!!!Glasmalerei

Stained Glass: The art of producing mosaic-type stained-glass windows 
has a very long tradition in Austria. Stained-glass windows are made 
up of a mosaic of pieces of coloured glass which are fitted into a 
framework of lead strips. Originally, stained glass was painted with 
black vitreous enamel. It was only in the Late Middle Ages that 
artisans started to use other colours. In Austria the earliest example 
of stained glass is the St. Magdalene window (around 1170) of 
Weitensfeld in Carinthia, today at the diocesan museum, Klagenfurt. 
The fourteen panes of Ardagger collegiate church (Lower Austria) 
(around 1240), depicting the legend of St Margaret, are considered to 
be amongst the most important pieces of the Romanesque period. The 
round stained-glass windows in Gurk cathedral, the "Ten Virgins" panes 
in the town parish church of Friesach and the "Virgins" windows in the 
Walpurgis church of St. Michael in Styria date back to the second half 
of the 13%%sup th/%  century. During the Gothic period, walls in 
churches were reduced to a structural minimum and windows were widened 
and heightened. Glass windows are the chief artistic attraction in 
many Gothic churches, due to their gigantic size, dimensions and 
multitude of large figural panels. Gothic windows depict saints, 
scenes from the Old and New Testaments and allegories. With the 
changing concepts in the art of painting and drawing 
(three-dimensionality, naturalistic imagery etc.) in the Late Middle 
Ages the art of stained glass was also further developed.

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The Babenberg portraits (around 1295) in the well house of 
Heiligenkreuz abbey illustrate the change in style from Romanesque to 
Gothic. Klosterneuburg became the centre of stained glass production 
in Austria, producing outstanding works of art, such as the windows of 
the parish church of Steyr, which had probably been intended for the 
"Capella speciosa", the windows of the cloister at Klosterneuburg 
(largely destroyed around 1330) and the famous stained glass windows 
of Leech Kirche church in Graz (around 1320/1330). The seventeen choir 
windows of St. Stephen´s Cathedral were outstanding examples of 
mid-14%%sup th/%  century Klosterneuburg craftsmanship. Most of them 
were destroyed during the Baroque period, the three remaining windows 
are now at the Historisches Museum in Vienna. Other works produced at 
Klosterneuburg are the choir windows of Maria am Gestade church, 
Vienna, (partly destroyed), the Gaminger Stifterscheiben windows, 
(today at St. Florian, Upper Austria), and the windows of the 
pilgrimage church of Maria Strassengel (around 1350/1360) near Graz. 
In the late 14%%sup th/%  century, a workshop which produced the most 
beautiful and technically refined pieces, mostly for the Viennese 
imperial court, also manufactured pieces for Ebreichsdorf (Lower 
Austria), St. Erhard in der Breitenau (Styria) and Viktring 
(Carinthia). The windows of St. Bartholomew´s chapel in St. 
Stephen´s Cathedral (around 1390, today at the Historisches 
Museum and the Museum fuer angewandte Kunst) are considered the 
workshop´s earliest and technically most refined pieces. 
Important works of other Austrian workshops are the windows in the 
hospital church at Judenburg, in the church of Maria Waasen in Leoben 
and the windows in the abbey of St. Lambrecht, which date back to 
around 1430/1440 (today at Joanneum in Graz). In the province of 
Salzburg, the most precious stained-glass windows can be seen in St. 
Leonhard church at Tamsweg (from around 1430-1450; the "golden window" 
is particularly beautiful). Each of the windows from the 
mid-15%%sup th/%  century, is painted in a technique also used in 
panel painting: stylistic devices like shading were used rather than 
line-drawing and hatching. Most of the abundant 15%%sup th/%  century 
stained-glass windows from the province of Salzburg have been lost, 
though, and it is only the names of the artists who designed them that 
are still known today. In the province of Tirol, the only pieces that 
are still intact are those of the hospital church of St. Johann in 
Tirol. In the province of Vorarlberg, the most famous piece of this 
period (originally from the town of Goefis) is exhibited in the 
Landesmuseum (provincial museum) in Bregenz. Many pieces manufactured 
by master craftsmen, mostly from Vienna, have been lost.

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In the second half of the 15%%sup th/%  century, a new genre, 
"cabinet-painting", successfully competed with the traditional 
monumental style. As a result, what were called cabinet-panes were 
mainly used in secular buildings (town halls, town houses, 
guild-rooms) as well as for heraldic panels.

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Of the few windows from the Renaissance period, the "Marientod window" 
depicting the death of St. Mary can be seen at Steyr, Upper Austria; 
other significant works from this period are a window from the church 
of the Teutonic Order at Wiener Neustadt, now exhibited in the Museum 
fuer angewandte Kunst in Vienna, and the windows St. George´s 
chapel in the castle of Wiener Neustadt, portraying the chapel's 
founder, Emperor Maximilian and his family.

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During the Baroque period, the art of stained-glass declined. Even 
before the Second Turkish siege of Vienna (1683), church windows were 
destroyed and Gothic churches were rebuilt in Baroque style. It was 
only in the Age of Romanticism and during the late 19%%sup th/%  
century that the art of stained glass windows was revived in Austria.

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In the middle of the 19%%sup th/%  century C.  Geyling founded a 
studio in Vienna, in which his family still manufactures outstanding 
stained glass. The firm has produced windows for St. Stephen´s 
cathedral and Votivkirche church, as well as windows for 
fin-de-siècle houses for wealthy Viennese citizens. In the 
province of Tirol, the Tiroler Glasmalereianstalt, founded in 1861, 
produced stained glass in the late 19%%sup th/%  century (Historicism) 
that was appreciated beyond Austria.

!Literature
E. Frodl-Kraft, Gotische Glasmalereien, 1963; E. 
Frodl-Kraft, Die Glasmalerei, Entwicklung, Technik, Eigenart, 1970; E. 
Bacher, Die mittelalterlichen Glasgemaelde in der Steiermark, part 1: 
Graz und Strassengel, (Corpus vitrearum medii aevi 3), 1979; M. 
Kristan, Die monumentale Glasmalerei der Romantik, des Historismus und 
des Jugendstil in Oesterreich, master´s thesis, Vienna 1986.


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