“I’ve come to inquire if you have work for me. That is, if.my performance pleased you before.” A deliberate prompt. I.didn’t want to be hired because of my need or his kindness. I.wanted my talent to be the reason he wanted me back..“Indeed” was all he offered..What now to fill the suspended moment? His new.projects. I asked. His eyebrows leapt up in symmetrical.curves..“A Byzantine chapel for the World’s Columbian.Exposition in Chicago next year. Four times bigger than the.Paris Exposition Universelle. It will be the greatest assembly.of artists since the fifteenth century.” He counted on his.fingers and then drummed them on the desk. “Only fifteen.months away. In 1893 the name of Louis Comfort Tiffany.will be on the lips of millions!” He stood up and swung open.his arms wide enough to embrace the whole world..I sensed his open palm somewhere in the air behind the.small of my back, ushering me to his massive, carved.mahogany exhibit table to see his sketches and watercolors..“Two round windows, The Infancy of Christ and Botticelli’s.Madonna and Child, will be set off by a dozen scenic side.windows.”.A huge undertaking. How richly fortunate. Surely there.would be opportunity for me to shine..Practically hopping from side to side, he made a show of.slinging down one large watercolor after another onto the.Persian carpet, each one a precise, fine-edged rendering of.what he wanted the window to be..“Gracious! You’ve been on fire. Go slower! Give me a.chance to admire each one.”.He unrolled the largest watercolor. “An eight-foot.mosaic behind the altar depicting a pair of peacocks.surrounded by grapevines.”.My breath whistled between my open lips. Above the.peacocks facing each other, he had transformed the.standard Christian icon of a crown of thorns into a.shimmering regal headdress for God the King, the thorns.replaced by large glass jewels in true Tiffany style..Astonishing how he could get mere watercolors so deep.and saturated, so like lacquer that they vibrated together as.surely as chords of a great church pipe organ. Even the.names of the hues bore an exotic richness. The peacocks’.necks in emerald green and sapphire blue. The tail feathers.in vermilion, Spanish ocher, Florida gold. The jewels in the.crown mandarin yellow and peridot. The background in.turquoise and cobalt. Oh, to get my hands on those.gorgeous hues. To feel the coolness of the blue glass, like.solid pieces of the sea. To chip the gigantic jewels for the.crown so they would sparkle and send out shafts of light..To forget everything but the glass before me and make of it.something resplendent..When I could trust my voice not to show too much.eagerness, I said, “I see your originality is in good health..Only you would put peacocks in a chapel.”.“Don’t you know?” he said in a spoof of incredulity..“They symbolized eternal life in Byzantine art. Their flesh.was thought to be incorruptible.”.“What a lucky find for you, that convenient tidbit of.information.”.He chuckled, so I was on safe ground..He tossed down more drawings. “A marble-and-mosaic.altar surrounded by mosaic columns, and a baptismal font.of opaque leaded glass and mosaic.”.“This dome is the lid of the basin? In opaque leaded.glass?”.He looked at it with nothing short of love, and showed.me its size with outstretched arms as though he were.hugging the thing..I was struck by a tantalizing idea. “Imagine it reduced in.size and made of translucent glass instead. Once you figure.how to secure the pieces in a dome, that could be the.method and the shape of a lampshade. A wraparound.window of, say”—I looked around the room—“peacock.feathers.”.He jerked his head up with a startled expression, the.idea dawning on him as if it were his own..“Lampshades in leaded glass,” he said in wonder, his.blue eyes sparking..“Just think where that could go,” I whispered.Q: According to the passage, Tiffany looks forward tothe upcoming World’s Columbian Exposition inChicago as an opportunity to Answer Choices: (A)gain greater popular recognition. (B)sell many decorative objects. (C)collaborate with other famous artists. (D)showcase pieces that have earned critical acclaim.
A: Among A through D, the answer is
(A)gain greater popular recognition.
(B)sell many decorative objects.
(C)collaborate with other famous artists.
(D)showcase pieces that have earned critical acclaim.
Answer: 0