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

Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst made this design for a stained-glass window in the North Transept of the Dom Church in Utrecht. As a preliminary study, the drawing gives us insight into the artist’s creative process and the institutional context of religious art at the time. Here, Holst employs the traditional medium of stained glass, typically associated with medieval cathedrals, yet he strips it of overt religious symbolism. Instead, the composition focuses on abstract forms and the interplay of light and color, a progressive approach for the time. Holst’s design reflects the early 20th-century artistic climate in the Netherlands, where artists grappled with modernism while also maintaining a connection to their cultural heritage. Historians delve into archives, church records, and the artist’s biography to better understand the commissioning process and how social and artistic considerations influenced the final design. This allows us to appreciate the multifaceted nature of art, embedded in its time and place.