Art Institute Acquires Rare Tiffany Landscape Window
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A stunning Tiffany stained glass window featuring a colorful landscape, complete with mountains and a lush waterfall will soon call the Art Institute home.
The Hartwell Memorial Window (Light in Heaven and Earth) was created by noted Tiffany artist Agnes F. Northrop and was made in 1917. She was considered Tiffany's leading landscape designer. It was originally commissioned for Central Baptist Church (now Community Church of Providence) and according to the Art Institute the window "is a pinnacle achievement in the medium of stained glass."
Measuring 23 feet high and 16 feet wide, the window features 48 different panels, including a majestic image of Mount Chocorua, located in New Hampshire. It's considered one of the biggest and most ambitious landscape window projects undertaken by the Tiffany Studios.
"Landscape windows are rare within the overall production of Tiffany Studios, and the opportunity to acquire such a superlative example of Tiffany glass is one that will likely never be repeated," said Sarah Kelly Oehler, the Art Institute's Field–McCormick Chair and Curator of American Art.
She added that it will join another well-known glass mosaic at the Art Institute: The America Windows created by Marc Chagall.
"The Art Institute has a strong commitment to collecting the work of women artists, and we are especially thrilled to showcase Agnes Northrop, whose vision truly shaped the aesthetic of Tiffany Studios," said Oehler.
Right now, the window is getting cleaned up and going through some conservation work at the Art Institute. According to the museum, the window will be installed this fall. It'll be placed in the Henry Crown Gallery.
Image Credit Information:
Design attributed to Agnes F. Northrop (American, 1857–1953); Tiffany Studios (American, 1902–32). Hartwell Memorial Window (Light in Heaven and Earth) , 1917. Corona, New York. Leaded glass; 701 x 487.7 cm (276 x 192 in.). Restricted gift of the Antiquarian Society, the Chauncey and Marion Deering McCormick Family Foundation, and Ann and Samuel M. Mencoff; through prior gift of the George F. Harding Collection; Roger and J. Peter McCormick Endowment Fund; American Art Sales Proceeds, Discretionary, and Purchase funds; Jane and Morris Weeden and Mary Swissler Oldberg funds; restricted gift of the Davee Foundation, Pam Conant, Stephanie Field Harris, the Komarek-Hyde-McQueen Foundation, and Jane Woldenberg; gifts in memory of John H. Bryan, Jr.; Wesley M. Dixon, Jr. Endowment Fund; through prior gift of the Friends of American Art Collection and Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson; restricted gift of Jamee J. and Marshall Field, Roxelyn and Richard Pepper, and an anonymous donor; Goodman Endowment Fund; restricted gift of Abbie Helene Roth in memory of Sandra Gladstone Roth, Henry and Gilda Buchbinder Family in memory of John H. Bryan, Jr., Suzanne Hammond and Richard Leftwich, Maureen Tokar in memory of Edward Tokar, Bonnie and Frank X. Henke III, Erica Meyer, Joseph P. Gromacki in memory of John H. Bryan, Jr., Louise Ingersoll Tausché, Christopher and Sara Pfaff, Charles L. and Patricia A. Swisher, Kim and Andy Stephens, and Dorothy J. Vance; B. F. Ferguson Fund; Jay W. McGreevy, Dr. Julian Archie, Mr. and Mrs. John W. Puth, and Kate S. Buckingham endowment funds, 2018.121
