Stained-glass windows with Jesus among the Doctors

These two panels come from the chapel of the castle in Issogne and were probably made by the “factor verreriarum” Pietro Vaser, who worked for Abbot Giorgio di Challant in Issogne in the early fifteenth century. They are part of the Museum’s small but important collection of stained glass. The imagery in the panel with Jesus among the Doctors is that of “the two Jesus children”, which comes from an unorthodox interpretation of the Gospels: Jesus is shown twice – standing in front of the doctors in the temple and, in the foreground, crouching down with his head on his knees. The windows are probably the work of a Genevan artist, and they combine the rugged expressiveness of the faces with the broad, broken rhythms of the drapery, exquisite colouring and finely chased details like the beards, the hair, and the turban in the foreground.