Stained glass window in Batalha, a photo from Leiria, Nord

Photographer's Note

This is one of the many stained glass windows of the Monastery of Batalha, one of the most important Gothic monuments in Portugal. As far as I could investigate, these are from the early 16th century, but there are others that were made as early as 1430.

The monastery was built to commemorate the victory of the Portuguese over the Castillians in the Battle of Aljubarrota, which took place nearby in August 1385 and was decisive to end a succession war that became known in History as the 1383-1385 crisis. All started because the Portuguese king Fernando I died leaving only one legitimate daughter, who had married the Castillian king when his father was already about to die. This marriage was a strong argument to the union of Castilla and Portugal, the most powerful kingdoms of Iberia (Spain only appeared as a country 100 years later), something with which many Portuguese disagreed. The result was a civil war that looked much more like a war between Portugal and Castilla because the Portuguese who sided with the Castillian king were outnumbered and had much less military power by their own (that is, without the aid of the Castilla crown).

The construction began in 1386, only one year after the battle and went on until the early 16th century, when all the construction work stopped completely, leaving unfinished one of the most amazing parts, the Capelas Imperfeitas (Imperfect or Unfinished Chapels) still have no roof. The skilled masons, sculptors and the main architect were needed to build another jewel of the Portuguese architecture, the Jerónimos Monastery, which was built to commemorate the discovery of the maritime route to India by Vasco da Gama in 1497.

The monastery is classified as "World Heritage Site" since 1983.

WS's: #1- fountain in the cloister; #2- Capelas Imperfeitas (Imperfect or Unfinished Chapels).

For a closer look of the figures, see this post of atpires (who isn't my relative although we have the same family name).

Location (latitude, longitude): 39.65859,-8.82608

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Update 1-Mar-2009: I posted a photo of the main façade of the monastery.

ribeiroantonio, pboehringer, feather, tober, jusninasirun, Docarmo, xuaxo, parbo, ElAprendiz, gracious, axiotea, danos, AiresSantos, JCG, paura, Truja, rigoletto, Jardim, riclopes, Benedict, maloutim, Felip trouve(nt) cette note utile

Critiques | Translate

ribeiroantonio (22730) 2008-05-29 17:30

Eu também tenho aqui este vitral, que é talvez o mais bonito da Batalha.
As cores estão muito bonitas, diria mesmo que mais bonitas do que na minha foto.
António

pboehringer (770) 2008-05-29 18:36

Jose,
personally I like shots like this one here with a church vitral a lot. The challenge to find the rigth balance in light is always extremely high. It seems that you had some mild overexposure on the glass, but on the other hand that gave you the possibility to see some details on the carved stone. difficult to say what balance would be th ebest and I have the impression that moments like this here HDR is probably the best way to go.
Peter

UnTrained (0) 2008-05-29 22:30

Olá José,
the very dark surrounding let us see very good the glass parts in colours and details. A strong way of using contrasts, pleasant here as visible in the result. The minor overexposure is only in the top parts which are decoration but do not tell any part of the story.
The soft diagonal view adds a small and good impression of depth. Good idea.
Lieben Gruss, Ulf

batalay (41261) 2008-05-30 0:07

Hello José,

The scene itself could have been produced in the 15th or 16th century, but there turns out to be a way to tell scientifically. From my chemistry classes I remember that glass is not a crystal or a solid, but an extraordinarily high viscous liquid. Accordingly, it runs or flows. In a century, it flows almost a couple of centimeters. Thus areas stained by colors originally intended to be of one shade, gradually become deeper colors near the bottom.

Your photograph is beautiful, and so is the artwork.

Have a good weekend,

Bulent

[2]

feather (51130) 2008-05-30 2:56

With no despot king like Henry VIII in Portugal you were able to keep your monasteries in immaculate condition. All of your images could have made main posts, in particular WS1 of the fountain. Here the exposure on the stained glass is perfect with the tight crop really concentrating our eye on the designs. Well done
Kath

John_F_Kennedy (43797) 2008-05-30 3:41

Interesting glass window of the cathedral, pleasant colours and light. Well done.
Best wishes,
Achim

tober (8797) 2008-05-30 4:02

Hi Jose, excellent details with wonderful colours. I visited this Monastery two years ago and found it very impressive.

Your detailed note is also very explanatory, so is the additional information provided by Mr.Professor (batalay) above.

Best regards,

Tolga

sacavem (18620) 2008-05-30 4:12

Olá José,

Muito bom mesmo este teu vitral, gosto imenso das cores e luz, as do António estão um pouco saturadas...
Uma fotografia sempre difícil de fazer, nunca sei bem à primeira (aconteceu te o mesmo?)

Um abraço,
Filipe

jusninasirun (17529) 2008-05-30 5:28

Hello Jose. I like the intricate design of this carved artwork. The light shining on the stained glass is brilliant. Regards. Jusni

Docarmo (9767) 2008-05-30 8:04

Olá José,
Belíssimo vitral, numa tomada que lhe faz jus (mesmo que nunca tenha posto os pés em Portugal, tenho a impressão de estar no local). Cores e gestão de luz impecáveis. Os dois WS são do mesmo calibre, ou seja, excelentes! Francamente, mereciam "posts" separados.
Parabéns!
MCV

mark_mk (266) 2008-05-30 10:53

Hi Jose,
it`s a real artwork! The light is wonderful and so are the colors. This window really looks great and I can understand why you chose to take this nice picture. A very artistic picture, I really like that, thanks for sharing it with us.

Take care
Mark

xuaxo (6854) 2008-05-30 10:57

Olá José,
Boa simetria, boa luz, boas cores. O que é que se pode pedir mais? Talvez um pouco mais de nitidez, mas o vitral em si não é propriamente um ecrã de alta definição e as condições para estas fotos são adversas. Tudo somado, se o sistema aqui fosse de 0 a 5 (pontos ou estrelas), esta levaria 4.
Os ws também mereciam post autónomo.
Um abraço,
F

parbo (11092) 2008-05-30 18:07

Hi José,

I was curios about size/height of this wonderfully well detailed stained glass window but saw it your workshop posts lately. Precise, incomparable works there and you captured perfectly in dark. Excellent usage of lights, congratulations. Have a nice week end.

Best Regards,

Ertugrul

gracious (20025) 2008-05-31 0:51

Hello Jose,
Many thanks for sharing such beautiful stained glass window, so beautiful!
perfect exposure and focus in this shot with those wonderful colours and superb details!
very pleasant image to enjoy with the useful notes
take care and my best regards
Tony

ElAprendiz (30) 2008-05-31 4:16

Hola Jose:

Tanto esta toma, como las expuestas en el WS me parecen demasiado interesantes, ricas en historia.

Si bien el vitral, no esta ubicado frontal totalmente, se aprecia bellamente todos los detalles que se exponen, con nitidez, luz y contraste. Bonito trabajo y sin duda de que ha de ser un buen sitio para conocer.

John

axiotea (21651) 2008-05-31 5:57

Salut José
I love stained glass and know it's not easy to get a correct perspective. But here it's fine and I can see this artwork is well preserved and there are many nice details to look at. Thanks for your note too!
Cheers
Marilyn

danos (110407) 2008-06-01 3:18

Ola Jose,
very nice shot and good presentation of this stained glass window of the Monastery of Batalha.The sharpness and the clarity are superb and bring out the details of the 'painting'.Excellent the management of the difficult lighting conditions with a great result.Informative your note too.

Have a nice Sunday,Danos

Bluejeans (64251) 2008-06-01 11:05

Oi amigo ,
Que beleza de vitral aprendi a pintar na escola era uma coisa que adorava fazer , as cores ficaram magnificas , gostei muito dos detalhes ficou perfeita sem tripé boa mão :), parabéns!!
Um abraço Gonçalo

AiresSantos (56155) 2008-06-02 0:35

Ola Jose
Uma excelente captura deste vitral na Batalha. As cores estao magnificas e os detalhes tambem. Ja tentei fazer fotos a alguns vitrais mas falhou sempre alguma coisa. A ultima tentativa foi na Polonia com o Jan jasmis
Um abraço Amigo
Aires

JCG (35153) 2008-06-02 8:56

Bonsoir José,

Une très belle série sur ce superbe monastère pour les amoureux de la belle architecture et à cet effet merci pour les photos complémentaires qui auraient leur place en photo principale... Pas facile la photographie de vitraux et ici les lumières sont bien maîtrisée permettant de bien voir les détails de cette descente de croix. Joli et intéressant ensemble de photos et merci pour le lien internet.

Avec toutes mes amitiés et une très bonne soirée,

Jean-Charles

paura (25802) 2008-06-02 11:59

José,
O efeito visual ficou muito bom, nõa perdendo a qualidade na apresentação da bela obra de arte. Linda fotografia.

Abraço

Paulo

crckt (7222) 2008-06-02 14:57

Hi Jose,
I like these stained glass windows a lot. You did a great job considering the difficult light conditions.
Thanks for sharing,
Shaeri

jmdias (102954) 2008-06-02 17:16

josé

lindo trabalho de arte, as cores estão muito bonitas e a compo está perfeita já que podemos apreciar todo o conjunto com grande nitidez.

abraços

jorge

Truja (4953) 2008-06-03 13:14

Olá Jose,
nos presentas un trabajo de gran valor artístico y de gran belleza. El tratamiento del color de los vidrios ha quedado perfecto y logramos ver detalles valiosos. Gran POV centrado en el elemento principal.
Tambén me agradan los WS, principalmente el detalle de las inacabadas capillas, tiene una fuerza cromática muy interesante y gran POV.

Salut, Jordi

rigoletto (34279) 2008-06-04 10:11

Ola Jose,
It is always interesting to visit your gallery in order to find very good shares about the rich heritage of your country, mostly away from the capital.
I love stained glasses, for they are usually a combination of Meideval culture, history, light, colors and architecture. Here is a very nice example of them, very good exposed, and full of crisp details, even if the details are so tiny. Great note too. TFS,
Deniz

Jardim (3243) 2008-06-04 15:03

Olá José,

As cores estão muito vivas e bonitas.Boa definição. Está um bonito postal.
Júlio Jardim

riclopes (35577) 2008-06-05 3:00

Bom dia José, espanta-me como é que tens tempo para estas notas tão completas que inclui um trabalho de investigação prévia do que existe no TE - deves fazer grandes noitadas...mesmo assim escapou-te o António que esteve lá no mesmo dia que eu, logo no arranque de 2008. Também me lembro de termos falado sobre fotografar vitrais e esta foto é anterior a essa conversa :D Concordo com o respondeste ao António aqui, mas também penso que um pormenor do vitral será mais fácil de expôr do que o inteiro como tens aqui. Adiante, considerando os "postais" mais conhecidos do WS, acho que esta foi uma boa escolha para imagem principal, se bem que ache que as outras estão bastante boas em termos de equilíbrio entre a exposição e os contrastes ao contrário do que referes. Concluindo, acho que tens aqui uma excelente foto de vitral - a parte superior é mais complicada, mas até gosto daquele efeito meio brilhante a emprestar uma espécie de aura mágica própria dos ambientes de fé.
Um abraço,
ricardo

Benedict (7076) 2008-06-05 6:03

hi jose,
as usual you well managed colors and balance "distribution" in here. i always find difficulty taking shots indoor. i hope you were nearer to show me how....:-))
thanks for sharing this image of a Christian theme.
Benedict

fkokol (1636) 2008-06-20 4:25

I like stain glass works in churchs and mosques. they give nice effect. This is good example of them. great work.
greetings,

figen

maloutim (13617) 2008-10-26 4:47

Bonjour Jose!
Un très beau vitrail bien conservé que tu nous présentes là! Les couleurs, la composition et la netteté sont magnifiques!
Merci également pour l'intéressante leçon d'histoire!
Bonne fin de weekend!
Amicalement.
MarieLouise.

Felip (3907) 2008-12-31 8:40

Olá Jose,
Buena toma de este precioso vitral. Pese a la fuerte luz que lo ilumina (debo suponer que del soll), has sabido jugar muy bien con la exposición, y has conseguido unos bellos colores.
Te deseo todo lo mejor para este nuevo año

Felip

Miguel82 (47108) 2014-09-27 2:30

Jose, thanks for your support. This is a stained glass of high quality, excellent vertical shot with beautiful and detailled patterns