Page 250 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

Gubbio for Federigo da Montefeltro (Himmel- many pieces of wood could be cut from the same These two magnificent panels are often associated
heber 1985). The fluted pilasters on the Munich template. For example, the parallelograms of the with another large townscape in the Staatliche
chest are very similar to those in the Urbino stu- boards for checkers in the left cupboard appear not Museen (Gemaldegalerie), Berlin, and occasion-
diolo. On the other hand, a close parallel for the to diminish in size toward the rear. The distant ally with a smaller painting built into a cassone
perspective of the cupboard doors, which diminish viewpoint implied by such a technique does little formerly in the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin
so little in depth as to be almost in nonconvergent to destroy the delights of the illusion and may (now destroyed). The former is similar in length
perspective, is to be found in the intarsia dado of indeed make it less vulnerable to "incorrect" (234 centimeters) to the Urbino and Walters
the second Grotta of Isabella d'Este in the Corte viewing positions. M.K. panels but is nearly twice as high (124 centime-
Vecchia at Mantua. The masters Antonio and ters), due to a strip of painted paneling below the
Paolo Mole worked on the Mantuan decorations in perspectival view. Its foreground is occupied by a
1506, and it seems likely that they had previously loggia or portico, through which the vista leads
designed the intarsia cupboards in the sacristy of 147-148 across a wide piazza to a distant seascape with
San Marco in Venice (Bertolotti 1889,17). The ships. The origins, dating, attribution, function,
contents of the cupboards in the cassone, two of Central Italian artist and possible meaning of the panels have been
which contain musical instruments, also recall the IDEAL CITY WITH A CIRCULAR TEMPLE much debated, with generally inconclusive
enthusiasm for music manifested in the decora- results. The four known versions may be repre-
tions of Isabella's Grotta, although such subjects c. 1500 sentative survivors of a kind of painting that was
had by this time become common motifs in such oil on panel originally produced in some quantity for Renais-
2 2
2
intarsie. The continuity of motifs in the work- 67.5 x 239.5 f 6 /2 x 94 /4J sance interiors.
shops of the masters of intarsie makes dating Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino The depiction of ideal townscapes in forceful
based on style and content problematical. A date perspective as a motif for the decoration of
around 1500-1510 is as conceivable as Himmel- Central Italian artist princely interiors is particularly associated with
heber's suggestion that the chest was made for the Urbino, and the panel in the Galleria Nazionale
marriage of Federigo Gonzaga and Margaretha of IDEAL CITY WITH A FOUNTAIN delle Marche, in fact, has a provenance from the
Bavaria in 1470. Indeed, neither of the devices on AND STATUES OF THE VIRTUES Church of Sta. Chiara in Urbino. The intarsia
the chest were particularly associated with Mar- panels in the doors leading to the throne room,
garetha. It is more likely that the intarsiatori of c. 1500 the audience chamber and dressing room in the
the chest are Antonio and Paolo Mole, with oil on panel 2 5 Palazzo Ducale, which belong to the phase of
Isabella as the likely patron. The Gonzagas had 77.4 x 220 (3o /2 x 86 /s) decoration undertaken between 1474 and 1482,
long fostered dynastic links with German houses, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore display grand buildings of a predominantly clas-
and there are a number of occasions on which the references: Baldi 1724; Kimball 1927-1928; sical type flanking piazzas with conspicuous tiled
cassone might have traveled north as a gift, Quinvitalle 1964; Saalman 1968; Clark 1969; pavements (Trionfi Honorati 1983). Inventories of
including Jacobaa's wedding in 1522. For the Krautheimer 1969; Shearman 1975; Sangiorgi 1976; the palace from 1582 and 1599 describe a painted
maker of intarsie, the advantage of the virtually Zeri 1976; Urbino 1978; Dupre dal Poggetto 198}; prospettiva by Fra Carnevale above one of the
nonconvergent perspective of the chest is that Trionfi Honarati 198}; Kemp and Massing 1991 doors (Sangiorgi 1976), while Bernardino Baldi,
writing in 1588, mentioned that Luciano Laurana,
the Slavic architect of the palace, had painted "cer-
tain small pictures in which several scenes are
drafted according to the rules of perspective and
coloring." An Urbino document of 1651 also men-
tions a long perspective by Fra Carnevale (Kemp
and Massing 1991). There is no reason to think
that such townscapes have any more specific
meaning than to reflect the ideals of civic order
and Neo-Stoic mores to which Duke Federigo da
Montefeltro aspired in the administration of his
state. The vision is closely founded upon that of
Leon Battista Alberti in De re aedificatoria (On
the Art of Building), and the various townscapes
in the intarsie and paintings can be shown to real-
ize Alberti's social, functional, spiritual, and aes-
thetic requirements for the component buildings
in the cities of a well-ordered society. It is there-
fore unnecessary to suppose that the painted
panels were early attempts to visualize stage sets
in the Roman manner, as described by Vitruvius
(Krautheimer 1969). Indeed, it appears that the
intarsie and paintings provided the inspiration for
the earliest perspectival scene designs.
The Berlin townscape is technically and stylis-
tically somewhat different from the other two. In
addition to its painted basimento, the lateral edges
of the panel are painted in a way that suggests it

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