Reverse painting on glass is a process of representing pictured subjects on window glass bearing in mind that the viewed image is reversed in relationship to the actual painting, just as the steps of painting themselves are reversed, since the painter must begin with the details before working on the background. The pane of glass serves as both support and varnished surface, protecting the painting and giving it a uniquely smooth appearance. Before undertaking the execution of this technique, a sheet of glass must be cut to the desired size using a glass cutter, then carefully degreased. The pictorial work happens in two steps : first the painting of the outlines using gouache mixed with pigment and gum arabic. Then the filling in of the areas outlined in gouache - a sort of “coloring”, executed in oil. The brushes used are those used in the decorating of porcelain. One variation consists of painting on a mirror, removing beforehand the silvering wherever the painting will happen ; a technique related to “eglomised” glass, named after its XVIIIth century inventor, Glomy. Reverse painting can also be done with a shroud effect, a sort of glaze laid down before beginning, and adorned with gilding.

In ancient times there are already examples of reverse painting in which gold and pigments combine to create a rich decor. This technique is also used during the Middle Ages in the fabrication of crucifixes and reliquaries. At the Renaissance Venice and Murano become two production centers for this skilled art, which in the XVIth and XVIIth centuries will begin moving toward more popular forms. During the Baroque period reverse painting develops in Switzerland, France and southern Germany. In the XVIIIth century it becomes the ultimate popular art form, practiced from Poland to Romania and from Lorraine to Spain. Intended for a market of peasants and the lower middle class, these inexpensive but fragile paintings, peddled all over the countryside and in every little market town, depicting religious and sometimes secular themes, have only survived thanks to the broad range of their distribution. In the religious paintings the most common subjects are episodes from the life of Christ, as well as the lives of the Saints, and representations of the Mother of God. The secular themes turn toward allegory, portraiture and genre scenes. This art reached its apex in the XVIIIth and XIXth centuries before sparking the creative interest of skilled painters like August Macke or Oskar Schlemmer and stimulating certain of their contemporaries like Nancy’s Etienne Cournault (1811-1948)

The Czech artist Dana Zamecnikova has given a theatrical dimension to this type of technique by building unusual decors made from sheets of superimposed window glass painted with strange scenes wherein reigns an often oppressive and darkly humorous atmosphere.

WOLFHART Frank, “ La peinture sous verre”, Dessain et Tolra, Paris,1987 APTEL Claire, “Les peintures sous verre du Musée Lorrain”, le Pays Lorrain, Nancy, n° 3, 1990 RICKE Helmut, FRANTZ Susanne, MIZUTA Yoriko, “The Glass Skin”, catalogue d’exposition , Sapporo 1998, Corning 1998, Düsseldorf 1999