Des vitraux par milliers… Bilan d’un inventaire : le recensement des vitraux anciens de la France

Abstract

Soon will be completed the Recensement des vitraux anciens de la France, France’s general inventory of stained-glass windows from the Middle Ages to the end of the Ancien Régime, which has been carried out since 1972 under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, in charge since 1979 of the Inventaire général. The results of this methodical and exhaustive inventory are published at regular intervals in works which are designed as tools for research, providing precise critical documentation covering all the works in this particular field of the national heritage, objectively and without hierarchical judgement. The survey work has drawn attention to stained–glass windows as an extremely rich and varied source, informing problematics shared by other disciplines in art history (technical usages, problems relating to artistic patronage, to the diffusion of forms, etc.) An overview of the documentation accumulated over the years and of a certain number of research projects inspired by the inventory experience leads to an evaluation of the scientific domain of stained-glass, a domain which has developed considerably thanks to the broadening vision within which it is now studied.

Keywords

• vitrail
• recensement
• inventaire
• vitraux anciens
• verrière
• peinture sur verre