Collier House, "Dante" Window
To view our video on the Divine Comedy window, please click here.
Robert J. Collier, the publisher of Collier’s Weekly Magazine, became acquainted with Violet Oakley when she illustrated covers for his publication in the first decade of the twentieth century. He purchased her illustration “The Moonflower,” and displayed it in the 1905 Collier Collection exhibition at the American Art Galleries in New York. In 1910, Collier commissioned a stained glass window from Oakley for the library of the townhouse that he and his wife, Sarah Steward Van Alen, had recently purchased at 752 Park Avenue in Manhattan.
Oakley and Collier shared an appreciation for the Italian humanists Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio and initially considered them as subjects for the library stained glass window. Ultimately, they agreed on Dante’s Divine Comedy, an epic poem that had been illustrated by many famous artists, among them Sandro Botticelli, John Flaxman, William Blake, Gustave Doré, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Oakley designed the Divine Comedy window as a square divided into three vertical panels corresponding to the poem’s three books. Instead of giving equal importance to each section, she made the Paradiso the largest panel and centered it between the Inferno and the Purgatorio, which were half as wide. The Divine Comedy is modeled on the thirteenth-century medallion windows that were in style during Dante’s lifetime. Each window panel comprises a series of circular scenes illustrating the cantos. The Italian text of the cantos is inscribed on panels adjacent to the corresponding medallion. Oakley painted both images and inscriptions directly onto the glass. The window is predominantly blue, symbolizing the heavens, with the red-robed figure of Dante appearing in every medallion except the ninth circle of the Inferno. She further embellished the window’s elaborate design with light-catching glass “jewels” set in the borders.
Oakley narrated the Divine Comedy in the visual directions of Dante’s journey: his descent into the Inferno is read from top to bottom, the ascent of Mount Purgatory is read from bottom to top, and the flight through the heavenly spheres of the Paradiso soars upward to the tenth heaven. The largest scene in the window, the White Rose of the Tenth Heaven is a vision Eve seated at the feet of the enthroned Virgin Mary. Deeply moved by Dante’s image of the first woman’s redemption, Oakley made several studies for a fountain on the theme of Eve at the Feet of Mary as well as a mural in the Great Women of the Bible series at First Presbyterian Church in Germantown in the 1940s.
Oakley’s red chalk preparatory drawings for the Divine Comedy window were published in The Century Illustrated Magazine in December 1912. When the drawings were exhibited at the Architectural League of New York in 1914, art critic Royal Cortissoz wrote in the New York Tribune that “these windows, based on episodes of Dante and showing here and there, by the way, the influence of Botticelli’s famous drawings, make it plain that the artist has found her golden opportunity and successfully risen to it.”
The Divine Comedy window was Oakley’s most highly acclaimed work in stained glass. Collier lent the window to the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, where it received a gold medal. After Collier’s death in 1918, his New York townhouse was sold. His widow removed the window and gave it to the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See at 1811 Biltmore Street NW in Washington, DC. After that building was razed in 1939, the window was moved to its current location in the stairwell of the Residence of the Apostolic Nuncio at 3339 Massachusetts Avenue NW.
Works in Woodmere’s Collection
Works in Other Collections
The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri Stained Glass Window, 1910-12, designed by Violet Oakley (Apostolic Nunciature in the United States of America) Photograph by Darryl Moran
Scale Model of the Dante Window, date unknown (Smithsonian American Art Museum: Gift of the Violet Oakley Memorial Foundation)
(Detail) The Dark Wood and the Hill, Inferno, the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri Stained Glass Window, 1910-12, designed by Violet Oakley (Apostolic Nunciature in the United States of America) Photograph by Darryl Moran
(Detail) Dante Meets the Three Beasts, Inferno, the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri Stained Glass Window, 1910-12, designed by Violet Oakley (Apostolic Nunciature in the United States of America) Photograph by Darryl Moran
Composition Study for "Dante Meets the Three Beasts," 1912 (Philadelphia Museum of Art: Bequest of Edith Emerson, 1984)
(Detail) Virgil Leads Dante through the Rain of Fire, Inferno, the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri Stained Glass Window, 1910-12, designed by Violet Oakley (Apostolic Nunciature in the United States of America) Photograph by Darryl Moran
(Detail) Lucifer in the Center of the Earth, Inferno, the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri Stained Glass Window, 1910-12, designed by Violet Oakley (Apostolic Nunciature in the United States of America) Photograph by Darryl Moran
(Detail) Dream sequence and rapture or rape of Dante by the eagle, Purgatorio, the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri Stained Glass Window, 1910-12, designed by Violet Oakley (Apostolic Nunciature in the United States of America) Photograph by Darryl Moran
(Detail) Dante passes through the wall of fire with Virgil, Purgatorio, the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri Stained Glass Window, 1910-12, designed by Violet Oakley (Apostolic Nunciature in the United States of America) Photograph by Darryl Moran
(Detail) The Earthly Paradise, Purgatorio, the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri Stained Glass Window, 1910-12, designed by Violet Oakley (Apostolic Nunciature in the United States of America) Photograph by Darryl Moran
Study for "Dante on the Mountain of Purification," Divine Comedy Window, c. 1911 (Philadelphia Museum of Art: Purchased with Lola Downin Peck Fund, 1978)
The Earthly Paradise (Study for Purgatorio, Dante Window), 1912 (Courtesy of the Drexel Collection, Drexel University)
(Detail) Beatrice, Divine Wisdom, Descends from Heaven Upon the Chariot of the Church, Purgatorio, the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri Stained Glass Window, 1910-12, designed by Violet Oakley (Apostolic Nunciature in the United States of America) Photograph by Darryl Moran
(Detail) Beatrice Lifts Dante to the First Moving Heaven of the Moon, Paradiso, the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri Stained Glass Window, 1910-12, designed by Violet Oakley (Apostolic Nunciature in the United States of America) Photograph by Darryl Moran
Beatrice and Dante, Study for Dante Window, Paradiso, c. 1904-05 (Courtesy of the Drexel Collection, Drexel University
(Detail) The Sacred Stairway of Contemplation, Paradiso, the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri Stained Glass Window, 1910-12, designed by Violet Oakley (Apostolic Nunciature in the United States of America) Photograph by Darryl Moran
(Detail) Beatrice Shows Dante the River of Light, Paradiso, the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri Stained Glass Window, 1910-12, designed by Violet Oakley (Apostolic Nunciature in the United States of America) Photograph by Darryl Moran
Beatrice, Study for Paradiso, Medallion 11, c. 1912 (Smithsonian American Art Museum: Gift of the Violet Oakley Memorial Foundation)
(Detail) The White Rose and the Tenth Heaven, Paradiso, the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri Stained Glass Window, 1910-12, designed by Violet Oakley (Apostolic Nunciature in the United States of America) Photograph by Darryl Moran
Historical Images
Mills Thompson posing for Violet Oakley's Dante Window, c. 1911 (Violet Oakley papers, 1841-1981. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/items/detail/mills-thompson-posing-violet-oakleys-dante-window-16709) Photographer unknown
Models posing for Violet Oakley's Dante Window, c. 1911 (Violet Oakley papers, 1841-1981. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/items/detail/models-posing-violet-oakleys-dante-window-15862) Photographer unknown
Mills Thompson posing for Violet Oakley's Dante Window, c. 1911 (Violet Oakley papers, 1841-1981. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/items/detail/mills-thompson-posing-violet-oakleys-dante-window-16707) Photographer unknown
Mills Thompson posing for Violet Oakley's Dante Window, c. 1911 (Violet Oakley papers, 1841-1981. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/items/detail/mills-thompson-posing-violet-oakleys-dante-window-16708) Photographer unknown
Sleeping alcove in Violet Oakley's studio, with cartoons for the Dante Window at upper left, c. 1975. Photograph by Rick Echelmeyer
Violet Oakley with bust of Dante Alighieri, 190-? (Violet Oakley papers, 1841-1981. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/items/detail/violet-oakley-bust-dante-alighieri-17619) Photographer unknown
Related Works in Woodmere’s Collection
"The River of Light," Paradiso, Century Magazine, December 1912, by Violet Oakley (Woodmere Art Museum)
"Beatrice and Dante," Paradiso, Century Magazine, December 1912, by Violet Oakley (Woodmere Art Museum)
Portrait head study of Mills Thompson, date unknown, by Violet Oakley (Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 2015)
Portrait head study of Mills Thompson, date unknown, by Violet Oakley (Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 2015)
Composition study for "The Redemption," from the mural series "Great Women of the Bible," First Presbyterian Church in Germantown, PA, c. 1945-49, by Violet Oakley (Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of Russell Harris, MD, in honor of John Casavecchia, 2017)
Study of the Virgin Mary for "The Redemption," from the mural series "Great Women of the Bible," First Presbyterian Church in Germantown, PA, c. 1945-48, by Violet Oakley (Woodmere Art Museum: Museum purchase, 1957)
Study for "Eve at the Feet of the Virgin Mary" proposed fountain, 1936-37, by Violet Oakley (Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 2015)
Study for "Eve at the Feet of the Virgin Mary" proposed fountain, 1936-37, by Violet Oakley (Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 2015)
Illuminated text study for "Woman – lei Miracoli della sua vita," date unknown, by Violet Oakley (Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 2015)
Illuminated text study [Page 2?] for "Woman – lei Miracoli della sua vita," date unknown, by Violet Oakley (Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 2015)
Study of Trevi Fountain, Rome, date unknown, by Violet Oakley (Woodmere Art Museum: Gift of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 2015)
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