Landscape with peacock and peonies
Leaded glass Tiffany Studios, New York City, 1902–32 70 x 50 in. (75-014) Audio GuideThis work presents the viewer with a lush pastoral scene viewed through a canopied porch—a window within a window. Over the balustrade and past heavy vegetation—convincingly conceived in green confetti glass—lies a languid body of water, a sunlit hillside, and a brilliant blue sky. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, public interest in landscaping and gardening was passionate and widespread. Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933), whose own love of nature is now legend, built on this hunger for natural beauty with unparalleled finesse and style. Tiffany’s landscape windows were commissioned for churches and grand residences alike. They were inviting, idealized settings, at once serene and spiritual. This domestic window contains some of Tiffany’s most loved images and themes, including a magnificent peacock perched on a classical balustrade and a vine-drenched ceiling trellis. The peacock, one of the most popular subjects of the period, was closely associated with both Art Nouveau and the Aesthetic movement. The trellis was a favorite motif in Japanese art, which was highly influential in the decorative arts of the era.