Stolen stained glass window returned to Worcester museum

Arts

The panel was recovered in a New York auction house last year after a cross-country journey from Boston to the West Coast.

An anonymous donor returned a missing 125-year old stained glass window to the Worcester Art Museum, 50 years after it was supposed to be delivered.

The Worcester Art Museum released an announcement detailing the return of the glass window, made by Louis C. Tiffany in 1899. The window, called Age of Resurrection, originally consisted of three panels. The middle panel depicts an “angelic figure,” while the two side panels portray fields full of lilies, according to the announcement. Mount Vernon Congregational Church in Boston donated the three panels to the museum in 1975, the statement said.

After 49 years, 150-year-old panel arrives at museum

However, the museum said, one of the panels depicting the lilies never made the journey. The panel was stolen while it was being prepared for transportation, according to the announcement.

Forty years later, in 2023, the panel came into a New York auction house, the museum said. Researchers “had an inkling” the panel may have been missing and entered it into the Art Loss Register last year, according to the announcement.

“The ALR team were quick to compare archival images of the three panels in situ at Mount Vernon Church and noticed that despite missing the top third of the window and the dedication at the bottom, what was left of the panel was visually identical,” the statement said. “It’s possible that the panel had been cut down following the theft to anonymize the item and perhaps make it easier to sell, particularly as each panel is over 2 meters tall.”

The auction house consignor acquired the panel on the West Coast sometime in the nineties, according to the museum. They were “quick to confirm” they wanted the panel back with the other two, the statement said.

“We are grateful to the Art Loss Register for recovering this exquisite stained-glass panel. Its loss was fresh in our minds as we recently exhibited the Tiffany and LaFarge windows after extensive conservation work sponsored by the Luce Foundation,” Claire Whitner, Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Worcester Art Museum said. “Given how long ago the window had gone missing, I don’t think many of us expected to have it return so soon. We are equally thankful to the present owner for helping us reunite the Tiffany triptych.”

The Worcester Art Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 55 Salisbury Street in Worcester.