Life — March 16, 1893 — page 12: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# St. Patrick's Cathedral Stained Glass Satire This is a satirical design submission for stained glass windows at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. The image shows a religious figure (likely Saint Patrick, given the episcopal vestments and mitre) rendered in ornate medieval stained-glass style, complete with elaborate Gothic framing and decorative elements. The satire's target is unclear from the image alone, but Life's proposal appears to mock either: contemporary stained-glass design aesthetics, the cathedral's artistic choices, or possibly the formality of religious institutional commissions. The elaborate, somewhat overwrought decorative treatment might be satirizing either excessive ornamentation or the gap between grand ecclesiastical ambitions and actual artistic execution. Without additional context about specific 1900s-era architectural debates, the precise satirical point remains somewhat ambiguous.