One of the reasons that I have come to love photographing stained glass windows is story. There’s the story of the building in which the window is placed. There’s the story of the people who commissioned the creation of the window. There’s the story that the artist and his or her team is asked to express in paint and layers of glass, and their artistic interpretation of that story. And then there’s the completed window and what story it actually conveys to each individual viewer across the generations.
These are details from the windows at Church of the Convenant, located on Newbury Street in Boston’s Back Bay. It is a National Historic Landmark built 1865-1867. Then, in the late 1890s, the sanctuary was completely redecorated by Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company.
It is still an active parish and they have put together a wealth of information detailing the story of the parish, the Gothic architecture of the building, and its Tiffany decoration.
There is an online tour of the windows and interior via this link. But, of course, if you’re in the area, definitely take the self-guided tour still available. The walking map provides interesting descriptions of the three Tiffany designers’ interpretations of the biblical stories they were to represent in glass.
And of the photographs I took during my most recent walking tour, following is an image that did not work out and yet I could not make myself delete it. So, I suppose such an action is part of the story of me.
More information available: http://www.cotcbos.org/
Words + Images 