Painterly Maiolica of the Italian Renaissance

Abstract

Painterly Maiolica of the Italian Renaissance W. DAVID KINGERY Beginning about 1485 and continuing through the first half of the 16th century, there was a remarkable occurrence in the history of ceramics: the development of “art” ceramics in central and northern Italy. Maiolica—tin-glazed pottery—was not only a new art form, it was a new technology that developed in parallel with a new painterly technique: in the istoriato ware of the Urbino area, paintings of nar­ rative and historical scenes took precedence over shape, form, and texture. It was also the beginning of a new industry with a large number of Italian Renaissance pottery centers concentrated in central and northern Italy (fig. 1). And during the 16th century, Italian potters emigrated to establish manufactories throughout northern Europe. The maiolica they produced was called faience, after the Italian town of Faenza, famous for its manufacture. The “invention” of this new art form and new technology embodied a series of individual achievements impossible to pinpoint from documentary or material evidence. Inventive potters were secretive. In 1557, Cipriano Piccolpasso described his Three Books of the Potter’s Art as “publishing the secrets” of those “among whom are many who till the last day of their lives keep it hidden from their own sons and Dr. Kingery is professor of anthropology and of materials science and engineering at the University of Arizona, Tucson. He is currently chairman of the university program on Culture, Science and Technology and coeditor with Steven Lubar of a volume on material culture, History from Things, to be published by the Smithsonian Institution Press this year. He wants to express his appreciation to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Trustees of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Walters Art Gallery, the Toledo Museum of Art, the Musée de Céramique at Sèvres, the International Museum of Ceramics at Faenza, and the Museo Cívico at Rimini for permission to examine and to use photos of articles in their collections. The author thanks Meredith Aronson, M. Biordi, G. C. Bojani, Anne Brodrick, Alan Caiger-Smith, Richard A. Goldthwaite, Antoinette Hallé, John Larson, J. V. G. Mallet, Anne L. Poulet, A. Ravaglioli, M. S. Tite, Timothy Wilson, and others for many helpful discussions, suggestions, and aid in locating and interpreting many objects. The Technology and Culture referees are thanked for their constructive and useful comments.© 1993 by the Society for the History of Technology. All rights reserved. 0040- 165X793/3401-0003$01.00 28 Painterly Maiolica of the Italian Renaissance 29 AUSTRIA Fig. 1.—The main Italian Renaissance pottery centers (and modern regional bound­ aries). (From T. Wilson, Ceramic Art of the Italian Renaissance [London, 1987], p. 10.) then, knowing themselves to be on the point of death . . . summon their oldest and wisest son and reveal to him the secret.”1 Economic theorists use “innovation” as the term to describe bringing an inven­ tion into commercial practice and consider that such a process requires both perceived utility and also entrepreneurship. Once adopted, a proven technology becomes conservative; subsequent 'Cipriano Piccolpasso, The Three Books ofthe Potter’s Art, 2 vols., trans, and ed. Ronald Lightbown and Alan Caiger-Smith (London, 1980), 2:6. 30 W. David Kingery innovations are gradual and incremental.2 Such was the case for Italian maiolica. In attempting to understand the innovation of Renaissance maiol­ ica, we are faced with questions of technology, technique, aesthetics, taste, style, entrepreneurial activity, perceived utility, patronage, and consumer behavior. The art historical development of maiolica is well known.3 Richard Goldthwaite published a definitive economic and social history of maiolica in the Italian Renaissance on which I have relied.4 I propose to discuss the technological development of paint­ erly maiolica, focusing on how this occurred within the cultural, economic, social, and art historical context of the Italian Renaissance. Growth of the Decorative Arts The roots of the Italian Renaissance and its painterly maiolica were planted in the 12th-, 13th-, and 14th-century Italian economy, the main strengths of which came to be commerce, banking, and special­ ized manufactures. At the beginning of the 14th century, there was a booming cloth industry in Florence, with more than 300...