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XVII PLATES BY NICOLA FONTANA DA URBINO 
 AT THE CORRER MUSEUM VENICE A STUDY IN 
 EARLY XVI™ CENT y MAIOLICA W™ ILLUSTRA- 
 TIONS BY HENRY WALLIS 
 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Although the celebrated maiolica plates by Nicola Montana at the Correr 
 Museum have been the subject of more frequent allusion than, probably, any 
 other examples of the art, it has happened that seven only of the seventeen 
 were engraved in the books and articles which at various times have discussed 
 them from different points of view. If only for purposes of reference, an 
 illustration thus restricted was manifestly inadequate and required completion. 
 It was this consideration which prompted me in the first instance to undertake 
 the present publication — intended originally to consist only of copies of the 
 compositions ornamenting the plates together with a brief technical description 
 of the objects. But on looking over the literature to which they had given 
 rise, I found that the source whence Nicola had derived his inspiration for 
 some of the pictures — namely, the Hypnerotomacliia Poliphili and the 
 Ovidio Metharnorphoseos vulgare — had escaped the notice of the writers 
 taking part in the discussion. It seemed therefore desirable, as relating to the 
 painter's procedure in invention, and also from the fact that the above works 
 are not always easily accessible, to add facsimiles of the cuts referring to the 
 paintings based upon their design. My doing so has necessitated an extension 
 of the text, for which I venture to crave the indulgence of the reader. 
 
 The illustrations of Nicola's paintings are, of course, only intended to be 
 studies of the compositions, and not of their effect as paintings on maiolica. 
 The student to whom the originals are unknown may obtain from two of 
 the chromolithographs in Delange's Recueil, and one of those illustrating 
 Prof. Argnani's Minascimento delle Ceramiche Maiolicate in Faenza, a fair 
 notion of Nicola's colour-schemes. 
 
 My best thanks are due to Prof. Angelo Scrinzi, Keeper of the Civic and 
 Correr Museum, and to the Secretary of the same, Cav. ab. Giuseppe Nicoletti, 
 for facilities afforded in studying the objects. 
 
 H. W. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 The present examples of the art of Nicola Eontana belong to the period when 
 in all technical qualities Italian Maiolica had reached a high standard of 
 excellence. The " body " is firm and tenacious, the stanniferous glaze is 
 evenly applied, the colours are fresh and transparent, and the firing has 
 perfectly succeeded. The execution, the brushwork, has the easy, flowing 
 grace of fine vase-painting. The figures throughout are outlined in blue, the 
 flesh tone being lightly indicated in a pale tint. In the nude figures an 
 additional brilliancy is occasionally obtained by the application of an extra 
 coating of the stanniferous glaze ; the draperies are nearly always in pale tints. 
 There are now and again accentuated passages of dark tone, as in the stems of 
 the trees and in certain masses of foliage ; the upper portions of the skies are 
 usually in deepish cobalt-blue ; the architecture is painted in cool greenish- 
 grey tints. The reverses are covered with the plain white glaze, tending to 
 pinkish, on account of its tenuity ; in one instance only is found what may 
 be termed a mark, and this merely consists of two blue lines crossing each 
 other; it is on fig. 25. The rims of the five Orpheus plates and fig. 27 
 are black, the rest are all yellow. The upright sides of the tondini are 
 ornamented in sopra-bicmco rosettes ; these have been omitted in the illustra- 
 tions. The absence of arms, devices, or numbers seems to suggest that none of 
 the pieces belonged to a " service," although they may have formed parts of 
 series. The Italian names of the pieces (in English they would all be called 
 plates) follow the text of Lazari, in his Notizia. 
 
 Page 
 
 Fig. 1. — Woodcut. Incidents in the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. From Ovidio 
 
 Methamorphoseos vulgare. Venice. 1497 10 
 
 Fig. 2.— Woodcut. Orpheus and the Beasts. Ov. Met. 1497 11 
 
 Fig. 3.— Woodcut. The Death of Orpheus. Ov. Met. 1497 „ 13 
 
 b 
 
vi 
 
 DESCRIPTION" OP THE ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Fig. 4. — Woodcut. Apollo and Marsyas. Ov. Met. 1497 14 
 
 Fig. 5. — Woodcut. Apollo, Pan, and Midas. Ov. Met. 1497 15 
 
 Fig. 6.— Woodcut. Peleus and Thetis. Ov. Met. 1497 : 16 
 
 Fig.' 7. — Woodcut. Bacchus (Autumn). Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. Venice. 1499 . . 17 
 
 Fig. 8.— Woodcut. Jupiter Pluvius (Winter) . Hyp. Pol. 1499 17 
 
 Fig. 9. — Woodcut. Tyndareus offering the two eggs of which Leda had been delivered 
 
 to Apollo at Delphi. Hyp. Pol. 1499 18 
 
 Fig. 10.— Woodcut. Ottinello and Giulia. 1500 21 
 
 Fig. 11.— Disco da frutta. D. 282 mm 29 
 
 Eurydice pursued by Aristeus is bitten in the foot by a venomous 
 serpent. 
 
 Fig. 12.— Disco da frutta. D. 28 cm 31 
 
 Orpheus on the shore of the Styx awaiting the approach of Charon : the 
 gate of hell in the background. 
 
 Fig. 13.— Disco da frutta. D. 285 mm. ................ 33 
 
 Orpheus leading Eurydice out of Avernus : turning to look at her she is 
 seized by a demon : in the background Charon approaches in his bark. 
 
 Fig. 14.— Disco da frutta. D. 272 mm 35 
 
 Orpheus playing to the Beasts. 
 
 Fig. 15.— Disco da frutta. D. 27 cm. . .37 
 
 Orpheus slain by the Thracian women. 
 
 Fig. 16 — Piatto. D. 287 mm 39 
 
 Two incidents in the story of Apollo and Marsyas : the contest and the 
 flaying of Marsyas. 
 
 Fig. 17.— Piatto. D. 29 cm. ....... 41 
 
 The Judgment of Midas : in the central medallion Apollo affixes ass's ears 
 to the head of Midas. 
 
 Fig. 18.— Piatto. D. 288 mm. 43 
 
 Three incidents in the story of Peleus and Thetis : Thetis is changed into 
 a tree and into a dragon ; the central medallion represents the interview of 
 Peleus with Proteus. 
 
 Fig. 19 —Piatto. D. 29 cm 45 
 
 Narcissus and Echo : the death of Narcissus is represented in the 
 medallion. 
 
 Fig. 20.— Tondino. D. 224 mm 47 
 
 Meleager flying from the fatal brand : in the medallion is the figure of 
 Diana. 
 
 Fig. 21.— Scodella. D. 282 mm 49 
 
 The Four Seasons. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS. vii 
 
 Page 
 
 Fig. 22.— Scodella. D. 282 mm 51 
 
 King Solomon adoring an Idol. 
 
 Fig. 23.— Scodella. D. 282 mm 53 
 
 The Young Man void of Understanding and the Harlot ; King Solomon 
 listening. Prov. VII. 5. 
 
 Fig. 24.— Tondino. D. 225 mm 55 
 
 Ottinello and Giulia (see Appendix B). 
 
 Fig. 25.— Tondino. D. 227 mm 57 
 
 A Young Woman playing the lute, whilst Cupid presents a veil or 
 handkerchief to a Young Man : Leda and the Swan are represented in the 
 medallion. 
 
 Fig. 26.— Tondino. D. 231 mm 59 
 
 A Young Woman caressing a Unicorn (the emblem of Chastity) is 
 addressed by a Huntsman who holds in one hand a sling and in the other a 
 stick : in the medallion is a figure of Cupid. 
 
 Fig. 27.— Fruttiera. D. 263 mm. 61 
 
 A Cavalier brought as a prisoner by a Lady before Cupid. 
 
 Fig. 28.— Woodcut. Ottinello and Giulia (XVIIth cent.) ? . 67 
 
 Note. — The monogram on the cover is copied from the back of the Plate in the 
 National Museum, Florence, described on p. 22. 
 
MAIOLICA PLATES BY NICOLA FONTANA DA 
 URBINO AT THE CORRER MUSEUM, VENICE. 
 
 M 0 N G the benefactors to art there are few who 
 have shown more discriminating intelligence in 
 the bestowal of their bounty than the Venetian 
 patrician, Theodore Correr. He belonged to what 
 is now almost an extinct race, that of the born 
 collector equiped at all points with the panoply 
 of the antiquary. All these great collectors of 
 the past, even when men of fashion, like Horace 
 Walpole, were scholarly, erudite, and. of wide 
 artistic sympathies, and. these qualities were 
 reflected, in their collections. They likewise lived, 
 in times favouring their quest ; indeed, this was 
 a necessity of their being. Whether it was in XVIIIth century London, 
 at Paris after the French Ptevolution and during the Napoleonic wars, or 
 even later — but with diminishing facilities — up to the middle of the last 
 century, they enjoyed opportunities which may never occur again. Yet, from 
 the standpoint of propitious time and place, if there was one more fortunate 
 than the rest, it will he agreed, that the luck, the preponderating advantage, 
 rested with Correr ; born in Venice in 1750, and living on till 1830. 
 
 For it will be remembered that at the time of his birth Italy had. been 
 declining for a couple of centuries or more. Her former state of prosperity, as 
 at the time of the Renaissance, had been exchanged, for one of ever increasing 
 impoverishment. Venice, however, had retained, something of her ancient 
 dignity and much of the wealth acquired by her commerce, which, also, was 
 still considerable. Moreover, amongst her nobles, merchant princes, the large 
 cultured class, and the many wealthy foreigners who had made Venice their 
 place of residence, the love of art was still a passion. Hence, when the 
 owners of the accumulated artistic treasures with which the palaces throughout 
 Italy were filled had begun to feel the pinch of poverty, they naturally sent 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 their most precious and valuable objects to the Venetian market. Finding 
 there a ready sale for them, the supply had continued, so that the artistic 
 riches of Venice in the XVIIIth century must have been enormous ; and 
 there they remained till the disastrous year of 1797, which saw the end of 
 the Venetian Republic and the financial ruin of the city. 
 
 Meanwhile, Correr, on arriving at man's estate, had been deputed to till 
 certain offices assigned to persons of his rank and station. In these he gave 
 evidence of more than ordinary capacity and business ability, inducing the 
 belief that a brilliant official career was within his reach. He had already, 
 however, begun to occupy himself with artistic studies and the acquisition 
 of works of art. The passion gained strength until he came to the conclusion 
 that in these pursuits lay his true vocation; he resigned his offices and finally 
 withdrew from political life. Little seems to be known respecting his earlier 
 acquisitions — those made previous to the catastrophe of 1797, — but it is on 
 record that the bulk of his collection was obtained after that date. He had 
 prepared himself for such an opportunity, and when it came he was master 
 of the situation. His acquisitions then and afterwards were of the first 
 importance, and on such a scale as to constitute his collection a veritable 
 museum — which, indeed, he had intended it to be ; for he piled up treasures 
 of art with no sordid aim of gain or personal profit. At the wreck of his 
 country's fortunes he bought without stint, but it was to save these marvels 
 of Italian skill and genius from leaving the country. He held them in trust 
 for Venice when her evil days had passed. It was a noble ambition, and the 
 illustrious patrician must be counted truly fortunate, in that at the end of a 
 long life he had the supreme felicity of knowing that his early ideal had 
 been realized. 
 
 The Correr Museum is rich in many departments of art, in some exceptionally 
 so; again, in others, while the examples are not so numerous as those in 
 celebrated collections formed at the same time, they contain particular objects 
 which hold a unique position in the history of art. This is the case in the 
 section of Italian Maiolica, which includes the well-known series of seventeen 
 Plates painted with subjects taken mainly from Ovid's Metamorphoses, and 
 respecting which there has been such a diversity of opinions among the writers 
 on maiolica. The matter of debate, it will be remembered, referred to their 
 date and locality of production. The writers were in agreement as to the 
 intrinsic artistic excellence of the paintings, but it was long before any 
 conclusion was arrived at, leaving no reasonable doubt about the personality 
 
3 
 
 of the painter and the school to which he belonged. The discussion has now 
 become in a sense historic, and constitutes in itself an interesting chapter in 
 the literature of the art. It may therefore be useful before considering the 
 artistic qualities of the objects to glance briefly at the arguments put forth 
 during the debate, especially, as the reader may be aware, since they have to 
 be sought out in various volumes and publications extending over a period of 
 nearly forty years. 
 
 The first critical account of the Plates appeared in a Handbook or Guide 
 to the Correr Museum written by a former Director, Sig. Vincenzo Lazari, 
 and bearing the date 1859 *. Preceding the descriptions of some of the 
 different classes of objects, the Director wrote short historical notices of 
 the respective arts. That dealing with maiolica refers to its relationship with 
 the ceramic art of antiquity and its rise in the Middle Ages ; mention is 
 likewise made of the authors who have written upon the art in modern times. 
 It is clear, however, that Lazari's opinions on the subject were either 
 conjectural or derived at second hand. He classed the Plates with the 
 maiolica of Paenza, not from his possessing any definite knowledge of 
 Faventine design or technique, but because Tommaso Garzoni in his Piazza 
 Universale, written in 1585, extols Paenza " clie fa le majoliche cosi bianche e 
 polite" which is simply the laudatory remark that a writer having no special 
 acquaintance with the subject might have applied to the XVIth century 
 wares produced at other Italian cities. Lazari accepts the figures 1482 on the 
 painting of Solomon adoring an Idol (fig. 22) as that of the date of its 
 production, which shows that his perception of style was not very acute. 
 His descriptions of the Plates and of the paintings decorating them are 
 generally correct, although his title to fig. 23, " Adonia in the atrium of 
 Bathsheba," is not in agreement with the Biblical story; and he, an Italian 
 scholar and Director of an Italian Museum, might also have indicated the 
 poems or novelle whence the painter took the subjects of figs. 25, 26, 27. 
 On one point Lazari certainly made a valuable suggestion, namely, on the 
 necessity for a copious and classified illustration of the known examples of 
 maiolica, if we are ever to arrive at a satisfactory account of its history. 
 He justly remarked, that as the examples of the wares are in Museums and 
 Collections scattered over Europe, a comparison of the separate objects can only 
 be made by means of copies. He therefore suggested that the various national 
 
 * Notizia delle opere oV Arte e d'Antichitd della Raccolta Correr, di Venezia; scritta da Vincenzo 
 Lazari. 1859. 
 
 B 2 
 
i 
 
 Museums should publish their maiolica in chromolithography, stating that 
 he had one of the Correr pieces so reproduced. The limited funds at his 
 disposal probably prevented Lazari carrying out his scheme, but his idea may, 
 perhaps, have been the inspiring motive of Delarige's monumental work. It is 
 to be regretted that as he so poignantly felt the need of illustrations, he did 
 not accompany his Guide with engravings of the objects he described ; they 
 would then most likely have been, after the manner of the time, no more than 
 outlines, but nevertheless, more useful than the misleading reproductions of 
 photographs which do duty for illustrations in some of the Museum Handbooks 
 of to-day. 
 
 Prom the period of the publication of the Notizia onwards, reference to the 
 Correr Plates is found in nearly all the works treating of maiolica, the earlier 
 authors contenting themselves with repeating Lazari's theory of their derivation. 
 Thus Alfred Darcel, in the Introductions to his Catalogues of the Italian 
 faience at the Louvre *, and to Delange's chromolithographs of examples of 
 maiolica f, while calling attention to the artistic importance of the objects, 
 emphasizes Lazari's attribution by styling them the highest expression of 
 Paventine ceramic art. Delange himself, however, in his description of 
 the two Correr Plates illustrated in the Hecueil, suggests that they were made 
 at Cafaggiolo, which is accounted for when it is remembered that he wrote at 
 the time of the Cafaggiolo craze. He also terms them "archaic," by which he 
 probably meant that he did not find in them the facile mannerism and warm 
 coloration of late Urbino wares. The next mention of them known to the 
 present writer occurs in a fresh attempt to catalogue the maiolica in the Correr 
 Museum by Dr. Urbani di Gheltof, who retains the Paventine attribution but 
 questions the date, 1482, pointing out that from their style of design the 
 paintings cannot be earlier than the first decade of the XVIth century %. The 
 new Correr Catalogue was probably uDknown to Portnum when he published 
 the South Kensington Catalogue in the following year §, but it is evident, 
 from the drift of his remarks, that doubts were then current respecting the 
 Faventine derivation of the Plates. He, indeed, includes them with the wares 
 
 * A. Daecel. Musee de la Renaissance {Louvre). 1864. 
 t Delange. Hecueil cle Faience italienne. 1867-G9. 
 
 t Ukbani di Gheltof. Catalogo del Museo Civico di Venezia, in the Archivio Veneto. 1872. T. 4. 
 p. 192. 
 
 § G. Drtjry E. Fortntjm. Descriptive Catalogue of the Maiolica in South Kensington Museum. 1873. 
 p. 484. 
 
5 
 
 produced at Faenza, but at the same time lie does so on grounds which are 
 only conjectural, and says that if they are not of Faventine they may he of 
 Durantine origin. As showing how near Fortnuni was to detecting the actual 
 painter of the composition, the reader is referred to his account of Nicola 
 Pellipario, known as Nicolo or Nicola Fontana da Urbino, at p. 324 of his 
 Catalogue. He there states that Sir Wollaston Franks had identified Nicola 
 to be the painter of the celebrated Gonzaga-Este service *. Sir Wollaston had 
 not visited Venice since his boyhood, consequently it is improbable that he had 
 seen, or, at least, remembered, the Correr Plates ; had he known them, even 
 from illustrations, he would scarcely have failed to recognize that they were 
 painted by one and the same hand as the Gonzaga-Este service, and also of other 
 examples of the painter in the maiolica gallery at the British Museum. 
 
 Another decade passed, and still the Plates are found classed with the 
 wares of Paenza, as in M. Emile Molinier's volume on Italian maiolica in 
 Italy f . At this period of the discussion the chief point of interest referred 
 not so much to the locality of the pottery where they were made as to 
 the date of the objects, it having then been seen that they belong to a later 
 time than the supposed date of the Solomon Plate. As to that particular 
 composition, M. Molinier concedes the correctness of the inscription, while 
 assigning the rest of the pieces to the commencement of the following 
 century. Pour years later, however, in one of a series of articles published in 
 VArt, he returns to the subject and admits that all the Plates must belong 
 to the same time, explaining the numerals by the supposition that the print 
 or drawing from which the design was copied bore that date %. M. Molinier 
 ingeniously cites the case of an erroneously inscribed plate in the M-usee du 
 Louvre, where the ceramic artist, copying from an engraving, had painted on 
 it the name of the publisher of the print. In this article, to which the author 
 judiciously added illustrations of five of the Plates, he sets forth the evidence 
 for attributing the series to Nicola da Urbino. Again, in the next year he 
 published a summary of his contributions to IJ Art in a volume devoted to 
 the XVth century Maiolica still in Italy §. Finally, Fortnum in his latest 
 work admits that the case for Faenza rests on no valid evidence, and that from 
 analogies of style the Plates are clearly by the painter of the Gonzaga-Este 
 
 * See Appendix A. 
 
 t Emile Molinier. Les Majoliques italiennes en Italie. 1883. 
 
 t E. Molinier. VArt. 13 me anne'e, T. 2. 1887. 
 
 § E. Molinier. La CSramique italienne au XV e siecle. 1888. p. 75. 
 
6 
 
 service, Nicola Fontana da Urbino *. Fortnum, however, says that he still 
 adhered to the hypothesis that the Solomon composition was taken from 
 an unknown print or drawing dated 1482. He does not refer to a statement 
 by Dr. Otto von Falke in the Prussian Jahrbuch of 1894, that three of the 
 cuts in a XVth century Italian translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses — namely, 
 the Apollo and Marsyas, the Death of Orpheus, and the Apollo, Pan, and Midas- 
 show motives of design similar to those on three of the Plates f . It is therefore 
 probable that the article had escaped his eye, but as none of the cuts relates to 
 the Solomon painting, the circumstance might not have affected his opinion on 
 this point. It is beyond the scope of the present study to discuss the art of 
 Nicola except in relation to his paintings on the Correr Plates ; it may, 
 however, be mentioned that an account of a number of his other works is 
 given by Fortnuui in his ' Maiolica.' Nicola's position as the head of the 
 Fontana family was pointed out long ago by Sir J. C. Robinson, in an 
 appendix to his Catalogue of the Soulages Collection %. The name of the 
 family was originally Pellipario, of Castel Durante, the cognomen Fontana 
 being added on its removal to Urbino. At the latter city the bottega in 
 1528, and probably earlier, was conducted by Guido, the son of Nicola, possibly 
 to enable the father to give his undivided attention to the pictorial branch of 
 the business. 
 
 At first glance it might seem that an enquiry relating to the derivation of 
 certain examples of Italian maiolica protracted over close upon forty years 
 savoured somewhat of the methods of Byzantine diplomacy, or of the Court of 
 Chancery in its palmy days. Yet it must be remembered that the record of an 
 art which nourished four centuries back, and whereof the history was not written 
 when it could have been set forth with certitude and authority, may be taken 
 as almost past recovery. We have only to consider what would have been the 
 state of our knowledge of the rise and progress of the arts of painting, sculpture, 
 and architecture at the period of the Italian Renaissance, had not Vasari have 
 written his immortal Vite at the precise time when the personality of the 
 artists, and likewise the traditions of their practice, were still fresh in the 
 memory of their countrymen. No such work had been written relating to 
 Italian Maiolica ; therefore, when in the last century sprang up a revived 
 interest in the art, and students naturally sought information as to the place of 
 
 * C. D. E. Fortnum. Maiolica. 1896. p. 179. 
 
 t Otto yon Falke. Jahrbuch der Kgl. Preussischen Kunstsammlungen, 1894. p. 42, note. 
 % J. C. Robinson. Catalogue of the Soulages Collection. 1857. p. 195. 
 
7 
 
 production of the various wares, together with the names of the ceramic artists 
 and so forth, they discovered that, apart from a few publications of the nature 
 of Passeri's worthless Storia, its history had yet to be written. Respecting the 
 Correr Plates, the truth would probably have been sooner arrived at had Lazari 
 frankly stated that the known evidence relating to them authorized no positive 
 assertion, either as to their date or the locality of the pottery where they were 
 made. His official standing gave a certain weight to his dicta on all concerning 
 the objects in his museum ; consequently, when he declared the maiolica to be 
 Eaventine, the enquiry was misdirected from its starting-point. It must be 
 admitted that he was unfortunate in possessing no record of the acquisition of 
 the Plates by Theodore Correr. So fine a connoisseur, who had secured for 
 his collection seventeen works of such high character, would, it might fairly be 
 supposed, have learnt something of their painter and the school to which he 
 belonged. Whether he committed the result of his research to writing is 
 unknown. The archives of the Museum contain no document makins* mention 
 of them whilst still in his possession — -so the writer has been informed by the 
 courteous Secretary of the Museum, Abbate Nicoletti. 
 
 Throughout the course of the above-mentioned discussion occasional refer- 
 ence was made to the supposed sources whence the compositions of the paintings 
 were taken, mainly in respect to the Solomon Plate inscribed " 1482." It was, 
 of course, known to the learned writers that the Maiolicari of the cinquecento 
 were accustomed to copy the figure subjects in their istoriati pieces either from 
 the works of the engravers most in vogue, as Marc Antonio, Agostino Veneziano, 
 and others of the same school, or else they copied designs expressly made for 
 them by masters of repute. The quattrocento ceramic artists, on the contrary, 
 were believed, and with every appearance of probability, to have been themselves 
 the designers as well as the painters of the decorative motives on their pottery. 
 Those engaged in the research would, naturally, not expect to find the Solomon 
 design amongst the works of the engravers of the Marc Antonio school, since 
 in 1482 the master was only six years old. They must, therefore, have looked 
 for it in those of the earlier engravers, or in a drawing by a XVth century 
 master. Not finding either the one or the other, they concluded the original 
 was lost. It apparently did not occur to them to search in another direction, 
 and one singularly rich in all kinds of imaginative compositions, namely, the 
 books with woodcut illustrations of the end of the quattrocento. It was two of 
 these volumes, the Ovid's Metamorphoses of 1497 and the Hypnerotomachia 
 Poliphili of 1499, both printed at Venice, which furnished the inspiring 
 
8 
 
 motives for many of Nicola's happiest compositions. That he constantly 
 consulted their pictured pages is evident — they were his guides, his closest 
 companions, and his books of reference. At the same time, Nicola was no 
 slavish copyist. Neither in the arrangements of his compositions nor in the 
 attitudes of the separate figures does he exactly repeat his models. Indeed, 
 as his paintings were confined within the limits of a circle, and the cuts were 
 rectangular in shape, he necessarily had to modify the compositions he adopted. 
 Sometimes, however, he stuck pretty closely to the design of the woodcut, at 
 others he only borrowed an attitude, a detail, or a hint for the composition. 
 
 No one who has attempted to read Pra Francesco Colonna's frigid and 
 pedantic romance — the Poliphilus — will imagine for a moment that Nicola 
 would have gone to its text for the subject of a painting. Written at the time 
 when all pertaining to classical antiquity was the object of idolatrous worship, it 
 may have been regarded as an almost divinely inspired revelation in the coteries 
 where the cult of antiquity was a craze rather than a matter of sound learning 
 or intelligent research. But for our painter the interest of the volume rested 
 solely in the woodcuts, and so it will ever remain for those who value and 
 appreciate the fine qualities of the early Italian wood-engravings. Respecting 
 the Italian version of the Metamorphoses, the case was otherwise ; for Nicola, 
 to whom, as will be seen later on, the Latin text remained a sealed book, was 
 doubtless familiar with the stories in the quaint trecento Italian transla- 
 tion. Indeed, either in the original or by the medium of translation, the 
 Metamorphoses was, perhaps, at the beginning of the XVIth century, the most 
 widely read of all Latin poems. It was the period when the cultivated Italians, 
 while conscious of their intellectual supremacy, had discovered that their 
 national life lay at the mercy of the foreigner. Also, there was the foreboding 
 that the disaster of 1494, when Charles VIII. marched unopposed through 
 the fairest provinces of Italy, was but the precursor of further invasions, 
 although they may not have anticipated a catastrophe so terrible as the Sack 
 of Home in 1527. A more sturdy race — or, as the Italian historians put the 
 case, a race that had not become enervated and corrupted, deliberately and of 
 set purpose, by the iniquitous policy of the Despots and the Curia, typified by 
 the statecraft of the Medici and the Borgias — would have organized a national 
 militia and kept the foreigner at bay. Instead of so doing, the supersubtle 
 contemporaries of Machiavelli sought safety in schemes of pitting Spaniards, 
 French, and Germans against each other — with the result which might be 
 expected, — themselves, meanwhile, finding solace from present trouble in the 
 
9 
 
 dreams of their ancient poets or in feasting their eyes with the lnscious 
 inventions of the living Venetian painters. For these highly educated princes, 
 refined courtiers, dilettanti prelates, and elegant literati — all pleasure-loving — 
 the gods and heroes of ancient Greece lived again in the exquisite verse of 
 Ovid. The personages were unreal, but they were very graceful and their 
 stories highly pathetic. The Arcadia in which they dwelt was far removed 
 from the actual world of ribald German landsknechts or insolent Spanish 
 soldiery ; hence to wander in imagination by its streams and groves must have 
 afforded infinite consolation to a generation whose faith had departed, who had 
 lost its illusions, and whose national life had been so deeply lacerated. 
 
 It was for patrons of this class that Nicola painted his istoriati maiolica. 
 They were all men of refined taste — connoisseurs in the true sense of the word. 
 Theirs was no assumed interest in art as the fashion of the day; its technique 
 and procedure were familiar to them, and not seldom were they accomplished 
 practitioners. The design they demanded at the time when the Correr Plates 
 were painted — the first or second decade of the XVIth century— was that of the 
 ripe Renaissance period. In pictorial art it was the frescos of the "Stanze " and 
 the Villa Farnesina of Raphael, the " Bacchus and Ariadne " and the " Sacred 
 and Profane Love " of Titian, and the idyllic compositions of Giorgione from 
 which they derived full and unalloyed enjoyment. They may have admitted 
 the high qualities of the quattrocentisti, but the respect accorded was cold ; 
 they raised their caps and passed on, reserving their enthusiasm for the more 
 sonorous style and liberal graces of the later masters. That Nicola's inclination 
 was towards the severer design of the XVth century painters is possible, seeing 
 his evident admiration for the art of the early woodcuts. Those, especially, which 
 illustrated the Metamorphoses were of the kind to evoke the keenest delight 
 in the soul of the born painter. His Umbrian temperament must have been 
 stirred to its depths by their force of dramatic representation, in like manner 
 as were his remote Etruscan ancestors by the master-work of Athenian artists. 
 And, truly, in their strength and simplicity these woodcut-outlines have in 
 them something of those qualities which have found their highest expression 
 in the noble design and splendid freedom of line characterizing the imaginative 
 conceptions of the Greek vase-painters. But whatever his personal predilection, 
 Nicola must have been aware that his admiration for the severity and restraint 
 of the quattrocento designers was not shared by the class for whom he 
 catered. Its artistic sense would have been offended by the introduction of a 
 note out of harmony with the decorative scheme of an apartment wherein the 
 
 c 
 
10 
 
 maiolica on the sideboard was painted in the style of the preceding century. 
 The painter therefore introduced into his compositions the much-admired 
 "paesi," and sought to draw his figures in the prevailing manner of his day, 
 which, at its best, was of singular grace and refinement. The result being 
 that, at least in the case of the Correr Plates, Mcola produced a series of 
 paintings which unite in their design some of the finer qualities of the earlier 
 and later ceramic art of the Renaissance. 
 
 Of all the stories in the Metamorphoses, it will be generally admitted that 
 
 Pig. 1. 
 
 the loves of Orpheus and Eurydice is the most touching and pathetic. 
 Fortunately five of the Correr Plates are illustrated by the same number of 
 incidents described by the poet, or rather, it should be said, by his Italian 
 translator (see figs. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15). The series is probably incomplete, since 
 it may fairly be supposed that Nicola would not have omitted the dramatic scene 
 of Orpheus pleading at the throne of Pluto and Proserpine for the return of 
 Eurydice to the upper world. On comparing the subjects depicted by the 
 artist with the illustrations in the above-mentioned volume of 1497, it will be 
 seen that four of them are found in three of the cuts (see figs. 1, 2, 3). 
 
11 
 
 It will be observed that the Eurydice bitten by the Serpent is not treated the 
 same in the Plate as in the cut, the only point of resemblance being the action 
 of Eurydice, who is running with her arms outstretched. The cut shows her 
 with her companions, as narrated in the verse of Ovid, whilst the Plate 
 represents her pursued by Aristeus, probably taken from Virgil's version of the 
 incident, and which is found introduced in the text of the translation of 1497 ; 
 hence the inference that whilst the designer of the woodcut was aware of 
 the translator's interpolation, Nicola himself was unable to read the poem in its 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 original Latin. After the manner of the early painters, the same cut contains 
 representations of two other incidents of the story, the Marriage of Orpheus 
 (not found in the Correr series) and Orpheus awaiting Charon on the Stygian 
 shore. In the latter, Nicola, while retaining the motive of the design, has 
 depicted Orpheus in front view. As to the remaining incidents — Orpheus 
 with the Beasts and the Death of Orpheus — their comparison with the cuts will 
 show how deeply the painter was indebted to them for the arrangement of his 
 compositions and the action of their figures. 
 
 c 2 
 
12 
 
 la the case of the Orpheus series, it is evident that Nicola drew his 
 inspiration as to their design directly from the woodcuts, and, having regard 
 to the object of the present study, the enquiry respecting the treatment of 
 the subject in Italian art of the period need proceed no further. Yet seeing 
 how profoundly the myth had impressed the popular imagination, it may be 
 interesting to glance at some of the illustrations of the Death of Orpheus in 
 other forms of art, and which would doubtless have been known to Nicola. In 
 line-engraving the Hamburg Museum possesses a unique copy of a XVth 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
 century print by an unknown engraver of the Paduan or Venetian school of 
 remarkable force and precision of design. The figure of Orpheus is in the same 
 attitude as in the woodcut, but reversed, and there are only two Bacchantes ; 
 one of these resembles the energetic figure seen in back view, of the woodcut, 
 and wliich it was an error on the part of Nicola not to have retained in his 
 painting. Again, we find Orpheus in the same attitude in the fine pen-and-ink 
 drawing of the subject by a follower of Mantegna in the well-known book 
 of XVth century drawings belonging to Lord Rosebery ; there, also, the 
 
13 
 
 Bacchantes are only two in number. In bronze-work there is the XVth century 
 medallion of the subject by an anonymous North Italian Master, which 
 M. Molinier has pointed out is similar in arrangement to Nicola's painting ; 
 the attitude of Orpheus, however, is not the same, nor are those of the five 
 Bacchantes. In another medallion of the subject in the collection of M. Dreyfus 
 (which contains also an example of the one just mentioned), attributed to 
 Moderno and probably of the early XVIth century, the figures are the same in 
 number, but the attitude of Orpheus is again different. It may be that the 
 compositions in all these engravings, medals, etc. were based on some cele- 
 brated painting by a North Italian artist which is now lost, or even on a Greek 
 bas-relief of the subject, also lost. Be that as it may, its frequent repetition 
 by contemporary artists sufficiently explains how Nicola came to treat the 
 story of Orpheus with more than usual fulness. 
 
 The Metamorphoses of 1497 contains no illustration of the incident of Pluto 
 seizing Eurydice, nor has the present writer been able to discover an engraving 
 or woodcut of the subject. Lazari remarks that the painter had not drawn 
 his inspiration, in the case of the Orpheus series, from the text of Ovid, but 
 from a short poem in ottava rima by an anonymous author of the XVth 
 century. It has been shown that Nicola must have read the story in the 
 volume of 1497, but it is possible that he may also have seen the metrical 
 version, which was not improbably the original of the chapbook which, 
 like the Ottinello and Julia — to be mentioned later, — was constantly being 
 republished. The earliest copy in the British Museum is dated 1530, and, as 
 was usually the case with these popular poems, it is illustrated by a woodcut 
 representing the lovers returning to earth, but before Orpheus had looked back 
 at his bride. It is quite possible, however, that in some earlier edition the cut 
 represented the scene as depicted on the Plate. The subject was painted by 
 Luca Signorelli in one of the roundels illustrating mythological stories, together 
 with others from the Divina Commedia, in the chapel of S. Brizio, at the 
 Duomo of Orvieto. Luca painted the frescos at the commencement of the 
 XVIth century ; they may therefore have been seen by Nicola. If such was 
 the case, he would naturally have been deeply impressed by their superb 
 design, and as a maiolica painter he would have studied them from the point 
 of view of his own department of art. In Nicola's composition of Pluto (or 
 rather a demon) seizing Eurydice, the figures are to some extent arranged on 
 the lines of the fresco, although as a whole the presentation is vastly less 
 dramatic. The group of struggling demons is omitted, the despairing agony 
 
14 
 
 of Luca's Eurydice is considerably toned down, and the horror-stricken gesture 
 of Orphens is not even attempted; in short, there is little of the " terribilita " 
 which the Italians fonnd in the design of the great Cortonese painter, and 
 which, could it have been rendered by Nicola, would have been out of harmony 
 with the rest of the series. 
 
 Of the remaining five subjects from the Metamorplioses, three only were 
 inspired by the woodcuts in the Venetian translation (see figs. 16, 17, 18). 
 The first of these is the Apollo and Marsyas, the two figures in each case being 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 represented in somewhat similar attitudes, except that Apollo's contempt for 
 the performance of his rival is expressed by different gestures (see fig. 4) : 
 the scene of the flaying has more grip in the cut than in the painting. 
 The backgrounds of the cuts are rightly summary in treatment ; hence, 
 as a rule, Nicola ignored them altogether ; yet, as indicating how quick he 
 was to seize a picturesque accessory, it will be observed that in this instance 
 lie reproduced in his landscape the temple from the cut. 
 
 Next in the series conies the story of Midas (see figs. 5 and 17), wherein the 
 
15 
 
 woodcut shows the trial of skill in two groups, whilst Nicola combines the 
 action in a single composition. The incident of Apollo affixing the ass's ears 
 to the head of Midas is omitted in the cut. The subject was treated by Nicola 
 at a later period in the large plateau at the British Museum, and again the 
 painter changed the composition while introducing the same dramatis persona, 
 this time, however, representing Apollo twice — playing the violin and holding 
 a lyre. The story was probably a favourite one with the courtiers and 
 
 Fig. 5. 
 
 connoisseurs of the XVIth century, who valued themselves on their 
 refined taste as compared with the grossness of the rustics and the common 
 herd *. 
 
 The last subject which can be traced to the woodcuts is the Peleus and 
 Thetis ; it is also the one in which Nicola appears to have been the least 
 indebted to the XVth century artist, yet, as he has followed his predecessor 
 
 * The -woodcut also appears to have been its accepted rendering in pictorial art, since once at Venice 
 the writer came across a XVIIth century decorative panel, worthless as a work of art, but which had 
 evidently been copied from the cut. 
 
16 
 
 in substituting a dragon for the tigress of the text of Ovid, it is clear whence 
 he derived his inspiration (see fig. 6). The translation of 1497 also errs on 
 this point, stating that Thetis was " converti in serpe." The volume contains 
 no woodcut illustrating the story of Narcissus and Echo ; hence, unless Nicola 
 found a drawing or engraving of the composition elsewhere, this, one of the 
 most beautiful of the series, is the fruit of his own invention. The contrasted 
 figures of Echo slowly changing into stone and of Narcissus at the stream 
 are dramatically conceived, and nothing could be more tender and pathetic 
 
 Fig. 6. 
 
 than the dead Narcissus mourned by a Nymph, in the medallion. The last of 
 the Ovidian subjects is taken from the story of Meleager, and which certainly 
 does not correspond with the text of the Metamorphoses, nor with the story as 
 given in the 1497 translation. If the design is due to Nicola himself, it offers 
 a signal proof of his ability as a maiolica painter, if not as an illustrator 
 sticking close to his text : the offended Diana and the stricken Meleager are 
 designed in the true spirit of Renaissance art. 
 
 Turning to the other Venetian volume — the Poliphilus, — whereof the illus- 
 trations were a source of inspiration to our painter, we find in it the prototypes 
 
17 
 
 of the striking allegorical picture of the Eour Seasons, reminiscent of the art 
 of Mantegna, yet, perhaps, more nearly allied to that of Bellini, in his allegorical 
 panels at the Venice Academy (see fig. 21). The subject is found in the 
 PolipMlus, presented in four separate cuts, of which two are given in facsimile 
 in figs. 7 and 8. In grouping the figures together, Nicola attempted no 
 elaborate composition, nothing could be simpler than their arrangement. They 
 stand naturally, without pose or pretension. Their distinct individuality is 
 preserved, so that there is no mistaking their intention, and scarcely need the 
 
 Pig. 7. Pig. 8. 
 
 inscription at their feet. By the aid of the cleverly contrived and poetically 
 conceived landscape background they are united in a picture, harmonious, in 
 perfect " keeping," and in all respects masterly. Nicola has in some instances 
 slightly changed the attitudes of the figures as drawn in the cuts, and in the 
 case of Spring and Summer substituted nude for draped figures. He has, 
 however, transferred the wood-engraver's Mantegnesque conception of the 
 ' c plumpy Bacchus," who stands for Autumn, into his picture almost intact, 
 but he has changed the sex of Winter — in the cut represented by Jupiter 
 Pluvius — whilst retaining the background of dropping rain-clouds and adding 
 
 D 
 
18 
 
 the barren mountains, which are contrasted with the serene sky and smiling 
 landscape appropriate to Spring — personified by Venus and Cupid. 
 
 As Lazari did not discover that the painting of the Four Seasons derived its 
 motives from the woodcut illustrations of the Poliphilus (whereof a copy 
 was in the library of his Museum), it is not surprising that he failed to identify 
 the suggestion for the composition of the Solomon adoring an Idol (see fig. 22) 
 in the same volume. The general arrangement of the figures appears, however, 
 to have been based on the cut of Tyndareus offering the two eggs of which 
 Leda had been delivered to Apollo at Delphi (see fig. 9), and the attitude of 
 Solomon on that of the kneeling figure of Acrisius, the father of Danae, adoring 
 
 Fig. 9. 
 
 Apollo, the fifty-fourth cut in the volume. If the reader will compare Nicola's 
 design with the cuts he will joerceive the obvious analogies of figure arrange- 
 ment in the compositions. The mere grouping of six figures, male and female, 
 together with a statue, and displayed in the same order, might, of course, be a 
 coincidence, even when the principal figure is a king kneeling before a statue. 
 But when the two figures to the right are priests and in the same position, 
 when the architectural backgrounds are similar in design, and, further, when it 
 can be shown that Nicola copied other figures from the illustrations in the 
 same volume, it must be admitted that the above-mentioned analogies are not 
 accidental. It will be observed that the pedestals of the statues in the cuts are 
 square, whilst that in the painting is round and highly ornamented ; but the 
 same pedestal with the identical scheme of ornamentation is seen in the woodcut 
 
19 
 
 of Paris shooting at Achilles praying before a Statue of Apollo, in the other 
 volume that Nicola consulted so frequently — the Metamorphoses of 1497. 
 As showing how his mind was saturated with the art of the quattrocentisti, it is 
 interesting to note that the Idols of his paintings were none other than a John 
 the Baptist of the school of Donatello, and of which a study was probably in 
 the painter's book of drawings. It is found again doing duty as a heathen 
 divinity in his composition of Curtius leaping into the chasm in the Roman 
 Forum, in the large plate painted by him which was formerly in the Basilewsky 
 Collection and is now at St. Petersburg. 
 
 But whilst the examination of the woodcuts may enable the student 
 conversant with the procedure of pictorial art to understand the genesis and 
 inception, the building up, of the Solomon composition, it does not explain the 
 enigmatical supposed date, 1482. It will be well, then, to carefully examine 
 the writing on the plinths of the tw 7 o columns in the painting. Bespecting 
 that on the right hand, it is impossible to come to any other conclusion than 
 that it is meaningless scribble. Some of the characters are purely fictitious, 
 others resemble Arabic numerals, the whole being jumbled together in four 
 lines. On the left hand plinth there is no mistaking the SALOMONE, but the 
 letters below have been differently read by different persons. Lazari supposed 
 them to be GIO in Boman capitals ; Fortnum thought they might be TMB 
 in mediseval characters. Nicola possibly had some notion that the plinths 
 should bear inscriptions, in the same manner as the antique slabs imitated in 
 the JPoliphilus are covered with Latin texts. So instead of writing the name of 
 Solomon on the pavement as in fig. 23, he inscribed it on the plinth, and there 
 his literary inspiration terminated. It is to be regretted that the painter did 
 not inscribe his owm signature and the actual date instead of these enigmatic 
 characters. Another instance of meaningless scrawl supplying the place of 
 legible characters can be cited on another of his paintings, namely, the large 
 plateau painted with the story of Apollo and Marsyas at the British Museum. 
 The border is covered with elaborate ornamentation in which occur four tablets 
 bearing what at first glance appear to be inscriptions, but which on examination 
 are found to be fictitious characters, rather carefully touched in. It is difficult 
 to understand Nicola's peculiarity in this matter : he can scarcely have intended 
 a mystification ; it must therefore remain inexplicable. 
 
 The series contains a second Plate in which the figure of Solomon is 
 introduced and which evidently is a companion to the one just discussed (see 
 fig. 23). Subjects connected with the philosophical and amatory King of Israel 
 
 d2 
 
20 
 
 appear to have been popular in Italy at the beginning- of the XVIth century, 
 witness the frequent repetition of the Judgment of Solomon in pictorial and 
 other forms of art. Hence it is probable that these two are the remaining 
 examples of a series of plates illustrating incidents in the life of Solomon and 
 passages in his writings. As previously remarked, Lazari was mistaken in 
 describing the picture to be Adonijah in the atrium of Bathsheba ; he was 
 followed, however, by Portnum, who added the reference I. Kings, ch. 1. It 
 appears more likely that the actual passage illustrated by Nicola will be found 
 in Proverbs VII. 5; wherein is narrated the dramatic incident of "the young 
 man void of understanding " who was decoyed into the house of the harlot. 
 We are shown the window out of which Solomon looked, the harlot's house at 
 the corner, her bed bedecked with coverings of tapestry, and, in order to make 
 the tableau the more convincing, we are also shown Solomon listening to her 
 " fair speeches " and the " flattering of her lips," and which he will indite in 
 the volume he carries in his hand. No other representation of the incident is 
 known to the writer, but it is quite possible one might be found amongst the 
 biblical woodcuts of the period. 
 
 The paintings on the four remaining Plates — figs. 21, 25, 26, & 27 — illustrate 
 scenes from poems or novelle which were doubtless well known and admired 
 by the readers of the time throughout Italy. Lazari has pointed out that the 
 picture of the hawk flying away with the handkerchief which he has snatched 
 from the face of the sleeping Ottinello (see fig. 24) is similar in motive to a 
 woodcut on the titlepage of a XVIIth century copy of the poem of Ottinello 
 and Giulia (see fig. 28). He probably knew that it was a debased reproduction 
 of an earlier cut, which, however, he does not seem to have discovered. As a 
 matter of fact, the original of Nicola's painting was a fine XVth century 
 Florentine woodcut (see fig. 10), this being proved by his adhering both to the 
 figures and also to the main lines and features of the landscape in his own 
 background (see Appendix B). But we may suppose the charming figure of 
 Portune on a weathercock, in the medallion, was the invention of the j)ainter. 
 The poems or novelle inspiring the last three pictures are unknown to the 
 writer ; the subjects, however, thanks to the painter's faculty of dramatic 
 presentation, are in each case easy of interpretation. The medallion of Leda 
 in fig. 25 has been suggested by a woodcut in the Poliphilus illustrating the 
 Triumph of Leda, where she is figured on a triumphal car. 
 
 Accepting, as we must, that the numerals 1482 on the Solomon adoring an 
 Idol do not stand for the year of its production, and further that all the Correr 
 
21 
 
 Plates belong to the same period in the life of the painter, but possibly ranging 
 over an interval of a few years, the question arises whether any evidence is 
 attainable giving at least their approximate date. Eortnum devoted consider- 
 able attention to this point, finally arriving at the conclusion that the series 
 was painted between 1515 and 1518. His reasons being that all the plates 
 were produced when the Pellipario family was still at Castel Durante, and 
 likewise because the series was anterior in date to the Gonzaga-Este service, 
 which he surmised was painted in 1519 or 1520, the assumed date of the 
 removal of the family to Urbino. On this last point it would have been more 
 
 Fig. 10. 
 
 satisfactory if the historian had brought forward some definite evidence, but as 
 to the rest he was probably near the mark. At the same time, where so much 
 depends on surmise and inference, a wider margin than three years might 
 perhaps have been allowed wherein to include the production of all the Plates. 
 In the absence of documentary evidence referring to them we naturally enquire 
 if any signed works of the master are available for comparison of style or 
 execution. Neither the Correr Plates nor the Gonzaga-Este service bear dates 
 or signatures. Two, however, of Nicola's most important works are both signed 
 and dated — the first being a plate formerly in the Basilewsky Collection; the 
 second, also a plate of large dimensions, is in the National Museum at Florence. 
 
22 
 
 The painting on the former, which is signed and dated 1521, represents a seated 
 King, presumably David, crowned and holding in one hand a sceptre, in the 
 other a globe ; his costume being that of a Roman Emperor. He is placed in 
 the opening of an arch against which stand two columns. On their plinths are 
 inscribed, in Roman capitals, Spes mia in Deo est, and Domine memento mei. 
 In this case, unlike the inscriptions on the plinths of the columns in the 
 Solomon picture (fig. 22), the writing is legible and fills each its respective 
 quadrangular space. The attitude of the figure is academic, the hands 
 reproduce the Michael Angelo mannerism of being forcibly flexed at the 
 wrists. The colouring is pale, the outline correct (after its academic fashion), 
 and the proportions are just. The background of sea and sky, the marine 
 fortress, the pavement of yellow and white chequers, and the style of architecture 
 are reminiscent of the buildings and backgrounds in the Correr plates, although 
 more pallid in tint. 
 
 Respecting the second dated work, this splendid example of XVTth century 
 maiolica displays on the obverse a painting from Marc Antonio's engraving 
 after Raphael's cartoon of the Martyrdom of St. Cecilia. On the reverse it 
 bears the monogram of Nicola and the inscription — <{ Historia de Sancta 
 Cecilia la quale fu fata in botega de guido da castello durante in JJrbino 
 1528." The general impression derived from the examination of this important 
 composition of thirty-four figures is that we are in the presence of the work of 
 a painter in the full plenitude of his power. The execution has an air of 
 assured mastery only to be arrived at after long practice. In the countenances 
 and the nude the representation is wrought to a high degree of finish without 
 being stippled ; the form is thoroughly understood and rendered in warm full- 
 toned flesh tints. The coloration is especially powerful. Strong passages of 
 orange, of deep blue, vivid green, and of brilliant yellows recall the resplendent 
 harmonies of Raima and Paris Bordone, without, of course, the crimsons and 
 scarlets of the latter, which find no place on the palette of Nicola. The general 
 force of colour suggests something of the effect of translucent enamel but 
 without its flashing lights. The consummate technical ability of the painter 
 has enabled him to avoid the heavy, solid handling of the later maiolicari, but 
 the colour comes perilously near losing the quality pertaiuing to all fine 
 ceramic art. Altogether, in drawing, colour, and execution, there is a wide and 
 palpable difference between the Florence Plate and those at Venice, although 
 the individual style of the artist is apparent in both. In the latter the drawing 
 is free, it has slips in the proportions of the figures not found in the work 
 
23 
 
 either of 1521 or 1528, but the line suggests the swift stroke of impetuous 
 youth ; the touch, whether in the broad washes of the sky and foreground, or 
 in the details of figures and landscape, has the frankness of the accomplished 
 vase-painter ; it has also the other quality ever present in Nicola's early pieces, 
 the representation is not realistic, it does not seek to enter into competition 
 with the finished work of the painter in oil, such as that which found favour 
 with the connoisseurs and critics of the after time. The colour also, though 
 pure is cool and fresh — " alquanto freddo," as Lazari, whose standard of 
 excellence was that of the mid-XVIth century painters, considered it, — evincing 
 a preference for cool cobalts, transparent greens, and manganese violets ; the 
 yellow inclines to a lemon colour and the fine orange of Italian maiolica is 
 sparingly applied. These marked differences of treatment in divers particulars 
 imply a considerable interval of time between the production of the later works 
 and the Venice series ; but so many circumstances, of which we are necessarily 
 ignorant, have to be taken into consideration in endeavouring to estimate its 
 length, that to affix a particular date to the latter, solely on the evidence of 
 style, appears scarcely permissible. 
 
 Neither can this definite assertion be arrived at from the examination of the 
 influence of contemporary pictorial art on that of Nicola. It might have been 
 possible did we possess the whole of his work, or even the greater part of it ; 
 yet, as indicating the sources whence he derived certain special qualities of 
 design and manner, it may be worth while to glance at some phases of the art 
 of the time with which he must have been familiar. That Nicola would have 
 studied with attention the works of his great fellow-countryman, Raphael, is 
 only what might be expected, since nowhere would the admiration for the 
 genius of the master have been more fervent than at his native city, TJrbino. 
 The Camera della Segnatura, at the Vatican, was finished in 1511, and it was 
 in the frescos adorning this room that Raphael's style was shown in its utmost 
 purity. It is not unlikely that Nicola had seen the originals, but in any case 
 he would have known them from copies or drawings. Hence the reflections of 
 the Eaphaelesque principles of design evinced in the present compositions and 
 which are perceptible in the attitudes and movement of some of the figures, as 
 in the Concubines exulting over Solomon, the figure of Echo, the Aristeus, and 
 even in the infuriated Bacchantes in the Death of Orpheus. The study of the 
 works of the Master taught Nicola to give unity to his compositions, an air of 
 distinction to his figures, and something of the grace and simplicity of classic 
 art in their representation. The lessons learnt were valuable, but they do not 
 
21 
 
 appear to have constituted the sole factor influencing his style in design at the 
 opening period of his career, the time when lie painted the Correr Plates. 
 These in their spirit, and also in some aspects of their design and colour, show 
 the influence of the Venetian painters of the school of the Bellini, and especially 
 of the master of Castelfranco, Giorgione (1477-1511). 
 
 From the ahsence of documents relating to the life of Nicola it cannot be 
 positively asserted that he went to Venice, although it is highly probable that, 
 like other artists of his age, he did so, either to seek employment or in the mere 
 spirit of adventure. If he visited Venice it is certain that he must have seen 
 the works of Giorgione, since it is recorded the Master decorated the outsides 
 of various palaces in that city. Unfortunately, these frescos have all perished, 
 and no copies of them, saving engravings of a few of their figures surviving 
 till the XVIIIth century, have come down to our own time. But we knoAV 
 from the statement of Ridolfi. that the subjects of the frescos " were for 
 the most part taken from the fables of Ovid, and represent the life of the 
 Golden Age. There, in the shade of umbrageous groves or verdure-clad rocks, 
 and lulled by the music of falling streams and fountains, repose the peaceful 
 children of a primeval race. Here also we see the noble Lion, there the gentle 
 lamb, elsewhere the flying hart with other animals of the forest and plain " *. 
 This passage proves that, at least as to the subjects, the frescos of Giorgione 
 would have had considerable interest for Nicola. But it was the essential 
 qualities of the art, which, it may be advanced, produced a profoundly stimu- 
 lating impression on him, and for a time influenced his own style. The known 
 authentic easel-pictures of Giorgione are now few in number and have suffered 
 from restoration, yet something of those qualities which commanded the 
 enthusiastic admiration of his contemporaries may be discerned when before 
 the "Concert" at the Louvre and the "Woman suckling her Babe" at the 
 Giovanelli palace, Venice. Alike in subject and in execution these, and others 
 of the class, exercise a singular fascination over the spectator. But this is not 
 attained by the representation of any strong situation; the motives are of the 
 simplest, the action natural and unaffected, yet the painter has infused an 
 emotional quality into his figures such, as of its kind, has never elsewhere been 
 equalled in pictorial art. So also with the landscape which forms an important 
 feature in Giorgione's pictures. The meadows and streams, the skies and the 
 mountains are suggestive of all that is lovely in nature ; they likewise breathe 
 
 * Bjdolfi. Maraviglie delV Arte. 1G48. p. 79. 
 
25 
 
 the same spirit of suavity and abiding serenity animating the personages of 
 these gracious idylls. 
 
 It is not, of course, intended to imply that Nicola aimed at the imitation 
 either of the magical atmospheric effects of Giorgione's canvases or his 
 marvellous manipulation ; these, he would have been aware, could only have 
 been rendered in fresco or oil. He w 7 ould know that the warm palpitating 
 flesh tints, and the balmy summer landscape of the rich sub-Alpine region, 
 were unattainable on the glazed surface of maiolica. He therefore wisely 
 abstained from attempting the realistic representation proper to oil-painting. 
 Still, it was only natural that his admiration for Giorgione's art would lead him 
 to essay the same class of subjects, and to select figures of the same type,, 
 Thus it is seen that when the subjects are not illustrations of classical story, 
 the personages wear the same handsome garb of young Venetian nobles and 
 ladies of the period as in Giorgione's canvases ; we see also the same mingling 
 of classic and romantic elements found in the composition of the Master. 
 From the study of Giorgione he possibly derived his skilful treatment of 
 landscape, making it one of the chief attractions of his paintings. And 
 although in so doing he violated one of the first principles of ceramic ornamenta- 
 tion — which should treat the surface of the vessel as a ground to be ornamented, 
 but not by means of linear and aerial perspective to represent other than its 
 outside — he seems to have confined the "paesi" to plates, decorating his vases 
 with the Renaissance ornament of his time. In respect to his painting of 
 skies, he usually introduced a cumulus cloud or so in their upper part, leaving 
 below a space in white having a few touches of yellow above the horizon, after 
 the manner of Marco Basaiti, as in his " Sons of Zebedee," at the Venice 
 Academy. It has been said that Nicola's compositions at the Correr Museum 
 display the influence of Timoteo delle Vite (1470-1523). The statement may 
 perhaps have arisen from the known fact that Timoteo lived at Urbino till his 
 death, and also from the praise bestowed on his works by Vasari. He was, 
 however, but a second-rate painter, and his art can scarcely be considered 
 stimulating. 
 
 The only clue to the contemporary estimation of Nicola which we possess is 
 the fact that Isabella d'Este commissioned him to paint a credenza for her 
 personal use. She is known to have been one of the finest judges of art of 
 the Renaissance, and ever eager in obtaining examples of the most renowned 
 artists of the time for her collection. Hence her patronage of Nicola at some 
 early period of his career authorises the inference that he had then achieved a 
 
 E 
 
26 
 
 high reputation as a painter of maiolica. But we have no means of knowing 
 the opinion of the cinquecento connoisseurs as to the relative merits of his later 
 works compared with his earlier ones. It is probable they valued the former 
 the more highly, and it is certain such was the verdict of the majority up to 
 the last century. Happily, not of all, since we have the notable exception of 
 Correr, who only collected the early work of the Master, and by wise fore- 
 thought arranged that this splendid series should always remain intact — thus 
 enabling lovers of maiolica to realize and enjoy the rare quality of Nicola's art 
 at the period of its finest fruition. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
FIG. 11 
 
 — EURYDJCE AND ARISTEUS. 
 
FIG. 12. -ORPHEUS ON THE STYGIAN SHORE 
 
FIG. 13.— EUR Y DICE TAKEN BACK TO HELL. 
 
35 
 
FIG. 15.— THE DEATH OF ORPHEUS, 
 
FIG. 16. APOLLO AND MARSYAS. 
 
4 
 
 FIG. 17.— APOLLO, PAN, AND MIDAS 
 
FIG. 18-PELEUS AND THETIS. 
 
FIG. 19. -NARCISSUS AND ECHO. 
 
47 
 
 FIG. 20.-MELEAGER AND DIANA. 
 
49 
 
 Ft G. 21.— THE FOUR SEASONS. 
 
51 
 
 FIG. 22.-SOLOMON ADORING AN IDOL. 
 
53 
 
 FIG. 23. -SOLOMON, THE YOUNG MAN, AND THE HARLOT. 
 
 Prov. VII. 5. 
 
FIG, 24.-OTT1NELLO AND GIULIA. 
 
FIG. 25 
 
 —THE LOVE GIFT. 
 
FIG. 26 
 
 -CHASTITY. 
 
FIG. 27.— THE JUDGMENT OF CUPID. 
 
1 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
65 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 The attribution of certain plates and a hanap or ewer, once forming portions 
 of a " credenza" or service of maiolica belonging to Isabella d'Este, to Nicola 
 Montana has been determined by style alone. The pieces themselves were, of 
 course, identified as having been made for Isabella from bearing shields whereon 
 are blazoned the arms of Gonzaga impaling those of Este, but we believe no 
 document has been discovered referring to them. It has been erroneously 
 supposed that a letter from Gio. Francesco, alias the poet, to Jacopo Calandra, 
 the secretary to Duke Frederick of Mantua, dated from Pesaro Aug. 1, 1530, 
 refers to the Isabella service. The one, however, alluded to in the letter 
 was a service to be made for the Duke, Isabellas son (see Campori. 
 Istorie delle Fabbriehe di MajoMche Metaurensi, di G. Vanzolini. 1879. 
 vol. ii. p. 215). The only remaining pieces forming part of the Gonzaga-Este 
 service known to the writer are a large plate at the Bologna Museum, the 
 subject of the painting taken from the story of Myrrha, as illustrated in the 
 Venetian translation of the Metamorphoses of 1497 ; the incidents represented 
 are Myrrha pursued by Cinyras and the birth of Adonis. As a work of art 
 this is the finest of the paintings. The British Museum possesses two of the 
 plates, S. Kensington Museum (the Salting Collection) has one, which is, 
 perhaps, the nearest in style and colour to the Correr series. Mr. J. Pierpont 
 Morgan's collection contains three plates, and Baron Alphonse de Rothschild's 
 the ewer or hanap ; these all bear the before-mentioned arms, along with 
 imprese and mottoes belonging to Isabella, likewise the numbers referring to 
 the service. There is a perceptible difference both of colour and manner of 
 drawing in these eight pieces, suggesting that the service was some time in 
 hand, and also that portions of the paintings are the work of assistants. 
 The number of pieces composing this service is not known ; sometimes there 
 were as many as two hundred in a service (see Dennistotjn. Memoirs of the 
 Dukes of TJrbino. 1851. vol. iii. p. 440). 
 
 f2 
 
67 
 
 APPENDIX B, 
 
 Although the editions of Ottinello and Giulia must have been very numerous, 
 copies of the poem are now rare ; hence a brief statement of the argument 
 will serve to explain the incident depicted on fig, 24± : — Ottinello and Giulia 
 were the children of the Princes of Salerno and Capua, who were at war with 
 each other. Ottinello, having heard of the beauty of Giulia, resolves to visit 
 
 Fig-. 28. 
 
 the court of Capua in disguise ; he does so, and enters the service of her father. 
 He succeeds in winning the love of Giulia, but fearing that her father will not 
 consent to their union when he learns his real name and parentage, he 
 prevails on the princess to elope with him. At night the lovers lie down to 
 sleep in a desert country. Giulia covers Ottinello's face with a veil richly 
 
68 
 
 embroidered with rubies and precious stones, which attracting the eye of 
 a hungry falcon, that supposes it may be edible, swoops down and snatches 
 it away. Ottinello, being awakened thereby, follows the falcon to recover the 
 veil, leaving Giulia asleep. The scene is thus described in the poem : — 
 
 " E Qiidia bella del viso vermiglio, 
 Gli pose sotto il capo un guaccialetto 
 Poi ad un velo presto die di piglio, 
 11 viso gli coperse ad un lato, 
 Ch' era di gioje, e perla ricamato. 
 
 Poi ancor lei si venne a dormentare, 
 Perch' era stanco col suo amoroso, 
 Un Falcon, die avea voglia di cibare, 
 Passando vidde un vel si uminoso, 
 Perb die vidde un rubino illustrare, 
 Credo fusse pasti per suo uso. 
 Calossi e 'I volto a Ottinello sgraffignb, 
 Onde smarrito in piedi si levo. 
 
 Vidde il Falcon cite 'I velo si portava, 
 Cli era gran valuta per certano, 
 E niente la donzella risvegliava, 
 E messo a seguirlo per quel piano 
 Sol per vecler se 'I Falcon lo lassava." 
 
 Ottinello's pursuit of the falcon leads him to the seashore, w 7 here lie is made 
 prisoner by pirates, taken to Cyprus, and sold into slavery. Giulia, on 
 awakening and finding her lover had gone away, assumes male attire. In her 
 great sorrow she renounces the world, she builds a hospital for the poor and 
 an inn for travellers on the shore of the Mediterranean. Ottinello escapes 
 from slavery and takes joassage for Italy in a ship which is wrecked near the 
 house of Giulia ; of all the passengers and crew he alone reaches the shore. 
 The lovers recognise each other; their fathers forego their ancient enmity and 
 consent to the marriage of their son and daughter. 
 
 The poem begins with an invocation in the usual quaint style: — 
 
 " 0 Cvpido gentil leggiadro Amore, 
 Saettar di tutto V universo, 
 Jllusira alquanto il mio misero cuore, 
 Soccorrimi die mai non sici sommerso, 
 Prcstarmi gratia die io posso cantare, 
 E racontar in rima qiuddie verso, 
 De dui Amanti molto sfortunati, 
 Che per fortuna insieme far trovali!' 
 
69 
 
 The above is from an edition published at Venice in 1620. The copy from 
 which the titlepage, given in fig. 28, of later date and printed at Naples, then 
 belonging to Spain, and where, consequently, the Inquisition kept its eye on 
 the press, begins : — 
 
 " 0 vero Sommo, o giusto Redentore, 
 Governator di tutto V Universo." 
 
 The fifth line is also different, being — 
 
 " Dona mi grazia, Padre Salvatore" 
 
 There are likewise verbal changes in the last three lines. 
 
Printed by TAYLOR & FRANCIS, and sold by them 
 at their Office, RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET, 
 LONDON. 
 
 IV! CM V. 
 
V 
 
 GETTY CENTER LIBRARY