Everyone now knows how successfully these people used pottery for the ornamentation of their buildings, and how ingeniously they mixed transparent and opaque enamels to obtain an unprecedented harmony of effect. Not only did they use this tin enamel in parts, but also all over the ware, making it more or less opaque as they wished; and this was the origin of the pottery called _majolica_, which, according to tradition, was imported from Majorca to Italy, at the beginning of the fifteenth century, and for the introduction of which credit is given to Lucca Della Robia. _Terra in-vitriata_ was the first name given by this sculptor to his works, when they were coated with this opaque mixture. There was at that time such an earnest desire to find suitable materials for art decorations, that the new enamels soon ceased to be exclusively applied to architectural purposes. Under the beneficial influence of the revival of taste for ancient art, and the encouragements with which it met from the princes at that time ruling the Italian Republics, majolica attained its beauty, though its external appearance reminded us but little of its Spanish or Oriental origin. During the course of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the most famous in the history of modern art, the influence of the great painters of that period was soon felt by those whom we may call the artists of pottery, for the name of potters could hardly do them justice; and several of them applied their talents to the reproduction, on that ware, of their most celebrated paintings. It was reported that Perugino, Michael Angelo, Raphael, and many others painted majolica ware, probably on account of their cartoons being often reproduced; and it is sufficient to say that such talented men as Francisco Xanto da Rovigo, Orazia Fontana, and Georgio Andreoli, devoted their energies to the improvement of this branch of art. Most of the Italian towns had their manufactory, each of them possessing a style of its own. Beginning at Caffagiolo and Deruta, they extended rapidly to Gubbio, Ferrara, and Ravenna, to be continued to Casteldurante, Rimini, Urbino, Florence, Venice, and many other places.