Gloria: Saint Riquier a.k.a. Gloria Ecclesiae Antiquae

John Taylor Arms

With his etching Gloria: Saint Riquier, Arms depicts the western façade of the abbey church of Saint-Riquier, which is considered one of the most beautiful examples of Flamboyant Gothic architecture in the Hauts-de-France region in northern France. The exterior is covered with ornate carvings and near the entry are carvings of Jesus, Mary and the apostles. The original abbey was built in 625 and thrived until Northmen burned the abbey and much of the village in the year 881. The present church was rebuilt in the 13th and 14th centuries. This magnificent church, despite being burned by the English in 1544, remains a stunning landmark and draws international visitors.

John Taylor Arms, printmaker, lecturer, illustrator, and administrator, was born in Washington, D.C. on 19 April 1887. He first studied law at Princeton University but transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study architecture, earning a Master’s Degree in 1912. He studied with Ross Turner, David A. Gregg, and Felton Brown. For five years after his graduation Arms worked for the architectural firm Carrere and Hastings, before establishing his own architectural firm of which he was a partner.

A gift of an etching kit from his wife, Dorothy, changed the course of his life. He produced his first etching in 1915 and he eventually produced 441 prints, mostly etchings. Arms became one of the most famous printmakers of the first half of the twentieth century. He is mostly noted for his etchings of medieval architecture but early subjects also included ships, sailboats, airplanes, rural landscapes, and the streets, buildings, and bridges of New York.

Arms’ exhibition history was lengthy beginning in 1927 and continuing to 1952. He authored 'Hand-Book of Print Making and Print Makers' in 1934 and illustrated 'Churches of France' and 'Hill Towns and Cities of Northern Italy' by his wife, Dorothy Noyes Arms. His work can be found in most major collections of American prints.

Arms was an activist for printmaking and assisted in assembling exhibitions of American graphic art that were shown in Sweden, Czechoslovakia and Rome; he was editor of the Print Department of Print, A Quarterly Journal of the Graphic Arts, and he lectured on the techniques, history and value of original prints. Arms also served as the president of the Tiffany Foundation in 1940. John Taylor Arms died in New York City on 15 October 1953.