Evening star., 1947-12-25
Window at Epiphany
Henry Holiday, Artist, Fam for His Dante Picture
Found to Have Designed Local Glass
By James Waldo Fa,vcet

glance. The story Of the incident thus illus
trated is part Of the classic literature Of Italy.
Dante himself made it so by his own reporting
Of it.
Mr. Holiday read the account in translation
and for a long while contemplated painting the
event. At last, in 1884, he travelled to Florence
to study the actual scene of the final meeting
of the poet and the woman at whose feet he
laid his greatest writings. The thoroughfare
near the Ponte Trinita, looking toward the
Ponte Vecchio, was chosen by the artist for his
"locale." A long series of preliminary sketches
OF the neighborhood was executed. Then, hav-
ing enlisted the aid Of Vernon Lee and of the
director of the Biblioteca Nazionale, he exam
ined many files of drawings from the 18th and
early 14th centuries. One result of his metz
culous labor was that he ascertained that the
street was paved with brick in Dantes day,
rather than fagstones as in a subsequent
period. This important bit Of realism Is. pre-
served in Mr.. Holidays ultimate composition.
The artist likewise created a clay model of
the houses along the Arno before attempting to
paint them into the background of his canvas
Further, he modelled clay ngurines for each OF
the characters portrayed. Eleanor Butcher sat
for the face of Beatrice, Milly Hughes for that
of her first companion, Monna Wanna. The
Lushington. An italian friend posed for Dante,
but the hands of the poet were drawn from
those of Herr Schulz-Curtius, a celebrated
orchestral leader.
Picture Makes. Profit.
Exhibited unfinished at the Grosvenor GAL
lery in London in 1888. the picture-with a
number of pigeons added by the artists natu-
ralist friend John Trivett Nettleship-next was
shown at the annual review at the Walker
Gallery in Liverpool in 1884. Visitors admired
it so much that the trustees purchased it
Immediately. The canvas still is in Liverpool,
and it is understood to have earned its cost
and considerable proft-from fees for repro
duction in textbooks, magazines and news
papers.
During the eighties and nineties, Mr.. Holiday
turned more and more to the designing of
stained glass windows of beauty superior to
those then common. His skill increased with
practice until he was the acknowledged master
of colored glass in England. Some of his work
is in Salisbury Cathedral, some in Trinity
Church in Boston and some in Grace Church in
New York.
The Epiphany window in the Church Of the
Epiphany in G street cost the vestry $500
Duplicating it now would involve 10 or II
times the expense. But its esthetic and religious
qualities are the values which bring pilgrims to
view it at Christmastde each year Those who
inspect the composition closely believe they
find in it points of resemblance with Mr.
Holidays famous Dante and Beatrice. Es-
pecially in the faces and the robes do they
detect likenesses. Some have raised the
question: Were the same models used in both
the canvas and the glass?
It has been hinted that one of the shepherds
is Mr. Holiday himself. He may be forgotten
but it is possible that as long as the Epiphany
window exists he will be part of it.