The frieze of mosaic at the South Kensington Museum in London, and the ceiling of the vestibule which leads from the grand staircase to the foyer in the Paris Opera House are excellent specimens of the modern mosaic work of Murano, which is now in full revival, and takes the first place in the world, as it did centuries ago. The following description of some splendid pieces made for Mr. H. Furber, of Chicago, shows the present importance of this art in Venice. They are intended for the "Columbus Palace" near the grounds of the "Columbian Exposition":—
"Among the important works recently executed is a large mosaic panel representing Columbus being received by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain after his return from America. This panel, measuring about two hundred square feet, shows Columbus when kneeling before the sovereigns, presenting to them the natives of the newly discovered land, and some products of the soil. The persons represented are about thirty-eight in number, many of them of the natural size, formed in three principal groups. In the most important group is Columbus, having at his side the young crown prince and the sovereigns, surrounded by the dignitaries of the court, ladies and noblemen, and pages holding the standards. In the middle group, but more to the left, are the native Indians; and near the entrance of the hall other Spanish nobles and the companions of Columbus. The gorgeous and various attires of all the figures, their warlike implements, the splendid stuffs of all sorts and tints, the rich decoration of the hall, the pageantry of the court, the strange tones and costumes of the natives in full contrast with the others, and the various attitudes of all these personages form a whole in perfect harmony with the details of the scene, owing to the excellent distribution of the figures, and the perfect fusion of tints. The work is so delicately executed that no one can believe that the panel is not painted until on touching it he discovers that it is entirely composed of small enamel cubes, put together without any aid of color or cement, and worked according to the mode of the old Venetian mosaic school. This panel will form the pendant of another representing Columbus landing in America."
No glass has been so famous as that of Venice, because no other glass-makers have ever equalled the Venetians in the beauty of their products, nor in the marvellous manner in which they varied the use of their materials. Good authorities believe that this art was known to the earliest settlers of the lagoons, although they used their knowledge in the making of the necessities of life alone; but the material of the antique glass and the Muranese glass is precisely the same.
In 1292 the Grand Council, by a decree, ordered the removal of the glass-workers to Murano, and the destruction of the furnaces at Riva Alto. From the inauguration of this industry at Murano, the Government was extremely jealous in preventing the secrets of glass-making from being discovered by any strangers. From the year 1275 the export of lump glass, or of the materials used in its composition, and even of broken glass, was forbidden, and a heavy penalty attached to such acts; and from this time more stringent laws were made, and at length the manufactories were put in charge of the Council of Ten, so determined was the Republic to profit by the skill of its workers. These anxieties were not unreasonable, since it is known that men as high in position as the ambassadors from France had a sort of police in their employ, who attempted to bribe the glass-workers, and to spy out the raw materials they used, and their manner of combining them.
It appears most probable that to the original knowledge of the earliest Venetians some additions must have been made from the methods of the Oriental mosaic-workers, who were employed in San Marco as early as the tenth century, although later the productions of the Venetians were sought in the East, where the making of fine glass had come to be a lost art. That this is true is proved by an order still existing for four hundred mosque lamps, bearing verses from the Koran, in colored enamels, to be made for the Grand Vizier of the Sultan. The Arabic influence which is so clearly shown in Venetian glass is supposed to have come from the specimens of glass found in the Roman Campagna, and in many other places in Italy, such as Nola, Campania, and so on, which in all probability were used as models at Murano.
Venice gained immense sums by her trade in glass beads alone. Their place in commerce is almost incredible, especially when they began to be covered with enamels, gold, and opaline colors. The Orientals exchanged for them silks, spices, precious metals, and all sorts of exquisite tissues. They found their way all over the world, and in modern days have been seen in central Africa, where they were used for money. The shrewd Venetians valued their exquisite pieces of glass, their vases, goblets, mirror frames, and ewers; but they were most jealous in the protection of their bead trade and manufacture.
From the eleventh to the fourteenth century the preparation of enamel for mosaic work was the most important department of the glass-works at Murano, and the mosaic glass there made has never been equalled in beauty or durability elsewhere. Even pavements in San Marco, made from this glass, and now five or six centuries old, are still perfect in color, joints, and setting.
Salviati gives the name of glass to the Venetian manufacture alone, and applies "crystal or crystallified glass" to all other varieties, and Yriarte says:—
"These makers have but one object, to imitate the quality of crystal. Thus, when they have perfected the properties of clearness and brilliancy, they set about increasing the attractiveness of their productions by cutting them after they have been first run in moulds; that is to say, by employing mechanical means to obtain something like the richness, the variety of form, and vigor of line which alone can insure it success in the market. But to do this is to demand from glass qualities which it ought not to yield, and to change its nature, depriving it of its two essential qualities,—lightness and ductility.
"The glory of Murano is to have preserved the special properties of the material, and to have made it yield all the beauties of which it was capable."