There is, however, another quarter to which vitrified or encaustic ware may be ascribed, in so far at least as regards improved methods and more important results. Luca della Robbia[*241] was born at Florence in 1399, and from being a jeweller, took to modelling statues and bas-reliefs in clay. Annoyed by the fragile nature of these, and perhaps by the doubtful success of _terra cotta_, he discovered a mode of glazing the surface of his beautiful works, with, it is said, a mixture of tin, _terra ghetta_ (from the lake of Thrasimene), antimony, and other mineral substances. The secret of this varnish was transmitted in the inventor's family until about 1550: it ended in a female, with whose husband, Andrea Benedetto Buglione, it died. Recent attempts to revive the art at Florence have proved but partially successful, and wholly unremunerative; indeed, the mechanical difficulties exceed those of sculpture, including the separation of the work into sections before drying and burning it, and its eventual reunion into one piece. Although neither mild nor equal, the climate at Florence does not seem to influence the Robbian fabrics in the open air, but they have suffered from the frosts and snows of our duchy, where several are broken or blistered, such as the lunette of S. Domenico at Urbino. By much the finest specimen I know there remains [1843] in the desecrated oratory of the Sforzan palace [of 1484] at Gradara; it may be by Andrea della Robbia, and represents an enthroned Madonna and Child, nearly life-size, with attendant saints, the predella complete, and the whole a fine monument of Christian art. Originally, the plastic surface of Robbian ware was of a uniform glistening white, which, though cold in effect, is very favourable to the pure religious sentiment at which it generally aimed. The eyes were then blackened, in order to aid expression. Next, the pallid figures were relieved against a deep cerulean ground. The followers of Luca added fruits and flowers, wreathed in their proper colours. Agincourt justly regrets that these men were led into such innovations by a desire for mastering difficulties, and the ambition of adding to sculpture the beauties of painting; for when colour is given to draperies, the eye is ill-reconciled to an addition which seems to transfer such productions from the category of high art to the level of waxwork. By a further modification, the flesh parts were left unglazed, bringing the warm tone of terra cotta to harmonize with the coloured costumes, architecture and backgrounds being still usually white or deep blue. Passeri, however, asserts for this coloured glaze an earlier discovery in his own province, where pottery was certainly made in the fourteenth century. But it is generally admitted that the art of combining with it lively colours was greatly improved after Pesaro had passed under the Sforza. In 1462, Ventura di Maestro Simone dei Piccolomini of Siena established himself there, along with Matteo