Friends of the Uffizi - Dr. Christopher Maxwell - Online

Venetian Glass – a historical introduction

In 1708, Denmark’s King Frederick IV visited the Republic of Venice. His sojourn was marked with great pageantry, in the best Venetian style. Before the King’s return to Denmark, Doge Alvise Mocenigo (1628-1709) presented him with a tremendous gift. Comprised of over 200 pieces of glass, the gift represented the full and spectacular range of Venetian production. Unsurpassed in technical skill or exuberance of design, the king valued this gift so highly that he created a special room to display it at Rosenborg Castle, Copenhagen, where it remains today.

It is remarkable that Venetian glass attained such prestige, despite the obvious challenges of the city’s location and the lack of the necessary raw materials. Yet between about 1300 and 1700, Venice was a global market leader. Join Dr. Christopher Maxwell, Curator of Early Modern Glass at the Corning Museum of Glass, as he considers how Venice came to dominate glass production in the early modern period - the heritage of glassmaking on Murano today.