Top of lancet window with architectural canopy
Culture Group
Austrian
Date1400–1430
MediumStained glass and lead
Dimensions29 1/2 x 19 1/8 inches (74.9 x 48.6 cm)
Classifications(not assigned)
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Ella Brummer in memory of her husband, Ernest Brummer.
Object number1978.20.7
Collections
- MEDIEVAL
Label TextThis stained-glass version of a complex architectural structure with leafy finials compares to actual architectural sculpture in the 15th and early 16th centuries. The arcaded bays with tracery recede in perspective to create the illusion of a three-dimensional structure. The range of colors seen here is limited to grisaille (black line on white glass), with red, blue, yellow and purple details. Late medieval stained glass tends to be limited in color; the use of grisaille enhanced the ambitious linear schemes that depicted ornate architectural and figural arrangements. This panel and several others were removed in 1839 from the central window in the choir of the church in Leoben when they were blocked from view by the installation of a new high altar. Of the original nine levels of stained glass panels, the Duke panel was located in the middle of the second level from the bottom. The yellow and green foliate crocket at the bottom of our panel formed the finial of the pointed arch framing the Annunciation in the section beneath. Three other architectural panels from the Leoben high altar are in the collection of the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.