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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/34585-8.txt b/34585-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fe5081f --- /dev/null +++ b/34585-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11064 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. 2 +(of 6), by Luigi Antonio Lanzi + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. 2 (of 6) + from the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End + of the Eighteenth Century (6 volumes) + +Author: Luigi Antonio Lanzi + +Translator: Thomas Roscoe + +Release Date: December 8, 2010 [EBook #34585] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF PAINTING IN *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Carol Brown, Bill Tozier and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + THE + + HISTORY OF PAINTING + + IN + + ITALY. + + + VOL. II. + + + + + 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. II. + + CONTAINING THE SCHOOLS OF ROME AND NAPLES. + + 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 SECOND VOLUME. + + + + HISTORY OF PAINTING IN LOWER ITALY. + + BOOK THE THIRD. + + ROMAN SCHOOL. + + Page + + EPOCH I. _The old masters_ 1 + + EPOCH II. _Raffaello and his school_ 48 + + EPOCH III. _The art declines, in consequence of the + public calamities of Rome, and gradually + falls into mannerism_ 124 + + EPOCH IV. _Restoration of the Roman school by Barocci + and other artists, subjects of the Roman + state and foreigners_ 177 + + EPOCH V. _The scholars of Pietro da Cortona, from + an injudicious imitation of their master, deteriorate + the art_--_Maratta and others support + it_ 262 + + + BOOK THE FOURTH. + + NEAPOLITAN SCHOOL. + + EPOCH I. _The old masters_ 345 + + EPOCH II. _Modern Neapolitan style, founded on the + schools of Raffaello and Michelangiolo_ 368 + + EPOCH III. _Corenzio, Ribera, Caracciolo, flourish in + Naples_--_Strangers who compete with them_ 389 + + EPOCH IV. _Luca Giordano, Solimene, and their + scholars_ 426 + + + + + HISTORY OF PAINTING + + IN + + LOWER ITALY. + + BOOK III. + + + + + ROMAN SCHOOL. + + +I have frequently heard the lovers of art express a doubt whether the +Roman School possesses the same inherent right to that distinctive +appellation as the schools of Florence, Bologna, and Venice. Those of +the latter cities were, indeed, founded by their respective citizens, +and supported through a long course of ages; while the Roman School, it +may be said, could boast only of Giulio Romano and Sacchi, and a few +others, natives of Rome, who taught, and left scholars there. The other +artists who flourished there were either natives of the cities of the +Roman state, or from other parts of Italy, some of whom established +themselves in Rome, and others, after the close of their labours there, +returned and died in their native places. But this question is, if I +mistake not, rather a dispute of words than of things, and similar to +those objections advanced by the peripatetic sophists against the modern +philosophy; insisting that they abuse the meaning of their words, and +quoting, as an example, the _vis inertiæ_; as if that, which is in +itself inert, could possess the quality of force. The moderns laugh at +this difficulty, and coolly reply that, if the _vis_ displeased them, +they might substitute _natura_, or any other equivalent word; and that +it was lost time to dispute about words, and neglect things. So it may +be said in this case; they who disapprove of the designation of school, +may substitute that of academy, or any other term denoting a place where +the art of painting is professed and taught. And, as the learned +universities always derive their names from the city where they are +established, as the university of Padua or Pisa, although the professors +may be all, or in great part, from other states, so it is with the +schools of painting, to which the name of the country is always +attached, in preference to that of the master. In Vasari we do not find +this classification of schools, and Monsignor Agucchi was the first to +divide Italian art into the schools of Lombardy, Venice, Tuscany, and +Rome.[1] He has employed the term of schools after the manner of the +ancients, and has thus characterised one of them as the Roman School. He +has, perhaps, erred in placing Michel Angiolo, as well as Raphael, at +the head of this school, as posterity have assigned him his station as +chief of the school of Florence; but he has judged right in classing it +under a separate head, possessing, as it does, its own peculiar style; +and in this he has been followed by all the modern writers of art. The +characteristic feature in the Roman School has been said to consist in a +strict imitation of the works of the ancients, not only in sublimity, +but also in elegance and selection; and to this we shall add other +peculiarities, which will be noticed in their proper place. Thus, from +its propriety, or from tacit convention, the appellation of the Roman +School has been generally adopted; and, as it certainly serves to +distinguish one of the leading styles of Italian art, it becomes +necessary to employ it, in order to make ourselves clearly understood. +We cannot, indeed, allow to the Roman School so extensive a range as we +have assigned to that of Florence, in the first book; nevertheless, +every one that chooses may apply this appellation to it in a very +enlarged sense. Nor is the fact of other artists having taught, or +having given a tone to painting in the capital, any valid objection to +this term; since, in a similar manner, we find Titiano, Paolo Veronese, +and Bassano, in Venice, though all of them were strangers; but, as they +were subjects of her government, they were all termed Venetians, as that +name alike embraces those born in the city or within the dominions of +the Republic. The same may be said of the subjects of the Pope. Besides +the natives of Rome, there appeared masters from many of her subject +cities, who, teaching in Rome, followed in the steps of their +predecessors, and maintained the same principles of art. Passing over +Pier della Francesca and Pietro Vannucci, we may refer to Raffaello +himself as an example. Raffaello was born in Urbino, and was the subject +of a duke, who held his fief under the Roman see, and who, in Rome, held +the office of prefect of the city; and whose dominions, in failure of +male issue, reverted to the Pope, as the heritage of the church. Thus +Raffaello cannot be considered other than a Roman subject. To him +succeeded Giulio Romano and his scholars; who were followed by Zuccari, +and the mannerists of that time, until the art found a better style +under the direction of Baroccio, Baglione, and others. After them +flourished Sacchi and Maratta, whose successors have extended to our own +times. Restricted within these bounds, the Roman may certainly be +considered as a national school; and, if not rich in numbers, it is at +least so in point of excellence, as Raffaello in himself outweighs a +world of inferior artists. + +The other painters who resided in Rome, and followed the principles of +that school, I shall neither attempt to add to, nor to subtract from the +number of its followers; adopting it as a maxim not to interfere in the +decision of disputes, alike idle and irrelevant to my subject. Still +less shall I ascribe to it those who there adopted a totally different +style, as Michelangiolo da Caravaggio, an artist whom Lombardy may lay +claim to, on account of his birth, or Venice, from his receiving his +education in that city, though he lived and wrote in Rome, and +influenced the taste of the national school there by his own example and +that of his scholars. In the same manner many other names will +occasionally occur in the history of this school: it is the duty of the +historian to mention these, and it is, at the same time, an incomparable +triumph to the Roman School, that she stands, in this manner, as the +centre of all the others; and that so many artists could not have +obtained celebrity, if they had not seen Rome, or could not have claimed +that title from the world unless they had first obtained her suffrage. + +I shall not identify the limits of this school with those of the +dominions of the church, as in that case we should comprise in it the +painters of Bologna, Ferrara, and Romagna, whom I have reserved for +another volume. In my limits I shall include only the capital, and the +provinces in its immediate vicinity, as Latium, the Sabine territories, +the patrimony of the Church, Umbria, Picenum, and the state of Urbino, +the artists of which district were, for the most part, educated in Rome, +or under the eyes of Roman masters. My historical notices of them will +be principally derived from Vasari, Baglione, Passeri, and Leone +Pascoli. From these writers we have the lives of many artists who +painted in Rome, and the last named author has included in his account +his fellow countrymen of Perugia. Pascoli has not, indeed, the merits of +the three first writers; but he does not deserve the discredit thrown on +him by Ratti and Bottari, the latter of whom, in his notes to Vasari, +does not hesitate to call him a wretched writer, and unworthy of credit. +His work, indeed, on the artists of Perugia, shows that he +indiscriminately copied what he found in others, whether good or bad; +and to the vulgar traditions of the early artists he paid more than due +attention. But his other work, on the history of the modern painters, +sculptors, and architects, is a book of authority. In every branch of +history much credit is attached to the accounts of contemporary writers, +particularly if they were acquaintances or friends of the persons of +whom they wrote; and Pascoli has this advantage; for, in addition to +information from their own mouths, he derived materials from their +surviving friends, nor spared any pains to arrive at the truth, (_see +Vita del Cozza_). The judgment, therefore, which he passes on each +artist, is not wholly to be despised, since he formed it on those of the +various professors then living in Rome, as Winckelmann has observed +(tom. i. p. 450); and, if these persons, as it is pretended, have erred +in their judgment on the Greek sculptors, they have certainly not erred +in their estimate of modern painters, particularly Luti, to whom I +imagine Pascoli, from esteem and intimacy, deferred more than to any +other artist. + +We have from Bellori other lives, written with more learning and +criticism, some of which are supposed to be lost. He had originally +applied himself to painting, but deserted that art, as we may conjecture +from Pascoli (_vita del Canini_), and attached himself to poetry, and +the study of antiquities: and his skill in both arts manifests itself in +the lives he has left, which are few, but interspersed with interesting +and minute particulars of the characters of the painters and their +works. In his plan, he informs us he has followed the advice of Niccolo +Poussin. He composed also a "Description of the figures painted by +Raffaello, in the churches of the Vatican;" a tract which contains some +severe reflections on Vasari,[2] but is nevertheless highly useful. We +also find a profusion of entertaining anecdotes in Taja, in his +"Description of the Vatican;" and in Titi, in his account of the +pictures, sculpture, and architecture of Rome. This work has recently +been republished, with additions; and we shall occasionally quote it +under the name of the _Guide_. Pesaro is indebted for a similar _Guide_ +to Signor Becci, and Ascoli and Perugia to Signor Baldassare Orsini, a +celebrated architect. We have also the _Lettere Perugine_ of Sig. +Dottore Annibale Mariotti, which treat of the early painters of Perugia, +with a store of information and critical acumen that render them highly +valuable. To these may also be added, the _Risposta_ of the above named +Sig. Orsini, whom I regret to see entering on Etruscan ground, as he +there repeats many ancient errors, which have been long exploded by +common consent: in other points it is a treatise worth perusal. If we +turn to _Descriptions_, we have them of several periods, as that of the +Basilica Loretana, and that of Assisi, composed by P. Angeli; and the +account of the Duomo of Orvieto, written by P. della Valle; and the +works on the churches of S. Francesco di Perugia, and S. Pietro di Fano, +by anonymous writers. The Abbate Colucci has favoured us with recent +notices on various artists of Piceno and Umbria, and Urbino, in his +_Antichità Picene_, extended, as far as my observation goes, to tom. +XXXI.[3] The learned authors whom I have named, and others to whom I +shall occasionally refer, have furnished the chief materials of my +present treatise, although I have myself collected a considerable part +from artists and lovers of art, either in conversation, or in my +correspondence. Thus far in the way of introduction. + +[Footnote 1: Bellori, Vite de' Pittori, p. 191. "The Roman School, of +which Raffaello and Michel Angiolo were the great masters, derived its +principles from the study of the statues and works of the ancients."] + +[Footnote 2: Lett. Pittor. tom. ii. p. 323; and Dialoghi sopra le tre +Arti del Disegno. In Lucca, 1754.] + +[Footnote 3: This work contains contributions from various quarters. I +have not, however, made an equal use of all; as I believe some pictures +to be copies, which are there referred to as originals; and as several +names there mentioned, may with propriety be omitted. In my references, +I shall often cite the collections; sometimes also the authors of some +more considerable treatises, as P. Civalli, Terzi, Sig. Agostino Rossi, +Sig. Arciprete Lazzari, respecting whom I must refer to the second +index, where will be found the titles of their respective works.] + + + + + ROMAN SCHOOL + + EPOCH I. + + _Early Artists._ + + +If we turn our eyes for a moment to that tract of country which we have +designated as falling within the limits of the Roman School, amidst the +claims of modern art, we shall occasionally meet with both Greek and +Latin pictures of the rude ages; from the first of which we may +conclude, that Greek artists formerly painted in this part of Italy; and +from the latter, that our own countrymen were emulous to follow their +example. One of these artists is said to have had the name of Luca, and +to him is ascribed the picture of the Virgin, at S. Maria Maggiore, and +many others in Italy, which are believed to be painted by S. Luke the +Evangelist. Who this Luca was, or whether one painter or more of that +name ever existed, we shall presently inquire. The tradition was +impugned by Manni,[4] and after him by Piacenza, (tom. ii. p. 120,) and +is now only preserved among the vulgar, a numerous class indeed, who +shut their ears to every rational criticism as an innovation on their +faith. This vulgar opinion is alike oppugned by the silence of the early +artists, and the well attested fact, that in the first ages of the +church the Virgin was not represented with the holy Infant in her +arms;[5] but had her hands extended in the act of prayer. This is +exemplified in the funeral vase of glass in the Museo Trombelli at +Bologna, with the inscription MARIA, and in many bassirilievi of +christian sarcophagi, where she is represented in a similar attitude. +Rome possesses several of these specimens, and several are to be found +in Velletri.[6] It is however a common opinion, that these pictures are +by a painter of the name of Luca. Lami refers to a legend of the 14th +century of the Madonna dell'Impruneta, where they are said to be the +works of a Florentine of the name of Luca, who for his many christian +virtues obtained the title of saint.[7] They are not however all in the +same style, and some of them bear Greek inscriptions, whence we may +conclude that they are by various hands; although they all appear to be +painted in or about the 12th century. This tradition was not confined to +Italy alone, but found its way also into many of the eastern churches. +The author of the _Anecdotes des Beaux Arts_, relates that the memory of +a Luca, a hermit, who had painted many rude portraits of the Virgin, was +held in great veneration in Greece; and that through a popular +superstition he had succeeded to the title of S. Luke the Evangelist. +Tournefort (_Voyage, &c._) mentions an image of the Virgin at Mount +Lebanon, attributed by the vulgar to S. Luke; but which was doubtless +also the work of some Luke, a monk in one of the early ages. + +More considerable remains both of the Greek and Italian artists of the +13th century are to be found in Assisi, as related in my first book; and +to those already mentioned as painted on the walls, may be added others +on panel, and all by unknown artists; particularly a crucifixion in S. +Chiara, of which there is a tradition, that it was painted before Giunta +appeared. Another picture anterior to this period, and bearing the date +of 1219, is to be seen at Subiaco; it is a consecration of a church, and +the painter informs us that _Conciolus pinxit_. If in addition to these +artists we inquire after the miniature painters, we may find specimens +of them in abundance, in the library of the Vatican, and other +collections in Rome. I shall name S. Agostino, in the public library of +Perugia, where the Redeemer is seen in the midst of saints, and the +opening of Genesis is painted in miniature; a design which, from the +angular folds of the drapery, partakes of the Greek style, but still +serves to prove this art to have been known at that time in Umbria. In +addition to what I have remarked, I may also observe, that in Perugia, +in the course of the same century, the artists were sufficiently +numerous to form an academy, as we may collect from the _Lettere +Perugine_, and these, when we consider the time, must have been in great +part miniature painters. + +It is now time to notice Oderigi of Gubbio, a town very near to Perugia. +Vasari tells us that he was a man of celebrity, and a friend of Giotto, +in Rome; and Dante, in his second _Cantica_, calls him an honour to +Agobbio, and excelling in the art of miniature. These are the only +authorities that Baldinucci could have for transferring this ancient +artist to the school of Cimabue, and ingrafting him in his usual manner +on that stock. Upon these he founded his conjecture; and, according to +his custom, gave them more weight than they deserved. His opinion, +however amplified, reduces itself to the assumption that Giotto, +Oderigi, and Dante, were lovers of art, and common friends, and became +therefore acquainted in the school of Cimabue; a very uncertain +conclusion. We shall consider this subject more maturely in the school +of Bologna, since Oderigi lived there, and instructed Franco, from whom +Bologna dates the series of her painters. It is thought, too, that he +left some scholars in his native place, and not long after him, in 1321, +we find Cecco, and Puccio da Gubbio, engaged as painters of the +Cathedral of Orvieto; and about the year 1342, Guido Palmerucci of the +same place, employed in the palace of his native city. There remains a +work of his in fresco in the hall, much injured by time; but some +figures of saints are still preserved, which do not yield to the best +style of Giotto. Some other vestiges of very ancient paintings are to be +seen in the Confraternita de' Bianchi; in whose archives it is mentioned +that the picture of S. Biagio was repaired by Donato, in 1374; whence it +must necessarily be of a very early period. This and other interesting +information I obtained from Sig. Sebastiano Rangliasci, a noble +inhabitant of Gubbio, who has formed a catalogue of the artists of his +native city, inserted in the fourth volume of the last edition of +Vasari. + +We are now arrived at the age of Giotto, and the first who presents +himself to us is Pietro Cavallini, who was instructed by Giotto, in +Rome,[8] in the arts of painting and mosaic, both of which he followed +with skill and intelligence. The Roman Guide makes mention of him, and +that of Florence refers to a Nunziata at S. Mark; and there are others +mentioned by Vasari as being in the chapels of that city; one of which +is in the Loggia del Grano. The most remarkable of his works is to be +seen in Assisi. It is a fresco, and occupies a large façade in one +division of the church. It represents the crucifixion of our Saviour, +surrounded by bands of soldiers, foot and horse, and a numerous crowd of +spectators, all varying in their dress and the expression of their +passions. In the sky is a band of angels, whose sympathizing sorrow is +vividly depicted. In extent and spirit of design it partakes of the +style of Memmi, and in one of the sufferers on the cross he has shewn +that he justly appreciated and successfully followed his guide. The +colours are well preserved, particularly the blue, which there, and in +other parts of the church, presents to our admiring gaze, to use the +language of our poets, a heaven of oriental sapphire. + +Vasari does not appear to have been acquainted with any scholar of +Pietro Cavallini, except it be Giovanni da Pistoja; but Pietro, who +lived in Rome the greater part of his life, which was extended to a +period of eighty-five years, must have contributed his aid in no small +degree to the advancement of art, in the capital, as well as in other +places. However this may be, in that part of Italy, pictures of his +school are still found; or at least memorials of art of the age in which +he flourished. We have an Andrea of Velletri, of whom a specimen is +preserved in the select collection of the Museo Borgia, with the Virgin +surrounded by saints, a common subject at that period in the churches, +as I have before observed. It has the name of the painter, with the year +1334, and in execution approaches nearer to the school of Siena than any +other. In the year 1321 we find Ugolino Orvietano, Gio. Bonini di +Assisi, Lello Perugino, and F. Giacomo da Camerino, noticed by us in +another place, all employed in painting in the Cathedral of Orvieto. +Mariotti, in his letters, mentions other artists of Perugia, and the +memory of a very early painter of Fabriano is preserved by Ascevolini, +the historian of that city, who informs us, that in the country church +of S. Maria Maddalena, in his time, there was a picture in fresco, by +Bocco, executed in 1306. A Francesco Tio da Fabriano, who in 1318 +painted the tribune of the Conventuals at Mondaino, is mentioned by +Colucci, (tom. xxv. p. 183). This work has perished; but the productions +of a successor of his at Fabriano are to be seen in the oratory of S. +Antonio Abate, the walls of which remain. Many histories of the saint +are there to be found, divided into pictures, in the early style, and +inscribed, _Allegrettus Nutii de Fabriano hoc opus fecit 136_.... The +art in these parts was not a little advanced by their proximity to +Assisi, where Giotto's scholars were employed after his death, +particularly Puccio Capanna of Florence. This artist, who is esteemed +one of the most successful followers of Giotto, after painting in +Florence, in Pistoia, Rimino, and Bologna, is conjectured by Vasari to +have settled in Assisi, where he left many works behind him. + +We shall find the succeeding century more fruitful in art, as the Popes +at that time forsook Avignon, and, re-establishing themselves in Rome, +began to decorate the palace of the Vatican, and to employ painters of +celebrity both there and in the churches. There does not appear any +person of distinction amongst them as a native of Rome. From the Roman +State we find Gentile da Fabriano, Piero della Francesca, Bonfigli, +Vannucci, and Melozzo, who first practised the art of _sotto in su_; and +amongst the strangers are Pisanello, Masaccio, Beato Angelico, +Botticelli and his colleagues. Amongst these too, it is said, was to be +found Mantegna, and there still remains the chapel painted by him for +Innocent VIII. although since converted to another purpose. Each of +these artists I shall notice in their respective schools, and shall here +only mention such as were found in the country from the Ufente to the +Tronto, and from thence to the Metauro, which are the confines of our +present class. The names of many others may be collected from books; as +an Andrea, and a Bartolommeo, both of Orvieto, and a Mariotto da +Viterbo, and others who worked at Orvieto from 1405 to 1457; and some +who painted in Rome itself, a Giovenale and a Salli di Celano, and +others now forgotten. But without pausing on these, we will advert to +the artists of Piceno, of the State of Urbino, and the remaining parts +of Umbria: where we shall meet with the traces of schools which remained +for many years. + +The school of Fabriano, which seems very ancient in Picenum, produced at +that time Gentile, one of the first painters of his age, of whom +Bonarruoti is reported to have said, that his style was in unison with +his name. The first notice we have of him is among the painters of the +church of Orvieto, in 1417; and then, or soon afterwards, he received +from the historians of that period the appellation of _magister +magistrorum_, and they mention the Madonna which he there painted, and +which still remains. He afterwards resided in Venice, where, after +ornamenting the Palazzo Publico, he was rewarded by the republic with a +salary, and with the privilege of wearing the patrician dress of that +city. He there, says Vasari, became the master, and, in a manner, the +father of Jacopo Bellini, the father and preceptor of two of the +ornaments of the Venetian school. These were Gentile, who assumed that +name in memory of Gentile da Fabriano, born in 1421; and Giovanni, who +surpassed his brother in reputation, and from whose school arose +Giorgione and Titian. He (Gentile da Fabriano) was employed in the +Lateran, at Rome, where he rivalled Pisanello, in the time of Martin V.; +and it is to be regretted that his works, both there and in Venice, have +perished. Facio, who eulogizes him, and who had seen his most finished +performances, extols him as a man of universal art, who represented, not +only the human form and edifices in the most correct manner, but painted +also the stormy appearances of nature in a style that struck terror into +the spectator. In painting the history of St. John, in the Lateran, and +the Five Prophets over it, of the colour of marble, he is said to have +used more than common care, as if he at that time prognosticated his own +approaching death, which soon afterwards occurred, and the work remained +unfinished. Notwithstanding this, Ruggier da Bruggia, as Facio relates, +when he went to Rome, in the holy year, and saw it, considered it a +stupendous work, which placed Gentile at the head of all the painters of +Italy. According to Vasari and Borghini, he executed a countless number +of works in the Marca, and in the state of Urbino, and particularly in +Gubbio, and in Città di Castello, which are in the neighbourhood of his +native place; and there still remain in those districts, and in Perugia, +some paintings in his style. A remarkable one is mentioned in a country +church called la Romita, near Fabriano.[9] Florence possesses two +beautiful specimens: the one in S. Niccolo, with the effigy and history +of the sainted bishop, the other in the sacristy of S. Trinità, with an +Epiphany, having the date of 1423. They bear a near resemblance to the +style of B. Angelico, except that the proportions of the figures are not +so correct, the conception is less just, and the fringe of gold and +brocades more frequent. Vasari pronounces him a pupil of Beato, and +Baldinucci confirms this opinion, although he says that Beato took +religious orders at an early age in 1407, a period which would exclude +Gentile from his tuition. I conjecture both the one and the other to +have been scholars of miniature painters, from the fineness of their +execution, and from the size of their works, which are generally on a +small scale. The name of an Antonio da Fabriano appears in a +Crucifixion, in 1454, painted on wood, which I saw in Matelica, in the +possession of the Signori Piersanti; but it is inferior to Gentile in +style.[10] + +On an ancient picture, which is preserved in Perugia, in the convent of +S. Domenico, is the name of a painter of Camerino, a place in the same +neighbourhood, who flourished in 1447. The inscription is _Opus Johannis +Bochatis de Chamereno_. In the same district is S. Severino, where we +find a Lorenzo, who, in conjunction with his brother, painted in the +oratory of S. John the Baptist in Urbino, the life of that saint. These +two artists were much behind their age. I have seen some other works by +them, from which it appears that they were living in 1470, and painted +in the Florentine style of 1400. Other artists of the same province are +named in the _Storia del Piceno_, particularly at S. Ginesio, a Fabio di +Gentile di Andrea, a Domenico Balestrieri, and a Stefano Folchetti, +whose works are cited, with the date of their execution attached to +them.[11] In this district also resided several strangers, scarcely +known to their native places, as Francesco d'Imola, a scholar of +Francia, who, in the convent of Cingoli, painted a Descent from the +Cross; and Carlo Crivelli, a Venetian, who passed from one state to +another, and finally settled in Ascoli. His works are to be met with +there more frequently than in any other city of Picenum. I shall speak +of his merits in the Venetian school, and shall here only add, that he +had for a pupil Pietro Alamanni, the chief of the painters of Ascoli, a +respectable _quattrocentista_, who painted an altarpiece at S. Maria +della Carità, in 1489. About this time also we find amongst their names +a Vittorio Crivelli, a Venetian, of the family, as I conjecture, and +perhaps of the school of Carlo. There is frequent mention of him in the +_Antichità Picene_. + +Urbino, too, had her artists, as her princes were not behind the other +rulers of Italy in good taste. At the restoration of the art, we find +Giotto, and several of his scholars, there; and afterwards Gentile da +Fabriano,[12] a Galeazzo, and, possibly, a Gentile di Urbino. At Pesaro, +in the convent of S. Agostino, I have seen a Madonna, accompanied with +beautiful architecture, and an inscription--_Bartholomaeus Magistri +Gentilis de Urbino_, 1497; and at Monte Cicardo, I saw the same name on +an ancient picture of 1508, but without his birthplace. (Ant. Pic. tom. +xvii. 145.) I am in doubt whether this _M. Gentilis_ refers to the +father of Bartolommeo or his master, as the scholars at that time often +took their designation from their masters. At all events, this artist is +not to be confounded with Bartolommeo from Ferrara, whose son, +Benedetto, subscribes himself _Benedictus quondam Bartholomaei de Fer. +Pictor._ 1492. This is to be seen in the church of S. Domenico di +Urbino, on the altarpiece in the Chapel of the Muccioli, their +descendants. + +In the city of Urbino there remain some works of the father of +Raffaello, who, in a letter of the Duchess Giovanna della Rovere, which +is the first of the Lettere Pittoriche, is designated as _molto +virtuoso_. There is by him in the church of S. Francis, a good picture +of S. Sebastian, with figures in an attitude of supplication. There is +one attributed also to him in a small church dedicated to the same +saint, representing his martyrdom, with a figure foreshortened, which +Raffaello, when young, imitated in a picture of the Virgin, at Città di +Castello. He subscribed himself _Io. Sanctis Urbi._ (_Urbinas_). So I +read it in the sacristy of the Conventuals of Sinigaglia in an +Annunciation in which there is a beautiful angel, and an infant Christ +descending from the father; and which seems to be copied from those of +Pietro Perugino, with whom Raffaello worked some time, though it has a +still more ancient style. The other figures are less beautiful, but yet +graceful, and the extremities are carefully executed. But the most +distinguished painter in Urbino was F. Bartolommeo Corradini d'Urbino, a +Domenican, called Fra. Carnevale. To an accurate eye his pictures are +defective in perspective, and retain in the drapery the dryness of his +age, but the portraits are so strongly expressed that they seem to live +and speak; the architecture is beautiful, and the colours bright, and +the air of the heads at the same time noble and unaffected. It is known +that Bramante and Raffaello studied him, as there were not, at that +time, any better works in Urbino. In Gubbio, which formed a part of this +dukedom, were to be seen in that age the remains of the early school. +There exists a fresco by Ottaviano Martis in S. Maria Nuova, painted in +1403. The Virgin is surrounded by a choir of angels, certainly too much +resembling each other, but in their forms and attitudes as graceful and +pleasing as any contemporary productions. + +Borgo S. Sepolcro, Foligno, and Perugia, present us with artists of +greater celebrity. Borgo was a part of Umbria subject to the Holy See, +and was, in 1440, pledged to the Florentines,[13] by Eugenius IV. at the +time Piero della Francesca, or Piero Borghese, one of the most memorable +painters of this age, was at the summit of his reputation. He must have +been born about 1398, since Vasari states that "he painted about the +year 1458,"[14] and that he became blind at sixty years of age, and +remained so until his death, in his eighty-sixth year. From his +fifteenth year he applied himself to painting, at which age he had made +himself master of the principles of mathematics, and he rose to great +eminence both in art and science.[15] I have not been able to ascertain +who was his master, but it is probable that as he was the son of a poor +widow, who had barely the means of bringing him up, he did not leave his +native place; and that under the guidance of obscure masters he raised +himself, by his own genius, to the high degree of fame which he enjoyed. +He first appeared, says Vasari, in the court of the elder Guidubaldo +Feltro, Duke of Urbino, where he left only some pictures of figures on a +small scale, which was the case with such as were not the pupils of the +great masters. He was celebrated for a remarkable drawing of a Vase, so +ingeniously designed that the front, the back, the sides, the bottom, +and the mouth, were all shewn; the whole drawn with the greatest +correctness, and the circles gracefully foreshortened. The art of +perspective, the principles of which he was, as some affirm, the first +among the Italians to develope and to cultivate, was much indebted to +him;[16] and painting, too, owed much to his example in imitating the +effects of light, in marking correctly the muscles of the naked figure, +in preparing models of clay for his figures, and in the study of his +drapery, the folds of which he fixed on the model itself, and drew very +accurately and minutely. On examining the style of Bramante and his +Milanese contemporaries, I have often thought that they derived some +light from Piero, for, as I have before said, he painted in Urbino where +Bramante studied, and afterwards executed many works in Rome, where +Bramantino came and was employed by Nicholas V. + +In the Floreria of the Vatican is still to be seen a large fresco +painting, in which the above named pontiff is represented with cardinals +and prelates, and there is a degree of truth in the countenances highly +interesting. Taja does not assert that it is by Pietro, but says that it +is attributed to him.[17] Those which are pointed out in Arezzo +doubtless belong to him, and the most remarkable are the histories of +the holy cross in the choir of the church of the Conventuals, which shew +that the art was already advanced beyond its infancy; there is so much +new in the Giotto manner of foreshortening, in the relief, and in many +difficulties of the art overcome in his works. If he had possessed the +grace of Masaccio he might with justice have been placed at his side. At +Città S. Sepolcro there still remain some works attributed to him; a S. +Lodovico Vescovo, in the public palace, at S. Chiara a picture of the +Assumption, with the apostles in the distance, and a choir of angels at +the top, but in the foreground are S. Francis, S. Jerome, and other +figures, which injure the unity of the composition. There are, however, +still traces in them of the old style; a poverty of design, a hardness +in the foldings of the drapery, feet which are well foreshortened, but +too far apart. As to the rest, in design, in the air, and in the +colouring of the figures, it seems to be a rude sketch of that style +which was ameliorated by P. Perugino, and perfected by Raffaello. + +In the latter part of this century there flourished several good +painters at Foligno, but it is not known from whom they derived their +instructions. In the twenty-fifth volume of the Antichità Picene we +read, that in the church of S. Francesco di Cagli there exists (I know +not whether it be now there) a most beautiful composition, painted in +1461, at the price of 115 ducats of gold, by M. Pietro di Mazzaforte and +M. Niccolo Deliberatore of Foligno. At S. Venanzio di Camerino is a +large altarpiece on a ground of gold, with Christ on the Cross, +surrounded by many Saints, with three small evangelical histories added +to it. The inscription is _Opus Nicolai Fulginatis_, 1480; it is in the +style of the last imitators of Giotto, and there is scarcely a doubt +that the artist studied at Florence. I believe him to be the same artist +as Niccolo Deliberatore, or di Liberatore; and different from Niccolò +Alunno, also of Foligno, whom Vasari mentions as an excellent painter in +the time of Pinturicchio. He painted in distemper, as was common before +Pietro Perugino, but in tints that have survived uninjured to our own +times. In the distribution of his colours he was original; his heads +possess expression, though they are common, and sometimes heavy, when +they represent the vulgar. There is at S. Niccolò di Foligno a picture +by him, composed in the style of the fourteenth century, the Virgin +surrounded by saints, and underneath small histories of the Passion, +where the perspicuity is more to be praised than the disposition. In the +same style some of his pieces in Foligno are painted after 1500. Vasari +thinks they are all surpassed by his Pietà in a chapel of the Duomo, in +which are represented two angels, "whose grief is so vividly expressed, +that any other artist, however ambitious he might be, would find it +difficult to surpass it." + +Perugia, from whence the art derived no common lustre, abounded in +painters beyond any other city. The celebrated Mariotti formed a long +catalogue of the painters of the fourteenth century, and among the most +conspicuous are Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, and Bartolommeo Caporali, of whom +we have pictures of the date of 1487. Some strangers were also to be +found amongst them, as that Lello da Velletri, the author of an +altarpiece, and its lower compartments, noticed by Signor Orsini. +Benedetto Bonfigli was distinguished above all others, and was the most +eminent artist of Perugia in his day. I have seen by him, besides the +picture in fresco in the Palazzo Publico, mentioned by Vasari, a picture +of the Magi, in S. Domenico, in a style similar to Gentile, and with a +large proportion of gold; and another in a more modern style, an +Annunciation, in the church of the Orfanelli. The angel in it is most +beautiful, and the whole picture would bear comparison with the works of +the best artists of this period, if the drawing were more correct.[18] + +What I have already adduced sufficiently proves that the art was not +neglected in the Papal States, even in the ruder ages; and that men of +genius from time to time appeared there, who, without leaving their +native places, still gave an impulse to art. Florence, however, has ever +been the great capital of design, the leading academy, and the Athens of +Italy. It would be idle to question her indisputable claim to this high +honour; and Sixtus IV., who, as we have before mentioned, sought through +all Italy for artists to ornament the Sistine chapel, procured the +greatest number from Tuscany; nor were there to be found amongst them +any who were his own subjects, except Pietro Perugino, and he too had +risen to notice and celebrity in Florence. These then are the first +mature fruits of the Roman school, for until this period they had been +crude and tasteless. Pietro is her Masaccio, her Ghirlandajo, her all. +We will here take a short view of him and his scholars, reserving, +however, the divine Raffaello to the next epoch, which indeed is +designated by his illustrious name. + +Pietro Vannucci della Pieve,[19] as he calls himself in some pictures, +or of Perugia in others, from the citizenship which he there enjoyed, +had studied under a master of no great celebrity, if we are to believe +Vasari; and this was a Pietro da Perugia, as Bottari conjectured, or +Niccolò Alunno, as it was reported in Foligno. Mariotti pretends that +Pietro advanced himself greatly in Perugia in the schools of Bonfigli, +and Pietro della Francesca, from which he not only derived that +excellence in perspective, which, from the testimony of Vasari was so +much admired in Florence, but also much of his design and colouring.[20] +Mariotti then raises a doubt whether, when he went as an artist to +Florence, he became the scholar of Verrocchio, as writers report, or +whether he did not rather perfect himself from the great examples of +Masaccio, and the excellent painters who at that time flourished there; +and he finally determines in favour of the opinion held by Pascoli, +Bottari, and Taja, and adopted by Padre Resta, in his _Galleria +Portatile_, p. 10, that Verrocchio was never his master. It is well +worth while to read the disquisitions of this able writer in his fifth +letter, where we may admire the dexterity with which he settles a point +so perplexed and so interesting to the history of art. I will only add +that it appears to me not improbable, that Pietro, when he arrived at +Florence, attached himself to this most celebrated artist, and was +instructed by him in design, and in the plastic art particularly, and in +that fine style of painting with which Verrocchio, without much +practising it himself, imbued both Vinci and Credi. Traditions are +seldom wholly groundless; they have generally some foundation in truth. + +The manner of Pietro is somewhat hard and dry, like that of other +painters of his time; and he occasionally exhibits a poverty in the +drapery of his figures; his garments and mantles being curtailed and +confined. But he atones for these faults by the grace of his heads, +particularly in his boys and in his women; which have an air of elegance +and a charm of colour unknown to his contemporaries. It is delightful to +behold in his pictures, and in his frescos which remain in Perugia and +Rome, the bright azure ground which affords such high relief to his +figures; the green, purple, and violet tints so chastely harmonized, the +beautiful and well drawn landscape and edifices, which, as Vasari says, +was a thing until that time never seen in Florence. In his altarpieces +he is not sufficiently varied. There is a remarkable painting executed +for the church of S. Simone, at Perugia, of a Holy Family, one of the +first specimens of a well designed and well composed altarpiece. In +other respects Pietro did not make any great advances in invention; his +Crucifixions and his Descents from the Cross are numerous, and of an +uniform character. He has thus represented, with little variation, the +Ascensions of our Lord and of the Virgin, in Bologna, in Florence, +Perugia, and Città di S. Sepolcro. He was reproached with this +circumstance in his lifetime, and defended himself by saying that no one +had a right to complain, as the designs were all his own. There is also +another defence, which is, that compositions, really beautiful, are +still seen with delight when repeated in different places; whoever sees +in the Sistine his S. Peter invested with the keys, will not be +displeased at finding at Perugia the same landscape, in a picture of the +Marriage of the Virgin. On the contrary, this picture is one of the +finest objects that noble city affords; and may be considered as +containing an epitome of the various styles of Pietro. In the opinion of +some persons, his frescos exhibit a more fertile invention, and greater +delicacy and harmony of colour. Of these, his masterpiece is in his +native city, in the Sala del Cambio. It is an evangelical subject, with +saints from the Old Testament, and with his own portrait, to which his +grateful fellow citizens attached an elegant eulogy. He is most eminent, +and adopts a sort of Raffaellesque style, in some of his latter +pictures. I have observed it in a Holy Family, in the Carmine in +Perugia. The same may be said too of certain small pictures, almost of a +miniature class; as in the grado of S. Peter, in Perugia, than which +nothing can be more finished and beautiful; and in many other pieces in +which he has spared no pains,[21] but which are few in comparison to the +multitude by his scholars, attributed to him. + +In treating of the school of Pietro Perugino, it is necessary to advert +to what Taja,[22] and after him the author of the _Lettere Perugine_, +notices respecting his scholars, "that they were most scrupulous in +adhering to the manner of their master, and as they were very numerous, +they have filled the world with pictures, which both by painters and +connoisseurs are very commonly considered as his." When his works in +Perugia are inspected, he generally rises in the esteem of travellers, +of whom many have only seen paintings incorrectly ascribed to him. In +Florence there are some of his pictures in the Grand Duke's collection: +and in the church of S. Chiara, his beautiful Descent from the Cross, +and some other works; but in private collections both here and in other +cities of Tuscany, many Holy Families are assigned to him, which are +most probably by Gerino da Pistoja, or some of his Tuscan scholars, of +whom there is a catalogue in our first book. The Papal states also +possessed many of his scholars, who were of higher reputation, nor so +wholly attached to his manner as the strangers. Bernardino Pinturicchio, +his scholar and assistant in Perugia and in Rome, was a painter little +valued by Vasari, who has not allowed him his full share of merit. He +has not the style of design of his master, and retains more than +consistent with his age, the ornaments of gold in his drapery; but he is +magnificent in his edifices, spirited in his countenances, and extremely +natural in every thing he introduces into his composition. As he was on +the most familiar footing with Raffaello, with whom he painted at Siena, +he has emulated his grace in some of his figures, as in his picture of +S. Lorenzo in the church of the Francescani di Spello, in which there is +a small S. John the Baptist, thought by some to be by Raphael himself. +He was very successful in arabesques and perspective; in which way he +was the first to represent cities in the ornaments of his fresco +paintings, as in an apartment of the Vatican, where in his landscapes he +introduced views of the principal cities of Italy. In many of his +paintings he retained the ancient custom of making part of his +decorations of stucco, as the arches, a custom which was observed in the +Milanese school to the time of Gaudenzio. Rome possesses some of his +works, particularly in the Vatican, and in Araceli. There is a good +picture by him in the duomo of Spello.[23] His best is at Siena, in the +magnificent sacristy of which we have already made mention. They consist +of ten historical subjects, containing the most memorable passages in +the life of Pius II., and on the outside is an eleventh, which +represents the Coronation of Pius III., by whom this work was ordered. + +Vasari has added to the life of Pinturicchio that of Girolamo Genga, of +Urbino, at first a scholar of Signorelli, afterwards of Perugino, and +who remained some time pursuing his studies in Florence. He was, for a +long period, in the service of the Duke of Urbino, and attached himself +more to architecture than to painting, though, in the latter, he was +sufficiently distinguished to deserve a place in the history of art. We +cannot form a correct judgment of him, as a great part of his own works +have perished; and as he assisted Signorelli in Orvieto and other +places; and was assisted by Timoteo della Vite in Urbino, and in the +imperial palace of Pesaro by Raffaelle del Colle, and various others. In +the Petrucci palace at Siena, which now belongs to the noble family of +Savini, some historical pieces are ascribed to him near those of +Signorelli. They are described in the Lettere Senesi, and in the notes +published at Siena to the fourth volume of Vasari. These pieces are +praised as superior to those of Signorelli, and as in many parts +approaching the early style of Raffaello. Nor do I see how, in the above +mentioned letters, they could be supposed to be by Razzi, or Peruzzi, or +Pacchiarotto, "_in their hard dry manner_" when history assures us that +Girolamo was with Pandolfo a considerable time, which cannot be asserted +of the other three; and as it appears that Petrucci, to finish the work +of Signorelli, selected Genga from among his scholars. If we deprive him +of this work, which is the only one which can be called his own, what +can he have executed in all this time? In this house there is no other +picture that can be assigned to him, although Vasari asserts that he +there painted other rooms. A most beautiful picture by Genga, and of the +greatest rarity, is to be seen in S. Caterina da Siena in Rome; the +subject is the Resurrection of our Saviour. + +Of the other scholars of Perugino we have no distinct account; but we +find some notice of them in the life of their master. Giovanni +Spagnuolo, named Lo Spagna, was one of the many _oltramontani_ whom +Perugino instructed. The greater part of these introduced his manner +into their own countries, but Giovanni established himself at Spoleti, +at which place, and in Assisi, he left his best works. In the opinion of +Vasari the colouring of Perugino survived in him more than in any of his +fellow scholars. In a chapel of the Angioli, below Assisi, there remains +the picture described by Vasari, in which are the portraits of the +brotherhood of S. Francis, who closed his days on this spot, and, +perhaps, no other pupil of this school has painted portraits with more +truth, if we except Raffaello himself, with whom no other painter is to +be compared. + +A more memorable person is Andrea Luigi di Assisi, a competitor of +Raffaello, although of more mature years, who, from his happy genius was +named L'Ingegno. He assisted Perugino in the Sala del Cambio, and in +other works of more consequence; and he may be said to be the first of +that school who began to enlarge the style, and soften the colouring. +This is observable in several of his works, and singularly so in the +sybils and prophets in fresco in the church of Assisi; if they are by +his hand, as is generally believed. It is impossible to behold his +pictures without a feeling of compassion, when we recollect that he was +visited with blindness at the most valuable period of his life. Domenico +di Paris Alfani also enlarged the manner of his master, and even more +than him Orazio his son, and not his brother, as has been imagined. This +artist bears a great resemblance to Raffaello. There are some of his +pictures in Perugia, which, if it were not for a more delicate +colouring, and something of the suavity of Baroccio, might be assigned +to the school of Raffaello; and there are pictures on which a question +arises whether they belong to that school or to Orazio; particularly +some Madonnas, which are preserved in various collections. I have seen +one in the possession of the accomplished Sig. Auditor Frigeri in +Perugia; and there is another in the ducal gallery in Florence. The +reputation of the younger Alfani has injured that of the other; and even +in Perugia some fine pieces were long considered to be by Orazio, which +have since been restored to Domenico. An account of these, and other +works of eminent artists, may be found in modern writers; and +particularly in Mariotti, who mentions the altarpiece of the +Crucifixion, between S. Apollonia and S. Jerome, at the church of the +Conventuals, a work by the two Alfanis, father and son. In commendation +of the latter he adds, that he was the chief of the academy for design, +which was founded in 1573, and which, after many honourable struggles, +has been revived in our own time. + +There are other artists of less celebrity in Perugia, though not omitted +by Vasari. Eusebio da S. Giorgio painted in the church of S. Francesco +di Matelica, a picture with several saints, and on the grado, part of +the history of S. Anthony, with his name, and the year 1512. We may +recognize in it the drawing of Perugino, but the colouring is feeble. +His picture of the Magi at S. Agostino is better coloured, and in this +he followed Paris. The works of Giannicola da Perugia, a good colourist, +and therefore willingly received by Pietro to assist him in his labours, +however inferior to that artist in design and perspective, are +recognized in the Cappella del Cambio, which is near the celebrated sala +of Perugino, and was painted by him with the life of John the Baptist. +In the church of S. Thomas, is his picture of that Apostle about to +touch the wounds of our Saviour, and excepting a degree of sameness in +the heads, it possesses much of the character of Perugino. Giambatista +Caporali, erroneously called Benedetto by Vasari, Baldinucci, and +others, holds likewise a moderate rank in this school, and is more +celebrated among the architects. Giulio, his natural son, afterwards +legitimatized, also cultivated the same profession. + +The succeeding names belonging to this school are not mentioned by +Vasari; a circumstance which does not prove the impropriety of their +admission, as there are many deserving of notice. Mariotti, our guide in +the chronology of this age, and a correct judge of the conformity of +style, notices Mariano di Ser Eusterio, whom Vasari calls Mariano da +Perugia (tom. iv. p. 162), referring to a picture in the church of S. +Agostino in Ancona, which is "not of much interest." In opposition to +this opinion of Vasari, however, Mariotti adduces another picture, of a +respectable class, by Mariano, to be found in S. Domenico di Perugia; +whence we may conclude that this painting is deserving of a place in the +history of art. He also mentions Berto di Giovanni, whom Raffaello +engaged as his assistant to paint a picture for the monks of Monteluci +(of which we shall speak in our notice of Penni) and who was appointed +in this contract by Raphael himself to paint the grado. This grado is in +the sacristy, and is so entirely in the manner of Raffaello, in the +history of the virgin which it represents, that we may conclude either +that Raffaello made the design, or that it was painted by one of his +school. If it was by Berto, it proves him to have been one of those who +exchanged the school of Perugino for that of Raffaello; and if he did +not paint it, he must always be held in consideration for the regard he +received from the master of the art. Of this artist more information may +be obtained from Bianconi, in the Antologia Romana, vol. iii. p. 121. +Mariotti enumerates also Sinibaldo da Perugia, who must be esteemed an +excellent painter from his works in his native place, and more so from +those in the cathedral at Gubbio, where he painted a fine picture in +1505, and a gonfalon still more beautiful, which would rank him among +the first artists of the ancient school. To the above painters Pascoli +adds a female artist of the name of Teodora Danti, who painted cabinet +pictures in the style of Perugino and his scholars. + +From tradition, as well as conjecture, we may notice in Città di +Castello a Francesco of that city, a scholar of Perugino, who, in an +altarpiece in the church of the Conventuals, left an Annunciation with a +fine landscape. He is named in the Guida di Roma, in the account of the +chapel of S. Bernardino in Ara Caeli, where he is supposed to have +worked with Pinturicchio and Signorelli. There is a conjecture, though +no decided proof, that a Giacomo di Guglielmo was a pupil of Pietro, +who, at Castel della Pieve, his native place, painted a gonfalon, +estimated by good judges in Perugia at sixty-five florins; and also a +Tiberio di Assisi, who, in many of the coloured lunettes in the convent +degli Angeli, containing the history of the Life of S. Francis, shews +clearly that Perugino was his prototype, though he had not talent enough +to imitate him. Besides Tiberio, some have assigned to the instructions +of Perugino, the most eminent painter of Assisi, Adone (or Dono) Doni, +not unknown to Vasari, who often mentions him, and particularly in his +life of Gherardi (vol. v. p. 142). He is there called of Ascoli, an +opinion which Bottari maintains against Orlandi, who, on the best +grounds, changed it to Assisi. In Ascoli he is not at all known, but he +is well known in Perugia by a large picture of the Last Judgment in the +church of S. Francis, and still better in Assisi, where he painted in +fresco, in the church of the Angeli, the life of the founder, and of S. +Stephen, and many other pieces, which, for a long period, served as a +school for youth. He had very little of the ancient manner; the truth of +his portraits is occasionally wonderful; his colouring is that of the +latest of the scholars of Perugino; and he appears to be an artist of +more correctness than spirit. I find also a Lattanzio della Marca, of +the school of Perugino, commemorated by Vasari in the above mentioned +life. He is thought to be the same as Lattanzio da Rimino, of whom +Ridolfi makes mention, among the scholars of Giovanni Bellino, as +painting a picture in Venice in rivalship with Conegliano.[24] We are +enabled more correctly to ascertain this from a document in the +possession of Mariotti, of which we shall shortly speak, from which we +not only learn to a certainty his native place, but further, that he was +the son of Vincenzo Pagani, a celebrated painter, as will hereafter be +seen, and that both were living in the year 1553. It appears, therefore, +very probable that Lattanzio was instructed by his father, and that we +may doubt of his being under Bellini, who died about 1516, or under +Perugino, among whose disciples he is not enumerated by the very +accurate Mariotti. It seems certain, that on the death of Vannucci he +succeeded to his fame, and obtained for himself some of the most +important orders in Perugia, as, for instance, the great work of +painting the chambers in the castle. He accomplished this task by the +assistance of Raffaellino del Colle, Gherardi, Doni, and Paperello. He +there commenced the picture of S. Maria del Popolo, and executed the +lower part, where there is a great number of persons in the attitude of +prayer; a fine expression is observable in the countenances, the figures +are well disposed, the landscape beautiful, and there is a strength and +clearness in the colouring, and a taste which, on the whole, is +different from that of Perugino. The upper part of the picture, which is +by Gherardi, has not an equal degree of force. Lattanzio finished his +career by being sheriff of his native city; and of this office, a more +honourable distinction than at the present day, it appears he took +possession in the year 1553, and at that time renounced the art. It is +certain, that, in the before mentioned paper, the Capitano Lattanzio di +Vincenzo Pagani da Monte Rubbiano acknowledges to have received six +scudi of gold from Sforza degli Oddi, as earnest money for a picture +representing the Trinity, with four saints; and engages that in the +ensuing August it should be executed by his father Vincenzo and Tommaso +da Cortona, and this must be the picture still existing in the chapel of +the Oddi in S. Francesco, since the figures particularized in the +agreement are found there; we shall have an opportunity of noticing it +again. + +In the _Antichità Picene_, tom. xxi. p. 148, Ercole Ramazzani di +Roccacontrada is recorded as a scholar of Pietro Perugino, and for some +time of Raffaello. A picture of the circumcision, by him, is there +mentioned to be at Castel Planio, with his name and the date of 1588; +and in speaking of the artist it is added, that he possessed a beautiful +style of colour, a charming invention, and a manner approaching to +Barocci. I have never seen the above mentioned picture, nor the others +which he left in his native city, mentioned in the _Memorie_ of +Abbondanziere: but only one by a Ramazzani di Roccacontrada, painted in +the church of S. Francesco, in Matelica, in 1573. Although I cannot +affirm to a certainty that this painter called himself Ercole, I still +suspect him to be the same. It represents the conception of the Virgin, +in which the idea of the subject is taken from Vasari, where Adam, and +others of the Old Testament, are seen bound to the tree of knowledge of +good and evil, as the heirs of sin, while the Virgin triumphs over them +in her exemption from the penalty of the first parents. Ramazzani has +adopted this design, which he had probably seen, but he has executed his +picture on a much larger scale, with better colouring, and much more +expression in the countenances. To conclude, we do not see a trace of +the manner of Perugino, and the period at which he lived seems too late +for him to have received instructions from that artist; and it is most +probable that he was taught by some of his latter scholars, in whom, if +I mistake not, that more fascinating than correct style of colouring had +its origin, before it was adopted by Barocci. + +I may further observe, that as Perugino was the most celebrated name at +the beginning of the sixteenth century, many other artists of the Roman +States, who studied the art about his time, are given to his school +without any sufficient authority; and particularly those who retained a +share of the old style. Such was a Palmerini of Urbino, a contemporary +of Raphael, and probably his fellow scholar in early life, of whom there +remains at S. Antonio, a picture of various saints, truly beautiful, and +approaching to a more modern style. In the same style I found, in the +Borghese Gallery at Rome, the Woman of Samaria at the Well, painted by a +Pietro Giulianello, or perhaps _da_ Giulianello, a little district not +far from Rome; an artist deserving to be placed in the first rank of +_quattrocentisti_, although not mentioned by any writer. There are +besides, some pictures by Pietro Paolo Agabiti, who in tom. xx. of the +_Ant. Pic._ is said to be of Masaccio, where he painted in 1531, and +some time afterwards. But I have seen a work by him in the church of S. +Agostino in Sassoferrato, a series of small histories, with an +inscription in which he names Sassoferrato as his native place, with the +date of 1514; a date that will carry him from the moderns to the better +class of the old school. Lorenzo Pittori da Macerata painted in the +church of the Virgin, highly esteemed for its architecture, a picture of +Christ in 1533, in a manner which has been called _antico moderno_. Two +artists, Bartolommeo, and Pompeo his son, flourished in Fano, and +painted in 1534 in conjunction, in the church of S. Michele, the +resurrection of Lazarus. It is wonderful to observe how little they +regarded the reform which the art had undergone. These artists strictly +followed the dry style of the quattrocentisti, with a thorough contempt +of the modern style. Nor was the son at all modernized on leaving his +father's studio. I found at S. Andrea di Pesaro a picture by him of +various saints, which might have done him honour in the preceding age. +Civalli mentions other works by him in a better style: and he certainly +in his lifetime enjoyed a degree of reputation, and was one of the +masters of Taddeo Zuccaro. There are a number of painters of this class, +of whom a long list might be compiled; they are generally represented to +be pupils of some well known master, and in such cases Pietro Perugino +is selected; though it would be more candid to confess our ignorance on +the subject. + +It would be improper to pass on to another epoch of art, without +adverting to the grotesque. This branch of the art is censured by +Vitruvius[25] as a creation of portentous monsters beyond the reign of +nature, transferring to canvas the dreams and ravings of a disordered +fancy, as wild as the waves of a convulsed sea, lashed into a thousand +varying forms by the fury of the tempest. This style took its name from +the _grotte_, for so those beautiful antique edifices may be called, +where paintings of this kind are found, covered with earth, and with +buildings of a later period. This style was revived in Rome, where a +greater proportion of these ancient specimens is found, and was restored +at this epoch. Vasari ascribes the revival of them to Morto da Feltro, +and the perfecting of the style to Giovanni da Udine. But he himself, +notwithstanding the little esteem he had for Pinturicchio, calls him the +friend of Morto da Feltro, and allows that he executed many works in the +same manner in Castel S. Angelo. Before him too Pietro his master had +painted some of the same kind in the Sala del Cambio, which Orsini says +are well conceived, and to him likewise a precedent had been afforded by +Benedetto Bonfigli, of whom Taja, in his description of the Vatican +palace, says, that he painted for Innocent VIII. in Rome some singularly +beautiful grotesques. This branch of art was afterwards cultivated in +many of the schools of Italy, particularly in that of Siena. Peruzzi +approved of it in architecture, and adopted it in his painting, and gave +occasion to Lomazzo to offer a defence of it, and precepts, as I before +noticed, and as may be seen in the sixth book of his Trattato della +Pittura, chapter forty-eight. + +[Footnote 4: _Dell'errore, che persiste_, &c. see the second index. It +was opposed by Crespi, in his _Dissertazione Anticritica_, referred to +in the same index. It was also opposed by P. dell'Aquila, in the +_Dizionario portatile della Bibbia, tradotto dal francese_, in a note of +some length, on the article S. Luca.] + +[Footnote 5: See the _Opuscoli Calogeriani_, tom. xliii. where a learned +dissertation is inserted, which shews that this custom was introduced +about the middle of the fifth century, on occasion of the Council of +Ephesus.] + +[Footnote 6: Engraved by command of the learned Cardinal Borgia. The +artists began about the middle of the fifth century, to represent her +with the Infant in her arms. See _Opuscoli Calogeriani_, as above.] + +[Footnote 7: "The painter was a man of holy life, and a Florentine, +whose name was Luca, and who was honoured by the common people with the +title of saint." Lami, Deliciæ Eruditorum, tom. xv.] + +[Footnote 8: So says Vasari, who writes his life, but Padre della Valle +thinks it highly probable that he was the scholar of Cosimati, and not +of Giotto; as Cavallini was contemporary with Giotto. I agree that he +was only a very few years younger, and might have received some +instructions in the school of Cosimati: but who, except Giotto himself, +could have taught him that Giottesque and improved style scarcely +inferior to Gaddi?] + +[Footnote 9: In the archives of the Collegiate Church of S. Niccolo, in +Fabriano, is preserved a catalogue of the pictures of the city, which +has been communicated to me by Sig. Can. Claudio Serafini. This picture, +which is divided into five compartments, is there mentioned; and it is +added, that "many celebrated painters visited the place to view this +excellent work, and in particular, the illustrious Raffaello."] + +[Footnote 10: In the archives before alluded to, are also mentioned two +ancient pictures of a Giuliano da Fabriano, the one in the church of the +Domenicans, the other in the Church of the Capuchins.] + +[Footnote 11: Tom. xxiii. page 83, &c. By the first, is the ancient +picture of S. Maria della Consolazione in that church, erected in 1442. +By the second, are the pictures in the church of S. Rocco, painted about +the year 1463. The third artist painted a picture in the church of S. +Liberato, in 1494.] + +[Footnote 12: Galeazzo Sanzio and his sons will be noticed in the second +epoch.] + +[Footnote 13: See Vasari, Bologna edition, p. 260.] + +[Footnote 14: The commentators of Vasari remark, that when he uses this +phrase, he refers to the year of the death of the artist, or to the +period when he relinquished his art. Pietro must therefore have become +blind about the year 1458, in the sixtieth year of his age, and must +have died about 1484, aged eighty-six. This painter was intimately +connected with the family of Vasari. Lazaro the great-grandfather of +Vasari, who died in 1452, was the friend and imitator of Pietro, and +some time before his death assigned him his nephew Signorelli as a +scholar. We must, therefore, give credit to Vasari's account of +Borghese; for if we discredit him on this occasion, as some have done, +when are we to believe him? It is true, indeed, that he is guilty of a +strange anachronism in mentioning Guidubaldo, the old Duke of Urbino, as +his first patron; but this kind of error is frequent in him, and not to +be regarded.] + +[Footnote 15: "Fu eccellentissimo prospettivo, e il maggior geometra de' +suoi tempi." Romano Alberti, Trattato della nobiltà della pittura, p. +32. See also Pascoli, Vite, tom. i. p. 90.] + +[Footnote 16: It appears that in this art he was preceded by Van Eych of +Flanders. See tom. i. p. 81, &c.; and also the eulogium on him by +Bartolommeo Facio, p. 46, where he praises his skill in geometry, and +refers to several of his pictures, which prove him to have been highly +accomplished, and almost unrivalled in perspective.] + +[Footnote 17: If there be any truth in Pietro having been blind for +twenty-four years, I do not know how he could have painted Sixtus IV. On +the other hand this tradition of his blindness comes from Vasari, whose +family was so intimately connected with that of Pietro della Francesca, +that there was less room for error in the life of that artist than in +any other. This excellent picture, of which I have seen a beautiful copy +in the possession of the Duke di Ceri, I should myself rather attribute +to Melozzo.] + +[Footnote 18: He is favorably mentioned by Crispolti, in the _Perugia +Augusta_; by Ciatti, in the _Istorie di Perugia_; Alessi, in the _Elogi +de' Perugini illustri_; and by Pascoli, in the _Vite de' Pittori Sc. +Arch. Perugini_; with whom I can in no manner concur in opinion, that +"Benedetto was equal to the best artists of his time, and probably the +first among the early masters who contributed to the introduction of an +improved style," (p. 21). An assertion singularly unjust to Masaccio.] + +[Footnote 19: He subscribed himself _de Castro Plebis_, now _Città della +Pieve_. There, according to Pascoli, the father was born, who afterwards +removed to Perugia, where Pietro was born; but the greater probability +is, that Pietro also was born in Città della Pieve. _Mariotti._] + +[Footnote 20: This resemblance might have arisen from his imitation of +the works of Borghese, (Pietro della Francesca) which he saw in Perugia, +as it most assuredly cannot be proved that Perugino was ever in his +school. P. Valle and others express great doubts of it, and when I +reflect that Vannucci was only twelve years old when Borghese lost his +sight, I regard it as an absurd tradition.] + +[Footnote 21: Vasari, at the close of his Life observes, "none of his +scholars ever equalled Pietro in application or in amenity of colour." +Padre della Valle asserts on the contrary, "that he was indebted for a +great portion of his celebrity to the talents displayed by his +scholars;" and says that he detected the touch of Raffaello in his +picture in the Grand Duke's collection; but we must have a stronger +testimony before we submit ourselves to this decision.] + +[Footnote 22: Descrizione del Palazzo Vaticano, p. 36.] + +[Footnote 23: Consisting of three subjects from the Life of Christ, in +the Chapel of the Holy Sacraments. The Annunciation, the Birth of +Christ, and the Dispute with the Doctors, the best of the three. In one +of these he introduced his own portrait. Vasari does not mention this +fine production.] + +[Footnote 24: He probably came to Venice from Rimino, or resided there +for some time. We find other early painters assigned first to one +country and then to another, as Jacopo Davanzo, Pietro Vannucci, Lorenzo +Lotto, &c.] + +[Footnote 25: It is said that Mengs, who was desirous of being +considered a philosophical painter, coincided with Vitruvius in opinion. +But this opinion should be restricted to some indifferent specimens; for +when he afterwards saw them painted in the true style of the ancients, +he regarded them with extraordinary pleasure; as in Genoa, which +possesses some beautiful arabesques by Vaga. So the defender of Ratti +assures us.] + + + + + ROMAN SCHOOL. + + EPOCH II. + + _Raffaello and his School._ + + +We are now arrived at the most brilliant period, not only of the Roman +School, but of modern painting itself. We have seen the art carried to a +high degree of perfection by Da Vinci and Bonarruoti, at the beginning +of the sixteenth century, and it is a remarkable fact that the same +period embraces not only Raphael, but also Coreggio, Giorgione, and +Titian, and the most celebrated Venetian painters: so that a man +enjoying the common term of life might have seen the works of all these +illustrious masters. The art in but a few years thus reached a height to +which it had never before attained, and which has never been rivalled, +except in the attempt to imitate these early masters, or to unite in one +style their varied and divided excellences. It seems indeed an ordinary +law of providence, that individuals of consummate genius should be born +and flourish at the same period, or at least at short intervals from +each other, a circumstance of which Velleius Paterculus, after a +diligent investigation, protested he could never discover the real +cause. I observe, he says, men of the same commanding genius making +their appearance together, in the smallest possible space of time; as it +happens in the case of animals of different kinds, which, confined in a +close place, nevertheless each selects its own class, and those of a +kindred race separate themselves from the rest, and unite in the closest +manner. A single age was sufficient to illustrate Tragedy, in the +persons of Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides: ancient comedy under +Cratinus, Aristophanes, and Eumolpides; and in like manner the new +comedy under Menander, Diphilus, and Philemon. There appeared few +philosophers of note after the days of Plato and Aristotle, and whoever +has made himself acquainted with Isocrates and his school, is acquainted +with the summit of Grecian eloquence. The same remark applies also to +other countries. The great Roman writers are included under the single +age of Octavius: Leo X. was the Augustus of modern Italy; the reign of +Louis XIV. was the brilliant era of French letters, that of Charles II. +of the English. + +This rule applies equally to the fine arts. _Hoc idem_, proceeds +Velleius, _evenisse plastis, pictoribus, sculptoribus, quisquis temporum +institerit notis reperiet, et eminentiam cujusque operis arctissimis +temporum claustris circumdatam._[26] Of this union of men of genius in +the same age, _Causas_, he says, _quum semper requiro, numquam invenio +quas veras confidam_. It seems to him probable that when a man finds +the first station in art occupied by another, he considers it as a post +that has been rightfully seized on, and no longer aspires to the +possession of it, but is humiliated, and contented to follow at a +distance. But this solution I confess does not satisfy my mind. It may +indeed account to us why no other Michelangiolo, or Raffaello, has ever +appeared; but it does not satisfy me why these two, and the others +before mentioned, should all have appeared together in the same age. For +myself, I am of opinion that the age is always influenced by certain +principles, universally adopted both by professors of the art, and by +amateurs: which principles happening at a particular period to be the +most just and accurate of their kind, produce in that age some +supereminent professors, and a number of good ones. These principles +change through the instability of all human affairs, and the age +partakes in the change. I may add, nevertheless, that these happy +periods never occur without the circumstance of a number of princes and +influential individuals rivalling each other in the encouragement of +works of taste; and amidst these there always arise some persons of +commanding genius, who give a bias and tone to art. The history of +sculpture in Athens, a city where munificence and taste went hand in +hand, favours my opinion, and it is further confirmed by this golden +period of Italian art. Nevertheless I do not pretend to give a verdict +on this important question, but leave the decision of it to a more +competent tribunal. + +But although it be a matter of difficulty to account for this +developement and union of rare talent at one particular period, we may +however hope to trace the steps of a single individual to excellence; +and I would wish to do so of Raffaello. Nature and fortune seemed to +unite in lavishing their favours on this artist; the first in investing +him with the rarest gifts of genius, the other in adding to these a +singular combination of propitious circumstances. In order to illustrate +our inquiry it will be necessary to observe him from his earliest +years,[27] and to note the progress of his mind. He was born in Urbino +in 1483; and if climate, as seems not improbable, have any influence on +the genius of an artist, I know not a happier spot that could have been +chosen for his birth, than that part of Italy which gave to architecture +a Bramante, supplied the art of painting with a successor to Raffaello +in Baroccio, and bestowed on sculpture the plastic hand of a Brandani, +without referring to many less celebrated, but still deserving artists, +who are the boast of Urbino and her state. The father of this +illustrious artist was Giovanni di Santi,[28] or as he has been commonly +called Giovanni Sanzio, an artist of moderate talents, and who could +contribute but little to the instruction of his son; although it was no +small advantage to have been initiated in a simple style, divested of +mannerism. He made some further progress from studying the works of F. +Carnevale, an artist of great merit, for the times in which he +flourished; and being placed at Perugia, under Pietro, he soon became +master of his style, as Vasari observes, and had then probably already +formed the design of excelling him. I was informed in Città di Castello, +that at the age of seventeen he painted the picture of S. Nicholas of +Tolentino in the church of the Eremitani. The style was that of +Perugino, but the composition differed from that of the age, being the +throne of our Saviour surrounded by saints. The Beato (beatified saint) +is there represented, while the Virgin and St. Augustine, concealed in +part by a cloud, bind his temples with a crown; there are two angels at +the right hand, and two at the left, graceful, and in different +attitudes; with inscriptions variously folded, on which are inscribed +some words in praise of S. Eremitano. Above is the Eternal Father +surrounded by a majestic choir of angels. The actors of the scene appear +to be in a temple, the pillars of which are ornamented in the minute and +laboured style of Mantegna, and the ancient manner is still perceptible +in the folds of the drapery, though there is an evident improvement in +the design, as in the figure of Satan, who lies under the feet of the +saint. This figure is free from the singular deformity with which the +ancient painters represented him; and has the genuine features of an +Ethiopian. To this picture another of this period may be added in the +church of S. Domenico; a Crucifixion, with two attendant angels; the one +receives in a cup the sacred blood which flows from the right hand, the +other, in two cups, collects that of the left hand and the side; the +weeping mother and disciples contribute their aid, while the Magdalen +and an aged saint kneeling in silence contemplate the solemn mystery; +above is the Deity. These figures might all pass for those of Pietro, +except the Virgin, the beauty of which he never equalled, unless perhaps +in the latter part of his life. Another specimen of this period is +noticed by the Abate Morcelli, (de Stylo Inscript. Latin, p. 476). He +states, that in the possession of Sig. Annibale Maggiori, a nobleman of +Fermo, he saw the picture of a Madonna, raising with both hands a veil +of delicate texture from the holy Infant, as he lies in a cradle asleep. +Nigh at hand is S. Joseph, whose eyes rest in contemplation on the happy +scene, and on his staff the same writer detected an inscription in +extremely minute characters, R. S. V. A. A. XVII. P. _Raphael Sanctius +Urbinas an. ætatis 17 pinxit_. This must have been the first attempt of +the design which he perfected at a more mature age, and which is in the +Treasury of Loreto, where the holy Infant is represented, not in the act +of sleeping, but gracefully stretching out his hand to the Virgin: of +the same epoch I judge the _tondini_ to be, which I shall describe in +the course of a few pages, when I refer to the Madonna della Seggiola. + +Vasari informs us, that before executing these two pictures, he had +already painted in Perugia an Assumption in the church of the +Conventuals, with three subjects from the life of Christ in the grado; +which may however be doubted, as it is a more perfect work. This picture +possesses all the best parts of the style of Vannucci; but the varied +expressions which the apostles discover on finding the sepulchre void, +are beyond the reach of that artist's powers. Raffaello still further +excelled his master, as Vasari observes, in the third picture painted +for Città di Castello. This is the marriage of the Virgin, in the church +of S. Francesco. The composition very much resembles that which he +adopted in a picture of the same subject in Perugia; but there is +sufficient of modern art in it to indicate the commencement of a new +style. The two espoused have a degree of beauty which Raffaello scarcely +surpassed in his mature age, in any other countenances. The Virgin +particularly is a model of celestial beauty. A youthful band festively +adorned accompany her to her espousals; splendour vies with elegance; +the attitudes are engaging, the veils variously arranged, and there is a +mixture of ancient and modern drapery, which at so early a period cannot +be considered as a fault. In the midst of these accompaniments the +principal figure triumphantly appears, not ornamented by the hand of +art, but distinguished by her native nobility, beauty, modesty, and +grace. The first sight of this performance strikes us with astonishment, +and we involuntarily exclaim, how divine and noble the spirit that +animates her heavenly form! The group of the men of the party of S. +Joseph are equally well conceived. In these figures we see nothing of +the stiffness of the drapery, the dryness of execution, and the peculiar +style of Pietro, which sometimes approaches to harshness: all is action, +and an animating spirit breathes in every gesture and in every +countenance. The landscapes are not represented with sterile and +impoverished trees, as in the backgrounds of Pietro; but are drawn from +nature, and finished with care. The round temple in the summit is +ornamented with columns, and executed, Vasari observes, with such +admirable art, that it is wonderful to observe the difficulties he has +willingly incurred. In the distance are beautiful groups, and there is a +figure of a poor man imploring charity depicted to the life, and, more +near, a youth, a figure which proves the artist to have been master of +the then novel art of foreshortening. I have purposely described these +specimens of the early years of Raphael, more particularly than any +other writer, in order to acquaint the reader with the rise of his +divine talents. In the labours of his more mature years, the various +masters whose works he studied may each claim his own; but in his first +flight he was exclusively supported by the vigour of his own talents. +The bent of his genius, which was not less voluptuous and graceful than +it was noble and elevated, led him to that ideal beauty, grace, and +expression, which is the most refined and difficult province of +painting. To insure success in this department neither study nor art is +sufficient. A natural taste for the beautiful, an intellectual faculty +of combining the several excellences of many individuals in one perfect +whole, a vivid apprehension, and a sort of fervour in seizing the sudden +and momentary expressions of passion, a facility of touch, obedient to +the conceptions of the imagination; these were the means which nature +alone could furnish, and these, as we have seen, he possessed from his +earliest years. Whoever ascribes the success of Raffaello to the effects +of study, and not to the felicity of his genius, does not justly +appreciate the gifts which were lavished on him by nature.[29] + +He now became the admiration of his master and his fellow scholars; and +about the same time Pinturicchio, after having painted with so much +applause at Rome before Raffaello was born, aspired to become, as it +were, his scholar in the great work at Siena. He did not himself possess +a genius sufficiently elevated for the sublime composition which the +place required; nor had Pietro himself sufficient fertility, or a +conception of mind equal to so novel an undertaking. It was intended to +represent the life and actions of Æneas Silvius Piccolomini, afterwards +Pope Pius II.; the embassies entrusted to him by the council of +Constance to various princes; and by Felix, the antipope, to Frederick +III., who conferred on him the laurel crown; and also the various +embassies which he undertook for Frederick himself to Eugenius IV., and +afterwards to Callistus IV., who created him a Cardinal. His subsequent +exaltation to the Papacy, and the most remarkable events of his reign, +were also to be represented; the canonization of S. Catherine; his +attendance on the Council of Mantua, where he was received in a princely +manner by the Duke; and finally his death, and the removal of his body +from Ancona to Rome. Never perhaps was an undertaking of such magnitude +entrusted to a single master. The art itself had not as yet attempted +any great flight. The principal figures in composition generally stood +isolated, as Pietro exhibited them in Perugia, without aiming at +composition. In consequence of this the proportions were seldom true, +nor did the artists depart much from sacred subjects, the frequent +repetition of which had already opened the way to plagiarism. Historical +subjects of this nature were new to Raffaello, and to him, unaccustomed +to reside in a metropolis, it must have been most difficult, in painting +so many as eleven pictures, to imitate the splendour of different +courts, and as we may say, the manners of all Europe, varying the +composition agreeably to the occasion. Nevertheless, being conducted by +his friend to Siena, he made the sketches and cartoons of _all_ these +subjects, says Vasari in his life of Pinturicchio, and that he made the +sketches of the whole is the common report at Siena. In the life of +Raffaello he states that he made _some of the designs and cartoons for +this work_, and that the reason of his not continuing them, was his +haste to proceed to Florence, to see the cartoons of Da Vinci and +Bonarruoti. But I am more inclined to the first statement of Vasari, +than the subsequent one. In April, 1503, Raffaello was employed in the +Library, as is proved by the will of Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini.[30] +While the Library was yet unfinished, Piccolomini was elected Pope on +the twenty-first day of September; and his coronation following on the +eighth of October, Pinturicchio commemorated the event on the outside of +the Library, in the part opposite to the duomo. Bottari remarks, that in +this façade we may detect not only the design, but in many of the heads +the colouring also of Raffaello. It appears probable therefore that he +remained to complete the work, the last subject of which might perhaps +be finished in the following year, 1504, in which he departed to +Florence. We may here observe, that this work, which has maintained its +colours so well that it almost appears of recent execution, confers +great honour on a young artist of twenty years of age; as we do not find +a composition of such magnitude, in the passage from ancient to modern +art, conceived by any single painter. So that if Raffaello stood not +entirely alone in this work, the best part of it must still be assigned +to him, since Pinturicchio himself was improving at this time, and the +works which he afterwards executed at Spello and Siena itself, incline +more to the modern than any he had before done. This will justify us in +concluding that Raffaello had already, at that early age, far +outstripped his master; his contour being more full, his composition +more rich and free, accompanied by an ornamental and grander style, and +an ability unlimited, and capable of embracing every subject that was +presented to him. + +The works which he saw in Florence did not lead him out of his own path, +as, to mention one instance, afterwards happened to Franco, who, coming +from Venice, applied himself to a style of design and a career entirely +new. Raffaello had formed his own system, and only sought examples, to +enlarge his ideas and facilitate his execution. He therefore studied the +works of Masaccio, an elegant and expressive painter, whose Adam and Eve +he afterwards adopted in the Vatican. He also became acquainted with Fra +Bartolommeo, who, about this time, had returned to the exercise of his +profession. To this artist he taught the principles of perspective, and +acquired from him, in return, a better style of colouring. We have not +any record to prove that he made himself known to Da Vinci; and the +portrait of Raffaello, in the ducal gallery in Florence, which is said +to be by Lionardo, is an unknown head. I would willingly, however, +flatter myself, that a congeniality of mind and an affinity of genius, +emulous in the pursuit of perfection, must have produced a knowledge of +each other, if it did not conciliate a mutual attachment. No one +certainly was more capable than Da Vinci, of communicating to Raffaello +a degree of refinement and knowledge, which he could not have received +from Pietro; and to introduce him into the more subtle views of art. As +to Michelangiolo, his pictures were rare, and less analogous to the +genius of Raffaello. His celebrated Cartoon was not yet finished, in +1504, and that great master was jealous of its being seen, before its +entire completion. He finished it some few years afterwards, when he +returned to Florence on his flight from Rome, occasioned by the anger of +Julius II. Raffaello therefore could not have had the opportunity of +studying it at that time, nor did he then long remain in Florence, for, +as Vasari states, he was soon obliged to return to his native place, in +consequence of the death of his parents.[31] In 1505 we find him in +Perugia: and to this year belongs the chapel of S. Severo, and the +Crucifixion, which was severed from the wall, and preserved by the Padri +Camaldolensi. From these works, which are all in fresco, we may +ascertain the style which he acquired in Florence; and I think we may +assert, that it was not anatomical, no traces of it being visible in the +body of the Redeemer, which was an opportunity well adapted for the +exhibition of it. Nor was it the study of the beautiful, of which he had +previously exhibited such delightful specimens; nor that of expression, +as there were not to be found in Florence, heads more expressive and +lovely than those he had painted. But after his visit to Florence, we +find his colouring more delicate, and his grouping and the +foreshortening of his figures improved; whether or not he owed it to the +example of Da Vinci or Bonarruoti, or both together, or to some of the +older masters. He afterwards repaired to Florence, but soon quitted it +again, in order to paint in the church of S. Francis, in Perugia, a dead +Christ entombed, the cartoon of which he had designed at Florence; and +which picture was first placed in the church of S. Francis, was +afterwards, in the pontificate of Paul V., transferred to Rome, and is +now in the Borghese palace. After this he returned again to Florence, +and remained there until his departure for Rome, at the end of the year +1508. In this interval, more particularly, he executed the works which +are said to be in his second style, though it is a very delicate matter +to attempt to point them out. Vasari assigns to this period the Holy +Family in the Rinuccini gallery, and yet it bears the date of 1506. Of +this second style is undoubtedly the picture of the Madonna and the +infant Christ and S. John, in a beautiful landscape, with ruins in the +distance, which is in the gallery of the Grand Duke, and others, some of +which are to be found in foreign countries. His pictures of this period +are composed in the more usual style of a Madonna, accompanied by +saints, like the picture of the Pitti palace, formerly at Pescia, and +that of S. Fiorenzo in Perugia, which passed into England. The +attitudes, however, the air of the heads, and smaller features of +composition, are beyond a common style. The dead Christ above mentioned, +is in a more novel and superior style. Vasari calls it a most divine +picture; the figures are not numerous; but each fulfils perfectly the +part assigned to it; the subject is most affecting; the heads are +remarkably beautiful, and the earliest of the kind in the restoration of +art, while the expression of profound sorrow and extreme anguish does +not divest them of their beauty. After finishing this work, Raphael was +ambitious of painting an apartment in Florence, one, I believe, of the +Palazzo Pubblico. There remains a letter of his, in which he requests +the Duke of Urbino to write to the Gonfaloniere Soderini, in April, +1508.[32] But his relative, Bramante, procured him a nobler employ in +Rome, recommending him to Julius II. to ornament the Vatican. He removed +thither, and was already established there in the September of the same +year.[33] + +We at length, then, behold him fixed in Rome, and placed in the Vatican +at a period, and under circumstances calculated to render him the first +painter in the world. His biographers do not mention his literary +attainments; and, if we were to judge from his letter just cited, and +now in the Museo Borgia, we might consider him grossly illiterate. But +he was then writing to his uncle; and therefore made use of his native +dialect, as is still done even in the public acts in Venice; though he +might be master of, and might use on proper occasions, a more correct +language. Raffaello, too, was of a family fully competent to afford him +the necessary instructions in his early years. Other letters of his are +found in the _Lettere Pittoriche_, in a very different style; and of his +knowledge in matters of importance, it is sufficient to refer to what +Celio Calcagnini, an eminent literary character of the age of Leo, +states of him to Giacomo Zieglero: "I need not," he says, "mention +Vitruvius, whose precepts he not only explains, but defends or impugns +with evident justice, and with so much temper, that in his objections +there does not appear the slightest asperity. He has excited the +admiration of the Pontiff Leo, and of all the Romans, in such a way, +that they regard him as a man sent down from heaven purposely to restore +the eternal city to its ancient splendour."[34] This acknowledged skill +in architecture must suppose an adequate acquaintance with the Latin +language and geometry; and we know from other quarters, that he +assiduously cultivated anatomy, history, and poetry.[35] But his +principal pursuit in Rome was the study of the remains of Grecian +genius, and by which he perfected his knowledge of art. He studied, too, +the ancient buildings, and was instructed in the principles of +architecture for six years by Bramante, in order that on his death he +might succeed him in the management of the building of S. Peter.[36] He +lived among the ancient sculptors, and derived from them not only their +contours and drapery, and attitudes, but the spirit and principles of +the art itself. Nor yet content with what he saw in Rome, he employed +artists to copy the remains of antiquity at Pozzuolo and throughout all +Italy, and even in Greece. Nor did he derive less assistance from living +artists whom he consulted on his compositions. "The universal esteem +which he enjoyed,"[37] and his attractive person and engaging manners, +which all accounts unite in describing as incomparable, conciliated him +the favour of the most eminent men of letters of his age; and Bembo, +Castiglione, Giovio, Navagero, Ariosto, Aretino, Fulvio, and Calcagnini, +set a high value on his friendship, and supplied him, we may be allowed +to suppose, with hints and ideas for his works. + +His rival Michelangiolo, too, and his party, contributed not a little to +the success of Raffaello. As the contest between Zeuxis and Parrhasius +was beneficial to them both, so the rivalship of Bonarruoti and Sanzio +aided the fame of Michelangiolo, and produced the paintings of the +Sistine chapel; and at the same time contributed to the celebrity of +Raffaello, by producing the pictures of the Vatican, and not a few +others. Michelangiolo disdaining any secondary honours, came to the +combat, as it were, attended by his shield bearer; for he made drawings +in his grand style, and then gave them to F. Sebastiano, the scholar of +Giorgione, to execute; and by these means he hoped that Raffaello would +never be able to rival his productions either in design or colour. +Raffaello stood alone; but aimed at producing works with a degree of +perfection beyond the united efforts of Michelangiolo and Sebastian del +Piombo, combining in himself a fertile invention, ideal beauty founded +on a correct imitation of the Greek style, grace, ease, amenity, and an +universality of genius in every department of the art. The noble +determination of triumphing in such a powerful contest animated him +night and day, and did not allow him any respite. It also excited him to +surpass both his rivals and himself in every new work which he produced. +The subjects, too, chosen for these chambers, aided him, as they were in +a great measure new, or required to be treated in a novel manner. They +did not profess to represent bacchanalian or vulgar scenes, but the +exalted symbols of science; the sacred functions of religion; military +actions, which contributed to establish the peace of the world; +important events of former days, under which were typified the reigns of +the Pontiffs Julius and Leo X.: the latter the most powerful protector, +and one of the most accomplished judges of art. More favourable +circumstances could not have conspired to stimulate a noble mind. The +eulogizing of Augustus was a theme for the poets of his age, which +produced the richest fruits of genius. Propertius, accustomed to sing +only of the charms or the disdain of his Cinthia, felt himself another +poet when called on to celebrate the triumphs of Augustus; and with +newborn fervour invoked Jove himself to suspend the functions of his +divinity whilst he sang the praises of the emperor.[38] It is certain +that such elevated subjects, in minds richly stored, must excite +corresponding ideas, and thus both in poets and painters, give birth to +the sublime. + +Raffaello, on his arrival in Rome, says Vasari, was commissioned to +paint a chamber, which was at that time called La Segnatura, and which, +from the subject of the pictures, was also called the chamber of the +Sciences. On the ceiling are represented Theology, Philosophy, Poetry, +and Jurisprudence. Each of them has on the neighbouring façade a grand +historical piece illustrative of the subject. On the basement are also +historical pieces which belong to the same sciences; and these smaller +performances, and the caryatides and telamoni distributed around, are +monocromati or chiaroscuri, an idea entirely of Raffaello, and +afterwards, it is said, continued by Polidoro da Caravaggio. Raffaello +commenced with Theology, and imitated Petrarch, who in one of his +visions has assembled together men of the same condition, though living +in different ages. He there placed the evangelists, whose volumes are +the foundation of theology; the sacred writers, who have preserved its +traditions; the theologists, S. Thomas, S. Bonaventura, Scotus, and the +rest who have illustrated it by their arguments; above all, the Trinity +in the midst of the beatified, and beneath on an altar the eucharist, as +if to express the mystery of that doctrine. There are traces of the +ancient style in this piece. Gold is made use of in the glories of the +saints, and in other ornamental parts; the upper glory is formed on the +plan of that of S. Severo, which I have already noticed: the composition +is more symmetrical and less free than in other pieces; and the whole, +compared with the other compositions, seems too minute. Nevertheless, +whosoever regards each part in itself, will find it of such careful and +admirable execution, that he will be disposed to prefer it to all other +works. It has been observed, that Raffaello began this piece at the +right side, and that by the time he had arrived at the left side +portion, he had made rapid strides in the art. This work must have been +finished about the year 1508: and such was the surprise and admiration +of the Pope, that he ordered all the works of Bramantino, Pier della +Francesca, Signorelli, l'Abate di Arezzo, and Sodoma (though some of the +ornamental parts by this last are preserved) to be effaced, in order +that the whole chamber might be decorated by Raffaello. + +In the subsequent works of Raffaello, and after the year 1509, we do not +find any traces of his first style. He had adopted a nobler manner, and +henceforth applied all his powers to the perfecting of it. He had now to +represent, on the opposite side, Philosophy. In this he designed a +gymnasium in the form of a temple, and placed the learned ancients, some +in the precincts of the building, some on the ascent of the steps, and +others in the plain below. In this, more than on any other occasion, he +was aided by his favourite Petrarch in the third capitolo of his Fame. +Plato, "_che in quella schiera andò più presso al segno_," is there +represented with Aristotle, "_più d'ingegno_," in the act of +disputation; and they possess also in the composition, the highest place +of honour; Socrates is represented instructing Alcibiades; Pythagoras is +seen, and before him a youth holds a tablet with the harmonious +concords; and Zoroaster, King of Bactriana, appears with an elementary +globe in his hand. Diogenes is stretched near on the ground, with his +wooden bowl in his hand, "_assai più che non vuol vergogna aperto_:" +Archimedes is seen "_star col capo basso_," and turning the compasses on +the table, instructs the youth in geometry; and others are represented +meditating, or in disputation, whose names and characters it would be +possible, with careful observation, to distinguish more truly than +Vasari has done. This picture is commonly called the School of Athens, +which in my judgment is just as appropriate, as the name of the +Sacrament bestowed on the first subject. The third picture, representing +Jurisprudence, is divided into two parts. On the left side of the window +stands Justinian, with the book of the Civil Law; Trebonian receives it +from his hand with an expression of submission and acquiescence, which +no other pencil can ever hope to equal. On the right side is seen +Gregory IX. who delivers the book of the Decretals to an advocate of the +Consistory, and bears the features of Julius II., who is thus honoured +in the character of his predecessor. In the concluding picture, which is +a personification of Poetry, is seen Mount Parnassus, where, in company +of Apollo and the muses, the Greek, Roman, and Tuscan poets are +represented in their own portraitures, as far as records will allow. +Homer, seated between Virgil and Dante, is, perhaps, the most striking +figure; he is evidently gifted with a divine spirit, and unites in his +person the characters of the prophet and the poet. The historical pieces +in chiaroscuro contribute, by their ornaments, to charm the sight, and +preserve the unity of design. Beneath the Theology, for instance, is +represented S. Augustine on the borders of the sea, instructed by the +angels not to explore the mystery of the Trinity, incomprehensible to +the human mind. Under the Philosophy, Archimedes is seen surprised and +slain by a soldier, whilst immersed in his studies. This first chamber +was finished in 1511, as that year appears inscribed near the Parnassus. + +Vasari, until the finishing of the first chamber, does not speak of the +improvement of his manner; on the contrary, in his life of Raffaello, he +says, "although he had seen so many monuments of antiquity in that city, +and studied so unremittingly, still his figures, up to this period, did +not possess that breadth and majesty which they afterwards exhibited. +For it happened, that the breach between Michelangiolo and the Pope, +which we have before mentioned in his life, occurred about this time, +and compelled Bonarruoti to flee to Florence; from which circumstance, +Bramante obtaining possession of the keys of the chapel, exhibited it to +his friend Raffaello, in order that he might make himself acquainted +with the style of Michelangiolo;" and he then proceeds to mention the +Isaiah of S. Agostino, and the Sibyls della Pace, painted after this +period, and the Heliodorus. In the life of Michelangiolo, he again +informs us of the quarrel which obliged him to depart from Rome, and +proceeds to say, that when, on his return, he had finished one half of +the work, the Pope suddenly commanded it to be exposed; "whereupon +Raffaello d'Urbino, who possessed great facility of imitation, +immediately changed his style, and at one effort designed the Prophets +and Sibyls della Pace." This brings us to a dispute prosecuted with the +greatest warmth both in Italy and other countries. Bellori attacked +Vasari in a violent manner, in a work entitled: "_Se Raffaello ingrandì +e migliorò la maniera per aver vedute le opere di Michelangiolo_," +(Whether Raffaello enlarged and improved his style on seeing the works +of Michelangiolo). Crespi replied to him in three letters, inserted in +the Lettere Pittoriche,[39] and many other disputants have arisen and +stated fresh arguments. + +It is not, however, our province to engage the reader in these +disputations. It was greatly to the advantage of Michelangiolo's fame to +have had two scholars, who, while he was yet living, and after the death +of Raffaello, employed themselves in writing his life; and a great +misfortune to Raffaello not to have been commemorated in the same +manner. If he had survived to the time when Vasari and Condivi wrote, he +would not have passed over their charges in silence. Raffaello would +then have easily proved, that when Bonarruoti fled to Florence, in 1506, +he himself was not in Rome, nor was called thither until two years +afterwards; and that he could not, therefore, have obtained a furtive +glance of the Sistine chapel. It would have been proved too, that from +the year 1508, when Michelangiolo had, perhaps, not commenced his work, +until 1511, in which year he exhibited the first half of it,[40] +Raffaello had been endeavouring to enlarge his style; and as +Michelangiolo had before studied the Torso of the Belvidere, so +Raffaello also formed himself on this and other marbles,[41] a +circumstance easily discoverable in his style. He might too have asked +Vasari, in what he considered grandeur and majesty of style to consist; +and from the example of the Greeks, and from reason herself, he might +have informed him, that the grand does not consist in the enlargement of +the muscles, or in an extravagance of attitude, but in adopting, as +Mengs has observed, the noblest, and neglecting the inferior and meaner +parts;[42] and exercising the higher powers of invention. Hence he would +have proceeded to point out the grandeur of style in the School of +Athens, in the majestic edifice, in the contour of the figures, in the +folds of the drapery, in the expression of the countenances, and in the +attitudes; and he would have easily traced the source of that sublimity +in the relics of antiquity. And if he appeared still greater in his +Isaiah, he might have refuted Vasari from his own account, who assigns +this work to a period anterior to 1511, and therefore contemporary as it +were with the School of Athens: adding, that he elevated his style by +propriety of character, and by the study of Grecian art. The Greeks +observed an essential difference between common men and heroes, and +again between their heroes and their gods; and Raffaello, after having +represented philosophers immersed in human doubts, might well elevate +his style when he came to figure a prophet meditating the revelations of +God.[43] All this might have been advanced by Raffaello, in order to +relieve Bramante and himself from so ill supported an imputation. As to +the rest, I believe he never would have denied, that the works of +Michelangiolo had inspired him with a more daring spirit of design, and +that in the exhibition of strong character, he had sometimes even +imitated him. But how imitated him? In rendering, as Crespi himself +observes, that very style more beautiful and more majestic, (p. 344). It +is indeed a great triumph to the admirers of Raffaello to be able to +say, whoever wishes to see what is wanting in the Sibyls of +Michelangiolo, let him inspect those of Raffaello; and let him view the +Isaiah of Raffaello, who would know what is wanting in the prophets of +Michelangiolo. + +After public curiosity was gratified, and Raffaello had obtained a +glimpse of this new style, Bonarruoti closed the doors, and hastened to +finish the other half of his work, which was completed at the close of +1512, so that the Pope, on the solemnization of the Feast of Christmas, +was enabled to perform mass in the Sistine chapel. In the course of this +year, Raffaello was employed in the second chamber on the subject of +Heliodorus driven from the Temple by the prayers of Onias the high +priest, one of the most celebrated pictures of the place. In this +painting, the armed vision that appears to Heliodorus, scatters +lightnings from his hand, while the neighing of the steed is heard +amidst the attendant thunder. In the numerous bands, some of which are +plundering the riches of the Temple, and others are ignorant of the +cause of the surprise and terror exhibited in Heliodorus, consternation, +amazement, joy, and abasement, and a host of passions, are expressed. In +this work, and in others of these chambers, Raffaello, says Mengs, gave +to painting all the augmentation it could receive after Michelangiolo. +In this picture he introduced the portrait of Julius II., whose zeal and +authority is represented in Onias. He appears in a litter borne by his +grooms, in the manner in which he was accustomed to repair to the +Vatican, to view this work. The Miracle of Bolsena was also painted in +the lifetime of Julius. + +The remaining decorations of these chambers were all illustrative of the +history of Leo X., whose imprisonment in Ravenna, and subsequent +liberation, is typified by St. Peter released from prison by the angel. +It was in this piece that the painter exhibited an astonishing proof of +his knowledge of light. The figures of the soldiers, who stand without +the prison, are illuminated by the beams of the moon: there is a torch +which produces a second light; and from the angel emanates a celestial +splendour, that rivals the beams of the sun. He has here, too, afforded +another proof how art may convert the impediments thrown in her way to +her own advantage; for the place where he was painting being broken by a +window, he has imagined on each side of it a staircase, which affords an +ascent to the prison, and on the steps he has placed the guards +overpowered with sleep; so that the painter does not seem to have +accommodated himself to the place, but the place to have become +subservient to the painter. The composition of S. Leo the Great, who +checks Attila at the head of his army, and that of the other chamber, +the battle with the Saracens in the port of Ostium, and the victory +obtained by S. Leo IV., justify Raffaello's claim to the epic crown: so +powerfully has he depicted the military array of men and horse, the arms +peculiar to each nation, the fury of the combat, and the despair and +humiliation of the prisoners. Near this performance, too, is the +wonderful piece of the Incendio di Borgo (a city enveloped in fire), +which is miraculously extinguished by the same S. Leo. This wonderful +piece alternately chills the heart with terror, or warms it with +compassion. The calamity of fire is carried to its extreme point, as it +is the hour of midnight, and the fire, which already occupies a +considerable space, is increased by a violent wind, which agitates the +flames that leap with rapidity from house to house. The affright and +misery of the inhabitants is also carried to the utmost extremity. Some +rush forward with water, but are driven back by the scorching flames; +others seek safety in flight, with naked feet, robeless, and with +dishevelled hair; women are seen turning an imploring look to the +Pontiff; mothers, whose own terrors are absorbed in fear for their +offspring; and here a youth, who bearing on his shoulders his aged and +infirm sire, and sinking beneath the weight, collects his almost +exhausted strength to place him out of danger. The concluding subjects +refer to Leo III.; the Coronation of Charlemagne, by the hand of that +Pontiff, and the Oath taken by the Pope on the Holy Evangelists, to +exculpate himself from the calumnies laid to his charge. In Leo, is +meant to be represented Leo X., who is thus honoured in the persons of +his predecessors; and in Charlemagne is represented Francis I., King of +France. Many persons of the age are also figured in the surrounding +group, so that there is not an historical subject in these chambers that +does not contain the most accurate likenesses. In this latter department +of art, also, Raffaello may be said to have been transcendant. His +portraits have deceived even persons the most intimately acquainted with +the subjects of them. He painted a remarkable picture of Leo X., and on +one occasion the Cardinal Datary of that time, found himself approaching +it with a bull, and pen and ink, for the Pope's signature.[44] + +The six subjects which relate to Leo, elected in 1513, were finished in +1517. In the nine years which Raphael employed on these three chambers, +and also in the three following years, he made additional decorations to +the Pontifical Palace; he observed the style of ornament suitable to +each part of it, and thus made the Pope's residence a model of +magnificence and taste for all Europe. Few have adverted to this +instance of his merit. He superintended the new gallery of the palace, +availing himself in part of the design of Bramante, and in part +improving on him. "He then made designs for the stuccos, and the various +subjects there painted, and also for the divisions, and he then +appointed Giovanni da Udine to finish the stuccos and arabesques, and +Giulio Romano the figures." The exposure of this gallery to the +inclemencies of the air, has left little remaining besides the squalid +grotesques; but those who saw it at an early period, when the unsullied +splendor of the gold, the pure white of the stuccos, the brilliancy of +the colours, and the newness of the marble, rendered every part of it +beautiful and resplendent, must have thought it a vision of paradise. +Vasari, in eulogizing it, says, "It is impossible to execute, or to +conceive, a more exquisite work." The best which now remain are the +thirteen ceilings, in each of which are distributed four subjects from +holy writ, the first of which, the Creation of the World, Raffaello +executed with his own hand as a model for the others, which were painted +by his scholars, and afterwards retouched and rendered uniform by +himself, as was his custom. I have seen copies of these in Rome, +executed at great cost, and with great fidelity, for Catherine, Empress +of Russia, under the direction of Mr. Hunterberger, and from the effect +which was produced by the freshness of the colours, I could easily +conceive how highly enchanting the originals must have been. But their +great value consisted in Raffaello having enriched them by his +invention, expression, and design, and every one is agreed that each +subject is a school in itself. It appears certain too, that he was +desirous of competing with Michelangiolo, who had treated the same +subject in the Sistine chapel; and of appealing to the public to judge +whether or not he had equalled him. To describe in a suitable manner the +other pictures in chiaroscuro, and the numerous landscapes and +architectural subjects, the trophies, imitations of cameos, masks, and +other things which this divine artist either designed himself or formed +into new combinations from the antique, is a task, says Taja, far above +the reach of human powers. Taja has however himself given us a +delightful description of these works.[45] It confers the highest honour +on Raffaello, to whom we owe the fifty-two subjects, and all the +ornamental parts. + +Nor were the pavements, or the doors, or other interior works in the +palace of the Vatican, completed without his superintendence. He +directed the pavements to be formed of _terra invetriata_, an ancient +invention of Luca della Robbia, which having continued for many +generations as a family secret, was then in the hands of another Luca. +Raffaello invited him to Florence to execute this vast work, employed +him in the gallery, and in many of the chambers, which he adorned with +the arms of the Pope. For the couches and other ornaments of the Camera +di Segnatura he brought to Rome F. Giovanni da Verona, who formed them +of mosaic with the most beautiful views. For the entablatures of the +chambers, and for several of the windows and doors, he engaged Giovanni +Barile, a celebrated Florentine engraver of gems. This work was executed +in so masterly a manner, that Louis XIII., wishing to ornament the +palace of the Louvre, had all these intaglios separately copied. The +drawings of them were made by Poussin, and Mariette boasted of having +them in his collection. Nor was there any other work either of stone or +marble for which a design was required, which did not come under the +inspection of Raffaello, and on which he did not impress his taste, +which was consummate also in the sister art of sculpture. A proof of +this is to be seen in the Jonah, in the church of the Madonna del +Popolo, in the Chigi chapel, which was executed by Lorenzetto under his +direction, and which, Bottari says, may assume its place by the side of +the Greek statues. Among his most remarkable works may be mentioned his +designs for the tapestry in the papal chapel, the subjects of which were +from the lives of the Evangelists, and the Acts of the Apostles. The +cartoons for them were both designed and coloured by Raffaello; and +after the tapestries were finished in the Low Countries, the cartoons +passed into England, where they still remain. In these tapestries the +art attained its highest pitch, nor has the world since beheld anything +to equal them in beauty. They are exposed annually in the great portico +of S. Peter, in the procession of the _Corpus Domini_, and it is +wonderful to behold the crowds that flock to see them, and who ever +regard them with fresh avidity and delight. But all these works of +Raffaello would not have contributed to the extension of art at that +period, beyond the meridian of Rome, if he had not succeeded in +extending the fruits of his genius, by the means of prints. We have +already noticed M. A. Raimondi, in the first book, and we have shewn +that this great engraver was courteously received, and was afterwards +assisted by Sanzio, whence an abundance of copies of the designs and the +works of this master have been given to the world. A fine taste was thus +rapidly propagated throughout Europe, and the beautiful style of +Raffaello began to be justly appreciated. In a short time it became the +prevailing taste, and if his maxims had remained unaltered, Italian +painting would probably have flourished for as long a period as Greek +sculpture. + +In the midst of such a variety of occupations, Raffaello did not fail to +gratify the wishes of many private individuals, who were desirous of +having his designs for buildings, in which branch of art he was highly +celebrated, and also of possessing his pictures. I need only to refer to +the gallery of Agostini Chigi, which he ornamented with his own hand, +with the well known fable of Galatea. He afterwards, with the assistance +of his pupils, painted the Marriage of Psyche, at the banquet of which +he assembled all the heathen deities, with such propriety of form, with +their attendant symbols and genii, that in these fabulous subjects he +almost rivalled the Greeks. These pictures, and those also of the +chambers of the Vatican, were retouched by Maratta, with incredible +care; and the method he adopted, as described by Bellori, may serve as a +guide in similar cases. Raffaello also painted many altarpieces, with +saints generally introduced; as that Delle Contesse at Foligno, where he +introduced the Chamberlain of the Pope, alive, rather than drawn from +the life: that for S. Giovanni in Monte, at Bologna, of S. Cecilia, who, +charmed to rapture by a celestial melody, forgets her musical +instrument, which falls neglected from her hands; that for Palermo, of +Christ ascending Mount Calvary, called _dello Spasimo_, which, however +much disparaged by Cumberland, for having been retouched, is a noble +ornament of the royal collection at Madrid; and the others at Naples and +at Piacenza, which are mentioned by his biographers. He also painted S. +Michael for the King of France, and many other holy families[46] and +devotional subjects, which neither Vasari nor his other biographers have +fully enumerated. + +But although the creation of these wonderful works was become a habit in +this great artist, still every part of his productions cannot be +considered as equally successful. It is known, that in the frescos of +the palace, and in the Chigi gallery, he was censured in some naked +figures for errors committed, as Vasari says, by some of his school. +Mengs, who varied his opinions at different periods of his life, +insinuates, that Raffaello for some time seemed to slumber, and did not +make those rapid strides in the art, which might have been expected from +his genius. This was, probably, when Michelangiolo was for some years +absent from Rome. But when he returned, and heard it reported that many +persons considered the paintings of Raffaello superior to his in colour, +of more beauty and grace in composition, and of a correspondent +excellence in design, whilst his works were said to possess none of +these qualities except the last; he was stimulated to avail himself of +the pencil of Fra Sebastiano, and at the same time supplied him with his +own designs. The most celebrated work which they produced in +conjunction, was a Transfiguration, in fresco, with a Flagellation, and +other figures, in a chapel of S. Peter in Montorio. Raffaello being +subsequently employed to paint a picture for the Cardinal Giulio de' +Medici, afterwards Clement VII., Sebastiano, in a sort of competition, +painted another picture of the same size. In the latter was represented +the raising of Lazarus; in the former, with the master's accustomed +spirit of emulation, the Transfiguration. "This is a picture which +combines," says Mengs, "more excellences than any of the previous works +of Raffaello. The expression in it is more exalted and more refined, the +chiaroscuro more correct, the perspective better understood, the +penciling finer, and there is a greater variety in the drapery, more +grace in the heads, and more grandeur in the style."[47] It represents +the mystery of the Transfiguration of Christ on the summit of Mount +Tabor. On the side of the hill he has placed a band of his disciples, +and with the happiest invention has engaged them in an action +conformable to their powers, and has thus formed an episode not beyond +the bounds of probability. A youth possessed is presented to them, that +they may expel the evil spirit that torments him; and in the possessed, +struggling with the presence of the demon, the confiding faith of the +father, the affliction of a beautiful and interesting female, and the +compassion visible in the countenances of the surrounding apostles, we +are presented with perhaps the most pathetic incident ever conceived. +Yet this part of the composition does not fix our regard so much as the +principal subject on the summit of the mountain. There the two prophets, +and the three disciples, are most admirably delineated, and the Saviour +appears enveloped in a glory emanating from the fountain of eternal +light, and surrounded by that chaste and celestial radiance, that is +reserved exclusively for the eyes of the elect. The countenance of +Christ, in which he has developed all his combined ideas of majesty and +beauty, may be considered the masterpiece of Raffaello, and seems to us +the most sublime height to which the genius of the artist, or even the +art itself, was capable of aspiring. After this effort he never resumed +his pencil, as he was soon afterwards suddenly seized with a mortal +distemper, of which he died, in the bosom of the church, on Good Friday, +(also the anniversary of his birthday,) 1520, aged thirty-seven years. +His body reposed for some days in the chamber where he was accustomed to +paint, and over it was placed this noble picture of the Transfiguration, +previous to his mortal remains being transferred to the church of the +Rotonda for interment. There was not an artist that was not moved to +tears at this affecting sight. Raffaello had always possessed the power +of engaging the affections of all with whom he was acquainted. +Respectful to his master, he obtained from the Pope an assurance that +his works, in one of the ceilings of the Vatican, should remain +unmolested; just towards his rivals, he expressed his gratitude to God +that he had been born in the days of Bonarruoti; gracious towards his +pupils, he loved them, and intrusted them as his own sons; courteous +even to strangers, he cheerfully lent his aid to all who asked his +advice; and in order to make designs for others, or to direct them in +their studies, he sometimes even neglected his own work, being alike +incapable of refusing or delaying his inestimable aid. All these +reflections forced themselves on the minds of the spectators, whose eyes +were at one moment directed to the view of his youthful remains, and of +those divine hands that had, in the imitation of her works, almost +excelled nature herself; and at another moment, to the contemplation of +this his latest production, which appeared to exhibit the dawn of a new +and wonderful style; and the painful reflection presented itself, that, +with the life of Raffaello, the brightest prospects of art were thus +suddenly obscured. The Pope himself was deeply affected at his death, +and requested Bembo to compose the epitaph which is now read on his +tomb; and his loss was considered as a national calamity throughout all +Italy. True indeed it is, that soon after his decease, Rome herself, and +her territory, experienced such unheard of calamities, that many had +just cause to envy him, not only the celebrity of his life, but the +opportune period of his death. He was not doomed to see the illustrious +Leo X., at a time when he extended the most exalted patronage to the +arts, poisoned by a sacrilegious hand; nor Clement VII., pressed by an +enraged enemy, seeking shelter in the Castle of S. Angelo, afterwards +compelled to fly for his life, and obliged to purchase, at enormous +sums, the liberty of his servants. Nor did he witness the horrors +attending the sacking of Rome, the nobility robbed and plundered in +their own palaces, the violation of hapless females in the convents; +prelates unrelentingly dragged to the scaffold, and priests torn from +the altars, and from the images of their saints, to whom they looked in +vain for refuge, slaughtered by the sword, and their bodies thrown out +of the churches a prey to the dogs. Nor did he survive to see that city, +which he had so illustrated by his genius, and where he had for so many +years shared the public admiration and esteem, wasted with fire and +sword. But of this we shall speak in another place, and shall here +adduce some observations on his style, selected from various authors, +and more particularly from Mengs, who has ably criticised it in his +works already enumerated by me, as well as in some others. + +Raffaello is by common consent placed at the head of his art; not +because he excelled all others in every department of painting, but +because no other artist has ever possessed the various parts of the art +united in so high a degree. Lazzarini even asserts, that he was guilty +of errors, and that he is only the first, because he did not commit so +many as others. He ought, however, to have allowed, that his defects +would be excellences in any other artist, being nothing more in him than +the neglect of that higher degree of perfection to which he was capable +of attaining. The art, indeed, comprehends so many and such difficult +parts, that no individual artist has been alike distinguished in all; +even Apelles was said to yield to Amphion in disposition and harmony, to +Asclepiadorus in proportion, and to Protogenes in application. + +The style of design of Raffaello, as seen in those drawings, divested of +colours, which now form the chief ornaments of cabinets, presents us, if +we may use the term, with the pure transcript of his imagination, and we +stand in amaze at the contours, grace, precision, diligence, and genius, +which they exhibit. One of the most admired of his drawings I once saw +in the gallery of the Duke of Modena, a most finished and superior +specimen, uniting in style all the invention of the best painters of +Greece, and the execution of the first artists of Italy. It has been +made a question whether Raffaello did not yield to Michelangiolo in +drawing; and Mengs himself confesses, that he did, as far as regards the +anatomy of the muscles, and in strong expression, in which he considers +Raffaello to have imitated Michelangiolo. But we need not say with +Vasari, that in order to prove that he understood the naked figure as +well as Michelangiolo, he appropriated to himself the designs of that +great master. On the contrary, in the figures of the two youths in the +Incendio di Borgo, criticised by Vasari, one of whom is in the act of +leaping from a wall to escape the flames, and the other is fleeing with +his father on his shoulders, he not only proved that he had a perfect +knowledge of the action of the muscles and the anatomy requisite for a +painter, but prescribed the occasion when this style might be used +without impropriety, as in figures of a robust form engaged in violent +action. He moreover commonly marked the principal parts in the naked +figure, and indicated the others after the example of the better ancient +masters, and where he wrought from his own ideas, his execution was most +correct. On this subject Bellori may be consulted at page 223 of the +work already quoted, and the annotations to vol. ii. of Mengs, (page +197,) made by the Cavaliere d'Azzara, minister of the king of Spain at +Rome, an individual, who, in conferring honour on the artist, has by his +own writing conferred honour on art itself. + +In chasteness of design, Raffaello was by some placed on a level with +the Greeks, though this praise we must consider as extravagant. Agostino +Caracci commends him as a model of symmetry; and in that respect, more +than in any other, he approached the ancients; except, observes Mengs, +in the hands, which being rarely found perfect in the ancient statues, +he had not an equal opportunity of studying, and did not therefore +design them so elegantly as the other parts. He selected the beautiful +from nature, and as Mariette observes, whose collection was rich in his +designs, he copied it with all its imperfections, which he afterwards +gradually corrected, as he proceeded with his work. Above all things, he +aimed at perfecting the heads, and from a letter addressed to +Castiglione on the Galatea of the Palazzo Chigi, or of the Farnesina, he +discovers how intent he was to select the best models of nature, and to +perfect them in his own mind.[48] His own Fornarina assisted him in this +object. Her portrait, by Raffaello's own hand, was formerly in the +Barberini palace, and it is repeated in many of his Madonnas, in the +picture of S. Cecilia, in Bologna, and in many female heads. Critics +have often expressed a wish that these heads had possessed a more +dignified character, and in this respect he was, perhaps, excelled by +Guido Reni, and however engaging his children may be, those of Titian +are still more beautiful. His true empire was in the heads of his men, +which are portraits selected with judgment, and depicted with a dignity +proportioned to his subject. Vasari calls the air of these heads +superhuman, and calls on us to admire the expression of age in the +patriarchs, simplicity of life in the apostles, and constancy of faith +in the martyrs; and in Christ in the Transfiguration, he says, there is +a portion of the divine essence itself transferred to his countenance, +and made visible to mortal eyes. + +This effect is the result of that quality that is called expression, and +which, in the drawing of Raffaello has attracted more admiration of late +years than formerly. It is remarkable, that not only Zuccaro, who was +indeed a superficial writer, but that Vasari, and Lomazzo himself, so +much more profound than either of them, should not have conferred on him +that praise which he afterwards received from Algarotti, Lazzarini, and +Mengs. Lionardo was the first, as we shall see in the Milanese School, +to lead the way to delicacy of expression; but that master, who painted +so little, and with such labour, is not to be compared to Raffaello, who +possessed the whole quality in its fullest extent. There is not a +movement of the soul, there is not a character of passion known to the +ancients, and capable of being expressed by art, that he has not caught, +expressed, and varied, in a thousand different ways, and always within +the bounds of propriety. We have no tradition of his having, like Da +Vinci, frequented the public streets to seek for subjects for his +pencil; and his numerous pictures prove that he could not have devoted +so much time to this study, while his drawings clearly evince, that he +had not equal occasion for such assistance. Nature, as I have before +remarked, had endowed him with an imagination which transported his mind +to the scene of the event, either fabulous or remote, in which he was +engaged, and awoke in him the very same emotions which the subjects of +such story must themselves have experienced; and this vivid conception +assisted him until he had designed his subject with that distinctness +which he had either observed in other countenances, or found in his own +mind. This faculty, seldom found in poets, and still more rarely in +painters, no one possessed in a more eminent degree than Raffaello. His +figures are passions personified; and love, fear, hope, and desire, +anger, placability, humility, or pride, assume their places by turns, as +the subject changes; and while the spectator regards the countenances, +the air, and the gestures of his figures, he forgets that they are the +work of art, and is surprised to find his own feelings excited, and +himself an actor in the scene before him. There is another delicacy of +expression, and this is the gradation of the passions, by which every +one perceives whether they are in their commencement or at their height, +or in their decline. He had observed their shades of difference in the +intercourse of life, and on every occasion he knew how to transfer the +result of his observations to his canvas. Even his silence is eloquent, +and every actor + + "Il cor negli occhi, e nella fronte ha scritto:" + +the smallest perceptible motion of the eyes, of the nostrils, of the +mouth, and of the fingers, corresponds to the chief movements of every +passion; the most animated and vivid actions discover the violence of +the passion that excites them; and what is more, they vary in +innumerable degrees, without ever departing from nature, and conform +themselves to a diversity of character without ever risking propriety. +His heroes possess the mien of valour; his vulgar, an air of debasement; +and that, which neither the pen nor the tongue could describe, the +genius and art of Raffaello would delineate with a few strokes of the +pencil. Numbers have in vain sought to imitate him; his figures are +governed by a sentiment of the mind, while those of others, if we except +Poussin and a very few more, seem the imitation of tragic actors from +the scenes. This is Raffaello's chief excellence; and he may justly be +denominated the painter of mind. If in this faculty be included all that +is difficult, philosophical, and sublime, who shall compete with him in +the sovereignty of art? + +Another quality which Raffaello possessed in an eminent degree was +grace, a quality which may be said to confer an additional charm on +beauty itself. Apelles, who was supremely endowed with it among the +ancients, was so vain of the possession that he preferred it to every +other attribute of art.[49] Raffaello rivalled him among the moderns, +and thence obtained the name of the new Apelles. Something might, +perhaps, be advantageously added to the forms of his children, and other +delicate figures which he represented, but nothing can add to their +gracefulness, for if it were attempted to be carried further it would +degenerate into affectation, as we find in Parmegiano. His Madonnas +enchant us, as Mengs observes, not because they possess the perfect +lineaments of the Medicean Venus, or of the celebrated daughter of +Niobe; but because the painter in their portraits and in their +expressive smiles, has personified modesty, maternal love, purity of +mind, and, in a word, grace itself. Nor did he impress this quality on +the countenance alone, but distributed it throughout the figure in its +attitude, gesture, and action, and in the folds of the drapery, with a +dexterity which may be admired, but can never be rivalled. His freedom +of execution was a component part of this grace, which indeed vanishes +as soon as labour and study appear; for it is with the painter as with +the orator, in whom a natural and spontaneous eloquence delights us, +while we turn away with indifference from an artificial and studied +harangue. + +In regard to the province of colour, Raffaello must yield the palm to +Titian and Correggio, although he himself excelled Michelangiolo and +many others. His frescos may rank with the first works of other schools +in that line: not so his pictures in oil. In the latter he availed +himself of the sketches of Giulio, which were composed with a degree of +hardness and timidity; and though finished by Raffaello, they have +frequently lost the lustre of his last touch. This defect was not +immediately apparent, and if Raffaello's life had been prolonged, he +would have been aware of the injuries his pictures received from the +lapse of time, and would not have finished them in so light a manner. He +is on this account more admired in his first subject in the Vatican, +painted under Julius II., than in those he executed under Leo X., for +being there pressed by a multiplicity of business, and an idea of the +importance of a grander style, he became less rich and firm in his +colouring. That, however, he excelled in these respects is evinced by +his portraits, when not having an opportunity of displaying his +invention, composition, and beautiful style of design, he appears +ambitious to distinguish himself by his colouring. In this respect his +two portraits of Julius II. are truly admirable, the Medicean and the +Corsinian: that of Leo X. between the two cardinals; and above all, in +the opinion of an eminent judge, Renfesthein, that of Bindo Altoviti, in +the possession of his noble descendants at Florence, by many regarded as +a portrait of Raphael himself.[50] The heads in his Transfiguration are +esteemed the most perfect he ever painted, and Mengs extols the +colouring of them as eminently beautiful. If there be any exception, it +is in the complexion of the principal female, of a greyish tint, as is +often the case in his delicate figures; in which he is therefore +considered to excel less than in the heads of his men. Mengs has made +many exceptions to the chiaroscuro of Raffaello, as compared with that +of Correggio, on which connoisseurs will form their own decision. We are +told that he disposed it with the aid of models of wax; and the relief +of his pictures, and the beautiful effect in his Heliodorus, and in the +Transfiguration, are ascribed to this mode of practice. To his +perspective, too, he was most attentive. De Piles found, in some of his +sketches, the scale of proportion.[51] It is affirmed by Algarotti, that +he did not attempt to paint _di sotto in su_. But to this opinion we may +oppose the example we find in the third arch of the gallery of the +Vatican, where there is a perspective of small columns, says Taja, +imitated _di sotto in su_. It is true, that in his larger works he +avoided it; and in order to preserve the appearance of nature, he +represented his pictures as painted on a tapestry, attached by means of +a running knot to the entablature of the room. + +But all the great qualities which we have enumerated, would not have +procured for Raffaello such an extraordinary celebrity, if he had not +possessed a wonderful felicity in the invention and disposition of his +subjects, and this circumstance is, indeed, his highest merit. It may +with truth be said, that in aid of this object he availed himself of +every example, ancient and modern; and that these two requisites have +not since been so united in any other artist. He accomplishes in his +pictures that which every orator ought to aim at in his speech--he +instructs, moves, and delights us. This is an easy task to a narrator, +since he can regularly unfold to us the whole progress of an event. The +painter, on the contrary, has but the space of a moment to make himself +understood, and his talent consists in describing not only what is +passing, and what is likely to ensue, but that which has already +occurred. It is here that the genius of Raffaello triumphs. He embraces +the whole subject. From a thousand circumstances he selects those alone +which can interest us; he arranges the actors in the most expressive +manner; he invents the most novel modes of conveying much meaning by a +few touches; and numberless minute circumstances, all uniting in one +purpose, render the story not only intelligible, but palpable. Various +writers have adduced in example the S. Paul at Lystra, which is to be +seen in one of the tapestries of the Vatican. The artist has there +represented the sacrifice prepared for him and S. Barnabas his +companion, as to two gods, for having restored a lame man to the use of +his limbs. The altar, the attendants, the victims, the musicians, and +the axe, sufficiently indicate the intentions of the Lystrians. S. Paul, +who is in the act of tearing his robe, shews that he rejects and abhors +the sacrilegious honours, and is endeavouring to dissuade the populace +from persisting in them. But all this were vain, if it had not indicated +the miracle which had just happened, and which had given rise to the +event. Raffaello added to the group the lame man restored to the use of +his limbs, now easily recognized again by all the spectators. He stands +before the apostles rejoicing in his restoration; and raises his hands +in transport towards his benefactors, while at his feet lie the crutches +which had recently supported him, now cast away as useless. This had +been sufficient for any other artist; but Raffaello, who wished to carry +reality to the utmost point, has added a throng of people, who, in their +eager curiosity, remove the garment of the man, to behold his limbs +restored to their former state. Raffaello abounds with examples like +these, and he may be compared to some of the classical writers, who +afford the more matter for reflection the more they are studied. It is +sufficient to have noticed in the inventive powers of Raffaello, those +circumstances which have been less frequently remarked; the movement of +the passions, which is entirely the work of expression, the delight +which proceeds from poetical conceptions, or from graceful episodes, may +be said to speak for themselves, nor have any occasion to be pointed out +by us. + +Other things might contribute to the beauty of his works, as unity, +sublimity, costume, and erudition; for which it is sufficient to refer +to those delightful poetical pieces, with which he adorned the gallery +of Leo X., and which were engraved by Lanfranco and Badalocchi, and are +called the Bible of Raffaello. In the Return of Jacob, who does not +immediately discover, in the number and variety of domestic animals, the +multitude of servants, and the women carrying with them their children, +a patriarchal family migrating from a long possessed abode into a new +territory? In the Creation of the World, where the Deity stretches out +his arms, and with one hand calls forth the sun and with the other the +moon, do we not see a grandeur, which, with the simplest expression, +awakes in us the most sublime ideas? And in the Adoration of the Golden +Calf, how could he better have represented the idolatrous ceremony, and +its departure from true religion, than by depicting the people as +carried away by an insane joy, and mad with fanaticism? In point of +erudition it is sufficient to notice the Triumph of David, which Taja +describes and compares with the ancient bassirelievi, and is inclined to +believe that there is not any thing in marble that excels the art and +skill of this picture. I am aware that on another occasion he has not +been exempted from blame, as when he repeated the figure of S. Peter out +of prison, which hurts the unity of the subject; and in assigning to +Apollo and to the muses instruments not proper to antiquity. Yet it is +the glory of Raffaello to have introduced into his pictures numberless +circumstances unknown to his predecessors, and to have left little to be +added by his successors. + +In composition also he is at the head of his art. In every picture the +principal figure is obvious to the spectator; we have no occasion to +inquire for it; the groups, divided by situation, are united in the +principal action; the contrast is not dictated by affectation, but by +truth and propriety; a figure absorbed in thought, often serves as a +relief to another that acts and speaks; the masses of light and shade +are not arbitrarily poised, but are in the most select imitation of +nature; all is art, but all is consummate skill and concealment of art. +The School of Athens, as it is called, in the Vatican, is in this +respect amongst the most wonderful compositions in the world. They who +succeeded Raffaello, and followed other principles, have afforded more +pleasure to the eye, but have not given such satisfaction to the mind. +The compositions of Paul Veronese contain a greater number of figures, +and more decoration; Lanfranco and the machinists introduced a powerful +effect, and a vigorous contrast of light and shade: but who would +exchange for such a manner the chaste and dignified style of Raffaello? +Poussin alone, in the opinion of Mengs, obtained a superior mode of +composition in the groundwork, or economy of his subject; that is to +say, in the judicious selection of the scene of the event. + +We have thus concisely stated the perfection to which Raffaello carried +his art, in the short space allotted him. There is not a work in nature +or art where he has not practically illustrated his own axiom, as handed +down to us by Federigo Zuccaro, that things must be represented, not as +they are, but as they ought to be; the country, the elements, animals, +buildings, every age of man, every condition of life, every affection, +all was embraced and rendered more beautiful by the divine genius of +Raffaello. And if his life had been prolonged to a more advanced period, +without even approaching the term allowed to Titian or Michelangiolo, +who shall say to what height of perfection he might not have carried his +favourite art? Who can divine his success in architecture and sculpture, +if he had applied himself to the study of them; having so wonderfully +succeeded in his few attempts in those branches of art? + +Of his pictures a considerable number are to be found in private +collections, particularly on sacred subjects, such as the Madonna and +Child, and other compositions of the Holy Family. They are in the three +styles which we have before described: the Grand Duke has some specimens +of each. The most admired is that which is named the Madonna della +Seggiola.[52] Of this class of pictures it is often doubted whether they +ought to be considered as originals, or copies, as some of them have +been three, five, or ten times repeated. The same may be said of other +cabinet pictures by him, particularly the S. John in the desart, which +is in the Grand Ducal gallery at Florence, and is found repeated in many +collections both in Italy and in other countries. This was likely to +happen in a school where the most common mode was the following:--The +subject was designed by Raffaello, the picture prepared by Giulio, and +finished by the master so exquisitely, that one might almost count the +hairs of the head. When the pictures were thus finished, they were +copied by the scholars of Raffaello, who were very numerous, and of the +second and third order; and these were also sometimes retouched by +Giulio and by Raffaello himself. But whoever is experienced in the +freedom and delicacy of the chief of this school, need not fear +confounding his productions with those of the scholars, or of Giulio +himself; who, besides having a more timid pencil, made use of a darker +tint than his master was accustomed to do. I have met with an +experienced person, who declared that he could recognize the character +of Giulio in the dark parts of the flesh tints, and in the middle dark +tints, not of a leaden colour as Raffaello used, nor so well harmonized; +in the greater quantity of light, and in the eyes designed more roundly, +which Raffaello painted somewhat long, after the manner of Pietro. + +On this propitious commencement was founded the school which we call +Roman, rather from the city of Rome itself, than from the people, as I +have before observed. For as the inhabitants of Rome are a mixture of +many tongues, and many different nations, of whom the descendants of +Romulus form the least proportion; so the school of painting has been +increased in its numbers by foreigners whom she has received and united +to her own, and who are considered in her academy of S. Luke, as if they +had been born in Rome, and enjoyed the ancient rights of Romans. Hence +is derived the great variety of names that we find in the course of it. +Some, as Caravaggio, derived no assistance from the study of the ancient +marbles, and other aids peculiar to the capital; and these may be said +to have been in the Roman School, but not to have formed a part of it. +Others adopted the principles of the disciples of Raffaello, and their +usual method was to study diligently both Raffaello and the ancient +marbles; and from the imitation of him, and more particularly of the +antique, resulted, if I err not, the general character, if I may so +express it, of the Roman School: the young artists who were expert in +copying statues and bassirelievi, and who had those objects always +before their eyes, could easily transfer their forms to the panel or the +canvas. Hence their style is formed on the antique, and their beauty is +more ideal than that of other schools. This circumstance, which was an +advantage to those who knew how to use it, became a disadvantage to +others, leading them to give their figures the air of statues, +beautiful, but isolated, and not sufficiently animated. Others have done +themselves greater injury from copying the modern statues of saints; a +practice which facilitated the representation of devout attitudes, the +disposition of the folds in the garments of the monks and priests, and +other peculiarities which are not found in ancient sculpture. But as +sculpture has gradually deteriorated, it could not have any beneficial +influence on the sister art; and it has hence led many into mannerism in +the folds of their drapery, after Bernino and Algardi; excellent +artists, but who ought not to have influenced the art of painting, as +they did, in a city like Rome. The style of invention in this school is, +in general, judicious, the composition chaste, the costume carefully +observed, with a moderate study of ornament. I speak of pictures in oil, +for the frescos of this later period ought to be separately considered. +The colouring, on the whole, is not the most brilliant, nor is it yet +the most feeble; there being always a supply of artists from the +Lombards, or Flemings, who prevented it being entirely neglected. + +We may now return to the original subject of our inquiry, examine the +principles of the Roman School, and attend it to its latest epoch. +Raffaello at all times employed a number of scholars, constantly +instructing and teaching them; whence he never went to court, as we are +assured by Vasari, without being accompanied by probably fifty of the +first artists, who attended him out of respect. He employed every one in +the way most agreeable to his talent. Some having received sufficient +instruction, returned to their native country, others remained with him +as long as he lived, and after his death established themselves in Rome, +where they became the germs of this new school. At the head of all was +Giulio Romano, whom, with Gio. Francesco Penni, Raffaello appointed his +heir, whence they both united in finishing the works on which their +master was employed at his death. They associated to themselves as an +assistant Perino del Vaga, and to render the connexion permanent, they +gave him a sister of Penni to his wife. To these three were also joined +some others who had worked under Raffaello. On their first establishment +they did not meet with any great success, for, as Vasari informs us, the +chief place in art being by universal consent assigned to Fra +Sebastiano, through the partiality of Michelangiolo, the followers of +Raffaello were kept in the back ground. We may also add, as another +cause, the death of Leo X., in 1521, and the election of his successor, +Adrian VI., a decided enemy to the fine arts, by whom the public works +contemplated, and already commenced by his predecessor, remained +neglected; and many artists, in consequence of the want of employment, +occasioned by this event, and by the plague, in 1523, were reduced to +the greatest distress. But Adrian dying after a reign of twenty-three +months, and Giulio de' Medici being elected in his place under the name +of Clement VII., the arts again revived. Raffaello, before his death, +had begun to paint the great saloon, and had designed some figures, and +left many sketches for the completion of it. It was intended to +represent four historical events, although the subjects of some of them +are disputed. These were the Apparition of the Cross, or the harangue of +Constantine; the battle wherein Maxentius is drowned, and Constantine +remains victor; the Baptism of Constantine, received from the hands of +S. Silvester; and the Donative of the city of Rome, made to the same +pontiff. Giulio finished the two first subjects, and Giovanni Francesco +the other two, and they added to them bassirelievi, painted in imitation +of bronze under each of the same subjects, with some additional figures. +They afterwards painted, or rather finished the pictures of the villa at +Monte Mario, a work ordered by the Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, and +suspended until the second or third year of his papal reign. This villa +was afterwards called di Madama, and there still remain many traces, +although suffering from time, of the munificence of that prince, and the +taste of the school of Raffaello. Giulio meanwhile, with the permission +of the pope, established himself in Mantua, Il Fattore went to Naples; +and some little time afterwards, in 1527, in consequence of the sacking +of Rome, and the unrestrained licence of the invading army, Vaga, +Polidoro, Giovanni da Udine, Peruzzi, and Vincenzio di S. Gimignano left +Rome, and with them Parmigianino, who was at this time in the capital, +and passionately employed in studying the works of Raffaello. This +illustrious school was thus separated and dispersed over Italy, and +hence it happened that the new style was quickly propagated, and gave +birth to the florid schools, which form the subjects of our other books. +Although some of the scholars of Raffaello might return to Rome, yet the +brilliant epoch was past. The decline became apparent soon after the +sacking of the city, and from the time of that event, the art daily +degenerated in the capital, and ultimately terminated in mannerism. But +of this in its proper place. At present, after this general notice of +the school of Raffaello, we shall treat of each particular scholar and +of his assistants. + +Giulio Pippi, or Giulio Romano, the most distinguished pupil of +Raffaello, resembled his master more in energy than in delicacy of +style, and was particularly successful in subjects of war and battles, +which he represented with equal spirit and correctness. In his noble +style of design he emulates Michelangiolo, commands the whole mechanism +of the human body, and with a masterly hand renders it subservient to +all his wishes. His only fault is, that his demonstrations of motion are +sometimes too violent. Vasari preferred his drawings to his pictures, as +he thought that the fire of his original conception was apt to +evaporate, in some degree, in the finishing. Some have objected to the +squareness of his physiognomies, and have complained of his middle tints +being too dark. But Niccolo Poussin admired this asperity of colour in +his battle of Constantine, as suitable to the character of the subject. +In the picture of the church dell'Anima, which is a Madonna, accompanied +by Saints, and in others of that description, it does not produce so +good an effect. His cabinet pictures are rare, and sometimes too free in +their subjects. He generally painted in fresco, and his vast works at +Mantua place him at the head of that school, which indeed venerates him +as its founder. + +Gianfrancesco Penni of Florence, called Il Fattore, who when a boy was a +servant in the studio of Raffaello, became one of his principal +scholars, and assisted him more than any other in the cartoons of the +tapestries: he painted in the gallery of the Vatican the Histories of +Abraham and Isaac, noticed by Taja. Among other works left incomplete by +his master, and which he finished, is the Assumption of Monte Luci in +Perugia, the lower part of which, with the apostles, is painted by +Giulio, and the upper part, which abounds with Raffaellesque grace, is +ascribed to Il Fattore, although Vasari assigns it to Perino. Of the +works which he performed alone, his frescos in Rome have perished, and +so few of his oil pictures remain, that they are rarely to be found in +any collection. He is characterised by fertility of conception, grace of +execution, and a singular talent for landscape. He was joint heir of +Raffaello with Giulio, and wished to unite himself with him in his +profession; but being coldly received by Giulio in Mantua, he proceeded +to Naples, where he, as we shall see, contributed greatly to the +improvement of art, although cut off by an early death. Orlandi notices +two Penni in the school of Raffaello, comprehending Luca, a brother of +Gianfrancesco, a circumstance not improbable, and not, as far as I know, +contradicted by history. We are also told by Vasari, that Luca united +himself to Perino del Vaga, and worked with him at Lucca, and in other +places of Italy; that he followed Rosso into France, as we have before +observed; and that he ultimately passed into England, where he painted +for the king and private persons, and made designs for prints. + +Perino del Vaga, whose true name was Pierino Buonaccorsi, was a relation +and fellow citizen of Penni. He had a share in the works of the Vatican, +where he at one time worked stuccos and arabesques with Giovanni da +Udine, at another time painted chiaroscuri with Polidoro, or finished +subjects from the sketches and after the style of Raffaello. Vasari +considered him the best designer of the Florentine School, after +Michelangiolo, and at the head of all those who assisted Raffaello. It +is certain, at least, that no one could, like him, compete with Giulio, +in that universality of talent so conspicuous in Raffaello; and the +subjects from the New Testament, which he painted in the papal gallery, +were praised by Taja above all others. In his style there is a great +mixture of the Florentine, as may be seen at Rome, in the Birth of Eve, +in the church of S. Marcello, where there are some children painted to +the life, a most finished performance. A convent at Tivoli possesses a +S. John in the desart, by him, with a landscape in the best style. There +are many works by him in Lucca, and Pisa, but more particularly in +Genoa, where we shall have occasion again to consider him as the origin +of a celebrated school. + +Giovanni da Udine, by a writer of Udine called Giovanni di Francesco +Ricamatore, (Boni, p. 25,) likewise assisted Sanzio in arabesques and +stuccos, and painted ornaments in the gallery of the Vatican, in the +apartments of the pope, and in many other places. Indeed, in the art of +working in stucco, he is ranked as the first among the moderns,[53] +having, after long experience, imitated the style of the baths of Titus, +discovered at that time in Rome, and opened afresh in our own days.[54] +His foliage and shells, his aviaries and birds, painted in the above +mentioned places, and in other parts of Rome and Italy, deceive the eye +by their exquisite imitation; and in the animals more particularly, and +the indigenous and foreign birds, he seems to have reached the highest +point of excellence. He was also remarkable for counterfeiting with his +pencil every species of furniture; and a story is told, that having left +some imitations of carpets one day in the gallery of Raffaello, a groom +in the service of the Pope coming in haste in search of a carpet to +place in a room, ran to snatch up one of those of Giovanni, deceived by +the similitude. After the sacking of Rome he visited other parts of +Italy, leaving wherever he went, works in the most perfect and brilliant +style of ornament. This will occasion us to notice him in other schools. +At an advanced age he returned to Rome, where he was provided with a +pension from the Pope, till the time of his death.[55] + +Polidoro da Caravaggio, from a manual labourer in the works of the +Vatican, became an artist of the first celebrity, and distinguished +himself in the imitation of antique bassirelievi, painting both sacred +and profane subjects in a most beautiful chiaroscuro. Nothing of this +kind was ever seen more perfect, whether we consider the composition, +the mechanism, or the design; and Raffaello and he, of all artists, are +considered in this respect to have approached nearest to the style of +the ancients. Rome was filled with the richest friezes, façades, and +ornaments over doors, painted by him and Maturino of Florence, an +excellent designer, and his partner; but these, to the great loss of +art, have nearly all perished. The fable of Niobe, in the Maschera +d'Oro, which was one of their most celebrated works, has suffered less +than any other from the ravages of time and the hand of barbarism. This +loss has been in some measure mitigated by the prints of Cherubino +Alberti, and Santi Bartoli, who engraved many of these works before they +perished. Polidoro lost his comrade by death in Rome, as was supposed, +by the plague, and he himself repaired to Naples, and from thence to +Sicily, where he fell a victim to the cupidity of his own servant, who +assassinated him. With him invention, grace, and freedom of hand, +seem to have died. This notice of him as an artist may suffice for the +present, as we shall again recur to him in the fourth book, as one of +the masters of the Neapolitan School. + +Pellegrino da Modena, of the family of Munari, of all the scholars of +Raffaello, perhaps resembled him the most in the air of his heads, and a +peculiar grace of attitude. After having painted in an incomparable +manner the history of Jacob, before mentioned, and others of the same +patriarch, and some from the life of Solomon, in the gallery of the +Vatican, under Raffaello, he remained in Rome employed in the decoration +of many of the churches, until his master's death. He then returned to +his native place, where he became the head of a numerous succession of +Raffaellesque painters, as we shall in due time relate. + +Bartolommeo Ramenghi, or as he is sometimes named, Bagnacavallo, and by +Vasari Il Bologna, is also included in the catalogue of those who worked +in the gallery. There is not however any known work of his in Rome, and +we may say the same of Biagio Pupini, a Bolognese, with whom he +afterwards united himself to paint in Bologna. Vasari is not prodigal of +praise towards the first, and writes with the most direct censure +against the second. Of their merits we shall speak more fully in the +Bolognese School, to which Bagnacavallo was the first to communicate a +new and better style. + +Besides these, Vasari mentions Vincenzio di S. Gimignano, in Tuscany, to +whom, as a highly successful imitator of Raffaello, he gives great +praise, referring to some façades in fresco by him, which have now +perished. After the sacking of Rome he returned home, but so changed and +dispirited, that he appeared quite another person, and we have no +account of any of his subsequent works. Schizzone, a comrade of +Vincenzio, a most promising artist, shared the same fate; and we find +also, in the Bolognese School, Cavedone losing his powers by some great +mental affliction. Among the subjects of the Vatican we do not find any +ascribed to Vincenzio, but we may perhaps assign to him the history of +Moses in Horeb, which Taja, on mere conjecture, ascribes to the bold +pencil of Raffaele del Colle, who was employed by Raffaello in the +Farnesina, and in the Hall of Constantine, under Giulio. Of this artist +and his successors we have spoken in the first book, where we have made +some additions to the account of Vasari. + +Timoteo della Vite, of Urbino, after some years spent at Bologna in +studying under Francesco Francia, returned to his native city, and from +thence repaired to the academy which his countryman and relation +Raffaello had opened in the Vatican. He assisted Raffaello at the Pace, +in the fresco of the Sybils, of which he retained the cartoons; and +after some time, from some cause or other, he returned to Urbino, and +there passed the remainder of his days. He brought with him to Rome, a +method of painting which partook much of the manner of the early +masters, as may be seen in some of his Madonnas, at the palace +Bonaventura, and the chapter of Urbino; and in a Discovery of the Cross +in the church of the conventuals of Pesaro. He improved his style under +Raffaello, and acquired much of his grace, attitudes, and colour, though +he always remained a limited inventor, with a certain timidity of touch, +more correct than vigorous. The picture of the Conception at the +Osservanti of Urbino, and the Noli me Tangere, in the church of S. +Angelo, at Cagli, are the best pieces that remain of Timoteo. Pietro +della Vite, who is supposed to have been his brother, painted in the +same style, but in an inferior manner. This Pietro is, perhaps, the +relative and heir of Raffaello, whom Baldinucci mentions in his fifth +volume. The same writer affirms, at the end of his fourth volume, that +the artists of Urbino included amongst the scholars of Raffaello one +Crocchia, and assign to him a picture at the Capuchins in Urbino, of +which I have no further knowledge. + +Benvenuto Tisi, of Ferrara, or as he is generally called, Il Garofalo, +also studied only a little time under Sanzio; but it was sufficient to +enable him to become, as we shall notice hereafter, the chief of the +Ferrarese School. He imitated Raffaello in design, in the character of +his faces, and in expression, and considerably also in his colouring, +although he added something of a warmer and stronger cast, derived from +his own school. Rome, Bologna, and other cities of Italy, abound with +his pictures from the lives of the apostles. They are of various merit, +and are not wholly painted by himself. In his large pictures he stands +more alone, and many of these are to be found in the Chigi gallery. The +Visitation in the Palazzo Doria, is one of the first pieces in that rich +collection. This artist was accustomed, in allusion to his name, to mark +his pictures with a violet, which the common people in Italy call +garofalo. It does not appear from Vasari, Titi, and Taja, that Garofalo +had any share in the works which were executed by Raffaello and his +scholars. + +Gaudenzio Ferrari is mentioned by Titi, as an assistant of Raffaello in +the story of Psyche, and we shall advert to him again in another book as +chief of the Milanese School. Orlandi, on the credit of some more modern +writers, asserts, that he worked with Raffaello also at Torre Borgia; +and before that time, he considers him to have been a scholar of Scotto +and Perugino. In Florence, and in other places in Lower Italy, some +highly finished pictures are attributed to him, which partake of the +preceding century, though they do not seem allied to the school of +Perugino. Of these pictures we shall resume our notice hereafter; at +present it may be sufficient to remark, that in Lombardy, where he +resided, there is not a picture in that style to be found with his name +attached to it. He is always Raffaellesque, and follows the chiefs of +the Roman School. + +Vasari also notices Jacomone da Faenza. This artist assiduously studied +the works of Raffaello, and from long practice in copying them, became +himself an inventor. He flourished in Romagna, and it was from him that +a Raffaellesque taste was diffused throughout that part of Italy. He is +also mentioned by Baldinucci, and we shall endeavour to make him better +known in his proper place. + +Besides the above mentioned scholars and assistants of Raffaello, +several others are enumerated by writers, of whom we may give a short +notice. Il Pistoja, a scholar of Il Fattore, and probably employed by +him in the works of Sanzio, as Raffaellino del Colle was with Giulio, is +mentioned as a scholar of Raffaello by Baglione, and, on the credit of +that writer, also by Taja. We mentioned him among the Tuscans, and shall +further notice him in Naples, where we shall also find Andrea da +Salerno, head of that school, whom Dominici proves to be a scholar of +Raffaello. + +In the _Memorie di Monte Rubbiano_, edited by Colucci, at page 10, +Vincenzo Pagani, a native of that country, is mentioned as a pupil of +the same master. There remains of him in the collegiate church there, a +most beautiful picture of the Assumption; and the Padre Civalli points +out another in Fallerone and two at Sarnano, in the church of his +religious fraternity, much extolled, and in a Raffaellesque manner, if +we are to credit report. This painter, of whom, in Piceno, I find traces +to the year 1529, again appears in Umbria in 1553, where Lattanzio his +son, being elected a magistrate of Perugia, he transferred himself +thither, and was employed to paint the altarpiece of the Cappella degli +Oddi, in the church of the Conventuals, as we have already mentioned. +According to the conditions of the contract, Paparelli had a share with +him in this work, and he must be considered as an assistant of Vincenzo, +both because he is named as holding the second place, and because he is +reported by Vasari on other occasions, as having been an assistant. But +as history mentions nothing relative to this picture, except the +contract, we shall content ourselves with observing, that this +praiseworthy artist, who was passed over in silence for so many years, +still painted in the year 1553. Whether he was a scholar of Raffaello, +or whether this was a tradition which arose in his own country in +progress of time, supported only on the consideration of his age and his +style, is a point to be decided by proofs of more authority than those +we possess. I agree with the Sig. Arciprete Lazzari, when, writing of F. +Bernardo Catelani of Urbino, who painted in Cagli the picture of the +great altar in the church of the Capucins, he says, that he had there +exhibited the style of the school of Raffaello, but he does not consider +him his scholar. + +It has been asserted, that Marcantonio Raimondi painted some pictures +from the sketches of Raffaello, in a style which excited the admiration +of the designer himself; but this appears doubtful, and is so considered +by Malvasia. L'Armenini also assigns to this school, Scipione Sacco, a +painter of Cesena, and Orlandi, Don Pietro da Bagnaja, whom we shall +mention in the Romagna School. Some have added to it Bernardino Lovino, +and others Baldassare Peruzzi, a supposition which we shall shew to be +erroneous. Padre della Valle has more recently revived an opinion, that +Correggio may be ranked in the same school, and that he was probably +employed in the gallery, and might have painted the subject of the Magi, +attributed by Vasari to Perino. This is conjectured from the peculiar +smile of the mother and the infant. But these surmises and conjectures +we may consider as the chaff of that author, who has nevertheless +presented us with much substantial information. We shall now advert to +the foreigners of this school. Bellori has enumerated, among the +imitators of Raffaello, Michele Cockier, or Cocxie, of Malines, of whom +there remain some pictures in fresco in the church dell'Anima. Being +afterwards in Flanders, where several works of Raffaello were engraved +by Cock, he was accused of plagiarism, but still maintained a +considerable reputation; as to a fertile invention he added a graceful +style of execution. Many of his best pictures passed into Spain, and +were there purchased at great prices. Palomino acquaints us with another +excellent scholar of Sanzio, Pier Campanna, of Flanders, who, although +he could not entirely divest himself of the hardness of his native +school, was still highly esteemed in his day. He resided twenty years in +Italy, and was employed in Venice by the Patriarch Grimani, for whom he +painted several portraits, and the celebrated picture of the Magdalen +led by Saint Martha to the Temple, to hear the preaching of Christ. This +picture, which was bequeathed by the Patriarch to a friend, after a +lapse of many years, passed into the hands of Mr. Slade, an English +gentleman. Pier Campanna distinguished himself in Bologna, by painting a +triumphal arch on the arrival of Charles V., by whom he was invited to +Seville, where he resided a considerable time, painting and instructing +pupils, among whom is reckoned Morales, who, from his countrymen, had +the appellation of the divine. He was accustomed to paint small +pictures, which were eagerly sought after by the English, and +transferred to their country, where they are highly prized. Of his +altarpieces, several remain in Seville, and we may mention the +Purification, in the Cathedral, and the Deposition at S. Croce, as the +most esteemed. Murillo, who was himself a truly noble artist, greatly +admired and studied this latter picture, which, even after we have seen +the masterpieces of the Italian School, still excites our astonishment +and admiration. This artist, to some one, who, in his latter years, +inquired why he so often repaired to this picture, replied, that he +waited the moment when the body of Christ should reach the ground. +Mention is also made of one Mosca, whether a native or foreigner I know +not, as a doubtful disciple of this school. Christ on his way to Mount +Calvary, now in the Academy in Mantua, is certainly a Raffaellesque +picture, but we may rather consider Mosca an imitator and copyist, than +a pupil of Raffaello. In the edition of Palomino, published in London, +1742, I find some others noticed as scholars of Raffaello, who being +born a little before or after 1520, could not possibly belong to him; as +Gaspare Bacerra, the assistant of Vasari; Alfonso Sanchez, of Portugal; +Giovanni di Valencia; Fernando Jannes. It is not unusual to find similar +instances in the history of painting, and the reports have for the most +part originated in the last age. Whenever the artists of a country began +to collect notices of the masters who had preceded them, their style had +become the prevailing taste; and as if human genius could attain no +improvement beyond that which it receives subserviently from another, +every imitator was supposed to be a scholar of the artist imitated, and +every school, arrogating to itself the names of the first masters, +endeavoured to load itself with fresh honours. + +[Footnote 26: Hist. Rom. vol. i. ad calcem.] + +[Footnote 27: Besides his life by Vasari, another was published by Sig. +Abate Comolli, which I consider posterior to that of Vasari. Memoirs of +him were also collected by Piacenza, Bottari, and other authors whom I +shall notice; and I shall also avail myself of the information derived +from the inspection of his pictures, and their character, and the +various dates of his works.] + +[Footnote 28: We find his name written _Io. Sanctis_ in the Nunziata of +Sinigaglia; and it appears that he was born of a father called, +according to the expression of that age, _Santi_ or _Sante_; a name in +common use in many parts of Italy. In support of the surname of Sanzio, +Bottari produces a portrait of Antonio Sanzio, which exists in the +Palazzo Albani, representing him holding in his hands a document, with +the title of _Genealogia Raphaelis Sanctii Urbinatis_. Julius Sanctius +is there named as the head of the family, _familiæ quæ adhuc Urbini +illustris extat, ab agris dividendis cognomen imposuit_, and was the +progenitor of Antonio. From the latter, and through a Sebastiano, and +afterwards through a Gio. Batista, descends Giovanni, _ex quo ortus est +Raphael qui pinxit a. 1519_. It is also recorded that Sebastiano had a +brother, Galeazzo, _egregium pictorem_, and the father of three +painters, Antonio, Vincenzio, and Giulio, called _maximus pictor_. Thus +in this branch of the Sanzii are enumerated four painters, of whom I do +not find any memorial in Urbino. The family also boasts of a Canon in +divinity, and a distinguished captain of infantry. The anonymous writer +of Comolli confirms this illustrious origin of Raffaello; but it is +highly probable, that in that age, when the forgery of genealogies, as +Tiraboschi observes, was a common practice, he may have adopted it +without any examination. The portrait of Antonio is well executed, but +it has been said that it would have been much more so, if Raffaello had +painted it a year before his death, according to the inscription. If +connoisseurs (who alone ought to decide this point) should be of this +opinion, it may be suspected that the person that counterfeited the hand +of the artist, might also substitute the writing; or we may at least +conclude, that the etymology of Sanzio should be sought for in the word +_Sanctis_, the name of the grandfather of Raffaello, not in _sancire_, +(to divide fields or property). In tom. xxxi. of the Ant. Picene, a will +is produced of Ser Simone di Antonio, in 1477, where a _Magister +Baptista, qu. Peri Sanctis de Peris_, who is called _Pittor di grido e +di eccellenza_, leaves his son Tommaso his heir, to whom is substituted +a son of Antonio his brother, of the name of Francesco. I may remark, +that in this _Batista di Pier Sante de' Pieri_, we may find the surname +of a family different from that of Sanzia. But on this subject I hope we +shall shortly be favoured with more certain information by the Sig. +Arciprete Lazzari, who has obliged me with many valuable contributions +to the present edition of this work.] + +[Footnote 29: Condivi, in his Life of Bonarruoti, (num. 67.) assures us +that Michaelangelo was not of a jealous temper, but spoke well of all +artists, not excepting Raffaello di Urbino, "between whom and himself +there existed, as I have mentioned, an emulation in painting; and the +utmost that he said was, that Raffaello did not inherit his excellences +from nature, but obtained them through study and application."] + +[Footnote 30: See the Preface to the Life of Raffaello, by Vasari, +_ediz. Senese_, p. 228, where the will is quoted.] + +[Footnote 31: Vasari states, that that event occurred either whilst +Michaelangelo was employed upon the Statues in S. Pietro in Vincoli, or +whilst he was painting the vault of the Sistine Chapel, that is, some +years afterwards, when Raffaello was in Rome. To this second opinion, +which is the most common one, I formerly assented; but since, on perusal +of a Brief of Julius II. (Lett. Pittoriche, tom. iii. p. 320) in which +that Pope invites Michaelangelo back to Rome, and promises that +_illæsus, inviolatusque erit_, I am inclined to believe that the Cartoon +was finished in 1506, which is the date of the brief; so that Raffaello, +if he could not see it on his first visit to Florence, might at least +have done so on his second or third.] + +[Footnote 32: See Vasari, ed. Sen. tom. v. p. 238, where we find the +Letter written from him to one of his uncles, with all the +provincialisms common to the inhabitants of Urbino and its +neighbourhood.] + +[Footnote 33: Malvasia, _Felsina Pittrice_, tom. i. p. 45. There are +some facts, however, in opposition to this letter, and which seem to +prove that Raffaello did not go to Rome until 1510. But the Sig. Abate +Francesconi is now employed in rectifying the chronology of the Life and +Works of Sanzio; and from his critical sagacity we may expect the +solution of this difficulty.] + +[Footnote 34: See Le Aggiunte al Vasari. Ed. Senese, p. 223.] + +[Footnote 35: A sonnet by him is referred to by Sig. Piacenza, in his +notes to Baldinucci, tom. xi. p. 371.] + +[Footnote 36: In compliance with the wishes of Leo X. he made drawings +of the buildings of Ancient Rome, and accompanied them with +descriptions, employing the compass to ascertain their admeasurement. We +owe this information to Sig. Abate Francesconi, who has restored to +Sanzio a letter, formerly attributed to Castiglione. It is a sort of +dedication of the work to Leo X.; but the work itself and the drawings +are lost; and many of the edifices measured by Raffaello were destroyed +in the following Pontificates. The Abate Morelli has made public a high +eulogium on this work, by a contemporary pen, in the notes to the +Notizia, page 210. It is written by one Marcantonio Michiel, who +asserts, that Raffaello had drawn the ancient buildings of Rome in such +a manner, and shewn their proportions, forms, and ornaments so +correctly, that whoever had inspected them might be said to have seen +Ancient Rome.] + +[Footnote 37: In a brief of Leo X. 1514, mentioned by Sig. Piacenza, +tom. ii. p. 321.] + +[Footnote 38: + + Cæsaris in nomen ducuntur carmina: Cæsar + Dum canitur, quæso, Jupiter ipse vaces. + Prop. lib. iv. Eleg. vi.] + +[Footnote 39: Vol. ii. p. 323 et seq.] + +[Footnote 40: See the first letter of Crespi, Lettere Pittoriche, tom. +ii. p. 338.] + +[Footnote 41: Mengs has observed, that Raffaello diligently studied the +bassirelievi of the arches of Titus and Constantine, which were on the +arch of Trajan, and adopted from them his manner of marking the +articulations of the joints, and a more simple and an easier mode of +expressing the contour of the fleshy parts. Riflessioni sopra i tre gran +Pittori, &c. cap. 1.] + +[Footnote 42: Riflessioni su la bellezza e sul gusto della Pittura, +parte iii. cap. 1, and see the _Osservazioni_ of the Cav. Azara on that +tract, §. xii.] + +[Footnote 43: A doubt has arisen on the exact time in which he painted +the Prophet and the Sybils, and from the grandeur of their style doubts +have been thrown on Vasari's account, that they were painted anterior to +1511. But a painter who is the master of his art, elevates or lowers his +style according to his subject. The Sybils are in Raffaello's grandest +style; and that they are amongst his earliest works, is proved from his +having had Timoteo della Vite, as his assistant in them.] + +[Footnote 44: Lett. Pittor. tom. v. p. 131.] + +[Footnote 45: Commencing at p. 139.] + +[Footnote 46: I do not find that any mention has been made of his +picture in the possession of the Olivieri family at Pesaro, or of the +one in the Basilica di Loreto in the Treasury, which seems to be the +same which was formerly in the church of the Madonna del Popolo, or a +copy of it. I have seen a similar subject in the Lauretana, belonging to +the Signori Pirri, in Rome. At Sassoferrato also, on the great altar of +the church of the Capucins, there is a Virgin and child, said to be by +him; but it is more probably by Fra Bernardo Catelani. There exist +engravings of the two first, but I have not seen any of the last.] + +[Footnote 47: Riflessioni sopra i tre gran Pittori, &c., cap. i. § 2.] + +[Footnote 48: Lo dico con questa condizione che V. S. si trovasse meco a +far la scelta del meglio: ma essendo carestia e di buoni giudici e di +belle donne, mi servo di una certa idea che mi viene in mente. Lett. +Pittor. tom. i. p. 84.] + +[Footnote 49: Plin. Hist. Natur. lib. xxxv. cap. 10. Quintil. Instit. +Orat. xii. 10.] + +[Footnote 50: Portraits of Raffaello are to be found in the Duomo, and +in the Sacristy of Siena, in more than one picture; but it is doubtful +whether by his own hand or that of Pinturicchio. That which is mentioned +in the Guida di Perugia, as being in a picture of the Resurrection at +the Conventuals, is said to be by Pietro Perugino: and in the Borghese +gallery in Rome, there is one, supposed to be by the hand of Timoteo +della Vite. The portrait in the gallery in Florence, by Da Vinci, bears +some resemblance to Raffaello, but it is not he. Another which I have +seen in Bologna, ought, perhaps, to be ascribed to Giulio Romano. One of +the most authentic portraits of Raffaello, by his own hand, next to the +one in the picture of S. Luke, is that in the Medici Collection in the +_Stanza de' Pittori_, though this is not in his best manner.] + +[Footnote 51: Idée de Peintre parfait, chap. xix.] + +[Footnote 52: Engraved by Morghen. The three figures, the Madonna, the +Infant, and St. John, appear almost alive. It should seem that Raffaello +made several studies for this picture, and he painted one without the +St. John, which remained for some time in Urbino. I saw a copy in the +possession of the Calamini family, at Recanati, which was said to be by +Baroccio, and at all events belonging to his school. I have seen the +same subject in the Casa Olivieri, at Pesaro, and at Cortona, in the +possession of another noble family, to whom it had passed by inheritance +from Urbino, and was considered to be by Raffaello. The faces in these +are not so beautiful, nor the colours so fine; they are round, and in a +larger circle, with some variations: I have also seen a copy in the +Sacristy of S. Luigi de' Franzesi, in Rome, and in the Palazzo +Giustiniani.] + +[Footnote 53: Morto da Feltro sotto Alessandro VI., cominciò a dipingere +a grottesco, ma senza stucchi. Baglione, Vite, p. 21.] + +[Footnote 54: The entrance into these baths was designedly and +maliciously closed. Serlio, in speaking of the various arabesques in +Pozzuolo, Baja, and Rome, says that they were injured or destroyed by +the artists who had copied them, through a jealous feeling lest others +should also avail themselves of the opportunity of studying them, (lib. +iv. c. 11). The names of these destroyers, which Serlio has suppressed, +posterity has been desirous of recovering, and some have accused +Raffaello, others Pinturicchio, and others Vaga, or Giovanni da Udine, +or rather his scholars and assistants, "of whom," says Vasari, "there +were an infinite number in every part of Italy." This subject is ably +discussed by Mariotti, in _Lettera_ ix. p. 224, and in the _Memorie +delle belle Arti_, per l'anno 1788, p. 24.] + +[Footnote 55: It was charged on the office of the Piombo, or papal +signet, when Sebastiano da Venezia was invested with it, and was a +pension of three hundred scudi. Padre Federici observes that the one was +designated Fra Sebastiano, but that the other was not called Fra +Giovanni; nor is this remarkable, for a Bishop is called Monsignore, but +the person who enjoys a pension charged upon a Bishoprick has not the +same title. It cannot however be deduced from this, as Federici wishes +to do, that Sebastiano was first Frate di S. Domenico, by the name of F. +Marco Pensaben, and afterwards secularized by the Pope, and appointed to +the signet, and that he retained the _Fra_ in consequence of his former +situation.] + + + + + ROMAN SCHOOL. + + EPOCH III. + + _The art declines in consequence of the public calamities of + Rome, and gradually falls into mannerism._ + + +After the mournful events of the year 1527, Rome for some time remained +in a state of stupor, contemplating her past misfortunes and her future +destiny; and, like a vessel escaped from shipwreck, began slowly to +repair her numerous losses. The soldiers of the besieging army, among +other injuries committed in the Apostolic palace, had defaced some heads +of Raffaello; and F. Sebastiano, an artist by no means competent to such +a task, was employed to repair them. This, at least, was the opinion of +Titian, who was introduced to these works, and ignorant of the +circumstances, asked Sebastiano what presumptuous wretch had had the +audacity to attempt their restoration;[56] an impartial observation, +against which even the patronage of Michelangiolo could not shield the +artist. Paul III. was now in possession of the papal chair, and under +his auspices the arts again began to revive. The decoration of the +palace of Caprarola, and other works of Paul and his nephews, gave +employment to the painters, and happy had these patrons been, could they +have found a second Raffaello. Bonarruoti, as we have observed, was +engaged by the Pope, and gave to the Roman School many noble specimens +of art, though he formed but few scholars. Sebastiano, after the death +of Raffaello, freed from all further competition with that great artist, +and honoured with the lucrative office of the papal signet, seemed +disposed to rest from his labours; and as he had never, at any time, +discovered great application, he now resigned himself to a life of +vacant leisure, and Vasari does not mention with commendation any pupil +of his school except Laureti.[57] Giulio Romano was now invited back to +Rome, and the superintendence of the building of S. Peter's offered to +him, but death prevented his return to his native city. Perino del Vaga, +however, repaired to Rome, and might, himself, have effected the +restoration of art, if his magnanimity had corresponded with the +sublimity of his mind. But he did not inherit the daring genius of his +master. He communicated his instructions with jealousy, and worked with +a spirit of gain, or to speak correctly, he did not paint himself, but +undertaking works of more or less consequence, he allowed his scholars +to execute them, often to the injury of his own reputation. He continued +to secure to himself artists of the first talents, as we shall see; but +this was done with the intention of making them dependant on him, and to +prevent their interfering with his emoluments and commissions. But +together with the good, he engaged also many indifferent and inferior +artists, whence it happens, that in the chambers of the castle of S. +Angelo, and in other places, we meet with so marked a difference in many +of his works. Few of his scholars attained celebrity. Luzio Romano is +the most noted, and possessed a good execution. Of him there exists a +frieze in the Palazzo Spada; and for some time, too, he had for an +assistant Marcello Venusti of Mantua, a young man of great talents, but +diffident, and probably standing in need of more instruction than Perino +afforded him. He afterwards received some instructions from Bonarruoti, +whose ideas he executed in an excellent manner, as I have mentioned +before, and by his aid he became himself also a good designer.[58] +Perino, by these means, always abounded in work and in money. A similar +traffic in the art was carried on by Taddeo Zuccaro, if we are to +believe Vasari; and by Vasari himself, too, if we may be allowed to +judge from his pictures. + +The actual state of the art at this period may be ascertained from a +view of the numerous works produced; but none are so distinguished as +the paintings in the Sala Regia, commenced under Paul III., and scarcely +finished, after a lapse of thirty years, in 1573. Of these Vaga had the +direction, as Raffaello had formerly had, of the chambers of the +Vatican. He planned the compartments, ornamented the ceiling, directed +all the stuccos, cornices, devices, and large figures, and all in the +style of a great master. He then applied himself to design the subjects +for his pencil, and was employed on them when he was carried off by +death in 1547. Through the partiality of Michelangiolo, he was succeeded +by Daniel di Volterra, who had already worked in stucco, under his +direction, in the same place. Volterra resolved to represent the +donations of those sovereigns who had extended or consolidated the +temporal dominion of the church, whence the chamber was called Sala dei +Regi, and this idea was, in some degree, though with variations, +continued by succeeding artists. Volterra was naturally slow and +irresolute, and after painting the Deposition from the Cross, which we +have mentioned as being executed with the assistance of Michelangiolo, +he produced no more of these prodigies of art. He had indeed begun some +designs, but on the death of the Pope, in 1549, he was compelled, in +order to accommodate the conclave, to remove the scaffolding, and expose +the work unfinished. It did not meet with public approbation, nor was it +continued under Julius III., and still less under Paul IV., in whose +reign the art was held in so little respect, that the apostles, painted +by Raffaello in one of the chambers of the Vatican, were displaced. + +Pius IV., who resumed the work, on the suggestion of Vasari, in 1561, +had intended to charge Salviati with the entire execution of it; but, by +the intercessions of Bonarruoti, was at length prevailed on to assign +one half of the apartment to Salviati, and the other half to +Ricciarelli, though this did not contribute to expedite the work. Pirro +Ligorio, a Neapolitan, was at this time held in high esteem by the Pope. +He was an antiquarian, though not of great celebrity, but a good +architect, and a fresco painter of some merit;[59] an enthusiast too, +and alike jealous of Ricciarelli, for the homage he paid to Bonarruoti, +and of Salviati, for the respect which he did not shew to Ligorio +himself. Remarking that the Pope wished to hasten the completion of the +work, he proposed to select a number of scholars, and to divide the work +amongst them. Vasari adds, that Salviati was disgusted and left Rome; +where, on his return, he died, without finishing his work; and that +Ricciarelli, who was always slow, never touched it again, and died also +after the lapse of some little time. The completion of the work was then +entrusted, as far as possible, to the successors of Raffaello. Livio +Agresti da Forli, Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta, and Marco da Pino, +of Sienna, although they had received their first instructions from +other masters, had been instructed by Perino del Vaga, and had assisted +in his cartoons. Taddeo Zuccaro had accomplished himself under Giacomone +da Faenza, and had made his younger brother Federigo an able artist. To +these the work was assigned, and there were added to them Samacchini and +Fiorini, Bolognese artists; and Giuseppe Porta della Garfagnana, called +Giuseppe Salviati. This latter had been the pupil of Francesco Salviati, +from whom he learnt the principles of design; he was afterwards a +follower of the school of Venice, where he resided. Of these numerous +artists Vasari assigns the palm to Taddeo Zuccaro, but the court was so +much pleased with Porta, that it was in contemplation to destroy the +works of the other artists, in order that the apartment might be +finished by him alone. He represented Alexander III. in the act of +bestowing his benediction on Frederick Barbarossa, in the Piazza of S. +Mark, in Venice; and he here indulged his taste for architectural +ornaments, in the Venetian manner. When however this work is viewed and +compared with that of other artists, we discover a sameness of style, +the character of the time; a deficiency of strength in the colours and +shadows is the common failing. It seems as if the art, through a long +course of years, had become debilitated: it discovers the lineaments of +a better age, but feebly expressed and deprived of their primitive +vigour. That portion of the work which remained unfinished, was, after +the death of Pius IV., completed by Vasari and his school, under his +successor; and some little was supplied under Gregory XIII., who was +elected in 1572. + +With that year a reign commenced but little auspicious to art, and still +less so was the Pontificate of Sixtus V., the successor of Gregory. +These Pontiffs erected or ornamented so many public buildings, that we +can scarcely move a step in Rome, without meeting with the papal arms of +a dragon or a lion. Baglione has accurately described them, and to him +we are indebted for the lives of the artists of this and the following +period. It is natural for men advanced in years to content themselves +with mediocrity in the works which they order, from the apprehension of +not living to see them, if they wait for the riper efforts of talent. +Hence those artists were the most esteemed, and the most employed, who +possessed despatch and facility of execution, particularly by Sixtus, of +whose severity towards dilatory artists we shall shortly adduce a +memorable instance. This inaccuracy of style was continued to the time +of Clement VIII., when a number of works were hastily finished to meet +the opening of the holy year 1600. Under these pontiffs the painters of +Italy, and even the _oltramontani_, inundated Rome with their works, in +the same manner that the poets and philosophers had filled that city +with their writings in the time of Domitian and Marcus Aurelius. Every +one indulged his own taste; and the style of many was deteriorated +through rapidity of execution. Thus the art, particularly in fresco, +became the employment of a mechanic, not founded in the just imitation +of nature, but in the capricious ideas of the artist.[60] Nor was the +colouring better than the design. At no period do we find such an abuse +of the simple tints, in none so feeble a chiaroscuro, or less harmony. +These are the mannerists, who peopled the churches, convents, and +saloons of Rome with their works, but in the collections of the nobility +they have not had the same good fortune. + +This era, nevertheless, is not wholly to be condemned, as it contains +several great names, the relics of the preceding illustrious age. We +have enumerated the painters who flourished in Rome in the first reigns +of this century, and we ought to notice a number of others. They were +for the most part foreigners, and ought to be introduced in other +schools. I shall here describe those particularly, who were born within +the limits of the Roman School, and those who, being established in it, +taught and propagated their own peculiar style. + +Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta, who adopted Raffaello's style, may be +enumerated among the scholars of that great man, from his felicitous +imitation of their common master. In the Sala de' Regi, in the Vatican, +he painted Pepin, King of France, bestowing Ravenna on the church, after +having made Astolfo, King of the Lombards, his prisoner. But he +approached Raffaello more closely in some of his oil pictures than in +his frescos, as in the martyrdom of S. Lucia, in the church of S. Maria +Maggiore; in the Transfiguration in Ara Coeli, and in the Nativity in +the church della Pace, a subject which he repeated in the most graceful +style in the church of Osimo. His masterpiece is in Ancona on the great +altar in the church of S. Bartolommeo, a vast composition, original and +rich in invention, and commensurate with the grandeur of the subject, +and the multitude of saints that are introduced in it. The throne of the +Virgin is seen above, amidst a brilliant choir of angels, and on either +side a virgin saint in the attitude of adoration. To this height there +is a beautiful ascent on each side, and the picture is thus divided into +a higher and lower part, in the latter of which is the titular saint, a +half naked figure vigorously coloured, together with S. Paul and two +other saints, the whole in a truly Raffaellesque style. This altarpiece +possesses so much harmony, and such a force of colour, that it is +esteemed by some persons the best picture in the city. If any thing be +wanting in it, it is perhaps a more correct observance of the +perspective. Sermoneta did not paint many pictures for collections. He +excelled in portrait painting. + +A similar manner, though more laboured, and formed on the styles of +Raffaello and Andrea del Sarto, was adopted by Scipione Pulzone da +Gaeta, who was educated in the studio of Jacopino del Conte. He died +young in his thirty-eighth year, but left behind him a great reputation, +partly in the painting of portraits, of which he executed a great number +for the popes and princes of his day, and with so much success, that by +some he is called the Vandyke of the Roman School. He was a forerunner +of Seybolt in the high finishing of the hair, and in representing in the +pupil of the eye the reflexion of the windows, and other objects as +minute and exact as in real life. He also painted some pictures in the +finest style, as the Crucifixion in the Vallicella, and the Assumption +in S. Silvestro at Monte Cavallo, a composition of chaste design, great +beauty of colouring, and brilliant in effect. In the Borghese collection +is a Holy Family by him, and in the gallery in Florence, a Christ +praying in the garden; and in other places are to be found some of his +cabinet pictures, deservedly held in high esteem. + +Taddeo and Federigo Zuccaro have been called the Vasaris of this school; +for as Vasari trod in the steps of Michelangiolo, so these artists +professed to follow Raffaello. They were the sons of an indifferent +painter of S. Angiolo in Vado, called Ottaviano Zuccaro, and came to +Rome one after the other, and in the Roman state executed a vast number +of works, some good, some indifferent, and others, when they allowed +their pupils to take a share in them, absolutely bad. A salesman, who +dealt in the pictures of these artists, was accustomed, like a retailer +of merchandize, to ask his purchasers whether they wished for a Zuccaro +of Holland, of France, or of Portugal; intimating by this that he +possessed them of all qualities. Taddeo, who was the elder of the two, +studied first under Pompeo da Fano, and afterwards with Giacomone da +Faenza. From the latter and other good Italian artists, whom he +assiduously studied, he acquired sufficient talent to distinguish +himself. He adopted a style which, though not very correct, was +unconstrained and engaging, and very attractive to such as do not look +for grandeur of design. He may be compared to that class of orators who +keep the attention of their hearers awake, not from the nature of their +subject, but from the clearness of their language, and from their +finding, or thinking they find, truth and nature in every word. His +pictures may be called compositions of portraits; the heads are +beautiful, the hands and feet not negligently painted, nor yet laboured, +as in the Florentine manner; the dress and ornaments, and form of the +beard, are agreeable to the times; the disposition is simple, and he +often imitates the old painters in shewing on the canvass only half +figures in the foreground, as if they were on a lower plain. He often +repeated the same countenance, and his own portrait. In his hands, feet, +and the folds of his drapery, he is still less varied, and not +unfrequently errs in his proportions. + +In Rome are vast works of Taddeo, in fresco, and amongst the best may be +ranked the history of the Evangelists, in the church of the +Consolazione. He left few pictures in oil. There is a Pentecost by him +in the church of the Spirito Santo in Urbino, which city also possesses +some other of his works, though not in his best style. He is most +pleasing in his small cabinet pictures, which are finished in the first +style of excellence. One of the best of these, formerly possessed by the +Duke of Urbino, is now in the collection of the noble family of +Leopardi, in Osimo. It is a Nativity of our Lord, in Taddeo's best +manner, but none of his productions have added so much to his celebrity +as the pictures in the Farnese Palace of Caprarola, which were engraved +by Preninner in 1748. They represent the civil and military history of +the illustrious family of the Farnesi. There occur also other subjects, +sacred and profane, of which the most remarkable is the Stanza del +Sonno, the subject of which was executed in a highly poetical manner, +from the suggestions of Caro in a delightful letter, which was +circulated among his friends, and is reprinted in the Lettere +Pittoriche, (tom. iii. l. 99). Strangers who visit Caprarola, often +return with a higher opinion of this artist than they carried with them. +It is true that a number of young artists, fully his equal, or perhaps +superior to him, were employed there, both in conjunction with him and +after his death, whose works ought not to be confounded with his, though +it is not always easy to distinguish them. Like Raffaello, he died at +the age of thirty-seven, and his monument is to be seen at the side of +that illustrious master in the Rotunda. + +Federigo, his brother and scholar, resembled him in style, but was not +equal to him in design, having more mannerism than Taddeo, being more +addicted to ornament, and more crowded in his composition. He was +engaged to finish in the Vatican, in the Farnese Palace, in the church +of La Trinità de' Monti, and other places, the various works which his +brother had left incomplete at his death; and he thus succeeded, as it +were, to the inheritance of his own house. He had the reputation of +possessing a noble style, and was invited by the Grand Duke Francis I. +to paint the great dome of the metropolitan church at Florence, which +was commenced by Vasari, and left unfinished at his death. Federigo in +that task designed more than three hundred figures, fifty feet in +height, without mentioning that of Lucifer, so gigantic that the rest +appeared like children, for so he informs us, adding, that they were the +largest figures that the world had ever seen.[61] But there is little to +admire in this work except the vastness of the conception,[62] and in +the time of Pier da Cortona, there was an intention of engaging that +artist to substitute for it a composition of his own, had not the +apprehension that his life might not be long enough to finish it, +frustrated the design. After the painting of this dome, every work on a +large scale in Rome was assigned to Federigo, and the Pope engaged him +to paint the vault of the Paolina, and thus give the last touch to a +work commenced by Michelangiolo. About this period, in order to revenge +himself on some of the principal officers of the Pope who had treated +him with indignity, he painted, and exposed to public view, an +allegorical picture of Calumny,[63] in which he introduced the portraits +of all those persons who had given him offence, representing them with +asses' ears. His enemies, on this, made such complaints, that he was +compelled to quit the dominions of the Pope. He therefore left Rome and +visited Flanders, Holland, and England, and was afterwards invited to +Venice to paint the submission of the Emperor Federigo Barbarossa to +Pope Alexander III., in the Palazzo Pubblico, and he was there highly +esteemed and constantly employed. The Pontiff being by this time +appeased, Federigo returned to finish the work he had left imperfect, +and which is perhaps the best of all he executed in Rome, without the +assistance of his brother. The larger picture also of S. Lorenzo in +Damaso, and that of the Angels in the Gesù, and other of his works in +various churches, are not deficient in merit. Federigo built for himself +a house in the Monte Pincio, and decorated it with pictures in fresco, +portraits of his own family, conversazioni, and many novel and strange +subjects, which he painted with the assistance of his scholars, and at +little expense; but on this occasion more than on any other, he appears +an indifferent artist, and may be called the champion of mediocrity. + +Federigo was afterwards invited to Madrid by Philip II.; but that +monarch not being satisfied with his works, they were effaced, and their +places supplied by Tibaldi, and he himself, with an adequate pension, +was sent back to Italy. He undertook another journey late in life, +visiting the principal cities of Italy, and leaving specimens of his art +in every place where he was called to exercise his talents. One of the +best of these is an Assumption of the Virgin, in an Oratory of Rimino, +on which he inscribed his name, and the Death of the Virgin, at S. Maria +_in Acumine_, with some figures of the Apostles, more finished than +usual with him. A simple and graceful style is observable in his +Presepio, in the cathedral of Foligno, and in two pictures from the life +of the Virgin, in a chapel of Loreto, painted for the Duke of Urbino. +The Cistercian monks, at Milan, possess two large pictures in their +library on the Miracle della Neve, with a numerous assemblage of +figures, the countenances in his usual lively manner, the colouring +varied and well preserved. In the Borromei college, in Pavia, is a +saloon painted in fresco, with subjects from the life of S. Carlo. The +most admired of these is the saint at prayer in his retirement; the +other pieces, the Consistory in which was his chapel, and the Plague of +Milan, would be much better, if the figures were fewer. He returned to +Venice, where his great picture remained, and which had not been so much +injured by time, as by a sarcasm of Boschini on certain sugar +[_Zucchero_] of very poor quality lately imported into Venice, in +consequence of which he retouched his work, and wrote on it, by way of a +memorial, _Federicus Zuccarus f. an. sal. 1582, perfecit an. 1603_. It +is one of his best works, copious, and, agreeably to Zanetti, beautiful +and well sustained. He then went to Turin, where he painted a S. Paul, +for the Jesuits, and began to ornament a gallery for Charles Emanuel, +Duke of Savoy; and it was in that city that he first published _La idea +de' Pittori, Scultori, e Architetti_, which he dedicated to the Duke. He +afterwards returned into Lombardy, where he composed two other works, +the one intitled _La Dimora di Parma del Sig. Cav. Federigo Zuccaro_: +the other, _Il Passaggio per Italia colla dimora di Parma del Sig. Cav. +Federigo Zuccaro_, both printed in Bologna, in 1608. In the following +year, on his return to his native place, he fell sick in Ancona, where +he died. Baglione admired the versatility of talent in this artist, +which extended to sculpture and architecture; but more than all he +admired his good fortune, in which he exceeded all his contemporaries. +This distinction he owed in a great measure to his personal qualities, +to his noble presence, his encouragement of letters, his quality of +attaching persons to him, and his liberality, which led him to expend in +a generous manner the large sums he derived from his works. + +He appears to have written with the intention of rivalling and excelling +Vasari. Whatever was the cause, Vasari was disliked by him, as may be +gathered from the notes to his Lives, occasionally cited by the +annotator of the Roman edition; and is charged by him with spleen and +malignity, particularly in the life of Taddeo Zuccaro. In order to excel +Vasari, it seems he chose an abstruse mode of writing, in opposition to +the plain style of that author. The whole work, printed in Turin, is +involved in its design, and instead of precepts, contains speculative +metaphysical opinions, which tend more to raise disputes than to convey +information. The language is incongruous and affected, and even the very +titles to the chapters are interwoven with many absurdities, as that of +the 12th, _Che la filosofia e il filosofare è disegno Metaforico +similitudinario_. This style may perhaps impose on the ignorant, but +cannot deceive the learned.[64] The latter do not esteem a writer for +pedantic expressions adopted from the Greek and Latin authors; but for a +correct mode of definition, for an accuracy of analysis, for a sagacity +in tracing effects to their true causes, and for a manner strictly +adapted to the subject. These qualities are not to be found in the works +of Federigo, where we find philosophical expressions mingled with +puerile reflections, as in the etymology of the word _disegno_, which +after much circumlocution, he informs us, owes its derivation to _Segno +di Dio_; and instead of affording any instructive maxims to youth, he +presents them with a mass of sterile and ill directed speculations. +Hence we may be said to derive more information from a single page of +Vasari, than from this author's whole work. Both Mariette and Bottari +have shewn the little esteem in which they held this work, by their +correspondence, inserted in the 6th volume of the Lettere Pittoriche. +Nor are his other two works of greater utility, one of which contains +some arguments in the same style, which are proposed as a theme for +disputation in the Academy of the Innominati, in Parma. + +It is generally thought that this treatise of Zuccaro was composed in +Rome, where he presided in the Academy of S. Luke. That academy was +instituted in the pontificate of Gregory XIII., who signed the brief for +its foundation at the instance of Muziano, as Baglione relates in the +life of that artist. He further states, that when the ancient church of +S. Luke, on the Esquiline, was demolished, the seat I believe of the +society of painters, the church of S. Martina was allotted to them, at +the foot of the Campidoglio. But this brief does not seem to have been +used until the return of Zuccaro from Spain, as according to the same +writer, it was he who put it in execution. And this must have occurred +in 1595, if the year which was celebrated by the painters of S. Luke in +1695, was the true centenary of the Academy. But the origin of the +institution may be dated, agreeably to some persons, from the month of +November, 1593, as mentioned by the Sig. Barone Vernazza, who, among the +first promoters, or members, includes the Piedmontese Arbasia, on the +relation of Romano Alberti. Baglione says that Federigo was declared +president by common consent; and that that day was a sort of triumph to +him, as he was accompanied on his return home by a company of artists +and literary persons; and in a little time afterwards he assigned a +saloon in his own house for the use of the academy. He wrote both in +poetry and in prose in the Academy of S. Luke, which is referred to more +than once in his greater work. He evinced an extraordinary affection for +this institution, and according to the example of Muziano, he named it +the heir of his estate, in the event of the extinction of his family. He +was succeeded in the presidency by Laureti, and a series of eminent +artists down to our own time. The sittings of the academy have now for a +long time past been fixed in a house contiguous to the church of S. +Martina, which is decorated with the portraits and works of its members. +The picture of S. Luke, by Raffaello, is there religiously preserved, +together with his own portrait; and there too is to be seen the skull of +Raffaello, in a casket, the richest spoil ever won by death from the +empire of art. Of this academy we shall speak further towards the +conclusion of this third book. We will now return to Federigo. + +The school of this artist received distinction from Passignano and other +scholars, elsewhere mentioned by us. To these we may add Niccolo da +Pesaro, who painted in the church of Ara Coeli; but whose best piece is +a Last Supper in the church of the sacrament at Pesaro. It is a picture +so well conceived and harmonized, and so rich in pictorial ornament, +that Lazzarini has descanted on it in his lectures as one of the first +of the city. It is said that Baroccio held this artist in great esteem. +Baglione commended him for his early works, but it must be confessed +that he did not persevere in his first style, and fell into an insipid +manner, whence he suffered both in reputation and fortune. Another +artist of Pesaro, instructed by Zuccaro, was Gio. Giacomo Pandolfi, +whose works are celebrated in his native city, and do not yield the palm +to those of Federigo, as the picture of S. George and S. Carlo in the +Duomo. He ornamented the whole chapel in the Nome di Dio, with a variety +of subjects in fresco, from the Old and New Testament; but as he was +then become infirm from age and the gout, they did not add much to his +fame. His greatest merit was the instilling good principles into Simon +Canterini, of whom, as well as of the Pesarese artists his followers, we +shall write at large in the school of Bologna. One Paolo Cespede, a +Spaniard, called in Rome Cedaspe, also received his education from +Zuccaro. He commenced his career in Rome, and excited great expectations +from some pictures in fresco, which are still to be seen at the church +of Trinità de' Monti, and other places. He had adopted a natural style, +and was in a way to rise in his profession, when he obtained an +ecclesiastical benefice in his native country, and retired to reside +upon it. Marco Tullio Montagna accompanied Federigo to Turin as an +assistant; and a small picture of S. Saverio and other saints in a +church of that city, generally attributed to the school of Zuccaro, is +probably by him. He painted in Rome in the church of S. Niccolo in +Carcere, in the vaults of the Vatican, and in many other places, in a +tolerable style, but nothing more. + +After the above named artists a crowd of contemporaries present +themselves, more particularly those who had the direction of the works +under Gregory XIII. The Sala de' Duchi was entrusted to Lorenzino of +Bologna, who was invited to Rome from his native city, where he enjoyed +the reputation of an excellent painter, and deservedly so, as we shall +see in his place. He undertook the decoration of the gallery of the +Vatican, which, from the vast size of that building, forms a boundless +field of art. Niccolò Circignani, or delle Pomarance, already mentioned +in the first book, distributed the work amongst a number of young +artists, who there painted historical subjects, landscapes, and +arabesques. The Pope was desirous that the walls also should serve the +cause of science, and ordered the compartments to be adorned with +geographical delineations of ancient and modern Italy, a task which was +assigned to Padre Ignazio Danti, a Domenican, a mathematician and +geographer of his court, and who was afterwards promoted to the +bishopric of Alatri. Ignazio was born in Perugia, of a family devoted to +the fine arts, and had two brothers, painters; Girolamo, of whom there +remain some works in S. Pietro, on the model of Vasari; and Vincenzio, +who in Rome assisted Ignazio, and there died, and was a good fresco +painter. Another grand work was also undertaken about this time, which +was the continuation of the gallery of Raffaello, in an arm of the +building contiguous to it, where, in conformity to the plan of +Raffaello, it was intended to paint four subjects in every arcade, all +from the New Testament. Roncelli, the scholar of Circignano, our notice +of whom we shall reserve to a subsequent epoch, was charged with the +execution of this plan, but was himself subject to the direction of +Padre Danti, experience having shewn that the entire abandonment of a +design to the direction of practical artists is injurious to its +execution, as there are few that, in the choice of inferior artists, are +not governed by influence, avarice, or jealousy. The selection, +therefore, was reserved to Danti, who to an excellent practical +knowledge of the art of design, united moral qualities that insured +success: and under his direction the whole work was regulated and +conducted in such a manner, that the spirit of Raffaello seemed to be +resuscitated in the precincts of the Vatican. But the hand was no longer +the same, and the imbecility which was apparent in the new productions, +when compared with the old, betrayed the decline of the art, though we +occasionally meet with subjects by Tempesti, Raffaellino da Reggio, the +younger Palma, and Girolamo Massei, which reflect a ray of honour on the +age. + +Another superintendant of the works of the Vatican, but rather in +architecture than in painting, was Girolamo Muziano da Brescia, who, +undistinguished in his native place, came young to Rome, and was there +considered the great supporter of true taste. He derived his principles +both in design and colour from the Venetian School, and early acquired +such skill in landscape, that he was named in Rome Il Giovane de' Paesi. +But he soon afterwards adopted a more elevated style, and devoted +himself with such obstinate assiduity to study, that he shaved his head +in order to prevent himself from going out of the house. It was at this +time that he painted the Raising of Lazarus, afterwards transferred from +the church of S. Maria Maggiore to the Quirinal Palace; and which, when +exposed to public view, immediately conciliated to him the esteem and +protection of Bonarruoti. His pictures occur in various churches and +palaces of Rome, and are often ornamented with landscapes in the style +of Titian. The church of the Carthusians possesses one of singular +beauty. It represents a troop of Anchorets attentively listening to a +Saint. There is great elegance and good disposition in the picture of +the Circumcision in the Gesù, and the Ascension in Ara Coeli displays an +intimate knowledge of art. The picture too of S. Francis receiving the +Stigmata, in the church of the Conception, is an enchanting piece, both +as regards the figures and the landscape. Nor was he beneath himself in +the pictures which he executed in the Duomo at Orvieto, which are highly +commended by Vasari. The chapel of the Visitation in the Basilica +Loretana, possesses three pictures by him, and that of the Probatica +discovers great originality and expression. In the Duomo of Foligno, a +picture by him in fresco, of the Miracles of S. Feliciano is pointed +out, which was formerly hidden by dust, but was a few years ago restored +in a wonderful manner to all its original freshness and charm of colour. + +The figures of Muziano are accurately drawn, and we not unfrequently +trace in them the anatomy of Michelangiolo. He excelled in painting +military and foreign dresses; and above all, in representing hermits and +anchorets, men of severe aspects, whose bodies are attenuated by +abstinence, and his style, in general, inclines rather to the dry than +the florid. We are indebted to this artist for the engraving of the +Trajan Column. Giulio Romano had begun to copy it, and the laborious +undertaking was continued and perfected by Muziano, and so prepared for +the engraver. + +The most celebrated scholar of Muziano, was Cesare Nebbia of Orvieto. He +presided over the works of Sixtus, entrusting the completion of his own +designs to the younger painters. In this task he was assisted by Gio. +Guerra da Modena, who suggested to him the subjects, and apportioned the +work among the scholars. Both the one and the other of these artists, +was endowed with a facility which was essential to the vast works on +which they were employed in the five years reign of Sixtus, in the +chapel of S. Maria Maggiore, in the library of the Vatican itself, in +the Quirinal and Lateran palaces, and at the Scala Santa, and many other +places. But in other respects, Muziano left his scholars far behind, as +he was possessed of a great and inventive genius, while Nebbia was more +remarkable for the mechanism of his art; particularly when he decorated +walls. There are, however, some beautiful and well coloured pictures by +him; among which may be mentioned the Epiphany, in the church of S. +Francis at Viterbo, quite in Muziano's style. Baglione associates with +Nebbia Giovanni Paolo della Torre, a gentleman of Rome, who was raised +by Girolamo above the rank of a mere dilettante. Taja too, adds Giacomo +Stella da Brescia, who, he observes, had degenerated in some degree from +the style of his master. He was employed, nevertheless, both in the +gallery of Gregory XIII., and in other places, not without commendation. +It may be observed, that M. Bardon states him to have been a native of +Lyons, long resident in Italy. + +Another foreigner, but who came a considerable time after Muziano, was +Raffaellino da Reggio, who, after being instructed in the first +principles of the art by Lelio di Novellara, formed a master style in +Rome. Nothing was wanting to this artist except a greater knowledge of +design, as he possessed spirit, disposition, delicacy, relief, and +grace; qualities not common in that age. His pictures in oil are +occasionally, though not often, found in galleries, but his best works +are his frescos of small figures, such as the two charming fables of +Hercules, in the ducal hall at Florence, and the two gospel stories in +the gallery adjoining to that of Raffaello d'Urbino. He painted also at +Caprarola in competition with the Zuccari, and Vecchi, and with such +success, that his figures seem living, while those of his comrades are +inanimate. This excellent artist died immaturely, greatly lamented, +without leaving any pupil worthy of his name. He was however considered +as the head of a school in Rome, and his works were studied by the youth +of the academy. Many artists adopted his manner of fresco, particularly +Paris Nogari of Rome, who left there numerous works, which are known for +their peculiar manner; amongst others, some subjects in the gallery. He +had another follower in Gio. Batista della Marca, of the family of +Lombardelli, a young man of great natural talents, but which were +rendered unavailing from his want of application. Many pictures in +fresco by him remain in Perugia and in Rome, but the best are in +Montenovo, his native place. None, however, approached so near to +Raffaellino as Giambatista Pozzo, who also died young, and who, as far +as regards ideal beauty, may be considered the Guido of his day. To be +convinced of this it is only necessary to see the Choir of Angels, which +he painted in the chapel of the Gesù. If he had survived to the time of +the Caracci, it is impossible to say to what degree of perfection he +might not have attained. + +Tommaso Laureti, a Sicilian, already noticed with commendation by us +among the scholars of F. Sebastiano, and deserving honourable mention +among the professors of Bologna, was invited to Rome in the pontificate +of Gregory XIII., and was entrusted with a work of an invidious nature. +This was the decoration of the ceiling and lunettes in the Hall of +Constantine, the lower part of which had been illustrated by the pencils +of Giulio Romano and Perino. The subjects chosen by this master were +intended to commemorate the piety of Constantine, idols subverted, the +cross exalted, and provinces added to the church. Baglione informs us +that Laureti was entertained by the Pope in his palace in a princely +manner; and either from his natural indolence, or his reluctance to +return to a laborious profession, procrastinated the work so much, that +Gregory died, and Sixtus commenced his reign before it was completed. +The new pontiff was aware that the artist had abused the patience of his +predecessor, and became so exasperated, that Laureti, in order to avert +his wrath, proceeded in all haste to finish his labours. When the work +however was exposed to public view, in the first year of the new +pontificate, it was judged unworthy of the situation. The figures were +too vast and heavy, the colouring crude, the forms vulgar. The best part +of it was a temple in the ceiling, drawn in excellent perspective, in +which art indeed Laureti may be considered as one of the first masters +of his day. Misfortune was added to his disgrace; for he was not only +not rewarded as he had expected, but the cost of his living and +provisions were placed to his charge, even to the corn supplied to his +horse. So that he gained no remuneration, and actually died in poverty +in the succeeding pontificate. He had however an opportunity afforded +him of redeeming his credit, particularly in the stories of Brutus and +Horatius on the bridge, which he painted in the Campidoglio, in a much +better style. Intimately acquainted with the theory of art, and +possessing an agreeable manner of inculcating its principles, he taught +at Rome with considerable applause. He had a scholar and assistant in +the Vatican, in Antonio Scalvati, a Bolognese, who in the time of Sixtus +was employed among the painters of the Library, and who was afterwards +engaged in painting portraits under Clement VIII., Leo XI., and Paul V.; +and was highly celebrated in this department. + +A better fortune attended Gio. Batista Ricci da Novara, who arrived at +Rome in the pontificate of Sixtus, and who from his despatch manifested +in the works at the Scala Lateranense, and the Vatican Library, was +immediately taken into employ by the Pope, who appointed him +superintendant for the decorations of the palace of the Quirinal. He was +also held in favour by Clement VIII., in whose time he painted in S. +Giovanni Laterano the history of the consecration of that church: and +there, according to Baglione, he succeeded better than in any other +place. He left not a few works in Rome, and elsewhere his pictures +display a facility of pencil, and a brilliancy and elegance which +attract the eye. He was born in a city into which Gaudenzio Ferrari had +introduced the Raffaellesque style, and where Lanini, his son-in-law had +practised it; but in whose hands it seemed to decline, and still more so +under Ricci, when he came to Rome; so that his style was Raffaellesque +reduced to mannerism, like that professed by Circignani, Nebbia, and +others of this age. + +Giuseppe Cesari, also called Il Cavaliere d'Arpino, is a name as +celebrated among painters, as that of Marino among poets. These two +individuals, each in his line, contributed to corrupt the taste of an +age already depraved, and attached more to shew than to reality. Both +the one and the other exhibited considerable talents, and it is an old +observation, that the arts, like republican states, have received their +subversion from master spirits. Cesari discovered great capacity from +his infancy, and soon attracted the admiration of Danti, and obtained +the protection of Gregory XIII., with the reputation of the first master +in Rome. Some pictures painted in conjunction with Giacomo Rocca,[65] +from designs of Michelangiolo, (in which Giacomo was very rich,) +established his reputation. So much talent was not required to secure +him general applause, as the public of that day were chiefly attracted +by the energy, fire, tumult, and crowds, that filled his composition. +His horses, which he drew in a masterly manner, and his countenances, +which were painted with all the force of life, won the admiration of the +many; while few attended to the incorrect design, the monotony of the +extremities, the poverty of the drapery, the faulty perspective and +chiaroscuro. Of these few however were Caravaggio, and Annibale Caracci. +With these he became involved in disputes, and challenges were mutually +exchanged. Cesari refused the challenge of Caravaggio, as he was not a +cavaliere, and Annibale declined that of the Cavaliere d'Arpino, +alleging that the pencil was his proper weapon. Thus these two eminent +professors met with no greater obstacle in Rome in their attempts to +reform the art, than Cesari and his adherents. + +The Cavaliere d'Arpino survived both these masters more than thirty +years, and left behind him _progeniem vitiosiorem_. To conclude, he was +born a painter, and in so vast and difficult an art, he had endowments +sufficient to atone, in part, for his defects. His colouring in fresco +was admirable, his imagination was fruitful and felicitous, his figures +were animated, and possessed a charm that Baglione, who himself +entertained very different principles, could not refrain from admiring. +Cesari moreover practised two distinct manners. The one, the most to be +commended, is that in which he painted the Ascension, at S. Prassede, +and several prophets, _di sotto in su_: the Madonna in the ceiling of S. +Giovanni Grisogono, which is remarkable for its fine colouring; the +gallery of the Casa Orsini; and in the Campidoglio, the Birth of +Romulus, and the battle of the Romans and the Sabines, a painting in +fresco, preferred by some to all his other works. Others of his pictures +may be added, particularly some smaller works, with lights in gold, +exquisitely finished, as if they were by an entirely different artist. +Of this kind there is an Epiphany in possession of the Count Simonetti, +in Osimo, and S. Francis in extacies, in the house of the Belmonti at +Rimino. His other style was sufficiently free, but negligent, and this +latter he used too frequently, partly through impatience of labour, and +partly through old age, as may be seen in three other subjects in the +Campidoglio, painted in the same saloon forty years after the first. His +works are almost innumerable, not only in Rome, where he worked in the +pontificates of Gregory and Sixtus, and where, under Clement VIII., he +presided over the decorations in S. Gio. Laterano, and there continued +under Paul V., but also in Naples, at Monte Casino, and in various +cities of the Roman state, without mentioning the pictures sent to +foreign courts, and painted for private individuals. For the latter +indeed, and even for persons of inferior rank in life, he worked more +willingly than for princes, with whom, like the Tigellius of Horace, he +was capricious and morose. He was indeed desirous of being solicited by +persons of rank, and often affected to neglect them, so much had the +applause of a corrupted age flattered his vanity. + +Cesari had many scholars and assistants, whom he more particularly +employed in the works of the Lateran; as he did not deign in those times +often to take up the pencil himself. Some of these pupils adopted his +faults, and as they did not possess the same genius, their works proved +intolerably bad. A vicious example, easy of imitation, is, as Horace has +observed, highly seductive. There were however some of his school, who +in part at least corrected themselves from the works of others. His +brother, too, Bernardino Cesari, was an excellent copyist of the designs +of Bonarruoti, and worked assiduously under the Cav. Giuseppe, but +little remains of him, as he died young. One Cesare Rossetti, a Roman, +served under Arpino a longer time, and of him there are many works in +his own name. There are also to be found some public memorials of +Bernardino Parasole, who was cut off in the flower of his age. Guido +Ubaldo Abatini of Città di Castello, merited commendation from Passeri +as a good fresco painter, particularly for a vault at the Vittoria. +Francesco Allegrini di Gubbio was a fresco painter, in design very much +resembling his master, if we may judge from the cupola of the Sacrament +in the Cathedral of Gubbio, and from another at the Madonna de' Bianchi. +We there observe the same attenuated proportions, and the same +predominant facility of execution. He nevertheless shewed himself +capable of better things, when his mind became matured, and he worked +with more care. He is commended by Ratti for various works in fresco, +executed at Savona, in the Duomo, and in the Casa Gavotti, and for +others in the Casa Durazzo at Genoa; where one may particularly admire +the freshness of the colouring, and the skill exhibited in his _sotto in +su_. He is also commended by Baldinucci for similar works in the Casa +Panfili, and merits praise for his smaller pieces and battles frequently +found in Rome and Gubbio. He also added figures to the landscapes of +Claude, two of which are to be seen, in the Colonna palace. He lived a +long time in Rome, and his son Flaminio with him, commemorated by Taja +for some works in the Vatican. Baglione has enumerated not a few other +artists, in part belonging to the Roman state, and in part foreigners. +Donato of Formello (a fief of the dukes of Bracciano) had greatly +improved on the style of Vasari his master, as is proved by his +histories of S. Peter, in a staircase of the Vatican, particularly the +one of the piece of money found in the fish's mouth. He died whilst yet +young, and the art had real cause to lament his loss. Giuseppe Franco, +also called _dalle Lodole_, in consequence of his painting a lark in one +of his pieces in S. Maria in Via, and on other occasions, and Prospero +Orsi, both Romans, had a share in the works prosecuted by Sixtus. When +these were finished, the former repaired to Milan, where he remained +some years; the latter, from painting historical subjects, passed to +arabesque, and from his singular talents in that line, was called +Prosperino dalle Grottesche. Of the same place was Girolamo Nanni, +deserving of particular mention, because, during all the time that he +was engaged in these works, he never hurried himself, and to the +directors who urged him to despatch, he answered always _poco e buono_, +which expression was ever afterwards attached to him as a surname. He +continued to work with the same study and devotion, as far as his +talents would carry him, at S. Bartolommeo all'Isola, at S. Caterina de' +Funai, and in many other places: he was not however much distinguished, +except for his great application. Of him however, and of Giuseppe +Puglia, or Bastaro, and of Cesare Torelli, also Romans; and of Pasquale +Cati da Jesi, an inexhaustible painter of that age, though somewhat +affected, and of many professors, that are in fact forgotten in Rome +itself, I have thought it my duty to give this short notice, as I had +pledged myself to include a number of the second rate artists. It would +be an endless task to enumerate here all the foreign artists. It may be +sufficient to observe, that in the Vatican library more than a hundred +artists, almost all foreigners, were employed. In the first book I have +mentioned Gio. de' Vecchi, an eminent master, who, from the time of his +works for the Farnese family, was considered a first rate artist; and +the colony of painters, his fellow citizens, whom Raffaellino brought to +Rome. In the same book we meet with Titi, Naldini, Zucchi, Coscj, and a +number of Florentines, and in the following book Matteo da Siena and +some others of his school. Again, in the fourth book, Matteo da Leccio +and Giuseppe Valeriani dell' Aquila will have place; and in the third +volume will be described Palma the younger (amongst the Venetians) who +worked in the gallery; about which time Salvator Fontana, a Venetian, +painted at S. Maria Maggiore, whom it is sufficient to have named. We +may also enumerate Nappi and Paroni of Milan, Croce of Bologna, +Mainardi, Lavinia Fontana, and not a few others of various schools, who +in those times painted in Rome, without ultimately remaining there, or +leaving scholars. + +A more circumstantial mention may be made of some _oltramontani_, who, +in conjunction with our countrymen, were employed in the works in these +pontificates; and it may be done with the more propriety, as we do not +speak of them in any other part of our work. But those who worked in +Rome were very numerous in every period, and it would be too much to +attempt to enumerate them all in a history of Italian painting. One +Arrigo, from Flanders, painted a Resurrection in the Sistine chapel, and +also worked in fresco in other places in Rome; and is commended by +Baglione as an excellent artist. Francesco da Castello, was also of +Flanders, and of a more refined and correct taste. There is a picture by +him at S. Rocco, with various saints; and it is perhaps the best piece +the world possesses of him; but almost all his works were painted for +the cabinet, and in miniature, in which he excelled. The Brilli we may +include among the landscape painters. + +The states of the church possessed in this epoch painters of +consideration, besides those in Perugia, where flourished the two Alfani +and others, followers of a good style; but whether they were known or +employed in Rome, I am not able to say. I included them in the school of +Pietro, in order that they might not be separated from the artists of +Perugia, but they continued to live and to work for many years in the +16th century. To these may be added Piero and Serafino Cesarei,[66] and +others of less note. In the city of Assisi, there resided, in the +beginning of the 16th century, a Francesco Vagnucci, and there remain +some works by him in the spirit of the old masters. There, also, +afterwards resided Cesare Sermei Cavaliere, who was born in Orvieto, and +married in Assisi, and lived there until 1600, when he died at the age +of 84. He painted both there and in Perugia, and if not in a grand style +of fresco, still with a felicity of design, with much spirit in his +attitudes, and with a vigorous pencil. He was a good machinist, and of +great merit in his oil pictures. At Spello I saw a picture by him of the +Beatified Andrea Caccioli; and it seems to me, that few other painters +of the Roman School had at that time equalled him. His heirs, in Assisi, +possess some pictures by him of fairs, processions, and ceremonies which +occur in that city on occasion of the Perdono; and the numbers and +variety and grace of the small figures, the architecture, and the humour +displayed, are very captivating. At Spello, just above mentioned, in the +church of S. Giacomo, is a picture which represents that saint and S. +Catherine before the Madonna: where we read _Tandini Mevanatis_, 1580; +that is, of Tandino di Bevagna, a place near Assisi; nor is it a picture +to be passed over. + +Gubbio possessed two painters, brothers of the family de' Nucci; +Virgilio, who was said to be the scholar of Daniel di Volterra, whose +Deposition he copied for an altar at S. Francis in Gubbio; and +Benedetto, a disciple of Raffaellino del Colle, considered the best of +the painters of Gubbio.[67] Both of them have left works in their native +place, and in the neighbouring districts; the first of them always +following the Florentine, and the second the Roman School. Of the latter +there are many pictures at Gubbio, which shew the progress he had made +in the style of Raffaello; and to see him in his best work, we must +inspect his S. Thomas in the Duomo, which would be taken for a picture +of Garofalo, or some such artist, if we were not acquainted with the +master. A little time afterwards flourished Felice Damiani, or Felice da +Gubbio, who is said to have studied in the Venetian School. The +Circumcision at S. Domenico has certainly a good deal of that style; but +in pencil he inclines more to the Roman taste, which he, perhaps, +derived from Benedetto Nucci. The Decollation of St. Paul, at the Castel +Nuovo, in Recanati, is by him: the attitude of the saint excites our +sympathy: the spectators are represented in various attitudes, all +appropriate and animated: the drawing is correct, and the colours vivid +and harmonious. It is inscribed with the year 1584. About ten years +afterwards, he painted two chapels at the Madonna de' Lumi, at S. +Severino, with subjects from the life of Christ; and there likewise +displayed more elegance than grandeur of style. His most studied and +powerful work is at S. Agostino di Gubbio, the Baptism of the Saint, +painted in 1594, a picture abounding in figures, and which surprises by +the novelty of the attire, by its correct architecture, and by the air +of devotion exhibited in the countenances. He received for this picture +two hundred scudi, by no means a low price in those times; and it should +seem that his work was regulated by the price, since in some other +pictures, and particularly in one in 1604, he is exceedingly negligent. +Federigo Brunori, called also Brunorini, issued, it is said, from his +school, and still more decidedly than his master, followed the Venetian +style. His portraits are natural; and he was a lover of foreign drapery, +and coloured with a strong effect. The Bianchi have an Ecce Homo by him, +in which the figures are small, but boldly expressed, and shew that he +had profited from the engravings of Albert Durer. Pierangiolo Basilj, +instructed by Damiani, and also by Roncalli, partakes of their more +delicate manner. His frescos, in the choir of S. Ubaldo, are held in +esteem; and at S. Marziale, there is by him a Christ preaching, with a +beautiful portico in perspective, and a great number of auditors: the +figures in this are also small, and such as are seen in the compositions +of Albert Durer. The pictures appear to be painted in competition. +Brunori displays more energy, Basilj more variety and grace. + +In the former edition of this work I made mention of Castel Durante, now +Urbania, in the state of Urbino. I noticed Luzio Dolce among the ancient +painters, of whom I had at that time seen no performance, except an +indifferent picture, in the country church of Cagli, in 1536. Since that +period Colucci has published (tom. xxvii.) a _Cronaca di Castel +Durante_, wherein he gives a full account of Luzio, and of others that +belong to that place. Bernardino, his grandfather, and Ottaviano, his +father, excelled in stucco, and had exercised their art in other places; +and he himself, who was living in 1589, is commended for his altarpieces +and other pictures, in the churches, both in his native city and other +places: and further, it is stated that he was employed by the duke to +paint at the Imperiale. He also makes honourable mention of a brother of +Luzio, and extols Giustino Episcopio, called formerly de' Salvolini, +who, in conjunction with Luzio, painted in the abbey the picture of the +Spirito Santo, and the other pictures around it. He also executed many +other works by himself in Castel Durante and elsewhere, and in Rome as +well, where he studied and resided for a considerable time. It is +probable that Luzio was, in the latter part of his life, assisted by +Agostino Apolonio, who was his sister's son, married in S. Angelo in +Vado, and who removed and settled in Castel Durante where he executed +works both in stucco and in oils, particularly at S. Francesco, and +succeeded alike to the business and the property of his maternal uncle. + +At Fratta, which is also in the state of Urbino, there died young, one +Flori, of whom scarcely any thing remains, except the Supper of our +Lord, at S. Bernardino. But this picture is composed in the manner of +the best period of art, and deserves commemoration. Not far from thence +is Città di Castello, where, in the days of Vasari, flourished Gio. +Batista della Bilia, a fresco painter, and another Gio. Batista, +employed in the Palazzo Vitelli, (tom. v. p. 131). I know not whether it +was from him, or some other artist, that Avanzino Nucci had his first +instructions, who repairing to Rome, designed after the best examples, +and was a scholar and fellow labourer in many of the works of Niccolo +Circignano. He had a share in almost all the works under Sixtus, and +executed many others, in various churches and palaces. He possessed +facility and despatch, and a style not very dissimilar to that of his +master, though inferior in grandeur. He resided some time in Naples, and +worked also in his native place. There is a picture by him, of the +Slaughter of the Innocents, at S. Silvestro di Fabriano. Somewhat later +than he, was Sguazzino, noticed by Orlandi for the pictures painted at +the Gesù in Perugia; though he left better works in Città di Castello, +as the S. Angelo, in the Duomo; and the lunettes, containing various +histories of our Lady, at the Spirito Santo, besides others in various +churches. He was not very correct in his drawing, but had a despatch and +a contrast of colours, and a general effect that entitled him to +approbation. + +Another considerable painter, though less known, was Gaspare Gasparrini, +of Macerata. He was of noble birth, and followed the art through +predilection, and painted both in fresco and oils. From the information +which I received from Macerata,[68] it seems he learned to paint from +Girolamo di Sermoneta.[69] However this may be, Gasparrini pursued a +similar path, although his manner is not so finished, if we may judge +from the two chapels at S. Venanzio di Fabriano, in one of which is the +Last Supper, and in the other the Baptism of Christ. Other subjects are +added on the side walls, and the best is that of S. Peter and S. John +healing the Sick, a charming composition, in the style of Raffaello. We +find by him, in his native place, a picture of the Stigmata, at the +Conventuals, and some cabinet pictures, in the collection of the Signori +Ferri, relations of the family of Gaspare. Others too are to be found, +but either doubtful in themselves, or injured by retouching. Padre +Civalli M. C., who wrote at the close of the sixteenth century, mentions +this master with high commendation, as may be seen on reference to the +_Antichità Picene_, tom. xxv. In a recent description of the pictures at +Ascoli, I find that a Sebastian Gasparrini, of Macerata, a scholar of +the Cav. Pomaranci, decorated a chapel of S. Biagio in that city with +historical paintings in fresco. But it is probable that this may be +Giuseppe Bastiani, the scholar of Gasparrini. Another chapel at the +Carmelites in Macerata, contains many pictures by him, with the date of +1594. + +Of Marcantonio di Tolentino, mentioned by Borghini in his account of the +Tuscan artists, and after him by Colucci (tom. xxv. p. 80), I do not +know whether or not he returned to practise his art in his native +country. In Caldarola, in the territory of Macerata, flourished a +Durante de' Nobili, a painter who formed himself on the style of +Michelangiolo. A picture of a Madonna by him is to be seen in Ascoli, at +S. Pier di Castello, on which he inscribed his name and country, and the +year 1571. From another school I believe arose a Simon de Magistris, a +painter as well as sculptor, who left many works in the province. One of +his pictures of S. Philip and S. James, in the Duomo of Osimo, in 1585, +discovers a poverty in the composition, and little felicity of +execution; but he appears to greater advantage, at a more advanced +period of life, in the works he left at Ascoli. There is one, of the +Rosario, at S. Domenico, where Orsini found much to commend in the +arrangement of the figures, in the design, and in the colouring. There +is another, of the same subject, at S. Rocco, which is preferred to the +former, except for the shortness of the figures, and which we have +described in writing of Andrea del Sarto, and afterwards of Taddeo +Zuccaro. For the same reason he reproaches Carlo Allegretti, who, in the +same city, committed a similar fault. He painted in various styles, as +may be seen from an Epiphany, in Bassano's manner, which he placed in +the cathedral, a picture which will apologize for the others. +Baldassini, in his Storia di Jesi, speaking of Colucci, records there +the priest Antonio Massi, who studied and gave to the world some +pictures in Bologna; and Antonio Sarti, whom I esteem superior to Massi; +praising highly his picture of the Circumcision, in the collegiate +church of Massaccio. This city gave birth to Paolo Pittori, who +ornamented his native place and its vicinity. These may serve as an +example of the provincial painters of this age. I purposely omit many +names, several of whom are fresco painters, who were indifferent +artists; and others who were below mediocrity. It is indeed true, that +many have escaped, from being unknown to me, and there still remain, in +the Roman state, many works highly beautiful, deserving of research and +notice. + +From the time of the preceding epoch, the art became divided into +various departments; and at this period, they began to multiply, in +consequence of many men of talent choosing to cultivate different +manners. After Jacopo del Conte and Scipione da Gaeta, the portraits of +Antonio de' Monti, a Roman, are celebrated, who was considered the first +among the portrait painters under Gregory; as also those of Prospero and +Livia Fontana, and of Antonio Scalvati; all three of the School of +Bologna; to whom may be added Pietro Fachetti, of Mantua. + +With regard to perspective, it was successfully cultivated by Jacopo +Barocci, commonly called Il Vignola, an illustrious name in +architecture; owing to which his celebrity in the other branches has +been overlooked. But it ought to be observed that his first studies were +directed to painting, in the school of Passarotti, in Bologna; until he +was led by the impulse of his genius, to apply himself to perspective, +and by the aid of that science, as he was accustomed to say, to +architecture, in which he executed some wonderful works, and amongst +others the palace of Caprarola. There, and I know not whether in other +places, are to be seen some pictures by him. As a writer, we shall refer +to him in the second index, where, omitting his other works, we shall +cite the two books which he wrote in this department of art. Great +progress was made in Rome, in the art of perspective, after Laureti, by +the genius of Gio. Alberti di Città S. Sepolcro, whose eulogy I shall +not here stop to repeat, having already spoken of it in the first +volume. Baglione names two friends, Tarquinio di Viterbo and Giovanni +Zanna, of Rome; the first of whom painted landscapes, and the second +adorned them with figures. He mentions the two brothers, Conti, of +Ancona; Cesare, who excelled in arabesques, and Vincenzio in figures: +these artists painted for private persons. Marco da Faenza was much +employed under Gregory XIII., in arabesques, and the more elegant +decorations of the Vatican, and had also the direction of other artists. +Of him we shall make more particular mention amongst the artists of +Romagna. + +The landscapes in the Apostolic palace, and in various places of Rome, +were many of them painted by Matteo da Siena, and by Gio. Fiammingo, +with whom Taja makes us acquainted, in the ducal hall, and particularly +the two brothers Brilli, of Flanders, who painted both in fresco and +oil. Matteo always retained his _ultramontane_ manner, rather dry, and +not very true in colour. Paolo, who survived him, improved his style, +from the study of Titian and the Caracci, and was an excellent artist in +every department of landscape, and in the power of adapting it to +historical subjects. Italy abounds with his pictures. Two other +landscape painters also lived in Rome at this time, Fabrizio of Parma, +who may be ranked with Matteo, and Cesare, a Piedmontese, more attached +to the style of Paolo. Nor ought we to omit Filippo d'Angeli, who, from +his long residence in Naples, is called a Neapolitan, though he was born +in Rome, where, and as we have observed in Florence, he was highly +esteemed. His works are generally of a small size; his prospects are +painted with great care, and ornamented with figures admirably +introduced. There are also some battle pieces by him. + +But in battles and in hunting pieces, none in these times equalled +Antonio Tempesti. He was followed, though at a considerable interval, by +Francesco Allegrini, a name not new to those who have read the preceding +pages. To these we may add Marzio di Colantonio, a Roman, though he has +left fewer works in Rome than in Turin, where he was employed by the +Cardinal, prince of Savoy. He was also accomplished in arabesque and +landscapes, and painted small frescos in an agreeable manner. + +It is at this epoch that Vasari describes the manufacture of earthen +vases, painted with a variety of colours, with such exquisite art, that +they seemed to rival the oil pictures of the first masters. He pretends +that this art was unknown to the ancients, and it is at any rate certain +that it was not carried to such perfection by them. Signor Gio. Batista +Passeri, who composed _l'Istoria delle pitture in Majolica fatte in +Pesaro e ne' luoghi circonvicini_, derives the art from Luca della +Robbia, a Florentine, who discovered a mode of giving to the clay a +glazing to resist the injuries of time. In this manner were formed the +bassirelievi and altars which still exist, and the pavements which are +described at page 81. Others derive this art from Cina, whence it passed +to the island of Majolica, and from thence into Italy; and this +invention was particularly cultivated in the state of Urbino. The coarse +manufacture had been for a long time in use. The fine earthenware +commenced there about 1500, and was manufactured by an excellent artist, +of whom there exists in the convent of Domenicans, of Gubbio, a statue +of an abbot, S. Antonio, well modelled and painted, and many services in +various noble houses with his name _M. Giorgio da Ugubio_. The year is +also inscribed, from which it appears that his manufacture of these +articles began in 1519, and ended in 1537. At this time Urbino also +cultivated the plastic art, and the individual of his day, who most +excelled, was Federigo Brandani. Whoever thinks that I exaggerate, may +view the Nativity, which he left at S. Joseph, and say, whether, except +Begarelli of Modena, there is any one that can be compared with him for +liveliness and grace in his figures, for variety and propriety of +attitude, and for natural expression of the accessory parts; the +animals, which seem alive; the satchels and a key suspended; the humble +furniture, and other things admirably appropriate, and all wonderfully +represented: the figure of the divine Infant is not so highly finished, +and is perhaps the object which least surprises us. Nor in the meanwhile +did the people of Urbino neglect to advance the art of painted vases, in +which fabric a M. Rovigo of Urbino is much celebrated. The subjects +which were first painted in porcelain, were poor in design, but were +highly valued for the colouring, particularly for a most beautiful red, +which was subsequently disused, either because the secret was lost, or +because it did not amalgamate with the other colours. + +But the art did not attain the perfection which Vasari describes, until +about the year 1540, and was indebted for it to Orazio Fontana, of +Urbino, whose vases, for the polish of the varnish, for the figures, and +for their forms, may perhaps be ranked before any that have come down to +us from antiquity. He practised this art in many parts of the state, but +more especially in Castel Durante, now called Urbania, which possesses a +light clay, extremely well adapted for every thing of this nature. His +brother, Flamminio, worked in conjunction with him, and was afterwards +invited to Florence by the grand duke of Tuscany, and introduced there a +beautiful manner of painting vases. This information is given us by the +Sig. Lazzari, and for which the Florentine history of art ought to +express its obligations to him. The establishment of this fine taste in +Urbino, was, in a great measure, owing to the Duke Guidobaldo, who was a +prince enthusiastically devoted to the fine arts, and who established a +manufactory, and supported it at his own expense. He did not allow the +painters of these vases to copy their own designs, but obliged them to +execute those of the first artists, and particularly those of Raffaello; +and gave them for subjects many designs of Sanzio never before seen, and +which formed part of his rich collection. Hence these articles are +commonly known in Italy by the name of Raphael ware, and from thence +arose certain idle traditions respecting the father of Raffaello, and +Raffaello himself; and the appellation of _boccalajo di Urbino_ (the +potter of Urbino), was in consequence applied, as we shall mention, to +that great master.[70] Some designs of Michelangiolo, and many of +Raffaele del Colle, and other distinguished masters, were adopted for +this purpose. In the life of Batista Franco, we are informed that that +artist made an infinite number of designs for this purpose, and in that +of Taddeo Zuccaro it is related that all the designs of the service, +which was manufactured for Philip II., were entrusted to him. Services +of porcelain were also prepared there for Charles V. and other princes, +and the duke ordered not a few for his own court. Several of his vases +were transferred to, and are now in the S. Casa di Loreto; and the Queen +of Sweden was so much charmed with them, that she offered to replace +them with vases of silver. A large collection of them passed into the +hands of the Grand Duke of Florence, in common with other things +inherited from the Duke of Urbino, and specimens of them are to be seen +in the ducal gallery, some with the names of the places where they were +manufactured. There are many, too, to be found in the houses of the +nobility of Rome, and in the state of Urbino, and, indeed, in all parts +of Italy. The art was in its highest perfection for about the space of +twenty years, or from 1540 to 1560; and the specimens of that period are +not unworthy a place in any collection of art. If we are to believe +Lazzari, the secret of the art died with the Fontani, and the practice +daily declined until it ended in a common manufactory and object of +merchandize. Whoever wishes for further information on this subject, may +consult the above cited Passeri, who inserted his treatise in the fourth +volume of the Calogeriani, not forgetting the Dizionario Urbinate, and +the Cronaca Durantina. + +The art of painting on leather deserves little attention; nevertheless, +as Baglione mentions it with commendation in his life of Vespasian +Strada, a fresco painter of some merit in Rome, I did not think it right +to pass it over without this slight notice. + +[Footnote 56: Dolce, Dial. della Pittura, p. 11.] + +[Footnote 57: We shall notice him again in the school of Bologna, where +he passed his best years, and also in the Roman School, in which he was +a master. Sebastiano had also another scholar, or imitator, as we find a +Communion of S. Lucia, painted in his style, in the collegiate church of +Spello. The artist inscribes his name, _Camillus Bagazotus Camers +faciebat_.--_Orsini Risposta_, p. 16.] + +[Footnote 58: He painted the S. Catherine in S. Agostino, the Presepio +in S. Silvestro at Monte Cavallo, and left works in many other +churches.] + +[Footnote 59: He painted some façades in Rome. In the oratory of S. +Giovanni Decollato, there remains the Dance before Herod, not very +correctly designed, and feeble in colouring; but the perspective, and +the richness of the drapery in the Venetian style, may confer some value +on the picture.] + +[Footnote 60: Bellori, Vite de' Pittori, p. 20.] + +[Footnote 61: Idea de' Pittori, Scultori, e Architetti, reprinted in the +Lett. Pitt. tom. vi. p. 147.] + +[Footnote 62: The charming poet Lasca noticed this work as soon as the +Cupola was opened to public view, in a madrigal inserted in the edition +of his poems in the year 1741. He blamed Giorgio d'Arezzo (Vasari) more +than Federigo, that for sordid motives he had designed and undertaken a +work, which in the judgment of the Florentines, injured the Cupola of +Brunellesco, which was the admiration of every one, and which Benvenuto +Cellini was accustomed to call, _la Maraviglia delle cose belle_. He +concludes by saying, that the Florentine people + + "Non sarà mai di lamentarsi stanco + Se forse un dì non le si dà di bianco."] + +[Footnote 63: This is not the large picture of the Calumny of Apelles +painted in distemper for the Orsini family, and engraved, and which is +now to be seen in the Palazzo Lante, and is one of the most finished +productions of Federigo.] + +[Footnote 64: The same inflated style has of late become prevalent in +some parts of Italy, with no little injury to our language and to good +taste. In the _Arte di vedere_ we find for example _le pieghe +longitudinali, la trombeggiata resurrezzione del Bello_, &c. Some one +has also attempted to illustrate the qualities of the art of painting by +those of music, which has given occasion to a clever Maestro di Capella +to write a humorous letter, an extract of which is given in the _Difesa +del Ratti_, pag. 15, &c., and is the most entertaining and least ill +tempered thing to be met with in that work.] + +[Footnote 65: A scholar of Daniel di Volterra, from whom he inherited +these designs, with many others by the same great master. He painted but +little, and generally from the designs of others, and which he did not +execute in a happy manner; and Baglione says, his pictures were +deficient in taste.] + +[Footnote 66: There remained, in the time of Pascoli, some _pitture +saporite_, as he terms them, by this artist, at Spoleto, where Piero +established himself, and in the neighbouring towns; and which often pass +for the works of Pietro Perugino, from a similarity of names. It appears +however that Cesarei was desirous of preventing this error, as he +inscribed his name Perinus Perusinus, or Perinus Cesareus Perusinus, as +in the picture of the Rosary at Scheggino, painted in 1595. Vasari, in +the life of Agnol Gaddi, names among his scholars Stefano da Verona, and +says, that "all his works were imitated and drawn by that Pietro di +Perugia, the painter in miniature, who ornamented the books at the +cathedral of Siena, in the Library of Pope Pius, and who worked well in +fresco." These words have puzzled more than one person. Pascoli (P. P. +p. 134.) and Mariotti (L. P. p. 59.) consider them as written of Piero +Cesarei; as if a man born in the golden age should so far extol an old +_trecentista_; or as if the canons of Siena could approve such a style +after possessing Razzi and Vanni. Padre della Valle interprets it to +mean Pietro Vannucci, and not finding the books of the Choir adorned in +such a style as he wished, reproves Vasari for having confounded so +great a master with a common fresco painter and a _Miniatore_. It is +most likely that this _Miniatore_ and _Frescante_ of Vasari was a third +Pietro, hitherto unknown in Perugia, and whom we shall notice in the +Venetian School.] + +[Footnote 67: See Il Sig. Cav. Reposati _Appendice del tomo ii. della +Zecca di Gubbio_; and the Sig. Conte Ranghiasci in the _Elenco de' +Professori Eugubini_, inserted in vol. iv. of Vasari (ediz. Senese), at +the end of the volume.] + +[Footnote 68: I am indebted for it, to the noble Sig. Cav. Ercolani, who +obligingly transmitted it to me, after procuring it from the Sig. Cav. +Piani and the Sig. Paolo Antonio Ciccolini, of Macerata.] + +[Footnote 69: In a former edition, on the authority of a MS. I called +him Serj, and was doubtful whether Siciolante was not his surname. Sig. +Brandolese has informed me of an epitaph, in the hands of Mons. +Galletti, in which he is called Siciolante, whence Serio was most +probably his surname.] + +[Footnote 70: Another probable cause of this appellation, is to be found +in the name of Raffaello Ciarla, who was one of the most celebrated +painters of this ware, and was appointed by the duke to convey a large +assortment of it to the court of Spain. Hence the vulgar, when they +heard the name of Raffaello, might attribute them to Sanzio.] + + + + + ROMAN SCHOOL. + + FOURTH EPOCH. + + _Restoration of the Roman School by Barocci, and other + Artists, Subjects of the Roman State, and Foreigners._ + + +The numerous works carried on by the Pontiffs Gregory and Sixtus, and +continued under Clement VIII., while they in a manner corrupted the pure +taste of the Roman School, contributed, nevertheless, at the same time, +to regenerate it. Rome, from the desire of possessing the best specimens +of art, became by degrees the resort of the best painters, as it had +formerly been in the time of Leo X. Every place sent thither its first +artists, as the cities of Greece formerly sent forth the most valiant of +their citizens to contend for the palm and the crown at Olympia. +Barocci, of Urbino, was the first restorer of the Roman School. He had +formed himself on the style of Correggio, a style the best calculated to +reform an age which had neglected the true principles of art, and +particularly colouring and chiaroscuro. Happy indeed had it been, had he +remained in Rome, and retained the direction of the works which were +entrusted to Nebbia, Ricci, and Circignani! He was there, indeed, for +some time, and assisted the Zuccari in the apartments of Pius IV., but +was compelled to fly in consequence of some pretended friends having, in +an execrable manner, administered poison to him through jealousy of his +talents, and so materially injured his health, that he could only paint +at intervals, and for a short space of time. Forsaking Rome, therefore, +he resided for some time in Perugia, and a longer period in Urbino, from +whence he despatched his pictures from time to time to Rome and other +places. By means of these, the Tuscan School derived great benefit +through Cigoli, Passignano, and Vanni, as we have before observed; and +it is not improbable, that Roncalli and Baglione may have profited by +them, if we may judge from some works of both the one and the other of +these artists to be seen in various places. + +However this might be, at the commencement of the seventeenth century, +these five were in the highest repute as artists who were not corrupted +by the prevailing taste. An idea had subsisted from the time of Clement +VIII., of decorating the church of the Vatican, with the History of S. +Peter, and of employing in that work the best artists. The execution of +this design occupied a considerable time, the pictures being reduced to +mosaic, as the painting on wood and slate did not resist the humidity of +the church. The five before mentioned artists were selected to paint +each a subject; and Bernardo Castelli, one of the first painters of the +Genoese School, was the sixth, and the least celebrated. These artists +were all liberally paid, and the five first raised to the rank of +_Cavalieri_, and their works had a beneficial influence on the rising +generation, and proved that the reign of the mannerists was on the +decline. Caravaggio gave it a severe shock by his powerful and natural +style, and Baglione attests, that this young artist, by the great +applause which he gained, excited the jealousy of Federigo Zuccaro, then +advanced in years, and entered into competition with Cesare, his former +master. But the most serious blow the mannerists received, was from the +Caracci and their school. Annibale arrived in Rome not much before the +year 1600, invited by the Cardinal Farnese to paint his gallery; a work +which occupied him for nearly eight years, and for which he received +only five hundred scudi, a sum so inadequate that we can scarcely +believe it to be correct. He also decorated several churches. Lodovico, +his cousin, was with him for a short time; Agostino, his brother, for a +longer period; and he had his scholars with him, amongst whom we may +enumerate Domenichino, Guido, Albano, and Lanfranc. They came thither at +different periods, matured in their talents, and able to assist their +master not only in execution but design. + +Rome had for some years seen only the two extreme styles of painting. +Caravaggio and his followers were mere _naturalists_; Arpino and his +scholars pure idealists. Annibale introduced a style founded in nature, +yet ennobled by the ideal, and supported his ideal by his knowledge of +nature. He was at first denounced as cold and insipid, because he was +not affected and extravagant, or rather because great merit was never +unaccompanied by envy. But though envy for a time, by her insidious +suggestions and subterfuges, may derive a mean pleasure in persecuting a +man of genius, she can never hope to succeed in blinding the public, who +ever decide impartially on the merits of individuals, and whose judgment +is not disregarded even by princes. The Farnese gallery was opened, and +Rome beheld in it a grandeur of style, which might claim a place after +the Sistine chapel, and the chambers of the Vatican. It was then +discovered, that the preceding Pontiffs had only lavished their wealth +for the corruption of art; and that the true secret which the great +ought to put in practice lay in a few words: a judicious selection of +masters, and a more liberal allowance of time. Hence, though somewhat +tardy indeed in consequence of the death of Annibale, came the order +from Paul V., to distribute the work among the Bolognese; for so the +Caracci and their scholars were at that time designated; one of whom, +Ottaviano Mascherini, was the Pope's architect.[71] A new spirit was +thus introduced into the Roman School, which, if it did not wholly +destroy the former extravagance of style, still in a great degree +repressed it. The pontificate of Gregory XV. (Lodovisi) was short, but +still, through national partiality, highly favourable to the Bolognese, +amongst whom we may reckon Guercino da Cento, although a follower of +Caravaggio rather than Annibale. He was the most employed in St. +Peter's, and in the villa Lodovisi. This reign was followed by the +pontificate of Urban VIII., favourable both to poets and painters, +though, perhaps, more so to the latter than the former; since it +embraced, besides the Caracci and their school, Poussin, Pietro da +Cortona, and the best landscape painters that the world had seen. The +leading masters then all found employment, either from the Pope himself, +or his nephew the Cardinal, or other branches of that family, and were +engaged in the decoration of St. Peter's, or their own palaces, or in +the new church of the Capucins, where the altarpieces were distributed +among Lanfranc, Guido, Sacchi, Berrettini, and other considerable +artists. The same liberal plan was followed by Alexander VII. a prince +of great taste, and by his successors. It was during the reign of +Alexander, that Christina, Queen of Sweden, established herself in Rome, +and her passion for the fine arts inspired and maintained not a few of +the painters whom we shall mention. It must indeed be premised, that we +are under the necessity of deferring our notice of the greatest names of +this epoch to another place, as they belong of right to the school of +Bologna, and some we have already recorded in the Florentine School. But +to proceed. + +Federigo Barocci might from the time of his birth be placed in the +preceding epoch, but his merit assigns him to this period, in which I +comprise the reformers of art. He learned the principles of his art from +Batista Franco, a Venetian by birth, but a Florentine in style. This +artist going young to Rome, to prosecute his studies there, was struck +with the grand style of Michelangiolo, and copied both there and in +Florence, all his works, as well his paintings and drawings as statues. +He became an excellent designer, but was not equally eminent as a +colourist, having turned his attention at a late period to that branch +of the art. In Rome he may be seen in some evangelical subjects painted +in fresco, in a chapel in the Minerva, and preferred by Vasari to any +other of his works. He also decorated the choir of the Metropolitan +church of Urbino in fresco, and there left a Madonna in oil, placed +between S. Peter and S. Paul, in the best Florentine style, except that +the figure of S. Paul is somewhat attenuated. There is a grand picture +in oil by him in the tribune of S. Venanzio, in Fabriano; containing the +Virgin, with the titular and two other protecting Saints. In the +sacristy of the cathedral of Osimo, I saw many small pictures +representing the life of Christ, painted by him in the year 1547, as we +learn from the archives of that church; a thing of rare occurrence, as +Franco was scarcely ever known to paint pictures of this class. Under +this artist, whilst he resided in Urbino, Barocci designed and studied +from the antique. He then went to Pesaro, where he employed himself in +copying after Titian, and was instructed in geometry and perspective by +Bartolommeo Genga, the architect, the son of Girolamo and the uncle of +Barocci. From thence he passed to Rome, and acquired a more correct +style of design, and adopted the manner of Raffaello, in which style he +painted the S. Cecilia for the Duomo of Urbino, and in a still more +improved and original manner, the S. Sebastian, a work which Mancini, in +point of solid taste, sets above all the works of Barocci. But the +amenity and gracefulness of his style led him almost instinctively to +the imitation of Correggio, in whose manner he painted in his native +city the delightful picture of S. Simon and S. Judas, in the church of +the Conventuals. + +Nevertheless this was not the style which he permanently adopted as his +own, but as a free imitation of that great master. In the heads of his +children and of his female figures, he approaches nearly to him; also in +the easy flow of his drapery, in the pure contour, in the mode of +foreshortening his figures; but in general his design is not so grand, +and his chiaroscuro less ideal; his tints are lucid and well arranged, +and bear a resemblance to the beautiful hues of Correggio, but they have +neither his strength nor truth. It is however delightful to see the +great variety of colours he has employed, so exquisitely blended by his +pencil, and there is perhaps no music more finely harmonized to the ear, +than his pictures are to the eye. This is in a great measure the effect +of the chiaroscuro, to which he paid great attention, and which he was +the first to introduce into the schools of Lower Italy. In order to +obtain an accurate chiaroscuro, he formed small statues of earthenware, +or wax, in which art he did not yield the palm to the most experienced +sculptors. In the composition and expression of every figure, he +consulted the truth. He made use of models too, in order to obtain the +most striking attitudes, and those most consonant to nature; and in +every garment, and every fold of it, he did not shew a line that was not +to be found in the model. Having made his design, he prepared a cartoon +the size of his intended picture, from which he traced the contours on +his canvass; he then on a small scale tried the disposition of his +colours, and proceeded to the execution of his work. Before colouring, +however, he formed his chiaroscuro very accurately after the best +ancient masters, (vol. i. p. 187,) of which method he left traces in a +Madonna and Saints, which I saw in Rome in the Albani palace, a picture +which I imagine the artist was prevented by death from finishing. +Another picture unfinished, and on that account very instructive and +highly prized, is in possession of the noble family of Graziani in +Perugia. To conclude, perfection was his aim in every picture, a maxim +which insures excellence to artists of genius. + +Bellori, who wrote the life of Barocci, has given us a catalogue of his +pictures. There are few found which are not of religious subjects; some +portraits, and the Burning of Troy, which he painted in two pictures, +one of which now adorns the Borghese gallery. Except on this occasion +his pencil may be said to have been dedicated to religion; so devout, so +tender, and so calculated to awaken feelings of piety, are the +sentiments expressed in his pictures. The Minerva, in Rome, possesses +his Institution of the Sacrament, a picture which Clement X. employed +him to paint; the Vallicella has his two pictures of the Visitation and +the Presentation. In the Duomo of Genoa is a Crucifixion by him, with +the Virgin and S. John, and S. Sebastian; in that of Perugia, the +Deposition from the Cross; in that of Fermo, S. John the Evangelist; in +that of Urbino, the Last Supper of our Lord. Another Deposition, and a +picture of the Rosario, and mysteries, is in Sinigaglia; and, in the +neighbouring city of Pesaro, the calling of St. Andrew, the +Circumcision, the Ecstacy of S. Michelina on Mount Cavalry, a single +figure, which fills the whole picture, and esteemed, it is said, by +Simon Cantarini, as his masterpiece. Urbino, besides the pictures +already noticed, and some others, possesses a S. Francis in prayer, at +the Capucins; and at the Conventuals, the great picture of the Perdono, +in which he consumed seven years. The perspective, the beautiful play of +light, the speaking countenances, the colour and harmony of the work, +cannot be imagined by any one who has not seen it. The artist himself +was delighted with it, wrote his name on it, and etched it. His +Annunciation, at Loreto, is a beautiful picture, and the same subject at +Gubbio, unfinished; the Martyrdom of S. Vitale, at the church of that +saint, in Ravenna, and the picture of the Misericordia, painted for the +Duomo of Arezzo, and afterwards transferred to the ducal gallery of +Florence. The same subject exists also in the hospital of Sinigaglia, +copied there by the scholars of Barocci, who have repeated the pictures +of their master in numerous churches of the state of Urbino, and of +Umbria, and in some in Piceno, and these are, occasionally, so well +painted, that one might imagine he had finished them himself. + +The same may be said of some of his cabinet pictures, which are to be +seen in collections; such is the Virgin adoring the Infant Christ, which +I remarked in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, in the Casa Bolognetti in +Rome, and in a noble house in Cortona, and which I find mentioned also +in the imperial gallery at Vienna. A head of the _Ecce Homo_ has also +been often repeated, and some Holy Families, which he varied in a +singular manner; I have seen a S. Joseph sleeping, and another S. +Joseph, in the Casa Zaccaria, in the act of raising a tapestry; and in +the Repose in Egypt, which was transferred from the sacristy of the +Jesuits at Perugia to the chamber of the Pope, he is represented +plucking some cherries for the Infant Christ, a picture, which seems +painted to rival Correggio. Bellori remarks, that he was so fond of it +that he frequently repeated it. + +The school of Barocci extended itself through this duchy and the +neighbouring places; although his best imitator was Vanni of Siena, who +had never studied in Urbino. The disciples of Federigo were very +numerous, but remaining in general in their own country they did not +disseminate the principles, and few of them inherited the true spirit of +their master's style: the most confining themselves to the exterior of +the art of colouring; and even this was deteriorated by the use of large +quantities of cinnabar and azure, colours which their master had +employed with greater moderation; and they were not unfrequently +condemned for this practice, as Bellori and Algarotti remark. The flesh +tints under their pencil often became livid, and the contours too much +charged. I cannot give an accurate catalogue of these scholars, but +independent of the writers on the works in Urbino, and other guides and +traditions in various parts, I am certain, that if they were not +instructed by Barocci himself, they must at all events, from their +country, and from the period at which they flourished, have formed +themselves on his pictures. There is little to be observed respecting +Francesco Baldelli, the nephew and scholar of Federigo. I do not find +any memorial of him, except a picture which he placed in the Capella +Danzetta, of S. Agostino, in Perugia, and which is mentioned by +Crispolti, in his history of that city, at page 133. + +Of Bertuzzi and Porino I have not seen any works, except copies in the +style of Barocci, or feeble productions of their own. An excellent +copyist was found in Alessandro Vitali of Urbino, in which city, at the +Suore della Torre, is found the Annunciation of Loreto, copied by him in +such a manner that it might be taken for the original picture. Barocci +was pleased with his talent, and willingly retouched some of his +pictures, and probably favoured him in this way in the S. Agnes and S. +Agostino, placed by Vitali, the one in the Duomo, the other in the +church of the Eremitani, where he may be said to surpass himself. +Antonio Viviani, called il Sordo of Urbino, also made some very accurate +copies of his master, which are still preserved by his noble posterity. +He too was a great favourite of Federigo, and was in his native city +called his nephew; although Baglione, who wrote his life, is silent on +this head. He left some pictures in Urbino, in the best style of +Barocci; particularly the S. Donato, in a suburban church of the saint +of that name. This however cannot be called his own style, for he +visited Rome at various times, where, having received instructions from +Mascherini, and employed himself for a time in the imitation of Cesari, +and of the rapid manner of the practicians recorded by us, he exhibited +in that metropolis various styles, and some of the most feeble which he +adopted. Assuredly his fresco pictures, which remain in various places +in Rome, do not support the opinion which is inspired by a view of the +vast work which he conducted in the church de' Filippini at Fano. There, +in the vault, and in the chapel, are executed various histories of the +chief of the apostles to whom the church is dedicated. His style in +these exhibits a beautiful imitation of Barocci and Raffaello, in which +the manner of the latter predominates. Lazzari maintains that this +Antonio Viviani repaired to Genoa, and that Soprani changed his name to +Antonio Antoniani; thus giving to Barocci a scholar who never existed. +Of this supposition we shall speak with more propriety in the Genoese +School. Another Viviani is mentioned by tradition in Urbino, Lodovico, a +brother or cousin of the preceding. This painter sometimes imitates +Barocci, as in the S. Girolamo in the Duomo, and sometimes approaches +the Venetian style, as in the Epiphany at the Monastery della Torre. + +Another painter almost unknown in the history of art, but of singular +merit, is Filippo Bellini of Urbino, of whom I have not seen any works +in his native place, but a number in oil and fresco scattered through +many cities of the March. He is in general an imitator of Barocci, as in +the picture of the Circumcision in the church of Loreto, in the +Espousals of the Virgin in the Duomo in Ancona, and in a Madonna +belonging to the Counts Leopardi at Osimo. He affords, however, +sometimes an example of a vigorous and lively style, and exhibits a +powerful colouring, and a grandeur of composition. He discovered this +character in some works in Fabriano in his best time, and particularly +in the Opere della Misericordia, which are fourteen subjects taken from +Scripture, and represented in the church della Carità.[72] They are +beheld by cultivated foreigners with admiration, and it appears strange +that such a painter, whose life and works are alike worthy of +remembrance, should not have found a place in the catalogues. He is also +extolled for his works in fresco, in the chapel of the Conventuals in +Montalboddo, where he has represented the Martyrdom of S. Gaudenzio, and +which is described in the guide book of that city. + +We may next notice Antonio Cimatori, called also Antonio Visacci, not +only by the vulgar, but also by Girolamo Benedetti, in the Relazione, +which in the lifetime of the artist he composed on the festival at +Urbino, in honour of Giulia de' Medici, married to the Prince Federigo. +Cimatori was there engaged to paint the arches and pictures, which were +exhibited, in conjunction with the younger Viviani, Mazzi, and Urbani. +His forte lay in pen drawing, and in chiaroscuro; as may be seen from +his Prophets, in a grand style, transferred from the Duomo to the +apostolic palace. He did not leave many works in his native place; but +amongst them is his picture of S. Monica, at S. Agostino. His copies +from the original pictures of Barocci are to be found in various places, +particularly in the Duomo of Cagli. He resided, and worked for a long +time in Pesaro, where he instructed Giulio Cesare Begni, a bold and +animated artist, a good perspective painter, and in a great degree a +follower of the Venetian School, in which he studied and painted. He +left many works in Udine, and many more in his native place, in a rapid +and unfinished style, but of a good general effect. In the _Descrizione +odeporica della Spagna_, (tom. ii. p. 130), we find Giovanni and +Francesco d'Urbino mentioned, who about the year 1575, it seems, were +both engaged by the court to decorate the Escurial. The latter came +early in life to Spain, and being endowed with a noble genius, soon +became an excellent artist, and is extolled by his contemporary P. +Siguenza, and by all who have seen the Judgment of Solomon, and his +other pictures in a choir in that magnificent place: he died young. That +these works belong to the pencil of Barocci might be suspected from +their era, and the practice of that splendid court, which was in the +habit of engaging in its service the first masters of Italy or their +scholars. But not possessing positive information, nor finding any +indication of their style, I dare not assign these two to Barocci. I +feel a pleasure however in restoring them to the glorious country from +which they had been separated. + +Passing from the fellow countrymen of Barocci to foreigners, some +persons have imagined Andrea Lilio, of Ancona, to have been his +disciple. I rather consider him to have been an imitator of him, but +more in respect to colour than any thing else. He had a share in the +works which were carried on under Sixtus, and painted for the churches, +chiefly in fresco, and sometimes in partnership with Viviani of Urbino. +He went to Rome when young, and lived there until the reign of Paul V., +but suffered both in body and mind from domestic misfortunes, which +interrupted not a little his progress in art. Ancona possesses several +of his pictures in fresco, varying in their merit, as well as some of +his oil pictures at the Paolotti in S. Agostino, and in the sacristy +some pieces, from the Life of S. Nicholas, highly prized. The most +celebrated is his Martyrdom of S. Lorenzo, by many ascribed to Barocci, +for which I refer to the _Guida_ of Montalboddo, and the church of S. +Catherine, where it is placed. His greatest work is the altarpiece in +the Duomo at Fano, representing all the saints, containing a vast number +of figures well grouped and well contrasted, and if not very correctly +designed, still possessing Barocci's tone of colour. + +Giorgio Picchi of Durante I included in a former edition among the +scholars of Barocci, in conformity to the general opinion prevalent in +Pesaro and Rimini; but I have not found this confirmed in the chronicle +of Castel Durante, published by Colucci, which contains a particular +account of this artist, written soon after his death. I am therefore +inclined to think him only a follower, like Lilio, with whom he was +associated in Rome in the time of Sixtus V., if the chronicle is to be +relied on. It relates that he worked in the library of the Vatican, at +the Scala Santa, and at the Palazzo di S. Giovanni; and it appears +unaccountable that all this was unknown to Baglione, who narrates the +same circumstances of Lilio and others, and makes no mention of Picchi. +However this may be, he was certainly a considerable artist, and was +attached to the style of Barocci, which was in vogue at that period, as +we may perceive from his great picture of the Cintura, in the church of +S. Agostino, in Rimini, and still more from the history of S. Marino, +which he painted in the church of that saint in the same city. Others of +his works are to be found both in oil and fresco in Urbino, in his +native place, at Cremona, and elsewhere; and although on a vast scale, +embracing whole oratories and churches, they could not have cost him any +great labour, from the rapid manner which he had acquired in Rome. + +In S. Ginesio, a place in the March, Domenico Malpiedi is considered as +belonging to Federigo's school, and of him there are preserved in the +collegiate church, the Martyrdoms of S. Ginesio and S. Eleuterio, which +are highly commended. From Colucci we learn that there also remain other +works by him; and from the prices paid, we may conclude that he was +esteemed an excellent artist. He was living in 1596, and about the same +time there flourished also another Malpiedi, who painted a Deposition +from the Cross in S. Francesco di Osimo, and inscribed on it _Franciscus +Malpedius di S. Ginesio_, a picture feeble in composition, deficient in +expression, and little resembling the school of Barocci, except in a +distant approximation of colour. + +The _Guida_ of Pesaro assigns to the same school Terenzio Terenzj, +called il Rondolino, whom it characterises as an eminent painter, and of +whom there exist four specimens in public, and many more in the +neighbourhood of the city (page 80). It is also mentioned that he was +employed by the Cardinal della Rovere in Rome, and that he placed a +picture in the church of S. Silvestro. The picture of S. Silvestro _in +capite_, which represents the Madonna, attended by Saints, is ascribed +by Titi to a Terenzio of Urbino, who, according to Baglione, served the +Cardinal Montalto. It is most probable, that in the records of Pesaro +there arose some equivoque on the name of the cardinal, and that these +two painters might, or rather ought to be merged in one. Terenzio +Rondolino, it appears to me, is the same as Terenzio d'Urbino, and very +probably in Rome took his name from Urbino, the capital of Pesaro. But +by whatever name this painter may be distinguished, we learn from +Baglione that Terenzio d'Urbino was a noted cheat; and that, after +having sold to inexperienced persons many of his own pictures for those +of ancient masters, he attempted to pass the same deceit upon the +Cardinal Peretti, the nephew of Sixtus V. and his own patron, offering +to his notice one of his own pieces as a Raphael: but the fraud was +detected, and Terenzio in consequence banished from the court; a +circumstance which he took to heart, and died whilst yet young. + +Two brothers, Felice and Vincenzio Pellegrini, born and resident in +Perugia, are recorded by Orlandi and Pascoli, as scholars of Barocci. +The first became an excellent designer, and in the pontificate of +Clement VIII. was called to Rome, probably to assist Cesari, though it +is not known that he left any work in his own name. Some copies after +Barocci by him exist in Perugia, and it is well known that his master +was highly satisfied with his labours in that line. The other brother is +mentioned by Bottari in the notes to his life of Raffaello; and I +recollect having seen in Perugia a picture in the sacristy of S. Philip, +in rather a hard manner, in which it is difficult to recognize the style +of his supposed master. It is possible that these two artists might have +had their first instructions from Barocci, and that they afterwards +returned to another manner. A similar instance occurs in Ventura Marzi. +In the Biographical Dictionary of the Painters of Urbino he is given to +the school of Barocci. His manner however is different, and I should say +bad, if all his pictures were similar to that of S. Uomobuono, which I +saw in the sacristy of the metropolitan church; but he did indeed paint +some better, and it is an ancient maxim, that to improve we must +sometimes err. Benedetto Bandiera, of Perugia, who approaches nearer to +the style of Barocci than most others, is said to have been a relative +of Vanni, from whom he derived that manner, if we may believe Orlandi. +But Pascoli, both on this point, and on the period in which he +flourished, confutes him, and considers him to have been instructed by +Barocci in Urbino for many years, and that afterwards he became a +diligent observer of all his pictures which he could discover in other +places. + +Whilst Italy was filled with the fame of Barocci, there came to Urbino, +and resided in his house for some time, Claudio Ridolfi, called also +Claudio Veronese, from his native city, of which he was a noble. He was +there instructed by Dario Pozzo, an author of few but excellent works, +and after these first instructions he remained many years without +further applying himself. Being afterwards compelled by necessity to +practise the art, he became the scholar of Paolo, and the rival of the +Bassani; and not finding employment in his native place, which then +abounded with painters, he removed to Rome, and from thence to Urbino. +It is said that he derived from Federigo the amenity of his style, and +the beautiful airs of his heads. He married in Urbino, and afterwards +fixed his residence in the district of Corinaldo, where, and in the +neighbouring places, he left a great number of pictures, which yield +little in tone to the best colourists of his native school, and are +often conducted with a design, a sobriety, and a delicacy sufficient to +excite their envy. Ridolfi, who wrote a brief life of him, enumerates +scarcely one half of his works. There are some at Fossombrone, Cantiano, +and Fabriano; and Rimino possesses a Deposition from the Cross, a +beautiful composition. There are several mentioned in the _Guida di +Montalboddo_, lately edited. Urbino is rich in them, where the Nascita +del S. Precursore, (the Birth of S. John the Baptist), at S. Lucia, and +the Presentation of the Virgin at the Spirito Santo, are highly valued. +Many of his works are also to be seen in the Palazzo Albani, and in +other collections of the nobility in Urbino. He there indeed formed a +school, which gave birth to Cialdieri, of whom there are works +remaining, both public and private; the most noted of which is a +Martyrdom of S. John, at the church of S. Bartholomew. He possessed a +facility and elegance of style, was highly accomplished in landscape, +which he often introduced into his pictures, and is remarkable for his +accurate perspective. Urbinelli, of Urbino, and Cesare Maggieri[73] of +the same city, lived also about this time. The first was a vigorous +painter, an excellent colourist, and partial to the Venetian style. The +second an industrious artist, inclining to the style of Barocci and +Roman School. The history of art does not assign either of these to the +school of Ridolfi; but there is a greater probability of the first +rather than the second belonging to it. Another painter of uncertain +school, but who partakes more of Claudio than of Barocci, is Patanazzi, +who is mentioned in the Galleria de' Pittori Urbinati, (v. Coluc. tom. +xvi.), and poetic incense is bestowed on his _risentito pennello e +l'ottima invenzione_. I have seen by him in a chapel of the Duomo a +Marriage of the Virgin, the figures not large, but well coloured and +correctly drawn, if indeed some of them may not be thought rather +attenuated than slender and elegant. A celebrated scholar of Ridolfi, +Benedetto Marini, of Urbino, went to Piacenza, where he left some highly +valued pictures in several churches, in which the style of Barocci is +mixed with the Lombard and Venetian. The work which excites our greatest +admiration is the Miracle of the Loaves in the Desert, which he painted +in the refectory of the Conventuals in 1625. It is one of the largest +compositions in oil which is to be seen, well grouped and well +contrasted, and displaying uncommon powers.[74] I should not hesitate to +prefer the scholar to the master in grandeur of idea and vigour of +execution, though in the fundamental principles of the art he may not be +equal to him. The history of his life, as well as his works, scattered +in that neighbourhood, in Pavia, and elsewhere, were deserving of +commemoration; yet this artist as well as Bellini remains unnoticed by +the catalogues, and what is more, he is little known in his native +place, which has no other specimen of his pencil than a picture of S. +Carlo at the Trinità, with some angels, which does not excite the same +admiration as his works in Lombardy.[75] Some other scholars of Claudio +are found in Verona, to which city he returned, and remained for a short +time; and in the Bolognese School mention will be made of Cantarini, +among the masters of which he is numbered. In the meantime let us turn +from these provincial schools, which were the first that felt the +reviving influence of the age, to the capital, where we shall find +Caravaggio, the Caracci, and other reformers of the art. + +Michelangiolo Amerighi, or Morigi da Caravaggio, is memorable in this +epoch, for having recalled the art from mannerism to truth, as well in +his forms, which he always drew from nature, as in his colours, +banishing the cinnabar and azures, and composing his colours of few but +true tints, after the manner of Giorgione. Annibale Caracci extolling +him, declares that he did not paint, but grind flesh, and both Guercino +and Guido highly admired him, and profited from his example. He was +instructed in the art in Milan, from whence he went to Venice to study +Giorgione; and he adopted at the commencement of his career that subdued +style of shadow, which he had learnt from that great artist, and in +which some of the most highly prized works of Caravaggio are executed. +He was however afterwards led away by his sombre genius, and represented +objects with very little light, overcharging his pictures with shade. +His figures inhabit dungeons, illuminated from above by only a single +and melancholy ray. His backgrounds are always dark, and the actors are +all placed in the same line, so that there is little perspective in his +pictures; yet they enchant us, from the powerful effect which results +from the strong contrast of light and shade. We must not look in him for +correct design, or elegant proportion, as he ridiculed all artists who +attempted a noble expression of countenance, or graceful foldings of +drapery, or who imitated the forms of the antique, as exhibited in +sculpture, his sense of the beautiful being all derived from visible +nature. There is to be seen by him in the Spada palace a S. Anne, with +the Virgin at her side, occupied in female work. Their features are +remarkable only for their vulgarity, and they are both attired in the +common dress of Rome, and are doubtless portraits, taken from the first +elderly and young women that offered themselves to his observation. This +was his usual manner; and he appeared most highly pleased when he could +load his pictures with rusty armour, broken vessels, shreds of old +garments, and attenuated and wasted bodies. On this account some of his +works were removed from the altars, and one in particular at the Scala, +which represented the Death of the Virgin, in which was figured a +corpse, hideously swelled. + +Few of his pictures are to be seen in Rome, and amongst them is the +Madonna of Loreto, in the church of S. Agostino; but the best is the +Deposition from the Cross, in the church of the Vallicella, which forms +a singular contrast to the gracefulness of Barocci, and the seductive +style of Guido, exhibited on the adjoining altars. He generally painted +for collections. On his arrival in Rome he painted flowers and fruit; +afterwards long pictures of half figures, a custom much practised after +his time. In these he represented subjects sacred and profane, and +particularly the manners of the lower classes, drinking parties, +conjurors, and feasts. His most admired works are his Supper at Emmaus, +in the Casa Borghese; S. Bastiano in Campidoglio; Agar, with Ishmael +Dying, in the Panfili collection; and the picture of a Fruit Girl, which +exhibits great resemblance of nature, both in the figures and +accompaniments. He was still more successful in representing quarrels +and nightly broils, to which he was himself no stranger, and by which +too he rendered his own life scandalous. He fled from Rome for homicide, +and resided for some time in Naples; from thence he passed to Malta, +where, after having been honoured with the Cross by the Grand Master, +for his talent displayed in his picture of the Decollation of S. John, +in the oratory of the church of the Conventuals, he quarrelled with a +cavalier and was thrown into prison. Escaping from thence with +difficulty, he resided for some time in Sicily, and wished to return to +Rome; but had not proceeded further on his journey than Porto Ercole, +when he died of a malignant fever, in the year 1609. He left numerous +works in these different countries, as we learn from Gio. Pietro +Bellori, who wrote his life at considerable length. Of his chief +scholars we shall treat in the following book. At present we will +enumerate his followers in Rome and its territories. + +His school, or rather the crowd of his imitators, who were greatly +increased on his death, does not afford an instance of a single bad +colourist; it has nevertheless been accused of neglect, both in design +and grace. Bartolommeo Manfredi, of Mantua, formerly a scholar of +Roncalli, might be called a second Caravaggio, except that he was rather +more refined in his composition. His works are seldom found in +collections, although he painted for them, as he died young, and is +often supplanted by his master, as I believe was the case with some +pictures painted for the Casa Medicea, mentioned by Baglione. + +Carlo Saracino, or Saraceni, also called Veneziano, wishing to be +thought a second Caravaggio, affected the same singular mode of dress as +that master, and provided himself with a huge shagged dog, to which he +gave the same name that Caravaggio had attached to his own. He left many +works in Rome, both in fresco and oils. He too was a _naturalista_, but +possessed a more clear style of colour. He displayed a Venetian taste in +his figures, dressing them richly in the Levant fashion, and was fond of +introducing into his compositions corpulent persons, eunuchs, and shaven +heads. His principal frescos are in a hall of the Quirinal; his best oil +pictures are thought to be those of S. Bonone, and a martyred bishop in +the church dell'Anima. He is seldom found in collections; but, from the +above peculiarities, I have more than once recognized his works. He +returned to Venice, and soon afterwards died there; hence he was omitted +by Ridolfi, and scarcely noticed by Zanetti. + +Monsieur Valentino, as he is called in Italy, who was born at Brie, near +Paris, and studied in Rome, became one of the most judicious followers +of Caravaggio. He painted in the Quirinal the Martyrdom of the Saints +Processo and Martiniano. He was a young artist of great promise, but was +cut off by a premature death. His easel pictures are not very rare in +Rome. The Denial of S. Peter, in the Palazzo Corsini, is a delightful +picture. + +Simone Vovet, the restorer of the French School, and the master of Le +Brun, formed his style from the pictures of Caravaggio and Valentino. In +Rome there are some charming productions by him both in public and +private, particularly in the Barberini gallery. I have heard them +preferred to many others that he painted in France in his noted rapid +style. + +Angiolo Caroselli was a Roman, in whose works, consisting chiefly of +portraits and small figures, if we except the S. Vinceslao of the +Quirinal palace, and a few similar pictures, we find the style of +Caravaggio improved by an addition of grace and delicacy. He was +remarkable for not making his design on paper, or using any preparatory +study for his canvass. He is lively in his attitudes, rich in his tints, +and finished and refined in his pictures, which are highly prized, but +few in number, when we consider the term of his life. Besides practising +the style of Caravaggio, in which he frequently deceived the most +experienced, he imitated other artists in a wonderful manner. A S. Elena +by him was considered as a production of Titian even by his rivals, +until they found the cipher A. C. marked on the picture in small +letters, and Poussin affirms, that he should have taken his two copies +of Raffaello for genuine pictures, if he had not known where the +originals were deposited. + +Gherardo Hundhorst is called Gherardo dalle Notti, from having painted +few subjects except illuminated night pieces, in which he chiefly +excelled. He imitated Caravaggio, adopting only his better parts, his +carnations, his vigorous pencil, and grand masses of light and shade: +but he aimed also at correctness in his costume, selection in his forms, +gracefulness of attitude, and represented religious subjects with great +propriety. His pictures are very numerous, and the Prince Giustiniani +possesses the one of Christ led by night to the Judgment Seat, which is +one of his most celebrated works. + +The school of Caravaggio flourished for a considerable period, but its +followers, painting chiefly for private individuals, have in a great +degree remained unknown. Baglione makes particular mention of Gio. +Serodine, of Ascona, in Lombardy, and enumerates many works by him, more +remarkable for their facility of execution than their excellence. There +remains no public specimen of him, except a Decollation of S. John at S. +Lorenzo fuor delle Mura. One of the latest of the school of Caravaggio +was Tommaso Luini, a Roman, who, from his quarrelsome disposition, and +his style, was called Il Caravaggino. He worked in Rome, and appeared +most to advantage when he painted the designs of his master, Sacchi, as +at S. Maria in Via. When he embodied his own ideas, his design was +rather dry and his colouring dark. About the same time Gio. Campino of +Camerino, who received his first instructions under Gianson in Flanders, +resided in Rome for some years, and increased the number of this school. +He was afterwards painter to the court of Madrid, and died in Spain. It +is not known whether or not Gio. Francesco Guerrieri di Fossombrone ever +studied in Rome, but his works are to be seen at Filippini di Fano, +where he painted in a chapel, S. Carlo contemplating the Mysteries of +the Passion, with two lateral pictures from the life of that saint; and +in another chapel, where he represented the Dream of S. Joseph, his +style resembles that of Caravaggio, but possesses more softness of +colour, and more gracefulness of form. In the Duomo of Fabriano is also +a S. Joseph by him. He has left, in his native place, an abundance of +works, which, if distributed more widely, would give him a celebrity +which it has not hitherto been his lot to receive. I there saw, in a +church, a night piece of S. Sebastian attended by S. Irene, a picture of +most beautiful effect; a Judith, in possession of the Franceschini +family; other works in the Casa Passionei and elsewhere, very charming, +and which often shew that he had very much imitated Guercino. His female +forms are almost all cast in the same mould, and are copied from the +person of a favorite mistress. + +We now come to the Caracci and their school. Before Annibale arrived in +Rome, he had already formed a style which left nothing to be desired, +except to be more strongly imbued with the antique. Annibale added this +to his other noble qualities when he came to Rome; and his disciples, +who trod in his steps, and continued after his death to paint in that +city, are particularly distinguished by this characteristic from those +who remained in Bologna under the instruction of his cousin Lodovico. +The disciples of Annibale left scholars in Rome; but no one except +Sacchi approached so near in merit to his master, as they had done to +Annibale, nor did there appear, like them, any founder of an original +style. Still they were sufficient to put a check on the mannerists, and +the followers of Caravaggio, and to restore the Roman School to a better +taste. We shall now proceed to enumerate their scholars in their various +classes. + +Domenichino Zampieri, to his talents as a painter, added commensurate +powers of instruction. Besides Alessandro Fortuna, who under the +direction of his master painted some fables from Apollo, in the villa +Aldobrandini in Frescati, and died young, Zampieri had in Rome two +scholars of great repute, mentioned only by Bellori; Antonio Barbalunga, +of Messina, and Andrea Camassei of Bevagna, both of whom honoured their +country with their name and works, although they did not live many +years. The first was a happy imitator of his master, who had long +employed him in copying for himself. In the church of the P. P. Teatini, +at Monte Cavallo, is his picture of their Founder, and of S. Andrea +Avellino, attended by angels, which might be ascribed to Zampieri +himself, whose forms in this class of subjects were select, and his +attitudes elegant, and most engaging. To him I shall return in the +fourth book. The second, who had also studied in the school of Sacchi, +lived longer in Rome; and whoever wishes justly to appreciate him, must +not judge from the chapel which he painted whilst yet young in his +native place, but must inspect his works in the capital. There, in S. +Andrea della Valle, is the S. Gaetano, painted at the same time, and in +competition with the S. Andrea of Barbalunga, before mentioned with +commendation; the Assumption at the Rotonda, and the Pietà at the +Capucins; and many excellent frescos in the Baptistery of the Lateran, +and in the church of S. Peter; which evince that he had almost an equal +claim to fame with his comrade. If, indeed, he was somewhat less bold, +and less select, yet he had a natural style, a grace, and a tone of +colour, that do honour to the Roman School, to which he contributed +Giovanni Carbone, of S. Severino, a scholar of some note. It has been +remarked, that his fate resembles that of Domenichino, as his merits +were undervalued, and himself persecuted by his relatives, and he was +also prematurely cut off by domestic afflictions. + +Francesco Cozza was born in Calabria, but settled in Rome. He was the +faithful companion of Domenichino during the life of that master, and +after his death completed some works left unfinished by that artist, and +executed them in the genuine spirit of his departed friend, as may be +seen in Titi. He appears to have inherited from his teacher his learning +rather than his taste. One of his most beautiful pictures is the Virgin +del Riscatto at S. Francesca Romana a Capo alle Case. Out of Rome there +are few public or private works to be met with by him. He was considered +exceedingly expert in his knowledge of the hands of the different +masters, and on disputed points, which often arose on this subject in +Rome, his opinion was always asked and acted on, without any appeal from +his judgment. Of Pietro del Po, also a disciple of Domenichino, and of +his family, we shall speak more at large in the fourth book. + +Giannangiolo Canini, of Rome, was first instructed by Domenichino, and +afterwards by Barbalunga, and would have obtained a great reputation for +his inventive genius, if, seduced by the study of antiquities, he had +not for his pleasure taken a short way to the art; which led him to +neglect the component parts, and to satisfy himself with a general +harmonious effect. He possessed, however, great force and energy in +subjects which required it, as in the Martyrdom of S. Stephen at S. +Martino a' Monti. The works which he executed with the greatest labour +and care, were some sacred and profane subjects, which he was +commissioned to paint for the Queen of Sweden. But although he was +appointed painter to that court, and was also a great favourite with the +queen, it should seem that he did not much exercise his profession +either for her or others, as his great pleasure was in designing from +the antique. He filled a large volume with a collection of portraits of +illustrious ancients, and heads of the heathen deities, from gems and +marbles. This book, the Cardinal Chigi having carried it with him into +France, he presented to Louis XIV., and received a collar of gold as a +remuneration for it. On his return to Rome he was intending to eulogize +the queen in verse, and to continue in prose the lives of the painters, +which he had in part prepared when he died. His biographical work +probably afforded assistance to Passeri or to Bellori, his intimate +friends. + +With Canini worked Giambatista Passeri, a Roman, a man of letters, and +who became afterwards a secular priest. It is recorded, that in the +early part of his life he lived on very intimate terms with Domenichino +at Frescati, and he adhered much to his style. There exists by him a +Crucifixion between two Saints at S. Giovanni della Malva, but no other +work in public, as most of his pictures are in private collections. In +the Palazzo Mattei are some pictures representing butcher's meat, birds, +and game, touched with a masterly pencil; to these are added some half +figures, and also some sparrows (_passere_), in allusion to his name. +There is also, by his hand, at the academy of S. Luke, the portrait of +Domenichino, painted on the occasion of his funeral; on which occasion +Passeri, and not Passerino, as Malvasia states, recited a funeral +oration, and probably paid some poetical tribute to his memory, since he +was accustomed to write both verse and prose as Bellori did; and his +silence on the Lives of Bellori, which had then appeared, and which he +had numerous opportunities of noticing, probably arose from feelings of +jealousy. He is esteemed one of the most authentic writers on Italian +art; and if Mariette expressed himself dissatisfied with him, (v. Lett. +Pitt. tom. vi. p. 10,) it probably arose from his having seen only his +Life of Pietro da Cortona, which was left unfinished by the author. He +possessed a profound knowledge of the principles of art, was just in his +criticisms, accurate in his facts; if, indeed, as has been pretended by +a writer in the _Pittoriche Lettere_, he did not in some degree +depreciate Lanfranc, in order to raise his own master, Zampieri. His +work contains the lives of many painters, at that time deceased, and was +published anonymously, it is supposed, by Bottari, who in many places +shortened it, and improved the style, which was too elaborate, +containing useless preambles, and was occasionally too severe against +Bernino and others, on which account the work remained unedited for more +than a century. + +Vincenzio Manenti, of Sabina, who was first the scholar of Cesari, and +afterwards of Domenichino, left many works in his native place. Some +pictures by him are to be seen in Tivoli, as the S. Stefano in the +Duomo, and the S. Saverio at the Gesù, which do not exhibit him as an +artist of very great genius, but assiduous and expert in colouring. Of +Ruggieri, of Bologna, we shall speak elsewhere. + +Guido cannot be said to have contributed much to the Roman School, +except in leaving in the capital a great number of works displaying that +charm of style, and distinguished by that superhuman beauty, which were +his characteristics. We are told of two scholars who came to him at the +same time from Perugia, Giandomenico Cerrini, and Luigi, the son of +Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia. The pictures of Cerrini, (who was commonly +called Il Cav. Perugino) were frequently touched by his master Guido, +and passed for originals of that artist, and were much sought after. In +his other works he varies, having sometimes followed the elder +Scaramuccia. His fellow disciple is more consistent. He displays grace +in every part of his work, and if he does not soar, still he does not +fall to the ground. There are many of his paintings in Perugia, both in +public and private, amongst which is a Presentation at the Filippini, +from all accounts a beautiful performance. He left many works in Milan, +where in the church of S. Marco, is a S. Barbera by him; a large +composition, and extremely well coloured. He published a book in Pavia, +in 1654, which he intituled _Le Finezze de' Pennelli Italiani_. It is +full, says the Abbate Bianconi, _di buona volontà pittorica_. It +possesses nevertheless some interesting remarks. + +Gio. Batista Michelini, called Il Folignate, is almost forgotten in this +catalogue; but there are in Gubbio various works by him, and +particularly a Pietà, worthy of the school of Guido. Macerata possessed +a noble disciple of Guido, in the person of the Cav. Sforza Compagnoni, +by whose hand there is, in the academy de' Catinati, the device of that +society, which might be taken for a design of Guido. He gave a picture +to the church of S. Giorgio, which is still there, and presented a still +more beautiful one to the church of S. Giovanni, which was long to be +seen over the great altar, but is now in the possession of the Conte +Cav. Mario Compagnoni. Malvasia mentions him in the life of Viola, but +makes him a scholar of Albano. The Ginesini boast of Cesare Renzi, as a +respectable scholar of Guido, and, in the church of S. Tommaso, they +shew a picture of that saint by his hand. In addition to the scholars of +Guido, whose names have been handed down to us, I shall here beg leave +to add an imitator of Guido, who from the time in which he flourished, +and from his noble style of colour, probably belonged to the same +school. I found his name subscribed Giorgio Giuliani da Cività +Castellana, 161.., on a large picture of the Martyrdom of S. Andrew, +which Guido painted for the Camaldolesi di S. Gregorio at Rome: and +which this artist copied for the celebrated monastery of the Camaldolesi +all'Avellana. It is exposed in the refectory, and notwithstanding the +dampness of the place, maintains a freshness of colour very unusual in +pictures of that antiquity. + +The Cav. Gio. Lanfranco came to Rome whilst yet young, and there formed +that free and noble style, which served to decorate many cupolas and +noble edifices, and which pleases also in his cabinet pictures when he +executed them with care. Giacinto Brandi di Poli was his most celebrated +scholar in Rome. He at first adopted his master's moderate tone of +colour, the variety and contrast of his composition, and his flowing +pencil; but in consequence of his filling, as he did, Rome and the state +with his works, he neglected correctness of design, and never arrived at +that grandeur of style which we admire in Lanfranc. He sometimes indeed +went beyond himself, as in the S. Rocco of the Ripetta, and in the forty +martyrs of the Stigmata in Rome; but his inordinate love of gain would +not allow him to finish many works in the same good style. I have been +informed by a connoisseur, on whose opinion I can rely, that the best +works of this artist are at Gaeta, where he painted at the Nunziata a +picture of the Madonna with the Holy Infant; and where, in the inferior +part of the Duomo, he painted in the vault three recesses and ten +angles, adding over the altar the picture of the martyrdom of S. +Erasmus, bishop of the city, who was buried in that church. Brandi did +not perpetuate the taste of his school, not leaving any pupil of +eminence except Felice Ottini, who painted in his youth a chapel at the +P. P. di Gesù e Maria, and did not long survive that work. Orlandi also +mentions a Carlo Lamparelli di Spello, who left in Rome a picture at the +church of the Spirito Santo, but nothing further. An Alessandro Vaselli +also left some works in another church in Rome. + +After Brandi, we ought to commemorate Giacomo Giorgetti, of Assisi, who +is little known beyond his native city, and the neighbouring towns. He +is said to have first studied the art of design in Rome, when he learned +colouring from Lanfranc, and became a good fresco painter. There is by +him in a chapel of the Duomo at Assisi, a large composition in fresco, +and in the sacristy of the Conventuals, various subjects from the Life +of the Virgin, also in fresco; works coloured in a fine style, and much +more finished than was usual with Lanfranc. If there be any fault to be +found with them, it is the proportions of the figures, which not +unfrequently incline to awkwardness. His name is found in the +_Descrizione della Chiesa di S. Francesco di Perugia_, together with +that of Girolamo Marinelli, his fellow citizen and contemporary, of whom +I never found any other notice. + +Lanfranc instructed in Rome a noble lady, who filled the church of S. +Lucia with her pictures. These were designed by her master, and coloured +by herself. Her name was Caterina Ginnasi. There were also with Lanfranc +in Rome, Mengucci, of Pesaro, and others, who afterwards left Rome, and +will be mentioned by us elsewhere. Some have added to these Beinaschi, +but he was only an excellent copyist and imitator, as we shall see in +the fourth book. At the same time, we may assert, that none of the +Caracci school had a greater number of followers than Lanfranc; as +Pietro di Cortona, the chief of a numerous family, derived much of his +style from him, and the whole tribe of machinists adopted him as their +leader, and still regard him as their prototype. + +Albano too, here deserves a conspicuous place as a master of the Roman +School. Giambatista Speranza, a Roman, learned from him the principles +of the art, and became a fresco painter of the best taste in Rome. If we +inspect his works at S. Agostino, and S. Lorenzo in Lucina, and in other +places where he painted religious subjects, we immediately perceive that +his age is not that of the Zuccari, and that the true style of fresco +still flourished. From Albano too, and from Guercino, Pierfrancesco Mola +di Como derived that charming style, which partook of the excellences of +both these artists. He renounced the principles of Cesari, who had +instructed him for many years; and after having diligently studied +colouring at Venice, he attached himself to the school of the Caracci, +but more particularly to Albano. He never, however, equalled his master +in grace, although he had a bolder tone of colour, greater invention, +and more vigour of subject. He died in the prime of life whilst +preparing for his journey to Paris, where he was appointed painter to +the court. Rome possesses many of his pictures, particularly in fresco, +in the churches; and in the Quirinal palace, is Joseph found by his +Brethren, which is esteemed a most beautiful piece. There are also many +of his pictures to be found in private collections; and in his +landscapes, in which he excelled, it is doubted whether the figures are +by him or Albano. He had in Rome three pupils, who, aspiring to be good +colourists, frequented the same fountains of art as their master had +done, and travelled through all Italy. They were Antonio Gherardi da +Rieti, who on the death of Mola frequented the school of Cortona; and +painted in many churches in Rome with more despatch than elegance;[76] +Gio. Batista Boncuore, of Abruzzo, a painter in a grand though somewhat +heavy style;[77] and Giovanni Bonatti, of Ferrara, whom we shall reserve +for his native school. + +Virgilio Ducci, of Città di Castello, is little known among the scholars +of Albano, though he does not yield to many of the Bolognese in the +imitation of their common master. Two pictures of Tobias, in a chapel of +the Duomo, in his native place, are painted in an elegant and graceful +style. An Antonio Catalani, of Rome, is mentioned to us by Malvasia, and +with him Girolamo Bonini, of Ancona, the intimate friend of Albani. +These artists resided in Bologna, and were employed there, as we shall +see in our history of that school. Of the second we are told that he +painted both in Venice and in Rome; and Orlandi praises his works in the +Sala Farnese, which either no longer exist, or are neglected to be +mentioned in the Guida of Titi. + +Lastly, from the studio of Albani issued Andrea Sacchi, after its chief +the best colourist of the Roman School, and one of the most celebrated +in design, in the practice of which he continued until his death. +Profoundly skilled in the theory of art, he was yet slow in the +execution. It was a maxim with him that the merit of a painter does not +consist in giving to the world a number of works of mediocrity, but a +few perfect ones; and hence his pictures are rare. His compositions do +not abound with figures, but every figure appears appropriate to its +place; and the attitudes seem not so much chosen by the artist, as +regulated by the subject itself. Sacchi did not, indeed, shun the +elegant, though he seems born for the grand style--grave miens, majestic +attitudes, draperies folded with care and simplicity; a sober colouring, +and a general tone, which gave to all objects a pleasing harmony, and a +grateful repose to the eye. He seems to have disdained minuteness, and, +after the example of many of the ancient sculptors, to have left some +part always unfinished; so at least his admirers assert. Mengs expresses +himself differently, and says, that Sacchi's principle was to leave his +pictures, as it were, merely indicated, and to take his ideas from +natural objects, without giving them any determinate form: on this +matter the professors of the art must decide. His picture of S. Romualdo +surrounded by his monks, is ranked among the four best compositions in +Rome; and the subject was a difficult one to treat, as the great +quantity of white in the vestures tends to produce a sameness of colour. +The means which Sacchi adopted on this occasion have always been justly +admired. He has placed a large tree near the foreground, the shade of +which serves to break the uniformity of the figures, and he thus +introduced a pleasing variety in the monotony of the colours. His +Transito di S. Anna at S. Carlo a' Catinari, his S. Andrea in the +Quirinal, and his S. Joseph at Capo alle Case, are also beautiful +pictures. Perugia, Foligno, and Camerino, possess altarpieces by him +which are the boast of these cities. He enjoyed the reputation of an +amiable and learned instructor. One of his lectures, communicated by his +celebrated scholar, Francesco Lauri, may be read in the life of that +artist, written by Pascoli, who, as I have before remarked, collected +the greater part of his information from the old painters in Rome. He +has probably engrafted on them some sentiments either of his own or of +others, as often happens in a narrative when the related facts are +founded more in probability than in certainty; but the maxims there +inculcated by Sacchi are worthy of an artist strongly attached to the +true, the select, and the grand; and who, to give dignity to his +figures, seems to have had his eyes on the precepts of Quintilian +respecting the action of his orator. He had a vast number of scholars, +among whom we may reckon Giuseppe Sacchi, his son, who became a +conventual monk, and painted a picture in the sacristy, in the church of +the Apostles. But his most illustrious disciple was Maratta, of whom, +and of whose scholars, we shall speak in another epoch. + +We find a follower of the Caracci, though we know not of what particular +master, in Giambatista Salvi, called from the place in which he was +born, Sassoferrato,[78] and whom we shall notice further when we speak +of Carlo Dolci, and his very devotional pictures. This artist excelled +Dolci in the beauty of his Madonnas, but yielded to him in the fineness +of his pencil. Their style was dissimilar, Salvi having formed himself +on other models; he first studied in his native place under Tarquinio, +his father,[79] then in Rome and afterwards in Naples; it is not known +precisely under what masters, except that in his MS. Memoirs we read of +one Domenico. The period in which Salvi studied corresponds in a +remarkable manner with the time in which Domenichino was employed in +Naples, and his manner of painting shews that he adopted the style of +that master, though not exclusively. I have seen in the possession of +his heirs many copies from the first masters, which he executed for his +own pleasure. I observed several of Albano, Guido, Barocci, Raffaello, +reduced to a small size, and painted, as one may say, all in one breath. +There are also some landscapes of his composition, and a vast number of +sacred portraits; several of S. John the Baptist, but more than all of +the Madonna. Though not possessing the ideal beauty of the Greeks, he +has yet a style of countenance peculiarly appropriate to the Virgin, in +which an air of humility predominates, and the simplicity of the dress +and the attire of the head corresponds with the expression of the +features, without at the same time lessening the dignity of her +character. He painted with a flowing pencil, was varied in his +colouring, had a fine relief and chiaroscuro; but in his local tints he +was somewhat hard. He delighted most in designing heads with a part of +the bust, which frequently occur in collections; his portraits are very +often of the size of life, and of that size, or larger, is a Madonna, by +him, with the infant Christ, in the Casali palace at Rome. The picture +of the Rosario, that he painted at S. Sabina, is one of the smallest +pictures in Rome. It is, however, well composed, and conducted with his +usual spirit, and is regarded as a gem. In other places the largest +picture by him which is to be seen, is an altarpiece in the cathedral of +Montefiascone. + +A follower of the Caracci also, though of an uncertain school, was +Giuseppino da Macerata, whom a dubious tradition has assigned to +Agostino. His works are to be seen in the two collegiate churches of +Fabriano; an Annunciation, in oils, in S. Niccolò, and at S. Venanzio +two chapels, painted in fresco, in one of which, where he represented +the miracles of the apostles, he surpassed himself in the beauty of the +heads and in the general composition; in other respects he is somewhat +hasty and indecisive. Two of his works remain in his native place; at +the Carmelites the Madonna in Glory, with S. Nicola and S. Girolamo on +the foreground; and at the Capucins, S. Peter receiving the Keys. Both +these pictures are in the Caracci style, but the second is most so; +corresponding in a singular manner with one of the same subject which +the Filippini of Fano have in their church, and which is an authentic +and historical work of Guido Reni. The second, therefore, is probably a +copy. There is written on it _Joseph Ma. faciebat_ 1630, but the figures +of the year are not very legible. Marcello Gobbi, and Girolamo +Boniforti,[80] a tolerable good imitator of Titian, lived at this time +in Macerata. Perugia presents us with two scholars of the Caracci, +Giulio Cesare Angeli and Anton. Maria Fabrizzi, the one the pupil of +Annibale in Rome, the other of Lodovico in Bologna. They were attracted +by the fame of their masters, and secretly leaving their native place +for about the space of twelve years, they obtained admission for some +time into their school, if we may rely on Pascoli. Fabrizzi, who is also +said to have worked under Annibale, does not shew great correctness; and +the cause may be ascribed to his too ardent temperament, and the want of +more mature instruction; for Annibale dying after three years, from a +scholar he became a master, and was celebrated for his vigorous +colouring, his composition, and the freedom of his pencil. Angeli was +more remarkable for expression and colour than design, and excelled +rather in the draped than in the naked figure. There is a vast work by +him in fresco in the oratory of the church of S. Agostino in Perugia, +and in part of it a limbo of saints, certainly not designed by the light +of Lodovico's lamp, if indeed it ought not to be considered that this +lunette is by another hand. This branch of the Bolognese School, which +was constantly degenerating from the excellence of its origin, being at +such a distance from Bologna as not to be able to be revivified by the +pictures of the Caracci, still survived for a long time. Angeli +instructed Cesare Franchi, who excelled in small pictures, which were +highly prized in collections; and Stefano Amadei also, who was formed +more on the Florentine School of that age than on the School of Bologna. +Stefano was also attached to letters, and opened a school, and by +frequent meetings and instructive lectures improved the minds of the +young artists who frequented it. One of the most assiduous of these was +Fabio, brother of the Duke of Cornia, of whom some works are mentioned +in the Guida di Roma, and who entitled himself to a higher rank than +that of a mere dilettante. + +Besides the Bolognese, a number of Tuscans who were employed by Paul V. +in the two churches of S. Peter and S. M. Maggiore, also contributed to +the melioration of the Roman School; and some others who, deprived of +that opportunity of distinguishing themselves, are yet memorable for the +scholars they left behind them. Of the diocese of Volterra was +Cristoforo Roncalli, called Il Cav. delle Pomarance, cursorily noticed +by us among the Tuscans. I now place him in this school, because he both +painted and taught for a considerable time in Rome; and I assign him to +this epoch, not from the generality of his works, but from his best +having been executed in it. He was the scholar of Niccolò delle +Pomarance, for whom he worked much with little reward; and from his +example he learnt to avail himself of the labour of others, and to +content himself with mediocrity. Yet there are several pictures by him, +in which he appears excellent, except that he too often repeats himself +in his backgrounds, his foreshortened heads, and full and rubicund +countenances. His style of design is a mixture of the Florentine and +Roman. In his frescos he displayed fresh and brilliant colours; in his +oil pictures, on the contrary, he adopted more sober tints, harmonized +by a general tone of tranquillity and placidness. He frequently +decorated these with landscapes gracefully disposed. Among his best +labours is reckoned the death of Ananias and Sapphira, which is at the +Certosa, and which was copied in mosaic in S. Peter's. Other mosaics +also in the same church were executed after his cartoons, and in the +Lateranense is his Baptism of Constantine, a grand historical +composition. But his most celebrated work is the cupola of Loreto, very +rich in figures, but injured by time, except some prophets, which are in +a truly grand style. He painted considerably in the treasury of that +church; and there are some histories of the Madonna not conducted with +equal felicity, particularly in the perspective. He obtained this vast +commission through the patronage of the Cardinal Crescenzi, in +competition with Caravaggio, who, to gratify his revenge, hired an +assassin to wound him in the face; and in rivalship too with Guido Reni, +who retaliated in a more laudable manner, by proving his superiority by +his works. Roncalli from this time was in great request in the cities of +Picenum, which in consequence abound with his pictures. There is to be +seen at the Eremitani at S. Severino, a _Noli me tangere_; at S. +Agostino in Ancona, a S. Francis praying; and at S. Palazia in Osimo, a +picture of a saint, one of his most finished productions. In the same +city, in the Casa Galli, he painted _di sotto in su_ the Judgment of +Solomon; and this is perhaps the best fresco that he ever executed. He +could vary his manner at will. There is an Epiphany in the possession of +the Marquis Mancinforti in Ancona, quite in the style of the Venetian +School. + +There were two artists who approached this master in style, the Cav. +Gaspare Celio, a Roman, and Antonio, the son of Niccolò Circignani. +Celio was the pupil of Niccolò, according to Baglione, but of Roncalli, +if we are to believe Titi. He designed and engraved antique statues, and +painted in a commendable manner whilst young, after the designs of P. +Gio. Bat. Fiammeri, at the Gesù, and at a more mature age after his own, +in numerous churches. The S. Francis, on the altar of the Ospizio, at +Ponte Sisto, is by him; and he also painted the history of S. Raimondo +at the Minerva, and the Moses passing the Red Sea, in a vault of the +Mattei gallery, where he competed with other first rate artists. Antonio +is not well known in Rome, where he worked with his father, after whose +death he decorated by himself a chapel at the Traspontina, another at +the Consolazione, and painted also in private houses. Città di Castello, +where he passed some of the best years of his life, possesses many of +his pictures, and amongst the rest, that of the Conception, at the +Conventuals, which may be called a mixture of Barocci and Roncalli, from +whom he probably learned to improve the style he had inherited from his +father. + +The Cav. delle Pomarance instructed the Marchese Gio. Batista Crescenzi, +who became a great patron of the fine arts, and who was so much skilled +in them, that Paul V. appointed him superintendent of the works which he +was carrying on in Rome; and Philip III., the Catholic, also availed +himself of his services in the Escurial. He did not execute many works, +and his chief talent lay in flower painting. His house was frequented by +literary men, and particularly by Marino; he formed in it a gallery +containing an extensive collection of pictures and drawings, of which he +himself says, "I believe I may indeed safely affirm that there is not a +prince in Europe that does not yield to me in this respect." (Lett. p. +89.) There the artists were always to be found, one of whom, his +disciple, was called Bartolommeo del Crescenzi, of the family of +Cavarozzi of Viterbo. He was a most correct artist, a follower first of +Roncalli, and afterwards became the author of a captivating natural +style. There exist many excellent pictures by him in collections, and in +the church of S. Anna, a picture of that saint, executed, says Baglione, +in his best taste, and with a vigorous pencil. + +Among the scholars of Roncalli may also be ranked Giovanni Antonio, +father of Luigi Scaramuccia, who also saw and imitated the Caracci. His +works are often met with in Perugia. The spirit and freedom of his +pencil are more commended than his tints, which are too dark, and which +in the churches easily distinguish him amidst a crowd of other artists. +It is probable that he used too great a quantity of _terra d'ombra_, +like others of his day. Girolamo Buratti, of the same school, painted in +Ascoli the beautiful picture of the Presepio at the Carità, and some +subjects in fresco, highly commended by Orsini. Of Alessandro Casolani, +who belongs to this master, we spoke in the Sienese School. With him, +too, was included Cristoforo his son, who, with Giuseppe Agellio of +Sorrento, may be ranked with the inferior artists. + +Francesco Morelli, a Florentine, demands our notice only as having +imparted the rudiments of the art to the Cav. Gio. Baglione of Rome. His +pupil, however, did not remain with him for any length of time, but +formed a style for himself from a close application to the works of the +best masters, and was employed by Paul V., by the Duke of Mantua, and by +persons of distinction. He is less vigorous in design and expression, +than in colour and chiaroscuro. We meet with his works, not only in +Rome, where he painted much, but also in several provincial towns, as +the S. Stephen in the Duomo of Perugia, and the S. Catherine at the +Basilica Loretana. In his colours he resembled Cigoli, but was far +behind him in other respects. The picture which procured him great +applause in the Vatican, the Resuscitation of Tabitha, is defaced by +time; but both there and at the Cappella Paolina in S. Maria Maggiore, +which was the most considerable work of Paul V., his pieces in fresco +still remain, and are not unworthy of their age. He is not often found +in collections, but in that of the Propaganda I saw a S. Rocco painted +by him with great force of colour. He lived to a considerable age, and +left behind him a compendium of the lives of professors of the fine +arts, who had been his contemporaries in Rome from 1572 to 1642. He +wrote in an unostentatious manner, and free from party spirit, and was +on all occasions more disposed to commend the good than to censure the +bad. Whenever I peruse him, I seem to hear the words of a venerable +teacher, inclined rather to inculcate precepts of morals, than maxims on +the fine arts. Of the latter, indeed, he is very sparing, and it would +almost lead one to suppose that he had succeeded in his profession, more +from a natural bias, and a talent of imitation, than from scientific +principles and sound taste. It was, perhaps, in order that he might not +be tied to treat of the art theoretically, and to write profoundly, that +he distributed his work in five dialogues, in the course of which we do +not meet with professors of art, but are introduced to a foreigner and +to a Roman gentleman, who act the respective parts of master and +scholar. Dialogues, indeed, were never composed in a more simple style, +in any language. The two interlocutors meet in the cloisters of the +Minerva, and after a slight salutation, one of them recounts the lives +of the masters of the art, to the number of eighty, which are commenced, +continued, and ended, in a style sufficiently monotonous, both as to +manner and language; the other listens to this long narrative, without +either interrupting or answering, or adding a word in reply: and thus +the dialogue, or rather soliloquy, concludes, without the slightest +expression of thanks on the part of the auditor, or even the ceremony of +a farewell. We shall now return to the Tuscan scholars. + +Passignano was at Rome many times, without, however, leaving there any +scholars, at least of any name. We may indeed mention Vanni, and he left +there, too, a Gio. Antonio, and a Gio. Francesco del Vanni, who are +mentioned in the _Guida di Roma_. The school of Cigoli produced two +Roman artists of considerable reputation; Domenico Feti, who +distinguished himself in Mantua, and Gio. Antonio Lelli, who never left +his native place. They painted more frequently in oil, and for private +collections, than in fresco, or in churches. Of the first, no public +work remains except the two Angels at S. Lorenzo in Damaso; of the +second some pictures, and some histories on the walls, among which the +Visitation in the choir of the Minerva is much praised. + +Comodi and Ciarpi are said to have been the successive masters of Pietro +di Cortona; and on that account, and from his birthplace, he has by many +been placed in the school of Florence; although others have assigned him +to that of Rome. It is true, indeed, that he came hither at the age of +fourteen only, bringing with him from Tuscany little more than a +well-disposed genius; and he here formed himself into an excellent +architect, and as a painter became the head of a school distinguished +for a free and vigorous style, as we have mentioned in our first book. +Whoever wishes to observe how far he carried this style in fresco, and +in large compositions, must inspect the Sala Barberina in Rome; although +the Palazzo Pitti, in Florence, presents us with works more elegant, +more beautiful, and more studied in parts. Whoever, too, wishes to see +how far he carried it in his altarpieces, must inspect the Conversion of +S. Paul at the Capucins in Rome, which, placed opposite the S. Michael +of Guido, is, nevertheless, the admiration of those who do not object to +a variety of style in art: nor am I aware that we should reject this +principle in what we designate the fine arts; as it is invariably +acknowledged in eloquence, in poetry, and history, where we find +Demosthenes and Isocrates, Sophocles and Euripides, and Thucydides and +Xenophon, equally esteemed, though all dissimilar in style. + +The works of Pietro in Rome, and in the states of the church, are not at +all rare. They are to be found also in other states of Italy, and those +pieces are the most attractive in which he had the greatest opportunity +of indulging his love of architecture. His largest compositions, which +might dismay the boldest copyist, are S. Ivo at the Sapienza of Rome, +and the S. Charles in the church of that saint, at Catinari, in the act +of relieving the infected. The Preaching of S. James in Imola, in the +church of the Domenicans, is also on a vast scale. The Virgin attended +by S. Stephen, the Pope, and other saints in S. Agostino, in Cortona, is +a picture of great research, and is considered one of his best +performances. There is an enchanting picture of the Birth of the Virgin, +in the Quirinal palace; and the Martyrdom of S. Stephen, at S. Ambrogio, +in Rome, and Daniel in the Den of Lions, in the church of that saint, in +Venice, are most beautiful works, superior to those of most of his +competitors in this school, in regard to composition, and equal to them +in colour. His historical subjects are not met with in the galleries of +the Roman nobility. In that of the Campidoglio, is the battle between +the Romans and the Sabines, full of picturesque spirit; and in +possession of the Duke Mattei, is the Adultery, half figures, more +studied and more highly finished than was customary with him. This brief +notice of him may suffice for the present. Of the scholars whom he +formed in the Roman School, I shall speak more opportunely in the +subsequent epoch. + +At this period we find three Veronese artists, Ottini, Bassetti, and +Turchi, studying in Rome; and we shall speak of them more at length in +the Venetian School. The first returned home without executing any +public work. The second left, in the church dell'Anima, in Rome, two +pictures in fresco, the Birth, and the Circumcision of Christ. The +third, known under the name of Orbetto, took up his residence, and died +in that capital; but I am not aware that he left there any disciples of +merit, except some of his own countrymen, who returned to their native +place. This engaging and elegant painter, who possessed great +originality and beauty of colour, worked still more in Verona than in +Rome, and we ought to see his works in the former city, in order justly +to appreciate them. But he is not on that account held in the less +esteem in Rome for his cabinet pictures, which are highly prized, as the +Sisara de' Colonnesi, and for his scriptural subjects, as the Flight +into Egypt, in the church of S. Romualdo, and the S. Felice Cappuccino, +at the Conception, where, as we before observed, the Barberini family +employed the most eminent artists. + +Many other Italians worked in Rome in the time of the Caracci, but their +schools, as well as the places of their birth, are uncertain; and of +these, in a city so abounding in pictures, a slight notice will suffice. +In the Guida di Roma, we find only a single notice of Felice Santelli, a +Roman, in the church of the P. P. Spagnuoli del Riscatto Scalzi, where +he painted in competition with Baglione; he is a painter full of truth, +and one of his pictures in Viterbo, in the church of S. Rosa, is +inscribed with his name. In Baglione, we read of Orazio Borgianni, a +Roman, the rival of Celio, and we find pictures and portraits by him in +a good natural style. Gio. Antonio Spadarino, of the family of Galli, +painted in S. Peter's, a S. Valeria, with such talent, that Orlandi +complains of the silence of biographers respecting him. He had a fellow +disciple in Matteo Piccione, of the March, and Titi mentions their +peculiar style. Nor is Grappelli much known, whose proper name or +country I cannot accurately ascertain; but his Joseph Recognized, which +is painted in fresco, in the Casa Mattei, commands our admiration. +Mattio Salvucci, who obtained some reputation in Perugia, came to Rome, +and although he was graciously received by the Pope, yet, from his +inconstant temper, he did not remain there, nor does Pascoli, his fellow +countrymen and biographer, mention any authentic pictures by him. +Domenico Rainaldi, nephew of the architect, Cav. Carlo Rainaldi, who was +employed by Alexander VII., is mentioned in the Roman Guida, as also +Giuseppe Vasconio, praised too by Orlandi. In the same description of +books, and particularly in those which treat of the pictures of Perugia, +mention is made in this epoch of the Cav. Bernardino Gagliardi, who was +domiciled for many years in that city, though born in Città di Castello. +Although a scholar of Avanzino Nucci, he adopted a different style, +after having seen in his travels the best works of every school of +Italy, from Rome to Turin. In historical composition he particularly +followed the Caracci and Guido, but in what I have seen of him, both in +his own and his adopted city, he appears exceedingly various. The noble +house of Oddi, in Perugia, amongst some feeble productions of his, have +a Conversazione of young people, half figures, and truly beautiful. In +the Duomo of Castello is a Martyrdom of S. Crescenziano, a picture of +fine effect, though inferior in other respects. He there appears more +studied and more select in the two pictures of the young Tobias, which +are included among his superior works. His best is perhaps the picture +of S. Pellegrino, with its accompaniments, in the church of S. Marcello +in Rome. I do not recollect any other provincial painters of this period +whom I have not assigned to one or other of the various masters. + +A more arduous task than recording the names of the Italian artists now +awaits us in the enumeration of strangers. About the beginning of the +century Peter Paul Rubens came young to Rome, and left some oil pictures +at the Vallicella, and in S. Croce in Gerusalemme. Not many years +afterwards Antonio Vandyck arrived there also, with an intention of +remaining for a long period; but many of his fellow countrymen, who were +there studying, became offended at his refusing to join them in their +convivial tavern parties and dissipated mode of life; he in consequence +left Rome. Great numbers too of that nation who professed the lower +school of art, remained in Italy for a considerable period, and some are +mentioned in their classes. Others were employed in the churches of +Rome, and the ecclesiastical state. The master is unknown who painted at +S. Pietro in Montorio, the celebrated Deposition, which is recommended +to students, as a school of colour in itself; by some he is called +Angiolo Fiammingo. Of Vincenzio Fiammingo there is at the Vallicella a +picture of the Pentecost; of Luigi Gentile, from Brussels, the picture +of S. Antonio at S. Marco, and others in various churches in Rome; he +painted also at the church of the Capucins, at Pesaro, a Nativity and a +S. Stephen, pictures highly finished and of a beautiful relief. He +executed others at Ancona, and in various cities, with his usual taste, +which is still more to be admired in his easel pictures. He excelled, +says Passeri, who was very sparing in his praise of artists, in small +compositions; since besides finishing them with great diligence, he +executed them in an engaging style, and he concludes with the further +encomium, that he equalled, if not surpassed, most artists in portrait +painting. + +About the year 1630, Diego Velasquez, the chief ornament of Spanish art, +studied in Rome and remained there for a year. He afterwards returned +thither under the pontificate of Innocent X., whose portrait he painted, +in a style which was said to be derived from Domenico Greco, instructed +by Titian, at the court of Spain. Velasquez renewed in this portrait the +wonders which are recounted of those of Leo X. by Raffaello, and of Paul +III. by Titian; for this picture so entirely deceived the eye as to be +taken for the Pope himself. At this time too a number of excellent +German artists were employed in Rome, as Daniel Saiter, whom I shall +notice in the school of Piedmont, and the two Scor, Gio. Paolo, called +by Taja, Gian. Paolo Tedesco, whose Noah's Ark, painted in the Quirinal +palace, has excited the most enthusiastic encomiums; and Egidio, his +brother, who worked there for a considerable time in the gallery of +Alexander VII. There were also in Rome Vovet, as we have observed, and +the two Mignards, Nicolas, an excellent artist, and Pierre, who had the +surname of Romano, and who left some beautiful works at S. Carlino and +other places; and a master who claims more than a brief notice, Nicolas +Poussin, the Raffaello of France. + +Bellori, who has written the Life of Poussin, introduces him to Rome in +1624, and informs us that he was already a painter, and had formed his +style more after the prints of Raffaello than the instruction of his +masters. At Rome he improved, or rather changed his style, and acquired +another totally different, of which he may be considered the chief. +Poussin has left directions for those who come to study the art in Rome: +the remains of antiquity afforded him instruction which he could not +expect from masters. He studied the beautiful in the Greek statues, and +from the Meleager of the Vatican (now ascertained to be a Mercury) he +derived his rule of proportions. Arches, columns, antique vases, and +urns, were rendered tributary to the decoration of his pictures. As a +model of composition, he attached himself to the Aldobrandine Marriage; +and from that, and from basso-relievos, he acquired that elegant +contrast, that propriety of attitude, and that fear of crowding his +picture, for which he was so remarkable, being accustomed to say, that a +half figure more than requisite was sufficient to destroy the harmony of +a whole composition. + +Leonardo da Vinci, from his sober and refined style of colour, could not +fail to please him; and he decorated that master's work _Su la Pittura_ +with figures designed in his usual fine taste. He followed him in theory +and emulated him in practice. He adopted Titian's style of colour, and +the famous Dance of Boys, which was formerly in the Villa Lodovisi, and +is now in Madrid, taught him to invest with superior colours the +engaging forms of children, in which he so much excelled. It should seem +that he soon abandoned his application to colouring, and his best +coloured pictures are those which he painted on first coming to Rome. He +was apprehensive lest his anxiety on that head might distract his +attention from the more philosophical part of his picture, to which he +was singularly attentive; and to this point he directed his most serious +and assiduous care. Raffaello was his model in giving animation to his +figures, in expressing the passions with truth, in selecting the precise +moment of action, in intimating more than was expressed, and in +furnishing materials for fresh reflection to whoever returns a second +and a third time to examine his well conceived and profound +compositions. He carried the habit of philosophy in painting even +further than Raffaello, and often executed pictures, whose claim to our +regard is the poetical manner in which their moral is inculcated. Thus, +in that at Versailles, which is called _Memoria della morte_, he has +represented a group of youths, and a maid visiting the tomb of an +Arcadian shepherd, on which is inscribed the simple epitaph, "I also was +an Arcadian." + +He did not owe this elegant expression of sentiment to his genius alone, +but was indebted for it, as well to the perusal of the first classic +authors, as the conversation of literary men, and his intercourse with +scholars. He deferred much to the Cav. Marini, and might do so with +advantage where poetry was not concerned. In the art of modelling, in +which he excelled, he accomplished himself under Fiammingo; he consulted +the writings of P. Zaccolini for perspective; he studied the naked +figure in the academy of Domenichino and in that of Sacchi; he made +himself acquainted with anatomy; he exercised himself in copying the +most beautiful landscapes from nature, in which he acquired an exquisite +taste, which he communicated to his relative Gaspar Dughet, of whom we +shall speak in a short time. I think it may be asserted without +exaggeration, that the Caracci improved the art of landscape painting, +and that Poussin brought it to perfection.[81] His genius was less +calculated for large than small figures, and he has generally painted +them a palm and a half, as in the celebrated sacraments, which were in +the Casa Boccapaduli: sometimes of two or three palms size, as in the +picture of the Plague in the Colonna gallery, and elsewhere. Other +pictures of his are seen in Rome, as the Death of Germanicus in the +Barberini palace, the Triumph of Flora in the Campidoglio, the Martyrdom +of S. Erasmus, in the Pope's collection at Monte Cavallo, afterwards +copied in mosaic in S. Peter's. Although he had established himself in +Rome, he afterwards left that city for Paris, where he was appointed +first painter to the court; after two years time, however, he again +returned to Rome, but had his appointment confirmed, and, though absent, +enjoyed the same place and stipend. He remained in Rome for twenty three +years, and there closed his days. It is not long since his bust in +marble, with an appropriate eulogy, was placed in the church of the +Rotonda, at the suggestion and generous expense of the Sig. Cav. +d'Agincourt. + +In the class of portrait painters, we find at the beginning of the +seventeenth century, Antiveduto Grammatica, and Ottavio Lioni of Padua, +who engraved the portraits of the painters; and, on his death, +Baldassare Galanino was preeminent. It must however be remarked, that +these artists were also designers; and that even those who were held the +first masters in composition were employed in portrait painting, as +Guido for example, who executed for the Cardinal Spada one of the finest +portraits in Rome. + +Thus far of historical painters. We may now recur to landscape and other +inferior branches of the art, whose brightest era may be said to have +been in the reign of Urban VIII. Landscape, indeed, never flourished so +greatly as at that period. A little time before this pontificate, died +in Rome, Adam Elzheimer, or Adam of Frankfort, or Tedesco, who had +already, under the pontificate of Paul V., established a school (in +which David Teniers was instructed); an artist of an admirable fancy, +who in an evening committed to the canvass, with singular fidelity, the +scenery which he had visited in the early part of the day, and he so +refined his style in Rome, that his pictures, which generally +represented night scenes, were there held in the greatest request. Only +a short time too had elapsed since the death of Giovanni Batista Viola +in Rome, one of the first artists who, profiting from the instructions +of Annibal Caracci, reformed the old, dry style of the Flemish, and +introduced a richer mode of touching landscape. Vincenzio Armanno had +also promoted this branch of art, adding to his landscapes a similitude +to nature, which without much selection of ground, or trees, or +accompaniments, charms us by its truth, and a certain stilness of +colour, pleasingly chequered with lights and shades. He is highly to be +commended too in his figures, and is copious in his invention. But the +three celebrated landscape painters, whose works are so much sought +after in the collections of princes, appeared under Urban; Salvator +Rosa, a Neapolitan, and a poet of talent; Claude Gellée, of Lorraine; +and Gaspar Dughet, also called Poussin, the relative of Niccolas, as I +have already mentioned. That kind of fashion, which often aspires to +give a tone to the fine arts, alternately exalted one or other of these +three, and thus also obliged the painters in Rome to copy in succession, +and to follow their various styles. + +Rosa was the most celebrated of this class at the commencement of this +century. A scholar of Spagnoletto, and the son, as one may say, of +Caravaggio, as in historical composition he attached himself to the +strong natural style and dark colouring of that master, so in landscape +he seems to have adopted his subject without selection, or rather to +have selected the least pleasing parts. _Le selve selvagge_, to speak +with Dante, savage scenery, Alps, broken rocks and caves, wild thickets, +and desert plains, are the kind of scenery in which he chiefly +delighted; his trees are shattered, torn, and dishevelled; and in the +atmosphere itself he seldom introduced a cheerful hue, except +occasionally a solitary sunbeam. He observed the same manner too in his +sea views. His style was original, and may be said to have been +conducted on a principle of savage beauty, as the palate of some persons +is gratified with austere wines. His pictures too were rendered more +acceptable from the small figures of shepherds, mariners, or banditti, +which he has introduced in almost all his compositions; and he was +reproached by his rivals with having continually repeated the same +ideas, and in a manner copied himself. + +Owing to his frequent practice, he had more merit in his small than in +his large figures. He was accustomed to insert them in his landscapes, +and composed his historical pictures in the same style as the Regulus, +so highly praised in the Colonna palace, or fancy subjects, as the +Witchcrafts, which we see in the Campidoglio, and in many private +collections. In these he is never select, nor always correct, but +displays great spirit, freedom of execution, and skill and harmony of +colour. In other respects he has proved, more than once, that his genius +was not confined to small compositions, as there are some altarpieces +well conceived, and of powerful effect, particularly where the subject +demands an expression of terror, as in a Martyrdom of Saints at S. Gio. +de' Fiorentini at Rome; and in the Purgatory, which I saw at S. Giovanni +delle Case Rotte in Milan, and at the church del Suffragio in Matelica. +We have also some profane subjects by him, finely executed on a large +scale; such is the Conspiracy of Catiline, in the possession of the +noble family of Martelli, in Florence, mentioned also by Bottari, as one +of his best works. Rosa left Naples at the age of twenty, and +established himself in Rome, where he died at the age of about sixty. +His remains were placed in the church degli Angeli, with his portrait +and eulogy; and another portrait of him is to be seen in the Chigi +gallery, which does not seem to have been recognised by Pascoli; the +picture represents a savage scene; a poet is represented in a sitting +attitude, (the features those of Salvator,) and before him stands a +satyr, allusive to his satiric style of poetry, but the picture is +described by the biographer as the god Pan appearing to the poet Pindar. +He had a scholar in Bartol. Torregiani, who died young, and who excelled +in landscape, but was not accomplished enough to add the figures. +Giovanni Ghisolfi, of Milan, a master of perspective, adopted in his +figures the style of Salvator. + +Gaspar Dughet, or Poussin, of Rome, or of the Roman School, did not much +resemble Rosa, except in despatch. Both these artists were accustomed to +commence and finish a landscape and decorate it with figures on the same +day. Poussin, contrary to Salvator, selected the most enchanting scenes, +and the most beautiful aspects of nature; the graceful poplar, the +spreading plane trees, limpid fountains, verdant meads, gently +undulating hills, villas delightfully situated, calculated to dispel the +cares of state, and to add to the delights of retirement. All the +enchanting scenery of the Tusculan or Tiburtine territory, and of Rome, +where, as Martial observes, nature has combined the many beauties which +she has scattered singly in other places, was copied by this artist. He +composed also ideal landscapes, in the same way that Torquato Tasso, in +describing the garden of Armida, concentrated in his verses all the +recollections of the beautiful which he had observed in nature. + +Notwithstanding this extreme passion for grace and beauty, it is the +opinion of many, that there is not a greater name amongst landscape +painters. His genius had a natural fervour, and as we may say, a +language, that suggests more than it expresses. To give an example, in +some of his larger landscapes, similar to those in the Panfili palace, +we may occasionally observe an artful winding of the road, which in part +discovers itself to the eye, but in other parts, leaves itself to be +followed by the mind. Every thing that Gaspar expresses, is founded in +nature. In his leaves he is as varied as the trees themselves, and is +only accused of not having sufficiently diversified his tints, and of +adhering too much to a green hue. He not only succeeded in representing +the rosy tint of morning, the splendour of noon, evening twilight, or a +sky tempestuous or serene; but the passing breeze that whispers through +the leaves, storms that tear and uproot the trees of the forest, +lowering skies, and clouds surcharged with thunder and rent with +lightning, are represented by him with equal success. Niccolas, who had +taught him to select the beauties of nature, instructed him also in the +figures, and the accessary parts of the composition. Thus in Gaspar +every thing displays elegance and erudition, the edifices have all the +beautiful proportions of the antique; and to these may be added arches +and broken columns, when the scene lay in the plains of Greece or Rome; +or, if in Egypt, pyramids, obelisks, and the idols of the country. The +figures which he introduces are not in general shepherds and their +flocks, as in the Flemish pictures, but are derived from history, or +classic fables, hawking parties, poets crowned with laurel, and other +similar decorations, generally novel, and finished in a style almost as +fine as miniature. His school gave birth to but few followers. By some +Crescenzio di Onofrio is alone considered his true imitator, of whom +little remains in Rome; nor indeed is he much known in Florence, +although he resided there many years in the service of the ducal house. +It is said that he executed many works for the ducal villas; and that he +painted for individuals may be conjectured from some beautiful +landscapes which the Sig. Cancelliere Scrilli possesses, together with +the portrait of Sig. Angelo, his ancestor, on which the artist has +inscribed his name and the year 1712, the date of his work. After him we +may record Gio. Domenico Ferracuti, of Macerata, in which city, and in +others of Piceno, are to be found many landscapes painted by him, +chiefly snow pieces, in which kind of landscape he was singularly +distinguished. + +Claude Lorraine is generally esteemed the prince of landscape painters, +and his compositions are indeed, of all others, the richest and the most +studied. A short time suffices to run through a landscape of Poussin or +Rosa from one end to the other, when compared with Claude, though on a +much smaller surface. His landscapes present to the spectator an endless +variety; so many views of land and water, so many interesting objects, +that like an astonished traveller, the eye is obliged to pause to +measure the extent of the prospect, and his distances of mountains or of +sea are so illusive, that the spectator feels, as it were, fatigued by +gazing. The edifices and temples, which so finely round off his +compositions, the lakes peopled with aquatic birds, the foliage +diversified in conformity to the different kinds of trees,[82] all is +nature in him; every object arrests the attention of an amateur, every +thing furnishes instruction to a professor; particularly when he painted +with care, as in the pictures of the Altieri, Colonna, and other palaces +of Rome. There is not an effect of light, or a reflection in the water, +or in the sky itself, which he has not imitated; and the various changes +of the day are no where better represented than in Claude. In a word, he +is truly the painter, who in depicting the three regions of air, earth, +and water, has embraced the whole universe. His atmosphere almost always +bears the impress of the sky of Rome, whose horizon is, from its +situation, rosy, dewy, and warm. He did not possess any peculiar merit +in his figures, which are insipid, and generally too much attenuated; +hence he was accustomed to observe to the purchasers of his pictures, +that he sold them the landscape, and presented them with the figures +gratis. The figures indeed were generally added by another hand, +frequently by Lauri. A painter of the name of Angiolo, who died young, +deserves to be mentioned as the scholar of Claude, as well as +Vandervert. Claude also contributed to the instruction of Gaspar +Poussin. + +To the preceding may be added those artists who particularly +distinguished themselves by sea views and shipping. Enrico Cornelio +Vroom is called Enrico di Spagna, as he came to Rome immediately from +Seville, although born in Haerlem in Holland. He was a pupil of the +Brills, and seems rather to have aimed at imitating the national art of +shipbuilding, than the varying appearances of the sea and sky. No one is +more diligent, or more minute in fitting up the vessels with every +requisite for sailing; and some persons have purchased his pictures, for +the sole purpose of instructing themselves in the knowledge of ships, +and the mode of arming them. Sandrart relates that he returned to Spain, +and there painted landscapes, views of cities, fishing boats, and +seafights. He places his birth in 1566, whence he must have flourished +about the year 1600. Guarienti makes a separate article of Enrico Vron +of Haerlem, as if he had been a different artist. Another article is +occupied upon _Enrico delle Marine_, and on the authority of Palomino, +he says, that that artist was born in Cadiz, and coming to Rome, there +acquired that name; and that, without wishing ever to return to Spain, +he employed himself in painting in that city shipping and sea views +until his death, at the age of sixty in 1680. I have named three +writers, whose contradictions I have frequently adverted to in this +work, and whose discordant notices require much examination to reconcile +or refute. What I have advanced respecting Enrico was the result of my +observations on several pictures in the Colonna gallery, six in number, +and which, as far as I could judge, all partake of a hard and early +style, and generally of a peculiar reddish tone, often observed in the +landscapes of Brill. Any other Enrico di Spagna, a marine painter, or of +a style corresponding with that of him who died in 1680, I have not met +with in any collection, nor is any such artist to be found in the works +of Sig. Conca, as any one may ascertain by referring to the index of his +work. Hence, at present, I can recognize the Dutch artist alone, and +shall be ready to admit the claims of the Cadiz painter whenever I am +furnished with proofs of his having really existed. + +Agostino Tassi, of Perugia, whose real name was Buonamici, a man of +infamous character, but an excellent painter, was the scholar of Paul +Brill, though he was ambitious of being thought a pupil of the Caracci. +He had already distinguished himself as a landscape painter, when he was +condemned to the galleys at Leghorn, where through interest the +laborious part of his sentence was remitted, and in this situation he +prosecuted his art with such ardour, that he soon obtained the first +rank as a painter of sea views, representing ships, storms, fishing +parties, and the dresses of mariners of various countries with great +spirit and propriety. He excelled too in perspective, and in the papal +palace of the Quirinal and in the palace de' Lancellotti displayed an +excellent style of decoration, which his followers very much +overcharged. He painted many pictures in Genoa, in conjunction with +Salimbeni and Gentileschi, and was assisted by a scholar of his born in +Rome, and domiciled in Genoa, where he died. This scholar is called by +Raffaello Soprani, Gio. Batista Primi, and he eulogizes him as an +esteemed painter of sea views. + +Equal to Tassi in talent, and still more infamous in his life, was +Pietro Mulier, or Pietro de Mulieribus, of Holland, who, from his +surprising pictures of storms, was called Il Tempesta. His compositions +inspire a real terror, presenting to our eyes death, devoted ships +overtaken by tempests and darkness, fired by lightning, or driving +helpless before the demons of the storm; now rising on the mountain +waves, and again submerged in the abyss of ocean. His works are more +frequently met with than those of Tassi, as he almost always painted in +oil. He was assisted in Rome by a young man, who in consequence obtained +the name of Tempestino, though he often exercised his genius in +landscape in the style of Poussin. He afterwards married a sister of +this young artist, and subsequently procured her assassination, for +which he was sentenced to death in Genoa, but his sentence was commuted +for five years imprisonment. His pictures of storms, which he painted in +his dungeon, seem to have acquired an additional gloom from the horrors +of his prison, his merited punishment, and his guilty conscience. These +works were very numerous, and were considered his best performances. He +excelled also in the painting of animals, for which purpose he kept a +great variety of them in his house. Lastly, he acquired celebrity from +his landscapes, in some of which he has shewn himself not an unworthy +follower of Claude in invention, enriching them with a great variety of +scenery, hills, lakes, and beautiful edifices, but he is still far +behind that master in regard to tone of colour and finishing. He was +however superior to Claude in his figures, to which he gave a mixed +Italian and Flemish character, with lively, varied, and expressive +countenances. There are more specimens of his talents in Milan than in +any other place, as he passed his latter years in that and the +neighbouring cities, as in Bergamo, and particularly in Piacenza. His +epitaph is given in the Guida di Milano, page 129. + +Il Montagna, another artist from Holland, was also a painter of sea +views, which may almost indeed be called the landscapes of the Dutch. He +left many works in Italy, more particularly in Florence and in Rome, +where he is sometimes mistaken for Tempesta in the galleries and in +picture sales; but Montagna, as far as I can judge, is more serene in +his skies, and darker in his waves and the appearance of the sea. A +large picture of the Deluge, which is at S. Maria Maggiore in Bergamo, +placed there in 1668, in which the figures are by the Cav. Liberi, is +supposed to be by Montagna, from the tone of the water. This however is +an error, for the Montagna of whom we speak, called by Felibien (tom. +iii. p. 339,) Montagna di Venezia, certainly died in Padua; and in a MS. +by a contemporary author, where he is mentioned as a distinguished sea +painter, he is said to have died in 1644. I apprehend this is the same +artist whom Malvasia (tom. ii. p. 78,) calls Mons. Rinaldo della +Montagna, and states that he was held in esteem by Guido for his +excellence in sea views. I also find a Niccolo de Plate Montagna, +favourably mentioned by Felibien, also a marine painter, who died about +1665; and I formerly imagined that this might be the artist who painted +so much in Italy, but I now retract that opinion. + +Tempesti was the first to introduce the custom of decorating landscapes +with battles and skirmishes. A Flemish artist of the name of Jacopo +succeeded to him in this branch, but his fame was eclipsed by his own +scholar Cerquozzi, a Roman, who from his singular talent in this +respect, was called Michelangiolo delle Battaglie. He was superior to +Tempesti in colouring, but inferior to him in designing horses. In the +human figure, too, he is less correct, and more daring in the style of +his master Cesari. It must however be remembered, that when Cerquozzi +painted battles he was not in his prime, and that his chief merit lay in +subjects on which I shall presently make some remarks. + +Padre Jacopo Cortese, a Jesuit, called from his native country Il +Borgognone, carried this branch of the art to a height unknown before or +since. M. A. Cerquozzi discovered his genius for this department, and +persuaded him to abandon the other branches of painting which he +cultivated, and to confine himself to this alone. The Battle of +Constantine, by Giulio Romano in the Vatican, was the model on which he +founded his style. His youth had been dedicated to arms, and his +military spirit was not to be extinguished by the luxury of Rome, or the +indolence of the cloister. He imparted a wonderful air of reality to his +compositions. His combatants appear before us courageously contending +for honour or for life, and we seem to hear the cries of the wounded, +the blast of the trumpet, and the neighing of the horses. He was indeed +an inimitable artist in his line, and his scholars were accustomed to +say that their own figures seemed to fight only in jest, while those of +Borgognone were the real occupants of the field of battle. He painted +with great despatch, and his battle pieces are in consequence very +frequent in collections; his touch was rapid, in strokes, and his pencil +flowing, so that the effect is heightened by distance; and this style +was probably the result of his study of Paolo at Venice, and of Guido in +Bologna. From whatever cause it may be, his colouring is very different +from that of Guglielmo Baur, who is considered his master, and of whom +there are some works in the Colonna gallery. There also may be seen +several specimens of his scholars, Bruni, Graziano, and Giannizero, who +adopted from Borgognone their colouring, and the selection of a distant +point of view for their subject. Others of his scholars occur in various +schools. + +It was also during the pontificate of Urban, about the year 1626, that +the burlesque style was first brought into notice in Rome. It had been +practised by Ludius in the time of Augustus, and was not wholly unknown +to our early artists; but I am not aware that any one had exercised this +branch as a profession, or on so small a scale as was practised by +Pietro Laar, who was called Bamboccio, from his deformity, as well as +from the subjects of his pencil; and the appellation of _bambocciate_ is +generally applied to these small pictures, which represent the +festivities of the vintage, dances, fights, and carnival masquerades. +His figures are usually of a span in size, and the accompanying +landscape and the animals are so vividly coloured, that we seem, says +Passeri, to see the very objects themselves from an open window, rather +than the representation on canvass. The great painters frequently +purchased the pictures of Pietro, in order to study his natural style of +colour, though at the same time they lamented that so much talent should +be misapplied to such low subjects.[83] He resided many years in Rome, +and then retired to Holland, where he died at an advanced age, and not a +young man, as Passeri has imagined. + +His place and his employ in Rome were soon filled up by Cerquozzi, who +had for some time past exchanged the name of M. A. delle Battaglie, for +that of M. A. delle Bambocciate. Although the subjects which he +represents are humourous, like those of Laar, the incidents and the +characters are for the most part different. The first adopted the +Flemish boors, the other the peasantry of Italy. They had both great +force of colour, but Bamboccio excels Cerquozzi in landscape, while the +latter discovers more spirit in his figures. One of Cerquozzi's largest +compositions is in the Spada palace at Rome, in which he represented a +band of insurgent Lazzaroni applauding Maso Aniello. + +Laar had another excellent imitator in Gio. Miel, of Antwerp, who having +imbibed a good style of colouring from Vandyke, came to Rome and +frequented the school of Sacchi. From thence, however, he was soon +dismissed, as his master wished him to attempt serious subjects, but he +was led both by interest and genius to the burlesque. His pictures +pleased from their spirited representations and their excellent +management of light and shade, and brought high prices from collectors. +He afterwards painted on a larger scale, and besides some altarpieces in +Rome, he left some considerable works in Piedmont, where we shall notice +him again. Theodore Hembreker, of Haerlem, also employed himself on +humourous subjects, and scenes of common life, although there are some +religious pieces attributed to him in the church della Pace in Rome, and +a number of landscapes in private collections. He passed many years in +Italy, and visited most of the great cities, so that his works are +frequently found not only in Rome, where he had established himself, but +in Florence, Naples, Venice, and elsewhere. His style is a pleasing +union of the Flemish and Italian. + +Many artists of this period attached themselves to the painting of +animals. Castiglione distinguished himself in this line, but he resided +for the most part of his time in another country. M. Gio. Rosa, of +Flanders, is the most known in Rome and the State, for the great number +of his paintings of animals, in which he possessed a rare talent. It is +told of him, that dogs were deceived by the hares he painted, thus +reviving the wonderful story of Zeuxis, so much boasted of by Pliny. Two +of his largest and finest pictures are in the Bolognetti collection, and +there is attached to them a portrait, but whether of the painter +himself, or some other person, is not known. We must not confound this +artist with Rosa da Tivoli, who was also an excellent animal painter, +but not so celebrated in Italy, and flourished at a later period, and +whose real name was Philip Peter Roos. He was son-in-law of Brandi, and +his scholar in Rome, and rivalled his hasty method in many pictures +which I have seen in Rome and the states of the church; but we ought not +to rest our decision of his merits on these works, but should view the +animals painted by him at his leisure, particularly for the galleries of +princes. These are to be found in Vienna, Dresden, Monaco, and other +capital cities of Germany; and London possesses not a few of the first +value in their way.[84] + +After Caravaggio had given the best examples of flowers in his pictures, +the Cav. Tommaso Salini, of Rome, an excellent artist, as may be seen in +a S. Niccola at S. Agostino, was the first that composed vases of +flowers, accompanying them with beautiful groups of corresponding +foliage, and other elegant designs. Others too pursued this branch, and +the most celebrated of all, was Mario Nuzzi della Penna, better known by +the name of Mario da' Fiori; whose productions during his life were +emulously sought after, and purchased at great prices; but after the +lapse of some years, not retaining their original freshness, and +acquiring, from a vicious mode of colouring, a black and squalid +appearance, they became much depreciated in value. The same thing +happened to the flower pieces of Laura Bernasconi, who was his best +imitator, and whose works are still to be seen in many collections. + +Orsini informs us, that he found in Ascoli some paintings of flowers by +another of the fair sex, to whose memory the Academy of S. Luke in Rome +erected a marble monument in their church, not so much in compliment to +her talents in painting, as in consequence of her having bequeathed to +that society all her property, which was considerable. In her epitaph +she is commemorated only as a miniature painter, and Orlandi describes +her as such, adding, that she resided for a long time in Florence, where +she left a large number of portraits in miniature of the Medici, and +other princes of that time, about the year 1630. She also painted in +other capitals of Italy, and died at an advanced age in Rome, in 1673. + +Michelangiolo di Campidoglio of Rome, was greatly distinguished for his +masterly grouping of fruits. Though almost fallen into oblivion from the +lapse of years, his pictures are still to be met with in Rome, and in +other places. The noble family of Fossombroni in Arezzo, possess one of +the finest specimens of him that I have ever seen. More generally known +is Pietro Paolo Bonzi, called by Baglione, Il Gobbo di Cortona, which +was his native place; by others, Il Gobbo de' Caracci, from his having +been employed in their school; and by the vulgar, Il Gobbo da' Frutti, +from the natural manner of his painting fruit. He did not pass the +bounds of mediocrity in historical design, as we may see from his S. +Thomas, in the church of the Rotonda, nor in landscapes; but he was +unrivalled in painting fruits, and designing festoons, as in the ceiling +of the Palazzo Mattei; and in his elegant grouping of fruit in dishes +and baskets, as I have seen in Cortona, in the house of the noble family +of Velluti, in the Olivieri gallery in Pesaro, and elsewhere. The +Marchesi Venuti, in Cortona, have a portrait of him painted, it is +believed, by one of the Caracci, or some one of their school, and it is +well known, that the drawing of caricatures was a favourite amusement of +that academy. + +At this brilliant epoch, the art of perspective too was carried to a +high degree of perfection in deceiving the eye of the spectator. From +the beginning of the seventeenth century, it had made great advances by +the aid of P. Zaccolini, a Theatine monk of Cesena, in whose praise it +is sufficient to observe, that Domenichino and Poussin were instructed +by him in this art. S. Silvestro, in Montecavallo, possesses the finest +specimen of this power of illusion, in a picture of feigned columns, and +cornices and other architectural decorations. His original drawings +remain in the Barberini library. Gianfrancesco Niceron de' P. P. Minimi +added to this science by his work entitled _Thaumaturgus opticus_, 1643; +and in a gallery of his convent at Trinità de' Monti, he painted some +landscapes, which, on being viewed in a different aspect, are converted +into figures. But the most practised artist in the academy of Rome, was +Viviano Codagora, who drew from the ruins of ancient Rome, and also +painted compositions of his own invention in perspective. He engaged +Cerquozzi and Miel, and others in Rome, to insert the figures for him, +but he was most partial to Gargiuoli of Naples, as we shall mention in +our account of that school. Viviano may he called the Vitruvius of this +class of painters. He was correct in his linear perspective, and an +accurate observer of the style of the ancients. He gave his +representations of marble the peculiar tint it acquires by the lapse of +years, and his general tone of colour was vigorous. What subtracts the +most from his excellence is a certain hardness, and too great a quantity +of black, by which his pictures are easily distinguished from others in +collections, and which in the course of time renders them dark and +almost worthless. His true name is unknown to the greater number of the +lovers of art, by whom he is called Il Viviani; and who seem to have +confounded him with Ottavio Viviani of Brescia, who is mentioned by the +Dictionaries; a perspective painter also, but in another branch, and in +a different style, as we shall hereafter see. + +[Footnote 71: He excelled chiefly in architecture, although he had given +a proof of his talents in painting, in some subjects in the gallery, +executed under Gregory XIII.] + +[Footnote 72: In the, not very accurate, catalogue of the pictures in +Fabriano, besides the above mentioned fourteen, seven more are mentioned +by the same master.] + +[Footnote 73: Mention is also made of one Basilio Maggieri, an excellent +painter of portraits.] + +[Footnote 74: V. Le Pitture pubbliche di Piacenza, p. 81.] + +[Footnote 75: In a letter of the Oretti correspondence, written in 1777, +from Andrea Zanoni to the Prince Ercolani, I find Marini classed in the +school of Ferraù da Faenza, and there still remain many pictures by him +in the style of that master.] + +[Footnote 76: Pascoli has restored to him the picture of S. Rosalia at +the Maddalena, which Titi had ascribed to Michele Rocca, called _Il +Parmigianino_, an artist of repute, and proper to be mentioned, as by +those who are not acquainted with his name and style, he might be +mistaken for Mazzuola, or perhaps Scaglia. The same author, soon +afterwards, mentions Grecolini, and thereby renders any further notice +of that artist on my part unnecessary.] + +[Footnote 77: We ought to judge of him from the Visitation, at the +church of the Orfanelli, rather than from the picture of various Saints, +in _Ara Coeli_. This kind of observation may be extended to many other +artists, who are commemorated for the sake of some superior work.] + +[Footnote 78: Memoirs of this painter have been long a desideratum, as +may be seen from the Lett. Pitt. tom. v. p. 257. I give such information +as I have been able to procure in his native place, assisted by the +researches of the very obliging Monsignore Massajuoli, Bishop of Nocera. +Gio. Batista was born in Sassoferrato on the 11th July, 1605, and died +in Rome on the 8th August, 1685. And I may here correct an error of my +first edition, where it is printed 1635.] + +[Footnote 79: There is a picture of the Rosario in the church of the +Eremitani, with his name, and the year 1573. It is a large composition.] + +[Footnote 80: In the Oretti Correspondence there is a letter from an +anonymous writer to Malvasia respecting this painter, who is there +called Francesco, and is declared to be _Pittore di molta stima_. He +then painted in Ancona, as appears from letters under his own hand to +Malvasia, where he invariably subscribes himself Francesco.] + +[Footnote 81: Passeri, Vite de' Pittori, page 363. He was remarkable for +being the first to adopt a new style in trees in landscapes, where by a +strong character of truth and attention to the forms of the trunk, +foliage, and branches, he denoted the particular species he wished to +express.] + +[Footnote 82: He painted for his _studio_ a landscape enriched with +views from the Villa Madama, in which a wonderful variety of trees was +introduced. This he preserved for the purpose of supplying himself, as +from nature, with subjects for his various pictures, and refused to sell +it to the munificent pontiff, Clement IX., although that prince offered +to cover it with pieces of gold.] + +[Footnote 83: V. Salvator Rosa, sat. iii. p. 79, where he reprehends not +only the artists, but also the great, for affording such pictures a +place in their collections.] + +[Footnote 84: He was the ancestor of the Sig. Giuseppe Rosa, director of +the imperial gallery in Vienna, who has given us a catalogue of the +Italian and Flemish pictures of that collection, and who will, we hope, +add the German. Of this deserving artist he possesses a portrait, +engraved in 1789, where we find a list of the various academies that had +elected him a member, and these are numerous, and of the first class in +Europe. We find him also amongst those masters whose drawings were +collected by Mariette; and he is also mentioned in the Lessico +Universale delle Belle Arti, edited in Zurich, in 1763.] + + + + + ROMAN SCHOOL. + + FIFTH EPOCH. + + _The Scholars of Pietro da Cortona, from an injudicious + imitation of their Master, deteriorate the art. Maratta + and others support it._ + + +It may with equal justice be asserted of the fine arts, as of the belles +lettres, that they never long remain in the same state, and that they +experience often great changes even in the common period assigned to the +life of man. Many causes contribute to this; public calamities, such as +I mentioned to have occurred after the death of Raffaello; the +instability of the human mind, which in the arts as in dress is guided +by fashion and the love of novelty; the influence of particular artists; +the taste of the great, who from their selection or patronage of +particular masters, silently indicate the path to those artists who seek +the gifts of fortune. These and other causes tended to produce the +decline of painting in Rome towards the close of the seventeenth +century, at a time too when literature began to revive; a clear proof +that they are not mutually progressive. This was in a great measure +occasioned by the calamitous events which afflicted Rome and the state, +about the middle of that century; by the feuds of the nobles, the flight +of the Barberini family, and other unfortunate circumstances, which, +during the pontificate of Innocent X., as we are informed by Passeri, +(p. 321,) rendered the employment of artists very precarious; but more +than all the dreadful plague of 1655, under Alexander VII. To this state +of decay too the evil passions of mankind contributed in no small +degree, and these indeed in all revolutions are among the most active +and predominant sources of evil, and often even in a prosperous state of +things sow the seeds of future calamities. + +The Cav. Bernini, a man of more talents as an architect than as a +sculptor, was under Urban VIII. and Innocent X., and also until the year +1680, in which he died, the arbiter of the public taste in Rome. The +enemy of Sacchi and the benefactor of Cortona, he obtained more employ +for his friend than for his rival; and this was easily accomplished, as +Cortona was rapid as well as laborious, while Sacchi was slow and +irresolute, qualities which rendered him unacceptable even to his own +patrons. In course of time Bernini began to favour Romanelli, to the +prejudice of Pietro; and, instructing that artist and Baciccio in his +principles, he influenced them to the adoption of his own style, which, +though it possessed considerable beauty, was nevertheless mannered, +particularly in the folds of the drapery. The way being thus opened to +caprice, they abandoned the true, and substituted false precepts of art, +and many years had not elapsed before pernicious principles appeared in +the schools of the painters, and particularly in that of Cortona. Some +went so far as to censure the imitation of Raffaello, as Bellori attests +in the Life of Carlo Maratta, (p. 102,) and others ridiculed, as +useless, the study of nature, preferring to copy, in a servile manner, +the works of other artists. These effects are visible in the pictures of +the time. All the countenances, although by different artists, have a +fulness in the lips and nose like those of Pietro, and have all a sort +of family resemblance, so much are they alike; a defect which Bottari +says is the only fault of Pietro, but it is not the only fault of his +school. Every one was anxious to avoid the labour of study, and to +promote facility at the expense of correct design; the errors in which +they endeavoured to conceal by overcharging rather than discriminating +the contours. No one can be desirous that I should enter into further +particulars, when we are treating of matters so very near our own times, +and whoever is free from prejudice may judge for himself. I now return +to the state of the Roman School about one hundred and twenty years +back. + +The schools most in repute, after the death of Sacchi, in 1661, and of +Berrettini, in 1670, when the best scholars of the Caracci were dead, +were reduced to two, that of Cortona supported by Ciro, and that of +Sacchi, by Maratta. The first of these expanded the ideas, but induced +negligence; the second enforced correctness, but fettered the ideas. +Each adopted something from the other, and not always the best part; an +affected contrast pleased some of the scholars of Maratta, and the +drapery of Maratta was adopted by some of the followers of Ciro.[85] The +school of Cortona exhibited a grand style in fresco; the other school +was restricted to oils. They became rivals, each supported by its own +party, and were impartially employed by the pontiffs until the death of +Ciro, that is, until 1689. From that time a new tone was given to art by +Maratta, who, under Clement XI., was appointed director of the numerous +works which that pontiff was carrying on in Rome and in Urbino. Although +this master had many able rivals, as we shall see, he still maintained +his superiority, and on his death, his school continued to flourish +until the pontificate of Benedict XIV., ultimately yielding to the more +novel style of Subleyras, Batoni, and Mengs. Thus far of the two schools +in general: we shall now notice their followers. + +Besides the scholars whom Pietro formed in Tuscany, as Dandini of +Florence, Castellucci of Arezzo, Palladino of Cortona, and those whom he +formed in other schools, where we shall see them as masters, he educated +others in the Roman state, of whom it is now time to speak. The number +of his scholars is beyond belief. They were enumerated by Sig. Cav. +Luzi, a nobleman of Cortona, who composed a life of Berrettini with more +accuracy than had been before done, but his death prevented the +publication of it. Pietro continued to teach to the close of his life, +and the picture of S. Ivo, which he left imperfect, was finished by Gio. +Ventura Borghesi, of Città di Castello. Of this artist there are also at +S. Niccola, two pictures, the Nativity, and the Assumption of the +Virgin, and I am not acquainted with any other public specimens of his +pencil in Rome. His native place possesses many of his performances, and +the most esteemed are four circles of the History of S. Caterina, V. M., +in the church of that saint. Many of his works are to be found also in +Prague, and the cities of Germany. He follows Pietro with sufficient +fidelity in design, but does not display so much vigour of colour. Carlo +Cesi, of Rieti, or rather of Antrodoco, in that neighbourhood, was also +a distinguished scholar of Pietro. He lived in Rome, and in the Quirinal +gallery, where the best artists of the age painted under Alexander VII., +he has left a large picture of the Judgment of Solomon. He worked also +in other places; as at S. M. Maggiore, at the Rotunda, and was +patronized by several cardinals. He was correct in his design, and +opposed, both in person and by his precepts and example, the fatal and +prevailing facility of his time. Pascoli has preserved some of his +axioms, and this among others, that the beautiful should not be crowded, +but distributed with judgment in the composition of pictures; otherwise +they resemble a written style, which by the redundancy of brilliant and +sententious remarks fails in its effect. Francesco Bonifazio was of +Viterbo, and from the various pictures by him, which Orlandi saw in that +city, I do not hesitate to rank him among the successful followers of +Pietro. We may mention Michelangiolo Ricciolini, a Roman by birth, +although called of Todi, whose portrait is in the Medici gallery, where +is also that of Niccolo Ricciolini, respecting whom Orlandi is silent. +Both were employed in decorating the churches of Rome; the second had +the reputation of a better designer than the first, and in the cartoons +painted for some mosaics for the Vatican church, he competed with the +Cav. Franceschini. Paolo Gismondi, called also Paolo Perugino, became a +good fresco painter, and there are works remaining by him in the S. +Agata, in the Piazza Nova, and at S. Agnes, in the Piazza Navona. Pietro +Paolo Baldini, of whose native place I am ignorant, is stated by Titi to +have been of the school of Cortona. Ten pictures by him are counted in +the churches of Rome, and in some of them, as in the Crucifixion of S. +Eustace, a precision of style derived from another school is observable. +Bartolommeo Palombo has only two pictures in the capital. That of S. +Maria Maddelena de' Pazzi, which is placed at S. Martino a' Monti, +entitles him to rank with the best of his fellow scholars, the picture +possesses so strong a colouring, and the figures are so graceful and +well designed. Pietro Lucatelli, of Rome, was a distinguished painter, +and is named in the catalogue of the Colonna gallery, as the scholar of +Ciro, and in Titi, as the disciple of Cortona. He is a different artist +from Andrea Lucatelli, of whom we shall shortly speak. Gio. Batista +Lenardi, whom, in a former edition, I hesitated to place in the list of +the pupils of Pietro, I now consider as belonging to that school, though +he was instructed also by Baldi. In the chapel of the B. Rita, at S. +Agostino, he painted two lateral pictures as well as the vault; he also +ornamented other churches with his works, and particularly that of +Buonfratelli, at Trastevere, where he painted the picture of S. Gio. +Calibita. That of the great altar was ascribed to him, probably from a +similarity of style; but is by Andrea Generoli, called Il Sabinese, a +pupil either of Pietro himself, or of one of his followers. + +Thus far of the less celebrated of this school. The three superior +artists, whose works still attract us in the galleries of princes, are +Cortesi, and the two elder scholars of the academy of Pietro, Romanelli +and Ferri. Nor is it improbable that having competitors in some of his +first scholars, he became indisposed to instruct others with the same +degree of good will, as those noble minds are few, in whom the zeal of +advancing the art exceeds the regret at having produced an ingrate or a +rival. + +Guglielmo Cortesi, the brother of P. Giacomo, like him named Il +Borgognone, was one of the best artists of this period; and a scholar +rather than an imitator of Pietro. His admiration was fixed on Maratta, +whom he followed in the studied variety of his heads, and in the +sobriety of the composition, more than in the division of the folds of +his drapery or in colour; in which latter he manifested a clearness +partaking of the Flemish. His style was somewhat influenced by that of +his brother, whose assistant he was, and by his study of the Caracci. He +often appears to have imitated the strong relief and azure grounds of +Guercino. His Crucifixion of S. Andrea, in the church of Monte Cavallo, +the Fight of Joshua in the Quirinal palace, and a Madonna attended by +Saints, in the Trinità de' Pellegrini, merit our attention. In these +works there is a happy union of various styles, exempt from mannerism. + +Francesco Romanelli was born at Viterbo, and, as well as Testa, studied +some time under Domenichino. He afterwards placed himself with Pietro, +whose manner he imitated so successfully, that on Pietro going on a +journey into Lombardy, he left him, together with Bottalla (called +Bortelli by Baldinucci) to supply his place in decorating the Barberini +palace. It is reported that the two scholars, in the absence of their +master, endeavoured to have the work transferred to themselves, and were +on that account dismissed. It was at this time that Romanelli, assisted +by Bernini, changed his style, and adopted by degrees a more elegant and +a seductive manner in his figures, but possessing less grandeur and +science than that of Pietro. He used more slender proportions, clearer +tints, and a more minute taste in folding his drapery. His Deposition in +S. Ambrogio, which was extolled as a prodigy, stimulated Pietro to paint +opposite to it that wonderful picture of S. Stephen, on seeing which +Bernini exclaimed, that he then perceived the difference between the +master and the scholar. Romanelli was twice in France, having found a +patron in the Cardinal Barberini, who had fled to Paris; and he +participated in the spirited manner of that country, which gave an +animation before unknown to his figures. This at least is the opinion of +Pascoli. He decorated a portico of Cardinal Mazarine with subjects from +the metamorphoses of Ovid, and afterwards adorned some of the royal +saloons with passages from the Æneid. He was preparing to return to +France with his family for the third time, when he was intercepted by +death at Viterbo. He left in that city, at the grand altar of the Duomo, +the picture of S. Lorenzo, and in Rome, and in other cities of Italy, +numerous works both public and private, although he died at about +forty-five years of age. He had the honour of painting in the church of +the Vatican. The presentation which he placed there is now in the church +of the Certosa, the mosaic in S. Peter. He did not leave behind him any +scholars who inherited his reputation. Urbano, his son, was educated by +Ciro after the death of his father. He is known for his works in the +cathedral churches of Velletri and Viterbo: those in Viterbo are from +the life of S. Lorenzo, the patron saint of the church, and prove him to +have been a young man of considerable promise, but he was cut off +prematurely. + +Ciro Ferri, a Roman by birth, was, of all the disciples of Cortona, the +one the most attached in person, and similar to him in style; and not a +few of the works of Pietro were given to him to complete, both in +Florence and in Rome. There are indeed some pictures so dubious, that +the experienced are in doubt whether to assign them to the master or the +scholar. He displays generally less grace in design, a less expansive +genius, and shuns that breadth of drapery which his master affected. The +number of his works in Rome is not proportioned to his residence there, +because he lent much assistance to his master. There is a S. Ambrogio in +the church of that saint just mentioned, and it is a touchstone of merit +for whoever wishes to compare him with the best of his fellow scholars, +or with his master himself. His works in the Pitti palace have been +already mentioned in another place, and we ought not to forget another +grand composition by him in S. M. Maggiore in Bergamo, consisting of +various scriptural histories painted in fresco. He speaks of them +himself in some letters inserted in the Pittoriche, (tom. ii. p. 38,) +from which we gather, that he had been reprehended for his colouring, +and contemplated visiting Venice in order to improve himself. He did not +leave any scholar of celebrity in Rome. Corbellini, who finished the +Cupola of S. Agnes, the last work of Ciro, which has been engraved, +would not have found a place in Titi and Pascoli, if it had not been to +afford those writers an opportunity of expressing their regret at so +fine a composition being injured by the hand that attempted to finish +it. + +But another scion of the same stock sprung up to support the name and +credit of the school of Ciro, transferred from Florence to Rome. We +mentioned in the first book, that when Ciro was in Florence he formed a +scholar in Gabbiani, who became the master of Benedetto Luti. Ciro was +only just dead when Luti arrived in Rome, who not being able to become +his scholar, as he had designed when he left his native place, applied +himself to studying the works of Ciro, and those of other good masters, +as I have elsewhere remarked. He thus formed for himself an original +style, and enjoyed in Rome the reputation of an excellent artist in the +time of Clement XI., who honoured him with commissions, and decorated +him with the cross. It is to be regretted that he attached himself so +much to crayons, with which he is said to have inundated all Europe. He +was intended by nature for nobler things. He painted well in fresco, and +still better in oils. His S. Anthony in the church of the Apostles, and +the Magdalen in that of the Sisters of Magnanapoli, which is engraved, +are highly esteemed. Nor would it add a little to his reputation, if we +had engravings of his two pictures in the Duomo of Piacenza, S. Conrad +penitent, and S. Alexius recognised after death; where, amidst other +excellences, a fine expression of the pathetic predominates. Of his +profane pieces, his Psyche in the Capitoline gallery, is the most +remarkable, and breathes an elegant and refined taste. Of the few +productions which Tuscany possesses by him, we have written in the +school of Gabbiani. We shall here mention a few of his scholars, who +remained in Rome, noticing others in various schools. + +Placido Costanzi is often mentioned with approbation in the collections +of Rome for the elegant figures he inserted in the landscapes of +Orizzonte; he also painted some altarpieces in a refined style. In the +church of the Magdalen is a picture of S. Camillo attended by Angels, so +gracefully painted, that he seems to have aspired to rival Domenichino. +He also distinguished himself in fresco, as may be seen in the S. Maria +in Campo Marzio, where the ceiling in the greater tribune is the work of +Costanzi. + +Pietro Bianchi resembled Luti more than any of his scholars in elegance +of manner, and excelled him in large compositions, which he derived from +his other master, Baciccio. His extreme fastidiousness and his early +death prevented him from leaving many works. A very few of his pictures +are found in the churches of Rome. At Gubbio is his picture of S. +Chiara, with the Angel appearing, a piece of grand effect, from the +distribution of the light. The sketch of this picture was purchased by +the King of Sardinia at a high price. He painted for the church of S. +Peter a picture, which was executed in mosaic in the altar of the choir: +the original is in the Certosa, in which the Cav. Mancini had the +greatest share, as Bianchi did little more than furnish the sketch. + +Francesco Michelangeli, called l'Aquilano, is known to posterity from a +letter written by Luti himself, (Lett. Pitt. tom. vi. p. 278,) where the +annotator informs us, that his master frequently employed him in copying +his works, and that he died young. This notice is not without its use, +as it acquaints us with the origin of the beautiful copies of Luti which +are so frequently met with. + +We may lastly notice an artist of mediocrity of this school, who is +nevertheless said to be the painter of some beautiful pictures; the two +pictures of S. Margaret, in Araceli; S. Gallicano, in the church of that +saint; and the Nativity, in the church of the Infant Jesus. His name was +Filippo Evangelisti, and he was chamberlain to the Cardinal Corradini, +through whose influence he obtained many commissions. Being himself +incapable of executing these well, (if we may rely on a letter in the +_Pittoriche_) he engaged Benefial, whom we shall shortly notice, to +assist him. They thus painted in partnership, the gain was divided +between them, but the celebrity was the portion of the principal; and if +any piece came out under the name of the assistant, it was rather +censured than praised. The poor artist at last became impatient of this +treatment, and disdaining any longer to support a character which did +him no honour, he left his companion to work by himself; and it was then +that Evangelisti, in his picture of S. Gregory, in the church of the +Saints Peter and Marcellino, appeared in his true colours, and the +public thus discovered that he was indebted to Benefial for genius as +well as labour. + +The school of Sacchi may boast of one of the first artists of the age in +Francesco Lauri, of Rome, in whom his master flattered himself he had +found a second Raffaello. The disciple himself, in order to justify the +high expectation which the public had conceived of him, before opening a +school in Rome, travelled through Italy, and from thence visited +Germany, Holland, and Flanders, and resided for the space of a year in +Paris; thus adding greatly to the funds of knowledge and experience +already obtained by him in his native place. He was, however, cut off +very early in life, leaving behind him, in the Sala de' Crescenzi, three +figures of Goddesses painted in the vault in fresco; but no other +considerable work, as far as my knowledge extends. This artist must not +be confounded with Filippo, his brother, and scholar in his early years, +who was afterwards instructed by Caroselli, who espoused his sister. He +was not accustomed to paint large compositions; and the Adam and Eve, +which are seen in the Pace, it should seem, he represented on so much +larger a scale, lest any one should despise his talent, as only capable +of small works, on which he was always profitably employed. We meet with +cabinet pictures by him in the Flemish style, touched with great spirit, +and coloured in good taste, evincing a fund of lively and humorous +invention. He sometimes painted sacred subjects, and at S. Saverio, in +the collection of the late Monsignor Goltz, I saw an enchanting picture +by him, a perfect gem, and greatly admired by Mengs. He painted in the +Palazzo Borghese some beautiful landscapes in fresco, in which branch +his family was already celebrated, as his father, Baldassare, of +Flanders, who had been a scholar of Brill, and lived in Rome in the time +of Sacchi, was ranked among the eminent landscape painters, and is +commemorated by Baldinucci. + +The immature death of Lauri was compensated for by the lengthened term +of years accorded to Luigi Garzi and Carlo Maratta, who continued to +paint to the commencement of the eighteenth century; enemies to +despatch, correct in their style, and free from the corrupt prejudices +which afterwards usurped the place of the genuine rules of art. The +first, who is called a Roman by Orlandi, was born in Pistoja, but came +while yet young to Rome. He studied landscape for fifteen years under +Boccali, but being instructed afterwards by Sacchi, he discovered such +remarkable talents, that he became highly celebrated in Naples and in +Rome in every class of painting. In the former city, his decoration of +two chambers of the royal palace is greatly extolled; and in the latter, +where he ornamented many churches, he seemed to surpass himself in the +Prophet of S. Giovanni Laterano. He is praised in general for his forms +and attitudes, and for his fertile invention and his composition. He +understood perspective, and was a good machinist, though in refinement +of taste he is somewhat behind Maratta. In his adherence to the school +of Sacchi we may still perceive some imitation of Cortona, to whom some +have given him as a scholar, as well in many pictures remaining in Rome, +as in others sent to various parts; among which is his S. Filippo Neri, +in the church of that saint at Fano, which is a gallery of beautiful +productions. But on no occasion does he seem more a follower of Cortona, +or rather of Lanfranco, than in the Assumption in the Duomo of Pescia, +an immense composition, and which is considered his masterpiece. It is +mentioned in the _Catalogo delle migliori Pitture di Valdinievole_, +drawn up by Sig. Innocenzio Ansaldi, and inserted in the recent History +of Pescia. Mario, the son of Luigi Garzi who is mentioned twice in the +_Guida di Roma_, died young. We may here also mention the name of +Agostino Scilla of Messina, whom we shall hereafter notice more at +length. + +Carlo Maratta was born in Camurano, in the district of Ancona, and +enjoyed, during his life, the reputation of one of the first painters in +Europe. Mengs, in a letter "On the Rise, Progress, and Decline of the +Art of Design," assigns to Maratta the enviable distinction of having +sustained the art in Rome, where it did not degenerate as in other +places. The early part of his life was devoted to copying the works of +Raffaello, which always excited his admiration, and his indefatigable +industry was employed in restoring the frescos of that great master in +the Vatican and the Farnesina, and preserving them for the eyes of +posterity; a task requiring both infinite care and judgment, and +described by Bellori. He was not a machinist, and in consequence neither +he nor his scholars distinguished themselves in frescos, or in large +compositions. At the same time he had no fear of engaging in works of +that kind, and willingly undertook the decoration of the Duomo of +Urbino, which he peopled with figures. This work, with the Cupola +itself, was destroyed by an earthquake in 1782; but the sketches for it +are preserved in Urbino, in four pictures, in the Albani palace. He was +most attached by inclination to the painting of cabinet pictures and +altarpieces. His Madonnas possess a modest, lively, and dignified air; +his angels are graceful; and his saints are distinguished by their fine +heads, a character of devotion, and are clothed in the sumptuous costume +of the church. In Rome his pictures are the more prized the nearer they +approach to the style of Sacchi, as the S. Saverio in the Gesù, a +Madonna in the Panfili palace, and several others. Some are found beyond +the territories of the church, and in Genoa is his Martyrdom of S. +Biagio, a picture as to the date of which I do not inquire, but only +assert that it is worthy of the greatest rival of Sacchi. He afterwards +adopted a less dignified style, but which for its correctness is worthy +of imitation. Though he had devoted the early part of his life to the +acquisition of a pure style of design, he did not think himself +sufficiently accomplished in it, and again returned, when advanced in +years, to the study of Raffaello, of whose excellences he possessed +himself, without losing sight of the Caracci and Guido. But many are of +opinion that he fell into a style too elaborate, and sacrificed the +spirit of his compositions to minute care. His principal fault lay in +the folding of his drapery, when through a desire of copying nature he +too frequently separates its masses, and neglects too much the naked +parts, which takes away from the elegance of his figures. He endeavoured +to fix his principal light on the most important part of his +composition, subduing rather more than was right, the light in other +parts of his picture, and his scholars carried this principle afterwards +so far as to produce an indistinctness which became the characteristic +mark of his school. + +Though not often, he yet painted some few pictures of an extraordinary +magnitude, as the S. Carlo in the church of that saint at the Corso, and +the Baptism of Christ in the Certosa, copied in mosaic in the Basilica +of S. Peter. His other pictures are for the most part on a smaller +scale; many are in Rome, and amongst them the charming composition of S. +Stanislaus Kostka, at the altar where his ashes repose; not a few others +in other cities, as the S. Andrea Corsini in the chapel of that noble +family in Florence, and the S. Francesco di Sales at the Filippini di +Forli, which is one of his most studied works. He contributed largely, +also, to the galleries of sovereigns and private individuals. There is +not a considerable collection in Rome without a specimen of his pencil, +particularly that of the Albani, to which family he was extremely +attached. His works are frequently met with in the state. There is a +valuable copy of the Battle of Constantine, in possession of the +Mancinforti family in Ancona. It is related, that, being requested to +copy that picture, he proposed the task to one of his best scholars, who +disdained the commission. He therefore undertook the work himself, and +on finishing it, took occasion to intimate to his pupils, that the +copying such productions might not be without benefit to the most +accomplished masters. He had a daughter whom he instructed in his own +art; and her portrait, executed by herself, in a painting attitude, is +to be seen in the Corsini gallery at Rome. + +Maratta, in his capacity of an instructor, is extolled by his +biographer, Bellori (p. 208); but is by Pascoli accused of jealousy, and +of having condemned a youth of the most promising talents in his school, +Niccolo Berrettoni di Montefeltro, to the preparation of colours. This +artist, however, from the principles which he imbibed from Cantarini, +and from his imitation of Guido and Coreggio, formed for himself a mixed +style, delicate, free, and unconstrained, and the more studied, as that +study was concealed under the semblance of nature. He died young, +leaving very few works behind him, almost all of which were engraved, in +consequence of his high reputation. The Marriage of the Virgin Mary, +which he executed for S. Lorenzo in Borgo, was engraved by Pier Santi +Bartoli, a very distinguished engraver of those times, an excellent +copyist, and himself a painter of some merit.[86] Another of his +pictures, a Madonna, attended by saints at S. Maria di Monte Santo, and +the lunettes of the same chapel, were engraved by Frezza. An account of +this artist may be found in the Lettere Pitt. tom. v. p. 277. + +Giuseppe Chiari of Rome, who finished some pictures of Berrettoni and of +Maratta himself, was one of the best painters of easel pictures of that +school. Many of his works found their way to England. He painted some +pictures for the churches of Rome, and probably the best is the +Adoration of the Magi in the church of the Suffragio, of which there is +an engraving. He also succeeded in fresco. Those works in particular, +which he executed in the Barberini palace, under the direction of the +celebrated Bellori, and those also of the Colonna gallery, will always +do him credit; he was sober in his colours, careful and judicious; rare +qualities in a fresco painter. He did not inherit great talents from +nature, but by force of application became one of the first artists of +his age. Tommaso Chiari, a pupil also of Maratta, and whose designs he +sometimes executed, did not pass the bounds of mediocrity. The same may +be observed of Sigismond Rosa, a scholar of Giuseppe Chiari. + +To Giuseppe Chiari, who was the intimate friend of Maratta, we may add +two others, who were, according to Pascoli, the only scholars whom he +took a pleasure in instructing; Giuseppe Passeri, the nephew of +Giambatista, and Giacinto Calandrucci of Palermo. Both were +distinguished as excellent imitators of their master. Passeri worked +also in the state. In Pesaro is a S. Jerome by him, meditating on the +Last Judgment, which may be enumerated among his best works. In the +church of the Vatican, he painted a pendant to the Baptism of Maratta, +S. Peter baptizing the centurion, which after being copied in mosaic, +was sent to the church of the Conventuals in Urbino. This picture, which +was executed under the direction of Maratta, is well coloured; but in +many of his works his colouring is feeble, as in the Conception at the +church of S. Thomas in Parione, and in other places in Rome. +Calandrucci, after having given proof of his talents in the churches of +S. Antonio de' Portoghesi, and S. Paolino della Regola, and in other +churches of Rome, and after having been creditably employed by many +noble persons, and by two pontiffs, returned to Palermo, and there, in +the church del Salvatore, placed his large composition of the Madonnas, +attended by S. Basil and other saints, which work he did not long +survive. He left behind him in Rome a nephew, who was his scholar, +called Giambatista; and he had also a brother there of the name of +Domenico, a disciple of Maratta and himself; but there are no traces of +their works remaining. + +Andrea Procaccini and Pietro de' Petri, also hold a distinguished place +in this school, although their fortunes were very dissimilar. +Procaccini, who painted in S. Giovanni Laterano, the Daniel, one of the +twelve prophets which Clement XI. commanded to be painted as a trial of +skill by the artists of his day, obtained great fame, and ultimately +became painter to the court of Spain, where he remained fourteen years, +and left some celebrated works. Petri on the contrary continued to +reside in Rome, and died there at a not very advanced age. He was +employed there in the tribune of S. Clement, and in some other works. He +did not, however, obtain the reputation and success that he deserved, in +consequence of his infirm health and his extreme modesty. He is one of +those who engrafted on the style of Maratta, a portion of the manner of +Cortona. Orlandi calls him a Roman, others a Spaniard, but his native +place in fact was Premia, a district of Novara. Paolo Albertoni and Gio. +Paolo Melchiorri, both Romans, flourished about the same time; less +esteemed, indeed, than the foregoing, but possessing the reputation of +good masters, particularly the second. + +At a somewhat later period, the last scholar of Maratta, Agostino +Masucci presents himself to our notice. This artist did not exhibit any +peculiar spirit, confining himself to pleasing and devout subjects. In +his representations of the Virgin he emulated his master, who from his +great number of subjects of that kind, was at one time called Carlo +dalle Madonne; as he himself has commemorated in his own epitaph. Like +Maratta he imparted to them an expression of serene majesty, rather than +loveliness and affability. In some of his cabinet pictures I am aware +that he occasionally renounced this manner, but it was only through +intercession and expostulation. He was a good fresco painter, and +decorated for pope Benedict XIV. an apartment in a casino, erected in +the garden of the Quirinal. He painted many altarpieces, and his angels +and children are designed with great elegance and nature, and in a novel +and original style. His S. Anna at the Nome S. S. di Maria, is one of +the best pictures he left in Rome; there is also a S. Francis in the +church of the Osservanti di Macerata, a Conception at S. Benedetto di +Gubbio, in Urbino a S. Bonaventura, which is perhaps his noblest +composition, full of portraits (in which he was long considered the most +celebrated painter in Rome), and finished with exquisite care. Lorenzo, +his son and scholar, was very inferior to him. + +Stefano Pozzi received his first instructions from Maratta, and +afterwards became a scholar of Masucci. He had a younger brother, +Giuseppe, who died before him, ere his fame was matured. Stefano lived +long, painting in Rome with the reputation of one of the best masters of +his day; more noble in his style of design than Masucci, and if I err +not, more vigorous, and more natural in his colouring. We may easily +estimate their merits in Rome in the church just mentioned, where we +find the Transito di S. Giuseppe of Pozzi, near the S. Anna of Masucci. +Of the Cav. Girolamo Troppa, I have heard from oral tradition that he +was the scholar of Maratta. He was certainly his imitator, and a +successful one too, although he did not live long. He left works both in +oil and fresco in the capital, and in the church of S. Giacomo delle +Penitenti, he painted in competition with Romanelli. I have found +pictures by him in the state; and in S. Severino is a church picture +very well conducted. Girolamo Odam, a Roman of a Lorena family, is +reckoned among the disciples of the Cav. Carlo, and is eulogized in a +long and pompous article by Orlandi, or perhaps by some friend of Odam, +who supplied Orlandi with the information. He is there described as a +painter, sculptor, architect, engraver, philosopher, mathematician, and +poet, and accomplished in every art and science. In all these I should +imagine he was superficial, as nothing remains of him except some +engravings and a very slender reputation, not at all corresponding to +such unqualified commendation. + +Of other artists who are little known in Rome and its territories, such +as Jacopo Fiammingo, Francesco Pavesi, Michele Semini, there is little +information that can be relied on. Respecting Subissati, Conca is +silent, though information might possibly be obtained of him in Madrid, +at which court he died. In Urbino, which was his native place, I find no +picture of him remaining, except the head of a sybil: Antonio Balestra +of Verona and Raffaellino Bottalla will be found in their native +schools, but I must not here omit one, a native of the state, who after +being educated in the academy, returned to his native country, and there +introduced the style of Carlo, at that time so much in vogue. Orlandi +mentions with applause Gioseffo Laudati of Perugia, as having +contributed to restore the art, which after the support it had found in +Bassotti and others, had fallen into decay. + +Lodovico Trasi, of Ascoli, is deserving of particular notice. He was for +several years a fellow disciple of Maratta in the school of Sacchi, and +was afterwards desirous of becoming his scholar. After studying some +time in his academy, he returned to Ascoli, where he has left a great +number of works both public and private, in various styles. In some of +his smaller pictures he discovers a good Marattesque style; but in his +fresco and altarpieces he is negligent, and adheres much to Sacchi, yet +in a manner that discovers traces of Cortona. His picture of S. Niccolo +at the church of S. Cristoforo is beautiful, and is one of the pieces +which he finished with more than usual care. He has there represented +the enfranchisement of a slave, at the moment the pious youth is serving +at his master's table. There are some remarkable pictures of this artist +in the cathedral, painted in distemper, particularly that of the +martyrdom of S. Emidio. Trasi was the instructor of D. Tommaso Nardini, +who continued on his master's death the decoration of the churches of +the city, and his best work is perhaps in S. Angelo Magno, a church of +the Olivetani. The perspective was by Agostino Collaceroni of Bologna, a +scholar of Pozzi. Nardini supplied the figures, representing the +mysteries of the Apocalypse and other scriptural events. It displays +great spirit and harmony, richness of colouring and facility, which are +the distinguishing characteristics of this master, and are perhaps +better expressed in this picture than in any other. We may add to the +two before mentioned painters, Silvestro Mattei, who studied under +Maratta, Giuseppe Angelini, the scholar of Trasi, and Biagio Miniera, +also of Ascoli, whom Orsini has noticed in his _Guida_. + +There flourished about the same time in the neighbouring city of Fermo, +two Ricci, scholars of Maratta, who were probably instructed before +going to Rome by Lorenzino di Fermo, a good artist, though doubtful of +what school, and who is said to have painted the picture of S. Catharine +at the church of the Conventuals, and other pictures in the adjoining +territories. The one was named Natale, the other Ubaldo; the latter was +superior to the former, and is much extolled for his S. Felice, which he +painted for the church of the Capucins, in his native place. He did not +often pass the bounds of mediocrity, which is frequently the case with +artists residing at a distance from a capital, and who have not the +incitement to emulation and an opportunity of studying good examples. +The same observation is, I think, applicable also to another scholar of +Maratta, Giuseppe Oddi, of Pesaro, where one of his pictures remains in +the church della Carità. We shall now return to the metropolis. + +A fresh reinforcement to support the style of the Caracci in Rome, was +received from the school of Bologna. I speak only of those who +established themselves there. Domenico Muratori had been the scholar of +Pasinelli, and painted the great picture in the church of the Apostles, +which is probably the largest altarpiece in Rome, and represents the +martyrdom of S. Philip and S. James. The grandeur of this composition, +its judicious disposition and felicity of chiaroscuro, though its +colouring was not entirely perfect, gave him considerable celebrity. He +was also employed in many smaller works, in which he always evinced an +equally correct design, and perhaps better colouring. He was chosen to +paint one of the prophets in the Basilica Lateranense, and was employed +also in other cities. In the cathedral of Pisa, he painted a large +picture of S. Ranieri, in the act of exorcising a demon, which is +esteemed one of his most finished works. Francesco Mancini di S. Angiolo +in Vado, and Bonaventura Lamberti di Carpi, had better fortune in +Bologna, in having for their master Carlo Cignani. Mancini, when he came +to Rome, did not adhere exclusively to his master's manner, as he was +rather more attached to the facility and freedom of Franceschini, his +fellow scholar, whom he somewhat resembles in style. He seems, however, +to have had less despatch, and certainly painted less. He was chaste in +his invention, and followed the example of Lazzarini; he designed well, +coloured in a charming manner, and was numbered among the first artists +of his age in Rome. He painted the Miracle of S. Peter at the beautiful +gate of the temple, a picture which is preserved in the palace of Monte +Cavallo, and is copied in mosaic in S. Peter's. This picture, which is a +spirited composition, and well arranged in the perspective, is his +principal work, and does not suffer from a comparison with those +mentioned in the Guida di Roma, and others scattered through the +dominions of the church. Such are pictures with various saints in the +church of the Conventuals of Urbino, and in that of the Camaldolesi of +Fabriano; the appearing of Christ to S. Peter in that of the Filippini, +in Città di Castello, and the various works executed in oil and in +fresco at Forli and at Macerata. He painted many pictures for foreign +collections, and was commended for his large compositions. From his +studio issued the Canonico Lazzarini before named, whom, as he lived +amongst other followers of Cignani, I shall reserve with them to the +close of the Bolognese school. Niccola Lapiccola, of Crotone, in +Calabria Ultra, remained in Rome; and a cupola of a chapel in the +Vatican painted by him, was copied in mosaic. There are some pictures by +him in other churches; the best are, perhaps, in the state, particularly +in Velletri. I have heard that he was a disciple of Mancini, though in +his colouring he somewhat adhered to his native school. + +Bonaventura Lamberti is numbered by Mengs among the latest of the +successful followers of the school of Cignani, whose style he preserved +more carefully than Mancini himself. He did not give many works to the +world. He had, however, the honour of having his designs copied in +mosaic by Giuseppe Ottaviani, in S. Peter's, and one of his pictures +engraved by Frey. It is in the church of the Spirito Santo de' +Napolitani, and represents a miracle of S. Francesco di Paola. The +Gabrieli family, which patronised him in an extraordinary manner, +possesses a great number of historical pictures by him, which are in +themselves sufficient to engage the attention of an amateur for several +hours. Lamberti had the honour of giving to the Roman School the Cav. +Marco Benefial, born and resident in Rome, a painter of great genius, +though not always equal to himself, rather perhaps from negligence, than +deficiency of powers. + +The Marchese Venuti[87] extols this master above all others of his time +for his accurate design, and his Caracciesque colouring. His monument is +placed in the Pantheon, among those of the most celebrated painters, and +to his bust is attached the eulogy bestowed on him by the Abate +Giovenazzo, where he is particularly commended for his power of +expression. The factions to which he gave rise still subsist, as if he +were yet living. His admirers not being able to defend all his works, +have fixed on the Flagellation at the Stimmate, painted in competition +with Muratori,[88] and S. Secondino at the Passionisti, as the subjects +of their unqualified approbation; pictures indeed, of such science, that +they may challenge any comparison. To these may be added his S. Lorenzo +and S. Stefano, in the Duomo of Viterbo, and a few others of similar +merit, in which he evidently imitated Domenichino and his school. His +enemies have designated him as an inferior artist, and adduce several +works feeble in expression and effect. The impartial consider him an +eminent artist, but his productions vary, being occasionally in a grand +style, and at other times not passing the bounds of mediocrity. This is +a character which has been ascribed to many poets also, and even to +Petrarch himself. + +Our obligations are due to the Sig. Batista Ponfredi, his scholar, for +the memoirs of this eminent man. They were addressed to the Count +Niccola Soderini, a great benefactor of Benefial, and more rich in his +works than any other Roman collector. His letter is in the fifth volume +of the _Pittoriche_, and is one of the most instructive in the +collection, although altered by the editor in some points. I shall +transcribe a passage from it, as it may be satisfactory to see the +actual state of the art at that time, and the way in which Marco +contributed to its support. "He was so anxious to revive the art, and so +grieved to see it fall into decay, that he frequently consumed several +hours in the day in declaiming against the prevailing conception of +style, and urging the necessity of shunning mannerism, and adopting a +style founded in truth, which few did, or if they did, attempted not to +imitate its simplicity, but adapted it to their own manner. He directed +the particular attention of his pupils to the difference between the +production of a mannerist, and one which was studied and simple, and +founded in nature; that the first, if it were well designed, and had a +good chiaroscuro, had at first sight a striking effect from the +brilliancy of its colours, but gradually lost ground at every succeeding +view, while the other appeared the more excellent the longer it was +inspected."--These and other precepts of the same kind he delivered in +terms perhaps too cynical; not only in private, but in the school of +design at the Campidoglio, at the time that he presided there; the +consequence was that the inferior artists combined against him, deprived +him of his employment, and suspended him from the academy. Some further +information respecting Benefial was communicated to the public in the +_Risposta alle Lett. Perugine_, p. 48. + +From a scholar also of Cignani, (Franceschini,) Francesco Caccianiga +received instructions in Bologna, whence he came to Rome, where he +perfected his style and established himself. He was a painter to whom +nothing was wanting, except that natural spirit and vigour which are not +to be supplied by industry. He was employed by several potentates, and +two of his works executed for the king of Sardinia were engraved by +himself. Ancona possesses four of his altarpieces, among which are the +Institution of the Eucharist, and the Espousals of the Virgin; pictures +coloured in a clear, animated, and engaging style, and easily +distinguished among a thousand. Rome has few public works by him. In the +Gavotti palace is a good fresco, and there are others in the palace and +villa of the Borghesi, who generously extended to him a permanent and +suitable provision, when overtaken by poverty and age.[89] + +From the school of Guercino came Sebastiano Ghezzi of Comunanza, not far +from Ascoli. He was eminent both in design and colouring, and at the +church of the Agostiniani Scalzi di Monsammartino is a S. Francesco by +him, which is esteemed an exquisite picture, and wants only the +finishing hand of the artist. He was the father and teacher of Giuseppe +Ghezzi, who studied in Rome, and was also a tolerable writer, +considering the period at which he wrote. In his painting he seemed to +adopt the style of Cortona. His name is frequently mentioned in the +Guida di Roma, and more than once in the _Antichità Picene_, where it is +stated that he was held in great esteem by Clement XI., and that he died +secretary to the academy of S. Luke, (tom. xxv. p. 11). Pascoli, who has +written his life, extols him for his skill in restoring pictures, in +which capacity the queen of Sweden employed him exclusively on all +occasions. + +Pierleone, his son and scholar, possessed a style similar to that of his +father, but less hurried, and became a more distinguished artist. He was +selected with Luti and Trevisani, and other eminent masters, to paint +the prophets of the Lateran, as well as other commissions. But for his +chief reputation he is indebted to the singular talent he possessed in +designing caricatures, which are to be found in the cabinets of Rome and +other places. In these he humourously introduced persons of quality, a +circumstance particularly gratifying in a country where the freedom of +the pencil was thought a desirable addition to the licence of the +tongue. + +Other schools of Italy also contributed artists to the Roman School, who +however did not produce any new manner, except that in respect of the +two principal masters then in vogue, Cortona and Maratta, they have +afforded an occasional modification of those two styles. + +Gio. Maria Morandi came whilst yet a youth from Florence, and forsaking +the manner of Bilivert, his first instructor, formed for himself a new +style. This was a mixture of Roman design and Venetian colouring (for in +travelling through Italy, he resided some time at Venice, and copied +much there), while some part of it partakes of the manner of Cortona, +and was esteemed in Rome. He established himself in this latter city, in +the Guida of which he is often mentioned, and his works are not +unfrequently found in collections. His Visitation at the Madonna del +Popolo is a fine composition; and still more highly finished, and full +of grand effect, is his picture of the death of the Virgin Mary, in the +church della Pace. This may indeed be considered his masterpiece, and it +has been engraved by Pietro Aquila. He was also celebrated for his +historical pictures, which he sometimes sent into foreign countries, and +more than in any other branch, he acquired a reputation in portraits, in +which he was constantly employed by persons of quality in Rome and +Florence, and was also called to Vienna by the emperor. There, besides +the imperial family, he painted also the portraits of many of the lesser +princes of Germany. Odoardo Vicinelli, a painter of considerable merit +in these latter times, in vol. vi. of the Lett. Pitt. is said to have +been a scholar of Morandi, and Pascoli does not hesitate to assert that +he conferred greater honour than any other of his scholars on his +master; I believe, in Rome, where Pietro Nelli alone could dispute +precedence with him. + +Francesco Trevisani, a native of Trevigi, was educated by Zanchi in +Venice, where, in order to distinguish him from Angiolo Trevisani, he +was called Il Trevisani Romano. In Rome, he abandoned his first +principles, and regulated his taste by the best manner then in vogue. He +possessed a happy talent of imitating every manner, and at one time +appears a follower of Cignani, at another of Guido; alike successful +whichever style he adopted. The Albiccini family, in Forli, possess many +of his pictures in various styles, and amongst them a small Crucifixion, +most spirited and highly finished, which the master esteemed his best +work, and offered a large sum to obtain back again. His pictures abound +in Rome, and in general exhibit an elegance of design, a fine pencil, +and a vigorous tone of colour. His S. Joseph dying, in the church of the +Collegio R., is a remarkably noble production. A subject painted by him +to accompany one by Guido in the Spada palace is also highly esteemed. +He enjoyed the patronage of Clement XI. by whom he was not only +commissioned to paint one of the prophets of the Lateran, but was also +employed in the cupola of the Duomo in Urbino, in which he painted the +four quarters of the world; a work truly estimable for design, fancy, +and colouring. In other cities of the state we find pictures by him +painted with more or less care, in Foligno, at Camerino, in Perugia, at +Forli, and one of S. Antonio at S. Rocco in Venice, of a form more +elegant than robust. + +Pasquale Rossi, better known by the name of Pasqualino, was born in +Vicenza, and from long copying the best Venetian and Roman pictures, +attained without the instruction of a master, a natural mode of colour, +and a good style of design. Few of his public works remain in Rome; +Christ praying in the garden in the church of S. Carlo al Corso, the +Baptism also of our Saviour at the Madonna del Popolo. The Silvestrini +of Fabriano have several pictures by him, and among them a Madonna truly +beautiful. His S. Gregory, in the Duomo of Matelica, in the act of +liberating souls from purgatory, is in the style of Guercino, and is one +of his best works. In private collections we find his cabinet pictures +representing gaming parties, conversations, concerts, and similar +subjects, carefully finished on a small scale, and little inferior to +Flemish pictures. I have met with numerous specimens of them in various +places; but in no place have I admired this artist so much as in the +royal gallery at Turin, in which are some ornaments over doors, and +pictures of considerable size by him, chiefly scriptural subjects, +executed in an animated and vigorous style, and with so much imitation +of the Roman School, that we should think them to be by some other +master. + +Giambatista Gaulli, commonly called Baciccio, studied first in Genoa. +Whilst still young he went to Rome, where under the direction of a +Frenchman, and by the more valuable aid of Bernino, he formed himself on +the style of the great machinists. As he was endowed by nature with a +ready genius and a dexterity of hand, he could not have chosen any +branch of the art more adapted to his talent. The vault of the Gesù is +his most conspicuous work. The knowledge of the _sotto in su_, the +unity, harmony, and correct perspective of its objects, the brilliancy +and skilful gradation of the light, rank it among the best, if indeed it +be not his best picture in Rome. It must, however, be confessed, that we +must inspect it with an eye to the general effect, rather than to the +local tints, or the drawing of the figures, in which he is not always +correct. His faults in his easel pictures, which are very numerous in +Italy and in foreign countries, are less obtrusive, and are abundantly +atoned for by their spirit, freshness of tints, and engaging +countenances. He varies his manner with his subject, assigning to each a +peculiar style. There is a delightful picture in his best manner, +gracefully painted in the church of S. Francesco a Ripa, representing +the Madonna with the divine Infant in her arms, and at her feet S. Anna +kneeling, surrounded by Angels. In a grave and pathetic style on the +contrary, is the representation of S. Saverio dying in the desert island +of Sanciano, which is placed near the altar of S. Andrea at Monte +Cavallo. His figures of children are very engaging and highly finished, +though after the manner of Fiammingo, more fleshy and less elegant than +those of Titian or the Greeks. He painted seven pontiffs, and many +persons of rank of his day, and was considered the first portrait +painter in Rome. In this branch of his art he followed a custom of +Bernino, that of engaging the person he painted in an animated +conversation, in order to obtain the most striking expression of which +the subject was susceptible. + +Giovanni Odazzi, his first scholar, was ambitious of emulating him in +celerity, but not possessing equal talent, he did not attain the same +distinction. He is the most feeble, or at all events, the least eminent +of the painters of the prophets of the Lateran, where his Hosea is to be +seen; and indeed, in every corner of Rome, his pictures are to be met +with, as he never refused any commission. Pascoli has preserved the +memory of another of his scholars, a native of Perugia, in the lives of +the painters of his native country. This was Francesco Civalli, +initiated in the art by Andrea Carlone; he was a youth of talent, but +impatient of instruction. He painted in Rome and other places, but did +not pass the bounds of mediocrity. The Cav. Lodovico Mazzanti, was the +scholar of Gaulli, and emulated his manner to the best of his ability; +but his talents were not commanding, nor were his powers equal to his +ambition. Gio. Batista Brughi, a worker in mosaic, rather than a +painter, left notwithstanding some public pictures in Rome. He is called +in the Guida sometimes Brughi, and sometimes Gio. Batista, the disciple +of Baciccio, which makes it there appear as if they had been distinct +individuals. I do not recollect any other artist contributed by Gaulli +to the Roman School. + +The Neapolitan School, which was in the beginning of this age supported +by Solimene, sent some scholars to Rome, who adopted a Roman style. +Sebastiano Conca was the first that arrived there with an intention of +seeing it, but he established himself there, together with Giovanni, his +brother, to meliorate his style of design. Resigning the brush, he +returned at forty years of age to the pencil, and spent five years in +drawing after the antique, and after the best modern productions. His +hand, however, had become the slave of habit in Naples, and would not +answer to his own wishes; and he was kept in constant vexation, as he +could appreciate excellence, but found himself incapable of attaining +it. The celebrated sculptor, Le Gros, advised him to return to his +original style, and he then became in Rome an eminent painter, in the +manner of Pietro da Cortona, with considerable improvements on his early +manner. He possessed a fertile invention, great facility of execution, +and a colour which enchanted by its lucidness, its contrast, and the +delicacy of the flesh tints. It is true, that on examination we find +that he was not in reality a profound colourist, and that to obtain a +grandeur of tone, he adopted in the shadows a green tint, which produced +a mannerism. He distinguished himself in frescos, and also in pictures +in the churches, decorating them with choirs of angels, happily disposed +in a style of composition that may be called his own, and which served +as an example to many of the machinists. He was indefatigable too in +painting for private individuals, and in the states of the church there +is scarcely a collection without its Conca. His most studied, finished, +and beautiful work is the Probatica at the hospital of Siena. Of great +merit in Rome is the Assumption at S. Martina, and the Jonah among the +prophets in the S. Giovanni Laterano. His works were in high esteem in +the ecclesiastical state; his best appear to be the S. Niccolo at +Loreto, S. Saverio in Ancona, S. Agostino at Foligno, S. Filippo in +Fabriano, and S. Girolamo Emiliano at Velletri. Giovanni, his brother, +assisted Sebastiano in his commissions, had an equal facility, a similar +taste, though less beautiful in his heads, and of not so fine a pencil. +He shewed great talent in copying the pictures of the best masters. In +the church of the Domenicans of Urbino are the copies which he made of +four pictures to be executed in mosaic; they were by Muziani, Guercino, +Lanfranco, and Romanelli. Conca is eulogized by Rossi with his usual +intelligence and discrimination (v. tom. ii. of his _Memorie_, p. 81.) + +Mengs perhaps censures him too severely, where he says, that by his +precepts he contributed to the decay of the art. He had his followers, +but they were not so numerous as to corrupt all the other schools of +Italy. Every school, as we have seen, had within itself the seeds of its +own destruction, without seeking for it elsewhere. It is true, indeed, +that some of his scholars inherited his facility and his colouring, and +left many injurious examples in Italy. Nor shall I give myself much +trouble to enumerate his disciples, but shall content myself with the +names of the most celebrated. Gaetano Lapis di Cagli was one of these, +and brought with him good principles of design when he came to study +under Conca. He was a painter of an original taste, as Rossi describes, +not very spirited, but correct. Many of his works are found in the +churches of his native place, and in the Duomo are two highly prized +pieces on each side the altar, a Supper of our Lord, and a Nativity. In +the various pictures I have seen of him at S. Pietro, S. Niccolo, and S. +Francesco, I generally found the same composition of a Madonna of a +graceful form, attended by Saints in the act of adoring her and the Holy +Infant. We find some of his works also in Perugia and elsewhere. The +Prince Borghese, in Rome, has a Birth of Venus by him, painted on a +ceiling, with a correctness of design, and a grace superior to any thing +that remains of him, and no one can justly appreciate his talents, who +has not seen this work. It should seem, that a timidity and diffidence +of his own powers, prevented his attaining that high station which his +genius seemed to have intended for him. Salvator Monosilio, who resided +much in Rome, was of Messina, and trod closely in the footsteps of his +master. In a chapel of S. Paolino della Regola, where Calandrucci +furnished the altarpiece, he painted the vault in fresco; and others of +his works are to be seen at the S. S. Quaranta, and at the church of the +Polacchi. In Piceno, where Conca was in great reputation, Monosilio was +held in high esteem, and was employed both in public and in private. At +S. Ginesio is a S. Barnabas by him, in the church of that saint, which +in the _Memorie_ so often quoted by us, is designated as an excellent +work. Conca educated another Sicilian student, the Abbate Gaspero +Serenari, of Palermo, who was considered a young man of talents in Rome, +and painted in the church of S. Teresa, in competition with the Abate +Peroni of Parma. On his return to Palermo he became a celebrated master, +and besides his oil pictures he executed some vast works in fresco, +particularly the cupola of the Gesù, and the chapel of the monastery of +Carità. + +Gregorio Guglielmi, a Roman, is not much known in his native place, +although his fresco pictures in the hospital of the S. Spirito in +Sassia, intitle him to be numbered amongst the most eminent young +artists who painted in Rome in the pontificate of Benedict XIV. He left +Rome early and went to Turin, where, in the church of S. S. Solutore e +Comp. is a small picture of the Tutelar Saints. He was afterwards in +Dresden, Vienna, and St. Petersburgh, where he painted in fresco with +much applause, for the respective sovereigns of those cities. He was +facile in composition, pleasing in his colour, and attached to the Roman +style of design, which, like Lapis, he seemed to have carried from some +other school into that of Conca. Among his most esteemed works is a +ceiling, painted in the university of Vienna, and another in the +imperial palace at Schoenbrunn. He did not succeed so well in oils, in +which his efforts are mostly feeble; a proof that he belongs more to the +school of Conca than that of Trevisani, to which some have assigned him. + +Corrado Giaquinto was another scholar of Solimene. He came from Naples +to Rome, where he attached himself to Conca to learn colouring, in which +he chiefly followed his master's principles, though he was less correct +and more of a mannerist, and was accustomed to repeat himself in the +countenances of his children, which resemble the natives of his own +country. He was not, however, without merit, as he possessed facility as +well as vigour, and was known in the ecclesiastical state for various +works executed in Rome, Macerata, and other places. He went afterwards +to Piedmont, as we shall mention at the proper time; then to Spain, +where he was engaged in the service of the court, and gave satisfaction +to the greater part of the native artists. The public taste in Spain, +which had for a long time retained the principles of the school founded +by Titian, had been changed within a few years. Luca Giordano was become +the favorite, and they admired his spirit, his freedom, and his +despatch; qualities which were combined in Corrado. This partiality +lasted even after Mengs had introduced his style, which in consequence +appeared at first meagre and cold to many of the masters and +connoisseurs of the day, when compared with that of Luca Giordano; until +prejudice there, as in Italy, ultimately yielded to truth. + +Some other artists flourished in Rome at the commencement, and as far as +the middle of the century, and somewhat beyond, who may perhaps have a +claim to be remembered. Of Francesco Fernandi, called L'Imperiali, the +Martyrdom of S. Eustachio in the church of the saint of that name, is +well conceived and scientifically coloured. Antonio Bicchierai, a fresco +painter, is more particularly known at S. Lorenzo in Panisperna, in +which church he painted a sfondo which did him honour. Michelangiolo +Cerruti, and Biagio Puccini, a Roman, about the time of Clement XI. and +Benedict XIII., were esteemed artists of good execution. Of others who +acquired some reputation in the following pontificate, I shall write in +other schools, or if I should not mention them, they may be found in the +Guida of the city. + +I shall now pass from native to foreign artists, and shall take a brief +notice of them, since my work has grown upon me with so many new Italian +names, which are its proper object, that I have not much spare room for +foreigners, and a sufficient notice of them may be found in their own +country. Not a few _oltremonti_ painted at this period in Rome, +celebrated for the most part in the inferior branches of painting, where +they deserve commemoration. Some of them were employed in the churches, +as Gio. Batista Vanloo di Aix, a favorite scholar of Luti, who painted +the picture of the Flagellation at S. Maria in Monticelli. But he did +not remain in Rome, but passed to Piedmont, and from thence to Paris and +London, and was celebrated for his historical compositions, and highly +esteemed in portrait. Some years after Vanloo, Pietro Subleyras di +Gilles settled in Rome, and conferred great benefit on the Roman School; +for whilst it produced only followers of the old manner, and thus fell +gradually into decay, he very opportunely appeared and introduced an +entirely new style. An academy had been founded in Rome by Louis XIV., +about the year 1666. Le Brun had there cooperated, the Giulio Romano of +France, and the most celebrated of the four Carli, who were at that time +considered the supporters of the art; the others were Cignani, Maratta, +and Loth. It had already produced some artists of celebrity, as Stefano +Parocel, Gio. Troy, Carlo Natoire, by whom many pictures are to be found +in the public edifices in Rome. There prevailed, however, in the style +of this school a mannerism, which in a few years brought it into +disrepute. Mengs designated it by the epithet of _spiritoso_, and it +consisted, according to him, in overstepping the limits of beauty and +propriety, overcharging both the one and the other, and aiming at +fascinating the eyes rather than conciliating the judgment. Subleyras, +educated in this academy, reformed this taste, retaining the good, and +rejecting the feeble part, and adding from his own genius what was +wanting to form a truly original manner. There was an engaging variety +in the air of his heads, and in his attitudes, and he had great merit in +the distribution of his chiaroscuro, which gives his pictures a fine +general effect. He painted with great truth; but the figures and the +drapery, under his pencil, took a certain fulness which in him appears +easy, because it is natural; it remained his own, for although he left +some scholars, none of them ever emulated the grandeur of style which +distinguished their master. + +He was mature in talent when he left the academy, and the portrait which +he in preference to Masucci, painted of Benedict XIV., established his +reputation as the first painter in Rome. He was soon afterwards chosen +to paint the history of S. Basil, for the purpose of being copied in +mosaic for the church of the Vatican. The original is in the church of +the Carthusians, and astonishes, by the august representation of the +Sacrifice solemnly celebrated by the saint in the presence of the +emperor, who offers bread at the altar. The countenances are very +animated, and there is great truth in the drapery and accompaniments, +and the silks in their lucid and light folds appear absolutely real. +From this production, and others of smaller size, and particularly the +Saint Benedict at the church of the Olivetani di Perugia, which is +perhaps his masterpiece, he deserves a place in the first collections, +where, indeed, his pictures are rare and highly prized. Further notices +of this artist may he found in the second volume of the _Giornale delle +belle Arti_. + +Egidio Alè, of Liege, studied in Rome, and became a spirited, pleasing, +and elegant painter. His works in the sacristy dell'Anima, in fresco and +oil, painted in competition with Morandi, Bonatti, and Romanelli, do him +honour. Ignazio Stern was a Bavarian, who was instructed by Cignani in +Bologna, and worked in Lombardy. An Annunciation in Piacenza, in the +church of the Nunziata, exhibits a certain grace and elegance, which is +peculiar to him, as is observed in the description of the public +pictures in that city. Stern afterwards established himself in Rome, +where he painted in fresco the sacristy of S. Paolino, and left some oil +pictures in the church of S. Elisabetta, and in other churches. He was +more particularly attached to profane history, conversations, and +similar subjects, which have a place even in royal collections. Spain +possessed a disciple of the school of Maratta, in Sebastiano Mugnoz, but +dying young he left few works behind him. + +In this place I ought to notice an establishment designed _to revive the +art in that quarter, where it seemed to have so much declined_, as D. +Francesco Preziado, of that country, says, in a letter which we shall +shortly have occasion to mention with commendation. "The royal academy +of S. Ferdinand, in Madrid, which owed its origin to Philip V., and was +completed and endowed by Ferdinand VI., sent several students to Rome, +and provided for their maintenance." They there selected the master the +most agreeable to their genius, and had, in addition, a director, who +was employed to superintend their studies; as I am informed by Sig. +Bonaventura Benucci, a Roman painter, educated in that academy. Bottari +and all Rome called it the Spanish academy, and I myself, in a former +edition, followed the common report, and the two above named sovereigns +I described as the founders of the academy. Having been censured for +this statement, I have here thought proper to specify my authorities. It +may without dispute be asserted, that the Spanish students have left in +Rome many noble specimens of their talents and taste. D. Francesco +Preziado was for many years the director of this academy, and painted a +Holy Family at the S. S. Quaranta, in a good style. He made also a +valuable communication to the Lettere Pittoriche (tom. vi. p. 308), on +the artists of Spain, very useful to any one desiring information +respecting this school, which is less known than it deserves to be. + +An institution very much on the plan of the French academy was founded +in Rome a few years ago, by his most faithful majesty, for Portuguese +students, to the promotion of which, two celebrated Portuguese, the Cav. +de Manique, intendant general of the police in Lisbon, and the Count de +Souza, minister of that court in Rome, had the merit of contributing +their assistance; the one having projected, and the other executed, the +plan in the year 1791. The government of the academy was entrusted to +the Sig. Gio. Gherardo de' Rossi, known for his very numerous and able +writings, to which he has recently added an ingenious little work, +intitled, _Scherzi poetici e pittorici_, with engravings by a celebrated +academician. These establishments are of too recent a date to allow me +to speak further respecting their productions. + +The provincial painters have been occasionally noticed in connexion with +their masters. I here add a supplement, which may be useful in the way +of completion. Foligno possessed a Fra Umile Francescano, a good fresco +painter, engaged in Rome by Cardinal Castaldi, to ornament the tribune +of S. Margaret, while Gaulli and Garzi were commanded to paint the +pictures for it. The Abbate Dondoli lived at Spello at the beginning of +this century. He was more to be commended for his design than for his +colouring. Marini has some celebrity in S. Severino, his native place. +He was the scholar of Cipriano Divini, whom he surpassed in his art. +Marco Vanetti, of Loreto, is known to me more from his life of Cignani, +who was his master, than from his own works. Antonio Caldana, of Ancona, +painted a very large composition in Rome, in the sacristy of S. Niccola +da Tolentino, from the life of that saint. I do not know whether there +remain any works of his in his native place; but there are a great +number by a respectable artist, one Magatta, whose name was Domenico +Simonetti, and who painted the gallery of the Marchesi Trionfi; he +furnished many churches with his paintings, and distinguished himself in +that of the church of the Suffragio, which is his most finished +production. Anastasi di Sinigaglia was a painter less elegant and +finished, but free and spirited. His works are not scarce in that city, +and his best are the two historical subjects in the church della Croce. +Three pictures by him also in S. Lucia di Monte Alboddo, are highly +prized, and are called by the writer of the _Guida_, "_Capi d'opera +dell'Anastasi_." Camillo Scacciani, of Pesaro, called Carbone, +flourished at the beginning of the age we are writing on, and had a +Caracciesque style allied to the modern. There is a S. Andrea Avellino +by him in the Duomo of Pesaro; his other works are in private +collections. This notice I deem sufficient, always excepting the living +artists, whom I of course omit.[90] + +Three masters who died successively in the pontificate of Pius VI. seem +to require from me more than a transient notice, and with them I shall +conclude the series of historical painters of the fifth epoch. I shall +first commemorate the Cav. Raffaello Mengs, from whom our posterity may +perhaps date a new and more happy era of the art. He was born in Saxony, +and brought to Rome by his father while yet a boy, and was at that time +skilled in miniature, and was a careful and correct draughtsman. On his +arrival in Rome, his father employed him in copying the works of +Raffaello, and chastised the young artist for every fault in his work, +with an incredible severity, or rather inhumanity, inflicting on him +even corporeal punishment, and reducing his allowance of food. Being +thus compelled to study perfection, and endowed with a genius to +appreciate it and perceive it, he acquired a consummate taste in art; he +communicated to Winckelmann very important materials for his _Storia +delle belle arti_, and was himself the author of many profound and +valuable essays on the fine arts, which have materially contributed to +improve the taste of the present age. They have different titles, but +all the same aim, the discrimination of the real perfection of art.[91] + +The artist, as characterized by Mengs, may be compared to the orator of +Cicero, and both are endued by their authors with an ideal perfection, +such as the world has never seen, and will probably never see; and it is +the real duty of an instructor to recommend excellence, that in striving +to attain it, we may at least acquire a commendable portion of it. +Considered in this point of view, I should defend several of his +writings, where in the opinion of others he seems to assume a +dictatorial tone, in the judgment he passes on Guido, Domenichino, and +the Caracci; the very triumvirate whom he proposes as models in the art. +Mengs assuredly was not so infatuated as to hope to surpass these great +men, but because he knew that no one does so well but that it might be +done still better, he shews where they attained the summit of art, and +where they failed. The artist, therefore, described by Mengs, and to +whose qualifications he also aspired, and was anxious that all should do +the same, ought to unite in himself the design and beauty of the Greeks, +the expression and composition of Raffaello, the chiaroscuro and grace +of Coreggio, and, to complete all, the colouring of Titian. This union +of qualities Mengs has analyzed with equal elegance and perspicuity, +teaching the artist how to form himself on that ideal beauty, which is +itself never realised. If, on some occasions, he appears too +enthusiastic, or in some degree obscure, it cannot excite our surprise, +as he wrote in a foreign language, and was not much accustomed to +composition. His ideas therefore stood in need of a refined scholar to +render them clear and intelligible; and this advantage he would have +procured, had he been resolved to publish them; but his works are all +posthumous, and were given to the world by his excellency the Sig. Cav. +Azara. Hence it frequently happens in his works, that one treatise +destroys another, as Tiraboschi has observed in regard to his notice of +Coreggio, in his _Notizie degli Artefici Modenesi_; and hence concludes +that the _Riflessioni di Mengs su i tre gran Pittori_, where he finds +much to censure in Coreggio, were written by him before he saw the works +of that master; and that his _Memorie_ on the life of the same master, +where he extols Coreggio to the skies, and calls him the Apelles of +modern painting, were written after having seen and studied him.[92] In +spite however of all objections, he will retain a distinguished place, +as well among the theorists or writers, as among professors themselves, +as long as the art endures. + +We perhaps should not say that Mengs was a whetstone which gave a new +quality to the steel, which it could not otherwise have acquired; but +that he was the steel itself, which becomes brighter and finer the more +it is used. He became painter to the court of Dresden; every fresh work +gave proof of his progress in the art. He went afterwards to Madrid, +where in the chambers of the royal palace he painted the assembly of the +Gods, the Seasons, and the various parts of the day, in an enchanting +manner. After repairing a second time to Rome to renew his studies, he +again returned to Madrid, where he painted in one of the saloons the +Apotheosis of Trajan, and in a theatre, Time subduing Pleasure; pictures +much superior to his former pieces. In Rome there are three large works +by him; the painting in the vault of S. Eusebio; the Parnassus in the +saloon of the Villa Albani, far superior to the preceding one;[93] and +lastly, the cabinet of manuscripts in the Vatican was painted by him, +where the celestial forms of the angels, the majesty of Moses, and the +dignified character of S. Peter, the enchanting colour, the relief, and +the harmony, contribute to render this chamber one of the most +remarkable in Rome for its beautiful decorations. This constant +endeavour to surpass himself, would be evident also from his easel +pictures, if they were not so rare in Italy; as he painted many of this +description for London and the other capitals of Europe. In Rome itself, +where he studied young, where he long resided, to which he always +returned, and where at last he died, there are few of his works to be +found. We may enumerate the portrait of Clement XIII. and his nephew +Carlo, in the collection of the prince Rezzonico; that of Cardinal +Zelada, secretary of state; and a few other pieces, in the possession of +private gentlemen, more particularly the Sig. Cav. Azara. Florence has +some large compositions by him in the Palazzo Pitti, and his own +portrait in the cabinet of painters, besides the great Deposition from +the Cross in chiaroscuro, for the Marchese Rinuccini, which he was +prevented by death from colouring; and a beautiful Genius in fresco in a +chamber of the Sig. Conte Senatore Orlando Malevolti del Benino. + +Returning from the consideration of his works to Mengs himself, I leave +to others to estimate his merit, and to determine how far his principles +are just.[94] As far as regards myself, I cannot but extol that +inextinguishable ardour of improving himself by which he was +particularly distinguished, and which prompted him, even while he +enjoyed the reputation of a first rate master, to proceed in every work +as if he were only commencing his career. Truth was his great aim, and +he diligently studied the works of the first luminaries of the art, +analysed their colours, and examined them in detail, till he entered +fully into the spirit and design of those great models. Whilst employed +in the ducal gallery in Florence, he did not touch a pencil, until he +had attentively studied the best pieces there, and particularly the +Venus of Titian in the tribune. In his hours of leisure he employed +himself in carefully studying the fresco pictures of the best masters of +that school, which is so distinguished in this art. He was accustomed to +do the same by every work of celebrity which fell in his way, whether +ancient or modern; all contributed to his improvement, and to carry him +nearer to perfection; he was in short a man of a most aspiring mind, and +may be compared to the ancient, who declared that he wished "to die +learning." If maxims like these were enforced, what rapid strides in the +art might we not expect! + +But the greater part of artists form for themselves a manner which may +attract popularity, and then relax their efforts, satisfied with the +applause of the crowd; and if they feel the necessity of improving, it +is not with a design of acquiring a just reputation, but of adding to +the price of their works. + +Notwithstanding the considerable space which Mengs has occupied in our +time, he has nevertheless left room for the celebrity of Pompeo Batoni, +of Luca. The Cav. Boni, who has honoured this artist with an elegant +eulogium, thus expresses himself in comparing him with Mengs. "The +latter," he says, "was the painter of philosophy, the former of nature. +Batoni had a natural taste which led him to the beautiful without +effort; Mengs attained the same object by reflection and study. Grace +was the gift of nature in Batoni, as it had formerly been in Apelles; +while the higher attributes of the art were allotted to Mengs, as they +were in former days to Protogenes. Perhaps the first was more painter +than philosopher, the second more philosopher than painter. The latter, +perhaps, was more sublime, but more studied; Batoni less profound, but +more natural. Not that I would insinuate that nature was sparing to +Mengs, or that Batoni was devoid of the necessary science of the art, +&c." If it were ever said with truth of any artist, that he was born a +painter, this distinction must be allowed to Batoni. He learned only the +principles of the art in his native country, and of the two +correspondents from whom I have received my information, the one +considers him to have been the scholar of Brugieri, the other of +Lombardi, as already mentioned, vol. i. p. 360, and probably he was +instructed by both. He came young to Rome, and did not frequent any +particular school, but studied and copied Raffaello and the old masters +with unceasing assiduity, and thus learnt the great secret of copying +nature with truth and judgment. + +That boundless and instructive volume, open to all, but cultivated by +few, was rightly appreciated by Batoni, and it was hence that he derived +that beautiful variety in his heads and contours, which are sometimes +wanting even in the great masters, who were occasionally too much +addicted to the ideal. Hence, too, he derived the gestures and +expressions most appropriate to each subject. Persuaded that a vivid +imagination was not alone sufficient to depict those fine traits in +which the sublimity of the art consists, he did not adopt any attitudes +which were not found in nature. He took from nature the first ideas, +copied from her every part of the figure, and adapted the drapery and +folds from models. He afterwards embellished and perfected his work with +a natural taste, and enlivened all with a style of colour peculiarly his +own; clear, engaging, lucid, and preserving after the lapse of many +years, as in the picture of various saints at S. Gregorio, all its +original freshness. This was in him not so much an art as the natural +ebullition of his genius. He sported with his pencil. Every path was +open to him; painting in various ways, now with great force, now with a +touch, and now finishing all by strokes. Sometimes he destroyed the +whole work, and gave it the requisite force by a line.[95] Although he +was not a man of letters, he yet shows himself a poet in conception, +both in a sublime and playful style. One example from a picture in the +possession of his heirs, will suffice. Wishing to express the dreams of +an enamoured girl, he has represented her wrapped in soft slumbers, and +surrounded by loves, two of whom present to her splendid robes and +jewels, and a third approaches her with arrows in his hand, while she, +captivated by the vision, smiles in her sleep. Many of these poetical +designs, and many historical subjects, are in private collections, and +in the courts of Europe, from which he had constant commissions. + +Batoni possessed an extraordinary talent for portrait painting, and had +the honour of being employed by three pontiffs in that branch of the +art, Benedict XIV., Clement XIII., and Pius VI.; to whom may be added, +the emperor Joseph II. and his august brother and successor, Leopold +II., the Grand Duke of Muscovy, and the Grand Duchess, besides numerous +private individuals. He for some time painted miniatures, and +transferred that care and precision which is essential in that branch to +his larger productions, without attenuating his style by hardness. We +find an extraordinary proof of this in his altarpieces, spread over +Italy, and mentioned by us in many cities, particularly in Lucca. Of +those that remain in Rome, Mengs gave the preference to S. Celso, which +is over the great altar of that church. Another picture, the Fall of +Simon Magus, is in the church of the Certosa. It was intended to have +been copied in mosaic for the Vatican, and to have been substituted for +a picture of the same subject by Vanni, the only one in that church on +stone. But the mosaic, from some cause or other, was not executed. +Perhaps the subject displeased, from not being evangelical, and the idea +of removing the picture of Vanni not being resumed, the subject was +changed, and a commission given to Mengs to paint the Government of the +church conferred on S. Peter. He made a sketch for it in chiaroscuro +with great care, which is in the Palazzo Chigi, but did not live to +finish it in colours. This sketch evinces a design and composition +superior to the picture of Batoni, but the subject of the latter was +more vigorously conceived. At all events, however, Batoni must +henceforth be considered the restorer of the Roman School, in which he +lived until his 79th year, and educated many pupils in his profession. + +The example of the two last eminent artists was not lost on Antonio +Cavallucci da Sermoneta, whose name when I began to print this volume, I +did not expect would here have found a place. But having recently died, +some notice is due to his celebrity, as he is already ranked with the +first artists of his day. He was highly esteemed both in Rome and +elsewhere. The Primaziale of Pisa, who in the choice of their artists +consulted no recommendation but that of character, employed him on a +considerable work, representing S. Bona of that city taking the +religious habit. It breathes a sacred piety, which he himself both felt +and expressed in a striking manner. In this picture he wished to shew +that the examples of christian humility, such as burying in a cloister +the gifts of nature and fortune, are susceptible of the gayest +decoration. This he effected by introducing a train of noble men and +women, who, according to custom, assisted in the solemnity. In this +composition, in which he follows the principles of Batoni rather than +those of Mengs, we may perceive both his study of nature, and his +judgment and facility in imitating her. Another large picture of the +saints Placido and Mauro, he sent into Catania, and another of S. +Francesco di Paola, he executed for the church of Loreto, and which was +copied in mosaic. In Rome are his S. Elias and the Purgatorio, two +pictures placed at S. Martino a' Monti, and many works in the possession +of the noble family of Gaetani, who were the first to encourage and +support this artist. His last work was the Venus and Ascanius, in the +Palazzo Cesarini, which has been described to me as a beautiful +production by the Sig. Gio. Gherardo de' Rossi, who has declared his +intention of publishing the life of Cavallucci, which will no doubt be +done in his usual masterly manner. + +The Roman School has recently had to regret the loss of two accomplished +masters; Domenico Corvi of Viterbo, and Giuseppe Cades of Rome, who +although younger than Corvi, and for some years his scholar, died before +him. In my notice of them, I shall begin with the master who has been +honoured and eulogized more than once in the respectable _Memorie delle +belle Arti_, as well as his scholar, and also some other disciples; as +there was not in Rome in the latter times any school more productive in +talent. He was truly an accomplished artist, and there were few to +compare with him in anatomy, perspective, and design; and from Mancini +his instructor, he acquired something of the style of the Caracci. +Hence, his academy drawings are highly prized, and I may say, more +sought after than his pictures, which indeed want that fascination of +grace and colour which attracts the admiration alike of the learned and +the vulgar. He maintained an universal delicacy of colour, and was +accustomed to defend the practice by asserting, with what justice I +cannot say, that pictures painted in that manner were less liable to +become black. His most esteemed works are his night pieces, as the Birth +of our Saviour in the church of the Osservanti at Macerata, which is +perhaps the summit of his efforts. Some amateurs went thither express +towards the close of day; a lofty window opposite favoured the illusion +of the perspective of the picture; and Corvi, who in other pictures is +inferior to Gherardo delle Notti, viewed in this manner, here excels +him, by an originality of perspective and general effect. He worked much +both for his own countrymen and foreigners, besides the pictures which +he kept ready by him, to supply the daily calls of purchasers, and many +of which are still on sale in the house of his widow. + +Cades recommends himself to our notice, principally by a facility of +imitation, dangerous to the art when it is not governed by correct +principles. No simulator of the character of another handwriting, could +ever rival him in the dexterity with which at a moment's call he could +imitate the physiognomy, the naked figure, the drapery, and the entire +character of every celebrated designer. The most experienced persons +would sometimes request from him a design after Michelangiolo or +Raffaello, or some other great master, which he instantly complied with, +and when confronted with an indisputable specimen of the master, and +these persons were requested to point out the original, as Buonaruoti +for example, they often hesitated, and frequently fixed on the design of +Cades. He was notwithstanding, extremely honourable. He made on one +occasion, a large design in the style of Sanzio, to deceive the director +of a foreign cabinet, who boasted an infallible knowledge of the touch +of Raffaello; and employing a person to shew it to him, with some +fictitious history attached to it, the director purchased it at 500 +zecchins. Cades wishing to return the money, the other refused to +receive it, insisting on retaining the drawing, and disregarding all the +protestations of the artist, and his request to be remunerated by a +smaller sum; and this drawing is at this moment probably considered as +an original, in one of the finest cabinets of Europe. He was confident +in his talents from his early years, and on a public occasion, he made a +drawing after the bent of his own genius, regardless of the directions +of Corvi, who wished it to be done in another style, and he was in +consequence dismissed from that school. This drawing obtained the first +premium, and now exists in the academy of S. Luke, where it is much +admired. In the art of colouring, too, he owed little to the instruction +of masters, and much to his native talent of imitation. I have seen +exhibited in the church of the Holy Apostles, a picture by him, which in +the upper part represents the Madonna with the Holy Infant, and in the +inferior part five saints, an allegorical picture, as I have heard +suggested, relating to the election of Clement XIV. That Pope was +elected by the suffrages of the Cardinal Carlo Rezzonico and his +friends, and contrary to the expectation of P. Innocenzio Buontempi, who +ordered the picture, and who after this election was promoted by the +Pope to the eminent station of Maestro nel S. Ordine Serafico, and +afterwards to that of the Pope's confessor. Hence this piece represents +in the centre S. Clement reading the sacred volume; on his right is S. +Carlo, who appears to admire his learning, and by his attitude seems to +say, "This is a man justly entitled to the pontificate;" and in the last +place S. Innocent the Pope, which representing the person of the P. +Maestro, must here for the sake of propriety yield the place to the +Cardinal S. Carlo. In the background are S. Francis and S. Anthony, half +figures. Cades here took for his model the picture of Titian in the +Quirinal, which he imitated as well in the composition as in the colour. +And in this, indeed, he proceeded too far, giving it that obscure tone +which the works of Titian have acquired only by the lapse of time. Cades +here defended himself by saying that this piece was intended to be +placed in the church of S. Francesco di Fabriano in a very strong light, +where if the colours had not been kept low, they would have been +displeasing to the spectator. There is an error in the perspective which +cannot be overlooked. The allegorical figure of P. M. Innocenzio, who +stands amazed at the sudden phenomenon, appears to be out of +equilibrium, and would fall in real life. Other faults of colour, of +costume, or of vulgarity of form, are noticed in others of his pictures +by the author of the _Memorie_, in tom. i. and iii. But as he advanced +in life he improved his style from study, and attending to the +criticisms of the public. In tom. iii. just referred to, we find the +description of one of his works executed for the Villa Pinciana, the +subject of which is taken from Boccaccio; Walter Conte di Anguersa +recognized in London. Let us weigh the opinion which this eminent author +gives of this most beautiful composition, or let us compare it with the +picture of S. Joseph of Copertino, which he painted at twenty-one years +of age, as an altarpiece in the church of the Apostles, and we shall +perceive the rapid strides which are made by genius. Other princely +families, besides the Borghesi, availed themselves of his talents to +ornament their palaces and villas; as the Ruspoli and the Chigi, and he +executed several works for the empress of Russia. He died before he had +attained his fiftieth year, and not long after he had so much improved +his style. In the opinion of some, his execution still required to be +rendered more uniform, since he sometimes displayed as many different +manners in a picture, as there were figures. But in that he might plead +the example of Caracci, as we shall notice on a proper opportunity. + +We shall now pass to other branches of the art, and shall commence with +landscapes. In this period flourished the scholars of the three famous +landscape painters, described in their proper place, besides Grimaldi, +mentioned in the Bolognese School, who resided a considerable time in +Rome; and Paolo Anesi, of whom we made mention in speaking of +Zuccherelli. With Anesi lived Andrea Lucatelli, a Roman, whose talents +are highly celebrated in every inferior branch of the art. In the +archbishop's gallery in Milan are a number of his pictures, historical, +architectural, and landscapes. In these he often appears original in +composition, and in the disposition of the masses; he is varied in his +touch, delicate in his colouring, and elegant in his figures, which, as +we shall see, he was also accustomed to paint in the Flemish style, +separate from his landscapes. + +Francis Van Blomen was a less finished artist, and from the hot and +vaporous air of his pictures, obtained the name of Orizzonte. The +palaces of the Pope and the nobility in Rome, abound with his landscapes +in fresco and oil. In the character of his trees, and in the composition +of his landscapes, he commonly imitated Poussin. In his general tone +there predominates a greenish hue mixed with red. His pictures are not +all equally finished, but they rise in value as those of older artists +become injured by time, or rare from being purchased by foreigners. At +the side of Van Blomen we often find the works of some of his best +scholars, as Giacciuoli and Francis Ignazio, a Bavarian. + +At the same time lived in Rome Francesco Wallint, called M. Studio, who +painted small landscapes and sea views, ornamented with very beautiful +figures; devoid however of that sentiment which is the gift of nature, +and that delicacy which charms in the Italian School. He imitated +Claude: Wallint the younger, his son, attached himself to the same +manner with success, but did not equal his father. + +At the beginning of this epoch, or thereabouts, there flourished two +artists in Perugia in the same line; Ercolano Ercolanetti, and Pietro +Montanini, the scholar of Ciro Ferri and of Rosa. The last was ambitious +of the higher walks of art, and attempted the decoration of a church, +but failed in the attempt, as his talent was restricted to landscape; +and even when he added figures to these, they were not very correct, and +possessed more spirit than accuracy of design. He was nevertheless a +pleasing painter, and his pictures were sought after by foreigners. In +Perugia there is an abundance of his works, and some are to be seen in +the sacristy of the Eremitani, which might be said to discover a Flemish +style. + +Alessio de Marchis, a Neapolitan, is not much known in Rome, although in +the Ruspoli and Albani palaces, some pleasing pieces by him are pointed +out. He is better known in Perugia and Urbino, and the adjacent cities. +It is said that, in order to obtain a study for a picture from nature, +he set fire to a barn. For this act he was condemned to the galleys for +several years, and was liberated under the pontificate of Clement XI. +whose palace in Urbino he decorated with architectural ornaments, +distant views, and beautiful seapieces, more in the style of Rosa than +any other artist. There is an extraordinarily fine picture by him of the +Burning of Troy, in the collection of the Semproni family, and some +landscapes in other houses in Urbino, in which he has displayed all his +genius, and extended it also to figures. But in general there is little +more to praise in him than his spirit, his happy touch, and natural +colouring, particularly in fires, and the loaded and murky air, and the +general tone of the piece, as the detached parts are negligent and +imperfect. He left a son, also a landscape painter, but not of much +celebrity. + +At the beginning of the century Bernardino Fergioni displayed in Rome an +extraordinary talent in sea views, and harbours, to which he added a +variety of humourous figures. He was first a painter of animals, and +afterwards tried this line with better success; but his fame was a few +years afterwards eclipsed by two Frenchmen, Adrian Manglard, of a solid, +natural, and correct taste; and his scholar, Joseph Vernet, who +surpassed his master by his spirit and his charming colouring. The first +seemed to paint with a degree of timidity and care, the latter in the +full confidence of genius; the one seemed to aim at truth, the other at +beauty. Manglard was many years in Rome, and his works are to be seen in +the Villa Albani, and in many other palaces. Vernet is to be seen in the +Rondanini mansion, and in a few other collections. + +There were not many painters of battles during this epoch, except the +scholars of Borgognone. Christiano Reder, called also M. Leandro, who +came to Rome about 1686, the year of the taking of Buda, devoted +himself, in conformity with the feelings of the times, to painting +battles between the Christians and the Turks; but his pictures, though +well touched, were soon depreciated from the great number of them. The +best in the opinion of Pascoli, was that in the gallery de' Minimi; and +he left many also in the palaces of the nobility. He was also expert in +landscape and humourous subjects, and was assisted by Peter Van Blomen, +called also Stendardo, the brother of Francis Orizzonte. Stendardo also +painted battle pieces, but he was more attached to Bambocciate, in the +Flemish style, wherein he delights to introduce animals, and +particularly horses, in designing which he was very expert, and almost +unrivalled. His distances are very clear, and afford a fine relief to +his figures. + +In Rome, and throughout the ecclesiastical state, we find many pictures +of this sort by that Lucatelli who has been mentioned among the +landscape painters. The connoisseurs attribute to him two different +manners; the first good, the second still better, and exhibiting great +taste, both in colouring and invention. In some collections we find +Monaldi near him, who although of a similar taste, yielded to him in +correctness of design, in colour, and in that natural grace which may be +called the _Attic salt_ of this mute poetry. + +I have not ascertained who was the instructor of Antonio Amorosi, a +native of Comunanza, and a fellow countryman of Ghezzi, and his +co-disciple also in the school of the Cav. Giuseppe (Vernet). I only +know that he is in his way equally facetious, and sometimes satirical. +Like Ghezzi he painted pictures in the churches, which are to be found +in the Guida di Roma; he did not, however, succeed so well in them as in +his _bambocciate_, which would appear really Flemish if the colours were +more lucid. He is less known in the metropolis than in Piceno, where he +is to be seen in many collections, and is mentioned in the Guida +d'Ascoli. He pleased also in foreign countries, and represented subjects +from common life, as drinking parties in taverns in town and country, on +which occasion he discovered no common talent in architecture, +landscape, and the painting of animals. + +Arcangelo Resani, of Rome, the scholar of Boncuore, painted animals in a +sufficiently good taste, accompanying them with large and small figures, +in which he had an equal talent. In the Medici gallery is his portrait, +with a specimen attached of the art in which he most excelled, the +representation of still life. In the same way Nuzzi added flowers, and +other artists landscapes, to their portraits. + +Carlo Voglar, or Carlo da' Fiori, was a painter of fruit and flowers in +a very natural style, and was also distinguished in painting dead game. +He had a rival in this style in Francesco Varnetam, called Deprait, who +was still more ingenious in adding glass and portraits, and composed his +pieces in the manner of a good figurist. This artist after residing +several years in Rome, was appointed painter to the Imperial Court, and +died in Vienna, after having spread his works and his fame through all +Germany. In the time of the two preceding artists, Christian Bernetz was +celebrated, who on the death of the first, and the departure of the +second artist, remained in Rome the chief painter in this style. All the +three were known to Maratta, and employed by him in ornamenting his +pictures; and he enriched theirs in return with children and other +figures, which have rendered them invaluable. The last was also a friend +of Garzi, in conjunction with whom he painted pictures, each taking the +department in which they most excelled. Scipione Angelini, of Perugia, +improperly called Angeli by Guarienti, was celebrated by Pascoli for +similar talents. His flowers appear newly plucked and sparkling with dew +drops. In the _Memorie Messinesi_, I find that Agostino Scilla when he +was exiled from Sicily, repaired to Rome, where he died. Whilst in Rome, +he seemed to shun all competition with the historical painters, and +occupied himself (with a certainty of not being much celebrated), in +designing animals, and in other inferior branches of the art. In this +line both he and Giacinto, his younger brother, had great merit. +Saverio, the son of Agostino, who, on the death of them both, continued +to reside and to paint in Rome, did not equal them in reputation. + +During this period of the decline of the art, one branch of painting, +perspective, made an extraordinary progress by the talents of P. Andrea +Pozzo, a Jesuit, and a native of Trent. He became a painter and +architect from his native genius, rather than from the instruction of +any master. His habit of copying the best Venetian and Lombard pictures, +had given him a good style of colour, and a sufficiently correct design, +which he improved in Rome, where he resided many years. He painted also +in Genoa and Turin, and in these cities and in both the states, we find +some beautiful works, the more so as they resemble Rubens in tone, to +whose style of colour he aspired. There are not many of his oil +paintings in Italy, and few of them are finished, as S. Venanzio in +Ascoli, and S. Borgia at S. Remo. Even the picture of S. Ignatius at the +Gesù in Rome, is not equally rendered in every part. Nevertheless, he +appears on the whole a fine painter, his design well conceived, his +forms beautiful, his colours fascinating, and the touch of his pencil +free and ready. Even his less finished performances evince his genius; +and of the last mentioned picture, I heard from P. Giulio Cordara, an +eminent writer in verse and prose, an anecdote which deserves +preservation. A painter of celebrity being directed to substitute +another in its place, declared that neither himself nor any other living +artist could execute a superior work. His despatch was such, that in +four hours he began and finished the portrait of a cardinal, who was +departing the same day for Germany. + +He occupies a conspicuous place among the ornamental painters, but his +works in this way would be more perfect if there was not so great a +redundance of decoration, as vases, festoons, and figures of boys in the +cornices, though this indeed was the taste of the age. The ceiling of +the church of S. Ignatius is his greatest work, and which would serve to +show his powers, if he had left nothing else, as it exhibits a novelty +of images, an amenity of colour, and a picturesque spirit, which +attracted even the admiration of Maratta and Ciro Ferri; the last of +whom, amazed that Andrea had in so few years, and in so masterly a +manner, peopled, as he called it, this Piazza Navona, concluded that the +horses of other artists went at a common pace, but those of Pozzo on the +gallop. He is the most eminent of perspective painters, and even in the +concaves has given a convex appearance to the pieces of architecture +represented, as in the Tribune of Frascati, where he painted the +Circumcision of Jesus Christ, and in a corridor of the Gesù at Rome. He +succeeded too in a surprising manner in deceiving the eye with +fictitious cupolas in many churches of his order; in Turin, Modena, +Mondovi, Arezzo, Montepulciano, Rome, and Vienna, to which city he was +invited by the emperor Leopold I. He also painted scenes for the +theatres, and introduced colonnades and palaces with such inimitable +art, that it renders more credible the wonderful accounts handed down to +us by Vitruvius and Pliny of the skill of the ancients in this art. +Although well grounded in the theory of optics, as his two volumes of +perspective prove, it was his custom never to draw a line without first +having made a model, and thus ascertained the correct distribution of +the light and shade. When he painted on canvass, he laid on a light coat +of gum, and rejected the use of chalk, thinking that when the colours +were applied, the latter prevented the softening of the lights and +shadows, when requisite. + +He had many scholars who imitated him in perspective; some in fresco; +others in oil, taking their designs from real buildings, and at other +times painting from their own inventions. One of these was Alberto +Carlieri, a Roman, a painter also of small figures, of whom Orlandi +makes mention. Antonio Colli, another of his scholars, painted the great +altar at S. Pantaleo, and decorated it in perspective in so beautiful a +manner, that it was by some taken for the work of his master. Of +Agostino Collaceroni of Bologna, considered of the same school, we have +before spoken. + +There were also architectural painters in other branches. Pierfrancesco +Garoli, of Turin, painted the interior of churches, and Garzi supplied +the figures. Tiburzio Verzelli, of Recanati, is little known beyond +Piceno, his birthplace. The noble family of Calamini of Recanati, +possess perhaps his best picture, the elevation of S. Pietro in +Vaticano, one of the most beautiful and largest works of this kind that +I ever saw, which occupied the master several years in finishing. +Gaspare Vanvitelli, of Utrecht, called _Dagli Occhiali_, may be called +the painter of modern Rome; his pictures, which are to be found in all +parts of Europe, represent the magnificent edifices of that city, to +which landscapes are added, when the subject admits of it. He also +painted views of other cities, seaports, villas, and farm houses, useful +alike to painters and to architects. He painted some large pictures, +though most of his works are of a small size. He was correct in his +proportions, lively and clear in his tints, and there is nothing left to +desire, except a little more spirit and variety in the landscape or in +the sky, as the atmosphere is always of a pale azure, or carelessly +broken by a passing cloud. He was the father of Luigi Vanvitelli, a +painter, who owed his great name to architecture, as we shall see was +the case also with the celebrated Serlio. + +But no painter of perspective has found more admirers than the Cav. Gio. +Paolo Pannini, mentioned elsewhere; not so much for the correctness of +his perspective, in which he has many equals, as for his charming +landscape and spirited figures. It cannot indeed be denied, that these +latter are sometimes too high in proportion to the buildings, and that +also, to shun the dryness of Viviani, he has a mannered style of mixing +a reddish hue in his shadows. For the first defect there is no remedy; +but the second will be alleviated by time, which will gradually subdue +the predominant colour. + +Lastly, to this epoch the art of mosaic owes the great perfection which +it attained, in imitating painting, not only by the means of small +pieces of marble selected and cemented together, but by a composition +which could produce every colour, emulate every tint, represent each +degree of shade, and every part, equal to the pencil itself. Baglione +attributes the improvement in this art to Muziani, whom he calls the +inventor of working mosaics in oil; and that which he executed for the +Cappella Gregoriana, he praises as the most beautiful mosaic that has +been formed since the time of the ancients. Paolo Rossetti of Cento was +employed there under Muziani, and instructed Marcello Provenzale, his +fellow countryman. Both left many works beautifully painted in mosaic; +and the second, who lived till the time of Paul V. painted the portrait +of that Pope, and some cabinet pictures. An extensive work, as has often +been the case, was the cause of improving this art. The humidity of the +church of S. Peter was so detrimental to oil paintings, that from the +time of Urban VIII. there existed an idea of substituting mosaics in +their place. The first altarpiece was executed by a scholar of +Provenzale, already mentioned, Giambatista Calandra, born in Vercelli. +It represents S. Michael, and is of a small size, copied from a picture +of the Cav. d'Arpino. He afterwards painted other subjects in the small +cupolas, and near some windows of the church, from the cartoons of +Romanelli, Lanfranco, Sacchi, and Pellegrini; but thinking his talents +not sufficiently rewarded, he began to work also for individuals, and +painted portraits, or copied the best productions of the old masters. +Among these Pascoli particularly praises a Madonna copied from a picture +of Raffaello, in possession of the Queen of Sweden, and of this and +other similar works he judged that from their harmony of colour and high +finishing, they were deserving of close and repeated inspection. + +At this time great approaches were made towards the modern style of +mosaic; but this art was afterwards carried to a much higher pitch by +the two Cristofori, Fabio, and his son Pietro Paolo. These artists +painted the S. Petronilla, copied from the great picture of Guercino, +the S. Girolamo of Domenichino, and the Baptism of Christ by Maratta. +For other works by him and his successors, I refer the reader to the +_Descrizione_ of the pictures of Rome above cited. I will only add, that +when the works were completed for S. Peter's, lest the art might decay +for want of due encouragement, it was determined to decorate the church +of Loreto with similar pictures, which were executed in Rome, and +transferred to that church. + +Before I finish this portion of my work, I would willingly pay a tribute +to the numerous living professors, who have been, or who are now +resident in Rome; but it would be difficult to notice them all, and to +omit any might seem invidious. We may be allowed, however, to observe +that the improvement which has taken place in the art of late years, has +had its origin in Rome. That city at no period wholly lost its good +taste, and even in the decline of the art was not without connoisseurs +and artists of the first merit. Possessing in itself the best sources of +taste in so many specimens of Grecian sculpture, and so many works of +Raffaello, it is there always easy to judge how near the artists +approach to, and how far they recede from, their great prototypes of +art. This criterion too is more certain in the present age, when it is +the custom to pay less respect to prejudices and more to reason; so that +there can be no abuse of this useful principle. The works too of +Winckelmann and Mengs have contributed to improve the general taste; and +if we cannot approve every thing we there find, they still possess +matter highly valuable, and are excellent guides of genius and talent. +This object has also been promoted by the discovery of the ancient +pictures in Herculaneum, the Baths of Titus, and of the Villa Adriana, +and the exquisite vases of Nola, and similar remains of antiquity. These +have attracted every eye to the antique; Mengs and Winckelmann have +admirably illustrated the history of ancient sculpture, and the art of +painting may be more advantageously studied from the valuable engravings +which have been published, than from any book. From these extraordinary +advantages the fine arts have extended their influence to circles where +they were before unknown, and have received a new tone from emulation as +well as interest. The custom of exhibiting the productions of art to a +public who can justly appreciate them, and distinguish the good from the +bad; the rewards assigned to the most meritorious, of whatever nation, +accompanied by the productions of literary men, and public rejoicings in +the Campidoglio; the splendour of the sacred edifices peculiar to the +metropolis of the Christian world, which, while the art contributes to +its decoration, extends its protection in return to the professors of +that art; the lucrative commissions from abroad, and in the city itself, +from the munificence and unbounded liberality of Pius VI. and that of +many private individuals;[96] the circumstance of foreign sovereigns +frequently seeking in this emporium for masters, or directors for their +academies; all these causes maintain both the artists and their schools +in perpetual motion, and in a generous emulation, and by degrees we may +hope to see the art restored to its true principles, the imitation of +nature and the example of the great masters. There is not a branch, not +only of painting, but even of the arts depending on it, as miniature, +mosaic, enamel,[97] and the weaving of tapestry, that is not followed +there in a laudable manner. Whoever desires to be further informed of +the present state of the Roman School, and of the foreign artists +resident in Rome, should peruse the four volumes entitled, _Memorie per +le belle arti_, published from the year 1785, and continued to the year +1788, a periodical work deserving a place in every library of the fine +arts, and which was, I regret to add, prematurely discontinued. + +[Footnote 85: With regard to drapery, Winckelmann conjectures, (Storia +delle Arti del Disegno, tom. i. p. 450,) that the erroneous opinion that +the ancients did not drape their figures well, and were surpassed in +that department by the moderns, was at that time common among the +artists. This opinion still subsists among some sculptors, who +disapprove particularly of the ancient custom of moistening the drapery, +in order to adapt it the better to the form of the figure. The ancients, +they say, ought to be esteemed, not idolized. To carry nature to the +highest degree of perfection, was always allowable, but not so to +degrade her by mannerism.] + +[Footnote 86: He was the pupil of Niccolas Poussin, and from him +acquired his taste for drawing after the antique. He employed this +talent in copying the finest bassirilievi, and the noblest remains of +ancient Rome. These were engraved by him, and circulated through Europe. +He also copied a great number of ancient pictures from the +_Sotterranei_, which passed into private hands unpublished. Pascoli +mentions many more of his works in engraving, the pursuit of which +branch of the art led him gradually to forsake painting. Of his pictures +we find one in the church of Porto, and a very few more of his own +designing. He devoted himself to the copying the pictures of the best +masters, and carried his imitation even to the counterfeiting the +effects of time on the colours; and he copied some pictures of Poussin +with such dexterity, that it was with difficulty the painter himself +could distinguish them.] + +[Footnote 87: In the _Risposta alle Riflessioni Critiche di Mons. +Argens_.] + +[Footnote 88: This artist had painted one of the two laterals of the +chapel, asserting that there was no artist living capable of painting a +companion to it. Benefial painted one very superior, and represented in +it an executioner with his eyes fixed on and deriding the picture of +Muratori.] + +[Footnote 89: See _Memorie per le Belle Arti_, tom. ii. p. 135, where +Sig. Giangherardo de' Rossi gives an account of this artist, derived +principally from information furnished by Sig. Cav. Puccini, who has +been occasionally mentioned with approbation in the first volume of this +work.] + +[Footnote 90: Francesco Appiani, of Ancona, a scholar of Magatta, and +not long since deceased, did not find a place in my former edition, but +is fully entitled to one in this. He studied a considerable time in +Rome, whilst Benefial, Trevisani, Conca, and Mancini, flourished there; +and through the friendship of these masters (particularly of the +latter), was enabled to form an agreeable style, of which he there left +a specimen at S. Sisto Vecchio. It is the death of S. Domenico, painted +in fresco, by order of Benedict XIII. who remunerated him with a gold +medal. He went afterwards to Perugia, where he was presented with the +freedom of the city, and continued his labours there with unabated +ardour, until ninety years of age, an instance of vigour unexampled, +except in the case of Titian. Perugia abounds with his paintings of all +kinds, and his best works are to be found in the churches of S. Pietro +de' Cassinensi, S. Thomas, and Monte Corona. He also decorated the +church of S. Francis, and the vault of the cathedral, where he rivalled +the freedom of style and composition of Carloni. Both he himself, and +one of his pictures, placed in a church of Masaccio, are eulogised in +the Antich. Picene (tom. xx. p. 159). He painted many pictures also for +England.] + +[Footnote 91: For a more particular catalogue of these works, see the +_Memorie delle belle arti_, 1788, in which year they were republished in +Rome, with the remarks of the Sig. Avvocato Fea, in one vol. 4to. and 2 +vols. 8vo. The most celebrated treatise of Mengs is the _Riflessioni +sopra i tre gran pittori, Raffaello, Tiziano, e Coreggio, e sopra gli +antichi_. On the life and style of Coreggio he wrote a separate paper, +which was afterwards the subject of a controversy; for as, at the close +of the year 1781, appeared the _Notizie storiche del Coreggio_ of Ratti, +accompanied by a letter from Mengs, dated Madrid, 1774, in which he +entreats Ratti to collect and publish them, Ratti was by several writers +accused of plagiarism, and of having endeavoured, by a change of style +and the addition of some trifling matter, to appropriate to himself what +in reality belonged to Mengs. Not long afterwards there appeared an +anonymous Defence of Ratti, without date or place, for which I refer to +the next note.] + +[Footnote 92: In the _Difesa del Ratti_, accused _de repetundis_, this +very obvious contradiction is adduced as a proof that the _Memorie_ were +really composed by that author. It is there asserted that he wrote them +in a clear and simple style, and then communicated them to Mengs, on +whose death they were found among his writings, and published as his. +Some other things are indeed said, that do not favour the cause of +Ratti; as that when he was in Parma he consulted Mengs on what he should +say of the works of Coreggio in that city, and as he could not see those +in Dresden, he had from him a minute account of them; and also that +Mengs was accustomed to add remarks to the MS. on which his friends +consulted him. If, therefore, it be conceded that Mengs had such a share +in this MS. (which would appear to have been drawn up by the scholar +under the direction of the master, as to opinions on art, and as to a +catalogue of the best pictures, accompanied too with remarks,) who does +not perceive that the best part of that work, and the great attraction +of its matter and style, is due to Mengs?] + +[Footnote 93: This picture is one of the most finished compositions +since the restoration of art. Each muse is there represented with her +peculiar attribute, as derived from antiquity; and the artist is +deservedly eulogized by the Sig. Ab. Visconti, in the celebrated _Museo +Pio Clementino_, tom. i. p. 57.] + +[Footnote 94: This eminent man was not without his enemies and +calumniators, excited by his criticisms on the great masters, and still +more by his animadversions on artists of inferior fame, and some +recently deceased. Cumberland wrote against him with manifest prejudice; +and the anonymous author of the _Difesa del Cav. Ratti_, the work of +Ratti himself, or for which at least he furnished the materials, speaks +of him in a contemptuous manner. He particularly questions his literary +character and his discernment, and ascribes to his confidential friend, +Winckelmann, the merit of his remarks. In point of art he estimates +Mengs as an excellent, but by no means an unrivalled painter. Descending +to particulars, he publishes not a few criticisms, which he received +either in MS. or from the mouths of different professors, and adds +others of his own. Of these the experienced must form their own +judgment. With regard to his colouring, indeed, with which his rival +Batoni found great fault, the most inexperienced person may perceive +that it is not faultless, as the flesh tints are already altered by +time, at least in some of his works. Lastly, in the _Difesa_ are some +personal remarks regarding Mengs, which, if Ratti, from respect to his +late deceased friend, thought it right to omit them in his life of him, +printed in 1779, might with still greater propriety have been spared in +this subsequent work.] + +[Footnote 95: See the _Elogio di Pompeo Batoni_, page 66, where the +illustrious author, who, to his other accomplishments, adds that of +painting, expatiates at length, and in the style of a professor, on this +wonderful talent of Batoni.] + +[Footnote 96: The decoration of the Villa Pinciana, in which the prince +Borghesi has given encouragement to so many eminent artists, is an +undertaking that deserves to be immortalized in the history of art.] + +[Footnote 97: I refer to what I have written on the art of enamel, in +the school of Ferrara, in which city the art may be said to have been +revived by the Sig. Ab. Requeno. It was also greatly improved in the +school of Rome, where in 1788 an entire cabinet was painted in enamel +for the empress of Russia, as was publicly noticed in the _Giornale di +Roma_, of the month of June. Il Sig. Consigl. Gio. Renfestein, had the +commission of the work, which was executed from the designs of +Hunterberger, by the Sigg. Gio. and Vincenzio Angeloni. They were both +assisted in their task by the Sig. Ab. Garcia della Huerta, who greatly +facilitated the inventions of Requeno, as well by his experience as by +his work, intitled _Commentarj della pittura encaustica del pennello_, +published in Madrid, a very learned work, and which obtained for the +author from Charles IV. an annuity for life.] + + + + + BOOK IV. + + NEAPOLITAN SCHOOL. + + FIRST EPOCH. + + +We are now arrived at a school of painting which possesses indisputable +proofs of having, in ancient times, ranked among the first in Italy; as +in no part of that country do the remains of antiquity evince a more +refined taste, no where do we find mosaics executed with more +elegance,[98] nor any thing more beautiful than the subterranean +chambers which are ornamented with historical designs and grotesques. +The circumstance of its deriving its origin from ancient Greece, and the +ancient history of design, in which we read of many of its early +artists, have ennobled it above all others in Italy; and on this account +we feel a greater regret at the barbarism which overwhelmed it in common +with other schools. We may express a similar sentiment with regard to +Sicily, which from its affinity in situation and government, I shall +include in this Fourth Book; but generally in the notes.[99] That +island, too, possessed many Greek colonies, who have left vases and +medals of such extraordinary workmanship, that many have thought that +Sicily preceded Athens in carrying this art to perfection. But to +proceed to the art of painting in Naples, which is our present object, +we may observe that Dominici and the other national writers, the notice +of whom I shall reserve for their proper places, affirm, that that city +was never wholly destitute of artists, not only in the ancient times, +which Filostrato extols so highly in the proemium of his _Immagini_, but +even in the dark ages. In confirmation of this, they adduce devotional +pictures by anonymous artists, anterior to the year 1200; particularly +many Madonnas in an ancient style, which were the objects of adoration +in various churches. They subjoin moreover a catalogue of these early +artists, and bitterly inveigh against Vasari, who has wholly omitted +them in his work. + +The first painter whom we find mentioned at the earliest period of the +restoration of the art, is Tommaso de' Stefani, who was a contemporary +of Cimabue, in the reign of Charles of Anjou.[100] That prince, +according to Vasari, in passing through Florence, was conducted to the +studio of Cimabue, to see the picture of the Virgin, which he had +painted for the chapel of the Rucellai family, on a larger scale than +had ever before been executed. He adds, that the whole city collected in +such crowds thither to view it, that it became a scene of public +festivity, and that that part of the city in which the artist resided, +received in consequence the name of Borgo Allegri, which it has retained +to the present day. Dominici has not failed to make use of this +tradition to the advantage of Tommaso. He observes that Charles would +naturally have invited Cimabue to Naples, if he had considered him the +first artist of his day; the king however did not do so, but at the same +time employed Tommaso to ornament a church which he had founded, and he +therefore must have considered him superior to Cimabue. This argument, +as every one will immediately perceive, is by no means conclusive of the +real merits of these two artists. That must be decided by an inspection +of their works; and with regard to these, Marco da Siena, who is the +father of the history of painting in Naples, declares, that in respect +to grandeur of composition, Cimabue was entitled to the preference. +Tommaso enjoyed the favour also of Charles II. who employed him, as did +also the principal persons of the city. The chapel of the Minutoli in +the Duomo, mentioned by Boccaccio, was ornamented by him with various +pictures of the Passion of our Saviour. Tommaso had a scholar in Filippo +Tesauro, who painted in the church of S. Restituta, the life of B. +Niccolo, the hermit, the only one of his frescos which has survived to +our days. + +About the year 1325, Giotto was invited by King Robert to paint the +church of S. Chiara in Naples, which he decorated with subjects from the +New Testament, and the mysteries of the Apocalypse, with some designs +suggested to him at a former time by Dante, as was currently reported in +the days of Vasari. These pictures were effaced about the beginning of +the present century, as they rendered the church dark; but there +remains, among other things in good preservation, a Madonna called della +Grazia, which the generous piety of the religious possessors preserved +for the veneration of the faithful. Giotto painted some pictures also in +the church of S. Maria Coronata; and others which no longer exist, in +the Castello dell'Uovo. He selected for his assistant in his labours, a +Maestro Simone, who, in consequence of enjoying Giotto's esteem, +acquired a great name in Naples. Some consider him a native of Cremona, +others a Neapolitan, which seems nearer the truth. His style partakes +both of Tesauro and Giotto, whence some consider him of the first, +others of the second master; and he may probably have been instructed by +both. However that may be, on the departure of Giotto he was employed in +many works which King Robert and the Queen Sancia were prosecuting in +various churches, and particularly in S. Lorenzo. He there painted that +monarch in the act of being crowned by the Bishop Lodovico, his brother, +to whom upon his death and subsequent canonization, a chapel was +dedicated in the Episcopal church, and Simone appointed to decorate it, +but which he was prevented from doing by death. Dominici particularly +extols a picture by him of a Deposition from the Cross, painted for the +great altar of the Incoronata; and thinks it will bear comparison with +the works of Giotto. In other respects, he confesses that his conception +and invention were not equally good, nor did his heads possess so +attractive an air as those of Giotto, nor his colours such a suavity of +tone. + +He instructed in the art a son, called Francesco di Simone, who was +highly extolled for a Madonna in chiaroscuro, in the church of S. +Chiara, and which was one of the works which escaped being effaced on +the occasion before mentioned. He had two other scholars in Gennaro di +Cola, and Stefanone, who were very much alike in their manner, and on +that account were chosen to paint in conjunction some large +compositions, such as the pictures of the Life of S. Lodovico, Bishop of +Tolosa, which Simone had only commenced, and various others of the Life +of the Virgin, in S. Giovanni da Carbonara, which were preserved for a +long period. Notwithstanding the similarity of their styles, we may +perceive a difference in the genius of the two artists; the first being +in reference to the second, studied and correct, and anxious to overcome +all difficulties, and to elevate the art; on which account he appears +occasionally somewhat laboured: the second discovers more genius, more +confidence, and a greater freedom of pencil, and to his figures he gives +a spirit that might have assured him a distinguished place, if he had +been born at a more advanced period of art. + +Before Zingaro (who will very soon occupy our attention) introduced a +manner acquired in other schools, the art had made little progress in +Naples and her territories. This is clearly proved by Colantonio del +Fiore, the scholar of Francesco, who lived till the year 1444, of whom +Dominici mentions some pictures, though he is in doubt whether they +should not be assigned to Maestro Simone; which is a tacit confession, +that in the lapse of a century the art had not made any considerable +progress. It appears, however, that Colantonio after some time, by +constant practice, had considerably improved himself; having painted +several works in a more modern style, particularly a S. Jerome, in the +church of S. Lorenzo, in the act of drawing a thorn from the foot of a +lion, with the date of 1436. It is a picture of great truth, removed +afterwards, for its merit, by the P. P. Conventuali, into the sacristy +of the same church, where it was for a long time the admiration of +strangers. He had a scholar of the name of Angiolo Franco, who imitated +better than any other Neapolitan the manner of Giotto; adding only a +stronger style of chiaroscuro, which he derived from his master. + +The art was, however, more advanced by Antonio Solario, originally a +smith, and commonly called lo Zingaro. His history has something +romantic in it, like that of Quintin Matsys, who, from his first +profession, was called il Fabbro, and became a painter from his love to +a young girl, who promised to marry him when he had made himself a +proficient in the art of painting. Solario in the same manner being +enamoured of a daughter of Colantonio, and receiving from him a promise +of her hand in marriage in ten years, if he became an eminent painter, +forsook his furnace for the academy, and substituted the pencil for the +file. There is an idle tradition of a queen of Naples having been the +author of this match, but that matter I leave in the hands of the +narrators of it. It is more interesting to us to know that Solario went +to Bologna, where he was for several years the scholar of Lippo +Dalmasio, called also Lippo delle Madonne, from his numerous portraits +of the Virgin, and the grace with which he painted them. On leaving +Bologna he visited other parts of Italy in order to study the works of +the best artists in the various schools; as Vivarini, in Venice; Bicci, +in Florence; Galasso, in Ferrara; Pisanello, and Gentile da Fabriano, in +Rome. It has been thought that he assisted the two last, as Luca +Giordano affirmed that among the pictures in the Lateran he recognized +some heads which were indisputably by Solario. He excelled in this +particular, and excited the admiration of Marco da Siena himself, who +declared that his countenances seemed alive. He became also a good +perspective painter for those times, and respectable in historical +compositions; which he enlivened with landscape in a better style than +other painters, and distinguished his figures by drapery peculiar to the +age, and carefully drawn from nature. He was less happy in designing his +hands and feet, and often appears heavy in his attitudes, and crude in +his colouring. On his return to Naples, it is said, that he gave proof +of his skill, and was favorably received by Colantonio, and thus became +his son-in-law nine years after his first departure; and that he painted +and taught there under King Alfonso, until the year 1455, about which +time he died. + +The most celebrated work of this artist was in the choir of S. Severino, +in fresco, representing, in several compartments, the life of S. +Benedict, and containing an incredible variety of figures and subjects. +He left also numerous pictures with portraits, and Madonnas of a +beautiful form, and not a few others painted in various churches of +Naples. In that of S. Domenico Maggiore, where he painted a dead Christ, +and in that of S. Pier Martire, where he represented a S. Vincenzio, +with some subjects from the life of that saint, it is said that he +surpassed himself. Thus there commenced in Naples a new epoch, which +from its original and most celebrated prototype, is called by the Cav. +Massimo, the school of Zingaro, as in that city those pictures are +commonly distinguished by the name of Zingaresque, which were painted +from the time of that artist to that of Tesauro, or a little later, in +the same way that pictures are every where called Cortonesque, that are +painted in imitation of Berettini. + +About this time there flourished two eminent artists, whom I deem it +proper to mention in this place before I enter on the succeeding +scholars of the Neapolitan School. These were Matteo da Siena, and +Antonello da Messina. The first we noticed in the school of Siena, and +mentioned his having painted in Naples the Slaughter of the Innocents. +It exists in the church of S. Caterina a Formello, and is engraved in +the third volume of the Lettere Senesi. The year M.CCCC.XVIII. is +attached to it, but we ought not to yield implicit faith to this date. +Il P. della Valle, in p. 56 of the above mentioned volume, observes, +that Matteo, in the year 1462, when he painted with his father in +Pienza, was young, and that in the portrait which he painted of himself +in 1491, he does not appear aged. He could not therefore have painted in +Naples in 1418. After this we may believe it very possible, that in this +date an L has been inadvertently omitted, and that the true reading is +M.CCCC.LXVIII. Thus the above writer conjectures, and with so much the +more probability, as he advances proofs, both from the form of the +letters and the absence of the artist from his native place. Whoever +desires similar examples, may turn to page 141 of vol. i., and he will +find that such errors have occurred more than once in the date of books. +Guided by this circumstance we may correct what Dominici has asserted of +Matteo da Siena having influenced the style of Solario. It may be true +that there is a resemblance in the air of the heads, and the general +style, but such similarity can only be accounted for by Matteo deriving +it from Solario, or both, as often happens, deriving it from the same +master. + +Antonello, of the family of the Antonj, universally known under the name +of Antonello da Messina, is a name so illustrious in the history of art, +that it is not sufficient to have mentioned him in the first book and to +refer to him here again, as he will claim a further notice in the +Venetian School, and we must endeavour too to overcome some perplexing +difficulties, to ascertain with correctness the time at which he +flourished, and attempt to settle the dispute, whether he were the first +who painted in oil in Italy, or whether that art was practised before +his time. Vasari relates, that when young, after having spent many years +in Rome in the study of design,[101] and many more at Palermo, painting +there with the reputation of a good artist, he repaired first to +Messina, and from thence passed to Naples, where he chanced to see a +large composition painted in oil by Gio. da Bruggia, which had been +presented by some Florentine merchants to King Alfonso. Antonello, +smitten with this new art, took his departure to Flanders, and there, by +his affability, and by a present of some drawings of the Italian School, +so far ingratiated himself with Giovanni, as to induce him to +communicate to him the secret, and the aged painter dying soon +afterwards, thus left him instructed in the new art. This must have +happened about the year 1440, since that time is required to support the +supposition that Giovanni, born about 1370, died at an advanced age, as +the old writers assert, or exactly in 1441, as is asserted by the author +of the _Galleria Imperiale_. Antonello then left Flanders, and first +resided for some months in his native place; from thence he went to +Venice, where he communicated the secret to Domenico Veneziano; and +having painted there a considerable time, died there at the age of +forty-nine. All this we find in Vasari, and it agrees with what he +relates in the life of Domenico Veneziano, that this artist, after +having learnt the new method from Antonello in Venice, painted in Loreto +with Piero della Francesca, some few years before that artist lost his +eyesight, which happened in 1458. Thus the arrival of Antonello in +Venice must have occurred about the year 1450, or some previous year; +but this conclusion is contrary to Venetian evidence. The remaining +traces of Antonello, or the dates attached to his works there, commence +in 1474, and terminate according to Ridolfi in 1490. There does not +appear any reason whatever, why he should not have attached dates to his +pictures, until after residing twenty-four years in Venice. Besides, how +can it be maintained, that Antonello, after passing many years in Rome +as a student, and many in Palermo as a master, and some years in Messina +and Flanders, should not in Venice, in the forty-ninth year after the +death of Giovanni, have passed the forty-ninth year of his age. Hackert +quotes the opinion of Gallo, who in the _Annali di Messina_, dates the +birth of Antonello in 1447, and his death at forty-nine years of age, +that is, in 1496. But if this were so, how could he have known Gio. da +Bruggia? Yet if such fact be denied, we must contradict a tradition +which has been generally credited. I should be more inclined to believe +that there is a mistake in his age, and that he died at a more advanced +period of life. Nor on this supposition do we wrong Vasari; others +having remarked what we shall also on a proper opportunity confirm; that +as far as regards Venetian artists, Vasari errs almost in every page +from the want of accurate information. I further believe that respecting +the residence of Antonello in Venice, he wrote with inaccuracy. That he +was there about the year 1450, and communicated his secret to Domenico, +is a fact, which after so many processes made in Florence on the murder +of Domenico, and so much discussion respecting him, must have been well +ascertained, not depending on the report contained in the memoirs of the +painters by Grillandajo, or any other contemporary, in whose writings +Vasari might search for information. But admitting this, I am of +opinion, that Antonello did not reside constantly in Venice from the +year 1450 until his death, as Vasari insinuates. It appears that he +travelled afterwards in several countries, resided for a long time in +Milan, and acquired there a great celebrity; and that he repaired afresh +to Venice, and enjoyed there for some years a public salary. This we +gather from Maurolico, quoted by Hackert: _Ob mirum hic ingenium +Venetiis aliquot annos publicè conductus vixit: Mediolani quoque fuit +percelebris_, (_Hist. Sican. pl. 186, prim. edit._), and if he was not a +contemporary writer, still he was not very far removed from Antonello. +This is the hypothesis I propose in order to reconcile the many +contradictory accounts which we find on this subject in Vasari, Ridolfi, +and Zanetti; and when we come to the Venetian School, I shall not forget +to adduce further proofs in support of it. Others may perhaps succeed +better than I have done in this task, and with that hope I shall console +myself: as in my researches I have no other object than truth, I shall +be equally satisfied whether I discover it myself, or it be communicated +to me by others. + +That therefore Antonello was the first who exhibited a perfect method of +practising painting in oil in Italy, is an assertion that, it seems to +me, may be with justice maintained, or at least it cannot be said that +there is proof to the contrary. And yet in the history of the art in the +Two Sicilies, this honour is strongly disputed. In that history we find +the description of a chapel in the Duomo of Messina, called Madonna +della Lettera, where it is said there exists a very old Greek picture of +the Virgin, an object of adoration, which was said to be in oil. If this +were even admitted, it could not detract from the merit of Antonello in +having restored a beautiful art that had fallen into desuetude; but in +these Greek pictures, the wax had often the appearance of oil, as we +observed in vol. i. p. 89. Marco da Siena, in the fragment of a +discourse which Dominici has preserved, asserts, that the Neapolitan +painters of 1300 continued to improve in the two manners of painting in +fresco and in oil. When I peruse again what I have written in vol. i. p. +90, where some attempt at colouring in oil anterior to Antonello is +admitted, I may be permitted not to rely on the word of Pino alone. +There exist in Naples many pictures of 1300, and I cannot imagine, why +in a controversy like this, they are neither examined nor alluded to, +and why the question is rested solely on a work or two of Colantonio. +Some national writers, and not long since, Signorelli, in his _Coltura +delle due Sicili_ (tom. iii. p. 171), have pretended, that Colantonio +del Fiore was certainly the first to paint in oil, and adduce in proof +the very picture of S. Jerome, before mentioned, and another in S. Maria +Nuova. Il Sig. Piacenza after inspecting them, says, that he was not +able to decide whether these pictures were really in oil or not. Zanetti +(P. V. p. 20) also remarks, that it is extremely difficult to pass a +decided judgment on works of this kind, and I have made the same +observation with respect to Van Eyck, which will I hope, convince every +reader who will be at the trouble to refer to vol. i. p. 87. And unless +that had been the case, how happened it that all Europe was filled with +the name of Van Eyck in the course of a few years; that every painter +ran to him; that his works were coveted by princes, and that they who +could not obtain them, procured the works of his scholars, and others +the works of Ausse, Ugo d'Anversa, and Antonello; and of Ruggieri +especially, of whose great fame in Italy we shall in another place +adduce the documents.[102] On the other hand, who, beyond Naples and its +territory, had at that time heard of Colantonio? Who ever sought with +such eagerness the works of Solario? And if this last was the scholar +and son-in-law of a master who painted so well in oil, how happened it +that he was neither distinguished in the art, nor even acquired it? Why +did he himself and his scholars work in distemper? Why did the +Sicilians, as we have seen, pass over to Venice, where Antonello +resided, to instruct themselves, and not confine themselves to Naples? +Why did the whole school of Venice, the emporium of Europe, and capable +of contradicting any false report, attest, on the death of Antonello, +that he was the first that painted in oil in Italy, and no one opposed +to him either Solario or Colantonio?[103] They either could not at that +time have been acquainted with this discovery, or did not know it to an +extent that can contradict Vasari, and the prevailing opinions +respecting Antonello. Dominici has advanced more on this point than any +other person, asserting that this art was discovered in Naples, and was +carried from thence to Flanders by Van Eyck himself, to which +supposition, after the observations already made, I deem it superfluous +to reply.[104] + +We shall now return to the scholars of Solario, who were very numerous. +Amongst them was a Niccola di Vito, who may be called the Buffalmacco of +this school, for his singular humour and his eccentric invention, though +in other respects he was an inferior artist, and little deserving +commemoration. Simone Papa did not paint any large composition in which +he might be compared to his master; he confined himself to altarpieces, +with few figures grouped in a pleasing style, and finished with +exquisite care; so that he sometimes equalled Zingaro, as in a S. +Michele, painted for S. Maria Nuova. Of the same class seems to have +been Angiolillo di Roccadirame, who in the church of S. Bridget, painted +that saint contemplating in a vision the birth of Christ; a picture +which even with the experienced, might pass for the work of his master. +More celebrated and more deserving of notice, are Pietro and Polito +(Ippolito) del Donzello, sons-in-law of Angiolo Franco, and relatives of +the celebrated architect Giuliano da Maiano, by whom they were +instructed in that art. Vasari mentions them as the first painters of +the Neapolitan school, but does not give any account of their master, or +of what school they were natives, and he writes in a way that might lead +the reader to believe that they were Tuscans. He says that Giuliano, +having finished the palace of Poggio Reale for King Robert, the monarch +engaged the two brothers to decorate it, and that first Giuliano dying, +and the king afterwards, Polito _returned_ to Florence.[105] Bottari +observes, that he did not find the two Donzelli mentioned by Orlandi, +nor by any one else; a clear proof that he did not himself consider them +natives of Naples, and on that account he did not look for them in +Bernardo Dominici, who has written at length upon them, complaining of +the negligence or inadvertent error of Vasari. + +The pictures of the two brothers were painted, according to Vasari, +about the year 1447. But as he informs us that Polito did not leave +Naples until the death of Alfonso, this epoch should be extended to +1463, or beyond; as he remained for a year longer, or thereabouts, under +the reign of Ferdinand, the son and successor of Alfonso. He painted for +that monarch some large compositions in the refectory of S. Maria Nuova, +partly alone and partly in conjunction with his brother, and both +brothers combined in decorating for the king a part of the palace of +Poggio Reale. We may here with propriety also mention, that they painted +in one of the rooms the conspiracy against Ferdinand, which being seen +by Jacopo Sannazzaro, gave occasion to his writing a sonnet, the 41st in +the second part of his _Rime_. Their style resembles that of their +master, except that their colouring is softer. They distinguished +themselves also in their architectural ornaments, and in the painting of +friezes and trophies, and subjects in chiaroscuro, in the manner of +bassirilievi, an art which I am not aware that any one practised before +them. The younger brother leaving Naples and dying soon afterwards, +Pietro remained employed in that city, where he and his scholars +acquired a great reputation by their paintings in oil and fresco. The +portraits of Pietro had all the force of nature, and it is not long +since, that on the destruction of some of his pictures on a wall in the +palace of the Dukes of Matalona, some heads were removed with the +greatest care, and preserved for their excellence. + +We may now notice Silvestro de' Buoni, who was placed by his father in +the school of Zingaro, and on his death attached himself to the +Donzelli. His father was an indifferent painter, of the name of Buono, +and from that has arisen the mistake of some persons, who have ascribed +to the son some works of the father in an old style, and unworthy the +reputation of Silvestro. This artist, in the opinion of the Cav. +Massimo, had a finer colouring and a superior general effect to the +Donzelli; and in the force of his chiaroscuro, and in the delicacy of +his contours, far surpassed all the painters of his country who had +lived to that time. Dominici refers to many of his pictures in the +various churches of Naples. One of the most celebrated is that of S. +Giovanni a Mare, in which he included three saints, all of the same +name, S. John the Baptist, the Evangelist, and S. Chrysostom. + +Silvestro is said to have had a disciple in Tesauro, whose Christian +name has not been correctly handed down to us; but he is generally +called Bernardo. He is supposed to have been of a painter's family, and +descended from that Filippo who is commemorated as the second of this +school, and father or uncle of Raimo, whom we shall soon notice. This +Bernardo, or whatever his name may have been, made nearer approaches to +the modern style than any of the preceding artists; more judicious in +his invention, more natural in his figures and drapery; select, +expressive, harmonized, and displaying a knowledge in gradation and +relief, beyond what could be expected in a painter who is not known to +have been acquainted with any other schools, or seen any pictures beyond +those of his own country. Luca Giordano, at a time when he was +considered the Coryphæus of painting, was struck with astonishment at +the painting of a Soffitto by Tesauro at S. Giovanni de' Pappacodi, and +did not hesitate to declare that there were parts in it, which in an age +so fruitful in fine works, no one could have surpassed. It represents +the Seven Sacraments. The minute description which the historian gives +of it, shews us what sobriety and judgment there were in his +composition; and the portraits of Alfonso II. and Ippolita Sforza, whose +espousals he represented in the Sacrament of Marriage, afford us some +light for fixing the date of this picture. Raimo Tesauro was very much +employed in works in fresco. Some pictures by him are also mentioned in +S. Maria Nuova, and in Monte Vergine; pictures, says the Cav. Massimo, +"very studied and perfect, according to the latest schools succeeding +our Zingaro." + +To the same schools Gio. Antonio d'Amato owed his first instructions; +but it is said, that when he saw the pictures which Pietro Perugino had +painted for the Duomo of Naples, he became ambitious of emulating the +style of that master. By diligence, in which he was second to none, he +approached, as one may say, the confines of modern art; and died at an +advanced period of the sixteenth century. He is highly extolled for his +Dispute of the Sacrament, painted for the Metropolitan church, and for +two other pictures placed in the Borgo di Chiaia, the one at the +Carmine, the other at S. Leonardo. And here we may close our account of +the early painters, scanty indeed, but still copious for a city harassed +by incessant hostilities.[106] + +[Footnote 98: In the Museo of the Sig. D. Franc. Daniele, are some +birds, not inferior to the doves of Furietti.] + +[Footnote 99: I adopt this mode because "little has hitherto been +published on the Sicilian School," as the Sig. Hackert observes in his +_Memorie de' Pittori Messinesi_. I had not seen that book when I +published the former edition of the present work, and I was then +desirous that the memoirs of the Sicilian painters should be collected +together and given to the public. I rejoice that we have had memoirs +presented to us of those of Messina, and that we shall also have those +of the Syracusans and others, as the worthy professor gives us reason to +hope in the preface to the _Memorie_ before mentioned, which were +written by an anonymous writer, and published by Sig. Hackert with his +own remarks.] + +[Footnote 100: The history of the art in Messina enumerates a series of +pictures from the year 1267, of which period is the S. Placido of the +cathedral, painted by an Antonio d'Antonio. It is supposed that this is +a family of painters, which had the surname of Antonj, and that many +pictures in S. Francesco, S. Anna, and elsewhere, are by different +Antonj, until we come to Salvatore di Antonio, father of the celebrated +Antonello di Messina, and himself a master; and there remains by him a +S. Francis in the act of receiving the Stigmata, in the church of his +name. Thus the genealogy of this Antonello is carried to the before +mentioned Antonio di Antonio, and still further by a writer called _il +Minacciato_ (Hack. p. 11), although Antonio never, to my knowledge, +subscribed himself degli Antonj, having always on his pictures, which I +have seen, inscribed his country, instead of his surname, as +_Messinensis_, _Messineus_, _Messinæ_.] + +[Footnote 101: The _Memorie de' Pittori Messinesi_ assert, that at Rome +he was attracted by the fame of the works of Masaccio, and that he there +also designed all the ancient statues. They add, too, that he arrived at +such celebrity, that his works are equal to those of the best masters of +his time. I imagine it must be meant to allude to those who preceded +Pietro Perugino, Francia, Gio. Bellini, and Mantegna; as his works will +not bear any comparison with those of the latter masters.] + +[Footnote 102: In the first epoch of the Venetian School.] + +[Footnote 103: The following inscription, composed at the instance of +the Venetian painters, is found in Ridolfi, p. 49. "_Antonius pictor, +præcipuum Messanæ suæ et totius Siciliæ ornamentum hâc humo contegitur: +non solum suis picturis, in quibus singulare artificium et venustas +fuit: sed et quod coloribus oleo miscendis splendorem et perpetuitatem_ +PRIMUS ITALIÆ PICTURÆ _contulit, summo_ SEMPER _artificum studio +celebratus._"] + +[Footnote 104: A letter of Summonzio, written on the 20th March, 1524, +has been communicated to me by the Sig. Cav. de' Lazara, extracted from +the 60th volume of the MSS. collected in Venice by the Sig. Ab. Profess. +Daniele Francesconi. It is addressed to M. A. Michele, who had requested +from him some information respecting the ancient and modern artists of +Naples; and in reference to the present question he thus speaks. "Since +that period (the reign of King Ladislaus), we have not had any one of so +much talent in the art of painting as our Maestro Colantonio of Naples, +who would in all probability have arrived at great eminence, if he had +not died young. Owing to the taste of the times, he did not arrive at +that perfection of design founded on the antique, which his disciple +Antonello da Messina attained; an artist, as I understand, well known +amongst you. The style of Colantonio was founded on the Flemish, and the +colouring of that country, to which he was so much attached, that he had +intended to go thither, but the King Raniero retained him here, +satisfied with showing him the practice and mode of such colouring." +From this letter, which seems contrary to my argument, I collect +sufficient, if I err not, to confirm it. For, 1st, the defence of those +writers falls to the ground, who assume that the art of oil colouring +was derived from Naples, while we see that Colantonio, by means of the +king, received it from Flanders. 2ndly, Van Eyck himself is not here +named, but the painters of Flanders generally; which country first +awakened, as we have observed, by the example of Italy, had discovered +new, and it is true, imperfect and inefficient methods, but still +superior to distemper; and who knows if this were not the mode adopted +by Colantonio. 3rdly, It is said that he died young, a circumstance +which may give credit to the difficulty that he had in communicating the +secret: in fact, it is not known that he communicated it even to his +son-in-law, much less to a stranger. 4thly, Hence the necessity of +Antonello undertaking the journey to Flanders to learn the secret from +Van Eyck, who was then in years, and not without difficulty communicated +it to him. 5thly, If we believe with Ridolfi that Antonello painted in +1494 in Trevigi, and credit the testimony of Vasari, that he was not +then more than forty-nine years of age, how could he be the scholar of +Colantonio, who, according to Dominici, died in 1444? It is with +diffidence I advance these remarks on a matter on which I have before +expressed my doubts, and I have been obliged to leave some points +undecided, or decided rather according to the opinions of others than my +own.] + +[Footnote 105: In the ducal gallery in Florence, is a Deposition from +the Cross, wholly in the style of Zingaro: and I know not whether it +ought to be ascribed to Polito, who certainly resided in Florence, or to +some other painter of the Neapolitan School.] + +[Footnote 106: In Messina, towards the close of the fifteenth century, +or at the beginning of the sixteenth, some artists flourished who +practised their native style, not yet modernised on the Italian model, +as Alfonso Franco, a scholar of Jacopello d'Antonio, and a Pietro Oliva, +of an uncertain school. Both are praised for their natural manner, the +peculiar boast of that age, but in the first we admire a correct design +and a lively expression, for which his works have been much sought after +by strangers, who have spared only to his native place a Deposition from +the Cross, at S. Francesco di Paola, and a Dispute of Christ with the +Doctors, at S. Agostino. Still less remains of Antonello Rosaliba, +always a graceful painter. This is a Madonna with the Holy Infant, in +the village of Postunina.] + + + + + NEAPOLITAN SCHOOL. + + SECOND EPOCH. + + _Modern Neapolitan Style, founded on the Schools of Raffaello + and Michelangiolo._ + + +It has already been observed, that at the commencement of the sixteenth +century, the art of painting seemed in every country to have attained to +maturity, and that every school at that time assumed its own peculiar +and distinguishing character. Naples did not, however, possess a manner +so decided as that of other schools of Italy, and thus afforded an +opportunity for the cultivation of the best style, as the students who +left their native country returned home, each with the manner of his own +master, and the sovereigns and nobility of the kingdom invited and +employed the most celebrated strangers. In this respect, perhaps, Naples +did not yield precedence to any city after Rome. Thus the first talents +were constantly employed in ornamenting both the churches and palaces of +that metropolis. Nor indeed was that country ever deficient in men of +genius, who manifested every exquisite quality for distinction, +particularly such as depended on a strong and fervid imagination. Hence +an accomplished writer and painter has observed, that no part of Italy +could boast of so many native artists, such is the fire, the fancy, and +freedom, which characterizes, for the most part, the works of these +masters. Their rapidity of execution was another effect of their genius, +a quality which has been alike praised by the ancients,[107] and the +moderns, when combined with other more requisite gifts of genius. But +this despatch in general excludes correct design, which from that cause +is seldom found in that school. Nor do we find that it paid much +attention to ideal perfection, as most of its professors, following the +practice of the naturalists, selected the character of their heads and +the attitudes of their figures from common life; some with more, and +others with less discrimination. With regard to colour, this school +changed its principles in conformity to the taste of the times. It was +fertile in invention and composition, but deficient in application and +study. The history of the vicissitudes it experienced will occupy the +remainder of this volume. + +The epoch of modern painting in Naples could not have commenced under +happier auspices than those which it had the good fortune to experience. +Pietro Perugino had painted an Assumption of the Virgin, which I am +informed exists in the Duomo, or S. Reparata, a very ancient cathedral +church, since connected with the new Duomo. This work opened the way to +a better taste. When Raffaello and his school rose into public esteem, +Naples was among the first distant cities to profit from it, by means of +some of his scholars, to whom were also added some followers of +Michelangiolo, about the middle of the century. Thus till nearly the +year 1600, this school paid little attention to any other style than +that of these two great masters and their imitators, except a few +artists who were admirers of Titian. + +We may commence the new series with Andrea Sabbatini of Salerno. This +artist was so much struck with the style of Pietro, when he saw his +picture in the Duomo, that he immediately determined to study in the +school of Perugia. He took his departure accordingly for that city, but +meeting on the road some brother painters who much more highly extolled +the works of Raffaello, executed for Julius II., he changed his mind and +proceeded to Rome, and there placed himself in the school of that great +master. He remained with him however, only a short time, as the death of +his father compelled him to return home, against his wishes. But he +arrived a new man. It is related that he painted with Raffaello at the +Pace, and in the Vatican, and that he became an accomplished copyist of +his works, and successfully emulated the style of his master. Compared +with his fellow scholars, although he did not rival Giulio Romano, he +yet surpassed Raffaele del Colle, and others of that class. He had a +correctness of design, selection in his faces and in his attitudes, a +depth of shade, and the muscles rather strongly expressed; a breadth in +the folding of his drapery, and a colour which still preserves its +freshness after the lapse of so many years. He executed many works in +Naples, as appears from the catalogue of his pictures. Among his best +works are numbered some pictures at S. Maria delle Grazie; besides the +frescos which he executed there and in other places, extolled by writers +as miracles of art, but few of which remain to the present day. He +painted also in his native city, in Gaeta, and indeed in all parts of +the kingdom, both in the churches and for private collections, where +many of his Madonnas, of an enchanting beauty, are still to be +seen.[108] + +Andrea had several scholars, some of whom studied under other masters, +and did not acquire much of his style. Such was Cesare Turco, who rather +took after Pietro; a good painter in oil, but unsuccessful in fresco. +But Andrea was the sole master of Francesco Santafede, the father and +master of Fabrizio; painters who in point of colouring have few equals +in this school, and possessing a singular uniformity of style. +Nevertheless the experienced discover in the father more vigour, and +more clearness in his shadows; and there are by him some pictures in the +Soffitto of the Nunziata, and a Deposition from the Cross in the +possession of the prince di Somma, highly celebrated. But of all the +scholars of Andrea, one Paolillo resembled him the most, whose works +were all ascribed to his master, until Dominici restored them to their +right owner. He would have been the great ornament of this school had he +not died young. + +Polidoro Caldara, or Caravaggio, came to Naples in the year of the +sacking of Rome, 1527. He was not, as Vasari would have us believe, in +danger of perishing through want at Naples; for Andrea da Salerno, who +had been his fellow disciple, generously received him into his house, +and introduced him in the city, where he obtained many commissions, and +formed several scholars before he went to Sicily. He had distinguished +himself in Rome by his chiaroscuri, as we have related; and he painted +in colours in Naples and Messina. His colour in oil was pallid and +obscure, at least for some time, and in this style I saw some pictures +of the Passion in Rome, which Gavin Hamilton had received from Sicily. +In other respects they were valuable, from their design and invention. +Vasari mentions this master with enthusiasm, calls him a divine genius, +and extols to the skies a picture which he painted in Messina a little +while before his death. This was a composition of Christ on his way to +Mount Calvary, surrounded by a great multitude, and he assures us that +the colouring was enchanting. + +Giambernardo Lama was first a scholar of Amato, and afterwards attached +himself to Polidoro, in whose manner he painted a Pietà at S. Giacomo +degli Spagnuoli, which, from its conception, its correctness, and vigour +of design, variety in attitude, and general style of composition, was by +many ascribed to that master. In general however, he displayed a softer +and more natural manner, and was partial to the style of Andrea di +Salerno. Marco di Pino, an imitator of Michelangiolo, as we have +observed, though sober and judicious, was held in disesteem by him. In +the _Segretario_ of Capece, there is an interesting letter to Lama, +where amongst other things he says, "I hear that you do not agree with +Marco da Siena, as you paint with more regard to beauty, and he is +attached to a vigorous design without softening his colours. I know not +what you desire of him, but pray leave him to his own method, and do you +follow yours." + +A Francesco Ruviale, a Spaniard, is also mentioned in Naples, called +Polidorino, from his happy imitation of his master, whom he assisted in +painting for the Orsini some subjects illustrative of the history of +that noble family; and after the departure of his master, he executed by +himself several works at Monte Oliveto and elsewhere. The greater part +of these have perished, as happened in Rome to so many of the works of +Polidoro. This Ruviale appears to me to be a different artist from a +Ruviale, a Spaniard, who is enumerated among the scholars of Salviati, +and the assistants of Vasari, in the painting of the Chancery; on which +occasion Vasari says, he formed himself into a good painter. This was +under Paul VII. in 1544, at which time Polidorino must already have been +a master. Palomino has not said a word of any other Ruviale, a painter +of his country; and this is a proof that the two preceding artists never +returned home to Spain. + +Some have included among the scholars of Polidoro an able artist and +good colourist, called Marco Calabrese, whose surname is Cardisco. +Vasari ranks him before all his Neapolitan contemporaries, and considers +his genius a fruit produced remote from its native soil. This +observation cannot appear correct to any one who recollects that the +Calabria of the present day is the ancient Magna Græcia, where in former +times the arts were carried to the highest pitch of perfection. Cardisco +painted much in Naples and in the state. His most celebrated work is the +Dispute of S. Agostino in the church of that saint in Aversa. He had a +scholar in Gio. Batista Crescione, who together with Lionardo +Castellani, his relative, painted at the time Vasari wrote, which was an +excuse for his noticing them only in a cursory manner. We may further +observe that Polidoro was the founder of a florid school in Messina, +where we must look for his most able scholars.[109] + +Gio. Francesco Penni, or as he is called, il Fattore, came to Naples +some time after Polidoro, but soon afterwards fell sick, and died in the +year 1528. He contributed in two different ways to the advancement of +the school of Naples. In the first place he left there the great copy of +the Transfiguration of Raffaello, which he had painted in Rome in +conjunction with Perino, and which was afterwards placed in S. Spirito +degl'Incurabili, and served as a study to Lama, and the best painters, +until, with other select pictures and sculptures at Naples, it was +purchased and removed by the viceroy Don Pietro Antonio of Aragon. +Secondly, he left there a scholar of the name of Lionardo, commonly +called il Pistoja, from the place of his birth; an excellent colourist, +but not a very correct designer. We noticed him among the assistants of +Raffaello, and more at length among the artists of the Florentine state, +where we find some of his pictures, as in Volterra and elsewhere. After +he had lost his friend Penni in Naples, he established himself there for +the remainder of his days, where he received sufficient encouragement +from the nobility of that city, and painted less for the churches than +for private individuals. He chiefly excelled in portrait. + +Pistoja is said to have been one of the masters of Francesco Curia, a +painter, who, though somewhat of a mannerist in the style of Vasari and +Zucchero, is yet commended for the noble and agreeable style of his +composition, for his beautiful countenances, and natural colouring. +These qualities are singularly conspicuous in a Circumcision painted for +the church della Pietà, esteemed by Ribera, Giordano, and Solimene, one +of the first pictures in Naples. He left in Ippolito Borghese an +accomplished imitator, who was absent a long time from his native +country, where few of his works remain, but those are highly prized. He +was in the year 1620 in Perugia, as Morelli relates in his description +of the pictures and statues of that city, and painted an Assumption of +the Virgin, which was placed in S. Lorenzo. + +There were two Neapolitans who were scholars and assistants of Perino +del Vaga in Rome; Gio. Corso, initiated in the art by Amato, or as +others assert by Polidoro; and Gianfilippo Criscuolo, instructed a long +time by Salerno. There are few remains of Corso in Naples, except such +as are retouched; nor is any piece so much extolled as a Christ with a +Cross painted for the church of S. Lorenzo. Criscuolo in the short time +he was at Rome, diligently copied Raffaello, and was greatly attached to +his school. He followed, however, his own genius, which was reserved and +timid, and formed for himself rather a severe manner; a circumstance to +his honour, at a time when the contours were overcharged and the +correctness of Raffaello was neglected. He is also highly commended as +an instructor. + +From his school came Francesco Imparato, who was afterwards taught by +Titian, and so far emulated his style, that a S. Peter Martyr by him in +the church of that saint in Naples was praised by Caracciolo as the best +picture which had then been seen in that city. We must not confound this +Francesco with Girolamo Imparato, his son, who flourished after the end +of the sixteenth century, and enjoyed a reputation greater than he +perhaps merited. He too was a follower of the Venetian, and afterwards +of the Lombard style, and he travelled to improve himself in colouring, +the fruits of which were seen in the picture of the Rosario at S. +Tommaso d'Aquino, and in others of his works. The Cav. Stanzioni, who +knew him, and was his competitor, considered him inferior to his father +in talent, and describes him as vain and ostentatious. + +To these painters of the school of Raffaello, there succeeded in Naples +two followers of Michelangiolo, whom we have before noticed. The first +of these was Vasari, who was called thither in 1544, to paint the +refectory of the P. P. Olivetani, and was afterwards charged with many +commissions in Naples and in Rome. By the aid of architecture, in which +he excelled more than in painting, he converted that edifice, which was +in what is commonly called the Gothic style, to a better form; altered +the vault, and ornamented it with modern stuccos, which were the first +seen in Naples, and painted there a considerable number of subjects, +with that rapidity and mediocrity that characterize the greater part of +his works. He remained there for the space of a year, and of the +services he rendered to the city, we may judge from the following +passage in his life. "It is extraordinary," he says, "that in so large +and noble a city, there should have been found no masters after Giotto, +to have executed any work of celebrity, although some works by Perugino +and by Raffaello had been introduced. On these grounds I have +endeavoured, to the best of my humble talents, to awaken the genius of +that country to a spirit of emulation, and to the accomplishment of some +great and honourable work; and from these my labours, or from some other +cause, we now see many beautiful works in stucco and painting, in +addition to the before mentioned pictures." It is not easy to conjecture +why Vasari should here overlook many eminent painters, and even Andrea +da Salerno himself, so illustrious an artist, and whose name would have +conferred a greater honour on his book, than it could possibly have +derived from it. Whether self love prompted him to pass over that +painter and other Neapolitan artists, in the hope that he should himself +be considered the restorer of taste in Naples; or whether it was the +consequence of the dispute which existed at that time between him and +the painters of Naples; or whether, as I observed in my preface, it +sometimes happens in this art, that a picture which delights one person, +disgusts another, I know not, and every one must judge for himself. For +myself, however much disposed I should be to pardon him for many +omissions, which in a work like his, are almost unavoidable, still I +cannot exculpate him for this total silence. Nor have the writers of +Naples ever ceased complaining of this neglect, and some indeed have +bitterly inveighed against him and accused him of contributing to the +deterioration of taste. So true is it, that an offence against a whole +nation is an offence never pardoned. + +The other imitator, and a favourite of Michelangiolo (but not his +scholar, as some have asserted) that painted in Naples, was Marco di +Pino, or Marco da Siena, frequently before mentioned by us. He appears +to have arrived in Naples after the year 1560. He was well received in +that city, and had some privileges conferred on him; nor did the +circumstance of his being a stranger create towards him any feeling of +jealousy on the part of the Neapolitans, who are naturally hospitable to +strangers of good character; and he is described by all as a sincere, +affable, and respectable man. He enjoyed in Naples the first reputation, +and was often employed in works of consequence in some of the greater +churches of the city, and in others of the kingdom at large. He repeated +on several occasions the Deposition from the Cross, which he painted at +Rome, but with many variations, and the one the most esteemed was that +which he placed in S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini, in 1577. The Circumcision +in the Gesù Vecchio, where Parrino traces the portrait of the artist and +his wife,[110] the adoration of the Magi at S. Severino, and others of +his works, contain views of buildings, not unworthy of him, as he was an +eminent architect, and also a good writer on that art. Of his merit as a +painter, I believe I do not err, when I say that among the followers of +Michelangiolo, there is none whose design is less extravagant and whose +colour is more vigorous. He is not however, always equal. In the church +of S. Severino, where he painted four pictures, the Nativity of the +Virgin is much inferior to the others. A mannered style was so common in +artists of that age, that few were exempt from it. He had many scholars +in Naples, but none of the celebrity of Gio. Angelo Criscuolo. This +artist was the brother of Gio. Filippo, already mentioned, and exercised +the profession of a notary, without relinquishing that of a miniature +painter, which he had learnt in his youth. He became desirous of +emulating his brother in larger compositions, and under the direction of +Marco succeeded in acquiring his style. + +These two painters laid the foundation of the history of the art in +Naples. In 1568, there issued from the Giunti press in Florence, a new +edition of the works of Vasari, in which the author speaks very briefly +of Marco da Siena, in the life of Daniello da Volterra. He only observes +that he had derived the greatest benefit from the instructions of that +master, and that he had afterwards chosen Naples for his country, and +settled and continued his labours there. Marco, either not satisfied +with this eulogium, or displeased at the silence of Vasari with regard +to many of the painters of Siena, and almost all those of Naples, +determined to publish a work of his own in opposition to him. Among his +scholars was the notary before mentioned, who supplied him with memoirs +of the Neapolitan painters taken from the archives of the city, and from +tradition; and from these materials Marco prepared a _Discorso_. He +composed it in 1569, a year after the publication of this edition of +Vasari's works, and it was the first sketch of the history of the fine +arts in Naples. It did not, however, then see the light, and was not +published until 1742, and then only in part, by Dominici, together with +notes written by Criscuolo in the Neapolitan dialect, and with the +addition of other notes collected respecting the subsequent artists, and +arranged by two excellent painters, Massimo Stanzioni, and Paolo de' +Matteis. Dominici himself added some others of his own collecting, and +communicated by some of his learned friends, among whom was the +celebrated antiquarian Matteo Egizio. The late _Guida_ or _Breve +Descrizione di Napoli_ says, this voluminous work stands in need of more +information, a better arrangement, and a more concise style. There might +also be added some better criticisms on the ancient artists, and less +partiality towards some of the modern. Still this is a very lucid work, +and highly valuable for the opinions expressed on the talents of +artists, for the most part by other artists, whose names inspire +confidence in the reader. Whether the sister arts of architecture and +sculpture are as judiciously treated of, it is not our province to +inquire. + +In the above work the reader may find the names of other artists of +Naples who belong to the close of this epoch, as Silvestro Bruno, who +enjoyed in Naples the fame of a good master; a second Simone Papa, or +del Papa, a clever fresco painter, and likewise another Gio. Ant. Amato, +who to distinguish him from the first is called the younger. He was +first instructed in the art by his uncle, afterwards by Lama, and +successively imitated their several styles. He obtained considerable +fame, and the infant Christ painted by him in the Banco de' Poveri, is +highly extolled. To these may be added those artists who fixed their +residence in other parts of Italy, as Pirro Ligorio, honoured, as we +have observed, by Pius IV. in Rome, and who died in Ferrara, engineer to +Alfonso II.; and Gio. Bernardino Azzolini, or rather Mazzolini, in whose +praise Soprani and Ratti unite. He arrived in Genoa about 1510, and +there executed some works worthy of that golden age of art. He excelled +in waxwork, and formed heads with an absolute expression of life. He +extended the same energetic character to his oil pictures, particularly +in the Martyrdom of S. Agatha in S. Giuseppe. + +The provincial cities had also in this age their own schools, or at +least their own masters; some of whom remained in their native places, +and others resided abroad. Cola dell'Amatrice, known also to Vasari, who +mentions him in his life of Calabrese, took up his residence in Ascoli +del Piceno, and enjoyed a distinguished name in architecture and in +painting, through all that province. He had somewhat of a hard manner in +his earlier paintings, but in his subsequent works he exhibited a +fulness of design and an accomplished modern style. He is highly +extolled in the Guida di Ascoli for his picture in the oratory of the +_Corpus Domini_, which represents the Saviour in the act of dispensing +the Eucharist to the Apostles. + +Pompeo dell'Aquila was a finished painter and a fine colourist, if we +are to believe Orlandi, who saw many of his works in Aquila, +particularly some frescos conducted in a noble style. In Rome in S. +Spirito in Sassia, there is a fine Deposition from the Cross by him. +This artist is not mentioned either by Baglione or any other writer of +his time. Giuseppe Valeriani, another native of Aquila, is frequently +mentioned. He painted at the same period and in the same church of S. +Spirito, where there exists a Transfiguration by him. We perceive in him +an evident desire of imitating F. Sebastiano, but he is heavy in his +design, and too dark in his colours. He entered afterwards into the +society of Jesuits, and improved his first manner. His best works are +said to be a Nunziata in a chapel of the Gesù, with other subjects from +the life of Christ, in which are some most beautiful draperies added by +Scipio da Gaeta. This latter artist also was a native of the kingdom of +Naples; but of him and of the Cav. di Arpino, who both taught in Rome, +we have already spoken in that school. + +Marco Mazzaroppi di S. Germano died young, but is known for his natural +and animated colouring, almost in the Flemish style. At Capua they +mention with applause the altarpieces and other pictures of Gio. Pietro +Russo, who after studying in various schools returned to that city, and +there left many excellent works. Matteo da Lecce, whose education is +uncertain, displayed in Rome a Michelangiolo style, or as some say, the +style of Salviati. It is certain that he had a strong expression of the +limbs and muscles. He worked for the most part in fresco, and there is a +prophet painted by him for the company of the Gonfalone, of such relief, +that the figures, says Baglione, seem starting from the wall. Although +there were at that time many Florentines in Rome, he was the only one +who dared in the face of the Last Judgment of Michelangiolo, to paint +the Fall of the Rebel Angels, a subject which that great artist designed +to have painted, but never put his intentions into execution. He chose +too to accompany it with the combat between the Prince of the Angels and +Lucifer, for the body of Moses; a subject taken from the epistle of S. +James, and analogous to that of the other picture. Matteo entered upon +this very arduous task with a noble spirit; but, alas! with a very +different result. He painted afterwards in Malta, and passing to Spain +and to the Indies, he enriched himself by merchandise, until turning to +mining, he lost all his wealth, and died in great indigence. We may also +mention two Calabrians of doubtful parentage. Nicoluccio, a Calabrian, +who will be mentioned among the scholars of Lorenzo Costa, but only +cursorily, as I know nothing of this parricide, as he may be called, +except that he attempted to murder his master. Pietro Negroni, a +Calabrian also, is commemorated by Dominici as a diligent and +accomplished painter. In Sicily, it is probable that many painters +flourished belonging to this period, besides Gio. Borghese da Messina, a +scholar also of Costa, and Laureti, whom I notice in the schools of Rome +and Bologna, and others whose names I may have seen, but whose works +have not called for my notice. The succeeding epoch we shall find more +productive in Sicilian art. + +[Footnote 107: _Plin. Hist. Nat._ lib. XXXV. cap. 11. _Nec ullius +velocior in picturâ manus fuit._] + +[Footnote 108: The style of Raffaello found imitators also in Sicily, +and the first to practise it was Salvo di Antonio, the nephew of +Antonello, by whom there is, we are told, in the sacristy of the +cathedral, the death of the Virgin, "_in the pure Raffaellesque style_," +although Salvo is not the painter who has been called the Raffaello of +Messina: this was Girolamo Alibrandi. A distinguished celebrity has of +late been attached to this artist, whose name was before comparatively +unknown. Respectably born, and liberally educated, instead of pursuing +the study of the law, for which he was intended, he applied himself to +painting, and having acquired the principles of the art in the school of +the Antonj of Messina, he went to perfect himself in Venice. The scholar +of Antonello, and the friend of Giorgione, he improved himself by the +study of the works of the best masters. After many years residence in +Venice he passed to Milan, to the school of Vinci, where he corrected +some dryness of style which he had brought thither with him. Thus far +there is no doubt about his history; but we are further told, that being +recalled to his native country, he wished first to see Coreggio and +Raffaello, and that he repaired to Messina about the year 1514; a +statement which is on the face of it incorrect, since Lionardo left +Milan in 1499, when Raffaello was only a youth, and Coreggio in his +infancy. But I have before observed, that the history of art is full of +these contradictions; a painter resembling another, he was therefore +supposed his scholar, or at all events acquainted with him. On this +subject I may refer to the Milanese School in regard to Luini, (Epoch +II.) and observe that a follower of the style of Lionardo almost +necessarily runs into the manner of Raffaello. Thus it happened to +Alibrandi, whose style however bore a resemblance to others besides, so +that his pictures pass under various names. There remains in his native +place, in the church of Candelora, a Purification of the Virgin, in a +picture of twenty-four Sicilian palms, which is the chef d'oeuvre of the +pictures of Messina, from the grace, colouring, perspective, and every +other quality that can enchant the eye. Polidoro was so much captivated +with this work, that he painted in distemper a picture of the Deposition +from the Cross, as a precious covering to this picture, in order that it +might be transmitted uninjured to posterity. Girolamo died in the plague +of 1524, and at the same time other eminent artists of this school; a +school which was for some time neglected, but which has, through the +labours of Polidoro, risen to fresh celebrity.] + +[Footnote 109: I here subjoin a list of them. Deodato Guinaccia may be +called the Giulio of this new Raffaello, on whose death he inherited the +materials of his art, and supported the fame of his school: and like +Giulio, completed some works left unfinished by his master; as the +Nativity in the church of Alto Basso, which passes for the best +production of Polidoro. In this exercise of his talents he became a +perfect imitator of his master's style, as in the church of the Trinità +a' Pellegrini, and in the Transfiguration at S. Salvatore de' Greci. He +imparted his taste to his scholars, the most distinguished of whom for +works yet remaining, are Cesare di Napoli, and Francesco Comandè, pure +copyists of Polidoro. With regard to the latter, some errors have +prevailed; for having very often worked in conjunction with Gio. Simone +Comandè, his brother, who had an unequivocal Venetian taste, from having +studied in Venice, it not unfrequently happens, that when the pictures +of Comandè are spoken of, they are immediately attributed to Simone, as +the more celebrated artist; but an experienced eye cannot be deceived, +not even in works conjointly painted, as in the Martyrdom of S. +Bartholomew, in the church of that saint, or the Magi in the monastery +of Basicò. There, and in every other picture, whoever can distinguish +Polidoro from the Venetians, easily discovers the style of the two +brothers, and assigns to each his own. + +Polidoro had in his academy Mariano and Antonello Riccio, father and +son. The first came in order to change the manner of Franco, his former +master, for that of Polidoro; the second to acquire his master's style. +Both succeeded to their wishes; but the father was so successful a rival +of his new master, that his works are said to pass under his name. This +is the common report, but I think it can only apply to inexperienced +purchasers, since if there be a painter, whose style it is almost +impossible to imitate to deception, it is Polidoro da Caravaggio. In +proof, the comparison may be made in Messina itself, where the Pietà of +Polidoro, and the Madonna della Carità of Mariano, are placed near each +other. + +Stefano Giordano was also a respectable scholar of Caldara, and we may +mention, as an excellent production, his picture of the Supper of our +Lord in the monastery of S. Gregory, painted in 1541. With him we may +join Jacopo Vignerio, by whom we find described, as an excellent work, +the picture of Christ bearing his Cross, at S. Maria della Scala, +bearing the date of 1552. + +We may close this list of the scholars of Polidoro with the infamous +name of Tonno, a Calabrian, who murdered his master in order to possess +himself of his money, and suffered for the atrocious crime. He evinced a +more than common talent in the art, if we may judge from the Epiphany +which he painted for the church of S. Andrea, in which piece he +introduced the portrait of his unfortunate master. + +Some writers have also included among the followers of Polidoro, Antonio +Catalano, because he was a scholar of Deodato. We are informed he went +to Rome and entered the school of Barocci; but as Barocci never taught +in Rome, we may rather imagine that it was from the works of that artist +he acquired a florid colouring, and a _sfumatezza_, with which he united +a portion of the taste of Raffaello, whom he greatly admired. His +pictures are highly valued from this happy union of excellences; and his +great picture of the Nativity at the Capuccini del Gesso is particularly +extolled. We must not mistake this accomplished painter for Antonio +Catalano _il Giovane_, the scholar of Gio. Simone Comandè, from whose +style and that of others he formed a manner sufficiently spirited, but +incorrect, and practised with such celerity, that his works are as +numerous as they are little prized.] + +[Footnote 110: These traditions are frequently nothing more than common +rumour, to which, without corroborating circumstances, we ought not to +give credit. It has happened more than once, that such portraits have +been found to belong to the patrons of the church.] + + + + + NEAPOLITAN SCHOOL. + + THIRD EPOCH. + + _Corenzio, Ribera, Caracciolo, flourish in Naples. Strangers + who compete with them._ + + +About the middle of the sixteenth century, Tintoretto was considered one +of the first artists in Venice; and towards the close of the same +century Caravaggio in Rome, and the Caracci in Bologna, rose to the +highest degree of celebrity. The several styles of these masters soon +extended themselves into other parts of Italy, and became the prevailing +taste in Naples, where they were adopted by three painters of +reputation, Corenzio, Ribera, and Caracciolo. These artists rose one +after the other into reputation, but afterwards united together in +painting, and assisting each other interchangeably. At the time they +flourished, Guido, Domenichino, Lanfranco, and Artemisia Gentileschi, +were in Naples; and there and elsewhere contributed some scholars to the +Neapolitan School. Thus the time which elapsed between Bellisario and +Giordano, is the brightest period of this academy, both in respect to +the number of excellent artists, and the works of taste. It is however +the darkest era, not only of the Neapolitan School, but of the art +itself, as far as regards the scandalous artifices, and the crimes which +occurred in it. I would gladly pass over those topics in silence, if +they were foreign to my subject, but they are so intimately connected +with it, that they must, at all events, be alluded to. I shall notice +them at the proper time, adhering to the relation of Malvasia, Passeri, +Bellori, and more particularly of Dominici. + +Bellisario Corenzio, a Greek by birth, after having passed five years in +the school of Tintoretto, settled in Naples about the year 1590. He +inherited from nature a fertile imagination and a rapidity of hand, +which enabled him to rival his master in the prodigious number of his +pictures, and those too of a large class. Four common painters could +scarcely have equalled his individual labour. He cannot be compared to +Tintoretto, who, when he restrained his too exuberant fancy, was +inferior to few in design; and excelled in invention, gestures, and the +airs of his heads, which, though the Venetians have always had before +their eyes, they have never equalled. Corenzio successfully imitated his +master when he painted with care, as in the great picture, in the +refectory of the Benedictines, representing the multitude miraculously +fed; a work he finished in forty days. But the greater part of the vault +resembles in many respects the style of the Cav. d'Arpino,[111] other +parts partake of the Venetian School, not without some character +peculiar to himself, particularly in the glories, which are bordered +with shadowy clouds. In the opinion of the Cav. Massimo, he was of a +fruitful invention, but not select. He painted very little in oil, +although he had great merit in the strength and harmony of his colours. +The desire of gain led him to attempt large works in fresco, which he +composed with much felicity, as he was copious, varied, and energetic. +He had a good general effect, and was finished in detail and correct, +when the proximity of some eminent rival compelled him to it. This was +the case at the Certosa, in the chapel of S. Gennaro. He there exerted +all his talents, as he was excited to it by emulation of Caracciolo, who +had painted in that place a picture, which was long admired as one of +his finest works, and was afterwards transferred into the monastery. In +other churches we find some sacred subjects painted by him in smaller +size, which Dominici commends, and adds too, that he assisted M. +Desiderio, a celebrated perspective painter, whose views he accompanied +with small figures beautifully coloured and admirably appropriate. + +The birthplace of Giuseppe Ribera has been the subject of controversy. +Palomino, following Sandrart and Orlandi, represents him as a native of +Spain, in proof of which they refer to a picture of S. Matteo, with the +following inscription. _Jusepe de Ribera espanol de la ciutad de Xativa, +reyno de Valencia, Academico romano ano 1630._ The Neapolitans, on the +contrary, contend that he was born in the neighbourhood of Lecce, but +that his father was from Spain; and that in order to recommend himself +to the governor, who was a Spaniard, he always boasted of his origin, +and expressed it in his signature, and was on that account called +Spagnoletto. Such is the opinion of Dominici, Signorelli, and Galanti. +This question is however now set at rest, as it appears from the +_Antologia di Roma_ of 1795, that the register of his baptism was found +in Sativa (now San Filippo) and that he was born in that place. It is +further said, that he learnt the principles of the art from Francesco +Ribalta of Valencia, a reputed scholar of Annibale Caracci. But the +History of Neapolitan Artists, which is suspicious in my eyes as relates +to this artist, affirms also, that whilst yet a youth, or a mere boy, he +studied in Naples under Michelangiolo da Caravaggio, when that master +fled from Rome for homicide, and fixing himself there about 1606, +executed many works both public and private.[112] But wherever he might +have received instruction in his early youth, it is certain that the +object of his more matured admiration was Caravaggio. On leaving him, +Ribera visited Rome, Modena, and Parma, and saw the works of Raffaello +and Annibale in the former place, and the works of Coreggio in the two +latter cities, and adopted in consequence a more graceful style, in +which he persevered only for a short time, and with little success; as +in Naples there were others who pursued, with superior skill, the same +path. He returned therefore to the style of Caravaggio, which for its +truth, force, and strong contrast of light and shade, was much more +calculated to attract the general eye. In a short time he was appointed +painter to the court, and subsequently became the arbiter of its taste. + +His studies rendered him superior to Caravaggio in invention, selection, +and design. In emulation of him, he painted at the Certosini that great +Deposition from the Cross, which alone, in the opinion of Giordano, is +sufficient to form a great painter, and may compete with the works of +the brightest luminaries of the art. Beautiful beyond his usual style, +and almost Titianesque, is his Martyrdom of S. Januarius, painted in the +Royal Chapel, and the S. Jerome at the Trinità. He was much attached to +the representation of the latter saint, and whole lengths and half +figures of him are found in many collections. In the Panfili Palace in +Rome we find about five, and all differing. Nor are his other pictures +of similar character rare, as anchorets, prophets, apostles, which +exhibit a strong expression of bone and muscle, and a gravity of +character, in general copied from nature. In the same taste are commonly +his profane pictures, where he is fond of representing old men and +philosophers, as the Democritus and the Heraclitus, which Sig. March. +Girolamo Durazzo had in his collection, and which are quite in the +manner of Caravaggio. In his selection of subjects the most revolting +were to him the most inviting, as sanguinary executions, horrid +punishments, and lingering torments; among which is celebrated his Ixion +on the wheel, in the palace of Buon Ritiro at Madrid. His works are very +numerous, particularly in Italy and Spain. His scholars flourished +chiefly at a lower period of art, where they will be noticed towards the +conclusion of this epoch. With them we shall name those few who rivalled +him successfully in figures and half figures; and we must not, at the +same time, neglect to impress on the mind of the reader, that among so +many reputed pictures of Spagnoletto found in collections, we may rest +assured that they are in great part not justly entitled to his name, and +ought to be ascribed to his scholars. + +Giambatista Caracciolo, an imitator, first of Francesco Imparato, and +afterwards of Caravaggio, attained a mature age without having +signalised himself by any work of peculiar merit. But being roused by +the fame of Annibale, and the general admiration which a picture of that +master had excited, he repaired to Rome; where by persevering study in +the Farnese Gallery, which he carefully copied, he became a correct +designer in the Caracci style.[113] Of this talent he availed himself to +establish his reputation on his return to Naples, and distinguished +himself on some occasions of competition, as in the Madonna at S. Anna +de' Lombardi, in a S. Carlo in the church of S. Agnello, and Christ +bearing his Cross at the Incurabili, paintings praised by connoisseurs +as the happiest imitations of Annibale. But his other works, in the +breadth and strength of their lights and shades, rather remind us of the +school of Caravaggio. He was a finished and careful painter. There are +however some feeble works by him, which Dominici considers to have been +negligently painted, through disgust, for individuals who had not given +him his own price, or they were perhaps executed by Mercurio d'Aversa +his scholar, and an inferior artist. + +The three masters whom I have just noticed in successive order, were the +authors of the unceasing persecutions which many of the artists who had +come to, or were invited to Naples, were for several years subjected to. +Bellisario had established a supreme dominion, or rather a tyranny, over +the Neapolitan painters, by calumny and insolence, as well as by his +station. He monopolized all lucrative commissions to himself and +recommended, for the fulfilment of others, one or other of the numerous +and inferior artists that were dependant on him. The Cav. Massimo, +Santafede, and other artists of talent, if they did not defer to him, +were careful not to offend him, as they knew him to be a man of a +vindictive temper, treacherous, and capable of every violence, and who +was known through jealousy to have administered poison to Luigi +Roderigo, the most promising and the most amiable of his scholars. + +Bellisario, in order to maintain himself in his assumed authority, +endeavoured to exclude all strangers who painted rather in fresco than +in oil. Annibale arrived there in 1609, and was engaged to ornament the +churches of Spirito Santo and Gesù Nuovo, for which, as a specimen of +his style, he painted a small picture. The Greek and his adherents being +required to give their opinion on this exquisite production, declared it +to be tasteless, and decided that the painter of it did not possess a +talent for large compositions. This divine artist in consequence took +his departure under a burning sun for Rome, where he soon afterwards +died. But the work in which strangers were the most opposed was the +chapel of S. Gennaro, which a committee had assigned to the Cav. +d'Arpino, as soon as he should finish painting the choir of the Certosa. +Bellisario leaguing with Spagnoletto, (like himself a fierce and +ungovernable man,) and with Caracciolo, who aspired to this commission, +persecuted Cesari in such a manner, that before he had finished the +choir he fled to Monte Cassino, and from thence returned to Rome. The +work was then given to Guido, but after a short time two unknown persons +assaulted the servant of that artist, and at the same time desired him +to inform his master that he must prepare himself for death, or +instantly quit Naples, with which latter mandate Guido immediately +complied. Gessi, the scholar of Guido, was not however intimidated by +this event, but applied for and obtained the honorable commission, and +came to Naples with two assistants, Gio. Batista Ruggieri and Lorenzo +Menini. But these artists were scarcely arrived, when they were +treacherously invited on board a galley, which immediately weighed +anchor and carried them off, to the great dismay of their master, who, +although he made the most diligent inquiries both at Rome and Naples, +could never procure any tidings of them. + +Gessi also in consequence taking his departure, the committee lost all +hope of succeeding in their task, and were in the act of yielding to the +reigning cabal, assigning the fresco work to Corenzio and Caracciolo, +and promising the pictures to Spagnoletto, when suddenly repenting of +their resolution, they effaced all that was painted of the two frescos, +and entrusted the decoration of the chapel entirely to Domenichino. It +ought to be mentioned to the honor of these munificent persons, that +they engaged to pay for every entire figure 100 ducats, for each half +figure 50 ducats, and for each head 25 ducats. They took precautions +also against any interruption to the artist, threatening the viceroy's +high displeasure if he were in any way molested. But this was only +matter of derision to the junta. They began immediately to cry him down +as a cold and insipid painter, and to discredit him with those, the most +numerous class in every place, who see only with the eyes of others. +They harassed him by calumnies, by anonymous letters, by displacing his +pictures, by mixing injurious ingredients with his colours, and by the +most insidious malice they procured some of his pictures to be sent by +the viceroy to the court of Madrid; and these, when little more than +sketched, were taken from his studio and carried to the court, where +Spagnoletto ordered them to be retouched, and, without giving him time +to finish them, hurried them to their destination. This malicious fraud +of his rival, the complaints of the committee, who always met with some +fresh obstacle to the completion of the work, and the suspicion of some +evil design, at last determined Domenichino to depart secretly to Rome. +As soon however as the news of his flight transpired, he was recalled, +and fresh measures taken for his protection; when he resumed his +labours, and decorated the walls and base of the cupola, and made +considerable progress in the painting of his pictures. + +But before he could finish his task he was interrupted by death, +hastened either by poison, or by the many severe vexations he had +experienced both from his relatives and his adversaries, and the weight +of which was augmented by the arrival of his former enemy Lanfranco. +This artist superseded Zampieri in the painting of the _catino_ of the +chapel; Spagnoletto, in one of his oil pictures; Stanzioni in another; +and each of these artists, excited by emulation, rivalled, if he did not +excel Domenichino. Caracciolo was dead. Bellisario, from his great age, +took no share in it, and was soon afterwards killed by a fall from a +stage, which he had erected for the purpose of retouching some of his +frescos. Nor did Spagnoletto experience a better fate; for, having +seduced a young girl, and become insupportable even to himself from the +general odium which he experienced, he embarked on board a ship; nor is +it known whither he fled, or how he ended his life, if we may credit the +Neapolitan writers. Palomino however states him to have died in Naples +in 1656, aged sixty-seven, though he does not contradict the first part +of our statement. Thus these ambitious men, who by violence or fraud had +influenced and abused the generosity and taste of so many noble patrons, +and to whose treachery and sanguinary vengeance so many professors of +the art had fallen victims, ultimately reaped the merited fruit of their +conduct in a violent death; and an impartial posterity, in assigning the +palm of merit to Domenichino, inculcates the maxim, that it is a +delusive hope to attempt to establish fame and fortune on the +destruction of another's reputation. + +The many good examples in the Neapolitan School increased the number of +artists, either from the instructions of the above mentioned masters, or +from an inspection of their works; for there is much truth in the +observation of Passeri, "that a painter who has an ardent desire of +learning, receives as much instruction from the works of deceased +artists as from living masters." It was greatly to the honour of the +Neapolitan artists, amidst such a variety of new styles, to have +selected the best. Cesari had no followers in Naples, if we except Luigi +Roderigo,[114] who exchanged the school of Bellisario for his, but not +without a degree of mannerism, although he acquired a certain grace and +judgment, which his master did not possess. He initiated a nephew, +Gianbernardino, in the same style; who, from his being an excellent +imitator of Cesari, was employed by the Carthusian monks to finish a +work which that master had left imperfect. + +Thus almost all these artists trod in the steps of the Caracci, and the +one that approached nearest to them was the Cav. Massimo Stanzioni, +considered by some the best example of the Neapolitan School, of which, +as we have observed, he compiled some memoirs. He was a scholar of +Caracciolo, to whom he bore some analogy in taste, but he availed +himself of the assistance of Lanfranco, whom in one of his MS. he calls +his master, and studied too under Corenzio, who in his painting of +frescos yielded to few. In portrait he adopted the principles of +Santafede, and attained an excellent Titianesque style. Going afterwards +to Rome, and seeing the works of Annibale, and, as some assert, making +acquaintance with Guido, he became ambitious of uniting the design of +the first with the colouring of the second, and we are informed by +Galanti, that he obtained the appellation of _Guido Reni di Napoli_. His +talents, which were of the first order, enabled him in a short time to +compete with the best masters. He painted in the Certosa a Dead Christ, +surrounded by the Maries, in competition with Ribera. This picture +having become somewhat obscured, Ribera persuaded the monks to have it +washed, and he purposely injured it in such a way with a corrosive +liquid, that Stanzioni refused to repair it, declaring that such an +instance of malice ought to be perpetuated to the public eye. But in +that church, which is in fact a museum of art, where every artist, not +to be surpassed by his rivals, seems to have surpassed himself, Massimo +left some other excellent works, and particularly a stupendous +altarpiece, of S. Bruno presenting to his brethren the rules of their +order. His works are not unfrequent in the collections in his own +country, and are highly esteemed in other places. The vaults of the Gesù +Nuovo and S. Paolo entitle him to a distinguished place among fresco +painters. His paintings were highly finished, and he studied perfection +during his celibacy, but marrying a woman of some rank, in order to +maintain her in an expensive style of living, he painted many hasty and +inferior pictures. It may be said that Cocchi, in his _Ragionamento del +Matrimonio_, not without good reason took occasion to warn all artists +of the perils of the wedded state. + +The school of Massimo produced many celebrated scholars, in consequence +of his method and high reputation, confirming that ancient remark, which +has passed into a proverb, _primus discendi ardor nobilitas est +Magistri_. (The example of the master is the greatest incentive to +improvement). Muzio Rossi passed from his school to that of Guido, and +was chosen at the age of eighteen to paint in the Certosa of Bologna, in +competition with the first masters, and maintained his station on a +comparison; but this very promising artist was immaturely cut off, and +his own country does not possess any work by him, as the Tribune of S. +Pietro in Majella, which he painted a little time before his death, was +modernized, and his labours thus perished. This is the reason that his +works in the Certosa just mentioned, and which are enumerated by Crespi, +are held in great esteem. Another man of genius of this school, Antonio +de Bellis, died also at an early age; he painted several subjects from +the life of S. Carlo, in the church of that saint, which were left +imperfect by his death. His manner partakes somewhat of Guercino, but is +in fact founded like that of all the scholars of Massimo, on the style +of Guido. + +Francesco di Rosa, called Pacicco, was not acquainted with Guido +himself, but under the direction of Massimo, devoted himself to the +copying of his works. He is one of the few artists commemorated by Paolo +de' Matteis, in one of his MSS. which admits no artists of inferior +merit. He declares the style of Rosa almost inimitable, not only from +his correct design, but from the rare beauty of the extremities, and +still more from the dignity and grace of the countenances. He had in his +three nieces the most perfect models of beauty, and he possessed a +sublimity of sentiment which elevated his mind to a high sense of +excellence. His colouring, though conducted with exquisite sweetness, +had a strong body, and his pictures preserve a clear and fresh tone. +These are frequently to be found in the houses of the nobility, as he +lived long. He painted some beautiful altarpieces, as S. Tommaso +d'Aquino at the Sanità, the Baptism of S. Candida at S. Pietro d'Aram, +and other pieces. + +This artist had a niece of the name of Aniella di Rosa, who may be +called the Sirani of the Neapolitan School, from her talents, beauty, +and the manner of her death, the fair Bolognese being inhumanly poisoned +by some envious artists, and Aniella murdered by a jealous husband. This +husband was Agostino Beltrano, her fellow scholar in the school of +Massimo, where he became a good fresco painter, and a colourist in oil +of no common merit, as is proved by many cabinet pictures and some +altarpieces. His wife also painted in the same style, and was the +companion of his labours, and they jointly prepared many pictures which +their master afterwards finished in such a manner that they were sold as +his own. Some, however, pass under her own name, and are highly +extolled, as the Birth and Death of the Virgin, at the Pietà, not +however without suspicion that Massimo had a considerable share in that +picture, as Guido had in several painted by Gentileschi. But at all +events, her original designs prove her knowledge of art, and her +contemporaries, both painters and writers, do not fail to extol her as +an excellent artist, and as such Paolo de' Matteis, has admitted her +name in his catalogue. + +Three young men of Orta became also celebrated scholars in this academy, +Paol Domenico Finoglia, Giacinto de' Popoli, and Giuseppe Marullo. By +the first there remains at the Certosa at Naples, the vault of the +chapel of S. Gennaro, and various pictures in the chapter house. He had +a beautiful expression, fertility, correctness, a good arrangement of +parts, and a happy general effect. The second painted in many churches, +and is admired more for his style of composition, than for his figures. +The third approached so near to his master in manner, that artists have +sometimes ascribed his works to Massimo; and in truth he left some +beautiful productions at S. Severino, and other churches. He had +afterwards a dry style of colouring, particularly in his contours, which +on that account became crude and hard, and he gradually lost the public +favour. His example may serve as a warning to every one to estimate his +own powers correctly, and not to affect genius when he does not possess +it. + +Another scholar who obtained a great name, was Andrea Malinconico, of +Naples. There do not exist any frescos by him, but he left many works in +oil, particularly in the church, de' Miracoli, where he painted almost +all the pictures himself. The Evangelists, and the Doctors of the +church, subjects with which he ornamented the pilasters, are the most +beautiful pictures, says the encomiast, of this master; as the attitudes +are noble, the conception original, and the whole painted with the +spirit of a great artist, and with an astonishing freshness of colour. +There are other fine works by him, but several are feeble and +spiritless, which gave a connoisseur occasion to remark that they were +in unison with the name of the painter. + +But none of the preceding artists were so much favoured by nature as +Bernardo Cavallino, who at first created a jealous feeling in Massimo +himself. Finding afterwards that his talent lay more in small figures +than large, he pursued that department, and became very celebrated in +his school, beyond which he is not so well known as he deserves to be. +In the galleries of the Neapolitan nobility are to be seen by him, on +canvass and copper, subjects both sacred and profane, composed with +great judgment, and with figures in the style of Poussin, full of spirit +and expression, and accompanied by a native grace, and a simplicity +peculiarly their own. In his colouring, besides his master and +Gentileschi, who were both followers of Guido, he imitated Rubens. He +possessed every quality essential to an accomplished artist, as even the +most extreme poverty could not induce him to hurry his works, which he +was accustomed frequently to retouch before he could entirely satisfy +himself. Life was alone wanting to him, which he unfortunately shortened +by his irregularities.[115] + +Andrea Vaccaro was a contemporary and rival of Massimo, but at the same +time his admirer and friend, a man of great imitative powers. He at +first followed Caravaggio, and in that style his pictures are frequently +found in Naples, and some cabinet pictures, which have even imposed upon +connoisseurs, who have bought them for originals of that master. After +some time Massimo won him over to the style of Guido, in which he +succeeded in an admirable manner, though he did not equal his friend. In +this style are executed his most celebrated works at the Certosa, at the +Teatini and Rosario, without enumerating those in collections, where he +is frequently found. On the death of Massimo, he assumed the first rank +among his countrymen. Giordano alone opposed him in his early years, +when on his return from Rome he brought with him a new style from the +school of Cortona, and both artists were competitors for the larger +picture of S. Maria del Pianto. That church had been lately erected in +gratitude to the Virgin, who had liberated the city from pestilence, and +this was the subject of the picture. Each artist made a design, and +Pietro da Cortona being chosen umpire, decided against his own scholar +in favour of Vaccaro, observing, that as he was first in years, so he +was first in design and natural expression. He had not studied frescos +in his youth, but began them when he was advanced in life, in order that +he might not yield the palm to Giordano, but by the loss of his fame, he +verified the proverb, that _ad omnem disciplinam tardior est senectus_. + +Of his scholars, Giacomo Farelli was the most successful, who by his +vigorous talents, and by the assistance of his master, painted a picture +in competition with Giordano. The church of S. Brigida has a beautiful +picture of that saint by Farelli, and its author is mentioned by Matteis +as a painter of singular merit. He declined however, in public esteem, +from wishing at an advanced age to change his style, when he painted the +sacristy of the Tesoro. He was on that occasion anxious to imitate +Domenichino, but he did not succeed in his attempt, and indeed he never +afterwards executed any work of merit. + +Nor did Domenichino fail to have among the painters of Naples, or of +that state, many deserving followers.[116] Cozza, a Calabrian, who lived +in Rome, I included in that school, as also Antonio Ricci, called il +Barbalunga, who was of Messina, and well known in Rome. I may add, that +he returned to Messina, and ornamented that city with many works; as at +S. Gregorio, the saint writing; the Ascension at S. Michele; two Pietàs +of different designs at S. Niccolo and the Spedale. He is considered as +one of the best painters of Sicily, where good artists have abounded +more than is generally imagined. He formed a school there and left +several scholars.[117] + +I ought after him to mention another Sicilian, Pietro del Po da Palermo, +a good engraver, and better known in Rome in that capacity, than as a +painter. There is a S. Leone by him at the church of the Madonna di +Costantinopoli; an altarpiece which however does not do him so much +honour as the pictures which he painted for collections, some of which +are in Spain; and particularly some small pictures which he executed in +the manner of miniatures with exquisite taste. Two of this kind I saw in +Piacenza, at the Sig. della Missione, a Decollation of S. John, and a +Crucifixion of S. Peter in his best manner, and with his name. This +artist, after working in Rome, settled in Naples with a son of the name +of Giacomo, who had been instructed in the art by Poussin and himself. +He also taught a daughter of the name of Teresa, who was skilled in +miniatures. The two Pos were well acquainted with the principles of the +art, and had taught in the academy of Rome. But the father painted +little in Naples; the son found constant employ in ornamenting the halls +and galleries of the nobility with frescos. His intimacy with letters +aided the poetic taste with which his pictures were conceived, and his +varied and enchanting colours fascinated the eye of every spectator. He +was singular and original in his lights, and their various gradations +and reflections. In his figures and drapery he became, as is generally +the case with the machinists, mannered and less correct; nor has he any +claim as an imitator of Domenichino, except from the early instructions +of his father. In Rome there are two paintings by him, one at S. Angiolo +in Pescheria, the other at S. Marta; and there are some in Naples; but +his genius chiefly shines in the frescos of the gallery of the Marchese +Genzano, and in the house of the Duke of Matalona, and still more in +seven apartments of the Prince of Avellino. + +A more finished imitator of Zampieri than the two Pos was a scholar of +his, of the name of Francesco di Maria, the author of few works, as he +willingly suffered those reproaches of slowness and irresolution which +accompanied the unfortunate Domenichino to the grave. But his works, +though few in number, are excellent, particularly the history of S. +Lorenzo at the Conventuals in Naples, and also many of his portraits. +One of the latter exhibited in Rome, together with one by Vandyke, and +one by Rubens, was preferred by Poussin, Cortona, and Sacchi, to those +of the Flemish artists. Others of his pictures are bought at great +prices, and are considered by the less experienced as the works of +Domenichino. He resembled that master indeed in every quality, except +grace, which nature had denied him. Hence Giordano said of his figures, +that when consumption had reduced the muscles and bones, they might be +correct and beautiful, but still insipid. In return he did not spare +Giordano; declaring his school "heretical, and that he could not endure +works which owe all their merit to ostentatious colour, and a vague +design," as Matteis, who is partial to the memory of Francesco, attests. + +Lanfranco in Naples had contributed, as I have observed, to the +instruction of Massimo, but that artist renounced the style of Lanfranco +for that of Guido. The two Pos, however, were more attached to him, and +imitated his colouring. Pascoli doubts whether he should not assign +Preti to him, an error which we shall shortly confute. Dominici also +includes among his countrymen Brandi, a scholar of Lanfranco; collecting +from one of his letters that he acknowledged Gaeta for his native place. +His family was probably from thence, but he himself was born in +Poli.[118] I included him among the painters of Rome, where he studied +and painted; and I mentioned at the same time the Cav. Giambatista +Benaschi, as he is called by some, or Beinaschi by others. This +variation gave occasion to suppose, that there were two painters of that +name; in the same way there may be a third, as the name is sometimes +written Bernaschi. Some contradictions in his biographers, which it is +not worth our while to enter on, have contributed to perpetuate this +error. I shall only observe, that he was not born until 1636, and was +not a scholar of Lanfranco, but of M. Spirito, in Piedmont, and of +Pietro del Po, in Rome. Thus Orlandi writes of him, who had a better +opportunity than Pascoli, or Dominici, of procuring information from +Angela, the daughter of the Cavaliere, who lived in Rome in his time, +and painted portraits in an agreeable style. He is considered both by +Pascoli and Orlandi, as a painter of Rome, but he left very few works +there, as appears from Titi. Naples was the theatre of his talents, and +there he had numerous scholars, and painted many cupolas, ceilings, and +other considerable works, and with such a variety of design, that there +is not an instance of an attitude being repeated by him. Nor was he +deficient in grace, either of form or colour, as long as he trod in the +steps of Lanfranco, as he did in the S. M. di Loreto, and in other +churches, but aspiring in some others to a more vigorous style, he +became dark and heavy. He excelled in the knowledge of the _sotto in +su_, and displayed extraordinary skill in his foreshortenings. The +painters in Naples have often compared among themselves, says Dominici, +the two pictures of S. Michael, the one by Lanfranco, and the other by +Benaschi, in the church of the Holy Apostles, without being able to +decide to which master they ought to assign the palm of merit. + +Guercino himself was never in Naples, but the Cav. Mattia Preti, +commonly called il Cav. Calabrese, allured by the novelty of his style, +repaired to Cento, to avail himself of his instructions. This +information we have from Domenici, who had heard him say, that he was in +fact the scholar of Guercino, but that he had, moreover, studied the +works of all the principal masters; and he had indeed visited almost +every country, and seen and studied the best productions of every +school, both in and beyond Italy. Hence in his painting he may be +compared to a man whose travels have been extensive, and who never hears +a subject started to which he does not add something new, and indeed the +drapery and ornaments, and costume of Preti, are highly varied and +original. He confined himself to design, and did not attempt colours +until his twenty-sixth year. In design he was more vigorous and robust +than delicate, and sometimes inclines to heaviness. In his colouring he +was not attractive, but had a strong _impasto_, a decided chiaroscuro, +and a prevailing ashy tone, that was well adapted for his mournful and +tragical subjects; for, following the bent of his genius, he devoted his +pencil to the representation of martyrdoms, slaughters, pestilence, and +the pangs of a guilty conscience. It was his custom, says Pascoli, at +least in his large works, to paint at the first conception, and true to +nature, and he did not take much pains afterwards in correction, or in +the just expression of the passions. + +He executed some large works in fresco in Modena, Naples, and Malta. He +had not equal success at S. Andrea della Valle, in Rome, where he +painted three histories of that saint, under the tribune of Domenichino; +a proximity from which his work suffers considerably, and the figures +appear out of proportion, and not well adapted to the situation. His oil +pictures in Italy are innumerable, as he lived to an advanced age; he +had a great rapidity of hand, and was accustomed, wherever he went, to +leave some memorial of his talents, sometimes in the churches, but +chiefly in private collections, and they are, in general, figures of +half size, like those of Guercino and Caravaggio. Naples, Rome, and +Florence, all abound with his works, but above all Bologna. In the +Marulli palace is his Belisarius asking alms; in that of Ratti, a S. +Penitente, chained in a suffering position; in the Malvezzi palace, Sir +Thomas More in prison; in that of the Ercolani, a Pestilence, besides +many more in the same, and other galleries of the nobility. Amongst his +altarpieces, one of the most finished is in the Duomo of Siena, S. +Bernardino preaching to and converting the people. In Naples, besides +the soffitto of the church de' Celestini, he painted not a little; less +however than both he himself and the professors of a better taste +desired, and in conjunction with whom he resisted the innovations of +Giordano. But that artist had an unprecedented popularity, and in spite +of his faults triumphed over all his contemporaries, and Preti was +himself obliged to relinquish the contest, and close his days in Malta, +of which order, in honour of his great merit as a painter, he was made a +commendatore. He left some imitators in Naples, one of whom was Domenico +Viola; but neither he, nor his other scholars passed the bounds of +mediocrity. The same may be said of Gregorio Preti, his brother, of whom +there is a fresco at S. Carlo de' Catinari, in Rome. + +After this enumeration of foreign artists, we must now return to the +national school, and notice some disciples of Ribera, It often happens +that those masters who are mannerists, form scholars who confine their +powers to the sole imitation of their master, and thus produce pictures +that deceive the most experienced, and which in other countries are +esteemed the works of the master himself. This was the case with +Giovanni Do, and Bartolommeo Passante, in regard to Spagnoletto, +although the first in progress of time softened his manner, and tamed +his flesh tints; while the second added only to the usual style of +Spagnoletto, a more finished design and expression. Francesco Fracanzani +possessed a peculiar grandeur of style, and a noble tone of colour; and +the death of S. Joseph, which he painted at the Pellegrini, is one of +the best pictures of the city. Afterwards however his necessities +compelled him to paint in a coarse manner in order to gratify the +vulgar, and he fell into bad habits of life, and was finally, for some +crime or other, condemned to die by the hands of the hangman, a +sentence, which for the honour of the art, was compounded for his secret +death in prison by poison.[119] + +Aniello Falcone and Salvator Rosa are the great boast of this school; +although Rosa frequented it but a short time and improved himself +afterwards by the instructions of Falcone. Aniello possessed an +extraordinary talent in battle pieces. He painted them both in large and +small size, taking the subjects from the sacred writings, from profane +history, or poetry; his dresses, arms, and features, were as varied as +the combatants he represented. Animated in his expression, select and +natural in the figures and action of his horses, and intelligent in +military affairs, though he had never been in the army, nor seen a +battle; he drew correctly, consulted truth in every thing, coloured with +care, and had a good impasto. That he taught Borgognone as some have +supposed, it is difficult to believe. Baldinucci, who had from that +artist himself the information which he published respecting him, does +not say a word of it. It is however true, that they were acquainted and +mutually esteemed each other; and if the battle pieces of Borgognone +have found a place in the collections of the great, and have been bought +at great prices, those of Aniello have had the like good fortune. He had +many scholars, and by means of them and some other painters his friends, +he was enabled to revenge the death of a relation and also of a scholar, +whom the Spanish authorities had put to death. On the revolution of Maso +Aniello, he and his partisans formed themselves into a company called +the Band of Death; and, protected by Spagnoletto, who excused them to +the Viceroy, committed the most revolting and sanguinary excesses; until +the state was composed, and the people reduced to submission, when this +murderous band fled, to escape the hands of justice. Falcone withdrew to +France for some years, and left many works there; the remainder fled to +Rome, or to other places of safety. + +The most celebrated of the immediate scholars of Falcone was Salvator +Rosa, whom we have elsewhere noticed, who began his career by painting +battles, and became a most distinguished landscape painter; and Domenico +Gargiuoli, called Micco Spadaro, a landscape painter of merit, and a +good painter in large compositions, as he appears at the Certosa, and in +other churches. He had an extraordinary talent too in painting small +figures, and might with propriety be called the Cerquozzi of his school. +Hence Viviano Codagora, who was an eminent landscape painter, after +becoming acquainted with him, would not permit any other artist to +ornament his works with figures, as he introduced them with infinite +grace; and this circumstance probably led to their intimate friendship, +and to risking their lives in the same cause as we have before related. +The Neapolitan galleries possess many of their pictures; and some have +specimens of _capricci_, or humourous pictures, all by the hand of +Spadaro. He indeed had no equal in depicting the manners and dresses of +the common people of his country, particularly in large assemblies. In +some of his works of this kind, the number of his figures have exceeded +a thousand. He was assisted by the etchings of Stefano della Bella, and +Callot, both of whom were celebrated for placing a great body of people +in a little space; but it was in the true spirit of imitation, and +without a trace of servility; on the contrary, he improved the principal +figures (where bad contours are with difficulty concealed) and corrected +the attitudes, and carefully retouched them. + +Carlo Coppola is sometimes mistaken for Falcone from their similarity of +manner: except that a certain fulness with which he paints his horses in +his battle pieces, may serve as a distinction. Andrea di Lione resembles +him, but in his battles we easily trace his imitation. Marzio Masturzo +studied some time with Falcone; but longer with Rosa in Rome, and was +his best scholar; but he is sometimes rather crude in his figures, and +rocks, and trunks of trees, and less bright in his skies. His flesh +tints are not pallid, like those of Rosa, as in these he followed +Ribera. + +I shall close this catalogue, passing over some less celebrated artists, +with Paolo Porpora, who from battles, were directed by the impulse of +his genius to the painting of animals, but succeeded best in fish, and +shells, and other marine productions, being less skilled in flowers and +fruit. But about his time Abraham Brughel painted these subjects in an +exquisite style in Naples, where he settled and ended his days. From +this period we may date a favourable epoch for certain pictures of minor +rank, which still add to the decoration of galleries and contribute to +the fame of their authors. After the two first we may mention +Giambatista Ruoppoli and Onofrio Loth, scholars of Porpora, excelling +him in fruits, and particularly in grapes, and little inferior in other +respects. + +Giuseppe Cav. Recco, from the same school, is one of the most celebrated +painters in Italy, of hunting, fowling, and fishing pieces, and similar +subjects. One of his best pictures which I have seen, is in the house of +the Conti Simonetti d'Osimo, on which the author has inscribed his name. +He was admired in the collections also for his beautiful colouring, +which he acquired in Lombardy; and he resided for many years at the +court of Spain, whilst Giordano was there. There was also a scholar of +Ruoppoli, called Andrea Belvedere, excelling in the same line, but most +in flowers and fruit. There arose a dispute between him and Giordano, +Andrea asserting that the historical painters cannot venture with +success on these smaller subjects; Giordano, on the contrary, +maintaining that the greater included the less; which words he verified +by painting a picture of birds, flowers, and fruit, so beautifully +grouped that it robbed Andrea of his fame, and obliged him to take +refuge among men of letters; and indeed in the literary circle he held a +respectable station. + +Nevertheless his pictures did not fall in esteem or value, and his +posterity after him still continue to embellish the cabinets of the +great. His most celebrated scholar was Tommaso Realfonso, who to the +talents of his master, added that of the natural representation of every +description of utensils, and all kinds of confectionery and eatables. He +had also excellent imitators in Giacomo Nani, and Baldassar Caro, +employed to ornament the royal court of King Charles of Bourbon; and +Gaspar Lopez, the scholar first of Dubbisson, afterwards of Belvidere. +Lopez became a good landscape painter, was employed by the Grand Duke of +Tuscany, and resided a considerable time in Venice. According to +Dominici he died in Florence, and the author of the Algarotti Catalogue +in Venice, informs us, that that event took place about the year 1732. +We may here close the series of minor painters of the school of +Aniello,[120] and may now proceed to the succeeding epoch, commencing +with the historical painters. + +[Footnote 111: In tom. iii. of the _Lett. Pittoriche_, is a letter of P. +Sebastiano Resta dell'Oratorio, wherein he says, it is probable that the +Cav. d'Arpino imitated him in his youth: which cannot be admitted, as it +is known that Cesari formed himself in Rome, and resided only in Naples +when an adult. As to the resemblance between them, that applies as well +to other artists. In the same letter Corenzio is called the Cav. +Bellisario, and some anecdotes are related of him, and among others, +that he lived to the age of a hundred and twenty. This is one of those +tales to which this writer so easily gives credit. In proof of this we +may refer to Tiraboschi, in the life of Antonio Allegri, where similar +instances of his credulity are noticed.] + +[Footnote 112: Caravaggio had another scholar of eminence in Mario +Minniti of Syracuse, who however passed a considerable part of his life +in Messina. Having painted for some time in Rome with Caravaggio, he +imbibed his taste; and though he did not equal him in the vigour of +style, he displayed more grace and amenity. There are works remaining of +him in all parts of Sicily, as he painted much, and retained in his +service twelve scholars, whose works he retouched, and sold as his own. +Hence his pictures do not altogether correspond with his reputation. +Messina possesses several, as the Dead of Nain at the Church of the +Capucins, and the Virgin, the tutelar saint, at the Virginelle.] + +[Footnote 113: Among the scholars of Annibale, I find Carlo Sellitto +mentioned, to whom Guarienti assigns a place in the Abbeccadario, and I +further find him commended in some MS. notices of eminent artists of the +school.] + +[Footnote 114: There is a different account of him in the Memorie de' +Pittori Messinesi, where it is said that his true family name was +Rodriguez. It is there said that he studied in Rome, and went from +thence to work in Naples, in the Guida of which city he is frequently +mentioned. It is added that, from his Roman style, he was called by his +brother Alonso, the _slave of the antique_; and that he returned the +compliment by calling his brother, who was instructed in Venice, _the +slave of nature_. But Alonso, who spent his life in Sicily, surpassed +his brother in reputation; and it is a rare commendation that he painted +much and well. He particularly shone in the Probatica in S. Cosmo de' +Medici, and the picture of two Founders of Messina in the senatorial +palace, a work rewarded with a thousand scudi. His fame declined, and he +began to fail in commissions on the arrival of Barbalunga. But he did +not, on that account, refuse him his esteem, as he was accustomed to +call him the Caracci of Sicily.] + +[Footnote 115: I find in Messina, Gio. Fulco, who imbibed the principles +of the art under the Cav. Massimo; a correct designer, a lively and +graceful painter, particularly of children, excepting a somewhat too +great fleshiness, and a trace of mannerism. Many of his works in his +native country were destroyed by an earthquake. Some remain at the +Nunziata de' Teatini, where in the chapel of the Crucifix are his +frescos, and a picture by him in oil of the Nativity of the Virgin.] + +[Footnote 116: Gio. Batista Durand, of Burgundy, was established in +Messina. He was the scholar of Domenichino, and was always attached to +his manner. Of his larger works we find only a S. Cecilia in the convent +of that saint, as he was generally occupied in painting portraits. He +had a daughter called Flavia, the wife of Filippo Giannetti, skilled in +portraits, and an excellent copyist.] + +[Footnote 117: Domenico Maroli, Onofrio Gabriello, and Agostino Scilla, +were the three painters of Messina who did him the most honour, although +from being engaged in the revolutions of 1674 and 1676, the first lost +his life, and the other two were long exiles from their country. Maroli +did not adopt the style of Barbalunga exclusively, but having made a +voyage to Venice, and there studied the works of the best Venetian +artists, and particularly of Paolo, he returned with many of the +excellences of that great master, brilliant flesh tints, a beautiful air +in his heads, and a fine style in his drawings of women, a talent which +he abused as much or more than Liberi. To this moral vice he added a +professional one, which was painting sometimes on the _imprimiture_, and +generally with little colour; whence his works, which were extolled and +sought after when new, became, when old, neglected, like those dark +paintings of the Venetian School, which we have mentioned. Messina has +many of them: the Martyrdom of S. Placido at the Suore di S. Paolo, the +Nativity of the Virgin in the church della Grotta, and some others. In +Venice there must also be remaining in private collections, some of his +paintings of animals in the style of Bassano, as we have before +mentioned. Onofrio Gabriello was for six years with Barbalunga, and for +some further time with Poussin, and then with Cortona in Rome, until +passing another nine years in Venice with Maroli, he brought back with +him to Messina that master's vicious method of colour, but not his +style. In the latter he aimed at originality, exhibiting much lightness, +grace, and fancy, in the accessory parts, and in ribbons, jewels, and +lace, in which he particularly excelled. He left many pictures in +Messina, in the church of S. Francesco di Paola: many also in Padua, in +the _Guida_ of which city various pictures by him are enumerated, +without mentioning his cabinet pictures and portraits in private +collections. I have seen several in possession of the noble and learned +Sig. Co. Antonio Maria Borromeo; amongst which is a family piece with a +portrait of the painter. + +Agostino Scilla, or Silla, as Orlandi calls him, opened a school in +Messina, which was much frequented while it lasted, but the scholars +were dispersed by the storm of revolutions, in which they took a part, +not without great injury both to the art and themselves. He possessed an +elegant genius for painting, which he cultivated, and added to it a +taste for poetry, natural history, and antiquities. His genius raised +such high expectations in Barbalunga, that he procured a pension for him +from the senate, in order to enable him to reside in Rome under Andrea +Sacchi. After four years he returned to Messina, highly accomplished, +from his study of the antique and of Raffaello, and if his colouring was +at first somewhat dry, he soon rendered it rich and agreeable. He +excelled in figures and in heads, particularly of old men, and had a +peculiar talent in landscapes, animals, and fruit. For this I may refer +to the Roman School, where he is mentioned with his brother and son. +There are few of his works in Rome, but many in Messina. His frescos are +in S. Domenico, and in the Nunziata de' Teatini, and many paintings in +other places, among which is S. Ilarione dying, in the church of S. +Ursula, than which work there is no greater favourite with the public. + +Of the scholars of Scilla, who remained in Messina after the departure +of their master, there is not much to be said. F. Emanuel da Como we +have mentioned elsewhere. Giuseppe Balestriero, an excellent copyist of +the works of Agostino, and a good designer, after painting some +pictures, became a priest, and took leave of the art. Antonio la Falce +was a good painter in distemper and in oil. He afterwards attempted +frescos, and painted tavern scenes. Placido Celi, a man of singular +talents, but bad habits, followed his master to Rome. He there changed +his style for that of Maratta and Morandi; after whose works he painted +in Rome, in the churches dell'Anima and Traspontina, and in several +churches of his own country, but he never passed the bounds of +mediocrity. A higher reputation belongs to Antonio Madiona, of Syracuse, +who although he separated himself from Scilla in Rome, to follow il +Preti to Malta, was nevertheless an industrious artist, and painted both +there and in Sicily, in a strong and vigorous style, which partakes of +both his masters. And this may suffice for the members of this +unfortunate school. + +To complete the list of the chief scholars of Barbalunga, I may mention +here Bartolommeo Tricomi, who confined himself to portrait painting, and +in this hereditary gift of the school of Domenichino, he greatly +excelled. He had notwithstanding in Andrea Suppa a scholar who surpassed +him. The latter learned also of Casembrot, as far as regards landscape +and architecture; but he formed himself principally on the antique; and +by constantly studying Raffaello and the Caracci, and other select +masters, or their drawings, he acquired a most enchanting style of +countenance, and indeed of every part of his composition. His works are +as fine as miniature, and are perhaps too highly finished. His subjects, +in unison with his genius, are of a pensive and melancholy cast, and are +always treated in a pathetic manner. He excelled in frescos, and painted +the vaults in the Suore in S. Paolo; he excelled equally in oils, as may +be seen from the picture of S. Scolastica, there also. Some of his works +were lost by earthquakes. His style was happily imitated by Antonio +Bova, his scholar, and we may compare their works together at the +Nunziata de' Teatini. He painted much in oil, as well as fresco, and +from his placid and tranquil disposition, took no part in the +revolutions of Messina, but remained at home, where he closed his days +in peace, and with him expired the school of Barbalunga.] + +[Footnote 118: Pascoli, Vite, tom. i. p. 129.] + +[Footnote 119: I may insert at the close of this epoch the names of some +Sicilian painters, who flourished in it, or at the beginning of the +following, instructed by various masters. They were furnished to me by +the Sig. Ansaldo, whose attentions I have before acknowledged, and were +transmitted to him by a painter of that island. Filippo Tancredi was of +Messina, but is not assigned to any of the before mentioned masters, as +he studied in Naples and in Rome under Maratta. He was a skilful artist, +composed and coloured well; was celebrated in Messina, and also in +Palermo, where he lived many years, and where the vault of the church +de' Teatini, and that also of the Gesù Nuovo were painted by him. The +Cav. Pietro Novelli (or Morelli, which latter however I regard as an +error) called Monrealese from his native place, also enjoyed the +reputation of a good painter, and an able architect. He there left many +works in oil and fresco, and the great picture of the Marriage at Cana, +in the refectory of the P. P. Benedettini, is particularly commended. He +resided for a long time in Palermo, and the greatest work he there +executed, was in the church of the Conventuals, the vault of which was +divided into compartments, and wholly painted by himself. Guarienti +eulogises him for his style, as diligent in copying nature, correct in +design, and graceful in his colouring, with some imitation of +Spagnoletto; and the people of Palermo confer daily honour on him, +since, whenever they meet with a foreigner of taste, they point out to +him little else in the city, than the works of this great man. Pietro +Aquila, of Marzalla, a distinguished artist, who engraved the Farnese +gallery, left no works to my knowledge in Rome; in Palermo there remain +of him two pictures in the church della Pietà, representing the parable +of the Prodigal Son. Lo Zoppo di Gangi is known at Castro Giovanni, +where in the Duomo he left several works. Of the Cav. Giuseppe Paladini, +a Sicilian, I find commended at S. Joseph di Castel Termini, the picture +of the Madonna and the tutelar saint. I also find honourable mention +among the chief painters of this island, of a Carrega, who I believe +painted for private individuals. Others, though I know not of what +merit, are found inscribed in the academy of S. Luke, from the registers +of which I have derived some information for my third and fourth +volumes, communicated to me by the Sig. Maron, the worthy secretary of +the academy.] + +[Footnote 120: In this epoch flourished in Messina one Abraham +Casembrot, a Dutchman, who was considered one of the first painters of +his time, of landscape, seapieces, harbours, and tempests. He professed +architecture also, and was celebrated for his small figures. He was +accustomed to give the highest finish to every thing he painted. The +church of S. Giovacchino has three pictures of the Passion by him. Some +individuals of Messina possess delightful specimens of him, though not +many, as he sold them at high prices, and generally to Holland. Hence +most of the collectors of Messina turned to Jocino, the contemporary of +Casembrot; a painter of a vigorous imagination, and rapid execution. His +landscapes and views are still prized, and maintain their value. I do +not find that Casembrot wholly formed any scholar at Messina. He +communicated, however, the elements of architecture and perspective to +several, as well as the principles of painting. For this reason we find +enumerated among his scholars the Cappucin P. Feliciano da Messina +(Domenico Guargena) who afterwards studied Guido in the convent of +Bologna, and imbued himself with his style. Hackert makes honourable +mention of a Madonna and Child and S. Francesco by him at the church of +that order in Messina, and he assigns the palm to him among the painters +of his order, which boasted not a few.] + + + + + NEAPOLITAN SCHOOL. + + FOURTH EPOCH. + + _Luca Giordano, Solimene, and their scholars._ + + +A little beyond the middle of the 17th century, Luca Giordano began to +flourish in Naples. This master, though he did not excel his +contemporaries in his style, surpassed them all in good fortune, for +which he was indebted to his vast talents, confidence, and unbounded +powers of invention, which Maratta considered unrivalled and +unprecedented. In this he was eminently gifted by nature from his +earliest youth. Antonio, his father, placed him first under the +instructions of Ribera, and afterwards under Cortona in Rome,[121] and +having conducted him through all the best schools of Italy, he brought +him home rich in designs and in ideas. His father was an indifferent +painter, and being obliged in Rome to subsist by his son's labours, +whose drawings were at that time in the greatest request,[122] the only +principle that he instilled into him was one dictated by necessity, +despatch. A humorous anecdote is related, that Luca, when he was obliged +to take refreshments, did not retire from his work, but, gaping like a +young bird, gave notice to his father of the calls of hunger, who, +always on the watch, instantly supplied him with food, at the same time +reiterating with affectionate solicitude, _Luca fa presto_. Upon this +incident he was always afterwards known by the name of _Luca fa presto_, +among the students in Rome, and which is also his most frequent +appellation in the history of the art. By means like these, Antonio +acquired for his son a portentous celerity of hand, from which quality +he has been called _il Fulmine della pittura_. The truth however is, +that this despatch was not derived wholly from rapidity of pencil, but +was aided by the quickness of his imagination, as Solimene often +observed, by which he was enabled to ascertain, from the first +commencement of his work, the result he proposed to himself, without +hesitating to consider the component parts, or doubting, proving, and +selecting like other painters. He also obtained the name of the Proteus +of painting, from his extraordinary talent in imitating every known +manner, the consequence of his strong memory, which retained every thing +he had once seen. There are numerous instances of pictures painted by +him in the style of Albert Durer, Bassano, Titian, and Rubens, with +which he imposed on connoisseurs and on his rivals, who had more cause +than any other persons to be on their guard against him. These pictures +are valued by dealers at more than double or triple the price of +pictures of his own composition. There are examples of them even in the +churches at Naples; as the two pictures in the style of Guido at S. +Teresa, and particularly that of the Nativity. There is also at the +court of Spain a Holy Family, so much resembling Raffaello, that, as +Mengs says in a letter, (tom. ii. p. 67,) whoever is not conversant with +the quality of beauty essential to the works of that great master, would +be deceived by the imitation of Giordano. + +He did not however permanently adopt any of these styles as his own. At +first he evidently formed himself on Spagnoletto; afterwards, as in a +picture of the Passion at S. Teresa a little before mentioned, he +adhered to Paul Veronese; and he ever retained the maxim of that master, +by a studied decoration to excite astonishment, and to fascinate the +eye. From Cortona he seems to have taken his contrast of composition, +the great masses of light, and the frequent repetition of the same +features, which, in his female figures, he always copied from his wife. +In other respects he aimed at distinguishing himself from every other +master by a novel mode of colouring. He was not solicitous to conform to +the true principles of art; his style is not natural either in tone or +colour, and still less so in its chiaroscuro, in which Giordano formed +for himself a manner ideal and wholly arbitrary. He pleased, +notwithstanding, by a certain deceptive grace and attraction, which few +attempt, and which none have found it easy to imitate. Nor did he +recommend this style to his scholars, but on the contrary reproved them +when he saw them disposed to imitate him, telling them that it was not +the province of young students to penetrate so far. He was well +acquainted with the principles of design, but would not be at the +trouble of observing them; and in the opinion of Dominici, if he had +adhered to them too rigidly he would have enfeebled that spirit which is +his greatest merit; an excuse which perhaps will not appear satisfactory +to every amateur. Another reason may with more probability of truth be +assigned, which was his unbounded cupidity, and his habit of not +refusing commissions from the meanest quarter, which led him to abuse +his facility to the prejudice of his reputation. Hence, among other +things, he has been accused of having often painted superficially, +without impasto, and with a superabundance of oil, so that some of his +pictures have almost disappeared from the canvass. + +Naples abounds with the works of Giordano both public and private. There +is scarcely a church in that great city which does not boast some work +by him. A much admired piece is the Expulsion of the sellers and buyers +from the Temple at the P. P. Girolamini: the architectural parts of +which are painted by Moscatiello, a good perspective painter. Of his +frescos, those at the Treasury of the Certosa are esteemed the best. +They were executed by him when his powers were matured, and appear to +unite in themselves all the best qualities of the artist. Every one must +be forcibly struck by the picture of the Serpent raised in the desert, +and the throng of Israelites, who, assailed in a horrible manner, turn +to it for relief. The other pictures on the walls and in the vault, all +scriptural, are equally powerful in effect. The cupola of S. Brigida is +also extolled, which was painted in competition with Francesco di Maria, +and in so very short a time, and with such fascinating tints, that it +was preferred by the vulgar to the work of that accomplished master, and +thus served to diffuse less solid principles among the rising artists. +As a miracle of despatch we are also shewn the picture of S. Saverio, +painted for the church of that saint in a day and a half, full of +figures, and as beautiful in colour as any of his pictures. Luca went to +Florence to paint the Capella Corsini and the Riccardi Gallery, besides +many works in the churches and for individuals, particularly for the +noble house of Rosso, who possessed the Baccanali of Giordano, +afterwards removed to the palace of the Marchese Gino Capponi. He was +also employed by the Grand Duke; and Cosmo III., in whose presence he +designed and painted a large picture in less time than I dare mention, +complimented him by saying that he was a fit painter for a sovereign +prince. The same eulogium was passed on him by Charles II. of Spain, in +whose court he resided thirteen years; and, to judge from the number of +works he left there, it might be supposed that he had consumed a long +life in his service. He continued and finished the series of paintings +begun by Cambiasi of Genoa, in the church of the Escurial, and +ornamented the vault, the cupola, and the walls with many scriptural +subjects, chiefly from the life of Solomon. He painted some other large +compositions in fresco in a church of S. Antonio, in the palace of +Buonritiro, in the Hall of the Ambassadors; and for the Queen Mother a +Nativity, most highly finished, which is said to be a surprising +picture, and perhaps superior to any other of his painting. If all his +works had been executed with similar care, the observation, that his +example had corrupted the Spanish School, might perhaps have been +spared.[123] In his old age he returned to his native place, loaded with +honours and riches, and died lamented and regretted as the greatest +genius of his age. + +His school produced but few designers of merit; most of them were +contaminated by the maxim of their master, that it is the province of a +painter to please the public, and that their favour is more easily won +by colour than by correct design; so that, without much attention to the +latter, they gave themselves entirely to facility of hand. His favorite +scholars were Aniello Rossi of Naples, and Matteo Pacelli della +Basilicata, whom he took with him to Spain as assistants, and who +returned with him home with handsome pensions, and lived after in +leisure and independence. Niccolo Rossi of Naples became a good designer +and colourist in the style of his master, although somewhat too red in +his tints. In some of his more important works, as in the soffitto of +the royal chapel, Giordano assisted him with his designs. He painted +much for private individuals, and was considered next to Reco in his +drawings of animals. The _Guida_ of Naples commends him and Tommaso +Fasano, for their skill in painting in distemper some very fine works +for Santi Sepolcri and Quarantore. Giuseppe Simonelli, originally a +servant of Giordano, became an accurate copyist of his works, and an +excellent imitator of his colouring. He did not succeed in design, +though he is praised for a S. Niccola di Tolentino in the church of +Montesanto, which approaches to the best and most correct manner of +Giordano. Andrea Miglionico had more facility of invention, and equal +taste in colour, but he has less grace than Simonelli. Andrea also +painted in many churches in Naples, and I find him highly commended for +his picture of the Pentecost in the S. S. Nunziata. A Franceschitto, a +Spaniard, was so promising an artist that Luca was accustomed to say, +that he would prove a greater man than his master. But he died very +young, leaving in Naples a favourable specimen of his genius in the S. +Pasquale, which he painted in S. Maria del Monte. It contains a +beautiful landscape, and a delightful choir of angels. + +But his first scholar, in point of excellence, was Paolo de' Matteis, +mentioned also by Pascoli among the best scholars of Morandi, and an +artist who might vie with the first of his age. He was invited to +France, and during the three years that he resided there, obtained +considerable celebrity in the court and in the kingdom at large. He was +then engaged by Benedict XIII. to come to Rome, where he painted at the +Minerva and at the Ara Coeli. He decorated other cities also with his +works, particularly Genoa, which has two very valuable pictures by him +at S. Girolamo; the one, that saint appearing and speaking to S. Saverio +in a dream; the other, the Immaculate Conception with an angelic choir, +as graceful as ever was painted. His home was, notwithstanding, in +Naples, and that is the place where we ought to view him. He there +decorated with his frescos the churches, galleries, halls, and ceilings +in great number; often rivalling the celerity without attaining the +merit of his master. It was his boast to have painted in sixty-six days +a large cupola, that of the Gesù Nuovo, a few years since taken down in +consequence of its dangerous state; a boast which, when Solimene heard, +he sarcastically replied, that the work declared the fact itself without +his mentioning it. Nevertheless there were so many beauties in it in the +style of Lanfranco, that its rapid execution excited admiration. + +When he worked with care, as in the church of the Pii Operai, in the +Matalona Gallery, and in many pictures for private individuals, he left +nothing to desire, either in his composition, in the grace of his +contour, in the beauty of his countenances, though there was little +variety in the latter, or in any of the other estimable qualities of a +painter. His colouring was at first _Giordanesque_; afterwards he +painted with more force of chiaroscuro, but with a softness and delicacy +of tint, particularly in the madonnas and children, where he sometimes +displays the sweetness of Albano, and a trace of the Roman School, in +which he had also studied. He was not very happy in his scholars, who +were not numerous. Giuseppe Mastroleo is the most distinguished, who is +much praised for his S. Erasmus at S. Maria Nuova. Gio. Batista Lama was +a fellow disciple, and afterwards a relative of Matteis, and received +some assistance from him in his studies. Excited by the example of +Paolo, he attained a suavity of colour and of chiaroscuro, much praised +in his larger works, as the gallery of the Duke of S. Niccola Gaeta, and +particularly in his pictures of small figures in collections. In these +he was fond of representing mythological stories, and they are not +unfrequent in Naples and its territories. + +Francesco Solimene, called L'Abate Ciccio, born at Nocera de' Pagani, +was the son of Angelo, a scholar of Massimo. Early imbibing a love of +painting, he forsook the study of letters, and after receiving the first +rudiments of the art from his father, he repaired to Naples. He there +entered the school of Francesco di Maria, but soon left it, as he +thought that master too exclusively devoted to design. He then +frequented the academy of Po, where he industriously began at the same +time to draw from the naked figure and to colour. Thus he may be said to +have been the scholar of the best masters, as he always copied and +studied their works. At first he imitated Pietro da Cortona, but +afterwards formed a manner of his own, still retaining that master as +his model, and copying entire figures from him, which he adapted to his +new style. This new and striking style of Solimene approached nearer +than any other to that of Preti. The design is not so correct, the +colouring not so true, but the faces have more beauty: in these he +sometimes imitated Guido, and sometimes Maratta, and they are often +selected from nature. Hence by some he was called il Cav. Calabrese +_ringentilito_. To the style of Preti he added that of Lanfranco, whom +he named his master, and from whom he adopted that curving form of +composition, which he perhaps carried beyond propriety. From these two +masters he took his chiaroscuro, which he painted strong in his middle +age, but softened as he advanced in years, and then attached himself +more to facility and elegance of style. He carefully designed every part +of his picture, and corrected it from nature before he coloured it; so +that in preparing his works, he may be included among the most correct, +at least in his better days, for he latterly declined into the general +facility, and opened the way to mannerism. He possessed an elegant and +fruitful talent of invention, for which he is celebrated by the poets of +the day. He was also characterised by a sort of universality in every +style he attempted, extending himself to every branch of the art; +history, portrait, landscape, animals, fruit, architecture, utensils; +and whatever he attempted, he seemed formed for that alone. As he lived +till the age of ninety, and was endowed with great celerity of pencil, +his works, like those of Giordano, were spread over all Europe. Of that +artist he was at the same time the competitor and the friend, less +powerful in genius, but more correct in his principles. When Giordano +died, and Solimene became the first painter in Italy, notwithstanding +what his rivals said of his colours not being true to nature, he began +to ask extravagant prices for his pictures, and still abounded in +commissions. + +One of his most distinguished works is the sacristy of the P. P. Teatini +detti di S. Paolo Maggiore, painted in various compartments. His +pictures also in the arches of the chapels in the church of the Holy +Apostles deserve to be mentioned. That work had been executed by Giacomo +del Po, to correspond with the style of the tribune, and the other works +which Lanfranco had painted there: but Po did not satisfy the public +expectation. The whole work was therefore effaced, and Solimene was +employed to paint it over again, and proved that he was more worthy of +the commission. The chapel of S. Filippo in the church of the Oratory, +is a proof of his extreme care and attention; every figure in it being +almost as finely finished as a miniature. Among private houses the most +distinguished is the Sanfelice, so called from the name of his noble +scholar Ferdinand, for whom he painted a gallery, which afterwards +became an academy for young artists. Of his large pictures we may +mention that of the great altar in the church of the monks of S. +Gaudioso, without referring to others in the churches and in various +parts of the kingdom; particularly at Monte Cassino, for the church of +which he painted four stupendous pictures in the choir. They will be +found in the _Descrizione Istorica del Monistero di Monte Cassino_, +edited in Naples, in 1751. He is not often met with in private +collections in Italy, beyond the kingdom of Naples. In Rome the princes +Albani and Colonna have some large compositions by him, and the +Bonaccorsi family a greater number in the gallery of Macerata; and among +them the death of Dido, a large picture of fine effect. His largest work +in the ecclesiastical state, is a Supper of our Lord, in the refectory +of the Conventuals of Assisi, an elegant composition, painted with +exquisite care, where the artist has given his own portrait among the +train of attendants. + +Solimene instilled his own principles into the minds of his disciples, +who formed a numerous school, which extended even beyond the kingdom of +Naples, about the beginning of the eighteenth century. Among those who +remained in Naples, was Ferdinando Sanfelice, lately noticed by us, a +nobleman of Naples, who put himself under the instructions of Francesco, +and became as it were the arbiter of his wishes. As the master could not +execute all the commissions which crowded on him from every quarter, the +surest mode to engage him was to solicit him through Sanfelice, to whom +alone he could not deny any request. By the assistance of Solimene, +Sanfelice attained a name among historical painters, and painted +altarpieces for several churches. He took great delight in fruit, +landscapes, and views, in which he particularly excelled, and had also +the reputation of an eminent architect. But perhaps none of the +disciples of Solimene approached nearer to the fame of their master than +Francesco de Mura, called Franceschiello. He was a Neapolitan by birth, +and contributed much to the decoration of his native city, both in +public and private. Perhaps no work on the whole procured him a greater +degree of celebrity than the frescos painted in various chambers of the +Royal Palace of Turin, where he competed with Beaumont, who was then in +the height of his reputation. He there ornamented the ceilings of some +of the rooms which contain the Flemish pictures. The subjects which he +chose, and treated with much grace, were the Olympic Games, and the +Deeds of Achilles. In other parts of the palace he also executed various +works. Another artist, who was held in consideration, was Andrea +dell'Asta, who after being instructed by Solimene, went to finish his +studies in Rome, and engrafted on his native style some imitation of +Raffaello and the antique. We may enumerate among his principal works, +the two large pictures of the Nativity, and the Epiphany of Christ, +which he painted in Naples for the church of S. Agostino de' P. P. +Scalzi. Niccolo Maria Rossi was also reputably employed in the churches +of Naples, and in the court itself. Scipione Cappella excelled all the +scholars of Solimene in copying his pictures, which were sometimes +touched by the master and passed for originals. Giuseppe Bonito had a +good invention, and was a distinguished portrait painter, and was +considered one of the best imitators of Solimene. He was at the time of +his death painter to the court of Naples. Conca and he excel their +fellow disciples in the selection of their forms. Other scholars in +Naples and Sicily,[124] less known to me, will be found in the history +of painting in Naples, which has been recently published by the +accomplished Sig. Pietro Signorelli, a work which I have not in my +possession, but which is cited by me, as is the case with several more, +on the authority of others. + +Some artists, who resided out of the kingdom, we shall notice in other +schools, and in the Roman School we have already spoken sufficiently of +Conca and Giaquinto; to whom we may add Onofrio Avellino, who resided +some years in Rome, executing commissions for private persons, and +painting in the churches. The vault of S. Francesco di Paola is the +largest work he left. The works of Maja and Campora are to be found in +Genoa, those of Sassi in Milan, and of others of the school of Solimene +in various cities. These artists, it is to be regretted, sometimes +passed the boundaries prescribed by their master. His colouring, though +it might be more true to nature, is yet such as never offends, but +possesses on the contrary a degree of amenity which pleases us. But his +scholars and imitators did not confine themselves within their master's +limits, and it may be asserted, that from no school has the art suffered +more than from them. Florence, Verona, Parma, Bologna, Milan, Turin, in +short, all Italy was infected with their style; and by degrees their +pictures presented so mannered a colouring, that they seemed to abandon +the representation of truth and nature altogether. The habit too of +leaving their pictures unfinished after the manner of Giordano and +Solimene, was by many carried so far, that instead of good paintings, +many credulous buyers have purchased execrable sketches. The imitation +of these two eminent men carried too far, has produced in our own days +pernicious principles, as at an earlier period did the imitation of +Michelangiolo, Tintoretto, and even of Raffaello himself, when carried +to an extreme. The principal and true reason of this deterioration is to +be ascribed generally to the masters of almost all our schools; who, +abandoning the guidance of the ancient masters, endeavoured in their +ignorance to find some new leader, without considering who he might be, +or whither he might lead them. Thus, at every proclamation of new +principles, they and their scholars were ready to follow in their train. + +In the time of Giordano and Solimene, Niccola Massaro was considered a +good landscape painter. He was a scholar of Salvator Rosa, but rather +imitated him in design than in colour. In the latter he was insipid, nor +even added the accompaniment of figures to his landscapes, but was +assisted in that respect by Antonio di Simone, not a finished artist, +but of some merit in battle pieces.[125] Massaro instructed Gaetano +Martoriello, who was a landscape painter of a free style, but often +sketching, and his colouring not true to nature. In the opinion of +connoisseurs a better style was displayed by Bernardo Dominici, the +historiographer, and the scholar of Beych in landscape, a careful and +minute painter of Flemish subjects and _bambocciate_. There were two +Neapolitans, Ferraiuoli and Sammartino, who settled in Romagna, and were +good landscape painters. In perspective views Moscatiello was +distinguished, as we observed, when we spoke of Giordano. In the life of +Solimene, Arcangelo Guglielmelli is mentioned as skilled in the same +art. Domenico Brandi of Naples, and Giuseppe Tassoni of Rome, were +rivals in animal painting. In this branch, and also in flowers and +fruits, one Paoluccio Cattamara, who flourished in the time of Orlandi, +was celebrated. Lionardo Coccorante, and Gabriele Ricciardelli, the +scholar of Orizzonte, were distinguished in seaviews and landscapes, and +were employed at the court of King Charles of Bourbon.[126] + +By the accession of this prince, a munificent patron of the fine arts, +wherever he reigned, the Neapolitan School was regenerated and +invigorated; employment and rewards awaited the artists; the specimens +of other schools were multiplied, and Mengs, who was invited to paint +the Royal Family, and a large cabinet picture, laid the foundations of a +more solid style, at the same time improving his own fortune, and giving +a considerable impulse to art. But the greatest benefit this monarch has +conferred on the arts is to be found at Ercolano, where under his orders +so many specimens of sculpture and ancient paintings, buried for a long +lapse of ages, have been brought to light, and by his direction +accurately drawn and engraved, and illustrated with learned notes, and +communicated to all countries. Lastly, in order that the benefits which +he had conferred on his own age, might be continued to the future +masters of his country, he turned his attention to the education of +youthful artists. Of this fact I was ignorant at the time of my first +edition, but now write on the information afforded me at the request of +the Marchese D. Francesco Taccone, treasurer of the kingdom, by the very +learned Sig. Daniele, Regio Antiquario, both of whom, with truly +patriotic feelings, have devoted themselves to the preservation of the +antiquities of their country, and are equally polite in communicating to +others that information for which they are themselves so distinguished. +There formerly existed at Naples the academy of S. Luke, founded at the +Gesù Nuovo, in the time of Francesco di Maria, who was one of the +masters, and taught in it anatomy and design. This institution continued +for some years. King Charles in some measure revived this establishment +by a school for painting, which he opened in the Laboratory of mosaics +and tapestry. Six masters of the School of Solimene were placed there as +directors, and some good models being provided in the place, young +artists were permitted to attend and study there. Bonito was engaged as +the acting professor, and after some time Mura was associated with him, +but died before the professor. Ferdinand IV. treading in the steps of +his august father, has, by repeated instances of protection to these +honorable pursuits, conferred fresh honours on the Bourbon name, and +rendered it dearer than ever to the fine arts. He transferred the +academy to the new royal Museum, and supplied it with all requisites for +the instruction of young artists. On the death of Bonito he bestowed the +direction of it on the first masters, and having established pensions +for the maintenance in Rome of a certain number of young men, students +in the three sister arts, he assigned four of these to those students +who were intended for painters; thus confirming by his suffrage to the +city of Rome, that proud appellation which the world at large had long +conceded to her, the Athens of Modern Art. + +[Footnote 121: Cortona had in Sicily a good scholar in Gio. Quagliata, +who, in the _Memorie Messinesi_, is said to have been favored and +distinguished by his master; and to have afterwards returned to his +native country to paint in competition with Rodriguez, and what +surprises me still more, with Barbalunga. If we may be allowed to judge +of these two artists by their works which remain in Rome, Barbalunga in +S. Silvestro at Monte Cavallo, appears a great master; Quagliata at the +Madonna di C. P. a respectable scholar. The former is celebrated and +known to every painter in Rome, the latter has not an admirer. In +Messina he perhaps painted better. His biographer commends him as a +graceful and sober painter, as long as his rivals lived; and adds, that +after their death he devoted himself to frescos, when the exuberance of +his imagination is evident in the strong expression of character, and in +the superfluity of architectural and other ornaments. Andrea, his +brother, was not in Rome; he is, however, in Messina, considered a good +artist.] + +[Footnote 122: Giordano is said at this period to have copied the +Chambers and the Gallery of Raffaello no less than twelve times, and +perhaps twenty times the Battle of Constantine, painted by Giulio +Romano, without reckoning his designs after the works of Michelangiolo, +Polidoro, and other great masters. See _Vite del Bellori_, edited in +Rome in 1728, with the addition of the life of Giordano, page 307.] + +[Footnote 123: It may be observed, that if he had followers, some of +them did not copy him implicitly. Palomino, although much attached to +Giordano, forsaking letters for painting, when his style was so much in +vogue, did not imitate him servilely, but in conjunction with the style +of other distinguished painters of his age; a good artist, and appointed +by Charles II. painter to himself. This is the same Palamino who has +merited the appellation of the _Vasari of Spain_, and whom I have so +often cited. They who are acquainted with that noble language highly +commend his style, which is perhaps the reason that copies of his +_Teorica e Pratica della Pittura_ (2 vol. fol.) are so rare out of +Spain. But in point of accuracy, like Vasari himself, he often errs. I +fancy that he frequently adopted traditions, without sufficiently +weighing them, which I am led to suspect from the circumstance that in +the scholars assigned to masters, he is guilty of many anachronisms.] + +[Footnote 124: The _Memorie de' Messinesi Pittori_ mentions a Gio. +Porcello, who, after studying under Solimene, returned, it is said, to +his native country, where he found the art at an extremely low ebb; and +he attempted to revive it by opening an academy in his house, and +diffusing the taste of his master, which he fully possessed. A still +better style of painting was brought from Rome by Antonio and Paolo, two +brothers, who, fresh from the school of Maratta, also opened an academy +in Messina, which was greatly frequented. They worked in conjunction in +many churches, and excelled in fresco, but in oil Antonio was much +superior to his brother. There was also a third brother, Gaetano, who +executed the ornamental parts. Their works on the walls and on canvass +are to be seen in S. Caterina di Valverde, in S. Gregorio delle Monache, +and elsewhere. There flourished at the same time with the Filocami, +Litterio Paladino, and Placido Campolo, a scholar of Conca in Rome, +where he derived more benefit from the antique marbles than from the +instructions of his master. Both these artists executed works on a very +large scale; and of the first they particularly commend the vault of the +church of Monte Vergine, and, of the second, the vault of the gallery of +the Senate. Both are esteemed for their correct design; but the taste of +the second is more solid and more free from mannerism. The above named +five artists all died in the fatal year of 1743. Luciano Foti survived +them, an excellent copyist of every master, but particularly of +Polidoro, whose style he adopted in his own composition. But his +characteristic merit consisted in his penetration into the secrets of +the art, which enabled him to detect every style, every peculiar +varnish, and the various methods of colouring, so that he not only +ascertained many doubtful masters, but restored pictures, damaged by +time, in so happy a manner as to deceive the most experienced. A man of +such talents outweighs a host of common artists. + +To these we may add other artists of the island itself, born in +different places. Marcantonio Bellavia, a Sicilian, who painted in Rome, +at S. Andrea delle Fratte, is conjectured, though not ascertained, to be +a scholar of Cortona. Calandrucci, of Palermo, is named among the +scholars of Maratta. Gaetano Sottino painted the vault of the oratory at +the Madonna di C. P., a respectable artist. Giovacchino Martorana, of +Palermo, was a machinist, and in his native city they boast of the +Chapel de' Crociferi, and at S. Rosalia, four large pictures from the +life of S. Benedict. Olivio Sozzi, of Catania, painted much in Palermo; +particularly at S. Giacomo, where all the altars have pictures by him, +and the tribune three large subjects from the infancy of Christ. Another +Sozzi, of the name of Francesco, I find praised for a picture of Five +Saints, Bishops of Agrigentum, in the Duomo of that city. Of Onofrio +Lipari, of Palermo, there are two pictures of the Martyrdom of S. Oliva +in the Church de' Paolotti. Of Filippo Randazzo, there are to be seen in +Palermo some vast works in fresco, as well as of Tommaso Sciacca, who +was an assistant of Cavalucci in Rome, and who left some large +compositions at the Duomo and at the Olivetani of Rovigo.] + +[Footnote 125: Gio. Tuccari of Messina, the son of an Antonio, a feeble +scholar of Barbalunga, although he painted much in other branches of the +art, owes the celebrity of his name to his battle pieces, which, by the +despatch of his pencil, were multiplied beyond number. They were +frequently sent into Germany where they were engraved. He had a fruitful +and spirited genius, but was not a correct designer.] + +[Footnote 126: Among the painters of Messina is mentioned Niccolo +Cartissani, who died in Rome with the name of a good landscape painter, +and Filippo Giannetti, a scholar of Casembrot, who in the vastness of +his landscapes and his views surpassed his master; but he will not bear +a comparison in the correctness of his figures and in finishing; though +he was, from his facility and rapidity of pencil, denominated the +Giordano of landscape painters. He was esteemed and protected by the +Viceroy Co. di S. Stefano, and painted in Palermo and Naples.] + + + + + Transcriber's notes: + + Standardized spacing after apostrophes in Italian names and phrases. + Standardized inconsistent hyphenation. + Retained archaic spelling and punctuation, except as noted below. + Moved footnotes to the end of each chapter. + + Other adjustments: + + Changed 'Pistoia' to 'Pistoja' for consistency with remaining text. + ...Pistoja, Rimino, and Bologna... + Changed 'Winckelman' to 'Winckelmann' + ...as Winckelmann has observed... + Changed 'Niccolo Alunno' to 'Niccolò Alunno' + ...different from Niccolò Alunno... + Added missing end quotation mark + ..."connoisseurs are very commonly considered as his."... + Changed 'antient' to 'ancient' + ...he retained the ancient custom... + Changed 'beautifully' to 'beautiful' + ...some singularly beautiful grotesques... + Changed 'della' to 'dello' + ...called dello Spasimo, which... + Eliminated duplicate 'as as' + ...as in the martyrdom of S. Lucia.. + Added accent to 'Niccolò' Circignani + ...Niccolò Circignani, or delle Pomarance,... + Changed 'hat' to 'that' + ...in the style of that master... + Retained two-dot ellipsis to represent missing partial date + ...Castellana, 161.., on a large picture... + Eliminated duplicate 'was was' + ...he was called Il Trevisani Romano... + Changed 'Vandyk' to 'Vandyke' + ...together with one by Vandyke... + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. +2 (of 6), by Luigi Antonio Lanzi + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF PAINTING IN *** + +***** This file should be named 34585-8.txt or 34585-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/5/8/34585/ + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Carol Brown, Bill Tozier and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. 2 (of 6) + from the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End + of the Eighteenth Century (6 volumes) + +Author: Luigi Antonio Lanzi + +Translator: Thomas Roscoe + +Release Date: December 8, 2010 [EBook #34585] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF PAINTING IN *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Carol Brown, Bill Tozier and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h3>THE</h3> +<h2>HISTORY OF PAINTING</h2> +<h3>IN</h3> +<h1>ITALY.</h1> + +<hr class="c10" /> + +<h3>VOL. II.</h3> + +<h3 class="p4">THE</h3> +<h2>HISTORY OF PAINTING</h2> +<h3>IN</h3> +<h1>ITALY,</h1> + +<h5>FROM THE PERIOD OF THE REVIVAL OF</h5> +<h3>THE FINE ARTS,</h3> +<h5>TO THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY:</h5> +<h5>TRANSLATED</h5> +<h2>From the Original Italian</h2> +<h5>OF THE</h5> +<h2>ABATE LUIGI LANZI.</h2> + +<hr class="c10" /> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By</span> THOMAS ROSCOE.</h3> + +<hr class="c10" /> + +<h5><i>IN SIX VOLUMES.</i></h5> + +<h4>VOL. II.</h4> +<h5>CONTAINING THE SCHOOLS OF ROME AND NAPLES.</h5> + +<hr class="c10" /> + +<h4>LONDON:</h4> +<h5>PRINTED FOR</h5> +<h4>W. SIMPKIN AND R. MARSHALL,</h4> +<h5>STATIONERS'-HALL COURT, LUDGATE STREET.</h5> + +<hr class="c5" /> + +<h4>1828.</h4> + +<p class="p4"> J. M'Creery, Tooks Court,<br /> Chancery Lane, +London.</p> + +<h4 class="p4">CONTENTS</h4> +<h6>OF</h6> +<h4>THE SECOND VOLUME.</h4> + +<hr class="c10" /> + +<h4>HISTORY OF PAINTING IN LOWER ITALY.<br /> +BOOK THE THIRD.</h4> + +<h5>ROMAN SCHOOL.</h5> + +<table class="bold" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="20" +summary="Contents Book III"> + +<tr> +<td class="left"> </td> +<td> </td> +<td class="rightpg">Page</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Epoch<span +style="white-space:nowrap;"> </span>I.</span></td> +<td><i>The old masters</i></td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_001">1</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Epoch<span +style="white-space:nowrap;"> </span>II.</span></td> +<td><i>Raffaello and his school.</i></td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_048">48</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Epoch<span +style="white-space:nowrap;"> </span>III.</span></td> +<td><i>The art declines, in consequence of the public calamities of +Rome, and gradually falls into mannerism</i></td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_124">124</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Epoch<span +style="white-space:nowrap;"> </span>IV.</span></td> +<td><i>Restoration of the Roman school by Barocci and other artists, +subjects of the Roman state and foreigners</i></td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_177">177</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Epoch<span +style="white-space:nowrap;"> </span>V.</span></td> +<td><i>The scholars of Pietro da Cortona, from an injudicious imitation +of their master, deteriorate the art—Maratta and others support +it</i></td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_262">262</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<h4>BOOK THE FOURTH.</h4> + +<h5>NEAPOLITAN SCHOOL.</h5> + +<table class="bold" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="10" +summary="Contents Book IV"> + +<tr> +<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Epoch<span +style="white-space:nowrap;"> </span>I.</span></td> +<td><i>The old masters</i></td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_345">345</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Epoch<span +style="white-space:nowrap;"> </span>II.</span></td> +<td><i>Modern Neapolitan style, founded on the schools of Raffaello and +Michelangiolo</i></td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_368">368</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="left"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[Pg +ii]</a></span><span class="smcap">Epoch<span +style="white-space:nowrap;"> </span>III.</span></td> +<td><i>Corenzio, Ribera, Caracciolo, flourish in Naples—Strangers +who compete with them</i></td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_389">389</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="left"><span class="smcap">Epoch<span +style="white-space:nowrap;"> </span>IV.</span></td> +<td><i>Luca Giordano, Solimene, and their scholars</i></td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_426">426</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class="p4"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_001" id="Page_001">[Pg +1]</a></span></p> +<h2>HISTORY OF PAINTING</h2> + +<h4>IN</h4> + +<h3>LOWER ITALY.</h3> + +<h4>BOOK III.</h4> + +<hr class="c10" /> + +<h4>ROMAN SCHOOL.</h4> + +<p class="p2">I have frequently heard the lovers of art express a doubt +whether the Roman School possesses the same inherent right to that +distinctive appellation as the schools of Florence, Bologna, and Venice. +Those of the latter cities were, indeed, founded by their respective +citizens, and supported through a long course of ages; while the Roman +School, it may be said, could boast only of Giulio Romano and Sacchi, +and a few others, natives of Rome, who taught, and left scholars there. +The other artists who flourished there were either natives of the cities +of the Roman state, or from other parts of Italy, some of whom +established themselves in Rome, and others, after the close of their +labours there, returned and died in their native places. But this +question is, if I mistake not, rather a dispute of words than of things, +and similar to those objections advanced by the peripatetic sophists +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_002" id="Page_002">[Pg 2]</a></span> +against the modern philosophy; insisting that they abuse the meaning of +their words, and quoting, as an example, the <i>vis inertiæ</i>; as if +that, which is in itself inert, could possess the quality of force. The +moderns laugh at this difficulty, and coolly reply that, if the +<i>vis</i> displeased them, they might substitute <i>natura</i>, or any +other equivalent word; and that it was lost time to dispute about words, +and neglect things. So it may be said in this case; they who disapprove +of the designation of school, may substitute that of academy, or any +other term denoting a place where the art of painting is professed and +taught. And, as the learned universities always derive their names from +the city where they are established, as the university of Padua or Pisa, +although the professors may be all, or in great part, from other states, +so it is with the schools of painting, to which the name of the country +is always attached, in preference to that of the master. In Vasari we do +not find this classification of schools, and Monsignor Agucchi was the +first to divide Italian art into the schools of Lombardy, Venice, +Tuscany, and Rome.<a name="fnanchor_1" id="fnanchor_1"></a><a +href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor"><sup>[1]</sup></a> He has +employed the term of schools after the manner of the ancients, and has +thus characterised one of them as the Roman School. He has, perhaps, +erred in placing Michel Angiolo, as well as Raphael, at the head of this +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_003" id="Page_003">[Pg 3]</a></span> +school, as posterity have assigned him his station as chief of the +school of Florence; but he has judged right in classing it under a +separate head, possessing, as it does, its own peculiar style; and in +this he has been followed by all the modern writers of art. The +characteristic feature in the Roman School has been said to consist in a +strict imitation of the works of the ancients, not only in sublimity, +but also in elegance and selection; and to this we shall add other +peculiarities, which will be noticed in their proper place. Thus, from +its propriety, or from tacit convention, the appellation of the Roman +School has been generally adopted; and, as it certainly serves to +distinguish one of the leading styles of Italian art, it becomes +necessary to employ it, in order to make ourselves clearly understood. +We cannot, indeed, allow to the Roman School so extensive a range as we +have assigned to that of Florence, in the first book; nevertheless, +every one that chooses may apply this appellation to it in a very +enlarged sense. Nor is the fact of other artists having taught, or +having given a tone to painting in the capital, any valid objection to +this term; since, in a similar manner, we find Titiano, Paolo Veronese, +and Bassano, in Venice, though all of them were strangers; but, as they +were subjects of her government, they were all termed Venetians, as that +name alike embraces those born in the city or within the dominions of +the Republic. The same may be said of the subjects of the Pope. Besides +the natives of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_004" +id="Page_004">[Pg 4]</a></span> Rome, there appeared masters from many +of her subject cities, who, teaching in Rome, followed in the steps of +their predecessors, and maintained the same principles of art. Passing +over Pier della Francesca and Pietro Vannucci, we may refer to Raffaello +himself as an example. Raffaello was born in Urbino, and was the subject +of a duke, who held his fief under the Roman see, and who, in Rome, held +the office of prefect of the city; and whose dominions, in failure of +male issue, reverted to the Pope, as the heritage of the church. Thus +Raffaello cannot be considered other than a Roman subject. To him +succeeded Giulio Romano and his scholars; who were followed by Zuccari, +and the mannerists of that time, until the art found a better style +under the direction of Baroccio, Baglione, and others. After them +flourished Sacchi and Maratta, whose successors have extended to our own +times. Restricted within these bounds, the Roman may certainly be +considered as a national school; and, if not rich in numbers, it is at +least so in point of excellence, as Raffaello in himself outweighs a +world of inferior artists.</p> + +<p>The other painters who resided in Rome, and followed the principles +of that school, I shall neither attempt to add to, nor to subtract from +the number of its followers; adopting it as a maxim not to interfere in +the decision of disputes, alike idle and irrelevant to my subject. Still +less shall I ascribe to it those who there adopted a totally different +style, as Michelangiolo da Caravaggio, an artist whom Lombardy <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_005" id="Page_005">[Pg 5]</a></span>may +lay claim to, on account of his birth, or Venice, from his receiving his +education in that city, though he lived and wrote in Rome, and +influenced the taste of the national school there by his own example and +that of his scholars. In the same manner many other names will +occasionally occur in the history of this school: it is the duty of the +historian to mention these, and it is, at the same time, an incomparable +triumph to the Roman School, that she stands, in this manner, as the +centre of all the others; and that so many artists could not have +obtained celebrity, if they had not seen Rome, or could not have claimed +that title from the world unless they had first obtained her +suffrage.</p> + +<p>I shall not identify the limits of this school with those of the +dominions of the church, as in that case we should comprise in it the +painters of Bologna, Ferrara, and Romagna, whom I have reserved for +another volume. In my limits I shall include only the capital, and the +provinces in its immediate vicinity, as Latium, the Sabine territories, +the patrimony of the Church, Umbria, Picenum, and the state of Urbino, +the artists of which district were, for the most part, educated in Rome, +or under the eyes of Roman masters. My historical notices of them will +be principally derived from Vasari, Baglione, Passeri, and Leone +Pascoli. From these writers we have the lives of many artists who +painted in Rome, and the last named author has included in his account +his fellow countrymen <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_006" +id="Page_006">[Pg 6]</a></span> of Perugia. Pascoli has not, indeed, the +merits of the three first writers; but he does not deserve the discredit +thrown on him by Ratti and Bottari, the latter of whom, in his notes to +Vasari, does not hesitate to call him a wretched writer, and unworthy of +credit. His work, indeed, on the artists of Perugia, shows that he +indiscriminately copied what he found in others, whether good or bad; +and to the vulgar traditions of the early artists he paid more than due +attention. But his other work, on the history of the modern painters, +sculptors, and architects, is a book of authority. In every branch of +history much credit is attached to the accounts of contemporary writers, +particularly if they were acquaintances or friends of the persons of +whom they wrote; and Pascoli has this advantage; for, in addition to +information from their own mouths, he derived materials from their +surviving friends, nor spared any pains to arrive at the truth, (<i>see +Vita del Cozza</i>). The judgment, therefore, which he passes on each +artist, is not wholly to be despised, since he formed it on those of the +various professors then living in Rome, as <ins title="'Winckelman' in +the original">Winckelmann</ins> has observed (tom. i. p. 450); and, if +these persons, as it is pretended, have erred in their judgment on the +Greek sculptors, they have certainly not erred in their estimate of +modern painters, particularly Luti, to whom I imagine Pascoli, from +esteem and intimacy, deferred more than to any other artist.</p> + +<p>We have from Bellori other lives, written with <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_007" id="Page_007">[Pg 7]</a></span>more +learning and criticism, some of which are supposed to be lost. He had +originally applied himself to painting, but deserted that art, as we may +conjecture from Pascoli (<i>vita del Canini</i>), and attached himself +to poetry, and the study of antiquities: and his skill in both arts +manifests itself in the lives he has left, which are few, but +interspersed with interesting and minute particulars of the characters +of the painters and their works. In his plan, he informs us he has +followed the advice of Niccolo Poussin. He composed also a "Description +of the figures painted by Raffaello, in the churches of the Vatican;" a +tract which contains some severe reflections on Vasari,<a +name="fnanchor_2" id="fnanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[2]</sup></a> but is nevertheless highly +useful. We also find a profusion of entertaining anecdotes in Taja, in +his "Description of the Vatican;" and in Titi, in his account of the +pictures, sculpture, and architecture of Rome. This work has recently +been republished, with additions; and we shall occasionally quote it +under the name of the <i>Guide</i>. Pesaro is indebted for a similar +<i>Guide</i> to Signor Becci, and Ascoli and Perugia to Signor +Baldassare Orsini, a celebrated architect. We have also the <i>Lettere +Perugine</i> of Sig. Dottore Annibale Mariotti, which treat of the early +painters of Perugia, with a store of information and critical acumen +that render them highly valuable. To these may also be added, the +<i>Risposta</i> of the above named Sig. Orsini, whom I regret to <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_008" id="Page_008">[Pg 8]</a></span>see +entering on Etruscan ground, as he there repeats many ancient errors, +which have been long exploded by common consent: in other points it is a +treatise worth perusal. If we turn to <i>Descriptions</i>, we have them +of several periods, as that of the Basilica Loretana, and that of +Assisi, composed by P. Angeli; and the account of the Duomo of Orvieto, +written by P. della Valle; and the works on the churches of S. Francesco +di Perugia, and S. Pietro di Fano, by anonymous writers. The Abbate +Colucci has favoured us with recent notices on various artists of Piceno +and Umbria, and Urbino, in his <i>Antichità Picene</i>, extended, as far +as my observation goes, to tom. <span class="smcap">xxxi</span>.<a +name="fnanchor_3" id="fnanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[3]</sup></a> + +The learned authors whom I have named, and others to whom I shall +occasionally refer, have furnished the chief materials of my present +treatise, although I have myself collected a considerable part from +artists and lovers of art, either in conversation, or in my +correspondence. Thus far in the way of introduction.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_1">[1]</a> +Bellori, Vite de' Pittori, p. 191. "The Roman School, of which Raffaello +and Michel Angiolo were the great masters, derived its principles from +the study of the statues and works of the ancients."</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_2">[2]</a> +Lett. Pittor. tom. ii. p. 323; and Dialoghi sopra le tre Arti del +Disegno. In Lucca, 1754.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_3">[3]</a> +This work contains contributions from various quarters. I have not, +however, made an equal use of all; as I believe some pictures to be +copies, which are there referred to as originals; and as several names +there mentioned, may with propriety be omitted. In my references, I +shall often cite the collections; sometimes also the authors of some +more considerable treatises, as P. Civalli, Terzi, Sig. Agostino Rossi, +Sig. Arciprete Lazzari, respecting whom I must refer to the second +index, where will be found the titles of their respective works.</p> + +<p class="p4"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_009" id="Page_009">[Pg +9]</a></span></p> + +<h4>ROMAN SCHOOL</h4> + +<h4>EPOCH I.</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><i>Early Artists.</i></div> + +<p class="p2">If we turn our eyes for a moment to that tract of country +which we have designated as falling within the limits of the Roman +School, amidst the claims of modern art, we shall occasionally meet with +both Greek and Latin pictures of the rude ages; from the first of which +we may conclude, that Greek artists formerly painted in this part of +Italy; and from the latter, that our own countrymen were emulous to +follow their example. One of these artists is said to have had the name +of Luca, and to him is ascribed the picture of the Virgin, at S. Maria +Maggiore, and many others in Italy, which are believed to be painted by +S. Luke the Evangelist. Who this Luca was, or whether one painter or +more of that name ever existed, we shall presently inquire. The +tradition was impugned by Manni,<a name="fnanchor_4" +id="fnanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[4]</sup></a> + +and after him by Piacenza, (tom. ii. p. 120,) and is now only preserved +among the vulgar, a numerous <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_010" +id="Page_010">[Pg 10]</a></span>class indeed, who shut their ears to +every rational criticism as an innovation on their faith. This vulgar +opinion is alike oppugned by the silence of the early artists, and the +well attested fact, that in the first ages of the church the Virgin was +not represented with the holy Infant in her arms;<a name="fnanchor_5" +id="fnanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[5]</sup></a> but had her hands extended in the +act of prayer. This is exemplified in the funeral vase of glass in the +Museo Trombelli at Bologna, with the inscription <span +class="smcap">maria</span>, and in many bassirilievi of christian +sarcophagi, where she is represented in a similar attitude. Rome +possesses several of these specimens, and several are to be found in +Velletri.<a name="fnanchor_6" id="fnanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[6]</sup></a> + +It is however a common opinion, that these pictures are by a painter of +the name of Luca. Lami refers to a legend of the 14th century of the +Madonna dell'Impruneta, where they are said to be the works of a +Florentine of the name of Luca, who for his many christian virtues +obtained the title of saint.<a name="fnanchor_7" id="fnanchor_7"></a><a +href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor"><sup>[7]</sup></a> They are not +however all in the same style, and some of them bear Greek inscriptions, +whence we may conclude that they are by <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_011" id="Page_011">[Pg 11]</a></span>various hands; although +they all appear to be painted in or about the 12th century. This +tradition was not confined to Italy alone, but found its way also into +many of the eastern churches. The author of the <i>Anecdotes des Beaux +Arts</i>, relates that the memory of a Luca, a hermit, who had painted +many rude portraits of the Virgin, was held in great veneration in +Greece; and that through a popular superstition he had succeeded to the +title of S. Luke the Evangelist. Tournefort (<i>Voyage, &c.</i>) +mentions an image of the Virgin at Mount Lebanon, attributed by the +vulgar to S. Luke; but which was doubtless also the work of some Luke, a +monk in one of the early ages.</p> + +<p>More considerable remains both of the Greek and Italian artists of +the 13th century are to be found in Assisi, as related in my first book; +and to those already mentioned as painted on the walls, may be added +others on panel, and all by unknown artists; particularly a crucifixion +in S. Chiara, of which there is a tradition, that it was painted before +Giunta appeared. Another picture anterior to this period, and bearing +the date of 1219, is to be seen at Subiaco; it is a consecration of a +church, and the painter informs us that <i>Conciolus pinxit</i>. If in +addition to these artists we inquire after the miniature painters, we +may find specimens of them in abundance, in the library of the Vatican, +and other collections in Rome. I shall name S. Agostino, in the public +library of Perugia, where the Redeemer is seen in the midst of saints, +and the opening of Genesis is painted in miniature; <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_012" id="Page_012">[Pg 12]</a></span>a +design which, from the angular folds of the drapery, partakes of the +Greek style, but still serves to prove this art to have been known at +that time in Umbria. In addition to what I have remarked, I may also +observe, that in Perugia, in the course of the same century, the artists +were sufficiently numerous to form an academy, as we may collect from +the <i>Lettere Perugine</i>, and these, when we consider the time, must +have been in great part miniature painters.</p> + +<p>It is now time to notice Oderigi of Gubbio, a town very near to +Perugia. Vasari tells us that he was a man of celebrity, and a friend of +Giotto, in Rome; and Dante, in his second <i>Cantica</i>, calls him an +honour to Agobbio, and excelling in the art of miniature. These are the +only authorities that Baldinucci could have for transferring this +ancient artist to the school of Cimabue, and ingrafting him in his usual +manner on that stock. Upon these he founded his conjecture; and, +according to his custom, gave them more weight than they deserved. His +opinion, however amplified, reduces itself to the assumption that +Giotto, Oderigi, and Dante, were lovers of art, and common friends, and +became therefore acquainted in the school of Cimabue; a very uncertain +conclusion. We shall consider this subject more maturely in the school +of Bologna, since Oderigi lived there, and instructed Franco, from whom +Bologna dates the series of her painters. It is thought, too, that he +left some scholars in his native place, and not long after him, in 1321, +we find Cecco, and Puccio da <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_013" +id="Page_013">[Pg 13]</a></span>Gubbio, engaged as painters of the +Cathedral of Orvieto; and about the year 1342, Guido Palmerucci of the +same place, employed in the palace of his native city. There remains a +work of his in fresco in the hall, much injured by time; but some +figures of saints are still preserved, which do not yield to the best +style of Giotto. Some other vestiges of very ancient paintings are to be +seen in the Confraternita de' Bianchi; in whose archives it is mentioned +that the picture of S. Biagio was repaired by Donato, in 1374; whence it +must necessarily be of a very early period. This and other interesting +information I obtained from Sig. Sebastiano Rangliasci, a noble +inhabitant of Gubbio, who has formed a catalogue of the artists of his +native city, inserted in the fourth volume of the last edition of +Vasari.</p> + +<p>We are now arrived at the age of Giotto, and the first who presents +himself to us is Pietro Cavallini, who was instructed by Giotto, in +Rome,<a name="fnanchor_8" id="fnanchor_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[8]</sup></a> in the arts of painting and mosaic, +both of which he followed with skill and intelligence. The Roman Guide +makes mention of him, and that of Florence refers to a Nunziata at S. +Mark; and there are others mentioned by Vasari as being in <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_014" id="Page_014">[Pg 14]</a></span>the +chapels of that city; one of which is in the Loggia del Grano. The most +remarkable of his works is to be seen in Assisi. It is a fresco, and +occupies a large façade in one division of the church. It represents the +crucifixion of our Saviour, surrounded by bands of soldiers, foot and +horse, and a numerous crowd of spectators, all varying in their dress +and the expression of their passions. In the sky is a band of angels, +whose sympathizing sorrow is vividly depicted. In extent and spirit of +design it partakes of the style of Memmi, and in one of the sufferers on +the cross he has shewn that he justly appreciated and successfully +followed his guide. The colours are well preserved, particularly the +blue, which there, and in other parts of the church, presents to our +admiring gaze, to use the language of our poets, a heaven of oriental +sapphire.</p> + +<p>Vasari does not appear to have been acquainted with any scholar of +Pietro Cavallini, except it be Giovanni da Pistoja; but Pietro, who +lived in Rome the greater part of his life, which was extended to a +period of eighty-five years, must have contributed his aid in no small +degree to the advancement of art, in the capital, as well as in other +places. However this may be, in that part of Italy, pictures of his +school are still found; or at least memorials of art of the age in which +he flourished. We have an Andrea of Velletri, of whom a specimen is +preserved in the select collection of the Museo Borgia, with the Virgin +surrounded by saints, a common subject at that period in the <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_015" id="Page_015">[Pg +15]</a></span>churches, as I have before observed. It has the name of +the painter, with the year 1334, and in execution approaches nearer to +the school of Siena than any other. In the year 1321 we find Ugolino +Orvietano, Gio. Bonini di Assisi, Lello Perugino, and F. Giacomo da +Camerino, noticed by us in another place, all employed in painting in +the Cathedral of Orvieto. Mariotti, in his letters, mentions other +artists of Perugia, and the memory of a very early painter of Fabriano +is preserved by Ascevolini, the historian of that city, who informs us, +that in the country church of S. Maria Maddalena, in his time, there was +a picture in fresco, by Bocco, executed in 1306. A Francesco Tio da +Fabriano, who in 1318 painted the tribune of the Conventuals at +Mondaino, is mentioned by Colucci, (tom. xxv. p. 183). This work has +perished; but the productions of a successor of his at Fabriano are to +be seen in the oratory of S. Antonio Abate, the walls of which remain. +Many histories of the saint are there to be found, divided into +pictures, in the early style, and inscribed, <i>Allegrettus Nutii de +Fabriano hoc opus fecit 136</i>.... The art in these parts was not a +little advanced by their proximity to Assisi, where Giotto's scholars +were employed after his death, particularly Puccio Capanna of Florence. +This artist, who is esteemed one of the most successful followers of +Giotto, after painting in Florence, in <ins title="'Pistoia' in +original; changed for consistency with remaining text.">Pistoja</ins>, +Rimino, and Bologna, is conjectured by Vasari to have settled in Assisi, +where he left many works behind him.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_016" id="Page_016">[Pg +16]</a></span>We shall find the succeeding century more fruitful in art, +as the Popes at that time forsook Avignon, and, re-establishing +themselves in Rome, began to decorate the palace of the Vatican, and to +employ painters of celebrity both there and in the churches. There does +not appear any person of distinction amongst them as a native of Rome. +From the Roman State we find Gentile da Fabriano, Piero della Francesca, +Bonfigli, Vannucci, and Melozzo, who first practised the art of <i>sotto +in su</i>; and amongst the strangers are Pisanello, Masaccio, Beato +Angelico, Botticelli and his colleagues. Amongst these too, it is said, +was to be found Mantegna, and there still remains the chapel painted by +him for Innocent VIII. although since converted to another purpose. Each +of these artists I shall notice in their respective schools, and shall +here only mention such as were found in the country from the Ufente to +the Tronto, and from thence to the Metauro, which are the confines of +our present class. The names of many others may be collected from books; +as an Andrea, and a Bartolommeo, both of Orvieto, and a Mariotto da +Viterbo, and others who worked at Orvieto from 1405 to 1457; and some +who painted in Rome itself, a Giovenale and a Salli di Celano, and +others now forgotten. But without pausing on these, we will advert to +the artists of Piceno, of the State of Urbino, and the remaining parts +of Umbria: where we shall meet with the traces of schools which remained +for many years.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_017" id="Page_017">[Pg +17]</a></span>The school of Fabriano, which seems very ancient in +Picenum, produced at that time Gentile, one of the first painters of his +age, of whom Bonarruoti is reported to have said, that his style was in +unison with his name. The first notice we have of him is among the +painters of the church of Orvieto, in 1417; and then, or soon +afterwards, he received from the historians of that period the +appellation of <i>magister magistrorum</i>, and they mention the Madonna +which he there painted, and which still remains. He afterwards resided +in Venice, where, after ornamenting the Palazzo Publico, he was rewarded +by the republic with a salary, and with the privilege of wearing the +patrician dress of that city. He there, says Vasari, became the master, +and, in a manner, the father of Jacopo Bellini, the father and preceptor +of two of the ornaments of the Venetian school. These were Gentile, who +assumed that name in memory of Gentile da Fabriano, born in 1421; and +Giovanni, who surpassed his brother in reputation, and from whose school +arose Giorgione and Titian. He (Gentile da Fabriano) was employed in the +Lateran, at Rome, where he rivalled Pisanello, in the time of Martin V.; +and it is to be regretted that his works, both there and in Venice, have +perished. Facio, who eulogizes him, and who had seen his most finished +performances, extols him as a man of universal art, who represented, not +only the human form and edifices in the most correct manner, but painted +also the stormy appearances of nature in a style that <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_018" id="Page_018">[Pg +18]</a></span>struck terror into the spectator. In painting the history +of St. John, in the Lateran, and the Five Prophets over it, of the +colour of marble, he is said to have used more than common care, as if +he at that time prognosticated his own approaching death, which soon +afterwards occurred, and the work remained unfinished. Notwithstanding +this, Ruggier da Bruggia, as Facio relates, when he went to Rome, in the +holy year, and saw it, considered it a stupendous work, which placed +Gentile at the head of all the painters of Italy. According to Vasari +and Borghini, he executed a countless number of works in the Marca, and +in the state of Urbino, and particularly in Gubbio, and in Città di +Castello, which are in the neighbourhood of his native place; and there +still remain in those districts, and in Perugia, some paintings in his +style. A remarkable one is mentioned in a country church called la +Romita, near Fabriano.<a name="fnanchor_9" id="fnanchor_9"></a><a +href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor"><sup>[9]</sup></a> + +Florence possesses two beautiful specimens: the one in S. Niccolo, with +the effigy and history of the sainted bishop, the other in the sacristy +of S. Trinità, with an Epiphany, having the date of 1423. They bear a +near resemblance to the style of B. Angelico, except that the +proportions of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_019" +id="Page_019">[Pg 19]</a></span>the figures are not so correct, the +conception is less just, and the fringe of gold and brocades more +frequent. Vasari pronounces him a pupil of Beato, and Baldinucci +confirms this opinion, although he says that Beato took religious orders +at an early age in 1407, a period which would exclude Gentile from his +tuition. I conjecture both the one and the other to have been scholars +of miniature painters, from the fineness of their execution, and from +the size of their works, which are generally on a small scale. The name +of an Antonio da Fabriano appears in a Crucifixion, in 1454, painted on +wood, which I saw in Matelica, in the possession of the Signori +Piersanti; but it is inferior to Gentile in style.<a name="fnanchor_10" +id="fnanchor_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[10]</sup></a></p> + +<p>On an ancient picture, which is preserved in Perugia, in the convent +of S. Domenico, is the name of a painter of Camerino, a place in the +same neighbourhood, who flourished in 1447. The inscription is <i>Opus +Johannis Bochatis de Chamereno</i>. In the same district is S. Severino, +where we find a Lorenzo, who, in conjunction with his brother, painted +in the oratory of S. John the Baptist in Urbino, the life of that saint. +These two artists were much behind their age. I have seen some other +works by them, from which it appears that they were living in 1470, and +painted in the Florentine <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_020" +id="Page_020">[Pg 20]</a></span>style of 1400. Other artists of the same +province are named in the <i>Storia del Piceno</i>, particularly at S. +Ginesio, a Fabio di Gentile di Andrea, a Domenico Balestrieri, and a +Stefano Folchetti, whose works are cited, with the date of their +execution attached to them.<a name="fnanchor_11" id="fnanchor_11"></a><a +href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor"><sup>[11]</sup></a> In this +district also resided several strangers, scarcely known to their native +places, as Francesco d'Imola, a scholar of Francia, who, in the convent +of Cingoli, painted a Descent from the Cross; and Carlo Crivelli, a +Venetian, who passed from one state to another, and finally settled in +Ascoli. His works are to be met with there more frequently than in any +other city of Picenum. I shall speak of his merits in the Venetian +school, and shall here only add, that he had for a pupil Pietro +Alamanni, the chief of the painters of Ascoli, a respectable +<i>quattrocentista</i>, who painted an altarpiece at S. Maria della +Carità, in 1489. About this time also we find amongst their names a +Vittorio Crivelli, a Venetian, of the family, as I conjecture, and +perhaps of the school of Carlo. There is frequent mention of him in the +<i>Antichità Picene</i>.</p> + +<p>Urbino, too, had her artists, as her princes were not behind the +other rulers of Italy in good taste. At the restoration of the art, we +find Giotto, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_021" id="Page_021">[Pg +21]</a></span>and several of his scholars, there; and afterwards Gentile +da Fabriano,<a name="fnanchor_12" id="fnanchor_12"></a><a +href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor"><sup>[12]</sup></a> a Galeazzo, +and, possibly, a Gentile di Urbino. At Pesaro, in the convent of S. +Agostino, I have seen a Madonna, accompanied with beautiful +architecture, and an inscription—<i>Bartholomaeus Magistri +Gentilis de Urbino</i>, 1497; and at Monte Cicardo, I saw the same name +on an ancient picture of 1508, but without his birthplace. (Ant. Pic. +tom. xvii. 145.) I am in doubt whether this <i>M. Gentilis</i> refers to +the father of Bartolommeo or his master, as the scholars at that time +often took their designation from their masters. At all events, this +artist is not to be confounded with Bartolommeo from Ferrara, whose son, +Benedetto, subscribes himself <i>Benedictus quondam Bartholomaei de Fer. +Pictor.</i> 1492. This is to be seen in the church of S. Domenico di +Urbino, on the altarpiece in the Chapel of the Muccioli, their +descendants.</p> + +<p>In the city of Urbino there remain some works of the father of +Raffaello, who, in a letter of the Duchess Giovanna della Rovere, which +is the first of the Lettere Pittoriche, is designated as <i>molto +virtuoso</i>. There is by him in the church of S. Francis, a good +picture of S. Sebastian, with figures in an attitude of supplication. +There is one attributed also to him in a small church dedicated to the +same saint, representing his martyrdom, with a figure foreshortened, +which Raffaello, when <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_022" +id="Page_022">[Pg 22]</a></span>young, imitated in a picture of the +Virgin, at Città di Castello. He subscribed himself <i>Io. Sanctis +Urbi.</i> (<i>Urbinas</i>). So I read it in the sacristy of the +Conventuals of Sinigaglia in an Annunciation in which there is a +beautiful angel, and an infant Christ descending from the father; and +which seems to be copied from those of Pietro Perugino, with whom +Raffaello worked some time, though it has a still more ancient style. +The other figures are less beautiful, but yet graceful, and the +extremities are carefully executed. But the most distinguished painter +in Urbino was F. Bartolommeo Corradini d'Urbino, a Domenican, called +Fra. Carnevale. To an accurate eye his pictures are defective in +perspective, and retain in the drapery the dryness of his age, but the +portraits are so strongly expressed that they seem to live and speak; +the architecture is beautiful, and the colours bright, and the air of +the heads at the same time noble and unaffected. It is known that +Bramante and Raffaello studied him, as there were not, at that time, any +better works in Urbino. In Gubbio, which formed a part of this dukedom, +were to be seen in that age the remains of the early school. There +exists a fresco by Ottaviano Martis in S. Maria Nuova, painted in 1403. +The Virgin is surrounded by a choir of angels, certainly too much +resembling each other, but in their forms and attitudes as graceful and +pleasing as any contemporary productions.</p> + +<p>Borgo S. Sepolcro, Foligno, and Perugia, present <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_023" id="Page_023">[Pg 23]</a></span>us +with artists of greater celebrity. Borgo was a part of Umbria subject to +the Holy See, and was, in 1440, pledged to the Florentines,<a +name="fnanchor_13" id="fnanchor_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[13]</sup></a> by Eugenius IV. at the time Piero +della Francesca, or Piero Borghese, one of the most memorable painters +of this age, was at the summit of his reputation. He must have been born +about 1398, since Vasari states that "he painted about the year 1458,"<a +name="fnanchor_14" id="fnanchor_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[14]</sup></a> and that he became blind at sixty +years of age, and remained so until his death, in his eighty-sixth year. +From his fifteenth year he applied himself to painting, at which age he +had made himself master of the principles of mathematics, and he rose to +great eminence both in art and science.<a name="fnanchor_15" +id="fnanchor_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[15]</sup></a> I have not <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_024" id="Page_024">[Pg 24]</a></span>been able to ascertain +who was his master, but it is probable that as he was the son of a poor +widow, who had barely the means of bringing him up, he did not leave his +native place; and that under the guidance of obscure masters he raised +himself, by his own genius, to the high degree of fame which he enjoyed. +He first appeared, says Vasari, in the court of the elder Guidubaldo +Feltro, Duke of Urbino, where he left only some pictures of figures on a +small scale, which was the case with such as were not the pupils of the +great masters. He was celebrated for a remarkable drawing of a Vase, so +ingeniously designed that the front, the back, the sides, the bottom, +and the mouth, were all shewn; the whole drawn with the greatest +correctness, and the circles gracefully foreshortened. The art of +perspective, the principles of which he was, as some affirm, the first +among the Italians to develope and to cultivate, was much indebted to +him;<a name="fnanchor_16" id="fnanchor_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[16]</sup></a> and painting, too, owed much to his +example in imitating the effects of light, in marking correctly the +muscles of the naked figure, in preparing models of clay for his +figures, and in the study of his drapery, the folds of which he fixed on +the model itself, and drew very accurately and <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_025" id="Page_025">[Pg 25]</a></span>minutely. On examining +the style of Bramante and his Milanese contemporaries, I have often +thought that they derived some light from Piero, for, as I have before +said, he painted in Urbino where Bramante studied, and afterwards +executed many works in Rome, where Bramantino came and was employed by +Nicholas V.</p> + +<p>In the Floreria of the Vatican is still to be seen a large fresco +painting, in which the above named pontiff is represented with cardinals +and prelates, and there is a degree of truth in the countenances highly +interesting. Taja does not assert that it is by Pietro, but says that it +is attributed to him.<a name="fnanchor_17" id="fnanchor_17"></a><a +href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor"><sup>[17]</sup></a> Those which are +pointed out in Arezzo doubtless belong to him, and the most remarkable +are the histories of the holy cross in the choir of the church of the +Conventuals, which shew that the art was already advanced beyond its +infancy; there is so much new in the Giotto manner of foreshortening, in +the relief, and in many difficulties of the art overcome in his works. +If he had possessed the grace of Masaccio he might with justice have +been placed at his side. At Città S. Sepolcro there still remain some +works attributed to him; <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_026" +id="Page_026">[Pg 26]</a></span>a S. Lodovico Vescovo, in the public +palace, at S. Chiara a picture of the Assumption, with the apostles in +the distance, and a choir of angels at the top, but in the foreground +are S. Francis, S. Jerome, and other figures, which injure the unity of +the composition. There are, however, still traces in them of the old +style; a poverty of design, a hardness in the foldings of the drapery, +feet which are well foreshortened, but too far apart. As to the rest, in +design, in the air, and in the colouring of the figures, it seems to be +a rude sketch of that style which was ameliorated by P. Perugino, and +perfected by Raffaello.</p> + +<p>In the latter part of this century there flourished several good +painters at Foligno, but it is not known from whom they derived their +instructions. In the twenty-fifth volume of the Antichità Picene we +read, that in the church of S. Francesco di Cagli there exists (I know +not whether it be now there) a most beautiful composition, painted in +1461, at the price of 115 ducats of gold, by M. Pietro di Mazzaforte and +M. Niccolo Deliberatore of Foligno. At S. Venanzio di Camerino is a +large altarpiece on a ground of gold, with Christ on the Cross, +surrounded by many Saints, with three small evangelical histories added +to it. The inscription is <i>Opus Nicolai Fulginatis</i>, 1480; it is in +the style of the last imitators of Giotto, and there is scarcely a doubt +that the artist studied at Florence. I believe him to be the same artist +as Niccolo Deliberatore, or di Liberatore; and <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_027" id="Page_027">[Pg 27]</a></span>different from <ins +title="'Niccolo' in the original">Niccolò</ins> Alunno, also of Foligno, +whom Vasari mentions as an excellent painter in the time of +Pinturicchio. He painted in distemper, as was common before Pietro +Perugino, but in tints that have survived uninjured to our own times. In +the distribution of his colours he was original; his heads possess +expression, though they are common, and sometimes heavy, when they +represent the vulgar. There is at S. Niccolò di Foligno a picture by +him, composed in the style of the fourteenth century, the Virgin +surrounded by saints, and underneath small histories of the Passion, +where the perspicuity is more to be praised than the disposition. In the +same style some of his pieces in Foligno are painted after 1500. Vasari +thinks they are all surpassed by his Pietà in a chapel of the Duomo, in +which are represented two angels, "whose grief is so vividly expressed, +that any other artist, however ambitious he might be, would find it +difficult to surpass it."</p> + +<p>Perugia, from whence the art derived no common lustre, abounded in +painters beyond any other city. The celebrated Mariotti formed a long +catalogue of the painters of the fourteenth century, and among the most +conspicuous are Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, and Bartolommeo Caporali, of whom +we have pictures of the date of 1487. Some strangers were also to be +found amongst them, as that Lello da Velletri, the author of an +altarpiece, and its lower compartments, noticed by Signor Orsini. +Benedetto Bonfigli was distinguished <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_028" id="Page_028">[Pg 28]</a></span>above all others, and +was the most eminent artist of Perugia in his day. I have seen by him, +besides the picture in fresco in the Palazzo Publico, mentioned by +Vasari, a picture of the Magi, in S. Domenico, in a style similar to +Gentile, and with a large proportion of gold; and another in a more +modern style, an Annunciation, in the church of the Orfanelli. The angel +in it is most beautiful, and the whole picture would bear comparison +with the works of the best artists of this period, if the drawing were +more correct.<a name="fnanchor_18" id="fnanchor_18"></a><a +href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor"><sup>[18]</sup></a></p> + +<p>What I have already adduced sufficiently proves that the art was not +neglected in the Papal States, even in the ruder ages; and that men of +genius from time to time appeared there, who, without leaving their +native places, still gave an impulse to art. Florence, however, has ever +been the great capital of design, the leading academy, and the Athens of +Italy. It would be idle to question her indisputable claim to this high +honour; and Sixtus IV., who, as we have before mentioned, sought through +all Italy for artists to ornament the Sistine chapel, procured the +greatest number from Tuscany; nor <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_029" id="Page_029">[Pg 29]</a></span>were there to be found +amongst them any who were his own subjects, except Pietro Perugino, and +he too had risen to notice and celebrity in Florence. These then are the +first mature fruits of the Roman school, for until this period they had +been crude and tasteless. Pietro is her Masaccio, her Ghirlandajo, her +all. We will here take a short view of him and his scholars, reserving, +however, the divine Raffaello to the next epoch, which indeed is +designated by his illustrious name.</p> + +<p>Pietro Vannucci della Pieve,<a name="fnanchor_19" +id="fnanchor_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[19]</sup></a> as he calls himself in some +pictures, or of Perugia in others, from the citizenship which he there +enjoyed, had studied under a master of no great celebrity, if we are to +believe Vasari; and this was a Pietro da Perugia, as Bottari +conjectured, or Niccolò Alunno, as it was reported in Foligno. Mariotti +pretends that Pietro advanced himself greatly in Perugia in the schools +of Bonfigli, and Pietro della Francesca, from which he not only derived +that excellence in perspective, which, from the testimony of Vasari was +so much admired in Florence, but also much of his design and +colouring.<a name="fnanchor_20" id="fnanchor_20"></a><a +href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor"><sup>[20]</sup></a> Mariotti <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_030" id="Page_030">[Pg 30]</a></span>then +raises a doubt whether, when he went as an artist to Florence, he became +the scholar of Verrocchio, as writers report, or whether he did not +rather perfect himself from the great examples of Masaccio, and the +excellent painters who at that time flourished there; and he finally +determines in favour of the opinion held by Pascoli, Bottari, and Taja, +and adopted by Padre Resta, in his <i>Galleria Portatile</i>, p. 10, +that Verrocchio was never his master. It is well worth while to read the +disquisitions of this able writer in his fifth letter, where we may +admire the dexterity with which he settles a point so perplexed and so +interesting to the history of art. I will only add that it appears to me +not improbable, that Pietro, when he arrived at Florence, attached +himself to this most celebrated artist, and was instructed by him in +design, and in the plastic art particularly, and in that fine style of +painting with which Verrocchio, without much practising it himself, +imbued both Vinci and Credi. Traditions are seldom wholly groundless; +they have generally some foundation in truth.</p> + +<p>The manner of Pietro is somewhat hard and dry, like that of other +painters of his time; and he occasionally exhibits a poverty in the +drapery of his figures; his garments and mantles being curtailed and +confined. But he atones for these faults by the grace of his heads, +particularly in his boys <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_031" +id="Page_031">[Pg 31]</a></span>and in his women; which have an air of +elegance and a charm of colour unknown to his contemporaries. It is +delightful to behold in his pictures, and in his frescos which remain in +Perugia and Rome, the bright azure ground which affords such high relief +to his figures; the green, purple, and violet tints so chastely +harmonized, the beautiful and well drawn landscape and edifices, which, +as Vasari says, was a thing until that time never seen in Florence. In +his altarpieces he is not sufficiently varied. There is a remarkable +painting executed for the church of S. Simone, at Perugia, of a Holy +Family, one of the first specimens of a well designed and well composed +altarpiece. In other respects Pietro did not make any great advances in +invention; his Crucifixions and his Descents from the Cross are +numerous, and of an uniform character. He has thus represented, with +little variation, the Ascensions of our Lord and of the Virgin, in +Bologna, in Florence, Perugia, and Città di S. Sepolcro. He was +reproached with this circumstance in his lifetime, and defended himself +by saying that no one had a right to complain, as the designs were all +his own. There is also another defence, which is, that compositions, +really beautiful, are still seen with delight when repeated in different +places; whoever sees in the Sistine his S. Peter invested with the keys, +will not be displeased at finding at Perugia the same landscape, in a +picture of the Marriage of the Virgin. On the contrary, this picture is +one of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_032" id="Page_032">[Pg +32]</a></span>finest objects that noble city affords; and may be +considered as containing an epitome of the various styles of Pietro. In +the opinion of some persons, his frescos exhibit a more fertile +invention, and greater delicacy and harmony of colour. Of these, his +masterpiece is in his native city, in the Sala del Cambio. It is an +evangelical subject, with saints from the Old Testament, and with his +own portrait, to which his grateful fellow citizens attached an elegant +eulogy. He is most eminent, and adopts a sort of Raffaellesque style, in +some of his latter pictures. I have observed it in a Holy Family, in the +Carmine in Perugia. The same may be said too of certain small pictures, +almost of a miniature class; as in the grado of S. Peter, in Perugia, +than which nothing can be more finished and beautiful; and in many other +pieces in which he has spared no pains,<a name="fnanchor_21" +id="fnanchor_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[21]</sup></a> but which are few in comparison to +the multitude by his scholars, attributed to him.</p> + +<p>In treating of the school of Pietro Perugino, it is necessary to +advert to what Taja,<a name="fnanchor_22" id="fnanchor_22"></a><a +href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor"><sup>[22]</sup></a> and after him +the author of the <i>Lettere Perugine</i>, notices respecting his +scholars, "that they were most <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_033" +id="Page_033">[Pg 33]</a></span>scrupulous in adhering to the manner of +their master, and as they were very numerous, they have filled the world +with pictures, which both by painters and connoisseurs are very commonly +considered as his." When his works in Perugia are inspected, he +generally rises in the esteem of travellers, of whom many have only seen +paintings incorrectly ascribed to him. In Florence there are some of his +pictures in the Grand Duke's collection: and in the church of S. Chiara, +his beautiful Descent from the Cross, and some other works; but in +private collections both here and in other cities of Tuscany, many Holy +Families are assigned to him, which are most probably by Gerino da +Pistoja, or some of his Tuscan scholars, of whom there is a catalogue in +our first book. The Papal states also possessed many of his scholars, +who were of higher reputation, nor so wholly attached to his manner as +the strangers. Bernardino Pinturicchio, his scholar and assistant in +Perugia and in Rome, was a painter little valued by Vasari, who has not +allowed him his full share of merit. He has not the style of design of +his master, and retains more than consistent with his age, the ornaments +of gold in his drapery; but he is magnificent in his edifices, spirited +in his countenances, and extremely natural in every thing he introduces +into his composition. As he was on the most familiar footing with +Raffaello, with whom he painted at Siena, he has emulated his grace in +some of his figures, as in his picture of S. Lorenzo in the <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_034" id="Page_034">[Pg +34]</a></span>church of the Francescani di Spello, in which there is a +small S. John the Baptist, thought by some to be by Raphael himself. He +was very successful in arabesques and perspective; in which way he was +the first to represent cities in the ornaments of his fresco paintings, +as in an apartment of the Vatican, where in his landscapes he introduced +views of the principal cities of Italy. In many of his paintings he +retained the <ins title="'antient' in the original">ancient</ins> custom +of making part of his decorations of stucco, as the arches, a custom +which was observed in the Milanese school to the time of Gaudenzio. Rome +possesses some of his works, particularly in the Vatican, and in +Araceli. There is a good picture by him in the duomo of Spello.<a +name="fnanchor_23" id="fnanchor_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[23]</sup></a> His best is at Siena, in the +magnificent sacristy of which we have already made mention. They consist +of ten historical subjects, containing the most memorable passages in +the life of Pius II., and on the outside is an eleventh, which +represents the Coronation of Pius III., by whom this work was +ordered.</p> + +<p>Vasari has added to the life of Pinturicchio that of Girolamo Genga, +of Urbino, at first a scholar of Signorelli, afterwards of Perugino, and +who remained some time pursuing his studies in Florence. He was, for a +long period, in the service <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_035" +id="Page_035">[Pg 35]</a></span>of the Duke of Urbino, and attached +himself more to architecture than to painting, though, in the latter, he +was sufficiently distinguished to deserve a place in the history of art. +We cannot form a correct judgment of him, as a great part of his own +works have perished; and as he assisted Signorelli in Orvieto and other +places; and was assisted by Timoteo della Vite in Urbino, and in the +imperial palace of Pesaro by Raffaelle del Colle, and various others. In +the Petrucci palace at Siena, which now belongs to the noble family of +Savini, some historical pieces are ascribed to him near those of +Signorelli. They are described in the Lettere Senesi, and in the notes +published at Siena to the fourth volume of Vasari. These pieces are +praised as superior to those of Signorelli, and as in many parts +approaching the early style of Raffaello. Nor do I see how, in the above +mentioned letters, they could be supposed to be by Razzi, or Peruzzi, or +Pacchiarotto, "<i>in their hard dry manner</i>" when history assures us +that Girolamo was with Pandolfo a considerable time, which cannot be +asserted of the other three; and as it appears that Petrucci, to finish +the work of Signorelli, selected Genga from among his scholars. If we +deprive him of this work, which is the only one which can be called his +own, what can he have executed in all this time? In this house there is +no other picture that can be assigned to him, although Vasari asserts +that he there painted other rooms. A most beautiful picture by Genga, +and of the greatest rarity, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_036" +id="Page_036">[Pg 36]</a></span>is to be seen in S. Caterina da Siena in +Rome; the subject is the Resurrection of our Saviour.</p> + +<p>Of the other scholars of Perugino we have no distinct account; but we +find some notice of them in the life of their master. Giovanni +Spagnuolo, named Lo Spagna, was one of the many <i>oltramontani</i> whom +Perugino instructed. The greater part of these introduced his manner +into their own countries, but Giovanni established himself at Spoleti, +at which place, and in Assisi, he left his best works. In the opinion of +Vasari the colouring of Perugino survived in him more than in any of his +fellow scholars. In a chapel of the Angioli, below Assisi, there remains +the picture described by Vasari, in which are the portraits of the +brotherhood of S. Francis, who closed his days on this spot, and, +perhaps, no other pupil of this school has painted portraits with more +truth, if we except Raffaello himself, with whom no other painter is to +be compared.</p> + +<p>A more memorable person is Andrea Luigi di Assisi, a competitor of +Raffaello, although of more mature years, who, from his happy genius was +named L'Ingegno. He assisted Perugino in the Sala del Cambio, and in +other works of more consequence; and he may be said to be the first of +that school who began to enlarge the style, and soften the colouring. +This is observable in several of his works, and singularly so in the +sybils and prophets in fresco in the church of Assisi; if they are by +his hand, as is generally believed. It is <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_037" id="Page_037">[Pg 37]</a></span>impossible to behold his +pictures without a feeling of compassion, when we recollect that he was +visited with blindness at the most valuable period of his life. Domenico +di Paris Alfani also enlarged the manner of his master, and even more +than him Orazio his son, and not his brother, as has been imagined. This +artist bears a great resemblance to Raffaello. There are some of his +pictures in Perugia, which, if it were not for a more delicate +colouring, and something of the suavity of Baroccio, might be assigned +to the school of Raffaello; and there are pictures on which a question +arises whether they belong to that school or to Orazio; particularly +some Madonnas, which are preserved in various collections. I have seen +one in the possession of the accomplished Sig. Auditor Frigeri in +Perugia; and there is another in the ducal gallery in Florence. The +reputation of the younger Alfani has injured that of the other; and even +in Perugia some fine pieces were long considered to be by Orazio, which +have since been restored to Domenico. An account of these, and other +works of eminent artists, may be found in modern writers; and +particularly in Mariotti, who mentions the altarpiece of the +Crucifixion, between S. Apollonia and S. Jerome, at the church of the +Conventuals, a work by the two Alfanis, father and son. In commendation +of the latter he adds, that he was the chief of the academy for design, +which was founded in 1573, and which, after many honourable struggles, +has been revived in our own time.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_038" id="Page_038">[Pg +38]</a></span>There are other artists of less celebrity in Perugia, +though not omitted by Vasari. Eusebio da S. Giorgio painted in the +church of S. Francesco di Matelica, a picture with several saints, and +on the grado, part of the history of S. Anthony, with his name, and the +year 1512. We may recognize in it the drawing of Perugino, but the +colouring is feeble. His picture of the Magi at S. Agostino is better +coloured, and in this he followed Paris. The works of Giannicola da +Perugia, a good colourist, and therefore willingly received by Pietro to +assist him in his labours, however inferior to that artist in design and +perspective, are recognized in the Cappella del Cambio, which is near +the celebrated sala of Perugino, and was painted by him with the life of +John the Baptist. In the church of S. Thomas, is his picture of that +Apostle about to touch the wounds of our Saviour, and excepting a degree +of sameness in the heads, it possesses much of the character of +Perugino. Giambatista Caporali, erroneously called Benedetto by Vasari, +Baldinucci, and others, holds likewise a moderate rank in this school, +and is more celebrated among the architects. Giulio, his natural son, +afterwards legitimatized, also cultivated the same profession.</p> + +<p>The succeeding names belonging to this school are not mentioned by +Vasari; a circumstance which does not prove the impropriety of their +admission, as there are many deserving of notice. Mariotti, our guide in +the chronology of this age, and a correct judge of the conformity of +style, notices <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_039" +id="Page_039">[Pg 39]</a></span>Mariano di Ser Eusterio, whom Vasari +calls Mariano da Perugia (tom. iv. p. 162), referring to a picture in +the church of S. Agostino in Ancona, which is "not of much interest." In +opposition to this opinion of Vasari, however, Mariotti adduces another +picture, of a respectable class, by Mariano, to be found in S. Domenico +di Perugia; whence we may conclude that this painting is deserving of a +place in the history of art. He also mentions Berto di Giovanni, whom +Raffaello engaged as his assistant to paint a picture for the monks of +Monteluci (of which we shall speak in our notice of Penni) and who was +appointed in this contract by Raphael himself to paint the grado. This +grado is in the sacristy, and is so entirely in the manner of Raffaello, +in the history of the virgin which it represents, that we may conclude +either that Raffaello made the design, or that it was painted by one of +his school. If it was by Berto, it proves him to have been one of those +who exchanged the school of Perugino for that of Raffaello; and if he +did not paint it, he must always be held in consideration for the regard +he received from the master of the art. Of this artist more information +may be obtained from Bianconi, in the Antologia Romana, vol. iii. p. +121. Mariotti enumerates also Sinibaldo da Perugia, who must be esteemed +an excellent painter from his works in his native place, and more so +from those in the cathedral at Gubbio, where he painted a fine picture +in 1505, and a gonfalon still more beautiful, which would rank him <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_040" id="Page_040">[Pg 40]</a></span>among +the first artists of the ancient school. To the above painters Pascoli +adds a female artist of the name of Teodora Danti, who painted cabinet +pictures in the style of Perugino and his scholars.</p> + +<p>From tradition, as well as conjecture, we may notice in Città di +Castello a Francesco of that city, a scholar of Perugino, who, in an +altarpiece in the church of the Conventuals, left an Annunciation with a +fine landscape. He is named in the Guida di Roma, in the account of the +chapel of S. Bernardino in Ara Caeli, where he is supposed to have +worked with Pinturicchio and Signorelli. There is a conjecture, though +no decided proof, that a Giacomo di Guglielmo was a pupil of Pietro, +who, at Castel della Pieve, his native place, painted a gonfalon, +estimated by good judges in Perugia at sixty-five florins; and also a +Tiberio di Assisi, who, in many of the coloured lunettes in the convent +degli Angeli, containing the history of the Life of S. Francis, shews +clearly that Perugino was his prototype, though he had not talent enough +to imitate him. Besides Tiberio, some have assigned to the instructions +of Perugino, the most eminent painter of Assisi, Adone (or Dono) Doni, +not unknown to Vasari, who often mentions him, and particularly in his +life of Gherardi (vol. v. p. 142). He is there called of Ascoli, an +opinion which Bottari maintains against Orlandi, who, on the best +grounds, changed it to Assisi. In Ascoli he is not at all known, but he +is well known in Perugia by a large picture of the Last Judgment in the +church <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_041" id="Page_041">[Pg +41]</a></span>of S. Francis, and still better in Assisi, where he +painted in fresco, in the church of the Angeli, the life of the founder, +and of S. Stephen, and many other pieces, which, for a long period, +served as a school for youth. He had very little of the ancient manner; +the truth of his portraits is occasionally wonderful; his colouring is +that of the latest of the scholars of Perugino; and he appears to be an +artist of more correctness than spirit. I find also a Lattanzio della +Marca, of the school of Perugino, commemorated by Vasari in the above +mentioned life. He is thought to be the same as Lattanzio da Rimino, of +whom Ridolfi makes mention, among the scholars of Giovanni Bellino, as +painting a picture in Venice in rivalship with Conegliano.<a +name="fnanchor_24" id="fnanchor_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[24]</sup></a> We are enabled more correctly to +ascertain this from a document in the possession of Mariotti, of which +we shall shortly speak, from which we not only learn to a certainty his +native place, but further, that he was the son of Vincenzo Pagani, a +celebrated painter, as will hereafter be seen, and that both were living +in the year 1553. It appears, therefore, very probable that Lattanzio +was instructed by his father, and that we may doubt of his being under +Bellini, who died about 1516, or under Perugino, among whose disciples +he is not enumerated by the very accurate Mariotti. <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_042" id="Page_042">[Pg 42]</a></span>It +seems certain, that on the death of Vannucci he succeeded to his fame, +and obtained for himself some of the most important orders in Perugia, +as, for instance, the great work of painting the chambers in the castle. +He accomplished this task by the assistance of Raffaellino del Colle, +Gherardi, Doni, and Paperello. He there commenced the picture of S. +Maria del Popolo, and executed the lower part, where there is a great +number of persons in the attitude of prayer; a fine expression is +observable in the countenances, the figures are well disposed, the +landscape beautiful, and there is a strength and clearness in the +colouring, and a taste which, on the whole, is different from that of +Perugino. The upper part of the picture, which is by Gherardi, has not +an equal degree of force. Lattanzio finished his career by being sheriff +of his native city; and of this office, a more honourable distinction +than at the present day, it appears he took possession in the year 1553, +and at that time renounced the art. It is certain, that, in the before +mentioned paper, the Capitano Lattanzio di Vincenzo Pagani da Monte +Rubbiano acknowledges to have received six scudi of gold from Sforza +degli Oddi, as earnest money for a picture representing the Trinity, +with four saints; and engages that in the ensuing August it should be +executed by his father Vincenzo and Tommaso da Cortona, and this must be +the picture still existing in the chapel of the Oddi in S. Francesco, +since the figures particularized in the agreement <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_043" id="Page_043">[Pg 43]</a></span>are +found there; we shall have an opportunity of noticing it again.</p> + +<p>In the <i>Antichità Picene</i>, tom. xxi. p. 148, Ercole Ramazzani di +Roccacontrada is recorded as a scholar of Pietro Perugino, and for some +time of Raffaello. A picture of the circumcision, by him, is there +mentioned to be at Castel Planio, with his name and the date of 1588; +and in speaking of the artist it is added, that he possessed a beautiful +style of colour, a charming invention, and a manner approaching to +Barocci. I have never seen the above mentioned picture, nor the others +which he left in his native city, mentioned in the <i>Memorie</i> of +Abbondanziere: but only one by a Ramazzani di Roccacontrada, painted in +the church of S. Francesco, in Matelica, in 1573. Although I cannot +affirm to a certainty that this painter called himself Ercole, I still +suspect him to be the same. It represents the conception of the Virgin, +in which the idea of the subject is taken from Vasari, where Adam, and +others of the Old Testament, are seen bound to the tree of knowledge of +good and evil, as the heirs of sin, while the Virgin triumphs over them +in her exemption from the penalty of the first parents. Ramazzani has +adopted this design, which he had probably seen, but he has executed his +picture on a much larger scale, with better colouring, and much more +expression in the countenances. To conclude, we do not see a trace of +the manner of Perugino, and the period at which he lived seems too late +for him to have received instructions from <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_044" id="Page_044">[Pg 44]</a></span>that artist; and it is +most probable that he was taught by some of his latter scholars, in +whom, if I mistake not, that more fascinating than correct style of +colouring had its origin, before it was adopted by Barocci.</p> + +<p>I may further observe, that as Perugino was the most celebrated name +at the beginning of the sixteenth century, many other artists of the +Roman States, who studied the art about his time, are given to his +school without any sufficient authority; and particularly those who +retained a share of the old style. Such was a Palmerini of Urbino, a +contemporary of Raphael, and probably his fellow scholar in early life, +of whom there remains at S. Antonio, a picture of various saints, truly +beautiful, and approaching to a more modern style. In the same style I +found, in the Borghese Gallery at Rome, the Woman of Samaria at the +Well, painted by a Pietro Giulianello, or perhaps <i>da</i> Giulianello, +a little district not far from Rome; an artist deserving to be placed in +the first rank of <i>quattrocentisti</i>, although not mentioned by any +writer. There are besides, some pictures by Pietro Paolo Agabiti, who in +tom. xx. of the <i>Ant. Pic.</i> is said to be of Masaccio, where he +painted in 1531, and some time afterwards. But I have seen a work by him +in the church of S. Agostino in Sassoferrato, a series of small +histories, with an inscription in which he names Sassoferrato as his +native place, with the date of 1514; a date that will carry him from the +moderns to the better class <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_045" +id="Page_045">[Pg 45]</a></span>of the old school. Lorenzo Pittori da +Macerata painted in the church of the Virgin, highly esteemed for its +architecture, a picture of Christ in 1533, in a manner which has been +called <i>antico moderno</i>. Two artists, Bartolommeo, and Pompeo his +son, flourished in Fano, and painted in 1534 in conjunction, in the +church of S. Michele, the resurrection of Lazarus. It is wonderful to +observe how little they regarded the reform which the art had undergone. +These artists strictly followed the dry style of the quattrocentisti, +with a thorough contempt of the modern style. Nor was the son at all +modernized on leaving his father's studio. I found at S. Andrea di +Pesaro a picture by him of various saints, which might have done him +honour in the preceding age. Civalli mentions other works by him in a +better style: and he certainly in his lifetime enjoyed a degree of +reputation, and was one of the masters of Taddeo Zuccaro. There are a +number of painters of this class, of whom a long list might be compiled; +they are generally represented to be pupils of some well known master, +and in such cases Pietro Perugino is selected; though it would be more +candid to confess our ignorance on the subject.</p> + +<p>It would be improper to pass on to another epoch of art, without +adverting to the grotesque. This branch of the art is censured by +Vitruvius<a name="fnanchor_25" id="fnanchor_25"></a><a +href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor"><sup>[25]</sup></a> <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_046" id="Page_046">[Pg 46]</a></span>as a +creation of portentous monsters beyond the reign of nature, transferring +to canvas the dreams and ravings of a disordered fancy, as wild as the +waves of a convulsed sea, lashed into a thousand varying forms by the +fury of the tempest. This style took its name from the <i>grotte</i>, +for so those beautiful antique edifices may be called, where paintings +of this kind are found, covered with earth, and with buildings of a +later period. This style was revived in Rome, where a greater proportion +of these ancient specimens is found, and was restored at this epoch. +Vasari ascribes the revival of them to Morto da Feltro, and the +perfecting of the style to Giovanni da Udine. But he himself, +notwithstanding the little esteem he had for Pinturicchio, calls him the +friend of Morto da Feltro, and allows that he executed many works in the +same manner in Castel S. Angelo. Before him too Pietro his master had +painted some of the same kind in the Sala del Cambio, which Orsini says +are well conceived, and to him likewise a precedent had been afforded by +Benedetto Bonfigli, of whom Taja, in his description of the Vatican +palace, says, that he painted for Innocent VIII. in Rome some singularly +<ins title="'beautifully' in the original">beautiful</ins> grotesques. +This branch of art was afterwards cultivated in many of the schools of +Italy, particularly in that of Siena. Peruzzi approved <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_047" id="Page_047">[Pg 47]</a></span>of it +in architecture, and adopted it in his painting, and gave occasion to +Lomazzo to offer a defence of it, and precepts, as I before noticed, and +as may be seen in the sixth book of his Trattato della Pittura, chapter +forty-eight.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_4">[4]</a> +<i>Dell'errore, che persiste</i>, &c. see the second index. It was +opposed by Crespi, in his <i>Dissertazione Anticritica</i>, referred to +in the same index. It was also opposed by P. dell'Aquila, in the +<i>Dizionario portatile della Bibbia, tradotto dal francese</i>, in a +note of some length, on the article S. Luca.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_5">[5]</a> +See the <i>Opuscoli Calogeriani</i>, tom. xliii. where a learned +dissertation is inserted, which shews that this custom was introduced +about the middle of the fifth century, on occasion of the Council of +Ephesus.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_6">[6]</a> +Engraved by command of the learned Cardinal Borgia. The artists began +about the middle of the fifth century, to represent her with the Infant +in her arms. See <i>Opuscoli Calogeriani</i>, as above.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_7">[7]</a> +"The painter was a man of holy life, and a Florentine, whose name was +Luca, and who was honoured by the common people with the title of +saint." Lami, Deliciæ Eruditorum, tom. xv.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_8">[8]</a> +So says Vasari, who writes his life, but Padre della Valle thinks it +highly probable that he was the scholar of Cosimati, and not of Giotto; +as Cavallini was contemporary with Giotto. I agree that he was only a +very few years younger, and might have received some instructions in the +school of Cosimati: but who, except Giotto himself, could have taught +him that Giottesque and improved style scarcely inferior to Gaddi?</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_9">[9]</a> +In the archives of the Collegiate Church of S. Niccolo, in Fabriano, is +preserved a catalogue of the pictures of the city, which has been +communicated to me by Sig. Can. Claudio Serafini. This picture, which is +divided into five compartments, is there mentioned; and it is added, +that "many celebrated painters visited the place to view this excellent +work, and in particular, the illustrious Raffaello."</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_10">[10]</a> +In the archives before alluded to, are also mentioned two ancient +pictures of a Giuliano da Fabriano, the one in the church of the +Domenicans, the other in the Church of the Capuchins.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_11" id="Footnote_11"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_11">[11]</a> +Tom. xxiii. page 83, &c. By the first, is the ancient picture of S. +Maria della Consolazione in that church, erected in 1442. By the second, +are the pictures in the church of S. Rocco, painted about the year 1463. +The third artist painted a picture in the church of S. Liberato, in +1494.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_12" id="Footnote_12"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_12">[12]</a> +Galeazzo Sanzio and his sons will be noticed in the second epoch.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_13" id="Footnote_13"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_13">[13]</a> +See Vasari, Bologna edition, p. 260.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_14" id="Footnote_14"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_14">[14]</a> +The commentators of Vasari remark, that when he uses this phrase, he +refers to the year of the death of the artist, or to the period when he +relinquished his art. Pietro must therefore have become blind about the +year 1458, in the sixtieth year of his age, and must have died about +1484, aged eighty-six. This painter was intimately connected with the +family of Vasari. Lazaro the great-grandfather of Vasari, who died in +1452, was the friend and imitator of Pietro, and some time before his +death assigned him his nephew Signorelli as a scholar. We must, +therefore, give credit to Vasari's account of Borghese; for if we +discredit him on this occasion, as some have done, when are we to +believe him? It is true, indeed, that he is guilty of a strange +anachronism in mentioning Guidubaldo, the old Duke of Urbino, as his +first patron; but this kind of error is frequent in him, and not to be +regarded.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_15" id="Footnote_15"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_15">[15]</a> +"Fu eccellentissimo prospettivo, e il maggior geometra de' suoi tempi." +Romano Alberti, Trattato della nobiltà della pittura, p. 32. See also +Pascoli, Vite, tom. i. p. 90.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_16" id="Footnote_16"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_16">[16]</a> +It appears that in this art he was preceded by Van Eych of Flanders. See +tom. i. p. 81, &c.; and also the eulogium on him by Bartolommeo +Facio, p. 46, where he praises his skill in geometry, and refers to +several of his pictures, which prove him to have been highly +accomplished, and almost unrivalled in perspective.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_17" id="Footnote_17"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_17">[17]</a> +If there be any truth in Pietro having been blind for twenty-four years, +I do not know how he could have painted Sixtus IV. On the other hand +this tradition of his blindness comes from Vasari, whose family was so +intimately connected with that of Pietro della Francesca, that there was +less room for error in the life of that artist than in any other. This +excellent picture, of which I have seen a beautiful copy in the +possession of the Duke di Ceri, I should myself rather attribute to +Melozzo.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_18" id="Footnote_18"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_18">[18]</a> +He is favorably mentioned by Crispolti, in the <i>Perugia Augusta</i>; +by Ciatti, in the <i>Istorie di Perugia</i>; Alessi, in the <i>Elogi de' +Perugini illustri</i>; and by Pascoli, in the <i>Vite de' Pittori Sc. +Arch. Perugini</i>; with whom I can in no manner concur in opinion, that +"Benedetto was equal to the best artists of his time, and probably the +first among the early masters who contributed to the introduction of an +improved style," (p. 21). An assertion singularly unjust to +Masaccio.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_19" id="Footnote_19"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_19">[19]</a> +He subscribed himself <i>de Castro Plebis</i>, now <i>Città della +Pieve</i>. There, according to Pascoli, the father was born, who +afterwards removed to Perugia, where Pietro was born; but the greater +probability is, that Pietro also was born in Città della Pieve. +<i>Mariotti.</i></p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_20" id="Footnote_20"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_20">[20]</a> +This resemblance might have arisen from his imitation of the works of +Borghese, (Pietro della Francesca) which he saw in Perugia, as it most +assuredly cannot be proved that Perugino was ever in his school. P. +Valle and others express great doubts of it, and when I reflect that +Vannucci was only twelve years old when Borghese lost his sight, I +regard it as an absurd tradition.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_21" id="Footnote_21"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_21">[21]</a> +Vasari, at the close of his Life observes, "none of his scholars ever +equalled Pietro in application or in amenity of colour." Padre della +Valle asserts on the contrary, "that he was indebted for a great portion +of his celebrity to the talents displayed by his scholars;" and says +that he detected the touch of Raffaello in his picture in the Grand +Duke's collection; but we must have a stronger testimony before we +submit ourselves to this decision.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_22" id="Footnote_22"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_22">[22]</a> +Descrizione del Palazzo Vaticano, p. 36.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_23" id="Footnote_23"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_23">[23]</a> +Consisting of three subjects from the Life of Christ, in the Chapel of +the Holy Sacraments. The Annunciation, the Birth of Christ, and the +Dispute with the Doctors, the best of the three. In one of these he +introduced his own portrait. Vasari does not mention this fine +production.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_24" id="Footnote_24"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_24">[24]</a> +He probably came to Venice from Rimino, or resided there for some time. +We find other early painters assigned first to one country and then to +another, as Jacopo Davanzo, Pietro Vannucci, Lorenzo Lotto, &c.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_25" id="Footnote_25"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_25">[25]</a> +It is said that Mengs, who was desirous of being considered a +philosophical painter, coincided with Vitruvius in opinion. But this +opinion should be restricted to some indifferent specimens; for when he +afterwards saw them painted in the true style of the ancients, he +regarded them with extraordinary pleasure; as in Genoa, which possesses +some beautiful arabesques by Vaga. So the defender of Ratti assures +us.</p> + +<p class="p4"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_048" id="Page_048">[Pg +48]</a></span></p> + +<h4>ROMAN SCHOOL.</h4> + +<h4>EPOCH II.</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><i>Raffaello and his School.</i></div> + +<p class="p2">We are now arrived at the most brilliant period, not only +of the Roman School, but of modern painting itself. We have seen the art +carried to a high degree of perfection by Da Vinci and Bonarruoti, at +the beginning of the sixteenth century, and it is a remarkable fact that +the same period embraces not only Raphael, but also Coreggio, Giorgione, +and Titian, and the most celebrated Venetian painters: so that a man +enjoying the common term of life might have seen the works of all these +illustrious masters. The art in but a few years thus reached a height to +which it had never before attained, and which has never been rivalled, +except in the attempt to imitate these early masters, or to unite in one +style their varied and divided excellences. It seems indeed an ordinary +law of providence, that individuals of consummate genius should be born +and flourish at the same period, or at least at short intervals from +each other, a circumstance of which Velleius Paterculus, after a +diligent investigation, protested he could never discover the real +cause. I observe, he says, men <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_049" +id="Page_049">[Pg 49]</a></span>of the same commanding genius making +their appearance together, in the smallest possible space of time; as it +happens in the case of animals of different kinds, which, confined in a +close place, nevertheless each selects its own class, and those of a +kindred race separate themselves from the rest, and unite in the closest +manner. A single age was sufficient to illustrate Tragedy, in the +persons of Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides: ancient comedy under +Cratinus, Aristophanes, and Eumolpides; and in like manner the new +comedy under Menander, Diphilus, and Philemon. There appeared few +philosophers of note after the days of Plato and Aristotle, and whoever +has made himself acquainted with Isocrates and his school, is acquainted +with the summit of Grecian eloquence. The same remark applies also to +other countries. The great Roman writers are included under the single +age of Octavius: Leo X. was the Augustus of modern Italy; the reign of +Louis XIV. was the brilliant era of French letters, that of Charles II. +of the English.</p> + +<p>This rule applies equally to the fine arts. <i>Hoc idem</i>, proceeds +Velleius, <i>evenisse plastis, pictoribus, sculptoribus, quisquis +temporum institerit notis reperiet, et eminentiam cujusque operis +arctissimis temporum claustris circumdatam.</i><a name="fnanchor_26" +id="fnanchor_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[26]</sup></a> Of this union of men of genius in +the same age, <i>Causas</i>, he says, <i>quum semper requiro, numquam +invenio quas veras</i> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_050" +id="Page_050">[Pg 50]</a></span><i>confidam</i>. It seems to him +probable that when a man finds the first station in art occupied by +another, he considers it as a post that has been rightfully seized on, +and no longer aspires to the possession of it, but is humiliated, and +contented to follow at a distance. But this solution I confess does not +satisfy my mind. It may indeed account to us why no other Michelangiolo, +or Raffaello, has ever appeared; but it does not satisfy me why these +two, and the others before mentioned, should all have appeared together +in the same age. For myself, I am of opinion that the age is always +influenced by certain principles, universally adopted both by professors +of the art, and by amateurs: which principles happening at a particular +period to be the most just and accurate of their kind, produce in that +age some supereminent professors, and a number of good ones. These +principles change through the instability of all human affairs, and the +age partakes in the change. I may add, nevertheless, that these happy +periods never occur without the circumstance of a number of princes and +influential individuals rivalling each other in the encouragement of +works of taste; and amidst these there always arise some persons of +commanding genius, who give a bias and tone to art. The history of +sculpture in Athens, a city where munificence and taste went hand in +hand, favours my opinion, and it is further confirmed by this golden +period of Italian art. Nevertheless I do not pretend to give a verdict +on this important <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_051" +id="Page_051">[Pg 51]</a></span>question, but leave the decision of it +to a more competent tribunal.</p> + +<p>But although it be a matter of difficulty to account for this +developement and union of rare talent at one particular period, we may +however hope to trace the steps of a single individual to excellence; +and I would wish to do so of Raffaello. Nature and fortune seemed to +unite in lavishing their favours on this artist; the first in investing +him with the rarest gifts of genius, the other in adding to these a +singular combination of propitious circumstances. In order to illustrate +our inquiry it will be necessary to observe him from his earliest +years,<a name="fnanchor_27" id="fnanchor_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[27]</sup></a> and to note the progress of his +mind. He was born in Urbino in 1483; and if climate, as seems not +improbable, have any influence on the genius of an artist, I know not a +happier spot that could have been chosen for his birth, than that part +of Italy which gave to architecture a Bramante, supplied the art of +painting with a successor to Raffaello in Baroccio, and bestowed on +sculpture the plastic hand of a Brandani, without referring to many less +celebrated, but still deserving artists, who are the boast of Urbino and +her state. The father of this illustrious artist <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_052" id="Page_052">[Pg 52]</a></span>was +Giovanni di Santi,<a name="fnanchor_28" id="fnanchor_28"></a><a +href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor"><sup>[28]</sup></a> or as he has +been commonly called Giovanni Sanzio, an artist of moderate <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_053" id="Page_053">[Pg +53]</a></span>talents, and who could contribute but little to the +instruction of his son; although it was no small advantage to have been +initiated in a simple style, divested of mannerism. He made some further +progress from studying the works of F. Carnevale, an artist of great +merit, for the times in which he flourished; and being placed at +Perugia, under Pietro, he soon became master of his style, as Vasari +observes, and had then probably already formed the design of excelling +him. I was informed in Città di Castello, that at the age of seventeen +he painted the picture of S. Nicholas of Tolentino in the church of the +Eremitani. The style was that of Perugino, but the composition differed +from that of the age, being the throne of our Saviour surrounded by +saints. The Beato (beatified saint) is there represented, while the +Virgin and St. Augustine, concealed in part by a cloud, bind his temples +with a crown; there are two angels at the right hand, and two at the +left, graceful, and in different attitudes; with inscriptions variously +folded, on which are inscribed some words in praise of S. Eremitano. +Above is the Eternal Father surrounded by a majestic choir of angels. +The actors <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_054" id="Page_054">[Pg +54]</a></span>of the scene appear to be in a temple, the pillars of +which are ornamented in the minute and laboured style of Mantegna, and +the ancient manner is still perceptible in the folds of the drapery, +though there is an evident improvement in the design, as in the figure +of Satan, who lies under the feet of the saint. This figure is free from +the singular deformity with which the ancient painters represented him; +and has the genuine features of an Ethiopian. To this picture another of +this period may be added in the church of S. Domenico; a Crucifixion, +with two attendant angels; the one receives in a cup the sacred blood +which flows from the right hand, the other, in two cups, collects that +of the left hand and the side; the weeping mother and disciples +contribute their aid, while the Magdalen and an aged saint kneeling in +silence contemplate the solemn mystery; above is the Deity. These +figures might all pass for those of Pietro, except the Virgin, the +beauty of which he never equalled, unless perhaps in the latter part of +his life. Another specimen of this period is noticed by the Abate +Morcelli, (de Stylo Inscript. Latin, p. 476). He states, that in the +possession of Sig. Annibale Maggiori, a nobleman of Fermo, he saw the +picture of a Madonna, raising with both hands a veil of delicate texture +from the holy Infant, as he lies in a cradle asleep. Nigh at hand is S. +Joseph, whose eyes rest in contemplation on the happy scene, and on his +staff the same writer detected an inscription in extremely minute +characters, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_055" id="Page_055">[Pg +55]</a></span><span class="smcap">r. s. v. a. a. xvii. p.</span> +<i>Raphael Sanctius Urbinas an. ætatis 17 pinxit</i>. This must have +been the first attempt of the design which he perfected at a more mature +age, and which is in the Treasury of Loreto, where the holy Infant is +represented, not in the act of sleeping, but gracefully stretching out +his hand to the Virgin: of the same epoch I judge the <i>tondini</i> to +be, which I shall describe in the course of a few pages, when I refer to +the Madonna della Seggiola.</p> + +<p>Vasari informs us, that before executing these two pictures, he had +already painted in Perugia an Assumption in the church of the +Conventuals, with three subjects from the life of Christ in the grado; +which may however be doubted, as it is a more perfect work. This picture +possesses all the best parts of the style of Vannucci; but the varied +expressions which the apostles discover on finding the sepulchre void, +are beyond the reach of that artist's powers. Raffaello still further +excelled his master, as Vasari observes, in the third picture painted +for Città di Castello. This is the marriage of the Virgin, in the church +of S. Francesco. The composition very much resembles that which he +adopted in a picture of the same subject in Perugia; but there is +sufficient of modern art in it to indicate the commencement of a new +style. The two espoused have a degree of beauty which Raffaello scarcely +surpassed in his mature age, in any other countenances. The Virgin +particularly is a model of celestial beauty. A youthful band festively +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_056" id="Page_056">[Pg +56]</a></span>adorned accompany her to her espousals; splendour vies +with elegance; the attitudes are engaging, the veils variously arranged, +and there is a mixture of ancient and modern drapery, which at so early +a period cannot be considered as a fault. In the midst of these +accompaniments the principal figure triumphantly appears, not ornamented +by the hand of art, but distinguished by her native nobility, beauty, +modesty, and grace. The first sight of this performance strikes us with +astonishment, and we involuntarily exclaim, how divine and noble the +spirit that animates her heavenly form! The group of the men of the +party of S. Joseph are equally well conceived. In these figures we see +nothing of the stiffness of the drapery, the dryness of execution, and +the peculiar style of Pietro, which sometimes approaches to harshness: +all is action, and an animating spirit breathes in every gesture and in +every countenance. The landscapes are not represented with sterile and +impoverished trees, as in the backgrounds of Pietro; but are drawn from +nature, and finished with care. The round temple in the summit is +ornamented with columns, and executed, Vasari observes, with such +admirable art, that it is wonderful to observe the difficulties he has +willingly incurred. In the distance are beautiful groups, and there is a +figure of a poor man imploring charity depicted to the life, and, more +near, a youth, a figure which proves the artist to have been master of +the then novel art of foreshortening. I have purposely described <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_057" id="Page_057">[Pg 57]</a></span>these +specimens of the early years of Raphael, more particularly than any +other writer, in order to acquaint the reader with the rise of his +divine talents. In the labours of his more mature years, the various +masters whose works he studied may each claim his own; but in his first +flight he was exclusively supported by the vigour of his own talents. +The bent of his genius, which was not less voluptuous and graceful than +it was noble and elevated, led him to that ideal beauty, grace, and +expression, which is the most refined and difficult province of +painting. To insure success in this department neither study nor art is +sufficient. A natural taste for the beautiful, an intellectual faculty +of combining the several excellences of many individuals in one perfect +whole, a vivid apprehension, and a sort of fervour in seizing the sudden +and momentary expressions of passion, a facility of touch, obedient to +the conceptions of the imagination; these were the means which nature +alone could furnish, and these, as we have seen, he possessed from his +earliest years. Whoever ascribes the success of Raffaello to the effects +of study, and not to the felicity of his genius, does not justly +appreciate the gifts which were lavished on him by nature.<a +name="fnanchor_29" id="fnanchor_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[29]</sup></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_058" id="Page_058">[Pg +58]</a></span>He now became the admiration of his master and his fellow +scholars; and about the same time Pinturicchio, after having painted +with so much applause at Rome before Raffaello was born, aspired to +become, as it were, his scholar in the great work at Siena. He did not +himself possess a genius sufficiently elevated for the sublime +composition which the place required; nor had Pietro himself sufficient +fertility, or a conception of mind equal to so novel an undertaking. It +was intended to represent the life and actions of Æneas Silvius +Piccolomini, afterwards Pope Pius II.; the embassies entrusted to him by +the council of Constance to various princes; and by Felix, the antipope, +to Frederick III., who conferred on him the laurel crown; and also the +various embassies which he undertook for Frederick himself to Eugenius +IV., and afterwards to Callistus IV., who created him a Cardinal. His +subsequent exaltation to the Papacy, and the most remarkable events of +his reign, were also to be represented; the canonization of S. +Catherine; his attendance on the Council of Mantua, where he was +received in a princely manner by the Duke; and finally his death, and +the removal of his body from Ancona to Rome. Never perhaps was an +undertaking of such magnitude entrusted to a single master. The art +itself had not as yet attempted any great flight. The principal figures +in composition generally stood isolated, as Pietro exhibited them in +Perugia, without aiming at composition. In consequence <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_059" id="Page_059">[Pg 59]</a></span>of +this the proportions were seldom true, nor did the artists depart much +from sacred subjects, the frequent repetition of which had already +opened the way to plagiarism. Historical subjects of this nature were +new to Raffaello, and to him, unaccustomed to reside in a metropolis, it +must have been most difficult, in painting so many as eleven pictures, +to imitate the splendour of different courts, and as we may say, the +manners of all Europe, varying the composition agreeably to the +occasion. Nevertheless, being conducted by his friend to Siena, he made +the sketches and cartoons of <i>all</i> these subjects, says Vasari in +his life of Pinturicchio, and that he made the sketches of the whole is +the common report at Siena. In the life of Raffaello he states that he +made <i>some of the designs and cartoons for this work</i>, and that the +reason of his not continuing them, was his haste to proceed to Florence, +to see the cartoons of Da Vinci and Bonarruoti. But I am more inclined +to the first statement of Vasari, than the subsequent one. In April, +1503, Raffaello was employed in the Library, as is proved by the will of +Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini.<a name="fnanchor_30" +id="fnanchor_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[30]</sup></a> While the Library was yet +unfinished, Piccolomini was elected Pope on the twenty-first day of +September; and his coronation following on the eighth of October, +Pinturicchio commemorated the event on the outside of the Library, <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_060" id="Page_060">[Pg 60]</a></span>in +the part opposite to the duomo. Bottari remarks, that in this façade we +may detect not only the design, but in many of the heads the colouring +also of Raffaello. It appears probable therefore that he remained to +complete the work, the last subject of which might perhaps be finished +in the following year, 1504, in which he departed to Florence. We may +here observe, that this work, which has maintained its colours so well +that it almost appears of recent execution, confers great honour on a +young artist of twenty years of age; as we do not find a composition of +such magnitude, in the passage from ancient to modern art, conceived by +any single painter. So that if Raffaello stood not entirely alone in +this work, the best part of it must still be assigned to him, since +Pinturicchio himself was improving at this time, and the works which he +afterwards executed at Spello and Siena itself, incline more to the +modern than any he had before done. This will justify us in concluding +that Raffaello had already, at that early age, far outstripped his +master; his contour being more full, his composition more rich and free, +accompanied by an ornamental and grander style, and an ability +unlimited, and capable of embracing every subject that was presented to +him.</p> + +<p>The works which he saw in Florence did not lead him out of his own +path, as, to mention one instance, afterwards happened to Franco, who, +coming from Venice, applied himself to a style of design and a career +entirely new. Raffaello had formed <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_061" id="Page_061">[Pg 61]</a></span>his own system, and only +sought examples, to enlarge his ideas and facilitate his execution. He +therefore studied the works of Masaccio, an elegant and expressive +painter, whose Adam and Eve he afterwards adopted in the Vatican. He +also became acquainted with Fra Bartolommeo, who, about this time, had +returned to the exercise of his profession. To this artist he taught the +principles of perspective, and acquired from him, in return, a better +style of colouring. We have not any record to prove that he made himself +known to Da Vinci; and the portrait of Raffaello, in the ducal gallery +in Florence, which is said to be by Lionardo, is an unknown head. I +would willingly, however, flatter myself, that a congeniality of mind +and an affinity of genius, emulous in the pursuit of perfection, must +have produced a knowledge of each other, if it did not conciliate a +mutual attachment. No one certainly was more capable than Da Vinci, of +communicating to Raffaello a degree of refinement and knowledge, which +he could not have received from Pietro; and to introduce him into the +more subtle views of art. As to Michelangiolo, his pictures were rare, +and less analogous to the genius of Raffaello. His celebrated Cartoon +was not yet finished, in 1504, and that great master was jealous of its +being seen, before its entire completion. He finished it some few years +afterwards, when he returned to Florence on his flight from Rome, +occasioned by the anger of Julius II. Raffaello therefore could not have +had the opportunity of studying <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_062" +id="Page_062">[Pg 62]</a></span>it at that time, nor did he then long +remain in Florence, for, as Vasari states, he was soon obliged to return +to his native place, in consequence of the death of his parents.<a +name="fnanchor_31" id="fnanchor_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[31]</sup></a> In 1505 we find him in Perugia: and +to this year belongs the chapel of S. Severo, and the Crucifixion, which +was severed from the wall, and preserved by the Padri Camaldolensi. From +these works, which are all in fresco, we may ascertain the style which +he acquired in Florence; and I think we may assert, that it was not +anatomical, no traces of it being visible in the body of the Redeemer, +which was an opportunity well adapted for the exhibition of it. Nor was +it the study of the beautiful, of which he had previously exhibited such +delightful specimens; nor that of expression, as there were not to be +found in Florence, heads more expressive and lovely than those he had +painted. But after his visit to Florence, we find his colouring more +delicate, and his grouping and the foreshortening of his figures +improved; whether or not he owed it to the example <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_063" id="Page_063">[Pg 63]</a></span>of Da +Vinci or Bonarruoti, or both together, or to some of the older masters. +He afterwards repaired to Florence, but soon quitted it again, in order +to paint in the church of S. Francis, in Perugia, a dead Christ +entombed, the cartoon of which he had designed at Florence; and which +picture was first placed in the church of S. Francis, was afterwards, in +the pontificate of Paul V., transferred to Rome, and is now in the +Borghese palace. After this he returned again to Florence, and remained +there until his departure for Rome, at the end of the year 1508. In this +interval, more particularly, he executed the works which are said to be +in his second style, though it is a very delicate matter to attempt to +point them out. Vasari assigns to this period the Holy Family in the +Rinuccini gallery, and yet it bears the date of 1506. Of this second +style is undoubtedly the picture of the Madonna and the infant Christ +and S. John, in a beautiful landscape, with ruins in the distance, which +is in the gallery of the Grand Duke, and others, some of which are to be +found in foreign countries. His pictures of this period are composed in +the more usual style of a Madonna, accompanied by saints, like the +picture of the Pitti palace, formerly at Pescia, and that of S. Fiorenzo +in Perugia, which passed into England. The attitudes, however, the air +of the heads, and smaller features of composition, are beyond a common +style. The dead Christ above mentioned, is in a more novel and superior +style. Vasari calls it a most divine picture; the figures <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_064" id="Page_064">[Pg 64]</a></span>are +not numerous; but each fulfils perfectly the part assigned to it; the +subject is most affecting; the heads are remarkably beautiful, and the +earliest of the kind in the restoration of art, while the expression of +profound sorrow and extreme anguish does not divest them of their +beauty. After finishing this work, Raphael was ambitious of painting an +apartment in Florence, one, I believe, of the Palazzo Pubblico. There +remains a letter of his, in which he requests the Duke of Urbino to +write to the Gonfaloniere Soderini, in April, 1508.<a name="fnanchor_32" +id="fnanchor_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[32]</sup></a> But his relative, Bramante, +procured him a nobler employ in Rome, recommending him to Julius II. to +ornament the Vatican. He removed thither, and was already established +there in the September of the same year.<a name="fnanchor_33" +id="fnanchor_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[33]</sup></a></p> + +<p>We at length, then, behold him fixed in Rome, and placed in the +Vatican at a period, and under circumstances calculated to render him +the first painter in the world. His biographers do not mention his +literary attainments; and, if we were to judge from his letter just +cited, and now in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_065" +id="Page_065">[Pg 65]</a></span>Museo Borgia, we might consider him +grossly illiterate. But he was then writing to his uncle; and therefore +made use of his native dialect, as is still done even in the public acts +in Venice; though he might be master of, and might use on proper +occasions, a more correct language. Raffaello, too, was of a family +fully competent to afford him the necessary instructions in his early +years. Other letters of his are found in the <i>Lettere Pittoriche</i>, +in a very different style; and of his knowledge in matters of +importance, it is sufficient to refer to what Celio Calcagnini, an +eminent literary character of the age of Leo, states of him to Giacomo +Zieglero: "I need not," he says, "mention Vitruvius, whose precepts he +not only explains, but defends or impugns with evident justice, and with +so much temper, that in his objections there does not appear the +slightest asperity. He has excited the admiration of the Pontiff Leo, +and of all the Romans, in such a way, that they regard him as a man sent +down from heaven purposely to restore the eternal city to its ancient +splendour."<a name="fnanchor_34" id="fnanchor_34"></a><a +href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor"><sup>[34]</sup></a> This +acknowledged skill in architecture must suppose an adequate acquaintance +with the Latin language and geometry; and we know from other quarters, +that he assiduously cultivated anatomy, history, and poetry.<a +name="fnanchor_35" id="fnanchor_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[35]</sup></a> But his principal pursuit in Rome +was the study of the remains of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_066" +id="Page_066">[Pg 66]</a></span>Grecian genius, and by which he +perfected his knowledge of art. He studied, too, the ancient buildings, +and was instructed in the principles of architecture for six years by +Bramante, in order that on his death he might succeed him in the +management of the building of S. Peter.<a name="fnanchor_36" +id="fnanchor_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[36]</sup></a> He lived among the ancient +sculptors, and derived from them not only their contours and drapery, +and attitudes, but the spirit and principles of the art itself. Nor yet +content with what he saw in Rome, he employed artists to copy the +remains of antiquity at Pozzuolo and throughout all Italy, and even in +Greece. Nor did he derive less assistance from living artists whom he +consulted on his compositions. "The universal esteem which he +enjoyed,"<a name="fnanchor_37" id="fnanchor_37"></a><a +href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor"><sup>[37]</sup></a> and his +attractive person and engaging <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_067" +id="Page_067">[Pg 67]</a></span>manners, which all accounts unite in +describing as incomparable, conciliated him the favour of the most +eminent men of letters of his age; and Bembo, Castiglione, Giovio, +Navagero, Ariosto, Aretino, Fulvio, and Calcagnini, set a high value on +his friendship, and supplied him, we may be allowed to suppose, with +hints and ideas for his works.</p> + +<p>His rival Michelangiolo, too, and his party, contributed not a little +to the success of Raffaello. As the contest between Zeuxis and +Parrhasius was beneficial to them both, so the rivalship of Bonarruoti +and Sanzio aided the fame of Michelangiolo, and produced the paintings +of the Sistine chapel; and at the same time contributed to the celebrity +of Raffaello, by producing the pictures of the Vatican, and not a few +others. Michelangiolo disdaining any secondary honours, came to the +combat, as it were, attended by his shield bearer; for he made drawings +in his grand style, and then gave them to F. Sebastiano, the scholar of +Giorgione, to execute; and by these means he hoped that Raffaello would +never be able to rival his productions either in design or colour. +Raffaello stood alone; but aimed at producing works with a degree of +perfection beyond the united efforts of Michelangiolo and Sebastian del +Piombo, combining in himself a fertile invention, ideal beauty founded +on a correct imitation of the Greek style, grace, ease, amenity, and an +universality of genius in every department of the art. The noble <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_068" id="Page_068">[Pg +68]</a></span>determination of triumphing in such a powerful contest +animated him night and day, and did not allow him any respite. It also +excited him to surpass both his rivals and himself in every new work +which he produced. The subjects, too, chosen for these chambers, aided +him, as they were in a great measure new, or required to be treated in a +novel manner. They did not profess to represent bacchanalian or vulgar +scenes, but the exalted symbols of science; the sacred functions of +religion; military actions, which contributed to establish the peace of +the world; important events of former days, under which were typified +the reigns of the Pontiffs Julius and Leo X.: the latter the most +powerful protector, and one of the most accomplished judges of art. More +favourable circumstances could not have conspired to stimulate a noble +mind. The eulogizing of Augustus was a theme for the poets of his age, +which produced the richest fruits of genius. Propertius, accustomed to +sing only of the charms or the disdain of his Cinthia, felt himself +another poet when called on to celebrate the triumphs of Augustus; and +with newborn fervour invoked Jove himself to suspend the functions of +his divinity whilst he sang the praises of the emperor.<a +name="fnanchor_38" id="fnanchor_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[38]</sup></a> It is certain that such elevated +subjects, in minds richly stored, must excite corresponding ideas, and +thus both in poets and painters, give birth to the sublime.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_069" id="Page_069">[Pg +69]</a></span>Raffaello, on his arrival in Rome, says Vasari, was +commissioned to paint a chamber, which was at that time called La +Segnatura, and which, from the subject of the pictures, was also called +the chamber of the Sciences. On the ceiling are represented Theology, +Philosophy, Poetry, and Jurisprudence. Each of them has on the +neighbouring façade a grand historical piece illustrative of the +subject. On the basement are also historical pieces which belong to the +same sciences; and these smaller performances, and the caryatides and +telamoni distributed around, are monocromati or chiaroscuri, an idea +entirely of Raffaello, and afterwards, it is said, continued by Polidoro +da Caravaggio. Raffaello commenced with Theology, and imitated Petrarch, +who in one of his visions has assembled together men of the same +condition, though living in different ages. He there placed the +evangelists, whose volumes are the foundation of theology; the sacred +writers, who have preserved its traditions; the theologists, S. Thomas, +S. Bonaventura, Scotus, and the rest who have illustrated it by their +arguments; above all, the Trinity in the midst of the beatified, and +beneath on an altar the eucharist, as if to express the mystery of that +doctrine. There are traces of the ancient style in this piece. Gold is +made use of in the glories of the saints, and in other ornamental parts; +the upper glory is formed on the plan of that of S. Severo, which I have +already noticed: the composition is more symmetrical and less free <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_070" id="Page_070">[Pg 70]</a></span>than +in other pieces; and the whole, compared with the other compositions, +seems too minute. Nevertheless, whosoever regards each part in itself, +will find it of such careful and admirable execution, that he will be +disposed to prefer it to all other works. It has been observed, that +Raffaello began this piece at the right side, and that by the time he +had arrived at the left side portion, he had made rapid strides in the +art. This work must have been finished about the year 1508: and such was +the surprise and admiration of the Pope, that he ordered all the works +of Bramantino, Pier della Francesca, Signorelli, l'Abate di Arezzo, and +Sodoma (though some of the ornamental parts by this last are preserved) +to be effaced, in order that the whole chamber might be decorated by +Raffaello.</p> + +<p>In the subsequent works of Raffaello, and after the year 1509, we do +not find any traces of his first style. He had adopted a nobler manner, +and henceforth applied all his powers to the perfecting of it. He had +now to represent, on the opposite side, Philosophy. In this he designed +a gymnasium in the form of a temple, and placed the learned ancients, +some in the precincts of the building, some on the ascent of the steps, +and others in the plain below. In this, more than on any other occasion, +he was aided by his favourite Petrarch in the third capitolo of his +Fame. Plato, "<i>che in quella schiera andò più presso al segno</i>," is +there represented with Aristotle, "<i>più d'ingegno</i>," in <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_071" id="Page_071">[Pg 71]</a></span>the +act of disputation; and they possess also in the composition, the +highest place of honour; Socrates is represented instructing Alcibiades; +Pythagoras is seen, and before him a youth holds a tablet with the +harmonious concords; and Zoroaster, King of Bactriana, appears with an +elementary globe in his hand. Diogenes is stretched near on the ground, +with his wooden bowl in his hand, "<i>assai più che non vuol vergogna +aperto</i>:" Archimedes is seen "<i>star col capo basso</i>," and +turning the compasses on the table, instructs the youth in geometry; and +others are represented meditating, or in disputation, whose names and +characters it would be possible, with careful observation, to +distinguish more truly than Vasari has done. This picture is commonly +called the School of Athens, which in my judgment is just as +appropriate, as the name of the Sacrament bestowed on the first subject. +The third picture, representing Jurisprudence, is divided into two +parts. On the left side of the window stands Justinian, with the book of +the Civil Law; Trebonian receives it from his hand with an expression of +submission and acquiescence, which no other pencil can ever hope to +equal. On the right side is seen Gregory IX. who delivers the book of +the Decretals to an advocate of the Consistory, and bears the features +of Julius II., who is thus honoured in the character of his predecessor. +In the concluding picture, which is a personification of Poetry, is seen +Mount Parnassus, where, in company of Apollo and the muses, the Greek, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_072" id="Page_072">[Pg +72]</a></span>Roman, and Tuscan poets are represented in their own +portraitures, as far as records will allow. Homer, seated between Virgil +and Dante, is, perhaps, the most striking figure; he is evidently gifted +with a divine spirit, and unites in his person the characters of the +prophet and the poet. The historical pieces in chiaroscuro contribute, +by their ornaments, to charm the sight, and preserve the unity of +design. Beneath the Theology, for instance, is represented S. Augustine +on the borders of the sea, instructed by the angels not to explore the +mystery of the Trinity, incomprehensible to the human mind. Under the +Philosophy, Archimedes is seen surprised and slain by a soldier, whilst +immersed in his studies. This first chamber was finished in 1511, as +that year appears inscribed near the Parnassus.</p> + +<p>Vasari, until the finishing of the first chamber, does not speak of +the improvement of his manner; on the contrary, in his life of +Raffaello, he says, "although he had seen so many monuments of antiquity +in that city, and studied so unremittingly, still his figures, up to +this period, did not possess that breadth and majesty which they +afterwards exhibited. For it happened, that the breach between +Michelangiolo and the Pope, which we have before mentioned in his life, +occurred about this time, and compelled Bonarruoti to flee to Florence; +from which circumstance, Bramante obtaining possession of the keys of +the chapel, exhibited it to his friend Raffaello, in order that he might +make <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_073" id="Page_073">[Pg +73]</a></span>himself acquainted with the style of Michelangiolo;" and +he then proceeds to mention the Isaiah of S. Agostino, and the Sibyls +della Pace, painted after this period, and the Heliodorus. In the life +of Michelangiolo, he again informs us of the quarrel which obliged him +to depart from Rome, and proceeds to say, that when, on his return, he +had finished one half of the work, the Pope suddenly commanded it to be +exposed; "whereupon Raffaello d'Urbino, who possessed great facility of +imitation, immediately changed his style, and at one effort designed the +Prophets and Sibyls della Pace." This brings us to a dispute prosecuted +with the greatest warmth both in Italy and other countries. Bellori +attacked Vasari in a violent manner, in a work entitled: "<i>Se +Raffaello ingrandì e migliorò la maniera per aver vedute le opere di +Michelangiolo</i>," (Whether Raffaello enlarged and improved his style +on seeing the works of Michelangiolo). Crespi replied to him in three +letters, inserted in the Lettere Pittoriche,<a name="fnanchor_39" +id="fnanchor_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[39]</sup></a> and many other disputants have +arisen and stated fresh arguments.</p> + +<p>It is not, however, our province to engage the reader in these +disputations. It was greatly to the advantage of Michelangiolo's fame to +have had two scholars, who, while he was yet living, and after the death +of Raffaello, employed themselves in writing his life; and a great +misfortune to Raffaello not to have been commemorated in the same <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_074" id="Page_074">[Pg +74]</a></span>manner. If he had survived to the time when Vasari and +Condivi wrote, he would not have passed over their charges in silence. +Raffaello would then have easily proved, that when Bonarruoti fled to +Florence, in 1506, he himself was not in Rome, nor was called thither +until two years afterwards; and that he could not, therefore, have +obtained a furtive glance of the Sistine chapel. It would have been +proved too, that from the year 1508, when Michelangiolo had, perhaps, +not commenced his work, until 1511, in which year he exhibited the first +half of it,<a name="fnanchor_40" id="fnanchor_40"></a><a +href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor"><sup>[40]</sup></a> Raffaello had +been endeavouring to enlarge his style; and as Michelangiolo had before +studied the Torso of the Belvidere, so Raffaello also formed himself on +this and other marbles,<a name="fnanchor_41" id="fnanchor_41"></a><a +href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor"><sup>[41]</sup></a> a circumstance +easily discoverable in his style. He might too have asked Vasari, in +what he considered grandeur and majesty of style to consist; and from +the example of the Greeks, and from reason herself, he might have +informed him, that the grand does not consist in the enlargement of the +muscles, or in an extravagance of attitude, but in adopting, as Mengs +has observed, the noblest, and neglecting <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_075" id="Page_075">[Pg 75]</a></span>the inferior and meaner +parts;<a name="fnanchor_42" id="fnanchor_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[42]</sup></a> and exercising the higher powers of +invention. Hence he would have proceeded to point out the grandeur of +style in the School of Athens, in the majestic edifice, in the contour +of the figures, in the folds of the drapery, in the expression of the +countenances, and in the attitudes; and he would have easily traced the +source of that sublimity in the relics of antiquity. And if he appeared +still greater in his Isaiah, he might have refuted Vasari from his own +account, who assigns this work to a period anterior to 1511, and +therefore contemporary as it were with the School of Athens: adding, +that he elevated his style by propriety of character, and by the study +of Grecian art. The Greeks observed an essential difference between +common men and heroes, and again between their heroes and their gods; +and Raffaello, after having represented philosophers immersed in human +doubts, might well elevate his style when he came to figure a prophet +meditating the revelations of God.<a name="fnanchor_43" +id="fnanchor_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[43]</sup></a> All this might have been advanced +by Raffaello, in order to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_076" +id="Page_076">[Pg 76]</a></span>relieve Bramante and himself from so ill +supported an imputation. As to the rest, I believe he never would have +denied, that the works of Michelangiolo had inspired him with a more +daring spirit of design, and that in the exhibition of strong character, +he had sometimes even imitated him. But how imitated him? In rendering, +as Crespi himself observes, that very style more beautiful and more +majestic, (p. 344). It is indeed a great triumph to the admirers of +Raffaello to be able to say, whoever wishes to see what is wanting in +the Sibyls of Michelangiolo, let him inspect those of Raffaello; and let +him view the Isaiah of Raffaello, who would know what is wanting in the +prophets of Michelangiolo.</p> + +<p>After public curiosity was gratified, and Raffaello had obtained a +glimpse of this new style, Bonarruoti closed the doors, and hastened to +finish the other half of his work, which was completed at the close of +1512, so that the Pope, on the solemnization of the Feast of Christmas, +was enabled to perform mass in the Sistine chapel. In the course of this +year, Raffaello was employed in the second chamber on the subject of +Heliodorus driven from the Temple by the prayers of Onias the high +priest, one of the most celebrated pictures of the place. In this +painting, the armed vision that appears to Heliodorus, scatters +lightnings from his hand, while the neighing of the steed is heard +amidst the attendant thunder. In the numerous bands, some of which are +plundering the riches of the Temple, and others are ignorant of the +cause of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_077" id="Page_077">[Pg +77]</a></span>the surprise and terror exhibited in Heliodorus, +consternation, amazement, joy, and abasement, and a host of passions, +are expressed. In this work, and in others of these chambers, Raffaello, +says Mengs, gave to painting all the augmentation it could receive after +Michelangiolo. In this picture he introduced the portrait of Julius II., +whose zeal and authority is represented in Onias. He appears in a litter +borne by his grooms, in the manner in which he was accustomed to repair +to the Vatican, to view this work. The Miracle of Bolsena was also +painted in the lifetime of Julius.</p> + +<p>The remaining decorations of these chambers were all illustrative of +the history of Leo X., whose imprisonment in Ravenna, and subsequent +liberation, is typified by St. Peter released from prison by the angel. +It was in this piece that the painter exhibited an astonishing proof of +his knowledge of light. The figures of the soldiers, who stand without +the prison, are illuminated by the beams of the moon: there is a torch +which produces a second light; and from the angel emanates a celestial +splendour, that rivals the beams of the sun. He has here, too, afforded +another proof how art may convert the impediments thrown in her way to +her own advantage; for the place where he was painting being broken by a +window, he has imagined on each side of it a staircase, which affords an +ascent to the prison, and on the steps he has placed the guards +overpowered with sleep; so that the painter does not seem to have +accommodated himself <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_078" +id="Page_078">[Pg 78]</a></span>to the place, but the place to have +become subservient to the painter. The composition of S. Leo the Great, +who checks Attila at the head of his army, and that of the other +chamber, the battle with the Saracens in the port of Ostium, and the +victory obtained by S. Leo IV., justify Raffaello's claim to the epic +crown: so powerfully has he depicted the military array of men and +horse, the arms peculiar to each nation, the fury of the combat, and the +despair and humiliation of the prisoners. Near this performance, too, is +the wonderful piece of the Incendio di Borgo (a city enveloped in fire), +which is miraculously extinguished by the same S. Leo. This wonderful +piece alternately chills the heart with terror, or warms it with +compassion. The calamity of fire is carried to its extreme point, as it +is the hour of midnight, and the fire, which already occupies a +considerable space, is increased by a violent wind, which agitates the +flames that leap with rapidity from house to house. The affright and +misery of the inhabitants is also carried to the utmost extremity. Some +rush forward with water, but are driven back by the scorching flames; +others seek safety in flight, with naked feet, robeless, and with +dishevelled hair; women are seen turning an imploring look to the +Pontiff; mothers, whose own terrors are absorbed in fear for their +offspring; and here a youth, who bearing on his shoulders his aged and +infirm sire, and sinking beneath the weight, collects his almost +exhausted strength to place him out of danger. The <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_079" id="Page_079">[Pg +79]</a></span>concluding subjects refer to Leo III.; the Coronation of +Charlemagne, by the hand of that Pontiff, and the Oath taken by the Pope +on the Holy Evangelists, to exculpate himself from the calumnies laid to +his charge. In Leo, is meant to be represented Leo X., who is thus +honoured in the persons of his predecessors; and in Charlemagne is +represented Francis I., King of France. Many persons of the age are also +figured in the surrounding group, so that there is not an historical +subject in these chambers that does not contain the most accurate +likenesses. In this latter department of art, also, Raffaello may be +said to have been transcendant. His portraits have deceived even persons +the most intimately acquainted with the subjects of them. He painted a +remarkable picture of Leo X., and on one occasion the Cardinal Datary of +that time, found himself approaching it with a bull, and pen and ink, +for the Pope's signature.<a name="fnanchor_44" id="fnanchor_44"></a><a +href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor"><sup>[44]</sup></a></p> + +<p>The six subjects which relate to Leo, elected in 1513, were finished +in 1517. In the nine years which Raphael employed on these three +chambers, and also in the three following years, he made additional +decorations to the Pontifical Palace; he observed the style of ornament +suitable to each part of it, and thus made the Pope's residence a model +of magnificence and taste for all Europe. Few have adverted to this +instance of his merit. He superintended the new gallery of the palace, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_080" id="Page_080">[Pg +80]</a></span>availing himself in part of the design of Bramante, and in +part improving on him. "He then made designs for the stuccos, and the +various subjects there painted, and also for the divisions, and he then +appointed Giovanni da Udine to finish the stuccos and arabesques, and +Giulio Romano the figures." The exposure of this gallery to the +inclemencies of the air, has left little remaining besides the squalid +grotesques; but those who saw it at an early period, when the unsullied +splendor of the gold, the pure white of the stuccos, the brilliancy of +the colours, and the newness of the marble, rendered every part of it +beautiful and resplendent, must have thought it a vision of paradise. +Vasari, in eulogizing it, says, "It is impossible to execute, or to +conceive, a more exquisite work." The best which now remain are the +thirteen ceilings, in each of which are distributed four subjects from +holy writ, the first of which, the Creation of the World, Raffaello +executed with his own hand as a model for the others, which were painted +by his scholars, and afterwards retouched and rendered uniform by +himself, as was his custom. I have seen copies of these in Rome, +executed at great cost, and with great fidelity, for Catherine, Empress +of Russia, under the direction of Mr. Hunterberger, and from the effect +which was produced by the freshness of the colours, I could easily +conceive how highly enchanting the originals must have been. But their +great value consisted in Raffaello having enriched them by his +invention, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_081" id="Page_081">[Pg +81]</a></span>expression, and design, and every one is agreed that each +subject is a school in itself. It appears certain too, that he was +desirous of competing with Michelangiolo, who had treated the same +subject in the Sistine chapel; and of appealing to the public to judge +whether or not he had equalled him. To describe in a suitable manner the +other pictures in chiaroscuro, and the numerous landscapes and +architectural subjects, the trophies, imitations of cameos, masks, and +other things which this divine artist either designed himself or formed +into new combinations from the antique, is a task, says Taja, far above +the reach of human powers. Taja has however himself given us a +delightful description of these works.<a name="fnanchor_45" +id="fnanchor_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[45]</sup></a> It confers the highest honour on +Raffaello, to whom we owe the fifty-two subjects, and all the ornamental +parts.</p> + +<p>Nor were the pavements, or the doors, or other interior works in the +palace of the Vatican, completed without his superintendence. He +directed the pavements to be formed of <i>terra invetriata</i>, an +ancient invention of Luca della Robbia, which having continued for many +generations as a family secret, was then in the hands of another Luca. +Raffaello invited him to Florence to execute this vast work, employed +him in the gallery, and in many of the chambers, which he adorned with +the arms of the Pope. For the couches and other ornaments of the Camera +di Segnatura he brought to Rome F. Giovanni da Verona, who formed them +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_082" id="Page_082">[Pg +82]</a></span>of mosaic with the most beautiful views. For the +entablatures of the chambers, and for several of the windows and doors, +he engaged Giovanni Barile, a celebrated Florentine engraver of gems. +This work was executed in so masterly a manner, that Louis XIII., +wishing to ornament the palace of the Louvre, had all these intaglios +separately copied. The drawings of them were made by Poussin, and +Mariette boasted of having them in his collection. Nor was there any +other work either of stone or marble for which a design was required, +which did not come under the inspection of Raffaello, and on which he +did not impress his taste, which was consummate also in the sister art +of sculpture. A proof of this is to be seen in the Jonah, in the church +of the Madonna del Popolo, in the Chigi chapel, which was executed by +Lorenzetto under his direction, and which, Bottari says, may assume its +place by the side of the Greek statues. Among his most remarkable works +may be mentioned his designs for the tapestry in the papal chapel, the +subjects of which were from the lives of the Evangelists, and the Acts +of the Apostles. The cartoons for them were both designed and coloured +by Raffaello; and after the tapestries were finished in the Low +Countries, the cartoons passed into England, where they still remain. In +these tapestries the art attained its highest pitch, nor has the world +since beheld anything to equal them in beauty. They are exposed annually +in the great portico of S. Peter, in the procession of the <i>Corpus +Domini</i>, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_083" id="Page_083">[Pg +83]</a></span>and it is wonderful to behold the crowds that flock to see +them, and who ever regard them with fresh avidity and delight. But all +these works of Raffaello would not have contributed to the extension of +art at that period, beyond the meridian of Rome, if he had not succeeded +in extending the fruits of his genius, by the means of prints. We have +already noticed M. A. Raimondi, in the first book, and we have shewn +that this great engraver was courteously received, and was afterwards +assisted by Sanzio, whence an abundance of copies of the designs and the +works of this master have been given to the world. A fine taste was thus +rapidly propagated throughout Europe, and the beautiful style of +Raffaello began to be justly appreciated. In a short time it became the +prevailing taste, and if his maxims had remained unaltered, Italian +painting would probably have flourished for as long a period as Greek +sculpture.</p> + +<p>In the midst of such a variety of occupations, Raffaello did not fail +to gratify the wishes of many private individuals, who were desirous of +having his designs for buildings, in which branch of art he was highly +celebrated, and also of possessing his pictures. I need only to refer to +the gallery of Agostini Chigi, which he ornamented with his own hand, +with the well known fable of Galatea. He afterwards, with the assistance +of his pupils, painted the Marriage of Psyche, at the banquet of which +he assembled all the heathen deities, with such propriety of form, with +their attendant symbols <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_084" +id="Page_084">[Pg 84]</a></span>and genii, that in these fabulous +subjects he almost rivalled the Greeks. These pictures, and those also +of the chambers of the Vatican, were retouched by Maratta, with +incredible care; and the method he adopted, as described by Bellori, may +serve as a guide in similar cases. Raffaello also painted many +altarpieces, with saints generally introduced; as that Delle Contesse at +Foligno, where he introduced the Chamberlain of the Pope, alive, rather +than drawn from the life: that for S. Giovanni in Monte, at Bologna, of +S. Cecilia, who, charmed to rapture by a celestial melody, forgets her +musical instrument, which falls neglected from her hands; that for +Palermo, of Christ ascending Mount Calvary, called <i><ins +title="'della' in the original">dello</ins> Spasimo</i>, which, however +much disparaged by Cumberland, for having been retouched, is a noble +ornament of the royal collection at Madrid; and the others at Naples and +at Piacenza, which are mentioned by his biographers. He also painted S. +Michael for the King of France, and many other holy families<a +name="fnanchor_46" id="fnanchor_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[46]</sup></a> and devotional subjects, which +neither Vasari nor his other biographers have fully enumerated.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_085" id="Page_085">[Pg +85]</a></span>But although the creation of these wonderful works was +become a habit in this great artist, still every part of his productions +cannot be considered as equally successful. It is known, that in the +frescos of the palace, and in the Chigi gallery, he was censured in some +naked figures for errors committed, as Vasari says, by some of his +school. Mengs, who varied his opinions at different periods of his life, +insinuates, that Raffaello for some time seemed to slumber, and did not +make those rapid strides in the art, which might have been expected from +his genius. This was, probably, when Michelangiolo was for some years +absent from Rome. But when he returned, and heard it reported that many +persons considered the paintings of Raffaello superior to his in colour, +of more beauty and grace in composition, and of a correspondent +excellence in design, whilst his works were said to possess none of +these qualities except the last; he was stimulated to avail himself of +the pencil of Fra Sebastiano, and at the same time supplied him with his +own designs. The most celebrated work which they produced in +conjunction, was a Transfiguration, in fresco, with a Flagellation, and +other figures, in a chapel of S. Peter in Montorio. Raffaello being +subsequently employed to paint a picture for the Cardinal Giulio de' +Medici, afterwards Clement VII., Sebastiano, in a sort of competition, +painted another picture of the same size. In the latter was represented +the raising of Lazarus; in the former, with the master's <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_086" id="Page_086">[Pg +86]</a></span>accustomed spirit of emulation, the Transfiguration. "This +is a picture which combines," says Mengs, "more excellences than any of +the previous works of Raffaello. The expression in it is more exalted +and more refined, the chiaroscuro more correct, the perspective better +understood, the penciling finer, and there is a greater variety in the +drapery, more grace in the heads, and more grandeur in the style."<a +name="fnanchor_47" id="fnanchor_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[47]</sup></a> It represents the mystery of the +Transfiguration of Christ on the summit of Mount Tabor. On the side of +the hill he has placed a band of his disciples, and with the happiest +invention has engaged them in an action conformable to their powers, and +has thus formed an episode not beyond the bounds of probability. A youth +possessed is presented to them, that they may expel the evil spirit that +torments him; and in the possessed, struggling with the presence of the +demon, the confiding faith of the father, the affliction of a beautiful +and interesting female, and the compassion visible in the countenances +of the surrounding apostles, we are presented with perhaps the most +pathetic incident ever conceived. Yet this part of the composition does +not fix our regard so much as the principal subject on the summit of the +mountain. There the two prophets, and the three disciples, are most +admirably delineated, and the Saviour appears enveloped in a glory +emanating from the fountain of eternal light, and surrounded by that +chaste and celestial radiance, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_087" +id="Page_087">[Pg 87]</a></span>that is reserved exclusively for the +eyes of the elect. The countenance of Christ, in which he has developed +all his combined ideas of majesty and beauty, may be considered the +masterpiece of Raffaello, and seems to us the most sublime height to +which the genius of the artist, or even the art itself, was capable of +aspiring. After this effort he never resumed his pencil, as he was soon +afterwards suddenly seized with a mortal distemper, of which he died, in +the bosom of the church, on Good Friday, (also the anniversary of his +birthday,) 1520, aged thirty-seven years. His body reposed for some days +in the chamber where he was accustomed to paint, and over it was placed +this noble picture of the Transfiguration, previous to his mortal +remains being transferred to the church of the Rotonda for interment. +There was not an artist that was not moved to tears at this affecting +sight. Raffaello had always possessed the power of engaging the +affections of all with whom he was acquainted. Respectful to his master, +he obtained from the Pope an assurance that his works, in one of the +ceilings of the Vatican, should remain unmolested; just towards his +rivals, he expressed his gratitude to God that he had been born in the +days of Bonarruoti; gracious towards his pupils, he loved them, and +intrusted them as his own sons; courteous even to strangers, he +cheerfully lent his aid to all who asked his advice; and in order to +make designs for others, or to direct them in their studies, he +sometimes even neglected <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_088" +id="Page_088">[Pg 88]</a></span>his own work, being alike incapable of +refusing or delaying his inestimable aid. All these reflections forced +themselves on the minds of the spectators, whose eyes were at one moment +directed to the view of his youthful remains, and of those divine hands +that had, in the imitation of her works, almost excelled nature herself; +and at another moment, to the contemplation of this his latest +production, which appeared to exhibit the dawn of a new and wonderful +style; and the painful reflection presented itself, that, with the life +of Raffaello, the brightest prospects of art were thus suddenly +obscured. The Pope himself was deeply affected at his death, and +requested Bembo to compose the epitaph which is now read on his tomb; +and his loss was considered as a national calamity throughout all Italy. +True indeed it is, that soon after his decease, Rome herself, and her +territory, experienced such unheard of calamities, that many had just +cause to envy him, not only the celebrity of his life, but the opportune +period of his death. He was not doomed to see the illustrious Leo X., at +a time when he extended the most exalted patronage to the arts, poisoned +by a sacrilegious hand; nor Clement VII., pressed by an enraged enemy, +seeking shelter in the Castle of S. Angelo, afterwards compelled to fly +for his life, and obliged to purchase, at enormous sums, the liberty of +his servants. Nor did he witness the horrors attending the sacking of +Rome, the nobility robbed and plundered in their own palaces, <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_089" id="Page_089">[Pg 89]</a></span>the +violation of hapless females in the convents; prelates unrelentingly +dragged to the scaffold, and priests torn from the altars, and from the +images of their saints, to whom they looked in vain for refuge, +slaughtered by the sword, and their bodies thrown out of the churches a +prey to the dogs. Nor did he survive to see that city, which he had so +illustrated by his genius, and where he had for so many years shared the +public admiration and esteem, wasted with fire and sword. But of this we +shall speak in another place, and shall here adduce some observations on +his style, selected from various authors, and more particularly from +Mengs, who has ably criticised it in his works already enumerated by me, +as well as in some others.</p> + +<p>Raffaello is by common consent placed at the head of his art; not +because he excelled all others in every department of painting, but +because no other artist has ever possessed the various parts of the art +united in so high a degree. Lazzarini even asserts, that he was guilty +of errors, and that he is only the first, because he did not commit so +many as others. He ought, however, to have allowed, that his defects +would be excellences in any other artist, being nothing more in him than +the neglect of that higher degree of perfection to which he was capable +of attaining. The art, indeed, comprehends so many and such difficult +parts, that no individual artist has been alike distinguished in all; +even Apelles was said to yield to Amphion in disposition and harmony, to +Asclepiadorus <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_090" id="Page_090">[Pg +90]</a></span>in proportion, and to Protogenes in application.</p> + +<p>The style of design of Raffaello, as seen in those drawings, divested +of colours, which now form the chief ornaments of cabinets, presents us, +if we may use the term, with the pure transcript of his imagination, and +we stand in amaze at the contours, grace, precision, diligence, and +genius, which they exhibit. One of the most admired of his drawings I +once saw in the gallery of the Duke of Modena, a most finished and +superior specimen, uniting in style all the invention of the best +painters of Greece, and the execution of the first artists of Italy. It +has been made a question whether Raffaello did not yield to +Michelangiolo in drawing; and Mengs himself confesses, that he did, as +far as regards the anatomy of the muscles, and in strong expression, in +which he considers Raffaello to have imitated Michelangiolo. But we need +not say with Vasari, that in order to prove that he understood the naked +figure as well as Michelangiolo, he appropriated to himself the designs +of that great master. On the contrary, in the figures of the two youths +in the Incendio di Borgo, criticised by Vasari, one of whom is in the +act of leaping from a wall to escape the flames, and the other is +fleeing with his father on his shoulders, he not only proved that he had +a perfect knowledge of the action of the muscles and the anatomy +requisite for a painter, but prescribed the occasion when this style +might be used without impropriety, as in <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_091" id="Page_091">[Pg 91]</a></span>figures of a robust form +engaged in violent action. He moreover commonly marked the principal +parts in the naked figure, and indicated the others after the example of +the better ancient masters, and where he wrought from his own ideas, his +execution was most correct. On this subject Bellori may be consulted at +page 223 of the work already quoted, and the annotations to vol. ii. of +Mengs, (page 197,) made by the Cavaliere d'Azzara, minister of the king +of Spain at Rome, an individual, who, in conferring honour on the +artist, has by his own writing conferred honour on art itself.</p> + +<p>In chasteness of design, Raffaello was by some placed on a level with +the Greeks, though this praise we must consider as extravagant. Agostino +Caracci commends him as a model of symmetry; and in that respect, more +than in any other, he approached the ancients; except, observes Mengs, +in the hands, which being rarely found perfect in the ancient statues, +he had not an equal opportunity of studying, and did not therefore +design them so elegantly as the other parts. He selected the beautiful +from nature, and as Mariette observes, whose collection was rich in his +designs, he copied it with all its imperfections, which he afterwards +gradually corrected, as he proceeded with his work. Above all things, he +aimed at perfecting the heads, and from a letter addressed to +Castiglione on the Galatea of the Palazzo Chigi, or of the Farnesina, he +discovers how intent he was to select the best models of nature, <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_092" id="Page_092">[Pg 92]</a></span>and +to perfect them in his own mind.<a name="fnanchor_48" +id="fnanchor_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[48]</sup></a> His own Fornarina assisted him in +this object. Her portrait, by Raffaello's own hand, was formerly in the +Barberini palace, and it is repeated in many of his Madonnas, in the +picture of S. Cecilia, in Bologna, and in many female heads. Critics +have often expressed a wish that these heads had possessed a more +dignified character, and in this respect he was, perhaps, excelled by +Guido Reni, and however engaging his children may be, those of Titian +are still more beautiful. His true empire was in the heads of his men, +which are portraits selected with judgment, and depicted with a dignity +proportioned to his subject. Vasari calls the air of these heads +superhuman, and calls on us to admire the expression of age in the +patriarchs, simplicity of life in the apostles, and constancy of faith +in the martyrs; and in Christ in the Transfiguration, he says, there is +a portion of the divine essence itself transferred to his countenance, +and made visible to mortal eyes.</p> + +<p>This effect is the result of that quality that is called expression, +and which, in the drawing of Raffaello has attracted more admiration of +late years than formerly. It is remarkable, that not only Zuccaro, who +was indeed a superficial writer, but that Vasari, and Lomazzo himself, +so much more <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_093" id="Page_093">[Pg +93]</a></span>profound than either of them, should not have conferred on +him that praise which he afterwards received from Algarotti, Lazzarini, +and Mengs. Lionardo was the first, as we shall see in the Milanese +School, to lead the way to delicacy of expression; but that master, who +painted so little, and with such labour, is not to be compared to +Raffaello, who possessed the whole quality in its fullest extent. There +is not a movement of the soul, there is not a character of passion known +to the ancients, and capable of being expressed by art, that he has not +caught, expressed, and varied, in a thousand different ways, and always +within the bounds of propriety. We have no tradition of his having, like +Da Vinci, frequented the public streets to seek for subjects for his +pencil; and his numerous pictures prove that he could not have devoted +so much time to this study, while his drawings clearly evince, that he +had not equal occasion for such assistance. Nature, as I have before +remarked, had endowed him with an imagination which transported his mind +to the scene of the event, either fabulous or remote, in which he was +engaged, and awoke in him the very same emotions which the subjects of +such story must themselves have experienced; and this vivid conception +assisted him until he had designed his subject with that distinctness +which he had either observed in other countenances, or found in his own +mind. This faculty, seldom found in poets, and still more rarely in +painters, no one possessed in a more <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_094" id="Page_094">[Pg 94]</a></span>eminent degree than +Raffaello. His figures are passions personified; and love, fear, hope, +and desire, anger, placability, humility, or pride, assume their places +by turns, as the subject changes; and while the spectator regards the +countenances, the air, and the gestures of his figures, he forgets that +they are the work of art, and is surprised to find his own feelings +excited, and himself an actor in the scene before him. There is another +delicacy of expression, and this is the gradation of the passions, by +which every one perceives whether they are in their commencement or at +their height, or in their decline. He had observed their shades of +difference in the intercourse of life, and on every occasion he knew how +to transfer the result of his observations to his canvas. Even his +silence is eloquent, and every actor</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">"Il cor negli occhi, e nella fronte ha scritto:"</span> +</div> + +<p>the smallest perceptible motion of the eyes, of the nostrils, of the +mouth, and of the fingers, corresponds to the chief movements of every +passion; the most animated and vivid actions discover the violence of +the passion that excites them; and what is more, they vary in +innumerable degrees, without ever departing from nature, and conform +themselves to a diversity of character without ever risking propriety. +His heroes possess the mien of valour; his vulgar, an air of debasement; +and that, which neither the pen nor the tongue could describe, the +genius and art of Raffaello would delineate <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_095" id="Page_095">[Pg 95]</a></span>with a few strokes of +the pencil. Numbers have in vain sought to imitate him; his figures are +governed by a sentiment of the mind, while those of others, if we except +Poussin and a very few more, seem the imitation of tragic actors from +the scenes. This is Raffaello's chief excellence; and he may justly be +denominated the painter of mind. If in this faculty be included all that +is difficult, philosophical, and sublime, who shall compete with him in +the sovereignty of art?</p> + +<p>Another quality which Raffaello possessed in an eminent degree was +grace, a quality which may be said to confer an additional charm on +beauty itself. Apelles, who was supremely endowed with it among the +ancients, was so vain of the possession that he preferred it to every +other attribute of art.<a name="fnanchor_49" id="fnanchor_49"></a><a +href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor"><sup>[49]</sup></a> Raffaello +rivalled him among the moderns, and thence obtained the name of the new +Apelles. Something might, perhaps, be advantageously added to the forms +of his children, and other delicate figures which he represented, but +nothing can add to their gracefulness, for if it were attempted to be +carried further it would degenerate into affectation, as we find in +Parmegiano. His Madonnas enchant us, as Mengs observes, not because they +possess the perfect lineaments of the Medicean Venus, or of the +celebrated daughter of Niobe; but because the painter in their portraits +and in their expressive smiles, has personified modesty, maternal love, +purity of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_096" id="Page_096">[Pg +96]</a></span>mind, and, in a word, grace itself. Nor did he impress +this quality on the countenance alone, but distributed it throughout the +figure in its attitude, gesture, and action, and in the folds of the +drapery, with a dexterity which may be admired, but can never be +rivalled. His freedom of execution was a component part of this grace, +which indeed vanishes as soon as labour and study appear; for it is with +the painter as with the orator, in whom a natural and spontaneous +eloquence delights us, while we turn away with indifference from an +artificial and studied harangue.</p> + +<p>In regard to the province of colour, Raffaello must yield the palm to +Titian and Correggio, although he himself excelled Michelangiolo and +many others. His frescos may rank with the first works of other schools +in that line: not so his pictures in oil. In the latter he availed +himself of the sketches of Giulio, which were composed with a degree of +hardness and timidity; and though finished by Raffaello, they have +frequently lost the lustre of his last touch. This defect was not +immediately apparent, and if Raffaello's life had been prolonged, he +would have been aware of the injuries his pictures received from the +lapse of time, and would not have finished them in so light a manner. He +is on this account more admired in his first subject in the Vatican, +painted under Julius II., than in those he executed under Leo X., for +being there pressed by a multiplicity of business, and an idea of the +importance of a grander style, he became less rich and firm in <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_097" id="Page_097">[Pg 97]</a></span>his +colouring. That, however, he excelled in these respects is evinced by +his portraits, when not having an opportunity of displaying his +invention, composition, and beautiful style of design, he appears +ambitious to distinguish himself by his colouring. In this respect his +two portraits of Julius II. are truly admirable, the Medicean and the +Corsinian: that of Leo X. between the two cardinals; and above all, in +the opinion of an eminent judge, Renfesthein, that of Bindo Altoviti, in +the possession of his noble descendants at Florence, by many regarded as +a portrait of Raphael himself.<a name="fnanchor_50" +id="fnanchor_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[50]</sup></a> The heads in his Transfiguration +are esteemed the most perfect he ever painted, and Mengs extols the +colouring of them as eminently beautiful. If there be any exception, it +is in the complexion of the principal female, of a greyish tint, as is +often the case in his delicate figures; in which he is therefore +considered to excel less than in the <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_098" id="Page_098">[Pg 98]</a></span>heads of his men. Mengs +has made many exceptions to the chiaroscuro of Raffaello, as compared +with that of Correggio, on which connoisseurs will form their own +decision. We are told that he disposed it with the aid of models of wax; +and the relief of his pictures, and the beautiful effect in his +Heliodorus, and in the Transfiguration, are ascribed to this mode of +practice. To his perspective, too, he was most attentive. De Piles +found, in some of his sketches, the scale of proportion.<a +name="fnanchor_51" id="fnanchor_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[51]</sup></a> It is affirmed by Algarotti, that he +did not attempt to paint <i>di sotto in su</i>. But to this opinion we +may oppose the example we find in the third arch of the gallery of the +Vatican, where there is a perspective of small columns, says Taja, +imitated <i>di sotto in su</i>. It is true, that in his larger works he +avoided it; and in order to preserve the appearance of nature, he +represented his pictures as painted on a tapestry, attached by means of +a running knot to the entablature of the room.</p> + +<p>But all the great qualities which we have enumerated, would not have +procured for Raffaello such an extraordinary celebrity, if he had not +possessed a wonderful felicity in the invention and disposition of his +subjects, and this circumstance is, indeed, his highest merit. It may +with truth be said, that in aid of this object he availed himself of +every example, ancient and modern; and that these two requisites have +not since been so united <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_099" +id="Page_099">[Pg 99]</a></span>in any other artist. He accomplishes in +his pictures that which every orator ought to aim at in his +speech—he instructs, moves, and delights us. This is an easy task +to a narrator, since he can regularly unfold to us the whole progress of +an event. The painter, on the contrary, has but the space of a moment to +make himself understood, and his talent consists in describing not only +what is passing, and what is likely to ensue, but that which has already +occurred. It is here that the genius of Raffaello triumphs. He embraces +the whole subject. From a thousand circumstances he selects those alone +which can interest us; he arranges the actors in the most expressive +manner; he invents the most novel modes of conveying much meaning by a +few touches; and numberless minute circumstances, all uniting in one +purpose, render the story not only intelligible, but palpable. Various +writers have adduced in example the S. Paul at Lystra, which is to be +seen in one of the tapestries of the Vatican. The artist has there +represented the sacrifice prepared for him and S. Barnabas his +companion, as to two gods, for having restored a lame man to the use of +his limbs. The altar, the attendants, the victims, the musicians, and +the axe, sufficiently indicate the intentions of the Lystrians. S. Paul, +who is in the act of tearing his robe, shews that he rejects and abhors +the sacrilegious honours, and is endeavouring to dissuade the populace +from persisting in them. But all this were vain, if it had not indicated +the miracle <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg +100]</a></span>which had just happened, and which had given rise to the +event. Raffaello added to the group the lame man restored to the use of +his limbs, now easily recognized again by all the spectators. He stands +before the apostles rejoicing in his restoration; and raises his hands +in transport towards his benefactors, while at his feet lie the crutches +which had recently supported him, now cast away as useless. This had +been sufficient for any other artist; but Raffaello, who wished to carry +reality to the utmost point, has added a throng of people, who, in their +eager curiosity, remove the garment of the man, to behold his limbs +restored to their former state. Raffaello abounds with examples like +these, and he may be compared to some of the classical writers, who +afford the more matter for reflection the more they are studied. It is +sufficient to have noticed in the inventive powers of Raffaello, those +circumstances which have been less frequently remarked; the movement of +the passions, which is entirely the work of expression, the delight +which proceeds from poetical conceptions, or from graceful episodes, may +be said to speak for themselves, nor have any occasion to be pointed out +by us.</p> + +<p>Other things might contribute to the beauty of his works, as unity, +sublimity, costume, and erudition; for which it is sufficient to refer +to those delightful poetical pieces, with which he adorned the gallery +of Leo X., and which were engraved by Lanfranco and Badalocchi, and are +called the Bible <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" +id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>of Raffaello. In the Return of Jacob, +who does not immediately discover, in the number and variety of domestic +animals, the multitude of servants, and the women carrying with them +their children, a patriarchal family migrating from a long possessed +abode into a new territory? In the Creation of the World, where the +Deity stretches out his arms, and with one hand calls forth the sun and +with the other the moon, do we not see a grandeur, which, with the +simplest expression, awakes in us the most sublime ideas? And in the +Adoration of the Golden Calf, how could he better have represented the +idolatrous ceremony, and its departure from true religion, than by +depicting the people as carried away by an insane joy, and mad with +fanaticism? In point of erudition it is sufficient to notice the Triumph +of David, which Taja describes and compares with the ancient +bassirelievi, and is inclined to believe that there is not any thing in +marble that excels the art and skill of this picture. I am aware that on +another occasion he has not been exempted from blame, as when he +repeated the figure of S. Peter out of prison, which hurts the unity of +the subject; and in assigning to Apollo and to the muses instruments not +proper to antiquity. Yet it is the glory of Raffaello to have introduced +into his pictures numberless circumstances unknown to his predecessors, +and to have left little to be added by his successors.</p> + +<p>In composition also he is at the head of his art. In every picture +the principal figure is obvious to <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>the spectator; we have +no occasion to inquire for it; the groups, divided by situation, are +united in the principal action; the contrast is not dictated by +affectation, but by truth and propriety; a figure absorbed in thought, +often serves as a relief to another that acts and speaks; the masses of +light and shade are not arbitrarily poised, but are in the most select +imitation of nature; all is art, but all is consummate skill and +concealment of art. The School of Athens, as it is called, in the +Vatican, is in this respect amongst the most wonderful compositions in +the world. They who succeeded Raffaello, and followed other principles, +have afforded more pleasure to the eye, but have not given such +satisfaction to the mind. The compositions of Paul Veronese contain a +greater number of figures, and more decoration; Lanfranco and the +machinists introduced a powerful effect, and a vigorous contrast of +light and shade: but who would exchange for such a manner the chaste and +dignified style of Raffaello? Poussin alone, in the opinion of Mengs, +obtained a superior mode of composition in the groundwork, or economy of +his subject; that is to say, in the judicious selection of the scene of +the event.</p> + +<p>We have thus concisely stated the perfection to which Raffaello +carried his art, in the short space allotted him. There is not a work in +nature or art where he has not practically illustrated his own axiom, as +handed down to us by Federigo Zuccaro, that things must be represented, +not as they <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg +103]</a></span>are, but as they ought to be; the country, the elements, +animals, buildings, every age of man, every condition of life, every +affection, all was embraced and rendered more beautiful by the divine +genius of Raffaello. And if his life had been prolonged to a more +advanced period, without even approaching the term allowed to Titian or +Michelangiolo, who shall say to what height of perfection he might not +have carried his favourite art? Who can divine his success in +architecture and sculpture, if he had applied himself to the study of +them; having so wonderfully succeeded in his few attempts in those +branches of art?</p> + +<p>Of his pictures a considerable number are to be found in private +collections, particularly on sacred subjects, such as the Madonna and +Child, and other compositions of the Holy Family. They are in the three +styles which we have before described: the Grand Duke has some specimens +of each. The most admired is that which is named the Madonna della +Seggiola.<a name="fnanchor_52" id="fnanchor_52"></a><a +href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor"><sup>[52]</sup></a> Of this class +of pictures <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg +104]</a></span>it is often doubted whether they ought to be considered +as originals, or copies, as some of them have been three, five, or ten +times repeated. The same may be said of other cabinet pictures by him, +particularly the S. John in the desart, which is in the Grand Ducal +gallery at Florence, and is found repeated in many collections both in +Italy and in other countries. This was likely to happen in a school +where the most common mode was the following:—The subject was +designed by Raffaello, the picture prepared by Giulio, and finished by +the master so exquisitely, that one might almost count the hairs of the +head. When the pictures were thus finished, they were copied by the +scholars of Raffaello, who were very numerous, and of the second and +third order; and these were also sometimes retouched by Giulio and by +Raffaello himself. But whoever is experienced in the freedom and +delicacy of the chief of this school, need not fear confounding his +productions with those of the scholars, or of Giulio himself; who, +besides having a more timid pencil, made use of a darker tint than his +master was accustomed to do. I have met with an experienced person, who +declared that he could recognize the character of Giulio in the dark +parts of the flesh tints, and in the middle dark tints, not of a leaden +colour as Raffaello used, nor so well harmonized; in the greater +quantity of light, and in the eyes designed more roundly, <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +which Raffaello painted somewhat long, after the manner of Pietro.</p> + +<p>On this propitious commencement was founded the school which we call +Roman, rather from the city of Rome itself, than from the people, as I +have before observed. For as the inhabitants of Rome are a mixture of +many tongues, and many different nations, of whom the descendants of +Romulus form the least proportion; so the school of painting has been +increased in its numbers by foreigners whom she has received and united +to her own, and who are considered in her academy of S. Luke, as if they +had been born in Rome, and enjoyed the ancient rights of Romans. Hence +is derived the great variety of names that we find in the course of it. +Some, as Caravaggio, derived no assistance from the study of the ancient +marbles, and other aids peculiar to the capital; and these may be said +to have been in the Roman School, but not to have formed a part of it. +Others adopted the principles of the disciples of Raffaello, and their +usual method was to study diligently both Raffaello and the ancient +marbles; and from the imitation of him, and more particularly of the +antique, resulted, if I err not, the general character, if I may so +express it, of the Roman School: the young artists who were expert in +copying statues and bassirelievi, and who had those objects always +before their eyes, could easily transfer their forms to the panel or the +canvas. Hence their style is formed on the antique, and their beauty is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg +106]</a></span>more ideal than that of other schools. This circumstance, +which was an advantage to those who knew how to use it, became a +disadvantage to others, leading them to give their figures the air of +statues, beautiful, but isolated, and not sufficiently animated. Others +have done themselves greater injury from copying the modern statues of +saints; a practice which facilitated the representation of devout +attitudes, the disposition of the folds in the garments of the monks and +priests, and other peculiarities which are not found in ancient +sculpture. But as sculpture has gradually deteriorated, it could not +have any beneficial influence on the sister art; and it has hence led +many into mannerism in the folds of their drapery, after Bernino and +Algardi; excellent artists, but who ought not to have influenced the art +of painting, as they did, in a city like Rome. The style of invention in +this school is, in general, judicious, the composition chaste, the +costume carefully observed, with a moderate study of ornament. I speak +of pictures in oil, for the frescos of this later period ought to be +separately considered. The colouring, on the whole, is not the most +brilliant, nor is it yet the most feeble; there being always a supply of +artists from the Lombards, or Flemings, who prevented it being entirely +neglected.</p> + +<p>We may now return to the original subject of our inquiry, examine the +principles of the Roman School, and attend it to its latest epoch. +Raffaello at all times employed a number of scholars, constantly <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg +107]</a></span>instructing and teaching them; whence he never went to +court, as we are assured by Vasari, without being accompanied by +probably fifty of the first artists, who attended him out of respect. He +employed every one in the way most agreeable to his talent. Some having +received sufficient instruction, returned to their native country, +others remained with him as long as he lived, and after his death +established themselves in Rome, where they became the germs of this new +school. At the head of all was Giulio Romano, whom, with Gio. Francesco +Penni, Raffaello appointed his heir, whence they both united in +finishing the works on which their master was employed at his death. +They associated to themselves as an assistant Perino del Vaga, and to +render the connexion permanent, they gave him a sister of Penni to his +wife. To these three were also joined some others who had worked under +Raffaello. On their first establishment they did not meet with any great +success, for, as Vasari informs us, the chief place in art being by +universal consent assigned to Fra Sebastiano, through the partiality of +Michelangiolo, the followers of Raffaello were kept in the back ground. +We may also add, as another cause, the death of Leo X., in 1521, and the +election of his successor, Adrian VI., a decided enemy to the fine arts, +by whom the public works contemplated, and already commenced by his +predecessor, remained neglected; and many artists, in consequence of the +want of employment, occasioned by this event, <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>and by the plague, in +1523, were reduced to the greatest distress. But Adrian dying after a +reign of twenty-three months, and Giulio de' Medici being elected in his +place under the name of Clement VII., the arts again revived. Raffaello, +before his death, had begun to paint the great saloon, and had designed +some figures, and left many sketches for the completion of it. It was +intended to represent four historical events, although the subjects of +some of them are disputed. These were the Apparition of the Cross, or +the harangue of Constantine; the battle wherein Maxentius is drowned, +and Constantine remains victor; the Baptism of Constantine, received +from the hands of S. Silvester; and the Donative of the city of Rome, +made to the same pontiff. Giulio finished the two first subjects, and +Giovanni Francesco the other two, and they added to them bassirelievi, +painted in imitation of bronze under each of the same subjects, with +some additional figures. They afterwards painted, or rather finished the +pictures of the villa at Monte Mario, a work ordered by the Cardinal +Giulio de' Medici, and suspended until the second or third year of his +papal reign. This villa was afterwards called di Madama, and there still +remain many traces, although suffering from time, of the munificence of +that prince, and the taste of the school of Raffaello. Giulio meanwhile, +with the permission of the pope, established himself in Mantua, Il +Fattore went to Naples; and some little time afterwards, in 1527, in +consequence of the sacking of Rome, and the <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>unrestrained licence of +the invading army, Vaga, Polidoro, Giovanni da Udine, Peruzzi, and +Vincenzio di S. Gimignano left Rome, and with them Parmigianino, who was +at this time in the capital, and passionately employed in studying the +works of Raffaello. This illustrious school was thus separated and +dispersed over Italy, and hence it happened that the new style was +quickly propagated, and gave birth to the florid schools, which form the +subjects of our other books. Although some of the scholars of Raffaello +might return to Rome, yet the brilliant epoch was past. The decline +became apparent soon after the sacking of the city, and from the time of +that event, the art daily degenerated in the capital, and ultimately +terminated in mannerism. But of this in its proper place. At present, +after this general notice of the school of Raffaello, we shall treat of +each particular scholar and of his assistants.</p> + +<p>Giulio Pippi, or Giulio Romano, the most distinguished pupil of +Raffaello, resembled his master more in energy than in delicacy of +style, and was particularly successful in subjects of war and battles, +which he represented with equal spirit and correctness. In his noble +style of design he emulates Michelangiolo, commands the whole mechanism +of the human body, and with a masterly hand renders it subservient to +all his wishes. His only fault is, that his demonstrations of motion are +sometimes too violent. Vasari preferred his drawings to his pictures, as +he thought that the fire of his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" +id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>original conception was apt to +evaporate, in some degree, in the finishing. Some have objected to the +squareness of his physiognomies, and have complained of his middle tints +being too dark. But Niccolo Poussin admired this asperity of colour in +his battle of Constantine, as suitable to the character of the subject. +In the picture of the church dell'Anima, which is a Madonna, accompanied +by Saints, and in others of that description, it does not produce so +good an effect. His cabinet pictures are rare, and sometimes too free in +their subjects. He generally painted in fresco, and his vast works at +Mantua place him at the head of that school, which indeed venerates him +as its founder.</p> + +<p>Gianfrancesco Penni of Florence, called Il Fattore, who when a boy +was a servant in the studio of Raffaello, became one of his principal +scholars, and assisted him more than any other in the cartoons of the +tapestries: he painted in the gallery of the Vatican the Histories of +Abraham and Isaac, noticed by Taja. Among other works left incomplete by +his master, and which he finished, is the Assumption of Monte Luci in +Perugia, the lower part of which, with the apostles, is painted by +Giulio, and the upper part, which abounds with Raffaellesque grace, is +ascribed to Il Fattore, although Vasari assigns it to Perino. Of the +works which he performed alone, his frescos in Rome have perished, and +so few of his oil pictures remain, that they are rarely to be found in +any collection. He is characterised by fertility of conception, grace +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg +111]</a></span>of execution, and a singular talent for landscape. He was +joint heir of Raffaello with Giulio, and wished to unite himself with +him in his profession; but being coldly received by Giulio in Mantua, he +proceeded to Naples, where he, as we shall see, contributed greatly to +the improvement of art, although cut off by an early death. Orlandi +notices two Penni in the school of Raffaello, comprehending Luca, a +brother of Gianfrancesco, a circumstance not improbable, and not, as far +as I know, contradicted by history. We are also told by Vasari, that +Luca united himself to Perino del Vaga, and worked with him at Lucca, +and in other places of Italy; that he followed Rosso into France, as we +have before observed; and that he ultimately passed into England, where +he painted for the king and private persons, and made designs for +prints.</p> + +<p>Perino del Vaga, whose true name was Pierino Buonaccorsi, was a +relation and fellow citizen of Penni. He had a share in the works of the +Vatican, where he at one time worked stuccos and arabesques with +Giovanni da Udine, at another time painted chiaroscuri with Polidoro, or +finished subjects from the sketches and after the style of Raffaello. +Vasari considered him the best designer of the Florentine School, after +Michelangiolo, and at the head of all those who assisted Raffaello. It +is certain, at least, that no one could, like him, compete with Giulio, +in that universality of talent so conspicuous in Raffaello; and the +subjects from the New Testament, which he painted in the papal <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg +112]</a></span>gallery, were praised by Taja above all others. In his +style there is a great mixture of the Florentine, as may be seen at +Rome, in the Birth of Eve, in the church of S. Marcello, where there are +some children painted to the life, a most finished performance. A +convent at Tivoli possesses a S. John in the desart, by him, with a +landscape in the best style. There are many works by him in Lucca, and +Pisa, but more particularly in Genoa, where we shall have occasion again +to consider him as the origin of a celebrated school.</p> + +<p>Giovanni da Udine, by a writer of Udine called Giovanni di Francesco +Ricamatore, (Boni, p. 25,) likewise assisted Sanzio in arabesques and +stuccos, and painted ornaments in the gallery of the Vatican, in the +apartments of the pope, and in many other places. Indeed, in the art of +working in stucco, he is ranked as the first among the moderns,<a +name="fnanchor_53" id="fnanchor_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[53]</sup></a> having, after long experience, +imitated the style of the baths of Titus, discovered at that time in +Rome, and opened afresh in our own days.<a name="fnanchor_54" +id="fnanchor_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[54]</sup></a> His foliage and shells, his +aviaries and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg +113]</a></span>birds, painted in the above mentioned places, and in +other parts of Rome and Italy, deceive the eye by their exquisite +imitation; and in the animals more particularly, and the indigenous and +foreign birds, he seems to have reached the highest point of excellence. +He was also remarkable for counterfeiting with his pencil every species +of furniture; and a story is told, that having left some imitations of +carpets one day in the gallery of Raffaello, a groom in the service of +the Pope coming in haste in search of a carpet to place in a room, ran +to snatch up one of those of Giovanni, deceived by the similitude. After +the sacking of Rome he visited other parts of Italy, leaving wherever he +went, works in the most perfect and brilliant style of ornament. This +will occasion us to notice him in other schools. At an advanced age he +returned to Rome, where he was provided with a pension from the Pope, +till the time of his death.<a name="fnanchor_55" id="fnanchor_55"></a><a +href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor"><sup>[55]</sup></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg +114]</a></span>Polidoro da Caravaggio, from a manual labourer in the +works of the Vatican, became an artist of the first celebrity, and +distinguished himself in the imitation of antique bassirelievi, painting +both sacred and profane subjects in a most beautiful chiaroscuro. +Nothing of this kind was ever seen more perfect, whether we consider the +composition, the mechanism, or the design; and Raffaello and he, of all +artists, are considered in this respect to have approached nearest to +the style of the ancients. Rome was filled with the richest friezes, +façades, and ornaments over doors, painted by him and Maturino of +Florence, an excellent designer, and his partner; but these, to the +great loss of art, have nearly all perished. The fable of Niobe, in the +Maschera d'Oro, which was one of their most celebrated works, has +suffered less than any other from the ravages of time and the hand of +barbarism. This loss has been in some measure mitigated by the prints of +Cherubino Alberti, and Santi Bartoli, who engraved many of these works +before they perished. Polidoro lost his comrade by death in Rome, as was +supposed, by the plague, and he himself repaired to Naples, and from +thence to Sicily, where he fell a victim to the cupidity of his own +servant, who assassinated him. With him invention, grace, and freedom of +hand, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg +115]</a></span> seem to have died. This notice of him as an artist may +suffice for the present, as we shall again recur to him in the fourth +book, as one of the masters of the Neapolitan School.</p> + +<p>Pellegrino da Modena, of the family of Munari, of all the scholars of +Raffaello, perhaps resembled him the most in the air of his heads, and a +peculiar grace of attitude. After having painted in an incomparable +manner the history of Jacob, before mentioned, and others of the same +patriarch, and some from the life of Solomon, in the gallery of the +Vatican, under Raffaello, he remained in Rome employed in the decoration +of many of the churches, until his master's death. He then returned to +his native place, where he became the head of a numerous succession of +Raffaellesque painters, as we shall in due time relate.</p> + +<p>Bartolommeo Ramenghi, or as he is sometimes named, Bagnacavallo, and +by Vasari Il Bologna, is also included in the catalogue of those who +worked in the gallery. There is not however any known work of his in +Rome, and we may say the same of Biagio Pupini, a Bolognese, with whom +he afterwards united himself to paint in Bologna. Vasari is not prodigal +of praise towards the first, and writes with the most direct censure +against the second. Of their merits we shall speak more fully in the +Bolognese School, to which Bagnacavallo was the first to communicate a +new and better style.</p> + +<p>Besides these, Vasari mentions Vincenzio di S. <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg +116]</a></span>Gimignano, in Tuscany, to whom, as a highly successful +imitator of Raffaello, he gives great praise, referring to some façades +in fresco by him, which have now perished. After the sacking of Rome he +returned home, but so changed and dispirited, that he appeared quite +another person, and we have no account of any of his subsequent works. +Schizzone, a comrade of Vincenzio, a most promising artist, shared the +same fate; and we find also, in the Bolognese School, Cavedone losing +his powers by some great mental affliction. Among the subjects of the +Vatican we do not find any ascribed to Vincenzio, but we may perhaps +assign to him the history of Moses in Horeb, which Taja, on mere +conjecture, ascribes to the bold pencil of Raffaele del Colle, who was +employed by Raffaello in the Farnesina, and in the Hall of Constantine, +under Giulio. Of this artist and his successors we have spoken in the +first book, where we have made some additions to the account of +Vasari.</p> + +<p>Timoteo della Vite, of Urbino, after some years spent at Bologna in +studying under Francesco Francia, returned to his native city, and from +thence repaired to the academy which his countryman and relation +Raffaello had opened in the Vatican. He assisted Raffaello at the Pace, +in the fresco of the Sybils, of which he retained the cartoons; and +after some time, from some cause or other, he returned to Urbino, and +there passed the remainder of his days. He brought with him to <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg +117]</a></span>Rome, a method of painting which partook much of the +manner of the early masters, as may be seen in some of his Madonnas, at +the palace Bonaventura, and the chapter of Urbino; and in a Discovery of +the Cross in the church of the conventuals of Pesaro. He improved his +style under Raffaello, and acquired much of his grace, attitudes, and +colour, though he always remained a limited inventor, with a certain +timidity of touch, more correct than vigorous. The picture of the +Conception at the Osservanti of Urbino, and the Noli me Tangere, in the +church of S. Angelo, at Cagli, are the best pieces that remain of +Timoteo. Pietro della Vite, who is supposed to have been his brother, +painted in the same style, but in an inferior manner. This Pietro is, +perhaps, the relative and heir of Raffaello, whom Baldinucci mentions in +his fifth volume. The same writer affirms, at the end of his fourth +volume, that the artists of Urbino included amongst the scholars of +Raffaello one Crocchia, and assign to him a picture at the Capuchins in +Urbino, of which I have no further knowledge.</p> + +<p>Benvenuto Tisi, of Ferrara, or as he is generally called, Il +Garofalo, also studied only a little time under Sanzio; but it was +sufficient to enable him to become, as we shall notice hereafter, the +chief of the Ferrarese School. He imitated Raffaello in design, in the +character of his faces, and in expression, and considerably also in his +colouring, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg +118]</a></span>although he added something of a warmer and stronger +cast, derived from his own school. Rome, Bologna, and other cities of +Italy, abound with his pictures from the lives of the apostles. They are +of various merit, and are not wholly painted by himself. In his large +pictures he stands more alone, and many of these are to be found in the +Chigi gallery. The Visitation in the Palazzo Doria, is one of the first +pieces in that rich collection. This artist was accustomed, in allusion +to his name, to mark his pictures with a violet, which the common people +in Italy call garofalo. It does not appear from Vasari, Titi, and Taja, +that Garofalo had any share in the works which were executed by +Raffaello and his scholars.</p> + +<p>Gaudenzio Ferrari is mentioned by Titi, as an assistant of Raffaello +in the story of Psyche, and we shall advert to him again in another book +as chief of the Milanese School. Orlandi, on the credit of some more +modern writers, asserts, that he worked with Raffaello also at Torre +Borgia; and before that time, he considers him to have been a scholar of +Scotto and Perugino. In Florence, and in other places in Lower Italy, +some highly finished pictures are attributed to him, which partake of +the preceding century, though they do not seem allied to the school of +Perugino. Of these pictures we shall resume our notice hereafter; at +present it may be sufficient to remark, that in Lombardy, where he +resided, there is not a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" +id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>picture in that style to be found with +his name attached to it. He is always Raffaellesque, and follows the +chiefs of the Roman School.</p> + +<p>Vasari also notices Jacomone da Faenza. This artist assiduously +studied the works of Raffaello, and from long practice in copying them, +became himself an inventor. He flourished in Romagna, and it was from +him that a Raffaellesque taste was diffused throughout that part of +Italy. He is also mentioned by Baldinucci, and we shall endeavour to +make him better known in his proper place.</p> + +<p>Besides the above mentioned scholars and assistants of Raffaello, +several others are enumerated by writers, of whom we may give a short +notice. Il Pistoja, a scholar of Il Fattore, and probably employed by +him in the works of Sanzio, as Raffaellino del Colle was with Giulio, is +mentioned as a scholar of Raffaello by Baglione, and, on the credit of +that writer, also by Taja. We mentioned him among the Tuscans, and shall +further notice him in Naples, where we shall also find Andrea da +Salerno, head of that school, whom Dominici proves to be a scholar of +Raffaello.</p> + +<p>In the <i>Memorie di Monte Rubbiano</i>, edited by Colucci, at page +10, Vincenzo Pagani, a native of that country, is mentioned as a pupil +of the same master. There remains of him in the collegiate church there, +a most beautiful picture of the Assumption; and the Padre Civalli points +out another in Fallerone and two at Sarnano, in the <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg +120]</a></span>church of his religious fraternity, much extolled, and in +a Raffaellesque manner, if we are to credit report. This painter, of +whom, in Piceno, I find traces to the year 1529, again appears in Umbria +in 1553, where Lattanzio his son, being elected a magistrate of Perugia, +he transferred himself thither, and was employed to paint the altarpiece +of the Cappella degli Oddi, in the church of the Conventuals, as we have +already mentioned. According to the conditions of the contract, +Paparelli had a share with him in this work, and he must be considered +as an assistant of Vincenzo, both because he is named as holding the +second place, and because he is reported by Vasari on other occasions, +as having been an assistant. But as history mentions nothing relative to +this picture, except the contract, we shall content ourselves with +observing, that this praiseworthy artist, who was passed over in silence +for so many years, still painted in the year 1553. Whether he was a +scholar of Raffaello, or whether this was a tradition which arose in his +own country in progress of time, supported only on the consideration of +his age and his style, is a point to be decided by proofs of more +authority than those we possess. I agree with the Sig. Arciprete +Lazzari, when, writing of F. Bernardo Catelani of Urbino, who painted in +Cagli the picture of the great altar in the church of the Capucins, he +says, that he had there exhibited the style of the school of Raffaello, +but he does not consider him his scholar.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg +121]</a></span>It has been asserted, that Marcantonio Raimondi painted +some pictures from the sketches of Raffaello, in a style which excited +the admiration of the designer himself; but this appears doubtful, and +is so considered by Malvasia. L'Armenini also assigns to this school, +Scipione Sacco, a painter of Cesena, and Orlandi, Don Pietro da Bagnaja, +whom we shall mention in the Romagna School. Some have added to it +Bernardino Lovino, and others Baldassare Peruzzi, a supposition which we +shall shew to be erroneous. Padre della Valle has more recently revived +an opinion, that Correggio may be ranked in the same school, and that he +was probably employed in the gallery, and might have painted the subject +of the Magi, attributed by Vasari to Perino. This is conjectured from +the peculiar smile of the mother and the infant. But these surmises and +conjectures we may consider as the chaff of that author, who has +nevertheless presented us with much substantial information. We shall +now advert to the foreigners of this school. Bellori has enumerated, +among the imitators of Raffaello, Michele Cockier, or Cocxie, of +Malines, of whom there remain some pictures in fresco in the church +dell'Anima. Being afterwards in Flanders, where several works of +Raffaello were engraved by Cock, he was accused of plagiarism, but still +maintained a considerable reputation; as to a fertile invention he added +a graceful style of execution. Many of his best pictures passed into +Spain, and were there <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" +id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> purchased at great prices. Palomino +acquaints us with another excellent scholar of Sanzio, Pier Campanna, of +Flanders, who, although he could not entirely divest himself of the +hardness of his native school, was still highly esteemed in his day. He +resided twenty years in Italy, and was employed in Venice by the +Patriarch Grimani, for whom he painted several portraits, and the +celebrated picture of the Magdalen led by Saint Martha to the Temple, to +hear the preaching of Christ. This picture, which was bequeathed by the +Patriarch to a friend, after a lapse of many years, passed into the +hands of Mr. Slade, an English gentleman. Pier Campanna distinguished +himself in Bologna, by painting a triumphal arch on the arrival of +Charles V., by whom he was invited to Seville, where he resided a +considerable time, painting and instructing pupils, among whom is +reckoned Morales, who, from his countrymen, had the appellation of the +divine. He was accustomed to paint small pictures, which were eagerly +sought after by the English, and transferred to their country, where +they are highly prized. Of his altarpieces, several remain in Seville, +and we may mention the Purification, in the Cathedral, and the +Deposition at S. Croce, as the most esteemed. Murillo, who was himself a +truly noble artist, greatly admired and studied this latter picture, +which, even after we have seen the masterpieces of the Italian School, +still excites our astonishment and admiration. This artist, to some +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg +123]</a></span>one, who, in his latter years, inquired why he so often +repaired to this picture, replied, that he waited the moment when the +body of Christ should reach the ground. Mention is also made of one +Mosca, whether a native or foreigner I know not, as a doubtful disciple +of this school. Christ on his way to Mount Calvary, now in the Academy +in Mantua, is certainly a Raffaellesque picture, but we may rather +consider Mosca an imitator and copyist, than a pupil of Raffaello. In +the edition of Palomino, published in London, 1742, I find some others +noticed as scholars of Raffaello, who being born a little before or +after 1520, could not possibly belong to him; as Gaspare Bacerra, the +assistant of Vasari; Alfonso Sanchez, of Portugal; Giovanni di Valencia; +Fernando Jannes. It is not unusual to find similar instances in the +history of painting, and the reports have for the most part originated +in the last age. Whenever the artists of a country began to collect +notices of the masters who had preceded them, their style had become the +prevailing taste; and as if human genius could attain no improvement +beyond that which it receives subserviently from another, every imitator +was supposed to be a scholar of the artist imitated, and every school, +arrogating to itself the names of the first masters, endeavoured to load +itself with fresh honours.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_26" id="Footnote_26"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_26">[26]</a> +Hist. Rom. vol. i. ad calcem.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_27" id="Footnote_27"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_27">[27]</a> +Besides his life by Vasari, another was published by Sig. Abate Comolli, +which I consider posterior to that of Vasari. Memoirs of him were also +collected by Piacenza, Bottari, and other authors whom I shall notice; +and I shall also avail myself of the information derived from the +inspection of his pictures, and their character, and the various dates +of his works.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_28" id="Footnote_28"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_28">[28]</a> +We find his name written <i>Io. Sanctis</i> in the Nunziata of +Sinigaglia; and it appears that he was born of a father called, +according to the expression of that age, <i>Santi</i> or <i>Sante</i>; a +name in common use in many parts of Italy. In support of the surname of +Sanzio, Bottari produces a portrait of Antonio Sanzio, which exists in +the Palazzo Albani, representing him holding in his hands a document, +with the title of <i>Genealogia Raphaelis Sanctii Urbinatis</i>. Julius +Sanctius is there named as the head of the family, <i>familiæ quæ adhuc +Urbini illustris extat, ab agris dividendis cognomen imposuit</i>, and +was the progenitor of Antonio. From the latter, and through a +Sebastiano, and afterwards through a Gio. Batista, descends Giovanni, +<i>ex quo ortus est Raphael qui pinxit a. 1519</i>. It is also recorded +that Sebastiano had a brother, Galeazzo, <i>egregium pictorem</i>, and +the father of three painters, Antonio, Vincenzio, and Giulio, called +<i>maximus pictor</i>. Thus in this branch of the Sanzii are enumerated +four painters, of whom I do not find any memorial in Urbino. The family +also boasts of a Canon in divinity, and a distinguished captain of +infantry. The anonymous writer of Comolli confirms this illustrious +origin of Raffaello; but it is highly probable, that in that age, when +the forgery of genealogies, as Tiraboschi observes, was a common +practice, he may have adopted it without any examination. The portrait +of Antonio is well executed, but it has been said that it would have +been much more so, if Raffaello had painted it a year before his death, +according to the inscription. If connoisseurs (who alone ought to decide +this point) should be of this opinion, it may be suspected that the +person that counterfeited the hand of the artist, might also substitute +the writing; or we may at least conclude, that the etymology of Sanzio +should be sought for in the word <i>Sanctis</i>, the name of the +grandfather of Raffaello, not in <i>sancire</i>, (to divide fields or +property). In tom. xxxi. of the Ant. Picene, a will is produced of Ser +Simone di Antonio, in 1477, where a <i>Magister Baptista, qu. Peri +Sanctis de Peris</i>, who is called <i>Pittor di grido e di +eccellenza</i>, leaves his son Tommaso his heir, to whom is substituted +a son of Antonio his brother, of the name of Francesco. I may remark, +that in this <i>Batista di Pier Sante de' Pieri</i>, we may find the +surname of a family different from that of Sanzia. But on this subject I +hope we shall shortly be favoured with more certain information by the +Sig. Arciprete Lazzari, who has obliged me with many valuable +contributions to the present edition of this work.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_29" id="Footnote_29"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_29">[29]</a> +Condivi, in his Life of Bonarruoti, (num. 67.) assures us that Michael +Angelo was not of a jealous temper, but spoke well of all artists, not +excepting Raffaello di Urbino, "between whom and himself there existed, +as I have mentioned, an emulation in painting; and the utmost that he +said was, that Raffaello did not inherit his excellences from nature, +but obtained them through study and application."</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_30" id="Footnote_30"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_30">[30]</a> +See the Preface to the Life of Raffaello, by Vasari, <i>ediz. +Senese</i>, p. 228, where the will is quoted.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_31" id="Footnote_31"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_31">[31]</a> +Vasari states, that that event occurred either whilst Michaelangelo was +employed upon the Statues in S. Pietro in Vincoli, or whilst he was +painting the vault of the Sistine Chapel, that is, some years +afterwards, when Raffaello was in Rome. To this second opinion, which is +the most common one, I formerly assented; but since, on perusal of a +Brief of Julius II. (Lett. Pittoriche, tom. iii. p. 320) in which that +Pope invites Michael Angelo back to Rome, and promises that <i>illæsus, +inviolatusque erit</i>, I am inclined to believe that the Cartoon was +finished in 1506, which is the date of the brief; so that Raffaello, if +he could not see it on his first visit to Florence, might at least have +done so on his second or third.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_32" id="Footnote_32"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_32">[32]</a> +See Vasari, ed. Sen. tom. v. p. 238, where we find the Letter written +from him to one of his uncles, with all the provincialisms common to the +inhabitants of Urbino and its neighbourhood.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_33" id="Footnote_33"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_33">[33]</a> +Malvasia, <i>Felsina Pittrice</i>, tom. i. p. 45. There are some facts, +however, in opposition to this letter, and which seem to prove that +Raffaello did not go to Rome until 1510. But the Sig. Abate Francesconi +is now employed in rectifying the chronology of the Life and Works of +Sanzio; and from his critical sagacity we may expect the solution of +this difficulty.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_34" id="Footnote_34"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_34">[34]</a> +See Le Aggiunte al Vasari. Ed. Senese, p. 223.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_35" id="Footnote_35"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_35">[35]</a> +A sonnet by him is referred to by Sig. Piacenza, in his notes to +Baldinucci, tom. xi. p. 371.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_36" id="Footnote_36"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_36">[36]</a> +In compliance with the wishes of Leo X. he made drawings of the +buildings of Ancient Rome, and accompanied them with descriptions, +employing the compass to ascertain their admeasurement. We owe this +information to Sig. Abate Francesconi, who has restored to Sanzio a +letter, formerly attributed to Castiglione. It is a sort of dedication +of the work to Leo X.; but the work itself and the drawings are lost; +and many of the edifices measured by Raffaello were destroyed in the +following Pontificates. The Abate Morelli has made public a high +eulogium on this work, by a contemporary pen, in the notes to the +Notizia, page 210. It is written by one Marcantonio Michiel, who +asserts, that Raffaello had drawn the ancient buildings of Rome in such +a manner, and shewn their proportions, forms, and ornaments so +correctly, that whoever had inspected them might be said to have seen +Ancient Rome.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_37" id="Footnote_37"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_37">[37]</a> +In a brief of Leo X. 1514, mentioned by Sig. Piacenza, tom. ii. p. +321.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_38" id="Footnote_38"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_38">[38]</a> +</p> +<div class="footnote poem"> +<span class="i1">Cæsaris in nomen ducuntur carmina: Cæsar</span> +<span class="i0">Dum canitur, quæso, Jupiter ipse vaces.</span> +<span class="i8">Prop. lib. iv. Eleg. vi.</span> +</div> + + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_39" id="Footnote_39"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_39">[39]</a> +Vol. ii. p. 323 et seq.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_40" id="Footnote_40"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_40">[40]</a> +See the first letter of Crespi, Lettere Pittoriche, tom. ii. p. 338.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_41" id="Footnote_41"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_41">[41]</a> +Mengs has observed, that Raffaello diligently studied the bassirelievi +of the arches of Titus and Constantine, which were on the arch of +Trajan, and adopted from them his manner of marking the articulations of +the joints, and a more simple and an easier mode of expressing the +contour of the fleshy parts. Riflessioni sopra i tre gran Pittori, +&c. cap. 1.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_42" id="Footnote_42"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_42">[42]</a> +Riflessioni su la bellezza e sul gusto della Pittura, parte iii. cap. 1, +and see the <i>Osservazioni</i> of the Cav. Azara on that tract, §. +xii.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_43" id="Footnote_43"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_43">[43]</a> +A doubt has arisen on the exact time in which he painted the Prophet and +the Sybils, and from the grandeur of their style doubts have been thrown +on Vasari's account, that they were painted anterior to 1511. But a +painter who is the master of his art, elevates or lowers his style +according to his subject. The Sybils are in Raffaello's grandest style; +and that they are amongst his earliest works, is proved from his having +had Timoteo della Vite, as his assistant in them.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_44" id="Footnote_44"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_44">[44]</a> +Lett. Pittor. tom. v. p. 131.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_45" id="Footnote_45"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_45">[45]</a> +Commencing at p. 139.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_46" id="Footnote_46"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_46">[46]</a> +I do not find that any mention has been made of his picture in the +possession of the Olivieri family at Pesaro, or of the one in the +Basilica di Loreto in the Treasury, which seems to be the same which was +formerly in the church of the Madonna del Popolo, or a copy of it. I +have seen a similar subject in the Lauretana, belonging to the Signori +Pirri, in Rome. At Sassoferrato also, on the great altar of the church +of the Capucins, there is a Virgin and child, said to be by him; but it +is more probably by Fra Bernardo Catelani. There exist engravings of the +two first, but I have not seen any of the last.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_47" id="Footnote_47"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_47">[47]</a> +Riflessioni sopra i tre gran Pittori, &c., cap. i. § 2.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_48" id="Footnote_48"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_48">[48]</a> +Lo dico con questa condizione che V. S. si trovasse meco a far la scelta +del meglio: ma essendo carestia e di buoni giudici e di belle donne, mi +servo di una certa idea che mi viene in mente. Lett. Pittor. tom. i. p. +84.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_49" id="Footnote_49"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_49">[49]</a> +Plin. Hist. Natur. lib. xxxv. cap. 10. Quintil. Instit. Orat. xii. +10.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_50" id="Footnote_50"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_50">[50]</a> +Portraits of Raffaello are to be found in the Duomo, and in the Sacristy +of Siena, in more than one picture; but it is doubtful whether by his +own hand or that of Pinturicchio. That which is mentioned in the Guida +di Perugia, as being in a picture of the Resurrection at the +Conventuals, is said to be by Pietro Perugino: and in the Borghese +gallery in Rome, there is one, supposed to be by the hand of Timoteo +della Vite. The portrait in the gallery in Florence, by Da Vinci, bears +some resemblance to Raffaello, but it is not he. Another which I have +seen in Bologna, ought, perhaps, to be ascribed to Giulio Romano. One of +the most authentic portraits of Raffaello, by his own hand, next to the +one in the picture of S. Luke, is that in the Medici Collection in the +<i>Stanza de' Pittori</i>, though this is not in his best manner.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_51" id="Footnote_51"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_51">[51]</a> +Idée de Peintre parfait, chap. xix.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_52" id="Footnote_52"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_52">[52]</a> +Engraved by Morghen. The three figures, the Madonna, the Infant, and St. +John, appear almost alive. It should seem that Raffaello made several +studies for this picture, and he painted one without the St. John, which +remained for some time in Urbino. I saw a copy in the possession of the +Calamini family, at Recanati, which was said to be by Baroccio, and at +all events belonging to his school. I have seen the same subject in the +Casa Olivieri, at Pesaro, and at Cortona, in the possession of another +noble family, to whom it had passed by inheritance from Urbino, and was +considered to be by Raffaello. The faces in these are not so beautiful, +nor the colours so fine; they are round, and in a larger circle, with +some variations: I have also seen a copy in the Sacristy of S. Luigi de' +Franzesi, in Rome, and in the Palazzo Giustiniani.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_53" id="Footnote_53"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_53">[53]</a> +Morto da Feltro sotto Alessandro VI., cominciò a dipingere a grottesco, +ma senza stucchi. Baglione, Vite, p. 21.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_54" id="Footnote_54"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_54">[54]</a> +The entrance into these baths was designedly and maliciously closed. +Serlio, in speaking of the various arabesques in Pozzuolo, Baja, and +Rome, says that they were injured or destroyed by the artists who had +copied them, through a jealous feeling lest others should also avail +themselves of the opportunity of studying them, (lib. iv. c. 11). The +names of these destroyers, which Serlio has suppressed, posterity has +been desirous of recovering, and some have accused Raffaello, others +Pinturicchio, and others Vaga, or Giovanni da Udine, or rather his +scholars and assistants, "of whom," says Vasari, "there were an infinite +number in every part of Italy." This subject is ably discussed by +Mariotti, in <i>Lettera</i> ix. p. 224, and in the <i>Memorie delle +belle Arti</i>, per l'anno 1788, p. 24.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_55" id="Footnote_55"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_55">[55]</a> +It was charged on the office of the Piombo, or papal signet, when +Sebastiano da Venezia was invested with it, and was a pension of three +hundred scudi. Padre Federici observes that the one was designated Fra +Sebastiano, but that the other was not called Fra Giovanni; nor is this +remarkable, for a Bishop is called Monsignore, but the person who enjoys +a pension charged upon a Bishoprick has not the same title. It cannot +however be deduced from this, as Federici wishes to do, that Sebastiano +was first Frate di S. Domenico, by the name of F. Marco Pensaben, and +afterwards secularized by the Pope, and appointed to the signet, and +that he retained the <i>Fra</i> in consequence of his former +situation.</p> + +<p class="p4"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg +124]</a></span></p> + +<h4>ROMAN SCHOOL.</h4> + +<h4>EPOCH III.</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><i>The art declines in consequence of the public +calamities of Rome, and gradually falls into mannerism.</i></div> + +<p class="p2">After the mournful events of the year 1527, Rome for some +time remained in a state of stupor, contemplating her past misfortunes +and her future destiny; and, like a vessel escaped from shipwreck, began +slowly to repair her numerous losses. The soldiers of the besieging +army, among other injuries committed in the Apostolic palace, had +defaced some heads of Raffaello; and F. Sebastiano, an artist by no +means competent to such a task, was employed to repair them. This, at +least, was the opinion of Titian, who was introduced to these works, and +ignorant of the circumstances, asked Sebastiano what presumptuous wretch +had had the audacity to attempt their restoration;<a name="fnanchor_56" +id="fnanchor_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[56]</sup></a> an impartial observation, against +which even the patronage of Michelangiolo could not shield the artist. +Paul III. was now in possession of the papal chair, and under his +auspices the arts again began to revive. The decoration of the palace of +Caprarola, and other works of Paul and his nephews, <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>gave +employment to the painters, and happy had these patrons been, could they +have found a second Raffaello. Bonarruoti, as we have observed, was +engaged by the Pope, and gave to the Roman School many noble specimens +of art, though he formed but few scholars. Sebastiano, after the death +of Raffaello, freed from all further competition with that great artist, +and honoured with the lucrative office of the papal signet, seemed +disposed to rest from his labours; and as he had never, at any time, +discovered great application, he now resigned himself to a life of +vacant leisure, and Vasari does not mention with commendation any pupil +of his school except Laureti.<a name="fnanchor_57" +id="fnanchor_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[57]</sup></a> Giulio Romano was now invited back +to Rome, and the superintendence of the building of S. Peter's offered +to him, but death prevented his return to his native city. Perino del +Vaga, however, repaired to Rome, and might, himself, have effected the +restoration of art, if his magnanimity had corresponded with the +sublimity of his mind. But he did not inherit the daring genius of his +master. He communicated his instructions with jealousy, and worked with +a spirit of gain, or to speak correctly, <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>he did not paint +himself, but undertaking works of more or less consequence, he allowed +his scholars to execute them, often to the injury of his own reputation. +He continued to secure to himself artists of the first talents, as we +shall see; but this was done with the intention of making them dependant +on him, and to prevent their interfering with his emoluments and +commissions. But together with the good, he engaged also many +indifferent and inferior artists, whence it happens, that in the +chambers of the castle of S. Angelo, and in other places, we meet with +so marked a difference in many of his works. Few of his scholars +attained celebrity. Luzio Romano is the most noted, and possessed a good +execution. Of him there exists a frieze in the Palazzo Spada; and for +some time, too, he had for an assistant Marcello Venusti of Mantua, a +young man of great talents, but diffident, and probably standing in need +of more instruction than Perino afforded him. He afterwards received +some instructions from Bonarruoti, whose ideas he executed in an +excellent manner, as I have mentioned before, and by his aid he became +himself also a good designer.<a name="fnanchor_58" +id="fnanchor_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[58]</sup></a> Perino, by these means, always +abounded in work and in money. A similar traffic in the art was carried +on by Taddeo Zuccaro, if we are to believe Vasari; <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>and +by Vasari himself, too, if we may be allowed to judge from his +pictures.</p> + +<p>The actual state of the art at this period may be ascertained from a +view of the numerous works produced; but none are so distinguished as +the paintings in the Sala Regia, commenced under Paul III., and scarcely +finished, after a lapse of thirty years, in 1573. Of these Vaga had the +direction, as Raffaello had formerly had, of the chambers of the +Vatican. He planned the compartments, ornamented the ceiling, directed +all the stuccos, cornices, devices, and large figures, and all in the +style of a great master. He then applied himself to design the subjects +for his pencil, and was employed on them when he was carried off by +death in 1547. Through the partiality of Michelangiolo, he was succeeded +by Daniel di Volterra, who had already worked in stucco, under his +direction, in the same place. Volterra resolved to represent the +donations of those sovereigns who had extended or consolidated the +temporal dominion of the church, whence the chamber was called Sala dei +Regi, and this idea was, in some degree, though with variations, +continued by succeeding artists. Volterra was naturally slow and +irresolute, and after painting the Deposition from the Cross, which we +have mentioned as being executed with the assistance of Michelangiolo, +he produced no more of these prodigies of art. He had indeed begun some +designs, but on the death of the Pope, in 1549, he was compelled, in +order to accommodate the conclave, to <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>remove the scaffolding, +and expose the work unfinished. It did not meet with public approbation, +nor was it continued under Julius III., and still less under Paul IV., +in whose reign the art was held in so little respect, that the apostles, +painted by Raffaello in one of the chambers of the Vatican, were +displaced.</p> + +<p>Pius IV., who resumed the work, on the suggestion of Vasari, in 1561, +had intended to charge Salviati with the entire execution of it; but, by +the intercessions of Bonarruoti, was at length prevailed on to assign +one half of the apartment to Salviati, and the other half to +Ricciarelli, though this did not contribute to expedite the work. Pirro +Ligorio, a Neapolitan, was at this time held in high esteem by the Pope. +He was an antiquarian, though not of great celebrity, but a good +architect, and a fresco painter of some merit;<a name="fnanchor_59" +id="fnanchor_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[59]</sup></a> an enthusiast too, and alike +jealous of Ricciarelli, for the homage he paid to Bonarruoti, and of +Salviati, for the respect which he did not shew to Ligorio himself. +Remarking that the Pope wished to hasten the completion of the work, he +proposed to select a number of scholars, and to divide the work amongst +them. Vasari adds, that Salviati was disgusted and left Rome; where, on +his return, he died, without finishing his work; <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>and +that Ricciarelli, who was always slow, never touched it again, and died +also after the lapse of some little time. The completion of the work was +then entrusted, as far as possible, to the successors of Raffaello. +Livio Agresti da Forli, Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta, and Marco da +Pino, of Sienna, although they had received their first instructions +from other masters, had been instructed by Perino del Vaga, and had +assisted in his cartoons. Taddeo Zuccaro had accomplished himself under +Giacomone da Faenza, and had made his younger brother Federigo an able +artist. To these the work was assigned, and there were added to them +Samacchini and Fiorini, Bolognese artists; and Giuseppe Porta della +Garfagnana, called Giuseppe Salviati. This latter had been the pupil of +Francesco Salviati, from whom he learnt the principles of design; he was +afterwards a follower of the school of Venice, where he resided. Of +these numerous artists Vasari assigns the palm to Taddeo Zuccaro, but +the court was so much pleased with Porta, that it was in contemplation +to destroy the works of the other artists, in order that the apartment +might be finished by him alone. He represented Alexander III. in the act +of bestowing his benediction on Frederick Barbarossa, in the Piazza of +S. Mark, in Venice; and he here indulged his taste for architectural +ornaments, in the Venetian manner. When however this work is viewed and +compared with that of other artists, we discover a sameness of style, +the character of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" +id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>the time; a deficiency of strength in +the colours and shadows is the common failing. It seems as if the art, +through a long course of years, had become debilitated: it discovers the +lineaments of a better age, but feebly expressed and deprived of their +primitive vigour. That portion of the work which remained unfinished, +was, after the death of Pius IV., completed by Vasari and his school, +under his successor; and some little was supplied under Gregory XIII., +who was elected in 1572.</p> + +<p>With that year a reign commenced but little auspicious to art, and +still less so was the Pontificate of Sixtus V., the successor of +Gregory. These Pontiffs erected or ornamented so many public buildings, +that we can scarcely move a step in Rome, without meeting with the papal +arms of a dragon or a lion. Baglione has accurately described them, and +to him we are indebted for the lives of the artists of this and the +following period. It is natural for men advanced in years to content +themselves with mediocrity in the works which they order, from the +apprehension of not living to see them, if they wait for the riper +efforts of talent. Hence those artists were the most esteemed, and the +most employed, who possessed despatch and facility of execution, +particularly by Sixtus, of whose severity towards dilatory artists we +shall shortly adduce a memorable instance. This inaccuracy of style was +continued to the time of Clement VIII., when a number of works were +hastily finished to meet the opening of the holy year <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg +131]</a></span>1600. Under these pontiffs the painters of Italy, and +even the <i>oltramontani</i>, inundated Rome with their works, in the +same manner that the poets and philosophers had filled that city with +their writings in the time of Domitian and Marcus Aurelius. Every one +indulged his own taste; and the style of many was deteriorated through +rapidity of execution. Thus the art, particularly in fresco, became the +employment of a mechanic, not founded in the just imitation of nature, +but in the capricious ideas of the artist.<a name="fnanchor_60" +id="fnanchor_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[60]</sup></a> Nor was the colouring better than +the design. At no period do we find such an abuse of the simple tints, +in none so feeble a chiaroscuro, or less harmony. These are the +mannerists, who peopled the churches, convents, and saloons of Rome with +their works, but in the collections of the nobility they have not had +the same good fortune.</p> + +<p>This era, nevertheless, is not wholly to be condemned, as it contains +several great names, the relics of the preceding illustrious age. We +have enumerated the painters who flourished in Rome in the first reigns +of this century, and we ought to notice a number of others. They were +for the most part foreigners, and ought to be introduced in other +schools. I shall here describe those particularly, who were born within +the limits of the Roman School, and those who, being established in it, +taught and propagated their own peculiar style.</p> + +<p>Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta, who adopted <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg +132]</a></span>Raffaello's style, may be enumerated among the scholars +of that great man, from his felicitous imitation of their common master. +In the Sala de' Regi, in the Vatican, he painted Pepin, King of France, +bestowing Ravenna on the church, after having made Astolfo, King of the +Lombards, his prisoner. But he approached Raffaello more closely in some +of his oil pictures than in his frescos, <ins title="'as as' in the +original"> as</ins> in the martyrdom of S. Lucia, in the church of S. +Maria Maggiore; in the Transfiguration in Ara Cœli, and in the +Nativity in the church della Pace, a subject which he repeated in the +most graceful style in the church of Osimo. His masterpiece is in Ancona +on the great altar in the church of S. Bartolommeo, a vast composition, +original and rich in invention, and commensurate with the grandeur of +the subject, and the multitude of saints that are introduced in it. The +throne of the Virgin is seen above, amidst a brilliant choir of angels, +and on either side a virgin saint in the attitude of adoration. To this +height there is a beautiful ascent on each side, and the picture is thus +divided into a higher and lower part, in the latter of which is the +titular saint, a half naked figure vigorously coloured, together with S. +Paul and two other saints, the whole in a truly Raffaellesque style. +This altarpiece possesses so much harmony, and such a force of colour, +that it is esteemed by some persons the best picture in the city. If any +thing be wanting in it, it is perhaps a more correct observance of the +perspective. Sermoneta <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" +id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>did not paint many pictures for +collections. He excelled in portrait painting.</p> + +<p>A similar manner, though more laboured, and formed on the styles of +Raffaello and Andrea del Sarto, was adopted by Scipione Pulzone da +Gaeta, who was educated in the studio of Jacopino del Conte. He died +young in his thirty-eighth year, but left behind him a great reputation, +partly in the painting of portraits, of which he executed a great number +for the popes and princes of his day, and with so much success, that by +some he is called the Vandyke of the Roman School. He was a forerunner +of Seybolt in the high finishing of the hair, and in representing in the +pupil of the eye the reflexion of the windows, and other objects as +minute and exact as in real life. He also painted some pictures in the +finest style, as the Crucifixion in the Vallicella, and the Assumption +in S. Silvestro at Monte Cavallo, a composition of chaste design, great +beauty of colouring, and brilliant in effect. In the Borghese collection +is a Holy Family by him, and in the gallery in Florence, a Christ +praying in the garden; and in other places are to be found some of his +cabinet pictures, deservedly held in high esteem.</p> + +<p>Taddeo and Federigo Zuccaro have been called the Vasaris of this +school; for as Vasari trod in the steps of Michelangiolo, so these +artists professed to follow Raffaello. They were the sons of an +indifferent painter of S. Angiolo in Vado, called Ottaviano Zuccaro, and +came to Rome one after <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" +id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>the other, and in the Roman state +executed a vast number of works, some good, some indifferent, and +others, when they allowed their pupils to take a share in them, +absolutely bad. A salesman, who dealt in the pictures of these artists, +was accustomed, like a retailer of merchandize, to ask his purchasers +whether they wished for a Zuccaro of Holland, of France, or of Portugal; +intimating by this that he possessed them of all qualities. Taddeo, who +was the elder of the two, studied first under Pompeo da Fano, and +afterwards with Giacomone da Faenza. From the latter and other good +Italian artists, whom he assiduously studied, he acquired sufficient +talent to distinguish himself. He adopted a style which, though not very +correct, was unconstrained and engaging, and very attractive to such as +do not look for grandeur of design. He may be compared to that class of +orators who keep the attention of their hearers awake, not from the +nature of their subject, but from the clearness of their language, and +from their finding, or thinking they find, truth and nature in every +word. His pictures may be called compositions of portraits; the heads +are beautiful, the hands and feet not negligently painted, nor yet +laboured, as in the Florentine manner; the dress and ornaments, and form +of the beard, are agreeable to the times; the disposition is simple, and +he often imitates the old painters in shewing on the canvass only half +figures in the foreground, as if they were on a lower plain. He often +repeated the same countenance, and his own portrait. In <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>his +hands, feet, and the folds of his drapery, he is still less varied, and +not unfrequently errs in his proportions.</p> + +<p>In Rome are vast works of Taddeo, in fresco, and amongst the best may +be ranked the history of the Evangelists, in the church of the +Consolazione. He left few pictures in oil. There is a Pentecost by him +in the church of the Spirito Santo in Urbino, which city also possesses +some other of his works, though not in his best style. He is most +pleasing in his small cabinet pictures, which are finished in the first +style of excellence. One of the best of these, formerly possessed by the +Duke of Urbino, is now in the collection of the noble family of +Leopardi, in Osimo. It is a Nativity of our Lord, in Taddeo's best +manner, but none of his productions have added so much to his celebrity +as the pictures in the Farnese Palace of Caprarola, which were engraved +by Preninner in 1748. They represent the civil and military history of +the illustrious family of the Farnesi. There occur also other subjects, +sacred and profane, of which the most remarkable is the Stanza del +Sonno, the subject of which was executed in a highly poetical manner, +from the suggestions of Caro in a delightful letter, which was +circulated among his friends, and is reprinted in the Lettere +Pittoriche, (tom. iii. l. 99). Strangers who visit Caprarola, often +return with a higher opinion of this artist than they carried with them. +It is true that a number of young artists, fully his equal, or <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg +136]</a></span>perhaps superior to him, were employed there, both in +conjunction with him and after his death, whose works ought not to be +confounded with his, though it is not always easy to distinguish them. +Like Raffaello, he died at the age of thirty-seven, and his monument is +to be seen at the side of that illustrious master in the Rotunda.</p> + +<p>Federigo, his brother and scholar, resembled him in style, but was +not equal to him in design, having more mannerism than Taddeo, being +more addicted to ornament, and more crowded in his composition. He was +engaged to finish in the Vatican, in the Farnese Palace, in the church +of La Trinità de' Monti, and other places, the various works which his +brother had left incomplete at his death; and he thus succeeded, as it +were, to the inheritance of his own house. He had the reputation of +possessing a noble style, and was invited by the Grand Duke Francis I. +to paint the great dome of the metropolitan church at Florence, which +was commenced by Vasari, and left unfinished at his death. Federigo in +that task designed more than three hundred figures, fifty feet in +height, without mentioning that of Lucifer, so gigantic that the rest +appeared like children, for so he informs us, adding, that they were the +largest figures that the world had ever seen.<a name="fnanchor_61" +id="fnanchor_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[61]</sup></a> But there is little to admire in +this work except the vastness <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" +id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>of the conception,<a name="fnanchor_62" +id="fnanchor_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[62]</sup></a> and in the time of Pier da Cortona, +there was an intention of engaging that artist to substitute for it a +composition of his own, had not the apprehension that his life might not +be long enough to finish it, frustrated the design. After the painting +of this dome, every work on a large scale in Rome was assigned to +Federigo, and the Pope engaged him to paint the vault of the Paolina, +and thus give the last touch to a work commenced by Michelangiolo. About +this period, in order to revenge himself on some of the principal +officers of the Pope who had treated him with indignity, he painted, and +exposed to public view, an allegorical picture of Calumny,<a +name="fnanchor_63" id="fnanchor_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[63]</sup></a> in which he introduced the +portraits of all those persons who had given him offence, representing +them with asses' ears. His enemies, on this, made such <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg +138]</a></span>complaints, that he was compelled to quit the dominions +of the Pope. He therefore left Rome and visited Flanders, Holland, and +England, and was afterwards invited to Venice to paint the submission of +the Emperor Federigo Barbarossa to Pope Alexander III., in the Palazzo +Pubblico, and he was there highly esteemed and constantly employed. The +Pontiff being by this time appeased, Federigo returned to finish the +work he had left imperfect, and which is perhaps the best of all he +executed in Rome, without the assistance of his brother. The larger +picture also of S. Lorenzo in Damaso, and that of the Angels in the +Gesù, and other of his works in various churches, are not deficient in +merit. Federigo built for himself a house in the Monte Pincio, and +decorated it with pictures in fresco, portraits of his own family, +conversazioni, and many novel and strange subjects, which he painted +with the assistance of his scholars, and at little expense; but on this +occasion more than on any other, he appears an indifferent artist, and +may be called the champion of mediocrity.</p> + +<p>Federigo was afterwards invited to Madrid by Philip II.; but that +monarch not being satisfied with his works, they were effaced, and their +places supplied by Tibaldi, and he himself, with an adequate pension, +was sent back to Italy. He undertook another journey late in life, +visiting the principal cities of Italy, and leaving specimens of his art +in every place where he was called to exercise <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>his talents. One of the +best of these is an Assumption of the Virgin, in an Oratory of Rimino, +on which he inscribed his name, and the Death of the Virgin, at S. Maria +<i>in Acumine</i>, with some figures of the Apostles, more finished than +usual with him. A simple and graceful style is observable in his +Presepio, in the cathedral of Foligno, and in two pictures from the life +of the Virgin, in a chapel of Loreto, painted for the Duke of Urbino. +The Cistercian monks, at Milan, possess two large pictures in their +library on the Miracle della Neve, with a numerous assemblage of +figures, the countenances in his usual lively manner, the colouring +varied and well preserved. In the Borromei college, in Pavia, is a +saloon painted in fresco, with subjects from the life of S. Carlo. The +most admired of these is the saint at prayer in his retirement; the +other pieces, the Consistory in which was his chapel, and the Plague of +Milan, would be much better, if the figures were fewer. He returned to +Venice, where his great picture remained, and which had not been so much +injured by time, as by a sarcasm of Boschini on certain sugar +[<i>Zucchero</i>] of very poor quality lately imported into Venice, in +consequence of which he retouched his work, and wrote on it, by way of a +memorial, <i>Federicus Zuccarus f. an. sal. 1582, perfecit an. 1603</i>. +It is one of his best works, copious, and, agreeably to Zanetti, +beautiful and well sustained. He then went to Turin, where he painted a +S. Paul, for the Jesuits, and began to ornament a <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg +140]</a></span>gallery for Charles Emanuel, Duke of Savoy; and it was in +that city that he first published <i>La idea de' Pittori, Scultori, e +Architetti</i>, which he dedicated to the Duke. He afterwards returned +into Lombardy, where he composed two other works, the one intitled <i>La +Dimora di Parma del Sig. Cav. Federigo Zuccaro</i>: the other, <i>Il +Passaggio per Italia colla dimora di Parma del Sig. Cav. Federigo +Zuccaro</i>, both printed in Bologna, in 1608. In the following year, on +his return to his native place, he fell sick in Ancona, where he died. +Baglione admired the versatility of talent in this artist, which +extended to sculpture and architecture; but more than all he admired his +good fortune, in which he exceeded all his contemporaries. This +distinction he owed in a great measure to his personal qualities, to his +noble presence, his encouragement of letters, his quality of attaching +persons to him, and his liberality, which led him to expend in a +generous manner the large sums he derived from his works.</p> + +<p>He appears to have written with the intention of rivalling and +excelling Vasari. Whatever was the cause, Vasari was disliked by him, as +may be gathered from the notes to his Lives, occasionally cited by the +annotator of the Roman edition; and is charged by him with spleen and +malignity, particularly in the life of Taddeo Zuccaro. In order to excel +Vasari, it seems he chose an abstruse mode of writing, in opposition to +the plain style of that author. The whole work, printed in Turin, <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>is +involved in its design, and instead of precepts, contains speculative +metaphysical opinions, which tend more to raise disputes than to convey +information. The language is incongruous and affected, and even the very +titles to the chapters are interwoven with many absurdities, as that of +the 12th, <i>Che la filosofia e il filosofare è disegno Metaforico +similitudinario</i>. This style may perhaps impose on the ignorant, but +cannot deceive the learned.<a name="fnanchor_64" id="fnanchor_64"></a><a +href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor"><sup>[64]</sup></a> The latter do +not esteem a writer for pedantic expressions adopted from the Greek and +Latin authors; but for a correct mode of definition, for an accuracy of +analysis, for a sagacity in tracing effects to their true causes, and +for a manner strictly adapted to the subject. These qualities are not to +be found in the works of Federigo, where we find philosophical +expressions mingled with puerile reflections, as in the etymology of the +word <i>disegno</i>, which after much circumlocution, he informs us, +owes its derivation to <i>Segno di Dio</i>; and instead of affording any +instructive maxims to youth, he presents them with a mass <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>of +sterile and ill directed speculations. Hence we may be said to derive +more information from a single page of Vasari, than from this author's +whole work. Both Mariette and Bottari have shewn the little esteem in +which they held this work, by their correspondence, inserted in the 6th +volume of the Lettere Pittoriche. Nor are his other two works of greater +utility, one of which contains some arguments in the same style, which +are proposed as a theme for disputation in the Academy of the +Innominati, in Parma.</p> + +<p>It is generally thought that this treatise of Zuccaro was composed in +Rome, where he presided in the Academy of S. Luke. That academy was +instituted in the pontificate of Gregory XIII., who signed the brief for +its foundation at the instance of Muziano, as Baglione relates in the +life of that artist. He further states, that when the ancient church of +S. Luke, on the Esquiline, was demolished, the seat I believe of the +society of painters, the church of S. Martina was allotted to them, at +the foot of the Campidoglio. But this brief does not seem to have been +used until the return of Zuccaro from Spain, as according to the same +writer, it was he who put it in execution. And this must have occurred +in 1595, if the year which was celebrated by the painters of S. Luke in +1695, was the true centenary of the Academy. But the origin of the +institution may be dated, agreeably to some persons, from the month of +November, 1593, as mentioned by the Sig. Barone Vernazza, <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>who, +among the first promoters, or members, includes the Piedmontese Arbasia, +on the relation of Romano Alberti. Baglione says that Federigo was +declared president by common consent; and that that day was a sort of +triumph to him, as he was accompanied on his return home by a company of +artists and literary persons; and in a little time afterwards he +assigned a saloon in his own house for the use of the academy. He wrote +both in poetry and in prose in the Academy of S. Luke, which is referred +to more than once in his greater work. He evinced an extraordinary +affection for this institution, and according to the example of Muziano, +he named it the heir of his estate, in the event of the extinction of +his family. He was succeeded in the presidency by Laureti, and a series +of eminent artists down to our own time. The sittings of the academy +have now for a long time past been fixed in a house contiguous to the +church of S. Martina, which is decorated with the portraits and works of +its members. The picture of S. Luke, by Raffaello, is there religiously +preserved, together with his own portrait; and there too is to be seen +the skull of Raffaello, in a casket, the richest spoil ever won by death +from the empire of art. Of this academy we shall speak further towards +the conclusion of this third book. We will now return to Federigo.</p> + +<p>The school of this artist received distinction from Passignano and +other scholars, elsewhere mentioned by us. To these we may add Niccolo +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg +144]</a></span>da Pesaro, who painted in the church of Ara Cœli; +but whose best piece is a Last Supper in the church of the sacrament at +Pesaro. It is a picture so well conceived and harmonized, and so rich in +pictorial ornament, that Lazzarini has descanted on it in his lectures +as one of the first of the city. It is said that Baroccio held this +artist in great esteem. Baglione commended him for his early works, but +it must be confessed that he did not persevere in his first style, and +fell into an insipid manner, whence he suffered both in reputation and +fortune. Another artist of Pesaro, instructed by Zuccaro, was Gio. +Giacomo Pandolfi, whose works are celebrated in his native city, and do +not yield the palm to those of Federigo, as the picture of S. George and +S. Carlo in the Duomo. He ornamented the whole chapel in the Nome di +Dio, with a variety of subjects in fresco, from the Old and New +Testament; but as he was then become infirm from age and the gout, they +did not add much to his fame. His greatest merit was the instilling good +principles into Simon Canterini, of whom, as well as of the Pesarese +artists his followers, we shall write at large in the school of Bologna. +One Paolo Cespede, a Spaniard, called in Rome Cedaspe, also received his +education from Zuccaro. He commenced his career in Rome, and excited +great expectations from some pictures in fresco, which are still to be +seen at the church of Trinità de' Monti, and other places. He had +adopted a natural style, and was in a way to rise in his profession, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg +145]</a></span>when he obtained an ecclesiastical benefice in his native +country, and retired to reside upon it. Marco Tullio Montagna +accompanied Federigo to Turin as an assistant; and a small picture of S. +Saverio and other saints in a church of that city, generally attributed +to the school of Zuccaro, is probably by him. He painted in Rome in the +church of S. Niccolo in Carcere, in the vaults of the Vatican, and in +many other places, in a tolerable style, but nothing more.</p> + +<p>After the above named artists a crowd of contemporaries present +themselves, more particularly those who had the direction of the works +under Gregory XIII. The Sala de' Duchi was entrusted to Lorenzino of +Bologna, who was invited to Rome from his native city, where he enjoyed +the reputation of an excellent painter, and deservedly so, as we shall +see in his place. He undertook the decoration of the gallery of the +Vatican, which, from the vast size of that building, forms a boundless +field of art. <ins title="'Niccolo' in the original"> Niccolò</ins> +Circignani, or delle Pomarance, already mentioned in the first book, +distributed the work amongst a number of young artists, who there +painted historical subjects, landscapes, and arabesques. The Pope was +desirous that the walls also should serve the cause of science, and +ordered the compartments to be adorned with geographical delineations of +ancient and modern Italy, a task which was assigned to Padre Ignazio +Danti, a Domenican, a mathematician and geographer <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>of +his court, and who was afterwards promoted to the bishopric of Alatri. +Ignazio was born in Perugia, of a family devoted to the fine arts, and +had two brothers, painters; Girolamo, of whom there remain some works in +S. Pietro, on the model of Vasari; and Vincenzio, who in Rome assisted +Ignazio, and there died, and was a good fresco painter. Another grand +work was also undertaken about this time, which was the continuation of +the gallery of Raffaello, in an arm of the building contiguous to it, +where, in conformity to the plan of Raffaello, it was intended to paint +four subjects in every arcade, all from the New Testament. Roncelli, the +scholar of Circignano, our notice of whom we shall reserve to a +subsequent epoch, was charged with the execution of this plan, but was +himself subject to the direction of Padre Danti, experience having shewn +that the entire abandonment of a design to the direction of practical +artists is injurious to its execution, as there are few that, in the +choice of inferior artists, are not governed by influence, avarice, or +jealousy. The selection, therefore, was reserved to Danti, who to an +excellent practical knowledge of the art of design, united moral +qualities that insured success: and under his direction the whole work +was regulated and conducted in such a manner, that the spirit of +Raffaello seemed to be resuscitated in the precincts of the Vatican. But +the hand was no longer the same, and the imbecility which was apparent +in the new productions, when compared <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>with the old, betrayed +the decline of the art, though we occasionally meet with subjects by +Tempesti, Raffaellino da Reggio, the younger Palma, and Girolamo Massei, +which reflect a ray of honour on the age.</p> + +<p>Another superintendant of the works of the Vatican, but rather in +architecture than in painting, was Girolamo Muziano da Brescia, who, +undistinguished in his native place, came young to Rome, and was there +considered the great supporter of true taste. He derived his principles +both in design and colour from the Venetian School, and early acquired +such skill in landscape, that he was named in Rome Il Giovane de' Paesi. +But he soon afterwards adopted a more elevated style, and devoted +himself with such obstinate assiduity to study, that he shaved his head +in order to prevent himself from going out of the house. It was at this +time that he painted the Raising of Lazarus, afterwards transferred from +the church of S. Maria Maggiore to the Quirinal Palace; and which, when +exposed to public view, immediately conciliated to him the esteem and +protection of Bonarruoti. His pictures occur in various churches and +palaces of Rome, and are often ornamented with landscapes in the style +of Titian. The church of the Carthusians possesses one of singular +beauty. It represents a troop of Anchorets attentively listening to a +Saint. There is great elegance and good disposition in the picture of +the Circumcision in the Gesù, and the Ascension in <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>Ara +Cœli displays an intimate knowledge of art. The picture too of S. +Francis receiving the Stigmata, in the church of the Conception, is an +enchanting piece, both as regards the figures and the landscape. Nor was +he beneath himself in the pictures which he executed in the Duomo at +Orvieto, which are highly commended by Vasari. The chapel of the +Visitation in the Basilica Loretana, possesses three pictures by him, +and that of the Probatica discovers great originality and expression. In +the Duomo of Foligno, a picture by him in fresco, of the Miracles of S. +Feliciano is pointed out, which was formerly hidden by dust, but was a +few years ago restored in a wonderful manner to all its original +freshness and charm of colour.</p> + +<p>The figures of Muziano are accurately drawn, and we not unfrequently +trace in them the anatomy of Michelangiolo. He excelled in painting +military and foreign dresses; and above all, in representing hermits and +anchorets, men of severe aspects, whose bodies are attenuated by +abstinence, and his style, in general, inclines rather to the dry than +the florid. We are indebted to this artist for the engraving of the +Trajan Column. Giulio Romano had begun to copy it, and the laborious +undertaking was continued and perfected by Muziano, and so prepared for +the engraver.</p> + +<p>The most celebrated scholar of Muziano, was Cesare Nebbia of Orvieto. +He presided over the works of Sixtus, entrusting the completion of his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg +149]</a></span>own designs to the younger painters. In this task he was +assisted by Gio. Guerra da Modena, who suggested to him the subjects, +and apportioned the work among the scholars. Both the one and the other +of these artists, was endowed with a facility which was essential to the +vast works on which they were employed in the five years reign of +Sixtus, in the chapel of S. Maria Maggiore, in the library of the +Vatican itself, in the Quirinal and Lateran palaces, and at the Scala +Santa, and many other places. But in other respects, Muziano left his +scholars far behind, as he was possessed of a great and inventive +genius, while Nebbia was more remarkable for the mechanism of his art; +particularly when he decorated walls. There are, however, some beautiful +and well coloured pictures by him; among which may be mentioned the +Epiphany, in the church of S. Francis at Viterbo, quite in Muziano's +style. Baglione associates with Nebbia Giovanni Paolo della Torre, a +gentleman of Rome, who was raised by Girolamo above the rank of a mere +dilettante. Taja too, adds Giacomo Stella da Brescia, who, he observes, +had degenerated in some degree from the style of his master. He was +employed, nevertheless, both in the gallery of Gregory XIII., and in +other places, not without commendation. It may be observed, that M. +Bardon states him to have been a native of Lyons, long resident in +Italy.</p> + +<p>Another foreigner, but who came a considerable time after Muziano, +was Raffaellino da Reggio, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" +id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>who, after being instructed in the +first principles of the art by Lelio di Novellara, formed a master style +in Rome. Nothing was wanting to this artist except a greater knowledge +of design, as he possessed spirit, disposition, delicacy, relief, and +grace; qualities not common in that age. His pictures in oil are +occasionally, though not often, found in galleries, but his best works +are his frescos of small figures, such as the two charming fables of +Hercules, in the ducal hall at Florence, and the two gospel stories in +the gallery adjoining to that of Raffaello d'Urbino. He painted also at +Caprarola in competition with the Zuccari, and Vecchi, and with such +success, that his figures seem living, while those of his comrades are +inanimate. This excellent artist died immaturely, greatly lamented, +without leaving any pupil worthy of his name. He was however considered +as the head of a school in Rome, and his works were studied by the youth +of the academy. Many artists adopted his manner of fresco, particularly +Paris Nogari of Rome, who left there numerous works, which are known for +their peculiar manner; amongst others, some subjects in the gallery. He +had another follower in Gio. Batista della Marca, of the family of +Lombardelli, a young man of great natural talents, but which were +rendered unavailing from his want of application. Many pictures in +fresco by him remain in Perugia and in Rome, but the best are in +Montenovo, his native place. None, however, approached so near to +Raffaellino as Giambatista <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" +id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>Pozzo, who also died young, and who, as +far as regards ideal beauty, may be considered the Guido of his day. To +be convinced of this it is only necessary to see the Choir of Angels, +which he painted in the chapel of the Gesù. If he had survived to the +time of the Caracci, it is impossible to say to what degree of +perfection he might not have attained.</p> + +<p>Tommaso Laureti, a Sicilian, already noticed with commendation by us +among the scholars of F. Sebastiano, and deserving honourable mention +among the professors of Bologna, was invited to Rome in the pontificate +of Gregory XIII., and was entrusted with a work of an invidious nature. +This was the decoration of the ceiling and lunettes in the Hall of +Constantine, the lower part of which had been illustrated by the pencils +of Giulio Romano and Perino. The subjects chosen by this master were +intended to commemorate the piety of Constantine, idols subverted, the +cross exalted, and provinces added to the church. Baglione informs us +that Laureti was entertained by the Pope in his palace in a princely +manner; and either from his natural indolence, or his reluctance to +return to a laborious profession, procrastinated the work so much, that +Gregory died, and Sixtus commenced his reign before it was completed. +The new pontiff was aware that the artist had abused the patience of his +predecessor, and became so exasperated, that Laureti, in order to avert +his wrath, proceeded in all haste to finish his labours. <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>When +the work however was exposed to public view, in the first year of the +new pontificate, it was judged unworthy of the situation. The figures +were too vast and heavy, the colouring crude, the forms vulgar. The best +part of it was a temple in the ceiling, drawn in excellent perspective, +in which art indeed Laureti may be considered as one of the first +masters of his day. Misfortune was added to his disgrace; for he was not +only not rewarded as he had expected, but the cost of his living and +provisions were placed to his charge, even to the corn supplied to his +horse. So that he gained no remuneration, and actually died in poverty +in the succeeding pontificate. He had however an opportunity afforded +him of redeeming his credit, particularly in the stories of Brutus and +Horatius on the bridge, which he painted in the Campidoglio, in a much +better style. Intimately acquainted with the theory of art, and +possessing an agreeable manner of inculcating its principles, he taught +at Rome with considerable applause. He had a scholar and assistant in +the Vatican, in Antonio Scalvati, a Bolognese, who in the time of Sixtus +was employed among the painters of the Library, and who was afterwards +engaged in painting portraits under Clement VIII., Leo XI., and Paul V.; +and was highly celebrated in this department.</p> + +<p>A better fortune attended Gio. Batista Ricci da Novara, who arrived +at Rome in the pontificate of Sixtus, and who from his despatch +manifested in the works at the Scala Lateranense, and the <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg +153]</a></span>Vatican Library, was immediately taken into employ by the +Pope, who appointed him superintendant for the decorations of the palace +of the Quirinal. He was also held in favour by Clement VIII., in whose +time he painted in S. Giovanni Laterano the history of the consecration +of that church: and there, according to Baglione, he succeeded better +than in any other place. He left not a few works in Rome, and elsewhere +his pictures display a facility of pencil, and a brilliancy and elegance +which attract the eye. He was born in a city into which Gaudenzio +Ferrari had introduced the Raffaellesque style, and where Lanini, his +son-in-law had practised it; but in whose hands it seemed to decline, +and still more so under Ricci, when he came to Rome; so that his style +was Raffaellesque reduced to mannerism, like that professed by +Circignani, Nebbia, and others of this age.</p> + +<p>Giuseppe Cesari, also called Il Cavaliere d'Arpino, is a name as +celebrated among painters, as that of Marino among poets. These two +individuals, each in his line, contributed to corrupt the taste of an +age already depraved, and attached more to shew than to reality. Both +the one and the other exhibited considerable talents, and it is an old +observation, that the arts, like republican states, have received their +subversion from master spirits. Cesari discovered great capacity from +his infancy, and soon attracted the admiration of Danti, and obtained +the protection of Gregory XIII., with the reputation of <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>the +first master in Rome. Some pictures painted in conjunction with Giacomo +Rocca,<a name="fnanchor_65" id="fnanchor_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[65]</sup></a> from designs of Michelangiolo, (in +which Giacomo was very rich,) established his reputation. So much talent +was not required to secure him general applause, as the public of that +day were chiefly attracted by the energy, fire, tumult, and crowds, that +filled his composition. His horses, which he drew in a masterly manner, +and his countenances, which were painted with all the force of life, won +the admiration of the many; while few attended to the incorrect design, +the monotony of the extremities, the poverty of the drapery, the faulty +perspective and chiaroscuro. Of these few however were Caravaggio, and +Annibale Caracci. With these he became involved in disputes, and +challenges were mutually exchanged. Cesari refused the challenge of +Caravaggio, as he was not a cavaliere, and Annibale declined that of the +Cavaliere d'Arpino, alleging that the pencil was his proper weapon. Thus +these two eminent professors met with no greater obstacle in Rome in +their attempts to reform the art, than Cesari and his adherents.</p> + +<p>The Cavaliere d'Arpino survived both these masters more than thirty +years, and left behind him <i>progeniem vitiosiorem</i>. To conclude, he +was born <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg +155]</a></span>a painter, and in so vast and difficult an art, he had +endowments sufficient to atone, in part, for his defects. His colouring +in fresco was admirable, his imagination was fruitful and felicitous, +his figures were animated, and possessed a charm that Baglione, who +himself entertained very different principles, could not refrain from +admiring. Cesari moreover practised two distinct manners. The one, the +most to be commended, is that in which he painted the Ascension, at S. +Prassede, and several prophets, <i>di sotto in su</i>: the Madonna in +the ceiling of S. Giovanni Grisogono, which is remarkable for its fine +colouring; the gallery of the Casa Orsini; and in the Campidoglio, the +Birth of Romulus, and the battle of the Romans and the Sabines, a +painting in fresco, preferred by some to all his other works. Others of +his pictures may be added, particularly some smaller works, with lights +in gold, exquisitely finished, as if they were by an entirely different +artist. Of this kind there is an Epiphany in possession of the Count +Simonetti, in Osimo, and S. Francis in extacies, in the house of the +Belmonti at Rimino. His other style was sufficiently free, but +negligent, and this latter he used too frequently, partly through +impatience of labour, and partly through old age, as may be seen in +three other subjects in the Campidoglio, painted in the same saloon +forty years after the first. His works are almost innumerable, not only +in Rome, where he worked in the pontificates of Gregory and Sixtus, and +where, under Clement <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" +id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>VIII., he presided over the decorations +in S. Gio. Laterano, and there continued under Paul V., but also in +Naples, at Monte Casino, and in various cities of the Roman state, +without mentioning the pictures sent to foreign courts, and painted for +private individuals. For the latter indeed, and even for persons of +inferior rank in life, he worked more willingly than for princes, with +whom, like the Tigellius of Horace, he was capricious and morose. He was +indeed desirous of being solicited by persons of rank, and often +affected to neglect them, so much had the applause of a corrupted age +flattered his vanity.</p> + +<p>Cesari had many scholars and assistants, whom he more particularly +employed in the works of the Lateran; as he did not deign in those times +often to take up the pencil himself. Some of these pupils adopted his +faults, and as they did not possess the same genius, their works proved +intolerably bad. A vicious example, easy of imitation, is, as Horace has +observed, highly seductive. There were however some of his school, who +in part at least corrected themselves from the works of others. His +brother, too, Bernardino Cesari, was an excellent copyist of the designs +of Bonarruoti, and worked assiduously under the Cav. Giuseppe, but +little remains of him, as he died young. One Cesare Rossetti, a Roman, +served under Arpino a longer time, and of him there are many works in +his own name. There are also to be found some public memorials of +Bernardino Parasole, who was cut <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>off in the flower of +his age. Guido Ubaldo Abatini of Città di Castello, merited commendation +from Passeri as a good fresco painter, particularly for a vault at the +Vittoria. Francesco Allegrini di Gubbio was a fresco painter, in design +very much resembling his master, if we may judge from the cupola of the +Sacrament in the Cathedral of Gubbio, and from another at the Madonna +de' Bianchi. We there observe the same attenuated proportions, and the +same predominant facility of execution. He nevertheless shewed himself +capable of better things, when his mind became matured, and he worked +with more care. He is commended by Ratti for various works in fresco, +executed at Savona, in the Duomo, and in the Casa Gavotti, and for +others in the Casa Durazzo at Genoa; where one may particularly admire +the freshness of the colouring, and the skill exhibited in his <i>sotto +in su</i>. He is also commended by Baldinucci for similar works in the +Casa Panfili, and merits praise for his smaller pieces and battles +frequently found in Rome and Gubbio. He also added figures to the +landscapes of Claude, two of which are to be seen, in the Colonna +palace. He lived a long time in Rome, and his son Flaminio with him, +commemorated by Taja for some works in the Vatican. Baglione has +enumerated not a few other artists, in part belonging to the Roman +state, and in part foreigners. Donato of Formello (a fief of the dukes +of Bracciano) had greatly improved on the style of Vasari his master, as +is proved by his histories of S. Peter, <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>in a staircase of the +Vatican, particularly the one of the piece of money found in the fish's +mouth. He died whilst yet young, and the art had real cause to lament +his loss. Giuseppe Franco, also called <i>dalle Lodole</i>, in +consequence of his painting a lark in one of his pieces in S. Maria in +Via, and on other occasions, and Prospero Orsi, both Romans, had a share +in the works prosecuted by Sixtus. When these were finished, the former +repaired to Milan, where he remained some years; the latter, from +painting historical subjects, passed to arabesque, and from his singular +talents in that line, was called Prosperino dalle Grottesche. Of the +same place was Girolamo Nanni, deserving of particular mention, because, +during all the time that he was engaged in these works, he never hurried +himself, and to the directors who urged him to despatch, he answered +always <i>poco e buono</i>, which expression was ever afterwards +attached to him as a surname. He continued to work with the same study +and devotion, as far as his talents would carry him, at S. Bartolommeo +all'Isola, at S. Caterina de' Funai, and in many other places: he was +not however much distinguished, except for his great application. Of him +however, and of Giuseppe Puglia, or Bastaro, and of Cesare Torelli, also +Romans; and of Pasquale Cati da Jesi, an inexhaustible painter of that +age, though somewhat affected, and of many professors, that are in fact +forgotten in Rome itself, I have thought it my duty to give this short +notice, as I had <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" +id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>pledged myself to include a number of +the second rate artists. It would be an endless task to enumerate here +all the foreign artists. It may be sufficient to observe, that in the +Vatican library more than a hundred artists, almost all foreigners, were +employed. In the first book I have mentioned Gio. de' Vecchi, an eminent +master, who, from the time of his works for the Farnese family, was +considered a first rate artist; and the colony of painters, his fellow +citizens, whom Raffaellino brought to Rome. In the same book we meet +with Titi, Naldini, Zucchi, Coscj, and a number of Florentines, and in +the following book Matteo da Siena and some others of his school. Again, +in the fourth book, Matteo da Leccio and Giuseppe Valeriani dell' Aquila +will have place; and in the third volume will be described Palma the +younger (amongst the Venetians) who worked in the gallery; about which +time Salvator Fontana, a Venetian, painted at S. Maria Maggiore, whom it +is sufficient to have named. We may also enumerate Nappi and Paroni of +Milan, Croce of Bologna, Mainardi, Lavinia Fontana, and not a few others +of various schools, who in those times painted in Rome, without +ultimately remaining there, or leaving scholars.</p> + +<p>A more circumstantial mention may be made of some +<i>oltramontani</i>, who, in conjunction with our countrymen, were +employed in the works in these pontificates; and it may be done with the +more propriety, as we do not speak of them in any other part of our +work. But those who worked in Rome <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>were very numerous in +every period, and it would be too much to attempt to enumerate them all +in a history of Italian painting. One Arrigo, from Flanders, painted a +Resurrection in the Sistine chapel, and also worked in fresco in other +places in Rome; and is commended by Baglione as an excellent artist. +Francesco da Castello, was also of Flanders, and of a more refined and +correct taste. There is a picture by him at S. Rocco, with various +saints; and it is perhaps the best piece the world possesses of him; but +almost all his works were painted for the cabinet, and in miniature, in +which he excelled. The Brilli we may include among the landscape +painters.</p> + +<p>The states of the church possessed in this epoch painters of +consideration, besides those in Perugia, where flourished the two Alfani +and others, followers of a good style; but whether they were known or +employed in Rome, I am not able to say. I included them in the school of +Pietro, in order that they might not be separated from the artists of +Perugia, but they continued to live and to work for many years in the +16th century. To these may be added Piero and Serafino Cesarei,<a +name="fnanchor_66" id="fnanchor_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[66]</sup></a> <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>and others of less +note. In the city of Assisi, there resided, in the beginning of the 16th +century, a Francesco Vagnucci, and there remain some works by him in the +spirit of the old masters. There, also, afterwards resided Cesare Sermei +Cavaliere, who was born in Orvieto, and married in Assisi, and lived +there until 1600, when he died at the age of 84. He painted both there +and in Perugia, and if not in a grand style of fresco, still with a +felicity of design, with much spirit in his attitudes, and with a +vigorous pencil. He was a good machinist, and of great merit in his oil +pictures. At Spello I saw a picture by him of the Beatified Andrea +Caccioli; and it seems to me, that few other painters of the Roman +School had at that time equalled him. His heirs, in Assisi, possess some +pictures by him of fairs, processions, and <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>ceremonies which occur +in that city on occasion of the Perdono; and the numbers and variety and +grace of the small figures, the architecture, and the humour displayed, +are very captivating. At Spello, just above mentioned, in the church of +S. Giacomo, is a picture which represents that saint and S. Catherine +before the Madonna: where we read <i>Tandini Mevanatis</i>, 1580; that +is, of Tandino di Bevagna, a place near Assisi; nor is it a picture to +be passed over.</p> + +<p>Gubbio possessed two painters, brothers of the family de' Nucci; +Virgilio, who was said to be the scholar of Daniel di Volterra, whose +Deposition he copied for an altar at S. Francis in Gubbio; and +Benedetto, a disciple of Raffaellino del Colle, considered the best of +the painters of Gubbio.<a name="fnanchor_67" id="fnanchor_67"></a><a +href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor"><sup>[67]</sup></a> Both of them +have left works in their native place, and in the neighbouring +districts; the first of them always following the Florentine, and the +second the Roman School. Of the latter there are many pictures at +Gubbio, which shew the progress he had made in the style of Raffaello; +and to see him in his best work, we must inspect his S. Thomas in the +Duomo, which would be taken for a picture of Garofalo, or some such +artist, if we were not acquainted with the master. A little time +afterwards flourished Felice Damiani, or Felice da Gubbio, who is said +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg +163]</a></span>to have studied in the Venetian School. The Circumcision +at S. Domenico has certainly a good deal of that style; but in pencil he +inclines more to the Roman taste, which he, perhaps, derived from +Benedetto Nucci. The Decollation of St. Paul, at the Castel Nuovo, in +Recanati, is by him: the attitude of the saint excites our sympathy: the +spectators are represented in various attitudes, all appropriate and +animated: the drawing is correct, and the colours vivid and harmonious. +It is inscribed with the year 1584. About ten years afterwards, he +painted two chapels at the Madonna de' Lumi, at S. Severino, with +subjects from the life of Christ; and there likewise displayed more +elegance than grandeur of style. His most studied and powerful work is +at S. Agostino di Gubbio, the Baptism of the Saint, painted in 1594, a +picture abounding in figures, and which surprises by the novelty of the +attire, by its correct architecture, and by the air of devotion +exhibited in the countenances. He received for this picture two hundred +scudi, by no means a low price in those times; and it should seem that +his work was regulated by the price, since in some other pictures, and +particularly in one in 1604, he is exceedingly negligent. Federigo +Brunori, called also Brunorini, issued, it is said, from his school, and +still more decidedly than his master, followed the Venetian style. His +portraits are natural; and he was a lover of foreign drapery, and +coloured with a strong effect. The Bianchi have an Ecce Homo by him, in +which the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg +164]</a></span>figures are small, but boldly expressed, and shew that he +had profited from the engravings of Albert Durer. Pierangiolo Basilj, +instructed by Damiani, and also by Roncalli, partakes of their more +delicate manner. His frescos, in the choir of S. Ubaldo, are held in +esteem; and at S. Marziale, there is by him a Christ preaching, with a +beautiful portico in perspective, and a great number of auditors: the +figures in this are also small, and such as are seen in the compositions +of Albert Durer. The pictures appear to be painted in competition. +Brunori displays more energy, Basilj more variety and grace.</p> + +<p>In the former edition of this work I made mention of Castel Durante, +now Urbania, in the state of Urbino. I noticed Luzio Dolce among the +ancient painters, of whom I had at that time seen no performance, except +an indifferent picture, in the country church of Cagli, in 1536. Since +that period Colucci has published (tom. xxvii.) a <i>Cronaca di Castel +Durante</i>, wherein he gives a full account of Luzio, and of others +that belong to that place. Bernardino, his grandfather, and Ottaviano, +his father, excelled in stucco, and had exercised their art in other +places; and he himself, who was living in 1589, is commended for his +altarpieces and other pictures, in the churches, both in his native city +and other places: and further, it is stated that he was employed by the +duke to paint at the Imperiale. He also makes honourable mention of a +brother of Luzio, and extols Giustino <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>Episcopio, called +formerly de' Salvolini, who, in conjunction with Luzio, painted in the +abbey the picture of the Spirito Santo, and the other pictures around +it. He also executed many other works by himself in Castel Durante and +elsewhere, and in Rome as well, where he studied and resided for a +considerable time. It is probable that Luzio was, in the latter part of +his life, assisted by Agostino Apolonio, who was his sister's son, +married in S. Angelo in Vado, and who removed and settled in Castel +Durante where he executed works both in stucco and in oils, particularly +at S. Francesco, and succeeded alike to the business and the property of +his maternal uncle.</p> + +<p>At Fratta, which is also in the state of Urbino, there died young, +one Flori, of whom scarcely any thing remains, except the Supper of our +Lord, at S. Bernardino. But this picture is composed in the manner of +the best period of art, and deserves commemoration. Not far from thence +is Città di Castello, where, in the days of Vasari, flourished Gio. +Batista della Bilia, a fresco painter, and another Gio. Batista, +employed in the Palazzo Vitelli, (tom. v. p. 131). I know not whether it +was from him, or some other artist, that Avanzino Nucci had his first +instructions, who repairing to Rome, designed after the best examples, +and was a scholar and fellow labourer in many of the works of Niccolo +Circignano. He had a share in almost all the works under Sixtus, and +executed many others, in various churches and palaces. He possessed +facility <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg +166]</a></span>and despatch, and a style not very dissimilar to that of +his master, though inferior in grandeur. He resided some time in Naples, +and worked also in his native place. There is a picture by him, of the +Slaughter of the Innocents, at S. Silvestro di Fabriano. Somewhat later +than he, was Sguazzino, noticed by Orlandi for the pictures painted at +the Gesù in Perugia; though he left better works in Città di Castello, +as the S. Angelo, in the Duomo; and the lunettes, containing various +histories of our Lady, at the Spirito Santo, besides others in various +churches. He was not very correct in his drawing, but had a despatch and +a contrast of colours, and a general effect that entitled him to +approbation.</p> + +<p>Another considerable painter, though less known, was Gaspare +Gasparrini, of Macerata. He was of noble birth, and followed the art +through predilection, and painted both in fresco and oils. From the +information which I received from Macerata,<a name="fnanchor_68" +id="fnanchor_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[68]</sup></a> it seems he learned to paint from +Girolamo di Sermoneta.<a name="fnanchor_69" id="fnanchor_69"></a><a +href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor"><sup>[69]</sup></a> However this +may be, Gasparrini pursued a similar path, although his manner is not so +finished, if we may judge from the two chapels <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>at S. Venanzio di +Fabriano, in one of which is the Last Supper, and in the other the +Baptism of Christ. Other subjects are added on the side walls, and the +best is that of S. Peter and S. John healing the Sick, a charming +composition, in the style of Raffaello. We find by him, in his native +place, a picture of the Stigmata, at the Conventuals, and some cabinet +pictures, in the collection of the Signori Ferri, relations of the +family of Gaspare. Others too are to be found, but either doubtful in +themselves, or injured by retouching. Padre Civalli M. C., who wrote at +the close of the sixteenth century, mentions this master with high +commendation, as may be seen on reference to the <i>Antichità +Picene</i>, tom. xxv. In a recent description of the pictures at Ascoli, +I find that a Sebastian Gasparrini, of Macerata, a scholar of the Cav. +Pomaranci, decorated a chapel of S. Biagio in that city with historical +paintings in fresco. But it is probable that this may be Giuseppe +Bastiani, the scholar of Gasparrini. Another chapel at the Carmelites in +Macerata, contains many pictures by him, with the date of 1594.</p> + +<p>Of Marcantonio di Tolentino, mentioned by Borghini in his account of +the Tuscan artists, and after him by Colucci (tom. xxv. p. 80), I do not +know whether or not he returned to practise his art in his native +country. In Caldarola, in the territory of Macerata, flourished a +Durante de' Nobili, a painter who formed himself on the style of +Michelangiolo. A picture of a Madonna by him <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>is to be seen in +Ascoli, at S. Pier di Castello, on which he inscribed his name and +country, and the year 1571. From another school I believe arose a Simon +de Magistris, a painter as well as sculptor, who left many works in the +province. One of his pictures of S. Philip and S. James, in the Duomo of +Osimo, in 1585, discovers a poverty in the composition, and little +felicity of execution; but he appears to greater advantage, at a more +advanced period of life, in the works he left at Ascoli. There is one, +of the Rosario, at S. Domenico, where Orsini found much to commend in +the arrangement of the figures, in the design, and in the colouring. +There is another, of the same subject, at S. Rocco, which is preferred +to the former, except for the shortness of the figures, and which we +have described in writing of Andrea del Sarto, and afterwards of Taddeo +Zuccaro. For the same reason he reproaches Carlo Allegretti, who, in the +same city, committed a similar fault. He painted in various styles, as +may be seen from an Epiphany, in Bassano's manner, which he placed in +the cathedral, a picture which will apologize for the others. +Baldassini, in his Storia di Jesi, speaking of Colucci, records there +the priest Antonio Massi, who studied and gave to the world some +pictures in Bologna; and Antonio Sarti, whom I esteem superior to Massi; +praising highly his picture of the Circumcision, in the collegiate +church of Massaccio. This city gave birth to Paolo Pittori, who +ornamented his native place and its vicinity. These <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>may +serve as an example of the provincial painters of this age. I purposely +omit many names, several of whom are fresco painters, who were +indifferent artists; and others who were below mediocrity. It is indeed +true, that many have escaped, from being unknown to me, and there still +remain, in the Roman state, many works highly beautiful, deserving of +research and notice.</p> + +<p>From the time of the preceding epoch, the art became divided into +various departments; and at this period, they began to multiply, in +consequence of many men of talent choosing to cultivate different +manners. After Jacopo del Conte and Scipione da Gaeta, the portraits of +Antonio de' Monti, a Roman, are celebrated, who was considered the first +among the portrait painters under Gregory; as also those of Prospero and +Livia Fontana, and of Antonio Scalvati; all three of the School of +Bologna; to whom may be added Pietro Fachetti, of Mantua.</p> + +<p>With regard to perspective, it was successfully cultivated by Jacopo +Barocci, commonly called Il Vignola, an illustrious name in +architecture; owing to which his celebrity in the other branches has +been overlooked. But it ought to be observed that his first studies were +directed to painting, in the school of Passarotti, in Bologna; until he +was led by the impulse of his genius, to apply himself to perspective, +and by the aid of that science, as he was accustomed to say, to +architecture, in which he executed some wonderful works, and <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg +170]</a></span>amongst others the palace of Caprarola. There, and I know +not whether in other places, are to be seen some pictures by him. As a +writer, we shall refer to him in the second index, where, omitting his +other works, we shall cite the two books which he wrote in this +department of art. Great progress was made in Rome, in the art of +perspective, after Laureti, by the genius of Gio. Alberti di Città S. +Sepolcro, whose eulogy I shall not here stop to repeat, having already +spoken of it in the first volume. Baglione names two friends, Tarquinio +di Viterbo and Giovanni Zanna, of Rome; the first of whom painted +landscapes, and the second adorned them with figures. He mentions the +two brothers, Conti, of Ancona; Cesare, who excelled in arabesques, and +Vincenzio in figures: these artists painted for private persons. Marco +da Faenza was much employed under Gregory XIII., in arabesques, and the +more elegant decorations of the Vatican, and had also the direction of +other artists. Of him we shall make more particular mention amongst the +artists of Romagna.</p> + +<p>The landscapes in the Apostolic palace, and in various places of +Rome, were many of them painted by Matteo da Siena, and by Gio. +Fiammingo, with whom Taja makes us acquainted, in the ducal hall, and +particularly the two brothers Brilli, of Flanders, who painted both in +fresco and oil. Matteo always retained his <i>ultramontane</i> manner, +rather dry, and not very true in colour. Paolo, who survived him, +improved his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg +171]</a></span>style, from the study of Titian and the Caracci, and was +an excellent artist in every department of landscape, and in the power +of adapting it to historical subjects. Italy abounds with his pictures. +Two other landscape painters also lived in Rome at this time, Fabrizio +of Parma, who may be ranked with Matteo, and Cesare, a Piedmontese, more +attached to the style of Paolo. Nor ought we to omit Filippo d'Angeli, +who, from his long residence in Naples, is called a Neapolitan, though +he was born in Rome, where, and as we have observed in Florence, he was +highly esteemed. His works are generally of a small size; his prospects +are painted with great care, and ornamented with figures admirably +introduced. There are also some battle pieces by him.</p> + +<p>But in battles and in hunting pieces, none in these times equalled +Antonio Tempesti. He was followed, though at a considerable interval, by +Francesco Allegrini, a name not new to those who have read the preceding +pages. To these we may add Marzio di Colantonio, a Roman, though he has +left fewer works in Rome than in Turin, where he was employed by the +Cardinal, prince of Savoy. He was also accomplished in arabesque and +landscapes, and painted small frescos in an agreeable manner.</p> + +<p>It is at this epoch that Vasari describes the manufacture of earthen +vases, painted with a variety of colours, with such exquisite art, that +they seemed to rival the oil pictures of the first masters. <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>He +pretends that this art was unknown to the ancients, and it is at any +rate certain that it was not carried to such perfection by them. Signor +Gio. Batista Passeri, who composed <i>l'Istoria delle pitture in +Majolica fatte in Pesaro e ne' luoghi circonvicini</i>, derives the art +from Luca della Robbia, a Florentine, who discovered a mode of giving to +the clay a glazing to resist the injuries of time. In this manner were +formed the bassirelievi and altars which still exist, and the pavements +which are described at page 81. Others derive this art from Cina, whence +it passed to the island of Majolica, and from thence into Italy; and +this invention was particularly cultivated in the state of Urbino. The +coarse manufacture had been for a long time in use. The fine earthenware +commenced there about 1500, and was manufactured by an excellent artist, +of whom there exists in the convent of Domenicans, of Gubbio, a statue +of an abbot, S. Antonio, well modelled and painted, and many services in +various noble houses with his name <i>M. Giorgio da Ugubio</i>. The year +is also inscribed, from which it appears that his manufacture of these +articles began in 1519, and ended in 1537. At this time Urbino also +cultivated the plastic art, and the individual of his day, who most +excelled, was Federigo Brandani. Whoever thinks that I exaggerate, may +view the Nativity, which he left at S. Joseph, and say, whether, except +Begarelli of Modena, there is any one that can be compared with him for +liveliness and grace <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" +id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>in his figures, for variety and +propriety of attitude, and for natural expression of the accessory +parts; the animals, which seem alive; the satchels and a key suspended; +the humble furniture, and other things admirably appropriate, and all +wonderfully represented: the figure of the divine Infant is not so +highly finished, and is perhaps the object which least surprises us. Nor +in the meanwhile did the people of Urbino neglect to advance the art of +painted vases, in which fabric a M. Rovigo of Urbino is much celebrated. +The subjects which were first painted in porcelain, were poor in design, +but were highly valued for the colouring, particularly for a most +beautiful red, which was subsequently disused, either because the secret +was lost, or because it did not amalgamate with the other colours.</p> + +<p>But the art did not attain the perfection which Vasari describes, +until about the year 1540, and was indebted for it to Orazio Fontana, of +Urbino, whose vases, for the polish of the varnish, for the figures, and +for their forms, may perhaps be ranked before any that have come down to +us from antiquity. He practised this art in many parts of the state, but +more especially in Castel Durante, now called Urbania, which possesses a +light clay, extremely well adapted for every thing of this nature. His +brother, Flamminio, worked in conjunction with him, and was afterwards +invited to Florence by the grand duke of Tuscany, and introduced there a +beautiful manner of painting <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" +id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>vases. This information is given us by +the Sig. Lazzari, and for which the Florentine history of art ought to +express its obligations to him. The establishment of this fine taste in +Urbino, was, in a great measure, owing to the Duke Guidobaldo, who was a +prince enthusiastically devoted to the fine arts, and who established a +manufactory, and supported it at his own expense. He did not allow the +painters of these vases to copy their own designs, but obliged them to +execute those of the first artists, and particularly those of Raffaello; +and gave them for subjects many designs of Sanzio never before seen, and +which formed part of his rich collection. Hence these articles are +commonly known in Italy by the name of Raphael ware, and from thence +arose certain idle traditions respecting the father of Raffaello, and +Raffaello himself; and the appellation of <i>boccalajo di Urbino</i> +(the potter of Urbino), was in consequence applied, as we shall mention, +to that great master.<a name="fnanchor_70" id="fnanchor_70"></a><a +href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor"><sup>[70]</sup></a> Some designs of +Michelangiolo, and many of Raffaele del Colle, and other distinguished +masters, were adopted for this purpose. In the life of Batista Franco, +we are informed that that artist made an infinite number of <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg +175]</a></span>designs for this purpose, and in that of Taddeo Zuccaro +it is related that all the designs of the service, which was +manufactured for Philip II., were entrusted to him. Services of +porcelain were also prepared there for Charles V. and other princes, and +the duke ordered not a few for his own court. Several of his vases were +transferred to, and are now in the S. Casa di Loreto; and the Queen of +Sweden was so much charmed with them, that she offered to replace them +with vases of silver. A large collection of them passed into the hands +of the Grand Duke of Florence, in common with other things inherited +from the Duke of Urbino, and specimens of them are to be seen in the +ducal gallery, some with the names of the places where they were +manufactured. There are many, too, to be found in the houses of the +nobility of Rome, and in the state of Urbino, and, indeed, in all parts +of Italy. The art was in its highest perfection for about the space of +twenty years, or from 1540 to 1560; and the specimens of that period are +not unworthy a place in any collection of art. If we are to believe +Lazzari, the secret of the art died with the Fontani, and the practice +daily declined until it ended in a common manufactory and object of +merchandize. Whoever wishes for further information on this subject, may +consult the above cited Passeri, who inserted his treatise in the fourth +volume of the Calogeriani, not forgetting the Dizionario Urbinate, and +the Cronaca Durantina.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg +176]</a></span>The art of painting on leather deserves little attention; +nevertheless, as Baglione mentions it with commendation in his life of +Vespasian Strada, a fresco painter of some merit in Rome, I did not +think it right to pass it over without this slight notice.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_56" id="Footnote_56"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_56">[56]</a> +Dolce, Dial. della Pittura, p. 11.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_57" id="Footnote_57"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_57">[57]</a> +We shall notice him again in the school of Bologna, where he passed his +best years, and also in the Roman School, in which he was a master. +Sebastiano had also another scholar, or imitator, as we find a Communion +of S. Lucia, painted in his style, in the collegiate church of Spello. +The artist inscribes his name, <i>Camillus Bagazotus Camers +faciebat</i>.—<i>Orsini Risposta</i>, p. 16.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_58" id="Footnote_58"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_58">[58]</a> +He painted the S. Catherine in S. Agostino, the Presepio in S. Silvestro +at Monte Cavallo, and left works in many other churches.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_59" id="Footnote_59"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_59">[59]</a> +He painted some façades in Rome. In the oratory of S. Giovanni +Decollato, there remains the Dance before Herod, not very correctly +designed, and feeble in colouring; but the perspective, and the richness +of the drapery in the Venetian style, may confer some value on the +picture.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_60" id="Footnote_60"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_60">[60]</a> +Bellori, Vite de' Pittori, p. 20.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_61" id="Footnote_61"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_61">[61]</a> +Idea de' Pittori, Scultori, e Architetti, reprinted in the Lett. Pitt. +tom. vi. p. 147.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_62" id="Footnote_62"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_62">[62]</a> +The charming poet Lasca noticed this work as soon as the Cupola was +opened to public view, in a madrigal inserted in the edition of his +poems in the year 1741. He blamed Giorgio d'Arezzo (Vasari) more than +Federigo, that for sordid motives he had designed and undertaken a work, +which in the judgment of the Florentines, injured the Cupola of +Brunellesco, which was the admiration of every one, and which Benvenuto +Cellini was accustomed to call, <i>la Maraviglia delle cose belle</i>. +He concludes by saying, that the Florentine people</p> + +<div class="footnote poem"> +<span class="i0">"Non sarà mai di lamentarsi stanco</span> +<span class="i0">Se forse un dì non le si dà di bianco."</span> +</div> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_63" id="Footnote_63"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_63">[63]</a> +This is not the large picture of the Calumny of Apelles painted in +distemper for the Orsini family, and engraved, and which is now to be +seen in the Palazzo Lante, and is one of the most finished productions +of Federigo.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_64" id="Footnote_64"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_64">[64]</a> +The same inflated style has of late become prevalent in some parts of +Italy, with no little injury to our language and to good taste. In the +<i>Arte di vedere</i> we find for example <i>le pieghe longitudinali, la +trombeggiata resurrezzione del Bello</i>, &c. Some one has also +attempted to illustrate the qualities of the art of painting by those of +music, which has given occasion to a clever Maestro di Capella to write +a humorous letter, an extract of which is given in the <i>Difesa del +Ratti</i>, pag. 15, &c., and is the most entertaining and least ill +tempered thing to be met with in that work.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_65" id="Footnote_65"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_65">[65]</a> +A scholar of Daniel di Volterra, from whom he inherited these designs, +with many others by the same great master. He painted but little, and +generally from the designs of others, and which he did not execute in a +happy manner; and Baglione says, his pictures were deficient in +taste.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_66" id="Footnote_66"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_66">[66]</a> +There remained, in the time of Pascoli, some <i>pitture saporite</i>, as +he terms them, by this artist, at Spoleto, where Piero established +himself, and in the neighbouring towns; and which often pass for the +works of Pietro Perugino, from a similarity of names. It appears however +that Cesarei was desirous of preventing this error, as he inscribed his +name Perinus Perusinus, or Perinus Cesareus Perusinus, as in the picture +of the Rosary at Scheggino, painted in 1595. Vasari, in the life of +Agnol Gaddi, names among his scholars Stefano da Verona, and says, that +"all his works were imitated and drawn by that Pietro di Perugia, the +painter in miniature, who ornamented the books at the cathedral of +Siena, in the Library of Pope Pius, and who worked well in fresco." +These words have puzzled more than one person. Pascoli (P. P. p. 134.) +and Mariotti (L. P. p. 59.) consider them as written of Piero Cesarei; +as if a man born in the golden age should so far extol an old +<i>trecentista</i>; or as if the canons of Siena could approve such a +style after possessing Razzi and Vanni. Padre della Valle interprets it +to mean Pietro Vannucci, and not finding the books of the Choir adorned +in such a style as he wished, reproves Vasari for having confounded so +great a master with a common fresco painter and a <i>Miniatore</i>. It +is most likely that this <i>Miniatore</i> and <i>Frescante</i> of Vasari +was a third Pietro, hitherto unknown in Perugia, and whom we shall +notice in the Venetian School.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_67" id="Footnote_67"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_67">[67]</a> +See Il Sig. Cav. Reposati <i>Appendice del tomo ii. della Zecca di +Gubbio</i>; and the Sig. Conte Ranghiasci in the <i>Elenco de' +Professori Eugubini</i>, inserted in vol. iv. of Vasari (ediz. Senese), +at the end of the volume.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_68" id="Footnote_68"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_68">[68]</a> +I am indebted for it, to the noble Sig. Cav. Ercolani, who obligingly +transmitted it to me, after procuring it from the Sig. Cav. Piani and +the Sig. Paolo Antonio Ciccolini, of Macerata.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_69" id="Footnote_69"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_69">[69]</a> +In a former edition, on the authority of a MS. I called him Serj, and +was doubtful whether Siciolante was not his surname. Sig. Brandolese has +informed me of an epitaph, in the hands of Mons. Galletti, in which he +is called Siciolante, whence Serio was most probably his surname.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_70" id="Footnote_70"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_70">[70]</a> +Another probable cause of this appellation, is to be found in the name +of Raffaello Ciarla, who was one of the most celebrated painters of this +ware, and was appointed by the duke to convey a large assortment of it +to the court of Spain. Hence the vulgar, when they heard the name of +Raffaello, might attribute them to Sanzio.</p> + +<p class="p4"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg +177]</a></span></p> + +<h4>ROMAN SCHOOL.</h4> + +<h4>FOURTH EPOCH.</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><i>Restoration of the Roman School by Barocci, +and other Artists, Subjects of the Roman State, and Foreigners.</i> +</div> + +<p class="p2">The numerous works carried on by the Pontiffs Gregory and +Sixtus, and continued under Clement VIII., while they in a manner +corrupted the pure taste of the Roman School, contributed, nevertheless, +at the same time, to regenerate it. Rome, from the desire of possessing +the best specimens of art, became by degrees the resort of the best +painters, as it had formerly been in the time of Leo X. Every place sent +thither its first artists, as the cities of Greece formerly sent forth +the most valiant of their citizens to contend for the palm and the crown +at Olympia. Barocci, of Urbino, was the first restorer of the Roman +School. He had formed himself on the style of Correggio, a style the +best calculated to reform an age which had neglected the true principles +of art, and particularly colouring and chiaroscuro. Happy indeed had it +been, had he remained in Rome, and retained the direction of the works +which were entrusted to Nebbia, Ricci, and Circignani! He was there, +indeed, for some time, and assisted the Zuccari in the <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg +178]</a></span>apartments of Pius IV., but was compelled to fly in +consequence of some pretended friends having, in an execrable manner, +administered poison to him through jealousy of his talents, and so +materially injured his health, that he could only paint at intervals, +and for a short space of time. Forsaking Rome, therefore, he resided for +some time in Perugia, and a longer period in Urbino, from whence he +despatched his pictures from time to time to Rome and other places. By +means of these, the Tuscan School derived great benefit through Cigoli, +Passignano, and Vanni, as we have before observed; and it is not +improbable, that Roncalli and Baglione may have profited by them, if we +may judge from some works of both the one and the other of these artists +to be seen in various places.</p> + +<p>However this might be, at the commencement of the seventeenth +century, these five were in the highest repute as artists who were not +corrupted by the prevailing taste. An idea had subsisted from the time +of Clement VIII., of decorating the church of the Vatican, with the +History of S. Peter, and of employing in that work the best artists. The +execution of this design occupied a considerable time, the pictures +being reduced to mosaic, as the painting on wood and slate did not +resist the humidity of the church. The five before mentioned artists +were selected to paint each a subject; and Bernardo Castelli, one of the +first painters of the Genoese School, was the sixth, and the least +celebrated. These artists were all liberally <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>paid, and the five +first raised to the rank of <i>Cavalieri</i>, and their works had a +beneficial influence on the rising generation, and proved that the reign +of the mannerists was on the decline. Caravaggio gave it a severe shock +by his powerful and natural style, and Baglione attests, that this young +artist, by the great applause which he gained, excited the jealousy of +Federigo Zuccaro, then advanced in years, and entered into competition +with Cesare, his former master. But the most serious blow the mannerists +received, was from the Caracci and their school. Annibale arrived in +Rome not much before the year 1600, invited by the Cardinal Farnese to +paint his gallery; a work which occupied him for nearly eight years, and +for which he received only five hundred scudi, a sum so inadequate that +we can scarcely believe it to be correct. He also decorated several +churches. Lodovico, his cousin, was with him for a short time; Agostino, +his brother, for a longer period; and he had his scholars with him, +amongst whom we may enumerate Domenichino, Guido, Albano, and Lanfranc. +They came thither at different periods, matured in their talents, and +able to assist their master not only in execution but design.</p> + +<p>Rome had for some years seen only the two extreme styles of painting. +Caravaggio and his followers were mere <i>naturalists</i>; Arpino and +his scholars pure idealists. Annibale introduced a style founded in +nature, yet ennobled by the ideal, and supported his ideal by his +knowledge of nature. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" +id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>He was at first denounced as cold and +insipid, because he was not affected and extravagant, or rather because +great merit was never unaccompanied by envy. But though envy for a time, +by her insidious suggestions and subterfuges, may derive a mean pleasure +in persecuting a man of genius, she can never hope to succeed in +blinding the public, who ever decide impartially on the merits of +individuals, and whose judgment is not disregarded even by princes. The +Farnese gallery was opened, and Rome beheld in it a grandeur of style, +which might claim a place after the Sistine chapel, and the chambers of +the Vatican. It was then discovered, that the preceding Pontiffs had +only lavished their wealth for the corruption of art; and that the true +secret which the great ought to put in practice lay in a few words: a +judicious selection of masters, and a more liberal allowance of time. +Hence, though somewhat tardy indeed in consequence of the death of +Annibale, came the order from Paul V., to distribute the work among the +Bolognese; for so the Caracci and their scholars were at that time +designated; one of whom, Ottaviano Mascherini, was the Pope's +architect.<a name="fnanchor_71" id="fnanchor_71"></a><a +href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor"><sup>[71]</sup></a> A new spirit +was thus introduced into the Roman School, which, if it did not wholly +destroy the former extravagance of style, still in a great degree +repressed it. The pontificate of Gregory XV. (Lodovisi) <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>was +short, but still, through national partiality, highly favourable to the +Bolognese, amongst whom we may reckon Guercino da Cento, although a +follower of Caravaggio rather than Annibale. He was the most employed in +St. Peter's, and in the villa Lodovisi. This reign was followed by the +pontificate of Urban VIII., favourable both to poets and painters, +though, perhaps, more so to the latter than the former; since it +embraced, besides the Caracci and their school, Poussin, Pietro da +Cortona, and the best landscape painters that the world had seen. The +leading masters then all found employment, either from the Pope himself, +or his nephew the Cardinal, or other branches of that family, and were +engaged in the decoration of St. Peter's, or their own palaces, or in +the new church of the Capucins, where the altarpieces were distributed +among Lanfranc, Guido, Sacchi, Berrettini, and other considerable +artists. The same liberal plan was followed by Alexander VII. a prince +of great taste, and by his successors. It was during the reign of +Alexander, that Christina, Queen of Sweden, established herself in Rome, +and her passion for the fine arts inspired and maintained not a few of +the painters whom we shall mention. It must indeed be premised, that we +are under the necessity of deferring our notice of the greatest names of +this epoch to another place, as they belong of right to the school of +Bologna, and some we have already recorded in the Florentine School. But +to proceed.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg +182]</a></span>Federigo Barocci might from the time of his birth be +placed in the preceding epoch, but his merit assigns him to this period, +in which I comprise the reformers of art. He learned the principles of +his art from Batista Franco, a Venetian by birth, but a Florentine in +style. This artist going young to Rome, to prosecute his studies there, +was struck with the grand style of Michelangiolo, and copied both there +and in Florence, all his works, as well his paintings and drawings as +statues. He became an excellent designer, but was not equally eminent as +a colourist, having turned his attention at a late period to that branch +of the art. In Rome he may be seen in some evangelical subjects painted +in fresco, in a chapel in the Minerva, and preferred by Vasari to any +other of his works. He also decorated the choir of the Metropolitan +church of Urbino in fresco, and there left a Madonna in oil, placed +between S. Peter and S. Paul, in the best Florentine style, except that +the figure of S. Paul is somewhat attenuated. There is a grand picture +in oil by him in the tribune of S. Venanzio, in Fabriano; containing the +Virgin, with the titular and two other protecting Saints. In the +sacristy of the cathedral of Osimo, I saw many small pictures +representing the life of Christ, painted by him in the year 1547, as we +learn from the archives of that church; a thing of rare occurrence, as +Franco was scarcely ever known to paint pictures of this class. Under +this artist, whilst he resided in Urbino, Barocci designed and studied +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg +183]</a></span>from the antique. He then went to Pesaro, where he +employed himself in copying after Titian, and was instructed in geometry +and perspective by Bartolommeo Genga, the architect, the son of Girolamo +and the uncle of Barocci. From thence he passed to Rome, and acquired a +more correct style of design, and adopted the manner of Raffaello, in +which style he painted the S. Cecilia for the Duomo of Urbino, and in a +still more improved and original manner, the S. Sebastian, a work which +Mancini, in point of solid taste, sets above all the works of Barocci. +But the amenity and gracefulness of his style led him almost +instinctively to the imitation of Correggio, in whose manner he painted +in his native city the delightful picture of S. Simon and S. Judas, in +the church of the Conventuals.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless this was not the style which he permanently adopted as +his own, but as a free imitation of that great master. In the heads of +his children and of his female figures, he approaches nearly to him; +also in the easy flow of his drapery, in the pure contour, in the mode +of foreshortening his figures; but in general his design is not so +grand, and his chiaroscuro less ideal; his tints are lucid and well +arranged, and bear a resemblance to the beautiful hues of Correggio, but +they have neither his strength nor truth. It is however delightful to +see the great variety of colours he has employed, so exquisitely blended +by his pencil, and there is perhaps no music more finely harmonized +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg +184]</a></span>to the ear, than his pictures are to the eye. This is in +a great measure the effect of the chiaroscuro, to which he paid great +attention, and which he was the first to introduce into the schools of +Lower Italy. In order to obtain an accurate chiaroscuro, he formed small +statues of earthenware, or wax, in which art he did not yield the palm +to the most experienced sculptors. In the composition and expression of +every figure, he consulted the truth. He made use of models too, in +order to obtain the most striking attitudes, and those most consonant to +nature; and in every garment, and every fold of it, he did not shew a +line that was not to be found in the model. Having made his design, he +prepared a cartoon the size of his intended picture, from which he +traced the contours on his canvass; he then on a small scale tried the +disposition of his colours, and proceeded to the execution of his work. +Before colouring, however, he formed his chiaroscuro very accurately +after the best ancient masters, (vol. i. p. 187,) of which method he +left traces in a Madonna and Saints, which I saw in Rome in the Albani +palace, a picture which I imagine the artist was prevented by death from +finishing. Another picture unfinished, and on that account very +instructive and highly prized, is in possession of the noble family of +Graziani in Perugia. To conclude, perfection was his aim in every +picture, a maxim which insures excellence to artists of genius.</p> + +<p>Bellori, who wrote the life of Barocci, has given <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>us a +catalogue of his pictures. There are few found which are not of +religious subjects; some portraits, and the Burning of Troy, which he +painted in two pictures, one of which now adorns the Borghese gallery. +Except on this occasion his pencil may be said to have been dedicated to +religion; so devout, so tender, and so calculated to awaken feelings of +piety, are the sentiments expressed in his pictures. The Minerva, in +Rome, possesses his Institution of the Sacrament, a picture which +Clement X. employed him to paint; the Vallicella has his two pictures of +the Visitation and the Presentation. In the Duomo of Genoa is a +Crucifixion by him, with the Virgin and S. John, and S. Sebastian; in +that of Perugia, the Deposition from the Cross; in that of Fermo, S. +John the Evangelist; in that of Urbino, the Last Supper of our Lord. +Another Deposition, and a picture of the Rosario, and mysteries, is in +Sinigaglia; and, in the neighbouring city of Pesaro, the calling of St. +Andrew, the Circumcision, the Ecstacy of S. Michelina on Mount Cavalry, +a single figure, which fills the whole picture, and esteemed, it is +said, by Simon Cantarini, as his masterpiece. Urbino, besides the +pictures already noticed, and some others, possesses a S. Francis in +prayer, at the Capucins; and at the Conventuals, the great picture of +the Perdono, in which he consumed seven years. The perspective, the +beautiful play of light, the speaking countenances, the colour and +harmony of the work, cannot be imagined by <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>any one who has not +seen it. The artist himself was delighted with it, wrote his name on it, +and etched it. His Annunciation, at Loreto, is a beautiful picture, and +the same subject at Gubbio, unfinished; the Martyrdom of S. Vitale, at +the church of that saint, in Ravenna, and the picture of the +Misericordia, painted for the Duomo of Arezzo, and afterwards +transferred to the ducal gallery of Florence. The same subject exists +also in the hospital of Sinigaglia, copied there by the scholars of +Barocci, who have repeated the pictures of their master in numerous +churches of the state of Urbino, and of Umbria, and in some in Piceno, +and these are, occasionally, so well painted, that one might imagine he +had finished them himself.</p> + +<p>The same may be said of some of his cabinet pictures, which are to be +seen in collections; such is the Virgin adoring the Infant Christ, which +I remarked in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, in the Casa Bolognetti in +Rome, and in a noble house in Cortona, and which I find mentioned also +in the imperial gallery at Vienna. A head of the <i>Ecce Homo</i> has +also been often repeated, and some Holy Families, which he varied in a +singular manner; I have seen a S. Joseph sleeping, and another S. +Joseph, in the Casa Zaccaria, in the act of raising a tapestry; and in +the Repose in Egypt, which was transferred from the sacristy of the +Jesuits at Perugia to the chamber of the Pope, he is represented +plucking some cherries for the Infant Christ, a picture, which seems +painted to rival Correggio. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" +id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>Bellori remarks, that he was so fond of +it that he frequently repeated it.</p> + +<p>The school of Barocci extended itself through this duchy and the +neighbouring places; although his best imitator was Vanni of Siena, who +had never studied in Urbino. The disciples of Federigo were very +numerous, but remaining in general in their own country they did not +disseminate the principles, and few of them inherited the true spirit of +their master's style: the most confining themselves to the exterior of +the art of colouring; and even this was deteriorated by the use of large +quantities of cinnabar and azure, colours which their master had +employed with greater moderation; and they were not unfrequently +condemned for this practice, as Bellori and Algarotti remark. The flesh +tints under their pencil often became livid, and the contours too much +charged. I cannot give an accurate catalogue of these scholars, but +independent of the writers on the works in Urbino, and other guides and +traditions in various parts, I am certain, that if they were not +instructed by Barocci himself, they must at all events, from their +country, and from the period at which they flourished, have formed +themselves on his pictures. There is little to be observed respecting +Francesco Baldelli, the nephew and scholar of Federigo. I do not find +any memorial of him, except a picture which he placed in the Capella +Danzetta, of S. Agostino, in Perugia, and which is mentioned by +Crispolti, in his history of that city, at page 133.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg +188]</a></span>Of Bertuzzi and Porino I have not seen any works, except +copies in the style of Barocci, or feeble productions of their own. An +excellent copyist was found in Alessandro Vitali of Urbino, in which +city, at the Suore della Torre, is found the Annunciation of Loreto, +copied by him in such a manner that it might be taken for the original +picture. Barocci was pleased with his talent, and willingly retouched +some of his pictures, and probably favoured him in this way in the S. +Agnes and S. Agostino, placed by Vitali, the one in the Duomo, the other +in the church of the Eremitani, where he may be said to surpass himself. +Antonio Viviani, called il Sordo of Urbino, also made some very accurate +copies of his master, which are still preserved by his noble posterity. +He too was a great favourite of Federigo, and was in his native city +called his nephew; although Baglione, who wrote his life, is silent on +this head. He left some pictures in Urbino, in the best style of +Barocci; particularly the S. Donato, in a suburban church of the saint +of that name. This however cannot be called his own style, for he +visited Rome at various times, where, having received instructions from +Mascherini, and employed himself for a time in the imitation of Cesari, +and of the rapid manner of the practicians recorded by us, he exhibited +in that metropolis various styles, and some of the most feeble which he +adopted. Assuredly his fresco pictures, which remain in various places +in Rome, do not support <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" +id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>the opinion which is inspired by a view +of the vast work which he conducted in the church de' Filippini at Fano. +There, in the vault, and in the chapel, are executed various histories +of the chief of the apostles to whom the church is dedicated. His style +in these exhibits a beautiful imitation of Barocci and Raffaello, in +which the manner of the latter predominates. Lazzari maintains that this +Antonio Viviani repaired to Genoa, and that Soprani changed his name to +Antonio Antoniani; thus giving to Barocci a scholar who never existed. +Of this supposition we shall speak with more propriety in the Genoese +School. Another Viviani is mentioned by tradition in Urbino, Lodovico, a +brother or cousin of the preceding. This painter sometimes imitates +Barocci, as in the S. Girolamo in the Duomo, and sometimes approaches +the Venetian style, as in the Epiphany at the Monastery della Torre.</p> + +<p>Another painter almost unknown in the history of art, but of singular +merit, is Filippo Bellini of Urbino, of whom I have not seen any works +in his native place, but a number in oil and fresco scattered through +many cities of the March. He is in general an imitator of Barocci, as in +the picture of the Circumcision in the church of Loreto, in the +Espousals of the Virgin in the Duomo in Ancona, and in a Madonna +belonging to the Counts Leopardi at Osimo. He affords, however, +sometimes an example of a vigorous and lively style, and exhibits a +powerful colouring, and a grandeur <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>of composition. He +discovered this character in some works in Fabriano in his best time, +and particularly in the Opere della Misericordia, which are fourteen +subjects taken from Scripture, and represented in the church della +Carità.<a name="fnanchor_72" id="fnanchor_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[72]</sup></a> They are beheld by cultivated +foreigners with admiration, and it appears strange that such a painter, +whose life and works are alike worthy of remembrance, should not have +found a place in the catalogues. He is also extolled for his works in +fresco, in the chapel of the Conventuals in Montalboddo, where he has +represented the Martyrdom of S. Gaudenzio, and which is described in the +guide book of that city.</p> + +<p>We may next notice Antonio Cimatori, called also Antonio Visacci, not +only by the vulgar, but also by Girolamo Benedetti, in the Relazione, +which in the lifetime of the artist he composed on the festival at +Urbino, in honour of Giulia de' Medici, married to the Prince Federigo. +Cimatori was there engaged to paint the arches and pictures, which were +exhibited, in conjunction with the younger Viviani, Mazzi, and Urbani. +His forte lay in pen drawing, and in chiaroscuro; as may be seen from +his Prophets, in a grand style, transferred from the Duomo to the +apostolic palace. He did not leave many works in his native place; but +amongst them is his picture of S. Monica, at <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>S. Agostino. His copies +from the original pictures of Barocci are to be found in various places, +particularly in the Duomo of Cagli. He resided, and worked for a long +time in Pesaro, where he instructed Giulio Cesare Begni, a bold and +animated artist, a good perspective painter, and in a great degree a +follower of the Venetian School, in which he studied and painted. He +left many works in Udine, and many more in his native place, in a rapid +and unfinished style, but of a good general effect. In the +<i>Descrizione odeporica della Spagna</i>, (tom. ii. p. 130), we find +Giovanni and Francesco d'Urbino mentioned, who about the year 1575, it +seems, were both engaged by the court to decorate the Escurial. The +latter came early in life to Spain, and being endowed with a noble +genius, soon became an excellent artist, and is extolled by his +contemporary P. Siguenza, and by all who have seen the Judgment of +Solomon, and his other pictures in a choir in that magnificent place: he +died young. That these works belong to the pencil of Barocci might be +suspected from their era, and the practice of that splendid court, which +was in the habit of engaging in its service the first masters of Italy +or their scholars. But not possessing positive information, nor finding +any indication of their style, I dare not assign these two to Barocci. I +feel a pleasure however in restoring them to the glorious country from +which they had been separated.</p> + +<p>Passing from the fellow countrymen of Barocci <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>to +foreigners, some persons have imagined Andrea Lilio, of Ancona, to have +been his disciple. I rather consider him to have been an imitator of +him, but more in respect to colour than any thing else. He had a share +in the works which were carried on under Sixtus, and painted for the +churches, chiefly in fresco, and sometimes in partnership with Viviani +of Urbino. He went to Rome when young, and lived there until the reign +of Paul V., but suffered both in body and mind from domestic +misfortunes, which interrupted not a little his progress in art. Ancona +possesses several of his pictures in fresco, varying in their merit, as +well as some of his oil pictures at the Paolotti in S. Agostino, and in +the sacristy some pieces, from the Life of S. Nicholas, highly prized. +The most celebrated is his Martyrdom of S. Lorenzo, by many ascribed to +Barocci, for which I refer to the <i>Guida</i> of Montalboddo, and the +church of S. Catherine, where it is placed. His greatest work is the +altarpiece in the Duomo at Fano, representing all the saints, containing +a vast number of figures well grouped and well contrasted, and if not +very correctly designed, still possessing Barocci's tone of colour.</p> + +<p>Giorgio Picchi of Durante I included in a former edition among the +scholars of Barocci, in conformity to the general opinion prevalent in +Pesaro and Rimini; but I have not found this confirmed in the chronicle +of Castel Durante, published by Colucci, which contains a particular +account of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg +193]</a></span>this artist, written soon after his death. I am therefore +inclined to think him only a follower, like Lilio, with whom he was +associated in Rome in the time of Sixtus V., if the chronicle is to be +relied on. It relates that he worked in the library of the Vatican, at +the Scala Santa, and at the Palazzo di S. Giovanni; and it appears +unaccountable that all this was unknown to Baglione, who narrates the +same circumstances of Lilio and others, and makes no mention of Picchi. +However this may be, he was certainly a considerable artist, and was +attached to the style of Barocci, which was in vogue at that period, as +we may perceive from his great picture of the Cintura, in the church of +S. Agostino, in Rimini, and still more from the history of S. Marino, +which he painted in the church of that saint in the same city. Others of +his works are to be found both in oil and fresco in Urbino, in his +native place, at Cremona, and elsewhere; and although on a vast scale, +embracing whole oratories and churches, they could not have cost him any +great labour, from the rapid manner which he had acquired in Rome.</p> + +<p>In S. Ginesio, a place in the March, Domenico Malpiedi is considered +as belonging to Federigo's school, and of him there are preserved in the +collegiate church, the Martyrdoms of S. Ginesio and S. Eleuterio, which +are highly commended. From Colucci we learn that there also remain other +works by him; and from the prices paid, we may conclude that he was +esteemed an excellent artist. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" +id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>He was living in 1596, and about the +same time there flourished also another Malpiedi, who painted a +Deposition from the Cross in S. Francesco di Osimo, and inscribed on it +<i>Franciscus Malpedius di S. Ginesio</i>, a picture feeble in +composition, deficient in expression, and little resembling the school +of Barocci, except in a distant approximation of colour.</p> + +<p>The <i>Guida</i> of Pesaro assigns to the same school Terenzio +Terenzj, called il Rondolino, whom it characterises as an eminent +painter, and of whom there exist four specimens in public, and many more +in the neighbourhood of the city (page 80). It is also mentioned that he +was employed by the Cardinal della Rovere in Rome, and that he placed a +picture in the church of S. Silvestro. The picture of S. Silvestro <i>in +capite</i>, which represents the Madonna, attended by Saints, is +ascribed by Titi to a Terenzio of Urbino, who, according to Baglione, +served the Cardinal Montalto. It is most probable, that in the records +of Pesaro there arose some equivoque on the name of the cardinal, and +that these two painters might, or rather ought to be merged in one. +Terenzio Rondolino, it appears to me, is the same as Terenzio d'Urbino, +and very probably in Rome took his name from Urbino, the capital of +Pesaro. But by whatever name this painter may be distinguished, we learn +from Baglione that Terenzio d'Urbino was a noted cheat; and that, after +having sold to inexperienced persons many of his own pictures for those +of ancient <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg +195]</a></span>masters, he attempted to pass the same deceit upon the +Cardinal Peretti, the nephew of Sixtus V. and his own patron, offering +to his notice one of his own pieces as a Raphael: but the fraud was +detected, and Terenzio in consequence banished from the court; a +circumstance which he took to heart, and died whilst yet young.</p> + +<p>Two brothers, Felice and Vincenzio Pellegrini, born and resident in +Perugia, are recorded by Orlandi and Pascoli, as scholars of Barocci. +The first became an excellent designer, and in the pontificate of +Clement VIII. was called to Rome, probably to assist Cesari, though it +is not known that he left any work in his own name. Some copies after +Barocci by him exist in Perugia, and it is well known that his master +was highly satisfied with his labours in that line. The other brother is +mentioned by Bottari in the notes to his life of Raffaello; and I +recollect having seen in Perugia a picture in the sacristy of S. Philip, +in rather a hard manner, in which it is difficult to recognize the style +of his supposed master. It is possible that these two artists might have +had their first instructions from Barocci, and that they afterwards +returned to another manner. A similar instance occurs in Ventura Marzi. +In the Biographical Dictionary of the Painters of Urbino he is given to +the school of Barocci. His manner however is different, and I should say +bad, if all his pictures were similar to that of S. Uomobuono, which I +saw in the sacristy of the metropolitan church; <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>but he did indeed paint +some better, and it is an ancient maxim, that to improve we must +sometimes err. Benedetto Bandiera, of Perugia, who approaches nearer to +the style of Barocci than most others, is said to have been a relative +of Vanni, from whom he derived that manner, if we may believe Orlandi. +But Pascoli, both on this point, and on the period in which he +flourished, confutes him, and considers him to have been instructed by +Barocci in Urbino for many years, and that afterwards he became a +diligent observer of all his pictures which he could discover in other +places.</p> + +<p>Whilst Italy was filled with the fame of Barocci, there came to +Urbino, and resided in his house for some time, Claudio Ridolfi, called +also Claudio Veronese, from his native city, of which he was a noble. He +was there instructed by Dario Pozzo, an author of few but excellent +works, and after these first instructions he remained many years without +further applying himself. Being afterwards compelled by necessity to +practise the art, he became the scholar of Paolo, and the rival of the +Bassani; and not finding employment in his native place, which then +abounded with painters, he removed to Rome, and from thence to Urbino. +It is said that he derived from Federigo the amenity of his style, and +the beautiful airs of his heads. He married in Urbino, and afterwards +fixed his residence in the district of Corinaldo, where, and in the +neighbouring places, he left a great number of pictures, which yield +little in tone to the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" +id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>best colourists of his native school, +and are often conducted with a design, a sobriety, and a delicacy +sufficient to excite their envy. Ridolfi, who wrote a brief life of him, +enumerates scarcely one half of his works. There are some at +Fossombrone, Cantiano, and Fabriano; and Rimino possesses a Deposition +from the Cross, a beautiful composition. There are several mentioned in +the <i>Guida di Montalboddo</i>, lately edited. Urbino is rich in them, +where the Nascita del S. Precursore, (the Birth of S. John the Baptist), +at S. Lucia, and the Presentation of the Virgin at the Spirito Santo, +are highly valued. Many of his works are also to be seen in the Palazzo +Albani, and in other collections of the nobility in Urbino. He there +indeed formed a school, which gave birth to Cialdieri, of whom there are +works remaining, both public and private; the most noted of which is a +Martyrdom of S. John, at the church of S. Bartholomew. He possessed a +facility and elegance of style, was highly accomplished in landscape, +which he often introduced into his pictures, and is remarkable for his +accurate perspective. Urbinelli, of Urbino, and Cesare Maggieri<a +name="fnanchor_73" id="fnanchor_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[73]</sup></a> of the same city, lived also about +this time. The first was a vigorous painter, an excellent colourist, and +partial to the Venetian style. The second an industrious artist, +inclining to the style of Barocci and Roman School. The history of art +does not assign either of these to the school <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>of Ridolfi; but there +is a greater probability of the first rather than the second belonging +to it. Another painter of uncertain school, but who partakes more of +Claudio than of Barocci, is Patanazzi, who is mentioned in the Galleria +de' Pittori Urbinati, (v. Coluc. tom. xvi.), and poetic incense is +bestowed on his <i>risentito pennello e l'ottima invenzione</i>. I have +seen by him in a chapel of the Duomo a Marriage of the Virgin, the +figures not large, but well coloured and correctly drawn, if indeed some +of them may not be thought rather attenuated than slender and elegant. A +celebrated scholar of Ridolfi, Benedetto Marini, of Urbino, went to +Piacenza, where he left some highly valued pictures in several churches, +in which the style of Barocci is mixed with the Lombard and Venetian. +The work which excites our greatest admiration is the Miracle of the +Loaves in the Desert, which he painted in the refectory of the +Conventuals in 1625. It is one of the largest compositions in oil which +is to be seen, well grouped and well contrasted, and displaying uncommon +powers.<a name="fnanchor_74" id="fnanchor_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[74]</sup></a> I should not hesitate to prefer the +scholar to the master in grandeur of idea and vigour of execution, +though in the fundamental principles of the art he may not be equal to +him. The history of his life, as well as his works, scattered in that +neighbourhood, in Pavia, and elsewhere, were deserving of commemoration; +yet this artist as well as Bellini remains unnoticed by the catalogues, +and what is more, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" +id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>he is little known in his native place, +which has no other specimen of his pencil than a picture of S. Carlo at +the Trinità, with some angels, which does not excite the same admiration +as his works in Lombardy.<a name="fnanchor_75" id="fnanchor_75"></a><a +href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor"><sup>[75]</sup></a> Some other +scholars of Claudio are found in Verona, to which city he returned, and +remained for a short time; and in the Bolognese School mention will be +made of Cantarini, among the masters of which he is numbered. In the +meantime let us turn from these provincial schools, which were the first +that felt the reviving influence of the age, to the capital, where we +shall find Caravaggio, the Caracci, and other reformers of the art.</p> + +<p>Michelangiolo Amerighi, or Morigi da Caravaggio, is memorable in this +epoch, for having recalled the art from mannerism to truth, as well in +his forms, which he always drew from nature, as in his colours, +banishing the cinnabar and azures, and composing his colours of few but +true tints, after the manner of Giorgione. Annibale Caracci extolling +him, declares that he did not paint, but grind flesh, and both Guercino +and Guido highly admired him, and profited from his example. He was +instructed in the art in Milan, from whence he went to Venice to study +Giorgione; and he adopted at the commencement of his career that subdued +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg +200]</a></span>style of shadow, which he had learnt from that great +artist, and in which some of the most highly prized works of Caravaggio +are executed. He was however afterwards led away by his sombre genius, +and represented objects with very little light, overcharging his +pictures with shade. His figures inhabit dungeons, illuminated from +above by only a single and melancholy ray. His backgrounds are always +dark, and the actors are all placed in the same line, so that there is +little perspective in his pictures; yet they enchant us, from the +powerful effect which results from the strong contrast of light and +shade. We must not look in him for correct design, or elegant +proportion, as he ridiculed all artists who attempted a noble expression +of countenance, or graceful foldings of drapery, or who imitated the +forms of the antique, as exhibited in sculpture, his sense of the +beautiful being all derived from visible nature. There is to be seen by +him in the Spada palace a S. Anne, with the Virgin at her side, occupied +in female work. Their features are remarkable only for their vulgarity, +and they are both attired in the common dress of Rome, and are doubtless +portraits, taken from the first elderly and young women that offered +themselves to his observation. This was his usual manner; and he +appeared most highly pleased when he could load his pictures with rusty +armour, broken vessels, shreds of old garments, and attenuated and +wasted bodies. On this account some of his works were removed from the +altars, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg +201]</a></span>one in particular at the Scala, which represented the +Death of the Virgin, in which was figured a corpse, hideously +swelled.</p> + +<p>Few of his pictures are to be seen in Rome, and amongst them is the +Madonna of Loreto, in the church of S. Agostino; but the best is the +Deposition from the Cross, in the church of the Vallicella, which forms +a singular contrast to the gracefulness of Barocci, and the seductive +style of Guido, exhibited on the adjoining altars. He generally painted +for collections. On his arrival in Rome he painted flowers and fruit; +afterwards long pictures of half figures, a custom much practised after +his time. In these he represented subjects sacred and profane, and +particularly the manners of the lower classes, drinking parties, +conjurors, and feasts. His most admired works are his Supper at Emmaus, +in the Casa Borghese; S. Bastiano in Campidoglio; Agar, with Ishmael +Dying, in the Panfili collection; and the picture of a Fruit Girl, which +exhibits great resemblance of nature, both in the figures and +accompaniments. He was still more successful in representing quarrels +and nightly broils, to which he was himself no stranger, and by which +too he rendered his own life scandalous. He fled from Rome for homicide, +and resided for some time in Naples; from thence he passed to Malta, +where, after having been honoured with the Cross by the Grand Master, +for his talent displayed in his picture of the Decollation of S. John, +in the oratory of the church of the Conventuals, <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>he +quarrelled with a cavalier and was thrown into prison. Escaping from +thence with difficulty, he resided for some time in Sicily, and wished +to return to Rome; but had not proceeded further on his journey than +Porto Ercole, when he died of a malignant fever, in the year 1609. He +left numerous works in these different countries, as we learn from Gio. +Pietro Bellori, who wrote his life at considerable length. Of his chief +scholars we shall treat in the following book. At present we will +enumerate his followers in Rome and its territories.</p> + +<p>His school, or rather the crowd of his imitators, who were greatly +increased on his death, does not afford an instance of a single bad +colourist; it has nevertheless been accused of neglect, both in design +and grace. Bartolommeo Manfredi, of Mantua, formerly a scholar of +Roncalli, might be called a second Caravaggio, except that he was rather +more refined in his composition. His works are seldom found in +collections, although he painted for them, as he died young, and is +often supplanted by his master, as I believe was the case with some +pictures painted for the Casa Medicea, mentioned by Baglione.</p> + +<p>Carlo Saracino, or Saraceni, also called Veneziano, wishing to be +thought a second Caravaggio, affected the same singular mode of dress as +that master, and provided himself with a huge shagged dog, to which he +gave the same name that Caravaggio had attached to his own. He left many +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg +203]</a></span>works in Rome, both in fresco and oils. He too was a +<i>naturalista</i>, but possessed a more clear style of colour. He +displayed a Venetian taste in his figures, dressing them richly in the +Levant fashion, and was fond of introducing into his compositions +corpulent persons, eunuchs, and shaven heads. His principal frescos are +in a hall of the Quirinal; his best oil pictures are thought to be those +of S. Bonone, and a martyred bishop in the church dell'Anima. He is +seldom found in collections; but, from the above peculiarities, I have +more than once recognized his works. He returned to Venice, and soon +afterwards died there; hence he was omitted by Ridolfi, and scarcely +noticed by Zanetti.</p> + +<p>Monsieur Valentino, as he is called in Italy, who was born at Brie, +near Paris, and studied in Rome, became one of the most judicious +followers of Caravaggio. He painted in the Quirinal the Martyrdom of the +Saints Processo and Martiniano. He was a young artist of great promise, +but was cut off by a premature death. His easel pictures are not very +rare in Rome. The Denial of S. Peter, in the Palazzo Corsini, is a +delightful picture.</p> + +<p>Simone Vovet, the restorer of the French School, and the master of Le +Brun, formed his style from the pictures of Caravaggio and Valentino. In +Rome there are some charming productions by him both in public and +private, particularly in the Barberini gallery. I have heard them +preferred to many others that he painted in France in his noted rapid +style.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg +204]</a></span>Angiolo Caroselli was a Roman, in whose works, consisting +chiefly of portraits and small figures, if we except the S. Vinceslao of +the Quirinal palace, and a few similar pictures, we find the style of +Caravaggio improved by an addition of grace and delicacy. He was +remarkable for not making his design on paper, or using any preparatory +study for his canvass. He is lively in his attitudes, rich in his tints, +and finished and refined in his pictures, which are highly prized, but +few in number, when we consider the term of his life. Besides practising +the style of Caravaggio, in which he frequently deceived the most +experienced, he imitated other artists in a wonderful manner. A S. Elena +by him was considered as a production of Titian even by his rivals, +until they found the cipher A. C. marked on the picture in small +letters, and Poussin affirms, that he should have taken his two copies +of Raffaello for genuine pictures, if he had not known where the +originals were deposited.</p> + +<p>Gherardo Hundhorst is called Gherardo dalle Notti, from having +painted few subjects except illuminated night pieces, in which he +chiefly excelled. He imitated Caravaggio, adopting only his better +parts, his carnations, his vigorous pencil, and grand masses of light +and shade: but he aimed also at correctness in his costume, selection in +his forms, gracefulness of attitude, and represented religious subjects +with great propriety. His pictures are very numerous, and the Prince +Giustiniani possesses the one of Christ led by night <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>to +the Judgment Seat, which is one of his most celebrated works.</p> + +<p>The school of Caravaggio flourished for a considerable period, but +its followers, painting chiefly for private individuals, have in a great +degree remained unknown. Baglione makes particular mention of Gio. +Serodine, of Ascona, in Lombardy, and enumerates many works by him, more +remarkable for their facility of execution than their excellence. There +remains no public specimen of him, except a Decollation of S. John at S. +Lorenzo fuor delle Mura. One of the latest of the school of Caravaggio +was Tommaso Luini, a Roman, who, from his quarrelsome disposition, and +his style, was called Il Caravaggino. He worked in Rome, and appeared +most to advantage when he painted the designs of his master, Sacchi, as +at S. Maria in Via. When he embodied his own ideas, his design was +rather dry and his colouring dark. About the same time Gio. Campino of +Camerino, who received his first instructions under Gianson in Flanders, +resided in Rome for some years, and increased the number of this school. +He was afterwards painter to the court of Madrid, and died in Spain. It +is not known whether or not Gio. Francesco Guerrieri di Fossombrone ever +studied in Rome, but his works are to be seen at Filippini di Fano, +where he painted in a chapel, S. Carlo contemplating the Mysteries of +the Passion, with two lateral pictures from the life of that saint; and +in another chapel, where he represented <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>the Dream of S. Joseph, +his style resembles that of Caravaggio, but possesses more softness of +colour, and more gracefulness of form. In the Duomo of Fabriano is also +a S. Joseph by him. He has left, in his native place, an abundance of +works, which, if distributed more widely, would give him a celebrity +which it has not hitherto been his lot to receive. I there saw, in a +church, a night piece of S. Sebastian attended by S. Irene, a picture of +most beautiful effect; a Judith, in possession of the Franceschini +family; other works in the Casa Passionei and elsewhere, very charming, +and which often shew that he had very much imitated Guercino. His female +forms are almost all cast in the same mould, and are copied from the +person of a favorite mistress.</p> + +<p>We now come to the Caracci and their school. Before Annibale arrived +in Rome, he had already formed a style which left nothing to be desired, +except to be more strongly imbued with the antique. Annibale added this +to his other noble qualities when he came to Rome; and his disciples, +who trod in his steps, and continued after his death to paint in that +city, are particularly distinguished by this characteristic from those +who remained in Bologna under the instruction of his cousin Lodovico. +The disciples of Annibale left scholars in Rome; but no one except +Sacchi approached so near in merit to his master, as they had done to +Annibale, nor did there appear, like them, any founder of an original +style. Still they <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" +id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>were sufficient to put a check on the +mannerists, and the followers of Caravaggio, and to restore the Roman +School to a better taste. We shall now proceed to enumerate their +scholars in their various classes.</p> + +<p>Domenichino Zampieri, to his talents as a painter, added commensurate +powers of instruction. Besides Alessandro Fortuna, who under the +direction of his master painted some fables from Apollo, in the villa +Aldobrandini in Frescati, and died young, Zampieri had in Rome two +scholars of great repute, mentioned only by Bellori; Antonio Barbalunga, +of Messina, and Andrea Camassei of Bevagna, both of whom honoured their +country with their name and works, although they did not live many +years. The first was a happy imitator of his master, who had long +employed him in copying for himself. In the church of the P. P. Teatini, +at Monte Cavallo, is his picture of their Founder, and of S. Andrea +Avellino, attended by angels, which might be ascribed to Zampieri +himself, whose forms in this class of subjects were select, and his +attitudes elegant, and most engaging. To him I shall return in the +fourth book. The second, who had also studied in the school of Sacchi, +lived longer in Rome; and whoever wishes justly to appreciate him, must +not judge from the chapel which he painted whilst yet young in his +native place, but must inspect his works in the capital. There, in S. +Andrea della Valle, is the S. Gaetano, painted at the same time, and in +competition <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg +208]</a></span>with the S. Andrea of Barbalunga, before mentioned with +commendation; the Assumption at the Rotonda, and the Pietà at the +Capucins; and many excellent frescos in the Baptistery of the Lateran, +and in the church of S. Peter; which evince that he had almost an equal +claim to fame with his comrade. If, indeed, he was somewhat less bold, +and less select, yet he had a natural style, a grace, and a tone of +colour, that do honour to the Roman School, to which he contributed +Giovanni Carbone, of S. Severino, a scholar of some note. It has been +remarked, that his fate resembles that of Domenichino, as his merits +were undervalued, and himself persecuted by his relatives, and he was +also prematurely cut off by domestic afflictions.</p> + +<p>Francesco Cozza was born in Calabria, but settled in Rome. He was the +faithful companion of Domenichino during the life of that master, and +after his death completed some works left unfinished by that artist, and +executed them in the genuine spirit of his departed friend, as may be +seen in Titi. He appears to have inherited from his teacher his learning +rather than his taste. One of his most beautiful pictures is the Virgin +del Riscatto at S. Francesca Romana a Capo alle Case. Out of Rome there +are few public or private works to be met with by him. He was considered +exceedingly expert in his knowledge of the hands of the different +masters, and on disputed points, which often arose on this subject in +Rome, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg +209]</a></span>his opinion was always asked and acted on, without any +appeal from his judgment. Of Pietro del Po, also a disciple of +Domenichino, and of his family, we shall speak more at large in the +fourth book.</p> + +<p>Giannangiolo Canini, of Rome, was first instructed by Domenichino, +and afterwards by Barbalunga, and would have obtained a great reputation +for his inventive genius, if, seduced by the study of antiquities, he +had not for his pleasure taken a short way to the art; which led him to +neglect the component parts, and to satisfy himself with a general +harmonious effect. He possessed, however, great force and energy in +subjects which required it, as in the Martyrdom of S. Stephen at S. +Martino a' Monti. The works which he executed with the greatest labour +and care, were some sacred and profane subjects, which he was +commissioned to paint for the Queen of Sweden. But although he was +appointed painter to that court, and was also a great favourite with the +queen, it should seem that he did not much exercise his profession +either for her or others, as his great pleasure was in designing from +the antique. He filled a large volume with a collection of portraits of +illustrious ancients, and heads of the heathen deities, from gems and +marbles. This book, the Cardinal Chigi having carried it with him into +France, he presented to Louis XIV., and received a collar of gold as a +remuneration for it. On his return to Rome he <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>was intending to +eulogize the queen in verse, and to continue in prose the lives of the +painters, which he had in part prepared when he died. His biographical +work probably afforded assistance to Passeri or to Bellori, his intimate +friends.</p> + +<p>With Canini worked Giambatista Passeri, a Roman, a man of letters, +and who became afterwards a secular priest. It is recorded, that in the +early part of his life he lived on very intimate terms with Domenichino +at Frescati, and he adhered much to his style. There exists by him a +Crucifixion between two Saints at S. Giovanni della Malva, but no other +work in public, as most of his pictures are in private collections. In +the Palazzo Mattei are some pictures representing butcher's meat, birds, +and game, touched with a masterly pencil; to these are added some half +figures, and also some sparrows (<i>passere</i>), in allusion to his +name. There is also, by his hand, at the academy of S. Luke, the +portrait of Domenichino, painted on the occasion of his funeral; on +which occasion Passeri, and not Passerino, as Malvasia states, recited a +funeral oration, and probably paid some poetical tribute to his memory, +since he was accustomed to write both verse and prose as Bellori did; +and his silence on the Lives of Bellori, which had then appeared, and +which he had numerous opportunities of noticing, probably arose from +feelings of jealousy. He is esteemed one of the most authentic writers +on Italian art; and if Mariette expressed himself dissatisfied <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>with +him, (v. Lett. Pitt. tom. vi. p. 10,) it probably arose from his having +seen only his Life of Pietro da Cortona, which was left unfinished by +the author. He possessed a profound knowledge of the principles of art, +was just in his criticisms, accurate in his facts; if, indeed, as has +been pretended by a writer in the <i>Pittoriche Lettere</i>, he did not +in some degree depreciate Lanfranc, in order to raise his own master, +Zampieri. His work contains the lives of many painters, at that time +deceased, and was published anonymously, it is supposed, by Bottari, who +in many places shortened it, and improved the style, which was too +elaborate, containing useless preambles, and was occasionally too severe +against Bernino and others, on which account the work remained unedited +for more than a century.</p> + +<p>Vincenzio Manenti, of Sabina, who was first the scholar of Cesari, +and afterwards of Domenichino, left many works in his native place. Some +pictures by him are to be seen in Tivoli, as the S. Stefano in the +Duomo, and the S. Saverio at the Gesù, which do not exhibit him as an +artist of very great genius, but assiduous and expert in colouring. Of +Ruggieri, of Bologna, we shall speak elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Guido cannot be said to have contributed much to the Roman School, +except in leaving in the capital a great number of works displaying that +charm of style, and distinguished by that superhuman beauty, which were +his characteristics. We <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" +id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>are told of two scholars who came to +him at the same time from Perugia, Giandomenico Cerrini, and Luigi, the +son of Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia. The pictures of Cerrini, (who was +commonly called Il Cav. Perugino) were frequently touched by his master +Guido, and passed for originals of that artist, and were much sought +after. In his other works he varies, having sometimes followed the elder +Scaramuccia. His fellow disciple is more consistent. He displays grace +in every part of his work, and if he does not soar, still he does not +fall to the ground. There are many of his paintings in Perugia, both in +public and private, amongst which is a Presentation at the Filippini, +from all accounts a beautiful performance. He left many works in Milan, +where in the church of S. Marco, is a S. Barbera by him; a large +composition, and extremely well coloured. He published a book in Pavia, +in 1654, which he intituled <i>Le Finezze de' Pennelli Italiani</i>. It +is full, says the Abbate Bianconi, <i>di buona volontà pittorica</i>. It +possesses nevertheless some interesting remarks.</p> + +<p>Gio. Batista Michelini, called Il Folignate, is almost forgotten in +this catalogue; but there are in Gubbio various works by him, and +particularly a Pietà, worthy of the school of Guido. Macerata possessed +a noble disciple of Guido, in the person of the Cav. Sforza Compagnoni, +by whose hand there is, in the academy de' Catinati, the device of that +society, which might be taken <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" +id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>for a design of Guido. He gave a +picture to the church of S. Giorgio, which is still there, and presented +a still more beautiful one to the church of S. Giovanni, which was long +to be seen over the great altar, but is now in the possession of the +Conte Cav. Mario Compagnoni. Malvasia mentions him in the life of Viola, +but makes him a scholar of Albano. The Ginesini boast of Cesare Renzi, +as a respectable scholar of Guido, and, in the church of S. Tommaso, +they shew a picture of that saint by his hand. In addition to the +scholars of Guido, whose names have been handed down to us, I shall here +beg leave to add an imitator of Guido, who from the time in which he +flourished, and from his noble style of colour, probably belonged to the +same school. I found his name subscribed Giorgio Giuliani da Cività +Castellana, 161.., on a large picture of the Martyrdom of S. Andrew, +which Guido painted for the Camaldolesi di S. Gregorio at Rome: and +which this artist copied for the celebrated monastery of the Camaldolesi +all'Avellana. It is exposed in the refectory, and notwithstanding the +dampness of the place, maintains a freshness of colour very unusual in +pictures of that antiquity.</p> + +<p>The Cav. Gio. Lanfranco came to Rome whilst yet young, and there +formed that free and noble style, which served to decorate many cupolas +and noble edifices, and which pleases also in his cabinet pictures when +he executed them with care. Giacinto Brandi di Poli was his most +celebrated scholar <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" +id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>in Rome. He at first adopted his +master's moderate tone of colour, the variety and contrast of his +composition, and his flowing pencil; but in consequence of his filling, +as he did, Rome and the state with his works, he neglected correctness +of design, and never arrived at that grandeur of style which we admire +in Lanfranc. He sometimes indeed went beyond himself, as in the S. Rocco +of the Ripetta, and in the forty martyrs of the Stigmata in Rome; but +his inordinate love of gain would not allow him to finish many works in +the same good style. I have been informed by a connoisseur, on whose +opinion I can rely, that the best works of this artist are at Gaeta, +where he painted at the Nunziata a picture of the Madonna with the Holy +Infant; and where, in the inferior part of the Duomo, he painted in the +vault three recesses and ten angles, adding over the altar the picture +of the martyrdom of S. Erasmus, bishop of the city, who was buried in +that church. Brandi did not perpetuate the taste of his school, not +leaving any pupil of eminence except Felice Ottini, who painted in his +youth a chapel at the P. P. di Gesù e Maria, and did not long survive +that work. Orlandi also mentions a Carlo Lamparelli di Spello, who left +in Rome a picture at the church of the Spirito Santo, but nothing +further. An Alessandro Vaselli also left some works in another church in +Rome.</p> + +<p>After Brandi, we ought to commemorate Giacomo Giorgetti, of Assisi, +who is little known beyond <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" +id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>his native city, and the neighbouring +towns. He is said to have first studied the art of design in Rome, when +he learned colouring from Lanfranc, and became a good fresco painter. +There is by him in a chapel of the Duomo at Assisi, a large composition +in fresco, and in the sacristy of the Conventuals, various subjects from +the Life of the Virgin, also in fresco; works coloured in a fine style, +and much more finished than was usual with Lanfranc. If there be any +fault to be found with them, it is the proportions of the figures, which +not unfrequently incline to awkwardness. His name is found in the +<i>Descrizione della Chiesa di S. Francesco di Perugia</i>, together +with that of Girolamo Marinelli, his fellow citizen and contemporary, of +whom I never found any other notice.</p> + +<p>Lanfranc instructed in Rome a noble lady, who filled the church of S. +Lucia with her pictures. These were designed by her master, and coloured +by herself. Her name was Caterina Ginnasi. There were also with Lanfranc +in Rome, Mengucci, of Pesaro, and others, who afterwards left Rome, and +will be mentioned by us elsewhere. Some have added to these Beinaschi, +but he was only an excellent copyist and imitator, as we shall see in +the fourth book. At the same time, we may assert, that none of the +Caracci school had a greater number of followers than Lanfranc; as +Pietro di Cortona, the chief of a numerous family, derived much of his +style from him, and the whole tribe of machinists <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg +216]</a></span>adopted him as their leader, and still regard him as +their prototype.</p> + +<p>Albano too, here deserves a conspicuous place as a master of the +Roman School. Giambatista Speranza, a Roman, learned from him the +principles of the art, and became a fresco painter of the best taste in +Rome. If we inspect his works at S. Agostino, and S. Lorenzo in Lucina, +and in other places where he painted religious subjects, we immediately +perceive that his age is not that of the Zuccari, and that the true +style of fresco still flourished. From Albano too, and from Guercino, +Pierfrancesco Mola di Como derived that charming style, which partook of +the excellences of both these artists. He renounced the principles of +Cesari, who had instructed him for many years; and after having +diligently studied colouring at Venice, he attached himself to the +school of the Caracci, but more particularly to Albano. He never, +however, equalled his master in grace, although he had a bolder tone of +colour, greater invention, and more vigour of subject. He died in the +prime of life whilst preparing for his journey to Paris, where he was +appointed painter to the court. Rome possesses many of his pictures, +particularly in fresco, in the churches; and in the Quirinal palace, is +Joseph found by his Brethren, which is esteemed a most beautiful piece. +There are also many of his pictures to be found in private collections; +and in his landscapes, in which he excelled, it is doubted whether the +figures are by him or Albano. He had <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>in Rome three pupils, +who, aspiring to be good colourists, frequented the same fountains of +art as their master had done, and travelled through all Italy. They were +Antonio Gherardi da Rieti, who on the death of Mola frequented the +school of Cortona; and painted in many churches in Rome with more +despatch than elegance;<a name="fnanchor_76" id="fnanchor_76"></a><a +href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor"><sup>[76]</sup></a> Gio. Batista +Boncuore, of Abruzzo, a painter in a grand though somewhat heavy +style;<a name="fnanchor_77" id="fnanchor_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[77]</sup></a> and Giovanni Bonatti, of Ferrara, +whom we shall reserve for his native school.</p> + +<p>Virgilio Ducci, of Città di Castello, is little known among the +scholars of Albano, though he does not yield to many of the Bolognese in +the imitation of their common master. Two pictures of Tobias, in a +chapel of the Duomo, in his native place, are painted in an elegant and +graceful style. An Antonio Catalani, of Rome, is mentioned to us by +Malvasia, and with him Girolamo Bonini, of Ancona, the intimate friend +of Albani. These artists resided in Bologna, and were employed there, as +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg +218]</a></span>we shall see in our history of that school. Of the second +we are told that he painted both in Venice and in Rome; and Orlandi +praises his works in the Sala Farnese, which either no longer exist, or +are neglected to be mentioned in the Guida of Titi.</p> + +<p>Lastly, from the studio of Albani issued Andrea Sacchi, after its +chief the best colourist of the Roman School, and one of the most +celebrated in design, in the practice of which he continued until his +death. Profoundly skilled in the theory of art, he was yet slow in the +execution. It was a maxim with him that the merit of a painter does not +consist in giving to the world a number of works of mediocrity, but a +few perfect ones; and hence his pictures are rare. His compositions do +not abound with figures, but every figure appears appropriate to its +place; and the attitudes seem not so much chosen by the artist, as +regulated by the subject itself. Sacchi did not, indeed, shun the +elegant, though he seems born for the grand style—grave miens, +majestic attitudes, draperies folded with care and simplicity; a sober +colouring, and a general tone, which gave to all objects a pleasing +harmony, and a grateful repose to the eye. He seems to have disdained +minuteness, and, after the example of many of the ancient sculptors, to +have left some part always unfinished; so at least his admirers assert. +Mengs expresses himself differently, and says, that Sacchi's principle +was to leave his pictures, as it were, merely indicated, and to take his +ideas from natural objects, without giving them any determinate form: +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg +219]</a></span>on this matter the professors of the art must decide. His +picture of S. Romualdo surrounded by his monks, is ranked among the four +best compositions in Rome; and the subject was a difficult one to treat, +as the great quantity of white in the vestures tends to produce a +sameness of colour. The means which Sacchi adopted on this occasion have +always been justly admired. He has placed a large tree near the +foreground, the shade of which serves to break the uniformity of the +figures, and he thus introduced a pleasing variety in the monotony of +the colours. His Transito di S. Anna at S. Carlo a' Catinari, his S. +Andrea in the Quirinal, and his S. Joseph at Capo alle Case, are also +beautiful pictures. Perugia, Foligno, and Camerino, possess altarpieces +by him which are the boast of these cities. He enjoyed the reputation of +an amiable and learned instructor. One of his lectures, communicated by +his celebrated scholar, Francesco Lauri, may be read in the life of that +artist, written by Pascoli, who, as I have before remarked, collected +the greater part of his information from the old painters in Rome. He +has probably engrafted on them some sentiments either of his own or of +others, as often happens in a narrative when the related facts are +founded more in probability than in certainty; but the maxims there +inculcated by Sacchi are worthy of an artist strongly attached to the +true, the select, and the grand; and who, to give dignity to his +figures, seems to have had his eyes on the <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>precepts of Quintilian +respecting the action of his orator. He had a vast number of scholars, +among whom we may reckon Giuseppe Sacchi, his son, who became a +conventual monk, and painted a picture in the sacristy, in the church of +the Apostles. But his most illustrious disciple was Maratta, of whom, +and of whose scholars, we shall speak in another epoch.</p> + +<p>We find a follower of the Caracci, though we know not of what +particular master, in Giambatista Salvi, called from the place in which +he was born, Sassoferrato,<a name="fnanchor_78" id="fnanchor_78"></a><a +href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor"><sup>[78]</sup></a> and whom we +shall notice further when we speak of Carlo Dolci, and his very +devotional pictures. This artist excelled Dolci in the beauty of his +Madonnas, but yielded to him in the fineness of his pencil. Their style +was dissimilar, Salvi having formed himself on other models; he first +studied in his native place under Tarquinio, his father,<a +name="fnanchor_79" id="fnanchor_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[79]</sup></a> then in Rome and afterwards in +Naples; it is not known precisely under what masters, except that in his +MS. Memoirs we read of one Domenico. The period in which Salvi studied +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg +221]</a></span>corresponds in a remarkable manner with the time in which +Domenichino was employed in Naples, and his manner of painting shews +that he adopted the style of that master, though not exclusively. I have +seen in the possession of his heirs many copies from the first masters, +which he executed for his own pleasure. I observed several of Albano, +Guido, Barocci, Raffaello, reduced to a small size, and painted, as one +may say, all in one breath. There are also some landscapes of his +composition, and a vast number of sacred portraits; several of S. John +the Baptist, but more than all of the Madonna. Though not possessing the +ideal beauty of the Greeks, he has yet a style of countenance peculiarly +appropriate to the Virgin, in which an air of humility predominates, and +the simplicity of the dress and the attire of the head corresponds with +the expression of the features, without at the same time lessening the +dignity of her character. He painted with a flowing pencil, was varied +in his colouring, had a fine relief and chiaroscuro; but in his local +tints he was somewhat hard. He delighted most in designing heads with a +part of the bust, which frequently occur in collections; his portraits +are very often of the size of life, and of that size, or larger, is a +Madonna, by him, with the infant Christ, in the Casali palace at Rome. +The picture of the Rosario, that he painted at S. Sabina, is one of the +smallest pictures in Rome. It is, however, well composed, and conducted +with his usual spirit, and is regarded as a gem. In other <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg +222]</a></span>places the largest picture by him which is to be seen, is +an altarpiece in the cathedral of Montefiascone.</p> + +<p>A follower of the Caracci also, though of an uncertain school, was +Giuseppino da Macerata, whom a dubious tradition has assigned to +Agostino. His works are to be seen in the two collegiate churches of +Fabriano; an Annunciation, in oils, in S. Niccolò, and at S. Venanzio +two chapels, painted in fresco, in one of which, where he represented +the miracles of the apostles, he surpassed himself in the beauty of the +heads and in the general composition; in other respects he is somewhat +hasty and indecisive. Two of his works remain in his native place; at +the Carmelites the Madonna in Glory, with S. Nicola and S. Girolamo on +the foreground; and at the Capucins, S. Peter receiving the Keys. Both +these pictures are in the Caracci style, but the second is most so; +corresponding in a singular manner with one of the same subject which +the Filippini of Fano have in their church, and which is an authentic +and historical work of Guido Reni. The second, therefore, is probably a +copy. There is written on it <i>Joseph Ma. faciebat</i> 1630, but the +figures of the year are not very legible. Marcello Gobbi, and Girolamo +Boniforti,<a name="fnanchor_80" id="fnanchor_80"></a><a +href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor"><sup>[80]</sup></a> a tolerable +good imitator of Titian, lived <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" +id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>at this time in Macerata. Perugia +presents us with two scholars of the Caracci, Giulio Cesare Angeli and +Anton. Maria Fabrizzi, the one the pupil of Annibale in Rome, the other +of Lodovico in Bologna. They were attracted by the fame of their +masters, and secretly leaving their native place for about the space of +twelve years, they obtained admission for some time into their school, +if we may rely on Pascoli. Fabrizzi, who is also said to have worked +under Annibale, does not shew great correctness; and the cause may be +ascribed to his too ardent temperament, and the want of more mature +instruction; for Annibale dying after three years, from a scholar he +became a master, and was celebrated for his vigorous colouring, his +composition, and the freedom of his pencil. Angeli was more remarkable +for expression and colour than design, and excelled rather in the draped +than in the naked figure. There is a vast work by him in fresco in the +oratory of the church of S. Agostino in Perugia, and in part of it a +limbo of saints, certainly not designed by the light of Lodovico's lamp, +if indeed it ought not to be considered that this lunette is by another +hand. This branch of the Bolognese School, which was constantly +degenerating from the excellence of its origin, being at such a distance +from Bologna as not to be able to be revivified by the pictures of the +Caracci, still survived for a long time. Angeli instructed Cesare +Franchi, who excelled in small pictures, which were highly prized in +collections; and Stefano Amadei <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" +id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>also, who was formed more on the +Florentine School of that age than on the School of Bologna. Stefano was +also attached to letters, and opened a school, and by frequent meetings +and instructive lectures improved the minds of the young artists who +frequented it. One of the most assiduous of these was Fabio, brother of +the Duke of Cornia, of whom some works are mentioned in the Guida di +Roma, and who entitled himself to a higher rank than that of a mere +dilettante.</p> + +<p>Besides the Bolognese, a number of Tuscans who were employed by Paul +V. in the two churches of S. Peter and S. M. Maggiore, also contributed +to the melioration of the Roman School; and some others who, deprived of +that opportunity of distinguishing themselves, are yet memorable for the +scholars they left behind them. Of the diocese of Volterra was +Cristoforo Roncalli, called Il Cav. delle Pomarance, cursorily noticed +by us among the Tuscans. I now place him in this school, because he both +painted and taught for a considerable time in Rome; and I assign him to +this epoch, not from the generality of his works, but from his best +having been executed in it. He was the scholar of Niccolò delle +Pomarance, for whom he worked much with little reward; and from his +example he learnt to avail himself of the labour of others, and to +content himself with mediocrity. Yet there are several pictures by him, +in which he appears excellent, except that he too often repeats himself +in his backgrounds, his foreshortened heads, and full <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>and +rubicund countenances. His style of design is a mixture of the +Florentine and Roman. In his frescos he displayed fresh and brilliant +colours; in his oil pictures, on the contrary, he adopted more sober +tints, harmonized by a general tone of tranquillity and placidness. He +frequently decorated these with landscapes gracefully disposed. Among +his best labours is reckoned the death of Ananias and Sapphira, which is +at the Certosa, and which was copied in mosaic in S. Peter's. Other +mosaics also in the same church were executed after his cartoons, and in +the Lateranense is his Baptism of Constantine, a grand historical +composition. But his most celebrated work is the cupola of Loreto, very +rich in figures, but injured by time, except some prophets, which are in +a truly grand style. He painted considerably in the treasury of that +church; and there are some histories of the Madonna not conducted with +equal felicity, particularly in the perspective. He obtained this vast +commission through the patronage of the Cardinal Crescenzi, in +competition with Caravaggio, who, to gratify his revenge, hired an +assassin to wound him in the face; and in rivalship too with Guido Reni, +who retaliated in a more laudable manner, by proving his superiority by +his works. Roncalli from this time was in great request in the cities of +Picenum, which in consequence abound with his pictures. There is to be +seen at the Eremitani at S. Severino, a <i>Noli me tangere</i>; at S. +Agostino in Ancona, a S. Francis <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>praying; and at S. +Palazia in Osimo, a picture of a saint, one of his most finished +productions. In the same city, in the Casa Galli, he painted <i>di sotto +in su</i> the Judgment of Solomon; and this is perhaps the best fresco +that he ever executed. He could vary his manner at will. There is an +Epiphany in the possession of the Marquis Mancinforti in Ancona, quite +in the style of the Venetian School.</p> + +<p>There were two artists who approached this master in style, the Cav. +Gaspare Celio, a Roman, and Antonio, the son of Niccolò Circignani. +Celio was the pupil of Niccolò, according to Baglione, but of Roncalli, +if we are to believe Titi. He designed and engraved antique statues, and +painted in a commendable manner whilst young, after the designs of P. +Gio. Bat. Fiammeri, at the Gesù, and at a more mature age after his own, +in numerous churches. The S. Francis, on the altar of the Ospizio, at +Ponte Sisto, is by him; and he also painted the history of S. Raimondo +at the Minerva, and the Moses passing the Red Sea, in a vault of the +Mattei gallery, where he competed with other first rate artists. Antonio +is not well known in Rome, where he worked with his father, after whose +death he decorated by himself a chapel at the Traspontina, another at +the Consolazione, and painted also in private houses. Città di Castello, +where he passed some of the best years of his life, possesses many of +his pictures, and amongst the rest, that of the Conception, at the +Conventuals, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg +227]</a></span>which may be called a mixture of Barocci and Roncalli, +from whom he probably learned to improve the style he had inherited from +his father.</p> + +<p>The Cav. delle Pomarance instructed the Marchese Gio. Batista +Crescenzi, who became a great patron of the fine arts, and who was so +much skilled in them, that Paul V. appointed him superintendent of the +works which he was carrying on in Rome; and Philip III., the Catholic, +also availed himself of his services in the Escurial. He did not execute +many works, and his chief talent lay in flower painting. His house was +frequented by literary men, and particularly by Marino; he formed in it +a gallery containing an extensive collection of pictures and drawings, +of which he himself says, "I believe I may indeed safely affirm that +there is not a prince in Europe that does not yield to me in this +respect." (Lett. p. 89.) There the artists were always to be found, one +of whom, his disciple, was called Bartolommeo del Crescenzi, of the +family of Cavarozzi of Viterbo. He was a most correct artist, a follower +first of Roncalli, and afterwards became the author of a captivating +natural style. There exist many excellent pictures by him in +collections, and in the church of S. Anna, a picture of that saint, +executed, says Baglione, in his best taste, and with a vigorous +pencil.</p> + +<p>Among the scholars of Roncalli may also be ranked Giovanni Antonio, +father of Luigi Scaramuccia, who also saw and imitated the Caracci. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg +228]</a></span>His works are often met with in Perugia. The spirit and +freedom of his pencil are more commended than his tints, which are too +dark, and which in the churches easily distinguish him amidst a crowd of +other artists. It is probable that he used too great a quantity of +<i>terra d'ombra</i>, like others of his day. Girolamo Buratti, of the +same school, painted in Ascoli the beautiful picture of the Presepio at +the Carità, and some subjects in fresco, highly commended by Orsini. Of +Alessandro Casolani, who belongs to this master, we spoke in the Sienese +School. With him, too, was included Cristoforo his son, who, with +Giuseppe Agellio of Sorrento, may be ranked with the inferior +artists.</p> + +<p>Francesco Morelli, a Florentine, demands our notice only as having +imparted the rudiments of the art to the Cav. Gio. Baglione of Rome. His +pupil, however, did not remain with him for any length of time, but +formed a style for himself from a close application to the works of the +best masters, and was employed by Paul V., by the Duke of Mantua, and by +persons of distinction. He is less vigorous in design and expression, +than in colour and chiaroscuro. We meet with his works, not only in +Rome, where he painted much, but also in several provincial towns, as +the S. Stephen in the Duomo of Perugia, and the S. Catherine at the +Basilica Loretana. In his colours he resembled Cigoli, but was far +behind him in other respects. The picture which procured <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>him +great applause in the Vatican, the Resuscitation of Tabitha, is defaced +by time; but both there and at the Cappella Paolina in S. Maria +Maggiore, which was the most considerable work of Paul V., his pieces in +fresco still remain, and are not unworthy of their age. He is not often +found in collections, but in that of the Propaganda I saw a S. Rocco +painted by him with great force of colour. He lived to a considerable +age, and left behind him a compendium of the lives of professors of the +fine arts, who had been his contemporaries in Rome from 1572 to 1642. He +wrote in an unostentatious manner, and free from party spirit, and was +on all occasions more disposed to commend the good than to censure the +bad. Whenever I peruse him, I seem to hear the words of a venerable +teacher, inclined rather to inculcate precepts of morals, than maxims on +the fine arts. Of the latter, indeed, he is very sparing, and it would +almost lead one to suppose that he had succeeded in his profession, more +from a natural bias, and a talent of imitation, than from scientific +principles and sound taste. It was, perhaps, in order that he might not +be tied to treat of the art theoretically, and to write profoundly, that +he distributed his work in five dialogues, in the course of which we do +not meet with professors of art, but are introduced to a foreigner and +to a Roman gentleman, who act the respective parts of master and +scholar. Dialogues, indeed, were never composed in a more simple style, +in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg +230]</a></span>any language. The two interlocutors meet in the cloisters +of the Minerva, and after a slight salutation, one of them recounts the +lives of the masters of the art, to the number of eighty, which are +commenced, continued, and ended, in a style sufficiently monotonous, +both as to manner and language; the other listens to this long +narrative, without either interrupting or answering, or adding a word in +reply: and thus the dialogue, or rather soliloquy, concludes, without +the slightest expression of thanks on the part of the auditor, or even +the ceremony of a farewell. We shall now return to the Tuscan +scholars.</p> + +<p>Passignano was at Rome many times, without, however, leaving there +any scholars, at least of any name. We may indeed mention Vanni, and he +left there, too, a Gio. Antonio, and a Gio. Francesco del Vanni, who are +mentioned in the <i>Guida di Roma</i>. The school of Cigoli produced two +Roman artists of considerable reputation; Domenico Feti, who +distinguished himself in Mantua, and Gio. Antonio Lelli, who never left +his native place. They painted more frequently in oil, and for private +collections, than in fresco, or in churches. Of the first, no public +work remains except the two Angels at S. Lorenzo in Damaso; of the +second some pictures, and some histories on the walls, among which the +Visitation in the choir of the Minerva is much praised.</p> + +<p>Comodi and Ciarpi are said to have been the successive masters of +Pietro di Cortona; and on <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" +id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>that account, and from his birthplace, +he has by many been placed in the school of Florence; although others +have assigned him to that of Rome. It is true, indeed, that he came +hither at the age of fourteen only, bringing with him from Tuscany +little more than a well-disposed genius; and he here formed himself into +an excellent architect, and as a painter became the head of a school +distinguished for a free and vigorous style, as we have mentioned in our +first book. Whoever wishes to observe how far he carried this style in +fresco, and in large compositions, must inspect the Sala Barberina in +Rome; although the Palazzo Pitti, in Florence, presents us with works +more elegant, more beautiful, and more studied in parts. Whoever, too, +wishes to see how far he carried it in his altarpieces, must inspect the +Conversion of S. Paul at the Capucins in Rome, which, placed opposite +the S. Michael of Guido, is, nevertheless, the admiration of those who +do not object to a variety of style in art: nor am I aware that we +should reject this principle in what we designate the fine arts; as it +is invariably acknowledged in eloquence, in poetry, and history, where +we find Demosthenes and Isocrates, Sophocles and Euripides, and +Thucydides and Xenophon, equally esteemed, though all dissimilar in +style.</p> + +<p>The works of Pietro in Rome, and in the states of the church, are not +at all rare. They are to be found also in other states of Italy, and +those pieces <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg +232]</a></span>are the most attractive in which he had the greatest +opportunity of indulging his love of architecture. His largest +compositions, which might dismay the boldest copyist, are S. Ivo at the +Sapienza of Rome, and the S. Charles in the church of that saint, at +Catinari, in the act of relieving the infected. The Preaching of S. +James in Imola, in the church of the Domenicans, is also on a vast +scale. The Virgin attended by S. Stephen, the Pope, and other saints in +S. Agostino, in Cortona, is a picture of great research, and is +considered one of his best performances. There is an enchanting picture +of the Birth of the Virgin, in the Quirinal palace; and the Martyrdom of +S. Stephen, at S. Ambrogio, in Rome, and Daniel in the Den of Lions, in +the church of that saint, in Venice, are most beautiful works, superior +to those of most of his competitors in this school, in regard to +composition, and equal to them in colour. His historical subjects are +not met with in the galleries of the Roman nobility. In that of the +Campidoglio, is the battle between the Romans and the Sabines, full of +picturesque spirit; and in possession of the Duke Mattei, is the +Adultery, half figures, more studied and more highly finished than was +customary with him. This brief notice of him may suffice for the +present. Of the scholars whom he formed in the Roman School, I shall +speak more opportunely in the subsequent epoch.</p> + +<p>At this period we find three Veronese artists, Ottini, Bassetti, and +Turchi, studying in Rome; <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" +id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>and we shall speak of them more at +length in the Venetian School. The first returned home without executing +any public work. The second left, in the church dell'Anima, in Rome, two +pictures in fresco, the Birth, and the Circumcision of Christ. The +third, known under the name of Orbetto, took up his residence, and died +in that capital; but I am not aware that he left there any disciples of +merit, except some of his own countrymen, who returned to their native +place. This engaging and elegant painter, who possessed great +originality and beauty of colour, worked still more in Verona than in +Rome, and we ought to see his works in the former city, in order justly +to appreciate them. But he is not on that account held in the less +esteem in Rome for his cabinet pictures, which are highly prized, as the +Sisara de' Colonnesi, and for his scriptural subjects, as the Flight +into Egypt, in the church of S. Romualdo, and the S. Felice Cappuccino, +at the Conception, where, as we before observed, the Barberini family +employed the most eminent artists.</p> + +<p>Many other Italians worked in Rome in the time of the Caracci, but +their schools, as well as the places of their birth, are uncertain; and +of these, in a city so abounding in pictures, a slight notice will +suffice. In the Guida di Roma, we find only a single notice of Felice +Santelli, a Roman, in the church of the P. P. Spagnuoli del Riscatto +Scalzi, where he painted in competition with Baglione; he is a painter +full of truth, and one of his pictures <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>in Viterbo, in the +church of S. Rosa, is inscribed with his name. In Baglione, we read of +Orazio Borgianni, a Roman, the rival of Celio, and we find pictures and +portraits by him in a good natural style. Gio. Antonio Spadarino, of the +family of Galli, painted in S. Peter's, a S. Valeria, with such talent, +that Orlandi complains of the silence of biographers respecting him. He +had a fellow disciple in Matteo Piccione, of the March, and Titi +mentions their peculiar style. Nor is Grappelli much known, whose proper +name or country I cannot accurately ascertain; but his Joseph +Recognized, which is painted in fresco, in the Casa Mattei, commands our +admiration. Mattio Salvucci, who obtained some reputation in Perugia, +came to Rome, and although he was graciously received by the Pope, yet, +from his inconstant temper, he did not remain there, nor does Pascoli, +his fellow countrymen and biographer, mention any authentic pictures by +him. Domenico Rainaldi, nephew of the architect, Cav. Carlo Rainaldi, +who was employed by Alexander VII., is mentioned in the Roman Guida, as +also Giuseppe Vasconio, praised too by Orlandi. In the same description +of books, and particularly in those which treat of the pictures of +Perugia, mention is made in this epoch of the Cav. Bernardino Gagliardi, +who was domiciled for many years in that city, though born in Città di +Castello. Although a scholar of Avanzino Nucci, he adopted a different +style, after having seen in his travels <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>the best works of every +school of Italy, from Rome to Turin. In historical composition he +particularly followed the Caracci and Guido, but in what I have seen of +him, both in his own and his adopted city, he appears exceedingly +various. The noble house of Oddi, in Perugia, amongst some feeble +productions of his, have a Conversazione of young people, half figures, +and truly beautiful. In the Duomo of Castello is a Martyrdom of S. +Crescenziano, a picture of fine effect, though inferior in other +respects. He there appears more studied and more select in the two +pictures of the young Tobias, which are included among his superior +works. His best is perhaps the picture of S. Pellegrino, with its +accompaniments, in the church of S. Marcello in Rome. I do not recollect +any other provincial painters of this period whom I have not assigned to +one or other of the various masters.</p> + +<p>A more arduous task than recording the names of the Italian artists +now awaits us in the enumeration of strangers. About the beginning of +the century Peter Paul Rubens came young to Rome, and left some oil +pictures at the Vallicella, and in S. Croce in Gerusalemme. Not many +years afterwards Antonio Vandyck arrived there also, with an intention +of remaining for a long period; but many of his fellow countrymen, who +were there studying, became offended at his refusing to join them in +their convivial tavern parties and dissipated mode of life; he in +consequence left Rome. Great numbers too of that nation who professed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg +236]</a></span>the lower school of art, remained in Italy for a +considerable period, and some are mentioned in their classes. Others +were employed in the churches of Rome, and the ecclesiastical state. The +master is unknown who painted at S. Pietro in Montorio, the celebrated +Deposition, which is recommended to students, as a school of colour in +itself; by some he is called Angiolo Fiammingo. Of Vincenzio Fiammingo +there is at the Vallicella a picture of the Pentecost; of Luigi Gentile, +from Brussels, the picture of S. Antonio at S. Marco, and others in +various churches in Rome; he painted also at the church of the Capucins, +at Pesaro, a Nativity and a S. Stephen, pictures highly finished and of +a beautiful relief. He executed others at Ancona, and in various cities, +with his usual taste, which is still more to be admired in his easel +pictures. He excelled, says Passeri, who was very sparing in his praise +of artists, in small compositions; since besides finishing them with +great diligence, he executed them in an engaging style, and he concludes +with the further encomium, that he equalled, if not surpassed, most +artists in portrait painting.</p> + +<p>About the year 1630, Diego Velasquez, the chief ornament of Spanish +art, studied in Rome and remained there for a year. He afterwards +returned thither under the pontificate of Innocent X., whose portrait he +painted, in a style which was said to be derived from Domenico Greco, +instructed by Titian, at the court of Spain. Velasquez renewed <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>in +this portrait the wonders which are recounted of those of Leo X. by +Raffaello, and of Paul III. by Titian; for this picture so entirely +deceived the eye as to be taken for the Pope himself. At this time too a +number of excellent German artists were employed in Rome, as Daniel +Saiter, whom I shall notice in the school of Piedmont, and the two Scor, +Gio. Paolo, called by Taja, Gian. Paolo Tedesco, whose Noah's Ark, +painted in the Quirinal palace, has excited the most enthusiastic +encomiums; and Egidio, his brother, who worked there for a considerable +time in the gallery of Alexander VII. There were also in Rome Vovet, as +we have observed, and the two Mignards, Nicolas, an excellent artist, +and Pierre, who had the surname of Romano, and who left some beautiful +works at S. Carlino and other places; and a master who claims more than +a brief notice, Nicolas Poussin, the Raffaello of France.</p> + +<p>Bellori, who has written the Life of Poussin, introduces him to Rome +in 1624, and informs us that he was already a painter, and had formed +his style more after the prints of Raffaello than the instruction of his +masters. At Rome he improved, or rather changed his style, and acquired +another totally different, of which he may be considered the chief. +Poussin has left directions for those who come to study the art in Rome: +the remains of antiquity afforded him instruction which he could not +expect from masters. He studied the beautiful <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>in the Greek statues, +and from the Meleager of the Vatican (now ascertained to be a Mercury) +he derived his rule of proportions. Arches, columns, antique vases, and +urns, were rendered tributary to the decoration of his pictures. As a +model of composition, he attached himself to the Aldobrandine Marriage; +and from that, and from basso-relievos, he acquired that elegant +contrast, that propriety of attitude, and that fear of crowding his +picture, for which he was so remarkable, being accustomed to say, that a +half figure more than requisite was sufficient to destroy the harmony of +a whole composition.</p> + +<p>Leonardo da Vinci, from his sober and refined style of colour, could +not fail to please him; and he decorated that master's work <i>Su la +Pittura</i> with figures designed in his usual fine taste. He followed +him in theory and emulated him in practice. He adopted Titian's style of +colour, and the famous Dance of Boys, which was formerly in the Villa +Lodovisi, and is now in Madrid, taught him to invest with superior +colours the engaging forms of children, in which he so much excelled. It +should seem that he soon abandoned his application to colouring, and his +best coloured pictures are those which he painted on first coming to +Rome. He was apprehensive lest his anxiety on that head might distract +his attention from the more philosophical part of his picture, to which +he was singularly attentive; and to this point he directed his most +serious and assiduous care. Raffaello <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>was his model in giving +animation to his figures, in expressing the passions with truth, in +selecting the precise moment of action, in intimating more than was +expressed, and in furnishing materials for fresh reflection to whoever +returns a second and a third time to examine his well conceived and +profound compositions. He carried the habit of philosophy in painting +even further than Raffaello, and often executed pictures, whose claim to +our regard is the poetical manner in which their moral is inculcated. +Thus, in that at Versailles, which is called <i>Memoria della morte</i>, +he has represented a group of youths, and a maid visiting the tomb of an +Arcadian shepherd, on which is inscribed the simple epitaph, "I also was +an Arcadian."</p> + +<p>He did not owe this elegant expression of sentiment to his genius +alone, but was indebted for it, as well to the perusal of the first +classic authors, as the conversation of literary men, and his +intercourse with scholars. He deferred much to the Cav. Marini, and +might do so with advantage where poetry was not concerned. In the art of +modelling, in which he excelled, he accomplished himself under +Fiammingo; he consulted the writings of P. Zaccolini for perspective; he +studied the naked figure in the academy of Domenichino and in that of +Sacchi; he made himself acquainted with anatomy; he exercised himself in +copying the most beautiful landscapes from nature, in which he acquired +an exquisite taste, which he communicated <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>to his relative Gaspar +Dughet, of whom we shall speak in a short time. I think it may be +asserted without exaggeration, that the Caracci improved the art of +landscape painting, and that Poussin brought it to perfection.<a +name="fnanchor_81" id="fnanchor_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[81]</sup></a> His genius was less calculated for +large than small figures, and he has generally painted them a palm and a +half, as in the celebrated sacraments, which were in the Casa +Boccapaduli: sometimes of two or three palms size, as in the picture of +the Plague in the Colonna gallery, and elsewhere. Other pictures of his +are seen in Rome, as the Death of Germanicus in the Barberini palace, +the Triumph of Flora in the Campidoglio, the Martyrdom of S. Erasmus, in +the Pope's collection at Monte Cavallo, afterwards copied in mosaic in +S. Peter's. Although he had established himself in Rome, he afterwards +left that city for Paris, where he was appointed first painter to the +court; after two years time, however, he again returned to Rome, but had +his appointment confirmed, and, though absent, enjoyed the same place +and stipend. He remained in Rome for twenty three years, and there +closed his days. It is not long since his bust in marble, with an +appropriate eulogy, was placed in the church of the Rotonda, at the +suggestion <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg +241]</a></span>and generous expense of the Sig. Cav. d'Agincourt.</p> + +<p>In the class of portrait painters, we find at the beginning of the +seventeenth century, Antiveduto Grammatica, and Ottavio Lioni of Padua, +who engraved the portraits of the painters; and, on his death, +Baldassare Galanino was preeminent. It must however be remarked, that +these artists were also designers; and that even those who were held the +first masters in composition were employed in portrait painting, as +Guido for example, who executed for the Cardinal Spada one of the finest +portraits in Rome.</p> + +<p>Thus far of historical painters. We may now recur to landscape and +other inferior branches of the art, whose brightest era may be said to +have been in the reign of Urban VIII. Landscape, indeed, never +flourished so greatly as at that period. A little time before this +pontificate, died in Rome, Adam Elzheimer, or Adam of Frankfort, or +Tedesco, who had already, under the pontificate of Paul V., established +a school (in which David Teniers was instructed); an artist of an +admirable fancy, who in an evening committed to the canvass, with +singular fidelity, the scenery which he had visited in the early part of +the day, and he so refined his style in Rome, that his pictures, which +generally represented night scenes, were there held in the greatest +request. Only a short time too had elapsed since the death of Giovanni +Batista Viola in Rome, one of the first artists who, profiting <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>from +the instructions of Annibal Caracci, reformed the old, dry style of the +Flemish, and introduced a richer mode of touching landscape. Vincenzio +Armanno had also promoted this branch of art, adding to his landscapes a +similitude to nature, which without much selection of ground, or trees, +or accompaniments, charms us by its truth, and a certain stilness of +colour, pleasingly chequered with lights and shades. He is highly to be +commended too in his figures, and is copious in his invention. But the +three celebrated landscape painters, whose works are so much sought +after in the collections of princes, appeared under Urban; Salvator +Rosa, a Neapolitan, and a poet of talent; Claude Gellée, of Lorraine; +and Gaspar Dughet, also called Poussin, the relative of Niccolas, as I +have already mentioned. That kind of fashion, which often aspires to +give a tone to the fine arts, alternately exalted one or other of these +three, and thus also obliged the painters in Rome to copy in succession, +and to follow their various styles.</p> + +<p>Rosa was the most celebrated of this class at the commencement of +this century. A scholar of Spagnoletto, and the son, as one may say, of +Caravaggio, as in historical composition he attached himself to the +strong natural style and dark colouring of that master, so in landscape +he seems to have adopted his subject without selection, or rather to +have selected the least pleasing parts. <i>Le selve selvagge</i>, to +speak with Dante, savage <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" +id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>scenery, Alps, broken rocks and caves, +wild thickets, and desert plains, are the kind of scenery in which he +chiefly delighted; his trees are shattered, torn, and dishevelled; and +in the atmosphere itself he seldom introduced a cheerful hue, except +occasionally a solitary sunbeam. He observed the same manner too in his +sea views. His style was original, and may be said to have been +conducted on a principle of savage beauty, as the palate of some persons +is gratified with austere wines. His pictures too were rendered more +acceptable from the small figures of shepherds, mariners, or banditti, +which he has introduced in almost all his compositions; and he was +reproached by his rivals with having continually repeated the same +ideas, and in a manner copied himself.</p> + +<p>Owing to his frequent practice, he had more merit in his small than +in his large figures. He was accustomed to insert them in his +landscapes, and composed his historical pictures in the same style as +the Regulus, so highly praised in the Colonna palace, or fancy subjects, +as the Witchcrafts, which we see in the Campidoglio, and in many private +collections. In these he is never select, nor always correct, but +displays great spirit, freedom of execution, and skill and harmony of +colour. In other respects he has proved, more than once, that his genius +was not confined to small compositions, as there are some altarpieces +well conceived, and of powerful effect, particularly where the subject +demands an expression of terror, as in a Martyrdom of <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg +244]</a></span>Saints at S. Gio. de' Fiorentini at Rome; and in the +Purgatory, which I saw at S. Giovanni delle Case Rotte in Milan, and at +the church del Suffragio in Matelica. We have also some profane subjects +by him, finely executed on a large scale; such is the Conspiracy of +Catiline, in the possession of the noble family of Martelli, in +Florence, mentioned also by Bottari, as one of his best works. Rosa left +Naples at the age of twenty, and established himself in Rome, where he +died at the age of about sixty. His remains were placed in the church +degli Angeli, with his portrait and eulogy; and another portrait of him +is to be seen in the Chigi gallery, which does not seem to have been +recognised by Pascoli; the picture represents a savage scene; a poet is +represented in a sitting attitude, (the features those of Salvator,) and +before him stands a satyr, allusive to his satiric style of poetry, but +the picture is described by the biographer as the god Pan appearing to +the poet Pindar. He had a scholar in Bartol. Torregiani, who died young, +and who excelled in landscape, but was not accomplished enough to add +the figures. Giovanni Ghisolfi, of Milan, a master of perspective, +adopted in his figures the style of Salvator.</p> + +<p>Gaspar Dughet, or Poussin, of Rome, or of the Roman School, did not +much resemble Rosa, except in despatch. Both these artists were +accustomed to commence and finish a landscape and decorate it with +figures on the same day. Poussin, contrary to Salvator, selected the +most enchanting <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" +id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>scenes, and the most beautiful aspects +of nature; the graceful poplar, the spreading plane trees, limpid +fountains, verdant meads, gently undulating hills, villas delightfully +situated, calculated to dispel the cares of state, and to add to the +delights of retirement. All the enchanting scenery of the Tusculan or +Tiburtine territory, and of Rome, where, as Martial observes, nature has +combined the many beauties which she has scattered singly in other +places, was copied by this artist. He composed also ideal landscapes, in +the same way that Torquato Tasso, in describing the garden of Armida, +concentrated in his verses all the recollections of the beautiful which +he had observed in nature.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding this extreme passion for grace and beauty, it is the +opinion of many, that there is not a greater name amongst landscape +painters. His genius had a natural fervour, and as we may say, a +language, that suggests more than it expresses. To give an example, in +some of his larger landscapes, similar to those in the Panfili palace, +we may occasionally observe an artful winding of the road, which in part +discovers itself to the eye, but in other parts, leaves itself to be +followed by the mind. Every thing that Gaspar expresses, is founded in +nature. In his leaves he is as varied as the trees themselves, and is +only accused of not having sufficiently diversified his tints, and of +adhering too much to a green hue. He not only succeeded in representing +the rosy tint of morning, the splendour of noon, evening twilight, or a +sky <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg +246]</a></span>tempestuous or serene; but the passing breeze that +whispers through the leaves, storms that tear and uproot the trees of +the forest, lowering skies, and clouds surcharged with thunder and rent +with lightning, are represented by him with equal success. Niccolas, who +had taught him to select the beauties of nature, instructed him also in +the figures, and the accessary parts of the composition. Thus in Gaspar +every thing displays elegance and erudition, the edifices have all the +beautiful proportions of the antique; and to these may be added arches +and broken columns, when the scene lay in the plains of Greece or Rome; +or, if in Egypt, pyramids, obelisks, and the idols of the country. The +figures which he introduces are not in general shepherds and their +flocks, as in the Flemish pictures, but are derived from history, or +classic fables, hawking parties, poets crowned with laurel, and other +similar decorations, generally novel, and finished in a style almost as +fine as miniature. His school gave birth to but few followers. By some +Crescenzio di Onofrio is alone considered his true imitator, of whom +little remains in Rome; nor indeed is he much known in Florence, +although he resided there many years in the service of the ducal house. +It is said that he executed many works for the ducal villas; and that he +painted for individuals may be conjectured from some beautiful +landscapes which the Sig. Cancelliere Scrilli possesses, together with +the portrait of Sig. Angelo, his ancestor, on which the artist has +inscribed <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg +247]</a></span>his name and the year 1712, the date of his work. After +him we may record Gio. Domenico Ferracuti, of Macerata, in which city, +and in others of Piceno, are to be found many landscapes painted by him, +chiefly snow pieces, in which kind of landscape he was singularly +distinguished.</p> + +<p>Claude Lorraine is generally esteemed the prince of landscape +painters, and his compositions are indeed, of all others, the richest +and the most studied. A short time suffices to run through a landscape +of Poussin or Rosa from one end to the other, when compared with Claude, +though on a much smaller surface. His landscapes present to the +spectator an endless variety; so many views of land and water, so many +interesting objects, that like an astonished traveller, the eye is +obliged to pause to measure the extent of the prospect, and his +distances of mountains or of sea are so illusive, that the spectator +feels, as it were, fatigued by gazing. The edifices and temples, which +so finely round off his compositions, the lakes peopled with aquatic +birds, the foliage diversified in conformity to the different kinds of +trees,<a name="fnanchor_82" id="fnanchor_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[82]</sup></a> all is nature in him; every object +arrests the attention of an amateur, every thing furnishes instruction +to a professor; <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" +id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>particularly when he painted with care, +as in the pictures of the Altieri, Colonna, and other palaces of Rome. +There is not an effect of light, or a reflection in the water, or in the +sky itself, which he has not imitated; and the various changes of the +day are no where better represented than in Claude. In a word, he is +truly the painter, who in depicting the three regions of air, earth, and +water, has embraced the whole universe. His atmosphere almost always +bears the impress of the sky of Rome, whose horizon is, from its +situation, rosy, dewy, and warm. He did not possess any peculiar merit +in his figures, which are insipid, and generally too much attenuated; +hence he was accustomed to observe to the purchasers of his pictures, +that he sold them the landscape, and presented them with the figures +gratis. The figures indeed were generally added by another hand, +frequently by Lauri. A painter of the name of Angiolo, who died young, +deserves to be mentioned as the scholar of Claude, as well as +Vandervert. Claude also contributed to the instruction of Gaspar +Poussin.</p> + +<p>To the preceding may be added those artists who particularly +distinguished themselves by sea views and shipping. Enrico Cornelio +Vroom is called Enrico di Spagna, as he came to Rome immediately from +Seville, although born in Haerlem in Holland. He was a pupil of the +Brills, and seems rather to have aimed at imitating the national art of +shipbuilding, than the varying appearances <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>of the sea and sky. No +one is more diligent, or more minute in fitting up the vessels with +every requisite for sailing; and some persons have purchased his +pictures, for the sole purpose of instructing themselves in the +knowledge of ships, and the mode of arming them. Sandrart relates that +he returned to Spain, and there painted landscapes, views of cities, +fishing boats, and seafights. He places his birth in 1566, whence he +must have flourished about the year 1600. Guarienti makes a separate +article of Enrico Vron of Haerlem, as if he had been a different artist. +Another article is occupied upon <i>Enrico delle Marine</i>, and on the +authority of Palomino, he says, that that artist was born in Cadiz, and +coming to Rome, there acquired that name; and that, without wishing ever +to return to Spain, he employed himself in painting in that city +shipping and sea views until his death, at the age of sixty in 1680. I +have named three writers, whose contradictions I have frequently +adverted to in this work, and whose discordant notices require much +examination to reconcile or refute. What I have advanced respecting +Enrico was the result of my observations on several pictures in the +Colonna gallery, six in number, and which, as far as I could judge, all +partake of a hard and early style, and generally of a peculiar reddish +tone, often observed in the landscapes of Brill. Any other Enrico di +Spagna, a marine painter, or of a style corresponding with that of him +who died in 1680, I have not met with <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>in any collection, nor +is any such artist to be found in the works of Sig. Conca, as any one +may ascertain by referring to the index of his work. Hence, at present, +I can recognize the Dutch artist alone, and shall be ready to admit the +claims of the Cadiz painter whenever I am furnished with proofs of his +having really existed.</p> + +<p>Agostino Tassi, of Perugia, whose real name was Buonamici, a man of +infamous character, but an excellent painter, was the scholar of Paul +Brill, though he was ambitious of being thought a pupil of the Caracci. +He had already distinguished himself as a landscape painter, when he was +condemned to the galleys at Leghorn, where through interest the +laborious part of his sentence was remitted, and in this situation he +prosecuted his art with such ardour, that he soon obtained the first +rank as a painter of sea views, representing ships, storms, fishing +parties, and the dresses of mariners of various countries with great +spirit and propriety. He excelled too in perspective, and in the papal +palace of the Quirinal and in the palace de' Lancellotti displayed an +excellent style of decoration, which his followers very much +overcharged. He painted many pictures in Genoa, in conjunction with +Salimbeni and Gentileschi, and was assisted by a scholar of his born in +Rome, and domiciled in Genoa, where he died. This scholar is called by +Raffaello Soprani, Gio. Batista Primi, and he eulogizes him as an +esteemed painter of sea views.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg +251]</a></span>Equal to Tassi in talent, and still more infamous in his +life, was Pietro Mulier, or Pietro de Mulieribus, of Holland, who, from +his surprising pictures of storms, was called Il Tempesta. His +compositions inspire a real terror, presenting to our eyes death, +devoted ships overtaken by tempests and darkness, fired by lightning, or +driving helpless before the demons of the storm; now rising on the +mountain waves, and again submerged in the abyss of ocean. His works are +more frequently met with than those of Tassi, as he almost always +painted in oil. He was assisted in Rome by a young man, who in +consequence obtained the name of Tempestino, though he often exercised +his genius in landscape in the style of Poussin. He afterwards married a +sister of this young artist, and subsequently procured her +assassination, for which he was sentenced to death in Genoa, but his +sentence was commuted for five years imprisonment. His pictures of +storms, which he painted in his dungeon, seem to have acquired an +additional gloom from the horrors of his prison, his merited punishment, +and his guilty conscience. These works were very numerous, and were +considered his best performances. He excelled also in the painting of +animals, for which purpose he kept a great variety of them in his house. +Lastly, he acquired celebrity from his landscapes, in some of which he +has shewn himself not an unworthy follower of Claude in invention, +enriching them with a great variety of scenery, hills, lakes, and +beautiful <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg +252]</a></span>edifices, but he is still far behind that master in +regard to tone of colour and finishing. He was however superior to +Claude in his figures, to which he gave a mixed Italian and Flemish +character, with lively, varied, and expressive countenances. There are +more specimens of his talents in Milan than in any other place, as he +passed his latter years in that and the neighbouring cities, as in +Bergamo, and particularly in Piacenza. His epitaph is given in the Guida +di Milano, page 129.</p> + +<p>Il Montagna, another artist from Holland, was also a painter of sea +views, which may almost indeed be called the landscapes of the Dutch. He +left many works in Italy, more particularly in Florence and in Rome, +where he is sometimes mistaken for Tempesta in the galleries and in +picture sales; but Montagna, as far as I can judge, is more serene in +his skies, and darker in his waves and the appearance of the sea. A +large picture of the Deluge, which is at S. Maria Maggiore in Bergamo, +placed there in 1668, in which the figures are by the Cav. Liberi, is +supposed to be by Montagna, from the tone of the water. This however is +an error, for the Montagna of whom we speak, called by Felibien (tom. +iii. p. 339,) Montagna di Venezia, certainly died in Padua; and in a MS. +by a contemporary author, where he is mentioned as a distinguished sea +painter, he is said to have died in 1644. I apprehend this is the same +artist whom Malvasia (tom. ii. p. 78,) calls Mons. Rinaldo della +Montagna, and states that he was held in esteem by <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg +253]</a></span>Guido for his excellence in sea views. I also find a +Niccolo de Plate Montagna, favourably mentioned by Felibien, also a +marine painter, who died about 1665; and I formerly imagined that this +might be the artist who painted so much in Italy, but I now retract that +opinion.</p> + +<p>Tempesti was the first to introduce the custom of decorating +landscapes with battles and skirmishes. A Flemish artist of the name of +Jacopo succeeded to him in this branch, but his fame was eclipsed by his +own scholar Cerquozzi, a Roman, who from his singular talent in this +respect, was called Michelangiolo delle Battaglie. He was superior to +Tempesti in colouring, but inferior to him in designing horses. In the +human figure, too, he is less correct, and more daring in the style of +his master Cesari. It must however be remembered, that when Cerquozzi +painted battles he was not in his prime, and that his chief merit lay in +subjects on which I shall presently make some remarks.</p> + +<p>Padre Jacopo Cortese, a Jesuit, called from his native country Il +Borgognone, carried this branch of the art to a height unknown before or +since. M. A. Cerquozzi discovered his genius for this department, and +persuaded him to abandon the other branches of painting which he +cultivated, and to confine himself to this alone. The Battle of +Constantine, by Giulio Romano in the Vatican, was the model on which he +founded his style. His <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" +id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>youth had been dedicated to arms, and +his military spirit was not to be extinguished by the luxury of Rome, or +the indolence of the cloister. He imparted a wonderful air of reality to +his compositions. His combatants appear before us courageously +contending for honour or for life, and we seem to hear the cries of the +wounded, the blast of the trumpet, and the neighing of the horses. He +was indeed an inimitable artist in his line, and his scholars were +accustomed to say that their own figures seemed to fight only in jest, +while those of Borgognone were the real occupants of the field of +battle. He painted with great despatch, and his battle pieces are in +consequence very frequent in collections; his touch was rapid, in +strokes, and his pencil flowing, so that the effect is heightened by +distance; and this style was probably the result of his study of Paolo +at Venice, and of Guido in Bologna. From whatever cause it may be, his +colouring is very different from that of Guglielmo Baur, who is +considered his master, and of whom there are some works in the Colonna +gallery. There also may be seen several specimens of his scholars, +Bruni, Graziano, and Giannizero, who adopted from Borgognone their +colouring, and the selection of a distant point of view for their +subject. Others of his scholars occur in various schools.</p> + +<p>It was also during the pontificate of Urban, about the year 1626, +that the burlesque style was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" +id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>first brought into notice in Rome. It +had been practised by Ludius in the time of Augustus, and was not wholly +unknown to our early artists; but I am not aware that any one had +exercised this branch as a profession, or on so small a scale as was +practised by Pietro Laar, who was called Bamboccio, from his deformity, +as well as from the subjects of his pencil; and the appellation of +<i>bambocciate</i> is generally applied to these small pictures, which +represent the festivities of the vintage, dances, fights, and carnival +masquerades. His figures are usually of a span in size, and the +accompanying landscape and the animals are so vividly coloured, that we +seem, says Passeri, to see the very objects themselves from an open +window, rather than the representation on canvass. The great painters +frequently purchased the pictures of Pietro, in order to study his +natural style of colour, though at the same time they lamented that so +much talent should be misapplied to such low subjects.<a +name="fnanchor_83" id="fnanchor_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[83]</sup></a> He resided many years in Rome, and +then retired to Holland, where he died at an advanced age, and not a +young man, as Passeri has imagined.</p> + +<p>His place and his employ in Rome were soon filled up by Cerquozzi, +who had for some time past exchanged the name of M. A. delle Battaglie, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg +256]</a></span>for that of M. A. delle Bambocciate. Although the +subjects which he represents are humourous, like those of Laar, the +incidents and the characters are for the most part different. The first +adopted the Flemish boors, the other the peasantry of Italy. They had +both great force of colour, but Bamboccio excels Cerquozzi in landscape, +while the latter discovers more spirit in his figures. One of +Cerquozzi's largest compositions is in the Spada palace at Rome, in +which he represented a band of insurgent Lazzaroni applauding Maso +Aniello.</p> + +<p>Laar had another excellent imitator in Gio. Miel, of Antwerp, who +having imbibed a good style of colouring from Vandyke, came to Rome and +frequented the school of Sacchi. From thence, however, he was soon +dismissed, as his master wished him to attempt serious subjects, but he +was led both by interest and genius to the burlesque. His pictures +pleased from their spirited representations and their excellent +management of light and shade, and brought high prices from collectors. +He afterwards painted on a larger scale, and besides some altarpieces in +Rome, he left some considerable works in Piedmont, where we shall notice +him again. Theodore Hembreker, of Haerlem, also employed himself on +humourous subjects, and scenes of common life, although there are some +religious pieces attributed to him in the church della Pace in Rome, and +a number of landscapes in private collections. He passed many years in +Italy, and visited most <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" +id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>of the great cities, so that his works +are frequently found not only in Rome, where he had established himself, +but in Florence, Naples, Venice, and elsewhere. His style is a pleasing +union of the Flemish and Italian.</p> + +<p>Many artists of this period attached themselves to the painting of +animals. Castiglione distinguished himself in this line, but he resided +for the most part of his time in another country. M. Gio. Rosa, of +Flanders, is the most known in Rome and the State, for the great number +of his paintings of animals, in which he possessed a rare talent. It is +told of him, that dogs were deceived by the hares he painted, thus +reviving the wonderful story of Zeuxis, so much boasted of by Pliny. Two +of his largest and finest pictures are in the Bolognetti collection, and +there is attached to them a portrait, but whether of the painter +himself, or some other person, is not known. We must not confound this +artist with Rosa da Tivoli, who was also an excellent animal painter, +but not so celebrated in Italy, and flourished at a later period, and +whose real name was Philip Peter Roos. He was son-in-law of Brandi, and +his scholar in Rome, and rivalled his hasty method in many pictures +which I have seen in Rome and the states of the church; but we ought not +to rest our decision of his merits on these works, but should view the +animals painted by him at his leisure, particularly for the galleries of +princes. These are to be found in Vienna, Dresden, Monaco, and other +capital <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg +258]</a></span>cities of Germany; and London possesses not a few of the +first value in their way.<a name="fnanchor_84" id="fnanchor_84"></a><a +href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor"><sup>[84]</sup></a></p> + +<p>After Caravaggio had given the best examples of flowers in his +pictures, the Cav. Tommaso Salini, of Rome, an excellent artist, as may +be seen in a S. Niccola at S. Agostino, was the first that composed +vases of flowers, accompanying them with beautiful groups of +corresponding foliage, and other elegant designs. Others too pursued +this branch, and the most celebrated of all, was Mario Nuzzi della +Penna, better known by the name of Mario da' Fiori; whose productions +during his life were emulously sought after, and purchased at great +prices; but after the lapse of some years, not retaining their original +freshness, and acquiring, from a vicious mode of colouring, a black and +squalid appearance, they became much depreciated in value. The same +thing happened to the flower pieces of Laura Bernasconi, who was his +best imitator, and whose works are still to be seen in many +collections.</p> + +<p>Orsini informs us, that he found in Ascoli some <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg +259]</a></span>paintings of flowers by another of the fair sex, to whose +memory the Academy of S. Luke in Rome erected a marble monument in their +church, not so much in compliment to her talents in painting, as in +consequence of her having bequeathed to that society all her property, +which was considerable. In her epitaph she is commemorated only as a +miniature painter, and Orlandi describes her as such, adding, that she +resided for a long time in Florence, where she left a large number of +portraits in miniature of the Medici, and other princes of that time, +about the year 1630. She also painted in other capitals of Italy, and +died at an advanced age in Rome, in 1673.</p> + +<p>Michelangiolo di Campidoglio of Rome, was greatly distinguished for +his masterly grouping of fruits. Though almost fallen into oblivion from +the lapse of years, his pictures are still to be met with in Rome, and +in other places. The noble family of Fossombroni in Arezzo, possess one +of the finest specimens of him that I have ever seen. More generally +known is Pietro Paolo Bonzi, called by Baglione, Il Gobbo di Cortona, +which was his native place; by others, Il Gobbo de' Caracci, from his +having been employed in their school; and by the vulgar, Il Gobbo da' +Frutti, from the natural manner of his painting fruit. He did not pass +the bounds of mediocrity in historical design, as we may see from his S. +Thomas, in the church of the Rotonda, nor in landscapes; but he was +unrivalled in painting fruits, and designing <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>festoons, as in the +ceiling of the Palazzo Mattei; and in his elegant grouping of fruit in +dishes and baskets, as I have seen in Cortona, in the house of the noble +family of Velluti, in the Olivieri gallery in Pesaro, and elsewhere. The +Marchesi Venuti, in Cortona, have a portrait of him painted, it is +believed, by one of the Caracci, or some one of their school, and it is +well known, that the drawing of caricatures was a favourite amusement of +that academy.</p> + +<p>At this brilliant epoch, the art of perspective too was carried to a +high degree of perfection in deceiving the eye of the spectator. From +the beginning of the seventeenth century, it had made great advances by +the aid of P. Zaccolini, a Theatine monk of Cesena, in whose praise it +is sufficient to observe, that Domenichino and Poussin were instructed +by him in this art. S. Silvestro, in Montecavallo, possesses the finest +specimen of this power of illusion, in a picture of feigned columns, and +cornices and other architectural decorations. His original drawings +remain in the Barberini library. Gianfrancesco Niceron de' P. P. Minimi +added to this science by his work entitled <i>Thaumaturgus opticus</i>, +1643; and in a gallery of his convent at Trinità de' Monti, he painted +some landscapes, which, on being viewed in a different aspect, are +converted into figures. But the most practised artist in the academy of +Rome, was Viviano Codagora, who drew from the ruins of ancient Rome, and +also painted compositions of his own invention <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>in perspective. He +engaged Cerquozzi and Miel, and others in Rome, to insert the figures +for him, but he was most partial to Gargiuoli of Naples, as we shall +mention in our account of that school. Viviano may he called the +Vitruvius of this class of painters. He was correct in his linear +perspective, and an accurate observer of the style of the ancients. He +gave his representations of marble the peculiar tint it acquires by the +lapse of years, and his general tone of colour was vigorous. What +subtracts the most from his excellence is a certain hardness, and too +great a quantity of black, by which his pictures are easily +distinguished from others in collections, and which in the course of +time renders them dark and almost worthless. His true name is unknown to +the greater number of the lovers of art, by whom he is called Il +Viviani; and who seem to have confounded him with Ottavio Viviani of +Brescia, who is mentioned by the Dictionaries; a perspective painter +also, but in another branch, and in a different style, as we shall +hereafter see.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_71" id="Footnote_71"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_71">[71]</a> +He excelled chiefly in architecture, although he had given a proof of +his talents in painting, in some subjects in the gallery, executed under +Gregory XIII.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_72" id="Footnote_72"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_72">[72]</a> +In the, not very accurate, catalogue of the pictures in Fabriano, +besides the above mentioned fourteen, seven more are mentioned by the +same master.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_73" id="Footnote_73"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_73">[73]</a> +Mention is also made of one Basilio Maggieri, an excellent painter of +portraits.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_74" id="Footnote_74"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_74">[74]</a> +V. Le Pitture pubbliche di Piacenza, p. 81.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_75" id="Footnote_75"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_75">[75]</a> +In a letter of the Oretti correspondence, written in 1777, from Andrea +Zanoni to the Prince Ercolani, I find Marini classed in the school of +Ferraù da Faenza, and there still remain many pictures by him in the +style of <ins title="'hat' in the original">that</ins> master.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_76" id="Footnote_76"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_76">[76]</a> +Pascoli has restored to him the picture of S. Rosalia at the Maddalena, +which Titi had ascribed to Michele Rocca, called <i>Il Parmigianino</i>, +an artist of repute, and proper to be mentioned, as by those who are not +acquainted with his name and style, he might be mistaken for Mazzuola, +or perhaps Scaglia. The same author, soon afterwards, mentions +Grecolini, and thereby renders any further notice of that artist on my +part unnecessary.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_77" id="Footnote_77"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_77">[77]</a> +We ought to judge of him from the Visitation, at the church of the +Orfanelli, rather than from the picture of various Saints, in <i>Ara +Cœli</i>. This kind of observation may be extended to many other +artists, who are commemorated for the sake of some superior work.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_78" id="Footnote_78"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_78">[78]</a> +Memoirs of this painter have been long a desideratum, as may be seen +from the Lett. Pitt. tom. v. p. 257. I give such information as I have +been able to procure in his native place, assisted by the researches of +the very obliging Monsignore Massajuoli, Bishop of Nocera. Gio. Batista +was born in Sassoferrato on the 11th July, 1605, and died in Rome on the +8th August, 1685. And I may here correct an error of my first edition, +where it is printed 1635.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_79" id="Footnote_79"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_79">[79]</a> +There is a picture of the Rosario in the church of the Eremitani, with +his name, and the year 1573. It is a large composition.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_80" id="Footnote_80"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_80">[80]</a> +In the Oretti Correspondence there is a letter from an anonymous writer +to Malvasia respecting this painter, who is there called Francesco, and +is declared to be <i>Pittore di molta stima</i>. He then painted in +Ancona, as appears from letters under his own hand to Malvasia, where he +invariably subscribes himself Francesco.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_81" id="Footnote_81"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_81">[81]</a> +Passeri, Vite de' Pittori, page 363. He was remarkable for being the +first to adopt a new style in trees in landscapes, where by a strong +character of truth and attention to the forms of the trunk, foliage, and +branches, he denoted the particular species he wished to express.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_82" id="Footnote_82"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_82">[82]</a> +He painted for his <i>studio</i> a landscape enriched with views from +the Villa Madama, in which a wonderful variety of trees was introduced. +This he preserved for the purpose of supplying himself, as from nature, +with subjects for his various pictures, and refused to sell it to the +munificent pontiff, Clement IX., although that prince offered to cover +it with pieces of gold.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_83" id="Footnote_83"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_83">[83]</a> +V. Salvator Rosa, sat. iii. p. 79, where he reprehends not only the +artists, but also the great, for affording such pictures a place in +their collections.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_84" id="Footnote_84"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_84">[84]</a> +He was the ancestor of the Sig. Giuseppe Rosa, director of the imperial +gallery in Vienna, who has given us a catalogue of the Italian and +Flemish pictures of that collection, and who will, we hope, add the +German. Of this deserving artist he possesses a portrait, engraved in +1789, where we find a list of the various academies that had elected him +a member, and these are numerous, and of the first class in Europe. We +find him also amongst those masters whose drawings were collected by +Mariette; and he is also mentioned in the Lessico Universale delle Belle +Arti, edited in Zurich, in 1763.</p> + +<p class="p4"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg +262]</a></span></p> + +<h4>ROMAN SCHOOL.</h4> + +<h4>FIFTH EPOCH.</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><i>The Scholars of Pietro da Cortona, from an +injudicious imitation of their Master, deteriorate the art. Maratta and +others support it.</i></div> + +<p class="p2">It may with equal justice be asserted of the fine arts, as +of the belles lettres, that they never long remain in the same state, +and that they experience often great changes even in the common period +assigned to the life of man. Many causes contribute to this; public +calamities, such as I mentioned to have occurred after the death of +Raffaello; the instability of the human mind, which in the arts as in +dress is guided by fashion and the love of novelty; the influence of +particular artists; the taste of the great, who from their selection or +patronage of particular masters, silently indicate the path to those +artists who seek the gifts of fortune. These and other causes tended to +produce the decline of painting in Rome towards the close of the +seventeenth century, at a time too when literature began to revive; a +clear proof that they are not mutually progressive. This was in a great +measure occasioned by the calamitous events which afflicted Rome and the +state, about the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" +id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>middle of that century; by the feuds of +the nobles, the flight of the Barberini family, and other unfortunate +circumstances, which, during the pontificate of Innocent X., as we are +informed by Passeri, (p. 321,) rendered the employment of artists very +precarious; but more than all the dreadful plague of 1655, under +Alexander VII. To this state of decay too the evil passions of mankind +contributed in no small degree, and these indeed in all revolutions are +among the most active and predominant sources of evil, and often even in +a prosperous state of things sow the seeds of future calamities.</p> + +<p>The Cav. Bernini, a man of more talents as an architect than as a +sculptor, was under Urban VIII. and Innocent X., and also until the year +1680, in which he died, the arbiter of the public taste in Rome. The +enemy of Sacchi and the benefactor of Cortona, he obtained more employ +for his friend than for his rival; and this was easily accomplished, as +Cortona was rapid as well as laborious, while Sacchi was slow and +irresolute, qualities which rendered him unacceptable even to his own +patrons. In course of time Bernini began to favour Romanelli, to the +prejudice of Pietro; and, instructing that artist and Baciccio in his +principles, he influenced them to the adoption of his own style, which, +though it possessed considerable beauty, was nevertheless mannered, +particularly in the folds of the drapery. The way being thus opened to +caprice, they abandoned the true, and substituted <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg +264]</a></span>false precepts of art, and many years had not elapsed +before pernicious principles appeared in the schools of the painters, +and particularly in that of Cortona. Some went so far as to censure the +imitation of Raffaello, as Bellori attests in the Life of Carlo Maratta, +(p. 102,) and others ridiculed, as useless, the study of nature, +preferring to copy, in a servile manner, the works of other artists. +These effects are visible in the pictures of the time. All the +countenances, although by different artists, have a fulness in the lips +and nose like those of Pietro, and have all a sort of family +resemblance, so much are they alike; a defect which Bottari says is the +only fault of Pietro, but it is not the only fault of his school. Every +one was anxious to avoid the labour of study, and to promote facility at +the expense of correct design; the errors in which they endeavoured to +conceal by overcharging rather than discriminating the contours. No one +can be desirous that I should enter into further particulars, when we +are treating of matters so very near our own times, and whoever is free +from prejudice may judge for himself. I now return to the state of the +Roman School about one hundred and twenty years back.</p> + +<p>The schools most in repute, after the death of Sacchi, in 1661, and +of Berrettini, in 1670, when the best scholars of the Caracci were dead, +were reduced to two, that of Cortona supported by Ciro, and that of +Sacchi, by Maratta. The first of these expanded the ideas, but induced +negligence; the second <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" +id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>enforced correctness, but fettered the +ideas. Each adopted something from the other, and not always the best +part; an affected contrast pleased some of the scholars of Maratta, and +the drapery of Maratta was adopted by some of the followers of Ciro.<a +name="fnanchor_85" id="fnanchor_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[85]</sup></a> The school of Cortona exhibited a +grand style in fresco; the other school was restricted to oils. They +became rivals, each supported by its own party, and were impartially +employed by the pontiffs until the death of Ciro, that is, until 1689. +From that time a new tone was given to art by Maratta, who, under +Clement XI., was appointed director of the numerous works which that +pontiff was carrying on in Rome and in Urbino. Although this master had +many able rivals, as we shall see, he still maintained his superiority, +and on his death, his school continued to flourish until the pontificate +of Benedict XIV., ultimately yielding to the more novel style of +Subleyras, Batoni, and Mengs. Thus far of the two schools in general: we +shall now notice their followers.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg +266]</a></span>Besides the scholars whom Pietro formed in Tuscany, as +Dandini of Florence, Castellucci of Arezzo, Palladino of Cortona, and +those whom he formed in other schools, where we shall see them as +masters, he educated others in the Roman state, of whom it is now time +to speak. The number of his scholars is beyond belief. They were +enumerated by Sig. Cav. Luzi, a nobleman of Cortona, who composed a life +of Berrettini with more accuracy than had been before done, but his +death prevented the publication of it. Pietro continued to teach to the +close of his life, and the picture of S. Ivo, which he left imperfect, +was finished by Gio. Ventura Borghesi, of Città di Castello. Of this +artist there are also at S. Niccola, two pictures, the Nativity, and the +Assumption of the Virgin, and I am not acquainted with any other public +specimens of his pencil in Rome. His native place possesses many of his +performances, and the most esteemed are four circles of the History of +S. Caterina, V. M., in the church of that saint. Many of his works are +to be found also in Prague, and the cities of Germany. He follows Pietro +with sufficient fidelity in design, but does not display so much vigour +of colour. Carlo Cesi, of Rieti, or rather of Antrodoco, in that +neighbourhood, was also a distinguished scholar of Pietro. He lived in +Rome, and in the Quirinal gallery, where the best artists of the age +painted under Alexander VII., he has left a large picture of the +Judgment of Solomon. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" +id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>He worked also in other places; as at +S. M. Maggiore, at the Rotunda, and was patronized by several cardinals. +He was correct in his design, and opposed, both in person and by his +precepts and example, the fatal and prevailing facility of his time. +Pascoli has preserved some of his axioms, and this among others, that +the beautiful should not be crowded, but distributed with judgment in +the composition of pictures; otherwise they resemble a written style, +which by the redundancy of brilliant and sententious remarks fails in +its effect. Francesco Bonifazio was of Viterbo, and from the various +pictures by him, which Orlandi saw in that city, I do not hesitate to +rank him among the successful followers of Pietro. We may mention +Michelangiolo Ricciolini, a Roman by birth, although called of Todi, +whose portrait is in the Medici gallery, where is also that of Niccolo +Ricciolini, respecting whom Orlandi is silent. Both were employed in +decorating the churches of Rome; the second had the reputation of a +better designer than the first, and in the cartoons painted for some +mosaics for the Vatican church, he competed with the Cav. Franceschini. +Paolo Gismondi, called also Paolo Perugino, became a good fresco +painter, and there are works remaining by him in the S. Agata, in the +Piazza Nova, and at S. Agnes, in the Piazza Navona. Pietro Paolo +Baldini, of whose native place I am ignorant, is stated by Titi to have +been of the school of Cortona. Ten pictures by him are counted <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>in +the churches of Rome, and in some of them, as in the Crucifixion of S. +Eustace, a precision of style derived from another school is observable. +Bartolommeo Palombo has only two pictures in the capital. That of S. +Maria Maddelena de' Pazzi, which is placed at S. Martino a' Monti, +entitles him to rank with the best of his fellow scholars, the picture +possesses so strong a colouring, and the figures are so graceful and +well designed. Pietro Lucatelli, of Rome, was a distinguished painter, +and is named in the catalogue of the Colonna gallery, as the scholar of +Ciro, and in Titi, as the disciple of Cortona. He is a different artist +from Andrea Lucatelli, of whom we shall shortly speak. Gio. Batista +Lenardi, whom, in a former edition, I hesitated to place in the list of +the pupils of Pietro, I now consider as belonging to that school, though +he was instructed also by Baldi. In the chapel of the B. Rita, at S. +Agostino, he painted two lateral pictures as well as the vault; he also +ornamented other churches with his works, and particularly that of +Buonfratelli, at Trastevere, where he painted the picture of S. Gio. +Calibita. That of the great altar was ascribed to him, probably from a +similarity of style; but is by Andrea Generoli, called Il Sabinese, a +pupil either of Pietro himself, or of one of his followers.</p> + +<p>Thus far of the less celebrated of this school. The three superior +artists, whose works still attract us in the galleries of princes, are +Cortesi, and the two elder scholars of the academy of <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg +269]</a></span>Pietro, Romanelli and Ferri. Nor is it improbable that +having competitors in some of his first scholars, he became indisposed +to instruct others with the same degree of good will, as those noble +minds are few, in whom the zeal of advancing the art exceeds the regret +at having produced an ingrate or a rival.</p> + +<p>Guglielmo Cortesi, the brother of P. Giacomo, like him named Il +Borgognone, was one of the best artists of this period; and a scholar +rather than an imitator of Pietro. His admiration was fixed on Maratta, +whom he followed in the studied variety of his heads, and in the +sobriety of the composition, more than in the division of the folds of +his drapery or in colour; in which latter he manifested a clearness +partaking of the Flemish. His style was somewhat influenced by that of +his brother, whose assistant he was, and by his study of the Caracci. He +often appears to have imitated the strong relief and azure grounds of +Guercino. His Crucifixion of S. Andrea, in the church of Monte Cavallo, +the Fight of Joshua in the Quirinal palace, and a Madonna attended by +Saints, in the Trinità de' Pellegrini, merit our attention. In these +works there is a happy union of various styles, exempt from +mannerism.</p> + +<p>Francesco Romanelli was born at Viterbo, and, as well as Testa, +studied some time under Domenichino. He afterwards placed himself with +Pietro, whose manner he imitated so successfully, that on Pietro going +on a journey into Lombardy, he left him, together with Bottalla (called +Bortelli by Baldinucci) <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" +id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>to supply his place in decorating the +Barberini palace. It is reported that the two scholars, in the absence +of their master, endeavoured to have the work transferred to themselves, +and were on that account dismissed. It was at this time that Romanelli, +assisted by Bernini, changed his style, and adopted by degrees a more +elegant and a seductive manner in his figures, but possessing less +grandeur and science than that of Pietro. He used more slender +proportions, clearer tints, and a more minute taste in folding his +drapery. His Deposition in S. Ambrogio, which was extolled as a prodigy, +stimulated Pietro to paint opposite to it that wonderful picture of S. +Stephen, on seeing which Bernini exclaimed, that he then perceived the +difference between the master and the scholar. Romanelli was twice in +France, having found a patron in the Cardinal Barberini, who had fled to +Paris; and he participated in the spirited manner of that country, which +gave an animation before unknown to his figures. This at least is the +opinion of Pascoli. He decorated a portico of Cardinal Mazarine with +subjects from the metamorphoses of Ovid, and afterwards adorned some of +the royal saloons with passages from the Æneid. He was preparing to +return to France with his family for the third time, when he was +intercepted by death at Viterbo. He left in that city, at the grand +altar of the Duomo, the picture of S. Lorenzo, and in Rome, and in other +cities of Italy, numerous works both public and private, although he +died at about forty-five years of age. <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>He had the honour of +painting in the church of the Vatican. The presentation which he placed +there is now in the church of the Certosa, the mosaic in S. Peter. He +did not leave behind him any scholars who inherited his reputation. +Urbano, his son, was educated by Ciro after the death of his father. He +is known for his works in the cathedral churches of Velletri and +Viterbo: those in Viterbo are from the life of S. Lorenzo, the patron +saint of the church, and prove him to have been a young man of +considerable promise, but he was cut off prematurely.</p> + +<p>Ciro Ferri, a Roman by birth, was, of all the disciples of Cortona, +the one the most attached in person, and similar to him in style; and +not a few of the works of Pietro were given to him to complete, both in +Florence and in Rome. There are indeed some pictures so dubious, that +the experienced are in doubt whether to assign them to the master or the +scholar. He displays generally less grace in design, a less expansive +genius, and shuns that breadth of drapery which his master affected. The +number of his works in Rome is not proportioned to his residence there, +because he lent much assistance to his master. There is a S. Ambrogio in +the church of that saint just mentioned, and it is a touchstone of merit +for whoever wishes to compare him with the best of his fellow scholars, +or with his master himself. His works in the Pitti palace have been +already mentioned in another place, and we ought not to forget another +grand composition by him in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" +id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>S. M. Maggiore in Bergamo, consisting +of various scriptural histories painted in fresco. He speaks of them +himself in some letters inserted in the Pittoriche, (tom. ii. p. 38,) +from which we gather, that he had been reprehended for his colouring, +and contemplated visiting Venice in order to improve himself. He did not +leave any scholar of celebrity in Rome. Corbellini, who finished the +Cupola of S. Agnes, the last work of Ciro, which has been engraved, +would not have found a place in Titi and Pascoli, if it had not been to +afford those writers an opportunity of expressing their regret at so +fine a composition being injured by the hand that attempted to finish +it.</p> + +<p>But another scion of the same stock sprung up to support the name and +credit of the school of Ciro, transferred from Florence to Rome. We +mentioned in the first book, that when Ciro was in Florence he formed a +scholar in Gabbiani, who became the master of Benedetto Luti. Ciro was +only just dead when Luti arrived in Rome, who not being able to become +his scholar, as he had designed when he left his native place, applied +himself to studying the works of Ciro, and those of other good masters, +as I have elsewhere remarked. He thus formed for himself an original +style, and enjoyed in Rome the reputation of an excellent artist in the +time of Clement XI., who honoured him with commissions, and decorated +him with the cross. It is to be regretted that he attached himself so +much to crayons, with which he is said <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>to have inundated all +Europe. He was intended by nature for nobler things. He painted well in +fresco, and still better in oils. His S. Anthony in the church of the +Apostles, and the Magdalen in that of the Sisters of Magnanapoli, which +is engraved, are highly esteemed. Nor would it add a little to his +reputation, if we had engravings of his two pictures in the Duomo of +Piacenza, S. Conrad penitent, and S. Alexius recognised after death; +where, amidst other excellences, a fine expression of the pathetic +predominates. Of his profane pieces, his Psyche in the Capitoline +gallery, is the most remarkable, and breathes an elegant and refined +taste. Of the few productions which Tuscany possesses by him, we have +written in the school of Gabbiani. We shall here mention a few of his +scholars, who remained in Rome, noticing others in various schools.</p> + +<p>Placido Costanzi is often mentioned with approbation in the +collections of Rome for the elegant figures he inserted in the +landscapes of Orizzonte; he also painted some altarpieces in a refined +style. In the church of the Magdalen is a picture of S. Camillo attended +by Angels, so gracefully painted, that he seems to have aspired to rival +Domenichino. He also distinguished himself in fresco, as may be seen in +the S. Maria in Campo Marzio, where the ceiling in the greater tribune +is the work of Costanzi.</p> + +<p>Pietro Bianchi resembled Luti more than any of his scholars in +elegance of manner, and excelled <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>him in large +compositions, which he derived from his other master, Baciccio. His +extreme fastidiousness and his early death prevented him from leaving +many works. A very few of his pictures are found in the churches of +Rome. At Gubbio is his picture of S. Chiara, with the Angel appearing, a +piece of grand effect, from the distribution of the light. The sketch of +this picture was purchased by the King of Sardinia at a high price. He +painted for the church of S. Peter a picture, which was executed in +mosaic in the altar of the choir: the original is in the Certosa, in +which the Cav. Mancini had the greatest share, as Bianchi did little +more than furnish the sketch.</p> + +<p>Francesco Michelangeli, called l'Aquilano, is known to posterity from +a letter written by Luti himself, (Lett. Pitt. tom. vi. p. 278,) where +the annotator informs us, that his master frequently employed him in +copying his works, and that he died young. This notice is not without +its use, as it acquaints us with the origin of the beautiful copies of +Luti which are so frequently met with.</p> + +<p>We may lastly notice an artist of mediocrity of this school, who is +nevertheless said to be the painter of some beautiful pictures; the two +pictures of S. Margaret, in Araceli; S. Gallicano, in the church of that +saint; and the Nativity, in the church of the Infant Jesus. His name was +Filippo Evangelisti, and he was chamberlain to the Cardinal Corradini, +through whose influence he obtained many commissions. Being himself +incapable <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg +275]</a></span>of executing these well, (if we may rely on a letter in +the <i>Pittoriche</i>) he engaged Benefial, whom we shall shortly +notice, to assist him. They thus painted in partnership, the gain was +divided between them, but the celebrity was the portion of the +principal; and if any piece came out under the name of the assistant, it +was rather censured than praised. The poor artist at last became +impatient of this treatment, and disdaining any longer to support a +character which did him no honour, he left his companion to work by +himself; and it was then that Evangelisti, in his picture of S. Gregory, +in the church of the Saints Peter and Marcellino, appeared in his true +colours, and the public thus discovered that he was indebted to Benefial +for genius as well as labour.</p> + +<p>The school of Sacchi may boast of one of the first artists of the age +in Francesco Lauri, of Rome, in whom his master flattered himself he had +found a second Raffaello. The disciple himself, in order to justify the +high expectation which the public had conceived of him, before opening a +school in Rome, travelled through Italy, and from thence visited +Germany, Holland, and Flanders, and resided for the space of a year in +Paris; thus adding greatly to the funds of knowledge and experience +already obtained by him in his native place. He was, however, cut off +very early in life, leaving behind him, in the Sala de' Crescenzi, three +figures of Goddesses painted in the vault in fresco; but no other +considerable work, as far as my knowledge <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>extends. This artist +must not be confounded with Filippo, his brother, and scholar in his +early years, who was afterwards instructed by Caroselli, who espoused +his sister. He was not accustomed to paint large compositions; and the +Adam and Eve, which are seen in the Pace, it should seem, he represented +on so much larger a scale, lest any one should despise his talent, as +only capable of small works, on which he was always profitably employed. +We meet with cabinet pictures by him in the Flemish style, touched with +great spirit, and coloured in good taste, evincing a fund of lively and +humorous invention. He sometimes painted sacred subjects, and at S. +Saverio, in the collection of the late Monsignor Goltz, I saw an +enchanting picture by him, a perfect gem, and greatly admired by Mengs. +He painted in the Palazzo Borghese some beautiful landscapes in fresco, +in which branch his family was already celebrated, as his father, +Baldassare, of Flanders, who had been a scholar of Brill, and lived in +Rome in the time of Sacchi, was ranked among the eminent landscape +painters, and is commemorated by Baldinucci.</p> + +<p>The immature death of Lauri was compensated for by the lengthened +term of years accorded to Luigi Garzi and Carlo Maratta, who continued +to paint to the commencement of the eighteenth century; enemies to +despatch, correct in their style, and free from the corrupt prejudices +which afterwards usurped the place of the genuine rules of art. The +first, who is called a Roman by Orlandi, <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>was born in Pistoja, +but came while yet young to Rome. He studied landscape for fifteen years +under Boccali, but being instructed afterwards by Sacchi, he discovered +such remarkable talents, that he became highly celebrated in Naples and +in Rome in every class of painting. In the former city, his decoration +of two chambers of the royal palace is greatly extolled; and in the +latter, where he ornamented many churches, he seemed to surpass himself +in the Prophet of S. Giovanni Laterano. He is praised in general for his +forms and attitudes, and for his fertile invention and his composition. +He understood perspective, and was a good machinist, though in +refinement of taste he is somewhat behind Maratta. In his adherence to +the school of Sacchi we may still perceive some imitation of Cortona, to +whom some have given him as a scholar, as well in many pictures +remaining in Rome, as in others sent to various parts; among which is +his S. Filippo Neri, in the church of that saint at Fano, which is a +gallery of beautiful productions. But on no occasion does he seem more a +follower of Cortona, or rather of Lanfranco, than in the Assumption in +the Duomo of Pescia, an immense composition, and which is considered his +masterpiece. It is mentioned in the <i>Catalogo delle migliori Pitture +di Valdinievole</i>, drawn up by Sig. Innocenzio Ansaldi, and inserted +in the recent History of Pescia. Mario, the son of Luigi Garzi who is +mentioned twice in the <i>Guida di Roma</i>, <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>died young. We may here +also mention the name of Agostino Scilla of Messina, whom we shall +hereafter notice more at length.</p> + +<p>Carlo Maratta was born in Camurano, in the district of Ancona, and +enjoyed, during his life, the reputation of one of the first painters in +Europe. Mengs, in a letter "On the Rise, Progress, and Decline of the +Art of Design," assigns to Maratta the enviable distinction of having +sustained the art in Rome, where it did not degenerate as in other +places. The early part of his life was devoted to copying the works of +Raffaello, which always excited his admiration, and his indefatigable +industry was employed in restoring the frescos of that great master in +the Vatican and the Farnesina, and preserving them for the eyes of +posterity; a task requiring both infinite care and judgment, and +described by Bellori. He was not a machinist, and in consequence neither +he nor his scholars distinguished themselves in frescos, or in large +compositions. At the same time he had no fear of engaging in works of +that kind, and willingly undertook the decoration of the Duomo of +Urbino, which he peopled with figures. This work, with the Cupola +itself, was destroyed by an earthquake in 1782; but the sketches for it +are preserved in Urbino, in four pictures, in the Albani palace. He was +most attached by inclination to the painting of cabinet pictures and +altarpieces. His Madonnas possess a modest, lively, and dignified air; +his angels are graceful; and his saints <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>are distinguished by +their fine heads, a character of devotion, and are clothed in the +sumptuous costume of the church. In Rome his pictures are the more +prized the nearer they approach to the style of Sacchi, as the S. +Saverio in the Gesù, a Madonna in the Panfili palace, and several +others. Some are found beyond the territories of the church, and in +Genoa is his Martyrdom of S. Biagio, a picture as to the date of which I +do not inquire, but only assert that it is worthy of the greatest rival +of Sacchi. He afterwards adopted a less dignified style, but which for +its correctness is worthy of imitation. Though he had devoted the early +part of his life to the acquisition of a pure style of design, he did +not think himself sufficiently accomplished in it, and again returned, +when advanced in years, to the study of Raffaello, of whose excellences +he possessed himself, without losing sight of the Caracci and Guido. But +many are of opinion that he fell into a style too elaborate, and +sacrificed the spirit of his compositions to minute care. His principal +fault lay in the folding of his drapery, when through a desire of +copying nature he too frequently separates its masses, and neglects too +much the naked parts, which takes away from the elegance of his figures. +He endeavoured to fix his principal light on the most important part of +his composition, subduing rather more than was right, the light in other +parts of his picture, and his scholars carried this principle afterwards +so far as to produce an indistinctness <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>which became the +characteristic mark of his school.</p> + +<p>Though not often, he yet painted some few pictures of an +extraordinary magnitude, as the S. Carlo in the church of that saint at +the Corso, and the Baptism of Christ in the Certosa, copied in mosaic in +the Basilica of S. Peter. His other pictures are for the most part on a +smaller scale; many are in Rome, and amongst them the charming +composition of S. Stanislaus Kostka, at the altar where his ashes +repose; not a few others in other cities, as the S. Andrea Corsini in +the chapel of that noble family in Florence, and the S. Francesco di +Sales at the Filippini di Forli, which is one of his most studied works. +He contributed largely, also, to the galleries of sovereigns and private +individuals. There is not a considerable collection in Rome without a +specimen of his pencil, particularly that of the Albani, to which family +he was extremely attached. His works are frequently met with in the +state. There is a valuable copy of the Battle of Constantine, in +possession of the Mancinforti family in Ancona. It is related, that, +being requested to copy that picture, he proposed the task to one of his +best scholars, who disdained the commission. He therefore undertook the +work himself, and on finishing it, took occasion to intimate to his +pupils, that the copying such productions might not be without benefit +to the most accomplished masters. He had a daughter whom he instructed +in his own art; and her portrait, <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>executed by herself, in +a painting attitude, is to be seen in the Corsini gallery at Rome.</p> + +<p>Maratta, in his capacity of an instructor, is extolled by his +biographer, Bellori (p. 208); but is by Pascoli accused of jealousy, and +of having condemned a youth of the most promising talents in his school, +Niccolo Berrettoni di Montefeltro, to the preparation of colours. This +artist, however, from the principles which he imbibed from Cantarini, +and from his imitation of Guido and Coreggio, formed for himself a mixed +style, delicate, free, and unconstrained, and the more studied, as that +study was concealed under the semblance of nature. He died young, +leaving very few works behind him, almost all of which were engraved, in +consequence of his high reputation. The Marriage of the Virgin Mary, +which he executed for S. Lorenzo in Borgo, was engraved by Pier Santi +Bartoli, a very distinguished engraver of those times, an excellent +copyist, and himself a painter of some merit.<a name="fnanchor_86" +id="fnanchor_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[86]</sup></a> Another of his pictures, a Madonna, +attended <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg +282]</a></span>by saints at S. Maria di Monte Santo, and the lunettes of +the same chapel, were engraved by Frezza. An account of this artist may +be found in the Lettere Pitt. tom. v. p. 277.</p> + +<p>Giuseppe Chiari of Rome, who finished some pictures of Berrettoni and +of Maratta himself, was one of the best painters of easel pictures of +that school. Many of his works found their way to England. He painted +some pictures for the churches of Rome, and probably the best is the +Adoration of the Magi in the church of the Suffragio, of which there is +an engraving. He also succeeded in fresco. Those works in particular, +which he executed in the Barberini palace, under the direction of the +celebrated Bellori, and those also of the Colonna gallery, will always +do him credit; he was sober in his colours, careful and judicious; rare +qualities in a fresco painter. He did not inherit great talents from +nature, but by force of application became one of the first artists of +his age. Tommaso Chiari, a pupil also of Maratta, and whose designs he +sometimes executed, did not pass the bounds of mediocrity. The same may +be observed of Sigismond Rosa, a scholar of Giuseppe Chiari.</p> + +<p>To Giuseppe Chiari, who was the intimate friend of Maratta, we may +add two others, who were, according <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>to Pascoli, the only +scholars whom he took a pleasure in instructing; Giuseppe Passeri, the +nephew of Giambatista, and Giacinto Calandrucci of Palermo. Both were +distinguished as excellent imitators of their master. Passeri worked +also in the state. In Pesaro is a S. Jerome by him, meditating on the +Last Judgment, which may be enumerated among his best works. In the +church of the Vatican, he painted a pendant to the Baptism of Maratta, +S. Peter baptizing the centurion, which after being copied in mosaic, +was sent to the church of the Conventuals in Urbino. This picture, which +was executed under the direction of Maratta, is well coloured; but in +many of his works his colouring is feeble, as in the Conception at the +church of S. Thomas in Parione, and in other places in Rome. +Calandrucci, after having given proof of his talents in the churches of +S. Antonio de' Portoghesi, and S. Paolino della Regola, and in other +churches of Rome, and after having been creditably employed by many +noble persons, and by two pontiffs, returned to Palermo, and there, in +the church del Salvatore, placed his large composition of the Madonnas, +attended by S. Basil and other saints, which work he did not long +survive. He left behind him in Rome a nephew, who was his scholar, +called Giambatista; and he had also a brother there of the name of +Domenico, a disciple of Maratta and himself; but there are no traces of +their works remaining.</p> + +<p>Andrea Procaccini and Pietro de' Petri, also <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>hold a distinguished +place in this school, although their fortunes were very dissimilar. +Procaccini, who painted in S. Giovanni Laterano, the Daniel, one of the +twelve prophets which Clement XI. commanded to be painted as a trial of +skill by the artists of his day, obtained great fame, and ultimately +became painter to the court of Spain, where he remained fourteen years, +and left some celebrated works. Petri on the contrary continued to +reside in Rome, and died there at a not very advanced age. He was +employed there in the tribune of S. Clement, and in some other works. He +did not, however, obtain the reputation and success that he deserved, in +consequence of his infirm health and his extreme modesty. He is one of +those who engrafted on the style of Maratta, a portion of the manner of +Cortona. Orlandi calls him a Roman, others a Spaniard, but his native +place in fact was Premia, a district of Novara. Paolo Albertoni and Gio. +Paolo Melchiorri, both Romans, flourished about the same time; less +esteemed, indeed, than the foregoing, but possessing the reputation of +good masters, particularly the second.</p> + +<p>At a somewhat later period, the last scholar of Maratta, Agostino +Masucci presents himself to our notice. This artist did not exhibit any +peculiar spirit, confining himself to pleasing and devout subjects. In +his representations of the Virgin he emulated his master, who from his +great number of subjects of that kind, was at one time called Carlo +dalle Madonne; as he himself has commemorated <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span>in his own epitaph. +Like Maratta he imparted to them an expression of serene majesty, rather +than loveliness and affability. In some of his cabinet pictures I am +aware that he occasionally renounced this manner, but it was only +through intercession and expostulation. He was a good fresco painter, +and decorated for pope Benedict XIV. an apartment in a casino, erected +in the garden of the Quirinal. He painted many altarpieces, and his +angels and children are designed with great elegance and nature, and in +a novel and original style. His S. Anna at the Nome S. S. di Maria, is +one of the best pictures he left in Rome; there is also a S. Francis in +the church of the Osservanti di Macerata, a Conception at S. Benedetto +di Gubbio, in Urbino a S. Bonaventura, which is perhaps his noblest +composition, full of portraits (in which he was long considered the most +celebrated painter in Rome), and finished with exquisite care. Lorenzo, +his son and scholar, was very inferior to him.</p> + +<p>Stefano Pozzi received his first instructions from Maratta, and +afterwards became a scholar of Masucci. He had a younger brother, +Giuseppe, who died before him, ere his fame was matured. Stefano lived +long, painting in Rome with the reputation of one of the best masters of +his day; more noble in his style of design than Masucci, and if I err +not, more vigorous, and more natural in his colouring. We may easily +estimate their merits in Rome in the church just mentioned, where we +find the Transito di S. Giuseppe of Pozzi, near the S. <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>Anna +of Masucci. Of the Cav. Girolamo Troppa, I have heard from oral +tradition that he was the scholar of Maratta. He was certainly his +imitator, and a successful one too, although he did not live long. He +left works both in oil and fresco in the capital, and in the church of +S. Giacomo delle Penitenti, he painted in competition with Romanelli. I +have found pictures by him in the state; and in S. Severino is a church +picture very well conducted. Girolamo Odam, a Roman of a Lorena family, +is reckoned among the disciples of the Cav. Carlo, and is eulogized in a +long and pompous article by Orlandi, or perhaps by some friend of Odam, +who supplied Orlandi with the information. He is there described as a +painter, sculptor, architect, engraver, philosopher, mathematician, and +poet, and accomplished in every art and science. In all these I should +imagine he was superficial, as nothing remains of him except some +engravings and a very slender reputation, not at all corresponding to +such unqualified commendation.</p> + +<p>Of other artists who are little known in Rome and its territories, +such as Jacopo Fiammingo, Francesco Pavesi, Michele Semini, there is +little information that can be relied on. Respecting Subissati, Conca is +silent, though information might possibly be obtained of him in Madrid, +at which court he died. In Urbino, which was his native place, I find no +picture of him remaining, except the head of a sybil: Antonio Balestra +of Verona and Raffaellino Bottalla will be found in their native <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg +287]</a></span>schools, but I must not here omit one, a native of the +state, who after being educated in the academy, returned to his native +country, and there introduced the style of Carlo, at that time so much +in vogue. Orlandi mentions with applause Gioseffo Laudati of Perugia, as +having contributed to restore the art, which after the support it had +found in Bassotti and others, had fallen into decay.</p> + +<p>Lodovico Trasi, of Ascoli, is deserving of particular notice. He was +for several years a fellow disciple of Maratta in the school of Sacchi, +and was afterwards desirous of becoming his scholar. After studying some +time in his academy, he returned to Ascoli, where he has left a great +number of works both public and private, in various styles. In some of +his smaller pictures he discovers a good Marattesque style; but in his +fresco and altarpieces he is negligent, and adheres much to Sacchi, yet +in a manner that discovers traces of Cortona. His picture of S. Niccolo +at the church of S. Cristoforo is beautiful, and is one of the pieces +which he finished with more than usual care. He has there represented +the enfranchisement of a slave, at the moment the pious youth is serving +at his master's table. There are some remarkable pictures of this artist +in the cathedral, painted in distemper, particularly that of the +martyrdom of S. Emidio. Trasi was the instructor of D. Tommaso Nardini, +who continued on his master's death the decoration of the churches of +the city, and his best work is perhaps in S. Angelo Magno, a church +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg +288]</a></span>of the Olivetani. The perspective was by Agostino +Collaceroni of Bologna, a scholar of Pozzi. Nardini supplied the +figures, representing the mysteries of the Apocalypse and other +scriptural events. It displays great spirit and harmony, richness of +colouring and facility, which are the distinguishing characteristics of +this master, and are perhaps better expressed in this picture than in +any other. We may add to the two before mentioned painters, Silvestro +Mattei, who studied under Maratta, Giuseppe Angelini, the scholar of +Trasi, and Biagio Miniera, also of Ascoli, whom Orsini has noticed in +his <i>Guida</i>.</p> + +<p>There flourished about the same time in the neighbouring city of +Fermo, two Ricci, scholars of Maratta, who were probably instructed +before going to Rome by Lorenzino di Fermo, a good artist, though +doubtful of what school, and who is said to have painted the picture of +S. Catharine at the church of the Conventuals, and other pictures in the +adjoining territories. The one was named Natale, the other Ubaldo; the +latter was superior to the former, and is much extolled for his S. +Felice, which he painted for the church of the Capucins, in his native +place. He did not often pass the bounds of mediocrity, which is +frequently the case with artists residing at a distance from a capital, +and who have not the incitement to emulation and an opportunity of +studying good examples. The same observation is, I think, applicable +also to another scholar of Maratta, Giuseppe Oddi, of Pesaro, <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg +289]</a></span>where one of his pictures remains in the church della +Carità. We shall now return to the metropolis.</p> + +<p>A fresh reinforcement to support the style of the Caracci in Rome, +was received from the school of Bologna. I speak only of those who +established themselves there. Domenico Muratori had been the scholar of +Pasinelli, and painted the great picture in the church of the Apostles, +which is probably the largest altarpiece in Rome, and represents the +martyrdom of S. Philip and S. James. The grandeur of this composition, +its judicious disposition and felicity of chiaroscuro, though its +colouring was not entirely perfect, gave him considerable celebrity. He +was also employed in many smaller works, in which he always evinced an +equally correct design, and perhaps better colouring. He was chosen to +paint one of the prophets in the Basilica Lateranense, and was employed +also in other cities. In the cathedral of Pisa, he painted a large +picture of S. Ranieri, in the act of exorcising a demon, which is +esteemed one of his most finished works. Francesco Mancini di S. Angiolo +in Vado, and Bonaventura Lamberti di Carpi, had better fortune in +Bologna, in having for their master Carlo Cignani. Mancini, when he came +to Rome, did not adhere exclusively to his master's manner, as he was +rather more attached to the facility and freedom of Franceschini, his +fellow scholar, whom he somewhat resembles in style. He seems, however, +to have had less despatch, and certainly painted less. He was <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg +290]</a></span>chaste in his invention, and followed the example of +Lazzarini; he designed well, coloured in a charming manner, and was +numbered among the first artists of his age in Rome. He painted the +Miracle of S. Peter at the beautiful gate of the temple, a picture which +is preserved in the palace of Monte Cavallo, and is copied in mosaic in +S. Peter's. This picture, which is a spirited composition, and well +arranged in the perspective, is his principal work, and does not suffer +from a comparison with those mentioned in the Guida di Roma, and others +scattered through the dominions of the church. Such are pictures with +various saints in the church of the Conventuals of Urbino, and in that +of the Camaldolesi of Fabriano; the appearing of Christ to S. Peter in +that of the Filippini, in Città di Castello, and the various works +executed in oil and in fresco at Forli and at Macerata. He painted many +pictures for foreign collections, and was commended for his large +compositions. From his studio issued the Canonico Lazzarini before +named, whom, as he lived amongst other followers of Cignani, I shall +reserve with them to the close of the Bolognese school. Niccola +Lapiccola, of Crotone, in Calabria Ultra, remained in Rome; and a cupola +of a chapel in the Vatican painted by him, was copied in mosaic. There +are some pictures by him in other churches; the best are, perhaps, in +the state, particularly in Velletri. I have heard that he was a disciple +of Mancini, though in his colouring he somewhat adhered to his native +school.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg +291]</a></span>Bonaventura Lamberti is numbered by Mengs among the +latest of the successful followers of the school of Cignani, whose style +he preserved more carefully than Mancini himself. He did not give many +works to the world. He had, however, the honour of having his designs +copied in mosaic by Giuseppe Ottaviani, in S. Peter's, and one of his +pictures engraved by Frey. It is in the church of the Spirito Santo de' +Napolitani, and represents a miracle of S. Francesco di Paola. The +Gabrieli family, which patronised him in an extraordinary manner, +possesses a great number of historical pictures by him, which are in +themselves sufficient to engage the attention of an amateur for several +hours. Lamberti had the honour of giving to the Roman School the Cav. +Marco Benefial, born and resident in Rome, a painter of great genius, +though not always equal to himself, rather perhaps from negligence, than +deficiency of powers.</p> + +<p>The Marchese Venuti<a name="fnanchor_87" id="fnanchor_87"></a><a +href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor"><sup>[87]</sup></a> extols this +master above all others of his time for his accurate design, and his +Caracciesque colouring. His monument is placed in the Pantheon, among +those of the most celebrated painters, and to his bust is attached the +eulogy bestowed on him by the Abate Giovenazzo, where he is particularly +commended for his power of expression. The factions to which he gave +rise still subsist, as if he were yet living. His admirers not being +able to defend all his works, have fixed on <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>the Flagellation at the +Stimmate, painted in competition with Muratori,<a name="fnanchor_88" +id="fnanchor_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[88]</sup></a> and S. Secondino at the +Passionisti, as the subjects of their unqualified approbation; pictures +indeed, of such science, that they may challenge any comparison. To +these may be added his S. Lorenzo and S. Stefano, in the Duomo of +Viterbo, and a few others of similar merit, in which he evidently +imitated Domenichino and his school. His enemies have designated him as +an inferior artist, and adduce several works feeble in expression and +effect. The impartial consider him an eminent artist, but his +productions vary, being occasionally in a grand style, and at other +times not passing the bounds of mediocrity. This is a character which +has been ascribed to many poets also, and even to Petrarch himself.</p> + +<p>Our obligations are due to the Sig. Batista Ponfredi, his scholar, +for the memoirs of this eminent man. They were addressed to the Count +Niccola Soderini, a great benefactor of Benefial, and more rich in his +works than any other Roman collector. His letter is in the fifth volume +of the <i>Pittoriche</i>, and is one of the most instructive in the +collection, although altered by the editor in some points. I shall +transcribe a passage from it, as it may be satisfactory to see the +actual state of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" +id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span>art at that time, and the way in which +Marco contributed to its support. "He was so anxious to revive the art, +and so grieved to see it fall into decay, that he frequently consumed +several hours in the day in declaiming against the prevailing conception +of style, and urging the necessity of shunning mannerism, and adopting a +style founded in truth, which few did, or if they did, attempted not to +imitate its simplicity, but adapted it to their own manner. He directed +the particular attention of his pupils to the difference between the +production of a mannerist, and one which was studied and simple, and +founded in nature; that the first, if it were well designed, and had a +good chiaroscuro, had at first sight a striking effect from the +brilliancy of its colours, but gradually lost ground at every succeeding +view, while the other appeared the more excellent the longer it was +inspected."—These and other precepts of the same kind he delivered +in terms perhaps too cynical; not only in private, but in the school of +design at the Campidoglio, at the time that he presided there; the +consequence was that the inferior artists combined against him, deprived +him of his employment, and suspended him from the academy. Some further +information respecting Benefial was communicated to the public in the +<i>Risposta alle Lett. Perugine</i>, p. 48.</p> + +<p>From a scholar also of Cignani, (Franceschini,) Francesco Caccianiga +received instructions in Bologna, whence he came to Rome, where he +perfected <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg +294]</a></span>his style and established himself. He was a painter to +whom nothing was wanting, except that natural spirit and vigour which +are not to be supplied by industry. He was employed by several +potentates, and two of his works executed for the king of Sardinia were +engraved by himself. Ancona possesses four of his altarpieces, among +which are the Institution of the Eucharist, and the Espousals of the +Virgin; pictures coloured in a clear, animated, and engaging style, and +easily distinguished among a thousand. Rome has few public works by him. +In the Gavotti palace is a good fresco, and there are others in the +palace and villa of the Borghesi, who generously extended to him a +permanent and suitable provision, when overtaken by poverty and age.<a +name="fnanchor_89" id="fnanchor_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[89]</sup></a></p> + +<p>From the school of Guercino came Sebastiano Ghezzi of Comunanza, not +far from Ascoli. He was eminent both in design and colouring, and at the +church of the Agostiniani Scalzi di Monsammartino is a S. Francesco by +him, which is esteemed an exquisite picture, and wants only the +finishing hand of the artist. He was the father and teacher of Giuseppe +Ghezzi, who studied in Rome, and was also a tolerable writer, +considering the period at which he wrote. In his painting he seemed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg +295]</a></span>to adopt the style of Cortona. His name is frequently +mentioned in the Guida di Roma, and more than once in the <i>Antichità +Picene</i>, where it is stated that he was held in great esteem by +Clement XI., and that he died secretary to the academy of S. Luke, (tom. +xxv. p. 11). Pascoli, who has written his life, extols him for his skill +in restoring pictures, in which capacity the queen of Sweden employed +him exclusively on all occasions.</p> + +<p>Pierleone, his son and scholar, possessed a style similar to that of +his father, but less hurried, and became a more distinguished artist. He +was selected with Luti and Trevisani, and other eminent masters, to +paint the prophets of the Lateran, as well as other commissions. But for +his chief reputation he is indebted to the singular talent he possessed +in designing caricatures, which are to be found in the cabinets of Rome +and other places. In these he humourously introduced persons of quality, +a circumstance particularly gratifying in a country where the freedom of +the pencil was thought a desirable addition to the licence of the +tongue.</p> + +<p>Other schools of Italy also contributed artists to the Roman School, +who however did not produce any new manner, except that in respect of +the two principal masters then in vogue, Cortona and Maratta, they have +afforded an occasional modification of those two styles.</p> + +<p>Gio. Maria Morandi came whilst yet a youth from Florence, and +forsaking the manner of Bilivert, his first instructor, formed for +himself a new style. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" +id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>This was a mixture of Roman design and +Venetian colouring (for in travelling through Italy, he resided some +time at Venice, and copied much there), while some part of it partakes +of the manner of Cortona, and was esteemed in Rome. He established +himself in this latter city, in the Guida of which he is often +mentioned, and his works are not unfrequently found in collections. His +Visitation at the Madonna del Popolo is a fine composition; and still +more highly finished, and full of grand effect, is his picture of the +death of the Virgin Mary, in the church della Pace. This may indeed be +considered his masterpiece, and it has been engraved by Pietro Aquila. +He was also celebrated for his historical pictures, which he sometimes +sent into foreign countries, and more than in any other branch, he +acquired a reputation in portraits, in which he was constantly employed +by persons of quality in Rome and Florence, and was also called to +Vienna by the emperor. There, besides the imperial family, he painted +also the portraits of many of the lesser princes of Germany. Odoardo +Vicinelli, a painter of considerable merit in these latter times, in +vol. vi. of the Lett. Pitt. is said to have been a scholar of Morandi, +and Pascoli does not hesitate to assert that he conferred greater honour +than any other of his scholars on his master; I believe, in Rome, where +Pietro Nelli alone could dispute precedence with him.</p> + +<p>Francesco Trevisani, a native of Trevigi, was educated by Zanchi in +Venice, where, in order to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" +id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span>distinguish him from Angiolo Trevisani, +he <ins title="'was was' in the original"> was</ins> called Il Trevisani +Romano. In Rome, he abandoned his first principles, and regulated his +taste by the best manner then in vogue. He possessed a happy talent of +imitating every manner, and at one time appears a follower of Cignani, +at another of Guido; alike successful whichever style he adopted. The +Albiccini family, in Forli, possess many of his pictures in various +styles, and amongst them a small Crucifixion, most spirited and highly +finished, which the master esteemed his best work, and offered a large +sum to obtain back again. His pictures abound in Rome, and in general +exhibit an elegance of design, a fine pencil, and a vigorous tone of +colour. His S. Joseph dying, in the church of the Collegio R., is a +remarkably noble production. A subject painted by him to accompany one +by Guido in the Spada palace is also highly esteemed. He enjoyed the +patronage of Clement XI. by whom he was not only commissioned to paint +one of the prophets of the Lateran, but was also employed in the cupola +of the Duomo in Urbino, in which he painted the four quarters of the +world; a work truly estimable for design, fancy, and colouring. In other +cities of the state we find pictures by him painted with more or less +care, in Foligno, at Camerino, in Perugia, at Forli, and one of S. +Antonio at S. Rocco in Venice, of a form more elegant than robust.</p> + +<p>Pasquale Rossi, better known by the name of Pasqualino, was born in +Vicenza, and from long <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" +id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>copying the best Venetian and Roman +pictures, attained without the instruction of a master, a natural mode +of colour, and a good style of design. Few of his public works remain in +Rome; Christ praying in the garden in the church of S. Carlo al Corso, +the Baptism also of our Saviour at the Madonna del Popolo. The +Silvestrini of Fabriano have several pictures by him, and among them a +Madonna truly beautiful. His S. Gregory, in the Duomo of Matelica, in +the act of liberating souls from purgatory, is in the style of Guercino, +and is one of his best works. In private collections we find his cabinet +pictures representing gaming parties, conversations, concerts, and +similar subjects, carefully finished on a small scale, and little +inferior to Flemish pictures. I have met with numerous specimens of them +in various places; but in no place have I admired this artist so much as +in the royal gallery at Turin, in which are some ornaments over doors, +and pictures of considerable size by him, chiefly scriptural subjects, +executed in an animated and vigorous style, and with so much imitation +of the Roman School, that we should think them to be by some other +master.</p> + +<p>Giambatista Gaulli, commonly called Baciccio, studied first in Genoa. +Whilst still young he went to Rome, where under the direction of a +Frenchman, and by the more valuable aid of Bernino, he formed himself on +the style of the great machinists. As he was endowed by nature with a +ready genius and a dexterity of hand, he could not <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span>have +chosen any branch of the art more adapted to his talent. The vault of +the Gesù is his most conspicuous work. The knowledge of the <i>sotto in +su</i>, the unity, harmony, and correct perspective of its objects, the +brilliancy and skilful gradation of the light, rank it among the best, +if indeed it be not his best picture in Rome. It must, however, be +confessed, that we must inspect it with an eye to the general effect, +rather than to the local tints, or the drawing of the figures, in which +he is not always correct. His faults in his easel pictures, which are +very numerous in Italy and in foreign countries, are less obtrusive, and +are abundantly atoned for by their spirit, freshness of tints, and +engaging countenances. He varies his manner with his subject, assigning +to each a peculiar style. There is a delightful picture in his best +manner, gracefully painted in the church of S. Francesco a Ripa, +representing the Madonna with the divine Infant in her arms, and at her +feet S. Anna kneeling, surrounded by Angels. In a grave and pathetic +style on the contrary, is the representation of S. Saverio dying in the +desert island of Sanciano, which is placed near the altar of S. Andrea +at Monte Cavallo. His figures of children are very engaging and highly +finished, though after the manner of Fiammingo, more fleshy and less +elegant than those of Titian or the Greeks. He painted seven pontiffs, +and many persons of rank of his day, and was considered the first +portrait painter in Rome. In this branch of his art he followed a custom +of Bernino, that of engaging the person he painted in an animated <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg +300]</a></span>conversation, in order to obtain the most striking +expression of which the subject was susceptible.</p> + +<p>Giovanni Odazzi, his first scholar, was ambitious of emulating him in +celerity, but not possessing equal talent, he did not attain the same +distinction. He is the most feeble, or at all events, the least eminent +of the painters of the prophets of the Lateran, where his Hosea is to be +seen; and indeed, in every corner of Rome, his pictures are to be met +with, as he never refused any commission. Pascoli has preserved the +memory of another of his scholars, a native of Perugia, in the lives of +the painters of his native country. This was Francesco Civalli, +initiated in the art by Andrea Carlone; he was a youth of talent, but +impatient of instruction. He painted in Rome and other places, but did +not pass the bounds of mediocrity. The Cav. Lodovico Mazzanti, was the +scholar of Gaulli, and emulated his manner to the best of his ability; +but his talents were not commanding, nor were his powers equal to his +ambition. Gio. Batista Brughi, a worker in mosaic, rather than a +painter, left notwithstanding some public pictures in Rome. He is called +in the Guida sometimes Brughi, and sometimes Gio. Batista, the disciple +of Baciccio, which makes it there appear as if they had been distinct +individuals. I do not recollect any other artist contributed by Gaulli +to the Roman School.</p> + +<p>The Neapolitan School, which was in the beginning of this age +supported by Solimene, sent some scholars to Rome, who adopted a Roman +style. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg +301]</a></span>Sebastiano Conca was the first that arrived there with an +intention of seeing it, but he established himself there, together with +Giovanni, his brother, to meliorate his style of design. Resigning the +brush, he returned at forty years of age to the pencil, and spent five +years in drawing after the antique, and after the best modern +productions. His hand, however, had become the slave of habit in Naples, +and would not answer to his own wishes; and he was kept in constant +vexation, as he could appreciate excellence, but found himself incapable +of attaining it. The celebrated sculptor, Le Gros, advised him to return +to his original style, and he then became in Rome an eminent painter, in +the manner of Pietro da Cortona, with considerable improvements on his +early manner. He possessed a fertile invention, great facility of +execution, and a colour which enchanted by its lucidness, its contrast, +and the delicacy of the flesh tints. It is true, that on examination we +find that he was not in reality a profound colourist, and that to obtain +a grandeur of tone, he adopted in the shadows a green tint, which +produced a mannerism. He distinguished himself in frescos, and also in +pictures in the churches, decorating them with choirs of angels, happily +disposed in a style of composition that may be called his own, and which +served as an example to many of the machinists. He was indefatigable too +in painting for private individuals, and in the states of the church +there is scarcely a collection without its Conca. His most studied, +finished, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg +302]</a></span>and beautiful work is the Probatica at the hospital of +Siena. Of great merit in Rome is the Assumption at S. Martina, and the +Jonah among the prophets in the S. Giovanni Laterano. His works were in +high esteem in the ecclesiastical state; his best appear to be the S. +Niccolo at Loreto, S. Saverio in Ancona, S. Agostino at Foligno, S. +Filippo in Fabriano, and S. Girolamo Emiliano at Velletri. Giovanni, his +brother, assisted Sebastiano in his commissions, had an equal facility, +a similar taste, though less beautiful in his heads, and of not so fine +a pencil. He shewed great talent in copying the pictures of the best +masters. In the church of the Domenicans of Urbino are the copies which +he made of four pictures to be executed in mosaic; they were by Muziani, +Guercino, Lanfranco, and Romanelli. Conca is eulogized by Rossi with his +usual intelligence and discrimination (v. tom. ii. of his +<i>Memorie</i>, p. 81.)</p> + +<p>Mengs perhaps censures him too severely, where he says, that by his +precepts he contributed to the decay of the art. He had his followers, +but they were not so numerous as to corrupt all the other schools of +Italy. Every school, as we have seen, had within itself the seeds of its +own destruction, without seeking for it elsewhere. It is true, indeed, +that some of his scholars inherited his facility and his colouring, and +left many injurious examples in Italy. Nor shall I give myself much +trouble to enumerate his disciples, but shall content myself with the +names of the most celebrated. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" +id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>Gaetano Lapis di Cagli was one of +these, and brought with him good principles of design when he came to +study under Conca. He was a painter of an original taste, as Rossi +describes, not very spirited, but correct. Many of his works are found +in the churches of his native place, and in the Duomo are two highly +prized pieces on each side the altar, a Supper of our Lord, and a +Nativity. In the various pictures I have seen of him at S. Pietro, S. +Niccolo, and S. Francesco, I generally found the same composition of a +Madonna of a graceful form, attended by Saints in the act of adoring her +and the Holy Infant. We find some of his works also in Perugia and +elsewhere. The Prince Borghese, in Rome, has a Birth of Venus by him, +painted on a ceiling, with a correctness of design, and a grace superior +to any thing that remains of him, and no one can justly appreciate his +talents, who has not seen this work. It should seem, that a timidity and +diffidence of his own powers, prevented his attaining that high station +which his genius seemed to have intended for him. Salvator Monosilio, +who resided much in Rome, was of Messina, and trod closely in the +footsteps of his master. In a chapel of S. Paolino della Regola, where +Calandrucci furnished the altarpiece, he painted the vault in fresco; +and others of his works are to be seen at the S. S. Quaranta, and at the +church of the Polacchi. In Piceno, where Conca was in great reputation, +Monosilio was held in high esteem, and was employed <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span>both +in public and in private. At S. Ginesio is a S. Barnabas by him, in the +church of that saint, which in the <i>Memorie</i> so often quoted by us, +is designated as an excellent work. Conca educated another Sicilian +student, the Abbate Gaspero Serenari, of Palermo, who was considered a +young man of talents in Rome, and painted in the church of S. Teresa, in +competition with the Abate Peroni of Parma. On his return to Palermo he +became a celebrated master, and besides his oil pictures he executed +some vast works in fresco, particularly the cupola of the Gesù, and the +chapel of the monastery of Carità.</p> + +<p>Gregorio Guglielmi, a Roman, is not much known in his native place, +although his fresco pictures in the hospital of the S. Spirito in +Sassia, intitle him to be numbered amongst the most eminent young +artists who painted in Rome in the pontificate of Benedict XIV. He left +Rome early and went to Turin, where, in the church of S. S. Solutore e +Comp. is a small picture of the Tutelar Saints. He was afterwards in +Dresden, Vienna, and St. Petersburgh, where he painted in fresco with +much applause, for the respective sovereigns of those cities. He was +facile in composition, pleasing in his colour, and attached to the Roman +style of design, which, like Lapis, he seemed to have carried from some +other school into that of Conca. Among his most esteemed works is a +ceiling, painted in the university of Vienna, and another in the +imperial palace at Schoenbrunn. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" +id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span>He did not succeed so well in oils, in +which his efforts are mostly feeble; a proof that he belongs more to the +school of Conca than that of Trevisani, to which some have assigned +him.</p> + +<p>Corrado Giaquinto was another scholar of Solimene. He came from +Naples to Rome, where he attached himself to Conca to learn colouring, +in which he chiefly followed his master's principles, though he was less +correct and more of a mannerist, and was accustomed to repeat himself in +the countenances of his children, which resemble the natives of his own +country. He was not, however, without merit, as he possessed facility as +well as vigour, and was known in the ecclesiastical state for various +works executed in Rome, Macerata, and other places. He went afterwards +to Piedmont, as we shall mention at the proper time; then to Spain, +where he was engaged in the service of the court, and gave satisfaction +to the greater part of the native artists. The public taste in Spain, +which had for a long time retained the principles of the school founded +by Titian, had been changed within a few years. Luca Giordano was become +the favorite, and they admired his spirit, his freedom, and his +despatch; qualities which were combined in Corrado. This partiality +lasted even after Mengs had introduced his style, which in consequence +appeared at first meagre and cold to many of the masters and +connoisseurs of the day, when compared with that of Luca <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg +306]</a></span>Giordano; until prejudice there, as in Italy, ultimately +yielded to truth.</p> + +<p>Some other artists flourished in Rome at the commencement, and as far +as the middle of the century, and somewhat beyond, who may perhaps have +a claim to be remembered. Of Francesco Fernandi, called L'Imperiali, the +Martyrdom of S. Eustachio in the church of the saint of that name, is +well conceived and scientifically coloured. Antonio Bicchierai, a fresco +painter, is more particularly known at S. Lorenzo in Panisperna, in +which church he painted a sfondo which did him honour. Michelangiolo +Cerruti, and Biagio Puccini, a Roman, about the time of Clement XI. and +Benedict XIII., were esteemed artists of good execution. Of others who +acquired some reputation in the following pontificate, I shall write in +other schools, or if I should not mention them, they may be found in the +Guida of the city.</p> + +<p>I shall now pass from native to foreign artists, and shall take a +brief notice of them, since my work has grown upon me with so many new +Italian names, which are its proper object, that I have not much spare +room for foreigners, and a sufficient notice of them may be found in +their own country. Not a few <i>oltremonti</i> painted at this period in +Rome, celebrated for the most part in the inferior branches of painting, +where they deserve commemoration. Some of them were employed <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>in +the churches, as Gio. Batista Vanloo di Aix, a favorite scholar of Luti, +who painted the picture of the Flagellation at S. Maria in Monticelli. +But he did not remain in Rome, but passed to Piedmont, and from thence +to Paris and London, and was celebrated for his historical compositions, +and highly esteemed in portrait. Some years after Vanloo, Pietro +Subleyras di Gilles settled in Rome, and conferred great benefit on the +Roman School; for whilst it produced only followers of the old manner, +and thus fell gradually into decay, he very opportunely appeared and +introduced an entirely new style. An academy had been founded in Rome by +Louis XIV., about the year 1666. Le Brun had there cooperated, the +Giulio Romano of France, and the most celebrated of the four Carli, who +were at that time considered the supporters of the art; the others were +Cignani, Maratta, and Loth. It had already produced some artists of +celebrity, as Stefano Parocel, Gio. Troy, Carlo Natoire, by whom many +pictures are to be found in the public edifices in Rome. There +prevailed, however, in the style of this school a mannerism, which in a +few years brought it into disrepute. Mengs designated it by the epithet +of <i>spiritoso</i>, and it consisted, according to him, in overstepping +the limits of beauty and propriety, overcharging both the one and the +other, and aiming at fascinating the eyes rather than conciliating the +judgment. Subleyras, educated in this academy, reformed this taste, +retaining the good, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" +id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span>rejecting the feeble part, and adding +from his own genius what was wanting to form a truly original manner. +There was an engaging variety in the air of his heads, and in his +attitudes, and he had great merit in the distribution of his +chiaroscuro, which gives his pictures a fine general effect. He painted +with great truth; but the figures and the drapery, under his pencil, +took a certain fulness which in him appears easy, because it is natural; +it remained his own, for although he left some scholars, none of them +ever emulated the grandeur of style which distinguished their +master.</p> + +<p>He was mature in talent when he left the academy, and the portrait +which he in preference to Masucci, painted of Benedict XIV., established +his reputation as the first painter in Rome. He was soon afterwards +chosen to paint the history of S. Basil, for the purpose of being copied +in mosaic for the church of the Vatican. The original is in the church +of the Carthusians, and astonishes, by the august representation of the +Sacrifice solemnly celebrated by the saint in the presence of the +emperor, who offers bread at the altar. The countenances are very +animated, and there is great truth in the drapery and accompaniments, +and the silks in their lucid and light folds appear absolutely real. +From this production, and others of smaller size, and particularly the +Saint Benedict at the church of the Olivetani di Perugia, which is +perhaps his masterpiece, he deserves a place in the first collections, +where, indeed, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" +id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>his pictures are rare and highly +prized. Further notices of this artist may he found in the second volume +of the <i>Giornale delle belle Arti</i>.</p> + +<p>Egidio Alè, of Liege, studied in Rome, and became a spirited, +pleasing, and elegant painter. His works in the sacristy dell'Anima, in +fresco and oil, painted in competition with Morandi, Bonatti, and +Romanelli, do him honour. Ignazio Stern was a Bavarian, who was +instructed by Cignani in Bologna, and worked in Lombardy. An +Annunciation in Piacenza, in the church of the Nunziata, exhibits a +certain grace and elegance, which is peculiar to him, as is observed in +the description of the public pictures in that city. Stern afterwards +established himself in Rome, where he painted in fresco the sacristy of +S. Paolino, and left some oil pictures in the church of S. Elisabetta, +and in other churches. He was more particularly attached to profane +history, conversations, and similar subjects, which have a place even in +royal collections. Spain possessed a disciple of the school of Maratta, +in Sebastiano Mugnoz, but dying young he left few works behind him.</p> + +<p>In this place I ought to notice an establishment designed <i>to +revive the art in that quarter, where it seemed to have so much +declined</i>, as D. Francesco Preziado, of that country, says, in a +letter which we shall shortly have occasion to mention with +commendation. "The royal academy of S. Ferdinand, in Madrid, which owed +its origin to Philip <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" +id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>V., and was completed and endowed by +Ferdinand VI., sent several students to Rome, and provided for their +maintenance." They there selected the master the most agreeable to their +genius, and had, in addition, a director, who was employed to +superintend their studies; as I am informed by Sig. Bonaventura Benucci, +a Roman painter, educated in that academy. Bottari and all Rome called +it the Spanish academy, and I myself, in a former edition, followed the +common report, and the two above named sovereigns I described as the +founders of the academy. Having been censured for this statement, I have +here thought proper to specify my authorities. It may without dispute be +asserted, that the Spanish students have left in Rome many noble +specimens of their talents and taste. D. Francesco Preziado was for many +years the director of this academy, and painted a Holy Family at the S. +S. Quaranta, in a good style. He made also a valuable communication to +the Lettere Pittoriche (tom. vi. p. 308), on the artists of Spain, very +useful to any one desiring information respecting this school, which is +less known than it deserves to be.</p> + +<p>An institution very much on the plan of the French academy was +founded in Rome a few years ago, by his most faithful majesty, for +Portuguese students, to the promotion of which, two celebrated +Portuguese, the Cav. de Manique, intendant general of the police in +Lisbon, and the Count de Souza, minister of that court in Rome, had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg +311]</a></span>the merit of contributing their assistance; the one +having projected, and the other executed, the plan in the year 1791. The +government of the academy was entrusted to the Sig. Gio. Gherardo de' +Rossi, known for his very numerous and able writings, to which he has +recently added an ingenious little work, intitled, <i>Scherzi poetici e +pittorici</i>, with engravings by a celebrated academician. These +establishments are of too recent a date to allow me to speak further +respecting their productions.</p> + +<p>The provincial painters have been occasionally noticed in connexion +with their masters. I here add a supplement, which may be useful in the +way of completion. Foligno possessed a Fra Umile Francescano, a good +fresco painter, engaged in Rome by Cardinal Castaldi, to ornament the +tribune of S. Margaret, while Gaulli and Garzi were commanded to paint +the pictures for it. The Abbate Dondoli lived at Spello at the beginning +of this century. He was more to be commended for his design than for his +colouring. Marini has some celebrity in S. Severino, his native place. +He was the scholar of Cipriano Divini, whom he surpassed in his art. +Marco Vanetti, of Loreto, is known to me more from his life of Cignani, +who was his master, than from his own works. Antonio Caldana, of Ancona, +painted a very large composition in Rome, in the sacristy of S. Niccola +da Tolentino, from the life of that saint. I do not know whether there +remain any works of his in his native place; <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>but there are a great +number by a respectable artist, one Magatta, whose name was Domenico +Simonetti, and who painted the gallery of the Marchesi Trionfi; he +furnished many churches with his paintings, and distinguished himself in +that of the church of the Suffragio, which is his most finished +production. Anastasi di Sinigaglia was a painter less elegant and +finished, but free and spirited. His works are not scarce in that city, +and his best are the two historical subjects in the church della Croce. +Three pictures by him also in S. Lucia di Monte Alboddo, are highly +prized, and are called by the writer of the <i>Guida</i>, "<i>Capi +d'opera dell'Anastasi</i>." Camillo Scacciani, of Pesaro, called +Carbone, flourished at the beginning of the age we are writing on, and +had a Caracciesque style allied to the modern. There is a S. Andrea +Avellino by him in the Duomo of Pesaro; his other works are in private +collections. This notice I deem sufficient, always excepting the living +artists, whom I of course omit.<a name="fnanchor_90" +id="fnanchor_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[90]</sup></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg +313]</a></span>Three masters who died successively in the pontificate of +Pius VI. seem to require from me more than a transient notice, and with +them I shall conclude the series of historical painters of the fifth +epoch. I shall first commemorate the Cav. Raffaello Mengs, from whom our +posterity may perhaps date a new and more happy era of the art. He was +born in Saxony, and brought to Rome by his father while yet a boy, and +was at that time skilled in miniature, and was a careful and correct +draughtsman. On his arrival in Rome, his father employed him in copying +the works of Raffaello, and chastised the young artist for every fault +in his work, with an incredible severity, or rather inhumanity, +inflicting on him even corporeal punishment, and reducing his allowance +of food. Being thus compelled to study perfection, and endowed with a +genius to appreciate it and perceive it, he acquired a consummate taste +in art; he communicated to Winckelmann very important materials for his +<i>Storia delle belle arti</i>, and was himself the author of many +profound and valuable <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" +id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>essays on the fine arts, which have +materially contributed to improve the taste of the present age. They +have different titles, but all the same aim, the discrimination of the +real perfection of art.<a name="fnanchor_91" id="fnanchor_91"></a><a +href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor"><sup>[91]</sup></a></p> + +<p>The artist, as characterized by Mengs, may be compared to the orator +of Cicero, and both are endued by their authors with an ideal +perfection, such as the world has never seen, and will probably never +see; and it is the real duty of an instructor to recommend excellence, +that in striving to attain it, we may at least acquire a commendable +portion of it. Considered in this point of view, I should defend several +of his writings, where in the opinion of others he seems to assume a +dictatorial tone, in the judgment he passes on Guido, Domenichino, and +the Caracci; the very triumvirate whom he proposes as models in the art. +Mengs assuredly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" +id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span>was not so infatuated as to hope to +surpass these great men, but because he knew that no one does so well +but that it might be done still better, he shews where they attained the +summit of art, and where they failed. The artist, therefore, described +by Mengs, and to whose qualifications he also aspired, and was anxious +that all should do the same, ought to unite in himself the design and +beauty of the Greeks, the expression and composition of Raffaello, the +chiaroscuro and grace of Coreggio, and, to complete all, the colouring +of Titian. This union of qualities Mengs has analyzed with equal +elegance and perspicuity, teaching the artist how to form himself on +that ideal beauty, which is itself never realised. If, on some +occasions, he appears too enthusiastic, or in some degree obscure, it +cannot excite our surprise, as he wrote in a foreign language, and was +not much accustomed to composition. His ideas therefore stood in need of +a refined scholar to render them clear and intelligible; and this +advantage he would have procured, had he been resolved to publish them; +but his works are all posthumous, and were given to the world by his +excellency the Sig. Cav. Azara. Hence it frequently happens in his +works, that one treatise destroys another, as Tiraboschi has observed in +regard to his notice of Coreggio, in his <i>Notizie degli Artefici +Modenesi</i>; and hence concludes that the <i>Riflessioni di Mengs su i +tre gran Pittori</i>, where he finds much to censure in Coreggio, were +written by him before he saw the works of that master; and that <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>his +<i>Memorie</i> on the life of the same master, where he extols Coreggio +to the skies, and calls him the Apelles of modern painting, were written +after having seen and studied him.<a name="fnanchor_92" +id="fnanchor_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[92]</sup></a> In spite however of all objections, +he will retain a distinguished place, as well among the theorists or +writers, as among professors themselves, as long as the art endures.</p> + +<p>We perhaps should not say that Mengs was a whetstone which gave a new +quality to the steel, which it could not otherwise have acquired; but +that he was the steel itself, which becomes brighter and finer the more +it is used. He became painter to the court of Dresden; every fresh work +gave proof of his progress in the art. He went afterwards <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span>to +Madrid, where in the chambers of the royal palace he painted the +assembly of the Gods, the Seasons, and the various parts of the day, in +an enchanting manner. After repairing a second time to Rome to renew his +studies, he again returned to Madrid, where he painted in one of the +saloons the Apotheosis of Trajan, and in a theatre, Time subduing +Pleasure; pictures much superior to his former pieces. In Rome there are +three large works by him; the painting in the vault of S. Eusebio; the +Parnassus in the saloon of the Villa Albani, far superior to the +preceding one;<a name="fnanchor_93" id="fnanchor_93"></a><a +href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor"><sup>[93]</sup></a> and lastly, the +cabinet of manuscripts in the Vatican was painted by him, where the +celestial forms of the angels, the majesty of Moses, and the dignified +character of S. Peter, the enchanting colour, the relief, and the +harmony, contribute to render this chamber one of the most remarkable in +Rome for its beautiful decorations. This constant endeavour to surpass +himself, would be evident also from his easel pictures, if they were not +so rare in Italy; as he painted many of this description for London and +the other capitals of Europe. In Rome itself, where he studied young, +where he long resided, to which he always returned, and where at last he +died, there are few of his works to be found. We <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span>may +enumerate the portrait of Clement XIII. and his nephew Carlo, in the +collection of the prince Rezzonico; that of Cardinal Zelada, secretary +of state; and a few other pieces, in the possession of private +gentlemen, more particularly the Sig. Cav. Azara. Florence has some +large compositions by him in the Palazzo Pitti, and his own portrait in +the cabinet of painters, besides the great Deposition from the Cross in +chiaroscuro, for the Marchese Rinuccini, which he was prevented by death +from colouring; and a beautiful Genius in fresco in a chamber of the +Sig. Conte Senatore Orlando Malevolti del Benino.</p> + +<p>Returning from the consideration of his works to Mengs himself, I +leave to others to estimate his merit, and to determine how far his +principles are just.<a name="fnanchor_94" id="fnanchor_94"></a><a +href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor"><sup>[94]</sup></a> As far as +regards myself, I cannot but extol <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span>that inextinguishable +ardour of improving himself by which he was particularly distinguished, +and which prompted him, even while he enjoyed the reputation of a first +rate master, to proceed in every work as if he were only commencing his +career. Truth was his great aim, and he diligently studied the works of +the first luminaries of the art, analysed their colours, and examined +them in detail, till he entered fully into the spirit and design of +those great models. Whilst employed in the ducal gallery in Florence, he +did not touch a pencil, until he had attentively studied the best pieces +there, and particularly the Venus of Titian in the tribune. In his hours +of leisure he employed himself in carefully studying the fresco pictures +of the best masters of that school, which is so distinguished in this +art. He was accustomed to do the same by every work of celebrity which +fell in his way, whether ancient or modern; all contributed to his +improvement, and to carry him nearer to perfection; he was in short a +man of a most aspiring mind, and may be compared to the ancient, who +declared that he wished "to die learning." If maxims like these were +enforced, what rapid strides in the art might we not expect! <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>But +the greater part of artists form for themselves a manner which may +attract popularity, and then relax their efforts, satisfied with the +applause of the crowd; and if they feel the necessity of improving, it +is not with a design of acquiring a just reputation, but of adding to +the price of their works.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the considerable space which Mengs has occupied in +our time, he has nevertheless left room for the celebrity of Pompeo +Batoni, of Luca. The Cav. Boni, who has honoured this artist with an +elegant eulogium, thus expresses himself in comparing him with Mengs. +"The latter," he says, "was the painter of philosophy, the former of +nature. Batoni had a natural taste which led him to the beautiful +without effort; Mengs attained the same object by reflection and study. +Grace was the gift of nature in Batoni, as it had formerly been in +Apelles; while the higher attributes of the art were allotted to Mengs, +as they were in former days to Protogenes. Perhaps the first was more +painter than philosopher, the second more philosopher than painter. The +latter, perhaps, was more sublime, but more studied; Batoni less +profound, but more natural. Not that I would insinuate that nature was +sparing to Mengs, or that Batoni was devoid of the necessary science of +the art, &c." If it were ever said with truth of any artist, that he +was born a painter, this distinction must be allowed to Batoni. He +learned only the principles of the art in his native <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg +321]</a></span>country, and of the two correspondents from whom I have +received my information, the one considers him to have been the scholar +of Brugieri, the other of Lombardi, as already mentioned, vol. i. p. +360, and probably he was instructed by both. He came young to Rome, and +did not frequent any particular school, but studied and copied Raffaello +and the old masters with unceasing assiduity, and thus learnt the great +secret of copying nature with truth and judgment.</p> + +<p>That boundless and instructive volume, open to all, but cultivated by +few, was rightly appreciated by Batoni, and it was hence that he derived +that beautiful variety in his heads and contours, which are sometimes +wanting even in the great masters, who were occasionally too much +addicted to the ideal. Hence, too, he derived the gestures and +expressions most appropriate to each subject. Persuaded that a vivid +imagination was not alone sufficient to depict those fine traits in +which the sublimity of the art consists, he did not adopt any attitudes +which were not found in nature. He took from nature the first ideas, +copied from her every part of the figure, and adapted the drapery and +folds from models. He afterwards embellished and perfected his work with +a natural taste, and enlivened all with a style of colour peculiarly his +own; clear, engaging, lucid, and preserving after the lapse of many +years, as in the picture of various saints at S. Gregorio, all its +original freshness. This was in him not so much an art as the natural +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg +322]</a></span>ebullition of his genius. He sported with his pencil. +Every path was open to him; painting in various ways, now with great +force, now with a touch, and now finishing all by strokes. Sometimes he +destroyed the whole work, and gave it the requisite force by a line.<a +name="fnanchor_95" id="fnanchor_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[95]</sup></a> Although he was not a man of +letters, he yet shows himself a poet in conception, both in a sublime +and playful style. One example from a picture in the possession of his +heirs, will suffice. Wishing to express the dreams of an enamoured girl, +he has represented her wrapped in soft slumbers, and surrounded by +loves, two of whom present to her splendid robes and jewels, and a third +approaches her with arrows in his hand, while she, captivated by the +vision, smiles in her sleep. Many of these poetical designs, and many +historical subjects, are in private collections, and in the courts of +Europe, from which he had constant commissions.</p> + +<p>Batoni possessed an extraordinary talent for portrait painting, and +had the honour of being employed by three pontiffs in that branch of the +art, Benedict XIV., Clement XIII., and Pius VI.; to whom may be added, +the emperor Joseph II. and his august brother and successor, Leopold +II., the Grand Duke of Muscovy, and the Grand Duchess, besides numerous +private individuals. He for some <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span>time painted +miniatures, and transferred that care and precision which is essential +in that branch to his larger productions, without attenuating his style +by hardness. We find an extraordinary proof of this in his altarpieces, +spread over Italy, and mentioned by us in many cities, particularly in +Lucca. Of those that remain in Rome, Mengs gave the preference to S. +Celso, which is over the great altar of that church. Another picture, +the Fall of Simon Magus, is in the church of the Certosa. It was +intended to have been copied in mosaic for the Vatican, and to have been +substituted for a picture of the same subject by Vanni, the only one in +that church on stone. But the mosaic, from some cause or other, was not +executed. Perhaps the subject displeased, from not being evangelical, +and the idea of removing the picture of Vanni not being resumed, the +subject was changed, and a commission given to Mengs to paint the +Government of the church conferred on S. Peter. He made a sketch for it +in chiaroscuro with great care, which is in the Palazzo Chigi, but did +not live to finish it in colours. This sketch evinces a design and +composition superior to the picture of Batoni, but the subject of the +latter was more vigorously conceived. At all events, however, Batoni +must henceforth be considered the restorer of the Roman School, in which +he lived until his 79th year, and educated many pupils in his +profession.</p> + +<p>The example of the two last eminent artists was not lost on Antonio +Cavallucci da Sermoneta, whose <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" +id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span>name when I began to print this volume, +I did not expect would here have found a place. But having recently +died, some notice is due to his celebrity, as he is already ranked with +the first artists of his day. He was highly esteemed both in Rome and +elsewhere. The Primaziale of Pisa, who in the choice of their artists +consulted no recommendation but that of character, employed him on a +considerable work, representing S. Bona of that city taking the +religious habit. It breathes a sacred piety, which he himself both felt +and expressed in a striking manner. In this picture he wished to shew +that the examples of christian humility, such as burying in a cloister +the gifts of nature and fortune, are susceptible of the gayest +decoration. This he effected by introducing a train of noble men and +women, who, according to custom, assisted in the solemnity. In this +composition, in which he follows the principles of Batoni rather than +those of Mengs, we may perceive both his study of nature, and his +judgment and facility in imitating her. Another large picture of the +saints Placido and Mauro, he sent into Catania, and another of S. +Francesco di Paola, he executed for the church of Loreto, and which was +copied in mosaic. In Rome are his S. Elias and the Purgatorio, two +pictures placed at S. Martino a' Monti, and many works in the possession +of the noble family of Gaetani, who were the first to encourage and +support this artist. His last work was the Venus and Ascanius, in the +Palazzo Cesarini, which has been described to me <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span>as a +beautiful production by the Sig. Gio. Gherardo de' Rossi, who has +declared his intention of publishing the life of Cavallucci, which will +no doubt be done in his usual masterly manner.</p> + +<p>The Roman School has recently had to regret the loss of two +accomplished masters; Domenico Corvi of Viterbo, and Giuseppe Cades of +Rome, who although younger than Corvi, and for some years his scholar, +died before him. In my notice of them, I shall begin with the master who +has been honoured and eulogized more than once in the respectable +<i>Memorie delle belle Arti</i>, as well as his scholar, and also some +other disciples; as there was not in Rome in the latter times any school +more productive in talent. He was truly an accomplished artist, and +there were few to compare with him in anatomy, perspective, and design; +and from Mancini his instructor, he acquired something of the style of +the Caracci. Hence, his academy drawings are highly prized, and I may +say, more sought after than his pictures, which indeed want that +fascination of grace and colour which attracts the admiration alike of +the learned and the vulgar. He maintained an universal delicacy of +colour, and was accustomed to defend the practice by asserting, with +what justice I cannot say, that pictures painted in that manner were +less liable to become black. His most esteemed works are his night +pieces, as the Birth of our Saviour in the church of the Osservanti at +Macerata, which is perhaps the summit of his efforts. Some amateurs +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg +326]</a></span>went thither express towards the close of day; a lofty +window opposite favoured the illusion of the perspective of the picture; +and Corvi, who in other pictures is inferior to Gherardo delle Notti, +viewed in this manner, here excels him, by an originality of perspective +and general effect. He worked much both for his own countrymen and +foreigners, besides the pictures which he kept ready by him, to supply +the daily calls of purchasers, and many of which are still on sale in +the house of his widow.</p> + +<p>Cades recommends himself to our notice, principally by a facility of +imitation, dangerous to the art when it is not governed by correct +principles. No simulator of the character of another handwriting, could +ever rival him in the dexterity with which at a moment's call he could +imitate the physiognomy, the naked figure, the drapery, and the entire +character of every celebrated designer. The most experienced persons +would sometimes request from him a design after Michelangiolo or +Raffaello, or some other great master, which he instantly complied with, +and when confronted with an indisputable specimen of the master, and +these persons were requested to point out the original, as Buonaruoti +for example, they often hesitated, and frequently fixed on the design of +Cades. He was notwithstanding, extremely honourable. He made on one +occasion, a large design in the style of Sanzio, to deceive the director +of a foreign cabinet, who boasted an infallible knowledge of the <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg +327]</a></span>touch of Raffaello; and employing a person to shew it to +him, with some fictitious history attached to it, the director purchased +it at 500 zecchins. Cades wishing to return the money, the other refused +to receive it, insisting on retaining the drawing, and disregarding all +the protestations of the artist, and his request to be remunerated by a +smaller sum; and this drawing is at this moment probably considered as +an original, in one of the finest cabinets of Europe. He was confident +in his talents from his early years, and on a public occasion, he made a +drawing after the bent of his own genius, regardless of the directions +of Corvi, who wished it to be done in another style, and he was in +consequence dismissed from that school. This drawing obtained the first +premium, and now exists in the academy of S. Luke, where it is much +admired. In the art of colouring, too, he owed little to the instruction +of masters, and much to his native talent of imitation. I have seen +exhibited in the church of the Holy Apostles, a picture by him, which in +the upper part represents the Madonna with the Holy Infant, and in the +inferior part five saints, an allegorical picture, as I have heard +suggested, relating to the election of Clement XIV. That Pope was +elected by the suffrages of the Cardinal Carlo Rezzonico and his +friends, and contrary to the expectation of P. Innocenzio Buontempi, who +ordered the picture, and who after this election was promoted by the +Pope to the eminent station of Maestro nel S. Ordine <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg +328]</a></span>Serafico, and afterwards to that of the Pope's confessor. +Hence this piece represents in the centre S. Clement reading the sacred +volume; on his right is S. Carlo, who appears to admire his learning, +and by his attitude seems to say, "This is a man justly entitled to the +pontificate;" and in the last place S. Innocent the Pope, which +representing the person of the P. Maestro, must here for the sake of +propriety yield the place to the Cardinal S. Carlo. In the background +are S. Francis and S. Anthony, half figures. Cades here took for his +model the picture of Titian in the Quirinal, which he imitated as well +in the composition as in the colour. And in this, indeed, he proceeded +too far, giving it that obscure tone which the works of Titian have +acquired only by the lapse of time. Cades here defended himself by +saying that this piece was intended to be placed in the church of S. +Francesco di Fabriano in a very strong light, where if the colours had +not been kept low, they would have been displeasing to the spectator. +There is an error in the perspective which cannot be overlooked. The +allegorical figure of P. M. Innocenzio, who stands amazed at the sudden +phenomenon, appears to be out of equilibrium, and would fall in real +life. Other faults of colour, of costume, or of vulgarity of form, are +noticed in others of his pictures by the author of the <i>Memorie</i>, +in tom. i. and iii. But as he advanced in life he improved his style +from study, and attending to the criticisms of the public. In tom. iii. +just referred to, we find the description <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span>of one of his works +executed for the Villa Pinciana, the subject of which is taken from +Boccaccio; Walter Conte di Anguersa recognized in London. Let us weigh +the opinion which this eminent author gives of this most beautiful +composition, or let us compare it with the picture of S. Joseph of +Copertino, which he painted at twenty-one years of age, as an altarpiece +in the church of the Apostles, and we shall perceive the rapid strides +which are made by genius. Other princely families, besides the Borghesi, +availed themselves of his talents to ornament their palaces and villas; +as the Ruspoli and the Chigi, and he executed several works for the +empress of Russia. He died before he had attained his fiftieth year, and +not long after he had so much improved his style. In the opinion of +some, his execution still required to be rendered more uniform, since he +sometimes displayed as many different manners in a picture, as there +were figures. But in that he might plead the example of Caracci, as we +shall notice on a proper opportunity.</p> + +<p>We shall now pass to other branches of the art, and shall commence +with landscapes. In this period flourished the scholars of the three +famous landscape painters, described in their proper place, besides +Grimaldi, mentioned in the Bolognese School, who resided a considerable +time in Rome; and Paolo Anesi, of whom we made mention in speaking of +Zuccherelli. With Anesi lived Andrea Lucatelli, a Roman, whose talents +are highly celebrated in every inferior branch of the art. In the <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg +330]</a></span>archbishop's gallery in Milan are a number of his +pictures, historical, architectural, and landscapes. In these he often +appears original in composition, and in the disposition of the masses; +he is varied in his touch, delicate in his colouring, and elegant in his +figures, which, as we shall see, he was also accustomed to paint in the +Flemish style, separate from his landscapes.</p> + +<p>Francis Van Blomen was a less finished artist, and from the hot and +vaporous air of his pictures, obtained the name of Orizzonte. The +palaces of the Pope and the nobility in Rome, abound with his landscapes +in fresco and oil. In the character of his trees, and in the composition +of his landscapes, he commonly imitated Poussin. In his general tone +there predominates a greenish hue mixed with red. His pictures are not +all equally finished, but they rise in value as those of older artists +become injured by time, or rare from being purchased by foreigners. At +the side of Van Blomen we often find the works of some of his best +scholars, as Giacciuoli and Francis Ignazio, a Bavarian.</p> + +<p>At the same time lived in Rome Francesco Wallint, called M. Studio, +who painted small landscapes and sea views, ornamented with very +beautiful figures; devoid however of that sentiment which is the gift of +nature, and that delicacy which charms in the Italian School. He +imitated Claude: Wallint the younger, his son, attached himself to the +same manner with success, but did not equal his father.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg +331]</a></span>At the beginning of this epoch, or thereabouts, there +flourished two artists in Perugia in the same line; Ercolano +Ercolanetti, and Pietro Montanini, the scholar of Ciro Ferri and of +Rosa. The last was ambitious of the higher walks of art, and attempted +the decoration of a church, but failed in the attempt, as his talent was +restricted to landscape; and even when he added figures to these, they +were not very correct, and possessed more spirit than accuracy of +design. He was nevertheless a pleasing painter, and his pictures were +sought after by foreigners. In Perugia there is an abundance of his +works, and some are to be seen in the sacristy of the Eremitani, which +might be said to discover a Flemish style.</p> + +<p>Alessio de Marchis, a Neapolitan, is not much known in Rome, although +in the Ruspoli and Albani palaces, some pleasing pieces by him are +pointed out. He is better known in Perugia and Urbino, and the adjacent +cities. It is said that, in order to obtain a study for a picture from +nature, he set fire to a barn. For this act he was condemned to the +galleys for several years, and was liberated under the pontificate of +Clement XI. whose palace in Urbino he decorated with architectural +ornaments, distant views, and beautiful seapieces, more in the style of +Rosa than any other artist. There is an extraordinarily fine picture by +him of the Burning of Troy, in the collection of the Semproni family, +and some landscapes in other houses in Urbino, in which he has displayed +all his genius, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" +id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span>extended it also to figures. But in +general there is little more to praise in him than his spirit, his happy +touch, and natural colouring, particularly in fires, and the loaded and +murky air, and the general tone of the piece, as the detached parts are +negligent and imperfect. He left a son, also a landscape painter, but +not of much celebrity.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of the century Bernardino Fergioni displayed in Rome +an extraordinary talent in sea views, and harbours, to which he added a +variety of humourous figures. He was first a painter of animals, and +afterwards tried this line with better success; but his fame was a few +years afterwards eclipsed by two Frenchmen, Adrian Manglard, of a solid, +natural, and correct taste; and his scholar, Joseph Vernet, who +surpassed his master by his spirit and his charming colouring. The first +seemed to paint with a degree of timidity and care, the latter in the +full confidence of genius; the one seemed to aim at truth, the other at +beauty. Manglard was many years in Rome, and his works are to be seen in +the Villa Albani, and in many other palaces. Vernet is to be seen in the +Rondanini mansion, and in a few other collections.</p> + +<p>There were not many painters of battles during this epoch, except the +scholars of Borgognone. Christiano Reder, called also M. Leandro, who +came to Rome about 1686, the year of the taking of Buda, devoted +himself, in conformity with the feelings of the times, to painting +battles between the Christians and the Turks; but his pictures, though +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg +333]</a></span>well touched, were soon depreciated from the great number +of them. The best in the opinion of Pascoli, was that in the gallery de' +Minimi; and he left many also in the palaces of the nobility. He was +also expert in landscape and humourous subjects, and was assisted by +Peter Van Blomen, called also Stendardo, the brother of Francis +Orizzonte. Stendardo also painted battle pieces, but he was more +attached to Bambocciate, in the Flemish style, wherein he delights to +introduce animals, and particularly horses, in designing which he was +very expert, and almost unrivalled. His distances are very clear, and +afford a fine relief to his figures.</p> + +<p>In Rome, and throughout the ecclesiastical state, we find many +pictures of this sort by that Lucatelli who has been mentioned among the +landscape painters. The connoisseurs attribute to him two different +manners; the first good, the second still better, and exhibiting great +taste, both in colouring and invention. In some collections we find +Monaldi near him, who although of a similar taste, yielded to him in +correctness of design, in colour, and in that natural grace which may be +called the <i>Attic salt</i> of this mute poetry.</p> + +<p>I have not ascertained who was the instructor of Antonio Amorosi, a +native of Comunanza, and a fellow countryman of Ghezzi, and his +co-disciple also in the school of the Cav. Giuseppe (Vernet). I only +know that he is in his way equally facetious, and sometimes satirical. +Like Ghezzi he painted pictures in the churches, which are to be found +in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg +334]</a></span>the Guida di Roma; he did not, however, succeed so well +in them as in his <i>bambocciate</i>, which would appear really Flemish +if the colours were more lucid. He is less known in the metropolis than +in Piceno, where he is to be seen in many collections, and is mentioned +in the Guida d'Ascoli. He pleased also in foreign countries, and +represented subjects from common life, as drinking parties in taverns in +town and country, on which occasion he discovered no common talent in +architecture, landscape, and the painting of animals.</p> + +<p>Arcangelo Resani, of Rome, the scholar of Boncuore, painted animals +in a sufficiently good taste, accompanying them with large and small +figures, in which he had an equal talent. In the Medici gallery is his +portrait, with a specimen attached of the art in which he most excelled, +the representation of still life. In the same way Nuzzi added flowers, +and other artists landscapes, to their portraits.</p> + +<p>Carlo Voglar, or Carlo da' Fiori, was a painter of fruit and flowers +in a very natural style, and was also distinguished in painting dead +game. He had a rival in this style in Francesco Varnetam, called +Deprait, who was still more ingenious in adding glass and portraits, and +composed his pieces in the manner of a good figurist. This artist after +residing several years in Rome, was appointed painter to the Imperial +Court, and died in Vienna, after having spread his works and his fame +through all Germany. In the time of the two preceding artists, Christian +Bernetz was celebrated, who on <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" +id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span>the death of the first, and the +departure of the second artist, remained in Rome the chief painter in +this style. All the three were known to Maratta, and employed by him in +ornamenting his pictures; and he enriched theirs in return with children +and other figures, which have rendered them invaluable. The last was +also a friend of Garzi, in conjunction with whom he painted pictures, +each taking the department in which they most excelled. Scipione +Angelini, of Perugia, improperly called Angeli by Guarienti, was +celebrated by Pascoli for similar talents. His flowers appear newly +plucked and sparkling with dew drops. In the <i>Memorie Messinesi</i>, I +find that Agostino Scilla when he was exiled from Sicily, repaired to +Rome, where he died. Whilst in Rome, he seemed to shun all competition +with the historical painters, and occupied himself (with a certainty of +not being much celebrated), in designing animals, and in other inferior +branches of the art. In this line both he and Giacinto, his younger +brother, had great merit. Saverio, the son of Agostino, who, on the +death of them both, continued to reside and to paint in Rome, did not +equal them in reputation.</p> + +<p>During this period of the decline of the art, one branch of painting, +perspective, made an extraordinary progress by the talents of P. Andrea +Pozzo, a Jesuit, and a native of Trent. He became a painter and +architect from his native genius, rather than from the instruction of +any master. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg +336]</a></span>His habit of copying the best Venetian and Lombard +pictures, had given him a good style of colour, and a sufficiently +correct design, which he improved in Rome, where he resided many years. +He painted also in Genoa and Turin, and in these cities and in both the +states, we find some beautiful works, the more so as they resemble +Rubens in tone, to whose style of colour he aspired. There are not many +of his oil paintings in Italy, and few of them are finished, as S. +Venanzio in Ascoli, and S. Borgia at S. Remo. Even the picture of S. +Ignatius at the Gesù in Rome, is not equally rendered in every part. +Nevertheless, he appears on the whole a fine painter, his design well +conceived, his forms beautiful, his colours fascinating, and the touch +of his pencil free and ready. Even his less finished performances evince +his genius; and of the last mentioned picture, I heard from P. Giulio +Cordara, an eminent writer in verse and prose, an anecdote which +deserves preservation. A painter of celebrity being directed to +substitute another in its place, declared that neither himself nor any +other living artist could execute a superior work. His despatch was +such, that in four hours he began and finished the portrait of a +cardinal, who was departing the same day for Germany.</p> + +<p>He occupies a conspicuous place among the ornamental painters, but +his works in this way would be more perfect if there was not so great a +redundance of decoration, as vases, festoons, and <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg +337]</a></span>figures of boys in the cornices, though this indeed was +the taste of the age. The ceiling of the church of S. Ignatius is his +greatest work, and which would serve to show his powers, if he had left +nothing else, as it exhibits a novelty of images, an amenity of colour, +and a picturesque spirit, which attracted even the admiration of Maratta +and Ciro Ferri; the last of whom, amazed that Andrea had in so few +years, and in so masterly a manner, peopled, as he called it, this +Piazza Navona, concluded that the horses of other artists went at a +common pace, but those of Pozzo on the gallop. He is the most eminent of +perspective painters, and even in the concaves has given a convex +appearance to the pieces of architecture represented, as in the Tribune +of Frascati, where he painted the Circumcision of Jesus Christ, and in a +corridor of the Gesù at Rome. He succeeded too in a surprising manner in +deceiving the eye with fictitious cupolas in many churches of his order; +in Turin, Modena, Mondovi, Arezzo, Montepulciano, Rome, and Vienna, to +which city he was invited by the emperor Leopold I. He also painted +scenes for the theatres, and introduced colonnades and palaces with such +inimitable art, that it renders more credible the wonderful accounts +handed down to us by Vitruvius and Pliny of the skill of the ancients in +this art. Although well grounded in the theory of optics, as his two +volumes of perspective prove, it was his custom never to draw a line +without first having made a model, and thus ascertained the correct +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg +338]</a></span>distribution of the light and shade. When he painted on +canvass, he laid on a light coat of gum, and rejected the use of chalk, +thinking that when the colours were applied, the latter prevented the +softening of the lights and shadows, when requisite.</p> + +<p>He had many scholars who imitated him in perspective; some in fresco; +others in oil, taking their designs from real buildings, and at other +times painting from their own inventions. One of these was Alberto +Carlieri, a Roman, a painter also of small figures, of whom Orlandi +makes mention. Antonio Colli, another of his scholars, painted the great +altar at S. Pantaleo, and decorated it in perspective in so beautiful a +manner, that it was by some taken for the work of his master. Of +Agostino Collaceroni of Bologna, considered of the same school, we have +before spoken.</p> + +<p>There were also architectural painters in other branches. +Pierfrancesco Garoli, of Turin, painted the interior of churches, and +Garzi supplied the figures. Tiburzio Verzelli, of Recanati, is little +known beyond Piceno, his birthplace. The noble family of Calamini of +Recanati, possess perhaps his best picture, the elevation of S. Pietro +in Vaticano, one of the most beautiful and largest works of this kind +that I ever saw, which occupied the master several years in finishing. +Gaspare Vanvitelli, of Utrecht, called <i>Dagli Occhiali</i>, may be +called the painter of modern Rome; his pictures, which are to be found +in all parts of Europe, represent <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span>the magnificent +edifices of that city, to which landscapes are added, when the subject +admits of it. He also painted views of other cities, seaports, villas, +and farm houses, useful alike to painters and to architects. He painted +some large pictures, though most of his works are of a small size. He +was correct in his proportions, lively and clear in his tints, and there +is nothing left to desire, except a little more spirit and variety in +the landscape or in the sky, as the atmosphere is always of a pale +azure, or carelessly broken by a passing cloud. He was the father of +Luigi Vanvitelli, a painter, who owed his great name to architecture, as +we shall see was the case also with the celebrated Serlio.</p> + +<p>But no painter of perspective has found more admirers than the Cav. +Gio. Paolo Pannini, mentioned elsewhere; not so much for the correctness +of his perspective, in which he has many equals, as for his charming +landscape and spirited figures. It cannot indeed be denied, that these +latter are sometimes too high in proportion to the buildings, and that +also, to shun the dryness of Viviani, he has a mannered style of mixing +a reddish hue in his shadows. For the first defect there is no remedy; +but the second will be alleviated by time, which will gradually subdue +the predominant colour.</p> + +<p>Lastly, to this epoch the art of mosaic owes the great perfection +which it attained, in imitating painting, not only by the means of small +pieces of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg +340]</a></span>marble selected and cemented together, but by a +composition which could produce every colour, emulate every tint, +represent each degree of shade, and every part, equal to the pencil +itself. Baglione attributes the improvement in this art to Muziani, whom +he calls the inventor of working mosaics in oil; and that which he +executed for the Cappella Gregoriana, he praises as the most beautiful +mosaic that has been formed since the time of the ancients. Paolo +Rossetti of Cento was employed there under Muziani, and instructed +Marcello Provenzale, his fellow countryman. Both left many works +beautifully painted in mosaic; and the second, who lived till the time +of Paul V. painted the portrait of that Pope, and some cabinet pictures. +An extensive work, as has often been the case, was the cause of +improving this art. The humidity of the church of S. Peter was so +detrimental to oil paintings, that from the time of Urban VIII. there +existed an idea of substituting mosaics in their place. The first +altarpiece was executed by a scholar of Provenzale, already mentioned, +Giambatista Calandra, born in Vercelli. It represents S. Michael, and is +of a small size, copied from a picture of the Cav. d'Arpino. He +afterwards painted other subjects in the small cupolas, and near some +windows of the church, from the cartoons of Romanelli, Lanfranco, +Sacchi, and Pellegrini; but thinking his talents not sufficiently +rewarded, he began to work also for individuals, and painted portraits, +or copied the best productions of the <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span>old masters. Among +these Pascoli particularly praises a Madonna copied from a picture of +Raffaello, in possession of the Queen of Sweden, and of this and other +similar works he judged that from their harmony of colour and high +finishing, they were deserving of close and repeated inspection.</p> + +<p>At this time great approaches were made towards the modern style of +mosaic; but this art was afterwards carried to a much higher pitch by +the two Cristofori, Fabio, and his son Pietro Paolo. These artists +painted the S. Petronilla, copied from the great picture of Guercino, +the S. Girolamo of Domenichino, and the Baptism of Christ by Maratta. +For other works by him and his successors, I refer the reader to the +<i>Descrizione</i> of the pictures of Rome above cited. I will only add, +that when the works were completed for S. Peter's, lest the art might +decay for want of due encouragement, it was determined to decorate the +church of Loreto with similar pictures, which were executed in Rome, and +transferred to that church.</p> + +<p>Before I finish this portion of my work, I would willingly pay a +tribute to the numerous living professors, who have been, or who are now +resident in Rome; but it would be difficult to notice them all, and to +omit any might seem invidious. We may be allowed, however, to observe +that the improvement which has taken place in the art of late years, has +had its origin in Rome. That city at no period wholly lost its good +taste, and even in the decline of the art was not without connoisseurs +and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg +342]</a></span>artists of the first merit. Possessing in itself the best +sources of taste in so many specimens of Grecian sculpture, and so many +works of Raffaello, it is there always easy to judge how near the +artists approach to, and how far they recede from, their great +prototypes of art. This criterion too is more certain in the present +age, when it is the custom to pay less respect to prejudices and more to +reason; so that there can be no abuse of this useful principle. The +works too of Winckelmann and Mengs have contributed to improve the +general taste; and if we cannot approve every thing we there find, they +still possess matter highly valuable, and are excellent guides of genius +and talent. This object has also been promoted by the discovery of the +ancient pictures in Herculaneum, the Baths of Titus, and of the Villa +Adriana, and the exquisite vases of Nola, and similar remains of +antiquity. These have attracted every eye to the antique; Mengs and +Winckelmann have admirably illustrated the history of ancient sculpture, +and the art of painting may be more advantageously studied from the +valuable engravings which have been published, than from any book. From +these extraordinary advantages the fine arts have extended their +influence to circles where they were before unknown, and have received a +new tone from emulation as well as interest. The custom of exhibiting +the productions of art to a public who can justly appreciate them, and +distinguish the good from the bad; the rewards assigned to the most +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg +343]</a></span>meritorious, of whatever nation, accompanied by the +productions of literary men, and public rejoicings in the Campidoglio; +the splendour of the sacred edifices peculiar to the metropolis of the +Christian world, which, while the art contributes to its decoration, +extends its protection in return to the professors of that art; the +lucrative commissions from abroad, and in the city itself, from the +munificence and unbounded liberality of Pius VI. and that of many +private individuals;<a name="fnanchor_96" id="fnanchor_96"></a><a +href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor"><sup>[96]</sup></a> the +circumstance of foreign sovereigns frequently seeking in this emporium +for masters, or directors for their academies; all these causes maintain +both the artists and their schools in perpetual motion, and in a +generous emulation, and by degrees we may hope to see the art restored +to its true principles, the imitation of nature and the example of the +great masters. There is not a branch, not only of painting, but even of +the arts depending on it, as miniature, mosaic, enamel,<a +name="fnanchor_97" id="fnanchor_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[97]</sup></a> and the weaving of tapestry, <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span>that +is not followed there in a laudable manner. Whoever desires to be +further informed of the present state of the Roman School, and of the +foreign artists resident in Rome, should peruse the four volumes +entitled, <i>Memorie per le belle arti</i>, published from the year +1785, and continued to the year 1788, a periodical work deserving a +place in every library of the fine arts, and which was, I regret to add, +prematurely discontinued.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_85" id="Footnote_85"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_85">[85]</a> +With regard to drapery, Winckelmann conjectures, (Storia delle Arti del +Disegno, tom. i. p. 450,) that the erroneous opinion that the ancients +did not drape their figures well, and were surpassed in that department +by the moderns, was at that time common among the artists. This opinion +still subsists among some sculptors, who disapprove particularly of the +ancient custom of moistening the drapery, in order to adapt it the +better to the form of the figure. The ancients, they say, ought to be +esteemed, not idolized. To carry nature to the highest degree of +perfection, was always allowable, but not so to degrade her by +mannerism.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_86" id="Footnote_86"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_86">[86]</a> +He was the pupil of Niccolas Poussin, and from him acquired his taste +for drawing after the antique. He employed this talent in copying the +finest bassirilievi, and the noblest remains of ancient Rome. These were +engraved by him, and circulated through Europe. He also copied a great +number of ancient pictures from the <i>Sotterranei</i>, which passed +into private hands unpublished. Pascoli mentions many more of his works +in engraving, the pursuit of which branch of the art led him gradually +to forsake painting. Of his pictures we find one in the church of Porto, +and a very few more of his own designing. He devoted himself to the +copying the pictures of the best masters, and carried his imitation even +to the counterfeiting the effects of time on the colours; and he copied +some pictures of Poussin with such dexterity, that it was with +difficulty the painter himself could distinguish them.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_87" id="Footnote_87"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_87">[87]</a> +In the <i>Risposta alle Riflessioni Critiche di Mons. Argens</i>.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_88" id="Footnote_88"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_88">[88]</a> +This artist had painted one of the two laterals of the chapel, asserting +that there was no artist living capable of painting a companion to it. +Benefial painted one very superior, and represented in it an executioner +with his eyes fixed on and deriding the picture of Muratori.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_89" id="Footnote_89"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_89">[89]</a> +See <i>Memorie per le Belle Arti</i>, tom. ii. p. 135, where Sig. +Giangherardo de' Rossi gives an account of this artist, derived +principally from information furnished by Sig. Cav. Puccini, who has +been occasionally mentioned with approbation in the first volume of this +work.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_90" id="Footnote_90"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_90">[90]</a> +Francesco Appiani, of Ancona, a scholar of Magatta, and not long since +deceased, did not find a place in my former edition, but is fully +entitled to one in this. He studied a considerable time in Rome, whilst +Benefial, Trevisani, Conca, and Mancini, flourished there; and through +the friendship of these masters (particularly of the latter), was +enabled to form an agreeable style, of which he there left a specimen at +S. Sisto Vecchio. It is the death of S. Domenico, painted in fresco, by +order of Benedict XIII. who remunerated him with a gold medal. He went +afterwards to Perugia, where he was presented with the freedom of the +city, and continued his labours there with unabated ardour, until ninety +years of age, an instance of vigour unexampled, except in the case of +Titian. Perugia abounds with his paintings of all kinds, and his best +works are to be found in the churches of S. Pietro de' Cassinensi, S. +Thomas, and Monte Corona. He also decorated the church of S. Francis, +and the vault of the cathedral, where he rivalled the freedom of style +and composition of Carloni. Both he himself, and one of his pictures, +placed in a church of Masaccio, are eulogised in the Antich. Picene +(tom. xx. p. 159). He painted many pictures also for England.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_91" id="Footnote_91"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_91">[91]</a> +For a more particular catalogue of these works, see the <i>Memorie delle +belle arti</i>, 1788, in which year they were republished in Rome, with +the remarks of the Sig. Avvocato Fea, in one vol. 4to. and 2 vols. 8vo. +The most celebrated treatise of Mengs is the <i>Riflessioni sopra i tre +gran pittori, Raffaello, Tiziano, e Coreggio, e sopra gli antichi</i>. +On the life and style of Coreggio he wrote a separate paper, which was +afterwards the subject of a controversy; for as, at the close of the +year 1781, appeared the <i>Notizie storiche del Coreggio</i> of Ratti, +accompanied by a letter from Mengs, dated Madrid, 1774, in which he +entreats Ratti to collect and publish them, Ratti was by several writers +accused of plagiarism, and of having endeavoured, by a change of style +and the addition of some trifling matter, to appropriate to himself what +in reality belonged to Mengs. Not long afterwards there appeared an +anonymous Defence of Ratti, without date or place, for which I refer to +the next note.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_92" id="Footnote_92"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_92">[92]</a> +In the <i>Difesa del Ratti</i>, accused <i>de repetundis</i>, this very +obvious contradiction is adduced as a proof that the <i>Memorie</i> were +really composed by that author. It is there asserted that he wrote them +in a clear and simple style, and then communicated them to Mengs, on +whose death they were found among his writings, and published as his. +Some other things are indeed said, that do not favour the cause of +Ratti; as that when he was in Parma he consulted Mengs on what he should +say of the works of Coreggio in that city, and as he could not see those +in Dresden, he had from him a minute account of them; and also that +Mengs was accustomed to add remarks to the MS. on which his friends +consulted him. If, therefore, it be conceded that Mengs had such a share +in this MS. (which would appear to have been drawn up by the scholar +under the direction of the master, as to opinions on art, and as to a +catalogue of the best pictures, accompanied too with remarks,) who does +not perceive that the best part of that work, and the great attraction +of its matter and style, is due to Mengs?</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_93" id="Footnote_93"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_93">[93]</a> +This picture is one of the most finished compositions since the +restoration of art. Each muse is there represented with her peculiar +attribute, as derived from antiquity; and the artist is deservedly +eulogized by the Sig. Ab. Visconti, in the celebrated <i>Museo Pio +Clementino</i>, tom. i. p. 57.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_94" id="Footnote_94"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_94">[94]</a> +This eminent man was not without his enemies and calumniators, excited +by his criticisms on the great masters, and still more by his +animadversions on artists of inferior fame, and some recently deceased. +Cumberland wrote against him with manifest prejudice; and the anonymous +author of the <i>Difesa del Cav. Ratti</i>, the work of Ratti himself, +or for which at least he furnished the materials, speaks of him in a +contemptuous manner. He particularly questions his literary character +and his discernment, and ascribes to his confidential friend, +Winckelmann, the merit of his remarks. In point of art he estimates +Mengs as an excellent, but by no means an unrivalled painter. Descending +to particulars, he publishes not a few criticisms, which he received +either in MS. or from the mouths of different professors, and adds +others of his own. Of these the experienced must form their own +judgment. With regard to his colouring, indeed, with which his rival +Batoni found great fault, the most inexperienced person may perceive +that it is not faultless, as the flesh tints are already altered by +time, at least in some of his works. Lastly, in the <i>Difesa</i> are +some personal remarks regarding Mengs, which, if Ratti, from respect to +his late deceased friend, thought it right to omit them in his life of +him, printed in 1779, might with still greater propriety have been +spared in this subsequent work.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_95" id="Footnote_95"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_95">[95]</a> +See the <i>Elogio di Pompeo Batoni</i>, page 66, where the illustrious +author, who, to his other accomplishments, adds that of painting, +expatiates at length, and in the style of a professor, on this wonderful +talent of Batoni.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_96" id="Footnote_96"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_96">[96]</a> +The decoration of the Villa Pinciana, in which the prince Borghesi has +given encouragement to so many eminent artists, is an undertaking that +deserves to be immortalized in the history of art.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_97" id="Footnote_97"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_97">[97]</a> +I refer to what I have written on the art of enamel, in the school of +Ferrara, in which city the art may be said to have been revived by the +Sig. Ab. Requeno. It was also greatly improved in the school of Rome, +where in 1788 an entire cabinet was painted in enamel for the empress of +Russia, as was publicly noticed in the <i>Giornale di Roma</i>, of the +month of June. Il Sig. Consigl. Gio. Renfestein, had the commission of +the work, which was executed from the designs of Hunterberger, by the +Sigg. Gio. and Vincenzio Angeloni. They were both assisted in their task +by the Sig. Ab. Garcia della Huerta, who greatly facilitated the +inventions of Requeno, as well by his experience as by his work, +intitled <i>Commentarj della pittura encaustica del pennello</i>, +published in Madrid, a very learned work, and which obtained for the +author from Charles IV. an annuity for life.</p> + +<p class="p4"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg +345]</a></span></p> + +<h4>BOOK IV.</h4> + +<h4>NEAPOLITAN SCHOOL.</h4> + +<h4>FIRST EPOCH.</h4> + +<p class="p2">We are now arrived at a school of painting which possesses +indisputable proofs of having, in ancient times, ranked among the first +in Italy; as in no part of that country do the remains of antiquity +evince a more refined taste, no where do we find mosaics executed with +more elegance,<a name="fnanchor_98" id="fnanchor_98"></a><a +href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor"><sup>[98]</sup></a> nor any thing +more beautiful than the subterranean chambers which are ornamented with +historical designs and grotesques. The circumstance of its deriving its +origin from ancient Greece, and the ancient history of design, in which +we read of many of its early artists, have ennobled it above all others +in Italy; and on this account we feel a greater regret at the barbarism +which overwhelmed it in common with other schools. We may express a +similar sentiment with regard to Sicily, which from its affinity in +situation and government, I shall include in this Fourth Book; but +generally in the notes.<a name="fnanchor_99" id="fnanchor_99"></a><a +href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor"><sup>[99]</sup></a> That <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg +346]</a></span>island, too, possessed many Greek colonies, who have left +vases and medals of such extraordinary workmanship, that many have +thought that Sicily preceded Athens in carrying this art to perfection. +But to proceed to the art of painting in Naples, which is our present +object, we may observe that Dominici and the other national writers, the +notice of whom I shall reserve for their proper places, affirm, that +that city was never wholly destitute of artists, not only in the ancient +times, which Filostrato extols so highly in the proemium of his +<i>Immagini</i>, but even in the dark ages. In confirmation of this, +they adduce devotional pictures by anonymous artists, anterior to the +year 1200; particularly many Madonnas in an ancient style, which were +the objects of adoration in various churches. They subjoin moreover a +catalogue of these early artists, and bitterly inveigh against Vasari, +who has wholly omitted them in his work.</p> + +<p>The first painter whom we find mentioned at the earliest period of +the restoration of the art, is Tommaso <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span>de' Stefani, who was a +contemporary of Cimabue, in the reign of Charles of Anjou.<a +name="fnanchor_100" id="fnanchor_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[100]</sup></a> That prince, according to Vasari, +in passing through Florence, was conducted to the studio of Cimabue, to +see the picture of the Virgin, which he had painted for the chapel of +the Rucellai family, on a larger scale than had ever before been +executed. He adds, that the whole city collected in such crowds thither +to view it, that it became a scene of public festivity, and that that +part of the city in which the artist resided, received in consequence +the name of Borgo Allegri, which it has retained to the present day. +Dominici has not failed to make use of this tradition to the advantage +of Tommaso. He observes that Charles would naturally have invited +Cimabue to Naples, if he had considered him the first artist of his day; +the king however did not do so, but at the same time employed <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg +348]</a></span>Tommaso to ornament a church which he had founded, and he +therefore must have considered him superior to Cimabue. This argument, +as every one will immediately perceive, is by no means conclusive of the +real merits of these two artists. That must be decided by an inspection +of their works; and with regard to these, Marco da Siena, who is the +father of the history of painting in Naples, declares, that in respect +to grandeur of composition, Cimabue was entitled to the preference. +Tommaso enjoyed the favour also of Charles II. who employed him, as did +also the principal persons of the city. The chapel of the Minutoli in +the Duomo, mentioned by Boccaccio, was ornamented by him with various +pictures of the Passion of our Saviour. Tommaso had a scholar in Filippo +Tesauro, who painted in the church of S. Restituta, the life of B. +Niccolo, the hermit, the only one of his frescos which has survived to +our days.</p> + +<p>About the year 1325, Giotto was invited by King Robert to paint the +church of S. Chiara in Naples, which he decorated with subjects from the +New Testament, and the mysteries of the Apocalypse, with some designs +suggested to him at a former time by Dante, as was currently reported in +the days of Vasari. These pictures were effaced about the beginning of +the present century, as they rendered the church dark; but there +remains, among other things in good preservation, a Madonna called della +Grazia, which the generous piety of the religious possessors preserved +for the veneration of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" +id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span>the faithful. Giotto painted some +pictures also in the church of S. Maria Coronata; and others which no +longer exist, in the Castello dell'Uovo. He selected for his assistant +in his labours, a Maestro Simone, who, in consequence of enjoying +Giotto's esteem, acquired a great name in Naples. Some consider him a +native of Cremona, others a Neapolitan, which seems nearer the truth. +His style partakes both of Tesauro and Giotto, whence some consider him +of the first, others of the second master; and he may probably have been +instructed by both. However that may be, on the departure of Giotto he +was employed in many works which King Robert and the Queen Sancia were +prosecuting in various churches, and particularly in S. Lorenzo. He +there painted that monarch in the act of being crowned by the Bishop +Lodovico, his brother, to whom upon his death and subsequent +canonization, a chapel was dedicated in the Episcopal church, and Simone +appointed to decorate it, but which he was prevented from doing by +death. Dominici particularly extols a picture by him of a Deposition +from the Cross, painted for the great altar of the Incoronata; and +thinks it will bear comparison with the works of Giotto. In other +respects, he confesses that his conception and invention were not +equally good, nor did his heads possess so attractive an air as those of +Giotto, nor his colours such a suavity of tone.</p> + +<p>He instructed in the art a son, called Francesco di Simone, who was +highly extolled for a Madonna <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" +id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span>in chiaroscuro, in the church of S. +Chiara, and which was one of the works which escaped being effaced on +the occasion before mentioned. He had two other scholars in Gennaro di +Cola, and Stefanone, who were very much alike in their manner, and on +that account were chosen to paint in conjunction some large +compositions, such as the pictures of the Life of S. Lodovico, Bishop of +Tolosa, which Simone had only commenced, and various others of the Life +of the Virgin, in S. Giovanni da Carbonara, which were preserved for a +long period. Notwithstanding the similarity of their styles, we may +perceive a difference in the genius of the two artists; the first being +in reference to the second, studied and correct, and anxious to overcome +all difficulties, and to elevate the art; on which account he appears +occasionally somewhat laboured: the second discovers more genius, more +confidence, and a greater freedom of pencil, and to his figures he gives +a spirit that might have assured him a distinguished place, if he had +been born at a more advanced period of art.</p> + +<p>Before Zingaro (who will very soon occupy our attention) introduced a +manner acquired in other schools, the art had made little progress in +Naples and her territories. This is clearly proved by Colantonio del +Fiore, the scholar of Francesco, who lived till the year 1444, of whom +Dominici mentions some pictures, though he is in doubt whether they +should not be assigned to Maestro <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span>Simone; which is a +tacit confession, that in the lapse of a century the art had not made +any considerable progress. It appears, however, that Colantonio after +some time, by constant practice, had considerably improved himself; +having painted several works in a more modern style, particularly a S. +Jerome, in the church of S. Lorenzo, in the act of drawing a thorn from +the foot of a lion, with the date of 1436. It is a picture of great +truth, removed afterwards, for its merit, by the P. P. Conventuali, into +the sacristy of the same church, where it was for a long time the +admiration of strangers. He had a scholar of the name of Angiolo Franco, +who imitated better than any other Neapolitan the manner of Giotto; +adding only a stronger style of chiaroscuro, which he derived from his +master.</p> + +<p>The art was, however, more advanced by Antonio Solario, originally a +smith, and commonly called lo Zingaro. His history has something +romantic in it, like that of Quintin Matsys, who, from his first +profession, was called il Fabbro, and became a painter from his love to +a young girl, who promised to marry him when he had made himself a +proficient in the art of painting. Solario in the same manner being +enamoured of a daughter of Colantonio, and receiving from him a promise +of her hand in marriage in ten years, if he became an eminent painter, +forsook his furnace for the academy, and substituted the pencil for the +file. There is an idle tradition of a queen of <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span>Naples having been the +author of this match, but that matter I leave in the hands of the +narrators of it. It is more interesting to us to know that Solario went +to Bologna, where he was for several years the scholar of Lippo +Dalmasio, called also Lippo delle Madonne, from his numerous portraits +of the Virgin, and the grace with which he painted them. On leaving +Bologna he visited other parts of Italy in order to study the works of +the best artists in the various schools; as Vivarini, in Venice; Bicci, +in Florence; Galasso, in Ferrara; Pisanello, and Gentile da Fabriano, in +Rome. It has been thought that he assisted the two last, as Luca +Giordano affirmed that among the pictures in the Lateran he recognized +some heads which were indisputably by Solario. He excelled in this +particular, and excited the admiration of Marco da Siena himself, who +declared that his countenances seemed alive. He became also a good +perspective painter for those times, and respectable in historical +compositions; which he enlivened with landscape in a better style than +other painters, and distinguished his figures by drapery peculiar to the +age, and carefully drawn from nature. He was less happy in designing his +hands and feet, and often appears heavy in his attitudes, and crude in +his colouring. On his return to Naples, it is said, that he gave proof +of his skill, and was favorably received by Colantonio, and thus became +his son-in-law nine years after his first departure; and that he painted +and taught there under King <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" +id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span>Alfonso, until the year 1455, about +which time he died.</p> + +<p>The most celebrated work of this artist was in the choir of S. +Severino, in fresco, representing, in several compartments, the life of +S. Benedict, and containing an incredible variety of figures and +subjects. He left also numerous pictures with portraits, and Madonnas of +a beautiful form, and not a few others painted in various churches of +Naples. In that of S. Domenico Maggiore, where he painted a dead Christ, +and in that of S. Pier Martire, where he represented a S. Vincenzio, +with some subjects from the life of that saint, it is said that he +surpassed himself. Thus there commenced in Naples a new epoch, which +from its original and most celebrated prototype, is called by the Cav. +Massimo, the school of Zingaro, as in that city those pictures are +commonly distinguished by the name of Zingaresque, which were painted +from the time of that artist to that of Tesauro, or a little later, in +the same way that pictures are every where called Cortonesque, that are +painted in imitation of Berettini.</p> + +<p>About this time there flourished two eminent artists, whom I deem it +proper to mention in this place before I enter on the succeeding +scholars of the Neapolitan School. These were Matteo da Siena, and +Antonello da Messina. The first we noticed in the school of Siena, and +mentioned his having painted in Naples the Slaughter of the Innocents. +It exists in the church of S. Caterina a <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span>Formello, and is +engraved in the third volume of the Lettere Senesi. The year <span +class="smcap">m.cccc.xviii.</span> is attached to it, but we ought not +to yield implicit faith to this date. Il P. della Valle, in p. 56 of the +above mentioned volume, observes, that Matteo, in the year 1462, when he +painted with his father in Pienza, was young, and that in the portrait +which he painted of himself in 1491, he does not appear aged. He could +not therefore have painted in Naples in 1418. After this we may believe +it very possible, that in this date an L has been inadvertently omitted, +and that the true reading is <span class="smcap">m.cccc.lxviii.</span> +Thus the above writer conjectures, and with so much the more +probability, as he advances proofs, both from the form of the letters +and the absence of the artist from his native place. Whoever desires +similar examples, may turn to page 141 of vol. i., and he will find that +such errors have occurred more than once in the date of books. Guided by +this circumstance we may correct what Dominici has asserted of Matteo da +Siena having influenced the style of Solario. It may be true that there +is a resemblance in the air of the heads, and the general style, but +such similarity can only be accounted for by Matteo deriving it from +Solario, or both, as often happens, deriving it from the same +master.</p> + +<p>Antonello, of the family of the Antonj, universally known under the +name of Antonello da Messina, is a name so illustrious in the history of +art, that it is not sufficient to have mentioned him in the <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg +355]</a></span>first book and to refer to him here again, as he will +claim a further notice in the Venetian School, and we must endeavour too +to overcome some perplexing difficulties, to ascertain with correctness +the time at which he flourished, and attempt to settle the dispute, +whether he were the first who painted in oil in Italy, or whether that +art was practised before his time. Vasari relates, that when young, +after having spent many years in Rome in the study of design,<a +name="fnanchor_101" id="fnanchor_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[101]</sup></a> and many more at Palermo, painting +there with the reputation of a good artist, he repaired first to +Messina, and from thence passed to Naples, where he chanced to see a +large composition painted in oil by Gio. da Bruggia, which had been +presented by some Florentine merchants to King Alfonso. Antonello, +smitten with this new art, took his departure to Flanders, and there, by +his affability, and by a present of some drawings of the Italian School, +so far ingratiated himself with Giovanni, as to induce him to +communicate to him the secret, and the aged painter dying soon +afterwards, thus left him instructed in the new art. This must have +happened about the year 1440, since that time is required to support the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg +356]</a></span>supposition that Giovanni, born about 1370, died at an +advanced age, as the old writers assert, or exactly in 1441, as is +asserted by the author of the <i>Galleria Imperiale</i>. Antonello then +left Flanders, and first resided for some months in his native place; +from thence he went to Venice, where he communicated the secret to +Domenico Veneziano; and having painted there a considerable time, died +there at the age of forty-nine. All this we find in Vasari, and it +agrees with what he relates in the life of Domenico Veneziano, that this +artist, after having learnt the new method from Antonello in Venice, +painted in Loreto with Piero della Francesca, some few years before that +artist lost his eyesight, which happened in 1458. Thus the arrival of +Antonello in Venice must have occurred about the year 1450, or some +previous year; but this conclusion is contrary to Venetian evidence. The +remaining traces of Antonello, or the dates attached to his works there, +commence in 1474, and terminate according to Ridolfi in 1490. There does +not appear any reason whatever, why he should not have attached dates to +his pictures, until after residing twenty-four years in Venice. Besides, +how can it be maintained, that Antonello, after passing many years in +Rome as a student, and many in Palermo as a master, and some years in +Messina and Flanders, should not in Venice, in the forty-ninth year +after the death of Giovanni, have passed the forty-ninth year of his +age. Hackert quotes the opinion of Gallo, who in the <i>Annali</i> <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg +357]</a></span><i>di Messina</i>, dates the birth of Antonello in 1447, +and his death at forty-nine years of age, that is, in 1496. But if this +were so, how could he have known Gio. da Bruggia? Yet if such fact be +denied, we must contradict a tradition which has been generally +credited. I should be more inclined to believe that there is a mistake +in his age, and that he died at a more advanced period of life. Nor on +this supposition do we wrong Vasari; others having remarked what we +shall also on a proper opportunity confirm; that as far as regards +Venetian artists, Vasari errs almost in every page from the want of +accurate information. I further believe that respecting the residence of +Antonello in Venice, he wrote with inaccuracy. That he was there about +the year 1450, and communicated his secret to Domenico, is a fact, which +after so many processes made in Florence on the murder of Domenico, and +so much discussion respecting him, must have been well ascertained, not +depending on the report contained in the memoirs of the painters by +Grillandajo, or any other contemporary, in whose writings Vasari might +search for information. But admitting this, I am of opinion, that +Antonello did not reside constantly in Venice from the year 1450 until +his death, as Vasari insinuates. It appears that he travelled afterwards +in several countries, resided for a long time in Milan, and acquired +there a great celebrity; and that he repaired afresh to Venice, and +enjoyed there for some years a public salary. This <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span>we +gather from Maurolico, quoted by Hackert: <i>Ob mirum hic ingenium +Venetiis aliquot annos publicè conductus vixit: Mediolani quoque fuit +percelebris</i>, (<i>Hist. Sican. pl. 186, prim. edit.</i>), and if he +was not a contemporary writer, still he was not very far removed from +Antonello. This is the hypothesis I propose in order to reconcile the +many contradictory accounts which we find on this subject in Vasari, +Ridolfi, and Zanetti; and when we come to the Venetian School, I shall +not forget to adduce further proofs in support of it. Others may perhaps +succeed better than I have done in this task, and with that hope I shall +console myself: as in my researches I have no other object than truth, I +shall be equally satisfied whether I discover it myself, or it be +communicated to me by others.</p> + +<p>That therefore Antonello was the first who exhibited a perfect method +of practising painting in oil in Italy, is an assertion that, it seems +to me, may be with justice maintained, or at least it cannot be said +that there is proof to the contrary. And yet in the history of the art +in the Two Sicilies, this honour is strongly disputed. In that history +we find the description of a chapel in the Duomo of Messina, called +Madonna della Lettera, where it is said there exists a very old Greek +picture of the Virgin, an object of adoration, which was said to be in +oil. If this were even admitted, it could not detract from the merit of +Antonello in having restored a beautiful art that had <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg +359]</a></span>fallen into desuetude; but in these Greek pictures, the +wax had often the appearance of oil, as we observed in vol. i. p. 89. +Marco da Siena, in the fragment of a discourse which Dominici has +preserved, asserts, that the Neapolitan painters of 1300 continued to +improve in the two manners of painting in fresco and in oil. When I +peruse again what I have written in vol. i. p. 90, where some attempt at +colouring in oil anterior to Antonello is admitted, I may be permitted +not to rely on the word of Pino alone. There exist in Naples many +pictures of 1300, and I cannot imagine, why in a controversy like this, +they are neither examined nor alluded to, and why the question is rested +solely on a work or two of Colantonio. Some national writers, and not +long since, Signorelli, in his <i>Coltura delle due Sicili</i> (tom. +iii. p. 171), have pretended, that Colantonio del Fiore was certainly +the first to paint in oil, and adduce in proof the very picture of S. +Jerome, before mentioned, and another in S. Maria Nuova. Il Sig. +Piacenza after inspecting them, says, that he was not able to decide +whether these pictures were really in oil or not. Zanetti (P. V. p. 20) +also remarks, that it is extremely difficult to pass a decided judgment +on works of this kind, and I have made the same observation with respect +to Van Eyck, which will I hope, convince every reader who will be at the +trouble to refer to vol. i. p. 87. And unless that had been the case, +how happened it that all Europe was filled with the name of Van Eyck in +the course <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg +360]</a></span>of a few years; that every painter ran to him; that his +works were coveted by princes, and that they who could not obtain them, +procured the works of his scholars, and others the works of Ausse, Ugo +d'Anversa, and Antonello; and of Ruggieri especially, of whose great +fame in Italy we shall in another place adduce the documents.<a +name="fnanchor_102" id="fnanchor_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[102]</sup></a> On the other hand, who, beyond +Naples and its territory, had at that time heard of Colantonio? Who ever +sought with such eagerness the works of Solario? And if this last was +the scholar and son-in-law of a master who painted so well in oil, how +happened it that he was neither distinguished in the art, nor even +acquired it? Why did he himself and his scholars work in distemper? Why +did the Sicilians, as we have seen, pass over to Venice, where Antonello +resided, to instruct themselves, and not confine themselves to Naples? +Why did the whole school of Venice, the emporium of Europe, and capable +of contradicting any false report, attest, on the death of Antonello, +that he was the first that painted in oil in Italy, and no one opposed +to him either Solario or Colantonio?<a name="fnanchor_103" +id="fnanchor_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[103]</sup></a> <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span>They either could not +at that time have been acquainted with this discovery, or did not know +it to an extent that can contradict Vasari, and the prevailing opinions +respecting Antonello. Dominici has advanced more on this point than any +other person, asserting that this art was discovered in Naples, and was +carried from thence to Flanders by Van Eyck himself, to which +supposition, after the observations already made, I deem it superfluous +to reply.<a name="fnanchor_104" id="fnanchor_104"></a><a +href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor"><sup>[104]</sup></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg +362]</a></span>We shall now return to the scholars of Solario, who were +very numerous. Amongst them was a Niccola di Vito, who may be called the +Buffalmacco of this school, for his singular humour and his eccentric +invention, though in other respects he was an inferior artist, and +little deserving commemoration. Simone Papa did not paint any large +composition in which he might be compared to his master; he confined +himself to altarpieces, with few figures grouped in a pleasing style, +and finished with exquisite care; so that he sometimes equalled Zingaro, +as in a S. Michele, painted for S. Maria Nuova. Of the same class seems +to have been Angiolillo di Roccadirame, who in the church of S. Bridget, +painted that saint contemplating in a <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span>vision the birth of +Christ; a picture which even with the experienced, might pass for the +work of his master. More celebrated and more deserving of notice, are +Pietro and Polito (Ippolito) del Donzello, sons-in-law of Angiolo +Franco, and relatives of the celebrated architect Giuliano da Maiano, by +whom they were instructed in that art. Vasari mentions them as the first +painters of the Neapolitan school, but does not give any account of +their master, or of what school they were natives, and he writes in a +way that might lead the reader to believe that they were Tuscans. He +says that Giuliano, having finished the palace of Poggio Reale for King +Robert, the monarch engaged the two brothers to decorate it, and that +first Giuliano dying, and the king afterwards, Polito <i>returned</i> to +Florence.<a name="fnanchor_105" id="fnanchor_105"></a><a +href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor"><sup>[105]</sup></a> Bottari +observes, that he did not find the two Donzelli mentioned by Orlandi, +nor by any one else; a clear proof that he did not himself consider them +natives of Naples, and on that account he did not look for them in +Bernardo Dominici, who has written at length upon them, complaining of +the negligence or inadvertent error of Vasari.</p> + +<p>The pictures of the two brothers were painted, according to Vasari, +about the year 1447. But as he informs us that Polito did not leave +Naples until the death of Alfonso, this epoch should be <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg +364]</a></span>extended to 1463, or beyond; as he remained for a year +longer, or thereabouts, under the reign of Ferdinand, the son and +successor of Alfonso. He painted for that monarch some large +compositions in the refectory of S. Maria Nuova, partly alone and partly +in conjunction with his brother, and both brothers combined in +decorating for the king a part of the palace of Poggio Reale. We may +here with propriety also mention, that they painted in one of the rooms +the conspiracy against Ferdinand, which being seen by Jacopo Sannazzaro, +gave occasion to his writing a sonnet, the 41st in the second part of +his <i>Rime</i>. Their style resembles that of their master, except that +their colouring is softer. They distinguished themselves also in their +architectural ornaments, and in the painting of friezes and trophies, +and subjects in chiaroscuro, in the manner of bassirilievi, an art which +I am not aware that any one practised before them. The younger brother +leaving Naples and dying soon afterwards, Pietro remained employed in +that city, where he and his scholars acquired a great reputation by +their paintings in oil and fresco. The portraits of Pietro had all the +force of nature, and it is not long since, that on the destruction of +some of his pictures on a wall in the palace of the Dukes of Matalona, +some heads were removed with the greatest care, and preserved for their +excellence.</p> + +<p>We may now notice Silvestro de' Buoni, who was placed by his father +in the school of Zingaro, and on his death attached himself to the +Donzelli. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg +365]</a></span>His father was an indifferent painter, of the name of +Buono, and from that has arisen the mistake of some persons, who have +ascribed to the son some works of the father in an old style, and +unworthy the reputation of Silvestro. This artist, in the opinion of the +Cav. Massimo, had a finer colouring and a superior general effect to the +Donzelli; and in the force of his chiaroscuro, and in the delicacy of +his contours, far surpassed all the painters of his country who had +lived to that time. Dominici refers to many of his pictures in the +various churches of Naples. One of the most celebrated is that of S. +Giovanni a Mare, in which he included three saints, all of the same +name, S. John the Baptist, the Evangelist, and S. Chrysostom.</p> + +<p>Silvestro is said to have had a disciple in Tesauro, whose Christian +name has not been correctly handed down to us; but he is generally +called Bernardo. He is supposed to have been of a painter's family, and +descended from that Filippo who is commemorated as the second of this +school, and father or uncle of Raimo, whom we shall soon notice. This +Bernardo, or whatever his name may have been, made nearer approaches to +the modern style than any of the preceding artists; more judicious in +his invention, more natural in his figures and drapery; select, +expressive, harmonized, and displaying a knowledge in gradation and +relief, beyond what could be expected in a painter who is not known to +have been acquainted with any other schools, or seen any pictures beyond +those <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg +366]</a></span>of his own country. Luca Giordano, at a time when he was +considered the Coryphæus of painting, was struck with astonishment at +the painting of a Soffitto by Tesauro at S. Giovanni de' Pappacodi, and +did not hesitate to declare that there were parts in it, which in an age +so fruitful in fine works, no one could have surpassed. It represents +the Seven Sacraments. The minute description which the historian gives +of it, shews us what sobriety and judgment there were in his +composition; and the portraits of Alfonso II. and Ippolita Sforza, whose +espousals he represented in the Sacrament of Marriage, afford us some +light for fixing the date of this picture. Raimo Tesauro was very much +employed in works in fresco. Some pictures by him are also mentioned in +S. Maria Nuova, and in Monte Vergine; pictures, says the Cav. Massimo, +"very studied and perfect, according to the latest schools succeeding +our Zingaro."</p> + +<p>To the same schools Gio. Antonio d'Amato owed his first instructions; +but it is said, that when he saw the pictures which Pietro Perugino had +painted for the Duomo of Naples, he became ambitious of emulating the +style of that master. By diligence, in which he was second to none, he +approached, as one may say, the confines of modern art; and died at an +advanced period of the sixteenth century. He is highly extolled for his +Dispute of the Sacrament, painted for the Metropolitan church, and for +two other pictures placed in the Borgo di Chiaia, the one at the +Carmine, the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg +367]</a></span>other at S. Leonardo. And here we may close our account +of the early painters, scanty indeed, but still copious for a city +harassed by incessant hostilities.<a name="fnanchor_106" +id="fnanchor_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[106]</sup></a></p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_98" id="Footnote_98"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_98">[98]</a> +In the Museo of the Sig. D. Franc. Daniele, are some birds, not inferior +to the doves of Furietti.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_99" id="Footnote_99"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_99">[99]</a> +I adopt this mode because "little has hitherto been published on the +Sicilian School," as the Sig. Hackert observes in his <i>Memorie de' +Pittori Messinesi</i>. I had not seen that book when I published the +former edition of the present work, and I was then desirous that the +memoirs of the Sicilian painters should be collected together and given +to the public. I rejoice that we have had memoirs presented to us of +those of Messina, and that we shall also have those of the Syracusans +and others, as the worthy professor gives us reason to hope in the +preface to the <i>Memorie</i> before mentioned, which were written by an +anonymous writer, and published by Sig. Hackert with his own +remarks.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_100" id="Footnote_100"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_100">[100]</a> +The history of the art in Messina enumerates a series of pictures from +the year 1267, of which period is the S. Placido of the cathedral, +painted by an Antonio d'Antonio. It is supposed that this is a family of +painters, which had the surname of Antonj, and that many pictures in S. +Francesco, S. Anna, and elsewhere, are by different Antonj, until we +come to Salvatore di Antonio, father of the celebrated Antonello di +Messina, and himself a master; and there remains by him a S. Francis in +the act of receiving the Stigmata, in the church of his name. Thus the +genealogy of this Antonello is carried to the before mentioned Antonio +di Antonio, and still further by a writer called <i>il Minacciato</i> +(Hack. p. 11), although Antonio never, to my knowledge, subscribed +himself degli Antonj, having always on his pictures, which I have seen, +inscribed his country, instead of his surname, as <i>Messinensis</i>, +<i>Messineus</i>, <i>Messinæ</i>.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_101" id="Footnote_101"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_101">[101]</a> +The <i>Memorie de' Pittori Messinesi</i> assert, that at Rome he was +attracted by the fame of the works of Masaccio, and that he there also +designed all the ancient statues. They add, too, that he arrived at such +celebrity, that his works are equal to those of the best masters of his +time. I imagine it must be meant to allude to those who preceded Pietro +Perugino, Francia, Gio. Bellini, and Mantegna; as his works will not +bear any comparison with those of the latter masters.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_102" id="Footnote_102"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_102">[102]</a> +In the first epoch of the Venetian School.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_103" id="Footnote_103"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_103">[103]</a> +The following inscription, composed at the instance of the Venetian +painters, is found in Ridolfi, p. 49. "<i>Antonius pictor, præcipuum +Messanæ suæ et totius Siciliæ ornamentum hâc humo contegitur: non solum +suis picturis, in quibus singulare artificium et venustas fuit: sed et +quod coloribus oleo miscendis splendorem et perpetuitatem</i> <span +class="smcap">primus Italiæ Picturæ</span> <i>contulit, summo</i> <span +class="smcap">semper</span> <i>artificum studio celebratus.</i>"</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_104" id="Footnote_104"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_104">[104]</a> +A letter of Summonzio, written on the 20th March, 1524, has been +communicated to me by the Sig. Cav. de' Lazara, extracted from the 60th +volume of the MSS. collected in Venice by the Sig. Ab. Profess. Daniele +Francesconi. It is addressed to M. A. Michele, who had requested from +him some information respecting the ancient and modern artists of +Naples; and in reference to the present question he thus speaks. "Since +that period (the reign of King Ladislaus), we have not had any one of so +much talent in the art of painting as our Maestro Colantonio of Naples, +who would in all probability have arrived at great eminence, if he had +not died young. Owing to the taste of the times, he did not arrive at +that perfection of design founded on the antique, which his disciple +Antonello da Messina attained; an artist, as I understand, well known +amongst you. The style of Colantonio was founded on the Flemish, and the +colouring of that country, to which he was so much attached, that he had +intended to go thither, but the King Raniero retained him here, +satisfied with showing him the practice and mode of such colouring." +From this letter, which seems contrary to my argument, I collect +sufficient, if I err not, to confirm it. For, 1st, the defence of those +writers falls to the ground, who assume that the art of oil colouring +was derived from Naples, while we see that Colantonio, by means of the +king, received it from Flanders. 2ndly, Van Eyck himself is not here +named, but the painters of Flanders generally; which country first +awakened, as we have observed, by the example of Italy, had discovered +new, and it is true, imperfect and inefficient methods, but still +superior to distemper; and who knows if this were not the mode adopted +by Colantonio. 3rdly, It is said that he died young, a circumstance +which may give credit to the difficulty that he had in communicating the +secret: in fact, it is not known that he communicated it even to his +son-in-law, much less to a stranger. 4thly, Hence the necessity of +Antonello undertaking the journey to Flanders to learn the secret from +Van Eyck, who was then in years, and not without difficulty communicated +it to him. 5thly, If we believe with Ridolfi that Antonello painted in +1494 in Trevigi, and credit the testimony of Vasari, that he was not +then more than forty-nine years of age, how could he be the scholar of +Colantonio, who, according to Dominici, died in 1444? It is with +diffidence I advance these remarks on a matter on which I have before +expressed my doubts, and I have been obliged to leave some points +undecided, or decided rather according to the opinions of others than my +own.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_105" id="Footnote_105"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_105">[105]</a> +In the ducal gallery in Florence, is a Deposition from the Cross, wholly +in the style of Zingaro: and I know not whether it ought to be ascribed +to Polito, who certainly resided in Florence, or to some other painter +of the Neapolitan School.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_106" id="Footnote_106"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_106">[106]</a> +In Messina, towards the close of the fifteenth century, or at the +beginning of the sixteenth, some artists flourished who practised their +native style, not yet modernised on the Italian model, as Alfonso +Franco, a scholar of Jacopello d'Antonio, and a Pietro Oliva, of an +uncertain school. Both are praised for their natural manner, the +peculiar boast of that age, but in the first we admire a correct design +and a lively expression, for which his works have been much sought after +by strangers, who have spared only to his native place a Deposition from +the Cross, at S. Francesco di Paola, and a Dispute of Christ with the +Doctors, at S. Agostino. Still less remains of Antonello Rosaliba, +always a graceful painter. This is a Madonna with the Holy Infant, in +the village of Postunina.</p> + +<p class="p4"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg +368]</a></span></p> + +<h4>NEAPOLITAN SCHOOL.</h4> + +<h4>SECOND EPOCH.</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><i>Modern Neapolitan Style, founded on the +Schools of Raffaello and Michelangiolo.</i></div> + +<p class="p2">It has already been observed, that at the commencement of +the sixteenth century, the art of painting seemed in every country to +have attained to maturity, and that every school at that time assumed +its own peculiar and distinguishing character. Naples did not, however, +possess a manner so decided as that of other schools of Italy, and thus +afforded an opportunity for the cultivation of the best style, as the +students who left their native country returned home, each with the +manner of his own master, and the sovereigns and nobility of the kingdom +invited and employed the most celebrated strangers. In this respect, +perhaps, Naples did not yield precedence to any city after Rome. Thus +the first talents were constantly employed in ornamenting both the +churches and palaces of that metropolis. Nor indeed was that country +ever deficient in men of genius, who manifested every exquisite quality +for distinction, particularly such as depended on a strong and <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg +369]</a></span>fervid imagination. Hence an accomplished writer and +painter has observed, that no part of Italy could boast of so many +native artists, such is the fire, the fancy, and freedom, which +characterizes, for the most part, the works of these masters. Their +rapidity of execution was another effect of their genius, a quality +which has been alike praised by the ancients,<a name="fnanchor_107" +id="fnanchor_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[107]</sup></a> and the moderns, when combined +with other more requisite gifts of genius. But this despatch in general +excludes correct design, which from that cause is seldom found in that +school. Nor do we find that it paid much attention to ideal perfection, +as most of its professors, following the practice of the naturalists, +selected the character of their heads and the attitudes of their figures +from common life; some with more, and others with less discrimination. +With regard to colour, this school changed its principles in conformity +to the taste of the times. It was fertile in invention and composition, +but deficient in application and study. The history of the vicissitudes +it experienced will occupy the remainder of this volume.</p> + +<p>The epoch of modern painting in Naples could not have commenced under +happier auspices than those which it had the good fortune to experience. +Pietro Perugino had painted an Assumption of the Virgin, which I am +informed exists in the Duomo, or S. Reparata, a very ancient cathedral +church, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg +370]</a></span>since connected with the new Duomo. This work opened the +way to a better taste. When Raffaello and his school rose into public +esteem, Naples was among the first distant cities to profit from it, by +means of some of his scholars, to whom were also added some followers of +Michelangiolo, about the middle of the century. Thus till nearly the +year 1600, this school paid little attention to any other style than +that of these two great masters and their imitators, except a few +artists who were admirers of Titian.</p> + +<p>We may commence the new series with Andrea Sabbatini of Salerno. This +artist was so much struck with the style of Pietro, when he saw his +picture in the Duomo, that he immediately determined to study in the +school of Perugia. He took his departure accordingly for that city, but +meeting on the road some brother painters who much more highly extolled +the works of Raffaello, executed for Julius II., he changed his mind and +proceeded to Rome, and there placed himself in the school of that great +master. He remained with him however, only a short time, as the death of +his father compelled him to return home, against his wishes. But he +arrived a new man. It is related that he painted with Raffaello at the +Pace, and in the Vatican, and that he became an accomplished copyist of +his works, and successfully emulated the style of his master. Compared +with his fellow scholars, although he did not rival Giulio Romano, he +yet surpassed Raffaele del Colle, and <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span>others of that class. +He had a correctness of design, selection in his faces and in his +attitudes, a depth of shade, and the muscles rather strongly expressed; +a breadth in the folding of his drapery, and a colour which still +preserves its freshness after the lapse of so many years. He executed +many works in Naples, as appears from the catalogue of his pictures. +Among his best works are numbered some pictures at S. Maria delle +Grazie; besides the frescos which he executed there and in other places, +extolled by writers as miracles of art, but few of which remain to the +present day. He painted also in his native city, in Gaeta, and indeed in +all parts of the kingdom, both in the churches and for private +collections, where many of his Madonnas, of an enchanting beauty, are +still to be seen.<a name="fnanchor_108" id="fnanchor_108"></a><a +href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor"><sup>[108]</sup></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg +372]</a></span>Andrea had several scholars, some of whom studied under +other masters, and did not acquire much of his style. Such was Cesare +Turco, who rather took after Pietro; a good painter in oil, but +unsuccessful in fresco. But Andrea was the sole master of Francesco +Santafede, the father and master of Fabrizio; painters who in point of +colouring have few equals in this school, and possessing a singular +uniformity of style. Nevertheless <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span>the experienced +discover in the father more vigour, and more clearness in his shadows; +and there are by him some pictures in the Soffitto of the Nunziata, and +a Deposition from the Cross in the possession of the prince di Somma, +highly celebrated. But of all the scholars of Andrea, one Paolillo +resembled him the most, whose works were all ascribed to his master, +until Dominici restored them to their right owner. He would have been +the great ornament of this school had he not died young.</p> + +<p>Polidoro Caldara, or Caravaggio, came to Naples in the year of the +sacking of Rome, 1527. He was not, as Vasari would have us believe, in +danger of perishing through want at Naples; for Andrea da Salerno, who +had been his fellow disciple, generously received him into his house, +and introduced him in the city, where he obtained many commissions, and +formed several scholars before he went to Sicily. He had distinguished +himself in Rome by his chiaroscuri, as we have related; and he painted +in colours in Naples and Messina. His colour in oil was pallid and +obscure, at least for some time, and in this style I saw some pictures +of the Passion in Rome, which Gavin Hamilton had received from Sicily. +In other respects they were valuable, from their design and invention. +Vasari mentions this master with enthusiasm, calls him a divine genius, +and extols to the skies a picture which he painted in Messina a little +while before his death. This was a composition of Christ on his way to +Mount <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg +374]</a></span>Calvary, surrounded by a great multitude, and he assures +us that the colouring was enchanting.</p> + +<p>Giambernardo Lama was first a scholar of Amato, and afterwards +attached himself to Polidoro, in whose manner he painted a Pietà at S. +Giacomo degli Spagnuoli, which, from its conception, its correctness, +and vigour of design, variety in attitude, and general style of +composition, was by many ascribed to that master. In general however, he +displayed a softer and more natural manner, and was partial to the style +of Andrea di Salerno. Marco di Pino, an imitator of Michelangiolo, as we +have observed, though sober and judicious, was held in disesteem by him. +In the <i>Segretario</i> of Capece, there is an interesting letter to +Lama, where amongst other things he says, "I hear that you do not agree +with Marco da Siena, as you paint with more regard to beauty, and he is +attached to a vigorous design without softening his colours. I know not +what you desire of him, but pray leave him to his own method, and do you +follow yours."</p> + +<p>A Francesco Ruviale, a Spaniard, is also mentioned in Naples, called +Polidorino, from his happy imitation of his master, whom he assisted in +painting for the Orsini some subjects illustrative of the history of +that noble family; and after the departure of his master, he executed by +himself several works at Monte Oliveto and elsewhere. The greater part +of these have perished, as happened <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span>in Rome to so many of +the works of Polidoro. This Ruviale appears to me to be a different +artist from a Ruviale, a Spaniard, who is enumerated among the scholars +of Salviati, and the assistants of Vasari, in the painting of the +Chancery; on which occasion Vasari says, he formed himself into a good +painter. This was under Paul VII. in 1544, at which time Polidorino must +already have been a master. Palomino has not said a word of any other +Ruviale, a painter of his country; and this is a proof that the two +preceding artists never returned home to Spain.</p> + +<p>Some have included among the scholars of Polidoro an able artist and +good colourist, called Marco Calabrese, whose surname is Cardisco. +Vasari ranks him before all his Neapolitan contemporaries, and considers +his genius a fruit produced remote from its native soil. This +observation cannot appear correct to any one who recollects that the +Calabria of the present day is the ancient Magna Græcia, where in former +times the arts were carried to the highest pitch of perfection. Cardisco +painted much in Naples and in the state. His most celebrated work is the +Dispute of S. Agostino in the church of that saint in Aversa. He had a +scholar in Gio. Batista Crescione, who together with Lionardo +Castellani, his relative, painted at the time Vasari wrote, which was an +excuse for his noticing them only in a cursory manner. We may further +observe that Polidoro <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" +id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span>was the founder of a florid school in +Messina, where we must look for his most able scholars.<a +name="fnanchor_109" id="fnanchor_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[109]</sup></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg +377]</a></span>Gio. Francesco Penni, or as he is called, il Fattore, +came to Naples some time after Polidoro, but soon afterwards fell sick, +and died in the year 1528. He contributed in two different ways to <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span>the +advancement of the school of Naples. In the first place he left there +the great copy of the Transfiguration of Raffaello, which he had painted +in Rome in conjunction with Perino, and which was afterwards placed in +S. Spirito degl'Incurabili, and served as a study to Lama, and the best +painters, until, with other select pictures and sculptures at Naples, it +was purchased and removed by the viceroy Don Pietro Antonio of Aragon. +Secondly, he left there a scholar of the name of Lionardo, commonly +called il Pistoja, from the place of his birth; an excellent colourist, +but not a very correct designer. We noticed him among the assistants of +Raffaello, and more at length among the artists of the Florentine state, +where we find some of his pictures, as in Volterra and elsewhere. After +he had lost his friend Penni in Naples, he established himself there for +the remainder of his days, where he received sufficient encouragement +from the nobility of that city, and painted less for the churches than +for private individuals. He chiefly excelled in portrait.</p> + +<p>Pistoja is said to have been one of the masters of Francesco Curia, a +painter, who, though somewhat of a mannerist in the style of Vasari and +Zucchero, is yet commended for the noble and agreeable style of his +composition, for his beautiful countenances, and natural colouring. +These qualities are singularly conspicuous in a Circumcision painted for +the church della Pietà, esteemed by Ribera, Giordano, and Solimene, one +of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg +379]</a></span>first pictures in Naples. He left in Ippolito Borghese an +accomplished imitator, who was absent a long time from his native +country, where few of his works remain, but those are highly prized. He +was in the year 1620 in Perugia, as Morelli relates in his description +of the pictures and statues of that city, and painted an Assumption of +the Virgin, which was placed in S. Lorenzo.</p> + +<p>There were two Neapolitans who were scholars and assistants of Perino +del Vaga in Rome; Gio. Corso, initiated in the art by Amato, or as +others assert by Polidoro; and Gianfilippo Criscuolo, instructed a long +time by Salerno. There are few remains of Corso in Naples, except such +as are retouched; nor is any piece so much extolled as a Christ with a +Cross painted for the church of S. Lorenzo. Criscuolo in the short time +he was at Rome, diligently copied Raffaello, and was greatly attached to +his school. He followed, however, his own genius, which was reserved and +timid, and formed for himself rather a severe manner; a circumstance to +his honour, at a time when the contours were overcharged and the +correctness of Raffaello was neglected. He is also highly commended as +an instructor.</p> + +<p>From his school came Francesco Imparato, who was afterwards taught by +Titian, and so far emulated his style, that a S. Peter Martyr by him in +the church of that saint in Naples was praised by Caracciolo as the best +picture which had then been seen in that city. We must not confound this +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg +380]</a></span>Francesco with Girolamo Imparato, his son, who flourished +after the end of the sixteenth century, and enjoyed a reputation greater +than he perhaps merited. He too was a follower of the Venetian, and +afterwards of the Lombard style, and he travelled to improve himself in +colouring, the fruits of which were seen in the picture of the Rosario +at S. Tommaso d'Aquino, and in others of his works. The Cav. Stanzioni, +who knew him, and was his competitor, considered him inferior to his +father in talent, and describes him as vain and ostentatious.</p> + +<p>To these painters of the school of Raffaello, there succeeded in +Naples two followers of Michelangiolo, whom we have before noticed. The +first of these was Vasari, who was called thither in 1544, to paint the +refectory of the P. P. Olivetani, and was afterwards charged with many +commissions in Naples and in Rome. By the aid of architecture, in which +he excelled more than in painting, he converted that edifice, which was +in what is commonly called the Gothic style, to a better form; altered +the vault, and ornamented it with modern stuccos, which were the first +seen in Naples, and painted there a considerable number of subjects, +with that rapidity and mediocrity that characterize the greater part of +his works. He remained there for the space of a year, and of the +services he rendered to the city, we may judge from the following +passage in his life. "It is extraordinary," he says, "that in so large +and noble a city, there should have been found no masters <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg +381]</a></span>after Giotto, to have executed any work of celebrity, +although some works by Perugino and by Raffaello had been introduced. On +these grounds I have endeavoured, to the best of my humble talents, to +awaken the genius of that country to a spirit of emulation, and to the +accomplishment of some great and honourable work; and from these my +labours, or from some other cause, we now see many beautiful works in +stucco and painting, in addition to the before mentioned pictures." It +is not easy to conjecture why Vasari should here overlook many eminent +painters, and even Andrea da Salerno himself, so illustrious an artist, +and whose name would have conferred a greater honour on his book, than +it could possibly have derived from it. Whether self love prompted him +to pass over that painter and other Neapolitan artists, in the hope that +he should himself be considered the restorer of taste in Naples; or +whether it was the consequence of the dispute which existed at that time +between him and the painters of Naples; or whether, as I observed in my +preface, it sometimes happens in this art, that a picture which delights +one person, disgusts another, I know not, and every one must judge for +himself. For myself, however much disposed I should be to pardon him for +many omissions, which in a work like his, are almost unavoidable, still +I cannot exculpate him for this total silence. Nor have the writers of +Naples ever ceased complaining of this neglect, and some indeed have +bitterly inveighed <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" +id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span>against him and accused him of +contributing to the deterioration of taste. So true is it, that an +offence against a whole nation is an offence never pardoned.</p> + +<p>The other imitator, and a favourite of Michelangiolo (but not his +scholar, as some have asserted) that painted in Naples, was Marco di +Pino, or Marco da Siena, frequently before mentioned by us. He appears +to have arrived in Naples after the year 1560. He was well received in +that city, and had some privileges conferred on him; nor did the +circumstance of his being a stranger create towards him any feeling of +jealousy on the part of the Neapolitans, who are naturally hospitable to +strangers of good character; and he is described by all as a sincere, +affable, and respectable man. He enjoyed in Naples the first reputation, +and was often employed in works of consequence in some of the greater +churches of the city, and in others of the kingdom at large. He repeated +on several occasions the Deposition from the Cross, which he painted at +Rome, but with many variations, and the one the most esteemed was that +which he placed in S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini, in 1577. The Circumcision +in the Gesù Vecchio, where Parrino traces the portrait of the artist and +his wife,<a name="fnanchor_110" id="fnanchor_110"></a><a +href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor"><sup>[110]</sup></a> the adoration +of the Magi at S. Severino, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" +id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span>and others of his works, contain views +of buildings, not unworthy of him, as he was an eminent architect, and +also a good writer on that art. Of his merit as a painter, I believe I +do not err, when I say that among the followers of Michelangiolo, there +is none whose design is less extravagant and whose colour is more +vigorous. He is not however, always equal. In the church of S. Severino, +where he painted four pictures, the Nativity of the Virgin is much +inferior to the others. A mannered style was so common in artists of +that age, that few were exempt from it. He had many scholars in Naples, +but none of the celebrity of Gio. Angelo Criscuolo. This artist was the +brother of Gio. Filippo, already mentioned, and exercised the profession +of a notary, without relinquishing that of a miniature painter, which he +had learnt in his youth. He became desirous of emulating his brother in +larger compositions, and under the direction of Marco succeeded in +acquiring his style.</p> + +<p>These two painters laid the foundation of the history of the art in +Naples. In 1568, there issued from the Giunti press in Florence, a new +edition of the works of Vasari, in which the author speaks very briefly +of Marco da Siena, in the life of Daniello da Volterra. He only observes +that he had derived the greatest benefit from the instructions of that +master, and that he had afterwards chosen Naples for his country, and +settled and continued his labours there. Marco, either not satisfied +with <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg +384]</a></span>this eulogium, or displeased at the silence of Vasari +with regard to many of the painters of Siena, and almost all those of +Naples, determined to publish a work of his own in opposition to him. +Among his scholars was the notary before mentioned, who supplied him +with memoirs of the Neapolitan painters taken from the archives of the +city, and from tradition; and from these materials Marco prepared a +<i>Discorso</i>. He composed it in 1569, a year after the publication of +this edition of Vasari's works, and it was the first sketch of the +history of the fine arts in Naples. It did not, however, then see the +light, and was not published until 1742, and then only in part, by +Dominici, together with notes written by Criscuolo in the Neapolitan +dialect, and with the addition of other notes collected respecting the +subsequent artists, and arranged by two excellent painters, Massimo +Stanzioni, and Paolo de' Matteis. Dominici himself added some others of +his own collecting, and communicated by some of his learned friends, +among whom was the celebrated antiquarian Matteo Egizio. The late +<i>Guida</i> or <i>Breve Descrizione di Napoli</i> says, this voluminous +work stands in need of more information, a better arrangement, and a +more concise style. There might also be added some better criticisms on +the ancient artists, and less partiality towards some of the modern. +Still this is a very lucid work, and highly valuable for the opinions +expressed on the talents of artists, for the most part by other artists, +whose names <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg +385]</a></span>inspire confidence in the reader. Whether the sister arts +of architecture and sculpture are as judiciously treated of, it is not +our province to inquire.</p> + +<p>In the above work the reader may find the names of other artists of +Naples who belong to the close of this epoch, as Silvestro Bruno, who +enjoyed in Naples the fame of a good master; a second Simone Papa, or +del Papa, a clever fresco painter, and likewise another Gio. Ant. Amato, +who to distinguish him from the first is called the younger. He was +first instructed in the art by his uncle, afterwards by Lama, and +successively imitated their several styles. He obtained considerable +fame, and the infant Christ painted by him in the Banco de' Poveri, is +highly extolled. To these may be added those artists who fixed their +residence in other parts of Italy, as Pirro Ligorio, honoured, as we +have observed, by Pius IV. in Rome, and who died in Ferrara, engineer to +Alfonso II.; and Gio. Bernardino Azzolini, or rather Mazzolini, in whose +praise Soprani and Ratti unite. He arrived in Genoa about 1510, and +there executed some works worthy of that golden age of art. He excelled +in waxwork, and formed heads with an absolute expression of life. He +extended the same energetic character to his oil pictures, particularly +in the Martyrdom of S. Agatha in S. Giuseppe.</p> + +<p>The provincial cities had also in this age their own schools, or at +least their own masters; some of <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span>whom remained in their +native places, and others resided abroad. Cola dell'Amatrice, known also +to Vasari, who mentions him in his life of Calabrese, took up his +residence in Ascoli del Piceno, and enjoyed a distinguished name in +architecture and in painting, through all that province. He had somewhat +of a hard manner in his earlier paintings, but in his subsequent works +he exhibited a fulness of design and an accomplished modern style. He is +highly extolled in the Guida di Ascoli for his picture in the oratory of +the <i>Corpus Domini</i>, which represents the Saviour in the act of +dispensing the Eucharist to the Apostles.</p> + +<p>Pompeo dell'Aquila was a finished painter and a fine colourist, if we +are to believe Orlandi, who saw many of his works in Aquila, +particularly some frescos conducted in a noble style. In Rome in S. +Spirito in Sassia, there is a fine Deposition from the Cross by him. +This artist is not mentioned either by Baglione or any other writer of +his time. Giuseppe Valeriani, another native of Aquila, is frequently +mentioned. He painted at the same period and in the same church of S. +Spirito, where there exists a Transfiguration by him. We perceive in him +an evident desire of imitating F. Sebastiano, but he is heavy in his +design, and too dark in his colours. He entered afterwards into the +society of Jesuits, and improved his first manner. His best works are +said to be a Nunziata in a chapel of the Gesù, with other subjects from +the life of Christ, in which are some most beautiful <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg +387]</a></span>draperies added by Scipio da Gaeta. This latter artist +also was a native of the kingdom of Naples; but of him and of the Cav. +di Arpino, who both taught in Rome, we have already spoken in that +school.</p> + +<p>Marco Mazzaroppi di S. Germano died young, but is known for his +natural and animated colouring, almost in the Flemish style. At Capua +they mention with applause the altarpieces and other pictures of Gio. +Pietro Russo, who after studying in various schools returned to that +city, and there left many excellent works. Matteo da Lecce, whose +education is uncertain, displayed in Rome a Michelangiolo style, or as +some say, the style of Salviati. It is certain that he had a strong +expression of the limbs and muscles. He worked for the most part in +fresco, and there is a prophet painted by him for the company of the +Gonfalone, of such relief, that the figures, says Baglione, seem +starting from the wall. Although there were at that time many +Florentines in Rome, he was the only one who dared in the face of the +Last Judgment of Michelangiolo, to paint the Fall of the Rebel Angels, a +subject which that great artist designed to have painted, but never put +his intentions into execution. He chose too to accompany it with the +combat between the Prince of the Angels and Lucifer, for the body of +Moses; a subject taken from the epistle of S. James, and analogous to +that of the other picture. Matteo entered upon this very arduous task +with a noble spirit; but, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" +id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span>alas! with a very different result. He +painted afterwards in Malta, and passing to Spain and to the Indies, he +enriched himself by merchandise, until turning to mining, he lost all +his wealth, and died in great indigence. We may also mention two +Calabrians of doubtful parentage. Nicoluccio, a Calabrian, who will be +mentioned among the scholars of Lorenzo Costa, but only cursorily, as I +know nothing of this parricide, as he may be called, except that he +attempted to murder his master. Pietro Negroni, a Calabrian also, is +commemorated by Dominici as a diligent and accomplished painter. In +Sicily, it is probable that many painters flourished belonging to this +period, besides Gio. Borghese da Messina, a scholar also of Costa, and +Laureti, whom I notice in the schools of Rome and Bologna, and others +whose names I may have seen, but whose works have not called for my +notice. The succeeding epoch we shall find more productive in Sicilian +art.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_107" id="Footnote_107"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_107">[107]</a> +<i>Plin. Hist. Nat.</i> lib. <span class="smcap">xxxv.</span> cap. 11. +<i>Nec ullius velocior in picturâ manus fuit.</i></p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_108" id="Footnote_108"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_108">[108]</a> +The style of Raffaello found imitators also in Sicily, and the first to +practise it was Salvo di Antonio, the nephew of Antonello, by whom there +is, we are told, in the sacristy of the cathedral, the death of the +Virgin, "<i>in the pure Raffaellesque style</i>," although Salvo is not +the painter who has been called the Raffaello of Messina: this was +Girolamo Alibrandi. A distinguished celebrity has of late been attached +to this artist, whose name was before comparatively unknown. Respectably +born, and liberally educated, instead of pursuing the study of the law, +for which he was intended, he applied himself to painting, and having +acquired the principles of the art in the school of the Antonj of +Messina, he went to perfect himself in Venice. The scholar of Antonello, +and the friend of Giorgione, he improved himself by the study of the +works of the best masters. After many years residence in Venice he +passed to Milan, to the school of Vinci, where he corrected some dryness +of style which he had brought thither with him. Thus far there is no +doubt about his history; but we are further told, that being recalled to +his native country, he wished first to see Coreggio and Raffaello, and +that he repaired to Messina about the year 1514; a statement which is on +the face of it incorrect, since Lionardo left Milan in 1499, when +Raffaello was only a youth, and Coreggio in his infancy. But I have +before observed, that the history of art is full of these +contradictions; a painter resembling another, he was therefore supposed +his scholar, or at all events acquainted with him. On this subject I may +refer to the Milanese School in regard to Luini, (Epoch II.) and observe +that a follower of the style of Lionardo almost necessarily runs into +the manner of Raffaello. Thus it happened to Alibrandi, whose style +however bore a resemblance to others besides, so that his pictures pass +under various names. There remains in his native place, in the church of +Candelora, a Purification of the Virgin, in a picture of twenty-four +Sicilian palms, which is the chef d'œuvre of the pictures of +Messina, from the grace, colouring, perspective, and every other quality +that can enchant the eye. Polidoro was so much captivated with this +work, that he painted in distemper a picture of the Deposition from the +Cross, as a precious covering to this picture, in order that it might be +transmitted uninjured to posterity. Girolamo died in the plague of 1524, +and at the same time other eminent artists of this school; a school +which was for some time neglected, but which has, through the labours of +Polidoro, risen to fresh celebrity.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_109" id="Footnote_109"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_109">[109]</a> +I here subjoin a list of them. Deodato Guinaccia may be called the +Giulio of this new Raffaello, on whose death he inherited the materials +of his art, and supported the fame of his school: and like Giulio, +completed some works left unfinished by his master; as the Nativity in +the church of Alto Basso, which passes for the best production of +Polidoro. In this exercise of his talents he became a perfect imitator +of his master's style, as in the church of the Trinità a' Pellegrini, +and in the Transfiguration at S. Salvatore de' Greci. He imparted his +taste to his scholars, the most distinguished of whom for works yet +remaining, are Cesare di Napoli, and Francesco Comandè, pure copyists of +Polidoro. With regard to the latter, some errors have prevailed; for +having very often worked in conjunction with Gio. Simone Comandè, his +brother, who had an unequivocal Venetian taste, from having studied in +Venice, it not unfrequently happens, that when the pictures of Comandè +are spoken of, they are immediately attributed to Simone, as the more +celebrated artist; but an experienced eye cannot be deceived, not even +in works conjointly painted, as in the Martyrdom of S. Bartholomew, in +the church of that saint, or the Magi in the monastery of Basicò. There, +and in every other picture, whoever can distinguish Polidoro from the +Venetians, easily discovers the style of the two brothers, and assigns +to each his own.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Polidoro had in his academy Mariano and Antonello +Riccio, father and son. The first came in order to change the manner of +Franco, his former master, for that of Polidoro; the second to acquire +his master's style. Both succeeded to their wishes; but the father was +so successful a rival of his new master, that his works are said to pass +under his name. This is the common report, but I think it can only apply +to inexperienced purchasers, since if there be a painter, whose style it +is almost impossible to imitate to deception, it is Polidoro da +Caravaggio. In proof, the comparison may be made in Messina itself, +where the Pietà of Polidoro, and the Madonna della Carità of Mariano, +are placed near each other.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Stefano Giordano was also a respectable scholar of +Caldara, and we may mention, as an excellent production, his picture of +the Supper of our Lord in the monastery of S. Gregory, painted in 1541. +With him we may join Jacopo Vignerio, by whom we find described, as an +excellent work, the picture of Christ bearing his Cross, at S. Maria +della Scala, bearing the date of 1552.</p> + +<p class="footnote">We may close this list of the scholars of Polidoro +with the infamous name of Tonno, a Calabrian, who murdered his master in +order to possess himself of his money, and suffered for the atrocious +crime. He evinced a more than common talent in the art, if we may judge +from the Epiphany which he painted for the church of S. Andrea, in which +piece he introduced the portrait of his unfortunate master.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Some writers have also included among the followers +of Polidoro, Antonio Catalano, because he was a scholar of Deodato. We +are informed he went to Rome and entered the school of Barocci; but as +Barocci never taught in Rome, we may rather imagine that it was from the +works of that artist he acquired a florid colouring, and a +<i>sfumatezza</i>, with which he united a portion of the taste of +Raffaello, whom he greatly admired. His pictures are highly valued from +this happy union of excellences; and his great picture of the Nativity +at the Capuccini del Gesso is particularly extolled. We must not mistake +this accomplished painter for Antonio Catalano <i>il Giovane</i>, the +scholar of Gio. Simone Comandè, from whose style and that of others he +formed a manner sufficiently spirited, but incorrect, and practised with +such celerity, that his works are as numerous as they are little +prized.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_110" id="Footnote_110"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_110">[110]</a> +These traditions are frequently nothing more than common rumour, to +which, without corroborating circumstances, we ought not to give credit. +It has happened more than once, that such portraits have been found to +belong to the patrons of the church.</p> + +<p class="p4"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg +389]</a></span></p> + +<h4>NEAPOLITAN SCHOOL.</h4> + +<h4>THIRD EPOCH.</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><i>Corenzio, Ribera, Caracciolo, flourish in +Naples. Strangers who compete with them.</i></div> + +<p class="p2">About the middle of the sixteenth century, Tintoretto was +considered one of the first artists in Venice; and towards the close of +the same century Caravaggio in Rome, and the Caracci in Bologna, rose to +the highest degree of celebrity. The several styles of these masters +soon extended themselves into other parts of Italy, and became the +prevailing taste in Naples, where they were adopted by three painters of +reputation, Corenzio, Ribera, and Caracciolo. These artists rose one +after the other into reputation, but afterwards united together in +painting, and assisting each other interchangeably. At the time they +flourished, Guido, Domenichino, Lanfranco, and Artemisia Gentileschi, +were in Naples; and there and elsewhere contributed some scholars to the +Neapolitan School. Thus the time which elapsed between Bellisario and +Giordano, is the brightest period of this academy, both in respect to +the number of excellent artists, and the works of <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg +390]</a></span>taste. It is however the darkest era, not only of the +Neapolitan School, but of the art itself, as far as regards the +scandalous artifices, and the crimes which occurred in it. I would +gladly pass over those topics in silence, if they were foreign to my +subject, but they are so intimately connected with it, that they must, +at all events, be alluded to. I shall notice them at the proper time, +adhering to the relation of Malvasia, Passeri, Bellori, and more +particularly of Dominici.</p> + +<p>Bellisario Corenzio, a Greek by birth, after having passed five years +in the school of Tintoretto, settled in Naples about the year 1590. He +inherited from nature a fertile imagination and a rapidity of hand, +which enabled him to rival his master in the prodigious number of his +pictures, and those too of a large class. Four common painters could +scarcely have equalled his individual labour. He cannot be compared to +Tintoretto, who, when he restrained his too exuberant fancy, was +inferior to few in design; and excelled in invention, gestures, and the +airs of his heads, which, though the Venetians have always had before +their eyes, they have never equalled. Corenzio successfully imitated his +master when he painted with care, as in the great picture, in the +refectory of the Benedictines, representing the multitude miraculously +fed; a work he finished in forty days. But the greater part of the vault +resembles in many respects the style of the Cav. d'Arpino,<a +name="fnanchor_111" id="fnanchor_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[111]</sup></a><span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span>other parts partake of +the Venetian School, not without some character peculiar to himself, +particularly in the glories, which are bordered with shadowy clouds. In +the opinion of the Cav. Massimo, he was of a fruitful invention, but not +select. He painted very little in oil, although he had great merit in +the strength and harmony of his colours. The desire of gain led him to +attempt large works in fresco, which he composed with much felicity, as +he was copious, varied, and energetic. He had a good general effect, and +was finished in detail and correct, when the proximity of some eminent +rival compelled him to it. This was the case at the Certosa, in the +chapel of S. Gennaro. He there exerted all his talents, as he was +excited to it by emulation of Caracciolo, who had painted in that place +a picture, which was long admired as one of his finest works, and was +afterwards transferred into the monastery. In other churches we find +some sacred subjects painted by him in smaller size, which Dominici +commends, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg +392]</a></span>and adds too, that he assisted M. Desiderio, a celebrated +perspective painter, whose views he accompanied with small figures +beautifully coloured and admirably appropriate.</p> + +<p>The birthplace of Giuseppe Ribera has been the subject of +controversy. Palomino, following Sandrart and Orlandi, represents him as +a native of Spain, in proof of which they refer to a picture of S. +Matteo, with the following inscription. <i>Jusepe de Ribera espanol de +la ciutad de Xativa, reyno de Valencia, Academico romano ano 1630.</i> +The Neapolitans, on the contrary, contend that he was born in the +neighbourhood of Lecce, but that his father was from Spain; and that in +order to recommend himself to the governor, who was a Spaniard, he +always boasted of his origin, and expressed it in his signature, and was +on that account called Spagnoletto. Such is the opinion of Dominici, +Signorelli, and Galanti. This question is however now set at rest, as it +appears from the <i>Antologia di Roma</i> of 1795, that the register of +his baptism was found in Sativa (now San Filippo) and that he was born +in that place. It is further said, that he learnt the principles of the +art from Francesco Ribalta of Valencia, a reputed scholar of Annibale +Caracci. But the History of Neapolitan Artists, which is suspicious in +my eyes as relates to this artist, affirms also, that whilst yet a +youth, or a mere boy, he studied in Naples under Michelangiolo da +Caravaggio, when that master fled from Rome for homicide, and fixing +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg +393]</a></span>himself there about 1606, executed many works both public +and private.<a name="fnanchor_112" id="fnanchor_112"></a><a +href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor"><sup>[112]</sup></a> But wherever +he might have received instruction in his early youth, it is certain +that the object of his more matured admiration was Caravaggio. On +leaving him, Ribera visited Rome, Modena, and Parma, and saw the works +of Raffaello and Annibale in the former place, and the works of Coreggio +in the two latter cities, and adopted in consequence a more graceful +style, in which he persevered only for a short time, and with little +success; as in Naples there were others who pursued, with superior +skill, the same path. He returned therefore to the style of Caravaggio, +which for its truth, force, and strong contrast of light and shade, was +much more calculated to attract the general eye. In a short time he was +appointed painter to the court, and subsequently became the arbiter of +its taste.</p> + +<p>His studies rendered him superior to Caravaggio in invention, +selection, and design. In <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" +id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span>emulation of him, he painted at the +Certosini that great Deposition from the Cross, which alone, in the +opinion of Giordano, is sufficient to form a great painter, and may +compete with the works of the brightest luminaries of the art. Beautiful +beyond his usual style, and almost Titianesque, is his Martyrdom of S. +Januarius, painted in the Royal Chapel, and the S. Jerome at the +Trinità. He was much attached to the representation of the latter saint, +and whole lengths and half figures of him are found in many collections. +In the Panfili Palace in Rome we find about five, and all differing. Nor +are his other pictures of similar character rare, as anchorets, +prophets, apostles, which exhibit a strong expression of bone and +muscle, and a gravity of character, in general copied from nature. In +the same taste are commonly his profane pictures, where he is fond of +representing old men and philosophers, as the Democritus and the +Heraclitus, which Sig. March. Girolamo Durazzo had in his collection, +and which are quite in the manner of Caravaggio. In his selection of +subjects the most revolting were to him the most inviting, as sanguinary +executions, horrid punishments, and lingering torments; among which is +celebrated his Ixion on the wheel, in the palace of Buon Ritiro at +Madrid. His works are very numerous, particularly in Italy and Spain. +His scholars flourished chiefly at a lower period of art, where they +will be noticed towards the conclusion of this epoch. With them we shall +name those <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg +395]</a></span>few who rivalled him successfully in figures and half +figures; and we must not, at the same time, neglect to impress on the +mind of the reader, that among so many reputed pictures of Spagnoletto +found in collections, we may rest assured that they are in great part +not justly entitled to his name, and ought to be ascribed to his +scholars.</p> + +<p>Giambatista Caracciolo, an imitator, first of Francesco Imparato, and +afterwards of Caravaggio, attained a mature age without having +signalised himself by any work of peculiar merit. But being roused by +the fame of Annibale, and the general admiration which a picture of that +master had excited, he repaired to Rome; where by persevering study in +the Farnese Gallery, which he carefully copied, he became a correct +designer in the Caracci style.<a name="fnanchor_113" +id="fnanchor_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[113]</sup></a> Of this talent he availed himself +to establish his reputation on his return to Naples, and distinguished +himself on some occasions of competition, as in the Madonna at S. Anna +de' Lombardi, in a S. Carlo in the church of S. Agnello, and Christ +bearing his Cross at the Incurabili, paintings praised by connoisseurs +as the happiest imitations of Annibale. But his other works, in the +breadth and strength of their lights and shades, rather remind us of the +school of Caravaggio. He was a finished and careful painter. There are +however some feeble works <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" +id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span>by him, which Dominici considers to +have been negligently painted, through disgust, for individuals who had +not given him his own price, or they were perhaps executed by Mercurio +d'Aversa his scholar, and an inferior artist.</p> + +<p>The three masters whom I have just noticed in successive order, were +the authors of the unceasing persecutions which many of the artists who +had come to, or were invited to Naples, were for several years subjected +to. Bellisario had established a supreme dominion, or rather a tyranny, +over the Neapolitan painters, by calumny and insolence, as well as by +his station. He monopolized all lucrative commissions to himself and +recommended, for the fulfilment of others, one or other of the numerous +and inferior artists that were dependant on him. The Cav. Massimo, +Santafede, and other artists of talent, if they did not defer to him, +were careful not to offend him, as they knew him to be a man of a +vindictive temper, treacherous, and capable of every violence, and who +was known through jealousy to have administered poison to Luigi +Roderigo, the most promising and the most amiable of his scholars.</p> + +<p>Bellisario, in order to maintain himself in his assumed authority, +endeavoured to exclude all strangers who painted rather in fresco than +in oil. Annibale arrived there in 1609, and was engaged to ornament the +churches of Spirito Santo and Gesù Nuovo, for which, as a specimen of +his style, he painted a small picture. The Greek and <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span>his +adherents being required to give their opinion on this exquisite +production, declared it to be tasteless, and decided that the painter of +it did not possess a talent for large compositions. This divine artist +in consequence took his departure under a burning sun for Rome, where he +soon afterwards died. But the work in which strangers were the most +opposed was the chapel of S. Gennaro, which a committee had assigned to +the Cav. d'Arpino, as soon as he should finish painting the choir of the +Certosa. Bellisario leaguing with Spagnoletto, (like himself a fierce +and ungovernable man,) and with Caracciolo, who aspired to this +commission, persecuted Cesari in such a manner, that before he had +finished the choir he fled to Monte Cassino, and from thence returned to +Rome. The work was then given to Guido, but after a short time two +unknown persons assaulted the servant of that artist, and at the same +time desired him to inform his master that he must prepare himself for +death, or instantly quit Naples, with which latter mandate Guido +immediately complied. Gessi, the scholar of Guido, was not however +intimidated by this event, but applied for and obtained the honorable +commission, and came to Naples with two assistants, Gio. Batista +Ruggieri and Lorenzo Menini. But these artists were scarcely arrived, +when they were treacherously invited on board a galley, which +immediately weighed anchor and carried them off, to the great dismay of +their master, who, although he made the most diligent <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg +398]</a></span>inquiries both at Rome and Naples, could never procure +any tidings of them.</p> + +<p>Gessi also in consequence taking his departure, the committee lost +all hope of succeeding in their task, and were in the act of yielding to +the reigning cabal, assigning the fresco work to Corenzio and +Caracciolo, and promising the pictures to Spagnoletto, when suddenly +repenting of their resolution, they effaced all that was painted of the +two frescos, and entrusted the decoration of the chapel entirely to +Domenichino. It ought to be mentioned to the honor of these munificent +persons, that they engaged to pay for every entire figure 100 ducats, +for each half figure 50 ducats, and for each head 25 ducats. They took +precautions also against any interruption to the artist, threatening the +viceroy's high displeasure if he were in any way molested. But this was +only matter of derision to the junta. They began immediately to cry him +down as a cold and insipid painter, and to discredit him with those, the +most numerous class in every place, who see only with the eyes of +others. They harassed him by calumnies, by anonymous letters, by +displacing his pictures, by mixing injurious ingredients with his +colours, and by the most insidious malice they procured some of his +pictures to be sent by the viceroy to the court of Madrid; and these, +when little more than sketched, were taken from his studio and carried +to the court, where Spagnoletto ordered them to be retouched, and, +without giving him time to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" +id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span>finish them, hurried them to their +destination. This malicious fraud of his rival, the complaints of the +committee, who always met with some fresh obstacle to the completion of +the work, and the suspicion of some evil design, at last determined +Domenichino to depart secretly to Rome. As soon however as the news of +his flight transpired, he was recalled, and fresh measures taken for his +protection; when he resumed his labours, and decorated the walls and +base of the cupola, and made considerable progress in the painting of +his pictures.</p> + +<p>But before he could finish his task he was interrupted by death, +hastened either by poison, or by the many severe vexations he had +experienced both from his relatives and his adversaries, and the weight +of which was augmented by the arrival of his former enemy Lanfranco. +This artist superseded Zampieri in the painting of the <i>catino</i> of +the chapel; Spagnoletto, in one of his oil pictures; Stanzioni in +another; and each of these artists, excited by emulation, rivalled, if +he did not excel Domenichino. Caracciolo was dead. Bellisario, from his +great age, took no share in it, and was soon afterwards killed by a fall +from a stage, which he had erected for the purpose of retouching some of +his frescos. Nor did Spagnoletto experience a better fate; for, having +seduced a young girl, and become insupportable even to himself from the +general odium which he experienced, he embarked on board a ship; nor is +it known whither he fled, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" +id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span>or how he ended his life, if we may +credit the Neapolitan writers. Palomino however states him to have died +in Naples in 1656, aged sixty-seven, though he does not contradict the +first part of our statement. Thus these ambitious men, who by violence +or fraud had influenced and abused the generosity and taste of so many +noble patrons, and to whose treachery and sanguinary vengeance so many +professors of the art had fallen victims, ultimately reaped the merited +fruit of their conduct in a violent death; and an impartial posterity, +in assigning the palm of merit to Domenichino, inculcates the maxim, +that it is a delusive hope to attempt to establish fame and fortune on +the destruction of another's reputation.</p> + +<p>The many good examples in the Neapolitan School increased the number +of artists, either from the instructions of the above mentioned masters, +or from an inspection of their works; for there is much truth in the +observation of Passeri, "that a painter who has an ardent desire of +learning, receives as much instruction from the works of deceased +artists as from living masters." It was greatly to the honour of the +Neapolitan artists, amidst such a variety of new styles, to have +selected the best. Cesari had no followers in Naples, if we except Luigi +Roderigo,<a name="fnanchor_114" id="fnanchor_114"></a><a +href="#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor"><sup>[114]</sup></a> who exchanged +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg +401]</a></span>the school of Bellisario for his, but not without a +degree of mannerism, although he acquired a certain grace and judgment, +which his master did not possess. He initiated a nephew, Gianbernardino, +in the same style; who, from his being an excellent imitator of Cesari, +was employed by the Carthusian monks to finish a work which that master +had left imperfect.</p> + +<p>Thus almost all these artists trod in the steps of the Caracci, and +the one that approached nearest to them was the Cav. Massimo Stanzioni, +considered by some the best example of the Neapolitan School, of which, +as we have observed, he compiled some memoirs. He was a scholar of +Caracciolo, to whom he bore some analogy in taste, but he availed +himself of the assistance of Lanfranco, whom in one of his MS. he calls +his master, and studied too under Corenzio, who in his painting of +frescos yielded to few. In portrait he adopted the principles of +Santafede, and attained <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" +id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span>an excellent Titianesque style. Going +afterwards to Rome, and seeing the works of Annibale, and, as some +assert, making acquaintance with Guido, he became ambitious of uniting +the design of the first with the colouring of the second, and we are +informed by Galanti, that he obtained the appellation of <i>Guido Reni +di Napoli</i>. His talents, which were of the first order, enabled him +in a short time to compete with the best masters. He painted in the +Certosa a Dead Christ, surrounded by the Maries, in competition with +Ribera. This picture having become somewhat obscured, Ribera persuaded +the monks to have it washed, and he purposely injured it in such a way +with a corrosive liquid, that Stanzioni refused to repair it, declaring +that such an instance of malice ought to be perpetuated to the public +eye. But in that church, which is in fact a museum of art, where every +artist, not to be surpassed by his rivals, seems to have surpassed +himself, Massimo left some other excellent works, and particularly a +stupendous altarpiece, of S. Bruno presenting to his brethren the rules +of their order. His works are not unfrequent in the collections in his +own country, and are highly esteemed in other places. The vaults of the +Gesù Nuovo and S. Paolo entitle him to a distinguished place among +fresco painters. His paintings were highly finished, and he studied +perfection during his celibacy, but marrying a woman of some rank, in +order to maintain her in an expensive style of living, he painted <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span>many +hasty and inferior pictures. It may be said that Cocchi, in his +<i>Ragionamento del Matrimonio</i>, not without good reason took +occasion to warn all artists of the perils of the wedded state.</p> + +<p>The school of Massimo produced many celebrated scholars, in +consequence of his method and high reputation, confirming that ancient +remark, which has passed into a proverb, <i>primus discendi ardor +nobilitas est Magistri</i>. (The example of the master is the greatest +incentive to improvement). Muzio Rossi passed from his school to that of +Guido, and was chosen at the age of eighteen to paint in the Certosa of +Bologna, in competition with the first masters, and maintained his +station on a comparison; but this very promising artist was immaturely +cut off, and his own country does not possess any work by him, as the +Tribune of S. Pietro in Majella, which he painted a little time before +his death, was modernized, and his labours thus perished. This is the +reason that his works in the Certosa just mentioned, and which are +enumerated by Crespi, are held in great esteem. Another man of genius of +this school, Antonio de Bellis, died also at an early age; he painted +several subjects from the life of S. Carlo, in the church of that saint, +which were left imperfect by his death. His manner partakes somewhat of +Guercino, but is in fact founded like that of all the scholars of +Massimo, on the style of Guido.</p> + +<p>Francesco di Rosa, called Pacicco, was not acquainted with Guido +himself, but under the direction <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span>of Massimo, devoted +himself to the copying of his works. He is one of the few artists +commemorated by Paolo de' Matteis, in one of his MSS. which admits no +artists of inferior merit. He declares the style of Rosa almost +inimitable, not only from his correct design, but from the rare beauty +of the extremities, and still more from the dignity and grace of the +countenances. He had in his three nieces the most perfect models of +beauty, and he possessed a sublimity of sentiment which elevated his +mind to a high sense of excellence. His colouring, though conducted with +exquisite sweetness, had a strong body, and his pictures preserve a +clear and fresh tone. These are frequently to be found in the houses of +the nobility, as he lived long. He painted some beautiful altarpieces, +as S. Tommaso d'Aquino at the Sanità, the Baptism of S. Candida at S. +Pietro d'Aram, and other pieces.</p> + +<p>This artist had a niece of the name of Aniella di Rosa, who may be +called the Sirani of the Neapolitan School, from her talents, beauty, +and the manner of her death, the fair Bolognese being inhumanly poisoned +by some envious artists, and Aniella murdered by a jealous husband. This +husband was Agostino Beltrano, her fellow scholar in the school of +Massimo, where he became a good fresco painter, and a colourist in oil +of no common merit, as is proved by many cabinet pictures and some +altarpieces. His wife also painted in the same style, and was the +companion of his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" +id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span>labours, and they jointly prepared many +pictures which their master afterwards finished in such a manner that +they were sold as his own. Some, however, pass under her own name, and +are highly extolled, as the Birth and Death of the Virgin, at the Pietà, +not however without suspicion that Massimo had a considerable share in +that picture, as Guido had in several painted by Gentileschi. But at all +events, her original designs prove her knowledge of art, and her +contemporaries, both painters and writers, do not fail to extol her as +an excellent artist, and as such Paolo de' Matteis, has admitted her +name in his catalogue.</p> + +<p>Three young men of Orta became also celebrated scholars in this +academy, Paol Domenico Finoglia, Giacinto de' Popoli, and Giuseppe +Marullo. By the first there remains at the Certosa at Naples, the vault +of the chapel of S. Gennaro, and various pictures in the chapter house. +He had a beautiful expression, fertility, correctness, a good +arrangement of parts, and a happy general effect. The second painted in +many churches, and is admired more for his style of composition, than +for his figures. The third approached so near to his master in manner, +that artists have sometimes ascribed his works to Massimo; and in truth +he left some beautiful productions at S. Severino, and other churches. +He had afterwards a dry style of colouring, particularly in his +contours, which on that account became crude and hard, and he gradually +lost the public favour. His example may <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span>serve as a warning to +every one to estimate his own powers correctly, and not to affect genius +when he does not possess it.</p> + +<p>Another scholar who obtained a great name, was Andrea Malinconico, of +Naples. There do not exist any frescos by him, but he left many works in +oil, particularly in the church, de' Miracoli, where he painted almost +all the pictures himself. The Evangelists, and the Doctors of the +church, subjects with which he ornamented the pilasters, are the most +beautiful pictures, says the encomiast, of this master; as the attitudes +are noble, the conception original, and the whole painted with the +spirit of a great artist, and with an astonishing freshness of colour. +There are other fine works by him, but several are feeble and +spiritless, which gave a connoisseur occasion to remark that they were +in unison with the name of the painter.</p> + +<p>But none of the preceding artists were so much favoured by nature as +Bernardo Cavallino, who at first created a jealous feeling in Massimo +himself. Finding afterwards that his talent lay more in small figures +than large, he pursued that department, and became very celebrated in +his school, beyond which he is not so well known as he deserves to be. +In the galleries of the Neapolitan nobility are to be seen by him, on +canvass and copper, subjects both sacred and profane, composed with +great judgment, and with figures in the style of Poussin, full of spirit +and expression, and accompanied by a native grace, and a simplicity +peculiarly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg +407]</a></span>their own. In his colouring, besides his master and +Gentileschi, who were both followers of Guido, he imitated Rubens. He +possessed every quality essential to an accomplished artist, as even the +most extreme poverty could not induce him to hurry his works, which he +was accustomed frequently to retouch before he could entirely satisfy +himself. Life was alone wanting to him, which he unfortunately shortened +by his irregularities.<a name="fnanchor_115" id="fnanchor_115"></a><a +href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor"><sup>[115]</sup></a></p> + +<p>Andrea Vaccaro was a contemporary and rival of Massimo, but at the +same time his admirer and friend, a man of great imitative powers. He at +first followed Caravaggio, and in that style his pictures are frequently +found in Naples, and some cabinet pictures, which have even imposed upon +connoisseurs, who have bought them for originals of that master. After +some time Massimo won him over to the style of Guido, in which he +succeeded in an admirable manner, though he did not equal his friend. In +this style are executed his most celebrated works at the Certosa, at the +Teatini and Rosario, without enumerating those in collections, <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg +408]</a></span>where he is frequently found. On the death of Massimo, he +assumed the first rank among his countrymen. Giordano alone opposed him +in his early years, when on his return from Rome he brought with him a +new style from the school of Cortona, and both artists were competitors +for the larger picture of S. Maria del Pianto. That church had been +lately erected in gratitude to the Virgin, who had liberated the city +from pestilence, and this was the subject of the picture. Each artist +made a design, and Pietro da Cortona being chosen umpire, decided +against his own scholar in favour of Vaccaro, observing, that as he was +first in years, so he was first in design and natural expression. He had +not studied frescos in his youth, but began them when he was advanced in +life, in order that he might not yield the palm to Giordano, but by the +loss of his fame, he verified the proverb, that <i>ad omnem disciplinam +tardior est senectus</i>.</p> + +<p>Of his scholars, Giacomo Farelli was the most successful, who by his +vigorous talents, and by the assistance of his master, painted a picture +in competition with Giordano. The church of S. Brigida has a beautiful +picture of that saint by Farelli, and its author is mentioned by Matteis +as a painter of singular merit. He declined however, in public esteem, +from wishing at an advanced age to change his style, when he painted the +sacristy of the Tesoro. He was on that occasion <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span>anxious to imitate +Domenichino, but he did not succeed in his attempt, and indeed he never +afterwards executed any work of merit.</p> + +<p>Nor did Domenichino fail to have among the painters of Naples, or of +that state, many deserving followers.<a name="fnanchor_116" +id="fnanchor_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[116]</sup></a> Cozza, a Calabrian, who lived in +Rome, I included in that school, as also Antonio Ricci, called il +Barbalunga, who was of Messina, and well known in Rome. I may add, that +he returned to Messina, and ornamented that city with many works; as at +S. Gregorio, the saint writing; the Ascension at S. Michele; two Pietàs +of different designs at S. Niccolo and the Spedale. He is considered as +one of the best painters of Sicily, where good artists have abounded +more than is generally imagined. He formed a school there and left +several scholars.<a name="fnanchor_117" id="fnanchor_117"></a><a +href="#Footnote_117" class="fnanchor"><sup>[117]</sup></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg +410]</a></span>I ought after him to mention another Sicilian, Pietro del +Po da Palermo, a good engraver, and better known in Rome in that +capacity, than as a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" +id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span>painter. There is a S. Leone by him at +the church of the Madonna di Costantinopoli; an altarpiece which however +does not do him so much honour <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" +id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span>as the pictures which he painted for +collections, some of which are in Spain; and particularly some small +pictures which he executed in the manner of miniatures with exquisite +taste. Two of this kind I saw in Piacenza, at the Sig. della Missione, a +Decollation of S. John, and a Crucifixion of S. Peter in his best +manner, and with his name. This artist, after working in Rome, settled +in Naples with a son of the name of Giacomo, who had been instructed in +the art by Poussin and himself. He also taught a daughter of the name of +Teresa, who was skilled in miniatures. The two Pos were <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span>well +acquainted with the principles of the art, and had taught in the academy +of Rome. But the father painted little in Naples; the son found constant +employ in ornamenting the halls and galleries of the nobility with +frescos. His intimacy with letters aided the poetic taste with which his +pictures were conceived, and his varied and enchanting colours +fascinated the eye of every spectator. He was singular and original in +his lights, and their various gradations and reflections. In his figures +and drapery he became, as is generally the case with the machinists, +mannered and less correct; nor has he any claim as an imitator of +Domenichino, except from the early instructions of his father. In Rome +there are two paintings by him, one at S. Angiolo in Pescheria, the +other at S. Marta; and there are some in Naples; but his genius chiefly +shines in the frescos of the gallery of the Marchese Genzano, and in the +house of the Duke of Matalona, and still more in seven apartments of the +Prince of Avellino.</p> + +<p>A more finished imitator of Zampieri than the two Pos was a scholar +of his, of the name of Francesco di Maria, the author of few works, as +he willingly suffered those reproaches of slowness and irresolution +which accompanied the unfortunate Domenichino to the grave. But his +works, though few in number, are excellent, particularly the history of +S. Lorenzo at the Conventuals in Naples, and also many of his portraits. +One of the latter exhibited in Rome, together with one <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span>by +<ins title="'Vandyk' in the original.">Vandyke</ins>, and one by Rubens, +was preferred by Poussin, Cortona, and Sacchi, to those of the Flemish +artists. Others of his pictures are bought at great prices, and are +considered by the less experienced as the works of Domenichino. He +resembled that master indeed in every quality, except grace, which +nature had denied him. Hence Giordano said of his figures, that when +consumption had reduced the muscles and bones, they might be correct and +beautiful, but still insipid. In return he did not spare Giordano; +declaring his school "heretical, and that he could not endure works +which owe all their merit to ostentatious colour, and a vague design," +as Matteis, who is partial to the memory of Francesco, attests.</p> + +<p>Lanfranco in Naples had contributed, as I have observed, to the +instruction of Massimo, but that artist renounced the style of Lanfranco +for that of Guido. The two Pos, however, were more attached to him, and +imitated his colouring. Pascoli doubts whether he should not assign +Preti to him, an error which we shall shortly confute. Dominici also +includes among his countrymen Brandi, a scholar of Lanfranco; collecting +from one of his letters that he acknowledged Gaeta for his native place. +His family was probably from thence, but he himself was born in Poli.<a +name="fnanchor_118" id="fnanchor_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[118]</sup></a> I included him among the painters +of Rome, where he studied and painted; and I mentioned at the same time +the Cav. Giambatista Benaschi, as he is called by some, or <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg +415]</a></span>Beinaschi by others. This variation gave occasion to +suppose, that there were two painters of that name; in the same way +there may be a third, as the name is sometimes written Bernaschi. Some +contradictions in his biographers, which it is not worth our while to +enter on, have contributed to perpetuate this error. I shall only +observe, that he was not born until 1636, and was not a scholar of +Lanfranco, but of M. Spirito, in Piedmont, and of Pietro del Po, in +Rome. Thus Orlandi writes of him, who had a better opportunity than +Pascoli, or Dominici, of procuring information from Angela, the daughter +of the Cavaliere, who lived in Rome in his time, and painted portraits +in an agreeable style. He is considered both by Pascoli and Orlandi, as +a painter of Rome, but he left very few works there, as appears from +Titi. Naples was the theatre of his talents, and there he had numerous +scholars, and painted many cupolas, ceilings, and other considerable +works, and with such a variety of design, that there is not an instance +of an attitude being repeated by him. Nor was he deficient in grace, +either of form or colour, as long as he trod in the steps of Lanfranco, +as he did in the S. M. di Loreto, and in other churches, but aspiring in +some others to a more vigorous style, he became dark and heavy. He +excelled in the knowledge of the <i>sotto in su</i>, and displayed +extraordinary skill in his foreshortenings. The painters in Naples have +often compared among themselves, says Dominici, the two pictures of S. +Michael, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg +416]</a></span>the one by Lanfranco, and the other by Benaschi, in the +church of the Holy Apostles, without being able to decide to which +master they ought to assign the palm of merit.</p> + +<p>Guercino himself was never in Naples, but the Cav. Mattia Preti, +commonly called il Cav. Calabrese, allured by the novelty of his style, +repaired to Cento, to avail himself of his instructions. This +information we have from Domenici, who had heard him say, that he was in +fact the scholar of Guercino, but that he had, moreover, studied the +works of all the principal masters; and he had indeed visited almost +every country, and seen and studied the best productions of every +school, both in and beyond Italy. Hence in his painting he may be +compared to a man whose travels have been extensive, and who never hears +a subject started to which he does not add something new, and indeed the +drapery and ornaments, and costume of Preti, are highly varied and +original. He confined himself to design, and did not attempt colours +until his twenty-sixth year. In design he was more vigorous and robust +than delicate, and sometimes inclines to heaviness. In his colouring he +was not attractive, but had a strong <i>impasto</i>, a decided +chiaroscuro, and a prevailing ashy tone, that was well adapted for his +mournful and tragical subjects; for, following the bent of his genius, +he devoted his pencil to the representation of martyrdoms, slaughters, +pestilence, and the pangs of a guilty conscience. It was his custom, +says Pascoli, at least <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_417" +id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span>in his large works, to paint at the +first conception, and true to nature, and he did not take much pains +afterwards in correction, or in the just expression of the passions.</p> + +<p>He executed some large works in fresco in Modena, Naples, and Malta. +He had not equal success at S. Andrea della Valle, in Rome, where he +painted three histories of that saint, under the tribune of Domenichino; +a proximity from which his work suffers considerably, and the figures +appear out of proportion, and not well adapted to the situation. His oil +pictures in Italy are innumerable, as he lived to an advanced age; he +had a great rapidity of hand, and was accustomed, wherever he went, to +leave some memorial of his talents, sometimes in the churches, but +chiefly in private collections, and they are, in general, figures of +half size, like those of Guercino and Caravaggio. Naples, Rome, and +Florence, all abound with his works, but above all Bologna. In the +Marulli palace is his Belisarius asking alms; in that of Ratti, a S. +Penitente, chained in a suffering position; in the Malvezzi palace, Sir +Thomas More in prison; in that of the Ercolani, a Pestilence, besides +many more in the same, and other galleries of the nobility. Amongst his +altarpieces, one of the most finished is in the Duomo of Siena, S. +Bernardino preaching to and converting the people. In Naples, besides +the soffitto of the church de' Celestini, he painted not a little; less +however than both he himself and the professors of a better <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg +418]</a></span>taste desired, and in conjunction with whom he resisted +the innovations of Giordano. But that artist had an unprecedented +popularity, and in spite of his faults triumphed over all his +contemporaries, and Preti was himself obliged to relinquish the contest, +and close his days in Malta, of which order, in honour of his great +merit as a painter, he was made a commendatore. He left some imitators +in Naples, one of whom was Domenico Viola; but neither he, nor his other +scholars passed the bounds of mediocrity. The same may be said of +Gregorio Preti, his brother, of whom there is a fresco at S. Carlo de' +Catinari, in Rome.</p> + +<p>After this enumeration of foreign artists, we must now return to the +national school, and notice some disciples of Ribera, It often happens +that those masters who are mannerists, form scholars who confine their +powers to the sole imitation of their master, and thus produce pictures +that deceive the most experienced, and which in other countries are +esteemed the works of the master himself. This was the case with +Giovanni Do, and Bartolommeo Passante, in regard to Spagnoletto, +although the first in progress of time softened his manner, and tamed +his flesh tints; while the second added only to the usual style of +Spagnoletto, a more finished design and expression. Francesco Fracanzani +possessed a peculiar grandeur of style, and a noble tone of colour; and +the death of S. Joseph, which he painted at the Pellegrini, is one of +the best pictures of the city. Afterwards however <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span>his +necessities compelled him to paint in a coarse manner in order to +gratify the vulgar, and he fell into bad habits of life, and was +finally, for some crime or other, condemned to die by the hands of the +hangman, a sentence, which for the honour of the art, was compounded for +his secret death in prison by poison.<a name="fnanchor_119" +id="fnanchor_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[119]</sup></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[Pg +420]</a></span>Aniello Falcone and Salvator Rosa are the great boast of +this school; although Rosa frequented it but a short time and improved +himself afterwards by the instructions of Falcone. Aniello possessed an +extraordinary talent in battle pieces. He painted them both in large and +small size, taking the subjects from the sacred writings, from profane +history, or poetry; his dresses, arms, and features, were as varied as +the combatants he represented. Animated in his expression, select and +natural in the figures and action of his horses, and intelligent in +military affairs, though he had never been in the army, nor seen a +battle; he drew correctly, consulted truth in every thing, coloured with +care, and had a good impasto. That he taught Borgognone as some have +supposed, it is difficult to believe. Baldinucci, who had from that +artist himself the information which he published respecting him, does +not say a word of it. It is however true, that they were acquainted and +mutually <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[Pg +421]</a></span>esteemed each other; and if the battle pieces of +Borgognone have found a place in the collections of the great, and have +been bought at great prices, those of Aniello have had the like good +fortune. He had many scholars, and by means of them and some other +painters his friends, he was enabled to revenge the death of a relation +and also of a scholar, whom the Spanish authorities had put to death. On +the revolution of Maso Aniello, he and his partisans formed themselves +into a company called the Band of Death; and, protected by Spagnoletto, +who excused them to the Viceroy, committed the most revolting and +sanguinary excesses; until the state was composed, and the people +reduced to submission, when this murderous band fled, to escape the +hands of justice. Falcone withdrew to France for some years, and left +many works there; the remainder fled to Rome, or to other places of +safety.</p> + +<p>The most celebrated of the immediate scholars of Falcone was Salvator +Rosa, whom we have elsewhere noticed, who began his career by painting +battles, and became a most distinguished landscape painter; and Domenico +Gargiuoli, called Micco Spadaro, a landscape painter of merit, and a +good painter in large compositions, as he appears at the Certosa, and in +other churches. He had an extraordinary talent too in painting small +figures, and might with propriety be called the Cerquozzi of his school. +Hence Viviano Codagora, who was an eminent landscape painter, after +becoming <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[Pg +422]</a></span>acquainted with him, would not permit any other artist to +ornament his works with figures, as he introduced them with infinite +grace; and this circumstance probably led to their intimate friendship, +and to risking their lives in the same cause as we have before related. +The Neapolitan galleries possess many of their pictures; and some have +specimens of <i>capricci</i>, or humourous pictures, all by the hand of +Spadaro. He indeed had no equal in depicting the manners and dresses of +the common people of his country, particularly in large assemblies. In +some of his works of this kind, the number of his figures have exceeded +a thousand. He was assisted by the etchings of Stefano della Bella, and +Callot, both of whom were celebrated for placing a great body of people +in a little space; but it was in the true spirit of imitation, and +without a trace of servility; on the contrary, he improved the principal +figures (where bad contours are with difficulty concealed) and corrected +the attitudes, and carefully retouched them.</p> + +<p>Carlo Coppola is sometimes mistaken for Falcone from their similarity +of manner: except that a certain fulness with which he paints his horses +in his battle pieces, may serve as a distinction. Andrea di Lione +resembles him, but in his battles we easily trace his imitation. Marzio +Masturzo studied some time with Falcone; but longer with Rosa in Rome, +and was his best scholar; but he is sometimes rather crude in his +figures, and rocks, and trunks of trees, and less bright in his skies. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[Pg +423]</a></span>His flesh tints are not pallid, like those of Rosa, as in +these he followed Ribera.</p> + +<p>I shall close this catalogue, passing over some less celebrated +artists, with Paolo Porpora, who from battles, were directed by the +impulse of his genius to the painting of animals, but succeeded best in +fish, and shells, and other marine productions, being less skilled in +flowers and fruit. But about his time Abraham Brughel painted these +subjects in an exquisite style in Naples, where he settled and ended his +days. From this period we may date a favourable epoch for certain +pictures of minor rank, which still add to the decoration of galleries +and contribute to the fame of their authors. After the two first we may +mention Giambatista Ruoppoli and Onofrio Loth, scholars of Porpora, +excelling him in fruits, and particularly in grapes, and little inferior +in other respects.</p> + +<p>Giuseppe Cav. Recco, from the same school, is one of the most +celebrated painters in Italy, of hunting, fowling, and fishing pieces, +and similar subjects. One of his best pictures which I have seen, is in +the house of the Conti Simonetti d'Osimo, on which the author has +inscribed his name. He was admired in the collections also for his +beautiful colouring, which he acquired in Lombardy; and he resided for +many years at the court of Spain, whilst Giordano was there. There was +also a scholar of Ruoppoli, called Andrea Belvedere, excelling in the +same line, but most in flowers and fruit. There arose a dispute between +him and Giordano, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_424" +id="Page_424">[Pg 424]</a></span>Andrea asserting that the historical +painters cannot venture with success on these smaller subjects; +Giordano, on the contrary, maintaining that the greater included the +less; which words he verified by painting a picture of birds, flowers, +and fruit, so beautifully grouped that it robbed Andrea of his fame, and +obliged him to take refuge among men of letters; and indeed in the +literary circle he held a respectable station.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless his pictures did not fall in esteem or value, and his +posterity after him still continue to embellish the cabinets of the +great. His most celebrated scholar was Tommaso Realfonso, who to the +talents of his master, added that of the natural representation of every +description of utensils, and all kinds of confectionery and eatables. He +had also excellent imitators in Giacomo Nani, and Baldassar Caro, +employed to ornament the royal court of King Charles of Bourbon; and +Gaspar Lopez, the scholar first of Dubbisson, afterwards of Belvidere. +Lopez became a good landscape painter, was employed by the Grand Duke of +Tuscany, and resided a considerable time in Venice. According to +Dominici he died in Florence, and the author of the Algarotti Catalogue +in Venice, informs us, that that event took place about the year 1732. +We may here close the series of minor painters of the school of +Aniello,<a name="fnanchor_120" id="fnanchor_120"></a><a +href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor"><sup>[120]</sup></a> and may <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[Pg 425]</a></span>now +proceed to the succeeding epoch, commencing with the historical +painters.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_111" id="Footnote_111"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_111">[111]</a> +In tom. iii. of the <i>Lett. Pittoriche</i>, is a letter of P. +Sebastiano Resta dell'Oratorio, wherein he says, it is probable that the +Cav. d'Arpino imitated him in his youth: which cannot be admitted, as it +is known that Cesari formed himself in Rome, and resided only in Naples +when an adult. As to the resemblance between them, that applies as well +to other artists. In the same letter Corenzio is called the Cav. +Bellisario, and some anecdotes are related of him, and among others, +that he lived to the age of a hundred and twenty. This is one of those +tales to which this writer so easily gives credit. In proof of this we +may refer to Tiraboschi, in the life of Antonio Allegri, where similar +instances of his credulity are noticed.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_112" id="Footnote_112"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_112">[112]</a> +Caravaggio had another scholar of eminence in Mario Minniti of Syracuse, +who however passed a considerable part of his life in Messina. Having +painted for some time in Rome with Caravaggio, he imbibed his taste; and +though he did not equal him in the vigour of style, he displayed more +grace and amenity. There are works remaining of him in all parts of +Sicily, as he painted much, and retained in his service twelve scholars, +whose works he retouched, and sold as his own. Hence his pictures do not +altogether correspond with his reputation. Messina possesses several, as +the Dead of Nain at the Church of the Capucins, and the Virgin, the +tutelar saint, at the Virginelle.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_113" id="Footnote_113"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_113">[113]</a> +Among the scholars of Annibale, I find Carlo Sellitto mentioned, to whom +Guarienti assigns a place in the Abbeccadario, and I further find him +commended in some MS. notices of eminent artists of the school.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_114" id="Footnote_114"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_114">[114]</a> +There is a different account of him in the Memorie de' Pittori +Messinesi, where it is said that his true family name was Rodriguez. It +is there said that he studied in Rome, and went from thence to work in +Naples, in the Guida of which city he is frequently mentioned. It is +added that, from his Roman style, he was called by his brother Alonso, +the <i>slave of the antique</i>; and that he returned the compliment by +calling his brother, who was instructed in Venice, <i>the slave of +nature</i>. But Alonso, who spent his life in Sicily, surpassed his +brother in reputation; and it is a rare commendation that he painted +much and well. He particularly shone in the Probatica in S. Cosmo de' +Medici, and the picture of two Founders of Messina in the senatorial +palace, a work rewarded with a thousand scudi. His fame declined, and he +began to fail in commissions on the arrival of Barbalunga. But he did +not, on that account, refuse him his esteem, as he was accustomed to +call him the Caracci of Sicily.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_115" id="Footnote_115"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_115">[115]</a> +I find in Messina, Gio. Fulco, who imbibed the principles of the art +under the Cav. Massimo; a correct designer, a lively and graceful +painter, particularly of children, excepting a somewhat too great +fleshiness, and a trace of mannerism. Many of his works in his native +country were destroyed by an earthquake. Some remain at the Nunziata de' +Teatini, where in the chapel of the Crucifix are his frescos, and a +picture by him in oil of the Nativity of the Virgin.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_116" id="Footnote_116"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_116">[116]</a> +Gio. Batista Durand, of Burgundy, was established in Messina. He was the +scholar of Domenichino, and was always attached to his manner. Of his +larger works we find only a S. Cecilia in the convent of that saint, as +he was generally occupied in painting portraits. He had a daughter +called Flavia, the wife of Filippo Giannetti, skilled in portraits, and +an excellent copyist.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_117" id="Footnote_117"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_117">[117]</a> +Domenico Maroli, Onofrio Gabriello, and Agostino Scilla, were the three +painters of Messina who did him the most honour, although from being +engaged in the revolutions of 1674 and 1676, the first lost his life, +and the other two were long exiles from their country. Maroli did not +adopt the style of Barbalunga exclusively, but having made a voyage to +Venice, and there studied the works of the best Venetian artists, and +particularly of Paolo, he returned with many of the excellences of that +great master, brilliant flesh tints, a beautiful air in his heads, and a +fine style in his drawings of women, a talent which he abused as much or +more than Liberi. To this moral vice he added a professional one, which +was painting sometimes on the <i>imprimiture</i>, and generally with +little colour; whence his works, which were extolled and sought after +when new, became, when old, neglected, like those dark paintings of the +Venetian School, which we have mentioned. Messina has many of them: the +Martyrdom of S. Placido at the Suore di S. Paolo, the Nativity of the +Virgin in the church della Grotta, and some others. In Venice there must +also be remaining in private collections, some of his paintings of +animals in the style of Bassano, as we have before mentioned. Onofrio +Gabriello was for six years with Barbalunga, and for some further time +with Poussin, and then with Cortona in Rome, until passing another nine +years in Venice with Maroli, he brought back with him to Messina that +master's vicious method of colour, but not his style. In the latter he +aimed at originality, exhibiting much lightness, grace, and fancy, in +the accessory parts, and in ribbons, jewels, and lace, in which he +particularly excelled. He left many pictures in Messina, in the church +of S. Francesco di Paola: many also in Padua, in the <i>Guida</i> of +which city various pictures by him are enumerated, without mentioning +his cabinet pictures and portraits in private collections. I have seen +several in possession of the noble and learned Sig. Co. Antonio Maria +Borromeo; amongst which is a family piece with a portrait of the +painter.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Agostino Scilla, or Silla, as Orlandi calls him, +opened a school in Messina, which was much frequented while it lasted, +but the scholars were dispersed by the storm of revolutions, in which +they took a part, not without great injury both to the art and +themselves. He possessed an elegant genius for painting, which he +cultivated, and added to it a taste for poetry, natural history, and +antiquities. His genius raised such high expectations in Barbalunga, +that he procured a pension for him from the senate, in order to enable +him to reside in Rome under Andrea Sacchi. After four years he returned +to Messina, highly accomplished, from his study of the antique and of +Raffaello, and if his colouring was at first somewhat dry, he soon +rendered it rich and agreeable. He excelled in figures and in heads, +particularly of old men, and had a peculiar talent in landscapes, +animals, and fruit. For this I may refer to the Roman School, where he +is mentioned with his brother and son. There are few of his works in +Rome, but many in Messina. His frescos are in S. Domenico, and in the +Nunziata de' Teatini, and many paintings in other places, among which is +S. Ilarione dying, in the church of S. Ursula, than which work there is +no greater favourite with the public.</p> + +<p class="footnote">Of the scholars of Scilla, who remained in Messina +after the departure of their master, there is not much to be said. F. +Emanuel da Como we have mentioned elsewhere. Giuseppe Balestriero, an +excellent copyist of the works of Agostino, and a good designer, after +painting some pictures, became a priest, and took leave of the art. +Antonio la Falce was a good painter in distemper and in oil. He +afterwards attempted frescos, and painted tavern scenes. Placido Celi, a +man of singular talents, but bad habits, followed his master to Rome. He +there changed his style for that of Maratta and Morandi; after whose +works he painted in Rome, in the churches dell'Anima and Traspontina, +and in several churches of his own country, but he never passed the +bounds of mediocrity. A higher reputation belongs to Antonio Madiona, of +Syracuse, who although he separated himself from Scilla in Rome, to +follow il Preti to Malta, was nevertheless an industrious artist, and +painted both there and in Sicily, in a strong and vigorous style, which +partakes of both his masters. And this may suffice for the members of +this unfortunate school.</p> + +<p class="footnote">To complete the list of the chief scholars of +Barbalunga, I may mention here Bartolommeo Tricomi, who confined himself +to portrait painting, and in this hereditary gift of the school of +Domenichino, he greatly excelled. He had notwithstanding in Andrea Suppa +a scholar who surpassed him. The latter learned also of Casembrot, as +far as regards landscape and architecture; but he formed himself +principally on the antique; and by constantly studying Raffaello and the +Caracci, and other select masters, or their drawings, he acquired a most +enchanting style of countenance, and indeed of every part of his +composition. His works are as fine as miniature, and are perhaps too +highly finished. His subjects, in unison with his genius, are of a +pensive and melancholy cast, and are always treated in a pathetic +manner. He excelled in frescos, and painted the vaults in the Suore in +S. Paolo; he excelled equally in oils, as may be seen from the picture +of S. Scolastica, there also. Some of his works were lost by +earthquakes. His style was happily imitated by Antonio Bova, his +scholar, and we may compare their works together at the Nunziata de' +Teatini. He painted much in oil, as well as fresco, and from his placid +and tranquil disposition, took no part in the revolutions of Messina, +but remained at home, where he closed his days in peace, and with him +expired the school of Barbalunga.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_118" id="Footnote_118"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_118">[118]</a> +Pascoli, Vite, tom. i. p. 129.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_119" id="Footnote_119"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_119">[119]</a> +I may insert at the close of this epoch the names of some Sicilian +painters, who flourished in it, or at the beginning of the following, +instructed by various masters. They were furnished to me by the Sig. +Ansaldo, whose attentions I have before acknowledged, and were +transmitted to him by a painter of that island. Filippo Tancredi was of +Messina, but is not assigned to any of the before mentioned masters, as +he studied in Naples and in Rome under Maratta. He was a skilful artist, +composed and coloured well; was celebrated in Messina, and also in +Palermo, where he lived many years, and where the vault of the church +de' Teatini, and that also of the Gesù Nuovo were painted by him. The +Cav. Pietro Novelli (or Morelli, which latter however I regard as an +error) called Monrealese from his native place, also enjoyed the +reputation of a good painter, and an able architect. He there left many +works in oil and fresco, and the great picture of the Marriage at Cana, +in the refectory of the P. P. Benedettini, is particularly commended. He +resided for a long time in Palermo, and the greatest work he there +executed, was in the church of the Conventuals, the vault of which was +divided into compartments, and wholly painted by himself. Guarienti +eulogises him for his style, as diligent in copying nature, correct in +design, and graceful in his colouring, with some imitation of +Spagnoletto; and the people of Palermo confer daily honour on him, +since, whenever they meet with a foreigner of taste, they point out to +him little else in the city, than the works of this great man. Pietro +Aquila, of Marzalla, a distinguished artist, who engraved the Farnese +gallery, left no works to my knowledge in Rome; in Palermo there remain +of him two pictures in the church della Pietà, representing the parable +of the Prodigal Son. Lo Zoppo di Gangi is known at Castro Giovanni, +where in the Duomo he left several works. Of the Cav. Giuseppe Paladini, +a Sicilian, I find commended at S. Joseph di Castel Termini, the picture +of the Madonna and the tutelar saint. I also find honourable mention +among the chief painters of this island, of a Carrega, who I believe +painted for private individuals. Others, though I know not of what +merit, are found inscribed in the academy of S. Luke, from the registers +of which I have derived some information for my third and fourth +volumes, communicated to me by the Sig. Maron, the worthy secretary of +the academy.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_120" id="Footnote_120"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_120">[120]</a> +In this epoch flourished in Messina one Abraham Casembrot, a Dutchman, +who was considered one of the first painters of his time, of landscape, +seapieces, harbours, and tempests. He professed architecture also, and +was celebrated for his small figures. He was accustomed to give the +highest finish to every thing he painted. The church of S. Giovacchino +has three pictures of the Passion by him. Some individuals of Messina +possess delightful specimens of him, though not many, as he sold them at +high prices, and generally to Holland. Hence most of the collectors of +Messina turned to Jocino, the contemporary of Casembrot; a painter of a +vigorous imagination, and rapid execution. His landscapes and views are +still prized, and maintain their value. I do not find that Casembrot +wholly formed any scholar at Messina. He communicated, however, the +elements of architecture and perspective to several, as well as the +principles of painting. For this reason we find enumerated among his +scholars the Cappucin P. Feliciano da Messina (Domenico Guargena) who +afterwards studied Guido in the convent of Bologna, and imbued himself +with his style. Hackert makes honourable mention of a Madonna and Child +and S. Francesco by him at the church of that order in Messina, and he +assigns the palm to him among the painters of his order, which boasted +not a few.</p> + +<p class="p4"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[Pg +426]</a></span></p> + +<h4>NEAPOLITAN SCHOOL.</h4> + +<h4>FOURTH EPOCH.</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><i>Luca Giordano, Solimene, and their +scholars.</i></div> + +<p class="p2">A little beyond the middle of the 17th century, Luca +Giordano began to flourish in Naples. This master, though he did not +excel his contemporaries in his style, surpassed them all in good +fortune, for which he was indebted to his vast talents, confidence, and +unbounded powers of invention, which Maratta considered unrivalled and +unprecedented. In this he was eminently gifted by nature from his +earliest youth. Antonio, his father, placed him first under the +instructions of Ribera, and afterwards under Cortona in Rome,<a +name="fnanchor_121" id="fnanchor_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[121]</sup></a> <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[Pg 427]</a></span>and having conducted +him through all the best schools of Italy, he brought him home rich in +designs and in ideas. His father was an indifferent painter, and being +obliged in Rome to subsist by his son's labours, whose drawings were at +that time in the greatest request,<a name="fnanchor_122" +id="fnanchor_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[122]</sup></a> the only principle that he +instilled into him was one dictated by necessity, despatch. A humorous +anecdote is related, that Luca, when he was obliged to take +refreshments, did not retire from his work, but, gaping like a young +bird, gave notice to his father of the calls of hunger, who, always on +the watch, instantly supplied him with food, at the same time +reiterating with affectionate solicitude, <i>Luca fa presto</i>. Upon +this incident he was always afterwards known by the name of <i>Luca fa +presto</i>, among the students in Rome, and which is also his most +frequent appellation in the history of the art. By means like these, +Antonio acquired for his son a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_428" +id="Page_428">[Pg 428]</a></span>portentous celerity of hand, from which +quality he has been called <i>il Fulmine della pittura</i>. The truth +however is, that this despatch was not derived wholly from rapidity of +pencil, but was aided by the quickness of his imagination, as Solimene +often observed, by which he was enabled to ascertain, from the first +commencement of his work, the result he proposed to himself, without +hesitating to consider the component parts, or doubting, proving, and +selecting like other painters. He also obtained the name of the Proteus +of painting, from his extraordinary talent in imitating every known +manner, the consequence of his strong memory, which retained every thing +he had once seen. There are numerous instances of pictures painted by +him in the style of Albert Durer, Bassano, Titian, and Rubens, with +which he imposed on connoisseurs and on his rivals, who had more cause +than any other persons to be on their guard against him. These pictures +are valued by dealers at more than double or triple the price of +pictures of his own composition. There are examples of them even in the +churches at Naples; as the two pictures in the style of Guido at S. +Teresa, and particularly that of the Nativity. There is also at the +court of Spain a Holy Family, so much resembling Raffaello, that, as +Mengs says in a letter, (tom. ii. p. 67,) whoever is not conversant with +the quality of beauty essential to the works of that great master, would +be deceived by the imitation of Giordano.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[Pg +429]</a></span>He did not however permanently adopt any of these styles +as his own. At first he evidently formed himself on Spagnoletto; +afterwards, as in a picture of the Passion at S. Teresa a little before +mentioned, he adhered to Paul Veronese; and he ever retained the maxim +of that master, by a studied decoration to excite astonishment, and to +fascinate the eye. From Cortona he seems to have taken his contrast of +composition, the great masses of light, and the frequent repetition of +the same features, which, in his female figures, he always copied from +his wife. In other respects he aimed at distinguishing himself from +every other master by a novel mode of colouring. He was not solicitous +to conform to the true principles of art; his style is not natural +either in tone or colour, and still less so in its chiaroscuro, in which +Giordano formed for himself a manner ideal and wholly arbitrary. He +pleased, notwithstanding, by a certain deceptive grace and attraction, +which few attempt, and which none have found it easy to imitate. Nor did +he recommend this style to his scholars, but on the contrary reproved +them when he saw them disposed to imitate him, telling them that it was +not the province of young students to penetrate so far. He was well +acquainted with the principles of design, but would not be at the +trouble of observing them; and in the opinion of Dominici, if he had +adhered to them too rigidly he would have enfeebled that spirit which is +his greatest merit; an excuse which perhaps will not <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[Pg +430]</a></span>appear satisfactory to every amateur. Another reason may +with more probability of truth be assigned, which was his unbounded +cupidity, and his habit of not refusing commissions from the meanest +quarter, which led him to abuse his facility to the prejudice of his +reputation. Hence, among other things, he has been accused of having +often painted superficially, without impasto, and with a superabundance +of oil, so that some of his pictures have almost disappeared from the +canvass.</p> + +<p>Naples abounds with the works of Giordano both public and private. +There is scarcely a church in that great city which does not boast some +work by him. A much admired piece is the Expulsion of the sellers and +buyers from the Temple at the P. P. Girolamini: the architectural parts +of which are painted by Moscatiello, a good perspective painter. Of his +frescos, those at the Treasury of the Certosa are esteemed the best. +They were executed by him when his powers were matured, and appear to +unite in themselves all the best qualities of the artist. Every one must +be forcibly struck by the picture of the Serpent raised in the desert, +and the throng of Israelites, who, assailed in a horrible manner, turn +to it for relief. The other pictures on the walls and in the vault, all +scriptural, are equally powerful in effect. The cupola of S. Brigida is +also extolled, which was painted in competition with Francesco di Maria, +and in so very short a time, and with <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[Pg 431]</a></span>such fascinating tints, +that it was preferred by the vulgar to the work of that accomplished +master, and thus served to diffuse less solid principles among the +rising artists. As a miracle of despatch we are also shewn the picture +of S. Saverio, painted for the church of that saint in a day and a half, +full of figures, and as beautiful in colour as any of his pictures. Luca +went to Florence to paint the Capella Corsini and the Riccardi Gallery, +besides many works in the churches and for individuals, particularly for +the noble house of Rosso, who possessed the Baccanali of Giordano, +afterwards removed to the palace of the Marchese Gino Capponi. He was +also employed by the Grand Duke; and Cosmo III., in whose presence he +designed and painted a large picture in less time than I dare mention, +complimented him by saying that he was a fit painter for a sovereign +prince. The same eulogium was passed on him by Charles II. of Spain, in +whose court he resided thirteen years; and, to judge from the number of +works he left there, it might be supposed that he had consumed a long +life in his service. He continued and finished the series of paintings +begun by Cambiasi of Genoa, in the church of the Escurial, and +ornamented the vault, the cupola, and the walls with many scriptural +subjects, chiefly from the life of Solomon. He painted some other large +compositions in fresco in a church of S. Antonio, in the palace of +Buonritiro, in the Hall of the Ambassadors; and for the Queen Mother a +Nativity, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[Pg +432]</a></span>most highly finished, which is said to be a surprising +picture, and perhaps superior to any other of his painting. If all his +works had been executed with similar care, the observation, that his +example had corrupted the Spanish School, might perhaps have been +spared.<a name="fnanchor_123" id="fnanchor_123"></a><a +href="#Footnote_123" class="fnanchor"><sup>[123]</sup></a> In his old +age he returned to his native place, loaded with honours and riches, and +died lamented and regretted as the greatest genius of his age.</p> + +<p>His school produced but few designers of merit; most of them were +contaminated by the maxim of their master, that it is the province of a +painter to please the public, and that their favour is more easily won +by colour than by correct design; so that, without much attention to the +latter, they gave themselves entirely to facility of hand. His favorite +scholars were Aniello Rossi of Naples, and Matteo <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[Pg +433]</a></span>Pacelli della Basilicata, whom he took with him to Spain +as assistants, and who returned with him home with handsome pensions, +and lived after in leisure and independence. Niccolo Rossi of Naples +became a good designer and colourist in the style of his master, +although somewhat too red in his tints. In some of his more important +works, as in the soffitto of the royal chapel, Giordano assisted him +with his designs. He painted much for private individuals, and was +considered next to Reco in his drawings of animals. The <i>Guida</i> of +Naples commends him and Tommaso Fasano, for their skill in painting in +distemper some very fine works for Santi Sepolcri and Quarantore. +Giuseppe Simonelli, originally a servant of Giordano, became an accurate +copyist of his works, and an excellent imitator of his colouring. He did +not succeed in design, though he is praised for a S. Niccola di +Tolentino in the church of Montesanto, which approaches to the best and +most correct manner of Giordano. Andrea Miglionico had more facility of +invention, and equal taste in colour, but he has less grace than +Simonelli. Andrea also painted in many churches in Naples, and I find +him highly commended for his picture of the Pentecost in the S. S. +Nunziata. A Franceschitto, a Spaniard, was so promising an artist that +Luca was accustomed to say, that he would prove a greater man than his +master. But he died very young, leaving in Naples a favourable specimen +of his genius in the S. Pasquale, which he <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[Pg 434]</a></span>painted in S. Maria del +Monte. It contains a beautiful landscape, and a delightful choir of +angels.</p> + +<p>But his first scholar, in point of excellence, was Paolo de' Matteis, +mentioned also by Pascoli among the best scholars of Morandi, and an +artist who might vie with the first of his age. He was invited to +France, and during the three years that he resided there, obtained +considerable celebrity in the court and in the kingdom at large. He was +then engaged by Benedict XIII. to come to Rome, where he painted at the +Minerva and at the Ara Cœli. He decorated other cities also with +his works, particularly Genoa, which has two very valuable pictures by +him at S. Girolamo; the one, that saint appearing and speaking to S. +Saverio in a dream; the other, the Immaculate Conception with an angelic +choir, as graceful as ever was painted. His home was, notwithstanding, +in Naples, and that is the place where we ought to view him. He there +decorated with his frescos the churches, galleries, halls, and ceilings +in great number; often rivalling the celerity without attaining the +merit of his master. It was his boast to have painted in sixty-six days +a large cupola, that of the Gesù Nuovo, a few years since taken down in +consequence of its dangerous state; a boast which, when Solimene heard, +he sarcastically replied, that the work declared the fact itself without +his mentioning it. Nevertheless there were so many beauties in it in the +style of Lanfranco, that its rapid execution excited admiration.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[Pg +435]</a></span>When he worked with care, as in the church of the Pii +Operai, in the Matalona Gallery, and in many pictures for private +individuals, he left nothing to desire, either in his composition, in +the grace of his contour, in the beauty of his countenances, though +there was little variety in the latter, or in any of the other estimable +qualities of a painter. His colouring was at first <i>Giordanesque</i>; +afterwards he painted with more force of chiaroscuro, but with a +softness and delicacy of tint, particularly in the madonnas and +children, where he sometimes displays the sweetness of Albano, and a +trace of the Roman School, in which he had also studied. He was not very +happy in his scholars, who were not numerous. Giuseppe Mastroleo is the +most distinguished, who is much praised for his S. Erasmus at S. Maria +Nuova. Gio. Batista Lama was a fellow disciple, and afterwards a +relative of Matteis, and received some assistance from him in his +studies. Excited by the example of Paolo, he attained a suavity of +colour and of chiaroscuro, much praised in his larger works, as the +gallery of the Duke of S. Niccola Gaeta, and particularly in his +pictures of small figures in collections. In these he was fond of +representing mythological stories, and they are not unfrequent in Naples +and its territories.</p> + +<p>Francesco Solimene, called L'Abate Ciccio, born at Nocera de' Pagani, +was the son of Angelo, a scholar of Massimo. Early imbibing a love of +painting, he forsook the study of letters, and after <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[Pg +436]</a></span>receiving the first rudiments of the art from his father, +he repaired to Naples. He there entered the school of Francesco di +Maria, but soon left it, as he thought that master too exclusively +devoted to design. He then frequented the academy of Po, where he +industriously began at the same time to draw from the naked figure and +to colour. Thus he may be said to have been the scholar of the best +masters, as he always copied and studied their works. At first he +imitated Pietro da Cortona, but afterwards formed a manner of his own, +still retaining that master as his model, and copying entire figures +from him, which he adapted to his new style. This new and striking style +of Solimene approached nearer than any other to that of Preti. The +design is not so correct, the colouring not so true, but the faces have +more beauty: in these he sometimes imitated Guido, and sometimes +Maratta, and they are often selected from nature. Hence by some he was +called il Cav. Calabrese <i>ringentilito</i>. To the style of Preti he +added that of Lanfranco, whom he named his master, and from whom he +adopted that curving form of composition, which he perhaps carried +beyond propriety. From these two masters he took his chiaroscuro, which +he painted strong in his middle age, but softened as he advanced in +years, and then attached himself more to facility and elegance of style. +He carefully designed every part of his picture, and corrected it from +nature before he coloured it; so that in preparing his works, he may be +included <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[Pg +437]</a></span>among the most correct, at least in his better days, for +he latterly declined into the general facility, and opened the way to +mannerism. He possessed an elegant and fruitful talent of invention, for +which he is celebrated by the poets of the day. He was also +characterised by a sort of universality in every style he attempted, +extending himself to every branch of the art; history, portrait, +landscape, animals, fruit, architecture, utensils; and whatever he +attempted, he seemed formed for that alone. As he lived till the age of +ninety, and was endowed with great celerity of pencil, his works, like +those of Giordano, were spread over all Europe. Of that artist he was at +the same time the competitor and the friend, less powerful in genius, +but more correct in his principles. When Giordano died, and Solimene +became the first painter in Italy, notwithstanding what his rivals said +of his colours not being true to nature, he began to ask extravagant +prices for his pictures, and still abounded in commissions.</p> + +<p>One of his most distinguished works is the sacristy of the P. P. +Teatini detti di S. Paolo Maggiore, painted in various compartments. His +pictures also in the arches of the chapels in the church of the Holy +Apostles deserve to be mentioned. That work had been executed by Giacomo +del Po, to correspond with the style of the tribune, and the other works +which Lanfranco had painted there: but Po did not satisfy the public +expectation. The whole work was therefore effaced, and Solimene was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[Pg +438]</a></span>employed to paint it over again, and proved that he was +more worthy of the commission. The chapel of S. Filippo in the church of +the Oratory, is a proof of his extreme care and attention; every figure +in it being almost as finely finished as a miniature. Among private +houses the most distinguished is the Sanfelice, so called from the name +of his noble scholar Ferdinand, for whom he painted a gallery, which +afterwards became an academy for young artists. Of his large pictures we +may mention that of the great altar in the church of the monks of S. +Gaudioso, without referring to others in the churches and in various +parts of the kingdom; particularly at Monte Cassino, for the church of +which he painted four stupendous pictures in the choir. They will be +found in the <i>Descrizione Istorica del Monistero di Monte Cassino</i>, +edited in Naples, in 1751. He is not often met with in private +collections in Italy, beyond the kingdom of Naples. In Rome the princes +Albani and Colonna have some large compositions by him, and the +Bonaccorsi family a greater number in the gallery of Macerata; and among +them the death of Dido, a large picture of fine effect. His largest work +in the ecclesiastical state, is a Supper of our Lord, in the refectory +of the Conventuals of Assisi, an elegant composition, painted with +exquisite care, where the artist has given his own portrait among the +train of attendants.</p> + +<p>Solimene instilled his own principles into the minds of his +disciples, who formed a numerous <span class="pagenum"><a +name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[Pg 439]</a></span>school, which extended +even beyond the kingdom of Naples, about the beginning of the eighteenth +century. Among those who remained in Naples, was Ferdinando Sanfelice, +lately noticed by us, a nobleman of Naples, who put himself under the +instructions of Francesco, and became as it were the arbiter of his +wishes. As the master could not execute all the commissions which +crowded on him from every quarter, the surest mode to engage him was to +solicit him through Sanfelice, to whom alone he could not deny any +request. By the assistance of Solimene, Sanfelice attained a name among +historical painters, and painted altarpieces for several churches. He +took great delight in fruit, landscapes, and views, in which he +particularly excelled, and had also the reputation of an eminent +architect. But perhaps none of the disciples of Solimene approached +nearer to the fame of their master than Francesco de Mura, called +Franceschiello. He was a Neapolitan by birth, and contributed much to +the decoration of his native city, both in public and private. Perhaps +no work on the whole procured him a greater degree of celebrity than the +frescos painted in various chambers of the Royal Palace of Turin, where +he competed with Beaumont, who was then in the height of his reputation. +He there ornamented the ceilings of some of the rooms which contain the +Flemish pictures. The subjects which he chose, and treated with much +grace, were the Olympic Games, and the Deeds of Achilles. In other parts +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[Pg +440]</a></span>of the palace he also executed various works. Another +artist, who was held in consideration, was Andrea dell'Asta, who after +being instructed by Solimene, went to finish his studies in Rome, and +engrafted on his native style some imitation of Raffaello and the +antique. We may enumerate among his principal works, the two large +pictures of the Nativity, and the Epiphany of Christ, which he painted +in Naples for the church of S. Agostino de' P. P. Scalzi. Niccolo Maria +Rossi was also reputably employed in the churches of Naples, and in the +court itself. Scipione Cappella excelled all the scholars of Solimene in +copying his pictures, which were sometimes touched by the master and +passed for originals. Giuseppe Bonito had a good invention, and was a +distinguished portrait painter, and was considered one of the best +imitators of Solimene. He was at the time of his death painter to the +court of Naples. Conca and he excel their fellow disciples in the +selection of their forms. Other scholars in Naples and Sicily,<a +name="fnanchor_124" id="fnanchor_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[124]</sup></a> less known <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[Pg 441]</a></span>to +me, will be found in the history of painting in Naples, which has been +recently published by the accomplished Sig. Pietro Signorelli, a work +which <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[Pg +442]</a></span>I have not in my possession, but which is cited by me, as +is the case with several more, on the authority of others.</p> + +<p>Some artists, who resided out of the kingdom, we shall notice in +other schools, and in the Roman School we have already spoken +sufficiently of Conca and Giaquinto; to whom we may add Onofrio +Avellino, who resided some years in Rome, executing commissions for +private persons, and painting in the churches. The vault of S. Francesco +di Paola is the largest work he left. The works of Maja and Campora are +to be found in Genoa, those of Sassi in Milan, and of others of the +school of Solimene in various cities. These artists, it is to be +regretted, sometimes passed the boundaries prescribed by their master. +His colouring, though it might be more true to nature, is yet such as +never offends, but possesses on the contrary a degree of amenity which +pleases us. But his scholars and imitators did not confine themselves +within their master's limits, and it may be asserted, that from no +school has the art suffered <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_443" +id="Page_443">[Pg 443]</a></span>more than from them. Florence, Verona, +Parma, Bologna, Milan, Turin, in short, all Italy was infected with +their style; and by degrees their pictures presented so mannered a +colouring, that they seemed to abandon the representation of truth and +nature altogether. The habit too of leaving their pictures unfinished +after the manner of Giordano and Solimene, was by many carried so far, +that instead of good paintings, many credulous buyers have purchased +execrable sketches. The imitation of these two eminent men carried too +far, has produced in our own days pernicious principles, as at an +earlier period did the imitation of Michelangiolo, Tintoretto, and even +of Raffaello himself, when carried to an extreme. The principal and true +reason of this deterioration is to be ascribed generally to the masters +of almost all our schools; who, abandoning the guidance of the ancient +masters, endeavoured in their ignorance to find some new leader, without +considering who he might be, or whither he might lead them. Thus, at +every proclamation of new principles, they and their scholars were ready +to follow in their train.</p> + +<p>In the time of Giordano and Solimene, Niccola Massaro was considered +a good landscape painter. He was a scholar of Salvator Rosa, but rather +imitated him in design than in colour. In the latter he was insipid, nor +even added the accompaniment of figures to his landscapes, but was +assisted in that respect by Antonio di Simone, not a <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[Pg +444]</a></span>finished artist, but of some merit in battle pieces.<a +name="fnanchor_125" id="fnanchor_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[125]</sup></a> Massaro instructed Gaetano +Martoriello, who was a landscape painter of a free style, but often +sketching, and his colouring not true to nature. In the opinion of +connoisseurs a better style was displayed by Bernardo Dominici, the +historiographer, and the scholar of Beych in landscape, a careful and +minute painter of Flemish subjects and <i>bambocciate</i>. There were +two Neapolitans, Ferraiuoli and Sammartino, who settled in Romagna, and +were good landscape painters. In perspective views Moscatiello was +distinguished, as we observed, when we spoke of Giordano. In the life of +Solimene, Arcangelo Guglielmelli is mentioned as skilled in the same +art. Domenico Brandi of Naples, and Giuseppe Tassoni of Rome, were +rivals in animal painting. In this branch, and also in flowers and +fruits, one Paoluccio Cattamara, who flourished in the time of Orlandi, +was celebrated. Lionardo Coccorante, and Gabriele Ricciardelli, the +scholar of Orizzonte, were distinguished in seaviews and landscapes, and +were employed at the court of King Charles of Bourbon.<a +name="fnanchor_126" id="fnanchor_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126" +class="fnanchor"><sup>[126]</sup></a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[Pg +445]</a></span>By the accession of this prince, a munificent patron of +the fine arts, wherever he reigned, the Neapolitan School was +regenerated and invigorated; employment and rewards awaited the artists; +the specimens of other schools were multiplied, and Mengs, who was +invited to paint the Royal Family, and a large cabinet picture, laid the +foundations of a more solid style, at the same time improving his own +fortune, and giving a considerable impulse to art. But the greatest +benefit this monarch has conferred on the arts is to be found at +Ercolano, where under his orders so many specimens of sculpture and +ancient paintings, buried for a long lapse of ages, have been brought to +light, and by his direction accurately drawn and engraved, and +illustrated with learned notes, and communicated to all countries. +Lastly, in order that the benefits which he had conferred on his own +age, might be continued to the future masters of his country, he turned +his attention to the education of youthful artists. Of this fact I was +ignorant at the time of my first edition, but now write on the +information afforded me at the request of the Marchese D. Francesco +Taccone, treasurer <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_446" +id="Page_446">[Pg 446]</a></span>of the kingdom, by the very learned +Sig. Daniele, Regio Antiquario, both of whom, with truly patriotic +feelings, have devoted themselves to the preservation of the antiquities +of their country, and are equally polite in communicating to others that +information for which they are themselves so distinguished. There +formerly existed at Naples the academy of S. Luke, founded at the Gesù +Nuovo, in the time of Francesco di Maria, who was one of the masters, +and taught in it anatomy and design. This institution continued for some +years. King Charles in some measure revived this establishment by a +school for painting, which he opened in the Laboratory of mosaics and +tapestry. Six masters of the School of Solimene were placed there as +directors, and some good models being provided in the place, young +artists were permitted to attend and study there. Bonito was engaged as +the acting professor, and after some time Mura was associated with him, +but died before the professor. Ferdinand IV. treading in the steps of +his august father, has, by repeated instances of protection to these +honorable pursuits, conferred fresh honours on the Bourbon name, and +rendered it dearer than ever to the fine arts. He transferred the +academy to the new royal Museum, and supplied it with all requisites for +the instruction of young artists. On the death of Bonito he bestowed the +direction of it on the first masters, and having established pensions +for the maintenance in Rome of a certain number of <span +class="pagenum"><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">[Pg +447]</a></span>young men, students in the three sister arts, he assigned +four of these to those students who were intended for painters; thus +confirming by his suffrage to the city of Rome, that proud appellation +which the world at large had long conceded to her, the Athens of Modern +Art.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_121" id="Footnote_121"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_121">[121]</a> +Cortona had in Sicily a good scholar in Gio. Quagliata, who, in the +<i>Memorie Messinesi</i>, is said to have been favored and distinguished +by his master; and to have afterwards returned to his native country to +paint in competition with Rodriguez, and what surprises me still more, +with Barbalunga. If we may be allowed to judge of these two artists by +their works which remain in Rome, Barbalunga in S. Silvestro at Monte +Cavallo, appears a great master; Quagliata at the Madonna di C. P. a +respectable scholar. The former is celebrated and known to every painter +in Rome, the latter has not an admirer. In Messina he perhaps painted +better. His biographer commends him as a graceful and sober painter, as +long as his rivals lived; and adds, that after their death he devoted +himself to frescos, when the exuberance of his imagination is evident in +the strong expression of character, and in the superfluity of +architectural and other ornaments. Andrea, his brother, was not in Rome; +he is, however, in Messina, considered a good artist.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_122" id="Footnote_122"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_122">[122]</a> +Giordano is said at this period to have copied the Chambers and the +Gallery of Raffaello no less than twelve times, and perhaps twenty times +the Battle of Constantine, painted by Giulio Romano, without reckoning +his designs after the works of Michelangiolo, Polidoro, and other great +masters. See <i>Vite del Bellori</i>, edited in Rome in 1728, with the +addition of the life of Giordano, page 307.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_123" id="Footnote_123"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_123">[123]</a> +It may be observed, that if he had followers, some of them did not copy +him implicitly. Palomino, although much attached to Giordano, forsaking +letters for painting, when his style was so much in vogue, did not +imitate him servilely, but in conjunction with the style of other +distinguished painters of his age; a good artist, and appointed by +Charles II. painter to himself. This is the same Palamino who has +merited the appellation of the <i>Vasari of Spain</i>, and whom I have +so often cited. They who are acquainted with that noble language highly +commend his style, which is perhaps the reason that copies of his +<i>Teorica e Pratica della Pittura</i> (2 vol. fol.) are so rare out of +Spain. But in point of accuracy, like Vasari himself, he often errs. I +fancy that he frequently adopted traditions, without sufficiently +weighing them, which I am led to suspect from the circumstance that in +the scholars assigned to masters, he is guilty of many anachronisms.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_124" id="Footnote_124"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_124">[124]</a> +The <i>Memorie de' Messinesi Pittori</i> mentions a Gio. Porcello, who, +after studying under Solimene, returned, it is said, to his native +country, where he found the art at an extremely low ebb; and he +attempted to revive it by opening an academy in his house, and diffusing +the taste of his master, which he fully possessed. A still better style +of painting was brought from Rome by Antonio and Paolo, two brothers, +who, fresh from the school of Maratta, also opened an academy in +Messina, which was greatly frequented. They worked in conjunction in +many churches, and excelled in fresco, but in oil Antonio was much +superior to his brother. There was also a third brother, Gaetano, who +executed the ornamental parts. Their works on the walls and on canvass +are to be seen in S. Caterina di Valverde, in S. Gregorio delle Monache, +and elsewhere. There flourished at the same time with the Filocami, +Litterio Paladino, and Placido Campolo, a scholar of Conca in Rome, +where he derived more benefit from the antique marbles than from the +instructions of his master. Both these artists executed works on a very +large scale; and of the first they particularly commend the vault of the +church of Monte Vergine, and, of the second, the vault of the gallery of +the Senate. Both are esteemed for their correct design; but the taste of +the second is more solid and more free from mannerism. The above named +five artists all died in the fatal year of 1743. Luciano Foti survived +them, an excellent copyist of every master, but particularly of +Polidoro, whose style he adopted in his own composition. But his +characteristic merit consisted in his penetration into the secrets of +the art, which enabled him to detect every style, every peculiar +varnish, and the various methods of colouring, so that he not only +ascertained many doubtful masters, but restored pictures, damaged by +time, in so happy a manner as to deceive the most experienced. A man of +such talents outweighs a host of common artists.</p> + +<p class="footnote">To these we may add other artists of the island +itself, born in different places. Marcantonio Bellavia, a Sicilian, who +painted in Rome, at S. Andrea delle Fratte, is conjectured, though not +ascertained, to be a scholar of Cortona. Calandrucci, of Palermo, is +named among the scholars of Maratta. Gaetano Sottino painted the vault +of the oratory at the Madonna di C. P., a respectable artist. +Giovacchino Martorana, of Palermo, was a machinist, and in his native +city they boast of the Chapel de' Crociferi, and at S. Rosalia, four +large pictures from the life of S. Benedict. Olivio Sozzi, of Catania, +painted much in Palermo; particularly at S. Giacomo, where all the +altars have pictures by him, and the tribune three large subjects from +the infancy of Christ. Another Sozzi, of the name of Francesco, I find +praised for a picture of Five Saints, Bishops of Agrigentum, in the +Duomo of that city. Of Onofrio Lipari, of Palermo, there are two +pictures of the Martyrdom of S. Oliva in the Church de' Paolotti. Of +Filippo Randazzo, there are to be seen in Palermo some vast works in +fresco, as well as of Tommaso Sciacca, who was an assistant of Cavalucci +in Rome, and who left some large compositions at the Duomo and at the +Olivetani of Rovigo.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_125" id="Footnote_125"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_125">[125]</a> +Gio. Tuccari of Messina, the son of an Antonio, a feeble scholar of +Barbalunga, although he painted much in other branches of the art, owes +the celebrity of his name to his battle pieces, which, by the despatch +of his pencil, were multiplied beyond number. They were frequently sent +into Germany where they were engraved. He had a fruitful and spirited +genius, but was not a correct designer.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="Footnote_126" id="Footnote_126"></a> +<a href="#fnanchor_126">[126]</a> +Among the painters of Messina is mentioned Niccolo Cartissani, who died +in Rome with the name of a good landscape painter, and Filippo +Giannetti, a scholar of Casembrot, who in the vastness of his landscapes +and his views surpassed his master; but he will not bear a comparison in +the correctness of his figures and in finishing; though he was, from his +facility and rapidity of pencil, denominated the Giordano of landscape +painters. He was esteemed and protected by the Viceroy Co. di S. +Stefano, and painted in Palermo and Naples.</p> + +<hr class="c10" /> + +<p class="p4"></p> + +<div class='tnote'> <h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3> +<p>Spacing after apostrophes in Italian names and phrases was +standardized.<br />Footnotes were moved to the end of each chapter.<br +/>Inconsistent hyphenation was standardized.<br /> Archaic spelling and +punctuation were retained, except where indicated by dotted lines under +the text. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins +title="Original reads 'apprear'.">appear</ins>.</p></div> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. +2 (of 6), by Luigi Antonio Lanzi + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF PAINTING IN *** + +***** This file should be named 34585-h.htm or 34585-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/5/8/34585/ + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Carol Brown, Bill Tozier and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. 2 (of 6) + from the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End + of the Eighteenth Century (6 volumes) + +Author: Luigi Antonio Lanzi + +Translator: Thomas Roscoe + +Release Date: December 8, 2010 [EBook #34585] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF PAINTING IN *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Carol Brown, Bill Tozier and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + THE + + HISTORY OF PAINTING + + IN + + ITALY. + + + VOL. II. + + + + + 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. II. + + CONTAINING THE SCHOOLS OF ROME AND NAPLES. + + 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 SECOND VOLUME. + + + + HISTORY OF PAINTING IN LOWER ITALY. + + BOOK THE THIRD. + + ROMAN SCHOOL. + + Page + + EPOCH I. _The old masters_ 1 + + EPOCH II. _Raffaello and his school_ 48 + + EPOCH III. _The art declines, in consequence of the + public calamities of Rome, and gradually + falls into mannerism_ 124 + + EPOCH IV. _Restoration of the Roman school by Barocci + and other artists, subjects of the Roman + state and foreigners_ 177 + + EPOCH V. _The scholars of Pietro da Cortona, from + an injudicious imitation of their master, deteriorate + the art_--_Maratta and others support + it_ 262 + + + BOOK THE FOURTH. + + NEAPOLITAN SCHOOL. + + EPOCH I. _The old masters_ 345 + + EPOCH II. _Modern Neapolitan style, founded on the + schools of Raffaello and Michelangiolo_ 368 + + EPOCH III. _Corenzio, Ribera, Caracciolo, flourish in + Naples_--_Strangers who compete with them_ 389 + + EPOCH IV. _Luca Giordano, Solimene, and their + scholars_ 426 + + + + + HISTORY OF PAINTING + + IN + + LOWER ITALY. + + BOOK III. + + + + + ROMAN SCHOOL. + + +I have frequently heard the lovers of art express a doubt whether the +Roman School possesses the same inherent right to that distinctive +appellation as the schools of Florence, Bologna, and Venice. Those of +the latter cities were, indeed, founded by their respective citizens, +and supported through a long course of ages; while the Roman School, it +may be said, could boast only of Giulio Romano and Sacchi, and a few +others, natives of Rome, who taught, and left scholars there. The other +artists who flourished there were either natives of the cities of the +Roman state, or from other parts of Italy, some of whom established +themselves in Rome, and others, after the close of their labours there, +returned and died in their native places. But this question is, if I +mistake not, rather a dispute of words than of things, and similar to +those objections advanced by the peripatetic sophists against the modern +philosophy; insisting that they abuse the meaning of their words, and +quoting, as an example, the _vis inertiae_; as if that, which is in +itself inert, could possess the quality of force. The moderns laugh at +this difficulty, and coolly reply that, if the _vis_ displeased them, +they might substitute _natura_, or any other equivalent word; and that +it was lost time to dispute about words, and neglect things. So it may +be said in this case; they who disapprove of the designation of school, +may substitute that of academy, or any other term denoting a place where +the art of painting is professed and taught. And, as the learned +universities always derive their names from the city where they are +established, as the university of Padua or Pisa, although the professors +may be all, or in great part, from other states, so it is with the +schools of painting, to which the name of the country is always +attached, in preference to that of the master. In Vasari we do not find +this classification of schools, and Monsignor Agucchi was the first to +divide Italian art into the schools of Lombardy, Venice, Tuscany, and +Rome.[1] He has employed the term of schools after the manner of the +ancients, and has thus characterised one of them as the Roman School. He +has, perhaps, erred in placing Michel Angiolo, as well as Raphael, at +the head of this school, as posterity have assigned him his station as +chief of the school of Florence; but he has judged right in classing it +under a separate head, possessing, as it does, its own peculiar style; +and in this he has been followed by all the modern writers of art. The +characteristic feature in the Roman School has been said to consist in a +strict imitation of the works of the ancients, not only in sublimity, +but also in elegance and selection; and to this we shall add other +peculiarities, which will be noticed in their proper place. Thus, from +its propriety, or from tacit convention, the appellation of the Roman +School has been generally adopted; and, as it certainly serves to +distinguish one of the leading styles of Italian art, it becomes +necessary to employ it, in order to make ourselves clearly understood. +We cannot, indeed, allow to the Roman School so extensive a range as we +have assigned to that of Florence, in the first book; nevertheless, +every one that chooses may apply this appellation to it in a very +enlarged sense. Nor is the fact of other artists having taught, or +having given a tone to painting in the capital, any valid objection to +this term; since, in a similar manner, we find Titiano, Paolo Veronese, +and Bassano, in Venice, though all of them were strangers; but, as they +were subjects of her government, they were all termed Venetians, as that +name alike embraces those born in the city or within the dominions of +the Republic. The same may be said of the subjects of the Pope. Besides +the natives of Rome, there appeared masters from many of her subject +cities, who, teaching in Rome, followed in the steps of their +predecessors, and maintained the same principles of art. Passing over +Pier della Francesca and Pietro Vannucci, we may refer to Raffaello +himself as an example. Raffaello was born in Urbino, and was the subject +of a duke, who held his fief under the Roman see, and who, in Rome, held +the office of prefect of the city; and whose dominions, in failure of +male issue, reverted to the Pope, as the heritage of the church. Thus +Raffaello cannot be considered other than a Roman subject. To him +succeeded Giulio Romano and his scholars; who were followed by Zuccari, +and the mannerists of that time, until the art found a better style +under the direction of Baroccio, Baglione, and others. After them +flourished Sacchi and Maratta, whose successors have extended to our own +times. Restricted within these bounds, the Roman may certainly be +considered as a national school; and, if not rich in numbers, it is at +least so in point of excellence, as Raffaello in himself outweighs a +world of inferior artists. + +The other painters who resided in Rome, and followed the principles of +that school, I shall neither attempt to add to, nor to subtract from the +number of its followers; adopting it as a maxim not to interfere in the +decision of disputes, alike idle and irrelevant to my subject. Still +less shall I ascribe to it those who there adopted a totally different +style, as Michelangiolo da Caravaggio, an artist whom Lombardy may lay +claim to, on account of his birth, or Venice, from his receiving his +education in that city, though he lived and wrote in Rome, and +influenced the taste of the national school there by his own example and +that of his scholars. In the same manner many other names will +occasionally occur in the history of this school: it is the duty of the +historian to mention these, and it is, at the same time, an incomparable +triumph to the Roman School, that she stands, in this manner, as the +centre of all the others; and that so many artists could not have +obtained celebrity, if they had not seen Rome, or could not have claimed +that title from the world unless they had first obtained her suffrage. + +I shall not identify the limits of this school with those of the +dominions of the church, as in that case we should comprise in it the +painters of Bologna, Ferrara, and Romagna, whom I have reserved for +another volume. In my limits I shall include only the capital, and the +provinces in its immediate vicinity, as Latium, the Sabine territories, +the patrimony of the Church, Umbria, Picenum, and the state of Urbino, +the artists of which district were, for the most part, educated in Rome, +or under the eyes of Roman masters. My historical notices of them will +be principally derived from Vasari, Baglione, Passeri, and Leone +Pascoli. From these writers we have the lives of many artists who +painted in Rome, and the last named author has included in his account +his fellow countrymen of Perugia. Pascoli has not, indeed, the merits of +the three first writers; but he does not deserve the discredit thrown on +him by Ratti and Bottari, the latter of whom, in his notes to Vasari, +does not hesitate to call him a wretched writer, and unworthy of credit. +His work, indeed, on the artists of Perugia, shows that he +indiscriminately copied what he found in others, whether good or bad; +and to the vulgar traditions of the early artists he paid more than due +attention. But his other work, on the history of the modern painters, +sculptors, and architects, is a book of authority. In every branch of +history much credit is attached to the accounts of contemporary writers, +particularly if they were acquaintances or friends of the persons of +whom they wrote; and Pascoli has this advantage; for, in addition to +information from their own mouths, he derived materials from their +surviving friends, nor spared any pains to arrive at the truth, (_see +Vita del Cozza_). The judgment, therefore, which he passes on each +artist, is not wholly to be despised, since he formed it on those of the +various professors then living in Rome, as Winckelmann has observed +(tom. i. p. 450); and, if these persons, as it is pretended, have erred +in their judgment on the Greek sculptors, they have certainly not erred +in their estimate of modern painters, particularly Luti, to whom I +imagine Pascoli, from esteem and intimacy, deferred more than to any +other artist. + +We have from Bellori other lives, written with more learning and +criticism, some of which are supposed to be lost. He had originally +applied himself to painting, but deserted that art, as we may conjecture +from Pascoli (_vita del Canini_), and attached himself to poetry, and +the study of antiquities: and his skill in both arts manifests itself in +the lives he has left, which are few, but interspersed with interesting +and minute particulars of the characters of the painters and their +works. In his plan, he informs us he has followed the advice of Niccolo +Poussin. He composed also a "Description of the figures painted by +Raffaello, in the churches of the Vatican;" a tract which contains some +severe reflections on Vasari,[2] but is nevertheless highly useful. We +also find a profusion of entertaining anecdotes in Taja, in his +"Description of the Vatican;" and in Titi, in his account of the +pictures, sculpture, and architecture of Rome. This work has recently +been republished, with additions; and we shall occasionally quote it +under the name of the _Guide_. Pesaro is indebted for a similar _Guide_ +to Signor Becci, and Ascoli and Perugia to Signor Baldassare Orsini, a +celebrated architect. We have also the _Lettere Perugine_ of Sig. +Dottore Annibale Mariotti, which treat of the early painters of Perugia, +with a store of information and critical acumen that render them highly +valuable. To these may also be added, the _Risposta_ of the above named +Sig. Orsini, whom I regret to see entering on Etruscan ground, as he +there repeats many ancient errors, which have been long exploded by +common consent: in other points it is a treatise worth perusal. If we +turn to _Descriptions_, we have them of several periods, as that of the +Basilica Loretana, and that of Assisi, composed by P. Angeli; and the +account of the Duomo of Orvieto, written by P. della Valle; and the +works on the churches of S. Francesco di Perugia, and S. Pietro di Fano, +by anonymous writers. The Abbate Colucci has favoured us with recent +notices on various artists of Piceno and Umbria, and Urbino, in his +_Antichita Picene_, extended, as far as my observation goes, to tom. +XXXI.[3] The learned authors whom I have named, and others to whom I +shall occasionally refer, have furnished the chief materials of my +present treatise, although I have myself collected a considerable part +from artists and lovers of art, either in conversation, or in my +correspondence. Thus far in the way of introduction. + +[Footnote 1: Bellori, Vite de' Pittori, p. 191. "The Roman School, of +which Raffaello and Michel Angiolo were the great masters, derived its +principles from the study of the statues and works of the ancients."] + +[Footnote 2: Lett. Pittor. tom. ii. p. 323; and Dialoghi sopra le tre +Arti del Disegno. In Lucca, 1754.] + +[Footnote 3: This work contains contributions from various quarters. I +have not, however, made an equal use of all; as I believe some pictures +to be copies, which are there referred to as originals; and as several +names there mentioned, may with propriety be omitted. In my references, +I shall often cite the collections; sometimes also the authors of some +more considerable treatises, as P. Civalli, Terzi, Sig. Agostino Rossi, +Sig. Arciprete Lazzari, respecting whom I must refer to the second +index, where will be found the titles of their respective works.] + + + + + ROMAN SCHOOL + + EPOCH I. + + _Early Artists._ + + +If we turn our eyes for a moment to that tract of country which we have +designated as falling within the limits of the Roman School, amidst the +claims of modern art, we shall occasionally meet with both Greek and +Latin pictures of the rude ages; from the first of which we may +conclude, that Greek artists formerly painted in this part of Italy; and +from the latter, that our own countrymen were emulous to follow their +example. One of these artists is said to have had the name of Luca, and +to him is ascribed the picture of the Virgin, at S. Maria Maggiore, and +many others in Italy, which are believed to be painted by S. Luke the +Evangelist. Who this Luca was, or whether one painter or more of that +name ever existed, we shall presently inquire. The tradition was +impugned by Manni,[4] and after him by Piacenza, (tom. ii. p. 120,) and +is now only preserved among the vulgar, a numerous class indeed, who +shut their ears to every rational criticism as an innovation on their +faith. This vulgar opinion is alike oppugned by the silence of the early +artists, and the well attested fact, that in the first ages of the +church the Virgin was not represented with the holy Infant in her +arms;[5] but had her hands extended in the act of prayer. This is +exemplified in the funeral vase of glass in the Museo Trombelli at +Bologna, with the inscription MARIA, and in many bassirilievi of +christian sarcophagi, where she is represented in a similar attitude. +Rome possesses several of these specimens, and several are to be found +in Velletri.[6] It is however a common opinion, that these pictures are +by a painter of the name of Luca. Lami refers to a legend of the 14th +century of the Madonna dell'Impruneta, where they are said to be the +works of a Florentine of the name of Luca, who for his many christian +virtues obtained the title of saint.[7] They are not however all in the +same style, and some of them bear Greek inscriptions, whence we may +conclude that they are by various hands; although they all appear to be +painted in or about the 12th century. This tradition was not confined to +Italy alone, but found its way also into many of the eastern churches. +The author of the _Anecdotes des Beaux Arts_, relates that the memory of +a Luca, a hermit, who had painted many rude portraits of the Virgin, was +held in great veneration in Greece; and that through a popular +superstition he had succeeded to the title of S. Luke the Evangelist. +Tournefort (_Voyage, &c._) mentions an image of the Virgin at Mount +Lebanon, attributed by the vulgar to S. Luke; but which was doubtless +also the work of some Luke, a monk in one of the early ages. + +More considerable remains both of the Greek and Italian artists of the +13th century are to be found in Assisi, as related in my first book; and +to those already mentioned as painted on the walls, may be added others +on panel, and all by unknown artists; particularly a crucifixion in S. +Chiara, of which there is a tradition, that it was painted before Giunta +appeared. Another picture anterior to this period, and bearing the date +of 1219, is to be seen at Subiaco; it is a consecration of a church, and +the painter informs us that _Conciolus pinxit_. If in addition to these +artists we inquire after the miniature painters, we may find specimens +of them in abundance, in the library of the Vatican, and other +collections in Rome. I shall name S. Agostino, in the public library of +Perugia, where the Redeemer is seen in the midst of saints, and the +opening of Genesis is painted in miniature; a design which, from the +angular folds of the drapery, partakes of the Greek style, but still +serves to prove this art to have been known at that time in Umbria. In +addition to what I have remarked, I may also observe, that in Perugia, +in the course of the same century, the artists were sufficiently +numerous to form an academy, as we may collect from the _Lettere +Perugine_, and these, when we consider the time, must have been in great +part miniature painters. + +It is now time to notice Oderigi of Gubbio, a town very near to Perugia. +Vasari tells us that he was a man of celebrity, and a friend of Giotto, +in Rome; and Dante, in his second _Cantica_, calls him an honour to +Agobbio, and excelling in the art of miniature. These are the only +authorities that Baldinucci could have for transferring this ancient +artist to the school of Cimabue, and ingrafting him in his usual manner +on that stock. Upon these he founded his conjecture; and, according to +his custom, gave them more weight than they deserved. His opinion, +however amplified, reduces itself to the assumption that Giotto, +Oderigi, and Dante, were lovers of art, and common friends, and became +therefore acquainted in the school of Cimabue; a very uncertain +conclusion. We shall consider this subject more maturely in the school +of Bologna, since Oderigi lived there, and instructed Franco, from whom +Bologna dates the series of her painters. It is thought, too, that he +left some scholars in his native place, and not long after him, in 1321, +we find Cecco, and Puccio da Gubbio, engaged as painters of the +Cathedral of Orvieto; and about the year 1342, Guido Palmerucci of the +same place, employed in the palace of his native city. There remains a +work of his in fresco in the hall, much injured by time; but some +figures of saints are still preserved, which do not yield to the best +style of Giotto. Some other vestiges of very ancient paintings are to be +seen in the Confraternita de' Bianchi; in whose archives it is mentioned +that the picture of S. Biagio was repaired by Donato, in 1374; whence it +must necessarily be of a very early period. This and other interesting +information I obtained from Sig. Sebastiano Rangliasci, a noble +inhabitant of Gubbio, who has formed a catalogue of the artists of his +native city, inserted in the fourth volume of the last edition of +Vasari. + +We are now arrived at the age of Giotto, and the first who presents +himself to us is Pietro Cavallini, who was instructed by Giotto, in +Rome,[8] in the arts of painting and mosaic, both of which he followed +with skill and intelligence. The Roman Guide makes mention of him, and +that of Florence refers to a Nunziata at S. Mark; and there are others +mentioned by Vasari as being in the chapels of that city; one of which +is in the Loggia del Grano. The most remarkable of his works is to be +seen in Assisi. It is a fresco, and occupies a large facade in one +division of the church. It represents the crucifixion of our Saviour, +surrounded by bands of soldiers, foot and horse, and a numerous crowd of +spectators, all varying in their dress and the expression of their +passions. In the sky is a band of angels, whose sympathizing sorrow is +vividly depicted. In extent and spirit of design it partakes of the +style of Memmi, and in one of the sufferers on the cross he has shewn +that he justly appreciated and successfully followed his guide. The +colours are well preserved, particularly the blue, which there, and in +other parts of the church, presents to our admiring gaze, to use the +language of our poets, a heaven of oriental sapphire. + +Vasari does not appear to have been acquainted with any scholar of +Pietro Cavallini, except it be Giovanni da Pistoja; but Pietro, who +lived in Rome the greater part of his life, which was extended to a +period of eighty-five years, must have contributed his aid in no small +degree to the advancement of art, in the capital, as well as in other +places. However this may be, in that part of Italy, pictures of his +school are still found; or at least memorials of art of the age in which +he flourished. We have an Andrea of Velletri, of whom a specimen is +preserved in the select collection of the Museo Borgia, with the Virgin +surrounded by saints, a common subject at that period in the churches, +as I have before observed. It has the name of the painter, with the year +1334, and in execution approaches nearer to the school of Siena than any +other. In the year 1321 we find Ugolino Orvietano, Gio. Bonini di +Assisi, Lello Perugino, and F. Giacomo da Camerino, noticed by us in +another place, all employed in painting in the Cathedral of Orvieto. +Mariotti, in his letters, mentions other artists of Perugia, and the +memory of a very early painter of Fabriano is preserved by Ascevolini, +the historian of that city, who informs us, that in the country church +of S. Maria Maddalena, in his time, there was a picture in fresco, by +Bocco, executed in 1306. A Francesco Tio da Fabriano, who in 1318 +painted the tribune of the Conventuals at Mondaino, is mentioned by +Colucci, (tom. xxv. p. 183). This work has perished; but the productions +of a successor of his at Fabriano are to be seen in the oratory of S. +Antonio Abate, the walls of which remain. Many histories of the saint +are there to be found, divided into pictures, in the early style, and +inscribed, _Allegrettus Nutii de Fabriano hoc opus fecit 136_.... The +art in these parts was not a little advanced by their proximity to +Assisi, where Giotto's scholars were employed after his death, +particularly Puccio Capanna of Florence. This artist, who is esteemed +one of the most successful followers of Giotto, after painting in +Florence, in Pistoia, Rimino, and Bologna, is conjectured by Vasari to +have settled in Assisi, where he left many works behind him. + +We shall find the succeeding century more fruitful in art, as the Popes +at that time forsook Avignon, and, re-establishing themselves in Rome, +began to decorate the palace of the Vatican, and to employ painters of +celebrity both there and in the churches. There does not appear any +person of distinction amongst them as a native of Rome. From the Roman +State we find Gentile da Fabriano, Piero della Francesca, Bonfigli, +Vannucci, and Melozzo, who first practised the art of _sotto in su_; and +amongst the strangers are Pisanello, Masaccio, Beato Angelico, +Botticelli and his colleagues. Amongst these too, it is said, was to be +found Mantegna, and there still remains the chapel painted by him for +Innocent VIII. although since converted to another purpose. Each of +these artists I shall notice in their respective schools, and shall here +only mention such as were found in the country from the Ufente to the +Tronto, and from thence to the Metauro, which are the confines of our +present class. The names of many others may be collected from books; as +an Andrea, and a Bartolommeo, both of Orvieto, and a Mariotto da +Viterbo, and others who worked at Orvieto from 1405 to 1457; and some +who painted in Rome itself, a Giovenale and a Salli di Celano, and +others now forgotten. But without pausing on these, we will advert to +the artists of Piceno, of the State of Urbino, and the remaining parts +of Umbria: where we shall meet with the traces of schools which remained +for many years. + +The school of Fabriano, which seems very ancient in Picenum, produced at +that time Gentile, one of the first painters of his age, of whom +Bonarruoti is reported to have said, that his style was in unison with +his name. The first notice we have of him is among the painters of the +church of Orvieto, in 1417; and then, or soon afterwards, he received +from the historians of that period the appellation of _magister +magistrorum_, and they mention the Madonna which he there painted, and +which still remains. He afterwards resided in Venice, where, after +ornamenting the Palazzo Publico, he was rewarded by the republic with a +salary, and with the privilege of wearing the patrician dress of that +city. He there, says Vasari, became the master, and, in a manner, the +father of Jacopo Bellini, the father and preceptor of two of the +ornaments of the Venetian school. These were Gentile, who assumed that +name in memory of Gentile da Fabriano, born in 1421; and Giovanni, who +surpassed his brother in reputation, and from whose school arose +Giorgione and Titian. He (Gentile da Fabriano) was employed in the +Lateran, at Rome, where he rivalled Pisanello, in the time of Martin V.; +and it is to be regretted that his works, both there and in Venice, have +perished. Facio, who eulogizes him, and who had seen his most finished +performances, extols him as a man of universal art, who represented, not +only the human form and edifices in the most correct manner, but painted +also the stormy appearances of nature in a style that struck terror into +the spectator. In painting the history of St. John, in the Lateran, and +the Five Prophets over it, of the colour of marble, he is said to have +used more than common care, as if he at that time prognosticated his own +approaching death, which soon afterwards occurred, and the work remained +unfinished. Notwithstanding this, Ruggier da Bruggia, as Facio relates, +when he went to Rome, in the holy year, and saw it, considered it a +stupendous work, which placed Gentile at the head of all the painters of +Italy. According to Vasari and Borghini, he executed a countless number +of works in the Marca, and in the state of Urbino, and particularly in +Gubbio, and in Citta di Castello, which are in the neighbourhood of his +native place; and there still remain in those districts, and in Perugia, +some paintings in his style. A remarkable one is mentioned in a country +church called la Romita, near Fabriano.[9] Florence possesses two +beautiful specimens: the one in S. Niccolo, with the effigy and history +of the sainted bishop, the other in the sacristy of S. Trinita, with an +Epiphany, having the date of 1423. They bear a near resemblance to the +style of B. Angelico, except that the proportions of the figures are not +so correct, the conception is less just, and the fringe of gold and +brocades more frequent. Vasari pronounces him a pupil of Beato, and +Baldinucci confirms this opinion, although he says that Beato took +religious orders at an early age in 1407, a period which would exclude +Gentile from his tuition. I conjecture both the one and the other to +have been scholars of miniature painters, from the fineness of their +execution, and from the size of their works, which are generally on a +small scale. The name of an Antonio da Fabriano appears in a +Crucifixion, in 1454, painted on wood, which I saw in Matelica, in the +possession of the Signori Piersanti; but it is inferior to Gentile in +style.[10] + +On an ancient picture, which is preserved in Perugia, in the convent of +S. Domenico, is the name of a painter of Camerino, a place in the same +neighbourhood, who flourished in 1447. The inscription is _Opus Johannis +Bochatis de Chamereno_. In the same district is S. Severino, where we +find a Lorenzo, who, in conjunction with his brother, painted in the +oratory of S. John the Baptist in Urbino, the life of that saint. These +two artists were much behind their age. I have seen some other works by +them, from which it appears that they were living in 1470, and painted +in the Florentine style of 1400. Other artists of the same province are +named in the _Storia del Piceno_, particularly at S. Ginesio, a Fabio di +Gentile di Andrea, a Domenico Balestrieri, and a Stefano Folchetti, +whose works are cited, with the date of their execution attached to +them.[11] In this district also resided several strangers, scarcely +known to their native places, as Francesco d'Imola, a scholar of +Francia, who, in the convent of Cingoli, painted a Descent from the +Cross; and Carlo Crivelli, a Venetian, who passed from one state to +another, and finally settled in Ascoli. His works are to be met with +there more frequently than in any other city of Picenum. I shall speak +of his merits in the Venetian school, and shall here only add, that he +had for a pupil Pietro Alamanni, the chief of the painters of Ascoli, a +respectable _quattrocentista_, who painted an altarpiece at S. Maria +della Carita, in 1489. About this time also we find amongst their names +a Vittorio Crivelli, a Venetian, of the family, as I conjecture, and +perhaps of the school of Carlo. There is frequent mention of him in the +_Antichita Picene_. + +Urbino, too, had her artists, as her princes were not behind the other +rulers of Italy in good taste. At the restoration of the art, we find +Giotto, and several of his scholars, there; and afterwards Gentile da +Fabriano,[12] a Galeazzo, and, possibly, a Gentile di Urbino. At Pesaro, +in the convent of S. Agostino, I have seen a Madonna, accompanied with +beautiful architecture, and an inscription--_Bartholomaeus Magistri +Gentilis de Urbino_, 1497; and at Monte Cicardo, I saw the same name on +an ancient picture of 1508, but without his birthplace. (Ant. Pic. tom. +xvii. 145.) I am in doubt whether this _M. Gentilis_ refers to the +father of Bartolommeo or his master, as the scholars at that time often +took their designation from their masters. At all events, this artist is +not to be confounded with Bartolommeo from Ferrara, whose son, +Benedetto, subscribes himself _Benedictus quondam Bartholomaei de Fer. +Pictor._ 1492. This is to be seen in the church of S. Domenico di +Urbino, on the altarpiece in the Chapel of the Muccioli, their +descendants. + +In the city of Urbino there remain some works of the father of +Raffaello, who, in a letter of the Duchess Giovanna della Rovere, which +is the first of the Lettere Pittoriche, is designated as _molto +virtuoso_. There is by him in the church of S. Francis, a good picture +of S. Sebastian, with figures in an attitude of supplication. There is +one attributed also to him in a small church dedicated to the same +saint, representing his martyrdom, with a figure foreshortened, which +Raffaello, when young, imitated in a picture of the Virgin, at Citta di +Castello. He subscribed himself _Io. Sanctis Urbi._ (_Urbinas_). So I +read it in the sacristy of the Conventuals of Sinigaglia in an +Annunciation in which there is a beautiful angel, and an infant Christ +descending from the father; and which seems to be copied from those of +Pietro Perugino, with whom Raffaello worked some time, though it has a +still more ancient style. The other figures are less beautiful, but yet +graceful, and the extremities are carefully executed. But the most +distinguished painter in Urbino was F. Bartolommeo Corradini d'Urbino, a +Domenican, called Fra. Carnevale. To an accurate eye his pictures are +defective in perspective, and retain in the drapery the dryness of his +age, but the portraits are so strongly expressed that they seem to live +and speak; the architecture is beautiful, and the colours bright, and +the air of the heads at the same time noble and unaffected. It is known +that Bramante and Raffaello studied him, as there were not, at that +time, any better works in Urbino. In Gubbio, which formed a part of this +dukedom, were to be seen in that age the remains of the early school. +There exists a fresco by Ottaviano Martis in S. Maria Nuova, painted in +1403. The Virgin is surrounded by a choir of angels, certainly too much +resembling each other, but in their forms and attitudes as graceful and +pleasing as any contemporary productions. + +Borgo S. Sepolcro, Foligno, and Perugia, present us with artists of +greater celebrity. Borgo was a part of Umbria subject to the Holy See, +and was, in 1440, pledged to the Florentines,[13] by Eugenius IV. at the +time Piero della Francesca, or Piero Borghese, one of the most memorable +painters of this age, was at the summit of his reputation. He must have +been born about 1398, since Vasari states that "he painted about the +year 1458,"[14] and that he became blind at sixty years of age, and +remained so until his death, in his eighty-sixth year. From his +fifteenth year he applied himself to painting, at which age he had made +himself master of the principles of mathematics, and he rose to great +eminence both in art and science.[15] I have not been able to ascertain +who was his master, but it is probable that as he was the son of a poor +widow, who had barely the means of bringing him up, he did not leave his +native place; and that under the guidance of obscure masters he raised +himself, by his own genius, to the high degree of fame which he enjoyed. +He first appeared, says Vasari, in the court of the elder Guidubaldo +Feltro, Duke of Urbino, where he left only some pictures of figures on a +small scale, which was the case with such as were not the pupils of the +great masters. He was celebrated for a remarkable drawing of a Vase, so +ingeniously designed that the front, the back, the sides, the bottom, +and the mouth, were all shewn; the whole drawn with the greatest +correctness, and the circles gracefully foreshortened. The art of +perspective, the principles of which he was, as some affirm, the first +among the Italians to develope and to cultivate, was much indebted to +him;[16] and painting, too, owed much to his example in imitating the +effects of light, in marking correctly the muscles of the naked figure, +in preparing models of clay for his figures, and in the study of his +drapery, the folds of which he fixed on the model itself, and drew very +accurately and minutely. On examining the style of Bramante and his +Milanese contemporaries, I have often thought that they derived some +light from Piero, for, as I have before said, he painted in Urbino where +Bramante studied, and afterwards executed many works in Rome, where +Bramantino came and was employed by Nicholas V. + +In the Floreria of the Vatican is still to be seen a large fresco +painting, in which the above named pontiff is represented with cardinals +and prelates, and there is a degree of truth in the countenances highly +interesting. Taja does not assert that it is by Pietro, but says that it +is attributed to him.[17] Those which are pointed out in Arezzo +doubtless belong to him, and the most remarkable are the histories of +the holy cross in the choir of the church of the Conventuals, which shew +that the art was already advanced beyond its infancy; there is so much +new in the Giotto manner of foreshortening, in the relief, and in many +difficulties of the art overcome in his works. If he had possessed the +grace of Masaccio he might with justice have been placed at his side. At +Citta S. Sepolcro there still remain some works attributed to him; a S. +Lodovico Vescovo, in the public palace, at S. Chiara a picture of the +Assumption, with the apostles in the distance, and a choir of angels at +the top, but in the foreground are S. Francis, S. Jerome, and other +figures, which injure the unity of the composition. There are, however, +still traces in them of the old style; a poverty of design, a hardness +in the foldings of the drapery, feet which are well foreshortened, but +too far apart. As to the rest, in design, in the air, and in the +colouring of the figures, it seems to be a rude sketch of that style +which was ameliorated by P. Perugino, and perfected by Raffaello. + +In the latter part of this century there flourished several good +painters at Foligno, but it is not known from whom they derived their +instructions. In the twenty-fifth volume of the Antichita Picene we +read, that in the church of S. Francesco di Cagli there exists (I know +not whether it be now there) a most beautiful composition, painted in +1461, at the price of 115 ducats of gold, by M. Pietro di Mazzaforte and +M. Niccolo Deliberatore of Foligno. At S. Venanzio di Camerino is a +large altarpiece on a ground of gold, with Christ on the Cross, +surrounded by many Saints, with three small evangelical histories added +to it. The inscription is _Opus Nicolai Fulginatis_, 1480; it is in the +style of the last imitators of Giotto, and there is scarcely a doubt +that the artist studied at Florence. I believe him to be the same artist +as Niccolo Deliberatore, or di Liberatore; and different from Niccolo +Alunno, also of Foligno, whom Vasari mentions as an excellent painter in +the time of Pinturicchio. He painted in distemper, as was common before +Pietro Perugino, but in tints that have survived uninjured to our own +times. In the distribution of his colours he was original; his heads +possess expression, though they are common, and sometimes heavy, when +they represent the vulgar. There is at S. Niccolo di Foligno a picture +by him, composed in the style of the fourteenth century, the Virgin +surrounded by saints, and underneath small histories of the Passion, +where the perspicuity is more to be praised than the disposition. In the +same style some of his pieces in Foligno are painted after 1500. Vasari +thinks they are all surpassed by his Pieta in a chapel of the Duomo, in +which are represented two angels, "whose grief is so vividly expressed, +that any other artist, however ambitious he might be, would find it +difficult to surpass it." + +Perugia, from whence the art derived no common lustre, abounded in +painters beyond any other city. The celebrated Mariotti formed a long +catalogue of the painters of the fourteenth century, and among the most +conspicuous are Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, and Bartolommeo Caporali, of whom +we have pictures of the date of 1487. Some strangers were also to be +found amongst them, as that Lello da Velletri, the author of an +altarpiece, and its lower compartments, noticed by Signor Orsini. +Benedetto Bonfigli was distinguished above all others, and was the most +eminent artist of Perugia in his day. I have seen by him, besides the +picture in fresco in the Palazzo Publico, mentioned by Vasari, a picture +of the Magi, in S. Domenico, in a style similar to Gentile, and with a +large proportion of gold; and another in a more modern style, an +Annunciation, in the church of the Orfanelli. The angel in it is most +beautiful, and the whole picture would bear comparison with the works of +the best artists of this period, if the drawing were more correct.[18] + +What I have already adduced sufficiently proves that the art was not +neglected in the Papal States, even in the ruder ages; and that men of +genius from time to time appeared there, who, without leaving their +native places, still gave an impulse to art. Florence, however, has ever +been the great capital of design, the leading academy, and the Athens of +Italy. It would be idle to question her indisputable claim to this high +honour; and Sixtus IV., who, as we have before mentioned, sought through +all Italy for artists to ornament the Sistine chapel, procured the +greatest number from Tuscany; nor were there to be found amongst them +any who were his own subjects, except Pietro Perugino, and he too had +risen to notice and celebrity in Florence. These then are the first +mature fruits of the Roman school, for until this period they had been +crude and tasteless. Pietro is her Masaccio, her Ghirlandajo, her all. +We will here take a short view of him and his scholars, reserving, +however, the divine Raffaello to the next epoch, which indeed is +designated by his illustrious name. + +Pietro Vannucci della Pieve,[19] as he calls himself in some pictures, +or of Perugia in others, from the citizenship which he there enjoyed, +had studied under a master of no great celebrity, if we are to believe +Vasari; and this was a Pietro da Perugia, as Bottari conjectured, or +Niccolo Alunno, as it was reported in Foligno. Mariotti pretends that +Pietro advanced himself greatly in Perugia in the schools of Bonfigli, +and Pietro della Francesca, from which he not only derived that +excellence in perspective, which, from the testimony of Vasari was so +much admired in Florence, but also much of his design and colouring.[20] +Mariotti then raises a doubt whether, when he went as an artist to +Florence, he became the scholar of Verrocchio, as writers report, or +whether he did not rather perfect himself from the great examples of +Masaccio, and the excellent painters who at that time flourished there; +and he finally determines in favour of the opinion held by Pascoli, +Bottari, and Taja, and adopted by Padre Resta, in his _Galleria +Portatile_, p. 10, that Verrocchio was never his master. It is well +worth while to read the disquisitions of this able writer in his fifth +letter, where we may admire the dexterity with which he settles a point +so perplexed and so interesting to the history of art. I will only add +that it appears to me not improbable, that Pietro, when he arrived at +Florence, attached himself to this most celebrated artist, and was +instructed by him in design, and in the plastic art particularly, and in +that fine style of painting with which Verrocchio, without much +practising it himself, imbued both Vinci and Credi. Traditions are +seldom wholly groundless; they have generally some foundation in truth. + +The manner of Pietro is somewhat hard and dry, like that of other +painters of his time; and he occasionally exhibits a poverty in the +drapery of his figures; his garments and mantles being curtailed and +confined. But he atones for these faults by the grace of his heads, +particularly in his boys and in his women; which have an air of elegance +and a charm of colour unknown to his contemporaries. It is delightful to +behold in his pictures, and in his frescos which remain in Perugia and +Rome, the bright azure ground which affords such high relief to his +figures; the green, purple, and violet tints so chastely harmonized, the +beautiful and well drawn landscape and edifices, which, as Vasari says, +was a thing until that time never seen in Florence. In his altarpieces +he is not sufficiently varied. There is a remarkable painting executed +for the church of S. Simone, at Perugia, of a Holy Family, one of the +first specimens of a well designed and well composed altarpiece. In +other respects Pietro did not make any great advances in invention; his +Crucifixions and his Descents from the Cross are numerous, and of an +uniform character. He has thus represented, with little variation, the +Ascensions of our Lord and of the Virgin, in Bologna, in Florence, +Perugia, and Citta di S. Sepolcro. He was reproached with this +circumstance in his lifetime, and defended himself by saying that no one +had a right to complain, as the designs were all his own. There is also +another defence, which is, that compositions, really beautiful, are +still seen with delight when repeated in different places; whoever sees +in the Sistine his S. Peter invested with the keys, will not be +displeased at finding at Perugia the same landscape, in a picture of the +Marriage of the Virgin. On the contrary, this picture is one of the +finest objects that noble city affords; and may be considered as +containing an epitome of the various styles of Pietro. In the opinion of +some persons, his frescos exhibit a more fertile invention, and greater +delicacy and harmony of colour. Of these, his masterpiece is in his +native city, in the Sala del Cambio. It is an evangelical subject, with +saints from the Old Testament, and with his own portrait, to which his +grateful fellow citizens attached an elegant eulogy. He is most eminent, +and adopts a sort of Raffaellesque style, in some of his latter +pictures. I have observed it in a Holy Family, in the Carmine in +Perugia. The same may be said too of certain small pictures, almost of a +miniature class; as in the grado of S. Peter, in Perugia, than which +nothing can be more finished and beautiful; and in many other pieces in +which he has spared no pains,[21] but which are few in comparison to the +multitude by his scholars, attributed to him. + +In treating of the school of Pietro Perugino, it is necessary to advert +to what Taja,[22] and after him the author of the _Lettere Perugine_, +notices respecting his scholars, "that they were most scrupulous in +adhering to the manner of their master, and as they were very numerous, +they have filled the world with pictures, which both by painters and +connoisseurs are very commonly considered as his." When his works in +Perugia are inspected, he generally rises in the esteem of travellers, +of whom many have only seen paintings incorrectly ascribed to him. In +Florence there are some of his pictures in the Grand Duke's collection: +and in the church of S. Chiara, his beautiful Descent from the Cross, +and some other works; but in private collections both here and in other +cities of Tuscany, many Holy Families are assigned to him, which are +most probably by Gerino da Pistoja, or some of his Tuscan scholars, of +whom there is a catalogue in our first book. The Papal states also +possessed many of his scholars, who were of higher reputation, nor so +wholly attached to his manner as the strangers. Bernardino Pinturicchio, +his scholar and assistant in Perugia and in Rome, was a painter little +valued by Vasari, who has not allowed him his full share of merit. He +has not the style of design of his master, and retains more than +consistent with his age, the ornaments of gold in his drapery; but he is +magnificent in his edifices, spirited in his countenances, and extremely +natural in every thing he introduces into his composition. As he was on +the most familiar footing with Raffaello, with whom he painted at Siena, +he has emulated his grace in some of his figures, as in his picture of +S. Lorenzo in the church of the Francescani di Spello, in which there is +a small S. John the Baptist, thought by some to be by Raphael himself. +He was very successful in arabesques and perspective; in which way he +was the first to represent cities in the ornaments of his fresco +paintings, as in an apartment of the Vatican, where in his landscapes he +introduced views of the principal cities of Italy. In many of his +paintings he retained the ancient custom of making part of his +decorations of stucco, as the arches, a custom which was observed in the +Milanese school to the time of Gaudenzio. Rome possesses some of his +works, particularly in the Vatican, and in Araceli. There is a good +picture by him in the duomo of Spello.[23] His best is at Siena, in the +magnificent sacristy of which we have already made mention. They consist +of ten historical subjects, containing the most memorable passages in +the life of Pius II., and on the outside is an eleventh, which +represents the Coronation of Pius III., by whom this work was ordered. + +Vasari has added to the life of Pinturicchio that of Girolamo Genga, of +Urbino, at first a scholar of Signorelli, afterwards of Perugino, and +who remained some time pursuing his studies in Florence. He was, for a +long period, in the service of the Duke of Urbino, and attached himself +more to architecture than to painting, though, in the latter, he was +sufficiently distinguished to deserve a place in the history of art. We +cannot form a correct judgment of him, as a great part of his own works +have perished; and as he assisted Signorelli in Orvieto and other +places; and was assisted by Timoteo della Vite in Urbino, and in the +imperial palace of Pesaro by Raffaelle del Colle, and various others. In +the Petrucci palace at Siena, which now belongs to the noble family of +Savini, some historical pieces are ascribed to him near those of +Signorelli. They are described in the Lettere Senesi, and in the notes +published at Siena to the fourth volume of Vasari. These pieces are +praised as superior to those of Signorelli, and as in many parts +approaching the early style of Raffaello. Nor do I see how, in the above +mentioned letters, they could be supposed to be by Razzi, or Peruzzi, or +Pacchiarotto, "_in their hard dry manner_" when history assures us that +Girolamo was with Pandolfo a considerable time, which cannot be asserted +of the other three; and as it appears that Petrucci, to finish the work +of Signorelli, selected Genga from among his scholars. If we deprive him +of this work, which is the only one which can be called his own, what +can he have executed in all this time? In this house there is no other +picture that can be assigned to him, although Vasari asserts that he +there painted other rooms. A most beautiful picture by Genga, and of the +greatest rarity, is to be seen in S. Caterina da Siena in Rome; the +subject is the Resurrection of our Saviour. + +Of the other scholars of Perugino we have no distinct account; but we +find some notice of them in the life of their master. Giovanni +Spagnuolo, named Lo Spagna, was one of the many _oltramontani_ whom +Perugino instructed. The greater part of these introduced his manner +into their own countries, but Giovanni established himself at Spoleti, +at which place, and in Assisi, he left his best works. In the opinion of +Vasari the colouring of Perugino survived in him more than in any of his +fellow scholars. In a chapel of the Angioli, below Assisi, there remains +the picture described by Vasari, in which are the portraits of the +brotherhood of S. Francis, who closed his days on this spot, and, +perhaps, no other pupil of this school has painted portraits with more +truth, if we except Raffaello himself, with whom no other painter is to +be compared. + +A more memorable person is Andrea Luigi di Assisi, a competitor of +Raffaello, although of more mature years, who, from his happy genius was +named L'Ingegno. He assisted Perugino in the Sala del Cambio, and in +other works of more consequence; and he may be said to be the first of +that school who began to enlarge the style, and soften the colouring. +This is observable in several of his works, and singularly so in the +sybils and prophets in fresco in the church of Assisi; if they are by +his hand, as is generally believed. It is impossible to behold his +pictures without a feeling of compassion, when we recollect that he was +visited with blindness at the most valuable period of his life. Domenico +di Paris Alfani also enlarged the manner of his master, and even more +than him Orazio his son, and not his brother, as has been imagined. This +artist bears a great resemblance to Raffaello. There are some of his +pictures in Perugia, which, if it were not for a more delicate +colouring, and something of the suavity of Baroccio, might be assigned +to the school of Raffaello; and there are pictures on which a question +arises whether they belong to that school or to Orazio; particularly +some Madonnas, which are preserved in various collections. I have seen +one in the possession of the accomplished Sig. Auditor Frigeri in +Perugia; and there is another in the ducal gallery in Florence. The +reputation of the younger Alfani has injured that of the other; and even +in Perugia some fine pieces were long considered to be by Orazio, which +have since been restored to Domenico. An account of these, and other +works of eminent artists, may be found in modern writers; and +particularly in Mariotti, who mentions the altarpiece of the +Crucifixion, between S. Apollonia and S. Jerome, at the church of the +Conventuals, a work by the two Alfanis, father and son. In commendation +of the latter he adds, that he was the chief of the academy for design, +which was founded in 1573, and which, after many honourable struggles, +has been revived in our own time. + +There are other artists of less celebrity in Perugia, though not omitted +by Vasari. Eusebio da S. Giorgio painted in the church of S. Francesco +di Matelica, a picture with several saints, and on the grado, part of +the history of S. Anthony, with his name, and the year 1512. We may +recognize in it the drawing of Perugino, but the colouring is feeble. +His picture of the Magi at S. Agostino is better coloured, and in this +he followed Paris. The works of Giannicola da Perugia, a good colourist, +and therefore willingly received by Pietro to assist him in his labours, +however inferior to that artist in design and perspective, are +recognized in the Cappella del Cambio, which is near the celebrated sala +of Perugino, and was painted by him with the life of John the Baptist. +In the church of S. Thomas, is his picture of that Apostle about to +touch the wounds of our Saviour, and excepting a degree of sameness in +the heads, it possesses much of the character of Perugino. Giambatista +Caporali, erroneously called Benedetto by Vasari, Baldinucci, and +others, holds likewise a moderate rank in this school, and is more +celebrated among the architects. Giulio, his natural son, afterwards +legitimatized, also cultivated the same profession. + +The succeeding names belonging to this school are not mentioned by +Vasari; a circumstance which does not prove the impropriety of their +admission, as there are many deserving of notice. Mariotti, our guide in +the chronology of this age, and a correct judge of the conformity of +style, notices Mariano di Ser Eusterio, whom Vasari calls Mariano da +Perugia (tom. iv. p. 162), referring to a picture in the church of S. +Agostino in Ancona, which is "not of much interest." In opposition to +this opinion of Vasari, however, Mariotti adduces another picture, of a +respectable class, by Mariano, to be found in S. Domenico di Perugia; +whence we may conclude that this painting is deserving of a place in the +history of art. He also mentions Berto di Giovanni, whom Raffaello +engaged as his assistant to paint a picture for the monks of Monteluci +(of which we shall speak in our notice of Penni) and who was appointed +in this contract by Raphael himself to paint the grado. This grado is in +the sacristy, and is so entirely in the manner of Raffaello, in the +history of the virgin which it represents, that we may conclude either +that Raffaello made the design, or that it was painted by one of his +school. If it was by Berto, it proves him to have been one of those who +exchanged the school of Perugino for that of Raffaello; and if he did +not paint it, he must always be held in consideration for the regard he +received from the master of the art. Of this artist more information may +be obtained from Bianconi, in the Antologia Romana, vol. iii. p. 121. +Mariotti enumerates also Sinibaldo da Perugia, who must be esteemed an +excellent painter from his works in his native place, and more so from +those in the cathedral at Gubbio, where he painted a fine picture in +1505, and a gonfalon still more beautiful, which would rank him among +the first artists of the ancient school. To the above painters Pascoli +adds a female artist of the name of Teodora Danti, who painted cabinet +pictures in the style of Perugino and his scholars. + +From tradition, as well as conjecture, we may notice in Citta di +Castello a Francesco of that city, a scholar of Perugino, who, in an +altarpiece in the church of the Conventuals, left an Annunciation with a +fine landscape. He is named in the Guida di Roma, in the account of the +chapel of S. Bernardino in Ara Caeli, where he is supposed to have +worked with Pinturicchio and Signorelli. There is a conjecture, though +no decided proof, that a Giacomo di Guglielmo was a pupil of Pietro, +who, at Castel della Pieve, his native place, painted a gonfalon, +estimated by good judges in Perugia at sixty-five florins; and also a +Tiberio di Assisi, who, in many of the coloured lunettes in the convent +degli Angeli, containing the history of the Life of S. Francis, shews +clearly that Perugino was his prototype, though he had not talent enough +to imitate him. Besides Tiberio, some have assigned to the instructions +of Perugino, the most eminent painter of Assisi, Adone (or Dono) Doni, +not unknown to Vasari, who often mentions him, and particularly in his +life of Gherardi (vol. v. p. 142). He is there called of Ascoli, an +opinion which Bottari maintains against Orlandi, who, on the best +grounds, changed it to Assisi. In Ascoli he is not at all known, but he +is well known in Perugia by a large picture of the Last Judgment in the +church of S. Francis, and still better in Assisi, where he painted in +fresco, in the church of the Angeli, the life of the founder, and of S. +Stephen, and many other pieces, which, for a long period, served as a +school for youth. He had very little of the ancient manner; the truth of +his portraits is occasionally wonderful; his colouring is that of the +latest of the scholars of Perugino; and he appears to be an artist of +more correctness than spirit. I find also a Lattanzio della Marca, of +the school of Perugino, commemorated by Vasari in the above mentioned +life. He is thought to be the same as Lattanzio da Rimino, of whom +Ridolfi makes mention, among the scholars of Giovanni Bellino, as +painting a picture in Venice in rivalship with Conegliano.[24] We are +enabled more correctly to ascertain this from a document in the +possession of Mariotti, of which we shall shortly speak, from which we +not only learn to a certainty his native place, but further, that he was +the son of Vincenzo Pagani, a celebrated painter, as will hereafter be +seen, and that both were living in the year 1553. It appears, therefore, +very probable that Lattanzio was instructed by his father, and that we +may doubt of his being under Bellini, who died about 1516, or under +Perugino, among whose disciples he is not enumerated by the very +accurate Mariotti. It seems certain, that on the death of Vannucci he +succeeded to his fame, and obtained for himself some of the most +important orders in Perugia, as, for instance, the great work of +painting the chambers in the castle. He accomplished this task by the +assistance of Raffaellino del Colle, Gherardi, Doni, and Paperello. He +there commenced the picture of S. Maria del Popolo, and executed the +lower part, where there is a great number of persons in the attitude of +prayer; a fine expression is observable in the countenances, the figures +are well disposed, the landscape beautiful, and there is a strength and +clearness in the colouring, and a taste which, on the whole, is +different from that of Perugino. The upper part of the picture, which is +by Gherardi, has not an equal degree of force. Lattanzio finished his +career by being sheriff of his native city; and of this office, a more +honourable distinction than at the present day, it appears he took +possession in the year 1553, and at that time renounced the art. It is +certain, that, in the before mentioned paper, the Capitano Lattanzio di +Vincenzo Pagani da Monte Rubbiano acknowledges to have received six +scudi of gold from Sforza degli Oddi, as earnest money for a picture +representing the Trinity, with four saints; and engages that in the +ensuing August it should be executed by his father Vincenzo and Tommaso +da Cortona, and this must be the picture still existing in the chapel of +the Oddi in S. Francesco, since the figures particularized in the +agreement are found there; we shall have an opportunity of noticing it +again. + +In the _Antichita Picene_, tom. xxi. p. 148, Ercole Ramazzani di +Roccacontrada is recorded as a scholar of Pietro Perugino, and for some +time of Raffaello. A picture of the circumcision, by him, is there +mentioned to be at Castel Planio, with his name and the date of 1588; +and in speaking of the artist it is added, that he possessed a beautiful +style of colour, a charming invention, and a manner approaching to +Barocci. I have never seen the above mentioned picture, nor the others +which he left in his native city, mentioned in the _Memorie_ of +Abbondanziere: but only one by a Ramazzani di Roccacontrada, painted in +the church of S. Francesco, in Matelica, in 1573. Although I cannot +affirm to a certainty that this painter called himself Ercole, I still +suspect him to be the same. It represents the conception of the Virgin, +in which the idea of the subject is taken from Vasari, where Adam, and +others of the Old Testament, are seen bound to the tree of knowledge of +good and evil, as the heirs of sin, while the Virgin triumphs over them +in her exemption from the penalty of the first parents. Ramazzani has +adopted this design, which he had probably seen, but he has executed his +picture on a much larger scale, with better colouring, and much more +expression in the countenances. To conclude, we do not see a trace of +the manner of Perugino, and the period at which he lived seems too late +for him to have received instructions from that artist; and it is most +probable that he was taught by some of his latter scholars, in whom, if +I mistake not, that more fascinating than correct style of colouring had +its origin, before it was adopted by Barocci. + +I may further observe, that as Perugino was the most celebrated name at +the beginning of the sixteenth century, many other artists of the Roman +States, who studied the art about his time, are given to his school +without any sufficient authority; and particularly those who retained a +share of the old style. Such was a Palmerini of Urbino, a contemporary +of Raphael, and probably his fellow scholar in early life, of whom there +remains at S. Antonio, a picture of various saints, truly beautiful, and +approaching to a more modern style. In the same style I found, in the +Borghese Gallery at Rome, the Woman of Samaria at the Well, painted by a +Pietro Giulianello, or perhaps _da_ Giulianello, a little district not +far from Rome; an artist deserving to be placed in the first rank of +_quattrocentisti_, although not mentioned by any writer. There are +besides, some pictures by Pietro Paolo Agabiti, who in tom. xx. of the +_Ant. Pic._ is said to be of Masaccio, where he painted in 1531, and +some time afterwards. But I have seen a work by him in the church of S. +Agostino in Sassoferrato, a series of small histories, with an +inscription in which he names Sassoferrato as his native place, with the +date of 1514; a date that will carry him from the moderns to the better +class of the old school. Lorenzo Pittori da Macerata painted in the +church of the Virgin, highly esteemed for its architecture, a picture of +Christ in 1533, in a manner which has been called _antico moderno_. Two +artists, Bartolommeo, and Pompeo his son, flourished in Fano, and +painted in 1534 in conjunction, in the church of S. Michele, the +resurrection of Lazarus. It is wonderful to observe how little they +regarded the reform which the art had undergone. These artists strictly +followed the dry style of the quattrocentisti, with a thorough contempt +of the modern style. Nor was the son at all modernized on leaving his +father's studio. I found at S. Andrea di Pesaro a picture by him of +various saints, which might have done him honour in the preceding age. +Civalli mentions other works by him in a better style: and he certainly +in his lifetime enjoyed a degree of reputation, and was one of the +masters of Taddeo Zuccaro. There are a number of painters of this class, +of whom a long list might be compiled; they are generally represented to +be pupils of some well known master, and in such cases Pietro Perugino +is selected; though it would be more candid to confess our ignorance on +the subject. + +It would be improper to pass on to another epoch of art, without +adverting to the grotesque. This branch of the art is censured by +Vitruvius[25] as a creation of portentous monsters beyond the reign of +nature, transferring to canvas the dreams and ravings of a disordered +fancy, as wild as the waves of a convulsed sea, lashed into a thousand +varying forms by the fury of the tempest. This style took its name from +the _grotte_, for so those beautiful antique edifices may be called, +where paintings of this kind are found, covered with earth, and with +buildings of a later period. This style was revived in Rome, where a +greater proportion of these ancient specimens is found, and was restored +at this epoch. Vasari ascribes the revival of them to Morto da Feltro, +and the perfecting of the style to Giovanni da Udine. But he himself, +notwithstanding the little esteem he had for Pinturicchio, calls him the +friend of Morto da Feltro, and allows that he executed many works in the +same manner in Castel S. Angelo. Before him too Pietro his master had +painted some of the same kind in the Sala del Cambio, which Orsini says +are well conceived, and to him likewise a precedent had been afforded by +Benedetto Bonfigli, of whom Taja, in his description of the Vatican +palace, says, that he painted for Innocent VIII. in Rome some singularly +beautiful grotesques. This branch of art was afterwards cultivated in +many of the schools of Italy, particularly in that of Siena. Peruzzi +approved of it in architecture, and adopted it in his painting, and gave +occasion to Lomazzo to offer a defence of it, and precepts, as I before +noticed, and as may be seen in the sixth book of his Trattato della +Pittura, chapter forty-eight. + +[Footnote 4: _Dell'errore, che persiste_, &c. see the second index. It +was opposed by Crespi, in his _Dissertazione Anticritica_, referred to +in the same index. It was also opposed by P. dell'Aquila, in the +_Dizionario portatile della Bibbia, tradotto dal francese_, in a note of +some length, on the article S. Luca.] + +[Footnote 5: See the _Opuscoli Calogeriani_, tom. xliii. where a learned +dissertation is inserted, which shews that this custom was introduced +about the middle of the fifth century, on occasion of the Council of +Ephesus.] + +[Footnote 6: Engraved by command of the learned Cardinal Borgia. The +artists began about the middle of the fifth century, to represent her +with the Infant in her arms. See _Opuscoli Calogeriani_, as above.] + +[Footnote 7: "The painter was a man of holy life, and a Florentine, +whose name was Luca, and who was honoured by the common people with the +title of saint." Lami, Deliciae Eruditorum, tom. xv.] + +[Footnote 8: So says Vasari, who writes his life, but Padre della Valle +thinks it highly probable that he was the scholar of Cosimati, and not +of Giotto; as Cavallini was contemporary with Giotto. I agree that he +was only a very few years younger, and might have received some +instructions in the school of Cosimati: but who, except Giotto himself, +could have taught him that Giottesque and improved style scarcely +inferior to Gaddi?] + +[Footnote 9: In the archives of the Collegiate Church of S. Niccolo, in +Fabriano, is preserved a catalogue of the pictures of the city, which +has been communicated to me by Sig. Can. Claudio Serafini. This picture, +which is divided into five compartments, is there mentioned; and it is +added, that "many celebrated painters visited the place to view this +excellent work, and in particular, the illustrious Raffaello."] + +[Footnote 10: In the archives before alluded to, are also mentioned two +ancient pictures of a Giuliano da Fabriano, the one in the church of the +Domenicans, the other in the Church of the Capuchins.] + +[Footnote 11: Tom. xxiii. page 83, &c. By the first, is the ancient +picture of S. Maria della Consolazione in that church, erected in 1442. +By the second, are the pictures in the church of S. Rocco, painted about +the year 1463. The third artist painted a picture in the church of S. +Liberato, in 1494.] + +[Footnote 12: Galeazzo Sanzio and his sons will be noticed in the second +epoch.] + +[Footnote 13: See Vasari, Bologna edition, p. 260.] + +[Footnote 14: The commentators of Vasari remark, that when he uses this +phrase, he refers to the year of the death of the artist, or to the +period when he relinquished his art. Pietro must therefore have become +blind about the year 1458, in the sixtieth year of his age, and must +have died about 1484, aged eighty-six. This painter was intimately +connected with the family of Vasari. Lazaro the great-grandfather of +Vasari, who died in 1452, was the friend and imitator of Pietro, and +some time before his death assigned him his nephew Signorelli as a +scholar. We must, therefore, give credit to Vasari's account of +Borghese; for if we discredit him on this occasion, as some have done, +when are we to believe him? It is true, indeed, that he is guilty of a +strange anachronism in mentioning Guidubaldo, the old Duke of Urbino, as +his first patron; but this kind of error is frequent in him, and not to +be regarded.] + +[Footnote 15: "Fu eccellentissimo prospettivo, e il maggior geometra de' +suoi tempi." Romano Alberti, Trattato della nobilta della pittura, p. +32. See also Pascoli, Vite, tom. i. p. 90.] + +[Footnote 16: It appears that in this art he was preceded by Van Eych of +Flanders. See tom. i. p. 81, &c.; and also the eulogium on him by +Bartolommeo Facio, p. 46, where he praises his skill in geometry, and +refers to several of his pictures, which prove him to have been highly +accomplished, and almost unrivalled in perspective.] + +[Footnote 17: If there be any truth in Pietro having been blind for +twenty-four years, I do not know how he could have painted Sixtus IV. On +the other hand this tradition of his blindness comes from Vasari, whose +family was so intimately connected with that of Pietro della Francesca, +that there was less room for error in the life of that artist than in +any other. This excellent picture, of which I have seen a beautiful copy +in the possession of the Duke di Ceri, I should myself rather attribute +to Melozzo.] + +[Footnote 18: He is favorably mentioned by Crispolti, in the _Perugia +Augusta_; by Ciatti, in the _Istorie di Perugia_; Alessi, in the _Elogi +de' Perugini illustri_; and by Pascoli, in the _Vite de' Pittori Sc. +Arch. Perugini_; with whom I can in no manner concur in opinion, that +"Benedetto was equal to the best artists of his time, and probably the +first among the early masters who contributed to the introduction of an +improved style," (p. 21). An assertion singularly unjust to Masaccio.] + +[Footnote 19: He subscribed himself _de Castro Plebis_, now _Citta della +Pieve_. There, according to Pascoli, the father was born, who afterwards +removed to Perugia, where Pietro was born; but the greater probability +is, that Pietro also was born in Citta della Pieve. _Mariotti._] + +[Footnote 20: This resemblance might have arisen from his imitation of +the works of Borghese, (Pietro della Francesca) which he saw in Perugia, +as it most assuredly cannot be proved that Perugino was ever in his +school. P. Valle and others express great doubts of it, and when I +reflect that Vannucci was only twelve years old when Borghese lost his +sight, I regard it as an absurd tradition.] + +[Footnote 21: Vasari, at the close of his Life observes, "none of his +scholars ever equalled Pietro in application or in amenity of colour." +Padre della Valle asserts on the contrary, "that he was indebted for a +great portion of his celebrity to the talents displayed by his +scholars;" and says that he detected the touch of Raffaello in his +picture in the Grand Duke's collection; but we must have a stronger +testimony before we submit ourselves to this decision.] + +[Footnote 22: Descrizione del Palazzo Vaticano, p. 36.] + +[Footnote 23: Consisting of three subjects from the Life of Christ, in +the Chapel of the Holy Sacraments. The Annunciation, the Birth of +Christ, and the Dispute with the Doctors, the best of the three. In one +of these he introduced his own portrait. Vasari does not mention this +fine production.] + +[Footnote 24: He probably came to Venice from Rimino, or resided there +for some time. We find other early painters assigned first to one +country and then to another, as Jacopo Davanzo, Pietro Vannucci, Lorenzo +Lotto, &c.] + +[Footnote 25: It is said that Mengs, who was desirous of being +considered a philosophical painter, coincided with Vitruvius in opinion. +But this opinion should be restricted to some indifferent specimens; for +when he afterwards saw them painted in the true style of the ancients, +he regarded them with extraordinary pleasure; as in Genoa, which +possesses some beautiful arabesques by Vaga. So the defender of Ratti +assures us.] + + + + + ROMAN SCHOOL. + + EPOCH II. + + _Raffaello and his School._ + + +We are now arrived at the most brilliant period, not only of the Roman +School, but of modern painting itself. We have seen the art carried to a +high degree of perfection by Da Vinci and Bonarruoti, at the beginning +of the sixteenth century, and it is a remarkable fact that the same +period embraces not only Raphael, but also Coreggio, Giorgione, and +Titian, and the most celebrated Venetian painters: so that a man +enjoying the common term of life might have seen the works of all these +illustrious masters. The art in but a few years thus reached a height to +which it had never before attained, and which has never been rivalled, +except in the attempt to imitate these early masters, or to unite in one +style their varied and divided excellences. It seems indeed an ordinary +law of providence, that individuals of consummate genius should be born +and flourish at the same period, or at least at short intervals from +each other, a circumstance of which Velleius Paterculus, after a +diligent investigation, protested he could never discover the real +cause. I observe, he says, men of the same commanding genius making +their appearance together, in the smallest possible space of time; as it +happens in the case of animals of different kinds, which, confined in a +close place, nevertheless each selects its own class, and those of a +kindred race separate themselves from the rest, and unite in the closest +manner. A single age was sufficient to illustrate Tragedy, in the +persons of AEschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides: ancient comedy under +Cratinus, Aristophanes, and Eumolpides; and in like manner the new +comedy under Menander, Diphilus, and Philemon. There appeared few +philosophers of note after the days of Plato and Aristotle, and whoever +has made himself acquainted with Isocrates and his school, is acquainted +with the summit of Grecian eloquence. The same remark applies also to +other countries. The great Roman writers are included under the single +age of Octavius: Leo X. was the Augustus of modern Italy; the reign of +Louis XIV. was the brilliant era of French letters, that of Charles II. +of the English. + +This rule applies equally to the fine arts. _Hoc idem_, proceeds +Velleius, _evenisse plastis, pictoribus, sculptoribus, quisquis temporum +institerit notis reperiet, et eminentiam cujusque operis arctissimis +temporum claustris circumdatam._[26] Of this union of men of genius in +the same age, _Causas_, he says, _quum semper requiro, numquam invenio +quas veras confidam_. It seems to him probable that when a man finds +the first station in art occupied by another, he considers it as a post +that has been rightfully seized on, and no longer aspires to the +possession of it, but is humiliated, and contented to follow at a +distance. But this solution I confess does not satisfy my mind. It may +indeed account to us why no other Michelangiolo, or Raffaello, has ever +appeared; but it does not satisfy me why these two, and the others +before mentioned, should all have appeared together in the same age. For +myself, I am of opinion that the age is always influenced by certain +principles, universally adopted both by professors of the art, and by +amateurs: which principles happening at a particular period to be the +most just and accurate of their kind, produce in that age some +supereminent professors, and a number of good ones. These principles +change through the instability of all human affairs, and the age +partakes in the change. I may add, nevertheless, that these happy +periods never occur without the circumstance of a number of princes and +influential individuals rivalling each other in the encouragement of +works of taste; and amidst these there always arise some persons of +commanding genius, who give a bias and tone to art. The history of +sculpture in Athens, a city where munificence and taste went hand in +hand, favours my opinion, and it is further confirmed by this golden +period of Italian art. Nevertheless I do not pretend to give a verdict +on this important question, but leave the decision of it to a more +competent tribunal. + +But although it be a matter of difficulty to account for this +developement and union of rare talent at one particular period, we may +however hope to trace the steps of a single individual to excellence; +and I would wish to do so of Raffaello. Nature and fortune seemed to +unite in lavishing their favours on this artist; the first in investing +him with the rarest gifts of genius, the other in adding to these a +singular combination of propitious circumstances. In order to illustrate +our inquiry it will be necessary to observe him from his earliest +years,[27] and to note the progress of his mind. He was born in Urbino +in 1483; and if climate, as seems not improbable, have any influence on +the genius of an artist, I know not a happier spot that could have been +chosen for his birth, than that part of Italy which gave to architecture +a Bramante, supplied the art of painting with a successor to Raffaello +in Baroccio, and bestowed on sculpture the plastic hand of a Brandani, +without referring to many less celebrated, but still deserving artists, +who are the boast of Urbino and her state. The father of this +illustrious artist was Giovanni di Santi,[28] or as he has been commonly +called Giovanni Sanzio, an artist of moderate talents, and who could +contribute but little to the instruction of his son; although it was no +small advantage to have been initiated in a simple style, divested of +mannerism. He made some further progress from studying the works of F. +Carnevale, an artist of great merit, for the times in which he +flourished; and being placed at Perugia, under Pietro, he soon became +master of his style, as Vasari observes, and had then probably already +formed the design of excelling him. I was informed in Citta di Castello, +that at the age of seventeen he painted the picture of S. Nicholas of +Tolentino in the church of the Eremitani. The style was that of +Perugino, but the composition differed from that of the age, being the +throne of our Saviour surrounded by saints. The Beato (beatified saint) +is there represented, while the Virgin and St. Augustine, concealed in +part by a cloud, bind his temples with a crown; there are two angels at +the right hand, and two at the left, graceful, and in different +attitudes; with inscriptions variously folded, on which are inscribed +some words in praise of S. Eremitano. Above is the Eternal Father +surrounded by a majestic choir of angels. The actors of the scene appear +to be in a temple, the pillars of which are ornamented in the minute and +laboured style of Mantegna, and the ancient manner is still perceptible +in the folds of the drapery, though there is an evident improvement in +the design, as in the figure of Satan, who lies under the feet of the +saint. This figure is free from the singular deformity with which the +ancient painters represented him; and has the genuine features of an +Ethiopian. To this picture another of this period may be added in the +church of S. Domenico; a Crucifixion, with two attendant angels; the one +receives in a cup the sacred blood which flows from the right hand, the +other, in two cups, collects that of the left hand and the side; the +weeping mother and disciples contribute their aid, while the Magdalen +and an aged saint kneeling in silence contemplate the solemn mystery; +above is the Deity. These figures might all pass for those of Pietro, +except the Virgin, the beauty of which he never equalled, unless perhaps +in the latter part of his life. Another specimen of this period is +noticed by the Abate Morcelli, (de Stylo Inscript. Latin, p. 476). He +states, that in the possession of Sig. Annibale Maggiori, a nobleman of +Fermo, he saw the picture of a Madonna, raising with both hands a veil +of delicate texture from the holy Infant, as he lies in a cradle asleep. +Nigh at hand is S. Joseph, whose eyes rest in contemplation on the happy +scene, and on his staff the same writer detected an inscription in +extremely minute characters, R. S. V. A. A. XVII. P. _Raphael Sanctius +Urbinas an. aetatis 17 pinxit_. This must have been the first attempt of +the design which he perfected at a more mature age, and which is in the +Treasury of Loreto, where the holy Infant is represented, not in the act +of sleeping, but gracefully stretching out his hand to the Virgin: of +the same epoch I judge the _tondini_ to be, which I shall describe in +the course of a few pages, when I refer to the Madonna della Seggiola. + +Vasari informs us, that before executing these two pictures, he had +already painted in Perugia an Assumption in the church of the +Conventuals, with three subjects from the life of Christ in the grado; +which may however be doubted, as it is a more perfect work. This picture +possesses all the best parts of the style of Vannucci; but the varied +expressions which the apostles discover on finding the sepulchre void, +are beyond the reach of that artist's powers. Raffaello still further +excelled his master, as Vasari observes, in the third picture painted +for Citta di Castello. This is the marriage of the Virgin, in the church +of S. Francesco. The composition very much resembles that which he +adopted in a picture of the same subject in Perugia; but there is +sufficient of modern art in it to indicate the commencement of a new +style. The two espoused have a degree of beauty which Raffaello scarcely +surpassed in his mature age, in any other countenances. The Virgin +particularly is a model of celestial beauty. A youthful band festively +adorned accompany her to her espousals; splendour vies with elegance; +the attitudes are engaging, the veils variously arranged, and there is a +mixture of ancient and modern drapery, which at so early a period cannot +be considered as a fault. In the midst of these accompaniments the +principal figure triumphantly appears, not ornamented by the hand of +art, but distinguished by her native nobility, beauty, modesty, and +grace. The first sight of this performance strikes us with astonishment, +and we involuntarily exclaim, how divine and noble the spirit that +animates her heavenly form! The group of the men of the party of S. +Joseph are equally well conceived. In these figures we see nothing of +the stiffness of the drapery, the dryness of execution, and the peculiar +style of Pietro, which sometimes approaches to harshness: all is action, +and an animating spirit breathes in every gesture and in every +countenance. The landscapes are not represented with sterile and +impoverished trees, as in the backgrounds of Pietro; but are drawn from +nature, and finished with care. The round temple in the summit is +ornamented with columns, and executed, Vasari observes, with such +admirable art, that it is wonderful to observe the difficulties he has +willingly incurred. In the distance are beautiful groups, and there is a +figure of a poor man imploring charity depicted to the life, and, more +near, a youth, a figure which proves the artist to have been master of +the then novel art of foreshortening. I have purposely described these +specimens of the early years of Raphael, more particularly than any +other writer, in order to acquaint the reader with the rise of his +divine talents. In the labours of his more mature years, the various +masters whose works he studied may each claim his own; but in his first +flight he was exclusively supported by the vigour of his own talents. +The bent of his genius, which was not less voluptuous and graceful than +it was noble and elevated, led him to that ideal beauty, grace, and +expression, which is the most refined and difficult province of +painting. To insure success in this department neither study nor art is +sufficient. A natural taste for the beautiful, an intellectual faculty +of combining the several excellences of many individuals in one perfect +whole, a vivid apprehension, and a sort of fervour in seizing the sudden +and momentary expressions of passion, a facility of touch, obedient to +the conceptions of the imagination; these were the means which nature +alone could furnish, and these, as we have seen, he possessed from his +earliest years. Whoever ascribes the success of Raffaello to the effects +of study, and not to the felicity of his genius, does not justly +appreciate the gifts which were lavished on him by nature.[29] + +He now became the admiration of his master and his fellow scholars; and +about the same time Pinturicchio, after having painted with so much +applause at Rome before Raffaello was born, aspired to become, as it +were, his scholar in the great work at Siena. He did not himself possess +a genius sufficiently elevated for the sublime composition which the +place required; nor had Pietro himself sufficient fertility, or a +conception of mind equal to so novel an undertaking. It was intended to +represent the life and actions of AEneas Silvius Piccolomini, afterwards +Pope Pius II.; the embassies entrusted to him by the council of +Constance to various princes; and by Felix, the antipope, to Frederick +III., who conferred on him the laurel crown; and also the various +embassies which he undertook for Frederick himself to Eugenius IV., and +afterwards to Callistus IV., who created him a Cardinal. His subsequent +exaltation to the Papacy, and the most remarkable events of his reign, +were also to be represented; the canonization of S. Catherine; his +attendance on the Council of Mantua, where he was received in a princely +manner by the Duke; and finally his death, and the removal of his body +from Ancona to Rome. Never perhaps was an undertaking of such magnitude +entrusted to a single master. The art itself had not as yet attempted +any great flight. The principal figures in composition generally stood +isolated, as Pietro exhibited them in Perugia, without aiming at +composition. In consequence of this the proportions were seldom true, +nor did the artists depart much from sacred subjects, the frequent +repetition of which had already opened the way to plagiarism. Historical +subjects of this nature were new to Raffaello, and to him, unaccustomed +to reside in a metropolis, it must have been most difficult, in painting +so many as eleven pictures, to imitate the splendour of different +courts, and as we may say, the manners of all Europe, varying the +composition agreeably to the occasion. Nevertheless, being conducted by +his friend to Siena, he made the sketches and cartoons of _all_ these +subjects, says Vasari in his life of Pinturicchio, and that he made the +sketches of the whole is the common report at Siena. In the life of +Raffaello he states that he made _some of the designs and cartoons for +this work_, and that the reason of his not continuing them, was his +haste to proceed to Florence, to see the cartoons of Da Vinci and +Bonarruoti. But I am more inclined to the first statement of Vasari, +than the subsequent one. In April, 1503, Raffaello was employed in the +Library, as is proved by the will of Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini.[30] +While the Library was yet unfinished, Piccolomini was elected Pope on +the twenty-first day of September; and his coronation following on the +eighth of October, Pinturicchio commemorated the event on the outside of +the Library, in the part opposite to the duomo. Bottari remarks, that in +this facade we may detect not only the design, but in many of the heads +the colouring also of Raffaello. It appears probable therefore that he +remained to complete the work, the last subject of which might perhaps +be finished in the following year, 1504, in which he departed to +Florence. We may here observe, that this work, which has maintained its +colours so well that it almost appears of recent execution, confers +great honour on a young artist of twenty years of age; as we do not find +a composition of such magnitude, in the passage from ancient to modern +art, conceived by any single painter. So that if Raffaello stood not +entirely alone in this work, the best part of it must still be assigned +to him, since Pinturicchio himself was improving at this time, and the +works which he afterwards executed at Spello and Siena itself, incline +more to the modern than any he had before done. This will justify us in +concluding that Raffaello had already, at that early age, far +outstripped his master; his contour being more full, his composition +more rich and free, accompanied by an ornamental and grander style, and +an ability unlimited, and capable of embracing every subject that was +presented to him. + +The works which he saw in Florence did not lead him out of his own path, +as, to mention one instance, afterwards happened to Franco, who, coming +from Venice, applied himself to a style of design and a career entirely +new. Raffaello had formed his own system, and only sought examples, to +enlarge his ideas and facilitate his execution. He therefore studied the +works of Masaccio, an elegant and expressive painter, whose Adam and Eve +he afterwards adopted in the Vatican. He also became acquainted with Fra +Bartolommeo, who, about this time, had returned to the exercise of his +profession. To this artist he taught the principles of perspective, and +acquired from him, in return, a better style of colouring. We have not +any record to prove that he made himself known to Da Vinci; and the +portrait of Raffaello, in the ducal gallery in Florence, which is said +to be by Lionardo, is an unknown head. I would willingly, however, +flatter myself, that a congeniality of mind and an affinity of genius, +emulous in the pursuit of perfection, must have produced a knowledge of +each other, if it did not conciliate a mutual attachment. No one +certainly was more capable than Da Vinci, of communicating to Raffaello +a degree of refinement and knowledge, which he could not have received +from Pietro; and to introduce him into the more subtle views of art. As +to Michelangiolo, his pictures were rare, and less analogous to the +genius of Raffaello. His celebrated Cartoon was not yet finished, in +1504, and that great master was jealous of its being seen, before its +entire completion. He finished it some few years afterwards, when he +returned to Florence on his flight from Rome, occasioned by the anger of +Julius II. Raffaello therefore could not have had the opportunity of +studying it at that time, nor did he then long remain in Florence, for, +as Vasari states, he was soon obliged to return to his native place, in +consequence of the death of his parents.[31] In 1505 we find him in +Perugia: and to this year belongs the chapel of S. Severo, and the +Crucifixion, which was severed from the wall, and preserved by the Padri +Camaldolensi. From these works, which are all in fresco, we may +ascertain the style which he acquired in Florence; and I think we may +assert, that it was not anatomical, no traces of it being visible in the +body of the Redeemer, which was an opportunity well adapted for the +exhibition of it. Nor was it the study of the beautiful, of which he had +previously exhibited such delightful specimens; nor that of expression, +as there were not to be found in Florence, heads more expressive and +lovely than those he had painted. But after his visit to Florence, we +find his colouring more delicate, and his grouping and the +foreshortening of his figures improved; whether or not he owed it to the +example of Da Vinci or Bonarruoti, or both together, or to some of the +older masters. He afterwards repaired to Florence, but soon quitted it +again, in order to paint in the church of S. Francis, in Perugia, a dead +Christ entombed, the cartoon of which he had designed at Florence; and +which picture was first placed in the church of S. Francis, was +afterwards, in the pontificate of Paul V., transferred to Rome, and is +now in the Borghese palace. After this he returned again to Florence, +and remained there until his departure for Rome, at the end of the year +1508. In this interval, more particularly, he executed the works which +are said to be in his second style, though it is a very delicate matter +to attempt to point them out. Vasari assigns to this period the Holy +Family in the Rinuccini gallery, and yet it bears the date of 1506. Of +this second style is undoubtedly the picture of the Madonna and the +infant Christ and S. John, in a beautiful landscape, with ruins in the +distance, which is in the gallery of the Grand Duke, and others, some of +which are to be found in foreign countries. His pictures of this period +are composed in the more usual style of a Madonna, accompanied by +saints, like the picture of the Pitti palace, formerly at Pescia, and +that of S. Fiorenzo in Perugia, which passed into England. The +attitudes, however, the air of the heads, and smaller features of +composition, are beyond a common style. The dead Christ above mentioned, +is in a more novel and superior style. Vasari calls it a most divine +picture; the figures are not numerous; but each fulfils perfectly the +part assigned to it; the subject is most affecting; the heads are +remarkably beautiful, and the earliest of the kind in the restoration of +art, while the expression of profound sorrow and extreme anguish does +not divest them of their beauty. After finishing this work, Raphael was +ambitious of painting an apartment in Florence, one, I believe, of the +Palazzo Pubblico. There remains a letter of his, in which he requests +the Duke of Urbino to write to the Gonfaloniere Soderini, in April, +1508.[32] But his relative, Bramante, procured him a nobler employ in +Rome, recommending him to Julius II. to ornament the Vatican. He removed +thither, and was already established there in the September of the same +year.[33] + +We at length, then, behold him fixed in Rome, and placed in the Vatican +at a period, and under circumstances calculated to render him the first +painter in the world. His biographers do not mention his literary +attainments; and, if we were to judge from his letter just cited, and +now in the Museo Borgia, we might consider him grossly illiterate. But +he was then writing to his uncle; and therefore made use of his native +dialect, as is still done even in the public acts in Venice; though he +might be master of, and might use on proper occasions, a more correct +language. Raffaello, too, was of a family fully competent to afford him +the necessary instructions in his early years. Other letters of his are +found in the _Lettere Pittoriche_, in a very different style; and of his +knowledge in matters of importance, it is sufficient to refer to what +Celio Calcagnini, an eminent literary character of the age of Leo, +states of him to Giacomo Zieglero: "I need not," he says, "mention +Vitruvius, whose precepts he not only explains, but defends or impugns +with evident justice, and with so much temper, that in his objections +there does not appear the slightest asperity. He has excited the +admiration of the Pontiff Leo, and of all the Romans, in such a way, +that they regard him as a man sent down from heaven purposely to restore +the eternal city to its ancient splendour."[34] This acknowledged skill +in architecture must suppose an adequate acquaintance with the Latin +language and geometry; and we know from other quarters, that he +assiduously cultivated anatomy, history, and poetry.[35] But his +principal pursuit in Rome was the study of the remains of Grecian +genius, and by which he perfected his knowledge of art. He studied, too, +the ancient buildings, and was instructed in the principles of +architecture for six years by Bramante, in order that on his death he +might succeed him in the management of the building of S. Peter.[36] He +lived among the ancient sculptors, and derived from them not only their +contours and drapery, and attitudes, but the spirit and principles of +the art itself. Nor yet content with what he saw in Rome, he employed +artists to copy the remains of antiquity at Pozzuolo and throughout all +Italy, and even in Greece. Nor did he derive less assistance from living +artists whom he consulted on his compositions. "The universal esteem +which he enjoyed,"[37] and his attractive person and engaging manners, +which all accounts unite in describing as incomparable, conciliated him +the favour of the most eminent men of letters of his age; and Bembo, +Castiglione, Giovio, Navagero, Ariosto, Aretino, Fulvio, and Calcagnini, +set a high value on his friendship, and supplied him, we may be allowed +to suppose, with hints and ideas for his works. + +His rival Michelangiolo, too, and his party, contributed not a little to +the success of Raffaello. As the contest between Zeuxis and Parrhasius +was beneficial to them both, so the rivalship of Bonarruoti and Sanzio +aided the fame of Michelangiolo, and produced the paintings of the +Sistine chapel; and at the same time contributed to the celebrity of +Raffaello, by producing the pictures of the Vatican, and not a few +others. Michelangiolo disdaining any secondary honours, came to the +combat, as it were, attended by his shield bearer; for he made drawings +in his grand style, and then gave them to F. Sebastiano, the scholar of +Giorgione, to execute; and by these means he hoped that Raffaello would +never be able to rival his productions either in design or colour. +Raffaello stood alone; but aimed at producing works with a degree of +perfection beyond the united efforts of Michelangiolo and Sebastian del +Piombo, combining in himself a fertile invention, ideal beauty founded +on a correct imitation of the Greek style, grace, ease, amenity, and an +universality of genius in every department of the art. The noble +determination of triumphing in such a powerful contest animated him +night and day, and did not allow him any respite. It also excited him to +surpass both his rivals and himself in every new work which he produced. +The subjects, too, chosen for these chambers, aided him, as they were in +a great measure new, or required to be treated in a novel manner. They +did not profess to represent bacchanalian or vulgar scenes, but the +exalted symbols of science; the sacred functions of religion; military +actions, which contributed to establish the peace of the world; +important events of former days, under which were typified the reigns of +the Pontiffs Julius and Leo X.: the latter the most powerful protector, +and one of the most accomplished judges of art. More favourable +circumstances could not have conspired to stimulate a noble mind. The +eulogizing of Augustus was a theme for the poets of his age, which +produced the richest fruits of genius. Propertius, accustomed to sing +only of the charms or the disdain of his Cinthia, felt himself another +poet when called on to celebrate the triumphs of Augustus; and with +newborn fervour invoked Jove himself to suspend the functions of his +divinity whilst he sang the praises of the emperor.[38] It is certain +that such elevated subjects, in minds richly stored, must excite +corresponding ideas, and thus both in poets and painters, give birth to +the sublime. + +Raffaello, on his arrival in Rome, says Vasari, was commissioned to +paint a chamber, which was at that time called La Segnatura, and which, +from the subject of the pictures, was also called the chamber of the +Sciences. On the ceiling are represented Theology, Philosophy, Poetry, +and Jurisprudence. Each of them has on the neighbouring facade a grand +historical piece illustrative of the subject. On the basement are also +historical pieces which belong to the same sciences; and these smaller +performances, and the caryatides and telamoni distributed around, are +monocromati or chiaroscuri, an idea entirely of Raffaello, and +afterwards, it is said, continued by Polidoro da Caravaggio. Raffaello +commenced with Theology, and imitated Petrarch, who in one of his +visions has assembled together men of the same condition, though living +in different ages. He there placed the evangelists, whose volumes are +the foundation of theology; the sacred writers, who have preserved its +traditions; the theologists, S. Thomas, S. Bonaventura, Scotus, and the +rest who have illustrated it by their arguments; above all, the Trinity +in the midst of the beatified, and beneath on an altar the eucharist, as +if to express the mystery of that doctrine. There are traces of the +ancient style in this piece. Gold is made use of in the glories of the +saints, and in other ornamental parts; the upper glory is formed on the +plan of that of S. Severo, which I have already noticed: the composition +is more symmetrical and less free than in other pieces; and the whole, +compared with the other compositions, seems too minute. Nevertheless, +whosoever regards each part in itself, will find it of such careful and +admirable execution, that he will be disposed to prefer it to all other +works. It has been observed, that Raffaello began this piece at the +right side, and that by the time he had arrived at the left side +portion, he had made rapid strides in the art. This work must have been +finished about the year 1508: and such was the surprise and admiration +of the Pope, that he ordered all the works of Bramantino, Pier della +Francesca, Signorelli, l'Abate di Arezzo, and Sodoma (though some of the +ornamental parts by this last are preserved) to be effaced, in order +that the whole chamber might be decorated by Raffaello. + +In the subsequent works of Raffaello, and after the year 1509, we do not +find any traces of his first style. He had adopted a nobler manner, and +henceforth applied all his powers to the perfecting of it. He had now to +represent, on the opposite side, Philosophy. In this he designed a +gymnasium in the form of a temple, and placed the learned ancients, some +in the precincts of the building, some on the ascent of the steps, and +others in the plain below. In this, more than on any other occasion, he +was aided by his favourite Petrarch in the third capitolo of his Fame. +Plato, "_che in quella schiera ando piu presso al segno_," is there +represented with Aristotle, "_piu d'ingegno_," in the act of +disputation; and they possess also in the composition, the highest place +of honour; Socrates is represented instructing Alcibiades; Pythagoras is +seen, and before him a youth holds a tablet with the harmonious +concords; and Zoroaster, King of Bactriana, appears with an elementary +globe in his hand. Diogenes is stretched near on the ground, with his +wooden bowl in his hand, "_assai piu che non vuol vergogna aperto_:" +Archimedes is seen "_star col capo basso_," and turning the compasses on +the table, instructs the youth in geometry; and others are represented +meditating, or in disputation, whose names and characters it would be +possible, with careful observation, to distinguish more truly than +Vasari has done. This picture is commonly called the School of Athens, +which in my judgment is just as appropriate, as the name of the +Sacrament bestowed on the first subject. The third picture, representing +Jurisprudence, is divided into two parts. On the left side of the window +stands Justinian, with the book of the Civil Law; Trebonian receives it +from his hand with an expression of submission and acquiescence, which +no other pencil can ever hope to equal. On the right side is seen +Gregory IX. who delivers the book of the Decretals to an advocate of the +Consistory, and bears the features of Julius II., who is thus honoured +in the character of his predecessor. In the concluding picture, which is +a personification of Poetry, is seen Mount Parnassus, where, in company +of Apollo and the muses, the Greek, Roman, and Tuscan poets are +represented in their own portraitures, as far as records will allow. +Homer, seated between Virgil and Dante, is, perhaps, the most striking +figure; he is evidently gifted with a divine spirit, and unites in his +person the characters of the prophet and the poet. The historical pieces +in chiaroscuro contribute, by their ornaments, to charm the sight, and +preserve the unity of design. Beneath the Theology, for instance, is +represented S. Augustine on the borders of the sea, instructed by the +angels not to explore the mystery of the Trinity, incomprehensible to +the human mind. Under the Philosophy, Archimedes is seen surprised and +slain by a soldier, whilst immersed in his studies. This first chamber +was finished in 1511, as that year appears inscribed near the Parnassus. + +Vasari, until the finishing of the first chamber, does not speak of the +improvement of his manner; on the contrary, in his life of Raffaello, he +says, "although he had seen so many monuments of antiquity in that city, +and studied so unremittingly, still his figures, up to this period, did +not possess that breadth and majesty which they afterwards exhibited. +For it happened, that the breach between Michelangiolo and the Pope, +which we have before mentioned in his life, occurred about this time, +and compelled Bonarruoti to flee to Florence; from which circumstance, +Bramante obtaining possession of the keys of the chapel, exhibited it to +his friend Raffaello, in order that he might make himself acquainted +with the style of Michelangiolo;" and he then proceeds to mention the +Isaiah of S. Agostino, and the Sibyls della Pace, painted after this +period, and the Heliodorus. In the life of Michelangiolo, he again +informs us of the quarrel which obliged him to depart from Rome, and +proceeds to say, that when, on his return, he had finished one half of +the work, the Pope suddenly commanded it to be exposed; "whereupon +Raffaello d'Urbino, who possessed great facility of imitation, +immediately changed his style, and at one effort designed the Prophets +and Sibyls della Pace." This brings us to a dispute prosecuted with the +greatest warmth both in Italy and other countries. Bellori attacked +Vasari in a violent manner, in a work entitled: "_Se Raffaello ingrandi +e miglioro la maniera per aver vedute le opere di Michelangiolo_," +(Whether Raffaello enlarged and improved his style on seeing the works +of Michelangiolo). Crespi replied to him in three letters, inserted in +the Lettere Pittoriche,[39] and many other disputants have arisen and +stated fresh arguments. + +It is not, however, our province to engage the reader in these +disputations. It was greatly to the advantage of Michelangiolo's fame to +have had two scholars, who, while he was yet living, and after the death +of Raffaello, employed themselves in writing his life; and a great +misfortune to Raffaello not to have been commemorated in the same +manner. If he had survived to the time when Vasari and Condivi wrote, he +would not have passed over their charges in silence. Raffaello would +then have easily proved, that when Bonarruoti fled to Florence, in 1506, +he himself was not in Rome, nor was called thither until two years +afterwards; and that he could not, therefore, have obtained a furtive +glance of the Sistine chapel. It would have been proved too, that from +the year 1508, when Michelangiolo had, perhaps, not commenced his work, +until 1511, in which year he exhibited the first half of it,[40] +Raffaello had been endeavouring to enlarge his style; and as +Michelangiolo had before studied the Torso of the Belvidere, so +Raffaello also formed himself on this and other marbles,[41] a +circumstance easily discoverable in his style. He might too have asked +Vasari, in what he considered grandeur and majesty of style to consist; +and from the example of the Greeks, and from reason herself, he might +have informed him, that the grand does not consist in the enlargement of +the muscles, or in an extravagance of attitude, but in adopting, as +Mengs has observed, the noblest, and neglecting the inferior and meaner +parts;[42] and exercising the higher powers of invention. Hence he would +have proceeded to point out the grandeur of style in the School of +Athens, in the majestic edifice, in the contour of the figures, in the +folds of the drapery, in the expression of the countenances, and in the +attitudes; and he would have easily traced the source of that sublimity +in the relics of antiquity. And if he appeared still greater in his +Isaiah, he might have refuted Vasari from his own account, who assigns +this work to a period anterior to 1511, and therefore contemporary as it +were with the School of Athens: adding, that he elevated his style by +propriety of character, and by the study of Grecian art. The Greeks +observed an essential difference between common men and heroes, and +again between their heroes and their gods; and Raffaello, after having +represented philosophers immersed in human doubts, might well elevate +his style when he came to figure a prophet meditating the revelations of +God.[43] All this might have been advanced by Raffaello, in order to +relieve Bramante and himself from so ill supported an imputation. As to +the rest, I believe he never would have denied, that the works of +Michelangiolo had inspired him with a more daring spirit of design, and +that in the exhibition of strong character, he had sometimes even +imitated him. But how imitated him? In rendering, as Crespi himself +observes, that very style more beautiful and more majestic, (p. 344). It +is indeed a great triumph to the admirers of Raffaello to be able to +say, whoever wishes to see what is wanting in the Sibyls of +Michelangiolo, let him inspect those of Raffaello; and let him view the +Isaiah of Raffaello, who would know what is wanting in the prophets of +Michelangiolo. + +After public curiosity was gratified, and Raffaello had obtained a +glimpse of this new style, Bonarruoti closed the doors, and hastened to +finish the other half of his work, which was completed at the close of +1512, so that the Pope, on the solemnization of the Feast of Christmas, +was enabled to perform mass in the Sistine chapel. In the course of this +year, Raffaello was employed in the second chamber on the subject of +Heliodorus driven from the Temple by the prayers of Onias the high +priest, one of the most celebrated pictures of the place. In this +painting, the armed vision that appears to Heliodorus, scatters +lightnings from his hand, while the neighing of the steed is heard +amidst the attendant thunder. In the numerous bands, some of which are +plundering the riches of the Temple, and others are ignorant of the +cause of the surprise and terror exhibited in Heliodorus, consternation, +amazement, joy, and abasement, and a host of passions, are expressed. In +this work, and in others of these chambers, Raffaello, says Mengs, gave +to painting all the augmentation it could receive after Michelangiolo. +In this picture he introduced the portrait of Julius II., whose zeal and +authority is represented in Onias. He appears in a litter borne by his +grooms, in the manner in which he was accustomed to repair to the +Vatican, to view this work. The Miracle of Bolsena was also painted in +the lifetime of Julius. + +The remaining decorations of these chambers were all illustrative of the +history of Leo X., whose imprisonment in Ravenna, and subsequent +liberation, is typified by St. Peter released from prison by the angel. +It was in this piece that the painter exhibited an astonishing proof of +his knowledge of light. The figures of the soldiers, who stand without +the prison, are illuminated by the beams of the moon: there is a torch +which produces a second light; and from the angel emanates a celestial +splendour, that rivals the beams of the sun. He has here, too, afforded +another proof how art may convert the impediments thrown in her way to +her own advantage; for the place where he was painting being broken by a +window, he has imagined on each side of it a staircase, which affords an +ascent to the prison, and on the steps he has placed the guards +overpowered with sleep; so that the painter does not seem to have +accommodated himself to the place, but the place to have become +subservient to the painter. The composition of S. Leo the Great, who +checks Attila at the head of his army, and that of the other chamber, +the battle with the Saracens in the port of Ostium, and the victory +obtained by S. Leo IV., justify Raffaello's claim to the epic crown: so +powerfully has he depicted the military array of men and horse, the arms +peculiar to each nation, the fury of the combat, and the despair and +humiliation of the prisoners. Near this performance, too, is the +wonderful piece of the Incendio di Borgo (a city enveloped in fire), +which is miraculously extinguished by the same S. Leo. This wonderful +piece alternately chills the heart with terror, or warms it with +compassion. The calamity of fire is carried to its extreme point, as it +is the hour of midnight, and the fire, which already occupies a +considerable space, is increased by a violent wind, which agitates the +flames that leap with rapidity from house to house. The affright and +misery of the inhabitants is also carried to the utmost extremity. Some +rush forward with water, but are driven back by the scorching flames; +others seek safety in flight, with naked feet, robeless, and with +dishevelled hair; women are seen turning an imploring look to the +Pontiff; mothers, whose own terrors are absorbed in fear for their +offspring; and here a youth, who bearing on his shoulders his aged and +infirm sire, and sinking beneath the weight, collects his almost +exhausted strength to place him out of danger. The concluding subjects +refer to Leo III.; the Coronation of Charlemagne, by the hand of that +Pontiff, and the Oath taken by the Pope on the Holy Evangelists, to +exculpate himself from the calumnies laid to his charge. In Leo, is +meant to be represented Leo X., who is thus honoured in the persons of +his predecessors; and in Charlemagne is represented Francis I., King of +France. Many persons of the age are also figured in the surrounding +group, so that there is not an historical subject in these chambers that +does not contain the most accurate likenesses. In this latter department +of art, also, Raffaello may be said to have been transcendant. His +portraits have deceived even persons the most intimately acquainted with +the subjects of them. He painted a remarkable picture of Leo X., and on +one occasion the Cardinal Datary of that time, found himself approaching +it with a bull, and pen and ink, for the Pope's signature.[44] + +The six subjects which relate to Leo, elected in 1513, were finished in +1517. In the nine years which Raphael employed on these three chambers, +and also in the three following years, he made additional decorations to +the Pontifical Palace; he observed the style of ornament suitable to +each part of it, and thus made the Pope's residence a model of +magnificence and taste for all Europe. Few have adverted to this +instance of his merit. He superintended the new gallery of the palace, +availing himself in part of the design of Bramante, and in part +improving on him. "He then made designs for the stuccos, and the various +subjects there painted, and also for the divisions, and he then +appointed Giovanni da Udine to finish the stuccos and arabesques, and +Giulio Romano the figures." The exposure of this gallery to the +inclemencies of the air, has left little remaining besides the squalid +grotesques; but those who saw it at an early period, when the unsullied +splendor of the gold, the pure white of the stuccos, the brilliancy of +the colours, and the newness of the marble, rendered every part of it +beautiful and resplendent, must have thought it a vision of paradise. +Vasari, in eulogizing it, says, "It is impossible to execute, or to +conceive, a more exquisite work." The best which now remain are the +thirteen ceilings, in each of which are distributed four subjects from +holy writ, the first of which, the Creation of the World, Raffaello +executed with his own hand as a model for the others, which were painted +by his scholars, and afterwards retouched and rendered uniform by +himself, as was his custom. I have seen copies of these in Rome, +executed at great cost, and with great fidelity, for Catherine, Empress +of Russia, under the direction of Mr. Hunterberger, and from the effect +which was produced by the freshness of the colours, I could easily +conceive how highly enchanting the originals must have been. But their +great value consisted in Raffaello having enriched them by his +invention, expression, and design, and every one is agreed that each +subject is a school in itself. It appears certain too, that he was +desirous of competing with Michelangiolo, who had treated the same +subject in the Sistine chapel; and of appealing to the public to judge +whether or not he had equalled him. To describe in a suitable manner the +other pictures in chiaroscuro, and the numerous landscapes and +architectural subjects, the trophies, imitations of cameos, masks, and +other things which this divine artist either designed himself or formed +into new combinations from the antique, is a task, says Taja, far above +the reach of human powers. Taja has however himself given us a +delightful description of these works.[45] It confers the highest honour +on Raffaello, to whom we owe the fifty-two subjects, and all the +ornamental parts. + +Nor were the pavements, or the doors, or other interior works in the +palace of the Vatican, completed without his superintendence. He +directed the pavements to be formed of _terra invetriata_, an ancient +invention of Luca della Robbia, which having continued for many +generations as a family secret, was then in the hands of another Luca. +Raffaello invited him to Florence to execute this vast work, employed +him in the gallery, and in many of the chambers, which he adorned with +the arms of the Pope. For the couches and other ornaments of the Camera +di Segnatura he brought to Rome F. Giovanni da Verona, who formed them +of mosaic with the most beautiful views. For the entablatures of the +chambers, and for several of the windows and doors, he engaged Giovanni +Barile, a celebrated Florentine engraver of gems. This work was executed +in so masterly a manner, that Louis XIII., wishing to ornament the +palace of the Louvre, had all these intaglios separately copied. The +drawings of them were made by Poussin, and Mariette boasted of having +them in his collection. Nor was there any other work either of stone or +marble for which a design was required, which did not come under the +inspection of Raffaello, and on which he did not impress his taste, +which was consummate also in the sister art of sculpture. A proof of +this is to be seen in the Jonah, in the church of the Madonna del +Popolo, in the Chigi chapel, which was executed by Lorenzetto under his +direction, and which, Bottari says, may assume its place by the side of +the Greek statues. Among his most remarkable works may be mentioned his +designs for the tapestry in the papal chapel, the subjects of which were +from the lives of the Evangelists, and the Acts of the Apostles. The +cartoons for them were both designed and coloured by Raffaello; and +after the tapestries were finished in the Low Countries, the cartoons +passed into England, where they still remain. In these tapestries the +art attained its highest pitch, nor has the world since beheld anything +to equal them in beauty. They are exposed annually in the great portico +of S. Peter, in the procession of the _Corpus Domini_, and it is +wonderful to behold the crowds that flock to see them, and who ever +regard them with fresh avidity and delight. But all these works of +Raffaello would not have contributed to the extension of art at that +period, beyond the meridian of Rome, if he had not succeeded in +extending the fruits of his genius, by the means of prints. We have +already noticed M. A. Raimondi, in the first book, and we have shewn +that this great engraver was courteously received, and was afterwards +assisted by Sanzio, whence an abundance of copies of the designs and the +works of this master have been given to the world. A fine taste was thus +rapidly propagated throughout Europe, and the beautiful style of +Raffaello began to be justly appreciated. In a short time it became the +prevailing taste, and if his maxims had remained unaltered, Italian +painting would probably have flourished for as long a period as Greek +sculpture. + +In the midst of such a variety of occupations, Raffaello did not fail to +gratify the wishes of many private individuals, who were desirous of +having his designs for buildings, in which branch of art he was highly +celebrated, and also of possessing his pictures. I need only to refer to +the gallery of Agostini Chigi, which he ornamented with his own hand, +with the well known fable of Galatea. He afterwards, with the assistance +of his pupils, painted the Marriage of Psyche, at the banquet of which +he assembled all the heathen deities, with such propriety of form, with +their attendant symbols and genii, that in these fabulous subjects he +almost rivalled the Greeks. These pictures, and those also of the +chambers of the Vatican, were retouched by Maratta, with incredible +care; and the method he adopted, as described by Bellori, may serve as a +guide in similar cases. Raffaello also painted many altarpieces, with +saints generally introduced; as that Delle Contesse at Foligno, where he +introduced the Chamberlain of the Pope, alive, rather than drawn from +the life: that for S. Giovanni in Monte, at Bologna, of S. Cecilia, who, +charmed to rapture by a celestial melody, forgets her musical +instrument, which falls neglected from her hands; that for Palermo, of +Christ ascending Mount Calvary, called _dello Spasimo_, which, however +much disparaged by Cumberland, for having been retouched, is a noble +ornament of the royal collection at Madrid; and the others at Naples and +at Piacenza, which are mentioned by his biographers. He also painted S. +Michael for the King of France, and many other holy families[46] and +devotional subjects, which neither Vasari nor his other biographers have +fully enumerated. + +But although the creation of these wonderful works was become a habit in +this great artist, still every part of his productions cannot be +considered as equally successful. It is known, that in the frescos of +the palace, and in the Chigi gallery, he was censured in some naked +figures for errors committed, as Vasari says, by some of his school. +Mengs, who varied his opinions at different periods of his life, +insinuates, that Raffaello for some time seemed to slumber, and did not +make those rapid strides in the art, which might have been expected from +his genius. This was, probably, when Michelangiolo was for some years +absent from Rome. But when he returned, and heard it reported that many +persons considered the paintings of Raffaello superior to his in colour, +of more beauty and grace in composition, and of a correspondent +excellence in design, whilst his works were said to possess none of +these qualities except the last; he was stimulated to avail himself of +the pencil of Fra Sebastiano, and at the same time supplied him with his +own designs. The most celebrated work which they produced in +conjunction, was a Transfiguration, in fresco, with a Flagellation, and +other figures, in a chapel of S. Peter in Montorio. Raffaello being +subsequently employed to paint a picture for the Cardinal Giulio de' +Medici, afterwards Clement VII., Sebastiano, in a sort of competition, +painted another picture of the same size. In the latter was represented +the raising of Lazarus; in the former, with the master's accustomed +spirit of emulation, the Transfiguration. "This is a picture which +combines," says Mengs, "more excellences than any of the previous works +of Raffaello. The expression in it is more exalted and more refined, the +chiaroscuro more correct, the perspective better understood, the +penciling finer, and there is a greater variety in the drapery, more +grace in the heads, and more grandeur in the style."[47] It represents +the mystery of the Transfiguration of Christ on the summit of Mount +Tabor. On the side of the hill he has placed a band of his disciples, +and with the happiest invention has engaged them in an action +conformable to their powers, and has thus formed an episode not beyond +the bounds of probability. A youth possessed is presented to them, that +they may expel the evil spirit that torments him; and in the possessed, +struggling with the presence of the demon, the confiding faith of the +father, the affliction of a beautiful and interesting female, and the +compassion visible in the countenances of the surrounding apostles, we +are presented with perhaps the most pathetic incident ever conceived. +Yet this part of the composition does not fix our regard so much as the +principal subject on the summit of the mountain. There the two prophets, +and the three disciples, are most admirably delineated, and the Saviour +appears enveloped in a glory emanating from the fountain of eternal +light, and surrounded by that chaste and celestial radiance, that is +reserved exclusively for the eyes of the elect. The countenance of +Christ, in which he has developed all his combined ideas of majesty and +beauty, may be considered the masterpiece of Raffaello, and seems to us +the most sublime height to which the genius of the artist, or even the +art itself, was capable of aspiring. After this effort he never resumed +his pencil, as he was soon afterwards suddenly seized with a mortal +distemper, of which he died, in the bosom of the church, on Good Friday, +(also the anniversary of his birthday,) 1520, aged thirty-seven years. +His body reposed for some days in the chamber where he was accustomed to +paint, and over it was placed this noble picture of the Transfiguration, +previous to his mortal remains being transferred to the church of the +Rotonda for interment. There was not an artist that was not moved to +tears at this affecting sight. Raffaello had always possessed the power +of engaging the affections of all with whom he was acquainted. +Respectful to his master, he obtained from the Pope an assurance that +his works, in one of the ceilings of the Vatican, should remain +unmolested; just towards his rivals, he expressed his gratitude to God +that he had been born in the days of Bonarruoti; gracious towards his +pupils, he loved them, and intrusted them as his own sons; courteous +even to strangers, he cheerfully lent his aid to all who asked his +advice; and in order to make designs for others, or to direct them in +their studies, he sometimes even neglected his own work, being alike +incapable of refusing or delaying his inestimable aid. All these +reflections forced themselves on the minds of the spectators, whose eyes +were at one moment directed to the view of his youthful remains, and of +those divine hands that had, in the imitation of her works, almost +excelled nature herself; and at another moment, to the contemplation of +this his latest production, which appeared to exhibit the dawn of a new +and wonderful style; and the painful reflection presented itself, that, +with the life of Raffaello, the brightest prospects of art were thus +suddenly obscured. The Pope himself was deeply affected at his death, +and requested Bembo to compose the epitaph which is now read on his +tomb; and his loss was considered as a national calamity throughout all +Italy. True indeed it is, that soon after his decease, Rome herself, and +her territory, experienced such unheard of calamities, that many had +just cause to envy him, not only the celebrity of his life, but the +opportune period of his death. He was not doomed to see the illustrious +Leo X., at a time when he extended the most exalted patronage to the +arts, poisoned by a sacrilegious hand; nor Clement VII., pressed by an +enraged enemy, seeking shelter in the Castle of S. Angelo, afterwards +compelled to fly for his life, and obliged to purchase, at enormous +sums, the liberty of his servants. Nor did he witness the horrors +attending the sacking of Rome, the nobility robbed and plundered in +their own palaces, the violation of hapless females in the convents; +prelates unrelentingly dragged to the scaffold, and priests torn from +the altars, and from the images of their saints, to whom they looked in +vain for refuge, slaughtered by the sword, and their bodies thrown out +of the churches a prey to the dogs. Nor did he survive to see that city, +which he had so illustrated by his genius, and where he had for so many +years shared the public admiration and esteem, wasted with fire and +sword. But of this we shall speak in another place, and shall here +adduce some observations on his style, selected from various authors, +and more particularly from Mengs, who has ably criticised it in his +works already enumerated by me, as well as in some others. + +Raffaello is by common consent placed at the head of his art; not +because he excelled all others in every department of painting, but +because no other artist has ever possessed the various parts of the art +united in so high a degree. Lazzarini even asserts, that he was guilty +of errors, and that he is only the first, because he did not commit so +many as others. He ought, however, to have allowed, that his defects +would be excellences in any other artist, being nothing more in him than +the neglect of that higher degree of perfection to which he was capable +of attaining. The art, indeed, comprehends so many and such difficult +parts, that no individual artist has been alike distinguished in all; +even Apelles was said to yield to Amphion in disposition and harmony, to +Asclepiadorus in proportion, and to Protogenes in application. + +The style of design of Raffaello, as seen in those drawings, divested of +colours, which now form the chief ornaments of cabinets, presents us, if +we may use the term, with the pure transcript of his imagination, and we +stand in amaze at the contours, grace, precision, diligence, and genius, +which they exhibit. One of the most admired of his drawings I once saw +in the gallery of the Duke of Modena, a most finished and superior +specimen, uniting in style all the invention of the best painters of +Greece, and the execution of the first artists of Italy. It has been +made a question whether Raffaello did not yield to Michelangiolo in +drawing; and Mengs himself confesses, that he did, as far as regards the +anatomy of the muscles, and in strong expression, in which he considers +Raffaello to have imitated Michelangiolo. But we need not say with +Vasari, that in order to prove that he understood the naked figure as +well as Michelangiolo, he appropriated to himself the designs of that +great master. On the contrary, in the figures of the two youths in the +Incendio di Borgo, criticised by Vasari, one of whom is in the act of +leaping from a wall to escape the flames, and the other is fleeing with +his father on his shoulders, he not only proved that he had a perfect +knowledge of the action of the muscles and the anatomy requisite for a +painter, but prescribed the occasion when this style might be used +without impropriety, as in figures of a robust form engaged in violent +action. He moreover commonly marked the principal parts in the naked +figure, and indicated the others after the example of the better ancient +masters, and where he wrought from his own ideas, his execution was most +correct. On this subject Bellori may be consulted at page 223 of the +work already quoted, and the annotations to vol. ii. of Mengs, (page +197,) made by the Cavaliere d'Azzara, minister of the king of Spain at +Rome, an individual, who, in conferring honour on the artist, has by his +own writing conferred honour on art itself. + +In chasteness of design, Raffaello was by some placed on a level with +the Greeks, though this praise we must consider as extravagant. Agostino +Caracci commends him as a model of symmetry; and in that respect, more +than in any other, he approached the ancients; except, observes Mengs, +in the hands, which being rarely found perfect in the ancient statues, +he had not an equal opportunity of studying, and did not therefore +design them so elegantly as the other parts. He selected the beautiful +from nature, and as Mariette observes, whose collection was rich in his +designs, he copied it with all its imperfections, which he afterwards +gradually corrected, as he proceeded with his work. Above all things, he +aimed at perfecting the heads, and from a letter addressed to +Castiglione on the Galatea of the Palazzo Chigi, or of the Farnesina, he +discovers how intent he was to select the best models of nature, and to +perfect them in his own mind.[48] His own Fornarina assisted him in this +object. Her portrait, by Raffaello's own hand, was formerly in the +Barberini palace, and it is repeated in many of his Madonnas, in the +picture of S. Cecilia, in Bologna, and in many female heads. Critics +have often expressed a wish that these heads had possessed a more +dignified character, and in this respect he was, perhaps, excelled by +Guido Reni, and however engaging his children may be, those of Titian +are still more beautiful. His true empire was in the heads of his men, +which are portraits selected with judgment, and depicted with a dignity +proportioned to his subject. Vasari calls the air of these heads +superhuman, and calls on us to admire the expression of age in the +patriarchs, simplicity of life in the apostles, and constancy of faith +in the martyrs; and in Christ in the Transfiguration, he says, there is +a portion of the divine essence itself transferred to his countenance, +and made visible to mortal eyes. + +This effect is the result of that quality that is called expression, and +which, in the drawing of Raffaello has attracted more admiration of late +years than formerly. It is remarkable, that not only Zuccaro, who was +indeed a superficial writer, but that Vasari, and Lomazzo himself, so +much more profound than either of them, should not have conferred on him +that praise which he afterwards received from Algarotti, Lazzarini, and +Mengs. Lionardo was the first, as we shall see in the Milanese School, +to lead the way to delicacy of expression; but that master, who painted +so little, and with such labour, is not to be compared to Raffaello, who +possessed the whole quality in its fullest extent. There is not a +movement of the soul, there is not a character of passion known to the +ancients, and capable of being expressed by art, that he has not caught, +expressed, and varied, in a thousand different ways, and always within +the bounds of propriety. We have no tradition of his having, like Da +Vinci, frequented the public streets to seek for subjects for his +pencil; and his numerous pictures prove that he could not have devoted +so much time to this study, while his drawings clearly evince, that he +had not equal occasion for such assistance. Nature, as I have before +remarked, had endowed him with an imagination which transported his mind +to the scene of the event, either fabulous or remote, in which he was +engaged, and awoke in him the very same emotions which the subjects of +such story must themselves have experienced; and this vivid conception +assisted him until he had designed his subject with that distinctness +which he had either observed in other countenances, or found in his own +mind. This faculty, seldom found in poets, and still more rarely in +painters, no one possessed in a more eminent degree than Raffaello. His +figures are passions personified; and love, fear, hope, and desire, +anger, placability, humility, or pride, assume their places by turns, as +the subject changes; and while the spectator regards the countenances, +the air, and the gestures of his figures, he forgets that they are the +work of art, and is surprised to find his own feelings excited, and +himself an actor in the scene before him. There is another delicacy of +expression, and this is the gradation of the passions, by which every +one perceives whether they are in their commencement or at their height, +or in their decline. He had observed their shades of difference in the +intercourse of life, and on every occasion he knew how to transfer the +result of his observations to his canvas. Even his silence is eloquent, +and every actor + + "Il cor negli occhi, e nella fronte ha scritto:" + +the smallest perceptible motion of the eyes, of the nostrils, of the +mouth, and of the fingers, corresponds to the chief movements of every +passion; the most animated and vivid actions discover the violence of +the passion that excites them; and what is more, they vary in +innumerable degrees, without ever departing from nature, and conform +themselves to a diversity of character without ever risking propriety. +His heroes possess the mien of valour; his vulgar, an air of debasement; +and that, which neither the pen nor the tongue could describe, the +genius and art of Raffaello would delineate with a few strokes of the +pencil. Numbers have in vain sought to imitate him; his figures are +governed by a sentiment of the mind, while those of others, if we except +Poussin and a very few more, seem the imitation of tragic actors from +the scenes. This is Raffaello's chief excellence; and he may justly be +denominated the painter of mind. If in this faculty be included all that +is difficult, philosophical, and sublime, who shall compete with him in +the sovereignty of art? + +Another quality which Raffaello possessed in an eminent degree was +grace, a quality which may be said to confer an additional charm on +beauty itself. Apelles, who was supremely endowed with it among the +ancients, was so vain of the possession that he preferred it to every +other attribute of art.[49] Raffaello rivalled him among the moderns, +and thence obtained the name of the new Apelles. Something might, +perhaps, be advantageously added to the forms of his children, and other +delicate figures which he represented, but nothing can add to their +gracefulness, for if it were attempted to be carried further it would +degenerate into affectation, as we find in Parmegiano. His Madonnas +enchant us, as Mengs observes, not because they possess the perfect +lineaments of the Medicean Venus, or of the celebrated daughter of +Niobe; but because the painter in their portraits and in their +expressive smiles, has personified modesty, maternal love, purity of +mind, and, in a word, grace itself. Nor did he impress this quality on +the countenance alone, but distributed it throughout the figure in its +attitude, gesture, and action, and in the folds of the drapery, with a +dexterity which may be admired, but can never be rivalled. His freedom +of execution was a component part of this grace, which indeed vanishes +as soon as labour and study appear; for it is with the painter as with +the orator, in whom a natural and spontaneous eloquence delights us, +while we turn away with indifference from an artificial and studied +harangue. + +In regard to the province of colour, Raffaello must yield the palm to +Titian and Correggio, although he himself excelled Michelangiolo and +many others. His frescos may rank with the first works of other schools +in that line: not so his pictures in oil. In the latter he availed +himself of the sketches of Giulio, which were composed with a degree of +hardness and timidity; and though finished by Raffaello, they have +frequently lost the lustre of his last touch. This defect was not +immediately apparent, and if Raffaello's life had been prolonged, he +would have been aware of the injuries his pictures received from the +lapse of time, and would not have finished them in so light a manner. He +is on this account more admired in his first subject in the Vatican, +painted under Julius II., than in those he executed under Leo X., for +being there pressed by a multiplicity of business, and an idea of the +importance of a grander style, he became less rich and firm in his +colouring. That, however, he excelled in these respects is evinced by +his portraits, when not having an opportunity of displaying his +invention, composition, and beautiful style of design, he appears +ambitious to distinguish himself by his colouring. In this respect his +two portraits of Julius II. are truly admirable, the Medicean and the +Corsinian: that of Leo X. between the two cardinals; and above all, in +the opinion of an eminent judge, Renfesthein, that of Bindo Altoviti, in +the possession of his noble descendants at Florence, by many regarded as +a portrait of Raphael himself.[50] The heads in his Transfiguration are +esteemed the most perfect he ever painted, and Mengs extols the +colouring of them as eminently beautiful. If there be any exception, it +is in the complexion of the principal female, of a greyish tint, as is +often the case in his delicate figures; in which he is therefore +considered to excel less than in the heads of his men. Mengs has made +many exceptions to the chiaroscuro of Raffaello, as compared with that +of Correggio, on which connoisseurs will form their own decision. We are +told that he disposed it with the aid of models of wax; and the relief +of his pictures, and the beautiful effect in his Heliodorus, and in the +Transfiguration, are ascribed to this mode of practice. To his +perspective, too, he was most attentive. De Piles found, in some of his +sketches, the scale of proportion.[51] It is affirmed by Algarotti, that +he did not attempt to paint _di sotto in su_. But to this opinion we may +oppose the example we find in the third arch of the gallery of the +Vatican, where there is a perspective of small columns, says Taja, +imitated _di sotto in su_. It is true, that in his larger works he +avoided it; and in order to preserve the appearance of nature, he +represented his pictures as painted on a tapestry, attached by means of +a running knot to the entablature of the room. + +But all the great qualities which we have enumerated, would not have +procured for Raffaello such an extraordinary celebrity, if he had not +possessed a wonderful felicity in the invention and disposition of his +subjects, and this circumstance is, indeed, his highest merit. It may +with truth be said, that in aid of this object he availed himself of +every example, ancient and modern; and that these two requisites have +not since been so united in any other artist. He accomplishes in his +pictures that which every orator ought to aim at in his speech--he +instructs, moves, and delights us. This is an easy task to a narrator, +since he can regularly unfold to us the whole progress of an event. The +painter, on the contrary, has but the space of a moment to make himself +understood, and his talent consists in describing not only what is +passing, and what is likely to ensue, but that which has already +occurred. It is here that the genius of Raffaello triumphs. He embraces +the whole subject. From a thousand circumstances he selects those alone +which can interest us; he arranges the actors in the most expressive +manner; he invents the most novel modes of conveying much meaning by a +few touches; and numberless minute circumstances, all uniting in one +purpose, render the story not only intelligible, but palpable. Various +writers have adduced in example the S. Paul at Lystra, which is to be +seen in one of the tapestries of the Vatican. The artist has there +represented the sacrifice prepared for him and S. Barnabas his +companion, as to two gods, for having restored a lame man to the use of +his limbs. The altar, the attendants, the victims, the musicians, and +the axe, sufficiently indicate the intentions of the Lystrians. S. Paul, +who is in the act of tearing his robe, shews that he rejects and abhors +the sacrilegious honours, and is endeavouring to dissuade the populace +from persisting in them. But all this were vain, if it had not indicated +the miracle which had just happened, and which had given rise to the +event. Raffaello added to the group the lame man restored to the use of +his limbs, now easily recognized again by all the spectators. He stands +before the apostles rejoicing in his restoration; and raises his hands +in transport towards his benefactors, while at his feet lie the crutches +which had recently supported him, now cast away as useless. This had +been sufficient for any other artist; but Raffaello, who wished to carry +reality to the utmost point, has added a throng of people, who, in their +eager curiosity, remove the garment of the man, to behold his limbs +restored to their former state. Raffaello abounds with examples like +these, and he may be compared to some of the classical writers, who +afford the more matter for reflection the more they are studied. It is +sufficient to have noticed in the inventive powers of Raffaello, those +circumstances which have been less frequently remarked; the movement of +the passions, which is entirely the work of expression, the delight +which proceeds from poetical conceptions, or from graceful episodes, may +be said to speak for themselves, nor have any occasion to be pointed out +by us. + +Other things might contribute to the beauty of his works, as unity, +sublimity, costume, and erudition; for which it is sufficient to refer +to those delightful poetical pieces, with which he adorned the gallery +of Leo X., and which were engraved by Lanfranco and Badalocchi, and are +called the Bible of Raffaello. In the Return of Jacob, who does not +immediately discover, in the number and variety of domestic animals, the +multitude of servants, and the women carrying with them their children, +a patriarchal family migrating from a long possessed abode into a new +territory? In the Creation of the World, where the Deity stretches out +his arms, and with one hand calls forth the sun and with the other the +moon, do we not see a grandeur, which, with the simplest expression, +awakes in us the most sublime ideas? And in the Adoration of the Golden +Calf, how could he better have represented the idolatrous ceremony, and +its departure from true religion, than by depicting the people as +carried away by an insane joy, and mad with fanaticism? In point of +erudition it is sufficient to notice the Triumph of David, which Taja +describes and compares with the ancient bassirelievi, and is inclined to +believe that there is not any thing in marble that excels the art and +skill of this picture. I am aware that on another occasion he has not +been exempted from blame, as when he repeated the figure of S. Peter out +of prison, which hurts the unity of the subject; and in assigning to +Apollo and to the muses instruments not proper to antiquity. Yet it is +the glory of Raffaello to have introduced into his pictures numberless +circumstances unknown to his predecessors, and to have left little to be +added by his successors. + +In composition also he is at the head of his art. In every picture the +principal figure is obvious to the spectator; we have no occasion to +inquire for it; the groups, divided by situation, are united in the +principal action; the contrast is not dictated by affectation, but by +truth and propriety; a figure absorbed in thought, often serves as a +relief to another that acts and speaks; the masses of light and shade +are not arbitrarily poised, but are in the most select imitation of +nature; all is art, but all is consummate skill and concealment of art. +The School of Athens, as it is called, in the Vatican, is in this +respect amongst the most wonderful compositions in the world. They who +succeeded Raffaello, and followed other principles, have afforded more +pleasure to the eye, but have not given such satisfaction to the mind. +The compositions of Paul Veronese contain a greater number of figures, +and more decoration; Lanfranco and the machinists introduced a powerful +effect, and a vigorous contrast of light and shade: but who would +exchange for such a manner the chaste and dignified style of Raffaello? +Poussin alone, in the opinion of Mengs, obtained a superior mode of +composition in the groundwork, or economy of his subject; that is to +say, in the judicious selection of the scene of the event. + +We have thus concisely stated the perfection to which Raffaello carried +his art, in the short space allotted him. There is not a work in nature +or art where he has not practically illustrated his own axiom, as handed +down to us by Federigo Zuccaro, that things must be represented, not as +they are, but as they ought to be; the country, the elements, animals, +buildings, every age of man, every condition of life, every affection, +all was embraced and rendered more beautiful by the divine genius of +Raffaello. And if his life had been prolonged to a more advanced period, +without even approaching the term allowed to Titian or Michelangiolo, +who shall say to what height of perfection he might not have carried his +favourite art? Who can divine his success in architecture and sculpture, +if he had applied himself to the study of them; having so wonderfully +succeeded in his few attempts in those branches of art? + +Of his pictures a considerable number are to be found in private +collections, particularly on sacred subjects, such as the Madonna and +Child, and other compositions of the Holy Family. They are in the three +styles which we have before described: the Grand Duke has some specimens +of each. The most admired is that which is named the Madonna della +Seggiola.[52] Of this class of pictures it is often doubted whether they +ought to be considered as originals, or copies, as some of them have +been three, five, or ten times repeated. The same may be said of other +cabinet pictures by him, particularly the S. John in the desart, which +is in the Grand Ducal gallery at Florence, and is found repeated in many +collections both in Italy and in other countries. This was likely to +happen in a school where the most common mode was the following:--The +subject was designed by Raffaello, the picture prepared by Giulio, and +finished by the master so exquisitely, that one might almost count the +hairs of the head. When the pictures were thus finished, they were +copied by the scholars of Raffaello, who were very numerous, and of the +second and third order; and these were also sometimes retouched by +Giulio and by Raffaello himself. But whoever is experienced in the +freedom and delicacy of the chief of this school, need not fear +confounding his productions with those of the scholars, or of Giulio +himself; who, besides having a more timid pencil, made use of a darker +tint than his master was accustomed to do. I have met with an +experienced person, who declared that he could recognize the character +of Giulio in the dark parts of the flesh tints, and in the middle dark +tints, not of a leaden colour as Raffaello used, nor so well harmonized; +in the greater quantity of light, and in the eyes designed more roundly, +which Raffaello painted somewhat long, after the manner of Pietro. + +On this propitious commencement was founded the school which we call +Roman, rather from the city of Rome itself, than from the people, as I +have before observed. For as the inhabitants of Rome are a mixture of +many tongues, and many different nations, of whom the descendants of +Romulus form the least proportion; so the school of painting has been +increased in its numbers by foreigners whom she has received and united +to her own, and who are considered in her academy of S. Luke, as if they +had been born in Rome, and enjoyed the ancient rights of Romans. Hence +is derived the great variety of names that we find in the course of it. +Some, as Caravaggio, derived no assistance from the study of the ancient +marbles, and other aids peculiar to the capital; and these may be said +to have been in the Roman School, but not to have formed a part of it. +Others adopted the principles of the disciples of Raffaello, and their +usual method was to study diligently both Raffaello and the ancient +marbles; and from the imitation of him, and more particularly of the +antique, resulted, if I err not, the general character, if I may so +express it, of the Roman School: the young artists who were expert in +copying statues and bassirelievi, and who had those objects always +before their eyes, could easily transfer their forms to the panel or the +canvas. Hence their style is formed on the antique, and their beauty is +more ideal than that of other schools. This circumstance, which was an +advantage to those who knew how to use it, became a disadvantage to +others, leading them to give their figures the air of statues, +beautiful, but isolated, and not sufficiently animated. Others have done +themselves greater injury from copying the modern statues of saints; a +practice which facilitated the representation of devout attitudes, the +disposition of the folds in the garments of the monks and priests, and +other peculiarities which are not found in ancient sculpture. But as +sculpture has gradually deteriorated, it could not have any beneficial +influence on the sister art; and it has hence led many into mannerism in +the folds of their drapery, after Bernino and Algardi; excellent +artists, but who ought not to have influenced the art of painting, as +they did, in a city like Rome. The style of invention in this school is, +in general, judicious, the composition chaste, the costume carefully +observed, with a moderate study of ornament. I speak of pictures in oil, +for the frescos of this later period ought to be separately considered. +The colouring, on the whole, is not the most brilliant, nor is it yet +the most feeble; there being always a supply of artists from the +Lombards, or Flemings, who prevented it being entirely neglected. + +We may now return to the original subject of our inquiry, examine the +principles of the Roman School, and attend it to its latest epoch. +Raffaello at all times employed a number of scholars, constantly +instructing and teaching them; whence he never went to court, as we are +assured by Vasari, without being accompanied by probably fifty of the +first artists, who attended him out of respect. He employed every one in +the way most agreeable to his talent. Some having received sufficient +instruction, returned to their native country, others remained with him +as long as he lived, and after his death established themselves in Rome, +where they became the germs of this new school. At the head of all was +Giulio Romano, whom, with Gio. Francesco Penni, Raffaello appointed his +heir, whence they both united in finishing the works on which their +master was employed at his death. They associated to themselves as an +assistant Perino del Vaga, and to render the connexion permanent, they +gave him a sister of Penni to his wife. To these three were also joined +some others who had worked under Raffaello. On their first establishment +they did not meet with any great success, for, as Vasari informs us, the +chief place in art being by universal consent assigned to Fra +Sebastiano, through the partiality of Michelangiolo, the followers of +Raffaello were kept in the back ground. We may also add, as another +cause, the death of Leo X., in 1521, and the election of his successor, +Adrian VI., a decided enemy to the fine arts, by whom the public works +contemplated, and already commenced by his predecessor, remained +neglected; and many artists, in consequence of the want of employment, +occasioned by this event, and by the plague, in 1523, were reduced to +the greatest distress. But Adrian dying after a reign of twenty-three +months, and Giulio de' Medici being elected in his place under the name +of Clement VII., the arts again revived. Raffaello, before his death, +had begun to paint the great saloon, and had designed some figures, and +left many sketches for the completion of it. It was intended to +represent four historical events, although the subjects of some of them +are disputed. These were the Apparition of the Cross, or the harangue of +Constantine; the battle wherein Maxentius is drowned, and Constantine +remains victor; the Baptism of Constantine, received from the hands of +S. Silvester; and the Donative of the city of Rome, made to the same +pontiff. Giulio finished the two first subjects, and Giovanni Francesco +the other two, and they added to them bassirelievi, painted in imitation +of bronze under each of the same subjects, with some additional figures. +They afterwards painted, or rather finished the pictures of the villa at +Monte Mario, a work ordered by the Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, and +suspended until the second or third year of his papal reign. This villa +was afterwards called di Madama, and there still remain many traces, +although suffering from time, of the munificence of that prince, and the +taste of the school of Raffaello. Giulio meanwhile, with the permission +of the pope, established himself in Mantua, Il Fattore went to Naples; +and some little time afterwards, in 1527, in consequence of the sacking +of Rome, and the unrestrained licence of the invading army, Vaga, +Polidoro, Giovanni da Udine, Peruzzi, and Vincenzio di S. Gimignano left +Rome, and with them Parmigianino, who was at this time in the capital, +and passionately employed in studying the works of Raffaello. This +illustrious school was thus separated and dispersed over Italy, and +hence it happened that the new style was quickly propagated, and gave +birth to the florid schools, which form the subjects of our other books. +Although some of the scholars of Raffaello might return to Rome, yet the +brilliant epoch was past. The decline became apparent soon after the +sacking of the city, and from the time of that event, the art daily +degenerated in the capital, and ultimately terminated in mannerism. But +of this in its proper place. At present, after this general notice of +the school of Raffaello, we shall treat of each particular scholar and +of his assistants. + +Giulio Pippi, or Giulio Romano, the most distinguished pupil of +Raffaello, resembled his master more in energy than in delicacy of +style, and was particularly successful in subjects of war and battles, +which he represented with equal spirit and correctness. In his noble +style of design he emulates Michelangiolo, commands the whole mechanism +of the human body, and with a masterly hand renders it subservient to +all his wishes. His only fault is, that his demonstrations of motion are +sometimes too violent. Vasari preferred his drawings to his pictures, as +he thought that the fire of his original conception was apt to +evaporate, in some degree, in the finishing. Some have objected to the +squareness of his physiognomies, and have complained of his middle tints +being too dark. But Niccolo Poussin admired this asperity of colour in +his battle of Constantine, as suitable to the character of the subject. +In the picture of the church dell'Anima, which is a Madonna, accompanied +by Saints, and in others of that description, it does not produce so +good an effect. His cabinet pictures are rare, and sometimes too free in +their subjects. He generally painted in fresco, and his vast works at +Mantua place him at the head of that school, which indeed venerates him +as its founder. + +Gianfrancesco Penni of Florence, called Il Fattore, who when a boy was a +servant in the studio of Raffaello, became one of his principal +scholars, and assisted him more than any other in the cartoons of the +tapestries: he painted in the gallery of the Vatican the Histories of +Abraham and Isaac, noticed by Taja. Among other works left incomplete by +his master, and which he finished, is the Assumption of Monte Luci in +Perugia, the lower part of which, with the apostles, is painted by +Giulio, and the upper part, which abounds with Raffaellesque grace, is +ascribed to Il Fattore, although Vasari assigns it to Perino. Of the +works which he performed alone, his frescos in Rome have perished, and +so few of his oil pictures remain, that they are rarely to be found in +any collection. He is characterised by fertility of conception, grace of +execution, and a singular talent for landscape. He was joint heir of +Raffaello with Giulio, and wished to unite himself with him in his +profession; but being coldly received by Giulio in Mantua, he proceeded +to Naples, where he, as we shall see, contributed greatly to the +improvement of art, although cut off by an early death. Orlandi notices +two Penni in the school of Raffaello, comprehending Luca, a brother of +Gianfrancesco, a circumstance not improbable, and not, as far as I know, +contradicted by history. We are also told by Vasari, that Luca united +himself to Perino del Vaga, and worked with him at Lucca, and in other +places of Italy; that he followed Rosso into France, as we have before +observed; and that he ultimately passed into England, where he painted +for the king and private persons, and made designs for prints. + +Perino del Vaga, whose true name was Pierino Buonaccorsi, was a relation +and fellow citizen of Penni. He had a share in the works of the Vatican, +where he at one time worked stuccos and arabesques with Giovanni da +Udine, at another time painted chiaroscuri with Polidoro, or finished +subjects from the sketches and after the style of Raffaello. Vasari +considered him the best designer of the Florentine School, after +Michelangiolo, and at the head of all those who assisted Raffaello. It +is certain, at least, that no one could, like him, compete with Giulio, +in that universality of talent so conspicuous in Raffaello; and the +subjects from the New Testament, which he painted in the papal gallery, +were praised by Taja above all others. In his style there is a great +mixture of the Florentine, as may be seen at Rome, in the Birth of Eve, +in the church of S. Marcello, where there are some children painted to +the life, a most finished performance. A convent at Tivoli possesses a +S. John in the desart, by him, with a landscape in the best style. There +are many works by him in Lucca, and Pisa, but more particularly in +Genoa, where we shall have occasion again to consider him as the origin +of a celebrated school. + +Giovanni da Udine, by a writer of Udine called Giovanni di Francesco +Ricamatore, (Boni, p. 25,) likewise assisted Sanzio in arabesques and +stuccos, and painted ornaments in the gallery of the Vatican, in the +apartments of the pope, and in many other places. Indeed, in the art of +working in stucco, he is ranked as the first among the moderns,[53] +having, after long experience, imitated the style of the baths of Titus, +discovered at that time in Rome, and opened afresh in our own days.[54] +His foliage and shells, his aviaries and birds, painted in the above +mentioned places, and in other parts of Rome and Italy, deceive the eye +by their exquisite imitation; and in the animals more particularly, and +the indigenous and foreign birds, he seems to have reached the highest +point of excellence. He was also remarkable for counterfeiting with his +pencil every species of furniture; and a story is told, that having left +some imitations of carpets one day in the gallery of Raffaello, a groom +in the service of the Pope coming in haste in search of a carpet to +place in a room, ran to snatch up one of those of Giovanni, deceived by +the similitude. After the sacking of Rome he visited other parts of +Italy, leaving wherever he went, works in the most perfect and brilliant +style of ornament. This will occasion us to notice him in other schools. +At an advanced age he returned to Rome, where he was provided with a +pension from the Pope, till the time of his death.[55] + +Polidoro da Caravaggio, from a manual labourer in the works of the +Vatican, became an artist of the first celebrity, and distinguished +himself in the imitation of antique bassirelievi, painting both sacred +and profane subjects in a most beautiful chiaroscuro. Nothing of this +kind was ever seen more perfect, whether we consider the composition, +the mechanism, or the design; and Raffaello and he, of all artists, are +considered in this respect to have approached nearest to the style of +the ancients. Rome was filled with the richest friezes, facades, and +ornaments over doors, painted by him and Maturino of Florence, an +excellent designer, and his partner; but these, to the great loss of +art, have nearly all perished. The fable of Niobe, in the Maschera +d'Oro, which was one of their most celebrated works, has suffered less +than any other from the ravages of time and the hand of barbarism. This +loss has been in some measure mitigated by the prints of Cherubino +Alberti, and Santi Bartoli, who engraved many of these works before they +perished. Polidoro lost his comrade by death in Rome, as was supposed, +by the plague, and he himself repaired to Naples, and from thence to +Sicily, where he fell a victim to the cupidity of his own servant, who +assassinated him. With him invention, grace, and freedom of hand, +seem to have died. This notice of him as an artist may suffice for the +present, as we shall again recur to him in the fourth book, as one of +the masters of the Neapolitan School. + +Pellegrino da Modena, of the family of Munari, of all the scholars of +Raffaello, perhaps resembled him the most in the air of his heads, and a +peculiar grace of attitude. After having painted in an incomparable +manner the history of Jacob, before mentioned, and others of the same +patriarch, and some from the life of Solomon, in the gallery of the +Vatican, under Raffaello, he remained in Rome employed in the decoration +of many of the churches, until his master's death. He then returned to +his native place, where he became the head of a numerous succession of +Raffaellesque painters, as we shall in due time relate. + +Bartolommeo Ramenghi, or as he is sometimes named, Bagnacavallo, and by +Vasari Il Bologna, is also included in the catalogue of those who worked +in the gallery. There is not however any known work of his in Rome, and +we may say the same of Biagio Pupini, a Bolognese, with whom he +afterwards united himself to paint in Bologna. Vasari is not prodigal of +praise towards the first, and writes with the most direct censure +against the second. Of their merits we shall speak more fully in the +Bolognese School, to which Bagnacavallo was the first to communicate a +new and better style. + +Besides these, Vasari mentions Vincenzio di S. Gimignano, in Tuscany, to +whom, as a highly successful imitator of Raffaello, he gives great +praise, referring to some facades in fresco by him, which have now +perished. After the sacking of Rome he returned home, but so changed and +dispirited, that he appeared quite another person, and we have no +account of any of his subsequent works. Schizzone, a comrade of +Vincenzio, a most promising artist, shared the same fate; and we find +also, in the Bolognese School, Cavedone losing his powers by some great +mental affliction. Among the subjects of the Vatican we do not find any +ascribed to Vincenzio, but we may perhaps assign to him the history of +Moses in Horeb, which Taja, on mere conjecture, ascribes to the bold +pencil of Raffaele del Colle, who was employed by Raffaello in the +Farnesina, and in the Hall of Constantine, under Giulio. Of this artist +and his successors we have spoken in the first book, where we have made +some additions to the account of Vasari. + +Timoteo della Vite, of Urbino, after some years spent at Bologna in +studying under Francesco Francia, returned to his native city, and from +thence repaired to the academy which his countryman and relation +Raffaello had opened in the Vatican. He assisted Raffaello at the Pace, +in the fresco of the Sybils, of which he retained the cartoons; and +after some time, from some cause or other, he returned to Urbino, and +there passed the remainder of his days. He brought with him to Rome, a +method of painting which partook much of the manner of the early +masters, as may be seen in some of his Madonnas, at the palace +Bonaventura, and the chapter of Urbino; and in a Discovery of the Cross +in the church of the conventuals of Pesaro. He improved his style under +Raffaello, and acquired much of his grace, attitudes, and colour, though +he always remained a limited inventor, with a certain timidity of touch, +more correct than vigorous. The picture of the Conception at the +Osservanti of Urbino, and the Noli me Tangere, in the church of S. +Angelo, at Cagli, are the best pieces that remain of Timoteo. Pietro +della Vite, who is supposed to have been his brother, painted in the +same style, but in an inferior manner. This Pietro is, perhaps, the +relative and heir of Raffaello, whom Baldinucci mentions in his fifth +volume. The same writer affirms, at the end of his fourth volume, that +the artists of Urbino included amongst the scholars of Raffaello one +Crocchia, and assign to him a picture at the Capuchins in Urbino, of +which I have no further knowledge. + +Benvenuto Tisi, of Ferrara, or as he is generally called, Il Garofalo, +also studied only a little time under Sanzio; but it was sufficient to +enable him to become, as we shall notice hereafter, the chief of the +Ferrarese School. He imitated Raffaello in design, in the character of +his faces, and in expression, and considerably also in his colouring, +although he added something of a warmer and stronger cast, derived from +his own school. Rome, Bologna, and other cities of Italy, abound with +his pictures from the lives of the apostles. They are of various merit, +and are not wholly painted by himself. In his large pictures he stands +more alone, and many of these are to be found in the Chigi gallery. The +Visitation in the Palazzo Doria, is one of the first pieces in that rich +collection. This artist was accustomed, in allusion to his name, to mark +his pictures with a violet, which the common people in Italy call +garofalo. It does not appear from Vasari, Titi, and Taja, that Garofalo +had any share in the works which were executed by Raffaello and his +scholars. + +Gaudenzio Ferrari is mentioned by Titi, as an assistant of Raffaello in +the story of Psyche, and we shall advert to him again in another book as +chief of the Milanese School. Orlandi, on the credit of some more modern +writers, asserts, that he worked with Raffaello also at Torre Borgia; +and before that time, he considers him to have been a scholar of Scotto +and Perugino. In Florence, and in other places in Lower Italy, some +highly finished pictures are attributed to him, which partake of the +preceding century, though they do not seem allied to the school of +Perugino. Of these pictures we shall resume our notice hereafter; at +present it may be sufficient to remark, that in Lombardy, where he +resided, there is not a picture in that style to be found with his name +attached to it. He is always Raffaellesque, and follows the chiefs of +the Roman School. + +Vasari also notices Jacomone da Faenza. This artist assiduously studied +the works of Raffaello, and from long practice in copying them, became +himself an inventor. He flourished in Romagna, and it was from him that +a Raffaellesque taste was diffused throughout that part of Italy. He is +also mentioned by Baldinucci, and we shall endeavour to make him better +known in his proper place. + +Besides the above mentioned scholars and assistants of Raffaello, +several others are enumerated by writers, of whom we may give a short +notice. Il Pistoja, a scholar of Il Fattore, and probably employed by +him in the works of Sanzio, as Raffaellino del Colle was with Giulio, is +mentioned as a scholar of Raffaello by Baglione, and, on the credit of +that writer, also by Taja. We mentioned him among the Tuscans, and shall +further notice him in Naples, where we shall also find Andrea da +Salerno, head of that school, whom Dominici proves to be a scholar of +Raffaello. + +In the _Memorie di Monte Rubbiano_, edited by Colucci, at page 10, +Vincenzo Pagani, a native of that country, is mentioned as a pupil of +the same master. There remains of him in the collegiate church there, a +most beautiful picture of the Assumption; and the Padre Civalli points +out another in Fallerone and two at Sarnano, in the church of his +religious fraternity, much extolled, and in a Raffaellesque manner, if +we are to credit report. This painter, of whom, in Piceno, I find traces +to the year 1529, again appears in Umbria in 1553, where Lattanzio his +son, being elected a magistrate of Perugia, he transferred himself +thither, and was employed to paint the altarpiece of the Cappella degli +Oddi, in the church of the Conventuals, as we have already mentioned. +According to the conditions of the contract, Paparelli had a share with +him in this work, and he must be considered as an assistant of Vincenzo, +both because he is named as holding the second place, and because he is +reported by Vasari on other occasions, as having been an assistant. But +as history mentions nothing relative to this picture, except the +contract, we shall content ourselves with observing, that this +praiseworthy artist, who was passed over in silence for so many years, +still painted in the year 1553. Whether he was a scholar of Raffaello, +or whether this was a tradition which arose in his own country in +progress of time, supported only on the consideration of his age and his +style, is a point to be decided by proofs of more authority than those +we possess. I agree with the Sig. Arciprete Lazzari, when, writing of F. +Bernardo Catelani of Urbino, who painted in Cagli the picture of the +great altar in the church of the Capucins, he says, that he had there +exhibited the style of the school of Raffaello, but he does not consider +him his scholar. + +It has been asserted, that Marcantonio Raimondi painted some pictures +from the sketches of Raffaello, in a style which excited the admiration +of the designer himself; but this appears doubtful, and is so considered +by Malvasia. L'Armenini also assigns to this school, Scipione Sacco, a +painter of Cesena, and Orlandi, Don Pietro da Bagnaja, whom we shall +mention in the Romagna School. Some have added to it Bernardino Lovino, +and others Baldassare Peruzzi, a supposition which we shall shew to be +erroneous. Padre della Valle has more recently revived an opinion, that +Correggio may be ranked in the same school, and that he was probably +employed in the gallery, and might have painted the subject of the Magi, +attributed by Vasari to Perino. This is conjectured from the peculiar +smile of the mother and the infant. But these surmises and conjectures +we may consider as the chaff of that author, who has nevertheless +presented us with much substantial information. We shall now advert to +the foreigners of this school. Bellori has enumerated, among the +imitators of Raffaello, Michele Cockier, or Cocxie, of Malines, of whom +there remain some pictures in fresco in the church dell'Anima. Being +afterwards in Flanders, where several works of Raffaello were engraved +by Cock, he was accused of plagiarism, but still maintained a +considerable reputation; as to a fertile invention he added a graceful +style of execution. Many of his best pictures passed into Spain, and +were there purchased at great prices. Palomino acquaints us with another +excellent scholar of Sanzio, Pier Campanna, of Flanders, who, although +he could not entirely divest himself of the hardness of his native +school, was still highly esteemed in his day. He resided twenty years in +Italy, and was employed in Venice by the Patriarch Grimani, for whom he +painted several portraits, and the celebrated picture of the Magdalen +led by Saint Martha to the Temple, to hear the preaching of Christ. This +picture, which was bequeathed by the Patriarch to a friend, after a +lapse of many years, passed into the hands of Mr. Slade, an English +gentleman. Pier Campanna distinguished himself in Bologna, by painting a +triumphal arch on the arrival of Charles V., by whom he was invited to +Seville, where he resided a considerable time, painting and instructing +pupils, among whom is reckoned Morales, who, from his countrymen, had +the appellation of the divine. He was accustomed to paint small +pictures, which were eagerly sought after by the English, and +transferred to their country, where they are highly prized. Of his +altarpieces, several remain in Seville, and we may mention the +Purification, in the Cathedral, and the Deposition at S. Croce, as the +most esteemed. Murillo, who was himself a truly noble artist, greatly +admired and studied this latter picture, which, even after we have seen +the masterpieces of the Italian School, still excites our astonishment +and admiration. This artist, to some one, who, in his latter years, +inquired why he so often repaired to this picture, replied, that he +waited the moment when the body of Christ should reach the ground. +Mention is also made of one Mosca, whether a native or foreigner I know +not, as a doubtful disciple of this school. Christ on his way to Mount +Calvary, now in the Academy in Mantua, is certainly a Raffaellesque +picture, but we may rather consider Mosca an imitator and copyist, than +a pupil of Raffaello. In the edition of Palomino, published in London, +1742, I find some others noticed as scholars of Raffaello, who being +born a little before or after 1520, could not possibly belong to him; as +Gaspare Bacerra, the assistant of Vasari; Alfonso Sanchez, of Portugal; +Giovanni di Valencia; Fernando Jannes. It is not unusual to find similar +instances in the history of painting, and the reports have for the most +part originated in the last age. Whenever the artists of a country began +to collect notices of the masters who had preceded them, their style had +become the prevailing taste; and as if human genius could attain no +improvement beyond that which it receives subserviently from another, +every imitator was supposed to be a scholar of the artist imitated, and +every school, arrogating to itself the names of the first masters, +endeavoured to load itself with fresh honours. + +[Footnote 26: Hist. Rom. vol. i. ad calcem.] + +[Footnote 27: Besides his life by Vasari, another was published by Sig. +Abate Comolli, which I consider posterior to that of Vasari. Memoirs of +him were also collected by Piacenza, Bottari, and other authors whom I +shall notice; and I shall also avail myself of the information derived +from the inspection of his pictures, and their character, and the +various dates of his works.] + +[Footnote 28: We find his name written _Io. Sanctis_ in the Nunziata of +Sinigaglia; and it appears that he was born of a father called, +according to the expression of that age, _Santi_ or _Sante_; a name in +common use in many parts of Italy. In support of the surname of Sanzio, +Bottari produces a portrait of Antonio Sanzio, which exists in the +Palazzo Albani, representing him holding in his hands a document, with +the title of _Genealogia Raphaelis Sanctii Urbinatis_. Julius Sanctius +is there named as the head of the family, _familiae quae adhuc Urbini +illustris extat, ab agris dividendis cognomen imposuit_, and was the +progenitor of Antonio. From the latter, and through a Sebastiano, and +afterwards through a Gio. Batista, descends Giovanni, _ex quo ortus est +Raphael qui pinxit a. 1519_. It is also recorded that Sebastiano had a +brother, Galeazzo, _egregium pictorem_, and the father of three +painters, Antonio, Vincenzio, and Giulio, called _maximus pictor_. Thus +in this branch of the Sanzii are enumerated four painters, of whom I do +not find any memorial in Urbino. The family also boasts of a Canon in +divinity, and a distinguished captain of infantry. The anonymous writer +of Comolli confirms this illustrious origin of Raffaello; but it is +highly probable, that in that age, when the forgery of genealogies, as +Tiraboschi observes, was a common practice, he may have adopted it +without any examination. The portrait of Antonio is well executed, but +it has been said that it would have been much more so, if Raffaello had +painted it a year before his death, according to the inscription. If +connoisseurs (who alone ought to decide this point) should be of this +opinion, it may be suspected that the person that counterfeited the hand +of the artist, might also substitute the writing; or we may at least +conclude, that the etymology of Sanzio should be sought for in the word +_Sanctis_, the name of the grandfather of Raffaello, not in _sancire_, +(to divide fields or property). In tom. xxxi. of the Ant. Picene, a will +is produced of Ser Simone di Antonio, in 1477, where a _Magister +Baptista, qu. Peri Sanctis de Peris_, who is called _Pittor di grido e +di eccellenza_, leaves his son Tommaso his heir, to whom is substituted +a son of Antonio his brother, of the name of Francesco. I may remark, +that in this _Batista di Pier Sante de' Pieri_, we may find the surname +of a family different from that of Sanzia. But on this subject I hope we +shall shortly be favoured with more certain information by the Sig. +Arciprete Lazzari, who has obliged me with many valuable contributions +to the present edition of this work.] + +[Footnote 29: Condivi, in his Life of Bonarruoti, (num. 67.) assures us +that Michaelangelo was not of a jealous temper, but spoke well of all +artists, not excepting Raffaello di Urbino, "between whom and himself +there existed, as I have mentioned, an emulation in painting; and the +utmost that he said was, that Raffaello did not inherit his excellences +from nature, but obtained them through study and application."] + +[Footnote 30: See the Preface to the Life of Raffaello, by Vasari, +_ediz. Senese_, p. 228, where the will is quoted.] + +[Footnote 31: Vasari states, that that event occurred either whilst +Michaelangelo was employed upon the Statues in S. Pietro in Vincoli, or +whilst he was painting the vault of the Sistine Chapel, that is, some +years afterwards, when Raffaello was in Rome. To this second opinion, +which is the most common one, I formerly assented; but since, on perusal +of a Brief of Julius II. (Lett. Pittoriche, tom. iii. p. 320) in which +that Pope invites Michaelangelo back to Rome, and promises that +_illaesus, inviolatusque erit_, I am inclined to believe that the Cartoon +was finished in 1506, which is the date of the brief; so that Raffaello, +if he could not see it on his first visit to Florence, might at least +have done so on his second or third.] + +[Footnote 32: See Vasari, ed. Sen. tom. v. p. 238, where we find the +Letter written from him to one of his uncles, with all the +provincialisms common to the inhabitants of Urbino and its +neighbourhood.] + +[Footnote 33: Malvasia, _Felsina Pittrice_, tom. i. p. 45. There are +some facts, however, in opposition to this letter, and which seem to +prove that Raffaello did not go to Rome until 1510. But the Sig. Abate +Francesconi is now employed in rectifying the chronology of the Life and +Works of Sanzio; and from his critical sagacity we may expect the +solution of this difficulty.] + +[Footnote 34: See Le Aggiunte al Vasari. Ed. Senese, p. 223.] + +[Footnote 35: A sonnet by him is referred to by Sig. Piacenza, in his +notes to Baldinucci, tom. xi. p. 371.] + +[Footnote 36: In compliance with the wishes of Leo X. he made drawings +of the buildings of Ancient Rome, and accompanied them with +descriptions, employing the compass to ascertain their admeasurement. We +owe this information to Sig. Abate Francesconi, who has restored to +Sanzio a letter, formerly attributed to Castiglione. It is a sort of +dedication of the work to Leo X.; but the work itself and the drawings +are lost; and many of the edifices measured by Raffaello were destroyed +in the following Pontificates. The Abate Morelli has made public a high +eulogium on this work, by a contemporary pen, in the notes to the +Notizia, page 210. It is written by one Marcantonio Michiel, who +asserts, that Raffaello had drawn the ancient buildings of Rome in such +a manner, and shewn their proportions, forms, and ornaments so +correctly, that whoever had inspected them might be said to have seen +Ancient Rome.] + +[Footnote 37: In a brief of Leo X. 1514, mentioned by Sig. Piacenza, +tom. ii. p. 321.] + +[Footnote 38: + + Caesaris in nomen ducuntur carmina: Caesar + Dum canitur, quaeso, Jupiter ipse vaces. + Prop. lib. iv. Eleg. vi.] + +[Footnote 39: Vol. ii. p. 323 et seq.] + +[Footnote 40: See the first letter of Crespi, Lettere Pittoriche, tom. +ii. p. 338.] + +[Footnote 41: Mengs has observed, that Raffaello diligently studied the +bassirelievi of the arches of Titus and Constantine, which were on the +arch of Trajan, and adopted from them his manner of marking the +articulations of the joints, and a more simple and an easier mode of +expressing the contour of the fleshy parts. Riflessioni sopra i tre gran +Pittori, &c. cap. 1.] + +[Footnote 42: Riflessioni su la bellezza e sul gusto della Pittura, +parte iii. cap. 1, and see the _Osservazioni_ of the Cav. Azara on that +tract, Sec.. xii.] + +[Footnote 43: A doubt has arisen on the exact time in which he painted +the Prophet and the Sybils, and from the grandeur of their style doubts +have been thrown on Vasari's account, that they were painted anterior to +1511. But a painter who is the master of his art, elevates or lowers his +style according to his subject. The Sybils are in Raffaello's grandest +style; and that they are amongst his earliest works, is proved from his +having had Timoteo della Vite, as his assistant in them.] + +[Footnote 44: Lett. Pittor. tom. v. p. 131.] + +[Footnote 45: Commencing at p. 139.] + +[Footnote 46: I do not find that any mention has been made of his +picture in the possession of the Olivieri family at Pesaro, or of the +one in the Basilica di Loreto in the Treasury, which seems to be the +same which was formerly in the church of the Madonna del Popolo, or a +copy of it. I have seen a similar subject in the Lauretana, belonging to +the Signori Pirri, in Rome. At Sassoferrato also, on the great altar of +the church of the Capucins, there is a Virgin and child, said to be by +him; but it is more probably by Fra Bernardo Catelani. There exist +engravings of the two first, but I have not seen any of the last.] + +[Footnote 47: Riflessioni sopra i tre gran Pittori, &c., cap. i. Sec. 2.] + +[Footnote 48: Lo dico con questa condizione che V. S. si trovasse meco a +far la scelta del meglio: ma essendo carestia e di buoni giudici e di +belle donne, mi servo di una certa idea che mi viene in mente. Lett. +Pittor. tom. i. p. 84.] + +[Footnote 49: Plin. Hist. Natur. lib. xxxv. cap. 10. Quintil. Instit. +Orat. xii. 10.] + +[Footnote 50: Portraits of Raffaello are to be found in the Duomo, and +in the Sacristy of Siena, in more than one picture; but it is doubtful +whether by his own hand or that of Pinturicchio. That which is mentioned +in the Guida di Perugia, as being in a picture of the Resurrection at +the Conventuals, is said to be by Pietro Perugino: and in the Borghese +gallery in Rome, there is one, supposed to be by the hand of Timoteo +della Vite. The portrait in the gallery in Florence, by Da Vinci, bears +some resemblance to Raffaello, but it is not he. Another which I have +seen in Bologna, ought, perhaps, to be ascribed to Giulio Romano. One of +the most authentic portraits of Raffaello, by his own hand, next to the +one in the picture of S. Luke, is that in the Medici Collection in the +_Stanza de' Pittori_, though this is not in his best manner.] + +[Footnote 51: Idee de Peintre parfait, chap. xix.] + +[Footnote 52: Engraved by Morghen. The three figures, the Madonna, the +Infant, and St. John, appear almost alive. It should seem that Raffaello +made several studies for this picture, and he painted one without the +St. John, which remained for some time in Urbino. I saw a copy in the +possession of the Calamini family, at Recanati, which was said to be by +Baroccio, and at all events belonging to his school. I have seen the +same subject in the Casa Olivieri, at Pesaro, and at Cortona, in the +possession of another noble family, to whom it had passed by inheritance +from Urbino, and was considered to be by Raffaello. The faces in these +are not so beautiful, nor the colours so fine; they are round, and in a +larger circle, with some variations: I have also seen a copy in the +Sacristy of S. Luigi de' Franzesi, in Rome, and in the Palazzo +Giustiniani.] + +[Footnote 53: Morto da Feltro sotto Alessandro VI., comincio a dipingere +a grottesco, ma senza stucchi. Baglione, Vite, p. 21.] + +[Footnote 54: The entrance into these baths was designedly and +maliciously closed. Serlio, in speaking of the various arabesques in +Pozzuolo, Baja, and Rome, says that they were injured or destroyed by +the artists who had copied them, through a jealous feeling lest others +should also avail themselves of the opportunity of studying them, (lib. +iv. c. 11). The names of these destroyers, which Serlio has suppressed, +posterity has been desirous of recovering, and some have accused +Raffaello, others Pinturicchio, and others Vaga, or Giovanni da Udine, +or rather his scholars and assistants, "of whom," says Vasari, "there +were an infinite number in every part of Italy." This subject is ably +discussed by Mariotti, in _Lettera_ ix. p. 224, and in the _Memorie +delle belle Arti_, per l'anno 1788, p. 24.] + +[Footnote 55: It was charged on the office of the Piombo, or papal +signet, when Sebastiano da Venezia was invested with it, and was a +pension of three hundred scudi. Padre Federici observes that the one was +designated Fra Sebastiano, but that the other was not called Fra +Giovanni; nor is this remarkable, for a Bishop is called Monsignore, but +the person who enjoys a pension charged upon a Bishoprick has not the +same title. It cannot however be deduced from this, as Federici wishes +to do, that Sebastiano was first Frate di S. Domenico, by the name of F. +Marco Pensaben, and afterwards secularized by the Pope, and appointed to +the signet, and that he retained the _Fra_ in consequence of his former +situation.] + + + + + ROMAN SCHOOL. + + EPOCH III. + + _The art declines in consequence of the public calamities of + Rome, and gradually falls into mannerism._ + + +After the mournful events of the year 1527, Rome for some time remained +in a state of stupor, contemplating her past misfortunes and her future +destiny; and, like a vessel escaped from shipwreck, began slowly to +repair her numerous losses. The soldiers of the besieging army, among +other injuries committed in the Apostolic palace, had defaced some heads +of Raffaello; and F. Sebastiano, an artist by no means competent to such +a task, was employed to repair them. This, at least, was the opinion of +Titian, who was introduced to these works, and ignorant of the +circumstances, asked Sebastiano what presumptuous wretch had had the +audacity to attempt their restoration;[56] an impartial observation, +against which even the patronage of Michelangiolo could not shield the +artist. Paul III. was now in possession of the papal chair, and under +his auspices the arts again began to revive. The decoration of the +palace of Caprarola, and other works of Paul and his nephews, gave +employment to the painters, and happy had these patrons been, could they +have found a second Raffaello. Bonarruoti, as we have observed, was +engaged by the Pope, and gave to the Roman School many noble specimens +of art, though he formed but few scholars. Sebastiano, after the death +of Raffaello, freed from all further competition with that great artist, +and honoured with the lucrative office of the papal signet, seemed +disposed to rest from his labours; and as he had never, at any time, +discovered great application, he now resigned himself to a life of +vacant leisure, and Vasari does not mention with commendation any pupil +of his school except Laureti.[57] Giulio Romano was now invited back to +Rome, and the superintendence of the building of S. Peter's offered to +him, but death prevented his return to his native city. Perino del Vaga, +however, repaired to Rome, and might, himself, have effected the +restoration of art, if his magnanimity had corresponded with the +sublimity of his mind. But he did not inherit the daring genius of his +master. He communicated his instructions with jealousy, and worked with +a spirit of gain, or to speak correctly, he did not paint himself, but +undertaking works of more or less consequence, he allowed his scholars +to execute them, often to the injury of his own reputation. He continued +to secure to himself artists of the first talents, as we shall see; but +this was done with the intention of making them dependant on him, and to +prevent their interfering with his emoluments and commissions. But +together with the good, he engaged also many indifferent and inferior +artists, whence it happens, that in the chambers of the castle of S. +Angelo, and in other places, we meet with so marked a difference in many +of his works. Few of his scholars attained celebrity. Luzio Romano is +the most noted, and possessed a good execution. Of him there exists a +frieze in the Palazzo Spada; and for some time, too, he had for an +assistant Marcello Venusti of Mantua, a young man of great talents, but +diffident, and probably standing in need of more instruction than Perino +afforded him. He afterwards received some instructions from Bonarruoti, +whose ideas he executed in an excellent manner, as I have mentioned +before, and by his aid he became himself also a good designer.[58] +Perino, by these means, always abounded in work and in money. A similar +traffic in the art was carried on by Taddeo Zuccaro, if we are to +believe Vasari; and by Vasari himself, too, if we may be allowed to +judge from his pictures. + +The actual state of the art at this period may be ascertained from a +view of the numerous works produced; but none are so distinguished as +the paintings in the Sala Regia, commenced under Paul III., and scarcely +finished, after a lapse of thirty years, in 1573. Of these Vaga had the +direction, as Raffaello had formerly had, of the chambers of the +Vatican. He planned the compartments, ornamented the ceiling, directed +all the stuccos, cornices, devices, and large figures, and all in the +style of a great master. He then applied himself to design the subjects +for his pencil, and was employed on them when he was carried off by +death in 1547. Through the partiality of Michelangiolo, he was succeeded +by Daniel di Volterra, who had already worked in stucco, under his +direction, in the same place. Volterra resolved to represent the +donations of those sovereigns who had extended or consolidated the +temporal dominion of the church, whence the chamber was called Sala dei +Regi, and this idea was, in some degree, though with variations, +continued by succeeding artists. Volterra was naturally slow and +irresolute, and after painting the Deposition from the Cross, which we +have mentioned as being executed with the assistance of Michelangiolo, +he produced no more of these prodigies of art. He had indeed begun some +designs, but on the death of the Pope, in 1549, he was compelled, in +order to accommodate the conclave, to remove the scaffolding, and expose +the work unfinished. It did not meet with public approbation, nor was it +continued under Julius III., and still less under Paul IV., in whose +reign the art was held in so little respect, that the apostles, painted +by Raffaello in one of the chambers of the Vatican, were displaced. + +Pius IV., who resumed the work, on the suggestion of Vasari, in 1561, +had intended to charge Salviati with the entire execution of it; but, by +the intercessions of Bonarruoti, was at length prevailed on to assign +one half of the apartment to Salviati, and the other half to +Ricciarelli, though this did not contribute to expedite the work. Pirro +Ligorio, a Neapolitan, was at this time held in high esteem by the Pope. +He was an antiquarian, though not of great celebrity, but a good +architect, and a fresco painter of some merit;[59] an enthusiast too, +and alike jealous of Ricciarelli, for the homage he paid to Bonarruoti, +and of Salviati, for the respect which he did not shew to Ligorio +himself. Remarking that the Pope wished to hasten the completion of the +work, he proposed to select a number of scholars, and to divide the work +amongst them. Vasari adds, that Salviati was disgusted and left Rome; +where, on his return, he died, without finishing his work; and that +Ricciarelli, who was always slow, never touched it again, and died also +after the lapse of some little time. The completion of the work was then +entrusted, as far as possible, to the successors of Raffaello. Livio +Agresti da Forli, Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta, and Marco da Pino, +of Sienna, although they had received their first instructions from +other masters, had been instructed by Perino del Vaga, and had assisted +in his cartoons. Taddeo Zuccaro had accomplished himself under Giacomone +da Faenza, and had made his younger brother Federigo an able artist. To +these the work was assigned, and there were added to them Samacchini and +Fiorini, Bolognese artists; and Giuseppe Porta della Garfagnana, called +Giuseppe Salviati. This latter had been the pupil of Francesco Salviati, +from whom he learnt the principles of design; he was afterwards a +follower of the school of Venice, where he resided. Of these numerous +artists Vasari assigns the palm to Taddeo Zuccaro, but the court was so +much pleased with Porta, that it was in contemplation to destroy the +works of the other artists, in order that the apartment might be +finished by him alone. He represented Alexander III. in the act of +bestowing his benediction on Frederick Barbarossa, in the Piazza of S. +Mark, in Venice; and he here indulged his taste for architectural +ornaments, in the Venetian manner. When however this work is viewed and +compared with that of other artists, we discover a sameness of style, +the character of the time; a deficiency of strength in the colours and +shadows is the common failing. It seems as if the art, through a long +course of years, had become debilitated: it discovers the lineaments of +a better age, but feebly expressed and deprived of their primitive +vigour. That portion of the work which remained unfinished, was, after +the death of Pius IV., completed by Vasari and his school, under his +successor; and some little was supplied under Gregory XIII., who was +elected in 1572. + +With that year a reign commenced but little auspicious to art, and still +less so was the Pontificate of Sixtus V., the successor of Gregory. +These Pontiffs erected or ornamented so many public buildings, that we +can scarcely move a step in Rome, without meeting with the papal arms of +a dragon or a lion. Baglione has accurately described them, and to him +we are indebted for the lives of the artists of this and the following +period. It is natural for men advanced in years to content themselves +with mediocrity in the works which they order, from the apprehension of +not living to see them, if they wait for the riper efforts of talent. +Hence those artists were the most esteemed, and the most employed, who +possessed despatch and facility of execution, particularly by Sixtus, of +whose severity towards dilatory artists we shall shortly adduce a +memorable instance. This inaccuracy of style was continued to the time +of Clement VIII., when a number of works were hastily finished to meet +the opening of the holy year 1600. Under these pontiffs the painters of +Italy, and even the _oltramontani_, inundated Rome with their works, in +the same manner that the poets and philosophers had filled that city +with their writings in the time of Domitian and Marcus Aurelius. Every +one indulged his own taste; and the style of many was deteriorated +through rapidity of execution. Thus the art, particularly in fresco, +became the employment of a mechanic, not founded in the just imitation +of nature, but in the capricious ideas of the artist.[60] Nor was the +colouring better than the design. At no period do we find such an abuse +of the simple tints, in none so feeble a chiaroscuro, or less harmony. +These are the mannerists, who peopled the churches, convents, and +saloons of Rome with their works, but in the collections of the nobility +they have not had the same good fortune. + +This era, nevertheless, is not wholly to be condemned, as it contains +several great names, the relics of the preceding illustrious age. We +have enumerated the painters who flourished in Rome in the first reigns +of this century, and we ought to notice a number of others. They were +for the most part foreigners, and ought to be introduced in other +schools. I shall here describe those particularly, who were born within +the limits of the Roman School, and those who, being established in it, +taught and propagated their own peculiar style. + +Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta, who adopted Raffaello's style, may be +enumerated among the scholars of that great man, from his felicitous +imitation of their common master. In the Sala de' Regi, in the Vatican, +he painted Pepin, King of France, bestowing Ravenna on the church, after +having made Astolfo, King of the Lombards, his prisoner. But he +approached Raffaello more closely in some of his oil pictures than in +his frescos, as in the martyrdom of S. Lucia, in the church of S. Maria +Maggiore; in the Transfiguration in Ara Coeli, and in the Nativity in +the church della Pace, a subject which he repeated in the most graceful +style in the church of Osimo. His masterpiece is in Ancona on the great +altar in the church of S. Bartolommeo, a vast composition, original and +rich in invention, and commensurate with the grandeur of the subject, +and the multitude of saints that are introduced in it. The throne of the +Virgin is seen above, amidst a brilliant choir of angels, and on either +side a virgin saint in the attitude of adoration. To this height there +is a beautiful ascent on each side, and the picture is thus divided into +a higher and lower part, in the latter of which is the titular saint, a +half naked figure vigorously coloured, together with S. Paul and two +other saints, the whole in a truly Raffaellesque style. This altarpiece +possesses so much harmony, and such a force of colour, that it is +esteemed by some persons the best picture in the city. If any thing be +wanting in it, it is perhaps a more correct observance of the +perspective. Sermoneta did not paint many pictures for collections. He +excelled in portrait painting. + +A similar manner, though more laboured, and formed on the styles of +Raffaello and Andrea del Sarto, was adopted by Scipione Pulzone da +Gaeta, who was educated in the studio of Jacopino del Conte. He died +young in his thirty-eighth year, but left behind him a great reputation, +partly in the painting of portraits, of which he executed a great number +for the popes and princes of his day, and with so much success, that by +some he is called the Vandyke of the Roman School. He was a forerunner +of Seybolt in the high finishing of the hair, and in representing in the +pupil of the eye the reflexion of the windows, and other objects as +minute and exact as in real life. He also painted some pictures in the +finest style, as the Crucifixion in the Vallicella, and the Assumption +in S. Silvestro at Monte Cavallo, a composition of chaste design, great +beauty of colouring, and brilliant in effect. In the Borghese collection +is a Holy Family by him, and in the gallery in Florence, a Christ +praying in the garden; and in other places are to be found some of his +cabinet pictures, deservedly held in high esteem. + +Taddeo and Federigo Zuccaro have been called the Vasaris of this school; +for as Vasari trod in the steps of Michelangiolo, so these artists +professed to follow Raffaello. They were the sons of an indifferent +painter of S. Angiolo in Vado, called Ottaviano Zuccaro, and came to +Rome one after the other, and in the Roman state executed a vast number +of works, some good, some indifferent, and others, when they allowed +their pupils to take a share in them, absolutely bad. A salesman, who +dealt in the pictures of these artists, was accustomed, like a retailer +of merchandize, to ask his purchasers whether they wished for a Zuccaro +of Holland, of France, or of Portugal; intimating by this that he +possessed them of all qualities. Taddeo, who was the elder of the two, +studied first under Pompeo da Fano, and afterwards with Giacomone da +Faenza. From the latter and other good Italian artists, whom he +assiduously studied, he acquired sufficient talent to distinguish +himself. He adopted a style which, though not very correct, was +unconstrained and engaging, and very attractive to such as do not look +for grandeur of design. He may be compared to that class of orators who +keep the attention of their hearers awake, not from the nature of their +subject, but from the clearness of their language, and from their +finding, or thinking they find, truth and nature in every word. His +pictures may be called compositions of portraits; the heads are +beautiful, the hands and feet not negligently painted, nor yet laboured, +as in the Florentine manner; the dress and ornaments, and form of the +beard, are agreeable to the times; the disposition is simple, and he +often imitates the old painters in shewing on the canvass only half +figures in the foreground, as if they were on a lower plain. He often +repeated the same countenance, and his own portrait. In his hands, feet, +and the folds of his drapery, he is still less varied, and not +unfrequently errs in his proportions. + +In Rome are vast works of Taddeo, in fresco, and amongst the best may be +ranked the history of the Evangelists, in the church of the +Consolazione. He left few pictures in oil. There is a Pentecost by him +in the church of the Spirito Santo in Urbino, which city also possesses +some other of his works, though not in his best style. He is most +pleasing in his small cabinet pictures, which are finished in the first +style of excellence. One of the best of these, formerly possessed by the +Duke of Urbino, is now in the collection of the noble family of +Leopardi, in Osimo. It is a Nativity of our Lord, in Taddeo's best +manner, but none of his productions have added so much to his celebrity +as the pictures in the Farnese Palace of Caprarola, which were engraved +by Preninner in 1748. They represent the civil and military history of +the illustrious family of the Farnesi. There occur also other subjects, +sacred and profane, of which the most remarkable is the Stanza del +Sonno, the subject of which was executed in a highly poetical manner, +from the suggestions of Caro in a delightful letter, which was +circulated among his friends, and is reprinted in the Lettere +Pittoriche, (tom. iii. l. 99). Strangers who visit Caprarola, often +return with a higher opinion of this artist than they carried with them. +It is true that a number of young artists, fully his equal, or perhaps +superior to him, were employed there, both in conjunction with him and +after his death, whose works ought not to be confounded with his, though +it is not always easy to distinguish them. Like Raffaello, he died at +the age of thirty-seven, and his monument is to be seen at the side of +that illustrious master in the Rotunda. + +Federigo, his brother and scholar, resembled him in style, but was not +equal to him in design, having more mannerism than Taddeo, being more +addicted to ornament, and more crowded in his composition. He was +engaged to finish in the Vatican, in the Farnese Palace, in the church +of La Trinita de' Monti, and other places, the various works which his +brother had left incomplete at his death; and he thus succeeded, as it +were, to the inheritance of his own house. He had the reputation of +possessing a noble style, and was invited by the Grand Duke Francis I. +to paint the great dome of the metropolitan church at Florence, which +was commenced by Vasari, and left unfinished at his death. Federigo in +that task designed more than three hundred figures, fifty feet in +height, without mentioning that of Lucifer, so gigantic that the rest +appeared like children, for so he informs us, adding, that they were the +largest figures that the world had ever seen.[61] But there is little to +admire in this work except the vastness of the conception,[62] and in +the time of Pier da Cortona, there was an intention of engaging that +artist to substitute for it a composition of his own, had not the +apprehension that his life might not be long enough to finish it, +frustrated the design. After the painting of this dome, every work on a +large scale in Rome was assigned to Federigo, and the Pope engaged him +to paint the vault of the Paolina, and thus give the last touch to a +work commenced by Michelangiolo. About this period, in order to revenge +himself on some of the principal officers of the Pope who had treated +him with indignity, he painted, and exposed to public view, an +allegorical picture of Calumny,[63] in which he introduced the portraits +of all those persons who had given him offence, representing them with +asses' ears. His enemies, on this, made such complaints, that he was +compelled to quit the dominions of the Pope. He therefore left Rome and +visited Flanders, Holland, and England, and was afterwards invited to +Venice to paint the submission of the Emperor Federigo Barbarossa to +Pope Alexander III., in the Palazzo Pubblico, and he was there highly +esteemed and constantly employed. The Pontiff being by this time +appeased, Federigo returned to finish the work he had left imperfect, +and which is perhaps the best of all he executed in Rome, without the +assistance of his brother. The larger picture also of S. Lorenzo in +Damaso, and that of the Angels in the Gesu, and other of his works in +various churches, are not deficient in merit. Federigo built for himself +a house in the Monte Pincio, and decorated it with pictures in fresco, +portraits of his own family, conversazioni, and many novel and strange +subjects, which he painted with the assistance of his scholars, and at +little expense; but on this occasion more than on any other, he appears +an indifferent artist, and may be called the champion of mediocrity. + +Federigo was afterwards invited to Madrid by Philip II.; but that +monarch not being satisfied with his works, they were effaced, and their +places supplied by Tibaldi, and he himself, with an adequate pension, +was sent back to Italy. He undertook another journey late in life, +visiting the principal cities of Italy, and leaving specimens of his art +in every place where he was called to exercise his talents. One of the +best of these is an Assumption of the Virgin, in an Oratory of Rimino, +on which he inscribed his name, and the Death of the Virgin, at S. Maria +_in Acumine_, with some figures of the Apostles, more finished than +usual with him. A simple and graceful style is observable in his +Presepio, in the cathedral of Foligno, and in two pictures from the life +of the Virgin, in a chapel of Loreto, painted for the Duke of Urbino. +The Cistercian monks, at Milan, possess two large pictures in their +library on the Miracle della Neve, with a numerous assemblage of +figures, the countenances in his usual lively manner, the colouring +varied and well preserved. In the Borromei college, in Pavia, is a +saloon painted in fresco, with subjects from the life of S. Carlo. The +most admired of these is the saint at prayer in his retirement; the +other pieces, the Consistory in which was his chapel, and the Plague of +Milan, would be much better, if the figures were fewer. He returned to +Venice, where his great picture remained, and which had not been so much +injured by time, as by a sarcasm of Boschini on certain sugar +[_Zucchero_] of very poor quality lately imported into Venice, in +consequence of which he retouched his work, and wrote on it, by way of a +memorial, _Federicus Zuccarus f. an. sal. 1582, perfecit an. 1603_. It +is one of his best works, copious, and, agreeably to Zanetti, beautiful +and well sustained. He then went to Turin, where he painted a S. Paul, +for the Jesuits, and began to ornament a gallery for Charles Emanuel, +Duke of Savoy; and it was in that city that he first published _La idea +de' Pittori, Scultori, e Architetti_, which he dedicated to the Duke. He +afterwards returned into Lombardy, where he composed two other works, +the one intitled _La Dimora di Parma del Sig. Cav. Federigo Zuccaro_: +the other, _Il Passaggio per Italia colla dimora di Parma del Sig. Cav. +Federigo Zuccaro_, both printed in Bologna, in 1608. In the following +year, on his return to his native place, he fell sick in Ancona, where +he died. Baglione admired the versatility of talent in this artist, +which extended to sculpture and architecture; but more than all he +admired his good fortune, in which he exceeded all his contemporaries. +This distinction he owed in a great measure to his personal qualities, +to his noble presence, his encouragement of letters, his quality of +attaching persons to him, and his liberality, which led him to expend in +a generous manner the large sums he derived from his works. + +He appears to have written with the intention of rivalling and excelling +Vasari. Whatever was the cause, Vasari was disliked by him, as may be +gathered from the notes to his Lives, occasionally cited by the +annotator of the Roman edition; and is charged by him with spleen and +malignity, particularly in the life of Taddeo Zuccaro. In order to excel +Vasari, it seems he chose an abstruse mode of writing, in opposition to +the plain style of that author. The whole work, printed in Turin, is +involved in its design, and instead of precepts, contains speculative +metaphysical opinions, which tend more to raise disputes than to convey +information. The language is incongruous and affected, and even the very +titles to the chapters are interwoven with many absurdities, as that of +the 12th, _Che la filosofia e il filosofare e disegno Metaforico +similitudinario_. This style may perhaps impose on the ignorant, but +cannot deceive the learned.[64] The latter do not esteem a writer for +pedantic expressions adopted from the Greek and Latin authors; but for a +correct mode of definition, for an accuracy of analysis, for a sagacity +in tracing effects to their true causes, and for a manner strictly +adapted to the subject. These qualities are not to be found in the works +of Federigo, where we find philosophical expressions mingled with +puerile reflections, as in the etymology of the word _disegno_, which +after much circumlocution, he informs us, owes its derivation to _Segno +di Dio_; and instead of affording any instructive maxims to youth, he +presents them with a mass of sterile and ill directed speculations. +Hence we may be said to derive more information from a single page of +Vasari, than from this author's whole work. Both Mariette and Bottari +have shewn the little esteem in which they held this work, by their +correspondence, inserted in the 6th volume of the Lettere Pittoriche. +Nor are his other two works of greater utility, one of which contains +some arguments in the same style, which are proposed as a theme for +disputation in the Academy of the Innominati, in Parma. + +It is generally thought that this treatise of Zuccaro was composed in +Rome, where he presided in the Academy of S. Luke. That academy was +instituted in the pontificate of Gregory XIII., who signed the brief for +its foundation at the instance of Muziano, as Baglione relates in the +life of that artist. He further states, that when the ancient church of +S. Luke, on the Esquiline, was demolished, the seat I believe of the +society of painters, the church of S. Martina was allotted to them, at +the foot of the Campidoglio. But this brief does not seem to have been +used until the return of Zuccaro from Spain, as according to the same +writer, it was he who put it in execution. And this must have occurred +in 1595, if the year which was celebrated by the painters of S. Luke in +1695, was the true centenary of the Academy. But the origin of the +institution may be dated, agreeably to some persons, from the month of +November, 1593, as mentioned by the Sig. Barone Vernazza, who, among the +first promoters, or members, includes the Piedmontese Arbasia, on the +relation of Romano Alberti. Baglione says that Federigo was declared +president by common consent; and that that day was a sort of triumph to +him, as he was accompanied on his return home by a company of artists +and literary persons; and in a little time afterwards he assigned a +saloon in his own house for the use of the academy. He wrote both in +poetry and in prose in the Academy of S. Luke, which is referred to more +than once in his greater work. He evinced an extraordinary affection for +this institution, and according to the example of Muziano, he named it +the heir of his estate, in the event of the extinction of his family. He +was succeeded in the presidency by Laureti, and a series of eminent +artists down to our own time. The sittings of the academy have now for a +long time past been fixed in a house contiguous to the church of S. +Martina, which is decorated with the portraits and works of its members. +The picture of S. Luke, by Raffaello, is there religiously preserved, +together with his own portrait; and there too is to be seen the skull of +Raffaello, in a casket, the richest spoil ever won by death from the +empire of art. Of this academy we shall speak further towards the +conclusion of this third book. We will now return to Federigo. + +The school of this artist received distinction from Passignano and other +scholars, elsewhere mentioned by us. To these we may add Niccolo da +Pesaro, who painted in the church of Ara Coeli; but whose best piece is +a Last Supper in the church of the sacrament at Pesaro. It is a picture +so well conceived and harmonized, and so rich in pictorial ornament, +that Lazzarini has descanted on it in his lectures as one of the first +of the city. It is said that Baroccio held this artist in great esteem. +Baglione commended him for his early works, but it must be confessed +that he did not persevere in his first style, and fell into an insipid +manner, whence he suffered both in reputation and fortune. Another +artist of Pesaro, instructed by Zuccaro, was Gio. Giacomo Pandolfi, +whose works are celebrated in his native city, and do not yield the palm +to those of Federigo, as the picture of S. George and S. Carlo in the +Duomo. He ornamented the whole chapel in the Nome di Dio, with a variety +of subjects in fresco, from the Old and New Testament; but as he was +then become infirm from age and the gout, they did not add much to his +fame. His greatest merit was the instilling good principles into Simon +Canterini, of whom, as well as of the Pesarese artists his followers, we +shall write at large in the school of Bologna. One Paolo Cespede, a +Spaniard, called in Rome Cedaspe, also received his education from +Zuccaro. He commenced his career in Rome, and excited great expectations +from some pictures in fresco, which are still to be seen at the church +of Trinita de' Monti, and other places. He had adopted a natural style, +and was in a way to rise in his profession, when he obtained an +ecclesiastical benefice in his native country, and retired to reside +upon it. Marco Tullio Montagna accompanied Federigo to Turin as an +assistant; and a small picture of S. Saverio and other saints in a +church of that city, generally attributed to the school of Zuccaro, is +probably by him. He painted in Rome in the church of S. Niccolo in +Carcere, in the vaults of the Vatican, and in many other places, in a +tolerable style, but nothing more. + +After the above named artists a crowd of contemporaries present +themselves, more particularly those who had the direction of the works +under Gregory XIII. The Sala de' Duchi was entrusted to Lorenzino of +Bologna, who was invited to Rome from his native city, where he enjoyed +the reputation of an excellent painter, and deservedly so, as we shall +see in his place. He undertook the decoration of the gallery of the +Vatican, which, from the vast size of that building, forms a boundless +field of art. Niccolo Circignani, or delle Pomarance, already mentioned +in the first book, distributed the work amongst a number of young +artists, who there painted historical subjects, landscapes, and +arabesques. The Pope was desirous that the walls also should serve the +cause of science, and ordered the compartments to be adorned with +geographical delineations of ancient and modern Italy, a task which was +assigned to Padre Ignazio Danti, a Domenican, a mathematician and +geographer of his court, and who was afterwards promoted to the +bishopric of Alatri. Ignazio was born in Perugia, of a family devoted to +the fine arts, and had two brothers, painters; Girolamo, of whom there +remain some works in S. Pietro, on the model of Vasari; and Vincenzio, +who in Rome assisted Ignazio, and there died, and was a good fresco +painter. Another grand work was also undertaken about this time, which +was the continuation of the gallery of Raffaello, in an arm of the +building contiguous to it, where, in conformity to the plan of +Raffaello, it was intended to paint four subjects in every arcade, all +from the New Testament. Roncelli, the scholar of Circignano, our notice +of whom we shall reserve to a subsequent epoch, was charged with the +execution of this plan, but was himself subject to the direction of +Padre Danti, experience having shewn that the entire abandonment of a +design to the direction of practical artists is injurious to its +execution, as there are few that, in the choice of inferior artists, are +not governed by influence, avarice, or jealousy. The selection, +therefore, was reserved to Danti, who to an excellent practical +knowledge of the art of design, united moral qualities that insured +success: and under his direction the whole work was regulated and +conducted in such a manner, that the spirit of Raffaello seemed to be +resuscitated in the precincts of the Vatican. But the hand was no longer +the same, and the imbecility which was apparent in the new productions, +when compared with the old, betrayed the decline of the art, though we +occasionally meet with subjects by Tempesti, Raffaellino da Reggio, the +younger Palma, and Girolamo Massei, which reflect a ray of honour on the +age. + +Another superintendant of the works of the Vatican, but rather in +architecture than in painting, was Girolamo Muziano da Brescia, who, +undistinguished in his native place, came young to Rome, and was there +considered the great supporter of true taste. He derived his principles +both in design and colour from the Venetian School, and early acquired +such skill in landscape, that he was named in Rome Il Giovane de' Paesi. +But he soon afterwards adopted a more elevated style, and devoted +himself with such obstinate assiduity to study, that he shaved his head +in order to prevent himself from going out of the house. It was at this +time that he painted the Raising of Lazarus, afterwards transferred from +the church of S. Maria Maggiore to the Quirinal Palace; and which, when +exposed to public view, immediately conciliated to him the esteem and +protection of Bonarruoti. His pictures occur in various churches and +palaces of Rome, and are often ornamented with landscapes in the style +of Titian. The church of the Carthusians possesses one of singular +beauty. It represents a troop of Anchorets attentively listening to a +Saint. There is great elegance and good disposition in the picture of +the Circumcision in the Gesu, and the Ascension in Ara Coeli displays an +intimate knowledge of art. The picture too of S. Francis receiving the +Stigmata, in the church of the Conception, is an enchanting piece, both +as regards the figures and the landscape. Nor was he beneath himself in +the pictures which he executed in the Duomo at Orvieto, which are highly +commended by Vasari. The chapel of the Visitation in the Basilica +Loretana, possesses three pictures by him, and that of the Probatica +discovers great originality and expression. In the Duomo of Foligno, a +picture by him in fresco, of the Miracles of S. Feliciano is pointed +out, which was formerly hidden by dust, but was a few years ago restored +in a wonderful manner to all its original freshness and charm of colour. + +The figures of Muziano are accurately drawn, and we not unfrequently +trace in them the anatomy of Michelangiolo. He excelled in painting +military and foreign dresses; and above all, in representing hermits and +anchorets, men of severe aspects, whose bodies are attenuated by +abstinence, and his style, in general, inclines rather to the dry than +the florid. We are indebted to this artist for the engraving of the +Trajan Column. Giulio Romano had begun to copy it, and the laborious +undertaking was continued and perfected by Muziano, and so prepared for +the engraver. + +The most celebrated scholar of Muziano, was Cesare Nebbia of Orvieto. He +presided over the works of Sixtus, entrusting the completion of his own +designs to the younger painters. In this task he was assisted by Gio. +Guerra da Modena, who suggested to him the subjects, and apportioned the +work among the scholars. Both the one and the other of these artists, +was endowed with a facility which was essential to the vast works on +which they were employed in the five years reign of Sixtus, in the +chapel of S. Maria Maggiore, in the library of the Vatican itself, in +the Quirinal and Lateran palaces, and at the Scala Santa, and many other +places. But in other respects, Muziano left his scholars far behind, as +he was possessed of a great and inventive genius, while Nebbia was more +remarkable for the mechanism of his art; particularly when he decorated +walls. There are, however, some beautiful and well coloured pictures by +him; among which may be mentioned the Epiphany, in the church of S. +Francis at Viterbo, quite in Muziano's style. Baglione associates with +Nebbia Giovanni Paolo della Torre, a gentleman of Rome, who was raised +by Girolamo above the rank of a mere dilettante. Taja too, adds Giacomo +Stella da Brescia, who, he observes, had degenerated in some degree from +the style of his master. He was employed, nevertheless, both in the +gallery of Gregory XIII., and in other places, not without commendation. +It may be observed, that M. Bardon states him to have been a native of +Lyons, long resident in Italy. + +Another foreigner, but who came a considerable time after Muziano, was +Raffaellino da Reggio, who, after being instructed in the first +principles of the art by Lelio di Novellara, formed a master style in +Rome. Nothing was wanting to this artist except a greater knowledge of +design, as he possessed spirit, disposition, delicacy, relief, and +grace; qualities not common in that age. His pictures in oil are +occasionally, though not often, found in galleries, but his best works +are his frescos of small figures, such as the two charming fables of +Hercules, in the ducal hall at Florence, and the two gospel stories in +the gallery adjoining to that of Raffaello d'Urbino. He painted also at +Caprarola in competition with the Zuccari, and Vecchi, and with such +success, that his figures seem living, while those of his comrades are +inanimate. This excellent artist died immaturely, greatly lamented, +without leaving any pupil worthy of his name. He was however considered +as the head of a school in Rome, and his works were studied by the youth +of the academy. Many artists adopted his manner of fresco, particularly +Paris Nogari of Rome, who left there numerous works, which are known for +their peculiar manner; amongst others, some subjects in the gallery. He +had another follower in Gio. Batista della Marca, of the family of +Lombardelli, a young man of great natural talents, but which were +rendered unavailing from his want of application. Many pictures in +fresco by him remain in Perugia and in Rome, but the best are in +Montenovo, his native place. None, however, approached so near to +Raffaellino as Giambatista Pozzo, who also died young, and who, as far +as regards ideal beauty, may be considered the Guido of his day. To be +convinced of this it is only necessary to see the Choir of Angels, which +he painted in the chapel of the Gesu. If he had survived to the time of +the Caracci, it is impossible to say to what degree of perfection he +might not have attained. + +Tommaso Laureti, a Sicilian, already noticed with commendation by us +among the scholars of F. Sebastiano, and deserving honourable mention +among the professors of Bologna, was invited to Rome in the pontificate +of Gregory XIII., and was entrusted with a work of an invidious nature. +This was the decoration of the ceiling and lunettes in the Hall of +Constantine, the lower part of which had been illustrated by the pencils +of Giulio Romano and Perino. The subjects chosen by this master were +intended to commemorate the piety of Constantine, idols subverted, the +cross exalted, and provinces added to the church. Baglione informs us +that Laureti was entertained by the Pope in his palace in a princely +manner; and either from his natural indolence, or his reluctance to +return to a laborious profession, procrastinated the work so much, that +Gregory died, and Sixtus commenced his reign before it was completed. +The new pontiff was aware that the artist had abused the patience of his +predecessor, and became so exasperated, that Laureti, in order to avert +his wrath, proceeded in all haste to finish his labours. When the work +however was exposed to public view, in the first year of the new +pontificate, it was judged unworthy of the situation. The figures were +too vast and heavy, the colouring crude, the forms vulgar. The best part +of it was a temple in the ceiling, drawn in excellent perspective, in +which art indeed Laureti may be considered as one of the first masters +of his day. Misfortune was added to his disgrace; for he was not only +not rewarded as he had expected, but the cost of his living and +provisions were placed to his charge, even to the corn supplied to his +horse. So that he gained no remuneration, and actually died in poverty +in the succeeding pontificate. He had however an opportunity afforded +him of redeeming his credit, particularly in the stories of Brutus and +Horatius on the bridge, which he painted in the Campidoglio, in a much +better style. Intimately acquainted with the theory of art, and +possessing an agreeable manner of inculcating its principles, he taught +at Rome with considerable applause. He had a scholar and assistant in +the Vatican, in Antonio Scalvati, a Bolognese, who in the time of Sixtus +was employed among the painters of the Library, and who was afterwards +engaged in painting portraits under Clement VIII., Leo XI., and Paul V.; +and was highly celebrated in this department. + +A better fortune attended Gio. Batista Ricci da Novara, who arrived at +Rome in the pontificate of Sixtus, and who from his despatch manifested +in the works at the Scala Lateranense, and the Vatican Library, was +immediately taken into employ by the Pope, who appointed him +superintendant for the decorations of the palace of the Quirinal. He was +also held in favour by Clement VIII., in whose time he painted in S. +Giovanni Laterano the history of the consecration of that church: and +there, according to Baglione, he succeeded better than in any other +place. He left not a few works in Rome, and elsewhere his pictures +display a facility of pencil, and a brilliancy and elegance which +attract the eye. He was born in a city into which Gaudenzio Ferrari had +introduced the Raffaellesque style, and where Lanini, his son-in-law had +practised it; but in whose hands it seemed to decline, and still more so +under Ricci, when he came to Rome; so that his style was Raffaellesque +reduced to mannerism, like that professed by Circignani, Nebbia, and +others of this age. + +Giuseppe Cesari, also called Il Cavaliere d'Arpino, is a name as +celebrated among painters, as that of Marino among poets. These two +individuals, each in his line, contributed to corrupt the taste of an +age already depraved, and attached more to shew than to reality. Both +the one and the other exhibited considerable talents, and it is an old +observation, that the arts, like republican states, have received their +subversion from master spirits. Cesari discovered great capacity from +his infancy, and soon attracted the admiration of Danti, and obtained +the protection of Gregory XIII., with the reputation of the first master +in Rome. Some pictures painted in conjunction with Giacomo Rocca,[65] +from designs of Michelangiolo, (in which Giacomo was very rich,) +established his reputation. So much talent was not required to secure +him general applause, as the public of that day were chiefly attracted +by the energy, fire, tumult, and crowds, that filled his composition. +His horses, which he drew in a masterly manner, and his countenances, +which were painted with all the force of life, won the admiration of the +many; while few attended to the incorrect design, the monotony of the +extremities, the poverty of the drapery, the faulty perspective and +chiaroscuro. Of these few however were Caravaggio, and Annibale Caracci. +With these he became involved in disputes, and challenges were mutually +exchanged. Cesari refused the challenge of Caravaggio, as he was not a +cavaliere, and Annibale declined that of the Cavaliere d'Arpino, +alleging that the pencil was his proper weapon. Thus these two eminent +professors met with no greater obstacle in Rome in their attempts to +reform the art, than Cesari and his adherents. + +The Cavaliere d'Arpino survived both these masters more than thirty +years, and left behind him _progeniem vitiosiorem_. To conclude, he was +born a painter, and in so vast and difficult an art, he had endowments +sufficient to atone, in part, for his defects. His colouring in fresco +was admirable, his imagination was fruitful and felicitous, his figures +were animated, and possessed a charm that Baglione, who himself +entertained very different principles, could not refrain from admiring. +Cesari moreover practised two distinct manners. The one, the most to be +commended, is that in which he painted the Ascension, at S. Prassede, +and several prophets, _di sotto in su_: the Madonna in the ceiling of S. +Giovanni Grisogono, which is remarkable for its fine colouring; the +gallery of the Casa Orsini; and in the Campidoglio, the Birth of +Romulus, and the battle of the Romans and the Sabines, a painting in +fresco, preferred by some to all his other works. Others of his pictures +may be added, particularly some smaller works, with lights in gold, +exquisitely finished, as if they were by an entirely different artist. +Of this kind there is an Epiphany in possession of the Count Simonetti, +in Osimo, and S. Francis in extacies, in the house of the Belmonti at +Rimino. His other style was sufficiently free, but negligent, and this +latter he used too frequently, partly through impatience of labour, and +partly through old age, as may be seen in three other subjects in the +Campidoglio, painted in the same saloon forty years after the first. His +works are almost innumerable, not only in Rome, where he worked in the +pontificates of Gregory and Sixtus, and where, under Clement VIII., he +presided over the decorations in S. Gio. Laterano, and there continued +under Paul V., but also in Naples, at Monte Casino, and in various +cities of the Roman state, without mentioning the pictures sent to +foreign courts, and painted for private individuals. For the latter +indeed, and even for persons of inferior rank in life, he worked more +willingly than for princes, with whom, like the Tigellius of Horace, he +was capricious and morose. He was indeed desirous of being solicited by +persons of rank, and often affected to neglect them, so much had the +applause of a corrupted age flattered his vanity. + +Cesari had many scholars and assistants, whom he more particularly +employed in the works of the Lateran; as he did not deign in those times +often to take up the pencil himself. Some of these pupils adopted his +faults, and as they did not possess the same genius, their works proved +intolerably bad. A vicious example, easy of imitation, is, as Horace has +observed, highly seductive. There were however some of his school, who +in part at least corrected themselves from the works of others. His +brother, too, Bernardino Cesari, was an excellent copyist of the designs +of Bonarruoti, and worked assiduously under the Cav. Giuseppe, but +little remains of him, as he died young. One Cesare Rossetti, a Roman, +served under Arpino a longer time, and of him there are many works in +his own name. There are also to be found some public memorials of +Bernardino Parasole, who was cut off in the flower of his age. Guido +Ubaldo Abatini of Citta di Castello, merited commendation from Passeri +as a good fresco painter, particularly for a vault at the Vittoria. +Francesco Allegrini di Gubbio was a fresco painter, in design very much +resembling his master, if we may judge from the cupola of the Sacrament +in the Cathedral of Gubbio, and from another at the Madonna de' Bianchi. +We there observe the same attenuated proportions, and the same +predominant facility of execution. He nevertheless shewed himself +capable of better things, when his mind became matured, and he worked +with more care. He is commended by Ratti for various works in fresco, +executed at Savona, in the Duomo, and in the Casa Gavotti, and for +others in the Casa Durazzo at Genoa; where one may particularly admire +the freshness of the colouring, and the skill exhibited in his _sotto in +su_. He is also commended by Baldinucci for similar works in the Casa +Panfili, and merits praise for his smaller pieces and battles frequently +found in Rome and Gubbio. He also added figures to the landscapes of +Claude, two of which are to be seen, in the Colonna palace. He lived a +long time in Rome, and his son Flaminio with him, commemorated by Taja +for some works in the Vatican. Baglione has enumerated not a few other +artists, in part belonging to the Roman state, and in part foreigners. +Donato of Formello (a fief of the dukes of Bracciano) had greatly +improved on the style of Vasari his master, as is proved by his +histories of S. Peter, in a staircase of the Vatican, particularly the +one of the piece of money found in the fish's mouth. He died whilst yet +young, and the art had real cause to lament his loss. Giuseppe Franco, +also called _dalle Lodole_, in consequence of his painting a lark in one +of his pieces in S. Maria in Via, and on other occasions, and Prospero +Orsi, both Romans, had a share in the works prosecuted by Sixtus. When +these were finished, the former repaired to Milan, where he remained +some years; the latter, from painting historical subjects, passed to +arabesque, and from his singular talents in that line, was called +Prosperino dalle Grottesche. Of the same place was Girolamo Nanni, +deserving of particular mention, because, during all the time that he +was engaged in these works, he never hurried himself, and to the +directors who urged him to despatch, he answered always _poco e buono_, +which expression was ever afterwards attached to him as a surname. He +continued to work with the same study and devotion, as far as his +talents would carry him, at S. Bartolommeo all'Isola, at S. Caterina de' +Funai, and in many other places: he was not however much distinguished, +except for his great application. Of him however, and of Giuseppe +Puglia, or Bastaro, and of Cesare Torelli, also Romans; and of Pasquale +Cati da Jesi, an inexhaustible painter of that age, though somewhat +affected, and of many professors, that are in fact forgotten in Rome +itself, I have thought it my duty to give this short notice, as I had +pledged myself to include a number of the second rate artists. It would +be an endless task to enumerate here all the foreign artists. It may be +sufficient to observe, that in the Vatican library more than a hundred +artists, almost all foreigners, were employed. In the first book I have +mentioned Gio. de' Vecchi, an eminent master, who, from the time of his +works for the Farnese family, was considered a first rate artist; and +the colony of painters, his fellow citizens, whom Raffaellino brought to +Rome. In the same book we meet with Titi, Naldini, Zucchi, Coscj, and a +number of Florentines, and in the following book Matteo da Siena and +some others of his school. Again, in the fourth book, Matteo da Leccio +and Giuseppe Valeriani dell' Aquila will have place; and in the third +volume will be described Palma the younger (amongst the Venetians) who +worked in the gallery; about which time Salvator Fontana, a Venetian, +painted at S. Maria Maggiore, whom it is sufficient to have named. We +may also enumerate Nappi and Paroni of Milan, Croce of Bologna, +Mainardi, Lavinia Fontana, and not a few others of various schools, who +in those times painted in Rome, without ultimately remaining there, or +leaving scholars. + +A more circumstantial mention may be made of some _oltramontani_, who, +in conjunction with our countrymen, were employed in the works in these +pontificates; and it may be done with the more propriety, as we do not +speak of them in any other part of our work. But those who worked in +Rome were very numerous in every period, and it would be too much to +attempt to enumerate them all in a history of Italian painting. One +Arrigo, from Flanders, painted a Resurrection in the Sistine chapel, and +also worked in fresco in other places in Rome; and is commended by +Baglione as an excellent artist. Francesco da Castello, was also of +Flanders, and of a more refined and correct taste. There is a picture by +him at S. Rocco, with various saints; and it is perhaps the best piece +the world possesses of him; but almost all his works were painted for +the cabinet, and in miniature, in which he excelled. The Brilli we may +include among the landscape painters. + +The states of the church possessed in this epoch painters of +consideration, besides those in Perugia, where flourished the two Alfani +and others, followers of a good style; but whether they were known or +employed in Rome, I am not able to say. I included them in the school of +Pietro, in order that they might not be separated from the artists of +Perugia, but they continued to live and to work for many years in the +16th century. To these may be added Piero and Serafino Cesarei,[66] and +others of less note. In the city of Assisi, there resided, in the +beginning of the 16th century, a Francesco Vagnucci, and there remain +some works by him in the spirit of the old masters. There, also, +afterwards resided Cesare Sermei Cavaliere, who was born in Orvieto, and +married in Assisi, and lived there until 1600, when he died at the age +of 84. He painted both there and in Perugia, and if not in a grand style +of fresco, still with a felicity of design, with much spirit in his +attitudes, and with a vigorous pencil. He was a good machinist, and of +great merit in his oil pictures. At Spello I saw a picture by him of the +Beatified Andrea Caccioli; and it seems to me, that few other painters +of the Roman School had at that time equalled him. His heirs, in Assisi, +possess some pictures by him of fairs, processions, and ceremonies which +occur in that city on occasion of the Perdono; and the numbers and +variety and grace of the small figures, the architecture, and the humour +displayed, are very captivating. At Spello, just above mentioned, in the +church of S. Giacomo, is a picture which represents that saint and S. +Catherine before the Madonna: where we read _Tandini Mevanatis_, 1580; +that is, of Tandino di Bevagna, a place near Assisi; nor is it a picture +to be passed over. + +Gubbio possessed two painters, brothers of the family de' Nucci; +Virgilio, who was said to be the scholar of Daniel di Volterra, whose +Deposition he copied for an altar at S. Francis in Gubbio; and +Benedetto, a disciple of Raffaellino del Colle, considered the best of +the painters of Gubbio.[67] Both of them have left works in their native +place, and in the neighbouring districts; the first of them always +following the Florentine, and the second the Roman School. Of the latter +there are many pictures at Gubbio, which shew the progress he had made +in the style of Raffaello; and to see him in his best work, we must +inspect his S. Thomas in the Duomo, which would be taken for a picture +of Garofalo, or some such artist, if we were not acquainted with the +master. A little time afterwards flourished Felice Damiani, or Felice da +Gubbio, who is said to have studied in the Venetian School. The +Circumcision at S. Domenico has certainly a good deal of that style; but +in pencil he inclines more to the Roman taste, which he, perhaps, +derived from Benedetto Nucci. The Decollation of St. Paul, at the Castel +Nuovo, in Recanati, is by him: the attitude of the saint excites our +sympathy: the spectators are represented in various attitudes, all +appropriate and animated: the drawing is correct, and the colours vivid +and harmonious. It is inscribed with the year 1584. About ten years +afterwards, he painted two chapels at the Madonna de' Lumi, at S. +Severino, with subjects from the life of Christ; and there likewise +displayed more elegance than grandeur of style. His most studied and +powerful work is at S. Agostino di Gubbio, the Baptism of the Saint, +painted in 1594, a picture abounding in figures, and which surprises by +the novelty of the attire, by its correct architecture, and by the air +of devotion exhibited in the countenances. He received for this picture +two hundred scudi, by no means a low price in those times; and it should +seem that his work was regulated by the price, since in some other +pictures, and particularly in one in 1604, he is exceedingly negligent. +Federigo Brunori, called also Brunorini, issued, it is said, from his +school, and still more decidedly than his master, followed the Venetian +style. His portraits are natural; and he was a lover of foreign drapery, +and coloured with a strong effect. The Bianchi have an Ecce Homo by him, +in which the figures are small, but boldly expressed, and shew that he +had profited from the engravings of Albert Durer. Pierangiolo Basilj, +instructed by Damiani, and also by Roncalli, partakes of their more +delicate manner. His frescos, in the choir of S. Ubaldo, are held in +esteem; and at S. Marziale, there is by him a Christ preaching, with a +beautiful portico in perspective, and a great number of auditors: the +figures in this are also small, and such as are seen in the compositions +of Albert Durer. The pictures appear to be painted in competition. +Brunori displays more energy, Basilj more variety and grace. + +In the former edition of this work I made mention of Castel Durante, now +Urbania, in the state of Urbino. I noticed Luzio Dolce among the ancient +painters, of whom I had at that time seen no performance, except an +indifferent picture, in the country church of Cagli, in 1536. Since that +period Colucci has published (tom. xxvii.) a _Cronaca di Castel +Durante_, wherein he gives a full account of Luzio, and of others that +belong to that place. Bernardino, his grandfather, and Ottaviano, his +father, excelled in stucco, and had exercised their art in other places; +and he himself, who was living in 1589, is commended for his altarpieces +and other pictures, in the churches, both in his native city and other +places: and further, it is stated that he was employed by the duke to +paint at the Imperiale. He also makes honourable mention of a brother of +Luzio, and extols Giustino Episcopio, called formerly de' Salvolini, +who, in conjunction with Luzio, painted in the abbey the picture of the +Spirito Santo, and the other pictures around it. He also executed many +other works by himself in Castel Durante and elsewhere, and in Rome as +well, where he studied and resided for a considerable time. It is +probable that Luzio was, in the latter part of his life, assisted by +Agostino Apolonio, who was his sister's son, married in S. Angelo in +Vado, and who removed and settled in Castel Durante where he executed +works both in stucco and in oils, particularly at S. Francesco, and +succeeded alike to the business and the property of his maternal uncle. + +At Fratta, which is also in the state of Urbino, there died young, one +Flori, of whom scarcely any thing remains, except the Supper of our +Lord, at S. Bernardino. But this picture is composed in the manner of +the best period of art, and deserves commemoration. Not far from thence +is Citta di Castello, where, in the days of Vasari, flourished Gio. +Batista della Bilia, a fresco painter, and another Gio. Batista, +employed in the Palazzo Vitelli, (tom. v. p. 131). I know not whether it +was from him, or some other artist, that Avanzino Nucci had his first +instructions, who repairing to Rome, designed after the best examples, +and was a scholar and fellow labourer in many of the works of Niccolo +Circignano. He had a share in almost all the works under Sixtus, and +executed many others, in various churches and palaces. He possessed +facility and despatch, and a style not very dissimilar to that of his +master, though inferior in grandeur. He resided some time in Naples, and +worked also in his native place. There is a picture by him, of the +Slaughter of the Innocents, at S. Silvestro di Fabriano. Somewhat later +than he, was Sguazzino, noticed by Orlandi for the pictures painted at +the Gesu in Perugia; though he left better works in Citta di Castello, +as the S. Angelo, in the Duomo; and the lunettes, containing various +histories of our Lady, at the Spirito Santo, besides others in various +churches. He was not very correct in his drawing, but had a despatch and +a contrast of colours, and a general effect that entitled him to +approbation. + +Another considerable painter, though less known, was Gaspare Gasparrini, +of Macerata. He was of noble birth, and followed the art through +predilection, and painted both in fresco and oils. From the information +which I received from Macerata,[68] it seems he learned to paint from +Girolamo di Sermoneta.[69] However this may be, Gasparrini pursued a +similar path, although his manner is not so finished, if we may judge +from the two chapels at S. Venanzio di Fabriano, in one of which is the +Last Supper, and in the other the Baptism of Christ. Other subjects are +added on the side walls, and the best is that of S. Peter and S. John +healing the Sick, a charming composition, in the style of Raffaello. We +find by him, in his native place, a picture of the Stigmata, at the +Conventuals, and some cabinet pictures, in the collection of the Signori +Ferri, relations of the family of Gaspare. Others too are to be found, +but either doubtful in themselves, or injured by retouching. Padre +Civalli M. C., who wrote at the close of the sixteenth century, mentions +this master with high commendation, as may be seen on reference to the +_Antichita Picene_, tom. xxv. In a recent description of the pictures at +Ascoli, I find that a Sebastian Gasparrini, of Macerata, a scholar of +the Cav. Pomaranci, decorated a chapel of S. Biagio in that city with +historical paintings in fresco. But it is probable that this may be +Giuseppe Bastiani, the scholar of Gasparrini. Another chapel at the +Carmelites in Macerata, contains many pictures by him, with the date of +1594. + +Of Marcantonio di Tolentino, mentioned by Borghini in his account of the +Tuscan artists, and after him by Colucci (tom. xxv. p. 80), I do not +know whether or not he returned to practise his art in his native +country. In Caldarola, in the territory of Macerata, flourished a +Durante de' Nobili, a painter who formed himself on the style of +Michelangiolo. A picture of a Madonna by him is to be seen in Ascoli, at +S. Pier di Castello, on which he inscribed his name and country, and the +year 1571. From another school I believe arose a Simon de Magistris, a +painter as well as sculptor, who left many works in the province. One of +his pictures of S. Philip and S. James, in the Duomo of Osimo, in 1585, +discovers a poverty in the composition, and little felicity of +execution; but he appears to greater advantage, at a more advanced +period of life, in the works he left at Ascoli. There is one, of the +Rosario, at S. Domenico, where Orsini found much to commend in the +arrangement of the figures, in the design, and in the colouring. There +is another, of the same subject, at S. Rocco, which is preferred to the +former, except for the shortness of the figures, and which we have +described in writing of Andrea del Sarto, and afterwards of Taddeo +Zuccaro. For the same reason he reproaches Carlo Allegretti, who, in the +same city, committed a similar fault. He painted in various styles, as +may be seen from an Epiphany, in Bassano's manner, which he placed in +the cathedral, a picture which will apologize for the others. +Baldassini, in his Storia di Jesi, speaking of Colucci, records there +the priest Antonio Massi, who studied and gave to the world some +pictures in Bologna; and Antonio Sarti, whom I esteem superior to Massi; +praising highly his picture of the Circumcision, in the collegiate +church of Massaccio. This city gave birth to Paolo Pittori, who +ornamented his native place and its vicinity. These may serve as an +example of the provincial painters of this age. I purposely omit many +names, several of whom are fresco painters, who were indifferent +artists; and others who were below mediocrity. It is indeed true, that +many have escaped, from being unknown to me, and there still remain, in +the Roman state, many works highly beautiful, deserving of research and +notice. + +From the time of the preceding epoch, the art became divided into +various departments; and at this period, they began to multiply, in +consequence of many men of talent choosing to cultivate different +manners. After Jacopo del Conte and Scipione da Gaeta, the portraits of +Antonio de' Monti, a Roman, are celebrated, who was considered the first +among the portrait painters under Gregory; as also those of Prospero and +Livia Fontana, and of Antonio Scalvati; all three of the School of +Bologna; to whom may be added Pietro Fachetti, of Mantua. + +With regard to perspective, it was successfully cultivated by Jacopo +Barocci, commonly called Il Vignola, an illustrious name in +architecture; owing to which his celebrity in the other branches has +been overlooked. But it ought to be observed that his first studies were +directed to painting, in the school of Passarotti, in Bologna; until he +was led by the impulse of his genius, to apply himself to perspective, +and by the aid of that science, as he was accustomed to say, to +architecture, in which he executed some wonderful works, and amongst +others the palace of Caprarola. There, and I know not whether in other +places, are to be seen some pictures by him. As a writer, we shall refer +to him in the second index, where, omitting his other works, we shall +cite the two books which he wrote in this department of art. Great +progress was made in Rome, in the art of perspective, after Laureti, by +the genius of Gio. Alberti di Citta S. Sepolcro, whose eulogy I shall +not here stop to repeat, having already spoken of it in the first +volume. Baglione names two friends, Tarquinio di Viterbo and Giovanni +Zanna, of Rome; the first of whom painted landscapes, and the second +adorned them with figures. He mentions the two brothers, Conti, of +Ancona; Cesare, who excelled in arabesques, and Vincenzio in figures: +these artists painted for private persons. Marco da Faenza was much +employed under Gregory XIII., in arabesques, and the more elegant +decorations of the Vatican, and had also the direction of other artists. +Of him we shall make more particular mention amongst the artists of +Romagna. + +The landscapes in the Apostolic palace, and in various places of Rome, +were many of them painted by Matteo da Siena, and by Gio. Fiammingo, +with whom Taja makes us acquainted, in the ducal hall, and particularly +the two brothers Brilli, of Flanders, who painted both in fresco and +oil. Matteo always retained his _ultramontane_ manner, rather dry, and +not very true in colour. Paolo, who survived him, improved his style, +from the study of Titian and the Caracci, and was an excellent artist in +every department of landscape, and in the power of adapting it to +historical subjects. Italy abounds with his pictures. Two other +landscape painters also lived in Rome at this time, Fabrizio of Parma, +who may be ranked with Matteo, and Cesare, a Piedmontese, more attached +to the style of Paolo. Nor ought we to omit Filippo d'Angeli, who, from +his long residence in Naples, is called a Neapolitan, though he was born +in Rome, where, and as we have observed in Florence, he was highly +esteemed. His works are generally of a small size; his prospects are +painted with great care, and ornamented with figures admirably +introduced. There are also some battle pieces by him. + +But in battles and in hunting pieces, none in these times equalled +Antonio Tempesti. He was followed, though at a considerable interval, by +Francesco Allegrini, a name not new to those who have read the preceding +pages. To these we may add Marzio di Colantonio, a Roman, though he has +left fewer works in Rome than in Turin, where he was employed by the +Cardinal, prince of Savoy. He was also accomplished in arabesque and +landscapes, and painted small frescos in an agreeable manner. + +It is at this epoch that Vasari describes the manufacture of earthen +vases, painted with a variety of colours, with such exquisite art, that +they seemed to rival the oil pictures of the first masters. He pretends +that this art was unknown to the ancients, and it is at any rate certain +that it was not carried to such perfection by them. Signor Gio. Batista +Passeri, who composed _l'Istoria delle pitture in Majolica fatte in +Pesaro e ne' luoghi circonvicini_, derives the art from Luca della +Robbia, a Florentine, who discovered a mode of giving to the clay a +glazing to resist the injuries of time. In this manner were formed the +bassirelievi and altars which still exist, and the pavements which are +described at page 81. Others derive this art from Cina, whence it passed +to the island of Majolica, and from thence into Italy; and this +invention was particularly cultivated in the state of Urbino. The coarse +manufacture had been for a long time in use. The fine earthenware +commenced there about 1500, and was manufactured by an excellent artist, +of whom there exists in the convent of Domenicans, of Gubbio, a statue +of an abbot, S. Antonio, well modelled and painted, and many services in +various noble houses with his name _M. Giorgio da Ugubio_. The year is +also inscribed, from which it appears that his manufacture of these +articles began in 1519, and ended in 1537. At this time Urbino also +cultivated the plastic art, and the individual of his day, who most +excelled, was Federigo Brandani. Whoever thinks that I exaggerate, may +view the Nativity, which he left at S. Joseph, and say, whether, except +Begarelli of Modena, there is any one that can be compared with him for +liveliness and grace in his figures, for variety and propriety of +attitude, and for natural expression of the accessory parts; the +animals, which seem alive; the satchels and a key suspended; the humble +furniture, and other things admirably appropriate, and all wonderfully +represented: the figure of the divine Infant is not so highly finished, +and is perhaps the object which least surprises us. Nor in the meanwhile +did the people of Urbino neglect to advance the art of painted vases, in +which fabric a M. Rovigo of Urbino is much celebrated. The subjects +which were first painted in porcelain, were poor in design, but were +highly valued for the colouring, particularly for a most beautiful red, +which was subsequently disused, either because the secret was lost, or +because it did not amalgamate with the other colours. + +But the art did not attain the perfection which Vasari describes, until +about the year 1540, and was indebted for it to Orazio Fontana, of +Urbino, whose vases, for the polish of the varnish, for the figures, and +for their forms, may perhaps be ranked before any that have come down to +us from antiquity. He practised this art in many parts of the state, but +more especially in Castel Durante, now called Urbania, which possesses a +light clay, extremely well adapted for every thing of this nature. His +brother, Flamminio, worked in conjunction with him, and was afterwards +invited to Florence by the grand duke of Tuscany, and introduced there a +beautiful manner of painting vases. This information is given us by the +Sig. Lazzari, and for which the Florentine history of art ought to +express its obligations to him. The establishment of this fine taste in +Urbino, was, in a great measure, owing to the Duke Guidobaldo, who was a +prince enthusiastically devoted to the fine arts, and who established a +manufactory, and supported it at his own expense. He did not allow the +painters of these vases to copy their own designs, but obliged them to +execute those of the first artists, and particularly those of Raffaello; +and gave them for subjects many designs of Sanzio never before seen, and +which formed part of his rich collection. Hence these articles are +commonly known in Italy by the name of Raphael ware, and from thence +arose certain idle traditions respecting the father of Raffaello, and +Raffaello himself; and the appellation of _boccalajo di Urbino_ (the +potter of Urbino), was in consequence applied, as we shall mention, to +that great master.[70] Some designs of Michelangiolo, and many of +Raffaele del Colle, and other distinguished masters, were adopted for +this purpose. In the life of Batista Franco, we are informed that that +artist made an infinite number of designs for this purpose, and in that +of Taddeo Zuccaro it is related that all the designs of the service, +which was manufactured for Philip II., were entrusted to him. Services +of porcelain were also prepared there for Charles V. and other princes, +and the duke ordered not a few for his own court. Several of his vases +were transferred to, and are now in the S. Casa di Loreto; and the Queen +of Sweden was so much charmed with them, that she offered to replace +them with vases of silver. A large collection of them passed into the +hands of the Grand Duke of Florence, in common with other things +inherited from the Duke of Urbino, and specimens of them are to be seen +in the ducal gallery, some with the names of the places where they were +manufactured. There are many, too, to be found in the houses of the +nobility of Rome, and in the state of Urbino, and, indeed, in all parts +of Italy. The art was in its highest perfection for about the space of +twenty years, or from 1540 to 1560; and the specimens of that period are +not unworthy a place in any collection of art. If we are to believe +Lazzari, the secret of the art died with the Fontani, and the practice +daily declined until it ended in a common manufactory and object of +merchandize. Whoever wishes for further information on this subject, may +consult the above cited Passeri, who inserted his treatise in the fourth +volume of the Calogeriani, not forgetting the Dizionario Urbinate, and +the Cronaca Durantina. + +The art of painting on leather deserves little attention; nevertheless, +as Baglione mentions it with commendation in his life of Vespasian +Strada, a fresco painter of some merit in Rome, I did not think it right +to pass it over without this slight notice. + +[Footnote 56: Dolce, Dial. della Pittura, p. 11.] + +[Footnote 57: We shall notice him again in the school of Bologna, where +he passed his best years, and also in the Roman School, in which he was +a master. Sebastiano had also another scholar, or imitator, as we find a +Communion of S. Lucia, painted in his style, in the collegiate church of +Spello. The artist inscribes his name, _Camillus Bagazotus Camers +faciebat_.--_Orsini Risposta_, p. 16.] + +[Footnote 58: He painted the S. Catherine in S. Agostino, the Presepio +in S. Silvestro at Monte Cavallo, and left works in many other +churches.] + +[Footnote 59: He painted some facades in Rome. In the oratory of S. +Giovanni Decollato, there remains the Dance before Herod, not very +correctly designed, and feeble in colouring; but the perspective, and +the richness of the drapery in the Venetian style, may confer some value +on the picture.] + +[Footnote 60: Bellori, Vite de' Pittori, p. 20.] + +[Footnote 61: Idea de' Pittori, Scultori, e Architetti, reprinted in the +Lett. Pitt. tom. vi. p. 147.] + +[Footnote 62: The charming poet Lasca noticed this work as soon as the +Cupola was opened to public view, in a madrigal inserted in the edition +of his poems in the year 1741. He blamed Giorgio d'Arezzo (Vasari) more +than Federigo, that for sordid motives he had designed and undertaken a +work, which in the judgment of the Florentines, injured the Cupola of +Brunellesco, which was the admiration of every one, and which Benvenuto +Cellini was accustomed to call, _la Maraviglia delle cose belle_. He +concludes by saying, that the Florentine people + + "Non sara mai di lamentarsi stanco + Se forse un di non le si da di bianco."] + +[Footnote 63: This is not the large picture of the Calumny of Apelles +painted in distemper for the Orsini family, and engraved, and which is +now to be seen in the Palazzo Lante, and is one of the most finished +productions of Federigo.] + +[Footnote 64: The same inflated style has of late become prevalent in +some parts of Italy, with no little injury to our language and to good +taste. In the _Arte di vedere_ we find for example _le pieghe +longitudinali, la trombeggiata resurrezzione del Bello_, &c. Some one +has also attempted to illustrate the qualities of the art of painting by +those of music, which has given occasion to a clever Maestro di Capella +to write a humorous letter, an extract of which is given in the _Difesa +del Ratti_, pag. 15, &c., and is the most entertaining and least ill +tempered thing to be met with in that work.] + +[Footnote 65: A scholar of Daniel di Volterra, from whom he inherited +these designs, with many others by the same great master. He painted but +little, and generally from the designs of others, and which he did not +execute in a happy manner; and Baglione says, his pictures were +deficient in taste.] + +[Footnote 66: There remained, in the time of Pascoli, some _pitture +saporite_, as he terms them, by this artist, at Spoleto, where Piero +established himself, and in the neighbouring towns; and which often pass +for the works of Pietro Perugino, from a similarity of names. It appears +however that Cesarei was desirous of preventing this error, as he +inscribed his name Perinus Perusinus, or Perinus Cesareus Perusinus, as +in the picture of the Rosary at Scheggino, painted in 1595. Vasari, in +the life of Agnol Gaddi, names among his scholars Stefano da Verona, and +says, that "all his works were imitated and drawn by that Pietro di +Perugia, the painter in miniature, who ornamented the books at the +cathedral of Siena, in the Library of Pope Pius, and who worked well in +fresco." These words have puzzled more than one person. Pascoli (P. P. +p. 134.) and Mariotti (L. P. p. 59.) consider them as written of Piero +Cesarei; as if a man born in the golden age should so far extol an old +_trecentista_; or as if the canons of Siena could approve such a style +after possessing Razzi and Vanni. Padre della Valle interprets it to +mean Pietro Vannucci, and not finding the books of the Choir adorned in +such a style as he wished, reproves Vasari for having confounded so +great a master with a common fresco painter and a _Miniatore_. It is +most likely that this _Miniatore_ and _Frescante_ of Vasari was a third +Pietro, hitherto unknown in Perugia, and whom we shall notice in the +Venetian School.] + +[Footnote 67: See Il Sig. Cav. Reposati _Appendice del tomo ii. della +Zecca di Gubbio_; and the Sig. Conte Ranghiasci in the _Elenco de' +Professori Eugubini_, inserted in vol. iv. of Vasari (ediz. Senese), at +the end of the volume.] + +[Footnote 68: I am indebted for it, to the noble Sig. Cav. Ercolani, who +obligingly transmitted it to me, after procuring it from the Sig. Cav. +Piani and the Sig. Paolo Antonio Ciccolini, of Macerata.] + +[Footnote 69: In a former edition, on the authority of a MS. I called +him Serj, and was doubtful whether Siciolante was not his surname. Sig. +Brandolese has informed me of an epitaph, in the hands of Mons. +Galletti, in which he is called Siciolante, whence Serio was most +probably his surname.] + +[Footnote 70: Another probable cause of this appellation, is to be found +in the name of Raffaello Ciarla, who was one of the most celebrated +painters of this ware, and was appointed by the duke to convey a large +assortment of it to the court of Spain. Hence the vulgar, when they +heard the name of Raffaello, might attribute them to Sanzio.] + + + + + ROMAN SCHOOL. + + FOURTH EPOCH. + + _Restoration of the Roman School by Barocci, and other + Artists, Subjects of the Roman State, and Foreigners._ + + +The numerous works carried on by the Pontiffs Gregory and Sixtus, and +continued under Clement VIII., while they in a manner corrupted the pure +taste of the Roman School, contributed, nevertheless, at the same time, +to regenerate it. Rome, from the desire of possessing the best specimens +of art, became by degrees the resort of the best painters, as it had +formerly been in the time of Leo X. Every place sent thither its first +artists, as the cities of Greece formerly sent forth the most valiant of +their citizens to contend for the palm and the crown at Olympia. +Barocci, of Urbino, was the first restorer of the Roman School. He had +formed himself on the style of Correggio, a style the best calculated to +reform an age which had neglected the true principles of art, and +particularly colouring and chiaroscuro. Happy indeed had it been, had he +remained in Rome, and retained the direction of the works which were +entrusted to Nebbia, Ricci, and Circignani! He was there, indeed, for +some time, and assisted the Zuccari in the apartments of Pius IV., but +was compelled to fly in consequence of some pretended friends having, in +an execrable manner, administered poison to him through jealousy of his +talents, and so materially injured his health, that he could only paint +at intervals, and for a short space of time. Forsaking Rome, therefore, +he resided for some time in Perugia, and a longer period in Urbino, from +whence he despatched his pictures from time to time to Rome and other +places. By means of these, the Tuscan School derived great benefit +through Cigoli, Passignano, and Vanni, as we have before observed; and +it is not improbable, that Roncalli and Baglione may have profited by +them, if we may judge from some works of both the one and the other of +these artists to be seen in various places. + +However this might be, at the commencement of the seventeenth century, +these five were in the highest repute as artists who were not corrupted +by the prevailing taste. An idea had subsisted from the time of Clement +VIII., of decorating the church of the Vatican, with the History of S. +Peter, and of employing in that work the best artists. The execution of +this design occupied a considerable time, the pictures being reduced to +mosaic, as the painting on wood and slate did not resist the humidity of +the church. The five before mentioned artists were selected to paint +each a subject; and Bernardo Castelli, one of the first painters of the +Genoese School, was the sixth, and the least celebrated. These artists +were all liberally paid, and the five first raised to the rank of +_Cavalieri_, and their works had a beneficial influence on the rising +generation, and proved that the reign of the mannerists was on the +decline. Caravaggio gave it a severe shock by his powerful and natural +style, and Baglione attests, that this young artist, by the great +applause which he gained, excited the jealousy of Federigo Zuccaro, then +advanced in years, and entered into competition with Cesare, his former +master. But the most serious blow the mannerists received, was from the +Caracci and their school. Annibale arrived in Rome not much before the +year 1600, invited by the Cardinal Farnese to paint his gallery; a work +which occupied him for nearly eight years, and for which he received +only five hundred scudi, a sum so inadequate that we can scarcely +believe it to be correct. He also decorated several churches. Lodovico, +his cousin, was with him for a short time; Agostino, his brother, for a +longer period; and he had his scholars with him, amongst whom we may +enumerate Domenichino, Guido, Albano, and Lanfranc. They came thither at +different periods, matured in their talents, and able to assist their +master not only in execution but design. + +Rome had for some years seen only the two extreme styles of painting. +Caravaggio and his followers were mere _naturalists_; Arpino and his +scholars pure idealists. Annibale introduced a style founded in nature, +yet ennobled by the ideal, and supported his ideal by his knowledge of +nature. He was at first denounced as cold and insipid, because he was +not affected and extravagant, or rather because great merit was never +unaccompanied by envy. But though envy for a time, by her insidious +suggestions and subterfuges, may derive a mean pleasure in persecuting a +man of genius, she can never hope to succeed in blinding the public, who +ever decide impartially on the merits of individuals, and whose judgment +is not disregarded even by princes. The Farnese gallery was opened, and +Rome beheld in it a grandeur of style, which might claim a place after +the Sistine chapel, and the chambers of the Vatican. It was then +discovered, that the preceding Pontiffs had only lavished their wealth +for the corruption of art; and that the true secret which the great +ought to put in practice lay in a few words: a judicious selection of +masters, and a more liberal allowance of time. Hence, though somewhat +tardy indeed in consequence of the death of Annibale, came the order +from Paul V., to distribute the work among the Bolognese; for so the +Caracci and their scholars were at that time designated; one of whom, +Ottaviano Mascherini, was the Pope's architect.[71] A new spirit was +thus introduced into the Roman School, which, if it did not wholly +destroy the former extravagance of style, still in a great degree +repressed it. The pontificate of Gregory XV. (Lodovisi) was short, but +still, through national partiality, highly favourable to the Bolognese, +amongst whom we may reckon Guercino da Cento, although a follower of +Caravaggio rather than Annibale. He was the most employed in St. +Peter's, and in the villa Lodovisi. This reign was followed by the +pontificate of Urban VIII., favourable both to poets and painters, +though, perhaps, more so to the latter than the former; since it +embraced, besides the Caracci and their school, Poussin, Pietro da +Cortona, and the best landscape painters that the world had seen. The +leading masters then all found employment, either from the Pope himself, +or his nephew the Cardinal, or other branches of that family, and were +engaged in the decoration of St. Peter's, or their own palaces, or in +the new church of the Capucins, where the altarpieces were distributed +among Lanfranc, Guido, Sacchi, Berrettini, and other considerable +artists. The same liberal plan was followed by Alexander VII. a prince +of great taste, and by his successors. It was during the reign of +Alexander, that Christina, Queen of Sweden, established herself in Rome, +and her passion for the fine arts inspired and maintained not a few of +the painters whom we shall mention. It must indeed be premised, that we +are under the necessity of deferring our notice of the greatest names of +this epoch to another place, as they belong of right to the school of +Bologna, and some we have already recorded in the Florentine School. But +to proceed. + +Federigo Barocci might from the time of his birth be placed in the +preceding epoch, but his merit assigns him to this period, in which I +comprise the reformers of art. He learned the principles of his art from +Batista Franco, a Venetian by birth, but a Florentine in style. This +artist going young to Rome, to prosecute his studies there, was struck +with the grand style of Michelangiolo, and copied both there and in +Florence, all his works, as well his paintings and drawings as statues. +He became an excellent designer, but was not equally eminent as a +colourist, having turned his attention at a late period to that branch +of the art. In Rome he may be seen in some evangelical subjects painted +in fresco, in a chapel in the Minerva, and preferred by Vasari to any +other of his works. He also decorated the choir of the Metropolitan +church of Urbino in fresco, and there left a Madonna in oil, placed +between S. Peter and S. Paul, in the best Florentine style, except that +the figure of S. Paul is somewhat attenuated. There is a grand picture +in oil by him in the tribune of S. Venanzio, in Fabriano; containing the +Virgin, with the titular and two other protecting Saints. In the +sacristy of the cathedral of Osimo, I saw many small pictures +representing the life of Christ, painted by him in the year 1547, as we +learn from the archives of that church; a thing of rare occurrence, as +Franco was scarcely ever known to paint pictures of this class. Under +this artist, whilst he resided in Urbino, Barocci designed and studied +from the antique. He then went to Pesaro, where he employed himself in +copying after Titian, and was instructed in geometry and perspective by +Bartolommeo Genga, the architect, the son of Girolamo and the uncle of +Barocci. From thence he passed to Rome, and acquired a more correct +style of design, and adopted the manner of Raffaello, in which style he +painted the S. Cecilia for the Duomo of Urbino, and in a still more +improved and original manner, the S. Sebastian, a work which Mancini, in +point of solid taste, sets above all the works of Barocci. But the +amenity and gracefulness of his style led him almost instinctively to +the imitation of Correggio, in whose manner he painted in his native +city the delightful picture of S. Simon and S. Judas, in the church of +the Conventuals. + +Nevertheless this was not the style which he permanently adopted as his +own, but as a free imitation of that great master. In the heads of his +children and of his female figures, he approaches nearly to him; also in +the easy flow of his drapery, in the pure contour, in the mode of +foreshortening his figures; but in general his design is not so grand, +and his chiaroscuro less ideal; his tints are lucid and well arranged, +and bear a resemblance to the beautiful hues of Correggio, but they have +neither his strength nor truth. It is however delightful to see the +great variety of colours he has employed, so exquisitely blended by his +pencil, and there is perhaps no music more finely harmonized to the ear, +than his pictures are to the eye. This is in a great measure the effect +of the chiaroscuro, to which he paid great attention, and which he was +the first to introduce into the schools of Lower Italy. In order to +obtain an accurate chiaroscuro, he formed small statues of earthenware, +or wax, in which art he did not yield the palm to the most experienced +sculptors. In the composition and expression of every figure, he +consulted the truth. He made use of models too, in order to obtain the +most striking attitudes, and those most consonant to nature; and in +every garment, and every fold of it, he did not shew a line that was not +to be found in the model. Having made his design, he prepared a cartoon +the size of his intended picture, from which he traced the contours on +his canvass; he then on a small scale tried the disposition of his +colours, and proceeded to the execution of his work. Before colouring, +however, he formed his chiaroscuro very accurately after the best +ancient masters, (vol. i. p. 187,) of which method he left traces in a +Madonna and Saints, which I saw in Rome in the Albani palace, a picture +which I imagine the artist was prevented by death from finishing. +Another picture unfinished, and on that account very instructive and +highly prized, is in possession of the noble family of Graziani in +Perugia. To conclude, perfection was his aim in every picture, a maxim +which insures excellence to artists of genius. + +Bellori, who wrote the life of Barocci, has given us a catalogue of his +pictures. There are few found which are not of religious subjects; some +portraits, and the Burning of Troy, which he painted in two pictures, +one of which now adorns the Borghese gallery. Except on this occasion +his pencil may be said to have been dedicated to religion; so devout, so +tender, and so calculated to awaken feelings of piety, are the +sentiments expressed in his pictures. The Minerva, in Rome, possesses +his Institution of the Sacrament, a picture which Clement X. employed +him to paint; the Vallicella has his two pictures of the Visitation and +the Presentation. In the Duomo of Genoa is a Crucifixion by him, with +the Virgin and S. John, and S. Sebastian; in that of Perugia, the +Deposition from the Cross; in that of Fermo, S. John the Evangelist; in +that of Urbino, the Last Supper of our Lord. Another Deposition, and a +picture of the Rosario, and mysteries, is in Sinigaglia; and, in the +neighbouring city of Pesaro, the calling of St. Andrew, the +Circumcision, the Ecstacy of S. Michelina on Mount Cavalry, a single +figure, which fills the whole picture, and esteemed, it is said, by +Simon Cantarini, as his masterpiece. Urbino, besides the pictures +already noticed, and some others, possesses a S. Francis in prayer, at +the Capucins; and at the Conventuals, the great picture of the Perdono, +in which he consumed seven years. The perspective, the beautiful play of +light, the speaking countenances, the colour and harmony of the work, +cannot be imagined by any one who has not seen it. The artist himself +was delighted with it, wrote his name on it, and etched it. His +Annunciation, at Loreto, is a beautiful picture, and the same subject at +Gubbio, unfinished; the Martyrdom of S. Vitale, at the church of that +saint, in Ravenna, and the picture of the Misericordia, painted for the +Duomo of Arezzo, and afterwards transferred to the ducal gallery of +Florence. The same subject exists also in the hospital of Sinigaglia, +copied there by the scholars of Barocci, who have repeated the pictures +of their master in numerous churches of the state of Urbino, and of +Umbria, and in some in Piceno, and these are, occasionally, so well +painted, that one might imagine he had finished them himself. + +The same may be said of some of his cabinet pictures, which are to be +seen in collections; such is the Virgin adoring the Infant Christ, which +I remarked in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, in the Casa Bolognetti in +Rome, and in a noble house in Cortona, and which I find mentioned also +in the imperial gallery at Vienna. A head of the _Ecce Homo_ has also +been often repeated, and some Holy Families, which he varied in a +singular manner; I have seen a S. Joseph sleeping, and another S. +Joseph, in the Casa Zaccaria, in the act of raising a tapestry; and in +the Repose in Egypt, which was transferred from the sacristy of the +Jesuits at Perugia to the chamber of the Pope, he is represented +plucking some cherries for the Infant Christ, a picture, which seems +painted to rival Correggio. Bellori remarks, that he was so fond of it +that he frequently repeated it. + +The school of Barocci extended itself through this duchy and the +neighbouring places; although his best imitator was Vanni of Siena, who +had never studied in Urbino. The disciples of Federigo were very +numerous, but remaining in general in their own country they did not +disseminate the principles, and few of them inherited the true spirit of +their master's style: the most confining themselves to the exterior of +the art of colouring; and even this was deteriorated by the use of large +quantities of cinnabar and azure, colours which their master had +employed with greater moderation; and they were not unfrequently +condemned for this practice, as Bellori and Algarotti remark. The flesh +tints under their pencil often became livid, and the contours too much +charged. I cannot give an accurate catalogue of these scholars, but +independent of the writers on the works in Urbino, and other guides and +traditions in various parts, I am certain, that if they were not +instructed by Barocci himself, they must at all events, from their +country, and from the period at which they flourished, have formed +themselves on his pictures. There is little to be observed respecting +Francesco Baldelli, the nephew and scholar of Federigo. I do not find +any memorial of him, except a picture which he placed in the Capella +Danzetta, of S. Agostino, in Perugia, and which is mentioned by +Crispolti, in his history of that city, at page 133. + +Of Bertuzzi and Porino I have not seen any works, except copies in the +style of Barocci, or feeble productions of their own. An excellent +copyist was found in Alessandro Vitali of Urbino, in which city, at the +Suore della Torre, is found the Annunciation of Loreto, copied by him in +such a manner that it might be taken for the original picture. Barocci +was pleased with his talent, and willingly retouched some of his +pictures, and probably favoured him in this way in the S. Agnes and S. +Agostino, placed by Vitali, the one in the Duomo, the other in the +church of the Eremitani, where he may be said to surpass himself. +Antonio Viviani, called il Sordo of Urbino, also made some very accurate +copies of his master, which are still preserved by his noble posterity. +He too was a great favourite of Federigo, and was in his native city +called his nephew; although Baglione, who wrote his life, is silent on +this head. He left some pictures in Urbino, in the best style of +Barocci; particularly the S. Donato, in a suburban church of the saint +of that name. This however cannot be called his own style, for he +visited Rome at various times, where, having received instructions from +Mascherini, and employed himself for a time in the imitation of Cesari, +and of the rapid manner of the practicians recorded by us, he exhibited +in that metropolis various styles, and some of the most feeble which he +adopted. Assuredly his fresco pictures, which remain in various places +in Rome, do not support the opinion which is inspired by a view of the +vast work which he conducted in the church de' Filippini at Fano. There, +in the vault, and in the chapel, are executed various histories of the +chief of the apostles to whom the church is dedicated. His style in +these exhibits a beautiful imitation of Barocci and Raffaello, in which +the manner of the latter predominates. Lazzari maintains that this +Antonio Viviani repaired to Genoa, and that Soprani changed his name to +Antonio Antoniani; thus giving to Barocci a scholar who never existed. +Of this supposition we shall speak with more propriety in the Genoese +School. Another Viviani is mentioned by tradition in Urbino, Lodovico, a +brother or cousin of the preceding. This painter sometimes imitates +Barocci, as in the S. Girolamo in the Duomo, and sometimes approaches +the Venetian style, as in the Epiphany at the Monastery della Torre. + +Another painter almost unknown in the history of art, but of singular +merit, is Filippo Bellini of Urbino, of whom I have not seen any works +in his native place, but a number in oil and fresco scattered through +many cities of the March. He is in general an imitator of Barocci, as in +the picture of the Circumcision in the church of Loreto, in the +Espousals of the Virgin in the Duomo in Ancona, and in a Madonna +belonging to the Counts Leopardi at Osimo. He affords, however, +sometimes an example of a vigorous and lively style, and exhibits a +powerful colouring, and a grandeur of composition. He discovered this +character in some works in Fabriano in his best time, and particularly +in the Opere della Misericordia, which are fourteen subjects taken from +Scripture, and represented in the church della Carita.[72] They are +beheld by cultivated foreigners with admiration, and it appears strange +that such a painter, whose life and works are alike worthy of +remembrance, should not have found a place in the catalogues. He is also +extolled for his works in fresco, in the chapel of the Conventuals in +Montalboddo, where he has represented the Martyrdom of S. Gaudenzio, and +which is described in the guide book of that city. + +We may next notice Antonio Cimatori, called also Antonio Visacci, not +only by the vulgar, but also by Girolamo Benedetti, in the Relazione, +which in the lifetime of the artist he composed on the festival at +Urbino, in honour of Giulia de' Medici, married to the Prince Federigo. +Cimatori was there engaged to paint the arches and pictures, which were +exhibited, in conjunction with the younger Viviani, Mazzi, and Urbani. +His forte lay in pen drawing, and in chiaroscuro; as may be seen from +his Prophets, in a grand style, transferred from the Duomo to the +apostolic palace. He did not leave many works in his native place; but +amongst them is his picture of S. Monica, at S. Agostino. His copies +from the original pictures of Barocci are to be found in various places, +particularly in the Duomo of Cagli. He resided, and worked for a long +time in Pesaro, where he instructed Giulio Cesare Begni, a bold and +animated artist, a good perspective painter, and in a great degree a +follower of the Venetian School, in which he studied and painted. He +left many works in Udine, and many more in his native place, in a rapid +and unfinished style, but of a good general effect. In the _Descrizione +odeporica della Spagna_, (tom. ii. p. 130), we find Giovanni and +Francesco d'Urbino mentioned, who about the year 1575, it seems, were +both engaged by the court to decorate the Escurial. The latter came +early in life to Spain, and being endowed with a noble genius, soon +became an excellent artist, and is extolled by his contemporary P. +Siguenza, and by all who have seen the Judgment of Solomon, and his +other pictures in a choir in that magnificent place: he died young. That +these works belong to the pencil of Barocci might be suspected from +their era, and the practice of that splendid court, which was in the +habit of engaging in its service the first masters of Italy or their +scholars. But not possessing positive information, nor finding any +indication of their style, I dare not assign these two to Barocci. I +feel a pleasure however in restoring them to the glorious country from +which they had been separated. + +Passing from the fellow countrymen of Barocci to foreigners, some +persons have imagined Andrea Lilio, of Ancona, to have been his +disciple. I rather consider him to have been an imitator of him, but +more in respect to colour than any thing else. He had a share in the +works which were carried on under Sixtus, and painted for the churches, +chiefly in fresco, and sometimes in partnership with Viviani of Urbino. +He went to Rome when young, and lived there until the reign of Paul V., +but suffered both in body and mind from domestic misfortunes, which +interrupted not a little his progress in art. Ancona possesses several +of his pictures in fresco, varying in their merit, as well as some of +his oil pictures at the Paolotti in S. Agostino, and in the sacristy +some pieces, from the Life of S. Nicholas, highly prized. The most +celebrated is his Martyrdom of S. Lorenzo, by many ascribed to Barocci, +for which I refer to the _Guida_ of Montalboddo, and the church of S. +Catherine, where it is placed. His greatest work is the altarpiece in +the Duomo at Fano, representing all the saints, containing a vast number +of figures well grouped and well contrasted, and if not very correctly +designed, still possessing Barocci's tone of colour. + +Giorgio Picchi of Durante I included in a former edition among the +scholars of Barocci, in conformity to the general opinion prevalent in +Pesaro and Rimini; but I have not found this confirmed in the chronicle +of Castel Durante, published by Colucci, which contains a particular +account of this artist, written soon after his death. I am therefore +inclined to think him only a follower, like Lilio, with whom he was +associated in Rome in the time of Sixtus V., if the chronicle is to be +relied on. It relates that he worked in the library of the Vatican, at +the Scala Santa, and at the Palazzo di S. Giovanni; and it appears +unaccountable that all this was unknown to Baglione, who narrates the +same circumstances of Lilio and others, and makes no mention of Picchi. +However this may be, he was certainly a considerable artist, and was +attached to the style of Barocci, which was in vogue at that period, as +we may perceive from his great picture of the Cintura, in the church of +S. Agostino, in Rimini, and still more from the history of S. Marino, +which he painted in the church of that saint in the same city. Others of +his works are to be found both in oil and fresco in Urbino, in his +native place, at Cremona, and elsewhere; and although on a vast scale, +embracing whole oratories and churches, they could not have cost him any +great labour, from the rapid manner which he had acquired in Rome. + +In S. Ginesio, a place in the March, Domenico Malpiedi is considered as +belonging to Federigo's school, and of him there are preserved in the +collegiate church, the Martyrdoms of S. Ginesio and S. Eleuterio, which +are highly commended. From Colucci we learn that there also remain other +works by him; and from the prices paid, we may conclude that he was +esteemed an excellent artist. He was living in 1596, and about the same +time there flourished also another Malpiedi, who painted a Deposition +from the Cross in S. Francesco di Osimo, and inscribed on it _Franciscus +Malpedius di S. Ginesio_, a picture feeble in composition, deficient in +expression, and little resembling the school of Barocci, except in a +distant approximation of colour. + +The _Guida_ of Pesaro assigns to the same school Terenzio Terenzj, +called il Rondolino, whom it characterises as an eminent painter, and of +whom there exist four specimens in public, and many more in the +neighbourhood of the city (page 80). It is also mentioned that he was +employed by the Cardinal della Rovere in Rome, and that he placed a +picture in the church of S. Silvestro. The picture of S. Silvestro _in +capite_, which represents the Madonna, attended by Saints, is ascribed +by Titi to a Terenzio of Urbino, who, according to Baglione, served the +Cardinal Montalto. It is most probable, that in the records of Pesaro +there arose some equivoque on the name of the cardinal, and that these +two painters might, or rather ought to be merged in one. Terenzio +Rondolino, it appears to me, is the same as Terenzio d'Urbino, and very +probably in Rome took his name from Urbino, the capital of Pesaro. But +by whatever name this painter may be distinguished, we learn from +Baglione that Terenzio d'Urbino was a noted cheat; and that, after +having sold to inexperienced persons many of his own pictures for those +of ancient masters, he attempted to pass the same deceit upon the +Cardinal Peretti, the nephew of Sixtus V. and his own patron, offering +to his notice one of his own pieces as a Raphael: but the fraud was +detected, and Terenzio in consequence banished from the court; a +circumstance which he took to heart, and died whilst yet young. + +Two brothers, Felice and Vincenzio Pellegrini, born and resident in +Perugia, are recorded by Orlandi and Pascoli, as scholars of Barocci. +The first became an excellent designer, and in the pontificate of +Clement VIII. was called to Rome, probably to assist Cesari, though it +is not known that he left any work in his own name. Some copies after +Barocci by him exist in Perugia, and it is well known that his master +was highly satisfied with his labours in that line. The other brother is +mentioned by Bottari in the notes to his life of Raffaello; and I +recollect having seen in Perugia a picture in the sacristy of S. Philip, +in rather a hard manner, in which it is difficult to recognize the style +of his supposed master. It is possible that these two artists might have +had their first instructions from Barocci, and that they afterwards +returned to another manner. A similar instance occurs in Ventura Marzi. +In the Biographical Dictionary of the Painters of Urbino he is given to +the school of Barocci. His manner however is different, and I should say +bad, if all his pictures were similar to that of S. Uomobuono, which I +saw in the sacristy of the metropolitan church; but he did indeed paint +some better, and it is an ancient maxim, that to improve we must +sometimes err. Benedetto Bandiera, of Perugia, who approaches nearer to +the style of Barocci than most others, is said to have been a relative +of Vanni, from whom he derived that manner, if we may believe Orlandi. +But Pascoli, both on this point, and on the period in which he +flourished, confutes him, and considers him to have been instructed by +Barocci in Urbino for many years, and that afterwards he became a +diligent observer of all his pictures which he could discover in other +places. + +Whilst Italy was filled with the fame of Barocci, there came to Urbino, +and resided in his house for some time, Claudio Ridolfi, called also +Claudio Veronese, from his native city, of which he was a noble. He was +there instructed by Dario Pozzo, an author of few but excellent works, +and after these first instructions he remained many years without +further applying himself. Being afterwards compelled by necessity to +practise the art, he became the scholar of Paolo, and the rival of the +Bassani; and not finding employment in his native place, which then +abounded with painters, he removed to Rome, and from thence to Urbino. +It is said that he derived from Federigo the amenity of his style, and +the beautiful airs of his heads. He married in Urbino, and afterwards +fixed his residence in the district of Corinaldo, where, and in the +neighbouring places, he left a great number of pictures, which yield +little in tone to the best colourists of his native school, and are +often conducted with a design, a sobriety, and a delicacy sufficient to +excite their envy. Ridolfi, who wrote a brief life of him, enumerates +scarcely one half of his works. There are some at Fossombrone, Cantiano, +and Fabriano; and Rimino possesses a Deposition from the Cross, a +beautiful composition. There are several mentioned in the _Guida di +Montalboddo_, lately edited. Urbino is rich in them, where the Nascita +del S. Precursore, (the Birth of S. John the Baptist), at S. Lucia, and +the Presentation of the Virgin at the Spirito Santo, are highly valued. +Many of his works are also to be seen in the Palazzo Albani, and in +other collections of the nobility in Urbino. He there indeed formed a +school, which gave birth to Cialdieri, of whom there are works +remaining, both public and private; the most noted of which is a +Martyrdom of S. John, at the church of S. Bartholomew. He possessed a +facility and elegance of style, was highly accomplished in landscape, +which he often introduced into his pictures, and is remarkable for his +accurate perspective. Urbinelli, of Urbino, and Cesare Maggieri[73] of +the same city, lived also about this time. The first was a vigorous +painter, an excellent colourist, and partial to the Venetian style. The +second an industrious artist, inclining to the style of Barocci and +Roman School. The history of art does not assign either of these to the +school of Ridolfi; but there is a greater probability of the first +rather than the second belonging to it. Another painter of uncertain +school, but who partakes more of Claudio than of Barocci, is Patanazzi, +who is mentioned in the Galleria de' Pittori Urbinati, (v. Coluc. tom. +xvi.), and poetic incense is bestowed on his _risentito pennello e +l'ottima invenzione_. I have seen by him in a chapel of the Duomo a +Marriage of the Virgin, the figures not large, but well coloured and +correctly drawn, if indeed some of them may not be thought rather +attenuated than slender and elegant. A celebrated scholar of Ridolfi, +Benedetto Marini, of Urbino, went to Piacenza, where he left some highly +valued pictures in several churches, in which the style of Barocci is +mixed with the Lombard and Venetian. The work which excites our greatest +admiration is the Miracle of the Loaves in the Desert, which he painted +in the refectory of the Conventuals in 1625. It is one of the largest +compositions in oil which is to be seen, well grouped and well +contrasted, and displaying uncommon powers.[74] I should not hesitate to +prefer the scholar to the master in grandeur of idea and vigour of +execution, though in the fundamental principles of the art he may not be +equal to him. The history of his life, as well as his works, scattered +in that neighbourhood, in Pavia, and elsewhere, were deserving of +commemoration; yet this artist as well as Bellini remains unnoticed by +the catalogues, and what is more, he is little known in his native +place, which has no other specimen of his pencil than a picture of S. +Carlo at the Trinita, with some angels, which does not excite the same +admiration as his works in Lombardy.[75] Some other scholars of Claudio +are found in Verona, to which city he returned, and remained for a short +time; and in the Bolognese School mention will be made of Cantarini, +among the masters of which he is numbered. In the meantime let us turn +from these provincial schools, which were the first that felt the +reviving influence of the age, to the capital, where we shall find +Caravaggio, the Caracci, and other reformers of the art. + +Michelangiolo Amerighi, or Morigi da Caravaggio, is memorable in this +epoch, for having recalled the art from mannerism to truth, as well in +his forms, which he always drew from nature, as in his colours, +banishing the cinnabar and azures, and composing his colours of few but +true tints, after the manner of Giorgione. Annibale Caracci extolling +him, declares that he did not paint, but grind flesh, and both Guercino +and Guido highly admired him, and profited from his example. He was +instructed in the art in Milan, from whence he went to Venice to study +Giorgione; and he adopted at the commencement of his career that subdued +style of shadow, which he had learnt from that great artist, and in +which some of the most highly prized works of Caravaggio are executed. +He was however afterwards led away by his sombre genius, and represented +objects with very little light, overcharging his pictures with shade. +His figures inhabit dungeons, illuminated from above by only a single +and melancholy ray. His backgrounds are always dark, and the actors are +all placed in the same line, so that there is little perspective in his +pictures; yet they enchant us, from the powerful effect which results +from the strong contrast of light and shade. We must not look in him for +correct design, or elegant proportion, as he ridiculed all artists who +attempted a noble expression of countenance, or graceful foldings of +drapery, or who imitated the forms of the antique, as exhibited in +sculpture, his sense of the beautiful being all derived from visible +nature. There is to be seen by him in the Spada palace a S. Anne, with +the Virgin at her side, occupied in female work. Their features are +remarkable only for their vulgarity, and they are both attired in the +common dress of Rome, and are doubtless portraits, taken from the first +elderly and young women that offered themselves to his observation. This +was his usual manner; and he appeared most highly pleased when he could +load his pictures with rusty armour, broken vessels, shreds of old +garments, and attenuated and wasted bodies. On this account some of his +works were removed from the altars, and one in particular at the Scala, +which represented the Death of the Virgin, in which was figured a +corpse, hideously swelled. + +Few of his pictures are to be seen in Rome, and amongst them is the +Madonna of Loreto, in the church of S. Agostino; but the best is the +Deposition from the Cross, in the church of the Vallicella, which forms +a singular contrast to the gracefulness of Barocci, and the seductive +style of Guido, exhibited on the adjoining altars. He generally painted +for collections. On his arrival in Rome he painted flowers and fruit; +afterwards long pictures of half figures, a custom much practised after +his time. In these he represented subjects sacred and profane, and +particularly the manners of the lower classes, drinking parties, +conjurors, and feasts. His most admired works are his Supper at Emmaus, +in the Casa Borghese; S. Bastiano in Campidoglio; Agar, with Ishmael +Dying, in the Panfili collection; and the picture of a Fruit Girl, which +exhibits great resemblance of nature, both in the figures and +accompaniments. He was still more successful in representing quarrels +and nightly broils, to which he was himself no stranger, and by which +too he rendered his own life scandalous. He fled from Rome for homicide, +and resided for some time in Naples; from thence he passed to Malta, +where, after having been honoured with the Cross by the Grand Master, +for his talent displayed in his picture of the Decollation of S. John, +in the oratory of the church of the Conventuals, he quarrelled with a +cavalier and was thrown into prison. Escaping from thence with +difficulty, he resided for some time in Sicily, and wished to return to +Rome; but had not proceeded further on his journey than Porto Ercole, +when he died of a malignant fever, in the year 1609. He left numerous +works in these different countries, as we learn from Gio. Pietro +Bellori, who wrote his life at considerable length. Of his chief +scholars we shall treat in the following book. At present we will +enumerate his followers in Rome and its territories. + +His school, or rather the crowd of his imitators, who were greatly +increased on his death, does not afford an instance of a single bad +colourist; it has nevertheless been accused of neglect, both in design +and grace. Bartolommeo Manfredi, of Mantua, formerly a scholar of +Roncalli, might be called a second Caravaggio, except that he was rather +more refined in his composition. His works are seldom found in +collections, although he painted for them, as he died young, and is +often supplanted by his master, as I believe was the case with some +pictures painted for the Casa Medicea, mentioned by Baglione. + +Carlo Saracino, or Saraceni, also called Veneziano, wishing to be +thought a second Caravaggio, affected the same singular mode of dress as +that master, and provided himself with a huge shagged dog, to which he +gave the same name that Caravaggio had attached to his own. He left many +works in Rome, both in fresco and oils. He too was a _naturalista_, but +possessed a more clear style of colour. He displayed a Venetian taste in +his figures, dressing them richly in the Levant fashion, and was fond of +introducing into his compositions corpulent persons, eunuchs, and shaven +heads. His principal frescos are in a hall of the Quirinal; his best oil +pictures are thought to be those of S. Bonone, and a martyred bishop in +the church dell'Anima. He is seldom found in collections; but, from the +above peculiarities, I have more than once recognized his works. He +returned to Venice, and soon afterwards died there; hence he was omitted +by Ridolfi, and scarcely noticed by Zanetti. + +Monsieur Valentino, as he is called in Italy, who was born at Brie, near +Paris, and studied in Rome, became one of the most judicious followers +of Caravaggio. He painted in the Quirinal the Martyrdom of the Saints +Processo and Martiniano. He was a young artist of great promise, but was +cut off by a premature death. His easel pictures are not very rare in +Rome. The Denial of S. Peter, in the Palazzo Corsini, is a delightful +picture. + +Simone Vovet, the restorer of the French School, and the master of Le +Brun, formed his style from the pictures of Caravaggio and Valentino. In +Rome there are some charming productions by him both in public and +private, particularly in the Barberini gallery. I have heard them +preferred to many others that he painted in France in his noted rapid +style. + +Angiolo Caroselli was a Roman, in whose works, consisting chiefly of +portraits and small figures, if we except the S. Vinceslao of the +Quirinal palace, and a few similar pictures, we find the style of +Caravaggio improved by an addition of grace and delicacy. He was +remarkable for not making his design on paper, or using any preparatory +study for his canvass. He is lively in his attitudes, rich in his tints, +and finished and refined in his pictures, which are highly prized, but +few in number, when we consider the term of his life. Besides practising +the style of Caravaggio, in which he frequently deceived the most +experienced, he imitated other artists in a wonderful manner. A S. Elena +by him was considered as a production of Titian even by his rivals, +until they found the cipher A. C. marked on the picture in small +letters, and Poussin affirms, that he should have taken his two copies +of Raffaello for genuine pictures, if he had not known where the +originals were deposited. + +Gherardo Hundhorst is called Gherardo dalle Notti, from having painted +few subjects except illuminated night pieces, in which he chiefly +excelled. He imitated Caravaggio, adopting only his better parts, his +carnations, his vigorous pencil, and grand masses of light and shade: +but he aimed also at correctness in his costume, selection in his forms, +gracefulness of attitude, and represented religious subjects with great +propriety. His pictures are very numerous, and the Prince Giustiniani +possesses the one of Christ led by night to the Judgment Seat, which is +one of his most celebrated works. + +The school of Caravaggio flourished for a considerable period, but its +followers, painting chiefly for private individuals, have in a great +degree remained unknown. Baglione makes particular mention of Gio. +Serodine, of Ascona, in Lombardy, and enumerates many works by him, more +remarkable for their facility of execution than their excellence. There +remains no public specimen of him, except a Decollation of S. John at S. +Lorenzo fuor delle Mura. One of the latest of the school of Caravaggio +was Tommaso Luini, a Roman, who, from his quarrelsome disposition, and +his style, was called Il Caravaggino. He worked in Rome, and appeared +most to advantage when he painted the designs of his master, Sacchi, as +at S. Maria in Via. When he embodied his own ideas, his design was +rather dry and his colouring dark. About the same time Gio. Campino of +Camerino, who received his first instructions under Gianson in Flanders, +resided in Rome for some years, and increased the number of this school. +He was afterwards painter to the court of Madrid, and died in Spain. It +is not known whether or not Gio. Francesco Guerrieri di Fossombrone ever +studied in Rome, but his works are to be seen at Filippini di Fano, +where he painted in a chapel, S. Carlo contemplating the Mysteries of +the Passion, with two lateral pictures from the life of that saint; and +in another chapel, where he represented the Dream of S. Joseph, his +style resembles that of Caravaggio, but possesses more softness of +colour, and more gracefulness of form. In the Duomo of Fabriano is also +a S. Joseph by him. He has left, in his native place, an abundance of +works, which, if distributed more widely, would give him a celebrity +which it has not hitherto been his lot to receive. I there saw, in a +church, a night piece of S. Sebastian attended by S. Irene, a picture of +most beautiful effect; a Judith, in possession of the Franceschini +family; other works in the Casa Passionei and elsewhere, very charming, +and which often shew that he had very much imitated Guercino. His female +forms are almost all cast in the same mould, and are copied from the +person of a favorite mistress. + +We now come to the Caracci and their school. Before Annibale arrived in +Rome, he had already formed a style which left nothing to be desired, +except to be more strongly imbued with the antique. Annibale added this +to his other noble qualities when he came to Rome; and his disciples, +who trod in his steps, and continued after his death to paint in that +city, are particularly distinguished by this characteristic from those +who remained in Bologna under the instruction of his cousin Lodovico. +The disciples of Annibale left scholars in Rome; but no one except +Sacchi approached so near in merit to his master, as they had done to +Annibale, nor did there appear, like them, any founder of an original +style. Still they were sufficient to put a check on the mannerists, and +the followers of Caravaggio, and to restore the Roman School to a better +taste. We shall now proceed to enumerate their scholars in their various +classes. + +Domenichino Zampieri, to his talents as a painter, added commensurate +powers of instruction. Besides Alessandro Fortuna, who under the +direction of his master painted some fables from Apollo, in the villa +Aldobrandini in Frescati, and died young, Zampieri had in Rome two +scholars of great repute, mentioned only by Bellori; Antonio Barbalunga, +of Messina, and Andrea Camassei of Bevagna, both of whom honoured their +country with their name and works, although they did not live many +years. The first was a happy imitator of his master, who had long +employed him in copying for himself. In the church of the P. P. Teatini, +at Monte Cavallo, is his picture of their Founder, and of S. Andrea +Avellino, attended by angels, which might be ascribed to Zampieri +himself, whose forms in this class of subjects were select, and his +attitudes elegant, and most engaging. To him I shall return in the +fourth book. The second, who had also studied in the school of Sacchi, +lived longer in Rome; and whoever wishes justly to appreciate him, must +not judge from the chapel which he painted whilst yet young in his +native place, but must inspect his works in the capital. There, in S. +Andrea della Valle, is the S. Gaetano, painted at the same time, and in +competition with the S. Andrea of Barbalunga, before mentioned with +commendation; the Assumption at the Rotonda, and the Pieta at the +Capucins; and many excellent frescos in the Baptistery of the Lateran, +and in the church of S. Peter; which evince that he had almost an equal +claim to fame with his comrade. If, indeed, he was somewhat less bold, +and less select, yet he had a natural style, a grace, and a tone of +colour, that do honour to the Roman School, to which he contributed +Giovanni Carbone, of S. Severino, a scholar of some note. It has been +remarked, that his fate resembles that of Domenichino, as his merits +were undervalued, and himself persecuted by his relatives, and he was +also prematurely cut off by domestic afflictions. + +Francesco Cozza was born in Calabria, but settled in Rome. He was the +faithful companion of Domenichino during the life of that master, and +after his death completed some works left unfinished by that artist, and +executed them in the genuine spirit of his departed friend, as may be +seen in Titi. He appears to have inherited from his teacher his learning +rather than his taste. One of his most beautiful pictures is the Virgin +del Riscatto at S. Francesca Romana a Capo alle Case. Out of Rome there +are few public or private works to be met with by him. He was considered +exceedingly expert in his knowledge of the hands of the different +masters, and on disputed points, which often arose on this subject in +Rome, his opinion was always asked and acted on, without any appeal from +his judgment. Of Pietro del Po, also a disciple of Domenichino, and of +his family, we shall speak more at large in the fourth book. + +Giannangiolo Canini, of Rome, was first instructed by Domenichino, and +afterwards by Barbalunga, and would have obtained a great reputation for +his inventive genius, if, seduced by the study of antiquities, he had +not for his pleasure taken a short way to the art; which led him to +neglect the component parts, and to satisfy himself with a general +harmonious effect. He possessed, however, great force and energy in +subjects which required it, as in the Martyrdom of S. Stephen at S. +Martino a' Monti. The works which he executed with the greatest labour +and care, were some sacred and profane subjects, which he was +commissioned to paint for the Queen of Sweden. But although he was +appointed painter to that court, and was also a great favourite with the +queen, it should seem that he did not much exercise his profession +either for her or others, as his great pleasure was in designing from +the antique. He filled a large volume with a collection of portraits of +illustrious ancients, and heads of the heathen deities, from gems and +marbles. This book, the Cardinal Chigi having carried it with him into +France, he presented to Louis XIV., and received a collar of gold as a +remuneration for it. On his return to Rome he was intending to eulogize +the queen in verse, and to continue in prose the lives of the painters, +which he had in part prepared when he died. His biographical work +probably afforded assistance to Passeri or to Bellori, his intimate +friends. + +With Canini worked Giambatista Passeri, a Roman, a man of letters, and +who became afterwards a secular priest. It is recorded, that in the +early part of his life he lived on very intimate terms with Domenichino +at Frescati, and he adhered much to his style. There exists by him a +Crucifixion between two Saints at S. Giovanni della Malva, but no other +work in public, as most of his pictures are in private collections. In +the Palazzo Mattei are some pictures representing butcher's meat, birds, +and game, touched with a masterly pencil; to these are added some half +figures, and also some sparrows (_passere_), in allusion to his name. +There is also, by his hand, at the academy of S. Luke, the portrait of +Domenichino, painted on the occasion of his funeral; on which occasion +Passeri, and not Passerino, as Malvasia states, recited a funeral +oration, and probably paid some poetical tribute to his memory, since he +was accustomed to write both verse and prose as Bellori did; and his +silence on the Lives of Bellori, which had then appeared, and which he +had numerous opportunities of noticing, probably arose from feelings of +jealousy. He is esteemed one of the most authentic writers on Italian +art; and if Mariette expressed himself dissatisfied with him, (v. Lett. +Pitt. tom. vi. p. 10,) it probably arose from his having seen only his +Life of Pietro da Cortona, which was left unfinished by the author. He +possessed a profound knowledge of the principles of art, was just in his +criticisms, accurate in his facts; if, indeed, as has been pretended by +a writer in the _Pittoriche Lettere_, he did not in some degree +depreciate Lanfranc, in order to raise his own master, Zampieri. His +work contains the lives of many painters, at that time deceased, and was +published anonymously, it is supposed, by Bottari, who in many places +shortened it, and improved the style, which was too elaborate, +containing useless preambles, and was occasionally too severe against +Bernino and others, on which account the work remained unedited for more +than a century. + +Vincenzio Manenti, of Sabina, who was first the scholar of Cesari, and +afterwards of Domenichino, left many works in his native place. Some +pictures by him are to be seen in Tivoli, as the S. Stefano in the +Duomo, and the S. Saverio at the Gesu, which do not exhibit him as an +artist of very great genius, but assiduous and expert in colouring. Of +Ruggieri, of Bologna, we shall speak elsewhere. + +Guido cannot be said to have contributed much to the Roman School, +except in leaving in the capital a great number of works displaying that +charm of style, and distinguished by that superhuman beauty, which were +his characteristics. We are told of two scholars who came to him at the +same time from Perugia, Giandomenico Cerrini, and Luigi, the son of +Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia. The pictures of Cerrini, (who was commonly +called Il Cav. Perugino) were frequently touched by his master Guido, +and passed for originals of that artist, and were much sought after. In +his other works he varies, having sometimes followed the elder +Scaramuccia. His fellow disciple is more consistent. He displays grace +in every part of his work, and if he does not soar, still he does not +fall to the ground. There are many of his paintings in Perugia, both in +public and private, amongst which is a Presentation at the Filippini, +from all accounts a beautiful performance. He left many works in Milan, +where in the church of S. Marco, is a S. Barbera by him; a large +composition, and extremely well coloured. He published a book in Pavia, +in 1654, which he intituled _Le Finezze de' Pennelli Italiani_. It is +full, says the Abbate Bianconi, _di buona volonta pittorica_. It +possesses nevertheless some interesting remarks. + +Gio. Batista Michelini, called Il Folignate, is almost forgotten in this +catalogue; but there are in Gubbio various works by him, and +particularly a Pieta, worthy of the school of Guido. Macerata possessed +a noble disciple of Guido, in the person of the Cav. Sforza Compagnoni, +by whose hand there is, in the academy de' Catinati, the device of that +society, which might be taken for a design of Guido. He gave a picture +to the church of S. Giorgio, which is still there, and presented a still +more beautiful one to the church of S. Giovanni, which was long to be +seen over the great altar, but is now in the possession of the Conte +Cav. Mario Compagnoni. Malvasia mentions him in the life of Viola, but +makes him a scholar of Albano. The Ginesini boast of Cesare Renzi, as a +respectable scholar of Guido, and, in the church of S. Tommaso, they +shew a picture of that saint by his hand. In addition to the scholars of +Guido, whose names have been handed down to us, I shall here beg leave +to add an imitator of Guido, who from the time in which he flourished, +and from his noble style of colour, probably belonged to the same +school. I found his name subscribed Giorgio Giuliani da Civita +Castellana, 161.., on a large picture of the Martyrdom of S. Andrew, +which Guido painted for the Camaldolesi di S. Gregorio at Rome: and +which this artist copied for the celebrated monastery of the Camaldolesi +all'Avellana. It is exposed in the refectory, and notwithstanding the +dampness of the place, maintains a freshness of colour very unusual in +pictures of that antiquity. + +The Cav. Gio. Lanfranco came to Rome whilst yet young, and there formed +that free and noble style, which served to decorate many cupolas and +noble edifices, and which pleases also in his cabinet pictures when he +executed them with care. Giacinto Brandi di Poli was his most celebrated +scholar in Rome. He at first adopted his master's moderate tone of +colour, the variety and contrast of his composition, and his flowing +pencil; but in consequence of his filling, as he did, Rome and the state +with his works, he neglected correctness of design, and never arrived at +that grandeur of style which we admire in Lanfranc. He sometimes indeed +went beyond himself, as in the S. Rocco of the Ripetta, and in the forty +martyrs of the Stigmata in Rome; but his inordinate love of gain would +not allow him to finish many works in the same good style. I have been +informed by a connoisseur, on whose opinion I can rely, that the best +works of this artist are at Gaeta, where he painted at the Nunziata a +picture of the Madonna with the Holy Infant; and where, in the inferior +part of the Duomo, he painted in the vault three recesses and ten +angles, adding over the altar the picture of the martyrdom of S. +Erasmus, bishop of the city, who was buried in that church. Brandi did +not perpetuate the taste of his school, not leaving any pupil of +eminence except Felice Ottini, who painted in his youth a chapel at the +P. P. di Gesu e Maria, and did not long survive that work. Orlandi also +mentions a Carlo Lamparelli di Spello, who left in Rome a picture at the +church of the Spirito Santo, but nothing further. An Alessandro Vaselli +also left some works in another church in Rome. + +After Brandi, we ought to commemorate Giacomo Giorgetti, of Assisi, who +is little known beyond his native city, and the neighbouring towns. He +is said to have first studied the art of design in Rome, when he learned +colouring from Lanfranc, and became a good fresco painter. There is by +him in a chapel of the Duomo at Assisi, a large composition in fresco, +and in the sacristy of the Conventuals, various subjects from the Life +of the Virgin, also in fresco; works coloured in a fine style, and much +more finished than was usual with Lanfranc. If there be any fault to be +found with them, it is the proportions of the figures, which not +unfrequently incline to awkwardness. His name is found in the +_Descrizione della Chiesa di S. Francesco di Perugia_, together with +that of Girolamo Marinelli, his fellow citizen and contemporary, of whom +I never found any other notice. + +Lanfranc instructed in Rome a noble lady, who filled the church of S. +Lucia with her pictures. These were designed by her master, and coloured +by herself. Her name was Caterina Ginnasi. There were also with Lanfranc +in Rome, Mengucci, of Pesaro, and others, who afterwards left Rome, and +will be mentioned by us elsewhere. Some have added to these Beinaschi, +but he was only an excellent copyist and imitator, as we shall see in +the fourth book. At the same time, we may assert, that none of the +Caracci school had a greater number of followers than Lanfranc; as +Pietro di Cortona, the chief of a numerous family, derived much of his +style from him, and the whole tribe of machinists adopted him as their +leader, and still regard him as their prototype. + +Albano too, here deserves a conspicuous place as a master of the Roman +School. Giambatista Speranza, a Roman, learned from him the principles +of the art, and became a fresco painter of the best taste in Rome. If we +inspect his works at S. Agostino, and S. Lorenzo in Lucina, and in other +places where he painted religious subjects, we immediately perceive that +his age is not that of the Zuccari, and that the true style of fresco +still flourished. From Albano too, and from Guercino, Pierfrancesco Mola +di Como derived that charming style, which partook of the excellences of +both these artists. He renounced the principles of Cesari, who had +instructed him for many years; and after having diligently studied +colouring at Venice, he attached himself to the school of the Caracci, +but more particularly to Albano. He never, however, equalled his master +in grace, although he had a bolder tone of colour, greater invention, +and more vigour of subject. He died in the prime of life whilst +preparing for his journey to Paris, where he was appointed painter to +the court. Rome possesses many of his pictures, particularly in fresco, +in the churches; and in the Quirinal palace, is Joseph found by his +Brethren, which is esteemed a most beautiful piece. There are also many +of his pictures to be found in private collections; and in his +landscapes, in which he excelled, it is doubted whether the figures are +by him or Albano. He had in Rome three pupils, who, aspiring to be good +colourists, frequented the same fountains of art as their master had +done, and travelled through all Italy. They were Antonio Gherardi da +Rieti, who on the death of Mola frequented the school of Cortona; and +painted in many churches in Rome with more despatch than elegance;[76] +Gio. Batista Boncuore, of Abruzzo, a painter in a grand though somewhat +heavy style;[77] and Giovanni Bonatti, of Ferrara, whom we shall reserve +for his native school. + +Virgilio Ducci, of Citta di Castello, is little known among the scholars +of Albano, though he does not yield to many of the Bolognese in the +imitation of their common master. Two pictures of Tobias, in a chapel of +the Duomo, in his native place, are painted in an elegant and graceful +style. An Antonio Catalani, of Rome, is mentioned to us by Malvasia, and +with him Girolamo Bonini, of Ancona, the intimate friend of Albani. +These artists resided in Bologna, and were employed there, as we shall +see in our history of that school. Of the second we are told that he +painted both in Venice and in Rome; and Orlandi praises his works in the +Sala Farnese, which either no longer exist, or are neglected to be +mentioned in the Guida of Titi. + +Lastly, from the studio of Albani issued Andrea Sacchi, after its chief +the best colourist of the Roman School, and one of the most celebrated +in design, in the practice of which he continued until his death. +Profoundly skilled in the theory of art, he was yet slow in the +execution. It was a maxim with him that the merit of a painter does not +consist in giving to the world a number of works of mediocrity, but a +few perfect ones; and hence his pictures are rare. His compositions do +not abound with figures, but every figure appears appropriate to its +place; and the attitudes seem not so much chosen by the artist, as +regulated by the subject itself. Sacchi did not, indeed, shun the +elegant, though he seems born for the grand style--grave miens, majestic +attitudes, draperies folded with care and simplicity; a sober colouring, +and a general tone, which gave to all objects a pleasing harmony, and a +grateful repose to the eye. He seems to have disdained minuteness, and, +after the example of many of the ancient sculptors, to have left some +part always unfinished; so at least his admirers assert. Mengs expresses +himself differently, and says, that Sacchi's principle was to leave his +pictures, as it were, merely indicated, and to take his ideas from +natural objects, without giving them any determinate form: on this +matter the professors of the art must decide. His picture of S. Romualdo +surrounded by his monks, is ranked among the four best compositions in +Rome; and the subject was a difficult one to treat, as the great +quantity of white in the vestures tends to produce a sameness of colour. +The means which Sacchi adopted on this occasion have always been justly +admired. He has placed a large tree near the foreground, the shade of +which serves to break the uniformity of the figures, and he thus +introduced a pleasing variety in the monotony of the colours. His +Transito di S. Anna at S. Carlo a' Catinari, his S. Andrea in the +Quirinal, and his S. Joseph at Capo alle Case, are also beautiful +pictures. Perugia, Foligno, and Camerino, possess altarpieces by him +which are the boast of these cities. He enjoyed the reputation of an +amiable and learned instructor. One of his lectures, communicated by his +celebrated scholar, Francesco Lauri, may be read in the life of that +artist, written by Pascoli, who, as I have before remarked, collected +the greater part of his information from the old painters in Rome. He +has probably engrafted on them some sentiments either of his own or of +others, as often happens in a narrative when the related facts are +founded more in probability than in certainty; but the maxims there +inculcated by Sacchi are worthy of an artist strongly attached to the +true, the select, and the grand; and who, to give dignity to his +figures, seems to have had his eyes on the precepts of Quintilian +respecting the action of his orator. He had a vast number of scholars, +among whom we may reckon Giuseppe Sacchi, his son, who became a +conventual monk, and painted a picture in the sacristy, in the church of +the Apostles. But his most illustrious disciple was Maratta, of whom, +and of whose scholars, we shall speak in another epoch. + +We find a follower of the Caracci, though we know not of what particular +master, in Giambatista Salvi, called from the place in which he was +born, Sassoferrato,[78] and whom we shall notice further when we speak +of Carlo Dolci, and his very devotional pictures. This artist excelled +Dolci in the beauty of his Madonnas, but yielded to him in the fineness +of his pencil. Their style was dissimilar, Salvi having formed himself +on other models; he first studied in his native place under Tarquinio, +his father,[79] then in Rome and afterwards in Naples; it is not known +precisely under what masters, except that in his MS. Memoirs we read of +one Domenico. The period in which Salvi studied corresponds in a +remarkable manner with the time in which Domenichino was employed in +Naples, and his manner of painting shews that he adopted the style of +that master, though not exclusively. I have seen in the possession of +his heirs many copies from the first masters, which he executed for his +own pleasure. I observed several of Albano, Guido, Barocci, Raffaello, +reduced to a small size, and painted, as one may say, all in one breath. +There are also some landscapes of his composition, and a vast number of +sacred portraits; several of S. John the Baptist, but more than all of +the Madonna. Though not possessing the ideal beauty of the Greeks, he +has yet a style of countenance peculiarly appropriate to the Virgin, in +which an air of humility predominates, and the simplicity of the dress +and the attire of the head corresponds with the expression of the +features, without at the same time lessening the dignity of her +character. He painted with a flowing pencil, was varied in his +colouring, had a fine relief and chiaroscuro; but in his local tints he +was somewhat hard. He delighted most in designing heads with a part of +the bust, which frequently occur in collections; his portraits are very +often of the size of life, and of that size, or larger, is a Madonna, by +him, with the infant Christ, in the Casali palace at Rome. The picture +of the Rosario, that he painted at S. Sabina, is one of the smallest +pictures in Rome. It is, however, well composed, and conducted with his +usual spirit, and is regarded as a gem. In other places the largest +picture by him which is to be seen, is an altarpiece in the cathedral of +Montefiascone. + +A follower of the Caracci also, though of an uncertain school, was +Giuseppino da Macerata, whom a dubious tradition has assigned to +Agostino. His works are to be seen in the two collegiate churches of +Fabriano; an Annunciation, in oils, in S. Niccolo, and at S. Venanzio +two chapels, painted in fresco, in one of which, where he represented +the miracles of the apostles, he surpassed himself in the beauty of the +heads and in the general composition; in other respects he is somewhat +hasty and indecisive. Two of his works remain in his native place; at +the Carmelites the Madonna in Glory, with S. Nicola and S. Girolamo on +the foreground; and at the Capucins, S. Peter receiving the Keys. Both +these pictures are in the Caracci style, but the second is most so; +corresponding in a singular manner with one of the same subject which +the Filippini of Fano have in their church, and which is an authentic +and historical work of Guido Reni. The second, therefore, is probably a +copy. There is written on it _Joseph Ma. faciebat_ 1630, but the figures +of the year are not very legible. Marcello Gobbi, and Girolamo +Boniforti,[80] a tolerable good imitator of Titian, lived at this time +in Macerata. Perugia presents us with two scholars of the Caracci, +Giulio Cesare Angeli and Anton. Maria Fabrizzi, the one the pupil of +Annibale in Rome, the other of Lodovico in Bologna. They were attracted +by the fame of their masters, and secretly leaving their native place +for about the space of twelve years, they obtained admission for some +time into their school, if we may rely on Pascoli. Fabrizzi, who is also +said to have worked under Annibale, does not shew great correctness; and +the cause may be ascribed to his too ardent temperament, and the want of +more mature instruction; for Annibale dying after three years, from a +scholar he became a master, and was celebrated for his vigorous +colouring, his composition, and the freedom of his pencil. Angeli was +more remarkable for expression and colour than design, and excelled +rather in the draped than in the naked figure. There is a vast work by +him in fresco in the oratory of the church of S. Agostino in Perugia, +and in part of it a limbo of saints, certainly not designed by the light +of Lodovico's lamp, if indeed it ought not to be considered that this +lunette is by another hand. This branch of the Bolognese School, which +was constantly degenerating from the excellence of its origin, being at +such a distance from Bologna as not to be able to be revivified by the +pictures of the Caracci, still survived for a long time. Angeli +instructed Cesare Franchi, who excelled in small pictures, which were +highly prized in collections; and Stefano Amadei also, who was formed +more on the Florentine School of that age than on the School of Bologna. +Stefano was also attached to letters, and opened a school, and by +frequent meetings and instructive lectures improved the minds of the +young artists who frequented it. One of the most assiduous of these was +Fabio, brother of the Duke of Cornia, of whom some works are mentioned +in the Guida di Roma, and who entitled himself to a higher rank than +that of a mere dilettante. + +Besides the Bolognese, a number of Tuscans who were employed by Paul V. +in the two churches of S. Peter and S. M. Maggiore, also contributed to +the melioration of the Roman School; and some others who, deprived of +that opportunity of distinguishing themselves, are yet memorable for the +scholars they left behind them. Of the diocese of Volterra was +Cristoforo Roncalli, called Il Cav. delle Pomarance, cursorily noticed +by us among the Tuscans. I now place him in this school, because he both +painted and taught for a considerable time in Rome; and I assign him to +this epoch, not from the generality of his works, but from his best +having been executed in it. He was the scholar of Niccolo delle +Pomarance, for whom he worked much with little reward; and from his +example he learnt to avail himself of the labour of others, and to +content himself with mediocrity. Yet there are several pictures by him, +in which he appears excellent, except that he too often repeats himself +in his backgrounds, his foreshortened heads, and full and rubicund +countenances. His style of design is a mixture of the Florentine and +Roman. In his frescos he displayed fresh and brilliant colours; in his +oil pictures, on the contrary, he adopted more sober tints, harmonized +by a general tone of tranquillity and placidness. He frequently +decorated these with landscapes gracefully disposed. Among his best +labours is reckoned the death of Ananias and Sapphira, which is at the +Certosa, and which was copied in mosaic in S. Peter's. Other mosaics +also in the same church were executed after his cartoons, and in the +Lateranense is his Baptism of Constantine, a grand historical +composition. But his most celebrated work is the cupola of Loreto, very +rich in figures, but injured by time, except some prophets, which are in +a truly grand style. He painted considerably in the treasury of that +church; and there are some histories of the Madonna not conducted with +equal felicity, particularly in the perspective. He obtained this vast +commission through the patronage of the Cardinal Crescenzi, in +competition with Caravaggio, who, to gratify his revenge, hired an +assassin to wound him in the face; and in rivalship too with Guido Reni, +who retaliated in a more laudable manner, by proving his superiority by +his works. Roncalli from this time was in great request in the cities of +Picenum, which in consequence abound with his pictures. There is to be +seen at the Eremitani at S. Severino, a _Noli me tangere_; at S. +Agostino in Ancona, a S. Francis praying; and at S. Palazia in Osimo, a +picture of a saint, one of his most finished productions. In the same +city, in the Casa Galli, he painted _di sotto in su_ the Judgment of +Solomon; and this is perhaps the best fresco that he ever executed. He +could vary his manner at will. There is an Epiphany in the possession of +the Marquis Mancinforti in Ancona, quite in the style of the Venetian +School. + +There were two artists who approached this master in style, the Cav. +Gaspare Celio, a Roman, and Antonio, the son of Niccolo Circignani. +Celio was the pupil of Niccolo, according to Baglione, but of Roncalli, +if we are to believe Titi. He designed and engraved antique statues, and +painted in a commendable manner whilst young, after the designs of P. +Gio. Bat. Fiammeri, at the Gesu, and at a more mature age after his own, +in numerous churches. The S. Francis, on the altar of the Ospizio, at +Ponte Sisto, is by him; and he also painted the history of S. Raimondo +at the Minerva, and the Moses passing the Red Sea, in a vault of the +Mattei gallery, where he competed with other first rate artists. Antonio +is not well known in Rome, where he worked with his father, after whose +death he decorated by himself a chapel at the Traspontina, another at +the Consolazione, and painted also in private houses. Citta di Castello, +where he passed some of the best years of his life, possesses many of +his pictures, and amongst the rest, that of the Conception, at the +Conventuals, which may be called a mixture of Barocci and Roncalli, from +whom he probably learned to improve the style he had inherited from his +father. + +The Cav. delle Pomarance instructed the Marchese Gio. Batista Crescenzi, +who became a great patron of the fine arts, and who was so much skilled +in them, that Paul V. appointed him superintendent of the works which he +was carrying on in Rome; and Philip III., the Catholic, also availed +himself of his services in the Escurial. He did not execute many works, +and his chief talent lay in flower painting. His house was frequented by +literary men, and particularly by Marino; he formed in it a gallery +containing an extensive collection of pictures and drawings, of which he +himself says, "I believe I may indeed safely affirm that there is not a +prince in Europe that does not yield to me in this respect." (Lett. p. +89.) There the artists were always to be found, one of whom, his +disciple, was called Bartolommeo del Crescenzi, of the family of +Cavarozzi of Viterbo. He was a most correct artist, a follower first of +Roncalli, and afterwards became the author of a captivating natural +style. There exist many excellent pictures by him in collections, and in +the church of S. Anna, a picture of that saint, executed, says Baglione, +in his best taste, and with a vigorous pencil. + +Among the scholars of Roncalli may also be ranked Giovanni Antonio, +father of Luigi Scaramuccia, who also saw and imitated the Caracci. His +works are often met with in Perugia. The spirit and freedom of his +pencil are more commended than his tints, which are too dark, and which +in the churches easily distinguish him amidst a crowd of other artists. +It is probable that he used too great a quantity of _terra d'ombra_, +like others of his day. Girolamo Buratti, of the same school, painted in +Ascoli the beautiful picture of the Presepio at the Carita, and some +subjects in fresco, highly commended by Orsini. Of Alessandro Casolani, +who belongs to this master, we spoke in the Sienese School. With him, +too, was included Cristoforo his son, who, with Giuseppe Agellio of +Sorrento, may be ranked with the inferior artists. + +Francesco Morelli, a Florentine, demands our notice only as having +imparted the rudiments of the art to the Cav. Gio. Baglione of Rome. His +pupil, however, did not remain with him for any length of time, but +formed a style for himself from a close application to the works of the +best masters, and was employed by Paul V., by the Duke of Mantua, and by +persons of distinction. He is less vigorous in design and expression, +than in colour and chiaroscuro. We meet with his works, not only in +Rome, where he painted much, but also in several provincial towns, as +the S. Stephen in the Duomo of Perugia, and the S. Catherine at the +Basilica Loretana. In his colours he resembled Cigoli, but was far +behind him in other respects. The picture which procured him great +applause in the Vatican, the Resuscitation of Tabitha, is defaced by +time; but both there and at the Cappella Paolina in S. Maria Maggiore, +which was the most considerable work of Paul V., his pieces in fresco +still remain, and are not unworthy of their age. He is not often found +in collections, but in that of the Propaganda I saw a S. Rocco painted +by him with great force of colour. He lived to a considerable age, and +left behind him a compendium of the lives of professors of the fine +arts, who had been his contemporaries in Rome from 1572 to 1642. He +wrote in an unostentatious manner, and free from party spirit, and was +on all occasions more disposed to commend the good than to censure the +bad. Whenever I peruse him, I seem to hear the words of a venerable +teacher, inclined rather to inculcate precepts of morals, than maxims on +the fine arts. Of the latter, indeed, he is very sparing, and it would +almost lead one to suppose that he had succeeded in his profession, more +from a natural bias, and a talent of imitation, than from scientific +principles and sound taste. It was, perhaps, in order that he might not +be tied to treat of the art theoretically, and to write profoundly, that +he distributed his work in five dialogues, in the course of which we do +not meet with professors of art, but are introduced to a foreigner and +to a Roman gentleman, who act the respective parts of master and +scholar. Dialogues, indeed, were never composed in a more simple style, +in any language. The two interlocutors meet in the cloisters of the +Minerva, and after a slight salutation, one of them recounts the lives +of the masters of the art, to the number of eighty, which are commenced, +continued, and ended, in a style sufficiently monotonous, both as to +manner and language; the other listens to this long narrative, without +either interrupting or answering, or adding a word in reply: and thus +the dialogue, or rather soliloquy, concludes, without the slightest +expression of thanks on the part of the auditor, or even the ceremony of +a farewell. We shall now return to the Tuscan scholars. + +Passignano was at Rome many times, without, however, leaving there any +scholars, at least of any name. We may indeed mention Vanni, and he left +there, too, a Gio. Antonio, and a Gio. Francesco del Vanni, who are +mentioned in the _Guida di Roma_. The school of Cigoli produced two +Roman artists of considerable reputation; Domenico Feti, who +distinguished himself in Mantua, and Gio. Antonio Lelli, who never left +his native place. They painted more frequently in oil, and for private +collections, than in fresco, or in churches. Of the first, no public +work remains except the two Angels at S. Lorenzo in Damaso; of the +second some pictures, and some histories on the walls, among which the +Visitation in the choir of the Minerva is much praised. + +Comodi and Ciarpi are said to have been the successive masters of Pietro +di Cortona; and on that account, and from his birthplace, he has by many +been placed in the school of Florence; although others have assigned him +to that of Rome. It is true, indeed, that he came hither at the age of +fourteen only, bringing with him from Tuscany little more than a +well-disposed genius; and he here formed himself into an excellent +architect, and as a painter became the head of a school distinguished +for a free and vigorous style, as we have mentioned in our first book. +Whoever wishes to observe how far he carried this style in fresco, and +in large compositions, must inspect the Sala Barberina in Rome; although +the Palazzo Pitti, in Florence, presents us with works more elegant, +more beautiful, and more studied in parts. Whoever, too, wishes to see +how far he carried it in his altarpieces, must inspect the Conversion of +S. Paul at the Capucins in Rome, which, placed opposite the S. Michael +of Guido, is, nevertheless, the admiration of those who do not object to +a variety of style in art: nor am I aware that we should reject this +principle in what we designate the fine arts; as it is invariably +acknowledged in eloquence, in poetry, and history, where we find +Demosthenes and Isocrates, Sophocles and Euripides, and Thucydides and +Xenophon, equally esteemed, though all dissimilar in style. + +The works of Pietro in Rome, and in the states of the church, are not at +all rare. They are to be found also in other states of Italy, and those +pieces are the most attractive in which he had the greatest opportunity +of indulging his love of architecture. His largest compositions, which +might dismay the boldest copyist, are S. Ivo at the Sapienza of Rome, +and the S. Charles in the church of that saint, at Catinari, in the act +of relieving the infected. The Preaching of S. James in Imola, in the +church of the Domenicans, is also on a vast scale. The Virgin attended +by S. Stephen, the Pope, and other saints in S. Agostino, in Cortona, is +a picture of great research, and is considered one of his best +performances. There is an enchanting picture of the Birth of the Virgin, +in the Quirinal palace; and the Martyrdom of S. Stephen, at S. Ambrogio, +in Rome, and Daniel in the Den of Lions, in the church of that saint, in +Venice, are most beautiful works, superior to those of most of his +competitors in this school, in regard to composition, and equal to them +in colour. His historical subjects are not met with in the galleries of +the Roman nobility. In that of the Campidoglio, is the battle between +the Romans and the Sabines, full of picturesque spirit; and in +possession of the Duke Mattei, is the Adultery, half figures, more +studied and more highly finished than was customary with him. This brief +notice of him may suffice for the present. Of the scholars whom he +formed in the Roman School, I shall speak more opportunely in the +subsequent epoch. + +At this period we find three Veronese artists, Ottini, Bassetti, and +Turchi, studying in Rome; and we shall speak of them more at length in +the Venetian School. The first returned home without executing any +public work. The second left, in the church dell'Anima, in Rome, two +pictures in fresco, the Birth, and the Circumcision of Christ. The +third, known under the name of Orbetto, took up his residence, and died +in that capital; but I am not aware that he left there any disciples of +merit, except some of his own countrymen, who returned to their native +place. This engaging and elegant painter, who possessed great +originality and beauty of colour, worked still more in Verona than in +Rome, and we ought to see his works in the former city, in order justly +to appreciate them. But he is not on that account held in the less +esteem in Rome for his cabinet pictures, which are highly prized, as the +Sisara de' Colonnesi, and for his scriptural subjects, as the Flight +into Egypt, in the church of S. Romualdo, and the S. Felice Cappuccino, +at the Conception, where, as we before observed, the Barberini family +employed the most eminent artists. + +Many other Italians worked in Rome in the time of the Caracci, but their +schools, as well as the places of their birth, are uncertain; and of +these, in a city so abounding in pictures, a slight notice will suffice. +In the Guida di Roma, we find only a single notice of Felice Santelli, a +Roman, in the church of the P. P. Spagnuoli del Riscatto Scalzi, where +he painted in competition with Baglione; he is a painter full of truth, +and one of his pictures in Viterbo, in the church of S. Rosa, is +inscribed with his name. In Baglione, we read of Orazio Borgianni, a +Roman, the rival of Celio, and we find pictures and portraits by him in +a good natural style. Gio. Antonio Spadarino, of the family of Galli, +painted in S. Peter's, a S. Valeria, with such talent, that Orlandi +complains of the silence of biographers respecting him. He had a fellow +disciple in Matteo Piccione, of the March, and Titi mentions their +peculiar style. Nor is Grappelli much known, whose proper name or +country I cannot accurately ascertain; but his Joseph Recognized, which +is painted in fresco, in the Casa Mattei, commands our admiration. +Mattio Salvucci, who obtained some reputation in Perugia, came to Rome, +and although he was graciously received by the Pope, yet, from his +inconstant temper, he did not remain there, nor does Pascoli, his fellow +countrymen and biographer, mention any authentic pictures by him. +Domenico Rainaldi, nephew of the architect, Cav. Carlo Rainaldi, who was +employed by Alexander VII., is mentioned in the Roman Guida, as also +Giuseppe Vasconio, praised too by Orlandi. In the same description of +books, and particularly in those which treat of the pictures of Perugia, +mention is made in this epoch of the Cav. Bernardino Gagliardi, who was +domiciled for many years in that city, though born in Citta di Castello. +Although a scholar of Avanzino Nucci, he adopted a different style, +after having seen in his travels the best works of every school of +Italy, from Rome to Turin. In historical composition he particularly +followed the Caracci and Guido, but in what I have seen of him, both in +his own and his adopted city, he appears exceedingly various. The noble +house of Oddi, in Perugia, amongst some feeble productions of his, have +a Conversazione of young people, half figures, and truly beautiful. In +the Duomo of Castello is a Martyrdom of S. Crescenziano, a picture of +fine effect, though inferior in other respects. He there appears more +studied and more select in the two pictures of the young Tobias, which +are included among his superior works. His best is perhaps the picture +of S. Pellegrino, with its accompaniments, in the church of S. Marcello +in Rome. I do not recollect any other provincial painters of this period +whom I have not assigned to one or other of the various masters. + +A more arduous task than recording the names of the Italian artists now +awaits us in the enumeration of strangers. About the beginning of the +century Peter Paul Rubens came young to Rome, and left some oil pictures +at the Vallicella, and in S. Croce in Gerusalemme. Not many years +afterwards Antonio Vandyck arrived there also, with an intention of +remaining for a long period; but many of his fellow countrymen, who were +there studying, became offended at his refusing to join them in their +convivial tavern parties and dissipated mode of life; he in consequence +left Rome. Great numbers too of that nation who professed the lower +school of art, remained in Italy for a considerable period, and some are +mentioned in their classes. Others were employed in the churches of +Rome, and the ecclesiastical state. The master is unknown who painted at +S. Pietro in Montorio, the celebrated Deposition, which is recommended +to students, as a school of colour in itself; by some he is called +Angiolo Fiammingo. Of Vincenzio Fiammingo there is at the Vallicella a +picture of the Pentecost; of Luigi Gentile, from Brussels, the picture +of S. Antonio at S. Marco, and others in various churches in Rome; he +painted also at the church of the Capucins, at Pesaro, a Nativity and a +S. Stephen, pictures highly finished and of a beautiful relief. He +executed others at Ancona, and in various cities, with his usual taste, +which is still more to be admired in his easel pictures. He excelled, +says Passeri, who was very sparing in his praise of artists, in small +compositions; since besides finishing them with great diligence, he +executed them in an engaging style, and he concludes with the further +encomium, that he equalled, if not surpassed, most artists in portrait +painting. + +About the year 1630, Diego Velasquez, the chief ornament of Spanish art, +studied in Rome and remained there for a year. He afterwards returned +thither under the pontificate of Innocent X., whose portrait he painted, +in a style which was said to be derived from Domenico Greco, instructed +by Titian, at the court of Spain. Velasquez renewed in this portrait the +wonders which are recounted of those of Leo X. by Raffaello, and of Paul +III. by Titian; for this picture so entirely deceived the eye as to be +taken for the Pope himself. At this time too a number of excellent +German artists were employed in Rome, as Daniel Saiter, whom I shall +notice in the school of Piedmont, and the two Scor, Gio. Paolo, called +by Taja, Gian. Paolo Tedesco, whose Noah's Ark, painted in the Quirinal +palace, has excited the most enthusiastic encomiums; and Egidio, his +brother, who worked there for a considerable time in the gallery of +Alexander VII. There were also in Rome Vovet, as we have observed, and +the two Mignards, Nicolas, an excellent artist, and Pierre, who had the +surname of Romano, and who left some beautiful works at S. Carlino and +other places; and a master who claims more than a brief notice, Nicolas +Poussin, the Raffaello of France. + +Bellori, who has written the Life of Poussin, introduces him to Rome in +1624, and informs us that he was already a painter, and had formed his +style more after the prints of Raffaello than the instruction of his +masters. At Rome he improved, or rather changed his style, and acquired +another totally different, of which he may be considered the chief. +Poussin has left directions for those who come to study the art in Rome: +the remains of antiquity afforded him instruction which he could not +expect from masters. He studied the beautiful in the Greek statues, and +from the Meleager of the Vatican (now ascertained to be a Mercury) he +derived his rule of proportions. Arches, columns, antique vases, and +urns, were rendered tributary to the decoration of his pictures. As a +model of composition, he attached himself to the Aldobrandine Marriage; +and from that, and from basso-relievos, he acquired that elegant +contrast, that propriety of attitude, and that fear of crowding his +picture, for which he was so remarkable, being accustomed to say, that a +half figure more than requisite was sufficient to destroy the harmony of +a whole composition. + +Leonardo da Vinci, from his sober and refined style of colour, could not +fail to please him; and he decorated that master's work _Su la Pittura_ +with figures designed in his usual fine taste. He followed him in theory +and emulated him in practice. He adopted Titian's style of colour, and +the famous Dance of Boys, which was formerly in the Villa Lodovisi, and +is now in Madrid, taught him to invest with superior colours the +engaging forms of children, in which he so much excelled. It should seem +that he soon abandoned his application to colouring, and his best +coloured pictures are those which he painted on first coming to Rome. He +was apprehensive lest his anxiety on that head might distract his +attention from the more philosophical part of his picture, to which he +was singularly attentive; and to this point he directed his most serious +and assiduous care. Raffaello was his model in giving animation to his +figures, in expressing the passions with truth, in selecting the precise +moment of action, in intimating more than was expressed, and in +furnishing materials for fresh reflection to whoever returns a second +and a third time to examine his well conceived and profound +compositions. He carried the habit of philosophy in painting even +further than Raffaello, and often executed pictures, whose claim to our +regard is the poetical manner in which their moral is inculcated. Thus, +in that at Versailles, which is called _Memoria della morte_, he has +represented a group of youths, and a maid visiting the tomb of an +Arcadian shepherd, on which is inscribed the simple epitaph, "I also was +an Arcadian." + +He did not owe this elegant expression of sentiment to his genius alone, +but was indebted for it, as well to the perusal of the first classic +authors, as the conversation of literary men, and his intercourse with +scholars. He deferred much to the Cav. Marini, and might do so with +advantage where poetry was not concerned. In the art of modelling, in +which he excelled, he accomplished himself under Fiammingo; he consulted +the writings of P. Zaccolini for perspective; he studied the naked +figure in the academy of Domenichino and in that of Sacchi; he made +himself acquainted with anatomy; he exercised himself in copying the +most beautiful landscapes from nature, in which he acquired an exquisite +taste, which he communicated to his relative Gaspar Dughet, of whom we +shall speak in a short time. I think it may be asserted without +exaggeration, that the Caracci improved the art of landscape painting, +and that Poussin brought it to perfection.[81] His genius was less +calculated for large than small figures, and he has generally painted +them a palm and a half, as in the celebrated sacraments, which were in +the Casa Boccapaduli: sometimes of two or three palms size, as in the +picture of the Plague in the Colonna gallery, and elsewhere. Other +pictures of his are seen in Rome, as the Death of Germanicus in the +Barberini palace, the Triumph of Flora in the Campidoglio, the Martyrdom +of S. Erasmus, in the Pope's collection at Monte Cavallo, afterwards +copied in mosaic in S. Peter's. Although he had established himself in +Rome, he afterwards left that city for Paris, where he was appointed +first painter to the court; after two years time, however, he again +returned to Rome, but had his appointment confirmed, and, though absent, +enjoyed the same place and stipend. He remained in Rome for twenty three +years, and there closed his days. It is not long since his bust in +marble, with an appropriate eulogy, was placed in the church of the +Rotonda, at the suggestion and generous expense of the Sig. Cav. +d'Agincourt. + +In the class of portrait painters, we find at the beginning of the +seventeenth century, Antiveduto Grammatica, and Ottavio Lioni of Padua, +who engraved the portraits of the painters; and, on his death, +Baldassare Galanino was preeminent. It must however be remarked, that +these artists were also designers; and that even those who were held the +first masters in composition were employed in portrait painting, as +Guido for example, who executed for the Cardinal Spada one of the finest +portraits in Rome. + +Thus far of historical painters. We may now recur to landscape and other +inferior branches of the art, whose brightest era may be said to have +been in the reign of Urban VIII. Landscape, indeed, never flourished so +greatly as at that period. A little time before this pontificate, died +in Rome, Adam Elzheimer, or Adam of Frankfort, or Tedesco, who had +already, under the pontificate of Paul V., established a school (in +which David Teniers was instructed); an artist of an admirable fancy, +who in an evening committed to the canvass, with singular fidelity, the +scenery which he had visited in the early part of the day, and he so +refined his style in Rome, that his pictures, which generally +represented night scenes, were there held in the greatest request. Only +a short time too had elapsed since the death of Giovanni Batista Viola +in Rome, one of the first artists who, profiting from the instructions +of Annibal Caracci, reformed the old, dry style of the Flemish, and +introduced a richer mode of touching landscape. Vincenzio Armanno had +also promoted this branch of art, adding to his landscapes a similitude +to nature, which without much selection of ground, or trees, or +accompaniments, charms us by its truth, and a certain stilness of +colour, pleasingly chequered with lights and shades. He is highly to be +commended too in his figures, and is copious in his invention. But the +three celebrated landscape painters, whose works are so much sought +after in the collections of princes, appeared under Urban; Salvator +Rosa, a Neapolitan, and a poet of talent; Claude Gellee, of Lorraine; +and Gaspar Dughet, also called Poussin, the relative of Niccolas, as I +have already mentioned. That kind of fashion, which often aspires to +give a tone to the fine arts, alternately exalted one or other of these +three, and thus also obliged the painters in Rome to copy in succession, +and to follow their various styles. + +Rosa was the most celebrated of this class at the commencement of this +century. A scholar of Spagnoletto, and the son, as one may say, of +Caravaggio, as in historical composition he attached himself to the +strong natural style and dark colouring of that master, so in landscape +he seems to have adopted his subject without selection, or rather to +have selected the least pleasing parts. _Le selve selvagge_, to speak +with Dante, savage scenery, Alps, broken rocks and caves, wild thickets, +and desert plains, are the kind of scenery in which he chiefly +delighted; his trees are shattered, torn, and dishevelled; and in the +atmosphere itself he seldom introduced a cheerful hue, except +occasionally a solitary sunbeam. He observed the same manner too in his +sea views. His style was original, and may be said to have been +conducted on a principle of savage beauty, as the palate of some persons +is gratified with austere wines. His pictures too were rendered more +acceptable from the small figures of shepherds, mariners, or banditti, +which he has introduced in almost all his compositions; and he was +reproached by his rivals with having continually repeated the same +ideas, and in a manner copied himself. + +Owing to his frequent practice, he had more merit in his small than in +his large figures. He was accustomed to insert them in his landscapes, +and composed his historical pictures in the same style as the Regulus, +so highly praised in the Colonna palace, or fancy subjects, as the +Witchcrafts, which we see in the Campidoglio, and in many private +collections. In these he is never select, nor always correct, but +displays great spirit, freedom of execution, and skill and harmony of +colour. In other respects he has proved, more than once, that his genius +was not confined to small compositions, as there are some altarpieces +well conceived, and of powerful effect, particularly where the subject +demands an expression of terror, as in a Martyrdom of Saints at S. Gio. +de' Fiorentini at Rome; and in the Purgatory, which I saw at S. Giovanni +delle Case Rotte in Milan, and at the church del Suffragio in Matelica. +We have also some profane subjects by him, finely executed on a large +scale; such is the Conspiracy of Catiline, in the possession of the +noble family of Martelli, in Florence, mentioned also by Bottari, as one +of his best works. Rosa left Naples at the age of twenty, and +established himself in Rome, where he died at the age of about sixty. +His remains were placed in the church degli Angeli, with his portrait +and eulogy; and another portrait of him is to be seen in the Chigi +gallery, which does not seem to have been recognised by Pascoli; the +picture represents a savage scene; a poet is represented in a sitting +attitude, (the features those of Salvator,) and before him stands a +satyr, allusive to his satiric style of poetry, but the picture is +described by the biographer as the god Pan appearing to the poet Pindar. +He had a scholar in Bartol. Torregiani, who died young, and who excelled +in landscape, but was not accomplished enough to add the figures. +Giovanni Ghisolfi, of Milan, a master of perspective, adopted in his +figures the style of Salvator. + +Gaspar Dughet, or Poussin, of Rome, or of the Roman School, did not much +resemble Rosa, except in despatch. Both these artists were accustomed to +commence and finish a landscape and decorate it with figures on the same +day. Poussin, contrary to Salvator, selected the most enchanting scenes, +and the most beautiful aspects of nature; the graceful poplar, the +spreading plane trees, limpid fountains, verdant meads, gently +undulating hills, villas delightfully situated, calculated to dispel the +cares of state, and to add to the delights of retirement. All the +enchanting scenery of the Tusculan or Tiburtine territory, and of Rome, +where, as Martial observes, nature has combined the many beauties which +she has scattered singly in other places, was copied by this artist. He +composed also ideal landscapes, in the same way that Torquato Tasso, in +describing the garden of Armida, concentrated in his verses all the +recollections of the beautiful which he had observed in nature. + +Notwithstanding this extreme passion for grace and beauty, it is the +opinion of many, that there is not a greater name amongst landscape +painters. His genius had a natural fervour, and as we may say, a +language, that suggests more than it expresses. To give an example, in +some of his larger landscapes, similar to those in the Panfili palace, +we may occasionally observe an artful winding of the road, which in part +discovers itself to the eye, but in other parts, leaves itself to be +followed by the mind. Every thing that Gaspar expresses, is founded in +nature. In his leaves he is as varied as the trees themselves, and is +only accused of not having sufficiently diversified his tints, and of +adhering too much to a green hue. He not only succeeded in representing +the rosy tint of morning, the splendour of noon, evening twilight, or a +sky tempestuous or serene; but the passing breeze that whispers through +the leaves, storms that tear and uproot the trees of the forest, +lowering skies, and clouds surcharged with thunder and rent with +lightning, are represented by him with equal success. Niccolas, who had +taught him to select the beauties of nature, instructed him also in the +figures, and the accessary parts of the composition. Thus in Gaspar +every thing displays elegance and erudition, the edifices have all the +beautiful proportions of the antique; and to these may be added arches +and broken columns, when the scene lay in the plains of Greece or Rome; +or, if in Egypt, pyramids, obelisks, and the idols of the country. The +figures which he introduces are not in general shepherds and their +flocks, as in the Flemish pictures, but are derived from history, or +classic fables, hawking parties, poets crowned with laurel, and other +similar decorations, generally novel, and finished in a style almost as +fine as miniature. His school gave birth to but few followers. By some +Crescenzio di Onofrio is alone considered his true imitator, of whom +little remains in Rome; nor indeed is he much known in Florence, +although he resided there many years in the service of the ducal house. +It is said that he executed many works for the ducal villas; and that he +painted for individuals may be conjectured from some beautiful +landscapes which the Sig. Cancelliere Scrilli possesses, together with +the portrait of Sig. Angelo, his ancestor, on which the artist has +inscribed his name and the year 1712, the date of his work. After him we +may record Gio. Domenico Ferracuti, of Macerata, in which city, and in +others of Piceno, are to be found many landscapes painted by him, +chiefly snow pieces, in which kind of landscape he was singularly +distinguished. + +Claude Lorraine is generally esteemed the prince of landscape painters, +and his compositions are indeed, of all others, the richest and the most +studied. A short time suffices to run through a landscape of Poussin or +Rosa from one end to the other, when compared with Claude, though on a +much smaller surface. His landscapes present to the spectator an endless +variety; so many views of land and water, so many interesting objects, +that like an astonished traveller, the eye is obliged to pause to +measure the extent of the prospect, and his distances of mountains or of +sea are so illusive, that the spectator feels, as it were, fatigued by +gazing. The edifices and temples, which so finely round off his +compositions, the lakes peopled with aquatic birds, the foliage +diversified in conformity to the different kinds of trees,[82] all is +nature in him; every object arrests the attention of an amateur, every +thing furnishes instruction to a professor; particularly when he painted +with care, as in the pictures of the Altieri, Colonna, and other palaces +of Rome. There is not an effect of light, or a reflection in the water, +or in the sky itself, which he has not imitated; and the various changes +of the day are no where better represented than in Claude. In a word, he +is truly the painter, who in depicting the three regions of air, earth, +and water, has embraced the whole universe. His atmosphere almost always +bears the impress of the sky of Rome, whose horizon is, from its +situation, rosy, dewy, and warm. He did not possess any peculiar merit +in his figures, which are insipid, and generally too much attenuated; +hence he was accustomed to observe to the purchasers of his pictures, +that he sold them the landscape, and presented them with the figures +gratis. The figures indeed were generally added by another hand, +frequently by Lauri. A painter of the name of Angiolo, who died young, +deserves to be mentioned as the scholar of Claude, as well as +Vandervert. Claude also contributed to the instruction of Gaspar +Poussin. + +To the preceding may be added those artists who particularly +distinguished themselves by sea views and shipping. Enrico Cornelio +Vroom is called Enrico di Spagna, as he came to Rome immediately from +Seville, although born in Haerlem in Holland. He was a pupil of the +Brills, and seems rather to have aimed at imitating the national art of +shipbuilding, than the varying appearances of the sea and sky. No one is +more diligent, or more minute in fitting up the vessels with every +requisite for sailing; and some persons have purchased his pictures, for +the sole purpose of instructing themselves in the knowledge of ships, +and the mode of arming them. Sandrart relates that he returned to Spain, +and there painted landscapes, views of cities, fishing boats, and +seafights. He places his birth in 1566, whence he must have flourished +about the year 1600. Guarienti makes a separate article of Enrico Vron +of Haerlem, as if he had been a different artist. Another article is +occupied upon _Enrico delle Marine_, and on the authority of Palomino, +he says, that that artist was born in Cadiz, and coming to Rome, there +acquired that name; and that, without wishing ever to return to Spain, +he employed himself in painting in that city shipping and sea views +until his death, at the age of sixty in 1680. I have named three +writers, whose contradictions I have frequently adverted to in this +work, and whose discordant notices require much examination to reconcile +or refute. What I have advanced respecting Enrico was the result of my +observations on several pictures in the Colonna gallery, six in number, +and which, as far as I could judge, all partake of a hard and early +style, and generally of a peculiar reddish tone, often observed in the +landscapes of Brill. Any other Enrico di Spagna, a marine painter, or of +a style corresponding with that of him who died in 1680, I have not met +with in any collection, nor is any such artist to be found in the works +of Sig. Conca, as any one may ascertain by referring to the index of his +work. Hence, at present, I can recognize the Dutch artist alone, and +shall be ready to admit the claims of the Cadiz painter whenever I am +furnished with proofs of his having really existed. + +Agostino Tassi, of Perugia, whose real name was Buonamici, a man of +infamous character, but an excellent painter, was the scholar of Paul +Brill, though he was ambitious of being thought a pupil of the Caracci. +He had already distinguished himself as a landscape painter, when he was +condemned to the galleys at Leghorn, where through interest the +laborious part of his sentence was remitted, and in this situation he +prosecuted his art with such ardour, that he soon obtained the first +rank as a painter of sea views, representing ships, storms, fishing +parties, and the dresses of mariners of various countries with great +spirit and propriety. He excelled too in perspective, and in the papal +palace of the Quirinal and in the palace de' Lancellotti displayed an +excellent style of decoration, which his followers very much +overcharged. He painted many pictures in Genoa, in conjunction with +Salimbeni and Gentileschi, and was assisted by a scholar of his born in +Rome, and domiciled in Genoa, where he died. This scholar is called by +Raffaello Soprani, Gio. Batista Primi, and he eulogizes him as an +esteemed painter of sea views. + +Equal to Tassi in talent, and still more infamous in his life, was +Pietro Mulier, or Pietro de Mulieribus, of Holland, who, from his +surprising pictures of storms, was called Il Tempesta. His compositions +inspire a real terror, presenting to our eyes death, devoted ships +overtaken by tempests and darkness, fired by lightning, or driving +helpless before the demons of the storm; now rising on the mountain +waves, and again submerged in the abyss of ocean. His works are more +frequently met with than those of Tassi, as he almost always painted in +oil. He was assisted in Rome by a young man, who in consequence obtained +the name of Tempestino, though he often exercised his genius in +landscape in the style of Poussin. He afterwards married a sister of +this young artist, and subsequently procured her assassination, for +which he was sentenced to death in Genoa, but his sentence was commuted +for five years imprisonment. His pictures of storms, which he painted in +his dungeon, seem to have acquired an additional gloom from the horrors +of his prison, his merited punishment, and his guilty conscience. These +works were very numerous, and were considered his best performances. He +excelled also in the painting of animals, for which purpose he kept a +great variety of them in his house. Lastly, he acquired celebrity from +his landscapes, in some of which he has shewn himself not an unworthy +follower of Claude in invention, enriching them with a great variety of +scenery, hills, lakes, and beautiful edifices, but he is still far +behind that master in regard to tone of colour and finishing. He was +however superior to Claude in his figures, to which he gave a mixed +Italian and Flemish character, with lively, varied, and expressive +countenances. There are more specimens of his talents in Milan than in +any other place, as he passed his latter years in that and the +neighbouring cities, as in Bergamo, and particularly in Piacenza. His +epitaph is given in the Guida di Milano, page 129. + +Il Montagna, another artist from Holland, was also a painter of sea +views, which may almost indeed be called the landscapes of the Dutch. He +left many works in Italy, more particularly in Florence and in Rome, +where he is sometimes mistaken for Tempesta in the galleries and in +picture sales; but Montagna, as far as I can judge, is more serene in +his skies, and darker in his waves and the appearance of the sea. A +large picture of the Deluge, which is at S. Maria Maggiore in Bergamo, +placed there in 1668, in which the figures are by the Cav. Liberi, is +supposed to be by Montagna, from the tone of the water. This however is +an error, for the Montagna of whom we speak, called by Felibien (tom. +iii. p. 339,) Montagna di Venezia, certainly died in Padua; and in a MS. +by a contemporary author, where he is mentioned as a distinguished sea +painter, he is said to have died in 1644. I apprehend this is the same +artist whom Malvasia (tom. ii. p. 78,) calls Mons. Rinaldo della +Montagna, and states that he was held in esteem by Guido for his +excellence in sea views. I also find a Niccolo de Plate Montagna, +favourably mentioned by Felibien, also a marine painter, who died about +1665; and I formerly imagined that this might be the artist who painted +so much in Italy, but I now retract that opinion. + +Tempesti was the first to introduce the custom of decorating landscapes +with battles and skirmishes. A Flemish artist of the name of Jacopo +succeeded to him in this branch, but his fame was eclipsed by his own +scholar Cerquozzi, a Roman, who from his singular talent in this +respect, was called Michelangiolo delle Battaglie. He was superior to +Tempesti in colouring, but inferior to him in designing horses. In the +human figure, too, he is less correct, and more daring in the style of +his master Cesari. It must however be remembered, that when Cerquozzi +painted battles he was not in his prime, and that his chief merit lay in +subjects on which I shall presently make some remarks. + +Padre Jacopo Cortese, a Jesuit, called from his native country Il +Borgognone, carried this branch of the art to a height unknown before or +since. M. A. Cerquozzi discovered his genius for this department, and +persuaded him to abandon the other branches of painting which he +cultivated, and to confine himself to this alone. The Battle of +Constantine, by Giulio Romano in the Vatican, was the model on which he +founded his style. His youth had been dedicated to arms, and his +military spirit was not to be extinguished by the luxury of Rome, or the +indolence of the cloister. He imparted a wonderful air of reality to his +compositions. His combatants appear before us courageously contending +for honour or for life, and we seem to hear the cries of the wounded, +the blast of the trumpet, and the neighing of the horses. He was indeed +an inimitable artist in his line, and his scholars were accustomed to +say that their own figures seemed to fight only in jest, while those of +Borgognone were the real occupants of the field of battle. He painted +with great despatch, and his battle pieces are in consequence very +frequent in collections; his touch was rapid, in strokes, and his pencil +flowing, so that the effect is heightened by distance; and this style +was probably the result of his study of Paolo at Venice, and of Guido in +Bologna. From whatever cause it may be, his colouring is very different +from that of Guglielmo Baur, who is considered his master, and of whom +there are some works in the Colonna gallery. There also may be seen +several specimens of his scholars, Bruni, Graziano, and Giannizero, who +adopted from Borgognone their colouring, and the selection of a distant +point of view for their subject. Others of his scholars occur in various +schools. + +It was also during the pontificate of Urban, about the year 1626, that +the burlesque style was first brought into notice in Rome. It had been +practised by Ludius in the time of Augustus, and was not wholly unknown +to our early artists; but I am not aware that any one had exercised this +branch as a profession, or on so small a scale as was practised by +Pietro Laar, who was called Bamboccio, from his deformity, as well as +from the subjects of his pencil; and the appellation of _bambocciate_ is +generally applied to these small pictures, which represent the +festivities of the vintage, dances, fights, and carnival masquerades. +His figures are usually of a span in size, and the accompanying +landscape and the animals are so vividly coloured, that we seem, says +Passeri, to see the very objects themselves from an open window, rather +than the representation on canvass. The great painters frequently +purchased the pictures of Pietro, in order to study his natural style of +colour, though at the same time they lamented that so much talent should +be misapplied to such low subjects.[83] He resided many years in Rome, +and then retired to Holland, where he died at an advanced age, and not a +young man, as Passeri has imagined. + +His place and his employ in Rome were soon filled up by Cerquozzi, who +had for some time past exchanged the name of M. A. delle Battaglie, for +that of M. A. delle Bambocciate. Although the subjects which he +represents are humourous, like those of Laar, the incidents and the +characters are for the most part different. The first adopted the +Flemish boors, the other the peasantry of Italy. They had both great +force of colour, but Bamboccio excels Cerquozzi in landscape, while the +latter discovers more spirit in his figures. One of Cerquozzi's largest +compositions is in the Spada palace at Rome, in which he represented a +band of insurgent Lazzaroni applauding Maso Aniello. + +Laar had another excellent imitator in Gio. Miel, of Antwerp, who having +imbibed a good style of colouring from Vandyke, came to Rome and +frequented the school of Sacchi. From thence, however, he was soon +dismissed, as his master wished him to attempt serious subjects, but he +was led both by interest and genius to the burlesque. His pictures +pleased from their spirited representations and their excellent +management of light and shade, and brought high prices from collectors. +He afterwards painted on a larger scale, and besides some altarpieces in +Rome, he left some considerable works in Piedmont, where we shall notice +him again. Theodore Hembreker, of Haerlem, also employed himself on +humourous subjects, and scenes of common life, although there are some +religious pieces attributed to him in the church della Pace in Rome, and +a number of landscapes in private collections. He passed many years in +Italy, and visited most of the great cities, so that his works are +frequently found not only in Rome, where he had established himself, but +in Florence, Naples, Venice, and elsewhere. His style is a pleasing +union of the Flemish and Italian. + +Many artists of this period attached themselves to the painting of +animals. Castiglione distinguished himself in this line, but he resided +for the most part of his time in another country. M. Gio. Rosa, of +Flanders, is the most known in Rome and the State, for the great number +of his paintings of animals, in which he possessed a rare talent. It is +told of him, that dogs were deceived by the hares he painted, thus +reviving the wonderful story of Zeuxis, so much boasted of by Pliny. Two +of his largest and finest pictures are in the Bolognetti collection, and +there is attached to them a portrait, but whether of the painter +himself, or some other person, is not known. We must not confound this +artist with Rosa da Tivoli, who was also an excellent animal painter, +but not so celebrated in Italy, and flourished at a later period, and +whose real name was Philip Peter Roos. He was son-in-law of Brandi, and +his scholar in Rome, and rivalled his hasty method in many pictures +which I have seen in Rome and the states of the church; but we ought not +to rest our decision of his merits on these works, but should view the +animals painted by him at his leisure, particularly for the galleries of +princes. These are to be found in Vienna, Dresden, Monaco, and other +capital cities of Germany; and London possesses not a few of the first +value in their way.[84] + +After Caravaggio had given the best examples of flowers in his pictures, +the Cav. Tommaso Salini, of Rome, an excellent artist, as may be seen in +a S. Niccola at S. Agostino, was the first that composed vases of +flowers, accompanying them with beautiful groups of corresponding +foliage, and other elegant designs. Others too pursued this branch, and +the most celebrated of all, was Mario Nuzzi della Penna, better known by +the name of Mario da' Fiori; whose productions during his life were +emulously sought after, and purchased at great prices; but after the +lapse of some years, not retaining their original freshness, and +acquiring, from a vicious mode of colouring, a black and squalid +appearance, they became much depreciated in value. The same thing +happened to the flower pieces of Laura Bernasconi, who was his best +imitator, and whose works are still to be seen in many collections. + +Orsini informs us, that he found in Ascoli some paintings of flowers by +another of the fair sex, to whose memory the Academy of S. Luke in Rome +erected a marble monument in their church, not so much in compliment to +her talents in painting, as in consequence of her having bequeathed to +that society all her property, which was considerable. In her epitaph +she is commemorated only as a miniature painter, and Orlandi describes +her as such, adding, that she resided for a long time in Florence, where +she left a large number of portraits in miniature of the Medici, and +other princes of that time, about the year 1630. She also painted in +other capitals of Italy, and died at an advanced age in Rome, in 1673. + +Michelangiolo di Campidoglio of Rome, was greatly distinguished for his +masterly grouping of fruits. Though almost fallen into oblivion from the +lapse of years, his pictures are still to be met with in Rome, and in +other places. The noble family of Fossombroni in Arezzo, possess one of +the finest specimens of him that I have ever seen. More generally known +is Pietro Paolo Bonzi, called by Baglione, Il Gobbo di Cortona, which +was his native place; by others, Il Gobbo de' Caracci, from his having +been employed in their school; and by the vulgar, Il Gobbo da' Frutti, +from the natural manner of his painting fruit. He did not pass the +bounds of mediocrity in historical design, as we may see from his S. +Thomas, in the church of the Rotonda, nor in landscapes; but he was +unrivalled in painting fruits, and designing festoons, as in the ceiling +of the Palazzo Mattei; and in his elegant grouping of fruit in dishes +and baskets, as I have seen in Cortona, in the house of the noble family +of Velluti, in the Olivieri gallery in Pesaro, and elsewhere. The +Marchesi Venuti, in Cortona, have a portrait of him painted, it is +believed, by one of the Caracci, or some one of their school, and it is +well known, that the drawing of caricatures was a favourite amusement of +that academy. + +At this brilliant epoch, the art of perspective too was carried to a +high degree of perfection in deceiving the eye of the spectator. From +the beginning of the seventeenth century, it had made great advances by +the aid of P. Zaccolini, a Theatine monk of Cesena, in whose praise it +is sufficient to observe, that Domenichino and Poussin were instructed +by him in this art. S. Silvestro, in Montecavallo, possesses the finest +specimen of this power of illusion, in a picture of feigned columns, and +cornices and other architectural decorations. His original drawings +remain in the Barberini library. Gianfrancesco Niceron de' P. P. Minimi +added to this science by his work entitled _Thaumaturgus opticus_, 1643; +and in a gallery of his convent at Trinita de' Monti, he painted some +landscapes, which, on being viewed in a different aspect, are converted +into figures. But the most practised artist in the academy of Rome, was +Viviano Codagora, who drew from the ruins of ancient Rome, and also +painted compositions of his own invention in perspective. He engaged +Cerquozzi and Miel, and others in Rome, to insert the figures for him, +but he was most partial to Gargiuoli of Naples, as we shall mention in +our account of that school. Viviano may he called the Vitruvius of this +class of painters. He was correct in his linear perspective, and an +accurate observer of the style of the ancients. He gave his +representations of marble the peculiar tint it acquires by the lapse of +years, and his general tone of colour was vigorous. What subtracts the +most from his excellence is a certain hardness, and too great a quantity +of black, by which his pictures are easily distinguished from others in +collections, and which in the course of time renders them dark and +almost worthless. His true name is unknown to the greater number of the +lovers of art, by whom he is called Il Viviani; and who seem to have +confounded him with Ottavio Viviani of Brescia, who is mentioned by the +Dictionaries; a perspective painter also, but in another branch, and in +a different style, as we shall hereafter see. + +[Footnote 71: He excelled chiefly in architecture, although he had given +a proof of his talents in painting, in some subjects in the gallery, +executed under Gregory XIII.] + +[Footnote 72: In the, not very accurate, catalogue of the pictures in +Fabriano, besides the above mentioned fourteen, seven more are mentioned +by the same master.] + +[Footnote 73: Mention is also made of one Basilio Maggieri, an excellent +painter of portraits.] + +[Footnote 74: V. Le Pitture pubbliche di Piacenza, p. 81.] + +[Footnote 75: In a letter of the Oretti correspondence, written in 1777, +from Andrea Zanoni to the Prince Ercolani, I find Marini classed in the +school of Ferrau da Faenza, and there still remain many pictures by him +in the style of that master.] + +[Footnote 76: Pascoli has restored to him the picture of S. Rosalia at +the Maddalena, which Titi had ascribed to Michele Rocca, called _Il +Parmigianino_, an artist of repute, and proper to be mentioned, as by +those who are not acquainted with his name and style, he might be +mistaken for Mazzuola, or perhaps Scaglia. The same author, soon +afterwards, mentions Grecolini, and thereby renders any further notice +of that artist on my part unnecessary.] + +[Footnote 77: We ought to judge of him from the Visitation, at the +church of the Orfanelli, rather than from the picture of various Saints, +in _Ara Coeli_. This kind of observation may be extended to many other +artists, who are commemorated for the sake of some superior work.] + +[Footnote 78: Memoirs of this painter have been long a desideratum, as +may be seen from the Lett. Pitt. tom. v. p. 257. I give such information +as I have been able to procure in his native place, assisted by the +researches of the very obliging Monsignore Massajuoli, Bishop of Nocera. +Gio. Batista was born in Sassoferrato on the 11th July, 1605, and died +in Rome on the 8th August, 1685. And I may here correct an error of my +first edition, where it is printed 1635.] + +[Footnote 79: There is a picture of the Rosario in the church of the +Eremitani, with his name, and the year 1573. It is a large composition.] + +[Footnote 80: In the Oretti Correspondence there is a letter from an +anonymous writer to Malvasia respecting this painter, who is there +called Francesco, and is declared to be _Pittore di molta stima_. He +then painted in Ancona, as appears from letters under his own hand to +Malvasia, where he invariably subscribes himself Francesco.] + +[Footnote 81: Passeri, Vite de' Pittori, page 363. He was remarkable for +being the first to adopt a new style in trees in landscapes, where by a +strong character of truth and attention to the forms of the trunk, +foliage, and branches, he denoted the particular species he wished to +express.] + +[Footnote 82: He painted for his _studio_ a landscape enriched with +views from the Villa Madama, in which a wonderful variety of trees was +introduced. This he preserved for the purpose of supplying himself, as +from nature, with subjects for his various pictures, and refused to sell +it to the munificent pontiff, Clement IX., although that prince offered +to cover it with pieces of gold.] + +[Footnote 83: V. Salvator Rosa, sat. iii. p. 79, where he reprehends not +only the artists, but also the great, for affording such pictures a +place in their collections.] + +[Footnote 84: He was the ancestor of the Sig. Giuseppe Rosa, director of +the imperial gallery in Vienna, who has given us a catalogue of the +Italian and Flemish pictures of that collection, and who will, we hope, +add the German. Of this deserving artist he possesses a portrait, +engraved in 1789, where we find a list of the various academies that had +elected him a member, and these are numerous, and of the first class in +Europe. We find him also amongst those masters whose drawings were +collected by Mariette; and he is also mentioned in the Lessico +Universale delle Belle Arti, edited in Zurich, in 1763.] + + + + + ROMAN SCHOOL. + + FIFTH EPOCH. + + _The Scholars of Pietro da Cortona, from an injudicious + imitation of their Master, deteriorate the art. Maratta + and others support it._ + + +It may with equal justice be asserted of the fine arts, as of the belles +lettres, that they never long remain in the same state, and that they +experience often great changes even in the common period assigned to the +life of man. Many causes contribute to this; public calamities, such as +I mentioned to have occurred after the death of Raffaello; the +instability of the human mind, which in the arts as in dress is guided +by fashion and the love of novelty; the influence of particular artists; +the taste of the great, who from their selection or patronage of +particular masters, silently indicate the path to those artists who seek +the gifts of fortune. These and other causes tended to produce the +decline of painting in Rome towards the close of the seventeenth +century, at a time too when literature began to revive; a clear proof +that they are not mutually progressive. This was in a great measure +occasioned by the calamitous events which afflicted Rome and the state, +about the middle of that century; by the feuds of the nobles, the flight +of the Barberini family, and other unfortunate circumstances, which, +during the pontificate of Innocent X., as we are informed by Passeri, +(p. 321,) rendered the employment of artists very precarious; but more +than all the dreadful plague of 1655, under Alexander VII. To this state +of decay too the evil passions of mankind contributed in no small +degree, and these indeed in all revolutions are among the most active +and predominant sources of evil, and often even in a prosperous state of +things sow the seeds of future calamities. + +The Cav. Bernini, a man of more talents as an architect than as a +sculptor, was under Urban VIII. and Innocent X., and also until the year +1680, in which he died, the arbiter of the public taste in Rome. The +enemy of Sacchi and the benefactor of Cortona, he obtained more employ +for his friend than for his rival; and this was easily accomplished, as +Cortona was rapid as well as laborious, while Sacchi was slow and +irresolute, qualities which rendered him unacceptable even to his own +patrons. In course of time Bernini began to favour Romanelli, to the +prejudice of Pietro; and, instructing that artist and Baciccio in his +principles, he influenced them to the adoption of his own style, which, +though it possessed considerable beauty, was nevertheless mannered, +particularly in the folds of the drapery. The way being thus opened to +caprice, they abandoned the true, and substituted false precepts of art, +and many years had not elapsed before pernicious principles appeared in +the schools of the painters, and particularly in that of Cortona. Some +went so far as to censure the imitation of Raffaello, as Bellori attests +in the Life of Carlo Maratta, (p. 102,) and others ridiculed, as +useless, the study of nature, preferring to copy, in a servile manner, +the works of other artists. These effects are visible in the pictures of +the time. All the countenances, although by different artists, have a +fulness in the lips and nose like those of Pietro, and have all a sort +of family resemblance, so much are they alike; a defect which Bottari +says is the only fault of Pietro, but it is not the only fault of his +school. Every one was anxious to avoid the labour of study, and to +promote facility at the expense of correct design; the errors in which +they endeavoured to conceal by overcharging rather than discriminating +the contours. No one can be desirous that I should enter into further +particulars, when we are treating of matters so very near our own times, +and whoever is free from prejudice may judge for himself. I now return +to the state of the Roman School about one hundred and twenty years +back. + +The schools most in repute, after the death of Sacchi, in 1661, and of +Berrettini, in 1670, when the best scholars of the Caracci were dead, +were reduced to two, that of Cortona supported by Ciro, and that of +Sacchi, by Maratta. The first of these expanded the ideas, but induced +negligence; the second enforced correctness, but fettered the ideas. +Each adopted something from the other, and not always the best part; an +affected contrast pleased some of the scholars of Maratta, and the +drapery of Maratta was adopted by some of the followers of Ciro.[85] The +school of Cortona exhibited a grand style in fresco; the other school +was restricted to oils. They became rivals, each supported by its own +party, and were impartially employed by the pontiffs until the death of +Ciro, that is, until 1689. From that time a new tone was given to art by +Maratta, who, under Clement XI., was appointed director of the numerous +works which that pontiff was carrying on in Rome and in Urbino. Although +this master had many able rivals, as we shall see, he still maintained +his superiority, and on his death, his school continued to flourish +until the pontificate of Benedict XIV., ultimately yielding to the more +novel style of Subleyras, Batoni, and Mengs. Thus far of the two schools +in general: we shall now notice their followers. + +Besides the scholars whom Pietro formed in Tuscany, as Dandini of +Florence, Castellucci of Arezzo, Palladino of Cortona, and those whom he +formed in other schools, where we shall see them as masters, he educated +others in the Roman state, of whom it is now time to speak. The number +of his scholars is beyond belief. They were enumerated by Sig. Cav. +Luzi, a nobleman of Cortona, who composed a life of Berrettini with more +accuracy than had been before done, but his death prevented the +publication of it. Pietro continued to teach to the close of his life, +and the picture of S. Ivo, which he left imperfect, was finished by Gio. +Ventura Borghesi, of Citta di Castello. Of this artist there are also at +S. Niccola, two pictures, the Nativity, and the Assumption of the +Virgin, and I am not acquainted with any other public specimens of his +pencil in Rome. His native place possesses many of his performances, and +the most esteemed are four circles of the History of S. Caterina, V. M., +in the church of that saint. Many of his works are to be found also in +Prague, and the cities of Germany. He follows Pietro with sufficient +fidelity in design, but does not display so much vigour of colour. Carlo +Cesi, of Rieti, or rather of Antrodoco, in that neighbourhood, was also +a distinguished scholar of Pietro. He lived in Rome, and in the Quirinal +gallery, where the best artists of the age painted under Alexander VII., +he has left a large picture of the Judgment of Solomon. He worked also +in other places; as at S. M. Maggiore, at the Rotunda, and was +patronized by several cardinals. He was correct in his design, and +opposed, both in person and by his precepts and example, the fatal and +prevailing facility of his time. Pascoli has preserved some of his +axioms, and this among others, that the beautiful should not be crowded, +but distributed with judgment in the composition of pictures; otherwise +they resemble a written style, which by the redundancy of brilliant and +sententious remarks fails in its effect. Francesco Bonifazio was of +Viterbo, and from the various pictures by him, which Orlandi saw in that +city, I do not hesitate to rank him among the successful followers of +Pietro. We may mention Michelangiolo Ricciolini, a Roman by birth, +although called of Todi, whose portrait is in the Medici gallery, where +is also that of Niccolo Ricciolini, respecting whom Orlandi is silent. +Both were employed in decorating the churches of Rome; the second had +the reputation of a better designer than the first, and in the cartoons +painted for some mosaics for the Vatican church, he competed with the +Cav. Franceschini. Paolo Gismondi, called also Paolo Perugino, became a +good fresco painter, and there are works remaining by him in the S. +Agata, in the Piazza Nova, and at S. Agnes, in the Piazza Navona. Pietro +Paolo Baldini, of whose native place I am ignorant, is stated by Titi to +have been of the school of Cortona. Ten pictures by him are counted in +the churches of Rome, and in some of them, as in the Crucifixion of S. +Eustace, a precision of style derived from another school is observable. +Bartolommeo Palombo has only two pictures in the capital. That of S. +Maria Maddelena de' Pazzi, which is placed at S. Martino a' Monti, +entitles him to rank with the best of his fellow scholars, the picture +possesses so strong a colouring, and the figures are so graceful and +well designed. Pietro Lucatelli, of Rome, was a distinguished painter, +and is named in the catalogue of the Colonna gallery, as the scholar of +Ciro, and in Titi, as the disciple of Cortona. He is a different artist +from Andrea Lucatelli, of whom we shall shortly speak. Gio. Batista +Lenardi, whom, in a former edition, I hesitated to place in the list of +the pupils of Pietro, I now consider as belonging to that school, though +he was instructed also by Baldi. In the chapel of the B. Rita, at S. +Agostino, he painted two lateral pictures as well as the vault; he also +ornamented other churches with his works, and particularly that of +Buonfratelli, at Trastevere, where he painted the picture of S. Gio. +Calibita. That of the great altar was ascribed to him, probably from a +similarity of style; but is by Andrea Generoli, called Il Sabinese, a +pupil either of Pietro himself, or of one of his followers. + +Thus far of the less celebrated of this school. The three superior +artists, whose works still attract us in the galleries of princes, are +Cortesi, and the two elder scholars of the academy of Pietro, Romanelli +and Ferri. Nor is it improbable that having competitors in some of his +first scholars, he became indisposed to instruct others with the same +degree of good will, as those noble minds are few, in whom the zeal of +advancing the art exceeds the regret at having produced an ingrate or a +rival. + +Guglielmo Cortesi, the brother of P. Giacomo, like him named Il +Borgognone, was one of the best artists of this period; and a scholar +rather than an imitator of Pietro. His admiration was fixed on Maratta, +whom he followed in the studied variety of his heads, and in the +sobriety of the composition, more than in the division of the folds of +his drapery or in colour; in which latter he manifested a clearness +partaking of the Flemish. His style was somewhat influenced by that of +his brother, whose assistant he was, and by his study of the Caracci. He +often appears to have imitated the strong relief and azure grounds of +Guercino. His Crucifixion of S. Andrea, in the church of Monte Cavallo, +the Fight of Joshua in the Quirinal palace, and a Madonna attended by +Saints, in the Trinita de' Pellegrini, merit our attention. In these +works there is a happy union of various styles, exempt from mannerism. + +Francesco Romanelli was born at Viterbo, and, as well as Testa, studied +some time under Domenichino. He afterwards placed himself with Pietro, +whose manner he imitated so successfully, that on Pietro going on a +journey into Lombardy, he left him, together with Bottalla (called +Bortelli by Baldinucci) to supply his place in decorating the Barberini +palace. It is reported that the two scholars, in the absence of their +master, endeavoured to have the work transferred to themselves, and were +on that account dismissed. It was at this time that Romanelli, assisted +by Bernini, changed his style, and adopted by degrees a more elegant and +a seductive manner in his figures, but possessing less grandeur and +science than that of Pietro. He used more slender proportions, clearer +tints, and a more minute taste in folding his drapery. His Deposition in +S. Ambrogio, which was extolled as a prodigy, stimulated Pietro to paint +opposite to it that wonderful picture of S. Stephen, on seeing which +Bernini exclaimed, that he then perceived the difference between the +master and the scholar. Romanelli was twice in France, having found a +patron in the Cardinal Barberini, who had fled to Paris; and he +participated in the spirited manner of that country, which gave an +animation before unknown to his figures. This at least is the opinion of +Pascoli. He decorated a portico of Cardinal Mazarine with subjects from +the metamorphoses of Ovid, and afterwards adorned some of the royal +saloons with passages from the AEneid. He was preparing to return to +France with his family for the third time, when he was intercepted by +death at Viterbo. He left in that city, at the grand altar of the Duomo, +the picture of S. Lorenzo, and in Rome, and in other cities of Italy, +numerous works both public and private, although he died at about +forty-five years of age. He had the honour of painting in the church of +the Vatican. The presentation which he placed there is now in the church +of the Certosa, the mosaic in S. Peter. He did not leave behind him any +scholars who inherited his reputation. Urbano, his son, was educated by +Ciro after the death of his father. He is known for his works in the +cathedral churches of Velletri and Viterbo: those in Viterbo are from +the life of S. Lorenzo, the patron saint of the church, and prove him to +have been a young man of considerable promise, but he was cut off +prematurely. + +Ciro Ferri, a Roman by birth, was, of all the disciples of Cortona, the +one the most attached in person, and similar to him in style; and not a +few of the works of Pietro were given to him to complete, both in +Florence and in Rome. There are indeed some pictures so dubious, that +the experienced are in doubt whether to assign them to the master or the +scholar. He displays generally less grace in design, a less expansive +genius, and shuns that breadth of drapery which his master affected. The +number of his works in Rome is not proportioned to his residence there, +because he lent much assistance to his master. There is a S. Ambrogio in +the church of that saint just mentioned, and it is a touchstone of merit +for whoever wishes to compare him with the best of his fellow scholars, +or with his master himself. His works in the Pitti palace have been +already mentioned in another place, and we ought not to forget another +grand composition by him in S. M. Maggiore in Bergamo, consisting of +various scriptural histories painted in fresco. He speaks of them +himself in some letters inserted in the Pittoriche, (tom. ii. p. 38,) +from which we gather, that he had been reprehended for his colouring, +and contemplated visiting Venice in order to improve himself. He did not +leave any scholar of celebrity in Rome. Corbellini, who finished the +Cupola of S. Agnes, the last work of Ciro, which has been engraved, +would not have found a place in Titi and Pascoli, if it had not been to +afford those writers an opportunity of expressing their regret at so +fine a composition being injured by the hand that attempted to finish +it. + +But another scion of the same stock sprung up to support the name and +credit of the school of Ciro, transferred from Florence to Rome. We +mentioned in the first book, that when Ciro was in Florence he formed a +scholar in Gabbiani, who became the master of Benedetto Luti. Ciro was +only just dead when Luti arrived in Rome, who not being able to become +his scholar, as he had designed when he left his native place, applied +himself to studying the works of Ciro, and those of other good masters, +as I have elsewhere remarked. He thus formed for himself an original +style, and enjoyed in Rome the reputation of an excellent artist in the +time of Clement XI., who honoured him with commissions, and decorated +him with the cross. It is to be regretted that he attached himself so +much to crayons, with which he is said to have inundated all Europe. He +was intended by nature for nobler things. He painted well in fresco, and +still better in oils. His S. Anthony in the church of the Apostles, and +the Magdalen in that of the Sisters of Magnanapoli, which is engraved, +are highly esteemed. Nor would it add a little to his reputation, if we +had engravings of his two pictures in the Duomo of Piacenza, S. Conrad +penitent, and S. Alexius recognised after death; where, amidst other +excellences, a fine expression of the pathetic predominates. Of his +profane pieces, his Psyche in the Capitoline gallery, is the most +remarkable, and breathes an elegant and refined taste. Of the few +productions which Tuscany possesses by him, we have written in the +school of Gabbiani. We shall here mention a few of his scholars, who +remained in Rome, noticing others in various schools. + +Placido Costanzi is often mentioned with approbation in the collections +of Rome for the elegant figures he inserted in the landscapes of +Orizzonte; he also painted some altarpieces in a refined style. In the +church of the Magdalen is a picture of S. Camillo attended by Angels, so +gracefully painted, that he seems to have aspired to rival Domenichino. +He also distinguished himself in fresco, as may be seen in the S. Maria +in Campo Marzio, where the ceiling in the greater tribune is the work of +Costanzi. + +Pietro Bianchi resembled Luti more than any of his scholars in elegance +of manner, and excelled him in large compositions, which he derived from +his other master, Baciccio. His extreme fastidiousness and his early +death prevented him from leaving many works. A very few of his pictures +are found in the churches of Rome. At Gubbio is his picture of S. +Chiara, with the Angel appearing, a piece of grand effect, from the +distribution of the light. The sketch of this picture was purchased by +the King of Sardinia at a high price. He painted for the church of S. +Peter a picture, which was executed in mosaic in the altar of the choir: +the original is in the Certosa, in which the Cav. Mancini had the +greatest share, as Bianchi did little more than furnish the sketch. + +Francesco Michelangeli, called l'Aquilano, is known to posterity from a +letter written by Luti himself, (Lett. Pitt. tom. vi. p. 278,) where the +annotator informs us, that his master frequently employed him in copying +his works, and that he died young. This notice is not without its use, +as it acquaints us with the origin of the beautiful copies of Luti which +are so frequently met with. + +We may lastly notice an artist of mediocrity of this school, who is +nevertheless said to be the painter of some beautiful pictures; the two +pictures of S. Margaret, in Araceli; S. Gallicano, in the church of that +saint; and the Nativity, in the church of the Infant Jesus. His name was +Filippo Evangelisti, and he was chamberlain to the Cardinal Corradini, +through whose influence he obtained many commissions. Being himself +incapable of executing these well, (if we may rely on a letter in the +_Pittoriche_) he engaged Benefial, whom we shall shortly notice, to +assist him. They thus painted in partnership, the gain was divided +between them, but the celebrity was the portion of the principal; and if +any piece came out under the name of the assistant, it was rather +censured than praised. The poor artist at last became impatient of this +treatment, and disdaining any longer to support a character which did +him no honour, he left his companion to work by himself; and it was then +that Evangelisti, in his picture of S. Gregory, in the church of the +Saints Peter and Marcellino, appeared in his true colours, and the +public thus discovered that he was indebted to Benefial for genius as +well as labour. + +The school of Sacchi may boast of one of the first artists of the age in +Francesco Lauri, of Rome, in whom his master flattered himself he had +found a second Raffaello. The disciple himself, in order to justify the +high expectation which the public had conceived of him, before opening a +school in Rome, travelled through Italy, and from thence visited +Germany, Holland, and Flanders, and resided for the space of a year in +Paris; thus adding greatly to the funds of knowledge and experience +already obtained by him in his native place. He was, however, cut off +very early in life, leaving behind him, in the Sala de' Crescenzi, three +figures of Goddesses painted in the vault in fresco; but no other +considerable work, as far as my knowledge extends. This artist must not +be confounded with Filippo, his brother, and scholar in his early years, +who was afterwards instructed by Caroselli, who espoused his sister. He +was not accustomed to paint large compositions; and the Adam and Eve, +which are seen in the Pace, it should seem, he represented on so much +larger a scale, lest any one should despise his talent, as only capable +of small works, on which he was always profitably employed. We meet with +cabinet pictures by him in the Flemish style, touched with great spirit, +and coloured in good taste, evincing a fund of lively and humorous +invention. He sometimes painted sacred subjects, and at S. Saverio, in +the collection of the late Monsignor Goltz, I saw an enchanting picture +by him, a perfect gem, and greatly admired by Mengs. He painted in the +Palazzo Borghese some beautiful landscapes in fresco, in which branch +his family was already celebrated, as his father, Baldassare, of +Flanders, who had been a scholar of Brill, and lived in Rome in the time +of Sacchi, was ranked among the eminent landscape painters, and is +commemorated by Baldinucci. + +The immature death of Lauri was compensated for by the lengthened term +of years accorded to Luigi Garzi and Carlo Maratta, who continued to +paint to the commencement of the eighteenth century; enemies to +despatch, correct in their style, and free from the corrupt prejudices +which afterwards usurped the place of the genuine rules of art. The +first, who is called a Roman by Orlandi, was born in Pistoja, but came +while yet young to Rome. He studied landscape for fifteen years under +Boccali, but being instructed afterwards by Sacchi, he discovered such +remarkable talents, that he became highly celebrated in Naples and in +Rome in every class of painting. In the former city, his decoration of +two chambers of the royal palace is greatly extolled; and in the latter, +where he ornamented many churches, he seemed to surpass himself in the +Prophet of S. Giovanni Laterano. He is praised in general for his forms +and attitudes, and for his fertile invention and his composition. He +understood perspective, and was a good machinist, though in refinement +of taste he is somewhat behind Maratta. In his adherence to the school +of Sacchi we may still perceive some imitation of Cortona, to whom some +have given him as a scholar, as well in many pictures remaining in Rome, +as in others sent to various parts; among which is his S. Filippo Neri, +in the church of that saint at Fano, which is a gallery of beautiful +productions. But on no occasion does he seem more a follower of Cortona, +or rather of Lanfranco, than in the Assumption in the Duomo of Pescia, +an immense composition, and which is considered his masterpiece. It is +mentioned in the _Catalogo delle migliori Pitture di Valdinievole_, +drawn up by Sig. Innocenzio Ansaldi, and inserted in the recent History +of Pescia. Mario, the son of Luigi Garzi who is mentioned twice in the +_Guida di Roma_, died young. We may here also mention the name of +Agostino Scilla of Messina, whom we shall hereafter notice more at +length. + +Carlo Maratta was born in Camurano, in the district of Ancona, and +enjoyed, during his life, the reputation of one of the first painters in +Europe. Mengs, in a letter "On the Rise, Progress, and Decline of the +Art of Design," assigns to Maratta the enviable distinction of having +sustained the art in Rome, where it did not degenerate as in other +places. The early part of his life was devoted to copying the works of +Raffaello, which always excited his admiration, and his indefatigable +industry was employed in restoring the frescos of that great master in +the Vatican and the Farnesina, and preserving them for the eyes of +posterity; a task requiring both infinite care and judgment, and +described by Bellori. He was not a machinist, and in consequence neither +he nor his scholars distinguished themselves in frescos, or in large +compositions. At the same time he had no fear of engaging in works of +that kind, and willingly undertook the decoration of the Duomo of +Urbino, which he peopled with figures. This work, with the Cupola +itself, was destroyed by an earthquake in 1782; but the sketches for it +are preserved in Urbino, in four pictures, in the Albani palace. He was +most attached by inclination to the painting of cabinet pictures and +altarpieces. His Madonnas possess a modest, lively, and dignified air; +his angels are graceful; and his saints are distinguished by their fine +heads, a character of devotion, and are clothed in the sumptuous costume +of the church. In Rome his pictures are the more prized the nearer they +approach to the style of Sacchi, as the S. Saverio in the Gesu, a +Madonna in the Panfili palace, and several others. Some are found beyond +the territories of the church, and in Genoa is his Martyrdom of S. +Biagio, a picture as to the date of which I do not inquire, but only +assert that it is worthy of the greatest rival of Sacchi. He afterwards +adopted a less dignified style, but which for its correctness is worthy +of imitation. Though he had devoted the early part of his life to the +acquisition of a pure style of design, he did not think himself +sufficiently accomplished in it, and again returned, when advanced in +years, to the study of Raffaello, of whose excellences he possessed +himself, without losing sight of the Caracci and Guido. But many are of +opinion that he fell into a style too elaborate, and sacrificed the +spirit of his compositions to minute care. His principal fault lay in +the folding of his drapery, when through a desire of copying nature he +too frequently separates its masses, and neglects too much the naked +parts, which takes away from the elegance of his figures. He endeavoured +to fix his principal light on the most important part of his +composition, subduing rather more than was right, the light in other +parts of his picture, and his scholars carried this principle afterwards +so far as to produce an indistinctness which became the characteristic +mark of his school. + +Though not often, he yet painted some few pictures of an extraordinary +magnitude, as the S. Carlo in the church of that saint at the Corso, and +the Baptism of Christ in the Certosa, copied in mosaic in the Basilica +of S. Peter. His other pictures are for the most part on a smaller +scale; many are in Rome, and amongst them the charming composition of S. +Stanislaus Kostka, at the altar where his ashes repose; not a few others +in other cities, as the S. Andrea Corsini in the chapel of that noble +family in Florence, and the S. Francesco di Sales at the Filippini di +Forli, which is one of his most studied works. He contributed largely, +also, to the galleries of sovereigns and private individuals. There is +not a considerable collection in Rome without a specimen of his pencil, +particularly that of the Albani, to which family he was extremely +attached. His works are frequently met with in the state. There is a +valuable copy of the Battle of Constantine, in possession of the +Mancinforti family in Ancona. It is related, that, being requested to +copy that picture, he proposed the task to one of his best scholars, who +disdained the commission. He therefore undertook the work himself, and +on finishing it, took occasion to intimate to his pupils, that the +copying such productions might not be without benefit to the most +accomplished masters. He had a daughter whom he instructed in his own +art; and her portrait, executed by herself, in a painting attitude, is +to be seen in the Corsini gallery at Rome. + +Maratta, in his capacity of an instructor, is extolled by his +biographer, Bellori (p. 208); but is by Pascoli accused of jealousy, and +of having condemned a youth of the most promising talents in his school, +Niccolo Berrettoni di Montefeltro, to the preparation of colours. This +artist, however, from the principles which he imbibed from Cantarini, +and from his imitation of Guido and Coreggio, formed for himself a mixed +style, delicate, free, and unconstrained, and the more studied, as that +study was concealed under the semblance of nature. He died young, +leaving very few works behind him, almost all of which were engraved, in +consequence of his high reputation. The Marriage of the Virgin Mary, +which he executed for S. Lorenzo in Borgo, was engraved by Pier Santi +Bartoli, a very distinguished engraver of those times, an excellent +copyist, and himself a painter of some merit.[86] Another of his +pictures, a Madonna, attended by saints at S. Maria di Monte Santo, and +the lunettes of the same chapel, were engraved by Frezza. An account of +this artist may be found in the Lettere Pitt. tom. v. p. 277. + +Giuseppe Chiari of Rome, who finished some pictures of Berrettoni and of +Maratta himself, was one of the best painters of easel pictures of that +school. Many of his works found their way to England. He painted some +pictures for the churches of Rome, and probably the best is the +Adoration of the Magi in the church of the Suffragio, of which there is +an engraving. He also succeeded in fresco. Those works in particular, +which he executed in the Barberini palace, under the direction of the +celebrated Bellori, and those also of the Colonna gallery, will always +do him credit; he was sober in his colours, careful and judicious; rare +qualities in a fresco painter. He did not inherit great talents from +nature, but by force of application became one of the first artists of +his age. Tommaso Chiari, a pupil also of Maratta, and whose designs he +sometimes executed, did not pass the bounds of mediocrity. The same may +be observed of Sigismond Rosa, a scholar of Giuseppe Chiari. + +To Giuseppe Chiari, who was the intimate friend of Maratta, we may add +two others, who were, according to Pascoli, the only scholars whom he +took a pleasure in instructing; Giuseppe Passeri, the nephew of +Giambatista, and Giacinto Calandrucci of Palermo. Both were +distinguished as excellent imitators of their master. Passeri worked +also in the state. In Pesaro is a S. Jerome by him, meditating on the +Last Judgment, which may be enumerated among his best works. In the +church of the Vatican, he painted a pendant to the Baptism of Maratta, +S. Peter baptizing the centurion, which after being copied in mosaic, +was sent to the church of the Conventuals in Urbino. This picture, which +was executed under the direction of Maratta, is well coloured; but in +many of his works his colouring is feeble, as in the Conception at the +church of S. Thomas in Parione, and in other places in Rome. +Calandrucci, after having given proof of his talents in the churches of +S. Antonio de' Portoghesi, and S. Paolino della Regola, and in other +churches of Rome, and after having been creditably employed by many +noble persons, and by two pontiffs, returned to Palermo, and there, in +the church del Salvatore, placed his large composition of the Madonnas, +attended by S. Basil and other saints, which work he did not long +survive. He left behind him in Rome a nephew, who was his scholar, +called Giambatista; and he had also a brother there of the name of +Domenico, a disciple of Maratta and himself; but there are no traces of +their works remaining. + +Andrea Procaccini and Pietro de' Petri, also hold a distinguished place +in this school, although their fortunes were very dissimilar. +Procaccini, who painted in S. Giovanni Laterano, the Daniel, one of the +twelve prophets which Clement XI. commanded to be painted as a trial of +skill by the artists of his day, obtained great fame, and ultimately +became painter to the court of Spain, where he remained fourteen years, +and left some celebrated works. Petri on the contrary continued to +reside in Rome, and died there at a not very advanced age. He was +employed there in the tribune of S. Clement, and in some other works. He +did not, however, obtain the reputation and success that he deserved, in +consequence of his infirm health and his extreme modesty. He is one of +those who engrafted on the style of Maratta, a portion of the manner of +Cortona. Orlandi calls him a Roman, others a Spaniard, but his native +place in fact was Premia, a district of Novara. Paolo Albertoni and Gio. +Paolo Melchiorri, both Romans, flourished about the same time; less +esteemed, indeed, than the foregoing, but possessing the reputation of +good masters, particularly the second. + +At a somewhat later period, the last scholar of Maratta, Agostino +Masucci presents himself to our notice. This artist did not exhibit any +peculiar spirit, confining himself to pleasing and devout subjects. In +his representations of the Virgin he emulated his master, who from his +great number of subjects of that kind, was at one time called Carlo +dalle Madonne; as he himself has commemorated in his own epitaph. Like +Maratta he imparted to them an expression of serene majesty, rather than +loveliness and affability. In some of his cabinet pictures I am aware +that he occasionally renounced this manner, but it was only through +intercession and expostulation. He was a good fresco painter, and +decorated for pope Benedict XIV. an apartment in a casino, erected in +the garden of the Quirinal. He painted many altarpieces, and his angels +and children are designed with great elegance and nature, and in a novel +and original style. His S. Anna at the Nome S. S. di Maria, is one of +the best pictures he left in Rome; there is also a S. Francis in the +church of the Osservanti di Macerata, a Conception at S. Benedetto di +Gubbio, in Urbino a S. Bonaventura, which is perhaps his noblest +composition, full of portraits (in which he was long considered the most +celebrated painter in Rome), and finished with exquisite care. Lorenzo, +his son and scholar, was very inferior to him. + +Stefano Pozzi received his first instructions from Maratta, and +afterwards became a scholar of Masucci. He had a younger brother, +Giuseppe, who died before him, ere his fame was matured. Stefano lived +long, painting in Rome with the reputation of one of the best masters of +his day; more noble in his style of design than Masucci, and if I err +not, more vigorous, and more natural in his colouring. We may easily +estimate their merits in Rome in the church just mentioned, where we +find the Transito di S. Giuseppe of Pozzi, near the S. Anna of Masucci. +Of the Cav. Girolamo Troppa, I have heard from oral tradition that he +was the scholar of Maratta. He was certainly his imitator, and a +successful one too, although he did not live long. He left works both in +oil and fresco in the capital, and in the church of S. Giacomo delle +Penitenti, he painted in competition with Romanelli. I have found +pictures by him in the state; and in S. Severino is a church picture +very well conducted. Girolamo Odam, a Roman of a Lorena family, is +reckoned among the disciples of the Cav. Carlo, and is eulogized in a +long and pompous article by Orlandi, or perhaps by some friend of Odam, +who supplied Orlandi with the information. He is there described as a +painter, sculptor, architect, engraver, philosopher, mathematician, and +poet, and accomplished in every art and science. In all these I should +imagine he was superficial, as nothing remains of him except some +engravings and a very slender reputation, not at all corresponding to +such unqualified commendation. + +Of other artists who are little known in Rome and its territories, such +as Jacopo Fiammingo, Francesco Pavesi, Michele Semini, there is little +information that can be relied on. Respecting Subissati, Conca is +silent, though information might possibly be obtained of him in Madrid, +at which court he died. In Urbino, which was his native place, I find no +picture of him remaining, except the head of a sybil: Antonio Balestra +of Verona and Raffaellino Bottalla will be found in their native +schools, but I must not here omit one, a native of the state, who after +being educated in the academy, returned to his native country, and there +introduced the style of Carlo, at that time so much in vogue. Orlandi +mentions with applause Gioseffo Laudati of Perugia, as having +contributed to restore the art, which after the support it had found in +Bassotti and others, had fallen into decay. + +Lodovico Trasi, of Ascoli, is deserving of particular notice. He was for +several years a fellow disciple of Maratta in the school of Sacchi, and +was afterwards desirous of becoming his scholar. After studying some +time in his academy, he returned to Ascoli, where he has left a great +number of works both public and private, in various styles. In some of +his smaller pictures he discovers a good Marattesque style; but in his +fresco and altarpieces he is negligent, and adheres much to Sacchi, yet +in a manner that discovers traces of Cortona. His picture of S. Niccolo +at the church of S. Cristoforo is beautiful, and is one of the pieces +which he finished with more than usual care. He has there represented +the enfranchisement of a slave, at the moment the pious youth is serving +at his master's table. There are some remarkable pictures of this artist +in the cathedral, painted in distemper, particularly that of the +martyrdom of S. Emidio. Trasi was the instructor of D. Tommaso Nardini, +who continued on his master's death the decoration of the churches of +the city, and his best work is perhaps in S. Angelo Magno, a church of +the Olivetani. The perspective was by Agostino Collaceroni of Bologna, a +scholar of Pozzi. Nardini supplied the figures, representing the +mysteries of the Apocalypse and other scriptural events. It displays +great spirit and harmony, richness of colouring and facility, which are +the distinguishing characteristics of this master, and are perhaps +better expressed in this picture than in any other. We may add to the +two before mentioned painters, Silvestro Mattei, who studied under +Maratta, Giuseppe Angelini, the scholar of Trasi, and Biagio Miniera, +also of Ascoli, whom Orsini has noticed in his _Guida_. + +There flourished about the same time in the neighbouring city of Fermo, +two Ricci, scholars of Maratta, who were probably instructed before +going to Rome by Lorenzino di Fermo, a good artist, though doubtful of +what school, and who is said to have painted the picture of S. Catharine +at the church of the Conventuals, and other pictures in the adjoining +territories. The one was named Natale, the other Ubaldo; the latter was +superior to the former, and is much extolled for his S. Felice, which he +painted for the church of the Capucins, in his native place. He did not +often pass the bounds of mediocrity, which is frequently the case with +artists residing at a distance from a capital, and who have not the +incitement to emulation and an opportunity of studying good examples. +The same observation is, I think, applicable also to another scholar of +Maratta, Giuseppe Oddi, of Pesaro, where one of his pictures remains in +the church della Carita. We shall now return to the metropolis. + +A fresh reinforcement to support the style of the Caracci in Rome, was +received from the school of Bologna. I speak only of those who +established themselves there. Domenico Muratori had been the scholar of +Pasinelli, and painted the great picture in the church of the Apostles, +which is probably the largest altarpiece in Rome, and represents the +martyrdom of S. Philip and S. James. The grandeur of this composition, +its judicious disposition and felicity of chiaroscuro, though its +colouring was not entirely perfect, gave him considerable celebrity. He +was also employed in many smaller works, in which he always evinced an +equally correct design, and perhaps better colouring. He was chosen to +paint one of the prophets in the Basilica Lateranense, and was employed +also in other cities. In the cathedral of Pisa, he painted a large +picture of S. Ranieri, in the act of exorcising a demon, which is +esteemed one of his most finished works. Francesco Mancini di S. Angiolo +in Vado, and Bonaventura Lamberti di Carpi, had better fortune in +Bologna, in having for their master Carlo Cignani. Mancini, when he came +to Rome, did not adhere exclusively to his master's manner, as he was +rather more attached to the facility and freedom of Franceschini, his +fellow scholar, whom he somewhat resembles in style. He seems, however, +to have had less despatch, and certainly painted less. He was chaste in +his invention, and followed the example of Lazzarini; he designed well, +coloured in a charming manner, and was numbered among the first artists +of his age in Rome. He painted the Miracle of S. Peter at the beautiful +gate of the temple, a picture which is preserved in the palace of Monte +Cavallo, and is copied in mosaic in S. Peter's. This picture, which is a +spirited composition, and well arranged in the perspective, is his +principal work, and does not suffer from a comparison with those +mentioned in the Guida di Roma, and others scattered through the +dominions of the church. Such are pictures with various saints in the +church of the Conventuals of Urbino, and in that of the Camaldolesi of +Fabriano; the appearing of Christ to S. Peter in that of the Filippini, +in Citta di Castello, and the various works executed in oil and in +fresco at Forli and at Macerata. He painted many pictures for foreign +collections, and was commended for his large compositions. From his +studio issued the Canonico Lazzarini before named, whom, as he lived +amongst other followers of Cignani, I shall reserve with them to the +close of the Bolognese school. Niccola Lapiccola, of Crotone, in +Calabria Ultra, remained in Rome; and a cupola of a chapel in the +Vatican painted by him, was copied in mosaic. There are some pictures by +him in other churches; the best are, perhaps, in the state, particularly +in Velletri. I have heard that he was a disciple of Mancini, though in +his colouring he somewhat adhered to his native school. + +Bonaventura Lamberti is numbered by Mengs among the latest of the +successful followers of the school of Cignani, whose style he preserved +more carefully than Mancini himself. He did not give many works to the +world. He had, however, the honour of having his designs copied in +mosaic by Giuseppe Ottaviani, in S. Peter's, and one of his pictures +engraved by Frey. It is in the church of the Spirito Santo de' +Napolitani, and represents a miracle of S. Francesco di Paola. The +Gabrieli family, which patronised him in an extraordinary manner, +possesses a great number of historical pictures by him, which are in +themselves sufficient to engage the attention of an amateur for several +hours. Lamberti had the honour of giving to the Roman School the Cav. +Marco Benefial, born and resident in Rome, a painter of great genius, +though not always equal to himself, rather perhaps from negligence, than +deficiency of powers. + +The Marchese Venuti[87] extols this master above all others of his time +for his accurate design, and his Caracciesque colouring. His monument is +placed in the Pantheon, among those of the most celebrated painters, and +to his bust is attached the eulogy bestowed on him by the Abate +Giovenazzo, where he is particularly commended for his power of +expression. The factions to which he gave rise still subsist, as if he +were yet living. His admirers not being able to defend all his works, +have fixed on the Flagellation at the Stimmate, painted in competition +with Muratori,[88] and S. Secondino at the Passionisti, as the subjects +of their unqualified approbation; pictures indeed, of such science, that +they may challenge any comparison. To these may be added his S. Lorenzo +and S. Stefano, in the Duomo of Viterbo, and a few others of similar +merit, in which he evidently imitated Domenichino and his school. His +enemies have designated him as an inferior artist, and adduce several +works feeble in expression and effect. The impartial consider him an +eminent artist, but his productions vary, being occasionally in a grand +style, and at other times not passing the bounds of mediocrity. This is +a character which has been ascribed to many poets also, and even to +Petrarch himself. + +Our obligations are due to the Sig. Batista Ponfredi, his scholar, for +the memoirs of this eminent man. They were addressed to the Count +Niccola Soderini, a great benefactor of Benefial, and more rich in his +works than any other Roman collector. His letter is in the fifth volume +of the _Pittoriche_, and is one of the most instructive in the +collection, although altered by the editor in some points. I shall +transcribe a passage from it, as it may be satisfactory to see the +actual state of the art at that time, and the way in which Marco +contributed to its support. "He was so anxious to revive the art, and so +grieved to see it fall into decay, that he frequently consumed several +hours in the day in declaiming against the prevailing conception of +style, and urging the necessity of shunning mannerism, and adopting a +style founded in truth, which few did, or if they did, attempted not to +imitate its simplicity, but adapted it to their own manner. He directed +the particular attention of his pupils to the difference between the +production of a mannerist, and one which was studied and simple, and +founded in nature; that the first, if it were well designed, and had a +good chiaroscuro, had at first sight a striking effect from the +brilliancy of its colours, but gradually lost ground at every succeeding +view, while the other appeared the more excellent the longer it was +inspected."--These and other precepts of the same kind he delivered in +terms perhaps too cynical; not only in private, but in the school of +design at the Campidoglio, at the time that he presided there; the +consequence was that the inferior artists combined against him, deprived +him of his employment, and suspended him from the academy. Some further +information respecting Benefial was communicated to the public in the +_Risposta alle Lett. Perugine_, p. 48. + +From a scholar also of Cignani, (Franceschini,) Francesco Caccianiga +received instructions in Bologna, whence he came to Rome, where he +perfected his style and established himself. He was a painter to whom +nothing was wanting, except that natural spirit and vigour which are not +to be supplied by industry. He was employed by several potentates, and +two of his works executed for the king of Sardinia were engraved by +himself. Ancona possesses four of his altarpieces, among which are the +Institution of the Eucharist, and the Espousals of the Virgin; pictures +coloured in a clear, animated, and engaging style, and easily +distinguished among a thousand. Rome has few public works by him. In the +Gavotti palace is a good fresco, and there are others in the palace and +villa of the Borghesi, who generously extended to him a permanent and +suitable provision, when overtaken by poverty and age.[89] + +From the school of Guercino came Sebastiano Ghezzi of Comunanza, not far +from Ascoli. He was eminent both in design and colouring, and at the +church of the Agostiniani Scalzi di Monsammartino is a S. Francesco by +him, which is esteemed an exquisite picture, and wants only the +finishing hand of the artist. He was the father and teacher of Giuseppe +Ghezzi, who studied in Rome, and was also a tolerable writer, +considering the period at which he wrote. In his painting he seemed to +adopt the style of Cortona. His name is frequently mentioned in the +Guida di Roma, and more than once in the _Antichita Picene_, where it is +stated that he was held in great esteem by Clement XI., and that he died +secretary to the academy of S. Luke, (tom. xxv. p. 11). Pascoli, who has +written his life, extols him for his skill in restoring pictures, in +which capacity the queen of Sweden employed him exclusively on all +occasions. + +Pierleone, his son and scholar, possessed a style similar to that of his +father, but less hurried, and became a more distinguished artist. He was +selected with Luti and Trevisani, and other eminent masters, to paint +the prophets of the Lateran, as well as other commissions. But for his +chief reputation he is indebted to the singular talent he possessed in +designing caricatures, which are to be found in the cabinets of Rome and +other places. In these he humourously introduced persons of quality, a +circumstance particularly gratifying in a country where the freedom of +the pencil was thought a desirable addition to the licence of the +tongue. + +Other schools of Italy also contributed artists to the Roman School, who +however did not produce any new manner, except that in respect of the +two principal masters then in vogue, Cortona and Maratta, they have +afforded an occasional modification of those two styles. + +Gio. Maria Morandi came whilst yet a youth from Florence, and forsaking +the manner of Bilivert, his first instructor, formed for himself a new +style. This was a mixture of Roman design and Venetian colouring (for in +travelling through Italy, he resided some time at Venice, and copied +much there), while some part of it partakes of the manner of Cortona, +and was esteemed in Rome. He established himself in this latter city, in +the Guida of which he is often mentioned, and his works are not +unfrequently found in collections. His Visitation at the Madonna del +Popolo is a fine composition; and still more highly finished, and full +of grand effect, is his picture of the death of the Virgin Mary, in the +church della Pace. This may indeed be considered his masterpiece, and it +has been engraved by Pietro Aquila. He was also celebrated for his +historical pictures, which he sometimes sent into foreign countries, and +more than in any other branch, he acquired a reputation in portraits, in +which he was constantly employed by persons of quality in Rome and +Florence, and was also called to Vienna by the emperor. There, besides +the imperial family, he painted also the portraits of many of the lesser +princes of Germany. Odoardo Vicinelli, a painter of considerable merit +in these latter times, in vol. vi. of the Lett. Pitt. is said to have +been a scholar of Morandi, and Pascoli does not hesitate to assert that +he conferred greater honour than any other of his scholars on his +master; I believe, in Rome, where Pietro Nelli alone could dispute +precedence with him. + +Francesco Trevisani, a native of Trevigi, was educated by Zanchi in +Venice, where, in order to distinguish him from Angiolo Trevisani, he +was called Il Trevisani Romano. In Rome, he abandoned his first +principles, and regulated his taste by the best manner then in vogue. He +possessed a happy talent of imitating every manner, and at one time +appears a follower of Cignani, at another of Guido; alike successful +whichever style he adopted. The Albiccini family, in Forli, possess many +of his pictures in various styles, and amongst them a small Crucifixion, +most spirited and highly finished, which the master esteemed his best +work, and offered a large sum to obtain back again. His pictures abound +in Rome, and in general exhibit an elegance of design, a fine pencil, +and a vigorous tone of colour. His S. Joseph dying, in the church of the +Collegio R., is a remarkably noble production. A subject painted by him +to accompany one by Guido in the Spada palace is also highly esteemed. +He enjoyed the patronage of Clement XI. by whom he was not only +commissioned to paint one of the prophets of the Lateran, but was also +employed in the cupola of the Duomo in Urbino, in which he painted the +four quarters of the world; a work truly estimable for design, fancy, +and colouring. In other cities of the state we find pictures by him +painted with more or less care, in Foligno, at Camerino, in Perugia, at +Forli, and one of S. Antonio at S. Rocco in Venice, of a form more +elegant than robust. + +Pasquale Rossi, better known by the name of Pasqualino, was born in +Vicenza, and from long copying the best Venetian and Roman pictures, +attained without the instruction of a master, a natural mode of colour, +and a good style of design. Few of his public works remain in Rome; +Christ praying in the garden in the church of S. Carlo al Corso, the +Baptism also of our Saviour at the Madonna del Popolo. The Silvestrini +of Fabriano have several pictures by him, and among them a Madonna truly +beautiful. His S. Gregory, in the Duomo of Matelica, in the act of +liberating souls from purgatory, is in the style of Guercino, and is one +of his best works. In private collections we find his cabinet pictures +representing gaming parties, conversations, concerts, and similar +subjects, carefully finished on a small scale, and little inferior to +Flemish pictures. I have met with numerous specimens of them in various +places; but in no place have I admired this artist so much as in the +royal gallery at Turin, in which are some ornaments over doors, and +pictures of considerable size by him, chiefly scriptural subjects, +executed in an animated and vigorous style, and with so much imitation +of the Roman School, that we should think them to be by some other +master. + +Giambatista Gaulli, commonly called Baciccio, studied first in Genoa. +Whilst still young he went to Rome, where under the direction of a +Frenchman, and by the more valuable aid of Bernino, he formed himself on +the style of the great machinists. As he was endowed by nature with a +ready genius and a dexterity of hand, he could not have chosen any +branch of the art more adapted to his talent. The vault of the Gesu is +his most conspicuous work. The knowledge of the _sotto in su_, the +unity, harmony, and correct perspective of its objects, the brilliancy +and skilful gradation of the light, rank it among the best, if indeed it +be not his best picture in Rome. It must, however, be confessed, that we +must inspect it with an eye to the general effect, rather than to the +local tints, or the drawing of the figures, in which he is not always +correct. His faults in his easel pictures, which are very numerous in +Italy and in foreign countries, are less obtrusive, and are abundantly +atoned for by their spirit, freshness of tints, and engaging +countenances. He varies his manner with his subject, assigning to each a +peculiar style. There is a delightful picture in his best manner, +gracefully painted in the church of S. Francesco a Ripa, representing +the Madonna with the divine Infant in her arms, and at her feet S. Anna +kneeling, surrounded by Angels. In a grave and pathetic style on the +contrary, is the representation of S. Saverio dying in the desert island +of Sanciano, which is placed near the altar of S. Andrea at Monte +Cavallo. His figures of children are very engaging and highly finished, +though after the manner of Fiammingo, more fleshy and less elegant than +those of Titian or the Greeks. He painted seven pontiffs, and many +persons of rank of his day, and was considered the first portrait +painter in Rome. In this branch of his art he followed a custom of +Bernino, that of engaging the person he painted in an animated +conversation, in order to obtain the most striking expression of which +the subject was susceptible. + +Giovanni Odazzi, his first scholar, was ambitious of emulating him in +celerity, but not possessing equal talent, he did not attain the same +distinction. He is the most feeble, or at all events, the least eminent +of the painters of the prophets of the Lateran, where his Hosea is to be +seen; and indeed, in every corner of Rome, his pictures are to be met +with, as he never refused any commission. Pascoli has preserved the +memory of another of his scholars, a native of Perugia, in the lives of +the painters of his native country. This was Francesco Civalli, +initiated in the art by Andrea Carlone; he was a youth of talent, but +impatient of instruction. He painted in Rome and other places, but did +not pass the bounds of mediocrity. The Cav. Lodovico Mazzanti, was the +scholar of Gaulli, and emulated his manner to the best of his ability; +but his talents were not commanding, nor were his powers equal to his +ambition. Gio. Batista Brughi, a worker in mosaic, rather than a +painter, left notwithstanding some public pictures in Rome. He is called +in the Guida sometimes Brughi, and sometimes Gio. Batista, the disciple +of Baciccio, which makes it there appear as if they had been distinct +individuals. I do not recollect any other artist contributed by Gaulli +to the Roman School. + +The Neapolitan School, which was in the beginning of this age supported +by Solimene, sent some scholars to Rome, who adopted a Roman style. +Sebastiano Conca was the first that arrived there with an intention of +seeing it, but he established himself there, together with Giovanni, his +brother, to meliorate his style of design. Resigning the brush, he +returned at forty years of age to the pencil, and spent five years in +drawing after the antique, and after the best modern productions. His +hand, however, had become the slave of habit in Naples, and would not +answer to his own wishes; and he was kept in constant vexation, as he +could appreciate excellence, but found himself incapable of attaining +it. The celebrated sculptor, Le Gros, advised him to return to his +original style, and he then became in Rome an eminent painter, in the +manner of Pietro da Cortona, with considerable improvements on his early +manner. He possessed a fertile invention, great facility of execution, +and a colour which enchanted by its lucidness, its contrast, and the +delicacy of the flesh tints. It is true, that on examination we find +that he was not in reality a profound colourist, and that to obtain a +grandeur of tone, he adopted in the shadows a green tint, which produced +a mannerism. He distinguished himself in frescos, and also in pictures +in the churches, decorating them with choirs of angels, happily disposed +in a style of composition that may be called his own, and which served +as an example to many of the machinists. He was indefatigable too in +painting for private individuals, and in the states of the church there +is scarcely a collection without its Conca. His most studied, finished, +and beautiful work is the Probatica at the hospital of Siena. Of great +merit in Rome is the Assumption at S. Martina, and the Jonah among the +prophets in the S. Giovanni Laterano. His works were in high esteem in +the ecclesiastical state; his best appear to be the S. Niccolo at +Loreto, S. Saverio in Ancona, S. Agostino at Foligno, S. Filippo in +Fabriano, and S. Girolamo Emiliano at Velletri. Giovanni, his brother, +assisted Sebastiano in his commissions, had an equal facility, a similar +taste, though less beautiful in his heads, and of not so fine a pencil. +He shewed great talent in copying the pictures of the best masters. In +the church of the Domenicans of Urbino are the copies which he made of +four pictures to be executed in mosaic; they were by Muziani, Guercino, +Lanfranco, and Romanelli. Conca is eulogized by Rossi with his usual +intelligence and discrimination (v. tom. ii. of his _Memorie_, p. 81.) + +Mengs perhaps censures him too severely, where he says, that by his +precepts he contributed to the decay of the art. He had his followers, +but they were not so numerous as to corrupt all the other schools of +Italy. Every school, as we have seen, had within itself the seeds of its +own destruction, without seeking for it elsewhere. It is true, indeed, +that some of his scholars inherited his facility and his colouring, and +left many injurious examples in Italy. Nor shall I give myself much +trouble to enumerate his disciples, but shall content myself with the +names of the most celebrated. Gaetano Lapis di Cagli was one of these, +and brought with him good principles of design when he came to study +under Conca. He was a painter of an original taste, as Rossi describes, +not very spirited, but correct. Many of his works are found in the +churches of his native place, and in the Duomo are two highly prized +pieces on each side the altar, a Supper of our Lord, and a Nativity. In +the various pictures I have seen of him at S. Pietro, S. Niccolo, and S. +Francesco, I generally found the same composition of a Madonna of a +graceful form, attended by Saints in the act of adoring her and the Holy +Infant. We find some of his works also in Perugia and elsewhere. The +Prince Borghese, in Rome, has a Birth of Venus by him, painted on a +ceiling, with a correctness of design, and a grace superior to any thing +that remains of him, and no one can justly appreciate his talents, who +has not seen this work. It should seem, that a timidity and diffidence +of his own powers, prevented his attaining that high station which his +genius seemed to have intended for him. Salvator Monosilio, who resided +much in Rome, was of Messina, and trod closely in the footsteps of his +master. In a chapel of S. Paolino della Regola, where Calandrucci +furnished the altarpiece, he painted the vault in fresco; and others of +his works are to be seen at the S. S. Quaranta, and at the church of the +Polacchi. In Piceno, where Conca was in great reputation, Monosilio was +held in high esteem, and was employed both in public and in private. At +S. Ginesio is a S. Barnabas by him, in the church of that saint, which +in the _Memorie_ so often quoted by us, is designated as an excellent +work. Conca educated another Sicilian student, the Abbate Gaspero +Serenari, of Palermo, who was considered a young man of talents in Rome, +and painted in the church of S. Teresa, in competition with the Abate +Peroni of Parma. On his return to Palermo he became a celebrated master, +and besides his oil pictures he executed some vast works in fresco, +particularly the cupola of the Gesu, and the chapel of the monastery of +Carita. + +Gregorio Guglielmi, a Roman, is not much known in his native place, +although his fresco pictures in the hospital of the S. Spirito in +Sassia, intitle him to be numbered amongst the most eminent young +artists who painted in Rome in the pontificate of Benedict XIV. He left +Rome early and went to Turin, where, in the church of S. S. Solutore e +Comp. is a small picture of the Tutelar Saints. He was afterwards in +Dresden, Vienna, and St. Petersburgh, where he painted in fresco with +much applause, for the respective sovereigns of those cities. He was +facile in composition, pleasing in his colour, and attached to the Roman +style of design, which, like Lapis, he seemed to have carried from some +other school into that of Conca. Among his most esteemed works is a +ceiling, painted in the university of Vienna, and another in the +imperial palace at Schoenbrunn. He did not succeed so well in oils, in +which his efforts are mostly feeble; a proof that he belongs more to the +school of Conca than that of Trevisani, to which some have assigned him. + +Corrado Giaquinto was another scholar of Solimene. He came from Naples +to Rome, where he attached himself to Conca to learn colouring, in which +he chiefly followed his master's principles, though he was less correct +and more of a mannerist, and was accustomed to repeat himself in the +countenances of his children, which resemble the natives of his own +country. He was not, however, without merit, as he possessed facility as +well as vigour, and was known in the ecclesiastical state for various +works executed in Rome, Macerata, and other places. He went afterwards +to Piedmont, as we shall mention at the proper time; then to Spain, +where he was engaged in the service of the court, and gave satisfaction +to the greater part of the native artists. The public taste in Spain, +which had for a long time retained the principles of the school founded +by Titian, had been changed within a few years. Luca Giordano was become +the favorite, and they admired his spirit, his freedom, and his +despatch; qualities which were combined in Corrado. This partiality +lasted even after Mengs had introduced his style, which in consequence +appeared at first meagre and cold to many of the masters and +connoisseurs of the day, when compared with that of Luca Giordano; until +prejudice there, as in Italy, ultimately yielded to truth. + +Some other artists flourished in Rome at the commencement, and as far as +the middle of the century, and somewhat beyond, who may perhaps have a +claim to be remembered. Of Francesco Fernandi, called L'Imperiali, the +Martyrdom of S. Eustachio in the church of the saint of that name, is +well conceived and scientifically coloured. Antonio Bicchierai, a fresco +painter, is more particularly known at S. Lorenzo in Panisperna, in +which church he painted a sfondo which did him honour. Michelangiolo +Cerruti, and Biagio Puccini, a Roman, about the time of Clement XI. and +Benedict XIII., were esteemed artists of good execution. Of others who +acquired some reputation in the following pontificate, I shall write in +other schools, or if I should not mention them, they may be found in the +Guida of the city. + +I shall now pass from native to foreign artists, and shall take a brief +notice of them, since my work has grown upon me with so many new Italian +names, which are its proper object, that I have not much spare room for +foreigners, and a sufficient notice of them may be found in their own +country. Not a few _oltremonti_ painted at this period in Rome, +celebrated for the most part in the inferior branches of painting, where +they deserve commemoration. Some of them were employed in the churches, +as Gio. Batista Vanloo di Aix, a favorite scholar of Luti, who painted +the picture of the Flagellation at S. Maria in Monticelli. But he did +not remain in Rome, but passed to Piedmont, and from thence to Paris and +London, and was celebrated for his historical compositions, and highly +esteemed in portrait. Some years after Vanloo, Pietro Subleyras di +Gilles settled in Rome, and conferred great benefit on the Roman School; +for whilst it produced only followers of the old manner, and thus fell +gradually into decay, he very opportunely appeared and introduced an +entirely new style. An academy had been founded in Rome by Louis XIV., +about the year 1666. Le Brun had there cooperated, the Giulio Romano of +France, and the most celebrated of the four Carli, who were at that time +considered the supporters of the art; the others were Cignani, Maratta, +and Loth. It had already produced some artists of celebrity, as Stefano +Parocel, Gio. Troy, Carlo Natoire, by whom many pictures are to be found +in the public edifices in Rome. There prevailed, however, in the style +of this school a mannerism, which in a few years brought it into +disrepute. Mengs designated it by the epithet of _spiritoso_, and it +consisted, according to him, in overstepping the limits of beauty and +propriety, overcharging both the one and the other, and aiming at +fascinating the eyes rather than conciliating the judgment. Subleyras, +educated in this academy, reformed this taste, retaining the good, and +rejecting the feeble part, and adding from his own genius what was +wanting to form a truly original manner. There was an engaging variety +in the air of his heads, and in his attitudes, and he had great merit in +the distribution of his chiaroscuro, which gives his pictures a fine +general effect. He painted with great truth; but the figures and the +drapery, under his pencil, took a certain fulness which in him appears +easy, because it is natural; it remained his own, for although he left +some scholars, none of them ever emulated the grandeur of style which +distinguished their master. + +He was mature in talent when he left the academy, and the portrait which +he in preference to Masucci, painted of Benedict XIV., established his +reputation as the first painter in Rome. He was soon afterwards chosen +to paint the history of S. Basil, for the purpose of being copied in +mosaic for the church of the Vatican. The original is in the church of +the Carthusians, and astonishes, by the august representation of the +Sacrifice solemnly celebrated by the saint in the presence of the +emperor, who offers bread at the altar. The countenances are very +animated, and there is great truth in the drapery and accompaniments, +and the silks in their lucid and light folds appear absolutely real. +From this production, and others of smaller size, and particularly the +Saint Benedict at the church of the Olivetani di Perugia, which is +perhaps his masterpiece, he deserves a place in the first collections, +where, indeed, his pictures are rare and highly prized. Further notices +of this artist may he found in the second volume of the _Giornale delle +belle Arti_. + +Egidio Ale, of Liege, studied in Rome, and became a spirited, pleasing, +and elegant painter. His works in the sacristy dell'Anima, in fresco and +oil, painted in competition with Morandi, Bonatti, and Romanelli, do him +honour. Ignazio Stern was a Bavarian, who was instructed by Cignani in +Bologna, and worked in Lombardy. An Annunciation in Piacenza, in the +church of the Nunziata, exhibits a certain grace and elegance, which is +peculiar to him, as is observed in the description of the public +pictures in that city. Stern afterwards established himself in Rome, +where he painted in fresco the sacristy of S. Paolino, and left some oil +pictures in the church of S. Elisabetta, and in other churches. He was +more particularly attached to profane history, conversations, and +similar subjects, which have a place even in royal collections. Spain +possessed a disciple of the school of Maratta, in Sebastiano Mugnoz, but +dying young he left few works behind him. + +In this place I ought to notice an establishment designed _to revive the +art in that quarter, where it seemed to have so much declined_, as D. +Francesco Preziado, of that country, says, in a letter which we shall +shortly have occasion to mention with commendation. "The royal academy +of S. Ferdinand, in Madrid, which owed its origin to Philip V., and was +completed and endowed by Ferdinand VI., sent several students to Rome, +and provided for their maintenance." They there selected the master the +most agreeable to their genius, and had, in addition, a director, who +was employed to superintend their studies; as I am informed by Sig. +Bonaventura Benucci, a Roman painter, educated in that academy. Bottari +and all Rome called it the Spanish academy, and I myself, in a former +edition, followed the common report, and the two above named sovereigns +I described as the founders of the academy. Having been censured for +this statement, I have here thought proper to specify my authorities. It +may without dispute be asserted, that the Spanish students have left in +Rome many noble specimens of their talents and taste. D. Francesco +Preziado was for many years the director of this academy, and painted a +Holy Family at the S. S. Quaranta, in a good style. He made also a +valuable communication to the Lettere Pittoriche (tom. vi. p. 308), on +the artists of Spain, very useful to any one desiring information +respecting this school, which is less known than it deserves to be. + +An institution very much on the plan of the French academy was founded +in Rome a few years ago, by his most faithful majesty, for Portuguese +students, to the promotion of which, two celebrated Portuguese, the Cav. +de Manique, intendant general of the police in Lisbon, and the Count de +Souza, minister of that court in Rome, had the merit of contributing +their assistance; the one having projected, and the other executed, the +plan in the year 1791. The government of the academy was entrusted to +the Sig. Gio. Gherardo de' Rossi, known for his very numerous and able +writings, to which he has recently added an ingenious little work, +intitled, _Scherzi poetici e pittorici_, with engravings by a celebrated +academician. These establishments are of too recent a date to allow me +to speak further respecting their productions. + +The provincial painters have been occasionally noticed in connexion with +their masters. I here add a supplement, which may be useful in the way +of completion. Foligno possessed a Fra Umile Francescano, a good fresco +painter, engaged in Rome by Cardinal Castaldi, to ornament the tribune +of S. Margaret, while Gaulli and Garzi were commanded to paint the +pictures for it. The Abbate Dondoli lived at Spello at the beginning of +this century. He was more to be commended for his design than for his +colouring. Marini has some celebrity in S. Severino, his native place. +He was the scholar of Cipriano Divini, whom he surpassed in his art. +Marco Vanetti, of Loreto, is known to me more from his life of Cignani, +who was his master, than from his own works. Antonio Caldana, of Ancona, +painted a very large composition in Rome, in the sacristy of S. Niccola +da Tolentino, from the life of that saint. I do not know whether there +remain any works of his in his native place; but there are a great +number by a respectable artist, one Magatta, whose name was Domenico +Simonetti, and who painted the gallery of the Marchesi Trionfi; he +furnished many churches with his paintings, and distinguished himself in +that of the church of the Suffragio, which is his most finished +production. Anastasi di Sinigaglia was a painter less elegant and +finished, but free and spirited. His works are not scarce in that city, +and his best are the two historical subjects in the church della Croce. +Three pictures by him also in S. Lucia di Monte Alboddo, are highly +prized, and are called by the writer of the _Guida_, "_Capi d'opera +dell'Anastasi_." Camillo Scacciani, of Pesaro, called Carbone, +flourished at the beginning of the age we are writing on, and had a +Caracciesque style allied to the modern. There is a S. Andrea Avellino +by him in the Duomo of Pesaro; his other works are in private +collections. This notice I deem sufficient, always excepting the living +artists, whom I of course omit.[90] + +Three masters who died successively in the pontificate of Pius VI. seem +to require from me more than a transient notice, and with them I shall +conclude the series of historical painters of the fifth epoch. I shall +first commemorate the Cav. Raffaello Mengs, from whom our posterity may +perhaps date a new and more happy era of the art. He was born in Saxony, +and brought to Rome by his father while yet a boy, and was at that time +skilled in miniature, and was a careful and correct draughtsman. On his +arrival in Rome, his father employed him in copying the works of +Raffaello, and chastised the young artist for every fault in his work, +with an incredible severity, or rather inhumanity, inflicting on him +even corporeal punishment, and reducing his allowance of food. Being +thus compelled to study perfection, and endowed with a genius to +appreciate it and perceive it, he acquired a consummate taste in art; he +communicated to Winckelmann very important materials for his _Storia +delle belle arti_, and was himself the author of many profound and +valuable essays on the fine arts, which have materially contributed to +improve the taste of the present age. They have different titles, but +all the same aim, the discrimination of the real perfection of art.[91] + +The artist, as characterized by Mengs, may be compared to the orator of +Cicero, and both are endued by their authors with an ideal perfection, +such as the world has never seen, and will probably never see; and it is +the real duty of an instructor to recommend excellence, that in striving +to attain it, we may at least acquire a commendable portion of it. +Considered in this point of view, I should defend several of his +writings, where in the opinion of others he seems to assume a +dictatorial tone, in the judgment he passes on Guido, Domenichino, and +the Caracci; the very triumvirate whom he proposes as models in the art. +Mengs assuredly was not so infatuated as to hope to surpass these great +men, but because he knew that no one does so well but that it might be +done still better, he shews where they attained the summit of art, and +where they failed. The artist, therefore, described by Mengs, and to +whose qualifications he also aspired, and was anxious that all should do +the same, ought to unite in himself the design and beauty of the Greeks, +the expression and composition of Raffaello, the chiaroscuro and grace +of Coreggio, and, to complete all, the colouring of Titian. This union +of qualities Mengs has analyzed with equal elegance and perspicuity, +teaching the artist how to form himself on that ideal beauty, which is +itself never realised. If, on some occasions, he appears too +enthusiastic, or in some degree obscure, it cannot excite our surprise, +as he wrote in a foreign language, and was not much accustomed to +composition. His ideas therefore stood in need of a refined scholar to +render them clear and intelligible; and this advantage he would have +procured, had he been resolved to publish them; but his works are all +posthumous, and were given to the world by his excellency the Sig. Cav. +Azara. Hence it frequently happens in his works, that one treatise +destroys another, as Tiraboschi has observed in regard to his notice of +Coreggio, in his _Notizie degli Artefici Modenesi_; and hence concludes +that the _Riflessioni di Mengs su i tre gran Pittori_, where he finds +much to censure in Coreggio, were written by him before he saw the works +of that master; and that his _Memorie_ on the life of the same master, +where he extols Coreggio to the skies, and calls him the Apelles of +modern painting, were written after having seen and studied him.[92] In +spite however of all objections, he will retain a distinguished place, +as well among the theorists or writers, as among professors themselves, +as long as the art endures. + +We perhaps should not say that Mengs was a whetstone which gave a new +quality to the steel, which it could not otherwise have acquired; but +that he was the steel itself, which becomes brighter and finer the more +it is used. He became painter to the court of Dresden; every fresh work +gave proof of his progress in the art. He went afterwards to Madrid, +where in the chambers of the royal palace he painted the assembly of the +Gods, the Seasons, and the various parts of the day, in an enchanting +manner. After repairing a second time to Rome to renew his studies, he +again returned to Madrid, where he painted in one of the saloons the +Apotheosis of Trajan, and in a theatre, Time subduing Pleasure; pictures +much superior to his former pieces. In Rome there are three large works +by him; the painting in the vault of S. Eusebio; the Parnassus in the +saloon of the Villa Albani, far superior to the preceding one;[93] and +lastly, the cabinet of manuscripts in the Vatican was painted by him, +where the celestial forms of the angels, the majesty of Moses, and the +dignified character of S. Peter, the enchanting colour, the relief, and +the harmony, contribute to render this chamber one of the most +remarkable in Rome for its beautiful decorations. This constant +endeavour to surpass himself, would be evident also from his easel +pictures, if they were not so rare in Italy; as he painted many of this +description for London and the other capitals of Europe. In Rome itself, +where he studied young, where he long resided, to which he always +returned, and where at last he died, there are few of his works to be +found. We may enumerate the portrait of Clement XIII. and his nephew +Carlo, in the collection of the prince Rezzonico; that of Cardinal +Zelada, secretary of state; and a few other pieces, in the possession of +private gentlemen, more particularly the Sig. Cav. Azara. Florence has +some large compositions by him in the Palazzo Pitti, and his own +portrait in the cabinet of painters, besides the great Deposition from +the Cross in chiaroscuro, for the Marchese Rinuccini, which he was +prevented by death from colouring; and a beautiful Genius in fresco in a +chamber of the Sig. Conte Senatore Orlando Malevolti del Benino. + +Returning from the consideration of his works to Mengs himself, I leave +to others to estimate his merit, and to determine how far his principles +are just.[94] As far as regards myself, I cannot but extol that +inextinguishable ardour of improving himself by which he was +particularly distinguished, and which prompted him, even while he +enjoyed the reputation of a first rate master, to proceed in every work +as if he were only commencing his career. Truth was his great aim, and +he diligently studied the works of the first luminaries of the art, +analysed their colours, and examined them in detail, till he entered +fully into the spirit and design of those great models. Whilst employed +in the ducal gallery in Florence, he did not touch a pencil, until he +had attentively studied the best pieces there, and particularly the +Venus of Titian in the tribune. In his hours of leisure he employed +himself in carefully studying the fresco pictures of the best masters of +that school, which is so distinguished in this art. He was accustomed to +do the same by every work of celebrity which fell in his way, whether +ancient or modern; all contributed to his improvement, and to carry him +nearer to perfection; he was in short a man of a most aspiring mind, and +may be compared to the ancient, who declared that he wished "to die +learning." If maxims like these were enforced, what rapid strides in the +art might we not expect! + +But the greater part of artists form for themselves a manner which may +attract popularity, and then relax their efforts, satisfied with the +applause of the crowd; and if they feel the necessity of improving, it +is not with a design of acquiring a just reputation, but of adding to +the price of their works. + +Notwithstanding the considerable space which Mengs has occupied in our +time, he has nevertheless left room for the celebrity of Pompeo Batoni, +of Luca. The Cav. Boni, who has honoured this artist with an elegant +eulogium, thus expresses himself in comparing him with Mengs. "The +latter," he says, "was the painter of philosophy, the former of nature. +Batoni had a natural taste which led him to the beautiful without +effort; Mengs attained the same object by reflection and study. Grace +was the gift of nature in Batoni, as it had formerly been in Apelles; +while the higher attributes of the art were allotted to Mengs, as they +were in former days to Protogenes. Perhaps the first was more painter +than philosopher, the second more philosopher than painter. The latter, +perhaps, was more sublime, but more studied; Batoni less profound, but +more natural. Not that I would insinuate that nature was sparing to +Mengs, or that Batoni was devoid of the necessary science of the art, +&c." If it were ever said with truth of any artist, that he was born a +painter, this distinction must be allowed to Batoni. He learned only the +principles of the art in his native country, and of the two +correspondents from whom I have received my information, the one +considers him to have been the scholar of Brugieri, the other of +Lombardi, as already mentioned, vol. i. p. 360, and probably he was +instructed by both. He came young to Rome, and did not frequent any +particular school, but studied and copied Raffaello and the old masters +with unceasing assiduity, and thus learnt the great secret of copying +nature with truth and judgment. + +That boundless and instructive volume, open to all, but cultivated by +few, was rightly appreciated by Batoni, and it was hence that he derived +that beautiful variety in his heads and contours, which are sometimes +wanting even in the great masters, who were occasionally too much +addicted to the ideal. Hence, too, he derived the gestures and +expressions most appropriate to each subject. Persuaded that a vivid +imagination was not alone sufficient to depict those fine traits in +which the sublimity of the art consists, he did not adopt any attitudes +which were not found in nature. He took from nature the first ideas, +copied from her every part of the figure, and adapted the drapery and +folds from models. He afterwards embellished and perfected his work with +a natural taste, and enlivened all with a style of colour peculiarly his +own; clear, engaging, lucid, and preserving after the lapse of many +years, as in the picture of various saints at S. Gregorio, all its +original freshness. This was in him not so much an art as the natural +ebullition of his genius. He sported with his pencil. Every path was +open to him; painting in various ways, now with great force, now with a +touch, and now finishing all by strokes. Sometimes he destroyed the +whole work, and gave it the requisite force by a line.[95] Although he +was not a man of letters, he yet shows himself a poet in conception, +both in a sublime and playful style. One example from a picture in the +possession of his heirs, will suffice. Wishing to express the dreams of +an enamoured girl, he has represented her wrapped in soft slumbers, and +surrounded by loves, two of whom present to her splendid robes and +jewels, and a third approaches her with arrows in his hand, while she, +captivated by the vision, smiles in her sleep. Many of these poetical +designs, and many historical subjects, are in private collections, and +in the courts of Europe, from which he had constant commissions. + +Batoni possessed an extraordinary talent for portrait painting, and had +the honour of being employed by three pontiffs in that branch of the +art, Benedict XIV., Clement XIII., and Pius VI.; to whom may be added, +the emperor Joseph II. and his august brother and successor, Leopold +II., the Grand Duke of Muscovy, and the Grand Duchess, besides numerous +private individuals. He for some time painted miniatures, and +transferred that care and precision which is essential in that branch to +his larger productions, without attenuating his style by hardness. We +find an extraordinary proof of this in his altarpieces, spread over +Italy, and mentioned by us in many cities, particularly in Lucca. Of +those that remain in Rome, Mengs gave the preference to S. Celso, which +is over the great altar of that church. Another picture, the Fall of +Simon Magus, is in the church of the Certosa. It was intended to have +been copied in mosaic for the Vatican, and to have been substituted for +a picture of the same subject by Vanni, the only one in that church on +stone. But the mosaic, from some cause or other, was not executed. +Perhaps the subject displeased, from not being evangelical, and the idea +of removing the picture of Vanni not being resumed, the subject was +changed, and a commission given to Mengs to paint the Government of the +church conferred on S. Peter. He made a sketch for it in chiaroscuro +with great care, which is in the Palazzo Chigi, but did not live to +finish it in colours. This sketch evinces a design and composition +superior to the picture of Batoni, but the subject of the latter was +more vigorously conceived. At all events, however, Batoni must +henceforth be considered the restorer of the Roman School, in which he +lived until his 79th year, and educated many pupils in his profession. + +The example of the two last eminent artists was not lost on Antonio +Cavallucci da Sermoneta, whose name when I began to print this volume, I +did not expect would here have found a place. But having recently died, +some notice is due to his celebrity, as he is already ranked with the +first artists of his day. He was highly esteemed both in Rome and +elsewhere. The Primaziale of Pisa, who in the choice of their artists +consulted no recommendation but that of character, employed him on a +considerable work, representing S. Bona of that city taking the +religious habit. It breathes a sacred piety, which he himself both felt +and expressed in a striking manner. In this picture he wished to shew +that the examples of christian humility, such as burying in a cloister +the gifts of nature and fortune, are susceptible of the gayest +decoration. This he effected by introducing a train of noble men and +women, who, according to custom, assisted in the solemnity. In this +composition, in which he follows the principles of Batoni rather than +those of Mengs, we may perceive both his study of nature, and his +judgment and facility in imitating her. Another large picture of the +saints Placido and Mauro, he sent into Catania, and another of S. +Francesco di Paola, he executed for the church of Loreto, and which was +copied in mosaic. In Rome are his S. Elias and the Purgatorio, two +pictures placed at S. Martino a' Monti, and many works in the possession +of the noble family of Gaetani, who were the first to encourage and +support this artist. His last work was the Venus and Ascanius, in the +Palazzo Cesarini, which has been described to me as a beautiful +production by the Sig. Gio. Gherardo de' Rossi, who has declared his +intention of publishing the life of Cavallucci, which will no doubt be +done in his usual masterly manner. + +The Roman School has recently had to regret the loss of two accomplished +masters; Domenico Corvi of Viterbo, and Giuseppe Cades of Rome, who +although younger than Corvi, and for some years his scholar, died before +him. In my notice of them, I shall begin with the master who has been +honoured and eulogized more than once in the respectable _Memorie delle +belle Arti_, as well as his scholar, and also some other disciples; as +there was not in Rome in the latter times any school more productive in +talent. He was truly an accomplished artist, and there were few to +compare with him in anatomy, perspective, and design; and from Mancini +his instructor, he acquired something of the style of the Caracci. +Hence, his academy drawings are highly prized, and I may say, more +sought after than his pictures, which indeed want that fascination of +grace and colour which attracts the admiration alike of the learned and +the vulgar. He maintained an universal delicacy of colour, and was +accustomed to defend the practice by asserting, with what justice I +cannot say, that pictures painted in that manner were less liable to +become black. His most esteemed works are his night pieces, as the Birth +of our Saviour in the church of the Osservanti at Macerata, which is +perhaps the summit of his efforts. Some amateurs went thither express +towards the close of day; a lofty window opposite favoured the illusion +of the perspective of the picture; and Corvi, who in other pictures is +inferior to Gherardo delle Notti, viewed in this manner, here excels +him, by an originality of perspective and general effect. He worked much +both for his own countrymen and foreigners, besides the pictures which +he kept ready by him, to supply the daily calls of purchasers, and many +of which are still on sale in the house of his widow. + +Cades recommends himself to our notice, principally by a facility of +imitation, dangerous to the art when it is not governed by correct +principles. No simulator of the character of another handwriting, could +ever rival him in the dexterity with which at a moment's call he could +imitate the physiognomy, the naked figure, the drapery, and the entire +character of every celebrated designer. The most experienced persons +would sometimes request from him a design after Michelangiolo or +Raffaello, or some other great master, which he instantly complied with, +and when confronted with an indisputable specimen of the master, and +these persons were requested to point out the original, as Buonaruoti +for example, they often hesitated, and frequently fixed on the design of +Cades. He was notwithstanding, extremely honourable. He made on one +occasion, a large design in the style of Sanzio, to deceive the director +of a foreign cabinet, who boasted an infallible knowledge of the touch +of Raffaello; and employing a person to shew it to him, with some +fictitious history attached to it, the director purchased it at 500 +zecchins. Cades wishing to return the money, the other refused to +receive it, insisting on retaining the drawing, and disregarding all the +protestations of the artist, and his request to be remunerated by a +smaller sum; and this drawing is at this moment probably considered as +an original, in one of the finest cabinets of Europe. He was confident +in his talents from his early years, and on a public occasion, he made a +drawing after the bent of his own genius, regardless of the directions +of Corvi, who wished it to be done in another style, and he was in +consequence dismissed from that school. This drawing obtained the first +premium, and now exists in the academy of S. Luke, where it is much +admired. In the art of colouring, too, he owed little to the instruction +of masters, and much to his native talent of imitation. I have seen +exhibited in the church of the Holy Apostles, a picture by him, which in +the upper part represents the Madonna with the Holy Infant, and in the +inferior part five saints, an allegorical picture, as I have heard +suggested, relating to the election of Clement XIV. That Pope was +elected by the suffrages of the Cardinal Carlo Rezzonico and his +friends, and contrary to the expectation of P. Innocenzio Buontempi, who +ordered the picture, and who after this election was promoted by the +Pope to the eminent station of Maestro nel S. Ordine Serafico, and +afterwards to that of the Pope's confessor. Hence this piece represents +in the centre S. Clement reading the sacred volume; on his right is S. +Carlo, who appears to admire his learning, and by his attitude seems to +say, "This is a man justly entitled to the pontificate;" and in the last +place S. Innocent the Pope, which representing the person of the P. +Maestro, must here for the sake of propriety yield the place to the +Cardinal S. Carlo. In the background are S. Francis and S. Anthony, half +figures. Cades here took for his model the picture of Titian in the +Quirinal, which he imitated as well in the composition as in the colour. +And in this, indeed, he proceeded too far, giving it that obscure tone +which the works of Titian have acquired only by the lapse of time. Cades +here defended himself by saying that this piece was intended to be +placed in the church of S. Francesco di Fabriano in a very strong light, +where if the colours had not been kept low, they would have been +displeasing to the spectator. There is an error in the perspective which +cannot be overlooked. The allegorical figure of P. M. Innocenzio, who +stands amazed at the sudden phenomenon, appears to be out of +equilibrium, and would fall in real life. Other faults of colour, of +costume, or of vulgarity of form, are noticed in others of his pictures +by the author of the _Memorie_, in tom. i. and iii. But as he advanced +in life he improved his style from study, and attending to the +criticisms of the public. In tom. iii. just referred to, we find the +description of one of his works executed for the Villa Pinciana, the +subject of which is taken from Boccaccio; Walter Conte di Anguersa +recognized in London. Let us weigh the opinion which this eminent author +gives of this most beautiful composition, or let us compare it with the +picture of S. Joseph of Copertino, which he painted at twenty-one years +of age, as an altarpiece in the church of the Apostles, and we shall +perceive the rapid strides which are made by genius. Other princely +families, besides the Borghesi, availed themselves of his talents to +ornament their palaces and villas; as the Ruspoli and the Chigi, and he +executed several works for the empress of Russia. He died before he had +attained his fiftieth year, and not long after he had so much improved +his style. In the opinion of some, his execution still required to be +rendered more uniform, since he sometimes displayed as many different +manners in a picture, as there were figures. But in that he might plead +the example of Caracci, as we shall notice on a proper opportunity. + +We shall now pass to other branches of the art, and shall commence with +landscapes. In this period flourished the scholars of the three famous +landscape painters, described in their proper place, besides Grimaldi, +mentioned in the Bolognese School, who resided a considerable time in +Rome; and Paolo Anesi, of whom we made mention in speaking of +Zuccherelli. With Anesi lived Andrea Lucatelli, a Roman, whose talents +are highly celebrated in every inferior branch of the art. In the +archbishop's gallery in Milan are a number of his pictures, historical, +architectural, and landscapes. In these he often appears original in +composition, and in the disposition of the masses; he is varied in his +touch, delicate in his colouring, and elegant in his figures, which, as +we shall see, he was also accustomed to paint in the Flemish style, +separate from his landscapes. + +Francis Van Blomen was a less finished artist, and from the hot and +vaporous air of his pictures, obtained the name of Orizzonte. The +palaces of the Pope and the nobility in Rome, abound with his landscapes +in fresco and oil. In the character of his trees, and in the composition +of his landscapes, he commonly imitated Poussin. In his general tone +there predominates a greenish hue mixed with red. His pictures are not +all equally finished, but they rise in value as those of older artists +become injured by time, or rare from being purchased by foreigners. At +the side of Van Blomen we often find the works of some of his best +scholars, as Giacciuoli and Francis Ignazio, a Bavarian. + +At the same time lived in Rome Francesco Wallint, called M. Studio, who +painted small landscapes and sea views, ornamented with very beautiful +figures; devoid however of that sentiment which is the gift of nature, +and that delicacy which charms in the Italian School. He imitated +Claude: Wallint the younger, his son, attached himself to the same +manner with success, but did not equal his father. + +At the beginning of this epoch, or thereabouts, there flourished two +artists in Perugia in the same line; Ercolano Ercolanetti, and Pietro +Montanini, the scholar of Ciro Ferri and of Rosa. The last was ambitious +of the higher walks of art, and attempted the decoration of a church, +but failed in the attempt, as his talent was restricted to landscape; +and even when he added figures to these, they were not very correct, and +possessed more spirit than accuracy of design. He was nevertheless a +pleasing painter, and his pictures were sought after by foreigners. In +Perugia there is an abundance of his works, and some are to be seen in +the sacristy of the Eremitani, which might be said to discover a Flemish +style. + +Alessio de Marchis, a Neapolitan, is not much known in Rome, although in +the Ruspoli and Albani palaces, some pleasing pieces by him are pointed +out. He is better known in Perugia and Urbino, and the adjacent cities. +It is said that, in order to obtain a study for a picture from nature, +he set fire to a barn. For this act he was condemned to the galleys for +several years, and was liberated under the pontificate of Clement XI. +whose palace in Urbino he decorated with architectural ornaments, +distant views, and beautiful seapieces, more in the style of Rosa than +any other artist. There is an extraordinarily fine picture by him of the +Burning of Troy, in the collection of the Semproni family, and some +landscapes in other houses in Urbino, in which he has displayed all his +genius, and extended it also to figures. But in general there is little +more to praise in him than his spirit, his happy touch, and natural +colouring, particularly in fires, and the loaded and murky air, and the +general tone of the piece, as the detached parts are negligent and +imperfect. He left a son, also a landscape painter, but not of much +celebrity. + +At the beginning of the century Bernardino Fergioni displayed in Rome an +extraordinary talent in sea views, and harbours, to which he added a +variety of humourous figures. He was first a painter of animals, and +afterwards tried this line with better success; but his fame was a few +years afterwards eclipsed by two Frenchmen, Adrian Manglard, of a solid, +natural, and correct taste; and his scholar, Joseph Vernet, who +surpassed his master by his spirit and his charming colouring. The first +seemed to paint with a degree of timidity and care, the latter in the +full confidence of genius; the one seemed to aim at truth, the other at +beauty. Manglard was many years in Rome, and his works are to be seen in +the Villa Albani, and in many other palaces. Vernet is to be seen in the +Rondanini mansion, and in a few other collections. + +There were not many painters of battles during this epoch, except the +scholars of Borgognone. Christiano Reder, called also M. Leandro, who +came to Rome about 1686, the year of the taking of Buda, devoted +himself, in conformity with the feelings of the times, to painting +battles between the Christians and the Turks; but his pictures, though +well touched, were soon depreciated from the great number of them. The +best in the opinion of Pascoli, was that in the gallery de' Minimi; and +he left many also in the palaces of the nobility. He was also expert in +landscape and humourous subjects, and was assisted by Peter Van Blomen, +called also Stendardo, the brother of Francis Orizzonte. Stendardo also +painted battle pieces, but he was more attached to Bambocciate, in the +Flemish style, wherein he delights to introduce animals, and +particularly horses, in designing which he was very expert, and almost +unrivalled. His distances are very clear, and afford a fine relief to +his figures. + +In Rome, and throughout the ecclesiastical state, we find many pictures +of this sort by that Lucatelli who has been mentioned among the +landscape painters. The connoisseurs attribute to him two different +manners; the first good, the second still better, and exhibiting great +taste, both in colouring and invention. In some collections we find +Monaldi near him, who although of a similar taste, yielded to him in +correctness of design, in colour, and in that natural grace which may be +called the _Attic salt_ of this mute poetry. + +I have not ascertained who was the instructor of Antonio Amorosi, a +native of Comunanza, and a fellow countryman of Ghezzi, and his +co-disciple also in the school of the Cav. Giuseppe (Vernet). I only +know that he is in his way equally facetious, and sometimes satirical. +Like Ghezzi he painted pictures in the churches, which are to be found +in the Guida di Roma; he did not, however, succeed so well in them as in +his _bambocciate_, which would appear really Flemish if the colours were +more lucid. He is less known in the metropolis than in Piceno, where he +is to be seen in many collections, and is mentioned in the Guida +d'Ascoli. He pleased also in foreign countries, and represented subjects +from common life, as drinking parties in taverns in town and country, on +which occasion he discovered no common talent in architecture, +landscape, and the painting of animals. + +Arcangelo Resani, of Rome, the scholar of Boncuore, painted animals in a +sufficiently good taste, accompanying them with large and small figures, +in which he had an equal talent. In the Medici gallery is his portrait, +with a specimen attached of the art in which he most excelled, the +representation of still life. In the same way Nuzzi added flowers, and +other artists landscapes, to their portraits. + +Carlo Voglar, or Carlo da' Fiori, was a painter of fruit and flowers in +a very natural style, and was also distinguished in painting dead game. +He had a rival in this style in Francesco Varnetam, called Deprait, who +was still more ingenious in adding glass and portraits, and composed his +pieces in the manner of a good figurist. This artist after residing +several years in Rome, was appointed painter to the Imperial Court, and +died in Vienna, after having spread his works and his fame through all +Germany. In the time of the two preceding artists, Christian Bernetz was +celebrated, who on the death of the first, and the departure of the +second artist, remained in Rome the chief painter in this style. All the +three were known to Maratta, and employed by him in ornamenting his +pictures; and he enriched theirs in return with children and other +figures, which have rendered them invaluable. The last was also a friend +of Garzi, in conjunction with whom he painted pictures, each taking the +department in which they most excelled. Scipione Angelini, of Perugia, +improperly called Angeli by Guarienti, was celebrated by Pascoli for +similar talents. His flowers appear newly plucked and sparkling with dew +drops. In the _Memorie Messinesi_, I find that Agostino Scilla when he +was exiled from Sicily, repaired to Rome, where he died. Whilst in Rome, +he seemed to shun all competition with the historical painters, and +occupied himself (with a certainty of not being much celebrated), in +designing animals, and in other inferior branches of the art. In this +line both he and Giacinto, his younger brother, had great merit. +Saverio, the son of Agostino, who, on the death of them both, continued +to reside and to paint in Rome, did not equal them in reputation. + +During this period of the decline of the art, one branch of painting, +perspective, made an extraordinary progress by the talents of P. Andrea +Pozzo, a Jesuit, and a native of Trent. He became a painter and +architect from his native genius, rather than from the instruction of +any master. His habit of copying the best Venetian and Lombard pictures, +had given him a good style of colour, and a sufficiently correct design, +which he improved in Rome, where he resided many years. He painted also +in Genoa and Turin, and in these cities and in both the states, we find +some beautiful works, the more so as they resemble Rubens in tone, to +whose style of colour he aspired. There are not many of his oil +paintings in Italy, and few of them are finished, as S. Venanzio in +Ascoli, and S. Borgia at S. Remo. Even the picture of S. Ignatius at the +Gesu in Rome, is not equally rendered in every part. Nevertheless, he +appears on the whole a fine painter, his design well conceived, his +forms beautiful, his colours fascinating, and the touch of his pencil +free and ready. Even his less finished performances evince his genius; +and of the last mentioned picture, I heard from P. Giulio Cordara, an +eminent writer in verse and prose, an anecdote which deserves +preservation. A painter of celebrity being directed to substitute +another in its place, declared that neither himself nor any other living +artist could execute a superior work. His despatch was such, that in +four hours he began and finished the portrait of a cardinal, who was +departing the same day for Germany. + +He occupies a conspicuous place among the ornamental painters, but his +works in this way would be more perfect if there was not so great a +redundance of decoration, as vases, festoons, and figures of boys in the +cornices, though this indeed was the taste of the age. The ceiling of +the church of S. Ignatius is his greatest work, and which would serve to +show his powers, if he had left nothing else, as it exhibits a novelty +of images, an amenity of colour, and a picturesque spirit, which +attracted even the admiration of Maratta and Ciro Ferri; the last of +whom, amazed that Andrea had in so few years, and in so masterly a +manner, peopled, as he called it, this Piazza Navona, concluded that the +horses of other artists went at a common pace, but those of Pozzo on the +gallop. He is the most eminent of perspective painters, and even in the +concaves has given a convex appearance to the pieces of architecture +represented, as in the Tribune of Frascati, where he painted the +Circumcision of Jesus Christ, and in a corridor of the Gesu at Rome. He +succeeded too in a surprising manner in deceiving the eye with +fictitious cupolas in many churches of his order; in Turin, Modena, +Mondovi, Arezzo, Montepulciano, Rome, and Vienna, to which city he was +invited by the emperor Leopold I. He also painted scenes for the +theatres, and introduced colonnades and palaces with such inimitable +art, that it renders more credible the wonderful accounts handed down to +us by Vitruvius and Pliny of the skill of the ancients in this art. +Although well grounded in the theory of optics, as his two volumes of +perspective prove, it was his custom never to draw a line without first +having made a model, and thus ascertained the correct distribution of +the light and shade. When he painted on canvass, he laid on a light coat +of gum, and rejected the use of chalk, thinking that when the colours +were applied, the latter prevented the softening of the lights and +shadows, when requisite. + +He had many scholars who imitated him in perspective; some in fresco; +others in oil, taking their designs from real buildings, and at other +times painting from their own inventions. One of these was Alberto +Carlieri, a Roman, a painter also of small figures, of whom Orlandi +makes mention. Antonio Colli, another of his scholars, painted the great +altar at S. Pantaleo, and decorated it in perspective in so beautiful a +manner, that it was by some taken for the work of his master. Of +Agostino Collaceroni of Bologna, considered of the same school, we have +before spoken. + +There were also architectural painters in other branches. Pierfrancesco +Garoli, of Turin, painted the interior of churches, and Garzi supplied +the figures. Tiburzio Verzelli, of Recanati, is little known beyond +Piceno, his birthplace. The noble family of Calamini of Recanati, +possess perhaps his best picture, the elevation of S. Pietro in +Vaticano, one of the most beautiful and largest works of this kind that +I ever saw, which occupied the master several years in finishing. +Gaspare Vanvitelli, of Utrecht, called _Dagli Occhiali_, may be called +the painter of modern Rome; his pictures, which are to be found in all +parts of Europe, represent the magnificent edifices of that city, to +which landscapes are added, when the subject admits of it. He also +painted views of other cities, seaports, villas, and farm houses, useful +alike to painters and to architects. He painted some large pictures, +though most of his works are of a small size. He was correct in his +proportions, lively and clear in his tints, and there is nothing left to +desire, except a little more spirit and variety in the landscape or in +the sky, as the atmosphere is always of a pale azure, or carelessly +broken by a passing cloud. He was the father of Luigi Vanvitelli, a +painter, who owed his great name to architecture, as we shall see was +the case also with the celebrated Serlio. + +But no painter of perspective has found more admirers than the Cav. Gio. +Paolo Pannini, mentioned elsewhere; not so much for the correctness of +his perspective, in which he has many equals, as for his charming +landscape and spirited figures. It cannot indeed be denied, that these +latter are sometimes too high in proportion to the buildings, and that +also, to shun the dryness of Viviani, he has a mannered style of mixing +a reddish hue in his shadows. For the first defect there is no remedy; +but the second will be alleviated by time, which will gradually subdue +the predominant colour. + +Lastly, to this epoch the art of mosaic owes the great perfection which +it attained, in imitating painting, not only by the means of small +pieces of marble selected and cemented together, but by a composition +which could produce every colour, emulate every tint, represent each +degree of shade, and every part, equal to the pencil itself. Baglione +attributes the improvement in this art to Muziani, whom he calls the +inventor of working mosaics in oil; and that which he executed for the +Cappella Gregoriana, he praises as the most beautiful mosaic that has +been formed since the time of the ancients. Paolo Rossetti of Cento was +employed there under Muziani, and instructed Marcello Provenzale, his +fellow countryman. Both left many works beautifully painted in mosaic; +and the second, who lived till the time of Paul V. painted the portrait +of that Pope, and some cabinet pictures. An extensive work, as has often +been the case, was the cause of improving this art. The humidity of the +church of S. Peter was so detrimental to oil paintings, that from the +time of Urban VIII. there existed an idea of substituting mosaics in +their place. The first altarpiece was executed by a scholar of +Provenzale, already mentioned, Giambatista Calandra, born in Vercelli. +It represents S. Michael, and is of a small size, copied from a picture +of the Cav. d'Arpino. He afterwards painted other subjects in the small +cupolas, and near some windows of the church, from the cartoons of +Romanelli, Lanfranco, Sacchi, and Pellegrini; but thinking his talents +not sufficiently rewarded, he began to work also for individuals, and +painted portraits, or copied the best productions of the old masters. +Among these Pascoli particularly praises a Madonna copied from a picture +of Raffaello, in possession of the Queen of Sweden, and of this and +other similar works he judged that from their harmony of colour and high +finishing, they were deserving of close and repeated inspection. + +At this time great approaches were made towards the modern style of +mosaic; but this art was afterwards carried to a much higher pitch by +the two Cristofori, Fabio, and his son Pietro Paolo. These artists +painted the S. Petronilla, copied from the great picture of Guercino, +the S. Girolamo of Domenichino, and the Baptism of Christ by Maratta. +For other works by him and his successors, I refer the reader to the +_Descrizione_ of the pictures of Rome above cited. I will only add, that +when the works were completed for S. Peter's, lest the art might decay +for want of due encouragement, it was determined to decorate the church +of Loreto with similar pictures, which were executed in Rome, and +transferred to that church. + +Before I finish this portion of my work, I would willingly pay a tribute +to the numerous living professors, who have been, or who are now +resident in Rome; but it would be difficult to notice them all, and to +omit any might seem invidious. We may be allowed, however, to observe +that the improvement which has taken place in the art of late years, has +had its origin in Rome. That city at no period wholly lost its good +taste, and even in the decline of the art was not without connoisseurs +and artists of the first merit. Possessing in itself the best sources of +taste in so many specimens of Grecian sculpture, and so many works of +Raffaello, it is there always easy to judge how near the artists +approach to, and how far they recede from, their great prototypes of +art. This criterion too is more certain in the present age, when it is +the custom to pay less respect to prejudices and more to reason; so that +there can be no abuse of this useful principle. The works too of +Winckelmann and Mengs have contributed to improve the general taste; and +if we cannot approve every thing we there find, they still possess +matter highly valuable, and are excellent guides of genius and talent. +This object has also been promoted by the discovery of the ancient +pictures in Herculaneum, the Baths of Titus, and of the Villa Adriana, +and the exquisite vases of Nola, and similar remains of antiquity. These +have attracted every eye to the antique; Mengs and Winckelmann have +admirably illustrated the history of ancient sculpture, and the art of +painting may be more advantageously studied from the valuable engravings +which have been published, than from any book. From these extraordinary +advantages the fine arts have extended their influence to circles where +they were before unknown, and have received a new tone from emulation as +well as interest. The custom of exhibiting the productions of art to a +public who can justly appreciate them, and distinguish the good from the +bad; the rewards assigned to the most meritorious, of whatever nation, +accompanied by the productions of literary men, and public rejoicings in +the Campidoglio; the splendour of the sacred edifices peculiar to the +metropolis of the Christian world, which, while the art contributes to +its decoration, extends its protection in return to the professors of +that art; the lucrative commissions from abroad, and in the city itself, +from the munificence and unbounded liberality of Pius VI. and that of +many private individuals;[96] the circumstance of foreign sovereigns +frequently seeking in this emporium for masters, or directors for their +academies; all these causes maintain both the artists and their schools +in perpetual motion, and in a generous emulation, and by degrees we may +hope to see the art restored to its true principles, the imitation of +nature and the example of the great masters. There is not a branch, not +only of painting, but even of the arts depending on it, as miniature, +mosaic, enamel,[97] and the weaving of tapestry, that is not followed +there in a laudable manner. Whoever desires to be further informed of +the present state of the Roman School, and of the foreign artists +resident in Rome, should peruse the four volumes entitled, _Memorie per +le belle arti_, published from the year 1785, and continued to the year +1788, a periodical work deserving a place in every library of the fine +arts, and which was, I regret to add, prematurely discontinued. + +[Footnote 85: With regard to drapery, Winckelmann conjectures, (Storia +delle Arti del Disegno, tom. i. p. 450,) that the erroneous opinion that +the ancients did not drape their figures well, and were surpassed in +that department by the moderns, was at that time common among the +artists. This opinion still subsists among some sculptors, who +disapprove particularly of the ancient custom of moistening the drapery, +in order to adapt it the better to the form of the figure. The ancients, +they say, ought to be esteemed, not idolized. To carry nature to the +highest degree of perfection, was always allowable, but not so to +degrade her by mannerism.] + +[Footnote 86: He was the pupil of Niccolas Poussin, and from him +acquired his taste for drawing after the antique. He employed this +talent in copying the finest bassirilievi, and the noblest remains of +ancient Rome. These were engraved by him, and circulated through Europe. +He also copied a great number of ancient pictures from the +_Sotterranei_, which passed into private hands unpublished. Pascoli +mentions many more of his works in engraving, the pursuit of which +branch of the art led him gradually to forsake painting. Of his pictures +we find one in the church of Porto, and a very few more of his own +designing. He devoted himself to the copying the pictures of the best +masters, and carried his imitation even to the counterfeiting the +effects of time on the colours; and he copied some pictures of Poussin +with such dexterity, that it was with difficulty the painter himself +could distinguish them.] + +[Footnote 87: In the _Risposta alle Riflessioni Critiche di Mons. +Argens_.] + +[Footnote 88: This artist had painted one of the two laterals of the +chapel, asserting that there was no artist living capable of painting a +companion to it. Benefial painted one very superior, and represented in +it an executioner with his eyes fixed on and deriding the picture of +Muratori.] + +[Footnote 89: See _Memorie per le Belle Arti_, tom. ii. p. 135, where +Sig. Giangherardo de' Rossi gives an account of this artist, derived +principally from information furnished by Sig. Cav. Puccini, who has +been occasionally mentioned with approbation in the first volume of this +work.] + +[Footnote 90: Francesco Appiani, of Ancona, a scholar of Magatta, and +not long since deceased, did not find a place in my former edition, but +is fully entitled to one in this. He studied a considerable time in +Rome, whilst Benefial, Trevisani, Conca, and Mancini, flourished there; +and through the friendship of these masters (particularly of the +latter), was enabled to form an agreeable style, of which he there left +a specimen at S. Sisto Vecchio. It is the death of S. Domenico, painted +in fresco, by order of Benedict XIII. who remunerated him with a gold +medal. He went afterwards to Perugia, where he was presented with the +freedom of the city, and continued his labours there with unabated +ardour, until ninety years of age, an instance of vigour unexampled, +except in the case of Titian. Perugia abounds with his paintings of all +kinds, and his best works are to be found in the churches of S. Pietro +de' Cassinensi, S. Thomas, and Monte Corona. He also decorated the +church of S. Francis, and the vault of the cathedral, where he rivalled +the freedom of style and composition of Carloni. Both he himself, and +one of his pictures, placed in a church of Masaccio, are eulogised in +the Antich. Picene (tom. xx. p. 159). He painted many pictures also for +England.] + +[Footnote 91: For a more particular catalogue of these works, see the +_Memorie delle belle arti_, 1788, in which year they were republished in +Rome, with the remarks of the Sig. Avvocato Fea, in one vol. 4to. and 2 +vols. 8vo. The most celebrated treatise of Mengs is the _Riflessioni +sopra i tre gran pittori, Raffaello, Tiziano, e Coreggio, e sopra gli +antichi_. On the life and style of Coreggio he wrote a separate paper, +which was afterwards the subject of a controversy; for as, at the close +of the year 1781, appeared the _Notizie storiche del Coreggio_ of Ratti, +accompanied by a letter from Mengs, dated Madrid, 1774, in which he +entreats Ratti to collect and publish them, Ratti was by several writers +accused of plagiarism, and of having endeavoured, by a change of style +and the addition of some trifling matter, to appropriate to himself what +in reality belonged to Mengs. Not long afterwards there appeared an +anonymous Defence of Ratti, without date or place, for which I refer to +the next note.] + +[Footnote 92: In the _Difesa del Ratti_, accused _de repetundis_, this +very obvious contradiction is adduced as a proof that the _Memorie_ were +really composed by that author. It is there asserted that he wrote them +in a clear and simple style, and then communicated them to Mengs, on +whose death they were found among his writings, and published as his. +Some other things are indeed said, that do not favour the cause of +Ratti; as that when he was in Parma he consulted Mengs on what he should +say of the works of Coreggio in that city, and as he could not see those +in Dresden, he had from him a minute account of them; and also that +Mengs was accustomed to add remarks to the MS. on which his friends +consulted him. If, therefore, it be conceded that Mengs had such a share +in this MS. (which would appear to have been drawn up by the scholar +under the direction of the master, as to opinions on art, and as to a +catalogue of the best pictures, accompanied too with remarks,) who does +not perceive that the best part of that work, and the great attraction +of its matter and style, is due to Mengs?] + +[Footnote 93: This picture is one of the most finished compositions +since the restoration of art. Each muse is there represented with her +peculiar attribute, as derived from antiquity; and the artist is +deservedly eulogized by the Sig. Ab. Visconti, in the celebrated _Museo +Pio Clementino_, tom. i. p. 57.] + +[Footnote 94: This eminent man was not without his enemies and +calumniators, excited by his criticisms on the great masters, and still +more by his animadversions on artists of inferior fame, and some +recently deceased. Cumberland wrote against him with manifest prejudice; +and the anonymous author of the _Difesa del Cav. Ratti_, the work of +Ratti himself, or for which at least he furnished the materials, speaks +of him in a contemptuous manner. He particularly questions his literary +character and his discernment, and ascribes to his confidential friend, +Winckelmann, the merit of his remarks. In point of art he estimates +Mengs as an excellent, but by no means an unrivalled painter. Descending +to particulars, he publishes not a few criticisms, which he received +either in MS. or from the mouths of different professors, and adds +others of his own. Of these the experienced must form their own +judgment. With regard to his colouring, indeed, with which his rival +Batoni found great fault, the most inexperienced person may perceive +that it is not faultless, as the flesh tints are already altered by +time, at least in some of his works. Lastly, in the _Difesa_ are some +personal remarks regarding Mengs, which, if Ratti, from respect to his +late deceased friend, thought it right to omit them in his life of him, +printed in 1779, might with still greater propriety have been spared in +this subsequent work.] + +[Footnote 95: See the _Elogio di Pompeo Batoni_, page 66, where the +illustrious author, who, to his other accomplishments, adds that of +painting, expatiates at length, and in the style of a professor, on this +wonderful talent of Batoni.] + +[Footnote 96: The decoration of the Villa Pinciana, in which the prince +Borghesi has given encouragement to so many eminent artists, is an +undertaking that deserves to be immortalized in the history of art.] + +[Footnote 97: I refer to what I have written on the art of enamel, in +the school of Ferrara, in which city the art may be said to have been +revived by the Sig. Ab. Requeno. It was also greatly improved in the +school of Rome, where in 1788 an entire cabinet was painted in enamel +for the empress of Russia, as was publicly noticed in the _Giornale di +Roma_, of the month of June. Il Sig. Consigl. Gio. Renfestein, had the +commission of the work, which was executed from the designs of +Hunterberger, by the Sigg. Gio. and Vincenzio Angeloni. They were both +assisted in their task by the Sig. Ab. Garcia della Huerta, who greatly +facilitated the inventions of Requeno, as well by his experience as by +his work, intitled _Commentarj della pittura encaustica del pennello_, +published in Madrid, a very learned work, and which obtained for the +author from Charles IV. an annuity for life.] + + + + + BOOK IV. + + NEAPOLITAN SCHOOL. + + FIRST EPOCH. + + +We are now arrived at a school of painting which possesses indisputable +proofs of having, in ancient times, ranked among the first in Italy; as +in no part of that country do the remains of antiquity evince a more +refined taste, no where do we find mosaics executed with more +elegance,[98] nor any thing more beautiful than the subterranean +chambers which are ornamented with historical designs and grotesques. +The circumstance of its deriving its origin from ancient Greece, and the +ancient history of design, in which we read of many of its early +artists, have ennobled it above all others in Italy; and on this account +we feel a greater regret at the barbarism which overwhelmed it in common +with other schools. We may express a similar sentiment with regard to +Sicily, which from its affinity in situation and government, I shall +include in this Fourth Book; but generally in the notes.[99] That +island, too, possessed many Greek colonies, who have left vases and +medals of such extraordinary workmanship, that many have thought that +Sicily preceded Athens in carrying this art to perfection. But to +proceed to the art of painting in Naples, which is our present object, +we may observe that Dominici and the other national writers, the notice +of whom I shall reserve for their proper places, affirm, that that city +was never wholly destitute of artists, not only in the ancient times, +which Filostrato extols so highly in the proemium of his _Immagini_, but +even in the dark ages. In confirmation of this, they adduce devotional +pictures by anonymous artists, anterior to the year 1200; particularly +many Madonnas in an ancient style, which were the objects of adoration +in various churches. They subjoin moreover a catalogue of these early +artists, and bitterly inveigh against Vasari, who has wholly omitted +them in his work. + +The first painter whom we find mentioned at the earliest period of the +restoration of the art, is Tommaso de' Stefani, who was a contemporary +of Cimabue, in the reign of Charles of Anjou.[100] That prince, +according to Vasari, in passing through Florence, was conducted to the +studio of Cimabue, to see the picture of the Virgin, which he had +painted for the chapel of the Rucellai family, on a larger scale than +had ever before been executed. He adds, that the whole city collected in +such crowds thither to view it, that it became a scene of public +festivity, and that that part of the city in which the artist resided, +received in consequence the name of Borgo Allegri, which it has retained +to the present day. Dominici has not failed to make use of this +tradition to the advantage of Tommaso. He observes that Charles would +naturally have invited Cimabue to Naples, if he had considered him the +first artist of his day; the king however did not do so, but at the same +time employed Tommaso to ornament a church which he had founded, and he +therefore must have considered him superior to Cimabue. This argument, +as every one will immediately perceive, is by no means conclusive of the +real merits of these two artists. That must be decided by an inspection +of their works; and with regard to these, Marco da Siena, who is the +father of the history of painting in Naples, declares, that in respect +to grandeur of composition, Cimabue was entitled to the preference. +Tommaso enjoyed the favour also of Charles II. who employed him, as did +also the principal persons of the city. The chapel of the Minutoli in +the Duomo, mentioned by Boccaccio, was ornamented by him with various +pictures of the Passion of our Saviour. Tommaso had a scholar in Filippo +Tesauro, who painted in the church of S. Restituta, the life of B. +Niccolo, the hermit, the only one of his frescos which has survived to +our days. + +About the year 1325, Giotto was invited by King Robert to paint the +church of S. Chiara in Naples, which he decorated with subjects from the +New Testament, and the mysteries of the Apocalypse, with some designs +suggested to him at a former time by Dante, as was currently reported in +the days of Vasari. These pictures were effaced about the beginning of +the present century, as they rendered the church dark; but there +remains, among other things in good preservation, a Madonna called della +Grazia, which the generous piety of the religious possessors preserved +for the veneration of the faithful. Giotto painted some pictures also in +the church of S. Maria Coronata; and others which no longer exist, in +the Castello dell'Uovo. He selected for his assistant in his labours, a +Maestro Simone, who, in consequence of enjoying Giotto's esteem, +acquired a great name in Naples. Some consider him a native of Cremona, +others a Neapolitan, which seems nearer the truth. His style partakes +both of Tesauro and Giotto, whence some consider him of the first, +others of the second master; and he may probably have been instructed by +both. However that may be, on the departure of Giotto he was employed in +many works which King Robert and the Queen Sancia were prosecuting in +various churches, and particularly in S. Lorenzo. He there painted that +monarch in the act of being crowned by the Bishop Lodovico, his brother, +to whom upon his death and subsequent canonization, a chapel was +dedicated in the Episcopal church, and Simone appointed to decorate it, +but which he was prevented from doing by death. Dominici particularly +extols a picture by him of a Deposition from the Cross, painted for the +great altar of the Incoronata; and thinks it will bear comparison with +the works of Giotto. In other respects, he confesses that his conception +and invention were not equally good, nor did his heads possess so +attractive an air as those of Giotto, nor his colours such a suavity of +tone. + +He instructed in the art a son, called Francesco di Simone, who was +highly extolled for a Madonna in chiaroscuro, in the church of S. +Chiara, and which was one of the works which escaped being effaced on +the occasion before mentioned. He had two other scholars in Gennaro di +Cola, and Stefanone, who were very much alike in their manner, and on +that account were chosen to paint in conjunction some large +compositions, such as the pictures of the Life of S. Lodovico, Bishop of +Tolosa, which Simone had only commenced, and various others of the Life +of the Virgin, in S. Giovanni da Carbonara, which were preserved for a +long period. Notwithstanding the similarity of their styles, we may +perceive a difference in the genius of the two artists; the first being +in reference to the second, studied and correct, and anxious to overcome +all difficulties, and to elevate the art; on which account he appears +occasionally somewhat laboured: the second discovers more genius, more +confidence, and a greater freedom of pencil, and to his figures he gives +a spirit that might have assured him a distinguished place, if he had +been born at a more advanced period of art. + +Before Zingaro (who will very soon occupy our attention) introduced a +manner acquired in other schools, the art had made little progress in +Naples and her territories. This is clearly proved by Colantonio del +Fiore, the scholar of Francesco, who lived till the year 1444, of whom +Dominici mentions some pictures, though he is in doubt whether they +should not be assigned to Maestro Simone; which is a tacit confession, +that in the lapse of a century the art had not made any considerable +progress. It appears, however, that Colantonio after some time, by +constant practice, had considerably improved himself; having painted +several works in a more modern style, particularly a S. Jerome, in the +church of S. Lorenzo, in the act of drawing a thorn from the foot of a +lion, with the date of 1436. It is a picture of great truth, removed +afterwards, for its merit, by the P. P. Conventuali, into the sacristy +of the same church, where it was for a long time the admiration of +strangers. He had a scholar of the name of Angiolo Franco, who imitated +better than any other Neapolitan the manner of Giotto; adding only a +stronger style of chiaroscuro, which he derived from his master. + +The art was, however, more advanced by Antonio Solario, originally a +smith, and commonly called lo Zingaro. His history has something +romantic in it, like that of Quintin Matsys, who, from his first +profession, was called il Fabbro, and became a painter from his love to +a young girl, who promised to marry him when he had made himself a +proficient in the art of painting. Solario in the same manner being +enamoured of a daughter of Colantonio, and receiving from him a promise +of her hand in marriage in ten years, if he became an eminent painter, +forsook his furnace for the academy, and substituted the pencil for the +file. There is an idle tradition of a queen of Naples having been the +author of this match, but that matter I leave in the hands of the +narrators of it. It is more interesting to us to know that Solario went +to Bologna, where he was for several years the scholar of Lippo +Dalmasio, called also Lippo delle Madonne, from his numerous portraits +of the Virgin, and the grace with which he painted them. On leaving +Bologna he visited other parts of Italy in order to study the works of +the best artists in the various schools; as Vivarini, in Venice; Bicci, +in Florence; Galasso, in Ferrara; Pisanello, and Gentile da Fabriano, in +Rome. It has been thought that he assisted the two last, as Luca +Giordano affirmed that among the pictures in the Lateran he recognized +some heads which were indisputably by Solario. He excelled in this +particular, and excited the admiration of Marco da Siena himself, who +declared that his countenances seemed alive. He became also a good +perspective painter for those times, and respectable in historical +compositions; which he enlivened with landscape in a better style than +other painters, and distinguished his figures by drapery peculiar to the +age, and carefully drawn from nature. He was less happy in designing his +hands and feet, and often appears heavy in his attitudes, and crude in +his colouring. On his return to Naples, it is said, that he gave proof +of his skill, and was favorably received by Colantonio, and thus became +his son-in-law nine years after his first departure; and that he painted +and taught there under King Alfonso, until the year 1455, about which +time he died. + +The most celebrated work of this artist was in the choir of S. Severino, +in fresco, representing, in several compartments, the life of S. +Benedict, and containing an incredible variety of figures and subjects. +He left also numerous pictures with portraits, and Madonnas of a +beautiful form, and not a few others painted in various churches of +Naples. In that of S. Domenico Maggiore, where he painted a dead Christ, +and in that of S. Pier Martire, where he represented a S. Vincenzio, +with some subjects from the life of that saint, it is said that he +surpassed himself. Thus there commenced in Naples a new epoch, which +from its original and most celebrated prototype, is called by the Cav. +Massimo, the school of Zingaro, as in that city those pictures are +commonly distinguished by the name of Zingaresque, which were painted +from the time of that artist to that of Tesauro, or a little later, in +the same way that pictures are every where called Cortonesque, that are +painted in imitation of Berettini. + +About this time there flourished two eminent artists, whom I deem it +proper to mention in this place before I enter on the succeeding +scholars of the Neapolitan School. These were Matteo da Siena, and +Antonello da Messina. The first we noticed in the school of Siena, and +mentioned his having painted in Naples the Slaughter of the Innocents. +It exists in the church of S. Caterina a Formello, and is engraved in +the third volume of the Lettere Senesi. The year M.CCCC.XVIII. is +attached to it, but we ought not to yield implicit faith to this date. +Il P. della Valle, in p. 56 of the above mentioned volume, observes, +that Matteo, in the year 1462, when he painted with his father in +Pienza, was young, and that in the portrait which he painted of himself +in 1491, he does not appear aged. He could not therefore have painted in +Naples in 1418. After this we may believe it very possible, that in this +date an L has been inadvertently omitted, and that the true reading is +M.CCCC.LXVIII. Thus the above writer conjectures, and with so much the +more probability, as he advances proofs, both from the form of the +letters and the absence of the artist from his native place. Whoever +desires similar examples, may turn to page 141 of vol. i., and he will +find that such errors have occurred more than once in the date of books. +Guided by this circumstance we may correct what Dominici has asserted of +Matteo da Siena having influenced the style of Solario. It may be true +that there is a resemblance in the air of the heads, and the general +style, but such similarity can only be accounted for by Matteo deriving +it from Solario, or both, as often happens, deriving it from the same +master. + +Antonello, of the family of the Antonj, universally known under the name +of Antonello da Messina, is a name so illustrious in the history of art, +that it is not sufficient to have mentioned him in the first book and to +refer to him here again, as he will claim a further notice in the +Venetian School, and we must endeavour too to overcome some perplexing +difficulties, to ascertain with correctness the time at which he +flourished, and attempt to settle the dispute, whether he were the first +who painted in oil in Italy, or whether that art was practised before +his time. Vasari relates, that when young, after having spent many years +in Rome in the study of design,[101] and many more at Palermo, painting +there with the reputation of a good artist, he repaired first to +Messina, and from thence passed to Naples, where he chanced to see a +large composition painted in oil by Gio. da Bruggia, which had been +presented by some Florentine merchants to King Alfonso. Antonello, +smitten with this new art, took his departure to Flanders, and there, by +his affability, and by a present of some drawings of the Italian School, +so far ingratiated himself with Giovanni, as to induce him to +communicate to him the secret, and the aged painter dying soon +afterwards, thus left him instructed in the new art. This must have +happened about the year 1440, since that time is required to support the +supposition that Giovanni, born about 1370, died at an advanced age, as +the old writers assert, or exactly in 1441, as is asserted by the author +of the _Galleria Imperiale_. Antonello then left Flanders, and first +resided for some months in his native place; from thence he went to +Venice, where he communicated the secret to Domenico Veneziano; and +having painted there a considerable time, died there at the age of +forty-nine. All this we find in Vasari, and it agrees with what he +relates in the life of Domenico Veneziano, that this artist, after +having learnt the new method from Antonello in Venice, painted in Loreto +with Piero della Francesca, some few years before that artist lost his +eyesight, which happened in 1458. Thus the arrival of Antonello in +Venice must have occurred about the year 1450, or some previous year; +but this conclusion is contrary to Venetian evidence. The remaining +traces of Antonello, or the dates attached to his works there, commence +in 1474, and terminate according to Ridolfi in 1490. There does not +appear any reason whatever, why he should not have attached dates to his +pictures, until after residing twenty-four years in Venice. Besides, how +can it be maintained, that Antonello, after passing many years in Rome +as a student, and many in Palermo as a master, and some years in Messina +and Flanders, should not in Venice, in the forty-ninth year after the +death of Giovanni, have passed the forty-ninth year of his age. Hackert +quotes the opinion of Gallo, who in the _Annali di Messina_, dates the +birth of Antonello in 1447, and his death at forty-nine years of age, +that is, in 1496. But if this were so, how could he have known Gio. da +Bruggia? Yet if such fact be denied, we must contradict a tradition +which has been generally credited. I should be more inclined to believe +that there is a mistake in his age, and that he died at a more advanced +period of life. Nor on this supposition do we wrong Vasari; others +having remarked what we shall also on a proper opportunity confirm; that +as far as regards Venetian artists, Vasari errs almost in every page +from the want of accurate information. I further believe that respecting +the residence of Antonello in Venice, he wrote with inaccuracy. That he +was there about the year 1450, and communicated his secret to Domenico, +is a fact, which after so many processes made in Florence on the murder +of Domenico, and so much discussion respecting him, must have been well +ascertained, not depending on the report contained in the memoirs of the +painters by Grillandajo, or any other contemporary, in whose writings +Vasari might search for information. But admitting this, I am of +opinion, that Antonello did not reside constantly in Venice from the +year 1450 until his death, as Vasari insinuates. It appears that he +travelled afterwards in several countries, resided for a long time in +Milan, and acquired there a great celebrity; and that he repaired afresh +to Venice, and enjoyed there for some years a public salary. This we +gather from Maurolico, quoted by Hackert: _Ob mirum hic ingenium +Venetiis aliquot annos publice conductus vixit: Mediolani quoque fuit +percelebris_, (_Hist. Sican. pl. 186, prim. edit._), and if he was not a +contemporary writer, still he was not very far removed from Antonello. +This is the hypothesis I propose in order to reconcile the many +contradictory accounts which we find on this subject in Vasari, Ridolfi, +and Zanetti; and when we come to the Venetian School, I shall not forget +to adduce further proofs in support of it. Others may perhaps succeed +better than I have done in this task, and with that hope I shall console +myself: as in my researches I have no other object than truth, I shall +be equally satisfied whether I discover it myself, or it be communicated +to me by others. + +That therefore Antonello was the first who exhibited a perfect method of +practising painting in oil in Italy, is an assertion that, it seems to +me, may be with justice maintained, or at least it cannot be said that +there is proof to the contrary. And yet in the history of the art in the +Two Sicilies, this honour is strongly disputed. In that history we find +the description of a chapel in the Duomo of Messina, called Madonna +della Lettera, where it is said there exists a very old Greek picture of +the Virgin, an object of adoration, which was said to be in oil. If this +were even admitted, it could not detract from the merit of Antonello in +having restored a beautiful art that had fallen into desuetude; but in +these Greek pictures, the wax had often the appearance of oil, as we +observed in vol. i. p. 89. Marco da Siena, in the fragment of a +discourse which Dominici has preserved, asserts, that the Neapolitan +painters of 1300 continued to improve in the two manners of painting in +fresco and in oil. When I peruse again what I have written in vol. i. p. +90, where some attempt at colouring in oil anterior to Antonello is +admitted, I may be permitted not to rely on the word of Pino alone. +There exist in Naples many pictures of 1300, and I cannot imagine, why +in a controversy like this, they are neither examined nor alluded to, +and why the question is rested solely on a work or two of Colantonio. +Some national writers, and not long since, Signorelli, in his _Coltura +delle due Sicili_ (tom. iii. p. 171), have pretended, that Colantonio +del Fiore was certainly the first to paint in oil, and adduce in proof +the very picture of S. Jerome, before mentioned, and another in S. Maria +Nuova. Il Sig. Piacenza after inspecting them, says, that he was not +able to decide whether these pictures were really in oil or not. Zanetti +(P. V. p. 20) also remarks, that it is extremely difficult to pass a +decided judgment on works of this kind, and I have made the same +observation with respect to Van Eyck, which will I hope, convince every +reader who will be at the trouble to refer to vol. i. p. 87. And unless +that had been the case, how happened it that all Europe was filled with +the name of Van Eyck in the course of a few years; that every painter +ran to him; that his works were coveted by princes, and that they who +could not obtain them, procured the works of his scholars, and others +the works of Ausse, Ugo d'Anversa, and Antonello; and of Ruggieri +especially, of whose great fame in Italy we shall in another place +adduce the documents.[102] On the other hand, who, beyond Naples and its +territory, had at that time heard of Colantonio? Who ever sought with +such eagerness the works of Solario? And if this last was the scholar +and son-in-law of a master who painted so well in oil, how happened it +that he was neither distinguished in the art, nor even acquired it? Why +did he himself and his scholars work in distemper? Why did the +Sicilians, as we have seen, pass over to Venice, where Antonello +resided, to instruct themselves, and not confine themselves to Naples? +Why did the whole school of Venice, the emporium of Europe, and capable +of contradicting any false report, attest, on the death of Antonello, +that he was the first that painted in oil in Italy, and no one opposed +to him either Solario or Colantonio?[103] They either could not at that +time have been acquainted with this discovery, or did not know it to an +extent that can contradict Vasari, and the prevailing opinions +respecting Antonello. Dominici has advanced more on this point than any +other person, asserting that this art was discovered in Naples, and was +carried from thence to Flanders by Van Eyck himself, to which +supposition, after the observations already made, I deem it superfluous +to reply.[104] + +We shall now return to the scholars of Solario, who were very numerous. +Amongst them was a Niccola di Vito, who may be called the Buffalmacco of +this school, for his singular humour and his eccentric invention, though +in other respects he was an inferior artist, and little deserving +commemoration. Simone Papa did not paint any large composition in which +he might be compared to his master; he confined himself to altarpieces, +with few figures grouped in a pleasing style, and finished with +exquisite care; so that he sometimes equalled Zingaro, as in a S. +Michele, painted for S. Maria Nuova. Of the same class seems to have +been Angiolillo di Roccadirame, who in the church of S. Bridget, painted +that saint contemplating in a vision the birth of Christ; a picture +which even with the experienced, might pass for the work of his master. +More celebrated and more deserving of notice, are Pietro and Polito +(Ippolito) del Donzello, sons-in-law of Angiolo Franco, and relatives of +the celebrated architect Giuliano da Maiano, by whom they were +instructed in that art. Vasari mentions them as the first painters of +the Neapolitan school, but does not give any account of their master, or +of what school they were natives, and he writes in a way that might lead +the reader to believe that they were Tuscans. He says that Giuliano, +having finished the palace of Poggio Reale for King Robert, the monarch +engaged the two brothers to decorate it, and that first Giuliano dying, +and the king afterwards, Polito _returned_ to Florence.[105] Bottari +observes, that he did not find the two Donzelli mentioned by Orlandi, +nor by any one else; a clear proof that he did not himself consider them +natives of Naples, and on that account he did not look for them in +Bernardo Dominici, who has written at length upon them, complaining of +the negligence or inadvertent error of Vasari. + +The pictures of the two brothers were painted, according to Vasari, +about the year 1447. But as he informs us that Polito did not leave +Naples until the death of Alfonso, this epoch should be extended to +1463, or beyond; as he remained for a year longer, or thereabouts, under +the reign of Ferdinand, the son and successor of Alfonso. He painted for +that monarch some large compositions in the refectory of S. Maria Nuova, +partly alone and partly in conjunction with his brother, and both +brothers combined in decorating for the king a part of the palace of +Poggio Reale. We may here with propriety also mention, that they painted +in one of the rooms the conspiracy against Ferdinand, which being seen +by Jacopo Sannazzaro, gave occasion to his writing a sonnet, the 41st in +the second part of his _Rime_. Their style resembles that of their +master, except that their colouring is softer. They distinguished +themselves also in their architectural ornaments, and in the painting of +friezes and trophies, and subjects in chiaroscuro, in the manner of +bassirilievi, an art which I am not aware that any one practised before +them. The younger brother leaving Naples and dying soon afterwards, +Pietro remained employed in that city, where he and his scholars +acquired a great reputation by their paintings in oil and fresco. The +portraits of Pietro had all the force of nature, and it is not long +since, that on the destruction of some of his pictures on a wall in the +palace of the Dukes of Matalona, some heads were removed with the +greatest care, and preserved for their excellence. + +We may now notice Silvestro de' Buoni, who was placed by his father in +the school of Zingaro, and on his death attached himself to the +Donzelli. His father was an indifferent painter, of the name of Buono, +and from that has arisen the mistake of some persons, who have ascribed +to the son some works of the father in an old style, and unworthy the +reputation of Silvestro. This artist, in the opinion of the Cav. +Massimo, had a finer colouring and a superior general effect to the +Donzelli; and in the force of his chiaroscuro, and in the delicacy of +his contours, far surpassed all the painters of his country who had +lived to that time. Dominici refers to many of his pictures in the +various churches of Naples. One of the most celebrated is that of S. +Giovanni a Mare, in which he included three saints, all of the same +name, S. John the Baptist, the Evangelist, and S. Chrysostom. + +Silvestro is said to have had a disciple in Tesauro, whose Christian +name has not been correctly handed down to us; but he is generally +called Bernardo. He is supposed to have been of a painter's family, and +descended from that Filippo who is commemorated as the second of this +school, and father or uncle of Raimo, whom we shall soon notice. This +Bernardo, or whatever his name may have been, made nearer approaches to +the modern style than any of the preceding artists; more judicious in +his invention, more natural in his figures and drapery; select, +expressive, harmonized, and displaying a knowledge in gradation and +relief, beyond what could be expected in a painter who is not known to +have been acquainted with any other schools, or seen any pictures beyond +those of his own country. Luca Giordano, at a time when he was +considered the Coryphaeus of painting, was struck with astonishment at +the painting of a Soffitto by Tesauro at S. Giovanni de' Pappacodi, and +did not hesitate to declare that there were parts in it, which in an age +so fruitful in fine works, no one could have surpassed. It represents +the Seven Sacraments. The minute description which the historian gives +of it, shews us what sobriety and judgment there were in his +composition; and the portraits of Alfonso II. and Ippolita Sforza, whose +espousals he represented in the Sacrament of Marriage, afford us some +light for fixing the date of this picture. Raimo Tesauro was very much +employed in works in fresco. Some pictures by him are also mentioned in +S. Maria Nuova, and in Monte Vergine; pictures, says the Cav. Massimo, +"very studied and perfect, according to the latest schools succeeding +our Zingaro." + +To the same schools Gio. Antonio d'Amato owed his first instructions; +but it is said, that when he saw the pictures which Pietro Perugino had +painted for the Duomo of Naples, he became ambitious of emulating the +style of that master. By diligence, in which he was second to none, he +approached, as one may say, the confines of modern art; and died at an +advanced period of the sixteenth century. He is highly extolled for his +Dispute of the Sacrament, painted for the Metropolitan church, and for +two other pictures placed in the Borgo di Chiaia, the one at the +Carmine, the other at S. Leonardo. And here we may close our account of +the early painters, scanty indeed, but still copious for a city harassed +by incessant hostilities.[106] + +[Footnote 98: In the Museo of the Sig. D. Franc. Daniele, are some +birds, not inferior to the doves of Furietti.] + +[Footnote 99: I adopt this mode because "little has hitherto been +published on the Sicilian School," as the Sig. Hackert observes in his +_Memorie de' Pittori Messinesi_. I had not seen that book when I +published the former edition of the present work, and I was then +desirous that the memoirs of the Sicilian painters should be collected +together and given to the public. I rejoice that we have had memoirs +presented to us of those of Messina, and that we shall also have those +of the Syracusans and others, as the worthy professor gives us reason to +hope in the preface to the _Memorie_ before mentioned, which were +written by an anonymous writer, and published by Sig. Hackert with his +own remarks.] + +[Footnote 100: The history of the art in Messina enumerates a series of +pictures from the year 1267, of which period is the S. Placido of the +cathedral, painted by an Antonio d'Antonio. It is supposed that this is +a family of painters, which had the surname of Antonj, and that many +pictures in S. Francesco, S. Anna, and elsewhere, are by different +Antonj, until we come to Salvatore di Antonio, father of the celebrated +Antonello di Messina, and himself a master; and there remains by him a +S. Francis in the act of receiving the Stigmata, in the church of his +name. Thus the genealogy of this Antonello is carried to the before +mentioned Antonio di Antonio, and still further by a writer called _il +Minacciato_ (Hack. p. 11), although Antonio never, to my knowledge, +subscribed himself degli Antonj, having always on his pictures, which I +have seen, inscribed his country, instead of his surname, as +_Messinensis_, _Messineus_, _Messinae_.] + +[Footnote 101: The _Memorie de' Pittori Messinesi_ assert, that at Rome +he was attracted by the fame of the works of Masaccio, and that he there +also designed all the ancient statues. They add, too, that he arrived at +such celebrity, that his works are equal to those of the best masters of +his time. I imagine it must be meant to allude to those who preceded +Pietro Perugino, Francia, Gio. Bellini, and Mantegna; as his works will +not bear any comparison with those of the latter masters.] + +[Footnote 102: In the first epoch of the Venetian School.] + +[Footnote 103: The following inscription, composed at the instance of +the Venetian painters, is found in Ridolfi, p. 49. "_Antonius pictor, +praecipuum Messanae suae et totius Siciliae ornamentum hac humo contegitur: +non solum suis picturis, in quibus singulare artificium et venustas +fuit: sed et quod coloribus oleo miscendis splendorem et perpetuitatem_ +PRIMUS ITALIAE PICTURAE _contulit, summo_ SEMPER _artificum studio +celebratus._"] + +[Footnote 104: A letter of Summonzio, written on the 20th March, 1524, +has been communicated to me by the Sig. Cav. de' Lazara, extracted from +the 60th volume of the MSS. collected in Venice by the Sig. Ab. Profess. +Daniele Francesconi. It is addressed to M. A. Michele, who had requested +from him some information respecting the ancient and modern artists of +Naples; and in reference to the present question he thus speaks. "Since +that period (the reign of King Ladislaus), we have not had any one of so +much talent in the art of painting as our Maestro Colantonio of Naples, +who would in all probability have arrived at great eminence, if he had +not died young. Owing to the taste of the times, he did not arrive at +that perfection of design founded on the antique, which his disciple +Antonello da Messina attained; an artist, as I understand, well known +amongst you. The style of Colantonio was founded on the Flemish, and the +colouring of that country, to which he was so much attached, that he had +intended to go thither, but the King Raniero retained him here, +satisfied with showing him the practice and mode of such colouring." +From this letter, which seems contrary to my argument, I collect +sufficient, if I err not, to confirm it. For, 1st, the defence of those +writers falls to the ground, who assume that the art of oil colouring +was derived from Naples, while we see that Colantonio, by means of the +king, received it from Flanders. 2ndly, Van Eyck himself is not here +named, but the painters of Flanders generally; which country first +awakened, as we have observed, by the example of Italy, had discovered +new, and it is true, imperfect and inefficient methods, but still +superior to distemper; and who knows if this were not the mode adopted +by Colantonio. 3rdly, It is said that he died young, a circumstance +which may give credit to the difficulty that he had in communicating the +secret: in fact, it is not known that he communicated it even to his +son-in-law, much less to a stranger. 4thly, Hence the necessity of +Antonello undertaking the journey to Flanders to learn the secret from +Van Eyck, who was then in years, and not without difficulty communicated +it to him. 5thly, If we believe with Ridolfi that Antonello painted in +1494 in Trevigi, and credit the testimony of Vasari, that he was not +then more than forty-nine years of age, how could he be the scholar of +Colantonio, who, according to Dominici, died in 1444? It is with +diffidence I advance these remarks on a matter on which I have before +expressed my doubts, and I have been obliged to leave some points +undecided, or decided rather according to the opinions of others than my +own.] + +[Footnote 105: In the ducal gallery in Florence, is a Deposition from +the Cross, wholly in the style of Zingaro: and I know not whether it +ought to be ascribed to Polito, who certainly resided in Florence, or to +some other painter of the Neapolitan School.] + +[Footnote 106: In Messina, towards the close of the fifteenth century, +or at the beginning of the sixteenth, some artists flourished who +practised their native style, not yet modernised on the Italian model, +as Alfonso Franco, a scholar of Jacopello d'Antonio, and a Pietro Oliva, +of an uncertain school. Both are praised for their natural manner, the +peculiar boast of that age, but in the first we admire a correct design +and a lively expression, for which his works have been much sought after +by strangers, who have spared only to his native place a Deposition from +the Cross, at S. Francesco di Paola, and a Dispute of Christ with the +Doctors, at S. Agostino. Still less remains of Antonello Rosaliba, +always a graceful painter. This is a Madonna with the Holy Infant, in +the village of Postunina.] + + + + + NEAPOLITAN SCHOOL. + + SECOND EPOCH. + + _Modern Neapolitan Style, founded on the Schools of Raffaello + and Michelangiolo._ + + +It has already been observed, that at the commencement of the sixteenth +century, the art of painting seemed in every country to have attained to +maturity, and that every school at that time assumed its own peculiar +and distinguishing character. Naples did not, however, possess a manner +so decided as that of other schools of Italy, and thus afforded an +opportunity for the cultivation of the best style, as the students who +left their native country returned home, each with the manner of his own +master, and the sovereigns and nobility of the kingdom invited and +employed the most celebrated strangers. In this respect, perhaps, Naples +did not yield precedence to any city after Rome. Thus the first talents +were constantly employed in ornamenting both the churches and palaces of +that metropolis. Nor indeed was that country ever deficient in men of +genius, who manifested every exquisite quality for distinction, +particularly such as depended on a strong and fervid imagination. Hence +an accomplished writer and painter has observed, that no part of Italy +could boast of so many native artists, such is the fire, the fancy, and +freedom, which characterizes, for the most part, the works of these +masters. Their rapidity of execution was another effect of their genius, +a quality which has been alike praised by the ancients,[107] and the +moderns, when combined with other more requisite gifts of genius. But +this despatch in general excludes correct design, which from that cause +is seldom found in that school. Nor do we find that it paid much +attention to ideal perfection, as most of its professors, following the +practice of the naturalists, selected the character of their heads and +the attitudes of their figures from common life; some with more, and +others with less discrimination. With regard to colour, this school +changed its principles in conformity to the taste of the times. It was +fertile in invention and composition, but deficient in application and +study. The history of the vicissitudes it experienced will occupy the +remainder of this volume. + +The epoch of modern painting in Naples could not have commenced under +happier auspices than those which it had the good fortune to experience. +Pietro Perugino had painted an Assumption of the Virgin, which I am +informed exists in the Duomo, or S. Reparata, a very ancient cathedral +church, since connected with the new Duomo. This work opened the way to +a better taste. When Raffaello and his school rose into public esteem, +Naples was among the first distant cities to profit from it, by means of +some of his scholars, to whom were also added some followers of +Michelangiolo, about the middle of the century. Thus till nearly the +year 1600, this school paid little attention to any other style than +that of these two great masters and their imitators, except a few +artists who were admirers of Titian. + +We may commence the new series with Andrea Sabbatini of Salerno. This +artist was so much struck with the style of Pietro, when he saw his +picture in the Duomo, that he immediately determined to study in the +school of Perugia. He took his departure accordingly for that city, but +meeting on the road some brother painters who much more highly extolled +the works of Raffaello, executed for Julius II., he changed his mind and +proceeded to Rome, and there placed himself in the school of that great +master. He remained with him however, only a short time, as the death of +his father compelled him to return home, against his wishes. But he +arrived a new man. It is related that he painted with Raffaello at the +Pace, and in the Vatican, and that he became an accomplished copyist of +his works, and successfully emulated the style of his master. Compared +with his fellow scholars, although he did not rival Giulio Romano, he +yet surpassed Raffaele del Colle, and others of that class. He had a +correctness of design, selection in his faces and in his attitudes, a +depth of shade, and the muscles rather strongly expressed; a breadth in +the folding of his drapery, and a colour which still preserves its +freshness after the lapse of so many years. He executed many works in +Naples, as appears from the catalogue of his pictures. Among his best +works are numbered some pictures at S. Maria delle Grazie; besides the +frescos which he executed there and in other places, extolled by writers +as miracles of art, but few of which remain to the present day. He +painted also in his native city, in Gaeta, and indeed in all parts of +the kingdom, both in the churches and for private collections, where +many of his Madonnas, of an enchanting beauty, are still to be +seen.[108] + +Andrea had several scholars, some of whom studied under other masters, +and did not acquire much of his style. Such was Cesare Turco, who rather +took after Pietro; a good painter in oil, but unsuccessful in fresco. +But Andrea was the sole master of Francesco Santafede, the father and +master of Fabrizio; painters who in point of colouring have few equals +in this school, and possessing a singular uniformity of style. +Nevertheless the experienced discover in the father more vigour, and +more clearness in his shadows; and there are by him some pictures in the +Soffitto of the Nunziata, and a Deposition from the Cross in the +possession of the prince di Somma, highly celebrated. But of all the +scholars of Andrea, one Paolillo resembled him the most, whose works +were all ascribed to his master, until Dominici restored them to their +right owner. He would have been the great ornament of this school had he +not died young. + +Polidoro Caldara, or Caravaggio, came to Naples in the year of the +sacking of Rome, 1527. He was not, as Vasari would have us believe, in +danger of perishing through want at Naples; for Andrea da Salerno, who +had been his fellow disciple, generously received him into his house, +and introduced him in the city, where he obtained many commissions, and +formed several scholars before he went to Sicily. He had distinguished +himself in Rome by his chiaroscuri, as we have related; and he painted +in colours in Naples and Messina. His colour in oil was pallid and +obscure, at least for some time, and in this style I saw some pictures +of the Passion in Rome, which Gavin Hamilton had received from Sicily. +In other respects they were valuable, from their design and invention. +Vasari mentions this master with enthusiasm, calls him a divine genius, +and extols to the skies a picture which he painted in Messina a little +while before his death. This was a composition of Christ on his way to +Mount Calvary, surrounded by a great multitude, and he assures us that +the colouring was enchanting. + +Giambernardo Lama was first a scholar of Amato, and afterwards attached +himself to Polidoro, in whose manner he painted a Pieta at S. Giacomo +degli Spagnuoli, which, from its conception, its correctness, and vigour +of design, variety in attitude, and general style of composition, was by +many ascribed to that master. In general however, he displayed a softer +and more natural manner, and was partial to the style of Andrea di +Salerno. Marco di Pino, an imitator of Michelangiolo, as we have +observed, though sober and judicious, was held in disesteem by him. In +the _Segretario_ of Capece, there is an interesting letter to Lama, +where amongst other things he says, "I hear that you do not agree with +Marco da Siena, as you paint with more regard to beauty, and he is +attached to a vigorous design without softening his colours. I know not +what you desire of him, but pray leave him to his own method, and do you +follow yours." + +A Francesco Ruviale, a Spaniard, is also mentioned in Naples, called +Polidorino, from his happy imitation of his master, whom he assisted in +painting for the Orsini some subjects illustrative of the history of +that noble family; and after the departure of his master, he executed by +himself several works at Monte Oliveto and elsewhere. The greater part +of these have perished, as happened in Rome to so many of the works of +Polidoro. This Ruviale appears to me to be a different artist from a +Ruviale, a Spaniard, who is enumerated among the scholars of Salviati, +and the assistants of Vasari, in the painting of the Chancery; on which +occasion Vasari says, he formed himself into a good painter. This was +under Paul VII. in 1544, at which time Polidorino must already have been +a master. Palomino has not said a word of any other Ruviale, a painter +of his country; and this is a proof that the two preceding artists never +returned home to Spain. + +Some have included among the scholars of Polidoro an able artist and +good colourist, called Marco Calabrese, whose surname is Cardisco. +Vasari ranks him before all his Neapolitan contemporaries, and considers +his genius a fruit produced remote from its native soil. This +observation cannot appear correct to any one who recollects that the +Calabria of the present day is the ancient Magna Graecia, where in former +times the arts were carried to the highest pitch of perfection. Cardisco +painted much in Naples and in the state. His most celebrated work is the +Dispute of S. Agostino in the church of that saint in Aversa. He had a +scholar in Gio. Batista Crescione, who together with Lionardo +Castellani, his relative, painted at the time Vasari wrote, which was an +excuse for his noticing them only in a cursory manner. We may further +observe that Polidoro was the founder of a florid school in Messina, +where we must look for his most able scholars.[109] + +Gio. Francesco Penni, or as he is called, il Fattore, came to Naples +some time after Polidoro, but soon afterwards fell sick, and died in the +year 1528. He contributed in two different ways to the advancement of +the school of Naples. In the first place he left there the great copy of +the Transfiguration of Raffaello, which he had painted in Rome in +conjunction with Perino, and which was afterwards placed in S. Spirito +degl'Incurabili, and served as a study to Lama, and the best painters, +until, with other select pictures and sculptures at Naples, it was +purchased and removed by the viceroy Don Pietro Antonio of Aragon. +Secondly, he left there a scholar of the name of Lionardo, commonly +called il Pistoja, from the place of his birth; an excellent colourist, +but not a very correct designer. We noticed him among the assistants of +Raffaello, and more at length among the artists of the Florentine state, +where we find some of his pictures, as in Volterra and elsewhere. After +he had lost his friend Penni in Naples, he established himself there for +the remainder of his days, where he received sufficient encouragement +from the nobility of that city, and painted less for the churches than +for private individuals. He chiefly excelled in portrait. + +Pistoja is said to have been one of the masters of Francesco Curia, a +painter, who, though somewhat of a mannerist in the style of Vasari and +Zucchero, is yet commended for the noble and agreeable style of his +composition, for his beautiful countenances, and natural colouring. +These qualities are singularly conspicuous in a Circumcision painted for +the church della Pieta, esteemed by Ribera, Giordano, and Solimene, one +of the first pictures in Naples. He left in Ippolito Borghese an +accomplished imitator, who was absent a long time from his native +country, where few of his works remain, but those are highly prized. He +was in the year 1620 in Perugia, as Morelli relates in his description +of the pictures and statues of that city, and painted an Assumption of +the Virgin, which was placed in S. Lorenzo. + +There were two Neapolitans who were scholars and assistants of Perino +del Vaga in Rome; Gio. Corso, initiated in the art by Amato, or as +others assert by Polidoro; and Gianfilippo Criscuolo, instructed a long +time by Salerno. There are few remains of Corso in Naples, except such +as are retouched; nor is any piece so much extolled as a Christ with a +Cross painted for the church of S. Lorenzo. Criscuolo in the short time +he was at Rome, diligently copied Raffaello, and was greatly attached to +his school. He followed, however, his own genius, which was reserved and +timid, and formed for himself rather a severe manner; a circumstance to +his honour, at a time when the contours were overcharged and the +correctness of Raffaello was neglected. He is also highly commended as +an instructor. + +From his school came Francesco Imparato, who was afterwards taught by +Titian, and so far emulated his style, that a S. Peter Martyr by him in +the church of that saint in Naples was praised by Caracciolo as the best +picture which had then been seen in that city. We must not confound this +Francesco with Girolamo Imparato, his son, who flourished after the end +of the sixteenth century, and enjoyed a reputation greater than he +perhaps merited. He too was a follower of the Venetian, and afterwards +of the Lombard style, and he travelled to improve himself in colouring, +the fruits of which were seen in the picture of the Rosario at S. +Tommaso d'Aquino, and in others of his works. The Cav. Stanzioni, who +knew him, and was his competitor, considered him inferior to his father +in talent, and describes him as vain and ostentatious. + +To these painters of the school of Raffaello, there succeeded in Naples +two followers of Michelangiolo, whom we have before noticed. The first +of these was Vasari, who was called thither in 1544, to paint the +refectory of the P. P. Olivetani, and was afterwards charged with many +commissions in Naples and in Rome. By the aid of architecture, in which +he excelled more than in painting, he converted that edifice, which was +in what is commonly called the Gothic style, to a better form; altered +the vault, and ornamented it with modern stuccos, which were the first +seen in Naples, and painted there a considerable number of subjects, +with that rapidity and mediocrity that characterize the greater part of +his works. He remained there for the space of a year, and of the +services he rendered to the city, we may judge from the following +passage in his life. "It is extraordinary," he says, "that in so large +and noble a city, there should have been found no masters after Giotto, +to have executed any work of celebrity, although some works by Perugino +and by Raffaello had been introduced. On these grounds I have +endeavoured, to the best of my humble talents, to awaken the genius of +that country to a spirit of emulation, and to the accomplishment of some +great and honourable work; and from these my labours, or from some other +cause, we now see many beautiful works in stucco and painting, in +addition to the before mentioned pictures." It is not easy to conjecture +why Vasari should here overlook many eminent painters, and even Andrea +da Salerno himself, so illustrious an artist, and whose name would have +conferred a greater honour on his book, than it could possibly have +derived from it. Whether self love prompted him to pass over that +painter and other Neapolitan artists, in the hope that he should himself +be considered the restorer of taste in Naples; or whether it was the +consequence of the dispute which existed at that time between him and +the painters of Naples; or whether, as I observed in my preface, it +sometimes happens in this art, that a picture which delights one person, +disgusts another, I know not, and every one must judge for himself. For +myself, however much disposed I should be to pardon him for many +omissions, which in a work like his, are almost unavoidable, still I +cannot exculpate him for this total silence. Nor have the writers of +Naples ever ceased complaining of this neglect, and some indeed have +bitterly inveighed against him and accused him of contributing to the +deterioration of taste. So true is it, that an offence against a whole +nation is an offence never pardoned. + +The other imitator, and a favourite of Michelangiolo (but not his +scholar, as some have asserted) that painted in Naples, was Marco di +Pino, or Marco da Siena, frequently before mentioned by us. He appears +to have arrived in Naples after the year 1560. He was well received in +that city, and had some privileges conferred on him; nor did the +circumstance of his being a stranger create towards him any feeling of +jealousy on the part of the Neapolitans, who are naturally hospitable to +strangers of good character; and he is described by all as a sincere, +affable, and respectable man. He enjoyed in Naples the first reputation, +and was often employed in works of consequence in some of the greater +churches of the city, and in others of the kingdom at large. He repeated +on several occasions the Deposition from the Cross, which he painted at +Rome, but with many variations, and the one the most esteemed was that +which he placed in S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini, in 1577. The Circumcision +in the Gesu Vecchio, where Parrino traces the portrait of the artist and +his wife,[110] the adoration of the Magi at S. Severino, and others of +his works, contain views of buildings, not unworthy of him, as he was an +eminent architect, and also a good writer on that art. Of his merit as a +painter, I believe I do not err, when I say that among the followers of +Michelangiolo, there is none whose design is less extravagant and whose +colour is more vigorous. He is not however, always equal. In the church +of S. Severino, where he painted four pictures, the Nativity of the +Virgin is much inferior to the others. A mannered style was so common in +artists of that age, that few were exempt from it. He had many scholars +in Naples, but none of the celebrity of Gio. Angelo Criscuolo. This +artist was the brother of Gio. Filippo, already mentioned, and exercised +the profession of a notary, without relinquishing that of a miniature +painter, which he had learnt in his youth. He became desirous of +emulating his brother in larger compositions, and under the direction of +Marco succeeded in acquiring his style. + +These two painters laid the foundation of the history of the art in +Naples. In 1568, there issued from the Giunti press in Florence, a new +edition of the works of Vasari, in which the author speaks very briefly +of Marco da Siena, in the life of Daniello da Volterra. He only observes +that he had derived the greatest benefit from the instructions of that +master, and that he had afterwards chosen Naples for his country, and +settled and continued his labours there. Marco, either not satisfied +with this eulogium, or displeased at the silence of Vasari with regard +to many of the painters of Siena, and almost all those of Naples, +determined to publish a work of his own in opposition to him. Among his +scholars was the notary before mentioned, who supplied him with memoirs +of the Neapolitan painters taken from the archives of the city, and from +tradition; and from these materials Marco prepared a _Discorso_. He +composed it in 1569, a year after the publication of this edition of +Vasari's works, and it was the first sketch of the history of the fine +arts in Naples. It did not, however, then see the light, and was not +published until 1742, and then only in part, by Dominici, together with +notes written by Criscuolo in the Neapolitan dialect, and with the +addition of other notes collected respecting the subsequent artists, and +arranged by two excellent painters, Massimo Stanzioni, and Paolo de' +Matteis. Dominici himself added some others of his own collecting, and +communicated by some of his learned friends, among whom was the +celebrated antiquarian Matteo Egizio. The late _Guida_ or _Breve +Descrizione di Napoli_ says, this voluminous work stands in need of more +information, a better arrangement, and a more concise style. There might +also be added some better criticisms on the ancient artists, and less +partiality towards some of the modern. Still this is a very lucid work, +and highly valuable for the opinions expressed on the talents of +artists, for the most part by other artists, whose names inspire +confidence in the reader. Whether the sister arts of architecture and +sculpture are as judiciously treated of, it is not our province to +inquire. + +In the above work the reader may find the names of other artists of +Naples who belong to the close of this epoch, as Silvestro Bruno, who +enjoyed in Naples the fame of a good master; a second Simone Papa, or +del Papa, a clever fresco painter, and likewise another Gio. Ant. Amato, +who to distinguish him from the first is called the younger. He was +first instructed in the art by his uncle, afterwards by Lama, and +successively imitated their several styles. He obtained considerable +fame, and the infant Christ painted by him in the Banco de' Poveri, is +highly extolled. To these may be added those artists who fixed their +residence in other parts of Italy, as Pirro Ligorio, honoured, as we +have observed, by Pius IV. in Rome, and who died in Ferrara, engineer to +Alfonso II.; and Gio. Bernardino Azzolini, or rather Mazzolini, in whose +praise Soprani and Ratti unite. He arrived in Genoa about 1510, and +there executed some works worthy of that golden age of art. He excelled +in waxwork, and formed heads with an absolute expression of life. He +extended the same energetic character to his oil pictures, particularly +in the Martyrdom of S. Agatha in S. Giuseppe. + +The provincial cities had also in this age their own schools, or at +least their own masters; some of whom remained in their native places, +and others resided abroad. Cola dell'Amatrice, known also to Vasari, who +mentions him in his life of Calabrese, took up his residence in Ascoli +del Piceno, and enjoyed a distinguished name in architecture and in +painting, through all that province. He had somewhat of a hard manner in +his earlier paintings, but in his subsequent works he exhibited a +fulness of design and an accomplished modern style. He is highly +extolled in the Guida di Ascoli for his picture in the oratory of the +_Corpus Domini_, which represents the Saviour in the act of dispensing +the Eucharist to the Apostles. + +Pompeo dell'Aquila was a finished painter and a fine colourist, if we +are to believe Orlandi, who saw many of his works in Aquila, +particularly some frescos conducted in a noble style. In Rome in S. +Spirito in Sassia, there is a fine Deposition from the Cross by him. +This artist is not mentioned either by Baglione or any other writer of +his time. Giuseppe Valeriani, another native of Aquila, is frequently +mentioned. He painted at the same period and in the same church of S. +Spirito, where there exists a Transfiguration by him. We perceive in him +an evident desire of imitating F. Sebastiano, but he is heavy in his +design, and too dark in his colours. He entered afterwards into the +society of Jesuits, and improved his first manner. His best works are +said to be a Nunziata in a chapel of the Gesu, with other subjects from +the life of Christ, in which are some most beautiful draperies added by +Scipio da Gaeta. This latter artist also was a native of the kingdom of +Naples; but of him and of the Cav. di Arpino, who both taught in Rome, +we have already spoken in that school. + +Marco Mazzaroppi di S. Germano died young, but is known for his natural +and animated colouring, almost in the Flemish style. At Capua they +mention with applause the altarpieces and other pictures of Gio. Pietro +Russo, who after studying in various schools returned to that city, and +there left many excellent works. Matteo da Lecce, whose education is +uncertain, displayed in Rome a Michelangiolo style, or as some say, the +style of Salviati. It is certain that he had a strong expression of the +limbs and muscles. He worked for the most part in fresco, and there is a +prophet painted by him for the company of the Gonfalone, of such relief, +that the figures, says Baglione, seem starting from the wall. Although +there were at that time many Florentines in Rome, he was the only one +who dared in the face of the Last Judgment of Michelangiolo, to paint +the Fall of the Rebel Angels, a subject which that great artist designed +to have painted, but never put his intentions into execution. He chose +too to accompany it with the combat between the Prince of the Angels and +Lucifer, for the body of Moses; a subject taken from the epistle of S. +James, and analogous to that of the other picture. Matteo entered upon +this very arduous task with a noble spirit; but, alas! with a very +different result. He painted afterwards in Malta, and passing to Spain +and to the Indies, he enriched himself by merchandise, until turning to +mining, he lost all his wealth, and died in great indigence. We may also +mention two Calabrians of doubtful parentage. Nicoluccio, a Calabrian, +who will be mentioned among the scholars of Lorenzo Costa, but only +cursorily, as I know nothing of this parricide, as he may be called, +except that he attempted to murder his master. Pietro Negroni, a +Calabrian also, is commemorated by Dominici as a diligent and +accomplished painter. In Sicily, it is probable that many painters +flourished belonging to this period, besides Gio. Borghese da Messina, a +scholar also of Costa, and Laureti, whom I notice in the schools of Rome +and Bologna, and others whose names I may have seen, but whose works +have not called for my notice. The succeeding epoch we shall find more +productive in Sicilian art. + +[Footnote 107: _Plin. Hist. Nat._ lib. XXXV. cap. 11. _Nec ullius +velocior in pictura manus fuit._] + +[Footnote 108: The style of Raffaello found imitators also in Sicily, +and the first to practise it was Salvo di Antonio, the nephew of +Antonello, by whom there is, we are told, in the sacristy of the +cathedral, the death of the Virgin, "_in the pure Raffaellesque style_," +although Salvo is not the painter who has been called the Raffaello of +Messina: this was Girolamo Alibrandi. A distinguished celebrity has of +late been attached to this artist, whose name was before comparatively +unknown. Respectably born, and liberally educated, instead of pursuing +the study of the law, for which he was intended, he applied himself to +painting, and having acquired the principles of the art in the school of +the Antonj of Messina, he went to perfect himself in Venice. The scholar +of Antonello, and the friend of Giorgione, he improved himself by the +study of the works of the best masters. After many years residence in +Venice he passed to Milan, to the school of Vinci, where he corrected +some dryness of style which he had brought thither with him. Thus far +there is no doubt about his history; but we are further told, that being +recalled to his native country, he wished first to see Coreggio and +Raffaello, and that he repaired to Messina about the year 1514; a +statement which is on the face of it incorrect, since Lionardo left +Milan in 1499, when Raffaello was only a youth, and Coreggio in his +infancy. But I have before observed, that the history of art is full of +these contradictions; a painter resembling another, he was therefore +supposed his scholar, or at all events acquainted with him. On this +subject I may refer to the Milanese School in regard to Luini, (Epoch +II.) and observe that a follower of the style of Lionardo almost +necessarily runs into the manner of Raffaello. Thus it happened to +Alibrandi, whose style however bore a resemblance to others besides, so +that his pictures pass under various names. There remains in his native +place, in the church of Candelora, a Purification of the Virgin, in a +picture of twenty-four Sicilian palms, which is the chef d'oeuvre of the +pictures of Messina, from the grace, colouring, perspective, and every +other quality that can enchant the eye. Polidoro was so much captivated +with this work, that he painted in distemper a picture of the Deposition +from the Cross, as a precious covering to this picture, in order that it +might be transmitted uninjured to posterity. Girolamo died in the plague +of 1524, and at the same time other eminent artists of this school; a +school which was for some time neglected, but which has, through the +labours of Polidoro, risen to fresh celebrity.] + +[Footnote 109: I here subjoin a list of them. Deodato Guinaccia may be +called the Giulio of this new Raffaello, on whose death he inherited the +materials of his art, and supported the fame of his school: and like +Giulio, completed some works left unfinished by his master; as the +Nativity in the church of Alto Basso, which passes for the best +production of Polidoro. In this exercise of his talents he became a +perfect imitator of his master's style, as in the church of the Trinita +a' Pellegrini, and in the Transfiguration at S. Salvatore de' Greci. He +imparted his taste to his scholars, the most distinguished of whom for +works yet remaining, are Cesare di Napoli, and Francesco Comande, pure +copyists of Polidoro. With regard to the latter, some errors have +prevailed; for having very often worked in conjunction with Gio. Simone +Comande, his brother, who had an unequivocal Venetian taste, from having +studied in Venice, it not unfrequently happens, that when the pictures +of Comande are spoken of, they are immediately attributed to Simone, as +the more celebrated artist; but an experienced eye cannot be deceived, +not even in works conjointly painted, as in the Martyrdom of S. +Bartholomew, in the church of that saint, or the Magi in the monastery +of Basico. There, and in every other picture, whoever can distinguish +Polidoro from the Venetians, easily discovers the style of the two +brothers, and assigns to each his own. + +Polidoro had in his academy Mariano and Antonello Riccio, father and +son. The first came in order to change the manner of Franco, his former +master, for that of Polidoro; the second to acquire his master's style. +Both succeeded to their wishes; but the father was so successful a rival +of his new master, that his works are said to pass under his name. This +is the common report, but I think it can only apply to inexperienced +purchasers, since if there be a painter, whose style it is almost +impossible to imitate to deception, it is Polidoro da Caravaggio. In +proof, the comparison may be made in Messina itself, where the Pieta of +Polidoro, and the Madonna della Carita of Mariano, are placed near each +other. + +Stefano Giordano was also a respectable scholar of Caldara, and we may +mention, as an excellent production, his picture of the Supper of our +Lord in the monastery of S. Gregory, painted in 1541. With him we may +join Jacopo Vignerio, by whom we find described, as an excellent work, +the picture of Christ bearing his Cross, at S. Maria della Scala, +bearing the date of 1552. + +We may close this list of the scholars of Polidoro with the infamous +name of Tonno, a Calabrian, who murdered his master in order to possess +himself of his money, and suffered for the atrocious crime. He evinced a +more than common talent in the art, if we may judge from the Epiphany +which he painted for the church of S. Andrea, in which piece he +introduced the portrait of his unfortunate master. + +Some writers have also included among the followers of Polidoro, Antonio +Catalano, because he was a scholar of Deodato. We are informed he went +to Rome and entered the school of Barocci; but as Barocci never taught +in Rome, we may rather imagine that it was from the works of that artist +he acquired a florid colouring, and a _sfumatezza_, with which he united +a portion of the taste of Raffaello, whom he greatly admired. His +pictures are highly valued from this happy union of excellences; and his +great picture of the Nativity at the Capuccini del Gesso is particularly +extolled. We must not mistake this accomplished painter for Antonio +Catalano _il Giovane_, the scholar of Gio. Simone Comande, from whose +style and that of others he formed a manner sufficiently spirited, but +incorrect, and practised with such celerity, that his works are as +numerous as they are little prized.] + +[Footnote 110: These traditions are frequently nothing more than common +rumour, to which, without corroborating circumstances, we ought not to +give credit. It has happened more than once, that such portraits have +been found to belong to the patrons of the church.] + + + + + NEAPOLITAN SCHOOL. + + THIRD EPOCH. + + _Corenzio, Ribera, Caracciolo, flourish in Naples. Strangers + who compete with them._ + + +About the middle of the sixteenth century, Tintoretto was considered one +of the first artists in Venice; and towards the close of the same +century Caravaggio in Rome, and the Caracci in Bologna, rose to the +highest degree of celebrity. The several styles of these masters soon +extended themselves into other parts of Italy, and became the prevailing +taste in Naples, where they were adopted by three painters of +reputation, Corenzio, Ribera, and Caracciolo. These artists rose one +after the other into reputation, but afterwards united together in +painting, and assisting each other interchangeably. At the time they +flourished, Guido, Domenichino, Lanfranco, and Artemisia Gentileschi, +were in Naples; and there and elsewhere contributed some scholars to the +Neapolitan School. Thus the time which elapsed between Bellisario and +Giordano, is the brightest period of this academy, both in respect to +the number of excellent artists, and the works of taste. It is however +the darkest era, not only of the Neapolitan School, but of the art +itself, as far as regards the scandalous artifices, and the crimes which +occurred in it. I would gladly pass over those topics in silence, if +they were foreign to my subject, but they are so intimately connected +with it, that they must, at all events, be alluded to. I shall notice +them at the proper time, adhering to the relation of Malvasia, Passeri, +Bellori, and more particularly of Dominici. + +Bellisario Corenzio, a Greek by birth, after having passed five years in +the school of Tintoretto, settled in Naples about the year 1590. He +inherited from nature a fertile imagination and a rapidity of hand, +which enabled him to rival his master in the prodigious number of his +pictures, and those too of a large class. Four common painters could +scarcely have equalled his individual labour. He cannot be compared to +Tintoretto, who, when he restrained his too exuberant fancy, was +inferior to few in design; and excelled in invention, gestures, and the +airs of his heads, which, though the Venetians have always had before +their eyes, they have never equalled. Corenzio successfully imitated his +master when he painted with care, as in the great picture, in the +refectory of the Benedictines, representing the multitude miraculously +fed; a work he finished in forty days. But the greater part of the vault +resembles in many respects the style of the Cav. d'Arpino,[111] other +parts partake of the Venetian School, not without some character +peculiar to himself, particularly in the glories, which are bordered +with shadowy clouds. In the opinion of the Cav. Massimo, he was of a +fruitful invention, but not select. He painted very little in oil, +although he had great merit in the strength and harmony of his colours. +The desire of gain led him to attempt large works in fresco, which he +composed with much felicity, as he was copious, varied, and energetic. +He had a good general effect, and was finished in detail and correct, +when the proximity of some eminent rival compelled him to it. This was +the case at the Certosa, in the chapel of S. Gennaro. He there exerted +all his talents, as he was excited to it by emulation of Caracciolo, who +had painted in that place a picture, which was long admired as one of +his finest works, and was afterwards transferred into the monastery. In +other churches we find some sacred subjects painted by him in smaller +size, which Dominici commends, and adds too, that he assisted M. +Desiderio, a celebrated perspective painter, whose views he accompanied +with small figures beautifully coloured and admirably appropriate. + +The birthplace of Giuseppe Ribera has been the subject of controversy. +Palomino, following Sandrart and Orlandi, represents him as a native of +Spain, in proof of which they refer to a picture of S. Matteo, with the +following inscription. _Jusepe de Ribera espanol de la ciutad de Xativa, +reyno de Valencia, Academico romano ano 1630._ The Neapolitans, on the +contrary, contend that he was born in the neighbourhood of Lecce, but +that his father was from Spain; and that in order to recommend himself +to the governor, who was a Spaniard, he always boasted of his origin, +and expressed it in his signature, and was on that account called +Spagnoletto. Such is the opinion of Dominici, Signorelli, and Galanti. +This question is however now set at rest, as it appears from the +_Antologia di Roma_ of 1795, that the register of his baptism was found +in Sativa (now San Filippo) and that he was born in that place. It is +further said, that he learnt the principles of the art from Francesco +Ribalta of Valencia, a reputed scholar of Annibale Caracci. But the +History of Neapolitan Artists, which is suspicious in my eyes as relates +to this artist, affirms also, that whilst yet a youth, or a mere boy, he +studied in Naples under Michelangiolo da Caravaggio, when that master +fled from Rome for homicide, and fixing himself there about 1606, +executed many works both public and private.[112] But wherever he might +have received instruction in his early youth, it is certain that the +object of his more matured admiration was Caravaggio. On leaving him, +Ribera visited Rome, Modena, and Parma, and saw the works of Raffaello +and Annibale in the former place, and the works of Coreggio in the two +latter cities, and adopted in consequence a more graceful style, in +which he persevered only for a short time, and with little success; as +in Naples there were others who pursued, with superior skill, the same +path. He returned therefore to the style of Caravaggio, which for its +truth, force, and strong contrast of light and shade, was much more +calculated to attract the general eye. In a short time he was appointed +painter to the court, and subsequently became the arbiter of its taste. + +His studies rendered him superior to Caravaggio in invention, selection, +and design. In emulation of him, he painted at the Certosini that great +Deposition from the Cross, which alone, in the opinion of Giordano, is +sufficient to form a great painter, and may compete with the works of +the brightest luminaries of the art. Beautiful beyond his usual style, +and almost Titianesque, is his Martyrdom of S. Januarius, painted in the +Royal Chapel, and the S. Jerome at the Trinita. He was much attached to +the representation of the latter saint, and whole lengths and half +figures of him are found in many collections. In the Panfili Palace in +Rome we find about five, and all differing. Nor are his other pictures +of similar character rare, as anchorets, prophets, apostles, which +exhibit a strong expression of bone and muscle, and a gravity of +character, in general copied from nature. In the same taste are commonly +his profane pictures, where he is fond of representing old men and +philosophers, as the Democritus and the Heraclitus, which Sig. March. +Girolamo Durazzo had in his collection, and which are quite in the +manner of Caravaggio. In his selection of subjects the most revolting +were to him the most inviting, as sanguinary executions, horrid +punishments, and lingering torments; among which is celebrated his Ixion +on the wheel, in the palace of Buon Ritiro at Madrid. His works are very +numerous, particularly in Italy and Spain. His scholars flourished +chiefly at a lower period of art, where they will be noticed towards the +conclusion of this epoch. With them we shall name those few who rivalled +him successfully in figures and half figures; and we must not, at the +same time, neglect to impress on the mind of the reader, that among so +many reputed pictures of Spagnoletto found in collections, we may rest +assured that they are in great part not justly entitled to his name, and +ought to be ascribed to his scholars. + +Giambatista Caracciolo, an imitator, first of Francesco Imparato, and +afterwards of Caravaggio, attained a mature age without having +signalised himself by any work of peculiar merit. But being roused by +the fame of Annibale, and the general admiration which a picture of that +master had excited, he repaired to Rome; where by persevering study in +the Farnese Gallery, which he carefully copied, he became a correct +designer in the Caracci style.[113] Of this talent he availed himself to +establish his reputation on his return to Naples, and distinguished +himself on some occasions of competition, as in the Madonna at S. Anna +de' Lombardi, in a S. Carlo in the church of S. Agnello, and Christ +bearing his Cross at the Incurabili, paintings praised by connoisseurs +as the happiest imitations of Annibale. But his other works, in the +breadth and strength of their lights and shades, rather remind us of the +school of Caravaggio. He was a finished and careful painter. There are +however some feeble works by him, which Dominici considers to have been +negligently painted, through disgust, for individuals who had not given +him his own price, or they were perhaps executed by Mercurio d'Aversa +his scholar, and an inferior artist. + +The three masters whom I have just noticed in successive order, were the +authors of the unceasing persecutions which many of the artists who had +come to, or were invited to Naples, were for several years subjected to. +Bellisario had established a supreme dominion, or rather a tyranny, over +the Neapolitan painters, by calumny and insolence, as well as by his +station. He monopolized all lucrative commissions to himself and +recommended, for the fulfilment of others, one or other of the numerous +and inferior artists that were dependant on him. The Cav. Massimo, +Santafede, and other artists of talent, if they did not defer to him, +were careful not to offend him, as they knew him to be a man of a +vindictive temper, treacherous, and capable of every violence, and who +was known through jealousy to have administered poison to Luigi +Roderigo, the most promising and the most amiable of his scholars. + +Bellisario, in order to maintain himself in his assumed authority, +endeavoured to exclude all strangers who painted rather in fresco than +in oil. Annibale arrived there in 1609, and was engaged to ornament the +churches of Spirito Santo and Gesu Nuovo, for which, as a specimen of +his style, he painted a small picture. The Greek and his adherents being +required to give their opinion on this exquisite production, declared it +to be tasteless, and decided that the painter of it did not possess a +talent for large compositions. This divine artist in consequence took +his departure under a burning sun for Rome, where he soon afterwards +died. But the work in which strangers were the most opposed was the +chapel of S. Gennaro, which a committee had assigned to the Cav. +d'Arpino, as soon as he should finish painting the choir of the Certosa. +Bellisario leaguing with Spagnoletto, (like himself a fierce and +ungovernable man,) and with Caracciolo, who aspired to this commission, +persecuted Cesari in such a manner, that before he had finished the +choir he fled to Monte Cassino, and from thence returned to Rome. The +work was then given to Guido, but after a short time two unknown persons +assaulted the servant of that artist, and at the same time desired him +to inform his master that he must prepare himself for death, or +instantly quit Naples, with which latter mandate Guido immediately +complied. Gessi, the scholar of Guido, was not however intimidated by +this event, but applied for and obtained the honorable commission, and +came to Naples with two assistants, Gio. Batista Ruggieri and Lorenzo +Menini. But these artists were scarcely arrived, when they were +treacherously invited on board a galley, which immediately weighed +anchor and carried them off, to the great dismay of their master, who, +although he made the most diligent inquiries both at Rome and Naples, +could never procure any tidings of them. + +Gessi also in consequence taking his departure, the committee lost all +hope of succeeding in their task, and were in the act of yielding to the +reigning cabal, assigning the fresco work to Corenzio and Caracciolo, +and promising the pictures to Spagnoletto, when suddenly repenting of +their resolution, they effaced all that was painted of the two frescos, +and entrusted the decoration of the chapel entirely to Domenichino. It +ought to be mentioned to the honor of these munificent persons, that +they engaged to pay for every entire figure 100 ducats, for each half +figure 50 ducats, and for each head 25 ducats. They took precautions +also against any interruption to the artist, threatening the viceroy's +high displeasure if he were in any way molested. But this was only +matter of derision to the junta. They began immediately to cry him down +as a cold and insipid painter, and to discredit him with those, the most +numerous class in every place, who see only with the eyes of others. +They harassed him by calumnies, by anonymous letters, by displacing his +pictures, by mixing injurious ingredients with his colours, and by the +most insidious malice they procured some of his pictures to be sent by +the viceroy to the court of Madrid; and these, when little more than +sketched, were taken from his studio and carried to the court, where +Spagnoletto ordered them to be retouched, and, without giving him time +to finish them, hurried them to their destination. This malicious fraud +of his rival, the complaints of the committee, who always met with some +fresh obstacle to the completion of the work, and the suspicion of some +evil design, at last determined Domenichino to depart secretly to Rome. +As soon however as the news of his flight transpired, he was recalled, +and fresh measures taken for his protection; when he resumed his +labours, and decorated the walls and base of the cupola, and made +considerable progress in the painting of his pictures. + +But before he could finish his task he was interrupted by death, +hastened either by poison, or by the many severe vexations he had +experienced both from his relatives and his adversaries, and the weight +of which was augmented by the arrival of his former enemy Lanfranco. +This artist superseded Zampieri in the painting of the _catino_ of the +chapel; Spagnoletto, in one of his oil pictures; Stanzioni in another; +and each of these artists, excited by emulation, rivalled, if he did not +excel Domenichino. Caracciolo was dead. Bellisario, from his great age, +took no share in it, and was soon afterwards killed by a fall from a +stage, which he had erected for the purpose of retouching some of his +frescos. Nor did Spagnoletto experience a better fate; for, having +seduced a young girl, and become insupportable even to himself from the +general odium which he experienced, he embarked on board a ship; nor is +it known whither he fled, or how he ended his life, if we may credit the +Neapolitan writers. Palomino however states him to have died in Naples +in 1656, aged sixty-seven, though he does not contradict the first part +of our statement. Thus these ambitious men, who by violence or fraud had +influenced and abused the generosity and taste of so many noble patrons, +and to whose treachery and sanguinary vengeance so many professors of +the art had fallen victims, ultimately reaped the merited fruit of their +conduct in a violent death; and an impartial posterity, in assigning the +palm of merit to Domenichino, inculcates the maxim, that it is a +delusive hope to attempt to establish fame and fortune on the +destruction of another's reputation. + +The many good examples in the Neapolitan School increased the number of +artists, either from the instructions of the above mentioned masters, or +from an inspection of their works; for there is much truth in the +observation of Passeri, "that a painter who has an ardent desire of +learning, receives as much instruction from the works of deceased +artists as from living masters." It was greatly to the honour of the +Neapolitan artists, amidst such a variety of new styles, to have +selected the best. Cesari had no followers in Naples, if we except Luigi +Roderigo,[114] who exchanged the school of Bellisario for his, but not +without a degree of mannerism, although he acquired a certain grace and +judgment, which his master did not possess. He initiated a nephew, +Gianbernardino, in the same style; who, from his being an excellent +imitator of Cesari, was employed by the Carthusian monks to finish a +work which that master had left imperfect. + +Thus almost all these artists trod in the steps of the Caracci, and the +one that approached nearest to them was the Cav. Massimo Stanzioni, +considered by some the best example of the Neapolitan School, of which, +as we have observed, he compiled some memoirs. He was a scholar of +Caracciolo, to whom he bore some analogy in taste, but he availed +himself of the assistance of Lanfranco, whom in one of his MS. he calls +his master, and studied too under Corenzio, who in his painting of +frescos yielded to few. In portrait he adopted the principles of +Santafede, and attained an excellent Titianesque style. Going afterwards +to Rome, and seeing the works of Annibale, and, as some assert, making +acquaintance with Guido, he became ambitious of uniting the design of +the first with the colouring of the second, and we are informed by +Galanti, that he obtained the appellation of _Guido Reni di Napoli_. His +talents, which were of the first order, enabled him in a short time to +compete with the best masters. He painted in the Certosa a Dead Christ, +surrounded by the Maries, in competition with Ribera. This picture +having become somewhat obscured, Ribera persuaded the monks to have it +washed, and he purposely injured it in such a way with a corrosive +liquid, that Stanzioni refused to repair it, declaring that such an +instance of malice ought to be perpetuated to the public eye. But in +that church, which is in fact a museum of art, where every artist, not +to be surpassed by his rivals, seems to have surpassed himself, Massimo +left some other excellent works, and particularly a stupendous +altarpiece, of S. Bruno presenting to his brethren the rules of their +order. His works are not unfrequent in the collections in his own +country, and are highly esteemed in other places. The vaults of the Gesu +Nuovo and S. Paolo entitle him to a distinguished place among fresco +painters. His paintings were highly finished, and he studied perfection +during his celibacy, but marrying a woman of some rank, in order to +maintain her in an expensive style of living, he painted many hasty and +inferior pictures. It may be said that Cocchi, in his _Ragionamento del +Matrimonio_, not without good reason took occasion to warn all artists +of the perils of the wedded state. + +The school of Massimo produced many celebrated scholars, in consequence +of his method and high reputation, confirming that ancient remark, which +has passed into a proverb, _primus discendi ardor nobilitas est +Magistri_. (The example of the master is the greatest incentive to +improvement). Muzio Rossi passed from his school to that of Guido, and +was chosen at the age of eighteen to paint in the Certosa of Bologna, in +competition with the first masters, and maintained his station on a +comparison; but this very promising artist was immaturely cut off, and +his own country does not possess any work by him, as the Tribune of S. +Pietro in Majella, which he painted a little time before his death, was +modernized, and his labours thus perished. This is the reason that his +works in the Certosa just mentioned, and which are enumerated by Crespi, +are held in great esteem. Another man of genius of this school, Antonio +de Bellis, died also at an early age; he painted several subjects from +the life of S. Carlo, in the church of that saint, which were left +imperfect by his death. His manner partakes somewhat of Guercino, but is +in fact founded like that of all the scholars of Massimo, on the style +of Guido. + +Francesco di Rosa, called Pacicco, was not acquainted with Guido +himself, but under the direction of Massimo, devoted himself to the +copying of his works. He is one of the few artists commemorated by Paolo +de' Matteis, in one of his MSS. which admits no artists of inferior +merit. He declares the style of Rosa almost inimitable, not only from +his correct design, but from the rare beauty of the extremities, and +still more from the dignity and grace of the countenances. He had in his +three nieces the most perfect models of beauty, and he possessed a +sublimity of sentiment which elevated his mind to a high sense of +excellence. His colouring, though conducted with exquisite sweetness, +had a strong body, and his pictures preserve a clear and fresh tone. +These are frequently to be found in the houses of the nobility, as he +lived long. He painted some beautiful altarpieces, as S. Tommaso +d'Aquino at the Sanita, the Baptism of S. Candida at S. Pietro d'Aram, +and other pieces. + +This artist had a niece of the name of Aniella di Rosa, who may be +called the Sirani of the Neapolitan School, from her talents, beauty, +and the manner of her death, the fair Bolognese being inhumanly poisoned +by some envious artists, and Aniella murdered by a jealous husband. This +husband was Agostino Beltrano, her fellow scholar in the school of +Massimo, where he became a good fresco painter, and a colourist in oil +of no common merit, as is proved by many cabinet pictures and some +altarpieces. His wife also painted in the same style, and was the +companion of his labours, and they jointly prepared many pictures which +their master afterwards finished in such a manner that they were sold as +his own. Some, however, pass under her own name, and are highly +extolled, as the Birth and Death of the Virgin, at the Pieta, not +however without suspicion that Massimo had a considerable share in that +picture, as Guido had in several painted by Gentileschi. But at all +events, her original designs prove her knowledge of art, and her +contemporaries, both painters and writers, do not fail to extol her as +an excellent artist, and as such Paolo de' Matteis, has admitted her +name in his catalogue. + +Three young men of Orta became also celebrated scholars in this academy, +Paol Domenico Finoglia, Giacinto de' Popoli, and Giuseppe Marullo. By +the first there remains at the Certosa at Naples, the vault of the +chapel of S. Gennaro, and various pictures in the chapter house. He had +a beautiful expression, fertility, correctness, a good arrangement of +parts, and a happy general effect. The second painted in many churches, +and is admired more for his style of composition, than for his figures. +The third approached so near to his master in manner, that artists have +sometimes ascribed his works to Massimo; and in truth he left some +beautiful productions at S. Severino, and other churches. He had +afterwards a dry style of colouring, particularly in his contours, which +on that account became crude and hard, and he gradually lost the public +favour. His example may serve as a warning to every one to estimate his +own powers correctly, and not to affect genius when he does not possess +it. + +Another scholar who obtained a great name, was Andrea Malinconico, of +Naples. There do not exist any frescos by him, but he left many works in +oil, particularly in the church, de' Miracoli, where he painted almost +all the pictures himself. The Evangelists, and the Doctors of the +church, subjects with which he ornamented the pilasters, are the most +beautiful pictures, says the encomiast, of this master; as the attitudes +are noble, the conception original, and the whole painted with the +spirit of a great artist, and with an astonishing freshness of colour. +There are other fine works by him, but several are feeble and +spiritless, which gave a connoisseur occasion to remark that they were +in unison with the name of the painter. + +But none of the preceding artists were so much favoured by nature as +Bernardo Cavallino, who at first created a jealous feeling in Massimo +himself. Finding afterwards that his talent lay more in small figures +than large, he pursued that department, and became very celebrated in +his school, beyond which he is not so well known as he deserves to be. +In the galleries of the Neapolitan nobility are to be seen by him, on +canvass and copper, subjects both sacred and profane, composed with +great judgment, and with figures in the style of Poussin, full of spirit +and expression, and accompanied by a native grace, and a simplicity +peculiarly their own. In his colouring, besides his master and +Gentileschi, who were both followers of Guido, he imitated Rubens. He +possessed every quality essential to an accomplished artist, as even the +most extreme poverty could not induce him to hurry his works, which he +was accustomed frequently to retouch before he could entirely satisfy +himself. Life was alone wanting to him, which he unfortunately shortened +by his irregularities.[115] + +Andrea Vaccaro was a contemporary and rival of Massimo, but at the same +time his admirer and friend, a man of great imitative powers. He at +first followed Caravaggio, and in that style his pictures are frequently +found in Naples, and some cabinet pictures, which have even imposed upon +connoisseurs, who have bought them for originals of that master. After +some time Massimo won him over to the style of Guido, in which he +succeeded in an admirable manner, though he did not equal his friend. In +this style are executed his most celebrated works at the Certosa, at the +Teatini and Rosario, without enumerating those in collections, where he +is frequently found. On the death of Massimo, he assumed the first rank +among his countrymen. Giordano alone opposed him in his early years, +when on his return from Rome he brought with him a new style from the +school of Cortona, and both artists were competitors for the larger +picture of S. Maria del Pianto. That church had been lately erected in +gratitude to the Virgin, who had liberated the city from pestilence, and +this was the subject of the picture. Each artist made a design, and +Pietro da Cortona being chosen umpire, decided against his own scholar +in favour of Vaccaro, observing, that as he was first in years, so he +was first in design and natural expression. He had not studied frescos +in his youth, but began them when he was advanced in life, in order that +he might not yield the palm to Giordano, but by the loss of his fame, he +verified the proverb, that _ad omnem disciplinam tardior est senectus_. + +Of his scholars, Giacomo Farelli was the most successful, who by his +vigorous talents, and by the assistance of his master, painted a picture +in competition with Giordano. The church of S. Brigida has a beautiful +picture of that saint by Farelli, and its author is mentioned by Matteis +as a painter of singular merit. He declined however, in public esteem, +from wishing at an advanced age to change his style, when he painted the +sacristy of the Tesoro. He was on that occasion anxious to imitate +Domenichino, but he did not succeed in his attempt, and indeed he never +afterwards executed any work of merit. + +Nor did Domenichino fail to have among the painters of Naples, or of +that state, many deserving followers.[116] Cozza, a Calabrian, who lived +in Rome, I included in that school, as also Antonio Ricci, called il +Barbalunga, who was of Messina, and well known in Rome. I may add, that +he returned to Messina, and ornamented that city with many works; as at +S. Gregorio, the saint writing; the Ascension at S. Michele; two Pietas +of different designs at S. Niccolo and the Spedale. He is considered as +one of the best painters of Sicily, where good artists have abounded +more than is generally imagined. He formed a school there and left +several scholars.[117] + +I ought after him to mention another Sicilian, Pietro del Po da Palermo, +a good engraver, and better known in Rome in that capacity, than as a +painter. There is a S. Leone by him at the church of the Madonna di +Costantinopoli; an altarpiece which however does not do him so much +honour as the pictures which he painted for collections, some of which +are in Spain; and particularly some small pictures which he executed in +the manner of miniatures with exquisite taste. Two of this kind I saw in +Piacenza, at the Sig. della Missione, a Decollation of S. John, and a +Crucifixion of S. Peter in his best manner, and with his name. This +artist, after working in Rome, settled in Naples with a son of the name +of Giacomo, who had been instructed in the art by Poussin and himself. +He also taught a daughter of the name of Teresa, who was skilled in +miniatures. The two Pos were well acquainted with the principles of the +art, and had taught in the academy of Rome. But the father painted +little in Naples; the son found constant employ in ornamenting the halls +and galleries of the nobility with frescos. His intimacy with letters +aided the poetic taste with which his pictures were conceived, and his +varied and enchanting colours fascinated the eye of every spectator. He +was singular and original in his lights, and their various gradations +and reflections. In his figures and drapery he became, as is generally +the case with the machinists, mannered and less correct; nor has he any +claim as an imitator of Domenichino, except from the early instructions +of his father. In Rome there are two paintings by him, one at S. Angiolo +in Pescheria, the other at S. Marta; and there are some in Naples; but +his genius chiefly shines in the frescos of the gallery of the Marchese +Genzano, and in the house of the Duke of Matalona, and still more in +seven apartments of the Prince of Avellino. + +A more finished imitator of Zampieri than the two Pos was a scholar of +his, of the name of Francesco di Maria, the author of few works, as he +willingly suffered those reproaches of slowness and irresolution which +accompanied the unfortunate Domenichino to the grave. But his works, +though few in number, are excellent, particularly the history of S. +Lorenzo at the Conventuals in Naples, and also many of his portraits. +One of the latter exhibited in Rome, together with one by Vandyke, and +one by Rubens, was preferred by Poussin, Cortona, and Sacchi, to those +of the Flemish artists. Others of his pictures are bought at great +prices, and are considered by the less experienced as the works of +Domenichino. He resembled that master indeed in every quality, except +grace, which nature had denied him. Hence Giordano said of his figures, +that when consumption had reduced the muscles and bones, they might be +correct and beautiful, but still insipid. In return he did not spare +Giordano; declaring his school "heretical, and that he could not endure +works which owe all their merit to ostentatious colour, and a vague +design," as Matteis, who is partial to the memory of Francesco, attests. + +Lanfranco in Naples had contributed, as I have observed, to the +instruction of Massimo, but that artist renounced the style of Lanfranco +for that of Guido. The two Pos, however, were more attached to him, and +imitated his colouring. Pascoli doubts whether he should not assign +Preti to him, an error which we shall shortly confute. Dominici also +includes among his countrymen Brandi, a scholar of Lanfranco; collecting +from one of his letters that he acknowledged Gaeta for his native place. +His family was probably from thence, but he himself was born in +Poli.[118] I included him among the painters of Rome, where he studied +and painted; and I mentioned at the same time the Cav. Giambatista +Benaschi, as he is called by some, or Beinaschi by others. This +variation gave occasion to suppose, that there were two painters of that +name; in the same way there may be a third, as the name is sometimes +written Bernaschi. Some contradictions in his biographers, which it is +not worth our while to enter on, have contributed to perpetuate this +error. I shall only observe, that he was not born until 1636, and was +not a scholar of Lanfranco, but of M. Spirito, in Piedmont, and of +Pietro del Po, in Rome. Thus Orlandi writes of him, who had a better +opportunity than Pascoli, or Dominici, of procuring information from +Angela, the daughter of the Cavaliere, who lived in Rome in his time, +and painted portraits in an agreeable style. He is considered both by +Pascoli and Orlandi, as a painter of Rome, but he left very few works +there, as appears from Titi. Naples was the theatre of his talents, and +there he had numerous scholars, and painted many cupolas, ceilings, and +other considerable works, and with such a variety of design, that there +is not an instance of an attitude being repeated by him. Nor was he +deficient in grace, either of form or colour, as long as he trod in the +steps of Lanfranco, as he did in the S. M. di Loreto, and in other +churches, but aspiring in some others to a more vigorous style, he +became dark and heavy. He excelled in the knowledge of the _sotto in +su_, and displayed extraordinary skill in his foreshortenings. The +painters in Naples have often compared among themselves, says Dominici, +the two pictures of S. Michael, the one by Lanfranco, and the other by +Benaschi, in the church of the Holy Apostles, without being able to +decide to which master they ought to assign the palm of merit. + +Guercino himself was never in Naples, but the Cav. Mattia Preti, +commonly called il Cav. Calabrese, allured by the novelty of his style, +repaired to Cento, to avail himself of his instructions. This +information we have from Domenici, who had heard him say, that he was in +fact the scholar of Guercino, but that he had, moreover, studied the +works of all the principal masters; and he had indeed visited almost +every country, and seen and studied the best productions of every +school, both in and beyond Italy. Hence in his painting he may be +compared to a man whose travels have been extensive, and who never hears +a subject started to which he does not add something new, and indeed the +drapery and ornaments, and costume of Preti, are highly varied and +original. He confined himself to design, and did not attempt colours +until his twenty-sixth year. In design he was more vigorous and robust +than delicate, and sometimes inclines to heaviness. In his colouring he +was not attractive, but had a strong _impasto_, a decided chiaroscuro, +and a prevailing ashy tone, that was well adapted for his mournful and +tragical subjects; for, following the bent of his genius, he devoted his +pencil to the representation of martyrdoms, slaughters, pestilence, and +the pangs of a guilty conscience. It was his custom, says Pascoli, at +least in his large works, to paint at the first conception, and true to +nature, and he did not take much pains afterwards in correction, or in +the just expression of the passions. + +He executed some large works in fresco in Modena, Naples, and Malta. He +had not equal success at S. Andrea della Valle, in Rome, where he +painted three histories of that saint, under the tribune of Domenichino; +a proximity from which his work suffers considerably, and the figures +appear out of proportion, and not well adapted to the situation. His oil +pictures in Italy are innumerable, as he lived to an advanced age; he +had a great rapidity of hand, and was accustomed, wherever he went, to +leave some memorial of his talents, sometimes in the churches, but +chiefly in private collections, and they are, in general, figures of +half size, like those of Guercino and Caravaggio. Naples, Rome, and +Florence, all abound with his works, but above all Bologna. In the +Marulli palace is his Belisarius asking alms; in that of Ratti, a S. +Penitente, chained in a suffering position; in the Malvezzi palace, Sir +Thomas More in prison; in that of the Ercolani, a Pestilence, besides +many more in the same, and other galleries of the nobility. Amongst his +altarpieces, one of the most finished is in the Duomo of Siena, S. +Bernardino preaching to and converting the people. In Naples, besides +the soffitto of the church de' Celestini, he painted not a little; less +however than both he himself and the professors of a better taste +desired, and in conjunction with whom he resisted the innovations of +Giordano. But that artist had an unprecedented popularity, and in spite +of his faults triumphed over all his contemporaries, and Preti was +himself obliged to relinquish the contest, and close his days in Malta, +of which order, in honour of his great merit as a painter, he was made a +commendatore. He left some imitators in Naples, one of whom was Domenico +Viola; but neither he, nor his other scholars passed the bounds of +mediocrity. The same may be said of Gregorio Preti, his brother, of whom +there is a fresco at S. Carlo de' Catinari, in Rome. + +After this enumeration of foreign artists, we must now return to the +national school, and notice some disciples of Ribera, It often happens +that those masters who are mannerists, form scholars who confine their +powers to the sole imitation of their master, and thus produce pictures +that deceive the most experienced, and which in other countries are +esteemed the works of the master himself. This was the case with +Giovanni Do, and Bartolommeo Passante, in regard to Spagnoletto, +although the first in progress of time softened his manner, and tamed +his flesh tints; while the second added only to the usual style of +Spagnoletto, a more finished design and expression. Francesco Fracanzani +possessed a peculiar grandeur of style, and a noble tone of colour; and +the death of S. Joseph, which he painted at the Pellegrini, is one of +the best pictures of the city. Afterwards however his necessities +compelled him to paint in a coarse manner in order to gratify the +vulgar, and he fell into bad habits of life, and was finally, for some +crime or other, condemned to die by the hands of the hangman, a +sentence, which for the honour of the art, was compounded for his secret +death in prison by poison.[119] + +Aniello Falcone and Salvator Rosa are the great boast of this school; +although Rosa frequented it but a short time and improved himself +afterwards by the instructions of Falcone. Aniello possessed an +extraordinary talent in battle pieces. He painted them both in large and +small size, taking the subjects from the sacred writings, from profane +history, or poetry; his dresses, arms, and features, were as varied as +the combatants he represented. Animated in his expression, select and +natural in the figures and action of his horses, and intelligent in +military affairs, though he had never been in the army, nor seen a +battle; he drew correctly, consulted truth in every thing, coloured with +care, and had a good impasto. That he taught Borgognone as some have +supposed, it is difficult to believe. Baldinucci, who had from that +artist himself the information which he published respecting him, does +not say a word of it. It is however true, that they were acquainted and +mutually esteemed each other; and if the battle pieces of Borgognone +have found a place in the collections of the great, and have been bought +at great prices, those of Aniello have had the like good fortune. He had +many scholars, and by means of them and some other painters his friends, +he was enabled to revenge the death of a relation and also of a scholar, +whom the Spanish authorities had put to death. On the revolution of Maso +Aniello, he and his partisans formed themselves into a company called +the Band of Death; and, protected by Spagnoletto, who excused them to +the Viceroy, committed the most revolting and sanguinary excesses; until +the state was composed, and the people reduced to submission, when this +murderous band fled, to escape the hands of justice. Falcone withdrew to +France for some years, and left many works there; the remainder fled to +Rome, or to other places of safety. + +The most celebrated of the immediate scholars of Falcone was Salvator +Rosa, whom we have elsewhere noticed, who began his career by painting +battles, and became a most distinguished landscape painter; and Domenico +Gargiuoli, called Micco Spadaro, a landscape painter of merit, and a +good painter in large compositions, as he appears at the Certosa, and in +other churches. He had an extraordinary talent too in painting small +figures, and might with propriety be called the Cerquozzi of his school. +Hence Viviano Codagora, who was an eminent landscape painter, after +becoming acquainted with him, would not permit any other artist to +ornament his works with figures, as he introduced them with infinite +grace; and this circumstance probably led to their intimate friendship, +and to risking their lives in the same cause as we have before related. +The Neapolitan galleries possess many of their pictures; and some have +specimens of _capricci_, or humourous pictures, all by the hand of +Spadaro. He indeed had no equal in depicting the manners and dresses of +the common people of his country, particularly in large assemblies. In +some of his works of this kind, the number of his figures have exceeded +a thousand. He was assisted by the etchings of Stefano della Bella, and +Callot, both of whom were celebrated for placing a great body of people +in a little space; but it was in the true spirit of imitation, and +without a trace of servility; on the contrary, he improved the principal +figures (where bad contours are with difficulty concealed) and corrected +the attitudes, and carefully retouched them. + +Carlo Coppola is sometimes mistaken for Falcone from their similarity of +manner: except that a certain fulness with which he paints his horses in +his battle pieces, may serve as a distinction. Andrea di Lione resembles +him, but in his battles we easily trace his imitation. Marzio Masturzo +studied some time with Falcone; but longer with Rosa in Rome, and was +his best scholar; but he is sometimes rather crude in his figures, and +rocks, and trunks of trees, and less bright in his skies. His flesh +tints are not pallid, like those of Rosa, as in these he followed +Ribera. + +I shall close this catalogue, passing over some less celebrated artists, +with Paolo Porpora, who from battles, were directed by the impulse of +his genius to the painting of animals, but succeeded best in fish, and +shells, and other marine productions, being less skilled in flowers and +fruit. But about his time Abraham Brughel painted these subjects in an +exquisite style in Naples, where he settled and ended his days. From +this period we may date a favourable epoch for certain pictures of minor +rank, which still add to the decoration of galleries and contribute to +the fame of their authors. After the two first we may mention +Giambatista Ruoppoli and Onofrio Loth, scholars of Porpora, excelling +him in fruits, and particularly in grapes, and little inferior in other +respects. + +Giuseppe Cav. Recco, from the same school, is one of the most celebrated +painters in Italy, of hunting, fowling, and fishing pieces, and similar +subjects. One of his best pictures which I have seen, is in the house of +the Conti Simonetti d'Osimo, on which the author has inscribed his name. +He was admired in the collections also for his beautiful colouring, +which he acquired in Lombardy; and he resided for many years at the +court of Spain, whilst Giordano was there. There was also a scholar of +Ruoppoli, called Andrea Belvedere, excelling in the same line, but most +in flowers and fruit. There arose a dispute between him and Giordano, +Andrea asserting that the historical painters cannot venture with +success on these smaller subjects; Giordano, on the contrary, +maintaining that the greater included the less; which words he verified +by painting a picture of birds, flowers, and fruit, so beautifully +grouped that it robbed Andrea of his fame, and obliged him to take +refuge among men of letters; and indeed in the literary circle he held a +respectable station. + +Nevertheless his pictures did not fall in esteem or value, and his +posterity after him still continue to embellish the cabinets of the +great. His most celebrated scholar was Tommaso Realfonso, who to the +talents of his master, added that of the natural representation of every +description of utensils, and all kinds of confectionery and eatables. He +had also excellent imitators in Giacomo Nani, and Baldassar Caro, +employed to ornament the royal court of King Charles of Bourbon; and +Gaspar Lopez, the scholar first of Dubbisson, afterwards of Belvidere. +Lopez became a good landscape painter, was employed by the Grand Duke of +Tuscany, and resided a considerable time in Venice. According to +Dominici he died in Florence, and the author of the Algarotti Catalogue +in Venice, informs us, that that event took place about the year 1732. +We may here close the series of minor painters of the school of +Aniello,[120] and may now proceed to the succeeding epoch, commencing +with the historical painters. + +[Footnote 111: In tom. iii. of the _Lett. Pittoriche_, is a letter of P. +Sebastiano Resta dell'Oratorio, wherein he says, it is probable that the +Cav. d'Arpino imitated him in his youth: which cannot be admitted, as it +is known that Cesari formed himself in Rome, and resided only in Naples +when an adult. As to the resemblance between them, that applies as well +to other artists. In the same letter Corenzio is called the Cav. +Bellisario, and some anecdotes are related of him, and among others, +that he lived to the age of a hundred and twenty. This is one of those +tales to which this writer so easily gives credit. In proof of this we +may refer to Tiraboschi, in the life of Antonio Allegri, where similar +instances of his credulity are noticed.] + +[Footnote 112: Caravaggio had another scholar of eminence in Mario +Minniti of Syracuse, who however passed a considerable part of his life +in Messina. Having painted for some time in Rome with Caravaggio, he +imbibed his taste; and though he did not equal him in the vigour of +style, he displayed more grace and amenity. There are works remaining of +him in all parts of Sicily, as he painted much, and retained in his +service twelve scholars, whose works he retouched, and sold as his own. +Hence his pictures do not altogether correspond with his reputation. +Messina possesses several, as the Dead of Nain at the Church of the +Capucins, and the Virgin, the tutelar saint, at the Virginelle.] + +[Footnote 113: Among the scholars of Annibale, I find Carlo Sellitto +mentioned, to whom Guarienti assigns a place in the Abbeccadario, and I +further find him commended in some MS. notices of eminent artists of the +school.] + +[Footnote 114: There is a different account of him in the Memorie de' +Pittori Messinesi, where it is said that his true family name was +Rodriguez. It is there said that he studied in Rome, and went from +thence to work in Naples, in the Guida of which city he is frequently +mentioned. It is added that, from his Roman style, he was called by his +brother Alonso, the _slave of the antique_; and that he returned the +compliment by calling his brother, who was instructed in Venice, _the +slave of nature_. But Alonso, who spent his life in Sicily, surpassed +his brother in reputation; and it is a rare commendation that he painted +much and well. He particularly shone in the Probatica in S. Cosmo de' +Medici, and the picture of two Founders of Messina in the senatorial +palace, a work rewarded with a thousand scudi. His fame declined, and he +began to fail in commissions on the arrival of Barbalunga. But he did +not, on that account, refuse him his esteem, as he was accustomed to +call him the Caracci of Sicily.] + +[Footnote 115: I find in Messina, Gio. Fulco, who imbibed the principles +of the art under the Cav. Massimo; a correct designer, a lively and +graceful painter, particularly of children, excepting a somewhat too +great fleshiness, and a trace of mannerism. Many of his works in his +native country were destroyed by an earthquake. Some remain at the +Nunziata de' Teatini, where in the chapel of the Crucifix are his +frescos, and a picture by him in oil of the Nativity of the Virgin.] + +[Footnote 116: Gio. Batista Durand, of Burgundy, was established in +Messina. He was the scholar of Domenichino, and was always attached to +his manner. Of his larger works we find only a S. Cecilia in the convent +of that saint, as he was generally occupied in painting portraits. He +had a daughter called Flavia, the wife of Filippo Giannetti, skilled in +portraits, and an excellent copyist.] + +[Footnote 117: Domenico Maroli, Onofrio Gabriello, and Agostino Scilla, +were the three painters of Messina who did him the most honour, although +from being engaged in the revolutions of 1674 and 1676, the first lost +his life, and the other two were long exiles from their country. Maroli +did not adopt the style of Barbalunga exclusively, but having made a +voyage to Venice, and there studied the works of the best Venetian +artists, and particularly of Paolo, he returned with many of the +excellences of that great master, brilliant flesh tints, a beautiful air +in his heads, and a fine style in his drawings of women, a talent which +he abused as much or more than Liberi. To this moral vice he added a +professional one, which was painting sometimes on the _imprimiture_, and +generally with little colour; whence his works, which were extolled and +sought after when new, became, when old, neglected, like those dark +paintings of the Venetian School, which we have mentioned. Messina has +many of them: the Martyrdom of S. Placido at the Suore di S. Paolo, the +Nativity of the Virgin in the church della Grotta, and some others. In +Venice there must also be remaining in private collections, some of his +paintings of animals in the style of Bassano, as we have before +mentioned. Onofrio Gabriello was for six years with Barbalunga, and for +some further time with Poussin, and then with Cortona in Rome, until +passing another nine years in Venice with Maroli, he brought back with +him to Messina that master's vicious method of colour, but not his +style. In the latter he aimed at originality, exhibiting much lightness, +grace, and fancy, in the accessory parts, and in ribbons, jewels, and +lace, in which he particularly excelled. He left many pictures in +Messina, in the church of S. Francesco di Paola: many also in Padua, in +the _Guida_ of which city various pictures by him are enumerated, +without mentioning his cabinet pictures and portraits in private +collections. I have seen several in possession of the noble and learned +Sig. Co. Antonio Maria Borromeo; amongst which is a family piece with a +portrait of the painter. + +Agostino Scilla, or Silla, as Orlandi calls him, opened a school in +Messina, which was much frequented while it lasted, but the scholars +were dispersed by the storm of revolutions, in which they took a part, +not without great injury both to the art and themselves. He possessed an +elegant genius for painting, which he cultivated, and added to it a +taste for poetry, natural history, and antiquities. His genius raised +such high expectations in Barbalunga, that he procured a pension for him +from the senate, in order to enable him to reside in Rome under Andrea +Sacchi. After four years he returned to Messina, highly accomplished, +from his study of the antique and of Raffaello, and if his colouring was +at first somewhat dry, he soon rendered it rich and agreeable. He +excelled in figures and in heads, particularly of old men, and had a +peculiar talent in landscapes, animals, and fruit. For this I may refer +to the Roman School, where he is mentioned with his brother and son. +There are few of his works in Rome, but many in Messina. His frescos are +in S. Domenico, and in the Nunziata de' Teatini, and many paintings in +other places, among which is S. Ilarione dying, in the church of S. +Ursula, than which work there is no greater favourite with the public. + +Of the scholars of Scilla, who remained in Messina after the departure +of their master, there is not much to be said. F. Emanuel da Como we +have mentioned elsewhere. Giuseppe Balestriero, an excellent copyist of +the works of Agostino, and a good designer, after painting some +pictures, became a priest, and took leave of the art. Antonio la Falce +was a good painter in distemper and in oil. He afterwards attempted +frescos, and painted tavern scenes. Placido Celi, a man of singular +talents, but bad habits, followed his master to Rome. He there changed +his style for that of Maratta and Morandi; after whose works he painted +in Rome, in the churches dell'Anima and Traspontina, and in several +churches of his own country, but he never passed the bounds of +mediocrity. A higher reputation belongs to Antonio Madiona, of Syracuse, +who although he separated himself from Scilla in Rome, to follow il +Preti to Malta, was nevertheless an industrious artist, and painted both +there and in Sicily, in a strong and vigorous style, which partakes of +both his masters. And this may suffice for the members of this +unfortunate school. + +To complete the list of the chief scholars of Barbalunga, I may mention +here Bartolommeo Tricomi, who confined himself to portrait painting, and +in this hereditary gift of the school of Domenichino, he greatly +excelled. He had notwithstanding in Andrea Suppa a scholar who surpassed +him. The latter learned also of Casembrot, as far as regards landscape +and architecture; but he formed himself principally on the antique; and +by constantly studying Raffaello and the Caracci, and other select +masters, or their drawings, he acquired a most enchanting style of +countenance, and indeed of every part of his composition. His works are +as fine as miniature, and are perhaps too highly finished. His subjects, +in unison with his genius, are of a pensive and melancholy cast, and are +always treated in a pathetic manner. He excelled in frescos, and painted +the vaults in the Suore in S. Paolo; he excelled equally in oils, as may +be seen from the picture of S. Scolastica, there also. Some of his works +were lost by earthquakes. His style was happily imitated by Antonio +Bova, his scholar, and we may compare their works together at the +Nunziata de' Teatini. He painted much in oil, as well as fresco, and +from his placid and tranquil disposition, took no part in the +revolutions of Messina, but remained at home, where he closed his days +in peace, and with him expired the school of Barbalunga.] + +[Footnote 118: Pascoli, Vite, tom. i. p. 129.] + +[Footnote 119: I may insert at the close of this epoch the names of some +Sicilian painters, who flourished in it, or at the beginning of the +following, instructed by various masters. They were furnished to me by +the Sig. Ansaldo, whose attentions I have before acknowledged, and were +transmitted to him by a painter of that island. Filippo Tancredi was of +Messina, but is not assigned to any of the before mentioned masters, as +he studied in Naples and in Rome under Maratta. He was a skilful artist, +composed and coloured well; was celebrated in Messina, and also in +Palermo, where he lived many years, and where the vault of the church +de' Teatini, and that also of the Gesu Nuovo were painted by him. The +Cav. Pietro Novelli (or Morelli, which latter however I regard as an +error) called Monrealese from his native place, also enjoyed the +reputation of a good painter, and an able architect. He there left many +works in oil and fresco, and the great picture of the Marriage at Cana, +in the refectory of the P. P. Benedettini, is particularly commended. He +resided for a long time in Palermo, and the greatest work he there +executed, was in the church of the Conventuals, the vault of which was +divided into compartments, and wholly painted by himself. Guarienti +eulogises him for his style, as diligent in copying nature, correct in +design, and graceful in his colouring, with some imitation of +Spagnoletto; and the people of Palermo confer daily honour on him, +since, whenever they meet with a foreigner of taste, they point out to +him little else in the city, than the works of this great man. Pietro +Aquila, of Marzalla, a distinguished artist, who engraved the Farnese +gallery, left no works to my knowledge in Rome; in Palermo there remain +of him two pictures in the church della Pieta, representing the parable +of the Prodigal Son. Lo Zoppo di Gangi is known at Castro Giovanni, +where in the Duomo he left several works. Of the Cav. Giuseppe Paladini, +a Sicilian, I find commended at S. Joseph di Castel Termini, the picture +of the Madonna and the tutelar saint. I also find honourable mention +among the chief painters of this island, of a Carrega, who I believe +painted for private individuals. Others, though I know not of what +merit, are found inscribed in the academy of S. Luke, from the registers +of which I have derived some information for my third and fourth +volumes, communicated to me by the Sig. Maron, the worthy secretary of +the academy.] + +[Footnote 120: In this epoch flourished in Messina one Abraham +Casembrot, a Dutchman, who was considered one of the first painters of +his time, of landscape, seapieces, harbours, and tempests. He professed +architecture also, and was celebrated for his small figures. He was +accustomed to give the highest finish to every thing he painted. The +church of S. Giovacchino has three pictures of the Passion by him. Some +individuals of Messina possess delightful specimens of him, though not +many, as he sold them at high prices, and generally to Holland. Hence +most of the collectors of Messina turned to Jocino, the contemporary of +Casembrot; a painter of a vigorous imagination, and rapid execution. His +landscapes and views are still prized, and maintain their value. I do +not find that Casembrot wholly formed any scholar at Messina. He +communicated, however, the elements of architecture and perspective to +several, as well as the principles of painting. For this reason we find +enumerated among his scholars the Cappucin P. Feliciano da Messina +(Domenico Guargena) who afterwards studied Guido in the convent of +Bologna, and imbued himself with his style. Hackert makes honourable +mention of a Madonna and Child and S. Francesco by him at the church of +that order in Messina, and he assigns the palm to him among the painters +of his order, which boasted not a few.] + + + + + NEAPOLITAN SCHOOL. + + FOURTH EPOCH. + + _Luca Giordano, Solimene, and their scholars._ + + +A little beyond the middle of the 17th century, Luca Giordano began to +flourish in Naples. This master, though he did not excel his +contemporaries in his style, surpassed them all in good fortune, for +which he was indebted to his vast talents, confidence, and unbounded +powers of invention, which Maratta considered unrivalled and +unprecedented. In this he was eminently gifted by nature from his +earliest youth. Antonio, his father, placed him first under the +instructions of Ribera, and afterwards under Cortona in Rome,[121] and +having conducted him through all the best schools of Italy, he brought +him home rich in designs and in ideas. His father was an indifferent +painter, and being obliged in Rome to subsist by his son's labours, +whose drawings were at that time in the greatest request,[122] the only +principle that he instilled into him was one dictated by necessity, +despatch. A humorous anecdote is related, that Luca, when he was obliged +to take refreshments, did not retire from his work, but, gaping like a +young bird, gave notice to his father of the calls of hunger, who, +always on the watch, instantly supplied him with food, at the same time +reiterating with affectionate solicitude, _Luca fa presto_. Upon this +incident he was always afterwards known by the name of _Luca fa presto_, +among the students in Rome, and which is also his most frequent +appellation in the history of the art. By means like these, Antonio +acquired for his son a portentous celerity of hand, from which quality +he has been called _il Fulmine della pittura_. The truth however is, +that this despatch was not derived wholly from rapidity of pencil, but +was aided by the quickness of his imagination, as Solimene often +observed, by which he was enabled to ascertain, from the first +commencement of his work, the result he proposed to himself, without +hesitating to consider the component parts, or doubting, proving, and +selecting like other painters. He also obtained the name of the Proteus +of painting, from his extraordinary talent in imitating every known +manner, the consequence of his strong memory, which retained every thing +he had once seen. There are numerous instances of pictures painted by +him in the style of Albert Durer, Bassano, Titian, and Rubens, with +which he imposed on connoisseurs and on his rivals, who had more cause +than any other persons to be on their guard against him. These pictures +are valued by dealers at more than double or triple the price of +pictures of his own composition. There are examples of them even in the +churches at Naples; as the two pictures in the style of Guido at S. +Teresa, and particularly that of the Nativity. There is also at the +court of Spain a Holy Family, so much resembling Raffaello, that, as +Mengs says in a letter, (tom. ii. p. 67,) whoever is not conversant with +the quality of beauty essential to the works of that great master, would +be deceived by the imitation of Giordano. + +He did not however permanently adopt any of these styles as his own. At +first he evidently formed himself on Spagnoletto; afterwards, as in a +picture of the Passion at S. Teresa a little before mentioned, he +adhered to Paul Veronese; and he ever retained the maxim of that master, +by a studied decoration to excite astonishment, and to fascinate the +eye. From Cortona he seems to have taken his contrast of composition, +the great masses of light, and the frequent repetition of the same +features, which, in his female figures, he always copied from his wife. +In other respects he aimed at distinguishing himself from every other +master by a novel mode of colouring. He was not solicitous to conform to +the true principles of art; his style is not natural either in tone or +colour, and still less so in its chiaroscuro, in which Giordano formed +for himself a manner ideal and wholly arbitrary. He pleased, +notwithstanding, by a certain deceptive grace and attraction, which few +attempt, and which none have found it easy to imitate. Nor did he +recommend this style to his scholars, but on the contrary reproved them +when he saw them disposed to imitate him, telling them that it was not +the province of young students to penetrate so far. He was well +acquainted with the principles of design, but would not be at the +trouble of observing them; and in the opinion of Dominici, if he had +adhered to them too rigidly he would have enfeebled that spirit which is +his greatest merit; an excuse which perhaps will not appear satisfactory +to every amateur. Another reason may with more probability of truth be +assigned, which was his unbounded cupidity, and his habit of not +refusing commissions from the meanest quarter, which led him to abuse +his facility to the prejudice of his reputation. Hence, among other +things, he has been accused of having often painted superficially, +without impasto, and with a superabundance of oil, so that some of his +pictures have almost disappeared from the canvass. + +Naples abounds with the works of Giordano both public and private. There +is scarcely a church in that great city which does not boast some work +by him. A much admired piece is the Expulsion of the sellers and buyers +from the Temple at the P. P. Girolamini: the architectural parts of +which are painted by Moscatiello, a good perspective painter. Of his +frescos, those at the Treasury of the Certosa are esteemed the best. +They were executed by him when his powers were matured, and appear to +unite in themselves all the best qualities of the artist. Every one must +be forcibly struck by the picture of the Serpent raised in the desert, +and the throng of Israelites, who, assailed in a horrible manner, turn +to it for relief. The other pictures on the walls and in the vault, all +scriptural, are equally powerful in effect. The cupola of S. Brigida is +also extolled, which was painted in competition with Francesco di Maria, +and in so very short a time, and with such fascinating tints, that it +was preferred by the vulgar to the work of that accomplished master, and +thus served to diffuse less solid principles among the rising artists. +As a miracle of despatch we are also shewn the picture of S. Saverio, +painted for the church of that saint in a day and a half, full of +figures, and as beautiful in colour as any of his pictures. Luca went to +Florence to paint the Capella Corsini and the Riccardi Gallery, besides +many works in the churches and for individuals, particularly for the +noble house of Rosso, who possessed the Baccanali of Giordano, +afterwards removed to the palace of the Marchese Gino Capponi. He was +also employed by the Grand Duke; and Cosmo III., in whose presence he +designed and painted a large picture in less time than I dare mention, +complimented him by saying that he was a fit painter for a sovereign +prince. The same eulogium was passed on him by Charles II. of Spain, in +whose court he resided thirteen years; and, to judge from the number of +works he left there, it might be supposed that he had consumed a long +life in his service. He continued and finished the series of paintings +begun by Cambiasi of Genoa, in the church of the Escurial, and +ornamented the vault, the cupola, and the walls with many scriptural +subjects, chiefly from the life of Solomon. He painted some other large +compositions in fresco in a church of S. Antonio, in the palace of +Buonritiro, in the Hall of the Ambassadors; and for the Queen Mother a +Nativity, most highly finished, which is said to be a surprising +picture, and perhaps superior to any other of his painting. If all his +works had been executed with similar care, the observation, that his +example had corrupted the Spanish School, might perhaps have been +spared.[123] In his old age he returned to his native place, loaded with +honours and riches, and died lamented and regretted as the greatest +genius of his age. + +His school produced but few designers of merit; most of them were +contaminated by the maxim of their master, that it is the province of a +painter to please the public, and that their favour is more easily won +by colour than by correct design; so that, without much attention to the +latter, they gave themselves entirely to facility of hand. His favorite +scholars were Aniello Rossi of Naples, and Matteo Pacelli della +Basilicata, whom he took with him to Spain as assistants, and who +returned with him home with handsome pensions, and lived after in +leisure and independence. Niccolo Rossi of Naples became a good designer +and colourist in the style of his master, although somewhat too red in +his tints. In some of his more important works, as in the soffitto of +the royal chapel, Giordano assisted him with his designs. He painted +much for private individuals, and was considered next to Reco in his +drawings of animals. The _Guida_ of Naples commends him and Tommaso +Fasano, for their skill in painting in distemper some very fine works +for Santi Sepolcri and Quarantore. Giuseppe Simonelli, originally a +servant of Giordano, became an accurate copyist of his works, and an +excellent imitator of his colouring. He did not succeed in design, +though he is praised for a S. Niccola di Tolentino in the church of +Montesanto, which approaches to the best and most correct manner of +Giordano. Andrea Miglionico had more facility of invention, and equal +taste in colour, but he has less grace than Simonelli. Andrea also +painted in many churches in Naples, and I find him highly commended for +his picture of the Pentecost in the S. S. Nunziata. A Franceschitto, a +Spaniard, was so promising an artist that Luca was accustomed to say, +that he would prove a greater man than his master. But he died very +young, leaving in Naples a favourable specimen of his genius in the S. +Pasquale, which he painted in S. Maria del Monte. It contains a +beautiful landscape, and a delightful choir of angels. + +But his first scholar, in point of excellence, was Paolo de' Matteis, +mentioned also by Pascoli among the best scholars of Morandi, and an +artist who might vie with the first of his age. He was invited to +France, and during the three years that he resided there, obtained +considerable celebrity in the court and in the kingdom at large. He was +then engaged by Benedict XIII. to come to Rome, where he painted at the +Minerva and at the Ara Coeli. He decorated other cities also with his +works, particularly Genoa, which has two very valuable pictures by him +at S. Girolamo; the one, that saint appearing and speaking to S. Saverio +in a dream; the other, the Immaculate Conception with an angelic choir, +as graceful as ever was painted. His home was, notwithstanding, in +Naples, and that is the place where we ought to view him. He there +decorated with his frescos the churches, galleries, halls, and ceilings +in great number; often rivalling the celerity without attaining the +merit of his master. It was his boast to have painted in sixty-six days +a large cupola, that of the Gesu Nuovo, a few years since taken down in +consequence of its dangerous state; a boast which, when Solimene heard, +he sarcastically replied, that the work declared the fact itself without +his mentioning it. Nevertheless there were so many beauties in it in the +style of Lanfranco, that its rapid execution excited admiration. + +When he worked with care, as in the church of the Pii Operai, in the +Matalona Gallery, and in many pictures for private individuals, he left +nothing to desire, either in his composition, in the grace of his +contour, in the beauty of his countenances, though there was little +variety in the latter, or in any of the other estimable qualities of a +painter. His colouring was at first _Giordanesque_; afterwards he +painted with more force of chiaroscuro, but with a softness and delicacy +of tint, particularly in the madonnas and children, where he sometimes +displays the sweetness of Albano, and a trace of the Roman School, in +which he had also studied. He was not very happy in his scholars, who +were not numerous. Giuseppe Mastroleo is the most distinguished, who is +much praised for his S. Erasmus at S. Maria Nuova. Gio. Batista Lama was +a fellow disciple, and afterwards a relative of Matteis, and received +some assistance from him in his studies. Excited by the example of +Paolo, he attained a suavity of colour and of chiaroscuro, much praised +in his larger works, as the gallery of the Duke of S. Niccola Gaeta, and +particularly in his pictures of small figures in collections. In these +he was fond of representing mythological stories, and they are not +unfrequent in Naples and its territories. + +Francesco Solimene, called L'Abate Ciccio, born at Nocera de' Pagani, +was the son of Angelo, a scholar of Massimo. Early imbibing a love of +painting, he forsook the study of letters, and after receiving the first +rudiments of the art from his father, he repaired to Naples. He there +entered the school of Francesco di Maria, but soon left it, as he +thought that master too exclusively devoted to design. He then +frequented the academy of Po, where he industriously began at the same +time to draw from the naked figure and to colour. Thus he may be said to +have been the scholar of the best masters, as he always copied and +studied their works. At first he imitated Pietro da Cortona, but +afterwards formed a manner of his own, still retaining that master as +his model, and copying entire figures from him, which he adapted to his +new style. This new and striking style of Solimene approached nearer +than any other to that of Preti. The design is not so correct, the +colouring not so true, but the faces have more beauty: in these he +sometimes imitated Guido, and sometimes Maratta, and they are often +selected from nature. Hence by some he was called il Cav. Calabrese +_ringentilito_. To the style of Preti he added that of Lanfranco, whom +he named his master, and from whom he adopted that curving form of +composition, which he perhaps carried beyond propriety. From these two +masters he took his chiaroscuro, which he painted strong in his middle +age, but softened as he advanced in years, and then attached himself +more to facility and elegance of style. He carefully designed every part +of his picture, and corrected it from nature before he coloured it; so +that in preparing his works, he may be included among the most correct, +at least in his better days, for he latterly declined into the general +facility, and opened the way to mannerism. He possessed an elegant and +fruitful talent of invention, for which he is celebrated by the poets of +the day. He was also characterised by a sort of universality in every +style he attempted, extending himself to every branch of the art; +history, portrait, landscape, animals, fruit, architecture, utensils; +and whatever he attempted, he seemed formed for that alone. As he lived +till the age of ninety, and was endowed with great celerity of pencil, +his works, like those of Giordano, were spread over all Europe. Of that +artist he was at the same time the competitor and the friend, less +powerful in genius, but more correct in his principles. When Giordano +died, and Solimene became the first painter in Italy, notwithstanding +what his rivals said of his colours not being true to nature, he began +to ask extravagant prices for his pictures, and still abounded in +commissions. + +One of his most distinguished works is the sacristy of the P. P. Teatini +detti di S. Paolo Maggiore, painted in various compartments. His +pictures also in the arches of the chapels in the church of the Holy +Apostles deserve to be mentioned. That work had been executed by Giacomo +del Po, to correspond with the style of the tribune, and the other works +which Lanfranco had painted there: but Po did not satisfy the public +expectation. The whole work was therefore effaced, and Solimene was +employed to paint it over again, and proved that he was more worthy of +the commission. The chapel of S. Filippo in the church of the Oratory, +is a proof of his extreme care and attention; every figure in it being +almost as finely finished as a miniature. Among private houses the most +distinguished is the Sanfelice, so called from the name of his noble +scholar Ferdinand, for whom he painted a gallery, which afterwards +became an academy for young artists. Of his large pictures we may +mention that of the great altar in the church of the monks of S. +Gaudioso, without referring to others in the churches and in various +parts of the kingdom; particularly at Monte Cassino, for the church of +which he painted four stupendous pictures in the choir. They will be +found in the _Descrizione Istorica del Monistero di Monte Cassino_, +edited in Naples, in 1751. He is not often met with in private +collections in Italy, beyond the kingdom of Naples. In Rome the princes +Albani and Colonna have some large compositions by him, and the +Bonaccorsi family a greater number in the gallery of Macerata; and among +them the death of Dido, a large picture of fine effect. His largest work +in the ecclesiastical state, is a Supper of our Lord, in the refectory +of the Conventuals of Assisi, an elegant composition, painted with +exquisite care, where the artist has given his own portrait among the +train of attendants. + +Solimene instilled his own principles into the minds of his disciples, +who formed a numerous school, which extended even beyond the kingdom of +Naples, about the beginning of the eighteenth century. Among those who +remained in Naples, was Ferdinando Sanfelice, lately noticed by us, a +nobleman of Naples, who put himself under the instructions of Francesco, +and became as it were the arbiter of his wishes. As the master could not +execute all the commissions which crowded on him from every quarter, the +surest mode to engage him was to solicit him through Sanfelice, to whom +alone he could not deny any request. By the assistance of Solimene, +Sanfelice attained a name among historical painters, and painted +altarpieces for several churches. He took great delight in fruit, +landscapes, and views, in which he particularly excelled, and had also +the reputation of an eminent architect. But perhaps none of the +disciples of Solimene approached nearer to the fame of their master than +Francesco de Mura, called Franceschiello. He was a Neapolitan by birth, +and contributed much to the decoration of his native city, both in +public and private. Perhaps no work on the whole procured him a greater +degree of celebrity than the frescos painted in various chambers of the +Royal Palace of Turin, where he competed with Beaumont, who was then in +the height of his reputation. He there ornamented the ceilings of some +of the rooms which contain the Flemish pictures. The subjects which he +chose, and treated with much grace, were the Olympic Games, and the +Deeds of Achilles. In other parts of the palace he also executed various +works. Another artist, who was held in consideration, was Andrea +dell'Asta, who after being instructed by Solimene, went to finish his +studies in Rome, and engrafted on his native style some imitation of +Raffaello and the antique. We may enumerate among his principal works, +the two large pictures of the Nativity, and the Epiphany of Christ, +which he painted in Naples for the church of S. Agostino de' P. P. +Scalzi. Niccolo Maria Rossi was also reputably employed in the churches +of Naples, and in the court itself. Scipione Cappella excelled all the +scholars of Solimene in copying his pictures, which were sometimes +touched by the master and passed for originals. Giuseppe Bonito had a +good invention, and was a distinguished portrait painter, and was +considered one of the best imitators of Solimene. He was at the time of +his death painter to the court of Naples. Conca and he excel their +fellow disciples in the selection of their forms. Other scholars in +Naples and Sicily,[124] less known to me, will be found in the history +of painting in Naples, which has been recently published by the +accomplished Sig. Pietro Signorelli, a work which I have not in my +possession, but which is cited by me, as is the case with several more, +on the authority of others. + +Some artists, who resided out of the kingdom, we shall notice in other +schools, and in the Roman School we have already spoken sufficiently of +Conca and Giaquinto; to whom we may add Onofrio Avellino, who resided +some years in Rome, executing commissions for private persons, and +painting in the churches. The vault of S. Francesco di Paola is the +largest work he left. The works of Maja and Campora are to be found in +Genoa, those of Sassi in Milan, and of others of the school of Solimene +in various cities. These artists, it is to be regretted, sometimes +passed the boundaries prescribed by their master. His colouring, though +it might be more true to nature, is yet such as never offends, but +possesses on the contrary a degree of amenity which pleases us. But his +scholars and imitators did not confine themselves within their master's +limits, and it may be asserted, that from no school has the art suffered +more than from them. Florence, Verona, Parma, Bologna, Milan, Turin, in +short, all Italy was infected with their style; and by degrees their +pictures presented so mannered a colouring, that they seemed to abandon +the representation of truth and nature altogether. The habit too of +leaving their pictures unfinished after the manner of Giordano and +Solimene, was by many carried so far, that instead of good paintings, +many credulous buyers have purchased execrable sketches. The imitation +of these two eminent men carried too far, has produced in our own days +pernicious principles, as at an earlier period did the imitation of +Michelangiolo, Tintoretto, and even of Raffaello himself, when carried +to an extreme. The principal and true reason of this deterioration is to +be ascribed generally to the masters of almost all our schools; who, +abandoning the guidance of the ancient masters, endeavoured in their +ignorance to find some new leader, without considering who he might be, +or whither he might lead them. Thus, at every proclamation of new +principles, they and their scholars were ready to follow in their train. + +In the time of Giordano and Solimene, Niccola Massaro was considered a +good landscape painter. He was a scholar of Salvator Rosa, but rather +imitated him in design than in colour. In the latter he was insipid, nor +even added the accompaniment of figures to his landscapes, but was +assisted in that respect by Antonio di Simone, not a finished artist, +but of some merit in battle pieces.[125] Massaro instructed Gaetano +Martoriello, who was a landscape painter of a free style, but often +sketching, and his colouring not true to nature. In the opinion of +connoisseurs a better style was displayed by Bernardo Dominici, the +historiographer, and the scholar of Beych in landscape, a careful and +minute painter of Flemish subjects and _bambocciate_. There were two +Neapolitans, Ferraiuoli and Sammartino, who settled in Romagna, and were +good landscape painters. In perspective views Moscatiello was +distinguished, as we observed, when we spoke of Giordano. In the life of +Solimene, Arcangelo Guglielmelli is mentioned as skilled in the same +art. Domenico Brandi of Naples, and Giuseppe Tassoni of Rome, were +rivals in animal painting. In this branch, and also in flowers and +fruits, one Paoluccio Cattamara, who flourished in the time of Orlandi, +was celebrated. Lionardo Coccorante, and Gabriele Ricciardelli, the +scholar of Orizzonte, were distinguished in seaviews and landscapes, and +were employed at the court of King Charles of Bourbon.[126] + +By the accession of this prince, a munificent patron of the fine arts, +wherever he reigned, the Neapolitan School was regenerated and +invigorated; employment and rewards awaited the artists; the specimens +of other schools were multiplied, and Mengs, who was invited to paint +the Royal Family, and a large cabinet picture, laid the foundations of a +more solid style, at the same time improving his own fortune, and giving +a considerable impulse to art. But the greatest benefit this monarch has +conferred on the arts is to be found at Ercolano, where under his orders +so many specimens of sculpture and ancient paintings, buried for a long +lapse of ages, have been brought to light, and by his direction +accurately drawn and engraved, and illustrated with learned notes, and +communicated to all countries. Lastly, in order that the benefits which +he had conferred on his own age, might be continued to the future +masters of his country, he turned his attention to the education of +youthful artists. Of this fact I was ignorant at the time of my first +edition, but now write on the information afforded me at the request of +the Marchese D. Francesco Taccone, treasurer of the kingdom, by the very +learned Sig. Daniele, Regio Antiquario, both of whom, with truly +patriotic feelings, have devoted themselves to the preservation of the +antiquities of their country, and are equally polite in communicating to +others that information for which they are themselves so distinguished. +There formerly existed at Naples the academy of S. Luke, founded at the +Gesu Nuovo, in the time of Francesco di Maria, who was one of the +masters, and taught in it anatomy and design. This institution continued +for some years. King Charles in some measure revived this establishment +by a school for painting, which he opened in the Laboratory of mosaics +and tapestry. Six masters of the School of Solimene were placed there as +directors, and some good models being provided in the place, young +artists were permitted to attend and study there. Bonito was engaged as +the acting professor, and after some time Mura was associated with him, +but died before the professor. Ferdinand IV. treading in the steps of +his august father, has, by repeated instances of protection to these +honorable pursuits, conferred fresh honours on the Bourbon name, and +rendered it dearer than ever to the fine arts. He transferred the +academy to the new royal Museum, and supplied it with all requisites for +the instruction of young artists. On the death of Bonito he bestowed the +direction of it on the first masters, and having established pensions +for the maintenance in Rome of a certain number of young men, students +in the three sister arts, he assigned four of these to those students +who were intended for painters; thus confirming by his suffrage to the +city of Rome, that proud appellation which the world at large had long +conceded to her, the Athens of Modern Art. + +[Footnote 121: Cortona had in Sicily a good scholar in Gio. Quagliata, +who, in the _Memorie Messinesi_, is said to have been favored and +distinguished by his master; and to have afterwards returned to his +native country to paint in competition with Rodriguez, and what +surprises me still more, with Barbalunga. If we may be allowed to judge +of these two artists by their works which remain in Rome, Barbalunga in +S. Silvestro at Monte Cavallo, appears a great master; Quagliata at the +Madonna di C. P. a respectable scholar. The former is celebrated and +known to every painter in Rome, the latter has not an admirer. In +Messina he perhaps painted better. His biographer commends him as a +graceful and sober painter, as long as his rivals lived; and adds, that +after their death he devoted himself to frescos, when the exuberance of +his imagination is evident in the strong expression of character, and in +the superfluity of architectural and other ornaments. Andrea, his +brother, was not in Rome; he is, however, in Messina, considered a good +artist.] + +[Footnote 122: Giordano is said at this period to have copied the +Chambers and the Gallery of Raffaello no less than twelve times, and +perhaps twenty times the Battle of Constantine, painted by Giulio +Romano, without reckoning his designs after the works of Michelangiolo, +Polidoro, and other great masters. See _Vite del Bellori_, edited in +Rome in 1728, with the addition of the life of Giordano, page 307.] + +[Footnote 123: It may be observed, that if he had followers, some of +them did not copy him implicitly. Palomino, although much attached to +Giordano, forsaking letters for painting, when his style was so much in +vogue, did not imitate him servilely, but in conjunction with the style +of other distinguished painters of his age; a good artist, and appointed +by Charles II. painter to himself. This is the same Palamino who has +merited the appellation of the _Vasari of Spain_, and whom I have so +often cited. They who are acquainted with that noble language highly +commend his style, which is perhaps the reason that copies of his +_Teorica e Pratica della Pittura_ (2 vol. fol.) are so rare out of +Spain. But in point of accuracy, like Vasari himself, he often errs. I +fancy that he frequently adopted traditions, without sufficiently +weighing them, which I am led to suspect from the circumstance that in +the scholars assigned to masters, he is guilty of many anachronisms.] + +[Footnote 124: The _Memorie de' Messinesi Pittori_ mentions a Gio. +Porcello, who, after studying under Solimene, returned, it is said, to +his native country, where he found the art at an extremely low ebb; and +he attempted to revive it by opening an academy in his house, and +diffusing the taste of his master, which he fully possessed. A still +better style of painting was brought from Rome by Antonio and Paolo, two +brothers, who, fresh from the school of Maratta, also opened an academy +in Messina, which was greatly frequented. They worked in conjunction in +many churches, and excelled in fresco, but in oil Antonio was much +superior to his brother. There was also a third brother, Gaetano, who +executed the ornamental parts. Their works on the walls and on canvass +are to be seen in S. Caterina di Valverde, in S. Gregorio delle Monache, +and elsewhere. There flourished at the same time with the Filocami, +Litterio Paladino, and Placido Campolo, a scholar of Conca in Rome, +where he derived more benefit from the antique marbles than from the +instructions of his master. Both these artists executed works on a very +large scale; and of the first they particularly commend the vault of the +church of Monte Vergine, and, of the second, the vault of the gallery of +the Senate. Both are esteemed for their correct design; but the taste of +the second is more solid and more free from mannerism. The above named +five artists all died in the fatal year of 1743. Luciano Foti survived +them, an excellent copyist of every master, but particularly of +Polidoro, whose style he adopted in his own composition. But his +characteristic merit consisted in his penetration into the secrets of +the art, which enabled him to detect every style, every peculiar +varnish, and the various methods of colouring, so that he not only +ascertained many doubtful masters, but restored pictures, damaged by +time, in so happy a manner as to deceive the most experienced. A man of +such talents outweighs a host of common artists. + +To these we may add other artists of the island itself, born in +different places. Marcantonio Bellavia, a Sicilian, who painted in Rome, +at S. Andrea delle Fratte, is conjectured, though not ascertained, to be +a scholar of Cortona. Calandrucci, of Palermo, is named among the +scholars of Maratta. Gaetano Sottino painted the vault of the oratory at +the Madonna di C. P., a respectable artist. Giovacchino Martorana, of +Palermo, was a machinist, and in his native city they boast of the +Chapel de' Crociferi, and at S. Rosalia, four large pictures from the +life of S. Benedict. Olivio Sozzi, of Catania, painted much in Palermo; +particularly at S. Giacomo, where all the altars have pictures by him, +and the tribune three large subjects from the infancy of Christ. Another +Sozzi, of the name of Francesco, I find praised for a picture of Five +Saints, Bishops of Agrigentum, in the Duomo of that city. Of Onofrio +Lipari, of Palermo, there are two pictures of the Martyrdom of S. Oliva +in the Church de' Paolotti. Of Filippo Randazzo, there are to be seen in +Palermo some vast works in fresco, as well as of Tommaso Sciacca, who +was an assistant of Cavalucci in Rome, and who left some large +compositions at the Duomo and at the Olivetani of Rovigo.] + +[Footnote 125: Gio. Tuccari of Messina, the son of an Antonio, a feeble +scholar of Barbalunga, although he painted much in other branches of the +art, owes the celebrity of his name to his battle pieces, which, by the +despatch of his pencil, were multiplied beyond number. They were +frequently sent into Germany where they were engraved. He had a fruitful +and spirited genius, but was not a correct designer.] + +[Footnote 126: Among the painters of Messina is mentioned Niccolo +Cartissani, who died in Rome with the name of a good landscape painter, +and Filippo Giannetti, a scholar of Casembrot, who in the vastness of +his landscapes and his views surpassed his master; but he will not bear +a comparison in the correctness of his figures and in finishing; though +he was, from his facility and rapidity of pencil, denominated the +Giordano of landscape painters. He was esteemed and protected by the +Viceroy Co. di S. Stefano, and painted in Palermo and Naples.] + + + + + Transcriber's notes: + + Standardized spacing after apostrophes in Italian names and phrases. + Standardized inconsistent hyphenation. + Retained archaic spelling and punctuation, except as noted below. + Moved footnotes to the end of each chapter. + + Other adjustments: + + Changed 'Pistoia' to 'Pistoja' for consistency with remaining text. + ...Pistoja, Rimino, and Bologna... + Changed 'Winckelman' to 'Winckelmann' + ...as Winckelmann has observed... + Changed 'Niccolo Alunno' to 'Niccolo Alunno' + ...different from Niccolo Alunno... + Added missing end quotation mark + ..."connoisseurs are very commonly considered as his."... + Changed 'antient' to 'ancient' + ...he retained the ancient custom... + Changed 'beautifully' to 'beautiful' + ...some singularly beautiful grotesques... + Changed 'della' to 'dello' + ...called dello Spasimo, which... + Eliminated duplicate 'as as' + ...as in the martyrdom of S. Lucia.. + Added accent to 'Niccolo' Circignani + ...Niccolo Circignani, or delle Pomarance,... + Changed 'hat' to 'that' + ...in the style of that master... + Retained two-dot ellipsis to represent missing partial date + ...Castellana, 161.., on a large picture... + Eliminated duplicate 'was was' + ...he was called Il Trevisani Romano... + Changed 'Vandyk' to 'Vandyke' + ...together with one by Vandyke... + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. +2 (of 6), by Luigi Antonio Lanzi + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF PAINTING IN *** + +***** This file should be named 34585.txt or 34585.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/5/8/34585/ + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Carol Brown, Bill Tozier and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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