Antonio Salviati

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 participation 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

1860 founded Salviati Murano near Venice own factory and carried in times of beginning of tourism in the early 19th century as well as the 1860 furnished on Murano Glass School to revive the old glass factory in Venice. As his means were no longer sufficient, took over in 1866 an English company not only the continuation of his company, but built a new factory. Salviati acted more initially, later less than manager of this business, eventually excrete in May 1877. The end of 1877 he founded another factory in Murano and turned to an increased extent the wall mosaics.

Salviati tried to bring traditional knowledge of modern manufacturing processes. The first success had encouraged him to imitate and Venetian glass vessels of the 16th and 17th centuries and thus deliberately back to the glass art of the Renaissance, with its thin-walled wing glasses, thread and network glasses ( Reticella ) to tie. In the past, the production of art glass was limited primarily to expensive single pieces. Salviati was one of the first Italian manufacturer, who produced mainly intended for export glass products in large quantities and it employed a significant number of skilled workers. The designs of Salviati companies were represented in the 19th century in many exhibitions and have been mainly in the United Kingdom at the time of Queen Victoria's extremely popular.

Glass mosaics

Salviati glass mosaic manufacturing which also dealt with the simulation of large works of painting, due to advanced technology also took big boost. In the medieval mosaics displayed items have been painted on the plaster surface and inserted the glass pastes in place ready. This process has now been replaced by the fact that the artist put together the whole picture in his studio from the pastes, which also changes could be carried out, and then pasted over with thick paper. The obtained this way work was then cut into individual pieces that could be pressed into the soft mortar according to the place of use of numbering.

The largest such works carried out were the 1880/81 carried out by the workshop Salviati dome mosaics of the Aachen Cathedral, which were based on the few remnants of the original image. The church of Charlemagne was in poor state after 1815. The columns in the high cathedral were broken, covered the walls with stucco; to the time of Charlemagne remembered very little. The first restoration measure 1869/70, the columns were re-erected and knocked off the stucco. The original, perhaps executed as early as 800 motif of the dome mosaic was known from medieval sources: Christ as the triumphant ruler of the world, surrounded by the symbols of the four evangelists, the 24 Elders of the Apocalypse of John offer up their crowns. This representation was finally re-created, designed by the Belgian architect Jean -Baptiste de Béthune.

Salviati has performed in almost all major cities of Europe glass mosaics, including those designed by Anton von Werner mosaics of the Berlin Victory Column. Otherwise received in Germany mainly facades such glass mosaics, which were often preferred to the paintings because of their weather resistance. These included in Heringsdorf on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom, the mosaic in the pediment of the villa Oechsler showing bathers Graces, and the subject The triumph of the truth of Fritz Roeber in triumph portal of the old Kunsthalle in Dusseldorf. In France, large glass mosaic decorations were created in the Paris Opera, in the apse of the Paris Panthéon, as well as in the church of Notre -Dame de la Garde in Marseille. In addition, the company supplied some of extensive work for the chapel of Windsor, Saint Paul's Cathedral and the Palace of Westminster Hall, as well as Westminster Abbey in London.

Gallery

Dome mosaic in the Cathedral of Aachen

Bathers Graces Heringsdorf Villa Oechsler

Mosaic at Albert Memorial, London