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: Christ and Sparrow

Brief Description of Subject: The grisaille glass in the upper part of this window is original to the window, and at one time, extended to the bottom. In their book "Detroit's Historic Places of Worship", Coolum, Krueger, and Kostuch, thought the maker was Friederichs and Staffin (Detroit Stained Glass Works). In the canopy, the roundel is a six pointed star --- the "Creator's Star" (each point represents a day in the Creation Story).

The original grisaille glass in the lower portion was replaced by a scene adapted from a design by Frederick Wilson and made by the Tiffany Studios. A book published by Tiffany Studios in 1910, indicated the theme for this window as "Christ and Sparrow."

With Jerusalem in the background, a young Christ is seen carrying a yoke. According to legend he made yokes and plows in his father's carpentry shop. According to Rachel M. Bradshaw in her treatise Tiffany Windows in Richmond and Petersburg, "this view of Jesus was prevalent in the social gospel movement at the turn of the century, when Protestant reformers focused on Jesus as The Carpenter active in the world and in sympathy with the poor." Christ carrying a yoke is also evocative of Jesus' words: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, .... and ye shall find rest unto your soul. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light." (Matthew 11:28-30 KJV)

Jesus' eyes are directed downwards towards a sparrow on the ground. This reminds us of Jesus' words to his disciples:
"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without the Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbers. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." (Matthew 10:29 - 31 KJV)

The maker's name appears at the bottom right of the window as:
Copyright 1895
Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company
New York

The designs of Frederick Wilson were copyrighted and would be modified to fit the window's shape and dimensions as well as the customer's budget.

Inscriptions: Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in thee. {Psalm 33:22 KJV}
In loving memory of 1878 Harold Morse Wright 1896


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