Details

Object type

stained glass heraldic panel

Title

Beatrix van Valkenburg

Place Associated

England, Norwich (place of manufacture); England, Norwich, Church of the Greyfriars probably (place of use); England, Norfolk, Costessey Hall (place of use)

Date

about 1293 and later

Materials

white, coloured, stained and painted glass, lead

Dimensions

overall (approx): 595 mm x 260 mm x 10 mm

Description

Hundreds of years ago coloured glass windows were only found in cathedrals, churches and chapels. They were paid for by rich people to make them beautiful and to celebrate God.

Christians believed that generosity would be rewarded after death. They had windows made showing their families so that they would not be forgotten.

Not long after buying Hutton Castle, Burrell acquired this stained glass panel depicting Beatrix van Valkenburg (d. 1277), the third wife of Richard of Cornwall, King of the Romans.

Recent research has shown that this panel did not originate in the Church of the Minorites in Oxford, as has long been thought, but is, instead, probably from the Franciscan Church in Norwich. Evidence suggests that it was paid for by Beatrix's nephew, King Edward I, about 20 years after her death.

Later Burrell went on to buy a panel showing another princess, Princess Cecily (45.75). Wilfred Drake, the dealer who sold the panel to Burrell, suggested installing it close to the Beatrix to make 'a pair of English royal portraits of different periods, ... each of them a fine example and full of romantic interest.'

Credit Line/Donor

Gifted by Sir William and Lady Burrell to the City of Glasgow, 1944

Collection

Burrell Collection: Stained Glass

ID Number

45.2

Location

Burrell Collection