Style Other / Ref.16067

Antonio Salviati (Vicenza, 1816 – Venice, 1890), attributed to Mosaic portrait of Bernard Palissy

Trained as a lawyer, Antonio Salviati developed a keen interest in glassmaking and mosaic production. In 1859, after contributing to the restoration of the mosaics of St Mark’s Basilica, he founded his first glass and mosaic workshop. In 1866 he established a second company—Salviati & Cie—which he later divided into two distinct branches: glassmaking on the one hand and mosaic production on the other.

Salviati was entrusted with major commissions. His firms produced the mosaic glass for the reredos of the high altar at Westminster Abbey (1866–1867), took part in the restoration of the Palatine Chapel in Aachen, executed exterior mosaics for the Opéra Garnier, and contributed to the decoration of the Albert Memorial, inaugurated in 1872. Salviati’s enterprise also became renowned for reviving the traditional glassmaking of Murano.

This mosaic portrait depicts the French ceramist Bernard Palissy (1510–1590). Celebrated for his polychrome dishes and basins decorated with animals in relief, Palissy is shown here dressed in 16th-century attire. Rendered in a three-quarter view, he holds in his hands a “rustique figuline,” the term he used to describe his own creations. An eel or serpent can be discerned on the surface of the basin, recalling examples such as MR 2293 or R 231 preserved at the Musée du Louvre.

In a similar spirit, Salviati supplied the tesserae for the mosaic portrait of Abraham Lincoln executed by Enrico Podio in 1866, now held in the United States Senate. Public appreciation for the meticulous craftsmanship of mosaicists has been particularly strong in Italy since the 16th century. While the 18th century renewed the fashion for micro-mosaics in precious luxury objects, the 19th century restored mosaic art to its status as a public art form—just as it had long been in Salviati’s native Venice. Through his entrepreneurial spirit, the lawyer-turned-master glassmaker played a central role in the resurgence of mosaic art in Europe between 1866 and 1890.