All that glitters IS silver

On Saturday December 14^th, the museum opened the newest restored space on its public tours – the dining room silver closet.  This space, located to the left of the fireplace in the dining room, had served as a simple storage closet since the Glessners died in the 1930s and was in need of some attention.  Thanks to a generous anonymous gift to the museum’s 125^th anniversary fund, the space has been restored to its original appearance, and now showcases pieces from the Glessners’ large collection of silver. 

The restoration involved the work of several talented craftsmen:

Historic paint analysis – Robert Furhoff

Oak-framed glass enclosure – Kevin Welter

Lighting consultant – Peter Hugh

Electrical – Block Electric

Wood refinishing – Lee Redmond

Painting and wall repair – Shamrock Decorating

The display in the silver closet will change from time to time, as there are many more pieces of silver in the museum collection than can be displayed at any one time.  These include pieces owned by John and Frances Glessner, items owned by their daughter Frances Glessner Lee, and a wonderful collection from the Fisk-Botsford-Harvey family that moved into their nearby home at 2100 S. Calumet Avenue in 1885.  The display will also include several silver bags from Marshall Field and other dealers from whom the Glessners purchased their pieces.  Silver items would have typically been stored in the closet in bags such as these to prevent tarnishing.

Three items that will remain on permanent display in the closet are among the most special in the entire museum collection.  These three pieces were handcrafted by Frances Glessner in her silversmithing shop located in the basement of the house, directly beneath the dining room.

We know from her journal that she began doing her silver work in late 1904.  An entry dated October 28, 1904 reads “I went to call on Mrs. Wynne to arrange to take lessons in metal work.”  Mrs. Wynne was Madeline Yale Wynne, a highly talented metal worker and a charter member of the Chicago Arts and Crafts Society, founded at Hull-House in 1897.  (For more information on her, see the blog article dated August 29, 2011).  Frances Glessner also took lessons from Annibale Fogliata, a metal smith who taught at Hull-House.

She had her first lesson from Mrs. Wynne on November 29^th and soon after made the salt cellar shown above as a gift for her husband.  The inscription on the underside of the piece reads “Made by F.M.G. for J.J.G. Dec. 25^th 1904.”  It is one of the three pieces now on display in the silver closet, all of which display her trademark features – simple clean lines and visible hammer marks across the surface.

The largest piece on display is a calling card tray, measuring 8-1/2 inches in length and featuring simple curved sides.  For many years, the tray sat on the drum table in the main hall, allowing lady visitors to leave their cards when paying a call. 

The third piece is a charming silver bowl with an elegant scalloped edge.  Frances Glessner made the piece for her youngest granddaughter, Martha Lee, born in November 1906.   The inscription reads “Martha Lee from FMG.”  All three pieces were donated to the museum by this granddaughter, later Martha (Lee) Batchelder.

Frances Glessner’s silver mark features her initial “G” encircling a honeybee, the symbol of another of her favorite hobbies – beekeeping.  She actively pursued her interest in metal work for about a decade – making countless pieces and expanding to make jewelry as well, usually long chains set with semi-precious stones.  Her journal is full of letters from thankful recipients, and it appears that most, if not all, of the members of her Monday Morning Reading Class were among those to receive one of these special hand-made gifts.

Today, this exhibit of her silver work is another way in which we can interpret the life of this most fascinating individual.

Harpist Enrico Tramonti

John and Frances Glessner were deeply involved with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from the time of its founding in the fall of 1891.  Their support went far beyond being merely financial – conductors Theodore Thomas and Frederick Stock were intimate friends, and many of the musicians in the orchestra enjoyed the Glessners’ hospitality at 1800 South Prairie Avenue through the years.  Perhaps no one benefitted from the Glessners’ friendship more than harpist Enrico Tramonti and his wife Juliette.

Enrico Tramonti was born in Palermo on the island of Sicily on October 3, 1874.  He began studying music as a young teen and had settled on the harp by the time he was 15.  In 1896, he made his debut before Queen Margherita of Italy and two years later performed for Queen Victoria.  He was married in 1900 to Juliette Oltramare (born May 8, 1880 in Geneva, Switzerland), and assumed the position of harpist with the Chicago Symphony in February 1902.  The Tramontis had two sons – Albert (born January 1901) and Jacques René (born May 1902). 

It is interesting to note that Enrico Tramonti was the exact age of the Glessners’ second son John Francis (who died as an infant), and Juliette Tramonti was two years younger than their daughter Fanny.  The fact that the four became close friends is not surprising – the Glessners frequently befriended individuals whom they respected for their talent and intellect, regardless of the difference in age.  In addition, Frances Glessner’s ability to provide a warm and inviting home for those arriving in Chicago is well documented in numerous letters from the Tramontis and many others.  

An excerpt from a letter written by Juliette to Frances Glessner in November 1911 is typical:

“Now, dear dear Mrs. Glessner you are spoiling us, you do so much for our happiness – what can we do for you?  Love you and Mr. Glessner with all respect and devotion – Yes, but this we have done for a long long time, and no presents could increase it.  Only it is awfully good to be spoiled!!  Especially when you are so far from home.”

In February 1903, Frances Glessner noted in her journal, “Today we had the Reading Class luncheon.  I had Tramonti, the new harpist in the orchestra come up and play for us.  I introduced him to the ladies and made up a French speaking table for him.”  Frances Glessner also invited Juliette Tramonti to become a member of the Reading Class, an honor which she greatly cherished.  The Tramontis took a flat at 2218 South Prairie Avenue and became frequent guests at the Glessners’ home, and their summer estate, The Rocks, in New Hampshire. 

Frances Glessner made sure to include the Tramontis in holiday events as well; aware of the fact they were far away from their home and family.  Her journal records numerous holidays where the Tramontis were among the small group of invited guests.   In 1911, Frances Glessner recorded the following entry, “Mrs. Tramonti came to breakfast on Sunday morning (Christmas Eve) and was here nearly all day helping to decorate the tree.”  The Tramontis also spent Christmas Day with the Glessner family.   Juliette Tramonti wrote the following letter of thanks:

“My dear Mrs. Glessner,

I have not thanked you half as much as I felt yesterday, for the beautiful Christmas you made for us!  It will be a long remembered one, the beautiful, inspiring tree, the fine family dinner, our beautiful present, and above all the sweet comforting feeling of being in a family (and such a one!) and being made almost to believe you belong to it – all that is above words, but I just want to tell you that we feel it deeply!

Thank you for all, dear Mrs. Glessner and believe me yours, all devoted

Juliette Tramonti”

The Glessners’ granddaughter Martha, born in 1906, remembered the Tramontis and their frequent visits to the family home.  No doubt the Tramontis felt closeness with the Glessners’ grandchildren, who were all about the same age as their own two sons.  Martha Batchelder recalled many years later:

“They were just plain nice people and fun of course.  He was Sicilian and she was Swiss.  They had two sons which they always left with the grandmother in Switzerland, so they were never in Chicago with them.  They went home in the summer to be with the children.”

Enrico Tramonti, in addition to being an accomplished harpist, was also a talented metal worker.  No doubt this connection strengthened the friendship between him and Frances Glessner, who was a talented silver smith.  Tramonti presented Frances Glessner with several objects including a beautiful trinket box now on display in the parlor, shown below.  The box displays masterfully crafted metalwork featuring a beetle at the center of the box.

Tramonti also crafted two hanging telephone registers for holding names and telephone numbers, which the Glessners hung above their telephone table in the library.  The two pieces are now displayed on the library desk, and the brass tops of both are shown below.

Enrico Tramonti left the symphony in 1927 after 25 years of service and he and his wife returned to Europe.  He died in Geneva, Switzerland on August 10, 1928 at the age of 53.  The Tramontis move back to Europe and his subsequent passing the next year must have been difficult for the Glessners with whom they had enjoyed a quarter century of friendship.  Juliette Tramonti died in 1943.

Iznik Tiles at Glessner House

During 1886 and 1887 when the house was under construction, John and Frances Glessner spent considerable time shopping for countless items for their new home, from fireplace fittings to rugs, and textiles to tiles.  One of the most interesting items they acquired was a set of Iznik tiles for the dining room fireplace.   (The name Iznik derives from the city in Turkey where the tiles were made).

In 1886, during a trip to New York, Frances Glessner records in her journal:  “We went Thursday morning to hunt up tiles.  We found some beauties at Lockwood de Forest’s.”  Lockwood de Forest (1850-1932) was an important figure in the American Aesthetic Movement, largely remembered today for introducting East Indian crafts to America.  He was born into a wealthy family that encouraged the study and pursuit of the arts; his older brother Robert Weeks de Forest served as president of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for seventeen years.  Lockwood de Forest studied painting with his great uncle Frederic Edwin Church and enjoyed moderate success.  By the late 1870s however, he turned his attention to decoration and architecture, becoming a partner in the design firm of Associated Artists, along with Louis Comfort Tiffany, Samuel Colman, and Candace Wheeler.  His travels took him to the Middle East, North Africa, and most importantly British India, where he developed a passion for local craftsmanship.  He opened a workshop in India, which produced architectural elements and furniture.  After Associated Artists closed in 1882, de Forest opened his own company, which was hugely successful, supplying decorative items and architectural elements to such clients as Andrew Carnegie, Charles Tyson Yerkes, Mark Twain, and Potter Palmer.   In later years he built a home at Santa Barbara, California where he resumed painting actively.  He died there in 1932. 

The tiles that the Glessners purchased from de Forest for their dining room fireplace were among the many objects that he acquired and shipped to the U.S. for his American clients.  He apparently owned quite a few tiles in the design that the Glessner selected, for they appear in at least two other houses with which he was connected, including his own home in Santa Barbara (where they are used on a fountain in an outdoor courtyard).  Correspondence between de Forest and the Glessners indicates that they bought the remaining tiles of this particular design that he had in his shop.

The tiles, which measure roughly eight inches square were made in Iznik region of Turkey in the middle part of the 16^th century.  They were installed in various locations throughout the Middle East including the tomb of Muhi al-Din Ibn ‘Arabi in Damascus (see above).  Polychromatic schemes were developed during this middle period of Iznik pottery making using seven colors in various combinations – blue, purple, red, green, turquoise, grey, and black.  The body of the tiles is fritware, a composite paste material made from quartz sand mixed with small amounts of finely ground glass (frit) and clay.  When fired, the frit melts and binds the other components together.  The tile was then coated with a thin layer of white slip, a liquid clay mixture, similar to the fritware paste, but more finely ground and purer in composition.  The tile was lightly fired to dry it out, and then painted with pigments mixed with frit.  The wares were then glazed with a lead-alkaline-tin glaze and fired to a transparent sheen. 

After the Glessners died in the 1930s, their daughter, Frances Glessner Lee, had the tiles removed and reinstalled on a fireplace at the “cottage,” her home at The Rocks estate in New Hampshire.  They remain at the cottage today, but are promised to the museum and will be returned once sufficient funding is in hand to remove them and reinstall in the dining room.  At present, only two original tiles are on the fireplace, distinguishable by their slightly darker color.  They were a gift of Frances Lee’s daughter, Martha Lee Batchelder.  All the other are reproductions created in the 1970s by artist Paula Garrett Ellis.  A third original tile is displayed on the plate rail in the main hall, a gift from Dr. Edward Gamson of Washington D.C., who acquired it from an employee of Armour Institute, which occupied the Glessner house at the time the tiles were removed in the 1930s.

The Rocks Estate

In August 1883, John and Frances Glessner and their children George and Fanny moved into their new summer home, which they called the “Big House” at their estate “The Rocks” in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, mid-way between Littleton and Bethlehem.  The Glessners had first considered the White Mountains for their summer home at the suggestion of George’s doctor, who indicated that George might experience significant relief from his severe hayfever by leaving Chicago and traveling to this part of the country.  When George first visited the White Mountains in 1878, the relief was dramatic and immediate, so the Glessners opted to make the locale their annual destination.  The Glessners continued to make The Rocks their home every summer until their deaths in the 1930s, and both George and Fanny later made the estate their permanent home.  A portion of the estate at the western end of the property is still in the possession of two descendants of George Glessner, making six generations of the family to call The Rocks home. 

In 1977, two of the Glessners grandchildren, John Glessner Lee and Martha Lee Batchelder, made the decision to donate the majority of the property (1333 of the approximate 2000 acres assembled by their grandparents) to the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.  The Society had been formed in 1901 to acquire and protect forested lands throughout the state in response to widespread clear-cutting being undertaken by farmers.  John Glessner was a strong supporter of the Society and joined in 1903, just two years after it was founded, so it was a very appropriate choice for the grandchildren to present the organization with The Rocks property.  The estate includes numerous original buildings constructed by the Glessners from the 1880s through the 1910s designed by Isaac Scott, Hermann V. von Holst and others, as well as more than 500 species of trees and other plants. 

The Rocks Estate is supported in large part today by its use as a Christmas tree farm, which satisfies one of the stipulations of the gift requiring the Society to keep an active crop growing on the estate at all times.   Open to the public year round, the estate also offers a number of hiking trails and other activities which help visitors to explore the vast beauty of the property.  Visit http://www.therocks.org/ for more information.

At the museum, we carry on a Glessner family tradition begun more than a century ago by shipping a Christmas tree from The Rocks every year.  The Glessners originally used small table-top trees (their 1888 tree is pictured above), but by the early 1900s adopted the custom of a larger tree which they displayed in the main hall, where the museum places the tree each year.   Click on the link below to see the tree selected for this year’s celebration:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheRocksEstate#p/u/0/UC180Aapox0

Glessner and Clarke House Museums will be decorated for Christmas from Wednesday November 23^rd through Saturday December 31^st.  A special part of the holiday tradition at the museums is our annual Candlelight Tours, scheduled this year for Saturday December 10 and Sunday December 11.  During these special tours, attendees will learn about Christmas traditions of the mid- to late-19^th century and see both houses decorated in historically appropriate fashion.  Afterwards, participants are invited to the nearby Wheeler Mansion for refreshments.  For more information, visit http://www.glessnerhouse.org/Events.htm , or call 312-326-1480 to make reservations.

Parlor restoration part III - the Morris draperies

William Morris textiles and wallpapers were used extensively by the Glessners for their new home when it was completed in 1887.  Although the original wallpaper in the parlor was not a Morris design, the Glessners did select a Morris textile for the window draperies and the portieres in the doorway leading to the dining room.  In addition, two pairs of exceptional hand-embroidered Morris portieres were selected for use on the twin doorways leading to the main hall.  (These portieres were donated to the Art Institute in 1918 by the Glessners and were not reproduced in the current restoration).

The Kennet design chosen for the draperies was a popular Morris design registered by the company in October 1883.  Available in a number of colorways in printed cotton, velveteen, or woven silk, the design consisted of a large 27.5” repeat of two types of flowers with distinctive foliage vining upwards on the fabric.  The textile for the parlor, produced by Morris & Company at their Merton Abbey Works, was executed in tones of coral and light pink, which coordinated beautifully with the Italian Sienna marble on the fireplace.  It was a silk, satin weave with self-patterning ground wefts bound in twill interlacing.  Silk brush fringe and large tiebacks completed the ensemble at the windows.  Historic photos show that the draperies were always pulled open, with the only other covering on the windows being simple linen shades.  This would be consistent with Richardson’s idea for the house whereby the main rooms, including the parlor, faced south to capture abundant natural light and bring it into these spaces.

In 1971, the Glessners’ granddaughter Martha Batchelder donated a large fragment of one of the drapery panels (shown above) to the Art Institute of Chicago where it was displayed as recently as 2010 during the Apostles of Beauty exhibition.  This fragment was used to correctly identify the five colors used to create the textile.  The design itself was created digitally and printed on a sateen fabric to closely replicate the sheen of the original.  Production was executed by Trustworth Studios of Plymouth Massachusetts, the same company that produced the digital version of the Morris & Company Blossom wallpaper installed in Fanny Glessner’s bedroom in August 2009. 

Work is rapidly being completed in the parlor.  This week the wall covering is being installed and the drapes are being assembled.  The formal dedication of the restored parlor will take place on Friday October 14 beginning with a reception at 6:00pm, followed by the dedication and a talk by architect/historian John Waters on William Pretyman, designer of the wall covering.  For reservations, call 312.326.1480.