The Palais Garnier - the iconic setting for the
Phantom of the Opera - was designed in 1860 by young architect Charles Garnier and opened in 1875.
Rectangular panels of Salviati mosaics modeled after French painter Paul-Alfred de Curzon's designs can be found on the ornate ceiling panels that decorate the Avant Foyer, which looks over the Grand Staircase. The master mosaicist responsible for the work was Giandomenico Facchina (1826-1903).
The four pairs of Greek mythological gods and goddesses symbolizing love and death include:
Artemis and Endymion
Orpheus and Eurydice
Aurora and Cephalus
Psyche and Hermes
Garnier noted in adjacent mosaic inscriptions that "decorative mosaic has been used for the first time in France for the ornamentation of this vault and the popularisation [sic] of this art."
The ceiling of the
Facade Loggia is also decorated with Salviati mosaics.
Sources:
Cyril's photo on TrekEarth
fact244's flickr Photostream
Just_Bernard's flickr Photostream
Barr, Sheldon.
Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. New York: Antique Collectors’ Club Ltd., 2008. 41-44.
Ward, James.
Historic Ornament. London: Chapman and Hall, 1897. 361.
