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

This drawing in crayon and chalk, a design for a stained glass window, was made by Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst. Imagine the artist marking out the lead lines, defining the individual panes of glass. I wonder if the image came first, and then the lines, or did the matrix-like structure emerge in tandem? I can feel the push and pull, the give and take, as the artist worked. It reminds me that making art is a conversation. I can see this artist’s interest in symbolism through the motif of a dove. There’s a bold use of red, a dynamic colour that stands out against the somber tones. Holst’s design for the Dom te Utrecht reminds us that painting is an embodied expression, an ongoing exchange of ideas across time, where artists inspire one another’s creativity.