NEWSLETTER 7

December 2025 - January 2026

Dear supporter of Ars Lucis, First of all, we wish you all a very happy and enriching new year! And of course, we hope to contribute to that in 2026 as well.

Following our very first and much-appreciated public activity last November, we will continue in the same vein in the coming year. So, you can expect many new glass activities from us! We will also remain available for all your consultation requests. It's also worth becoming a Friend of Ars Lucis. This costs €70 per person and €120 for a duo. You can find more information about membership here.

As a Friend, you will have access to our very first Friends-activity on Saturday, March 28th. Art Nouveau enthusiasts will certainly love it! You can read all about this and much more in this newsletter.

We hope you enjoy reading it,

Joost and Liesbeth

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News about Ars Lucis

Liesbeth recently published an article entitled “Historisch blank vensterglas doorgelicht” (Historical clear window glass examined) in the Flemish heritage magazine M&L. In it, she explains the different types of window glass that have existed throughout the centuries and the value of preserving this unique (and endangered!) construction material. More information

Our circle of Friends is expanding, but that's not all. We recently received several very generous donations. A Dutch Friend donated €1,000. A family member from the USA made a donation of $1,000, and Friends in London supported us with £15,000. We sincerely thank these benefactors!
We hope to raise at least €100,000. This would allow us to hire a second employee in addition to Liesbeth, and significantly expand our educational activities.
From 10,000 euros, a favorable tax arrangement can be made through the King Baudouin Foundation.

At the end of February, the Universidade NOVA de Lisboa will launch a project exploring the studio of 20th-century Portuguese stained-glass artist and mosaicist Ricardo Leone (1891-1971). The project aims to document, conserve, and digitally reconstruct Leone's exceptionally well-preserved studio, as well as to study his oeuvre at an international level. Joost is involved as an expert and will assist in the inventory of this important studio.

The registration work is progressing well. The current count is over 730 glass items.

New activities

21/03/2026: Fundraising event

We rely heavily on donations for our daily operations. Would you like to help secure the future of Ars Lucis? On Saturday, March 21st, we invite potential sponsors for a unique look behind the scenes and at our future plans. Interested in this fundraising opportunity? Please contact us.

28/03/2026: Activity for Friends

Mark your calendars for Saturday, March 28th! Exclusively for the Friends of Ars Lucis, we are organising a visit to the Ursuline Institute in Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Waver, renowned for its beautiful Art Nouveau winter garden. After a tailor-made tour of the historic buildings with their many stained-glass windows, we will enjoy some refreshments in a cozy atmosphere. Friends will receive a separate invitation to this special Friends activity. Would you like to become a Friend? Read here how you can do so, or contact us.

The full schedule of our activities is available on our website.

Past activities

On November 29th, Joost and Liesbeth guided thirty enthusiastic participants on a stained-glass walk in Ghent. Our first public activity was a great success! Anyone who wants to know exactly what we visited and saw can read it in this report.

Acquisitions

The Caen Collection has been enriched with the following items:

Glass

Roundel with John the Baptist Signed ‘Baecken’, 20th century Does anyone have information on this glass painter?

Four porcelain lithophanes Lithophanes were produced from the 1820s onwards and enjoyed their greatest popularity until the late 19th century. They consist of a thin sheet of porcelain in which a scene is depicted in relief. When light shines through the porcelain, an effect is created as the thinnest parts transmit the most light, resulting in the scene being revealed in grisaille tones. Although these lithophanes are not made of glass (but that also exists), they are also a form of light art.

Library

• L. MAGNE: L’oeuvre des Peintres Verriers Français – Verrières des Monuments Elevés par les Montmorency, Montmorency-Ecouen-Chantilly, Paris, 1885. Folder with large loose-leaf photogravures.

Archivalia

Epitaph drawings of the ‘t Sestich family, 18th century? A collection of six folios illustrated with tempera-heightened epitaphs relating to the 't Sestich family, who held important positions in Brabant in the 16th and 17th centuries. More specifically, these are memorial stones from St. Quentin's Church in Leuven and St. Catherine's Church in Mechelen, as well as two stained-glass windows of unknown origin. One window depicts a Pentecost scene above six donors (three couples) from the 't Sestich family with their patron saints. The second window depicts Stations of the Cross in the upper two registers, and the donor couple with their patron saints and children at the bottom.

Cartoon representing the Maiden of Ghent Signed ‘Legon’, 20th century Does anyone have information on this artist?

Do you have stained glass windows, books, documentation or other material that you would like to offer to Ars Lucis? Please feel free to contact us.

External news

A year and a half after the closure of the Conservation-Restoration department at the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt, a glass conservation-restoration programme has been reinstated in Germany. Katrin Wittstadt and Ronja Lammers lead this new specialisation at the University of Applied Sciences Cologne, which started in September 2025 with four students.

More information

On January 13, an initial international consultation took place on the storage and registration of cartoons and other archival material relating to stained-glass windows. The aim is to further expand this working group and develop international guidelines. The next online meeting will take place on May 19, 2026, at 3:30 PM CET. Ars Lucis will be represented again. Would you like to know more about this or to stay informed?

Contact us

Anyone who has ever photographed window glass, mirrors, or stained glass knows how challenging this can be. In the Netherlands, the Cultural Heritage Agency has addressed this issue, resulting in a guide to photograph flat glass. This structured and illustrated publication is available as a free download.

Would you like to know which international conferences on glass will be held in 2026? You can find this information on our activities page. The call for papers is still open for the following conferences: AHG (London, May 14-16), EAA (Athens, August 26-29) et AFAV (Lyon, November 25-27).

All activities at a glance

Do you have news that might interest our readers? Please contact Liesbeth.

Featured piece

Kneeling nude Jos Hendrickx (Borgerhout, 1906 – Antwerp, 1971)

The Caen Collection includes several works by the Antwerp artist Jos Hendrickx (1906-1971). While cataloguing them, we were repeatedly struck by what an exceptional glass painter he was. Time and again, he managed to depict his figures with exceptionally powerful and striking lines. This kneeling nude is a perfect illustration of this.

Stains and brush strokes
Whether you like her or not, this stained-glass painting exudes mastery. Everything about this female figure is just right—her posture, her movement—yet much is not shown but suggested by stains and brush strokes. Much of her body consists of quick, almost sketchy, broad strokes. The palm of her hand next to her hip appears as if out of nowhere and consists simply of a collection of lines and an “erased” thumb. The background, too, is an energetic interplay of precise paint application and equally precise erasing.

Capturing the essence
This stained-glass window is not dated but must have been made after 1949. That year, Hendrickx settled on Falconrui in Antwerp, where he not only set up his glass studio but also gave private lessons in model drawing. This latter practice had a significant impact on his own oeuvre, in which the study of the human nude increasingly occupied a prominent place. He made hundreds of drawings in order to accurately depict specific muscles, curves, and poses. But above all, he sought to capture the soul, the essence of his model in a limited number of lines. This also applied to his other graphic works (woodcuts, watercolors, ink drawings, etc.), in which trees and landscapes played a leading role.

L'artiste-bohème
Indeed, Hendrickx was a glass painter, but first and foremost, he was a draughtsman. He was still a young teenager when he realised that drawing was his calling. But because his parents did not support him in this, he left home around the age of 16. Many difficult years of deprivation followed, often without a permanent residence, but during which he built on his dream: from 1922 onwards, he took lessons at the Antwerp Academy, and from 1925 to 1932 at the Higher Institute of Fine Arts. In the 1930s, he joined various circles of young Catholic artists, including the youth section of 'De Pelgrim' (The Pilgrim). This association was founded by Felix Timmermans, Flor Van Reeth, and Ernest Van der Hallen to promote Christian art. The important stained-glass artist Eugeen Yoors was also a prominent member.

Monumental windows​
Hendrickx participated in various exhibitions, and his reputation grew. In 1936, he moved into his first studio in Berchem. A few years later, he began teaching drawing: first at the vocational school in Beveren, later at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, and from 1952 onwards, he was a professor of engraving at the Higher Institute of Fine Arts in Antwerp. It was during this period that he created his first large windows. In 1951, for example, a gigantic view of Antwerp was installed in the hall of the new Ford factory. Other commissions followed, including for the St. Lutgardis Church in Tongeren, St. Joseph's Church in Hoogboom, St. Peter's Church in Torhout, and St. Joseph's Church in Antwerp. But the highlight of his career as a stained-glass artist was undoubtedly the St. Remigius Church in Baarle-Hertog, for which he created no fewer than nineteen monumental windows between 1959 and 1970. The Caen Collection holds several archival collections related to Hendrickx's monumental work. Along with the existing stained-glass windows by him, his oeuvre is well represented in our collection.

Learn more about Ars Lucis? Visit our website