The Once-Lost Art of Stained Glass Lives On

“It took me years of hard work to realize that I could make it, that I could be as patient, precise, and meticulous as Francesco Moretti was.”
—Maddalena Forenza, 5th generation stained glass art master

At the Moretti Caselli Studio in Perugia, Italy, the dark-haired artist bends over a glass work surface, blending paint with careful, practiced movements. “I love cutting and assembling the pieces. That’s when you know if your work is good,” says Maddalena Forenza, a fifth-generation master of stained glass art.

“You need to be very patient. Sometimes during firing, the glass cracks and you need to start all over again,” she says.

I watch, transfixed, as the paint is applied with thousands of impossibly light touches of the brush. Held together by pieces of cerini (waxed thread), the sections are suspended, and as daylight meets the jewel-hued glass the latter transforms, with the colours glimmering and dancing.

Oil paintings on a glass canvas

“Our workshop is also a museum, and the whole family is involved,” says Paola Falsettini, Forenza’s aunt.