MORRISON HECKSCHER: This majestic stained glass window by Henry Sharp originally graced the walls of Saint Ann’s Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, New York. The historic Gothic revival building dates from the late 1860s. Sharp’s full-sized allegorical figures stand within a decorative Gothic canopy. On the left, a woman representing Faith holds a towering cross. And the right figure rests on a large anchor, which is the emblem of hope. The brilliant jeweltones of the richly painted glass characterize the Gothic revival period. Decorative Arts Curator Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen.

ALICE COONEY FRELINGHUYSEN: In these windows for example you see the brilliant blue background. And then the robes are this wonderful damask work on bright green or bright purple, with very delicately painted faces and enamel decoration on the bodice.

MORRISON HECKSCHER: A surge of church building led to the growth of the stained glass industry in New York in the mid-1850s. But beginning in the 1870s, opalescent glass started to replace windows like these.

ALICE COONEY FRELINGHUYSEN: And these windows are so important, in that they are documented to a particular glass stainer. Glass of this period is exceedingly rare. Documented glass of this period is rarer still.

MORRISON HECKSCHER: The Met, which has the most comprehensive collection of American stained glass in the world, acquired these windows as a gift in 2002.