THE MASTERS OF ALTARE IN THE HISTORY OF GLASSMAKING
Excerpt from the book “Il museo dell’arte vetraria altarese” edited by Mariateresa Chirico, Albenga, 2009
By Anselmo Mallarini
According to a constant
and well established oral tradition, the art of glass was introduced to Altare
by a Benedictine community, established here around 1130 - which, having
detected the suitable natural conditions, is said to have recalled from the
north of France at that time (Normandy or Brittany) some expert craftsmen.
If, over the centuries,
the production of Altare’s furnaces has proved to be characterised mainly by glassware
for everyday use, the heritage of technical knowledge common to its craftsmen
is not limited to such expressions.
Jacqueline Bellanger,
one of the most influential French experts in the art of glassmaking in a
recent publication[1]
recognised that the role of the master glassmakers of Altare in the history of
European glassware has for too long been overlooked, and she dedicated an
entire chapter to “Les Altaristes”. In contrast, back in 1966 in Italy,
Giovanni Mariacher spoke of Altare in one of his fundamental works on local
arts and crafts, underlining its importance, but was evidently restricted to
only a few words: “its activities”, he wrote, “are in a certain sense shrouded
in mystery, because there are no known objects that can be attributed to it
with certainty”. “Yet the historical information is precise”, continued the
author, “Altare’s glassworkers were joined in a somewhat longstanding
corporation, but one which had only been reorganised towards the end of the
15th century. They were recognized as noblemen, as were the Muranese, but
unlike the latter, they were not forbidden from going abroad. Indeed, their
fame, it can be said, is linked to this very prerogative; the little town
enjoyed greater fame”, concluded Mariacher, “as it was a supplier of expertise
and skill to the whole of Europe”[2]. It
was indeed during the course of such migrations that the Altarese left their
most significant traces of eclecticism. Let us, therefore, briefly outline the
most significant moments of this journey.
ALTARESE PRESENCE IN FRENCH TERRITORY
During the
15th century, Provence was the preferred destination for the glassworkers of
Altare in their migrations away from Liguria. A
considerable role was played by the Ferro family, which until 19th century
managed a large part of the glassworks established in that region.
Around 1445, Benedetto,
the forefather of this branch, founded a factory
in Goult (Vaucluse), meeting the favour of Renato d’Angiò[3], an
enthusiastic patron of the art of glassmaking. Next toa
conventional production, like that of wine bottles (“flacons à vin”), Ferro’s furnace
did not neglect fine objects featuring
multicoloured enamelled decorations, perhaps inspired by Venetian fashions and exemplified by a set of painted glassware offered by Renato d’Angiò to his grandson
Luigi XI[4].
According to the chronicles of the time, it was Renato I himself that
formulated window designs that he then commissioned to Ferro for production and
decoration, a process which he often loved to observe personally from a
specially built room inside the factory. The premises still existed in 1790
under the name “Chambre du roi René”[5]. Probably
as early as the 60s and 70s of that century, the travelling glassworkers of the
time would lead members of the same family to Belgium, where it appears they
were affiliated with the French “de Colnet” who, 1467, ran a glassworks in
Leernes. “One would be perfectly reasonable in asking”, writes R. Chambon, “who
the glassworkers were that brought the Venetian techniques here. Without
providing absolute certainty, certain evidence allows one to establish that the
de Ferry (Ferro) family performed a role of great importance in introducing
these improvements to Belgium”[6]. H.
Schuermans added that they “were undoubtedly called to our country to initiate
their associates, the de Colnets, in the renowned Italian procedures of the
15th century, such as glass staining and glazing, already imported to Provence
by another member of the Ferro family”[7].
Their longstanding establishment in Belgium is mentioned by Phillip II in a
decree of April 1559, which recalled how the “de Ferry” family, with the “de
Colnets”, hand long benefited from noble privileges in those regions[8].
In the 1400s, another family
from Altare, Bormioli, was identified in France, more precisely in Provence
(Avignone, Bras) and Linguadoca. Also here we can ascertain a migratory flow
which, towards the end of the century, would bring a François de Bormiolles
(Bormioli) to Flamets, in Normandy, where his furnace would be known as
“Verrerie de la Grande Vallée”[9].
Even then, the extensive facility of movement and versatility were evident,
qualities which would allow Altarese expertise to spread throughout Europe,
bringing with it a style inspired by innovative Venetian working methods.
Indeed it was with the so-called “façon de Venise” that western glassworking,
reflecting the cultural trends of the time, abandoned its stricktly functional purpose
to tend to plastic conceptions that privilege pure creation. Crucial in this
regard was the invention (ca. 1455), attributed to Angelo Barovier from Murano,
of “crystal” (or “cristalline”)[10]:
a type of glass, comparable in purity and clarity to mineral crystal. The
blend, endowed with extraordinary elasticity, enabled the creation of new
shapes characterised by an extremely refined elegance typical of the
renaissance period, and which will be the distinguishing feature for over two
centuries in Europe.
THE ALTARESE IN ITALY
As far as the Italian
territory is concerned, this historical period documents settlements of
altarese craftsmen in the main cities of the Padania Valley.
In 1439, Gino Beda was
in Ferrara[11]
while in 1468 Antonio Dagna was in Pavia
and two years later in Milan. In Piacenza, we find Benedetto Pisani (1476),
while Pietro Montano and Pietro Basso worked as mere employees in Murano, in
1468 and 1470 respectively[12] .
It is thought that there
was a more sporadic presence of altarese glassworkers in the Genoa area from
the second half of the 13th century onwards[13] .
Such a presence, however, is not documented until 1405 with a certain Luchino
Massari who, in Masone, also manufactured sheet glass for the lights of the
Port of Genoa; a type of production to which other altarese craftsmen in town
would subsequently dedicate their efforts, including, from 1459, Raveta Pisani
and Lanzarotto Beda. In 1441, the latter, “a most worthy caster”, wrote a commentator
of the period, “and known for the coloured glass on view in the chapel of San
Sebastiano, in the cathedral of San Lorenzo”[14],
had obtained permission from the lordship to establish a furnace in Genoa, and
four years later, special privileges for the practicing of his art. In 1464, he
moved with his childrens to Caffa on the Black Sea, the most important Genoan
colony in the east[15]. Nothing is known
of his activity in the east: a perhaps unique case among the thousands of
destinies of these craftsmen, which nevertheless
validates the exceptional extension of their working relationships.
EXPANSION AND STATUTES
The expansion of
altarese art was governed by an organisation stemming from precise statutory
rules. The oldest attestation to the existence of a corporation (referred to as
“Università dell’arte vitrea”) dates back to 1445[16].
It is indeed during this period, in which progressive productive growth and the
first migrations away from the region of Liguria coincided, that organic written
regulations became necessary to govern the relationships that were evolving
both internally and to the market. The special regulations certainly reflected
a habitual, standard practice established over time through simple
conversations, traditionally observed by the glassworkers themselves.
The first edition dates
February 15th 1495. The corporation was chaired by six consuls elected every year
on Christmas day, and which was granted full power to organise glassworking activities
and to establish working times. These tasks also included the regulation of temporary
migrations which took place upon the payment of certain contributions on the
part of the employer and the hired craftsmen. The Consulate of Art was also in
charge of training the craftsmen to be sent to certain pre-selected places,
giving rise to solemn ceremonies where teams of designated craftsmen vowed to
return to their homes before the feast of St John the Baptist. Vittorio Brondi
makes mention of it, perhaps in memory of the historical altarese glassworking
families: “the white flag of the glasswork University appeared in all its
artistic solemnity, whether during the feast of the patron Saint when it
accompanied the Captain and his good lady, or whether the Consuls used it to
salute the loyal crafstmen upon their departure from their native home, or upon
their return [...]”[17]
The registers of the
University noted the authorisations granted to the workers who were about to
set off on their journeys, as well as their composition and in which place they
had been requested. It was a procedure of protection and control which H.
Schuermans supposes was also carried out through the sending of emissaries to
the manufacturing centres. Here the teams of altarese craftsmen, forming closed
communities, kept links with their homeland alive through the observance and
practicing of their traditions and lifestyles. Compliance with the statutory
provisions from the glassmakers was in fact also guaranteed by the strong bonds
of mutual solidarity strengthened by common customs perpetuated over the
centuries. The worker who had been delegated to represent the corporation could
expect payment of the taxes owed by entrepreneurs in order to obtain the
services of a group of craftsmen, and any breaches of contract occurring
between workers and employers were regulated exclusively by the chapters of the
Art.
16TH CENTURY MIGRATIONS
In the course of the
16th century, excellent prospects for good payment offered by countries in
expansion caused migratory flows to intensify and new industrial initiatives were
undertaken in France by the altarese craftsmen.
In 1536, Federico II
Gonzaga, Duke of Mantova, following his marriage to Margherita Paleologo,
became Marquis of Monferrato, to which Altare belonged. In 1565, his son Luigi
in turn acquired the title of Duke of Nevers, bestowed on him by his wife
Henriette de Clèves. The patronage of the Gonzaga recalled numerous altarese
people to Nevers which, with Orléans, would become the most prestigious
glassware centre created by them in France. Around 1583, Giacomo Saroldi,
Giovanni Ferro, Vincenzo Ponta and Sebastiano Bertoluzzi moved there from Lyon,
obtaining a monopoly for a radius of 20 leagues from the town[18].
In 1585, Agostino Conrado of Albisola and Pietro Pertino of Albisola become their associates,
both of them potters, as a number of altarese craftsmen appear to have been, as
the two arts had the application of a number of raw materials in common. The
company broke up two years later and ceramic production would continue to be
managed by Conrado, while the Altarese group, led by Giacomo Saroldi, brother Vincenzo
and nephew Orazio Ponta, maintained the glassworks together with that of Lyon,
which, nevertheless, from 1590 onwards, seems to have been managed solely by
Sebastiano Bertoluzzi.
Alongide the arts of
glassworking and ceramics, that of enamelling played a no less significant role
in Nevers. Indeed, it should be remembered that between 1565 and 1577, skilled
Italian craftsmen[19]
(soon to be accompanied by their French counterparts) had introduced a typical
production of small figures in enamel, subsequently known internationally as
“verre filé de Nevers”. It appears that the glassworks, as well as providing
raw materials to the town’s “émailleurs”, also managed its own manufacturing
activity. It is significant that, in this regard, Vincenzo Saroldi, in May of
1600, was authorised to settle in any one of the principle French towns “to
produce all sorts of glassware [...] without burning wood or coal”. The clause
relating to the use of fuel leads one to deduce that glassworkers were only
allowed to work with a glass paste moulded “by Lucerne flame” (or “à la lampe”).
It was a type of production that was mentioned in 1605 in the “Journal d’
Heroard”, specifically discussing the “little glass dogs and other animals made
in Nevers” which delighted Luigi XIII in his childhood[20].
The furnace’s delivery registers note among his “verres filés”: false jewels, broaches,
figurines and religious objects, playthings and little caskets. A multitude of
curious articles, and a comprehensive list would be impossible here, were
supplied to glass and jewellery merchants throughout France. A commentator of that
period made an observation in such a regard: “Nevers can be considered another
Murano. If you ask them to show you their most curious work, you will admire
them as you would many other artistic masterpieces, which in no way belittle
this industry in the creation of rings, earrings and other jewels that are
presented to you on arrival and which you cannot help but purchase"[21].
Various craft
backgrounds came together therefore in the technical and stylistic patrimony of
these workers from Altare, translating into stimulating and influential
contributions for flexible solutions of considerable originality. Such
innovative commitment enhanced the activity of the Nevers furnace, which
towards the end of the 16th century distinguished itself for its prestigious glassware
often chosen by the local municipality for diplomatic gifts.
In 1599, a payment was
made in favor of Vincenzo Saroldi for “33 dozen pieces of refined glass
crystal, sent as a gift to the city of Paris to a number of eminent people”.
An author of the time
also recalled a certain coloured-glass item made by the factory: “Duke Luigi
Gonzaga must take the credit in Nevers for such an art, and for a production
not only in crystal glass, but also in other colours such as topaz, emerald,
hyacinth blue and acquamarine, and gallantries similar to oriental pieces”[22].
In 1597, it was Henry IV
himself who, authorising Giacomo, Vincenzo Saroldi and Orazio Ponta to
establish a furnace in Melun, near Paris, recognized the importance of those
they had managed in Lyon and Nevers. “Our dear and well-loved Giacomo and
Vincenzo Saroldi, brothers, and Orazio Ponta, their nephew”, it reads in the
document, “gentlemen of the art and science of glassworking, having previously
and for a long time managed the crystal glass furnaces in our cities of Lyon
and Nevers, have acquired such a reputation for perfection in their work that the
majority of the glassware and crystal used by our court, in the vicinity and
throughout our kingdom, originates from the aforementioned cities of Lyon and
Nevers [...]”[23].
The results achieved by
the Altarese in the production of “crystal” seem to have been particularly
successful if in Modena in 1598, brothers Giovanni and Cesare Bertoluzzi obtained
a monopoly for a ten year production which foresaw “as well as common glassware
of all kinds, [...] crystal Murano style glassware, gilded German style
glasses, with barrel, ducal goblets with and without lids [...]”[24].
It was significant, with regard to the level of quality offered by the two
craftsment that the provision did not include a “with the exception of”, as was
usually added in such cases, “the importation of Venetian glass”.
In that period, we can
also find Altarese craftsmen in Belgium (Liege, Antwerp, Chimay, Mons), Spain[25]
and in England, where as early as 1504, a certain Nicola Grenni participated in
the manufacture of windows for Norwich Cathedral[26]. Such
an expansion of working relationships with its multitude of human experiences could
only bring to the Liguria community an extraordinary enhancement of its
cultural and technological expertise.
IN THE FOLLOWING CENTURIES
The migratory phenomenon
intensified towards the end of the 16th century and coincided with a phase of
serious recession for the Altarese market, a recession which was determined by
factors intrinsic to the trade and, more generally, by the gradual
deterioration of the Italian economic climate.
The decline of the local
glassware industry, which despite undergoing alternating cycles would continue
until the middle of the 19th century, increased the exodus of workers above all
to those countries which were in a more intense phase of development.
France continued to
constitute the preferred destination for those migrating across the Alps. Until
then, the Altarese craftsmen, bound by the strict orders of their corporation,
had always refused to train local apprentices. However, a government project
aimed at the creation and consolidation of a national industry would be
achievable through granting citizenship to many families of craftsmen who had
emigrated to France and who, having settled there, eventually spread their own
technical knowledge to others in their area.
Nevers meanwhile became
the most famous glassware centre in France. Here, and subsequently in Orléans,
mere imitations of the “façon de Venise” were no longer proposed (like in most
other places by then). New ways to produce glassware with original stylistic
features were explored, and also achieved by successful expressive synthesis
from motifs borrowed from the art of ceramics and enamels.
The specialities of the
Nevers furnaces included a glass piece which imitated in colour and in vein
stones such as jasper, agate and chalcedony.
“The Italians of Altare
who settled in the Nevers area from the 16th century onwards”, observed J.
Bellanger in this regard, “became [in France], the most important producers of
jasper glass. Practically all of the French jasper pieces from this period were
made in Nevers”[27].
In 1647, Giovanni
Castellano took over the management of the glassworks; later, during the course
of the 1700s up until the eve of the French Revolution, it was run by the
Bormioli family.
About Orléans, from 1668 Bernardo Perotto, the most famous altarese
glassmaker, worked there[28].
Perrotto soon distinguished himself as a genial creator of new glass pastes,
and he was known for an original decorative application of enamels on copper
and other materials.
Claiming to have
acquired the means to recompose recipes that had been lost for centuries, in
December 1668 Louis XIV granted him a special privilege which allowed him
exclusive access to some of his inventions, including a new type of red glass
based on gold and arsenic. In those years, the success allowed to him open a
shop on the “Quai de l’Horloge” in Paris and in
that period (around 1672) he came up with his most important invention:
the so-called “pouring” technique. The mass of molten glass, allowed to “pour”
onto a surface of refractory earth, was uniformly flattened by a copper roller,
obtaining sheet glass of superior dimensions with respect to those which had been
possible up to then by means of the traditional “blowing” procedure.
The method was soon
adopted universally and it remained in use, without substantial modifications,
up until the beginning of the 20th century. Therefore, Altare made a
fundamental contribution to the evolution of glass processing technology, in
virtue of which the objective pursued by the King of emancipating the French
market from imports of Venetian mirrors and sheet glass was finally achieved.
At that time, it was the
Nevers-Orléans monopoly that exerted the action of greatest scope among the
various French centres of glassware production. Perrotto, like his compatriots
in Nevers, devoted his energies to a “façon de Venise”, including regular and more
upmarket varieties, but it should nevertheless be underlined how the importance
of the furnaces of the so-called “Loire Monopoly” (i.e. Nevers and Orléans) was
founded on a commitment to innovation which shunned slavish imitations of
Venetian forms and motifs. Such a need found in Bernardo Perrotto its finest
exponent.
The influential James
Barralet wrote about him: "Perotto was above all a researcher, a
scientist, even before an artist. Throughout his life he devoted himself
entirely to the design of new types of glass and new processing technologies
[…]. [The Altarese] therefore contributed, more than any other, to create an
original glassmaking, a French glassmaking that was alien to the age-old
monotony of shapes and colors typical of the “Façon de Venise […]. A brilliant
craftsman from Italy, he aroused research in an environment that did not have
the spirit, […] faisant feu de toutes
parts pour ouvrir de nouveaux horizons à l’art du verre”[29]
Further testimony of the
eclecticism of the altarese working in France can be found in Brittany and
Poitou, and an interesting production of “glass porcelain”[30],
(XVII – XVII centuries) a speciality which spread towards other regions of the
Loire. Again in Brittany, there was a considerable level of ceramics production
(end of XVI – XVII centuries), a chapter of altarese art still to be fully
explored. It is known, however, that circular and oval plates, bottles, flasks,
vases, candlesticks and stoups were all produced in great quantities[31].
A repertoire modified by
glassware models that, through certain expressive solutions, even here would in
turn be able to influence altarese glassware in a kind of stylistic
interaction.
GLASSWARE
“À LA FAÇON D’ALTARE”
In France, little
glassware has remained that can be attributed with certainty to the artists
from Altare. The inventories normally testify, as their speciality, fine
glassware inspired by the Venetian school, often reinterpreted through
morphological variations owed to the personal creativity of the individual craftsmen.
With respect to the
expressive techniques of a typically Baroque nature, it can be held that the altarese
influence was not extraneous to its establishment in France, in a style which
was clearly orientated towards more sober and essential forms.
In any case, a specific Altarese
“way” must have existed if in the course of the 17th century a “façon d’Altare”
seems to have established itself in Liege, which met with the agreement of
local tastes to such an extent that it was expressly imposed on the Muranese
glassworkers’ employment contracts.
The products which were
commonly asked of the Ligurian craftsmen consisted of a well-defined repertoire
of wine and beer glasses (today of uncertain morphological identity) in the
context of which the Altarese “façon” had acquired a precise stylistic
identity. Indicative of this is a contract stipulated in 1655 between
entrepreneurs from Liege by the name of Bonhomme and Giovanni Ongaro from
Murano, who committed himself to the exclusive production of glassware “à la
façon des Srs Altarites [...] comme verres à buch, à chainettes, à demi-côte et
avec des branches, verres à la biére à ondes, à escarbotte, glacés et moulés,
coupés à ondes”. It would appear that the contract had identified a more
upmarket type of everyday glassware, “distinguished”, observed Hélène Van
Heule, “both by a luxury Venetian style and by that of a more ordinary nature”[32].
Even in Liege, however,
the Altarese did not limit themselves to such typologies and, as underlined by
R. Chambon, “[...] from the end of the second third of the 17th century, [they]
were considered to be on the same level as those from Murano and were paid the
same rate (either fixed or “per piece”), given that they were then able to
produce glassware of the highest quality, at the same level as the finest work
from Murano”[33].
The “Venetian style”
glassware (also known as “verres extraordinaires") was above all
exemplified in Liege by the famous “snake-bodied” and “flower” chalices,
expressions relating to the specific ornamental motifs of complex execution
which characterised the stem. A productive typology to which, in the
Principality, Marco and Eugenio Saroldi, Ottavio Massari and Corrado Mirenghi
were all committed over the 60s and 70s of that century.
In that period,
meanwhile, another craftsman from Altare, Giovanni Battista Da Costa, who had
operated since 1673 in Savoy, near London, would seem to have played a decisive
role in the invention of a new lead crystal (known as “flint-glass”)[34],
whose paternity until now has generally been attributed to the director of the
glassworks, George Ravenscroft. The addition of lead oxide to the vitrifiable
mixture in higher proportions with respect to those used in the past enabled
the production of an extremely pure crystal and a consistency which would adapt
well to new decorative techniques, including deep wheel engraving. This
extraordinarily bright glass which, through new and stylised creations, was
prevalent in a large part of 17th century tastes - with Bohemian potash crystal
-, marking the European decline of that extremely vast artistic and expressive
phenomenon known internationally as “façon de Venise”.
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE
SOCIETÀ ARTISTICO VETRARIA (“ARTISTIC GLASSWARE COMPANY”)
In Altare, like in
Murano, the irreversible process of decline in the glassware industry would
intensify further with the general abolition of the trade corporations (which
occurred in Europe between the end of the 17th century and the first half of
the 19th century), following the advent of the industrial revolution which,
with its increased production volumes and the expansions of markets, required
that the ancient economic structures expressed by the corporative system were
overcome. In this context, the “Università dell’Arte Vitrea” was also abolished
in June 1823 by Carlo Felice.
Heavy repercussions were
felt regarding conditions for the workers, whose relations with the furnace
owners up until then had been mediated by the Consolato dell’Arte.
Remuneration, given the surplus of manpower, was significantly reduced, when it
was not directly given in foodstuffs.
Just as serious were the
effects of the tough competition which had been created among the owners of the
glassworks who, in carrying out of their activities, found themselves liberated
from their ancient corporative restrictions.
“Everyone tried to
prolong production”, G. Buzzone wrote in this regard, “so that more goods were
manufactured than were generally required, and our manufacturers always had a
miserly capital, which meant that they could not sustain processing without
continuous sales, therefore when one was not favoured by a concourse of the
buyers, one attempted to acquire such favour with a reduction in price [...]”[35].
All this, revealed Buzzone, could only reflect negatively in profit margins and
the quality standards of the products themselves.
Worsening the already
precarious conditions of the Altarese industry, the “Fabbrica Regia Avena”
opened in Chiusa Pesio, with the exclusive privilege of the entire state for
the production of crystal. Furthermore, between 1836 and 1838, the traditional
glass sheets “alla veneziana”, which up until then had been produced in Altare,
were commercially ousted by those of the German school, qualitatively superior
and considerably less expensive.
In this period, there
was a mass exodus of Altarese glassworkers, some of whom returned to Italy,
while others left for Latin America, to found new factories[36].
A. Marianelli underlines
the relevance of the effects of this new diaspora, which with its manufacturing
districts, constituted the primitive framework of Italy’s national glassware
industry[37].
There was also an
increasing number of workers who, every autumn, would move to the various
glassworks throughout the Peninsular for a period of between 6 and 10 months.
It was then that the
craftsmen began to express the will to forge an associative pact aimed at
ensuring the best possible working conditions and reviving the fortunes of an
industry upon which the local economy had always been founded. “The feeling of
solidarity among the Altarese glassworkers was not lacking”, wrote Emilio Papa,
“and as they had done in the distant past in their settlement in their little
village, when they created their tiny “Universitates”, in the 19th century they
initially turned towards social security, associationism and mutual aid, before
pursuing with greater success the goal of cooperativism. [...] And the company that
was born in Altare in the 19th century and that embodied the finest of Altare’s
traditions in the construction of a large factory and an admirable manufacturing
effort, had to obtain significant acknowledgement in the market place and the
expositions, earning among other things the praise of an economist and member
of parliament by the name of Luigi Luzzatti”[38].
The association that E.
Papa was referring to, the first cooperative of industrial production in Italy,
was founded in Altare on December 24th 1856. The association, although
undergoing great difficulties, was able to maintain an important position among
the national industries of the sector for a long time, equipping itself with
advanced technologies and adjusting its production to meet the needs of the
market. In 1911, the qualitative progress made by the “Società
Artistico-Vetraria” earned it the “Grand Prix” at the “International Exposition
of Industry and Labour”, held in Turin. It was in the two decades between 1910
and 1930 that the Cooperative’s most significant phase of expansion took place,
when the number of people employed reached 700 and the factory covered a
surface area of 35,000 m2. Production consisted almost exclusively of everyday
objects and items for chemistry and pharmaceutical laboratories. However, items
of greater prestige were not neglected and allowed generations of highly
skilful craftsmen to excel. It is worth highlighting Oreste Saroldi, the Cimbro
brothers and Costantino Bormioli, whose school was attended by Isidoro
Bormioli, another master craftsman who recently passed away. The arts of
engraving and whetting were also cultivated, the latter finding exponents of
the calibre of Attilio Saroldi, Pietro Moraglio and Giuseppe Bertoluzzi.
MIGRATION TO OTHER CONTINENTS
The alternating fortunes
of S.A.V. from the 1930s onwards determined new migratory flows beyond national
borders. Significant industrial results were achieved by Diego Mirenghi who, in
1937, arrived in Eritrea, and in 1942, after overcoming a multitude of
difficulties, was able to establish the first glassworks ever built in Eastern
Africa: the “Sava Mirenghi”. In 1950, after having initiated a flourishing
industry, he moved to Kenya (then a British Protectorate), where he founded the
“Pitt-Moore/Mirenghi”. In the 1960s and 70s, he founded glassworks in Kampala
(Uganda) and in Dar-es-Salaam(Tanzania), while in the last years of his life he
dedicated most of his time to “Maliban Glass” in Chtaura, in the Lebanon.
Altare’s entrepreneurial
dynamism was expressed through other important initiatives activated by a group
of 14 glassworkers who had emigrated to Argentina in 1947: Masters Isidoro and
Gerardo Bormioli and Aldo Buzzone; glassblowers Pietro Gaggino, Carlo Garabello
and Edoardo Pioppo; engraver Francesco Rottazzo and technicians Virginio
Bazzano, Adarco De Biasi, Anselmo Gaminara, Carlo Rabellino, Vinicio Saroldi,
Rinaldo Scarrone and Luigi Visani.
They founded a
glassworks in San Jorge and subsequently another two in San Carlos (near Santa
Fé) which are still operative today: the “San Carlos” and “La Liguria”.
This text is drawn from an article that appeared in "Il museo dell'arte vetraria altarese"
Bacchetta Editore, Albenga 2009, traslated by Handrew Penington.
[1] Histoire du verre,
Paris 2006.
[2] L’arte del vetro, Milano
1966, p. 137.
[3]
Renato I (1409-1480) was King of Naples and Sicily, Duke of Angiò, Bar and
Lorena and Count of Provence. He retreated to the latter in 1442 following the
occupation of his property on the part of Alfonso V d’Aragona.
[4]
This glassware sent to Paris was recorded in the expeneses of Renato I
(deposited at the Chamber of Accounts in Aix) as paid “ à ceux de Goult” for
100 guilders. See R. Reboul, Notes historiques-génèalogiques sur les Des Ferry
et les D’Escrivan, in “Giornale Araldico”, Pisa 1876, p. 311.
[5] Ivi, p.
310.
[6] Histoire de la verrerie en
Belgique, Bruxelles 1955, p. 81.
[7]/ 8Verres
façon de Venise ou d’Altare fabriqués aux Pays-Bas, Bruxelles
1883-1893, septième lettre, pp. 317 e 316.
[10] A glass of sodic composition bleached with manganese dioxide.
[11] M. Badano Brondi, Storia e
tecniche del vetro preindustriale, Genova 1999, p. 52.
[12] G. Malandra, I vetrai di
Altare, Savona 1983, pp. 64 e 148.
[13] In which case it could refer to production limited to the summer months,
when, according to an ancient tradition recorded in the company articles of
1495, activity was suspended in Altare.
[14] / 15 F. Podestà, Il porto di Genova, Genova 1913,
pp. 326-329.
[17]Discorso per la celebrazione del 75° della S.A.V., Savona 1931.
[18] With regard to the activities of the Altarese craftsmen in Nevers, we
referred mainly to the work of F. Boutillier, La verrerie et les
gentilshommes verriers de Nevers, Nevers 1885.
[19] It seems they were Tuscan artists, previously active in Lyon together
with Altareses and ceramists from Albisola, who had come to France following
Girolamo della Robbia,
[20] J. Barrelet, La verrerie en
France, Paris 1953, p. 93.
[21] Journal d’un voyage de France et d’Italie (1661),
quoted in Boutillier, pp. 99-100.
[22] P.V. Palma Caiet, Histoire de
la paix sous le règne du très-chrestien roy de France et de Navarre, Libro
V°, p. 371.
[23] Boutillier, La verrerie et les gentilshommes verriers de Nevers, pp.
17-19.
[24] E.
Ferrari-G. Polacci, Arte estense del vetro e del cristallo, Modena 1988,
p. 35.
[25] J.
Ainaud De Lasarte, Ceramica y Vidrio, Madrid 1952, p. 348.
[26] A. Engle, The Glassmakers of Altare, Jerusalem
1981, p. 55.
[27] J. Bellanger, Verre d’usage et
de prestige, France 1500-1800, Paris 1988, p. 35.
[28] With regard to Bernardo Perrotto, we mainly referred to the works of P.
Bondois, La verrierie nivernaise et orléanaise au XVIIe siécle, Paris
1932; and J. Bérnard and B. Dragesco, Bernard Perrot et les verrieries
royales du Duché d’Orléans, Orléans 1989.
[29] Un virtuose de la verrerie
au temps de Louis XIV: Bernard Perrot; in “Connaissance des
arts”; n. 78, Aug. 1958
[30] J. Bellanger, Verre d’usage et de prestige, p. 105.
[31] J. Vince, Faïences et poteries, Nantes 1982, p. 22.
[32] Les maîtres verriers italiens aux fours Bonhomme à Liège de 1638 à 1687, Liège 1960, p. 140. Also in Kiel, in 1655, an “Altarese style”
production is mentioned (“risselsche nach art der Altaristen”). Cfr. W.A.
Thorpe, English Glass, London 1961.
[33]Le verre. Art – Histoire – Techniques,
p. 27.
[34] His patent
is dated 1674. Previously Da Costa, in partnership with a certain Jean Guillaume
Reinier and another craftsman from Altare, Giovanni Odasso Formica, had worked
in Nimega, devoting his energies to the production of false glass gems. It is
thought that such glass must have contained lead oxides and that its recipe
provided the basis for “flint-glass”. “This new glass”, observed C. Moretti,
“[...] was a type of glass that Da Costa must have already tested in Nijmegen.
In effect, his partner Reinier would produce, in 1675, the same glass in
Sweden, while in Ireland, the other partner Formica would obtain a patent for
the production of a similar glass”. (George Ravenscroft, Considerazioni
e aspetti ancora oscuri nel processo di realizzazione del vetro “flint”, in Altare: la cultura del vetro, Seminar
proceedings, Oct. 2003, Savigliano 2003). With regard to Da Costa,
see also A. Engle, The Glassmakers of Altare, p. 58. The same author states
that the members of the Altarese Dagna family, from 1684 onwards, “gave rise to
an important dynasty of crafstmen in Newcastle, and they are credited with some
of the finest English lead crystal of the period”.
[35] From a manuscript by the glassworker Giuseppe Buzzone (Altare, 1860).
[36] During 19th century, glassworks
were managed by Altarese directors in Turin (Racchetti), Milan (Bordoni), Sesto
Calende (Bordoni and Bertoluzzi), Casalmaggiore (Brondi, Bormioli and Bordoni),
Piacenza (Saroldi), Borgo San Donnino and Parma (Bormioli), Brescello
(Bordoni), Ferrara (Brondi), Rimini (Brondi and Marini), Florence (Bormioli), Terni
and San severino Marche (Mirenghi), Pesaro (Buzzone), Vestone and Sacrofano
(Bormioli), Roma (Brondi), Salerno and Vietri (Racchetti). With regard to the 19th century settlements of Altarese glassworks in
Latin America, we can cite, from the end of the 1930s onwards, those in Buenos
Aires, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro and Lima.
[37] Proletariato di fabbrica e
organizzazione sindacale in Italia: il caso dei lavoratori del vetro, Milano 1983, p. 66. Around
1880, more than half of Italian white glass factories were still managed by altarese
directors.
[38] E. Papa, pref. A. Mallarini, L’arte
vetraria altarese, Albenga 1995.
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