"Stained Glass from the Cathedral of Soissons"
by Fred Lowry

• Three medallions and six half medallions of leaded glass.
• The center medallion depicts an angel with a scroll visiting Saints Crispin and Crispinian, comforting and validating their witness.
• The lower medallion depicts Saint Blaise healing two children.
• The upper panel may be about Saint Blaise healing a handicapped child (with witnesses looking on in astonishment), or it may relate to the torture of Saints Crispin and Crispinian by the Governor, Rictiovarus.
• The half medallions, three on each side, contain figures which are probably biblical.

Techniques Used:

• The glass is colored by adding minerals to the molten sand until it becomes one solid color throughout.  The glass is then positioned and held together by lead.

Symbolism and Meaning:

The Legend of Saints Crispin and Crispianus:
• Crispin and Crispianus were brothers from Rome who became missionaries of the Christian faith to Gaul.  In imitation of Saint Paul, they worked with their hands, became shoemakers, and thus supported themselves and their mission.  During the Diocletian persecution they were brought before the co-emperor Maximianus. He in turn gave them to the governor Rictiovarus, a cruel persecutor of Christians.
• The brothers were subjected to several forms of torture, but were nonetheless able to survive.  Their final torture was to have millstones tied around their necks and to be thrown into the river Aisne.  They were able to swim safely to the other side. They also were unharmed by a great fire, into which Rictiovarus, in despair, threw himself. (There is also a story that they were thrown into molten lead and survived, though some of it splashed Rictiovarus and killed him.)  Afterwards Maximianus beheaded the two in 285 or 286.
• They are the patron saints of shoemakers, saddlers and tanners.

The Legend of Saint Blaise:
• Saint Blaise (or Blasius) was Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia.  He was martyred at the beginning of the fourth century.  He was a physician in Sebaste before he became a bishop. The governor Agricolaus imprisoned him, and while in prison he performed a miraculous cure of a boy who had a fishbone in his throat and was in danger of dying.
• This Oriental saint early became venerated in Europe and became one of the most popular saints of the middle Ages.  It was probably due to the many cures ascribed to him.
• The blessing of St. Blaise is still performed in many churches.  Two candles are crossed over the heads of the faithful, or the people are touched on the throat with the candles.
• He is considered the patron saint of those with sore throats.
 

Artist’s Background:

• The specific artists are of course unknown.  They have been described as a group of artists known as the School of l’Aisne—(named after the river which flows near Soissons.)  There is no doubt that they are skilled craftsmen, and the work of such persons was very much in demand in the thirteenth century.

Also of Interest:

• The Soissons church  (northeast of Paris) is said to be built over the graves of Saints Crispin and Crispinian, and the legend claims that they met their death in Soissons.
• The first appearance of artichoke-like trees is said to be in the windows of Ste. Chapelle in Paris, which dates from the middle of the Thirteenth Century.
• The Corcoran also possesses another stained glass window, the Flemish  window, which dates from the Seventeenth Century.
• The twelfth-century theologian Hugh of Saint Victor explained that the colored glass was “a holy veil through which the shafts of light of God shine without blinding us by their very splendor.”

Visual Analysis:

• The most striking thing about the window is the intense color, especially the brilliant red and blue.  It can be seen at its best in full sunshine. In the context of a church, it contributes to a mystical atmosphere—the figures seem to float rather than stand. It is obviously intended to convey stories about the saints.  It is not clear whether the present assembly is the original configuration.

Possible Docent Questions:

1. How does the window differ from a traditional painting on canvas?
2. The work is representational—but can it also be seen as abstract?
3. What effect does lighting have on this work?
On what levels can this be seen as instructive, and how does it appear decorative?

Bibliography:

Caption for the Soissons glass illustration by Laura Coyle, editor, “Antiquities to Impressionism”, Corcoran Gallery of Art, 2001.

“Notes on the Stained Glass, Soissons Cathedral” and “Stained Glass”, 1977 Marian         Hawkins, Docent.

“St. Blaise”, “Sts. Crispin and Crispinian”, “Ste. Chapelle”, Catholic Encyclopedia, Online Edition, 1999.

“Stained Glass”, Encyclopedia Britannica, Online Edition, 2002.

Additional unsigned materials in the Corcoran Education Files.
 
 

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