Newcomb Art Museum - Good Samaritan

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Good Samaritan
Decorative Arts and Furniture

circa 1895

Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company Artist

Object Type: Decorative Arts

Medium and Support: stained glass on lead

Credit Line: Gift of Dalton Newcomb and Richard Tenbrocko, in the Memory of their Brother Warren Smith Newcomb

Accession Number: 1996.3

Web Notes

The Good Samaritan window was commissioned in 1895 by the nephews of Warren Smith Newcomb, Josephine Louise Newcomb's late husband. This was in honor of their brother, who was also named Warren Newcomb. The brothers commissioned the exact same design for their childhood church in Louisville, Kentucky, so two of these windows exist.

In the circular globe above the Good Samaritan are the letters INRI, which stands for "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews". In the Latin alphabet, I is used both for the letter I and the letter J. The theme comes from the moral lesson in the New Testament of the Bible in the Gospel of Luke. Behind the men is the city of Jerusalem, which is created in striated glass with a sheet of opalescent glass in front of it, which helps blur the city, and combined with the size of the city creates distance between the travelers. Drapery glass is present in the clothing of both figures, as well as confident enamel work throughout their depiction. Also of note is the range of colors throughout, not just in the spectacular sunset, but the palette is very wide. Tiffany’s Studio had over 500 proprietary colors to work with, and so the designers could pull an enormous range of sheet glass organized by color and technique.

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