A Rare Glimpse of a Tiffany Window in Green-Wood Cemetery

Brooklyn, New York's, Green-Wood Cemetery dates back to 1838 and was named a National Historic Landmark for its art, architecture, landscaping and history. Its scenic winding paths are lined with trees, hills and ponds.

It was a popular tourist attraction in the 1850s and it was the place where most famous New Yorkers who died during the second half of the nineteenth century were buried.  The New York Times said in 1866 that was the "ambition of the New Yorker to live upon the Fifth Avenue, to take his airings in the (Central) Park, and to sleep with his fathers in Green-Wood."

It is still an operating cemetery with approximately 560,000 graves. In Spring it's 478 acres, which are open to the public to drive through or stroll around, are full of beautiful mature flowering trees

This is the mausoleum of Marcus Daly, 1841 - 1900. Daly was a wealthy Montana copper mine owner.  He had emigrated from Ireland at age fifteen, penniless and without much education. By age 20 he had moved West and worked in silver mines in California and Nevada, and eventually became a prospector for a mining company and found silver mines in Montana. In 1881 he found a massive copper vein in the Anaconda mine of which he had become part owner.  The value of copper at the time was high, as it was needed for the recently invented electric light bulb.   By finding financiers to help build a smelter in Butte, Montana, to process the copper in the mine he was part owner of, Daly soon became wealthy and was known as the "Copper King."

On certain special tours and occasions the mausoleum is opened for public viewing.

The interior of the mausoleum is covered with marble.  Daly and his wife's remains are located in a vault in the rear and above is a magnificent Tiffany stained glass window.

The colors of the glass are deep and luminous!  It is hard to believe that this beautiful window is almost hidden away from view for most of the year.

As the sunlight changes so does the intensity of the colors in some parts of the window. 

I took photographs focused on four quadrants so you can see more detail.  All photos in this post can be enlarged by double clicking on them -- use the back arrow to return to the post.

You can see examples of the opalescent glass which is a signature aspect of Tiffany glass. The light shimmers through with a luminous glow.

Louis Comfort Tiffany mastered the art of drawing in glass and incorporated elements of Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau and the other international artistic movements of the era. His unique blend of brilliant color and his technological advances in glass brought him international recognition as a great, if not the greatest, glass maker of his time.

The Daly mausoleum even has a transom of stained glass window above the doors.

For all the opulence of the Tiffany stained glass window in the Daly mausoleum,  Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848 -1933), is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in a simple grave on a nearby hill, with just a small  headstone.

photo source

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