This book shows how, after iconoclasm in Dutch Calvinist churches, text decoration evolved into an innovative form of visual culture, and was used to transform church spaces to accommodate Reformed worship. Beyond evident and major changes a story of continuity unfolds, witnessed by the pre-Reformation roots of designs and spatial arrangements of texts displayed in churches. The present study is based on a comprehensive inventory of text panels and text paintings installed in churches throughout the Dutch provinces between ca. 1575 and 1800. A wider exploration around the North Sea reveals continued and renewed connections alongside the rupture brought about by the Reformation: commonly used text decoration took different forms according to the liturgical and dogmatic requirements of the Church of England, Danish-Norwegian Lutheranism, and both the Lutheran and Calvinist traditions in north-western Germany.



The visual display of Scripture became common in Dutch Calvinist churches after the "Beeldenstorm": text panels and text paintings filled the lacunas left by removed images and altars. This richly illustrated volume shows how text decoration marked the Reformed appropriation of church space.



This book is the result of the author's PhD research in Art history, completed at the University of Groningen in 2021. The project was partly carried out at the church art department of the University Museum of Bergen, Norway.