Featured Window

Our Lady of Grace, Dearborn Heights, Michigan

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MSGC : Collections : Window

Window

Building Name: St. John's Episcopal Church

Studio Name: Tiffany Studios

City: Detroit

Window Shape: 5 (gothic arched, 2 vertical sections)

Date of Window: 1898

Subject/Title of Window: Prayer of Good Shepherd

Brief Description of Subject: The grisaille glass in the upper portion of the window is original to the window, and at one time, extended to the bottom. In their book "Detroit's Historic Places of Worship," Collum, Krueger, and Kostuch, thought the maker was Friederichs and Staffin (Detroit Stained Glass Works). In the canopy, the roundel features a chalice, the symbol of the Eucharist --- "He took the cup saying ... 'Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament.' " Matthew 26:27 - 28

The original grisaille glass in the lower portion of this window was replaced in 1898 by the scene of the Good Shepherd in prayer. The sheep in the scene are the followers of Christ and:

"The LORD is my SHEPHERD; I shall not want. He maketh me LIE DOWN IN GREEN PASTURES: he leadeth me BESIDES STILL WATERS.... Yea, though I walk through the shadow of the valley of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and THY STAFF comfort me. Psalm 23: 1 - 4 KJV

The scene was designed by Frederick Wilson for Tiffany Studios. The face of Christ illustrates the comment in "Style, Status, and Religion: America's Pictorial Windows 1840 - 1950" by Virginia Chieffo Raguin, that "Wilson's work is visible in the elegant Pre-Raphaelite style of facial types, with long slender noses, broad foreheads, high cheek bones, and invariably reddish tonality to hair and beard."

The maker's signature appears at the bottom right of the window as:
Copyright 1894
Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company
New York

The design of this window, copyrighted in 1894, would be modified to fit the window's shape and dimensions as well as the customer's budget. The copyrighted sketch is seen below as it appeared in the book "Memorial Windows" by Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company c. 1896. Note how the copyrighted sketch had to be modified as the Church's window was too wide.

Inscriptions: The Lord is my shepherd
In memoriam *1838 George Henry Minchener †1897
For twenty-one years a vestryman of this Parish


Condition of Window: good

Height: ~18'

Width: 4'

The MSGC is a constantly evolving database. Not all the data that has been collected by volunteers has been sorted and entered. Not every building has been completely documented.

All images in the Index are either born-digital photographs of windows or buildings or are scans of slides, prints, or other published sources. These images have been provided by volunteers and the quality of the material varies widely.

If you have any questions, additions or corrections, or think you can provide better images and are willing to share them, please contact donald20@msu.edu