Ontwerp voor een venster met personificatie van de Rijn 1900 - 1903

Antoon Derkinderen created this design for a stained-glass window, likely at the turn of the 20th century. We see a preliminary sketch for the allegorical figure of the Rhine river. This image speaks to a resurgence of nationalistic sentiment across Europe at the time. Personifications of rivers, mountains, and other geographical features became popular symbols, deployed to cement a sense of shared cultural identity. Here, the Rhine represents a border zone between The Netherlands and Germany; a point of connection but also, potentially, of conflict. It would be useful to know for which institution this design was intended. Was it for a government building, a museum, or perhaps a private commission intended to promote a particular political viewpoint? By researching the archives of Derkinderen, in addition to the cultural history of the Rhine river, we can better understand the meaning and the function of this image within its original social context.