Mº Giorgio’s manner of decoration consists of foliated scrolls and other ornaments terminating in dolphins, eagles, and human heads, trophies, masks, &c.; 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. About the year 1525 he executed some of his most beautiful works; perhaps the finest large dish, and of the highest quality which has been preserved to us, was lately in the possession of the baronne de Parpart; we understand that it has been sold for £880. In that piece a rich grotesque border surrounds the subject of Diana and her nymphs, surprised by Actæon; on p. [125] is a fac-simile, half size, of the signature at the back.
In the next division D. are the works of the fabrique under Giorgio’s direction, and pieces which though manifestly painted by other hands are signed in lustre with his initials or full signature. We have no means of learning what part his brothers undertook in the manufactory. A separate division has also been formed of the works ascribed to or signed by the artist who used the letter N, variously formed, as his monogram. Mr. Robinson has ingeniously suggested that this letter, containing as it does the
three, V I and N, may really have been adopted by “Vincenzio,” the only one of his sons known to have assisted. He succeeded Mº Giorgio in the fabrique, where he was generally known as Mº Cencio. Brancaleoni states that he worked with his father till 1536, when he married and set up for himself. There is little doubt that although Mº Giorgio may himself have occasionally applied the lustre pigments with his own brush to the pieces painted by other artists at other places, the majority of those so enriched were executed by his son or assistants. M. Darcel thinks that this practice did not begin earlier than 1525, in which view we are inclined to agree.
Under division F. will be found works of this kind, among which the more interesting at South Kensington are no. 8886, a fine portrait plate; 4726 having the painter’s date and mark, and that of him who lustred it; the very remarkable plaque 520, the work of Orazio Fontana, with the monogram of Giorgio; and the small plate 8907, dated in lustre colour as late as 1549.
The last division G. contains works ascribed to him, and examples of the decadence of the lustred wares.
Before closing our observations on the splendid products of this abundant pottery, we will refer to several marks which occur on pieces in all probability made and painted there but some of which we are unable to explain. A plate with bust portrait of a warrior, in the collection of M. Meurnier, of Paris, having four coats of arms on the border and the letters Y. A. E., is inscribed on the face with the name “Gabriel. da. Gubbio.” This doubtless is a portrait plate, and the letters may allude to the families or individuals whose arms are blazoned. “Gualdo” is said to be inscribed on a brilliantly lustred specimen which we have failed to trace, and pieces in the Louvre have been doubtingly classed under that name by M. Darcel. A man’s head, rudely sketched in lustre colours, occurs on the back of a plate in the British museum, more probably an artist’s whim than an intentional mark. The letters MR combined occur on a lustred piece, perhaps a monogram of M. Prestino. The letter P, variously formed, may also probably be his initial.
About 1560-70 the use of the lustre pigments would seem to have been almost discontinued; the secret of their proper composition and manipulation was lost during the general decline of Italian artistic pottery, and the death of Guid’ Ubaldo II. in 1574 was the “coup-de-grâce” to the already much deteriorated wares of the duchy.