URBINO.
Although not to be ranked with the earliest seats of the manufacture of
artistic pottery in Italy, there is no place so much associated with
these beautiful productions of the potter’s art as the small city of
Urbino, whence, indeed, was derived one of the names by which it is
distinguished. Crowning a steep among the many hills of Umbria,
remarkable in the landscape from her picturesque position and the
towering palace of her dukes, Urbino is one of those very curious cities
with which Italy abounds, and which centre round themselves an
individual history of the greatest interest. What giants of art and of
literature were born or nurtured in that little town! now so neglected
and unknown. He who, climbing the steep ascent and tortuous narrow
streets, has visited the deserted halls and richly decorated cabinets of
her palace, and has travelled through the beauteous scenery of her
neighbourhood, to where the delicious valley of the Tiber bursts upon
the sight, will never forget the impressions that they leave.
In proof of the antiquity of ceramic industry of a more ordinary kind in
the vicinity of this city, Pungileoni tells us that an antique amphora
was not long since discovered in the grounds of the Villa Gaisa, hard by
the river Isauro, and that near to it were also found remains of a
potter’s furnace. This, however, does not prove the early establishment
of a fabrique of glazed or enamelled decorative wares. Marryat states
that in a register of Urbino dated 1477 one Giovanni di Donino Garducci
is mentioned as a potter of that place, but it is not till 1501 that
any further record occurs. In that year an assortment of vases, dishes,
&c. were ordered to be made for the use of the cardinal di Carpaccio,
and among them are mentioned “bacili” having the arms of the cardinal in
the centre, and water “boccali” or jugs with little lions on the covers.
The earliest pieces now known to us, which can with any certainty be
ascribed to the potteries of Urbino, are probably those of the
Gonzaga-Este service, which are undoubtedly the work of Nicola da
Urbino; these must have been painted between the period of the marriage
of the marquis with Isabella d’ Este, in 1490, and before her death in
1539.
We have no account of the precise date at which the Pellipario,
afterwards Fontana, family came from Castel Durante and settled at
Urbino, but we have documentary proof that “Guido Niccolai Pellipario
figulo da Durante,” or “Guido, son of Nicola Pellipario, potter of
Durante,” was established at Urbino in 1520. From this period through
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries a number of pieces are dated and
signed by various artists, or as having been made in the boteghe of
various maestri of Urbino.
We are obliged to refer the reader to the large catalogue, in detail, of
the South Kensington collection of maiolica, for an account of the works
of the more important of these artists under their respective names,
beginning with Nicola as the earliest of whom we have known examples;
the Fontana family, and of Guido Durantino; the works of Fra Xanto; of
Francesco Durantino; of the Patanazzi; not omitting those of other
artists of the fabrique, of whom we have smaller record in remaining
examples or documentary history. There seems little doubt that the
revival or perhaps the first introduction of artistic ceramic
manufacture to Urbino was under the influence of Guidobaldo I., and that
many of the potters and nearly all the more important artists immigrated
from Castel Durante. Long lists of names have been published by
Raffaelli, but it is difficult to distinguish between the more ordinary
potters and the artists, whose works we are unable to recognise from the
absence of signed specimens. Our space here will allow us to do little
more than mention their names.
Considerable uncertainty exists and some confusion has arisen among
connoisseurs in respect to the works of the very able artist Nicola da
Urbino, and as to his connection with the Fontana family and fabrique at
Urbino, the latter still a disputed and undecided question; as also to
the marks on various pieces attributable to his hand only, but which
have been assigned by M. Jacquemart to the fabrique of Ferrara, and by
other writers to various painters and localities. There are no pieces
marked or signed by this artist in the South Kensington museum, but it
possesses some examples of his work. A certain similarity in some of his
less careful pieces has caused them, not unfrequently, to be attributed
to Xanto, but a closer study of his manner will show it to be really
very distinct.
The first signed piece is in the British museum, a plate, representing a
sacrifice to Diana, and inscribed on the reverse as in the opposite
woodcut. Comparing this mark with those of the Gonzaga-Este service, Mr.
Franks arrived at the conclusion that they also were painted by Nicola
in his most careful manner; the clue thus found, he ingeniously
deciphered the monogram on the beautiful fragment in the Sauvageot
collection painted with a group from the Parnassus of Raffaelle, as
clearly and unmistakably by the same hand.
The manner of Nicola is remarkable for a sharp and careful outline of
the figures, the features clearly defined but with much delicacy of
touch, the eyes, mouth, and nostrils denoted by a clear black spot, the
faces oval, derived from the Greek model, a free use of yellow and a
pale yellow green, a tightening of the ankle and a peculiar rounding of
the knee, the hair and beard of the older heads heightened with white;
the architecture bright and distinct; the landscape background somewhat
carefully rendered in dark blue against a golden sky; and lastly, the
stems of the trees, strangely tortuous, are coloured brown, strongly
marked with black lines, as also are the rolled up clouds; these are
treated in a manner not very true to nature.
[Illustration]
Few Maiolica painters have produced works of greater beauty than the
plates of the Gonzaga-Este service, which are equally excellent in the
quality of glaze and the brilliancy of colour.
With regard to the Fontana family, chiefs among Italian ceramic artists,
we quote from the notice by Mr. Robinson appended to the Soulages
catalogue. He tells us that “The celebrity of one member of this family
has been long established by common consent. Orazio Fontana has always
occupied the highest place in the scanty list of Maiolica artists,
although at the same time nothing was definitely known of his works.
Unlike their contemporary, Xanto, the Fontana seem but rarely to have
signed their productions, and consequently their reputation as yet rests
almost entirely on tradition, on incidental notices in writings which
date back to the age in which they flourished, and on 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 endeavour to identify the works of the
individual members of the family, without which the mere knowledge of
their existence is of very little moment; but this is no easy task;
although specimens from the hands of one or other of them are to be
undoubtedly found in almost every collection, the work of comparison and
collation has as yet been scarcely attempted. The similarity of style
and technical characteristics of the several artists moreover, working
as they did with the same colours on the same quality of enamel ground,
and doubtless in intimate communication with each other, resolves itself
into such a strong family resemblance, that it will require the most
minute and careful observation, unremittingly continued, ere the
authorship of the several specimens can be determined with anything like
certainty. The evidence of signed specimens is of course the most to be
relied on, and is indeed indispensable in giving the clue to complete
identification in the first instance; but in the case of the Fontana
family a difficulty presents itself which should be noticed in the
outset. This difficulty arises in determining the authorship of the
pieces signed ‘_Fatto in botega_,’ &c. &c.; a mode of signature, in
fact, which proves very little in determining individual
characteristics, inasmuch as apparently nearly all the works so
inscribed are painted by other hands than that of the proprietor of the
Vaseria. In cases, however, in which the artist has actually signed or
initialed pieces with his own name, of course no such difficulty exists,
but the certainty acquired by this positive evidence is as yet confined
in the case of the Fontana family to their greatest name, Orazio.” We
regret that our limits prevent further quotation from Mr. Robinson’s
valuable remarks.
It is a matter of uncertainty whether Guido Fontana and Guido Durantino
were the same person or rival maestri; and we are disposed to the former
opinion, from the fact that in the documents quoted by Pungileoni no
other “Vasaio” named Guido, and of Castel Durante, is named. The pieces
inscribed as having been made in their boteghe although painted by
different hands may, by the wording of their inscriptions afford some
explanation; thus, on the Sta. Cecilia plate painted by Nicola, he
[Illustration]
writes in 1528, “_fata in botega di Guido da Castello d’Urante in
Urbino_,” from which we argue a connexion with the Fontana.
Unfortunately, we know no piece signed as actually painted by the hand
of Guido Fontana, but as he took that cognomen after settling in Urbino
it would be more probable that he would himself apply it on his own
work; whereas Nicola (presumably his father), on a piece of earlier
date, retained the name of their native _castello_. By others the
botega would long be known as that of the “durantini,” and that it
retained that appellation
[Illustration]
even in the following generation is proved by the occasional reference
to Orazio Fontana as of Castel Durante. We give a woodcut of an example
of the highest quality; a pilgrim’s bottle, at South Kensington, no.
8408.
The manner of the painter of these pieces approaches very much to that
of Orazio but is less refined and rich in colouring wanting that harmony
and power of expression for which he was remarkable; the drawing is more
correct and careful than on some of Orazio’s work, but is more dry and
on the surface; there is great force and movement in the figures and the
landscape backgrounds are finished with much care and effect, sometimes
covering the whole piece; the foliage of the trees is also well
rendered.
The celebrated vases made for the spezieria of the duke were produced at
the Fontana fabrique, and subsequently presented to the Santa Casa at
Loreto where many of them are still preserved. Those shown to the writer
on his visit to that celebrated shrine some few years since did not
strike him as being of such extraordinary beauty and great artistic
excellence, as the high-flown eulogy bestowed upon them by some writers
would have led him to expect. The majority of the pieces are drug pots
of a not unusual form, but all or nearly all of them are “istoriati,”
instead of being, as is generally the case, simply decorated with
“trofei,” “foglie,” “grotesche,” the more usual and less costly
ornamentation. Some of the pieces have serpent handles, mask spouts, &c.
but he vainly looked for the magnificent vases of unsurpassed beauty,
nor indeed did he see anything equal to the shaped pieces preserved in
the Bargello at Florence. The work of the well-known hands of the
Fontana fabrique is clearly recognisable, and several pieces are
probably by Orazio. Some, more important, preserved in a low press were
finer examples. We have said that the pieces individually are not so
striking but taken as a whole it is a very remarkable service, said to
have originally numbered 380 vases, all painted with subjects after the
designs of Battista Franco, Giulio Romano, Angelo, and Raffaelle; and as
the work of one private artistic pottery in the comparatively remote
capital of a small duchy, it bears no slight testimony to the
extraordinary development of every branch of art-industry in the various
districts of Italy during the sixteenth century. They were made by
order of Guidobaldo II., but on the accession of Francesco Maria II. in
1574 he found the financial condition of the duchy in a state so
embarrassed that he was obliged to devote less attention to the
encouragement of art. He abdicated in favour of the Holy See and died in
1631. The vases of the Spezieria were presented to our Lady of Loreto,
while his valuable art collections were removed to Florence.
On the vases of Loreto, says Mr. Marryat, “the subjects are the four
evangelists, the twelve apostles, St. John, St. Paul, Susannah and Job.
The others represent incidents in the Old Testament, actions of the
Romans, their naval battles and the metamorphoses of Ovid. On
eighty-five of the vases are pourtrayed the games of children, each
differing from the other. These vases are highly prized for their beauty
as well as for their variety. They have been engraved by Bartoli. A
Grand Duke of Florence was so desirous of purchasing them, that he
proposed giving in exchange a like number of silver vessels of equal
weight; while Christina of Sweden was known to say, that of all the
treasures of the Santa Casa she esteemed these the most. Louis XIV. is
reported to have offered for the four evangelists and St. Paul an equal
number of gold statues.”
With his other art treasures the ornamental vases and vessels of the
_credenza_, among which were doubtless some of the choicest productions
of the Urbino furnaces made for Guidobaldo, must have been in great part
removed to Florence; and there accordingly we find some remarkable
specimens. For many years neglected, these noble pieces were placed
almost out of observation on the top of cases which contained the
Etruscan and other antique vases in the gallery of the Uffizi. When more
general interest was excited on the subject of the renaissance pottery
these examples were removed to another room. They now occupy central
cases in one of the rooms of the Bargello, used as a museum of art
objects, and form a magnificent assemblage of vases, ewers, vasques,
pilgrim’s bottles, and other shaped pieces, dishes, and salvers,
perhaps the richest that has descended collectively to our days, and
among which may be recognised the works of all the more important
ceramic artists of Urbino.
Portions of a magnificent service of the best period of Orazio Fontana’s
botega are dispersed in various collections, as also some pieces of
equally rich quality made after the same models, but which were probably
of another “credenza.” Two of the former were exhibited at the loan
exhibition in 1862, by baron Anthony de Rothschild. They are large oval
dishes with raised medallion centres, and having the surface, both
internally and outside, divided into panels by raised strap work
springing from masks, with ornamental moulded borders, &c. These panels,
edged with cartouche ornament, are painted with subjects from the
Spanish romance of Amadis de Gaul, and on the reverse are inscriptions
in that language corresponding with the panel illustrations. The central
subject is not of the same series, but represents boys shooting at a
target, on one dish, and warriors fighting, upon the other. The border
is painted with admirable Urbino grotesques on a brilliant white ground.
The size of these pieces is 2 ft. 2 in. by 1.8½ in.
It appears that the Fontana botega was neither founded nor maintained
although greatly encouraged and patronised by the duke Guidobaldo, but
was solely created by the enterprise and sustained by the united
industry of the family. Orazio died on the 3rd August 1571. By his will
he left his wife 400 scudi, &c. and power to remain in partnership with
his nephew Flaminio, with a view to the benefit of his only daughter,
Virginia, who had married into the Giunta family when young. We think
there is every probability that the fabrique was so continued, and that
a numerous class, having the character of the wares of the botega but of
inferior artistic merit and showing the general decadence of the period,
may with probability be attributed to it.
On many of the grand pieces of the Fontana fabrique the work of another
hand is seen, which differs from the acknowledged manner of Orazio.
They are among the most decorative productions of the factory, large
round dishes with grotesque borders on a white ground, shaped pieces
similarly decorated, and having panels of subject executed by the artist
in question; others also where the subject covers the whole surface of
the dish. We have no clue to the name of this able painter, but we would
venture to suggest the great probability that these were the work of
Camillo, who is said to have been an artist only inferior in merit to
Orazio himself. In manner they approach nearly to, and are difficult to
distinguish from, the finer examples of the Lanfranchi fabrique at
Pesaro; less powerful and broad than the work of Orazio, and less
careful in drawing than those ascribed to Guido, they approach the
former in the blending of the colours and rich soft effect of surface,
while a similar mode of rendering various objects, as stones, water,
trees, &c. pervades all three, with slight individual variations. A
peculiar elongation of the figures, and narrowing of the knee and ankle
joints are characteristics of this hand, as also a transparent golden
hue to the flesh.
We are almost wholly in the dark as to the clever painters of the
grotesques on a pure white ground which so charmingly decorate many of
the noblest productions of Orazio’s furnace. The work of two or more
hands is manifest on various pieces of the best period; one, perhaps the
most able, is constantly seen on pieces, the istoriati panels or
interiors of which are painted by Orazio himself or by the artist whose
works we have just considered, and may, perhaps, also have been by the
hand of the latter, a similar method of heightening with small strokes
of red colour being observable on both. Gironimo, by whom we have a
signed piece in the South Kensington museum, no. 4354, may have been
another, but his manner is of a somewhat later character.
Of Nicola, jun., we know nothing; he is mentioned in his father’s wills
made in 1570 and 1576; and that he was unfortunate or improvident would
seem probable from the fact that in the deed of contract between Orazio
and his father on the occasion of his setting up for himself in 1565 he
agrees to keep and provide for Domitilla and Flaminio, children of his
brother Nicola, for the space of three years.
Flaminio the nephew, son of Nicola, continued the works and was a
favourite of the dukes Guidobaldo and Francesco Maria; it is said that
the latter took him to Florence to teach and aid pupils studying under
Bartolomeo degli Ammanati, where he remained for some years. Under the
fabrique of Caffaggiolo we find pieces which may perhaps have been
produced under the influence of this member of the family. In form and
decoration with grotesques they are a poor reminiscence of the superior
works of an earlier period.
The work of another, a later and inferior hand, probably of the Fontana
fabrique, is abundant in collections; his manner is between that of the
Fontana and of the Patanazzi; free and effective, but loose and
careless; the Fontana pigments are used, and occasionally pieces occur
painted with greater pains. Many vases with serpent handles and other
shaped pieces were painted by this hand, of whose name we have no
record, and it would be only guessing to suggest that Guido Fontana,
junior, the son of Camillo, who died in 1605, may have been their
author.
Another important artist of the Urbino fabrique was FRANCESCO XANTO,
who, like Giorgio, adopted the unusual habit of signing in various forms
the greater number of the pieces which he painted. Although we cannot
but appreciate the modesty, the “Lamp of Sacrifice,” which induced so
many of the earlier and contemporary artists of the highest excellence
to refrain from attaching their names to the works of their hands, or at
the most to sign a few of their admirable productions in monogram, we
must regret their having used so much reserve, and that in consequence
conjecture must take so large a place in the history of this branch of
artistic handicraft.
We have little other information of this painter beyond what is conveyed
by the inscriptions on pieces by his hand.
His name is mentioned by Rog. Vincenzo Vanni, on the 29th March 1539, as
“Franciscus Xatis fictilinus vasorum pictor egregius.” A native of
Rovigo, he seems to have settled at Urbino and there produced all his
works. His true name, gathered from his varied signatures, would appear
to be Francesco Xanto Avelli da Rovigo, and the dates of his signed
works extend from 1530 to 1542, although it is highly probable that many
existing undated pieces were executed before, and perhaps after those
dates. His earlier works are generally more fully signed, while many of
the latter have only one or two initial letters. Works by Xanto are to
be found in almost every collection of any note, and among them are
examples of high artistic excellence, although very many betray want of
care and hasty execution. It appears that many of his pieces were
subsequently enriched with the golden and ruby lustre colour at the
botega of Mº Giorgio, and Mº N at Gubbio; and, indeed, it was mainly by
the observation of these, so distinctly painted and signed by Xanto at
Urbino, and to which the metallic _reflet_ had been added evidently by a
subsequent process, that it was inferred that the lustre was a special
enrichment applied at another fabrique to works painted elsewhere. Of
Xanto’s style and merits as an artist Mr. Robinson writes:
“Xanto’s works may be considered to represent perfectly the ‘Majoliche
istoriate,’ and he certainly had a talent for the arrangement of his
works in composition, nearly all his subjects being ‘pasticci’; the
various figures or groups introduced being the invention of other
artists copied with adroit variations over and over again, and made to
do duty in the most widely different characters. As an original artist,
if indeed he can be so considered, he may be classed with the more
mannered of the scholars of Raffaelle. His designs are generally from
classical or mythological subjects. Xanto’s execution, although
dexterous, is monotonous and mechanical; his scale of colouring is
crude and positive, full of violent oppositions; the only merit, if
merit it be, being that of a certain force and brightness of aspect; in
every other respect his colouring is commonplace, not to say
disagreeable even; blue, crude opaque yellow, and orange tints, and
bright verdigris green are the dominant hues, and are scattered over the
pieces in full unbroken masses, the yellow especially meeting the eye at
the first glance. In the unsigned pieces, before 1531, the glaze is
better and more transparent, the execution more delicate, and the
outline more hard and black than in the later specimens. Some of Xanto’s
wares are profusely enriched with metallic lustres, including the
beautiful ruby tint; these specimens, however, form but a small
per-centage of the entire number of his works extant. This class of
piece is, moreover, interesting from the fact that the iridescent
colours were obviously not of Xanto’s own production, but that on the
contrary, they were applied to his wares by Mº Giorgio, and the supposed
continuers of Giorgio’s ‘fabrique’ in Gubbio. Many pieces are extant,
which, in addition to Xanto’s own signature, nearly always written in
dark blue or olive tint, are likewise signed with the monagram N of the
Giorgio school in the lustre tint; and one specimen at least has been
observed which, though painted by Xanto, has been signed in the lustre
tint by Maestro Giorgio himself.”
We cannot entirely agree with this somewhat severe judgment upon his
artistic merits.
We have no evidence to confirm Passeri’s supposition that BATTISTA
FRANCO painted pieces and initialled them with the letters B. F. V. F.
That artist was called to Urbino in 1540, by Guidobaldo II., to make
designs for various pieces, and these initials are on some of the vases
in the Spezieria at Loreto. He returned to Venice where he died in 1561;
one of his cartoons for a plate is in the British museum, and others are
preserved.
Of FRANCESCO DURANTINO, of Urbino, we know nothing more than his signed
works, and one of these gives rise to the question whether he ought to
be ranked among the potters of Urbino, or as having a small
establishment of his own at Bagnolo, or Bagnara, near Perugia. A plate
in the British museum representing the meeting of Coriolanus and his
mother is signed “frācesco durantino 1544,” as in the woodcut.
[Illustration]
A yellow tone of flesh, flowing drapery, animals (particularly horses)
drawn with great vigour of action, a fine and delicate outline, with
careful execution but occasional weakness of effect and a peculiar
softness on some of the smaller and more distant figures, are
characteristic of this artist’s style: the landscapes are executed with
care and good effect. An example in the British museum has, however, all
the richness of colour and force of the works of the Fontana.
GUIDO MERLINGO or MERLINI or NERGLINO seems to have been a proprietor of
a botega in Urbino, although his name does not occur as the actual
painter.
In the Brunswick museum a dish representing Mark Antony is signed, “fate
in botega di Guido de Nerglino.” In the Louvre is a plate, subject
Judith and Holophernes, signed at the back, “ne 1551 fato in Botega de
Guido Merlino.”
CÆSARE DA FAENZA worked in his fabrique about 1536, as proved by an
agreement dated 1st January in that year, in which he is styled “Cæsare
Care Carii Faventinus.”
Among other recorded names are those of--
_Federigo di Giannantonio_, }
_Nicolo di Gabriele_, } who worked about 1530.
_Gian Maria Mariana_, }
_Simone di Antonio Mariani, about 1542._
_Rafaelle Ciarla_,
_Luca del fu Bartolomeo, about 1544_, _and_
_Guy, from Castel Durante_.
FRANCESCO SILVANO had a botega in Urbino, at which Xanto worked in 1541,
as proved by the signature on a plate representing the storming of
Goleta.
GEORGIO PICCHI or PICCI the younger, of the Durantine family, painted at
Urbino. Pieces signed by him are extant. Borders of Cupids among clouds
or covering the surface is a favourite decoration.
In the decline of the Urbino potteries must be placed the productions of
the members of the PATANATI or PATANAZZI family. They do not appear to
have succeeded to any of the former eminent artists as masters of a
fabrique, but painted at the establishment of Joseph Batista Boccione,
as we are informed by a signed example. Passeri only mentions them as
being of a noble family and as finding their names inscribed on
specimens which he instances. One of these is at South Kensington; a
large dish, no. 2612, signed ALF. P. F. VRBINI. 1606. The young
_Vincenzio_ is the last whose name occurs. Passeri cites a piece by him,
“Vincenzio Patanazzi da Urbino di eta d’anni tredici, 1620.”
Another piece by this youthful phenomenon is in the collection of
monsignore Cajani at Rome, representing the expulsion from paradise. It
is a most inferior production and not meritorious even for so young an
artist.
With the exception of some large dishes and a few others the wares of
Urbino, as a rule, are not ornamented on the reverse. The more usual
pieces are edged with a yellow line which is repeated round the foot or
central hollow, in the middle of which the titular inscription or date
is written in manganese black, dark olive, or blue colour. The paste is
sometimes of a pink hue, produced by the colour of the clay shining
through the glaze, but in other cases of a purer white. In the “sopra
bianco” grotesques the ground is rendered unusually white by an
additional surface of _terra di Vicenza_ or _bianco di Ferrara_; the
glaze is of fine quality and even surface. It may be here noticed that
the wares known of the Lanfranco fabrique at Pesaro have similar
characteristics, and it is not possible to distinguish between them.
That wares of a better class were occasionally produced at Urbino during
the last century is proved by a lamp in the South Kensington collection,
no. 6856; made, as the inscription tells us, at the _Fabrica di Majolica
fina_, which seems to have been established or conducted in that city in
1773 by a French artist named Rolet. We hear of him previously at Borgo
San Sepolcro in 1771, but all further record of his productions or his
success is unknown.
We are not aware that Urbino at present produces any artistic pottery.