Upon entering Washington Memorial Chapel at Valley Forge one is confronted by a remarkable tableau of color, beauty and history created by the seminal feature of the chapel - its thirteen stained glass windows - God’s Glass. They are the result of a collaboration between the chapel’s founder, the Rev. Dr. W. Herbert Burk and a master stained glass artist, Nicola D’Ascenzo.

Nicolo D’Ascenzo emigrated to America with his family from the town of Peligna in the Abruzzo region of Italy in 1882 at the age of eleven. He initially sought work as a stone-cutter and wood-carver’s apprentice before entering art school in Philadelphia in 1889, first at The Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art and then at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. Later he studied at the New York School of Design where he may have studied under Robert La Farge, a nationally prominent stained glass artist. By 1893 he was living and working as a designer in a Philadelphia design company. It was here that he met and courted a fellow Philadelphia artisan, Myrtle Goodwin. Upon their marriage in 1894, the couple set off for a two year tour of Europe and study of its art and architecture. It was during this time that D’Ascenzo began his study of stained glass, becoming particularly attracted to the windows of Chartres Cathedral. Upon their return to Philadelphia, D’Ascenzo established his first design studio and worked extensively in murals, mosaics, and portraiture before tackling stained glass. 

The late 19th century in America had witnessed a revival in Gothic architectural design, known as Neo-Gothic, as a result of it as well as the subsequent Arts and Crafts movement, that led to an increasing demand for stained glass. Noted Philadelphian architect Frank Furness increased the local  and national demand for stained glass by his prominent use of stained glass at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876.  D’Ascenzo received his first commission for a stained glass work in 1904. HIs studio went on to produce stained glass works for individuals, businesses, educational and religious institutions across the country, becoming world renowned and  the preeminent ecclesiastical stained glass studio in America.   During this time Nicola and Myrtle D’Ascenzo made many trips back to Europe to further study and learn the process of making stained glass art. He received permission to set up scaffolding in Chartres Cathedral in 1911 and made detailed drawings of the windows that would guide his later work on the windows of Washington Memorial Chapel. As his business grew and he increasingly focused on stained glass work, he required larger studio space. He moved his studio to Ludlow Street in Philadelphia in 1912.

D’Ascenzo moved to his final and largest studio on Summer Street in Philadelphia in 1926. Here he recreated a stained glass studio around the medieval concept of artisan guilds, where each group of specialist artisans worked in concert to create master works of stained glass art. D’Ascenzo’s motto was “ Art for Humanity’s Sake, “ striving to make useful and functional objects beautiful at affordable prices for his fellow citizens, and expanding the use of traditional stained glass in churches and synagogues throughout the nation.

His works in stained glass feature windows at The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., The National Cathedral in Washington D.C., the chapels at Yale and Princeton Universities, Muhlenberg College, and the former RCA company headquarters building in Camden New Jersey. The Athenaeum of Philadelphia holds a vast collection of D'Ascenzo's artistic works, where they are known as the D’Ascenzo Studio Collection. The collection includes 4,000 drawings, books, artwork, and business records. It is estimated that D’Ascenzo created roughly 8,000 designs in his lifetime. In his wide ranging career, D’Ascenzo worked as an artist, designer,  educator, community leader, businessman, and stained glass master.

D’Ascenzo was a prolific artist. Although he worked in many media, he is best known as a stained glass master and creator of God’s Glass at Washington Memorial Chapel of Valley Forge.