Prince Albert

Physical description

Mount: 'LANBERT COVENTRY ST LONDON'

Place of Origin

Venice, Italy (made)

Date

1864 (made)

Artist/maker

Podio, Enrico (probably, mosaicist)
Salviati & C. (manufacturer)
Lanbert (maker)

Materials and Techniques

Unpolished glass mosaic, in gilt metal frame

Marks and inscriptions

'STABILIMENTO SALVIATI VENEZIA 1864'

Dimensions

Height: 19.5 cm, Width: 16.5 cm maximum

Descriptive line

Medallion portrait of Prince Albert, Italy (Venice), made by Salviati & C. and frame by Lanbert, Coventry Street, London, 1864-1864, 261-1866 .

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Liefkes, R: The Burlington, May, 1994; Physick, J: History of the V&A building.....
See Ceramics & Glass Object Information File

Labels and date

Antonio Salviati, a barrister, began investigating glassmaking techniques as a result of his concern over the deplorable state of the mosaics in St. Mark's Basilica, Venice. In 1861 he founded a company to manufacture glass mosaic, gaining an order for the supply of mosaic to St. Marks immediately. With strong support from England from the outset, Salviati quickly established contacts in London and commissions from the South Kensington Museum for decorative mosaics (see parts of the exterior of the Lecture Theatre building). This miniature portrait of Prince Albert, made, possibly speculatively, by Salviati was presented to Queen Victoria in 1864, three years after Albert's death. She presented it to the Museum two years later.

Production Note

Dated 1864.
Frame made by Lanbert of Coventry Street, London,

A larger version og the same design from the Pauly Collection of Murano Glass was auctioned at Sotheby's Venice on 13th September 2005, lot 5 (60.5 x 54 cm).
This is marked in tesserae: 'E.Podio F. 1865, Stabil. Venezia'.
Enrico Podio was a specialist micro mosaic worker from Rome, who was hired by Antonio Salviati to set up his first Mosaic workshop in Venice.

Subjects depicted

Albert Francis Augustus Charles Emmanuel (Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince Consort of Queen Victoria of Great Britain,)

Categories

Glass

Collection code

CER