An Artist with Lots of Glass
Born on March 31, 1835, John La Farge created stunning art works in many different media, including stained glass.In 1882, John La Farge was commissioned to provide stained-glass windows for a baronial hall in the house of the railroad magnate Frederick Lothrop Ames, in Boston. The immense hall, measuring sixty-nine by seventeen feet, paneled in carved oak under a beamed ceiling eighteen feet above the floor, was illuminated on the west by La Farge's two Peacocks and Peonies windows, one of which is pictured here.
The inner panels of these windows perpetuate in a mosaic of deep-toned glass the classic bird and flower theme of Ming dynasty paintings.…
A close look at the intricate mosaic of these inner panels reveals how resourcefully and audaciously La Farge manipulated the glass. The peacocks' tails consist of tiny chips of clear-colored glass, in a technique developed and often used by La Farge, which he called "broken jewel." The peony blossoms are each made of a single piece of opalescent glass from a sculptured mold, so that light striking at certain angles delicately highlights the edge of petals. The rippled glass used for the deep blues of the background gives vibrancy to the setting.
Source: Henry A. La Farge. "Painting with Colored Light: The Stained Glass of John La Farge," John La Farge (New York: Abbeville Press, 1987).
Pictured top: John La Farge, 1835–1910, Peacocks and Peonies I, 1882, stained glass window, frame: 112 x 51 5/16 x 6 1/2 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Henry A. La Farge.
Pictured bottom: Detail of Peacocks and Peonies I by John La Farge.
Born on March 31, 1835, John La Farge created stunning art works in many different media, including stained glass.In 1882, John La Farge was commissioned to provide stained-glass windows for a baronial hall in the house of the railroad magnate Frederick Lothrop Ames, in Boston. The immense hall, measuring sixty-nine by seventeen feet, paneled in carved oak under a beamed ceiling eighteen feet above the floor, was illuminated on the west by La Farge's two Peacocks and Peonies windows, one of which is pictured here.