FIGURE A. A LARGE MAIOLICA FLOOR TILEFROM A PAVEMENT IN THENUNNERY OF SAN PAOLO, PARMA.THE MESSAGE IN THE YOUNGMAN’S HAT READS, “TO BE GIVENINTO THE HAND OF ZOVANO.”

FIGURE A

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I turned and walked into the night.Despite the lateness of the hour, Iwasn’t tired. My mind buzzed withthoughts and questions concerningBodkin and his research. I headedtowards the city, which sprawledbefore me, thrashing and pulsing likean insect in the final stage ofmetamorphosis. Soon it would breakfree from its chrysalis and we wouldbehold its final Olympic form.

Approaching St. Mary’s Cathedral Ipaused to observe the progress inconstruction of the two new stonespires. I sat on a bench in the equallynew piazza and stared up at the spotlitfaçade, my mind still racing. ReadingVasari’s LIVES one is constantlystruck, not so much by the influence ofrich or religious patrons, as by the partplayed by pictures, statues andbeautiful buildings in the everydaylife of ordinary people. It is arguablewhether this was characteristic of theRinascimento, or of Italy, or is simplyuncharacteristic of most other places.And so Bodkin ended the thirdjournal of his investigation of Italianceramic tiles and its culture. Perhapshe had sat, as I was sitting now,and contemplated the imposingmagnificence of San Petronio inBologna or St. Peter’s in Rome. Had hewatched the goings-on in Rome in1929 with a sense that, once again,major historic forces were comingto bear on the shape and textureof the eternal city? Would the changesbe for the better or worse, or both?

Bodkin’s fourth journal opens with thefollowing, somewhat provocativeobservation, “It is impossible to beinterested in the outburst of artisticenergy we call the ItalianRinascimento without being interestedin its painted pottery. As painting,maiolica is the principal branch ofRinascimento art which hasconsistently preserved all thevividness of its original colouring; as anindex of taste, it offers anincomparable corpus of both religiousand non-religious subject matter; andas a form of ceramics, this so-called`minor art’ comes perhaps closer tothe `major arts’ than at any other pointin the long history of world ceramics.”

In a microcosm of the broader culturalhistory of the period, the maiolicaof Rinascimento Italy absorbed intothe Italian tradition elements fromthe Islamic world via Spain and fromthe rediscovered culture of ancientRome, and developed them intosomething entirely new. By 1500 afurther overwhelming influence wasbrought to bear - the new technologiesof printing, woodcut and engraving.The outcome was the phenomenonof ceramics treated as a form of purepainting, and the creation by 1510 ofa fully realised narrative style.Nevertheless it is important thatwe recognise maiolica’s place in theoverall scheme of things, for it wasunquestionably a ‘middle-brow’ artform. Classical subject-matter isabundant, but it is an unintellectualclassicism, derived from paraphrasesof Ovid and collections of stories fromRoman history. Echoes of the greatpainters are everywhere, but maiolicapainters rarely show any profoundunderstanding of contemporary art.Commonly their inspiration is workof an earlier generation, mediatedthrough the popularising format ofengravings. For this very reasonmaiolica gives unique insight into whatthe Rinascimento meant to Italiansoutside the discriminating world of theavant-garde, the cognocenti and thescholar. As such it should be viewedas one of the most characteristic artforms of the Rinascimento.

But I seem to have got ahead ofmyself with the story, so let meretrace my steps. I keep using theterm ‘maiolica’ without explainingwhat it is. This is very remiss ofme. ‘Maiolica’ is the name firstapplied by the Italians themselvesto the lustre painted (don’t worry,I’ll explain that one also) Spanishwares which were imported fromMalaga initially, and later fromValencia. The term is thought tobe a corruption of ‘Majorca’, theisland which served as an entrepotfor these Hispano-Moresqueceramics. ‘Maiolica’ referred solely tolustreware, both Spanish and Italian,but eventually came to signify allItalian earthenware covered with atin-glaze.

Italy had little need of ceramic tilesbefore the Renaissance, for the greatexpanses of wall in churches andsecular buildings were reserved formosaic or fresco, while floors werepaved with the naturally abundantstone or marble, laid either in slabsor cut into intricate patterns (e.g.the floor of the Duomo in Siena orthe Baptistery of San Giovanni inFlorence). But it was customary toadd some ceramic decoration tothe Romanesque churches bycementing coloured pottery bowls -‘bacini’ - often of Near Eastern origin,into the brickwork of their towers andouter walls, as can be seen atPomposa Abbey.

Some of the most importantcommissions received by theworkshops of Faenza in the late 15thcentury were for commemorativediscs, that could likewise be insertedinto the walls of an important buildinghonouring the founder or a benefactor.The discs often bore a coat of arms oran illustration of some religioussubject. Some had only the pictorialtheme, such as the medallions madein the della Robbia workshop in 1450-56 for the ceiling of the study of Pierode’Medici. This far more ambitiousapproach, developed by Luca dellaRobbia and his family, wedded thearts of pottery and monumentalsculpture, however these architecturalembellishments remain an isolatedphenomenon in the history of Italiantin-glazed earthenware.

The sound of people on roller-bladeswhizzing past brought me back to thepresent. I stood and continued on myway. As I walked away from thecathedral I stared down at the stoneflagging. The thing was, youunderstand, there was no nativeprecedent for the massed use ofpainted maiolica tiles as a continuousfloor decoration. The practice, whichgrew common as the maiolica-makersperfected their craft during the 15thcentury, seems to have beensuggested to the Italians once againthrough their contacts with Spain. Blueand white floor tiles, such as thosedepicted in the De Sphaera manuscript,c.1450-60 (see Part III) were made in

PROVIDING AN ATMOSPHERE OF BEAUTY

A HISTORY OF ITALIAN TILES - PART IV

BY GARRETH CRUIKSHANK

THE RINASCIMENTO (PART II)

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quantity at the same factories inValencia as the famous lustre-paintedHispano-Moresque wares, and likethem, exported to Italy. Alfonso V ofAragon is known to have ordered greatconsignments for the buildings heerected in his Kingdom of Naplesbetween 1446-58. The Spanish Pope,Alexander VI (Borgia) ordered Valenciantiles to decorate his private suite ofapartments in the Vatican Palace.

The earliest existing Italian maiolicapavement is at Naples, in a chapeladded to the Church of San Giovannia’Carbonara. It is presumed that thefloor was laid in 1432. On longhexagonal tiles surrounding square tilesare painted profile heads, heraldicdevices, animals and foliage evidentlyinspired by the Valencian imports. Theshapes are Spanish, but not thecolours. Their style suggests acommon origin with the pottery ofTuscany. There are several tilepavements of the late 15th centurywhich are still in situ in Neapolitanchurches.

The panel of square and hexagonalfloor-tiles from the Mazzatosta Chapelin the Church of Santa Maria della Veritain Viterbo, c.1470 depicts writhing parti-coloured Gothic leaves, popular alsowith contemporary vase painters. Othertiles in the Viterbo pavement arepainted with profile heads of youngmen and women. But the finestportraits are to be found on the largesquare tiles from a pavement laid in thenunnery of San Paolo at Parmabetween 1471-82, with some lateradditions in 1507.One of these shows ahandsome youth fashionably dressed,carrying in his hat a note addressed “tobe given into the hand of Zovano”.Others bear portraits with amatoryinscriptions and mythological subjects,such as the Judgement of Paris andPyramus and Thisbe.

The self-esteem of the ruling Italiannobles found a suitable form ofexpression in the allusive devices andmottoes emblazoned on floor-tiles. Aset of six such tiles from theapartments of Isabella d’Este in theCastello Vecchio in Mantua is paintedwith the arms of her husband, theMarquis Gianfrancosco II Gonzaga, plusfive of the more intimate devices ofwhich the family was so fond. Anotherset of small octagonal and square tilesbear Isabella’s name and the morestoical mottoes which she adoptedabout the time of her husband’s deathin 1519.

Tiles of 15th century are for the mostpart distinguished by their bolddesigns, free from over-refined detail,and their somewhat sombre colouringdominated by a cool dark blue. Aboutthe end of the century greaterelaboration of design becomesapparent. This development ofmaiolica tiles and pottery can beattributed to the exploration ofdrawing, colour (i.e. glaze technology),and subject-matter on the white glazebase: above all, maiolica was apainter’s medium.

The greatest compendium of earlyRinascimento ornament is thebeautiful pavement made by workmenfrom Faenza under the direction ofPetrus Andrea for the Chapel of SanSebastian in the church of SanPetronio in Bologna, made in 1487.There are more than 1000 unique tilesin this pavement. Each tile has acentral device surrounded by anelaborate border. The pavement also

reveals a new reliance on the motifsderived from classical antiquity - manyof them taken from architecture, likethe bead-and-reel, and the egg-and-dart patterns, just as similarantiquarian interests had characterisedthe work of major Rinascimentopainters like Mantegna and Melozzoda Forli a few years earlier. Acornucopia of other motifs appear inthe centre of each hexagonal tile:trophies, birds, animals, coats ofarms, masks, musical instruments,weapons, sacred emblems, portraits,fabulous beasts and weird fantasies.In these tiles can be seen two ofthe main features of Rinascimentoceramics - painting on flat surfaceswith the illusion of relief achievedby clever use of tone, and thedependence of pottery-painting onthemes from the ‘fine arts’. The kindof painting that was being done on theflat tiles of San Petronio were soon toappear on the curved surfaces of allkinds of pottery.

The fully developed Rinascimentostyle first appeared on tile pavementsmade for local buildings in Siena.Individual tiles bear dates from 1500and 1509. Bodkin notes that he hadseen a fragment of a pavement fromthe Palazzo Pandolfo Petrucci, ruler ofSiena (1452-1512) in the Victoria andAlbert Museum, prior to his trip toItaly. The floor had once graced thesame room in the palace as thefrescoes of Signorelli and Pinturicchio.

FIGURE B

FIGURE B. EARLY 16TH CENTURY MAIOLICAFLOOR TILES MADE FOR ISABELLAD’ESTE’S PALACE IN MANTUA.

FIGURE C

FIGURE C. ONE OF THE 1,000+ TILES FROMTHE FLOOR OF THE VASELLICHAPEL IN THE CHURCH OF SANPETRONIO, BOLOGNA.

FIGURE D

FIGURE D. ‘GROTESQUE’ DESIGNINCORPORATING URNS,DOLPHINS, CORNUCOPIAS,ETC. FROM A PAVEMENTINSTALLED IN THE PALACE OFPANDOLFO PETRUCCI, SIENA.PHOTOGRAPHER UNKNOWN.

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By the late 15th century the finest workin ceramics was being equated inartistic merit to the work of the jewellerand silversmith, even by the likes ofLorenzo de`Medici, no less. Peopleexpected to be astonished by thejeweller; that they could be astonishedby painted ceramics was indeednotable. It would not have beenextraordinary in the Far or Middle East,but in Europe it was, for Christianpatrons were accustomed to regard clayas a base material whose very naturedenied its nobility unless it were usedon a monumental scale in architectureor sculpture, a-la-Luca della Robbia. Thecolours of tin-glaze ceramicsundoubtedly helped raise its esteem, forgood colours were still rare andmysterious and associated with secretskills. It was no accident that the firstpottery to be highly regarded in Europewas painted tin-glaze. Consequently,maiolica craftsmen were able toundertake increasingly ambitious andexpensive projects and develop theirtechnical resources.

Information on the maiolica techniquesused in the 16th century is substantial,thanks to a treatise by CiprianoPiccolpasso of Castel Durante, entitledTHREE BOOKS OF THE POTTER’SART. Written c.1557, it is anincomparable source for Rinascimentoceramic technology, containingdrawings of maiolica manufacture, aswell as detailed descriptions oftechniques, and glaze and pigmentrecipes. One must rememberhowever that this documentrepresents only what one amateurpotter was able to learn about thetechnology of his time and region.Piccolpasso’s description for finemaiolica, transcribed by Bodkin in hisfourth journal, is as follows: the clay isdug mainly from river beds andpurified. Vessels are made on a wheelor by use of a plaster mould; they aregiven a first firing to a temperature of1000oC approximately. The kilns inPiccolpasso’s drawing are wood-firedup-draft kilns built of brick, with thefuel under the kiln floor. The ware isthen dipped in a tin-opacified lead-glaze, the main ingredients of whichare potash (made by burning the leesout of wine barrels), sand, oxides oflead and tin, the mixture being groundand mixed with water; the tin-oxideremains suspended in the glaze andhas the effect of turning it white.

When the tin-glaze is dry the resultingpowdery surface is painted on. Thebest brushes, which have to be very

painter. On the surrounding tiles theornament has a predominantlyarabesque character. For these the“pouncing” method of drawing wasprobably used, but the octagons areeach individual works of art of suchbreathtaking delicacy that theirposition on the floor must havedeprived them of the close scrutinythey so signally deserve, besidesexposing them to the depredations ofwear. In fact, the whole Italian practiceof paving floors with maiolica tiles wasa constant source of incredulity toBodkin (and many others besides, I amsure), raising serious questions onpractical grounds, since the soft tin-glaze was easily scratched. Many ofthe pavements still in situ have beenworn down to the bare clay.

A famous passage by FranciscoEximenez of Gerona, written in thelate 15th century, gives us a clue tothe reason for maiolica’s popularity.

“The communal industry of Paternaand Caceres [near Valencia] is themaking of fine jars...charges, plates,bowls and tiles, and like desirableobjects. But the beauty of the goldenware of Manises excels them all,painted in a masterly manner, whichwith good reason has made all theworld its admirer, so that the Popehimself and the Cardinals and Princesof the world all covet it, and areamazed that anything so excellent andnoble could be made from commonclay.”

In little more than 100 years, Italian tin-glaze wares had evolved from anunpretentious craft to an applied artthat was coveted by the “Princes ofthe world.”

FIGURE F

FIGURE F. MAIOLICA FLOOR TILE MADEBETWEEN 1503 AND 1513,DEPICTING THE ARMS OF POPEJULIUS II.

On grounds of black, orange or paleyellow are painted rich and minutelydetailed grotesque designs ofsphinxes, dolphins, cornucopias,candelabra and trophies; some of thetiles have shields with the arms of thePetrucci and Piccolomini families,while others depict figures inlandscape settings.

Another very important pavementwhich Bodkin saw on display in theVictoria and Albert Museum reveals thefully matured Rinascimento style at itshighest pitch of refinement. This wasthe pavement ordered by BartolomeoLombardini (d.1512) for his chapel in theChurch of San Francesco in Forli(ironically enough), but to judge fromdated tiles of 1513 and 1523, notcompleted till well after his death.

The church was subsequentlydemolished and the pavement relaid ina villa at Pieve a’Quinto. (There is anentry in his journal where Bodkinrelates two unsuccessful attempts tolocate the villa and view the remnantsof the pavement in situ. However thereasons for his failure are vague andstrangely unconvincing). The format ofthe pavement is one of irregularpolygons surrounding octagonal tiles,all painted in polychrome colours onvarying backgrounds. The octagonaltiles show portraits, landscapes,animals, trophies, monsters and thelike on pale orange or yellow;noteworthy among the portraits arethose of the maiolica-painter Petrus(Andrea?) by himself, of Ugolino diFrancesco Urbevetano the organist,and of Melozzoda Forli, the great

FIGURE E. EARLY 16TH CENTURY MAIOLICAFLOOR TILES ORIGINALLY FORTHE CHAPEL OF BARTOLOMEOLOMBARDINI IN THE CHURCH OFSAN FRANCESCO, FORLI.

FIGURE E

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soft, are made from the hairs of goatsand the mane of asses, with mousewhiskers sometimes added.

At this point, Bodkin, who had duringhis travels visited potteries in Derutaand Faenza, makes the observation thatthe painting of maiolica requires anextremely sure and steady hand,because once the wet pigment fromthe artist’s brush touches the chalkysurface of the dry tin-glaze, or BIANCO,it is instantly absorbed. There is noopportunity therefore to correct an erroror implement a change of mind in thisdemanding medium.

In range and subtlety of colours,Rinascimento ISTORIATO (which hedefines below) has rarely beenequalled. The main pigments usedwere blue from cobalt, green fromcopper, yellow from antimony, orangefrom antimony and iron, and purple andbrown from manganese. The colourthat gave the most difficult was red: ared derived from an iron-rich clay called‘Armenian bole’ (first discovered byTurkish potters and much favoured inIznik ceramics). This pigment wassparingly used even by the factorieswhich mastered it - mainly those inFaenza and Tuscany.

After painting, according to Piccolpasso,the ware was dipped in or sprinkledwith a clear glaze, then stacked in thekiln. After the second firing at about950oC the wares would be removed intheir finished state.

A few centres, the most importantbeing Deruta and Gubbio, used theadditional process of metallic lustres,a technique learned from Islamicand Hispano-Moresque pottery.Compounds containing silver or copperwere painted on the twice-fired pottery,which was then refired in a smaller kilnat a lower temperature. Towards theend of this firing the fuel was changedto brushwood, which filled the kiln withsmoke; carbon monoxide combinedwith the oxygen in the metal oxides,causing a thin layer of pure metal to beformed on the surface; when cleanedthis produced a much admirediridescent effect. Lustre was always aspecialist skill, only practiced in a fewworkshops.

Without realising it, I had walked thelength of Macquarie Street, reachingthe Quay. I glanced at my watch -12:15am. The Basement was close by.It was one of the best jazz venues inthe world, so I headed there. I could do

with a drink. I entered and sat in theback bar where it was less crowded,sipping my scotch and thinking about16th century Italian maiolica. Even Icould see the absurdity of the situation.

From about 1500 maiolica design cameincreasingly to reflect the influence ofancient Rome. Elements of Romanarchitecture and sculptural ornamenthad been used by artists throughoutthe 15th century, but a fashion forfantastic painted ornament in theclassical manner caught theimagination of artists and artisans,cognocenti and the general public alike,after the discovery around 1480 of thepainted rooms of the ‘Golden House’,the vast palace in the centre of Romebuilt for the Emperor Nero prior to hisdeath in 68 B.C. The style of painting inthe Golden House came to be called‘grotesque’. These ‘grotto-paintings’were eagerly copied by artists, such asRaphael, and disseminated bysketchbooks and ornament prints, andthe word came to be applied todecoration incorporating bizarremonsters and fantasies, more or lessechoing those motifs of classical origin.

The development of a rich palette ofglaze colours combined with thetechnical control of these colours andincreasing drawing skill in maiolicaworkshops at the beginning of the 16thcentury permitted the evolution of anew kind of ‘art pottery,’ in which thewhole surface was treated like a canvasfor painting. By about 1515, Istoriatopottery (maiolica decorated withstories, allegories and historical scenes)was being made in Emilia-Romagna,the Marches, Umbria and Tuscany. Itwas at this point in its development thatItalian maiolica, for the first time,aspired to the condition of ‘fine art’.While Istoriato became at this time afully fledged branch of Rinascimentopainting, it was not, however, a branchwhere the painters in general had time,training or incentive for originalinvention. They turned for inspiration,as a consequence, to the most easilyavailable graphic sources. Piccolpasso’sdrawings of maiolica painters at workshows drawings or prints pinned up onthe walls.

Following the invention of printing inGermany, woodcut and engravingdeveloped rapidly in the second half ofthe 15th century. The works of MartinSchongauer and Albrecht Durer weremuch admired in Italy. Durer especiallywas widely copied by Italian engravers.Not surprisingly, many Istoriato painters

in the first quarter of the 16th centuryemployed versions of engravings bythe two German artists.

It was not until about 520, when theinfluence of Raphael had become allpervasive in Italian art that Italianengravings became the main sourcematerial for Istoriato maiolica. In thedecade prior to his untimely deathRaphael and the engraver MarcantonioRaimondi worked closely in theproduction of numerous engravingsbased on the great artist’s drawings andthose of his pupils. Such was theirsuccess that the “Raphael style” cameto be the dominant factor in Italianengraving.

Another source of composition wereillustrated books, the most popularbeing the set of woodcuts fromthe Italian prose paraphrase ofthe METAMORPHOSES by Ovid.Illustrated editions of Roman historianswere similarly scoured for ideas.

Every Rinascimento artist, in whatevermedium, knew, without needing amodel, what a Madonna & Child or aDiana & Actaeon, should look like.Decorative patterns of the typesillustrated by Piccolpasso, and the‘grotesques’ characteristic of Urbinomaiolica of the late 16th century are,similarly, part of the shared language.However much, or little, maiolicapainters adapted or added to theiriconographic models, and howeversophisticated or primitive the modelsthemselves, the coloured ceramicobject which resulted was a new workof art, a product of the technical andstylistic traditions of a particularworkshop. A ‘close copy’ of aMarcantonio print on a Faenza plate of1525 is a very different thing from onemade in Urbino in 1550.

The door of the back bar swung openas I rose to get another drink. Thesyncopated beat of the jazz fusion bandburst in like an excited reveller.

The formula for Istoriato painting whichdeveloped in Urbino and Castel Durantein the 1520s and 1530s was asuccessful and fashionable one.Between 1525-1575 these two townsbecame the heartland of Istoriato, withthe latter the more productive town,and the former the dominant artisticcentre. The painter known as ‘Nicola daUrbino’ was the Raphael of Istoriatomaiolica painting. By the 1530s ageneration of painters who had grownup under his influence and that of the

CONTINUED ON PAGE 72...

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other great maiolica painter, Xanto,were fully trained and in command ofthe Istoriato techniques. A number ofthem left Urbino to take their skills toother markets, and with them the‘Urbino style’ to a series of othercentres including: Gubbio, Perugia,Pesaro, Rimini, and the Veneto.

An earlier generation of emigrant Italianpotters were among those artists whocarried the Rinascimento style all overEurope, and where they settledthey brought revolutionary changes.Francisco Niculoso, an Italian living andworking in the potters quarter of Trianain Seville found that in Spain, the tilemakers were allowed a far greatershare in architectural decoration than inhis native country and seized hisopportunity to work on a monumentalscale.

Like many of his countrymen, heprobably had his apprenticeship atFaenza, where large wall plaquespainted with religious and mythicalsubjects became familiar to him.However in Spain he created tilepictures painted continuously over anumber of square tiles, a techniquewhich seems to have been his owninvention. This method became afavourite art form in Spain, spreading toPortugal and the Netherlands, and waseventually introduced back into Italy, forit is possible to see a Spanish influencein a series of 16th century tile picturesin the district around Genoa.

By the mid 16th century the estimationof ceramics and their makers had risengreatly, and as Bodkin observed,“pottery in all its forms was adoptednot merely as part of the usual furnitureof life but also, in partnership withpaintings, sculpture, silversmith work,and embroidery, as a means ofproviding an atmosphere of beauty forthe wealthy Italian arriviste.”

From this period begins the long historyof derived designs which dominatedfine European ceramics until the early20th century. At first it was necessary;later it became a habit. Almosteveryone, potters and public alike,assumed that any decoration worthhaving must be derived from somework which was already admired,usually with its roots in classicalantiquity. This had many ill-effects, butit was not entirely negative, for itintroduced a wider range of figurativeand decorative designs than ceramicsmight otherwise have known, and itaroused the interest of a large public,

much of which might otherwise nothave reacted at all. Without suchinterest, many technical developmentsof porcelain, enamels and stonewaremight never have come about and

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Berenson, B. Italian Painters of the Renaissance, Meridian, New York, 1960.Blunt, A. Artistic Theory in Italy 1450-1600, O.U.P., London, 1978. Caiger-Smith, A. Tin-Glaze Pottery (In Europe and the Islamic World), Faber& Faber, London, 1973.Cohen, D.H.& Hess, C. Looking at European Ceramics (A Guide to TechnicalTerms), J.P.Getty Museum, Malibu, 1993.Farnetti, M. Technical Historical Glossary of Mosaic Art, Longo Editore,Ravenna, 1993.Frothingham, A.W. Tile Panels of Spain 1500-1650, Trustees of the HispanicSociety of America, New York, 1969.Gentilini, A.R., et.al. L’Istoriato Libri A Stampa E Maioliche Italiane DelCinquecento, Gruppo Editoriale Faenza Editrice, Faenza, 1993.Gombrich, E.H. Gombrich on the Renaissance: Norm & Form, Phaidon,London, 1985.Hollingsworth, M. Patronage in Renaissance Italy, Johns Hopkins UniversityPress, Baltimore, 1994.Klein, R.& Zerner, H. Italian Art 1500-1600 (Sources & Documents),Northwestern University Press, Illinois, 1989.Lane, A. A Guide to the Collection of Tiles (In the Victoria & AlbertMuseum), Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London, 1960.Lemmen, H.Van. Tiles in Architecture, Lawrence King, London, 1993.Murray, L. The High Renaissance, Thames & Hudson, London, 1967.Procacci, G. History of the Italian People, Penguin, London, 1991.Partridge, L. The Renaissance in Rome, 1400-1600, Everyman, London, 1996.Riley, N. A History of Decorative Tiles, Quantum, Sydney, 1997.Vasari, G. Lives of the Artists, Penguin, London, 1965. (Translation - G. Bull).Watson, W. Italian Renaissance Maiolica, Scala, London, 1986.Welch, E. Art and Society in Italy 1350-1500, OUP, London, 1997.Wilson, T. Ceramic Art of the Italian Renaissance, British MuseumPublications, London, 1987.

ceramics might have been relegated tothe position of a humble craft,technically almost static; hardlytouched by the ideas or needs of therest of society.

FIGURE G

FIGURE G. MAIOLICA PAINTERS IN AWORKSHOP; FROM THEPICCOLPASSO MANUSCRIPT.

...CONTINUED FROM PAGE 40

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