Trinity
windows -
Index .......................
Trinity
Episcopal Church - Table of Contents
LaFARGE CHANCEL WINDOWS
Trinity Episcopal Church
389 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY
Trinity
Episcopal
Church - Official Home Page
Designer:
John
LaFarge
Date
installed:
1886
Style:
Opalescent
On this page, below:
2009 Photos
| John
LaFarge designed
five
windows as a set for the chancel
with scenes of Christ's
life based on Flemish and Italian Renaissance paintings.
Trinity Church possesses some of the finest stained glass in America. The five magnificent windows in the apse and the rose window are by John LaFarge who developed a new method of manufacturing semi-translucent glass that simulated painted effects. Opalescent
glass is a system of manipulating glass to alter its
thickness and
surface, giving it a milky appearance. The glass is colored
chemically
in process, eliminating the need for surface painting except
for face
and hand details. LaFarge's techniques developed a whole new
industry
of glassmaking. Trinity's Church Furnishing Society raised $56,000 for refurbishing the building and contracted with the LaFarge Decorative Art Company to decorate the chancel. After traveling to Buffalo to meet with the architect and Building and Furnishing committees, LaFarge received additional contracts for the Rose Window, 5 lancet windows, and for 14 temporary nave windows. When the church opened in 1886, all the glass was by LaFarge. Over the course of the years most of the temporary windows were replaced with memorials done by some of the major glass studios and/ or designers of the nineteenth century. |
 Nave and chancel  Five chancel windows ... Stained Glass -Table of Contents |
Ascension  ............. LEFT: Ascension, by John LaFarge ... Iconography in Art and Architecture: Ascension ... RIGHT: LaFarge adapted Andrea Mantegna's ca. 1460 Ascension painting for his Ascension window. Seven LaFarge Ascension details below:  Ascension detail #1 - Quatrefoil at top ... Paired trefoils with mouchettes  Ascension detail #2 - Opalescent glass  Ascension detail #1 - Apostles ... Faces and hands enamel painted and refired ... Rest of the glass is opalescent  Ascension detail #4 -  Ascension detail #5 -  Ascension detail #6 -  Ascension detail #7 - Predella |
Noli Me Tangere  ........... LEFT: John LaFarge, Noli Me Tangere Iconography in Art and Architecture: Resurrection Based on a painting by Florentine Renaissance artist Lorenzo di Credi, the window shows Mary Magdalene returning to the empty tomb and mistaking the risen Christ for a gardener. When she then recognizes Him and reaches out, he tells her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the father," and sends her to tell the disciples. The landscape features a palm tree, a symbol of victory over death, and Jerusalem is suggested in the background. Given by Charlotte Sherman Watson in memory of her husband, Stephen van Renssalaer Watson, a vestryman of the old Trinity church. (She also commissioned another LaFarge window, The Sealing of the Twelve Tribes, that is found in the side chapel of the church.) ... Three details below:  Noli Me Tangere (Resurrection) detail #1 - The landscape features a palm tree, a symbol of victory over death, and Jerusalem is suggested in the background. ... Iconography in Art and Architecture: Palm tree  Noli Me Tangere (Resurrection) detail #2 ... This window was given by Charlotte Sherman Watson in memory of her husband, Stephen van Renssalaer Watson, a vestryman of the old Trinity church. ... Charlotte Sherman Watson also commissioned another LaFarge window at Trinity, The Sealing of the Twelve Tribes  Noli Me Tangere (Resurrection) - Detail #3 |
Transfiguration  ... Transfiguration ... In the central Transfiguration window, Peter, James, and John accompany Jesus to a mountaintop where they see the transfigured Christ converse with Moses and Elijah. ... Iconography in Art and Architecture: Transfiguration ... Based on a painting by Venetian artist Giovanni Bellini ... Three details below:  Transfiguration detail #1 - Multifoil wheel window ... Two mouchettes  Transfiguration detail #2 - Moses holding the Ten Commandments  Transfiguration detail #3 - Jesus |
Epiphany ........... Epiphany ... LaFarge reproduced part of the Bladelin Altarpiece of Rogier van der Weyden (1399-1464) for the Epiphany window. The Magi, representing three ages and races, kneel in awe of the Christ Child. To quote John LaFarge, "The star is Christ, a guide for men lost in the world." ... Iconography in Art and Architecture: Epiphany ... Three details below:  Epiphany detail #1  Epiphany detail # 2  Epiphany detail # 3 |
The
Repose
in Egypt ..........  The Repose in Egypt ... The Repose in Egypt portrays the story of the angel's warning to Joseph and the flight to Egypt. Joseph gives the Rose of Jericho to Mary, which according to legend, grew wherever the Holy Family rested. ... LaFarge may have used Fra Bartolomeo's Rest on the Flight into Egypt c. 1500 a starting point ... Iconography in Art and Architecture: Flight Into Egypt ... Iconography in Art and Architecture: Saint Joseph ... Two details below:  The Repose in Egypt detail # 1 ... James P. White and his wife Mary Anna Dobbins gave this window in memory of his adoptive parents Dr. James P. and Mary Elizabeth Penfield White. ... Dr. White was a co-founder of the University of Buffalo's medical school and a member of the Christ Church vestry.  The Repose in Egypt detail #2 |
Special thanks to Trinity Episcopal Church Rector The Rev. R. Cameron Miller and Development Director Coleen Fahey for their cooperation and assistance
