Workshop of Guido Durantino (Fontana)

Probably Alexander Barker (1797-1873);

Sir Francis Cook (1817-1901) Collection, and by descent;

Christie's London, The Humphrey W. Cook Collection, 7 July 1925, lot 71;

Durlacher Bros., London and New York;

Christie’s London, 8 April 1974, lot 198; 

Where acquired.

T. Wilson, The Golden Age of Italian Maiolica Painting. Catalogue of a private collection, Turin, 2018, p. 289.

It has been tentatively suggested that this plate was painted by the same hand as that of the Schuffelin service, recently attributed to Gironimo Tomasi (or di Tommaso). A plate from this service is conserved in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and published by Wilson in Italian Maiolica and Europe, Oxford, 2017, no.78, pp.190-192.

The composition of the scene, depicting Apollo and Diana slaying in the Children of Niobe, may have been inspired, in part, by the engraving based on a subject by Francesco Salviat and Girolamo Faccioli according Catherine Monbeig Goguel in Francesco Salviati (1510-1563) o la Bella Maniera Roma, (1998 previously attributed to Marcantonio Raimondi or Giulio Bonasone) (fig. 1)

Alexander Barker (died in 1873) was one of the most intriguing English Victorian collector-dealers, and in 1870 he sold most of his maiolica collection to Sir Francis Cook (1817-1901). Ferdinand Rothschild gave a colourful account of him, mentioning that "Mr. Barker was a very remarkable character... He laid the foundations of his fortune and position by procuring the Duke of Northumberland and the late Lord Dudley... Italy was his happy hunting ground, and after every journey to that favored country, he returned with huge cases containing marbles, carvings and paintings of great excellence... His taste was as fastidious as it was good ...". For the full reference see Wilson (2018, op.cit., p.289). 

RELATED LITERATURE

T. Wilson, Italian Maiolica and Europe, Oxford, 2017, no. 78, pp. 190-192;

 C. Monbeig Goguel, Francesco Salviati (1510-1563) o la Bella Maniera Roma, exh. cat. Villa Medici, Rome, 29 January - 29 March 1998, Louvre Museum, Paris, 30 April- 29 June 1998, Milan, 1998. pp. 208-209;

 J. E. Poole, Italian Maiolica and Incised Slipware in the Fitzwilliam Museum. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1995, no. 402.