Morosini mosaic in Talygarn House

A fifty square foot mosaic was created by Salviati for the 1881 Italian Exposition in Milan based on an original 1879 design by artist Giacomo Favretto. It's called "Venice Presenting the Baton of Command to Francesco Morosini".

Morosini was a 17th century Venetian soldier and sailor. The composition includes Morosini himself, Venetia as a beautiful woman, Kleio the muse of history, and St. Mark's lion. More than 7,000 color variations in tesserae were used with the noticeable exception of Salviati's signature gold.


In 1885, George Thomas Clark - a friend of Sir Austen Henry Layard - purchased the mosaic from the Venice and Murano Glass and Mosaic Company for 250 British Pounds and had it installed in the Hall of Talygarn House in Wales. Incidentally, Clark also gifted a mosaic reredos of the Last Supper by Salviati to the Charterhouse School in Godalming.

The mosaic - seen above in Talygarn House - was removed in the 1920s when the house became a convalescent home for miners. At one point, it had been left in a field on the property and as of 2008, there was the intent to donate it to the National Museum of Wales.

 Favretto's 1879 painting can be found in Venice's Museo d'Arte Moderna, ca'Pesaro.

Sources:
Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. London: Antique Collectors' Club, 2008. 60-63.
ebay
Plant, Margaret. Venice: Fragile City 1797-1997. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002. 175.

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.

St. Peter's Eastern Hill

Across the street from St. Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne, this church was built 1846-47. The letters patent from Queen Victoria declaring Melbourne to city status in 1848 were read on the church's steps.

A wood engraving from between 1854 and 1860. The building was extended in both 1857 and 1876.

A Salviati mosaic reredos of The Last Supper from 1880 decorates the High Altar. This may be the same mosaic the Venice and Murano Company showed at the 1880 Melbourne Expo.

Sources:
St. Peter's Eastern Hill
Wikipedia
Ship of Fools
Anglican Church of Australia