Stained Glass Window of Prodigal Son Narrative by Benjamin Sellers

Benjamin Sellers (1860–1930) was a

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

artisan in the Northeastern US. He was a practitioner of the opalescent style of stained glass popularized by

John La Farge John La Farge (March 31, 1835 – November 14, 1910) was an American artist whose career spanned illustration, murals, interior design, painting, and popular books on his Asian travels and other art-related topics. La Farge made stained glass ...

and

Louis Comfort Tiffany Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is associated with the art nouveauLander, David"The Buyable ...

in the late 19th century. Sellers moved from

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England to the US in 1882. He worked at the

Tiffany Glass Tiffany glass refers to the many and varied types of glass developed and produced from 1878 to 1929–1930 at the Tiffany Studios in New York City, by Louis Comfort Tiffany and a team of other designers, including Clara Driscoll, Agnes F. Northr ...

manufacture in

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

for 10 years. After 1892, Sellers started his own studio, Benjamin Sellers & Sons, which provided a wide variety of ecclesiastical and domestic stained glass. Advertisements for Benjamin Sellers & Sons frequently mention custom memorial windows and interior decorations. Sellers' work gained widespread praise among his contemporaries and he was frequently commissioned by wealthy parishes to design custom windows. His work can be found in the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church (Manhattan), First Presbyterian Church of Newtown, Sayville Congregational Church, Second Congregational Church of Winstead, and First Memorial Presbyterian Church of

Dover, New Jersey Dover is a town in Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located on the Rockaway River, Dover is about west of New York City and about west of Newark, New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 18,4 ...

among others. One of his most notable creations is the depiction of the

Parable of the Prodigal Son The Parable of the Prodigal Son (also known as the parable of the Two Brothers, Lost Son, Loving Father, or of the Forgiving Father; ) is one of the parables of Jesus in the Bible, appearing in Luke 15:11–32. In Luke 15, Jesus tells this sto ...

story on the exterior facade of The Bowery Mission. After Sellers retired the work was carried on by his son until the firm closed in 1920.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sellers, Benjamin 1860 births 1930 deaths English stained glass artists and manufacturers British glass artists American stained glass artists and manufacturers English emigrants to the United States 19th-century British male artists Artists from Birmingham, West Midlands 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists