Hockney’s tribute in glass to Queen’s love of nature
THE Queen has a new window on her world thanks to a spectacular stained glass tribute by artist David Hockney.
Designed on his iPad and set in his birthplace, the brightly-coloured window at Westminster Abbey aims to reflect the 92-year-old monarch’s love of the countryside.
She and other senior royals will see The Queen’s Window for the first time at a remembrance service in November marking the centenary of the end of the First World War.
The 26ft abstract window, depicting a hawthorn blossom in the Yorkshire countryside, was commissioned by the Dean of Westminster, the Very Rev Dr John Hall. It replaces a plain glass window dating from the Second World War.
It is Hockney’s first venture in stained glass and the undisclosed costs were met by private donations.
The 81-year-old said the iPad was natural to use as it is “back-lit like a window”.
But he admitted it was a challenge, adding: “I’ve learned something about glass.”
Asked whether he had heard from the Queen, he said: “Not yet, but I hope she’ll like it. I’m sure she will.” Hockney, who once turned down the chance to paint the Queen’s portrait because he was “very busy painting England actually, her country”, chose a hawthorn as a celebration of spring and summer and said he was inspired by artists Matisse, Chagall, “and a few other people” for the new work.
An Abbey spokesman said: “The subject reflects the Queen as a countrywoman and her widespread delight in, and yearning for, the countryside.”
Dr Hall said: “I’m excited by it. 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 here thousands more.”
Barley Studio, based in York, created the window.