Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 5.djvu/56

44 above-named Duke Guidobaldo sent a quantitj sufficient for the double furnishing of a credenza, to the Emperor Charles V., with one to the Cardinal Farnese, brother to the Signora Vittoria, his duchess. Now, it is fit we should know that, as regards this kind of paintings on vases, the ancient Eomans did not possess any examples, so far as we can judge; for the vases of their times, used to hold the ashes of the dead, or for other purposes, which are now found, are covered with figures which are hatched and grounded on one sole colour, whether black, red, or white, but never exhibit the lustre of a vitrified surface, nor do they possess the beauty and attraction of the varied pictures which have been, and still are seen in our times. Nor must it be affirmed, that the [Romans may perchance have possessed such, but that the paintings have been destroyed by time in the long period during which they have remained buried, since we know well that ours are capable of resisting the utmost force of the weather, and of every other evil influence, insomuch that they might be kept beneath the ground for 4000 years, so to speak, without sustaining injury to their paintings. Vases and pictures of this kind are produced, as is well known, throughout all Italy; but the best earths and the most beautiful vessels are, nevertheless, those found and made, as I have said, at Castel Durante, a place in the State of Urbino, and at Faenza. The best among them are of a pure white, and have but few pictures, what there are being in the centre or round the vase; they