John La Farge (1835 -1910)

Born and raised in New York City in a cultured French family, he became a leading figure in the arts in New York in the late 19th century, known for his exquisite murals, stained glass designs, and innovations of technique. He also was a noted writer and lecturer on art.

He graduated from Mount St. Mary's College in Maryland and then went to Europe where he was much impressed by the stain glass in the medieval architecture. In Paris, he studied with Thomas Couture, and i London, he was much influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites led by John Ruskin, who focused on the importance of art being morally and spiritually uplifting.

Returning to the United States in 1858, he studied with William M. Hunt at Newport Rhode Island. In 1874, he completed his first window commission, and unlike other stained glass artists, executed the work himself rather than having artisans do the labor. In the process of working, he discovered layering of two or more pieces of glass, rather than painting on it, and thus became the inventor of opalescent glass, which he patented in 1880. Many of his designs of this period including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the home of Cornelius Vanderbilt, depicted peonies blowing in the wind. He later reworked some of these designs in leaded glass.

In 1876, he painted murals for Trinity Church Boston, and this job was followed by other mural commissions. In 1886, he and friends Henry James and Henry Adams traveled to Japan, and from this experience he adopted many Oriental motifs into his work.