century we read that Benedict III decorated
with coloured glass the apse of the <{ church across
the Tiber."

An important step was taken when, in 1058,
Abbot Desiderio summoned glaziers from Con-
stantinople to decorate (among others) the church
of Monte Cassino. It would seem, however, that
no roots were struck in Italian soil by these
Byzantines. We read that they remained in that
neighbourhood, but neither they nor their craft
ventured to branch out. Now came the moment
when the painting of walls in fresco seized upon
the popular imagination, and so engrossed it
that we hear of no revival of stained glass until
the latter part of the I3th century, when it shows
itself in the Upper Church at Assisi. Italian
architecture had meanwhile been taking a step
very favourable to the craft, in that the Cistercians

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

brought Gothic to that country in the first
quarter of the I3th century, and we know the
favouring influence that Gothic everywhere exerted
on behalf of stained glass. All of the Italian glass
earlier than that to be seen at Assisi is lost to us.
It is at Rome that we must study its history, and
yet strangely enough, Rome is the city which has
lost the most glass, and the one in which its
absence is most to be lamented. Storehouse as it
is of the world's art, it is for us singularly painful
that the necessities of war should have been so
peculiarly blasting to the art in which we are
interested. We have a right to protest against
this evil fortune, for we know that all France and all
Italy have been fought over time and time again,
and yet elsewhere than in Rome the destruction of
war has proved miraculously indulgent to stained
glass, notwithstanding that it is the most fragile of
art products. In Rome alone this grace was denied.
It was just before the calamitous year of 1527,
when war's necessities requisitioned the lead in
Rome's windows, that these very windows had
reached their crowning glory, for it was in the
first years of the i6th century that the monk,
William de Marcillat, whom we shall learn to

Rome

revere at Arezzo, carried his art to a perfection in
Rome that it never reached elsewhere. Bramante
was authorized by Pope Julius II to send to
France for the most skilful glass artists obtainable
in order to awake the traditions of an art then
utterly dead in Italy. In obedience to this august
summons there came a certain master, Claude, and
in his train came William. Hardly had Claude
arrived in Rome when he fell a victim to over-
indulgence at a banquet, and William stood alone
at the open door of opportunity. Alas, to-day we
must be content with reading of his splendid
triumphs at Rome, and it is to Arezzo that we
must go to judge what his Roman glass must have
been. The glory of these Roman windows was
short-lived, for they went the way of all the others
during the siege of 1527 two years before
William's death. Thus perished in the preparation
for war what had hitherto survived war's fiercest
outburst. Two examples alone of his Roman work
survive, and their preservation is probably due to
their obscure position behind the high altar in
Santa Maria del Popolo. These charming windows
are wide and low, and from the centre of each a
semi-circle arises accommodating the insignia of

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

that great patron of art, Julius II. Each is divided
into six scenes from biblical history, arranged in two
tiers. Although these remains are not extensive
they show the artist at his best, not only in the
adjustment of his scenes, but also in the masterly
combination of strong colours with deliciously soft
greens and neutral tints. His small landscapes,
whether depicted in the open or shown through
doorways, are so alluring as to make you feel
inclined to defer your studies and walk abroad in
them.

In the chapel of the Caetani family at Santa
Pudenziana is another window worth seeing, if only
to show that the Italian glazier continued to be
painstaking at a time when his French contem-
porary, to avoid the labour demanded by careful
leading, was turning more and more to the easier
method of painting his glass. The subject is
Christ crucified, against a background of colourless
panes surrounded by a rich yellow stain border. At
the foot of the cross the housetops of distant
Jerusalem are carefully delineated in lead lines. In
France they would have been painted only, as one
sees in the 1 6th century landscapes at Conches and
elsewhere. The same trouble is taken with the

SANTA MARIA DEL POPOLO, ROME

The obscure position of the window in the left back-ground, almost hidden behind
the high altar, perhaps explains why these masterpieces of William of Marcillat escaped
the general destruction of Rome's glass in 1527.

Rome

small cherubs who hold lighted tapers at each side,
and also with the blue garland at the top very
agreeable and equally significant.

When we wrench ourselves from the fascination
that Rome has and always has had for all the world,
it will be but the memory of the history of glass
and few reminiscences of windows that we can take
with us ; but after all, is not history the most
potent spell that Rome exerts ? If you doubt it,
stand for a while looking down on the mutely
eloquent ruins of the Forum, and there will come
pouring in a flood of memories from every point of
geography and every episode of history, returning
as in duty bound to the Golden Milestone from
which their distances have all been measured. For
the writer, Rome has always seemed the seated
figure of an aged man about whose knees climb
children of to-day, their prattlings in no wise
disturbing his absent-minded musings upon the
destinies of nation after nation which have passed
before his eyes. The Moses of Michael Angelo
is the type of man we mean, but the Moses is an
incomplete expression of our thought in that his
brawny knees support no symbols that link antiquity
with the happy, careless life of the Rome of to-day.

ORVIETO

RISING sheer on every side from the valleys
below is the imposing bulk of a huge
rock, and on its top securely rests the
ancient city of Orvieto. In modern
times access has been made easy by a funicular
railway, which, with seven minutes of monotonous
cogging, carries one comfortably to the top. Not
so easy or expeditious was the ascent when His
Holiness, Clement VII, disguised as a gardener
to escape from his enemies in Rome (ninety miles
away to the south), had to prod his mule up the
long steep zig-zag by which the roadway accom-
plishes the weary climb. The walls of the town,
built to the very edge of the straight-faced rock,
seem so high above us in the air and so secure in
their remoteness as to have really been unnecessary
to the safety of those who dwelt within them. The
views from these walls are extensive and delightful,
even more so than from any of the other Italian
hill cities. Once back, however, from the outlook

WESTERN FACADE, ORVIETO CATHEDRAL

This rose window is one of the few in Italy glazed as in Northern Europe, and
therefore not given over to one unbroken circular surface of glass as is usual in Italy. The
rich colours of the fagade's gold-grounded mosaics above, vie in delicacy of detail with
the army of sculptured figures below.

Orvieto

afforded by these walls, and the distance above and
away from the world is forgotten. One is trans-
ferred into an Italian city not unlike many of its
sisters, and entirely devoid of that sense of aloof-
ness which a peep downward from its walls is sure
to give. The name " Orvieto," corrupted as it is
from the Latin urbs vetus (the ancient city), carries
in itself the tale of its antiquity. Indeed, the
obvious security of this unusual eminence of tawny
tufa must have commended it from the earliest
times to those who needed security first, and " the
pursuit of happiness " afterwards. Here there was
built a great cathedral in memory of the miracle
of Bolsena, when a doubting priest was convinced
by the bleeding of the Communion Wafer of the
doctrine of transubstantiation. A rarely beautiful
cathedral it is too, with a beauty that changes with
the hour of the day. Under the brilliant noonday
sun the magnificent western facade fairly sparkles
in the glories of its rich mosaics. When the twi-
light time comes on it brings with it into the old
marbles a delicious honey brown. The shadows
it then lends to the web of sculptured Bible legends
that hang like lace across the lower reaches of the
facade, endow them with a life that they lack

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

during the brighter hours of the day. Nor has
the interior less to invite our notice, our admira-
tion, and our study. From the right transept we
enter a chapel whose frescoes were begun by Fra
Angelico and finished by the masterpieces of
Signorelli. No one who has seen these latter will
ever forget the haunting face of the Anti- Christ
preaching his false doctrine under the whispered
prompting at his ear of the embodiment of evil
thought a horrible and persistent memory, one
which has preached its silent sermon to worshippers
in this chapel for over five hundred years.

About us in the church proper is spread a two-
fold reward for our visit two-fold, because not
only have we in the nave a glorious series of ala-
baster windows, but in the square-ended apse there
is stained glass in the two fine rosaces, and a lofty
eastern embrasure of the mosaic period that can vie
with the many splendid examples of its form to be
seen in England. In addition to these there is a
handsome wheel window high up in the western
front, which, for Italy, is unusual in having the
spaces between the spokes glazed as in northern
Europe, instead of having the glass set well back
from the stone-work of the wheel so as to give an

Orvieto

unbroken round surface for a picture. Perhaps the
reason for the different treatment here is that no
picture is attempted, its place being taken by a
kaleidoscopic pattern in low blues and soft greens.
The rosaces pierced in the northern and southern
choir walls are also unusual, seven round openings
filled with busts being preferred to the usual large
bull's eye devoted to one picture. The explanation
for this divergence from the expected may be
that because these high-placed rosaces cannot be
seen from a great distance, but only from across
the width of the choir, this broken-up treatment
of the embrasure serves better than would a large
picture. Be that as it may, the result is pleasing,
and that is what most concerns you and me.

Not only does the great east window appeal to
us by reason of its wealth of mosaic medallions
(alas ! too rare in Italy), but also and chiefly because
of its great beauty. Its four tall lancets contain
forty-four small mosaic pictures, the medallion
border which encloses each being of the same
design, somewhat resembling the top of a billiard
table with pockets at the ends and in the middle
of the long sides. The deft interweaving of
the strap-like borders of these medallions repays

49 E

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

attention, and is so reminiscent of some in the
lower church at Assisi, and of the great east window
at Siena, that we are not surprised to learn that the
same glaziers worked at all three places. Each of
the four lancets has a rich narrow border, and
above are singularly graceful tracery lights, finally
tapering to a point at the top. Much clear blue
is used throughout the composition, even serving
as a background to fifteen of the small scenes, but
monotony of tone is avoided and warmth imparted
by ten other backgrounds being red, and ten more
red with gold fleur-de-lis. This red is even now
deep and rich, but it is still too early to find the
correspondingly deep blue so generally used after
the opening of the ifth century. One notices the
absence of green, what little there is being light
in tint. Whenever an interior scene is depicted
the architecture is only suggested. In the same
spirit of suggestion a single diminutive tree serves
to locate other scenes out-of-doors.

But we must resist the temptation to devote
all our time and appreciation even to so effective
an example of the mosaic period as the great
east window. Returning to the nave we shall
find spread out before us a magnificent row of

Orvieto

twenty-four embrasures filled with alabaster, a sub-
stance of which such delightful use was made in
Italy. Nor is it, as one might fear, a monotonous
beauty, for in no two localities shall we find it
of the same colour. Here it is a mellow yellowish
or orange brown, sufficiently fluctuating in its
shading as to lend a sense of movement to the
colouring. The windows are mostly to be found
in the small bowed recesses which line the sides
of the nave, sometimes two lancets together, some-
times singly. They are also placed above the
two small side portals, and over the three entrances
that pierce the west front, the central one being a
particularly graceful interlacing of eight divisions
ending in a point at the top. We may remark
in passing that it is a pity that they filled in the
upper parts of the nave lights with modern glass.

I wonder what it is that causes one to linger
so long over alabaster windows, lacking as they
do the story and the variety of tints to be seen
in stained glass. Is it the change constantly pro-
duced in them by shifting light which excites our
curiosity and delays our departure ? Strange as
it may seem in the telling, the more the afternoon
sun fails the richer seems to glow the light in

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

and through the alabaster. The writer will never
forget a certain afternoon in April when he watched
the twilight deepen in Orvieto Cathedral, and saw
the light slowly diminish until all architectural
detail and all sound seemed to fade away, and to
leave behind them only the faint glow and harmony
of the windows.

PERUGIA

FROM that perch far aloft the little square
before the Prefecture, what a wide sweep
the eye covers, far beyond and far below !
The green slopes drop away and still
drop away until they are lost in the spacious
plain across which we spy a grey patch upon the
distant Apennines Assisi ! The eye wandering
on happens upon a slender ribbon of silver, the
beginnings of the Tiber "Father Tiber, to
whom all Romans pray." Below us on every side
lies undulating greenness, rising every now and
again into the small knob-like hillocks so often
seen in the backgrounds of Perugino, the great
painter who took his name from the apex of
the landscape he knew and loved so well. The
steepness of the incline which one has to mount to
reach this lofty city is continued and sweeping rather
than abrupt as at Orvieto, or irregular as at Siena.
But Perugia is loftier, and more remote from its
surrounding landscape, than any of the other hill

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

towns. Of Perugino, it must be said that those
wishing to know him well must not rest content
with his easel pictures hung in so many galleries,
nor even with his frescoes in the Sistine Chapel,
where his personality is subordinated to a general
scheme of decoration ; one must mount up to
his eyrie-like city and see what he has done to
make the charming, nest-like hall of its Chamber of
Commerce unique among mercantile council rooms.
The ceiling and walls of this modest-sized chamber
are covered with frescoes of such excellence as to
prove that here his genius and his local pride worked
hand in hand. The studied calm of Perugino's
pictures becomes all the more striking when one
learns of the riotous scenes amidst which the painter
lived and worked, for Perugia has the bloodiest
history of the bloody Italian Middle Ages. The
Baglioni family were not content to drive out all
rival nobles from the city, but they must needs fall
upon each other in a manner so blood-thirsty and so
callously planned as to exceed even the ruthless
traditions of the local nobility. Fortunately for
those interested in the gentle sport of murder, the
Baglioni was such a numerous family as to pro-
vide in themselves ample material for indulging in

EAST WINDOW OF ST. DOMINIC, PERUGIA

The glass in this huge embrasure has been so much restored as to lose most of
its value. It is, however, typical of early isth century window construction, and
also shows the undecorated condition in which Italian exteriors were often left.

Perugia

extended fratricide. In the midst of all this tumult
and blood spilling, Perugino calmly continued to
paint his peaceful scenes, and with him studied
the great Raphael, who later on shows us that
he was not forgetful of his early environment by
introducing into his frescoes of the Vatican Stanza
Astorre Baglioni, the most beautiful and perhaps
the most foully murdered of that murderous
race. He appears as Heliodorus being chased
from the Temple by angels. In passing, it may be
permitted to the author, "doglike to bay the
moon," the scale of drawing used for Helio-
dorus is strangely out of harmony with that of his
chastisers.

In the Duomo at Perugia, just on the right
a s you enter, is a window of 1565, showing,
against a background of classical architecture, St.
Bernardino preaching to the people, but alas ! the
gaily robed figures seem more interested in looking
at the tourist than at the great preacher. Their
inattention to the sermon in no way suggests the
historic scene which took place in the picturesque
square outside, when, from the small pulpit project-
ing from the church wall, he so wrought upon the
populace that men and women stripped off their

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

jewels and in a spasm of remorse and reform filled
basket after basket with discarded finery. The
window is far too solemnly beautiful to recall that
dramatic scene. The Duomo was deprived of a
great work by the hand of William de Marcillat, for
he died a few days after signing the contract to glaze
the huge round window in the west wall.

In the church of St. Dominic the eastern
embrasure is unusually large, 20*80 meters by 7-40
meters. Its six lancets have their twenty-four panels
each filled with a saint in canopy, but alas ! they are
of modern restoration and design. Along the lowest
tier are four good groups of figures preserved from
the original glazing of 1411, the small people being
well drawn, and reminiscent of similar scenes at
Milan and Pisa.

The one fine window at the Duomo, and
St. Dominic's over-restored reminder of former
glory would hardly have taken us to Perugia
had it not been necessary to come here in order
to visit Assisi, that treasure house of early glass.
The delightfully picturesque site and the quaint
streets of "bloody Perugia" go far, however, to
console us for its poverty of windows.

ASSIST

AT no time in the world's history has the
human race been so human as during
the Middle Ages perhaps almost too
human in some manifestations of their
dark history, but if the passions of man had freer
play then than now, so too had the softer sentiments.
The hearts of men spoke as much more frankly
then, as did their wills and brains. On this gentler
side of the picture, over against the Man with
the Sword, there stands out no more sympathetic
figure than the monk Francis of Assisi, St. Francis,
whose followers in the i8th century numbered
150,000 with 9000 monastic establishments in
which to perpetuate the vows of chastity, poverty,
and obedience which he laid down and exemplified
throughout a life of good works. The anecdotes
of him that have come down to us reveal a human
being of astounding and masterful simplicity. With
the same unconscious dignity and the same Chris-
tian zeal, he pronounced his arguments before a

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

Mahomedan Sultan, or spoke his simple sermons
to the birds and fishes. His strength, and a force-
ful strength it was ! was his convincing gentleness.
He was no Savonarola to thunder against the evil
life led by many of the clergy, but nevertheless he
accomplished greater reforms by the example of
a life which in itself was so potent a reproach to
the erring. In our modern days of reason and
advanced civilization it is difficult for us to realize
the constant difficulties which confronted this monk
in his attempt to accomplish what we know he did
in the stress of the turbulent life going on all about
him. To feel his personality and to understand
the force which he and his life wielded during the
Middle Ages, one must go to Assisi. The place
is eloquent of him, and still possesses the atmos-
phere of religious mysticism that, although it existed
side by side with the constant clash of arms, yet
in no wise yielded place.

The town straggles up a hillside so steep that
one wonders that the church of San Francesco
remains anchored to its site. Above we have a
well-lighted, airy edifice, while beneath its pavement
the slope of the hill permits an understructure,
on three sides of which a series of short windows

Assisi

temper the gloom of the constant twilight lying
about the tomb of the gentle Francis. Both in the
lofty lancets of the upper church and the short
embrasures of the lower one is to be found a wealth
of stained glass of the mosaic medallion type. So
rare is the product of this period in Italy that this
is the only place where enough examples exist to
enable one satisfactorily to compare and study the
school. In the lower church we can inspect them
at close range and, at our ease, puzzle out the
story of the little scenes told in morsels of glass
laboriously leaded together. A painstaking craft
was that of the early glazier ! Here there are
surprises in store for those who have studied the
mosaic medallions of France and England, and
grown accustomed to the circles, squares, etc., there
so customary. At Assisi the designer of the
medallion shapes ran riot, and his diminutive people
are enclosed in frames of every imaginable shape.
The 1 3th century medallions in the upper church
are more after the fashion of those which we have
seen in the north, but down below every effort
would seem to have been made to get away from
the conventional circles, etc. For example, in the
most easterly chapel on the north side the frame

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

is provided by a ribbon of many convolutions
wound about the tiny figure ; in the chapel of
St. Martin the glazier has daringly superimposed
each saint upon two circles, one above the other,
and yet has given us a successful result. Indeed,
" successful " is just the word we need to describe
this long series, except perhaps in one particular
because of the enforced limitations of space, one can-
not get far enough away from the windows to obtain
that jewelled glow produced by the breaking up
and refraction of the sun's rays by the myriad bits
of glass a glow which we have learned to know
and love in France. We miss the splendid glitter
yielded by the transept rose windows of Notre
Dame in Paris, and in its stead have something
that more resembles the close-at-hand beauty seen
in the Sainte Chapelle. So dimly lighted is this
crypt-like lower church at Assisi that it is only
when the sun gets low in the west that its slanting
rays enable one to make out the beautiful allegorical
frescoes painted by Giotto on the vaulting above
the altar more than six hundred years ago.

In sharp contrast to this scene of dim, solemn
beauty is the brilliantly lighted upper church to
which we ascend by a flight of steps rising from

THE UPPER CHURCH, ASSIST

About the walls, high above the rows of fresco scenes, is the best series of mosaic
period windows in Italy. Furthermore, this is one of the rare instances of a satis-
factory combination of stained glass windows and frescoed walls.

Assisi

the Sacristy. Here, above the frescoes that run
all around the walls, is a series of tall lancets
containing medallion work as well as contemporary
panels of geometric decoration, and besides, certain
tall personages of such great size that the glazier
composed each face of a number of pieces. One
sees these tall figures stationed about the clerestories
of Chartres, Rheims, and other northern cathedrals.
Here, however, we note a difference the large
figures are nearest us, while above their heads are
disposed small groups in medallions : one would
prefer that the more easily seen personages should
have been placed the furthest from us, and that the
small scenes, the details of which are so difficult
to distinguish, had been brought nearer our eyes.
Most of this early glass in the upper church dates
from the end of the i3th century, and there are
many indications to show that Cimabue had a hand
in their designing. One side of the nave has glass
of the early I4th century, and among it can be
easily recognized some figures in I5th century
canopies. These latter were brought from the
cathedrals of Perugia and Foligno. Pursuing our
study of the glass chronologically we will return
from the upper to the lower church, and find there

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

no glass earlier than the i4th century. Fortunately,
however, for its general effect, it is almost all of
that period. It will be well to devote particular
attention to the chapel of St. Catherine, because the
three artists that worked upon it, Bonino di Assisi
and Angioletto and Pietro di Gubbio, also took
part in the glazing of the cathedrals at Siena and
Orvieto.

The story of the glass as told by the archives
of the church increases our surprise that its fragile
beauty should have survived the many vicissitudes
at the mercy of which it has existed for centuries.
Not only has it resisted earthquakes and conflagra-
tions, but also certain playful tendencies of the
citizens, such as, for instance, are revealed by an
edict of the Commune of Assisi in 1330, for-
bidding the shooting of arrows or the throwing
of stones at the church of St. Francis, under a
penalty of the payment of five lire as damages !

CORTONA

who devote their stay in Italy to
the study of its art alone are unjustly
narrow, for that fair land has much to
say to the practical side of modern life.
Perhaps some of those ill-balanced students would
be surprised nay, even grieved to hear that there
is as much to learn for an energetic American
chamber of commerce in the activities and triumphs
of Italian mediaeval trade guilds, as there is for the
most enthusiastic admirer of ancient pictures, which,
parenthetically, he frequently does not understand !
Just at present there happens to be a world-wide
movement to secure foreign trade through organized
effort by mercantile associations, and time spent
on studying the successful efforts along these same
lines by Italian merchants of the Middle Ages will
be well spent. The French system of co-ordinate
effort by chambers of commerce and government
is thus far the best modern plan, but even it
cannot surpass the admirably organized guilds of

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

Florence and her sister cities during the I4th
and 1 5th centuries. It is carefully thought-out
organization which wins results, and in this the
early Italians are not yet equalled. Nor were these
guilds useful alone for the commercial purpose for
which they were primarily constituted. Savonarola
was not the only man astute enough to realize this
fact. Investigation will reveal that they provided
the foundation on which were erected the early
Republics. One is moved to query in passing
if the failure of the first French attempts at a
republic were not due to a lack of a basis of
just such organizations of already tested efficiency.
These guilds were to be found in all the important
Italian cities, and the stronger and better their
organization the more powerful the municipal
government based thereon. These bodies of
workers can be traced far back into the history of
the country. An early Roman inscription at Pisa
records that a son of a soldier of the loth Praetorian
Cohort bequeathed 4000 sesterces to "the most
ancient and worthy guild of shipwrights." That
the deceased was canny as well as generous appears
from the clause ordaining that if the shipwrights
failed to make the required annual sacrifices at

Cortona

his grave, they must deliver the money to the
carpenters who were then to undertake the
memorial services. During the second century
we find a guild controlling the amount and price
of timber to be floated down the Arno destined for
Rome. The history of the Florentine wool guilds
and their kindred bodies is the history of the early
commercial importance and growth in power of that
great city. We finally see her associated trades
under the superintendence of the silk makers
building the Church of Or San Michele and
decorating its walls with their patron saints. What
an inspiring sight it must have been when, upon
the Saint's day of some particular trade, a solemn
procession of all its members in brave array marched
behind their banners to give thanks in Or San
Michele to the patron saint who watched over their
industry.

It is, however, to Cortona that we must go to
find a church whose construction is actually owed
to a company of merchants. We read that in a
suburb of the town called Calcinaio, a certain
picture of the Virgin began to work so many
marvels that the guild of shoemakers, owning a
tract of land there, was fired with such pious zeal

65 F

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

as to donate its land, and begin thereon the con-
struction of a church to house the sacred painting.
Not only was the work carried through to a
triumphant conclusion, but it was actually finished
in thirty years (1484-1516) which almost breaks
the record for mediaeval church construction a
businesslike feat by business men !

Now let us for the moment resist the tempta-
tion to delve further into the fascinating lore of the
Italian guilds, and resuming our r61e of sight-seeing
tourists, set out for this sanctuary of the worthy
shoemakers.

As one proceeds from Perugia northward up
the Umbrian Plain, whether by the railway, restricted
to its steel line (and to some extent by time tables !)
or by the individualistic rambling of a motor car,
the most striking feature of the landscape will be
Lake Trasimene, studded with islands, its waters
now beautiful in their calm, now lashed into
boisterous waves by the winds that have free access
from every side. The bed of this lake is now
being made to yield up the treasures buried
beneath its waves during the old Etruscan and
Roman times, and many a museum boasts of a
share in these recovered trophies. It was on the

Cortona

very road we are travelling, near the northern end
of the lake, that Hannibal indulged himself in one
of those practical hints on military strategy which
he occasionally inflicted upon the Romans. This
time he laid particular stress on the need for scout-
ing, and the disadvantage frequently resulting from
doing as the enemy would have you do. The
Roman General Flaminius held Arezzo, thinking
that Hannibal on his march from the valley of the
Arno southward to Rome would surely not leave
such a strongly garrisoned post behind him. But
Hannibal, preferring to choose his own battlefield,
marched by Arezzo, entirely ignoring the Romans.
Now nobody likes to be ignored, and Flaminius set
out hotfoot after him, so intent on catching the
Carthaginians that he forgot to notice until too late,
that he had hurried into an ambush, Hannibal
blocking the road with the main body of his army,
while his lighter troops occupied the small hills on
both sides of the road and cut ofF the rear. The
Roman army was annihilated, and Flaminius died
with his men.

As we proceed on our northerly journey,
accompanied at a respectful distance on either side
by the flanking line of hills, the next striking object

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

in the landscape is a rounded height that rises
steeply on our right, crowned with fortresslike
Cortona. This place should be endeared to our
memory as having long been the home of William
de Marcillat. Of him there was for a long time
but little known, and that little narrated by the
agreeable but inaccurate Vasari, the most misleading
of gossips. Recently, however, William's journal
and account-book have been discovered stored away
in the State Archives at Florence among the papers
of the Abbey of Camaldoli. They enlighten us
completely as to where he worked, for whom, and
also as to the pupils whom he encouraged by his
genius. The two masterpieces of his which used
to adorn the cathedral at Cortona have disappeared,
one to dwell in the Victoria and Albert Museum
in London, and the other to cross the Atlantic and
bury itself in seclusion somewhere in America. We
shall be consoled, however, if half-way up the road
which climbs to Cortona we stop in the suburb
called Calcinaio. In its church there are three fine
examples of this master, one being a handsome
bull's eye window, while the other two are of the
usual rectangular shape. The occhio in the facade
represents our Mother of Mercy receiving under

Cortona

the protection of her mantle (supported by two
angels) the Christian people of the world. Among
these kneeling figures are Pope Leo X, Emperor
Maximilian I, and Cardinal Francesco Soderini.
In one transept is the strong figure of St. Paul,
and opposite, St. Sebastian. The latter is accredited
to William, but it is probably the work of one of
his pupils. Notice how gracefully the figures are
poised ; to secure this grace the artist did not
hesitate to allow St. Paul's arm to encroach upon
the border, as does also the head of the cherub
peeping down from above. William treated such
conventions as borders, etc., with respect but not
with humility. For centuries it was supposed that
William de Marcillat was but the Italian way of
recording that he came from Marseilles, but now
we know that his father's name appears in the
records of La Chatre, France, as de Marcillat also.
The life of this little man with the broad head, and
the narrow, eager face, reads like an old romance.
Born near Bourges in France, his youth was devoted
to the quiet pursuit of his art studies. Hardly had
he arrived at man's estate before he became involved
in a quarrel which resulted in the loss of a life, and
William fled to Nevers and sought security by

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

taking monastic vows. Both at Bourges and Nevers
he doubtless benefited by observing their fine
windows. His budding talent as a glass painter
became so well known that when Pope Julius II
summoned the French master, Claude, to Rome,
he took William with him as an assistant. Soon
after reaching Rome, Claude died and left William
to carry on the work alone. His gifted nature
proved so receptive to the burst of artistic creation
by which Michael Angelo, Raphael, and many
another were then glorifying Rome that William
became the greatest glass painter of the i6th
century. He was a gorgeous colourist ; but his
most noteworthy contribution to the craft in Italy
was the introduction of perspective, in the use of
which he was a master. Instead of employing
architectural detail as part of the decoration of his
design (as had theretofore been customary) he
relegated it to its proper duty of assisting his space
composition, and the placing of his figures. Vasari
comments on the skill he displayed in so lending
the brighter colours to his important figures, and
leaving only the duller ones for the less important,
as if to indicate, by this very tone discrimination,
the degrees of interest deserved by the different

Cortona

parts of the picture. This comment touches a
wide and undeveloped field, which deserves further
exploration than it has hitherto received. It has
alluring possibilities of new and telling effects in
stained glass. William left behind him a series of
masterpieces surpassing anything produced by his
contemporaries in either the land of his birth and
youth, or in that of his adoption and his prime.
We will see more of his work in Arezzo.

Cortona provides a centre from which to visit
sundry isolated examples of William's genius.
There is a fine occhio glazed by him at Monte San
Savino, 25 kilometres to the west, and 7 kilometres
south thereof, in the church of Pieve Vecchio at
Lucignano, there are also interesting proofs of his
skill. Lucignano lies 20 kilometres west of Cortona.
While these are not of sufficient importance to
delay all of our company, there may be some who,
won by the charm of this Umbrian country, will
welcome these hints as an excuse for lingering
longer in it.

AREZZO

lofty Umbrian plain sweeps north-
ward between its flanking lines of hills,
and at its northern end on a tilted
rocky uplift is stationed Arezzo, look-
ing for all the world like a slowly rising, half roused
guardian lion. Beyond again to the north this
plateau falls rapidly away, its waters gradually in-
creasing the mountain streams until they together
form the river Arno, whose course but briefly
checked by the weirs at Florence, turns westward
and finally bids us adieu at Pisa just before it
disappears into the Mediterranean. Stationed thus,
between the Umbrian plain and all that part of
Tuscany known as the Val d'Arno, Arezzo has
attained a greater importance than its population
would seem to warrant. Its railway station lies in
that lower part of the city which is on the plain,
and above it the streets sweep upward until, when
the height is reached on which is built the cathedral,
we find ourselves afforded a delightful prospect over

Arezzo

the smiling country below. If you are fortunate
enough to enjoy this view in the springtime, do
not fail to notice the strange green produced on
the plain below by the combination of the foliage
of the frequent olive-trees against the new grass.
Remember this colour when you enter the cathedral
and it may help you to understand whence come
the soft greens that you will see in its windows.
Unusual too is the structure of the church, no
windows at all on its northern side ; but turn about
and look to the south, and ample amends will be
made to you. Along the wall of the aisle on that
side is ranged a series of five large embrasures, and
nowhere in the world will you find more splendid
examples of 1 6th century glazing than here delight
your eyes "splendid" is the only word one can
use to describe them, for notwithstanding the per-
fection of the drawing, the skill of the space com-
position, and the complete realization of everything
to be made out of glass, it is after all the daring
splendour of the colouring that amazes and capti-
vates. Here, William de Marcillat is at his best.
In the usual 1 6th century fashion, he uses Classical
architecture as a background for his figures and
also to aid in disposing them throughout the

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

composition. But what edifices he builds ! not at
all the usual type so well known in the popular
Renaissance windows of the north. Here, columns
of green malachite, of red porphyry, and of poly-
chrome marble vie in brightness with parti-coloured
pavements of rich hues. Frequently we notice in
this radiant architecture as well as in the brave
attire of his richly-clad personages the subtle soft
greens peculiar to him, and of which we have
already spoken. Nor is the brightness nor the
combination of his tones and tints the only proof
of his skill, for where in glass is there to be found
a better drawing of the nude than Lazarus rising
from the tomb ? Neither does he hesitate which
part of his palette to use what could be more
daring or more successful than the salmon pink
clouds above the Baptism of Christ ! Magnificent
as are these great pictures, in no way inferior is
the admirable Descent of the Holy Ghost up in
the large bull's eye of the west front. As if to
complete the proof of his versatility he turned from
these large effects to the adroit glazing of the small
lancet in the east wall just north of the apse. Here
a skilfully unconventional use of architectural detail
balances the two carefully drawn figures. Up in

Arezzo

the clerestory along the south side are five large
bull's eyes, of which the two most westerly are
glazed in colour, but obviously of the I5th century
a rather stiff adaption of four upright figures to
each round embrasure. One would suspect that
we have here the intervention of a foreign hand,
for the Italians were never at fault in adjusting
their pictures to a circular frame. Upon the vaults
of the ceiling above are a further proof of William's
versatility, for here is spread out a series of excellent
frescoes, upon which he was engaged at the time
of his death.

Nor did William confine his efforts to the
cathedral alone, for at the churches of San Fran-
cesco and the Annunziata he left behind him enough
to have called us to Arezzo even had there been
no cathedral. At San Francesco a large occhio in
the west front gave him an ample opportunity to
display his skill as designer and colourist in the
portrayal of St. Francis of Assisi and his monks
before Pope Honorius III. Here again we see the
warm-tinted marbles against the background of blue
sky. What could be finer than the manner in
which the simple, pale garb of the kneeling St.
Francis and his followers in the centre is contrasted

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

with the gorgeous company of the Pope and his
attendant Cardinals ?

At the Annunziata, our admiration is not con-
fined to one window. A small occhio on the right
as we enter has a pleasing scene of the espousal
of the Virgin, the calm group in the centre con-
trasting with the vigorous action of the disappointed
suitors at the sides breaking their wands. Along
the sides of the nave are a number of rectangular
windows showing coloured figures on a field of
white lozenges, surrounded by yellow stain borders.
There are other satisfactory windows of the usual
type in the transepts. William's most important
effort is high up in the semi-circular apse, while below
it are three windows showing conventional saints
in Renaissance canopies. This large round window
of his displays in its lower part his usual dexterity
in setting forth an agreeable landscape peopled with
well-drawn coloured figures. Above, in a strongly
accentuated oval enclosure, is the Virgin, and very
ingenious is the way in which he has made her the
focus of his picture, both by splashes of red and
other colour devices. William reveals himself at
Arezzo as a colourist, a draughtsman, and a deft
manipulator of the possibilities of stained glass

Arezzo

such as the craft never produced in any other
country.

Before leaving Arezzo one should visit the
ancient church of the Pieve. The promise held
out by the gallery-on-gallery of columns which
adorn its facade is borne out by the interesting
early architecture within, but the special purpose
of our visit will be to note in the south wall a
small deeply-set round embrasure, whose seven
circular apertures are filled with translucent light
grey alabaster. It is from such quaint beginnings
that there developed the craft which adorned the
cathedral with the splendid triumphs of William de
Marcillat.

North-west of Arezzo, across the Arno, and
about 10 kilometres away, is the town of Siecina,
lying close by Capolana. There is but little glass
here, but there is enough to afford some leisurely
pilgrim an excuse for another day in Umbria.

FLORENCE

WHATEVER be the purpose of one's in-
vestigation of the centuries when our
glass was made, sooner or later there
is sure to be encountered traces of the
warm appreciation then enjoyed by the profession
of the diplomat. Nowhere in the whole peninsula
can this fact more appropriately give us pause than
in Florence, for in the annals of mediaeval Italian
diplomacy no State attained a higher rank than she.
How widely this fact was recognized and utilized
is strikingly evidenced by the astonishment of Pope
Boniface VIII on remarking that all the ambas-
sadors sent to represent the Christian Powers at
the Jubilee of 1300 were Florentines. No diplomat
of the old school bore so famous a name as that
of her subtle and unscrupulous citizen, Machiavelli,
indeed so typical of it was he that an illustrative
adjective has been derived from his name. Much
as we may to-day object to his point of view, there
is no gainsaying his pre-eminence among his

Florence

contemporaries, nor doubt of the diplomatic suc-
cesses gained for Florence through his teachings.
Fortunately, the world is coming to know that
greater and more permanent results are obtainable
from what John Hay, when Secretary of State,
called the diplomacy of the Golden Rule" What-
soever ye would that men should do to you, do ye
even so to them.'* But, in its day, it is undeniable
that the Machiavellian system proved effective
against others of similar kind, and it will be of
interest to us, as students of those times, to see
what were the ends it most sought to serve. In
what cause did Florentine diplomacy win its
triumphs ? Many of us will be surprised to learn
that it was along the lines of what has been recently
named "dollar diplomacy," that is, by striving
to assist abroad the commercial interests of the
State. No sooner had the merchant guilds estab-
lished their industries on a firm basis at home than
Florentine diplomacy sprang to their assistance, and
bent all its energies to secure them an outlet abroad.
" Dollar diplomacy " was well understood and suc-
cessfully practised in Florence centuries before that
phrase was coined in America. Just glance through
the pages of Florentine history and what do you

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

find ? Isn't it clear that the reason for the per-
sistent policy of the Medicis in assisting Milan
against the Venetians is found in the former's
willingness to keep open the northern mountain
passes so that the Florentine merchants could push
their trade in northern Europe, while Venice, on
the contrary, was for stifling Florentine exporters
by closing those avenues of commerce ? Again,
when the goldsmiths of Florence had succeeded in
producing a coin of marked excellence, did not
Florentine diplomacy materially assist to popularize
abroad this florin, as it was called ? a coin destined
to gain such wide currency that the employment
of its name has persisted to this day. If space
allowed, instances might be multiplied of the canny
Florentine merchant relying on the diplomatic assist-
ance of his State to gain and hold for him trade
advantages, whose use none knew better than him-
self. The long struggle to seize and hold Pisa
was actuated by the desire to provide Florentine
merchants with an easy outlet to the Mediter-
ranean, and a participation in the profitable carrying
trade of that sea. It was but seldom that Florence
could find much interest in a war that did not in
some way assist her trade, for the aim of her

Florence

diplomacy, peaceful or warlike, was commerce
rather than conquest. Not territory but trade,
and only territory when it furthered trade. Judging
from its results, the "florin diplomacy" of the
Middle Ages was as successful as the most active
"dollar diplomacy" of to-day. Nor did Florence
think it needful to employ specially trained diplo-
mats, for so general was her recognition of the
utility of diplomacy, that she seemed to breed
diplomats in every street. No, when Florence
found herself confronted with a task needing diplo-
matic solution, she selected the man deemed suit-
able to that piece of work. For example, when
it was the moment to fling down the gauntlet to
the neighbouring city of San Gemignano, Dante,
the imperious-minded and intolerant poet, was
chosen to bear the Florentine message of defiance.
When, however, an occasion arose requiring con-
ciliatory measures, they selected as their envoy
the fair-spoken and smooth-tongued Machiavelli
or Guicciardini.

Is it not easy to imagine for oneself the diplo-
matic policies of the Signoria being discussed by
the keen-witted citizens, either on the shop-
bordered pathway that leads across the Ponte

81 G

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

Vecchio, or in the airy shade of the Loggia dei
Lanzi, or on cool days when the tramontana
blew, in the sheltered sunny spaces about the
Duomo, or in that dignified square before the
Palazzo Vecchio ! A growing and a busy city is
Florence, and yet among the hurrying throng are
faces of the old types among whom the old-world
setting of the streets helps us to picture certain
of her ancient worthies. See ! down that narrow,
dark lane, stalks some stern-featured Dante, a
poetic survival of the old Florence that existed
before the new city burst into that broader life
which was symbolized by the surging skywards
of the wondrous dome of Brunelleschi and of Santa
Croce and Santa Maria Novella, the rival establish-
ments of the Dominicans and the Franciscans. Dante
and the men of his time were truculently satisfied
with the Florence of their day, and pointed with
complacence to the sturdy Baptistery lined with
range on range of rich mosaics, and to that union
of fairy grace and colour with trim strength, the
bell tower that alone would have immortalized
Giotto. All these Florentines, be they of the
older conservative group, or of their successors
who looked forward with wider horizon, each and

INTERIOR OF SANTA MARIA NOVELLA

Bare walls are not uncommon in Florentine churches. The glass in the distance
will be seen nearer at hand in the next picture.

Florence

several possessed that eager confidence which was
the hall-mark of Florentine patriotism. Whatever
there was to be done would of course, said they,
be accomplished, and the only useful thought was
that expended on how to do it ! Men could
always be found, and easily, too. Had not a
Cimabue come forward to break the chains of
Byzantine formalism that were felt to be fettering
art, and, when further progress was needed, had
he not discovered a shepherd's lad named Giotto,
drawing sheep in a lifelike manner, theretofore
unknown ! When the Baptistery had to be
adorned with finer bronze doors than any rival
city could show, did not there appear a youth of
eighteen, Lorenzo Ghiberti, of such mature genius
as to defeat many distinguished competitors ! With
a constant recurrence of such miracles of artistic
productivity, would any doubt of the city's power
to produce men for every emergency be aught else
but sheer disloyalty to the lily-broidered banner !

There are so many angles and points of view
from which one may regard the life and people
of this fascinating town, that the Florence of
one reader may be quite different from the one
upon which another loves to muse. And some

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

of these vignettes will show a modern aspect
for example, the Florence of Browning, for she
is peculiarly haunted with memories of him. Go
to the square in front of the Innocenti, and there
astride his bronze horse is the Duke forever
regarding the window where so long, to watch
him passing, sat the disconsolate inamorata of
"The Statue and the Bust." The "Ring and
the Book " is about you everywhere, for although
it ends in Rome, it begins here with the purchase
of "the Book" in the square of San Lorenzo.
Across from the Pitti Palace Browning and his
gifted wife lived for many years, and there she
wrote " Casa Guidi Windows " and other poems.

There are many who believe that the history
of great individuals provides the most trustworthy
exposition of the life of their times. Certainly,
the lives of the great Florentines would seem
peculiarly to justify this belief. So strongly are
they stamped with the cachet of their city that
even the briefest study of their careers inevitably
weaves us back into the history of the town.
Always is this true, from the most ambitiously
grasping of the Medicis to that meek soul, Fra
Angelico, declining the Pope's offer of the Bishop's

Florence

mitre from the broad genius of Michael Angelo
to the narrow outlook of Machiavelli from
Cimabue, the pioneer, through Giotto the natural,
to the most finished exponent of Florentine art.
Ever and always these master minds will be found
indelibly marked with the characteristics of their
strenuous commonwealth, and you can no more
understand them apart from it than you can
imagine ivy standing aloof from its supporting
wall.

But enough ! we must resist the fascination
of Florence in general, and betake ourselves to
her windows. Not only has she a gratifying
quantity of ancient stained glass, but it is mostly
of the best Italian period, the I5th century, and,
furthermore, unsurpassed of its kind. It is chiefly
to be seen in the Duomo, the two large churches
of Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce, the smaller
sanctuary of Or San Michele, and the Laurentian
Library. Across the Arno, in Santo Spirito, there
is also a fine round window or occhio, attributed
to Perugino. It represents the " Descent of the
Holy Ghost," and is the only example in Italy
of brusquely horizontal grouping in an occhio,
with no attempt to adjust the picture to the

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

circular space. The border which encloses it is
of the richest Renaissance colouring and detail.
Fine as is this window, it is but one of thirteen
splendid occhi of which the city can rightly boast.
The Duomo alone contains ten of these peculiarly
Italian windows, three in the western facade, and
seven ranged around below Brunelleschi's dome.
The eighth embrasure in the dome, the one to
the west, is glazed in white, the better to light
the altar, standing below and to the east of it.
Each one of these seven deserves a special account,
so delightful are they in design and colour, but
we must content ourselves with saying that they
set forth admirably drawn scenes from the life of
the Saviour. The borders deserve particular notice
for their wealth of decoration, especially the one
to the east, composed of angel's heads each sur-
rounded by a halo. The drawings for this series
of seven were provided by Lorenzo Ghiberti,
Donatello, Paolo Uccello, and Perugino. Ghiberti
also drew the cartoons for the splendid round
lights that pierce the west front, one huge one
high up in the middle, flanked by two of more
modest size, lower down and just above the side
portals. These smaller ones both evidence the

Florence

customary Italian skill in adjusting the figures to
a circular embrasure, the golden backs of the seats
lending the required breadth to the grouping.
The great central occhio is a really splendid effect
in glass, showing the " Assumption of the Virgin "
in a blaze of colour and amidst a swirl of angels'
wings that is altogether admirable.

Most foreigners who visit the Duomo will go
away without discovering the trick that the archi-
tects have played upon them in the matter of
the nave windows. From the inside there seem
to be four tall lancets on each side, but outside
there are six in both the north and the south
wall. How is it done ! Return to the interior,
look more carefully, and you will find that the
westerly pair on each side are filled with mosaic
instead of glass, and that those to the east of
them have either become so begrimed (or else
had their opacity lessened by paint !) as not, by
their superior translucence, to betray the trick.
The explanation is that the wall plans of the
nave were changed before their construction was
finished, and this device was employed to avoid
the appearance within of too many lancets in the
western half of the structure. The easterly pair

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

of lights on each side are more interesting than
beautiful. They date from the closing years of
the I4th century (1394-6), and are among the
few examples in Italy of the canopy style so
common north of the Alps. Each lancet has six
saints, each in his own elaborate niche, two on
a tier, a border separating them perpendicularly
instead of, as usual, only running around outside
next the stonework. We have just explained why
they are so opaque, and this very loss of trans-
lucence has robbed them of almost all the beauty
they ever had. Thus are they justly punished for
their connivance in the trick upon the unsuspect-
ing stranger !

And now for a treat such as even ancient stained
glass cannot often offer. Come with us beneath
the dome, and look out into the apse or into either
of the transepts. Alike in dimensions, they are
glazed in absolutely the same manner. Above and
below run a series of ample lights filled with
stately figures richly robed, and of colour so deep
and warm that it is almost pulsating. When
gazing on them one recalls Huneker's admirable
translation of Huysman's word picture : "the
bugle cry of red, the limpid confidence of white,

Florence

the repeated hallelujah of yellow, the virginal glory
of blue, all the quivering crucible of glass." No-
where are there tones so mellow, so harmonious.
Nor is there here any jarring contrast from light
panes used for canopies architecture is shown, but
of such radiant hues as to aid the strength of the
picture instead of being merely a contrasting frame.
Five windows above, and the same number below,
a total of ten for each transept and for the apse,
in all a magnificent series of thirty. Certain of the
north transept lights have white glass in their
upper halves, but they are so placed that you do
not see them as you look north from below the
dome. The scheme of the designs is the same
throughout ; above, a large single figure, and in
the lower lights a pair of them, not, as usual, each
rigidly stationed in his own half, but turning
slightly toward one another, and rather nearer the
centre than the sides very graceful and agreeable.
The writer prefers the ensemble of the south
transept, but that is entirely a matter of taste.
See them for yourself, and make your own decision.
This glorious glazing was done during the absolute
high tide of the art, 1432-43. It is known that
a German was fetched from Lubeck to take part

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

in the work, but be that as it may, the result is
clearly Italian, and not German. There is so
much in it to admire, that it seems invidious to
call attention to any detail, but we cannot turn
away without giving special praise to the pains
spent upon enriching the brocade of the costumes,
and also the glorious Italian rendering of the
canopies. The warm tones given the stones is a
truthful echo of the wondrous rosy hues of the
cathedral's exterior.

It is quite a change from the spacious, bare
interior of the Duomo, to the monastic hive of
buildings at Santa Maria Novella or at Santa Croce,
where a church is but the centre of a colony of
chapels, cloisters, and minor edifices. The open space
before Santa Maria Novella has at either end a small
obelisk, mute reminders of the days when they
were the turning goals for the annual chariot races.
It is clear that here truly the race was not to the
swift, but rather to dexterous horsemanship ! The
popularity of these exciting contests caused them
to outlive many another ancient custom. Lady
Dorothy Nevill, in her delightful memoirs, speaks
of having witnessed them in her youth. The
oldest glass in this church is that which fills the

Florence

large occhio of the west front. Its division into
three concentric circles is certainly an older treat-
ment than that of any other occhio in Florence.
Around the central picture is a series of smaller
figures in eight groups, while outside of these runs
a wide conventional border in the florid Italian
manner. Monotony of general tone is avoided by
the predominance of yellows in the lower half,
yielding to browns above. The exterior iron bars
are arranged in an unusual fashion and are worth
observing. The chief glory of the interior is the
spacious chapel behind the altar, where the glazing
of the three ample lancets is in every way worthy
to accompany the charming frescoes of Ghirlandajo
on the walls about them. These windows date
from the historic year 1492, not difficult for an
American to remember. They were installed two
years after the frescoes were finished. Notice the
appetizing borders of fruits mixed with flowers.
We see here many Florentine features, viz. deep
blue backgrounds, coloured marbles, use of a soft
green, importance of borders, etc. The saints
which fill the two side lancets are replaced in the
larger central one by three groups one above the
other, increasing in their proportions as they

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

descend. The red apples in the small tree at the
top look as edible as the fruit in the borders.
Notice the rich barrel vaulting with its gold bosses
in the central picture. The artist frequently em-
ploys an unusual and effective wine colour in the
garments of his figures. So important is the glaz-
ing of this chapel, that it overshadows the fine
window by Filippo Lippi in the adjoining chapel to
the south. This is later workmanship (1502) and
shows too much surface painting. Dark green is
employed instead of the light shade usual in
Tuscany, and the general effect is so much heavier
than that of the central chapel, that it yields a better
effect when seen from the nave than from nearer at
hand. The chapel which closes the end of the north
transept has an earlier window than those just
described. The canopies here are much simpler
and enclose two figures, one above the other. The
richness of the red robe of the upper one is very
pleasing. There should also be noticed three win-
dows in the chapels at the north-east. They show
similar treatment throughout, a border of deep
yellow stain enclosing Renaissance arabesques, with
a coat of arms in the centre of each. In the west
wall of a small room to the south-west of the south

CHAPEL, SANTA MARIA NOVELLA

The splendidly warm tones of the glass are worthy of Ghirlandajo's frescoes that
surround it. Note the altar, a chef tt'ceuvre in Florentine blending of coloured
marbles.

Florence

transept are two circular embrasures filled with
roundels whose size increases as they go out from
the centre ; this is unusual in Italy. Cloistered
courts and quadrangles lie all about this church,
differing in plan and importance, and one is glori-
fied by possessing the so-called Spanish Chapel,
whose frescoes have aroused the enthusiasm of a
long line of critics. But that has to do with
another side of Florence the Artistic, so let us
be off to Santa Croce.

Here we shall again find a group of monastic
buildings clustered about a church. Entering the
cloistered quadrangle to the right, there will be
observed opening off its furthest side the Pazzi
Chapel, a pure example of a style of building not
uncommon in Italy. Upon a short armed Greek
cross is superimposed a small dome. The decora-
tion of the interior is confined to grey and a dull
blue, harmonizing agreeably with a number of della
Robbia medallions. Over the altar is a rectangular
window by Baldovinetti, the peculiar drawing of the
woolly white beard disclosing the author at a glance.
In the small circular opening above is a bust, and
again we see the Baldovinetti beard. Although the
richness of the glass is in striking contrast to the

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

low tones of the chapel, a concession is made by a
liberal use of light, almost opalescent, blue in various
parts of the design.

Entering the large T-shaped church, we at once
realize that an ample display of glass awaits our
investigation. The writer prefers the large occhio
in the western front to any other in Italy. Per-
haps it is not the finest, but his reason for pre-
ferring it is similar to that of people who prefer
early tapestries to the most perfect Gobelins. The
Gobelins are copies of oil paintings, while the
cartoons of their forerunners were obviously made
for tapestries alone, and therefore show a know-
ledge both of the possibilities and the limitations
of weaving, which the Gobelins often disregarded.
This window shows the Descent from the Cross,
and whoever drew the cartoon for it thoroughly
understood how to make the most of glazing in
colour. The disposal of the figures over the
entire surface is admirable. Nothing could be
neater than the adjustment of the trees below, or of
the flying angels above. As was to be expected, the
background is blue and there is a liberal use of
soft greens in the rest of the picture. Unless I am
much mistaken you will pay several visits to this

INTERIOR OF SANTA CROCE

This T-shaped church is peculiarly well lighted, and boasts of a wealth of stained
glass, mostly of Florence's best period, the isth century.

Florence

occhio before you leave Florence. Down each side
of the nave are tall lancets, most of them glazed in
colour, generally showing single figures in canopies
which, with two exceptions, are Gothic. There are
two tiers of these enshrined saints, and two on each
tier. The tones are of the usual I5th century
richness, but the restorer has frequently let his
zeal run away with his reverence for the antique.
This is particularly true of the northern lancets, and
also of the three tall double ones which light the
shallow chapel back of the high altar. One has only
to stand off at a distance to detect the thin-toned
new panes among the richer and deeper old ones.
Above and to the right and left of the chapel aper-
ture, two tall narrow lancets pierce the wall, and
these still preserve their old glazing a triple tier
of canopied figures, with a medallion at the very top.
They are placed so high as to rob them of much of
their value, and this prepares us to appreciate the
facility for close inspection afforded by the window
of the chapel closing the end of the south transept.
The pattern of the border, a winding vine with
yellow and green leaves on a blue and red ground,
shows this to be early work, as does also the
elementary character of the Gothic canopies ; the

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

1 5th century could not have progressed very far
when this glazing was done.

Perhaps the most interesting window in the
whole church is the unique one in the west
wall of the chapel at the end of the north
transept. It looks like mid- 1 4th century, and
is unlike any window the writer has ever seen,
especially its border. This border is made up
of a series of squares bearing heraldic figures,
yellow lions on blue, or long-tailed red birds on
blue, or green ones on red, etc. The frequent
use of white lines in the border forms part of
the white note so often struck in this window.
Golden fleurs de lis on blue abound, appropriate to
the seated figure of Louis IX of France, who, by
the way, was an ardent patron of stained glass, as is
attested by his erection of the Sainte Chapelle in
Paris. The only suggestion of a canopy is the
pointed arch made by a white line above the figures.
Another of the many unique features are the small
angels which recline upon the sloping sides of these
pointed arches. They sometimes appear in early
Italian paintings, but not on glass. Altogether,
this window is as charming as it is unusual.

Quite different from the spacious interiors we

Florence

have just been frequenting is the small church of
Or San Michele, erected by the guilds of Florence
under the special superintendence of the silk
merchants, and adorned outside by a series of
handsomely niched statues of their patron saints.
Surprised indeed are we to learn that above the
church is a large storehouse built to hold corn, but
this is not the only novel feature of this quaint
sanctuary. The altar is not in the middle but is
placed to the north so as to balance the gorgeous
tabernacle of Orcagna stationed to the south. So
too the window embrasures are peculiar in shape,
and abbreviated. The glass is more archaic in design
than that which we have been examining, and it
does not take long to notice that the four most
easterly windows are earlier than the six to the west
of them. The easterly ones tend as strongly to
reds and blues as the others do to yellows and
greens. On all sides is a multitude of small people
grouped in engaging scenes, and nowhere any sign
of restraint from conventional canopies. The ray-
like slits in the traceries are differently treated
in one place we have small angels arranged like
herrings in a barrel, while in another the extended
wings of cherubs fill these narrow radiating apertures.

97 H

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

Parts of six of the windows have purposely been
left white, but the older four to the east are
entirely glazed in colour. Or San Michele affords
a delightful proof that during their struggle for
commercial supremacy the Florentine guilds raised
their artistic standard rather than neglected it.

Thus far we have visited only religious edifices,
but now we shall see glass of a secular type, some-
thing far rarer. In the long series of rectangular
windows in the Laurentian Library there exists one
of the many monuments to the Medici family, to
whose patronage of art we moderns owe so much.
And such a series, all similar, fifteen on one side
and twelve on the other ! The entire surface of
each is given over to arabesques, griffins, etc., out-
lined in grey and soft browns, the general effect
being mellowed by a judicious use of low pinks
and blues. Of course the six balls of the Medici
arms are given due prominence, and on many of
the windows appear dates, 1558, 1567, 1568.
Some critics have maintained that the dating of
some of them subsequent to the death of da Udine
proves that he could not have been the designer,
general belief to the contrary notwithstanding.
May it not be respectfully submitted to these

WINDOW IN OR SAN MICHELE

This sanctuary of the ancient trade guilds is lighted in a manner all its own. The
three lower panels have scenes in late mosaic style, while the graceful traceries above are
glazed equally elaborately. (See page 97)

Florence

gentlemen that as da Udine was alive when the
earliest dated window was made, the later dates
may refer to their glazing and installation, and not
to the original cartoons ? It would seem that these
critics could make out a stronger case if they would
confine themselves to pointing out how inferior this
glass is to da Udine's work at the Certosa in the
Val d'Ema near Florence. There he used the leads
to assist in providing the outlines, but here they are
allowed to break up the surface into squares. Nor
is the drawing here anything like so delicate as that
which charms us at the Certosa. But even in the
light of this honest criticism it cannot be denied
that the Laurentian glass produces a satisfactory
effect. Wherever it has been necessary to fill in
with new panes, the old spirit has been carefully
maintained, even to the employment of the amusing
little turtles whose progression is being assisted by
sails hoisted on their backs. It is much to be
regretted that so little of ancient domestic glass has
survived till our time. It fared far worse than that
installed in churches, and more's the pity.

Such is a brief survey of Florentine windows.
Because of its wealth in this regard, Florence
deserves to rank with York, Rouen, Troyes, and

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

Nuremberg, and it will be difficult to make our
reader resume his pilgrim's staff after once he has
tarried on the banks of the Arno. But bestir ye,
gentle sirs, there be other sights to see ! Store
your memories with delightful visions of windows
seen, and fare ye forth, bent on further acquisitions.
All pilgrims from across the Atlantic, whether
Americanized Anglo-Saxons of the north or Ameri-
canized Latins of South America, should reverently
repair to the small church of Ognissanti, for there
lie entombed the mortal remains of that bold
Florentine navigator Amerigo Vespucci, to whom
our hemisphere of liberty owes its name. Would
that we might bring as much honour to our re-
spective fatherlands as did our illustrious namegiver
to Florence !

100

SAN MINIATO

OVER against the City of Florence, across
the Arno and outside the walls,
rises the height called San Miniato.
Demurely quiet as it now appears,
and peaceful as is the prospect of the ancient city
below, it was not always thus. In 1521 the
versatile Michael Angelo became for it, first an
engineer, and later a warrior, for he fortified and
defended it against the Imperial troops during
their long siege of Florence. The two very
different approaches to it are equally attractive,
whether one elects to drive up the flower- bordered
zigzag that mounts from the river through the
steep park to the open space at the top, or whether
in more leisurely fashion we go out from the
Porta Romana and follow the longer road slowly
sloping up through the trees, and enjoying from
time to time charming vistas off to the left. When
the open space at the brow of the hill is reached,

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A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

one is rewarded by the amazing view of Florence
lying below us, and across to the hills about
Fiesole on the other side. Far off to the right
are the lofty Apennines, and if it chances to be
the time of the spring showers, we shall see the
mountains crowned with late snow, for a rain at
San Miniato will mean snow on the northern
hills. What a prospect lies before us, and but
little changed since there looked down upon it
Michael Angelo or Ghiberti or Benvenuto Cellini,
or any other of the great Florentines who lived
after that burst of building that thrust into the
air Brunelleschi's cathedral dome, Santa Croce, and
Santa Maria Novella. Over yonder on those
heights of far Fiesole are the very gardens to
which Boccaccio's gay and heartless company
withdrew from the plague-stricken town below
them, and listened and laughed the awful hours
away. They still smile at us across the valley of
the Arno, but this memory puts a grimness in
the smile.

San Miniato holds for us lovers of windows
two edifices, both churches, entirely unlike each
other. The first to be reached on our upward
way is San Salvatore, sometimes called San

102

San Miniato

Francesco al Monte. Along the sides of the
nave are modest chapels above whose altars is
a series of small rectangular windows of interest.
Over the doorway in the south side is a pleasant
bit of glazing, whose donor is disclosed by the
appearance of the Peruzzi arms, the pears with
the leafy stems. We will already have noticed
those arms in Santa Croce, so enriched by the
benefactions of that family.

Continuing upward we arrive at the old fortifi-
cations of Michael Angelo, and passing through
two gates reach the summit and come out upon
a small paved space before the Church of San
Miniato al Monte. Its facade is encrusted with
white and black marble, and enlivened with
mosaics. The pavement upon which we stand is
also of coloured marble, and within the church this
pavement shows many quaint arabesques and figures
worked out in sharply contrasted black and white.
The eastern end of the interior is divided into
lower and upper portions, not unusual among early
churches. The upper half is richly adorned in
marble and frescoes, and embellished with con-
ventional Cosmato mosaic. It terminates at the
east in a semi-circular apse, and nothing could

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A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

be more delightful than the manner in which
this apse is lighted. Through its wall of white,
grey, and black marble are pierced five ample
rectangular embrasures, filled with slabs of trans-
lucent alabaster. The thickness of this substance
is such that although it readily admits the light
when the sun's rays are falling directly upon it,
it almost entirely excludes them when the angle
becomes too acute. Therefore the fact that these
windows are stationed in a semi-circle results in
no two of them being lighted to the same extent
at the same time. Elsewhere in Italy the colour
of the alabaster used in windows is fairly even
in tone, but here it is strongly mottled, the effect
being almost that of rich pink nuggets in a field
of 'grey. It is fascinating to sit here and watch
these great translucent slabs slowly shift in tone
as the light upon them varies. One of them
will be brilliantly lighted, while the one farthest
from it will have faded into an opaque grey.
You cannot watch them long without noticing a
feature which may have been studied or may be
but the fruit of lucky chance. The grey of the
slabs, which for the moment are opaque, blends
exactly with the grey marble of the apse, while

104

INTERIOR OF SAN MINIATO

Note the strength of the pattern decoration done in different coloured marbles and
mosaics, also the pictured marble pavement. The alabaster windows are ranged round
the semicircular apse seen in the upper of the two flooi s into which the eastern end of
the chuch is divided.

San Miniato

in the more translucent windows the light has, by
contrast, made some denser parts of the alabaster
as black as the black marbles about it. Thus,
be the alabaster grey or black, there is always a
marble to match it, and so it swings through its
harmony of translucence, accompanied by a double
bass of grey and black. It is impossible to
describe in written words the soft mellow glow
yielded by the San Miniato alabaster to be
understood it should not only be seen, but must
be watched. We will be content, however, with
your promise to go there for, once before it, you
will surely fall victim to the alabaster's ever varying
spell.

105

VAL D'EMA

NO pilgrimage into the Middle Ages
such as ours is (or should be !) can
in any wise be complete if it omits
a close-at-hand view and understand-
ing of monastic life so important a factor in
mediseval times. Not only was it a school in which
many statesmen were trained, but the seclusion of
its cloisters especially favoured the study of the
sciences and the arts, something difficult or im-
possible in the turbulent world outside. The
monastic calm in which Fra Angelico painted his
heavenly figures helps to explain how he obtained
results so far beyond his contemporaries outside
the monastery gate. Having laid down this pre-
mise let us set forth from Florence bound for the
smiling valley of the Ema, only three miles away.
In the midst of this valley rises a square eminence,
capped with an establishment of Carthusian monks,
and here we may to-day observe the life and

1 06

Val d'Ema

environment which during the I4th and
centuries must have provided such a striking
contrast to the restless struggles punctuated with
open strife, which characterized the everyday life
of nearby Florence.

We enter through the courtyard where the
lay brothers lived, and pass on through the small
church, the centre of the community's life. At
the further end of this group of buildings lies
the largest of the four cloistered quadrangles. It
is surrounded by apartments devoted to the brothers
of the highest monastic grade. For each monk
there is a bedroom, a study, etc., and also his
diminutive garden, a few paces in length. Within
this large quadrangle flowers and bushes spring
from the green grass beneath which sleep the
departed Carthusians in their unmarked graves. In
the centre is the ancient well, its great depth
ensuring a constant supply of water. We see the
Refectory in which the community partook of its
frugal meals of vegetables and fish, while one of
them read aloud from the lives of the saints.
Nor was the life of this monkish colony in any
wise an idle one, for each man had his occupation,
were it the hewing of wood, or the painting of

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A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

sacred pictures. Below on either side stretches the
quiet landscape of tilled fields rolling down to the
stream that wanders quietly through the valley.
Here is the "peace that passeth understanding,"
and the leisure for undisturbed service.

Two epochs of glass are represented here, and
each by delightful examples. Leaving the church
by the south portal bent on visiting the exquisitely
carved tombs of the Acciaiolis below, we come upon
a lofty lancet on our left, glazed in the pot-metal
canopy manner, brilliant, satisfying. Each of the
six panels contains its own enshrined saint, and
very skilful is the way in which the colours of their
robes are combined and all thrown out by the blue
backgrounds within the niches. The amount of
brassy yellow used in depicting architecture, the
frequent use of leaves in the rich border, etc.,
incline one to suspect the assistance of a northern
glazier. On the other hand, the participation of
local talent is to be assumed from the frequent
employment of a certain new-grass green, very light,
soft and fine, common throughout this district.
Not only does it appear in the garments, but also
in the architecture, in the book which St. Lawrence
holds, in the martyr's palms, etc. This same green

1 08

Val d'Ema

is used to-day for window blinds all over Tuscany,
so its popularity would seem to have been an
enduring one ! It is worth while examining the
details of this glass, so carefully have they been
worked out. For example, note the pains the
glazier took with the two white-bearded heads.
His success in contrasting the brown faces with
the hoary beards must have given him as much
satisfaction as it does us.

The cloister walk alongside the northern church
wall is enclosed from the weather by eight windows,
two of which, however, were left unfinished by the
artist who achieved such a charming result in the
remaining six. They are accredited to da Udine,
who died before his task was completed. Con-
sidered as windows to be observed close at hand,
and therefore subjected to unusually critical scrutiny,
they are almost unequalled. We have already seen
some of the same type in the Laurentian Library at
Florence, but of nothing like so choice a quality.
Three designs are used for the six embrasures, they
being treated in pairs. In the centre of each is a
small picture of the late enamelled variety, very
low in tint and daintily drawn. The rest of the
surface is given over to arabesques enclosed within

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A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

grey and stain borders. The whole is relieved
with sundry small cupids, and judicious touches of
soft blue or mulberry. Most of the outlining is
done in greyish brown. The borders are so deftly
interrupted now and again as to offset the danger
of too many parallel lines. The most westerly pair
bear the date 1560. The only windows of this
agreeable domestic type which surpass these are
the famous and much-travelled Cupid and Pysche
series at Chantilly. There are fewer pleasanter
excursions than that to the Certosa of the Val
d'Ema, and, for specialists like ourselves, it is not
often that we can so conveniently examine such
excellent examples of two contrasting schools of
stained glass.

PRATO

SOMETIMES a stranger will observe in the
streets of a town some manifestation of
its life which lingers in his memory as
peculiarly symbolic of the local history.
Perhaps we shall not be too fanciful if the history
of quiet, monotonous Prato is thus represented to
us of the busy outer world by her women, young
and old, sitting in their doorways or walking about
plaiting straw into the braids which are later to be
wound into hats, baskets, etc. The wisps of straw
seem ever starting off at a tangent from the con-
straint of the braids, but always the rapid fingers
weave them back into that monotonous regularity
which characterizes alike the braids of straw and the
life of peaceful Prato. In one of its quiet streets
a turning brings you upon a shrine painted by
Filippo Lippi in his best manner. Its only pro-
tection from the molestation of weather or man is
a flimsy panel, and yet there it has remained secure

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

for centuries, a relic of a buried past which has
calmly persisted, protected perhaps by its very
insecurity. Nor is this the only strange expression
of mediaevalism that has here lingered until our
day a mediaevalism as difficult to explain from our
modern view point as it would be for Eric the Red
to understand an aeroplane. For instance, what
would to-day be said of a painter's audacity if he
should follow the example of Filippo Lippi when,
in his famous frescoes at the cathedral, he shows
us the face and figure of the nun that he won away
from her holy vows, and who was the mother of his
son Filippino Lippi. She there appears both as
Salome and Herodias, and yet there seems to have
been no objection by the church authorities to this
selection of lineaments by the great artist ! Truly,
" The times change and we change with them."
Before we set foot inside the cathedral, we are
already feeling its charm by reason of the graceful
circular pulpit on its outer corner about whose front
dances the delightful chorus of Donatello's cherubs.
Attractive too are della Robbia's figures of majolica
set high in the western facade. The importance
of this sacred structure is due to its possessing the
girdle of the Virgin, closely guarded and greatly

112

Prato

honoured, and once every year exhibited to the
people from the little pulpit outside. It furnishes
the subject of the large eastern window which
lights the chapel behind the altar containing Filippo
Lippi's frescoes. The upper part of the embrasure
is given over to an elaborate picture of the Virgin
holding her girdle, surrounded by angels flying
above the tree-tops. The space below is divided
into nine equal compartments, each containing a
saint in canopy ; unfortunately the heads of most
of them have been renewed. The whole is sur-
rounded by a rich border of red strap work set
with golden lilies. Here there appears the same
brocading of garments that is to be seen at the
Duomo in Florence, some of the patterns being
almost identical. Instead, however, of the blue
effect so common in Florence, this window leans
markedly to green, but always the soft, low-toned
Tuscan green. It shows in the Virgin's girdle, and
is repeated in the tree-tops, robes of the saints, bases
of some of the canopies, etc. The date locally
assigned to this work is 1436, and many indications
confirm this.

The Church of Madonna delle Carceri also
merits a visit ; it is of the not unusual type of

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

blunt Latin cross surmounted by a cupola. Old
stained glass fills three ample rectangular embrasures
stationed high up, one on the north, another on the
west, and the third on the south. The Visitation
scene on the north contains too much conventional
architecture, and is chiefly interesting for the
excellent blue of one of the figures, and the
unusually deep purple of the other. The west
window, showing the Annunciation, also has too
much architecture, but here it is more ingeniously
employed, the colonnade running up from left to
right serving to centre attention upon the Virgin,
seated under a dainty classical pavilion. Far more
pleasing is the Birth of Christ, on the south. This
is really delightful as well designed and coloured
as any window in Tuscany. Here there is nothing
stiflf, only a simple picture. The dark blue back-
ground serves to throw out in strong relief the
Holy Family and kneeling angels, while the whole
colour scheme is brightened by the yellow of the
thatched roof and of Joseph's garment, both on the
left side. Above all shines the Star of Bethlehem.
It is a picture to store away in one's memory.

Come back with us to Florence toward sunset.
The hills on our left sometimes surge forward

114

INTERIOR OF PRATO CATHEDRAL

In the background appears the splendid stained glass that softens the light for
Fillipo Lippi's famous frescoes. The Zebra markings done in black and white marbles-
are popular in Italy.

Prato

until they are threateningly close upon us, and
again they silently withdraw in a strong receding
sweep, only to lunge forward again. All the while
the slowly dying sun is languidly shifting its tints
upon them from gay to grave heather purple to
dull blue, to blue-grey, to grey, then sinking
into twilight, cheered by the twinkle of out-popping
lights.

LUCCA

PICTURE to yourself a range of mountains
running north-east and south-west, and
climbing up their slopes, or perched aloft
among them, many a picturesque village
or sturdy stronghold. At the foot of these hills
stretches off to the south a long plain ; upon this
plain at a point where other hills so encroach from
the south as to make of it a valley, lies Lucca.
Lucca, so often fought for, and conquered, and
bought, and sold poor distracted, desirable Lucca !
Around about it are thrown high grass-grown
ramparts, now altered from frowning battlements
into smiling promenades where, as one takes the
air, he can gaze upon the city compacted within,
or else out across the narrowing plain to the hills,
or down the level valley that leads through them
to Pisa 22 kilometres to the south-west. Many
times up and down that valley road to Pisa have
marched and counter-marched bodies of armed

116

Lucca

men, more frequently to the discomfort and dismay
of Lucca than of her stronger neighbour.

Unfortunate as she generally contrived to be,
Lucca enjoyed a short period of glory, for out of
the kaleidoscopic hurly-burly of petty strife which
constantly plagued the peninsula there emerged her
one great leader, Castruccio Castracane, during the
fifteen years of whose rule Lucca ruffled it with the
best of them. These despots of the Italian cities
were the logical outcome of the prevalent custom of
hiring professional soldiers to do the fighting while
the honest burghers confined themselves to safer
and on the whole more remunerative duties. But
this trade of the mercenary paid better and better,
and it is noteworthy that while in the middle of
the 1 4th century most of these gentry were from
beyond the Alps, by the end of that century they
were nearly all Italian. An interesting manifestation
of favouring home industries ! Most of these
successful Condottieri enjoyed great local distinc-
tion, some became good rulers, few were very
nice. Their code of law was simple and easily
learned "let him take that hath the power, and
let him hold that can." No picture of Italy in the
Middle Ages is complete unless you paint in

117

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

sundry of these ruffians, and that, too, well in the
foreground. They constituted a force seldom less
powerful than the Church, frequently more so.
Many were of engaging personality, although some-
what vague on morality, and not squeamish in
matters of decency. Looks and personal charm
entered into it too ; Hewlett sapiently remarks,
" the Tuscans always suffered handsome tyrants
gladly." Generally these local over-lords contented
themselves with maintaining the mastery of one city,
although raiding others from time to time by way
of indulging their lust of fighting. They were a
cold-blooded lot, and cut throats for much the same
reason that children cut capers to avoid ennui,
and to pass the time ! It would seem as if they
studied the laws of morality and decency so as
to provide themselves with rules to break just
for the sheer joy of what Terence Mulvaney
called "putting your fut through ivry livin*
wan av the Tin Commandmints between Revelly
and Lights Out." Some were really great men,
and founded dynasties of long duration like the
Medici of Florence and the Visconti and the
Sforzas of Milan. Many were of the type that
lived by the sword and died by the sword and

118

Lucca

left no trace behind them. Such an one, alas ! for
Lucca's hope of lasting prominence, was Castruccio
Castracane, a hero who rode out of obscurity
(escaped from a prison, say some !), seized sundry
cities and over three hundred walled towns, over-
came the powerful Florentines no less than three
times, and surged up to the very walls of Genoa,
and all to what purpose? He died in 1328, all
Tuscany at his mercy, and the very next year the
Emperor sold his chief city, Lucca, to the highest
bidder ! But while Castruccio lived he was a match
for the best of them. Villani says he was "limber
and tall, and of a great appearance," and Hewlett
calls him " a bareheaded fighter who never could
get enough of it, and hero of innumerable legends."
The greatest triumph of his life, the humbling of
Florence, had its culminating scene in Lucca's
cathedral church of San Martino, whither we are
bound for a sight of the glorious windows of the
apse. The Florentines had been enraged and stirred
to special activity by Castruccio's capture of their
neighbour, Pistoja, thereby enfolding them on the
north and west and cutting them off from the sea
and most of their friends. An army must be raised,
and that, too, of the best, for this man must be

119

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

humbled, and the peril of which he was the
embodiment avoided. Money was expended freely,
and mercenaries poured in from allies near and
far, many of the knights coming from France and
Burgundy. A force of 20,000 men, equipped at
all points and especially strong in cavalry, set
out under command of Raymond of Cardona, to
chastise Castruccio and his Lucchesi. With the
soldiers went the famous Martinella, the great bell
of Florence, which never failed to accompany a
Florentine army. The campaign was a short one
a fortnight sufficed to show Castruccio's superiority
both in strategy and honest hard fighting. The
victory was overwhelming, and the spoils of war
such as never before had Lucca enjoyed. The
entry into the city of the conquering army took
place on St. Martin's day, and to the great
church dedicated to that Saint marched Castruccio .
and his victors. Before them went, to the joy of
the victors, the famous Martinella, mounted on its
great car, and dragged by oxen draped with the
once proud but now humbled lilies of Florence,
while after it walked the prisoners, headed by
General Raymond of Cardona, in his hand a lighted
candle to be placed on the altar of the cathedral.

1 20

Lucca

No wonder the worthy folk of Lucca nearly went
wild with delighted pride, and cheered and cheered
until lungs gave out, and a speechless ecstasy per-
force supervened. Think on that most glorious day
of Lucca as you stand before San Martino's ornate
facade. It was seldom that any city enjoyed such
a soul-satisfying triumph.

The Cathedral of Saint Martin has its apse
entirely glazed in the best style of the pot-metal
canopy period. The architecture upon it is of the
classical school, but is as rich in its colouring as
any other part of the picture. The central em-
brasure is wider than its two companions, but all
three have the usual upper and lower tier of figures.
What is far from usual, however, is the brilliance
of the hues and the many decorative details, such as
the cherubs holding back the draperies, etc. The
frequent red lines throughout the groining of the
arches are effective as well as characteristic. In the
central window the Annunciation scene at the top
is a fine one. The manner in which the two figures
below stand apart and are slightly turned toward
each other is reminiscent of the transept and apse
in the Duomo at Florence. The green, here so
lavishly and effectively used, is, however, far richer

121

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

than any to be observed in Florence, and has much
to do with the artistic strength of the ensemble.
Observe these windows carefully, for there is no
richer colouring in Italian glass.

Across the small square in front of the cathedral
lies the Baptistery of St. John, and off its northern
transept is a large chapel containing the ancient
baptismal font. In the east wall of this chapel is a
great round window of uncoloured panes within a
wide, r rich border, and in the centre is placed a
commanding figure of John the Baptist of almost
life size. The contrast between the flesh tints and
the red cloak thrown about him is excellent.
Contrary to the usual Italian custom, it bears a date,
1572.

San Paolino has six of its windows glazed in
excellent old glass, three in the west front, one at
the end of each transept, and one in the apse behind
the altar. This last named shows San Paolino
against a light tinted architectural background-
about the only instance in Lucca of a failure to use
rich pot-metal glass in depicting stone work. The
embrasure above contains modern work. The back-
grounds of all these San Paolino pictures are of
warm blue. The appearance of brilliant red ribs in

122

INTERIOR OF SAN MARTINO, LUCCA

The old glass here is all concentrated in the apse seen in the hackground. There
are no stronger or richer tones to be found in Italy.

Lucca

the groining of the canopies makes one surmise that
they were by the same hand as those at the Cathedral.
The coloured borders are good, but not so strikingly
rich as the Cathedral ones. An unusually dark
purple robe strikes one's attention in the central
window of the west front, as does also a strong red
in the garments of the figures in the lights on each
side ; the palm branches in their hands indicate that
we are looking at martyrs.

A visit to Lucca leaves us with the vivid
impression of warm pot-metal colour combined
most effectively into a fine series of glass pictures.
The writer is not surprised that it became rather a
habit during the Middle Ages to capture Lucca.
He would very much like to have been present on
one of those occasions if only to have participated in
the loot to the extent of the three large windows of
the Cathedral ! In those days the transporting from
place to place of stained glass windows was not at
all unusual. The chapel of a certain English
country residence called The Vyne, near Basing-
stoke, is adorned with splendid French glass, Lord
Sandys' share of the booty (so runs the legend) when
the English took Boulogne, and brought home by
him thereafter to gladden his eyes in his beautiful

123

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

Hampshire home. His example is one which
deserves to be followed ! It would have been
singularly satisfactory to have in like manner,
" personally conducted " the removal of these three
masterpieces from Lucca.

124

PISA

UPON the plain near where the Arno
finishes its long and winding journey
to the sea, sits Pisa, encircled by the
old machicolated walls, so long her
boast, and traversed by the now slow-moving river,
no longer needing the restraint of weirs as at
Florence, and sedately forgetful of its youthful
splashings adown the hilly valleys below Arezzo.
The heart of Pisa is the open space where are
stationed her four splendid trophies of ancient
magnificence, the Cathedral, the Baptistery, the
Leaning Tower, and the Campo Santo. Other
cities may and can rival any one of these four
glories, but such a wondrous group is certainly
nowhere else to be seen, each by its position
respecting the dignity of its neighbours as nobly
as it safeguards its own beauty. Whether seen at
hot noonday, or in the weird moonlight no matter
the hour or the season these four lovely sisters of

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A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

mediaeval architecture seize a place in one's memory
from which nothing to be elsewhere seen can dis-
place them. Here the builders have foresworn the
temptations of coloured marbles, and have re-
mained constant to white some black indeed to
afford the needed contrast, but stately white marble
is the dominant note of the picture that one carries
away from Pisa. White marble on a carpet of
green grass a carpet so often spread for architec-
ture in England, but almost never seen in Italy.
In one respect Pisa joins the group of cities headed
by Bourges, in that the blossoming power of the
whole town seems to have been concentrated at one
point. There is little of interest to be seen in
the city besides its marvellous group about the
Cathedral. But was there ever more variety shown
by four structures : the low Campo Santo, the
sturdy, solemn dome of the Baptistery, the splen-
didly adorned Cathedral, and lastly, the daring
slant of the gallery- on-galleried Leaning Tower,
seemingly defying those sedate rules of architec-
tural poise which have made its more serious neigh-
bours so charming.

Nowadays Pisa is not a place in which one
lingers long, and it is somewhat of a surprise to

126

ill

111

22 ^

Pisa

learn that Shelley said, " our roots never struck so
deeply as at Pisa.*' It is difficult to realize the
former maritime importance of this quiet little
city now removed seven miles from the Medi-
terranean by the gradual rising of the coast, instead
of lying as formerly only two miles from the
harbour of Porto Pisano, which sent forth victorious
fleets from the time of the 2nd Punic war until
Pisa's decline in the I4th century. This once
famous harbour has been so completely obliterated
by silt and sand that its exact site is no longer
known. Another erasure which time has here
effected is that of the forest of towers that must
once have made the city such a striking spectacle,
and which is so quaintly depicted on ancient coins
and medals. Of course it was not unusual for an
early Italian town to contain many towers, for thus
were constructed the houses of the nobles. To-
day this architectural custom is best exemplified at
San Gemignano, but nowhere could there be found
a total that in any way approached the 16,000
towers with which the ancient chronicles credited
Pisa. No wonder one of them describes her appear-
ance as that of a sheaf of wheat, bound together by
the girdle of walls ! That they were lofty may be

127

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

deduced from the municipal regulation limiting
their height to ninety-five feet. Their bristling
array, soaring aloft above the meaner edifices, must
have made the streets of Pisa seem much as do
to-day the down-town thoroughfares of New York
City, running like canons between the thirty- and
forty-story " skyscrapers " on either side.

For those who are interested in the study of
columns, there is here collected a rich store for their
delectation. The conquering Pisan, whether his
victories were won in Spain or Africa or the Holy
Land or the Islands of the Mediterranean, never
failed to bring home sundry columns as part of his
booty. There are over 450 of them, of every
clime, colour, and shape, in the Duomo alone,
while many more are scattered through the other
churches, and the better sort of houses. As show-
ing the esteem in which columns were held by the
citizens, it is interesting to relate that a pair made of
red porphyry were presented by them to Florence
for protecting the women, children, and old men,
the only population left in Pisa when she undertook
a crusade to drive the Moslems out of Sardinia.
The Florentines camped two miles outside the city,
over against the threatening Luccans, and so jealous

128

Pisa

were they of the security of the defenceless Pisan
women, that no Florentine soldier was allowed to
enter the gates under pain of death. It was only
once necessary to enforce this penalty ! This very
pair of columns may to-day be seen fastened to
either side of the doorway of the Baptistery at
Florence, mute reminders of both civic honour and
civic gratitude.

There have been a long series of conquerors of
the Mediterranean, and the more one studies them,
the more similar do they become. But of the
Pisan maritime supremacy during the nth and
1 2th centuries there is one outstanding feature that
elevates it above the others, viz. : the insistance by
the Pisans that they set up their own law courts
wherever they gained a foothold. Sometimes they
obtained this right by diplomacy, as in the case of
their courts in the Moslem cities of Cairo and
Alexandria. Sometimes they gained it by gallant
fighting, as witness the many grants of this privi-
lege won by them in the Holy Land while battling
for the Cross. Their splendid valour during the
Crusades cannot be gainsaid, even if one doubts
their boast that a Pisan was first over the walls at the
taking of Jerusalem. In view of their traditional

129 K

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

respect for law and the dignity of the courts,
it is not surprising that when in 1135 they took
Amain* their most cherished trophy and the one to
which the citizens paid the greatest honours, was
a copy of the Pandects of Justinian ! The jurists
of Pisa codified the maritime laws on more than one
occasion ; the one effected in 1075 was approved
by both Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV.
Of their " Consolato del Mare " or written code of
maritime law, Hallam says, "it has defined the
mutual rights of neutral and belligerent vessels, and
thus laid the basis of the positive law of nations
in its most important and disputed cases." It is
obvious that in the midst of such a people there
must have existed a sound school of law, and so it
was and so it is, for the University of Pisa and its
law school is still, after many centuries of honoured
and useful existence, recognized as among the best
in Italy. A creditable figure was the sturdy Pisan
of the city's Golden Age, carrying his sword and his
law court to every shore of the Mediterranean
Sea, then the equivalent of the Seven Seas of
to-day.

But it is time for us pilgrims to remember
the purpose of our visit, so let us make our

130

Pisa

way to the Cathedral. There is but little of the
old glass left in the unique series of grouped
lancets that pierce the west front, a grouping
seen nowhere else four together, then, as the
eye descends, three together, two, then single
lancets. Along the lower side of the nave aisles
there is a treat awaiting us, fourteen rectangular
windows, seven on each side, all but three filled
with one scene above and another below, no
attempt at canopies nothing but the telling of
stories, always so engrossing to every age. Here
is delightfully preserved the traditions of the rich
warm pot-metal colour which so endears Italian
glass to the student. Deeply toned windows of
many hues, little paint, and as many figures as you
like, regardless of the additional labour required
to lead them in. Colour and story, aesthetic sense
and love of tale-telling, all are gratified. In these
windows there seems to have been perpetuated
the story-telling genius which in other countries
stopped abruptly at the close of the mosaic medal-
lions. Elsewhere than in Italy the glazier of
the 1 4th and I5th centuries turned his attention
to figures in canopy, but at Pisa, fortunately for
us, he refused to be bound down by the prim

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

conventionalities of the canopy, and he also con-
tinued to delight us with the rich hues of pot-
metal glass instead of the thinner colours used
by his contemporaries of the north. As we look
upon this entertaining array of Biblical stories we
are not surprised to learn that Pisan glaziers were
summoned to work at Florence and elsewhere.
Not only did l the Florentines envy the maritime
glory of the Pisans, but they also appreciated,
and were glad to employ the artistic ability which
the early Pisan successes caused to spring up and
flourish in that city near the sea.

132

SIENA

OW strange it would seem if one were
to read that it had been decided to
hold horse races in Gramercy Park,
New York, or in the Palace des Vosges,
Paris, or in Trafalgar Square, London. " Impos-
sible I " you would exclaim " there isn't room
enough, the track would be too small ! " And yet
that is just what happens on the second of July and
the sixteenth day of August of each year, in the
small cup-like open space lying before the Palazzo
Pubblico in Siena. Yes indeed, and thrilling
races too, the jockeys cracking their whips, the
horses galloping madly around the small track,
and every inch of available space below or in the
windows, or on the housetops packed literally
packed with a shouting, delirious multitude of
onlookers ! It may not be a fair test of the
horses' speed, but it certainly is of horsemanship,
and furthermore it vastly pleases all concerned, so

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

what more can one ask ? Lastly, and also of
great importance, it preserves an ancient custom,
and that is worth much in these iconoclastic times.
Therefore, oh i Siena, long live the annual rejoicing
which the running of the Palio brings to your
ancient municipality !

What a city of differing beauties have we
here ! Of scenic beauty, if one looks down upon
the rolling valleys below from the top of the
Palazzo Pubblico, or back upon the charming city
from the rampart promenades of the Lissa fortress.
Of theatrical beauty, if one peeps down some
narrow street upon the semi-circular Piazza del
Campo, backed by the Palazzo Pubblico while
far aloft shoots the Mangia, one of the world's
most graceful towers. Especially is this beauty
theatrical, if seen in the glamour lent by moon-
light, although delightful enough without that
added charm. And when we wander up the
narrow, winding streets and come out upon the
space about the cathedral itself, do we not find
yet another, and a very special beauty ? that of
judicious elaboration of detail in decoration. No
church in Christendom can boast of such pains-
taking treatment of every square foot of surface

134

; s
.ax

rt.u

1 ^

8*2

b/D u

Siena

within, or on its western facade without. Different
indeed are the varied beauties of this ancient
city, but all unite to exert their special fascina-
tions upon the stranger. In this same spirit
of contrast Siena differs from her sister hill-cities
not so sweepingly lofty as Perugia, nor so
steeply remote as Orvieto. She seems desirous
to mask her elevation, for the ascent is at most
points gradual, and there is a decided uplift in
the country round about. Then, too, the rail-
road succeeds in mounting to Siena, although it
has to employ a switchback to do so, but it does
not even attempt that feat at Cortona, or Orvieto,
or Perugia, or Assisi. If, to enjoy the view, you
have mounted to the top of the Palazzo Pub-
blico, do not fail to visit its sumptuous halls,
frescoed by Sodoma, Simone Martini, Lorenzetti,
and many another master of the Sienese school.
But the great blossom of the city's architectural
wealth must be sought at the cathedral. Most
of the open space about it proves, on inspection,
to have been intended for the interior of the huge
edifice originally projected. Around half the open
square we still see the inside walls of the first-
planned structure, their courses of white and

135

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

black marble harmonizing with the exterior of
the completed church. Fortunately, this over-
ambitious plan was never carried into effect, for
the church as we see it to-day, although smaller
in size, has obviously benefited by the concentra-
tion of ornament. The west front is a riot of
coloured marbles and Gothic sculpture, while at
the eastern end the slope of ground permitted
the construction of an under-church, used as a
Baptistery, itself boasting of a graceful facade.

It is doubtful if there is anywhere another
church possessing such a bewildering array of
different sorts of decoration as that which bursts
upon us when we enter the interior. Wherever
we look something has been sculptured or painted
or built the forest of black and white columns
with their finely chiselled capitals, the delicately
sculptured tombs, the rich frescoes of Pinturicchio,
the army of little figures upon the imposing marble
pulpit, the choir stalls gleaming in the sombre
beauty of their old wood, the pavement intricately
pictured in black and white marbles, while from
the cornice far above looks down a long row of
benignant papal countenances. So on we go
through many a quaint and alluring detail, until

136

Siena

we reach our glass, displayed in two circular em-
brasures, both of noble proportions, one at the
western end, and the other at the eastern. The
latter is the earlier, and is of the mosaic period.
None of its contemporaries can boast of such careful
and well-balanced treatment as is shown in the nine
compartments into which its surface is subdivided
by the stout iron saddle bars, so-called because of
the duty they discharge in supporting so great a
weight of glass and lead. Certain details (such
as the wavy outline of the medallions enclosing
four of the figures) are so reminiscent of some
at Orvieto and in the lower church at Assisi,
that one is inclined to call the window a contem-
porary of those others : this would place it just
after the middle of the I4th century. We know
from the records that Bonino and Angioletto di
Gubbio worked upon the windows at all three of
these places, which tends to confirm the dating
selected.

The general effect of the eastern occhio is the
usual clear blue of its period, but warmed up by
judicious use of many colours. Note the unusual
treatment of the gay borders, each of the nine sub-
divisions being different, and yet harmonizing so

137

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

completely that these differences are not at first
observed. The three large panels running down
the middle contain scenes, each made up of a
number of figures. Below is the death of the
Virgin, in the centre her ascension, and above is
her coronation. Notice the lilac used for the death
bed in the lowest picture, and also the grouping.
In the central panel there is a fine toss to the
angels* wings, and in them an adroit combination
of lilac, red, and other contrasting tints. In the
coronation scene, the broad golden bench serves
to centralize one's attention upon the two person-
ages seated thereon, while about it are grouped
angels of various hues. Some of the halos are red
and some yellow, as is also the case in the lowest
scene this shows the work to be early. Very
skilful is the handling of the nearly triangular spaces
at what may be called the four corners of the
window. An Evangelist is seated in the taller
portion of each, while the rapidly decreasing re-
mainder of each space is deftly fitted with his
appropriate symbol the lion for St. Mark, etc.
On both sides of the central panel are two saints,
each within a medallion, whose wavy border recalls
those at Assisi and Orvieto. No more interesting

138

INTERIOR, SIENA CATHEDRAL

In the background is the finest occhio of the mosaic period in Italy. Its nine
compartments (see page. 137) can be clearly distinguished. Note the richly pictured
pavement, the cornice of papal heads, etc.

Siena

or more beautiful chef-d'oeuvre of the Italian mosaic
type exists.

Altogether different is the fine occhio at the
western end, designed in 1 549 by Raphael's scholar,
Perino del Vaga. It was executed by Pastorino,
the versatile pupil of William de Marcillat, whose
skill in glazing was equalled by his remarkable
medals and coins, as well as his coloured portraits
in wax and stucco. Unfortunately, Pastorino's pro-
bity was not so well developed as his artistic nature,
for we read that having been paid for the window,
he tried to decamp without finishing it, causing the
citizens the painful necessity of locking him up in
order to ensure the continuance of his residence
among them and the completion of his task. In
this window we see the full-blown Renaissance with
its classical colonnades, garlands, cherubs, etc., all
complete. It depicts the Last Supper, but in
perhaps too conventional and ornate a fashion.
There is certainly too much architectural back-
ground, notwithstanding an attempt to relieve it
by abundant strands of flowers, festoons of bright
ribbons, and gay cherubs disporting themselves in
most unexpected places. The border is noteworthy
for its simplicity merely a plain moulding run

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

around inside the embrasure. The window is un-
deniably fine, but it suffers by comparison with its
older sister at the other end of the church.

Before going out, let us pass from the left side
of the nave into the famous Piccolomini Library,
which is entirely frescoed by Pinturicchio in his
most brilliant manner a memorial erected by Pope
Pius III to his kinsman, Pius II. Its two tall
windows are each surcharged with a large blason
of the family, their golden crescents on a blue
cross being surrounded by an ample green wreath
reminiscent of those which hang in our windows
at Christmas time. These wreaths are frequently
used in Italy to frame coats of arms.

The small church of Fontegiusta has a special
claim upon the attention of the American traveller,
for over its entrance are suspended some weapons
presented by Christopher Columbus, together with
the large bone of a whale, the latter perhaps assist-
ing the arms to testify to his having conquered the
Atlantic as well as its western shore. Between
these interesting trophies is a small round window,
of good glazing and noticeably fine drawing.
Standing upon a red and gold pavement are the
Virgin and Child between St. Catherine of Siena

140

Siena

and St. Dominic. A railing done in the Classical
manner gracefully divides the background, and
assists the rich blue above it to throw out the
figures in bold relief.

Siena, perched on her three connecting hills,
is not an easy city to leave, for in addition to her
many picturesque attractions there are few places in
Italy where one can so easily make a comparative
study of the entire course of mediaeval art.

Eighty-five kilometres south of Siena lies
Grosseto, near the sea, and in its principal church
is an interesting I5th century window. This is a
long trip to make for one window, and it is only
mentioned in case the traveller is purposing to tarry
so long in Siena that he will have plenty of time
at his disposal to visit all the points of interest in
the neighbourhood.

141

BOLOGNA

f~ "^HOSE two agreeable adjectives, "old-
fashioned " and " mysterious," are
M somehow pleasantly blended when one

thinks of an arcaded street. To these
picturesque charms there should be added the
practical recommendation of protection from both
sun and rain. Thus to combine beauty and utility
must satisfy even the most exacting Ruskin of us
all. And to enjoy this combination we must repair
to Bologna, which, more than any other city in the
world, is the "Arcady of Arcades." Nor are her
arcades in any way monotonous, for each house-
holder has pleased his own fancy in constructing
that portion of the covered sidewalk running below
his dwelling, and so you wander, semi-subterra-
neously, through all parts of the city, careless alike
of rain or sunstroke, happy in the protection and
quaint beauty of these sheltered ways. Just how
Bologna strikes the passing aeroplanist it is still too
early to enquire. All he can see is the driveway of

142

Bologna

the streets, and his first passage over the city must
give him the impression that its citizens are all too
opulent or too haughty to travel on foot, since he
sees only vehicles or cavaliers. But the time is at
hand to adjust our point of view so as to include
that of the voyager by aeroplanes, and Baedeker
must soon add bird's-eye views to his treasury of
impressions at second hand. Perhaps we shall soon
read in his pages, " Thanks to the arcaded streets of
Bologna which obscure foot passengers from the view
of passing aeroplanes, the city is readily recognized
by travellers in those vehicles. Care should be taken
to avoid striking any of the towers of this town,
two of which are leaning ones, and are very useful
as a landmark for those planing down from a
distance." Bologna peculiarly deserves this refe-
rence to the newest manifestation of applied science,
for in that field she has always been most pro-
gressive. It was here that Marconi, a gifted son
of her ancient university, made the first practical
demonstration of that crowning wonder of the
1 9th century, wireless telegraphy. This feat re-
vives the memory of a similar one by Galvani,
who here discovered galvanism in 1789. It was
in her university that took place that dramatic

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

scene, the first scientific dissection of the human
body.

To reach Bologna the traveller from Florence
has spent several hours in climbing and tunnelling
the mountain wall by which the Apennines shut off
Tuscany from the fertile flatness of Lombardy.
The very monotony of the plain on which the city
stands makes one all the more receptive of the
many picturesque attractions within it.

The stained glass of Bologna proves entirely
adequate to the promise of interest which the aspect
of the city holds out to the arriving pilgrim. This
standard is a high one, for in addition to the laby-
rinth of arcades, and the leaning towers swaying
across each other, there are the high-perched
column-borne tombs at the street corners, the theat-
rically impressive public square set about with great
buildings from the storied past, etc. San Petronio,
the largest ecclesiastical edifice in the city, is the
richest in stained glass, but many of its windows
were destroyed, and that too in an unusual fashion.
It was here that Charles V was crowned Emperor
by Pope Clement VII, and during the public rejoic-
ings which followed this momentous event, the
discharge of artillery salutes played havoc with the

144

SAN PETRONIO, BOLOGNA

This chapel is known to have been glazed by the great St. James of Ulm. This
picture reveals the graceful use of Gothic canopies brought by him from the north,
but cannot convey the rich colouring learned during his long sojourn in Italy.

Bologna

cathedral's glass. We are but poorly consoled for
this loss by the knowledge that none could more
deeply have regretted it than the Emperor himself,
so enthusiastic a patron was he of this art. For this
disaster to glass which marked the beginning of his
reign, ample amends were made by him in grants
of special privileges to many glaziers, and in en-
couragement of the craft by large commissions for
windows of both religious and secular buildings.
Notwithstanding the smashing just described, ten of
the twenty-two chapels retain their original glazing.
The church as it stands to-day is but part of the
original and over-ambitious design, and consists of
one long nave flanked by eleven shallow chapels on
each side. There is here afforded an excellent
opportunity for comparative study of different
periods and methods of glazing, all however fitted
to the same sized embrasures, but ranging from
the strongest pot-metal colouring to the saddest
example of peeled enamel. The third chapel on
the right as you enter is known to have been done
by St. James of Ulm. The worthy James died in
Bologna in 1491, over eighty years of age, and so
saintly had been his life, and so numerous were the
miracles performed at his tomb that he was

145 L

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

canonized. The festival of this saint fell upon the
second Sunday of October, and was for many years
religiously observed by the company of glassmakers
in Paris. His charming window, made about 1466,
shows a delightful Italian adaption of the northern
canopy type. It reveals careful attention to detail,
while his years spent in Italy show themselves in
the richness of every part of the shrines. Note
how the intricate Gothic pinnacles that top the
small structures are thrown out against the deep
blue. One is at a loss whether to bestow greater
admiration upon the glowing mosaic borders, or his
use of such soft tints as mulberry or sage green.
It is doubtful if the northern style can show a finer
canopy window, and yet you have only to cross the
nave to the fourth chapel from the west to see how
incomparably richer is the Renaissance architecture
of the Italian, Cossa, lavish in his use of pot-metal
blues, greens, and purples. His simulated stone
work is as deep in warm colour as his figures. The
fifth chapel on the left side was glazed by Lorenzo
Costa, but unfortunately he painted the glass too
much, unwilling seemingly to rely upon the colour-
ing introduced during its manufacture. It affords
a striking argument against painting the surface.

146

Bologna

His yellow inclines to brownish orange, and it may
be said generally that his effects are thick, rather
than beautifully clear like Cossa's. The eighth chapel
on the right boasts no less a designer than Michael
Angelo, but alas ! it was executed by a man who
relied upon enamelled colour. This has resulted
disastrously, for in more than one place the enamel
has peeled off and left glaring white patches in
the picture. Even this cannot spoil the design ;
see how naturally one of the figures in the lower
tier is glancing at the flying cherubs above.
If only the glazier had proved worthy of the
design !

All these windows are of four lancets of two
tiers of shrined figures each, except the third
chapel on the left, where there are three tiers.
All have handsome bold tracery lights above,
whose central feature is always a small bull's-eye
aperture, the glazing of which repays inspection.
Two at least are known to have been designed by the
great Francia ; their simplicity and low tints make
them easy to select. Note them well, for thus you
will be able to recognize the same skilful hand in
the chapel of the Poltroni in San Martino, and in two
small bull's eyes on the right side of the Church of

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

the Misericordia. These last named have been
locally accredited to St. James of Ulm (in the same
generous manner in which good German glass is
frequently assigned to Albrecht Diirer), but none of
our company will hesitate to render unto Francia
the things that are Francia's. His slender borders
are carefully drawn, particularly the one in San
Martino where the pine cones of the Poltroni arms
are repeated, but without too much accent upon
them. Francia seems to have preferred to paint his
figures in low blue and white, with stronger blue
and some green in the background.

A famous bull's eye of the larger type is to be
seen in the west front of San Giovanni in Monte.
It is by Cossa, the artist who glazed the fourth
chapel on the left in San Petronio. The seven
lamps of St. John's vision are seen ranged across
the sky, while the Saint himself (in yellow, red,
and green) is seated in a brown mountainous land-
scape, scattered over which are small green trees,
and here and there a tiny village of bright red.
The gay border of typical Italian arabesques
contains so much of the same blue as that used
in the picture as to make the ensemble a very blue
one. It is as interesting as you can well imagine,

148

SAN I'ETRONIO, BOLOGNA

A chapel glazed by Lorenzo Costa, the great colourist of Bologna. Note that _his
canopies are Renaissance, and also the small occhio above, one of the many so pleasing
in this city.

Bologna

but undeniably coarser in design and colour than
we have a right to expect of its period.

One of the most unusual sights of this ancient
town is a huddle of seven churches of different
ages, one opening into the other, called St.
Stephen's. They come straggling down the ladder
of time from the 4th to the iyth century. We shall
be chiefly interested in the one dedicated to St.
Peter and St. Paul, for there in the east wall, as
well as over the apse, are slender lancets filled with
translucent pink alabaster. What a long road it is
from these slender lights to the triumphs of Cossa
and St. James in San Petronio !

149

VENICE

EVERYONE of us possesses a private
picture gallery called " Memory." Some
of its rooms are kept swept and garnished,
and are often entered to enjoy anew
scenes long ago visited. In others of the rooms
the pictures are sadly faded ; perhaps there are
certain doors of which the keys have been
lost ! Whoever has seen Venice will agree that
its place in the memory gallery is a bright and
glowing corner, and one to which we frequently
resort. The glories of this amphibious queen of
the Adriatic have been so often painted, sung, and
written, and from so many angles and points of
view, that whoever, at this late day, ventures to
write of her should be called upon in advance to
justify his temerity. As a guarantee, therefore, of
our good faith, let us promptly plead our excuse,
which shall be, that for stained glass enthusiasts
Venice is of distinct interest because she was the
factory from whence came most of the material

150

Venice

for the windows throughout Italy. Furthermore,
as the beginnings of this craft owe much to Byzan-
tine art, it is but proper that we visit the city which
was the portal through which that art entered the
peninsula. The morsels of glass which compose
the wealth of mosaic of which Venice rightly boasts
have for centuries been manufactured on the islands
of the lagoon. It was from Byzantium that Venice
learned this art, and it is both to the designers of
mosaic, and the Venetian glass blowers that Italian
windows owed their beginnings and their early
impetus. Such is our excuse for asking you to
visit, or re-visit, Venice ; an excuse is surely all
that you require, for no argument has ever been
necessary to turn a pilgrim's footsteps towards the
"city of gondolas," the echoes of whose music
along the Grand Canal o'nights linger so long in
our ears. Is Venice more glorious in the glow of
the sunlight, or in the mystery of the moonlight
who shall say ? But will we agree, no matter what
he says ?

Nothing is easier than to conjure up visions
of ancient argosies richly laden from the Levant,
pushing in from the Adriatic, and dropping anchor
off that rosy masterpiece of architecture known as

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

the Doge's Palace. Nor is it difficult to picture
to oneself the sumptuously adorned barges of the
Republic sweeping out to sea to solemnize the
wedding of the Doge with the Adriatic, thus
officially symbolizing to all the world Venice's
proud assumption of controlling the gateway to
the opulent East. But it will not be easy for the
reader to believe that this same Venice was once
filled with the filthy smoke of glass furnaces, and
yet this will be as true a picture as the others, for
toward the end of the I3th century the success of
the Venetian glass blowers was such that their
furnaces abounded in every quarter of the city. So
numerous did they become that the city fathers
decided that they were injurious to the public
health, and banished them beyond the limits of
the municipality. They sought refuge on the
Island of Murano and certain others near by, so
that Venice abated the smoke nuisance without
losing control of this profitable trade. Viewed
from a purely modern standpoint this action of
the Great Council seems difficult to understand.
Suppose, for example, it were to-day suggested
that all cigar makers be banished from Havana,
or all steel plants from Pittsburgh, or all factories

152

Venice

from Birmingham, such steps, however beneficial
to the public health of those cities would, we fear,
prove very disastrous to the private health of their
advocates. One is moved to wonder whether any
artistic motives entered into this official solicitude
for the public health. May it not have been that
certain of the city fathers received warnings, either
by bad dreams or otherwise, of Birminghams and
Pittsburghs yet unborn ! We have just observed
that care was taken that in banishing the furnaces
the pockets of the citizens should not lose the
profits of their smoky chimneys. Nor was this
the only occasion upon which this same " eye for
the main chance " characterized the action of the
city authorities. From the records of Assisi,
Florence, Arezzo, and elsewhere, we learn that not
only did the Venetians purvey glass for the windows
of other cities, but that the Venetian glaziers were
so much in demand that it became the custom for
groups of them to travel from place to place, and
assemble their glass into windows after the designs
of local artists. These bands of artisans so grew
in number that the Venetian Council established
for them stringent regulations, not only requiring
them to obtain permission to undertake contracts,

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

but even, as in one instance at Assisi, forbidding
more work than that for which 100 lire would be a
proper compensation. In order to guard the city
against the loss of its profitable monopoly these
itinerant workmen were prohibited from setting
up glass furnaces in any other city. The more
one reads the history of Venice and learns such
details as these, the easier is it to understand the
commercial importance which its merchants ac-
quired. So far from fearing monopolies, every
nerve was then being strained to build them up
and hold them fast.

We may as well promptly admit that there is
but little stained glass now to be seen in Venice.
Indeed, there remains none of importance except
what was once the splendid window at the Church
of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, which unfortunately was
allowed to fall into bad condition. It consists of
one large subject spread across four lights, a
treatment unusual in Italy. It is interesting to
observe the manner in which the artist worked up
his blues, passing from pale tints in the water to
a deeper tone in the sky, and deeper yet in the
hills. The drawing of the subject is more un-
restrained than one would expect from its date,

154

MOSAICS IN TORCELLO CATHEDRAL

This typical early mosaic shows clearly that stained glass in its early stages found
the mosaic makers, who transferred to windows the

well-equipped designers among
Byzantine outlines already so fa

miliar in their mosaics.

Venice

which is 1473. By way of eking out this one
window we would recommend a visit to Torcello,
an island in the lagoon. Its cathedral contains
some early embrasures filled with slabs of trans-
lucent alabaster. No one realizes more than the
writer how difficult it is when one has reached
Venice and surrendered to its charm, to leave it
even for so short a trip as that to the neighbouring
islands of Torcello and Murano. It should be
attempted, however, for, although they are not so
magnificent as their sumptuous sister, they have
the merit of preserving their ancient appearance
almost intact. The archives in many Italian
churches tell of agents being sent to fetch Murano
glass for their glaziers. Several early references
are made in the Assisi records to such purchases,
nor was this trade confined to any one epoch, for it
persisted for many centuries. Even as late as 1525,
William de Marcillat sent his pupil, Maso Porro,
to buy Murano glass for use in the great windows
at Arezzo.

Although the primary purpose of our tour is
the study of glass, it can in no wise be considered
an infidelity to that purpose if we recommend that
the mosaics at Venice be carefully observed. They

155

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

were designed by men who provided the drawings
for the early windows, and it is because of them
that the first period is named for their mosaic
medallions. Therefore the inspection of the
Venetian mosaics will be of distinct service in
enabling us to come to an understanding and
appreciation of the designs of the early glass of
Assisi, Orvieto, and Siena.

156

MILAN

ONCE upon a time near a small town
lying south of Bologna a sturdy
peasant lad interrupted his daily task
of hewing wood in the forest to regale
himself with a sight of one of the many troops of
mercenaries which were then overrunning Italy.
Bravely were they armed, and excellently mounted,
for whether their pay was peacefully drawn from
towns employing their services, or forcefully
wrenched from the treasury of captured cities,
come it did and in abundance. No wonder the
boy was interested, for the current tales of the
adventures of these condottieri were enough to
captivate boyish fancy. It happened that they
noticed this strongly built lad leaning upon his
axe. Recruits of his physique were always useful,
so the leader beckoned to him to approach, and
invited him to join the troop. His unusual reply
has come down in history, " I will throw my axe
into the branches of that oak and if it stays there

157

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

I will go with you." The axe stayed where it was
flung, and there joined them the boy afterwards
famous as the founder of the House of Sforza,
a family that for over three hundred years governed
the duchy of Milan, and exercised potent influence
beyond the boundary of the fertile plains of Lom-
bardy. He was both a thrifty and an industrious
soul, was this same Francesco. Some time after
the death of our friend Castruccio Castracane (with
whom we marched into the cathedral at Lucca),
Francesco went that way on a business trip, politely
termed a military campaign. So business-like was
he that after he had been paid by Paolo Guinigi,
ruler of Lucca, for driving off the besieging
Florentines, he accepted 50,000 ducats from the
said Florentines to take himself promptly out of
Tuscany, which he did, but not before pocketing
another 12,000 ducats from the Luccans for driving
out the same Guinigi on whose business Francesco
had originally left home. Once, when Galeazzo
wanted to make a formal entry into Milan on a
Saturday, Francesco wrote him to change his plan
" for on that day the ladies will be washing their
hair, and the troops have their work to do/'
Pleasure was never allowed to interfere with

158

Milan

business, when Francesco had his say. The history
of the city's growth in strength and importance,
as well as that of the building of its principal
monuments is wrapped up in the history of the
Sforzas. Of all the families of despots which,
during the Middle Ages, governed the cities of
Italy, the Sforzas of Milan and the Medicis of
Florence stand out pre-eminent not only for their
strong rule but also for the benefits which resulted
therefrom to their people.

Foreigners generally remember Milan as the
city which lies about the cathedral of Milan ! The
broad, busy thoroughfares of this modernized
metropolis, the fine large shops, and the omni-
present tram-cars all combine to obscure from us
its storied past. Its commercial importance is but
natural, stationed as it is, "the middle city" (for
that is the story of its name) between the lands
north of the mountains and the oft-embattled cities
of the Italian peninsula to the south. Its bustling,
successful present contrives to crowd out memories
of the time when Emperor Constantine selected it
as the capital of the western half of his Empire.
But what if all this modernity does so thrust itself
forward as to push the ancient city into an obscure

'59

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

background ! that same submerged antiquity has
its revenge in so stamping our memory with the
image of the vast cathedral as to efface all other
local impressions. And what a cathedral ! the
like of it exists nowhere else. Here stands frozen
into stone the centuries-long struggle between the
builders who wished it to speak in northern Gothic,
and they who favoured the Latin basilica a huge
structure that displays both the much-desired height
of the north, and the roomy breadth of the southern
architect. Nor is the contrast between these two
characteristics any more marked than that between
the spacious reddish brown interior and the exterior
of glittering white, with its upward discharge of
volley on volley of sculptured pinnacles. Whim-
sically appropriate to this thought is it that this
army of two thousand carved figures was added
during the Napoleonic era. Many as are the
criticisms that may be directed at this adaptation
by southerners of northern Gothic, it is impossible
to deny that the result is impressive. Effective it
always is brilliant in its glitter under the noonday
sun, or ghostly in the mysterious pallor it assumes
as the twilight is closing into night. Moonlight
puts life into the myriad figures that people its

1 60

EASTERN END OF MILAN CATHEDRAL

The enormous size of these embrasures, as well as the graceful lines of their stone
traceries, is clearly seen. Note the Gothic transom thrown across the middle of these-
windows to balance their great height.

Milan

roof, and changes it to a fairyland of silent folk
mutely recalling the past so completely stifled
during the day by the modern city on every side.

We have spoken of the reddish brown tone of
the interior, and of this effect let us remark that
it is as helpful to the great array of stained glass
as are the coloured windows to it. Each helps the
other to produce as harmonious a bower of light
as one can anywhere see. Strangely enough, there
is none of the usual jarring contrasts between the
1 6th century windows and their neighbours of the
1 5th century. The same warm colour scheme
sweeps round the church from one side to the
other, even where, as in the apse, it is obvious
that modern glass has been used to eke out whole
sections of the huge embrasures, the old patterns
and colours having been followed in an unusually
reverent manner. The result is an harmonious
whole a well-attuned chant in melodious tone and
tint that echoes all about us. You will see finer
individual windows in many another church, but it
is rare to come upon such a gratifying sense of
undisturbed continuity of colour scheme, and that
too in such amazing quantity. Indeed, the pro-
portions of the edifice are so ample that an ordinary

161 M

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

amount of stained glass would have been lost in it.
Even the side aisles are lofty enough to have been
the naves of most cathedrals, while so broad is the
space upon which we enter that we are at first
deceived as to the unusual height and breadth of
of the embrasures. Large as these are, they are
exceeded by the lavish proportions of the huge
windows that stand at the east behind the high
altar. Of these latter, each has twelve lancets
crossed by a graceful Gothic transom. The whole
expanse of each window is broken up into a series
of small scenes one above the other eleven in
some lancets and ten in others, depending on where
the transom happens to cross. These transoms are
used to assist the effect of most of the windows
in the church, and general also is this system of
glazing in small scenes. These little groups are
almost exclusively used on the south side of the
nave, but opposite, on the north side, some of the
pictures are carried right across the embrasure,
regardless of the interruption of the mullions
dividing it into separate lancets. In order to gain
more light at the western end of the nave, close
by where one enters, only the lower half of the
three most westerly windows on each side are glazed

162

Milan

in colour, the upper halves being given over to
uncoloured panes. All these nave embrasures have
the Gothic transom running across them that we
noticed in the apse. The transepts are as elabo-
rately and appropriately glazed as the other parts
of the church. We commence to realize the great
height of the interior when we look up at the
clerestory lights, and notice that they are so
distant that we are unable to distinguish their
designs and must needs be content with their
satisfying colour.

Upon the long series of lancets that compass
us about on all sides there is set forth such a
bewildering array of Bible stories that it seems
almost invidious to the others to attempt to de-
scribe any one. Certain pictures representing
mediaeval shipping strike the eye at once, and their
examination makes clear that ocean navigation has
progressed more rapidly than the art of making
beautiful windows ! The use of deep reds and
blues in the nave impresses one, as indeed does the
general note of warm and rich tones throughout.
The 1 6th century glass here conspicuously lacks
the customary light tints of that period, and this
explains why it harmonizes so well with the deeper

163

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

tones of its [5th century neighbours. One would
almost conclude that the 1 6th century glaziers were
purposely warned to refrain from the excessive use
of yellow stain and grey in which they so delighted.
We should also note the instances where the
designers declined to allow the structure of the
window to interfere with their artistic expression.
Generally they permitted the mullions and iron
bars to restrict them to small pictures, and in that
event to frame them, but sometimes they absolutely
disregarded these architectural intrusions, and spread
their story right across an embrasure regardless of
where the stone or iron lines might cross it. How-
ever, it is clear to us moderns that these men of
the Middle Ages thoroughly understood the medium
in which they worked, for their effects possess both
charm and excellence.

The Certosa of Pavia, 30 kilometres away to
the south, is not the only excursion which lures us
out into the country that lies about Milan. Saronna
is distant only 25 kilometres to the north-west,
and in its pilgrimage church, precious for the
masterpiece of Luini, and Gaudenzio's delightful
choir of angels, is an interesting I5th century
window. While it must be admitted that the

164

INTERIOR OF THE TRANSEPT, MILAN CATHEDRAL^
As profoundly brown within as it is glitteringly white without. Note that-the window
surfaces are broken up into little scenes, also the extreme loftiness of the clerestory lights.

Milan

glass alone is not of sufficient importance to lure
us so far afield, nevertheless, taken in combination
with the admirable frescoes which adorn the walls
about it, reason enough is given for a day out-of-
doors in level Lombardy.

165

CERTOSA DI PAVIA

are few men who are not more
interesting than their monuments, and
this is unquestionably true in the case ot
Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan
from 1385 to 1402, great as the compliment will
seem to those who have visited his chief monument,
the Certosa of Pavia, located five miles from Pavia on
the road to Milan. An odd-shaped, shrewd head is
his, as it appears painted on the wall of the semi-
circular apse of the south transept, where, on his
knees, he is offering a model of the Certosa to
the Virgin. And the promise of his head is borne
out by the story of his life. Boldly strong when
force was needed, and yet at other times as
stealthily guileful as any man could be who, like
he, lacked physical courage in an age when it
was almost the only common virtue. A very
chameleon of statecraft, and yet withal a man who
read and pondered much, as befitted the revival
of learning, which was then becoming so potent

166

Certosa di Pavia

a factor in Italian development. One must not
let the clash of arms which, during the Middle
Ages, so constantly echoed up and down the
peninsula, distract us from observing that at
the same time men were busy bringing to light
the hitherto neglected literary and artistic treasures
of the Greeks and Romans, or that Plato, Homer,
Virgil, and Aristotle were now being for the first
time printed, and eagerly read. Most significant
is it that men like Boccaccio were studying Greek
after having reached man's estate, so that they
might participate in the literary feast newly spread
from the store of the long- neglected ancients.
Gian Galeazzo was among the first to join in this
revival of learning, thus evidencing one of the
many traits that stamp him a leader of his time.
Nor can he be charged, as can most of his con-
temporaries, with being possessed of the vices, as
well as the virtues, of the Renaissance, for he
was temperate and of a clean life. But how did
he win his dukedom ? for inheritance was not
then a sure tenure. It happened in this wise.
Upon his father's death his uncle and cousins
decided to join in the division of the great herit-
age, and as our hero found himself too weak to

167

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

resist, he made a virtue of that weakness, and a
fruitful virtue it proved. He retired to Pavia,
his modest share of the patrimony, and left his
uncle to lord it in Milan and the other cities of
the duchy. Gian encouraged the generally pre-
vailing idea of his weakness, and let it be under-
stood that he was leaning towards religious fanat-
icism. Meanwhile he quietly assembled a strong
bodyguard of German mercenaries, foreigners who
had no ties in Italy other than their allegiance to
him, their paymaster. When the seeming security
of his kinsman's position had had time to ripen
into over-confidence, Gian announced his intention
one day in 1385 of going on a pilgrimage to
Varese. As his route passed near Milan his uncle
and the rest of his usurping kin rode out to
greet him. When he had them surrounded by
his guards, he gave an order in German, the trap
was sprung they were all prisoners ! He rode
on to Milan, readjusted the status quo by quite
simply poisoning his uncle that night, and relieved
the other members of his family of any further
inconvenience from their estates. It was as com-
plete as it was simple. His attention to the
duties of government is a lesson to such modern

168

Certosa di Pavia

officials as wish to carry out the pledges of the
platform upon which they were elected. Symonds
says, " His love of order was so precise that he
may be said to have applied the method of a
banker's office to the conduct of a State. It was
he who invented Bureaucracy by creating a special
class of paid clerks and secretaries of departments.
Their duty consisted in committing to books and
ledgers the minutest items of his private expendi-
ture and the outgoings of his public purse ; in
noting the details of the several taxes, so as to
be able to present a survey of the whole State
revenue." Chiefly is he known to posterity as
the builder of the Certosa, or Carthusian monas-
tery, near Pavia. This must not be taken to mean
that his successors did not add to his work, for
the Certosa is a history in stone of the entire
range of the Renaissance in Lombardy. But his
is the credit for having created and endowed this
beautiful group of edifices, and it stands as a
monument to one of the really great statesmen
of the Middle Ages. So elaborate is the structure
in every part, without and within, that there are
some who claim that it is over-adorned, but not
so we. However true it may be that one should

169

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

not paint a lily, let us insist that it is impossible
to over- decorate anything built of stone, for every
judicious stroke of the chisel tends to lighten the
appearance of the weighty material, and lightness out
of strength is architectural beauty. But even those
who, like Des Brosses, writing in 1739, ^ n( ^ tne
facade " a magnificent muddle of every imaginable
ornament distributed without selection and with-
out taste," are bound to admit with him that the
interior " strikes one on entering by its magnifi-
cence, fine proportions, its vaulting one of the
most satisfying things I have ever seen in my
life." Were we to attempt to refer to its many
fascinating features we would become lost in the
maze of detail. The greater part of the stained
glass is of the latter half of the I5th century.
The finest of the windows are by Cristoforo de
Mottis and Stefano da Pandino. The former's
best effort is in the old sacristy, representing St.
Bernard and the demon, and thus dated, "opus
Christofori de Motis 1477,*' while in the chapel
of San Siro the window depicting the Archangel
Michael bears the legend, " Antonius de Pan-
dinus me facit." Mottis is also known to have
been the glazier of the San Gregorio Magno

170

Certosa di Pavia

window in the transept, which bears many small
buckets, the badge of Duke Galeazzo Maria
Sforza, showing that it could not have been later
than 1476. Another of his windows is that of
the Annunciation in the first chapel on the right.
Both Mottis and Pandino came to the Certosa
after having proved their skill in the cathedral
at Milan, where other members of Pandino's
family had glazed as well as he. Mottis's brother
Jacopo was also engaged upon the stained glass
at the Certosa, from 1485 to 1491. The problem
of sufficient illumination has been handled just
behind Gian's tomb in a pleasantly frank way
the coloured panes are stopped about a third of
the way from the top, and white glass used
above, reminding one of a custom dear to the
Dutch.

There are many memories lingering about
Pavia. Our own Columbus studied at its Uni-
versity about 1477, and there too was educated
Lanfranc, later Bishop of far-away Canterbury.
But the most outstanding episode of all is of
course the famous battle of Pavia, where the
royal invader Francis the First was defeated and
taken prisoner. Tradition tells us that on the

171

A Stained Glass Tour in Italy

evening of his capture he was taken into the
Certosa just as the monks in the choir were
chanting

" Coagulatum est, sicut lac cor meum,
Ego vero Icgem tuam meditatus sum,"

and that the unfortunate joined his voice with
theirs when they came to

" Bonum mihi quia humiliasti me
Ut discam justifications tuas."

172

A REQUEST

IF, gentle reader, the author has found favour in
your sight, please evidence that gratifying state of
mind by advising him (at the address below the
Foreword) of any Italian glass, not herein reported,
which you may discover in your rambles.

173

LIST OF TOWNS
SHOWING THE EPOCHS OF THEIR WINDOWS

Arezzo . . . I5th, i6th . . 72

Assisi . . . 1 3th, I4th, I5th . 57

Bologna . . . I5th, i6th . .142

Cortona . . . i6th ... 63

Florence . . . I4th, I5th, i6th . 78

Grosseto . . . I5th . . . 141

Lucca .... 1 5th . . .116

Lucignano . . . i6th . . . 71

Milan .... I5th, i6th . -15?

Monte San Savino . i6th . . 71

Orvieto . . . I4th, i5th . . 46

Pavia (Certosa of ) . I5th . . .166

Perugia . * . I5th, i6th . . 53

Pisa . . . . 1 5th . . .125

Prato . . . . 1 5th . . .in

Rome . . . . 1 6th . . 38

San Miniato . . I5th . . . 101

Saronno . . . ifth . . .164

Siecina . . . i6th . . . 77

Siena . . .- . I4th, I5th, i6th . 133

Vald'Ema . .' . 15*, i6th . .106

Venice . . . I5th . . .150

174

VENICE

BOLOGNA

PRATO

LUCCA

VALD'EMA AREZZO

\LY

IE AUTHOR.

,ASS TOURS
5LAND

Illustrations.
7*. 6d. net.

ritten, and in a style which shows
tion of the art he describes."

11 has written a book which shows
icdiaeval glass, but proves also his
evolution and its changing style.
' is a popular guide to the best
ows remaining in this country."

irrill is additionally happy in the
illustrates his study by snatches of
Dt only a study in art criticism, but

; which should accompany every

,ries he maps out for the reader

arranged, and apart from its un-

re of very practical value as a guide-

vlr. Sherrill's enthusiastic apprecia-
n considerable technical knowledge
he best existing examples."

guide-book, as well as a valuable

very pleasant book, which should
glass and for itself.''

This volume deserves unstinted

ODLEY HEAD, VIGO ST., W.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

STAINED GLASS TOURS
IN ENGLAND

With Sixteen Illustrations.
Demy 8vo. 7*. 6d. net.

MORNING POST. " It is well written, and in a style which shows
that the author really feels the attraction of the art he describes."

SPECTATOR. "Mr. C. H. Sherrill has written a book which shows
him to be not only a true lover of mediaeval glass, but proves also his
enlightened comprehension of its evolution and its changing style.
* Stained Glass Tours in England ' is a popular guide to the best
examples among the many fine windows remaining in this country."

DAILY TELEGRAPH. "Mr. Sherrill is additionally happy in the
grace and ingenuity with which he illustrates his study by snatches of
history and gleams of anecdote. Not only a study in art criticism, but
a panorama of the national life."

DAILY GRAPHIC. " A volume which should accompany every
archaeologically-minded person,"

STUDIO. "The various itineraries he maps out for the reader
strike one as being extremely well arranged, and apart from its un-
doubted charm the work should prove of very practical value as a guide-
book. 1 '

BIRMINGHAM DAILY POST. " Mr. Sherrill's enthusiastic apprecia-
tion of mediaeval is soundly based upon considerable technical knowledge
and a very wide acquaintance with the best existing examples."

WORLD. " A most acceptable guide-book, as well as a valuable
contribution to art history."

QUEEN." Altogether this is a very pleasant book, which should
make many friends both for stained glass and for itself.''

WESTERN MORNING NEWS. "This volume deserves unstinted
praise."

LONDON : JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD, VIGO ST., W.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

STAINED GLASS TOURS
IN FRANCE

With Illustrations.
Crown 8vo. 6;. net.

MANCHESTER GUARDIAN.-" It is a book for the sightseer. A
book that lures him on to some appreciation of the glories of old glass."

WESTMINSTER GAZETTE. "Useful and interesting. Mr. Sherrill
gives just enough information to enable the lay reader to understand
the difficulties with which the artist in coloured glass had to contend.
Moreover he has the eloquence of a true enthusiast, and is able to
communicate to others his own delight."

PALL MALL GAZETTE. "Exceedingly useful. A work showing
much industry, enthusiasm, and good taste. It is a really valuable
supplementary volume to one's Murray or Baedeker. The author has
excellent taste. r

THE GLOBE. "An excellent handbook which shows very con-
siderable knowledge of the subject."

MR. ROGER FRY IN THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE. "He has
really looked, and looked lovingly at the windows he describes. His
knowledge is evidently adequate, and he rearranges it in a form which
he who automobiles may read."

GUARDIAN. *' Mr. Sherrill is good company, an enthusiast, and
well informed in his subject."

MORNING POST. "Mr. Sherrill does feel very sincerely the beauty
of stained glass, and is able to communicate his feeling in writing. He
pilots us on a pleasant cruise amongst some of the greatest of the
French examples of the style."

ATHENAEUM. ft It is well conceived and original, and shows him
to have the eye of an artist and cultivation.' 1

LONDON : JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD, VIGO ST., W.

Those who possess old letters, documents, corre-
spondence, MSS., scraps of autobiography, and
also miniatures and portraits, relating to persons
and matters historical, literary, political and social,
should communicate with Mr. John Lane, The
Bodley Head. Vigo Street, London, W., who will
at all times be pleased to give his advice and
assistance, either as to their preservation or
publication.

Mr. Lane also undertakes the planning and
printing of family papers, histories and pedigrees.

LIVING MASTERS OF MUSIC.

An Illustrated Series of Monographs dealing with

Contemporary Musical Life, and including

Representatives of all Branches of the Art.

Edited by ROSA NEWMARCH.
Crown 8vo. Cloth. Price 2/6 net.

HENRY J. WOOD. By ROSA NEWMARCH.
SIR EDWARD ELGAR. By R. J. BUCKLEY.
JOSEPH JOACHIM. By J. A. FULLER

MAITLAND.
EDWARD A. MACDOWELL. By LAWRENCE

OILMAN.
THEODOR LESCHETIZKY. By ANNETTE

HULLAH.

ALFRED BRUNEAU By ARTHUR HERVEY.
GIACOMO PUCCINI. By WAKELING DRY.
IGNAZ PADEREWSKI. By E. A. BAUGHAN.
CLAUDE DEBUSSY. By MRS. FRANZ LIEBICH.
RICHARD STRAUSS. By ERNEST NEWMAN.

STARS OF THE STAGE.

A SERIES OF ILLUSTRATED BIOGRAPHIES OF THE
LEADING ACTORS, ACTRESSES, AND DRAMATISTS.

Edited by J. T. GREIN.
Crown 8vo. Price 2/6 each net.

ELLEN TERRY. By CHRISTOPHER ST. JOHN.
SIR HERBERT BEERBOHM TREE. By MRS.

GEORGE CRAN.

SIR W. S. GILBERT. By EDITH A. BROWNE.
SIR CHARLES WYNDHAM. By FLORENCE

TEIGNMOUTH SHORE.

A CATALOGUE OF

MEMOIR mOG^PHIES, ETC.

THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WILLIAM

COBBETT IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA. By LEWIS
MELVILLE. Author of " William Makepeace Thackeray." With
two Photogravures and numerous other Illustrations. 2 vols.
Demy 8vo. 323. net.

THE LETTER-BAG OF LADY ELIZABETH

SPENCER STANHOPE. By A. M. W. STIRLING. Author
of "Coke of Norfolk," and "Annals of a Yorkshire House."
With a Colour Plate, 3 in Photogravure, and 27 other
Illustrations. 2 vols. Demy 8vo. 323. net.

*** Extracts might be multiplied indefinitely, but we have given enough to
show the richness of the mine. We have nothing but praise for the editor's
work, and can conscientiously commend this book equally to the student of
manners and the lover of lively anecdote." Standard.

MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF ENGLAND

IN 1675. By MARIE CATHERINE COMTESSE D'AULNOY. Trans-
lated from the original French by Mrs. WILLIAM HENRY ARTHUR.
Edited, Revised, and with Annotations (including an account of
Lucy Walter) by GEORGE DAVID GILBERT. With Illustrations.
Demy 8vo. 2 is. net.

*** When the Comte de Gramont went back to France and Mr. Pepys
decided that to save his eyesight it was essential that he should suspend his
Diary, the records of delectable gossip of the ever interesting Restoration Court
became, of necessity, sadly curtailed. Indeed, of the second decade of the
Golden Days the sedate Evelyn has hitherto been almost the only source oi
information available to the public. Though the Memoirs of the Countess
d'Aulnoy have always been known to students, they have never received the
respect they undoubtedly merit, for until Mr. Gilbert, whose hobby is the social
history of tnis period, took the matter in hand, no-one had succeeded in either
deciphering the identity of the leading characters of the Memoirs or of verifying
the statements made therein. To achieve this has been for some years his labour
of love and an unique contribution to Court and Domestic history is the crown of
his labours. The Memoirs, which have only to be known to rank with the
sparkling " Comte de Gramont" (which they much resemble), contain amusing
anecdotes and vivid portraits of King Charles II., his son the Duke of Monmouth,
Prince Rupert, Buckingham, and other ruffling "Hectors" of those romantic
days. Among the ladies we notice the Queen, the Duchess of Norfolk and
Richmond, and the lively and vivacious Maids of Honour. The new Nell Gwynn
matter is of particular interest. The Memoirs are fully illustrated with portraits,
not reproduced before, from the collection of the Duke of Portland and others.

AUSTRIA: HER PEOPLE AND THEIR

HOMELANDS. By JAMES BAKER, F.R.G.S. With 48 Pictures
in Colour by DONALD MAXWELL. Demy 8vo. 2 is. net.

%* The Empire of Austria with its strangely diversified population of many
tongues is but little known to English readers. The Capital and a few famous
interesting places, such as Carlsbad, Marienbad, the glorious Tyrol, and such
cities as Golden Prague and Innsbruck are known to the English and Americans ;
but the remarkable scenery of the Upper Elbe, the Ultava or Moldau and the
Danube, the interesting peasantry in their brilliant costumes, the wild mountain
gorges, are quite outside the ken of the ordinary traveller. The volume is
written by one who since 1873 has continually visited various parts of the Empire
and has already written much upon Austria and her people. Mr. Baker was
lately decorated; by the Emperor Francis Joseph for his literary work and was
also voted the Great Silver Medal by the Prague Senate. The volume is
illustrated with 48 beautiful water-colour pictures by Mr. Donald Maxwell, the
well-known artist of the Graphic, who has made several journeys to Austria for

A CATALOGUE OF

TAPESTRIES : THEIR ORIGIN, HISTORY,

AND RENAISSANCE. By GEORGE LELAND HUNTER. With
four full-page Plates in Colour, and 147 Half-tone Engravings.
Square 8vo. Cloth. i6s. net.

%* Tnis is a fascinating book on a fascinating subject. It is written by a
scholar whose passion for accuracy and original research did not prevent him
from making a story easy to read. It answers the questions people are always
asking as to how tapestries differ from paintings, and good tapestries from bad
tapestries. It will interest lovers of paintings and rugs and history and fiction,
for it shows how tapestries compare with paintings in picture interest, with rugs
in texture interest, and with historic and other novels in romantic interest;
presenting on a magnificent scale the stories of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the
JEneid and the Metamorphoses, the Bible and the Saints, Ancient and Medieval
History and Romance. In a word, the book is indispensable to lovers of art and
literature in general, as well as to tapestry amateurs, owners and dealers.

FROM STUDIO TO STAGE. By WEEDON

GROSSMITH. With 32 full-page Illustrations. Demy 8ro.
1 6s. net.

*** Justly famous as a comedian of unique gifts, Mr. Weedon Grossmith is
nevertheless an extremely versatile personality, whose interests are by no means
confined to the theatre. These qualities have enabled him to write a most
entertaining book. He gives an interesting account of his early ambitions and
exploits as an artist, which career he abandoned for that of an actor. He goes on
to describe some of his most notable roles, and lets us in to little intimate
glimpses "behind the scenes," chats pleasantly about all manner of celebrities in
the land of Bohemia and out of it, tells many amusing anecdotes, and like a true
comedian is not bashful when the laugh is against himself. The book is well
supplied with interesting illustrations, some of them reproductions of the
author's own work.

FANNY BURNEY AT THE COURT OF

QUEEN CHARLOTTE. By CONSTANCE HILL. Author of
" The House in St. Martin Street," " Juniper Hall," etc. With
numerous Illustrations by ELLEN G. HILL and reproductions of
contemporary Portraits, etc. Demy 8vo. i6s.net.

%* This book deals with the Court life of Fanny Burney covering the years
1786-91, and therefore forms a link between the two former works on Fanny
Burney by the same writer, viz. "The House in St. Martin Street," and
"Juniper Hall." The writer has been fortunate in obtaining much unpublished
material from members of the Burney family as well as interesting contemporary
portraits and relics. The scene of action in this work is constantly shifting
now at Windsor, now at Kew, now sea-girt at Weymouth, and now in London ;
and the figures that pass before our eyes are endowed with a marvellous vitality
by the pen of Fanny Bnrney. When the court was at St. James's the Keeper of
the Robes had opportunities of visiting her own family in St. Martin Street, and
also of meeting at the house of her friend Mrs. Ord "eveiything delectable in the
blue way." Thither Horace Walpole would come in all haste from Strawberry
Hill for the sole pleasure of spending an evening in her society. After such a
meeting Fanny writes " he was in high spirits, polite, ingenious, entertaining,
quaint and original." A striking account of the King's illness in the winter of
1788-9 is given, followed by the widespread rejoicings for his recovery ; when
London was ablaze with illuminations that extended for many miles around, and
when "even the humblest dwelling exhibited its rush-light." The author and the
illustrator of this work have visited the various places, where King George and

8ueen Charlotte stayed when accompanied by Fanny Burney. Among these are
xford, Cheltenham, Worcester, Weymouth and Dorchester; where sketches
have been made, or old prints discovered, illustrative of those towns in the late
i8th century savours of Georgian days. There the national flag may still be seen
as it appeared before the union.

MEMORIES OF SIXTY YEARS AT ETON,

CAMBRIDGE AND ELSEWHERE. By OSCAR BROWNING.
Illustrated. Demy 8vo. 145. net.

MEMOIRS, BIOGRAPHIES, ETC. 5

THE STORY OF DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA.

By PADRE Luis COLOMA, S.J., of the Real Academia Espariola.
Translated by LADY MORETON. With Illustrations. Demy 8vo.
1 6s. net.

%* " A new type of book, half novel and half history," as it is very aptly
called in a discourse delivered on the occasion of Padre Coioma's election to the
Academia de Espana, the story of the heroic son of Charles V. is retold by one of
Spain's greatest living writers with a vividness and charm all his own. The
childhood ofjeromin, afterwards Don John of Austria reads like a mysterious
romance. His meteoric career is traced through the remaining chapters of the
book ; first as the attractive youth ; the cynosure of all eyes that were bright and
gay at the court of Philip II., which Padre Coloma maintains was less austere
than is usually supposed ; then as conqueror of the Moors, culminating as the
"man from God" who saved Europe from the terrible peril of a Turkish
dominion ; triumphs in Tunis ; glimpses of life in the luxury loving Italy of the
day ; then the sad story of the war in the Netherlands, when our hero, victim
of an infamous conspiracy, is left to die of a broken heart ; his end hastened by
lever, and, maybe, by the "broth of Doctor Ramirez.' Perhaps more fully than
ever before is laid bare the intrigue which led to the cruel death of the secretary,
Escovedo, including the dramatic interview between Philip II. and Antonio
Perez, in the lumber room of the Escorial. A minute account of the celebrated
auto da fe in Valladolid cannot fail to arrest attention, nor will the details of
several of the imposing ceremonies of Old Spain be less welcome than those of
more intimate festivities in the Madrid of the sixteenth century, or of everyday
life in a Spanish castle.

*** "This book has all the fascination of a vigorous rotnan it clef . . . the
translation is vigorous and idiomatic."^//-. Owen Edwards in Morning Post.

THIRTEEN YEARS OF A BUSY WOMAN'S

LIFE. By Mrs. ALEC TWEEDIE. With Nineteen Illustrations.
Demy 8vo. i6s. net. Third Edition.

*% It is a novel idea for an author to give her reasons for taking up her pen
as a journalist and writer of books. This Mrs. Alec Tweedie has done in
"Thirteen Years of a Busy Woman's Life." She tells a dramatic story of youthful
happiness, health, wealth, and then contrasts that life with the thirteen years of
hard work that followed the loss of her husband, her lather, and her income in
quick succession in a few weeks. Mrs. Alec Tweedie's books of travel and
biography are well-known, and have been through many editions, even to shilling
copies for the bookstalls. This is hardly an autobiography, the author is too
young for that, but it gives romantic, and tragic peeps into the life of a woman
reared in luxury, who suddenly found herself obliged to live on a tiny income
with two small children, or work and work hard to retain something of her old
life and interests. It is a remarkable story with many personal sketches of some
of the best-known men and women of the day.

*% " One of the gayest and sanest surveys of English society we have read
for years." Pall Mall Ga*ette.

# % "A pleasant laugh from cover to cover." Daily Chronicle,

THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH IN THE

XVIlTH CENTURY. By CHARLES BASTIDE. With Illustrations.
Demy 8vo. izs. 6d, net.

*** The author of this book of essays on the intercourse between England
and France in the seventeenth century has gathered much curious and little-
known information. How did the travellers proceed from London to Paris? Did
the Frenchmen who came over to England learn, and did they ever venture
to write English? An almost unqualified admiration for everything French then
prevailed : French tailors, milliners, cooks, even fortune-tellers, as well as writers
and actresses reigned supreme. How far did gallomunia affect the relations
between the two countries ? Among the foreigners who settled in England none
exercised such varied influence as the Hugenots; students of Shakespeare and
Milton can no longer ignore the Hugenot friends of the two poets, historians of
the Commonwealth must take into account the "Nouvelles ordinaires de
Londres.'' the French gazette, issued on the Puritan side, by some enterprising
refugee. Is it then possible to determine how deeply the refugees impressed
English thought ? Such are the main questions to which the book affords an
answer. With its numerous hitherto unpublished documents and illustrations,
drawn from contemporary sources, it cannot fail to interest those to whom a most

A CATALOGUE OF

THE VAN EYCKS AND THEIR ART. By

W. H. JAMES WEALE, with the co-operation of MAURICE
BROCKWELL. With numerous Illustrations. Demy 8vo.
I2S. 6d. net.

**- The large book on "Hubert and John Van Eyck" which Mr. Weale
published in 1908 through Mr. John Lane was instantly recognised by the
reviewers and critics as an achievement of quite exceptional importance. It is
novy felt that the time has come for a revised and slightly abridged edition of that
which was issued four years ago at 5 55. net. The text has been compressed in
some places and extended in others, while certain emendations have been made,
and after due reflection, the plan ot the book has been materially recast. This
renders it of greater assistance to the student.

The large amount of research work and methodical preparation of a revised
text obliged Mr. Weale, through failing health and eyesight, to avail himself of
the services of Mr. Brockwell, and Mr. Weale gives it as his opinion in the new
Foreword that he doubts whether he could have found a more able collaborator
than Mr. Brockwell to edit this volume.

"The Van Eycks and their Art," so far from being a mere reprint at a popular
price of ' Hubert and John Van Eyck," contains several new features, notable
among which are the inclusion of an Appendix giving details of all the sales at
public auction in any country from 1662 to 1912 of pictures reputed to be by the
Van Eycks. An entirely new and ample Index has been compiled, while the
bibliography, which extends over many pages, and the various component parts
of the book have been brought abreast of the most recent criticism. Detailed
arguments are given for the first time of a picture attributed to one of the brothers
Van Eyck in a private collection in Russia.

In conclusion it must be pointed out that Mr. Weale has, with characteristic
care, read through the proofs and passed the whole book for press.

The use of a smaller format and of thinner paper renders the present edition
easier to handle as a book of reference.

COKE OF NORFOLK AND HIS FRIENDS.

The Life of Thomas Coke, First Earl of Leicester and of
Holkham. By A. M. W. STIRLING. New Edition, revised,
with some additions. With 19 Illustrations. In one volume.
Demy 8vo. 125. 6d. net.

THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE. By JOSEPH

TURQUAN. Author of "The Love Affairs of Napoleon,"
"The Wife of General Bonaparte." Illustrated. Demy 8vo.
I2S. 6d. net.

**# "The Empress Josephine" continues and completes the graphically
drawn life story begun in " The Wife of General Bonaparte " by the same author,
takes us through the brilliant period of the Empire, shows us the gradual
development and the execution of the Emperor's plan to divorce his middle-aged
wife, paints in vivid colours the picture of Josephine's existence after her divorce,
tells us how she, although now nothing but his friend, still met him occasionally
and corresponded frequently with him, and how she passed her time in the midst
of her minature court. This work enables us to realise the very genuine
affection which Napoleon possessed for his first wife, an affection which lasted
till death closed her eyes in her lonely hermitage at La Malmaison, and until he
went to expiate at Saint Helena his rashness m braving all Europe. Compar-
atively little is known of the period covering Josephines life after her divorce,

and yet M. Turquari has found much to tell us that is very interesting; for the
ex-Empress in her two retreats, Navarre and La Malmaison, was visited by many
celebrated people, and after the Emperor's downfall was so ill-judged as to

welcome and fete several of the vanquished hero's late friends, now his declared
enemies. The story of her last illness and death forms one of the most interesting
chapters in this most complete work upon fhe first Empress of the French.

NAPOLEON IN CARICATURE : 1795-1821. By

A. M. BROADLEY. With an Introductory Essay on Pictorial Satire
as a Factor in Napoleonic History, by J. HOLLAND ROSE, Litt. D.
(Cantab.). With 24 full-page Illustrations in Colour and upwards
of 200 in Black and White from rare and unique originals.
2 Vols. Demy 8vo. 4.25. net.

Also an Edition de Luxe. 10 guineas net.

MEMOIRS, BIOGRAPHIES, ETC. 7

NAPOLEON'S LAST CAMPAIGN IN GER-
MANY. By F. LORAINE PETRE. Author of "Napoleon's
Campaign in Poland," "Napoleon's Conquest of Prussia/' etc.
With 17 Maps and Plans. Demy 8vo. 125. 6d. net.

*** In the author's two first histories of Napoleon's campaigns (1806 and 1807)
the Emperor is at his greatest as a soldier. The third (1809) showed the
commencement of the decay of his genius. Now, in 1813, he has seriously declined.
The military judgment of Napoleon, the general, is constantly fettered by the
pride and obstinacy of Napoleon, the Emperor. The military principles which

guidedhi ----'-- _.,.,.--._- ^

or mere j

army; he

known in his earlier campaigns. Yet frequently, as at Bautsen and Dresden, his
genius shines with all its old brilliance.

The campaign of 1813 exhibits the breakdown of his over-centralised system
of command, wnich left him without subordinates capable of exercising semi-
independent command over portions of armies which had now grown to dimensions
approaching those of our own day.

The autumn campaign is a notable example of the system of interior lines, as
opposed to that of strategical envelopment. It marks, too, the real downfall of
Napoleon's power, for, after the fearful destruction of 1813, the desperate struggle
of 1814, glorious though it was, could never have any real probability of success.

FOOTPRINTS OF FAMOUS AMERICANS IN

PARIS. By JOHN JOSEPH CONWAY, M.A. With 32 Full-page
Illustrations. With an Introduction by Mrs. JOHN LANE.
Demy 8vo. 125. 6d. net.

*% Franklin, Jefferson, Munroe, Tom Paine, La Fayette, Paul Jones, etc.,
etc., the most striking figures of a heroic age, working out in the City of Light
the great questions for which they stood, are dealt with here. Longfellow the
poet of the domestic affections ; matchless Margaret Fuller who wrote so well of
women in the nineteenth century ; Whistler master of American artists ; Saint-
Gaudens chief of American sculptors ; Rumford, most picturesque of scientific
knight-errants and several others get a chapter each for their lives and
achievements in Paris. A new and absorbing interest is opened up to visitors.
Their trip to Versailles becomes more pleasurable when they realise what
Franklyn did at that brilliant court. The Place de la Bastille becomes a sacred
place to Americans realizing that the principles of the young republic brought
about the destruction of the vilest old dungeon in the world. The Seine becomes
silvery to the American conjuring up that bright summer morning when Robert
Fulton started from the Place de la Concorde in the first steam boat. The Louvre
takes on a new attraction from the knowledge that it houses the busts of
Washington and Franklyn and La Fayette by Houdon. The Luxembourg becomes
a greater temple of art to him who knows that it holds Whistler's famous portrait
of his mother. Even the weather-beaten bookstalls by the banks of the Seine
become beautiful because Hawthorne and his son loitered among them on sunny
days sixty years ago. The book has a strong literary flavour. Its history is
enlivened wtth anecdote. It is profusely illustrated.

MEMORIES OF JAMES McNEILL

WHISTLER : The Artist. By THOMAS R. WAY. Author of
" The Lithographs of J. M. Whistler," etc. With numerous
Illustrations. Demy 410. los. 6d. net.

%* This volume contains about forty illustrations, including an unpublished
etching drawn by Whistler and bitten in by Sir Frank Short, A.K.A., an original
lithograph sketch, seven lithographs in colour drawn by the Author upon brown
paper, and many in black and white. The remainder are facsimiles by photo-
lithography. In most cases the originals are drawings and sketches by Whistler
which have never been published before, and are closely connected with the
matter of the book. The text deals with the Author's memories of nearly twenty
year's close association with Whistler, and he endeavours to treat only with the
man as an artist, and perhaps, especially as a lithographer.

*Also an EDITION DE LUXE on hand-made paper, with the etching
printed from the original plate. Limited to 50 copies.

"This is Out of Print with the Publisher.

A CATALOGUE OF

HISTORY OF THE PHILHARMONIC SO-
CIETY : A Record of a Hundred Years' Work in the Cause of
Music. Compiled by MYLES BIRKET FOSTER, F.R.A.M., etc.
With 1 6 Illustrations. Demy 8vo. los. 6d. net.

%*As the Philharmonic Society, whose Centenary is now being celebrated, is
and has ever been connected, during its long existence, with the history of
musical composition and production, not only in this country, but upon the
Continent, and as every great name in Europe and America in the last hundred
years (within the realm of high-class music), has been associated with it, this
volume will, it is believed, prove to be an unique work, not only as a book of
reference, but also as a record of the deepest interest to all lovers of good

volume will, it is believed, prove to be an unique work, not only as a book of
reference, but also as a record of the deepest interest to all lovers of good
music. It is divided into ten Decades, with a small narrative account of the
principal happenings in each, to which are added the full programmes of every
concert, and tables showing, at a glance, the number and nationality of the per-
formers and composers, with other particulars ol interest. The book is made ol
additional value by means of rare illustrations of MS. works specially composed
for the Society, and of letters from Wagner, Berlioz, Brahms, Liszt, etc., etc.,
written to the Directors and, by their permission, reproduced for the first time.

IN PORTUGAL. By AUBREY F. G. BELL.

Author of " The Magic of Spain." Demy 8vo. 75. 6d. net.

*% The guide-books give full details of the marvellous convents, gorgeous
palaces, and solemn temples of Portugal, and no attempt is here made to write
complete descriptions of them, the very name of some of them being omitted.
But the guide-books too often treat Portugal as a continuation, almost as a province
of Spain. It is hoped that this little book may give some idea of the individual
character of the country, of the quaintnesses of its cities, and of peasant life in
its remoter districts. While the utterly opposed character* of the two peoples
must probably render the divorce between Spain and Portugal eternal, and reduce
hopes of union to the idle dreams of politicians. Portugal in itself contains an
infinite variety. Each of the eight provinces (more especially those of the
aletntejanos, tninhotos and beiroes) preserves many peculiarities of language,
customs, and dress ; and each will, in return for hardships endured, give to the
traveller many a day of delight and interest.

A TRAGEDY IN STONE, AND OTHER

PAPERS. By LORD REDESDALE, G.C.V.O., K.C.C., etc.
Demy 8vo. ys. 6d. net.

*** " From the author of 'Tales of Old Japan' his readers always hope for
more about Japan, and in this volume they will find it. The earlier papers,
however, are not to be passed over." Times.

*% " Lo-d Redesdale's present volume consists of scholarly essays on a
variety ol subjects of historic, literary and artistic appeal." Standard.

% "The author of the classic 'Tales of Old Japan' is assured of welcome,
and the more so when he returns to the field in which his literary reputation was
made. Charm is never absent from his pages." Daily Chronicle.

MY LIFE IN PRISON. By DONALD LOWRIE.

Crown 8vo. 6s. net.

*% This book is absolutely true and vital. Within its pages passes the
myriorama of prison life. And within its pages may be found revelations of the
divine and the undivine ; of strange humility and stranger arrogance ; of free
men brutalized and caged men humanized; of big and little tragedies; of love,
cunning, hate, despair, hope. There is humour, too though sometimes the jest is
made ironic by its sequel. And there is romance the romance of the real ; not the
romance of Kipling's 9.15, but the romance of No. 19,093, and of all the other
numbers that made up the arithmetical hell of San Quentin prison.

Few novels could so absorb interest. It is human utterly. That is the reason.
Not only is the very atmosphere of the prison preserved, from the colossal sense
of encagement and defencelessness, to the smaller jealousies, exultations and
disappointments ; not only is there a succession of characters emerging into the
clearest individuality and genuineness, each with its distinctive contribution
and separate value ; but beyond the details and through all the contrasted
variety, there is the spell of complete drama the drama of life. Here is the
underworld in continuous moving pictures, with the overworld watching. True,
the stage is a prison; but is not all the world a stage ?

It is a book that should exercise a profound influence on the lives of the
caged, and on the whole attitude of society toward the problems of poverty and
criminality.

MEMOIRS, BIOGRAPHIES, ETC. 9

AN IRISH BEAUTY OF THE REGENCY : By

MRS. WARRENNE BLAKE. Author of " Memoirs of a Vanished
Generation, 1813-1855." With a Photogravure Frontispiece and
other Illustrations. Demy 8vo. i6s. net.

%*The Irish Beauty is the Hon. Mrs. Calvert, daughter of Viscount Pery,
Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, and wife of Nicholson Calvert, M.P., of
Hunsdon. Born in 1767, Mrs. Calvert lived to the age of ninety-two, and there
are many people still living who remember her. In the delightful journals, now
for the first time published, exciting events are described.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE NINETEENTH

CENTURY. By STEWART HOUSTON CHAMBERLAIN. A Translation
from the German by JOHN LEES. With an Introduction by
LORD REDESDALE. Demy 8vo. 2 vols. 253. net. Second
Edition.

%* A man who can write such a really beautiful and solemn appreciation of
true Christianity, of true acceptance of Christ's teachings and personality, as
Mr. Chamberlain has done. . . . represents an influence to be reckoned with
and seriously to be taken into account.' Theodore Roosevelt in the Outlook, New
Yotk.

*** ' It is a masterpiece of really scientific history. It does not make con-
fusion, it clears it away. He is a great generalizer of thought, as distinguished
from the crowd of mere specialists. It is certain to stir up thought. Whoever
has not read it will be rather out of it in political and sociological discussions for
some time to come." George Bernard Shaw in Fabian News.

*** "This is unquestionably one of the rare books that really matter. His
judgments of men and things are deeply and indisputably sincere and are based
on immense reading . . . But even many well-informed people . . . will be
grateful to Lord Redesdale for the biographical details which he gives them in the
valuable and illuminating introduction contributed by him to this English
translation." Times.

THE SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF

COMMONS from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, with
a Topographical Account of Westminster at Various Epochs,
Brief Notes on Sittings of Parliament and a Retrospect of
the principal Constitutional Changes during Seven Centuries. By
ARTHUR IRWIN DASENT, Author of "The Life and Letters of JOHN
DELANE," "The History of St. James's Square," etc., etc. With
numerous Portraits, including two in Photogravure and one in
Colour. Demy 8vo. 2 is. net.

ROMANTIC TRIALS OF THREE CENTU-

RIES. By HUGH CHILDERS With numerous Illustrations.
Demy 8vo. 125. 6d. net.

%* This volume deals with some famous trials, occurring between the years
1650 and 1850, All of them possess some exceptional interest, or introduce
historical personages in a fascinating style, peculiarly likely to attract attention.

The book is written for the general reading public, though in many respects
it should be of value to lawyers, who will be especially interested in the trials of
the great William Penn and Elizabeth Canning. The latter case is one of the
most enthralling interest.

Twenty-two years later the same kind of excitement was aroused over
Elizabeth Chudleigh, alias Duchess of Kingston, who attracted more attention in
1776 than the war of American independence.

Then the history of the fluent Dr. Dodd, a curiously pathetic one, is related,
and the inconsistencies of his character very clearly brought out; perhaps now he
may have a little more sympathy than he has usually received. Several im-
portant letters of his appear here for the first time in print.

Among other important trials discussed we find the libel action against
Disraeli and the story of the Lyons Mail. Our knowledge of the latter is chiefly
gathered from the London stage, but there is in it a far greater historical interest
than would be suspected by those who have only seen the much altered story
enacted before them.

io A CATALOGUE OF

THE OLD GARDENS OF ITALY HOW TO

VISIT THEM. By Mrs. AUBREY LE BLOND. With 100
Illustrations from her own Photographs. Crown 8vo. 55. net.

*** Hitherto all books on the old gardens of Italy have been large, costly, and
incomplete, and designed for the library rather than for the traveller. Mrs.
Aubrey Le Blond, during the course of a series of visits to all parts oi Italy, has
compiled a volume that garden lovers can carry with them, enabling them to
decide which gardens are worth visiting, where they are situated, how they may
be reached, if special permission to see them is required, and how this may be
obtained. Though the book is practical and technical, the artistic element is
supplied by the illustrations, one at least of which is given for each of the 71
gardens described. Mrs. Aubrey Le Blond was the illustrator of the monumental
work by H. Inigo Triggs on "The Art of Garden Design in Italy," and has since
taken three special journeys to that country to collect material for her " The Old
Gardens of Italy."

The illustrations have been beautifully reproduced by a new process which
enables them to be printed on a rough light paper, instead of the highly glazed
and weighty paper necessitated by half-tone blocks. Thus not only are the
illustrations delightful to look at, but the book is a pleasure to handle instead of
a dead weight.

DOWN THE MACKENZIE AND UP THE

YUKON. By E. STEWART. With 30 Illustrations and a Map.
Crown 8vo. 55. net.

*** Mr. Stewart was former Inspector of Forestry to the Government of
Canada, and the experience he thus gained, supplemented by a really remarkable
journey, will prove of great value to those who are interested in the commercial
growth of Canada. The latter portion of his book deals with the various peoples,
animals, industries, etc., of the Dominion ; while the story of the journey he
accomplished provides excellent reading in Part I. Some of the difficulties he
encountered appeared insurmountable, and a description of his perilous voyage
in a native canoe with Indians is quite haunting. There are many interesting
illustrations of the places of which he writes.

AMERICAN SOCIALISM OF THE PRESENT

DAY. By JESSIE WALLACE HUGHAN. With an Introduction
by JOHN SPARGO. Crown 8vo. 53. net.

*** All who are interested in the multitudinous political problems brought
about by the changing conditions of the present day should read this book,
irrespective of personal bias. The applications of Socialism throughout the
world are so many and varied that the book is of peculiar importance to
English Socialists.

THE STRUGGLE FOR BREAD. By "A

RIFLEMAN " Crown 8vo. 53. net.

*#* This book is a reply to Mr. Norman Angell's well-known work, "The
Great Illusion" and also an enquiry into the present economic state of Europe.
The author, examining the phenomenon of the high food-prices at present ruling
. in all great civilized states, proves by statistics that these are caused by a
relative decline in the production of food-stuffs as compared with the increase in
general commerce ana the production oi manufactured-articles, and that con-
sequently there has ensued a rise in the exchange-values of manufactured- articles,
which with our system of society can have no other effect than of producing high
food-prices and low wages. The author proves, moreover, that this is no tem-
porary fluctuation of prices, but the inevitable outcome of an economic movement,
which whilst seen at its fullest development during the last few years has been
slowly germinating for the last quarter-century. Therefore, food-prices must
continue to rise whilst wages must continue to fall.

THE LAND OF TECK & ITS SURROUNDINGS.

By Rev. S. BARING-GOULD. With numerous Illustrations (includ-
ing several in Colour) reproduced from unique originals. Demy
8vo. I os. 6d. net.

MEMOIRS, BIOGRAPHIES, ETC. n
GATES OF THE DOLOMITES. By L. MARION

DAVIDSON. With 32 Illustrations from Photographs and a Map.
Crown 8vo. Second Edition. $s. net.

*** Whilst many English books have appeared on the Lande Tirol, few have
given more than a chapter on the fascinating Dolomite Land, and it is in the hope
of helping other travellers to explore the mountain land with less trouble and
inconvenience than fell to her lot that the author has penned these attractive
pages. The object of this book is not to inform the traveller how to scale the
apparently inaccessible peaks of the Dolomites, but rather how to find the roads,
and thread the valleys, which lead him to the recesses of this most lovely part of
the world's face, and Miss Davidson conveys just the knowledge which is wanted
for this purpose ; especially will her map be appreciated by those who wish to
make their own plans for a tour, as it shows at a glance the geography of the
country.

KNOWLEDGE AND LIFE. By WILLIAM

ARKWRIGHT. Crown 8vo. 33. 6d. net.

*** This is a remarkably written book brilliant and vital. Mr. Arkwright
illumines a number of subjects with jewelled flashes of word harmony and chisels
them all with the keen edge of his wit. Art, Letters, and Religion of different
appeals move before the reader in vari-coloured array, like the dazzling phan-
tasmagoria of some Eastern dream.

CHANGING RUSSIA. A Tramp along the Black

Sea Shore and in the Urals. By STEPHEN GRAHAM. Author of
"Undiscovered Russia," "A Vagabond in the Caucasus," etc.
With Illustrations and a Map. Demy 8vo. 73. 6d. net.

*** I* 1 " Changing Russia," Mr. Stephen Graham describes a journey from
Rostof-on-the-Don to Batum and a summer spent on the Ural Mountains. The

author has traversed all the region which is to be developed by the new railway
It is a tramping diary with notes and reflections.
The book deals more with the commercial lile of Russia than with that f the

peasantry, and there are chapters on the Russia of the hour, the Russian town,
life among the gold miners of the Urals, the bourgeois, Russian journalism, the
intelligentsia, the election of the fourth Duma. An account is given of Russia at
the seaside, and each of the watering places of the Black Sea shore is
described in detail.

ROBERT FULTON ENGINEER AND ARTIST :

HIS LIFE AND WORK. By H. W. DICKINSON, A.M.I.Mech.E.

Demy 8vo. IDS 6d. net.

*** No Biography dealing as a whole with the life-work of the celebrated
Robert Fulton has appeared of late years, in spite of the fact that the introduction
of steam navigation on a commercial scale, which was his greatest achievement
has recently celebrated its centenary.

The author has been instrumental in bringing to light a mass of documentary
matter relative to Fulton, aud has thus been able to present the facts about him in
an entirely new light . The interesting but little known episode of his career as
an artist is for the first time fully dealt wfth. His sfay in France and his
experiments under the Directory and the Empire with the submarine and with
the steamboat are elucidated with the aid of documents preserved in the Archives
Nationales at Paris. His subsequent withdrawal from France and his
employment by the British Cabinet to destroy the Boulogne flotilla that Napoleon
had prepared in 1804 to invade England are gone into fully. The latter part of his
career in the United States, spent in the introduction of steam navigation and in
the construction of the first steam-propelled warship, is of the greatest interest.
With the lapse of time facts assume naturally their true perspective. Fulton,
instead of being represented, according to the English point of view, as a
charlatan and even as a traitor, or from the Americans as a universal genius, is
cleared from these charges, and his pretensions critically examined, with the
result that he appears as a cosmopolitan, an earnest student, a painstaking
experimenter and an enterprising engineer.

It is believed that practically nothing of moment in Fulton's career has been
omitted. The illustrations, which are numerous, are drawn in nearly every case
from the original sources. It may confidently be expected, therefore, that this
book will take its place as the authoritative biography which everyone interested
in the subjects enumerated above will require to possess.

A CATALOGUE OF

THE LIFE OF MADAME TALLIEN NOTRE

DAME DE THERMIDOR (A Queen of Shreds and Patches.)
From the last days of the French Revolution, until her death as
Princess Chimay in 1885. By L. GASTINE. Translated from
the French by J. LEWIS May. With a Photogravure Frontispiece
and 1 6 other Illustrations Demy 8vo. 1 2s. 6d. net.

%* There is no one in the history oi the French Revolution who has been
more eagerly canonised than Madame Tall. en ; yet according to M. Gastine, there
is no one in that history who merited canonisation so little. He has therefore set
himself the task of dissipating the mass of legend and sentiment that has
gathered round the memory of "Z,o Belle Tallien" and of presenting her to our
eyes as she really was. The result of his labour is a volume, which combines the
scrupulous exactness of conscientious research with the richness and glamour of
a romance. In the place of the beautiful heroic but purely imaginary figure of
popular tradition, we behold a woman, dowered indeed with incomparable loveli-
ness, but utterly unmoral, devoid alike of heart and soul, who readily and
repeatedly prostituted her personal charms for the advancement of her selfish
and ignoble aims. Though Madame Tallien is the central figure of the book, the
reader is introduced to many other personages who played famous or infamous
roles in the contemporary social or political arena, and the volume, which is
enriched by a number of interesting portraits, throws a new and valuable light on
this stormy and perennially fascinating period of French history.

MINIATURES : A Series of Reproductions in

Photogravure of Ninety-Six Miniatures of Distinguished Personages,
including Queen Alexandra, the Queen of Norway, the Princess
Royal, and the Princess Victoria. Painted by CHARLES TURRELL.
(Folio.) The Edition is limited to One Hundred Copies for sale
in England and America, and Twenty-Five Copies for Presentation,
Review, and the Museums. Each will be Numbered and Signed
by the Artist. I 5 guineas net.

RECOLLECTIONS OF GUY DE MAUPASSANT.

By his Valet FRA^OIS. Translated from the French by MAURICE
REYNOLD. Demy 8vo. 125. 6d. net.

THE WIFE OF GENERAL BONAPARTE. By

JOSEPH TURQUAN. Author of " The Love Affairs of Napoleon,"
etc. Translated from the French by Miss VIOLETTE MONTAGU.
With a Photogravure Frontispiece and 16 other Illustrations.
Demy 8vo. 125. 6d. net.

** Although much has been written concerning the Empress Josephine, we
know comparatively little about the veuve Beauharnais and the ciloyenne
Bonaparte, whose inconsiderate conduct during her husband's absence caused
him so much anguish. We are so accustomed to consider Josephine as the
innocent victim of a cold and calculating tyrant who allowed nothing, neither
human lives nor natural affections, to stand in the way of his all-conquering will,
that this volume will come to us rather as a surprise. Modern historians are
over-fond of blaming Napoleon for having divorced the companion of his early
years ; but after having read the above work, the reader will be constrained to
admire General Bonaparte's forbearance and will wonder how he ever came to
allow her to play the Queen at the Tuileries.

THE JOURNAL OF A SPORTING NOMAD.

By J. T. STUDLEY. With a Portrait and 32 other Illustrations,
principally from Photographs by the Author. Demy 8vo.
I2s. 6d. net.

%* " Not for a long time have we read such straightforward, entertaining
accounts of wild sport and adventure." Manchester Guardian.

*** "His adventures have the whole world for their theatre. There is a
great deal of curious information and vivid narrative that will appeal to every-
body." Standard.

MEMOIRS, BIOGRAPHIES, ETC. 15
SOPHIE DAWES, QUEEN OF CHANTILLY.

By VIOLETTK M. MONTAGU. Author of "The Scottish College in
Paris," etc. With a Photogravure Frontispiece and 16 other
Illustrations and Three Plans. Demy 8vo. i zs. 6d. net.

*y* Amory the many queens of France, queens by right of marriage with the
reigning sovereign, queens of beauty or of intrigue, the name of Sophie Dawes,
the daughter of humble fisherfolk in the Isle of Wight, better known as "the
notorious Mine, de Feucheres,'* "The Queen of Chantilly" and "The Montespan
de Saint Leu " in the land which she chose as a suitable sphere in which to
exercise her talents for money-making and tor getting on in the world, stand
forth as a proof of what a woman's will can accomplish when that will is ac-
companied with an uncommon share of intelligence.

MARGARET OF FRANCE DUCHESS OF

SAVOY. 1523-1574. A Biography with Photogravure Frontis-
piece and 1 6 other Illustrations and Facsimile Reproductions
of Hitherto Unpublished Letters. Demy 8vo. 1 25. 6d. net.

%* A time when the Italians are celebrating the Jubilee of the Italian
Kingd ' *---

ngdoin is perhaps no unfitting moment in which to glance back over the annals
of that royal House of Savoy which has rendered Italian unity possible. Margaret
of France may without exaggeration be counted among the builders of modern
Italy. She married Emanuel Philibert, the founder of Savoyard greatness ; and
from the day of her marriage until the day of her death she laboured to advance
the interests of her adopted land.

MADAME DE BRINVILLIERS AND HER

TIMES. 1630-1676. By HUGH STOKES. With a Photogravure
Frontispiece and 1 6 other Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 1 25. 6d. net.

VThe name of Marie Marguerite d'Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers, is
famous in the annals ot crime, but the true history of her career is little known.
A woman of birth and rank, she was also a remorseless poisoner, and her trial
was one of the most sensational episodes of the early reign of Louis XIV. The
author was attracted to this curious subject by Charles le Brun's realistic sketch
of the unhappy Marquise as she appeared on her way to execution. This chej
(fofuvre of misery and agony forms the frontispiece to the volume, and strikes a
fitting keynote to an absorbing story of human passion and wrong-doing.

THE VICISSITUDES OF A LADY-1N WAITING.

1735-1821. By EUGENE WELVERT. Translated from the French
by LILIAN O'NEILL With a Photogravure Frontispiece and 1 6
other Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 125. 6d. net.

%* The Duchesso de Narbonne-Lara was Lady-in- Waiting to Madame
Adelaide, the eldest daughter of Louis XV. Around the stately figure of this
Princess are gathered the most remarkable characters ot the days of the Old
Regime, the Revolution and the first Empire. The great charm ot the work is
that it takes us over HO much and varied ground. Here, in the gay crowd of
ladies and courtiers, in the rustle of flowery silken paniers, in the clatter of high-
heeled shoes, move the figures of Louis IX V., Louis XVI., Du Barri and Marie-
Antoinette. We catch picturesque glimpses of the great wits, diplomatists and
soldiers of the time, until, finally we encounter Napoleon Bonaparte.

ANNALS OF A YORKSHIRE HOUSE. From

the Papers of a Macaroni and his kindred. By A. M. W. STIRLING,
author of "Coke of Norfolk and his Friends." With 33
Illustrations, including 3 in Colour and 3 in Photogravure.
Demy 8vo. 2 vols. 325. net.

14 A CATALOGUE OF

THE LIFE OF MADAME TALLIEN NOTRE

%* There is no one in the history of the French Revolution who has been
more eagerly canonised than Madame Tallien ; yet according to M. Gastine, there
is no one in that history who merited canonisation so little. He has therefore set
himself the task of dissipating the mass of legend and sentiment that has
gathered round the memory of "La Belle Tallien" and of presenting her to our
eyes as she really was. The result of his labour is a volume, which combines the
scrupulous exactness of conscientious research with the richness and glamour of
a romance. In the place of the beautiful heroic but purely imaginary figure of
popular tradition, we behold a woman, dowered indeed witn incomparable loveli-
ness, but utterly unmoral, devoid alike of heart and soul, who readily and
repeatedly prostituted her personal charms for the advancement of her selfish
and ignoble aims. Though Madame Tallien is the central figure of the book, the
reader is introduced to many other personages who played famous or infamous
roles in the contemporary social or political arena, and the volume, which is
enriched by a number of interesting portraits, throws a new and valuable light on
this stormy and perennially fascinating period of French history.

MINIATURES : A Series of Reproductions in

RECOLLECTIONS OF GUY DE MAUPASSANT.

By his Valet FRA^OIS. Translated from the French by MAURICE
REYNOLD. Demy 8vo. izs. 6d. net.

THE WIFE OF GENERAL BONAPARTE. By

%* Although much has been written concerning the Empress Josephine, we
know comparatively little about the veuve Beauharnais and the ciloyennc
Bonaparte, whose inconsiderate conduct during her husband's absence caused
him so much anguish. We are so accustomed to consider Josephine as the
innocent victim of a cold and calculating tyrant who allowed nothing, neither
human lives nor natural affections, to stand in the way of his all-conquering will,
that this volume will come to us rather as a surprise. Modern historians are
over-fond of blaming Napoleon for having divorced the companion of his early
years ; but after having read the above work, the reader will be constrained to
admire General Bonaparte's forbearance and will wonder how he ever came to
allow her to play the Queen at the Tuileries.

THE JOURNAL OF A SPORTING NOMAD.

By J. T. STUDLEY. With a Portrait and 32 other Illustrations,
principally from Photographs by the Author. Demy 8vo.
izs. 6d. net.

%* "Not for a long time have we read such straightforward, entertaining
accounts of wild sport and adventure." Manchester Guardian.

** "His adventures have the whole world for their theatre. There is a
great deal of curious information and vivid narrative that will appeal to every-
body." Standard.

MEMOIRS, BIOGRAPHIES, ETC 15
SOPHIE DAWES, QUEEN OF CHANTILLY.

By VIOLETTE M. MONTAGU. Author of "The Scottish College in
Paris," etc. With a Photogravure Frontispiece and 16 other
Illustrations and Three Plans. Demy 8vo. i zs. 6d. net.

*V* Among the many queens of France, queens by right of marriage with the
reigning sovereign, queens of beauty or of intrigue, the name of Sophie Dawes,
the daughter of humble fisherfolk in the Isle of Wight, better known as "the
notorious Mme. de Feucheres," "The Queen of Chantilly" and "The Montespan
de Saint Leu " in the land which she chose as a suitable sphere in which to
exercise her talents for money-making and lor getting on in the world, stand
lorth as a proof of what a woman's will can accomplish when that will is ac-
companied with an uncommon share of intelligence.

MARGARET OF FRANCE DUCHESS OF

SAVOY. 1523-1574. A Biography with Photogravure Frontis-
piece and 1 6 other Illustrations and Facsimile Reproductions
of Hitherto Unpublished Letters. Demy 8vo. 1 25. 6d. net.

%* A time when the Italians are celebrating the Jubilee of the Italian
Kingdom is perhaps no unfitting moment in which to glance back over the annals
of that royal House of Savoy which has rendered Italian unity possible. Margaret
of France may without exaggeration be counted among the builders of modern
Italy. She married Emanuel Philibert, the founder of Savoyard greatness ; and
from the day of her marriage until the day of her death she laboured to advance
the interests of her adopted land.

MADAME DE BRINVILLIERS AND HER

TIMES. 1630-1676. By HUGH STOKES. With a Photogravure
Frontispiece and 1 6 other Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 1 25. 6d. net.

%*The name of Marie Marguerite d'Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers, is
famous in the annals ot crime, but the true history of her career is little known.
A woman of birth and rank, she was also a remorseless poisoner, and her trial
was one of the most sensational episodes of the early reign of Louis XIV. The
author was attracted to this curious subject by Charles le Brun's realistic sketch
of the unhappy Marquise as she appeared on her way to execution. This chef
cfoeuvre of misery and agony forms the frontispiece to the volume, and strikes a
fitting keynote to an absorbing story of human passion and wrong-doing.

THE VICISSITUDES OF A LADY-IN WAITING.

1735-1821. By EUGENE WELVERT. Translated from the French
by LILIAN O'NEILL With a Piiotogravure Frontispiece and 16
other Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 125. 6d. net.

*4i* The Duchesse de Narbonne-Lara was Lady-in-Waiting to Madame
Adelaide, the eldest daughter of Louis XV. Around the stately figure of this
Princess are gathered the most remarkable characters ot the days of the Old
Regime, the Revolution and the first Empire. The great charm of the work is
that it takes us over so much and varied ground. Here, in the gay crowd ol
ladies and courtiers, in the rustle of flowery silken paniers, in the clatter of high-
heeled shoes, move the figures of Louis jXV., Louis XVI., Du Barri and Marie-
Antoinette. We catch picturesque glimpses of the great wits, diplomatists and
soldiers of the time, until, finally we encounter Napoleon Bonaparte.

ANNALS OF A YORKSHIRE HOUSE. From

MEMOIRS, BIOGRAPHIES, ETC. 16
WILLIAM HARRISON AINSWORTH AND

HIS FRIENDS. By S. M. ELLIS. With upwards of 50
Illustrations, 4 in Photogravure. 2 rols. Demy 8vo. 325. net.

NAPOLEON AND KING MURAT. 1 805-1 815:

A Biography compiled from hitherto Unknown and Unpublished
Documents. By ALBERT ESPITALIER. Translated from the French
by ]. LEWIS MAY. With a Photogravure Frontispiece and 16
other Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 125. 6d. net.

LADY CHARLOTTE SCHREIBER'S JOURNALS

Confidences of a Collector of Ceramics and Antiques throughout
Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Holland, Belgium,
Switzerland, and Turkey. From the year 1869 to 1885. Edited
by MONTAGUE GUEST, with Annotations by EGAN MEW. With
upwards of 100 Illustrations, including 8 in colour and 2 in
Photogravure. Royal 8vo. 2 volumes. 42$. net.

CHARLES DE BOURBON, CONSTABLE OF

FRANCE: "THE GREAT CONDOTTIERE." By CHRISTOPHER
HARE. With a Photogravure Frontispiece and 1 6 other Illustrations.
Demy 8vo. 125. 6d. net.

THE NELSONS OF BURNHAM THORPE: A

Record of a Norfolk Family compiled from Unpublished Letters
and Note Books, 1787-1843. Edited by M. EYRE MATCHAM.
With a Photogravure Frontispiece and 16 other illustrations.
Demy 8vo. i6s. net.

** This interesting contribution to Nelson literature is drawn from the
journals and correspondence of the Rev. Edmund Nelson, Rector of Burnham
Thorpe and his youngest daughter, the father and sister of Lord Nelson. The
Rector was evidently a man of broad views and sympathies, for we find him
maintaining friendly relations with his son and daughter : in-law after their
separation. What is even more strange, he felt perfectly at liberty to go direct
from the house of Mrs. Horatio Nelson in Norfolk to that pi Sir William and
Lady Hamilton in London, where his son was staying. This book shows how
completely and without any reserve the family received Lady Hamilton.

MARIA EDGEWORTH AND HER CIRCLE
IN THE DAYS OF BONAPARTE AND BOURBON.
By CONSTANCE HILL. Author of " Jane Austen : Her Homes
and Her Friends," " Juniper Hall," "The House in St. Martin's
Street," etc. With numerous Illustrations by ELLEN G. HILL
and Reproductions of Contemporary Portraits, etc. Demy 8ro,
2 is. net.

CESAR FRANCK : A Study. Translated from the
French of Vincent d'Indy, with an Introduction by ROSA NEW-
MARCH. Demy 8vo. ys. 6d. net.

5352

A1S53

1913

C.I

ROBA