Murano and its glassmakers through time
Orsola Rosso is part of a family of glassmakers on the island of Murano. She was born in 1477. In the Rosso family, glassmakers are passed down from father to son, but the daughters take care of the household. Orsola aspires to something else. After the accidental death of her father, she learns to make glass beads in secret from her brother Marco who runs the workshop.
The story jumps forward in time, but the family does not age at the same rate. The plague breaks out in 1574 and the family is quarantined. Meanwhile, Orsola falls in love with an apprentice fisherman’s son, Antonio Scaramal, but their story is impossible.
Over the years and centuries, the work of the Rosso family evolved according to the historical events that determined it: the loss of Venice’s status as a free port, competition from other countries that had acquired the secrets of Murano glassmaking, the invasion by the Austrians, the Napoleonic Wars, etc.
The author covers the periods 1755, 1797, 1915 and 2019. The family is growing and constantly reinventing itself in its creations. Orsola often participates in negotiations with merchants in Venice who export their pieces and pearls around the world.
The reader follows with pleasure the tribulations of the Rosso family through the generations and ages. Tracy Chevalier’s choice is at least original to have her characters live in two different time zones compared to the great History, as if the glass craft were almost timeless, isolated on its island of Murano, protected from the outside world but nevertheless dependent on its hazards. The Rosso family remained confined to their island for the most part while their works traveled the entire world. A beautiful tribute!
Tracy Chevalier has taken great pains to describe the glassware in every detail to help us appreciate it better.
