This page shows Piper’s handmade adjustable counter of how many churches he had visited as a teenager. Published by George Allen & Sons, London. John Piper’s own copy of 'County Churches: Surrey', 1910, by J. He later wrote that he was at first 'interested in identifying it and dating' stained glass but 'became gradually a looker rather than a cataloguer', creating his own watercolour copies and exploring the unique qualities of stained glass. Morris' County Churches: Surrey (testifying that he had visited at least 66 churches by the age of twelve) which can also be seen in this latest display.
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Remarkably, Piper was able to evidence this assertion with a handmade 'adjustable counter', which can be found at the front of his much-cherished copy of J. Such was his fascination, that he confidently claimed to 'have been in' every church in the county by the age of 14.
#Stained glass design of a house windows
Piper's lifelong interest in stained glass began as a boy, cycling through the Surrey countryside and tracing the windows of churches near his home. Light coming through an image of coloured glass.' – John Piper recounting a family holiday to Paris when he was ten years old 'My father took me into a French cathedral – Notre Dame, I think – and I received a thrilling shock at this sight of the glass. His distinctive 'Piper windows' embodied his resolve as a leading abstract artist while being true to his antiquarian interests as a medievalist, Romantic and self-professed church crawler. Perhaps, his greatest artistic achievement, however, was his innovation in stained glass design. Piper was a dedicated modernist, his work hanging alongside art by Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore, Ivon Hitchens, Barbara Hepworth, Georges Braque and Piet Mondrian during the 1930s. John Piper (1903–1992) River & Rowing Museum