The curiosity to learn what was behind the history of glasses was
the cause of knowledgeable disputes right from the second half of
the seventeenth century; once Ruggero Bacone, in the thirteenth
century, discarded the theory of classical, oriental or English
origins, it was declared that their home was Tuscany, or
alternatively Pisa or Florence, but this statement was based on
somewhat dubious evidence. It was only in 1920 that Giuseppe
Albertotti vindicated Venice's credit, founded on known documents
that had been published for years but it was not until later that they
had ever been evaluated from that aspect. The theory that glasses
are of Venetian origin seems well founded from investigations made
by other authors. In addition to Albertotti's works, here I will only
mention Enrico De Lotto's volume, which takes stock of the
previous bibliography, and several articles by Luigi Zecchin - expert
on the art of Murano glass and everything else connected to glass
and owner of a particularly nimble pen - full of new information
and interpretations. He emphasizes, among other things, that the
«discovery» of spectacles, which is thought to be more of a thing of
chance than the outcome of programmed research, was not the
undertaking of glass makers but of cristallgeri, a flourishing branch
of Venetian goldcraftsmen, dedicated to working on quartz or rock
crystal; this precious raw material is offered them by Mother
Nature and used to make liturgical and cult objects or even refined
ornaments for the home or for a person to wear.
As in all medieval counties, the Venetian craftsmen, working in
many different branches of production, trade and services, were
forced into a myriad of arti or corporations that represented their
interests and voiced their destres for association and mutual
assistance. They certainly weren't lacking in independence but they
were controlled and protected by the state for technical-administrative
and also political reasons; if, in other towns, the arti,
that is the people, could sometimes get into the goverrunent, they
never managed to gain political standing in Venice.
Since 1173 this control was entrusted mostly to judges, called
Giustizieri Vecchi, old judges who, in 1261, were supported by new
judges. One of their tasks was to draw up a capitolare, that is the
statutes concerning each arte, which consisted in the systematic
collection of previous laws and customs and the issuing of others
(always guaranteed by sanctions) regarding all organization and
internal regulation sectors and professional activities minutely
wording detailed prescriptions that could even be of a technical
nature, in the interests of the corporation, or the individual and in
the main interests of the town.
By the same standards as the magistrates when they undertook the
office, the members of the arti had to swear on the Gospel their
observance of the capitolare; although they were excluded from
public life they felt they were an active part of the city The most
ancient capitolari (the first were for tailors in 1219) were collected
in a code in 1278 by the old judges, subsequently added to up until
1330 during which time there was much activity; today it is
preserved in the State Archives of Venice. The edition, by Giovanni
Monticolo, was published.in three volumes, the last one
posthumous, between 1896 and 1914.
Although active for some time, the cristallieri didn't have their own
capitolare until November 1284. This too included standard and
repetitious regulations together with others suited to their specific
case; the ban to commit frauds and forgeries is reiterated, a
dishonest act and harmful to the good name of art and Venetian
trade. The temptation to replace costly, rare rock crystal with
transparent, colourless glass must have been strong as it was easily
available from the flourishing local production; so much so that the
use of glass wasn't forbidden as long the items made with it were
not smuggled for quartz.
In 1284 two chapters (which we call articles) were dedicated to this
subject: «no one dares working with white glass disguised as crystal
(chap. III); it is also legal to produce items in glass identical
to those in quartz but when it comes to selling them they must be
clearly distinguished for what they are (chap. XIII)». on 2nd April
1300 (chap. M), when banning members of the arte from
any form of trade of white glass objects passed off for crystal,
an indicative list is provided, evidently regarding things
that are routinely produced and falsified; in near to Vulgar Latin
we have roidi de botacelis et da ogli e lapides ad legedum.
This phrase is repeated in the following chapter and extends the
ban to everyone, Venetians and foreigners, and to traffic, both
internal and export.
Lapides ad legendum «stones for reading with» are magnifying
lenses. On the other hand, with roidi da ogli for the very first time
you can see «spectacle lenses», which are by now a standard
production, associated with roidi de botacelis from where they
probably originated; the latter were small round, convex tops used
to cover elegant perfume bottles or medicinal bottles used for
example - as some detailed accounts have it - for the omnipotent
Venetian cure-all treatment, merit of the spezierie teriacanti
(chemist's) that concocted it.
One year later, on the 15th June 1301 (chap. XLIII), the manufacture
of vitreos ab oculis ad legendum (glass for reading spectacles) was
liberalized, and everyone could make them only after having taken
an oath in front of the judges that they would sell glass for glass. It
can be deduced that this product was widely traded on both the
domestic and foreign markets and that purchasers preferred the
cheaper version; this widespread use was justified not only for
reasons of studying and scholarly reading, but also to personally
check - and being able to see clearly - trading accounts and
correspondence. In March 1317 (chap. LIII) the concession made to
Francesco is recorded, son of the surgeon Nicolò, who had nothing
to do with arte to make oglarios de vitro and to sell them in town;
the term spectacles (oglarii) appears here for the first time.
The capitolare in vulgar of 1319, updated until 1330, is mostly a
translation of the Latin. It orders De lavorar lialmente e de vender
vero per vero e chnstallo per christallo (to work horlestly and to sell
glass for glass and crystal for crystal) and renews the compulsory
special oath to those who intend far rodoli de vero per ogli per lezer
(making rounds of glass for reading spectacles) (chapters X-XIV).
Art also embraced women at that time, and they could become
maistre, that is, shop owners.
Documentary evidence is rather lacking on frames, well illustrated
in iconography, starting with Tommaso da Modena's famous fresco
in the Dominican convent of San Nicolò of Treviso, dated 1352.
According to Zecchin's theory, having devised a way to make lenses
into «nose» spectacles could well have been aided by Tuscany's
contribution in improving the invention, thanks to the Dominican
Alessandro da Spina, working in the Santa Caterina Convent of
Pisa, who died in 1313 and who was for a long time considered the
inventor of glasses; he knew how to reconstruct the method created
by someone else who was detertnined to keep it a secret but he
gladly shared it with everyone as narrated in the convent's Cronaca
(chronicle).
From the sermon given in Santa Maria Novella, Florence, on 23rd
February 1306 by one of his brothers, the blessed Giordano Pisa o
da Rivalto, the invention was back dated even further by at least
twenty years, just in time - you may say - to use Venetian lenses. In
the centuries that followed, occhialeri, makers and sellers or just
sellers of glasses, even those made elsewhere and received from
German countries, can be found here and there in Venetian
documents and the trade is reported in toponymics.
They were not numerous enough to form an independent
corporation despite several attempts and in Venice and elsewhere
they were united with marzeri (haberdashers), whose shops were
filled with many different kinds of goods and whose arte, although
divided into various colonnelli (groups), was less rigidly specialized
than many others. Consequently, occhialen names and emblems
were found among the papets of marzen and in those of bodies
controlling arti who kept lists of their members, especially the
Giustizia Vecchia (Old Justice) and Milizia da Mar (Navy), and in
other archives.
Proof of the connection with haberdashers can also be seen in
pictures of pedlars loaded with hundreds of diffetent things, glasses
among them. Up until not many years ago, in small village markets,
you could find stalls selling glasses, just like those today selling sun
glasses.
The production of lenses in Venice wasn't limited to reading
glasses; in fact, in Murano they also made large lenses for
telescopes which were then finished by specchieri (mirror makers),
yet another trade, mention of which can also be found in
toponymics. The telescopes were then sold by occhialeri.
After the demonstration given by Galileo on the San Marco bell
tower on 21st August 1609 and the offering of the instrument to the
doges and signoria, the construction of telescopes came into
fashion; sometimes rock crystal was used instead of glass. Galileo
himself, once he returned to Tuscany in September 1610, he
continued getting lenses from Venice for at least ten years while his
friend, Giovanfrancesco Sagredo, was alive. Correspondence
between them mainly revolved around lenses; it was Sagredo who
personally supervised the production and finishing of lenses,
carrying out new experiments and research on them.
The possibility of ideally linking the remote and probably fortuitous
«discovery» of the antique cristallieri with the Venetian and Paduan
presence of Galileo, and with his remembrance of places where he
lived «the best eighteen years of all of his life», makes this event of
«industry» and Venetian industriousness even more significant.
