Marco Toso Borella
Glass Art
MURANO GLASS
Glass is the first synthetic material in history. Its discovery dates back to the third millennium BC in the Mesopotamian area, but the revolutionary discovery of glassblowing, which allowed for the creation of drinking glasses, is dated to the 1st century BC in Jerusalem.
There are several types of glass in the world, which differ substantially in their chemical composition. All glass is composed of silica sand, a substance defined as a “flux” that lowers the melting temperature, and other materials that influence its stability, color, quality, and transparency.
Among all the different types of glass, Murano glass has always been considered the Glass par excellence, so much so that it has almost become its synonym.
What makes Murano Glass special is the use, in its composition, of an element capable of extending its solidification time and therefore allowing for the creation of more elaborate shapes: the “flux”, soda, once extracted from the ashes of Mediterranean plants (glasswort, salsola kali, roscano), and in modern times processed through chemical processes (Solvay, Leblanc).
The raw material “Murano Glass” that the Master uses as a canvas for his works of art.
MURANESE, GLASSMAKERS BY BIRTH
To these main elements, discoveries, techniques, compositions, formulas, and actual “recipe patents” have been added over the centuries, which the Muranese called “partìe” and which have been handed down through the centuries via jealously guarded notes and booklets left as a legacy to subsequent generations.
Since ancient times, Venice identified the island of Murano as the exclusive site for glass production, but in 1291 the Serenissima Republic officially decreed that glassworks must be located only and exclusively on the island of Murano (effectively creating the first industrial district in history) and that only those born in Murano could work in the sector. This choice was driven by the desire to protect the historic center from the risk of fire, but above all by the need for “protectionism” of the know-how that made Venice number one in the world in this market.
To be able to work with glass, it was therefore necessary to be born in Murano to a Muranese family registered in the Golden Book of Murano. It was not a noble affiliation but a professional category that granted exclusive advantages and privileges. Everyone in Murano, therefore, lived off glass.
Each family specialized in a particular artistic technique, in the production of specific products, and in all those services ancillary to the production process, always jealously guarding the recipes generation after generation.
An example of a Muranese “quaderno delle partie” (recipe book)
THE ART OF THE “TOSO BORELLA” FAMILY
The ancient Toso family has been present in Murano since the mid-14th century and has been registered in the island’s Golden Book since the 17th century.
The massive presence of the “Toso” family in a restricted area like Murano led to the birth of numerous nicknames: Borella is one of them.
The “Borella” branch of the Toso family specialized in the art of sgraffito on gold leaf, an ancient technique applied to the decoration of glasses, bowls, vases, and plates.
A PLACE IN ART HISTORY BOOKS
Today Marco Toso Borella is considered the leading international exponent of the ancient family artistic technique of “sgraffito on gold leaf”, for which he is also cited in the publication Artists’ Techniques and Materials published in 2006 by The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the only living artist in the volume, alongside artists of the caliber of Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Giotto.
His works are held in private collections all over the world and are also permanently exhibited in the Murano Glass Museum.
His Stations of the Cross (Via Crucis) is exhibited inside the Basilica of San Donato in Murano.
The precious raw material of Murano Glass
with the creativity of Marco Toso Borella is elevated to an absolute work of art,
which can embody the artist’s personal interpretations of subjects, concepts, and suggestions, in a constant and inexhaustible dialogue between past and future.