Glassmaking Goes Public: The Cultural Background to Antonio Neri's L'Arte Vetraria (1612)

Glassmaking has prospered as an art since the late Middle Ages. It is therefore surprising that the first systematic treatise exclusively devoted to it appeared as late as 1612. In this article I explore the experimental background of Antonio Neri's L'Arte Vetraria, and its intimate connection with an ancient alchemical tradition and with more contemporary efforts to introduce technical innovations. Furthermore, the active role played by Antonio Neri, a clergyman and alchemist in the service of Antonio de' Medici, sheds new light on the patronage of the Medici court. This article aims at contextualizing Neri's book within the Florentine tradition of glassmaking and, above all, within Francesco I de Medici's alchemical interests in this art. Finally, the almost contemporary publication of Galileo's Sidereus Nuncius and Neri's L'Arte Vetraria raises the question of the role played by alchemists like Neri and by Florentine glassmakers in the making of optical instruments.