Marie (Maria) Herndl (22 June 1860 – 14 May 1912) was a 19th-century German artist who worked with

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

. She earned a bronze medal at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 for her controversial work entitled "Queen of the Elves". Herndl was arrested by the

United States Secret Service The United States Secret Service (USSS or Secret Service) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting U.S. political leaders, their families, and ...

in 1904 for trying to approach President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

about her art.

Early life

Herndl was born 22 June 1860, and raised in Munich. Her parents were both art teachers. She went to the

Royal Institute of Art The Royal Institute of Art ( sv, Kungliga Konsthögskolan) is an institution in Stockholm, Sweden for higher education in art,Franz Xaver Zettler Franz Xaver Zettler (1841-1916) was a German stained glass artist. Early life Zettler was born in 1841. Career Signature of the company ''F.X. Zettler''. He started his own stained glass design company in 1870.Jean M. Farnsworth, Carmen R. Croc ...

. She did an apprenticeship with the Gabriel Meyer Studio and one of her works entitled "Brunhilde at Worms" was sold to owners of a Bavarian castle.

Career

After moving to America she spent time in New York working for stained-glass art masters

John LaFarge 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 is best known for ...

and Louis C. Tiffany. For the

1893 world's fair The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

she created a stained-glass work called "Queen of the Elves", it also came to be called "The Fairy Queen". The work earned her a bronze medal. After the fair it was displayed at the Field House in Chicago. There was some controversy surrounding the "Queen of the Elves" stained-glass exhibit. The central figures in the piece are nude, and only their lower parts are minimally covered.

Candace Wheeler Candace Wheeler (née Thurber; March 24, 1827 – August 5, 1923), often credited as the "mother" of interior design, was one of America's first woman interior and textile designers. She is noted for helping to open the field of interior design to ...

told Herndl to cover at least the body of the central figure in the stained-glass portrait from "knees to the throat", but she refused. The organizers of the World's Fair moved her work to the African American women's exhibit and turned the glass portrait wrong side out. Herndl convinced the exhibitors at the Electric building to have her work exhibited there. It was the most popular building at the fair, and her work was in the same building as

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventio ...

George Westinghouse George Westinghouse Jr. (October 6, 1846 – March 12, 1914) was an American entrepreneur and engineer based in Pennsylvania who created the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry, receiving his first patent at the age of ...

and

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
''

In 1899 she moved to Milwaukee and began working on commission. In 1903 one of her stained-glass pieces entitled the "Hans Christian Andersen window" was given to the

Milwaukee Public Museum The Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) is a natural and human history museum in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The museum was chartered in 1882 and opened to the public in 1884; it is a not-for-profit organization operated by the Milwaukee Public Mus ...

by a group of donors who purchased the work. In 1911

Patrick Cudahy Patrick Cudahy Jr. (); March 17, 1849 – July 25, 1919) was an American industrialist in the meat packing business and a patriarch of the Cudahy family. Biography Cudahy was born on St. Patrick's Day in Callan, County Kilkenny, Ireland. A few ...

commissioned eleven pieces. In 1904 she exhibited her works at the St. Louis World's Fair. One of her works entitled "George Washington" earned a silver medal. She wanted the government to purchase and display her George Washington piece. For years she wrote letters pleading with the US Government to purchase the window. Herndl was so persistent that in 1904 she tried to force her way into a home to approach President

. When stopped, she spoke in broken English and would not take direction from the

Secret Service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...

; they arrested her. She wanted to know if the President would be viewing her George Washington portrait. She was later released after the Secret Service determined that she was not a threat. The government finally agreed to purchase the "George Washington" stained glass. The

59th Congress The 59th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1905, t ...

2nd session, in Report no. 8158, approved the purchase of the George Washington window on 2 March 1907, for $2000 or less. The window was on loan to the Smithsonian until 1962, and it eventually it came to rest in a

US Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

dining room. Herndl died in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on 14 May 1912.

Notable works

*"Hans Christian Andersen window" (1896) Milwaukee Public Library *"Sword Dancer" for Edward Lauterbach *"George Washington" chamber of the

*"Queen of the Elves" (also called "The Fairy Queen")

References

External links

George Washington Memorial Window
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Herndl, Marie 1860 births 1912 deaths Artists from Milwaukee Artists from Munich Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni American stained glass artists and manufacturers 19th-century American women artists German stained glass artists and manufacturers Theodore Roosevelt 19th-century German women artists