Recovering the ‘ingenious’ Mr. Gyles (1645-1709): glass painter, printer, virtuoso, and entrepreneur in the age of enlightenment

Bambrough, Mark (2026) Recovering the ‘ingenious’ Mr. Gyles (1645-1709): glass painter, printer, virtuoso, and entrepreneur in the age of enlightenment. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

The thesis seeks to re-evaluate the art and career of the late seventeenth-century York glass painter Henry Gyles (1645-1709) by situating his practice within a broad range of cultural, social, and professional contexts. While remembered principally as a ‘glass painter’, it is a designation that only hints at the diversity of Gyles’ engagement with the visual arts of the period, as well as the latest developments in natural history and scientific experiment. Living and working in York brought him into close contact with a vibrant regional network of artists and scholars, including Martin Lister, Thomas Kirke, Francis Place, and William Lodge, among others. However, his pivotal role in the history of the so called ‘York virtuosi’ has arguably been underappreciated, with Gyles’ practical knowledge and skills helping to facilitate many of the group’s experiments. It was this close association with gentlemen antiquaries, artists and philosophers that encouraged Gyles to assert his own liberal credentials and so, by extension, raise the status of glass painting. With glass painting having suffered during the Civil War and the Commonwealth, Gyles oversaw a brief revival of the art in York with the Restoration. Commissions from a resurgent local gentry also afforded Gyles opportunities to experiment with new materials and techniques, design novel lighting effects for domestic interiors, and reinvigorate traditional armorial glass painting. Much of this thesis is concerned with situating Gyles’ life and work in a very specific time and place, amongst the culture and society of post-Restoration York, but this does not mean it was confined or ‘provincial’ as his business and contacts saw him participate in metropolitan contexts too. In re-examining the art and career of a local glass painter, this thesis sheds new light on the culture of late seventeenth-century regional society and its engagements with metropolitan developments, while also highlighting an underappreciated aspect of the period's visual arts.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Gyles, Hooke, Lister, Place, Thoresby, Royal Society, York virtuosi, mezzotint, glass prints, miniature, telescope, transparencies, stained glass.
• Subjects: N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR; N Fine Arts > ND Painting; N Fine Arts > NK Decorative arts Applied arts Decoration and ornament
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts
• Supervisor's Name: Nichols, Dr. Tom and Bonehill, Dr. John
• Date of Award: 2026
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2026-86263
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 23 Oct 2026 09:40
• Last Modified: 23 Oct 2026 14:01
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.86263
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/86263