By Brad Larson

A basic curiosity about the faces in three stained glass windows at Trinity Episcopal Church, Oshkosh, and the discovery of old photographs have been combined to solve a 19th-century mystery, as told in a new museum publication written by Ginny Gross of the museum staff.

In 1892 Trinity Church received a large stained glass window created by Louis Comfort Tiffany and given in memory of Sarah (Daisy) Barber by her husband Charles, a prominent Oshkosh attorney. The window, which measures over twelve feet in diameter, depicts an angel standing with hands clasped in prayer. Charles Barber was also instrumental in the donation of other Trinity windows created by Franz Mayer of Munich in 1890. These windows portray two New Testament figures and were given in memory of Barber’s father, Dr. A. P. Barber, and his father-in-law, Captain James Jenkins. The faces of the Tiffany angel and Mayer saints have evoked countless comments, and in recent decades, numerous speculations about their origin.

The Barbers and Jenkins were significant figures in early Oshkosh, who were linked by marriage. Gross, a Trinity parishioner, tells the story of these families and the windows they gave to Trinity in her book, Portraits in Glass. Linking her familiarity with the windows to three photographs recently discovered in the museum archives, Gross has solved the perennial mystery of the Tiffany and Mayer faces. The figures in the windows, now determined to be portrait windows, possess the real faces of the people they commemorate.

Portraits in Glass was published in a cooperative effort between Trinity Episcopal Church and the museum. The book includes color photos of the windows, the original portraits of the people depicted, and a series of photos showing the reinstallation of the Tiffany window after restoration in 2006. In reviewing the book, Tiffany scholar Dr. Martin Eidelberg wrote: “The book is a useful and thoughtful record of the patronage behind the windows. . . Most importantly, the text has great merit. . . It is an exemplary example of a modest but useful study in local history which is valuable to students of American art at large.”
Portraits in Glass is available in the Museum Store for $5.95