Hôtel Lambert, Une Collection Princière, Volume I : Chefs-d’oeuvre

An Urbino Istoriato dish, circa 1555

Auction Closed

October 11, 05:25 PM GMT

Estimate

40,000 - 70,000 EUR

Lot Details

Description

An Urbino Istoriato dish, circa 1555

painted with Horatius on horseback defending the wooden bridge across the Tiber, fighting off the Etruscan army on the right, dead and wounded Etruscan soldiers at his feet and in the river below him, his men destroy the bridge behind him below the fortifications of Rome, inscribed HORATIO to the underside within yellow circles

diameter 18⅛in., 46 cm.

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Plat "a istoriato", Urbino, vers 1555

diameter 18⅛in., 46 cm.

Baron Adolphe de Rothschild Collection, Paris;

By descent to Maurice de Rothschild;

Duveen Bros., New York, 1916;

Clarence H. MacKay, New York;

Dr. H. Deutsch Collection, Belle Harbour, Long Island, New York;

Sotheby's London, 14 May 1963, lot 33;

Christie's London, 7 July 2003, lot 1;

Christie's London, 24 May 2011, lot 40.

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Collection du Baron Adolphe de Rothschild, Paris;

Par descendance à Maurice de Rothschild;

Duveen Bros, New York, 1916;

Clarence H. MacKay, New York;

Collection Dr. H. Deutsch, Belle Harbour, Long Island, New York;

Sotheby's London, 14 mai 1963, lot 33;

Christie's Londres, 7 juillet 2003, lot 1;

Christie's Londres, 24 mai 2011, lot 40.

The present dish depicts a Roman hero, Horatius Cocles, defending the Pons Sublicius against the invading Etruscan army of Lars Porsena. It was an enduring popular story told by Plutarch and Livy amongst others and illustrates virtue and individual self-sacrifice for the State and the greater good. Following the Sack of Rome in 1527, the stories of Mucius Scaevola, Marcus Curtius and Horatio became popular subjects.

Several graphic sources appear to have been used to construct this scene. Typically, Horatius is depicted on horseback, which differs from the original story, this may be inspired by Marcantonio Raimondi's engraving of the subject. The overall composition may relate to Polidoro da Caravaggio's fresco for a house in Montecavallo, near Sant'Agata, Rome, as described by Vasari. The depiction of the defending Roman forces with picks dismantling a stone bridge behind their commander on foot is reminiscent of the present dish. In a technique that was common at the time, maiolica painters copy individual figures or groups of figures from engravings and combined them to form a new composition. Figures of a fallen and an attacking Etruscan appear to have been borrowed form Marcantonio's engraving of the Martyrdom of St Lawrence after Bandinelli, a popular source at the time.