Three window panels, c. 1885
Library, Tiffany house, Seventy-Second Street, New York City, 1882–1939; dining room, Laurelton Hall, Long Island, New York, 1902–57

Magnolia

Leaded glass Louis C. Tiffany & Company, 1878–85 45 1/2 x 66 in. (58-013)

These Magnolia panels, originally designed for the large bay window in the library in the Tiffany Mansion on Madison Avenue at 72nd Street in New York City, were moved about forty years later to Tiffany’s country home Laurelton Hall on Long Island. Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933) considered the window to be among his finest creations. As such, Tiffany integrated the work into the dining room at Laurelton Hall as he transformed it into a museum intended to inspire future generations in search of beauty.
Do not let the seemingly simple design and color palette fool you—behind the realistic depiction of magnolia blossoms are years of chemical experimentation and evolving technique honed to precisely recreate the perfection found in nature. Instead of painting the folds of the blossoms, these undulations were made three-dimensional through the precise manipulation of molten glass which, when cooled, emulated the characteristics of the petals. Rather than interrupt the naturalistic branches of the design of the tree with support bars, Tiffany recreated the branches artistically in lead—complete with buds and nodes—to serve as an important structural element holding the heavy glass in place while distributing its weight.