Sir Austen Henry Layard was an English Assyriologist, traveller, cuneiformist, art historian, draughtsman, collector, politician and diplomat. He was born to a mostly English family in Paris and largely raised in Italy. He is best known as the excavator of Nimrud and of Nineveh, where he uncovered a large proportion of the Assyrian palace reliefs known, and in 1851 the library of Ashurbanipal. Most of his finds are now in the British Museum. He made a large amount of money from his best-selling accounts of his excavations.
Murano is a series of islands linked by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. It lies about 1.5 km (1 mi) north of Venice and measures about 1.5 km (1 mi) across with a population of just over 5,000. It is famous for its glass making. It was once an independent comune, but is now a frazione of the comune of Venice.
Carlo Scarpa was an Italian architect and designer. He was influenced by the materials, landscape, and history of Venetian culture, as well as that of Japan. Scarpa translated his interests in history, regionalism, invention, and the techniques of the artist and craftsman into ingenious glass and furniture design.
Palazzo Barbarigo is a palace situated facing the Grand Canal of Venice, Italy. It is not to be confused with the Palazzo Barbarigo Minotto and Palazzo Barbarigo della Terrazza, both also on the Grand Canal, and other palazzi, and several villas, once owned by the Barbarigo family.
Antonio Salviati was an Italian glass manufacturer and founder of the Salviati family firm.
Millefiori is a glasswork technique which produces distinctive decorative patterns on glassware. The term millefiori is a combination of the Italian words "mille" (thousand) and "fiori" (flowers). Apsley Pellatt in his book Curiosities of Glass Making was the first to use the term "millefiori", which appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1849; prior to that, the beads were called mosaic beads. While the use of this technique long precedes the term "millefiori", it is now most frequently associated with Venetian glassware.
Venetian glass is glassware made in Venice, typically on the island of Murano near the city. Traditionally it is made with a soda–lime "metal" and is typically elaborately decorated, with various "hot" glass-forming techniques, as well as gilding, enamel, or engraving. Production has been concentrated on the Venetian island of Murano since the 13th century. Today Murano is known for its art glass, but it has a long history of innovations in glassmaking in addition to its artistic fame—and was Europe's major center for luxury glass from the High Middle Ages to the Italian Renaissance. During the 15th century, Murano glassmakers created cristallo—which was almost transparent and considered the finest glass in the world. Murano glassmakers also developed a white-colored glass that looked like porcelain. They later became Europe's finest makers of mirrors.
Lino Tagliapietra is an Italian glass artist originally from Venice, who has also worked extensively in the United States. As a teacher and mentor, he has played a key role in the international exchange of glassblowing processes and techniques between the principal American centers and his native Murano, "but his influence is also apparent in China, Japan, and Australia—and filters far beyond any political or geographic boundaries."
A family called Salviati were glass makers and mosaicists in Murano, Venice and also in London, working as the firm Salviati, Jesurum & Co. of 213 Regent Street, London; also as Salviati and Co. and later as the Venice and Murano Glass and Mosaic Company.
The Palazzo Grimani of Santa Maria Formosa is a State museum, located in Venice in the Castello district, near Campo Santa Maria Formosa.
Alfredo Barbini, a glass artist born in 1912 on the islands of Murano in the lagoon of Venice, Italy, was one of Murano's leading figures of the twentieth century. His parents were members of families which had been prominent in the glassmaking industry on Murano for generations as glassblowers and beadmakers.
Paolo Venini emerged as one of the leading figures in the production of Murano glass and an important contributor to twentieth century Italian design. He is known for having founded the eponymous Venini & C. glassworks.
Barovier & Toso is an Italian company that specializes in Venetian glass.
The Murano Glass Museum is a museum on the history of glass, including local Murano glass, located on the island of Murano, just north of Venice, Italy.
Glasstress is a recurring exhibition that brings together art by contemporary artists made with glass. Launched in 2009 as a collateral exhibition of the Venice Biennale of Arts by Adriano Berengo as a way of showcasing the works produced by Berengo Studio, it has since had editions take place in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022.
The Palazzo or Ca' Cappello Layard is a palace situated in the sestiere of San Polo of Venice, Italy, overlooking the Grand Canal at the confluence between this and the smaller Rio di San Polo and Rio delle Erbe. On the Grand canal, it is located between Palazzo Barbarigo della Terrazza and Palazzo Grimani Marcello. It is particularly noteworthy for having been the residence of Austen Henry Layard, discoverer of Nineveh.
Marie Brandolini d'Adda di Valmareno was a French-Italian glass maker.
Gianmaria Potenza is an Italian artist born in Venice living and working in Venice, Italy.
Marietta Barovier, was a Venetian glass artist.
Elena de Laudo, was a Venetian glass artist.
