Stained Glass Windows
About the St. James Stained Glass Windows Collection
St. James' sanctuary is graced by a number of stained glass windows. They represent every major type of glass and artistic style for the past one hundred years, with the exception of the ultra-modern German school.
Two panels of sixteen cherubim (pictured above left) in whites, blues and reds with silver staining, high in the south wall of the choir, were probably executed by Connick Associates in the 1950's.
The center triptych on the north wall (pictured above right), in memory of Abraham Stearns, reflects Victorian geometric designs in opalesecent glass and rolled cathedral glass, circa 1880-1910; the maker is not known.
The west triptych on the north wall is a superb example of the school of English Master Glass Painters. executed around 1935 by Heaton, Butler, & Baure, London, on hand blown antique glass. It was given in memory of Anthony Goldschmidt and his wife, Ellen Caroline Cheesborough.
The north and south wall diptychs at the east end were created by Connick Associates, Boston, in 1973. These medallions celebrate Vermont's bucolic qualities executed in rolled, handblown antique, and Hartley Wood English streaky glass. The cattle scene is in memory of Alan Mann; the horse, Hugh Coyle; stag and doe, Wardell St. John; and skier, Charles Kendall. These windows were among the last produced by the venerable Connick studio, which closed in 1986 after seventy-three years of artistry and close collaboration between Charles Connick and Ralph Cram.
The figure of St. James the Great (pictured right) is the focus of the magnificent altar triptych window with traceries, designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, listed in the 1910 Tiffany book of windows. The 96" x 144" window is entirely Tiffany glass, in muted tones of greens and browns, except for the robing, which is Kokomo ruby, opalescent drapery glass.
The east triptych on the south wall, in memory of Julia Ann Stevens, is another example of the craftsmanship of Charles Connick, 1924, revealing the artist's experiments in light control using rolled glass and heavy stencil and matte work rather than opalescent glass. Whites, blues, and silver are stained with red accents.
The center triptych on the south wall is a late nineteenth-century American, heavy opalescent picture window, with much plaiting (double glass), predominately in purples and blues, from an unknown maker, a memorial to Cornelia Bailey Williams. This, probably the oldest window in the church, reflects the technique of painting with, rather than on, the glass.
An unsigned early American rolled glass window of the late 1800's, In ambers and browns, given in memory of the Rev. George Palmer Williams, occupies the west triptych of the south wall.