offerings on sacred sites. They were known to the Romans as Sigilla,
and were used as presents, or placed in the lararia or domestic
shrines. Some 200 were found in the poorer quarters of Pompeii,
implying that they took the place of the marble and bronze figures
which the wealthier inhabitants alone could afford. At the festival
figures
votive
of Sigillaria, part of the December Saturnalia, terracotta and masks were in great demand. Originally these were offerings to Saturn, but later the custom degenerated into that of giving them as presents to friends or children, a practice indulged in by the Emperors Hadrian and Caracalla.
The makers of these figures were known as sigillarii or figulfi sigillatores, and they lived in the Via. Sigillaria. Their social position appears to have been very low; but it must be remembered that they were chiefly patronized by the poorer classes; probably many of them were slaves. The technical processes which they employed were practically those of the Greek craftsmen. Large figures were made from models (proplasmata) and built up on a wooden frame-work known as crux or stipes; but the smaller ones were made from moulds. The range of subjects is much the same as in the l ter Greek terracotta. At Pompeii genre figures predominate, sucfx as gladiators, athletes and slaves, and in general there is a preference for portraits and grotesques. On the whole these late works have little artistic merit. Votive figures have been found at Praeneste on the site of the temple of Fortune, and also at Nemi and Gabii.
This industry also extended from Rome to the provinces, and terracotta statuettes of local make have been found even in Britain, as at Richborough, Colchester and London. In Gaul in particular, and in the Rhine district, there were very extensive manufactures of terracotta after the conquest of Julius Caesar in 58 B.C. They were made by local craftsmen for the Roman colonists, who introduced their own types of design. The rincipal centre of manufacture was the district of the Allier in Central France. Potteries have been found at Moulins, as well as in other parts of France, in Belgium and Alsace, and along the Rhine. The figures found in the Allier district are made of a peculiar white clay, the technique resembling that of Roman work, but the modelling is heavy and often barbaric. Numerous moulds have also come to light which show that the figures were made in two pieces; on the exterior of these moulds the potters' names have frequently been scratched (to indicate ownership). Names appear on the figures as well as on the moulds, and many of these are of Gaulish origin. The commonest names are those of Pistillus of Autun, Rextugenus, apotter of north-west France, and Vindex of Cologne. The subjects include divinities, genre figures, and animals; among the former the pre-eminent type is that of a Nature-Goddess, characterized either as Venus Genetrix or as a Mother with a Child (xoupofpéoos). Both in subject and in artistic character these statuettes appear to have been largely influenced by the Graeco-Egyptian art of Alexandria during the Hellenistic period. They appear to have been used for domestic and funerary purposes and as votive offerings.
After the downfall of the Roman Empire in the west, the artistic use of terracotta was abandoned for many centuries, though, here and there, both in Italy and in the districts that had been once Roman provinces, decorated terracotta work was carried on sporadically both in parts of France and of Germany. The true renaissance of its use came during the 14th and 15th centuries, when it was adapted once more to architectural service in the Gothic buildings of northern Italy and of Germany. In Germany the mark of Brandenburg is especially rich in buildings enriched with modelled terracotta. The church of St Catherine in the town of Brandenburg is decorated in the most lavish way with delicate tracery and elaborate string-courses and cornices enriched with foliage all modelled in clay; the town-hall of Brandenburg is another instance of the same use of terracotta. At Tangermiinde, the church of St Stephen and other buildings of the beginning of the 15th centur are wonderful examples of this method of decoration; the north door of St Stephen's especially being a masterpiece of rich and effective moulding. In northern Italy this use of terracotta was carried to an equally high pitch of perfection. The western facade of the cathedral of Crema, the communal buildings of Piacenza, and S. Maria delle Grazie in Milan are all striking examples of the extreme splendour of effect that can be obtained by terracotta work. The Certosa near Pavia is a gorgeous specimen of the early work of the 16th century; the two cloisters are especially magnificent. Pavia itself is very rich in terracotta decoration, especially the ducal palace and the churches of S. Francesco and S. Maria del Carmine. Some delicate work exists among the medieval buildings of Rome, dating from the 14th and 16th centuries, as, for example, the rich cornices of the south aisle of S. Maria in Ara Coeli, c. 1300; the front of S. Cosimato in Trastevere, built c. 1490; and a once very magnificent house, near the Via di Tordinone, which dates from the 14th century.
With the revival of terracotta as an adjunct to medieval architecture we find the sculptors of the Italian renaissance turning to this material, as a medium for the production of reliefs, busts, and even groups of many life-sized figures-again following the practice or classic times. Much of the Florentine terracotta sculpture of the 15th century is among the most beautiful plastic work the world has ever seen, especially that by jacopo della Quercia, Donatello, and the sculptors of the next generation.1 For life, spirit, and realistic truth, combined with sculpturesque breadth, these pieces are masterpieces of invention and manipulation. The portrait busts are perfect models of iconic sculpture. In some respects the use of'burnt clay for sculpture has great advantages over that of marble; the soft clay is easily and rapidly moulded into form while the sculptor's thought is fresh in his mind, and thus works in terracotta often possess a spirit and vigour which can hardly be reproduced in laboriously finished marble. In the 16th century a more realistic style was introduced, and this was heightened by the custom of painting the figures in oil colours. Many very clever groups of this kind were produced by Ambrogio Foppa (Caradosso) for S. Satiro at Milan and by Guido Mazzoni and Begarelli (1479-1565) for churches in Modena. These terracotta sculptures are unpleasing in colour and far too pictorial in style; but those of Begarelli were enthusiastically admired by Michelangelo. The introduction of enamelled reliefs in terracotta which is so closely associated with the Florentine sculptor Luca della Robbia and his descendants, is specially treated in the article DELLA ROBBIA (q.v.).
From these two centres the development of architectural terracotta gradually spread over western Europe. The German school inhuenced the work done in the Low Countries and finally in England, where it also met the direct influence of the Italian school due to the invasion of England by Italian artists such as Torrigiano and others who were invited to England during the reigns ofHenry VII. and Henry VIII. It is only in the eastern and southern counties of England that we find instances of the terracotta work of this period, and much of it is so un-English in style that most authorities consider it was not made in England at all but was imported from Holland or Flanders. Essex possesses the finest examples; such as those to be found in the Manor House at Layer Marney, and a richly-decorated terracotta tomb in the church at the same place, both dating from the reign of Henry VIII.
In the Collegiate Church at /ymondham in Norfolk there are very large and elaborate sedilia with canopied niches all of terracotta of the same period and apparently of the same manufacture. The unsettlement which followed the Reformation in England and continued during the Stuart period seems to have put an end to this imported art, and it is only in modern times that we find a revival of architectural terracotta work in England. France.-Another offshoot from the fertile plains of northern Italy was implanted in France during the 16th century. Many sculptors from northern and central Italy were attracted to France by Francis I. and his successors, and, among other arts, they introduced the making of artistic terracotta. The most famous name in the lists of these Italian artists is that of Girolamo della Robbia (see article DELLA ROBBIA), who executed, in 1529, the enamelled terracotta for the decoration of the “ Petit Chateau de Madrid" in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris, for Francis I.” Many other Italian artists of lesser repute imported their arts into France, and the British Museum possesses an embossed tile bearing the head of St John the Baptist, encircled by a Gothic inscription, which was evidently made at Lyons during the 16th century. The very mould of this tile, together with other subjects of similar type, was excavated at Lyons and, while it is probable that the workmanship was Italian, the style of the modelling is entirely French in character. Spain.-At about the same period the Italian modellers or sculptors carried the art into Spain, and many extraordinary works are still extant irr various Spanish churches remarkable for their vivid realism and for a too pictorial style which degrades them from their true rank as architectural decoration. During the 17th and 18th centuries the architectural use of terracotta again fell away owing to the increasing use ofmarble, but that the art still survived in other forms is shown by the portrait busts of Dwight (17th century), though they were made in stoneware and not in unglazed terracotta; and the charming little statuettes and groups made in Lorraine and the adjacent parts of France by Guibal, Cyfflé and Lemire, sculptors employed at some of the pottery factories of the period.
It should be mentioned that during the 18th century ordinary clay had fallen into disrepute, but the porcelain figures made at Meissen, Sevres and other continental factories show how persistent the vogue of figure-modelling in clay had become-though the clay was porcelain clay and not ordinary terracotta (see CERAMICS). Modern.-During the last fifty years there has been throughout Europe a great revival in the manufacture of terracotta, both glazed and unglazed. We have in England, for example, some very important buildings, such as the Natural History Museum, the Albert The Victoria and Albert Museum has a splendid and representative collection of these Italian terracotta.
“This last and most extensive of the works in terracotta executed by the Robbia family was destro'ed during the French Revolution in 1792, but exact drawings of it are still in existence showing all the necessary details.
