I was fortunate that the mysterious forces which employ the poet as a labourer or, if you prefer, as a medium, allowed me to express myself through pen and pencil. Nor am I alone in this. The admirable drawings of Baudelaire and Hugo bear witness to it.

Little by little, the demands of the inner self that guides me grew ever broader, and I moved, not without fear, from the sheet of paper to the canvas and from the canvas to the wall.

But the problem of stained glass is different. It becomes essential to submit to certain rules of craftsmanship and to collaborate with specialists. For it is important not only to avoid figurative and decorative styles, but also to ensure that forms and colours obey the transparent materials and the framework that unites them, without disrupting the patches of colour and arabesques of the whole.

“If the first window disappoints, I shall be the first to realise it”

The making of a stained-glass window passes through different stages, from the initial sketch to the painted model, from the painted model to the glass, and from the glass to an installation that must not disturb the style of the Romanesque architecture. There, stained glass should play a role comparable to that of jewels worn by a woman - jewels whose excess and enormity would make their wearer look ridiculous.

The whole problem, therefore, is not to yield to temptation or be caught in the trap of light, and to create a stained-glass window that seems always to have been there, rather than an ill-mannered newcomer speaking loudly during Mass.

I began with the apse and, if the priests who placed their trust in me consider my work worthy, I shall doubtless continue to decorate the windows of the choir. But perhaps an unpleasant surprise awaits me, and I may receive a lesson in wounded pride that compels me to abandon our project.

I shall know only after the first window has been installed, for if it disappoints, I shall be the first to realise it and to relinquish this beautiful dream.

Jean Cocteau, of the Académie française

24 April 1962