
details from All Saints' window |
drawing by Frederick Wilson |
drawing by Heinrich Hofmann |
Frederick Wilson's drawing is from L.C. Tiffany's Memorial Windows Catalogue, 1896, pg. 42. The design was inspired by "Come Unto Me", 1887, a drawing by Heinrich Hofmann, though Jesus is seated in Hofmann's drawing. This theme was one of Tiffany's most popular. Nearly identical windows can be found in St. John's Episcopal Church (Troy, NY), St. Paul's Episcopal Church (Troy, NY), St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church (Troy, NY), Trinity Lutheran Church (New Haven, CT), First Congregational Church (North Adams, MA), Christ Episcopal Church (Brooklyn, NY), Lafayette Ave Presbyterian Church (Brooklyn, NY), Calvary Baptist Church (NYC), Middle Dutch Church, Reformed (NYC) and a number of other ecclesiastical sites.
Please note: the folds in the robes of the figures depicted in our windows are actually in the glass. "As a sheet of molten glass came through the rollers, it was compressed with two wooden blocks or seized with metal tongs, the resulting ripples resembled draped fabric. This is a distinctive feature of Tiffany windows and is called drapery glass. Most other stained glass artists create this kind of detail by painting onto the glass with black paint, which darkened the windows." - Paul Doros, Tiffany Studios Research Center.
Frederick Wilson (1858–1932) was one of the most prolific designers of ecclesiastical stained glass in America, creating designs that were translated into hundreds of church windows. He was educated in England and immigrated to the United States in 1892. Frederick Wilson was Tiffany's leading window designer and later the head of the Tiffany's Ecclesiastical Department. While he spent three decades producing designs for Tiffany, he also worked at other firms that produced stained glass windows. In the early 1920s, he moved to Los Angeles, where he spent the final decade of his career in the employment of The Judson Studios. Wilson was recognized during his lifetime as one of the most exceptional window designers of his day, and many of his window designs can still be seen today in churches across the United States.