The Age of Glass

Ancestor series, Canterbury Cathedral, England (left) and a panel depicting the prophet Nathan (right)

Among Canterbury Cathedral’s architectural wonders are its ornate, centuries-old stained glass windows. It is now clear that some of the windows are even older than originally thought. In the thirteenth century, 86 panels, each depicting an ancestor of Christ—known as the “ancestor series”—were installed along the cathedral’s clerestory as part of a major restoration after an 117