John Piper and Patrick Reyntiens, Symbols of the Resurrection east window (1970), Church of St Bartholomew, Nettlebed, Oxfordshire.

Photo: Peter Hildebrand

John Piper and Patrick Reyntiens, detail from Symbols of the Resurrection east window (1970), Church of St Bartholomew, Nettlebed, Oxfordshire.

Photo: Peter Hildebrand

Church of St Bartholomew, Nettlebed, Oxfordshire

Address

Church of St Bartholomew, High Street, Nettlebed, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire RG9 5DA

Recommended by

Alan Brooks (10)

Highlight

Symbols of the Resurrection east window

Artist, maker and date

Reason for highlighting

John Piper had a unique style and his windows are full of exuberance and colour. The three light east window based around the Tree of life is an excellent example.

Other comments

There is a second Piper window, of two-lights, at the west end of the south aisle (1976), in memory of Colonel Peter Fleming, husband of the actress, Dame Celia Johnson, and brother of the author Ian Fleming. It is based on the Tree of Life, with the central mullion imaginatively incorporated into the trunk of the tree in a way reminiscent of the medieval Tree of Jesse at Dorchester Abbey.

There are two further excellent examples of John Piper’s work nearby at the Church of St Mary, Turville and at the Church of St Paul, Pishill. Also worth a visit is a new gallery dedicated to John Piper’s work, which has opened at the River & Rowing Museum in nearby Henley on Thames.

Artist/maker notes

John Egerton Christmas Piper CH (1903 –92) was one of Britain’s leading artists, who worked in a variety of media. He began working in stained glass in partnership with Patrick Reyntiens, whom he had met through John and Penelope Betjeman, in 1954.

Sources:
John Piper and Stained Glass by June Osborne (Sutton Publishing, 1997) which includes the text of John Piper’s book Stained Glass: art or anti-art (Studio Vista, 1968)
John Piper on Wikipedia

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
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)

Highlighted dates at this location

1970 (Go to date search)