On 1 October 2024, the community of stained glass scholarship lost a dear friend: Ariane Isler-de Jongh (b. 1 April 1925) passed away peacefully. Although visually incapacitated for many years from pursuing active research, through the 1990s and 2000s, Ariane had been the backbone of the Canadian Committee of the Corpus Vitrearum, instituting research files, attending the biannual colloquia and maintaining correspondence with many Corpus colleagues.
Born and educated in Lausanne, Switzerland, Ariane initially followed in her father’s footsteps, apprenticing with him as a photographer. She always maintained her “cantonal” allegiance, even after emigrating to Canada with her husband, Henri, in 1952. They settled in Montréal, where Henri had a distinguished career practicing and teaching surgery. After raising a family, Ariane returned to university studies at the Université de Montréal, taking undergraduate and graduate degrees in Art History. Although her doctoral dissertation was on the inception of colour photography, she also studied Medieval and Renaissance stained glass under Philippe Verdier. It was while she was working on her doctorate that in 1976 she “discovered” the stained glass of the Hosmer Collection which would eventually be published as the first volume of the Canadian Corpus Vitrearum in 2014. Her interest in stained glass also led to volunteer work with curators at the Montréal Musée des Beaux-Arts, cataloguing for the first time their collection of pre-modern stained glass. By the time Roland Sanfaçon formed the Canadian Committee of the Corpus Vitrearum, Ariane had already been corresponding with Jane Hayward, and was immediately enlisted for the new committee. In 1984, Ariane finished her doctorate, and in 1986, she and her husband moved to Victoria, British Columbia, on Canada’s west coast, where Ariane soon became involved with the History in Art Department at the University of Victoria. From that institutional base, she successfully applied for a series of research grants that kept the Canadian Corpus Vitrearum active through the 1990s and 2000s. Besides her other publications, Ariane wrote several scholarly articles on premodern stained glass in Canada with, quite naturally, a particular focus on Swiss panels. Beyond her publications and conference papers, Ariane, as well, created a solid research base on much of the stained glass in Canadian collections, which still serves as the foundation of our current research. Maintaining a very active correspondence with many Corpus Vitrearum members, and solidifying research connections through her research trips and participation in Corpus Vitrearum colloquia, Ariane both publicized much premodern stained glass in Canadian collections and created a solid network of research friendships. Ariane’s vivacious and lively personality, her cultured grace, and her unquenchable curiosity and enthusiasm won her many close friends, and even though she has been unable to keep up her friendships for quite some time, her passing will undoubtedly sadden many in the art historical and stained glass communities.
Professor Jim Bugslag