The history of the development, perfection, and decline of the ceramic art of the renaissance in Italy is so intimately connected with and centred round that of the dukedom of Urbino, that in tracing its progress we must also briefly call to memory the fortunes and the failures of that noble house.

In 1443 what had been but an unimportant mountain fief was erected into a duchy, and the house of Montefeltro ruled a fair territory in the person of the infamous Oddantonio, the first duke of Urbino. On his violent death in 1444 Federigo, his illegitimate brother, succeeded to the dukedom. Of enlightened mind, as well as of martial capacity, he developed the native capabilities of the country and gathered about him at the court of Urbino the science and learning of the period. He built a noble castellated palace at Urbino, for the embellishment of which he invited the leading artists of the day. A patron of all art, and a great collector, he encouraged the manufacture of the maiolica wares which flourished under his reign. On his death in 1482 his son Guidobaldo I. continued his father’s patronage to the ceramic artists of the duchy, although much occupied in the Italian wars consequent on the French invasion by Charles VIII. Passeri states that fine maiolica (by which he means that covered with the tin enamel) was introduced into Pesaro in 1500; and there is some reason to believe that the new process came from Tuscany. It differed materially in composition and manufacture from the “mezza majolica” wares to which it was very superior, and was known as “Porcellana,” a name applied at that period in Italy to the choicer description of enamelled earthenware. Passeri also states that in the inventory of the ducal palaces a large quantity of painted “majolica” vases were included under this name. The superior whiteness of the enamel, more nearly approaching to that of oriental porcelain, was probably the reason for its adoption; but we must not confound the term as used in this sense with its technical meaning in reference to a decorative design known as “a porcellana.”

The introduction of the new enamel, which afforded a better ground for painting, did not cause the use of the bright metallic colours and prismatic glaze to be relinquished at those potteries where it had become established, but it appears to have stimulated a development in the artistic productions of other places, the wares of which before that period were less attractive. The botega of Maestro Giorgio at Gubbio seems to have been at this time the great centre of the process of embellishment with the golden and ruby metallic lustres; and, indeed, we have little or no knowledge of artistic pottery produced at that fabrique which is not so enriched. From some technicality in the process of the manufacture, some local advantage, or some secret in the composition, almost a monopoly of its use was established at Gubbio, for we have the evidence of well-known examples that from the end of the first to the commencement of the last quarter of the 15th century many pieces painted by the artists of Pesaro, Urbino, and Castel Durante, were sent there to receive the additional enrichment of the lustre colours. Pieces may be seen in collections signed in blue by the artist Francesco Xanto and others which have been subsequently lustred at Gubbio, and again signed in the metallic pigment by the “maestro” of that botega. At Diruta also its use appears to have been extensive though not to so exclusive a degree nor on wares of such high character as at Gubbio, neither are we enabled by the possession of examples to conclude that the works or other fabriques were sent to Diruta for the additional embellishment.

The crude drawing of the earlier ware improved very slowly; in 1502 tiles executed for the palace at Pesaro were still of sorry design; but it developed by the introduction of half tints, the colouring of the drapery, and in the composition of the groups of figures, inspired by the works of Timoteo della Vite and other artists of the Umbrian school. At Pesaro the art appears to have attained its highest perfection at the botega of the Lanfranco family, about 1540-45.

The establishment of the ducal Court at Urbino naturally drew more favour to the potteries of that city, and of its near neighbour Castel Durante. The latter of these appears also to have been a seat of this industry from very remote times, and not only to have furnished large quantities of glazed earthenware but also artistic works of the highest merit. Castel Durante not only produced fine wares at home but artists of great ability emigrated from her, establishing themselves at various places. Hence originally came the Fontana family, the most important producers of the higher class of decorative pottery at Urbino. At Venice Francesco Pieragnolo in 1545, accompanied by his father Gian-Antonio da Pesaro, formed a botega; but his wares are not among the earliest dated pieces made in that city, where we know that Mº Ludovico was producing admirable works five years previously, and Mº Jacomo da Pesaro in 1542. A member of the Fontana family, Camillo, younger brother of the celebrated Orazio, went to Florence, and another Mº Camillo to Ferrara in 1567, by the request of the then reigning duke, Alfonso II.; in 1600 we find that Maestro Diomede Durante had a pottery at Rome, producing pieces painted by Gio. Paulo Savino, in the style of the Urbino grotesques on white ground, which had been brought to such perfection by the Fontana family. Another artist of this family, Guido di Savino, is stated to have previously established himself at Antwerp.

At Urbino and Gubbio the shaped pieces, the vases, cisterns, &c. were of large size admirably modelled, as, for instance, the fine vase at South Kensington, no. 515, in the woodcut; they were also richly “istoriata” with subjects from sacred and profane history, poetry, &c.: the produce of the celebrated Fontana botega being, perhaps, the most important of them. Here also worked the able artist Francesco Xanto, from 1530 to 1541 (latterly in the pottery of Francesco Silvano), so many of whose painted pieces were subsequently decorated with ruby and gold lustre at Gubbio.

From 1520 to 1540 the art constantly advanced in this duchy, and had retained great perfection till 1560. It is probable that the potteries at Castel Durante were of earlier foundation than those at Urbino and, from their first establishment to the decadence of the art were some of the most important and productive furnaces of the duchy. Here several boteghe existed, one of which was under the direction of the cavaliere Cipriano Piccolpasso who, himself an artist and a professor of medicine, was doubtless well advanced in the chemical knowledge of his day. He worked about 1550, and has left the important and interesting manuscript, entitled “Li tre libri dell’ arte dell’ Vasajo,” now in the library of the South Kensington museum. This manuscript was printed and published at Rome in 1857, and a translation in French at Paris in 1841, both editions with engraved copies of the numerous designs.

Guidobaldo I. was succeeded in the dukedom by his nephew Francesco Maria Della Rovere, in 1508, who, incurring the resentment of pope Leo the tenth, was obliged to retire into Lombardy but was reinstated in 1517. Rome was sacked in 1527, and history accuses Guidobaldo of having permitted the horrible act without interfering to prevent it. He died from poison in 1538 at Pesaro, whither he had retired after a reverseful life and reign. His duchess was the excellent Leonora Gonzaga. She built a palace near Pesaro, known as the “Imperiale,” richly decorated by able artists among whom was Raffaelle dal Colle, whose designs were also adopted for the maiolica ware. The frequently repeated error of ascribing the actual painting, as also the making designs for this ware, to the great Raffaelle Sanzio may probably have arisen from the similarity in the Christian names of these artists.

The development of the manufacture in the duchy of Urbino may be considered to have attained its culminating point about 1540, after which, for some twenty years, it continued in great excellence not only as regards the “istoriati,” but more particularly in the shaped pieces and dishes (of which we engrave an example p. 40) decorated with the so-called “Urbino arabesques” on a clear white ground; the subjects painted in medallions, surrounded by grotesques of admirable invention and execution, after the style known as “Raffaellesque.” But excellent and highly decorative as are the finer products of this period from the furnaces of the Fontana of Urbino, or of the Lanfranchi of

Pesaro, they want to the eye of the true connoisseur the sentiment and expressive drawing, the exquisite finish and delicacy, the rich colour, and the admirable design of the earlier works produced at the Casa Pirota in Faenza, at ForlÌ, Castel Durante, Siena, and Caffaggiolo, in the latter years of the fifteenth and the first quarter of the sixteenth centuries, and by Mº Giorgio at Gubbio, many of which rival in beauty the exquisite miniature illuminations of that palmy period of Italian art. The service in the Correr museum in Venice, supposed to have been painted by an unknown artist of Faenza and dated 1482, is of high quality;

and we possess at South Kensington works by his hand, particularly a plaque or tile (No. 69) on which is a representation of the Resurrection of our Lord, worthy of being ranked with the highest productions of pictorial art. The borders of grotesques on the plates of this earlier period differ greatly from those of the Urbino factories of the middle time, being generally grounded on dark blue or yellow, and executed with great delicacy of touch and power of colouring; the centres of the smaller pieces are usually occupied by single figures, small medallion subjects, portrait heads, amorini, shields-of-arms, &c.; frequently they were intended for “amatorii” or love tokens. Some of the most careful and highly finished productions of Mº Giorgio are of this early time, before he was in the habit of signing with the well-known initials Mº Gº; the earliest so signed being the admirable St. Francis tazza at South Kensington, dated 1517.

We may therefore affirm that the choicest works in Italian pottery were produced during a period which extended from 1480 to 1520 or 1530; thence till 1560 was its meridian, although some fine works were produced at Urbino by the Fontana till 1570; before that time the ruby lustre had been lost, and soon after a rapid decline of design and execution reduces all to painful inferiority. The woodcut (p. 41) is from a splendid dish, dated 1533, no. 1748, at South Kensington.

Guidobaldo II., who had succeeded to Francesco Maria in 1538, wanted the force of character and nice appreciation of the higher literature and art which had distinguished his father; but he was a great patron of the ceramic productions of his duchy, and sought to improve the designs used by painters on pottery by the introduction of subjects of higher character and composition. With this view, lavish of expense, he bought original drawings by Raffaelle and the engravings of Marc Antonio from that master’s designs. He also made presents of services to contemporary princes and friends. One, given to the emperor Charles V., a double service, is mentioned by Vasari, the vases of which had been painted from the designs of Battista Franco, a Venetian, whom he had invited to Urbino. Another service of which pieces are extant was given by the duke to Andrea da Volterra, his confessor. For the Spezieria or medical dispensary, attached to his own palace, he ordered a complete set of vases and drug pots; designs were prepared for these by B. Franco and Raffaelle dal Colle and executed at the botega of Orazio Fontana, by whom some of the pieces were painted. They were subsequently presented by duke Francesco Maria II. to the Santa Casa at Loreto, where the greater part of them are still preserved. Some of them were engraved by Bartoli. The story tells us that so highly were they esteemed by Christina of Sweden that she offered to buy them for their weight of gold, after a grand duke of Florence had more prudently proposed an equal number of silver vessels of like weight.

Orazio Fontana, the great artist potter and painter of Urbino, worked for the duke from 1540 to 1560 and carried the art to the highest perfection. Passeri states that Orazio had no equal in the execution of his paintings, the distribution of his colours, and in the calculation of the effect of the fire upon them in the production of his wares. He also quotes various contemporary authors who speak of the excellence of the maiolica of this period. After the death of Orazio Fontana and Battista Franco works of an inferior class only were produced from the designs of the Flemish engravers. From 1580 the decline of the art was rapid. It met but small encouragement from duke Francesco Maria II., who succeeded in 1574, except during his residence at Castel Durante where it still, though feebly, survived. He abdicated in favour of the Holy See, and died in 1631. The rich collections of art then remaining at Urbino became the property of Ferdinand de’ Medici, who had married the duke’s granddaughter, and were removed to Florence.

Artistic manufactories had, in addition to those of the Umbrian duchy, greatly increased in various parts of Italy under the encouragement of powerful local families; but none appear to have attained to higher excellence than those of Tuscany. At Caffaggiolo under the powerful patronage of the Medici, and at Siena, some of the most excellent pieces of this beautiful pottery were produced, rivalling but not surpassing the fine examples of Faenza.

The Tuscan pieces are remarkable for their rich enamel, for the force and brilliancy of the colours, and for the execution and design of the grotesque borders and other decoration; a deep rich blue, a peculiar opaque but bright red, and a brilliant yellow, are characteristic pigments. The existence of the former fabrique has been made known to us only by the inscription of the name on some few pieces preserved in cabinets. From their style and the mark accompanying the inscription we are enabled to detect many examples, some of which bear concurrent testimony in the subjects connected with the history of the Medici family with

which they are painted. The well-known plate (in the woodcut) on which a painter is represented engaged in executing the portraits of a noble personage and his lady, who are seated near, and which were supposed to be intended for Raffaelle and the Fornarina, is a fine specimen of the work of perhaps the most able artist engaged at this pottery. This beautiful example is now in the South Kensington museum, acquired from the Bernal collection.

At Siena also admirable works were produced but we are disposed to think that their inspiration was derived from Caffaggiolo, whence also her potters probably received instruction in the application of the stanniferous enamel. Some pieces of the latter end of the fifteenth century are with probability ascribed to Siena, and dated pieces as early as 1501. Tiles also from the same fabrique are remarkable for the excellence of their grotesque borders on an orange yellow ground, having centres painted with great delicacy: some unusual examples having a black ground to their decorative borders.

Rome and the south of Italy do not appear to have produced meritorious works in this field, during the period of its greatest excellence in the northern and Tuscan states; and it is not till the dispersion of the artists, consequent upon the absorption of the Umbrian duchy into the Pontifical states, that we find a Durantine establishing a pottery at Rome, and producing in 1600 an inferior repetition of the grotesque style so admirable in the hands of the Fontana, half a century earlier at Urbino. The decadence was rapid; an increased number of inferior potteries produced wares of a lower price and quality; the fall of the ducal houses which had so greatly encouraged its higher excellence as a branch of fine art, together with the general deterioration in artistic taste, alike tended to its end.