Murano Glass History - part 2

Throughout Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, the reputation and prestige of Venetian glassblowers to flourish as the quality, designs, and bright colors became widely known.

The demand for Venetian glass became so great, that  some maestros disregarded the Scuola’s(lobby) edict on trading industrial secrets and began migrating throughout Europe. Even Louis XIV commissioned master craftsmen to create glass pieces for the palace at Versailles. The Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain also had their own furnaces run by expatriates from Murano, who described their works as “à la façon de Venise” (in the Venetian manner) and often modified classic designs and techniques to suit local materials and tastes. The emigration of talent had its effect on Venice's preeminence in glassblowing, as other countries used the once secret knowledge divulged by the muranesi to create their own styles and interpretations of glass. Bohemian crystal, thicker, heavier and often engraved, grew in popularity to the point of rivaling Murano glass' popularity the century before. This change in taste towards a more robust glass and the fall and occupation of the Venetian Republic by Napoleon's troops in 1797 combined with the subsequent abolishment of the Guild in 1805 precipitated a long lasting crisis in Venice.

The first half of the 19th century saw many Murano furnaces shuttered and its artists scattered throughout Europe. The surviving Fornaci(factories) did not produce the beautiful works of art they had been known to make only a few decades earlier, rather; they were only making beads, small bottles and other trinkets needed for trade. This decadent situation lasted until 1860, when Vincenzo Zanetti developed the Glass Museum&School of Murano, re-discovering the ancient techniques.
Antonio Salviati(initially hated by venetian people because working abroad he introduced in Venice different styles of working, named by the population “Stranezze” or oddity) opened Salviati & Co. and began producing wonderful pieces that hadn't been seen in 200 years, they won numerous awards at the 1867 Universal Exposition in Paris. By the 1890's glass making in Murano was showing signs of reinvigoration, and Salviati & Co. was bought by Barovier after Salviati's death in 1890. In 1896, the first Venice Biennale show opened, allowing Muranese masestri to meet, share ideas, and establish relationships with other like-minded artists from other nations. The results of this seminal meeting can still be seen today in the maestri's close collaboration with artists worldwide. However, once again, the furnaces were confronted with stiff competition from foreign glassmakers including Tiffany and Lalique.  Remarkable, in this period, the re-descovering of the Murrina mosaic, by the late roman time.

One of the most important artist in the modern Murano era, is Paolo Venini. An unlikely candidate, an attorney with no experience in glassblowing, he was known for his willingness to collaborate with others in diverse fields, especially from the world of architecture. One of his greatest contributions to Murano in the 20th century was developing upcoming artists. The list of artists his company mentored over the years reads like a who's who of the modern Venetian art world. In 1921, Paolo Venini teamed up with Giacomo Cappellin to establish a new company named V.S.M. Cappellin Venini & Co. Their pieces, created by Vittorio Zecchin, were immediately recognized to be exceptional works of craftsmanship combined with a delicate sophistication. However, the partnership didn't last long, and they parted in 1925.
After the breakup, Venini started Vetri Soffiati Muranesi Venini & Co., and hired Napoleone Martinuzzi, a sculptor who was overseeing the Murano Glass Museum, to manage his new venture. Martinuzzi developed pulegoso technique, and in 1930, helped bring forth the controversial use of opaque glass, something never seen in the centuries of Murano glass craftsmanship. The use of opaque glass proved to be a watershed event, since it completely broke with tradition, allowing the artists to experiment with different creative ideas that would have been considered absurd a few years prior.

Giacomo Cappellin also opened a new furnace, Maestri Vetrai Muranesi Cappellin & Co., and retained Vittorio Zecchin as director. Vittorio Zecchin remained director at Maestri Vetrai Muranesi Cappellin & Co., until 1926 when an unknown architect, Carlo Scarpa, replaced him.

The first few years under Scarpa were heavily influenced by Zecchin's designs, but Scarpa didn't take long to find his muse and produced many high quality pieces which made use of forgotten techniques, bright colors and opaque glass. Although Cappellin & Co. was considered an exceptional furnace; it closed in 1932 due to fiscal mismanagement. In a stroke of good fortune for Paolo Venini, Martinuzzi's departure from Venini in 1932 to form Zecchin-Martnuzzi glass with Francesco Zecchin allowed him to pick up Carlo Scarpa as art director, who was looking for work after the closing of Maestri Vetrai Muranesi Cappellin & Co. Scarpa's innovative techniques flourished during his tenure at Venini & Co. In addition to creating new ways to work with molten glass such as sommersi, he also developed new surface treatments including a corrosi, battuto, a fasce and a pennellate. During these years, Paolo Venini also took more of an active role in the day to day operations of a glass house and began co-designing works with Scarpa.

After departing Venini in 1947, Carlo Scarpa returned to architecture, restoring the Castelvecchio in Verona to wide acclaim, before passing away in 1978. Also during the 1930's another artist, Ercole Barovier rose to prominence in Murano after he and his brother, Nicolo took over the creative direction of Vetreria Artistica Barovier. In 1939, after the brothers went their separate ways, the company was renamed Barovier & Toso Co., after a merger with the Toso family, and remains so named to this day. Ercole Barovier was known for his work with a murrine and the creation of beautiful sculptured animals. He spent much of his time during the 30's perfecting a technique he named colorazione a caldo senza fusione, and also created fresh pieces in the 40's and 50's using the tessere technique.

In 1996, The Barovier family was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records for being the oldest glass making family in the world.

 Also during the 30's Ermanno Toso changed the direction of Fratelli Toso, which had been founded in 1854 by his ancestors, from one of creating traditional Muranese objects to one of one of more modern tastes. Again, war threatened the glass masters in the 40's but the industry managed to survive World War II and emerged post- war with pent up artistic energy, making the 1950's some of the most creative and innovative years the island of Murano have ever seen. The filigrana technique was expanded and used to new effect by another Murano master, Archimede Seguso, who opened his own shop, Vetreria Archimede Seguso, in 1946. Today, the works created during this time are considered the most desirable by collectors.