Ontwerp voor raam in het Noordertransept in de Dom te Utrecht c. 1934

This is Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst’s design for a window in Utrecht Cathedral, made with chalk and watercolor. You can tell a lot about how an artist makes a thing by studying their marks, and here, the chalk feels almost structural, like the lead lines in the stained glass it's meant to become. There’s a physicality to the surface, a kind of brown-ness that almost feels like earth. The lines are bold, confident, really graphic, but then you notice the smudgy textures within each section, which softens the whole thing. The blue at the top really draws you in. Thinking about Holst’s design, I’m reminded of the work of someone like Hilma af Klint, who was also exploring spiritual themes through abstraction. But where Klint's work is radiant with color, Holst’s palette feels restrained, even somber, yet hopeful. It’s like he’s inviting us to contemplate the mysteries of faith through a glass, darkly.