GLAZED POTTERY.--ITALIAN MAIOLICAS.
The Word Maiolica, or Majolica.--Italian Renaissance.--The Dark
Ages.--The Crusades.--The Mezza-Maiolica.--The True Maiolica.--Luca
della Robbia.--Urbino.--Xanto and Fontana.--Raffaelesque Ware.--Mr.
Fortnum.--Prices to-day.--Gubbio.--Maestro Giorgio.--The
Lustres.--Castel-Durante.--Faenza.--The Sgraffito.--Forli, Venice,
Castelli, etc.--Castellani.--Maiolicas at the Centennial.
The term MAIOLICA, or _Majolica_, as has been often explained, came from
the island of Majorca, whence came to Italy, in the twelfth century,
some of those peculiar potteries already described under the name of
_Hispano-Moresque_.
The Balearic Islands, lying in such convenient proximity to the
mainland, were then possessed by the active and enterprising Moors--that
most daring and doing race, who had planted the standard of the Prophet
in Southern Europe. From these convenient islands they could organize
pleasant surprises upon the coasts of Italy, and gratify themselves with
much plunder. While human nature can bear and does bear much marauding,
there comes a time when endurance ceases to be a virtue, and then--war
ensues. Such a time had come in the twelfth century, when the Pisans,
and their friends along the Italian coasts, determined to plunder,
rather than be plundered; and then they pounced upon the hated Moors of
the islands, and turned the tables upon them. It is believed that, among
the spoils carried away to Italy, were many pieces of the peculiar wares
made by the Moors in these islands as well as in Spain. That these
examples, and some of the potters themselves, were carried away to the
Italian coast, is most likely; and that the Italians, always a people
with quick sensibilities, and a ready perception of the beautiful, if
not of the good or the true, at once saw that here was a manufacture
ready to their hands, which combined use and beauty, as their own did
not. At any rate, it was during the most vivid period of the _Italian
Renaissance_ (1350 to 1600) that the production of the highly-decorated
fictile work, known as Maiolica, sprang up, culminated, and went to
decay.
Through the centuries called the Dark Ages, art and literature had not
died; their fires were kept bright in the monkish cell, where some
Alcuin, in England or in France, traced with painful pen the lives of
the saints, or the romaunts of the Lady; and touched their illuminated
margins with those exquisite colors which feed the eye with a pleasant
surprise now, when centuries have passed, and books lie about our feet
as thick as leaves in Vallambrosa's vales. During this dark time art and
literature flourished among the Saracens along the African coast, and
grew into splendor in the halls of Cordova and Seville.
But a day was at hand when Peter the Hermit made his pilgrimage to the
"Holy City" (1093), and came back to preach his fiery crusades against
the abominations with which the Moslems defiled the sepulchre of the
Lord. Then through some two centuries Europe was converted into
religious camps, from which streamed out toward Jerusalem the armies of
the Cross--the Crusaders--and that Oriental world was thus mingled in a
great warlike confusion with the Occidental world of Europe.
How does all this touch upon the small matter of Italian maiolicas, of
which I treat? Thus: these religious wars made Venice, Leghorn, and
Genoa, into great centres of commercial activity, and into them flowed
wealth, as well as every kind of merchandise and manufacture known in
the East. The people of these small kingdoms grew rich, and vastly so.
The Dandolos, the Dorias, the Medicis, founded princely families, and
became patrons of learning and art. Then, too, the Church grew great,
all-powerful, and rich; for the fervor of piety, which fired all hearts,
sought expression not only in shedding its blood to rescue the holy
places, it poured in of its earnings or plunderings rivers of wealth to
enrich the coffers of the Church. The popes, the cardinals, the bishops,
grew great, not so much in religious truth, but more in lands, in
castles, in gold, and in goods. Thus every prelate and every patriarch
became a prince, with gold to give, and favors to bestow. Then they
became, all through Italy, patrons of art and fosterers of learning.
We see in this the spring out of which flowed the "Renaissance" of
literature and the arts, and which resulted in the architecture, the
painting, the poetry, the maiolicas, and the luxury, of that new Italian
life.
The term _maiolica_, in its generic sense, means what _delft_ does in
Holland, _faience_ in France, and _earthen-ware_ in England. All are
soft pottery, covered with an opaque glaze called enamel. The term was
once applied only to the lustred wares of Spain and Italy; but now it
has come to mean such dishes--ewers, vases, etc., etc.--as were made in
Italy during the period of the Renaissance, which have an expression of
art, and can be termed decorative; perhaps it goes still further, for
the druggists' pots (Fig. 64), then much in use, and which may perhaps
be classed wholly with the useful, are not excluded; for upon some of
these much decoration was put. The word also carries a subdivision
called _mezza-maiolica_.
[Illustration: FIG. 64.--_Druggist's Pot._]
MEZZA-MAIOLICA.--We cannot attempt to give a history of all the
potteries which sprang into being in Italy during this time; it would be
both difficult and useless. Of course, we know that many existed, and
must have existed even from the days of the Roman dominion. But, under
the influences mentioned, they took on a new life. Not only had striking
examples come to the Italians from the Moors of Majorca, but beyond
question many others had reached them from time to time from the East.
Common and unglazed potteries gave place to the better sorts; and a vast
stride was taken when the vessel came to be protected by a glaze made
with the use first of lead (_plumbiferous_), and then of tin
(_stanniferous_).
The Italian writers assert that the use of lead--the _plumbiferous
glaze_--was applied in Urbino as early as 1300. Why need we doubt it? At
Pesaro it reached its perfection about 1540. The common earthen or red
ware of the country was dipped into a _slip_ or "_engobe_" of white
clay; then it was dried or baked; then painted, and afterward covered
with a thin skin of lead-glaze, which was fixed with the fire.
The colors used in decorating these pieces were few, being mostly
yellows, greens, blues, and black. This lead-glaze was soft, but it had
a sort of metallic, iridescent lustre, which is one of its peculiarities
and beauties. It is almost useless to attempt with the engraving to
express fully the characteristics of this ware; the colors we cannot
give. One piece (Fig. 65) will serve to show the kind of design often
used, which bears unquestioned testimony to its Moorish parentage.
This finer work seems to have been made about 1500 to 1550, and at
Pesaro.
The TRUE MAIOLICA is that which is covered with a glaze made with the
oxide of tin and siliceous sand. This _stanniferous glaze_ or enamel
takes the place of the "slip" or "engobe," and covers the potter's clay
with a clear white enamel, upon which the colors can be laid.
The avidity with which the new art was seized upon in Italy by dukes and
priests, by workmen and artists, we can hardly comprehend. It would seem
that the whole Italian world then rushed into every form of art and
literature with an eagerness only to be explained by a desire to make
good the Lost Ages--often called the "Dark Ages."
Furnaces and potters sprang out of the ground, and almost every good
town sooner or later had its "botega." Of these we may mention as among
the most noted: Urbino, Gubbio, Pesaro, Castel-Durante, Faenza, Forli,
Caffagiolo, Siena, Deruta, Venice, Castelli, besides many others.
[Illustration: FIG. 65.--_Mezza-Maiolica._]
Before giving some particulars of these manufactures, it may be well to
refer to a name which seems to take precedence of others among the
artists in ceramic work in Italy. This man was LUCA DELLA ROBBIA, born
in the year 1400. M. Ritter says of him: "He was a sculptor first, and a
potter afterward. An artist of the highest power, he was inspired with
all the marvelous æsthetic force and subtilty and fertility of his age
and of his country. He was not satisfied, as other sculptors are, with
form-beauty alone, but cast about to add to his moulded figures the
further beauties of coloring and surface-texture. He no doubt well knew
the wares of the Moors of Spain, and probably was acquainted with the
secret of the tin-glaze already used by the Italian potters. It is
needless to assume, as most writers do, that he discovered tin-glazes
for himself; but he at any rate adopted the process, and he has left us
bass-reliefs and even life-sized statues covered with a fine
stanniferous polychrome-glaze, which are among the wonders of Italian
Renaissance art, and which to this day are, in their way, unsurpassed
triumphs of skill."
The portrait (Fig. 66) which we give shows him to be among the strong
and able men, who might not only stand before kings, but might be a king
himself.
[Illustration: FIG. 66.--_Portrait of Luca della Robbia._]
There are but few pieces of his work in this country--so far as I know,
only these: one a Virgin and Child, in possession of Mr. Prime, of New
York; the other now in the loan collection of the Art-Museum at New
York, the property of Mrs. Robert M. Grinnell. It is thus described:
"The child Jesus lies on a mass of green grass. White lilies with yellow
stamens spring up behind him. The Virgin kneels; above her two winged
cherub heads, and two arms stretched down hold a crown over her head. On
the crown, yellow and blue spots." From the description, the reader
will not be likely to rank this among works of the finest art. These
works were produced to meet the religious wants of the time and people,
and were in great demand. But to-day, for other than religious reasons,
they sell for twenty times the prices they then did.
In Fig. 67 is to be seen a _retable_, now in the Museum of the Louvre,
which is probably among the best examples of his style of work. These
bass-reliefs were at first done with white figures on a blue ground;
subsequently other colors were introduced, such as greens, browns, and
yellows. His four sons and a nephew carried on the same styles of work,
but failed to improve upon their master.
From the two or three pieces of the work which I have seen, I could
value them as examples in the history of ceramics; as _works of art_,
for myself not at all.
Italian writers naturally wish to claim for Luca della Robbia all
possible merit, and particularly that he discovered and first applied in
Europe (outside of Spain) the enamel made from tin; thus raising him to
a high rank as a discoverer and originator, as well as an artist. Much
discussion and speculation has been indulged in, which is, however, of
but little interest to us, and probably less to Della Robbia himself.
What he did do, and for which he deserved praise, was, that he seems to
have worked at the new business he had taken up with honesty and
persistency; that he was patient and painstaking. These are always good.
He was merchant enough to make what then would sell; that is, works for
the ornamentation of churches and altars, one of which we have
illustrated.
He was successful, and that was a satisfaction to him as it is to us.
He made, besides altar-pieces, rondels and squares to be set into walls,
upon which were masks, scrolls, fruit, flowers, buds, etc., etc.; and
these were sometimes white, and sometimes enameled with various colors.
His nephew Andrea followed his lead, but did not improve upon his
master; and _his_ four sons, Giovanni, Luca, Ambrosio, and Girolamo,
continued to make the same description of reliefs, but greatly inferior
to those of the first Della Robbia.
[Illustration: FIG. 67.--_Altar-Piece, by Luca della Robbia, in the
Museum of the Louvre._]
URBINO.--The Dukes of Urbino were foremost in encouraging and developing
the maiolica work of Italy; and around them, as a sort of centre, the
ceramic art seems to have gathered.
I give from Mr. Fortnum's book a brief account, which may interest
many. Having had whatever good could be derived from the great and
valuable collections of the Kensington Museum, and being a man of keen
perceptions and sound judgment, whatever he writes deserves respect. He
says:
"In 1443 what had been but an unimportant mountain fief was erected into
a duchy, and the house of Montefeltro ruled a fair territory in the
person of the infamous Oddantonio, the first Duke of Urbino. On his
violent death in 1444, Federigo, his illegitimate brother, succeeded to
the dukedom. Of enlightened mind, as well as of martial capacity, he
developed the native capabilities of the country, and gathered about him
at the court of Urbino the science and learning of the period. He built
a noble castellated palace at Urbino, for the embellishment of which he
invited the leading artists of the day. A patron of all art, and a great
collector, he encouraged the manufacture of the maiolica wares which
flourished under his reign. On his death, in 1482, his son Guidobaldo I.
continued his father's patronage to the ceramic artists of the duchy,
although much occupied in the Italian wars consequent on the French
invasion by Charles VIII. Passeri states that fine maiolica (by which he
means that covered with the tin-enamel) was introduced into Pesaro in
1500; and there is some reason to believe that the new process came from
Tuscany. It differed materially in composition and manufacture from the
'mezza-maiolica' wares, to which it was very superior, and was known as
'porcellana,' a name applied at that period in Italy to the choicer
description of enameled earthen-ware. Passeri also states that in the
inventory of the ducal palaces a large quantity of painted 'maiolica'
vases were included under this name. The superior whiteness of the
enamel, more nearly approaching to that of Oriental porcelain, was
probably the reason for its adoption; but we must not confound the term
as used in this sense with its technical meaning in reference to a
decorative design known as 'a porcellana.'"
These famous manufactories of maiolica at Urbino, Gubbio, Pesaro, and
Castel-Durante, sprang into life about the end of the fifteenth and the
beginning of the sixteenth centuries. That of Urbino perhaps took the
lead, being so directly under the patronage of the dukes.
The two most distinguished artists here were _Francisco Xanto Avelli da
Rovigo_ and _Orazio Fontana_; they are commonly spoken of as "_Xanto_"
and "_Fontana_." Besides these were Battista Franco and Raffaelle del
Calle, among the best painters upon maiolica.
During the time of these artists many elaborate pictures were painted by
them upon the vases and plates of Urbino. Following the mezza-maiolica,
the work at first showed much of the Oriental character of design, and
the lustred surfaces were continued. But soon ambition seized them, and
they transferred to the surface of the clay elaborate scriptural,
historical, and allegorical subjects. Original designs were made to some
extent; but to a larger extent the great pictures of the great masters
were seized upon--such as Raffaelle's "Triumph of Galatea," and other
works of the same sort. The engravings of Marc Antonio and of Albert
Dürer, then just at hand, gave easy aid; and with such helps, with a
rich and art-loving public to encourage them, we can see how the
production should flourish. The vase (Fig. 68) is a good example of one
of their best works.
These fine pieces were used as presents by grandees to grandees, and by
princes to princes. Pieces and sets were painted expressly as gifts for
lovers, for espoused persons, for safe deliveries; as marks of favor,
and as persuasives for favors to come. Then grew up a large production
of plates painted expressly for lovers, upon which the portrait of the
lady was painted; in many cases, I am sure, with unnecessary ugliness,
but with a sufficiently lovely motto to atone in some degree for the
injury, no doubt unwittingly done--such as "diva" or "paragon di tutti."
These are known as _amatorii_, and are much prized.
In Fig. 69 we give one of these amatorii, and one of the most pleasing;
some are of supreme ugliness. This one is dedicated to _Vanna
Bella_--the beautiful Vanna; and in its time was more beautiful than
now, for it was the inspiration of love.
Among the fancies indulged in upon the amatorii plates and jugs are
mentioned such as these:
On one, we have two hands clasped over a fire; and above, a golden heart
pierced by two darts.
On another, a heart transfixed with a sword and an arrow over a burning
flame, bedewed with tears falling from two eyes placed above.
[Illustration: FIG. 68.--_Maiolica Vase, David and Bath-sheba._]
On a saucer is a youth kissing a lady, and giving her a flower--_Dulce
est amare_.
On another is a greyhound with a heart in its mouth--_Per mento di mia
fè in te_, etc.
All of these are sufficiently youthful and sentimental to meet the wants
of the valentine-makers of to-day.
But the subjects of paintings were not all either divine or historical
or amatory. Many subjects painted from the old mythology had a too
palpable quality which we more fastidious people might call coarse, if
not roughly vulgar; and such subjects do not heighten the pleasure we
expect to find in examining these works.
The "_Raffaelle ware_," as it is sometimes called in England, had a
quality of design which is peculiar, and therefore an example of it may
be of service here (Fig. 70). The combination of scrolls, masks, Cupids,
flowers, buds, etc., which marks this style of work, is found more or
less to pervade much of the ornamentation of what is known as Italian
Renaissance.
[Illustration: FIG. 69.--_Example of Amatorii._]
It has sometimes been said that Raffaelle himself painted upon the
maiolica, but it is not proved; and the finest pieces were not made
until after his death.
It is true that many of his pictures were copied or adapted by the
maiolica-painters for their own uses; and it is also asserted that some
of his pupils painted upon the clay. Marryat states that the engraver
_Marc Antonio_--good prints of whose works now sell to collectors for
enormous prices, beautiful specimens of which have been shown in the
famous collection of Mr. Rose, of London--was in the height of his
powers when the brilliant young painter Raffaelle was in the full
command of his; and that the engraver lived in the house of the painter,
worked with him under his own eye, and was influenced by his
inspirations. We cannot wonder, therefore, that the finest results were
thus produced. But it is not to be believed that either of them worked
upon the clay. Copies of their pictures were painted upon the maiolica
by other hands, and vastly inferior ones to theirs.
[Illustration: FIG. 70.--_Raffaelle Ware._]
What is known as Raffaelle, or Raffaellesque maiolica, are not those
pieces which carry copies of Raffaelle's pictures, but those, like the
example seen in Fig. 70, which are ornamented with arabesques, chimeras,
scrolls, etc.
Of the painting of Xanto, a competent critic, Mr. J. C. Robinson, thus
writes:
"Xanto's works may be considered to represent perfectly the 'Majoliche
istoriate,' and he certainly had a talent for the arrangement of his
works in composition, nearly all his subjects being 'pasticci;' the
various figures or groups introduced being the invention of other
artists copied with adroit variations over and over again, and made to
do duty in the most widely different characters. As an original
artist--if, indeed, he can be so considered--he may be classed with the
more mannered of the scholars of Raffaelle. His designs are generally
from classical or mythological subjects. Xanto's execution, although
dexterous, is monotonous and mechanical; his scale of coloring is crude
and positive, full of violent oppositions, the only merit, if merit it
be, being that of a certain force and brightness of aspect; in every
other respect his coloring is commonplace, not to say disagreeable even;
blue, crude opaque yellow, and orange tints, and bright verdigris green,
are the dominant hues, and are scattered over the pieces in full,
unbroken masses, the yellow especially meeting the eye at the first
glance. In the unsigned pieces, before 1531, the glaze is better and
more transparent, the execution more delicate, and the outline more hard
and black, than in the later specimens. Some of Xanto's wares are
profusely enriched with metallic lustres, including the beautiful ruby
tint; these specimens, however, form but a small, percentage of the
entire number of his works extant. This class of piece is, moreover,
interesting from the fact that the iridescent colors were obviously not
of Xanto's own production, but that, on the contrary, they were applied
to his wares by Mo. Giorgio, and the supposed continuers of Giorgio's
'fabrique' in Gubbio. Many pieces are extant which, in addition to
Xanto's own signature, nearly always written in dark-blue or olive tint,
are likewise signed with the monogram 'N' of the Giorgio school in the
lustre-tint; and one specimen, at least, has been observed which, though
painted by Xanto, has been signed in the lustre-tint by Maestro Giorgio
himself."
At this time there came to Urbino some artists who took the name of
_Fontana_, whose works have a great fame--when known; their name
originally is believed to have been Pellipario. These brothers appear to
have founded a factory or "botega" of their own at Urbino, where they
did much work which reached a high reputation. But little of it,
however, is surely known; for these painters, like most of the
maiolica-painters, but rarely signed their pieces.
"With regard to the Fontana family, chiefs among Italian ceramic
artists, we quote from the notice by Mr. Robinson appended to the
Soulages catalogue. He tells us that 'the celebrity of one member of
this family has been long established by common consent. Orazio Fontana
has always occupied the highest place in the scanty list of maiolica
artists, although at the same time nothing was definitely known of his
works. Unlike their contemporary Xanto, the Fontana seem but rarely to
have signed their productions, and consequently their reputation as yet
rests almost entirely on tradition, on incidental notices in writings
which date back to the age in which they flourished, and on facts
extracted at a recent period from local records. No connected account of
this family has as yet been attempted, although the materials are
somewhat less scanty than usual. There can be no doubt that a
considerable proportion of the products of the Fontana "boteghe" is
still extant, and that future observations will throw light on much that
is now obscure in the history of this notable race of industrial
artists. Orazio Fontana, whose renown seems to have completely eclipsed
that of the other members of his family, and, in fact, of all the other
Urbinese artists, is first mentioned by Baldi, at the beginning of the
seventeenth century, in his eulogy of the state of Urbino pronounced
before Duke Francesco Maria II.... From documents cited by Raffaelli, it
is established beyond doubt that the original family name was
_Pellipario_, of Castel-Durante, Fontana being an adopted surname; and
it is not immaterial to observe that down to the latest mention of any
one of the family (in 1605) they are invariably described as of
Castel-Durante.... The Fontana were undoubtedly manufacturers as well as
artists, i.e., they were the proprietors of "vaserie." Of the first
Nicola, as we have only a brief incidental notice, nothing positive can
be affirmed; but with respect to his son Guido we have the testimony
both of works still extant and of contemporary documents. We know,
also, that Guido's son Orazio also had a manufactory of his own, and the
fact is established that between 1565 and 1571 there were two distinct
Fontana manufactories--those of father and son. What became of Orazio's
establishment after his death, whether continued by his brother Camillo
or reunited to that of the father, there is no evidence to show. With
respect to the remaining members of the family, our information is of
the scantiest kind. Camillo, who was inferior in reputation as a painter
only to his elder brother, appears to have been invited to Ferrara by
Duke Alfonso II., and to have introduced the maiolica-manufacture into
that city. Of Nicola, the third (?) son, we have only incidental mention
in a legal document, showing that he was alive in the year 1570. Guido,
son of Camillo, lived till 1605; and of Flaminio, who may either have
been son of Camillo or of Nicola, Dennistoun's vague notice asserting
his settlement in Florence is all I have been able to collect. No signed
pieces of Camillo, Flaminio, Nicola the second, or Guido the second,
have as yet been observed.
"'A considerable proportion of the Fontana maiolica is doubtless still
extant; and it is desirable to endeavor to identify the works of the
individual members of the family, without which the mere knowledge of
their existence is of very little moment; but this is no easy task;
although specimens from the hands of one or other of them are to be
undoubtedly found in almost every collection, the work of comparison and
collation has as yet been scarcely attempted. The similarity of style
and technical characteristics of the several artists, moreover, working,
as they did, with the same colors on the same quality of enamel-ground,
and doubtless in intimate communication with each other, resolves itself
into such a strong family resemblance that it will require the most
minute and careful observation, unremittingly continued, ere the
authorship of the several specimens can be determined with anything like
certainty. The evidence of signed specimens is, of course, the most to
be relied on, and is indeed indispensable in giving the clew to complete
identification in the first instance; but in the case of the Fontana
family a difficulty presents itself which should be noticed in the
outset. This difficulty arises in determining the authorship of the
pieces signed "_Fatto in botega_," etc.--a mode of signature, in fact,
which proves very little in determining individual characteristics,
inasmuch as apparently nearly all the works so inscribed are painted by
other hands than that of the proprietor of the Vaseria. In cases,
however, in which the artist has actually signed or initialed pieces
with his own name, of course no such difficulty exists, but the
certainty acquired by this positive evidence is as yet confined in the
case of the Fontana family to their greatest name, Orazio.'"
With regard to the artistic quality of this work, I will quote the
criticism of a competent judge, Mr. Fortnum, as upon the general
question I have a few words to say further on; for it is unfortunately
true that too many buy for the name, and not the merit. He says:
"The celebrated vases made for the _spezieria_ of the duke were produced
at the Fontana fabrique, and subsequently presented to the Santa Casa at
Loreto, where many of them are still preserved. Those shown to the
writer on his visit to that celebrated shrine some few years since did
not strike him as being of such extraordinary beauty and great artistic
excellence as the high-flown eulogy bestowed upon them by some writers
would have led him to expect. The majority of the pieces are drug-pots
of a not unusual form, but all or nearly all of them are 'istoriati,'
instead of being, as is generally the case, simply decorated with
'trofei,' 'foglie,' 'grotesche,' the more usual and less costly
ornamentation. Some of the pieces have serpent-handles, mask-spouts,
etc., but he vainly looked for the magnificent vases of unsurpassed
beauty; nor, indeed, did he see anything equal to the shaped pieces
preserved in the Bargello at Florence. The work of the well-known hands
of the Fontana fabrique is clearly recognizable, and several pieces are
probably by Orazio. Some, more important, preserved in a low press, were
finer examples. We have said that the pieces individually are not so
striking, but, taken as a whole, it is a very remarkable service, said
to have originally numbered three hundred and eighty vases, all painted
with subjects after the designs of Battista Franco, Giulio Romano,
Angelo, and Raffaelle; and, as the work of one private artistic pottery
in the comparatively remote capital of a small duchy, it bears no slight
testimony to the extraordinary development of every branch of
art-industry in the various districts of Italy during the sixteenth
century."
At the period of which we write, Italy had become the leading nation of
Europe in all that pertained to literature and the arts; her painters,
sculptors, and poets, had thrown over her people and history a glory, or
rather a glamour, which was but the iridescence which whispered of
decay. Within a century all had sunk into insignificance and palsy.
To-day the world visits Italy to see with curious eyes what she _has_
been, not what she is.
The art and the maiolica which she now produces are but copies, and too
often bad copies, of that past. The manufactories of _Ginori_ at
Florence, and of _Giustiniani_ at Naples, make much good work; but, so
far as I have seen, they blindly copy the shapes, the colors, and the
decoration, of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and attempt
nothing more. And the pity is that we, who buy to-day, seem to _want_
only those!
In our pursuit of art it may be well to remember that no nation can be
created by "art," and none can be saved by it. When it is enlisted only
in copying the past, it means feebleness and decay.
From about the year 1500 to 1560 is counted the "fine period" of
maiolica-painting, when the painters of whom I have spoken were
transferring the compositions of such artists as Raffaelle, Giulio
Romano, and Parmegiano, to the clay. These have always had a great
value, and always will. The prices vary as the fashion varies. I find at
the Bernal sale, in 1856, the prices quoted range from five to one
hundred and twenty pounds, since which time they have enormously
increased, so that Marryat quotes one piece at eight hundred and eighty
pounds; and a beautiful ruby-lustred dish of _Gubbio_ maiolica,
exhibited in Sir Richard Wallace's collection at Bethnal Green, _was
said_ to have cost forty thousand dollars, which one easily doubts. The
most extreme prices were and are paid for the elaborate figure-pieces
copied from the works of Raphael and others. When to these are added the
brilliant lustres of Gubbio, we have all that maiolica can show.
When the fabric began to decline in quality, the elaborate
figure-painting rapidly went out of use, and arabesques of all kinds,
conceits of all kinds--birds, boys, monsters, anything--came in to vary
the decoration: these could be done by inferior painters; and the
decline of maiolica was as sudden as its rise had been rapid.
GUBBIO.--I have spoken of a beautiful plate, brilliant with its
ruby-lustre, exhibited at Bethnal Green in the collection of Sir Richard
Wallace. The work done at this small town of Gubbio is noted for its
_lustres_; for, while other maiolicas also were decorated with these
exquisite flashings of color, these had a marked superiority. The
paintings applied there, like those at Urbino, Castel-Durante, and the
other "botegas," were in considerable variety, including sacred,
profane, and historical subjects; the beauty and the value of these
colored lustres were soon discovered. To one man the especial honor has
been given of making them, whether he was the discoverer or not. He is
known as _Maestro Giorgio Andreoli_, usually called "Maestro Giorgio."
He was not only a painter and designer, but he early saw and seized upon
the magical art of imparting an added beauty by the use of what is
termed _lustre_. It was applied before his day by the Moors of Spain and
Majorca, and also by the potters at Pesaro. But Giorgio seems to have
produced results finer than any; and one, the ruby-color, seems to be
identified with him. Besides the ruby, he used, with great effect, gold,
silver, and copper lustres; and not only were these applied to the
paintings done under his eye, but works from other factories were sent
to him to be endued with this subtile charm.
I cannot do better than to give here the results of Mr. Fortnum's
careful study of this subject:
"Chiefly under the direction of one man, it would seem that the produce
of the Gubbio furnaces was for the most part of a special nature;
namely, a decoration of the pieces with the lustre-pigments, producing
those brilliant metallic-ruby, golden, and opalescent tints which vary
in every piece, and which assume almost every color of the rainbow as
they reflect the light directed at varying angles upon their surface.
That the Gubbio ware was of a special nature, and produced only at a few
fabriques almost exclusively devoted to that class of decoration, is to
be reasonably inferred from Piccolpasso's statement, who, speaking of
the application of the maiolica-pigments, says, '_Non ch'io ne abbia
mai fatto ne men veduto fare._' He was the maestro of an important
botega at Castel-Durante, one of the largest and most productive of the
Umbrian manufactories, within a few miles, also, of those of Urbino,
with which he must have been intimately acquainted and in frequent
correspondence. That he, in the middle of the sixteenth century, when
all these works were at the highest period of their development, should
be able to state that he had not only never applied or even witnessed
the process of application of these lustrous enrichments, is, we think,
a convincing proof that they were never adopted at either of those seats
of the manufacture of enameled pottery. Although much modified and
improved, lustre-colors were not invented by Italian artists, but were
derived from the potters of the East, probably from the Moors of Sicily,
of Spain, or of Majorca. Hence (we once more repeat) the name 'majolica'
was originally applied only to wares having the lustre enrichment; but,
since the decline of the manufacture, the term has been more generally
given: all varieties of Italian enameled pottery being usually, though
wrongly, known as 'maiolica.'
"That some of these early _bacili_, so well known, and apparently the
work of one artist, were made at Pesaro, whence the secret and probably
the artist passed to Gubbio, is far from improbable. The reason for this
emigration is not known, but it may be surmised that the large quantity
of broom and other brush-wood necessary for the reducing process of the
reverberatory furnace in which this lustre was produced might have been
more abundantly supplied by the hills of Gubbio than in the vicinity of
the larger city on the coast. That the process of producing these
metallic effects was costly, we gather from Piccolpasso's statement that
sometimes not more than six pieces out of a hundred succeeded in the
firing.
"The fame of the Gubbio wares is associated almost entirely with one
name, that of Giorgio Andreoli. We learn from the Marchese Brancaleoni
that this artist was the son of Pietro, of a 'Castello' called 'Judeo,'
in the diocese of Pavia; and that, accompanied by his brother Salimbene,
he went to Gubbio in the second half of the fifteenth century. He
appears to have left and again returned thither in 1492, accompanied by
his younger brother Giovanni. They were enrolled as citizens on the 23d
of May, 1498, on pain of forfeiting five hundred ducats if they left the
city in which they engaged to continue practising their ceramic art.
Patronized by the dukes of Urbino, Giorgio was made 'castellano' of
Gubbio. Passeri states that the family was noble in Pavia. It is not
known why or when he was created a 'Maestro'--a title prized even more
than nobility--but it is to be presumed that it took place at the time
of his enrollment as a citizen, his name with the title 'Maestro' first
appearing on a document dated that same year, 1498. Piccolpasso states
that maiolica-painters were considered noble by profession. The family
of Andreoli and the 'Casa' still exist in Gubbio, and it was asserted by
his descendant, Girolamo Andreoli, who died some forty years since, that
political motives induced their emigration from Pavia.
"Maestro Giorgio was an artist by profession, not only as a draughtsman,
but as a modeler; and, being familiar with the enameled terra-cottas of
Luca della Robbia, is said to have executed with his own hands and in
their manner large altar-pieces. We were once disposed to think that
great confusion existed in respect to these altar-pieces in _rilievo_,
and were inclined to the belief that, although some of the smaller
lustred-works may have been modeled by Giorgio, the larger altar-pieces
were really only imported by him. Judging from the most important which
we have been able to examine, the 'Madonna del Rosario,' portions of
which are in the museum at Frankfort-on-the-Main, it seemed to approach
more nearly to the work of some member of the Della Robbia family. This
fine work is in part glazed, and in part colored in distemper on the
unglazed terra-cotta, in which respect it precisely agrees with works
known to have been executed by Andrea della Robbia, assisted by his
sons. There are no signs of the application of the lustre-colors to any
portion of the work, but this might be accounted for by the great risk
of failure in the firing, particularly to pieces of such large size and
in high-relief. Be this as it may, from a further consideration of the
style of this work and the record of others, some of which are
heightened with the lustre-colors, and the fact stated by the Marchese
Brancaleoni that a receipt for an altar-piece is still preserved in the
archives of Gubbio, we are inclined to think that history must be
correct in attributing these important works in ceramic sculpture to
Maestro Giorgio Andreoli. If they were his unassisted work, he deserves
as high a place among the modelers of his period as he is acknowledged
to have among artistic potters.
"Maestro Giorgio's manner of decoration consists of foliated scrolls and
other ornaments terminating in dolphins, eagles, and human heads,
trophies, masks, etc.; in the drawing of which he exhibited considerable
power, with great facility of invention. These 'grotesche' differ
materially from those of Urbino and Faenza, approaching more to the
style of some of the Castel-Durante designs. In the drawing of figures,
and of the nude, Giorgio cannot be ranked as an artist of the first
class. From 1519 his signature, greatly varied, occurs through
succeeding years. It would be useless to repeat the many varieties,
several of which will be seen in the large catalogue and among the marks
on specimens in other collections. We believe that to whim or accident
may be ascribed those changes that have tasked the ingenuity of
connoisseurs to read as other names. His finer and more important pieces
were generally signed in full, 'Maestro Giorgio da Ugubio,' with the
year, and sometimes the day of the month."
It may be said that the secret of this ruby-lustre was soon lost, and
has not been fully recovered; although admirable pieces are now made in
England.
It is impossible to convey in any engraving the subtile beauty imparted
by these lustres; it seems to me that this is by far the finest and most
fascinating quality of the maiolicas.
Of the work made at CASTEL-DURANTE but little need be said in addition
to what has been written upon the general subject of Italian maiolica.
This was a small town in the neighborhood of Urbino; which town since
then has been dignified with the name of Urbania, after Pope Urban VIII.
At Castel-Durante pottery was made long before it reached the name and
fame of maiolica. Through a book left by a potter of the place, named
Piccolpasso, it is perhaps better known than by the maiolica made
there. This manuscript book, which he illustrated with pen-and-ink
drawings, gives some account of the wares produced there. I believe the
book is now the property of the Kensington Museum at London. There are
some few signed examples of the maiolica of Castel-Durante in the
collections of England and of the Continent. I know of none in the
United States. Of a piece owned by Mrs. H. T. Hope, of England, Mr.
Robinson says in his enthusiastic way, "In the design and execution of
the painting, splendor of color, and perfection of enamel-glaze, this
magnificent piece is a triumph of the art."
The ware made here is said to be recognized by "a pale buff-colored
paste, and great richness and purity of the glaze." Still none but an
expert--a person who has made these productions a study--could
distinguish them from those made at some other Italian factories.
FAENZA.--Under the name of _Faenza_, an old town of Roman Italy, all
sorts of waifs and strays which have no other home are likely to be
classed. Its productions have no such peculiarities as mark those of
Urbino, Gubbio, and some other Italian "botegas." But for the antiquity
and extent of its potteries, and also because it seems to have given the
name "_faience_" to all earthen-ware pottery made in France, it has a
certain importance. I therefore give a single extract from what Mr.
Fortnum has written about it. As there are a considerable number of
these druggist's pots (see Fig. 64) in this country, the matter may be
of interest. He writes:
"From an early period Faenza seems to have produced a large number of
electuary-pots and pharmacy-bottles; a pair are in the Hôtel Cluny, one
bearing the name FAENZA, the other 1500. Many of these vases are
decorated in the style known as _a quartiere_, being divided into
compartments, painted in bright yellow, etc., on dark blue, with
foliated and other ornament, and usually having a medallion with profile
head or subject on one side, under which the name of the drug in Gothic
lettering is inscribed on a ribbon. A curious example is in the British
Museum: a large flask-shaped bottle of dark-blue ground with yellow
leafage and with twisted handles, upon the medallion of which is
represented a bear clasping a column, with the inscription, '_et
sarrimo boni amici_,' allusive, in all probability, to the
reconciliation of the rival houses of Orsini and Colonna in 1517.
"We would here refer to the frequent occurrence on these vases, as
occasionally upon other pieces, of pharmaceutical and ecclesiastical
signs, letters, etc., surmounted by the archiepiscopal cross and other
emblems which we believe have reference to the uses of monastic and
private pharmacies for which the services were made, and not to be
confounded, as has been too frequently the case, with the marks of
_boteghe_ or of the painters of the piece. These emblems have no other
value to us than the clew which they might afford to patient
investigation of the locality and brotherhood of the conventual
establishment to which they may have belonged, and among the archives of
which may be recorded the date and the fabrique by which they were
furnished. But what are of far greater interest are those admirable
early pieces, painted by ceramic artists of the first rank, who, beyond
a rare monogram or date, have left no record of their place or name; and
whose highly-prized works, for their authors are several, are jealously
guarded in our public and private museums. Some of these, with
reasonable probability, are believed to have been executed at Faenza.
Several examples are preserved, of an early character, perhaps the work
of one hand, who marked them on the back with a large 'M' crossed by a
paraph. They are usually plateaux with raised centre, on which is a
portrait-head, or shallow dishes with flat border. Variations of the
letter 'F' are found on pieces, some of which are fairly ascribable to
this fabrique; but we need not point out the fact that many other
localities of the manufacture can claim the same for their initial
letter, and that the characteristics and technical qualities of the
pieces themselves are a necessary test.
"Later in the sixteenth century, when subject-painting, covering the
whole surface of the piece, was in general fashion (_istoriata_), the
unsigned works produced at Faenza are difficult to distinguish from
those of other fabriques. Some examples exist in collections, as one in
the Louvre, with the subject of a cavalry-skirmish, and inscribed,
'_1561 in Faenca_;' but we have no knowledge of their painters, and even
the occurrence of the name of that city is but rarely met with. Her
wares are usually richly ornamented on the back with imbrication, as
was the manner of Manara, or with concentric lines of blue, yellow, and
orange.
"Of the pottery produced at Faenza during the seventeenth and the last
century we have but little record. Some pharmacy-vases are mentioned by
M. Jacquemart, signed 'Andrea Pantales Pingit, 1616,' but the signature
does not appear to be accompanied by the name of that city. In 1639
Francesco Vicchij was the proprietor of the most important fabrique.
"A modern establishment professes to occupy the premises of the ancient
Casa Pirota, where we have seen fairly good reproductions of the
ordinary _sopra azzuro_ plates of the old botega; but these are but weak
imitations, and the glory of Faentine ceramic art must be looked for in
museums."
The "SGRAFFIATO" wares of Italy do not come under the head of maiolica.
The term is used to designate work where the design is scratched or
incised upon the clay; and in Italy, often upon a white clay laid over a
darker clay, so that the design shows through the lighter "slip" or
"engobe," as the covering is called.
Of _Forli_, _Venice_, _Castelli_, or _Abruzzi_, and the many other
manufactories of maiolica, it will be almost useless to write here. We
have few, if any, examples of the work in this country; and without
examples it is difficult to make the subject interesting.
I have not attempted to give any "marks" of maiolica, for two reasons:
one, that we have so little opportunity for purchasing that the
knowledge of the marks, such as they are, would be almost wholly
useless; and, second, these marks are of little use anywhere. Few of the
painters were in the habit of marking their work; and, when they did,
their marks seem to have had no uniformity, and were varied in many
whimsical ways. Those who wish to buy pieces of maiolica, unless they
have made the matter a study, will hardly do it without consulting a
person of experience; and a person of experience will not be guided
solely by the marks.
It can do no harm to say that admirable counterfeits are now made, both
in Italy and in France (probably also in Germany), of the finest of the
old maiolicas, design, color, and all complete. Even judicious chippings
of edges and mild cracks are added to please the exacting connoisseurs.
Any person, therefore, who is looking for the best specimens of "genuine
old" maiolicas, at the _smallest prices_, will be fairly and fully met
in the shops of the Continent.
[Illustration: FIG. 71.--_From the Kensington Collection._]
With regard to some of the most celebrated maiolica, I have quoted the
judgments of two most competent writers as to the beauties of two of the
most famous artists. It is far from being high praise. I venture to say,
in addition, that much, very much, of what I have had the opportunity to
see, strikes me forcibly as being crude and poor in color, bad in
drawing, uninteresting in design, and wretched in clay and in glaze. Not
that there are not good and beautiful works among the maiolicas; but it
seems to me they are few.
Besides this, I believe the great maiolica-painters, such as Xanto and
Giorgio, were wholly wrong in attempting to transfer to pottery the
pictures of Raffaelle and Giulio Romano; at least, they can be but very
poor representations of the pictures themselves, and therefore unjust to
their models, and useless to us as examples of high art.
We copy here (Fig. 71), from Mr. Fortnum, one of the elaborate
figure-pieces of maiolica in the Kensington collection; which, as it
seems to us, is a striking proof of what has just been said.
In the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts at Boston are to be seen
ten or twelve plates, bowls, etc., which give a fair exhibition of the
work of the sixteenth-century painters. Some of these are attributed to
the best masters, the Fontana and Xanto, and one has the mark of Xanto.
The large and varied collection of Italian maiolicas brought to the
Philadelphia Exhibition in 1876 is now (May, 1877) to be seen in the
rooms of the Metropolitan Museum of Art at New York, and it offers an
excellent opportunity for examining and studying these styles of fictile
work.
WHAT IS DOING IN ITALY NOW.--A very large show of Italian maiolica of
to-day was made at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876.
What did we find there? Hundreds of imitations. Italy especially has
been devoting herself with great industry to reproductions of the vases,
ewers, tazzas, plaques, dishes, and so on, of the past; and some very
fair ones were sent from Pesaro, Rome, and Faenza. The vases and ewers
bearing figure-pieces or mythological pictures had a certain quality
peculiar to this style of work which at first may excite distaste rather
than desire, but after a time may induce a mild sort of assent; more, we
believe, from the low and quiet tones and harmonies of color than from
any marked excellence of either the form of the vase or the painted
subject. The two names most conspicuous as potters in Italy
now--_Ginori_ at Florence, and _Giustiniani_ at Naples--did not appear
among the exhibitors, so far as we know. Of Ginori's work we give a fine
example in Fig. 71_a_. But if draughtsmen and artists so good would only
give us their pictures of the life of Italy to-day as they so well could
do--of the peasants and their donkeys, their vine-dressing and
wine-making, their fishing, their cooking, their street-work in its
thousand varieties! That they could, and do not; that they continue on
and on with the stupid round of copy after copy in all departments of
art, may mean that the good public who have money to spend want these
copies, and therefore potters and painters sink from the clear air of
invention and originality into the dull inanities of copying.
[Illustration: FIG. 71 _a_.--_Maiolica Vase, by Ginori._]