Anthony Van Corlaer, The Trumpeter of New Amsterdam

Date1893-94

Designer Howard Pyle (American illustrator, 1853–1911)

Fabricator Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company (American company, 1878–1933)

Illustration CitationStairway window designed for the Colonial Club at Broadway and 72nd Street, New York, NY

MediumLeaded glass

Dimensions64 1/2 × 39 1/2 in. (163.8 × 100.3 cm)
frame: 72 1/4 × 47 3/4 in. (183.5 × 121.3 cm)

Credit LineF. V. du Pont Acquisition Fund, 1984

Object number1984-28

On View

On view

Collections

Howard Pyle and American Illustration on View

ClassificationsDECORATIVE ARTS

Label TextThe American illustrator Howard Pyle designed only two known stained-glass windows, and this one was produced by Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company. The subject is Anthony Van Corlaer, Peter Stuyvesant's fictional trumpeter from Washington Irving's 1809 A History of New York. Pyle's lively design captured the character's jovial and boisterous nature. Although Pyle designed this window for the stairway of the Colonial Club in New York, it is currently on view in the artist's hometown at the Delaware Art Museum, which holds the largest collection of his work.

Founded in 1892 and operating until 1903, the Colonial Club at Broadway and 72nd Street in Manhattan, was a social club that admitted men and, unusual for its time, women (although they had separate entrances). According to a writer in 1899, “one of the main objects of the club is to preserve colonial and Revolutionary relics.” The club's goals reflected the ideals of the Colonial Revival in the late 19th century. An avid collector of colonial-era objects and attire, Pyle found success illustrating American historical texts by authors including Henry Cabot Lodge and Woodrow Wilson.

The window shows a range of techniques typical of ambitious Tiffany windows. The garments are made from drapery glass, which was formed by folding molten glass, and confetti and streamer glass are employed in the background foliage. The hands and faces are painted with care. Some of the distinctive effects in this window--the wine glass, the women's lace collars--are constructed from the layering of various types of glass.