The manner of Nicola is remarkable for a sharp and careful outline of the figures, the features clearly defined but with much delicacy of touch, the eyes, mouth, and nostrils denoted by a clear black spot, the faces oval, derived from the Greek model, a free use of yellow and a pale yellow green, a tightening of the ankle and a peculiar rounding of the knee, the hair and beard of the older heads heightened with white; the architecture bright and distinct; the landscape background somewhat carefully rendered in dark blue against a golden sky; and lastly, the stems of the trees, strangely tortuous, are coloured brown, strongly marked with black lines, as also are the rolled up clouds; these are treated in a manner not very true to nature. [Illustration] Few Maiolica painters have produced works of greater beauty than the plates of the Gonzaga-Este service, which are equally excellent in the quality of glaze and the brilliancy of colour. With regard to the Fontana family, chiefs among Italian ceramic artists, we quote from the notice by Mr. Robinson appended to the Soulages catalogue. He tells us that “The celebrity of one member of this family has been long established by common consent. Orazio Fontana has always occupied the highest place in the scanty list of Maiolica artists, although at the same time nothing was definitely known of his works. Unlike their contemporary, Xanto, the Fontana seem but rarely to have signed their productions, and consequently their reputation as yet rests almost entirely on tradition, on incidental notices in writings which date back to the age in which they flourished, and on facts extracted at a recent period from local records. No connected account of this family has as yet been attempted, although the materials are somewhat less scanty than usual. There can be no doubt that a considerable proportion of the products of the Fontana ‘boteghe’ is still extant, and that future observations will throw light on much that is now obscure in the history of this notable race of industrial artists. Orazio Fontana, whose renown seems to have completely eclipsed that of the other members of his family and in fact of all the other Urbinese artists, is first mentioned by Baldi, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, in his eulogy of the state of Urbino pronounced before duke Francesco Maria II.” “From documents cited by Raffaelli, it is established beyond doubt that the original family name was _Pellipario_, of Castel Durante, Fontana being an adopted surname; and it is not immaterial to observe that down to the latest mention of any one of the family (in 1605) they are invariably described as of Castel Durante.” “The Fontana were undoubtedly manufacturers as well as artists, _i.e._, they were the proprietors of ‘vaserie.’ Of the first Nicola, as we have only a brief incidental notice, nothing positive can be affirmed: but with respect to his son Guido, we have the testimony both of works still extant, and of