Venetian Glass, Lace & Elegance via Sargent, Whistler, Americans

Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass opened a couple of weeks ago at Mystic Seaport, the maritime center in Mystic in southeastern Connecticut. I saw this lucid, elegant show last year at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art and liked it so much that I went to see it again. It’s every bit as good, even better, since I hadn’t been to Mystic Seaport since I was a child, roughly when whalers still roamed the deep.

It’s an American art show with serpentine and filigreed twists fit for a Venetian goblet. It concerns the revival of the glass and lace industries in Venice starting in the 1860s and 1870s and the role of American collectors in promoting it. The glass and lace in the exhibition are exquisite. Most of it has been in American collections, privately owned or in museums, for well over a hundred years.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass opened a couple of weeks ago at Mystic Seaport, the maritime center in Mystic in southeastern Connecticut. I saw this lucid, elegant show last year at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art and liked it so much that I went to see it again. It’s every bit as good, even better, since I hadn’t been to Mystic Seaport since I was a child, roughly when whalers still roamed the deep.

It’s an American art show with serpentine and filigreed twists fit for a Venetian goblet. It concerns the revival of the glass and lace industries in Venice starting in the 1860s and 1870s and the role of American collectors in promoting it. The glass and lace in the exhibition are exquisite. Most of it has been in American collections, privately owned or in museums, for well over a hundred years.