Newcomb Art Museum - Saint Cecilia

Print this page

Saint Cecilia
Decorative Arts and Furniture

1894

Tiffany & Company (1837 – ) Artist

Object Type: Decorative Arts

Medium and Support: stained glass on lead

Credit Line: Gift of Josephine Louise Newcomb in memory of Mary Sophie Le Monnier

Accession Number: 2016.70

Web Notes

The St. Cecilia window was commissioned by Josephine Louise Newcomb in honor of her mother Mary Le Monnier. It depicted the biblical heroine St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music, who was known for her piousness, and purity. Here she plays the organ, which is the second most common instrument she is associated with -- the first being the viola.

Highlights of this window are the enameled portrait and hands, rendered with a sense of ease by the artist and a calming effect on the viewer, and the flower at the bottom left of the piece, which was made with a slump mold. Slump molding was a common technique that glass blowers would use, dumping hot glass into a metal mold, which could be used over and over again.

Mottled glass is also used throughout the lunette panel as well as the left and right areas surrounding the figure. There are few examples of paneled – or layered glass in the window, but there are a few nicely done pieces of drapery glass, as well as jeweled glass in the window.

This St. Cecilia window was originally placed next to the King David window in the Newcomb Chapel on Newcomb College Garden District campus, and now hangs in the Rogers Chapel on Tulane’s Uptown Campus.

Additional Images Click an image to view a larger version