Stained Glass - Table of Contents

Nicola D'Ascenzo Studios in Buffalo

1871-1954 McKinney House

On Buffalo Architecture and History Website: McKinney House

Born in Italy and brought to the United States at the age of 11, Nicola D'Ascenzo was originally apprenticed to a stonecutter and to a woodworker, but he acquired his formal training in painting in the evenings at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Arts (now part of Philadelphia's University of the Arts) and the New York School of Design - although he did return to Italy briefly to study at the Scuola Libera in Rome.

D'Ascenzo's family had been armor makers in Italy, and he was talented in a wide range of artistic endeavers, including easel painting (in fact he had numerous exhibitions of his paintings during his lifetime) as well as those pursuits which we associate with the studio: stained glass, mosaics, and mural painting.

Nicola D’Ascenzo (1871-1954) was an Italian-born artist who established the most successful stained glass studio in Philadelphia. Working in the medieval guild tradition, but unafraid to incorporate modern content into his designs, D’Ascenzo developed a nation-wide clientele and designed windows and murals for ecclesiastical, academic, residential and commercial structures.

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