.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The scene on the present charger depicts a historical event which took place only six years before Xanto painted it. In 1535 the almost impregnable fortress of La Goletta in Tunisia was stormed and taken by the forces of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. The recipient of this charger, whose arms Xanto painted on the border, was the general during the campaign, which was headed by Charles V himself. The inscription translates as ‘From Charles of Austria the mighty Emperor, high Goletta, so untakeable snatched, and taken by sudden storm’.
La Goletta was very close to the site of the ancient city of Carthage, and the maiolica scholar John Mallet has suggested that this may explain why Xanto chose Marco Dente da Ravenna’s engraving The Capture of Carthage (circa 1521-23), showing the Romans scaling the walls of Carthage, as inspiration for his decoration of this piece(1). Although the forces scaling La Goletta’s walls were not Roman, Xanto still included SPQR on the banner which appears, partially in reverse, in Marco Dente’s engraving(2).
The present lot is an important and unique document of Xanto’s production in the workshop of Francesco Silvano, who is first documented in Urbino in 1527(3). Silvano was married to the sister of Guido di Merlino, another important workshop owner, and he is last documented in 1553.
The impaled arms on the border are for Ferrante Gonzaga-Guastalla (1507-1557), Duke of Ariano, who married Isabella of Capua (1510-1559), the daughter of Ferrante of Capua, Count of Alessano, Marquess of Specchia, Duke of Termoli and Prince of Molfetta. Ferrante was the younger brother of Federico II Gonzaga (1500-1540), Duke of Mantua. Ferrante Gonzaga-Guastalla was sent to Spain at the age of sixteen as page to the future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, whom he served for the rest of his life. He was involved in the Sack of Rome in 1527 by the Emperor’s forces(4), and he rescued his mother, Isabella d’Este, from the city. Later that year, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the imperial army in Italy. Over the following few decades many other honors and appointments followed, including being sent to England in 1543 as Ambassador to King Henry VIII.
1. J.V.G. Mallet, ibid., 2007, p. 37.
2. This indicates that Xanto used Marco Dente’s engraving rather than the 1539 engraving by the German artist Georg Pencz, as Pencz added a monumental tower in the background of his engraving, which is absent from Xanto’s charger. Both prints are after a drawing by Giulio Romano (now in the Musée du Louvre) which was made for a series of Tapestries depicting the Triumphs of Scipio for King François I of France.
3. A coppa painted with St. Jerome and the lion by the anonymous painter ‘the Painter of the Coalmine Service’ sold by Pandolfini in Florence on 31 October 2018, lot 3, is painted with a monogram which has been speculatively interpreted as standing for ‘Maestro Francesco Silvano’; see Timothy Wilson and Cristina Maritano, ibid., 2019, pp. 112-113, no. 84.
4. The Sack of Rome shocked all of Italy, and Xanto painted a number of plates and dishes with moral and political allegories of the Sack, which he saw as retribution for the lax morals of Rome and greed of the Pope, see Mallet, ibid., 2007, pp. 18-20.
Caption: Marco Dente da Ravenna’s engraving The Capture of Carthage (circa 1521-23).
La Goletta was very close to the site of the ancient city of Carthage, and the maiolica scholar John Mallet has suggested that this may explain why Xanto chose Marco Dente da Ravenna’s engraving The Capture of Carthage (circa 1521-23), showing the Romans scaling the walls of Carthage, as inspiration for his decoration of this piece(1). Although the forces scaling La Goletta’s walls were not Roman, Xanto still included SPQR on the banner which appears, partially in reverse, in Marco Dente’s engraving(2).
The present lot is an important and unique document of Xanto’s production in the workshop of Francesco Silvano, who is first documented in Urbino in 1527(3). Silvano was married to the sister of Guido di Merlino, another important workshop owner, and he is last documented in 1553.
The impaled arms on the border are for Ferrante Gonzaga-Guastalla (1507-1557), Duke of Ariano, who married Isabella of Capua (1510-1559), the daughter of Ferrante of Capua, Count of Alessano, Marquess of Specchia, Duke of Termoli and Prince of Molfetta. Ferrante was the younger brother of Federico II Gonzaga (1500-1540), Duke of Mantua. Ferrante Gonzaga-Guastalla was sent to Spain at the age of sixteen as page to the future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, whom he served for the rest of his life. He was involved in the Sack of Rome in 1527 by the Emperor’s forces(4), and he rescued his mother, Isabella d’Este, from the city. Later that year, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the imperial army in Italy. Over the following few decades many other honors and appointments followed, including being sent to England in 1543 as Ambassador to King Henry VIII.
1. J.V.G. Mallet, ibid., 2007, p. 37.
2. This indicates that Xanto used Marco Dente’s engraving rather than the 1539 engraving by the German artist Georg Pencz, as Pencz added a monumental tower in the background of his engraving, which is absent from Xanto’s charger. Both prints are after a drawing by Giulio Romano (now in the Musée du Louvre) which was made for a series of Tapestries depicting the Triumphs of Scipio for King François I of France.
3. A coppa painted with St. Jerome and the lion by the anonymous painter ‘the Painter of the Coalmine Service’ sold by Pandolfini in Florence on 31 October 2018, lot 3, is painted with a monogram which has been speculatively interpreted as standing for ‘Maestro Francesco Silvano’; see Timothy Wilson and Cristina Maritano, ibid., 2019, pp. 112-113, no. 84.
4. The Sack of Rome shocked all of Italy, and Xanto painted a number of plates and dishes with moral and political allegories of the Sack, which he saw as retribution for the lax morals of Rome and greed of the Pope, see Mallet, ibid., 2007, pp. 18-20.
Caption: Marco Dente da Ravenna’s engraving The Capture of Carthage (circa 1521-23).