The Bologna Civic Museums acquire an important collection of glass from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century

Bologna ’s Musei Civici d’Arte Antica is enriched with an important collection of glass from the 17th to the 19th century, that of collectors Bruno Cappagli and Liana Serretti, who decided to donate it to the institution. To celebrate the donation, the Musei Civici d’Arte Antica will present, from November 13, 2021 to April 18, 2022, the exhibition Vetri dal Rinascimento all’Ottocento. The Cappagli Serretti Donation for the Musei Civici d’Arte Antica of Bologna, promoted in collaboration with the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, curated by Mark Gregory D’Apuzzo (curator Museo Davia Bargellini, Bologna), Massimo Medica (director Museo Civico Medievale and Museo Davia Bargellini, Bologna) and Mauro Stocco (curator Museo del Vetro, Murano). The exhibition, set up at the Museo Civico Medievale, makes it possible to admire for the first time the entire unpublished collection acquired in 2020 by the Municipality of Bologna, thanks to the gesture of generosity wanted by Mrs. Liana Serretti, Tuscan by origin and Bolognese by adoption, as a sign of thanks and gratitude to the city that welcomed and hosted her family.

With the allocation to the Istituzione Bologna Musei, a collection nucleus composed of 117 pieces of glassware is ensured for public enjoyment and appreciation, amounting to more than 150 pieces including single artifacts, pairs and services, dating from the 17th to the 19th century, which increases the already conspicuous permanent heritage of glassware of the Musei Civici d’Arte Antica, integrating and implementing its variety of artifacts in terms of types and geographical origins. Indeed, the venues of the Museo Civico Medievale and the Museo Davia Bargellini house rich collections in which several masterpieces of the art of glassmaking stand out, including the extremely rare blue chalice decorated in enamel and gilding with the Adoration of the Magi, considered one of the oldest and most precious pieces of glass of the Italian Renaissance and attributed to the hand of Angelo Barovier (1405-1460) from Murano, a famous inventor of crystalline glass similar to rock crystal. The donation is completed with the transfer of more than 50 specialized publications on the history of glass art, acquired during more than forty years of collecting passion cultivated in assiduous research among the most important national and international antique dealers and auction houses, which can be consulted at the Biblioteca dei Musei Civici d’Arte Antica, located on the second floor of the Lapidarium of the Museo Civico Medievale, where they have enriched the bibliographic heritage dedicated to the themes of Medieval and Modern Art History.

The Cappagli Serretti collection is distinguished by its very high value not only for the considerable number of objects and their artistic quality, the result of a precise and refined aesthetic taste, but also and above all for the fact that it allows a wide and exhaustive overview of all the main European manufactures from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, of which it is possible to appreciate the most interesting evolutions in formal and stylistic directions. In fact, the exhibition looks beyond the Italian horizons to learn, for example, about the Anglo-Saxon and Spanish glassmaking worlds of the 18th century, documented respectively by the chalices decorated with lattimo spirals and the decorative motifs of Islamic matrix with a brilliant chromatic palette, or the colorful Bohemian production of the Biedermeier period, with its vast production of enameled and engraved glass. The various manufactures scattered across the continent did not constitute worlds unto themselves, isolated from one another: they were actually in close relation sharing techniques, forms and decorative motifs, while always maintaining specific characters in relation to the different historical, social and political conditions of each individual country. Prominent in terms of uniqueness and technical quality is the group of works from 17th-century Venice, known for its imaginative style, sometimes to the point of the bizarre, which liked to experiment with new decorative techniques, with excellent levels of virtuosity achieved in the decorative function at the expense of that of use. Originating in the 16th century in the wake of the success of Venetian glass in Europe and as a result of the massive diaspora of Murano glassmakers to the Netherlands, Germany, England and Spain, the vast production “à la façon de Venise” continued for about two centuries, being increasingly influenced by the traditions of its place of origin.

The representation of the lightness, fragility and transparency of glass in the pictorial language finds emblematic reflection in the exhibition in the painting Lot and the Daughters by Alessandro Tiarini (1577 - 1668), in which the patriarch’s two daughters get their father drunk by serving him wine contained inside a Venetian goblet. It is an almost faithful reproduction of the specimen referable to the end of the 16th century preserved at the Davia Bargellini Museum, from which the same canvas by the Bolognese painter comes, belonging to the rare Verzaglia Rusconi collection composed of 138 blown and carved glass pieces from Murano and Bohemia. Well documented by the objects on display in the exhibition is the still little-studied phenomenon of eighteenth-century Venetian and European production in imitation of Bohemian production, which testifies to the gradual economic crisis of Venetian industry and the establishment of new production centers that stimulated a change in tastes and forms. The great eighteenth-century turning point in the history of glass is represented by the spread of new techniques originating in northern Europe, which as early as the late seventeenth century marked the end of Venetian glass supremacy after centuries of unchallenged dominance. The overcoming of Murano influence was mainly due to the innovation of the glass paste composition process with the use of new materials, such as lead and potassium.

Alongside valuable objects found on aristocratic or bourgeois tables of different types (riser, bottle, chalice, flask) and uses (wine glass, liquor glass, presentation glass, d’apparatus, reliquaries) there is also a notable group of “popular” or more commonly used objects in the collection, such as glassware used in apothecaries’ shops as laboratory tools (retorts, funnels, pouring bottles).

In addition to bringing about a substantial increase in the civic heritage, the donation of the Cappagli Serretti collection has enabled the development of collaborations on both the research and educational levels. Thanks to the invaluable technical-scientific advice of the management and curatorial staff of the Murano Glass Museum belonging to the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, all the pieces in the collection have been studied and catalogued, with the aim of reconstructing their period of construction, manufacture of production, area of origin, constituent materials, and stylistic and formal characteristics. The design of the visual communication materials dedicated to the exhibition was carried out by involving more than 50 fifth-year students of the Liceo Artistico “Arcangeli” high school in Bologna, specializing in graphic design. In line with a didactics that envisages a close dialogue with the territory, the collaboration allowed students to apply the notions of graphic design and laboratory to a reality task, becoming themselves protagonists of the local community, connoisseurs and disseminators of culture. This experience proved to be highly fruitful and functional from an educational and professionalizing point of view, offering a concrete possibility of growth and planning for the cultural sector.

To document the exhibition and the collection, Silvana Editoriale is publishing a catalog edited by Mark Gregory D’Apuzzo and Massimo Medica, containing scientific fact sheets of the individual objects compiled by Mauro Stocco on the basis of previous meticulous cataloging research edited by Liana Cappagli Serretti. Complementing the publication are introductory texts by Liana Cappagli Serretti, Maurizio Ferretti (director Istituzione Bologna Musei), Françoise Barbe (curator Département des Objets d’art, Musée du Louvre, Paris) and Chiara Squarcina (Director Area Musei Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia), essays by Massimo Medica and Mark Gregory D’Apuzzo, and photographs by Roberto Serra.

The exhibition benefits from the patronage of the Italian National Committee of Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre - AIHV, an international body dedicated to the study and promotion of glass in all its aspects: from archaeology to design, from research to artistic production, without forgetting the technological and historical-economic aspects of production. Patronage has also been granted by The International Year of Glass 2022, an initiative recognized by the United Nations to celebrate the essential role that glass has and will continue to play in society, emphasizing the technological, scientific and economic importance of this often invisible transformative material that is, however, the basis of so many technologies and can facilitate the development of more just and sustainable societies to meet the challenges of globalization.

The Bologna Civic Museums acquire an important collection of glass from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.