Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-12-09
YenetIan EInss.

Some of those flashing, glowing, sparkling
creations of cut glass remind me that paper on
Venice would be imperfect without an illusion
TO her enamel mosaics and modern cut glass
factories ut MuranO.
The first fugitive who fed to the islands of
the seagirt city, and who made salt from its
lagunes, brought the art Of glass" with them.
An art which could be carried on the "tips OF
fingers and which depended on fancy. deXteri-
ty and little sand, could be easily transported;
much more easily, alas! than the delicate fabric
which they rear can bear moving, In 1890 there
are records Of the skill of the Fenetians in this
delicate art.
In 1921 the factories and furnaces increased so
rapidly that they were banishcd to MurauO, an
island and suburb of the city The republican
aristocrats dearly loved the achievements of the
glass blowers, and gave them peculiar privileges.
The council of ten visited them officially day ana
night, but treated them with the favor so long
as they Staid at home Muranese, who taught
his art to foreigners, however, was terribly pun
ishcd If he escaped with it to foreign lands
he was followed and put to death. The daugh-
tiers of the foreman were 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 we'd the Adriatic.
In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the
BYZANTINE artists taught the secret OF enamel TO
Venice. The mosaic work then became as
famous as the blown glass But this industry
decayed with all else Venetian through the
Seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
About 1886 it began to revive, and to the well
known artistic LAWYER, DR.. Salyiati, who may
well be translated saver of this beautiful art,
does Venice owe the restoration of one Of her an
clent glories. Pictures are COPIED by these
skiltul workers in this imperShable 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
FrOTmOrp. They rpppiTiOu fine sDtpu-
did moSaicS Of St. Marks, some Of which are
almost in ruins. The next undertaking is to
be the "ApOlcalypSe," which was the grand
work of the moSaiciSts of the fifteenth century,
from cartoons Of Titan, Tmtorero, and Paul
NerOneSe. For this work the Venetian govern
ment pays them 10000 francs annually for the
mere labor, aud gives them fourteen years to
do the work. OF those figures which are
finished the perfection is such that the finest
judge, looking upward, cannot detect the mod
ern from the ancient.
The establishment boasts at this moment an
artist by the name of Podio, who is remarkable
for his copies OF portraits. His Marco Polo,
Columbus, and William Of Wykeham are sur
passingly fine; and even the martyred president
OF our own time, Abraham Lincoln, has been
portrayed, in ali his singular aspect and angu-
lariry, by this great copyst
Salviati bias given much Of his genius to the
revival OF blown glass, and now every well fur
nshed dinner table can boast some proof of his
cultivated skill. The authorities in antique
glass maintain that Salvati can to-day give you
all the wonders and all the beauties of the once
lost cart 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 natural tints, growing from their
pendant branches; gObets Of ruby and opal,
vases of sapphires and Turquoise, finger bowls
with roots Of water plants trailing through their
sea green waves dessert plates with Opaque
mother Of pearl centers, fringed with transpar,
ent rufiles Of rose color; lily shaped vases, ice
frosted hagons, mirrors framed in mirror, fill
gree decanters, and long stemmed, fower-like
glasses, with ieweled serpents climbing to the
Orim.
These workers in glass have given word to
the language. Why is iasco a synonym for
failure? Because, essayng 10 make goblet,
the workman sometimes fails, and buTying his
long tube again in the flowing furnace, he petu.
lanty says "iaseo," and makes, not goblet,
but a flask.