Daniel Cottier

William Watts Sherman House, Newport, Rhode Island
Richard Bourne Auction, Hyannis, Massachusetts, December 15, 1987, lot 152A
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Doreen Bulger Burke, et al., In Pursuit of Beauty: Americans and the Aesthetic Movement, exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1986, p. 190 (for related windows)

British designer Daniel Cottier was a major proponent of the Aesthetic movement, creating “Art for Art’s sake” and reviving Pre-Raphaelite style through his exquisite stained glass windows. Born in Glasgow, Cottier subsequently moved to London and in 1873 brought Cottier & Co. to New York. The opening of this business enabled him to introduce the Aesthetic style to an American audience. He became renowned in particular for the extraordinary range of color used in his windows, which is exemplified by the brilliant scarlet red peony and olive green leaves in the present lot. The complexity of the design and its inspiration from nature make it clear how Cottier’s work was a seminal influence on the glass work of John La Farge and Louis Comfort Tiffany.