The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. V (of 6) - from the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End

By Author	[ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z \| Other Symbols ]
By Title	[ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z \| Other Symbols ]
By Language

Download this book: [ ASCII | HTML | PDF ]

Look for this book on Amazon

We have new books nearly every day.
If you would like a news letter once a week or once a month fill out this form and we will give you a summary of the books for that week or month by email.

Title: The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. V (of 6) - from the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End - of the Eighteenth Century
Author: Lanzi, Luigi Antonio, 1732-1810
Language: English
As this book started as an ASCII text book there are no pictures available.

*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. V (of 6) - from the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End - of the Eighteenth Century" ***

THE

HISTORY OF PAINTING

ITALY.

VOL. V.

THE
HISTORY OF PAINTING
IN
ITALY,

FROM THE PERIOD OF THE REVIVAL OF
THE FINE ARTS
TO THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY:

TRANSLATED
From the Original Italian
OF THE

ABATE LUIGI LANZI.

BY THOMAS ROSCOE.

_IN SIX VOLUMES._
VOL. V.

CONTAINING THE SCHOOLS OF BOLOGNA, FERRARA, GENOA,
AND PIEDMONT.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR
W. SIMPKIN AND R. MARSHALL,
STATIONERS'-HALL COURT, LUDGATE STREET.
1828

J. M'Creery, Tooks Court,
Chancery Lane, London.

CONTENTS
OF
THE FIFTH VOLUME.

HISTORY OF PAINTING IN UPPER ITALY.

BOOK THE THIRD.

BOLOGNESE SCHOOL.
Page

EPOCH I. _The ancient masters_ 6

EPOCH II. _Various styles, from the time of Francia
to that of the Caracci_ 50

EPOCH III. _The Caracci, their scholars and their
successors, until the time of Cignani_ 96

EPOCH IV. _Pasinelli, and in particular Cignani,
cause a change in the style of Bolognese
painting. The Clementine academy and its
members_ 217

BOOK THE FOURTH.

SCHOOL OF FERRARA.

EPOCH I. _The ancient masters_ 281

EPOCH II. _Artists of Ferrara, from the time of Alfonso
I. till Alfonso II., last of the Este family in
Ferrara, who emulate the best Italian styles_ 301

EPOCH III. _The artists of Ferrara borrow different
styles from the Bolognese school--Decline
of the art, and an academy instituted in its
support_ 328

BOOK THE FIFTH.

EPOCH I. _The ancient masters_ 359

EPOCH II. _Perino and his followers_ 369

EPOCH III. _The art relapses for some time, and is
re-invigorated by the works of Paggi and
some foreigners_ 392

EPOCH IV. _The Roman and Parmesan succeed to
the native style--Establishment of an academy_ 424

BOOK THE SIXTH.

HISTORY OF PAINTING IN PIEDMONT AND THE
ADJACENT TERRITORY.

EPOCH I. _Dawn and progress of the art until the sixteenth
century_ 447

EPOCH II. _Painters of the seventeenth century, and
first establishment of the academy_ 466

EPOCH III. _School of Beaumont, and restoration of
the academy_ 483

HISTORY OF PAINTING

UPPER ITALY.

BOOK III.

BOLOGNESE SCHOOL.

During the progress of the present work, it has been observed that the fame
of the art, in common with that of letters and of arms, has been
transferred from place to place; and that wherever it fixed its seat, its
influence tended to the perfection of some branch of painting, which by
preceding artists had been less studied, or less understood. Towards the
close of the sixteenth century, indeed, there seemed not to be left in
nature, any kind of beauty, in its outward forms or aspect, that had not
been admired and represented by some great master; insomuch that the
artist, however ambitious, was compelled, as an imitator of nature, to
become, likewise, an imitator of the best masters; while the discovery of
new styles depended upon a more or less skilful combination of the old.
Thus the sole career that remained open for the display of human genius was
that of imitation; as it appeared impossible to design figures more
masterly than those of Bonarruoti or Da Vinci, to express them with more
grace than Raffaello, with more animated colours than those of Titian, with
more lively motions than those of Tintoretto, or to give them a richer
drapery and ornaments than Paul Veronese; to present them to the eye at
every degree of distance, and in perspective, with more art, more fulness,
and more enchanting power than fell to the genius of Coreggio. Accordingly
the path of imitation was at that time pursued by every school, though with
very little method. Each of these was almost wholly subservient to its
prototype; nor was it distinguished in any other portion of the art than
that by which its master had surpassed all competitors. Even in this
portion, the distinction of these followers consisted only in copying the
same figures, and executing them in a more hasty and capricious manner, or
at all events, in adapting them out of place. Those devoted to Raffaello
were sure to exaggerate the ideal in every picture: the same in regard to
anatomy in those of Michelangiolo: while misplaced vivacity and
foreshortening were repeated in the most judicious historic pieces of the
Venetians and the Lombards.

A few, indeed, there were, as we have noticed, in every place, who rose
conspicuous above those popular prejudices and that ignorance which
obscured Italy, and whose aim was to select from the masters of different
states the chief merit of each; a method of which the Campi of Cremona more
especially furnished commendable examples. Yet these artists being unequal
in point of genius and learning, broken into different schools, separated
by private interests, accustomed to direct their pupils only in the exact
path they themselves trod, and always confined within the limits of their
native province, failed to instruct Italy, or at least to propagate the
method of correct and laudable imitation. This honour was reserved for
Bologna, whose destiny was declared to be the art of teaching, as governing
was said to be that of Rome; and it was not the work of an academy, but of
a single house. Gifted with genius, intent upon attaining the secrets more
than the stipends of their art, and unanimous in their resolves, the family
of the Caracci discovered the true style of imitation. First, they
inculcated it through the neighbouring state of Romagna, whence it was
communicated to the rest of Italy; so that in a little while nearly the
whole country was filled with its reputation. The result of their learning
went to shew that the artist ought to divide his studies between nature and
art, and that he should alternately keep each in view, selecting only,
according to his natural talents and disposition, what was most enviable in
both. By such means, that school, which appeared last in the series that
flourished, became the first to instruct the age; and what it had acquired
from each it afterwards taught to all: a school which, until that period,
had assumed no form or character to distinguish it from others, but which
subsequently produced almost as many new manners, as the individuals of the
family and their pupils. The mind, like the pen, would gladly arrive at
that fortunate epoch; aiming at the most compendious ways to reach it, and
studiously avoiding whatever may impede or divert its course. Let Malvasia
exclaim against Vasari as much as he pleases: let him vent his indignation
upon his prints, in which Bagnacavallo appears with a goat's physiognomy,
when he was entitled to that of a gentleman: let him farther vituperate his
writings, in which Bolognese professors are either omitted, dismissed with
faint praise, or blamed, until one Mastro Amico and one Mastro Biagio fall
under his lash:--to attempt to reconcile or to aggravate such feuds will
form little part of my task. Concerning this author I have sufficiently
treated in other places; though I shall not scruple to correct, or to
supply his information in case oaf need, on the authority of several modern
writers.[1] Nor shall I fail to point out in Malvasia occasional errors in
sound criticism, which seem to have escaped him in the effervescence of
that bitter controversy. The reader will become aware of them even in the
first epoch; in treating which, agreeably to my own method, I shall
describe the origin and early progress of this eminent school. Together
with the Bolognese, I shall also give an account of many professors of
Romagna, reserving a few, however, for a place in the Ferrarese School, in
which they shone either as disciples or as masters.

Footnote 1: No Italian school has been described by abler
pens. The Co. Canon. Malvasia was a real man of letters; and
his life has been written by Crespi. His two volumes,
entitled _Felsina Pittrice_, will continue to supply an
abundance of valuable information, collected by the pupils
of the Caracci, to whom he was known, and by whom he was
assisted in this work; charged, however, with a degree of
patriotic zeal at times too fervid.

Crespi and Zanotti were his continuators, whose merits are
considered in the last epoch. To these volumes is added the
work entitled, "Pitture, Sculture, e Architetture di
Bologna," of which the latest editions have been supplied
with some very valuable notices, (drawn also from MSS.) by
the Ab. Bianconi, already commended by us, and by Sig.
Marcello Oretti, a very diligent collector of pictoric
anecdotes, as well as by other persons. I cite this work
under the title of the _Guide_ of Bologna; in addition to
which I mention in Romagna that of Ravenna by Beltrami, that
of Rimini by Costa, and of Pesaro by Becci, which is farther
illustrated by observations upon the chief paintings at
Pesaro, and a dissertation upon the art; both very ably
treated by the pen of Sig. Canon. Lazzarini.

BOLOGNESE SCHOOL.

EPOCH I.

_The Ancients._

The new Guide of Bologna, published in the year 1782, directs our attention
to a number of figures, in particular those of the Virgin, which, on the
strength of ancient documents, are to be assigned to ages anterior to the
twelfth century. Of some of these we find the authors' names indicated; and
it forms, perhaps, the peculiar boast of Bologna to claim three of them
during the twelfth century: one Guido, one Ventura, and one Ursone, of whom
there exist memorials as late back as 1248. Most part, however, are from
unknown hands, and so well executed, that we are justified in suspecting
that they must have been retouched about the times of Lippo Dalmasio, to
whose style a few of them bear considerable resemblance. Yet not so with
others; more especially a specimen in San Pietro, which I consider to be
one of the most ancient preserved in Italy. But the finest monument of
painting possessed by Bologna, at once the most unique and untouched, is
the _Catino_ of San Stefano, on which is figured the Adoration of the Lamb
of God, described in the Apocalypse; and below this are several scriptural
histories; as the Birth of our Lord, his Epiphany, the Dispute, and similar
subjects. The author was either Greek, or rather a scholar of those Greeks
who ornamented the church of St. Mark in Venice with their mosaics; the
manner much resembling theirs in its rude design, the spareness of the
limbs, and in the distribution of the colours. It is besides, certain, that
these Greeks educated several artists for Italy, and among others the
founder of the Ferrarese School, of whom more in its appropriate place.
However this may be, the painter exhibits traces that differ from those
mosaic workers, such as the flow of the beard, the shape of the garments,
and a taste less bent on thronging his compositions. And in respect to his
age, it is apparent it must have been between the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries, from the form of the characters, collated with other writings
belonging to the same period.

Entering upon the age of Giotto, the most disputed of all, on account of
the Florentines having declared themselves the tutors of the Bolognese, and
the aversion of the latter to admit that they have been instructed by the
Florentines;--I decline to dwell upon their writings, in which the heat of
controversy has effectually obscured the candour of real history. I shall
rather gather light from the figures of the _trecentisti_ dispersed
throughout the city and all parts of Romagna, and from the ample
collections which are to be seen in various places. Such is that of the
Padri Classensi at Ravenna, that of the Institute at Bologna, and in the
same place one at the Malvezzi palace, where the pictures of the ancient
masters are exhibited in long series, with their names; not always
inscribed, indeed, in ancient character, nor always equally genuine; but
still calculated to reflect honour upon the noble family that made the
collection. In all these I discovered paintings, some manifestly Greek;
some indisputably Giottesque; certain others of Venetian style; and not a
few in a manner which I never saw, except in Bologna. They possess a body
of colouring, a taste in perspective, a method of designing and draping the
figures, not met with in any other cities; as for instance, in several
places I saw scripture histories, where the Redeemer invariably appears
arrayed in a red mantle; while other characters appear in garments trimmed
in a certain novel style with gilt borders; trifles in themselves, yet not
apparent in any other school. From similar observations we seem to be
justified in concluding that the Bolognese of that age likewise had a
school of their own, not indeed so elegant, nor so celebrated, but
nevertheless peculiar, and so to say, municipal, derived from ancient
masters of mosaic, and also from those in miniature.

On this head, notwithstanding our proposed brevity, I must here refer to
the words of Baldinucci in his notices of the miniature painter, Franco:
"After Giotto, that very celebrated Florentine painter, had discovered his
novel and fine method by which he gained the name of the first restorer of
the art of painting, or rather to have raised it from utter extinction; and
after he had acquired with industrious diligence that fine mode of painting
which is called _di minio_,[2] which for the most part consists in
colouring very diminutive figures; many others also applied themselves to
the like art, and soon became illustrious. One of these was Oderigi
d'Agubbio, concerning whom we have spoken in his proper place among the
disciples of Cimabue. We discovered that this Oderigi, as we are assured by
Vellutello in his comment upon Dante, in the eleventh canto of the
Purgatorio,[3] was master in the art to Franco Bolognese, which assertion
acquires great credit from his having worked much in miniature in the city
of Bologna, according to these words that I find said of him by Benvenuto
da Imola, a contemporary of Petrarch, in his comment upon Dante: 'Iste
Odorisius fuit magnus miniator in civitate Bononiæ, qui erat valde vanus
jactator artis suæ.' From this Franco, according to the opinion of
Malvasia, the most noble and ever glorious city of Bologna received the
first seeds of the beautiful art of painting."

Footnote 2: _Di minio_, a peculiar red colour, used also in
oil painting, and well known to the ancients, who on festal
days were accustomed to ornament with it the face of Jove's
statue, as also that of the victors on days of triumph.
Pliny and others explain the ancient method of employing it.
The term, in its simple acceptation, means here the art of
designing and colouring in miniature, (from _di minio_)
early applied to the ornamenting and illuminating of ancient
works and MSS. R.

Footnote 3:

"Oh dissi lui non se' tu Oderisi,
L'onor d'Agubbio, e l'onor di quell'arte
Che alluminar è chiamata a Parisi?
Frate, diss'egli, più ridon le carte
Che pennellegia Franco Bolognese:
L'onor è tutto or suo, e mio in parte.
Ben non sarei stato sì cortese
Mentre ch'io vissi per lo gran disìo
Dell'eccellenza, ove mio cor intese.
Di tal superbia qui si paga il fio."

With this narrative does the author proceed, like a careful culturist,
gently sprinkling with refreshing drops his pictoric tree, whose seed he
had shortly before planted, in order to trace the whole derivation of early
artists from the leading stock of Cimabue. It has elsewhere been observed
that this famous tree can boast no root in history; that it sprung out of
idle conjectures, put together as an answer to the _Felsina Pittrice_ of
Malvasia, in which the Bolognese School is made to appear, as it were,
_autoctona_, derived only from itself. Now Baldinucci, in order to give its
origin to Florence, would persuade us that Oderigi, a miniaturist, and
master of Franco, the first painter at Bologna on the revival of the arts,
had actually been a disciple of Cimabue. His argument amounts to this: that
Dante, Giotto, and Oderigi, being known to have lived on the most intimate
terms together, and all three greatly devoted to the fine arts, must have
contracted their friendship in the school of Cimabue; as if such an
intimacy might not have sprung up at any other time or place amongst three
men who travelled. It is besides difficult to believe that Oderigi,
ambitious of the fame of a miniaturist in ornamenting books, should have
applied to Cimabue, who in those times was not the best designer of
figures, though the most eminent painter in fresco, and of grand figures.

A more probable supposition, therefore, is that Oderigi acquired the art
from the miniaturists, who then greatly abounded in Italy, and carried it
to further perfection by his own design. Neither are the epochs themselves,
fixed upon by Baldinucci, in favour of his system. He would have it that
Giotto, at ten years of age, being about the year 1286, began to design in
the school of Cimabue, when the latter had attained his forty-sixth year;
nor could Oderigi have been any younger, whose death happened about 1299,
one year before that of Cimabue, his equal in reputation, and in the
dignity of the pupil, who already surpassed the master. How difficult then
to persuade ourselves that a genius, described by Dante as lofty and full
of vaunting, should demean himself by deigning to design at the school of a
contemporary, near the seat of a mere child; and subsequently surviving
only thirteen years, should acquire the fame of the first miniaturist of
his age, besides forming the mind of a pupil superior to himself. It is no
less incredible that Oderigi, after having seen Giotto's specimens in
miniature, "_should in a short time become famous_." Giotto, in 1298, when
twenty-two years of age, was at Rome in the service of the pope; where,
observes Baldinucci, he also illuminated a book for the Car. Stefaneschi; a
circumstance not mentioned by Vasari, nor supported by any historical
document. Yet taking all this for granted, what length of time is afforded
for Oderigi to display his powers, on the strength of seeing Giotto's
models; for Oderigi, who having been already some time before deceased, was
found by Dante in purgatory, according to Baldinucci's computation, in the
year 1300?

I therefore refer this miniaturist to the Bolognese School, most probably
as a disciple, assuredly as a master; and, on the authority of Vellutello,
as the master of Franco, both a miniaturist and a painter. Franco is the
first among the Bolognese who instructed many pupils; and he is almost
deserving the name of the Giotto of this school. Nevertheless he approached
only at considerable distance, the Giotto of Florence, as far as we can
judge from the few relics which are now pointed out as his in the Malvezzi
museum. The most undoubted specimen is one of the Virgin, seated on a
throne, bearing the date of 1313; a production that may compare with the
works of Cimabue, or of Guido da Siena. There are also two diminutive
paintings, displaying much grace, and similar miniatures, ascribed to the
same hand.

The most eminent pupils educated by Franco in his school, according to
Malvasia, are by name, Vitale, Lorenzo, Simone, Jacopo, Cristoforo;
specimens of whose paintings in fresco are still seen at the Madonna di
Mezzaratta. This church, in respect to the Bolognese, exhibits the same
splendor as the Campo Santo of Pisa, in relation to the Florentine School;
a studio in which the most distinguished trecentisti who flourished in the
adjacent parts, competed for celebrity. They cannot, indeed, boast all the
simplicity, the elegance, the happy distribution, which form the excellence
of the Giottesque; but they display a fancy, fire, and method of colouring,
which led Bonarruoti and the Caracci, considering the times in which they
lived, not to undervalue them; insomuch that, on their shewing signs of
decay, these artists took measures for their preservation. In the
forementioned church, then, besides the pupils of Franco already named,
Galasso of Ferrara, and an unknown imitator of the style of Giotto,
asserted by Lamo in his MS. to have been Giotto himself, painted, at
different times, histories from the Old and New Testament. I am inclined
rather to pronounce the unknown artist to be Giotto's imitator; both
because Vasari, in Mezzaratta, makes no mention of Giotto, and because, if
the latter had painted, he would have ranked with the most eminent, and
would have been selected to pursue his labours, not in that corner
ornamented with paintings in the Florentine style, but in some more
imposing situation.

I ought not to omit to mention in this place, that Giotto employed himself
at Bologna. There is one of his altar-pieces still preserved at San Antonio
with the superscription of MAGISTER IOCTUS DE FLORENTIA. We, moreover,
learn from Vasari that Puccio Capanna, a Florentine, and Ottaviano da
Faenza, with one Pace da Faenza, all pupils of Giotto, pursued their
labours more or less at Bologna. Of these, if I mistake not, there are
occasional specimens still to be met with in collections and in churches.
Nor are there wanting works of the successors of Taddeo Gaddi, one of the
school of Giotto, which, as I have seen great numbers in Florence, I have
been able to distinguish with little difficulty among specimens of this
other school. Besides this style, another was introduced into Bologna from
Florence, that of Orcagna, whose Novissimi of S. Maria Novella were almost
copied in a chapel of San Petronio, painted after the year 1400; the same
edifice which Vasari on the strength of popular tradition, has asserted,
was ornamented by Buffalmacco. From this information, we are brought to
conclude that the Florentines exercised an influence over the art, even in
Bologna; nor can I commend Malvasia, who, in recounting the progress of his
school, gives them no place, nor makes them any acknowledgment. Their
models, which at that period were the most excellent in the art, there is
reason to suppose, may in those times have afforded assistance to the young
Bolognese artists, as those of the school of Caracci, in another age,
instructed the youth of Florence. It is time, however, to return to the
pictures of Mezzaratta.

The authors of those just recorded, were, some of them, contemporary with
the disciples of Giotto; others flourished subsequent to them; nor is there
any name more ancient than that of Vital da Bologna, called _dalle
Madonne_, of whom there are accounts from 1320 till the year 1345. This
artist, who painted for that church a picture of the Nativity, and from
whose hand one of S. Benedetto with other saints is seen in the Malvezzi
palace, had more dryness of design than belonged to the disciples of Giotto
at that period; and he employed compositions that differed from that
school, so extremely tenacious of Giotto's ideas. If Baldinucci ventured to
assert of him that his style, in every particular, agrees with that of his
Florentine contemporaries, he wrote on the faith of others; a sufficient
reason with him for affirming that he was pupil to Giotto, or to some one
of his disciples. I would not venture so far; but rather, to judge from the
hand of Vitale, which Baldi, in his Biblioteca Bolognese, entitles "manum
elimatissimam," from the dryness of design, and from his almost exclusive
custom of painting Madonnas, I argue that he had not departed much from the
example set by Franco, more of a miniaturist than a painter, and that his
school could not have been that school more elevated, varied, and rich in
ideas, formed by Giotto.

Lorenzo, an artist, as is elsewhere observed, of Venice more probably than
of Bologna,[4] who produced the history of Daniel, on which he inscribed
his name, painted during the same period, and attempted copious
compositions. He was greatly inferior to the Memmi, to the Laurati, to the
Gaddi, though he is represented as their equal in reputation by Malvasia.
He betrays the infancy of the art, no less in point of design than in the
expressions of his countenances, whose grief sometimes provokes a smile;
and in his forced and extravagant attitudes in the manner of the Greeks.
Hence it is here out of the question to mention Giotto, in whose school,
cautiously avoiding every kind of extravagance, there predominates a
certain gravity and repose, occasionally amounting to coldness; described
by the author of the Bolognese Guide as the statuary manner; and it is one
of those marks by which to distinguish that school from others of the same
age.

Footnote 4: Vol. iii. p. 16.

At a later period flourished Galasso, who is to be sought for in the list
of artists of Ferrara, along with the three supposed disciples of Vitale;
namely, Cristoforo, Simone, and Jacopo; all of whom, in mature age, were
engaged in pictures to decorate the church at Mezzaratta, which were
completed in 1404. Vasari writes that he is uncertain whether Cristoforo
belonged to Ferrara, or da Modena; and whilst the two cities were disputing
the honour, the Bolognese historians, Baldi, Masini, and Bumaldo, adjusted
the difference by referring him to their own Felsina. For me his country
may remain matter of doubt, though not so the school in which he
flourished; inasmuch as he certainly resided, and painted a great deal,
both on altar-pieces and on walls, at Bologna. At that period, he must have
attracted the largest share of applause; since to him was committed the
figure of the altar, which is still in existence, with his name. The
Signori Malvezzi, likewise, are in possession of one of his altar-pieces,
abounding with figures of saints, and divided into ten compartments. The
design of these figures is rude, the colouring languid; but the whole
displays a taste assuredly not derived from the Florentines, and this is
the principal difficulty in the question.

Simone, most commonly called in Bologna Da Crocifissi, was eminent in these
sacred subjects. At S. Stefano, and other churches, he has exhibited
several fine specimens, by no means incorrect in the naked figure, with a
most devotional cast of features, extended arms, and a drapery of various
colours. They resemble Giotto's in point of colouring, and in the posture
of the feet, one of which is placed over the other, but in other respects
they approach nearer the more ancient. I have seen also some Madonnas
painted by him; sometimes in a sitting posture, at others in half-size,
with drapery and with hands in the manner of the Greek paintings. In
features, however, and in the attitudes, they are both carefully studied
and commendable for those times; a specimen of which is still to be seen at
S. Michele in Bosco.

Among the Bolognese trecentisti Jacopo Avanzi is the most distinguished. He
produced the chief part of the histories at the church of Mezzaratta, many
in conjunction with Simone, and a few of them alone; as the miracle of the
Probation, at the bottom of which he wrote _Jacobus pinxit_. He appears to
have employed himself with most success in the chapel of S. Jacopo al
Santo, at Padua, where, in some very spirited figures, representing some
exploit of arms, he may be said to have conformed his style pretty nearly
to the Giottesque; and even in some measure to have surpassed Giotto, who
was not skilful in heroic subjects. His masterpiece seems to have been the
triumphs painted in a saloon at Verona, a work commended by Mantegna
himself as an excellent production. He subscribed his name sometimes
_Jacobus Pauli_; which has led me to doubt whether he was not originally
from Venice, and the same artist who, together with Paolo his father, and
his brother Giovanni, painted the ancient altar-piece of San Marco at that
place. The time exactly favours such a supposition; the resemblance between
the countenances in the paintings at S. Marco and at the Mezzaratta,
farther confirms it; nor can I easily persuade myself that Avanzi would
have entitled himself _Jacobus Pauli_, had there flourished another artist
at the same period, likely, from similarity of signatures, to create a
mistake. In the _Notizia_ of _Morelli_, p. 5, he is called _Jacomo Davanzo,
a Paduan, or Veronese, or as some maintain a Bolognese_, words which may
create a doubt of the real place of his birth. Without entering on such a
question, I shall only observe, that I incline to believe that his most
fixed domicile, at least towards the close of his days, was at Bologna; and
it has already been remarked, that some artists were accustomed to assume
their place of residence for a surname. It would seem that two painters of
this age derive their parentage from him: one who on an altar-piece at S.
Michele in Bosco signs himself _Petrus Jacobi_, and the same Orazio di
Jacopo mentioned by Malvasia. At all events it is observable in each
school, that, where an artist was the son of a painter, he gladly adopted
his father's name as a sort of support and recommendation of his own. One
Giovanni of Bologna, unknown in his own country, has left at Venice a
painting of S. Cristoforo, in the school of the Merchants at S. Maria
dell'Orto, to which he adds his name, though without date; and, from his
ancient manner, we are authorized to believe that he really belongs to the
place which is here assigned him.

Lippo di Dalmasio, formerly believed to be a Carmelite friar, until the
Turin edition of Baldinucci proved that he had died married, sprung from
the school of Vitale, and was named Lippo dalle Madonne. It is not true, as
reported, that he instructed the Beata Caterina Vigri in the art, by whom
there remain some miniatures, and an infant Christ painted on panel.
Lippo's manner scarcely varies from the ancient, except perhaps in better
harmony of tints and flow of drapery; to which last, however, he adds
fringes of gold lace tolerably wide, a practice very generally prevalent in
the early part of the fifteenth century. His heads are beautiful and novel,
more particularly in several Madonnas, which Guido Reni never ceased to
admire, being in the habit of declaring that Lippo must have been indebted
to some supernatural power for his exhibition in one countenance of all the
majesty, the sanctity, and the sweetness of the holy mother, and that in
this view he had not been equalled by any modern. Such is the account given
by Malvasia, who relates it, he adds, as he heard it. He moreover assures
us, on the authority of Guido, that Lippo painted several histories of
Elias in fresco, with great spirit; while, on the experience of Tiarini, he
would persuade us that he painted in oil at S. Procolo in via S. Stefano,
and in private houses; on which point he impugns the commonly received
opinion respecting Antonello, examined by us more than once. Contemporary
with Lippo must have flourished Maso da Bologna, painter of the ancient
cupola of the cathedral.

Subsequent to 1409, the latest epoch of the paintings of Lippo, the
Bolognese School began to decline; nor could it well be otherwise.
Dalmatio, an instructor of youth, was not by profession a painter of
history; and, as portrait painters never particularly promoted the progress
of any school, so on his part he conferred little benefit on his own. This
decline has been attributed to some specimens of art brought from
Constantinople, overcharged with dark lines in the contours and folds, and
in the remaining parts resembling rather the dryness and inelegance of the
Greek mosaic-workers, than the softness and grace then sought to be
introduced by the most eminent Italians in the art. Copies of these were
eagerly inquired for in Bologna, and in all adjacent cities, which produced
that abundance of them, still to be seen in the sale shops and private
houses throughout those districts, besides several in the city and state of
Venice.[5] But, in these instances, they were only copied; in Bologna they
were imitated likewise by several pupils of Lippo, who, either in part or
altogether, adopted that style in their own compositions. One Lianori,
usually inscribing his name _Petrus Joannis_, and known by some works
interspersed in different churches and collections, is most accused of this
extravagance; an Orazio di Jacopo, (perhaps dell'Avanzi) of whom there
remains a portrait of S. Bernardino, at the church of the Osservanza; a
Severo da Bologna, to whom is ascribed a rude altar-piece, in the Malvezzi
Museum; with several others, either little known or unmentioned, whose
names I am not surprised should be omitted by Vasari, who, in the same way,
passes over the least distinguished of his own country. It is true, he
makes mention of one Galante da Bologna, who, he avers, designed better
than Lippo, his master; but in this he is still taken to task by Malvasia,
who includes Galante among the inferior pupils of Dalmasio.

Footnote 5: The Greeks, during the earliest periods, having
uniformly represented the Virgin in so rude a style, were
always pleased with similar paintings. I state this to
remove a very prevalent error, that every Madonna of Greek
style, with distended eyes, long fingers, and dark
complexion, in the style of that of Pisa, called _Degli
Organi_, or those of Cimabue, is to be referred to the
remotest dates. Indeed I have seen specimens of the
sixteenth, seventeenth, and even eighteenth centuries,
particularly in the Classe Museum, in that of Cattaio, and
in the palaces of Venetian nobles. One in the possession of
the E. E. Signori Giustiniani Recanati, has, notwithstanding
its very antique air, red letters inscribed on a gold
ground, expressing, CHEIR EMMANOUÊL IEREÔS ..... a ... lx,
_Manus Emanuelis Sacerdotis_. an. 1660. From the hand of the
same Greek priest, well known to Venetian artists, there are
other altar-pieces with a similar inscription; and it is
still customary in that city to reproduce specimens of a
similar kind, to satisfy the continual inquiries of the
Greek merchants. To judge correctly, then, of the age of
such images, we must look for other indications besides
their design, such as the _letters_, (see vol. i. p. 49),
the fashion of the cornice, the method of colouring, or
those cherubs, holding a gold crown over the head of the
Virgin, in the edges and the folds of whose drapery are
imprinted marks of ages nearer to our own.

Nevertheless, the germ of good painting was not wanting, as far as the
times permitted it to exist, both in Bologna and throughout Romagna.
Malvasia commends one Jacopo Ripanda, who long flourished at Rome, where,
as is commemorated by Volterrano, he began to design the bassi-relievi of
the Trajan Column; one Ercole, a Bolognese, who somewhat improved the
symmetry of the human figure; one Bombologno, a carver of crucifixes, like
Simone, but of more refined composition. He more particularly celebrates a
Michel di Matteo, or Michel Lambertini; in whose commendation it may be
enough to state, that Albano praised one of his pictures, supposed to be in
oil, completed in 1443, for the fish-market, and even preferred it for its
softness to those of Francia. The few which we still possess in our own
times, both at the churches of S. Pietro and S. Jacopo, might be put in
competition with the contemporary works of almost any master.

But the artist who produced an epoch in his school is Marco Zoppo, who
having transferred his education under Lippo to the studio of Squarcione,
rose to equal eminence with Pizzolo and Dario da Trevigi; and, like them,
vied with the genius of Mantegna, and gave a farther spur to his exertions.
He also studied some time in the Venetian School, where he painted for the
Osservanti, at Pesaro, a picture of the Virgin on a Throne, crowned, with
S. Giovanni the Baptist, San Francesco, and other saints, and signed it
_Marco Zoppo da Bologna Dip. in Vinexia_, 1471. This is the most celebrated
production which he left behind him; from which, and a few other pieces in
the same church, and at Bologna, we may gather some idea of his style. The
composition is that common to the quattrocentisti, particularly the
Venetians, and which he probably introduced into Bologna, a style which
continued to the time of Francia and his school, for the most part
unvaried, except in the addition of some cherub to the steps of the throne,
sometimes with a harp, and sometimes without. It is not a free and graceful
style, like that of Mantegna, but rather coarse, particularly in the
drawing of the feet; yet less rectilinear in the folds, and bolder, and
more harmonious, perhaps, in the selection of the colours. The fleshes are
as much studied as in Signorelli, and in others of the same age; while the
figures and the accessories are conducted with the most finished care.
Marco was, likewise, a fine decorator of façades, in which kind of painting
he was assisted by his companion and imitator, Jacopo Forti, to whose hand
is ascribed a Madonna, painted on the wall, at the church of S. Tommaso, in
Mercato. In the Malvezzi collection there is also attributed to Jacopo a
Deposition of the Saviour from the Cross; a work which does not keep pace
with the progressive improvements of that age. The same remark will apply
to a great number of others, produced about the same period, in the same
city, which, towards the close of the century, displayed a striking
deficiency in good artists. It was owing to this circumstance that Gio.
Bentivoglio, then master of Bologna, wishing to ornament his palace, which,
had fortune favoured him, would one day have become that of all Romagna,
invited a number of artists from Ferrara and Modena, who introduced a
better taste into Bologna, besides affording an occasion for the grand
genius of Francia to develop itself likewise in the art of painting, as we
shall proceed to shew.

This artist, whose real name was Francesco Raibolini, _was_, according to
Malvasia, _esteemed and celebrated as the first man of that age_; and he
might have added, _in Bologna_, where many so considered him; being there,
as is attested by Vasari, _held in the estimation of a god_. The truth is,
that he had a consummate genius for working in gold; on which account the
medals and coins taken with his moulds rivalled those of Caradosso, the
Milanese; and he was also an excellent painter, in that style which is
termed modern antique, as may be gathered from a great number of
collections, where his Madonnas rank at the side of those of Pietro
Perugino and Gian Bellini. Raffaello, too, compares him with them, and even
greater artists, in a letter dated 1508, edited by Malvasia, in which he
praises his Madonnas, "never having beheld any more beautiful, more
devotional in their expression, and more finely composed by any artist."
His manner is nearly between that of these two heads of their schools, and
participates in the excellence of both; it boasts Perugino's choiceness and
tone of colours; while, in the fulness of its outlines, in the skill of the
folding, and ample flow of the draperies, it bears greater resemblance to
Bellini. His heads, however, do not equal the grace and sweetness of the
former; though he is more dignified and varied than the latter. In the
accessories of his landscapes he rivals both; but in landscape itself, and
in the splendor of his architecture, he is inferior to them. In the
composition of his pictures he is less fond of placing the divine infant in
the bosom of the Virgin than upon a distinct ground, in the ancient manner
of his school; and he sometimes adds to them some half figures of saints,
as was customary with the Venetians of that period. On the whole, however,
he approaches nearer to the Roman School; and, not unfrequently, as is
noticed by Malvasia, his Madonnas have been ascribed by less expert judges
to Pietro Perugino. He likewise produced works in fresco at Bologna,
commended by Vasari; and both there and elsewhere are many of his
altar-pieces yet remaining, displaying figures of larger dimensions than
those usually painted by Bellini and Perugino; the peculiar merit of the
Bolognese School, and by degrees extended to others, augmenting at once the
grandeur of painting and of the temples it adorned.

But the chief praise due to him yet remains to be recorded, and this is,
that he did not begin to exercise his pencil until he had arrived at
manhood, and, in the course of a few years, displayed the rare example of
becoming a scholar and a master, able to compete with the best artists of
Ferrara and Modena. These, as we have mentioned, were invited by Gio.
Bentivoglio, in order to decorate his palace. There, too, Francia was
employed; and he was afterwards commissioned to paint the altar-piece of
the Bentivogli chapel, in 1490, where he signed himself _Franciscus Francia
Aurifex_, as much as to imply that he belonged to the goldsmith's art, not
to that of painting. Nevertheless, that work is a beautiful specimen,
displaying the most finished delicacy of art in every individual figure and
ornament, especially in the arabesque pilasters, in the Mantegna manner. In
process of time he enlarged his style; a circumstance that induced
historians to make a distinction between his first and second manner.
Cavazzoni, who wrote respecting the Madonnas of Bologna, wishes to persuade
us that Raffaello himself had availed himself of Francia's models, in order
to dilate that dry manner which he imbibed from Perugino. We shall award
this glory to the genius of Raffaello, whose youthful performances at San
Severo of Perugia, display a greater degree of softness than those of his
master and of Francia; and after his genius, to the examples of F.
Bartolommeo della Porta, and of Michelangiolo; leaving, we fear, no room to
include the name of Francia. When Raffaello, at Rome, was regarded rather
in the light of an angel than a man, and had already executed some works at
Bologna, he began a correspondence with Francia, urged to it by his
letters; Raffaello became his friend; and, on sending to Bologna his
picture of S. Cecilia, he intreated him, on discovering any error in it, to
correct it; an instance of modesty in our Apelles, more to be admired even
than his paintings. This occurred in 1518, in which year Vasari closes his
life of Francia, who he declares died with excess of passion, on first
beholding that grand performance. Malvasia, however, refutes him, by
proving Francia to "have lived many years afterwards, and when aged and
declining, even to have changed his manner;" and in what way, except upon
the models of Raffaello? In his new manner he painted and exhibited, in a
chamber of the Mint, his celebrated piece of S. Sebastian, which, according
to a tradition handed from the Caracci to Albano, and from the latter to
Malvasia, served as a studio for the Bolognese pupils, who copied its
proportions with as much zeal as the ancients would have done those of a
statue of Polycletes, or the moderns of the Apollo, or of the supposed
Antinous of Belvidere. Albani has added that Francia, on perceiving the
concourse of people increase round his picture, and diminish round the St.
Cecilia of Raffaello, then dead, apprehensive lest they should suspect him
of having executed and exhibited his own in competition with such an
artist, instantly removed and placed it in the church of the Misericordia,
where, at this time, there remains a copy of it. The precise year of his
decease, hitherto unknown, has been communicated to me by the Sig. Cav.
Ratti, who found on an ancient drawing of a female saint, now in possession
of Sig. Tommaso Bernardi, a noble of Lucca, a memorandum of this event
having occurred on the seventh day of April, 1533.

Francia, in addition to his cousin Giulio, who devoted himself but little
to painting, gave instructions in the art to his own son of the name of
Giacomo. It is often doubtful, as we find in the Gallery of the princes
Giustiniani, whether such a Madonna is by the hand of Francesco Francia, or
by that of his son, who, in similar pictures imitated closely his father's
style, although, in Malvasia's judgment, he never equalled it. In works on
a larger scale too, he is sometimes to be pronounced inferior, in
comparison with his father, as in S. Vitale, at Bologna, where Francesco
painted the cherubs round a Madonna, in his first manner, somewhat meagre,
perhaps, but still beautiful and full of animated movements, while Giacomo
drew the figures, representing a Nativity of our Lord, more soft in point
of design, but with features less beautiful, and in attitudes and
expressions bordering on extravagance. At other times, the son seems to
have surpassed the father, as at S. Giovanni, of Parma, where there is no
artist who would not wish to have produced that fine picture by Giacomo,
marked with the year 1519, rather than the Deposition from the Cross, by
Francesco. Elsewhere too, as in the picture of S. Giorgio, at the church of
San Francesco in Bologna, he rivals, perhaps, the finest works by his
father; insomuch that this specimen was ascribed to the latter, until there
was recently noticed the signature I., (meaning _Jacobus_) _Francia_, 1526.
He appears, from the first, to have practised a design approaching that of
the moderns; neither have I observed in his paintings such splendid
gildings, nor such meagre arms, as for some time distinguished the elder
Francia. He rather, in progress of time, continued to acquire a more free
and easy manner, insomuch that a few of his Madonnas were more than once
copied and engraved by Agostino Caracci. His heads were extremely animated,
though generally less select, less studied, and less beautiful, than his
father's. He had a son, named Giambatista, by whom there remains, at S.
Rocco, an altar-piece, and a few other specimens, displaying mere
mediocrity.

Among the foreign pupils of Francia, the Bolognese enumerated Lorenzo
Costa, and, indeed, he thus ranks himself, by inscribing under the portrait
of Gio. Bentivoglio, _L. Costa Franciae discipulus_. True it is, that such
inscriptions, as I have frequently found, might come from another hand; or
that, granting he wrote it, he may have done so more out of regard to such
a man, than for the sake of acquainting the world, as Malvasia contends,
that he had been his sole master. Vasari is of a different opinion,
introducing him to us at Bologna as an established artist, already employed
in several considerable cities, and bestowing the highest eulogium on his
earliest production, the S. Sebastiano at the church of S. Petronio,
declaring it the best specimen in water-colours that had, till then, been
seen in the city. Add to this, that Francia exhibited his first altar-piece
in the Bentivogli chapel in 1490, a few years after he had devoted himself
to the art; and there Costa placed the two lateral pictures, tolerably
excellent in point of composition, and filled with those very spirited
portraits of his in 1488. Now had he boasted only Francia for his master,
of what rapid improvement must we suppose him to have been capable!
Besides, would not his style almost invariably resemble that of Francia, at
least in the works he produced at Bologna? Yet the contrary is the case;
and from his less free, and sometimes ill drawn figures; from the coarser
expression of his countenances, his more hard and dull colouring, and his
abundance of architecture, with the taste shewn in his perspective, it is
evident he must have studied elsewhere. Still I believe that he received
the rudiments of his education in his own country; that then passing into
Tuscany, he formed himself, not by _the voice_, but, as Vasari avers, upon
the pictures of Lippi and Gozzoli; and that finally seeking Bologna, he
painted for the Bentivogli, and resided also with Francia rather in quality
of an assistant than a pupil. A farther proof I gather from Malvasia
himself; that in the journals of Francesco, in which he read the names of
two hundred and twenty pupils, he found no mention of Costa. In the rest,
however, I concur; as to his having availed himself of the works of
Francia, in imitation of whom a number of Madonnas are seen in the
collections at Bologna, much inferior to the paintings of the supposed
master; but occasionally not unworthy of being compared with them. Such is
an altar-piece, divided into several compartments, removed from Faenza into
the Casa Ercolani; a production characterized by Crespi, in his annotations
to Baruffaldi, as being executed "with a fervour, a refinement, softness,
and a warmth which may be pronounced altogether Raffaellesque." He
particularly shone in his countenances of men, as may be seen from those of
the apostles at S. Petronio, and from his San Girolamo, which there offers
the finest specimen of his art. He was less employed in his own country
than in Bologna, though he gave several pupils to the former; among others
the celebrated Dosso and Ercole of Ferrara. He mostly resided at Mantua, at
which court he was highly appreciated, although Mantegna had been his
immediate predecessor, and Giulio Romano succeeded him. I may refer to what
I there wrote respecting this artist.

A less doubtful pupil of Francia's was Girolamo Marchesi da Cotignola. His
portraits are much praised by Vasari, but his compositions much less so. He
was by no means happy in all; and in particular one which he produced at
Rimini, is severely criticised by the historian. There are various
altar-pieces by him at Bologna and elsewhere, all of the usual composition
of the quattrocentisti, which goes to redeem his fault. One of these,
exhibiting very beautiful perspective, is in possession of the Serviti at
Pesaro, where the Virgin is seen on a throne, before which, in a kneeling
posture, is the Marchesa Ginevra Sforza, with her son Constantius II.; nor
is this the only specimen of his works conducted in the service of royal
houses. The design is rather dry, but the colour very pleasing; the heads
grand, the draperies well disposed; and in short, were it the only
production of his hand, he would well deserve to rank among the most
illustrious painters in the old style. That he obtained no reputation at
Rome, or Naples, as Vasari observes, was owing to his arriving in those
cities too late, namely, in the pontificate of Paul III.; so that his style
being then regarded merely in the light of an article out of fashion, he
was unable to make his way. He died during the same pontificate, between
the interval of 1534 and 1549. Orlandi, who brings in the decease of
Cotignola as early as 1518, is not only refuted by the above dates marked
by Vasari, and, with slight difference, by Baruffaldi, but moreover by a
picture of S. Girolamo at the church of the conventual friars of S. Marino,
executed in 1520.

Amico Aspertini is enrolled by Malvasia (pp. 58, 59) in the school of
Francia, a fact that Vasari did not choose to notice, being wholly bent on
amusing posterity with a portrait of the person and manners of "Mastro
Amico," who was indeed a compound of pleasantry, eccentricity, and madness.
He had adopted a maxim in painting, which in regard to literature, was
commonly received in that age; to wit, that every individual ought to
impress upon his works the image of his own genius; and, like Erasmus, who
exposed to ridicule Cicero's imitators in writing, this artist was fond of
deriding those of Raffaello in painting. It was his leading principle to
take the tour of Italy, to copy here and there, without discrimination,
whatever most pleased him, and afterwards to form a style of his own, "like
an experienced inventor," to preserve an expression of Vasari. Conducted on
this plan is a Pietà by him, in the church of S. Petronio, which may be
compared with the trecentisti in point of forms, the attitudes, and the
grouping of the figures. We may add, however, with Guercino, that this
artist seemed to handle two pencils; with one of which he painted for low
prices, or out of despite, or for revenge; and this he made use of in S.
Petronio and several other pieces; the other he practised only on behalf of
those who remunerated him honourably for his labours, and were cautious how
they provoked him; and with this he displayed his art in various façades of
palaces, commended by Vasari himself; in the church of S. Martino; and in
many other works cited by Malvasia, who describes him as a good imitator of
Giorgione.

He had an elder brother of the name of Guido, a youth who employed uncommon
diligence and care, carried perhaps to excess, in his art. He died at the
age of thirty-five, and was lamented by his more poetical fellow citizens
in elegiac strains. Malvasia is of opinion, that, had he survived, he would
have equalled the fame of Bagnacavallo; such was the promise held forth by
a painting of the Crucifixion under the portico of S. Pietro, and by his
other works. According to the same biographer, it was Vasari's malice which
led him to assign Ercole of Ferrara for Guido's master, being jealous of
affording M. Amico the fame of forming such a pupil. I feel persuaded, with
Vasari, no less from the age of Guido than from his taste, and from the
date of 1491, which he inscribed on this highly commended picture, that
assuredly it cannot belong to the pupil of a pupil formed by Francia.
Similar critical errors we have already noticed in Baldinucci; and they are
not very easily to be avoided where a party spirit is apt to prevail.

Gio. Maria Chiodarolo, a rival of the preceding, and subsequently of
Innocenzo da Imola, in the palace of Viola, left behind him a name above
the generality of this school. Malvasia mentions twenty-four other scholars
of Francesco Francia, in which he was followed by Orlandi, when treating of
Lorenzo Gandolfi. By some mistake these pupils are referred by him to
Costa; while Bottari, misled by Orlandi, fell into the same error, although
he laments "that men, in order to spare trouble, are apt to follow one
another like sheep or cranes." Yet in very extensive and laborious works it
is difficult sometimes not to nod; nor should I occasionally note down
others' inequalities, except in the hope of finding readers considerate
enough to extend the same liberality towards mine. The forementioned names
will prove of much utility to those who, in Milan, in Pavia, in Parma, and
other places in Italy, may turn their attention to works in the ancient
Bolognese style, and may hear them attributed, as it often happens, to
Francia, instead of the pupils formed by him to practice in those
districts, and invariably tenacious of his manner. He had also others, who
from their intercourse with more modern artists, claim place in a better
epoch; and for such we shall reserve them.

We must previously however take a survey of some cities of Romagna, and
select what seems to belong to our present argument. We shall commence with
Ravenna, a city that preserved design during periods of barbarism better
than any other in Italy. Nor do we elsewhere meet with works in mosaic so
well composed, and in ivory, or in marble, cut in so able a manner; all
vestiges of a power and grandeur worthy of exciting the jealousy of Rome,
when the seat of her princes and exarchs was removed to Ravenna. This city
too having fallen from its splendour, and after many vicissitudes being
governed by the Polentani, was no less indebted to them for an illustrious
poet in the person of Dante, than a great painter in Giotto.[6] This artist
painted in the church called Porto di Fuori, several histories from the
evangelists, which still remain there; and at S. Francesco and other places
in the city, we may trace reliques of his pencil, or at least of his style.
The Polentani being expelled, and the state brought under the subjection of
Venice, from this last capital the city of Ravenna derived the founder of a
new school.

Footnote 6: It is remarkable that, a century previous to the
arrival of Giotto, we find in Ravenna one _Johannes Pictor_;
a fact supplied by the learned Count Fantuzzi, to whom both
Ravenna and the public owe so much valuable information. See
his "_Monumenti Ravennati_, during the middle ages, for the
most part inedited," vol. i. p. 347. In vol. ii. p. 210,
there is mention of a parchment of 1246, in which one
Graziadeo, a notary, orders that in the Portuense church
there be made "imagines magnæ et spatiosæ ad aurum," which
means mosaic, or painting upon a gold ground, a custom so
much practised in those times.

This was Niccolo Rondinello, mentioned by Vasari as one "who, above all
others, imitated Gian Bellini, his master, to whom he did credit, and
assisted him in all his works." In the life of Bellini, and in that of
Palma, Vasari gives a list of his best paintings, exhibited in Ravenna. In
these his progress is very perceptible. He displays most of the antique in
his picture of S. Giovanni, placed in that church, for which he also
executed one of the Virgin, upon a gold ground. His taste is more modern in
the larger altar-piece of San Domenico; whose composition rises above the
monotony of the age, giving a representation of saints in great variety of
attitudes and situations. The design is exact, though always inclining to
dryness, the countenances less select, and the colouring less vivid than
those of his master; with equal care in his draperies, richly ornamented
with embroidery in the taste of those times. It is, however, uncertain
whether he had obtained any idea of the last and most perfect style of
Bellini. He had a pupil and successor in his labours at Ravenna in
Francesco da Cotignola, whom Bonoli, in his history of Lugo, and that of
Cotignola, as well as the describer of the Parmese paintings, agree in
surnaming Marchesi, while in the Guide to Ravenna, he is denominated
Zaganelli. Vasari commends him, as a very pleasing colourist; although
inferior to Rondinello in point of design, and still more of composition.
In this he was not happy, if we except his celebrated Resurrection of
Lazarus, which is to be seen at Classe; his extremely beautiful baptism of
Jesus Christ, at Faenza, and a few other histories, where he checks his
ardour, and more carefully disposes his figures, for the most part fine and
well draped; occasionally whimsical, and in proportions less than life. One
of his most extraordinary productions is a large altar-piece at the church
of the Osservanti, in Parma, where he represented the Virgin between
several Saints, enlivened by several portraits in the background. He never,
in my opinion, produced any work more solid in conception, nor more
harmoniously disposed, nor more ingenious in the colonnade, and the other
accessary parts. Here he preserved the most moderate tints, contrary to his
usual practice, which was glowing and highly animated, and distributed more
in the manner of Mantegna, than of any other master. He had a brother named
Bernardino, with whom, in 1504, he painted a very celebrated altar-piece,
representing the Virgin between S. Francesco and the Baptist, placed in the
interior chapel of the Padri Osservanti, in Ravenna; and another to be seen
at Imola, in the church of the Riformati, with the date 1509. Bernardino,
likewise, displayed tolerable ability alone, and among the paintings at
Pavia, there is one at the Carmine, inscribed with his name; a fact that
may correct an error of Crespi, who names the elder brother Francesco
Bernardino, making the two into one artist.

Contemporary with him, Baldassare Carrari was employed at Ravenna along
with his son Matteo, both natives of that state. They painted for San
Domenico the celebrated altar-piece of S. Bartolommeo, with the grado,
containing very elegant histories of the Holy Apostle. Such is its merit,
as hardly to yield to the gracefulness of Luca Longhi, who placed one of
his own pictures near it. It was one of the earliest which was painted in
oil in Ravenna; and it deserved the eulogium bestowed by Pope Julius II.,
who on beholding it, in 1511, declared, that the altars of Rome could boast
no pieces which surpassed it in point of beauty. The painter there left his
portrait in the figure of S. Pietro, and that of Rondinello in the S.
Bartolommeo, somewhat older; an observance shewn in those times by the
pupils towards their masters. Yet I should not here pronounce it such, as
Vasari is not only wholly silent as to his school, but omits even his name.

At Rimini, where the Malatesti spared no expense to attract the best
masters, the art of painting flourished. It was at this time that the
church of San Francesco, one of the wonders of the age, was nobly erected,
and as richly decorated. A number of artists at Rimini had succeeded Giotto
in his school; and it is to them the author of the Guide ascribes the
histories of the B. Michelina, which Vasari conceived were from Giotto's
own hand.[7] At a later period one Bitino, whose name I am happy to rescue
from oblivion, was employed at the same place; an artist not perhaps
excelled in Italy, about the year 1407, when he painted an altar-piece of
the titular saint, for the church of S. Giuliano. Around it he represented
the discovery of his body, and other facts relating to the subject;
extremely pleasing in point of invention, architecture, countenances,
draperies, and colouring.[8] Another noble production is a S. Sigismondo,
at whose feet appears Sigismondo Malatesta, with the inscription,
_Franciscus de Burgo_, _f._ 1446; and by the same hand there is the
Scourging of our Saviour. Both these paintings are seen on the wall of S.
Francesco; abounding in perspectives and _capricci_, with character
approaching so nearly to the taste of Pietro della Francesca, then living,
as to induce me to believe, that they are either by him, and that he has
thus Latinized the name of his house, or by some one of his pupils, whose
name has perished. Not such has been the fate of Benedetto Coda, of
Ferrara, who flourished at Rimini, as well as his son Bartolommeo, where
they left a number of their works. Vasari, in his life of Gio. Bellini,
makes brief mention of them, describing Benedetto as Bellini's pupil,
"though he derived small advantage from it." Yet the altar-piece
representing the Marriage of the Virgin, which he placed in the cathedral,
with the inscription of _Opus Benedicti_, is a very respectable production;
while that of the Rosary, in possession of the Dominicans, is even in
better taste, though not yet modern. This, however, cannot be said of the
son, one of whose pictures I saw at S. Rocco da Pesaro, painted in 1528,
with such excellent method, as almost to remind us of the golden age. It
represents the titular saint of the church along with S. Sebastiano,
standing round the throne of the Virgin, with the addition of playful and
beautiful cherubs. Another pupil of Gio. Bellini is noticed by Ridolfi.
Lattanzio da Rimino, or Lattanzio della Marca, referred by others to the
school of Pietro Perugino, which, perhaps too, produced Gio. da Rimino, one
of whose pictures, bearing his signature, belongs to the grand Ercolani
collection at Bologna.[9]

Footnote 7: To this period belonged that _Joannes Rimerici
Pictor Arimini_, who is pointed out to us in 1386 by Count
Marco Fantuzzi, in his _Monumenti Ravennati_, vol. vi.
edited in the year 1804.

Footnote 8: In the above named volume (vi) we find mention
of the son of this distinguished man: "_Magister Antonius
Pictor quondam Mag. Bictini Pictoris de Arimino_, 1456."

Footnote 9: I made a mistake in my former edition in
supposing him to have been a pupil of Bellino, who died in
1516. Concerning this Gio. who subscribed himself likewise
Gio. Francesco, we observe that Oretti, in his _Memorie_,
_MSS._, points out two pictures with the dates of 1459 and
1461. He adds, that there are accounts of his having been
living in 1470.

Forli, as far as I can learn, boasts no artist earlier than Guglielmo da
Forli, a pupil of Giotto. His paintings in fresco, conducted at the
Francescani, no longer survive, nor in the church of that order could I
meet with any specimen of the thirteenth century, besides a Crucifix by
some unknown hand. From that period, perhaps, a succession of artists
appeared, there being no scarcity of anonymous paintings from which to
conjecture such a fact; but history is silent until the time of Ansovino di
Forli, who has already been included among the pupils of Squarcione. I have
my doubts whether this artist could be the master of Melozzo, a name
venerated by artists, inasmuch as he was the first who applied the art of
foreshortening, the most difficult and the most severe, to the painting of
vaulted ceilings. Considerable progress was made in perspective after the
time of Paolo Uccello, with the aid of Piero della Francesca, a celebrated
geometrician, and of a few Lombards. But the ornamenting of ceilings with
that pleasing art and illusion, which afterwards appeared, was reserved for
Melozzo. It is observed by Scannelli, and followed by Orlandi, that in
order to acquire the art he studied the works of the best ancient artists,
and though born to fortune, he did not refuse to lodge with the masters of
his times, in quality of attendant and compounder of their colours. Some
writers give him as a pupil to Pietro della Francesca. It is at least
probable, that Melozzo was acquainted with him and with Agostino
Bramantino, when they were employed at Rome by Nicholas V., towards the
year 1455. However this may be, Melozzo painted on the ceiling of the great
chapel, at Santi Apostoli, the Ascension of our Lord, where, says Vasari,
"the figure of Christ is so admirably foreshortened as to appear to pierce
the vault; and in the same manner the angels are seen sweeping through the
field of air in two opposite directions." This painting was executed for
Card. Riario, nephew to Pope Sixtus IV. about the year 1472; and when that
edifice required to undergo repairs, it was removed and placed in the
Quirinal palace in 1711; where it is still seen, bearing this inscription:
"Opus Melotii Foroliviensis, qui summos fornices pingendi artem vel primus
invenit vel illustravit." Several heads of the apostles which surrounded
it, and were likewise cut away, were deposited in the Vatican palace. Taken
as a whole, he approaches Mantegna and the Paduan School nearer than any
other in point of taste; finely formed heads, fine colouring, fine
attitudes, and almost all as finely foreshortened. The light is well
disposed and graduated, the shadows are judicious, so that the figures seem
to stand out and act in that apparent space; dignity and grandeur in the
principal figure, and white drapery that encircles it; with delicacy of
hand, diligence and grace in every part. What pity that so rare a genius,
pronounced by his contemporaries "an incomparable painter, and the
splendour of all Italy,"[10] should not have had a correct historian to
have described his travels and his pursuits, which must have been both
arduous and interesting, before they raised him to the eminence he
attained, in being commissioned by Card. Riario to execute so great a work.
At Forli, there is still pointed out the façade of an apothecary's shop,
displaying Arabesques in the first style; and over the entrance appears a
half-length figure, well depicted, in the act of mixing drugs, said to have
been the work of Melozzo. Vasari states, that in the villa of the Dukes of
Urbino, named the Imperial, Francesco di Mirozzo, from Forli, had been
employed a long while previous to Dosso; and it would appear that we are
here to substitute the name of Melozzo, to correct one of those errors
which we have so frequently before remarked in Vasari. In the lives of the
Ferrarese painters there is named a Marco Ambrogio, detto Melozzo di
Ferrara, who seems to be confounded with the inventor of foreshortening;
but it is my opinion that this was quite a different artist, of which his
name itself gives us reasons to judge. Melozzo di Forli was still alive in
1494: since F. Luca Paccioli, publishing the same year his "Summa
d'Aritmetica e Geometria," ranks him among painters in perspective, "_men
famous and supreme_," who flourished in those days.

Footnote 10: Morelli Notizie, p. 109.

Towards the beginning of the sixteenth century, or shortly afterwards,
Bartolommeo di Forli flourished in the same city, a pupil of Francia,
noticed by Malvasia, whose style was more dry than that of the generality
of his fellow pupils. Next to him I place Palmegiani, transformed by Vasari
into Parmegiano; a good, yet almost unknown artist, of whom, in books upon
the art, I have found mention only of two works, although I have myself
seen a great number. He was cautious too that posterity should not forget
him, for the most part inscribing his name and country upon his
altar-pieces, and upon pictures for private ornament, as follows: _Marcus
Pictor Foroliviensis_: or _Marcus Palmasanus P. Foroliviensis pinsebat_. He
seldom adds the year, as in two in possession of prince Ercolani, on the
first of which we find the date of 1513, and on the second that of 1537. In
the forementioned pictures, and more particularly in those of Forli, we may
perceive that he practised more than one style. His earliest was in common
with that of the quattrocentisti, in the extremely simple position of the
figures, in the gilt ornaments in study of each minute part, as well as in
the anatomy, which in those times consisted almost wholly in drawing with
some skill a S. Sebastian, or some holy anchorite. In his second manner he
was more artificial in his grouping, fuller in his outlines, and greater in
his proportions; though at times more free and less varied in his heads. He
was accustomed to add to his principal subject some other unconnected with
it, as in his picture of the Crucifixion, at S. Agostino di Forli, where he
inserted two or three groups on different grounds; in one of which is seen
S. Paul visited by S. Antony; in another, S. Augustine convinced by the
angel on the subject of the incomprehensibility of the Supreme Triad; and
in these diminutive figures, which he inserted either in the altar-pieces
or on the steps, he displays an art extremely refined and pleasing. His
landscape is likewise animated, and his architecture beautiful, while his
Madonnas and other portraits are superior in point of beauty to those of
Costa, but not equal to Francia, whose style of colouring he less resembles
than that of Rondinello; a circumstance which led Vasari to attribute to
the artist of Ravenna an altar-piece in the cathedral, undoubtedly from the
hand of Palmegiani. The works of the latter are very numerous in Romagna;
and exist in the state of Venice. One of his Madonnas was in possession of
the Ab. Facciolati, in Padua, and mentioned by Bottari; and another belongs
to the Sig. Dottore Antonio Larber, at Bassano. The select gallery of Count
Luigi Tadini, at Crema, possesses a third; the going up of Jesus to Mount
Calvary; and I saw a Dead Christ, between Nicodemus and Joseph, in the
Vicentini palace at Vicenza; a very beautiful picture, in which the dead
has truly the appearance of death, and those living of real life. I had
long entertained a curiosity to learn whose pupil so considerable an artist
could have been; until I was gratified by finding that Paccioli, in his
dedication of the above cited volume, addressed to Guidubaldo, Duke of
Urbino, calls him the "attached disciple of Melozzo."

I was made acquainted with an artist of Forli, who flourished at the period
of Palmegiani, by his Eminence Card. Borgia, who in the church of S. Maria
dell'Orto, at Velletri, transcribed the following inscription: "Jo.
Baptista de Rositis de Forlivio pinxit, I. S. O. O. de Mense Martii." The
picture is on panel, and displays both good design and good colouring. It
represents the Virgin, with the holy child in her arms, seated in a round
temple supported by four columns, and each of these columns is clasped by
an angel, as if bearing the temple in procession through the air. The
angels are wholly arrayed in heroic dress. For this description I am
indebted to the very worthy cardinal.

In respect to the other cities of Romagna, I can easily suppose that I am
rather in want of materials, than that these have had no artists to boast.
I have recorded, not long since, one Ottaviano, and also one Pace da
Faenza, pupils of Giotto; and there was pointed out to me as the production
of the latter, an ancient figure of our Lady, in a church of the same city,
an edifice formerly belonging to the Templars. Giacomo Filippo Carradori is
included, from his style, among the ancients; in other points it is hardly
possible that he could have reached the fifteenth century. There are more
especially two pictures, in which he exhibits a change of style, although
he never displayed the powers of a superior artist. One of them bears the
date of 1580; the other that of 1582.

Another artist of Faenza better deserved mention in the first edition, but
I had then no account of him. This was Giambatista da Faenza, one of whose
pictures is preserved in the Communal Collection of the Lyceum, with the
author's name, and dated 1506. It exhibits the Holy Virgin; on whose right
two angels support the mantle, and on the steps of the throne appear St.
John the Baptist, a youth, and another cherub, in the act of playing on the
harp. It is correct in point of design, the tints are very pleasing, and
the folds something similar to those of Albert Durer; in other respects,
equal to Costa, and perhaps, also, not inferior to Francia. He was the
father of Jacopone da Faenza, and of his brother, Raffaello, from whom
descended Gio. Batista Bertuzzi, likewise an artist.

There is a Francesco Bandinelli da Imola, a pupil of Francia, pointed out
by Malvasia; and one Gaspero, also of Imola, was employed in painting at
Ravenna. In his native state, there is to be seen, at the Conventual
friars, a picture of our Lady, between Saints Rocco and Francis, in a style
inclining to the modern, accompanied with two portraits, very animated in
point of expression.

SCHOOL OF BOLOGNA.

EPOCH II.

_Various styles from the time of Francia to that of the
Caracci._

Subsequent to the discovery of the new style, when every school of Italy
was devoted to its cultivation in the track of one of its masters, the
Bolognese artists having none at home from whom to acquire it, either
removed elsewhere to study it under the eye of living masters, or, if
remaining in their native place, they contrived to attain it from such
foreigners as had there conducted, or at least sent thither their works. Of
these they possessed, besides the St. Cecilia, and a few small paintings by
Raffaello, other productions by his pupils, such as the St. John, coloured
by Giulio, and the St. Zacchary, a work by Garofolo. Nor was it long before
the Lombard style was introduced into Bologna, Parmigianino having there
produced his St. Rocco and his St. Margaret, pictures which are enumerated
among his happiest efforts, and Girolamo da Carpi, and Niccolo dell'Abate
having long resided, and left there many fine specimens of their mixed
style, between the Lombard and the Roman. Another artist sojourning there
was Girolamo da Trevigi, an imitator of Raffaello, not without some mixture
of Venetian taste, some of whose productions are still seen at Bologna. A
still more constant resident there was Tommaso Laureti, a Sicilian, a
pupil, according to Vasari, of Sebastian del Piombo, and assuredly a more
powerful colourist than most of his age. He there conducted a number of
works, and among others the painting of a recess _di sotto in su_, for the
house of Vizzani, which Father Danti, commending Vignola's perspective,
pronounces perfectly unique in its kind. At the same place he left
compositions abounding in figures, displaying much fancy, not however to be
placed in competition with the history of Brutus, which he afterwards
completed, along with several more in the Campidoglio at Rome, where he
long resided and taught. At Bologna is also the altar-piece of Boldraffio,
pupil to Vinci, and various other pieces by a Florentine, who signs himself
_Iul. Flor._ read by some for _Julius_, and by others _Julianus_. Possibly
he might be that Giulian Bugiardini, poor both as inventor and composer,
but excellent in point of copying and colouring. Whoever he may have been,
the whole of his productions, particularly his St. John, which adorns the
Sacristy of St. Stephen's, shew him to have been an imitator of Vinci,
almost on a par with the Luini, and the best known Milanese artists.
Michelangiolo shone there in the character of a statuary in the time of
Julius II., but neither produced any paintings, nor left behind him, among
artists, any wish for his return, having for some little indiscreet word
treated Francia and Costa with the most sovereign contempt, in the same
manner as at another period he criticised Pietro Perugino. His style,
nevertheless, took root in Bologna within a very few years, no less from
the studies pursued by Tibaldi at Rome, as will be seen, than from the
examples left by Giorgio Vasari at San Michele in Bosco, in Bologna, in
Michelangiolo's style. Nor did these examples prove more useful to the
Bolognese than they had done to the Florentine artists; and here also they
opened the path to a less correct style. It is known that Vasari's works
were much commended there, and copied by young artists; that he had,
moreover, assistants among the Bolognese, such as Bagnacavallo, the
younger, and Fontana, who instructed not a few of his fellow citizens in
the art. To these causes we may attribute the circumstance, that those
Bolognese artists, nearest to the Caracci, were accustomed to colour, for
the most part, like the Florentines of the third epoch, that several were
extremely careless of the chiaroscuro, and frequently pursued the ideal and
the practical, more than nature and truth. Yet these complaints do not
apply either to so great a number of Bolognese, or to so long a period, as
to give a different aspect to the whole epoch. The one which we are now
about to describe, abounds with excellent artists; and to this shortly
succeeded the epoch of the Caracci, which improved the good, and brought
many extravagant artists into a correct method.

The earliest founders of the new school were Bartolommeo Ramenghi, called
Bagnacavallo, being sprung from thence, and Innocenzio Francucci da Imola.
Both educated by Francia, the former subsequently went to Rome, where we
have given an account of him among Raffaello's assistants; the latter to
Florence, where he attached himself to the school of Albertinelli, besides
studying very accurately, if I mistake not, the works of Frate and Andrea
del Sarto. Both, on returning to Bologna, met with rivals, though less with
the pencil than the tongue, in Aspertini and Cotignuola, artists whose
works present no instance of a style wholly modern. One master, Domenico, a
Bolognese, then flourished, equal to compete with the first names, but who
resided out of his native place. His name, lost during two or more
centuries, was brought to light, a few years ago, from the archives of S.
Sigismondo of Cremona, in whose church he executed, upon the ceiling, a
picture of Jonah ejected from the whale, which, in respect of the _di sotto
in su_, is most admirable. It was completed in 1537, when this art was yet
new in Italy; and I am at a loss to say whether Domenico acquired it from
Coreggio, or, as is more likely, from Melozzo, whose style he most
resembles of the two. I have seen no other work, nor met with any other
notice of this artist, unknown even to the Bolognese historians, perhaps on
account of his constant residence out of the place.

The first artist, therefore, who introduced a new style into Bologna, and
established it there, was Bagnacavallo, who had practised at Rome under
Raffaello, and not without advantage. He had not the depth of design
possessed by Giulio Romano, or Perino; but he nearly approached to the
latter, and was perhaps equal to him in taste of colouring, while, in the
gracefulness of his countenances, at least of the infantine and boyish, he
surpassed him. In his composition he most affected Raffaello, as may be
gathered from the celebrated Dispute of St. Augustine at the Scopetini,
where the maxims of the School of Athens, and of other copious and noble
conceptions of Sanzio, are apparent. Indeed in those subjects, treated by
the latter, Bagnacavallo contented himself with being a mere copyist,
declaring that it was madness to attempt to do better; in which it would
seem he followed Vida's opinion, and that of other poets of his age, who
inserted in their pages fragments of Virgil, because they despaired of
excelling him. Such a maxim, which, whatever truth it may contain, opens a
wide field for indolence and plagiarism, very probably injured him in the
eyes of Vasari, who confers on him the praise due to a good practitioner
rather than to a master grounded in the theory of his art. Still he
conducted some paintings, on the strength of his own invention, at S.
Michele in Bosco, at S. Martino, and at S. Maria Maggiore, which absolve
him from such an accusation; nor can I believe that the Caracci, Albano,
and Guido, would have copied from him and imitated his works, had they not
recognized in them the hand of a master.

There was a son of Bagnacavallo, named Gio. Batista, who was employed as an
assistant to Vasari in the palace of the chancery at Rome, and to
Primaticcio in the court of France. He likewise left various original works
in Bologna, more nearly inclining, if I judge rightly, to the decline of
the art in his own time, than to the examples of his father. In addition to
his son, mention ought here to be made of Bagnacavallo's companion, called
Biagio Pupini, and sometimes Maestro Biagio dalle Lamme, who, having been
at Rome with Ramenghi, contracted with him at Bologna a community of
labours and of interests, and assisted him in the Dispute just before
mentioned, as well as in other works. He formed the same connexion with
Girolamo da Trevigi and others, uniformly acquiring, if we are to credit
Vasari, more money than reputation, and at times injuring that of his
companion by his eagerness to finish. Whatever opinion we may entertain
regarding such facts, this artist by no means merits contempt; and perhaps
Vasari might have treated him with more lenity, had there not existed
between them mutual rivalship and disgust. In Pupini's style, where he
exerted his powers, we trace the manner of Francesco Francia, his master,
though a good deal enlarged, with the relief, and the various other
characteristics of the good age. Of this taste is a Nativity of our Lord
which he painted at Bologna, and which now adorns the institution of that
place.

Innocenzio, born at Imola, but residing always in Bologna, was admitted
into the school of Francia in 1506; from which we are not to infer, with
Malvasia, that he did not spend some years at Florence in company with
Albertinelli. This is attested by Vasari, and confirmed by the resemblance
of his style to that of the most distinguished Florentines of the age. He
produced several altar-pieces, composed in the taste of the fourteenth
century; but following the example of Frate and of Andrea, he placed the
Virgin above, without the ancient gildings, and with great art he grouped
and disposed the saints who attend her; while, with equal novelty, he
distributed the train of cherubs over the steps and through the surrounding
space. Sometimes, as in the extraordinary picture displayed in the
cathedral of Faenza, and another in possession of prince Ercolani, he added
some noble architecture, bold and drawn from the antique. In other
instances, as in the church of the Osservanti, at Pesaro, we observe the
most attractive landscape, combined with an aërial perspective, sufficient
to remind us of Vinci. He was accustomed too to insert little histories, as
in S. Giacomo at Bologna, where, at the foot of the picture, he painted a
Christ in the manger, of which it is enough to add, that it is perfectly
Raffaellesque. This, indeed, was the style to which he invariably aspired,
and so nearly attained, that very few of Raffaello's own pupils could equal
him. Those who may be desirous of convincing themselves, may examine the
altar-piece at Faenza in all its parts, and that of S. Michele in Bosco; to
say nothing of his Madonnas and his Holy Families, interspersed throughout
the Bolognese collections, and in the adjacent cities. He is preferred to
Francia and to Bagnacavallo, in all that relates to erudition, majesty, and
correctness. I am not aware that he executed compositions very new, or
subjects requiring fire and vigour, nor would they have been consistent
with his genius, which is described as of a gentle and tranquil cast.

The fame of the two masters, just celebrated, did not then extend far
beyond their native districts, being eclipsed by the celebrity of many
contemporaries, who swayed the regions of the art; in the list of whom was
Giulio Romano. His reputation drew to Mantua Francesco Primaticcio,
instructed in design by Innocenzio, and by Bagnacavallo in colouring. Under
Giulio he afterwards became a painter on a great scale, and a very copious
composer of large histories, as well as a decorator in wood and stucco in a
magnificent style suitable only for a palace. In this way, having studied
six years in Mantua, he was sent by Giulio to the court of the French king
Francis, and there, though Rosso the Florentine had arrived a year before,
and executed a variety of works, yet we learn that "the first stuccos and
the first works in fresco of any consideration in France, took their rise
from Primaticcio," in the words of Vasari. Nor has he omitted to mention,
that the king bestowed upon this artist the abbey of St. Martin, though he
did not add that it brought him an annual income of eight thousand crowns,
while Rosso possessed only a canonship worth one thousand. In regard to
this last omission he is severely taxed with malice by Malvasia, with what
reason the reader will best judge for himself. We farther learn from Vasari
that this artist employed himself, as well as his young assistants, in
decorating a number of the halls and chambers at Fontainebleau, that he
supplied the court with many ancient marbles, and many moulds of excellent
sculpture, from which he had casts afterwards taken in bronze; in a word,
that he was like another Giulio, if not in architecture, at least in every
other kind of knowledge appertaining to the arts. The works conducted by
him in France have been described by Felibien, and from the same pen is
that appropriate eulogy--"that the geniuses of France are indebted to
Primaticcio and to M. Niccolo, (dell'Abate) for many exquisite productions,
and that they are entitled to the fame of having been the first who
introduced Roman taste into France, with all the beau ideal of ancient
painting and sculpture." At the Te of Mantua there remains the frieze of
stuccos, so highly commended by Vasari, from Primaticcio's own hand, as
well as a few pictures, which last, however, are not so assuredly his. His
pictures indeed are objects of the utmost rarity in Italy, and in Bologna
itself. In the grand Zambeccari gallery there is a concert by him, with
three female figures, altogether enchanting; the forms, the motions, the
colouring, the taste of the lines and folding so easy and chaste, all
combined with a certain originality pervading the whole, are well
calculated to attract and rivet the eye at the first moment. When dying, he
assigned Niccolo Abati, called too dell'Abate, to continue his grand works,
because he had brought him from Bologna, and laid the ground-work of his
fortunes. An account of this delightful painter may be found in the
Modenese School. He was not Primaticcio's pupil, but one Ruggiero Ruggieri
was, and conducted by him into France, he left few paintings in his own
country; to whom we may perhaps add one Francesco Caccianemici, called by
Vasari his disciple, from whose hand, at Bologna, there only remain a few
doubtful specimens.

Much under the same circumstances as Primaticcio and Abati appeared
Pellegrino Pellegrini, whose patronymic was Tibaldi, a native of Valdelsa
in the Milanese; though residing from his childhood, educated, and
established at Bologna. He next filled the same situation at the court of
Spain, as the two preceding had done at that of France; he decorated it
with his paintings, improved its taste in architecture, formed pupils, and
rose in fortune until he at length became Marquess of that Valdelsa, where
his father and uncle had resided as poor masons before they went to
Bologna. It is not known who first imbued his liberal spirit with the
elements of learning; but Vasari traces his progress from some pictures of
his in the refectory of S. Michele in Bosco, copied by Tibaldi when young,
along with other select pieces at Bologna. From this place he follows him
to Rome in 1547, eager to study the finest works in that capital, where,
after three years' residence, he re-conducts him to Bologna, still very
young, but advanced in the knowledge of his art. His style was in great
part formed upon the models of Michelangiolo--vast, correct in drawing,
bold, and happy in his foreshortenings; yet, at the same time, tempered
with so much mellowness and softness, as to induce the Caracci to
denominate him the reformed Michelangiolo. The first work which he
conducted, subsequent to the year 1550, is in the Bolognese Institution,
and it is the most perfect, in Vasari's opinion, ever executed by him. It
contains in particular various stories from the Odyssey, and this work,
with that by Niccolino, mentioned elsewhere,[11] both executed for the
Institution, were afterwards finely engraved by Sig. Antonio Buratti of
Venice, accompanied with the lives of the two painters, written by Zanotti.
Both there, and in the great merchants' hall at Ancona, where he
subsequently represented Hercules, the monster-slayer, Tibaldi exhibited
the true method of imitating the terrible in the style of Michelangiolo,
which consisted in a fear of too nearly approaching him. Although Vasari
greatly commends these works, the Caracci, to whose judgment we would
rather defer, have bestowed higher praises on those executed by Pellegrino
for the church of S. Jacopo; and it was on these pictures that both the
Caracci and their pupils bestowed most study. In one is represented the
preaching of St. John in the desert; in another the separation of the elect
from the wicked, where, in the features of the celestial messenger
announcing the tidings, Pellegrino displayed those of his favourite
Michelangiolo. What a school for design and for expression is here! What
art in the distribution of such a throng of figures, in varying and in
grouping them! In Loreto too, and in different adjacent cities, he produced
other histories, less celebrated perhaps, but all nearly as deserving of
the burin as those executed at Bologna. Such is the Entrance of Trajan into
Ancona, in possession of the Marchese Mancinforte; and various exploits of
Scipio, belonging to the accomplished nobleman, Marchese Ciccolini, which
decorate one of his halls, where he himself pointed them out to me. It is a
work conceived in a more refined and graceful taste than we meet with in
other compositions of Tibaldi; and of the same composition I have seen some
of his pictures on a very small scale; but rare, like all his pieces in
oil; wrought with the exquisite finish of a miniaturist; mostly rich in
figures, full of fine spirit, vivid colouring, and decorated with all the
pleasing perspectives that architecture could afford. This indeed was his
favourite art; which, after he had afforded some beautiful specimens of it
in Piceno, and next at Milan, procured him an appointment from Philip II.
to superintend the engineers at the Spanish Court. There again, after the
lapse of twenty years, during which he never touched the easel, he resumed
the art of painting; and we meet with a list of his works in the Escurial
of Mazzolari.

Footnote 11: In vol. iv. p. 47.

Domenico Tibaldi de' Pellegrini, once conjectured to be the son, was the
pupil and brother of Pellegrino; and his name is in great repute among the
architects and engravers of Bologna. His epitaph at San Mammolo states him
also to have been a distinguished painter; but we must receive the
authority of epitaphs with some caution; and not even a portrait from his
hand is to be met with. Faberio speaks less highly of his powers, and in
the funeral oration upon Agostino Caracci, whose master he had been, he
mentions him as an able designer, engraver, and architect. Pellegrino's
pupils in painting, and no obscure artists, were Girolamo Miruoli,
commended by Vasari among the artists of Romagna, who left one of his
frescos at the Servi, in Bologna, and several other pieces at Parma, where
he filled the office of court-painter, and there died; and secondly, Gio.
Francesco Bezzi, called Nosadella, who painted a great deal at Bologna and
in other cities, in the style of his master, exaggerating it in point of
power, but not equalling it in care, and in short, reducing it to mere
mechanic labour and despatch.

Vasari, in his life of Parmigianino, has mentioned with praise Vincenzio
Caccianemici, of a good family in Bologna, respecting whom there have been
some discussions, to avoid confounding him with Francesco, who bore the
same surname. The correctors of the old _Guide_ suppose him to be the
author of a Decollation of St. John, placed at S. Petronio, in the family
chapel; a picture well designed and better coloured, and executed, as they
observe, in the style of Parmigianino.

Whilst the three great geniuses of the Bolognese School were residing
abroad, the two first mentioned in France, and the third in Milan, and
afterwards in Spain, the art continued stationary, or, more correctly,
declined in Bologna. In the year 1569 three masters are pointed out by
Vasari, namely, Fontana, Sabbatini, and Sammachini, whom he calls
Fumaccini. For what reason he excluded Ercole Procaccini, an artist, if not
of great genius, at least of finished execution, I am unable to say.
Certain it is that Lomazzo, whilst he resided with him in Milan, mentioned
him in the highest terms, and enumerated in the list of his pupils
Sabbatini, and Sammachini too. I shall not here repeat what I have detailed
in the Milanese School respecting Ercole and his sons; but, passing on to
the others, I shall begin with Fontana, the principal cause of the decline
above alluded to.

The long protracted life of this artist comprehended the whole of the
period now under our view, and even extended beyond it. Born in the time of
Francia, educated by Imola, who at his death selected him to finish one of
his pictures, and subsequently employed for a long period as the assistant
of Vaga, and of Vasari, he continued to labour and to teach without
intermission, until the Caracci, once his disciples, drew all his
commissions and followers to themselves. For this result he was indebted to
his own conduct. Devoted to pleasure (the most fatal enemy to an artist's
reputation) he could only provide the means of gratification by burthening
himself with works, and executing them with little care. He possessed a
fertility of ideas, a vehemence, and a cultivation of mind, well adapted
for works of magnitude. Abandoning, therefore, the careful finish of
Francucci, he adopted the method of Vasari, and like him covered with his
works a vast number of walls in a short space of time, and nearly in the
same taste. In design he is more negligent than Vasari, in his motions more
energetic; his colours have the same yellow cast, but rather more delicacy.
In Città di Castello a hall of the noble family of Vitelli is filled with
family histories, painted by him in a few weeks, as Malvasia informs us,
and the work confirms the assertion. Similar specimens, or but little
superior, are met with in Rome, at the Villa Giulia, and at the Palazzo di
Toscana, in the Campo Marzio, and in various houses in Bologna. Yet in
other places he appears an artist of merit for a declining age; as in his
Epiphany, at the Grazie, where he displays a facility, a pomp of drapery,
and a magnificence nearly approaching the style of Paul Veronese. This work
bears the name of the painter written in letters of gold. But his best
claim to distinction is founded on his portraits, which are more highly
prized in cabinets than are his compositions in the churches. It was this
talent which induced Michelangiolo to present him to Julius III. by whom he
was pensioned as one of the Palatine painters of his time.

He had a daughter and a pupil in Lavinia Fontana, named also Zappi, from
the family of Imola, into which she was married. This lady executed several
altar-pieces at Rome and at Bologna in the paternal style, as far as
regards colouring; but less successful in point of design and composition.
She felt the inferiority, as is observed by Baglione, and sought reputation
from portrait-painting, a branch in which she is preferred by some to
Prospero. It is certain that she wrought with a sort of feminine
perseverance, in order that her portraits should more faithfully express
every line and feature of nature in the countenances, every refinement of
art in the drapery. She became painter to Pope Gregory XIII., and was more
particularly applied to by the Roman ladies, whose ornaments she displayed
more perfectly than any male artist in the world. She attained to so high a
degree of sweetness and softness in the art, especially after knowing the
works of the Caracci, that one or two of her portraits have been attributed
to Guido. With equal ability she produced a number of cabinet pictures,
such as that Holy Family for the Escurial, so much commended by Mazzolari,
and her Sheba at the throne of Solomon, which I saw in the collection of
the late Marchese Giacomo Zambeccari. She has there expressed, in the form
of allegory, the Duke and Duchess of Mantua, surrounded by many lords and
ladies of their court, arrayed in splendid style; a painting that would
reflect credit on the Venetian School. Gifted with such genius, she was by
no means chary of her own likenesses executed by herself, which ornament
the royal gallery of Florence and other collections. But there remains no
specimen more truly speaking and delightful than the one belonging to the
Conti Zappi, at Imola, where it is accompanied by the portrait of Prospero
in his declining days, also painted by her.

Lorenzo Sabbatini, called likewise Lorenzin di Bologna, was one of the most
graceful and delicate painters of his age. I have heard him enumerated
among the pupils of Raffaello by keepers of the galleries, deceived
doubtless by his Holy Families, designed and composed in the best Roman
taste, although invariably more feebly coloured. I have also seen some of
his Holy Virgins and Angels painted for private ornament, which resemble
Parmigianino. Nor were his altar-pieces inferior; the most celebrated of
which is that of St. Michael, engraved by Agostino Caracci, from an altar
of S. Giacomo Maggiore; and this he held up as an example of gracefulness
and beauty, to his whole school. He was, moreover, a fine fresco painter,
correct in design, of copious invention, universal master in the subjects
of the piece, and what is still more remarkable, most rapid in point of
execution. Endowed with such qualities, he was engaged by many noble houses
in his native place; but on proceeding to Rome in the pontificate of
Gregory XIII., according to Baglione, he there met with success; insomuch,
that even his fleshes and naked figures were highly commended, though this
was by no means a branch of his pursuits at Bologna. In the Capella
Paolina, he represented the histories of St. Paul; in the royal hall, the
picture of Faith, shewn in triumph over Infidelity; in the gallery and the
lodges a variety of other pieces, always in competition with the best
masters, and always with equal applause. Hence, in the immense list of
artificers at that period congregated at Rome, he was selected to preside
over the labours of the Vatican, in the enjoyment of which honourable post
he died at an early age in 1577.

It is difficult to believe, as asserted by some writers, that Giulio
Bonasone was his pupil, an artist who practised engraving in copper as
early as 1544. On reaching a more mature age, he seems to have devoted
himself to painting, leaving several paintings on canvass, but feeble and
varying in their style. At S. Stefano there is one of Purgatory, in the
style of Sabbatini, extremely fine, and composed, as it is conjectured,
with the assistance of Lorenzino. The productions, also, of Cesare Aretusi,
of Felice Pasqualini, and of Giulio Morina, are in existence, though the
name of Sabbatini might perhaps be justly substituted for theirs; such was
the part he took in their labours. The latter, with Girolamo Mattioli,
after the celebrity gained by the Caracci, became their eager followers.
The labours of Mattioli, who died young, were distributed among different
private houses, particularly in that of the noble family of Zani: those of
Morina are seen in various churches at Bologna, and for the most part
betray a degree of affectation of the style of Parma, at which city he some
time painted in the service of the duke.

Orazio Samacchini, the intimate friend of Sabbatini, his contemporary, and
who followed him at a short interval to the tomb, began his career by
imitating Pellegrino and the Lombards. Proceeding next to Rome, and
employed in painting for the royal hall, under Pius IV.; he succeeded in
catching the taste of the Roman School, for which he was praised by Vasari,
(who calls him Fumaccini) and afterwards by Borghini and Lomazzo. In the
display of this his new style, however, he contrived to please others more
than himself; and returning to Bologna, he was accustomed to lament that he
had ever removed from upper Italy, where he might have carried his early
manner to greater perfection, without deviating in search of a new. Still
he had no reason to feel dissatisfied with that which he had thus formed of
various others, and so moulded by his own genius, as to exhibit something
singular in its every character. In his altar-piece of the Purification, at
S. Jacopo, it is all exquisite delicacy, in which the leading figures
enchant us with at once a majestic and tender expression of piety; while
those infant figures seen conversing near the altar, and that of the young
girl holding a little basket with two doves, gazing on them in so peculiar
a manner, delight us with their mingled simplicity and grace. Skilful
judges even can take no exceptions but to the display of too great
diligence, with which, during several years, he had studied and polished
this single painting. This, however, as one of the most celebrated of its
school, was engraved by Agostino, and it would seem that even Guido availed
himself of it in his Presentation, painted for the cathedral of Modena, yet
he was an equally powerful artist where his subjects required it of him.
His chapel, of which we gave an account in the Parmese School, is highly
commended, though his most vigorous effort is shewn in the ceiling of S.
Abbondio, at Cremona. The grand and the terrible seem to strive for mastery
in the figures of the prophets, in all their actions and positions; the
most difficult from confinement of space, yet the best arranged and
imagined. There is, moreover, a truth in the shortenings, and a skilful use
of the _sotto in su_,[12] which appears in this instance to have selected
the most difficult portion of the art, in order to triumph over it. His
forte is believed to have consisted in grand undertakings in fresco, on
which he impressed, as it were, the seal of a vast spirit, at once resolute
and earnest, without altering it by corrections and retouches, with which
he laboured his paintings in oil, as we have stated.

Footnote 12: Foreshortening figures; here meant on a ceiling.

Bartolommeo Passerotti has been commended by Borghini and Lomazzo; and he
is casually named also by Vasari among the assistants of Taddeo Zuccaro;
indeed, it may rather be said, this is the artist with whom Vasari ceases
to write, and Malvasia to inveigh.[13] He possessed excellent skill in
designing with his pen; a gift which drew to his school Agostino Caracci,
and which assisted the latter as a guide in the art of engraving. He
likewise wrote a book, from which he taught the symmetry and anatomy of the
human body, essential to the artist; and was the first who, to make a
grander display, began to vary scriptural histories at Bologna by drawing
the naked torsi. The finest of these specimens are, the Beheading of St.
Paul, at Rome, in the Tre Fontane; and at S. Giacomo, of Bologna, a picture
of the Virgin among various saints; a work meant to compete with the
Caracci, and embellished by their praise. One of his pictures too of
"Tizio" was much celebrated, which, being exhibited to the public, was
supposed by the professors of Bologna to have been the work of
Michelangiolo. This exquisite degree of diligence and refinement he rarely
used; most generally he was bold and free, somewhat resembling Cesare, only
more correct. In his portraits, however, he is by no means a common
painter. After Titian, Guido included him among the very first, not
preferring before him the Caracci themselves, whose name, indeed, in
several galleries, is attached to the portraits of Passerotti. The most
commendable of all however, are those he executed for the noble family
Legnani--entire figures extremely varied in costume, in action, and
attitudes; it being his usual custom to compose portraits, such as Ridolfi
described of Paris, which should appear ideal pictures. By means of such a
talent, which made him agreeable to the great, by his polite and refined
manners and malicious strictures, he became a match for the Caracci; for
whom he also prepared rivals in a number of his sons, whom he carefully
instructed in the art. Among these, Tiburzio possessed real merit, of which
his fine picture of the Martyrdom of St. Catherine, conducted in the taste
of his father, displays sufficient proof. Passerotto and Ventura, however,
were below mediocrity. Aurelio was a good miniaturist, and in the same
branch Gaspero, a son of Tiburzio, also met with success. In the works of
Bartolommeo we often meet with a sparrow, the symbol of his own name; a
custom derived from the ancients, and followed by many of our own artists.
It is a well-known fact relating to two sculptors, Batraco and Sauro, that
for their proper names they substituted, the former a frog, and the latter
a lizard.

Footnote 13: This worthy writer would appear to have been
aware that he sometimes exceeded due bounds. In the course
of that work we meet with other expressions highly
creditable to Vasari; and it is well known, that having
spoken contemptuously of Raffaello, by designating him
_boccalaio Urbinate_, the potter of Urbino, because some
vases there had been painted from his designs, "he repented
of the expression so much as to lead him to erase it from as
many copies of the work as he could meet with." _Lett.
Pitt._ vol. vii. p. 130.

Dionisio Calvart, born at Antwerp, and hence also called Dionisio the
Fleming, came, when young, into Bologna, and displayed some ability in
landscape painting. In order to become a figure painter, he entered first
the school of Fontana, and next that of Sabbatini, whom he greatly assisted
in his labours for the Vatican. But after quitting also this master, and
occupying himself, some little time, in designing from Raffaello's
pictures, he returned to Bologna, opened a studio, and there educated as
many as a hundred and thirty-seven masters in the art, some of whom were
excellent. He was a fine artist for his age; understood perspective well,
which he acquired from Fontana, and designed both correctly and gracefully
in the taste of Sabbatini. He moreover possessed the art of colouring, in
the taste of his own countrymen, a quality which induced the Bolognese to
regard him as a restorer of their school, which in this branch of painting
had declined. If there were some degree of mannerism in his style, some
action in his figures too little dignified, or too extravagant; the former
was the fault of his age, and the latter of his temperament, which is
described as extremely restless and violent. Notwithstanding, he instructed
his pupils with assiduous care, and from the cartoons of the most
celebrated inventors he gave them lectures in the art. Different
collections abound with his small pictures, painted chiefly on copper,
representing incidents from the Gospel, which attract by the abundance of
the figures, by their spirit, and by the lusciousness of their tints.
Similar commissions in this line were then very frequently given in
Bologna; most times proceeding from the noviciate nuns, who were in the
habit of carrying with them into the cloister similar little paintings to
decorate their lonely cells; and Calvart provided abundance of them, with
the assistance of his young men, whose pieces he retouched; and they
obtained immense circulation both in Italy and Flanders. In particular
those conducted by Albano and Guido, his two pupils, boast the most
attractive graces, and may be known by a certain superior decision,
knowledge, and facility. In the list of his altar-pieces, the S. Michele,
at S. Petronio, and the Purgatory, at the Grazie, bear the palm; and from
these, as well as others, the best disciples of the Caracci confessed the
assistance which they received.

On the rise of the new Bolognese School, the pupils of Calvart for the most
part changed their manner, attaching themselves some to one master, and
some to another. Those who preserved most evident traces of their former
education, in other words, who continued more feeble and less natural than
the Caracceschi, were but few. Malvasia enumerates Gio. Batista Bertusio in
this list, who vainly aspired at resembling Guido, leaving a variety of
paintings both at Bologna and its villages, displaying beauties more
apparent than real. Two other artists, Pier Maria da Crevalcore, a painter
in oil, and Gabriel Ferrantini, known by his frescos, called also Gabriel
degli Occhiali, seem both to have seen, and attempted to imitate the
Caracci. Emilio Savonanzi, a Bolognese noble, attached himself to the art
when nearly arrived at manhood, but he attended Cremonini more than
Calvart; and strongly addicted to changing masters, entered the school of
Lodovico Caracci, next that of Guido at Bologna, of Guercino at Cento, and
finally the studio of Algardi, an excellent sculptor at Rome. By such means
he became a good theorist and an able lecturer, applauded in every
particular of his art; nor was he wanting in good practice, uniting many
styles in one, in which however that of Guido most prevails. Still he was
not equally correct in all his pieces, even betraying feebleness of touch,
and not scrupling to denominate himself an artist of many hands. He resided
at Ancona, next at Camerino, at which places, as well as in the adjacent
districts, he left a variety of works. Of another Bolognese, who flourished
at the same period, there remains at Ancona a picture of the offering of
the Infant Jesus at the Temple, ornamenting the larger altar of S. Jacopo.
The inscription shews him to have resided at Brescia, _F. Tiburtius
Baldinus Bononiensis F. Brixiæ_, 1611. This date proves him to have
belonged to the present epoch. His taste, from what I am informed by Sig.
Cav. Boni, extremely well informed on subjects of the fine arts, reminds us
of the excellent school that flourished in 1500: magnificence in the
architecture, great copiousness of composition, and clearness of effect,
except that in the general tone of his tints, and in his fleshes, he is
somewhat cold. One artist there was, who declared that he had laid down for
himself a maxim, never to alter with other styles that of Calvart; and this
was Vincenzo Spisano, called likewise Spisanelli. He however is inferior in
solidity and truth of design, and displays quite as much caprice and
mannerism as any of the practitioners of his time. Nor does he always
preserve the colours peculiar to his school; but deadens them with a leaden
hue, which is still not unpleasing. His altar-pieces, executed at Bologna,
and in the neighbouring cities, are less celebrated than his small pictures
for private ornament, which abound in Bologna, and which he was in the
habit of enlivening with very attractive landscape. It has already been
observed that those who were mannerists in their style, like Zuccaro and
Cesari, always when working on a small scale, improved upon themselves.

Bartolommeo Cesi fills the rank also of head of a school, among those who
cleared the path to the good method pursued by the disciples of the
Caracci. From him Tiarini acquired the art of painting fresco, and his
works gave the first impulse to Guido in attaining to his sweet and
graceful manner. On examining a work by Cesi, it sometimes seems doubtful
whether it may not have been that of Guido when young. He dares little,
copies every thing from nature, selects fine forms of each period of life,
and makes sparing use of the ideal; his lines and folds are few, his
attitudes measured, and his tints more beautiful than strong. He has some
paintings at San Jacopo, and at San Martino, which are extremely pleasing;
and it is said that Guido, during his early youth, was in the habit of
sitting to contemplate them sometimes for hours. His frescos, perhaps,
display more power, where he has introduced many copious histories with
great judgment, variety, and mastery; and such are those of Æneas, in the
Favi palace. His Arch of Forli, painted for Clement VIII., with different
exploits, surprises us even more. Though exposed to the action of the open
air, during so many years, this piece retains the vividness of its tints to
a surprising degree. Malvasia's opinion, in commendation of this artist, is
very remarkable, that he had a manner which at once satisfies, pleases, and
enamours the beholder, as truly exquisite and sweet as any style of the
best Tuscan masters in fresco. In the larger chapel of the Bolognese
monastery of Carthusians, there are distinguished examples in both kinds of
painting; and the describer of the Carthusian monastery, in his account of
them, likewise enumerates Cesi's works for other monasteries of the same
order, those of Ferrara, of Florence, and Siena. He was held in esteem by
the Caracci, and very generally so by the different professors, no less for
the candour of his character, than for his love of the art. To his efforts
it was chiefly owing that the company of painters, in 1595, obtained a
separation from the artificers of swords, of saddles, and of scabbards,
with all of whom they had for centuries been united in the same
corporation, and that a new one being formed of painters and of cotton
manufacturers,[14] it not being possible wholly to exclude the latter, they
were to rank inferior to the artists, or, to use the words of Malvasia,
"that they should condescend to furnish to the amount of two hundred, or
more, crowns, rich purple cloaks to decorate the wearer of the laurel
crown, preceding their vice steward."[15]

Footnote 14: In the original the term used for these cotton
merchants is _bambagiai_.

Footnote 15: In the Italian called _promassaro_.

Cesare Aretusi, a son, perhaps, of Pellegrino Munari,[16] was distinguished
as a colourist in the Venetian taste, but in point of invention weak and
dull; while Gio. Batista Fiorini, on the other hand, was full of fine
conceptions but worthless in his colouring. Friendship, that introduces
community in the possessions of friends, here achieved what is narrated in
the Greek anthology of two poor rogues, one of whom was blind and stout,
and carried on his shoulders a sharp-eyed cripple, who thus provided
himself with a friend's pair of feet, while he afforded him the advantage
of as many eyes. So it fared with our two artists, who separately could
accomplish very little; though in uniting their powers they produced
paintings of considerable merit. In the _Guida di Bologna_ they are very
properly rarely divided from each other; and I believe, that in every
painting we find attributed to Aretusi, we ought farther to seek for some
companion of his labours. Of such kind is a Nativity of the Virgin at S.
Afra in Brescia, passing under his name, and painted in a very powerful
style. Respecting this picture, however, Averoldi is of opinion that it was
in part the workmanship of Bagnatore, in part of other painters, or,
perhaps, only painter; in other words that of his useful friend Aretusi.
Nevertheless in the branch of portrait, Cesare possessed merit above
sharing it with others, and in this capacity he was employed by different
princes, and he also succeeded in copying the works of excellent masters
better than any other of his age. He could assume the style of almost every
painter, and even pass off his imitations for the originals. In his
imitation of Coreggio, he was more particularly successful, and received a
commission to execute a painting from the celebrated Night, by that master,
for the church of S. Gio. di Parma, where it still remains. Mengs, who saw
it, declared that were the original at Dresden by any accident lost, it
might be well supplied by so fine a duplicate. It was this performance that
obtained him the honour of restoring the painting, formerly executed by
Coreggio for the same church, of which mention was made in the school of
Parma, and to which we here refer the reader. Here too we should add, that
such was the success of that picture, "from its accurate imitation of the
taste displayed in the original, of its conception, and of its harmony, as
to lead those unacquainted with the fact to suppose it to be the work of
Allegri." Such are the words of Ruta in his _Guida_.

Footnote 16: See vol. iv. p. 43.

Little attention seems to have been given to inferior branches of the art
during this epoch, if, indeed, we except that of portrait, whose leading
artists must not again be introduced here, having treated of their merits
in the proper place. Nor probably were there then wanting painters in oil,
who severally produced ornamental pieces of landscape and animals, besides
Cremonini and Baglione, whose ability in this line we shall shortly notice,
in the class of ornamental fresco painters; though none, as far as I can
learn, acquired celebrity. In one instance only I meet with handsome
eulogiums on a miniature painter, occasionally mentioned throughout this
work. He was called Gio. Neri, also Gio. degli Ucelli, from his peculiar
talent in delineating all kinds of birds from the life. With these, and
with fish of various species, with quadrupeds and other animals, he filled
seven folio volumes, which are cited by Masini in the studio of Ulisse
Aldovrandi.

Throughout the whole of this epoch we find no mention in Malvasia of any
ornamental or perspective painters, except, perhaps, some figurist, who
paid little attention to decorations. There is reason, however, to suppose
that the celebrated Sebastiano Serlio, while yet a youth, painted
perspectives. The Cav. Tiraboschi, in the seventh volume of his history,
remarks that "there is no account of Serlio's occupation during the early
part of his life." But the _Guida_ of Pesaro, p. 83, alludes to him at the
close of 1511, and subsequently in 1514, as residing in that city in
quality of an artist; and in what branch can we more probably suppose him
to have been engaged than in perspective? For this, indeed, was the
tirocinium of other able architects, where, previous to being entrusted
with the anxious duties of their profession, they were enabled, with more
facility, to sustain themselves, until their reputation permitted them to
assume the character of architects, and abandon the pursuit of painting.
Indisputably he could not have been an architect at Pesaro, otherwise there
would never have been written on a parchment of 1514, remaining in the
archives of the Servi:--_Sebastiano qu. Bartholomæi de Serlis de Bononia
pictore habitatore Pisauri_. And it is about 1534 that we have an account
of his being at Venice, no longer handling the pencil, but the square.
Masini, who had written his _Bologna Perlustrata_ only a short period
before the _Felsina Pittrice_, commends an Agostino dalle Prospettive, who
had reached such a degree of perfection in that art, as even to deceive
animals and men with his illusive staircases and similar works, executed at
Bologna. It is doubtful whether he did not belong to another school, and
may have been omitted by Malvasia as a foreigner. I suspected him to be a
Milanese in my fourth volume (p. 231), and pupil to the great Soardi, not
inferior to his master. Next to him, and to Laureti, Gio. Batista Cremonini
of Cento was employed in such commissions more than any other artist. He
had received rather superior instructions in the rules of perspective, and
respectable practice in the line of statues, figures, and histories, with
whatever went to give splendour and effect to a façade, a theatre, or a
hall; more particularly he succeeded in delineating animals, however
ferocious and wild. There was scarcely a house of any account in all
Bologna, which, if nothing more, could not boast some specimen of his
chiaroscuro, some frieze for ornament, chimney-piece, or vestibule,
decorated by Cremonini; to say nothing of his numerous works in fresco
which filled the churches. He was also employed for the adjacent cities,
and in different courts of Lombardy kept open school and instructed
Guercino, Savonanzi, Fialetti, who flourished in Venice as before stated.
He had for his companion Bartolommeo Ramenghi, cousin of Gio. Batista, with
whom also lived Scipione Ramenghi, son of Gio. Batista himself, and both
eminent ornamental painters during that period.

Cremonini had a rival in one Cesare Baglione, an artist in the same sphere,
and of the same eager and expeditious character in the art. He was,
moreover, a better painter of landscape, and even surpassed all others,
including the most ancient, in the method of drawing his foliage. In his
inventions too, both of a serious and comic kind, he displayed greater
novelty and variety than Cremonini. He thus became a favorite at Parma,
where in the ducal palace he left some of his best works, all in harmony
with the places which he painted; in the larder illusive eatables of every
kind, and cooks employed in dressing them; in the bakehouse utensils for
the bakers, and incidents relating thereto; in the washhouses women were
seen busied in their different duties, and all in dismay at some untoward
or comic accidents; works abounding in spirit and reality sufficient to
procure him reputation in his line, had he shewn less eagerness in the
execution. This praise will not apply, however, to his decorative taste,
which excited the ridicule of the Caracci, who were in the habit of
laughing at the fantastic ornaments of his capitals, and those arabesques,
most resembling, they declared, the staves of barrels; as well as that
custom of filling his compositions with useless ornaments, without rule or
discretion, which his own pupils afterwards proceeded to introduce,
especially Spada and Dentone. Several others were instructed by him in the
art, as Storali and Pisanelli, and some of less note, who painted well in
perspective, without aspiring to the reputation of figurists.

Thus we have taken a brief survey of the state of painting in Bologna from
the time of Bagnacavallo to the Caracci, who already rising into repute
about 1585, in some measure competed with the elder artists, and in some
measure by their example, and the spirit of emulation, tended to improve
them, of which more in the following epoch. Meanwhile, let us turn our
attention to what was passing during this period in Romagna.

Ravenna prides herself on the name of Jacopone, a pupil of Raffaello, who,
by his paintings at S. Vitale, introduced into that city the principles of
the modern style, and of whom we shall shortly state our opinion, not
without some degree of novelty. Another of Raffaello's disciples, if what
is averred of him be correct, nourished at Ravenna about 1550, called Don
Pietro da Bagnaia, a canon of the Lateran. In the church of his order he
painted the altar-piece of S. Sebastian; in the Refectory, the scriptural
history of the Loaves and Fishes, besides leaving in another place a
history-piece of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, abounding in figures
equal to the preceding. To these, enumerated by Orlandi, may be added the
picture of Padua, with the Virgin between St. John the Baptist and St.
Augustine, executed for the church of S. Giovanni di Verdara; in the
sacristy of which is a Holy Family by him, imbued with all the graces of
Raffaello in every feature and action, but sadly wanting in strength and
harmony of colouring. There is another Holy Family at the Lateran Friars in
Asti, on a larger scale, designed and composed with equal grace, but with
similar feebleness of tints, even more lifeless; and to both pieces is
appended an inscription, entreating the beholder to pray for the soul of
the painter. I am not aware whether this worthy ecclesiastic was in Ravenna
in 1547, at the period of Vasari's visit thither, but the latter makes no
mention of his name.

Yet he mentioned, among the excellent artists who still flourished there,
Luca Longhi, whose ability in the essentials of the art is highly praised.
He regrets, however, that he should always have resided in his native
place, which had he left for objects of improvement, he might have become a
very distinguished artist. He was a good portrait-painter, and produced a
great number of pictures for Ravenna. Some, too, he sent elsewhere, and
they are met with at San Benedetto in Ferrara, in the Abbey at Mantua, in
that of Praglia near Padua, at S. Francesco in Rimini, with the date of
1580, in Pesaro, and other places. They are chiefly composed in the ancient
manner, but on comparing some of the earlier with those that follow, a more
modern air is perceptible, a circumstance attributed by Vasari to his own
conversations with the artist. Longhi's style, however, was opposed to that
of Vasari, being very correct and highly finished; his conceptions sweet,
varied, and graceful; with a powerful union of colours; more nearly
resembling Innocenzo da Imola, if I mistake not, than any other artist of
the times, though inferior to him in point of grandeur and beauty. Luca's
most perfect pictures that I have met with in Ravenna are those of S.
Vitale, of S. Agata, of S. Domenico, all with a representation of the
Virgin between two or more saints, and with some graceful cherubs playing
above. There are others more laboured, which please us less, and
demonstrate that to succeed in grand compositions, it is previously
necessary to have studied the great schools. Luca had a daughter, named
Barbara, yet a child at the period when Vasari published his work, but who
had begun to paint "with a tolerable degree of grace and manner." From the
hand of this lady there is only a single specimen remaining in public.
Respecting a son of Luca, named Francesco, the historian is wholly silent,
being, doubtless, at the time he wrote, still younger than his sister, but
who became an artist in maturer years. In 1576 he produced a picture for
the church of the Carmine, and there are accounts of him, even down to
1610. He chiefly pursued the steps of his father, though he is more common
in his countenances, and more feeble in point of colouring, which he copied
rather from Vasari.

Francesco Scannelli mentions a pupil of Raffaello at Cesena, omitted by all
other historians, named Scipione Sacco. He painted a picture of S. Gregory
for the cathedral of Cesena, in a grand style,[17] and the Death of St.
Peter the Martyr for the church of S. Domenico. Doubtless he was of
Raffaello's school, and not remembered out of Romagna.

Footnote 17: On this picture is inscribed, _Cæsenas_, 1545.
_Oretti_, _Memorie_, MSS.

While the family of the Longhi was employed at Ravenna, that of the
Minzocchi, which was surnamed San Bernardo, was distinguishing itself at
Forli. Francesco, called also the elder di S. Bernardo, studied the works
of Palmigiani in his native place; and there remain pictures conducted in
his youth, but feeble in point of design, such as his Crucifixion at the
Padri Osservanti. But under Genga, according to Vasari, and, as some
writers add, under Pordenone, he changed his manner, assuming a more
correct style, graceful, animated, and of an expression which looks like
nature herself in these his subsequent productions. Among the works he
executed with most care are two lateral pictures at the cathedral of
Loreto, in a chapel of S. Francesco di Paola. These consist of a Sacrifice
of Melchisedec, and the miracle of the Manna, in which the prophets and the
principal characters boast all the dignity and nobleness of drapery
becoming the school of Pordenone. The crowd, however, is represented in the
most popular features and attitudes, sufficient almost to excite the envy
of Teniers, and the most natural artists of the Flemish school. His
delineations in these pictures, of numerous and various animals, are
expressed to the life, with baskets and different utensils like reality,
though the attempt to excite our mirth in treating serious subjects has a
bad effect. Scannelli extols a specimen of his works in fresco at S. Maria
della Grata in Forli, representing the Deity on the ceiling, surrounded by
a number of angels; figures full of spirit, majestic, varied, and painted
with a power and skill of foreshortening, which entitles him to greater
celebrity than he enjoys. He left a variety of productions, likewise, at S.
Domenico, at the cathedral, and at private houses in his native place,
where such is his reputation, that on the chapels being taken down, his
least celebrated frescos were carefully cut out, and replaced elsewhere.
Among his sons and pupils were Pietro Paolo, mentioned also by Vasari, and
Sebastiano, both artists of the same natural style, not very select, with
little relief, and mediocrity of invention. To Pietro Paolo belong several
figures at the Padri Francescani at Forli, of feeble execution; and to
Sebastiano a picture at S. Agostino, composed in 1593 in the ancient taste,
and of a style like his other works, inferior to the character of his age.

Subsequent to the elder Minzocchi, Forli produced two other artists
deserving commemoration; namely, Livio Agresti, conspicuous in the
histories of Vasari and Baglione, as a daring designer, a copious composer,
and universal in point of manner; the other, Francesco di Modigliana, an
artist of more limited genius, but still deserving to be known. Of Livio, I
spoke in the third epoch of the Roman School, to which, as pupil to Perino,
and resident in Rome, where he was employed at the Castello, in the
Vatican, at S. Spirito and elsewhere, he doubtless belongs. His native
place, however, seems to have culled the fairest fruit of his labours, Rome
possessing nothing nearly so Raffaellesque, as are his Scriptural Histories
in the public palace at Forli. Nor ought we to pass over that finely
decorated chapel in the cathedral, where he represented the Last Supper,
with some majestic figures of the prophets upon the ceiling; a work that
for depth and intricacy of perspective yields in nothing to Minzocchi. I
shall not stop to inquire, with Malvasia, whether having gone to Rome in a
moment of disgust and in haste, instead of there advancing himself, he
wholly failed; but of this I am convinced, that his history in the Cappella
Paolina, is by no means his masterpiece.

Francesco di Modigliana is said to have been pupil to Pontormo, in whose
school he almost fills the same rank as Bronzino in that of Florence; not
remarkably powerful, nor always consistent with himself, but very graceful
and beautiful, and deserving a place in our pictoric Lexicons, where his
name is wanting. His works at Urbino consist of those which are pointed out
under the name of Francesco da Forli; a picture of Christ taken down from
the cross, in oil, at S. Croce; and some angels in fresco at S. Lucia;
productions much commended, and resembling in style his best at the
Osservanti in Forli, and at the Rosario in Rimini. Here, perhaps, he most
distinguished himself; in his picture of Adam driven from Eden, his Deluge,
the Tower of Babel, with similar histories already treated by Raffaello at
Rome, and by Agresti in Forli, from imitating whom, if I mistake not, he
greatly improved and advanced himself. Dying suddenly he left his work
imperfect, afterwards continued by Gio. Laurentini, called Arrigoni, who
painted the Death of Abel at the same place.

After Bartolommeo da Rimini, who inclined more towards the modern than the
ancient style, I find no other artist of celebrity in that city besides
Arrigoni. Even his name has not been recorded by Orlandi, nor by his
continuator. He diligently employed himself in his native place, and two of
his pictures representing martyrdoms, met with surprising success; one of
St. John the Baptist, at the Augustine friars, and another of the Saints
John and Paul, at the church bearing their name. Yet they do not display
that _beau ideal_, so attractive at that period in the productions even of
the inferior disciples of the Roman School; but they convey the impression
of grand compositions, a vivacity of action, a boldness of hand, a splendor
in the retinue of horse and arms, and military ensigns, calculated to
compete with the chief part of the painters employed at Rome in the service
of Gregory and of Sixtus.

Faenza, too, at the opening of this epoch, boasted her Jacopone, or
Jacomone, of whom we treated among the assistants of Raffaello, and among
the masters of Taddeo Zuccaro. Vasari makes brief mention and smaller
account of this artist; recording only one of his productions, the tribune
of S. Vitale at Ravenna, and which has ceased to exist. In the cupola of
the church, however, subsequently repainted by another hand, there were
visible, in the time of Fabri, author of "Ravenna Ricercata," (researches
in that city) several figures of saints richly apparelled, bearing this
inscription: "Opus Jacobi Bertucci et Julii Tondutii Faventinorum. Pari
voto f. 1513."[18] At present I no longer doubt but that under this Jacopo
was concealed the name of Jacopone di Faenza, though according to Orlandi
they were two several painters, and though it has never occurred to
Baldinucci and Bottari, and other writers of pictoric history, to unite
them into one. My conjecture is founded upon a picture which I saw in the
church of the Dominican nuns in Faenza, representing the Birth of the
Virgin, with the name of Jacopo Bertucci of Faenza, and dated 1532. It is a
work which arrests the eye by its resemblance to the style of Raffaello,
though his harmonious gradations have not been well observed, and the
colouring inclines more to the strong than to the beautiful. The women
busied about the couch of St. Anne are beautiful, graceful, and animated
figures, and there are some animals, and in particular a fowl, which a
Bassano himself would not have been sorry to have painted. Now what other
Jacopo of Faenza could in the year 1532, have painted in this style, with
more shew of reason and probability than Jacopone da Faenza, whose family
would here appear to be discovered?

Footnote 18: Sig. Abbate Zannoni, a librarian in Faenza,
assisted by Sig. Zauli, a distinguished professor of design
in that Lyceum, has made some clever remarks upon that
school. They observe that this date of Fabri must be
erroneous, it not being possible for Jacopone to have
commenced painting in 1513, and much less Tonduzzi, pupil to
Giulio Romano, probably, in Mantua: I suspect that the order
of the last two figures should be inverted, so as to read
1531.

They inform me that I was misled in supposing the picture of
the Dominican Nuns to be from the hand of Jacopone, its
great height preventing me from distinguishing the name. It
belongs to his nephew and pupil, Gian Batista, and thus
resembles his style, though coloured with stronger tints in
the taste of Titian, whom he is known to have greatly
consulted in after years. Other pictures of Jacopone might
be cited, that still exist, but injured by time and by
retouches of other destroyers. Yet, they continue, all are
surpassed by a figure that was placed at the Celestini, and
is now in the general collection. It represents St. John
pointing out to the ecclesiastic who ordered the picture,
the Virgin crowned, between Saints Celestino and Benedetto;
a grand piece wonderfully preserved, formed upon the
composition of Raffaello, and coloured after Titian. On the
right side is written, "F. Jo. Bapt. Para Brasius hoc opus
ob devotionem fieri jussit anno domini 1565:" (the most
assured epoch of his life;) and on the left hand, "Et semper
Jacobius Bertusius F. (for Faventinus) invicto tandem Momo
faciebat." Who this Momo was, against whose desire (since we
must read _invito_) he completed the picture, I know not;
whether a painter, or perhaps a friar, whom Jacopone's
dilatoriness had offended, and who wished to substitute
another artist, in which good office he did not succeed.

The same city possesses a variety of other pieces by this Bertucci, and in
the soffitto of S. Giovanni, various histories, both of the Old and New
Testament, were pointed out to me as his. There too are several of inferior
character attributed to another Bertucci, his son, an artist who in his
heads repeats the same idea, even to satiety. Still his merit ought not, I
think, to be estimated from a single work, but rather from some pictures
cited by Crespi.[19] One of these is the Beheading of St. John the Baptist,
animated and high toned in its colours, beautiful in point of design and
character, and worthy of decorating the Ercolani collection at Bologna.
Upon it is inscribed "Bertucius pinxit, 1580." The other is at the
Celestini of Faenza, a singular work, as Crespi denominates it, from which
he appears to have learnt the proper name of this younger Bertucci, whom he
calls Giambatista. Baldinucci treats of Jacopone at the commencement of his
fifth volume, and on the credit of Count Laderchi, he enumerates his
different paintings, which then remained at Faenza. Of his surname he
mentions nothing; nothing of his altar-piece of the Nativity; nothing of S.
Vitale; nothing of the son, or the other artist of Faenza lately alluded
to. He adds, that works of Jacopone were to be seen up to the year 1570,
but I believe these last to have belonged to the son, inasmuch as the
father, at the period when Vasari wrote, was already deceased. Other
pictures by this artist are mentioned, painted in glowing and attractive
colours, and in particular the Baptizing of Christ, preserved in the public
collection, valuable from its giving the epoch of 1610, which must have
been towards the close of his days.

Footnote 19: Lettere Pittoriche, vol. vii. p. 66.

By Giulio Tonduzzi there is pointed out at Ravenna the Stoning of St.
Stephen, on the large altar of a church consecrated to that saint, a
beautiful picture, but not indisputably proved to be his. I conjecture it
to be a copy of the St. Stephen that decorates the church of Faenza, in
which the whole style of Giulio Romano is apparent; so much so, that it has
been attributed to him, a mistake arising from resemblance of names; but
Tonduzzi is known to have been Giulio's pupil. I omit other productions of
this excellent artist, though I ought to notice, that in the soffitto of S.
Giovanni, he also painted several sacred histories, in competition with all
the first artists, who then flourished at Faenza, on which account that
very cultivated city has preserved the whole of these paintings, although
much defaced by age, in the Lyceum collection, belonging to the commune,
mentioned in other places. I also find one M. Antonio da Faenza, commended
by Civalli for a very excellent picture, possessing fine relief, at the
church of the Conventuali of Monte Lupone, in the Marca, dated 1525.
Contemporary with these must have been Figurino da Faenza, enumerated by
Vasari among the best disciples of Giulio Romano, though I meet with no
mention of him elsewhere. It is conjectured, however, with good reason,
that Figurino was only a surname given to Marc Antonio Rocchetti, a painter
of great reputation at Faenza, who in youth took great delight in minute
drawing, producing, among other pieces, little histories of St. Sebastian,
for the ornament of that church, now destroyed, when they came into
possession of various individuals who treasure them up in the present day.
In maturer years he enlarged his manner, attaching himself to the imitation
of Baroccio, which he did with a simplicity of composition and sweetness of
tints, that made him conspicuous in different churches which he adorned, as
we may gather from the picture of the titular Saint at S. Rocco, with the
year 1604, the latest period which we find mentioned on his productions. In
the Communal collection, also, there is seen a picture of the Virgin, known
in Faenza under the name of the Madonna of the Angels, with a St. Francis,
a holy bishop, and two portraits below. It bears the inscription, _M.
Antonius Rochettus Faventinus pingebat, 1594_. It was requisite to mention
this picture, which I find extolled above all other specimens that have
remained. The name of Niccolo Paganelli, before unknown to us, is also met
with in the Oretti correspondence, contained in a letter of Zanoni, which
we cite in treating of Benedetto Marini. He is supposed to have been a good
pupil of the Roman School, and some attribute to him the fine picture of S.
Martino, in the cathedral of Faenza, the supposed work of Luca Longhi. His
genuine pictures are recognized by the initials N.+P.

Subsequent to the period of Jacopone, who never acquired fortune, Marco
Marchetti greatly distinguished himself. So at least he is named by
Baglione, or Marco da Faenza, according to Vasari, who observes that he was
"particularly experienced in regard to frescos; bold, decided, terrible;
and especially in the practice and manner of drawing grotesques, not having
any rival then equal to him." Nor perhaps has any artist since appeared who
equals him in this respect, and in happily adapting to grotesques little
histories, full of spirit and elegance, and with figures which form a
school for design. Such is the Slaughter of the Innocents, in the Vatican.
He succeeded Sabbatini in the works of Gregory XIII. and entered the
service of Cosmo I. for whom he decorated the Palazzo Vecchio at Florence.
He painted little in his own country, though a few pieces in oil are still
pointed out, and an arch in a public way, with festoons of flowers,
monsters, and capricci, resembling the work of an ancient artist. The whole
reminds us of mythology and erudition, while at subsequent periods it
became customary in this kind of painting to dare every extravagance and
excess. Perhaps his most finished piece adorns the Communal collection,
representing the Feast of Christ in the house of the Pharisee. His death
occurred in 1588. Contemporary with him flourished Gio. Batista Armenini,
also of Faenza, an able artist, and author of the "True Precepts of
Painting,"[20] published at Ravenna in 1587, a work that re-appeared in the
ensuing century at Venice. In fact Armenini was a better theorist than a
practitioner; nor has he any production in his native place, except a large
picture of the Assumption, on which he inscribed _Jo. Bapt. Armenini
primiliæ_, meaning, that it was among the first, or perhaps the very first
altar-piece which he ever painted. Perotti, the author of certain
_Farragini_,[21] which are still preserved in the library of the Seminary
at Faenza, there observes, that Armenini was a pupil of Perin del Vaga. Nor
is there a great interval between him and Cristoforo Lanconello, an artist
of Faenza, first discovered to us in the letter of Crespi, just before
cited. He is celebrated for his picture in the Casa Ercolani, in which the
Virgin appears crowned with a glory, attended by Saints Francis and Chiara,
and two more; a work displaying great freedom of hand, beauty of colouring,
fine airs of the heads, and altogether in the composition of Barocci.

Footnote 20: _Veri Precetti della Pittura._

Footnote 21: A mixture of all styles and subjects

We must not take our leave of the Cinquecentisti[22] without first noticing
a cavalier of Faenza, who flourished till the year 1620, in which he died
at the age of 83. His name was Niccolo Pappanelli, and such was his
enthusiasm for the art, that he attended all the most distinguished masters
then in vogue at Rome. On his return to his native place, he produced,
along with some pieces of mediocrity, a few of an exquisite character, such
as his picture of S. Martino at the cathedral, so well executed in point of
design, force of colouring, and expression, as to be truly admirable. He,
too, attempted to follow in the track of Barocci.

Footnote 22: Artists of the fifteenth century.

Other artists of Romagna, belonging to this period, are treated of in the
schools where they chiefly flourished, such as Ingoli of Ravenna, at
Venice, Zaccolini of Cesena at Rome, and Ardente, a native of Faenza, in
Piedmont.

BOLOGNESE SCHOOL.

EPOCH III.

_The Caracci, their Scholars, and their Successors, until
the time of Cignani._

To write the history of the Caracci and their followers would in fact be
almost the same as to write the pictoric history of all Italy during the
last two centuries. In our preceding books we have taken a survey of almost
every school; and everywhere, early or late, we have met with either the
Caracci or their pupils, or at least with their successors, employed in
overthrowing the ancient maxims, and introducing new, until we reach the
period when there was no artist who, in some respect or other, might not be
said to belong to their school. Now, as it is grateful to the traveller,
after long following the course of some royal river, to ascend still higher
to its source, so I trust it will, in like manner, prove delightful to my
readers, to be here made acquainted with those principles that conferred
this new style upon the world of art, and in a short time filled with its
specimens, and took the lead of every individual school. What, in my
opinion, too, is still more surprising is, that it should owe its origin to
Lodovico Caracci, a young artist, who appeared of a slow, inactive
intellect in early years, and better adapted to grind colours than to
harmonize and apply them. He was advised, both by Fontana, his master at
Bologna, and by Tintoretto, who directed his studies in Venice, to adopt a
new profession, as quite unqualified for the art of painting; his fellow
pupils likewise bantering him with the epithet of the ox, in allusion to
his extreme dulness and tardiness. Indeed, every thing seemed to conspire
to discourage him; he alone did not despair; from the obstacles he had to
encounter he only gathered courage, and inducements to rouse, not to alarm
himself. For this, his dilatory character, did not spring from confined
genius, but from deep penetration; he shunned the ideal of the art as a
rock on which so many of his contemporaries had suffered shipwreck; he
pursued nature every where; he exacted of himself a reason for every line
he drew; and considered it the duty of a young artist to aim only at doing
well, until at length it grows into a habit, and such habit assists him in
expediting his work.

Resolute, then, in his purpose, after having studied the best native
artists in Bologna, he proceeded to do the same under Titian and Tintoretto
at Venice. Thence he passed to Florence, and improved his taste from the
pictures of Andrea, and the instructions of Passignano. At that period, the
school of the Florentines had attained to that crisis, described in
treating of its fourth epoch. Nothing could be more advantageous to young
Lodovico than to observe there the competition between the partizans of the
old and the new style; nor could there be better means of ascertaining the
causes of the decline, and of the revival of the art. Such a scene was
assuredly of the greatest use to him, though hitherto not much noticed, in
attempting the reform of painting, and carrying it to a higher degree of
perfection. The most eminent Florentines, with the view of improving the
languid colouring of their masters, turned to the models of Coreggio and
his followers; and their example, I am of opinion, induced Lodovico to
leave Florence for Parma, where, observes his historian, he wholly devoted
himself to that master and to Parmigianino. On his return to Bologna,
although well received and esteemed as a good artist, he soon became aware
that a single individual, so reserved and cautious as he was, could ill
compete with an entire school; unless, following the example of Cigoli at
Florence, he were to form a party among the rising pupils at Bologna.

In the first instance, he sought support in his own relatives. His brother
Paolo cultivated the art, but was deficient both in judgment and in
ability, and calculated only to execute with mediocrity the designs of
others. On him he placed no reliance, but a good deal on two of his
cousins. He had a paternal uncle named Antonio, by profession a tailor, who
educated his two sons, Agostino and Annibale, at home. Such was their
genius for design, that Lodovico was accustomed to say in his old age, that
he had never had, during his whole professional career, a single pupil to
equal them. The first devoted his attention to the goldsmith's art--always
the school of the best engravers; the second was at once the pupil and
assistant of his father in his calling. Though brothers, their dispositions
were so opposite, as to render their society insufferable to each other,
and they were little less than enemies. Accomplished in letters, Agostino
always sought the company of learned men; there was no science on which he
could not speak; at once a philosopher, a geometrician, and a poet; of
refined manners, ready wit, and averse to the pursuits of the crowd.
Annibale, on the contrary, neglected letters, beyond the mere power of
reading and writing, while a natural bluntness of manner inclined him to
taciturnity, and when compelled to speak, it was mostly in a satirical,
contemptuous, or disputing tone.

On devoting themselves, at the suggestion of Lodovico, to the pictoric art,
they still found themselves opposed to each other in genius, as they were
in manners. Agostino was timid, and extremely select, backward in resolve,
difficult to please himself, and was never aware of a difficulty that he
did not encounter, and attempt to vanquish it. Annibal, in common with
numbers of artificers, was an expeditious workman, intolerant of doubts and
delays, eagerly seeking every remedy for the intricacies of the art, trying
the most easy methods, and to perform much in little time. Had they indeed
fallen into other hands, Agostino would have become a new Samacchini,
Annibal a new Passerotti; and painting would have owed no improvement to
their efforts. But their cousin's fine judgment led him, in their
education, to imitate Isocrates, who, instructing Ephorus and Theopompus,
was accustomed to say, that he was compelled to apply spurs to the one, and
a rein to the other. With similar views he consigned Agostino to Fontana,
as an easy and rapid master, and retained Annibal in his own studio, where
works were carried to higher perfection. By such means too he kept them
apart, until riper age should by degrees remove the enmity subsisting
between them, and convert it into a bond of amity, when devoted to the same
profession, they might unite their capital, and mutually assist each other.
In a few years he succeeded in reconciling them, and in 1580 he placed them
at Parma and at Venice, of which an account has been given under those
schools. During this period Agostino collected materials for his varied
learning, and enlarged his design; and as before leaving Bologna he had
made great progress in engraving under Domenico Tibaldi, he continued in
Venice to practise it under Cort with such success, as to excite his
master's jealousy, who drove him, but in vain, from his studio; for
Agostino was already esteemed the Marc Antonio of his time. Annibal,
devoted to a single aim, both at Parma and Venice continued to paint,
availing himself of the works and conversation of illustrious men, with
whom at that period the Venetian School abounded. It was then, or shortly
subsequent, that he executed his beautiful copies of Coreggio, Titian, and
Paul Veronese; in whose taste he also conducted some small pictures.
Several specimens of these I saw in possession of the Marchese Durazzo at
Genoa, displaying opposite, but very graceful styles.

Returning accomplished artists into their native place, they struggled long
and nobly with their fortunes. Their first undertakings consisted of the
exploits of Jason, in a frieze of the Casa Favi; these, though conducted
with the assistance of Lodovico, were vituperated with excessive scorn by
the old painters, as deficient both in elegance and correctness. To this
censure, the credit of these masters who had flourished at Rome, who were
extolled by the poets, adorned with diplomas, and regarded by the declining
age as pillars of the art, seemed to give weight. Their disciples echoed
their words, and the crowd repeated them; and such murmurs proceeding from
a public, gifted with as much volubility in conversation as would suffice
for purposes of declamation or controversy elsewhere, wounded the feelings
of the Caracci, overwhelmed and depressed them. I was informed by the
accomplished Cav. Niccolò Fava, that Lodovico's change of fortune, along
with that of his cousins, occurred on an occasion, and at a period little
differing from the above; which is supported by a tradition to the same
effect. The two cousins had executed the frieze in the same hall where Cesi
adorned another, in opposition to it, with histories of Æneas, which we
have already mentioned, (p. 74). The work, conducted in the old style, was
certainly beautiful, but Lodovico, in the new, painted another chamber with
other histories, twelve in number, of Æneas, of which mention is made in
the Guide of Bologna, (p. 14); histories in no way inferior to those in the
Casa Magnani. Here was the beginning of the Caracci's fortune, and of the
fall of the old masters, Bologna at length preparing to do justice to the
worth of that divine artist, and to verify in respect to Cesi that sentence
of Hesiod, of which, to the best of my ability, I here offer a version from
the Greek, as follows:

Folle chi al più potente fa contrasto!
Che perde la vittoria; e sempre al fine,
Oltra lo scorno, di dolor si è guasto!
_Opera_ V. 210.

Fool, that will dare to cross the path of one
More powerful! and ever to the loss
Of victory, at last add scorn and grief.

It was now that the Caracci, more than ever confident in their style,
answered the voice of censure only by works full of vigour and nature,
opposed to the works of older masters, feeble and void of truth. By such
means that revolution of style which had so long been meditated, at length
took place; but it became necessary, in order to accelerate it, to bring
over the students of the art to their party, the better to insure the hopes
of a new and improved era. This too the Caracci achieved, by opening an
academy of painting at their house, which they entitled _Degli
Incamminati_, supplying it with casts, designs, and prints, in the same
manner as those of their rivals; besides introducing a school for the
drawing of the naked figure, and for the study of anatomy and perspective:
in short, every thing requisite to the art; directing the whole with a
skill added to a kindness that could not fail to procure it abundance of
pupils. In particular, the fiery temper of Dionisio Calvart contributed to
fill it, who, being in the habit of striking, and even wounding his
disciples, drove Guido, Albano, and Domenichino, to transfer their talents
to the studio of the Caracci. Panico too entered it from the school of
Fontana, and from all sides the best young artists assembled, drawing after
them fresh ranks of students. Finally, the other academies were closed;
every school was left to solitude; every name gave way before that of the
Caracci; to them the best commissions, to them the meed of praise were
accorded. Their humbled rivals soon assumed another language, especially
when the grand hall of Magnani was thrown open, presenting the wonders of
the new Carraccesque art. It was then Cesi declared that he would become a
disciple of the new school; and Fontana only lamented that he was too
grey-headed to keep pace with it, while Calvart alone, with his usual
bravado, ventured to blame the work, being the last of all to recant, or at
least to become silent.

It is now time to record the pursuits and the maxims of an academy, which,
besides educating many illustrious pupils, perfected the art of their
masters; and confirmed the axiom, that the shortest method of learning much
is that of teaching. The three brothers were on the most perfect
understanding as to the art of teaching, as free from venality as from
envy; but the most laborious branches of the professorship were sustained
by Agostino. He had drawn up a short treatise of perspective and
architecture, from which he expounded to the school. He explained the
nature of the bones and muscles, designating them by their names, in which
he was assisted by Lanzoni the anatomist, who also secretly provided the
school with bodies for such dissections as were required. His lectures were
sometimes founded upon history, at others upon fictions; and these he
illustrated, and offered for designs, which being exhibited at stated
intervals, were examined by skilful judges, who decided upon their
respective merits; as we gather from a ticket written to Cesi, one of the
arbiters. The meed of fame was sufficient for the crowned candidates, round
whom the poets collected to celebrate their name; with whom Agostino
enthusiastically joined both with harp and voice, applauding the progress
of his scholars. These last were likewise instructed in true criticism, and
to give due praise or blame to the works of others; they were also taught
to criticise their own works, and whoever could not give good reasons for
what he had done, and defend his own work, must cancel it upon the spot.
Each, however, was at liberty to pursue what path he pleased, or rather
each entered upon that to which nature had best adapted him, which gave
rise to so many original manners from the same studio; yet each style was
to be founded upon reason, nature, and imitation. In all more doubtful
points, recourse was had to the opinion of Lodovico; the cousins presided
over the daily exercises of design, full of assiduity, industry, and
perseverance. Even the recreations of the academicians had a view to art;
to draw landscapes from nature, or to sketch caricatures, were the
customary amusements of Annibale and the disciples of the school, when they
wished to relax from study.[23]

Footnote 23: It must be observed that the two younger
Caracci visited Rome, where they continued to instruct their
pupils on the same plan. Passeri, in his life of Guido,
says, that they were joined by literary men, who proposed
history-pieces to them, with premiums for such as should be
best executed; and that on one occasion Domenichino, one of
the youngest, being preferred above all, Guido was seized
with the most lively emulation to eclipse him. The historian
adds, that the same method was soon adopted in the Roman
academy, and that Car. Barberini, nephew to Urban VIII.,
presided at the election of the first, and rewarded him with
money, and those that next followed, to the fourth member.
Moreover he gave the first a commission for a picture from
the same subject as the design. What a secret is here shewn
for promoting the fine arts.

The maxim of uniting together the study of nature, and the imitation of the
best masters, already touched upon in the outset of this book, formed the
real foundation of the school of Caracci; although they took care to modify
it according to particular talents, as we have seen. Their object was to
collect into one whatever they found most valuable in other schools, and in
this process they observed two methods. The first resembles that of the
poets, who, in several Canzoni, propose different models for imitation; in
one, for instance, borrowing from Petrarch, in another from Chiabrera, in a
third from Frugoni. The second method is like that of those, who, being
masters of these three styles, form and harmonize them into one, like
Corinthian metal, composed of various other kinds. Thus the Caracci, in
some of their compositions, were accustomed to present different styles in
a variety of different figures. So Lodovico, in his Preaching of St. John
the Baptist, at the church of the Certosini (where Crespi is especially
opposed to Paul Veronese), has exhibited the audience of the saint in such
a manner that a judge described them by these names:--the Raffaellesque,
the Tizianesque, and the imitator of Tintoretto. Annibal too, who had long
admired only Coreggio, having finally adopted Lodovico's maxim, painted his
celebrated picture for the church of St. George, where, in his figure of
the Virgin, he imitated Paolo; in that of the Divine Infant and St. John,
Coreggio; in St. John the Evangelist he exhibited Titian; and in the very
graceful form of St. Catherine, the sweetness of Parmigianino. Most
generally, however, they pursued the second path, and still more examples
might be adduced of less apparent and more free and mixed imitations, so
modified as to produce a whole of a perfectly original character. And the
ingenious Agostino, emulating the ancient legislators, who embodied all
their laws in a few verses, composed that very picturesque, rather than
poetical sonnet, in praise of Niccolino Abati, but which also well explains
the maxim of their school, in selecting the peculiar merits of each
different style. It has been handed down to us by Malvasia, in his life of
Primaticcio, and runs as follows:--

Chi farsi un buon pittor brama e desia
Il disegno di Roma abbia alla mano,
La mossa coll'ombrar Veneziano,
E il degno colorir di Lombardia;
Di Michelangiol la terribil via,
Il vero natural di Tiziano,
Di Coreggio lo stil puro e sovrano,
Di un Raffael la vera simmetria;
Del Tibaldi il decoro e il fondamento,
Del dotto Primaticcio l'inventare,
E un po' di grazia del Parmigianino:
Ma senza tanti studii e tanto stento
Si ponga solo l'opre ad imitare
Che qui lasciocci il nostro Niccolino.

To paint for fame, who nurtures high desire,
Will Rome's design keep ever in his view;
To the Venetian shade and action true,
Of Lombardy's whole colouring never tire;
Kindle at Michael's terrors, and his fire,
Seize Titian's living truth, who nature drew;
Allegri's pure and sovereign graces too;
To heavenly Raphael's symmetry aspire:
Tibaldi's solid sense, appropriate air,
And Primaticcio's learn'd inventive thought,
With Parmigiano's graceful sweetness fraught.
And should all these ask too much studious care,
Turn to our Niccolino's bright display
Of wondrous works, the envy of his day.

It is not easy to ascertain how far the Caracci may have carried this
project, though it must always reflect the highest degree of credit upon
them to have executed it in a superior manner to all other artists. In the
outset they most felt their deficiency in their imitation of the antique,
called by Agostino the design of Rome. He and Annibal, however, while
residing there as strangers, in some measure reproduced and restored it to
Roman artists themselves; and Lodovico, though remaining at Bologna, shewed
that he was by no means unacquainted with it. At first, observes Mengs,
they devoted much study to Coreggio, both in their ample outline and in
their general design, although they did not observe the same exact
equilibrium in their concave and convex lines, but rather affected the
latter. There were other points which they did not attempt to include in
such imitation, as in the shortening of the heads, and exhibiting them so
very frequently with that smile so much repeated by the Parmigiani, by
Barocci, and Vanni. They took their heads from life, and improved upon them
by general ideas of the beautiful. Hence Annibal's Madonnas, many of them
of a small size on copper, exhibit a peculiar and original beauty derived
from his studies; and the same may be said of Lodovico, who, in his softer
heads, often gives the portrait of a lady named Giacomazzi, celebrated for
her beauty at that time. The Caracci were extremely well-grounded in a
knowledge of anatomy, and of the naked figure; and it would be manifest
injustice not to give them credit for due estimation of Michelangiolo, whom
they also imitated. One of them indeed is known to have said, with some
acrimony towards the rival school, that Bonarruoti ought to have covered
his bones with a little flesh, in the manner of their own Tibaldi. It is
true they availed themselves less of the naked form in composition than the
Florentines, though more largely than the other schools. In their costume,
they were not so anxious to observe the exactness and richness of Paul
Veronese, as the grandeur of his folds and form; nor did any other school
give more ample flow of drapery, or arrange it with dignity more suitable
to the figures.

Yet Mengs denies that they were consummate colourists, though they studied
the Lombard and Venetian schools, an opinion confirmed by Lodovico's
paintings in oil, which are faded and almost gone. This arose, either from
the nature of his grounds, from too abundant use of oil, or from not
allowing due time between preparing his canvass and colouring it. The same
remark will not apply to his frescos, which, on a near view, exhibit a
boldness of hand equal almost to Paolo's; nor, in the opinion of Bellori,
was there any work which, in point of colouring, reflected higher credit on
the Caracci, and on the age, than their pictures in the Casa Magnani. They
boast a truth, force, mixture, and harmony of colours, such as to entitle
them also in this portion of the art to the praise of being reformers of
the age. They effectually banished those wretched yellows, and other weak,
washy tints, introduced from parsimony, in place of the azures and
different colours of higher price. In this Bellori accords most merit to
Annibal; declaring it was owing to him that Lodovico himself renounced his
first method of colouring, which was formed on that of Procaccini.

In action and expression they aimed at vivacity, but without ever losing
sight of propriety, of which they were extremely observant; and to which
they were ready to sacrifice any of the graces of the art. In taste of
invention and composition, they come near that of Raffaello. The Caracci
were not lavish of their figures, conceiving twelve sufficient for any
historical piece, except in crowds, or in battle-pieces, where they were
still moderate, in order to give greater relief to particular groups. That
they were competent to compose with judgment, learning, and variety, is
fully apparent from their sacred histories represented on altars, where
they avoided, as much as possible, the very trite representation of a
Madonna between various saints. This truth is still more remarkably shewn
in their profane histories, and in none better than those of Romulus, in
the family just before mentioned. The three relations there appear
universal in the art, as perspective, landscape, and ornamental painters,
masters of every style, and concentering in one point of view whatever is
most desirable in any single work. The three artists seem to disappear in
one; and the same is observed also in several galleries and churches of
Bologna. They followed the same maxims, and in the same studio designed in
union with one another, conferring and taking measures how best to complete
every work in hand. In several instances it still remains matter of doubt
whether pictures are to be attributed to Annibal or to Lodovico; and the
three scriptural histories of the Sampieri, in which the three relations
wished to display their respective powers, do not exhibit a diversity which
might essentially characterize their respective authors. Some indeed there
are who may detect in Lodovico a more general imitation of Titian, than is
observable in the cousins, Agostino inclining more to the taste of
Tintoretto, Annibal to that of Coreggio. It has sometimes been remarked
that the figures of the first of the three are light in form, those of the
third, robust; while those of Agostino hold a middle rank. At Bologna I
found Lodovico enjoying most repute for a certain elevation and grandeur;
Agostino for his inventive powers; Annibal for grace. Every one must judge,
however, according to his own views. It is now my duty to consider these
separately.

Lodovico, doubtless, rises into the sublime in many of his works at
Bologna. His picture of the "_Probatica_" so excellent both in point of
architecture and the design of the figures; that of S. Girolamo, who,
suspending his pen, turns towards heaven with a look and gesture so truly
impressive and dignified; his Limbo of holy fathers, which, as if to renew
his delight in it, he repeated in the cathedral of Piacenza, and sketched
also under a Crucifixion at Ferrara: these have ever been regarded in that
school as models of the sublime. Nevertheless, if we examine the
"Assumption," at the Teresiani, the "Paradise," at the Barnabiti, or the
"S. George," in which is represented that admirable virgin, who is seen
seized with terror in the act of flight, it will be allowed that Annibal
himself could not have exhibited more grace in his drawing of young maidens
or of boys. More excelling, therefore, than great, Lodovico may be said to
be transcendant in every character; and it would even seem that he had
aimed at this boast in the two frescos that have perished, with which he
decorated, at S. Domenico, the chapel of the Lambertini. In one he
exhibited the holy founder, with S. Francis, in a manner very easy and
pleasing to the eye, with few lights and as few shades, but both powerful,
and with few folds in the drapery; the countenances full of piety; insomuch
that the whole performance, in the words of Malvasia, "rose to a pitch of
grandeur not to be excelled." In the other piece he represented "Charity,"
in a style equally soft, graceful, and polished, and which was
subsequently, says the historian, esteemed "the model and the rule of
modern painting." He proceeds to relate, that Albani, Guido, and
Domenichino all derived their sweetness from this source, in the same way,
most probably, that Cavedoni took his first style from the S. Domenico; and
from his Paul at the Conventuali Guercino acquired his grand power of
chiaroscuro. In short, if we may give credit to history, Lodovico in his
own school ranks like Homer among the Greeks, _fons ingeniorum_. Individual
artists in him have recognized what constituted the character of their own
knowledge, because in every branch of painting he was truly profound.[24]

Footnote 24: See Crespi's analysis of the two pictures at
the church of the Certosa, (p. 32,) one representing the
Scourging of Christ, the other his Crown of Thorns, where
the most beautiful art of disposing the light to produce the
desired effect is remarkable; with an exquisite effect of
perspective, and a degree of invention not to be surpassed
in representing the suffering of our Redeemer.

The masterly dignity of his character appears to most advantage in the
cloister of S. Michele in Bosco, where, assisted by his pupils, he
represented the actions of St. Benedict and St. Cecilia in thirty-seven
separate histories. By his hand is the Conflagration of Mount Cassino, and
some other portions; the remaining parts are by Guido, by Tiarini, by
Massari, by Cavedoni, by Spada, by Garbieri, by Brizio, and other young
artists. These paintings have been engraved, and are worthy of the
reformers of that age. On beholding what we may term this gallery by
different hands, we should be almost inclined to bestow upon the school of
Lodovico this trite eulogy; that from it, as from the Trojan horse, there
issued only princes. What does him still more honour is, that his relatives
themselves, down to the least and last, uniformly venerated him as a
preceptor, insomuch that Annibal, on the completion of the Farnese gallery,
invited him to Rome, as the adviser, arbiter, and umpire of that work. He
remained there less than two weeks, and then returning to his beloved
Bologna, he survived Agostino seventeen years, and Annibal ten. Being
separated from the two cousins, he employed himself at an advanced age in a
manner less studied, but still exemplary and masterly. Nor ought a few
slight inaccuracies of design to detract from the praise due to him,
inaccuracies which he fell into about this period, as in the drawing of the
hand of the Redeemer, in the act of calling St. Matthew to follow him, or
in the foot of the Madonna of the Annunciation painted at S. Pietro, a
fault which he saw too late, and it may be added, for which he died of
affliction. Other less well founded criticisms advanced against him by a
traveller have been fully rebutted and confuted by the Can. Crespi.[25]

Footnote 25: _Lettere Pittoriche_, tom. vii. lettera 4.

Agostino, occupied for the most part in engraving, painted but little, this
employment supplying him at once with the means of subsistence, and of
shining in the class of artists. Doubtless painting here sustained a loss,
deprived of a genius equally calculated as his relations to promote the
art. His powers of invention surpassed those of the other Caracci, and many
rank him foremost in point of design. It is certain that in his engraving
he corrected and improved upon the outlines of his originals. On his return
from Venice he applied himself more effectually to colouring, and succeeded
in that of a horse, so far as to deceive the living animal, a triumph so
much celebrated in Apelles. He once competed with his brother Annibal for
an altar-piece intended for the church of the Carthusians. His design was
preferred; and it was then that in his Communion of S. Girolamo he produced
one of the most celebrated pictures of which Bologna can boast. Nothing can
be imagined finer than the expression of devotion in the aged saint, the
piety of the priest at the communion, the looks of the spectators, who
support the dying, who catch his last accents, committing them instantly to
writing, lest they escape; countenances finely varied and animated, each
breathing and speaking, as it were, peculiar mind. On its first exhibition,
the pupils thronged around the picture to make their studies, insomuch that
Annibal, urged by jealousy, assumed more of his brother's taste, becoming
more select and slow, contriving further to addict his brother to
engraving; a plan in which he succeeded. He returned, as a painter, to
Rome; and the fine representation of Poetry, so much admired in the Farnese
gallery, was, in great part, owing to his talent; and the same may be said
of the fables of Cephalus and Galatea, exquisitely graceful productions,
which seem dictated by a poet, and executed by a Greek artist. Hence it was
rumoured that in the Farnesian paintings the engraver had surpassed the
painter; at which Annibal, no longer able to subdue his envy, removed his
brother from the undertaking under a variety of false pretences; nor was
any humility on the part of Agostino, any advice of his elders, or any
mediation of the great, sufficient to appease him. Quitting Rome, Agostino
entered into the service of the Duke of Parma, for whom he painted
Celestial Love, Terrestrial Love, and Venal Love, to adorn one of the
halls, a very beautiful work, which he terminated only just before his
death. A single figure remained wanting, and this the duke would never
consent to have supplied by any other hand. At the point of death he was
seized with lively remorse, on account of his many licentious engravings
and prints, and even wept bitterly. At that period he designed a picture of
the Last Judgment, which, however, he was unable to complete. In the
account of his funeral, and in the oration recited on that occasion by
Lucio Faberio, mention is made of a head of Jesus Christ, in the character
of the universal judge, painted at that time, though unfinished, upon a
black ground. Such a head is pointed out in the Albani palace at Rome, and
duplicates exist elsewhere. In the features we see exhibited all that is at
once most majestic and most terrible within the limits of the human
imagination.

Annibal was greatly celebrated in Lombardy in every peculiar taste which he
chose to pursue. In his earliest works Mengs declares that he traces the
appearance, but not the depth and reality of Coreggio's style; but it is an
appearance so extremely plausible, that it compels us to pronounce him one
of the most perfect imitators of that consummate master. His Taking down
from the Cross, at the church of the Capuccini in Parma, may challenge the
most distinguished followers of the Parmese School. His picture of S. Rocco
is still more celebrated, comprising the perfections of different artists,
a piece engraved in aqua forte by Guido Reni. It was executed for Reggio,
thence transferred to Modena, and from the last place to Dresden. He
represented the saint, standing near a portico on a basement, and
dispensing his wealth to poor mendicants; a composition not so very rich in
figures as in knowledge of the art. A throng of paupers, as different in
point of infirmity as in age and sex, is admirably varied, both in the
grouping and the gestures. One is seen receiving with gratitude, another
impatiently expecting, a third counting his alms with delight; every object
is misery and humiliation, and yet every thing seems to display the
abundance and dignity of the artist. But proceeding to Rome in the year
1600, he entered on another career; "he checked his fire," observes Mengs,
"he improved the extravagance of his forms, imitated Raffaello and the
ancients, retaining at the same time a portion of the style of Coreggio to
support dignity." (Tom. ii. p. 19.) Albano makes use of nearly the same
words in a letter given by Bellori, (p. 44,) adding, that Annibal, in the
opinion of competent judges, "far surpassed his cousin, from a knowledge of
the works of Raffaello, in addition to that of the most beautiful ancient
statues." He was there employed in various churches, though his crowning
effort, and nearly the whole foundation of the art, as restored by his
means, are to be sought for in the Farnese palace. The subjects were
selected by Monsig. Agucchi; and together with the allegories may be read
in Bellori. In a small chamber he gave representations of the Virtues, such
as his _Choice of Hercules_, _Hercules sustaining the World_, _Ulysses the
Liberator_; in the gallery various fables of Virtuous Love, such as those
of Arion and Prometheus; with others of Venal Love, among which a wonderful
figure of a Bacchanal is one of the most conspicuous. The work is admirably
distributed and varied with ovals, cornices, and with a variety of
ornamental figures, sometimes in stucco, at others in chiaroscuro, where
the effect of his assiduous studies of the Farnesian Hercules is very
apparent, as well as of the _torso_ of the Belvidere, which he accurately
designed, without even having the model before him. The whole of the other
parts breathe Attic elegance combined with Raffaellesque grace, and
imitations not only of his own Tibaldi but of Bonarruoti himself, no less
than all the sprightly and the powerful added to the art by the Venetians
and Lombards. This was the earliest production, where, as in Pandora's box,
all the geniuses of the Italian schools united their several gifts; and in
its fit place I described the astonishment created by it at Rome, with the
revolution it occasioned in the whole art.

On account of this work he is ranked by Mengs next after the three leading
masters in the fourth degree, and even esteemed supereminent in regard to
the form of his virile figures. Poussin asserts, that after Raffaello there
were no better compositions than these, and he prefers the decorative heads
and figures already mentioned, with the other naked forms, in which the
artist was said to have surpassed himself, even to his fables so
beautifully painted. To him Baglione refers the method of colouring from
nature, which was nearly lost, as well as the true art of
landscape-painting, afterwards imitated by the Flemish. To these might
likewise be added the use of caricatures, which no one better than he knew
how to copy from nature, and to increase with ideal power. In the Roman
galleries many of Annibal's pictures are to be met with, conducted in this
new style; and there is one in the Lancellotti palace, small, and painted
_a colla_,[26] rivalling, I had almost said, the best pieces of Ercolani.
It is a Pan teaching Apollo to play upon the pipe; figures at once
designed, coloured, and disposed with the hand of a great master. They are
so finely expressive, that we see in the countenance of the youth,
humility, and apprehension of committing an error; and in that of the old
man, turning another way, peculiar attention to the sound, his pleasure in
possessing such a pupil, and his anxiety to conceal from him his real
opinion, lest he might happen to grow vain.[27]

Footnote 26: In colours, of which yolk of egg, or a kind of
glue, is the vehicle.

Footnote 27: See the _Dissertazione su la Pittura_, by the
Canon Lazzarini, in the Catalogue of Pictures at Pesaro, p.
118.

No other pieces so exquisitely finished are found by his hand at Bologna,
where there prevails the same strong party, commenced in the time of the
Caracci, and which prefers Lodovico to Annibal. When we reflect that
Annibal, in addition to the patrimony left by his school, conferred upon it
the riches which the genius of the Greeks, throughout many ages and many
places had collected to adorn their style; when we reflect on the progress,
which, on observing his new style at Rome, was made by Domenichino, Guido,
Albano, Lanfranco, with the new light which it afforded to Algardi,
according to the supposition of Passeri, in respect to sculpture, and the
improvement which by his means took place in the very pleasing and
attractive painting of Flanders and of Holland, we feel inclined to
coincide with the general sentiment entertained beyond the limits of
Bologna, that Annibal was the most eminent artist of his family. At the
same time we may allow, that Agostino was the greater genius, and Lodovico,
to whom we are indebted for both, the greater teacher of these three. As
such, too, the learned Ab. Magnani, librarian and lecturer upon eloquence
to the institution, assigns to him the office of teacher, in an able
oration upon the fine arts, printed at Parma by Bodoni, along with others
by the same author.

The three Caracci may be almost said to define the boundaries of the golden
age of painting in Italy. They are her last sovereign masters, unless we
are willing to admit a few of their select pupils, who extended that period
during the space of some years. Excellent masters, doubtless, flourished
subsequently; but after their decease, the powers of such artists appearing
less elevated and less solid, we begin to hear complaints respecting the
decline of the art. Nor were there wanting those who contended for a
secondary age of silver, dating from Guido down to the time of Giordano, as
well on account of the minor merit of the artists, as for the prices, so
much greater than formerly, which Guido introduced into the art. The
Caracci themselves had been only scantily remunerated. Count Malvasia
admits this fact, not omitting to point out the small dwelling, and to
describe the narrow circumstances in which Lodovico died, while his two
relatives left the world still more impoverished than himself. The Caracci,
moreover, did not, like other painters, leave legitimate sons to perpetuate
their school; they never married, and were accustomed to observe that the
art was sole partner of their thoughts. And this beloved mistress they
adored and served with a love so passionate, as to abandon almost all
worldly care for themselves. Even while sitting at their meals they had the
implements of their art before them; and wherever they observed an action
or gesture adapted to adorn it, they took instant note of it. And to this
their free estate, more than to any other cause, were they indebted for
their noble progress and improvement. Had they "taken to themselves a
wife," how easily would their agreeable friendship and attachment, from
which each of the three derived light and knowledge from the rest, have
been broken in upon by tattling and trifles beneath their care. Most
probably, too, it might have occasioned too great rapidity of hand, at the
expense of study; such at least having been the result with regard to many,
who, to indulge a woman's taste, or to provide for the wants of a family,
have addicted themselves to carelessness and despatch. At the period, then,
of the decease of the two cousins, and the advanced age of Lodovico, there
remained of the family only two youths, one, named Francesco, at Bologna,
the other, Antonio, in Rome.

Francesco was a younger brother of Agostino and Annibal. Confiding in his
connexions and in his own talent, excellent in point of design, and
reasonably good in colouring, he ventured to oppose a school of his own to
that of Lodovico, his master, inscribing upon the door: "This is the true
school of the Caracci." He enjoyed no reputation at Bologna, but was rather
held in dislike, on account of his opposition to and detraction of
Lodovico, to whom he owed what little he executed at that place, namely, an
altar-piece, with various saints, at S. Maria Maggiore, the whole of which
had been retouched by his kind and able cousin. Having gone to Rome, he was
first received with applause, but becoming better known he was soon
despised; and, without leaving a single specimen of his pencil, he died
there in his twenty-seventh year, in the hospital. Antonio Caracci, a
natural son of Agostino, and pupil to Annibal, was of a totally different
disposition. Prudent, affectionate, and grateful to his relatives, he
received Annibal's last sighs at Rome, bestowed upon him a splendid funeral
in the same church of the Rotonda, where Raffaello's remains had been
exhibited, and deposited his ashes at the side of that great artist. He
survived, a valetudinarian, during some years, and died at the age of
thirty-five, in Rome, where he left some works in the pontifical palace,
and at S. Bartolommeo. They are rarely met with in cabinets, though I saw
one in Genoa, a Veronica, in possession of the Brignole family. Bellori Had
written his life, which, although now lost, leads to the supposition that
he possessed great merit, inasmuch as that writer confined himself to the
commemoration of only first rate artists. Baldassare Aloisi, called
Galanino, a kinsman and scholar of the Caracci, yielded to few of his
fellow-pupils in his compositions. His picture of the Visitation, at the
church of the Carità in Bologna, so much extolled by Malvasia, to say
nothing of various other pictures, executed at Rome, and favourably
recorded by Baglione, affords ample proofs of it. His fortune, however, was
not equal to his merit; so that he wholly devoted himself to portraiture,
and as we have stated, in the Roman School, he there for some period
boasted the chief sway in the branch of portraits, which were uniformly
characterized by great power and strong relief.

Other Bolognese artists, educated in the same academy, took up their
residence also at Rome, or in its state; nor were they few in number,
since, as was observed in the fourth epoch of that school, they were
received there with distinguished favour. We shall commence with the least
celebrated. Lattanzio Mainardi, called by Baglione Lattanzio Bolognese, had
visited Rome previous to Annibal, and in the pontificate of Sixtus V.,
conducted several works for the Vatican, which augured well of his genius,
had he not died there very young; as well as one Gianpaolo Bonconti, at an
age still more immature, having vainly followed his master to Rome, where
he had only time to make a few designs, but conceived in the best taste.
Innocenzio Tacconi was kinsman, according to some, and assuredly enjoyed
the confidence of Annibale. From him he received designs and retouches,
tending to make him appear a more considerable artist than he really was.
To judge from some of his histories of St. Andrew, painted for S. Maria del
Popolo, and S. Angiolo, in the fish-market, he may be said to have rivalled
his best fellow-pupils. But abusing his master's goodness, and alienating
his regard from Agostino, from Albano, and from Guido, by
misrepresentations, he received the usual recompence of slanderers. Annibal
withdrew his support, deprived of which he gradually became more and more
insignificant. Anton Maria Panico early left Rome, and, entering the
service of Mario Farnese, resided upon his estates, being employed in
painting at Castro, at Latera, and at Farnese, in whose cathedral he placed
his picture of the mass, to which Annibal also put his hand, even
conducting some of the figures. Baldassare Croce is an artist enumerated by
Orlandi among the pupils of Annibal; by Malvasia, among the imitators of
Guido. Baglione describes him as superior in age to all three of the
Caracci, introducing him into Rome as early as the times of Gregory.
Towards reconciling the accounts of these writers, it might be observed,
that continuing to reside at Rome, he may have taken advantage, as he
advanced in age, of the examples afforded by his noble fellow-citizens. His
style, from what we gather of it in the public palace of Viterbo, and a
cupola of the Gesù, as well as from his large histories of S. Susanna, and
other places in Rome, is easy, natural, and entitling him to the name of a
good mechanist and painter of frescos, but not so easily to that of a
follower of the Caracci. Gio. Luigi Valesio entered, though late, into the
same school, and chiefly attached himself to engraving and to miniature.
Proceeding to Rome, he was there employed by the Lodovisi under the
pontificate of Gregory XV., and obtained great honours. We find him
commended in the works of Marini and other poets, though less for the art,
in which he only moderately excelled, than for his assiduity and his
fortune. He was one of those wits, who in the want of sound merit know how
to substitute easier methods to advance themselves; seasonably to regale
such as can assist them, to affect joy amidst utter humiliation, to
accommodate themselves to men's tempers, to flatter, to insinuate, and to
canvass interest, until they attain their object. By means like these he
maintained his equipage in Rome, where Annibal, during many years, obtained
no other stipend for his honourable toils, than a bare roof for his head,
daily pittance for himself and his servant, with annual payment of a
hundred and twenty crowns.[28] In the few pieces executed by Valesio at
Bologna, such as his Nunziata of the Mendicants, we perceive a dry
composition of small relief, yet exact according to the method of the
miniaturists. He appears to have somewhat improved at Rome, where he left a
few works in fresco and in oil, exhibiting his whole power, perhaps, in a
figure of Religion, in the cloister of the Minerva. To these artists of the
Caracci school it will be sufficient only to have alluded. They were indeed
no more than gregarious followers of those elevated standards of their age.

Footnote 28: See _Malvasia_, vol. i. p. 574.

The five, however, who next follow, deserve a nearer view, and more
accurate acquaintance with their merits. These, remaining indeed at Rome,
became leaders of new ranks, which from them assumed their name and device;
and hence we have alternately been compelled to record the disciples of
Albano, of Guido, and so of the rest. This repetition, however, in other
places, will now permit us to treat of them in a more cursory view.

Domenico Zampieri, otherwise Domenichino, is at this day universally
esteemed the most distinguished pupil of the Caracci; and has even been
preferred by Count Algarotti to the Caracci themselves. What is still more,
Poussin ranked him directly next to Raffaello; and in the introduction to
the life of Camassei, almost the same opinion is given by Passeri. During
the early part of his career his genius appeared slow, because it was
profound and accurate; and Passeri attributes his grand progress more to
his amazing study than to his genius. From his acting as a continual censor
of his own productions, he became among his fellow pupils the most exact
and expressive designer, his colours most true to nature, and of the best
_impasto_, the most universal master in the theory of his art, the sole
painter amongst them all in whom Mengs found nothing to desire, except a
somewhat larger proportion of elegance. That he might devote his whole
being to the art, he shunned all society, or if he occasionally sought it
in the public theatres and markets, it was in order better to observe the
play of nature's passions in the features of the people;--those of joy,
anger, grief, terror, and every affection of the mind, and to commit it
living to his tablets; and thus, exclaims Bellori, it was, he succeeded in
delineating the soul, in colouring life, and rousing those emotions in our
breasts at which his works all aim; as if he waved the same wand which
belonged to the poetical enchanters, Tasso and Ariosto. After several
years' severe study at Bologna, he went to Parma to examine the beautiful
works of the Lombards; and thence to Rome, where he completed his erudite
taste under Annibal, who selected him as one of his assistants.

His style of painting is almost theatrical, and he in general lays the
scene amidst some splendid exhibition of architecture,[29] which serves to
confer upon his compositions a new and elevated character in the manner of
Paul Veronese. There he introduces his actors, selected from nature's
finest models, and animated by the noblest impulses of the art. The
virtuous have an expression so sweet, so sincere, and so affectionate, as
to inspire the love of what is good. And in the like manner do the vicious,
with their guilty features, create in us as deep aversion to their vice. We
must despair to find paintings exhibiting richer or more varied ornaments,
accessaries more beautifully adapted, or more majestic draperies. The
figures are finely disposed both in place and action, conducing to the
general effect; while a light pervades the whole which seems to rejoice the
spirit; growing brighter and brighter in the aspect of the best
countenances, whence they first attract the eye and heart of the beholder.
The most delightful mode of view is to take in the whole scene, and observe
how well each personage represents his intended part. In general there is
no want of an interpreter to declare what the actors think and speak; they
bear it stamped upon their features and attitudes; and though gifted with
audible words, they could not tell their tale to the ear, more plainly than
they speak it to the eye. Surely, of this, we have proof in the Scourging
of St. Andrew, at S. Gregorio, at Rome, executed in competition with Guido,
and placed opposite to his St. Andrew, in the act of being led to the
gibbet. It is commonly reported that an aged woman, accompanied by a little
boy, was seen long wistfully engaged with viewing Domenichino's picture,
shewing it part by part to the boy, and next turning to the history by
Guido, she gave it a cursory glance, and passed on. Some assert, that
Annibal, being acquainted with the fact, took occasion from the
circumstance to give his preference to the former piece. It is moreover
added, that in painting one of the executioners, he actually threw himself
into a passion, using threatening words and actions, and that Annibal
surprising him at that moment, embraced him, exclaiming with joy, "To-day,
my Domenichino, thou art teaching me!" So novel, and at the same time so
natural it appeared to him, that the artist, like the orator, should feel
within himself all that he is representing to others.

Footnote 29: He was likewise very eminent in this branch,
being named by Gregory XV. as architect for the Apostolic
Palace.

Yet this picture of the Scourging is in no way to be compared with the
Communion of S. Jerome, or to the Martyrdom of S. Agnes, and other works,
conducted in his riper years. The first of these is generally allowed to be
the finest picture Rome can boast next to the Transfiguration of Raffaello;
while the second was estimated by his rival Guido at ten times the merit of
Raffaello's own pieces.[30] In these church paintings one great attraction
consists in the glory of the angels, exquisitely beautiful in feature, full
of lively action, and so introduced as to perform the most gracious offices
in the piece; the crowning of martyrs, the bearing palms, the scattering of
roses, weaving the mazy dance, and waking sweet melodies. In the attitudes
we often trace the imitation of Coreggio; yet the forms are different, and
for the most part have a flatness of the nose, which distinguishes them,
and gives them an air of comeliness. Much, however, as Domenichino
delighted in oil-painting, he is more soft and harmonious in his frescos;
some of which are to be seen, besides those in Naples, at Fano, but the
greatest part of them were destroyed by fire. They consist of scriptural
histories in a chapel of the cathedral; of mythological incidents in villa
Bracciano, at Frascati; the acts of S. Nilo, at Grotta Ferrata; and various
sacred subjects interspersed through different churches at Rome. In the
corbels of the cupolas at S. Carlo a' Catinari, and at S. Andrea della
Valle, he painted, at the former, the four Virtues, at the latter, the four
Evangelists, still regarded as models after innumerable similar
productions. At S. Andrea also are seen various histories of that saint in
the tribune, besides those of St. Cecilia, at S. Luigi; others at S.
Silvestro, in the Quirinal of David, and other scriptural subjects, which
in point of composition and taste of costume are by some esteemed superior
to the rest.

Footnote 30: The Cav. Puccini very justly condemns this
opinion in his _Esame Critico del Webb_, p. 49.

It seems almost incredible, that works like these, which now engage the
admiration of professors themselves, should once, as I have narrated, have
been decried to such a degree, that the author was long destitute of all
commissions, and even on the point of transferring his genius to the art of
sculpture. This was in part owing to the arts of his rivals, who
represented his very excellences as defects, and in part to some little
faults of his own. Domenichino was less distinguished for invention than
for any other branch of his profession. Of this, his picture of the Rosary
at Bologna affords an instance, which neither at that period nor since has
been fully understood by the public; and it is known not to have pleased
even his own friends, which led the author to regret its production.
Diffident thenceforward of his powers in this department, he often borrowed
the ideas of others; imitated Agostino in his St. Jerome, the S. Rocco, of
Annibal, in his almsgiving of St. Cecilia; and even other less eminent
artists; observing, that in every picture he found something good, as Pliny
said, that from every book we may cull some useful information. These
imitations afforded occasion for his rivals to charge him with poverty of
invention, procuring an engraving of Agostino's St. Jerome, of which they
circulated copies, denouncing Domenico Zampieri as a plagiarist. Lanfranco,
the chief agent in these intrigues, exhibited on the contrary only his own
designs, invariably novel, and made a display of his own celerity and
promptness of hand, as contrasted with his rival's want of resolution and
despatch. Had Domenichino enjoyed the same advantages of party as the
Caracci in Bologna, which he well deserved, he would soon have triumphed
over his adversaries, by proving the distinction between imitation and
servility,[31] and that if his works were longer in being brought to
perfection than his rival's, their reputation would be proportionally
durable. The public is an equitable judge; but a good cause is not
sufficient without the advantage of many voices to sanction it.
Domenichino, timid, retired, and master of few pupils, was destitute of a
party equal to his cause. He was constrained to yield to the crowd that
trampled him, thus verifying the observation of Monsig. Agucchi, that his
worth would never be rightly appreciated during his lifetime. The spirit of
party passing away, impartial posterity has rendered him justice; nor is
there a royal gallery but confesses an ambition for his specimens. His
figure pieces are in the highest esteem, and fetch enormous prices. He is
rarely to be met with except in capital cities; his David is a first rate
object of inquiry to all strangers visiting the college of Fano, who have
the least pretensions to taste; the figure of the king, as large as life,
being of itself sufficient to render an artist's name immortal.

Footnote 31: See the defence set up by Crespi, both for
Domenichino and Massari, another imitator of Agostino's
picture. It is inserted in the _Certosa di Bologna_,
described at p. 26. He has also been commended by Bellori
for his slowness of hand, who brings forward some of his
maxims, such as that, "no single line is worthy of a real
painter which is not dictated by the genius before it is
traced by the hand; that excellence consists in the full and
proper completion of works;" and he used to reproach those
pupils who designed in sketch, and coloured by dashes of the
pencil (p. 213). We meet with a third apology in Passeri,
(p. 4,) for some figures borrowed from the Farnese Gallery,
and imitated by Domenichino in the histories of St. Jerome
in the portico of S. Onofrio. At p. 9 too he defends him in
regard to the style of his folds, in which by some he was
thought too scanty, and too hard in their disposition.

There is a small, but inestimable picture of St. Francis, that belonged to
the late Count Jacopo Zambeccari, at Bologna. The saint is seen in the act
of prayer, and by the animated and flushed expression of the eyes, it
appears as if his heart had just been dissolved in tears. Two pictures,
likewise beautifully composed, I have seen at Genoa; the Death of Adonis
bewailed by Venus, in the Durazzo Gallery just before mentioned, and the S.
Rocco in the Brignole Sale, offering up prayers for the cessation of the
plague. The attitude of the holy man; the eagerness of those who seek him;
the tragic exhibition of the dying and the dead around him; a funeral
procession going by; an infant seen on the bosom of its dead mother, vainly
seeking its wonted nutriment; all shake the soul of the spectator as if he
were beholding the real scene. Among his pictures from profane history the
most celebrated is his Chase of Diana, in the Borghesi Palace, filled with
spirited forms of nymphs, and lively incidents. In the same collection are
some of his landscapes, as well as in that of Florence; and some of his
portraits in others. Here too he is excellent, but they are the least
difficult branches to acquire. Respecting his other works, and the most
eminent of his pupils, enough has been stated in the Roman and Neapolitan
schools. He educated for his native place Gio. Batista Ruggieri; and to his
numerous other misfortunes was added the pain of finding him ungrateful,
after having rendered him eminent in his art. This pupil united with Gessi
in quality of assistant; and as we shall shew, also took his denomination
from him. Passeri dwells on this disappointment of Domenichino incidentally
in his life of Algardi, (p. 198).

Next to Zampieri comes his intimate friend Francesco Albani, "who, aiming
at the same object," observes Malvasia, "and adopting the same means,
pursued the like glorious career." They agree in a general taste for select
design, solidity, pathetic power, and likewise in their tints, except in
Albani's fleshes being ruddier, and not unfrequently faded, from his method
of laying on the grounds. In point of original invention he is superior to
Domenichino, and perhaps to any other of the school; and in his
representation of female forms, according to Mengs, he has no equal. By
some he is denominated the Anacreon of painting. Like that poet, with his
short odes, so Albani, from his small paintings, acquired great reputation;
and as the one sings Venus and the Loves, and maids and boys, so does the
artist hold up to the eye the same delicate and graceful subjects. Nature,
indeed formed, the perusal of the poets inclined, and fortune encouraged
his genius for this kind of painting; and possessing a consort and twelve
children, all of surprising beauty, he was at the same time blest with the
finest models for the pursuit of his studies. He had a villa most
delightfully situated, which farther presented him with a variety of
objects, enabling him to represent the beautiful rural views so familiar to
his eye. Passeri greatly extols his talent in this branch, remarking, that
where others, being desirous of suiting figures to the landscape, or its
various objects to one another, most frequently alter their natural colour,
he invariably preserves the green of his trees, the clearness of his
waters, and the serenity of the air, under the most lovely aspect; and
contrived to unite them with the most enchanting power of harmony.

Upon such grounds, for the most part, he places and disposes his
compositions, although he may occasionally introduce specimens of his
architecture, in which he is equally expert. His pictures are often met
with in collections, or to speak more correctly, they re-appear, inasmuch
as both he himself made repetitions, and practised his pupils in them,
giving them his own touches. He exhibits few bacchanals, avoiding figures
that had already been so admirably treated by Annibal in many of his little
pictures, from which, if I mistake not, Albano drew the first ideas of his
style; adapting it to his own talent, which was not so elevated as that of
Annibal. His most favourite themes are the sleeping Venus, Diana in her
bath, Danae on her couch, Galatea in the sea, Europa on the bull, a piece
which is also seen on a large scale in the Colonna and Bolognetti
collections at Rome, and in that of the Conti Mosca at Pesaro. How
beautifully do those figures of the Loves throw their veil over the virgin,
in order to protect her from the sun's rays, while others are seen drawing
forward the bull with bands of flowers, or goading him in the side with
their darts. At times he introduces them in the dance, weaving garlands,
and practising with their bows at a heart suspended in the air for a
target. Occasionally he conceals some doctrine, or ingenious allegory,
under the veil of painting; as in those four oval pictures of the Elements
in the Borghesi palace, which he repeated for the royal gallery at Turin.
There too are Cupids seen employed in tempering Vulcan's darts; spreading
their snares for birds upon the wing; fishing and swimming in the sea;
culling and wreathing flowers, as if intended to represent the system of
the ancients, who referred every work of nature to Genii, and with Genii
accordingly peopled the world. To sacred subjects Albano devoted less
attention, but did not vary his taste. The entire action of such pieces was
made to depend on the ministry of graceful cherubs, in a manner similar to
that which was subsequently adopted by P. Tornielli in his marine
canzonettes, where, in every history of the Virgin and Holy Child, he
introduces a throng of them as a sacred train. Another very favourite
repetition of idea is that of representing the Infant Christ, with his eye
turned towards Heaven upon the angels, some in the act of bringing thorns,
some the scourge, some the cross, or other symbols of his future passion.
There is a picture of this kind in Florence, to which I alluded in the
_Description_ of the ducal gallery, and it is also found somewhat varied in
two fine pieces; one at the Domenicani in Forli, the other in Bologna, at
the Filippini. These, and other works of Albani, interspersed throughout
different cities, as in Matelica, in Osimo, in Rimini, besides his fresco
paintings in Bologna, at S. Michele in Bosco, at S. Jacopo, of the
Spaniards at Rome, with the design of Annibal; these sufficiently exhibit
his superior talent for large paintings, although he applied himself with
greater zest and vigour to those on a smaller scale.

Albani opened an academy for several years at Rome, and at Bologna,
invariably a competitor of Guido, both in his magisterial and his
professional capacity.[32] Hence arose those strictures upon his style
which Guido's disciples affected to despise as loose and effeminate,
wanting elegance in the virile forms, while those of the boys were all of
the same proportion, and his heads of the Holy Family, and of saints had
always one idea. Similar accusations, advanced likewise against Pietro
Perugino, are not calculated to depress so great an artist's merit, so much
as the esteem of Annibal, his own writings, and his pupils, serve to raise
him in our regard. It is matter of historical fact that Annibal, seized
with admiration of some of his small pictures, and among others a
bacchante, seen at a fountain pouring out wine, purchased it, and declared
that he had not even paid for the drops of water so exquisitely coloured by
the wine. Of his writings there remain only a few fragments, preserved by
Malvasia, not indeed reduced to method, a task that ought to devolve on
some other pen, but highly valuable from the information and maxims which
they contain. Among his pupils Sacchi and Cignani are in themselves
sufficient to reflect credit upon their master, the first of whom sustained
the art at Rome, the other at Bologna, and to whose efforts it was owing
that its reputation so long continued in both those schools. There,
moreover, we recounted the names of Speranza, and Mola, of Lugano, his
noble disciples; and to these, besides Cignani, to whom we refer elsewhere,
we can add a considerable number. Gio. Batista Mola, a Frenchman, long
continued with Albano, and, according to Boschini, resided with the other
Mola at Venice, where they copied a vast work of Paul Veronese for Cardinal
Bichi. He displayed surprising skill in drawing rural scenes and trees, and
being preferred by many in this branch to his master, he often added
landscape to his master's figures, and occasionally adapted figures to his
own landscape, very beautiful, in Albani's style, but without his softness.
In the excellent collection of the Marchesi Rinuccini, at Florence, is a
picture of the Repose in Egypt, by the same hand. Two other foreign pupils
also did him credit; Antonio Catalani, called Il Romano, and Girolamo
Bonini, also from his native place, entitled l'Anconitano, who, in
imitating Albani, was equalled by few, and who enjoyed his perfect
confidence and friendship. Settling at Bologna, they there employed
themselves with reputation in some elegant works, and left several
histories in fresco in the public palace. In this last branch, Pierantonio
Torri also distinguished himself, called, in Guarienti's lexicon, Antonio,
dropping Pietro on the authority of the Passagiere disingannato; and
Torrigli, in the Guide of Venice, where he painted the architectural parts
in the church of S. Giuseppe for the figures of Ricchi. Filippo Menzani is
known only as the attached disciple and faithful copyist of his master.
Gio. Batista Galli, and Bartolommeo Morelli, the former called from his
birth-place, Bibiena, the latter Pianoro, were similarly employed in taking
copies from him; though the second applied to it with extreme reluctance,
on account of Albani being "too highly finished, diligent, and laborious,
for the task of copying." Both these artists are commended by the
continuator of Malvasia. Bibiena, though he died early, conducted works
that might be ascribed to Albani, in particular the Ascension at the
Certosa, and his St. Andrew at the Servi in Bologna. Pianoro succeeded
admirably well in his frescos, more especially in the chapel of Casa Pepoli
at S. Bartolommeo di Porta, decorated by him throughout in such exquisite
taste, that, were history silent, it would be said to have been designed
and coloured by Albani's own hand.

Footnote 32: This rivalship is questioned in many places by
Malvasia, and denied by Orlandi, who in the article
Francesco Albano, designates him as the sworn friend of
Guido Reni, in close union with whom he prosecuted their
delightful art; but this can only apply to their early
years.

By some, Guido Reni is esteemed the great genius of the school; nor did any
other single artist excite so much jealousy in the Caracci. Lodovico was
unable to disguise it; and from a pupil he made him his rival, and in order
to humble him, bestowed his favour on Guercino, an artist in quite another
taste. Annibal too, after some years, on seeing him at Rome, blamed Albani
for inviting him thither; and, in order to depress him, he put Domenichino
in opposition to him. Even from the age of twenty, when he left the school
of Calvart, the Caracci discovered in him a rare genius for the art, so
elevated and ambitious of distinction, that he aspired to something great
and novel from the outset of his career. Some of his early efforts are to
be seen in the Bonfigliuoli palace, and in other choice collections,
displaying a variety of manner. He devoted much study to Albert Durer, he
imitated the Caracci, studied the forms of Cesi, and, like Passerotti,
aimed at giving strong relief and accuracy to the drawing of the muscles.
In some instances he followed Caravaggio, and in the aforesaid palace is a
figure of a sibyl, very beautiful in point of features, but greatly
overlaid with depth of shade. The style he adopted arose particularly from
an observation on that of Caravaggio one day incidentally made by Annibal
Caracci, that to this manner there might be opposed one wholly contrary; in
place of a confined and declining light, to exhibit one more full and
vivid; to substitute the tender for the bold, to oppose clear outlines to
his indistinct ones, and to introduce for his low and common figures those
of a more select and beautiful kind.

These words made a much deeper impression on the mind of Guido than Annibal
was aware of; nor was it long before he wholly applied himself to the style
thus indicated to him. Sweetness was his great object; he sought it equally
in design, in the touch of his pencil, and in colouring; from that time he
began to make use of white lead, a colour avoided by Lodovico, and at the
same time predicted the durability of his tints, such as they have proved.
His fellow pupils were indignant at his presuming to depart from the
Caracci's method, and returning to the feeble undecided manner of the past
century. Nor did he pretend to be indifferent to their remarks and advice.
He still preserved that strength of style, so much aimed at by his school,
while he softened it with more than its usual delicacy; and by degrees
proceeding in the same direction, he, in a few years, attained to the
degree of delicacy he had proposed. For this reason I have observed that in
Bologna, more than elsewhere, his first is distinguished from his second
manner, and it is made a question which of the two is preferable. Nor do
all agree with Malvasia, who pronounced his former the most pleasing, his
latter manner the most studied.

In these variations, however, he never lost sight of that exquisite ease
which so much attracts us in his works. He was more particularly attentive
to the correct form of beauty, especially in his youthful heads. Here, in
the opinion of Mengs, he surpassed all others, and, according to Passeri's
expression, he drew faces of Paradise. In these Rome abounds more richly
than Bologna itself. The Fortune in the capitol; the Aurora, belonging to
the Rospigliosi; the Helen to the Spada; the Herodias to the Corsini; the
Magdalen to the Barberini, with other subjects in possession of several
princes, are regarded as the wonders of Guido's art. This power of beauty
was, in the words of Albano, his most bitter and constant rival, the gift
of nature; though the whole was the result of his own intense study of
natural beauty, and of Raffaello, and of the ancient statues, medals, and
cameos. He declared that the Medicean Venus and the Niobe were his most
favourite models; and it is seldom we do not recognize in his paintings
either Niobe herself, or one of her children, though diversified in a
variety of manner with such exquisite skill, as in no way to appear
borrowed. In the same way did Guido derive advantage from Raffaello,
Coreggio, Parmigianino, and from his beloved Paul Veronese; from all of
whom he selected innumerable beauties, but with such happy freedom of hand
as to excite the envy of the Caracci. And, in truth, this artist aimed less
at copying beautiful countenances, than at forming for himself a certain
general and abstract idea of beauty, as we know was done by the Greeks, and
this he modulated and animated in his own style. I find mention, that being
interrogated by one of his pupils, _in what part of heaven, in what mould_
existed those wondrous features which he only drew, he pointed to the casts
of the antique heads just alluded to, adding, "You too may gather from such
examples beauties similar to those in my pictures, if your skill be equal
to the task." I find, moreover, that he took for model of one of his
Magdalens, the extremely vulgar head of a colour-grinder; but under Guido's
hand every defect disappeared, each part became graceful, the whole a
miracle. Thus too in his naked figures he reduced them, whatever they were,
to a perfect form, more especially in the hands and feet, in which he is
singular, and the same in his draperies, which he often drew from the
prints of Albert Durer, enriching them, freed from their dryness, with
those flowing folds or that grandeur of disposition best adapted to the
subject. To portraits themselves, while he preserved the forms and age of
the originals, he gave a certain air of novelty and grace, such as we see
in that of Sixtus V., placed in the Galli palace at Osimo, or in that
wonderful one of Cardinal Spada, in possession of some of his descendants
at Rome. There is no one action, position, or expression at all injurious
to his figures; the passions of grief, terror, sorrow, are all combined
with the expression of beauty; he turns them every way as he lists, he
changes them into every attitude, always equally pleasing, and every one
equally entitled to the eulogy of displaying in every action, and in every
step, the beauty which secretly animates and accompanies it.[33]

Footnote 33:
Illam quidquid agat, quoquo vestigia vertat,
Componit furtim, subsequiturque decor.--TIBUL.

What most surprises us is the variety which he infuses into this beauty,
resulting no less from his richness of imagination than from his studies.
Still continuing to design in the academy up to the close of his career, he
practised his invention how best to vary his idea of the beautiful, so as
to free it from all monotony and satiety. He was fond of depicting his
countenances with upraised looks, and used to say that he had a hundred
different modes of thus representing them. He displayed equal variety in
his draperies, though invariably preferring to draw the folds ample, easy,
natural, and with clear meaning, as to their origin, progress, and
disposition. Nor did he throw less diversity into the ornaments of his
youthful heads, disposing the tresses, whether loose, bound, or left in
artful confusion, always different, and sometimes casting over them a veil,
fillet, or turban, so as to produce some fresh display of grace. Nor were
his heads of old men inferior in this respect, displaying even the
inequality of the skin, the flow of the beard, with the hair turned as we
see on every side, and animating the features with a few bold, decided
touches, and few lights, so as to give great effect at a distance,
altogether with a surprising degree of nature; specimens of which are seen
at the Pitti palace, the Barberina and Albana galleries; and yet among the
least rare of this artist's productions. He bestowed similar attention to
varying his fleshes; in delicate subjects he made them of the purest white,
adding, moreover, certain livid and azure, mixed among middle tints, open
to a charge, at least by some, of mannerism.[34]

Footnote 34: The harmony and union of colour of this artist
would seem to excuse some trifling licenses, respecting
which see Lazzarini upon the Paintings of Pesaro, p. 29.

The preceding commendations, however, will not extend to the whole of
Guido's works. His inequality is well known, but not owing to any maxim of
his art. It arose from his love of play, a failing which obscured his many
moral qualities. His profits were great; but he was kept continually in a
state of indigence by his losses, which he endeavoured to repair by the too
negligent practice of his art. Hence we trace occasional errors in
perspective, and deficiency of invention, a defect so much insisted upon by
the implacable Albani. Hence too his incorrectness of design, the
disproportion of his figures, and his works put to sale before their
completion. Yet these are not excluded from royal cabinets, and that of
Turin possesses one of Marsyas, a finely finished figure, before which is
seen standing little more than the sketch of an Apollo. To form then a fair
estimate of Guido, we must turn to other efforts which raised him to high
reputation. Among his most excellent pieces I am of opinion that his
Crucifixion of St. Peter, at Rome, is a specimen of his boldest manner; the
Miracle of the Manna at Ravenna, the Conception at Forli, the Slaughter of
the Innocents at Bologna; and there too his celebrated picture of Saints
Peter and Paul in the Casa Sampieri. Specimens of his more tender manner
may be found in the St. Michael at Rome, the Purification at Modena, the
Job at Bologna, St. Thomas the Apostle at Pesaro, the Assumption at Genoa,
one of Guido's most studied pieces, and placed directly opposite the St.
Ignatius of Rubens.

Guido taught at Rome, and gave his pupils, as we have stated, to that city.
He educated still more for his native place, where he opened a school,
frequented by more than two hundred pupils, as we are informed by Crespi.
Nor are we by this number to measure the dignity of his character as a
master. He was an accomplished head of his school, who, in every place,
introduced into the art a more sweet and engaging manner, entitled in the
times of Malvasia the modern manner. Even his rivals took advantage of it,
the fact being indisputable that Domenichino, Albano, and Lanfranco, along
with their best disciples, derived that degree of delicacy, in which they
sometimes surpass the Caracci, from none but Guido. He would not permit the
scholars in his studio to copy in the first instance from his own works,
but exercised them in those of Lodovico, and the most eminent deceased
masters. It is conjectured also by Crespi, that he grounded his scholars in
the principles of the art of imitation, and all the first requisites,
without reference to the minutiæ, which are easily acquired in the course
of practice. Guido particularly prided himself on Giacomo Semenza, and
Francesco Gessi, whom he thought equal to any masters at that time in
Bologna. He employed them in that chapel of the cathedral at Ravenna, a
perfect miracle of beauty, and gave them commissions from the court of
Mantua and Savoy, assisting them also, both at Rome and his native place;
in return for all which he was repaid by Semenza with gratitude, but by
Gessi with bitter persecutions. He was followed by both in point of style,
and specimens are to be seen in some choice collections.

Semenza emulated Guido in both his manners, and displayed more correctness,
erudition, and strength. His pictures at Araceli and other places
sufficiently distinguish him from the immense crowd of fresco-painters at
Rome. There too are many of his altar-pieces, none more beautiful, perhaps,
than the S. Sebastian, at S. Michele in Bologna. Gessi surpassed him in
spirit, invention, and rapidity, for which last quality even Guido envied
him. This enabled him too, from the first, to vary his works in point of
manner until he hit upon the right one, as in his very beautiful St.
Francis at the Nunziata, little inferior to Guido, as well as in several
others conducted in his earlier and best days. To these he was indebted for
his name of a second Guido; but subsequently he abused his talents, as is
the case with those who are held in slight esteem for performing much and
rapidly. Thus Bologna abounds with his pictures, in which, with the
exception of their fine character and much delicacy, there is nothing to
commend; his pictures are cold, his colouring is slight; the shape and
features are often too large, and not seldom incorrect. He is known to have
invariably affected the second manner of Guido, and hence he is always more
feeble, dry, and less harmonious than his master. By these distinctions are
the differences between salesmen and purchasers usually decided, as to
whether such a piece be a poor Guido or a Gessi.

Yet Gessi had a numerous school at Bologna, on Guido's retiring, and formed
scholars of some reputation, such as Giacomo Castellini, Francesco
Coreggio, and Giulio Trogli, who, devoting himself to perspective, under
Mitelli, and publishing a work entitled Paradossi della Prospettiva, went
ever afterwards by the name of the _Paradox_. Ercole Ruggieri was a
faithful follower of Gessi's style, insomuch as at first sight to be
mistaken for his master. He was called Ercolino del Gessi, and his brother
Batistino del Gessi, an artist of rare talent, commended by Baglione, and
much esteemed by Cortona, in whose arms he breathed his last. Batistino was
first a pupil of Domenichino, as before mentioned; and might more properly
be named dello Zampieri than del Gessi, from his education and his style.
He accompanied Gessi to Naples, and subsequently became his rival, and
surpassed him at S. Barbaziano in Bologna. Finally he fixed his residence
at Rome, where remain some of his paintings in fresco, in the cloister of
the Minerva, in the Cenci palace, and elsewhere, which shew in him the
promise of a very distinguished artist; but he did not survive his
thirty-second year.

To Guido Reni belongs Ercole de Maria, or da S. Giovanni, called Ercolino
di Guido. So pliant was his genius to that of his master, that when the
latter had half completed a picture, his pupil made a copy and substituted
it for the original, and Guido continued the work, unsuspicious of the
cheat, as if it had been his own. He willingly employed him, therefore, in
multiplying his own designs, two of which copies are yet seen in public,
extremely beautiful, though not displaying the same freedom as others which
he conducted on private commission, at a more advanced age. In these there
appears a decision and flow of pencil which imposed upon the best judges, a
talent that procured him admiration at Rome, with an honour received by no
other copyist, being created a Cavalier by Urban VIII.; but this artist
also died in the flower of his age.

Another good copyist and master of Guido's style appeared in Gio. Andrea
Sirani. On his master's death he completed the great picture of St. Bruno,
left unfinished at the Certosini, with others throughout the city in the
same state. Whether owing to Guido's retouches, or want of freedom,
Sirani's earliest works bear much resemblance to that master's second
manner, more particularly his Crucifixion in the church of S. Marino, which
seems like a repetition of the S. Lorenzo in Lucina, or that in the
Modenese gallery, in whose features death itself appears beautiful. In
progress of time Sirani is supposed to have aimed at the stronger style of
Guido in his early career, and conducted in such taste are his pictures of
the Supper of the Pharisee, at the Certosa, the Nuptials of the Virgin, at
St. Giorgio, in Bologna, and the Twelve Crucifixions, in the cathedral of
Piacenza, an extremely beautiful painting, ascribed by some to Elisabetta
Sirani, a daughter and pupil of Gio. Andrea.

This lady adhered faithfully to Guido's second manner, to which she added
powerful relief and effect. She is nearly the sole individual of the
family, whose name occurs in collections out of Bologna. Anna and Barbara,
her two sisters, also artists, as well as their father himself, yield
precedence to her single name. How surprising that a young woman, who
survived not her twenty-sixth year, should have produced the number of
paintings enumerated by Malvasia, still more that she should execute them
with so much care and elegance; but most of all, that she could conduct
them on a grand scale and in histories, with none of that timidity so
apparent in Fontana, and in other artists of her sex. Such is her picture
of Christ at the River Jordan, painted for the Certosa; her St. Antony, at
S. Leonardo, and many other altar-pieces in different cities. In the
subjects which she most frequently painted by commission, she still
improved on herself, as we perceive in her Magdalens and figures of the
Virgin and infant Christ, of which some of the most finished specimens are
in the Zampieri, Zambeccari, and Caprara palaces, as well as in the Corsini
and Bolognetti collections at Rome. There are also some small paintings of
histories on copper, extremely valuable, from her hand, as that of Lot, in
possession of Count Malvezzi, or the St. Bastian, attended by S. Irene, in
the Altieri palace; the former at Bologna, the latter at Rome. I have also
discovered some portraits, no unfrequent commissions which she received
from a number of sovereigns and innumerable distinguished personages
throughout Europe. Of this class I saw a singularly beautiful specimen at
Milan, being her own likeness crowned by a young cherub. It is in the
possession of Counsellor Pagave. Elisabetta died by poison, administered by
one of her own maids, and was bewailed in her native place with marks of
public sorrow. She was interred in the same vault which contained the ashes
of Guido Reni. Besides her two sisters, who imitated her in the art, were
many other ladies; Veronica Franchi, Vincenzia Fabri, Lucrezia Scarfaglia,
Ginevra Cantofoli; of which last, as well as of Barbara Sirani, there
remain some fine pictures, even in some churches of Bologna.[35]

Footnote 35: See Crespi, p. 74.

Among the Bolognese pupils of Guido, Domenico Maria Canuti obtained great
celebrity. He was employed by the Padri Olivetani, (an order the most
distinguished for its patronage of first rate artists,) in several
monasteries, more particularly at Rome, Padua, and Bologna, whose library
and church he decorated with numerous paintings. One of these, the Taking
down from the Cross by torch-light, is greatly admired, several copies of
which are met with, in general called the Night of Canuti; also a St.
Michael, painted in part within the arch, and in part on the exterior, is
considered a rare triumph of the power of perspective. His entire work in
that library was afterwards described and printed by the Manolessi. He left
immense works also in two halls of the Pepoli palace, in the Colonna
gallery at Rome, in the ducal palace at Mantua, and elsewhere, being
esteemed one of the best fresco painters of his time. His fertility and
vivacity please more than his colouring, while his individual figures are,
perhaps, more attractive than the general effect of the picture. He was
excellent too in oil, and succeeded admirably in copying Guido, whose
Magdalen of the Barberini was taken so exactly, that it appears the best
among all the copies seen at S. Michele in Bosco. Canuti opened school at
Bologna; but his pupils, during his tour to Rome, attached themselves
chiefly to Pasinelli, in whose school, or in that of Cignani, they will be
found included during the last epoch.

Other of Guido's scholars are indicated by Malvasia, among whom he highly
extols Michele Sobleo, or Desubleo, from Flanders, though resident at
Bologna. But he left little in public there, and that is a mixture of
Guercino and of Guido. Several churches at Venice were decorated by his
hand, and the altar-piece at the Carmelite friars, representing also
various saints of that order, is among his most celebrated works. From the
same country was Enrico Fiammingo, whom we must not confound with Arrigo
Fiammingo, an artist made known to us by Baglione. Both fixed their abode
in Italy, and the follower of Guido, formerly pupil to Ribera, painted some
pictures at S. Barbaziano in Bologna, that may compete with those of Gessi,
were it not for the fleshes being of a darker tinge. A few pictures by
another foreigner are preserved at the Capuccini and elsewhere; his name,
Pietro Lauri, or rather De Laurier, a Frenchman, whose crayons were
frequently retouched by Guido, and whose oil pictures also shew traces of
the same hand. Respecting another, whose name only remains, it will be
sufficient to mention an altar-piece of the Magdalen, placed in the oratory
of S. Carlo, at Volterra, relating to which is a letter of Guido to the
Cav. Francesco Incontri, stating that he had retouched it, particularly in
the head; but that, with the aid of Guido's design, it was painted by the
Signor Camillo. He is said to have been a member of that noble family, of
whom memorials have been preserved by his house.

Returning to the Bolognese artists, Gio. Maria Tamburini will be found to
hold a high rank, the author of many fresco histories in the portico of the
Conventuals, and of the Nunziata at the Vita, a very graceful painting
drawn from his master's sketch. Yet he was surpassed by Gio. Batista
Bolognini, by whose hand there is a S. Ubaldo at S. Gio. in Monte,
altogether in the style of Guido. This artist had a nephew and pupil in
Giacomo Bolognini, who painted large pictures and capricci, and is
mentioned by Zanotti and Crespi. Bartolommeo Marescotti is hardly deserving
notice; at S. Martino he appears only as a hasty imitator, or rather a
corrupter of the Guido manner. Mentioned, too, by various writers, is a
Sebastiano Brunetti, a Giuliano Dinarelli, a Lorenzo Loli, and in
particular a Pietro Gallinari, on whom his master's predilection conferred
also the name of Pietro del Sig. Guido. His earliest pieces, retouched by
Reni, are held in high esteem, and others which he produced for the court,
and in various churches at Guastalla, are valuable. He was an artist of the
noblest promise, but cut off prematurely, not without suspicion of poison.

Many foreigners who acquired the art from Guido, particularly at Bologna,
were dispersed throughout various schools, according to the places where
they resided; such were Boulanger, Cervi, Danedi, Ferrari, Ricchi, and
several more. Two artists who chiefly dwelt in Bologna and Romagna in high
esteem, I have reserved for this place, named Cagnacci and Cantarini. Guido
Cagnacci, referred by Orlandi to Castel Durante, though the Arcangelesi
more properly claim him for their fellow-citizen, was a rare exception to
Italian artists, in having sought his fortunes in Germany, where he was
highly deserving of the success he met with at the court of Leopold I. What
he has left in Italy, such as his St. Matthew and St. Teresa, in two
churches of Rimini, or the Beheading of St. John, in the Ercolani palace at
Bologna, shew him to have been a diligent and correct, as well as a refined
artist, in his master's latest style. Malvasia was of opinion that he
carried the colour of his fleshes, now rather faded, somewhat too high; to
others it appeared that he drew the extremities too small in proportion to
his figures; while some have remarked a capricious degree of freedom, shewn
in sometimes representing his angels at a more advanced age than was
customary. All, however, must acknowledge Guidesque beauties apparent in
every picture, added to a certain original air of nobility in his heads,
and fine effect of his chiaroscuro. His pictures for the most part were
painted for the ornament of cabinets, such as are seen in the ducal gallery
at Modena, and in private houses. There is his Lucretia in the Casa
Isolani, and his magnificent David, which is esteemed one of the noblest
pieces, in possession of the princes Colonna; two pictures abundantly
repeated both in the Bolognese and Roman Schools, and of which, indeed, I
have seen more copies than even of the celebrated David by Guido Reni.

Simone Cantarini da Pesaro became an exact designer under Pandolfi, greatly
improved in the school of Claudio Ridolfi, and by incessant study of the
Caracci engravings. For colouring he studied the most eminent Venetian
artists, and, more than all, the works of Barocci. In one of his Holy
Families he shews great resemblance to this last artist, a picture
preserved in Casa Olivieri, along with several others, and some portraits,
of different taste, but by the same hand. This was caused by the arrival of
the grand pictures by Guido, of St. Thomas at Pesaro, and the Nunziata, and
the St. Peter, in the adjacent city of Fano, after which he so wholly
devoted himself to the new style, as to induce him to emulate, and, if
possible, to attempt to surpass that artist. In the same chapel where Guido
placed his picture of St. Peter receiving the Keys, Simone displayed his
miracle of the Saint at the Porta Speciosa, where he so nearly resembled,
as to appear Guido himself; and even in Malvasia's time, foreigners were
unable to detect any difference of hand. It is certain he possessed much of
that artist's more powerful manner, which is shewn in his principal
picture; the heads very beautiful and varied, the composition natural; fine
play of light and shade, except that the chief figure of his history is too
much involved in the latter. The better to approach his prototype, Simone
proceeded to Bologna, and became Guido's disciple, affecting at first much
humility and deference, while he artfully concealed the extent of his own
skill. Then gradually developing it, he soon rose in high esteem, no less
with his master than the whole city, aided as he was by his singular talent
for engraving. Shortly he grew so vain of his own ability, as to presume to
censure not only artists of mediocrity, but Domenichino, Albano, and even
Guido. To the copies made by the pupils from their master's pieces, he gave
bold retouches, and occasionally corrected some inaccuracy in their model,
until at length he began to criticise Guido openly, and to provoke his
resentment. Owing to such arrogance, and to negligence in executing his
commissions, he fell in public esteem, left Bologna for some time, and
remained like a refugee at Rome. Here he studied from Raffaello, and from
the antique, then returned and taught at Bologna, whence he passed into the
Duke of Mantua's service. Still to whatever country he transferred his
talents, he was accompanied by the same malignant disposition; a great
boaster, and a despiser of all other artists, not even sparing Giulio and
Raffaello, insomuch that the works could not be so greatly esteemed as the
man was detested. Incurring also the duke's displeasure, and not succeeding
in his portrait, his pride was so far mortified as to throw him ill, and
passing to Verona, he there died, aged 36, in 1648, not without suspicion
of having been poisoned, no very rare occurrence with defamers like him.

Baldinucci, supported by most of the dilettanti, extols him as another
Guido; and assuredly he approaches nearer to him than to any other, and
with a decision which belonged to few imitators. His ideas are not so
noble, but in the opinion of many they were even more graceful. He is less
learned, but more accurate; and may be pronounced the only artist who in
the hands and feet very assiduously studied the manner of Lodovico. He was
extremely diligent in modelling for his own use, and one of his heads in
particular is commended, from which he drew those of his old men, which are
extremely beautiful. From the models, too, he derived his folds, though he
never attained to the same majestic and broad sweep as Guido and Tiarini, a
truth which he as candidly admitted. In point of colouring he is varied and
natural. His greatest study was bestowed upon his fleshes, in which, though
friendly to the use of white lead, he was content with moderate white,
avoiding what he called the cosmetics of Domenichino and the shades of the
Caracci. In his outlines and shadows, dismissing the use of the lacca and
terra d'ombra,[36] he introduced ultramarine and terra verde, so much
commended by Guido. He animated his fleshes with certain lights from place
to place, never contrasting them with vivid colours, except in as far as he
frequently studied to give them from depth of shadow, that relief which
serves to redouble their beauty. If there was nothing decidedly bold in his
painting, yet he covered the whole with an ashy tone, such as Guido applied
in his St. Thomas, and which became so perfectly familiar to Cantarini as
to acquire for him from Albani the surname of _pittor cenerino_. Spite of
this opinion, however, he is considered by Malvasia as _the most graceful
colourist_, and he adds, the _most correct designer_ of his age. His most
beautiful pictures that I have seen, in which his heads of saints are
always conspicuous for beauty and expression, are the St. Antony, at the
Franciscans di Cagli; the St. James, in the church of that name in Rimini;
the Magdalen, at the Filippini of Pesaro; and, in the same city, his St.
Dominick, at the Predicatori; in whose convent are also two Evangelists,
half-size figures, animated to the life. There is also a S. Romualdo, in
possession of the noble Paolucci, a figure that seems to start from the
canvass, and at the Casa Mosca, besides various other works, is a portrait
of a young nun that rivets every beholder. Many of his Holy Families also
are to be seen in Bologna, in Pesaro, and at Rome; nor are his heads of St.
John very rare, any more than his half-figures, or heads of apostles, a
specimen of which is to be seen in the Pitti palace.

Footnote 36: Lacca, a dark red; terra d'ombra, umber.

Simon Cantarini educated a few of his fellow-citizens to the art. One of
these was Gio. Maria Luffoli, many of whose paintings, which display the
school, are to be met with in his native place, particularly at S. Giuseppe
and at S. Antonio Abate. Gio. Venanzi (or Francesco) had been already
instructed by Guido, when he entered the school of Cantarini, though he
resembles neither of these masters so nearly as he does the Gennari. When
we inspect the two beautiful histories of St. Antony, in the church of that
name, we might pronounce him their disciple. An ancient MS. of Pesaro,
edited along with the pictures of the city,[37] places him at the court of
Parma, most probably for the purpose of decorating the palace, there being
nothing from his hand in the churches. In the same MS. mention is made of
Domenico Peruzzini, as born at Pesaro, and the pupil of Pandolfi. In
Orlando's Lexicon and other books there is frequent mention made of one
Cav. Giovanni, and he is given out as belonging to Ancona, and a disciple
of Simone. The Pesarese Guide, in which the very diligent Can. Lazzarini
indisputably took part, informs us that these artists were brothers, both
born at Pesaro, and that they transferred their services to Ancona, their
adopted country, (p. 65). From the dilettanti of Ancona I could gather
tidings of only one Peruzzini; and I doubt whether his being named Domenico
by the author of the MS. may not have arisen from mistake, as he proceeds
to relate matters chiefly appertaining to Giovanni. However this be, there
is a picture of S. Teresa by Peruzzini at the Carmelite Friars in Ancona,
bearing some traces of Baroccio's manner. That of the Beheading of St.
John, at the hospital, is extremely beautiful; and here he appears rather a
disciple of the Bolognese. He seems to have displayed a similar character
elsewhere; it being known that this artist, after forming a style
participating of those of the Caracci, of Guido, and of Pesarese, took to a
wandering life, and painted in various theatres and churches, if not with
much study, with tolerable correctness, a knowledge of perspective, in
which he was excellent, and with a certain facility, grace, and spirit,
which delight the eye. His paintings are dispersed through various places
in the Picenum, even as far as Ascoli on the confines, where are a number
of works by his hand. There are some at Rome and at Bologna, where he
painted in the cloister of the Servi a lunette,[38] very fairly executed
within twenty-four hours; at Turin, where he was made a cavalier; and in
Milan, where he died. At Rome are some specimens too from the hand of his
son and pupil, Paolo, entitled in the aforesaid MS. a good and decided
painter.

Footnote 37: See p. 75. This MS. is said to have been drawn
up previous to 1680. I believe it must be somewhere about
1670, Venanzi being therein described as still young.
Notices of the artists of Pesaro and Urbino, collected by
Giuseppe Montani, a good landscape-painter, who flourished
some time at Venice, are now lost. (Of him, see Malvasia,
vol. ii. p. 447.) I have recently read a letter from Sig.
Annibale Olivieri to the Prince Ercolani, in which,
computing the age of Venanzi, he is unable to make him out a
pupil of Cantarini; from which it would appear that he was
ignorant of the date of Venanzi's birth, which was about
1628. I admit that he could not have been long instructed by
him, nor by Guido, and am more than ever confirmed in my
conjecture that he was pupil to Gennari.

Footnote 38: Lunetta, an architectural term; meaning that
semicircular space, or any other portion of a circle, placed
in the walls between the different supports of ceilings.

An undoubted scholar of Simone was Flamminio Torre, called _dagli
Ancinelli_, who came from the studio of Cavedone and Guido. His chief
talent consisted in an easy perfect imitation of every style, which brought
him as high a price for his copies as was given for the originals of
eminent artists, sometimes even more. Though not learned in the theory of
the art, by his practical ability he acquired the manner of Cantarini,
dismissing, however, his ashy colour, and often turning to the imitation of
Guido. He was court-painter at Modena; and at Bologna in particular are
preserved both scriptural and profane histories, displaying very pleasing
figures as large as Poussin, or on the same scale. Some I saw in possession
of Monsig. Bonfigliuoli, others in the collection of the librarian Magnani;
and some still more firm, and in the best style of colouring, in the Ratta
palace. Yet we rarely meet with them uninjured by the use of rock oil,
which he carried to excess; and his church paintings, such as a Depositing
from the Cross at S. Giorgio, as they have been least attended to, have
suffered the most. On the death of Simone, as his first pupil, he succeeded
to his magisterial office, and promoted the progress of the scholars whom
he left. Girolamo Rossi succeeded better in engraving than in painting.
Lorenzo Pasinelli became an excellent master, but of a different style, as
we shall see in another epoch. The most eminent among Torre's disciples was
Giulio Cesare Milani, rather admired in the churches of Bologna, and
extolled in many adjacent states. But it is now time to turn our attention
from Guido and his disciples to Guercino, which will afford the same
pleasure, I trust, to my readers, as the dilettanti enjoy, in beholding two
styles, so strikingly opposed, immediately contrasted. In a similar manner,
to adduce an instance taken from the Spada Gallery, it yields delight to
turn our eye from Guido's Rape of Helen to the funeral pyre of Dido,
painted by Guercino, and placed directly opposite.

Gio. Francesco Barbieri, surnamed Guercino da Cento, would, to speak with
precision, be better ranked among the artists of Ferrara, to which city
Cento is subject; but we must observe the almost universal custom of
including him among the Caracci's disciples. This has arisen either from a
tradition that his genius at an early age received some bias towards design
from the Caracci, which but ill accords with the epoch of his age, or from
the circumstance of his having taken one of Lodovico's pictures for a
model, which is slight ground enough for attaching him to the school.
Moreover, he never frequented the Caracci's academy; but, after staying a
short time with Cremonini, his fellow-countryman, at Bologna, he returned
to Cento, and there resided with Benedetto Gennari the elder, first as his
pupil, next his colleague, and lastly his kinsman. Some too would contend
that one among the masters of Gio. Francesco was Gio. Batista Gennari, who
in 1606 painted for S. Biagio, in Bologna, a Madonna among various saints,
in a style resembling Procaccini. And indeed the Paradise, at S. Spirito in
Cento, and an altar-piece at the Capuccini, with other early works by
Guercino, partake of the old style. Subsequently he studied, along with
Benedetto, to find by experiment what constituted grand effect in the art,
in which taste I cannot distinguish, with the generality of dilettanti and
writers, two manners only; he having openly professed three, as we learn
from Sig. Righetti, in his Description of the paintings of Cento.

Of these the first is the least known, consisting of abundance of strong
shades, with sufficiently animated lights, less studied in the features and
in the extremities, with fleshes inclining to the yellow; in the rest less
attractive in point of colouring; a manner distantly resembling that of
Caravaggio, in which kind are to be found several specimens both at Cento
and in S. Guglielmo a' ministri degl'Infermi at Bologna. From this he
passed to his second manner, which is by far the most pleasing and
valuable. He continued to improve it during several years, with the aid of
other schools; in this interval often visiting Bologna, residing for some
time at Venice, and remaining many years at Rome along with the most
eminent followers of Caracci, and entering into terms of friendship with
Caravaggio. His taste is mainly founded on the style of this last master;
displaying strong contrast of light and shadow; both exceedingly bold, yet
mingled with much sweetness and harmony, and with powerful art of relief, a
branch so greatly admired by professors.[39] Hence some foreigners have
bestowed on him the title of the magician of Italian painting; for in him
were renewed those celebrated illusions of antiquity, such as that of the
boy who stretched forth his hand to snatch the painted fruit. From
Caravaggio too he borrowed the custom of obscuring his outlines, and
availed himself of it for despatch. He also imitated his half-sized figures
upon one ground, and for the most part composed his historical pictures in
this method. Yet he studied to become more correct in point of design, and
more select than Caravaggio; not that he ever attained peculiar elegance or
peculiar dignity of features, though most frequently he drew his heads,
like a sound observer of nature, with graceful turns, easy natural
attitudes, and a colouring, which if not the most delicate, is at least the
most sound and most juicy. Often in comparing the figures of Guido with
Guercino's, one would say that the former had been fed with roses, as
observed by one of the ancients, and the latter with flesh. How far he
excelled as a colourist in his draperies, formed in the taste of the best
Venetians, in his landscape, and in his accessories, will sufficiently
appear on beholding his S. Petronilla in the Quirinal, or his picture of
Christ risen from the Dead, at Cento,[40] or his St. Helen, at the
Mendicants in Venice; excellent specimens of his second manner. To the same
belong in general all that he left at Rome, even his greater works, such as
the S. Gio. Grisogono in the soffitto of that church, or the Aurora,
adorning the villa Lodovisi. Yet he surpassed even these, to the surprise
of all, in the cupola of the Piacenza cathedral; and in the same city he
appears to have competed with Pordenone, and in point of vigour of style to
have gone beyond him.

Footnote 39: "To me it seems that painting ought to be
considered excellent, the more it inclines towards relief."
Bonarruoti, Letter to Varchi, inserted among the Lettere
Pittoriche, vol. i. p. 7.

Footnote 40: There is a description of this painting
contained in a letter of Algarotti, addressed to the learned
Zanotti, dated Sept. 1760, in which, though in other works
he observes Guercino to have excelled more in colouring than
in design, yet respecting this specimen he declares, "that
Pesarese himself would here have detected little or nothing
to which to object. The folds, especially those of a cloth
wrapped round the body of Christ, are admirable. The force
and sweetness of his tints are equal to the bold relief of
the picture, and the passion with which it is conducted....
I never beheld two figures better set off in one picture,
nor did ever Guercino's close light and shade so well unite
perhaps in effect as here; whilst the figures are pourtrayed
within an apartment, in which that kind of light which
affords such strong relief to objects, is represented with
an admirable degree of truth."

Some years having elapsed, after his return from Rome to Cento, he began to
emulate Guido, perceiving that his sweetness of manner obtained such
distinguished applause. By degrees he softened down that power of hand just
noticed, and painted more open and vividly. He added somewhat more
attraction and variety to his heads, and a certain study of expression,
almost indescribable, which is surprising in some of his pictures of this
period. Some have assigned such a change of manner to the time of Guido's
decease, when Guercino, perceiving that he could take the lead at Bologna,
left Cento, in order to fix his residence in that great city. But several
pictures which he had conducted in his third manner, previous to Reni's
death, fully confute such an opinion. On the contrary, it was rumoured that
Guido remarked this change, which he construed into commendation of
himself, declaring that he had avoided Guercino's style as much as
possible, whilst the latter approached as nearly as he could to Guido's. In
this taste, though partaking of the preceding, is the Circumcision of
Jesus, placed in the church of Gesù e Maria, in which the study of
architecture and drapery vies with that of the figures; and it is difficult
to decide whether these most please by their form, or by their expression.
We might add the Nuptials of the Virgin, at S. Paterniano in Fano, the S.
Palazia in Ancona, the Nunziata at Forli, the Prodigal Son in the royal
palace at Turin, a history piece of entire figures, which is met with in
half figures in many galleries. However attractive this last manner may be
found, skilled judges would have wished Guercino not to have swerved from
the vigour of the second, to which his genius was moulded, and in which he
shone unrivalled and unique.

The frequency of his commissions contributed, perhaps, to put him upon a
more easy method, no less than his own incredible genius for execution and
despatch. He produced a hundred and six altar-pieces, and a hundred and
forty-four large pictures for princes and other persons of distinction,
without including numbers of others painted for private persons, Madonnas,
portraits, half-length figures, and landscapes, in which the rapidity of
execution is highly original. Hence he is by no means rare in collections.
The noble Zolli family at Rimino possesses about twenty of his pieces,
Count Lecchi at Brescia also a great number; all perfect and polished
according to his manner. Among these is a portrait of a friar of the
Osservanti, his father confessor, quite a miracle of art.

Guercino's school greatly flourished at Cento, in Bologna not so much,
owing to his own choice of having his two nephews the Gennari, and a few
other intimate friends with him, which led him to exclude strangers in some
degree from his studio. Few Bolognese artists, therefore, belong to this
master; such as Giulio Coralli, whom Orlandi, a contemporary writer, gives
as pupil to Guercino at Bologna, and of Cairo at Milan, and who, Crespi
adds, was much employed at Parma, at Piacenza, and at Mantua. He was a
better portrait-painter, if I mistake not, than a composer. Fulgenzio
Mondini was an artist of more merit; he painted two fresco histories in the
church of S. Petronio at Bologna, relating to the Paduan saint. He died
young at Florence, where, after having painted some time for the court, he
was employed by the Marchesi Capponi to decorate their villa of Colonnata,
and his memory has been honoured with a long eulogy by Malvasia. The latter
declares that he knew none gifted with qualities that promised so much in
that age, and conjectures that had he survived he would have become the
first fresco painter of his age.

The two young Gennari were sons of Gio. Francesco's sister, and of Ercole,
son of Benedetto Gennari. Respecting Ercole, it is stated that no more
exact copyist of the works of Guercino was to be met with. His sons,
Benedetto and Cesare, likewise distinguished themselves in copying the
original compositions of their uncle, and the numerous repetitions of
Guercino's sibyls, of his pictures of St. John, of his Herodiads, and
similar pieces, are ascribed more particularly to them. They may all be
recognized, however, by a more feeble tone in their tints; and I once saw
in the Ercolani palace a Bathsheba of Guercino, along with a copy by one of
the Gennari. The former appeared as if newly painted at the time, the
latter as if many years previously, such was its inferiority in strength of
hand. The two brothers were employed in Cento, in Bologna, and in other
cities of Italy; while Benedetto, the ablest of them, was engaged also in
England, as court-painter under two reigns. Both would seem to have
inherited the style along with the fortune of Gio. Francesco, and, I may
also add, his studies; because in the manner of sectaries, they made
repeated copies of the heads of his old men, women, and boys, which he
himself was in the habit of repeating on his canvass too frequently. There
is a S. Leopardo by Benedetto in the cathedral at Osimo, and a S. Zaccaria
at the Filippini in Forli, which might have been mistaken for the uncle's,
had the nephew displayed somewhat more strength and power of relief. In the
same way Cesare, in a Mary Magdalen of the Pazzi, at S. Martino in Bologna,
and in other pieces, has succeeded in giving the features better than the
spirit of Barbieri. It ought to be observed that Cesare preserved his first
manner to the close of his life, and that he was assiduous in teaching at
Bologna, where his school was frequented also by foreigners, among whom
Simon Gionima distinguished himself as a follower of Guercino, and was well
received at Vienna. Benedetto subsequently formed for himself a style in
England, both more polished and careful, and exemplified it more
particularly in his portraits, which he conducted there for Charles II. and
the royal family. On the expulsion of that family he returned to Italy,
almost transformed into a Dutch or Flemish painter, such was the truth with
which he imitated velvets, lawns, lace, gems, and other ornaments in gold,
indeed all that can enrich a portrait, besides drawing it extremely like,
and artfully freed from any blemishes in the original. By means of this
taste, new in Italy, Benedetto obtained much applause and much employment
in portrait, both from princes and individuals. We may here add a
Bartolommeo Gennari, brother to Ercole, who resembles Guercino less than
any of the three preceding, though extremely natural and spirited. He has a
picture of St. Thomas at the Rosario di Cento, in the act of putting his
hand to our Saviour's side, and the admiration both of him and the other
apostles is very finely expressed. The pupil, and probably the relation of
Guercino, was one Lorenzo Gennari di Rimini, at which place is one of his
pictures at the Capuccini, very fairly executed.

Francesco Nagli, surnamed, from his country, Centino, was much employed at
the Angeli and in other churches at Rimini. He was an excellent imitator of
Barbieri, in point of colouring and chiaroscuro; in the rest somewhat dry
in design, cold in his attitudes, and no way novel in his ideas. To the
same district belonged Stefano Ficatelli, a painter of good invention, who
decorated several churches of Ferrara; but more especially an excellent
copyist of Guercino, not inferior in this respect to Francesco Bassi, of
Bologna, so highly commended by Crespi. Among Guercino's copyists, Gio.
Francesco Mutii, or Mucci, of Cento, son of a sister of Guercino,
distinguished also as an engraver, held a high rank. Stefano Provenzali,
likewise from Cento, and a pupil of Barbieri, applied his talents to
battle-pieces, much extolled by Crespi, from whose MSS. I have borrowed
several of my notices of the Centese artists.

Two of these, followers of Guercino, are mentioned by Malvasia. They are
Cristoforo Serra, a faithful and excellent imitator of Gio. Francesco, and
preceptor of Cristoforo Savolini, who has a fine picture of the saint at S.
Colomba in Rimini; and Cesare Pronti, an Augustine, born at Rimini, if we
give credit to the author of its city guide, and called _da Ravenna_, on
account of his long residence at that place. Both the above cities exhibit
his altar-pieces, much extolled, and some chiaroscuri happily enough
disposed; in particular those histories of St. Jerome painted in the
Confraternity of his name at Rimini, with abundant grace and spirit. In
Pesaro, also, he exhibited in the church of his order a St. Thomas da
Villanova, with beautiful specimens of architecture, and in a more original
taste than the two Gennari. The life of this able ecclesiastic has been
written by Pascoli, who knew him, insomuch that we may give him credit when
he declares that he was born at the Cattolica, of the family of the
Baciocchi, afterwards assuming the name of Pronti, the maiden name of his
mother. He gives other anecdotes of him; and what is more interesting is
the account of his first passion for the art, on contemplating, when a boy,
a collection of fine pictures in a shop at the fair of Sinigaglia. He gazed
upon them during several hours, unmindful of his meals, and of his parents,
who were in search of him through the city, and who on finding him could
with difficulty tear him from the spot. They were unable, however, to
destroy the fixed determination of his soul to become a painter; the
impression was indelible, and he set out for Bologna. There he first
entered the school of Barbieri; and afterwards, as we have already
remarked, the cloister. Respecting different scholars of Guercino, such as
were Preti, Ghezzi, and Triva, it is unnecessary here to repeat what has
already been stated in several other schools.

Gio. Lanfranco, one of those distinguished disciples of the Caracci who
followed Annibal to Rome, was born at Parma. He was early employed by the
Conti Scotti in Piacenza, where, for mere pastime, drawing some figures in
charcoal upon a wall, his rare genius shone forth, and was assigned to the
cultivation of Agostino Caracci. Frequent mention of him is made in the
course of this work. At Parma the reader finds him a pupil to Agostino, and
on his death under the care of Lodovico, after which he pursued his studies
under Annibal at Rome. Both there and in Naples we have seen him celebrated
as a professor and preceptor in both schools. The character of his genius
was sought, conceitedly perhaps, but still with truth, by Bellori, in his
name; and doubtless it would be difficult to find an artist more bold and
striking, alike in conception and in execution. He had formed a peculiar
manner, which both in design and expression partakes of the Caracci's,
while the composition is drawn from Coreggio. It is a manner at once easy,
and elevated by the dignity of the countenances and actions, by the ample
and well disposed masses of light and shade, by the nobleness of the
drapery and its imposing folds, broad and wholly novel in the art. For this
precise reason its grandeur is without that last finish which adds to the
worth of other artists, but would in him diminish it. In such a style he
was enabled to be less exact without displeasing us, possessing so many
admirable qualities, rare conceptions, colours wonderfully harmonized, if
not animated; very beautiful foreshortening; contrasts of parts and
figures, which have served as models, as is observed by Mengs, for the
tasteful style of the moderns.

He adopted this style in a number of pictures for private ornament, both
for the Dukes Farnesi, in whose palace at Rome he first began to paint, and
for other noblemen. His Polyphemus, conducted for the Casa Borghese in that
city, is highly extolled, as well as his scriptural histories at S.
Callisto. There are many pictures also from his hand; his St. Andrea
Avellino at Rome, enriched with splendid architecture, boasts singular
merit; his Dead Christ at Foligno, with the "Padre Eterno," a figure, which
though in human form, nevertheless impresses us with grand ideas of the
Divine Being; the Transit of our Lady, in Macerata; the S. Rocco, and the
S. Corrado, in Piacenza; perhaps the most finished among Lanfranco's
productions, and deservedly the most celebrated. But he exhibited this
style still more fully in cupolas and other scenes on a grand scale,
according to Coreggio's example. When young, he executed a small coloured
model of the cupola of the cathedral at Parma, emulating his whole style,
in particular that grace of motion, of all by far the most difficult. He
imitated it too at S. Andrea della Valle at Rome, and in his picture
availed himself of the example afforded by Michelangiolo in architecture,
when unable to execute a more beautiful cupola than Brunelleschi's, and
desirous of differing from it, he worked from a new design, and succeeded
to admiration. This production forms an epoch in the art, inasmuch "as he
was the first," says Passeri, "to irradiate the opening of a celestial
glory with a splendour of light, of which there was formerly seen no
example." ... "Lanfranco's cupola remains a solitary specimen in the way of
glories; because, in respect to its celestial idea, in the opinion of the
most dispassionate judges, he has attained the highest degree, as well in
the harmony of the whole, its chief object, as in the distribution of the
colours, in the parts, and in force of chiaroscuro," &c. Nor was this, on
which he spent four years, the sole example he left of a fecundity of idea
and rare elevation of mind, of which we meet with no account in any other
artist, even among the ancient painters. Add to this, the cupolas at the
Gesù, and at the Tesoro of S. Gennaro at Naples, where he succeeded
Domenichino, with various tribunes and chapels in Rome and Naples, adorned
with equal majesty, and which have given to Lower Italy the most genuine
examples in this kind, of which the art can boast. From him it was that the
Machinists acquired the power of gratifying the eye at larger distances,
painting only in part, and in part leaving the work, as he was accustomed
to express it, for the air to paint. In the two schools above-mentioned we
have embraced his best disciples: to the Bolognese he gave no pupils, as
far as I learn, any more than to Romagna and its dependencies; if we except
Gio. Francesco Mengucci, of Pesaro, who assisted him in the cupola of St.
Andrea; a painter, I believe, for collections, who has been much extolled
by Malvasia.

Next to the five heads of schools hitherto recorded, ought to be mentioned
Sisto Badalocchi; and the more as he was Annibal's disciple, and long
resided with him at Rome. He was fellow citizen, and a faithful companion
too of Lanfranco, whose style he approached very nearly. Sisto designed
admirably, being preferred by Annibal in this branch to any of his fellow
pupils, and even, with singular modesty, to himself. Ample testimony of his
ability is proclaimed in the engravings of Raffaello's _loggie_, executed
in conjunction with Lanfranco, and dedicated to Annibal; besides the six
prints of Coreggio's grand cupola, a work which, to the public regret, was
left incomplete. He was also selected by his master to decorate the chapel
of S. Diego, where he directed him to paint from one of his cartoons a
history of that saint. In point of invention he was not equal to the
leaders of his school; so that, employed in filling up the secondary parts,
he assisted Guido and Domenichino at S. Gregorio; and attended Albani at
the Verospi palace; although his picture of Galatea left there is worthy of
the hand of a great master. He appears to advantage in competition, and
mostly excels, as we may gather from the church of St. Sebastian at Rome,
where he painted along with Tacconi; and at Reggio, where he rivalled some
of the less distinguished artists of Bologna. Besides his other works, that
city has to boast the rich cupola of S. Giovanni, on which Sisto conducted
a small, but very beautiful copy of that in the cathedral at Parma. Other
of his specimens are to be met with in the Modenese state, particularly in
the ducal palace at Gualtieri, where he represented in one chamber the
Trials of Hercules. Of his pictures at Parma the most celebrated is that of
St. Francis, at the Cappuccini; a painting, both in point of figures and
landscape, composed in the best taste of the Caracci. For the rest, we may
add what has been said of Lanfranco, that he most frequently executed much
less than he knew.

So far we have treated of the followers of the Caracci employed at Rome;
and these in general, judging from their style, shewed more deference to
Annibal than any other of the family. Many others remained at Bologna, who
either never visited Rome, or produced nothing there worthy of
consideration. These were chiefly attached to Lodovico, in whose studio
they had been educated, with the exception of Alessandro Tiarini, who
sprung from another school, though he benefited by his advice and example,
as much as if Lodovico had really been his master. But he was pupil to
Fontana, subsequently of Cesi, and finally also of Passignano at Florence.
He had fled thither from his native place on account of a quarrel; and
after a lapse of seven years, through the intervention of Lodovico, he was
enabled to return to Bologna, leaving at Florence and some places in the
state a few paintings in his first easy style, resembling Passignano's. In
such style he conducted his S. Barbara, at S. Petronio, a work which failed
to please the Bolognese public. To give it greater attractions, he next
proceeded to copy from, and to consult Lodovico, not in order to attain his
manner, but with the view of improving his own. This task was short to a
man of genius, well grounded in the theory of his art, and perhaps more
philosophical than any other artist of Bologna. He soon became a different
painter, and in his novel taste of composing, of distributing his lights
and expressing the passions, he shone like a disciple of the Caracci.
Nevertheless he preserved a character distinct from the rest, grounded upon
his naturally severe and melancholy disposition. All in him is serious and
moderate; the air of his figures, his attitudes, his drapery, varied with
few, but noble folds, such as to excite the admiration of Guido himself. He
avoids, moreover, very gay and animated colours, chiefly contenting himself
with light violets or yellows, and tawny colours, tempered with a little
red; but so admirably laid on and harmonized, as to produce the finest
feeling of repose to enchant the eye. His subjects, too, are well adapted
to his taste, as he generally selected, when he could, such as were of a
pathetic and sorrowful cast. For this reason his Magdalens, his S. Peters,
and his Madonnas in grief--one of which, presented to the Duke of Mantua,
drew tears from his eyes--are held in high esteem.

Subsequently he became expert in foreshortening, and all the intricacies of
the art, more particularly in point of invention. There is scarcely one of
his works to be met with, that does not exhibit a certain air of novelty
and originality of idea. On occasion of representing the Virgin in grief,
in the church of S. Benedict, he drew her seated together with St. John and
the Magdalen; the one upright, the other kneeling, in the act of
contemplating the Redeemer's crown of thorns. Other incidents of his
passion also are alluded to; all are silent indeed, but every eye and
attitude is eloquent in its silence. Obtaining a commission for an
altar-piece in S. Maria Maggiore, to represent St. John and St. Jerome, he
shunned the trite expression of drawing them in a glory; but he feigned an
apparition, through which the holy doctor, while intent at his studies,
appears to receive from the beatified evangelist lectures in theology. His
most distinguished production, however, is at S. Domenico, the saint seen
raising a man from the dead; a picture abounding with figures varied in
point of feature, attitude, and dress; every thing highly select. Lodovico
expressed his astonishment at it, and declared that he knew of no master
then to compare with Tiarini. It is true that, in this instance, having to
compete with Spada, he raised his tone of colouring, and shunned every
common form; two precautions which, had he introduced into every work,
would have left him perhaps second to none of the Bolognese. He survived
until his ninetieth year, and during a long period dwelt at Reggio, whence
he had often occasion to proceed to other cities of Lombardy, which
preserve many of his altar-pieces, and cabinet pictures. The Modenese
gallery abounds with them, his St. Peter being more particularly extolled,
seen struck with remorse as he stands outside the prætorium. The
architecture, the depth of night lighted up with torches, Christ's judgment
beheld in the distance, all conspire to raise the tragic interest of the
scene. He was employed also by the Duke of Parma, for whose garden he
painted some incidents from the Jerusalem Delivered, conducted in fresco;
but which, though much extolled, are no longer met with. In short Tiarini
was one of the most eminent artists next to the Caracci, at least in point
of composition, expression of features and of the passions, perspective,
power and durability of colouring, if not of the most exact elegance.

Lionello Spada was one of the leading geniuses of the school. Sprung from
the lowest origin, and employed by the Caracci as a grinder of colours, by
dint of hearing their conferences, and observing the process of their
labours, he began to design; first under them, and next with Baglione, he
acquired a knowledge of the art; during several years studying no other
models besides the Caracci. He lived on familiar terms with Dentone, and
thus became skilful in the use of perspective. Incensed by a jest of
Guido's, he determined to seek revenge by opposing his delicacy of manner
with another more full and strong; for which purpose going to Rome, he
studied both there and in Malta under Caravaggio, and returned home master
of a new style. It does not indeed lower itself to every form, like his,
but still is not so elevated as that of the Caracci: it is studied in the
naked parts, but not select; natural in point of colouring, with good
relief in the chiaroscuro, but too frequently displaying a ruddy tone in
the shadows, giving an expression of mannerism. One of Lionello's most
characteristic marks is a novelty and audacity, the result of his natural
disposition, which was equally agreeable for its pleasantry, and hateful
for its insolence. He often competed with Tiarini, always superior in point
of spirit and force of colouring; but inferior in all the rest. Thus at S.
Domenico, where he represented the saint in the act of burning proscribed
books; and this is the best picture on canvass which he exhibited at
Bologna. At S. Michele in Bosco also is seen his Miracle of St. Benedict,
which the young artists call the Scarpellino of Lionello; a picture so
wholly novel as to induce Andrea Sacchi, who was greatly struck with it, to
copy the design. In a similar way at the Madonna di Reggio, where both
artists painted as usual in competition, as well in oils as in fresco, they
appeared, as it were, to go beyond themselves. We often meet with specimens
of Spada in private galleries; holy families and scripture histories in
half-length figures, like those of Caravaggio and Guercino; his heads full
of expression, but not very select. He seems most frequently to have
repeated the decollation of St. John the Baptist, often met with in the
Bolognese galleries, and the best perhaps is in that of the Malvezzi.

He became painter to Duke Ranuccio at Parma, where he decorated that
admirable theatre, which then stood unrivalled. In that city, and at
Modena, as well as other places, I have seen some of his pictures in a
taste wholly opposed to those of Bologna, displaying a mixture of the
Caracci and of Parmigianino. His histories in the ducal gallery at Modena
are highly beautiful; such as the Susanna and the Elders, and the Prodigal
Son. One of his most remarkable is the Martyrdom of a Saint, at S. Sepolcro
in Parma, and the St. Jerome, in the Carmelitani, in the same city.
Specimens such as these must have been among his last, at a period when he
was residing in affluence at court, and enabled to conduct his works at
leisure. His good fortune terminated with the life of Ranuccio; for with
the loss of such a patron his talent, too, seemed to have deserted him, and
he shortly followed to the tomb. The names of some of his scholars occur in
the schools of Lombardy. Here too we ought to add that of Pietro Desani of
Bologna, who following him into Reggio, there established himself; a young
artist of rapid hand and quick genius, whose works are to be met with very
frequently in Reggio and its vicinity.

Lorenzo Garbieri was an artist of more learning and caution than Lionello,
though resembling him in point of style. His austere, and almost fiery
disposition, with an imagination abounding in wild and mournful ideas,
impelled him to a style of painting less open than that of the Caracci. To
this cause must be added his emulation of Guido, whom, like Lionello, he
wished to humble, by adopting a very powerful manner; and, though he did
not put himself under Caravaggio, he eagerly copied his pictures, including
all the best at Bologna. Garbieri was one of the most successful imitators
of Lodovico; less select in the heads, but grand in the forms, expressive
in the attitudes, and studied in his large compositions; insomuch that his
paintings at S. Antonio in Milan, which are less loaded with shade, were
attributed by Santagostini in his Guide to the Caracci. To this style of
the Caracci he added the daring character of Caravaggio, and he was skilful
in selecting always funereal subjects most suitable to his genius; so that
we meet with little else than scenes of sorrow, slaughter, death, and
terror, from his hand. At the Barnabiti, in Bologna, he painted for the
chapel of S. Carlo an altar-piece with two lateral pictures; it presents us
with the horrors of the Milanese plague, amidst which is seen the saint
visiting the sick, and conducting a penitential procession. He painted also
at the Filippini in Fano a picture of St. Paul, near the St. Peter of
Guido, in the act of raising the young man from the dead; a work of such
power of hand and expression as to excite at once terror and pity in the
beholders. At S. Maurizio, in Mantua, he exhibited in a chapel the
Martyrdom of S. Felicita and her seven children; a piece inferior indeed to
the Miracle of St. Paul in point of vigour, but containing such variety of
images, and such deathly terror, as not to be surpassed in tragic interest
by any thing from the same school. He had the choice of establishing
himself as court-painter at Mantua, an office he rejected, preferring to
take a wife with a handsome dowry at Bologna. This step was a loss,
however, to the art, as mentioned by Malvasia; since from that period
finding himself rich, and occupied with family cares, he painted little,
and with as little study, leaving his final labours by no means equal to
the preceding. His son Carlo applied still less than his father to the
profession, though he gave proofs in several works exhibited in public,
that in time he would have equalled his father. Lorenzo educated few other
pupils, but he was highly esteemed for his profound knowledge, and for his
method of communicating it, at once easy and precise, resting upon few but
comprehensive maxims.

Giacomo Cavedone was from Sassuolo, and hence included among the artists of
the Modenese state by Tiraboschi, in whose work we may read the origin of
his career. His genius was more limited, his spirit less animated, than
those of the preceding; but being assisted by the Caracci in the right
path, he attained to equal, and even greater celebrity. Leaving the
intricacies of the art to the more enterprising, he fixed upon attitudes
comparatively easy and devoid of foreshortening, gentle expressions
distinct from the stronger passions, correct design in his figures, and
more particularly in the hands and feet. Nature had endued him with
promptness and facility; so that on occasion of designing models, or
copying pictures, he with rare exactness took the substance of the subject,
and afterwards reduced the whole by a more easy method in his own
peculiarly resolute and graceful touch, in which he has always remained
original. He was equally novel in his frescos; employing few tints, but so
attractive, that Guido was induced to make him his pupil, and retained him
at Rome as his assistant. Another striking characteristic was his strength
of colouring, which he acquired from those Venetians themselves, who shone
the masters of his masters. Here he attained to such excellence, that
Albani, when asked whether there were any pictures of Titian's at Bologna,
replied, there were not; but we may substitute the two at S. Paolo by
Cavedone (a Nativity and an Epiphany) which look like Titian's, and are
executed with a bolder hand. One of his most distinguished productions at
Bologna is the S. Alò at the Mendicanti, in which Girupeno discovers,
besides its fine design, a Titianesque taste that excites astonishment; and
a French tourist entitles it a most admirable work, such as might be fairly
attributed to the Caracci. The mistake indeed has occurred to persons of
first rate tact, most frequently at Imola, on contemplating the beautiful
picture of St. Stephen at that church; and yet more out of Italy, in regard
to his pictures of private ornament, in which he is more than usually
attractive and perfect. Judges know how to recognize Cavedone's hand by his
very compendious manner of treating the hair and beards, as well as by that
graceful and rapid touch, loaded with much lightish yellow, or burnt terra
gialla. Length of proportions is likewise considered another peculiarity,
with a flow of the folds more rectilinear than in other artists of the same
school. Such ascendancy in the art was maintained by Cavedone during some
years, till the death of a favourite son, who had early distinguished
himself in the same career, united to other heavy sorrows, deprived him of
his powers, and he subsequently executed nothing of importance. A specimen
of that period is in possession of the fathers of S. Martino; an Ascension
that excites only our compassion, with similar pieces met with throughout
Bologna, that can boast no glimpse of grace. Still deteriorating, he was at
length deprived of commissions and reduced to penury, which, in his old
age, attended him to the tomb.

Lucio Massari possessed a more joyous spirit, ever glad and festal; devoted
to the theatre and to the chase, rather than to his academy and his pallet;
being usually impatient and averse to commence his subjects, until his
genius and good humour were propitious. For this reason his works are few,
but conducted in a happy vein, graceful and finished, both in colour and in
taste appearing to breathe of cheerfulness. His style most resembles
Annibal's, whose works he copied to admiration, and after whose example,
while a few months at Rome, he designed the most finished and noble
remnants of Grecian sculpture. There shines also in his countenances the
spirit of Passerotti, his earliest master, and more frequently the
gracefulness of his near friend, Albani, whose society he enjoyed both in
his studio and his villa, and in works undertaken in conjunction. His S.
Gaetano, at the Teatini, is crowned with a glory of exquisitely graceful
cherubs, that seem from the hand of Albani; and in his other pictures we
often recognise those full countenances, those delicate fleshes, that
sweetness, and those sportful expressions, in which revelled the genius of
Albani. In point of beauty, the _Noli me tangere_, at the Celestini, and
the Nuptials of St. Catherine, at S. Benedetto, are among his most esteemed
pieces; to say nothing of his histories at the Cortile of S. Michele in
Bosco, where he left many very elegant specimens.

On occasion of treating strong or tragic subjects, he did not shrink from
the task; and although he had a real knowledge of the art, he conducted
them without that extreme study of foreshortenings and naked parts, of
which others make so lavish a display. He shewed noble clearness and
decision, fine colouring, a grand spirit, enlivening them with light and
graceful figures, more particularly of women. Such is the Slaughter of the
Innocents, at the Bonfigliuoli palace, and the Fall of Christ, at the
Certosini, a most imposing production, from the number, variety, and
expression of the figures, whose pictoric fire surpasses all we could
mention from the hand of Albani. He has left some cabinet pictures, always
in good design, and mostly possessing soft and savoury tints; so that all
we would farther look for is, occasionally, a more gradual distribution of
tints in the background of his pieces. Among other pupils, he instructed
Sebastiano Brunetti, polished by Guido, a sweet and delicate artist, but of
brief career; and Antonio Randa of Bologna. Malvasia has observed, that
there is little good to be said respecting him, apparently alluding to a
deed of homicide committed by him at Bologna. In other respects, he
includes him among the best pupils, first of Guido, next of Massari, to
whose style he became attached. On account of his reputation the Duke of
Modena granted him an asylum in his state, declaring him, according to
Orlandi, his court-painter, in 1614. Here he was much employed, and
subsequently at Ferrara, for the most part at S. Filippo; also in many
places of the Polesine, where I find his Martyrdom of S. Cecilia, in
possession of the Sign. Redetti, at Rovigo, the most celebrated of his
productions. Finally, he betook himself to the cloister, a fact unnoticed
by Malvasia, which might have induced him to speak of him in milder terms.

Pietro Facini entered late into the profession, at the suggestion of
Annibal Caracci, who from one of his playful sketches in charcoal, declared
how excellent a painter he would become, if he were to enter his school.
Annibal subsequently regretted the discovery, not only because Facini's
progress excited his jealousy, but, because, on leaving the academy, he
became his rival in educating young artists, and even plotted against his
life. He has two striking characteristics, vivacity in his gestures, and in
the expression of his heads, such as to place him on a footing with
Tintoretto, and a truth of carnations, which induced Annibal himself to
observe, that he seemed to have ground human flesh in his colours. With
this exception, he has nothing superior; feeble in point of design, too
large in his naked figures of adults, incorrect in the placing of his hands
and heads. Neither had he time to perfect himself, dying young, and before
the Caracci, in 1602. There is a picture of the Patron Saints, at S.
Francesco, in Bologna, with a throng of cherubs, which is indeed among his
best works. In the Malvezzi collection, and in others of the city, are much
esteemed some of his Country Dances, and Sports of Boys, in the manner of
Albani, but on a larger scale. He had a pupil in Gio. Mario Tamburini, who
afterwards attached himself to Guido, forming himself on his manner, as we
have already stated.

Francesco Brizio, gifted with rare genius, was, up to his twentieth year,
employed as a shoe-maker's boy. Impelled, at length, by his bias for the
art, he acquired a knowledge of design from Passerotti, and of engraving
from Agostino Caracci. Lastly, he commenced painting under Lodovico, and
very soon arrived at such celebrity, that by some he has been pronounced
the most eminent disciple of the Caracci. Doubtless, if we except the
previous five, he was equal to any others, and, excepting Domenichino,
gifted with the most universal genius. He was not deficient, like Guido, in
perspective; nor in the branch of landscape, like Tiarini; nor in splendour
of architecture, like so many others. In these accessaries he surpassed all
his rivals, as we gather from his histories, painted for S. Michele in
Bosco; at least such was the opinion of Andrea Sacchi. He is extremely
correct in his figures, and perhaps approached Lodovico more closely than
any other artist. The graceful beauty of his cherubs excites admiration, an
excellence at that period so greatly studied by all the school; and here,
in the opinion of Guido, he outshone even Bagnacavallo. His chief talent
lay in imitation; owing to which, and his character for indecision, in
addition to the number of great artists, superior to him in manners, he was
deprived of assistants and commissions, and reduced to execute such as he
had solicited at very insignificant prices. One of the most extensive
altar-pieces in the city is from his hand, representing the Coronation of
the Virgin, at S. Petronio, with a few figures in the foreground truly
joyous and well arranged; besides others in the distance grouped and
diminished with art; a picture of great merit even in strength of
colouring. He produced also for the noble family Angelelli the Table of
Cebes, in one grand painting; the work of an entire year, which displayed
all the depth, imagination, and genius of a great artist. There are also a
number of small engravings from his hand, in which he often approaches
Guido.

His son Filippo and Domenico degli Ambrogi, called Menichino del Brizio,
were his most distinguished disciples. These artists painted more for
private ornament than for that of the churches. The latter became
celebrated for his design; was employed chiefly in friezes for chambers, in
architecture, and landscape in fresco, sometimes in conjunction with
Dentone and Colonna, sometimes alone. He was also a finished artist of
pictures for private rooms, occasionally exhibiting there copious
histories, as in that we read of in the full and well drawn up catalogue of
the Sig. Canon Vianelli's pictures at Chioggia. It presents us with the
entrance of a pontiff into the city of Bologna. It is not surprising that
he should be acknowledged and esteemed even in the Venetian territories,
having been the preceptor of Fumiani, and master of Pierantonio Cerva, who
painted a good deal for the Paduan state.

Gio. Andrea Donducci, called from his father's profession Mastelletta,[41]
inherited a genius for the art. Impatient, however, of the precepts of the
Caracci, his masters, he neglected to ground himself in the art, was
unequal to designing naked figures, and far from producing any masterpiece.
His method was short, and wholly intent upon attracting the eye by effect;
loading his pictures with shadow in such a way as to conceal the outlines,
and opposing to his shadows masses of light sufficiently strong, thus
succeeding in disguising from judges the inaccuracies of his design, and
gratifying the multitude with a display of apparent novelty. I have often
imagined that this artist had great influence with the sect of the
Tenebrosi, which afterwards spread itself through the Venetian state, and
almost every district in Lombardy. He was enabled to support his credit by
a noble spirit of design, by a tolerable imitation of Parmigianino, the
sole artist adapted to his disposition, and by a natural facility that
enabled him to colour a very large extent of canvass in a short time. Among
such specimens are the Death, and the Assumption of the Virgin, at the
Grazie, and some similar histories, not unfrequent in Bologna. Perhaps his
picture of S. Irene, at the Celestini, is superior to any other. When
advanced in life, hearing the applause bestowed on the clear, open style,
he began to practise it, but with no kind of success, not possessing
ability to appear to advantage out of his own obscure manner. In his former
one he had painted at S. Domenico two miracles of the saint, which were
esteemed his masterpieces; but these he altered according to his new
method, and they were thenceforth regarded among his most feeble
performances. In his half-figures the same diversity of manner is
observable; and those executed in the first, such as his Miracle of the
Manna, in the Spada palace, with others at Rome, are justly held in esteem.
The same may be said of his landscapes, which, in many galleries, are
attributed to the Caracci; but the taste in the rapidity of touch, very
original and remarkable in Mastelletta, is sufficient to distinguish them.
Annibal was so well pleased with these pictures for galleries, that, having
his company at Rome, he advised him to settle there and confine himself to
similar labours; advice by no means pleasing to Donducci. But he a good
deal frequented the studio of Tassi, and these artists mutually assisted
each other, freely communicating between themselves what they knew. Soon
after he returned to Bologna, and resumed his more extensive works; but met
with serious disappointments, such as to induce him to enter as a friar,
first among the Conventuals, next with the canons of S. Salvatore. He
educated no pupils of merit, except that one Domenico Mengucci, of Pesaro,
resembled Mastelletta a good deal in his landscape; an artist better known
at Bologna than in his native place.

Footnote 41: A pail or bucket maker.

Besides the forementioned disciples of the Caracci academy, several others
are entitled to consideration; such as Schedone and more names recorded in
the schools already described, with a few yet left to mention in those of
which we have to treat. Many names will also find a place among the
Bolognese painters of landscape, or those of perspective. A few others, who
devoted themselves to figures, have been scarcely alluded to by Malvasia,
either because then living, or not so distinguished as some of the
preceding; nevertheless they are not despicable, for to hold a second or
third rank, where Domenichino and Guido are the foremost, is a degree of
honour not to be regretted. One of these is Francesco Cavazzone, a writer
too on the art, of whom the Canon Crespi subsequently collected very ample
notices, in particular extolling a Magdalen kneeling at the feet of the
Redeemer, a truly imposing picture, that ornamented the church of that
saint in via S. Donato. Of much the same degree of merit was Vincenzio
Ansaloni, who gave only two altar-pieces to the public, but sufficient to
establish his title to the character of a great artist. Giacomo Lippi,
called also Giacomone da Budrio, was another distinguished artist, of
universal genius, in whose fresco histories at the portico of the Nunziata
we trace the pupil of Lodovico, not very select, but of prompt and
practised hand. Some pictures in fresco too by Piero Pancotto, at S.
Colombano, gave rise to feelings of disgust from the ridicule attempted to
be cast on his own parish priest, caricatured by him in the features of a
holy evangelist, though as an artist he could not be despised.

Among the histories at S. Michele in Bosco, already described, is seen the
Sepulture of the SS. Valeriano and Tiburzio by Alessandro Albini, a painter
of spirit; the Giving Alms of S. Cecilia, by Tommaso Campana, who
afterwards followed Guido; the St. Benedict among the Thorns, by Sebastiano
Razali; the Conference between Cecilia and Valeriano, by Aurelio Bonelli;
all respectable artists, except that Malvasia blames the last mentioned as
unworthy of a school productive of so many noble disciples; but it is rare
that in such rich abundance some abortive specimen does not appear. Florio
and Gio. Batista Macchi, Enea Rossi, Giacinto Gilioli, Ippolito Ferrantini,
Pier-Maria Porettano, Antonio Castellani, Antonia Pinelli;[42] all these
gave to the Bolognese public some superior specimens of their skill, and
more in the adjacent places; and we may add Gio. Batista Vernici, who was
subsequently employed by the Duke of Urbino. Nothing remains there from the
hand of Andrea Costa, or of Vincenzio Gotti; of whom the former, according
to Malvasia, painted for the S. Casa of Loreto some admirable pieces, now
known, if I mistake not, under another name. The latter resided in the
kingdom of Naples, mostly at Reggio, an artist of singular rapidity, whose
altar-pieces in that city alone amount to the number of two hundred and
eighteen. Other followers of the Caracci are known to have renounced
painting in favour of engraving and sculpture. The academy was closed on
Lodovico's death; and the casts, with other requisites for the art,
remained for a long period at Bologna. Domenico Mirandola, on the opening
of Facini's academy, quitted that of Lodovico, became a celebrated
sculptor, enriched himself with the spoils of both, and kept an open
studio, regulated according to the method of his first masters; called for
this reason by some the studio of the Caracci. Names, however, are not
realities; and correctness of design was not maintained in this
_soi-disant_ academy, but gradually deteriorated; the honour of its revival
being reserved for the genius of Cignani, of whom we shall say more in our
fourth epoch.

Footnote 42: The wife of Bertusio, and admired by Lodovico
Caracci for her singular modesty and attachment to the art.
Her finest production adorns the Nunziata, composed from
Lodovico's design, in which she drew her own portrait with a
bonnet, and that of her husband.

The review of the Bolognese artists is here complete. In the year 1617 the
state of Ravenna had to boast a Guarini, an artist of a sound style, not
far removed from that of the Caracci, if we may judge from a Pietà, at S.
Francesco, in Rimini, to which place he belonged. There too was one Matteo
Ingoli, who is mentioned in the Venetian School, to which he wholly devoted
his talents. To the same state belonged the family of Barbiani, who have
continued down to this period their services to their country. Giambatista,
the most ancient, is mentioned by Orlandi; his school is not known, though
he possesses an attractive manner, much resembling Cesi's, but differing
from him in the study of each figure, and on this account unequal with
himself. His St. Andrew, and his St. Joseph, on two altars at the
Francescani; his S. Agatha, in the church of that name, with other pieces
in different places, are well executed in oil. In the chapel of N. Signora
del Sudore, in the cathedral, is the vaulted ceiling painted by him with an
Assumption of the Virgin, which, even compared with Guido's cupola at
Ravenna, does not displease. A son of Gio. Batista succeeded him in his
profession, not in his reputation; from whom, or some other member of the
family, sprung Andrea Barbiani, who, on the corbels of the said ceiling,
coloured the four evangelists, and painted several altar-pieces both at
Ravenna and at Rimini. After examining his manner, and in particular his
tints, I believe him to have been a pupil, or at least a disciple of P.
Pronti of Rimini, shortly before commended among Guercino's disciples along
with Gennari, also from that place. Here likewise we shall mention a third,
sprung from the school of Padovanino, but residing in his native place; a
painter more of pictures for private ornament than for churches. His name
was Carlo Leoni, and he competed with Centino in his picture of the
Penitence of David, at the Oratorio, and with other excellent figurists who
then flourished in Romagna. Among Guercino's disciples will be found also
natives of Cesena; and I am convinced that many other artists of Romagna
were retained by him at Cento; a fact which is alluded to in his life,
without any mention of the names.

At Faenza, in the time of the Caracci, flourished one Ferraù da Faenza,
with the additional family appellation of Fanzoni, or Faenzoni, derived
probably from his country. According to Titi he was pupil to Vanni, but
left nothing at Rome besides his fresco paintings at the Scala Santa, at S.
Gio. Laterano, and in great number at S. Maria Maggiore. They consist of
scripture histories, of exact design, very pleasing tints, and good mixture
of colours; mostly executed in competition with Gentileschi, Salimbeni,
Novara, and Croce. From his hand is the S. Onofrio, in the cathedral at
Foligno, with several pieces at Ravenna and Faenza, where however his
manner seems to have changed. There I heard him included among the pupils
of the Caracci, from whom perhaps he some time studied. Nor is this at all
difficult to believe on contemplating the chapel of S. Carlo, in the
cathedral, or his Deposition from the Cross, at the nunnery of S. Domenico;
or his Probatica, at the confraternity of S. Giovanni, which is the best
preserved of all his pictures in the district, and nearest resembling
Lodovico's style. I am assured that his real family was the Fenzoni, of
noble origin, now extinct at Faenza; and that he died in his native place
in 1645, aged 83. It is related that he perpetrated an atrocious deed,
having assassinated, out of mere professional jealousy, one Manzoni of
Faenza, a young artist of rising reputation, as is apparent from several of
his pictures, of which two are in the possession of the Ab. Strocchi,
Giudice di Pace, in Faenza. Nor is he less esteemed for his altar-pieces,
particularly that of the Martyrdom of S. Eutropio Vescovo, exhibited in
that church. He would have shone a distinguished ornament of the art, had
not his career been thus untimely cut short by envy. The assassin artist
failed to restore to Painting that of which he had deprived her, even by
educating his two young daughters, Teresa, who painted much for her native
place, and Claudia Felice, perhaps her superior, at Bologna, where she died
in 1703.

One Tommaso Misciroli left several specimens of his hand at Faenza, known
generally by the name of Pittor Villano. He flourished after Ferraù, and
owed his reputation to his genius rather than to any precepts of the art.
Neither in his design, his expression, nor his costume, has he any thing to
recommend him, and in these he often errs. But in the vivacity of his
attitudes, in his colouring, acquired from Guido, his draperies from the
Venetians, he is equal to many of this school; yet this remark applies only
to a few works executed with much care. The best of these is at the church
of S. Cecilia, where he has exhibited the martyrdom of that saint; and in
the scene is introduced an executioner stirring up the flames, a figure
almost copied from the grand picture by Lionello, at the church of S.
Domenico in Bologna.

Gaspero Sacchi da Imola is known to me only from some pictures he conducted
at Ravenna, and recorded first by Fabbri, next by Orlandi. It is uncertain
to what country the Cav. Giuseppe Diamantini belonged, called by some in
mistake Giovanni; but generally acknowledged to have been a native of
Romagna. In the twenty-eighth volume of the _Antichità Picene_ it is
asserted that he came from Fossombrone. He resided at Venice, and left at
S. Moisè an Epiphany, in which he displays great freedom of hand, and a
bold effect in the execution. He is more celebrated in collections
belonging to the Venetian state than in churches, being met with at Rovigo
and at Verona, where, in Casa Bevilacqua, are some heads of philosophers in
a very novel manner. His character indeed consisted in this kind of
painting, and he would seem to have derived his idea of them from Salvator
Rosa.

We shall now proceed to treat of the landscape, flower, and perspective
painters; all artists in short connected with minor branches of the art. On
this subject the historians who preceded me have attributed no improvement
to the Caracci, except in landscape; though I believe that their prevailing
maxim of shunning all caprice and fallacy, and confining themselves to
representations of truth and nature in the art, spread its influence from
the human figure down to the insect, from the tree to the fruit, from the
palace to the cottage. In a similar way too was introduced the maxim of
avoiding in literature that affectation, prevalent in the sixteenth
century, in favour of the purity of better ages; owing to which the style
of writing, from that of history even to familiar correspondence, from the
poetry of the epic to the sonnet, shone with real lustre.

Gio. Batista Viola and Gio. Francesco Grimaldi were the two leading
painters of landscape at that period, in the manner of the Caracci. Viola
was among the first to exclude from painting that hard, dry style so much
practised by the Flemish. He has been mentioned as being at Rome, where he
established himself, and decorated with landscape-frescos different villas
belonging to those nobles; in particular the Villa Pia. But portable
pictures of this artist are rarely to be met with, except, that being in
company with Albani at Rome, his landscapes were frequently introduced into
the pictures of the latter, and may be recognized in that city by judges as
those of Viola, like Mola's in other pieces of Albani at Bologna. Grimaldi
continued many years in the service of different pontiffs at Rome; and some
years in that of the Car. Mazarini at Paris, and of Louis XIV. He surpassed
Viola in good fortune as well as science; a noble architect, excellent in
perspective, in figures, and as an engraver of Titian's landscapes and of
his own. His prints display singular judgment in the individual parts, and
great beauty in their edifices; he is also much more ample in drawing the
foliage than the Caracci, and also very different; as is observed in the
_Lettere Pittoriche_.[43] His design always answers to the workmanship; his
touch is light, his colouring very strong, only partaking too much of the
green. He was employed by Innocent X., in competition with other artists,
in the Quirinal and in the Vatican palace; and was also selected to
decorate some churches, in particular at S. Martino a' Monti. The Colonna
gallery is enriched with his views, and he is often met with in others,
though not so much sought after in foreign parts as Claude and Poussin.
Such is their number, that I doubt not some of his works were executed by
his son Alessandro, who, according to Orlandi, was a disciple and follower
of Gio. Francesco. His specimens are not equally abundant at Bologna,
where, about the same period, other landscape painters are known to have
flourished.

Footnote 43: Vol. ii. p. 289.

We have extolled Mastelletta, and now for a similar taste we must praise
Benedetto Possenti, a pupil of Lodovico, and also a spirited painter of
figures. His landscapes present us with seaports, embarkations, fairs,
festivals, and the like objects. Bartolommeo Loto, or Lotti, was also held
in high esteem, first a disciple and next competitor of Viola, one who
invariably adhered to the taste of the Caracci. Paolo Antonio Paderna, a
pupil of Guercino, afterwards of Cignani, displayed in his landscape
admirable imitation of Guercino's manner. There was likewise Antonio dal
Sole, from the circumstance of painting with his left hand, denominated il
Monchino de' Paesi,[44] Francesco Ghelli, and Filippo Veralli, all sprung
from the school of Albani, and all much prized for their rural views in
different collections.

Footnote 44: The handless landscape painter.

Annibal formed, as stated in the second volume, a Gio. da Udine of his own,
in a distinguished painter of fruits, called il Gobbo di Cortona, or il
Gobbo de' Caracci. Similar reputation was acquired by two Bolognese
artists, Antonio Mezzadri, whose flowers and fruits are in abundance at
Bologna; and Anton Maria Zagnani, who received commissions even from
princely foreigners. Both were excelled by Paolo Antonio Barbieri, as
famous for his representation of animals, flowers, and fruits, as his
brother Gio. Francesco for the human figure. He bestowed, however, little
study on the art, being too much occupied with his family affairs.[45]
There was a pupil of Guido, by birth a Milanese, but settled at Bologna,
named Pierfrancesco Cittadini, commonly called il Milanese, who surpassed
all his fellow scholars. Some of his altar-pieces shew him to have been
capable of greater performances; but following the genius and example of
several artists whom he saw at Rome, he restricted himself to painting
small pictures on canvass, and small branches of histories and landscapes.
Yet these were excelled by his specimens of fruits and flowers, with birds
of every kind, to which he occasionally added portraits and very graceful
figures, in the same piece. Bologna abounds with his paintings, as such a
line of study proved useful to the quadraturists,[46] who were often
desirous to secure Cittadini's assistance and that of his pupils in their
ornamental labours.

Footnote 45: As the head of the domestic establishment, he
inserted in a book the pictures on which he and his brother
were employed, with the prices which they obtained. On his
death this was continued by Benedetto and Cesare Gennari,
who recorded the works conducted by their surviving uncle.
Such a registry was very useful to ascertain the dates and
prices of the Guercinesque pictures; from the family of
Gennari it came into possession of the Prince Ercolani, who
made a valuable collection of MSS. and very rare books on
the fine arts.

Footnote 46: Ornamental and architectural painters.

For portraits drawn from life, without any other accessaries, Gio.
Francesco Negri, pupil of Fialetti, in Venice, was then in credit at
Bologna; where he had for his fellow pupil Boschini, who finally became a
designer and engraver in copper. Commendations of Negri are met with in the
volumes of Malvasia and of Crespi.

Bologna had to boast little that was great in regard to ornamental
architecture up to the time of Dentone (Girolamo Curti), who became its
restorer also in other parts of Italy. I say restorer, inasmuch as Gio. and
Cherubino Alberti at Rome, and the Sandrini at Brescia, with the Bruni in
Venice, had produced some fine specimens. Nor, if we consider the times,
were Agostino dalle Prospettive and Tommaso Lauretti, in Bologna itself,
destitute of merit, as we have already stated. But their models being
either neglected or corrupted by their successors, produced no solid
advantage to the art; so that there were either no quadraturists in any
cities of Italy, or they were extremely rare, and esteemed only as the
refuse of the figurists. Dentone, with his companions, not only revived,
but elevated and enlarged this art. Sprung from a spinning manufactory of
the Signori Rizzardi, he commenced under Lionello Spada to attempt the
design of figures; and finding this too difficult, he turned to ornamental
painting, and acquired from Baglione the use of the rule, and to draw the
lines. He proceeded no farther with this master; but, having purchased the
works of Vignola and Serlio, he in these studied the different orders of
architecture, grounded himself in perspective, formed a solid and well
regulated taste, which he farther improved with what he saw at Rome, among
the remains of ancient architecture. He attempted much in the form of
relief, which is indeed the soul of this profession. His fine illusions of
cornices, colonnades, lodges, balustrades, arches, and modiglioni, seen
with the effect of foreshortening, have led to the supposition of his being
assisted by stuccos, or some materials of strong relief; while the whole is
produced by the effect of chiaroscuro, brought to a facility, truth, and
grace never before seen. In his colours he preserved those of the stones
and marbles; avoiding those tints of gems and precious stones, afterwards
introduced at the expense of all verisimilitude. It was an invention of his
to lay gold-leaf over his works in fresco. He made use of burnt oil, with
turpentine and yellow wax, melted together, and placed, in a dissolved
state, with a fine pencil, on the parts where the lights occur, and where
the gold leaf is applied. Still he but sparingly availed himself of such
discovery, consigning its abuse to his followers. Anxious for durability,
he was accustomed to rough sketch, and afterwards to fill up with other
layers, then making of the whole one solid impasto, or mingled layers of
colours; while in the most exposed spots, not trusting wholly to the
plaster, he united very fine portions of white marble, as subtly inserted
as we see in the façade of the Grimaldi palace. He thus conferred fresh
lustre on both palaces and churches; and next proceeding to the theatres,
he exhibited novel spectacles in them. The nearmost scenes he painted with
the most commanding power of shade, and diminishing its depth by degrees,
conducted the eye to the most remote with sensations of harmony and
delight. This contrast of depth and sweetness gave the illusion of an
immense prospect in small space; and such was the degree of relief in the
edifices there represented, that numbers, on the first appearance, went
upon the stage in order to explore the reality more nearly. His excellence
in this respect soon obtained him commissions out of Bologna; from the
Card. Legate, at Ravenna, from the sovereigns of Parma and Modena, and at
Rome from Prince Lodovisi, for whom he painted a hall, which outshone the
Sala Clementina, decorated by Gio. Alberti, until then esteemed the most
admirable of its kind.

It was Dentone's custom to retain the services of a figurist, in order to
model his statues, prepare his chiaroscuri, figures of boys, and sometimes
even animals and flowers, with all which he ornamented, not always with
discreetness, his architectural views. The most erudite among the young
artists here vied in offers of their services, desirous of profiting by the
same art, and acquiring reputation. In the hall of the Conti Malvasia, at
Trebbio, he was assisted by Brizio, Francesco and Antonio Caracci, and
Valesio; also by Massari, in the grand chapel of S. Domenico, who attended
him as well in the library of the fathers of S. Martino, where he painted
the celebrated Dispute of S. Cirillo. In the Tanara palace he even engaged
Guercino, who there exhibited his grand Hercules; while elsewhere he was
assisted by Campana, Galanino, and Spada, and a few cartoons were afforded
him by Guido himself. But his most useful colleague was Angiol Michele
Colonna, who arriving at an early age from Como, and having studied some
time under Ferrantini, finally united himself with Dentone, and became
celebrated throughout Europe. This artist, according to Crespi, enjoyed the
reputation of the greatest fresco painter of whom Bologna could boast; such
was his spirited drawing both of men and animals, such his eminence in
perspective, and every species of ornamental work, that he was himself
alone equal to any grand undertaking, and painted alone an entire chamber
at the Florentine court, and a chapel at S. Alessandro, in Parma. The
perspectives in the tribune of that church were by his hand; the figures by
Tiarini; and in several other places the perspectives were by Dentone, the
figures by Colonna. It formed his peculiar talent, with whatever painter he
might engage, so to adapt himself to the style and spirit of his colleague,
that the entire work seemed the idea of the same mind, the product of a
single hand. Nor did he require any delay; for whilst his companion
proceeded with his own portion, he, with wonderful velocity, consistency,
and admirable harmony, despatched the work; a gift for which he was very
generally sought after, and more particularly by Dentone, who retained him
after his return from Rome, until the period of his decease.

Whilst these two celebrated men thus promoted their profession, there was
rising into notice one Agostino Mitelli, a youth of very prolific genius,
not unacquainted with the figure, which Passeri supposes he acquired from
the Caracci, and well-grounded in perspective and architecture, under
Falcetta. When the two friends were engaged in decorating the
archiepiscopal palace at Ravenna, and at the courts of Parma and Modena,
Mitelli alternately assisted the figurist and the quadraturist. This last,
however, was the art he most affected, and to which, on separating from his
masters, he finally devoted himself. His first labours proved very
attractive to the public; not that they equalled the force, solidity, and
reality of Dentone, but on account of their peculiar grace and beauty, such
as almost to obtain for him the fame of the Guido of the quadraturists.
Employing his own taste, he softened down the harder features of the art,
made the elevations more delicate, the tints more mild, and added a style
of foliage, scrolls, and arabesques, decorated with gold, such as seemed to
breathe of grace. The play of the ornaments varied with the nature of the
edifices; some ideas were adapted to halls, some to churches, and others to
theatres. Each ornament filled its appropriate place, at just intervals;
the entire work finally according with a delightful symmetry and harmony,
so as to take by surprise people not yet familiar with similar illusions,
and to remind them, as it were, of the enchanted palaces of the romancers.
Mitelli's first assistants were two of his fellow pupils in this art,
Andrea Sighizzi and Gio. Paderna, with occasionally the figurist Ambrogi;
names not unworthy of a place in the history of the arts, though unequal to
compete with such a colleague.

Colonna alone seemed born to associate with him, as he did after the death
of his favourite Curti. An intimacy ensued, which was like the second act
of Angiol Michele's life; an intimacy which, strengthened by mutual esteem
and interest, and cherished by habit and kind offices, continued during
twenty-four years, until terminated by the death of Mitelli. These two
friends added greatly to the excellent models of the art at Bologna; and
among their most celebrated labours are the chapel of Rosario, and the hall
of the Conti Caprara. Elsewhere, as in the Bentivogli and Pepoli palaces,
Agostino produced only specimens of architecture; and in others we see his
pictures of perspective conducted _a guazzo_, with figures by Gioseffo, his
son, a disciple of Torre, who engraved even better than he painted. In
their commissions beyond Bologna, Mitelli and Colonna were always invited
together; as to Parma, to Modena, to Florence, by their respective rulers;
by the Marchesi Balbi to Genoa, and by Cardinal Spada to Rome, whose ample
hall they enlarged, as it were, and dignified by means of feigned
colonnades, artful recesses, and magnificent steps, where numbers of
figures, arrayed in varied and novel drapery, were seen ascending and
descending. Called subsequently to the court of Philip IV., they decorated
three chambers and a magnificent hall in Madrid, where Colonna, too,
produced his so highly extolled Fable of Pandora. They here sojourned for
the space of two years, the last of Mitelli's life, who died much regretted
by the whole court, and by the Spanish artists, at whose head stood Diego
Velasquez.

Colonna returned into Italy, and as a third act of his life, we may record
the twenty-seven years which he afterwards lived; during the earlier
portion, availing himself, for his architectures, of the services of
Giacomo Alboresi, Mitelli's great pupil; and in the latter, of Giovacchino
Pizzoli, his own scholar, known also among painters of landscape. Crespi
adds the name of Gio. Gherardini, and Antonio Roli, or Rolli according to
the Cav. Titi, whose specimens in this branch, at the Certosa of Pisa, he
extols as perfect miracles of the art (p. 301). In this trio are included
all belonging to Colonna's school. It is observed by Malvasia, that from
Mitelli's society, Angiol Michele himself derived utility, as regarded
architecture; not that he ever equalled his deceased friend, but from
adopting thenceforward a more elegant manner. This progress is apparent in
the cupola of S. Biagio; as well as in the ceiling and in a chapel of S.
Bartolommeo, decorated by him after his return from Spain. Other specimens
he produced at this period, at Ponzacco, a villa of the Marchese Nicolini,
of Florence; in the Morisini palace, at Padua, and at Paris, for M. Lionne,
state secretary to the French king. Colonna attained the age of eighty-six,
and left, at his death, numerous professors of an art, which he and his two
colleagues may almost be said to have invented, and given to the public.

I have enumerated different young artists of these schools; and they, too,
united together, traversing Italy in the service of princes and nobles, and
forming pupils in every place; so that no art ever spread more rapidly.
Gio. Paderna, pupil to Dentone, and next an accomplished imitator of
Mitelli, became the colleague of Baldassare Bianchi; and the latter, at the
death of Paderna, having become Mitelli's son-in-law, was placed companion,
by the father-in-law, with Gio. Giacomo Monti. This partnership also met
with success in Italy, in particular at Mantua, where they both received
regular salaries. Their figure-painter was Gio. Batista Caccioli, of
Budrio, pupil to Canuti, and a good disciple of Cignani, who left frescos,
altar-pieces, and private pictures; in particular, his heads of old men, in
high request. Another son-in-law of Mitelli, Giacomo Alboresi, was much
employed at the court of Parma, in that of Florence, and in the villa
Capponi, of Colonnata. He was assisted in his figures by Fulgenzio Mondini,
and on his death, by Giulio Cesare Milani, who was esteemed the best pupil
of Torre. Domenico Santi, named Mengazzino, was also one of the ablest
among Mitelli's pupils, and left, at the Servi, in S. Colombano, and in the
Ratta palace, some fine works in perspective, with figures by Giuseppe
Mitelli, by Burrini, and most of all by Canuti, never having left his
native place. His perspectives, on canvass, are highly esteemed in
cabinets, and are sometimes hardly to be distinguished from those of
Agostino. Andrea Sighizzi, the father and master of three artists, was
employed also at Turin, Mantua, and Parma, where he received a salary from
the court, and had Pasinelli for his best companion. It would carry us too
far, to recount all the quadraturists sprung from these schools; nor would
all, perhaps, deserve commemoration. Though no art was more rapidly
extended, none sooner degenerated; caprice usurped the place of sound rules
of architecture, and was carried to a pitch of extravagance and
impertinence, when the Borrominesque taste began to extend through Italy.
Architecture itself, which forms the basis of this profession, began, in
course of time, to be regarded as an accessary; a greater share of study
was employed in the vases of flowers, in festoons, in fruits, and foliages,
and certain novelties of grotesque, against which both Algarotti and Crespi
have so justly and successfully inveighed.

We cannot close this account without the name of Giovannino da Capugnano,
an artist very fully treated of by Malvasia and Orlandi, and highly
extolled in the studies of the painters, even in our own days. Misled by a
pleasing self-delusion, he believed himself born to become a painter; like
that ancient personage, mentioned by Horace, who imagined himself the owner
of all the vessels that arrived in the Athenian port. His chief talent lay
in making crucifixes, to fill up the angles, and in giving a varnish to the
balustrades. Next, he attempted landscape in water-colours, in which were
exhibited the most strange proportions, of houses less than the men; these
last smaller than his sheep; and the sheep again than his birds. Extolled,
however, in his own district, he determined to leave his native mountains,
and figure on a wider theatre at Bologna; there he opened his house, and
requested the Caracci, the only artists he believed to be more learned than
himself, to furnish him with a pupil, whom he intended to polish in his
studio. Lionello Spada, an admirable wit, accepted this invitation; he went
and copied designs, affecting the utmost obsequiousness towards his master.
At length, conceiving it time to put an end to the jest, he left behind him
a most exquisite painting of Lucretia, and over the entrance of the chamber
some fine satirical octaves, in apparent praise, and real ridicule of
Capugnano. His worthy master only accused Lionello of ingratitude, for
having acquired from him in so short a space the art of painting so
beautifully from his designs; but the Caracci at last acquainted him with
the joke, which acted as a complete antidote to his folly. In some
Bolognese galleries his pictures are preserved as specimens, in some degree
connected with pictorial history;[47] and which, though composed with all
becoming gravity, are as diverting as any caricature of Miel or of
Cerquozzi. Were we to desire a second example of such imbecility in the
art, it would be found in Crespi,[48] who gives some account of one Pietro
Galletti. Equally persuaded of having been born a painter, Pietro became a
laughing-stock to the students, who solemnly invested him with a doctorial
degree in the art, assembling for that purpose in the cellar of a
monastery.

Footnote 47: See Lettere Pittoriche, vol. ii. p. 53.

Footnote 48: Crespi, p. 141.

BOLOGNESE SCHOOL.

EPOCH IV.

_Pasinelli, and in particular Cignani, cause a Change in the
Style of Bolognese Painting. The Clementine Academy and its
Members._

The commencement of the final epoch of the Bolognese School may be dated
some years previous to 1700; when Lorenzo Pasinelli and Carlo Cignani had
already produced a striking alteration in painting. The disciples of the
Caracci, who had imitated Lodovico, and those who had produced new manners,
had all disappeared; while the pupils who still continued attached to their
taste were very few; consisting of Guercino's Gennari, of Gio. Viani,
formerly pupil to Torre, and some other less distinguished names. Pasinelli
himself ceased to exist, on the opening of the new century, leaving the
entire credit of the preceptorship in the hands of Cignani. This, too, was
shortly increased by the formation of a public academy of the fine arts in
the city, to which he was appointed president during life. These details
are to be met with in the excellent "History of the Clementine Academy"
composed by Giampietro Zanotti. Here we are made acquainted with the
principles and progress of that celebrated society, which, in the year
1708, received from Pope Clement XI. its sanction and its name, from the
Senate its rooms, and its organization from Count Luigi Ferdinando Marsili;
besides effectual support both from him and other nobles; and here also we
are presented with the lives of the academicians up to the year 1739. To
Zanotti's History, as well as to others of an older date, much useful
supplement was added by the Canon Crespi; and upon these two recent works,
with a due degree of caution, I propose to rest the authority of my
succeeding narrative.

In tracing the origin of the new taste, it will be requisite to go back to
1670, or near that period; when Pasinelli and Cignani, after their return
from Rome, commenced teaching and operating, each in their respective
method. Lorenzo pursued the design of Raffaello, combined with the
fascination of Paul Veronese; while Carlo delighted in the grace of
Coreggio, united to Annibal's learning; and both had executed at Rome
studies agreeable to their genius. It is reported, that one day they
happened to enter upon a long discussion of the relative merits of
Raffaello and Coreggio. Would that they had been joined by some new
Borghini, as a third party, who might have put the discourse into the form
of a dialogue, and have preserved it for posterity! In course of time,
Cignani came into higher repute than Pasinelli, though this excited no kind
of jealousy; they had both of them wisdom enough to be satisfied each with
his own share of genius, and to commend his competitor; thus abstaining
from that indulgence of rivalry which gives, even to the most celebrated
artists and writers, an air of meanness. Thus, when the Clementine academy
was instituted, the pupils of both masters readily united in serving that
new assembly; voluntarily submitting to the direction of Cignani, placed by
the pontifical diploma at their head. Thenceforward the style of Cignani
came into vogue; though others sprung from it, composed of two or more
manners, which may yet be called national. Each has in it something of the
Caraccesque, owing to the young artists having commenced their career by
designing from the works of the three brothers. A few of these painters
exhibit even too much of their manner, and that of the best among other
artists; we find figures taken partially from different ancient masters,
and worked up into one composition; as we see sometimes done in poetry,
with the lines of one or more writers. About this period the study of the
beau-ideal received some accession, by means of the casts with which the
academy was supplied. The style of coloring is far from careless; though in
the principles then adopted, there was a certain method pursued by
different artists, from which their shadows have grown deeper, and assumed
a rusty colour; and towards the middle of the same epoch, false and
capricious colours came into use, and long continued to find patrons. Nor
was this error confined solely to the Bolognese School. Balestra, in one of
his letters, dated 1733, inserted in the Pictoric Collection, (vol. ii.)
laments the decline of "all the Italian schools," from their having fallen
into mistaken methods. Possessing himself in Verona three scholars, capable
of great performances, namely, Pecchio, who became a fine landscape
painter, Rotari, and Cignaroli, he seems to have had his fears even for
them. In particular, speaking of the last, he says, "I fear lest he, too,
should suffer himself to be borne away by the prevailing stream, and become
enamoured of certain ideal manners, and of a rapid touch; consequently
careless of good practice and of rules." Respecting these alterations,
however, it is not yet time to treat.

To come down, at present, to the two heads of the school; Pasinelli, who
first ceased to live, will first come under our consideration. He received
his education in the art from Cantarini; subsequently from Torre, whose
school he too early left, owing to which, most probably, he never attained
to perfect correctness of design. In this, nevertheless, he surpassed Paul
Veronese, who formed his great prototype. He did not imitate him, according
to the sectarists; he borrowed from him that effective and majestic
composition; but the ideas of the faces, and the distribution of the
colours he acquired elsewhere. He was naturally too inclined to create
surprise by the display of copious, rich, and spirited compositions; such
as his two pictures at the Certosa, of Christ's Entrance into Jerusalem,
and his Return into Limbo; and such too is his History of Coriolanus, in
the Casa Ranuzzi, a piece found repeated in many collections. No one can
behold these paintings without granting to Pasinelli a true painter's fire,
great novelty of idea, and a certain elevated character, never the boast of
middling artists. With these gifts, however, he is sometimes too
extravagant in his attitudes, and in his Paolesque imitation of spectacles,
and strange novel draperies, which he is thought to have carried to an
extreme, as in his Preaching of John the Baptist, in which his rival,
Taruffi, found, instead of the desert of Judea, the piazza of St. Mark, in
Venice. He knew, withal, to restrain his fire according to the genius of
his themes, as we may see in that Holy Family in possession of the Scalzi;
a work partaking of Albani. He painted more for private persons than for
the public; uniform in the spirit, varied in the colours of his pictures.
Some of these private pictures boast, at once, a softness of hand, and a
peculiarly vivid and gay light, that might be taken for those of the
Venetians or Lombards; in particular, a few of his Venuses, which are
supposed to be portraits of one of his three wives. In a few of his other
specimens he displays very little relief, whole colours, a tint almost like
that of the Bolognese artists preceding the Caracci; and these I should
either attribute to his early youth, or his closing days.

One of the four leading artists of his age was the Cav. Carlo Cignani, as
elsewhere stated, a genius more profound than prompt; a hand eager to
engage in labours, but most difficult, and ever dissatisfied in their
completion. His picture of Joseph's Flight into Egypt, belonging to the
Counts Bighini, of Imola, cost him six months' labour; and many similar
instances are recorded. Nevertheless, he always appears complete, never
hard or laborious; and his facility is esteemed one of his rarest gifts.
Cignani's inventions are often referable to Albani, who was his master. He
produced, for a monastery of Piacenza, a picture of the Conception of the
Virgin, who, robed in a white garment, is seen bruising the serpent's head;
and arrayed in a garment of rich purple, her infant son at her feet, who,
with an air at once of dignity and grace, places his foot upon that of his
mother;--what a language does this speak, how truly sublime! There is much,
too, of a novel and poetic cast, in his Birth of the Virgin, at the
cathedral of Urbino; a picture that at Rome was censured even for its
novelty. Cignani was likewise a good composer, and so disposed his figures,
by the example of the Caracci, as to give his pictures an air of larger
dimensions than they really have. His four Scriptural Histories, in four
ovals, each sustained by two cherubs, among the most perfectly beautiful in
Bologna, are truly attractive ornaments of S. Michele in Bosco; nor are two
others less so, of the public hall, where he represented Francis I., in the
act of healing the lepers; and Paul III. seen entering into Bologna. Less
majestic, perhaps, but more beautiful, is one of his paintings, in the
palace of the ducal garden at Parma. Agostino Caracci had there decorated
the ceiling of a chamber; there Cignani exhibited, on the walls, various
fables, illustrative of the power of Love; in which, if he surpassed not
that great master, he, in the opinion of many, at least equalled him. In
design he invariably emulated Coreggio; but, in his outlines, in his
beauteous and noble countenances, and in his grand, ample folds, he
preserved something original, and distinct from the Lombards; while he is
less studious than they respecting the use of foreshortening. He aimed at a
strong layer of colours, which were clear and animated like Coreggio's, to
which he added, also, a sweetness derived from Guido. He was especially
careful in his chiaroscuro, and gave a great degree of roundness to all his
objects; which, though in certain subjects it may appear overwrought, and
more ample than in nature, is nevertheless pleasing.

His historical pieces are rare; but not so a number of others, containing
one or two half-length figures, and still less his Madonnas. One of the
most beautiful is in the Albani palace, painted for Clement XI., with the
Holy Child; and another, representing her grief, belongs to the Princes
Corsini, extremely graceful, as is also the Angel seen consoling her. It
would be difficult to decide whether he excelled most in oils or in fresco,
which last is the kind of painting in which great artists have ever
distinguished themselves. He spent the closing years of a long life at
Forli, where he established his family, and left the proudest monument of
his genius in that grand cupola, perhaps the most remarkable of all the
pictoric productions belonging to the eighteenth century. The subject is
the Assumption of our Lady, the same as in the cathedral at Parma; and
here, too, as there, it exhibits such a real paradise, that the more we
contemplate it, the more it delights us. Near twenty years were devoted to
its production, from time to time; the artist, occasionally, during that
period, visiting Ravenna, to consult the cupola by Guido, from whom he took
his fine figure of St. Michael, and some other ideas. It is reported that
the scaffolds were, against his wish, removed, as he appeared to be never
satisfied with retouching and bringing the work to his usual degree of
finish.

From these two masters I now proceed to their disciples, and shall annex,
also, a few others, who sprung from other schools. Pasinelli had the good
fortune to inherit, from Canuti, an excellent master, a number of fine
scholars, on the latter quitting Bologna. One of these was Gio. Antonio
Burrini, who, while he retained his first master's manner, became attached,
also, to the composition of Paolo, so much to the taste of Pasinelli.
Indeed, he himself appeared naturally inclined to it, by the richness of
his imagination, and his surprising eagerness and industry in his works. He
devoted much time to Paolo Veronese, at Venice, often imitating him in
those pictures which are referred to his first style. Distinguished among
these is an Epiphany, painted for the noble Ratta family, which yields to
very few pieces in their collection. He subsequently executed a martyrdom
of S. Vittoria for the cathedral of Mirandola, in competition with Gio.
Gioseffo dal Sole; who on beholding it so greatly superior to his own
picture, was bitterly mortified. He was reassured, however, by Pasinelli,
their common master, who predicted he would become a better artist than
Burrini, whose own facility of genius would at length betray him into a
mere practical line. And this prediction was very exactly fulfilled, though
he continued upwards of fifteen years to paint with tolerable care, both
for the Prince of Carignano at Turin, and at Novellara. He in particular
appeared to advantage as a fresco painter at Bologna, being by some termed
the Pier da Cortona, or the Giordano of his school. His fresco histories in
the Casa Albergati are well deserving notice, as are those in the
Alamandini and the Bigami families, with others produced in early youth.
Impelled at length by the cares of an increasing family to look for greater
profits, he gave way by degrees to his facility of hand, and formed a
second style, which, owing to the indolence of human nature, obtained more
disciples than his first.

Gio. Gioseffo dal Sole, on the contrary, burned to become each day more
perfect, and raised himself to one of the first posts among the artists of
his age. He had constant commissions from noblemen, both native and
foreign, and received invitations also from the courts of Poland and of
England. For some time he preserved a style conforming to Pasinelli's; and
in order to improve it from the same sources he frequently returned to
Venice, though he never attained to that degree of beauty, in his more
elegant subjects, that formed the boast of his master. In many particulars,
however, he displays exquisite grace; as in the hair and plumes of the
angels, and equally in the accessaries, such as the veils, bracelets,
crowns, and armour. He seems to have been inclined also more than Pasinelli
to treat powerful themes; more observant of costume, more methodical in
composition, and more informed in point of architecture and landscape. In
these indeed he is almost unique; and the most beautiful specimens,
perhaps, are to be seen at the Casa Zappi in Imola, representing Evening,
Night, and Morning, all very pleasingly distributed, and with sober tints,
such as the subject required. His other works display, in most instances,
the most lovely play of vivid fluctuating light, more especially in his
holy pieces and celestial visions, as we see in the St. Peter of Alcantara,
at S. Angiolo in Milan. Moreover, he was more exact and polished than
Pasinelli; not that he was by any means deficient in celerity in conducting
his works, but esteemed it unworthy of an upright character to confer upon
them less perfection than he was capable of bestowing. Being employed at
Verona for the noble family of Giusti, where he left several mythological
pieces and scriptural histories, truly beautiful, he completed one of
Bacchus and Ariadne, which artists pronounced excellent, within a week. Yet
he cancelled almost the whole, to remodel it according to his own wish,
declaring that it was enough to have shewn his rapidity of hand to satisfy
others, but that it became his duty, by additional accuracy, to satisfy
also himself. Hence his fresco at S. Biagio in Bologna, which is his
greatest work, cost him an infinite deal of labour in its completion; and
in conducting his altar-pieces, few and valuable, as well as in his private
pictures, which are very numerous, he called for high remuneration,
persevering in his determination to paint only with care. In this artist,
as many others, two manners are observable, of which the second partakes of
Guido Reni's. It is on record, that he became attached to it late in life,
and was less successful in it. It appears to me that a large portion of his
pictures nearly approach the taste of Guido, and that the surname of the
modern Guido, conferred upon him by so many, has not been granted as matter
of favour, nor at the expense of little time.

No artist of these times could boast more disciples than Giangioseffo dal
Sole, if we except Solimene, who was held by him in high esteem. In order
to study his paintings, executed for the Counts Bonaccorsi, Dal Sole went
to Macerata, where he conducted a few works for the church of the Vergini,
and for the house of the said nobles. I am uncertain if he derived from
this visit that style of colouring, more attractive than natural, such as
we find it in some of his smaller pictures, and in some Bolognese artists
who succeeded him. From his school sprung Felice Torelli of Verona, and
Lucia Casalini, his wife, of a Bolognese family. Torelli came to it already
instructed in the art, acquired in his native place from Sante Prunato,
whose taste he, in a great measure, preserved. He became a painter of
strong character, fine chiaroscuro, and of no common merit in canvass
paintings for altars. These are found at Rome, Turin, Milan, and other
cities of Italy. That of S. Vincenzio is most conspicuous, in the act of
freeing a female possessed, at the Domenicans of Faenza; a picture finely
varied in the heads, in the draperies, and the attitudes. Lucia likewise
painted for some churches, as nearly as she could in her consort's style;
but her chief merit lay in portrait, such as to obtain for her admission of
her own in the royal gallery at Florence. Another artist of her sex,
initiated in the art of design by Sirani, and in colouring by Taruffi and
Pasinelli, received her last instructions from Gioseffo dal Sole. Her name
was Teresa Muratori Scannabecchi, who was in the habit of painting a good
deal by herself, and with great credit. Assisted by her master, she
executed a picture of St. Benedict in the act of preserving the life of a
child; a very graceful production and of good effect, exhibited in a chapel
of S. Stefano.

Francesco Monti, another pupil of the same school, was endowed by nature
with an enthusiasm for ample and copious subjects, to which he applied
himself without much previous culture, either from imitation or from art.
He executed for the Counts Ranuzzi, who patronised him, a picture of the
Rape of the Sabines; and for the court of Turin the Triumph of Mardocheo;
works abounding with figures, and highly extolled; besides many other oil
paintings for different collections and churches. But his surpassing merit
is to be sought for in his frescos, and more particularly at Brescia, in
which city he fixed his residence. He also conducted many pieces for the
adjacent places, applauded for his fertile genius and his masterly style of
colouring. A number of churches and noble houses, such as the Martinengo,
the Avogadro, the Barussi, were also decorated by him on a very extended
scale of painting. Some portraits, too, executed by his daughter Eleonora,
who received constant commissions from the same nobility, are held in high
esteem.

Gio. Batista Grati and Cesare Mazzoni remained at Bologna, and as belonging
to the Clementine Academicians who then flourished, we meet with their
lives in Zanotti. Subsequent to their decease, Crespi was enabled to treat
their memory with more fairness. He praises the accuracy of the former, and
regrets his want of talent; the second he pronounces a commendable artist,
observing that he was long employed at Faenza, Turin, and Rome, as well as
at Bologna itself; though not with good fortune. Antonio Lunghi also
flourished for the most part in foreign states; at Venice, in Rome, and the
kingdom of Naples. He returned, at an advanced age, to his native place,
where there is his picture of S. Rita at S. Bartolommeo, and others in
different churches, which merited for their author some favourable
consideration of Crespi. Yet he has omitted him, for the purpose, as I
suppose, of reserving him for the fourth volume of the "Felsina Pittrice."
It would be too much to attempt a complete sketch of Gio. Gioseffo's
disciples who flourished in other schools, such as Francesco Pavona of
Udine, a good painter in oil, and better in crayons; superior in his large
altar-pieces, and still more in his portraits. He afterwards studied at
Milan, and thence proceeded to Genoa; next into Spain, Portugal, and
Germany, being well received in all these courts; after which he married
and had a family at Dresden. Subsequently he returned to Bologna, which he
left in the course of a few years for Venice, where he shortly afterwards
died. Francesco Comi also left Bologna, called il Fornaretto,[49] and the
Mute of Verona, being deprived both of speech and hearing. Nevertheless he
was distinguished in the art, and is commemorated by Pozzo among the
artists of his country, and also by Orlandi. There are others, of whom we
make mention in almost every school.

Footnote 49: Literally, the little baker.

Donato Creti, a cavalier of the gold spurs, ranks as one of the most
eminent of Pasinelli's pupils, and as the most attached to his manner;
though he was inclined to modify it with that of Cantarini, and of both
composed a third, sufficiently noble and graceful. He would have made it
still more free and original, had he applied himself diligently in early
youth; which he omitted to do, and carried his regrets for such omission
down with him to the tomb. His merit is impaired by his colouring, which
has in it something hard and crude; entertaining a maxim, that tints, such
as they are in nature, ought to be employed, and left to time for sobering
and harmonizing--a maxim by some attributed to Paul Veronese. If there were
ever a painter who knew not when to remove his hand from the canvass, it
was Creti. In painting his S. Vincenzio, intended to be placed opposite the
S. Raimond of Lodovico, he completed it with every attention to the art;
yet was dissatisfied with the work, insomuch that the person who gave the
commission was compelled to take it by force out of his studio, in order to
place it in the grand church of the Padri Predicatori. This is, perhaps,
his best altar-piece. His Alexander's Feast also boasts some merit,
executed for the noble Fava family; by some even it is supposed to be his
masterpiece. Creti had a pupil, named Ercole Graziani, who added greater
power of execution to his master's style, a more enlarged character,
greater freedom of hand, with other qualities which display his
superiority. He approached Franceschini and others who succeeded to the
school of Cignani. He has been accused by one of his rivals of too much
effeminacy in his painting, and study of minutiæ in his ornaments. Others
seek for a more just equality in his colours; others more spirit; though
all must give him credit for genius and industry equal to compete with the
eminent artists of his day, and to surpass many, had he enjoyed the good
fortune to have met with an experienced master. He painted for S. Pietro,
that Apostle in the act of ordaining S. Apollinare; a history both copious
and full of dignity; commissioned by the Cardinal Lambertini, who, on
becoming pope, caused him to make a duplicate for the church of S.
Apollinare at Rome. Also his pictures of S. Pellegrino, in Sinigaglia, the
princes of the Apostles, who take leave, with the most beautiful
expression, to meet their martyrdom, placed at S. Pietro in Piacenza, with
others belonging to his happier hours, are equally excellent. To Creti and
Graziani we have to add Count Pietro Fava, in whose house both were, during
some time, brought up, at once assistants and companions in the studies of
this noble artist. He is ranked among Pasinelli's pupils and the Clementine
academicians; and we have an account of his studying the works of the
Caracci, to whose manner, equally with any other artist, he became
attached. Although the cavalier is described as a dilettante in the art,
yet on beholding his altar-pieces of the Epiphany and of the Resurrection
of Christ, which he presented to the cathedral of Ancona, with a few other
productions at Bologna, he appears more worthy of enrolment among its noble
professors.

Aureliano Milani acquired the principles of painting from Cesare Gennari
and Pasinelli; but, struck with the Caracci's style, he devoted his whole
time to copying their compositions entire, as well as separate, repeating
his designs of the heads, the feet, the hands, and the outlines. He caught
their spirit, without borrowing their forms. It is remarked by Crespi, that
no Bolognese shewed more of the Caraccesque in the naked figure, and in the
whole symmetry and character of his painting. After Cignani, too, I have
heard it noticed, that no one better maintained the design and the credit
of the school. In colouring he was not so excellent; sometimes a follower
of Gennari, as in his St. Jerome, at the church of the Vita in Bologna, and
in some degree in his St. John beheaded, at the church of the Bergamaschi
in Rome. Here he took up his residence, being ill able to support a family
of ten children at Bologna. Here, too, he abounded with commissions, and
promoted with Muratori, another pupil of Pasinelli, established there from
early youth, the honour of his native place. Of the last one, however, we
have treated under that school.

Aureliano taught during many years at Bologna, and among other pupils of
his was the celebrated Giuseppe Marchesi, called il Sansone. He first
studied under Franceschini, whose taste he nearly approaches in the vaulted
ceiling of the Madonna di Galiera. It is even the opinion of some, that, in
his skill of foreshortening, and in the tone of his colours, no artist
succeeded in imitating him so well. He took his design from Milani; though
at times his naked portion is rather too much loaded, which I would not
venture to say of his master. Among his best pictures is the Martyrdom of
S. Prisca, in the Rimini cathedral; an altar-piece of many and fine
figures, and good tints, for which the S. Agnese of Domenichino supplied
him with some ideas. He painted much for galleries, and among other pieces,
one of his pictures representing the four seasons, (where it now is I
cannot say,) is reputed, by a first rate judge, among the first works of
the modern Bolognese school.

Antonio Gionima was some time also a pupil of Milani. He was a Paduan of
obscure birth, whose father and grandfather had been artists; educated
first by Simone his father (p. 171), afterwards by Milani, and for a longer
period by Crespi. He died young, leaving works highly prized at Bologna for
their inventive spirit and for the high tone and clearness of their
colouring. His picture of St. Florian and accompanying martyrs was engraved
by Mattioli; and a grand canvass history of Haman is shewn in the Ranuzzi
apartment, conspicuous among numbers in the same place, where no common
artists gained admittance.

Leaving aside certain other pupils of Pasinelli, of less account, as
Odoardo Orlandi, or Girolamo Negri, who had a place, however, in the
Dictionary of Painters, we shall close this catalogue with two others, who,
becoming friends in the school of Lorenzo, continued their intimacy to
extreme old age; Giuseppe Gambarini and Gian Pietro Cavazzoni Zanotti.
Gambarini attended the studio of Cesare Gennari, whose rapidity of touch
and power of natural effect, he afterwards retained. He added no dignity of
forms; owing to which his few altar-pieces and other serious subjects
obtained him no reputation. Applying himself subsequently to Flemish
composition, he represented women intent on domestic affairs, boys'
schools, mendicants begging alms, with similar popular objects, copied
faithfully from life; in all which he abounded with commissions. At Bologna
such familiar pieces by him and his able pupil Gherardini are very common,
and please by their spirit and their exactness. Sometimes he represented
also serious subjects, as in that picture in Casa Ranuzzi, exhibiting the
coronation of Charles V. during the government of a Gonfalonier of the
family.

Zanotti is well known among the writers on pictoric subjects; and few have
been more successful in wielding with equal excellence both pencil and pen.
His "Directions for the Progress of young Artists" contain some learned
maxims, which were meant to stem the corruption of the art, by rescuing it
from a low mechanical manner, and replacing it upon its true principles.
Upon the same maxims he composed his "History of the Clementine Academy,"
although he was not enabled to adopt corresponding freedom of style; having
there written the lives of the academicians, then lately deceased, or still
alive. This work, printed by Lelio dalla Volpe, in 1739, with a splendor
nearly unknown, up to that period, in Italy, excited some degree of
indignation in good artists, who found, next their own, many names of mere
mediocrity distinguished by portraits and lives, on a footing with
themselves. The complaints raised by Spagnuolo, are recorded by the Canon
Crespi in his Felsina, (p. 227, &c.). Other accusations were doubtless
advanced against him by inferior parties, who, though commended beyond
their merits, secretly, perhaps, believed themselves deserving of still
higher praise. Zanotti, too, inserted notices relating to himself, who held
in that assembly the offices of president and of secretary, for a much
longer period. But domestic and literary matters combined, withdrew his
attention from painting in his maturer years; whence we may date his more
feeble performances, which convey no great idea of him. Before, however, he
had conducted works which exempted him from the pictoric crowd; in which
list we may include his grand picture of an Embassy from the People of
Romagna to the Bolognese, which ornaments the public palace. In private
houses, too, are other compositions, either historical or mythological,
composed in excellent taste, one of which is in possession of the Signore
Biancani Tazzi, a piece greatly admired by Algarotti, as a perfect model of
refined taste. A similar graceful little picture of a Cupid and nymphs,
which I saw at Signor Volpi's, displays much poetical imagination, this
artist delighting in poetical composition, very different from Lomazzo's
and Boschini's, to an extreme old age.[50]

Footnote 50: See Lett. Pittor. tom. iv. p. 136.

From Zanotti, who was an excellent master, Ercole Lelli acquired his
knowledge of design. His extraordinary genius, his anatomical preparations
in wax, made by himself and Manzolini for the institution, and his great
influence in the instruction of young artists, in the three branches of the
fine arts, acquired him great reputation in Italy. At the same time, it is
known that he lectured much better than he painted; the art requiring, like
a knowledge of languages, close and persevering application, such as Lelli
could not command. One of his altar-pieces is reported in the Bolognese
Guide; and standing in need of defence, it was truly stated, that it was
among his earliest pieces. In the Guide to Piacenza, another, his S.
Fedele, at the Cappuccini, is also noticed; though it is added, with more
candour, that his highest merit did not consist in painting.

Gio. Viani was fellow-pupil to Pasinelli in the school of Torre; but it is
only a conjecture that he was also his assistant. He was a learned painter,
not inferior in design to any contemporary of the same school; and added to
his powers by assiduous drawing from the living model in the academy, and
the study of anatomy, until the close of his career. To such knowledge he
united elegance in his forms, softness of colouring, engaging attitudes,
lightness of drapery, studying much from life, and giving it an air of
grace, in the manner of Torre, or of Guido. That exquisite picture of St.
John di Dio, at the hospital of the Buonfratelli, is such a specimen of his
art. In the portico of the Servi he represented, in a lunette, S. Filippo
Benizi, borne up to heaven by two angels; a figure which, both in
countenance and action, breathes an expression of beatitude, conspicuous,
even at the side of another history, by Cignani. In other lunettes of the
same portico he does not excite equal admiration, and gives us an idea of
an artist able to compete with the best masters, but obliged to work with a
much larger share of study than they were accustomed to bestow.

Viani opened school opposite that of Cignani, and taught to some extent; in
which he was succeeded by his son Domenico, whose life was written by
Guidalotti, who, in point of merit, prefers him to his father. Few will
subscribe to this opinion, he not having attained to that exactness, much
less to that dignity of design, exhibited by his father; and inferior to
him in the nature, truth, and clearness of his colouring. Still he
possessed a grander character in his outline, a stronger execution, like
Guercino's, more splendid ornaments, like the Venetians, whom he
assiduously studied in their own capital. There is his St. Antony, at S.
Spirito, in Bergamo, in the act of convincing a sceptic by a miracle; a
surprising picture, extolled by Rotari and Tiepolo, and perhaps the best
work which he left at Bologna. At the same place is his Jove, painted on
copper, for the Casa Ratta, besides other works in private houses, to which
he chiefly devoted himself.

His fellow-pupils in the paternal school were four Clementine academicians,
whose altar-pieces we find mentioned among the "Paintings of Bologna."
These were Gian Girolamo Bonesi, who renounced both the name and style of
Viani, in order to follow Cignani, and complained of being included in
Viani's school. However this might be, his pictures pleased, by adding to
the beautiful a peculiar delicacy and sweetness that characterize him.
Carlo Rambaldi, imitating both the Viani, was not the less employed by
Bonesi; and pictures of both are met with, especially half-length figures,
in select galleries at Bologna, and a few historical pieces in the royal
collection at Turin. Antonio Dardani possessed more universal talent than
either of the preceding, but was not equally refined. Pietro Cavazzi was a
fine connoisseur in prints, and only on this account was celebrated in
Italy and abroad. Tronchi, Pancaldi, Montanari, with others, not admitted
into the Clementine academy, may be found mentioned in Crespi. No one, I
imagine, would desire an account of the under graduates, when the
academicians who enjoyed the first rank, were many of them, according to
Zanotti, only artists of mediocrity.

From the school of Cignani, to which I now proceed, scarcely any disciple
issued who ultimately adhered to his style. A master, whose maxim it was to
labour every picture, as if his entire reputation depended on it; who
preferred to cancel, rather than retouch his less successful pieces, might,
perhaps, have scholars, but not many emulators. Two of his family, however,
imitated him; Count Felice his son, who long assisted him, particularly in
the Cupola at Forli; and the Count Paolo his grandson, whom he, perhaps,
instructed in the outset; while his father indisputably employed him at
Forli, and Mancini at Rome. Both were gifted with facility of genius; but
being sufficiently wealthy, they only devoted themselves to the art for the
sake of the pleasure it afforded. Felice is seldom mentioned in the Guide
to Bologna; in which, however, his St. Antony, at the Carità, meets with
praise. At Forli is the altar-piece of St. Philip, by some ascribed to him,
and by others to Count Carlo, in his declining years; so inferior is it to
the best style of that artist. In collections his paintings are not rare;
though appearing, like a young boy in the presence of his father. Of Count
Paolo's I only recollect a single altar-piece at Savignano, representing
St. Francis in the act of appearing to St. Joseph da Copertino, and putting
a demon to flight. The scene appears illuminated by torch-light, and has a
fine effect; and the figures, in regard to their studied and finished
manner, display the taste of his grandfather.

After the relatives of Carlo comes Emilio Taruffi, his fellow-pupil with
Albani, as well as his assistant, first at Bologna, in decorating the
public hall, and next at Rome, where he resided three years, sometimes
employed at S. Andrea della Valle, at others for private houses. No artist
then better conformed to Cignani's style; and Taruffi could at least second
him in painting histories. But his genius lay more in minor compositions.
He was an excellent copyist of any ancient manner; a portrait painter of
great spirit, and, in landscape, one of the best pupils formed by Albani.
In these three branches he obtained his usual commissions, which he ever
discharged with credit. He also conducted some altar-pieces, and that of S.
Pier Celestino, at the church of that name, yields to few of the same
period.

Cignani's most distinguished pupils and heads of new schools were
Franceschini and Crespi. The Cav. Marcantonio Franceschini left the school
of Gio. Batista Galli for that of Cignani, and became his most effective
assistant and intimate friend. This friendship was cemented by his union
with Cignani's cousin, sister of Quaini, whom I shall shortly again
mention. Some productions of Franceschini might be taken for Cignani's
himself; but these were among his earliest, before he had formed his
characteristic manner. He remained with his friend many years, and
possessing peculiar gracefulness of design, Cignani availed himself of it
to draw from life the individual portions of his compositions, engaging him
to consult various models, in order to select the best forms from each. By
this study of nature, in which he persevered, and by copying from the
designs and under the eye of his master, he attained much of the taste, the
nice selectness, and the grandeur of Cignani. To these he added a certain
grace of colouring, and a facility which gave a novel character to his
productions; besides an originality, equal to any other artist, in the form
of his heads, in his attitudes, and in the costume of his figures. His
freshness, his harmony, his just equilibrium of full and retreating parts;
in short, his whole style presents a glowing spectacle never before seen.
If we trace in his works, especially on an extended scale, a degree of
mannerism, it may almost be excused: would that his disciples had
restrained themselves within the same limits! But easy roads to painting
are like walking on a declivity, where it is difficult to count one's
steps, or restrain one's motions. Franceschini seemed born to execute works
on a large scale, fertile in ideas, and with facility to dispose them in
every point of view, and to colour them at any distance. He was accustomed
to compose his cartoons in chiaroscuro, and, having fixed them in the
intended spot, to judge of the success of his proposed work; a method it
would be desirable to inculcate and adopt more generally.

His large fresco paintings are numerous; the recess in the Ranuzzi palace,
the cupola and ceiling in the church of Corpus Domini, the tribune of S.
Bartolommeo at Bologna. Among those in other states we shall mention only
the corbels of the cupola, with three histories, in the cathedral of
Piacenza, and the grand ceiling of the Hall of Public Counsel at Genoa.
This painting, of which it is enough to state that Mengs devoted many hours
in examining it in detail, the noblest of Franceschini's performances,
perished by fire, without a single engraving having been taken to
commemorate its grandeur of conception. The same fertility of ideas and
attraction of style are conspicuous in his grand histories, dispersed among
the first galleries of Europe, and in his no less copious altar-pieces.
Such is the S. Tommaso da Villanova, in the act of dispensing alms, placed
at the Agostiniani di Rimini; a picture truly imposing by its magnificent
workmanship, and which surprises by the beauty of its figures. What is
equally surprising, the Cavalier Franceschini, when nearly an octogenarian,
displayed pictorial powers equal to his best days; as we gather from his
Pietà, at the Agostiniani of Imola, and his BB. Fondatori, at the Serviti
in Bologna, which betray no traces of decline. This artist rejected the
most advantageous offers from courts, which all vied in soliciting his
services. Giordano even was not invited to that of Madrid, until the
situation had been refused by Franceschini. He chose to reside in Upper
Italy, there assuming the same rank, as head of his school, with almost the
same success as Cortona in Lower Italy. Both schools adhered much to the
Caracci's style, and in some measure rendered it more popular; and hence,
those who at Rome are not familiar with the features and contrasts
characteristic of Cortona's sect, would easily confound them with the more
modern artists of Bologna.

Luigi Quaini, cousin to Carlo Cignani, and brother-in-law to Franceschini,
was one of the most animated characters of his time; equally well versed in
history, in architecture, and in poetry. The pupil, first of Guercino, next
of Cignani, he was employed by the last as an assistant, and with such
success, that, in painting, his hand could not be distinguished from that
of his master. In distributing their labours to Franceschini and to Quaini,
he ordered the former to paint the fleshes for the roundness and softness
he gave to them; while to the latter he committed certain gay and spirited
countenances, and a certain finishing of parts, in which, from his peculiar
talent, he admirably succeeded. Later in life, he united with Franceschini,
and leaving to him the inventive parts, he followed him in the style of the
figures; inferior, doubtless, to that of Cignani, in force of chiaroscuro
and colouring, but more attractive from its peculiar beauty and felicity.
He would, afterwards, wholly ornament the composition by himself, with
flowers, armour, beautiful landscape, and noble perspective; an art
acquired from Francesco, his own father, a fine pupil of Mitelli. In this
way did these two artists continue to paint, conjointly, at Bologna, at
Modena, Piacenza, Genoa, and Rome; at which last place they composed some
cartoons for the cupola of St. Peter's, which were afterwards executed in
mosaic. Quaini also painted many historical pictures of his own invention.
They decorate private houses; his only composition in public being his St.
Nicholas visited in prison by our Lady, a beautiful altar-piece, occupying
the best place in the church of that name.

Marcantonio's school, from which he also derived those assistants who
followed Quaini, dates its commencement from his son, the Canon Jacopo
Franceschini. The Bolognese historians only represent him in the character
of an honorary academician; so that, by their account, I ought here to omit
him. The Cav. Ratti, however, informs us that Marcantonio, coming to Genoa
to adorn the church of S. Filippo, brought with him his son as his
assistant, together with Giacomo Boni. In the same city, too, I saw a large
history, in the hall of the Marchese Durazzo, as well as other pieces by
him, well worthy commendation. At Bologna, also, are several paintings in
public, all conducted in the style, and with the assistance of his father.

Boni was employed by Franceschini in many of his works, more particularly
in that at Rome. He had been pupil also to Cignani, along with a few more,
to be mentioned in the same school; under whose care he chiefly had in view
works of a more difficult cast. Such was the ceiling of S. Maria della
Costa, at S. Remo, and of S. Pier Celestino, at Bologna; besides several
paintings at Genoa, where he became established. Two of his pictures, at
the church of the Magdalen, met with great applause; namely, a Preaching at
Gethsemane, and a Pietà. He more particularly distinguished himself in
fresco; and in a chamber of his Excel. Pallavicini is an infant Jove, in
the act of receiving nutriment from a goat, executed in the most elegant
style. He was much employed in that capital, where, says Crespi, "there is
neither palace, nor church, nor monastery, nor house, in which his works
are not met with; all striking and commendable." Nor did he produce little
at Brescia, at Parma, and at Remo; besides being honoured with commissions
from Prince Eugene of Savoy, and the King of Spain, for whose chapel he
forwarded an altar-piece. This artist sometimes betrays the haste of a mere
mechanist, not completing fully, or polishing his work; besides colouring
with a degree of lightness of hand which easily yields to age. Yet he
always retains a delicacy and a precision in his contours, with a certain
open spirit and joyousness which delight the eye.

Antonio Rossi never conducted works on so large a scale as Boni, but he
surpassed him in diligence; which induced his master, when entrusting
commissions to his pupils, to prefer him to any other. He exercised himself
in painting pictures for churches, and greatly added to his reputation by
his Martyrdom of S. Andrea, placed at S. Domenico. He was much occupied,
also, with architectural pictures and landscape, to which he added small
figures, so well adapted as to appear by the same hand. On this account he
was an artist much liked by the artificers of similar representations,
particularly by Orlandi and Brizzi. Girolamo Gatti was less employed for
churches than Rossi, but is distinguished for small figure pieces, with one
of which he decorated the hall of the Anziani. It exhibited the coronation
of Charles V. in S. Petronio, and shewed the artist to be as good a
figurist as a painter of perspective. Although educated by Franceschini, as
we learn from the new _Guide_, he did not imitate his colouring: this he
sought to attain from Cignani. Giuseppe Pedretti long resided in Poland;
and on his return to Bologna executed a number of works in a good style.
Giacinto Garofolini, a pupil and kinsman of Marcantonio, displayed very
middling ability when employed alone; but in conjunction with his relative,
and with Boni, he conducted various works in fresco, from which he is
entitled to what reputation he obtained. To these Bolognese artists and
academicians various foreigners might be added, as one Gaetano Frattini,
known at Ravenna by some altar-pieces at the _Corpus Domini_, and a few
others whom we have referred to different schools. We shall now return to
that of Cignani.

Giuseppe Maria Crespi, whom for his neatness of attire his fellow pupils
surnamed Lo Spagnuolo, was instructed first by Canuti, next by Cignani;
being early grounded in the best principles of taste. With unwearied
assiduity he copied the Caracci paintings at Bologna; and at his leisure
studied those of the first Venetians in that capital. He examined, too,
Coreggio's at Modena and Parma, and long sojourned in Urbino and Pesaro to
consult the works of Baroccio. Some of these he copied, and sold at Bologna
for the originals. His object invariably was, to form a new manner out of
many others, which he accomplished; at some times Baroccio would be his
most admired model; at another, when he wished to employ more shade, he
chose Guercino; nor did he dislike Cortona in respect to taste of
composition. To the examples, too, of the dead, he added the observation of
the living; and was averse, if we may credit his son, to the labours of a
mere mechanist. He drew every thing from nature, and even had a camera
optica in his house, from which he copied the objects that offered
themselves to view, and remarked the various play and picturesque
reflections of the vivid light. His compositions, indeed, teem with these
novelties, and his shortenings also are as singular; so that he often
places a number of figures in a small space, while the conceptions which he
interweaves in his pictures, are more peculiarly fanciful.

This turn for novelty at length led his fine genius astray; insomuch that
Mengs is brought to lament that the Bolognese School should approach its
close in the capricious Crespi, (vol. ii. p. 124). In his heroic pieces,
and even in scriptural subjects, he left room occasionally for caricature.
Wishing to exhibit novelty in his shadows and in his draperies he fell into
mannerism; and varying his first method of colouring similar to the old
painters, he adopted another more lucrative but less excellent. It consists
of few colours, selected chiefly for effect, and very common and oily; gums
applied by him to colouring, as other artists use them for a veil, or
varnish; few strokes, employed indeed with judgment, but too superficial
and without strength or body. Such was the method which we see pursued in
so many of his pictures; or to speak more correctly, which are no longer to
be seen, the tints having decayed or disappeared, so as to require them to
be newly copied by another hand. His son did not attempt to conceal this
fault, though he wished to excuse it. The reader may peruse the defence in
his _Felsina Pittrice_, p. 225; and should he feel convinced by it, with
similar benignity he may apologize for Piazzetta, who acquired his method
of colouring from Crespi; with others who more or less pursued the same
practice, at this period extinct.

As a specimen of his more solid style, the picture of the BB. Fondatori, at
the church of the Servi, appears to much advantage; our Lord's Supper,
also, in Casa Sampieri; a few pieces in the royal Pitti palace, where he
was long employed by the great Prince Ferdinando; besides a few other of
his first productions. In his other style are various pictures conducted
for the galleries of the Roman nobility; the SS. Paolo and Antonio as
eremites, for the Princes Albani; the Magdalen for the Chigi palace; the
Seven Sacraments for the Card. Ottoboni, of which I have seen copies in the
Albani palace at Urbino. The whole of these seven pictures display certain
bold coruscations and contrasts which dazzle the eye; all shew novelty of
idea; in particular that of the Spousals between a young girl and an
octogenarian, to the visible mirth of the spectators. Spagnuolo lived to
advanced age, honoured by the pope with the insignia of cavaliere, esteemed
among the first of his age, while his paintings everywhere abounded.
Different houses, both in and beyond Bologna, possess them in great number;
histories, fables, and familiar pieces. He received most part of his
commissions from the Signori Belloni, who decorated various chambers with
his historical pieces, remunerating him with one hundred crowns each,
though they contained but few figures, and all of an ell's length.

Spagnuolo's manner was not one that could be pursued by every pupil with
applause. Those artists who were unable to direct it with equal
imagination, power of design, spirit and facility, produced very trifling
results. Even his own sons, D. Luigi the canon, and Antonio, who painted
for various churches, did not wholly follow their father's style, but
appear invariably more studied. The canon wrote much upon the art, as the
lives of the Bolognese artists, or the third volume of the _Felsina
Pittrice_, edited in 1769; notices of the painters of Ferrara and Romagna,
still unpublished; various treatises; with numerous letters inserted by
Bottari in the pictoric collection. To few of his age is the history of
painting so much indebted, although in certain national subjects he failed
to satisfy the whole of his fellow citizens. The authors of the new Guide
of Bologna require from him more diligence in examining documents; greater
fidelity as a public instructor; more justice to the real merit of Ercole
Lelli. The four dialogues in defence of his _Felsina Pittrice_, written by
a friend, were published by Bottari in the seventh volume of the work just
cited, and are worth perusal. In the same volume (p. 143) we also meet with
a letter of Crespi, in which he confesses his different errors, declaring
that he would correct them in the fourth volume of his _Felsina_, which he
was then composing, and which I am uncertain whether he ever completed.
From these notices we gather, that, notwithstanding his violent temper, he
was not wanting in fidelity as an historian, and in that readiness to
retract his own errors, without which none can pretend to maintain the true
literary or historical character.

For the rest, he must have afforded occasion for those clamours against his
_Felsina_ and other writings by some satirical strokes, which are assuredly
severe, accompanied by many personal reflections on his contemporaries.
Concerning that very respectable academy he relates some observations of
his deceased father, which had better have been consigned to oblivion. He
disapproves the methods introduced into his school, and laments, that owing
to the failure of good masters, Bologna was no longer frequented as
formerly by students. He detects, too, certain little impositions
introduced into the art; such for instance as displaying in the studio a
number of pictures prepared for colouring, to convey an idea of possessing
abundance of commissions; pronouncing in a breath a number of anatomical
terms on the bones and muscles, to inspire a high opinion of the artist's
learning; publishing eulogiums on some particular painting in an article of
the day, which only the artist himself could have conceived, and written,
paid for, and believed to be true. Such, or similar details, which must
have sufficed to recognize particular individuals, doubtless provoked many
replies from persons not publicly known, as the author gave no contemporary
names, but deeply offended and provoked to retaliate upon him.

Among the pupils of Crespi was Gionima, who survived only, as I have
stated, to his thirty-fifth year. Nor did Cristoforo Terzi reach a much
more advanced age, the pupil also of different masters. From his outset he
boasted a decision of hand, able to sketch at few strokes very spirited
heads, which, however, by dint of excessive retouching, he deprived of much
of their expression. This defect he remedied under Crespi, and improved
himself by residing several years at Rome. Many collections at Bologna
possess some of his half-length figures and heads of old men, which are
mistaken by less experienced judges for those of Lana. In the list of
Crespi's pupils, too, are Giacomo Pavia of Bologna, who flourished in
Spain; Gio. Morini d'Imola; Pier Guarienti, a Veronese, who flourished at
Venice, and was afterwards appointed director of the Dresden gallery; and
the same who wrote the additions to Orlandi's dictionary. Francesco l'Ange
of Savoy, a pupil of Crespi, became a Philippine monk at Bologna. His chief
merit lay in small scriptural pictures, some of which I saw in Vercelli, in
possession of his Eminence Martiniana, bearing the author's name, and quite
deserving, by their design and colouring, of a place in that collection.

Besides Franceschini and Crespi, many others were educated by Cignani.
Their names have been given by Zannelli, who published their lives; a book
I have vainly endeavoured to obtain while engaged in writing the present
work. By Crespi we have an account of some pupils whom he instructed in
perspective and landscape, as well as in flowers; this skilful preceptor
being accustomed to ascertain the young artists' talents, and confine them
to the inferior, when not competent to the higher branches of art, and even
to direct them to other professions when unequal to these. Such pupils as
he retained, ought not, then, to be lightly contemned, although little
celebrated, either because they died young, were dispersed abroad, or
obscured by brighter names. Among such are Baldassare Bigatti, Domenico
Galeazzi, Pietro Minelli, known in history by a few altar-pieces. Matteo
Zamboni died young, leaving in some private houses a few specimens of his
works, as much in Cignani's style as those of any artist. I am uncertain
what public works he conducted in Bologna; but he acquitted himself well,
for his age, in two histories at S. Niccolo in Rimini; the one representing
St. Benedict, the other S. Pier Celestino. Antonio Castellani is included
by Guarienti in the school of Cignani, though I think by mistake, as he
belongs to that of the Caracci. Not so Giulio Benzi, also mentioned in the
Guide of Bologna, and to be distinguished from the Genoese of that name. I
may observe the same of Guido Signorini, recorded by Crespi, and not to be
confounded with another Guido Signorini, heir to Guido Reni. So far of the
artists of Bologna.

Federigo Bencovich was a foreigner of a Dalmatian family, and I give his
name as he himself wrote it.[51] In the Dictionaries it is spelt Boncorich
and Bendonich; and by Zannelli, Benconich; so that foreigners may be well
excused for often mistaking the names of Italian painters. Federigo,
commonly called in his own time, Federighetto, acquired more of Cignani's
solidity than amenity of style; correct in his design, strong in his
execution, and well informed in the best principles of his art. Some of his
altar-pieces are at Milan, Bologna, and Venice; though most of his
productions adorn collections, even in Germany, where he resided many
years. In that of the Signori Vianelli of Chioggia, mention is made of his
S. Jacopo Sedente; and in another collection, of Count Algarotti, at
Venice, his landscape, with a village girl, to which Piazzetta added
another figure. Occasionally, his manner is somewhat too much loaded with
shadows, but by no means to be pronounced contemptible, as asserted by
Zanetti, (p. 450) in opposition to the opinion of Guarienti.

Footnote 51: In his two letters, directed to Rosalba
Carriera. See Catalogue of the deceased Canon Vianelli's
Collection, (p. 34). This artist also published a _Diary_,
in 1720 and 1721, written at Paris by the same lady; in
which she notices her own works, her remuneration, and
honours. It is accompanied by learned notes. I have recently
received notice of the work, which causes me to mention it
in this school.

Girolamo Donnini also resided out of his country; born at Coreggio, he
lived at Bologna; and being inclined to that school, was first treated of
by Crespi, next by Tiraboschi. He had studied under Stringa at Modena, and
under Giangioseffo dal Sole at Bologna. Thence he went to Forli, at the
instigation of Cignani, not so much to become a machinist and a painter in
fresco, as in order to treat less difficult subjects in oil. His chief
merit lay in painting for private ornament, and Orlandi, then living, bore
testimony that his pictures were held in high request for the decoration of
houses. He excelled also on a larger scale; one of his altar-pieces of S.
Antonio, at the Filippini in Bologna, being conducted in a very masterly
style; as well as others, dispersed about Romagna, at Turin, in his native
place, and elsewhere, the manner of which, as is remarked by Crespi,
clearly displays the hand of Cignani's disciple. A favourite pupil of
Donnini, and whom he assisted in a variety of circumstances, was Francesco
Boni, termed also il Gobbino[52] de' Sinibaldi, from being in the service
of those lords. He was from Faenza, and left several good pictures in his
native place; among others, a S. Teresa, with S. Gio. della Croce, at the
Carmelitani; a _Noli me tangere_, and the Meeting of S. Domenico and S.
Francesco, in the church which formerly belonged to the Domenicans. Pietro
Donzelli, of Mantua, placed an altar-piece in the cathedral of Pescia, in
which he represented S. Carlo administering to the sick of the plague,
displaying the style of a pupil of Cignani; and this constitutes all the
information I could obtain respecting him.

Footnote 52: Gobbino, the little hunch-back.

The other foreign pupils of the Cav. Carlo, who diffused his manner through
the Italian schools, are commemorated in the places where they flourished;
as Lamberti, for instance, at Rome, and Parolini at Ferrara. Here I shall
add a brief sketch of the artists of Romagna, whom I unite to those of
Bologna. Antonio Santi was an Ariminese, whose school only is mentioned by
Crespi; but in the Guide of Rimini, where a few of his works remain, he is
extolled as one of its best pupils, though he died young. The same Guide
makes mention of some paintings in oil and fresco, particularly in the
church of the Angioli, attributed to Angiolo Sarzetti, pupil to Cignani;
from whom, also, he obtained a design for an altar-piece at S. Colomba.
Innocenzio Monti is included by Crespi among the Bolognese, and by Orlandi
among the painters of Imola, where he left some works. One, of the
Circumcision of our Lord, at the Gesù of Mirandola, executed in 1690, is
extolled in a little book of poems. He was more industrious than ingenious,
and more successful in Germany and in Poland than in Italy. Gioseffo Maria
Bartolini, also of Imola, is esteemed, in his native place, for a Miracle
of S. Biagio, and for other works at S. Domenico, and in other churches. He
was employed a good deal at Imola, where he opened school, and throughout
Romagna; an artist of great facility, and partaking, in some degree, of the
manner of Pasinelli, his first master.

The artists of Forli, among whom Cignani lived during some years, are not a
few. Filippo Pasquali was colleague to Franceschini, whose grand
altar-piece at Rimini he surrounded with a very pleasing ornament. Some of
his earliest efforts are met with in Bologna, at the portico of the
Serviti; but not equal to the altar-piece in the church of S. Vittore at
Ravenna, which he painted at a more advanced age, and which does him great
credit. Andrea and Francesco Bondi, two brothers, are recorded by
Guarienti; though, in the Guides of Pesaro and Ravenna only one is alluded
to, whose name is not given; and what pieces I saw at Forli itself would
seem to have proceeded from one hand; such as the chapel of S. Antonio, at
the Carmelites, the Crucifixion at S. Filippo, besides others. He boasts
the fine execution of Cignani; but the forms and expressions are not
equally select. Among other artists of Forli, instructed by Cignani, was
the priest Sebastiano Savorelli, employed in some church paintings even in
the adjacent cities. To him we may add Mauro Malducci, and Francesco
Fiorentini, both priests, too, of Forli; of all of whom there is found some
account in the life of Cignani.

Under the Roman School we treated of Francesco Mancini, from S. Angelo in
Vado, who, along with Agostino Castellacci, from Pesaro, was instructed by
Cignani; both nearly contiguous to Romagna, but of unequal powers. Agostino
is little known, even in his own state; but Mancini was celebrated
throughout Lower, as much as Franceschini in Upper Italy; and he also
educated several artists for the countries adjacent to Romagna. Sebastian
Ceccarini was Mancini's pupil, born at Urbino, and often mentioned in the
Guide of Rome, where, in the time of Clement XII., he painted the
altar-piece for the Swiss chapel at the Quirinal. He is more known,
however, at Fano, where he was established, and long continued to live,
with a handsome salary from that city. There he appears an artist of
various styles, who would have shone little inferior to his master, had he
always adhered to his best manner. His S. Lucia, at the Agostiniani, and
different sacred histories, in the public palace at Fano, display many fine
imitations, strong chiaroscuro, and well-varied tints.

The Canon Gio. Andrea Lazzarini, from Pesaro, also acquired his knowledge
from Mancini. He was both a good poet and prose writer, and truly well
informed in sacred and profane literature. Few Italian writers can compare
with him in treating pictoric subjects. His "Account of the Paintings in
the Cathedral at Osimo,"[53] and particularly, his "Catalogue of the
Pictures in the Churches at Pesaro," cited by us elsewhere, afford ample
proofs of his superiority, no less than those brief "Observations" on the
best works there met with, and that very full "Dissertation upon the Art of
Painting," that has been often republished. It relates wholly to the branch
of "invention;" and he has other unedited works of equal merit, on
"Composition," on "Design," on "Colouring," and on "Costume," which were
read in the academy of Pesaro, as early as 1753. These embrace a true
course of painting, an art which he taught gratuitously in his native
place.[54] Count Algarotti, in drawing up his Essay on Painting, both read
and profited by them, as I heard, at least, from Lazzarini; and as the
Count, indeed, candidly himself confessed, in a letter which he forwarded
to him with the work. He also evinced his high regard for his pictoric
talents, by giving him a commission for two paintings to adorn his select
gallery, which were afterwards inserted in the catalogue. The subjects
consist of Cincinnatus called to the Dictatorship, and Archimedes absorbed
in his scientific studies, during the storming of Syracuse. These two
histories are well executed, inasmuch as Lazzarini was perfectly master of
good painting, as well as good writing; easy, yet always studied in every
part; at once noble and graceful, with depth of learning to throw an air of
antiquity round his productions, but, at the same time, free from all
affectation and parade. His first colouring was of a strong character, as
appears from a Pietà, at the hospital of Pesaro, conducted, I believe,
after having studied the Venetian and the Lombard Schools, in the course of
a pictoric tour. Subsequently, he imbibed a certain sweetness, which I may
call more like Maratta's, in which his rivals discover a want of vigour.
Though he enjoyed long life, he did not leave many works, as he applied
himself with assiduity to his clerical duties. Frequently he had occasion
to paint for private families, and succeeded admirably in his Madonnas; one
of which, seen weeping, in the Varani collection at Ferrara, is among his
most studied pieces. His native place possesses three altar-pieces at the
Magdalen, three at S. Caterina, others in different churches, and in
general upon a small scale. But his genius is more clearly apparent in some
larger pictures, which are to be seen in the cathedrals of Osimo and of
Foligno; at S. Agostino, of Ancona; and the two at S. Domenico, in Fano.
One of these contains various saints of the order, placed around the
Virgin, whose portraits, positions, and action, exhibit singular variety
and grace. The other represents S. Vincenzio, seen in the act of healing
the sick, before the people assembled by sound of bell; nor is it easy, in
this immense throng, to find any one figure resembling another, or
superfluous, or less happy in expressing what it ought. But the work in
which he appears, as I have been informed, to surpass himself, adorns the
chapel of the Counts Fantuzzi, in Gualdo, a diocese of Rimini. He had spent
several years at Rome, at the house of Monsig. Gaetano, afterwards Cardinal
Fantuzzi; for whom he made that fine collection of pictures, from each
school, which afterwards went to his heirs, one of whom, Count Marco, is
well known to the public by his "Monuments of Ravenna," edited and
illustrated in several volumes, with much research and erudition; and to
whose courtesy I owe much of my information respecting Lazzarini. In this
collection are several of the canon's paintings, of various kinds;
landscape, a branch in which he appears to perfection; instruments and
books of music, porcelain, and fruits that deceive the eye; and, in
particular, two pictures, on imperial canvass, one exhibiting the Baptism
of Christ; the other, the Flight out of Egypt; where, in the Egyptian
plants and monuments we seem to recognize that ancient land itself. Still
the altar-piece at Gualdo shews a greater degree of originality, as he here
displayed his utmost care in imitating Raffaello, whom he had accurately
studied, so as to derive from his forms and composition all that could go
to adorn a picture of the Virgin and Holy Child, seen between St. Catherine
the martyr, and the B. Marco Fantuzzi, a Franciscan, who will, perhaps,
obtain the honours of a solemn canonization. The place is decorated with
architecture, the pavement variegated with marbles of different colours.
The Holy Child, placed with the Divine Mother, upon a pedestal, is seen
putting a crown on St. Catherine's head; while the Mother holds another in
her hand, in order that the B. Marco may be crowned by her in his turn. Two
angels form the train, one of whom points to the wheel, a symbol used by
the saint, and indeed touches with his finger a sharp point, the better to
give an idea of the sufferings of her martyrdom. The other is an Angel of
the Apocalypse, with book and sword; a figure well suited to the last
judgment, whose terrors the B. Marco inculcated in his sermons. There are
two other beautiful cherubs, which add to the interest; one standing near
St. Catherine, holds a roll of Egyptian papyrus, with some Coptic
characters, in which were described the acts of her passion; while his
companion points the attention of the spectator to a maxim continually
repeated by the B. Marco, "Nolite diligere mundum," inscribed upon marble.
How widely different, in point of invention, appears an artist versed in
literature, and one with no taste for letters! This, however, is not the
whole merit of such a painting: the saint and one of the angels are truly
Raffaellesque figures; the Beato in extasy, brings to mind the B. Michelina
of Baroccio; the other figures are all exceedingly well studied, and seem
intended to display the artist's refined gratitude towards his patrons.

Footnote 53: These paintings, executed in the abside of the
cathedral, with the assistance of his pupils, constitute his
most celebrated frescos. In this "Account" there is a
Discourse, well worth notice, on Ancient Marbles of
different Colours, which he introduced in those paintings,
and the method he adopted in uniting them. Such a treatise,
not to be found in any other writer, renders this little
volume valuable; which shews, too, that he likewise excelled
in architecture.

Footnote 54: These Treatises were published at Pesaro in
1806; and, although, as the industrious editor well
observes, they were drawn up from unfinished sketches, they
still gratify us, no less by their extensive information,
than by the ingenuity which they display.

The best professors that Romagna could boast at this period have already
been recounted in different Bolognese Schools; for which reason, without
treating them separately, I shall proceed to the painters of landscape.
Among these, excelling as well in drawing as in figuring, Orlandi gives us
the name of Maria Elena Panzacchi, instructed in the art by Taruffi; but
her landscapes are now little known, even in Bologna; and Crespi has
indicated not more than two. Those of Paolo Alboni, her contemporary, are
recognized in Naples and Rome itself, and in Germany, where he passed many
years. Those which are seen in the Pepoli palace, at the March. Fabri's,
and in other noble galleries, might be mistaken, according to Crespi, for
the productions of Holland or Flanders, on whose models he was almost
incessantly employed. Angiol Monticelli formed a style under Franceschini
and the younger Viani, which the same biographer highly extols. No artist,
at this period, better knew how to dispose his colours; none tinged his
leaves, his earths, his buildings, and his figures, with more nature and
variety. But he was cut short in mid-career: he became blind when his
talents were in their perfection.

Nunzio Ferraiuoli, called also Degli Afflitti, was born at Nocera de'
Pagani, not a Bolognese. From the studio of Giordano, he went to that of
Giuseppe dal Sole, in Bologna, in which city he was established. He
incessantly employed himself in taking rural views, both in oil and fresco,
and succeeded to admiration, equal, says P. Orlandi, to Claude and Poussin;
an opinion to be attributed to the friendship subsisting between them. He
had a mixed style, half foreign and half Albanesque, if we except his
colouring, which is not so natural. Cavazzone provided him with two pupils,
who, urged by their own genius, assisted by Ferraiuoli, became tolerably
good landscape painters; namely, Carlo Lodi and Bernardo Minozzi. The first
was an excellent disciple of his master; the second formed a manner
peculiar to himself. Besides his ability in frescos, he was distinguished
for his landscape in water-colours, which he illuminated on pasteboard, and
it met with much admiration both at home and abroad. Gaetano Cittadini,
nephew to Pier Francesco, excelled in the same manner, his rural views
displaying singular taste, fine effect of the lights, and spirited figures.
I have met with them throughout Romagna, as well as in Bologna. In Romagna,
however, Marco Sanmartino, a Neapolitan, or Venetian, is more generally met
with; and, in particular, at Rimini, where he some time fixed his
residence. His pieces are ornamented with beautiful little figures, in
which he excelled. He also attempted more extensive works, such as the
Baptism of Constantine, in the cathedral of Rimini, and the Saint preaching
in the Desert, in the college of S. Vincenzio, at Venice; though there,
too, he is distinguished by his landscape, which formed, indeed, his
profession. In the Guide of Rimini, he is named Sammartino, as well as by
Zanetti and Guarienti. This last declares that he remained at Venice most
part of his life; and, in the next article, gives the name of one Marco
Sanmarchi, a Venetian, both a landscape and a figure painter, on a small
scale, much extolled by Malvasia, and flourishing about the time of
Sammartino. On the authority of Melchiori, who names him Sammartino, or
Sanmarchi, I believe that these two landscape-painters of Guarienti resolve
themselves into one; and that the mistake arose from the resemblance of the
two names, by which one and the same person was popularly known; as we have
had occasion to observe in other instances. Moreover, what could be the
reason that this Sanmarchi, a Venetian, is not known in Venice itself, but
only in Bologna, where it does not appear that he ever had a permanent
abode?

The elder Cittadini, who excelled in flowers, and fruits, and animals, is
commended in the preceding epoch. In the present, we shall make mention of
his three sons, Carlo, Gio. Bastista, and Angiol Michele, who, however able
in figures, at least the two first, are known to have assisted their
father, and imitated him in the subjects most familiar to him; hence they
were termed by Albano, syndic to the Bolognese professors,[55] the
fruiterers and florists. From Carlo sprung Gaetano, the landscape painter,
and Gio. Girolamo, who down to our own days, though without attempting
figures, excelled in painting different animals, fruits, and vases of
flowers. But this family was successfully rivalled by Domenico Bettini, a
Florentine professor in the same line; who, after remaining a long time at
Modena, where we have mentioned him, came to establish himself at Bologna,
towards the end of the sixteenth century. He had learnt design under
Vignali, and next continued to improve himself in the school of Nuzzi, at
Rome. He was among the first, says Orlandi, who dismissing those obscure
and dismal grounds, painted more clear and openly; adding attractions to
such paintings, by the invention of situations, and by the introduction of
perspective: he was frequently invited to different Italian cities, to
decorate halls and cabinets. But the favourite artist in this kind, of his
day, was Candido Vitali, who, taught by Cignani, always attentive to the
peculiarities of his pupils, made rapid progress in these attractive
branches of the art. The freshness which appears in his flowers and fruits,
the beauty of his quadrupeds and birds, are farther recommended by a taste
of composition, and a delicacy of hand, which are prized both in Italy and
abroad. Baimondo Manzini, a miniaturist rather than a painter, painted less
in oil; but with such a degree of nature, that his animals, exhibited in
cartoons, and placed by him in a certain light, have deceived even painters
themselves; for which he has been extolled by Zanotti as a modern Zeuxis.
An assemblage of his fishes, birds, and flowers, is to be seen in the fine
gallery of the Casa Ercolani.

Footnote 55: Malvasia, vol. ii. p. 265.

At the same period the art was indebted to the judgment of Cignani for a
good painter of battle-pieces in Antonio Calza, a Veronese, mentioned in
the third volume; where it is observed that, being subsequently assisted by
Borgognone, he became master of that branch of art at Bologna. Contemporary
with him was another pupil of Cortese, who resided during several years in
the same city, named Cornelio Verhuik, of Rotterdam. Besides his
battle-pieces in his master's manner, displaying strong and vivid
colouring, he painted in the Flemish style markets, fairs, and landscape,
which he enlivened with small figures, like those of Callot. From Cignani
also the Bolognese School received an excellent portrait painter in Sante
Vandi, more commonly called Santino da' Ritratti. Few of his age were
qualified to compete with him in point of talent, grace, and correctness in
the characteristic features, particularly when drawn in small proportions,
such as were calculated even to decorate boxes and rings. For these he had
constant commissions, both from private persons and from princes, most of
all from the Grand Duke Ferdinando of Tuscany, and Ferdinando, Duke of
Mantua, who gave him a salary at his court, until his return to Bologna on
the duke's death. But he remained there only a short time, being still
invited to different cities, so that he educated no pupils for his native
place, and died abroad. With him, observes Crespi, "disappeared the manner
of producing portraits at once so soft and powerful, combined with such
natural expression."

Above every other branch of inferior painting, however, the ornamental and
perspective then flourished at Bologna. This art, as we have stated, after
the solid foundations on which it had been placed by Dentone and Mitelli,
aimed too much at a pleasing and beautiful, without consulting a natural
effect. But the school did not all at once deteriorate, being some time
maintained by imitators of some of the most correct models. In this number
Zanotti extols Jacopo Mannini, a most accurate artist, who decorated a
chapel at Colorno for the Duke of Parma, in which the Cav. Draghi was
employed as figurist, whose genius was at once as eager and rapid as
Mannini's was slow. Much like two steeds of opposite temper yoked to the
same vehicle, their sole occupation seemed that of biting and kicking each
other; and it became necessary to separate them, the slow one being sent
back to his native Bologna, where owing to this blemish he never met with
any encouragement. Arrigo Haffner, a lieutenant, with Antonio his brother,
who died a Philippine friar in Genoa, were also followers of Mitelli in
delicacy and harmony of colour. They had been much employed at Rome under
Canuti, their master in figures, and the former was chosen by Franceschini
to paint the perspectives in the church of Corpus Domini. They produced
also a good deal at Genoa and its state, sometimes with one, sometimes with
another of the more eminent figurists. Antonio acquired most reputation,
superior perhaps in all but invention to his brother, particularly in the
sweet union of his tints, as well as in the estimation of distinguished
personages. He was called by the Grand Duke Gio. Gastone to Florence, to
consult him respecting the altar of _pietre dure_, intended for the chapel
of the Depositi at S. Lorenzo.

A still higher station in this profession was attained by Marcantonio
Chiarini, an excellent architect as well as writer in that department. He
had frequent invitations from Italian princes and lords, and even from
Germany, where he painted along with Lanzani in the palace of Prince Eugene
of Savoy. Many of his pictures, conducted in perspective for noble
Bolognese families, still remain, and are held as models of a sound and
true taste, imitating the ancient colouring and design, without giving
admission to certain marbles, which appear like gems, but please only the
inexperienced. From Chiarini's manner was derived that of Pietro
Paltronieri, universally known under the name of the _Mirandolese dalle
prospettive_. He was the Viviano of this latter age, and his architectural
pieces on the ancient model are met with, not only in Bologna, where he
resided, but in Rome, where he long continued, and in a number of other
cities. They consist of arches, fountains, aqueducts, temples, ruins,
tinged with a certain reddish colour, which serves to distinguish them
among many others. To these he adds skies, fields, and waters, which appear
real; nor do they want appropriate figures, introduced by Graziani and
other select young artists at Bologna. We must not confound Mirandolese
with Perracini, also known in Bologna by the name of Mirandolese, who
flourished at the same period, but with no sort of reputation beyond that
of a tolerable figurist.

The school of Cignani increased that of the perspective painters. It first
presented them with Tommaso Aldrovandini, nephew to Mauro; both of whom
accompanied Cignani's figures in the public palace of Forli. Tommaso was
employed with Cignani himself at Bologna and Parma. Conforming himself,
under the eye of this celebrated master, to his best style, he so far
succeeded, that the whole appears the work of Carlo alone, more especially
in the chiaroscuro. His ornamental portion, too, is there conducted so that
neither the precise extent of the light, nor of the shade, is apparent, but
only an effect resulting from them, as we see it in nature. He executed the
architectural ornaments in the grand hall of Genoa, painted, as we have
said, by Franceschini; and he left other works in that capital. It was his
invariable custom to modify his style, alternately soft or strong, in the
manner of the figurist. He instructed in the art Pompeo, son of Mauro, and
his cousin, who, after having displayed some specimens at Turin, Vienna,
Dresden, and in many other foreign cities, resided, and died at Rome, with
the reputation of a very elegant artist. From the school of Pompeo sprung
two ornamental painters, Gioseffo Orsoni, and Stefano Orlandi, who, in
conjunction, painted some able frescos in various Italian cities, besides
many theatrical pieces for the same places.

Whatever splendor of ornament may have been conferred upon the theatre by
the Aldrovandini family, so greatly devoted to it; that of the Galli, in
the present age, sprung from Gio. Maria, pupil to Albani, surnamed, from
his country, Bibiena, has acquired still greater celebrity. By the same
surname were distinguished Ferdinando and Francesco, his sons, with their
posterity; nor has any pictoric family, either in this or any other age,
advanced higher claims to public notice. There was hardly any court that
invited not some of the Bibieni into its service; nor was any sphere more
eligible for that family than the great courts, whose sovereign dignity was
equalled by the elevation of their ideas, which only princely power could
carry into execution. The festivals which they directed on the occasion of
victories, of nuptials, or of royal entrances, were the most sumptuous that
Europe ever witnessed. The genius of Ferdinando, formed for architecture,
and for this reason wholly directed to it by Cignani, attained such
excellence, that he was enabled to teach it, in a volume which he printed
at Parma. He afterwards corrected some parts of it, in two little volumes
published at Bologna; the one upon civil architecture, the other on the
theory of perspective. Indeed, his genius and works gave new form and
character to the theatres. He was the real inventor of those magnificent
scenes which we now witness, and of that rapid mechanic motion with which
they are seen to move and change. He spent great part of his life in the
Duke of Parma's service; a good deal at Milan, and at Vienna, in the court
of Charles VI.; always more esteemed as an architect than as a painter. But
here, too, he shone, not only in colouring scenes, and similar productions
for public festivals; but in perspectives for palaces and temples, more
particularly for the state of Parma. Francesco, less learned, but an
equally prompt and elevated designer, pursued the same line, and extended
it in different cities, being invited to Genoa, Naples, Mantua, Verona, and
Rome, at which last he remained three years. He entered the service of the
Emperors Leopold and Joseph, who changed his resolution of proceeding to
England, and subsequently to Spain, where Philip V. had already declared
him his architect. In different collections the perspective pieces of the
two brothers appear; and they are occasionally enlivened with figures by
the hand of Francesco, who acquired his knowledge from Pasinelli and
Cignani, instances of which I have seen in different collections at
Bologna.

Ferdinando had a numerous family, of whose members we shall mention
Alessandro, Antonio, and Giuseppe; not because equal to their predecessors,
but as being versed in the practice of their manner, both in oil and
fresco; and on this account eagerly sought after by the different courts of
Europe. The first entered into the service of the Elector Palatine, in
which he terminated his days. The second was much employed at Vienna and in
Hungary. On returning into Italy, too, he still removed from place to
place, being retained by all the first cities in Tuscany; and still more in
Lombardy, until the period of his death, which occurred at Milan. He was an
artist more admired for his facility of genius than for his correctness.
Giuseppe, who, on his father's departure from Vienna on account of illness,
was substituted architect and painter of court festivals in his twentieth
year, afterwards left that city for Dresden, where he enjoyed the same
office, and, after the lapse of many years, also at Berlin. He was
invariably patronised by princes, who gave him regular salaries; and by
other members of the empire, who engaged him, at the moment, to adorn their
festivals and theatres. His son Carlo pursued the same career, being
pensioned first by the Margrave of Bareith, and afterwards by the King of
Prussia, as successor to his father; but he acquired greater reputation in
foreign countries. For, Germany becoming involved in war, he took occasion
to make the tour of France, proceeding through Flanders and Holland, and
visiting Rome on his return into Italy. Last of all he made a voyage into
England, and at the court of London rejected very advantageous offers to
take up his residence in that city. Many of the decorations invented by
Giuseppe and Carlo, on occasion of public festivals, have been engraved
from their designs, in the production of which they were equally rapid,
masterly, and refined.

Where the Bibieni had failed in introducing their novel inventions for
grand spectacles, their disciples finally succeeded. In this list,
according to the history of Zanotti and of Crespi, the most eminent rank is
held by Domenico Francia, once the assistant of Ferdinando at Vienna,
afterwards architect and painter to the King of Sweden. After his term with
that court had elapsed, he visited Portugal, and again proceeded to Italy
and Germany, till his arrival in his native place, where he died. To him we
may add the name of Vittorio Bigari, mentioned in high terms by Zanotti, an
artist employed by different sovereigns of Europe, and the father of three
sons, who pursued the same career. He also displayed singular merit in his
figures. Nor must we omit Serafino Brizzi, who obtained equal reputation
for his perspectives in oil interspersed both throughout foreign and native
cities. It would form, however, an undertaking no way adapted to a
compendious history, to collect the names of all the professors of so
extended an art; and the more so as, in the course of the present age, it
was becoming the general opinion that in many respects such art was greatly
on the decline, owing to the prevalence of only middling and inferior
artificers.

Not many years ago, however, it seemed to revive, and a new epoch opened
upon the public, the praise of which is due to Mauro Tesi, to whom his
friends raised a marble monument in S. Petronio, with a bust and the
following inscription: "Mauro Tesi elegantiæ veteris in pingendo ornatu et
architectura restitutori." He belonged to the state of Modena, and, when
young, was put to the school of a very poor painter of arms in Bologna.
Thus it was his lot, writes Algarotti, to have had not a single master of
architecture among the moderns. By means of a peculiar natural genius, and
studying the designs of Mitelli and Colonna, examining at the same time
their models throughout the city, he re-conducted the art to a style, solid
in architecture, sparing in decoration, as it had formerly been, and in
some parts still more philosophical and learned. His patron, the excellent
Count Algarotti, assisted in perfecting his taste, and made him his
companion on his tours, encouraging him to make very excellent observations
on the works of the ancients. Whoever has perused his life and
publications, a fine edition of which appeared at Venice, edited by the
learned Aglietti, will have perceived that he was as much attached to Tesi
as if he had been his own son. Nor did Tesi shew less respect to Algarotti
than to a father; and when the latter went to Pisa for his health, his
young friend devoted himself so assiduously to him, as to contract the same
disease, of which he died two years afterwards, still very young, at
Bologna. Here he left various works, the most conspicuous consisting of a
gallery belonging to the deceased Marquis Zambeccari, with marbles, camei,
and figures, very well executed; a picture displaying grand relief combined
with the most finished exactness. In Tuscany also are some remains of his
taste, at S. Spirito in Pistoia, and in the hall of the Marquis Gerini at
Florence. I saw, too, in possession of the count's heirs at Venice, two
pictures, conceived by Algarotti and painted by Mauro. One of these, which
he has described (vol. vi. p. 92) represents a temple of Serapis, decorated
in the Egyptian manner, with bassi-relievi and pyramids in the distance;
fit to adorn the choicest cabinet. It is enriched with figures by
Zuccherelli, in the same way as Tiepolo added them to Tesi's other pieces.
There are engravings of some of Mauro's works in possession of the same
nobles, as well as his whole studio of designs, landscapes, views of
architecture, capitals, friezes, figures; a rich and copious assemblage of
materials, almost superfluous in so short but bright a career. After Mauro,
no greater proofs of esteem in this art were shewn by Algarotti to any one
than to Gaspero Pesci, to whom he directed a number of his letters; of him
too Algarotti's heirs possess two pictures, consisting of ancient
architecture, with slight sketches of figures, scarcely indicated.

But at length we approach a conclusion. The Bolognese academy still
continues to flourish in pristine vigour; the aids afforded to the pupils
have even been extended; and, in addition to the academical prizes, there
are dispensed others, which the noble families Marsili and Aldrovandi
established at stated meetings, and which still go by their name. I cannot,
however, as in other schools, record very splendid remunerations to the
masters. But this forms the more rare and distinguished honour of the
Bolognese artists--to labour for distinction, and to confer their
preceptorial services in the arts and sciences upon their country, not only
without reward, but even to their own loss, a subject fully treated of by
Crespi (pp. 4, 5) in his _Felsina_. Notwithstanding these disadvantages
they have continued to maintain, during two centuries, the character of
masters in the art. From the time the Caracci first spoke, almost every
other school listened and was silent. Their disciples followed, divided
into a variety of sects; and these continued, for a long period, to hold
sway in Italy. The reputation of the figurists being somewhat on the
decline, a substitute sprang up in the decorative and perspective painters,
who established laws, and produced examples, still eagerly imitated both in
Italy and other parts. Neither the Bibieni, the Tesi, nor the others whom I
have mentioned towards the close, are so exclusively entitled to historical
consideration, but that the Gandolfi[56] family, with several others, which
have either recently become extinct, or still flourish, may claim a share.
Doubtless these will not be in want of deserved eulogy from other pens,
that will successively follow mine.

Footnote 56: Previous to the present edition, Gaetano
Gandolfi breathed his last; Ubaldo, his elder brother,
having already preceded him to the tomb, at the time he was
preparing to decorate the cupola of S. Vitale in Ravenna.
Ubaldo had been pupil to Torelli, to Graziani, and in
particular under Lelli had exercised his talents in drawing
successfully from the naked model, and to such a foundation
added dignity of style. Of this, several works in painting
conducted with extreme care, as well as some in clay and
stucco, at Bologna, and other places in Romagna, are the
proof. But to judge more particularly of his merits, we
ought to examine his academical designs. In his ideas he was
common, and not very natural in his colouring, and generally
considered on this account inferior to his brother Gaetano,
who was esteemed in Italy one of the most able artists of
his day. Bologna, always grateful to its eminent citizens,
expressed at his decease the degree of esteem in which he
was held while living. His obsequies, of which a separate
account was published in folio, equal what we read in
Malvasia respecting those of Agostino Caracci; and the
oration there recited in his praise by Sig. Grilli, deserves
insertion in any of the most select works written on the
art. There too, Gandolfi, very judiciously, is not held up
as a model in painting; a forbearance which he himself
displayed, even refusing to receive pupils, and observing
that he was himself in want of instruction. Yet from the
influence of his great reputation he was frequently
imitated, and, as it happened, with most success in his
worst qualities, more particularly in his tints. In this
respect he had been ill grounded by his elder brother; but
improved himself by studying for the space of a year at the
fountain head of colourists, in Venice, and by copying for a
Venetian dilettante the finest pieces of the Caracci at
Bologna. It is difficult to account for his fine colouring
in some paintings, equal at least to the good artists of his
time, and his inferior colouring in others, as that of the
Death of Socrates, at Monsig. Trenta's, bishop of Foligno.
It is feeble and deficient in truth, owing either to caprice
or to age. In his preparations of paintings he was more
commendable: his first conceptions were sketched on slate
with pencil, and more carefully on paper. He next began to
select; modelled the figures in chalk, and draped them;
afterwards forming the design on a large scale, and by aid
of his experiments, and of the living model, he went on
completing and retouching his work. He has been accused of
borrowing a little too freely from ancient models; but
whoever had seen him, aged as he was, devoting himself in
the public academy to the practice of modelling, will not
unjustly confound him with those plagiarists, so notorious
in our own day. Moreover, he may be pronounced inimitable to
most artists, in those rare gifts, which nature had lavished
upon him: enthusiasm, fertility of invention, sensibility,
and skill in depicting the passions; to which he added a
correct eye, and ability both to design and compose, in the
decoration of friezes for the institute, exotic plants and
other rarities of nature, as well as to engrave with much
elegance, and skill to paint in oil as well as in fresco. A
really impartial biographer must pass his opinion on every
man, and let his verdict result from an examination of his
masterpieces. Such belonging to Gandolfi are his Assumption,
in the ceiling at S. M. della Vita, and the Nuptials of
Cana, at the refectory of S. Salvatore in Bologna; not to
insist on the Martyrdom of S. Pantaleone, at the church of
the Girolimini in Naples, with some other works scattered
through various parts of Italy.

BOOK IV.

SCHOOL OF FERRARA.

EPOCH I.

_The Ancients._

Ferrara, once the capital of a small principality under the dukes of Este,
but, since the year 1597, reduced into a legation, dependant upon the see
of Rome, lays claim to a series of excellent artists, greatly superior to
its power and population. This, however, will appear less extraordinary, if
we call to mind the number of its illustrious poets, commencing even before
the time of Boiardo and Ariosto, and continued down to our own days; a sure
indication of national genius, equally fervid, elegant, and inventive,
adapted, more than common, to the cultivation of the agreeable arts. Added
to this felicity of disposition was the good taste prevalent in the city,
which, in its distribution of public labours, or its approbation of their
results, was directed by learned and enlightened men, of whom it could
boast in every department. Thus the artists have in general observed
appropriate costume, kept their attention on history, and composed in such
a manner that a classical eye, particularly in their paintings in the ducal
palaces, recognizes the image of that antiquity of which it has previously
obtained a knowledge from books. The conveniences of its site, also, have
been favourable to the progress of painting at Ferrara; which, situated
near Venice, Parma, and Bologna, not far from Florence, and at no very
great distance from Rome itself, has afforded facility to its students for
selecting from the Italian schools what was most conformable to the
peculiar genius of each. Hence the origin of so many beautiful manners as
adorn this school; some imitating only one classic master, others composed
of various styles; so that Giampietro Zanotti was in doubt whether, after
the five leading schools of Italy, that of Ferrara did not surpass every
other. It is not my purpose to decide the question, nor could it be done
without giving offence to one or other of the parties. I shall here only
attempt a brief history of this school upon the same plan as the rest; and
I shall include a few artists of Romagna, agreeably to my promise in the
preceding book, or, to speak more correctly, in its introduction.

The most valuable information which I have to insert will be extracted from
a precious MS. communicated to me by the Ab. Morelli, the distinguished
ornament of his age and country, no less than of the learned office he
fills.[57] This MS. contains the lives of Ferrarese professors of the fine
arts, written by Doctor Girolamo Baruffaldi, first a canon of Ferrara, next
archpriest of Cento. To these is prefixed a laboured preface by
Pierfrancesco Zanotti, with copious emendations and notes by the Canon
Crespi. Such a work, drawn up by this polished writer, and thus approved,
continued, and illustrated by two men of the profession, was long a
desideratum in Italy; nor do I know why it never made its appearance. A
specimen, indeed, was given by Bottari, at the end of his Life of Alfonso
Lombardi, in the course of which he inserted the life of Galasso, and of a
few other artists of Ferrara. Moreover, in the fourth volume of the
"Lettere Pittoriche," he published a letter of the deceased Can. Antenore
Scalabrini, relating to Baruffaldi's MS., which underwent this noble
ecclesiastic's corrections, communicated by him to Crespi, who inserted
them in his annotations. Baruffaldi, also, having commenced the lives of
the artists of Cento, and of Lower Romagna, a work left unfinished, Crespi
supplied all it wanted; and it has been mentioned by us in the school of
Guercino, and among some artists who flourished at Ravenna and other cities
of Romagna. Cittadella, author of the "Catalogue of Ferrarese Painters and
Sculptors," (edited in 1782, in 4 vols.) declares that he drew his chief
information from Baruffaldi, (vol. iii. p. 140). He complains, however, in
the preface, that a more correct work being either destroyed or lost,
(alluding probably to this work with Crespi's notes), "he has not been in
possession of such undoubted authorities as might be desired;" a very
candid admission, fully entitled to credit. But this work having come into
my possession, through the courtesy of my learned friend, I shall avail
myself of it for public information. On such authority I shall freely
ground this part of my history, adding notices drawn from other sources,
and not unfrequently from the Guide of Ferrara, published by the learned
Frizzi, in 1787; a work that may be included among the best yet given to
Italy. So much we state by way of exordium.

Footnote 57: That of head librarian at St. Mark's.

The Ferrarese School took its twin origin, so to say, with that of Venice,
if we may credit a monumental testimony, cited by Dr. Ferrante Borsetti, in
his work called "Historia almi Ferrariensis Gymnasii," published in 1735.
This memorial was extracted from an ancient codex of Virgil, written in
1193; which, according to Baruffaldi, passed from the library of the
Carmelites at Ferrara, into the possession of the Counts Alvarotti at
Padua, whose books, in course of time, were added to the library of the
Paduan seminary. At the end of this codex is read the name of Gio.
Alighieri, the miniaturist of this volume; and in the last page there had
afterwards been added, in the ancient vulgar tongue, the following
memorial:--that in 1242, Azzo d'Este, first lord of Ferrara, committed to
one Gelasio di Niccolo, a painting of the Fall of Phaeton; and from him too
Filippo, bishop of Ferrara, ordered an image of our Lady, and an ensign of
St. George, which was used in going to meet Tiepolo, when he was despatched
by the Venetian republic as ambassador to Ferrara. Gelasio is there stated
to belong to the district of St. George, and to have been pupil in Venice
to Teofane of Constantinople, which induced Zanetti to place this Greek at
the head of the masters of his school. On the authority of so many learned
men, to whom such memorial appeared genuine, I am led to give it credit;
although it contains some marks that, at first sight, appear suspicious. I
have further made inquiries after it in the Paduan seminary, but it is not
to be found there.

Approaching the fourteenth century, I find mention, that whilst Giotto was
returning from Verona into Tuscany, "he was compelled to stop at Ferrara,
and paint in the service of these lords of Este, at their palace; also some
pieces at S. Agostino, which are still there;" that is, in Vasari's time,
from whom these words are cited. I am uncertain whether any yet exist; but
they afford sufficient authority to believe that the Ferrarese School,
directed by such models, revived in an equal degree with the other schools
of Italy. There are no accounts of the artists who flourished nearest to
Giotto, from which we may judge how far they were influenced by his manner.
His successors, however, must have been one Rambaldo and one Laudadio, who,
about 1380, are recorded, in the annals of Marano, to have painted in the
church of the Servi. This is now demolished, nor does there exist any
account of the style of these painters. As early as 1380 appeared paintings
in fresco in the monastery of S. Antonio, by an unknown hand, and also
retouched, but of whose style I find no indication. In the Bolognese School
I treated of one Cristoforo, who painted about the same time, at the church
of Mezzaratta; but as it is a disputed question whether he belonged to
Ferrara or to Modena, nothing certain can be concluded as to his manner.
Thus the history of letters affords us some degree of light, up to the
opening of the fifteenth century; but the history of existing monuments
only dates from Galasso Galassi, an undoubted Ferrarese, who flourished
subsequent to the year 1400, when even in Florence the Giottesque style had
begun to decline in favour of more recent artists.

The master of this artist is unknown; nor can I easily suppose, with some,
that he was educated at Bologna. I found my objection upon an observation
made upon Galasso's pictures, mentioned by us in the church of Mezzaratta
at Bologna, and obvious to all. They consist of histories of the Passion,
signed by the author's name; and, if I mistake not, they are wholly opposed
to the style of all other pieces in the same place. The character of the
heads is well studied for that period, the beards and hair more in disorder
than in any other old painter I have seen; the hands small, and fingers
widely detached from each other; and, in the whole, something peculiar and
novel, apparently not derived from the Bolognese, from the Venetians, nor
from the Florentines. I conjecture, then, that he acquired this style of
design when young, and introduced it from his native place; the more so, as
this production appearing in 1404, according to Baruffaldi, must have
formed one of his earliest specimens at Bologna. He afterwards remained
there many years, though I cannot think the date 1462, said to be attached
to one of his histories, genuine; and, if there, it must have been added
subsequently; but other proofs are not wanting of his permanent residence.
For he there took the portrait of Niccolo Aretino, the sculptor, who died
in 1417, as we are assured by Vasari; and on other authority, he produced
some altar-pieces, one of which yet exists at S. Maria delle Rondini. It
represents the Virgin sitting among various saints, and boasts, says
Crespi, a depth of colouring, combined with architecture, countenances, and
drapery not ill designed. He has also a Nunziata, in the Malvezzi museum, a
picture displaying ancient design, but well finished and of soft colouring.
His best piece was a history in fresco, representing the Obsequies of the
Virgin, conducted by order of the Card. Bessarion, Bolognese legate, at S.
Maria del Monte, in 1450; a work much admired by Crespi, in whose time it
was destroyed. From similar facts, added to the commendations bestowed on
Galasso by Leandro Alberti, I conclude that he must have obtained much
reputation in the above city. He died in his native place, in what precise
year is uncertain. Vasari treats of him at length in his first edition, but
in the second he is dismissed with a few lines. Hence the Ferrarese also
have directed against him the same complaints as the other schools.

In the time of Galasso flourished Antonio da Ferrara, a disciple of the
Florentines. Vasari bestows on him a short eulogy, among the pupils of
Angiolo Gaddi; observing that he "produced many fine works at S. Francesco
d'Urbino, and at Città di Castello." Treating too of Timoteo della Vite,
born at Urbino, the son of Calliope, daughter of Mastro Antonio Alberto da
Ferrara, he adds, that this last artist was "a very fair painter for his
age, such as his works at Urbino and elsewhere declare him." Nothing
undoubted now remains of him; if, indeed, a picture on gold ground in the
sacristy at S. Bartolommeo, representing the Acts of the holy Apostle, with
others of the Baptist, in small figures, is not from his hand. The work
doubtless belongs to that age; bearing much resemblance to Angiolo, with
colours even more soft and warm. In Ferrara he left nothing that now
survives; the chambers which he painted for Alberto d'Este, marquis of
Ferrara, in his palace, afterwards changed into a public studio, being
destroyed. This work was conducted about 1438, when the general council for
the reunion of the Greeks was opened at Ferrara, in the presence of Pope
Eugenius IV., and John Paleologus, the emperor. The Marquis ordered Antonio
to represent this grand assembly on different walls, with the likenesses of
full size of the principal personages then present. In other apartments he
exhibited the Glory of the Blessed, which conferred on that place the name
it still bears, of the Palace of Paradise. From a few relics of this work
it may with certainty be deduced, that this artist displayed greater beauty
in his heads, more softness of colouring, more variety in the attitude of
his figures, than Galasso. Orlandi calls him Antonio da Ferrara, adding,
that he flourished about the year 1500; a term of life too protracted for
us to venture here to confirm.

Towards the middle of the fifteenth century appeared Bartolommeo Vaccarini,
whose paintings, signed with the artist's name, Baruffaldi declares that he
himself had seen. There was also Oliviero da S. Giovanni, a fresco painter,
whose Madonnas were then by no means rare in the city. To these we may add
Ettore Bonacossa, painter of that holy image of our Lady called del Duomo,
which not long ago was solemnly crowned, at the foot of which is read the
name of Ettore, and the year 1448. Still they were only artists of
mediocrity; but others attained greater celebrity, having modernized their
style in some degree, after the example, as I incline to think, of two
foreigners. One of these was Pier della Francesca, invited to Ferrara to
paint in the palace of Schivanoia by Niccolo d'Este, as it is conjectured
in a note to Baruffaldi. Surprised by sickness, he was unable to complete
the work, but he painted there a few apartments, which yet remain as a
model for young artists. The other was Squarcione, who also, in the days of
Niccolo d'Este and his son Borso, opened a school in Padua; whose manner
had followers without number throughout Italy, and must have influenced the
Ferrarese artists; distant, perhaps, two days' journey from Padua.

Possessing such means appeared Cosimo Tura, whom Vasari and other
historians term Cosmè, and give him as pupil to Galasso. He was
court-painter in the time of Borso d'Este and Tito Strozzi, who left a
poetic eulogy upon him. His style is dry and humble, as was customary in
that age, still far removed from true dignity and softness. The figures are
treated in the style of Mantegna, the muscles clearly expressed, the
architecture drawn with care, the bassi-relievi highly ornamented, and
laboured in the most minute and exact taste. This is remarkable in his
miniatures, which are pointed out to foreigners in the choral books of the
cathedral and the Certosa, as extreme rarities. Nor does he vary in his oil
paintings; as in his Presepio, in the sacristy of the cathedral; the Acts
of S. Eustace, in the monastery of S. Guglielmo; various Saints surrounding
the Virgin, in the church of S. Giovanni. In his larger figures he is not
so much commended; though Baruffaldi speaks highly of his works in fresco,
in the forementioned palace of Schivanoia. The design was distributed into
twelve compartments, in a grand hall; and it might well be entitled a small
poetic series, representing the exploits of Borso. In each picture was
included a month in the year, which was scientifically indicated with
astronomical symbols and classical deities, adapted to each; an idea very
probably borrowed from the saloon at Padua. In each month, too, was
introduced the prince in his usual employment at such season; in the
judgment-hall, in the chase, at spectacles, with great variety of
circumstances, and full of poetry in the execution.

There was also an artist of considerable merit named Stefano da Ferrara,
pupil to Squarcione, and recorded by Vasari, in the life of Mantegna, as a
painter of few pieces, among which were the Miracles of S. Antonio painted
round the ark. Though Vasari describes his works only as tolerable, it must
be observed that he was considerably above mediocrity, at least in the
smaller figures; since Michele Savonarola (de Laud. Patavii, 1. i.) says of
the specimens before mentioned, that they seemed to move, while the dignity
and importance of the place in which he painted conveys a high idea of his
reputation. This work is lost; but there remains in the same temple a
half-figure of the Virgin, which Vasari attributes to Stefano; and in the
church of the Madonnina at Ferrara is one of his altar-pieces of S. Rocco,
in a good manner. Baruffaldi supposes that he flourished till about 1500,
when he found mention of the death of one Stefano Falsagalloni, a painter;
an age very likely to be correct, when speaking of a contemporary of
Mantegna. On the other side, there is cited an altar-piece at S. Maria in
Vado, executed in 1531, but which might possibly come from the hand of
another Stefano.

However it be respecting this epoch, certain it is, that towards the
beginning of the sixteenth century Ferrara was in no want of celebrated
artists; since Vasari, as we have observed in the Bolognese School, affirms
that Gio. Bentivoglio caused his palace to be decorated "by various
Ferrarese masters," besides those of Modena and of Bologna. Among these he
included Francia, on whom, about 1490, he confers the name of "a new
painter." In the list of artists of Ferrara I included Lorenzo Costa; and
from the circumstance of Francia being then a "new painter," and other
reasons, I drew an argument against the received opinion that Costa was the
pupil of Francia; which, therefore, I shall not here repeat. I must not,
however, omit other information respecting him, as connected with Ferrara,
where he resided before coming into notice at Bologna. At court, as well as
for private individuals, he there conducted pictures and portraits, with
other works "held in much esteem;" and at the Padri di S. Domenico he
painted the whole choir, now long since destroyed; where "we recognise the
care which he used in the art, and how much study he bestowed upon his
works." These, I believe, and other pieces conducted at Ravenna, acquired
him reputation at Bologna, and disposed the Bentivogli to avail themselves
of his talents.

It remains to discover on which of the Ferrarese artists who attended him,
such commission was conferred. Cosmè and Stefano were then living; but it
is known that more closely connected than these with the Bentivogli, was
Cossa of Ferrara, a painter almost forgotten in his native place, from
having resided so long at Bologna. Some of his pieces are still there,
consisting of Madonnas, seated between saints and angels, with tolerably
good architecture. One of these, bearing his name, and date of 1474, is now
in the Institute, vulgar in point of features and but middling in
colouring. This, however, is not his best specimen, there being two
portraits of the Bentivogli, (one at the church of the Baracano, the other
in the Merchants' palace,) from which I should conjecture that he is one of
those artists of whom we are in search. Nor, at this time, is there any
other Ferrarese artist whom I can add to him, besides Baldassare Estense,
some of whose pictures, signed by himself, are cited by Baruffaldi; and in
museums are some of his medals, two, more particularly, in honour of Ercole
d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, very ably executed in the year 1472.

On the subject of first rate artists I am often constrained to introduce
notices in different places; in particular, when they were employed in some
cities, and in others became heads of schools. Such was Costa in respect to
Ferrara. He formed pupils for other schools; as one Gio. Borghese, from
Messina, and a Nicoluccio Calabrese, who, apprehending that he was
caricatured in one of Costa's productions, fiercely assaulted, and almost
despatched him with his dagger. I pass over others ascribed to him by
Orlandi, Bottari, and Baruffaldi; in which they are mistaken, as I remarked
in the School of Bologna, when treating of Francia. The Ferrarese
constitute his real honour; Costa being here what Bellini was at Venice,
and Francia at Bologna, the founder of a great school, and a public
teacher. Some of his pupils competed with the best artists of the
fourteenth century; and part approached the splendor of the golden age. We
shall review the whole series, which, commencing at this period, and
continuing to the following epoch, gives him a claim to a primary station
among the masters of Italy. All his disciples became excellent designers
and noble colourists, transmitting both these qualities to their
successors. Their tints exhibit a peculiar kind of strength, or, as a great
connoisseur used to express it, of fire and ardour, which often serves to
characterize them in collections; a quality not so much derived from Costa
as from some other masters.

Ercole Grandi, called by Vasari, in his life, Ercole da Ferrara, became an
abler designer than his master Costa, and is greatly preferred to him by
the historian. Such too I believe to have been the public opinion from the
period when Grandi was employed with Costa at Bologna, in preference to
whom he was invited to different places to paint alone. But his affection
for his master, and his own modesty, led him to reject every advantageous
offer; so that when Costa went to Mantua, he would have followed, had he
been permitted so to do. Lorenzo, however, could no longer brook a disciple
who already surpassed him; owing to which, and the necessity of completing
the painting he had begun in the Garganelli chapel at St. Peter's, he left
Grandi in his stead at Bologna. Ercole there produced a work which Albano
pronounced equal to Mantegna, to Pietro Perugino, or any artist who
professed the modern antique style; nor perhaps did any boast a touch
altogether so soft, harmonious, and refined. He painted to advance the art,
and spared neither time nor expense to attain his object, employing seven
years on his fresco histories at St. Peter's; and five more in retouching
them when dry. This was only at occasional intervals, employing himself at
the same period in other works, sometimes at, and sometimes out of Bologna.
He would even have continued to render his work more perfect, had it not
been for the jealousy of some artists in the city, who nightly robbed him
of his designs and cartoons, which so greatly incensed him that he
abandoned his labours, and Bologna itself. Such is the account of
Baruffaldi, and it agrees with the invidious character of certain artists
of that period, drawn by Vasari, who in this respect also drew down upon
himself the indignation of Malvasia.

In the chapel of Garganelli Ercole painted, on one side, the Death of the
Virgin, and on the other the Crucifixion of Christ; nor did he produce in
such a variety any one head like another. He also added a novelty in his
draperies, a knowledge of foreshortening, an expression of passionate
grief, "such," says Vasari, "as can scarcely be conceived." The soldiers
"are finely executed, with the most natural and appropriate action that any
figures up to that time had displayed." Many years ago, when this chapel
was taken down, as much as possible of Ercole's painting was preserved, and
placed in the wall of the Tanara palace, where it may still be seen. It is
indeed his masterpiece, and one of the most excellent that appeared in
Italy during his times, in which the artist seemed to have revived the
example of Isocrates, who devoted so many years to the polish of his
celebrated panegyric. There is little else of his remaining at Bologna; but
at S. Paolo in Ferrara is a genuine altar-piece, and nothing more in
public. Some other of his works are preserved in the church of Porto in
Ravenna, and some pictures in the public palace at Cesena. He has some
specimens in foreign galleries; two of his pictures are at Dresden, a few
others at Rome and Florence; though frequently his name has been usurped by
that of another painter, Ercole not having enjoyed the celebrity which he
deserved. Thus his picture of the Woman taken in Adultery, used to be
pointed out in the Pitti palace for a work of Mantegna. For the rest, his
paintings are extremely rare, as he did not survive beyond his fortieth
year, during which period he painted with the caution of a modest scholar,
more than with the freedom of a master.

Lodovico Mazzolini is not to be confounded with the Mazzolino mentioned by
Lomazzo in his "Idea of the Temple or Theatre of Painting;" thus entitling
Francesco Mazzuola, as if in sport. Mazzolini of Ferrara was transformed by
Vasari into Malini, by a Florentine writer into Marzolini, and by others
divided into two, so as to become a duplicate, and answer for two
painters--one Malini, another Mazzolini; both of Ferrara, and pupils to the
same Costa. To crown his misfortunes, he was not sufficiently known to
Baruffaldi himself, who described him as "no despicable scholar of Costa,"
having probably seen only some of his more feeble efforts. He did not excel
in large figures, but possessed very rare merit in those on a smaller
scale. At S. Francesco in Bologna is one of his altar-pieces, the Child
Jesus disputing in the Temple; to which is added a small history of his
birth. It was admired by Baldassare da Siena; and Lamo, in his MS. often
before cited, describes it as an excellent production; but this piece was
retouched by Cesi. Other little pictures, and among these the duplicates of
his histories already recorded, are to be seen at Rome in the Aldobrandini
gallery, presented, perhaps, as a legacy by the Cardinal Alessandro, who in
Mazzolini's time was legate at Ferrara. Other pieces are at the
Campidoglio, formerly belonging to Card. Pio, as I gather from a note of
Mons. Bottari. From such specimens, in considerable number and genuine, we
may form an idea of Mazzolini's manner, which Baruffaldi laments should
continue to be one nearly unknown to the dilettanti. It displays an
incredible degree of finish; sometimes appearing in his smallest pictures
like miniature; while not only the figures, but the landscape, the
architecture, and the bassi-relievi, are most carefully executed. There is
a spirit and clearness in his heads, to which few of his contemporaries
could attain; though they are wholly taken from life, and not remarkably
select; in particular those of his old men, which in the wrinkles and the
nose sometimes border on caricature. The colour is of a deep tone, in the
style before mentioned; not so soft as that of Ercole; with the addition of
some gilding even in the drapery, but sparingly applied. In some
collections his name has been confounded with that of Gaudenzio Ferrari,
perhaps derived by mistake from Lodovico da Ferrara. Thus, in the royal
gallery at Florence, a little picture of the Virgin and Holy Child, to whom
S. Anna is seen presenting fruits, with figures of S. Giovacchino and
another saint, has been attributed to Ferrari. But it is the work of
Mazzolini, if I do not deceive myself, after the comparison made with
others examined at Rome.

From the resemblance of his style to Costa, and even superior in the heads,
it is conjectured that Michele Coltellini sprung from the same school. Some
specimens of his works are recorded in the church and convent of the PP.
Agostiniani of Lombardy, two of which yet remain in existence; one an
altar-piece at the church, in the usual composition of the fourteenth
century, and in the refectory a S. Monica with four female saints belonging
to that order. The date inscribed, together with his name, on an
altar-piece, informs us that he was still living in the year 1517. It is
uncertain in what school Domenico Panetti received his education; but I
know that his works, during several years, appear only feeble efforts. His
former pupil, Garofolo, however, returning subsequently from Rome, after
acquiring the new style under Raffaello, he received his old master,
Panetti, as a pupil, and so greatly improved him as to render his latter
works worthy of competition with the best masters of the fourteenth
century. Such is his St. Andrew, at the Agostiniani, just before recorded,
in which he displays not only accuracy, but, what is far more rare for his
times, a dignified and majestic manner. The artist's name, which is
affixed, with several other works conducted in the same taste (one of which
is now seen in Dresden) bear evidence of a change in pictoric character
without example. Gio. Bellini and Pietro Perugino, indeed, improved
themselves upon the models of their disciples, but they had previously
attained the rank of eminent masters, which cannot be averred of Panetti.
Vasari relates that Garofolo was pupil to Domenico Lanero, in Ferrara; an
error resembling that of Orlandi, who terms him Lanetti, and all these are
the same individual Domenico Panetti. He flourished some years during the
sixteenth century, in the same manner as the two Codi, and the three
Cotignoli, who though belonging to lower Romagna, having flourished abroad,
have been included in the school of Bologna, or in its adjacent places. A
few others, known only by their names, such as Alessandro Carpi, or Cesare
Testa, may be sought for in the work of Cittadella.

SCHOOL OF FERRARA.

EPOCH II.

_Artists of Ferrara, from the time of Alfonso I. till
Alfonso II., last of the Este family in Ferrara, who emulate
the best Italian styles._

The most flourishing epoch of the Ferrarese School dates its commencement
from the first decades of the sixteenth century. It traces its source to
two brothers named Dossi, and to Benvenuto da Garofolo, or, more correctly
perhaps, to Duke Alfonso d'Este, who employed them in his service, so as to
retain them in their native place, where they might form pupils worthy of
themselves. This prince, whose memory has been embalmed by so many
distinguished poets, was peculiarly attached to the fine arts. In his court
Titian painted, and Ariosto conferred with him upon the subjects of his
pencil, as we learn from Ridolfi in the life of Titian himself. This was
subsequent to the year 1514, when Gian Bellini, already old, left in an
unfinished state his noble work of the Bacchanals, which has long decorated
the Aldobrandini gallery at Rome; and when Titian was called upon to
complete it. He likewise conducted various paintings in fresco, which still
remain in a small chamber, in the palace of Ferrara; besides others in oil,
such as portraits of the duke and duchess, and his celebrated Cristo della
Moneta, which we have extolled for one of his most studied productions.
Pellegrino da S. Danielle, another pupil of Gian Bellini, but not to
compare with Titian, though not inferior to many of the same school, was
retained and honoured by the same court, where he left a few works,[58] of
which there remains no account, or confounded, perhaps, with those of
Dosso, an artist of much celebrity, and of various styles, at the same
court, as we now proceed to shew.

Footnote 58: See Renaldis, p. 20.

Assisted by such models, the talents of Dosso Dossi, and of his brother,
Gio. Batista, born at Dosso, a place near Ferrara, may have been
considerably improved. They were, first, pupils to Costa, and afterwards,
says Baruffaldi, resided six years at Rome, and five in Venice, devoting
themselves to the study of the best masters, and drawing portraits from
life. By such means they formed their peculiar character, but of different
kinds. Dosso succeeded admirably in figures, while Gio. Batista was perhaps
below mediocrity. Still he aimed at them; sometimes even in spite of his
brother's remonstrances, with whom he lived at continual variance, though
unable to separate from him by command of the prince who gave him as his
brother's assistant. He was thus like a slave at the oar, ever drudging
against his will; and when obliged to consult respecting their common
labours, he wrote what suggested itself, refusing to communicate by word of
mouth. Envious and spiteful in his mind, he was equally deformed in person,
expressing as it were the picture of his internal malignity. His real
talent lay in ornamenting, and still more in landscape, a branch in which,
according to Lomazzo, he was inferior neither to Lotto, to Gaudenzio, to
Giorgione, nor to Titian. There remain some specimens of his friezes in the
palace of the Legation, and in still better preservation some works noticed
by Baruffaldi at the villa of Belriguardo.

The two brothers obtained constant employment at Alfonso's court, and
subsequently from Ercole II. They, likewise, composed the cartoons for the
tapestries at the cathedral of Ferrara, and for those which are in Modena,
part at S. Francesco and part at the ducal palace, representing various
exploits of the Esti. How far Vasari may be entitled to credit in his
account of Ercole's invitation of Pordenone to compose cartoons for his
tapestries, there being no good figurists at Ferrara for "themes of war,"
it is difficult to decide. He adds, that Pordenone died there, shortly
after his arrival, in 1540, as was reported, by poison. This assertion, by
no means flattering to the Dossi who then flourished, has not been noticed,
I believe, by any Ferrarese writers, who else would, doubtless, have
defended their reputation by citing the exploits of arms figured in a
variety of tapestries. On other points, indeed, this has been done,
particularly in regard to their paintings, which decorated a chamber of the
Imperiale, a villa belonging to the dukes of Urbino. It is observed by
Vasari, that "the work was conducted in an absurd style, and they departed
from the Duke Francesco Maria's court in disgrace, who was compelled to
destroy all they had executed, and cause the whole to be repainted from
designs by Genga." The answer made to this is, that the destruction of that
work was owing to the jealousy of their competitors, and still more "to the
policy of that prince, who did not wish his artists of Urbino surpassed by
those of Ferrara." These are the words of Valesio, from Malvasia, (vol. ii.
p. 150) though I believe that too much deference was paid to Valesio in
adopting such an excuse; as it seems inconsistent with the judgment and
taste of the prince to suppose him capable of this species of barbarism,
and from the motive which is adduced. I rather apprehend that the work must
have failed by the fault of Gio. Batista, who, dissatisfied with his
allotted grotesques and landscapes, insisted on shining as a figurist.
There is a similar example in a court-yard of Ferrara, where he inserted
some figures against Dosso's wishes, and acquitted himself ill. For the
rest, a much better defence of their talents was made by Ariosto. For he
not merely availed himself of Dosso's talents to draw his own portrait, and
the arguments to the cantos of his Furioso, but has immortalized both his
and his brother's name, along with the most eminent Italian painters when
he wrote, "Leonardo, Andrea Mantegna, e Gian Bellino, Duo Dossi;" names
which are followed by those of Michelangiolo, Raffaello, Tiziano, and
Sebastiano del Piombo. Such commendation was not a mere tribute to
friendship, but to Dosso's merit, always highly extolled likewise by
foreigners. His most distinguished works are now perhaps at Dresden, which
boasts seven of them, and in particular the altar-piece of the four Doctors
of the Church, one of his most celebrated pieces. His St. John in Patmos is
at the Lateranensi in Ferrara; the head, free from any retouching, is a
masterpiece of expression, and acknowledged by Cochin himself to be highly
Raffaellesque. But his most admired production was at the Domenicani of
Faenza, where there is now a copy, the original having been removed on
account of its decay. It exhibits Christ disputing among the doctors; the
attitudes so naturally expressive of surprise, and the features and
draperies so well varied, as to appear admirable even in the copy. There is
a little picture on the same subject in the Campidoglio, formerly belonging
to Card. Pio of Ferrara, full of life, polish, and coloured with most
tasteful and mellow tints. By the same hand I have seen several
"Conversazioni" in the Casa Sampieri at Bologna, and a few Holy Families in
other collections, one in possession of Sig. Cav. Acqua at Osimo. In
pictoric works I sometimes find him compared with Raffaello, sometimes with
Titian or Coreggio; and certainly he has the gracefulness, the tints, and
chiaroscuro of a great master. He retains, however, more of the old style
than these artists, and boasts a design and drapery which attract the
spectator by their novelty. And in some of his more laboured pieces he adds
to this novelty by a variety and warmth of colours which nevertheless does
not seem to diminish their union and harmony.

Dosso survived Gio. Batista some years, during which he continued to paint,
and to form pupils, until infirmity and old age compelled him to desist.
The productions of this school are recognised in Ferrara by their
resemblance of style; and from their great number it is conjectured that
the Dossi directed the works, while their assistants and disciples executed
them. Few of these however are known, and among them one Evangelista Dossi,
who has nothing to recommend him but his name, and whose works Scannelli
did not care to point out to posterity. Jacopo Pannicciati, by birth a
noble, is mentioned by historians as a first rate imitator of the Dossi,
though he painted little, and died young, about the year 1540. Niccolo
Rosselli, much employed at Ferrara, has been supposed to belong to this
school, from his resemblance in some pictures to Dosso, particularly in
that of Christ with two angels, on an altar of the Battuti Bianchi. But in
his twelve altar-pieces at the Certosa, he imitated also Benvenuto and
Bagnacavallo, with several other artists. His school, then, must remain
uncertain; the more so as his composition, so very laboured, soft, and
minute, with reddish tints like those of crayons, leaves it even doubtful
whether he studied at Ferrara at all. The same taste was displayed by
Leonardo Brescia, more a merchant than a painter; from which some have
supposed him Roselli's pupil.

Better known than these is the name of Caligarino, in other words the
little shoe-maker, a title derived from his first profession. His real name
was Gabriel Cappellini; and one of the Dossi having said, in praise of a
pair of shoes made by him, that they seemed to be painted, he took the hint
and relinquished his awl to embrace his new profession. The old Guide of
Ferrara extols his bold design and the strength of his colours. The best
that now remains is his picture of the Virgin between two Saints John, at
S. Giovannino; the ground of which has been retouched, or rather spoiled.
An altar-piece, in good preservation, is also ascribed to him in S.
Alessandro, at Bergamo, representing our Lord's Supper. The manner partakes
in some degree of that of the fourteenth century, though very exact and
boasting good tints. In time, however, he approached nearer to the moderns,
as we gather from another Holy Supper, a small picture in possession of
Count Carrara. This new style has led to the supposition that he was pupil
to Paul Veronese, which it is difficult to believe respecting an artist who
was already employed in his art as early as 1520.

Gio. Francesco Surchi, called Dielai, was pupil and assistant to the Dossi,
when employed in painting at Belriguardo, at Belvedere, at the Giovecca,
and at Cepario, in which palaces they gave the most distinguished proofs of
their merit. Thus instructed by both brothers, he became perhaps the most
eminent figurist among his fellow-pupils, and beyond question the best
ornamental painter. He left few specimens in the second branch, but many in
the first. In rapidity, vivacity, and grace in his figures, he approaches
Dosso, and in a similar manner in his easy and natural mode of draping. In
the warmth of his colouring, and in his strong lights, he even aimed at
surpassing him; but, like most young artists who carry to excess the maxims
of their schools, he became crude and inharmonious, at least in some of his
works. Two of his Nativities at Ferrara are highly extolled, one at the
Benedettini, the other at S. Giovannino, to which last is added the
portrait of Ippolito Riminaldi, a distinguished civilian of his age.
Writers are divided in opinion respecting the comparative excellence of
these two altar-pieces, but they agree in awarding great merit to both.

We proceed to treat of Benvenuto, another great luminary of this school;
and we must first premise that there are some mistakes as to his name,
which has often betrayed our dilettanti into errors. Besides Benvenuto
Tisio, surnamed from his country Garofolo, there flourished at the same
period Gio. Batista Benvenuti, by some said to have been also a native of
Garofolo, and from his father's occupation denominated Ortolano, the
gardener. Now, by many, he has been confounded with Tisio, both from
resemblance of name and taste, so far as to have had even his portrait
mistaken for the former, and as such inserted in Vasari's edition that
appeared at Bologna. There Ortolano had pursued his studies about 1512,
from the works of Raffaello, which were few, and from those of
Bagnacavallo, whose style he afterwards emulated in some pictures. Leaving
that place sooner than he had intended, owing to an act of homicide, he
never attained to a complete imitation of Raffaello. But he excelled in his
taste for design and perspective, united to more robust colouring, observes
Baruffaldi, than what we see in Raffaello himself, and it is habitual in
this school during nearly the whole of the sixteenth century. Several of
his altar-pieces have been transferred into the Roman galleries, where in
the present day they are attributed, I believe, to Tisio, whose first
manner, being more careful than soft and tasteful, may easily be mistaken
for that of Ortolano. There are others at Ferrara, both in public and
private, and one in the usual old style of composition at S. Niccolo, with
the date affixed of 1520. In the parochial church of Bondeno there is
another, which is extolled by Scannelli (p. 319), in which are represented
the Saints Sebastian and Rocco, and Demetrius, who, in military dress, is
seen leaning on the hilt of his sword, absorbed in thought; the whole
attitude so picturesque and real as at once to attract the eye of the
beholder.

We cannot be surprised that his name should have been eclipsed by Tisio, an
artist deservedly extolled as the most eminent among Ferrarese painters. Of
him we have treated rather at length in the Roman School, both as occupying
a high station in the list of Raffaello's pupils, and as the one most
frequently met with in the Roman collections. We have a little before
mentioned Benvenuto's first education under Panetti, from whose school he
went to Cremona, under Niccolo Soriani, his maternal uncle, and next under
Boccaccio Boccacci. On Niccolo's death, in 1499, he fled from Cremona, and
first resided during fifteen months in Rome, with Gian Baldini, a
Florentine. Thence he travelled through various Italian cities, remained
two years with Costa in Mantua, and then returning for a short space to
Ferrara, finally proceeded back to Rome. These circumstances I here give,
on account of a number of Benvenuto's works being met with in Ferrara and
elsewhere, which partake little or nothing of the Roman style, though not
excluded as apocryphal, as they are attributed to his earlier age. After
remaining a few years with Raffaello, his domestic affairs recalled him to
Ferrara; having arranged these, he prepared to return to Rome, where his
great master anxiously awaited him, according to Vasari, in order to
accomplish him in the art of design. But the solicitations of Panetti, and
still more, the commissions of Duke Alfonso, retained him in his native
place, engaged with the Dossi in immense undertakings at Belriguardo and
other places. It is observed by Baruffaldi, that the degree of
Raffaellesque taste to be traced in the two brothers' works, is to be
attributed to Tisio. He conducted a great number of other paintings, both
in fresco and in oil.

His most happy period dates from 1519, when he painted in S. Francesco the
Slaughter of the Innocents; availing himself of earthen models, and copying
draperies, landscape, and in short every thing from the life. In the same
church is his Resurrection of Lazarus, and his celebrated Taking of Christ,
commenced in 1520, and finished in 1524. No better works appeared from his
hand, nor better composed, more animated, conducted with more care and
softness of colouring. There only remains some trace of the fourteenth
century, in point of design; and some little affectation of grace, if the
opinion of Vasari be correct. The district formerly abounded with similar
specimens of his in fresco; and they are also met with in private, as that
frieze in a chamber of the Seminary, which in point of grace and
Raffaellesque taste is well deserving of being engraved. Many of his works,
also, in oil remain, exhibited here and there throughout the churches and
collections of Ferrara; at once so many and so beautiful as alone to
suffice for the decoration of a city. His St. Peter Martyr was more
particularly admired by Vasari; a picture ornamenting the Dominicans,
remarkable for its force, which some professors have supposed to have been
painted in competition with St. Peter Martyr, by Titian; and in case of its
loss to have been able to supply its place. His Helen, too, a picture of a
more elegant character, at the same place, is greatly admired; this
gracefulness forming one of Benvenuto's most peculiar gifts. And, indeed,
not a few of his Madonnas, his Virgins, and his boys, which he painted in
his softer manner, have occasionally been mistaken for Raffaello's. His
picture of the Princes Corsini deceived good judges, as we are informed by
Bottari; and the same might have happened with the portrait of the Duke of
Modena, and others scattered through the Roman galleries, where are many of
his pieces on a large scale, particularly in the Chigi palace. All these
must be kept in view, in forming an estimate of Garofolo. His little
pictures, consisting of scriptural histories, are very abundant in
different cabinets, (Prince Borghesi himself being in possession of about
forty) and although they bear his mark, a gilly-flower or violet, they
were, I suspect, merely the production of his leisure hours. Those without
such impress are frequently works of Panelli, who was employed along with
him; often copies or repetitions by his pupils, who must have been numerous
during so long a period. Baruffaldi gives him Gio. Francesco Dianti, of
whom he mentions an altar-piece at the Madonnina, in the style of Garofolo,
and his tomb, also at the same place, with the date of his decease in 1576.
Batista Griffi and Bernardin Flori, known only by some ancient legal
instrument belonging to the period of 1520, do not seem to have surpassed
mediocrity; which is also remarked by Vasari of all the others who sprung
from the same school. We may except a third, mentioned in the same legal
act, and this was Carpi, of whom I shall now proceed to treat.

It is uncertain whether the proper title of Girolamo be da Carpi, as stated
by Vasari, or de' Carpi, as is supposed by Superbi; questions wholly
frivolous, inasmuch as his friend Vasari did not call him a native of
Carpi, but of Ferrara; and Giraldi, in the edition of his _Orbecche_ and of
his _Egle_, premised that the painter of the scene was Mes. Girolamo Carpi,
from Ferrara. And in this city he was instructed by Garofolo, whose young
attendant, in the parchment before cited, he is said to have been in 1520.
He afterwards went to Bologna, where he was a good deal employed in
portrait painting; until happening to meet with a small picture by
Coreggio, he became attached to that style, copying every piece he could
meet with, both at Modena and Parma, by the same hand. From Vasari's
account we are to conclude that he was never acquainted with Coreggio,
Raffaello, and Parmigianino, whatever other writers may have said. It is
true he imitated them; and from the latter, more particularly, he derived
those very gracefully clasped and fringed garments; and those airs of
heads, which, however, appear rather more solid and less attractive. On
removing to Bologna, in addition to what he conducted in company with
Pupini, he singly executed a Madonna with S. Rocco and other saints, for S.
Salvatore; and an Epiphany, with smaller figures, full of grace, and
partaking of the best Roman and Lombard manner, for the church of S.
Martino. Returning at length to Ferrara, he conducted, along with his
master, several pictures in fresco, particularly in the ducal Palazzina,
and in the church of the Olivetani, where Baruffaldi clearly recognised his
style, invariably more loaded with shadow than that of Benvenuto. In 1534
he himself represented, in a loggia of the ducal palace of Copario, the
sixteen princes of Este; twelve of whom with the title of marquis, the rest
as dukes, had swayed the sceptre of Ferrara. The last was Ercole II., who
committed that work to Girolamo, honourable to him for the animation and
propriety of the portraits, for the decoration of the termini, of the
landscape, and of the perspective, with which he adorned that loggia.
Titian himself had raised Carpi in that prince's consideration; not at the
time when he came to Ferrara to continue the work of Bellini, since
Girolamo was then only a child, but when he returned at another period; and
this I mention in order to correct one of Vasari's mistaken dates.

His altar-pieces in oil are extremely rare; the Pentecost at S. Francesco
di Rovigo, and the S. Antonio at S. Maria in Vado di Ferrara, are the most
copious, and perhaps the most celebrated which he produced. He was employed
also for collections, mostly on tender and graceful subjects; but there too
he is rarely to be met with. His diligence, the commissions of his
sovereigns, the study of architecture, a profession in which he served Pope
Julius III. and Duke Ercole II., his brief career, all prevented him from
leaving many productions for the ornament of cabinets. In his style of
figures he had no successors: in the art of decorating with feigned
bassi-relievi, colonnades, cornices, niches, and similar architectural
labours, he was rivalled by Bartolommeo Faccini, who in that manner
embellished the grand court-yard of the palace. He afterwards painted
there, as Carpi had done elsewhere, the Princes of Este, or more correctly,
placed in the niches a bronze statue of each of them; in constructing which
work he fell from the scaffolding, and died in 1577. He was assisted in the
same labour by his brother Girolamo, by Ippolito Casoli, and Girolamo
Grassaleoni, all of whom continued to serve their native place in quality
of ornamental painters.

Whilst Benvenuto and Girolamo were thus bent on displaying all the
attractions of the art, there was rising into notice, from the school of
Michelangiolo at Rome, one who aspired only to the bold and terrible; a
character not much known to the artists of Ferrara up to that period. His
name was Bastiano Filippi, familiarly called Bastianino, and surnamed
_Gratella_,[59] from his custom of covering large pictures with crossed
lines, in order to reduce them with exactness to a small scale; which he
acquired from Michelangiolo, and was the first to introduce into Ferrara.
He was son to Camillo, an artist of uncertain school, but who, in the
opinion of Bononi, "painted with neatness and clearness, as in his
Annunziata at S. Maria in Vado;" in the ground of which is a half-figure of
St. Paul, which leads to the conjecture, that Camillo aspired to the style
of Michelangiolo. It would seem, therefore, that Bastiano imbibed from his
father his ardent attachment to that style, on account of which he secretly
withdrew from his father's house, and went to Rome, where he became one of
the most indefatigable copyists and a favourite disciple of Bonarruoti. How
greatly he improved may be seen in his picture of the Last Judgment at
Ferrara, completed in three years, in the choir of the Metropolitana; a
work so nearly approaching Michelangiolo that the whole Florentine School
can boast nothing of the kind. It displays grand design, great variety of
figures, fine grouping, and very pleasing repose. It seems incredible that,
in a theme already treated by Michelangiolo, Filippi should have succeeded
in producing such novel and grand effect. Like all true imitators, he
evidently aimed at copying the genius and spirit, not the figures of his
model. He abused the occasion here afforded him, like Dante and
Michelangiolo, to gratify his friends by placing them among the elect, and
to revenge himself on those who had offended him, by giving their portraits
in the group of the damned. On this unhappy list, too, he placed a young
lady who had broken her vows to him; elevating among the blessed, in her
stead, a more faithful young woman whom he married, and representing the
latter in the act of gazing on her rival with looks of scorn. Baruffaldi
and other Ferrarese prefer this painting before that of the Sistine chapel,
in point of grace and colouring; concerning which, the piece having been
retouched, we can form no certain opinion. There is, moreover, the
testimony of Barotti, the describer of the Ferrarese paintings, who, at
page 40, complains, that "while formerly those figures appeared like living
flesh, they now seem of wood." But other proofs of Filippi's colouring are
not wanting at Ferrara; where, in many of his untouched pictures, he
appears to much advantage; except that in his fleshes he was greatly
addicted to a sun-burnt colour; and often, for the union of his colours, he
overshadowed in a peculiar taste the whole of his painting.

Footnote 59: Gratella, literally a gridiron, or lattice-work.

Besides this, his masterpiece, Filippi produced a great number of other
pictures at Ferrara, in whose Guide he is more frequently mentioned than
any artist, except Scarsellino. Where he represented naked figures, as in
his grand S. Cristofano at the Certosa, he adhered to Michelangiolo; in his
draped figures he followed other models; which is perceptible in that
Circumcision in an altar of the cathedral, which might rather be attributed
to his father than to him. Being impatient, both in regard to invention and
to painting, he often repeated the same things; as he did in one of his
Annunciations, reproduced at least seven times, almost invariably with the
same ideas. What is worse, if we except the foregoing Judgment, his large
altar-piece of St. Catharine, in that church, with a few other public
works, he conducted no pieces without losing himself either in one part or
other; satisfied with stamping upon each some commanding trait, as if to
exhibit himself as a fine but careless painter to the eyes of posterity.
There are few of his specimens in collections, but these are more exactly
finished. Of these, without counting those of Ferrara, I have seen a
Baptism of Christ in Casa Acqua at Osimo, and several copies from
Michelangiolo at Rome. Early in life he painted grotesques, but
subsequently employed in such labours, Cesare, his younger brother, a very
excellent ornamental painter, though feeble in great figures and in
histories.

Contemporary with, and rival of Filippi, was Sigismondo Scarsella,
popularly called by the Ferrarese Mondino, a name he has ever since
retained. Instructed during three years in the school of Paul Veronese, and
afterwards remaining for thirteen at Venice, engaged in studying its best
models along with the rules of architecture, he at length returned to
Ferrara, well practised in the Paolesque style, but at considerable
distance as a disciple. If we except his Visitation at S. Croce, fine
figures and full of action, we meet with nothing more by him in the last
published Guide of Ferrara. The city possesses other of his works, some in
private, some retouched in such a manner that they are no more the same,
while several are doubtful, and most commonly attributed to his son. This
is the celebrated Ippolito, called, in distinction from his father, Lo
Scarsellino, by whom singly there are more pictures interspersed throughout
those churches, than by many combined artists. After acquiring the first
rudiments from Sigismondo, he resided almost six years at Venice, studying
the best masters, and in particular Paul Veronese. His fellow-citizens call
him the Paul of their school, I suppose on account of his Nativity of the
Virgin at Cento, his S. Bruno, in the Ferrarese Certosa, and other
paintings more peculiarly Paolesque; but his character is different. He
seems the reformer of the paternal taste; his conceptions more beautiful,
his tints more attractive; while some believe that he influenced the manner
of Sigismondo, and directed him in his career. On comparison with Paul it
is clear that his style is derived from that source, but that his own was
different, being composed of the Venetian and the Lombard, of native and
foreign, the offspring of an intellect well founded in the theory of the
art, of a gay and animated fancy, of a hand if not always equal to itself,
always prompt, spirited, and rapid. Hence we see a great number of his
productions in different cities of Lombardy and Romagna, to say nothing of
his native place.

There, his pictures of the Assumption and the Nuptials of Cana, at the
Benedettini; the Pietà, and the S. John Beheaded, in that church; with the
_Noli me tangere_, at S. Niccolo, are among the most celebrated; also at
the Oratorio della Scala, his Pentecost, his Annunciation, and his
Epiphany, conducted in competition with the Presentation of Annibal
Caracci; of all which there are seen, on a small scale, a number of
repetitions or copies in private houses. They are to be met with too at
Rome, where Scarsellino's paintings are not rare. Some are at the
Campidoglio, and at the palaces of the Albani, Borghesi, Corsini, and in
greater number at the Lancellotti. I have sometimes examined them in
company with professors who never ceased to extol them. They recognised
various imitations of Paul Veronese in the inventions, and the copiousness;
of Parmigianino in the lightness and grace of the figures: of Titian in the
fleshes, and particularly in a Bacchanal in Casa Albani; of Dossi and Carpi
in his strength of colour, in those fiery yellows, in those deep
rose-colours, in that bright tinge given also to the clouds and to the air.
What sufficiently distinguishes him too, are a few extremely graceful
countenances, which he drew from two of his daughters; a light shading
which envelopes the whole of his objects without obscuring them, and that
slightness of design which borders almost on the dry, in opposition,
perhaps, to that of Bastiano Filippi, sometimes reproached with exhibiting
coarse and heavy features.

Ippolito's school, according to Baruffaldi, produced no other pupil of
merit except Camillo Ricci, a young artist who, Scarsellino declared, would
have surpassed himself, and whom, had he appeared a little later, he would
have selected for his own master. From a pupil, however, he became
Scarsellino's assistant, who instructed him so well in his manner, that the
most skilful had difficulty to distinguish him from Ippolito. His style is
almost as tender and attractive as his master's, the union of his colours
is even more equal, and has more repose, and he is principally
distinguished by less freedom of hand, and by his folding, which is less
natural and more minute. His fertile invention appears to most advantage in
the church of S. Niccolò, whose entablature is divided into eighty-four
compartments, the whole painted by Camillo with different histories of the
holy bishop. His picture of Margherita, also at the cathedral, is extremely
beautiful, and might be referred to Scarsellino himself. His smaller
paintings chiefly adorn the noble house of Trotti, which abounds with them;
and there too is his own portrait, as large as life, representing Genius
naked, seated before his pallet with his pencil in hand, surrounded by
musical books, and implements of sculpture and architecture, arts to which
he was wholly devoted. Among the pupils of Ippolito, Barotti enumerates
also Lana, a native of Codigoro, in the Ferrarese, though I leave him to
the state of Modena, where he flourished. Cittadella also mentions Ercole
Sarti, called the mute of Ficarolo, a place in the Ferrarese. Instructed by
signs he produced for his native place, and at the Quadrella sul Mantovano,
some pictures nearly resembling the style of Scarsellino, except that the
outline is more marked, and the countenances less beautiful. He was also a
good portrait painter, and was employed by the nobility at Ferrara as well
as for the churches. There is mentioned, in the Guide, an altar-piece in
the sacristy of S. Silvestro, and the author is extolled as a successful
imitator both of Scarsellino and of Bononi.

Contemporary with the Filippi and the Scarsellini is Giuseppe Mazzuoli,
more commonly called Bastaruolo, or, as it means in Ferrara, the vender of
corn, an occupation of his father's, not his own. He is at once a learned,
graceful, and correct artist, probably a pupil of Surchi, whom he succeeded
in painting for the entablature of the Gesù some histories left unfinished
by the death of his predecessor. Mazzuoli was not so well skilled in
perspective as in other branches. He injured his rising reputation by
designing some figures in too large proportion, owing to which, added to
his slowness, he became proverbial among his rivals, and considered by many
as an artist of mediocrity. Yet his merit was sufficiently marked,
particularly after the formation of his second manner, more elevated in
design, as well as more studied in its colouring. The foundation of his
taste is drawn from the Dossi; in force of chiaroscuro, and in his heads he
would seem to have owed his education to Parma; in the natural colour of
his fleshes, more particularly at the extremities, he approaches Titian;
and from the Venetians too seem to have been derived those varying tints
and golden hues, introduced into his draperies. The church of Gesù
contains, besides two medallions of histories, admirably composed, an
Annunciation and a Crucifixion, both very beautiful altar-pieces. The
Ascension at the Cappuccini, conducted for a princess of the Estense
family, is a magnificent piece, while an altar-piece of the titular saint,
with half figures of virgins that seem to breathe, at the Zitelle of S.
Barbara, is extremely beautiful. Several other pieces, both in public and
private, are met with at Ferrara. Mazzuoli was drowned, while bathing for
his health, at that place; an artist every way worthy of a better fate, and
of being more generally known beyond the limits of his own country.

Domenico Mona (a name thus read by Baruffaldi from his tomb, though by
others called Monio, Moni, and Monna,) attached himself to the art after
trying many other professions, ecclesiastical, medical, and legal. He
possessed great fervour and richness of imagination, learning, and rapidity
of hand. Instructed by Bastaruolo, he soon became a painter, and exhibited
his pieces in public. But not yet founded in technical rules, monotonous in
his heads, hard in his folding, and unfinished in his figures, he was ill
adapted to please a city already accustomed to behold the most finished
productions at every step, so as no longer to relish any thing like
mediocrity or inferiority of hand. Mona then applied with fresh diligence
to the art, and corrected, at least, some of his more glaring faults. From
that time he was more readily employed by his fellow citizens, though his
works were by no means equally approved. Some, however, were good, such as
the two Nativities at S. Maria in Vado, one of which represented the
Virgin, the other the Divine Child; both displaying a taste of colouring
nearly resembling the Florentine of that period, here and there mingled
with a Venetian tone. The best of all, however, is his Deposition from the
Cross, placed in the Sagrestia Capitolare of the cathedral. A number of
others only approach mediocrity, though still pleasing by their spirit, and
a general effect which proclaims superior genius. Even his colouring, when
he studied it, is calculated to attract by its warmth and vividness, though
not very natural. A few of his works are in such bad taste as to have
induced his pupil, Jacopo Bambini, out of compassion, to retouch them; and
Baruffaldi also notices this singular inequality. For, after greatly
extolling his Deposition from the Cross, he adds: "It must surprise the
spectator to contrast this with his other pieces, nor can he reconcile how
he should possess such capacity, and yet show such indifference for his own
fame." All, however, is explained when we know that he was naturally
subject to insanity, of which he finally became the victim, and having
slain a courtier of the Card. Aldobrandino, he ended his days in banishment
from his native place. By some, however, the deed was attributed, not to
insanity, but to hatred of the new government; and in fact, so far from
acting like a madman, he concealed himself, first in the state, and next at
the court of Modena. Finally, he sought refuge in that of Parma, where he
is declared to have produced pieces, during a short period, in his best
taste. Orlandi calls him Domenico Mora, and has extolled his two large
pictures of the Conversion and the Martyrdom of St. Paul, which adorn the
presbytery of that church at Ferrara. He moreover adds, that he flourished
in 1570, for which date I am inclined to substitute that of 1580, as it is
known that he commenced the practice of the art late in life, and died,
aged fifty-two years, in 1602.

From his school is supposed to have sprung Gaspero Venturini, who completed
his education under Bernardo Castelli, in Genoa. This, however, is mere
conjecture, founded on the style of Gaspero, which, in point of colouring,
partakes of that ideal taste so pleasing to Castelli, to Vasari, Fontana,
Galizia, and others of the same period; nor was Mona himself free from it.
Jacopo Bambini, whom we have before commended, and Giulio Cromer, commonly
called Croma, were assuredly from the school of Mona, though they acquired
little from it. Subsequently they became more correct designers by studying
from the naked model in the academy, which they were the first to open at
Ferrara, and from the best antiques which they possessed in their native
place--an art in which they attained singular excellence. Nor were they
destitute of invention; and to Cromer was allotted the honour of painting
the Presentation and the Death of the Virgin, at the Scala; a fraternity,
which, previous to its suppression, was regarded as a celebrated gallery,
decorated by superior artists. Bambini had studied also in Parma, whence he
brought back with him a careful and solid style; and, if he sometimes
displayed the colouring of Mona, he corrected its hardness, and excluded
its capriciousness. This artist was assiduously employed at the Gesù, in
Ferrara, and in that at Mantua. Croma was a painter of high reputation, and
much inclined to the study of architecture, which he introduces in rather
an ostentatious manner in nearly all his pictures. In other respects he
more resembles Bambini than Mona, invariably studied, ruddy in his
complexions, somewhat loaded in all his tints, and the whole composition
sufficiently characteristic to be easily distinguished. He may be well
appreciated in his large histories of the saint at St. Andrea, near the
chief altar, and in several pictures belonging to the minor altars.
Superbi, in his _Apparato_, describes one Gio. Andrea Ghirardoni as an able
artist. He left some respectable works, but coloured in a languid, feeble
style, with more of the effect of chiaroscuro than of painting. The names
of Bagnacavallo, Rossetti, Provenzali da Cento, and others belonging to the
Ferrarese state, who properly appertain to this epoch, have been already
described under other schools.

SCHOOL OF FERRARA.

EPOCH III.

_The Artists of Ferrara borrow different styles from the
Bolognese School.--Decline of the Art, and an Academy
instituted in its support._

Such, as just described, was the degree of excellence to which the pictoric
art arrived under the Esti, whose dominion over Ferrara terminated in the
person of Alfonso II., who died in 1597. These princes beheld nearly all
the classic styles of Italy transferred into their own capital by classic
imitators, which no other potentates could boast. They had their Raffaello,
their Bonarruoti, their Coreggio, their Titian, and their Paul Veronese.
Their memory yet affords an example to the world; because, like true
citizens of their country, they fostered its genius, the love of letters,
and all the arts of design. The change of government occurred in the
pontificate of Clement VIII. for whose solemn entry into the place the
artists Scarsellino and Mona were employed about the public festivals;
being selected as the ablest hands, equal to achieve much in a short space
of time. Various other painters were subsequently employed, in particular
Bambini and Croma, who were to copy different select altar-pieces of the
city, which the court of Rome was desirous of transferring into the
capital; leaving the copies only at Ferrara, to the general regret of the
Ferrarese historians. Subsequently the Card. Aldobrandini, nephew to the
Pope, was there established as legate; a foreigner indeed, but much
attached to the fine arts. Like other foreigners, he was more bent upon
purchasing the works of old masters, than upon cultivating a genius for
painting among the citizens. The same feeling may, for the most part, be
supposed to have influenced his successors; since, about 1650, Cattanio, as
we read in his life, ascribed the decline of the art to its want of
patrons, and induced Card. Pio, a Ferrarese, to allot pensions to young
artists, to enable them to study at Bologna and at Rome. But such temporary
aids afforded no lasting support to the school, so that if the others of
Italy were greatly deteriorated during this last century, that of Ferrara
became almost extinct. It may, therefore, boast greater credit for having
retrieved itself under less favourable circumstances, and for having
continued so long to emulate the most distinguished originals.

About the beginning of the seventeenth century, when the new civil
government commenced at Ferrara, a new epoch also occurred in its pictoric
school, which I call that of the Caracci. I can furnish no account
respecting that Pietro da Ferrara, mentioned by Malvasia, along with
Schedone, among the pupils of Lodovico Caracci. I have no where met with
his name in any other work. Dismissing him, therefore, I may award the
chief station in this epoch to two able artists, who acquired the taste,
without entering into the academy of the Caracci. These were Bonone of the
city of Ferrara, and Guercino belonging to the state; of whom, as residing
so long with his school at Bologna, I have there written what need not here
be repeated. They were succeeded by other painters in the Legation, nearly
the whole of them pupils of Caracci's followers, or again of their
disciples; insomuch, that what now remains of the Ferrarese School, is
almost a continuation of that of Bologna. It is the crowning glory of the
Ferrarese to have boasted superior emulators of the final school of Italy,
as they had of all the preceding. But it is now time to proceed to the
particulars.

Carlo Bonone, called by the admirable Cochin invariably Bourini, was pupil
to Bastaruolo. On being deprived of his master, he continued to exercise
his acquired manner; but he subsequently inclined to the strong, to
contrast of light and shadow, and to the difficult parts of composition,
more than any other contemporary Ferrarese. I suspect that, despairing of
competing in grace with Scarsellino, he intended to oppose him by a more
robust and enlarged manner. Nor had he far to seek for it, while the
Caracci flourished in Bologna. He left his native place; and perhaps
passing through that city, he conceived the first idea of his new style.
Arrived at Rome, he there continued above two years designing the beautiful
from nature in the academy, and out of it from the works of art; and then
returned to Bologna. Here he remained a year, "until he had mastered the
character and colouring of the Caracci, and devoted himself exclusively to
the principles and practice thus adopted, entirely renouncing all other
manners." Thus states Baruffaldi; and adds, that he resided also at Venice,
whence he departed more confounded than instructed, with the fixed
intention of never in the least departing from the Caraccesque manner. He
went also to Parma, and saw the works of Coreggio, according to some,
though without departing from his maxim. What progress he made in the path
thus selected, may be easily gathered from the opinions of experienced
Bolognese, contained in different histories, who, on examining one of his
works, ascribed it, without hesitation, to Lodovico Caracci; and it is also
to be inferred from the public voice, which extols him as the Caracci of
Ferrara.

This mistake is apt to be made in those compositions with few figures,
rather than in his large histories. In the former his dignity of design is
calculated to deceive us; as well as the conception and attitudes of his
heads of men, the form and fulness, the fall and folding of the drapery,
the choice and distribution of the colours, and the general tone which in
some works, more correctly conducted, greatly resemble the Bolognese style.
But in his compositions on a grand scale, he does not closely imitate the
Caracci, always sparing in their figures, and anxious to make them
conspicuous by a certain disposition peculiarly their own; but rather
follows the Venetians, and adopts methods to multiply the personages on the
scene. The grand Suppers which he painted (of a few of which we have
engravings by Bolzoni) might be almost pronounced from the genius of Paul
Veronese, so greatly do they abound with perspective, stages, and
staircases; so thronged is every situation with actors and spectators. His
Herod's Feast, at S. Benedetto, is much celebrated, as well as the Marriage
of Cana, at the Certosini, at S. Maria in Vado, and other places in
Ferrara, but, in particular, his Supper of Ahasuerus, in the refectory of
the Canonici Regolari of S. Giovanni, at Ravenna. The canvass is large, as
well as the vestibule which fills it, while the multitudes which there
appear, thronged together, is excessive; guests, spectators, domestics,
musical choirs and companies in the balconies, and in a recess, through
which is seen the garden, appear other tables surrounded by guests, with so
beautiful an illusion of aerial perspective, as at once to relieve and to
gratify the eye with infinite variety. There is as much diversity also in
the attitudes, novelty of drapery, richness of plate, &c., of which it
seems impossible to finish the inspection. A few figures too are more
studied, such as that of Ahasuerus, of the master of the feast, and of a
kneeling page, in the act of presenting the royal crown to the king. To
these add several of the singers, which rivet the eye by their respective
dignity, vivacity, or grace. In no other work did Bonone succeed equally
well in captivating others and in pleasing his own taste.

Yet the church of S. Maria in Vado boasts so great a number of his
paintings on the walls, so many in the vault and in the ceiling, conducted
too with so perfect a knowledge of foreshortening, that, in order to
estimate the vastness of his talents, we ought to see that magnificent
temple itself. When Guercino left Cento for Ferrara, he used there to spend
hours devoted only to the contemplation of Bonone. I find mention that, for
such productions, "he was elevated even to a competition with Coreggio and
the Caracci," and he assuredly adhered much to that method, designing
accurately, modelling his figures in wax, arranging the foldings, and
exhibiting them to a nocturnal light to examine their best effect, which he
aimed at even more than the Caracci. Still I have too great deference for
public opinion, which acknowledges no rivals to these noble masters, though
they had imitators; and I have heard judges express a wish for more
constant accuracy of design, choice in his heads, stronger union of
colours, and a better method of laying on his grounds, than they find in
Bonone. Notwithstanding similar exceptions, however, this artist stands as
one of the very first, after the Caracci. Though inferior in age, he could
not be called inferior in merit, to Scarsellino; and the city, divided into
parties, could not agree to award the palm either to the elder or to the
younger. They pursued different manners; each was eminent in his own, and
when they came into competition each exerted his utmost industry not to be
outshone, which left the victory still doubtful. There were a few years ago
at the Scala, and are yet at other places, a number of these rival
productions, and it is wonderful to see how Bonone, accustomed so much to
fill his canvass on a large scale, can adapt his genius, equal to any, to
study and refinement, even painting his figures of small proportion almost
in the style of miniature, in order that Scarsellino, in these ornaments of
the cabinet, should not excite greater admiration than himself. Different
collections, and particularly that of the noble Bevilacqua, possess fine
specimens of him; in public is his Martyrdom of St. Catherine, in that
church, a real treasure, much sought for by foreigners, who have frequently
offered for it large sums without success.

No disciple of Bonone's school acquired much celebrity, and, least of any,
Lionello, nephew to Carlo, and his heir. He was indebted to his uncle for
his knowledge of the art, but could never be induced to practise it with
diligence. What he has left was either executed with Carlo's assistance,
and from his designs, or is of very middling merit. Others, who had
successfully attained the manner of this master, died young, as Gio.
Batista della Torre, born at Rovigo, and Camillo Berlinghieri, both artists
of genius and highly estimated in collections. Some early pieces of great
promise adorn the church of S. Niccolo, where the former painted the
vaulted ceiling, but on some defect in the work being pointed out by the
master, he refused to complete it, and setting out in anger for Venice he
there took up his residence, and shortly came to an untimely end. By the
second was painted the picture of the Manna, at S. Niccolo, besides several
others throughout the city, and a few also at Venice, where he obtained the
name of the Ferraresino, and where he died before completing his fortieth
year.

The highest reputation was obtained by Alfonso Rivarola, likewise called,
from some property left to him, Il Chenda. On his master's death he was
proposed, as the most familiar with his style, by Guido Reni, to complete
an unfinished work of Bonone. At S. Maria in Vado is the Marriage of the
Virgin, sketched by Bonone, and which Chenda painted, Lionello having
declined to venture upon such a task. This picture has a powerful rival in
one of Bonone's, placed opposite to it, though it still displays a hand not
unworthy of following that of Bonone. His fellow citizens entertained the
same opinion of his other early efforts, such as the Baptism of the Saint,
exhibited in a temple of noble architecture at S. Agostino, in a style of
foreshortening that displays a master. His Fables, too, from Guarini and
Tasso, conducted in the Villa Trotti, as well as the pictures yet belonging
to the same nobles, and to different houses in the city, are held in
esteem. But he executed little for churches and collections, aiming more at
popular admiration, which he obtained by exercising at once the office of
architect and of painter at public festivals, and in particular at
tournaments, then so very prevalent in Italy. One of these, which he
conducted at Bologna, laid the foundation of his early decease. Either he
met with little applause, and took it to heart, or, according to others,
had such success as to lead to his being carried off by poison. Thus, in
few years, Carlo Bonone's school approached its close, not without leaving,
however, numerous works which, owing to their uniform style, are now
attributed generally to the school, not in particular to any artist.

I reserved for the series of the Caracci the name of Francesco Naselli, a
Ferrarese noble, though stated by some to have been initiated in the art by
Bastaruolo. This, however, is uncertain; it is only known that he designed
from the naked model with assiduity in an academy opened in conjunction
with his efforts, at Ferrara; and that going thence to Bologna, he took
copies of various works by the Caracci and by their disciples. In the
churches of his native place, and in private cabinets, numerous proofs of
these studies are met with, the most laborious of which are two miracles of
St. Benedict, copied in the cloister of S. Michele in Bosco, and now placed
at S. Giorgio of the Olivetani in Ferrara. Of these, one is borrowed from
Lodovico, the other from Guido; but preferred to both is his Communion of
S. Girolamo, which decorates the Certosa, a copy from the original by
Agostino. Guercino also was one of his favourites; of his he copied every
thing he could meet with, having selected him, after the Caracci, for his
first guide. By such practice Francesco succeeded in designing and painting
with good success in his own manner, on a large scale, animated, soft, with
rapid execution and strong union of colours, inclining in those of his
fleshes to a sun-burnt hue. Of his own design is the S. Francesca Romana at
the Olivetani, the Assumption at S. Francesco, several Suppers, abounding
in figures, belonging to private institutions, five of which are in the
Cistercian monastery. He likewise painted at the Scala in competition with
one of the Caracci, with Bonone, and with Scarsellino. Nor was he judged
unworthy of them; and at the sale of those valuable paintings for the
relief of the Hospital, in 1772, considerable prices were offered for his
productions. Although noble, and in easy circumstances, he never ceased to
persevere, and it would appear that he was desirous of promoting the
success of one of his domestics in the same art. Crespi declares that he
had read a statement, showing Alessandro Naselli to be the son of
Francesco, but, according to historians, he was an artist of mediocrity,
the omission of whose works will scarcely be any loss to my readers.

It is here necessary to interrupt for a moment our series of the Caracci's
disciples, to make mention of two geniuses, who also became painters, like
Naselli, but in the Venetian taste. Gio. Paolo Grazzini, one of Bonone's
best friends, professed the goldsmith's art, and it was owing only to his
bias for painting, imbibed from Bonone and other contemporaries, that he
acquired its principles in familiar conversation. Eager to put them to the
test, he commenced his altar-piece of S. Eligio, for the Goldsmith's
School. It occupied him eight years in its completion, but it was executed
in such a masterly style as alone to decide his excellence, approaching
quite as nearly as any to the manner of Pordenone. Being then about fifty
years of age, it excited the utmost surprise throughout Ferrara, yet he
still persevered, and conducted some minor pieces, which decorate private
buildings, in the same taste. So rare an example, or rather one so wholly
novel, appeared to me well worth historical mention. Somewhat at a later
period Giuseppe Caletti, called il Cremonese, came into notice. He acquired
the art rather from the models of the Dossi, and of Titian, than from
masters, imitating not only their manner of design, but their colouring,
which is so difficult. He contrived also to imitate that antique tone which
time gives to paintings, and thus adds to their harmony. He painted a good
deal for collections, such as half-length figures, bacchanals, and small
histories. Baruffaldi recognized several in some noble galleries at
Bologna, and has been compelled to argue the point with judges, who
maintained that they were Titian's. He farther relates, that an excellent
pupil of Pietro da Cortona purchased a great number, at a high price, at
Ferrara, being confident of reselling them at Rome for Titian's, or at
least for works of his school. In Ferrara, which is filled with his
pictures, it is difficult to succeed in these impostures. He is there
distinguished by fleshes of a sun-burnt hue, by certain bold lights,
strengthened by contrast with somewhat loaded shadows, by the fleeciness of
his clouds, and by other careless and ill-conducted accessories. Often too
the extravagance of the composition betrays the real author, when, for
instance, in a bacchanal, much resembling Titian, there is inserted a
chase, or some modern sport, which is like representing wild boars in the
sea, or dolphins in the woods. In a similar manner are his other fine
qualities impaired for want of judgment, without which no artist is well
calculated for the decoration of churches. In that of S. Benedict, however,
his four Holy Doctors, on an altar, are seen to advantage; and upon another
his admirable St. Mark, a grand and correct figure, full of expression, and
very picturesquely surrounded by abundance of volumes, in whose drawing he
is so true and natural, as to have been called the painter of books. Having
completed this work, il Cremonese disappeared out of the city, nor were
farther tidings heard of him, although some writers conjecture that he died
about 1660.

Returning to the disciples of the Bolognese, the first deserving of mention
here is Costanzo Cattanio, a pupil of Guido. His portrait, both on canvass
and in prints, I have seen, and it has always a threatening kind of
expression. That martial, or bravo character, affected by so many artists
about the times of Caravaggio, also misled this excellent genius from the
right career. At times Costanzo was an exile, now at open defiance, and now
wholly occupied in shielding his protectors, who never ventured out
unarmed, from dread of their rivals, and to whom he pledged himself that
they should not be assassinated in his presence. When he applied himself to
his art his peculiar disposition appeared stamped on the expression of his
figures. The characters whom he was most fond of introducing into his
histories were soldiers and bullies, whose fierce aspects seemed but ill
adapted to the soft style of his master. These, and many other ideas, he
borrowed from the prints of Durer, and Luca of Holland, which he reduced to
his own diligent and studied manner, particularly in his heads and his
steel armours. Although attached to strong expression, and borrowing
something from the other schools of Italy which he saw, he nevertheless at
times betrays sure traces of Guido's school. Thus, in his S. Antonio,
painted for the parish church of Corlo, and in our Lord's Supper, which he
placed in the refectory of S. Silvestro, and in every other instance when
he aimed at the Guidesque, he succeeded to admiration.

Another Ferrarese, Antonio Buonfanti, called il Torricella, is said to have
sprung from the school of Guido, though Baruffaldi is silent on this point.
Two large scripture histories by him are at S. Francesco; but there are few
other paintings or accounts of him at Ferrara; and he seems to have taken
up his residence elsewhere. It is certain that the young artists who
succeed this period are all ascribed to the school of Cattanio. Such are
Francesco Fantozzi, called Parma, Carlo Borsati, Alessandro Naselli,
Camillo Setti, artists who scarcely awaken the curiosity of their
countrymen. Giuseppe Avanzi is more known by his very numerous works, for
the most part confused, and painted almost at a sitting. He is described
more like an artisan bent on earning good wages by his day's labour. His
picture of St. John beheaded, however, at the Certosa, is extremely
Guercinesque; and some others on canvass and on copper, which he retouched
and studied a good deal, do him great credit.

But Cattanio's chief praise consists in his education of Gio. Bonatti, and
in his recommendation of him to Card. Pio, who greatly assisted him, by
placing him first at Bologna under Guercino, afterwards under Mola at Rome.
He long supported him also at Venice, studying the heads of that school;
besides defraying his pictoric tours through Lombardy, and giving him the
custody of his paintings at court. In fact, he bestowed upon him such
favours that the public, considering him as the dependant of that prince,
always termed him _Giovannino del Pio_. At Rome he was esteemed among the
best of his age; select, diligent, learned in the different styles of
Italian schools; the view of which, during his picturesque tour, he
declared was highly advantageous to him. And true it is that the painter,
like the writer, is formed by the study of great models; but the one may
behold them all collected in the same library, while the other has to seek
them in different cities, and in every city to study them at different
places. At Rome his only public works are a picture at the church
dell'Anima, a history of S. Carlo at the Vallicella, and an altar-piece of
S. Bernardo, at the Cisterciensi, highly commended in the Guide of Rome.
The rest of his works, and they are but few, belong to private persons; his
health declining at the age of thirty-five, he lingered eleven years
afterwards, and died at Rome.

Lanfranco likewise supplied a pupil to this school, called by Passeri,
Antonio Richieri, a Ferrarese. He followed his master to Naples and Rome,
where he painted at the Teatini after the designs of Lanfranco:--the sole
information I have been enabled to collect respecting his paintings. I am
well aware that he devoted himself to engraving, as we learn also from
Passeri, and that at Naples he engraved an altar-piece by his master, which
was rejected by the person who gave the commission for it. There is more
known of Clemente Maiola, whom the Ferrarese assert to be their
fellow-citizen and pupil to Cortona. He conducted many works at Ferrara;
one of S. Nicola supported by an angel, in the church of S. Giuseppe. He is
moreover mentioned as a fine pupil of Pietro, in the Notizie of M. Alboddo,
for works there extant. Titi gives account of others left in Rome at the
Rotonda and in other temples; but he differs respecting his master,
declaring that he was instructed by Romanelli.

Meanwhile Cignani's academy rose into notice, owing to its master's
reputation, and among those who repaired thither from Ferrara were Maurelio
Scannavini and Giacomo Parolini. Maurelio must be included among the few
whose object was to emulate their master in that scrupulous exactness,
which we noticed in its place. He was naturally slow, nor could he prevail
on himself to despatch his work from the studio until he beheld it already
complete in all its points. Though impelled by domestic penury to greater
haste, he varied not his method; and, free from envy, beheld the rapidity
of Avanzi, who abounded with commissions and money, whilst he and his
family were destitute. The noble house of Bevilacqua assisted him much; and
it redounds to its honour, that on remunerating him for some figures in an
apartment where Aldrovandini had conducted the architecture, a very large
sum was added to the price agreed upon. He produced few other pieces in
fresco; a process that requires artists of more rapid hand. He painted more
in oil; among the most esteemed of which is his S. Tommaso di Villanova, at
the Agostiniani Scalzi; and at the church of the Mortara his St. Bridget in
a swoon, supported by angels. The families of Bevilacqua, Calcagnini,
Rondinelli, and Trotti, possess some of his pictures for private ornament;
among which are portraits that display Maurelio's singular talent in this
branch; and histories of half-length figures in the manner of Cignani. They
exhibit gracefulness, union of colouring, and strength of tints, which
leave him nothing to envy in the artists by whom he is surrounded, except
their fortune.

Giacomo Parolini, pupil to the Cav. Peruzzini in Turin, afterwards to
Cignani at Bologna, was present at Maurelio's decease, and completed a few
works left imperfect, out of regard to his friend, and for the relief of
his orphan family. He did not possess that true finish peculiar to the
followers of Cignani; though he still maintained the reputation of his
second school, by the elegance of his design, the propriety and copiousness
of his composition, and his very attractive colouring, particularly in the
fleshes. Aware of his own power in this difficult part of painting, he is
fond of introducing into his pieces the naked figure, more especially of
boys, from the proportions of which judges are enabled to recognize their
author. His bacchanals, his Albanesque country-dances, his capricci, are
all of such frequent occurrence at Ferrara, as to render it more easy to
enumerate the collections in want of them, than those where they are.
Foreigners also possess specimens; and there are engravings in acqua forte
by the designer's own hand. His picture of the Cintura, representing the
Virgin among various saints, nearly all of the order of St. Augustine, a
piece engraved by Andrea Bolzoni, is held in much esteem. Nor are the three
altar-pieces in the cathedral unworthy of notice; and in particular the
entablature of S. Sebastiano at Verona, which greatly raised his
reputation, representing the saint in the act of mounting into glory,
amidst groups of angels; a beautiful and well executed work. Parolini is
the last among the figurists whose life was written at length by
Baruffaldi; the last, also, on whose tomb was inscribed the eulogy of a
good painter. With him was buried for a season the reputation of Ferrarese
painting in Italy.

The author of the "Catalogue," in the fourth volume has collected the names
and drawn up the lives of certain other painters, interspersing several
episodes. Concerning these figurists, little else is related than mere
failures and misfortunes. For instance, Gio. Francesco Braccioli, pupil to
Crespi, though promising well in some of his works for galleries,
subsequently fell into infirmity of mind; one lost his taste for the
profession; another cultivated the art with remissness, or only as a
dilettante; a third produced some tolerable efforts, but was mostly
extravagant; one had genius and died early; another long life without a
spark of talent. Meanwhile, this dearth of native artists was for some
years supplied by Gio. Batista Cozza, from the Milanese; a painter of a
copious, easy, and regulated style. Not that he was invariably correct,
though very popular, and when he pleased satisfying even judges of the art;
as in that picture representing different SS. Serviti, in the church called
di Cà Bianca.

After him appeared the modern artists, who now enjoy deserved reputation in
the academy of Ferrara, which, owing to the particular patronage of his
eminence Card. Riminaldi, has recently risen into distinguished notice.
With the name of this noble citizen and of the professors whom he himself
selected and promoted, future writers will doubtless commence a fourth
epoch of painting. By him the academy was supplied with laws, and took its
established form. To his care and munificence several young artists were
indebted for their residence at Rome, and all the rest for the benefit of a
well regulated institution at Ferrara. He also did much for the cause of
letters in the university. But this is not the place to give an account of
it; and his merits, commended as they are to posterity in numerous books
and monuments, and impressed on the hearts of his grateful fellow citizens,
are not likely soon to fall into oblivion.

It remains to speak of other kinds of painting, and it will be best to
commence with perspective. After this art had assumed a new aspect at
Bologna, and spread through Italy, as already stated, it was introduced by
Francesco Ferrari, born near Rovigo, into Ferrara. He had been instructed
in figure painting by a Frenchman, and afterwards became professor of
architectural and ornamental painting under Gabriel Rossi, the Bolognese,
of whose name, to say nothing of his style, I find no traces left at
Bologna. To those who had the means of comparing the manners of these two
artists, it appeared that Francesco did not equal him in the dignity of his
architecture, but surpassed him in strength and durability of colouring,
and in that relief so attractive in these performances. Moreover, he had a
considerable advantage over his master, in his knowledge of appropriately
painting histories. The Dispute of S. Cirillo is still to be seen, and the
Rain granted to the Prayer of Elias, in the church of S. Paolo: pictures,
observes Baruffaldi, which rivet the eye. Other proofs of his genius for
history pieces are met with at the Carmine and at S. Giorgio, but still
they yield to his architectural labours, which may be said to have formed
his trade. He worked also for theatres, and in different Italian cities,
and in the service of Leopold I. at Vienna. Being constrained to leave
Germany on account of his health, he returned to Ferrara, and there opened
school.

Among his pupils were Mornassi, Grassaleoni, Paggi, Raffanelli, Giacomo
Filippi, and one who surpassed all the rest, Antonfelice Ferrari, his son.
This artist did not attempt figures, but confined himself to architecture,
in which he added to the somewhat minute style of his father, a
magnificence well adapted to attract the public eye. He was employed with
success in the Calcagnini palace, in that of the Sacrati, Fieschi, and in
other private and public places in Ferrara, as well as at Venice, Ravenna,
and elsewhere. Suffering much however in health by painting in fresco, and
on this account being reduced to live with less comfort, he conceived such
aversion for the art, that on making his will he enjoined that his son was
to forfeit his inheritance if he ever became a fresco painter. Some of his
pupils therefore succeeded him, among whom Giuseppe Facchinetti most
distinguished himself. He painted at S. Caterina da Siena and other places,
at once in a delicate and sound style, and is almost reputed the Mitelli of
his school. Maurelio Goti of Ferrara nearly approached his style, not
without marks of plagiarism. From the same country and school was Girolamo
Mengozzi Colonna, who became a long resident at Venice. He accompanied the
figures of Zompini with ornamental work at the church of the Tolentini, and
those of Tiepolo at the Scalzi; and conducted the architecture in the ducal
palace and elsewhere. Zanetti, in his Guide, mentions his name as above;
but, in his "Pittura Veneziana," (thirty-eight years afterwards) he calls
him Colonna Mengozzi, and a native of Tivoli. Guarienti extols him as the
first architectural and ornamental painter of his time.

The art of landscape painting, which, after the age of the Dossi, had
almost fallen into disuse at Ferrara, was revived there by some foreigners.
Giulio Avellino, called, from his native place, the Messinese, resided some
time in this city, and died there at the beginning of the century. He had
been pupil to Salvator Rosa, whose style he somewhat softened, and richly
ornamented with views of ruins and architecture, as well as with some small
and well composed figures. The Signori Cremona and Donati possess select
specimens; and there is scarcely a collection in Ferrara or Romagna which
does not value itself on possessing them. After him appeared Giuseppe Zola,
born, according to Crespi, at Brescia, a landscape painter, of a taste
devoted to no single master, but formed upon many. He was exceedingly rich
in conception and in expedients; his buildings are of a rustic kind; his
ruins partake of the modern, and are picturesquely covered with creeping
plants and ivy; the backgrounds of an azure hue, and great variety of
objects and figures, in which he was less happy than in his landscape. His
earlier works are held in most esteem; when he obtained greater
commissions, he performed them with a more mechanical hand, and, with the
exception of his colouring, which he always studied, he bestowed little
care on the rest. Those pictures are in general most complete, in which he
introduced the smallest figures; and such may be seen even out of private
houses, in the Monte della Pietà, and in the sacristy of S. Leonardo. He
formed several pupils, the best of whom was Girolamo Gregori. Instructed as
a figurist by Parolini, and afterwards by Gioseffo dal Sole, he failed for
want of perseverance, except very rarely, in greater works. Yet he produced
many, and his landscapes have been highly extolled. The same may be
observed of Avanzi, mentioned by us shortly before; who, in addition to his
very pleasing landscapes on canvass and on copper, surpassed all his fellow
citizens in the drawing of flowers and fruits.

An invention, finally deserving of mention, and extremely useful to
painting, was made known during this last epoch by a Ferrarese, and
afterwards brought to perfection by others. Antonio Contri, son of a
Ferrarese lawyer, who, for domestic reasons, had long settled at Rome, and
next at Paris, feeling a natural bias for design, practised it in both
those cities; but first displayed greater excellence in embroidery than
painting. Returning into Italy, and establishing himself at Cremona, he was
instructed in landscape by Bassi, in which he was accustomed also to
introduce flowers, the branch of painting in which he most distinguished
himself. He also succeeded well in perspectives and in animals. His
pictures, and those of his son Francesco, who pursued his style, remain at
Cremona, Ferrara, and their vicinity; but it was his new discovery, just
alluded to, which obtained a more wide circulation and repute. This is the
method of removing from walls to canvass any picture without the least
injury to its design or colouring. Various trials of it, during the space
of a year, instructed him how to compose a sort of glue, or bitumen, which
he spread over a canvass of equal size with the picture he wished to
transfer to it. Having applied this to the painting, and beaten it firm
with a mallet, he cut the plaister round it, and applied to the canvass a
wooden frame well propped, in order that the work might take hold, and come
off equal throughout. In a few days he cautiously removed the canvass from
the wall, which brought with it the painting; and, having extended it on a
smooth table, he applied to the back of it another canvass, varnished with
a composition more adhesive than the former. He then placed over the work a
quantity of sand, which should equally compress it in all its parts; and,
after a week's space, he examined the two pieces of canvass, detached the
first by means of warm water, and there then remained on the second the
whole painting taken from the wall. He applied this method in different
houses of Cremona, for Baruffaldi in Ferrara, and in Mantua for Prince
d'Harmstadt, governor of the city; so as to enable him to send some heads,
or other works of Giulio Romano, thus removed from the ducal palace, to the
emperor. The secret composition of his glue Contri always concealed, but
similar attempts were made about the same period in foreign countries. In
the journal of Trevoux it is stated that Louis XV. caused the celebrated
painting of St. Michael, by Raffaello, to be removed from its original
canvass to a new one, a process which succeeded admirably, for on this last
the chinks and creases disappeared which had greatly injured the
former.[60] From this account I have been led to doubt whether Contri were
really the inventor of this art, as asserted by Ferrarese writers. I say
only doubted, since I am unable to judge the question with precision, for
want of ascertaining the exact year in which he first applied the method
with success. What is indisputable however is, that he was the first who
was induced to make such trial of it upon painted walls, and that the plan
which he adopted was only of his own invention. But whether he discovered
the art, or only the method of applying it, at this period his secret, or
something equivalent to it, is pretty well known in Italy. On passing
through Imola, I saw, in a private house, two histories of the Life of the
Virgin, which had been painted by Cesi in the cathedral of that city,
removed thence, and replaced on large new canvass. Had this invention been
elicited a few years previously, several of those ancient works might have
been preserved, mention of which is now only to be met with in books, to
the regret of every lover of the fine arts.

Footnote 60: See Il Sig. Ab. Requeno, in his "Essays for the
Re-establishment of the ancient Art of the Greek and Roman
Painters." Ed. Ven. p. 108.

Here too we must give some account of an exceedingly interesting art, as
regards that of painting; an art which, after the lapse of centuries, in
some degree re-appeared in Italy, owing chiefly to the exertions of an
ingenious Spaniard. He resided many years at Ferrara, and was assisted by
the artists there in his experiments and undertakings. Some years before,
attempts had been made at Paris to recover the method of painting in
caustic, or that which the Greeks and Romans succeeded in by the medium of
fire.[61] A few words in Vitruvius and Pliny, and these very obscure in our
days, and to which various meanings are given by critics, formed the only
chart and compass to direct the inquirer. It was known that wax was
employed in ancient painting, much the same as oil in the modern; but how
to prepare it, to combine it with the colours, to use it in a liquid state,
and how to apply fire to the process until the completion of the work--was
the secret to be discovered. Count Caylus, who pursued antiquarian
researches less for the sake of history than of the arts, was perhaps the
principal promoter of so useful an inquiry. The royal Academy of
Inscriptions joined him, and offered a public premium for the discovery of
a method of painting in caustic, such as should be found worthy of its
approbation. Many experiments were at this period made; and philology,
chemistry, painting, all united in throwing light upon the subject. Among
various methods proposed by three academicians, Caylus, Cochin, and
Bachiliere, two of them received premiums, though in some measure the same,
and both proposed by the last of the three mentioned names. The whole
account may be read in the Encyclopedia, under the head of _Encaustique_.
Thenceforward native artists did not fail to make new trials, and practise
themselves in pictures _all'encausto_. One of these, who arrived at
Florence in 1780, exhibited to me a head, and some portion of the figure,
thus painted by himself. I likewise saw him so employed. He had near him a
brazier, on which were placed small pans filled with colours, all of a
different body, and mixed with wax, but with what third ingredient I know
not; whether salt of tartar, as recommended in the dissertation remunerated
at Paris, or some other composition. A second brazier was fixed behind the
cartoon or panel on which he painted, in order to preserve it always warm.
The work being finished, he went over the whole with a small hair brush,
and gave it a clear and vivid glow.

Footnote 61: See the Encyclopedia, at the Art. _Encaustique_.

Some there were at that time in Italy who much admired this art. The
numerous reliques of ancient painting, preserved free from the effects of
time at Naples and at Rome, may be said to exhibit a manifest triumph over
modern productions, which so much sooner become aged and fade away. This it
was that induced the Ab. Vincenzo Requeno to publish the book shortly
before cited, at Venice, first in 1784. In him were united all the
requisite qualities for promoting the new discovery--the learning of a man
of letters, experience of an artist, philosophical reasoning, and
persevering experiment. His work is in every one's hands, so as to enable
them to form an opinion, for this is not the place to enter into a
discussion of its various merits. It has been done by the Cav. de Rossi in
three extracts from that work, published in the first volume of the
"Memorie delle Belle Arti," one of the most brief and at the same time
admired journals in Italy. My sole object is to do justice to his singular
penetration and industry. He gave a solution of the difficulty mentioned in
the Encyclopedia, and discovered a new process. He shewed that salt of
tartar was not made use of by the Greeks to dissolve wax, and adapt it to
the brush, because they were unacquainted with such a substance; while his
own experience convinced him it was useless for the purpose. He knew that
the application of fire to the back of the painting was not the method
adopted by the Greeks, inasmuch as it was inapplicable to their paintings
upon large walls. He tried many experiments, and he at length found that
the resinous gum, called mastic, would produce the effect which he had
vainly sought from salt of tartar. With the gum and wax he made crayons,
and found various ways of combining the colours, so as best to adapt them
for the use of painting. When the work was finished, he was accustomed
sometimes to give it a slight covering of wax, in place of varnish, and
sometimes to leave it without; but in every process which he observed, he
perfected the work by the application of fire, or as he himself observes,
by burning it. This he effected by holding a brazier near the front of the
picture, and lastly going over the work with a small linen cloth, which
clears and enlivens the tints.

I have seen the first trials, as made by the Ab. Requeno himself, or by
artists directed by him, in possession of his Excellency Pignatelli at
Bologna, who added to the discovery no small share of information and
patronage. But it was not to be expected that a new kind of painting could
be perfected by means of a single studio. Aware of this, the author of the
work thus expresses himself: "At the moment when a resinous gum shall be
found better, that is, more white and hard, and equally soluble with wax
and water as those employed by me, the pictures and caustics will become
more beautiful, consistent, and durable. I am not a painter by profession,
nor do I merit any particular commendation among dilettanti. My pictures
have been conducted solely for the purpose of shewing a method of painting
with ease and consistency in wax, without oil, without glue, and by means
of gums only, with wax and water." On this account he thenceforward invited
professors to join in promoting his discovery, and lived to witness its
effects.

Omitting to speak of the chemists who aided in throwing light upon the
progress of this art,[62] the pictoric school at Rome undertook in a manner
to promote and bring it to its last degree of perfection. At that period
lived counsellor Renfesthein, the friend of Mengs and of Winckelmann, a man
of exquisite taste in the arts of design, and ever surrounded by numbers of
artists, who either received from him the benefit of his advice, or
commissions from foreigners, private persons, and sovereigns. To these he
proposed sometimes one, sometimes another method of the caustic art; and in
a short time he beheld his cabinet filled with pictures on canvass, on
wood, and on different kinds of stones, which he had already submitted to
every proof, by putting them under ground, in water, and exposing them to
every variety of weather without injury. From this time the new discovery
spread to different studii, and was communicated successively to the
Italian cities, and to foreign nations. Entire chambers have thus been
painted by caustic, a specimen of which is seen in that which the Archduke
Ferdinand, governor of Milan, caused to be thus decorated in his villa of
Monza. And in ornamental paintings and landscape this art may hitherto
boast still more attractions than in figures. All however must be aware
that it has not yet attained that degree of softness and finish possessed
by the ancients in their paintings in wax, and in oil and varnish by the
moderns. But where many unite to perfect it, it may be hoped that some Van
Eyck may rise up, who will succeed in discovering, or more properly in
perfecting that which "all artists had long looked for and ardently
desired."[63]

Footnote 62: See the _Discorso della Cera Punica_, by the
Cav. Lorgna, Verona, 1785. Also _Osservazioni intorno alla
Cera Punica_, by Count Luigi Torri, Verona, 1785. In the
work of Federici is an account of another little production
by Gio. Maria Astorri of Treviso, edited in Venice, 1786; in
which Spanish honey is much praised for the purpose of
preparing and whitening the wax; and being a painter he
relates several experiments he made with this and other
methods, which succeeded well. Gio. Fabroni, keeper of the
royal cabinet at Florence, likewise wrote concerning it. See
the Roman Anthology for the year 1797.

Footnote 63: Vasari.

BOOK V.

GENOESE SCHOOL.

EPOCH I.

_The Ancients._

Last among the ancient schools of Italy is to be enumerated the Genoese, in
regard to the period in which it flourished, not to its merit, which I
consider as being equal to that of many others. In Liguria the first
revival of painting appeared tardy; not so its progress, which was rapid
and distinguished. In Genoa and Savona, as well as in other cities situated
on the sea-shore, there remain some ancient paintings by unknown hands, one
of which, over the gate of Savona, is distinguished by the date of 1101.
The first artist known by any extant production, is one _Franciscus de
Oberto_, as he signs himself on the edge of a painting of the Virgin
between two angels, which is in the church of S. Domenico, at Genoa,
displaying nothing of the Giottesque, and executed in 1368. It cannot be
ascertained that he was altogether a native artist, as may be confidently
asserted of the Monk of Ieres, and of Niccolo da Voltri, names known to
history though not by any surviving works. The Monk of the Isole d'Oro, or
of Ieres, or Stecadi, where he long resided, was not pointed out to us by
name by any ancient writer. His surname was Cybo, and historians place him
in the genealogical tree of Innocent VIII. Besides being a good Provençal
poet, and historian, it is said that he became an excellent miniaturist,
and on this account, a favourite with the King and Queen of Aragon, to whom
he presented several of his illuminated books. He also delighted in
representing in his paintings birds, fish, quadrupeds, trees with fruits,
ships of various forms, perspectives of cities and edifices, objects, in
short, which he beheld in the islands around him. It is conjectured by
Baldinucci that Giotto's models, in an age thronged with miniaturists, and
not wanting in painters, had influenced the efforts of this isolated
artist. How this assertion can be confirmed I know not, the more so as
history describes him as having devoted himself late in life to design, and
in the island of Lerino, where it is not known there were any followers of
Giotto. Voltri was also a figure painter; some of his altar-pieces survived
to the time of Soprani, who extols them, without, however, pointing out
with precision the peculiarities of his taste or school.

During the fifteenth century, and part of the following, the capital city,
and those depending on it, were supplied, for the most part, with foreign
painters, almost all unknown to their native schools on account of their
having, as it appears, resided in Liguria. Some account remains of a German
called Giusto di Alemagna, in a cloister of S. Maria di Castello, at Genoa.
He there painted in fresco an Annunciation in 1451, a precious picture of
its sort, finished in the manner of miniaturists, and which seems to
promise for Germany the style of an Albert Durer. At the same period Jacopo
Marone, of Alessandria, painted an altar-piece at S. Jacopo in Savona, in
distemper, consisting of various compartments, and in the midst of it a
Nativity with a landscape, a work conducted with exquisite care in every
part. At S. Brigida, in Genoa, too, are seen, by the same hand, two
altar-pieces, one with the date of 1481, the other of 1484. The author was
one Galeotto Nebea, of Castellaccio, a place not far from Alexandria. The
three principal Archangels in the first, and S. Pantaleone with other
martyrs in the second, are represented on a gold ground, very tolerably
executed, both in forms and draperies, which are extremely rich, with stiff
and regular foldings, not borrowed from any other school. It exhibits also
the grado or step, with minute histories, a work somewhat crude, but
displaying diligence.

Turning from the head city to Savona, a third native of Alexandria, called
Gio. Massone, painted about the year 1490, in the church erected by Sixtus
IV. for the sepulture of his family. Although not mentioned in history, he
must have been distinguished in his time, to have been selected for such a
work, and remunerated with one hundred and ninety-two ducats for his
labour. It is comprised in a small altar-piece, where, seen at the feet of
the Virgin, are the portraits of the pope, and the cardinal Giuliano, his
nephew, afterwards Julius II. The same city, preserving so many ancient
memorials, has also snatched from oblivion the names of one Tuccio di
Andria, an artist employed at S. Jacopo in 1487, and of two natives of
Pavia, who somewhat later perhaps painted on canvass, and signed
themselves, the one _Laurentius Papiensis_, the other _Donatus Comes Bardus
Papiensis_. Another foreigner, by birth a Brescian, and a Carmelite by
profession, presents us with a signature, to be found at S. Giovanni, below
an altar-piece of the Nativity of our Saviour. It has written on it, "_Opus
F. Hieronymi de Brixia Carmelitæ, 1519_." By the same hand, in the cloister
of the Carmelitani at Florence, is a Pietà with this inscription, _F.
Hieronymus de Brixia_. This artist is well deserving of notice, if only on
account of his knowledge in perspective, an art so much cultivated after
Foppa in Brescia, and throughout Lombardy. Doubtless he was a pupil of that
monastery, in which the art of painting was then cultivated; as it is
stated by Averoldi, who extols one F. Gio. Maria da Brescia, and the
cloister of the Carmine, decorated by him with a number of histories of
Elias and of Eliseas. This Girolamo I believe to have been his companion or
disciple, a name that has in some way escaped Orlandi, who belonged to the
same order.

No one of the foreign painters is known to have opened school in Liguria,
except a native of Nizza, who, through his succession, is almost regarded
as the progenitor of the ancient Genoese School. He is called Lodovico
Brea, and his works are by no means rare at Genoa and throughout the state,
with notices of him between the years 1485 and 1513. In point of taste he
is not equal to the best among his contemporaries in other schools,
employing gilding, and more strongly adhering to the old dryness of design.
His style, nevertheless, yields to that of few in the beauty of its heads,
and in the vividness of its colouring, which still remains almost
unimpaired. His folding is also good, his composition tolerable, he selects
difficult perspectives, and his attitudes are bold. From his whole painting
he might be rather pronounced the head of a new, than the follower of any
other school. He never attempted grand proportions; in smaller, as we see
in the Slaughter of the Innocents, at S. Agostino, he is excellent. His S.
Giovanni, in the chapel of the Madonna di Savona, executed by commission
for the Card. della Rovere, in competition with other artists, is highly
praised.

Thus, until the year 1513, painting in Genoa was in the hands of strangers,
and if the natives at all practised it they were few only, as we shall
shortly show, while both one and the other were far behind the best methods
of their age. Ottaviano Fregoso, elected doge in the above year, at length
shed new lustre on the arts. He invited to Genoa Gio. Giacomo Lombardo, a
sculptor, and Carlo del Mantegna, a painter, who succeeded, as we have
stated, both to the works and reputation of his master. Carlo not only
painted in Genoa but taught, and with a success that would seem quite
incredible, were it not that the works of his imitators are still in
existence. Thus the Genoese School first took its rise from Brea, and was
promoted by Carlo, as we find it described by two painters in two volumes;
a school of a long, uninterrupted, and illustrious succession. The first
volume is by Raffael Soprani, a patrician of the city, who wrote lives of
the Genoese professors of design up to 1667; and added also notices of
foreign ones who had been employed in that splendid capital. The second is
by the Cav. Carlo Ratti, secretary to the Ligustic academy, who, after
having republished the Lives of Soprani, accompanied by useful notes,
continued the same work in another volume and on the same plan, down to the
present day. He has moreover published, in two small volumes, a Guide,
intended to give an account of the best specimens of art, both in private
and public, which Genoa and every district of the state can boast; an
extremely useful undertaking, and, if I mistake not, without example either
in or beyond Italy. Thus, owing to the exertions of this deserving citizen,
the pictoric history of Liguria has become one of the most complete among
those of all Italy as respects the number of its artists, and the most
certain in enabling us to form a correct opinion of their merits. Directed
by these, and by other additional information received on the spot from
Sig. Ratti himself, as well as from others, I proceed to resume the thread
of my narrative.

About the period that Carlo arrived at Genoa, the same city was also so
fortunate as to become the residence of Pier Francesco Sacchi, commended by
Lomazzo, who calls him Pierfrancesco Pavese, an artist well skilled in the
style then prevailing at Milan. He was a good perspective painter,
delightful in landscape, and a diligent, correct designer. The public is
still in possession of his altar-piece of the Four Holy Doctors in the
oratory of S. Ugo. The style of Sacchi nearly resembles that of Carlo del
Mantegna, from what we gather from his works in Mantua, there remaining no
vestiges of them in Genoa. Two youths of very fine genius for the art were
at this period educating in the school of Lodovico Brea. One was named
Antonio Semini, the other Teramo Piaggia, or Teramo di Zoagli, the place of
his birth. There is no account of their being indebted either to the advice
or examples of the new masters, when they began to be employed for the
public, but their altar-pieces display the fact. They painted conjointly,
and affixed both their names to their productions. In that of the Martyrdom
of St. Andrew, which they conducted for the church of that name, they
likewise added their own portraits. None can have witnessed this very
beautiful altar-piece, without seeing traces of Brea's style already
enlarged and changed into one more modern. The figures are not of those
dimensions which we subsequently see in a better age, nor is the design
sufficiently soft and full, but there is a clearness in the countenances
that rivets attention, an union of colouring that attracts; the folding is
easy, the composition somewhat thronged, though not by any means
despicable. Few originators of the style which is now termed modern
antique, can be fairly preferred before these two artists and friends.
Teramo in his individual specimens at Chiavari and at Genoa itself, retains
somewhat more of the antique, particularly as regards composition, but is
always animated in his countenances, studied and graceful. Antonio appears
to me almost like the Pietro Perugino of his school. In his Deposition from
the Cross he approaches nearer the better age, a painting in possession of
the Dominicans at Genoa, as well as in some other pieces highly commended
for the figures, and the accessories of perspective and landscape, though
his great merit does not appear most conspicuous here. For this we should
consult his Nativity, painted for S. Domenico in Savona, and we shall be
convinced that he also emulated Perino and Raffaello himself.

Before proceeding to an improved epoch, we ought here to insert the names
of a few other native artists to whom we already alluded. It is doubtful
whether Aurelio Robertelli ranks in this list, by whom, at Savona, is a
figure of the Virgin painted on a column of the old cathedral, dated 1499,
and transferred to the new one, where it excites the particular veneration
of the people. A little subsequent appeared a painting by Niccolo Corso, at
Genoa, bearing the date of 1503. It represents a history of S. Benedict,
painted in fresco for the villa of Quarto belonging to the Padri Olivetani,
in whose refectory, cloister, and church near the Corso, he was much
employed. Soprani enumerates other histories, of which he extols the
richness of invention, the passionate expression, and especially the
vividness and durability of the colouring. He adds, that were he less hard,
he might rank among the very first of his profession. The same writer
commends Andrea Morinello for an altar-piece formerly seen at S. Martino di
Albaro, dated 1516; an artist very graceful in his countenances, excellent
in portrait, soft and clear in his outlines, and one of the first in those
parts who opened the way for the modern manner. He likewise praises F.
Lorenzo Moreno, a Carmelite, skilled in fresco, who painted the
Annunciation in a cloister of the Carmine, now cut out of the exterior wall
of the building in order to preserve it. Finally he extols an ecclesiastic
of the Franciscan order, by name F. Simon da Carnuli, who, in his church at
Voltri, painted two histories in one large altar-piece in 1519. One of
these represents the Institution of the Eucharist, the other the preaching
of St. Antony. Still it is not free from the hardness peculiar to the age
as regards the figures; but in the architecture of the edifices, and in the
gradual receding of the perspective, it is so perfect that the celebrated
Andrea Doria was eager at any price to purchase it, in order to present it
as a gift to the Escurial. But the people of Voltri refused every offer,
and still keep possession of it. A few others, who enjoyed a degree of
reputation from their sons, will be mentioned along with them in the epoch
of which we shall next proceed to treat.

GENOESE SCHOOL.

EPOCH II.

_Perino and his Followers._

Whilst the art was advancing in Genoa and her territories, there occurred
the celebrated siege of Rome, and the calamities which accompanied and
followed it, in consequence of which the scholars of Raffaello were
dispersed, and established themselves some in one city and some in another.
We have seen in the course of this work Polidoro and Salerno in Naples,
Giulio in Mantua, Pellegrino in Modena, and Gaudenzio in Milan, distinguish
themselves as the masters of eminent schools; and we find one school
founded by Perino del Vaga in Genoa, which has maintained the splendour of
its origin in a way inferior to none. Perino arrived in Genoa in a state of
distress in 1528, after the sacking of Rome. He was there liberally
welcomed by Prince Doria, who employed him for several years in the
decoration of his magnificent palace without the gate of S. Tommaso. He
superintended as well the external decorations of the sculptures, as the
internal ornaments of the stuccos, the gilding, the arabesques, the
paintings in fresco and in oil. This place, in consequence, breathes all
the taste of the halls and loggie of the Vatican; the celebrated works of
which, at that time, attracted universal admiration, and in the execution
of part of which Perino had a considerable share. This artist has indeed no
where displayed his talents to such advantage as in the Doria palace; and
it is doubtful whether Perino in Genoa, or Giulio in Mantua, have best
sustained the style of Raffaello. We find in the palace some small
histories of celebrated Romans, of Cocles, for example, and Scævola, which
might pass for compositions of Raffaello; a group of Boys at Play,
likewise, has all the air of that master; and on a ceiling, in the War of
the Giants against the Gods, we seem to behold in conflict the same persons
whom Raffaello had represented as banqueting in the Casa Chigi. If the
expression be not so noble, the grace so rare, it is because that grand
specimen of art may be emulated by many, but equalled by none. It may be
added, that Perino's style is less finished than his master's, and that, in
his drawing of the naked figure, he, like Giulio, partakes of the style of
Michelangiolo. Four chambers, Vasari informs us, were painted in the palace
from the cartoons of Vaga, by Luzio Romano, and some Lombards, his
assistants; one of whom, of the name of Guglielmo Milanese, followed him to
Rome, and held in that court the office of Frate del Piombo. The others
have left no name behind them, and must have been individuals of inferior
talents and poorly paid, as we occasionally find rude and heavy figures.
Such defects are not uncommon in the works which Perino undertook, for when
he had made his cartoons or designs he gave them to his pupils to execute,
with material advantage to his pecuniary interests, but with detriment to
his reputation. This is observed by Vasari, nor do I know how he could have
the courage to mention in connexion with this circumstance the works which
were executed with the assistance of their scholars by Raffaello and Giulio
Romano, illustrious masters, irreproachable in the selection of their
assistants, indefatigable in their application, and contemning that avidity
of gain which drew down on Perino merited reprehension. There is still, in
the palace Doria, a frieze of boys, commenced by him in one of the loggie,
continued by Pordenone, and finished by Beccafumo; and the remains of what
was there painted by Girolamo da Trevigi, who, through jealous rivalry
towards Perino, forsook both the city and the state. Perino painted some
pictures for the churches in Genoa; where too we find some by eminent
foreign hands, amongst which is the St. Stephen, painted by Giulio Romano
for the church of that saint; an altar-piece perhaps the most copious in
composition, and the most striking that issued from the studio of that
master. It was at this time too that many noble individuals applied
themselves to collect foreign specimens of every school, and they have
since been emulated by their posterity, who in this pursuit perhaps surpass
all the private collectors in Italy, except those of Rome.

By these means the country became enriched with beautiful works, and began
to turn itself to a more perfect style, which it attained with a celerity
unknown to any other school. The transition from the style of Brea, which
was that of the thirteenth century, to that of Raffaello, occupied but a
few years; and even the scholars of Nizzardo, as we have observed, very
soon became worthy imitators of the first of modern masters. These
principles were sure to make the most prosperous advances amongst a people
rich in genius and industry; and amidst a nobility that abounded in wealth,
and who in no way lavished it more freely than in raising splendid
sanctuaries to religion, and sumptuous habitations for themselves, which in
grandeur, decorations, tapestries, and in other kinds of luxuries, scarcely
yielded to royalty. From munificence like this, the School of Genoa derived
aid and encouragement, though not much known abroad, as her artists were
sufficiently occupied at home. Its characteristic excellence, in the
opinion of Mengs, consisted in the number of its excellent fresco painters;
so that a church or palace of any antiquity is scarcely to be named which
does not possess the most beautiful works, or at least the memory of them.
And it is a remarkable fact, when we consider how exposed the city is to
the sea air, that so many works in fresco, executed by early artists,
should have remained in so perfect a state. Nor did the school of Genoa
want celebrity in oil paintings, particularly in the qualities of truth and
force of colouring, which excellences, derived first from Perino and
afterwards from the Flemish, it always retained; not yielding in this
respect to any school of Italy, except the Venetian. It has produced also
noble designers; although some, like other mannerists, have debased the
pencil by hasty and negligent performances. Not having in public many
examples of ideal excellence, it has supplied the deficiency by the study
of the natural; and in the figure it has rather adopted the healthy, and
the robust, and the energetic, than the delicate and the elegant. The study
of portraits, in which this school had excellent masters and most lucrative
practice, had a great influence on the figures of its first epoch; those of
its last, if they have more beauty, have less spirit. There existed a
talent for extensive composition, but in middle size rather than in great.
In these they had not epic masters, like Paolo and other Venetians; they
did not, however, so often violate decorum and costume. This was, perhaps,
the result of the attachment to literature entertained by many of the
Genoese painters, amongst whom are enumerated a greater number of men of
letters, and especially gentlemen, than in any other school. This latter
circumstance was, in a great measure, owing to Paggi, who, in a treatise of
considerable length, defended the nobility of the art,[64] and obtained a
public decree,[65] declaring the art honourable, and worthy of cultivation
by men of the noblest birth; an event from which the art derived the
greatest dignity. We now return to particulars.

Footnote 64: It is inserted in the 7th vol. of the Lettere
Pittoriche, p. 148.

Footnote 65: The decree is given by the Cavalier Ratti in
the notes to Soprani. The names of the noble painters,
amateurs of the art, may be found in those two authors.

The first who attached themselves to Perino for instruction, were Lazzaro
and Pantaleo Calvi, the sons and scholars of an Agostino Calvi, a good
painter in the old style, and one of the first in Genoa who forsook the
gold ground for one of colour. Lazzaro was at that time twenty-five years
of age, his brother somewhat more; nor did the latter rise in reputation,
except in lending to the works of Lazzaro his aid and his name. These works
abounded in Genoa and her territories, at Monaco and at Naples, in every
variety of composition, arabesques, and stuccos with which are decorated
palaces and churches. Some of these are excellent, as the façades of the
palace Doria, (now Spinola,) with prisoners in various attitudes,
considered as a school of design; and several historical compositions in
colours and chiaroscuro, in the best taste.[66] In the palace Pallavicini,
at Zerbino, is a composition of theirs commonly called the Continence of
Scipio; a remark which I owe to Sig. Ratti, who not having included it in
his edition of 1768, obligingly communicated it to me for this work. To
this they also added naked figures, with so happy an imitation of Perino
that, in the opinion of Mengs, they might be adjudged to that master.
Moreover, we know that Perino was liberal to them in designs and cartoons;
whence, in these better works, we may always presume on the aid of the
master's hand. However it might be, Lazzaro indulged in a self-conceit of
his own powers, and left behind some specimens of an extravagance which no
painter has since followed, except Corenzio. He was particularly jealous of
any young artist, who he thought might interfere with his fame or
interests, and to gratify his envy had recourse to the blackest arts. One
of these rivals, Giacomo Bargone, he took off by poison; and to depress the
others he drew around himself a crowd of adherents and hirelings, who
influenced the opinion of the vulgar, by praising the works of Lazzaro to
the skies, and depreciating those of his competitors. These cabals were
more strongly instanced in the chapel Centurioni, where he painted the
Birth of St. John, in competition with Andrea Semini and Luca Cambiaso, who
there also painted other pictures from the history of that saint. This work
was one of his happiest efforts, and the most approaching to the style of
his master; but he could not crush the genius of Cambiaso, which after this
occasion appeared more brilliant than his own; whence the Prince Doria
selected that artist to execute a very considerable work in fresco for the
church of S. Matteo. This so enraged Calvi, that he gave himself up to a
sea life, and abandoned the pencil for twenty years. He ultimately resumed
it, and continued, though with a hardness of style, to paint till his
eighty-fifth year. One of his last works is to be seen on the walls and in
the cupola of S. Catherine; but it is cold, meagre, and bears all the marks
of senility. Indeed after his return to the art, and particularly after the
death of Pantaleo, who had assiduously assisted him in every work, Lazzaro
was only memorable for the extreme protraction of his life, which extended
to 105 years.

Footnote 66: This work is extolled by Lomazzo as one of the
best of Lazzaro; it is classed with the Triumphs of Giulio
Romano, Polidoro, and other eminent artists, in the
_Trattato della Pittura_, p. 398.

Of the two Semini, Andrea and Ottavio, it is not ascertained that they had
in Genoa any other master than their father Antonio; but after the example
of their father, they deferred much to Perino, as did also Luca their
contemporary. In confirmation of which it is said, that Perino having found
them engaged with a print of Titian, and hearing them remarking on some
incorrectness in the drawing, reproved them by observing, that in the works
of the great masters we ought to pass over their faults and extol their
excellence. But the two brothers, enchanted by the style of Raffaello,
became ambitious of drinking at the fountain of the art, and, repairing to
Rome, applied themselves to the diligent study of the works of that master,
and the remains of antiquity, particularly the Trajan column. They were
afterwards employed both at Genoa and in Milan, where they painted many
works, both in conjunction and separately, all in the Roman style,
particularly in their early career. Andrea discovered less talent than
Ottavio; and was, perhaps, more tenacious than he in his imitation of
Raffaello, especially in the contours of his faces. He sometimes wants
delicacy, as in a crucifixion lately come into the possession of the Duke
of Tuscany; and sometimes correctness, as in the Presepio, in the church of
St. Francis in Genoa, which is in other respects very Raffaellesque, and
may be reckoned among his best works. Ottavio, an unprincipled man, was an
eminent artist, and succeeded so well in the imitation of his master, as is
scarcely credible to those who have not seen his works. He painted the
façade of the palace Doria, now Invrea, and there displayed so fine a taste
in the architecture, and decorated it with busts and figures of such
relief, and particularly with a Rape of the Sabines, that Giulio Cesare
Procaccini took it for a performance of Raffaello, and asked if that great
master had left any other works in Genoa. Of equal merit, or nearly so,
were many of his frescos, painted for the nobility, until, as is often the
case with fresco painters, he ended his career in a freer but less finished
style. Of these latter he left many specimens at Milan, where he passed the
latter years of his life. In that city the entire decoration of the chapel
of S. Girolamo at S. Angelo is painted by him, the chief composition of
which is the funeral group which accompanies the saint to the sepulchre. It
possesses, if not a noble design, yet great fertility of invention, great
spirit, and a strong and beautiful colour, as he possessed that part of the
art in an eminent degree in works of fresco; for in oils he was either
unwilling or unable to colour well.

Luca Cambiaso, called also Luchetto da Genoa, did not quit his native
country to obtain instruction, nor did he frequent any other school than
that of his father; obscure indeed, but of a good method, and sufficient to
a mind of genius. Giovanni his father, a tolerable _quattrocentista_, and a
great admirer of Vaga and Pordenone, after having exercised him in copying
the designs of Mantegna, a master of chasteness of contour, and having
instructed him in the art of modelling, so useful in relief and
foreshortening, carried him to the palace Doria, and there pointed out to
his attention those great prototypes of art, with the addition of his own
instruction. The study of these performances, by a youth who was born a
painter, awakened in him such emulation, that he began in his fifteenth
year to produce works of his own invention; and gave promise of one day
ranking, as he did, with the first painters of his age. He displayed
facility, fire, and grandeur of design, and was on that account adduced by
Boschini as an example of fine contours, and held in high esteem in the
cabinets of the dilettanti. He embodied his ideas with such despatch and
success, that Armenini affirms that he had seen him paint with two pencils
at a time, and with a touch not less free, and more correct than
Tintoretto. He was, moreover, fertile and novel in his designs, skilful in
introducing the most arduous foreshortenings, and in surmounting the
difficulties of the art. He was deficient at first in the true principles
of perspective; but he soon acquired the theory from Castello, his great
friend and companion, as we shall shortly see. Through him he improved both
his colouring and his style of composition. In conjunction with Castello he
executed several works, so much alike, that one hand can scarcely be
distinguished from the other. These, however, were not his best
performances. He must be seen where he painted alone; and he shines no
where more than in Genoa, nor beyond a period of twelve years, within which
space Soprani circumscribes his best time. Let it not appear strange to
those who hear this opinion of that writer. Luca had not the good fortune
to benefit from those great masters who, with a word, put their scholars in
the right path; he went on, however, improving from his own resources, a
long and laborious course, in which a thousand wishes are formed before the
goal is reached. But Cambiaso attained it, and held it until an
ungovernable passion, as we shall see in the sequel, threw him back again.

Confining ourselves to the works of the best twelve years of his practice,
we see in him a man who possessed a high predilection for the Roman School;
deriving instruction from prints, and impelled by his own genius to attempt
I know not what of originality. Where this originality appears, we should
not wish Cambiaso other than himself, and where it does not appear, we
should not wish him any thing but an imitator. Of the first kind is the
Martyrdom of St. George in the church of that saint, which for the noble
character of the sufferer, the sympathy of the spectators, the composition,
variety, and force of chiaroscuro, is considered his chef d'oeuvre. Of the
second kind there are, perhaps, more specimens to be found; as the picture
at the Rocchettini, of S. Benedetto with John the Baptist and St. Luke,
very much in the style of Perino and Raffaello; and above all, the Rape of
the Sabines in Terralba, a suburb of Genoa, in the palace of the Imperiali.
Every thing combines to please in this work; the magnificence of the
buildings, the beauty of the horses, the alarm of the virgins, the ardour
of the invaders, the several episodes which, in various compartments, crown
the principal subject, and, as it were, continue the story. It is related
that Mengs, after having viewed this picture, said, that out of Rome he had
not seen any thing that more strongly brought to his recollection the
loggie of the Vatican, than these works. He also executed other works of
singular merit, particularly for private collections, among which I have
found more pictures of a free than of a devout description. Being left a
widower, he became enamoured of a female relative, whom he in vain
endeavoured to obtain permission from the Pope to marry. This
disappointment induced the neglect of his art. He then repaired to the
court of Madrid, with the view of facilitating his wishes, and when he
found himself deprived of all hope in this object, he fell sick and died.
He left many works in the Escurial, and amongst these the subject of
Paradise, in the vault of the church, a large composition, and a work very
much praised by Lomazzo, but not equally so by Mengs, who had seen and
examined it for several successive years.

Gio. Batista Castello, the companion of Cambiaso, is commonly called in
Genoa Il Bergamasco, to distinguish him from Gio. Batista Castello, a
Genoese, a scholar of Cambiaso, and the most celebrated miniature painter
of his age. Our present subject, born in Bergamo, and brought, when a
youth, to Genoa, by Aurelio Buso, (_v._ vol. iii. page 184) was, on his
sudden departure, left by him in that city. In this state of desertion he
found a patron in one of the Pallavicini family, who gave him a friendly
reception, and assisted him with the means of prosecuting his studies;
sending him to Rome, from whence he returned to Genoa an accomplished
architect, sculptor, and painter, not inferior to Cambiaso. His taste,
formed by studying at Rome, was similar to that of Luca, as I have already
observed; and in the church of S. Matteo are works painted by them in
concert. We may observe in these the style of Raffaello already verging on
mannerism, but not so much so as that which prevailed in Rome in the time
of Gregory and Sixtus. Connoisseurs discover in Cambiaso a greater genius
and more elegance of design; in the Bergamese more care, a deeper
knowledge, and colour occasionally partaking more of the school of Venice
than of Rome. It is however very probable that when so friendly an
intercourse subsisted they may have aided each other, even in those places
where they worked in competition, where each claimed his own work, and
distinguished it by his name. Thus at the Nunziata di Portoria Luca
represented on the walls the final state of the blest and the rejected in
the last judgment; while Gio. Batista, in the vault, painted the Supreme
Judge in the midst of the angelic choir, calling the elect to bliss. He
appears in the attitude of uttering the words _Venite benedicti_, appended
in capital letters. It is a highly finished performance, and of so exalted
a character that we should think that Luca, when he painted the laterals to
it, was asleep, so inferior are they in composition and expression. On many
other occasions he painted alone, as the S. Jerome surrounded by monks
terrified at a lion, in S. Francesco in Castelletto; and the S. Sebastian
in the church of that saint, receiving the crown of martyrdom; a picture
rich in composition, studied in execution, and far beyond any commendation
of mine. He painted in Genoa other pictures, and always discovered an air
of life in the countenances, a magnificence in the architecture, a strength
of colour and chiaroscuro, which makes one regret that he was so little
known in Italy; and possibly he was prevented from being known as an oil
painter by the numerous works in fresco which he executed in Genoa; the
largest of which is in the Palazzo Grillo. We there see a portico painted
in arabesque, and a saloon, in the ceiling of which is represented the
banquet given by Dido to Æneas; a beautiful work, particularly the
arabesques, but not sufficiently studied. This artist, in his latter years,
was painter to the court at Madrid, whither, on his death, Luca Cambiaso
was called to finish the larger historical subjects; but the grotesques,
and the ornamental parts interspersed with figures, were continued by the
two sons of Gio. Batista, whom he had carried with him to Madrid as his
assistants. Palomini makes honourable mention of them, and the Padre de'
Santi Teresiani, and the Padre Mazzolari Girolamino, in their description
of the Escurial, enumerate their works, commending their variety,
singularity, and beauty of colour. One was called Fabrizio, the other
Granello; and the latter, as Ratti conjectures, was the son of Nicolosio
Granello, an able fresco painter of the school of Semini, whose widow was
married to Castelli, and probably brought with her this son of her first
marriage.

Painters have in general been found to impart instruction more freely to
native scholars than to strangers; and yet the latter have always profited
more than the former, so that it rarely happened that on the death of the
chief of a school the reputation of that school has been continued by a son
or a nephew. Such was the case with the Genoese, where Calvi, the Semini,
and Cambiaso, had each a numerous progeny, and a progeny too attached to
the art; and yet amongst so many there was not one who passed the bounds of
mediocrity, except perhaps Orazio, the son of Luca Cambiaso, of whom
Soprani merely says that he followed in a praiseworthy manner his father's
style, and initiated some pupils in the art. It was therefore to his better
scholars that Cambiaso was indebted for assistance in his profession; one
of whom, Lazzaro Tavarone, followed him even into Spain, and remained there
for some years after his master's death. He afterwards returned to Genoa,
stored with the designs of Luca, and loaded with riches and honours. Luca
seemed to live again in his scholar, so fully did he possess his style. He
moreover distinguished himself by a method of colouring in fresco, which,
if I mistake not, raised him above all his predecessors in this school, and
above all who succeeded him, except Carloni. This peculiarity consisted in
a richness, brightness, and variety of colour, which brings distant objects
vividly to the sight, the whole composition appearing brilliantly
illuminated, and the tints splendidly and harmoniously blended. One may
perhaps occasionally wish in them more softness, but in general they have
all the richness of oil paintings. The tribune of the Duomo, where the
patron saints of the city are represented, particularly S. Lorenzo, from
whose history some passages are selected, is the chef d'oeuvre of his
public works. The façade of the palace of the doge is also a considerable
performance, representing St. George slaying the dragon; around it and
above are other numerous figures of citizens of eminence, of the virtues,
of genii with nautical weapons and the spoils of the enemy, some of which
might pass for the work of Pordenone. This grand work is exposed to the
sea, the spray of which has affected, but not destroyed it. In many other
churches and palaces also are to be found the works of Tavarone; histories,
fables, and imaginary compositions, often so well preserved that the
scaffolding and the steps by which the artists ascended and descended,
appear as if just removed. Fortunate, had his works been fewer in number,
and finished with equal care. Some pictures in oil are mentioned by him,
but more rare and of less merit than his frescos.

Cesare Corte was of Pavian extraction. Valerio, his father, who was born in
Venice, was the son of a gentleman of Pavia, and became, under the
instruction of Titian, an excellent portrait painter; and his talents
insuring him a favourable reception in Genoa, he settled there. He remained
in that city for the rest of his life, and died in poverty, his means being
all consumed in fruitless experiments in alchemy. He was the intimate
friend of Cambiaso, whose life he wrote; and to him he committed the
instruction of his son Cesare. This son did not indeed equal his father,
but he surpassed the greater number of his fellow scholars. In the church
of S. Piero he painted the tutelar saint at the foot of the Madonna,
surrounded by angels; a picture of chaste design and of a true and
harmonious colouring. His historical pictures and his portraits are found
in many collections: one of the former, in the Casa Pallavicino, on a
subject from the Inferno of Dante, was celebrated by Chiabrera in an
elegant sonnet. The fame of this artist was tarnished by his heretical
opinions, imbibed by the perusal of some pernicious work, as often happens
to the half informed, who read every thing, understand little, and finally
believe nothing. He however abjured his errors, though never released from
his prison, where he died. David, his son, restricted himself to the limits
of a copyist; and in this so highly distinguished himself, that his
pictures are placed in some collections at the side of the originals as
wonders of art.

Bernardo Castello frequented the school of Andrea Semini more than that of
Cambiaso; in his principles he inclined more to the latter, and in practice
he followed both indifferently. Travelling afterwards through Italy he saw
other works, and formed a style not devoid of grace, nor of correctness,
when he worked with care; as in the Martyrdom of St. Clement and St.
Agatagnolo, in the church of S. Sebastian, and the St. Anne at S. Matteo.
He had a fertile invention, in which he was aided by the poets of the age,
whose friendship he assiduously cultivated.[67] He was eulogized by
Lionardo Spinola, D. Angiolo Grillo, Ceva, Marino, Chiabrera, and by Tasso,
for whose Jerusalem he made the designs which were in part engraved by
Agostino Caracci. His reputation raised him not only to the rank of one of
the first masters of his school, but of Italy itself; and he was thus
selected to work in the Vatican, as has been mentioned. He there painted
St. Peter called to the apostleship, a picture which was soon afterwards
removed, and one by Lanfranco substituted in its place, either because it
was injured by damp, or had not given satisfaction. Castello indeed did not
possess that vigorous style which Rome at this time demanded, refusing her
applause to the Vasaris and Zuccaris. He had much of their style of colour,
nor was he exempt from their despatch; and, like them, he opened the way in
his school to facility instead of correctness. Genoa is filled, or rather
glutted, with his works, yet they still maintain their reputation, as they
are all sustained by a certain vigour and grace of style. He sometimes
appears in foreign collections, and in that of the Colonna in Rome I saw a
Parnassus by him with Poussin figures and a beautiful landscape, which may
be ranked amongst his most finished works. Soprani informs us that he was
again invited to Rome, to paint a picture of St. Peter, and that he died
whilst he was preparing himself for this journey, aged seventy-two. But at
so advanced a period of life one may doubt the truth of this report. He had
three sons, painters, of whom Valerio alone is deserving of commemoration,
and we shall notice him in his place.

Footnote 67: A strict intimacy existed, especially between
him and the Cav. Marino, among whose letters we may
enumerate twenty-eight more to Castello than to any other
person. It is pleasing to observe the dexterity of the poet,
who often praises the "miraculous pencil" and the "divine
hand" of the painter, an homage bestowed still more
liberally in the _Galleria_; and the gratitude of the artist
who designed and coloured for his friend gratis, and who
exerts himself to requite every letter of the poet by some
acceptable work of art, (p. 175).

Among his foreign scholars Simon Barabbino deserves remembrance, whose rare
genius created so strong a jealousy in Castello as to induce him to expel
him from his school. He retired from it, and afterwards painted at the
Nunziata del Guastato the S. Diego, which Soprani almost prefers to the
best work of Castello. But he did not obtain any great celebrity among his
countrymen. Milan rendered him that honour which his own native place
denied; in consequence of which he settled there, and worked in the palaces
and churches. There is by him, at S. Girolamo, a Madonna with a dead
Christ, accompanied by S. Michael and S. Andrew. The colour is true, the
heads are correctly drawn, the naked figure well understood, the contours
sufficiently accurate and well relieved. He would have attained still
greater perfection, but he turned to merchandize, where instead of wealth
he found only his ruin, and died in gaol.

Gio. Batista Paggi, a patrician by birth, was led to the profession of a
painter by his predilection for the art, which, in spite of the opposition
of his father, he indulged in from his earliest years. He was highly
accomplished in letters, and his various attainments in poetry, philosophy,
and history, all served to assist him in the composition of his pictures.
He was perhaps not so much extolled by the poets as Castello, but he
attained a greater celebrity among his brother artists. He was directed by
Cambiaso in his first studies, which was the drawing in chiaroscuro from
the casts of antique bassi-relievi, for the purpose of attaining a true
idea of the beautiful, and preparing himself for the study of nature. Being
well skilled in the practice of the crayon, with little labour, and almost
alone, he learnt the art of colouring; and without the instructions of a
master, taught himself architecture and perspective. Whilst he was rising
into notice, he was compelled to flee his country for homicide; and, for
about the space of twenty years, he resided in Florence, protected by that
court, and always profitably employed. Florence, at that time, abounded
with men of first rate genius; and it was then that Cigoli, and all the
young painters, abandoned their own languid style for the rich and vigorous
Lombard. Paggi had not so much occasion as the others to invigorate his
manner, as appears from the works he executed in Florence not long after
his arrival there. There remains by him a Holy Family, and another picture
in the church degli Angioli, and in the cloister of S. Maria Novella a
history piece of S. Catherine of Siena. It represents the saint liberating
a condemned person, and is a large composition, ornamented with beautiful
buildings, and so pleasingly executed that I have heard it preferred to all
in that convent. Nevertheless the great merit of Paggi was not at that time
vigour, but a certain nobleness of air, which always continued to be his
characteristic, and a delicacy and grace which have led some to compare him
to Baroccio, and even to Coreggio. It seems to me that he became more
vigorous as he advanced, and a proof of it is to be seen in the stupendous
Transfiguration, painted in S. Mark, which seems almost beyond his powers.
In the same style he painted for the Certosa at Pavia three pictures from
the Passion of our Saviour, which appear to me among his best works. He was
ultimately recalled by the republic about the year 1600 for his excellence
in his art, and the courts both of Pavia and Madrid invited, and were
desirous of employing him. His patriotism however precluded him from
accepting these honourable appointments. He illustrated his native city
with beautiful works in the churches and in collections. They have not all
equal merit, as this artist also was not exempt from the disadvantages of
bad priming, domestic anxieties, and the infirmities of age. His best
works, according to some, are the two pictures at the church of S.
Bartolommeo, and the Slaughter of the Innocents, in the possession of his
Excellence the Sig. Giuseppe Doria, painted in competition with Vandyke and
Rubens in 1606. He formed also some excellent scholars, the account of whom
we shall reserve to the succeeding epoch. We shall there again recur to
him, as he is placed on the confines of the two periods of his school, and
may be regarded in the one as a scholar, and in the other as a master.

GENOESE SCHOOL.

EPOCH III.

_The Art relapses for some time, and is re-invigorated by
the Works of Paggi and some Foreigners._

Every school, whatever may have been the celebrity of its founder, betrays
in the course of time symptoms of decay, and stands in need of restoration.
The Genoese, in the hands of Castello, experienced a decline about the
close of the sixteenth century, but soon afterwards revived, by the return
of Paggi, and the arrival of some foreigners, who established themselves
for a considerable period in that city. To this amelioration Sofonisba
Angussola not a little contributed by the assemblies of scholars and
professors of the art, which were held in his house, much to their
improvement, as we have before observed. Among these were Gentileschi,
Roncalli, and the Procaccini, who were employed in various public works.
Aurelio Lomi of Pisa settled in Genoa, taught there, and left some
excellent works at San Francesco di Castelletto, at the Nunziata del
Guastato and elsewhere. Nor ought we to omit Simon Balli, his scholar,
unknown in Florence, his native city, but deserving of being remembered for
his style, which partook considerably of Andrea del Sarto's, and for some
small cabinet pictures on copper. Antonio Antoniano of Urbino also resorted
thither, if we are to believe Soprani.[68] He brought with him the
beautiful picture painted for the Duomo by Baroccio, who was his master;
and he himself, in the church of S. Tommaso, painted the picture of the
saint and another picture; and, if I mistake not, some others for private
individuals, which are at the present day attributed to Baroccio, so
successful was his imitation of that master. There came to Genoa from Siena
Salimbeni and Sorri, and with them Agostino Tassi. The two latter remained
there for a length of time, both working and teaching; and besides these,
Ghissoni, who was also a Sienese of some merit, a scholar of Alberti in
Rome, and a fresco painter of a vigorous and engaging style. Simon Vovet
also repaired thither, but did not remain long; he however executed some
works, one particularly of the Crucifixion, at St. Ambrose, not unworthy,
as Soprani informs us, of his great name. Amongst the most considerable aid
which Genoa experienced from foreign talents we must enumerate Rubens and
Vandyck; the first of whom left there some noble public works, and a number
of private historical pieces, and the second a very great number of his
eloquent and animated portraits. Gio. Rosa of Flanders also established
himself there, mentioned by me in Rome, where he studied; a happy imitator
of nature in her most agreeable forms, especially animals. He died in
Genoa, and left there Giacomo Legi, his countryman and scholar; of whom
there remain some excellent pictures of animals, flowers, and fruit, though
few in number, as he died young. Godfrey Waals, a German, and Gio. Batista
Primi, a Roman, scholars of Tassi, and landscape painters of much merit,
resided there for some time; and Cornelio Wael, with Vincenzio Malò, two
Flemish painters, clever in battles, landscapes, and humorous pieces, and
the latter also in altar-pieces. Some other Flemish artists must have
resided there a shorter time, by whom I have seen in some palaces pictures
of large size, and to all appearance painted on the spot; and these I
regard as additional aids to a school that benefited at that time more from
example than from instruction.

Footnote 68: In the Dictionary of the Artists of Urbino the
existence of this artist is rejected as fabulous; and it is
attempted to substitute for him, in Soprani's work, Antonio
Viviani, who was indeed in Genoa. Considerable weight is
given to the conjecture, from the family of Antoniano not
being mentioned in Urbino; and I may add the circumstance of
not finding any other works of this Antonio than those named
by Soprani and his copyists. And how is it possible that one
who came to Genoa an accomplished master, should not have
left, either in Urbino or the neighbouring territory, even a
vestige or memorial of his pencil?

The young artists of Genoa, thus enriched in the course of a few years by
fresh examples, entered on a new career, and adopted a more vigorous and
grander style than they had before practised. And not a few of them, after
receiving the rudiments of instruction in their native place, repaired to
Parma, or Florence, or Rome, to finish their studies; and from these and
other sources added celebrity to their country. Thus the seventeenth
century did not possess in Genoa so decided a character as the preceding,
nor so select or ideal: it had however an abundance of excellent artists,
and particularly of the best portrait painters and colourists, sufficient
indeed to supply Venice with at her least happy epoch. It would also have
attained a higher pitch of repute, if the plague of 1657 had not swept off
a vast number of promising artists; the names of some of whom, cut off at
an early period of life, may be found mentioned in Soprani. The primary
cause of this revival of the art in Genoa may be ascribed to the riches and
to the taste of her nobility, who invited and supported these eminent
foreign artists. And in the next place much of this merit is due to Paggi.
There was at one time great danger of these excellent colourists being
negligent designers; and it is indeed a common opinion, adopted also by
Algarotti, that the best colourists are seldom correct in design. Paggi, in
this important point, supported the credit of the school. He had studied
design among the Florentines, the best masters in Italy; and he composed
for the instruction of youth a small treatise, entitled _Diffinizione o sia
Divisione della Pittura_, which he published in 1607. Soprani considers it
a useful compendium, and containing, in plain and unaffected language, the
principles of the art. It is mentioned with particular commendation in a
letter of the younger Vasari, which must make us regret the loss of it; and
it would be desirable to search the libraries where papers of this
description are preserved, to ascertain whether it may be still in
existence. All that we at present possess by Paggi is the Treatise
mentioned by us a few pages back. In the mean time we shall commence a new
epoch with him and his school.

Domenico Fiasella is called il Sarzana, from being born in the city of that
name, where he obtained the rudiments of his style. He devoted himself to
the study of the noble picture of Andrea del Sarto, which was then in the
church of the Predicatori; and where there is at this day a beautiful copy
of it. After being instructed for some time by Paggi he repaired to Rome,
and studied Raffaello, and imbibed also other favourite styles. He there
spent ten years, and became an eminent master, much praised by Guido Reni,
and employed as an assistant by the Cav. d'Arpino and Passignano. He
finally returned to Genoa, and in that city and in others of higher Italy,
executed numerous works. A very considerable part of them he left
imperfect, being in the habit of neglecting them, or leaving them to be
finished by his scholars, as is the tradition of his native place.
Independent of this impatience he was a great artist, and possessed many
eminent qualities, a felicity in grand compositions, a style of design
often worthy of the Roman School, great life in the heads; an admirable
colour in his oil pictures, and an easy imitation of various styles. He is
very Raffaellesque in a S. Bernardo, which is to be seen at S. Vincenzio in
Piacenza; Caravaggesque in a S. Tommaso di Villanova, at S. Agostino in
Genoa; in the Duomo of Sarzana, where he painted the Slaughter of the
Innocents, and in the archiepiscopal gallery of Milan, in an infant Christ,
he is a follower of Guido; and in other places an imitator of Annibal
Caracci and his school. He can command our admiration when he pleases, and
has left a stupendous work in the church of the Augustines in Genoa,
representing St. Paul, the first hermit, for whose body, discovered in a
lonely forest by St. Antony the Abbot, a lion is in the act of scooping a
grave. Many of his pictures are found in private collections. I have met
with specimens at Sarzana, in the house of his Excellency the Marquis
Remedi, a house celebrated for the cordial and generous hospitality of the
owner; and in others too there and in the state. His Madonnas have for the
most part a similarity of features; not so ideal as those of Raffaello, but
still agreeable and prepossessing.

On the death of Paggi, Fiasella became the principal instructor in Genoa,
and I shall mention his most conspicuous scholars. We may commence with his
relative, Gio. Batista Casone, changed by Orlandi into Carlone, who did not
paint much in Genoa. If we may judge from the altar-piece delle Vigne,
representing the Virgin surrounded by saints, he retained the style of
Fiasella, the colouring of which he endeavoured to invigorate. Gio. Paol
Oderico, a noble Genoese, painted always with great care, was select in his
forms, and possessed a strong and rich colouring. The PP. Scolopi have a
picture by him of the S. Angiolo Custode, the work of a young hand, but
bearing promise of great talents. His historical compositions are also to
be found in galleries, but they are rare, according to Soprani, and placed
among the most precious possessions. His portraits are not of such rare
occurrence, and in these he displayed great talents, and had numerous
commissions. We find but few public works of Francesco Capuro, in
consequence of his being engaged by the court and individuals in Modena,
where he passed a great part of his life, at a distance from his own
country. He was among the stricter followers of Fiasella in regard to
design and composition, but in his colouring he partakes of Spagnoletto,
under whom he studied in Naples; and in the style of that painter he
executed some pictures of half-size, which probably procured him his
highest reputation. We have still fewer public works by the young Luca
Saltarello; but a S. Benedetto, in the church of S. Stefano, in the act of
restoring a dead person to life, a picture of sober colouring, beautifully
harmonized, and full of expression and knowledge, sufficiently denotes his
early maturity, and his capacity, if he had lived, of forming an epoch in
his school. Being desirous of adding to his other accomplishments the
advantages to be derived from the ancient marbles, he repaired to Rome, and
died there through excess of study.

Gregorio de' Ferrari of Porto Maurizio received from Sarzana instructions
conformable to his principles, but which did not correspond with the genius
of the scholar, which was naturally disposed to a style of greater freedom
and grandeur. He repaired to Parma to study the works of Coreggio, and
there made a most careful copy of the great cupola, which was purchased
many years after by Mengs; and he returned home with a very different style
to his first. Coreggio was his only prototype, and he imitated him most
happily in the air of the countenances, and in many individual figures; but
not in the general style of composition, in which he is not so ideal; nor
in the colouring, as in his frescos he is somewhat languid. He is in
general negligent in his drawing; so that, with the exception of the two
pictures at the Theatines of S. Pier d'Arena, this censure attaches to all
his works. In his foreshortenings and in his draperies he sometimes falls
into affectation. He possesses however considerable attractions: he is
ingenious and novel, and displays a vigorous, rich, and correct colouring,
particularly in the fleshes. By these qualities his S. Michele, at the
church of the Madonna delle Vigne, predominates amongst the pictures of
that church: and it may be justly ranked with those Venetian productions in
which the spirit and noble colourings atone for the inaccuracy of the
drawing. He was much employed in Turin and in Marseilles; and still more so
in the principal palaces in his own country, particularly in that of the
Balbi. There however the great names of that celebrated collection, both
foreign and native, wage against him, as we may say, a continual war.

Valerio Castello is one of the greatest members of the Genoese School. He
no sooner made his appearance amongst his fellow scholars than he distanced
the oldest of them, and soon afterwards even rivalled his masters. The son
of Bernardo, and the scholar of Fiasella, he followed neither the style of
the one nor the other, but selected other prototypes more consonant to his
genius, the Procaccini in Milan, and Coreggio in Parma; and from the study
of these, and a grace wholly his own, he formed a style unique and
peculiarly belonging to himself. If it is not the most correct, it seems to
deserve pardon for its select composition, for its beautiful colouring and
chiaroscuro, and for the spirit, facility, and expression, which always
distinguish his pencil. He excelled in frescos, so as to please even by the
side of Carloni; and is perhaps sometimes, as in S. Marta, even superior to
him. In his perspectives he occasionally employed Gio. Maria Mariani
d'Ascoli, who also lived in Rome. Nor was he inferior in oil pictures. He
painted in the oratory of S. Jacopo the baptism of that saint, in
competition with the chief of his contemporaries, and eclipsed them all,
with the exception perhaps of Castiglione. He worked also for collections;
and in the royal gallery of Florence his Rape of the Sabines is highly
prized, a subject which, on a more extended scale, but yet with some
resemblance both of figures and architecture, he repeated in the palace
Brignole. He is not however frequently met with, as he died early, and from
the great celebrity he acquired, his works were in much request in all the
first collections, and thus his productions were dispersed. He taught Gio.
Batista Merano, and, after his own example, sent him to study at Parma, in
which city he met with sufficient employment both from the prince and
private individuals. The Slaughter of the Innocents, at the Gesù in Genoa,
is pointed out to us as one of his best pictures, and is a copious and
careful composition, extremely well arranged. We must not confound this
artist with Francesco Merano, called, from his first employ, Il Paggio, a
scholar and a respectable follower of Fiasella.

Returning to the scholars of Gio. Batista Paggi, one of them, who was
himself the educator of a generous race to his country, was Gio. Domenico
Cappellino. He had an extraordinary talent for imitation, whence, in his
first works, he came very near his master. There was not in him that air of
nobility that in Paggi and Bordone seems to have been derived from their
birth and education. He possessed nevertheless other qualities of art which
fail not to interest the spectator. This is evident in the Death of S.
Francesco, placed in S. Niccolò; and at S. Stefano in the S. Francesca
Romana, who to a dumb girl imparts the powers of speech. They are works
which possess in the whole a peculiar originality, and in the separate
figures a natural charm, and an expression of the affections and a delicacy
of colouring highly attractive. He afterwards changed his style, as may be
seen in two pictures of the Passion at S. Siro, and in many others at
Genoa, always vigorous, but less spirited than at first, rather obscure in
tints, and removed from the manner of Paggi. He aimed at originality, and,
finding her, pursued her without a rival.

He had the good fortune to be the instructor of a foreigner, one of those
men of genius who in themselves illustrate a whole school. This artist was
of the family of Pioli, which had already produced an excellent miniature
painter called Gio. Gregorio, who died in Marseilles, and a Pier Francesco,
a scholar of Sofonisba, who died young, with the reputation of being one of
the best imitators of Cambiaso. Pellegro Piola, of whom we have now to
treat, enjoyed a still shorter period of life, being assassinated at the
age of twenty-three, by an unknown hand; and, as it is believed, through
envy of his rare talents. It is not easy to describe very precisely the
style of this young man; for, as a student, he studied all the best works
and formed himself upon them, and willingly inclined to the more beautiful.
He then tried a wider flight, and pursued it always with exquisite
diligence, and a taste which charms us; and whatever style he adopted he
seemed to have grown grey in it. A Madonna by him, which is now in the
great collection of the Marchese Brignole, was considered by Franceschini
an original of Andrea del Sarto. His S. Eligio, in the street of the
goldsmiths, was by Mengs ascribed to Lodovico Caracci. He however aspired
at something far beyond mere imitation, and said that he had a mental
conception of the beautiful, which he did not despair to attain if his life
should be spared. But he was prematurely cut off, as I have stated, and his
works in consequence are very rarely met with.

The rarity of the productions of Pellegro was compensated for by a brother,
who filled the city and the state with his works. This was Domenico Piola,
a scholar of Pellegro and Cappellini, the associate of Valerio Castelli in
many works, and for some time an imitator of that master, afterwards of
Castiglione; and, finally, the founder of a style bordering on that of
Cortona. There is not in it a sufficient contrast; the forms are various,
ideal for the most part, nor without beauty; the chiaroscuro is generally
little finished; the design partakes of the Roman. There is, however, a
considerable resemblance to Pietro in the distribution of the colours, and
in his facility and despatch. He had a singular talent for the
representation of children, and he refined it by the imitation of
Fiammingo. He enlivened every composition by their introduction, and in
some palaces he interwove them in elegant friezes. From this soft and easy
manner, examples of which are to be met with in every part of the Genoese
territories, he could occasionally depart, as in the picture of the Miracle
of St. Peter at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, painted at Carignano,
where the architecture, the fleshes, the gestures, are highly studied; and
there is a force of effect which seems to emulate the Guercino, which is
opposed to it. He also departs from his ordinary style in the Repose of the
Holy Family at the Gesù. Of three sons whom Domenico instructed, Paolo will
be mentioned among the most excellent artists of a future epoch; Antonio
commendably followed his father's style in his youth, but afterwards
changed his profession. Gio. Batista could copy or follow the designs of
others, but nothing beyond. This latter had a son, Domenico, who, whilst he
was beginning to emulate the glory of his family, was cut off by death, and
with him was extinguished a family which, for the course of nearly two
centuries, had conferred honour on the profession.

Giulio Benso, the scholar of Paggi, excelled all his school in architecture
and perspective. Genoa, perhaps, does not possess any work in this
department superior to that of Benso in the Nunziata del Guastato; in the
choir of which he represented one of those perspective pictures with
balustrades and colonnades, in which Colonna and Mitelli so much excelled.
These two artists were great admirers of this work of Giulio, but to us it
may perhaps appear too much loaded with ornament. He there represented the
Glorification of the Virgin, and added some histories, in which he
rigorously observed the laws of the _sotto in su_; an art then little
practised in his school. Giovanni and Batista Carloni, who painted so much
in this church, are surpassed by him in this department; nor do they much
exceed him in composition and colour. Benso left but few oil paintings in
Genoa; that of S. Domenico in the church of that saint is one of the best,
and partakes more of the School of Bologna than that of Genoa.

Castellino Castello possessed a sober style of composition, like that of
Paggi his master, and, as far as we may judge from various pictures, was a
correct and elegant artist. He highly distinguished himself in the picture
of the Pentecost, placed on the great altar of the church of the Spirito
Santo. He, however, like many others of this period, is indebted for his
celebrity to his success in portrait painting; in confirmation of which it
is sufficient to state, that Vandyck was desirous of being commemorated by
him, and painted him in return. This fact exalts his reputation even more
than the commendations he received from contemporary poets, among whom were
Chiabrera and Marino, whose features he also preserved for posterity. He
was appointed portrait painter to the court of Savoy, and in this
department he had a rival in his own family, in Niccolo his son, who was in
high reputation in Genoa when Soprani wrote. Some others of the school of
Paggi, distinguished in landscape or in other branches of painting, are
reserved for the conclusion of this epoch.

Paggi had a rival in Sorri of Siena. His style is a mixture of Passignano
and Paol Veronese; and, if I err not in my judgment, of Marco da Siena
also, whose Deposition from the Cross in Araceli was, in a manner, repeated
by Sorri at S. Siro in Genoa. He there instructed Carlone and Strozzi, two
luminaries of this school. Gio. Carlone repaired soon to Rome, and
afterwards to Florence, where he was taught by Passignano, the
father-in-law and master of Sorri. Passignano was not so remarkable for his
colouring as for his design and grandeur of composition; but we have
already observed, that the style of colour is that portion of the art least
influenced by precept, and which is formed more than any other by the
individual genius of the painter. Carlone possessed as great talents for
composition as any of his contemporaries; correct and graceful in design,
decided and intelligent in expression; and above all, he had an
extraordinary brilliancy of colour in his frescos. In this branch he was
anxious to distinguish himself; and although he saw eminent examples at
Florence and in Rome, he did not adhere to them so much as, if I am not
wrong in my conjecture, he attempted to follow, or rather to surpass and to
reduce to a more pleasing practice, the style exhibited by Tavarone, in the
histories of S. Lorenzo. I have already described that style; the vigour,
beauty, and freshness with which it prepossesses the spectator, and
approximates the most distant objects. If, in respect of Giovanni, we wish
to add any greater praise, it is that he surpassed Tavarone in these gifts;
and besides, he is more correct in his contours, and more varied and
copious in composition. But in all these qualities they were both excelled
by Gio. Batista Carlone, a scholar also of Passignano, and a student in
Rome, afterwards the associate of Giovanni, his elder brother, in principle
and practice, whom he survived fifty years, as if to carry their style to
the highest pitch of perfection.

The church of the Nunziata del Guastato, a splendid monument of the piety
and the riches of the noble family of Lomellini, and an edifice which
confers honour on the city, which has enlarged and ornamented it as its
cathedral, possesses no work more astonishing than the three naves, almost
nearly the whole of which are decorated by the two brothers. In the middle
one the elder brother represented the Epiphany of our Lord, his Entrance
into Jerusalem, the Prayer at Gethsemane, the Resurrection, the Ascension,
the Descent of the Holy Ghost, the Assumption of the Virgin, and other
passages of the New Testament. In one of the smaller naves, the younger
brother painted St. Paul preaching to the Multitude, St. James baptizing
the Neophytes, St. Simon and St. Jude in the Metropolis of Persia; and in
the opposite nave three histories from the Old Testament, Moses striking
the Rock, the Israelites passing the Jordan, and Joseph, on a high seat,
giving Audience to his Brethren. All these stories seem to be adopted as
giving scope to a fancy rich in invention, and capable of peopling these
immense compositions with figures almost innumerable. It is not easy to
mention a work on so vast a scale executed with so much zeal and care;
compositions so copious and novel, heads so varied and so animated,
contours so well expressed and so strongly relieved, colours so enchanting,
so lucid and fresh after such a lapse of years. The reds (which perhaps are
too frequent) are as deep as purple, the blues appear sapphires, and the
green, above all, which is a wonder to artists, is bright as an emerald. In
viewing the brilliancy of these colours we might almost mistake them for
paintings on glass or enamel; nor do I recollect to have seen in any other
artists of Italy so original, beautiful, and enchanting a style of colour.
Some persons who have compared these colours with those of Raffaello,
Coreggio, or Andrea del Sarto, have thought them too near bordering on
crudeness; but in matters of taste, where the sources of pleasing are so
many, and where there are so many gradations in the merits of artists, who
can possibly gratify all? The similitude of style would lead the unskilled
to believe them the works of the same master; but the more experienced are
able to ascertain the composition of Gio. Batista from a peculiar delicacy
of tints and of chiaroscuro, and from a grander style of design. It has
been attempted to ascertain more minutely his method of colouring; and it
has been discovered, "that in decorating the ceilings and walls of rooms,
he previously laid on the dry wall a colour ground, to protect his work
from the action of the lime. These paintings were executed with the most
delicate gradations, and the most surprising harmony; hence his frescos
have all the richness of oil colours." These are the words of Ratti, and
Mengs joins him in the encomium.

I have only enumerated the paintings which these artists exhibited in the
Guastato, but Giovanni left numerous works in the same style and on similar
subjects, at the Gesù and at S. Domenico in Genoa, and at S. Antonio Abate
in Milan, where he died; without mentioning the many fables and stories
with which he adorned various palaces in his native city. Of the other
brother it is not equally easy to recount all that he painted in private
houses, and in the before-mentioned churches, and at S. Siro and elsewhere.
The histories of the chapel in the Palazzo Reale are amongst his most
original and delightful works; Columbus discovering the Indies; the
Martyrdom of the Giustiniani at Scio; the Remains of the Baptist brought to
Genoa, and other Ligurian subjects. Nor is it easy to enumerate his many
altar-pieces and oil pictures to be found in the churches. I shall limit
myself here to the three histories of S. Clemente Ancirano at the Guastato;
pictures, characterised by such congruity, such truth, and such a peculiar
horror, as to force us to withdraw our eyes from the inhumanity of the
scene. Some persons may, perhaps, be indisposed to give full credit to all
that I have written of Gio. Batista; as it seems incredible that an artist
should be so little known, who united in himself the most opposite
qualities; a wonderful skill both in oil and fresco; equal excellence in
colour and design; facility and correctness; an immense number of works,
and a diligence shewn by few fresco painters. But they who have viewed the
works I have mentioned, with unprejudiced eyes, will not, I feel confident,
differ far from me in opinion. He lived to the age of eighty-five, and lost
neither his vigour of invention nor his genius for grand composition; nor
the freedom of hand, and incomparably fine pencil with which he treated
them. I shall allude, in another epoch, to his sons Andrea and Niccolo; but
I must not neglect to observe, that both Pascoli and Orlandi have written
of this family with little accuracy.

The other great colourist and scholar of Sorri was Bernardo Strozzi, better
known under the name of the Capuchin of Genoa, from his professing that
order. He is also called _il Prete Genovese_, because he left the cloister,
when a priest, to contribute to the support of an aged mother and a sister;
but the one dying and the other marrying, he refused to return to his
order; and being afterwards forcibly recalled to it and sentenced to three
years of imprisonment, he contrived to make his escape, fled to Venice, and
there passed the remainder of his days as a secular priest. The larger
compositions of this artist are only to be seen in Genoa, in the houses of
the nobility, and in San Domenico, where he executed the great picture of
the Paradiso, which is one of the best conceived that I have seen. There
too, in Novi and in Voltri, are various altar-pieces; and above all, an
admirable Madonna in Genoa, in a room of the Palazzo Reale. Some of his
works are also to be seen in Venice, where Strozzi was preferred to every
other artist, to replace a _Tondo_, executed in the best age of Venetian
art, in the library of St. Mark, and there painted a figure of Sculpture.

He, however, left few public works. Whoever wishes to see admirable
productions, must observe his pictures in eminent collections; as the St.
Thomas Incredulous, in the Palazzo Brignole. When placed in a room of
excellent colourists he eclipses them all by the majesty, copiousness,
vigour, nature, and harmony of his style. His design is not very correct,
nor sufficiently select; we there see a naturalist who follows neither
Sorri nor any other master; but one who, after the example of that ancient
master, derives instruction from the multitude. There is a deep expression
of force and energy in the heads of his men, and of piety in those of his
saints. In the countenances of his women and his youths he has less merit;
and I have seen some of his Madonnas and angels vulgar and often repeated.
He was accustomed to paint portraits, and in his compositions derived all
his knowledge from the study of nature; and often painted half figures in
the style of Caravaggio. The royal gallery at Florence has a Christ by him,
called _della Moneta_; the figures half-size, and exhibiting great
vivacity. He is esteemed the most spirited artist of his own school; and in
strong impasto, in richness and vigour of colour, has few rivals in any
other; or rather, in this style of colouring he is original and without
example. His remains were deposited at S. Fosca in Venice, with this
inscription: _Bernardus Strozzius Pictorum splendor, Liguriæ decus_; and it
is his great praise to have merited this encomium in the seat and near the
ashes of the greatest colourists.

Gio. Andrea de' Ferrari perfected himself under this master, having been
previously the scholar of Castelli, whose feeble style may be detected in
the Theodosius, painted by Ferrari as an altar-piece in the Gesù. In many
works he is a respectable follower of Strozzi; as in the Nativity in the
Duomo of Genoa, and in the Nativity of the Virgin, in a church of Voltri,
full of figures which seem inspired with life. Although little known, and
perhaps too little commended by Soprani, he is one of the first Genoese
artists; and, to establish his reputation, it is sufficient to state, that
he was the master of Gio. Bernardo Carbone, the chief of this school of
portrait painters. Even by the more experienced his portraits were often
mistaken for those of Vandyke, or purchased at prices little inferior to
those given for a true Vandyke. He also composed well, as may be seen in
his picture of the King S. Louis at the Guastato. But this picture did not
please the person who gave the commission, and a second was ordered in
Paris, and afterwards a third, which successively superseded each other on
the altar. But they did not prove satisfactory, and that of Carbone was
restored to its place, and the other two were added as laterals, as if to
attend on it.

Another deserving scholar of Strozzi resided a considerable time in
Tuscany, and there distinguished himself; Clemente Bocciardo, from his
great size called Clementone. He first studied in Rome, afterwards in
Florence, and practising much with Castiglione, he formed a style more
correct and ideal than that of his master, to whom, however, he is inferior
in truth of colour. Pisa was his theatre of art, where, in the Duomo and
elsewhere, he left some highly respectable works; over all of which, in his
life, the preference is given to S. Sebastian, placed in the church of the
Carthusians. He painted his own portrait for the royal gallery of Florence,
which has had a better fate than those of many common artists, and remains
there to the present day.

A third pupil of this school resided a considerable time in Venice,
afterwards in Mirandola. This was Gio. Francesco Cassana, a soft and
delicate colourist, and master of Langetti. By the Venetians he was but
little esteemed, and painted only for private collections. He afterwards
repaired to the court of Mirandola, and painted a S. Jerome for the Duomo
of that city, and other pictures in various churches, which enhanced his
reputation. He was the founder of a family that conferred honour on the
art. Niccolo, his eldest son, who became one of the most celebrated
portrait painters of his age, passed the chief part of his life at
Florence, and died at the court of London. The Grand Duke possesses some of
his historical compositions, and some portraits full of expression, in the
royal gallery, amongst which are two half figures of two court buffoons,
admirably executed. It is said that his style, which nearly approaches to
Strozzi, cost him great trouble, and that, when painting, he was so intent
on his work as not to hear a person addressing him; and sometimes, in a
rage, he would throw himself on the ground, exclaiming against his work as
deficient both in colour and spirit, till snatching his pencil again he
brought it to his wishes. Gio. Agostino, called l'Abate Cassana, from the
clerical dress which he always wore, was a good portrait painter, but
distinguished himself more in the representation of animals. There are many
of his pictures in the collections of Florence, Venice, and Genoa, and
Italy in general, and they often indeed pass under the name of Castiglione.
The third brother was Gio. Batista, and excelled in flowers and fruits,
which he painted with great effect. They had also a sister, of the name of
Maria Vittoria, who painted sacred figures for private collections, and who
died in Venice at the beginning of the last century. In all I have said of
the Cassana family I have adhered to Ratti, as to a native and correct
author. Some who have written on the gallery of Florence, where the
portraits of the three first are found, differ in some particulars,
ascribing to the one works belonging to the other. Niccolo was in fact the
one that there enjoyed the highest favour of Prince Ferdinand; and he it is
who is mentioned in the note to Borghini (p. 316) where it is said that the
picture by Raffaello, transferred from Pescia to the Pitti palace, was
finished by Cassana. But with respect to this notice, and others regarding
the Cassani, we may consult the Catalogo Vianelli, p. 97, where we find
described a remarkable portrait of a young man studying, painted by
Niccolò; and it is succeeded by a long memoir, which throws additional
light on the history of this family.

I must now speak of another celebrated Ligurian, but neither a scholar of
Paggi, nor of Sorri, nor indeed of any other considerable master, and
almost self-instructed; for the elements of the art, which he learned from
Orazio Cambiaso, a painter of mediocrity, could not carry him far. He was
born in Voltri, his name Gio. Andrea Ansaldo. He is the only one of the
school who contested precedency in perspective with Giulio Benso, by whom,
in a quarrel, prompted by jealous feelings of his talents, he was wounded:
an attempt which was repeated by an unknown hand, after an interval of some
years. Near the choir of the Nunziata, painted by Benso, we behold the
cupola of Ansaldo, injured by damp, yet notwithstanding remarkable for a
most beautiful division and grandeur of the architecture, and for many
figures which remain uninjured. When we survey this fine work, we cannot
refuse to this artist a great talent for the decoration of cupolas, which
may be esteemed the summit of the art of painting, as the colossal is of
sculpture. His other works in fresco, in churches and in private houses,
are very numerous; and he is particularly admired for his works in the
palace Spinola at S. Pier d'Arena, where he has represented the military
exploits in Flanders of the Marchese Federico, the boast of this family.
Amongst his oil pictures a St. Thomas baptizing three Kings in a church, is
celebrated. It is placed in the chapel of that saint, and exhibits much
vigour of design, a brilliant decoration of scenery and persons, and a
display of graceful and delightful harmony. Such is his prevailing
character, which is in part his own, acquired by an unwearied application,
and in part derived from the Venetians, and especially Paolo. Ansaldo is
one of those masters who painted both much and well.

Of his scholars, the one who followed him the closest was Orazio de'
Ferrari, his countryman and kinsman. He painted well in fresco, but better
in oil. We need only inspect the Last Supper in the oratory of S. Siro, to
form a most favourable idea of this young artist. Giovacchino Assereto
profited more from the design than the colour of Ansaldo; in general he
attempted his chiaroscuro in the manner of Borzone, his first master, as in
the picture of S. Rosario at S. Brigida. Giuseppe Badaracco was ambitious
of introducing a new style into his native place, and repaired to Florence,
where he remained many years copying and imitating Andrea del Sarto. He
left many works there in private collections, and I imagine they are there
still; but, as always happens to copyists and imitators, his name is never
mentioned, and his works pass as belonging to the school of Andrea. In
Genoa itself his name is almost lost. It is known that he in general
painted for collections; but not for what houses. I found in the house of a
gentleman of Novi an Achilles in Scyros, with the name of Badaracco, and
with the date of 1654. In this work the artist seems to have forgotten
Andrea, and to have followed the naturalists of his own country. There is
no public work by him except a S. Philip, which is preserved in the
sacristy of S. Niccolò in _Voltri_.

To the foregoing masters we may add Gio. Batista Baiardo, of I know not
what school, but certainly commendable for the talents displayed in his
pictures at the portico of S. Pietro, and in the convent of S. Agostino,
painted with vigour, freedom, and grace. The inferior works in that convent
are certainly by another hand. Baiardo, Badaracco, Oderico, Primi, Gregorio
de' Ferrari, and others in this school, were carried off by the plague in
1657. But we have now spoken sufficiently of the higher class of works, and
shall here pass to those of another kind, completing the notices which we
have occasionally interspersed before.

We have often spoken of portrait painting, a lucrative branch of the art in
every capital, and more cultivated in Genoa than in most cities. Besides
the noble models of art left, as we have before mentioned, by the best
Flemish artists, those of Del Corte, a scholar of Titian, and of his son
Cesare, were of great service. From the school of this master arose a
succession of noble portrait painters, instructed by Luciano Borzone, who
in the time of Cerano and Procaccini also studied in the Milanese School,
and derived benefit from it; an artist highly esteemed by Guido Reni. He is
entitled to a place in the higher walks of art for his numerous paintings
for the churches and for collections; where however his greatest merit is
the expression, which as a good portrait painter, or rather naturalist, he
gives to his heads, which partake more of natural truth than of select
beauty. The folds of his drapery are true and simple, and his style on the
whole is not so strong as that of Guercino, but sufficiently so to please
the eye. The Presentation at S. Domenico, and the B. Chiara at S.
Sebastiano, are of this character. But his best works are at S. Spirito,
where he painted six pictures, and amongst them the Baptism of Christ,
which is much extolled. He initiated in his own profession two sons, Gio.
Batista and Carlo, who on his death finished some of his pictures in a
manner not to be distinguished from his own hand. Carlo surpassed his
brother in small portraits; and with him Gio. Batista Mainero, Gio. Batista
Monti, Silvestro Chiesa, all scholars of Borzone, all worthy of
commemoration, and all of whom shared the same fate, being carried off by
the pestilence of the year 1657.

The first who distinguished himself in the lower branch of the art in the
Genoese School was Sinibaldo Scorza, born in Voltaggio, who, guided by a
natural genius, and directed by Paggi, proved an excellent painter of
landscapes enlivened by figures of men and animals in the style of Berghem.
It would be difficult to name an artist in Italy who so successfully
engrafted the Flemish style on his own. I have seen a picture of cattle
passing a stream, in the collection of the illustrious Carlo Cambiaso,
where the animals rival those of Berghem, and the human figures appear
painted by a superior artist. Other collections possess specimens of him in
sacred subjects and classical fables; in which he rises far above the
Flemish artists. He also painted in miniature, if indeed his oil paintings,
from the care bestowed on them, ought not themselves to be called
miniatures. His works were celebrated by the poets of the age, particularly
by Marini, who introduced him to the court of Savoy. He was engaged, and
employed there until hostilities took place between the governments of
Piedmont and Genoa, which obliged him to return home. He was then denounced
to the government by some malicious rivals as a partizan of Savoy, and
passed two years in exile between Massa and Rome. From thence he returned
much improved, whence his latter pictures far exceed the first in invention
and copious composition.

Antonio Travi, more commonly called Il Sestri, or Il Sordo di Sestri, from
being a grinder of colours in the studio of Strozzi, and a friend of the
Flemish artist Waals, soon emulated both the one and the other. He learned
from the latter the art of painting landscape, with buildings in
perspective, and ruins; and he afterwards copied from nature the beautiful
country of the Riviera, with avenues of trees and rich orchards. But as
Waals was a feeble painter of figures, Travi availed himself of the
instructions of Strozzi to enliven his landscapes with beautiful and
spirited figures, not so much painted as sketched with a few strokes by a
master's hand, to gratify the eye when viewed at a distance. Thus, although
his landscapes are not highly finished, they please us by their agreeable
disposition, by their azure skies, the verdure of the trees, and their
freedom of touch. The state abounds with his pictures; but a great
proportion of those that bear his name are by his sons, who succeeded him
in his profession, but not with their father's talents.

Ambrogio Samengo and Francesco Borzone deserve also to be enumerated among
the landscape painters. Ambrogio was the scholar of Gio. Andrea Ferrari, a
painter of flowers and fruit; and his works are rare in consequence of his
early death. Francesco, after a miraculous escape from the plague, applied
himself to the composition of marine subjects and landscapes in the style
of Claude and Dughet; and his pictures, from their clearness, sweetness,
and fine effect, attracted the notice of Louis XIV., who invited him to his
court, where he remained many years; and this is the reason of the scarcity
of his works in Italy. We might here mention Raffaele Soprani, the
biographer of the Genoese artists, and many noble Genoese with him; but in
a work where the names of many painters themselves are omitted, it will not
be expected that we should record all the amateurs of the art.

I may place in this class of artists Gio. Benedetto Castiglione; not that
he wanted talents for larger works, as many altar-pieces in Genoa, and
particularly the very beautiful Nativity in St. Luke, one of the most
celebrated pictures in the city, sufficiently prove, but because the great
reputation which he has acquired in Europe has been derived from his
cabinet pictures, where he has represented in a wonderful manner animals,
either alone or as accessories to the subject. In this department of the
art he is, after Bassano, the first in Italy; and between these two the
same difference exists as between Theocritus and Virgil; the first of whom
is more true to nature and more simple, the second more learned and more
finished. Castiglione, the scholar of those accomplished artists Paggi and
Vandyke, ennobles the fields and woods by the fertility and novelty of his
invention, by his classical allusions, and his correct and natural
expression of the passions. He displays a freedom of design, a facility,
grace, and generally a fulness of colour; but in some pictures a greater
richness is desired by Maratta. The general tone is cheerful, and often
reddish. We find by him in collections large pictures of animals with
figures, as in that belonging to his Excellency the Doge Agostino
Lomellino; at other times sacred subjects, among which the most celebrated
are those from Genesis, the creation of animals, and their entry into the
ark; and the return of Jacob with a numerous body of servants and cattle, a
stupendous performance in the Palazzo Brignole Sale. Sometimes we find
fabulous compositions, as the Transformations of Circe, in the collection
of the Grand Duke of Tuscany; at other times hunting pieces, as that of the
Bull in the collection of the Marchesi Riccardi at Florence; often markets
and shews of cattle in the Flemish manner, and always more finished and
more gay when painted on a smaller scale. Such is a Tobias in the act of
recovering his sight, a most elegant picture, which I saw in possession of
the Gregori family at Foligno. It would require a volume, as Soprani
observes, to describe all his pictures in Genoa; but there is an abundance
of them, not to mention those abroad, in every part of Italy, as he studied
both at Rome and Venice, and a longer time at Mantua, where he died in the
service of the court. He there, for the correctness and beauty of his
colouring, obtained the name of Grechetto; and, for his peculiar style of
etching, he was also called a second Rembrandt. In that city are to be
found some pictures in his manner by his son Francesco and his brother
Salvatore, in which they often make near approaches to him. Francesco
repaired afterwards to Genoa, where he employed himself in painting
animals, which less experienced connoisseurs sometimes ascribe to Gio.
Benedetto. No Genoese, except Francesco, rivalled him in this branch; for
Gio. Lorenzo Bertolotti, who studied under him for some time, dedicated
himself to the painting of altar-pieces; and in that of the church of the
Visitation he highly distinguished himself. Anton Maria Vassallo was a
reputable painter of landscape, flowers, fruits, and animals. His chief
merit is in his colouring, which he learned from Malò, the scholar of
Rubens. He excelled also in figures; but his short life did not allow him
to obtain a more extended celebrity.

GENOESE SCHOOL.

EPOCH IV.

_The Roman and Parmesan succeed to the Native Style.
Establishment of an Academy._

Many masters of this school being cut off by the plague in the year 1657,
others deceased in the course of nature, not a few incapacitated from age,
and some also turned to mannerism, the Genoese School fell into such a
state of decline, that most of the young artists had recourse to other
cities for instruction, and in most instances repaired to Rome. In
consequence, from the beginning of this century to our own days, the Roman
style has predominated among these painters, varying, according to the
schools from which it descended, and according to the scholars that
practised it. Few of them have preserved the style unmixed; and some have
formed from the Roman and the Genoese a third manner, deserving of
commendation. On this account my readers should be cautioned not to judge
of these artists from works which some of them left when studying in Rome,
as I have known to be sometimes the case. Artists ought to be estimated by
their mature works, which, in this art, are like the corrected editions of
a work in letters, by which every author wishes to be judged.

I noticed, in a former volume, Gio. Batista Gaulli. This artist, after many
years practice under Luciano Borzone, unwilling to remain in a city
depopulated by the plague, went to Rome; and there, by studying the best
masters and by the direction of Bernino, made himself master of a new
style, grand, vigorous, full of fire, his children gracefully drawn, and
altogether enchanting. He contributed some pupils to the Roman School, and
two of them he educated for their native school; Gio. Maria delle Piane,
called, from his father's profession, II Molinaretto, and Gio. Enrico
Vaymer. Their pictures were composed in a good style, and there are some of
their works in the churches of Genoa; particularly of the first, by whom
there is at Sestri di Ponente a Decollation of St. John the Baptist, highly
celebrated. But they owed both their fame and their fortune to portrait
painting. The accomplishments of their master in that respect, above all
other artists, insured them a reputation, whence they abounded in
commissions, both in Genoa, which on that account is full of portraits
painted by them, and also in foreign countries. Vaymer was three times
called to Turin to paint the king and royal family; and was invited by very
considerable offers to remain there, which he, however, always rejected.
Molinaretto, after several visits to Parma and Piacenza, where he furnished
the court with portraits, and left some pictures in the churches, was
invited by King Charles of Bourbon to Naples, where he died, in a good old
age, painter to the court.

Pietro da Cortona also contributed some good scholars to Genoa. A doubtful
celebrity remains to Francesco Bruno of Porto Maurizio, who left in his
native country some altar-pieces in the style of Pietro, and a copy of one
of the pictures of that master. He is an unequal painter, if, indeed, we
may not conclude, with Sig. Ratti, that some inferior works are improperly
ascribed to him by common report. With still less foundation Francesco Rosa
of Genoa is conjectured to have sprung from this school, who studied about
the same time in Rome. The frescos and oil pictures which he left in that
city, at S. Carlo al Corso, and particularly at the churches of S.
Vincenzio and Anastasio, evince him a follower of a different style. He
there approaches Tommaso Luini and the dark mannerists of that period. He
painted in a much better style, at Frari in Venice, a Miracle wrought by S.
Antonio; a large composition, in which besides a most beautiful
architecture he displays much knowledge of the naked figure, good effect of
chiaroscuro, great vivacity in the heads; in the latter, however, little
select, and in the general effect partaking more of Caracci than Cortona.

There is no doubt that Gio. Maria Bottalla was instructed by Cortona. The
Cardinal Sacchetti, his patron, from his happy imitation of Raffaello
surnamed him Raffaellino; an appellation which I am not sure was confirmed
to him in Rome, and it certainly was refused to him in Genoa. In both those
cities he left very considerable works, in which he did not go so far in
his imitation of Pietro, as to neglect the style of Annibal Caracci. A
large composition of Jacob, by his hand, is to be seen in the collection of
the Campidoglio, formerly in the Sacchetti; and there exists in the Casa
Negroni in Genoa, a picture in fresco by him. Both are very considerable
works for a painter who had not passed his thirty-first year. Another
undoubted scholar of Pietro was Gio. Batista Langetti, although in his
colouring he adhered more to the elder Cassana, his second master. Langetti
is one of the foreign painters who, after 1650, flourished in Venice, and
excited the poetic genius of Boschini. He extols him as an artist eminent
in design and execution;[69] and this commendation is confirmed by Zanetti;
with an understanding, however, that this extends only to his more studied
pictures; as, for instance, his Crucifixion in the church delle Terese. As
to the rest he generally painted for profit; painting heads of old men,
philosophers, and anchorets, for which he is very remarkable in Venetian
and Lombard collections. It is said that he was accustomed to paint one a
day; his portraits were always drawn with truth, without adding that ideal
grandeur which we so much admire in the Greek sculptures in similar
subjects. He animated these countenances, however, with a strength of
colour and with a vigour of pencil that caused them to be highly sought
after; often receiving for them not less than fifty ducats a-piece. His
name is not found in the Abbeccedario, which is not to be wondered at, for
in so vast a work it is impossible to notice every individual artist.

Footnote 69:
L'opera con bon arte, e colpi franchi,
L'osserva el natural con bon giudizio,
In l'atizar l'atende al bon ofizio,
Che i movimenti sia vivi e nò stanchi.
_Carta del Navegar Pittoresco_, p. 538.

But the greater number of scholars that Genoa sent to Rome attached
themselves to Maratta. Gio. Stefano Robatto of Savona repaired twice to his
school, and remained in it several years. He matured his genius, by
visiting other schools of Italy, and went also into Germany, and at a
mature age settled in his own country. He there executed some works that
confer honour on her; as the St. Francis receiving the Stigmata, painted in
fresco in the cloister of the Cappuchins. Others of these, his first works,
have obtained unqualified praise, especially for their colouring, which
excited even the admiration of the professors of Genoa, accustomed to study
the first works of art. But he afterwards gave himself up to gaming, and,
losing all desire of distinction, he degraded both his pencil and his name,
producing, like a mechanic, works of mediocrity at a trifling price. Hence
it may be said, that Savona had not a better nor a worse painter than
Robatto.

Gio. Raffaello Badaracco, the son of Giuseppe, who is mentioned in a former
epoch, passed from the school of his father to that of Maratta; and
afterwards, aspiring to a freer style, he became in a great measure
Cortonesque, very soft in execution, of a good impasto, with an abundance
of the finest ultramarine, which has conferred on his pictures both
durability and celebrity. His historical subjects are very numerous in
collections; the Certosa of Polcevera possesses two of the largest, from
the history of the patron saint. A Rolando Marchelli was a fine scholar of
Maratta; but, attaching himself to merchandise, he left few works.

The most remarkable in this band are the sons of three celebrated masters;
Andrea Carlone, Paolgirolamo Piola, and Domenico Parodi. The first was son
of Giambatista, from whose style and that of Rome, and afterwards from that
of Venice, he formed a mixed manner, which, if I mistake not, is more
pleasing in oil than in fresco. He painted much in Perugia and the
neighbouring cities; far from the finish and grace of his father, and less
happy in composition; but displaying a Venetian style of freedom, vigour,
and spirit; particularly in some histories of S. Feliciano, painted at
Foligno, in the church of that saint. Returning to Rome, he improved his
manner; and his works after that period are much his best. Such are some
passages from the life of S. Xavier, at the Gesù in Rome; and many poetical
subjects at Genoa, in the palaces Brignole, Saluzzo, and Durazzo. This
painter affords an excellent admonition to writers on art, not to form
their judgment too hastily on the merit of artists, without having first
seen their best productions. Whoever judged of Carlone from the picture he
painted at the Gesù in Perugia, would not persuade himself that he could,
in Genoa, have left so many fine works as to be ranked, according to Ratti,
among the painters of Genoa most worthy of commemoration. Niccolò, his
brother, may be also added as his scholar. He is the least celebrated of
the family; not that he wanted talent, but it was not of a transcendant
kind.

Piola, the son of Domenico, as I have noticed in a former place, is one of
the most cultivated and finished painters of this school; a true disciple
of Maratta, as regards his method of carefully studying and deliberately
executing his works, but otherwise not his close imitator. In this respect
it should seem he attached himself more to the Caracci, whom he very much
copied in Rome; and traces of this style may be seen in his beautiful
picture of S. Domenico and Ignazio, in the church of Carignano, and in
every place where he painted. It is known that he was rebuked by his father
for slowness; but by this he was not moved; intent on a more exalted walk
than his father, and exhibiting more selection, grandeur, tenderness, and
truth. He had singular merit in works in fresco; and being a man of
letters, he designed extremely well fables and historical subjects, in
decorating many noblemen's houses. His Parnassus, painted for Sig. Gio.
Filippo Durazzo, has been much praised; and it is added, that that nobleman
said, that he was glad he had not sent for Solimene from Naples, whilst
Genoa possessed such an artist. Had he painted less on walls and more on
canvass, his merit would have become known also to foreigners.

Domenico Parodi was, like his father, a sculptor, and moreover an
architect; but he owed his reputation to painting. Less equal to himself
than Piola, he enjoyed a greater fame; as he had a more enlarged genius, a
more extended knowledge of letters and the arts, a more decided imitation
of the Greek design, and a pencil more pliable to every style. He first
studied in Venice under Bombelli, and there remain, in a casa Durazzo, some
excellent copies of Venetian pictures made at that period; nor did he
forsake this style during the many succeeding years that he studied in
Rome. He painted, in a good Marattesque style, the noble picture of S.
Francesco di Sales at the Filippini, and several other pictures; but of
him, as well as of the Caracci, we find works partaking in an extraordinary
manner of the style of Tintoretto or Paolo, and which are described in his
life. His most celebrated work is the Sala of the palace Negroni. Some
professors have expressed their opinion, that there is not so fine a
performance in all Genoa; and it is a fact, that Mengs's attention was
there arrested for several hours by a painter that he had never before
heard of. A correct design, a vigour and harmony of colour, a mode of
decorating the walls peculiarly his own, attempted by many, but not
understood by any, render this a most remarkable production; nor is it a
little aided by the poetical invention and the beautiful distribution and
grouping of the figures. The whole is devoted to the glory of this noble
family, whose escutcheon is crowned by Prudence, Continence, and other
virtues, expressed by their several symbols; and there are also fables of
Hercules slaying the Lion, and Achilles instructed by Chiron, which
indicate the honours acquired by this family in letters and in arms.
Portraits are added to these decorations, and every part is so well
connected, and so well varied, and so enriched by vestures, drapery, and
other ornaments, that, though many noble families may boast of being more
highly celebrated by the muse, few have obtained such distinguished honours
from the sister art. Other noble houses were also ornamented by him in
fresco; and the gallery of the Sig. Marcello Durazzo, decorated with
stories, and fables, and chiariscuri, which might be taken for
bassi-relievi, is a work much resembling the one just described. In some
pictures, as in the S. Camillo de' Lellis, he does not seem the same; and
probably some of his scholars had the greater share in them. His most
celebrated scholar was the priest Angiolo Rossi, one of the best imitators,
in humorous subjects, of Piovan Arlotto; and in painting a good follower of
Maratta, though he left but few works. Batista Parodi was the brother of
Domenico, but not the scholar; he partook of the Venetian School;
expeditious, free, fertile in invention, and brilliant in colouring, but
not sufficiently select, nor equal to the better artists. He lived for some
time in Milan and Bergamo. Pellegro, the son of Domenico, resided in
Lisbon, and was a celebrated portrait painter in his day.

The Abate Lorenzo, the son of Gregorio Ferrari, though educated in Genoa,
had much of the Roman style. He was one of the most elegant painters of
this school, and an imitator of the foreshortenings and the graces of
Coreggio, as was his father, but more correct than he, and a good master of
design. In refining on delicacy he sometimes falls into languor; except
when he painted in the vicinity of the Carloni, (as in the palace Doria, at
S. Matteo), or some other lively colourist. He then invigorated his tints,
so that they possess all the brilliancy of oil, and yield the palm to few.
He excelled in fresco, like most of this school, and is almost unrivalled
in his chiaroscuro ornaments. The churches and palaces abound with them;
and in the palace of the noble family of Carega is a gallery, his last
work, decorated with subjects from the Æneid, and ornamented with
arabesques, stuccos, and intaglios, by artists under his direction. He also
painted historical subjects. In his first public works he painted from his
father's designs; afterwards, as in the picture of various saints of the
Augustine order, at the church of the Visitation, he trusted to his own
genius, and enriched his school with the best examples. He too was a
painter whose reputation was not equal to his merits.

In Bartolommeo Guidobono, or Prete di Savona, we find the delicate pencil
of Ferrari, and an imitation of Coreggio, but with less freedom of style.
This artist, who was in the habit of painting earthenware with his father,
at that time in the employ of the royal court of Savoy, established the
first rudiments of the art in Piedmont; and I have seen, in Turin, some
pictures by him partaking of the Neapolitan style of colour, which was at
one time in favour there. He afterwards went to Parma and Venice, and by
copying and practising became a very able painter, and had an abundance of
commissions in Genoa and the state. He is not so much praised for
correctness of design in his figures, as for his skill in the ornamental
parts, as flowers, fruits, and animals; and this excellence is particularly
seen in some fabulous subjects in the Palazzo Centurioni. He had diligently
studied the style of Castiglione, and made many copies of him, which are
with difficulty distinguished from the originals. He is not, however, a
figurist to be despised; and it is his peculiar praise to unite a great
sweetness of pencil with a fine effect of chiaroscuro; as in the
Inebriation of Lot, and in three other subjects in oil, in the palace
Brignole Sale. In Piedmont too there remain many works by him, and by his
brother Domenico, also a delicate and graceful painter, by whom there is in
the Duomo of Turin a glory of angels, which might belong to the school of
Guido. He would have been preferred to Prete if he had always painted in
this style; but this he did not do, and in Genoa there remain of his,
amongst a few good, many very indifferent pictures.

Before I quit the followers of the school of Parma, I shall return to the
Cav. Gio. Batista Draghi, to whom I alluded in the third book. He was a
scholar of Domenico Piola, from whom he acquired his despatch; and was the
inventor of a new style, which I know not where he formed, but which he
practised very much in Parma, and more in Piacenza, where he long lived and
where he died. We may trace in it the schools of Bologna and Parma; but in
the character of the heads and in the disposition of the colours there is a
novelty which distinguishes and characterizes him. Though he painted with
extraordinary celerity, yet we cannot accuse him of negligence. To a
vivacity and fancy that delight us, he added an attention to his contours
and colouring, and a powerful relief, particularly in his oil pictures.
There are many pictures by him in Piacenza, and amongst them the Death of
St. James in the church of the Franciscans, in the Duomo his St. Agnes, in
S. Lorenzo his picture of the titular saint, and the great picture of the
Religious Orders receiving their regulations from S. Augustin; a subject
painted already in the neighbouring town of Cremona by Massarotti, and well
executed, but inferior to Draghi. The Sig. Proposto Carasi particularly
praises the picture he painted at Busseto, in the palace Pallavicino. In
Genoa he painted, I believe, only some pictures for private collections.

Orlandi, who does not even notice this excellent painter, places among the
first artists of Europe Gioseffo Palmieri, who, together with the preceding
artist, flourished in the early part of the eighteenth century. This praise
seems exaggerated, and he probably refers only to the merit which Palmieri
exhibited in his pictures of animals, which he was employed to paint even
for the court of Portugal. Still in the human figure he is a painter of
spirit, and of a magic and beautiful style of colour; very harmonious and
pleasing in those pictures where the shades do not predominate. He is,
however, reprehended for his incorrect drawing, although he studied under a
Florentine painter, who seems to have initiated him well; for in the
Resurrection at the church of St. Dominic, and in other pictures more
carefully painted, judges of the art find little to reprove.

A Pietro Paolo Raggi obtained also celebrity in invention and colouring. I
know not to what school to assign him, but he was certainly a follower of
the Caracci in a S. Bonaventura contemplating a Crucifix; a large picture
in the Guastato. There are Bacchanal subjects by him in some collections,
which partake of the style of Castiglione, as Ratti has observed, and also
of that of Carpioni, as we read in one of the _Lettere Pittoriche_,
inserted in the fifth volume. We there find him highly extolled. Nor is he
any where better known than in Bergamo; where, amongst other works which he
executed for the church of St. Martha, a Magdalen borne to Heaven by Angels
is particularly esteemed. He is described as a man of a restless
disposition, irascible, and dissatisfied with every place he inhabited.
This truant disposition carried him to Turin, then to Savona, then afresh
to Genoa, now to Lavagna, now to Lombardy, and last to Bergamo, where death
put an end to his wanderings. About this time died in Finale, his native
place, Pier Lorenzo Spoleti, formerly a scholar of Domenico Piola. His
favourite occupation was to copy in Madrid the pictures of Morillo and
Titian. By this practice he was prevented from distinguishing himself by
any works of invention; but he became a very accomplished portrait painter,
and was employed in that branch of the art at the courts of Spain and
Portugal. He had also the habit of copying the compositions of others, and
of transferring them with remarkable ability from the engraving to the
canvass, enlarging the proportions and expressing them with a colouring
worthy of his great originals. A copyist like this painter has a better
claim to our regard than many masters, whose original designs serve only to
remind us of our ill fortune in meeting with them.

Among these native artists I may be allowed to commemorate two foreigners,
who came to Genoa and established themselves there, and succeeded to the
chief artists of this epoch, or were their competitors. The one was Jacopo
Boni of Bologna, who was carried to Genoa by his master Franceschini as an
assistant, when he painted the great hall of the Palazzo Publico. Boni from
that time was esteemed and employed there, and established himself there in
1726. There are some fine works by him, especially in fresco, in the
Palazzo Mari and in many others; and the most remarkable which he executed
in the state is in the oratory of the Costa, at S. Remo: but we have spoken
sufficiently of him in the third Book.

The other, who repaired thither three years afterwards, was Sebastiano
Galeotti, a Florentine, and in his native city a scholar of Ghilardini, in
Bologna of Giangioseffo dal Sole, a man of an eccentric and facile genius;
a good designer when he pleased, a bold colourist, beautiful in the air of
his heads, and fitted for large compositions in fresco, in which he was
sometimes assisted in the ornamental parts by Natali of Cremona. He
decorated the church of the Magdalen in Genoa; and those frescos, which
first made him known in the city, are among his most finished productions;
but he was obliged, after painting the first history, to soften his tones
in some degree. He worked little in his native city, and that only in his
early years; whence he does not there enjoy so high a reputation as in
Upper Italy. He traversed it almost all in the same manner as the Zuccheri,
Peruzzini, Ricchi, and other adventurers of the art, whose lives were spent
in travelling from place to place, and who repeated themselves in every
city, giving the same figures, without any fresh design, and often the same
subject entire. Hence we still find the works of this painter, not only in
many cities of Tuscany, but also in Piacenza and Parma, where he executed
many works for the court; and also in Codogno, Lodi, Cremona, Milan,
Vicenza, Bergamo, and Turin, in which latter city he was appointed director
of the academy. In this office he ended his days in 1746. Genoa was however
his home, where he was succeeded by two sons, Giuseppe and Gio. Batista,
who were living in 1769, and are mentioned with commendation by Ratti as
excellent painters.

From the middle of the century to our own days, what from the evils of war
in which Genoa was involved, and the general decline of the art in Italy,
but few artists present themselves to our notice. Domenico Bocciardo of
Finale, a scholar and follower of Morandi, possessed considerable merit in
historical cabinet pictures; a painter of not much genius, but correct, and
a beautiful colourist. At S. Paolo in Genoa there is by him a S. Giovanni
baptizing the Multitude; and although there are many better pictures by him
in the state, still this is sufficient to render him respectable. Francesco
Campora, a native of Polcevera, also possessed some reputation. He had
studied in Naples under Solimene, from whose school came also Gio. Stefano
Maia, an excellent portrait painter. A Batista Chiappe of Novi, who had
spent much time in Rome in drawing, and had become a good colourist in
Milan, gave great promise of excellence. In the church of S. Ignazio of
Alessandria there is a large picture of the patron saint, one of his best
performances, well conceived and well composed; a noble ground, a beautiful
choir of angels, a fine character in the principal figure, except that the
head does not present a true portrait. We should have seen still better
works, but the author was arrested in his career by death; and he is
described by Ratti as the last person of merit of the Genoese School.

This school was for some time scanty in good perspective painters. Although
Padre Pozzi was in Genoa, he did not form any scholars there. Bologna, more
than any other place, supplied him with them. From thence came Colonna and
Mitelli, at that time so much esteemed; thither also repaired Aldovrandini
and the two brothers Haffner, Henry and Antony. The latter joined the monks
of the order of St. Philip in Genoa, and decorated the church of that saint
and other places, and initiated in the profession Gio. Batista Revello,
called Il Mustacchi. His works were also studied by Francesco Costa, who
was an ornamental painter from the school of Gregorio de' Ferrari. These
two young men, from the similarity of their profession, one which combines
in itself the greatest rivalry and the greatest friendship, became in
process of time inseparable. They both conjointly served, for nearly the
space of twenty years, the various historical painters mentioned in this
epoch, preparing for them the perspectives and ornaments, and whatever else
the art required. They are both alike commended for their knowledge of
perspective, their grace, brilliancy, and harmony of tints; but Revello, in
the embellishment of flowers, is preferred to his companion. Their best
performance is considered to be at Pegli, in the Palazzo Grillo, where they
ornamented a saloon and some chambers. There are also many works which they
conducted separately, being considered as the Colonna and Mitelli of their
country.

The most justly celebrated landscape painter of this epoch is Carlo Antonio
Tavella, the scholar of Tempesta in Milan, and of Gruenbrech, a German,
who, from the fires he introduced into his landscapes, was called
Solfarolo. He at first emulated this artist; he then softened his style,
from studying the works of Castiglione and Poussin, and the best Flemish
painters. Amongst the Genoese landscape painters he ranks the next after
Sestri. His works are easily distinguished in the collections of Genoa,
particularly in the palace Franchi, which had more than three hundred
pictures by him, and acquired for him the reputation of one of the first
artists of the age. We are there presented with warm skies, beautiful
distances in the landscape, pleasing effects of light; the trees, flowers,
and animals are gracefully touched, and with wonderful truth of nature. In
his figures he was assisted by the two Pioli, father and son; and oftener
by Magnasco, with whom he was associated in work. He sometimes inserted
them in his pictures himself, copying them indeed from the originals
designed by his comrades, but identifying them by a style peculiarly his
own. Tavella had a daughter of the name of Angiola, of a feeble invention,
but a good copyist of her father's designs. He had also many other
imitators; amongst whom one Niccolò Micone, or as he is commonly called by
his fellow-citizens Lo Zoppo, most nearly resembles him.

Alessandro Magnasco, called Lissandrino, was the son of one Stefano, who
was instructed by Valerio Castello, afterwards resided many years in Rome,
and died young, leaving behind him few pictures, but extreme regret for the
death of an artist of so much promise. His son was instructed by Abbiati in
Milan; and that bold and simple stroke of the pencil, which his master used
in his larger pictures, he transferred to his subjects of humour, shows and
popular meetings, in which he may be called the Cerquozzi of his school.
His figures are scarcely more than a span large. Ceremonies of the church,
schools of maids and youths, chapters of friars, military exercises,
artists' shops, Jewish synagogues, are the subjects he painted with humour
and delight. These eccentric pieces are not rare in Milan, and there are
some in the Palazzo Pitti at Florence, where Magnasco resided some years, a
great favourite with the Grand Duke Gio. Gastone and all his court. When he
accompanied other painters in their works, as often happened to him, he
added very apposite subjects; this he did, not only in the landscapes of
Tavella and others, but also in the ruins of Clemente Spera in Milan, and
in other pictures of architecture. This artist was more esteemed by
foreigners than by his own countrymen. His bold touch, though joined to a
noble conception and to correct drawing, did not attract in Genoa, because
it is far removed from the finish and union of tints which these masters
followed; hence Magnasco worked little in his native country, and left no
scholar there. In the school of Venice he educated a celebrated scholar,
Sebastian Ricci, of whom mention has been made more than once.

Not many years since died Gio. Agostino Ratti of Savona, a painter of
delightful genius. He ornamented the theatres with beautiful scenes, and
the cabinets with lively caricatures, which he also engraved. He was clever
in church paintings, as may be seen in the church of S. Giovanni at Savona,
where, besides other subjects of the Baptist, there is a much praised
Decollation. He painted also in the church of S. Teresa in Genoa; and was
always a follower of Luti, whose school he had frequented when in Rome. He
was also a good fresco painter; and I have seen his works in the choir of
the Conventual church in Casale di Monferrato, where he added figures to
the perspective of Natali of Cremona. But subjects of humour were his
forte. In these he had an exhaustless fancy, fertile and ever creative.
Nothing can be more amusing than his masks, representing quarrels, dances,
and such scenes as form the subjects of comedy. Luti, who was his master in
Rome, extolled him as one of the first artists in this line, and even
equalled him to Ghezzi. This information respecting Gio. Agostino was
communicated to me by his son, the Cavaliere often mentioned in the course
of this work,[70] and who died in 1795.

Footnote 70: He had prepared for the press some further
information respecting this school, both with regard to
ancient and modern times. The MS. with which he favoured me
to perfect this edition of my work, I have unfortunately,
and to the great detriment of my own work, mislaid. He was
not a great painter, but certainly not deserving of the
contempt with which he has been treated. Gratitude,
friendship, truth, and humanity itself call on me to say all
the good I can of him; every thing that malevolence could
dictate has been already recorded against him. We may
therefore refer the reader to the perusal of the Defence of
him before mentioned by us, and noticed afterwards with its
true title, in our second index, under the head _Ratti_.
There (whoever may be the author of it,) many works are
enumerated which, in our opinion, would confirm to him the
title of a praiseworthy artist. But he derives peculiar
honour from the opinion of him expressed by Mengs, who
proposed him as director to the academy of Milan; and some
historical and national subjects being required in the royal
palace in Genoa, Ratti was recommended to this honourable
commission both by Mengs and Batoni, and he executed them to
the entire satisfaction of the public. The more experienced
judges pretend to detect in these works something more than
an imitation of the great masters; and it is acknowledged,
indeed, that he willingly availed himself of the designs of
others, either painted or engraved; but how few are there of
whom the same may not be said? Afterwards in Rome, where he
lived four years in the house of Mengs, he executed under
his eye some excellent works; as a Nativity, for which Mengs
made the sketch; which, when painted on a larger scale by
Ratti, was placed in a church in Barcelona. Being called on
to paint a St. Catherine of Genoa, afterwards placed there
in the church of that saint, Mengs designed for him the face
of the saint, of an enchanting expression, and afterwards
retouched the picture, rendering it a delightful
performance. On this it may be observed, that great masters
were not accustomed to shew such favours to their scholars
and friends, except when they discovered in them
considerable talent. As a copyist Ratti excelled in the
opinion of Mengs; the latter purchasing, at a considerable
sum, a copy of the S. Jerome of Coreggio, which Ratti had
made in Parma. Another proof of the esteem in which he held
him was his instigating him to write on art; for which they
must have amassed great materials during the four years they
lived together. In the before-mentioned _Difesa_ we read of
the academies that elected him, the poets and men of letters
that extolled him, the cross of a cavalier that he obtained
from Pius VI., the direction of the academy of Genoa,
conferred on him for life if he had chosen to retain it;
finally, the numerous commissions for pictures he received
from various places; all these things have their weight, but
the favourable opinion of Mengs is the strongest protection
that this Defence affords to shield him from his enemies.

When the materials were prepared for the new edition, the
_Elogio_ of the Cav. Azara was published, where it is said
that the MSS. of Mengs were given in a confused mass into
the hands of Milizia, who took the liberty of modifying at
his pleasure the opinions of Mengs respecting the great
masters. This information, which comes from a very
creditable quarter, I have wished to insert here for many
reasons. It takes away from Mengs the odium of some
inconsiderate criticism, or at least lessens it. It confirms
what the _Difesa_ of Ratti says respecting the true author
of the Life of Coreggio, who was in fact Ratti; but, with
some retouching, it was published as the work of Mengs,
without reflecting that the author was there placed in
contradiction with himself. It also shews us that Mengs, for
his great name, was indebted not only to his acknowledged
merit, but also to his good fortune, which gave him greater
patrons and friends than were perhaps ever enjoyed before by
any painter in the world.

The artists of this school, of our own day, will doubtless also receive
their meed of praise from posterity. They are now industriously occupied in
establishing their own fame, and conferring honour on their country. The
rising generation, who are entering upon the art, may look for increased
support from the Genoese academy, recently founded for the promotion of the
three sister arts. Within these few years the members of this academy have
been furnished with a splendid domicile, with an abundant collection of
select casts and rare designs. With such masters and so many gratuitous
sources of assistance to study, this institution may be already numbered
amongst the most useful and ornamental of the city. This establishment owes
its existence to the genius and liberality of a number of noblemen, who
united together in its splendid foundation, and who continue to support it
by their patronage.

BOOK VI.

THE HISTORY OF PAINTING IN PIEDMONT AND THE
ADJACENT TERRITORY.

EPOCH I.

_Dawn of the Art, and Progress to the Sixteenth Century._

Piedmont, like the other states of Italy, cannot boast of a series of
ancient masters; but it does not on that account forfeit its claim to a
place in the history of painting. That enchanting art, the daughter of
peace and contemplation, shuns not only the sound but the very rumour of
war. Piedmont, from her natural position, is a warlike country; and if she
enjoys the merit of having afforded to the other parts of Italy the
protection necessary for the cultivation of the fine arts, she is at the
same time under the disadvantage of not being able to insure them safety in
her own territory. Hence, though Turin has ever been fruitful in talent, to
obtain the decorations suitable to a metropolis, she has been compelled to
seek at a distance for painters, or at least for pictures; and whatever we
find excellent either in the palace or the royal villas, in the churches,
in the public buildings, or in private collections, will be found to be
wholly the work of foreigners. I may be told that the artists of Novara and
Vercelli, and others from the Lago Maggiore, are not strangers. That might
be true after those communities were included in the dominions of the house
of Savoy; but they, who were the first in this epoch, were born, lived, and
died subjects of other states: and after the new conquests, these artists
no more became Piedmontese from that circumstance, than Parrhasius and
Apelles became Romans from the moment that Greece was subjected to Rome.
For this reason I have classed these artists in the Milanese School; to
which, though they had not belonged as subjects, they ought still to be
assigned by education, residence, or neighbourhood. This plan I have
hitherto persevered in: the subject of my history being not the states of
Italy, but her schools of painting. Nor on that account will the artists of
Monferrato be excluded from this place. This is also a recent addition to
the house of Savoy, which first possessed it in 1706; but it is anterior to
the other acquisitions, and its artists are scarcely ever named among the
pupils of the Milanese School. We must also recollect that they either left
many works in Piedmont, and that this is therefore the proper place to
mention them, or that they did not quit their native country; and as it is
impracticable to devote a separate book to that place, I have judged it
best to include it in this state, on the confines of which it is situated,
and to which it eventually became subject.

Confining ourselves therefore to the ancient state of Piedmont, and
noticing also Savoy, and other neighbouring territories not yet considered,
we shall find little written of,[71] nor have we much to praise in the
artists; but the ruling family, who have been always distinguished by their
love of the arts, and have used all their influence to foster them, are
entitled to our grateful recollections. At the time of their first revival
Amadeus IV. invited to his court one Giorgio da Firenze, a scholar, I know
not whether of Giotto or some other master: it is however certain that he
painted in the castle of Chambery in 1314, and we find remains of him to
1325, in which year he worked at Pinarolo. That he from this time coloured
in oil is doubted in Piedmont; and the Giornale of Pisa published a letter
on that subject the last year. I know not that I can add any thing further
to what I have already written on this question in many places of this
work. Giorgio da Firenze is unknown in his native place, like some others
who are commemorated only in this book, who lived much in Piedmont, or at
least were better known there than elsewhere. In the same age there worked
at S. Francesco di Chieri, quite in the Florentine style, an artist who
subscribed himself _Johannes pintor pinxit_ 1343; and some feeble fresco
painters in the baptistery of the same city. There are also some other
anonymous artists in other parts, whose manners differ in some respects
from the style of Giotto; among whom I may mention the painter of the
Consolata, a picture of the Virgin held in great veneration at Turin.

Footnote 71: A catalogue of the painters of Piedmont, and
their works, is given by the Count Durando in the notes to
his _Ragionamento su le belle Arti_, published in 1778. The
P. M. della Valle has also written of them in his prefaces
to the tenth and eleventh volumes of Vasari. Some valuable
information respecting them has also been contributed by the
author of the _Notizie patrie_, and more is to be found in
the New Guide of Turin of Sig. Derossi, and in the first
volume of the _Pitture d'Italia_. And, lastly, further
notices are to be gathered from various works on art, of
which we shall avail ourselves in the proper place.

At a later period, that is, about the year 1414, Gregorio Bono, a Venetian,
was invited also to Chambery by Amadeus VIII., in order to paint his
portrait. He executed it on panel; nor is it probable that he ever returned
to Venice, as we find no mention made of him there. A Nicolas Robert, a
Frenchman, was painter to the duke from 1473 to 1477; but his works have
either perished, or remain unknown; and probably he was a miniature
painter, or an illuminator of books, as they were at that time designated,
artists who from the proximity of their professions are called painters, as
well as the nobler masters of the art. About the same time it appears that
there worked in Piedmont Raimondo, a Neapolitan, who left his name on a
picture of several compartments in S. Francesco di Chieri, a piece
estimable from the vivacity of the countenances and the colouring, though
the drapery is loaded with gold, a mark of the little refinement of the
times. Of another painter of this period there remains an indication in the
church of S. Agostino in that city, from this inscription on an ancient
picture, _Per Martinum Simazotum, alias de Capanigo_, 1488. I find noticed
also in the hospital of Vigevano a picture with a gold ground by Gio.
Quirico da Tortona.

But no territory at this period furnishes us with such interesting matter
as Monferrato, then the feudal state of the Paleologhi. We learn from P.
della Valle, that Barnaba da Modena was introduced into Alba in the
fourteenth century, and he certainly was among the first artists that
obtained applause in Piedmont. We have cursorily noticed him in his school;
for to judge from the way in which his works are scattered, he must have
lived at a distance. Two pictures remain by him at the Conventuals at Pisa;
one in the church, the other in the convent; both figures of the Virgin, of
whom the second picture represents the coronation, where she is surrounded
by S. Francis and other saints of his order. Sig. da Morrona praises the
beautiful character of the heads, the drapery, and the colouring; and
prefers him to Giotto. And P. della Valle speaks in the same terms of
another picture of the Virgin, remaining in the possession of the
Conventuals of Alba, which he says is in a grander style than any
contemporary works; and he states that the year 1357 is signed to it. As to
his assertion that the art in Piedmont had derived from him much light and
advancement, I know not how to confirm it, as I have never been in Alba,
and as I find a great interval between him and his successors in that very
city. Afterwards in the church of S. Domenico a Giorgio Tuncotto painted in
1473; and in that of S. Francesco a M. Gandolfino in 1493. To these may be
added Gio. Peroxino and Pietro Grammorseo, well known for two pictures
which they left at the Conventuals; the one in Alba in 1517, the other in
Casale in 1523.

But the most distinguished artist in those parts, and in Turin itself, was
Macrino, a native of Alladio, and a citizen of Alba; whence, in a picture
which is in the sacristy of the metropolitan church in Turin, he subscribes
himself _Macrinus de Alba_. His name was Gian Giacomo Fava, an excellent
painter, of great truth in his countenances, careful and finished in every
part, and sufficiently skilled in his colouring and shadowing. I am aware
that the Sig. Piacenza has mentioned him in his notes to Baldinucci, a work
which, to the loss of the history of art and just criticism, remains
imperfect, and which I have not now at hand. I know not where Macrino
studied; but in his picture at Turin, which is much in the style of
Bramante and his Milanese contemporaries, he has placed as an ornament in
his landscape the Flavian amphitheatre; whence we may conclude that he had
seen Rome; or, if not Rome, at least the learned school of Da Vinci. I
found by him in the Certosa of Pavia another picture, with S. Ugo and S.
Siro; an inferior performance with respect to the forms and the colouring,
but very carefully painted in all its parts. But, wherever he studied, he
is the first artist in these countries who made advances to the modern
style; and he seems to have been held in esteem, not only in Asti and in
Alba, which contain many of his large works and cabinet pictures, but in
Turin, and in the palace of the prince; to whose family, as I conjecture,
belonged a cardinal, represented at the feet of the Virgin, and of the
saints surrounding her, in the picture at the cathedral. I am persuaded
that he left other pictures in Turin; but that city, above all the other
capitals of Italy, has perhaps been the most addicted to substitute modern
pictures for the ancient. Contemporary with Macrino was Brea of Nizza, whom
I mentioned in the school of Genoa, together with three painters of
Alessandria della Paglia, all having lived in that state. I shall here only
add Borghese of Nizza della Paglia, where, and in Bassignana, are pictures
inscribed _Hieronymus Burgensis Niciæ Palearum pinxit_.

In the beginning of the sixteenth century, whether it was that the troubled
state of Italy called the attention of the princes to more serious objects,
or from some other cause, I do not find any interesting records. About the
middle of that century it is supposed that Antonio Parentani flourished,
who at the Consolata painted within the chapter house a Paradise with
numerous angels. I do not know his country, but he followed the Roman taste
of that age, and in a certain way diminished it. At this period the books
of the public Treasury stand in the place of history, and guide us to the
knowledge of other artists. I am indebted for the information to the Baron
Vernazza de Fresnois, secretary of state of his majesty, a gentleman not
less rich in knowledge than obliging in communicating it. The
before-mentioned books record a Valentin Lomellino da Raconigi; and after
1561, in which year he died, or relinquished his place, a Jacopo Argenta of
Ferrara. Both the one and the other bore the title of painter to the duke;
but the world cannot judge of their talents, as no work by them is known
either in Turin or elsewhere; and it is probable they were rather
illuminators than painters. A Giacomo Vighi is noticed by Malvasia and by
Orlandi, who painted for the court of Turin about 1567, and was presented
with the castle of Casal Burgone. The works of this painter too are unknown
to the public; but not so the works of those who follow.

Alessandro Ardente of Faenza, though some make him a Pisan, and others a
Lucchese,[72] Giorgio Soleri of Alessandria, and Agosto Decio, a Milanese
miniaturist before mentioned by me, painted the portrait of Charles
Emanuel, duke of Savoy, for which all three are praised by Lomazzo in his
treatise, at p. 435. The two first were also appointed painters to the
court. They excelled in historical compositions as well as being celebrated
portrait painters. By Alessandro we see in Turin at the Monte della Pietà
the Fall of St. Paul, in a style that would lead us to believe he had
studied in Rome. More of his works remain in Lucca; in one of which, a
Baptism of Christ painted at S. Giovanni by this Ardente, the subject is
treated in a highly original manner. (_Guida di Lucca_, p. 261.) In the
neighbourhood also of that city are many of his works. The Sig. da Morrona
also names him in the second volume of his _Pisa illustrata_, and informing
us that he has not a sufficient account of him, concludes that he lived a
long time out of Tuscany. I believe that he resided a considerable time in
Piedmont, as I find some works by him out of Turin; as an Epiphany in
Moncaliëri, inscribed with his name and the year 1592; and knowing further,
that on his death, in 1595, a pension was assigned by the prince to his
widow and sons; a proof in my mind that Ardente must have served the court
many years.

Footnote 72: We ought to credit his own testimony. He
painted three pictures at S. Paolino di Lucca, and in that
of S. Antonio Abate he subscribes himself _Alexander
Ardentius Faventinus_, 1565; so says Monsig. Mansi,
Archbishop of Lucca, in his Diario. He however in other
places in that little work, and Sig. Morrona in his _Pisa_,
call him a Pisan, and others a Lucchese.

Of Soleri, the son-in-law of Bernardino Lanini, I have given some account
in the Milanese School, (tom. iv. p. 278). He is also mentioned by Malvasia
in tom. ii. p. 134, and compared with Passerotti, Arcimboldi, Gaetano, and
with Del Monte of Crema, in portrait painting. His professional education
however remains obscure, except as far as we are able to conjecture from
his works. I have only been able to find two of his performances; and I am
not aware that any other are known. The one is in Alessandria, and serves
as an altar-piece to the domestic chapel of the Conventuals. It represents
the Virgin and the Saints Augustin and Francis recommending to her
protection the city of Alessandria, which is represented in the background.
The landscape is in the style of Bril, as usual with our painters before
the Caracci; the figures are painted with more labour than spirit; the
colour is languid; and the whole presents the style of one desirous of
imitating the best period of the Roman School, but who had not seen or
studied it sufficiently. But there is a more authentic picture in the
church of the Domenicans of Casale, with the inscription, _Opus Georgii
Soleri Alex. 1573_. It represents S. Lorenzo kneeling at the feet of the
Virgin, who has with her the holy infant; near the saint three angelic boys
are playing with a huge gridiron, his customary symbol; and are straining
to raise it from the ground. Here we most distinctly trace the follower of
Raffaello, in the chasteness of design, the beauty and grace of the
countenances, and the finished expression; if indeed the design of these
angels is not taken from Coreggio. To render the picture more engaging,
there is represented a landscape, with a window, whence there appears in
the distance a beautiful country, with fine buildings; nor are there many
pictures remaining in the city at this day to be compared with it. If it
had possessed a more vigorous colouring, and a stronger chiaroscuro, there
would be nothing more to wish for. When I consider the style, I know not to
what school to assign it; for it is not that of Lanini, although his
father-in-law; nor that of any Milanese, although he was in Milan. Perhaps,
like others of his day, he formed himself on the engravings after
Raffaello; or if he copied any other painter, it was Bernardino Campi,
whom, if we except a certain timidity of touch, he resembles more than any
other.

Soleri had a son, a painter of mediocrity, as may be seen in Alessandria in
the sacristy of S. Francesco. The father, to propitiate his success in the
art to which he destined him, had given him the two most illustrious names
of the profession, calling him Raffaele Angiolo. But these names served
only to flatter parental fondness.

With Alessandro Ardente and Giorgio Soleri we find mentioned a Jacopo
Rosignoli of Leghorn, who was at that time painter to the court. His
character is described in an epitaph placed over him at S. Thomas in Turin,
which thus extols him: _quibuscumque naturæ amoenitatibus exprimendis ad
omnigenam incrustationum vetustatem_; meaning grotesques, in which he
imitated with success Perino del Vaga. We also find memorials of another
painter to the court about the same time. The books of the Treasury call
him Isidoro Caracca, and he seems to have succeeded to Ardente; for in 1595
his name begins to be found, to which others may perhaps add, in progress
of time, his country, school, and works. To me it seems that persons who
have received such a mark of distinction, ought at least not to be placed
among the vulgar; nor should a notice of them be neglected when they fall
in our way.

We may add to these some others of doubtful schools, as Scipione Crispi of
Tortona, who has derived celebrity from the Visitation, placed in S.
Lorenzo in Voghera; and in Tortona itself there is a picture representing
S. Francis and S. Dominick with the Virgin, with his name, and the date
1592. Contemporary with Crispi was Cesare Arbasia, of Saluzzo, supposed by
Palomino, but incorrectly so, to be a scholar of Vinci, as I mentioned when
I spoke of him before.[73] He resided some time in Rome, and taught in the
academy of St. Luke, and is mentioned with commendation by the P. Chiesa in
his life of Ancina, as one of the first of his age. He went also to Spain,
where, in the cathedral of Malaga, there still exists his picture of the
Incarnation, painted in 1579; and there is an entire chapel painted by him
in fresco in the cathedral of Cordova. He painted too the vault of the
church of the Benedictines of Savigliano; in the public palace of his
native place he executed also some works in fresco; and he was held in
esteem by the court, who granted him a pension in 1601.

Footnote 73: Tom. iv. p. 257. One truth prepares the way for
another. I have read in Sig. Conca, tom. iii. p. 164, that
the style of Arbasia partakes of that of Federigo Zuccaro;
an opinion I believe of Sig. Ponz, the principal guide of
Conca. If Federigo about the same time was chief, and
Arbasia master in the academy of Rome, the style of the
first might be caught by the other. When we reflect that the
style of Da Vinci is highly finished, correct, and strong,
diametrically opposed to the facility and popular style of
Federigo, we cannot accord to Palomino that authority and
veneration which Conca bestows on him. What should we think
of a critic who should endeavour to palm on us, as the
production of the time of Horace, an ode written in the
style of Prudentius?

There is ground for believing that Soleri, who was married in Vercelli, and
who lived in Casale, had a share in the instruction of the celebrated
Caccia, surnamed Il Moncalvo, who gave to Monferrato its brightest days of
art. We may with propriety say a few words on this subject before we return
to Turin. Monferrato was some time under the Paleologhi; afterwards under
the Gonzaghi; this is a sufficient reason for us to believe that it was
willingly frequented by excellent artists. Vasari relates that Gio.
Francesco Carotto was considerably employed by Guglielmo, Marquis of
Monferrato, as well in his court at Casale as in the church of S. Domenico.
After him other artists of merit resorted thither, whose works still remain
to the public. We further know that these princes had a collection of
marbles and pictures, which were afterwards removed to Turin, where they
contributed to the ornament of the palace and royal villas. After what we
have stated we cannot be surprised that the arts should have flourished in
this part of Italy and the adjacent country, and that we should there meet
with painters deserving of our admiration.

Such an one was Moncalvo, so called from his long residence in that place.
He was however born in Montabone, and his true name was Guglielmo Caccia.
No name is more frequently heard by cultivated foreigners who pass through
this higher part of Italy. He commenced his career in Milan, where he
painted in several churches. He proceeded afterwards to Pavia, where he did
the same, and where he was presented with the freedom of the city. But he
is still more frequently named in Novara, Vercelli, Casale, Alessandria,
and in the tract of country leading from thence to Turin. Nor is this the
whole itinerary of such as wish to see all his works. We must often deviate
from the beaten road, and visit in this district castles and villas, which
frequently present us with excellent specimens, particularly in Monferrato.
He there passed a great part of his life; having been brought up in
Moncalvo, says P. Orlandi, an estate of Monferrino, where he had both a
home and school of painting. He seems to have begun his career in these
parts; and as his first works they point out, in the Sacro Monte di Crea,
some small chapels with passages from the sacred writings.

P. della Valle describes his style at Crea as that of the infant Graces. He
remarks that there are indications of his inexperience in fresco painting,
and that by comparing his early works with his last we may trace the
improvement in his style. He attained such a degree of excellence as to be
considered as an example to fresco painters for his great skill in this
department. He is to be seen in Milan at S. Antonio Abate, by the side of
the Carloni of Genoa: he there painted the titular saint, with S. Paul, the
first hermit; and maintains himself in this dangerous contest. His picture
in the cupola of S. Paul at Novara is a beautiful and vigorous painting,
with a glory of angels, painted, as he generally did, in a delightful
manner. In oils he was perhaps not so successful. I have seen few of his
pictures painted with that strength with which he represented in Turin St.
Peter in the pontifical habit, in the church of S. Croce. The picture of S.
Teresa, in the church of that saint, is also well coloured; and it is
celebrated for its graceful design, in which is represented the saint
between two angels, overpowered at the appearance of the holy family, which
is revealed to her in her ecstacy. To this may be also added the Deposition
from the Cross at S. Gaudenzio di Novara, which is there by some considered
his masterpiece, and it is indeed a work of the highest merit. In general
his tints are so delicate, that in our days at least he appears somewhat
languid, the fault perhaps of not having retouched his pictures
sufficiently.

His style of design does not accord with that of the Caracci, which leads
me to question the opinion prevalent in Moncalvo, that he was a pupil of
that school. One of the Caracci school would have studied fresco in
Bologna, not in Crea; nor would he have adopted in his landscape the style
of Bril, as Moncalvo has done; nor have discovered a preference of the
Roman style to that of Parma. Caccia's style of design seems derived from
the elder schools, as we may observe in it a manner which partakes of
Raffaello, of Andrea del Sarto, and Parmigianino, the great masters of
ideal beauty. And in his Madonnas, which are to be seen in many
collections, he sometimes seems the scholar of the one, and sometimes of
the other; one of those in the royal palace of Turin seems designed by
Andrea. But the colouring, though accompanied by grace and delicacy, as I
said before, is different, and even borders often on debility, in the
manner of the Bolognese School which preceded the Caracci, and more
especially of Sabbatini. He resembles that master also in the beauty of the
heads and in grace; and if it could be satisfactorily proved that Moncalvo
studied in Bologna, we need not look further for a master than Sabbatini.
But I have before made the remark that two painters frequently fall into
the same style, as two different writers sometimes adopt the same
characters. And I have also observed, in regard to Moncalvo, that in Casale
he had Soleri, a painter of a lively and elegant style; and that there, in
Vercelli, and in other cities where he resided, there was not wanting to
him the best examples of that graceful style to which his genius inclined.
He did not however shun nobler subjects; as his works in the church of the
Conventuals at Moncalvo will shew, where there is a rich gallery of his
pictures. Chieri also has specimens of him in two historical pictures in a
chapel of S. Domenico. He there painted the two laterals of the altar; in
the one is the resuscitation of Lazarus, in the other the miracle of the
loaves in the desert; works remarkable for their richness of fancy, their
excellent disposition, the correctness of the drawing, the vivacity of the
action, and the first of which inspires both devotion and awe. They would
confer honour on the noblest churches.

He executed many works, assisted by scholars of mediocrity; a thing which
ought to be avoided by every good master. In Casale I heard a Giorgio
Alberino enumerated among his best scholars; and on the relation of P.
della Valle I may add to them Sacchi, also of Casale, as his companion in
Moncalvo; who possessed a more energetic pencil perhaps, and more learning
than Caccia. He painted in S. Francesco a Drawing of Lots for Marriage
Portions; in which is seen a great assemblage of fathers, mothers, and
young daughters; and in the latter the sentiments are most vividly
expressed, so that we read the fate of each in her countenance; the face of
one beaming with delight at the mention of her name, while another stands
wishful, yet fearing to hear herself called. And at S. Agostino di Casale
is a standard, with the Virgin and saints, and certain portraits of the
Gonzaghi princes; a picture ascribed to Moncalvo: but if we consult the
style and the mode of colouring, I should rather attribute it to Sacchi.

Caccia taught, and was assisted in his labours by two daughters, who may be
called the Gentilesche, or the Fontane of Monferrato, where they painted
not only cabinet pictures but more altar-pieces than perhaps any other
females. The contours of their figures are exactly copied from their
father, but they are not so animated. It is said that their manner was so
similar, that, in order to distinguish them, the younger, Francesca,
adopted the symbol of a small bird; and Ursula, who founded the convent of
Ursulines in Moncalvo, that of a flower. Of the latter her church and
Casale also have some altar-pieces, and not a few cabinet pictures with
landscapes touched in the style of Bril, and ornamented with flowers. A
Holy Family by her in this style is in the rich collection of the Palazzo
Natta.

Lastly I may record the name of Niccolò Musso, the boast of
Casalmonferrato, where he lived, and left works which possess an
originality of style. He is said by Orlandi to have been the scholar of
Caravaggio for ten years in Rome; and there is a tradition in his native
place that he studied under the Caracci in Bologna. Musso leans to
Caravaggio, but his chiaroscuro is more delicate and more transparent; he
is very select in his figures and in expression; and is one of those
admirable painters almost unknown to Italy itself. He did not live long,
and generally painted for private individuals. He left however some works
in public, and more than one in the church of S. Francis, representing that
saint at the feet of Christ crucified, and angels partaking his
lamentations and devotions. The portrait of this artist, painted by
himself, is also in Casale, in the possession of the Marchese Mossi; and
some memoirs of him were published by the Canonico de' Giovanni, as I read
in P. M. della Valle.[74]

Footnote 74: Pref. al tomo xi. del Vasari, p. 20.

SCHOOL OF PIEDMONT AND THE
ADJACENT TERRITORY.

EPOCH II.

_Painters of the Seventeenth Century, and first
Establishment of the Academy._

Returning now to Turin and to the seventeenth century, in the early part of
which the painters, whom we have mentioned with commendation, were either
still surviving, or only lately deceased, we meet with Federigo Zuccaro,
who, in his journey through the various states of Italy, (of which Baglione
speaks,) did not fail to visit Turin. He there painted some pictures in the
churches, and commenced the decoration of a gallery for the duke; a work
which, from some cause or other, was left unfinished. Baglione does not
inform us that this gallery was destined for the reception of works of art,
but it is highly probable that it was so; since, at that time, a
considerable collection of ancient marbles,[75] designs, and cartoons, was
already formed, which has been since enlarged, and is now preserved in the
Archivio Reale; and a select cabinet of pictures, to which similar
additions have been made, and which is now the principal ornament of the
royal palace, and the villas of the sovereign. We there find the works of
Bellini, Holbein, and the Bassani; the two large compositions of Paolo,
executed for the Duke Charles, and described by Ridolfi; several pictures
of the Caracci and their best scholars, amongst which are the Four Elements
by Albano, an admirable production; without mentioning others by Moncalvo
and Gentileschi, both of whom resided for some time in Turin, and by other
eminent Italian artists, or the best Flemish painters, some of whom
remained a considerable time in that city. Hence, in this class of
pictures, the house of Savoy surpasses every single house in Italy, or even
many taken together.

Footnote 75: Galleria del Marini, p. 288.

But, to proceed in due course, we may observe, that, at the commencement of
the seventeenth century, there existed in Turin a rich collection of
pictures and drawings, the ornament of the throne, and subservient to the
instruction of young artists, the care of which was entrusted to a painter
of the court. We first find one Bernardo Orlando invested with this charge,
who was appointed painter to the duke in 1617. This honour, in succeeding
years, was conferred on many others, whose pencils were employed in Turin
and the castle of Rivoli; where, however, many of their works were effaced
in the present century, and others substituted by the two Vanloos. Some of
these are unknown in the history of art, as Antonio Rocca and Giulio Mayno,
the first a native of I know not what place, the latter of Asti. A della
Rovere is also an unknown artist, mentioned in the Registers from the year
1626; nor can this be the same who left, in the convent of St. Francis, a
picture of very original invention, the subject of which is Death. It
expresses the origin of death, in the transgression of Adam and Eve; and
the fulfilment of it, by the thread spun, wound, and severed, by the three
Fates, with other fancies in which profane and sacred ideas are confounded
together. If the design of this picture cannot command our approbation, its
other qualities are still prepossessing, and conciliate our esteem for the
painter, who subscribes himself, _Jo. Bapt. a Ruere Taur._ f. 1627. But the
name of the court painter was Girolamo. Baglione acquaints us with another,
called Marzio di Colantonio, a Roman by birth, who excelled in grotesques
and landscapes. There are also some others included in the list of ducal
painters, whom we have before mentioned in various schools; as Vincenzo
Conti in the Roman, Morazzone in the Milanese, and Sinibaldo Scorza in the
Genoese. These and others, who painted in Turin and the neighbourhood about
this time, will be found in the _Lettere_ and the _Galleria_ of the Cav.
Marini, who resided for some time at this court. We must, however, consult
him with caution, as he was a poet, and very readily augmented his gallery,
by devoting a sonnet to every picture and drawing, so that artists of
mediocrity valued themselves more on his applause than painters of
merit.[76] Thus Malvasia informs us, that he had frequently heard Albano
boast of having refused Marini's request, the gift of a picture, for fear
the poet should make it the subject of a sonnet, (tom. ii. p. 273).

Footnote 76: The mediocrity of some who are extolled in
Marini's work, which was published about the year 1610,
appears from the silence observed towards them by
contemporary writers, or the little applause with which they
are named. I never elsewhere found mention, to the best of
my recollection, of Lucilio Gentiloni, of Filatrava, nor of
Giulio Donnabella, who there figure as eminent designers;
nor of Annibale Mancini, whence I know not, a painter of
histories; nor of the two equally renowned Frenchmen, M.
Brandin and M. Flaminet, elsewhere transformed into
Fulminetto; much less a Raffaele Rabbia, and a Giulio Maina,
who painted the poet's portrait; unless, indeed, the second
be the Bolognese Giulio Morina, mutilated in his name, like
not a few other artists of this truly ill assorted
_Gallery_. [This artist would rather appear to be the Giulio
Mayno, of Asti, the court painter, mentioned in p. 467,
_ante._ _Ed._]

The painters whom I have just mentioned were, most probably, the
instructors of those artists of Turin and the states who flourished
elsewhere; as Bernaschi in Naples, Garoli in Rome, and others who are said
to have been also taught by foreigners, and who distinguished themselves in
Piedmont. None of this number possess a stronger claim to our notice than
Mulinari, (or, as he is more frequently called, Mollineri) whether with
regard to merit, or the order of time. Most writers have considered him a
scholar of the Caracci in Rome; from the imitation of whom he received the
surname of Caraccino from his own countrymen. But I apprehend that this
supposed residence of his in Rome proceeds from the common source of such
mistakes, the resemblance of style, true or supposed. Della Valle mentions
him as being settled in his native place in 1621, and of forty years of
age; languid and feeble in his contours, and improving himself by the
assistance of some masters, his friends; to which we may perhaps add, the
study of the prints of the Caracci, and some of their paintings. My
suspicions are confirmed by the Count Durando, a well informed and cautious
writer, who denies that positive proof can be given of the reported
instruction of Mulinari, notwithstanding the surname of Caraccino, a title
not difficult to acquire from the vulgar, in a city so remote from Bologna
and Rome; as in some countries which have little knowledge of the true
style of Cicero, a writer may pass for an elegant latinist, while imitating
Arnobius. In other respects, in the pictures which have acquired him
celebrity, he is correct, energetic, and, if not dignified, yet animated
and varied in his male heads; for, as Durando himself confesses, his
females are all deficient in grace. His colouring is also good, though not
resembling the Caracci; his tints being more clear, differently disposed,
and sometimes feeble. At Turin, the Deposition from the Cross at S.
Dalmazio, is classed amongst his best works; but the composition is
crowded, and very different from the principles of the Bolognese. In
Savigliano, where Mulinari was born, and where he lived many years,
pictures by him are found in almost every church; and his talent and merit
are, in fact, only known in that place. There, and in Turin, we find some
works by a worthy Flemish artist, named Gio. Claret, by some considered the
scholar, by others the master of Gio. Antonio in colouring, but at all
events his intimate friend. He is an artist of a free and spirited pencil,
and painted in several churches in competition with Mulinari.

Giulio Bruni, a Piedmontese, was a clever pupil of the Genoese School,
first under Tavarone, then under Paggi, and remained painting in Genoa,
until he was expelled by war. His works there, though not very finished,
and too darkly coloured, were well designed, harmonious, and well composed.
Such is, in the church of St. James, his St. Thomas of Villanova giving
alms. History also mentions one Gio. Batista, his brother and scholar.

Giuseppe Vermiglio, although born in Turin, is not named in the _Guide_ of
that city. We find pictures by him in Piedmont, as at Novara and
Alessandria; and beyond that dominion, in Mantua and Milan, in which last
city is a work which is perhaps his masterpiece. The subject is a Daniel
amidst Lions, in the library of the Passione, a large composition, well
disposed, with fine architectural decorations, in the Paolesque style. The
king and people are seen on a balcony admiring the prophet, untouched by
the ferocious animals, while his accusers are, at the same instant,
precipitated amidst the ravenous beasts, and torn to pieces. In the same
composition is also represented the other prophet, borne through the air by
an angel, by the hair of his head. We cannot exactly commend the design,
which thus unites events incongruous in point of time. But with this
exception, this is one of the most valuable pictures painted in Milan,
after Gaudenzio, for correctness, beautiful forms, expression highly
studied, and colours warm, varied, and lucid. From the imitative style of
the heads, it is evident that he studied the Caracci, and was not a
stranger to Guido; but in the colouring it seemed as if he had imitated the
Flemish artists. It is reported in Milan, perhaps from the resemblance of
the style, that he instructed Daniel Crespi; a circumstance very
improbable, since Vermiglio continued to work to the year 1675. For we find
this date at the foot of a large picture of the Woman of Samaria, in the
refectory of the PP. Olivetani, in Alessandria, which must be one of his
last works, decorated with a beautiful landscape, and a magnificent view of
the city of Samaria in the distance. I consider him the finest painter in
oil that the ancient state of Piedmont can boast, and as one of the best
Italian artists of his day. Why he painted so near Turin, and yet had no
success in that city, and why he was not distinguished by his own
sovereign, though well received at the court of Mantua, I have not been
able to discover. We find one Rubini, a Piedmontese, certainly not of equal
merit with the last artist, who, about the time of Vermiglio, worked in the
church of S. Vito, in Trevigi, and whom we find mentioned in the MSS. of
that city, or in the description of its pictures.

Giovenal Boetto, celebrated amongst the engravers in Turin, deserves a
place amongst superior artists, from a saloon painted by him in Fossano,
his native place. It is in the Casa Garballi, and contains four pictures in
fresco. The subject is the illustration of various arts and sciences.
Theology is represented by a dispute between the Thomists and Scotists; and
in that piece, and in the others, we must admire the truth of nature in the
portraits, and the powerful chiaroscuro, as well as the design. Little else
of him remains.

Gio. Moneri, some of whose descendants were also painters, was born near
Acqui, and being instructed by Romanelli, he brought with him from Rome the
style of that school. The first proofs of his art were given in Acqui, in
1657, where he painted in the cathedral the picture of the Assumption,
besides a Paradiso in fresco, much commended. He continued to advance in
his art, as we see both in the Presentation in the church of the Capuchins,
and in other pictures of him remaining in the neighbourhood, exhibiting a
greater copiousness, a finer expression, and a stronger relief. It is known
that he worked in Genoa and Milan and their dependencies, and in several
places in Piedmont; but among these we cannot include Turin; nor could it
be easy for a provincial painter to find commissions, when the capital had
artists in sufficient number to form an academy.

Until the year 1652 the professors of the art in Turin did not possess the
form of a society, much less the appearance of an academy. In the above
year they first began to form themselves into a company, which had the name
of St. Luke given to it; and which, in a few years, grew into the academy
of Turin. We may consult, on this subject, the _Memorie Patrie_, published
by the Baron Vernazza. The court, in the mean time, continued their
salaries to the foreign painters, who were the ornament and support of the
academy. They were about this time engaged in embellishing the palace, and
afterwards that delightful residence, which was built from the design of
the same Duke Charles Emanuel II., and had the name of the Veneria Reale.
Their frescos, portraits, and other works, remain to the present day. After
one Baldassar Matthieu of Antwerp, by whom there is a highly prized Supper
of our Lord in the refectory of the Eremo, Gio. Miel, also from the
neighbourhood of Antwerp, a scholar, first of Vandyk, and afterwards of
Sacchi, was appointed painter to the court; a man of a delightful genius,
extolled in Rome for his humorous, and in Piedmont for his serious
subjects. In the soffitto of the great hall, where the body guard of the
king is stationed, are some pictures of Miel, in which, under the fabulous
characters of the heathen divinities, are represented the virtues of the
royal house; he executed some others, and perhaps more beautiful ones, in
the above named villa; and there is an altar-piece by him at Chieri, with
the date of 1654. We trace in all his works his study of the Italian
School; a grandeur and sublimity of ideas, an elevation beyond his
countrymen, an accurate knowledge of the _sotto in su_, and a fine
chiaroscuro, not unaccompanied by great delicacy of colour, particularly in
his cabinet pictures. The talent which he possessed in an extraordinary
manner in figures of a smaller size, he exhibited more especially in the
Veneria Reale, where he painted a set of Huntings of wild Beasts, in eight
pieces, which are amongst the finest of his works in this department of the
art. After him we read of one Banier, a painter to the court; in whose
time, about the year 1678, the company of St. Luke, united since the year
1675 to that of Rome, was, with the royal assent, erected into an academy;
and from this year may be dated the birth of that professional society so
much enlarged in our own days. But of all who were at that time or
afterwards in the service of the royal house, the most celebrated was
Daniel Saiter, or Seiter, of Vienna. I have mentioned him as well as Miel
in the Roman School, nor have I passed him over in the Venetian, in which
he learnt his art, perfecting his style by the study of all the schools of
Italy. His works are found in the palace and in the villas; nor has he
occasion to fear the proximity of Miel himself. He yields to the latter,
indeed, in grace and beauty, but is superior both to him and others in the
force and magic of his colouring. Nor in Turin do we find in him that
incorrect design which Pascoli attributes to him in Rome. But his oil
pictures are by far the most highly finished of his works; as for example,
a Pieta in the court, which we should say was designed in the academy of
the Caracci. He also painted the cupola of the great hospital, and it is
one of the finest frescos of the capital. We also meet with him in the
churches in various places in the state; and we find his works in many
private collections out of Piedmont, as he painted considerably in Venice
and in Rome.

Another foreigner, Carlo Delfino, a Frenchman, also flourished at this
time; an artist of very considerable merit. From the registers of the
archives we learn that he was painter to Prince Philibert; and from an
inspection of his works we may conjecture that he was more employed in the
churches than at the court, where we find him an animated and lively
portrait painter and colourist. He painted some altar-pieces for the city,
in which is displayed a genius more disposed to the natural than to the
ideal, and a fire which gives life to the gestures and composition; but
sometimes, if I do not estimate him wrongly, his ideas seem forced. Thus at
the church of S. Carlo, wishing to paint a S. Agostino overpowered by the
love of God, he represented a S. Joseph holding in his arms the infant
Christ, who from a cross-bow directs an arrow against the breast of the
saint. The saint struck, falls into the arms of angels, who employ
themselves in supporting and comforting him. Delfino had a scholar in Gio.
Batista Brambilla, who painted at S. Dalmazio a large picture on canvass,
of the Martyrdom of that saint, and was an artist of a correct style and a
good colourist.

There were other painters employed by the court from the middle to the end
of the century: some as portrait painters, as Monsieur Spirito, the Cav.
Mombasilio, Theodore Matham of Haerlem, and others employed in larger works
in oils and fresco. Giacinto Brandi, already mentioned among the scholars
of Lanfranc, painted in the palace a sfondo, in competition with some
others painted there by Saiter. Agostino Scilla of Messina, whom we have
elsewhere noticed, painted some Virtues there, conjointly with Saiter. He
was a fine artist, of more talent than industry. Gio. Andrea Casella of
Lugano, a scholar of Pietro da Cortona, and one of his best followers, and
sometimes in design an imitator of Bernino, painted in the Veneria Reale
some fables, assisted by Giacomo, his nephew. Gio. Paolo Recchi da Como
worked there in the same way in fresco, with the assistance of his nephew
Giannandrea. Gio. Peruzzini, of Ancona, a scholar of Simon da Pesaro, was
also patronised by the court, and was created a cavalier, and contributed
by his lectures to the instruction of youth.

Casella, Recchi, and Peruzzini, repaired to Turin and united their talents
in the embellishment of the churches of that city; and we may observe that,
towards the close of the century, a great part of the commissions were
executed by foreigners. To those already recorded we may add Triva,
Legnani, Cairo, and also a Gio. Batista Pozzi, who not succeeding to his
wishes in his own country, as I believe, decorated with frescos a vast
number of walls in Turin, and through all the Piedmontese. He was a hasty
practitioner, but sometimes produced a good general effect, as in the S.
Cristoforo of Vercelli. We find another, and a better artist of the same
name in P. Andrea, a Jesuit, who resided for a long time in Turin, where,
in the Congregazione de' Mercanti, he left four histories from the life of
the Saviour, painted in oil in his best manner, a manner derived from
Rubens, chequered by those beautiful and playful lights which may be said
to irradiate the composition. He also painted in fresco, in the church of
his order, but he was not satisfied with that work; and having afterwards
also to ornament the vault of the church of his order at Mondovi, he
repeated the subject, and executed it more to his satisfaction. There also
we find Il Genovesino, so called from his native place, not so well known
in Turin as in the state, particularly at Alessandria; a painter by no
means deficient in grace and colour, whence he is much esteemed in
cabinets. The PP. Predicatori have a S. Domenico by him, and a S. Thomas in
two altars of their church; the Sig. Marchese Ambrogio Ghilini, a Christ
praying in the Garden; the Marchese Carlo Guasco, two Madonnas, with the
holy infant sleeping, two different designs. The name of this artist was
Giuseppe Calcia, who in consequence of living in a foreign country, is not
noticed in his native history, and in the _Notizia delle Pitture d'Italia_,
he is confused with Marco Genovesini, a Milanese mentioned by Orlandi. This
artist was a considerable machinist, of whom there are no remains in Milan,
except what he painted in the church of the Augustines; the genealogical
tree, or history of that order, in the gallery, and two grand lateral
compositions, in which the figures are finely varied and coloured, but not
disposed and put into action with equal art. It would occupy too much time
to enumerate all the foreigners who worked at that time in Turin, or
throughout the state; and some of whom we have occasionally noticed in the
various schools of Italy.

The native painters of reputation were not numerous at this time; and the
most considerable, if I mistake not, were Caravoglia and Taricco.
Bartolommeo Caravoglia, a Piedmontese, was said to be the scholar of
Guercino: he followed his master's footsteps at a distance, affecting a
contrast of light and shade; but his lights are much less clear than those
of Guercino, and the shadows not so strong; a thing which does not occur in
the works of the genuine scholars of that master. Notwithstanding this
feebleness, he pleases us by a certain modest harmony which pervades his
pictures, and governs also the invention, the design, the architecture, and
the other decorative parts of his composition. In Turin is to be seen the
Miracle of the Eucharist, painted in the church of the _Corpus Domini_,
which, to perpetuate the occurrence of that event in Turin in 1453, was
erected in a sumptuous manner, and magnificently decorated.

"Sebastiano Taricco was born in Cherasco, a city of Piedmont, in the year
1645; and it clearly appears from his works that he studied with Guido and
with Domenichino in the great school of the Caracci." Thus far his
historian. I have endeavoured, but in vain, to find any record of the
residence of these two great masters in Bologna in the year 1645, when
Taricco was born; they were at that time both dead. I therefore conjecture
that the writer meant to say, that Taricco studied in Bologna the works of
the Caracci, as Guido and Domenichino had done before him. That he acquired
the principles of his art in that city is believed in Piedmont; and his
manner does not contradict this supposition. The truth is, that at that
time all Italy, as it were, was turned to the imitation of the Bolognese;
and Turin, as I have previously observed, had already a few specimens.
Above all they possessed specimens of Guido, and of his followers, Carlo
Nuvolone and Gio. Peruzzini; and all might influence the style of
Sebastiano, which was select in the heads, and sufficiently pleasing in
general, but of too great facility, and without that refinement which
distinguishes the classic painters. This I say after seeing the picture of
the Trinity, and others of his oil pictures at Turin: but I have heard that
the Sala of the Sig. Gotti, painted by him in fresco in his native place,
and various other works by him interspersed through that vicinity, inspire
a higher opinion of his talents. In the seventh volume of the _Lettere
Pittoriche_ there is mention made of a picture of S. Martino Maggiore at
Bologna; where are represented the Saints Giovacchino and Anna, and where
there is subscribed the initials TAR, probably Taricco, as has been
elsewhere conjectured. But the style of this picture is like that of
Sabbatini, which is in fact a more ancient style than that which Taricco
has exhibited in his authenticated works.

Alessandro Mari, of Turin, resided only for a short time in his native
city, nor did he leave any public works there. He changed both his country
and his school, and studied first under Piola, next under Liberi, and again
under Pasinelli; always uniting the practice of painting with the
cultivation of poetry. He ultimately became a celebrated copyist, and a
successful designer of capricci and symbolical representations, by which he
established a reputation in Milan, and afterwards in Spain, where he died.

We find the name of Isabella dal Pozzo inscribed at the foot of a picture
at S. Francis, which represents the Virgin, together with S. Biagio and
other saints. The birth-place of this fair artist is unknown to me; but I
may observe that, in 1666, when she painted, there were not many better
artists in Turin. Somewhat later flourished Gio. Antonio Mareni, a scholar
of Baciccio, by whom there is a beautiful picture noticed in the _Guide_.
Towards the beginning of the eighteenth century were employed in those
churches, and sometimes in competition with each other, Antonio Mari and
Tarquinio Grassi, whether of the family of Niccolò Grassi of Venice, who
painted at S. Carlo, I cannot say, but certainly the father of a Gio.
Batista. Tarquinio is well known in Turin, and seems to have derived some
portion of his style from Cignani and the Bolognese of that age.

Monferrato was not deficient in good artists in the seventeenth century.
Some of these I have mentioned in the train of Lanini; others in that of
Moncalvo. I shall here mention only Evangelista Martinotti, the scholar of
Salvator Rosa, of great excellence in landscapes, small figures, and
animals, as Orlandi informs us. I may add, that he succeeded also in nobler
subjects; a Baptism of our Lord, in the Duomo of Casale, is shewn as his,
and is a highly finished performance. There are two works there in public
by a Raviglione di Casale, than whom, after Musso, I do not think that
Monferrato has produced a more commendable artist: but we are nevertheless
ignorant of his name, his age, and his school. Ferdinando Cairo was a
respectable disciple of Franceschini in Bologna: he afterwards established
himself at Brescia, where he continued, with Boni and others, to profess
that easy style, and the latter city possesses his best works.

SCHOOL OF PIEDMONT AND THE
ADJACENT TERRITORY.

EPOCH III.

_School of Beaumont, and Restoration of the Academy._

The eighteenth century was graced by the reign of three successive princes,
all lovers of the fine arts, and was consequently rich in patronage; but
from the decline of painting it was not equally rich in the production of
great works. Saiter, who lived some years in this century, was succeeded at
the court by Agnelli, a Roman, whose style was a mixture of those of
Cortona and Maratta. He painted a large hall, which is filled with select
pictures, and which now bears his name. Agnelli was in his turn succeeded
by Claudio Beaumont of Turin, who after having studied in his native place,
repaired to Rome, where he employed himself for a considerable time in
copying the works of Raffaello, the Caracci, and Guido. He did not much
regard the masters of the Roman School of that day, considering them
feeble: he deferred to Trevisani, and aimed at emulating his execution and
the vigour of his colouring: he was also desirous of studying the works of
the old masters at Venice, but was prevented by his domestic circumstances.
On his return to Turin, he became distinguished for the noble style he had
acquired in Rome. To appreciate him correctly we must inspect the works of
his best time; as the Deposition from the Cross in the church of the S.
Croce, or the pictures in fresco in the royal library, where, under various
symbols, he has celebrated the ruling family; adding to it a Genius with a
cross of a cavaliere, which was the reward he was ambitious of, and which
he obtained. He decorated also other rooms with pictures in fresco; the
Rape of Helen in one cabinet, and the Judgment of Paris in another, are his
productions, alike happy in their general effect and in their separate
parts.

The court gave an additional stimulus to his industry by employing, in
competition with him, many eminent foreigners, particularly in the reign of
King Charles, to embellish the palace, the villas, and the churches of
royal foundation; among the latter of which the most remarkable is the
church of the Sopperga, erected by Victor II., which contains the family
monuments. Beaumont was in consequence brought into competition with
Sebastiano Ricci, Giaquinto, Guidoboni, De Mura, Galeotti, and Gio. Batista
Vanloo, the celebrated scholar of Luti. Vanloo in Turin distinguished
himself both in the frescos of the villas, and in church pictures; and had
with him Carlo, his brother and his scholar, who was his assistant, and
executed even more works than he. He painted the beautiful decorations of a
cabinet in the Palazzo, consisting of subjects from the Jerusalem of Tasso.
These princes were moreover accustomed to send commissions to the most
distinguished foreign painters, such as Solimene, Trevisani, Masucci, and
Pittoni; which gave a stimulus to Beaumont to rival them, or at least to
endeavour not to be left too far behind. And thus in his best works he
sustains his fame in a commendable manner; at one time excelling in design
those who conquer him in colour; at another time surpassing in spirit of
execution those who excel him in design. It is the general opinion that his
genius declined as he advanced in years; and this is attributed to his
superintendance of the working of tapestry, for which, while he made the
cartoons, he gradually degenerated into negligence of design, vulgarity in
his heads, and above all, crudeness and want of harmony in his colours; a
defect not uncommon in those who survived him.

His memory is deservedly held in veneration in his native place. He was the
first to form the Turin academy on the model of the greater institutions of
that kind: so that it seemed to date a new birth from his time, in 1736
(for it was not before extended to all branches of the art) under the
appellation of the Royal Academy; as appears from the Orazione of
Tagliazucchi, and the poetry annexed, in a little volume edited in Turin in
1736, entitled, _Orazione e Poesie per la Instituzione dell'Accademia del
disegno_, in 8vo. Beaumont educated not only many painters of merit, but
also engravers, tapestry-workers, and modellers and statuaries; from which
epoch the national cultivation of the fine arts has increased, far beyond
the example of former times. Some of those who were the scholars of
Beaumont in painting still survive. Some are deceased, (and these alone
hold a place in this work,) of similar style, though not of equal talents
with their master. Vittorio Blanseri was considered the best amongst them,
and was on that account chosen by the court to succeed Beaumont. The three
pictures by him at S. Pelagia, and particularly a S. Luigi fainting in the
arms of an angel, are much esteemed in Turin; and if I err not, he is
superior to his master in the distribution of light and shade. A more
correct designer than Blanseri, but inferior in poetical invention, and in
knowledge of harmony and colouring, was Gio. Molinari, who painted some
pictures in the churches; one of which is at S. Bernardo di Vercelli, a
composition of saints, well disposed, with good action, and conducted with
great care. In Turin there is an Addolorata by him at the Regio Albergo
delle Virtù; others in various places in the state; amongst which in the
abbey of S. Benigno is a St. John the Baptist, with a landscape by
Cignaroli. In private collections we meet with his historical pieces and
his portraits: he painted one of the king, which was highly applauded, and
has been very frequently copied. Owing to his character, which was
naturally timid, reserved, and modest, he painted history less than he
ought to have done. This artist was honoured by the Baron Vernazza with an
elegant eulogium, which will confer a lasting honour on his memory. He died
nearly at the same time as another eminent Piedmontese of the name of
Tesio. Whether or not Tesio was instructed in the art by Beaumont, or by
others, I cannot state; but I know that he repaired to Rome, and there
became one of the best scholars of Mengs; and at Moncalieri, a delightful
residence of the royal family, are to be seen some of the finest specimens
of his talents. Felice Cervetti and Mattia Franceschini worked sometimes
alone, sometimes in competition, with more facility but less finish, and
are pretty frequently met with in Turin. But in Turin, and throughout the
state, Antonio Milocco is better known than these, or perhaps any other
painter. He was not the scholar, but for some time the companion of the
Cavalier Beaumont; more dry than he in design, less cultivated, and
inferior to him in all the qualities of a painter: but from a peculiar
facility he was often employed by private individuals, and sometimes by the
court.

About the same period Giancarlo Aliberti flourished in Asti, his native
city, which he adorned with many large compositions. The best of these are
at S. Agostino, where, in the cupola of the church he has represented the
titular saint borne to heaven by a band of angels; and in the presbytery,
the same saint baptizing the newly converted in the church of his town of
Ippona. The subject is well conceived; the perspective, which the vaulting
of the edifice rendered difficult, is correctly preserved; the architecture
is magnificent; the expression of the figures is in unison with the august
ceremony: the style participates of the Roman and Bolognese of those times.
He would probably have left some works of a higher order in the cathedral,
a fine church, which was intended to have been wholly decorated by him; but
in consequence of demanding fifteen years for the completion of his work,
he was deprived of the commission; nor was it difficult to find one to
execute it quickly enough, without exciting the jealousy of Aliberti. P.
della Valle found in his style a mixture of Maratta, of Gio. da S.
Giovanni, and of Coreggio; heads and feet which one should attribute to
Guido or Domenichino; forms peculiar to the Caracci; drapery of Paolo,
colours of Guercino, a Sacrifice of Abraham, imitated from Mecherino. I had
not myself time to form so many comparisons. The Abate Aliberti, his son,
painted in many of the above-named cities, and, (which I have not found in
the father,) in the capital. There is a Holy Family, of fine effect,
painted by him in the church of the Carmine, though in the colouring it is
not exempt from that greenish tinge which was then in vogue in Italy, and
which still predominates in the works of some of our artists.

Francesco Antonio Cuniberti, of Savigliano, a fresco painter of some
reputation in the decoration of cupolas and ceilings, worked in his native
place and its neighbourhood. Pietro Gualla di Casalmonferrato also employed
himself in fresco, and likewise painted in oil in many places of the state,
and in the metropolis. Although he applied himself late to the study of his
art, he became a portrait painter of great spirit. Nor ought he to have
gone beyond this province, neither possessing a knowledge of design, nor
genius equal to greater attempts. When verging on age, he assumed the habit
of a friar of S. Paul, and in Milan undertook to ornament a cupola of the
church of that order; but he died before he had finished his work.

Another department of the art was cultivated in a distinguished manner by
Domenico Olivieri of Turin, a man born to amuse by his singular personal
appearance, his lively conversation, and the humorous productions of his
pencil. His cabinet pictures of spirited caricatures in the style of Laer,
and other eminent Flemish artists, are well known in the collections of
Piedmont. In his time the royal collection, by the death of Prince Eugene,
was enriched by the addition of nearly four hundred Flemish pictures; which
are still distinguishable from others by the highly finished carving and
fine taste of the frames. No one profited more than Olivieri from the
imitation of these works. If he had possessed the lucid clearness of their
tints, he would have passed for a Flemish artist. He is happy in his
subject, strong in his colours, and free in his touch. The court has two
large pictures of his, crowded with figures of a span in size: one of which
is a market scene, with charlatans, drawers of teeth, villagers
quarrelling, and the variety of incident usually furnished by a busy
assemblage of the vulgar. It might indeed, from its humour, be called a
little Bernesque poem. He occasionally employed his talents in sacred
subjects, as in the Miracle of the Sacrament, which he represented by a
number of small figures in two pictures, which are preserved in the
sacristy of the Corpus Domini. His style was inherited by one Graneri, who
imitated him successfully, and died only a few years since.

The court had also a painter from Prague, of the name of Francesco Antonio
Meyerle, commonly called Monsieur Meyer, who did not acquire so much fame
from his larger works as from his small pictures in the Flemish style: in
the latter he was indeed excellent. He was also a fine painter of
portraits. The Bishop of Vercelli possesses one of an old man, scrutinizing
some object or other with an eye-glass, executed with great truth and
humour; and in the same city, where he spent his latter days, his works are
frequently met with, and the more prized the smaller they are found in
size. In landscapes and other ornamental pictures, painted in a bold
Venetian style, and for distant effect, a Piedmontese, of the name of Paolo
Foco, distinguished himself, who lived for a long time in Casale, where the
greater number of his works are to be found. He, too, attempted figures on
a larger scale, but with little success.

In portraits, in the time of Orlandi, a lady of the name of Anna Metrana,
whose mother also was a painter, was much esteemed. In our days a similar
reputation was obtained in Bologna, by Marcantonio Riverditi, of
Alessandria, a very good follower of that school. He painted also in the
churches in a clear chaste style, far removed from mannerism; and amongst
other pictures which he painted for the church of the monks of Camoldoli,
is a Conception, in which he manifested his predilection for Guido Reni. He
died in the same city in the year 1774.

I have found, in the course of my reading, one Michela, whether or not of
Piedmont I cannot determine, who, in the royal castle painted perspectives,
ornamented with figures by Olivieri; a work executed in competition with
Lucatelli, Marco Ricci, and Gian Paolo Pannini, celebrated artists of those
times. For the more extensive decorations of the churches and the theatres
we find two artists often employed; Dellamano, of Modena, mentioned by us
in the second chapter of the Lombard Schools,[77] and Gio. Batista Crosato,
of Venice, whose genius and fine taste are extolled by Sig. Zanetti. He has
not, however, been able to adduce more than one public picture, in which
branch, and in every other of a figurist, he was less admired than in
perspective. He is one of those painters who deceive the eye by a strong
relief, and he thus gives the semblance of reality to his imitations. He
has left proofs of this quality in various parts of Piedmont, where he
generally resided; and the works which do the most honour to his memory are
at the Vigna della Regina. He conferred a benefit on the School of
Piedmont, from his instruction of Bernardino Galliari, a celebrated
perspective painter, particularly for the theatres, and of great fame in
Milan, in Berlin, and in other places beyond the mountains. To this
respected professor his scholars are indebted for their accurate taste in
art. The state has also produced other painters in figures and in
landscape; nor will any impartial person blame me for not having
particularised every individual of them. On the contrary, I fear that
several names here inserted by me, may appear to some of my readers
scarcely worthy of admission. Such persons ought however to consider, that
the mediocrity of the times compels the historian to notice artists of
mediocrity.

Footnote 77: See vol. iv. p. 69.

The rules of the academy, introduced in Turin in 1778, have not subsisted
sufficiently long to allow us to judge of their result, as I have done with
regard to older establishments. They were given to the public the same
year, from the royal press;[78] and do honour as well to the good taste as
to the munificence of Victor Amadeus III. His august father had, indeed,
already prepared a domicile for the fine arts in the halls of the
university, and had founded the new academy of design, under the direction
of the first painter of the court. It has since received fresh lustre from
the patronage of the present king, and has been enlarged by professorships,
stipends, and laws, and aids of all kinds for studious youth. Turin has, in
the present day, exhibited productions in painting, such as, except in
Rome, are to be found in few capitals of Italy; and in architecture,
statuary, and bronze, stands almost unrivalled. I do not particularise the
living artists, as they may easily be found in the New City Guide, or in
the preface to volume xi. of Vasari, printed in Siena; and some of their
names have become better known from the voice of public applause than from
the pens of writers.

Footnote 78: There is annexed to them a learned Treatise, by
the Count Felice Durando di Villa, with very erudite and
copious notes.

I here close my History of the Art of Painting. The Indexes, which form the
sixth volume, the first, containing the nomenclature and the different ages
of the artists; the second, a list of the writers from whom I have derived
my information; and the third, a reference to some things more particularly
deserving of notice, will complete the work.

END OF VOL. V.

Transcriber's Notes:

Standardized spacing after apostrophes in Italian names and phrases.

Standardized inconsistent hyphenation. For consistency with prior volumes
in this series of books, 'bassi-rilievi' was changed to 'bassi-relievi' and
'master-piece' to 'masterpiece.'

Moved footnotes to the end of the paragraph in which the anchor occurs.

Retained archaic spelling and punctuation, except as noted below:

'an' added to Footnote 1 ... to supply an abundance of valuable ...
'Comunal' to 'Communal' ... in the Communal Collection ...
'reconducts' to 're-conducts' ... he re-conducts him to Bologna ...
'emiment' to 'eminent' ...both eminent ornamental painters ...
'Ceseno' to 'Cesena' ... a pupil of Raffaello at Cesena ...
'Tintoret' to 'Tintoretto' ... under Titian and Tintoretto at Venice....
'chiariscuri' to 'chiaroscuri' ... some chiaroscuri happily enough ...
'Ferrau' to 'Ferraù' ... He flourished after Ferraù ...
added 'of' ... names not unworthy of a place in history ...'
'desart' to 'desert' for consistency with remaining text
... desert of Judea,...
... The Saint preaching in the Desert ...
'Barruffaldi' to 'Baruffaldi' ... relating to Baruffaldi's MS....
'Mezzarata' to 'Mezzaratta' ...the church of Mezzaratta;...
'Winckelman' to 'Winckelmann' ... and of Winckelmann,...
'intituled' to 'entitled' ... in 1736, entitled,...

*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. V (of 6) - from the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End - of the Eighteenth Century" ***

Home