STAINED GLASSWORLDS: STAINED GLASS AT THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS 1851-1900 JASMINE M. ALLEN TWO VOLUMES VOLUME I PhD THE UNIVERSITY OF YORK HISTORY OF ART MARCH 2013 ABSTRACT Studies of nineteenth-century stained glass are sparse, and tend to focus on the medium in its ecclesiastical and architectural settings. This thesis broadens such approaches by placing stained glass in its wider cultural, political, economic and global contexts by considering its display at ten international exhibitions held in England, France, the USA and Australia between 1851 and 1900. These temporary exhibitions provide a unique vantage point from which to survey the perception, practice, and status of stained glass during the peak of the medium’s revival. Drawing on contemporaneous written and visual sources, as well as recent studies of nineteenth-century culture, this study explores the extent to which the international displays of stained glass at these exhibitions shaped and developed the appreciation, application, understanding and permeation of stained glass throughout the nineteenth-century. This thesis demonstrates how the classification and various modes of displaying stained glass impacted future perceptions and displays of the medium. It considers the ways in which stained glass was part of a broader culture of spectacle in this period. It identifies those who made and exhibited stained glass for display at the international exhibitions, revealing their motives for participating and additional roles as reviewers and judges of exhibits. This project reveals, for the first time, the significance of the international exhibitions in the history of stained glass. It draws on nineteenth-century critical reviews, visual records and exhibits (both extant and non-extant) and offers close readings of specific stained glass exhibits, which are analysed in relation to stylistic developments, and to medieval and modern glazing techniques. Finally, the thesis demonstrates how stained glass was a symbolic and iconographic vehicle for expressions of nationalism and imperialism at these international events. By considering the presence of stained glass in the international exhibition environments, this thesis suggests the medium is a crucial and neglected aspect of nineteenth-century modernity. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME I List of Illustrations .................................................................................................................... 7 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. 27 Author's Declaration ............................................................................................................... 29 Introduction. Re-writing Glassworlds .................................................................................... 30 Glass, Exhibitions and Modernity ................................................................................. 30 Stained Glass and Glass Culture ................................................................................... 32 The International Exhibitions and their Legacies ......................................................... 38 Studying the Exhibitions: Primary Sources ...................................................... 42 Studying the Exhibitions: Secondary Sources .................................................. 44 Stained Glass Scholarship ............................................................................................. 49 My Approach and Chapter Outline ............................................................................... 55 Chapter 1. Exhibiting Stained Glass: Classification, Organisation and Status ................ 59 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 59 Exhibiting Stained Glass: Problems and Potentialities ................................................. 59 Classifications and Order, Redressing the Balance of Power ....................................... 63 Stained Glass Taxonomies, 1851-1900 ......................................................................... 67 Art versus Industry? The Status of Stained Glass ......................................................... 72 French Artists’ Taxonomies .......................................................................................... 78 Counter-Classifications: Conflicts and Cartographies .................................................. 81 Conclusion: A Multitude of Displays ........................................................................... 85 Chapter 2. Mapping Stained Glass at the International Exhibitions ................................. 87 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 87 London, 1851: Great Exhibition ................................................................................... 89 The World’s First Modern Stained Glass Gallery ............................................. 89 Pugin’s Medieval Court .................................................................................... 91 Stained Glass in the Foreign Courts: Bertini’s Dante ....................................... 93 Paris, 1855: Exposition Universelle .............................................................................. 95 Pavilions in the Palais de l’Industrie ................................................................. 95 Maréchal’s allegorical windows for the Palais de l’Industrie ........................... 95 London, 1862: International Exhibition ........................................................................ 99 3 Glazing the Transepts ...................................................................................... 100 Stained Glass Courts ....................................................................................... 104 Paris, 1867 Exposition Universelle ............................................................................. 106 The Exposition Park in the Champs de Mars .................................................. 106 Lévêque’s Chapel ............................................................................................ 107 Le Play’s Elliptical Palais ............................................................................... 109 Les vitraux dans les chemins-couverts ............................................................ 110 Philadelphia, 1876: Centennial Exhibition ................................................................. 111 Memorial Hall ................................................................................................. 111 Main Exhibition Building ............................................................................... 112 James Powell & Son’s Display ....................................................................... 113 Paris, 1878: Exposition Universelle ............................................................................ 114 Palais du Trocadéro ......................................................................................... 114 The Palais du Champ de Mars ........................................................................ 116 Paris, 1889: Exposition Universelle ............................................................................ 116 Cathedral of Machines .................................................................................... 116 Chicago, 1893: World’s Columbian Exposition ......................................................... 118 Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building ......................................................... 118 Tiffany’s Pavilion ............................................................................................ 119 Woman’s Building .......................................................................................... 121 Paris, 1900: Exposition Universelle ............................................................................ 122 The Stained Glass Pavilion ............................................................................. 122 L’Exposition rétrospectif du vitrail ................................................................. 123 Le Vieux Paris ................................................................................................. 124 Bing’s Art Nouveau Pavilion .......................................................................... 125 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 126 Chapter 3. The Spectacle of Stained Glass ......................................................................... 129 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 129 Reflection and Refraction ........................................................................................... 130 Kaleidoscopic Displays: Stained Glass and the Moving Popular Spectacle ............... 133 From Georgian Transparencies to the Penny-Peep Show ........................................... 136 Painting on Glass, Painting on Canvas, and the Popular Spectacle ............................ 141 Imitation Stained Glass, Stained Glass Novelties ....................................................... 147 Light and Materiality: A Translucent Spectacle ......................................................... 151 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................