Evening star., 1920-01-04
ART GLASS TREASURES
OFPARIS GET WASHING
Great Picture Windows of Old Churches
on Exhibition, Are Cleaned for First
Time In Five Hundred Years.

| beyond words But it is not the
cream of the cream
So for the other old churches.
Some. like ST. German des Pres. have
lost their glass. Some. like ST. Eu-
stache, have fine examples put in
safety. but not up to the possibilities
of such an exhibition: while many
others, from St Sulpce to the Made
the great stained glass period ended
ended with the seventeenth century!
! The cream of the cream,
And now to skim it, It's not possi
| BILE
| The most middle age church of
Paris. in atmosphere, is ST. Severin.
ST. Severin's stained glass windows.
high. straight. often narrow. contain
simple compositions and vast indi-
vidual figures. They are gaunt. pale,
! Botticelli -like-St Michael in ducal
crown and two-handed sword six feet
| high: ST. Sebastian, who looks like
cheValier undressed of armor, an
emaciated. aristocratic Christ. show
| ing his wounds to doubling Thomas.
There are Gothic saints and evangel
,sts; John. in red robes. between a
burly unknown in canary and lilac
and a wan virgin with exaggerated
ly chubby Child. 1t all had meaning.
All date from 1910 to 1850. All by
unknown makers. All grand old
stuff. -Raphaelite and precious.
| 49, Jus't GU " Sc ihlO tHiS
! hibition.
And thus st. SEVERN. in Paris. is
| unique. The next oldest parish
church (were it possible to compare
ages) is. let us say, St. Merri. St.
Merri is SO old that when they en-
+, found the body of the feudal lord
who had enlarged ST. Merri almost
1000 years previously-Odon Fau-
CONNER, the Frankish tribesman,
| buried in his gilded leather boots,
which he still had on him.
| Now. st. Merri doubtless got full
set of new glass around that enlarg-
ing of 1920. Why? Because all of it.
or nearly ALL is in the new taste of
| the renaissance. And SO for the rest
of this show.
OF course. there is excellent oppor-
tunity to wrangle about the schools
of two excellent French masters who
made ST. Merits most beautiful win
dows. Both remain in a state of
fragments-numerou entire windows.
fragments of a series. like the Leg
end of St Agnes" by Jean de Par
roy. and the Life of ST. Baf." by
ly ancient patron saint of Client and
Harlem. rich Dutchman. who gave
away all his property. What is he
doing down here in Paris? Maitre de
Parroy came later: yet there are only
two windows of his Life of st. Gene
We've (the old maid who revictualed
Paris during it's siege by Clovis).
More beautiful yet are the irregular
fragments from his presumed extern
sive ST. Peter windows-apex decora-
tions, fitting into the tracery of
Gothic window tops. One shows the
MED by Peter. A hundred years
later we find a quantity of windows
cleaning with the soft tints of the
master Chamu.
And only arriving now at the tech
nical jewels.
st. Gervais.
Martyr church of Berthas.
Notre Dame was hit. The Made
leine was hit (and mere chance
had this shell been tother-saved the
apart destruction-like the mansion
of Froment- Maurice, around the cor
ner). But st. Gervais was the vic
tim-in in-chief of kultur. OF course. all
would have got the same had the
bombardment continued. You know
who stopped it. You know!
The sweetest refugees.
Here are the prettiest and softest,
the most gracious and most lovely.
the dear little white lambs q have
counted forty-seven) in dark. lush
green pastures dotted with every
daisy flower and meadow pink. with
frisky mamma and papa-the sheep
of the shepherds who saw the star!
And what gentle fancy in the irregu-
lar bits between stone traceries of
angels assisting a little girl to learn
her letters.
We are in the full of the Scenes
from the Life of the Virgin" by the
great Angrand Leprince Ateliere Of
Beauvais, from about the year 1880
on, Here is the annunciation. with
Kaleidoscope angel in one window
bit, and the blessed girl in simple
blue and white. interrupted at read
ing with candle. in another COM
partment across the dark stone trac-
cry, and from one compartment to the
other float the words of the annun-
citation: Ave Maria. .gratia plena."
Window after window of irregular
hits and fanciful shapes. hearts. half
moons and quarter-moons. There is
a shepherd in the ace of diamonds
playing a bagpipe to dancing pup
In foolish scollops, silly shepherds in
straw hats gaze intently into the sky.
Are they watching for the big Ber-
tha? No, they see the star.
AT. ST. Etienne is all that remains
of Pinaigrier's extraordinary window
made on order of King Francis I for
tres-"the Mystic Wine Press" A
grandson of Pinaigrier executed this
replica for st. Etienne.
The great st. Stephen windows
! (Etienne means Stephen). by un-
known men, bears the exact date of
1922. Unsigned. Do you know why?
Master glazier. under the old regime.
was the only gainful profession which
! a French nobleman could undertake
without losing rank (dechoir)! Many
of the great windows are unsigned.
How rich is st. Etienne. Here is
the Pentecost window. 1t is by an
! other great French artist. who had
a stained glass atelier-Claude Hen
! riet of Nancy.
Here are the works of Henriet.
Certain windows-the risen Christ
appearing to st. Peter. to the holy
women. to Mary Magdalen-have the
innocent old simplicities. The Mag
dalen. in puffed court sleeves, beholds
Him with gardeners spade. because
it is written: She supposing him to
he the gardener" In the Road to En-
maus windows the. village inn has
stately pillars like palace.
How rich is st. Etienne! l had
absolutely forgotten to mention, one
! Gospel stories by Angrand Leprince
himself. and his new scenes from
the life of the Virgin. Do not con-
! found them with his masterpieces of
St Gervais. 1t is the same Angrand.
! the same great studios of Beauvais.
the same sweet subjects. tints. COM
positions. faces. figures, yet all diff
| ferent. less fanciful and richer. Here
F; is the presentation of the little girl
to the temple, in blue brocade, with
! the most golden of golden hair down
, her back Here is the visit of Eliza
! beth-they walk in castle gardens,
| towers and battlements in the back
ground, two gentle chatelaines of high
! degree.