The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-11-29
VENETIAN GLASS.
Revival of an Ancient Art.

"
Revival Of an Ancient Arr. II yfa
p Some of those flashing, glowing,
sparkling creations of cut-glass remind
me that . paper on Venice would be
imperfect without an allusion to her
enamel mosaics and modern cut-giass
factories at MuranO. ale,si.u al, -
The first fugitives who fed to the
islands of the 'seagirt city, and who
made salt from its lagunes, brought
the tart of glass' with them. An art
which could be carried on .tie "tips of
fingers" and which depended on
fancy, dexterity, and a little sand,
could be easily, transported; much
more easily, alas than the delicate
fabric which they rear can bear NOV
ing. In 1890 there are records of the
skill of the Venetians in this delicate
art.
In 1901 the factories and furnaces in.
creased so rapidly that they were BAN
.fished to Murano. an island and suburb
of the city. The republican aristO-
Gratis dearly loved the achievements of
the glass blowers, and gave them pecu-
liar privileges. The~ Council. of Ten
visited them officially day and night,
but treated them with favor so long as
they staid at home. A Muranese who
taught his art to, foreigners, however,
was terribly punished. If he escaped
with it to foreign lands, he was follow
ed and put to death. The daughters of
the fOremer We're permitted to wed
with the patrician sons of Venice. and
the Muranese were allowed to follow
first after the dOge when he went out
to wed the Adriatic. l-a
In the seventh and twelfth centuries,
the Byzantine artists taught the secret
of enamel to Venice. The mosaic work
became then as famous as the blown
yglass. But this industry decayed with
Aall else Venetian through the seven
teenth and eighteenth centuries. -
About 1886, it began to revive, and
to the we'll known artistic lawyer, DR.,
Salviati, who may we'll be translated
saver of this beautiful art, does Ven
ice owe the restoration of one Of her
ancient glories. Pictures are copied
by these skillful workers in this inn
perishable material, to the utmost
perfection. The Queen of England
has given them large orders for the
Wolsey Chapel at Windsor, which
they have filled with exquisite success,
and for the mausoleum at Frogmore.
They are now repairing the splendid
mosaics of Marks, some of which are
almost in ruins. The next undertake
ing is to be the "Apocalypse," which
was the grand work of mosaieists of
the fifteenth century, from cartoons of
Titan Tintoretto, and Paul Veronese.
For this work the Venetian Govern
ment pays them 10000 francs annual
ly for the mere labor, and gives them
fourteen years to, do the work. OF
those figures which are finished, the
perfection is such that the nestJudge,
looking upward, cannot detect the
modern from the ancient. .-l .-fac
The establishment boasts at this mo-
ment an artist by the name of POdio,
who is remarkable for his copies OF
portraits. His Marco Polo, Columbus.
and William of Wykeham, are sarpass-
ingly fine; and even the martyred
President of our own time, Abraham
Lincoln, has been portrayed, in all his
singular aspect anu angularity, by this
great copyist. -1.- . = f-2.l
Salviati has given much of his
genius to the revival of blown glass,
and now every well-furnished dinner
tables can boast some proof of his cul-
tivated skill. The authorities in an
tique glass maintain that Salviati can
to-day give you all the wonders, and
all the beauties, of the once lost "art OF
glass" of the sixteenth century. He
can give you, at his famous shop in
the corner of the square of st. Marks,
chandeliers which bear flowers in ma
tural tints, growing from their pen
dant branches; goblets of ruby and
opal, vases of sapphire and turquoise,
finger bowls with roots of water-plants
trailing through their sea-green waves,
dessert plates with opaque mother-of-
pearl centres, fringed with transparent
ruffies of rose-color; lily-shaped vases,
ice-frosted fiagons, mirrors framed in
mirror, filigree decanters, and long
stemed, fiowerlike glasses, with jewell
ed serrents climbing to the brim.
These workers in glass have given a
word to the language. Why is fdsco
a synonym for failure? Because, es-
saying to make a goblet, the workman
sometimes fails, and burying his long
tube again in the glowing furnace, he
petulantly says '.fasco," and makes,
not goblet, but flask.