Artisti Barovier

Italian (Venetian)

BiographyItalian family of glassmakers. The family are recorded as working in Murano, Venice, as early as 1324, when Iacobello Barovier and his sons Antonio Barovier and Bartolomeo Barovier (b Murano, ?1315; d Murano, ?1380) were working there as glassmakers. The line of descent through Viviano Barovier (b Murano, ?1345; d Murano, 1399) to Iacobo Barovier (b Murano, ?1380; d Murano, 1457) led to the more noteworthy Barovier family members of the Renaissance. Iacobo was responsible for public commissions in Murano from 1425 to 1450. From as early as 1420 he was a kiln overseer, with a determining influence on the fortunes of the Barovier family.

During the 15th century Iacobo’s sons, notably Angelo Barovier (b Murano, ?1400; d Murano, 1460), and his sons Giovanni Barovier, Maria Barovier and Marino Barovier (b Murano, before 1431; d Murano, 1485) were important glassmakers (see Glass, colour pl. VIII, fig.). From as early as 1441 Angelo owned a glass furnace. As a pupil of the philosopher Paolo da Pergola, he gained a scientific education, which, together with the empirical nature of his trade, enabled him to invent cristallo (c. 1450) and probably lattimo (milk) and chalcedony glass. In 1455 he was a guest at the court of the Sforza family in Milan, and in 1459 he was invited, without success, to work for the Medici family in Florence. His son Marino worked with him in 1455 at the Sforza court, where he met Antonio Filarete, who referred to both father and son in his Trattato di architettura (1461–4). After his father’s death, Marino inherited the furnaces in Murano. As a steward of the glassworkers’ craft (1468, 1482), he was active in the promotion and defence of Muranese glassworking. During the 16th century one of Marino’s sons, Angelo Barovier or Anzoleto Barovier, owned a famous glass furnace, the emblem of which was an angel. Between the 16th and 17th centuries various members of the Barovier family moved to other European countries where they continued making glass.

The family regained its former prestige during the second half of the 19th century when, in 1884, Giovanni Barovier (b Murano, 1839; d Murano, 1908) and his nephews Giuseppe Barovier (b Murano, 1853; d Murano, 1942) and Benvenuto Barovier (b Murano, 1855; d Murano, 1931) became proprietors of the glassworks of Antonio Salviati (1816–90). During the 20th century Giuseppe created Art Nouveau wares. Ercole Barovier (b Murano, 1889; d Venice, 1974) was a noteworthy designer during the 1920s, and, together with the brothers Artemio Toso and Decio Toso, he established Barovier & Toso. A variety of new glass techniques were created, including wares in vetro diafono (e.g. bowl and vase, c. 1975; Venice, Barovier & Toso, col.). Ercole’s son Angelo Barovier (b Murano, 1927) took over the company in the late 20th century.

In 1995 the company opened a museum, which is primarily a collection of glass since 1880, but which also contains the late-15th century ‘Barovier Wedding Cup’, a blue-enamelled cup that is one of the finest surviving glass pieces of the Renaissance.

Rosa Barovier Mentasti and Gordon Campbell. "Barovier." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/art/T006472 (accessed March 22, 2012).

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