The rose of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris: sophisticated stained glasses for late medieval painters

Abstract

The restoration of the rose (15th century) of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, France, offered a unique opportunity to investigate the color and chemical composition of these emblematic medieval French stained glasses with non-destructive analyses. The obtained results are aimed at complementing the knowledge from art historians and thus together trying to compensate for the total absence of archives on the construction of the rose. Comparison with the glasses of the nave (13th century) reveals an important evolution of the aesthetics based on new types of glasses: new colors and extensive use of flashed glass. The systematic study of the chemical composition of both sides of each glass piece revealed that about half of the studied glasses were flashed. For non-flashed glasses, this comparison allowed evaluating the influence of glass surface weathering, although very moderate, on the composition variability. In light of the variability criteria, the multivariate analysis of the chemical composition allowed inferring that most glasses originate from the same production glasshouse.

Glass, an ubiquitous material

“…(v) Transition elements, can play the role of coloring or decoloring agents [Hunault et al, 2022]. A more detailed discussion about colored glasses can be found in Cormier et al [1999], Galoisy et al [2005], Hunault et al [2014Hunault et al [ , 2016, and in the review of de Ligny and Möncke [2019].…”

“…Glass has always accompanied humanity and it allows us to transcend our beliefs and fears, as shown by symbols, stories and myths around decorated and stained glasses. The paper by Hunault et al [2022] presents an emblematic stained glass, and how its restoration has allowed to learn more about its origin and history, the rose of the Sainte-Chapelle. McCloy and Schuller [2022] discuss waste vitrification.…”