ANNO 1919 & STAINED GLASS

In our B&B you will find a number of stained glass items that provide an attractive whole.

As a hostess I am proud of the piece of history that my family knows.  

My grandfather, Louis van den Essen, was a student of the famous Joep Nicolas. Because he could paint so great, he eventually became a so-called “meat painter”. This meant that he was allowed to paint faces, hands, feet and other bare body parts. These parts were the most difficult, and the paint used for this was the most expensive because it used real gold.  

My grandfather Louis decided in 1933 to start for himself. He built a studio with a house in the "het Roermondse Veld" district, where he and his family went to live and work. My father Leon van den Essen followed in his footsteps as his 12 ^th year.

It was wartime and the bombing destroyed a lot of glass in historic buildings.  

After the war, the Louis van den Essen & Zoon studio worked with 14 staff to repair or replace all destroyed (church) windows. Staff eventually slipped naturally in the 1950s. My father then worked alone with my grandfather.  

Grandpa Louis died unexpectedly in 1970. He was already a widower at the time. This forced us to move to the studio's home, where my father made stained glass by himself until after the millennium. You can find his work all around.

In the 1980s, he renovated the windows of the Minster Church for more than a year.  

The Chapel in 't Zand is a pilgrimage church whose walls of the adjoining procession are completely tiled with devotion tiles that were asked for healing or strength, for example. The oldest tile dates from 1927.  

My grandfather, my father, and the last 15 years myself, have painted these tiles. When my father died suddenly in 2009, the walls of the procession hall were almost full and I took care of the last tiles. I was able to dedicate 2 tiles in memory of my father who did this for over 60 years. They can be found on the internet at: http://www.kapelinhetzand.nl/wpr/devotietegels-in-de-processiegang/

Atelier Frans Nicolas: the largest glass workshop in the Netherlands from the 19th century  

A large archaeological glass find was made in 2014 in the city center of Roermond. This find included 19th-century colored and stained-glass windows, from the studio of Frans Nicolas.  

In 1855 Frans Nicolas (1826-1894) founded the company F. Nicolas in Roermond and started making stained-glass windows. The studio grows into the largest company in this field in the Netherlands. The company remains in family hands until 1939 when grandson Joep Nicolas (1897-1972) leaves for America. It is then taken over by Max Weiss until 1968.  

In the 19th century there is a revival of glass painting. The emancipation of the Catholics creates a great demand for churches, often in a Neo-Gothic style, with associated stained glass windows. Another reason for the creation of art studios is the fact that King Willem I stimulates these companies.  

The glass workshop knows how to make this situation a business success, for example through the collaboration with architect and local Pierre Pierre Cuypers. The monumental windows not only find their destination in the Netherlands. There is also export to Europe, America, the Dutch East Indies and Australia. Sales in America are done via 'agents' in at least 20 places.  

The recent glass find in the center of Roermond and the research into the company archive by the Social Historical Center for Limburg in Maastricht have been the breeding ground for an exhibition in the Cuypershuis. The imposing cartons of the studio (the full-size designs of the church windows) have recently been examined and digitized.

Roermond Glass town

City walks along stained glass windows, contemporary video works at A Stage of Luminosity, Art Shoes you can't refuse and two exhibitions about monumental glass art in the History House and Cuypers House. This year, the city of Roermond is all about glazing. An overview of all activities in the context of Roermond Glazeniersstad can be found under the headline news: https://www.cuypershuisroermond.nl/nl/nu-in-het-museum/tentoonstelling/atelier-frans-nicolas

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