Agnes Northrop’s watercolor study of magnolia and skeeters reflects the intense visual examination that led to the production of leaded-glass windows at Tiffany Studios (1902–32). One of the leading designers at Tiffany Studios, Northrop captured the vitality she observed directly from nature and transferred it into the iconic landscape windows identified with Tiffany (1848–1933).
The Saucer Magnolia (Magnolia x soulangeana) is a deciduous variety in the form of a large shrub or spreading tree. In early to mid-spring, it reveals goblet-shaped flowers which gradate from dark pink to white. As these nine-petal flowers open from the center cone, they reveal white petals on the obverse. Northrop captured the maturing flowers in a series of vignettes in this design, ranging from a newly formed bud having just emerged from its pod to the completed seed pod vacant of its petals. The branches of the shrub or tree remain bare during spring to support these magnificent flowers; the narrow green leaves unfurl onto the branches only after the floral display has ended.
Northrop visited gardens and parks to develop an index of imagery from which to create art for Tiffany Studios. She was a frequent visitor to Laurelton Hall, Louis Comfort Tiffany’s country home; however, she would not have studied this species there. Tiffany had only two varieties of magnolia onsite, and both were scarcer varieties than this popular version of the magnolia.