Artistic Tradition
French Style Panthéon Mirror
Craftsmanship and Made in Italy
The French style mirror industry began in 1665 when the French politician Jean-Baptiste Colbert persuaded some important Venetian masters to move to France.
That is the story behind French Style Mirrors. This style is different from the Venetian one. It is characterised by a deep grinding and a more geometric design.
A French mirror is in fact made of lots of different bevelled pieces that are close together and create a harmonious geometrical figure. A beautiful example is Donato, an iconic mirror by Arte Veneziana that is made of 412 hand bevelled pieces. The most visible difference between a Venetian and a French mirror is the total absence of hand-blown glass decorations on the latter.
Handcrafted Luxury Mirror with Fretwork Crest
Panthéon French Style Mirror
Handmade Engravings and Hand Bevelled Glass Decorations
Materials
Fretwork structure made of fir wood with walnut coloured antique finish.
Central part made of bevelled glass with medium antique mirrored finish.
Frames with thumbnail-shaped etchings and crest made of bevelled and engraved glass with medium antique mirrored finish.
First feelings are always the most naturalLouis XIV
French Taste at its Best
Versailles Family Line
The Most Beautiful Palace
The Versailles family line takes its name from one of the most famous palaces in the world. In this well known place kings and queens of France used to live magnificently. Arte Veneziana decided to name one of its mirror family lines Versailles. This group has a typical French royal allure.
Smooth and shiny edges
Artistic beveling
Shaping Silhouettes
Our glass masters use different wheels to chamfer and obtain shiny glass pieces that will be used on the mirrors and furniture afterwards.
This is a fundamental step in our production: no machines can replace the manual work on this extremely delicate matter. The bevelling can only be realised with a long and precise handmade procedure.
An ancient engraving manufacturing process which still remains entirely handmade as per Venetian traditions.