.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
A Roman Masterpiece - a late Renaissance table top in coloured marbles and pietre dure from the end of the Renaissance
By Alvar Gonzàlez-Palacios
The inlaid marble table tops made in Renaissance Rome constitute one of the high points of Italian decorative arts, but the difficulty of establishing a chronology for them has posed a major problem for historians. A number of studies have, to a degree, succeeded in establishing how much was made in Rome towards the mid-16th century and how much was made towards the end of the century in Florence so that it is now possible to be relatively certain about where these extraordinary objects were made. However, if the tables made in Florence owed their production to the patronage of the Medici, in Rome different craftsmen were working for a much wider clientele - not limited to the papal court.
It also needs to be borne in mind that this type of work - inlay using coloured marbles - was already flourishing in Rome before the middle of the 16th century as architectural decoration in churches and chapels: some of these works are documented. Table tops, which were expensive luxury items, were by contrast not documented, or at least no documents have so far been traced for specific objects known to us today. We cannot be sure of the date or name of the craftsman behind even the most famous of these tables, the 'Tavolo Farnese', which is in the Metropolitan Museum, New York.
Recently it has been suggested that the Farnese Table might be the work of a French craftsman, Jean Ménard, known as Giovanni Francese or 'il Franciosino', but however persuasive the attribution, it is based on hypothesis. What makes the picture more complicated is the continual exchange of ideas and actual materials between Rome and Florence. In this context it should be remembered that there were two Tuscan cardinals at this period. The first is Giovanni Ricci da Montepulciano (1498-1575, cardinal from 1551) and the second is Ferdinando de' Medici (1549-1609) who became a cardinal in 1563 but relinquished this position shortly after becoming Grand Duke of Tuscany. Both men were interested in coloured hard stones and the marbles that had been used in Roman times. For Grand Duke Ferdinand this led him to found the Galleria dei Lavori, in 1588, in the Palazzo degli Uffizi. It is still in operation today under the name Opificio delle Pietre Dure.
It should also be remembered that a number of tables, inlaid with coloured marbles, and now in Florentine museums, were made in Rome where Ferdinando de' Medici was living as a cardinal. Furthermore the first tables inlaid with coloured stones were ordered in Rome by Tuscans. Amongst these is a table of about 1543 designed by Giorgio Vasari for Bindo Altoviti which has jasper inlays bordered in ivory and set on an ebony ground. Others for Cosimo I de'Medici and his son Francesco are known only from documents.
The table top here is one of the most original examples of coloured marble inlay from late 16th century Rome. Its most distinctive feature is the central rectangle of alabastro fiorito, framed like a picture, with rich ornament around it. As far as we know there are only two other Roman tables of this period with a centered rectangle: one belongs to the Marquess of Salisbury and is at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire and the other belonged to the Duca di Lerma and is now in the Colegiata di Lerma near Burgos. Usually Roman tables are centred with an oval piece of alabaster so it is not by chance that this type of stone has been selected both for the table here as well as for those at Hatfield and Lerma. The 'Tavolo Farnese' too has an alabaster centre, although the proportions are different and it consists of two rectangular pieces of a particularly rare type of alabaster. Unfortunately none of these objects can be securely dated or attributed, although on stylistic grounds we can deduce that the Lerma and Hatfield tables were made in late 16th century Rome.
The Duke of Lerma (1563-1625) was the most powerful man in Spain at the time of Philip III, when between 1598 and 1617 he was more of a King than the King himself. His fortunes changed in 1617 but he managed to enter the College of Cardinals and thereby secure his survival. He enjoyed a close relationship with the Papacy during the Pontificates of Clement VIII (1592-1605) and Paul V (1605-1621) and it is probable that his table came from Rome at this time. The Duke of Lerma owned two other tables of the same type. One of them, which is very close in size to the table offered here (130 x 190cm), is centered with an oval of alabaster but otherwise the auricular style of the surrounding ornament is similar. The bands of ornament around the outside of both tables, contain oval cartouches and comparable rectangular shapes and use the same broccatello for the unevenly scrolling edging. The stylistic similarities are so marked as to allow us to think that the two tables come from the same workshop and were designed by the same artist. In both of the tables there is generous use of lapis lazuli in oval and rectangular pieces and the result is particularly sumptuous in the table featured here where the vivid colour of the Persian lapis lazuli speckled with gold brings a unifying and distinctive quality to the overall scheme. The table in the Louvre, which originally came from the Château de Richelieu, is close to this group in its dimensions, decoration and choice of stones.
The quality of the design is an essential factor for an understanding of how these tables came to be made. The name of the maker has often been confused with that of the artist who designed it. Although we know the names of some 16th century stone cutters we do not know if these craftsmen were the same as those who created the designs for the inlays. Jean Ménard, who was the most famous craftsman for this specialist work, was active from the mid-16th century until 1582 when he died in France, but he appears to have been illiterate and we do not know if he would have been capable of the draftsmanship required. At the same time there are quite a few projects by the Tuscan architect Giovanni Antonio Dosio (1533-1611) for table tops similar in taste to this one.
One of these designs was used for the famous table made in Rome which is now in the Sala di Venere at Palazzo Pitti, Florence. However, if we are to link Dosio to the table featured in this catalogue, it would be appropriate also to mention Giovanni Vincenzo Casale, born in Florence in 1507, who died in Portugal in 1593. It is not impossible that he knew Jean Ménard because they both moved in the same circle as Michelangelo Buonarroti in Rome. Casale worked for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese and may have known Dosio and others who were working with marbles. The dates of Casale's activity in Rome are not clear but it would seem that he was in the city between the end of the 1560s and the beginning of the 1570s, when he was in Naples, before moving to Spain and Portugal where he became much sought after as architect - even by Philip II.
In the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid there is a notebook with designs collected by Casale, including some by his own hand (together with others by more significant artists such as Perino del Vaga and il Tribolo). One of these sheets shows a detail of a pietre dure table together with the names of the various marbles: alabastro cotognino, bianco e nero (d'Aquitania) and broccatello (di Spagna). On another sheet further stones are specified, including breccia di Tivoli (known today as breccia Quintilina), lapis lazuli and in two places it is mentioned that the ground was of verde (antico) and of nero. On the verso side of the first sheet in the same 16th century handwriting, the measurements (which are not given) are recorded as being in palmi romani. It is not clear if these drawings are preparatory or records of works seen in Rome.
Other drawings in the same notebook appear instead to be proper project drawings for an octagonal and a rectangular table with distinctively geometric designs (which bring to mind first and foremost the play of lapis lazuli ovals and rectangles on the table here).
It was probably the case in Rome that hard stones such as lapis lazuli or agate in particular were cut and prepared by jewellers. In Costantino Bulgari's dictionary of Roman silversmiths the master jeweller and stone cutter, Giacomo Anfossi, is listed in May 1556 as 'acconciatore di gioie' - 'gem setter' and 'intagliatore di pietre' - 'carver of stones' as well as 'gioielliere di Nostro Signore' - 'jeweller to his Holiness' and he supplied lapis lazuli on several occasions to the papal court. Another craftsman 'Paulo gioielliere' whose surname is not given, is recorded as being paid on 26 December 1555 in a document of the pontifical Tesoreria Segreta - the papal Treasury - for 'quattro pezzi di agatha venduta per mettere in un tavolino di N.S' - 'for four pieces of agate sold to me for a small table for his Holiness'.
The wide border around the edge of the table shown here contains 24 flower heads each with five petals of agate which enliven the geometric scheme. Small arrangements of leaves and colourful flowers add a naturalistic touch to the rectangular and oval ornament of lapis lazuli which punctuates the border.
As has been said dating objects like this from Rome remains extremely difficult. I believe though that we can be confident that the two tables belonging to the Duke of Lerma are datable to the end of the 16th century or the earliest years of the 17th century. The same must be the case for the Hatfield table and the Richelieu table at the Louvre. We need to remember too that the earliest possible use of breccia Quintilina was 1560 when this rare marble was identified at the Villa Quintilia near Tivoli.
Translated from the Italian by Emma-Louise Bassett
By Alvar Gonzàlez-Palacios
The inlaid marble table tops made in Renaissance Rome constitute one of the high points of Italian decorative arts, but the difficulty of establishing a chronology for them has posed a major problem for historians. A number of studies have, to a degree, succeeded in establishing how much was made in Rome towards the mid-16th century and how much was made towards the end of the century in Florence so that it is now possible to be relatively certain about where these extraordinary objects were made. However, if the tables made in Florence owed their production to the patronage of the Medici, in Rome different craftsmen were working for a much wider clientele - not limited to the papal court.
It also needs to be borne in mind that this type of work - inlay using coloured marbles - was already flourishing in Rome before the middle of the 16th century as architectural decoration in churches and chapels: some of these works are documented. Table tops, which were expensive luxury items, were by contrast not documented, or at least no documents have so far been traced for specific objects known to us today. We cannot be sure of the date or name of the craftsman behind even the most famous of these tables, the 'Tavolo Farnese', which is in the Metropolitan Museum, New York.
Recently it has been suggested that the Farnese Table might be the work of a French craftsman, Jean Ménard, known as Giovanni Francese or 'il Franciosino', but however persuasive the attribution, it is based on hypothesis. What makes the picture more complicated is the continual exchange of ideas and actual materials between Rome and Florence. In this context it should be remembered that there were two Tuscan cardinals at this period. The first is Giovanni Ricci da Montepulciano (1498-1575, cardinal from 1551) and the second is Ferdinando de' Medici (1549-1609) who became a cardinal in 1563 but relinquished this position shortly after becoming Grand Duke of Tuscany. Both men were interested in coloured hard stones and the marbles that had been used in Roman times. For Grand Duke Ferdinand this led him to found the Galleria dei Lavori, in 1588, in the Palazzo degli Uffizi. It is still in operation today under the name Opificio delle Pietre Dure.
It should also be remembered that a number of tables, inlaid with coloured marbles, and now in Florentine museums, were made in Rome where Ferdinando de' Medici was living as a cardinal. Furthermore the first tables inlaid with coloured stones were ordered in Rome by Tuscans. Amongst these is a table of about 1543 designed by Giorgio Vasari for Bindo Altoviti which has jasper inlays bordered in ivory and set on an ebony ground. Others for Cosimo I de'Medici and his son Francesco are known only from documents.
The table top here is one of the most original examples of coloured marble inlay from late 16th century Rome. Its most distinctive feature is the central rectangle of alabastro fiorito, framed like a picture, with rich ornament around it. As far as we know there are only two other Roman tables of this period with a centered rectangle: one belongs to the Marquess of Salisbury and is at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire and the other belonged to the Duca di Lerma and is now in the Colegiata di Lerma near Burgos. Usually Roman tables are centred with an oval piece of alabaster so it is not by chance that this type of stone has been selected both for the table here as well as for those at Hatfield and Lerma. The 'Tavolo Farnese' too has an alabaster centre, although the proportions are different and it consists of two rectangular pieces of a particularly rare type of alabaster. Unfortunately none of these objects can be securely dated or attributed, although on stylistic grounds we can deduce that the Lerma and Hatfield tables were made in late 16th century Rome.
The Duke of Lerma (1563-1625) was the most powerful man in Spain at the time of Philip III, when between 1598 and 1617 he was more of a King than the King himself. His fortunes changed in 1617 but he managed to enter the College of Cardinals and thereby secure his survival. He enjoyed a close relationship with the Papacy during the Pontificates of Clement VIII (1592-1605) and Paul V (1605-1621) and it is probable that his table came from Rome at this time. The Duke of Lerma owned two other tables of the same type. One of them, which is very close in size to the table offered here (130 x 190cm), is centered with an oval of alabaster but otherwise the auricular style of the surrounding ornament is similar. The bands of ornament around the outside of both tables, contain oval cartouches and comparable rectangular shapes and use the same broccatello for the unevenly scrolling edging. The stylistic similarities are so marked as to allow us to think that the two tables come from the same workshop and were designed by the same artist. In both of the tables there is generous use of lapis lazuli in oval and rectangular pieces and the result is particularly sumptuous in the table featured here where the vivid colour of the Persian lapis lazuli speckled with gold brings a unifying and distinctive quality to the overall scheme. The table in the Louvre, which originally came from the Château de Richelieu, is close to this group in its dimensions, decoration and choice of stones.
The quality of the design is an essential factor for an understanding of how these tables came to be made. The name of the maker has often been confused with that of the artist who designed it. Although we know the names of some 16th century stone cutters we do not know if these craftsmen were the same as those who created the designs for the inlays. Jean Ménard, who was the most famous craftsman for this specialist work, was active from the mid-16th century until 1582 when he died in France, but he appears to have been illiterate and we do not know if he would have been capable of the draftsmanship required. At the same time there are quite a few projects by the Tuscan architect Giovanni Antonio Dosio (1533-1611) for table tops similar in taste to this one.
One of these designs was used for the famous table made in Rome which is now in the Sala di Venere at Palazzo Pitti, Florence. However, if we are to link Dosio to the table featured in this catalogue, it would be appropriate also to mention Giovanni Vincenzo Casale, born in Florence in 1507, who died in Portugal in 1593. It is not impossible that he knew Jean Ménard because they both moved in the same circle as Michelangelo Buonarroti in Rome. Casale worked for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese and may have known Dosio and others who were working with marbles. The dates of Casale's activity in Rome are not clear but it would seem that he was in the city between the end of the 1560s and the beginning of the 1570s, when he was in Naples, before moving to Spain and Portugal where he became much sought after as architect - even by Philip II.
In the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid there is a notebook with designs collected by Casale, including some by his own hand (together with others by more significant artists such as Perino del Vaga and il Tribolo). One of these sheets shows a detail of a pietre dure table together with the names of the various marbles: alabastro cotognino, bianco e nero (d'Aquitania) and broccatello (di Spagna). On another sheet further stones are specified, including breccia di Tivoli (known today as breccia Quintilina), lapis lazuli and in two places it is mentioned that the ground was of verde (antico) and of nero. On the verso side of the first sheet in the same 16th century handwriting, the measurements (which are not given) are recorded as being in palmi romani. It is not clear if these drawings are preparatory or records of works seen in Rome.
Other drawings in the same notebook appear instead to be proper project drawings for an octagonal and a rectangular table with distinctively geometric designs (which bring to mind first and foremost the play of lapis lazuli ovals and rectangles on the table here).
It was probably the case in Rome that hard stones such as lapis lazuli or agate in particular were cut and prepared by jewellers. In Costantino Bulgari's dictionary of Roman silversmiths the master jeweller and stone cutter, Giacomo Anfossi, is listed in May 1556 as 'acconciatore di gioie' - 'gem setter' and 'intagliatore di pietre' - 'carver of stones' as well as 'gioielliere di Nostro Signore' - 'jeweller to his Holiness' and he supplied lapis lazuli on several occasions to the papal court. Another craftsman 'Paulo gioielliere' whose surname is not given, is recorded as being paid on 26 December 1555 in a document of the pontifical Tesoreria Segreta - the papal Treasury - for 'quattro pezzi di agatha venduta per mettere in un tavolino di N.S' - 'for four pieces of agate sold to me for a small table for his Holiness'.
The wide border around the edge of the table shown here contains 24 flower heads each with five petals of agate which enliven the geometric scheme. Small arrangements of leaves and colourful flowers add a naturalistic touch to the rectangular and oval ornament of lapis lazuli which punctuates the border.
As has been said dating objects like this from Rome remains extremely difficult. I believe though that we can be confident that the two tables belonging to the Duke of Lerma are datable to the end of the 16th century or the earliest years of the 17th century. The same must be the case for the Hatfield table and the Richelieu table at the Louvre. We need to remember too that the earliest possible use of breccia Quintilina was 1560 when this rare marble was identified at the Villa Quintilia near Tivoli.
Translated from the Italian by Emma-Louise Bassett