Bellotto, Umberto

Umberto Bellotto (1882 - 1940) was one of the first artists to combine the glass making art with wrought iron work. His eclectic style is characterized by bold shapes inspired by ornamental forms of the past, animals and plants. After serving as an apprentice in various smitheries he inherited the family workshop in 1901. In 1910, together with the architect Cesare Aurienti, he invented and patented a technique for metal structures containing blown and murrine glass elements, executed by the master glassblowers Barovier & Toso. Bellotto’s most famous works include the Ossario del Pasubio War Memorial, the gate at Dante Alighieri’s tomb in Ravenna, and the wrought iron bars over the windows at the Palazzo della Banca d'Italia in Venice. Summoned to Rome to work as an official decorator for the capital’s public buildings in 1928, his personal artistic production came to an end.