Sforza di Marcantonio, Italian, possibly Venice or Pesaro, dated 1562

Christie’s London, The Property of a Noble family, 22 April 2008, lot 17;

Angela von Wallwitz, Munich;

Where acquired.

The present very fine plate is a rare and enigmatic piece by Sforza di Marcantonio, one of the most prolific istoriato painter who worked alongside Nicola da Urbino and Xanto Avelli in Urbino. On the reverse, the incised letter “S” is argued by scholars to represent the early works of Sforza di Marcantonio. This mark, along with the style painting aligns with other works attributed to this artist in the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Brunswick, (see Lessmann, op. cit., 1979). 

Set against a mountainous landscape and a distant village, a solitary male allegorical figure with a barrel tied to his right arm and the left arm reaching to the clouds, stands at the centre. An unidentified coat of arms is placed within the trees surrounded by with a decorative rope. The subject, emblematic of how poverty thwarts the aspirations of would-be lofty spirits, is from an edition of the Emblemata of Andrea Alciati, which was first published in 1531. The subject and inscription are taken from Diverse imprese accomodate a diverse moralita, con versi che loro significati dichiarano tratte da gli emblemi dell’Alciato, Lyon 1549, p. 84. Alciati, though immensely popular and influential, is not a common source for maiolica-painters. 

Active between the 1530s and 1570s, Sforza was likely trained in the orbit of Nicola da Urbino, and he absorbed the influence of Xanto Avelli in the 1530s. By 1548 he was active in Pesaro, with later ties to Girolamo di Lanfranco’s workshop. He is not documented in Pesaro between 1552 and 1563, and it is possible, due to the shape of the plate (with high sides) and the decoration on the back in blue, that Sforza may have travelled to Venice where he joined the many fellow Marchigian artists working in the Serenissima. His return to Pesaro is confirmed by 1563. Works dated between 1561 and 1576 reflect a continued engagement with Xanto’s models. He made his will in Pesaro in 1580, likely passing away shortly thereafter.

RELATED LITERATURE

J. Lessmann, Italienische Majolika: Katalog der Sammlung im Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum Braunschweig, Braunschweig: Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum 1979, pp.345-351.

T. Wilson, The Golden Age of Italian Maiolica-Painting: Catalogue of a Private Collection, Turin, Allemandi, 2018, pp.278-279;

J. V. G. Mallet, "Xanto e i suoi compagni e seguaci," in Francesco Xanto Avelli da Rovigo: Atti del Convegno internazionale di studi, 1980, pp.62-84;

J. V. G. Mallet, Xanto Pottery-painter, Poet, Man of the Renaissance, Wallace Collection, London, exh. cat., London, 2007, pp.36, 41-42;

British Museum. "Dish." British Museum Collection Online, object number H1985,1002.1. Accessed April 11, 2025, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1985-1002-1