Mirror (Specchiera)
maker
Unknown
contributor
Martin Mower
(Lynn, Massachusetts, 1870 - 1960, Vancouver)
Date1760-1780
Place MadeVenice, Veneto, Italy, Europe
MediumPainted and gilded wood with mirrored glass
Dimensions373.5 x 141 cm (147 1/16 x 55 1/2 in.)
ClassificationsFurnishings
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberF18w3.7
eMuseum ID730533
Original NumberC18n20-s
EmbARK ObjectID13014
TMS Source ID2043
Last Updated8/14/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryIn 1897, Isaballa acquired interior paneling, including this mirror, from the Palazzo Morosini in Venice. At the top of the mirror is an oval shield with the arms of Doge Francesco Morosini (1619-1694). A sword supporting a helmet commemorates his victories over the Ottomans and the two carved and painted putti continue the theme of triumph: one plays a trumpet and the other holds the victor’s plaque. Carved flowers and foliage decorate the upper frame, which is marked at the upper corner with protruding sprays of flowers.
Delicate gilded wood moldings hold twenty-one pieces of glass in place within the frame. The mirror was broken when it arrived in Boston in April 1898, and several of the panes were probably replaced. Isabella asked her friend, artist Martin Mower (1870-1960), to paint a spray of flowers on the large panes of glass in the lower frame to cover a crack.
Delicate gilded wood moldings hold twenty-one pieces of glass in place within the frame. The mirror was broken when it arrived in Boston in April 1898, and several of the panes were probably replaced. Isabella asked her friend, artist Martin Mower (1870-1960), to paint a spray of flowers on the large panes of glass in the lower frame to cover a crack.
BibliographyNotesAlberto Salvagnini. "Il Palazzo Morosini in Venezia" in La Ressegna Nazionale 56, no. 12 (1890), pp. 143-151.
Jules Sambon and Charles Mannheim. Catalogue des objets d'art et d'ameublement de Mme la comtesse Lauredana Gatterburg-Morosini, ... (Sales Enterprise of Italy: Venice, 15-21 May 1894), pp. 29-30, lot 343.
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 135.
“Notes, Records, Comments.” Gardner Museum Calendar of Events 6, no. 33 (14 Apr. 1963), p. 2.
Fausto Calderai and Alan Chong. Furnishing a Museum: Isabella Stewart Gardner’s Collection of Italian Furniture (Boston, 2011), pp. 142-47, no. 52A.
Elizabeth Reluga, "The Largest Mirror," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 11 August 2020, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/largest-mirror
Jules Sambon and Charles Mannheim. Catalogue des objets d'art et d'ameublement de Mme la comtesse Lauredana Gatterburg-Morosini, ... (Sales Enterprise of Italy: Venice, 15-21 May 1894), pp. 29-30, lot 343.
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 135.
“Notes, Records, Comments.” Gardner Museum Calendar of Events 6, no. 33 (14 Apr. 1963), p. 2.
Fausto Calderai and Alan Chong. Furnishing a Museum: Isabella Stewart Gardner’s Collection of Italian Furniture (Boston, 2011), pp. 142-47, no. 52A.
Elizabeth Reluga, "The Largest Mirror," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 11 August 2020, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/largest-mirror
ProvenanceNotesLoredana Gatterburg-Morosini (d.1884) by descent from her mother, Elisabetta Morosini Gatterburg, Palazzo Morosini on Campo Santo Stefano, Venice.
Auctioned by distant relatives after Loredana Gatterburg-Morosini's death through Jules Sambon (1836-1921) of the auction house Sales Enterprise of Italy with the co-operation of Charles Mannheim, expert in objets d'art, Venice, 15 – 22 May 1894, lot 343, unsold.
Acquired by the antique dealer Antonio Settini, Venice after failed to sell at auction in May 1894.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from Antonio Settini on 28 September 1897 for 6400 lire (for suite of twenty-one pieces of furniture and paneling).
Auctioned by distant relatives after Loredana Gatterburg-Morosini's death through Jules Sambon (1836-1921) of the auction house Sales Enterprise of Italy with the co-operation of Charles Mannheim, expert in objets d'art, Venice, 15 – 22 May 1894, lot 343, unsold.
Acquired by the antique dealer Antonio Settini, Venice after failed to sell at auction in May 1894.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from Antonio Settini on 28 September 1897 for 6400 lire (for suite of twenty-one pieces of furniture and paneling).
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