GOUDA.- The finest working drawings of glass-painter Dirck Crabeth have now been brought together in museumgoudA. He designed and painted the most beautiful windows in the Sint-Janskerk, including the famous King's Window. The exhibition sheds light on the consummate skill of this master artist. It also examines the historical, artistic, and technical aspects of both the working drawings and the stained-glass windows, as well as the stages leading from the drawings to the final windows.

WORKING DRAWINGS BY THE MASTER
To begin with, the scenes were drawn on paper, first on a small scale and then full-size. The full-size drawings, made in chalk or ink, on long strips of paper, combine to form enormous window designs ranging from 5 to 22 metres in height. This makes them the largest drawings in the world. It also makes it impossible to display the full length of the drawings inside a museum. The present exhibition includes parts of twelve windows.

THE REMBRANDT OF GLASS-PAINTERS
The drawings, which depict biblical scenes or historical events, are not merely documents of the design process, but also works of art in their own right, among the finest of the Netherlandish Renaissance. Their magnificent details reflect the artistry of a true master. Crabeth's painstakingly rendering landscapes and his creative use of ornament later won him the title of the Rembrandt of glass-painters.

A MASTER GLASS-PAINTER
Dirck Crabeth excelled in his use of colour, evocative landscapes, and authentic details. He was also a creative inventor and user of ornament, combining architectural and floral themes, fantastic figures, and interlaced patterns. His designs are often inscribed with passages from the Latin Bible, which hold the key to the correct interpretation of his scenes. Crabeth admired the Utrecht painter Jan van Scorel (1495–1562), who had brought the Renaissance style to Netherlandish painting, following in the footsteps of Italian masters such as Raphael (1483–1520) and Michelangelo (1475-1564).

FULL-SCALE DRAWINGS
Besides the full-size drawings, smaller scale drawings of the windows have also been preserved. One fine example is a sketch portraying William of Orange and Anna of Saxony (the donors of window 22). The portraits in the working drawings are often more detailed than those in the final windows. To draw the portrait of Philip II, Dirck Crabeth went all the way to the court in Brussels.