Book 9 — APPENDIX XII

COLLECTIONS OF ART MADE BY THE DUKES OF URBINO

THE extent and value of the works of arts amassed by a series of sovereigns, who, during nearly two centuries, were continuously patrons of arts in its best days, cannot be uninteresting topics of inquiry, and fall within the scope of these volumes, as an important test of the knowledge and taste of the collectors. The beautiful objects which Castiglione and others include among the attractions of the palace at Urbino have thus acquired an almost classic importance, and to identify them with those now familiar to the travelled amateur were a pleasing result. Much more would it be so could we realise an ingenious theory put forward in the Quarterly Review,[267] that, by ascertaining what were the pictures first offered to the enthusiastic gaze of the youthful Raffaele, we might even now trace those early impressions of beauty which, reproduced by his fine genius and taste, have been unanimously adopted as standards of pictorial perfection. This gratifying hope is, however, delusive. To the ravages of two invasions, succeeded, in both instances, by military usurpation, may perhaps be imputed the disappearance of almost every picture which could have existed in the palace previously to 1521, for very few such were found there on the extinction of the ducal house in 1631. In order to throw every possible light upon this matter, I have spared no researches at Urbino, Pesaro, and Florence, and, from a variety of inventories, I have collected the facts which are now to be stated.

The principal sources of this information have been, First, a list of "good pictures," brought to Florence, in 1631, from the wardrobe of Urbino. It is in the archives of the Gallery degli Uffizi, at Florence, in the autograph of Pelli, and is obviously the document frequently referred to by him in his Galleria di Firenze. Second, a note of the objects of art in the Urbino inheritance, as inventoried by Bastiano Venturi in 1654. This is in a folio volume of inventories, preserved in the wardrobe archives of the Pitti Palace, and includes the succession of Duchess Livia, as well as that of her husband, the last Duke of Urbino. Third, selections from a full inventory of the wardrobe of Urbino, dated in 1623, and now No. 386 of the MSS. in the Oliveriana Library at Pesaro. Of these documents, the first is, unquestionably, of most importance as to the identity and value of the objects enumerated; and the last, having been compiled by a person unacquainted with art, cannot be much depended upon.

We may, however, estimate the extent of the collections in the different palaces of Francesco Maria II. from the Venturi inventory, and from another dated in 1623, which is No. 460 of the Oliveriana MSS. In the latter there are enumerated as at Pesaro (besides a series of sixty-two portraits in the gallery, sixty-nine maps, and a hundred and thirty-five plans of cities) eight hundred and forty-three pictures. This large amount includes apparently all the framed engravings, embroideries, and miniatures; and a great proportion were portraits of the ducal family and their connections. The small number which have the painters' names assigned to them renders this, the fullest list, of little interest. In the same palace are mentioned sixty-four pieces in marble, chiefly busts; and in various other palaces and chapels were some other pictures, seemingly of minor importance. The Venturi catalogue enumerates only ninety pictures, seventy miniatures in oil, eleven embroideries, twenty-nine tapestries, eighty bronzes, enamels, and carvings, and fifty-one works in marble and stone. These seem to have been the principal objects reserved out of the inheritance, the remainder having probably been given away or sold at Pesaro and Florence. This selection bears evidence of care and connoisseurship; but that of Pelli having the best pretensions to these qualities, the pictures it names are fully given in the first of the lists here subjoined, ending with No. 50. In the two subsequent ones, from Nos. 51 to 95, are included all other Urbino pictures of any moment which I have been able to glean from the inventories now described, and from other sources. To each picture is added such information regarding its identity as extended inquiry and observation have enabled me to hazard. Imperfect as it is, it will interest those who visit Florence, and may save them from very troublesome and often fruitless inquiries, which occupied me for many weeks.

I. PELLI’S LIST OF THE URBINO PICTURES.

Raffaele.

1. Madonna, Christ, and St. John Baptist, on panel. Pelli in a marginal note states this to be the Madonna della Seggiola, although he admits that a different extraction is by some assigned to that masterpiece. No picture thus described appears in the Pesaro inventories; that of Venturi mentions one such, but calls it a copy after Raffaele. The Madonna della Seggiola, now No. 151 of the Pitti Gallery, is said by Passavant to have been in an inventory of the Tribune, dated 1585, of course long antecedent to the Devolution of Urbino.

2. Madonna, Christ, St. John Baptist, and another Figure, on panel, large. In the Pesaro inventory, the Christ is said to be in arms; in the Venturi, two pictures are noted of the Madonna, Christ, St. John Baptist, and St. Elizabeth, but both are called copies of Raffaele. No work now in the Florence galleries answers this description.

3. His own Portrait on panel. It is described but not named by Venturi, and unquestionably is the small picture now among the portraits of painters in the Uffizi, No. 288. (See above, vol. II., p. 223.)

4, 5. Julius II., on panel, and THE SAME on paper. Of this famous portrait several repetitions contest the palm of originality. The two best probably are those in the Pitti, No. 79, and in the Tribune, both on panel; the former, perhaps, has the advantage in breadth and mellow colouring, and I have heard the latter ascribed by Italian connoisseurs to a Venetian pencil.[*268] Considering the relationship and intimacy of the Pope with the Dukes of both dynasties, there can be little doubt that they possessed an original likeness, as well as the original cartoon mentioned above. The latter has passed into the Corsini Gallery, at Florence, and is admirable in bold character as well as in preservation. The pricked outlines attest its having been used more than once; and the first painting from it is understood to have been presented by his Holiness to the Church of the Madonna del Popolo, at Rome, a fane greatly favoured by the della Rovere. The Pesaro list includes the cartoon, and Venturi the panel portrait, which, according to the annotator of the last edition of Vasari (Florence, 1838), was that in the Tribune, the head alone of the Pitti one being, in his opinion, by Raffaele, the rest by Giulio Romano. Passavant, however, adjudges the palm of merit and originality to its rival in the Pitti collection, and considers it the Urbino picture.

Titian.

6, 7. Duke Francesco Maria I., and his Duchess Leonora, on canvas. These are justly considered among the choicest portraits of this master, but are painted in very different styles, the Duke being treated with extraordinary freedom, the Duchess in a severe and somewhat hard manner, suited to her stiff matronly air. They ornament the Venetian room at the Uffizi, Nos. 605 and 599, and the former supplies a frontispiece to this volume. Another portrait of him from the same hand is mentioned in Pelli's note. (See above, pp. 48, 58, 371-3.)

8. Duke Guidobaldo [II.] Of this portrait I find no trace, though it is named in the Pesaro list, and may be that described by Venturi as in an antique dress.[*269]

9. Hannibal of Carthage, on canvas. Mentioned in the Pesaro inventory, but not now known.

10. Madonna, Child, St. John Baptist, and St. Anna, on panel, large. No trace of this picture appears in any inventory, or Florentine gallery.

11. The Nativity, on panel. Not mentioned elsewhere; it or the following may be the picture painted with a moonlight effect, now No. 443, of the Pitti Gallery; or that described by Venturi as "a woman swaddling an infant."[*270]

12. Quem genuit adoravit, on panel; or the Madonna adoring her Child. This I have nowhere been able to identify. (See the preceding No., and also below, No. 20.)

13. Madonna della Misericordia, on canvas. The Pesaro list tells us it came from the Imperiale villa, and contained the painter's portrait, with many figures. It is No. 484 of the Pitti collection, where it is assigned to Marco di Tiziano, the cousin and favourite pupil of Titian. Following the usual type, this "Madonna of Mercy" is represented as a gigantic female, whose outstretched arms infold under her ample mantle of compassion, six men, five women, and two children; the eldest of the group is evidently Titian, and the rest are, no doubt, members of the Vecelli family. The picture was probably votive, in commemoration of some signal mercy vouchsafed to his house.

14. The Saviour, on panel. A half-length figure in profile, perhaps the finished study for some large composition. It is noted in all the inventories, and was carried by the French to Paris, but is now in the Pitti Palace, No. 228.

15. Ecce Homo, on panel. Also included in all the inventories, and probably the picture No. 330 of the Pitti Gallery, where it is called in the manner of Sebastian del Piombo.[*271]

16. Magdalen, on panel. This is now No. 67 in the Pitti collection; a half-length, half-nude penitent, with variations from the frequent repetitions of the same subject by this master; her eye, no longer tearful, is upraised with an expression of joyful hope: the penitent is at peace. (See above, p. 375.)

17. Judith, on canvas. In the Pesaro inventory it is described as on panel, and both there and in Pelli's note it is ascribed to Titian or Palma Vecchio, whilst Venturi assigns it to Pordenone. It is now in the Venetian room of the Uffizi, with the name of Pordenone, and is on panel.[*272]

18. Naked woman lying, large, life-size, on canvas. All who have visited the Tribune of the Uffizi Gallery are acquainted with two companion full-length pictures of nude females, which are conspicuous among its treasures of art. Both are called Venus; but though one has the unquestionable accompaniment of a Cupid, with a landscape behind, the other contains no attribute of the amorous goddess, but is the portrait of a lovely woman laid uncovered on her bed, whilst two attendants in the back part of the room prepare her dress. To the latter, therefore, the above description, which is alike in all the Urbino inventories, must unquestionably apply; and it thus affords us an easy solution of the doubts as to which of the two pictures came from Urbino, originating in the confused and incorrect descriptions of Ridolfi and Vasari. The popular idea is that Titian here portrayed a mistress or favourite of Duke Guidobaldo of Urbino; but Cigognara has adopted the conjecture that in her features may be traced an idealised likeness of his mother Leonora. We must reject an idea so outraging her well-known modesty of demeanour; and upon comparing the sweetly sensual countenance of the naked beauty with the almost stern dignity of that Duchess, as represented in her portrait, No. 7 of this catalogue, the resemblance seems limited to an oval face and auburn complexion. The spaniels which attend on both ladies, introduced in these pictures, though of the same breed, are certainly different animals. Greater probability attaches to a notion that the nude female's features agree with those of the Bella and the Flora of Titian, described in the next number of this list; and as both of these came from Urbino, we may conjecture that all three were painted from some noted beauty of that court. Another supposition, has, however, been adopted by Mrs. Jameson, that the original was Violante Palma, Titian's first love, and a favourite model in his school. The Tribune picture is generally admitted to be the finest of Titian's so-called Venuses, and has been even assigned the same place among paintings as the Medicean Venus holds in sculpture. (See above, p. 374).

19. Another portrait of the same naked woman, but dressed, more than half-length. This is considered to be the attractive picture so universally admired under the name of Titian's Bella, of the Pitti collection, in which gorgeous costume and rich beauty seem carried to the utmost point. It does not appear in the other Urbino inventories, but in that of Venturi we find a Season on canvas by Titian, which I apprehend to be the famed Flora, now an ornament of the Venetian room at the Uffizi, and stated in the Reale Galleria di Firenze (edition 1817) to have come from Urbino, and to be a half-length, half-nude, portrait of the same model who sat for No. 18 of this catalogue. The title of Queen Cornara of Cyprus sometimes given to the Bella is palpably one of those misnomers so unpardonably common in picture galleries.

20. Madonna, Child, and two Angels, Baroccio after Titian. Of this picture an original by Titian on panel is in Venturi's list, as well as a copy of it on canvas. I have not been able to find either; but the original may be that entered at No. 12 of this catalogue.

21. Madonna, St. John, and St. Elizabeth, large, on panel, a fine copy. I have not succeeded in tracing the work.

Giorgione.

22. Portrait of an armed soldier, supposed to be Uguccione della Faggiola. Not traced.

Sebastian del Piombo.

23. St. Agatha, large, on panel. It appears in all the inventories, and was one of the most important pictures in the Urbino succession. Representing the horrible dismemberment of the martyred saint, the subject is most revolting, but in energy of treatment and power of colouring, it ranks among the chef-d'œuvres of the master, whose name it bears, with the date, Rome 1520. It now adorns the Pitti Palace, No. 179, after having visited Paris.

Palma Vecchio.

24. The Saviour, on canvas. Not found.

25. The Madonna, large on canvas. Not found.

26. St. Francis, large, on canvas; not found. None of these three pictures appear in the other lists.

The Bassani.

27. A Supper. This was, doubtless, the Cenacolo, No. 446 in the Pitti Gallery, assigned to Leandro Bassano.

28, 29. The building and entering of the Ark. These are, probably, the companion pictures in the corridor of the Uffizi, which seem poor copies, though ascribed to Francesco. Of the latter, representing the Deluge, there is on the same wall a large and fine replica with his name, and a picture of animals entering the ark with the name of Jacopo.

30. Composition of Figures and Animals. It is stated by the Pesaro list to have come from the chapel in the lower gardens of that city, and may have been the large picture of the Rich Man and Lazarus, now in the corridor of the Uffizi, where it bears the name of Francesco.

31-34. Four Pictures. As there are fourteen pictures of the Bassani in the Uffizi, and five in the Pitti, besides those noticed above, and several portraits, it would be idle to attempt identifying these four. All these eight works of this family are noted in the Pesaro list, but omitted in Venturi's.

Baroccio.

35. Portrait of S.A.S. This is probably to be read Sua Altezza Serenissima Francesco Maria II., the last Duke of Urbino, now an ornament of the Tribune. It is a half-length on canvas, in armour richly inlaid in steel and gold, his helmet by his side and a scarf across his shoulder, being, as we learn from the Pesaro list, the uniform in which he returned from his naval expedition; a circumstance which fixes the date in 1572, when the Duke was in his twenty-third, and the painter in his forty-fourth, year. Nothing can surpass the fluid harmony and pellucid colouring of this picture, equally remarkable for breadth and high finish, but the feeble design apparent in the arms renders it impossible to give by the burin a favourable impression of its merit. I have therefore preferred engraving for this work a much less brilliant portrait obtained by me at Pesaro. A repetition of the Tribune picture, less clear but still more charming, graces the select gallery of Baron Camuccini at Rome.

36. Visitation of the Madonna, on canvas, painted, according to the Pesaro inventory, for the chapel there, on the visit of Pope Clement VIII. in 1598. It has disappeared.

37. Magdalen, on canvas. There are two pictures of this subject, and another in the Venturi list, one on panel, one on canvas, the latter of which is described as "the Magdalen in the Wilderness." I have not found either of them; but a Magdalen in devotion with Christ, upon canvas, is noted in the Pesaro inventory, and may probably be the large and fine picture now in the Sala di Baroccio at the Uffizi, known as Noli me tangere, in which the Saviour appears to the Magdalen after His resurrection.

38. Madonna, St. Francis, and St. Ubaldo, on canvas, unfinished. No doubt one of the votive pictures commissioned on the birth of Prince Federigo. (See above.) It has disappeared.

39. Portrait of Maestro Prospero, a Franciscan monk, half-length, on canvas; called by Venturi a Minim Observantine friar. Not identified.

The Zuccari.

40. Portrait of Duke Guidobaldi [II.] in armour, his hand upon a dog's head. In the Pesaro inventory it is said to be on panel; in that of Venturi it is ascribed to Baroccio. It has disappeared, but a bad copy is preserved in the Albani Palace at Urbino.

41. St. Peter in Prison, large. This picture is engraved at No. 373 of the folio work on the Pitti Gallery, and is said by Vasari to have been painted for Duke Guidobaldo II., by Federigo Zuccaro when about twenty-three years of age. It ranks among his best works; for though the idea is borrowed from Raffaele's fresco, the treatment and the effect of chiaroscuro are original and good. The heavy grated window and the monotonous colouring are however injurious to the work.

42. Head of St. Francis, on canvas. Lost, unless it be the Vision of the Saint in a wide landscape, on panel, No. 482 of the Pitti Gallery, where it is called anonymous. The Pesaro list describes him as in a landscape, by Federigo Zuccaro.

43. Calumny, large, by Federigo, unnoticed in the other inventories, and undiscovered.

Mascherino.

44. Christ with Nicodemus, Nicolas, and two Angels, on canvas. Of this I can ascertain nothing.

Anonymous.

45. Pope Sixtus IV., on panel. The Venturi inventory notes a similar anonymous portrait, by Baroccio, and one on panel of a Pope by Titian. This and the following number may be the portraits quoted as Titian's by Vasari.

46. Pope Paul III., on panel. Perhaps No. 297 in the Pitti Palace, where it is ascribed to Paris Bordone, and of which I have seen several good repetitions. The Venturi inventory contains another panel portrait of an anonymous pope by Titian.

47. Duke Francesco Maria I. in armour, on canvas. Perhaps a copy of No. 6, above.

48. Duke Guidobaldo, on panel; unknown. Possibly the original of the likeness engraved for this work of Guidobaldo II.

49. A Lady in a dark antique dress, with a shell in her hand, on canvas. Of this nothing is known.

50. Magdalen nearly naked, on canvas, described in the Pesaro list as reading a book. Not found.

Having now gone through Pelli's note of selected pictures, we shall complete our materials for estimating the Urbino collections, by adding such other works as are mentioned in the Venturi and Pesaro inventories.

II. VENTURI INVENTORY.

Raffaele.

51. The Duke of Urbino, a profile in half-armour, on canvas. This was probably the portrait mentioned by Bembo in a letter, wherein he speaks of it as a much less successful likeness than that of the poet Tibaldeo.

52. Marriage of the Madonna, a copy on canvas, no doubt from the fine picture now in the Brera at Milan, which was painted for the church of S. Francesco, at Città di Castello.

53. Lucrezia, copy on panel. Of this neither the original nor the copy are known.

Titian.

54. Madonna, Christ, St. Joseph, and St. Elizabeth, on panel. Not identified.

55. Madonna, Christ, and St. John Baptist, on panel. Not identified.

56. Portrait of a foreign Lady, small, on panel. Not found.

57. Portrait of a Man in an antique dress, on panel. Not identified.

58. A Man armed with a morion and shield, on canvas, after Titian. Not identified.

Baroccio.

59. Madonna with Christ in her arms, St. Augustin, and St. Francis, on canvas. Not found.

60. Christ in a Cradle, Madonna, St. John, and St. Elizabeth, on canvas. Not found.

61. St. Francis, on panel. Not found.

62. A Man with a chemisette, on canvas; probably the half-length of Duke Francesco Maria II., with six gold buttons, mentioned in the Pesaro inventory, and of which No. 162 of the Pitti collection seems a finished head study on paper.

63. Marchese Ippolito della Rovere, on canvas. Not found.

64. Monsignore Giuliano della Rovere, on canvas. Not found.

65. The Saviour with the Globe in his Hand, after Baroccio. Now No. 101 in the Pitti Palace, where it is called by Baroccio. A poor picture.

Antonio.

66. A Woman in an antique dress, on panel. This may refer to Antonello di Messina. Not found.

67. Petrarch and Laura painted bookwise. This is doubtless a blundering description of the heads of Duke Federigo and Duchess Battista of Urbino, by Pietro della Francesca, placed like a diptych or book in the same frame. They have been engraved at Volume I., p. 120, of this work, from the originals among the miscellaneous Italian pictures in the Uffizi.

68. A Franciscan Friar teaching mathematics to another person, on panel. This is ascribed to Ghirlandajo or Signorelli, but the subject makes it more probably a work of Pietro della Francesca, court painter to Duke Federigo. I have found no such picture.

Giorgione.

69. A Duke of Urbino, on canvas. Probably Guidobaldo I., but unfortunately lost.

Holbein.

70. Two Dukes of Saxony, bookwise, small. They are Frederick III. and John I.; now in the German room of the Uffizi, where they are ascribed to Lucas Cranach.

Scarsellino.

71. Christ receiving St. Peter, on panel; a small picture. Not found.

72. Christ with his foot upon a serpent's skin [scoglione], on panel; a small picture. Not found.

The Zuccari.

73. A woman with a cockle-shell in her hand, on canvas. Not found.

74. Madonna, Christ, and St. John Baptist, on panel, after Jacopo * * * *. Not found.

L’Alemano.

75. The Nativity, on panel. Not identified.

V. Dandini.

76. Aurora, on canvas. Not found.

Il Cerretani.

77. The Nativity, on canvas. Not found.

78. Portrait of Queen Mary of France. This may have been Mary de' Medici by Scipione Gaetani, No. 192 of the Pitti Gallery.

79. Virtue expelling the Vices. Not found.

80-88. Six Dukes of Urbino and three Popes; all small pictures on canvas.

III. PESARO INVENTORY

Raffaele.

89. Madonna, Christ, and St. Joseph, on panel. Not found in the other inventories, nor in the galleries at Florence.

90. Magdalen, on panel; behind it the arms of Duke Francesco Maria II. and his Duchess Lucrezia d'Este. Not elsewhere known.

Titian.

91. The Duchess of Camerino in an antique dress, on canvas. Not found.

92. A Soldier in dark armour, on canvas. Not found.

Baroccio.

93. The Crucifixion, with the palace of Urbino introduced in the background, on canvas. Not found.

The Zuccari.

94. The Crucifixion, with a city below, on canvas. Not found.

Giulio Clovio.

95. A miniature, was probably the Pietà on vellum, No. 241 of the Pitti collection. A group treated with great breadth, and coloured with much delicacy.

The following pictures, in the Pitti palace, though not in the Urbino inventories, are closely connected with the family della Rovere, and the first of them must have come from thence.

96. Prince Federigo, by Baroccio, on canvas, No. 55. The babe lies in his cradle swaddled, his dress and coverlet embroidered in flowers and gold; inscription above, Federigo Priñ d'Urbo quando nacque 1605.

97. Vittoria della Rovere Grand Duchess of Tuscany, by Sustermans, on canvas, No. 116. She is in the character of the Vestal Tuccia, with a sieve under her arm, full of water; a half-length figure, stout and comely, with a pleasant expression.

98. The Grand Duchess Vittoria, her Husband, and her Son Cosmo III., by Sustermans, on canvas, No. 231. This picture is called in the catalogue a Holy Family; but though the grouping of the figures appears borrowed from some such composition, there seems no real ground for this alleged impiety. They are half-lengths; the Grand Duchess has a darker complexion, and is somewhat older than in the preceding number.