At a small auction in CT just 10 miles from Hartford, I purchased a pair of
early Tiffany stained glass windows.  These windows were found behind a
dresser in a home owned by the same family since 1910, and the heirs didn't
previously know of their existence.

They depict the upper 1/3 of two women, one is Autumn, a dark-haired woman
in a white classical dress, surrounded by grapes, vines, and leaves, and the
second is either Summer or Spring, a blonde young girl in a pale green
gathered dress, with apple blossoms in the background.

Alastair Duncan in his book "Tiffany Windows" provides a copy of the cartoon
(the pen & ink drawing used to create a window) drawn by Lydia Emmett,
exhibited at the Chicago Columbia Exhibition, purportedly used as the design
for the windows in the Samuel Clemens House in Hartford.  The "Autumn" in my
possession is an exact rendition of this design.

Likewise, also uses the same drawing of "Autumn" in his book "The Revival of
Mark Twain's House ." and also claims that it is the basis for the missing
Tiffany windows.

Catherine Day, in her "Reminiscences" also describes two windows, "Autumn" a
girl surrounded by fruit and flowers over the mantle in the main hallway,
and "Summer" in the Dining Room.

The dimensions are such that the windows would have fit within the central
mullioned pane with surrounding mullions of decorative glass (mullions still
in place in the Dining Room - now missing from the main hallway overmantle
window).

Very little detail exists regarding the exact design elements created for
Nook Farm by Tiffany's company, Associated Artists.

I am looking for any evidence of these windows in-situ in photographic
format.  I have searched all of the publicly-available websites and have
come up empty.  I speculate that two factors are against me.  First, if you
are at Nook Farm with a camera in your hand, where are you going to aim it?
At Mr. Clemens, of course.  Second, with photography in its infancy at that
time, with such slow shutter speeds, any bright external light source will
surely bleach out an entire photograph.  Thus, it is less likely one would
aim their camera at a window.  I am hoping to find either a later photo, or
a drawing/sketch of the house which would show either window.

Any assistance or guidance this group could provide would be welcome, as I
have continued to come up empty after two years of research.

Thank you,

Carla Minosh
[log in to unmask]