His Most Famous Stained Glass Painting (Garden Landscape and Fountain) – Louis Comfort Tiffany

Louis Comfort Tiffany or Louis C. Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933), American painter and ‘glass designer’, was born in New York. From a young age, Louis became interested in art and painting and formally learned painting in Paris. Most of Tiffany’s works were influenced by “Art Nouveau” and “Aestheticism”. He began as a painter, was drawn to glassmaking in 1875, and worked with many glass houses in Brooklyn, until 1878. In 1879, he partnered with Samuel Coleman, Candace Wheeler, and Lockwood de Forest to establish the Louis Comfort Tiffany & Associated American Artists. His aspiration to focus on painting on glass led to the spin-off of the company. It incorporated its first exclusive property, Tiffany Glass Company, on December 1, 1885, which became known as Tiffany Studios, in 1902. Meanwhile, Tiffany created her most famous glass painting “Garden Landscape & Fountain” (1905-15 ).

This all-time masterpiece, inspired by Byzantine art, was likely commissioned by the Curtis Publishing Company, Philadelphia. Louis’ best imagination took the painting beyond his conventional creation of a flat decorative work. In this glass painting, measuring 8 ‘7 ½ “x 9’ 6” (262.9 cm x 289.6 cm), Louis Comfort astonishingly captures the beauty of nature. “Garden Landscape & Fountain”, a Favrile Glass Mosaic work of art, carries the natural effect through Favrile Glass Mosaic which has been cut into various shapes to fit the view. The painting is a classic example of the use of colors, which were largely inspired by nature, that is, plants, sky, and insects. In the landscape of the Louis Comfort, “Garden Landscape & Fountain”, there are tall, slender cypress trees with a multi-colored sky above. Two swans carve a rippled pond of brilliant blue. The presence of a group of pink water lilies also supports the extraordinary view of the scene.

During 1896-1900, Tiffany created a large number of beautiful Favrile Glass, with various pieces that achieved mysterious and “impressionistic” effects. His vital contribution made him the leader of the ‘Art Nouveau’ movement. Tiffany’s company was renamed Tiffany Studios in 1900, after which Louis Comfort Tiffany ventured into lamps, ceramics, jewelry, and trinkets. In 1911, he produced another of his finest achievements, a gigantic glass curtain for the Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City. Tiffany founded the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation for art students on her luxurious and renowned Long Island estate, which was sold in 1946 to provide scholarship funds. Some of Tiffany’s other famous paintings are Stained Glass Window, Favrile Pottery, Laurelton Hall Loggia, View of Oyster Bay, and Autumn Landscape Window. “Garden Landscape & Fountain” is currently on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.