We have already seen that in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth
centuries native wares were produced in various places, some of which
still exist in the towers and façades of churches, and of a palace at
Bologna. These are lead glazed, rudely painted or with single colours,
and in some instances “sgraffiato” proving that the use of a white
“slip,” or “engobe” was known in Italy at that period, as affirmed by
Passeri, who further asserts that in 1300 the art assumed a more
decorative character, under the then lords of Pesaro, the Malatestas.
Having thus attained an even opaque white surface the development of its
artistic decoration steadily advanced. The colours used were yellow,
green, blue, and black, to which we may add a dull brownish red, noticed
on some of the Pisan “bacini.” Passeri states that the reflection of the
sun’s rays from the concave surfaces of these “bacini” at Pesaro was
most brilliant, and hence it has been wrongly inferred that they were
enriched with metallic lustre. We believe that this effect may arise
from iridescence on the surface of the soft lead glaze, easily
decomposed by the action of the atmosphere in the neighbourhood of the
sea.
Pieces exist, of considerable merit, which may be ascribed to an earlier
period than that on which we find the earliest date. A votive plaque
preserved in the museum of the hôtel Cluny, at Paris, has the sacred
monogram surrounded by the legend >Nicolaus · de · Ragnolis · ad ·
honorem · dei · et · Sancti · Michaelis · fecit · fieri · ano · 1475>. We
have always considered this plaque as of Faenza, but it would seem that
MM. Jacquemart and Darcel are disposed to ascribe it to Caffaggiolo.
The next example, two years later in sequence of date, is in the
possession of Mr. Cook; it represents the Virgin seated on a throne in
an architectural framing, and holding the Child; it has all the
characteristics of a Tuscan origin and the glaze appears to be
stanniferous. We next have the Faenza plate in the Correr museum at
Venice, dated 1482, followed by the plaque ascribed to Forlì, 1489, and
one of Faenza, 1491. Other pieces, dated 1486 and 1487, are in other
collections. But we have no record or dated example of Italian pottery,
coated with the stanniferous enamel, previous to the first important
production by Luca della Robbia in 1438.
M. Jacquemart is of opinion that the use of the tin enamel was known on
pottery in Italy previous to its application to sculpture by that
artist, and in this opinion Mr. Robinson agrees; yet it is remarkable
that no record of such knowledge has descended to us. No enamelled
product of the early fabriques of Faenza or Caffaggiolo bears an earlier
date, nor of that of Pesaro where decoration by means of the lustre
pigments is believed to have preceded their application on enamelled
wares; whereas the use of the tin enamel by Luca on flat painted
surfaces is proved by the _tondo_ on the church of Or San Michele, the
lunette over a door at the Opera del Duomo, and the tiles on the tomb of
Benozzo Federighi, bishop of Fiesole, now in the church of S. Francesco
de Paolo below Bellosguardo, as Florentine evidences; and the twelve
circular discs, on which are painted allegorical figures of the twelve
months, are also to be referred to at South Kensington.
Mr. J. C. Robinson, in his catalogue of Italian sculpture, has given a
notice of the life and works of Luca della Robbia and his family, and a
description of the specimens ascribed to them and possessed by the
museum at South Kensington; the majority of these rank as works of
sculpture, but among the rest are the _tondi_, here mentioned, a
wood-cut from one of which we introduce. They are, in fact, circular
plaques of enamelled pottery painted on the plain surface with
allegorical representations of the months, in all probability by the
hand of Luca della Robbia himself. We quote Mr. Robinson’s description
of them from page 59 of that catalogue:--
[Illustration]
“Nos. 7632-7643. Luca della Robbia. A series of twelve circular
medallions, in enamelled terra-cotta, painted in _chiar’oscuro_, with
impersonations of the twelve months. Diameter of each, 1 foot 10½
inches. Vasari tells us that ‘Luca sought to invent a method of painting
figures and historical representations on flat surfaces of terra-cotta,
which, being executed in vitrified enamels, would secure them an endless
duration; of this he made an experiment on a medallion, which is above
the tabernacle of the four saints on the exterior of Or San Michele, on
the plane surface of which he delineated the instruments and emblems of
the builder’s arts, accompanied with beautiful ornaments. For the bishop
of Fiesole, in the church of San Brancazio, he also made a marble tomb
on which are the recumbent effigy of the bishop and three other
half-length figures besides, and in the pilasters of that work he
_painted_, on the flat, certain festoons and clusters of fruit and
foliage so skilfully and naturally, that, were they even _painted in oil
on panel_, they could not be more beautifully or forcibly rendered.’ We
have here a record of the fact that Luca, simultaneously with his
enamelled terra-cotta sculptures, also practised _painting_ in the same
vehicle on the flat, or, in other words, the art of majolica painting.
The monumental works before mentioned are now extant to attest the truth
of this account.
“From a careful and repeated study of the above-named works on the spot,
and likewise from the internal evidence of the technical qualities of
the vehicle, terra-cotta, enamel pigments, &c., the writer has now to
add to the list of Luca’s productions, in this especially interesting
branch, the present series of medallions, doubtless united originally in
a grand decorative work. Each roundel is a massive disc of terra-cotta,
of a single piece, evidently prepared to be built into a wall (or
vaulted ceiling) of some edifice. Round the margin of each is a
decorated moulding, in relief, of a characteristic Della Robbia type.
The surface within the narrow border is flat or plane, and the designs
are painted in two or three grisaille tints on a blue ground, of the
usual quiet sober tint affected in all the backgrounds and plane
surfaces of the relievo subjects. These consist of single figures of
_contadini_ or husbandmen, impersonating the agricultural operations of
the Florentine country, characteristic of each month of the year; and
although invested with a certain artistic charm of expression, the
various figures, each of which exhibits a different individual
character, may be taken as life portraits of the sturdy Tuscan peasants
of the day. A band or _fascia_ forming an inner border round each
subject, is ingeniously and fancifully divided into two unequal halves,
one being of a lighter tint than the general ground of the composition,
and the other half darker, thus indicating the night and the day; the
mean duration of each for every month, being accurately computed, set
off on the band accordingly, and noted in written characters on the
upper or daylight part, whilst the name of the month is written in large
capital letters at the bottom in white, on the dark ground of the
nocturnal portion. The sun pouring down a cone of yellow rays,
accompanied by the sign of the zodiac proper to each month, is also seen
on the left of the upper part of each margin, and the moon on the lower
half opposite to him.” The author gives further proof that these
medallions are the work of Luca della Robbia, believing the fact to be
as certain as anything not absolutely authenticated can be.
Luca della Robbia was born about the year 1400, and his name must ever
be associated with the discovery or adaptation on a large scale, and
improvement in composition, of stanniferous enamel. That the nature of
this enamel is different from what was used upon other pottery of the
time may be seen by a comparison of the two surfaces. The greater degree
of opacity and solidity in the former is a marked variation from that in
general use; so with the surface of his painted tiles. Perhaps the
earlier productions of the Caffaggiolo furnaces approach the nearest to
it. There is no piece, seemingly, of the production of a Florentine or
Tuscan pottery with a date before 1477, and this example would appear to
be tin-glazed. With that exception, the first pieces surfaced with the
stanniferous enamel are ascribed to the Caffaggiolo pottery and are
dated 1507 and 1509, some seventy years subsequent to its first recorded
use by Luca della Robbia; and we have no specimens which can with any
probability be ascribed to a period within a quarter of a century of its
habitual application by him. We cannot, therefore, find the slightest
evidence to disprove the assertion of Vasari and others that Luca was
the discoverer, for Italy, of this important improvement in the glazing
of earthenware vessels. It is not, however, unreasonable to suppose that
its composition may have been communicated to him by one of the Moorish
potters from Spain, and that, acting upon this communication, he made a
series of experiments resulting in the perfection to which he attained,
and which result was guarded as a family secret by two succeeding
generations.
A modification of this composition, perhaps also learnt from
Hispano-moorish potters, became gradually known and adopted at various
fabriques, spreading throughout the potteries of Italy, France, &c. We
are inclined to M. Jacquemart’s opinion that it first came into use at
Caffaggiolo, the fabrique established under the influence of the Medici
family, but cannot consent to his suggestion that Luca learnt there the
composition of the enamel. We agree with Mr. Robinson in giving the
precedence, or at any rate an equality in point of age, to Faenza, and
in ascribing to that place certain figures and groups in alto-rilievo,
bearing inscriptions in Gothic letters, the modelling and design of
which are more characteristic of the north of the Apennines than of the
Tuscan valley.
Andrea della Robbia, to whom his uncle’s mantle descended, also painted
occasionally on plane surfaces, as may be seen on tiles which cover the
flat surface of a “_lavabo_” in the sacristy of the church of Sta. Maria
Novella, in Florence. We would merely further note the fact that in 1520
the art was in decadence under the hand of Giovanni the son of Andrea,
Luca’s nephew, and that during the first quarter of that century various
imitators produced inferior works in the same style, copying the models
of the Della Robbia and the works of some other sculptors. By Giovanni’s
brother Girolamo it was introduced into France, where the château de
Madrid was decorated by him under the patronage of Francis the first.
In Italy, Agostino di Antonio di Duccio, said to be a pupil of Luca,
worked at Perugia in 1459-61, where he executed enamelled bas-reliefs on
the façade of the church of S. Bernardino, and in S. Domenico. Pier
Paolo di Agapito da Sassoferrato is said to have erected an altar in
this manner in the church of the Cappucini in Arceria, in the diocese of
Sinigaglia, in the year 1513. He was also a painter. An able modeller as
well as artist potter Maestro Giorgio Andreoli, of Gubbio, also appears
to have executed works in the manner of the Della Robbia. The practice
of enamelling large works modelled in terra-cotta would seem to have
gone out of repute before the end of the first half of the sixteenth
century; not perhaps so much from the secret of the glaze being known
only, as we are told, to the descendants of the Della Robbia family, as
from the want of demand for works in that material.
From the increased use of decorative tiles and the encouragement
afforded to the production of artistic pottery, furnaces and boteghe had
been established in various parts of northern and central Italy,
particularly in Romagna, in Tuscany, and in the lordship of Urbino,
where the manufacture was patronized at an early time by the ruling
family, as also by the Sforza at Pesaro. Here the first use of the
metallic lustre would appear to have been developed; but we have even
less historical evidence of the date of its earliest introduction than
in the case of the tin enamel. Before that great improvement was adopted
by any of the potteries in Italy, the pearly, the golden, and the ruby
lustre colours were produced at Pesaro, and perhaps at Gubbio where it
subsequently attained its greatest perfection. Pesaro being a coast town
of the Adriatic, and one where furnaces had long existed, would form a
ready asylum for oriental workmen fleeing from persecution in their own
country. It is reasonable to suppose that from them the use of these
metallic pigments was acquired, and accordingly we find early pieces
presumably of this fabrique, the decorative “motif” on which is eastern
to a marked degree. Painted wares had been produced anterior to the use
of the metallic pigments, and among them specimens are occasionally
found betraying Persian influence in their design.
[Illustration]
The outlines on the “mezza maiolica” of this period were traced in
manganese black or zaffre blue, with which last the shadings are also
indicated; the flesh is left white. A certain rigidity but truthfulness
is observable in the design, crude and wanting in relief, but precise
and free from timidity. A moresque border frequently surrounds a
coat-of-arms, portrait busts in profile of contemporary princes, or that
of a saint or heathen goddess; or the sacred monogram; or, again
(betrothal gifts) a heart with joined hands, as in the woodcut; or
portraits of ladies with a ribbon or banderole, on which the name is
inscribed with a complimentary adjective as “bella,” “diva,” and the
like; such are the principal subjects of these early _bacili_.
The admirable “madreperla” lustre of these pieces, changing in colour
and effect with every angle at which the light is reflected from their
brilliant surface, is the leading characteristic and special beauty of
this class of wares, which must have been in great request and produced
in considerable quantity. Pesaro and Diruta lay claim to their
production, and each fabrique has its champions.
[Illustration]
We are inclined to ascribe the earlier and more important productions to
Pesaro, and are disposed to consider the Diruta fabrique as a subsequent
and less important source of supply in respect to the quality of the
wares. These _bacili_ are nearly all of the same size and form; large
heavy dishes of flesh-coloured clay with deep sunk centres and a
projecting circular “giretto” behind, forming a foot or base; this is
invariably pierced with two lateral holes, for the purpose of
introducing a cord by which to suspend them to the wall, thus proving
that they were looked upon more as decorative pieces (_piatti di pompa_)
than for general use upon the table; the back is covered by a coarse
yellow glaze, the front having a surface whitened by slip and painted as
above-mentioned. The rim is sometimes ornamented in compartments (_a
quartiere_), or with chequered, “chevroné” or imbricated patterns, or
conventional flowers. Engraved (p. 31) is a fine plateau of early date:
no. 4078 at South Kensington.
The larger pieces of the period made at various places have a certain
general resemblance in the clumsy fashion, the dry archaic style of
drawing executed in blue outline, and in the diaper patterns of the
border. Glazed wares of polychrome and subject decoration were no doubt
produced before the introduction of the lustre colours and, judging from
examples which have come down to us, the forms seem to have been
partially derived from Persian, Hispano-moresque, and other oriental
originals; deep dishes with angular sides and narrow rims; others with a
wide border or side sloping at a gradual angle from the small circular
centre. The gothic element is, however, traceable on some early pieces
of north Italian origin.
A more careful investigation of the records of Italian families, and the
archives of the many towns at which potteries formerly existed, might
throw considerable light on the history and establishment of the various
fabriques and the marks and characteristics of their productions; but at
present we can only form an approximate opinion by comparison of the
examples existing in collections with signed examples by the same hand.
We agree in believing with Passeri that the potteries of Pesaro were of
very early date, probably anterior to Gubbio, and think that full weight
should be given to his statement that the use of the lustre pigments was
introduced from the former to the latter fabrique, where it attained to
unsurpassed excellence under the able management and improvement of Mº.
Giorgio but whether the furnaces of Faenza and Forlì were of earlier or
subsequent establishment to that of Pesaro is still a matter of
conjecture, and of Caffaggiolo and others we have no record. Of the
antiquity of these last there can be no doubt. But although producing at
the latter end of the fifteenth
[Illustration]
and early in the sixteenth centuries some of the most exquisite examples
of artistic decoration and of the perfection of manufacture in this
class of ceramics, we are unable to find a single proof of the use of
the lustrous metallic tints, or a single example of pottery so enriched,
which can with probability be ascribed to the Faenza furnaces. The same
remark applies to other potteries on the northern side of the Apennines.
The Piedmontese and Lombard cities do not appear to have encouraged the
potter’s art to an equal extent in the 15th and 16th centuries, neither
can we learn of any excellence attained in Venice till the establishment
of Durantine and Pesarese artists at that city in the middle of the
latter period. Possibly, the fine dish (engraved p. 33) may be of that
manufacture: the costumes have a Venetian character. Perhaps commerce
did for the Queen of the Adriatic by the importation of Rhodian,
Damascus, and other eastern wares, what native industry supplied to the
pomp and luxury of the hill cities of Umbria; for it must be borne in
mind that the finer sorts of enamelled or glazed pottery, decorated by
artistic hands, were only attainable by the richer class of purchasers;
more modest wares or wooden trenchers, and ancestral copper vessels,
contenting the middle class. The northern duchies, Ferrara, Rimini, and
Ravenna, also encouraged the art, but to a smaller extent than that of
Urbino. It would seem that the use of the white stanniferous enamel did
not become general in Italy until some years after the death of Luca
della Robbia, in 1481; and was not adopted by the potters of Umbria
before the end of the fifteenth century.