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Italian, Urbino Italy

Plate, ca. 1540-1550

Now On View

Description

Maker

Culture

Italian

Title

Plate

Year

ca. 1540-1550

Medium

Earthenware with tin glaze and enamels

Materials/Techniques

Materials

Dimensions

Diameter: 27 cm (10 5/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Scratched rather crudely on back, within the footring, presumably after the second firing: APOL../[?]POA. DA / PV[?]B[?]. On recto, the conjoined letters "HH" painted in glaze just to the left of the tree trunk at center and in the grass at lower left of center.

Place

Urbino; Italy

Type

Credit

Bequest of Susan Martin Allien

Object Number

35.703

About

This finely painted plate depicts a scene in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Orpheus, who has spurned the love of women after being eternally separated from his lover, Eurydice, is attacked by angry women who were followers of Bacchus. The subject, a violent battle between sexes, is one of the themes known as amor crudel (cruel love). The unknown artist who painted this plate may have based it on a now lost engraving by the Renaissance painter Andrea Mantegna. When displayed to guests with other plates of this type, it would have indicated the knowledge and sophistication of the collector.

Scratched rather crudely on back, within the footring, presumably after the second firing: APOL../[?]POA. DA / PV[?]B[?]. On recto, the conjoined letters "HH" painted in glaze just to the left of the tree trunk at center and in the grass at lower left of center.

Urbino; Italy
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Exhibition History

Exhibition History

European Galleries

Turning to classical mythology for its subject matter, this finely painted plate depicts a scene in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The Greek hero Orpheus, who has spurned the love of women after being eternally separated from his lover, Eurydice, is attacked by angry maenads, women who were followers of Bacchus. The stringed instrument that has fallen to the ground as Orpheus raises his arm in defense indicates his incomparable musical skills, inherited from his father Apollo, the god of music. The artist may have based the scene on a composition by the Italian painter Andrea Mantegna.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Plate with the accession number of 35.703. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.