26 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



metamorphosis, enlargement. From the beginning of its career 

 until finally, after months or years, the picture is in place and the 

 bright sunlight illumines it, the different steps in the transforma- 

 tion involve never-ceasing care and thought. At any step a failure 

 of attention might mean a total failure of the work. To follow 

 this little sketch in its growth toward a window, will be to watch 

 its fortunes under many different hands and under widely varying 

 circumstances. 



As the Tiffany Glass Company of New York has been particu- 

 larly successful in adapting the mosaic treatment to picture-win- 

 dows, their studios furnish typical illustrations of the several 

 steps. Ordinarily the artist simply furnishes the small colored 

 sketch, and from this germ the window is evolved. Occasionally 

 he goes a step further, and supplies a cartoon in black and white 

 of the natural size. It is only in rare instances that he does the 

 full-sized sheet in colors. Not unfrequently the suggestion for a 

 window is taken from some celebrated painting or engraving. 

 The Tiffany Company recently reproduced Gustave Dord's famous 

 picture, " Christ leaving the Prsetorium," for a church memorial 

 window, the entire piece being executed in pure mosaic, with the 

 exception of the faces and hands. The dimensions of this truly 

 magnificent work of art are twenty by thirty feet. It is the most 

 ambitious window ever attempted in America, and, indeed, the 

 largest opalescent piece in the world. In many cases, however, 

 the suggestion comes from humbler sources. A very beautiful 

 window designed by Mr. E. P. Sperry — " Faith, Hope, and Charity " 

 — and recently completed as a memorial window for the Unity 

 Church at Springfield, Mass., sprang from a thought suggested by 

 a Christmas card. Where the design for a window is ordered and 

 paid for by the purchaser of the window, it is of course impossible 

 to secure a duplicate ; but where a picture that is already common 

 property is reproduced, the work may be several times repeated. 

 Thus " The Good Shepherd," a very satisfactory figure of the 

 Christ taken from the well-known painting by Frederick J. 

 Shields, has been reproduced in glass three times, and now adorns 

 as many churches in different parts of the country. It is too beau- 

 tiful a conception to be rendered any less pleasing by this repeti- 

 tion. In all cases the patterns and other needed guides are pre- 

 served, so that, should the occasion arise, a picture-window once 

 executed may be readily duplicated. A window has just been 

 completed for the Buffalo Cathedral, to take the place of one 

 recently destroyed by fire. It is a very close duplicate of the 

 original work. But while the success in reproducing pictures 

 already extant has been very marked, a keener pleasure is de- 

 rived from modern pictures designed originally for execution 

 in glass. Many of these are exceedingly beautiful, and represent 



