Watercolor Seaside Study
Agnes Northrop
Agnes Northrop worked as a designer for Louis Comfort Tiffany for half a century.
First hired as a young woman in 1884, Northrop became a key figure in Tiffany’s design empire, continuing to play a central role at Tiffany Studios long after Tiffany himself retired and up until the company closed in the early 1930s.
Agnes’ natural talent must have been evident early on; First hired as _____, she was soon asked to assist in designing the leaded glass windows for which Tiffany would soon earn worldwide acclaim. By 1895 Northrop was designing windows entirely on her own. She had established herself as one of Tiffany’s most trusted artists, and was one of a privileged few granted a private studio in the Manhattan workrooms of Tiffany Studios.
Known for her finely executed compositions, Northrop often relied on preparatory studies in watercolor and pencil to
She contributed to some of the most famous Tiffany windows known today, including one of our favorites, the Russell Sage Memorial Window, ca. 1905, pictured in a period Tiffany publication.
A valued member of Louis C. Tiffany’s team, in 1907 Northrop accompanied Tiffany, his associate and Clara Driscoll, another important designer and fellow "Tiffany Girl," on a three-month long sketching expedition along the coast of France. The group spent the summer touring the countryside, shopping in Paris and sketching the natural landscape and the flowers which Driscoll and Northrop would later incorporate into their designs.
This rare signed preparatory study was likely completed on a trip to a seaside.
The majority of the page features a watercolor study of a “Lady Crab,” commonly found along the eastern seaboard of the United States.
There are a number of other small studies on the page, including a series of three small finely detailed graphite drawings depict a starfish, coral and scallop shell along the right margin.
The lower left margin of the page features a series of notations in Northrop’s delicate hand, in addition to her signature.
We are proud to offer this example of Northrop’s work for sale - and continue to honor her and the many women designers from the same period whose names are still coming to light.