The work of at least three painters is discernible upon the wares of this establishment. First and foremost are those charming pieces of the greatest technical excellence by the painter of the shallow bowl at South Kensington, no. 354, which is marked at the back with the crossed circle, having a pellet in one of the quarters, and has for subject, Mutius Scævola. By him are other pieces similarly shaped and decorated with borders of grotesques reserved in white, shaded in brownish yellow on the blue ground, and central subjects painted in a similar tone.
We next have the author of the fine plateau, no. 7158, and of the better examples of those abundant pieces having central subjects painted in a greenish yellow tone on the berettino, or coats of arms emblazoned, and wide borders covered with grotesques in a lighter tone heightened with white on the dark blue ground. This artist also ventured into bolder subjects upon plaques of considerable size, two of which, one representing the Adoration of the Magi, are in the British museum; over a portico which forms a background to the composition, the crossed circle and pellet, mark of the fabrique, and the date 1527 are inscribed, while on the reverse is a yellow roundel between the letters B. B. F. F. and the same date. Rather earlier, is the plate (in the woodcut p. [168]) which although by some attributed to Caffaggiolo, is probably of Faenza. The richly decorated back leads to this conclusion.
Not to be confounded with these masters, the last of whom by way of distinction is known among amateurs as the “green man,” are works by a more able artist who painted in colours of the richest tone with admirable disposition and vigorous design, and who also signed with the same initials. The finely treated subject of the Gathering of the Manna, on the plate no. 7680, is by this hand, whose works are neither ornamented at the back, nor signed with the mark of the fabrique.
B. The first notice we have of Baldasara Manara occurs in Zani’s “Enciclopedia Metodica,” in which work, under the name of Mannara, he refers to the signature of the artist upon a sotto coppa with the accompanying mark. This tazza, now in the possession of the writer, is perhaps the most important signed example known, and represents the triumph of Time; it is one of a service decorated with orange scale-work on the yellow ground of the reverse, and of which other pieces still exist.
C. Wanting the inscribed name of the locality at which they were painted, we are quite prepared to acquiesce in the maturely considered opinion of signor Lazari, that the beautiful service, 17 pieces of which are in the Museo Correr at Venice, and other works painted by the same admirable early artist were produced at Faenza. They perfectly agree with the qualities lauded by Garzoni at the approximate period of their production, one of them being dated 1482; and no wares of that period could in their qualities of enamel be more worthy of the expression bianche polite than the pieces of this service. We have no clue to the name of the painter. That they were the production of a botega distinct from the Casa Pirota seems assured, from their dissimilarity in technical quality and style of ornamentation to the wares of that productive house, and the absence of its distinctive mark; but there is great similarity in their glaze and other details to the pieces painted by another excellent hand who signs with the letters F. R.
D. A multitude of homeless casuals have been attributed to the workshops of Faenza, from technical characteristics and manner of decoration, while as many more of somewhat different complexion have been promiscuously charged upon Urbino. Our ignorance of the exact localities of their production from want of evidence leads to this doubtful generalization, and until the discovery of signed specimens by the same hands, or documental record, we must still in numerous cases rest content with our assumption.
