Rakow Grant for Glass Research
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Francesca Dell’Acqua, a graduate student at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy, prepared her doctoral dissertation on glazed windows in Europe in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. The starting point for this research was a study of the ninth- and 12th-century window glass found during excavations at San Vincenzo al Volturno in central Italy (described briefly in Journal of Glass Studies, v. 39, 1997, pp. 33–41). Subsequently, Ms. Dell’Acqua expanded the scope of her studies to include the history of glazed windows between the fourth and early 12th centuries. At the beginning of this period, glazed windows were essentially functional; by the end of it, they had become an important medium for decorative and narrative art.
As part of her research on this transformation, Ms. Dell’Acqua undertook a review of the written sources, from the fourth-century Vita Constantini to the 12th-century Chronicon Casinense. She also studied the finds from recent archaeological excavations in Italy, Germany, and Switzerland.