Featured Window

Our Lady of Grace, Dearborn Heights, Michigan

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MSGC : Collections : Window

Window

Building Name: Cathedral Abbey of St. Anthony, formerly St. Anthony Roman Catholic Church (closed 2006)

Studio Name: Tyrolese Art Glass Company

City: Detroit

Window Shape: 3 (arched)

Date of Window: 1902

Subject/Title of Window: Immaculate Conception

Brief Description of Subject: The decorative medallion at the top of the window contains an angel's head surrounded by wings. The medallion is identical to the medallion in the St. Anthony of Padua window that is located opposite this one in the transept.

The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was born without original sin. Since this belief is not covered in the Bible, artists were free to use their imagination pending approval by the Church. Almost all renderings of this belief, as in this window, are based on the Catholic Church's interpretation that the Virgin Mary is the woman in Rev. 12:1 -- "A great and wondrous sign appeared in HEAVEN: a woman CLOTHED WITH THE SUN, MOON UNDER HER FEET, a CROWN OF 12 STARS ON HER HEAD." This window's beautiful rendering of that woman in Revelation owes much to the paintings of the Immaculate Conception by the Spanish Baroque painter Bartolome Estaban Murillo.

Clouds are seen beneath the figures symbolizing heaven. The Virgin Mary is seen costumed in her traditional blue and white and bathed in an aura of sunlight. At her feet are putti -- one with a rose (the Virgin Mary's flower) on its arm and carrying lilies, the other appears to be holding a stalk of lilies (lilies are a symbol of purity). A crescent moon is seen under Mary's feet. If you look very closely, in her nimbus you will count 12 gold six pointed stars.

The logo of the maker appears at the bottom right corner as "TGA INNSBRUCK." The "TGA" stands for "Tiroler Glasmalerei Anstalt" whose factory was in Innsbruck, Austria. "Glasmalerei" literally translates into English as "glass painting". The company chose to go by the name "Tyrolese Art Glass Company" in the United States.

Inscriptions: Gewidmet vom Christl. Mutter - Verein
Translation: Donated by the Christian Mother's Society


Height: ~98"

Width: 32"

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