Church of All Saints, Misterton, Nottinghamshire
Address
Church of All Saints, Church Lane, Misterton, Nottinghamshire DN10 4ALRecommended by
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East window of the Holy Cross ChapelArtist, maker and date
Designed by John Piper and interpreted in glass by Patrick Reyntiens, 1966Reason for highlighting
One of Piper’s less well-known windows, this is a very direct, visceral and vividly coloured version of the familiar ‘five wounds of Christ’ image. A typically fearless Piper design, though less painterly than many, it boldly re-works a 19th century window in mid-Wales which he knew and valued. Subsequent British stained glass seems barely to have developed beyond this, and in many ways has retreated from it into generalised prettiness. It is far too easy to find new church windows which are mere assemblages of vaguely evocative objects dangling in an opening – unlike this one.
Artist/maker notes
John Egerton Christmas Piper CH (1903 –1992) was an English painter, printmaker and designer of stained-glass windows and both opera and theatre sets. He began working in stained glass in partnership with Patrick Reyntiens, whom he had met through John Betjeman, from 1950
Sources:
John Piper on Wikipedia
Stained Glass: art or anti-art by John Piper (Studio Vista, 1968)
John Piper and stained glass by June Osborne (Sutton Publishing, 1997)
Patrick Reyntiens OBE (1925-2021) studied fine art at Edinburgh College of Art. He began his career in stained glass with an apprenticeship with Eddie Nuttgens, and flourished when he met and collaborated with John Piper.
Together they redefined the medium in the post war era, working on the Baptistery Window, Coventry Cathedral and Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral as well as numerous ecclesiastical and secular commissions in Britain and USA.
He has also been an influential teacher both through the arts centre he ran at Burleighfield House, with his wife, Anne Bruce, from 1963 to 1976, and through the 10 years he spent as Head of Fine Art at the Central School of Art and Design.
Sources:
Patrick Reyntiens website
Further viewing: From Coventry to Cochem: The Art of Patrick Reyntiens, DVD, Reyntiens Glass Studio
Patrick Reyntiens Catalogue of Stained Glass by Libby Horner (Sansom &Co, 2013)