The Night of Good Friday
Alfred Manessier (1911–1993); Atelier Michel Eltschinger, Villars-sur-Glâne
Test panel for the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre in St. Nicolas Cathedral Fribourg, 1976
Lead came, pot-metal coloured glass. 89 x 53.5 cm
Vitromusée Romont, on loan from the Musée d’art et d’histoire de Fribourg, VMR 261
When Manessier was commissioned to create his first two stained-glass windows for Fribourg Cathedral, he was already a painter and stained-glass artist of renown in Europe. The commission for the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre was particularly moving for Manessier, as it allowed him to explore – for the first time in his work on glass – the heart of the Christian mystery: the dark night on the eve of Easter, the moment when Christ has died and not yet risen, when despair is marked by blood. Paradoxically, stained glass by its very nature introduces light where none existed before. This test panel, created by Fribourg master glassworker Michel Eltschinger, corresponds to the lower right-hand panel of the cathedral’s stained glass window. It served as a basis for discussion between the artist and the master glassmaker, who would renew their collaboration on other projects in the future. After a brief first meeting in 1975, the French painter was quoted as saying, “I'm happy. I've found my glassmaker in Switzerland.” The panel was probably signed and dated by Manessier when the chapel was inaugurated a year later.