The stained glass panel of the 'Prodigal Son being thrown out of an inn', copied from a Dutch engraving by Martin de Vos, in Bais (Ille-et-Vilaine) -A new approach to the relationship between engraving and stained glass

The golden age of stained glass in Brittany is generally fixed between 1620 and 1650. This period can correspond with the blooming of the engraving sc hool of Anvers which has influenced many countries as far as Asia or South America. The impact of Netherlandic artistic expression in Brittany has ove r all been considered about Low Brittany during the 15th and 16th centuries . But High Brittany's important economic and commercial development as far back as the end of the 16th century explains then its regular relations wit h Low Countries and the likely importation of Netherlandic engravings in th e region and on the territory of Ille-et-Vilaine. This supposition is confi rmed by the great similitude that exists between a stained glass window of Bais (Ille-et-Vilaine) dated from 1632, and two prints depicting an episode of the Prodigal Son's Parable after a Martin de Vos's drawing. That asks s o once more the question of the utilization of prints as models by the arti sts in stained glass, and of the relations between engraving and stained gl ass.