The Miracle of Pentecost Southern Netherlands/Flanders, 1540 Stained glass each pane approx. 67 x 41.5 cm Kyiv, Khanenko Museum, inv. 301 БР МХ 19 This monumental stained-glass window, made up of twelve individual fields, depicts the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and the Virgin Mary (Acts 2:1-4). Below this scene, parts of a formerly larger heraldic composition can still be seen: a ducal crown under a canopy, flanked by banners with the donor’s personal motto OV QUE SOYE, NE LOVBLIRAY („Whatever happens, [he] will not be forgotten“) and the date 154(0). The stained glass comes from the pilgrimage church of St. Stephen in ’s Herenelderen, Belgium (Province of Limburg), founded by the noble van Elderen family near their castle. The elaborate stainedglass windows of this church were donated in 1539–1540 by the then territorial lady, Maria-Magdalena van Hamal, in memory of her late husband Guillaume de Croÿ, Duke of Aarschot, governor of the Burgundian Netherlands and one of the most influential European politicians of his time, who died in 1521. The grieving widow commissioned a programme of windows consisting of five monumental scenes from the life of Mary: the Annunciation, the Adoration of the Shepherds, the Adoration of the Magi, the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit (the present Pentecost window) and the Assumption of Mary. The lower sections of the chancel windows were decorated, as was customary, with images of the donors, patron saints and family coats of arms. With the exception of a window depicting the Adoration of the Shepherds, all the old stained-glass windows were removed from St. Stephen’s Church and replaced with faithful copies by the Mechelen glazier Jean-François Pluys in 1859–1861. On the copy of the Pentecost window in ’s Herenelderen, which still exists today, one can see that the trimmed heraldic line of the Kyiv stained glass originally showed a large monogram of the couple (GM: Guillaume and Maria-Magdalena), flanked by the coats of arms of the de Croÿ and van Hamal families with the inscription “NE LOVBLIRAY” („Will not be forgotten“), which is repeated twice on the banners. The Khanenkos bought this excellently preserved stained-glass ensemble at an auction in Paris in 1897. Another original stained-glass window from St. Stephen’s Church in ’s Herenelderen, depicting the Assumption of Mary, was acquired by Béatrice Ephrussi, daughter of the famous Baron de Rothschild, and is now in the collection of the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild on the peninsula of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. Cat. Paris 1897, 19, no. 76. ‒ Лукомський 1921, 53. ‒ Helbig/Vanden Bemden 1974, 261–274. ‒ Hérold 2020, 341–342. Elena Kosina 88
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