Antonio Salviati (March 18, 1816 - January 25, 1890) was an Italian glass manufacturer and founder of the Salviati family firm.
Biography
A native of Vicenza, Salviati was a lawyer who got interested in glasswork after becoming involved in restorations being done on the mosaics of Saint Mark's Cathedral in Venice. He opened his first glass business in 1859 with Lorenzo Radi, and this firm produced the mosaic glass for the altar screen for the high altar of Westminster Abbey. In 1876, he left this business to establish a new firm. His firm executed the mosaic decoration of the dome of Aachen Cathedral after the designs of the Belgian architect Jean-Baptiste de Béthune.
During 1866 Antonio Salviati founded Compagnia Venezia Murano with British diplomat and archaeologist Austen Henry Layard. Today Pauly & C. - Compagnia Venezia Murano is one of most important brand of venetian art glass production. Of particular historical relevance is the mosaic portrait of President Abraham Lincoln, which can be viewed today in the Senate House rooms in the United States, produced by the Compagnia Venezia Murano and donated by Antonio Salviati in 1866.
Murano had been a center of fine glasswork since the Middle Ages (producing the glass that bore its name), but the pieces were lavish and expensive specialty pieces that only the wealthy could afford. Salviati changed the face of the business by becoming the first glass factory owner to employ a large number of skilled workers to mass-produce glass intended for export. This reestablished Murano as a center of glass manufacturing.
Salviati died in Vicenza.
