Exhibition Sketches of Beauty sheds new light on metre-long sketch designs for 'Gouda Glasses'

The stained-glass windows of the Sint-Janskerk in Gouda, known as the Gouda Glasses for short, are famous abroad. Domestically, the colourful splendour and artistic value of the sometimes 20-metre-high windows is less well known. Even less known are the paper sketches for these windows, which have recently been restored. The exhibition 'Sketches of beauty', opened by Queen Beatrix, concludes the restoration project and sheds new light on these art treasures.

MuseumgoudA was in the news negatively just last spring for selling Marlene Dumas' painting ''The Schoolboys'' abroad so that the museum would have money for its survival again. As a result, the museum risks being expelled as a member of the Dutch Museums Association on Monday. But there is no mention of that at the opening in Gouda. It's party time. Her Majesty the Queen personally visits the reviled museum and all misery seems forgotten for a moment.

Dirck Crabeth

Gouda now turns the spotlight on the artistry of master glass painter Dirck Crabeth (about 1510-1572) and his younger brother Wouter. They designed and made most of the Gouda Glasses themselves. Their paper design drawings for the sixteenth-century stained-glass windows, which have been preserved for over four hundred years and were barely visible to the public, are now being shown in their full glory for the first time. They are metre-long, imposing rolls of paper with chalk sketches. Conservators have spent the past seven years taking care of 1160 square metres of paper, with a total length of 1.8 kilometres. In a brand-new vault in the church, the 41 so-called cartons are stored in steel tubes. Before they all disappear rolled up in there, 11 of Dirck Crabeth's finest design drawings can be seen in the exhibition in the museumgoudA located next to St John's Church.

If you visit the Gothic church in the centre of Gouda, you cannot avoid the windows. One feast of light and colour. A succession of Biblical cartoon stories, some 22 metres high. Here, windows tell stories of John the Baptist, the torture of St Vincent, the beheading of Holofernus by Judith, Jesus at the Last Supper, the dedication of the Temple and the washing of the disciples' feet by Jesus. It is a miracle that the 72 glasses defied the 1566 iconoclasm, wars and vandalism. And lucky that all the windows were taken out during World War II and housed by farmers, civilians and in bunkers.

Church fire

The making of the windows was started after the church fire in 1552. The church was being rebuilt and new windows had to be added. The first, about the preaching of John the Baptist, after whom the church is named, was finished by Dirck Crabeth in 1555. He eventually took on 13 windows. He always started with a small design, called a vidimus, which is Latin for "we have seen". These drawings were submitted to the client for approval. These drawings can also be seen in Gouda. They are so delicate that they hang behind thick canvases. Then Crabeth made sketches on paper, full-size, and he could start staining the glass.

In Flanders, these kinds of mega commissions were made in large studios, where all kinds of specialists worked on different parts. Dirck Crabeth had the whole artistic process in his own hands. As far as is known, he did everything himself, which was exceptional for the time. However, since production was very high, he must have been helped by outside people, even though nothing is known about this. He did work closely with his brother Wouter, who also made some windows for the church.

Dirck Crabeth made biblical representations for all the windows. And in them, he also gave a place to persons who paid for the windows, such as, for example, the Spanish king Philip II and his wife Mary Tudor. They were given a role in the depiction of the Last Supper.

Making the windows was a huge job and was preceded by making the large sketches. Curator Ewoud Mijnlieff of museumgoudA praises these drawings: ,,You can see that Crabeth was completely in his element especially in the drawings of figures at the top. These are very loose and dashing drawings, much freer than the biblical representation in the foreground. At the top, he could really 'think on paper', or think with chalk. In this you can also see the essence of drawing: it was the laboratory for art. "In museumgoudA, these cartoons can now be seen up close. They are arranged as if hanging in the church's choir hallway.

Monks' work

A major restoration project preceded this exhibition. The metre-long paper rolls were suffering from ink fouling, stains and they were starting to tear. Moreover, previous restorations had caused damage and irregularities to the paper. Small pieces of paper or even fabric, which previous conservators had used to plug holes in the paper, had to be removed piece by piece. Then the holes had to be refilled with new, handmade paper, which had the same structure as the sixteenth-century paper Crabeth had used. In 2003, Maatschap XL Papier began the restoration. Monks's work it was, lasting seven years.

And now the unique mega-project has been completed. The metre-long cartoons by Dirck and Wouter hang there and suddenly acquire a different status. Initially seen and used as preliminary studies and designs, now the mayor of Gouda lets slip that he actually likes the sketches better than the windows. And while art historians dismissed the windows as colour plates in which bigwigs and rich people could have themselves immortalised, they are now also highly appreciated. Professor Dr Henk van Os explains at the opening how Gouda gets rid of those age-old prejudices: ,,Just by delving into how they were made and following the work of the restorers. Then you discover Crabeth's craft and the light and colour effects.'' And just like the medieval church windows that have indeed always been applauded by art historians, the 16th-century glasses are now praised for their ''multicoloured delight''.

After Easter, all the cartons disappear back into the vault. But they are all photographed and exhaustively described in the book 'The cartons of the Sint-Janskerk in Gouda', which King Beatrix was handed over yesterday.

The windows in the church, together with the design drawings, will be on display from 23 November to 9 April 2012 at St John's Church and museumgoudA. Closed on 25 December and 1 January. Museum opening hours: Tue to Sun 11-17 hrs. Opening hours church: Mon to Sat 10-17 hrs. Publication: "The cartoons of the Sint-Janskerk in Gouda". Price 39.95. See also www.sketchesofbeauty.co.uk, www.goudseglazen.nl, www.museumgouda.nl, www.cartons.nl or www.sintjan.com