Morse Museum of American Art, Winter Park, FL
This delightfully inexpensive museum boasts America’s largest collection of Tiffany glassware

By Patrick Totty

One of the pleasant side effects of the PBS program “Antiques Roadshow” is that it has done so much to acquaint the public with what in a discerning eye makes for a good antique. Thanks to the show, people who previously might have been tempted to clean the old paint and patina off of granny’s Federal-style chairs now have justifiable second thoughts. 

Another beneficial effect has been to burnish the already bright reputation of Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), the brilliant artisan who long ago became the American gold standard for superlatively beautiful, colorful glassware.  

Tiffany’s technique was so distinct that even people who have no more than a passing acquaintance with his work will confidently describe certain lamps or vases as “Tiffany-style.” His ability to merge color, texture and shape in pleasing ways made him, like the Impressionists, an immensely popular artist with the public.  

That’s why if the desire to be in a warm place this winter takes you to Florida, you might want to check out the Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park (a few miles northeast of Orlando). The museum, which costs only $3 for adults to enter (you read that right: $3), boasts the largest collection of works by Tiffany – windows, vases, lamps, sculptures and other art objects. 

Many of the objects are from Tiffany’s massive 84-room house on Long Island, Laurelton Hall. The artist furnished his Oyster Bay retreat extensively with his own works, and the Morse collection is the largest surviving remnant of those objects (financial reversals and the later abandonment of the estate was followed by a 1957 fire that gutted the remains of the house).

The museum is an easy day trip from Orlando. Go here to surf its web site:

http://www.morsemuseum.org/