European cultures have understood the ancestral significance of glass in different ways. Antiquity saw a magical origin in it (Pliny), medieval theology associated it with the miraculous: a material that lets light pass through without breaking it, a miracle comparable to that of the Incarnation (Suger). Because of its molecular composition and distribution, modern chemistry has established that glass is something in between a solid and a liquid, due to the fact that it behaves differently depending on its temperature. Translucent, transparent or reflective, colored or opacified, sometimes imitating precious materials, glass is rich in properties that allowed it to become part of our daily life (tableware, storage, architecture, art and all kinds of plastic expressions). Its perceived fragility – glass shatters and cannot be fixed or repaired unlike other materials -- adds to its precious appeal. Glass has been treasured, collected, inherited and passed on for many centuries and continues to do so today.

Glass is typically the product of a team effort that requires close-range collective work and the glass art historian must see it as a collective act of creation (Becker [1982]). Its process requires a profound technical knowledge that sets it apart from the usual practices of visual artists. Without an understanding of its complex chemical and molecular properties and the help of chemists, technicians, bench-workers, glass-blowers and many more specialized workers, the final product would not exist.

Glass objects are living products shaped in the glass factory or in the workshop, therefore their study must include a full understanding of both the history of the material and its intrinsic manufacturing process and properties. The archaeology of glass is also an important aspect of its study. It is common knowledge that many of the decorative techniques may have been developed after chance experimental discoveries, which were subsequently fully explored and exploited by glass artists and their workshops. Another aspect of the study of glass is related to an understanding of the migrations of workers and techniques which ensured the diffusion of know-how in different areas (late Roman and Islamic glass, or Venetian and Venetian-style glass). Finally, glass is a living material also in its decaying stage: conservators and scientists can learn so much from studying, researching and documenting the various states that affect its surface and composition after long burial in different soils or water. In addition, scientists are now much closer to have a better understanding of the hidden information the chemical composition of historical glass can provide in terms of its age and relevant chronology.

Talks :

• Laura SAGEAUX - Magie et variations chromatiques : les gemmes-amulettes antiques en verre moulé
• Valérie MONTENS - Amour, amitié, fidélité. Des verres parlent de sentiments aux 17e et 18e siècles
• Karina PAWLOW - Looking Through Venetian Glass: Material(s) and Materiality of Wonder in Paolo Veronese’s Wedding at Cana