Les vitraux détruits de l'église Saint-Sauveur à Lille

Thanks to an order book of the Lorin House in Chartres (now Hermet- Juteau workshop), it has been possible to follow in a very detailed fashion (scenes pictured, distribution of the subjects, dimensions, dates...) the progress of the ambitious programme of stained-glass windows intended for Saint- Sauveur's church in Lille between 1872 and 1880 : History of Tobias (1872), History of Saint Joseph (1873), Life of the Virgin (1875), each of these spreading over three windows, Jesse's Tree (1875), History of Our Lady of Tongre (1878-1880) spreading over four windows and finally eleven grisailles (1876- 1878). Beside these, fourteen preparatory drawings signed Ch. Crauk (1819-1905), an academic artist in favour then as religious painter, kept in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lille and identified through inscriptions, allow us to know the author of the projects and have an idea of the style of these windows which were destroyed in the fire of the church in the night of March 28 to 29, 1896. This series constituted one of the most important undertakings in Lille regarding stained-glass windows.