Franz Mayer & Co.

Franz Mayer & Co. (Mayer & Co. 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]

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

History
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)

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]

  • Cathedral of St Patrick and St Colman, Newry
  • Church of the Immaculate Conception, Wexford
  • Church of the Sacred Heart (Omagh), Co. Tyrone[9][10]
  • Dominican Church, Dundalk
  • Loreto Convent, Omagh
  • Mausoleum Monivea, County Galway
  • Presentation Brothers' Novitiate, Blarney Street, Cork City
  • Presentation Convent, Tralee
  • St. Patrick's College, Maynooth
  • Vincentians, Sunday's Well, County Cork

Catholic cathedrals
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

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
  • Park Rd., Dún Laoghaire
  • St. John's, Sligo
  • St. Mary's, Church of Ireland, Athenry, Co. Galway
  • St. Mark's Church of Ireland, Ligoniel Road, Belfast
  • St. Nicholas' Church of Ireland, Adare, Co. Limerick
  • Skibbereen
  • Templeague

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".
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

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. "History", Franz Mayer of Munich, Inc.
  4. "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

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