Happy Birthday to Louis Comfort Tiffany

On this day in 1848, Louis Comfort Tiffany was born to the founder of the famous jewelry company, Tiffany's.

Tiffany was a versatile artist, experimenting with many different materials and mediums. He is probably best known for his brightly colored glass windows and lamps, but he was originally trained in anatomy and painting at the Eagleswood Military Academy in New Jersey.

This painting of a Market Day Outside the Walls of Tangier shows the interest in bright colors, shapes and nature that carries over into his lamps and windows.

Regarding this style of painting, Tiffany said, "When I first had a chance to travel in the East and to paint where the people and the buildings also are clad in beautiful hues, the pre-eminence of color in the world was brought forcibly to my attention. I returned to New York wondering why we made so little use of our eyes, why we refrained so obstinately from taking advantage of color in our architecture and clothing when Nature indicates its mastership."

Source: National Museum of American Art (Washington, D.C. and Boston, New York, Toronto, and London: National Museum of American Art with Bulfinch Press, Little Brown and Company, 1995).

Pictured: Louis Comfort Tiffany, 1848–1933, Market Day Outside the Walls of Tangiers, Morocco, 1873, oil, 32 1/8 x 56 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the American Art Forum.