NORWALK – In December 2023, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced it had acquired a stained glass window considered one of the most important works created at the studios of Louis Comfort Tiffany.
And it’s likely no one was more excited than Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, the museum’s Anthony W. and Lulu C. Wang curator of American Decorative Arts.
“I had known about it for about 20 years,” Frelinghuysen said of the three-paneled “Garden Landscape.”
“It’s really a dream come true for me.”
Now installed in the museum’s Charles Engelhard Court, the 10-foot-tall work – and the visionary women who helped bring it to fruition – will be the focus of “Women and the Art of Tiffany Studios: A Garden Landscape Window,” Frelinghuysen’s Nov. 23 talk at Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum.
Designed by Agnes Northrop, the window was originally commissioned by businesswoman and philanthropist Sarah Cochran for Linden Hall, her Tudor-Revival estate built in 1912 outside Pittsburgh. Cochran requested a lush garden scene that would grace the landing of the home’s main staircase, enticing viewers with its scene of a central fountain surrounded by a vibrant array of hollyhocks, foxglove and hydrangeas.
Incorporating tromp l’oeil elements and standing about 10 feet at its highest point, the three-panel window is considered Northrop’s masterpiece.
“It’s almost an immersive experience,” Frelinghuysen said.
Working at the highest level of a field dominated by men, Northrop was one of Tiffany’s most important designers. In 1900, she won an award for her work at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. While Tiffany is the name marketed and remembered by fans of the company’s windows, lamps and decorative works, Northrop was one of many women and men involved in their creation – from designing and selecting glass to cutting and glazing the often hundreds of pieces that completed a design.
The role of women as designers, creators and patrons for Tiffany pieces will be at the heart of Frelinghuysen’s talk. Published widely on American glass, ceramics, stained glass and Gilded Age furniture and patronage, Frelinghuysen, who oversaw the 2009 Charles Englehard Court reinstallation, is considered a foremost authority on Tiffany.
“I am thrilled to present to our audiences the legendary Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen and her fascinating talk,” said Lockwood-Mathews Lecture Committee Chair Kathy Olsen. “Guests will immerse themselves in the beauty and creative genius of Louis Comfort Tiffany’s artwork and learn about the women who helped him achieve his masterpieces.”
Cochran, whose husband and son died leaving her in charge of a coalmining empire, and Northrop, who was revered behind the scenes, are two such examples of opportunities open to some women at the time, Frelinghuysen said.
“There was an opportunity for women to engage and use their artistic talent,” she said of the many women involved in Tiffany’s studio. “Tiffany valued their artistic sense – and he paid them a living wage.”
The new installation takes center stage at the Met, which has a gallery dedicated to Tiffany works, as well as other prime spaces like Englehard Court. “Garden Landscape” is framed by columns from Laurelton Hall, Tiffany’s country estate on Long Island.
Connecticut is home to several Tiffany windows, including those at churches in Greenwich, New Britain and Fairfield, and Yale University’s Battell Chapel in New Haven and Pequot Library in the Southport section of Fairfield.
Frelinghuysen said it was the depth of the Met’s Tiffany collection that interested her in his work. She was impressed by his ability to work in varied media, from oil and watercolor painting to windows and lighting to metalwork, photography and landscape design.
“Tiffany is endlessly fascinating,” she said.
Frelinghuysen’s talk will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday at Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum, 295 West Avenue, Norwalk. Admission is $15 for members, $20 for non-members. Tickets are available at www.lockwoodmathewsmansion.com.