Few Maiolica painters have produced works of greater beauty than the plates of the Gonzaga-Este service, which are equally excellent in the quality of glaze and the brilliancy of colour.
With regard to the Fontana family, chiefs among Italian ceramic artists, we quote from the notice by Mr. Robinson appended to the Soulages catalogue. He tells us that “The celebrity of one member of this family has been long established by common consent. Orazio Fontana has always occupied the highest place in the scanty list of Maiolica artists, although at the same time nothing was definitely known of his works. Unlike their contemporary, Xanto, the Fontana seem but rarely to have signed their productions, and consequently their reputation as yet rests almost entirely on tradition, on incidental notices in writings which date back to the age in which they flourished, and on factsextracted at a recent period from local records. No connected account of this family has as yet been attempted, although the materials are somewhat less scanty than usual. There can be no doubt that a considerable proportion of the products of the Fontana ‘boteghe’ is still extant, and that future observations will throw light on much that is now obscure in the history of this notable race of industrial artists. Orazio Fontana, whose renown seems to have completely eclipsed that of the other members of his family and in fact of all the other Urbinese artists, is first mentioned by Baldi, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, in his eulogy of the state of Urbino pronounced before duke Francesco Maria II.” “From documents cited by Raffaelli, it is established beyond doubt that the original family name wasPellipario, of Castel Durante, Fontana being an adopted surname; and it is not immaterial to observe that down to the latest mention of any one of the family (in 1605) they are invariably described as of Castel Durante.” “The Fontana were undoubtedly manufacturers as well as artists,i.e., they were the proprietors of ‘vaserie.’ Of the first Nicola, as we have only a brief incidental notice, nothing positive can be affirmed: but with respect to his son Guido, we have the testimony both of works still extant, and of contemporary documents. We know also that Guido’s son Orazio also had a manufactory of his own, and the fact is established, that between 1565 and 1571 there were two distinct Fontana manufactories,—those of father and son. What became of Orazio’s establishment after his death, whether continued by his brother Camillo, or reunited to that of the father, there is no evidence to show. With respect to the remaining members of the family, our information is of the scantiest kind. Camillo, who was inferior in reputation as a painter only to his elder brother, appears to have been invited to Ferrara by duke Alfonso II., and to have introduced the Maiolica manufacture into that city. Of Nicola, the third (?) son, we have only incidental mention in a legal document, showing that he was alivein the year 1570. Guido, son of Camillo, lived till 1605; and of Flaminio, who may either have been son of Camillo or of Nicola, Dennistoun’s vague notice asserting his settlement in Florence is all I have been able to collect. No signed pieces of Camillo, Flaminio, Nicola the second, or Guido the second, have as yet been observed.
“A considerable proportion of the Fontana maiolica is doubtless still extant; and it is desirable to endeavour to identify the works of the individual members of the family, without which the mere knowledge of their existence is of very little moment; but this is no easy task; although specimens from the hands of one or other of them are to be undoubtedly found in almost every collection, the work of comparison and collation has as yet been scarcely attempted. The similarity of style and technical characteristics of the several artists moreover, working as they did with the same colours on the same quality of enamel ground, and doubtless in intimate communication with each other, resolves itself into such a strong family resemblance, that it will require the most minute and careful observation, unremittingly continued, ere the authorship of the several specimens can be determined with anything like certainty. The evidence of signed specimens is of course the most to be relied on, and is indeed indispensable in giving the clue to complete identification in the first instance; but in the case of the Fontana family a difficulty presents itself which should be noticed in the outset. This difficulty arises in determining the authorship of the pieces signed ‘Fatto in botega,’ &c. &c.; a mode of signature, in fact, which proves very little in determining individual characteristics, inasmuch as apparently nearly all the works so inscribed are painted by other hands than that of the proprietor of the Vaseria. In cases, however, in which the artist has actually signed or initialed pieces with his own name, of course no such difficulty exists, but the certainty acquired by this positive evidence is as yet confined in the case of the Fontana family to their greatest name, Orazio.” We regretthat our limits prevent further quotation from Mr. Robinson’s valuable remarks.
It is a matter of uncertainty whether Guido Fontana and Guido Durantino were the same person or rival maestri; and we are disposed to the former opinion, from the fact that in the documents quoted by Pungileoni no other “Vasaio” named Guido, and of Castel Durante, is named. The pieces inscribed as having been made in their boteghe although painted by different hands may, by the wording of their inscriptions afford some explanation; thus, on the Sta. Cecilia plate painted by Nicola, he
writes in 1528, “fata in botega di Guido da Castello d’Urante in Urbino,” from which we argue a connexion with the Fontana.
Unfortunately, we know no piece signed as actually painted by the hand of Guido Fontana, but as he took that cognomen after settling in Urbino it would be more probable that he would himself apply it on his own work; whereas Nicola (presumably his father), on a piece of earlier date, retained the name of theirnativecastello. By others the botega would long be known as that of the “durantini,” and that it retained that appellation
even in the following generation is proved by the occasional reference to Orazio Fontana as of Castel Durante. We give a woodcut of an example of the highest quality; a pilgrim’s bottle, at South Kensington, no. 8408.
The manner of the painter of these pieces approaches verymuch to that of Orazio but is less refined and rich in colouring wanting that harmony and power of expression for which he was remarkable; the drawing is more correct and careful than on some of Orazio’s work, but is more dry and on the surface; there is great force and movement in the figures and the landscape backgrounds are finished with much care and effect, sometimes covering the whole piece; the foliage of the trees is also well rendered.
The celebrated vases made for the spezieria of the duke were produced at the Fontana fabrique, and subsequently presented to the Santa Casa at Loreto where many of them are still preserved. Those shown to the writer on his visit to that celebrated shrine some few years since did not strike him as being of such extraordinary beauty and great artistic excellence, as the high-flown eulogy bestowed upon them by some writers would have led him to expect. The majority of the pieces are drug pots of a not unusual form, but all or nearly all of them are “istoriati,” instead of being, as is generally the case, simply decorated with “trofei,” “foglie,” “grotesche,” the more usual and less costly ornamentation. Some of the pieces have serpent handles, mask spouts, &c. but he vainly looked for the magnificent vases of unsurpassed beauty, nor indeed did he see anything equal to the shaped pieces preserved in the Bargello at Florence. The work of the well-known hands of the Fontana fabrique is clearly recognisable, and several pieces are probably by Orazio. Some, more important, preserved in a low press were finer examples. We have said that the pieces individually are not so striking but taken as a whole it is a very remarkable service, said to have originally numbered 380 vases, all painted with subjects after the designs of Battista Franco, Giulio Romano, Angelo, and Raffaelle; and as the work of one private artistic pottery in the comparatively remote capital of a small duchy, it bears no slight testimony to the extraordinary development of every branch of art-industry in the various districts of Italy during the sixteenth century. Theywere made by order of Guidobaldo II., but on the accession of Francesco Maria II. in 1574 he found the financial condition of the duchy in a state so embarrassed that he was obliged to devote less attention to the encouragement of art. He abdicated in favour of the Holy See and died in 1631. The vases of the Spezieria were presented to our Lady of Loreto, while his valuable art collections were removed to Florence.
On the vases of Loreto, says Mr. Marryat, “the subjects are the four evangelists, the twelve apostles, St. John, St. Paul, Susannah and Job. The others represent incidents in the Old Testament, actions of the Romans, their naval battles and the metamorphoses of Ovid. On eighty-five of the vases are pourtrayed the games of children, each differing from the other. These vases are highly prized for their beauty as well as for their variety. They have been engraved by Bartoli. A Grand Duke of Florence was so desirous of purchasing them, that he proposed giving in exchange a like number of silver vessels of equal weight; while Christina of Sweden was known to say, that of all the treasures of the Santa Casa she esteemed these the most. Louis XIV. is reported to have offered for the four evangelists and St. Paul an equal number of gold statues.”
With his other art treasures the ornamental vases and vessels of thecredenza, among which were doubtless some of the choicest productions of the Urbino furnaces made for Guidobaldo, must have been in great part removed to Florence; and there accordingly we find some remarkable specimens. For many years neglected, these noble pieces were placed almost out of observation on the top of cases which contained the Etruscan and other antique vases in the gallery of the Uffizi. When more general interest was excited on the subject of the renaissance pottery these examples were removed to another room. They now occupy central cases in one of the rooms of the Bargello, used as a museum of art objects, and form a magnificent assemblage of vases, ewers, vasques, pilgrim’s bottles, and other shaped pieces,dishes, and salvers, perhaps the richest that has descended collectively to our days, and among which may be recognised the works of all the more important ceramic artists of Urbino.
Portions of a magnificent service of the best period of Orazio Fontana’s botega are dispersed in various collections, as also some pieces of equally rich quality made after the same models, but which were probably of another “credenza.” Two of the former were exhibited at the loan exhibition in 1862, by baron Anthony de Rothschild. They are large oval dishes with raised medallion centres, and having the surface, both internally and outside, divided into panels by raised strap work springing from masks, with ornamental moulded borders, &c. These panels, edged with cartouche ornament, are painted with subjects from the Spanish romance of Amadis de Gaul, and on the reverse are inscriptions in that language corresponding with the panel illustrations. The central subject is not of the same series, but represents boys shooting at a target, on one dish, and warriors fighting, upon the other. The border is painted with admirable Urbino grotesques on a brilliant white ground. The size of these pieces is 2 ft. 2 in. by 1.8½ in.
It appears that the Fontana botega was neither founded nor maintained although greatly encouraged and patronised by the duke Guidobaldo, but was solely created by the enterprise and sustained by the united industry of the family. Orazio died on the 3rd August 1571. By his will he left his wife 400 scudi, &c. and power to remain in partnership with his nephew Flaminio, with a view to the benefit of his only daughter, Virginia, who had married into the Giunta family when young. We think there is every probability that the fabrique was so continued, and that a numerous class, having the character of the wares of the botega but of inferior artistic merit and showing the general decadence of the period, may with probability be attributed to it.
On many of the grand pieces of the Fontana fabrique the work of another hand is seen, which differs from the acknowledgedmanner of Orazio. They are among the most decorative productions of the factory, large round dishes with grotesque borders on a white ground, shaped pieces similarly decorated, and having panels of subject executed by the artist in question; others also where the subject covers the whole surface of the dish. We have no clue to the name of this able painter, but we would venture to suggest the great probability that these were the work of Camillo, who is said to have been an artist only inferior in merit to Orazio himself. In manner they approach nearly to, and are difficult to distinguish from, the finer examples of the Lanfranchi fabrique at Pesaro; less powerful and broad than the work of Orazio, and less careful in drawing than those ascribed to Guido, they approach the former in the blending of the colours and rich soft effect of surface, while a similar mode of rendering various objects, as stones, water, trees, &c. pervades all three, with slight individual variations. A peculiar elongation of the figures, and narrowing of the knee and ankle joints are characteristics of this hand, as also a transparent golden hue to the flesh.
We are almost wholly in the dark as to the clever painters of the grotesques on a pure white ground which so charmingly decorate many of the noblest productions of Orazio’s furnace. The work of two or more hands is manifest on various pieces of the best period; one, perhaps the most able, is constantly seen on pieces, the istoriati panels or interiors of which are painted by Orazio himself or by the artist whose works we have just considered, and may, perhaps, also have been by the hand of the latter, a similar method of heightening with small strokes of red colour being observable on both. Gironimo, by whom we have a signed piece in the South Kensington museum, no. 4354, may have been another, but his manner is of a somewhat later character.
Of Nicola, jun., we know nothing; he is mentioned in his father’s wills made in 1570 and 1576; and that he was unfortunate or improvident would seem probable from the fact that inthe deed of contract between Orazio and his father on the occasion of his setting up for himself in 1565 he agrees to keep and provide for Domitilla and Flaminio, children of his brother Nicola, for the space of three years.
Flaminio the nephew, son of Nicola, continued the works and was a favourite of the dukes Guidobaldo and Francesco Maria; it is said that the latter took him to Florence to teach and aid pupils studying under Bartolomeo degli Ammanati, where he remained for some years. Under the fabrique of Caffaggiolo we find pieces which may perhaps have been produced under the influence of this member of the family. In form and decoration with grotesques they are a poor reminiscence of the superior works of an earlier period.
The work of another, a later and inferior hand, probably of the Fontana fabrique, is abundant in collections; his manner is between that of the Fontana and of the Patanazzi; free and effective, but loose and careless; the Fontana pigments are used, and occasionally pieces occur painted with greater pains. Many vases with serpent handles and other shaped pieces were painted by this hand, of whose name we have no record, and it would be only guessing to suggest that Guido Fontana, junior, the son of Camillo, who died in 1605, may have been their author.
Another important artist of the Urbino fabrique wasFrancesco Xanto, who, like Giorgio, adopted the unusual habit of signing in various forms the greater number of the pieces which he painted. Although we cannot but appreciate the modesty, the “Lamp of Sacrifice,” which induced so many of the earlier and contemporary artists of the highest excellence to refrain from attaching their names to the works of their hands, or at the most to sign a few of their admirable productions in monogram, we must regret their having used so much reserve, and that in consequence conjecture must take so large a place in the history of this branch of artistic handicraft.
We have little other information of this painter beyond what is conveyed by the inscriptions on pieces by his hand.
His name is mentioned by Rog. Vincenzo Vanni, on the 29th March 1539, as “Franciscus Xatis fictilinus vasorum pictor egregius.” A native of Rovigo, he seems to have settled at Urbino and there produced all his works. His true name, gathered from his varied signatures, would appear to be Francesco Xanto Avelli da Rovigo, and the dates of his signed works extend from 1530 to 1542, although it is highly probable that many existing undated pieces were executed before, and perhaps after those dates. His earlier works are generally more fully signed, while many of the latter have only one or two initial letters. Works by Xanto are to be found in almost every collection of any note, and among them are examples of high artistic excellence, although very many betray want of care and hasty execution. It appears that many of his pieces were subsequently enriched with the golden and ruby lustre colour at the botega of Mº Giorgio, and Mº N at Gubbio; and, indeed, it was mainly by the observation of these, so distinctly painted and signed by Xanto at Urbino, and to which the metallicreflethad been added evidently by a subsequent process, that it was inferred that the lustre was a special enrichment applied at another fabrique to works painted elsewhere. Of Xanto’s style and merits as an artist Mr. Robinson writes:
“Xanto’s works may be considered to represent perfectly the ‘Majoliche istoriate,’ and he certainly had a talent for the arrangement of his works in composition, nearly all his subjects being ‘pasticci’; the various figures or groups introduced being the invention of other artists copied with adroit variations over and over again, and made to do duty in the most widely different characters. As an original artist, if indeed he can be so considered, he may be classed with the more mannered of the scholars of Raffaelle. His designs are generally from classical or mythological subjects. Xanto’s execution, although dexterous, ismonotonous and mechanical; his scale of colouring is crude and positive, full of violent oppositions; the only merit, if merit it be, being that of a certain force and brightness of aspect; in every other respect his colouring is commonplace, not to say disagreeable even; blue, crude opaque yellow, and orange tints, and bright verdigris green are the dominant hues, and are scattered over the pieces in full unbroken masses, the yellow especially meeting the eye at the first glance. In the unsigned pieces, before 1531, the glaze is better and more transparent, the execution more delicate, and the outline more hard and black than in the later specimens. Some of Xanto’s wares are profusely enriched with metallic lustres, including the beautiful ruby tint; these specimens, however, form but a small per-centage of the entire number of his works extant. This class of piece is, moreover, interesting from the fact that the iridescent colours were obviously not of Xanto’s own production, but that on the contrary, they were applied to his wares by Mº Giorgio, and the supposed continuers of Giorgio’s ‘fabrique’ in Gubbio. Many pieces are extant, which, in addition to Xanto’s own signature, nearly always written in dark blue or olive tint, are likewise signed with the monagram N of the Giorgio school in the lustre tint; and one specimen at least has been observed which, though painted by Xanto, has been signed in the lustre tint by Maestro Giorgio himself.”
We cannot entirely agree with this somewhat severe judgment upon his artistic merits.
We have no evidence to confirm Passeri’s supposition thatBattista Francopainted pieces and initialled them with the letters B. F. V. F. That artist was called to Urbino in 1540, by Guidobaldo II., to make designs for various pieces, and these initials are on some of the vases in the Spezieria at Loreto. He returned to Venice where he died in 1561; one of his cartoons for a plate is in the British museum, and others are preserved.
OfFrancesco Durantino, of Urbino, we know nothing morethan his signed works, and one of these gives rise to the question whether he ought to be ranked among the potters of Urbino, or as having a small establishment of his own at Bagnolo, or Bagnara, near Perugia. A plate in the British museum representing the meeting of Coriolanus and his mother is signed “frācesco durantino 1544,” as in the woodcut.
A yellow tone of flesh, flowing drapery, animals (particularly horses) drawn with great vigour of action, a fine and delicate outline, with careful execution but occasional weakness of effect and a peculiar softness on some of the smaller and more distant figures, are characteristic of this artist’s style: the landscapes are executed with care and good effect. An example in the British museum has, however, all the richness of colour and force of the works of the Fontana.
Guido MerlingoorMerliniorNerglinoseems to have been a proprietor of a botega in Urbino, although his name does not occur as the actual painter.
In the Brunswick museum a dish representing Mark Antony is signed, “fate in botega di Guido de Nerglino.” In the Louvre is a plate, subject Judith and Holophernes, signed at the back, “ne 1551 fato in Botega de Guido Merlino.”
Cæsare da Faenzaworked in his fabrique about 1536, as proved by an agreement dated 1st January in that year, in which he is styled “Cæsare Care Carii Faventinus.”
Among other recorded names are those of—
Francesco Silvanohad a botega in Urbino, at which Xanto worked in 1541, as proved by the signature on a plate representing the storming of Goleta.
Georgio PicchiorPiccithe younger, of the Durantine family, painted at Urbino. Pieces signed by him are extant. Borders of Cupids among clouds or covering the surface is a favourite decoration.
In the decline of the Urbino potteries must be placed the productions of the members of thePatanatiorPatanazzifamily. They do not appear to have succeeded to any of the former eminent artists as masters of a fabrique, but painted at the establishment of Joseph Batista Boccione, as we are informed by a signed example. Passeri only mentions them as being of a noble family and as finding their names inscribed on specimens which he instances. One of these is at South Kensington; a large dish, no. 2612, signed ALF. P. F. VRBINI. 1606. The youngVincenziois the last whose name occurs. Passeri cites a piece by him, “Vincenzio Patanazzi da Urbino di eta d’anni tredici, 1620.”
Another piece by this youthful phenomenon is in the collection of monsignore Cajani at Rome, representing the expulsion from paradise. It is a most inferior production and not meritorious even for so young an artist.
With the exception of some large dishes and a few others the wares of Urbino, as a rule, are not ornamented on the reverse. The more usual pieces are edged with a yellow line which isrepeated round the foot or central hollow, in the middle of which the titular inscription or date is written in manganese black, dark olive, or blue colour. The paste is sometimes of a pink hue, produced by the colour of the clay shining through the glaze, but in other cases of a purer white. In the “sopra bianco” grotesques the ground is rendered unusually white by an additional surface ofterra di Vicenzaorbianco di Ferrara; the glaze is of fine quality and even surface. It may be here noticed that the wares known of the Lanfranco fabrique at Pesaro have similar characteristics, and it is not possible to distinguish between them. That wares of a better class were occasionally produced at Urbino during the last century is proved by a lamp in the South Kensington collection, no. 6856; made, as the inscription tells us, at theFabrica di Majolica fina, which seems to have been established or conducted in that city in 1773 by a French artist named Rolet. We hear of him previously at Borgo San Sepolcro in 1771, but all further record of his productions or his success is unknown.
We are not aware that Urbino at present produces any artistic pottery.
Borgo San-Sepolcro, Diruta, &c.
Thereis an example of theBorgo San-Sepolcroware at South Kensington, a lamp, formed of faience of a bluish white shade, painted with garlands of flowers, &c. in colour, on which is written under the foot, “Citta Borgo S. Sepolcro a 6 Febraio 1771. Mart. Roletus fecit.”
AtSan Quiricocardinal Chigi established a work about 1714, inspired with the idea of reviving the art of painting on faience. It was directed by Piezzentili, a painter who had given some study to the celebrated vases by Orazio Fontana. On his death Bartolomeo Terchi, Feschi, or Ferchi, seems to have worked at or directed the establishment, for in the Louvre is a plaque representing Moses striking the rock, and signed “Bar Terchi Romano in S. Quirico.” We shall meet with this wandering artist also at Bassano. With other members of his family he seems to have worked at various potteries throughout Italy, and examples occur on which his or their signatures appear, accompanied only by the patronymic “Romano,” and which are of course difficult to assign to any one of the fabriques at which we know them to have worked.
Ferdinando Maria Campani before going to Siena worked also at this fabrique; its productions were not sold, but given as presents by the cardinal.
We have very little positive information in respect to the fabrique ofDirutain the Papal States. Alluded to by Passerias a pottery near Foligno where pieces were produced remarkable for the whiteness of the paste, we are led to the supposition that he may have confounded the wares produced at other neighbouring localities with those made at Diruta: and he does not inform us whether it produced lustred wares or only those of polychrome decoration. A few years since certain plates came under the notice of collectors inscribed “In Deruta,” the subjects painted in blue outline, and lustred with a brassy golden colour. Doubt and uncertainty had long existed as to the spot where the large “bacili” and other pieces of a well-known and abundant ware, lustred with a golden pigment of peculiarly pearly effect in certain lights, had been produced, and the discovery of these signed examples, having a somewhat similar metallic enrichment, caused connoisseurs to grasp at the, perhaps hasty, conclusion, that to Diruta must be assigned those wares of earlier date and hitherto unknown locality, and that Diruta must have possessed a pottery of very early time and important character. But after an examination and comparison of signed specimens, and others which are with reasonable probability considered to be of thisfabrique, we are compelled to conclude that the productions of Diruta were generally inferior to, and in many instances copied or derived from, those of the Gubbio or earlier Pesaro types.
Castel di Diruta or Deruta is a “borgo” or dependency of Perugia, on the road from that city to Orvieto by Todi. It is but a few miles from Perugia, within an easy day’s journey of Gubbio, and although it may be reasonable to presume that potteries existed there from an early period, we think it more probable that they derived the use of the lustre pigments from Gubbio.
It is extremely difficult in many instances to decide with any degree of certainty as to whether some individual early specimens of the lustred ware alluded to above, be of Pesaro, of Gubbio, or of Diruta workmanship. We have little hesitation in assigning the dish in the next woodcut to Diruta; the dance of Cupids is afterMarc Antonio. The similarity of the process necessary to such productions entails a corresponding similarity of result, but we notice a somewhat coarser grounding, a goldenrefletof a brassy character, a ruby, when it (rarely) occurs, of pale dull quality,
looser outlines of a colder and heavier blue, and in the pieces not lustred the same tones of colour, a dark blue approaching to that of Caffaggiolo in depth but wanting its brilliancy, the use of a bright yellow to heighten the figures in grotesques, &c. in imitation of the golden lustre, and a thin green. The drawing is generally of an inferior stamp, and a certaintout ensemblepervades the pieces difficult to define but which more or less prevails.
The discovery within the last few years of a fine work, signed with the artist’s monogram, the date 1527, and the place at which
it was painted, is all we know of the existence of a botega atFabriano. There can be little doubt that many such local and individual furnaces existed during the sixteenth century under the direction of ceramic artists, in many instances an emigrant from one of the more important centres, and encouraged to set up for himself at another city by the patronage of the leading families. This plate, which has for subject the “Madonna della Scala” after Marc Antonio’s engraving from Raffaelle, is cleverly painted, and on the reverse is the inscription of which we have given a facsimile. It was exhibited by M. Spitzer, of Paris, at the “Exposition Universelle,” was purchased from him by signor Alffº. Castellani, and subsequently sold at Christie’s for £114. Another example by the same hand, and with the same subject but without signature, was sold at the same sale.
In the museum of Economic geology is a plate of the same botega, having for subject the rape of Proserpine surrounding a cupid centre. It is painted ingrisaille, the sky warmed with touches of yellow, and ably executed. This fabrique not being then known it was ascribed to Urbino, but the monogram on the reverse, exactly corresponding with that on the signed Fabriano piece, proves it to be of the same origin. We also give this mark in fac-simile.
The pottery ofViterbois not recorded by any writer, but an inferior work at South Kensington is inscribed with the name of the city and with that of Diomeo, who was perhaps the painter of the piece in 1544. It is a rough piece, rudely coloured and ill-drawn, but interesting from the name of place and the date.We give an engraving of a portion of the border, the hand of a youth holding a scroll. Two other examples are with some doubt referred to the same locality.
Loretois named in connexion with the set of Spezieria vases, of the fabrique of Orazio Fontana, which were presented to the shrine of our Lady of Loreto by the last duke of Urbino, on his abdication in favour of the Holy See. It was the habit to collect the dust gathered from the walls of the Santa Casa and the dress of the Virgin, from which, mixed in small quantities with the potter’s clay, cups or bowls were formed and painted with figures of the Virgin and Child, generally on a yellow ground. These cups were inscribed outside CON · POL · DI · S · CASA (with the dust of the Holy House). Occasionally, but less frequently,some of the holy water from the shrine was sprinkled on the dust, thereby to impart a still greater sanctity. A cup so made is in the writer’s collection, and is inscribed CON · POL · ET · AQVA · DI · S · CASA (with dust and water of the Holy House). These cups were probably presented as marks of favour to pilgrims who had visited and probably enriched the sanctuary. Signor Raffaelli believes that they were made at Castel Durante, for the establishment at Loreto. The seal of the convent was affixed to them in red wax.
Hitherto we have no published record of the former existence of a manufactory of artistic enamelled pottery atRome, that great centre to which by her affluence and power at various periods of history artists and objects of art have been drawn from their native countries. We have no assurance that purely native Roman art ever attained to any very high degree of excellence. The Etruscans and the Greeks in Pagan times, the Byzantine school of the middle ages, and at the period of therenaissancethe great Tuscan and Venetian artists worked in Rome upon those monuments of genius of which she is so justly proud; but they are possessions rather than native productions; and it would appear that even in so comparatively small a branch of artistic manufacture she was indebted to a native of Castel Durante for the establishment of a fabrique of maiolica. Had there been pre-existing furnaces, producing wares of artistic merit, it would hardly have been worth while for Mº Diomede on the fall of the dukedom of Urbino to bring his art to Rome. There is no notice of any pieces of this ware inscribed as having been made at Rome until the year 1600, when we find on two oviform pharmacy vases of good outline, having each a pair of double serpent handles and a domed cover surmounted by a knob, the following inscriptions written on oval labels. On one vase “Fatto in botega de M. Diomede Durante in Roma,” and on the other, of which we give a woodcut, “Fatto in Roma da Gio. Pavlo Savino M.D.C.” These vases are decorated on one sidewith grotesques ably sketched in yellow, greyish blue, and orange colours on a white enamel ground of considerable purity; on the other, a leafage diaper in the same tone of blue covers the like ground. On one only, immediately above the inscribed oval, the head of a buffalo is painted in dark blue, approaching to black, and may refer to the locality of the botega, possibly in the vicinity
of the Via or Palazzo del Bufalo. These vases were for many years in the possession of the Gaetani family, and were purchased by the writer during his sojourn at Rome in the early part of 1870. The style of execution is in the manner of the Urbino grotesque decoration of the Fontana fabrique, but has not that delicacy, combined with artistic freedom and naïveté, so remarkable in the productions attributed to Camillo Fontana and other contemporary artists working some fifty years before; in certain respects they have affinity to the work of M. Gironimo of Urbino. Numerous examples of similar general character, but later in date and of inferior execution, are frequently to be met with in the shops at Rome and prove the production to have been abundant; specimens are in the South Kensington museum.
A manufacture of white glazed earthenware, as also of “biscuit” porcelain, was introduced by the famous engraverGiovanni Volpato, of Venice, in the year 1790. He expended a large sum of money in making experiments and in the founding of the works, as also in procuring numerous models which were executed with the greatest care from the antique, and from other objects in museums, &c. as also from the works of Canova. At one time no less than twenty experienced artists were employed in modelling the “biscuit” porcelain to supply the great demand. Large furnaces were constructed, but the great expense and risk in the production of pieces for table use necessitated their sale at a price which could not compete with the French wares, although superior in the qualities of strength and resistance. The establishment continued until about 1832, when the works ceased.
The figures and groups in “biscuit” porcelain, of pure white and stone colour (variations arising from the different degrees of heat to which they were exposed in the oven) were undoubtedly the more important artistic productions of the Roman fabrique; but glazed pottery, very similar in character to that of Leeds or the “Queen’s ware” of the Wedgwoods and known as “terraglia verniciata,” was also made, and in this material statuettes, figures of animals, candelabra, vases, and portrait busts were modelled. There can be little doubt that the finer examples were produced at the period when the elder Volpato perfected the establishment, and when his critical and artistic eye directed his modellers, and many of the figures and groups are admirable for their grace and careful execution. Few bear any mark, but occasionally pieces, both of the “biscuit” and glazed ware, bear the nameG · Volpata · Roma ·impressed in the clay.
A manufacture of coarse glazed pottery rudely ornamented with figures, flowers, fruit, &c. in colour, still exists in the Trastevere, which supplies thecontadiniand the humbler classes of the city with pots and pans of various form and startling decoration.
Faenza.
Thatlong and rather monotonous old post road the Via Æmilia (now run sidelong by the rail) which forms almost a straight line from Piacenza to Ancona, through one of the richest countries in the world, after passing the fine cities of Parma, Reggio, Modena, and Bologna, reaches Faenza and Forlì, important and early centres of the potter’s art.
Faenza is a small dull town on the site of the RomanFaventia, and of the antiquity of the ceramic industry at this site there can be no doubt, although perhaps Pesaro, Caffaggiolo, and Castel Durante may have nearly equal claims in that respect. Of its extent and importance there is equal certainty, and there is moreover great reason to believe that the French wordfaïenceapplied to this class of pottery was derived from the name of the place; although there is another claimant in the small town, under the Estrelle mountains, a short way from Cannes and Grasse, called by the very name, Faiance (Faventia), and nowchef-lieuof a canton in Draguignan of the Var. Mezerai, in hisGrande Histoire, tells us that this place was chiefly renowned for itsVaisselles de terre, and there would seem to be good evidence of the existence of its potteries from a very early period to the present day; but of what degree of artistic merit we are unable to decide; neither can we feel assured that the name, as applied to enamelled earthenware, was derived from the French town and not from the Italian city. In Mr. Marryat’s history ofpottery and porcelain is an interesting notice on this subject, from which we quote a few words. “Faïence, Fayence, or Fayance, is the old French term, under which were comprised all descriptions of glazed earthenware, even inclusive of porcelain, and, to a certain extent, continues so, corresponding in its general use to the English word crockery. The name is commonly supposed to be derived from Faenza; but it may well be doubted whether upon any authority much to be relied upon, since neither historians nor topographers seem to have considered the matter worthy of their attention or examination. It might be useful to trace the origin of a name so frequently given by the Romans to their settlements. Besides Faenza there was a district in their colony of Barcinum (now Barcelona), and another in Andalusia, which is supposed to have been situated somewhere between Alcala, Real, and Antequera. The old word Fayence, from the Latin ‘fagus,’ a beech tree, has become almost obsolete in France. In Geneva, however, to the present day, beechwood is still sold in the timber markets as ‘de la fayence.’”
The fabrique of Faenza has been a kind of refuge, among amateurs, for pieces destitute of sufficient outward sign to mark them as of other localities; and every gaunt and early piece, strong in blue and yellow colour, has been set down as Faentine. We agree with MM. Jacquemart and Darcel in the belief that many works of Caffaggiolo have been classed as of Faenza. We are, however, not convinced that the plaque in the hôtel Cluny, the piece bearing the most ancient date hitherto discovered (if we except that at Sèvres, inscribed xxxxiiiiiiii., and supposed to read 1448), inscribed in early characters around the sacred monogram, “NICOLAUS DE RAGNOLIS AD HONOREM DEI ET SANCTI MICHAELIS FECIT FIERI ANO 1475” is rightly attributed to Caffaggiolo instead of to Faenza. Another plaque in the Sèvres collection is dated 1477, with the name and arms of NICOLAVS · ORSINI. We next arrive at the exquisite service, of which seventeen pieces are preserved in the Corrermuseum at Venice, one in the writer’s (from Pourtalès), and one in the South Kensington collection; we give a woodcut of the mark, with the date 1482.
The first published matter bearing upon the wares of Faenza is the passage by Garzoni in thePiazza Universale, a publication of 1485, in which he speaks of the pottery of this place as excellent for its whiteness, &c.che fa le majoliche così bianche e polite, a remark borne out by the quality of the service just referred to. In the church of St. Petronio at Bologna is a pavement of tiles covering the ground of the chapel of St. Sebastian, and without doubt laid down at the expense of Donato Vaselli, a canon of that Basilica, who about 1487 decorated that chapel at his own cost. The date upon one of these tiles is 1487, and upon others are inscriptions, in parts unfortunately imperfect from the injury or misplacement of some of the squares, but which as put together by signor Frati of that city, would read BOLOQNIESVS · BETINI · FECIT: while upon other tiles occur:—
. C . . ELIA · BEF . . . TICIE
. C . . ELIA · BEF . . . TICIE
. C . . ELIA · BEF . . . TICIE
. ZETILA · BE. FAVETCIE
. ZETILA · BE. FAVETCIE
. ZETILA · BE. FAVETCIE
XABETA · BEFAVENTCIE
XABETA · BEFAVENTCIE
XABETA · BEFAVENTCIE
and again upon another a small label inscribed PETRVS · ANDRE · DEFAVE. Whatever doubt may attach to the Faentine origin of the plaque in the hôtel Cluny, dated 1475, there can be none in respect to the pavement of San Petronio: the fact of the namePetrus Andre-de-Faveoccurring, independent of the others, upon apiccolo cartelloseems to us an indisputable proof to that effect. It is painted with great skill, in a style of colouring and with ornaments which we are accustomed to attribute to Faenza; trophies, animals, heads, the arms of Bologna and her motto, the keys of St. Peter, and various devices are represented; among them the silver case of lancets on a green field, and the wounded vein,impreseof the Manfredi family of Faenza.
Referring the reader to the full explanation given in the introduction to the large catalogue of Maiolica, we can give here only a few brief remarks upon the wares attributed to Faenza under the following heads:—
A. One of the most important if not the leading establishment at Faenza was known under the name of the Casa Pirota, and probably existed from an early period, but when and by whom founded, and the name of its maestro, we have yet to learn. A house on the north side of the principal street (where a pottery was working some few years since, at which we have seen well-executed reproductions of the old wares) was stated by the proprietors to be on the site of that ancient botega, but whether there is sufficient foundation for this statement we are unable to say.
The greater part or nearly all the pieces known to us as beingmarked with the crossed circle, signed with the name of the house, or executed by the same hands as such pieces, are of a marked character of decoration; the wide borders are generally