13. Madonna della Misericordia, on canvas. The Pesaro list tells us it came from the Imperiale villa, and contained the painter's portrait, with many figures. It is No. 484 of the Pitti collection, where it is assigned to Marco di Tiziano, the cousin and favourite pupil of Titian. Following the usual type, this "Madonna of Mercy" is represented as a gigantic female, whose outstretched arms infold under her ample mantle of compassion, six men, five women, and two children; the eldest of the group is evidently Titian, and the rest are, no doubt, members of the Vecelli family. The picture was probably votive, in commemoration of some signal mercy vouchsafed to his house.
14. The Saviour, on panel. A half-length figure in profile, perhaps the finished study for some large composition. It is noted in all the inventories, and was carried by the French to Paris, but is now in the Pitti Palace, No. 228.
15. Ecce Homo, on panel. Also included in all the inventories, and probably the picture No. 330 of the Pitti Gallery, where it is called in the manner of Sebastian del Piombo.[*271]
16. Magdalen, on panel. This is now No. 67 in the Pitti collection; a half-length, half-nude penitent, with variations from the frequent repetitions of the same subject by this master; her eye, no longer tearful, is upraised with an expression of joyful hope: the penitent is at peace. (See above, p. 375.)
17. Judith, on canvas. In the Pesaro inventory it is described as on panel, and both there and in Pelli's note it is ascribed to Titian or Palma Vecchio, whilst Venturi assigns it to Pordenone. It is now in the Venetian room of the Uffizi, with the name of Pordenone, and is on panel.[*272]
18. Naked woman lying, large, life-size, on canvas. All who have visited the Tribune of the Uffizi Gallery are acquainted with two companion full-length pictures of nude females, which are conspicuous among its treasures of art. Both are called Venus; but though one has the unquestionable accompaniment of a Cupid, with a landscape behind, the other contains no attribute of the amorous goddess, but is the portrait of a lovely woman laid uncovered on her bed, whilst two attendants in the back part of the room prepare her dress. To the latter, therefore, the above description, which is alike in all the Urbino inventories, must unquestionably apply; and it thus affords us an easy solution of the doubts as to which of the two pictures came from Urbino, originating in the confused and incorrect descriptions of Ridolfi and Vasari. The popular idea is that Titian here portrayed a mistress or favourite of Duke Guidobaldo of Urbino; but Cigognara has adopted the conjecture that in her features may be traced an idealised likeness of his mother Leonora. We must reject an idea so outraging her well-known modesty of demeanour; and upon comparing the sweetly sensual countenance of the naked beauty with the almost stern dignity of that Duchess, as represented in her portrait, No. 7 of this catalogue, the resemblance seems limited to an oval face and auburn complexion. The spaniels which attend on both ladies, introduced in these pictures, though of the same breed, are certainly different animals. Greater probability attaches to a notion that the nude female's features agree with those of the Bella and the Flora of Titian, described in the next number of this list; and as both of these came from Urbino, we may conjecture that all three were painted from some noted beauty of that court. Another supposition, has, however, been adopted by Mrs. Jameson, that the original was Violante Palma, Titian's first love, and a favourite model in his school. The Tribune picture is generally admitted to be the finest of Titian's so-called Venuses, and has been even assigned the same place among paintings as the Medicean Venus holds in sculpture. (See above, p. 374).
19. Another portrait of the same naked woman, but dressed, more than half-length. This is considered to be the attractive picture so universally admired under the name of Titian's Bella, of the Pitti collection, in which gorgeous costume and rich beauty seem carried to the utmost point. It does not appear in the other Urbino inventories, but in that of Venturi we find a Season on canvas by Titian, which I apprehend to be the famed Flora, now an ornament of the Venetian room at the Uffizi, and stated in the Reale Galleria di Firenze (edition 1817) to have come from Urbino, and to be a half-length, half-nude, portrait of the same model who sat for No. 18 of this catalogue. The title of Queen Cornara of Cyprus sometimes given to the Bella is palpably one of those misnomers so unpardonably common in picture galleries.
20. Madonna, Child, and two Angels, Baroccio after Titian. Of this picture an original by Titian on panel is in Venturi's list, as well as a copy of it on canvas. I have not been able to find either; but the original may be that entered at No. 12 of this catalogue.
21. Madonna, St. John, and St. Elizabeth, large, on panel, a fine copy. I have not succeeded in tracing the work.
Giorgione.
22. Portrait of an armed soldier, supposed to be Uguccione della Faggiola. Not traced.
Sebastian del Piombo.
23. St. Agatha, large, on panel. It appears in all the inventories, and was one of the most important pictures in the Urbino succession. Representing the horrible dismemberment of the martyred saint, the subject is most revolting, but in energy of treatment and power of colouring, it ranks among the chef-d'œuvres of the master, whose name it bears, with the date, Rome 1520. It now adorns the Pitti Palace, No. 179, after having visited Paris.
Palma Vecchio.
24. The Saviour, on canvas. Not found.
25. The Madonna, large on canvas. Not found.
26. St. Francis, large, on canvas; not found. None of these three pictures appear in the other lists.
The Bassani.
27. A Supper. This was, doubtless, the Cenacolo, No. 446 in the Pitti Gallery, assigned to Leandro Bassano.
28, 29. The building and entering of the Ark. These are, probably, the companion pictures in the corridor of the Uffizi, which seem poor copies, though ascribed to Francesco. Of the latter, representing the Deluge, there is on the same wall a large and fine replica with his name, and a picture of animals entering the ark with the name of Jacopo.
30. Composition of Figures and Animals. It is stated by the Pesaro list to have come from the chapel in the lower gardens of that city, and may have been the large picture of the Rich Man and Lazarus, now in the corridor of the Uffizi, where it bears the name of Francesco.
31-34. Four Pictures. As there are fourteen pictures of the Bassani in the Uffizi, and five in the Pitti, besides those noticed above, and several portraits, it would be idle to attempt identifying these four. All these eight works of this family are noted in the Pesaro list, but omitted in Venturi's.
Baroccio.
35. Portrait of S.A.S. This is probably to be read Sua Altezza Serenissima Francesco Maria II., the last Duke of Urbino, now an ornament of the Tribune. It is a half-length on canvas, in armour richly inlaid in steel and gold, his helmet by his side and a scarf across his shoulder, being, as we learn from the Pesaro list, the uniform in which he returned from his naval expedition; a circumstance which fixes the date in 1572, when the Duke was in his twenty-third, and the painter in his forty-fourth, year. Nothing can surpass the fluid harmony and pellucid colouring of this picture, equally remarkable for breadth and high finish, but the feeble design apparent in the arms renders it impossible to give by the burin a favourable impression of its merit. I have therefore preferred engraving for this work a much less brilliant portrait obtained by me at Pesaro. A repetition of the Tribune picture, less clear but still more charming, graces the select gallery of Baron Camuccini at Rome.
36. Visitation of the Madonna, on canvas, painted, according to the Pesaro inventory, for the chapel there, on the visit of Pope Clement VIII. in 1598. It has disappeared.
37. Magdalen, on canvas. There are two pictures of this subject, and another in the Venturi list, one on panel, one on canvas, the latter of which is described as "the Magdalen in the Wilderness." I have not found either of them; but a Magdalen in devotion with Christ, upon canvas, is noted in the Pesaro inventory, and may probably be the large and fine picture now in the Sala di Baroccio at the Uffizi, known as Noli me tangere, in which the Saviour appears to the Magdalen after His resurrection.
38. Madonna, St. Francis, and St. Ubaldo, on canvas, unfinished. No doubt one of the votive pictures commissioned on the birth of Prince Federigo. (See above.) It has disappeared.
39. Portrait of Maestro Prospero, a Franciscan monk, half-length, on canvas; called by Venturi a Minim Observantine friar. Not identified.
The Zuccari.
40. Portrait of Duke Guidobaldi [II.] in armour, his hand upon a dog's head. In the Pesaro inventory it is said to be on panel; in that of Venturi it is ascribed to Baroccio. It has disappeared, but a bad copy is preserved in the Albani Palace at Urbino.
41. St. Peter in Prison, large. This picture is engraved at No. 373 of the folio work on the Pitti Gallery, and is said by Vasari to have been painted for Duke Guidobaldo II., by Federigo Zuccaro when about twenty-three years of age. It ranks among his best works; for though the idea is borrowed from Raffaele's fresco, the treatment and the effect of chiaroscuro are original and good. The heavy grated window and the monotonous colouring are however injurious to the work.
42. Head of St. Francis, on canvas. Lost, unless it be the Vision of the Saint in a wide landscape, on panel, No. 482 of the Pitti Gallery, where it is called anonymous. The Pesaro list describes him as in a landscape, by Federigo Zuccaro.
43. Calumny, large, by Federigo, unnoticed in the other inventories, and undiscovered.
Mascherino.
44. Christ with Nicodemus, Nicolas, and two Angels, on canvas. Of this I can ascertain nothing.
Anonymous.
45. Pope Sixtus IV., on panel. The Venturi inventory notes a similar anonymous portrait, by Baroccio, and one on panel of a Pope by Titian. This and the following number may be the portraits quoted as Titian's by Vasari.
46. Pope Paul III., on panel. Perhaps No. 297 in the Pitti Palace, where it is ascribed to Paris Bordone, and of which I have seen several good repetitions. The Venturi inventory contains another panel portrait of an anonymous pope by Titian.
47. Duke Francesco Maria I. in armour, on canvas. Perhaps a copy of No. 6, above.
48. Duke Guidobaldo, on panel; unknown. Possibly the original of the likeness engraved for this work of Guidobaldo II.
49. A Lady in a dark antique dress, with a shell in her hand, on canvas. Of this nothing is known.
50. Magdalen nearly naked, on canvas, described in the Pesaro list as reading a book. Not found.
Having now gone through Pelli's note of selected pictures, we shall complete our materials for estimating the Urbino collections, by adding such other works as are mentioned in the Venturi and Pesaro inventories.
II. VENTURI INVENTORY.
Raffaele.
51. The Duke of Urbino, a profile in half-armour, on canvas. This was probably the portrait mentioned by Bembo in a letter, wherein he speaks of it as a much less successful likeness than that of the poet Tibaldeo.
52. Marriage of the Madonna, a copy on canvas, no doubt from the fine picture now in the Brera at Milan, which was painted for the church of S. Francesco, at Città di Castello.
53. Lucrezia, copy on panel. Of this neither the original nor the copy are known.
Titian.
54. Madonna, Christ, St. Joseph, and St. Elizabeth, on panel. Not identified.
55. Madonna, Christ, and St. John Baptist, on panel. Not identified.
56. Portrait of a foreign Lady, small, on panel. Not found.
57. Portrait of a Man in an antique dress, on panel. Not identified.
58. A Man armed with a morion and shield, on canvas, after Titian. Not identified.
Baroccio.
59. Madonna with Christ in her arms, St. Augustin, and St. Francis, on canvas. Not found.
60. Christ in a Cradle, Madonna, St. John, and St. Elizabeth, on canvas. Not found.
61. St. Francis, on panel. Not found.
62. A Man with a chemisette, on canvas; probably the half-length of Duke Francesco Maria II., with six gold buttons, mentioned in the Pesaro inventory, and of which No. 162 of the Pitti collection seems a finished head study on paper.
63. Marchese Ippolito della Rovere, on canvas. Not found.
64. Monsignore Giuliano della Rovere, on canvas. Not found.
65. The Saviour with the Globe in his Hand, after Baroccio. Now No. 101 in the Pitti Palace, where it is called by Baroccio. A poor picture.
Antonio.
66. A Woman in an antique dress, on panel. This may refer to Antonello di Messina. Not found.
67. Petrarch and Laura painted bookwise. This is doubtless a blundering description of the heads of Duke Federigo and Duchess Battista of Urbino, by Pietro della Francesca, placed like a diptych or book in the same frame. They have been engraved at Volume I., p. 120, of this work, from the originals among the miscellaneous Italian pictures in the Uffizi.
68. A Franciscan Friar teaching mathematics to another person, on panel. This is ascribed to Ghirlandajo or Signorelli, but the subject makes it more probably a work of Pietro della Francesca, court painter to Duke Federigo. I have found no such picture.
Giorgione.
69. A Duke of Urbino, on canvas. Probably Guidobaldo I., but unfortunately lost.
Holbein.
70. Two Dukes of Saxony, bookwise, small. They are Frederick III. and John I.; now in the German room of the Uffizi, where they are ascribed to Lucas Cranach.
Scarsellino.
71. Christ receiving St. Peter, on panel; a small picture. Not found.
72. Christ with his foot upon a serpent's skin [scoglione], on panel; a small picture. Not found.
The Zuccari.
73. A woman with a cockle-shell in her hand, on canvas. Not found.
74. Madonna, Christ, and St. John Baptist, on panel, after Jacopo * * * *. Not found.
L’Alemano.
75. The Nativity, on panel. Not identified.
V. Dandini.
76. Aurora, on canvas. Not found.
Il Cerretani.
77. The Nativity, on canvas. Not found.
78. Portrait of Queen Mary of France. This may have been Mary de' Medici by Scipione Gaetani, No. 192 of the Pitti Gallery.
79. Virtue expelling the Vices. Not found.
80-88. Six Dukes of Urbino and three Popes; all small pictures on canvas.
III. PESARO INVENTORY
Raffaele.
89. Madonna, Christ, and St. Joseph, on panel. Not found in the other inventories, nor in the galleries at Florence.
90. Magdalen, on panel; behind it the arms of Duke Francesco Maria II. and his Duchess Lucrezia d'Este. Not elsewhere known.
Titian.
91. The Duchess of Camerino in an antique dress, on canvas. Not found.
92. A Soldier in dark armour, on canvas. Not found.
Baroccio.
93. The Crucifixion, with the palace of Urbino introduced in the background, on canvas. Not found.
The Zuccari.
94. The Crucifixion, with a city below, on canvas. Not found.
Giulio Clovio.
95. A miniature, was probably the Pietà on vellum, No. 241 of the Pitti collection. A group treated with great breadth, and coloured with much delicacy.
The following pictures, in the Pitti palace, though not in the Urbino inventories, are closely connected with the family della Rovere, and the first of them must have come from thence.
96. Prince Federigo, by Baroccio, on canvas, No. 55. The babe lies in his cradle swaddled, his dress and coverlet embroidered in flowers and gold; inscription above, Federigo Priñ d'Urbo quando nacque 1605.
97. Vittoria della Rovere Grand Duchess of Tuscany, by Sustermans, on canvas, No. 116. She is in the character of the Vestal Tuccia, with a sieve under her arm, full of water; a half-length figure, stout and comely, with a pleasant expression.
98. The Grand Duchess Vittoria, her Husband, and her Son Cosmo III., by Sustermans, on canvas, No. 231. This picture is called in the catalogue a Holy Family; but though the grouping of the figures appears borrowed from some such composition, there seems no real ground for this alleged impiety. They are half-lengths; the Grand Duchess has a darker complexion, and is somewhat older than in the preceding number.
DENNISTOUN’S LIST
OF
AUTHORITIES FOR THE WORK.
THE following List, though by no means containing all the books which have been looked into or consulted (especially numerous periodicals), will afford a general idea of the authorities upon which this work has been founded. The MSS. specially noted are, however, but a small portion of what has been examined, in a variety of Archives, and in the Vatican, Minerva, Angelica, Gerusalemme, S. Lorenzo in Lucina, and Albani libraries at Rome; in those of the Borbonica and S. Angelo in Nilo at Naples; in the Laurentiana, Magliabechiana, Riccardiana, Maruccelli, and Pitti at Florence; in those of the University and S. Salvadore at Bologna; and in the public libraries of Pesaro, Perugia, Rimini, Cesena, Siena, Volterra, and Monte Cassini. In the Oliveriana at Pesaro alone, upwards of one hundred MS. volumes yielded notices of interest. The MSS. in the British Museum have also been freely consulted, and not without fruit.
AUTHORITIES IN MS.
FROM THE URBINO LIBRARY AT THE VATICAN.
No. 1023, f. 23. Federici Urbini Ducis Vita, auct. Johanne Galli; written about 1565, at Città di Castello.
No. 938. Sketch of him by Aloysio Guido da Cagli, in Latin.
No. 1011. His life by Muzio Giustinopoli, more full than the printed edition.
No. 941. Vespasiano, Commentario de' Gesti e Fatti e Detti de Federigo Duca di Urbino: printed in Spicelegium Romanum, i. 94.
No. 980. Epitome Vitæ Rerumque Gestarum Federici Urbini Ducis, auct. Julio Cesare Capaccio Neapolitano, 1636.
No. 303, 699, 1293. Various Latin poems by Federigo Veterani as to Urbino.
No. 928, f. 16. Antichità di S. Leo, da Giulio Volpelli, 1576.
No. 702. Mariæ Philelfi artium et utriusque juris doctoris, equitis aurati et poetæ laureati, ad ill. atque inclyt. Principem Federicum de Monteferetro, Comitem Urbinatem, Martiados, 1464.
No. 804. His vulgar poetry, passim.
No. 373, 710, and 709. Porcellii Feltria, and other poems laudatory of Duke Federigo and his house.
No. 373, f. 145. Naldi de Naldi, Volterræ Expugnatio.
No. 743. Panegericon Comitis Federici, per Antonium Rusticum de Florentia, 1472.
No. 1198. Federici Urbini Ducis Epistolæ. There are ninety-three of these, all in Latin.
No. 1233. Odasii, Oratio habita in Funere Ducis Federici.
No. 1236. Oratio habita in Funere Battistæ Urbini Comitissæ; also in No. 1272.
No. 829, f. 551. Ricordi del Duca Federigo.
No. 1323, art. 5. Ricordi di Paolo Maria, Vescovo di Urbino.
No. 904, f. 43. Memorie di quanto si fece nel tempo che il Duca di Valentino prese lo Stato.
No. 1023, fol. 1, 297, &c. Various lives and notices of the della Rovere family by Fra Gratia di Francia.
No. 1682. Sundries as to Julius II.
No. 906. Baldi, Vita di Francesco Maria I. Duca di Urbino, colla Diffesa contra Guicciardini.
No. 1023, f. 255. Baldi Diffesa di lui, and other sundries as to him.
No. 1023, f. 50. Muzio, Vita di lui.
No. 818, f. 444. Il Battesimo del Principe Federigo.
No. 733, fol. 8. 11. Epigrammata in ejus Natalibus.
No. 818, f. 5. Nobiltà della Casa di Montefeltro.
No. 736, 351, 368, and 405. Urbani Urbinatis Familia Feltresca.
No. 992. Cronico di Sinigaglia.
No. 819, f. 335. Ritratto delle Actioni di Francesco Maria I.
No. 489. De Rebus Gestis quæ contigerunt circa ann. 1509.
No. 1037. Memorie Storiche di Francesco Maria I.
No. 921. La Ricuperazione del suo Stato, nel anno 1521.
No. 904. Various Diaries regarding Guidobaldo I.
No. 928, f. 16. Volpelli, Storia di S. Leo.
No. 907, f. 10. Centelli, de Bello Urbinate.
No. 989. Leoni, Francisci Mariæ I. Vita.
No. 924. Philippi Beroaldi, Defensio Francisci Mariæ I.
No. 632. Petrus Burgensis Pictoris, de quinque Corporibus regularibus.
No. 818, f. 560. Vita di Baldassare Castiglione.
No. 1248. Ordine e Offizii della Corre di Urbino.
No. 1677. Il Sacco di Roma.
No. 935, 1232. Documents regarding the Statistics of Urbino.
No. 497-8. P. Virgilii Historia Angliæ.
No. 908. First Sketch of Tasso's Gerusalemme.
No. 816, f. 62. Federigo Zuccari, Ragguaglio del Escuriale.
FROM THE OTTOBONIANA MSS. IN THE VATICAN.
No. 3141, f. 144-193. La Famiglia del Duca Federigo.
No. 1305. Giovanni Sanzi's Rhyming Chronicle of Duke Federigo.
No. 2447, f. 135, 3137, f. 81. Discorsi del Duca di Urbino.
No. 3141. passim. La Famiglia del Duca Federigo.
No. 3144, f. 51. Vita del Duca Francesco Maria II.
No. 1941, f. 172. Luttere di lui.
No. 3135, f. 321, 3184, and 3142. Miscellanies regarding Urbino.
No. 2510, f. 201. The Urbino Rebellion in 1572.
No. 3153, f. 90. Filippo Giraldi, Fatti del Duca Francesco Maria I.
No. 3137. Sundries regarding the Camerino Dispute.
No. 2607. Il Sacco di Roma.
No. 2624, 3152. Burchardi Diarium.
No. 2528, 2726, 2206, f. 17, 2441, f. 39. Sundries as to the Borgian Policy.
GENEALOGICAL TABLE
DESCENT OF THE VARANA, as connected with URBINO.