1. History of glass

1.1 The birth of flat glass

The first trace of cast glass appeared in the 3rd century, marking the beginning of the history of flat glass manufacture. In Pompeii, these plates replaced mica plates and closed windows.

With the advent of Romanesque art in the 10th and 11th centuries, stained glass took on a new lease of life. Romanesque glassmakers would certainly not have been dismayed by the techniques used by Matisse (with the help of glassmaker Paul Bony) for the stained glass windows in the chapel at Vence.

Glass in the Middle Ages was colored in the mass, and the glassmaker cut out pieces of glass with a red-hot iron and a pair of tongs known as "grugeoires". He would then assemble them according to a life-size "execution card"....