Up: Glassmaking
Reminiscences
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lustre and brilliancy, the other comparing it to the clearness of the
waters of the Fucine Lake.
The decline of this art in Rome is clearly defined
by various writers; and its gradual introduction into
Bohemia and Venice is plainly marked out.
At this latter place the art flourished to a remarkable degree, and being
marked by constant progress and improvement, enabled Venice to supply the
world without a rival, and with the beautiful manufacture called
"Venice drinking-cups." The beauty and value
of these are abundantly testified to by many authors, among whom
is Holinshed, referred to previously. The manufacture of these and
similar articles were located, as stated in the "Chronicles," at
Murano, a place about one mile from the city, where
the business was carried on, and assumed a high position in the order
of the arts. And from thence we are enabled to date its future progress
and gradual introduction into Europe, Germany, England, and the Western
World.
It is not strange that the strict secrecy with which
the business was conducted in these times, should have invested the art with
an air of romance; and legends, probably invented for the purpose, created a
maximum of wonder among
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