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

This is a window design from the hand of Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst, probably made with crayon. I am always fascinated by the way preparatory sketches reveal so much about an artist's thinking. The medium of crayon lends itself well to this, inviting a process of layering, rubbing and blending. Look at the upper right of the composition where we see a tight huddle of vegetal forms. The mark-making here is tentative yet assured. This part feels almost complete in itself. The strong black lines create a sense of structure, but within that structure, there is a wonderful freedom. What I love about this piece is that, like a lot of stained glass design, it looks both ancient and modern. I am reminded of some of the early cubist studies of Picasso and Braque, in which an image is fractured into geometric shards. It is this sense of embracing the fragmentary, the incomplete, that makes this a compelling piece.