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gressing, lost much of its lustre, till it became entirely degraded in the hands of the Germans and Spaniards.
I
will not enter into the history of this decay of jewellery, losing
every day its artistic character to become more and more in modern
times a mere object of trade and of paltry speculation. Grieved at
witnessing in Rome the prevalence of this deplorable influence, my
father, brothers and myself believed that it might be a matter of some
importance, in the midst of the universal improvement of taste, to give
a purer and higher direction to the art to which we have devoted
ourselves.
We
have been established as jewellers at Rome ever since the year 1814.
All the efforts of my father were, up to that period, directed to the
imitation of the works of French and English jewellers. From 1823 to
1827, however, he turned, for greater assistance in his art, to the
technological sciences, and in 1826, in a Memoir read by him before the
Academy of the Lincei on the Chemical Processes in the Coloring of
Gold, he indicated the part played by electricity in phenomena of this
nature,—a discovery which belongs rightly to him, and which was
confirmed at that time by many scientific publications.
At
about the same time, some fortunate excavations brought to light the
treasures hidden beneath the soil of ancient Etruria. Every one was
struck with admiration at the beautiful ornaments discovered in the
cemeteries of this mysterious country; and my father was the first to
form the design of imitating some of them. Encouraged by the praise and
counsel of friends of the arts, among whom I may mention as holding the
first rank the Duke Michelangelo Caetani, known to many of you as
possessing the purest taste and the feelings of a true artist, he
revived at Rome the art of the jeweller by taking as models the most
perfect examples that antiquity could furnish to him.
The
discovery of the celebrated tomb known as that of Regulini Galassi, at
Cervetri, was an event of the highest importance in regard to our
enterprise. On the Papal Government expressing a ,wish to become
possessed of
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