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Workshop of Maestro Giorgio Andreoli of Gubbio; painting attributed to the Painter of the Three Graces

Plate with the reconciliation of Cupid and Minerva, 1525

West Building, Ground Floor - Gallery 14

Medium

tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)

Dimensions

overall (diameter): 26 cm (10 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Widener Collection

Accession Number

1942.9.333

Artists / Makers

Italian 16th Century (ceramist)

Maestro Giorgio Andreoli of Gubbio (related artist) Italian, c. 1465/1470 - c. 1553

Painter of the Three Graces (painter) Italian

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

in center reverse, flanking an "owner's mark" incorporating a double cross and a letter S: 1525 / Mo.Go.

Marks and Labels

Duveen (?) label: "The design is probably after Robetta"

Provenance

Probably Émile Gavet [1830-1904], Paris.[1] Richard Zschille [1847-1903], Leipzig; (his sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 23 June 1899, no. 92, repro.)[2] (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, Paris, and New York); purchased by Peter A. B. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from the Estate of Peter A. B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, 1942.

[1] Darcel, Alfred, "Le moyen âge et la renaissance au Trocadéro, XIV. Les faïences italiennes," GBA, 2d ser., 18 (1878): 977, mentions as exhibited by Gavet at the 1878 Exposition Universelle "une assiette à larges bords representant un Amour offrant une palme à une femme" marked M G [with superscript o's after both letters] and dated 1525, which must be this piece; it does not appear in the 1889 catalogue of the Gavet collection by Emile Molinier, or in the catalogue of the Gavet sale in Paris, 31 May-9 June 1897, so it had presumably been sold previously.

[2] Catalogue of the Italian majolica...of Herr Richard Zchille, London, 1899: no. 92, repro., as Gubbio, workshop of Maestro Giorgio. The name of the purchaser at the Zschille sale is given in the marked catalogue in the Christie's archive as "Müller."

Associated Names

Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Gavet, Émile
Müller
Widener, Joseph E.
Widener, Peter Arrell Brown
Zschille, Richard

Exhibition History

1878: Exposition Universelle Internationale, Trocadéro, Paris, 1878.

1982: Sixteenth-Century Italian Maiolica; Selections from the Arthur M. Sackler Collection and the National Gallery of Art's Widener Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1982-1983, no. 42.

2018: Sharing Images: Renaissance Prints into Maiolica and Bronze, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2018

Technical Summary

The shallow plate, which has warped slightly in the kiln, is of earthenware, covered front and back with a white tin glaze which is slightly pockmarked on the front and heavily so on the back. The edge is molded into ridges front and back. The painting is in blue, green, near black, yellow, orange brown, and white (the drawing being in blue), with golden-brown and red luster. Only one kiln-spur mark is visible on the front (near the head of Cupid). The inner and outer edges of the rim are somewhat chipped.

Bibliography

1878: Darcel, Alfred. "Le moyen âge et la Renaissance au Trocadéro; XIV. Les faïences italiennes." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 2d ser., 18 (1878): 977.

1878: Exposition Universelle Internationale. Exh. cat. Trocadéro, Paris, 1878.

1899: Falke, Otto von. Sammlung Richard Zschille; Katalog der italienischen Majoliken. Leipzig, 1899: no. 92, repro.

1933: Ballardini, Gaestano. Corpus della maiolica italiana. 2 vols. Rome, 1933-1938: 1: no. 17, figs. 165, 297.

1935: Inventory of the Objects d'Art at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, The Estate of the Late P.A.B. Widener. Philadelphia, 1935: 60.

1942: Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 13, as Gubbio (Maestro Giorgio Andreoli).

1983: Wilson, Carolyn C. Renaissance Small Bronze Sculpture and Associated Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1983: 119, no. 2.

1988: Fiocco/Gherardi 1988-1989, 2:416, 420, n. 10, 570.

1993: Distelberger, Rudolf, Alison Luchs, Philippe Verdier, and Timonthy H. Wilson. Western Decorative Arts, Part I: Medieval, Renaissance, and Historicizing Styles including Metalwork, Enamels, and Ceramics. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1993: 177-179, repro. 178.