contessanally: Murano – Palazzo Giustinian: The Museo del Vetro di Murano

Murano – Palazzo Giustinian: The Museo del Vetro di Murano. The Museo del Vetro di Murano, re-opens its doors, it has been completely transformed and renovated. The exhibition spaces have almost doubled, the new displays and themes enable visitors to discover the key milestones in the history of Murano glass and enjoy and admire the superb masterpieces the museum conserves. It is the only museum dedicated to artistic glass located within an active and firmly rooted context of actual production, thanks to the many furnaces and glassmakers still working on Murano.

Palazzo Giustinian: The Museo del Vetro di Murano. The impressive entrance on the piano nobile reveals the sumptuous portego, with an allegorical fresco on the ceiling by Francesco Zugno. The large room, named after the frequently anonymous masters of Murano, is the expression of the glassmaking production from the 14th to the end of the 17th century; the golden age of Murano glass. It was in those years that the skills applied in the Venetian furnaces were acclaimed throughout Europe thanks to the innovations in technology and techniques: years in which in Venice, Angelo Barovier produced a pure substance called “crystal”, to which engraved decoration with diamond-tipped tools was added, and in which “ice glass” was invented, together with filigree decoration and the “mezza stampatura” (“half mould”) technique.

Coppa Barovier. Blue blown glass painted cup with polychrome enamels and gold, with medallions that frame a feminine and a masculine bust between two scenes that represent a cavalcade and the bath of young women close to the fountain of love or youth. Venice, 1460c.

Centerpiece. Centerpiece designed like an Italian garden with fountains, arches, pots with flowers, flowerbeds. 18^th Century. Centerpieces also known as “deseri” enjoyed enormous popularity during the 18th Century. The glassmaker Giuseppe Briati was credited with creating many fine examples, which adorned the Doge’s tables. They were proper theater scenes, their designs often inspired by historical or mythological subjects. Sometimes they offered as this one, a glimpse of life enjoyed by Venetians on holidays.

The Conterie Room. The conterie were beads of pate de verre and, in particular from the end of the 19th century, the beads produced from the so-called paternostreriby (rosary bead makers) by cutting a hollow rod and rounding off the little cylinders produced with heat in ferrazze, or special metal containers. In 1898, a number of companies involved in the production of glass beads joined forces, setting up a single large company, Società Veneziana Conterie, which closed in 1993.

The Evolution of Glass

An original “time-wave”, a quick visual guide to the evolution of glass through the ages, from Roman times to the 20th century. The display gives an initial introduction to the world of glass, giving interesting examples of the main milestones in the history of Murano glass and the technical and aesthetic developments that have accompanied it.

The Evolution of Glass – The Beginnings

The Evolution of Glass – 13^th-17^th Century

The Evolution of Glass – 18^th Century

The Evolution of Glass – 19^th Century

The Evolution of Glass – 20^th Century

Giovanni Rubin de Cervin, Andriana Marcello del Majno and Brandino Brandolini d’Adda.

A room is devoted to Modern and Contemporary glass. The room is dedicated to the memory of Marie Brandolini d’Adda, creator of the famous goti glasses whom the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia wishes to commemorate as a non-Italian artist who used Murano glass as her means of expression and thereby contributed to its international fame.

The Museo del Vetro di Murano – Luciano Vistosi Scultore Exhibition. The new modern open space, which offers temporary exhibitions, was inaugurated with the sculptures of Luciano Vistosi on until May 30^th. The selection of black and white objects form a heartfelt tribute to the late magical sculptor of glass that was the Murano-born Luciano Vistosi who achieved international success thanks to his strongly three-dimensional, dynamic, impressive sculptures that capture light.