It is at this epoch that Vasari describes the manufacture of earthen vases, painted with a variety of colours, with such exquisite art, that they seemed to rival the oil pictures of the first masters. He pretends that this art was unknown to the ancients, and it is at any rate certain that it was not carried to such perfection by them. Signor Gio. Batista Passeri, who composed l'Istoria delle pitture in Majolica fatte in Pesaro e ne' luoghi circonvicini, derives the art from Luca della Robbia, a Florentine, who discovered a mode of giving to the clay a glazing to resist the injuries of time. In this manner were formed the bassirelievi and altars which still exist, and the pavements which are described at page 81. Others derive this art from Cina, whence it passed to the island of Majolica, and from thence into Italy; and this invention was particularly cultivated in the state of Urbino. The coarse manufacture had been for a long time in use. The fine earthenware commenced there about 1500, and was manufactured by an excellent artist, of whom there exists in the convent of Domenicans, of Gubbio, a statue of an abbot, S. Antonio, well modelled and painted, and many services in various noble houses with his name M. Giorgio da Ugubio. The year is also inscribed, from which it appears that his manufacture of these articles began in 1519, and ended in 1537. At this time Urbino also cultivated the plastic art, and the individual of his day, who most excelled, was Federigo Brandani. Whoever thinks that I exaggerate, may view the Nativity, which he left at S. Joseph, and say, whether, except Begarelli of Modena, there is any one that can be compared with him for liveliness and grace in his figures, for variety and propriety of attitude, and for natural expression of the accessory parts; the animals, which seem alive; the satchels and a key suspended; the humble furniture, and other things admirably appropriate, and all wonderfully represented: the figure of the divine Infant is not so highly finished, and is perhaps the object which least surprises us. Nor in the meanwhile did the people of Urbino neglect to advance the art of painted vases, in which fabric a M. Rovigo of Urbino is much celebrated. The subjects which were first painted in porcelain, were poor in design, but were highly valued for the colouring, particularly for a most beautiful red, which was subsequently disused, either because the secret was lost, or because it did not amalgamate with the other colours.
But the art did not attain the perfection which Vasari describes, until about the year 1540, and was indebted for it to Orazio Fontana, of Urbino, whose vases, for the polish of the varnish, for the figures, and for their forms, may perhaps be ranked before any that have come down to us from antiquity. He practised this art in many parts of the state, but more especially in Castel Durante, now called Urbania, which possesses a light clay, extremely well adapted for every thing of this nature. His brother, Flamminio, worked in conjunction with him, and was afterwards invited to Florence by the grand duke of Tuscany, and introduced there a beautiful manner of painting vases. This information is given us by the Sig. Lazzari, and for which the Florentine history of art ought to express its obligations to him. The establishment of this fine taste in Urbino, was, in a great measure, owing to the Duke Guidobaldo, who was a prince enthusiastically devoted to the fine arts, and who established a manufactory, and supported it at his own expense. He did not allow the painters of these vases to copy their own designs, but obliged them to execute those of the first artists, and particularly those of Raffaello; and gave them for subjects many designs of Sanzio never before seen, and which formed part of his rich collection. Hence these articles are commonly known in Italy by the name of Raphael ware, and from thence arose certain idle traditions respecting the father of Raffaello, and Raffaello himself; and the appellation of boccalajo di Urbino (the potter of Urbino), was in consequence applied, as we shall mention, to that great master.[[70]] Some designs of Michelangiolo, and many of Raffaele del Colle, and other distinguished masters, were adopted for this purpose. In the life of Batista Franco, we are informed that that artist made an infinite number of designs for this purpose, and in that of Taddeo Zuccaro it is related that all the designs of the service, which was manufactured for Philip II., were entrusted to him. Services of porcelain were also prepared there for Charles V. and other princes, and the duke ordered not a few for his own court. Several of his vases were transferred to, and are now in the S. Casa di Loreto; and the Queen of Sweden was so much charmed with them, that she offered to replace them with vases of silver. A large collection of them passed into the hands of the Grand Duke of Florence, in common with other things inherited from the Duke of Urbino, and specimens of them are to be seen in the ducal gallery, some with the names of the places where they were manufactured. There are many, too, to be found in the houses of the nobility of Rome, and in the state of Urbino, and, indeed, in all parts of Italy. The art was in its highest perfection for about the space of twenty years, or from 1540 to 1560; and the specimens of that period are not unworthy a place in any collection of art. If we are to believe Lazzari, the secret of the art died with the Fontani, and the practice daily declined until it ended in a common manufactory and object of merchandize. Whoever wishes for further information on this subject, may consult the above cited Passeri, who inserted his treatise in the fourth volume of the Calogeriani, not forgetting the Dizionario Urbinate, and the Cronaca Durantina.
The art of painting on leather deserves little attention; nevertheless, as Baglione mentions it with commendation in his life of Vespasian Strada, a fresco painter of some merit in Rome, I did not think it right to pass it over without this slight notice.
[56] Dolce, Dial. della Pittura, p. 11.
[57] We shall notice him again in the school of Bologna, where he passed his best years, and also in the Roman School, in which he was a master. Sebastiano had also another scholar, or imitator, as we find a Communion of S. Lucia, painted in his style, in the collegiate church of Spello. The artist inscribes his name, Camillus Bagazotus Camers faciebat.—Orsini Risposta, p. 16.
[58] He painted the S. Catherine in S. Agostino, the Presepio in S. Silvestro at Monte Cavallo, and left works in many other churches.
[59] He painted some façades in Rome. In the oratory of S. Giovanni Decollato, there remains the Dance before Herod, not very correctly designed, and feeble in colouring; but the perspective, and the richness of the drapery in the Venetian style, may confer some value on the picture.
[60] Bellori, Vite de' Pittori, p. 20.
[61] Idea de' Pittori, Scultori, e Architetti, reprinted in the Lett. Pitt. tom. vi. p. 147.
[62] The charming poet Lasca noticed this work as soon as the Cupola was opened to public view, in a madrigal inserted in the edition of his poems in the year 1741. He blamed Giorgio d'Arezzo (Vasari) more than Federigo, that for sordid motives he had designed and undertaken a work, which in the judgment of the Florentines, injured the Cupola of Brunellesco, which was the admiration of every one, and which Benvenuto Cellini was accustomed to call, la Maraviglia delle cose belle. He concludes by saying, that the Florentine people