Several of the York Glaziers site teams have been busy working on some outstanding medieval windows in York Minster. Glaziers have removed window s9, dating to c.1415 and depicting the Holy Kindred, from the south choir aisle. This window shares stylistic similarities with the work of celebrated medieval glass-painter John Thornton, author of the Great East window. At the same time, the c.1310 Martyrdom Window (n26) in the Minster's north nave aisle, is now being reinstated having undergone conservation.
Read more…The YGT have begun work conserving a series of panels for the world renowned seat of learning, Lincoln College, Oxford. In April 2019 a team from the Trust were instructed to examine and safely store this glass, which had remained in long-term storage in an attic at the college since the 1990s. This stained glass had previously been installed in an oriel window in a fellow's room, adjacent to the college's chapel and overlooking Turl Street and the rector's garden. The glass was made in the nineteenth-century and conservators from YGT have discovered that they depict figures central to the foundation of Lincoln College
Read more…YGT's master glazier Tony Cattle is currently attending the Building Lime Forum's Traditional Mortars Symposium at former medieval guildhall St Anthony's Hall in York. This event, running 10-12 June 2019, brings together some of the foremost global expertise in the field of earth lime, hot mixed lime, and natural hydraulic lime mortars. Speakers have been drawn from a diverse range of fields and include mudworkers, stonemasons, architects, building conservators, structural engineers, surveyors, plasterers, roofers, and practitioners from the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) and Historic England (HE).
Read more…To celebrate the joint Stained Glass Association of America (SGAA) and American Glass Guild (AGG) conference - currently being held in San Antonio, Texas - here is a look back at our director's lecture at their meeting in June 2014 at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. Sarah gave an interesting talk on John Thornton, the famous medieval glass painter, whose contract for the Great East Window of York Minster survives.
Read more…Conservator Sophie Gwynn has recently given a talk on the Ringer Windows at the Church of St Mary, Lastingham. Lastingham's apse contains five exceptionally rare nineteenth-century windows by Italian artist Ulisse de Matteis (1827-1910). Sophie's lecture coincided with the church's Annual General Meeting (AGM), and was followed by refreshments. She explained the various brilliant and sophisticated techniques involved in making the windows, and their significance, as well as outlining the recent conservation. The conservation project has revealed many interesting technical and art historical details, helping us to better understand these rare and remarkable windows.
Read more…Burton Constable Hall is an Elizabethan mansion house in Skirlaugh, East Yorkshire. Its long gallery contains highly significant German sixteenth-century stained glass. The Constable family were influential catholics, who also owned the Tixall estate in Staffordshire, where the glass had previously been installed until they were transferred to their Yorkshire estate in the 1830s. The panels represent important early examples of collecting ecclesiastical decorative art in the period of catholic emancipation. The glass is arranged in the bay window at the end of the long gallery.
Read more…Grade I listed Holy Trinity Micklegate, York, contains stained glass of national significance. The Trust were commissioned to survey the windows in the church in January 2019. The building contains stained glass by Charles Eamer Kempe (1837-1907), one of the leading figures in nineteenth and twentieth-century decorative art. The church's east window is regarded as one of Kempe's final works before his death in 1907. Other windows include those of John Ward Knowles (1838-1931) and John Barnett, leading exponents in York (and nationally) of the Gothic Revival style. The church also contains a rather inconspicuous window by George Gaze Pace (1915-1975) and Harry Stammers (1902-1969), representing a collaboration between one of the twentieth-century's most influential British ecclesiastical architects and one of the UK's most important early twentieth-century stained glass artists.
Senior conservators and conservation photographers Nick Teed ACR and Anna Milsom CTQ are attending a major sold-out international conference organised by the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, in cooperation with the Association for Historical and Fine Art Photography (AHFAP). '2D and 3D Photography: Practice and Prophecies', held in Amsterdam from the 8-10 May 2019, is a three-day conference that focuses on developing and maintaining international standards for cutting-edge photography technologies. Topics include science, daily practice, 3D applications for cultural heritage, colour management and workflow management. Many of the best photographers in the world are in attendance.
Read more…Members of the team have returned from grade I listed Auckland Castle, in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, after having restored several of the windows there. This work is part of a major conservation of the castle's state rooms, overseen by Meldrum Construction Services Ltd and supported by grants of £11.4 million. Auckland Castle was once the home of the exceptionally powerful Prince Bishops of Durham, and the complex of buildings at Bishop Auckland are some of the best preserved of the surviving bishops' palaces in Europe.
Read more…Two postgraduate students from the University of York's MA, 'Stained Glass Conservation and Heritage Management', have arrived at YGT for an extended practical work placement. The MA is the first and only of its kind in the English-speaking world, and has been central to the careers of a great number of emerging and established stained glass practitioners. Having been fully inducted, the students have already begun working on some exciting projects, working side-by-side at all times with our senior conservators on the bench and on site. The Trust is committed to the education and training of young professionals, and the continued development of skills amongst our staff.
Read more…If you would like more information on our conservation services please get in touch.
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