Verrocchio: Sculptures, Paintings and Drawings by G. PassavantReview by: T. S. R. BOASEJournal of the Royal Society of Arts, Vol. 118, No. 5163 (FEBRUARY 1970), p. 159Published by: Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and CommerceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41370459 .

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FEBRUARY 197O NOTES ON BOOKS

The Ducal Palace of Urbino By Pasquale Rotondi. London , Tiranti , 1969. £4. ios net A History of Architecture in Italy By T. W. West. London. , University of London Press , 1968. 35s net

Federico da Montefeltro made his name as a successful condottiere and then devoted the last thirty years of his life to humanism, art and statesmanship. During these years, from about 1468, he turned Urbino into 'a seething work- shop of craftsmen who had come from the most diverse artistic centres. The free interchange of ideas which resulted completely changed original contributions and during this period the fame of the palace spread to all the courts of Italy'.

Few historians of architecture give much space to the Palace of Urbino, possibly because it was a place in which such diverse talents were synthesized and in a sense it belongs to no school while representing almost all the trends which led to the consummation of the Italian renaissance in the sixteenth century, a consum- mation represented by two great men who were brought up in the ambience of Urbino, Bram- ante and Raphael.

Professor Rotondi's book is extremely erudite and entirely worthy of its great subject. It con- sists of a short essay, 103 pages, tracing the evolu- tion of the Palace. This is followed by genea- logical tables, an index to the various parts of the Palace, a general index and very adequate plans, followed by an axonometric diagram. The major part of the book consists of 202 pages of ex- cellent plates, one in colour, illustrating mainly the marvellously sensitive detailing of the ducal Palace.

This is a book which should be in all libraries which have a section on the history of art and architecture and, besides being a work of refer- ence for scholars, it is a delightful book in which to browse. The publishers, Alec Tiranti, are to be congratulated on a very fine production and a special mention must be made of the clear drawings and diagrams prepared by Professors Bruscaglia, Ranocci and Paolini.

Turning to Mr. West's book, one is struck immediately by the amateurishness of the draw- ings, which compare very unfavourably with Professor Rotondi's book. Much of Italian archi- tecture depends upon subtleties of proportion, and these drawings not infrequently give a very misleading impression of what the buildings look like.

If it had been what the 'blurb' says it is, this would have been a useful book, but it is not much more than a series of descriptions of buildings. There is little historical insight and some notions which have been discredited by modern scholarship are here reiterated.

Altogether, a superficial and disappointing book.

BRUCE ALLSOPP

Verrocchio: Sculptures, Paintings and Drawings By G . Passavant. London , Phaidony 1969. 14OS net Vasari in his Life of Verrocchio wrote a careful and rather puzzled criticism of his art. To him the 'harshness and crudeness' of the work seemed the result of industrious study, but lacking in the natural facility that could bring such studied observation to a correct smooth- ness and elegance of line. He appreciated Verrocchio's great technical competence as shown for instance in the Medici tomb, and his praise of the drapery in the Or San Michele Incredulity rightly selects one of the most novel and impressive features of the work. But his opening reservations have been more remem- bered than his commendations, and it was long, as Dr.. Günther Passavant points out in his excellent introduction, before Verrocchio's re- pute was cleared of these cinquecento doubts. Uncertainties as to his oeuvre were a further difficulty. Several of his commissions, notably the Forteguerri cenotaph, have survived only in altered forms: his most famous painting, the Uffizi Baptism , has the distracting element of Leonardo's participation: the noble design of the Pistoia altarpiece was completed by Lorenzo di Credi, that loyal and devoted pupil whose interest in surface finish was so much at variance with the rugged element in his master's work.

Dr. Passavant describes his volume as an essay introductory to Verrocchio's work, and refers for more detailed study to his German monograph of 1959. This is, however, much more than an essay, and contains a reasoned statement of Verrocchio's development and of the works that the author considers to be by him. The appendix on the studio tackles more controversial matters, though any attempt is disclaimed to 'assess the fruitful influence of his art and teaching', an assessment that Dr. Passa- vant rightly considers as a pressing need. It is much to be hoped that it is a task which he will undertake.

The plates both in colour and half tone are of the high quality that we expect from the Phaidon Press.

T. S. R. BOASE

Blanc de Chine By P.J • Donnelly , London , Faber , 1969. £12 net This book is the first to be devoted to the white porcelain known in the west as blanc de Chine. The sub-title, the porcelain of Têhua in Fukien, gives the provenance of this ware. The beginning of this factory has been lost in the mist of cen-

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