STAIR to Auction Nicoll Family Memorial ‘Calvary’ Window by Tiffany Studios
Proceeds from the American Week sale will support the Episcopal Diocese of New York’s ministry in Orange County through the auction of the monumental stained-glass window.
HUDSON, N.Y. — Among the highlights of STAIR's American Week sales on August 19-20, 2026, is The Nicoll Family Memorial "Calvary,” Window, an exceptional stained-glass composition by Tiffany Studios, offered to benefit the Episcopal Diocese of New York's ministry in Orange County. Included in the American Fine Art session on August 19, 2026, is the ecclesiastical window, which exemplifies Louis Comfort Tiffany's unparalleled achievement in the medium that would come to define his artistic legacy.
Windows represented among the crowning accomplishments of Louis Comfort Tiffany's career. Through revolutionary innovations in opalescent Favrile glass, layered color, and painterly composition, Tiffany Studios transformed stained glass from an architectural ornament into a sophisticated work of art. As noted by Tiffany scholar Alastair Duncan in Tiffany Windows: The Indispensable Book on Louis Tiffany’s Masterworks, no other aspect of Tiffany's production surpassed his windows in either artistic ambition or technical accomplishment. While many of these masterworks remain in their original ecclesiastical settings and are seldom available for acquisition, the appearance of an important Tiffany memorial window at auction presents a rare opportunity for collectors and institutions alike.
Created for St. Thomas Church in New Windsor, New York, the Nicoll Family Memorial Window is both a Calvary scene and a Landscape—a dual designation that speaks to the remarkable subtlety of its design. Rather than placing the Crucifixion at the forefront, Tiffany situates the sacred narrative in the distance, allowing the surrounding landscape to serve as an equally powerful vehicle for contemplation. Towering trees and luminous white lilies frame the composition, their richly textured glass creating a sense of depth, tranquility, and quiet reverence. Exemplifying the technical sophistication of Tiffany Studios, the window combines Favrile, confetti, mottled, and drapery glass with delicately acid-etched passages in the sky to achieve a range of luminosity and painterly effect. Brilliant passages of purple, sapphire blue, verdant green, and golden yellow animate the landscape, while the softly etched sky diffuses light with an ethereal quality that enhances the composition's atmosphere. The interplay of these innovative glassmaking techniques creates a composition that imbues the window with a sense of movement and atmospheric depth that is characteristic of Tiffany's finest ecclesiastical commissions of the early twentieth century. The natural world becomes an expression of divine presence rendered through one of the most celebrated achievements of American decorative art.
The memorial window was commissioned in memory of Dr. Leonard Francis Nicoll (1876–1906), whose dedication is preserved in the inscription below the composition. The accompanying verse, drawn from the beloved nineteenth-century hymn There Is a Green Hill Far Away, reinforces the window's meditative character. Both a masterpiece of American decorative arts and an object of spiritual significance, the Nicoll Family Memorial Window embodies Tiffany Studios' extraordinary ability to unite technical innovation with emotional depth, making this offering a powerful centerpiece of STAIR's American Week sales.
American Fine Art | American Week at STAIR
Wednesday, August 19 at 2 PM
