Enamelled and gold flecked copperware are a rare and highly refined feature of the decorative arts of the Italian Renaissance, of which less than three hundred pieces survive, and which are traditionally referred to as Venetian. Admired and sought after in the 19th century, when the main European collections were built up, these objects, whose origins date back to the end of the fifteenth century, were subsequently forgotten. The cross-disciplinary conference will shed light on technical and manufacturing aspects, and the forms and decorations of these artistic masterworks, which can be found in major museums and collections throughout the world, and point to the socio-cultural context of which they are a product. An attempt will be made to define a corpus of forms and decorations, to identify clients and patrons, thanks mainly to research into heraldry and symbols, and finally to trace their arrival on the European and American art markets in the 19th and 20th centuries respectively.

Argument

In collaboration with the Louvre and the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France (C2RMF) in Paris, the Institute of the History of Art of the Giorgio Cini Foundation is organizing an international symposium to be attended by art historians, curators and conservators, together with experts in the field of scientific analysis, who will be asked to reflect upon the production of Renaissance enamels on copper defined “Venetian”.

Enamelled and gold flecked copperware are a rare and highly refined feature of the decorative arts of the Italian Renaissance, of which less than three hundred pieces survive, and which are traditionally referred to as Venetian. The metal which gives the object its shape supports a richly coloured decoration formed by white, blue, violet or green glass, added in layers onto a white or opaque glass base, or a mixture of white and translucent glass. This is then decorated by red and turquoise highlights, with additional decoration in gold playing an important part in the process.

Admired and sought after in the 19th century, when the main European collections were built up, these objects, whose origins date back to the end of the fifteenth century, were subsequently forgotten.

Most of the surviving pieces belong to dinner sets, and include mainly bowls, some of which with lids, dishes, plates, basins, salt cellars, ewers and pilgrim bottles. Other typologies include caskets, candlesticks and a mirror, while a few liturgical objects, paxes, altar cruets and reliquaries indicate that some had a religious function.

The cross-disciplinary conference will shed light on technical and manufacturing aspects, and the forms and decorations of these artistic masterworks, which can be found in major museums and collections throughout the world, and point to the socio-cultural context of which they are a product. An attempt will be made to define a corpus of forms and decorations, to identify clients and patrons, thanks mainly to research into heraldry and symbols, and finally to trace their arrival on the European and American art markets in the 19th and 20th centuries respectively. The Venetian origins of enamelled copperware will be discussed and reconsidered in the wake of recent archival research, the study of recipes used by glassmakers, and the results of an experiments carried out by the C2RMF in Paris, the LAMA laboratory at the University of Architecture (IUAV) in Venice, and the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence. During the three days of the conference it will be possible to see the enamelled copper mirror which belongs to the collection of the Galleria di Palazzo Cini – second in importance to that of the Louvre – specially restored for the occasion by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure.

The conference will also provide an opportunity to have a close look at the collection of enamelled copperware at the Galleria di Palazzo Cini, which was re-opened to the general public this spring on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the Institute of the History of Art.

Advisory committee

• Françoise Barbe, Curator, Département des objets d’art, Musée du Louvre, Paris
• Rosa Barovier Mentasti, Expert in the history of glass, Venezia
• Béatrice Beillard, Conservator, Paris
• Serena Bidorini, Conservator, Soprintendenza Speciale per il Patrimonio storico, artistico ed etnoantropologico e per il Polo Museale della città di Venezia e dei comuni della Gronda lagunare
• Isabelle Biron, Research Engineer, Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France, Paris
• Letizia Caselli, Expert in the history of goldsmithery, Istituto di Storia dell’Arte, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venezia
• Claudia Cremonini, Art historian, Soprintendenza Speciale per il Patrimonio storico, artistico ed etnoantropologico e per il Polo Museale della città di Venezia e dei comuni della Gronda lagunare Marie-Elsa Dantan, Documentalist, Département des objets d’art, Musée du Louvre, Paris
• Fiorella Spadavecchia, Art historian, Soprintendenza Speciale per il Patrimonio storico, artistico ed etnoantropologico e per il Polo Museale della città di Venezia e dei comuni della Gronda lagunare
• Marco Verità, Research Engineer, Laboratorio di Analisi dei Materiali Antichi LAMA, Università IUAV, Venezia

Co-ordinators

• Françoise Barbe and Letizia Caselli

Istituto di Storia dell’Arte della Fondazione Giorgio Cini in collaborazione con Musée du Louvre e Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France

Programme

Giovedì 16 ottobre

Mattino

9.30 Saluti

• Luca Massimo Barbero, direttore dell’Istituto di Storia dell’Arte della  Fondazione Giorgio Cini

Apertura dei lavori

• Letizia Caselli e Françoise Barbe

 Ragioni della fortuna e dello stile: geografia artistica e culturale

10.00-13.00

Presiede Françoise Barbe

• Marie-Elsa Dantan (Musée du Louvre, Parigi)
  Le corpus des émaux

• Béatrice Beillard (Parigi)
  Motifs de dorure et dispositions sur les émaux vénitiens des collections du Louvre et du Musée de Cluny

Coffee Break

• Bertrand Jestaz (École Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Parigi)
  Les émaux vénitiens, entre verrerie et orfèvrerie: un état de la question

• Rosa Barovier Mentasti (Venezia), Cristina Tonini (Milano)
  Tra rami smaltati e vetri soffiati di Murano

13.00-13.30

Discussione

POMERIGGIO

15.00-17.30

Presiede Letizia Caselli

• Eva Helfenstein (Cambridge – MA)
  L’orfèvrerie émaillée italienne au XVe siècle

• Véronique Notin (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Limoges)
  Le travail du cuivre émaillé à Limoges

Coffee Break

• Luciano Borrelli (Trento)
  L'araldica nei rami smaltati del Rinascimento italiano

• Maurizio Mondini (Civici Musei d'Arte e Storia, Brescia)
  Gli smalti veneziani dei Civici Musei d'Arte e Storia di Brescia, vicende collezionistiche e ipotesi sulla committenza

17.30-18.00

Discussione

Venerdì 17 ottobre   

MATTINO

9.30-13.00

Collezioni, collezionismo e collezionisti dal XVIII al XX secolo

Presiede Rosa Barovier Mentasti

• Francesca Tasso (Civiche Raccolte d'Arte Applicata del Castello Sforzesco, Milano), Lavinia Galli (Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milano)
  Collezionismo italiano e storiografia in Italia tra fine XIX e XX secolo

• Letizia Caselli (Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venezia)
  La collezione di smalti detti veneziani di Vittorio Cini. Del crocevia storiografico e di alcuni circuiti antiquari tra connoisseurs

Coffee Break

• Françoise Barbe (Musée du Louvre, Parigi)
  Les émaux dits vénitiens en France aux XIXe et XXe siècles. Collections et aspects historiographiques

• Reino Liefkes  (Victoria and Albert Museum, Londra)
  The collection of enamels in the Victoria and Albert Museum

• Lucio Riccetti (Università degli Studi, Perugia)
  ‘Smalti veneziani’ nella collezione di J. Pierpont Morgan. Prime ricognizioni

13.00-13.30

Discussione

POMERIGGIO

14.30-17.30

Scienza e tecnologie

Presiede Simone Porcinai

• Isabelle Biron (Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France / Laboratorio di Analisi dei Materiali Antichi dell’Università IUAV di Venezia)
  Examens et analyses scientifiques des cuivres émaillés, dits vénitiens, de la Renaissance: techniques de fabrication et matériaux employés

• Andrea Cagnini (Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Laboratorio di Analisi dei Materiali Antichi dell’Università IUAV di Venezia, Museo Stibbert, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Firenze)
  Analisi degli smalti nei manufatti delle collezioni Cini, Stibbert e del Bargello: originali, integrazioni e restauri

Coffee Break

• Marco Verità (Laboratorio di Analisi dei Materiali Antichi dell’Università IUAV di Venezia, Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France)
  Confronto tra le analisi e le fonti storiche: tecniche e provenienza degli smalti 

17.30-18.00

Discussione

Presentazione del restauro dello specchio della collezione della Fondazione Giorgio Cini

Sabato 18 ottobre

9.30-11.30

Restauro e conservazione

Presiede Marco Verità

• Serena Bidorini (Soprintendenza Speciale per il Patrimonio storico, artistico ed etnoantropologico e per il Polo Museale della città di Venezia e dei comuni della Gronda lagunare)
  Il restauro del nucleo di rami smaltati veneziani della Galleria di Palazzo Cini: note di metodo

• Béatrice Beillard (Parigi)
  La restauration du chandelier du Musée de Cluny CL 22603

Coffee Break

• Clarice Innocenti (Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Firenze), Mari Yanagishita (Firenze)
  Un caso di studio: il restauro dello specchio smaltato Cini

• Fabio Peron, Marina Vio (Università IUAV, Venezia)
  Conservazione e fruizione: allestimento e illuminotecnica degli smalti

11.30-12.00 Discussione

12.00-13.00 Conclusioni