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拍品專文
One of the remarkable aspects of a landscape window by Tiffany Studios is the specificity of its foliage executed through the delicate, yet intricate, medium of glass. It is well known that both Louis Comfort Tiffany and his chief landscape designer, Agnes Northrop, were avid sketchers and photographers of flowers and other botanical specimens. Northrop lived near large nurseries in Flushing, Queens, and Tiffany had massive gardens at his various homes. These environments with particular specimens of nature played a central role in the inspiration for Tiffany and his studios in their pursuit to capture a glass laden landscape.
None more captivating is the landscape depicted in The Goddard Memorial Window from St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. Each lancet contains distinctive plants and flowers, symbolizing the different growing seasons in the northeast – spring, summer and fall. Although each lancet is its own defined scene, when set together, the three lancets offer a harmonious and visually complex composition. The picturesque design for this window was illustrated in a sketch that hung prominently in the Window Workshop at Tiffany Studios and was used as a guide by the artists at the workshop for what would be this specially commissioned work of art.
In the left lancet, spring is represented by a radiant display of tulips and violets with their heart-shaped leaves at the bottom. Above this floral display is an apple tree in full bloom, branching out across a stream that becomes a waterfall. The deep blue sky gives way to dawn as pinks and oranges begin to kiss the clouds hovering over indigo mountains.
The center lancet portrays the summer season with a massive display of tall and leggy irises, a favorite flower of Tiffany Studios. Their deep blue and purple petals complement the teal, green, and olive blades and stems. A stream meanders off into the distance through low blue and turquoise mountains. Above, the radiant sky is surrounded by sun-kissed clouds which break forth revealing beams of light, a reference to the celestial Holy City, skillfully created by acid-etched glass in many layers of blue, pink, and yellow.
In the right lancet, the sun sets behind a set of cypress and pine trees. The rolling green hills are laden with goldenrod blooms in the lower left corner while a flowering shrub with changing leaves decorates the lower right corner, just above the enameled Tiffany Studios signature. A sunlit path leads away toward the quiet trees and the foliage fades into the hill in a lovely selection of confetti glass.
The memoriam text in acid-etched and painted lettering is placed at the bottom edge of each lancet. The side lancets are verses from Psalm 24, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof / The world, and they that dwell therein.” The central lancet bears the commemorative inscription, “To the honored memory of William Goddard, 1825-1907.”
The window was commissioned by Mary Edith Jenckes Goddard, known as Edith, in memory of her husband William Goddard (1825-1907), tenth chancellor of Brown University and scion of the Goddard, Ives, and Brown families of Providence, Rhode Island. After distinguished service in the Civil War, he ran his family’s textile empire before becoming chancellor of the University named for his ancestor.
Edith Goddard first began correspondence about the window in 1909, writing several letters to the church vestry regarding the placement and design of the window. She requested that the window be installed near pews numbered 52, 54, and 56 as the second set of windows on the north side of St. Luke’s nave, near the historic pew of the Goddard family. While the original sketch for this window included cypress trees across the three panels, Edith notes this felt too alike and dark, and that she preferred the sketch with the apple blossom tree on the far left panel which is indicative of youth. In January 1910, the design was accepted by the vestry and would go on to be unveiled in March of the same year.
The installation of this window, as well as another commemorative window for William Goddard commissioned by Edith depicting the Calling of St. Matthew and gifted to St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral in Providence, was reported in Boston, Providence, and Pawtucket in virtually identical stories, suggesting that Tiffany Studios issued a press release for this creation, a common marketing technique widely used by the company. The story noted that Louis Comfort Tiffany himself had personally overseen the production and that it was comprised of Favrile glass, the studio trademark for the glass made in-house as opposed to that purchased from other glass factories. The stunning selection of Favrile glass features Tiffany’s signature confetti, mottled, and drapery glass. This, along with the wide use of acid-etching as seen in the stamens of tulips, wooded shores of the mountains, and the vibrant sky, are hallmarks of the studio’s craftsmanship.
The Goddard Memorial Window remains an enduring legacy to the Goddard family and a radiant tribute to Tiffany’s artistry and genius.
– Julie L. Sloan, consultant in stained glass, writes about windows from her home in Lake Placid, NY. She works on stained-glass conservation projects as well, including Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple, and The Riverside Church in New York.
None more captivating is the landscape depicted in The Goddard Memorial Window from St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. Each lancet contains distinctive plants and flowers, symbolizing the different growing seasons in the northeast – spring, summer and fall. Although each lancet is its own defined scene, when set together, the three lancets offer a harmonious and visually complex composition. The picturesque design for this window was illustrated in a sketch that hung prominently in the Window Workshop at Tiffany Studios and was used as a guide by the artists at the workshop for what would be this specially commissioned work of art.
In the left lancet, spring is represented by a radiant display of tulips and violets with their heart-shaped leaves at the bottom. Above this floral display is an apple tree in full bloom, branching out across a stream that becomes a waterfall. The deep blue sky gives way to dawn as pinks and oranges begin to kiss the clouds hovering over indigo mountains.
The center lancet portrays the summer season with a massive display of tall and leggy irises, a favorite flower of Tiffany Studios. Their deep blue and purple petals complement the teal, green, and olive blades and stems. A stream meanders off into the distance through low blue and turquoise mountains. Above, the radiant sky is surrounded by sun-kissed clouds which break forth revealing beams of light, a reference to the celestial Holy City, skillfully created by acid-etched glass in many layers of blue, pink, and yellow.
In the right lancet, the sun sets behind a set of cypress and pine trees. The rolling green hills are laden with goldenrod blooms in the lower left corner while a flowering shrub with changing leaves decorates the lower right corner, just above the enameled Tiffany Studios signature. A sunlit path leads away toward the quiet trees and the foliage fades into the hill in a lovely selection of confetti glass.
The memoriam text in acid-etched and painted lettering is placed at the bottom edge of each lancet. The side lancets are verses from Psalm 24, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof / The world, and they that dwell therein.” The central lancet bears the commemorative inscription, “To the honored memory of William Goddard, 1825-1907.”
The window was commissioned by Mary Edith Jenckes Goddard, known as Edith, in memory of her husband William Goddard (1825-1907), tenth chancellor of Brown University and scion of the Goddard, Ives, and Brown families of Providence, Rhode Island. After distinguished service in the Civil War, he ran his family’s textile empire before becoming chancellor of the University named for his ancestor.
Edith Goddard first began correspondence about the window in 1909, writing several letters to the church vestry regarding the placement and design of the window. She requested that the window be installed near pews numbered 52, 54, and 56 as the second set of windows on the north side of St. Luke’s nave, near the historic pew of the Goddard family. While the original sketch for this window included cypress trees across the three panels, Edith notes this felt too alike and dark, and that she preferred the sketch with the apple blossom tree on the far left panel which is indicative of youth. In January 1910, the design was accepted by the vestry and would go on to be unveiled in March of the same year.
The installation of this window, as well as another commemorative window for William Goddard commissioned by Edith depicting the Calling of St. Matthew and gifted to St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral in Providence, was reported in Boston, Providence, and Pawtucket in virtually identical stories, suggesting that Tiffany Studios issued a press release for this creation, a common marketing technique widely used by the company. The story noted that Louis Comfort Tiffany himself had personally overseen the production and that it was comprised of Favrile glass, the studio trademark for the glass made in-house as opposed to that purchased from other glass factories. The stunning selection of Favrile glass features Tiffany’s signature confetti, mottled, and drapery glass. This, along with the wide use of acid-etching as seen in the stamens of tulips, wooded shores of the mountains, and the vibrant sky, are hallmarks of the studio’s craftsmanship.
The Goddard Memorial Window remains an enduring legacy to the Goddard family and a radiant tribute to Tiffany’s artistry and genius.
– Julie L. Sloan, consultant in stained glass, writes about windows from her home in Lake Placid, NY. She works on stained-glass conservation projects as well, including Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple, and The Riverside Church in New York.