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.