This doorway comes from the Palazzo Ducale in Gubbio. The left jamb is a modern restoration. On the lintel are the arms of the Montefeltro, with the emblems of a clothes brush, an ermine, a horse's bit, and an unidentified object, and a medallion inscribed FD (for FEDERICVS DVX), an exploding bomb and an ostrich. In the centre above the lintel is the Garter of England. The Palazzo Ducale at Gubbio was built between c. 11474-6 and 1480, for Federigo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, who was appointed to the order of the Garter in August 1474.
Physical description
Doorway, grey sandstone (pietra serena), carved in low relief, the details touched up with blue and gold. The jambs are decorated with stems laden with flowers and foliage, intermingled with wings and tassels. The stems rise from vases at the base, and are crowned by eagles. The lintel is carved with festoons of laurel; at either end is a shield which bears the arms of Montefeltro (quarterly, one and four, an eagle displayed sable, beaked, membered and crowned or in chief; two and three, bendy or and azure). The shields are divided by a pale, charged with two crossed keys surmounted by a tiara, representing the banner of the Church in the form of a pale of augmentation. The tiara is surmounted by a coronet. In the centre of the lintel is an eagle. To the right of this are carved a clothes brush, an ermine, standing on a rocky base, with a label above inscribed 'NON MAI', a horse’s bit, an unidentified object. To the left of the eagle are a medallion, inscribed 'FD' (i.e. Federicus Dux), an exploding bomb, an ostrich, with a label above inscribed 'ICH AN VORDALTER' (i.e. Ich an vordait em grossers). Above the lintel is a frieze carved with palmettes and other ornaments. In the centre the Garter of England, inscribed 'HONI. SOIT. QUI . MAL . Y. PENSE' in Gothic letters, encloses a shield with charges similar to those of the shields on the lintel and surmounted by a coronet. On either side of the shield are the letters FD. Above is a projecting cornice.
Place of Origin
Urbino, Italy (made)
Date
ca. 1474 - ca. 1480 (made)
Artist/maker
unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Grey sandstone (pietra serena)
Dimensions
Height: 345.4 cm without base, Width: 245.7 cm cornice, Weight: 1280 kg weighed Jan 06 by Tech Services/Cons
Object history note
This doorway was acquired together with a wood intarsia door (103, 104-1886).
Descriptive line
Doorway, grey sandstone (pietra serena), Italy (Urbino), about 1475-80
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
List of Objects in the Art Division, South Kensington Museum acquired during the Year 1886. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1887. pp.12-3
Pope-Hennessy, John. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: Her Majesty's Stationary Office, 1964. pp. 300-1
Raggio, Olga. 'Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum.' Art Bulletin. 1968, vol.L. pp. 101
Hofmann. Bauten des Herzogs Federigo di Montefeltro. Zittau. 1905. pp. 146. fig. 1
Dennistoun. Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino. I. London. 1851. pp. 213-4, 424- 32
Subjects depicted
Flowers; Foliage; Coats of arms; Medallions; Shields; Laurel wreaths; Tiara; Eagle (bird); Ostrich; Bombs; Ermine (animal); Clothes-brushes; Bits (bridle components)
Categories
Sculpture; Architecture
Collection code
SCP
