in 1441, and by him the use of the tin glaze was known. Specimens ascribed to his hand and dating from 1470 are preserved in museums. At Strehla a pulpit of glazed terra-cotta is of the date 1565, and at Saltzburg is the wonderful chimney-piece of the fifteenth century, still in its original position in the Schloss. At that time, also, Hans Kraut, of Villengen in Swabia, produced good works, but it is probable that many of these larger examples are covered with an admirably manipulated green or brown glaze which is produced without the admixture of tin.
In Italy history has always awarded the honour of its discovery to Luca della Robbia, whose first great work was executed in 1438; and however recent observation may lead to the assumption that its use was known in the Italian potteries before his time, there can be no doubt that his was not merely an application of a well-known process to a new purpose, but that he really did invent an enamel of peculiar whiteness and excellence, better adapted to his purpose and of somewhat different composition from that in use at any of the potteries of his time.
CHAPTER III.
We have already seen that in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries native wares were produced in various places, some of which still exist in the towers and façades of churches, and of a palace at Bologna. These are lead glazed, rudely painted or with single colours, and in some instances “sgraffiato” proving that the use of a white “slip,” or “engobe” was known in Italy at that period, as affirmed by Passeri, who further asserts that in 1300 the art assumed a more decorative character, under the then lords of Pesaro, the Malatestas. Having thus attained an even opaque white surface the development of its artistic decoration steadily advanced. The colours used were yellow, green, blue, and black, to which we may add a dull brownish red, noticed on some of the Pisan “bacini.” Passeri states that the reflection of the sun’s rays from the concave surfaces of these “bacini” at Pesaro was most brilliant, and hence it has been wrongly inferred that they were enriched with metallic lustre. We believe that this effect may arise from iridescence on the surface of the soft lead glaze, easily decomposed by the action of the atmosphere in the neighbourhood of the sea.
Pieces exist, of considerable merit, which may be ascribed to an earlier period than that on which we find the earliest date. A votive plaque preserved in the museum of the hôtel Cluny, at Paris, has the sacred monogram surrounded by the legend Nicolaus · de · Ragnolis · ad · honorem · dei · et · Sancti · Michaelis · fecit · fieri · ano · 1475. We have always considered this plaque as of Faenza, but it would seem that MM. Jacquemart and Darcel are disposed to ascribe it to Caffaggiolo. The next example, two years later in sequence of date, is in the possession of Mr. Cook; it represents the Virgin seated on a throne in an architectural framing, and holding the Child; it has all the characteristics of a Tuscan origin and the glaze appears to be stanniferous. We next have the Faenza plate in the Correr museum at Venice, dated 1482, followed by the plaque ascribed to Forlì, 1489, and one of Faenza, 1491. Other pieces, dated 1486 and 1487, are in other collections. But we have no record or dated example of Italian pottery, coated with the stanniferous enamel, previous to the first important production by Luca della Robbia in 1438.
M. Jacquemart is of opinion that the use of the tin enamel was known on pottery in Italy previous to its application to sculpture by that artist, and in this opinion Mr. Robinson agrees; yet it is remarkable that no record of such knowledge has descended to us. No enamelled product of the early fabriques of Faenza or Caffaggiolo bears an earlier date, nor of that of Pesaro where decoration by means of the lustre pigments is believed to have preceded their application on enamelled wares; whereas the use of the tin enamel by Luca on flat painted surfaces is proved by the tondo on the church of Or San Michele, the lunette over a door at the Opera del Duomo, and the tiles on the tomb of Benozzo Federighi, bishop of Fiesole, now in the church of S. Francesco de Paolo below Bellosguardo, as Florentine evidences; and the twelve circular discs, on which are painted allegorical figures of the twelve months, are also to be referred to at South Kensington.
Mr. J. C. Robinson, in his catalogue of Italian sculpture, has given a notice of the life and works of Luca della Robbia and his family, and a description of the specimens ascribed to them and possessed by the museum at South Kensington; the majority of these rank as works of sculpture, but among the rest are the tondi, here mentioned, a wood-cut from one of which we introduce. They are, in fact, circular plaques of enamelled pottery painted on the plain surface with allegorical representations of the months, in all probability by the hand of Luca della Robbia himself. We quote Mr. Robinson’s description of them from page 59 of that catalogue:—
“Nos. 7632–7643. Luca della Robbia. A series of twelve circular medallions, in enamelled terra-cotta, painted in chiar’oscuro, with impersonations of the twelve months. Diameter of each, 1 foot 10½ inches. Vasari tells us that ‘Luca sought to invent a method of painting figures and historical representations on flat surfaces of terra-cotta, which, being executed in vitrified enamels, would secure them an endless duration; of this he made an experiment on a medallion, which is above the tabernacle of the four saints on the exterior of Or San Michele, on the plane surface of which he delineated the instruments and emblems of the builder’s arts, accompanied with beautiful ornaments. For the bishop of Fiesole, in the church of San Brancazio, he also made a marble tomb on which are the recumbent effigy of the bishop and three other half-length figures besides, and in the pilasters of that work he painted, on the flat, certain festoons and clusters of fruit and foliage so skilfully and naturally, that, were they even painted in oil on panel, they could not be more beautifully or forcibly rendered.’ We have here a record of the fact that Luca, simultaneously with his enamelled terra-cotta sculptures, also practised painting in the same vehicle on the flat, or, in other words, the art of majolica painting. The monumental works before mentioned are now extant to attest the truth of this account.
“From a careful and repeated study of the above-named works on the spot, and likewise from the internal evidence of the technical qualities of the vehicle, terra-cotta, enamel pigments, &c., the writer has now to add to the list of Luca’s productions, in this especially interesting branch, the present series of medallions, doubtless united originally in a grand decorative work. Each roundel is a massive disc of terra-cotta, of a single piece, evidently prepared to be built into a wall (or vaulted ceiling) of some edifice. Round the margin of each is a decorated moulding, in relief, of a characteristic Della Robbia type. The surface within the narrow border is flat or plane, and the designs are painted in two or three grisaille tints on a blue ground, of the usual quiet sober tint affected in all the backgrounds and plane surfaces of the relievo subjects. These consist of single figures of contadini or husbandmen, impersonating the agricultural operations of the Florentine country, characteristic of each month of the year; and although invested with a certain artistic charm of expression, the various figures, each of which exhibits a different individual character, may be taken as life portraits of the sturdy Tuscan peasants of the day. A band or fascia forming an inner border round each subject, is ingeniously and fancifully divided into two unequal halves, one being of a lighter tint than the general ground of the composition, and the other half darker, thus indicating the night and the day; the mean duration of each for every month, being accurately computed, set off on the band accordingly, and noted in written characters on the upper or daylight part, whilst the name of the month is written in large capital letters at the bottom in white, on the dark ground of the nocturnal portion. The sun pouring down a cone of yellow rays, accompanied by the sign of the zodiac proper to each month, is also seen on the left of the upper part of each margin, and the moon on the lower half opposite to him.” The author gives further proof that these medallions are the work of Luca della Robbia, believing the fact to be as certain as anything not absolutely authenticated can be.
Luca della Robbia was born about the year 1400, and his name must
