“Rediscovering Museums” is a series of exhibitions which aims to exploit the full potential of core collections that are generally not on display to the public yet are of great importance and significance. The first show in the series opens on 6 December 2008 and covers the extraordinary yet little known collection of early-nineteenth-century glassware. The Murano Museum houses the world’s most important collection of Venetian glass from this period and – thanks to the Italian Committee of the Association Internationale pour L’Histoire du Verre, and financial assistance from the Regional Government of the Veneto – these works have now been fully catalogued.
Curated by Aldo Bova and Silvio Fuso, the show contains some 135 works that chart a very delicate period in the history of Murano glass, when – after the fall of the Venetian Republic – the entire industry was threatened by artistic and economic crisis. However, a few master glassmakers of courage and talent reacted against the situation, working not only to introduce innovation but also to rediscover the precious techniques of the past. It was this which would open the way to the extraordinary renaissance in the Murano glass industry from the second half of the nineteenth century onwards.
Housed in the recently renovated and refurbished rooms of the Glass Museum, the exhibition is being held with the the support of the Associazione VetroVetro.