Welcome: Stained Glass Window from the Mrs. George T. Bliss House, New York
1908–9
Medium
Leaded opalescent glass, cloisonne glass, copper wire, paint
Dimensions
156 x 96 in. (396.2 x 243.8 cm)
Classification
Stained glass window
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Susan Dwight Bliss, 1944
Accession Number
44.90
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the glow of *Welcome*, a magnificent stained glass window crafted by John La Farge 1908–9 for the Mrs. George T. Bliss in New York. This towering piece, measuring over 13 feet tall, once graced a private mansion, embodying the opulence of Gilded Age America. La Farge, a pioneering American artist of the Aesthetic Movement, revolutionized stained glass by inventing opalescent glass—a shimmering, iridescent material that captures light in multifaceted ways, far beyond traditional medieval techniques. The medium blends leaded opalescent glass with cloisonné (enameled wires for intricat...
About the Artist
John La Farge · 1835–1910
John La Farge (1835–1910) was born into a wealthy French émigré family in New York City, the son of John Frederick La Farge and Louisa Binsse de Saint-Victor. Educated at Jesuit institutions including Mount St. Mary's College in Maryland and St. John's College (now Fordham University), he initially pursued law but turned to art after receiving early drawing lessons from his maternal grandfather, a...