San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-06-03
SOME ACHIEVEMENTS OF A BRAVE
AMERICAN GIRL IN ART.

"h"ous women anu luer Fecuiiarithes.
The Great "Man MiIliner''-UsefuI Rules
in the Care of the Sick and Children.
Decorations-Hints About Housekeeping.
1t is gratifying to know that in at least one
branch of art we can successfully compete
with foreign schools, and more than crafty
ing to be able to name a woman as one Of the
four pioneers to whom the honors of this
achievement are due.
Up to a very few years ago all stained glass
windows worthy Of being ranked among
works of art were imported from abroad
Small country churches might indeed filter
the sunlight for their sanctuaries through
American conglomerates of color, but no
cathedral or memorial chapel with wealth at
its command would give room to the gaudy
panes of our crude manufacture. Now this
is all changed. Even Grace church in New
York city, where nothing but the best, the
very best, that man can devise and money
buy is admissible, Miss Mary E. Tillinghast,
an American, has a window, Jacobs Lad
der" which even the most critical concede TO
he equal to the finest foreign production in the
edifice.
The placing of this particular window was
Marchioness de Portes as a memorial to their
parents. Miss Tillinghast was among those
who sent in designs for it, The committee
accepted her design after much reluctance
to give so important an undertaking into
the hands of a woman and an American, but
the beauty of the design compelled them.
They then stipulated that at least it should
be made of English glass. This Miss Tilling-
hast refused. She held that American glass,
the manufacture of which had languished for
years, was now equal to any produced
abroad. and her patriotic determination car
ried the point. American glass is now con-
coded to be superior to the English.
Other triumphs had been hers. Mrs D. P.
Morgan gave her carte blanche for the dec
grafton of her Washington home, now the
Don Cameron house; Edward Field, son of
Cyrus, did the same for his house in Gramer-
cy park; Bell, of telephone fame, did the
same; with her then partner, La Fargo she
got the contract for decorating the Union
League club and the Vanderbilt houses, and
Cornelius Vanderbilt paid her $4,000 for
inventing and making the new kind of tapes
tries which hang in his home. The window
in Grace church, therefore, was not her first
laurel.
Her work for st. Mary's church in Orange
is memorial to Mrs James T. Field by her
husband The motif is the annunciation.
The heavenly messenger appears to Mary as
she is kneeling at prayer. The figure of the
archangel is in strong relief against back
ground of sky and distant hill, showing be-
yond the porch the temple. The figure of the
Virgin is singularly graceful, and the dra,
peries are exquisitely managed The colors
are rich and effective, yet so carefully chosen
and graded as to wholly eliminate the chro-
matte discords frequently seen in stained
glass work. Above is a trefoil, filed with
cloud effects and thronged with cherub faces,
and below is a seated angel holding the
memorial scroll The graduation of light is
charmingly managed, bringing the Virgin
and the messenger out as though sources
themselves of the radiance which fills the
scene. In drawing, composition and color it
is strikingly beautiful and effective.
For young woman VIC began art as a
diettante, and only took itup as profession
when reverses in the family fortunes COM
PEELED, these are notable achievements. 1t
cannot be said, indeed, that Miss Tillinghast's
schooling was American, for she studied for
six years under the great Carolus Duran in
Paris, but the pluck, perseverance and tire
less energy which have placed her fame and
fortune where they are-these are American
to a degree.-New York World