ABSTRACT
The century spanned by this chapter witnessed a transformation in both stained glass and architecture. Long before the middle of the fifteenth century the elaborate designs of Decorated windows had been supplanted by a grid pattern of mullion and transom and tracery had been reduced in both size and prominence. During the same period new styles of glass-painting evolved in line with other forms of pictorial art and sculpture. Some glaziers were in the forefront of these developments, notably towards the end of the century when they were to be found amongst the first exponents of the International Gothic style, mingling indigenous features with ideas absorbed from the Continent. In contrast with the first half of the thirteenth and the fourteenth centuries, when the closest links were with France, now the principal source of inspiration appears to have been the Holy Roman Empire. It is in this period that the survival of both glazing commissions and their documentation for the first time makes it possible to trace the careers and development of some of the leading craftsmen. Hand in hand with the introduction of novel stylistic and design traits went a transformation in colour. By the beginning of the fifteenth century the earth colours and flesh tones common in Decorated glass for the most part had been supplanted by brighter combinations, principally blue and red, in association with a greater prominence given to white glass and liberal use of yellow stain.
