Faenza.

That long and rather monotonous old post road the Via Æmilia (now run sidelong by the rail) which forms almost a straight line from Piacenza to Ancona, through one of the richest countries in the world, after passing the fine cities of Parma, Reggio, Modena, and Bologna, reaches Faenza and ForlÌ, important and early centres of the potter’s art.

Faenza is a small dull town on the site of the Roman Faventia, and of the antiquity of the ceramic industry at this site there can be no doubt, although perhaps Pesaro, Caffaggiolo, and Castel Durante may have nearly equal claims in that respect. Of its extent and importance there is equal certainty, and there is moreover great reason to believe that the French word faÏence applied to this class of pottery was derived from the name of the place; although there is another claimant in the small town, under the Estrelle mountains, a short way from Cannes and Grasse, called by the very name, Faiance (Faventia), and now chef-lieu of a canton in Draguignan of the Var. Mezerai, in his Grande Histoire, tells us that this place was chiefly renowned for its Vaisselles de terre, and there would seem to be good evidence of the existence of its potteries from a very early period to the present day; but of what degree of artistic merit we are unable to decide; neither can we feel assured that the name, as applied to enamelled earthenware, was derived from the French town and not from the Italian city. In Mr. Marryat’s history of pottery and porcelain is an interesting notice on this subject, from which we quote a few words. “FaÏence, Fayence, or Fayance, is the old French term, under which were comprised all descriptions of glazed earthenware, even inclusive of porcelain, and, to a certain extent, continues so, corresponding in its general use to the English word crockery. The name is commonly supposed to be derived from Faenza; but it may well be doubted whether upon any authority much to be relied upon, since neither historians nor topographers seem to have considered the matter worthy of their attention or examination. It might be useful to trace the origin of a name so frequently given by the Romans to their settlements. Besides Faenza there was a district in their colony of Barcinum (now Barcelona), and another in Andalusia, which is supposed to have been situated somewhere between Alcala, Real, and Antequera. The old word Fayence, from the Latin ‘fagus,’ a beech tree, has become almost obsolete in France. In Geneva, however, to the present day, beechwood is still sold in the timber markets as ‘de la fayence.’”

The fabrique of Faenza has been a kind of refuge, among amateurs, for pieces destitute of sufficient outward sign to mark them as of other localities; and every gaunt and early piece, strong in blue and yellow colour, has been set down as Faentine. We agree with MM. Jacquemart and Darcel in the belief that many works of Caffaggiolo have been classed as of Faenza. We are, however, not convinced that the plaque in the hÔtel Cluny, the piece bearing the most ancient date hitherto discovered (if we except that at SÈvres, inscribed xxxxiiiiiiii., and supposed to read 1448), inscribed in early characters around the sacred monogram, “NICOLAUS DE RAGNOLIS AD HONOREM DEI ET SANCTI MICHAELIS FECIT FIERI ANO 1475” is rightly attributed to Caffaggiolo instead of to Faenza. Another plaque in the SÈvres collection is dated 1477, with the name and arms of NICOLAVS · ORSINI. We next arrive at the exquisite service, of which seventeen pieces are preserved in the Correr museum at Venice, one in the writer’s (from PourtalÈs), and one in the South Kensington collection; we give a woodcut of the mark, with the date 1482.

The first published matter bearing upon the wares of Faenza is the passage by Garzoni in the Piazza Universale, a publication of 1485, in which he speaks of the pottery of this place as excellent for its whiteness, &c. che fa le majoliche cosÌ bianche e polite, a remark borne out by the quality of the service just referred to. In the church of St. Petronio at Bologna is a pavement of tiles covering the ground of the chapel of St. Sebastian, and without doubt laid down at the expense of Donato Vaselli, a canon of that Basilica, who about 1487 decorated that chapel at his own cost. The date upon one of these tiles is 1487, and upon others are inscriptions, in parts unfortunately imperfect from the injury or misplacement of some of the squares, but which as put together by signor Frati of that city, would read BOLOQNIESVS · BETINI · FECIT: while upon other tiles occur:—

and again upon another a small label inscribed PETRVS · ANDRE · DEFAVE. Whatever doubt may attach to the Faentine origin of the plaque in the hÔtel Cluny, dated 1475, there can be none in respect to the pavement of San Petronio: the fact of the name Petrus Andre-de-Fave occurring, independent of the others, upon a piccolo cartello seems to us an indisputable proof to that effect. It is painted with great skill, in a style of colouring and with ornaments which we are accustomed to attribute to Faenza; trophies, animals, heads, the arms of Bologna and her motto, the keys of St. Peter, and various devices are represented; among them the silver case of lancets on a green field, and the wounded vein, imprese of the Manfredi family of Faenza.

Referring the reader to the full explanation given in the introduction to the large catalogue of Maiolica, we can give here only a few brief remarks upon the wares attributed to Faenza under the following heads:—

A. One of the most important if not the leading establishment at Faenza was known under the name of the Casa Pirota, and probably existed from an early period, but when and by whom founded, and the name of its maestro, we have yet to learn. A house on the north side of the principal street (where a pottery was working some few years since, at which we have seen well-executed reproductions of the old wares) was stated by the proprietors to be on the site of that ancient botega, but whether there is sufficient foundation for this statement we are unable to say.

The greater part or nearly all the pieces known to us as being marked with the crossed circle, signed with the name of the house, or executed by the same hands as such pieces, are of a marked character of decoration; the wide borders are generally

ornamented with grotesques, reserved in white and shaded with a brownish yellow; or reserved in a paler greyish tone heightened with white, on a dark blue ground. A berettino and sopra azzuro are the terms applied to this mode of decoration, and among examples of the former and perhaps earlier of the styles, are works of the highest quality of enamelled pottery and of admirable decoration and artistic painting. The woodcut is from a good plate of about 1520; at South Kensington, no. 1734: and we give also a copy of the mark on the reverse.

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.

Many early pieces, modelled in high relief and in the round, are probably of this origin. The very fine tazza, represented in the woodcut, is a good example. They differ from parallel pieces ascribed to Caffaggiolo in a certain rigidity of modelling, the use of a shading and outline of a darker or more indigo-like blue, and a free application of yellow and orange pigments; a more gothic sentiment also prevails from the influence of the German school, and we find subjects copied or derived from the works of DÜrer, Martin SchÖn, &c., more frequently upon the higher class of Faentine wares than on those of painters working at the more southern centres of the art. The contemporary pieces of Caffaggiolo are more Italian in sentiment, the blue pigment of greater brilliancy, a purple also used, and a thicker glaze of great richness and more tendre effect.

From an early period Faenza seems to have produced a large number of electuary pots and pharmacy bottles; a pair are in the hÔtel Cluny, one bearing the name Faenza, the other 1500. Many of these vases are decorated in the style known as a quartiere, being divided into compartments, painted in bright yellow, &c., on dark blue, with foliated and other ornament, and usually having a medallion with profile head or subject on one side, under which the name of the drug in gothic lettering is inscribed on a ribbon. A curious example is in the British museum; a large flask-shaped bottle of dark blue ground with yellow leafage and with twisted handles, upon the medallion of which is represented a bear clasping a column, with the inscription “et sarrimo boni amici,” allusive, in all probability, to the reconciliation of the rival houses of Orsini and Colonna in 1517.

We would here refer to the frequent occurrence on these vases, as occasionally upon other pieces, of pharmaceutical and ecclesiastical signs, letters, &c. surmounted by the archiepiscopal cross and other emblems which we believe have reference to the uses of monastic and private pharmacies for which the services were made, and not to be confounded, as has been too frequently the case, with the marks of boteghe or of the painters of the piece. These emblems have no other value to us than the clue which they might afford to patient investigation of the locality and brotherhood of the conventual establishment to which they may have belonged, and among the archives of which may be recorded the date and the fabrique by which they were furnished. But what are of far greater interest are those admirable early pieces, painted by ceramic artists of the first rank, who, beyond a rare monogram or date, have left no record of their place or name; and whose highly-prized works, for their authors are several, are jealously guarded in our public and private museums. Some of these, with reasonable probability, are believed to have been executed at Faenza. Several examples are preserved, of an early character, perhaps the work of one hand, who marked them on the back with a large M crossed by a paraphe. They are usually plateaux with raised centre, on which is a portrait head, or shallow dishes with flat border. Variations of the letter F are found on pieces, some of which are fairly ascribable to this fabrique, but we need not point out the fact that many other localities of the manufacture can claim the same for their initial letter, and that the characteristics and technical qualities of the pieces themselves are a necessary test.

Later in the sixteenth century, when subject painting covering the whole surface of the piece was in general fashion (istoriata), the unsigned works produced at Faenza are difficult to distinguish from those of other fabriques. Some examples exist in collections, as one in the Louvre with the subject of a cavalry skirmish and inscribed 1561 in Faenca, but we have no knowledge of their painters, and even the occurrence of the name of that city is but rarely met with. Her wares are usually richly ornamented on the back with imbrication, as was the manner of Manara, or with concentric lines of blue, yellow, orange.

E. Of the pottery produced at Faenza during the seventeenth and the last century we have but little record. Some pharmacy vases are mentioned by M. Jacquemart signed “Andrea Pantales Pingit, 1616,” but the signature does not appear to be accompanied by the name of that city. In 1639 Francesco Vicchij was the proprietor of the most important fabrique.

A modern establishment professes to occupy the premises of the ancient Casa Pirota, where we have seen fairly good reproductions of the ordinary sopra azzuro plates of the old botega, but these are but weak imitations, and the glory of Faentine ceramic art must be looked for in museums.