Deruta flipped tracing papers

Tracing papers used in Deruta majolicas are what cardboards meant to Renaissance artists. Examples of cardboard usages come from Umbrian artist Perugino in particular but also from Pinturicchio, Raffaello and Michelangelo. 

Cardboards and tracing papers are indispensable tools for the reproduction of scenes and characters both in frescoes, paintings and ceramics. Such usage of cardboards may be admired in the frescoes by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. Close-up photos were taken during its latest restoration (2000), showing the cardboard dots allowing the charcoal to go through the drawing's perimeter and leaving an imprint on the fresco's preparing surface. 

This premise is meant to tell you about the common use of tracing papers and cardboards by flipping them to recreate a corresponding character on the right and the left of the painting, such as a knight, an angel, a man, a woman and so on. By doing this, the artist could save time and keep the work going by producing more products and delivering them faster.

Yesterday I ran into an example coming from Deruta of such a flipped tracing paper usage: the same tracing paper was used for two different plaques (see below). You can tell it is the same San Francis image that is flipped on its right and left version. The same thing happened to the house located on the back of the saint with small differences. 

Photo credit: Claudio Ricci 

Photo credit: Roberta Niccacci 

The plaque with Saint Francis on the left comes from the "Madonna del Bagno" sanctuary, located not far from Deruta. It's a votive plaque created to celebrate Saint Francis death's 7th centennial (1226-1926); the one with Saint Francis on the right is part of an aedicule dedicated to Saint Francis on the way to downtown Deruta. The smoke you see comes from the furnaces operated by wood and located downtown Deruta within the castle walls. It's not a fire but an example of wealth and abundance for the city. 

My question is: do you think the ceramic artist is the same for both pieces above? 

If you wish to detect such a flipped technique in Perugino, Pinturicchio Raffaello or Michelangelo, simply take a painting whose structure has mirroring characters. Most of them were painted by flipping cardboards. 

I hope you enjoyed my post. Follow my revival journey with Cama on this blog. See you again when Renaissance inspiration meets me again! 

The post author's talents by Gallup are as follows (in order of priority): Activator, Adaptability, Communication, Context, Futuristic

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Meniconi-Dolgorouki Wedding Gift made in Deruta, Italy (PART II)

Wedding plate coming from the Ceramic Museum 
of Deruta, Italy

In 2016 one of our ceramologists from Deruta, Mr. Giulio Busti, led a lecture about Deruta Renaissance ceramics.  The event was organized by the local Unesco association downtown Perugia. 

A favorite ceramic plate of mine was on the event's poster. So that day I drove to Perugia to Busti's lecture. 

Besides additional information about the Meniconi-Dolgorouki wedding plate, I have learned several interesting curiosities about my town, Deruta, that I wish to share with you:

1. Deruta ceramics can be admired in 80 different museums in the world;

2. After the plagues immigrants were invited to come and live in Deruta. They were encouraged by the fact that their work would have state tax free for 40 years to follow;

3. It's towards the 1400s that human profiles are being added to the ceramic paintings;

4. The luster technique in Italy was part of the heritage of the towns of Deruta and Gubbio only. If the luster technique was in usage in some other parts of Italy it was only a rare example and much weaker than these two ceramic towns;

5. Deruta ceramicists were very attentive to events that happened in Perugia. Indeed Deruta was a castle belonging to the noble Baglioni family from Perugia. Works of art were created to remember events such as the 'Bloody Wedding' of July 14th, 1501 represented by a ceramic St. Sebastian;

6. Deruta ceramicists were familiar with the artist Perugino who was in Deruta 1476 to paint the ex-voto with which the Derutese were thanking Allmighty God and antipestiferous saints St. Rock and St. Roman for the end of the plague.

Additionally, Mr. Busti's lecture was divided into two parts. The first part was about the Renaissance ceramic tradition in Deruta. It was meant to introduce artist, scholar, genius loci Alpinolo Magnini (1877-1952) who made a change in Deruta by reviving the ceramic Renaissance tradition, which had been swept away by the Industrial Revolution. For this reason, I think it is very interesting to go back to my favorite plate that Alpinolo Magnini painted in 1903 for Mr. and Mrs. Luigi Andreoli, the plate used on the event's poster. Mr. and Mrs. Luigi Andreoli had ordered this ceramic plate as a wedding gift for count Meniconi Bracceschi who was getting married to Russian princess Dolgorouki on September 15th, 1903. Miss Dolgorouki is said to be the niece of the Tzar of Russia. This piece of information I have learned at the lecture besides the fact that Mrs. Andreoli's maiden name was Vanna Briganti. The Briganti family is one of the most important families of Deruta and now I wish to double check if they are related to the Magninis.