This stunning window was designed by one of our greatest living artists in tribute to our longest reigning monarch.
But it was the incredible skills of a York company that brought The Queen’s Window into being.
Spanning over eight metres high, the new work is Hockney’s first in stained glass. It has been installed in Westminster Abbey in London.
The Bradford-born artist, 81, was commissioned to create the window to celebrate the Queen’s reign.
Incredibly exciting
David designed it on his iPad – and then it was over to Barley Studio, a stained glass studio based in Dunnington, York. They created the window using traditional techniques.
Helen Whittaker, from the studio, said of working with David:
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He’s incredibly exciting because he takes risks. A lot of people have an idea of what a stained glass window looks like – religious wallpaper that doesn’t engage.
She said the artist had chosen traditional materials but the “image is very much the 21st century. It draws you to it, these windows are no longer just in the background”.
The design is inspired by the Yorkshire countryside. David said:
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I chose the hawthorn which is for four days like the moment when champagne looks as though it’s been poured over all the bushes.
It’s a rather celebratory thing. It’s the height of the spring and summer.
The Queen will see it on a visit to Westminster Abbey in November. “I hope she’ll like it. I’m sure she will,” the artist said.
One person who certainly likes it is the Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall.
“I’m excited by it,” he said. “I think there’s absolutely no harm at all in having something which is particular and vibrant and different.
“It’s going to be here until the end. I mean, who knows what’s going to happen in the future! The Abbey’s only been here just over 1,000 years. It’ll be thousands more.”
