Collection
Ars Lucis manages the Caen Collection, which is one of the largest private collections of architectural glass in the world.
This collection consists of:
Glass art
Stained-glass windows, panels and fragments from the 13th century to the present day, mainly from the historical Netherlands.
Library
Books and articles, including historical publications, relating to stained glass, the materials and techniques of glass painting, conservation-restoration, architecture and art history.
Historical materials and tools
Historical glass paints and glazier’s tools.
Archive
Historical documents, drawings, photographs and other archival materials relating to stained glass in the historical Netherlands.
Access to the collection can be arranged on request. Please contact us to make an appointment or for more information.
About the Caen Collection
Joost Caen grew up with an interest in art and heritage. He began collecting objects very early and acquired his first stained-glass window at the age of fourteen. In addition to his education at the Klein Seminarie College in Roeselare, he also studied art at the Municipal Academy of Fine Arts. Thus was laid the basis for his further studies in “Monumental Arts” and “Glass Art Restoration” at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. In line with his studies and research interests, he collected additional stained-glass windows and books during that period.
In 1988, together with his colleague Peter Eyskens, he founded and developed the Conservation-Restoration studies in Antwerp. With more students enrolling, there was an increasing need for stimulating practice material in the first practical classes, while awaiting assignments from third parties in the master years. This need provided a significant incentive to acquire more stained-glass windows and books for his teaching assignments. The stained-glass collection also provided excellent research material for his own ripening as a conservator-restorer of glass art and as a glass artist. Numerous students and colleagues in Belgium and abroad have since had the opportunity to work with the collection, both in terms of conservation-restoration and for chemical analysis or art-historical research.
However, collecting also has a passionate side, and many items have been acquired over the past decades out of his great fascination with the beauty and significance of stained glass as light art. Several important items have therefore been classified as “Flemish Masterpieces”.
Over the past ten years, his aim has been to assemble as complete a museum overview as possible of glass art from the historical Netherlands. This is with a view to public access at the future location of Ars Lucis.
