THE HOUSE OF ORANGE DEPICTED ON STAINED GLASS WINDOW HANGERS

THE HOUSE OF ORANGE DEPICTED ON STAINED GLASS WINDOW HANGERS

Stained glass dates from the Roman period. The Romans made window glass but could not make large surfaces so they came up with the idea to connect small pieces of glass together with lead strips.

Large windows were made especially for churches using this method depicting Biblical stories.

During the renaissance the art of making stained glass flourished and there were many guilds specializing in this art form.

Until the 1930’s it was also very popular to have stained glass in domestic residences. Small stained glass items to hang in windows were very popular.

For centuries the Dutch made these stained glass window hangers to commemorate Royal occasions so that the folk could show their love for the House of Orange.

The city museum of Rotterdam has one dating from 1795 showing prince Willem V fleeing to England following the French occupation of the Lowlands.

On the inauguration of Queen Wilhelmina in 1898 a number of stained glass window hangers were made. One in our collection was made in Germany where this art form was very popular.

In the Netherlands Jan Schouten opened his own studio for stained glass ’t Prinsenhof in Delft in 1889.

He was very well known and made stained glass windows for among others the New Church (Nieuwe Kerk) in Amsterdam and for the Palace of Peace in The Hague.

He also produced a window hanger for the ruby jubilee of Queen Wilhelmina in 1938.

Nowadays window hangers are not so popular anymore but  stained glass is making a come back by new up and coming artists.

Stained glass window hanger made in 1923 for the silver jubilee of Queen Wilhelmina. Maker  unknown.