The Lone Tiffany Window
The reaction is usually an
astonished, “Why???” The
stimulus is the explanation that, in the late teens of the twentieth
century, Shadyside Church nearly removed its Tiffany window.
During architectural tours of the church, we always pause about
half way down the nave to consider the stained glass.
The Nativity Window at the center of the South transept is
captivating and clearly of a different character than its companions.
Depicted are the Infant Jesus
and His mother Mary. Those
surrounding the child are illuminated by a radiance that emanates from
Him. It is a powerful use of
opalescent glass and realistic pictorial depiction, strongly associated
with Louis Tiffany. Opalescent
glass (actually patented by Tiffany’s rival, John LaFarge) is less
translucent and has greater color variety than normal (or “antique”)
glass.
This combination of pictorial and optical effects is an American development of the 1880s that served the Gothic and Romanesque Revivals in architecture. In fact, it was sometimes known as “American glass” as distinct from the more archeologically correct “medieval style.” Some of the figural depictions are reminiscent of the Pre-Raphaelite movement in their delicacy. (The window depicts a painting by Correggio, who was a contemporary of Raphael. It is known as The Adoration of the Shepherd (Holy Night) and is from 1522. The Pre-Raphaelites rejected the style of painting that developed after the time of Raphael.)
Thirteenth century stained
glass makers used clearer glass with “pure” colors.
Medieval depictions were conventionalized or abstracted, as
compared to a painted scene. The
result is a more “primitive” appearance.
The original use of stained glass in windows was for the colored
light, rather than religious instruction.
After 1900, there was a movement in America to revive the medieval style and reject the Tiffany-LaFarge pictorial opalescent style. By the end of World War I, “American glass” was positively unfashionable. This coincided with a desire, on the part of many Shadysiders, to dedicate memorial windows. Long-standing church tradition has it that the Nativity Window* was saved only at the insistence of Mrs. Anne Darsie Thomson (the mother of present Shadysiders, Mr. Robert Thomson and the Rev. John Thomson).
The Tiffany "school" was victim of taste moving in two directions. Architectural purists looked to the past of the middle ages. A move in the other direction, "modern" architecture such as Art Deco and the International School preferred a sleeker, monochromatic look. The exception to this trend was the Tiffany lamp, which held its popularity through the twenties. Louis Tiffany was apparently disappointed. His real love in stained glass was windows. That the lamps were commercially successful was little solace.
We are grateful for Mrs.
Thomson’s foresight and success. It
is hard for us to believe that such a beautiful and evocative technique
could have been out of style. The
“new” windows, by Goreham Brothers, employ the more
monochromatic, conventionalized rendering of the revived medieval.
The figures seem less dynamic, over-simple to some observers.
Rudy Brothers, however, had been prominent suppliers of opalescent
glass. Their colors retain
more of the warm yellow-gold hue of the Nativity Window
than was typical of much of the medieval movement.
This juxtaposition of style
shows the dilemma when remodeling takes place, and is inevitably
influenced by current fashion. Who
is to say that Tiffany windows won’t go out of favor again in the far
distant future? Will some
future scribe express gratitude that so many of the windows were re-done
in “correct medieval style?” When
some future tour guide points out that the Tiffany window was preserved,
will the astonished reaction be, “Why?”
*A somewhat similar Tiffany
Nativity Window is at Baltimore’s Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church,
where our retired Music Director, Dr. John Walker, now serves.