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The Stained Glass Windows of Saint Mark
The Franz Mayer Sanctuary Windows
The twelve pictorial windows in the South and North walls of the sanctuary of Saint Mark Church were designed and executed by Franz Mayer and Co. of Munich, Germany. The earliest windows were installed in 1909 and the last in 1959. The Mayer firm is one of the world’s foremost creators of finest quality stained glass.
For a photograph and details about each window click on a link below.
About the Windows
These windows are executed in the highly-developed pot-metal glass technique of the Early Gothic Period of the 13th century, combined with the pictorial style which developed in the Late Gothic Period of the 15th-16th centuries.
Pot-metal glass, regarded as the finest glass ever produced for fabrication of stained glass windows, is made by fusing together at high temperatures the various forms of sand, soda, and oxides of iron, copper, cobalt, or other metals such as selenium, silver salts, and particles of gold. A full range of colors, shades, and tints is produced through the use of these metallic additives. The fusing takes place in a crucible or pot.
The molten glass is hand-blown into a bottle shape and later cut apart and flattened by heating in a special oven. This produces glass of varying thickness. The proper glass is selected from the colored sheets of glass and cut to shape according to a pattern called a cutline. A small margin of space is left all around each piece to make way for the leads. Details and shading are then painted onto the glass using tracing black, tracing brown, and bistre brown, which have no color value in themselves but serve to render more or less opaquely the desired pattern.
The painted pieces of glass are exposed in a kiln to a heat above 600 degrees Celsius (1112 degrees Fahrenheit) when the paints combine with the surface of the glass. The pieces are laid out in the proper order and assembled with H-shaped strips of lead called “calms.” Solder of two parts lead to one part tin is used to seal the joints. Finally the window is puttied to make it waterproof and is then set into position.
Stained glass windows should not be washed, cleaned or dusted. Oxidation of the surface enriches the tones and provides diffusion of light. Extensive accumulation of dirt can be properly removed by stained glass experts without damaging the glass surfaces.
The twelve sanctuary windows are made from pot-metal glass produced by the finest 13th century method and are executed in the 15th century pictorial style which arose with the increasing naturalism of the late Renaissance. The quality of these windows is probably unexcelled, as indicated by the purity of colors and luminosity of the glass, the complex shapes and small sizes of the glass pieces, the highly intricate leading, the coherence of design and leading, the fine detailing and shading of faces, fabrics, and backgrounds. The American importer and installer of these windows wrote in 1955: “We must bear in mind those Europeans have been at this stained glass business for centuries, and it is an art and craft handed down from father to son and so on; and as a consequence they have a technique in selecting glass and painting and firing that we most certainly do not have here in America."
"Franz Mayer’sche Hof-Kinstanstalt und Glasmalerie (Mayer & Co.),” known abroad as “Franz Mayer & Co.,” was founded in 1848 by Joseph Gabriel Mayer (died 1883) and continued by his sons Joseph (died 1898) and Franz Mayer (1848-1926). The third generation, the three sons of Franz Mayer—Anton, Karl, and Adalbert Mayer—were in charge during much of the period when the windows for Saint Mark Church were made. After great damage to Munich during World War II, the Mayer studios were rebuilt and continued active engagement in the manufacture of windows and mosaics. Franz Mayer and Co. was entrusted to restore many of the old famous medieval windows in churches on the Continent, among those the five oldest stained glass windows in the world, in the Cathedral of Augsburg, representing five prophets, which were made about the year 1065.
On December 16, 1904, the Board of Trustees of Saint Mark Church adopted a resolution in response to interest of the ladies of the church, and others, in installing stained glass windows. The resolution enumerated a scheme of subjects and the chronological arrangement of the windows in the church. Beginning on the South wall adjacent to the pulpit, moving toward the rear, and thence along the North wall from the rear to the pulpit again, the subjects, with alternatives in some instances, were approved as follows:
- 1. The Annunciation to the Shepherds
- 2. Visit of the Wise Men
- 3. Christ in the Temple
- 4. Baptism of Christ
- 5. First Miracle at Cana, of Galilee
- 6. (a) Christ at Jacob’s Well
(b) The Sermon on the Mount
- 7. (a) Feeding of the five thousand
(b)The parable of the sower
- 8. (a) The transfiguration
(b) Jesus blessing little children
(c) The Good Shepherd
- 9. Behold I stand at the door and knock
- 10. Gethsemane
- 11. The Resurrection
- 12. The Ascension
The twelve windows as finally installed are in a totally disordered sequence chronologically and only seven of the original subjects were used. The remaining five windows utilize other subjects. Only Window 1 utilizes the subject and placement specified by the 1904 resolution of the Trustees.
Windows 1, 2, 11, and 12 were installed in 1909. Window 10 was dedicated on December 9, 1928, and Window 3 on March 15, 1931. These six windows were attended to from the beginning to the installation by Mayer people from Munich and New York. The remaining six windows were made by Mayer in Munich and imported and installed by the Russell Church Studios, Inc. of Winston-Salem, N.C. They were dedicated in the following order: Window 9 on January 26, 1956; Window 4 on May 17, 1956, Window 8 on April 25, 1957, and Windows 5, 6, and 7 on April 19, 1959.
Most of the windows were designed by various well known German artists connected with the Mayer studio, including Franz Mayer and Anton Mayer, who designed especially the color schemes of the windows. “The Agony in the Garden” was drawn after the painting-by Heinrich Hofmann which now hangs in the Riverside Church, New York. “The Dispute in the Temple” partially incorporated another of Hofmann’s paintings. “Lilies of the Field” was drawn after a postcard and photographs of lilies supplied by the donor. All twelve windows are set within stained glass canopies of complex architectural design, whose intricate multiple spires are suggestive of the City of God.
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