NEWSLETTER 8

February-March 2026

Dear supporter of Ars Lucis,

Hurray! We have just celebrated our first anniversary, as March 24 marks exactly one year since Ars Lucis was founded. We look back with satisfaction on what we have achieved so far. We are delighted with the interest and response we continue to receive. And we look hopefully toward the future.

And what does that future hold? You can read about that, among other things, in this newsletter. But we are also having our first Friends' event this coming Saturday at the magnificent Sint-Ursula Institute in Onze-Lieve-Vrouw Waver. There, we will be giving a sneak preview of our upcoming initiatives. But don't worry. Those who cannot attend, will be able to read all about it in our next newsletter.

Until then, we hope you enjoy reading the current newsletter. Warm regards, Joost and Liesbeth

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News about Ars Lucis

There have been a few small but important changes to our website. Firstly, we have a new promotional video. You can find it at the bottom of the homepage and has subtitles in English and French. Thanks to Jori Van de Vyver and Amy Reygaert from Amplifire!

Secondly, from now on, everyone can read (or reread) our latest newsletters via this overview page. The link to this can also be found on our news page. This eighth newsletter will be added soon as well. But as a subscriber to our newsletter, you are of course the first to receive it!

And thirdly, we have significantly increased our presence on social media. Via Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, we respond to current events and share additional glass news. Would you like to follow us? ​​​

According to our latest count, we have now registered around 800 glass items.

New activities

04/06/2026: Lecture on stained-glass windows in castles

Joost and Liesbeth will give a lecture on Thursday, June 4 at Gaasbeek Castle. The presentation is themed ‘Stained glass in castles’. Naturally, the stained-glass windows in Gaasbeek Castle, commissioned by the Marquise Arconati Visconti, will be discussed. But from there, we will take a virtual tour of castles across Belgium, focusing on the history of stained glass, its patrons, and collectors. ​Practical information ​- Thursday, June 4 at 7:30 PM - Knight's Hall of Gaasbeek Castle ​ - Price: € 15/10 - Language: Dutch More info and tickets: follow this link​

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

Acquisitions

The Caen Collection has been enriched with the following items:

Glass

Three 20th-century stained-glass windows by P. Tuerlinckx and Frans Van Immerseel The three stained glass windows originate from an apartment in Mechelen. This was occupied by a doctor, who commissioned the window depicting Aesculapius (the Greek god of medicine) from P. Tuerlinckx around 1965. This appears to refer to Pamphile Tuerlinckx (Mechelen, 1905-?) or his son Jean-Pierre (Mechelen, 1932-2004). The other two stained-glass windows depict Tijl and Nele. They are the work of the folkloric glass painter Frans Van Immerseel (Borsbeek, 1909 – Wilrijk, 1978).

Library

• C. PLINIUS SECUNDUS: Historiae Naturalis, 3 vol., Leiden, 1635. Pliny’s (23-79) life’s work provides an overview of ancient knowledge. Among many other topics, glass is discussed, as well as pigments and metals.
• H. VELGE: La collégiale des saints Michel & Gudule à Bruxelles, Bruxelles, 1925. The book contains an extensive chapter on the stained-glass windows in Brussels cathedral (pp. 307 to 350).
• A. VAN LIEROP-KALTEREN et al.: Fotograferen van vlakglas. Een handreiking, Amersfoort, 2025. Highly recommended for anyone wishing to photograph flat glass well!

Archivalia

Collection of 19th- and 20th-century vidimuses from the J.Dobbelaere, Peene-Delodder and Delodder workshops in Bruges The 25 coloured drawings show stained-glass windows for the churches of Damme, Lembeek, Passendale, Halle, Lapscheure, Zelzate, and Laken, among others.

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

On March 18, the American art historian Meredith Parsons Lillich (b. 1932), member of the Corpus Vitrearum, passed away. She performed groundbreaking work on medieval stained-glass – particularly French. She herself said: "My research in French Gothic stained glass has always been the glue that holds my life together." We therefore owe a long list of publications in this field to her. We also received news of the death of Manuela Maria Luís de Almeida Ferreira. She was a pioneer in the study of post-Roman archaeological glass in Portugal, from the Middle Ages to the 19th century.

Recently, several reference works from the Corpus Vitrearum International have become available for digital consultation and download. More specifically, these include sections of the stained-glass inventories of Belgium, Germany, Austria, Spain, and the Czech Republic.

To the online library

In the Netherlands, the Cultural Heritage Agency is organising the free conference Historical Metal and Glass in Buildings on April 16. This takes place in Amersfoort but can also be followed online. Over the course of an afternoon, the history and restoration of metal windows, putty, wired glass, and greenhouses will be discussed.

More info

Also in the Netherlands, but in Zutphen, the BNA Contact Days for Belgian and Dutch archaeologists and architectural historians will take place on May 6-8. On May 7, no fewer than three lectures on stained glass are scheduled.

More info

The Society of Glass Technology is once again organising an online Lunch & Learn Series. Every last Friday of the month, between 13:30 and 14:00, one topic related to glass techniques and technology will be explored. May 29 promises to be particularly interesting, as the session will focus on bonding and consolidation.

More info

How can you recognise historical window glass? After all, cast and polished mirror glass, in particular, looks very similar to our modern float glass at first glance. The Cultural Heritage Agency in the Netherlands recently posted an interesting article about this on LinkedIn.

To the post

The Gezelle Archives of the Bruges Public Library informed us, not without pride, that they have acquired another stained-glass window. They already possessed a portrait of Guido Gezelle, created by the Bruges workshop Peene-Delodder. This is now joined by an Art Deco stained-glass window, manufactured by the renowned Kortrijk furniture company De Coene. This company had various connections with Gezelle, and the panel in question features a verse by him from his collection ‘Kerkhofblommen’.

Read the story

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

Featured piece

L'Arte Vetraria Antonio Neri, Florence, 1612

With its modest size and anonymous parchment cover, this little book hardly stands out in our large library. But we are particularly pleased to have it: an original copy of Neri’s L’Arte Vetraria (The Art of Glass). It is the very first detailed manual on glassmaking and, at the same time, the oldest book in the Caen Collection.

"I have devoted many years of my youth to the art of glassmaking, and having observed many true and marvelous effects, I have now compiled a treatise"   Antonio Neri · 1612

The book was written in 1612 by the Italian priest and alchemist Antonio Neri. He was born 450 years ago, on February 29, 1576, in Florence. There, he was associated with the court of Alamanno Bertolini, a member of the De Medici family. Through Bertolini, Neri met various chemists and glassmakers who initiated him into the secrets of glassmaking. But he also gained practical experience. For on several journeys in Italy and the Netherlands, he worked in glassworks. One of the aspects that fascinated him most was how glass could be obtained in various colors (thereby also creating artificial gemstones), but equally glass as clear as crystal. Another interest of his was glass painting, for which he recorded all kinds of recipes for glass paints.

Ultimately, two years before his death, he compiled all this knowledge into his treatise L’Arte Vetraria distinta in libri sette. For centuries, this would remain the definitive reference work for glassmakers. It was not only reprinted but also translated and adapted on several occasions. The Caen Collection holds several of these publications.

Neri through the ages
In addition to our copy from 1612, published by De’ Giunti in Florence, we also have a reprint from 1663 published by Giacomo Batti in Venice.

In 1662, an English translation (The Art of Glass) appeared in London, featuring commentaries by Christopher Merret. In the Netherlands, a Latin version first appeared in Amsterdam in 1668 and 1669. And in 1679, a Dutch translation was published as the fourth volume of Simon Witgeest’s book Het nieuw toneel der Konsten (The New Theatre of the Arts), also published in Amsterdam. We possess a facsimile edition of this last book.

In the same year, 1679, a German translation (Ars vitraria experimentalis, oder volkommene Glasmacher-Kunst) appeared in Leipzig, featuring adaptations and additions to the works of Neri and Merret, as well as beautiful illustrations. This version was written by the alchemist Johann von Löwenstern-Kunckel and is also present in our library in its original form. A French translation of Neri, Merret, and Kunckel appeared with additions in Paris in 1752. This book was the work of Baron P. H. Dietrich D’Holbach. This illustrated book is also part of our collection.

Ultimately, Neri's work would remain internationally recognised as a standard work on glass well into the 19th century. In numerous books on glass and stained glass, many authors adopted the text of Neri and his translators, either wholly or partially, but often without citing their sources.

Recipes for glass. Or for ceramics?
To what extent Antonio Neri based his recipes on his own experiments or on earlier sources is not entirely clear. It is certain, however, that some descriptions correspond to those of earlier authors such as Theophilus (12th century), among others. However, Neri also stayed in Antwerp from ca. 1604 to ca. 1611 with the scholar Emmanuel Ximenes (1564–1632). During his stay, he is said to have had contact with, and possibly also conducted experiments with, a certain Hollandus. Neri refers to this important alchemist (or alchemists, as two first names are known: Johannes and Isaac, possibly two brothers or father and son) in his book.

As part of my own doctoral research (2005-2009), I was able to establish that at least some of the recipes are workable. But other recipes seem more suitable for producing glazes for ceramics.

Note to the reader: we hope to one day get our hands on Christopher Merret's book from 1662! That would significantly complete our ‘Neri’ collection.

J. Caen

Learn more about Ars Lucis? Visit our website