Premising that we cannot now distinguish exactly between potters and the painters, where these cognate occupations chanced to be divided, and that the same persons occasionally wrought at various places in the duchy, we shall supply a notice of the names we have met with in connection with the workshops of Pesaro, Urbino, and Castel Durante, during the sixteenth century.
Terenzio Terenzi painted vases and plates at Pesaro, one of which he signed "Terenzio fecit, 1550," but his usual mark was T. Another is inscribed, "Questo piatto fu fatto in la Bottega de Mastro Baldassare, Vasaro da Pesaro e fatto per mano de Ferenzio fiolo di Mastro Matteo Boccalaro." He was doubtless the person who, under the surname of Rondolino, became notorious at Rome for his clever pictorial forgeries of the great master's works, although said by Ticozzi to have been born at Pesaro in 1570. The signature "Mastro Gironimo, Vasaro in Pesaro, J.P." occurs from 1542 to 1560, and to him Mr. Marryat ascribes, on what authority I know not, the mark A.O. connected by a cross, which Passeri quotes as of another artist in 1582; the letters I.P. that gentleman reads in Pesaro. This Girolamo Lanfranco was a native of Gabicce, near Pesaro, and died in 1599, leaving sons Girolamo and Ludovico. In his favour, and that of his son, were granted the privileges already referred to, as dated 1552 and 1569.
In connection with the workshops of Urbino, we have these names. Giovanni and Francesco di Donnino had a commission for a set of vases for Cardinal Capaccio. Fra Xanto. a. da Rovigo in Urbino signed platters of great size and beautiful design, about 1532-4, some of which show a very fine metallic and prismatic lustre. The mark X, occurring on pieces of that quality, does not, however, always refer to him. A splendid plate in Mr. Marryat's rich collection, commemorative of the taking of Goletta, in Africa, by Charles V., is inscribed In Urbino nella botteg di Francesco de Silvano, X. MDXXXXI.; and a Judith of great beauty, in the Tordelli cabinet, signed F.X. 1535, is, no doubt of that master. Contemporary and very analogous are plates with an iridescence rivalling that of Maestro Giorgio, signed Mastro Rovigo di Urbino, or Da Rovigiese: of this artist, probably the countryman of Xanto, we know nothing, but he may be the same who signs Gubbian plates with R. Equally little can we say as to Giulio of Urbino, who is mentioned as working for the Duke of Ferrara, about 1530; or of Cesare da Faenza, then employed in the shop of Guido Merlini, of Urbino. Much more noted are the Fontana family, originally of Castel Durante. From thence Guido, son of Nicolò, emigrated to the capital, where his son Orazio painted many of the finest productions of the reign of Guidobaldo II., including the best vases of his laboratory, his usual mark being this, meaning Orazio Fontana Urbinate fece. Among the treasures and trash of Strawberry Hill was a very large vase, with serpent handles, and designs ascribed to Giulio Romano, inscribed Fate in botega di Orazio Fontana.[249] A plate described by Passeri, has the story of Horatius Cocles, with the motto Orazio solo contra Toscana tutta, fatto in Pesaro 1541, which appears to be a jeu de mots intended by Fontana as a challenge to the rival fabrics of Tuscany.[250] For him has been claimed the invention of Gubbian glaze; while others say his discovery was a mode of preventing the mixture of colours during vitrification. He died in 1571, his labours having been shared by a brother Camillo, who carried the art to Ferrara, and a nephew Flaminio, who settled in Florence.
Among the pupils of Orazio was Raffaele Ciarla, whose name we have noticed as confused with that of Raffaele Sanzio, and who painted a buffet of porcelain, after designs by Taddeo Zuccaro, which his sovereign presented to Philip II. of Spain. He wrought between 1530 and 1560. Gianbattista Franco, a Venetian painter of whom we have lately spoken, was invited by Duke Guidobaldo II., about 1540, to supply designs for majolica, in consequence of his reputation for clever drawings in the dangerous style of Michael Angelo. The loss of his cupola for the cathedral at Urbino is not to be regretted; but in a humbler sphere he acquitted himself better, and some of the vases in the laboratory bear his signature, B.F.V.F., Battista Franco Urbinas fecit. Among the latest artists was Alfonso Patanazzi, who was born at Urbino of a noble family, and died in 1694; but his productions (signed in full, or with his initials) have no artistic merit whatever.
It remains to mention those who wrought chiefly at Castel Durante, or, as it was named after the Devolution to the Holy See, Urbania. The Chevalier Cipriano Picolpasso, from being a professor of the healing art, took to pottery about 1550, and left a MS. account of some of the secrets of that fabric and of its glazes, which was used by Passeri for his work. Mr. Marryat considers that he was peculiarly successful in painting trophies. Guido di Savino is said to have carried the art from Castel Durante to Antwerp; and he or Guido Fontana may be author of a plate, in the Soane Museum, of the Fates, signed In botega di Mo. Guido Durantino in Urbino. To either of them I am disposed to assign the monogram, No. 12, of our 18th plate of facsimiles, which Mr. Marryat reads as Castel Durante, but which seems to me a G.D., for Guido Durantino. Alessandro Gatti, of that place, had three brothers, Giovanni, Tiseo, and Luzio, whom Picolpasso mentions as having emigrated to Corfu, and there established the same fabric. Cardinal Stoppani, Legate of Pesaro, in last century, made some ineffectual attempts to restore the manufacture at Urbania, and the only pottery now produced in the duchy is of the most ordinary white stoneware. It would be interesting to know the scale of remuneration for mere artistic varieties of majolica, but the prices given by Passeri, from Picolpasso's MS., refer only to the more ordinary and mechanical designs, such as grotesques with monsters, arabesques, trophies with armour, fruit, flowers, and foliage; of these the first was the most costly, the last the cheapest, varying from two Roman scudi to about two and a half pauls per hundred. Supposing money in 1560 to have been six times its present value in Italy, these sums may be considered equal to fifty shillings and six shillings respectively.[251]
In Italy, the collection of majolica made by the Chevalier Massa, at Pesaro, is specially worthy of notice, and contains specimens of most varieties made in the duchy. It was chiefly got together between 1825 and 1835 when these were still abundant and little sought after; but the district was nearly cleared of them about twelve years since, by an agent of Parisian dealers. The Chevalier, who was in extreme old age in 1845, had bequeathed his majolica—consisting of about five hundred pieces, with a few indifferent pictures—to his native town, unless he could, during life, sell the whole for about 1000l., destined by him to charitable purposes. Another numerous collection is that of Signor Mavorelli, at La Fratta, near Perugia. The small but choice cabinet of Signor Serafino Tordelli, at Spoleto, has already been mentioned. Specimens may still be picked up in Rome, Florence, Paris, and London; but perhaps the most specimens are in the hands of English amateurs.