ROMANESQUE GLASS PAINTER, French
(active c. 1134-1158 in northern France)

Ascension of Christ

1134-58
Stained glass window, 168 x 116 cm
Cathedral, Le Mans

The earliest known French stained glass works are in the Le Mans Cathedral. Outstanding among the several groups of windows is that depicting the Ascension, with its four bands occupied by the witnessing figures of Mary and the Apostles. The upper, lost register must have contained the main figure, Christ himself, in the midst of angels.

The Le Mans windows were followed in France by the cycles in Poitiers, Saint-Denis, Chartres, Paris, Châlons-sur-Marne, Saint-Rémi in Reims, and other places, which, however, already marked the stylistic transition to early Gothic.