Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

Figure 4. Gherardo Cibo, "Fusaina [. .. J
nocella qui chiamata a Roccha C [ontrada J, "
Herbarium, (MS ADD 22332), Jo l.
183v. Courtesy of the British Library.
Figure 5. Gherardo Cibo, several proofs oj
colors and "Fusaina" flowers, Jrom Herbarium
(MS ADD 22332), 101. 184v. Courtesy
of the British Library.
identified as Cibo's handwriting. The conclusion must be that Cibo-not
Mariani-was the author of the Rome manuscript.
Gherardo Cibo and Valerio Mariani da Pesaro
Although Gherardo Cibo's part in the origin of the treatise is established, we
may still assume that Valerio Mariani composed the treatise, using Cibo's
specific knowledge and thus incorporating the section on landscape painting.
There is no reason, thus far, not to assume that Mariani wrote the first section
with technical recipes, especially as some personal notes present cannot be
attributed to Cibo, pointing to a professional miniaturist who was working
on a commission basis.
Did Cibo and Mariani meet? Cibo died in 1600 when Mariani was thirty
years old. His name appears in the employee lists for the first time in 1603,
which does not indicate he was not working in Pesaro before that date, as
most of the time the workshop employees are only indicated by their function
(i.e., miniatore) and the duke had started his search for capable miniaturists
in 1581. If they did meet, Cibo must have been in his late seventies or early
eighties but still active, as a letter he wrote to the Duke Francesco Maria II
della Rovere indicates. In the letter, dated 1580, Cibo tells the duke he is
very honored by his request to illustrate an edition of Mattioli's Dioscorides;
Cibo finished the work at nearly seventy years of age (23). This letter, however,
also indicates a clear contact between Cibo and the duke, but there were
apparently more contacts with the Urbino court.
In the Biblioteca Comunale in Jesi (Marche, Italy), an album is kept with
landscape drawings, mainly by Cibo. The text on the cover of the album is
in Cibo's handwriting and says that the album contains "a little landscape on
paper from the hand of the Flemish painter who serves our illustrious Duke
of Urbino, which Sir Cavaliere Ardoino sent me, in April I think. 1591. And
he names himself M[aestro] Giovanne. There are here two drawings of
M[aestro] giovanne fiame[n]go from landscapes on coloured paper ...." It
also mentions drawings of "the Painter from ForB" (24).
Cavaliere (knight) Ardoino can be identified as Girolamo Ardovino (also Ardoino
or Arduini), the duke's architect (25). In many documents, he figures
Hermens 53