Until 1795, the two-light windows of the Chapel of the Holy Blood in Bruges in Belgium contained images of the Dukes of Burgundy and their consorts (wives). The sequence started with Philippe le Hardi, or Philip the Bold (ruled 1364–1404). The Habsburgs were also shown in the case of Maximilian, Holy Roman Emperor from 1493, who married into the Burgundian line. The figures were all identified by coats of arms displayed below them.
The stained glass was removed in 1795 and shortly afterwards sold to a British dealer. Some of it was later installed at Kilburn Grange, a private house in north-west London. This was demolished in 1910. The Museum acquired the present panels (inv. nos C.438 to 439, 441 to 443-1918) in 1918, together with other coats of arms and a late figure of Charles V.
The ducal figures in stained glass now in the Chapel of the Holy Blood were made in the years 1845-7. They were based on watercolours of the originals.
Physical description
Stained glass panel. Joanne of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. She wears a pearled cap with ear-pieces and loose diapered robes. The cusping above is modern. Grosvenor Thomas collection.
Place of Origin
Flanders, Belgium (made)
Date
ca. 1496 (made)
Artist/maker
unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Clear and coloured glass with painted details and yellow (silver) stain.
Dimensions
Height: 192.3 cm framed, Width: 87.0 cm framed, Height: 183.1 cm sight, Width: 78.0 cm sight
Object history note
Reconstruction of the windows in the Chapel of the Holy Blood:
Were 9 windows of two lights each.
19th replacements
Window 7: Emperor Maximilian & Mary of Burgundy
Window 8: Charles the Bold and Isabel of Bourbon
Window 9: Charles V and Isabella of Portugal
From the archives of the Confraternity of the Holy Blood – payments for glazing were recorded in 1483 and in 1496.
The ancient glass disappeared during the French invasion of 1797. The glass from the Chapel was sold by the municipality of Bruges to a local man for a miniscule sum who then sold them, at great profit, to an English man in the early 19th century. Believe the glass ended up with firm of Watson & Bethell.
There are coloured drawings of the windows, pre-dispersal, in the Chapel archives. In 1845 reproductions of the panels were made from these drawings by the glass painter Pluys.
In 1913 they were owned by Grosvenor Thomas. He acquired them from Kilburn Grange which was erected after 1830.
Rackham, in a letter of 1921, says panels were previously in Kilburn Grange which had been pulled down 10 or 12 years ago [presumably meaning 1909 or 1911]. The family of Major Cecil Peters of Sunbury Manor, Sunbury in Middlesex, formerly owned Kilburn Grange.
Descriptive line
Clear and coloured glass with painted details and yellow (silver) stain. Depicting Joanna of Castile. From the Chapel of the Holy Blood, Bruges. Made in Flanders, c.1496
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Williamson, Paul. Medieval and Renaissance Stained Glass in the Victoria and Albert Museum. London, 2003. ISBN 1851774041
Bernard Rackham, The Stained Glass in the Chapel of the Holy Blood at Bruges, Actes du XIIe Congres International d'Histoire de l'Art, Bruxelles, 20-29 Septembre, 1930, pp.424-431
The Grosvenor Thomas Collection of Ancient Stained Glass, catalogue, New York, 1913
Aymer Vallance, 'Some Flemish Painted Glass Panels', Burlington Magazine, XIX (July 1911)
J. Gaillard, Recherches historiques sur las chapelle du Saint-Sang a Bruges, Bruges, 1846
David Thomas Powell (ac.1800-c.1837), copies (12) of stained glass from the Chapel of the Holy Blood, Bruges. Watercolours.
The glass was in the possession of Watson and Bethel in England when Powell made these watercolours.
Barbara Butts and Lee Hendrix, Painting on Light: Drawings and Stained Glass in the Age of Durer and Holbein, J.Paul Getty Trust, 2000
Labels and date
Stained Glass Panels from the Chapel of the Holy Blood
Probably about 1496
These panels depict Maximilian of Hapsburg and his wife Mary, Duchess of Burgundy; along with their son Philip the Fair and his wife Joanna, heiress to the Kingdom of Spain.
The Chapel of the Holy Blood houses a reliquary containing the blood of Jesus Christ. It is probable that Maximilian commissioned these windows to honour his wife's devotion to the Holy Blood and to publicise his dynastic succession to the Dukes of Burgundy.
Flanders, Bruges
Clear and coloured glass with painted details and silver stain; with later restorations
Museum nos. C.438, 439, 441, 442-1918
Purchased from Grosvenor Thomas from the Capt. HB Murray Bequest [2008 (TAB)]
Production Note
From the Chapel of the Holy Blood , Bruges.
Materials
Glass
Techniques
Painting; Silver staining; Pot metal
Subjects depicted
Women; Architecture; Columns; Windows; Noblewomen; Gowns; Leaded lights; Joanna (of Castile)
Categories
Royalty; Stained Glass
Collection code
CER
