The products of the Sienese potteries are worthy of being ranked with the best works of Pesaro and Caffaggiolo, to which they are closely allied.
There is a fine pavement of tiles in the Kensington Museum from the Petrucci Palace at Siena, dated 1509. Benedetto is the name of an artist of the Sienese school, who painted in maiolica, from whose hand most of the best Siena maiolica has come; the drug pot (Fig. 21) and the two plates (Figs. 22 and 23) are works of his. On the drug pot, tiles, and some large dishes, grotesques were very much used as ornament, and in colour, yellow, orange, and particularly black grounds, were used in the Siena production.
Fig. 20.—Pesaro Portrait Dish (about 1500). (S.K.M.)
The maiolica wares of Gubbio are the most celebrated in all Italy, as regards their richness and beauty of colouring; this, of course, was due mostly to the beautiful effects gained by the unique ruby and gold lustres used at this fabrique. The name of one man, Maestro Giorgio Andreoli, as the chief artist, is connected with the Gubbio ware. He was a native of Pavia, and came of a noble family. He finally established himself at Gubbio, where he was made a “Castellano” of that city in 1498, and enjoyed the patronage of the Dukes of Urbino. He was a modeller as well as a painter of maiolica, and is said to have executed some altar-pieces in relief before coming to Gubbio. In the Kensington Museum there is a bas-relief of St. Sebastian which is supposed on good authority to be a work of his hand; it is coloured with the gold and ruby lustres.
Fig. 21.—Drug Pot; Siena. (S.K.M.)
Fig. 22.—Siena Plate. (S.K.M.)
