The Artist
Riccardo Toso Borella
Born in 1997, Riccardo was raised in Venice and has always lived on the island of Murano. From a young age, he demonstrated a great talent for drawing and a deep creative vocation. After completing classical high school, he chose to undergo a long technical and artistic training process in various fields, from music to “Graffito“. During his apprenticeship with his father, master Marco Toso Borella, Riccardo attended the International University of Art in Venice, where he first won a scholarship as the best student of his year and later obtained a diploma as a Restoration Technician. Alongside this commitment, he pursued singing and piano, studying for years at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory of Music in Venice.
This musical education enabled him to not only excel in singing but also experiment with interesting arrangements that he wrote for choral groups directed by his father, such as “Spirto di Dio.” Later, he enrolled in the Art History and Conservation of Cultural Heritage and Activities program at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, where he won two merit scholarships and graduated with honors on a topic that again had the taste of home: The Wooden Panels of the Lost Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Battista dei Battuti of Murano. His thesis stood out in the field of historical-artistic research for some unprecedented iconological insights, establishing Riccardo as one of the leading experts on this chapter of Murano history.
The Toso Family Coat of Arms
The Toso (or Tosi) family has been present in Murano since the mid-14th century. As you can read in Murano Family Coat of Arms by Marco Toso Borella, Venice, 2001, the coat of arms appears «in the “Libro d’Oro di Murano,” a registry established in 1601 and opened in 1605, listing those who, being born on the island to a father also from Murano or the Venetian state, could join the councils, practice the art of glassmaking, enjoy the broad privileges of the “Magnificent Community” of Murano, hold public office, and, consequently, have the opportunity to mint coins bearing their names and coat of arms.»
The coat of arms also appears on the Oselle minted in 1741 and 1742, which were true currencies «Murano had the privilege of minting, the only one other than Venice among the cities of the Serenissimo dominion» engraved with the names and coat of arms of its most illustrious citizens: Camerlenghi and Deputies. These were silver, or in some cases, gold coins, named for replacing, from 1521 onward, a gift the Doge used to give annually to the Venetian patricians and that could no longer be satisfied in kind: five red-legged wild ducks, “oseli de valle.” precisely.
The first known example of a Murano osella dates to 1561, but it is certain that others had been issued earlier. Regarding the Toso or Tosi coat of arms «The enamels present are the blue of the lower field and the gold of the inverted ‘A’» The letter derives from the Phoenician alphabet, where it is called ‘Alph’, meaning bull, reminiscent of its appearance when inverted. It symbolizes life and fertility, and as the first letter of the alphabet, it also signifies a beginning. In the upper field stands an eagle, symbolizing Zeus, denoting the coat of arms as an «earthly life – divinity symbiosis» Other Toso arms can be found in Murano, engraved or sculpted, two of which are in the Church of SS. Maria e Donato, and one in Fondamenta Manin, of modern workmanship.
