Maiolica

by C. Drury E. Fortnum

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.

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.