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.