Thursday, October 31, 2013

Buxton Memorial Fountain

S.S. Teulon designed this monument that was erected in 1865 to the memory of Thomas Buxton and others who were involved in the 1834 abolition of slavery in the British Empire. It was originally located in Westminster's Parliament Square, however, it was later moved to its current location in nearby Victoria Gardens.


Salviati decorated the fountain with mosaics, seen mostly around and within the gothic arches and trefoils midway up the structure.


 

Sources:
Salviati, Antonio. On Mosaics (generally). 1865. 50.
Wikipedia
Patche99z on Wikimedia Commons
Mira66's flickr Photostream
Bob Speel's Website

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

All Saints' Church, Windsor

A.W. Blomfield designed this church and it was built 1863-64. The daughter of Queen Victoria, H.R.H. the Crown Princess of Prussia laid the first stone.


Salviati made the large, floriated mosaic cross above the chancel arch after designs by Blomfield.


Sources:
Salviati, Antonio. On Mosaics (generally). Leeds, 1865. 45.
The Royal Windsor Forum. June 3, 2011
"All Saints' Church, Windsor." The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal. vol. 27. Dec. 1, 1864. 364.
Basher Eyre on Geograph

Monday, October 28, 2013

Tyndale Monument

This 111 foot (34 m) tall tower was built in 1866 by architect S.S. Teulon in honor of William Tyndale, translator of the New Testament.


Salviati decorated the cross on top of the monument with gold enamel Venetian mosaics.


Sources:
Salviati, Antonio. On Mosaics (generally). 1865. 50.
Wikipedia
Illustrated London News. November 17, 1866.
W. Lloyd MacKenzie, via Flickr @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/saffron_blaze/

Friday, October 25, 2013

Church of Christ's Resurrection, Foros

Built in 1892, this "church on the rock" was designed by architect Nikolai Mikhailovich (N.M.) Chagin.


Salviati manufactured the mosaic decorations that decorate the exterior niches.




Sources:
Yacht Club
Virtual Crimea
Discover UA
Vyacheslav Argenberg's flickr Photostream
Wikipedia
ikronvvg on Wikimapia
Tripadvisor
Torange

Thursday, October 24, 2013

American Antiquarian Society

Edward Livingston Davis procured this mosaic portrait of Christopher Columbus by Salviati in Italy in 1878. Upon his return to the US, he presented it to the American Antiquarian Society, an organization founded in 1812 to preserve the cultural heritage of the colonies that eventually became the United States of America. The portrait was originally housed on the north partition of the Annex in the second Antiquarian Hall, on Lincoln Square at the corner of Highland Street, beside the Worcester County Courthouse. While the Hall was built in 1853 by architect Thomas H. Tefft, the Annex was added in 1878 by Stephen C. Earle.


After a new building was constructed in 1910, the mosaic's original ebony frame was removed and the portrait was set in plaster over the door in the society's Council Room of the third Antiquarian Hall.



Today, the Venetian mosaic portrait of Christopher Columbus hangs in the building's main Reading Room, among the society's many painted portraits.


Sources:
"Mosaic of Columbus That Shows Discoverer's Haunting Look." The Spokesman. October 7, 1933. 25.
Weis, Frederick L. Checklist of the Portraits in the Library of the American Antiquarian Society. April 1946. 73.
Reynolds, Mary Robinson. Recollections of Sixty Years of Service in the American Antiquarian Society. April 1945. 
American Antiquarian Society 1812-2012
National Historic Landmarks Program
Information and photograph of the mosaic was provided by Lauren B. Hewes, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Graphic Arts at the American Antiquarian Society

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Thornford

This 14th century church was restored in 1866 by the firm of Slater and Carpenter.


The five panels of the stone reredos are filled with Salviati mosaics. The central panel consists of a Greek cross in a circle, while the two panels on either side include depictions of Alpha, IHS Christogram, and Omega.


Sources:
British Listed Buildings
UK Genealogy Archives 
1903 Kelly's Directory of Dorset
Basher Eyre on Geograph
Tripadvisor
Newman, John, and Nikolaus Pevsner. Dorset. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1972. 34.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

St. Mary's, Riverhead

This 1831 church was extended by Arthur W. Blomfield in 1882.
 


The central panel of the triparte reredos depicts Christ in Majesty in mosaic by Salviati from 1894.


The opus sectile mosaics on either side featuring groups of angels were made by the mosaic company of James Powell and Sons between 1910 and 1914. The sketches were made by Coakes and the cartoons by Hardgrave.

Sources:
Roughwood British Churches
Newman, John. West Kent and the Weald. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980. 469.
English Heritage
The Voice of Hassocks on Wikimedia Commons
John Vigar on Kent Churches
Hadley, Dennis. Powell's Opus Sectile Locations.  28.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Columbus Memorial Building, Chicago

W.W. Boyington designed this 14 story building that was built in 1893. This was the same year that the World's Columbian Exposition was held in Chicago. It was located at the southeast corner of State and Washington Streets.


The Venice and Murano Company made the two enamel mosaics that decorated the rear wall of each store on the State Street entrance. One showed the Landing of Columbus and the other the Columbus Before Ferdinand and Isabella. Each panel measured 8.5 feet by 16.5 feet and they were commissioned for the Expo by financiers of the building, law partners Van Higgins and Henry Furber.  They were moved to the building in 1894. The building was destroyed in 1959, however, the mosaics, as well as a 10 foot statue of Columbus and numerous bas reliefs were proposed to be donated to local art organizations. However, the Art Institute rejected the mosaics both because of their size and their dilapidated condition. They were consequently moved to a storage facility.


In 1976, the Landing of Columbus panel was installed on the south wall of the lobby of Columbus Hospital. However, tiles from the other panel had been used to repair it, and it had also been cut into three separate panels in order to fit. The firm used to repair the mosaics - Conrad Schmitt Studios in Wisconsin - was allowed to keep the remaining mosaics. The Landing of Columbus was on display in the hospital for about  decade, until the next round of renovations. It was consequently removed and stored, until it was also given to Schmitt Studios. As of 2012, the three restored panels were still owned by the Gruenke Foundation for the Arts, which is a non-profit organization set up by Schmitt Studios.

Sources:
Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. London: Antique Collectors' Club, 2008. 126.
National Geographic Channel
Columbian Exposition Dedication Ceremonies Memorial. 1893. 296.
Old Chicago
University of Illinois - Chicago
Architecture Farm
Huebner, Jeff. "Kept in the Dark." Reader. July 8, 1999.

Friday, October 18, 2013

Colegiul National Ion C. Bratianu

This school was founded in 1866, but its present facility wasn't built until 1897-98.


The architecture and decoration of the building - including the facade mosaics by Salviati - is an almost replica of the Roman Voda Lyceum (Colegiul National Roman Voda) in the city of Roman and the Unirea Lyceum in Focsani (Colegiul National Unirea).

Sources:
Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. London: Antique Collectors' Club, 2008. 138.
Colegiul National "Ion C. Braianu"

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Portraits

Although not architectural decorations, these mosaic portraits by Salviati - arguably the most famous ones made by the company - deserve a mention.

Prince Albert, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (1864). In 1866, Queen Victoria gifted to the museum this Salviati mosaic medallion depicting the late Prince Consort Albert (item 261-1866). Made by artist Enrico Podio in Salviati's workshop in 1864, this piece is on display in room 131.


The city of Venice gifted two portraits to the City of Genoa shortly after the former joined the Kingdom of Italy.

Marco Polo, Municipal Palace of Genoa: Palazzo Grimaldi Doria-Tursi (1867)


 Christopher Columbus, Municipal Palace of Genoa: Palazzo Grimaldi Doria-Tursi (1867)
Antonio Salviati personally gifted two presidential portraits to the United States Congress.

Abraham Lincoln, US Senate, Washington, DC (1866)


James A. Garfield, US Senate, Washington, DC (1882) by Salviati and Burke


The mosaic portrait of Giuseppe Garibaldi (1883) is now in the Murano Museum of Glass.


The same location houses the portrait of Victor Emmanuell II, which was part of Salviati's exhibit at the 1867 Paris Expo and was modelled after an original painting by Giulio Carlini.



Another presidential portrait was created after Antonio Salviati's death for the St. Louis World's Fair.

Theodore Roosevelt, Corning Museum of Glass, New York (1904)


Elena of Montenegro (consort of Italy's Victor Emmanuel III), Corning Museum of Glass, New York (1900)


Jane Lathrop Stanford, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California (1900)



Sources:
United States Senate
Thomas Hawk's flickr Photostream
Chest of Books 
Daily Violets: Mosaic Art
Corning Museum of Glass
Explorers Then and Now
Victoria and Albert Museum
Erwan 2949's flickr Photostream
Pat Anderson's flickr Photostream
Thatcher, John Boyd. Christopher Columbus: his life, his works his remains. III. New York: GP Putnam's Sons, 1904. 52.
Ponce de Leon, Nestor. The Columbus Gallery: The "discoverer of the new world" as represented in portraits, monuments, statues, medals and paintings. New York: N. Ponce de Leon, Publisher, 1893. 43.
Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. London: Antique Collectors' Club, 2008. 127, 131.
Salviati, Antonio. Les manufactures Salviati & Cie à Venise et Murano. Mosaïques, verres Paris, 1867. 12.
V&A. Search the Collections. Item 261-1866.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Church on the Heights, Brooklyn

Part of the Dutch Reformed Church, this building was located on the northwest corner of Pierrepont Street and Monroe Place. Salviati made a mosaic portrait of minister and hymn-writer George W. Bethune to be affixed to a Carrara marble memorial tablet to be installed in the church, which Bethune had been associated with.


The church was dedicated in 1851 and it was demolished sometime after 1922. Today, the location is home to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York and its adjacent parking lot.


Although Salviati's records from 1865 indicate the memorial was for a church in New York, Bethune's biography from 1867 lists the Third Reformed Dutch Church in Philadelphia as containing the mosaic tablet.

This church - located on the northeast corner of Tenth and Filbert Streets - was designed by Thomas Ustick Walter and built 1836-40.


In either case, the portrait now hangs in the New Brunswick Theological Seminary's Gardner A. Sage library.


 

Sources:
Salviati, Antonio. On Mosaics (generally). 1865. 50-51.
Mast, Gregg. In Remembrance and Hope: The Ministry and Vision of Howard G. Hageman. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1998. 4.
Van Nest, Rev. A.R. Memoir of Rev. Geo. W. Bethune. New York: Sheldon and Company, 1867. 421.
New York Historical Society Museum & Library
Google Maps
Philadelphia Architects and Buildings

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

All Saints' Church, Blackheath

Designed by Benjamin Ferry, this church was built 1857-67. A.W. Blomfield added the vestries in 1890 and the porch in 1899.



Salviati mosaics decorate the church's chancel, with small arcades containing six Apostles on each side.


Sources:
Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. London: Antique Collectors Club, 2008. 124.
TheWalkerTourch on Redbubble
A Church Near You
Diocese of Southwark

Monday, October 14, 2013

Bonn Minster

Also known as St. Martin's Cathedral, this is one of Germany's oldest churches, dating back to before the 13th century.


Salviati made a total of 800 square feet of mosaics for the portal and apse of the cathedral in 1894, modeled after cartoons by Professor Martin and Friz Geiges.


Mosaic tympanum of the Annunciation above the entry portal



Detail of the apse mosaic featuring Christ Enthroned, which is based on a depiction in Hagia Sophia and also reminiscent of the one in St. Mark's Basilica. The latter also served as the model for the portrait in St. Augustine's College, Canterbury.

Sources:
Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. London: Antique Collectors' Club, 2008. 127.
Wikipedia
Sacred Destinations: Bonn Munster
Hans Weingartz on Wikimedia Commons
Erke's flickr Photostream
jaime.silva's flickr Photostream
Brian J. McMorrow on pBase

Friday, October 11, 2013

St. Andrew's Church, Biggleswade

This church contains some 13th and 14th century elements, but it has been remodeled and added to extensively over the centuries.



R.J. Withers designed the east-end stone reredos in 1877 and it was decorated with Venetian mosaics by Salviati in 1881.


Sources:
National Heritage
Rodney Burton on Wikimedia Commons
Derek Jones' flickr Photostream
Colin Hinson on Genuki

Thursday, October 10, 2013