Woman in the Window

In 1911, the studios of Louis Comfort Tiffany created a beautiful stained-glass window for a lavish Gilded Age mansion called Pembroke on New York’s Long Island. Commissioned by Captain Joseph Raphael De Lamar, a Dutch immigrant who made a vast fortune mining in the American West, the imagery of the window has long remained an enigma. New research by the Chrysler Museum of Art has led to the exciting rediscovery of three lost panels from this window and uncovered the hidden history of the window’s significance and meaning. Woman in a Pergola with Wisteria depicts the renowned American opera singer Lillian Nordica (1857–1914), who is portrayed as the titular character of Verdi’s opera Aïda. This publication reveals the poignant relationship between De Lamar and Nordica, telling the story of their lifelong friendship and the sea captain’s unrequited love for the singer, which he immortalized in Tiffany stained-glass.Two additional essays provide wider and deeper insights into the atmosphere and circumstances surrounding the creation of the window, including the reception of Aïda and the influence that dance and musical performance had on the decorative arts.