Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

---

La Farge, John 1835-

Artist; born in New York, March 31, 1835; took a course in architectural decoration, and then, under Couture and William M. Hunt, studied painting. He began his career by decorative work and by painting religious subjects; devoting his early years principally to painting flowers and landscapes and to illustrating magazines and books. He next took up mural painting, nearly all of which was of a religious character. Later he devoted his whole time to the making of stained glass windows, for which he invented the method known as “American” in Europe. This method entirely changed the old process of the glass stainer. His work in this line has been done principally in churches and residences in New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, and other cities, and probably his most notable achievements are the Battle window in the Harvard Memorial Hall, and the Ames Memorial window, in Easton, Mass. He became a member of the National Academy of Design in 1869, and in 1900 was president of the Society of American Artists. He is author of Lectures on art; Letters from Japan, etc. [285]