Mosaic ceiling in Glencairn’s fifth-floor Chapel

The ceiling of Glencairn’s fifth-floor Chapel is covered with an elaborate glass mosaic. It was designed by Winfred S. Hyatt and manufactured and installed by artists and craftsmen in Raymond Pitcairn’s Bryn Athyn Studios. The subject is the four creatures of the biblical Apocalypse: “The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle” (Book of Revelation 4:7).

Much of the art in the Chapel draws inspiration from medieval Christian traditions. Pitcairn’s artists studied mosaics in some of the finest 5th- and 6th- century baptisteries and churches in Ravenna, Italy, in order to produce this masterpiece on the ceiling. Pitcairn began collecting medieval art in 1916 in order to provide inspirational models for the artists and craftsmen who were working on Bryn Athyn Cathedral. Pitcairn, who supervised both the design and construction of the Cathedral, was determined to build “in the Gothic way.” He assembled a highly skilled creative team in a series of workshops near the construction site, and made available to them his growing collection of medieval stained glass and sculpture. In the late 1920s, as the construction of the Cathedral began to draw to a close, work began on Glencairn, Pitcairn’s castle-like home. The same craftsmen now went about creating medieval-style artwork for the building in stained glass, stone, wood, and metal. (See External Link.)

Sources:
- Ed and Kirsten Gyllenhaal, “Winfred Sumner Hyatt: A Lifetime of Artistry,” _Glencairn Museum News_, Number 7, 2020.
- Ed and Kirsten Gyllenhaal, “The Story of Glencairn’s Glass Mosaics,” _Glencairn Museum News_, Number 6, 2013.