Giorgio Andreoli

Good examples of his majolica may be found in the local museums of Gubbio, Urbino, Arezzo, and elsewhere in Italy, and also in the principal museums of decorative art in Europe, such as Berlin, Vienna, Paris, and South Kensington. Not all works fired with his lustre were designed by him, for potters of the neighbouring cities brought their work to him to be fired. He was assisted in his work by his brothers Salimbene and Giovanni, and after his death, it was continued by his son Vincenzo.

Places of work recorded in the authority are Gubbio. Work by Giorgio Andreoli is recorded in the collections of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, J. Paul Getty Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.

The son of Pietro Andreoli, during his youth, lived in Pavia, so much so that in some notarial acts he was referred to as “son of Pietro da Pavia ”; he later moved to Gubbio (duchy of Urbino), where he is reported to have been active since 1495[3] along with his brothers Giovanni and Salimbene, also potters, and there he invented the new decorative technique to which his name is linked, obtained by applying to an already fired ceramic a film of metallic substances that, following re-firing by small fire, results in iridescent effects. This technique was not completely unknown; in fact, it was used by the Persians as early as the 8th century and later revived in Hispano-Moorish faience, but Andreoli's merit was that he succeeded in perfecting it. The success of his work was such that from other localities known for ceramics, such as Faenza, Urbino, and Pesaro, they sent high-quality pieces to be worked and decorated by Andreoli, who, for a time, was also helped in his work by his sons Vincenzo and Ubaldo. While in the early days, the workshop produced mainly tableware, later, the production range widened, and Andreoli also worked as a pictorial decorator, as appears in the 1501 statuette of St. Sebastian, preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.