This stained glass window depicts Mary on her deathbed. The window is also know as the “Crabeth Window,” after the stained-glass artist Dirck Crabeth who designed and crafted the window in 1555. Here, in the Maria Chapel, you can still imagine what the Oude Kerk looked like in the sixteenth century, when there were as many as 25 stained glass windows in the church.

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## The hand of Dirck Crabeth

The window on the east side of the Mariakapel depicts Mary’s Deathbed. St. Peter is handing her a candle - a symbol of the transition to the afterlife - while the other apostles have also gathered around Mary's bed. With detailed facial expressions - typical for Crabeth – the glass painter managed to depict the emotions of the apostles very convincingly. The design Crabeth made for this window is in the Rijksmuseum's print collection.

In 1639, the upper part of the window was revised by Pieter Jansz. Whether he knew the original glass remains an open question. It is possible that the present depiction is a free interpretation of Crabeth's design. Whatever the case, Maria’s deathbed now forms a unique combination of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century glass painting.

## The women of the Brunt family

Below the scene, the Brunt family of donors kneels. Cornelis Brunt is pictured on the left with his two sons Gijsbrecht and Reijnier. On the right stands his wife Trijn Loenen. Next to her stands Lijsbeth Cornelis Bruntendr, daughter of Trijn and Cornelis, and Hillegont Hencricksdr († 1563), the widow of Reijnier. In addition, the bscherm saints Saint Cornelis and Saint Catharina and the arms of the family are depicted. Cornelis was already deceased when the window was commissioned in 1555. It was his daughter Lijsbeth who took the lead in this, and she probably came into contact with Dirck Crabeth through Hillegont, who was also from Gouda.


## The new Mariakapel on the eve of the Alteration

The Oude Kerk was built largely through donations from wealthy Amsterdam residents. Guilds, brotherhoods and wealthy families founded chapels, altars and richly decorated windows. With these they expressed devotion to the Catholic Church, but it was also a way to exude power and wealth. The Mariakapel is the last attached chapel of the Oude Kerk, built during the period of the Reformation. However, you can taste from the richly decorated windows here that the Oude Kerk was then still in the Catholic tradition, while the Alternative would follow not long after the chapel was built.

It is remarkable, then, that the windows depicting the [Annunciation and Visitation](https://openarchive.oudekerk.nl/collect/4704-54), the [Adoration of the Shepherds](https://openarchive.oudekerk.nl/collect/4704-53) and the Deathbed of Mary - which together form a series - survived the Protestant period of the Oude Kerk. This is while elsewhere in the church altars were destroyed and vault paintings were painted over. The fourth window in the series, which depicted the family tree of Mary, did get replaced by the [Second Mayor's Window](https://openarchive.oudekerk.nl/collect/000177) in the eighteenth century. Today, the series is part of Collectie Nederland.

## Stained glass windows in the Oude Kerk

Stained glass is a form of glass art. In the Middle Ages, the windows of churches were completely or partially stained glass which was held together in lead strips. As a result, light entered the church space in all sorts of sparkling colors. At its peak, the Oude Kerk had 25 stained glass windows, most of which date from the sixteenth century.

Period	16th century
Notes	de ontwerptekening is in het Rijksprentenkabinet. Gerestaureerd door De Angelis 1761, J. Schouten, 1906; atelier Bogtman, 1961. Fragmenten van restauratie De Anqelis in Binnenvaarderskapel geplaatst.
Location	Mariakapel
Number of parts	1