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.