Jubilee window
On Sunday 11 October, we will dedicate Thomas Denny’s glorious Tree of life window which was commissioned to celebrate the 475th anniversary of the foundation of the Dutch Church in 1550. It will also mark the successful culmination of a four-year long fundraising campaign which has attracted generous donations and support from many members of the congregation, and other individuals and organisations. To them all, and for the unfailing support of the Church Council & Trustees, heartfelt thanks.
We are privileged that Thomas Denny, one of the finest stained-glass artists of our time, accepted our commission. For him light and context are elemental and inspirational starting points for his windows. I remember him being especially captivated by the play of light and colour in the church, which comes primarily from the magnificent Max Nauta window at the west end. Its casting and dancing of shadows against the polished floor tiles and the honey-coloured stone of the walls, brings the whole building to life on summer days and yields a warmth and lustre to the grey days of winter.
Whenever he speaks of his windows, light is a recurring trope. ‘It’s extremely volatile,’ he explains. ‘It is uncontrollable in some ways, and when a new window first goes into its actual site, it is often quite shocking; surprising things happen’. This was very much the reaction Bertjan and I had a few weeks ago when we entered his darkened studio and saw, at a distance, two of the stained-glass panels through which streamed intense late-morning sunlight: it was quite breathtaking as nothing had prepared us for the sheer vividness and intensity of colour, nor the almost three-dimensional effect of the layered glass.
The wait is now almost over, and it is hard to contain our excitement as the window nears completion. Meanwhile, the specialist installation team is ready, the internal and external scaffolding is arranged, and the special service of dedication is taking shape.
For now, the last words are those of Thomas Denny on his ancestors, and the remarkable coincidence of their relationship to the Dutch Church:
‘As well as Guardian to Edward 6th, Sir Anthony and Joan Denny had much to do with the upbringing of Princess Elizabeth, who wrote [in her 4th year!] to Queen Jane Seymour: “Mr Denny, and my Lady with humble thanks prayeth most entirely for your grace, praying the Almighty God to send you a most lucky deliverance [of Edward 6th] ….. Writ with very little leisure, this last day of July, your humble daughter Elizabeth”
Edward Denny, my ancestor, younger son of Sir Anthony, who was born in 1547, was named after the King. Most of his successors between then and now were also Edwards, although my grandfather revived Anthony for my father’.
David Titterington