Colors bathe the white walls during the day, making the reflection of saints and angels seem to undulate peacefully with life.

Newsroom (31/01/2023 22:55, Gaudium Press) If a person had to determine what might be the most famous stained glass window in the world, several names would come to mind, but particularly one image might be among the first to come to mind: Bernini’s Holy Spirit of the Altar in the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Basilica.

Located on one of the most beautiful altars, behind the main altar in the largest of the Papal Basilicas, it enjoys a special relevance within the impressive heritage of the Catholic Church. This work, like others located in the Sistine Chapel and the Redemptoris Mater Chapel was produced in a remarkable workshop in the Roman neighborhood of Trastevere, which has been developing glass art in an artisanal way since 1900: the workshop Vetrate d’Arte Giuliani.

Difficulty in finding enough blown glass

For more than 25 years, Elsa Giuliani has continued the family tradition started by Giulio Cesare Giuliani, a chemist with a passion for painting who combined his talent with his technical knowledge to obtain high-quality pieces. We work privately and publicly, for churches, banks, singers, actors, for everyone,” the owner reported to National Catholic Register. “Many people don’t know about the field of glass art.”

Giuliani expressed that one of the difficulties of his work is finding a sufficient quantity of blown glass since the market is saturated with a pressed glass of Chinese origin. The pieces in the Roman workshop are made with German glass from the ‘Lamberts’ factory, which produces panels with raw materials such as sand, limestone, or even gold. The stained glass windows are crafted based on a carefully selected palette of 1,100 available colors. When you build the image, you must be very careful to achieve harmony between the colors,” explained Alessia Catallo, a Fine Arts and Metalwork graduate who has worked at Vetrate d’Arte Giuliani for years. “It takes a lot of patience.”

Superior skill and the high quality of the colors

The artists must measure and cut the pieces of glass precisely and apply color to each piece, painting the different motifs that make up the image. “This is a very delicate process because every mistake can be revealed due to the transparency of the glass,” expounded Franco Galise, chief technical designer and son of one of the workshop workers who worked directly with Giulio Cesare Giuliani.

One of the workshop’s works was the stained glass windows in the chapel of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, USA. The superior craftsmanship and high quality of the colors in the art, as well as the efficiency in insulating the cold, is unmatched,” David Coppola, former Vice President of Strategic Planning and Administration at the University, told the National Catholic Register. The colors bathe the white walls during the day, making the reflection of the saints and angels seem to ripple peacefully with life. The overall effect is one of welcome, reflection, community, and peace.” (EPC)

Compiled by Dominic Joseph