The Splendor of a Tiffany Angel Wing

The Splendor of a Tiffany Angel Wing Beauty in Stained Glass

“Color is to the eye what music is to the ear.” ~ Louis Comfort Tiffany

Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) was the leading artist in the short-lived movement called Art Nouveau (late-1800s-early 1900s), which occurred simultaneously with the Impressionist movement in art and preceded Art Deco by a decade or so.

The angel wing depicted in this detail from a larger work is simply dazzling. It is both a stained glass window in real life and a sort of mystical window into the transcendent gift of Beauty!

One of the great innovations of Tiffany’s stained glass is that he used multiple panes of different colored glass (stacked together) to create various textures, shades of colors, and the illusion of depth.

His windows blend colors almost as if they are watercolor paintings made of glass. Nothing like that had ever been done before.

Prior to him, the stained glass-making technique generally used a single color per pane of glass that limited the diffusion and variety of colors that could be displayed in stained glass windows.

This magnificent angel wing is radiant and brilliant. Each pane actually consists of several panels stacked together to create such marvelous effects of shading and color. Ah, the glory of Tiffany!

Don’t miss my articles on Sacred Windows about Tiffany’s Lamps and a series of stained glass angels inspired by the Apocalypse. Just incredible!

Photo source: Jenny Reiswig, Flickr.