Which American artist patented opalescent glass for stained-glass windows in 1880?

John La Farge patented opalescent glass for stained-glass windows in 1880.

La Farge’s innovation allowed a single piece of glass to contain several colors and degrees of translucency. Earlier stained-glass makers generally combined separately colored pieces with lead, while opalescent glass could produce layered, milky, and shifting effects within one sheet.

The patent became part of a major American revival of stained glass during the late nineteenth century. La Farge used the material in church windows, murals, and decorative commissions, helping establish a distinctly American approach to the medium.

Louis Comfort Tiffany is often credited with inventing opalescent glass, but that is a common mix-up: La Farge patented the technique first, and Tiffany later developed related methods and used them extensively through Tiffany Studios.