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Pen to Palette Book Discussion with Toledo Museum of Art

The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier

Interested in the intersections of art and prose? Read a book, then meet in-person for a personalized tour featuring objects, arts and cultures from our chosen book.

The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier

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From the bestselling historical novelist, a rich, transporting story that follows a family of glassmakers from the height of Renaissance-era Italy to the present day.

It is 1486 and Venice is a wealthy, opulent center for trade. Orsola Rosso is the eldest daughter in a family of glassblowers on Murano, the island revered for the craft. As a woman, she is not meant to work with glass—but she has the hands for it, the heart, and a vision. When her father dies, she teaches herself to make glass beads in secret, and her work supports the Rosso family fortunes.

Skipping like a stone through the centuries, in a Venice where time moves as slowly as molten glass, we follow Orsola and her family as they live through creative triumph and heartbreaking loss, from a plague devastating Venice to Continental soldiers stripping its palazzos bare, from the domination of Murano and its maestros to the transformation of the city of trade into a city of tourists. In every era, the Rosso women ensure that their work, and their bonds, endure.

Chevalier is a master of her own craft, and The Glassmaker is as inventive as it is spellbinding: a mesmerizing portrait of a woman, a family, and a city as everlasting as their glass.

Information for the tour at the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA):

Please check in at the Visitor Services desk located in Herrick Lobby. Please meet your Docent near the desk after you check in.
Admission to the Museum is free. However, exhibition ticket rates may apply. If your tour is in the Green Building, the closest parking lot is lot #1. If your tour is in the Glass Pavilion, the closest parking lot is lot #6. Parking in TMA lots is free