Franz Mayer & Co.

Last updated
Window by Franz Mayer & Co. for St. Matthew's German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. Church Music window.jpg
Window by Franz Mayer & Co. for St. Matthew's German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Charleston, South Carolina, USA.

Franz Mayer of Munich is a German stained glass design and manufacturing company, based in Munich, Germany, that has been active throughout most of the world for over 160 years. The firm was very popular during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and was the principal provider of stained glass to the large Roman Catholic churches that were constructed throughout the world during that period. Franz Mayer and Co. were stained glass artists to the Holy See and consequently were popular with Roman Catholic clients. [1]

Contents

History

Monaghan Saint Macartan's Cathedral Window Patrons of Ireland Detail Saint Patrick Monaghan Saint Macartan's Cathedral Window Patrons of Ireland Detail Saint Patrick 2013 09 21.jpg
Monaghan Saint Macartan's Cathedral Window Patrons of Ireland Detail Saint Patrick
Great window in the choir gallery of St. Mary - St. Catherine of Siena Parish (Charlestown, MA, USA) StM-window.jpg
Great window in the choir gallery of St. Mary – St. Catherine of Siena Parish (Charlestown, MA, USA)

In 1847, Joseph Gabriel Mayer (1808–1883) founded the “Institute for Christian Art“ in Munich, to make ecclesiastical furnishings. [2] Royal commissions for the Cologne and Regensburg cathedrals drew Mayer to create a stained glass department in 1860. In 1865 a branch was opened in London, and in 1888 in New York City. [3]

"Stylistically, Mayer's windows tend to contain richly colored scenes bordered by architectural frames consisting of pilasters, columns, architrave and elaborate canopies." [4] It represents an aesthetic that was evidently prized in its time for its craftsmanship and opulence as well as for its ability to engage the viewer emotionally and spiritually. [4]

Broadly speaking, the Munich Pictorial Style is Romantic and "owed much to the revival of religious painting - especially fresco painting in the tradition of the Italian Renaissance masters, especially Masaccio, Raphael, and Michelangelo - in Germany early in the 19th-century." [4] "The studio often incorporated imagery from Great Master paintings as well as compositions of the nineteenth century, a standard practice in public decorative work of the era. For example, a window in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Charleston, South Carolina, installed in 1907 or 1925-26, shows the Transfiguration of Christ modeled after the 1517 painting by Raphael in the Vatican." [5]

In 1882 the company was awarded the status of “Royal Bavarian Art Establishment“ by King Ludwig the II. In 1892, Pope Leo XIII named the company a “Pontifical Institute of Christian Art“. [3] "Munich glass windows could be imported as art, i.e., glass “paintings” and—exempt from a high tariff on imported “raw” glass ... the broad aesthetic appeal, economic advantage, and papal approval made Munich glass windows the overwhelming choice among Roman Catholics in the United States." [6] Mayer's commissions include over seventy-six cathedrals, twenty-six of them in the United States.

Along with stained glass, about half of the company's work is in mosaics. In the fifties and sixties, Mayer developed their own fibre-glass mesh. Adhesives have also been developed to the firm's own specifications. The company provides installation and curatorial services. [7]

Works in Ireland

The Mayer Co. is responsible for stained glass in at least ten of Ireland's Cathedral churches (Derry, Thurles, Letterkenny, Ballaghaderreen, Newry, Waterford, Ballina, Enniscorthy, Carlow, and Cobh). The work of Franz Mayer & Co. in Ireland is the subject of ongoing research at Trinity College Dublin. (as at January, 2020). [8]

Catholic cathedrals

Detail of a stained glass window featuring St. Dominic receiving the rosary from the Virgin Mary by Franz Mayer in Carlow Cathedral Carlow Cathedral St Dominic Receives the Rosary from the Virgin Mary 2009 09 03.jpg
Detail of a stained glass window featuring St. Dominic receiving the rosary from the Virgin Mary by Franz Mayer in Carlow Cathedral
Thurles Cathedral Rose Window Thurles Cathedral Rose Window 2012 09 06.jpg
Thurles Cathedral Rose Window

Church of Ireland cathedrals

Catholic churches In Ireland

  • The Assumption, Magherafelt, County Londonderry
  • St. Michaels Church, Portarlington, Offaly
  • Ballymaghery, Hilltown, County Down
  • Carrick-on-suir, County Tipperary
  • Castlebar, County Mayo
  • Castlewellan, County Down
  • Church of the Immaculate Conception, Clonakilty, County Cork
  • Church of the Immaculate Conception, Termonfeckin, Co Louth
  • Church of Mary Immaculate, Collon, County Louth
  • Clones, Co. Monaghan
  • Dolphin's Barn, Dublin
  • Donnybrook, Dublin
  • Downpatrick, County Down
  • Dundalk, County Louth
  • Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh
  • Holy Cross, Tramore, County Waterford
  • Killeen, County Carlow 1909
  • Kintullagh, County Galway
  • Knock, Co. Laois
  • New Ross, County Wexford
  • Omagh, County Tyrone
  • Our Lady and St. David, Naas, County Kildare
  • Our Lady of Lourdes, Limerick [12]
  • Our Lady of the Assumption, Collooney, County Sligo
  • Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Ballingarry, Co. Limerick
  • Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Tenure, Castlebellingham, County Louth

Church of the Sacred Heart, Templemore, County Tipperary [13]

  • St. Ailbe's, Emly, County Tipperary
  • St. Ann's Dawson St., Dublin
  • St. Brigid's, Ardagh, County Longford
  • St. Brigid's, Clara, County Offaly
  • St. Columb's Derry
  • St. Conleth's, Newbridge, County Kildare
  • St. Cronan's, Roscrea, County Tipperary
  • St. Joseph, Baltinglass, County Wicklow
  • St. Mary, Askeaton
  • St. Mary of the Rosary, Nenagh, County Tipperary
  • St. Mary's and St. Michael's, Rathdrum, County Wicklow
  • St. Mary's Athlone, County Westmeath
  • St. Mary's Drogheda, County Louth
  • St. Mary's, Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan
  • St. Mary's Galway
  • St Mary's Church, Navan
  • St. Matthew's Church, Ballymahon, Co. Longford
  • St. Michael's, Tipperary
  • St. Patrick's, Ballybay, County Monaghan
  • St. Patrick's Killygordan, County Donegal
  • St. Patrick's Monkstown, County Dublin
  • St. Patrick's, Trim, Meath
  • St. Peter's Drogheda, County Louth
  • St. Peter's Phibsborough, Dublin City
  • St. Teresa's, Laban, Ardrahan, County Galway
  • Sts Patrick and Brigid, Kilmallock, County Limerick
  • Saints Peter and Paul, Monasterevin, County Kildare
  • Strabane, County Tyrone
  • Whitehouse, County Antrim

Church of Ireland churches

Works in the United States

Close up shot of the Mayer & Co. maker's mark on a stained glass window in St. Edward Catholic Church in Palm Beach, Florida. Image shows the text "Mayer & Co. Munich New York". SG-StEdward 00040 - Mayer & Co. makers mark.jpg
Close up shot of the Mayer & Co. maker's mark on a stained glass window in St. Edward Catholic Church in Palm Beach, Florida. Image shows the text "Mayer & Co. Munich New York".
Mayer & Co. mark on stained glass window in Omaha, Nebraska. St. Stephen the Martyr (Omaha), chapel window 1, Mayer & Co mark.jpg
Mayer & Co. mark on stained glass window in Omaha, Nebraska.

Works in Canada

St. Andrews Catholic Church, St. Andrews West Ont.

Works in the rest of the world

See also

Related Research Articles

Evie Hone Irish artist

Eva Sydney Hone RHA, usually known as Evie, was an Irish painter and stained glass artist. She is considered to be an early pioneer of cubism, although her best known works are stained glass. Her most notable pieces are the East Window in the Chapel at Eton College, which depicts the Crucifixion, and My Four Green Fields, which is now in the Government Buildings in Dublin.

Cathedral Parish of Saint Patrick (El Paso, Texas) Church in Texas, United States

St. Patrick Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of El Paso, Texas. The cathedral is located at 1118 N. Mesa Street, north of the downtown area. It is the mother church for 668,000 Catholics in the diocese. The cathedral parish operates one of El Paso's Catholic high schools, Cathedral High School, and St. Patrick Elementary School adjacent to the church.

Basilica of St. John the Baptist

The Basilica-Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador is the metropolitan cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John's, Newfoundland and the mother church and symbol of Roman Catholicism in Newfoundland.

Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception (Mobile, Alabama) Church in Alabama, United States

The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception is a cathedral serving Roman Catholics in the U.S. city of Mobile, Alabama. It is the seat of the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile. The cathedral is named for Mary, mother of Jesus, under her title, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing property to the Church Street East Historic District and Lower Dauphin Street Historic District and is listed on the Historic Roman Catholic Properties in Mobile Multiple Property Submission

Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul (Philadelphia) United States historic place

The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, head church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, is located at 18th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, on the east side of Logan Square in Philadelphia. It was built between 1846 and 1864, and was designed by Napoleon LeBrun, from original plans by the Reverend Mariano Muller and the Reverend John B. Tornatore, with the dome and Palladian facade, designed by John Notman, added after 1850. The interior was largely decorated by Constantino Brumidi.

E. W. Pugin

Edward Welby Pugin was an English architect, the eldest son of architect Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin and Louisa Barton. His father was an architect and designer of Neo-Gothic architecture, and after his death in 1852 Edward took up his successful practice. At the time of his own early death in 1875, Pugin had designed and completed more than one hundred Catholic churches.

Patrick Keely

Patrick Charles Keely was an Irish-American architect based in Brooklyn, New York, and Providence, Rhode Island. He was a prolific designer of nearly 600 churches and hundreds of other institutional buildings for the Roman Catholic Church or Roman Catholic patrons in the eastern United States and Canada, particularly in New York City, Boston and Chicago in the later half of the 19th century. He designed every 19th-century Catholic cathedral in New England. Several other church and institutional architects began their careers in his firm.

Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist (Charleston, South Carolina) Church in South Carolina , United States

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston, located in Charleston, South Carolina. Designed by Brooklyn architect Patrick Keely in the Gothic Revival style, it opened in 1907. The Most Reverend Robert E. Guglielmone, D.D., the thirteenth Bishop of Charleston, was ordained and installed on March 25, 2009.

Pro-cathedral Church serving temporarily as cathedral

A pro-cathedral is a parish church that is temporarily serving as the cathedral or co-cathedral of a diocese or has the same function in a Catholic missionary jurisdiction that is not yet entitled to a proper cathedral, such as an apostolic prefecture or apostolic administration. It is distinct from a proto-cathedral, the term in the Roman Catholic Church for a former cathedral, which typically results from moving an episcopal see to another cathedral, in the same or another city. In a broader context, the term 'proto-cathedral' may be used of a church used by a bishop before a settled cathedral has been designated.

Saint Michael the Archangel Catholic Church (Chicago) Church in Illinois, USA

St. Michael is a church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. The current church is located at E. 83rd Street and S. South Shore Drive in South Chicago, a neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.

Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception is the name of several Catholic cathedrals. Among cathedrals that have both "St. Mary" and "Immaculate Conception" somewhere their official and common names:

Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate Church in Ontario, Canada

Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and parish church in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. A Gothic Revival style building constructed between 1876 and 1888 by architect Joseph Connolly, it is considered Connolly's best work. The monumental church contains decorative carving and stained glass executed by skilled craftsmen. The church of Our Lady is one of the 122 parishes in the Diocese of Hamilton and currently has 2,600 families in the congregation.

Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington Church in Wellington Central City, New Zealand

The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Sacred Heart and of Saint Mary His Mother, better known as Sacred Heart Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral on Hill Street, Wellington, New Zealand. It is the parish church of the Thorndon Catholic parish and the Cathedral of the Archbishop of Wellington. The New Zealand Parliament is a close neighbour of the Cathedral. However, the Thorndon Catholic parish predates that institution. The Cathedral is part of a Catholic precinct which includes St Mary's College; Sacred Heart Cathedral School; St Mary's Convent, the motherhouse of the Sisters of Mercy in Wellington; the Catholic Centre, in which Catholic administration is located; and Viard House, which is both the Cathedral parish presbytery and the residence of the Archbishop.

William Hague (architect)

William Hague Jr. (1836–1899) was a well-known Irish Roman Catholic ecclesiastical architect active throughout mid- to late-nineteenth-century Ireland, particularly in Ulster. He is known as a protégé of A.W.N. Pugin. His office was located at 50 Dawson Street, Dublin.

Basilica of the Immaculate Conception (Waterbury, Connecticut) Church in Connecticut, United States

The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception is a Roman Catholic church located at 74 West Main Street in Waterbury, Connecticut.

Michael Healy was an Irish stained glass artist, one of a small number which included Wilhelmina Geddes, Evie Hone, and Harry Clarke, who achieved international recognition for their work in this medium in the first half of the 20th century. He also achieved some distinction as an illustrator and cartoonist early on in his artistic career, and as an ongoing recorder of Dublin street characters going about their daily business. Healy also occasionally painted in oil, both portraits and landscapes, exhibiting a small number of the latter during his lifetime.

References

  1. Gerry Convery. “Poetry in Stone: Sacred Heart Church.” (Omagh: Drumragh RC Parish, 1999), p.120.
  2. Williams, Gisela; Ziegler, Matthias (2020-12-02). "The Munich Atelier Where Stained Glass Comes to Life". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-12-10.
  3. 1 2 "History", Franz Mayer of Munich, Inc.
  4. 1 2 3 "Munich Pictorial Style Stained Glass Windows in Western New York", Buffalo Architecture and History
  5. Raguin, Virginia Chieffo. Stained Glass: From Its Origins to the Present, 2003, pp. 205-210
  6. "Leo Thomas (1876-1950) for George Boos (1859-1937), Munich, Germany", Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation
  7. Franz Mayer of Munich, Inc.
  8. C.M. McGee, Ph.D., Visiting Fellow, Department of History of Art & Architecture, University of Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
  9. The window dedicated to Edward Boyle over the high altar, the finest in the church, was designed and executed at a cost of £600. The window was refurbished between 1938–1948. The stained glass in the side chapels was also their work and mostly donated by the “Broderick Family of New York and Brooklyn,” as well as other families in New York City and St. Louis, Missouri. Gerry Convery. “Poetry in Stone: Sacred Heart Church.” (Omagh: Drumragh RC Parish, 1999), p. 120.
  10. Mayer & Co. also provided the Stations of the Cross at a cost of £35 each for a total of £490. These were refurbished and repainted in 1998 by Irish Contract Seating, Dromod, Co. Leitrim. Gerry Convery. “Poetry in Stone: Sacred Heart Church.” (Omagh: Drumragh RC Parish, 1999). p.122.
  11. Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  12. https://ololparish.ie/parish-history/
  13. https://www.tipperarylive.ie/news/templemore/312487/suggestions-sought-for-alternative-mass-venue-in-templemore.html
  14. "Motherhouse Tour – Nashville Dominicans" . Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  15. verified through first hand observation by Tom Fawls on 10 Dec 2012. A photo of the Mayer and Co. mark on one of the St. Edward's windows has been added to this page as verification.
  16. "St. James' Stained Glass Windows". Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  17. Archived July 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  18. Archived July 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  19. St. Mary Church, Norwalk, CT
  20. Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Guelph, Ontario (Roman Catholic)
  21. Historic England. "Church of St Michael (1507817)". PastScape. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  22. Archived December 3, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  23. Wilson, Dr. M. and Crawford, Rev. K., Pershore Abbey, Official Abbey Guide, 2008, ISBN   1-872-665-22-5, p.21

Coordinates: 48°08′48″N11°33′30″E / 48.146594370848376°N 11.558321864270347°E / 48.146594370848376; 11.558321864270347