Friday, November 8, 2013

Villa Montebello

A Madame Tardiveau commissioned Salviati to make mosaics representing maritime emblems for the exterior decoration of the villa. Located just a block from the English Channel in Normandy, the former summer residence of the Marquise of Montebello was built in 1865-66 in the Second Empire style by architect Jean-Louis Celinski.


Now housing the Musee de Trouville, the organization's collection coincidentally also contains a Salviati mosaic portrait representing Titian. Salviati's records show that a mosaic of Titian was ordered by a Mr. Apetzeguia of Paris. Julio Jose, the Marquis de Apezteguia of Cuba studied in Paris before 1879 and he may have commissioned the mosaic.


Salviati exhibited a mosaic portrait of Titian - perhaps this one - at the fall 1884 meeting of the Architectural Association in London.


Titian's 16th century self-portrait in Berlin's Gemaldegalerie

Sources:
Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1916.  London: Antique Collector's Club, 2008. 130.
Canecrabe's flickr Photostream
L'Express
Musees Basse-Normandie
Amis du Musee de Trouville
Wikimedia Commons
"Marquis de Apezteguia Dead." New York Times. April 16, 1902.
"Architectural Association." The Building News and Engineering Journal. October 17, 1884. 612.

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