CHAPTER LV

Of the manufacture of majolica in the Duchy of Urbino.

The influence of beauty upon arts usually considered as mechanical,

and the exercise of creative talent upon substances of a common or

trifling character, are equally proofs of a pervading refinement.

It was accordingly a striking feature of Italy in her golden days,

that nearly every sort of handiwork felt that influence, and in

its turn served to maintain public taste at an elevated standard.

To uncultivated or unobservant minds it may seem ridiculous to

appreciate the state of high art in a country from the forms of

culinary utensils, the colouring of plates, or the carving of a

peach-stone; yet the elegance of Etruscan civilisation is nowhere

more manifest than in household bronzes; the majolica of Urbino

has preserved the designs and the feeling of Raffaele; the genius

of Cellini did not spurn the most homely materials. The architects

of the Revival were often sculptors; its engineers constructed

clocks; while painters then exercised the crafts of jewellery

and wood-gilding, or lent their pencils to beautify the potter's

handiwork. Our undertaking would accordingly be incomplete without

some notice of majolica, or decorative pottery, which under the

patronage of her princes brought fame and wealth to the duchy of

Urbino.[238]

[Footnote 238: We have had frequent occasion to notice the

encouragement given at Urbino to the exact sciences, and the

consequent success of those arts most depending upon them. Thus

the Baroccio family were celebrated for the accuracy of their

mathematical instruments and timepieces, while watchmaking attracted

great attention from all the della Rovere dukes. Their family

portraits very generally exhibit a table-clock of some eccentric

form, and their gifts to princes and royal personages were often

chronometers made in their state. One of these, sent to Pius V.,

exhibited the planetary movements and other complex revolutions of

the solar system; another, worn by his Holiness in a ring, marked

the hours by gently pricking his finger. In 1535, Francesco Maria I.

presented to Charles V., at Naples, a ring wherein a watch struck

the hours; and many similar notices occur in the correspondence of

his grandson, the last Duke. Guidobaldo II. was especially fond of

such mechanical curiosities. Having received from one Giovan Giorgio

Capobianco of Vicenza, the Praxiteles of tiny chiselling, a ring

which held a watch, whereupon were engraved the signs of the zodiac,

with a figure that pointed to and struck the hours--he interfered to

save the artist's life, when condemned to death for an assassination

at Venice. In gratitude for this favour, the latter made for the

Duchess a silver chessboard contained in a cherry-stone; nor should

we omit to add that he displayed the same ingenuity on a wider field

as an architect and engineer. So, too, Filippo Santacroce, of Urbino,

and his sons, are celebrated by Count Cicognara for their minute

carvings on gems, ivory, and nuts.]

The earliest work on the ceramic art is that of Giambattista Passeri

of Pesaro, who was born about a hundred and fifty years since,

and whose inquiries into geology and antiquities attracted him

to a subject cognate to them both. While studying the fossils of

Central Italy, the transition was not difficult to their fictile

products; and after vainly endeavouring to methodise the pottery

of Etruria and Magna Grecia, he tried the same good office with

better success upon the majolica of his native province.[239] Nor

is his theme of so narrow an interest as might on a superficial

view be supposed. The existence of pottery has frequently proved a

valuable aid to historical research; and even now our surest test

of Etruscan refinement is supplied by the painted vases exhumed

from the sepulchres of an almost forgotten race.[240] It is not,

however, important merely as affording landmarks useful in tracing

the civilisation of nations; for, by combining taste with ingenuity,

it gives to materials the most ordinary and almost fabulous value,

thereby constituting one of the notable triumphs of mind over matter,

and largely promoting the advance of intellectual culture. Even

in early stages of national improvement, the plastic art, after

contributing to the necessities of life, has often been the first to

inspire elegance or embody true principles of form and afterwards

of colour. Dealing with a substance readily found and easily

manipulated, wherein nature might be imitated or fancy developed,

it was the precursor of sculpture, the patron of painting, and the

handmaid of architecture.

[Footnote 239: The subject has since met with more attention, but

no other work has been expressly dedicated to it. We may refer to

VASARI, LANZI, and GAYE, _passim_; RICCI, _Notizie delle Belle

Arti in Gubbio_; _Kunstblatt_, No. 51; MONTANARI, _Lettera interno

ad alcune Majoliche dipinte nella collezione Massa_ in _Giornale

Arcadico di Roma_, XXXVII., 333; BRONGNIART, _Traité des Arts

Ceramiques_; MARRYAT, _History of Pottery and Porcelain_. It is

both an advantage and a pleasure to refer readers unacquainted with

this interesting art, to the charming and accurate representations

of azulejo, Robbian ware, and majolica, given in the last of

these works. It is greatly to be desired that Mr. Marryat may, in

continuation of his subject, and with access to English collections

unknown to me, supply much information which this slight sketch

cannot include.]

[Footnote 240: We enter not upon the contested question of the origin

of these productions; wherever made, they prove the taste of those

who owned and appreciated them. Besides, the ruder varieties were

certainly indigenous to Central Italy from an early period. Neither

need we trace the analogy between majolica and enamel. The latter was

not unknown to the ancients, though brought by them to no ornamental

perfection. During the dark ages, it was used as an accessory of

metal sculpture for many purposes of religious art, and was even

introduced into large works, such as bronze doors. The splendid

reliquary at Orvieto, enamelled on silver at Siena by Ugolino Vieri

in 1338, as well as the _paliotti_ of Florence and Pistoja executed

in that and the following centuries, show to what perfection this art

had attained, ere the painting of porcelain was practised in Italy.]

[Illustration: MAIOLICA

_A plate of Urbino ware of about 1540 in the British Museum_]

The earthenware made in Central Italy was usually called _majolica_,

in our spelling maiolica. The derivation of its etymology, from

the island of Majorca, seems no mere superficial inference from

similarity of sounds. Its peculiarity was a glaze, which, besides

giving a vehicle for colour, remedied the permeable quality of

ancient pottery. Such a glazed surface had long been known to the

Saracens, and was imported by the Moors into Spain and the Balearic

Isles, in the shape of gaily-tinted tiles, arranged in bands or

diaper on their buildings. To these succeeded _azulejos_, generally

of blue in various shades, which were mosaicked into church walls in

various historical compositions, from designs which Mr. Stirling

ascribes to Murillo's pencil. The conquests or commerce of the

Pisans imported this fashion, at first by incorporating concave

coloured tiles among brickwork, afterwards, at Pesaro, by the use of

encaustic flooring. Nor can we exclude from view that the earliest

Italian ware has decorations either in geometrical patterns, or with

shamrock-shaped foliations of a character rather Saracenic than

indigenous, and more indicative of moresque extraction than were the

apocryphal armorial bearings of Spain and Majorca, at a period when

such insignia were often borrowed as mere ornaments, in ignorance of

their origin and meaning. The fabric thus introduced spread over most

of Central Italy, and between 1450 and 1700 was largely practised

at the towns of Arezzo, Perugia, Spello, Nocera, Città di Castello,

Florence, Bologna, Ferrara, Ravenna, Rimini, Forlì, and Faenza

(whence its French name _fayence_), Pesaro, Urbino, Fermignano,

Castel Durante, and Gubbio, as well as at various places in the

Abruzzi.

There is, however, another quarter to which vitrified or encaustic

ware may be ascribed, in so far at least as regards improved methods

and more important results. Luca della Robbia[*241] was born at

Florence in 1399, and from being a jeweller, took to modelling

statues and bas-reliefs in clay. Annoyed by the fragile nature of

these, and perhaps by the doubtful success of _terra cotta_, he

discovered a mode of glazing the surface of his beautiful works,

with, it is said, a mixture of tin, _terra ghetta_ (from the lake of

Thrasimene), antimony, and other mineral substances. The secret of

this varnish was transmitted in the inventor's family until about

1550: it ended in a female, with whose husband, Andrea Benedetto

Buglione, it died. Recent attempts to revive the art at Florence

have proved but partially successful, and wholly unremunerative;

indeed, the mechanical difficulties exceed those of sculpture,

including the separation of the work into sections before drying

and burning it, and its eventual reunion into one piece. Although

neither mild nor equal, the climate at Florence does not seem to

influence the Robbian fabrics in the open air, but they have suffered

from the frosts and snows of our duchy, where several are broken or

blistered, such as the lunette of S. Domenico at Urbino. By much

the finest specimen I know there remains [1843] in the desecrated

oratory of the Sforzan palace [of 1484] at Gradara; it may be by

Andrea della Robbia, and represents an enthroned Madonna and Child,

nearly life-size, with attendant saints, the predella complete, and

the whole a fine monument of Christian art. Originally, the plastic

surface of Robbian ware was of a uniform glistening white, which,

though cold in effect, is very favourable to the pure religious

sentiment at which it generally aimed. The eyes were then blackened,

in order to aid expression. Next, the pallid figures were relieved

against a deep cerulean ground. The followers of Luca added fruits

and flowers, wreathed in their proper colours. Agincourt justly

regrets that these men were led into such innovations by a desire

for mastering difficulties, and the ambition of adding to sculpture

the beauties of painting; for when colour is given to draperies, the

eye is ill-reconciled to an addition which seems to transfer such

productions from the category of high art to the level of waxwork. By

a further modification, the flesh parts were left unglazed, bringing

the warm tone of terra cotta to harmonize with the coloured costumes,

architecture and backgrounds being still usually white or deep

blue. Passeri, however, asserts for this coloured glaze an earlier

discovery in his own province, where pottery was certainly made in

the fourteenth century. But it is generally admitted that the art of

combining with it lively colours was greatly improved after Pesaro

had passed under the Sforza. In 1462, Ventura di Maestro Simone dei

Piccolomini of Siena established himself there, along with Matteo

di Raniere, of a noble family at Cagli, in order to manufacture

earthenware, and may have directed attention to the productions of

della Robbia, who had already been employed at Rimini by its tyrant,

Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta.

[Footnote *241: For all that concerns the Della Robbia, cf. MAUD

CRUTTWELL, _Luca and Andrea della Robbia and their School_ (Dent,

1904).]

* * * * *

An account of majolica[*242] ought to contain the various places

noted for its manufacture, the peculiar qualities distinguishing

their respective productions, the methods by which these qualities

were given, and the artists most successful in producing them. But on

most of these points we are left in great ignorance, which my limited

observation has not enabled me to dispel. All I can offer is a list

of the manufactories and artists, classed to the best of my power,

and preceded by a few very general notices of the process.

[Footnote *242: The finest collection of Italian majolica in

the world is probably that in Pesaro in the possession of the

Municipality.]

The Chevalier Cipriano Picolpasso, of Castel Durante, doctor in

medicine and majolica-painter under Duke Guidobaldo II., left a MS.

professing to record the secrets of his art; but Passeri, after

examination, pronounces his revelations trite, and his historical

notices barren. It is, however, agreed that Pesaro was the first site

within the duchy of Urbino where the fabric attained celebrity, and

that its earliest efforts were called _mezza_ or "half" majolica.

This is distinguished by a coarse gritty fracture, of dirty grey

colour, and a glaze which does not take much lustre or transparency.

It is generally in the form of plates, many of them huge, all

clumsily thick, and frequently of a dingy, ill-vitrified yellow on

the back. The lustre on the front is rather pearly than metallic; but

prismatic, or even golden, iridescence is met with. These productions

are assigned, by Passeri and others, to the fifteenth century; but

the arms of Leo X. appear on one in the mediæval exhibition of

1850 (No. 543, belonging to Mr. S. Isaacs), and on another in the

Hotel Cluny, at Paris; while, in the museum of the Commendatore

Kestner, Hanoverian minister at Rome, is a third, designed after

Marc Antonio. The "fine" majolica attained its greatest perfection

at Urbino between 1530 and 1560, and it was prized chiefly for

the perfect vitrification and transparency of its varnish, the

comparative thinness and whiteness of the texture, the brilliant

colouring, and masterly design. Gubbian pottery combined in some

degree the qualities of half and fine ware, but excelled all others

in metallic and prismatic glaze.

[Illustration: MAIOLICA

_A plate of Castel Durante ware of about 1524_

"The divine and beautiful Lucia"]

We shall not encumber our pages with conjectural or vague hints as

to the processes of these interesting fabrics. Iridescent lustre

obliquely reflected, and a white glaze of dazzling transparency,

were the objects respectively aimed at. The former was attained

by preparations of lead, copper, silver, and gold; the latter was

imparted by dipping the half-baked pottery into a white varnish, over

which, while moist, the subject was rapidly painted, correction or

retouching being incompatible with the immediate absorption of its

colours, which, apart from accidental fusion of tints, and flaws

in the furnace, abundantly accounts for the frequent inaccuracy

of design. The metallic lustre depended a good deal on lead, the

whiteness on a free use of tin.

Those early plates of Pesaro were very rarely signed by their

artists; but one in the Hague Museum bears a cipher resembling

C.H.O.N., whilst another, quoted by Pungileoni, has a mark composed

of G.A.T. interlaced. In 1478, Sixtus IV. wrote his acknowledgments

to Costanzo Sforza for a present of "_Vasa fictilia_, most elegantly

wrought, which, for the donor's sake, are prized as if of gold or

silver rather than of earthenware."[243] In a similar letter, Lorenzo

the Magnificent thanked [Roberto] Malatesta, observing that "they

please me entirely by their perfections and rarity, being quite

novelties in these parts, and are valued more than if of silver," the

donor's arms serving daily to recall their origin.[244] Passeri gives

a curious proclamation by the Lord of Pesaro, in 1486, narrating

that, for good favour to the citizens, and considering a fabric of

earthen vases to have been of old practised in that city, superior,

by general admission, to all others produced in Italy, and that

there were now more workshops than ever,--importation of any species

thereof from foreign parts was prohibited, on pain of confiscation

and fine, half to the informer, oil and water jars only excepted; and

further that, within eight days, all foreign vases should be sent

out of the state. In 1510, majolica was numbered among the trades of

Pesaro, and in 1532, Duke Francesco Maria confirmed the protection

for it which we have just cited. I have not met with the patent for

"application of gold to Italian faience," quoted by Mr. H. Rogers as

granted, in 1509, to Giacomo Lanfranco of Pesaro, by Duke Guidobaldo,

who, by the way, was then dead.

[Footnote 243: Archiv. Dipl. Urbinate at Florence [1845].]

[Footnote 244: GAYE, _Carteggio_, I., p. 304. He was probably Roberto

Malatesta, who served the Florentines in 1479, and died 1482; so

Gaye's date of 1490 seems erroneous.]

It may have been soon after this date that "fine" superseded "half"

ware in the potteries of Pesaro, where the art obtained a new

stimulus on transference hither of the court by Duke Guidobaldo

II. Thereafter it is impossible to distinguish earthenware issuing

from these establishments from that of Urbino, their quality

being similar, and the artists in many cases identical; but by

that Prince's patronage it unquestionably attained its greatest

perfection. A petition by certain makers of Pesaro for protection, is

given in X. of the Appendix, as illustrating then received principles

of trade, as well as of this fabric. It bears date in 1552; and

in 1569, the Duke granted to Giacomo Lanfranco, of that city, a

patent for twenty-five years, guarded by 500 scudi of penalty, for

his inventions in applying gold to vases, and in constructing them

of great size (exceeding the capacity of two _some_), of antique

forms, and wrought in relievo. As a further encouragement, he and

his father Girolamo were exempted from every impost or tax, and from

mill-dues on grinding ten _some_ of grain annually. Proud of the

reputation of his native pottery, Guidobaldo was in the habit of

presenting services of majolica to foreign princes and personages,

who again often sent commissions to be executed in the duchy, bearing

their arms. A double service was, according to Vasari, given by him

to Charles V.; and another to Philip II., painted by Orazio Fontana

from Taddeo Zuccaro's designs; while Passeri mentions a set presented

to Fra Andrea of Volterra, each piece inscribed _G.V.V.D. [Guid

Vbaldonis Urbini Ducis] Munus, F. Andreæ Volaterano_. I found in

the Oliveriana MSS. a letter addressed to his brother the Cardinal

of Urbino, describing a _buffet_ for Monsignor Farnese, with its

inventory, which will be found at XI. of the Appendix. The most

important, however, of the ducal commissions was a very numerous set

of jars, of many sizes and shapes, for the use of his laboratory

[_spezeria_], a fashion imitated by other dilettanti. Blue, yellow,

and green are their prevailing hues; they are always labelled with

the name of some drug or mixture, and occasionally have a portrait or

other subject. The original set was gifted by Francesco Maria II. to

the treasury of Loreto, where about three hundred and eighty of them

still serve their original purpose, many duplicates being met with in

collections. Specimens will be found engraved by Bartoli, and in Mr.

Marryat's beautiful volume; the offers of various crowned heads to

replace them by others of gold and silver, are well-known travellers'

tales, but in truth they are far from choice specimens.

Like other branches of fine art, majolica-painting showed an early

preference for sacred themes; but the primitive plates of Pesaro bear

effigies of saints much more frequently than scripture histories,

or doctrinal representations. Then came in a fashion for portraits

of living or historical persons, including warriors, high-born

dames, and classical heroes, inscribed with their names. These

paintings are all flat and lifeless, with scarcely an attempt at

relief, or graduated tints; the ornaments are rude, inclining to

Moorish, and totally different from what is called arabesque. From

the della Robbian influence were probably borrowed plates brimming

with coloured fruits in relievo, a variety of little interest, but

reminding us of similar French productions in a later period. In the

sixteenth century, the mania of classicism, elsewhere discussed,[245]

much affected majolica; and in its designs, although events of the

Old Testament were not abandoned, saintly legends gave place to

scenes from Ovid and Virgil. For behoof of the unlettered curious,

the incident was shortly, often clumsily, described in blue letters

on the back, with a reference to the text. In a few cases (perhaps

of _amatorii_ or nuptial gifts), I have found the very finest

productions degraded by grossly indecent designs; in more numerous

ones groups of nude figures disport themselves in the manner of

Giulio Romano. Those in which Raffaelesque arabesques prevail,

belong chiefly to the latter portion of Guidobaldo's reign. From

that time the fabric decayed rapidly, owing partly to a general

decline of æsthetic taste, partly to the impaired state of that

Duke's finances, and the indifference of his successor. Even after

historical compositions were neglected, considerable dexterity was

displayed in painting trophies, arms, musical instruments, utensils,

marine monsters, children, grotesques, birds, trees, flowers, fruits,

and landscapes, designs of that class being easily repeated and

their inaccuracies passing for studied extravagance. But the drawing

got worse, the colouring more feeble, as good artists dropped off,

carrying with them their sketches, and superseded by engravings from

Sadeler and other Flemings, whose vile taste contributed to lower

the standard of better times.[246] Public favour, ever capricious,

was successfully wooed by the oriental porcelain, which now found

its way among the higher ranks, while the augmented supply of silver

encouraged a more extended use of plate. Thus discredited, the

manufacture progressively deteriorated, until, in 1722, the stoneware

of Urbania was of the most ordinary description, the efforts of

Cardinal Legate Stoppani to reinstate a better fabric having totally

failed; and thus neglected, the most beautiful productions of its

happier time were dispersed, or passed to the meanest uses, from

which another whim of fashion, as much as the revival of a better

taste, has suddenly rescued them.

[Footnote 245: See vol. II.]

[Footnote 246: In 1845, the Canon Staccoli at Urbino showed me a

plate equally feeble in design and colour, signed _F.M. Doiz Fiamengo

fecit_, a proof that it was no despised production of the time.]

[Illustration: MAIOLICA

_A plate of Urbino ware about 1535. (The arms are Cardinal Pucci's)_]

Much of what has been said of the fine majolica of Pesaro is

applicable to that ascribed to Urbino, most of which appears to

have been made in the neighbouring towns of Fermignano, Gaifa, and

Castel Durante (now Urbania), the alluvial washings of the Metauro

being peculiarly adapted for the purest white glaze. Yet Pungileoni

has wormed out of some old notarial protocols the names of Mo.

Giovanni di Donnino in 1477, and of Mo. Francesco in 1501,

both designed of Gardutia, potters (_figuli_) at Urbino. He also

establishes that coloured figures were executed there in vases in

1521. Passeri denies that those ruby and gold colours for which we

shall find Gubbio celebrated, and which certainly were known in the

workshops of Pesaro, ever came into use at Urbino,--a conclusion

which we shall have occasion to correct. Indeed, this secret of

metallic iridescence is said to have been known at Florence, and

I have seen a plate of golden lustre bearing the emblem of the

woolstaplers' guild [_arte della lana_]; but if such manufactory

existed, I have found no notice of it, and the still flourishing

one of Ginori in the Val d'Arno pretends to no such antiquity. I

was shown at Florence a tile, on which Annibale Caracci's Galatea

was represented with great accuracy of design, but poor and hard in

colour, signed "_Ferdinand Campani, Siena, 1736_." In the latter town

there is said to have been a fabric known by the name of _Terchi_;

the analogous one, near Fermo, in the Abruzzi, called _Grue_, sent

forth, I believe, most of those tiles, small plates, or cups and

saucers,--ornamented with landscapes of tolerable design, but tinted

in sickly yellow or blue, and totally devoid of style,--which abound

in Lower Italy.

The prismatic glaze, especially of gold and ruby colour, was

unequalled in those plates painted at Gubbio by Maestro Giorgio

Andreoli, who appears to have come hither from Pavia with his

brothers Salimbeni and Giovanni. His name was there enrolled among

the nobility in 1498, but the dates affixed to his plates extend from

1518 to about 1537. He had previously executed several plastic works

of the nature of della Robbia's figures, the principal of which was a

Madonna del Rosario altar-piece for the Domenican church, which has

been enthusiastically described in No. 928 of the London _Athenæum_.

It was torn down by the French in their wonted course of rapine, and,

to the disgrace of the local authorities of Gubbio, lay neglected

for several years after the peace, until purchased for the Steidl

Institut at Frankfort. The only other of his productions remaining

at Gubbio is a life-sized statue of St. Anthony in the same church,

quite inferior as regards design and religious feeling to those of

the Tuscan sculptors, and which, though coloured, has no metallic

lustre. He is said by Passeri to have lived until 1552; and of his

family, who long occupied an honourable station in their native city,

only a son, Cencio, followed his father's profession. I have seen

a plate of this school at Mr. Forrest's, 54 Strand [1850], rudely

signed with G; others have R, perhaps il Rovigese, whom I shall

presently mention. Mo. Prestino da Gubbio wrought about 1557, but

the latest date I have seen with metallic lustre and the Gubbian mark

is 1549, on which the iridescence was extremely feeble.

Passeri's assertion, that the Gubbian glaze was borrowed from the

half-majolica of Pesaro, may be correct; but we might, perhaps,

maintain for it a date as early as 1474, on the authority of a

beautiful small plate possessing its peculiarities, and exhibiting

Duke Federigo's name and profile in relief, within a coloured border

of oak-leaves also in relief, made, possibly, on occasion of his

alliance with the della Rovere, by marriage of the Lord Prefect with

his daughter in that year. This interesting memorial is No. 2286 of

the Mediæval Gallery at the Louvre. In Mr. Marryat's choice cabinet

is a half-ware plate, bearing on the back a monogram, which that

gentleman supposes of Maestro Giorgio's early period, before he had

discovered the mode of obtaining iridescent varnishes. It displays

a group of nude figures in pale greyish tints, without any approach

to brilliant colouring. His usual signature was dashed off with a

metalliferous brush on the back, _Mo. Go. da Vgubio_, with

the date, as at No. 11 of the same facsimiles, from a plate in my

possession. Such pieces are rare, and highly prized; their subjects

are usually saints, classical groups, or grotesques, vases being

very seldom met with. A branch of this fabric is said to have been

seated at Nocera; and several, with bright red and blue tracery

on a gold metallic ground, dated 1537-8, in the choice cabinet of

Signor Serafino Tordelli at Spoleto [1845], are supposed by him of

that fabric. Among other exquisite specimens, he has one by Maestro

Giorgio, 1529, rivalling the finest miniature, and representing

Archimedes measuring a globe, in front of the Communal Palace at

Gubbio.

* * * * *

Thus much regarding the various manufactories of majolica connected

with Urbino. The forms and purposes to which it was turned were

very various. The first plates of Pesaro, chiefly of great size

[_bacili_], were probably for table use, but a variety of them,

called _amatorii_, were either tender souvenirs or marriage gifts.

These usually had the lady's portrait, with the complimentary epithet

of Bella, as in this example now in my possession; at other times

united hands and a transfixed heart, with a motto of affection,

moralising, or banter. Several such have been described by Passeri,

Marryat, and others, but I shall add a few which have come under my

observation. 1. At Florence: _Francesca bella a paragon di tutti_,

"Frances, of beauty comparable to any one." 2. At Rome: _Nemo sua

sorte contentus erat_, "Each has something to grumble about." 3. Sir

Thomas B. Hepburn; a lady holding a gigantic pink: _Non è sì vago

el fiore che non imbiacca o casca_, "There is no flower so lovely

but fades or droops." 4. Rome; a dame of rueful countenance: _Sola

miseria caret invidia_, "Only the miserable escape envy." 5. Pesaro,

Massa collection: _Per dormire non si acquista_, "The indolent get

nothing." 6. Florence: _Chi bien guida sua barcha sempre emporto_,

"Who steers well his bark, always makes the harbour." 7. Pesaro:--

_S'il dono è picolo e di pocho valore,

Basta la fedel povere se redore._

"If small the gift and scant of merit

A poor slave's faith,--enough, you share it."[247]

[Footnote 247: The rules of syntax are in these often overstepped,

and conjecture left to eke out the sense. My reading is literal,

of _basta la fe del povere sevedore_, which is intelligible, and

rhymes, as is not the case with _basta la fede, e 'l povere se vedo_,

the version of Passeri. This author tells us of a certain coy or

mischievous Philomela who pierced her lover's present with holes

and made of it a mouse-trap! Also of an exquisite Gubbian plate,

portraying the _Daniella Diva_, who displays a wounded heart with the

legend _Oimè!_ "Ah me." A drug-bottle in Mr. Marryat's collection,

and engraved in his work, has the portrait of a lady whose squint is

given to the life.]

[Illustration: MAIOLICA

_Plate of Castel Durante ware about 1540, with a portrait medallion

within a border of oak leaves. This pattern was called "Cerquata" or

"al Urbinata," the oak being the badge of the Rovere house_]

8, 9. Florence, and evidently nuptial presents: _Per fin che vivo, io

sempre t'amerò_, "While I live, you I love"; the other, a bridegroom

and bride exchanging a hearty kiss. Most of these portrait-plates

were deep, and are said not to have been delivered empty. Brides

received them brimming with jewels; for dancing partners they were

filled with fruits and confections; to a lady in childbed was

presented a salver containing the sort of chamber service called in

French a _déjeûner de marié_, appropriately decorated with infant

legends of gods and heroes; at children's balls, were given tiny

plates of sugar-plums, whereon a dancing Cupid sounding his cymbal

was often painted. 10. Massa collection,--this has a sadder import:

_Un bel morire tutta la vita onora_, "A beautiful death confers

illustration on a lifetime," was, no doubt, in memory of some

venerated friend, and might have been used to serve her funeral

meats.[248]

[Footnote 248: In order to finish our notice of mottoes, a few others

may be here added. 11. Massa collection; a female portrait, on whose

breast are the arms of Montefeltro: _Viva, Viva il Duca di Urbino_.

12. Rome, Kestner Museum; another female portrait: _Ibit ad geminos

lucida fama pollo_ (?). 13. Kestner Museum and that at the Hague;

St. Thomas probing the Saviour's wound: _Beati qui non viderunt et

crediderunt_, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have

believed." 14. Spoleto, Tordelli collection; a beautiful female

resisting a crowd of armed soldiery: 1540. _Italia mesta sottosopra

volta, como pei venti in mare le torbid'onde, ch'or da una parte

et hor da l'altra volta._ "1540. Dejected Italy, tossed like the

wind-lashed waves, turning now hither now thither." 15. Rome,--satire

on the sack of Rome; a warrior in antique armour strikes with a

two-handed sword at a naked woman stretched in a lascivious posture,

behind whom five others tremblingly await their fate: it is inscribed

behind, 1534. _Roma lasciva dal buon Carlo quinto partita a mezza.

Fra Xanto a. da Rovigo, Urbino._ "Rome, the wanton, cut up by the

good Charles V.; by Brother Xante of Rovigo, at Urbino." This plate,

glowing with iridescence, contradicts Passeri's opinion (already

quoted) that stanniferous glaze was never practised in the Urbino

workshops, as does the tile introduced three pages below. 16. Rome;

a grandly draped female, sitting in desolation over a dead child:

_Fiorenzo mesta i morti figlii piange_, "Disconsolate Florence weeps

for her lifeless offspring," in the plague visitation of 1538. Though

with the most brilliant ruby and gold lustre I ever saw, it has in

blue the cipher X, probably also of Xante in Urbino.]

But to return to the uses of this pottery. Those who have observed

the rich effect of the majolica sparingly displayed in the late

Mediæval Exhibition at the Adelphi [1850] may readily admit that, on

a buffet lit up by Italian suns, its glowing tints and attractive

forms were no mean substitute for the as yet scarce precious metals.

Ingenuity was taxed to invent designs and adaptations of an art in

which fashion ran riot:--Tiles for floors or panelling; vases of

mere ornament; beakers; epergnes; wine-coolers; perfume-sprinklers;

fountains, whence there flowed alternately, as if by magic, water

or wine of nine varieties at the bidding of the bewildered guests;

wine-cups clustered with grapes, through an orifice in which the

liquor was sucked, anticipating the American device for discussing

sherry-cobbler. Of drug-bottles and pots we have spoken. Sauce-boats,

salt-cellars, and inkstands gave rise to endless caprices, in the

guise "of beasts, and of fowl and fishes"; and to these may be added

figure-groups of saints, grotesque characters and animals, fruits,

trees, and pilgrims' bottles.

In the decorations there was generally a consistency, too often lost

sight of by modern artificers. Thus, toilet-basins were painted with

marine deities, water-nymphs, or aquatic allegories; fruit-stands

with fruit and vintages; wine-cups with vine-festoons. Among the

oddities may be mentioned tiny tea-cups, into the paste for which was

mingled a portion of dust carefully gathered in sweeping out the holy

house at Loreto, their sanctity being vouched by the inscription,

_Con pol. di S.C._, "With dust from the Santa Casa." The effigy of

the Madonna of Loreto is often affixed, in colour and design on a

par with the superstition. A pair of these was shown at the Mediæval

Exhibition of 1850, No. 562 of the catalogue, belonging to a Mrs.

Palliser.

* * * * *

Having thus considered the various sites and sorts of Urbino

majolica, its processes and purposes, we shall mention some of the

artists employed upon it. Of these there were two classes, the potter

who mixed and manipulated, modelled and moulded clay-clod into an

article of convenience or luxury, and the painter whose pencil

rendered it an object of the fine arts; latterly, however, these

branches were combined, and were carried on by a class of artificers

called _vasaii_ or _vasari_, and _boccalini_, according as vases

or bottles prevailed in their workshops. The little that has come

to our knowledge regarding those by whom the early Pesarese and

Gubbian ware was fashioned and decorated will be found in a former

page. The latter makers of Pesaro and Urbino have more frequently

left us the means of identifying their performances in monograms

or signatures, usually inscribed in blue characters on the back

of plates. But before considering these, we may dispose of the

vulgar error which has given Raffaele's name to Italian porcelain.

Superficial or romancing writers have often seriously repeated, with

purely fictitious additions, Malvasia's petulant sneer, which he

was fain quickly to retract, that the great Sanzio was a painter of

plates; others have, without better grounds, made him assistant to

his father, a potter. There is however nothing connecting him with

the ceramic art beyond a loose notice by Don V. Vittorio, in his

_Osservazioni Sopra Felsina Pittrice_ (pp. 44, 112-14), of a letter

from Raffaele referring to designs supplied by him to the Duchess

for majolica. That he did supply such drawings is possible, though

discredited by Pungileoni, and, if true, it in no way compromises his

status, at a period when high art lent a willing hand to decorate and

elevate the adjuncts and appliances of domestic life. This much is

certain, that compositions emanating from Sanzio and his school were

employed in ornamenting porcelain during the sixteenth century, but

they were doubtless obtained from his pupils, or from the engravings

of Marc Antonio. Such is the title here introduced from the original

in my possession (8-1/2 inches by 7), which is one of the most

Raffaelesque I have met with, and which, though not signed, displays

the colouring practised by Fra Xanto, the blue and green being deep

and well marked, the orange and yellow of the clouds and curtain in

metallic iridescence.

In this, as in most instances, the design is somewhat marred by the

colours having run when laid on, or during vitrification. The mistake

as to Sanzio has been partly occasioned by confusion with Raffaele

del Colle, who painted at the Imperiale, and is said by tradition

to have contributed sketches for the Pesarese workshops, and also

with another Raffaele Ciarla, who seems to have been a potter,

about 1530-60. Battles, sieges, and mythological figures resembling

the vigorous inventions of Giulio Romano, are not unfrequent; and

in the Kestner Museum, I have observed several plates of choice

design and Raffaelesque character, especially the Fall and Expulsion

of our first Parents, and the Gathering of Manna. But these are

satisfactorily accounted for by Passeri's statement, that, with a

view to improve a native manufacture which brought to his state both

estimation and wealth, Duke Guidobaldo II. took infinite pains in

collecting a better class of drawings and prints from celebrated

masters, on the dispersion of which, in consequence of their being

sought for by collectors, the pictorial excellence of majolica

rapidly declined. The first symptom of decay was the substitution

of monotonous arabesques, weak in colour and repeated from the type

introduced by Raffaele, in place and figure groups and other subjects

requiring composition and design.

* * * * *

Premising that we cannot now distinguish exactly between potters and

the painters, where these cognate occupations chanced to be divided,

and that the same persons occasionally wrought at various places in

the duchy, we shall supply a notice of the names we have met with in

connection with the workshops of Pesaro, Urbino, and Castel Durante,

during the sixteenth century.

Terenzio Terenzi painted vases and plates at Pesaro, one of which

he signed "Terenzio fecit, 1550," but his usual mark was T. Another

is inscribed, "Questo piatto fu fatto in la Bottega de Mastro

Baldassare, Vasaro da Pesaro e fatto per mano de Ferenzio fiolo di

Mastro Matteo Boccalaro." He was doubtless the person who, under

the surname of Rondolino, became notorious at Rome for his clever

pictorial forgeries of the great master's works, although said by

Ticozzi to have been born at Pesaro in 1570. The signature "Mastro

Gironimo, Vasaro in Pesaro, J.P." occurs from 1542 to 1560, and to

him Mr. Marryat ascribes, on what authority I know not, the mark

A.O. connected by a cross, which Passeri quotes as of another artist

in 1582; the letters I.P. that gentleman reads _in Pesaro_. This

Girolamo Lanfranco was a native of Gabicce, near Pesaro, and died in

1599, leaving sons Girolamo and Ludovico. In his favour, and that of

his son, were granted the privileges already referred to, as dated

1552 and 1569.

In connection with the workshops of Urbino, we have these names.

Giovanni and Francesco di Donnino had a commission for a set of vases

for Cardinal Capaccio. _Fra Xanto. a. da Rovigo in Urbino_ signed

platters of great size and beautiful design, about 1532-4, some

of which show a very fine metallic and prismatic lustre. The mark

X, occurring on pieces of that quality, does not, however, always

refer to him. A splendid plate in Mr. Marryat's rich collection,

commemorative of the taking of Goletta, in Africa, by Charles V.,

is inscribed _In Urbino nella botteg di Francesco de Silvano, X.

MDXXXXI._; and a Judith of great beauty, in the Tordelli

cabinet, signed F.X. 1535, is, no doubt of that master. Contemporary

and very analogous are plates with an iridescence rivalling that of

Maestro Giorgio, signed _Mastro Rovigo di Urbino_, or _Da Rovigiese_:

of this artist, probably the countryman of Xanto, we know nothing,

but he may be the same who signs Gubbian plates with R. Equally

little can we say as to Giulio of Urbino, who is mentioned as working

for the Duke of Ferrara, about 1530; or of Cesare da Faenza, then

employed in the shop of Guido Merlini, of Urbino. Much more noted

are the Fontana family, originally of Castel Durante. From thence

Guido, son of Nicolò, emigrated to the capital, where his son Orazio

painted many of the finest productions of the reign of Guidobaldo

II., including the best vases of his laboratory, his usual mark being

this, meaning _Orazio Fontana Urbinate fece_. Among the treasures and

trash of Strawberry Hill was a very large vase, with serpent handles,

and designs ascribed to Giulio Romano, inscribed _Fate in botega di

Orazio Fontana_.[249] A plate described by Passeri, has the story of

Horatius Cocles, with the motto _Orazio solo contra Toscana tutta,

fatto in Pesaro 1541_, which appears to be a _jeu de mots_ intended

by Fontana as a challenge to the rival fabrics of Tuscany.[250] For

him has been claimed the invention of Gubbian glaze; while others

say his discovery was a mode of preventing the mixture of colours

during vitrification. He died in 1571, his labours having been shared

by a brother Camillo, who carried the art to Ferrara, and a nephew

Flaminio, who settled in Florence.

[Footnote 249: A magnificent pair of triangular fonts in the same

collection brought at the sale 168_l._]

[Footnote 250: The ancestors of Giorgio Vasari were surnamed from

their occupation of vase-makers (_vasari_), at Arezzo. The Ginori

establishment near Florence is comparatively modern.]

[Illustration: O F V F]

Among the pupils of Orazio was Raffaele Ciarla, whose name we have

noticed as confused with that of Raffaele Sanzio, and who painted

a buffet of porcelain, after designs by Taddeo Zuccaro, which his

sovereign presented to Philip II. of Spain. He wrought between 1530

and 1560. Gianbattista Franco, a Venetian painter of whom we have

lately spoken, was invited by Duke Guidobaldo II., about 1540, to

supply designs for majolica, in consequence of his reputation for

clever drawings in the dangerous style of Michael Angelo. The loss of

his cupola for the cathedral at Urbino is not to be regretted; but in

a humbler sphere he acquitted himself better, and some of the vases

in the laboratory bear his signature, B.F.V.F., _Battista Franco

Urbinas fecit_. Among the latest artists was Alfonso Patanazzi, who

was born at Urbino of a noble family, and died in 1694; but his

productions (signed in full, or with his initials) have no artistic

merit whatever.

It remains to mention those who wrought chiefly at Castel Durante,

or, as it was named after the Devolution to the Holy See, Urbania.

The Chevalier Cipriano Picolpasso, from being a professor of the

healing art, took to pottery about 1550, and left a MS. account

of some of the secrets of that fabric and of its glazes, which

was used by Passeri for his work. Mr. Marryat considers that he

was peculiarly successful in painting trophies. Guido di Savino

is said to have carried the art from Castel Durante to Antwerp;

and he or Guido Fontana may be author of a plate, in the Soane

Museum, of the Fates, signed _In botega di Mo. Guido Durantino

in Urbino_. To either of them I am disposed to assign the monogram,

No. 12, of our 18th plate of facsimiles, which Mr. Marryat reads as

Castel Durante, but which seems to me a G.D., for Guido Durantino.

Alessandro Gatti, of that place, had three brothers, Giovanni,

Tiseo, and Luzio, whom Picolpasso mentions as having emigrated to

Corfu, and there established the same fabric. Cardinal Stoppani,

Legate of Pesaro, in last century, made some ineffectual attempts

to restore the manufacture at Urbania, and the only pottery now

produced in the duchy is of the most ordinary white stoneware. It

would be interesting to know the scale of remuneration for mere

artistic varieties of majolica, but the prices given by Passeri, from

Picolpasso's MS., refer only to the more ordinary and mechanical

designs, such as grotesques with monsters, arabesques, trophies

with armour, fruit, flowers, and foliage; of these the first was

the most costly, the last the cheapest, varying from two Roman

scudi to about two and a half pauls per hundred. Supposing money

in 1560 to have been six times its present value in Italy, these

sums may be considered equal to fifty shillings and six shillings

respectively.[251]

[Footnote 251: Pungileoni quotes a demand made in 1683 of 50 scudi

(about 11_l._) for a plate reputed to have been painted by Raffaele;

this, at thrice the present money value, would give 32_l._ as its

price.]

In Italy, the collection of majolica made by the Chevalier Massa, at

Pesaro, is specially worthy of notice, and contains specimens of most

varieties made in the duchy. It was chiefly got together between 1825

and 1835 when these were still abundant and little sought after; but

the district was nearly cleared of them about twelve years since, by

an agent of Parisian dealers. The Chevalier, who was in extreme old

age in 1845, had bequeathed his majolica--consisting of about five

hundred pieces, with a few indifferent pictures--to his native town,

unless he could, during life, sell the whole for about 1000_l._,

destined by him to charitable purposes. Another numerous collection

is that of Signor Mavorelli, at La Fratta, near Perugia. The small

but choice cabinet of Signor Serafino Tordelli, at Spoleto, has

already been mentioned. Specimens may still be picked up in Rome,

Florence, Paris, and London; but perhaps the most specimens are in

the hands of English amateurs.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX I

(Page 21)

CORRESPONDENCE OF CLEMENT VII. WITH DUKE FRANCESCO MARIA BEFORE THE

SACK OF ROME, 1527

There are several brieves preserved in the Archivio Diplomatico at

Florence, affording evidence of the Pope's feeble and inconsistent

policy. His missive, announcing to the Duke the truce with Lannoy,

was dated the 16th of March, and was followed by one of the 20th of

April, which we shall here translate:--

To our beloved Son, the noble Francesco Maria, Duke of

Urbino, Captain-general of the Venetians.

Beloved Son, health and apostolic benediction!

We have written but once to your nobility since coming to

this armistice with the enemy, for, matters not being yet

fully settled, we had nothing certain to apprise you of.

But we understood that, by the letters of our dear son

and lieutenant, Francesco Guicciardini, you were already

made aware of all we could have asked of you, and had by

your own good conduct anticipated it, which is to us most

pleasing and acceptable, and daily more realises our hopes

of you. As to this suspension of arms, we stooped to it

more readily from being destitute of means or assistance,

and from measuring the inclinations of others by our own

pacific dispositions. But now that our enemies' conduct

seems rather to abuse our clemency and moderation than to

approach any equitable course, we do not well see how we

can safely come to any terms with them. Thus, induced by

necessity, and by your worth and good will, as well as

cheered by the entire justice of our cause, we desire to

make your nobility aware that we have utterly dismissed

from our mind all truce with adversaries so perfidious, and

are willing and ready rather to hazard any peril of war

than submit to such unworthy and iniquitous conditions;

yet, believing victory much more imminent than danger, we

trust that their obstinacy and insolence will be easily put

down, provided your forces can timeously coalesce with our

own, and you exercise all zeal and caution in effecting

this. We therefore not only exhort your nobility to this,

but we fully rely on your doing it, as matter at once of

duty and propriety, and from your disposition in favour

of the Italian liberties and the dignity of ourselves and

this Holy See. We, on our part, shall maintain towards

our beloved sons, the Venetian government, that firm

attitude which shall satisfy all of our constancy, things

being now come to such a pitch that we must either sink

dishonoured on failure of your aid and support, or by your

help shall emerge with credit. As regards our paternal

and affectionate concern for your personal dignity and

interests, we can add nothing to the promises already made

you by letters and envoys, which we shall amply carry

out. Let your nobility, therefore, go on as you have so

well begun, nor relax until we and you and all Italy be

rid of all these barbarian excesses. After perusing these

brieves, your nobility will forward them to the Doge and

Signory of Venice, for, news of the enemy's obstinacy and

faithlessness reaching us by express at midnight, we had to

write to your nobility before we could communicate anything

to their ambassador.

Given at St. Peter's, Rome, under the fisher's signet, the

20th April, 1527, in the fourth year of our pontificate.

BLOSIUS.

On the 22nd and 30th the Pope wrote again, but in general terms,

and referring for details to the accredited bearer and to former

despatches. He exhorted the Duke, in formal and measured phrase, to

do his utmost towards fulfilling the expectations reposed on him and

the Venetians, upon whom were based all the Pontiff's hopes; but

neither in letter nor spirit do these brieves indicate any perception

of the extreme hazards of his position.

APPENDIX II

(Page 21)

THE SACK OF ROME

I. _Letter from the Bishop of Modula to the Generals of the

League._[252]

[Footnote 252: Sanuto Diarii MSS. Bib. Marciana, xlv. f. 132.]

Most illustrious Lords of the League,

Let your most illustrious Lordships speed on quickly

without loss of time, seeing by these presents that the

enemy have carried the Borgo, though our Lord and all Rome

were well fortified. Monsignor de Bourbon is dead of an

arquebus-shot below the abdomen, and a man has just come

in who happened to aid in carrying off his body. More

than three thousand of the enemy have fallen. Let your

Lordships, then, press on, for the enemy are in the utmost

disorder; quickly, quickly, without loss of time. Your

servant,

GUIDO, BISHOP OF MODULA.

From Viterbo, the 7th of May, 1527, 3 P.M.

To the most illustrious Lords, the Duke of Urbino and the

Marquis of Saluzzo, Captains of the League.

II. _Letter from Scipione ... to Alessandro Moresino, alias

Venezianello, Master of the Chamber of the Prince Guidobaldo, dated

at Urbino, 20th of May, 1527, narrating the destruction of Rome._

Most dear as an honoured brother,

I wish I were fitter than at present, and more easy

in mind, to write you of the strange, horrible, and

atrocious event befallen the wretched, miserable, and

ill-fated city of Rome. Although I feel assured that,

from different advices, you will have had partial, if not

full accounts, nevertheless, that I may not fail in duty,

I have thought it best to inform you of all I have yet

heard, notwithstanding that I tell it with aching heart and

tearful eye.

I therefore inform you that eight days ago last Monday,

being the 18th inst., about 22 o'clock [half-past 5

P.M.], the Spanish imperial army presented itself

at the bastion of the gate. Their object was to make trial,

and see how and by whom it was guarded, not having courage

to attack; but after consulting together, and deciding

to assault, and even to make their way into the city,

they took some food, and then suddenly and all in a mass

attempted with furious impetuosity to force the bastion,

which is said to have been ill guarded, there being but

four thousand regular infantry in Rome. In this attack,

both sides behaved with great bravery, and were supposed

to have lost about one thousand men, including the flower

of the Spaniards. Bourbon, observing the slaughter and

immense confusion, rushed on with all the lansquenets.

The castle maintained a fire of artillery as they best

could; but the air being obscured by a dense fog, they

could not see the effect of it, and battered down a piece

of wall.[253] Through it, and by storming the bastion, the

Imperialists entered, and there Bourbon met his death from

an arquebus-shot, which passed quite through his belly.

The papal troops, unable to offer more resistance, fled

towards the castle, into which most of them were admitted,

especially those who arrived first. It is rumoured,

but not confirmed, that the Lord Stefano Colonna, who

commanded the guard at that bastion, capitulated. Next day,

being Tuesday, the enemy, though within the town, made

no aggressions, but proceeded cautiously, dreading some

ambush. Having, however, assured themselves that there was

no cause for mistrust, they began to spread over the city,

and to plunder the monasteries, nunneries, and hospitals,

with great slaughter of those found therein. The hospital

of San Spirito was destroyed, and the patients were thrown

into the Tiber, after which they commenced attacking the

palaces of cardinals and gentlemen, with much bloodshed and

cruelty; and I have been told this morning by Francesco,

son of Battista Riceco, that one Maestro Jacomo, the first

perfumer in Rome, is come to his house, having escaped

with four other chance companions, whom, being a very old

friend, he has thought it necessary to receive kindly in

his house; and he learned from him as certain, having been

witness to it, that the lansquenets, that inhuman and

villainous race of Lutheran infidels, slew without mercy

those of all ages, sexes, and conditions whom they found in

the streets; also, that they attacked Cardinal Cesarini's

palace, wherein were many Roman gentlemen, guarded by two

hundred infantry; and having stormed it, put them all to

the sword, it being uncertain if the Cardinal himself were

there. Thence they proceeded to the Spanish Archbishop

of Cosenza's palace, wherein were some five hundred of

his countrymen, men of credit inhabiting Rome, who had

retired thither as to a place of safety; but all, without

exception, were cut to pieces. They next went to the house

of Messer Domenico de' Massimi, a Roman gentleman, who had

there his wife and two children, with many noble persons

of the city of all ages, every individual of whom were

slain--men, women, children, servants, maids; and it was

the same in many others, whose names I do not remember,

so that the dead bodies lie in heaps in the houses and

palaces of the nobility, each day getting worse. Fancy the

affliction of the poor ladies, seeing husbands, brothers,

children massacred before their eyes, without the power of

aiding them, and worse still, they were themselves killed

next moment. It is not believed that had the Turk come on

such an enterprise, his barbarity would have equalled that

daily, continuously, and perseveringly practised by these

ruffians. I cannot imagine a greater purgatory or hell than

to hear the weeping and lamentation there must be in that

afflicted city.

[Footnote 253: This letter, though inaccurate in several

details, the author writing at a distance from the events,

affords curious evidence of the consternation generally

occasioned by the sack of Rome.]

But I forgot that he told me they were barricading the

Marchioness of Mantua's palace, as he left Rome, in which

were her Excellency, with many Roman ladies, who had fled

there as to an asylum, but the result was not known. He

also said that the _Bande nere_ of the late Lord Giovanni

de' Medici were to have from the Pope double pay for

their services, which his Holiness refusing, a part of

them remained in Rome, and the rest went off in disgust

and joined the Spaniards in plundering, being the foremost

to assault that bastion which was defended by their

comrades, and having, in fact, secured the Imperialists

their victory, as without them neither the lansquenets nor

Spaniards had ever got into the city.

The Pope is in the castle, with many cardinals and other

persons of station: they are said to have a year's

provisions, with ample ammunition and artillery. This

Maestro Giacomo says he heard that the Imperialists,

dubious of succours, thought of fortifying the bridges,

with the intention of holding their ground against any

who might annoy them. As yet the lansquenets have made

no prisoners, but the Spaniards have pillaged immensely,

and taken vast numbers of men, women, priests, and people

of all sorts, so that there is, from Rome to Naples, an

uninterrupted stream of baggage and prisoners sent by

them. He also mentions that the chief of Colonna most

courageously charged the lansquenets, crying Colonna!

Colonna! but after a great fray, he was beaten and his

followers killed, whereupon Pompeo Colonna, thinking to

elevate himself and put down his enemies, fled away, and

neither he nor any of his house have been since heard of.

It was reported that four soldiers were killed in entering

the castle, but this is since contradicted. Cardinal del

Monte and many more cardinals are missing, and it is not

known if they got in there, or are dead, or taken, or

escaped. It is suspected that these anti-Christian dogs

will put all Rome to flames; and we may anticipate that

after suffering all this rapine, pillage, slaughter,

and captivity, it will soon have to endure a grievous

pestilence, from the number of dead bodies left in the

palaces and houses, which no one removes for burial, and

which are putrefying in masses, so that no one can enter,

on account of the stench, without inhaling infection. It

is also said that, a day or two ago one of the Pope's

chamberlains was secretly sent by his Holiness from the

castle in the night to our Duke [of Urbino], to inform him

of the state of matters, and to exhort him and the other

captains of the League to push on with the army to his

aid; and that all these other leaders having repaired

to consult with his Lordship, they unanimously resolved

to press forward. We hear that his Excellency is to-day

at Orvieto, and will reach Viterbo to-morrow; also that

he will make a general levy, and give bounty to all who

will enlist. His Excellency has written the Governor a

very affectionate letter, praying him to exhort all those

here who have been soldiers to go in search of honourable

service, with money and all they may require. The Governor

has circulated copies of this letter throughout the state,

and has made proclamation, so that they are embodying many

men to join his Excellency. On Saturday, Vincenzo Ubaldino

and Pier-Matteo di Thomasello will start from this with a

fine and good detachment. I am sorry not to be able to send

you a copy of this letter, which it would really have done

your heart good to read. You could hardly believe how much

vexation this misfortune to Rome has caused here; and when

people of station discuss it, as they often do, I assure

you I have seen them weep as freely as if it were their

own. All that I have related I tell you just as I heard it

from others. I would I were speaking untruths, and that it

were all false; but I shall say no more. The Lady Madonna

Emilia sends you hearty commendations, and reminds you not

to give yourself such airs as to forget her. From Urbino,

the 20th May, 1527. Entirely your brother,

SCIPIONE ARRIS....

III. _Letter from Mercurino da Gattinara, Commissary of the Imperial

Army during the sack of Rome, wherein he informs the Emperor of the

entrance into that city, of the slaughter and havock inflicted, and

of the arrangement made through him with Clement VII., and how during

four successive days he repaired to the Castle of St. Angelo to

negotiate with the Pope and thirteen cardinals there inclosed._[254]

[Footnote 254: Vat. Ottob. MSS. No. 2607.]

Most sacred Cæsar,

I have this written in Italian by another hand, being

unable to do so with my own in consequence of meeting with

an accident, as I shall presently explain. I have to inform

your Majesty that Monsieur di Borbone, being near Florence

and Siena with his army, and understanding that the former

of these cities was well fortified, and contained the

forces of the League ready to defend it, rendering a siege

impossible, or at all events so protracted as to endanger

your Majesty's troops from want of provisions and other

stores, whilst the lack of pay risked their disbanding

and losing all;--aware, on the other hand, that Rome had

been disarmed, and that to seize and bring it and the

Pontiff to great straits was to gain everything, or at all

events would prove a measure so useful and advantageous

as to content your Majesty;--it appeared to him better to

abandon his designs upon Florence, and, advancing by forced

marches, to beleaguer Rome, thereby anticipating the army

of the League, and preventing them from succouring it,

for which purpose he determined to leave his artillery in

Siena. Accordingly, when this was decided, the confederates

being in Florence, and we thirty miles on this side of it,

we advanced with the utmost diligence, doing twenty or

four-and-twenty miles a day, which was something quite new

for the army, so numerous, so distressed by past fatigues,

and by recent and actual hunger.[255] Thus, on Saturday

the 4th instant, it was quartered at Isola, seven miles

from Rome. M. di Borbone and his officers were astonished

that the Pope and cardinals should await the army and the

threatened danger, whilst Rome was incapable of defence,

without submitting some proposal by envoy or letter, or

even answering a despatch sent to his Holiness by M. di

Borbone and the Viceroy as to the terms of agreement. Some

of your Majesty's good servants suggested that were the

army under the walls it was doubtful if they could carry

them, from want of artillery, in which event their own

destruction would follow; on the other hand, that in case

of taking the city it would be sacked, which could be no

good service to your Majesty, as its plunder would occasion

the army to disperse, the Spaniards and Italians straggling

towards Naples, or, should they not break up, they might

demand immense arrears of pay, which not being discharged

from want of means, everything would fall into confusion.

For these reasons they recommended Borbone so to dispose

his forces as to keep matters open for arrangement with the

Pope. Of this advice he openly approved, desirous of any

plan which should provide pay for the army. He, however,

declared that he would not abstain from annoying the

enemy, nor allow them time to provide for their interests,

alleging that the Admiral [Bonnivet] of France, from not

having taken Rome when he could, in order to save it from a

sack, was unable afterwards to do so, it being defended by

the Lord Prospero Colonna: also that, on another occasion,

when Monsieur di Chaumont beleaguered Bologna, Fabrizio

Colonna threw in succours whilst the French general was

treating with Julius II., who thereupon broke off the

parley: finally, that it became a pontiff rather to seek a

capitulation than to wait until it was demanded of him.

[Footnote 255: As a specimen of the very loose diction even

of public despatches in this age, and of the obstacles

which a translator has to encounter, we shall render

literally the next sentence, or rather half page, sentences

not being divided in the original. "And so the fourth

day of the present month of May, which was Saturday, the

foresaid army made his lodgment at seven miles from Rome,

in a place which is called the Isle; Monsieur di Borbone

and all the principal persons were filled with much

wonder that the Pope and so many cardinals and all Rome,

being disarmed, should wait for such an army and great

danger, without sending to the said Monsieur di Borbone

an ambassador to make some parley, nor letters, or answer

to his letters which the said M. di Borbone had formerly

written, and the Viceroy, to his Holiness about the affair

of the agreement."]

Monsieur di Borbone accordingly decided on approaching the

walls, and on Sunday morning the 5th we made a lodgment

within [beyond?] St. Peter's palace, hard by the monastery

of S. Pancrazio. Yet he did not neglect addressing a

letter to the Pontiff on that morning, exhorting him to

make a favourable capitulation rather than abide the

unpleasant alternative. It was at the same time suggested

whether it might not be well for him to repair to his

Holiness; but considering that he could not go for want of

a safe-conduct, it seemed better for him to remain; he,

however, sent the letter by a trumpet, whom the enemy did

not allow to pass, the missive remaining in their hands,

and we know not whether it reached the Pope; at all events,

no answer ever came, which was demanded before half-past

seven P.M. of that day, after which it would be no

longer possible to restrain the army. For these reasons,

as evening approached, it was resolved to get the ladders

all prepared for an assault the following morning on the

Borgo towards the furnaces, where the wall was considered

very weak. And so the assault was given on Monday morning

the 6th of May in this year 1527, when by an unlucky

chance the Lord di Borbone was hit in the abdomen towards

the right thigh, of which wound he presently died. Yet

notwithstanding this accident, which was not at once

known to the army, the undertaking was carried through,

and the Borgo was plundered that morning. The Pope, with

most of the cardinals and court, were in the castle, but

on hearing what had occurred they hastily retired to the

castle of S. Angelo. Meanwhile our soldiery sacked the

whole Borgo, and slew most of the people whom they found,

taking a few prisoners. The enemy's forces then in the city

are supposed not to have exceeded three thousand, unused

to arms, so that it was scarcely defended; the dense fog

which prevailed during that day was likewise inopportune,

preventing them seeing each other; and the struggle did not

last in all above two hours. We afterwards learned that

the Pope and the citizens, relying upon the assurances of

Renzo da Ceri, considered both Rome and the Borgo to be

impregnable without artillery, and looked for support from

the confederate army.

The Pontiff being thus within the castle, and such of the

citizens as were armed having joined their handful of

troops for defence of the bridges and of the Transtevere

quarter, the Borgo was occupied by a large portion of our

army, and its leaders were assembled in council, when there

arrived the Portuguese ambassador to say that some Romans,

his neighbours, had, with the Pope's sanction, urged him

to make terms. The answer given him was that the council

would be ready to treat, so soon as the Pope had placed

in their hands the Ponte Molle and Transtevere, to which

proposal no reply was returned during that day. A brigade

of our troops having carried the Transtevere, and possessed

themselves of the Ponte Sisto and Sta. Maria, the whole

army passed into the city early on that evening of the

6th. As the inhabitants in general relied on its being

defended, none of them had fled or removed their property,

so that no one of whatever nation, rank, condition, age,

or sex escaped becoming prisoners--not even women in the

convents. They were treated without distinction according

to the caprice of the soldiery; and after being plundered

of all their effects most of them were compelled by

torture or otherwise to pay ransom. Cardinals Cesarini,

della Valle, and di Siena, being imperialists, considered

themselves safe, and remained in their houses, whither

also there retired Cardinal ..., Fra Giacobatio, and many

friends with their women and valuables; but finding no

sanctuary there, they had to compound with certain captains

and soldiers for security of their persons and property;

notwithstanding which, these houses were completely

pillaged three or four days afterwards, and they had enough

to do to save their lives. Some women who had carried all

their earthly possessions to Cardinal Colonna's residence

were left with but a single cloak and shift. Cardinals S.

Sisto and della Minerva, who stayed at home, are still in

the soldiers' power, being too poor to pay their ransom.

All the church ornaments are stolen, the sacred utensils

thrown about, the relics gone to destruction--for the

troops in abstracting their precious receptacles heeded

these no more than as many bits of wood: even the shrine

of the _sancta sanctorum_ was sacked, although regarded

with peculiar reverence. St. Peter's church and the papal

palace from top to bottom have been made into stables.

I feel confident that your Majesty as a Catholic and

most Christian emperor will feel displeasure at these

gross outrages and insults to the Catholic religion, the

Apostolic See, and the city of Rome. In truth, every one

is convinced that all this has happened as a judgment

from GOD on the great tyranny and disorders of

the papal court; but however this may be, there has been

vast destruction, for which no redress can be had but from

your Majesty's arm and authority. This army has no head,

no divisions, no discipline, no organisation, but every

one behaves according to his own fancy. The Lord Prince

of Orange and Giovanni di Urbino, with the other leaders,

do what they can, but to little purpose; for in entering

Rome the lansquenets have conducted themselves like true

Lutherans, and the rest like actual.... Most of the troops

are enriched by the enormous booty, amounting to many

millions of gold. A majority of the Spaniards will, it is

supposed, retire to Naples with their spoil.

But to resume our narrative. On the morning after our

entry, being Tuesday the 7th, the Pope wrote a letter

to our leaders, praying them to send me to his Holiness

to hear certain proposals. By their order I went into

S. Angelo, where I found thirteen cardinals in great

affliction, as was natural in the circumstances. His

Holiness in their presence told me, that since fortune, on

which he too much relied, had brought him to this pass,

he would not think of any resistance, but was content to

place his own person and that of the cardinals, and his

state, in your Majesty's hands, and that he desired me to

mediate with the captains for some favourable arrangement.

I did my best to comfort his Holiness and the cardinals,

showing them how satisfied they must be that your Majesty

never intended to injure either his Holiness or the

Apostolic See; but that great blame attached to them,

seeing they might, on certain fair conditions and by a

sum of money, have prevented our army from approaching so

near, which would have averted the destruction of Rome;

since, however, GOD had so willed it, that his

plan seemed to me good, of placing himself in the hands

of your Majesty, as there was no remedy or redress to be

looked for but from that quarter. Taking upon me the charge

imposed by my office as mediator, I passed several times

between the council of war and the Pontiff, and succeeded

in the course of four days in concluding a capitulation,

which is generally considered reasonable and advantageous

to your Majesty's service, as to which I shall only say

that your Majesty will judge, after seeing its terms

and learning its progress. There arose on our side an

obstacle to prevent the execution of this agreement, which

was the bad discipline of the Germans, who took a fancy

not to quit Rome, nor confirm any truce, until they had

received all arrears of pay, amounting, according to their

calculation, to 300,000 scudi. But as the Pope could put

down but 100,000 scudi, even after selling everything

within the castle, of his own valuables and those of the

cardinals and prelates, and the church ornaments, the

affair could not be brought to a happy issue, so much so

that I greatly feared the brutality of these Germans and

the blunders of others would have lost all the fruits of

our enterprise, especially as the army of the League is

supposed not to be more than twenty or twenty-five miles

distant, and as some of their detachments have already

tried to carry off his Holiness by night. After several

days had passed in disputing with the lansquenets, the

expedient was adopted of handing them over all the cash

produced by the Pontiff--the Prince of Orange and other

captains undertaking that they should be paid [the balance]

out of the first moneys raised, and Parma and Piacenza

being consigned in security. I was obliged to concede

to them these conditions, in order to carry through the

capitulation, and so secure the benefit of our enterprise,

as well as to elude their anxiety to get the Pope and

cardinals into their clutches, upon which they were greatly

set. And this arrangement is really of such importance that

most of your Majesty's servants are willing to undertake

any obligation towards these lansquenets, in order to

ensure the Pope's and cardinals' safety. There is still

some hitch about raising the 100,000 scudi, but we trust

means will be found; meanwhile, it has been resolved to

throw three hundred infantry into the castle to-morrow,

under some leader, to secure it and all in it; and we shall

see gradually to get the rest brought about.

In return for my toils, anxieties, and services, I was

wounded from an arquebus in S. Angelo on the fourth day,

whilst approaching the castle to treat with the Pope.

The ball passed through my right arm, which prevents me

from writing, but I hope in time to get over it. And

notwithstanding this accident befallen me, from no fault

of his Holiness, whilst on your Majesty's service and in

so righteous a work, I shall endure it all patiently, in

the hope that your Majesty will consider my exertions, and

the losses sustained by me in limb and estate, and out of

your clemency and compassion will not omit some fitting

recompence.

After writing the above on the 19th inst., I returned to

the castle to conclude the arrangements with the Pope and

cardinals, and complete the convention; and in consequence

of certain articles being added regarding the entry of our

people into S. Angelo, I sought to remodel the treaty.

The Lord Vespasiano Colonna, and the Abbot of Nigera

accompanied me; and after protracted discussion with the

Pontiff regarding the difficulty of raising the 100,000

scudi, we had recourse to certain merchants who, on a

guarantee from his Holiness and the cardinals, promised to

make up a balance of 20,000 wanted to complete that sum.

This point being settled, I insisted on reforming the

treaty, and that your Majesty's troops might on that very

day take possession of the fortress, as had been agreed

on. But his Holiness endeavoured all day to postpone this

on various pretexts, and at length, when pressed by us to

decide, as we would wait no longer, he replied, "I shall

speak frankly; having advices that the confederate army

is at hand to relieve me, I desire, meanwhile, that you

give me a limited time to await their succours, on the

expiry of which I shall perform all the stipulations of the

capitulation. Nor is this any unreasonable request, as I

shall be satisfied with six days, and as similar conditions

are never refused to any fortress about to surrender."

I replied to the Pontiff and the cardinals, that your

Majesty's army had little apprehension of any such

succours, being always victorious; but that his Holiness

would do well to consider how your Majesty's captains,

on receiving such an answer, would conclude him and the

cardinals to have been merely trifling with them to gain

time: indeed, I was satisfied that they would consider it

a positive rupture, and would suddenly assault the castle,

and storm it so furiously that these, or even better terms,

would no longer be listened to, leaving no opportunity for

repentance or remedy short of the final destruction of the

Holy See. On hearing these views, the Pope and cardinals

were greatly bewildered, apprehending that they would be

realised should they wait for relief, and in this dilemma

remained gazing on each other, but asked a quarter of an

hour for consultation. Eventually there arose a wrangle

among the cardinals, those of the French faction wishing

to await succours at all hazards; so the Pontiff excused

himself from settling the matter according to his own wish,

ever urging a delay of six days. I believe the authors of

this opposition to have been Alberto da Carpi, the Datary

Orazio Baglione, Gregorio Casale the English ambassador,

and such like.

Having retired from the castle with Lord Vespasiano and

the Abbot, we related everything to our leaders, whereupon

it was decided to open that very night a trench round

the fortress, the whole army turning out under arms. It

was found no easy matter to muster them, all being idle

and intent on pillage; nor would they quit the houses,

especially the lansquenets, who at first thought it a mere

trick to get them out. At length, after great exertions,

the enemy being ascertained but seven miles off, all ran

to arms, and your Majesty's army was well disposed for

battle: indeed, I suspect the enemy found their calculation

disappointed, that most of our soldiery having become rich,

would no longer flock to their standards. Some Spanish and

German troops are expected; but I know not if they will

arrive in time, as the trench is already made, so that

neither Pope nor any one else shall escape.

Such is the present state of your Majesty's affairs, and I

trust they will ever have successful issue. Yet it is true

that, after the death of M. di Borbone, great confusion

occurred in the army, as no one knew whom to acknowledge as

its chief. I think that had he lived, Rome would, perhaps,

not have been sacked, and matters might have taken a

better course and result for your Majesty's interests. Yet

GOD so willed it, and we need not talk of what

cannot now be helped. But my affectionate duty to your

Majesty requires me to report certain things requiring from

your Majesty the oversight of a captain-general; of the

individual I say nothing, not wishing presumptuously to

name any one. On M. di Borbone's death, the day we entered

Rome, the captains and counsellors in the army discussed

giving its command to the Viceroy of Naples, then at Siena.

The Prince of Orange remarked that he had acknowledged

the authority of di Borbone, but would not submit to the

Viceroy. It being suggested by some that the Duke of

Ferrara was coming as your Majesty's captain-general, the

Prince replied, that on his arrival, he would acknowledge

him, but that meanwhile, no one being commissioned by your

Majesty, he neither would set himself up as captain, nor at

all permit others to be so without your Majesty's command.

These words he addressed to Giovanni d'Urbino, who then,

and on subsequent occasions, modestly remarked that he was

content to acknowledge the Prince, with other complimentary

phrases. Now the Prince has taken the notion of being

himself captain-general, and thus affairs are conducted in

his name, not, however, with that title, but as the first

person in the army, being much liked by the Germans. Your

Majesty will do as seems best.

One thing requires your Majesty's careful consideration,

namely, how this city of Rome is to be governed, and

whether or not anything of the Apostolic See is to be

retained. I shall not conceal the opinion of some that it

should not be entirely abolished; for if that See were

transported elsewhere, it seems certain that it will be

utterly ruined, seeing that, in that case, the King of

France will set up a patriarch in his realm, refusing

obedience to the Apostolic See, the English and Spanish

Sovereigns doing the like. But this should be seen to

without delay, otherwise the professional men and notaries

will all be gone, and Rome will be quite reduced, as they

will lose both their appointments and their practice.

The Pope and those cardinals with him, told me that your

Majesty should make provision for this, otherwise all would

be lost. Your Majesty will act in this for the best.

There are three other points to which it is necessary that

your Majesty should attend by anticipation. One is, what

would your Majesty wish done, should his Holiness and

those cardinals go to Naples as has been proposed; ought

they to be taken to Spain or not? Another is, what if the

Pope should escape from the castle by aid of the enemy?

In the third place, should it come to an assault and the

Pontiff unluckily fall? It is my belief, however, that, on

expiry of the six days which he has demanded, and which

are already running, he, on finding no efficient succour,

will again come to parley and propose a capitulation. Yet

I have my misgivings lest your Majesty's interests should

be crossed by the fury of the lansquenets, who declare they

must get hold of him. But your Majesty's faithful servants

will not cease to consider how these interests can be

promoted; and now that the Lord Marquis del Vasto, the Lord

Don Ugo, with Marcone, are coming, perhaps their advice

will put things into better train.

I have resolved to discharge my duty by informing your

Majesty of these occurrences, but would to God I could

have despatched a courier to your Majesty daily as they

proceeded. Four days ago the Cardinal and others of the

Colonna were not in the neighbourhood, but he is since

arrived, with Lords Vespasiano and Ascanio, who do their

best in your Majesty's behalf.

The above I have retained until the 24th of May, and as

no courier is gone, I shall here note what has since

happened. Your Majesty must know that on the Pope declining

to accept the capitulation which I have mentioned above,

your Majesty's captains and counsellors began diligently to

surround the castle with trenches, &c., &c.

APPENDIX III

(Page 22)

THE DUKE OF URBINO'S JUSTIFICATION, 1527.[256]

[Footnote 256: Sanuto Diarii, xlv. 352.]

We print this document with hesitation, and solely from its being the

Duke's own and formal defence against very serious charges; which,

however, it leaves untouched. It is a futile attempt to evade these

by feeble and puling recrimination; to distract attention from their

true merits by circumlocutions and reiterations, which our version

has somewhat condensed. The original is one unbroken sentence, rudely

constructed, apparently of purpose to mystify the reader.

_Letter of the Lord Duke of Urbino, Captain-general to the Signory of

Venice, dated under Monteleone, 9th July, 1527._

By your Sublimity's letters to the most illustrious lord

Proveditore Pisani, and from my ambassador accredited

to you, I have learnt, to my infinite dissatisfaction

and surprise, the suspicions entertained by you lest

the illustrious lady Duchess, my consort, and my son

should secretly leave Venice, and the doubts of my good

faith which you by implication exhibit in denying them

permission to quit the city; regarding which it seems

necessary first to recapitulate to your Signory what I had

formerly charged my resident to explain to you, to this

effect. Since, from the very outset of this war, it has

generally happened to me not to accomplish my intentions

for your service and my own honour, and to be blamed for

failures resulting from the occurrence of impossibilities,

or from the blunders of others, whilst with mind and

body I was exclusively occupied on what might prove

advantageous and creditable,--I determined, for these

and other considerations which, out of modesty, I omit,

seeing the bad success with which I had, on this occasion,

borne arms, to yield to my evil fortune on the expiry of

my engagement; which I considered to be clearly ended at

the close of three years; nor again to expose my honour

to question, from no fault of mine. And, on this account,

I have all along and often said I would not continue,

which may be attested by all the commissioners employed

by your Serenity in this war, to whom, as to many others

you are accustomed to credit, I repeatedly stated this.

Passing over for the present the good reasons, already well

known to your Sublimity, which induced me to forget all

this, and treat of a re-engagement, with the disposition

to remain on,--as well as those considerations which,

renewing the first impressions, made me again deliberately

fall back upon my project, yet with the full intention

not to abandon the cause of your Sublimity, unless the

expected succours should arrive, or until I had placed it

in safety, even should this necessitate my staying long

after the conclusion of my service; thinking also that,

I having no opposite interest, the enemy ought to let me

rest in my intention, and in a firm resolution neither to

take up arms, nor otherwise act against your Sublimity

and your interests; nevertheless, considering that, were

I to quit you at the close of three years, from all these

and numerous other reasons, which might probably occasion

me annoyance, I might be exposed to the surmise of having

acted, not from such motives, but that, on observing the

success of the other side, I wished, by attaching myself

to a prosperous cause, to evade adversity; and my chief

object ever being to preserve my honour intact, not only

from stain, but even from suspicion;--on these accounts,

and from the difficulty that arose as to finding myself at

freedom in regard to the two years of _beneplacito_,[257] I

decided to serve, in order not to expose my honour to any

reflection. Yet, in addition to all that passed in private

between the Proveditore and myself, when I told him I would

and should serve your Sublimity without further demands,

and that he might freely dispose of me, I, even in the

public council, stated my views as to maintaining these

bands, and constituting them the mainspring of the war. For

the whole of which considerations, I declared that I would

serve your Sublimity, without regard to life or anything

else, as I have uniformly done, in order more fully to

satisfy all the Lords of Council that what I proposed I

was, and more than ever am, anxious to do, in conjunction

with them. And if the dates of letters be examined, it

will be distinctly seen that each of these circumstances

occurred much before I had heard, or could have heard, a

word as to any doubt or distrust of me being exhibited,

which, in my opinion, ought not to be, even were I to take

my leave. Thus I had no apprehension; yet, as my intention

of so acting was founded on what might fairly be done, I

did not suppose that by your Sublimity it would have been

not only opposed, but even gainsaid, in restoring to me

my son when I should ask him of you, as I meant to do. In

such case you might well consider that, even had I any

intention to fail you,--a thing you could not and ought not

to suppose from my former life,--you would have known how

to adopt, and would have adopted, measures suitable to such

intentions, and not so frequently have said and reiterated,

chiefly to the agents of your Sublimity, that you wished

me to be gone; and this after I had voluntarily given into

your hands my lady consort and my son, when there was, and

could be, no obligation to do so beyond the suggestions of

my thorough sincerity. And, with a view to establish this,

I lately offered you three proposals,--first, my person,

which is here at your Sublimity's disposal in your service;

second, my son, who is now in your hands; third, my state,

with its fortresses, which I willingly would offer your

Sublimity, to be kept, along with myself, in your service

and disposal, as full guarantee and security; although I

know not what better satisfaction you can require besides

my free action, whereby I so long and often have manifested

my disposition. And most clear, in my opinion, are the

many reasons which freely induced me; all of which, and

more too, were they not already so known, I am prepared to

maintain in case of need. Hence my modesty, serene Prince,

will not, in these circumstances, let me stop to say how

great a wrong I suffer; yet to no one, not even to your

Sublimity, have I given cause or occasion to depreciate my

good faith, which was, is, and ever shall be, most sincere.

And, although it be considered impossible that you can do

anything without that wisdom which becomes your dignity, I

nevertheless have grounds for complaint, and am exceedingly

vexed that my ill luck has been so in the ascendant

as,--after all the efforts and perils of my life, and the

loss of so many followers in your service, for which I have

heeded no calamities,--instead of the gratitude which I

might reasonably have promised myself from you, to occasion

such marked dishonour; so that, ever since my birth, I may

say that my life has been passed in ceaseless travails

and difficulties. And, if you have thought fit to believe

any malicious and spiteful fellow, I ought not to be the

victim, though he be an astute and wily foe, who, well

aware that I maintained myself to be at liberty, and very

often declared myself unwilling to remain, has spread some

rumours against me, reckoning that, if in nothing else, he

would, at all events, have the satisfaction of circulating

that distrust of me which is already apparent, although I

ought not on that account to be slandered. I do, therefore,

with the greatest possible urgency, beseech you to

investigate the truth; and, if I be blameable, to visit me

with such punishment as I merit; or, if found innocent, to

liberate me, by a suitable public acknowledgment, from the

stigma under which I lie. And, commending myself to your

favour, I remind you that all these past thoughts of mine

arose from no private interest of my own, but from despair

at being unable, by no fault of mine, to do what your

service and my honour demanded, and at being prevented, by

past circumstances, from effecting what I had previously

hoped to accomplish, although no exertions of mind or body

were wanting on my part. From beneath Monteleone, the 9th

of July, 1527.

[Footnote 257: A _condotto_, or military engagement, was usually

for so many years certain, and one or two more at the option or

_beneplacito_ of parties.]

APPENDIX IV

(Page 27)

SKETCH OF THE NEGOTIATIONS OF CASTIGLIONE AT THE COURT OF MADRID,

1525 TO 1529, COMPILED FROM THE ABBÉ SERASSI'S PREFACE TO VOL. II. OF

CASTIGLIONE'S LETTERS, AND CORRECTED FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES.

On his arrival at Madrid, in March, 1525, Castiglione found the

Emperor and his ministers much disposed for peace; but matters

soon assumed a totally different aspect, on news of the victory of

Pavia, which, by annihilating the army of Francis, and leaving him

a prisoner, established the supremacy of Charles, and placed him in

a position to dictate terms. This event modified the policy of the

Italian princes, and especially that of the Pope, who, naturally

irresolute, knew not what part to take, unwilling to abandon his

avowed neutrality, yet seeing no security in standing aloof from a

power so dominant as that of the Emperor. On the whole, he thought

it safest to come to a provisional arrangement with Don Carlos de

Lannoy, Viceroy of Naples, giving him 100,000 ducats for payment of

his troops, as the price of his aid in recovering for the Church

Reggio and Rubbiera, which the Duke of Ferrara had seized on the

death of Adrian VI. He at the same time named as his legate to the

leading powers of Christendom, for the purpose of concluding a

general peace, Cardinal Giovanni Salviati, who proceeded to Madrid to

attend the conferences for the liberation of Francis and the security

of Italy. In consort with Castiglione, the Legate urged that an

envoy should be forthwith despatched to Rome and Venice, in order

to remove those suspicions of the Emperor's design to make himself

master of the entire Peninsula, which had arisen in consequence of

the Marquis of Pescara taking possession of the chief fortresses of

the Milanese, and besieging Francesco Sforza in his capital, on a

pretext of his plotting with the other princes to drive the Spaniards

out of Lombardy, and to deprive them of Naples; it being obvious that

once established in these provinces, Charles would be paramount in

Italy. As to the liberation of Francis, they could get nothing beyond

professions of the utmost moderation, that matter being secretly

negotiated by the Viceroy.

The Pontiff, getting no satisfaction on these points, began to lend

an ear to a proposed league of France, England, and Venice; but, when

on the point of subscribing it, he, to the infinite disgust of his

colleagues, postponed his signature on a rumour that the Commendatore

Herrera was at Genoa, on his way to offer very acceptable proposals;

at length, however, finding that these reports were but opiates

to set him asleep, he was induced to join the confederation,

notwithstanding entreaties and promises of the imperial ambassador.

This league filled Charles with indignation, as he fully understood

it to be directed against himself, though masked by a condition

sanctioning his adherence to it. But his rage was immoderate on

receiving, through Castiglione, a papal brief, which justified the

confederacy as necessary for the safety of Italy and the Holy See,

and complained generally of the measures of his ministers, specifying

various instances wherein they had ill responded to the pacific and

affectionate dispositions entertained by his Holiness towards their

master. Stung to the quick by a despatch which laid bare the secret

tricks of their paltry intrigues, they persuaded the Emperor to

return a sharp answer, appealing to a general council whatever steps

Clement might have recourse to against him, which they represented as

likely to endanger his possession of Naples, and even his tenure of

the imperial crown. Castiglione, who enjoyed high personal favour,

was able by dexterous representations to extract from Charles himself

the hope of a milder reply, and meanwhile had from him authority to

assure the Pontiff of his friendly intentions, and of his resolution

to comport himself as a humble and liege son; and these favourable

dispositions were the more readily effected, as he had received from

the wavering Pontiff a revocation of the offensive brief the very day

after it had been delivered. It was, therefore, with dismay that,

when shown the secretary's answer, he found it in the utmost degree

bitter and spiteful; and hurrying to the Emperor, he complained of

the disrespect thus shown to his Majesty's wishes in an affair of

such moment, protesting that he neither could write to his master

what his Majesty had already instructed him, without belying the

whole negotiation, nor could he, after such treatment, rely upon or

report those favourable dispositions which his Majesty had hitherto

professed. Charles replied that his real intentions were conformable

to his previous professions, although he had been advised by his

ministers to write in such terms as might justify and secure himself,

in the face of such groundless imputations as had been made in the

objectionable brief; adding the most solemn abjurations, that, if

his Holiness comported himself peaceably towards all, he should

ever continue a good and obedient son. In an autograph letter to

the Nuncio, he reiterated this explanation of his answer, with a

hope that the Pope would not take offence at its contents, and an

assurance that Castiglione would never be belied by him. The document

which the diplomatist had the tact thus to obtain, is relied upon

by his biographers as a satisfactory negative to the suspicions of

Varchi, that he betrayed the Pontiff and the Church, during his

vexatious relations with the Spanish court.

Meanwhile, Francis having been released, on terms which he was unable

as well as unwilling to execute, and his sons consequently remaining

as hostages, the new League proceeded with hostilities against the

Imperialists in Lombardy, and took Lodi, whilst their ambassadors

still negotiated at Madrid for the Emperor's adherence to their

confederation, and for release of the French princes. This farce of

armed protocolising was further complicated by various by-plots, and

by endless jealousies and misunderstandings among these diplomatists,

so that the Spanish ministry found no difficulty in protracting it

by a succession of petty cavils, in the hope of some favourable news

from the seat of war. Such was the state of matters when the first

sack of Rome by Don Ugo da Moncada and the Colonna, in September

1526, reached the imperial court, and along with it the hurried

truce imposed upon Clement. Charles, affecting great indignation,

immediately sent to the Pope Cesare Fieramosca, his master of horse,

to disown the proceedings of Moncada, and to lavish professions for

the peace and welfare of Italy, the only effect of which was to

lull the facile and nerveless Pontiff into a fatal security, rudely

dispelled by the assault of Bourbon on the heights of the Vatican.

APPENDIX V

(Page 140)

ACCOUNT OF THE ARMADA OF THE MOST SERENE DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA, DRAWN

UP AT MESSINA THE LAST OF JULY, 1571.[258]

[Footnote 258: Vat. Urb. MSS. 816, fol. 144-5.]

1. SPANISH INFANTRY, INCLUDING THOSE AT CORFU.

Don Gabriel Hig'r of the third of Naples 3000

Of Sicily 1900

Mechil Moncada 1560

Pietro Ciaida 300

Don Giovanni Figarola 280

D. Lopez Figarola 130

Alonzo Ruiz di Carion 144

Francesco Aldana 290

____

Total 7604

2. ITALIAN INFANTRY.

The Count of Soriano 1650

Tiberio Brancatio 2000

Paolo Sforza 1800

Pietro Villa and Giorgio Moncada 3000

Paolo Golfario 280

Fra Matteo Belhuomo 200

Vincenzo di Bologna 500

____

Total 9430

3. PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS.

The Lord Prince of Parma 350

The Lord Paolo Giordano 400

The Marquis of Trevico 100

The Marquis of Briense 750

Giulio Gesuoldo 40

Antonio Doria 30

D. Giovanni di Gueriaza 40

Count di Landriano 80

D. Giovanni di Avalos 20

Count di Vicari 40

Cecco da Lofredo 30

The Prior of Hungary 25

____

Total 1905

Also of knights from Germany and Burgundy

on their own costs 150

The captains of adventure, of very fine appearance and

very well armed, may amount to above two thousand;

say in all 2150

German infantry (no successor to the Count Lodron yet

appointed) 4361

[ABSTRACT.]

Italian infantry 9950

Spanish " 7604

Private men-at-arms 1905

Captains of adventure 2150

Germans 4361

Total 25,970

NAVAL FORCE.

33 ships, each carrying from 1500 to 4500, or from 6400 to 7000 souls.

Those carrying 700 remain for the westward.

9 large barks, part of them left for the westward, and partly taken

for his Highness' effects and for artificial fireworks.

The division of the great galleys to be taken on or left behind is

not yet made, not knowing the amount of duty required, nor the eighty

paid by the court.

ARTILLERY.

13 canons of 50 lb. fully supplied.

1 " of 60 "

5 " of 35 "

3 " of 25 "

2 " for stones.

2 colobrines of 16 lb.

14 sagri of 7 "

10 falconets for the great barks.

12 pieces of seven mouths sent by the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

__

62 in all.

AMMUNITION.

7050 iron balls of 50 lb.

3450 " " of 35 "

3250 " " of 25 "

1200 " " for the colobrines.

3644 iron balls for the sagri.

767 stone balls.

______

19,361 in all.

______

1360 cantars of powder, Neapolitan weight, 100 to each cannon.

1980 cantars of rope for the arquebuses.

1800 cantars of lead.

PROVISIONS.

7000 cantars of biscuit already carried on to Corfu, whereof

1000 lent to the Venetians, and 2000 to the Pope's

galleys, leaving 4000 for those of the Marquis Sta.

Croce.

26,000 cantars more are returned as in the kingdom of

Naples (including the 3000 for the Venetians and

his Holiness) under charge of the Marquis of Terranuova,

who is to ship 19,000 for the supply of the

armament during four months.

3500 pipes [_botte_] of wine in the ships at Corfu.

2500 " to be shipped for the Levant by the Marquis of

Terranuova.

7400 cantars of salt-meat in the ships at Corfu will be divided

at Messina.

1050 cantars for the westward squadron.

8000 " of Sardinian cheese at Corfu.

5000 barrels of pickled tunny and anchovies at Corfu for the

armament.

1500 cantars of rice }

150 quarters of vetches } for both armaments.

1025 " " ditto remain in Messina.

600 casks of vinegar.

3570 baskets of oil, Neapolitan measure.

His Highness has resolved that Doria shall accompany his galleys to

the Levant, and assist in the transport of stores, under orders to

return speedily with twelve galleys; and has made him Proveditore of

the western squadron, consisting of forty galleys and other vessels.

APPENDIX VI

(Page 167)

INDULGENCE CONCEDED TO THE CORONA OF THE GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY BY

POPE PIUS V., AND CONFIRMED BY THEIR HOLINESSES URBAN VIII. AND

ALEXANDER VII. 1666.

"This Corona is called the Corona of the bowels of our Lord Jesus

Christ, and consists of ten Ave Marias and one Pater Noster. Every

person possessing this Corona shall obtain the remission of all his

sins and plenary indulgence.

"Each time that he shall take it up in full faith, and look upon it,

saying, 'Lord Jesus Christ, I pray thee by the merit of thy most holy

Passion, have mercy on my soul and my weighty sins,' he shall obtain

remission thereof; and whoever daily looks upon it and kisses it, for

the merit of the most holy Passion, shall receive as above.

"Further, each time that he shall say this, he shall liberate a soul

from purgatory, and saying it a thousand times, a thousand souls

shall be liberated through the privilege of this Corona; and whoever

shall look upon it by the merits of our Lord's Passion, or shall

touch it in full faith, shall obtain plenary indulgence and remission

as above.

"And further, any ecclesiastic wearing it whilst he says the holy

mass shall have the like plenary indulgence and remission, and those

hearing the mass shall gain forty days' indulgence.

"Power is given to the Grand Duke to dispense seven Coronas to as

many persons, from time to time for ever, warning them that they

must ask them in the name of God and through the merits of His most

sacred Passion; and these should be delivered gratis."

[From a contemporary copy in Bibl. Cassinatensis, x. iv. 39, p. 369.]

APPENDIX VII

(Page 210)

MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS OF THE DUCAL FAMILY OF URBINO.

We have here collected the various inscriptions in memory of the

sovereigns of Urbino and their consorts, so far as these have come to

our knowledge. Several are taken from Giunta, Abozzamento della Città

di Urbino, a MS. in the Albani Library at Rome; or from Lazzari,

_Dizionario dei Pittori di Urbino_, where not unfrequent errors

occur: others from the originals.

I. COUNT GUIDANTONIO.

On a pavement tombstone in the old church of S. Donato, close to

the Zoccolantine Monastery near Urbino, is a sculptured effigy in

the Franciscan habit, with the following doggerel, in some parts

illegible:--

"Ploret in Hesperia tellus! plorate Latini!

Guido Comes, moriens hoc requiescit humo.

Non fuit a coelo princeps clementior alter;

Prævalidas urbes rexit et ipse potens.

Non fuit in terris unquam qui sanctior heros

Cappam Francisci posset habere sacri;

Quem dabit eternis probitas venerabilis ævo

Mors animam coelo reddidit alma suo.

Vos igitur superi socio gaudete superno,

Et Divum servet curia sacra Ducem:

Mille quadringentis domini currentibus annis

Quadraginta tribus, Februarii vigesima prima."

II. DUKE ODDANTONIO.

Quoted by Lazzari from a broken statue in the palace, which had been

inscribed during his life:--

"Serenissimo Oddantonio, principi præclaro, Urbini Duci primo,

qui vetusti generis splendore propriâque virtute insignis, ducali

diademate a santissimo Eugenio IV. recto fuit judicio decoratus."

III. DUKE FEDERIGO.

On his statue in the palace by Girolamo Campagna of Verona.

"Federigo Urbini Duci optimo, S.R. ecclesiæ Vexillifero,

foederatorum principum ac aliorum exercitum imperatori,

expugnatori, præliorum omnium victori, propagatæ ditionis ædificiis,

et militaris virtutis literis exornatori, populis insigni prudentia,

pietate, pace, justitiaque servatis, de Italia benemerenti,

Franciscus Maria Dux, abnepos, faciendum curavit."

IV.

On his monument in the Zoccolantine Church of S. Bernardino, near

Urbino:--

"D.O.M. Federigo Montefeltrio Urbini Duci II., Sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ

vexillifero, Italici foederis aliorumque exercituum imperatori,

præliorum passim victori nunquam victo, ditionis et bonarum artium

propugnatori, celebris bibliothecæ et insignium ædificiorum, tum ad

magnificentiam tum ad pietatem structori, quem licet aliis preferas,

nescias tamen belli an pacis gloria seipsum superavit. Obiit ann.

dom. MCCCCLXXXII. suo. LXV."

V. DUKE GUIDOBALDO I.

On his monument in the same church:--

"Guidobaldo Federici filio, Urbini Duci III., qui adhuc impubes,

paternam gloriam emulans, imperia viriliter foeliciterque gessit,

juvenis de adversâ triumphans fortunâ, sed vi morbi corpore debilior

animo vegetior, pro armis literas, pro militibus viros selectissimos,

pro re bellica rem aulicam ita coluit, fovit, auxit, ut ejus aula

ceteris præclarissimum extet exemplar. Obiit an. Dom. MDVIII., suo

XXXVI. Et Elizabethæ Gonzagæ, miræ pudicitiæ feminæ, ipsi jugali

amore et egregia virtute conjunctissima."

VI. DUKE FRANCESCO MARIA I.

From a mural slab in Sta. Chiara at Urbino; written by Bembo.

"Francesco Mariæ Duci, amplissime belli pacisque muneribus perfuncto,

dum paternas urbes, per vim ter ablatas, ter per virtutem recipit, et

receptis æquissime moderatur; dum a pontificibus, a Florentinis, a

Venetis exercitibus præficitur; deinceps et gerendi in Turcas belli,

dum princeps et administrator assumitur, sed ante diem sublato,

Leonora uxor fidissima et optima meritissimo posuit, et sibi."

VII. DUKE GUIDOBALDO II.

From the same church:--

"D.O.M. Guidus Ubaldus Monfeltrius de Ruvere, Urbini Dux quintus,

sanctæ Romanæ ecclesiæ, Philippi Hispaniarum Regis, Venetæque

reipublicæ exercituum præfectus et imperator summus, magnanimitate et

liberalitate adeo excelluit ut eum regia cum majestate aliis potius

profuisse quam præfuisse dixeris. Obit humanum diem sexagenarius,

anno Dñi MDLXXIII."

VIII. DUCHESS VITTORIA.

From the same church:--

"Victoria Farnesia Guidi Ubaldi Urbini Ducis V. conjux, maximorum

principum filia, soror, amita, parens: annis quidem plena, sed

præter, mulierum captum virtutibus plenior, migravit e vita anno Dñi,

MDCII."

IX.

On the centre slab of the pavement of S. Ubaldo, at Pesaro, where the

two last-mentioned sovereigns were interred.

"Guid. Ub. II. Urb. Ducis V. et Victoriæ uxoris ossa."

X. CARDINAL GIULIO DELLA ROVERE.

From a mural slab in Sta. Chiara, at Urbino.

"Julio Montefeltrio e Ruvere, sanctæ Romanæ ecclesiæ cardinali;

Umbriæ bis legatione magna cum laude perfuncto; Urbini, Ravennæ,

aliarumque ecclesiarum antistiti; Lauretanæ domûs ac Sancti

Francisci ordinum patrono; justitiâ, pietate, beneficentiâ, Principi

celeberrimo; mortalitatem explevit nonas Septembris, anno Domini

MDLXXVIII., ætatis vero XLIV."

XI. PRINCE FEDERIGO.

Over his tomb in the pavement of the crypt in the cathedral at Urbino.

"D.O.M. In hoc quod Franciscus Maria II., postremus Urbini Dux, sibi

paraverat sepulchro, quiescunt ossa Friderici ejus filii immatura

morte prærepti, III. Kal. Julii, MDCXXIII., et suæ æt. ann. XVIII."

XII.

From a mural slab in Sta. Chiara, at Urbino.

"Federicum Urbini Principem, in quem Roborea domûs recumbebat, dies

fugiens incolumem, cunctisque fortunæ muneribus vidit præfulgentem,

eundemque primam intra juventam inopinatâ morte extinctum, dies

veniens aspexit, III. Kal. Julii, MDCXXIII. Abi hospes, ac disce

felicitatem vere vitream tunc præcipue frangi, cum maxime splendet."

XIII. DUKE FRANCESCO MARIA II.

From the Church of the Crucifixion, near Urbania.

"Inclina Domine aurem tuam ad preces nostras, quibus misericordiam

tuam supplices deprecamur, ut animam famuli tui Francisci Mariæ,

Urbini Ducis, quam de hoc seculo migrare jussisti in pacis et lucis

regione, constituas, et sanctorum tuorum jubeas, esse consortem."

XIV. PRINCESS LAVINIA DELLA ROVERE.

"Laviniæ Feltriæ de Ruvere, Guidobaldi V. Ducis Urb. V. filiæ,

Alfonsi de Avalos, Vasti March., Hispani Magnatis conjugi, regiis

virtutibus et forma spectabili, Italorum principum Romani Pontificis

et Catholici Regis conciliatrici; qui inclyto orbata viro, virginibus

claustra, pauperibus bona, Christo seipsum dicavit; demum avitâ major

gloriâ victrix, ad eternam evocata pacem, eam sanctimoniæ famam

reliquit, ut divinitus datum noscas ultimum Roboris in materno solo

arvisque ramum, qui primus gloriosiorque vigebat. Obiit A.D.

MDCXXXII., suo LXXV."

APPENDIX VIII

(Page 246)

STATISTICS OF URBINO

It would be interesting could we, in concluding this work, offer some

details as to the statistics of Urbino under its native princes. But

although, under the genial sun and favouring circumstances of Italy,

man has in various ages advanced beyond his fellows in mental culture

and social development, the science of maturing the capabilities

of his position, and of marking their progression, is of modern

growth. The duties of rulers and subjects consisted until lately in

defence of the common weal against obvious dangers: the promotion

of its general prosperity, and the registration of its gradual

ameliorations, were no part either of scientific government, or of

individual study. Accordingly, the lights thrown upon statistics,

by historians and general writers in the best days of Italian

splendour, are too few and flickering to guide us to important

facts; and, though we may familiarise ourselves with the Athenian

court of Duke Guidobaldo I., its manners and its gossip,--though we

may recall from the ample description of many authors the stately

decorations of its palaces, the pageantry of its processions, the

brilliancy of its revels,--we are left in total ignorance of the

internal state of the country, of its resources and industry, of

the numbers and the condition of its inhabitants, of the financial

position of its government. It is not till late in the sixteenth

century that we meet with some materials, which,--though meagre and

inaccurate, and too often bearing the double impress of carelessness

and contradiction,--enable us to form some tangible estimate as to

these points.[259] Here, as in most cases, recording the impartial

evidence of watchful observers, the Venetian Relazione are of

considerable value. Those of Mocenigo and Zane, ambassadors at Urbino

in 1570-74, have been already drawn upon in this work, but it is

chiefly from the latter that we have gathered the following notices.

[Footnote 259: From a league between Count Antonio, of Urbino, and

Barnabo Visconti, of Milan, in 1376 (MSS. Oliveriana, No. 374,

vol. I., p. 1), we gather an isolated notice. Free import from the

territory of Urbino into Florence was stipulated for all sorts of

grain, fruit, and vegetables, the customary duties being paid upon

wheat, oats, and barley.]

About the middle of the sixteenth century the revenues of the duchy

did not exceed 40,000 scudi, and by the terms of its investiture the

imposts could not be raised without papal sanction. This restriction

having been removed upon the marriage of Duke Guidobaldo II.'s

daughter to the nephew of Pius IV., that prince promptly availed

himself of his new prerogative, augmenting them gradually to about

double that amount. The reductions consequent upon the Urbino

insurrection brought down the state revenues to about 60,000 scudi,

and in 1570 Mocenigo estimates the whole income, including the

allodial estates, at 100,000 scudi, adding an opinion that it was

capable of being much increased. Of the 60,000 scudi, one-sixth part

was derived from the salt, and two-sixths from licences granted for

the export of corn [_tratte_], the remaining half being drawn from

small taxes upon the townships, to which the rural population do

not appear to have directly contributed. The corn-trade was carried

on coastwise from Sinigaglia, amounting in ordinary years to about

150,000 _staji_ or bushels of wheat, partly smuggled from the papal

territory, which chiefly went to supply Venice and its dependencies.

The palpable inadequacy of these resources was eked out by pay and

allowances drawn by the last dukes from the Venetian Republic, the

Church, or the King of Spain. The _cense_ or annual payment to the

Camera Apostolica under the investiture is variously stated at from

2190 to 2907 scudi, falling due on St. Peter's day.

With these Venetian Relazioni, a document of much apparent interest

has been printed in the _Archivio Storico_, under the title of

"Balance of income and expenditure in the state of Urbino."[260]

On nearer inspection, however, its value falls far short of its

promise, for the entries are so confused, and the arithmetical

summations so incorrect, as to destroy nearly all confidence either

in the details or the general results. Still it seems to have

established a few facts throwing light upon the resources of the

duchy in the last years of the sixteenth century.

[Footnote 260: Series II., vol. II., p. 337, from a MS. in the

Siena Library, K. iii. 58: it is dated 1579, but contains posterior

entries.]

The revenues may be thus classified:--1. Those of twelve towns, five

smaller places, and the province of Montefeltro, derived from various

taxes,[261] duties on butcher-meat, salt, wine, straw, weighhouse

duties on grain and other provisions, and on merchandise, passenger

toll at Pesaro, rents of houses and inns, tax on the Jews (producing

953 scudi), and a variety of minor imposts varying in different

places. The customs of Pesaro yielded 1226 sc.; those of Sinigaglia

160, besides 436 for pot dues, and 6000 for grain and vegetables

shipped for exportation. 2. Income from manufactures[262] in various

towns, stated at 5712 sc. 3. The salt duties, or perhaps monopoly,

5407 sc. 4. Revenue from mills, payable in wheat (_grano_) at 4 sc. a

_soma_, 5832 sc. 5. Value of barley and oats (_spelta_) contributed

by various communities, 1020 sc. 6. Mountain rents, 610 sc. 7.

Donatives paid in wine, wood, and straw, to the value of 630 sc. 8.

Produce of allodial lands, in wheat, oats, barley, beans, lupines,

peas, vetches, buckwheat, flour, hay, straw, hemp, lint, wine,

walnuts, wool, cheese, pigeons, and waterfowl, to the gross amount of

7321 sc. The return of expenditure is too vague and confused to be

of any use, but it contains provisions to the Duchess, amounting to

about 7000 sc. From these returns the Venetian estimates would appear

to be understated, and a contemporary writer, whose anonymous Reports

upon the Italian principalities issued from the Elzivir press, sets

down its revenues in 1610 at above 200,000 scudi, of which 8000 were

paid as cess to the Camera Apostolica. The imposts were considered

light, for the soil was in many parts productive, and grain was

exported largely from it and the adjoining Marca, at the port of

Sinigaglia. The Duke's treasure in S. Leo is reckoned at 2,000,000

of scudi, a palpable error for 200,000. In 1024, the _Mercurius

Gallicus_ estimates the revenues of the duchy at 300,000 scudi,

besides allodial lands, and estates in Naples amounting to 50,000

more.

[Footnote 261: The word used is _colte_, which might mean crops.]

[Footnote 262: _Fabbriche_ might mean only shops.]

In regard to population, the estimate of Zane is 150,000, the

majority of whom devoted themselves to agriculture and arms,

commercial industry being almost unknown. He calculates the

military force at 10,000 men, half of them being trained, and about

three-fourths ready for foreign service; and he dwells upon the

benefit which his Republic might derive from conciliating a state

whence such a force could on any exigency be quickly obtained,

without the necessity of seeking free passage from any other power.

The report of 1610, which evidently verges upon exaggeration, gives

the fighting men at 20,000, nearly all infantry. In 1591, as we learn

from an original MS.,[263] the military force of the duchy amounted

to 13,313 men, of whom 8300 carried arquebuses, and 3783 wore

morions. From the same authority is taken the following tabular view

of the whole population, classed under townships, and amounting in

1598 to 115,121 souls.

[Footnote 263: Vat. Urb. MSS., No. 935.]

List of mouths in all the places of the state, drawn from the

Rassegne de' Grani, &c., in 1598[264]:--

Urbino 18,335

Pesaro 16,409

Gubbio 18,510

Fossombrone 1,882

Cagli 6,811

Montefeltro 15,090

Sinigaglia 8,535

Massa 9,845

Mondavio 3,738

Pergola 3,254

Mondolfo 1,820

Sta. Costanza 1,504

Orciano 1,234

Barchio 1,479

La Fratta 1,449

Montesecco 1,711

Montebello 395

Castelvecchio 225

Poggio di Berni 507

Fenigli 434

La Tomba 1,953

_______

115,121

[Footnote 264: _Ibid._]

A report upon Urbino, drawn up for Urban VIII. during the last Duke's

life, and preserved in the Albani Library, estimates the men trained

to arms at from 8000 to 10,000, but badly officered, and ill-armed or

accoutred. Since the Devolution, population had increased, and the

last census of the legation, nearly corresponding with the duchy,

gave 220,000 souls within an area of 180 square leagues, the city of

Urbino containing 7500, besides 4500 in the adjacent district.

In 1574, few or none of the nobility drew from their estates a rental

exceeding 3000 scudi, but there were many burgesses owning from 300

to 400 a year. The few merchants were chiefly foreigners. Most of the

small towns had been dismantled of their fortifications, only some

fifty having them kept in repair, of which about twenty belonged to

as many petty feudatories.

A writer soon after the Devolution states the Duke's revenues at

100,000 to 120,000 scudi, including 20,000 of Spanish subsidy, as

much of allodial income, and 30,000 from escheats, penalties, and the

port duties of Sinigaglia, whence a great grain trade was carried on

by the Venetians out of the Marca.[265] Some years after the duchy

had lost its independence, although this export was then prohibited

by Urban VIII., and notwithstanding the loss of the allodial estates,

the Camera drew above 100,000 scudi from direct and fiscal taxation.

The militia at that time numbered 8000 infantry and 500 cavalry,

besides the garrison of Sinigaglia. The _fattorie_, or allodial

farms, yielded to the Duke 14,000 scudi when leased, but afterwards,

when administered on his account, they produced 18,000: the income

from mills was about 6000; that of S. Leo 10,000, of which above 6000

were spent in maintaining the place.

[Footnote 265: Vat. Ottob. MSS., No. 3135, f. 279.]

Some idea may be formed of the provisions for administering justice

from a narrative compiled after the Devolution, but which expressly

states the arrangements for this purpose to be the same as adopted

by the Dukes.[266] The judges were entitled vicars or captains,

podestàs, commissaries, and lieutenants, and were removable at

pleasure. The vicars or captains resided in certain small towns,

and were notaries, who acted as judges and clerks within their

assigned bounds. Their jurisdiction extended to all cases of injury

or quarrel, which they were bound to decide according to the

respective municipal statutes, or, in absence of such, according

to those of Urbino. In civil causes they were limited to a certain

amount; above which, recourse was had to the judge of the chief

district town. They had no proper criminal jurisdiction, but were

bound to report all accidents to the sovereign, who frequently

remitted to them to examine into slight delicts; those inferring

corporal punishment being sent to a doctor, under whom the vicar

acted as clerk. The podestàs were judges-ordinary in all civil and

criminal cases within their bounds: and where there was no resident

commissary or lieutenant, the public administration and police were

intrusted to them; to each of them there was assigned one clerk for

criminal cases, called _maleficj_, and named by the Duke, and two for

civil causes chosen by the community. The system of appeal from one

of these courts to another, being founded upon local reasons, was

complicated, and need not be detailed. The court of final resort in

civil matters was the Collegiate Rota of Urbino, over which thirteen

judges presided, five of whom were necessarily ecclesiastics. They

held office for life, and vacancies were filled up by the sovereign

from a leet of three voted by the remaining number. They sat twice

a week, five being a quorum; and they had also the review of

ecclesiastical causes, in which, however, the lay members had only a

consultive voice. In certain suits their decision might be brought

under review of the sovereign.

[Footnote 266: _Ibid._, f. 277, 321.]

There were likewise three auditors, who had no ordinary jurisdiction,

but sat daily in presence of the sovereign as an executive council,

to whom all criminal matters were reported by the magistracy. Their

salaries after the Devolution were 400 scudi a year. They were also

bound to take cognisance of all fiscal affairs, and of all complaints

brought before them, and they were charged with the interests of

widows and orphans, and generally with all matters voluntarily

brought before them by consent of parties. After the Devolution,

their salaries were 400 scudi a year; that of the fiscal advocate,

384; and of the secretary of justice, 320. The income of the judges,

whom we have already mentioned as located in the towns and villages,

varied from half a scudo yearly to 240 scudi, the latter being the

pay of the Captain of Urbino. The lower class of these officers were

all notaries, but, after allowing for professional gains and fees,

such remuneration was disgracefully small, especially as it was paid

in the ducal money, which had become depreciated to two-thirds of the

currency value in the papal states. The pay of the legate was 1400

scudi, that of the vice-legate 600, besides about 1200 of fees.

APPENDIX IX

(Page 391 note *1)

TWO SONNETS BY PIETRO ARETINO ON TITIAN'S PORTRAITS OF DUKE FRANCESCO

MARIA I. AND HIS DUCHESS LEONORA

I.

ON DUKE FRANCESCO MARIA I.

Se il chiaro Apelle con la man dell'arte

Esemplò d'Alessandro il volto, e 'l petto,

Non finse già di pellegrin subjetto

L'alto vigor, che l'anima comparte.

Mà Titian, che dal cielo hà maggior parte,

Fuor mostra ogni invisible concetto;

Però il gran Duca, nel dipinto aspetto,

Scuopre le palme entro il suo cuor consparte.

Egli hà il terror frà l'uno e l'altro ciglio,

L'animo en gl'occhi, e l'alterezza in fronte,

Nel crin spatia l'honor, siede il consiglio.

Nel busto armato e nelle braccie pronte

Arde il valor, che guarda dal periglio

Italia sacra, e sua virtudi conte.

II.

ON DUCHESS LEONORA.

L'union de' colori chi lo stile

Di Titian distese, esprime fora

La concordia che regge in Leonora,

E le ministre del spirto gentile.

Seco siede modestia in atto humile,

Ed honestà che in vesta sua dimora,

Vergogna il petto, e 'l crin le vela e honora,

L'effigia Amor lo sguardo signorile.

Pudicitia, e beltà nemiche eterne

Le spatian nel sembiante, e frà le ciglia

Il trono delle Gratie si discerne.

Prudenza il suo valor guarda, e consiglia

Nel bel tacer, l'alte virtudi interne

Gli ornan la fronte d'ogni meraviglia.

III.

SONNET BY BERNARDO TASSO, PRAYING TITIAN TO PAINT HIS

MISTRESS'S PORTRAIT.

Ben potete con l'ombre, e coi colori,

Dotto Pittor rassimigliar al vero

Quella beltà, ch'ognor col mio pensiero

Via più bella, ping'io fra l'herbe e i fiori:

Ma quelle gratie, che i più freddi cori

Riscaldano, onde Amor ricco et altero

Stende le braccie del suo dolce impero,

Opra non è da chiari alti pittori.

Se potete ritrar quel viso adorno,

Quel girar de' begli occhi honesti e santi,

Che ogni rara beltà fà parer vile,

Con pace sia d'ogni pittor gentile,

E statue e tempii al vostro nome intorno

Ergeran lieti i più cortesi amanti.

APPENDIX X

(Page 410)

PETITION TO GUIDOBALDO II. DUKE OF URBINO, BY CERTAIN MAJOLICA-MAKERS

IN PESARO

Most illustrious and most excellent Lord Duke,

To your most illustrious Lordship have recourse these devoted

petitioners, Mo. Bernardin Gagliardino and Co., Mo. Girolamo

Lanfranchi, Mo. Rinaldo and Co., all makers of vases and bottles,

citizens and inhabitants of Pesaro; Mo. Piermateo, and Mo. Bartolomeo

Pignattari, citizens and indwellers of Pesaro; and all the others who

inhabit the county of Pesaro;--setting forth how they find themselves

continually, from year's end to year's end, subject to all sorts

of burdens and imposts, exacted on real and personal property, and

paying it with the sweat of their labour. They greatly complain

how it seems to them wrong that strangers of their craft come into

this city and district with similar productions, to take bread out

of their hand, at all seasons of the year, a thing not allowed to

themselves in other countries. For which causes they propose to your

most illustrious Lordship the following articles for your signature.

First, that your Lordship would concede to them that no one, stranger

or townsman, shall, on any pretext, sell, or export for sale from the

city and district, earthen vases of whatever sort, excepting covered

pans and oil-pitchers, or other vessels exceeding the size of a

_medrio_; declaring always that, at the fair, all may sell any kind

of vases, but at no intermediate time, on pain of forfeiture, and a

penalty of ten lire of Bologna for each offence, one-half to your

illustrious Lordship's chamberlain, one-fourth to the informer, and

the rest to the party enforcing it; always excepting figured vases

of Urbino, and white ones from Urbino and Faenza.

It is farther desired that no inhabitant, not engaged in this art in

the city or district, be permitted to purchase foreign productions

for resale, except those imported during the fair; always under the

like penalties on contravention hereof.

And, in order to satisfy your Lordship that no inconvenience may

arise to the city from this, they bind themselves henceforward to see

that it be constantly supplied with such vases as are required, and

usually made therein, and especially with figured vases of beautiful

and stately character, and this for the customary prices, these being

in nowise altered; and, in case of their departing from this, your

Excellency shall be free to cancel these articles....

Confirmed and enjoined as asked, but during our pleasure.

Pesaro, 27th April, 1552.

_Passeri_, p. 34.

APPENDIX XI

(Page 411)

LETTER FROM THE ARCHBISHOP OF URBINO TO CARDINAL GIULIO DELLA ROVERE,

REGARDING A SERVICE OF MAJOLICA

To the most illustrious and most reverend Lord, my singular Lord and

patron, the Lord Cardinal of Urbino in Ravenna.

Most illustrious and most reverend Lord, my singular Lord and patron,

On arriving at Urbino, I ordered of Mo. Horatio [Fontana], _vasaro_,

the service [_credenza_] commissioned by your most affectionate and

most reverend Lordship, for the most illustrious Monsignore Farnese.

And, as there will be so many vases done with grotesques, in addition

to the white ones (as per inclosed list), I could not manage it for

less than thirty-six scudi, which, if I am not mistaken as to what he

gets from others, is very good treatment. All the white pieces will

have on the reverse the arms of Farnese in small, and I feel certain

that the service will give satisfaction. He promises to deliver it

finished in little more than a month, and, as an inducement to serve

you well, as I trust he will do, I have, at his request, advanced

him some money. If your illustrious Lordship please, let M. Ludovico

Perucchi be written to, that he may pay the above-mentioned sum on

account of this. As soon as finished, I shall get Horatio to pack it

well, in order to go safely, and shall despatch it to Rome in such

way as you shall direct. And, having no more to say, I remain humbly

kissing your hands, and commending you to our Lord God, that, in his

favour, he ever give you all your desires. From Urbino, the 2nd of

March, 1567.

Your most illustrious and most reverend Lordship's most humble

servant,

YOUR ARCHBISHOP.

_List of white pieces with arms on the reverse._

1 large cistern.

1 large bason, and 1 bottle.

1 barber's bason, and small brush.

6 great, and 12 middling dishes.

6 large and 6 middling comfit dishes.

2 vases for vinegar and oil, 4 salts.

36 dishes, 50 smaller ditto.

50 plates, 24 ditto [_piadene_].

_With Grotesques._

1 large cistern.

1 bason and bottle.

4 cups on raised stands.

1 barber's bason and brush.

2 salts.

APPENDIX XII

COLLECTIONS OF ART MADE BY THE DUKES OF URBINO

The extent and value of the works of arts amassed by a series of

sovereigns, who, during nearly two centuries, were continuously

patrons of arts in its best days, cannot be uninteresting topics of

inquiry, and fall within the scope of these volumes, as an important

test of the knowledge and taste of the collectors. The beautiful

objects which Castiglione and others include among the attractions of

the palace at Urbino have thus acquired an almost classic importance,

and to identify them with those now familiar to the travelled amateur

were a pleasing result. Much more would it be so could we realise an

ingenious theory put forward in the _Quarterly Review_,[267] that, by

ascertaining what were the pictures first offered to the enthusiastic

gaze of the youthful Raffaele, we might even now trace those early

impressions of beauty which, reproduced by his fine genius and taste,

have been unanimously adopted as standards of pictorial perfection.

This gratifying hope is, however, delusive. To the ravages of two

invasions, succeeded, in both instances, by military usurpation, may

perhaps be imputed the disappearance of almost every picture which

could have existed in the palace previously to 1521, for very few

such were found there on the extinction of the ducal house in 1631.

In order to throw every possible light upon this matter, I have

spared no researches at Urbino, Pesaro, and Florence, and, from a

variety of inventories, I have collected the facts which are now to

be stated.

[Footnote 267: Vol. LXVI., pp. 3-10.]

The principal sources of this information have been, _First_, a

list of "good pictures," brought to Florence, in 1631, from the

wardrobe of Urbino. It is in the archives of the Gallery degli

Uffizi, at Florence, in the autograph of Pelli, and is obviously the

document frequently referred to by him in his Galleria di Firenze.

_Second_, a note of the objects of art in the Urbino inheritance, as

inventoried by Bastiano Venturi in 1654. This is in a folio volume of

inventories, preserved in the wardrobe archives of the Pitti Palace,

and includes the succession of Duchess Livia, as well as that of her

husband, the last Duke of Urbino. _Third_, selections from a full

inventory of the wardrobe of Urbino, dated in 1623, and now No. 386

of the MSS. in the Oliveriana Library at Pesaro. Of these documents,

the first is, unquestionably, of most importance as to the identity

and value of the objects enumerated; and the last, having been

compiled by a person unacquainted with art, cannot be much depended

upon.

We may, however, estimate the extent of the collections in the

different palaces of Francesco Maria II. from the Venturi inventory,

and from another dated in 1623, which is No. 460 of the Oliveriana

MSS. In the latter there are enumerated as at Pesaro (besides a

series of sixty-two portraits in the gallery, sixty-nine maps,

and a hundred and thirty-five plans of cities) eight hundred and

forty-three pictures. This large amount includes apparently all

the framed engravings, embroideries, and miniatures; and a great

proportion were portraits of the ducal family and their connections.

The small number which have the painters' names assigned to them

renders this, the fullest list, of little interest. In the same

palace are mentioned sixty-four pieces in marble, chiefly busts;

and in various other palaces and chapels were some other pictures,

seemingly of minor importance. The Venturi catalogue enumerates only

ninety pictures, seventy miniatures in oil, eleven embroideries,

twenty-nine tapestries, eighty bronzes, enamels, and carvings, and

fifty-one works in marble and stone. These seem to have been the

principal objects reserved out of the inheritance, the remainder

having probably been given away or sold at Pesaro and Florence. This

selection bears evidence of care and connoisseurship; but that of

Pelli having the best pretensions to these qualities, the pictures

it names are fully given in the first of the lists here subjoined,

ending with No. 50. In the two subsequent ones, from Nos. 51 to

95, are included all other Urbino pictures of any moment which I

have been able to glean from the inventories now described, and from

other sources. To each picture is added such information regarding

its identity as extended inquiry and observation have enabled me

to hazard. Imperfect as it is, it will interest those who visit

Florence, and may save them from very troublesome and often fruitless

inquiries, which occupied me for many weeks.

I. PELLI'S LIST OF THE URBINO PICTURES.

RAFFAELE.

1. MADONNA, CHRIST, AND ST. JOHN BAPTIST, on panel. Pelli

in a marginal note states this to be the _Madonna della Seggiola_,

although he admits that a different extraction is by some assigned

to that masterpiece. No picture thus described appears in the Pesaro

inventories; that of Venturi mentions one such, but calls it a copy

after Raffaele. The Madonna della Seggiola, now No. 151 of the Pitti

Gallery, is said by Passavant to have been in an inventory of the

Tribune, dated 1585, of course long antecedent to the Devolution of

Urbino.

2. MADONNA, CHRIST, ST. JOHN BAPTIST, AND ANOTHER FIGURE, on

panel, large. In the Pesaro inventory, the Christ is said to be in

arms; in the Venturi, two pictures are noted of the Madonna, Christ,

St. John Baptist, and St. Elizabeth, but both are called copies

of Raffaele. No work now in the Florence galleries answers this

description.

3. HIS OWN PORTRAIT on panel. It is described but not named

by Venturi, and unquestionably is the small picture now among the

portraits of painters in the Uffizi, No. 288. (See above, vol. II.,

p. 223.)

4, 5. JULIUS II., on panel, and THE SAME on paper.

Of this famous portrait several repetitions contest the palm of

originality. The two best probably are those in the Pitti, No. 79,

and in the Tribune, both on panel; the former, perhaps, has the

advantage in breadth and mellow colouring, and I have heard the

latter ascribed by Italian connoisseurs to a Venetian pencil.[*268]

Considering the relationship and intimacy of the Pope with the Dukes

of both dynasties, there can be little doubt that they possessed an

original likeness, as well as the original cartoon mentioned above.

The latter has passed into the Corsini Gallery, at Florence, and is

admirable in bold character as well as in preservation. The pricked

outlines attest its having been used more than once; and the first

painting from it is understood to have been presented by his Holiness

to the Church of the Madonna del Popolo, at Rome, a fane greatly

favoured by the della Rovere. The Pesaro list includes the cartoon,

and Venturi the panel portrait, which, according to the annotator of

the last edition of Vasari (Florence, 1838), was that in the Tribune,

the head alone of the Pitti one being, in his opinion, by Raffaele,

the rest by Giulio Romano. Passavant, however, adjudges the palm

of merit and originality to its rival in the Pitti collection, and

considers it the Urbino picture.

[Footnote *268: The Pitti portrait is an inferior replica of that in

the Tribune of the Uffizi.]

TITIAN.

6, 7. DUKE FRANCESCO MARIA I., and his DUCHESS

LEONORA, on canvas. These are justly considered among the

choicest portraits of this master, but are painted in very different

styles, the Duke being treated with extraordinary freedom, the

Duchess in a severe and somewhat hard manner, suited to her stiff

matronly air. They ornament the Venetian room at the Uffizi, Nos.

605 and 599, and the former supplies a frontispiece to this volume.

Another portrait of him from the same hand is mentioned in Pelli's

note. (See above, pp. 48, 58, 371-3.)

8. DUKE GUIDOBALDO [II.] Of this portrait I find no trace,

though it is named in the Pesaro list, and may be that described by

Venturi as in an antique dress.[*269]

[Footnote *269: Gronau thinks this portrait may be the so-called

"Young Englishman" of the Pitti Gallery (No. 92). Cf. GRONAU, _op.

cit._]

9. HANNIBAL OF CARTHAGE, on canvas. Mentioned in the Pesaro

inventory, but not now known.

10. MADONNA, CHILD, ST. JOHN BAPTIST, AND ST. ANNA, on

panel, large. No trace of this picture appears in any inventory, or

Florentine gallery.

11. THE NATIVITY, on panel. Not mentioned elsewhere; it or

the following may be the picture painted with a moonlight effect, now

No. 443, of the Pitti Gallery; or that described by Venturi as "a

woman swaddling an infant."[*270]

[Footnote *270: This picture is not by Titian, but by Marco Vecellio.]

12. QUEM GENUIT ADORAVIT, on panel; or the Madonna adoring

her Child. This I have nowhere been able to identify. (See the

preceding No., and also below, No. 20.)

13. MADONNA DELLA MISERICORDIA, on canvas. The Pesaro

list tells us it came from the Imperiale villa, and contained the

painter's portrait, with many figures. It is No. 484 of the Pitti

collection, where it is assigned to Marco di Tiziano, the cousin and

favourite pupil of Titian. Following the usual type, this "Madonna of

Mercy" is represented as a gigantic female, whose outstretched arms

infold under her ample mantle of compassion, six men, five women, and

two children; the eldest of the group is evidently Titian, and the

rest are, no doubt, members of the Vecelli family. The picture was

probably votive, in commemoration of some signal mercy vouchsafed to

his house.

14. THE SAVIOUR, on panel. A half-length figure in profile,

perhaps the finished study for some large composition. It is noted in

all the inventories, and was carried by the French to Paris, but is

now in the Pitti Palace, No. 228.

15. ECCE HOMO, on panel. Also included in all the

inventories, and probably the picture No. 330 of the Pitti Gallery,

where it is called in the manner of Sebastian del Piombo.[*271]

[Footnote *271: This picture no longer hangs in the Pitti Gallery.]

16. MAGDALEN, on panel. This is now No. 67 in the Pitti

collection; a half-length, half-nude penitent, with variations from

the frequent repetitions of the same subject by this master; her eye,

no longer tearful, is upraised with an expression of joyful hope: the

penitent is at peace. (See above, p. 375.)

17. JUDITH, on canvas. In the Pesaro inventory it is

described as on panel, and both there and in Pelli's note it is

ascribed to Titian _or_ Palma Vecchio, whilst Venturi assigns it to

Pordenone. It is now in the Venetian room of the Uffizi, with the

name of Pordenone, and is on panel.[*272]

[Footnote *272: No. 619, Uffizi, I suppose. It is by Palma Vecchio.]

18. NAKED WOMAN LYING, large, life-size, on canvas. All

who have visited the Tribune of the Uffizi Gallery are acquainted

with two companion full-length pictures of nude females, which are

conspicuous among its treasures of art. Both are called Venus; but

though one has the unquestionable accompaniment of a Cupid, with a

landscape behind, the other contains no attribute of the amorous

goddess, but is the portrait of a lovely woman laid uncovered on

her bed, whilst two attendants in the back part of the room prepare

her dress. To the latter, therefore, the above description, which

is alike in all the Urbino inventories, must unquestionably apply;

and it thus affords us an easy solution of the doubts as to which

of the two pictures came from Urbino, originating in the confused

and incorrect descriptions of Ridolfi and Vasari. The popular idea

is that Titian here portrayed a mistress or favourite of Duke

Guidobaldo of Urbino; but Cigognara has adopted the conjecture that

in her features may be traced an idealised likeness of his mother

Leonora. We must reject an idea so outraging her well-known modesty

of demeanour; and upon comparing the sweetly sensual countenance of

the naked beauty with the almost stern dignity of that Duchess, as

represented in her portrait, No. 7 of this catalogue, the resemblance

seems limited to an oval face and auburn complexion. The spaniels

which attend on both ladies, introduced in these pictures, though of

the same breed, are certainly different animals. Greater probability

attaches to a notion that the nude female's features agree with those

of the Bella and the Flora of Titian, described in the next number of

this list; and as both of these came from Urbino, we may conjecture

that all three were painted from some noted beauty of that court.

Another supposition, has, however, been adopted by Mrs. Jameson, that

the original was Violante Palma, Titian's first love, and a favourite

model in his school. The Tribune picture is generally admitted to be

the finest of Titian's so-called Venuses, and has been even assigned

the same place among paintings as the Medicean Venus holds in

sculpture. (See above, p. 374).

19. ANOTHER PORTRAIT OF THE SAME NAKED WOMAN, BUT DRESSED,

more than half-length. This is considered to be the attractive

picture so universally admired under the name of Titian's

BELLA, of the Pitti collection, in which gorgeous costume

and rich beauty seem carried to the utmost point. It does not appear

in the other Urbino inventories, but in that of Venturi we find a

SEASON on canvas by Titian, which I apprehend to be the

famed FLORA, now an ornament of the Venetian room at the

Uffizi, and stated in the Reale Galleria di Firenze (edition 1817) to

have come from Urbino, and to be a half-length, half-nude, portrait

of the same model who sat for No. 18 of this catalogue. The title of

Queen Cornara of Cyprus sometimes given to the Bella is palpably one

of those misnomers so unpardonably common in picture galleries.

20. MADONNA, CHILD, AND TWO ANGELS, Baroccio after Titian.

Of this picture an original by Titian on panel is in Venturi's

list, as well as a copy of it on canvas. I have not been able to

find either; but the original may be that entered at No. 12 of this

catalogue.

21. MADONNA, ST. JOHN, AND ST. ELIZABETH, large, on panel, a

fine copy. I have not succeeded in tracing the work.

GIORGIONE.

22. PORTRAIT of an armed soldier, supposed to be

UGUCCIONE DELLA FAGGIOLA. Not traced.

SEBASTIAN DEL PIOMBO.

23. ST. AGATHA, large, on panel. It appears in all the

inventories, and was one of the most important pictures in the Urbino

succession. Representing the horrible dismemberment of the martyred

saint, the subject is most revolting, but in energy of treatment

and power of colouring, it ranks among the chef-d'oeuvres of the

master, whose name it bears, with the date, Rome 1520. It now adorns

the Pitti Palace, No. 179, after having visited Paris.

PALMA VECCHIO.

24. THE SAVIOUR, on canvas. Not found.

25. THE MADONNA, large on canvas. Not found.

26. ST. FRANCIS, large, on canvas; not found. None of these

three pictures appear in the other lists.

THE BASSANI.

27. A SUPPER. This was, doubtless, the Cenacolo, No. 446 in

the Pitti Gallery, assigned to Leandro Bassano.

28, 29. THE BUILDING AND ENTERING OF THE ARK. These are,

probably, the companion pictures in the corridor of the Uffizi,

which seem poor copies, though ascribed to Francesco. Of the latter,

representing the Deluge, there is on the same wall a large and fine

replica with his name, and a picture of animals entering the ark with

the name of Jacopo.

30. COMPOSITION OF FIGURES AND ANIMALS. It is stated by the

Pesaro list to have come from the chapel in the lower gardens of

that city, and may have been the large picture of the Rich Man and

Lazarus, now in the corridor of the Uffizi, where it bears the name

of Francesco.

31-34. FOUR PICTURES. As there are fourteen pictures of the

Bassani in the Uffizi, and five in the Pitti, besides those noticed

above, and several portraits, it would be idle to attempt identifying

these four. All these eight works of this family are noted in the

Pesaro list, but omitted in Venturi's.

BAROCCIO.

35. PORTRAIT OF S.A.S. This is probably to be read SUA

ALTEZZA SERENISSIMA FRANCESCO MARIA II., the last Duke of

Urbino, now an ornament of the Tribune. It is a half-length on

canvas, in armour richly inlaid in steel and gold, his helmet by

his side and a scarf across his shoulder, being, as we learn from

the Pesaro list, the uniform in which he returned from his naval

expedition; a circumstance which fixes the date in 1572, when the

Duke was in his twenty-third, and the painter in his forty-fourth,

year. Nothing can surpass the fluid harmony and pellucid colouring

of this picture, equally remarkable for breadth and high finish, but

the feeble design apparent in the arms renders it impossible to give

by the burin a favourable impression of its merit. I have therefore

preferred engraving for this work a much less brilliant portrait

obtained by me at Pesaro. A repetition of the Tribune picture, less

clear but still more charming, graces the select gallery of Baron

Camuccini at Rome.

36. VISITATION OF THE MADONNA, on canvas, painted, according

to the Pesaro inventory, for the chapel there, on the visit of Pope

Clement VIII. in 1598. It has disappeared.

37. MAGDALEN, on canvas. There are two pictures of this

subject, and another in the Venturi list, one on panel, one on

canvas, the latter of which is described as "the Magdalen in the

Wilderness." I have not found either of them; but a Magdalen in

devotion with Christ, upon canvas, is noted in the Pesaro inventory,

and may probably be the large and fine picture now in the Sala di

Baroccio at the Uffizi, known as _Noli me tangere_, in which the

Saviour appears to the Magdalen after His resurrection.

38. MADONNA, ST. FRANCIS, AND ST. UBALDO, on canvas,

unfinished. No doubt one of the votive pictures commissioned on the

birth of Prince Federigo. (See above.) It has disappeared.

39. PORTRAIT OF MAESTRO PROSPERO, a Franciscan monk,

half-length, on canvas; called by Venturi a Minim Observantine friar.

Not identified.

THE ZUCCARI.

40. PORTRAIT OF DUKE GUIDOBALDI [II.] IN ARMOUR, HIS HAND UPON A

DOG'S HEAD. In the Pesaro inventory it is said to be on panel;

in that of Venturi it is ascribed to Baroccio. It has disappeared,

but a bad copy is preserved in the Albani Palace at Urbino.

41. ST. PETER IN PRISON, large. This picture is engraved at

No. 373 of the folio work on the Pitti Gallery, and is said by Vasari

to have been painted for Duke Guidobaldo II., by Federigo Zuccaro

when about twenty-three years of age. It ranks among his best works;

for though the idea is borrowed from Raffaele's fresco, the treatment

and the effect of chiaroscuro are original and good. The heavy grated

window and the monotonous colouring are however injurious to the work.

42. HEAD OF ST. FRANCIS, on canvas. Lost, unless it be

the Vision of the Saint in a wide landscape, on panel, No. 482 of

the Pitti Gallery, where it is called anonymous. The Pesaro list

describes him as in a landscape, by Federigo Zuccaro.

43. CALUMNY, large, by Federigo, unnoticed in the other

inventories, and undiscovered.

MASCHERINO.

44. CHRIST WITH NICODEMUS, NICOLAS, AND TWO ANGELS, on

canvas. Of this I can ascertain nothing.

ANONYMOUS.

45. POPE SIXTUS IV., on panel. The Venturi inventory notes a

similar anonymous portrait, by Baroccio, and one on panel of a Pope

by Titian. This and the following number may be the portraits quoted

as Titian's by Vasari.

46. POPE PAUL III., on panel. Perhaps No. 297 in the Pitti

Palace, where it is ascribed to Paris Bordone, and of which I have

seen several good repetitions. The Venturi inventory contains another

panel portrait of an anonymous pope by Titian.

47. DUKE FRANCESCO MARIA I. IN ARMOUR, on canvas. Perhaps a

copy of No. 6, above.

48. DUKE GUIDOBALDO, on panel; unknown. Possibly the

original of the likeness engraved for this work of Guidobaldo II.

49. A LADY IN A DARK ANTIQUE DRESS, WITH A SHELL IN HER

HAND, on canvas. Of this nothing is known.

50. MAGDALEN NEARLY NAKED, on canvas, described in the

Pesaro list as reading a book. Not found.

Having now gone through Pelli's note of selected pictures, we shall

complete our materials for estimating the Urbino collections, by

adding such other works as are mentioned in the Venturi and Pesaro

inventories.

II. VENTURI INVENTORY.

RAFFAELE.

51. THE DUKE OF URBINO, A PROFILE IN HALF-ARMOUR, on canvas.

This was probably the portrait mentioned by Bembo in a letter,

wherein he speaks of it as a much less successful likeness than that

of the poet Tibaldeo.

52. MARRIAGE OF THE MADONNA, a copy on canvas, no doubt

from the fine picture now in the Brera at Milan, which was painted

for the church of S. Francesco, at Città di Castello.

53. LUCREZIA, copy on panel. Of this neither the original

nor the copy are known.

TITIAN.

54. MADONNA, CHRIST, ST. JOSEPH, AND ST. ELIZABETH, on

panel. Not identified.

55. MADONNA, CHRIST, AND ST. JOHN BAPTIST, on panel. Not

identified.

56. PORTRAIT OF A FOREIGN LADY, small, on panel. Not found.

57. PORTRAIT OF A MAN IN AN ANTIQUE DRESS, on panel. Not

identified.

58. A MAN ARMED WITH A MORION AND SHIELD, on canvas, _after_

Titian. Not identified.

BAROCCIO.

59. MADONNA WITH CHRIST IN HER ARMS, ST. AUGUSTIN, AND ST.

FRANCIS, on canvas. Not found.

60. CHRIST IN A CRADLE, MADONNA, ST. JOHN, AND ST.

ELIZABETH, on canvas. Not found.

61. ST. FRANCIS, on panel. Not found.

62. A MAN WITH A CHEMISETTE, on canvas; probably the

half-length of Duke Francesco Maria II., with six gold buttons,

mentioned in the Pesaro inventory, and of which No. 162 of the Pitti

collection seems a finished head study on paper.

63. MARCHESE IPPOLITO DELLA ROVERE, on canvas. Not found.

64. MONSIGNORE GIULIANO DELLA ROVERE, on canvas. Not found.

65. THE SAVIOUR WITH THE GLOBE IN HIS HAND, _after_

Baroccio. Now No. 101 in the Pitti Palace, where it is called _by_

Baroccio. A poor picture.

ANTONIO.

66. A WOMAN IN AN ANTIQUE DRESS, on panel. This may refer to

ANTONELLO DI MESSINA. Not found.

67. PETRARCH AND LAURA painted bookwise. This is doubtless a

blundering description of the heads of DUKE FEDERIGO and DUCHESS

BATTISTA of Urbino, by PIETRO DELLA FRANCESCA, placed like a diptych

or book in the same frame. They have been engraved at Volume I., p.

120, of this work, from the originals among the miscellaneous Italian

pictures in the Uffizi.

68. A FRANCISCAN FRIAR TEACHING MATHEMATICS TO ANOTHER

PERSON, on panel. This is ascribed to Ghirlandajo or Signorelli,

but the subject makes it more probably a work of PIETRO DELLA

FRANCESCA, court painter to Duke Federigo. I have found no such

picture.

GIORGIONE.

69. A DUKE OF URBINO, on canvas. Probably Guidobaldo I., but

unfortunately lost.

HOLBEIN.

70. TWO DUKES OF SAXONY, bookwise, small. They are Frederick

III. and John I.; now in the German room of the Uffizi, where they

are ascribed to Lucas Cranach.

SCARSELLINO.

71. CHRIST RECEIVING ST. PETER, on panel; a small picture.

Not found.

72. CHRIST WITH HIS FOOT UPON A SERPENT'S SKIN

[_scoglione_], on panel; a small picture. Not found.

THE ZUCCARI.

73. A WOMAN WITH A COCKLE-SHELL IN HER HAND, on canvas. Not

found.

74. MADONNA, CHRIST, AND ST. JOHN BAPTIST, on panel, after

Jacopo * * * *. Not found.

L'ALEMANO.

75. THE NATIVITY, on panel. Not identified.

V. DANDINI.

76. AURORA, on canvas. Not found.

IL CERRETANI.

77. THE NATIVITY, on canvas. Not found.

78. PORTRAIT OF QUEEN MARY OF FRANCE. This may have been

Mary de' Medici by Scipione Gaetani, No. 192 of the Pitti Gallery.

79. VIRTUE EXPELLING THE VICES. Not found.

80-88. Six DUKES OF URBINO and three POPES; all

small pictures on canvas.

III. PESARO INVENTORY

RAFFAELE.

89. MADONNA, CHRIST, AND ST. JOSEPH, on panel. Not found in

the other inventories, nor in the galleries at Florence.

90. MAGDALEN, on panel; behind it the arms of Duke Francesco

Maria II. and his Duchess Lucrezia d'Este. Not elsewhere known.

TITIAN.

91. THE DUCHESS OF CAMERINO IN AN ANTIQUE DRESS, on canvas.

Not found.

92. A SOLDIER IN DARK ARMOUR, on canvas. Not found.

BAROCCIO.

93. THE CRUCIFIXION, with the palace of Urbino introduced in

the background, on canvas. Not found.

THE ZUCCARI.

94. THE CRUCIFIXION, with a city below, on canvas. Not found.

GIULIO CLOVIO.

95. A MINIATURE, was probably the PIETÀ on vellum,

No. 241 of the Pitti collection. A group treated with great breadth,

and coloured with much delicacy.

The following pictures, in the Pitti palace, though not in the Urbino

inventories, are closely connected with the family della Rovere, and

the first of them must have come from thence.

96. PRINCE FEDERIGO, by BAROCCIO, on canvas, No.

55. The babe lies in his cradle swaddled, his dress and coverlet

embroidered in flowers and gold; inscription above, FEDERIGO PRIÑ

D'URB'O QUANDO NACQUE 1605.

97. VITTORIA DELLA ROVERE GRAND DUCHESS OF TUSCANY, by

SUSTERMANS, on canvas, No. 116. She is in the character

of the Vestal Tuccia, with a sieve under her arm, full of water; a

half-length figure, stout and comely, with a pleasant expression.

98. THE GRAND DUCHESS VITTORIA, HER HUSBAND, AND HER SON COSMO III.,

by SUSTERMANS, on canvas, No. 231. This picture is called in the

catalogue a Holy Family; but though the grouping of the figures

appears borrowed from some such composition, there seems no real

ground for this alleged impiety. They are half-lengths; the Grand

Duchess has a darker complexion, and is somewhat older than in the

preceding number.

DENNISTOUN'S LIST

OF

AUTHORITIES FOR THE WORK.

The following List, though by no means containing all the books which

have been looked into or consulted (especially numerous periodicals),

will afford a general idea of the authorities upon which this work

has been founded. The MSS. specially noted are, however, but a small

portion of what has been examined, in a variety of Archives, and in

the Vatican, Minerva, Angelica, Gerusalemme, S. Lorenzo in Lucina,

and Albani libraries at Rome; in those of the Borbonica and S. Angelo

in Nilo at Naples; in the Laurentiana, Magliabechiana, Riccardiana,

Maruccelli, and Pitti at Florence; in those of the University and S.

Salvadore at Bologna; and in the public libraries of Pesaro, Perugia,

Rimini, Cesena, Siena, Volterra, and Monte Cassini. In the Oliveriana

at Pesaro alone, upwards of one hundred MS. volumes yielded notices

of interest. The MSS. in the British Museum have also been freely

consulted, and not without fruit.

Affò, Vita di M. Bernardino Baldi 1 vol. 8vo.

Agincourt, Histoire de l'Art 6 vols. folio.

Alberi, Relazioni Veneti 7 vols. 8vo.

Alberti, MSS. di Torquato Tasso 1 vol. folio.

Andreozzi, Notizie di Città di Castello 1 vol. 12mo.

Antiquitates Picene 10 vols. 4to.

Archivio Storico d'Italia 10 vols. 8vo.

Ariosto, Opere Complete 5 vols. 8vo.

----, Orlando Furioso, translated by Stewart Rose 3 vols. 8vo.

Armanni, Famiglia de' Bentivoglii 1 vol. 8vo.

Atanagi Rime Scelte 1 vol. 12mo.

Audin, Histoire de Leon X. 1 vol. 12mo.

Baldi, Vita e Fatti di Federigo Duca di Urbino 3 vols. 8vo.

----, ---- Guidobaldo I. Duca di Urbino 2 vols. 8vo.

Baldinucci, Notizie de' Professori di Disegno 14 vols. 8vo.

Baruffaldi, Vita di Ariosto 1 vol. 8vo.

----, ---- Bernardino Baldi 1 vol. 8vo.

Bellori, Vita de' Pittori, Scultori, ed Architetti 1 vol. 4to.

Bembo, Opere Diverse 6 vols. folio.

Berni, Chronicon Eugubinum

Bettinelli, Resorgimento delle Arti in Italia 1 vol. 8vo.

Biographie Universelle 80 vols. 8vo.

Biondi, Italia Illustrata 1 vol. 8vo.

Black's Life of Tasso 2 vols. 4to.

Blount, Censura Celebriorum Authorum 1 vol. folio.

Boccaccio e Betussi, delle Donne illustri 1 vol. 12mo.

Boccalini, Ragguagli di Parnaso 1 vol. 12mo.

Bonaparte, Sac di Rome 1 vol. 8vo.

Bonfatti, Memorie Istoriche di Ottaviano Nelli 1 vol. 18mo.

Borghini, il Riposo 1 vol. 4to.

Bossi, Istoria d'Italia 19 vols. 12mo.

Bottari, Dialoghi sopra le Arti di Disegno 1 vol. 8vo.

----, Raccolta di Lettere Pittoriche 7 vols. 8vo.

Bradford's Correspondence of Charles V. 1 vol. 8vo.

Brantôme, Capitains illustres e Dames illustres 3 vols. 12mo.

Brown, Rawdon, Ragguagli sulla Vita di Marino Sanuto 3 vols. 8vo.

Bruschelli, la Città di Assisi 1 vol. 8vo.

Buonaccorsi Diario 1 vol. 4to.

Burriel, Vita di Caterina Riario Sforza 3 vols. 4to.

Burtin, Traité des Connoissances necessaires

aux Amateurs des Tableaux 2 vols. 8vo.