Tiffany Masterpiece to star in Sotheby's Modern Evening Auction

With its lush landscape, vivid colors, and powerful symbolism, this glass masterpiece—created at the height of the artistic careers of Louis Comfort Tiffany and Agnes Northrop—comes from the esteemed collection of Alan Gerry, a long-term connoisseur of American art. This reemergence offers collectors and connoisseurs a rare opportunity to acquire one of Tiffany Studios’ finest works.

Gerry has long been known for his visionary leadership in the arts, notably through the creation and leadership of the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on the historic grounds of the 1969 Woodstock Festival. The Danner Memorial Window reflects his passion and deep respect for American art and design. Having treasured this Tiffany masterpiece as part of his collection for over two decades, Gerry is pleased to bring The Danner Memorial Window to auction, so that its beauty may inspire and resonate with many more for the next part of its life.

The Danner Memorial Window is the most significant and valuable Tiffany Studios work ever offered at auction, achieving $2 million when it appeared at auction in 2000, a world auction record for a Tiffany window at the time. The work stands alongside such masterpieces as the Garden Landscape Window for Linden Hall and Autumn Landscape Window (both in the permanent collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art), the Russell Sage Memorial Window (First Presbyterian Church of Far Rockaway, New York), the Helen Gould Window (private collection), and the Hartwell Memorial Window (The Art Institute of Chicago).

The aspirational scale and glorious composition of The Danner Memorial Window immerses the viewer in an idyllic landscape, featuring flourishing fruit-laden trees on the banks of a winding, flowing river set against a sunset sky. The scene is further enriched by a field of brilliant red poppies dappled with the last rays of sun. Capturing an Impressionist aesthetic and the movement of light in nature, this window exemplifies the best of Tiffany Studios’ major commissions. The painterly effects of the glass selection rival the supreme works of Impressionist masters, masterfully capturing the essence of light and color.

This masterpiece was designed by Agnes Northrop, who quickly established herself in the 1880s as one of Tiffany’s most trusted artists and leading window designers in a male-dominated field. Northrop’s notable legacy is immortalized through her creation of many of Tiffany’s most famous and masterful leaded glass windows. Renowned for her exceptional ability to capture nature’s beauty and light, she earned a celebrated place among the greatest glass designers of her time.

In 1903, Northrop designed a memorial window to her father, Allen P. Northrop, for the Reformed Church of Flushing (New York). That window, with an orange-fruited tree among stylized flowers and a meandering river, served as a thematic precursor to the far more complex Danner window, which was created 10 years later. Commissioned as a memorial to John and Terressa Danner, founding members of the First Baptist Church in Canton, Ohio, the window was a rare tribute to the couple while they were still living.

This offering comes at a momentous time, coinciding with The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s imminent installation of a monumental Tiffany three-part window, Garden Landscape, designed by Agnes Northrop. This new addition underscores the cultural significance of Tiffany windows and highlights the ongoing appreciation for these remarkable works. Notably, the acquisition was made possible in part by Alan Gerry, further solidifying a commitment to the preservation of American art.