AN IMPORTANT COMMISSION FOR NICOLA DA URBINO

🔘: “Would you like to know all those who had a hand in bringing me and my siblings, the other 23 pieces in the service, into existence in the first place? You can find out here!“

🔘: “I am a gift! I have Eleonora Gonzaga, the eldest daughter of Isabella d‘Este and Francesco II Gonzaga to thank for my creation. Eleonora has been Duchess of Urbino since 1509 through her marriage to Francesco Maria I della Rovere, the nephew of Pope Julius II. Majolica painting reaches its peak of excellence in Urbino between 1520 and 1540.”

🔘: “1524 is a very special year, in which a lot happens: Isabella celebrates her 50th birthday on 14 May. (If you would like to find out more about Isabella d’Este, click here!) I come out of the firing kiln in the late summer. I am a part of the majolica service made for Isabella’s country estate at Porto, five kilometres to the north of Mantua on the River Mincio.”

🔘: “On 15 November 1524 Eleonora, thirty years old, announces my arrival in a letter to her mother:”

🔘: “These days, nobody even knows what a “credenza“ is: a representative buffet for precious crockery and tableware, which serves in the Renaissance to show off the hosts‘ wealth and their humanist culture.“

Incidentally, the use of exquisite tableware made of precious metals on country estates was not only discouraged in the 16th century for fear of it being stolen, Pope Pius II actually banned it outright. Eleonora thus makes a judicious choice here. The jewels which she had at first considered as a gift for Isabella would also be rather out of place on a country estate. They would only have been an object of covetousness and perhaps tempted thieves.

🔘: “Eleonora must be secretly certain that she will appeal to her mother’s taste with the motifs she has chosen, so that they will provide a welcome topic for cultivated conversation.”

The outstanding quality of majolica production in the workshop of majolica painter Nicola da Urbino is an important, flourishing economic factor. Eleonora's gift is a skilful way of promoting a top-quality handcrafted product, an innovative product of her duchy. The service for Isabella is a unique customised piece.

🔘: “At any rate Eleonora has the joint coat of arms of the Este and Gonzaga families placed in a prominent position on the crockery, enabling her to score points in the eyes of her mother.”

🔘: “Because this makes the service into a representative status symbol. The gift of a service with the personal coat of arms of the recipient or that of the giver is greatly appreciated in this period. It is therefore very popular as a diplomatic and personal gift, particularly between women.”

From today’s perspective, it seems logical to ask ourselves whether Eleonora is “only” seeking to get into her mother’s good books with her gift. She might also at the same time be pursuing economic interests and taking advantage of Isabella’s “networking“ matrix to promote the majolica production of her duchy. The fact is that Isabella has contacts to so many personalities, both in Italy and abroad, that word of the outstanding quality of the service is guaranteed to spread very quickly, hopefully ensuring full order books.  

Isabella’s service is so well received that her son, Federico Gonzaga II (1500, reigns 1519-1540) and his wife Margarita Paleologa (1510-1566), also order a service from Nicola da Urbino in 1533. Nicola da Urbino, however, is no longer at the peak of his creative powers at this time. The quality of this service therefore falls short of the standard achieved in Isabella’s matchless service ensemble.

🔘: “If you are interested in the materials and technique of majolica manufacture, click here:” A crash course in majolica

🔘: „ Eleonora Gonzaga, the duchess of Urbino, therefore knows exactly what she is doing. Like her mother, Isabella d‘ Este, she has a good instinct for recognizing extraordinarily gifted artists. That is why she commissions no less a figure for Isabella‘s service than the majolica painter Nicola da Urbino, who is active in her duchy.“

🔘: “Nicola da Urbino (1480–1537/38) is the best majolica painter of his time. He has his workshop in Urbino. Nicola da Urbino’s magnus opus is unquestionably the service for Isabella d’Este. At this time he is at the peak of his creative powers. Nicola da Urbino is known as the “Raffael of majolica painting“.

🔘: “Nicola da Urbino successfully adapts pictorial compositions of the famous painter Raffael (1483-1520), incidentally also a native of Urbino, for the medium of majolica. It is always of the utmost importance for his discerning customers to have their finger on the pulse of the age.”

The documentary evidence about Nicola da Urbino which has come down to us is so sparse that we do not even have any established  biographical data on him. Well into the late 20th century (specifically into the 1980s) he is still being confused with another painter, Nicola Pellipario.  Since generally only a very few majolica plates are signed on the back or are so clearly designated that they can be traced to a particular painter, they mostly remain anonymous. If no written records can be found, they can only be attributed on the basis of stylistic comparison.

Only five majolicas which bear Nicola’s first name or his monogram, sometimes with the suffix “da Urbino” added, are known. One of these “autographed” works is the service for Isabella’s son Federico II Gonzaga from Nicola da Urbino’s late period.

Nicola da Urbino takes many of his themes from Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”. Perhaps he possesses a printed copy of “Ovid Moralisé”, published in Venice in 1497, and draws his inspiration from the illustrations in it. Woodcuts from illustrated editions often serve as the template for the depiction of stories from Roman history, such as the ten books by Titus Livius which are published in Italian in Venice in 1493 and are widely read in the 16th century.

🔘: “As a dish made by him at any rate, I am very happy with the ingenious way in which Nicola da Urbino transfers the motif of the gathering of the manna onto me. It is no coincidence that he is called the “Raffael” of majolica painting.”

1: A SERVICE FOR ISABELLA D’ESTE  – A BOWL TELLS ITS STORY
2: HOW DOES A BOWL END UP IN A MUSEUM?
3: AN IMPORTANT COMMISSION FOR NICOLA DA URBINO
4: A CRASH COURSE IN MAJOLICA5: FOCUS ON THE BOWL
6: A PORTRAIT OF ISABELLA D’ESTE