Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

it also includes instructions fo r composition, the build-up of a miniature from
a pencil drawing up to the final execution in paint, and so on. Some chapters
are a combination of two or three short chapters from the Rome manuscript,
covering more or less the same subjects. It seems that the writer of the treatise
rearranged and expanded the text from the Rome manuscript to improve the
contents (1).
Valerio Mariani da Pesaro
The miniaturist Valerio Mariani da Pesaro-the writer of the treatise, according
to its title-is mentioned by Thieme-Becker as being active from
1560 to 1600, and by Zani as living from 1565 to 1611, but further information
on the treatise and its author seemed difficult to fmd (2). Archival
research in Italy however proved otherwise, and the treatise can now be provided
with an ample context.
Mariani is described in Lancellotti's L'Hoggidi (1636) as a pupil of Giovanni
Maria Boduino, a miniaturist who worked in Friuli (3). In a document from
1582, Mariani is mentioned as the twelve-year-old pupil of Boduino, establishing
Mariani's date of birth as 1570 (4). About Mariani's working environment
after his training in Friuli, little information has been fo und so far. He
worked, as he mentions in the treatise (Chapter XVI: Giallo Santo), for the
Duke of Savoy: "Giallo santo is a colour which is extracted from the flower
of the broom, as a painter in Borgo in Brescia taught me, while I stayed in
that place in the service of the honourable memory of Duke Emanuele Filiberto,
Duke of Savoy ..." (5). And, as can be read in the title of the treatise,
he was also employed by the Duke of Urbino. According to the date of the
treatise, this must have been Francesco Maria II della Rovere. The last known
dates in Mariani's chronology are 1618, when he is mentioned as heir in his
brother's will, and 1625, when he is mentioned as a debitore in the duke's
bookkeeping (6).
So far no documents on his work for the Savoy court or other employers
have been fo und; therefore, we concentrate on Mariani's activities fo r the
Urbino court, which provides us, as will become clear, with the context in
which the treatise was written.
Francesco Maria II della Rovere began his reign in 1574, after his father
Guidobaldo II della Rovere died, leaving him with a bankrupt state. The
young duke, who had a strict and sober upbringing at the court of Philip II,
started a period of severe economizing, including trimming the court's cultural
expenses. It was 1580 before the duke regained interest and renewed
his financial backing fo r cultural and artistic activities. Many documents, as
well as artworks he commissioned, survive the period of his reign, creating a
clear image of the cultural policy and interests of the duke (7).
As a contemporary chronicle states, "When Francesco Maria, the last Duke,
had paid the large debts of his father Guidobaldo by stopping the many arts
and famous crafts that were executed here, he changed his mind after seeing
the severe consequences and ordered the fo undation of several workshops at
his court where very excellent masters in every art and profession were put
to work" (8). One such master was the miniaturist Valerio Mariani da Pesaro.
These workshops fo rmed a well-organized business, providing artworks "to
order" for the duke. As not only masters but apprentices were present, the
workshops seem to provide the appropriate milieu for writing a technical
manual. A sketch of the workshops will, therefore, be given.
The workshops
The duke made personal notes during the years 1580-1620 of all his "artistic
expenses," including monthly payments to the botteghini (workshops) (9). He
employed painters, sculptors, watchmakers, ebony workers, bookbinders, goldsmiths,
and miniaturists in a lively and businesslike organization (10).
Hermens
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