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Lot Essay
The composition is assembled from two prints. The two outer figures are probably derived from Gian Giacomo Caraglio's engraving 'Hercules Killing the Hydra of Lerna' (see p. 66), one of a series of six prints on Herculean subjects, although the artist could have taken the image from a copy which shows the figures in reverse, attributed by Linzeler to Jacques Androuet Du Cerceau (see Bartsch, Vol. 28, pp. 35-36). The central figure is taken from Marcantonio Raimondi's engraving 'The Massacre of the Innocents' after Baccio Bandinelli, or after a copy of Raimondi's print (see p. 66). The inscription translates as 'give me the wether or I'll kill you', but the subject remains unclear. Julia Poole suggested the scene could possibly be 'Ajax killing Sheep which in a Fit of Madness he believed to be Agamemnon and Menelaus'.1
The central figure appears on a documentary shallow bowl in the British Museum which is signed and dated 1534 by Giulio da Urbino,2 and the same figure was used twice by Xanto.3 Giulio da Urbino is thought to have worked in close association with Xanto in Urbino before moving to Rimini in 1534-35. In spite of the similarity in style the writing on the reverse of the present lot does not match that on the reverse of the documentary British Museum piece. Thornton discusses the present lot in her article on Giulio da Urbino,4 pointing out that the writing corresponds with the inscription on the reverse of a dish painted by the Lu Ur painter which was formerly in the Sackler Collection, sold by Christie's New York on 1st June 1994, lot 22. Although the inscriptions on the present piece and the Sackler piece are almost certainly by the same hand, the painting on the front of the present lot is very clearly not executed by the Lu Ur painter. The present lot consequently poses fascinating problems. It has been suggested that it could have been painted by more than one hand, and that Giulio da Urbino or Xanto could have been involved. Traits of both painters can be seen in this piece, but as Giulio da Urbino's work was so heavily influenced by Xanto's at this time, it is difficult to specify either painter's involvment.
1. Poole, Italian maiolica and incised slipware in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 1995, p. 351, note 14.
2. See D. Thornton and T. Wilson, Italian Renaissance Ceramics, a Catalogue of the British Museum Collection, London, 2009, Vol. 1, pp. 290-292, no. 171. For a discussion of Giulio da Urbino, see D. Thornton, 'Giulio da Urbino and his role as a copyist of Xanto', Faenza, 2008, pp. 269-289; D. Thornton, 'An Allegory of the Sack of Rome by Giulio da Urbino', Apollo Magazine, June 1999, pp. 11-18 and D. Thornton, 'Giulio da Urbino and his role as a copyist of Xanto', Faenza, No. IV-VI, 2007, pp. 269-289.
3. Thornton and Wilson, ibid., Vol. 1, p. 292, note 5.
4. Thornton, ibid., 2007, p. 274.
The central figure appears on a documentary shallow bowl in the British Museum which is signed and dated 1534 by Giulio da Urbino,
1. Poole, Italian maiolica and incised slipware in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 1995, p. 351, note 14.
2. See D. Thornton and T. Wilson, Italian Renaissance Ceramics, a Catalogue of the British Museum Collection, London, 2009, Vol. 1, pp. 290-292, no. 171. For a discussion of Giulio da Urbino, see D. Thornton, 'Giulio da Urbino and his role as a copyist of Xanto', Faenza, 2008, pp. 269-289; D. Thornton, 'An Allegory of the Sack of Rome by Giulio da Urbino', Apollo Magazine, June 1999, pp. 11-18 and D. Thornton, 'Giulio da Urbino and his role as a copyist of Xanto', Faenza, No. IV-VI, 2007, pp. 269-289.
3. Thornton and Wilson, ibid., Vol. 1, p. 292, note 5.
4. Thornton, ibid., 2007, p. 274.