Irish Coast, circa 1910

Born in County Sligo, Ireland, Sarah Eileen Hanley (1883–1958) trained as a nurse and immigrated to New York City with two siblings about 1900. In 1910, she went to Laurelton Hall, the Oyster Bay, Long Island estate of Louis Comfort Tiffany to nurse him back to health following a kidney infection. They took an immediate liking to each other, and Hanley remained on as his muse, caregiver, and constant companion.

Hanley sparked what one critic called “the most active and creative” period in the history of Tiffany Studios. Tiffany designed some of his best stained glass art in the years immediately following their meeting. Tiffany created a series of portraits of Hanley. He also built her a house, Laurel Hollow, on a hillside near Laurelton Hall. Additionally, he taught her how to paint, and she began exhibiting her own work in the late 1920s.

In 1918, Tiffany established the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation to award fellowships to gifted artists and craftspeople who were then able to study under his direction at Laurelton Hall. Hanley became the first director of the foundation. She also kept the aging Tiffany in touch with the artistic mainstream. When Tiffany died in 1933, he left her independently wealthy.

Tiffany created this painting of the rugged coast of northwest Ireland for Hanley to remind her of her homeland.