Plate with Hero leaping to her death from her tower and the drowned Leander; in the center, a shield of arms

Attributed to Francesco Xanto Avelli and a collaborator, probably in Urbino; probably lustered in the workshop of Maestro Giorgio Andreoli of Gubbio, or by Vicenzo Andreoli, Urbino

National Gallery of Art

This circular plate is painted with an almost cartoon-like scene showing four people with pale skin around a stream, near the exterior of a tower. At the top of the plate, a nude woman is shown from the thighs up as she falls horizontally from an open window at the top of the tower. Her back, buttocks, and a single breast are exposed to us while a deep red and blue fabric wraps over her far shoulder and around her thighs. Her hands clasp as she reaches her arms forward, and her copper-red hair flies behind her. Her mouth is wide open. Directly below her, at the bottom center of the plate, a man partially wrapped in ruby-red drapery lies on his back in the stream. One arm is flung over his head and the other hangs across his body. He has black hair, and his eyes are closed. On the right side of the plate, a second man stands on the bank of the stream with his body facing us, as he turns his face to our left in profile. He has curly, brown hair, and the eyebrow we can see is furrowed. He wears a knee-length red tunic, and he raises both arms high overhead. Finally, the fourth winged, child-like person stands on the opposite bank, to our left. He is nude except for a quiver of arrows slung across his chest. His babyish body is chubby with small wings between his shoulder blades. He faces the center of the scene and looks up at the falling woman while raising a long torch toward her. The tower is made of parchment-white stones outlined with mustard yellow and black. A shield or coat of arms hangs or hovers just above the center of the plate. It has a rounded top and pointed bottom, and has six gold, tree-like forms against a navy-blue background, all within a scrolling, red frame. The stream winds into the distance between buildings along the banks. Cobalt-blue and sepia-brown mountains line the horizon, and a light brown sun with linear rays sets behind them. The plate is edged with a thin band of golden brown, and there are several chips around the rim. The plate is shown in front of a light gray background and it casts a light shadow to our right.