Antonio Salviati

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Salviati glassware in the 19th century

Antonio Salviati (born March 18, 1816 in Vicenza , † January 25, 1890 in Venice ) was an Italian industrialist. He studied law in Padua and Vienna and became a lawyer. The investment in the restoration of mosaics of St. Mark's Basilica in Venice sparked his interest in glass manufacturing, including the production of glass mosaics.

Glassware

In 1860 Salviati founded his own factory on Murano near Venice and, at the beginning of the 19th century, contributed to the revival of Venice's old glass production, as did the glass technical school established in Murano in 1860. When his funds were no longer sufficient, an English company not only took over the continuation of his company in 1866, but also built a new factory. Salviati initially acted more, later less as the head of this company, only to leave in May 1877. At the end of 1877 he founded another factory in Murano and turned increasingly to wall mosaics.

Salviati tried to bring traditional expertise to modern manufacturing processes. The first successes had encouraged him to also imitate Venetian glass vessels of the 16th and 17th centuries and thus consciously reconnect with the glass art of the Renaissance with its thin-walled wing glasses, thread and net glasses ( reticella ). In the past, the production of artificial glass was mainly limited to expensive individual pieces. Salviati was one of the first Italian manufacturers to produce large quantities of glass products, mainly intended for export, and to employ a considerable number of skilled workers. The designs from Salvati's company were represented at many exhibitions in the 19th century and were particularly popular in Great Britain during the time of Queen Victoria .

Glass mosaics

Salvati's glass mosaic production, which also dealt with the reproduction of large works of painting, also took off due to advanced technology. In the case of the medieval mosaics, the objects to be represented were painted on the plastered surface and the glass pastes were inserted on the spot. This process has now been replaced by the artist assembling the entire picture from the pastes in his studio, whereby changes could also be made, and then pasted over with strong paper. The work created in this way was then cut into individual pieces, which could be pressed into the soft mortar at the place of use according to the numbering.

The largest work created in this way were the dome mosaics of the Aachen Cathedral executed by the Salviatis workshop in 1880/81 , which were based on the small remains of the original picture. The church of Charlemagne was in neglect after 1815. The columns in the Hochmünster had been broken off, the walls covered with stucco; little reminded of the time of Charlemagne. As a first restoration measure, the columns were put up again in 1869/70 and the stucco was removed. The original motif of the dome mosaic, possibly executed around 800, was known from medieval sources: Christ as the triumphant ruler of the world, surrounded by the symbols of the four evangelists, to whom the 24 elders from the Apocalypse of John offer their crowns. This representation was finally recreated based on designs by the Belgian architect Jean-Baptiste de Béthune .

Salviati has executed glass mosaics in almost all major cities in Europe, including the mosaics of the Berlin Victory Column designed by Anton von Werner . Otherwise, in Germany mainly house facades received such glass mosaics, which were often preferred to paintings because of their weather resistance. In Heringsdorf on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom, this included the mosaic in the gable of Villa Oechsler , which shows bathing graces , and the motif The Triumph of Truth by Fritz Roeber in the triumphal portal of the Alte Kunsthalle in Düsseldorf . In France, large glass mosaic decorations were created in the Paris Opera , in the apse of the Paris Panthéon and in the Notre-Dame de la Garde church in Marseille. In addition, the company provided some complex work for the Castle Chapel of Windsor , St Paul's Cathedral and Hall of the Palace of Westminster, and for Westminster Abbey in London.

gallery

  • Mosaic over a gate of St. Mark's Basilica in Venice

  • Dome mosaic in Aachen Cathedral

  • Bathing graces of the Heringsdorfer Villa Oechsler

  • Mosaic at the Albert Memorial , London

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ salviati.com/history ( Memento of the original from March 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.salviati.com
personal data
SURNAME Salviati, Antonio
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian industrialist
DATE OF BIRTH March 18, 1816
PLACE OF BIRTH Vicenza
DATE OF DEATH January 25, 1890
Place of death Venice