Abraham van Linge

Who is Abraham van Linge?

Abraham van Linge and his oldest brother Bernard van Linge, were window painters from Emden, East Frisia, where their father and grandfather already had been glaziers. The bulk of their work was done between the 1620s and the 1640s in England. They painted at a time when stained glass was losing its popularity in favour of their method, the usage of vitreous enamels on glass as a blank canvas that were then fired. Lead lining is used to hold together pieces of glass. The duration and intensity of the firing determined the final colour, along with the colour and type of enamel.

Bernard worked in Paris from 1617 to 1621 and, when religious conflicts broke out in France, fled to London around 1621, where through connections in the Dutch expatriate community he immediately became employed in a glazier's studio. Abraham joined him around 1623. Abraham van Linge's work can be seen most prominently in the chapels of University College, Oxford and Lincoln College, Oxford, and at Christ Church, Oxford in England, where the lead lining is particularly noticeable. His work is supposed to be seen in the Duke Humfrey reading room of the Bodleian Library, also in Oxford, although it is not certain whether the painted glass frames are by him or simply done in his style.