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Nicholas Patrick Reyntiens OBE (; 11 December 1925 – 25 October 2021) was a British
stained-glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...
artist, described as "the leading practitioner of stained glass in this country."


Personal life

Reyntiens was born in December 1925 at 68 Cadogan Square,
Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...
,
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
SW1, of Belgian extraction. He was sent to school at the
Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...
Ampleforth College in
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
and was a practising
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
. He left school in 1943 (archived) and joined the
Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot guards#United Kingdom, Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642 in the Ki ...
, with whom he served from 1943 to 1947. His artistic training was first at Regent Street Polytechnic (now the
University of Westminster The University of Westminster is a public university, public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first Polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic to open in London. The Po ...
) and then at
Edinburgh College of Art Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...
. At Edinburgh he met Anne Bruce (1927–2006), a painter whom he later married. They had two sons and two daughters, Edith, Dominick, Lucy, and John. In the 1950s, Reyntiens and Bruce bought Burleighfield House, a run-down country house near Loudwater, Buckinghamshire. The couple moved to
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
in 1982. Reyntiens died on 25 October 2021, at the age of 95.


Career


Stained glass

Reyntiens began his career as assistant to the stained glass artist Jozef Edward Nuttgens (1892–1982), who lived and worked at Pigotts Hill, near
High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye, Buckinghamshire, River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, ...
,
Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...
. Reyntiens went on to collaborate with John Piper (1903–92), with whom he worked for 35 years. Their notable works together include the
Baptistery In Church architecture, Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek language, Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned ...
window of the new Coventry Cathedral (1957–61) and the windows of the lantern tower of
Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, officially known as the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King and locally nicknamed "Paddy's Wigwam", is the cathedral, seat of the Archbishop of Liverpool and the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdi ...
(1963–67). They also worked together on commissions for
Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...
es including at Bledlow Ridge (1968), Pishill (1969), Nettlebed (1970), Sandford St Martin (1974), Turville (1975), Wolvercote (1976), Fawley, Buckinghamshire (1976)., and Eton College Chapel. Reyntiens' solo works include windows for St Mary's church,
Hound A hound is a type of hunting dog used by hunters to track or chase prey. Description Hounds can be contrasted with gun dogs that assist hunters by identifying prey and/or recovering shot quarry. The hound breeds were the first hunting dogs. ...
(1958–59), Christ Church, Flackwell Heath (1961), St Michael and All Angels Church, Marden (1962), the Church of the Good Shepherd, Woodthorpe, Nottinghamshire (''circa'' 1962–64), St Anselm's Church, Southall (1968), All Saints' parish church, Hinton Ampner (1970), the Great Hall of
Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...
(1985), Southwell Minster (1996), St Andrews Church, Scole and Washington National Cathedral in the USA. Some of his work is now permanently exhibited in the
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
, London. His son John Reyntiens is also a notable stained glass artist. John has "translated" many of his father's designs, including for works at Much Hadham (1995), Anstey, Hertfordshire (2000), St Alban's church,
Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...
(2002 and 2004), the Church of St Mary, Stoke St Mary (2003), the Frances Bardsley School, Romford (2006), and St George's Roman Catholic Church, Taunton (2009). Their largest collaboration was for the church of Ampleforth Abbey: 27 windows in 2003, followed by two in 2004 and six in 2006–07. In 2011, John made a
documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
about his father's life and work, ''From Coventry to Cochem, the Art of Patrick Reyntiens''.


Art education

From 1963 until 1976, Reyntiens and Bruce, a painter, operated a small art education centre at their Buckinghamshire home, Burleighfield House, which later became the Reyntiens Trust. For a decade, Reyntiens was Head of Fine Art at
Central School of Art and Design The Central School of Art and Design was a school of fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School of Arts and Crafts. ...
. He retired from the post in order to return to his own stained glass work.


References


Sources

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External links

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Reyntiens Glass Studio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reyntiens, Patrick 1925 births 2021 deaths Alumni of the Regent Street Polytechnic Alumni of the Edinburgh College of Art British Army personnel of World War II English stained glass artists and manufacturers Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Ampleforth College Artists from Westminster Scots Guards officers English people of Belgian descent Architects of the Liturgical Movement