Baroque glass mosaics from the Capela de São João Baptista (Chapel of Saint John the Baptist, Lisbon): unveiling the glassmaking records

Abstract

For the first time, 18th-century glass mosaics from the Capela de São João Baptista (Chapel of St. John the Baptist, Lisbon) were analysed by Raman microscopy (RM). This masterpiece in baroque mosaic art had one of its major contributors the most famous glassmaker in Rome, Alessio Mattioli. Mattioli was celebrated because of the opacity of his mosaics and the astonishing number of hues he was able to produce for mosaic decorating Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. This study had two goals in mind: (1) characterising the materials involved in the manufacture of these glass mosaics and (2) lengthening the understanding of what was left of Mattioli's glassmaking records. As expected the mosaics presented a high ratio of crystalline phases, making RM the ideal technique for non-destructive analysis. The mosaics contained a white ‘background’ or opacifier added identified as Ca2Sb2O7. The yellow tesserae are opacified with lead antimonate (Pb2Sb2O7) and ternary oxides, structures related to lead antimonate but with other ions entering the position of Sb4+ (namely Sn4+). Those ternary oxides are pervasive in most colours, admixed with other colorants. The red, orange, pink and brown colours were accomplished with cuprous oxide (Cu2O) and admixed with a ternary oxide to create the latter three colours. The red copper-based colours were made according to the procedure to make a ruby copper glass and with the exception of the red colour; all mosaics exhibited a dark layer on each side of the mosaic, named scorzetta. This layer is the outcome of an oxidation reaction because of a quick cooling process and is composed of CuO. Finally the blue and green colours are accomplished with cobalt oxide and copper oxide, respectively, and the purple/black colour with manganese oxide.