Born in Le Mans in 1866, Albert Échivard is the most famous of the Sarthe glassmakers of the early 20ᵗʰ century. After years of apprenticeship with Eugène Hucher at the Fabrique du Carmel in Le Mans, he pursues a career as an independent master glassmaker, developing a style that is as personal as it is original.

Awarded for his Enfant aux Chrysanthèmes at the 1900 Paris World Fair, he has already gained some fame when he opens his first workshop on Rue de la Barillerie in downtown Le Mans in 1903. He continues to receive commissions for church stained glass but also begins working on private residential projects.

Albert Échivard maintained a lifelong passion for the history of the Maine region. Deeply involved in Le Mans’ cultural life, he contributes to the local press and literary journals on various topics related to both current events and the city’s past. In his civilian stained-glass works, he draws inspiration from these subjects and interprets them freely, often with a touch of whimsy.

Period photographs loaned by his descendants reveal the personal and intimate side of his work. The faces of his wife Renée, his eldest son Maxime – who died at war in 1914 – and his two youngest children, Michel and Jean-Julien, can be recognized in the stained-glass windows of many churches throughout the Sarthe region. While his work remains rooted in the 19ᵗʰ century and imbued with a nostalgia for the pre-industrial world, it also incorporates the modern decorative language of Art Nouveau.