competition of the above-named masters, was Bernardo de' Gatti, called
Il Soiaro, of whom mention has been made in speaking of Parma. Some say
that he was of Verzelli, and others of Cremona; but, wherever he may
have come from, he painted a very beautiful altar-piece for the
high-altar of S. Piero, a church of the Canons Regular, and in their
refectory the story of the miracle that Jesus Christ performed with the
five loaves and two fishes, satisfying an infinite multitude, although
he retouched it so much "a secco," that it has since lost all its
beauty. That master also executed under a vault in S. Gismondo, without
Cremona, the Ascension of Jesus Christ into Heaven, which was a
pleasing work and very beautiful in colouring. In the Church of S. Maria
di Campagna at Piacenza, in competition with Pordenone and opposite to
the S. Augustine that has been mentioned, he painted in fresco a S.
George in armour and on horseback, who is killing the Serpent, with
spirit, movement, and excellent relief. That done, he was commissioned
to finish the tribune of that church, which Pordenone had left
unfinished, wherein he painted in fresco all the life of the Madonna;
and although the Prophets and Sibyls that Pordenone executed there, with
some children, are beautiful to a marvel, nevertheless Soiaro acquitted
himself so well, that the whole of that work appears as if all by one
and the same hand. In like manner, some little altar-pieces that he has
executed at Vigevano are worthy of considerable praise for their
excellence. Finally, after he had betaken himself to Parma to work in
the Madonna della Steccata, the great niche and the arch that were left
incomplete through the death of Michelagnolo of Siena were finished by
the hands of Soiaro. And to him, from his having acquitted himself well,
the people of Parma have since given the charge of painting the great
tribune that is in the centre of that church, where he is now constantly
occupied in executing in fresco the Assumption of Our Lady, which, it is
hoped, is to prove a most admirable work.
[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST
(_After the panel by =Sofonisba Anguisciola=. Vienna: Imperial Gallery,
109_)
_Bruckmann_]
While Boccaccino was still alive, but old, Cremona had another painter,
called Galeazzo Campo, who painted the Rosary of the Madonna in a large
chapel in the Church of S. Domenico, and the facade at the back of S.
Francesco, with other works and altar-pieces by his hand that are in
Cremona, all passing good. To him were born three sons, Giulio, Antonio,
and Vincenzio; but Giulio, although he learned the first rudiments of
art from his father Galeazzo, nevertheless afterwards followed the
manner of Soiaro, as being better, and studied much from some canvases
executed in colours at Rome by the hand of Francesco Salviati, which
were painted for the weaving of tapestries, and sent to Piacenza to Duke
Pier Luigi Farnese. The first works that this Giulio executed in his
youth at Cremona were four large scenes in the choir of the Church of S.
Agata, containing the martyrdom of that virgin, which proved to be
such, that a well-practised master might perhaps not have done them so
well. Then, after executing some works in S. Margherita, he painted many
facades of palaces in chiaroscuro, with good design. For the Church of
S. Gismondo, without the city, he painted in oils the altar-piece of the
high-altar, which was very beautiful on account of the diversity and
multitude of the figures that he executed in it, in competition with the
many painters who had worked in that place before him. After the
altar-piece he painted there many things in fresco on the vaulting, and
in particular the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, who are
foreshortened to be seen from below, with beautiful grace and great
artistry. At Milan, for the Church of the Passione, a convent of Canons
Regular, he painted a Christ Crucified on a panel in oils, with some
Angels, the Madonna, S. John the Evangelist, and the other Maries. In
the Nunnery of S. Paolo, a convent also in Milan, he executed four
scenes, with the Conversion and other acts of that Saint. In that work
he was assisted by Antonio Campo, his brother, who also painted for the
Nunnery of S. Caterina at the Porta Ticinese, likewise in Milan, for a
chapel in the new church, the architecture of which is by Lombardino, a
picture in oils of S. Helen directing the search for the Cross of
Christ, which is a passing good work. And Vincenzio, likewise, the third
of those three brothers, having learned much from Giulio, as Antonio has
also done, is a young man of excellent promise.
To the same Giulio Campo have been disciples not only his two
above-named brothers, but also Lattanzio Gambara and others; but most
excellent in painting, doing him more honour than any of the rest, has
been Sofonisba Anguisciuola of Cremona, with her three sisters, which
most gifted maidens are the daughters of Signor Amilcare Anguisciuola
and Signora Bianca Punzona, both of whom belong to the most noble
families in Cremona. Speaking, then, of Signora Sofonisba, of whom we
said but little in the Life of Properzia of Bologna, because at that
time we knew no more, I must relate that I saw this year in the house of
her father at Cremona, in a picture executed with great diligence by her
hand, portraits of her three sisters in the act of playing chess, and
with them an old woman of the household, all done with such care and
such spirit, that they have all the appearance of life, and are wanting
in nothing save speech. In another picture may be seen, portrayed by the
same Sofonisba, her father Signor Amilcare, who has on one side one of
his daughters, her sister, called Minerva, who was distinguished in
painting and in letters, and on the other side Asdrubale, their brother,
the son of the same man; and these, also, are executed so well, that
they appear to be breathing and absolutely alive. At Piacenza, in the
house of the reverend Archdeacon of the principal church, are two very
beautiful pictures by the same hand: in one is the portrait of the
Archdeacon, and in the other that of Sofonisba herself, and each of
those figures lacks nothing save speech. That lady, having been brought
afterwards by the Duke of Alva, as was related above, into the service
of the Queen of Spain, in which she still remains at the present day
with a handsome salary and much honour, has executed a number of
portraits and pictures that are things to marvel at. Moved by the fame
of which works, Pope Pius IV had Sofonisba informed that he desired to
have from her hand the portrait of her serene Highness the Queen of
Spain; wherefore, having executed it with all the diligence in her
power, she sent it to Rome to be presented to him, writing to his
Holiness a letter in the precise form given below:
[Illustration: THE MADONNA AND CHILD WITH SAINTS
(_After the painting by =Girolamo Romanino=. Brescia: S. Francesco_)
_Alinari_]
"HOLY FATHER,
"From the very reverend Nuncio of your Holiness I understood that
you desired to have a portrait by my hand of her Majesty the
Queen, my Liege-lady. And since I accepted this commission as a
singular grace and favour, having thus to serve your Holiness, I
asked leave of her Majesty, who granted it very willingly,
recognizing therein the fatherly affection that your Holiness
bears to her. Taking the opportunity presented by this Chevalier,
I send it to you, and, if I shall have satisfied therein the
desire of your Holiness, I shall receive infinite compensation;
but I must not omit to tell you that if it were possible in the
same way to present with the brush to the eyes of your Holiness
the beauties of the mind of this most gracious Queen, you would
see the most marvellous thing in all the world. But in those
parts which can be portrayed by art, I have not failed to use all
the diligence in my power and knowledge, in order to present
the truth to your Holiness. And with this conclusion, in all
reverence and humility, I kiss your most holy feet.
"From the most humble servant of your Holiness,
"SOFONISBA ANGUISCIUOLA.
"At Madrid, on the 16th of September, 1561."
To that letter his Holiness answered with that given below, which,
having thought the portrait marvellously beautiful, he accompanied with
gifts worthy of the great talents of Sofonisba:
"PIUS PAPA IV DILECTA IN CHRISTO FILIA.
"We have received the portrait of the most gracious Queen of
Spain, our dearest daughter, which you have sent to us; and it
has been most acceptable to us, both on account of the person
therein represented, whom we love with the love of a father by
reason of her true piety and her other most beautiful qualities
of mind, to say nothing of other reasons, and also because it has
been very well and diligently executed by your hand. We thank you
for it, assuring you that we shall hold it among our dearest
possessions, and commending this your art, which, although it is
marvellous, we understand to be the least of the many gifts that
are in you. And with this conclusion we send you once again our
benediction. May our Lord God preserve you.
"Dat. Romae, die 15 Octob., 1561."
And let this testimony suffice to prove how great is the talent of
Sofonisba.
A sister of hers, called Lucia, left at her death fame no less than that
of Sofonisba, by means of some pictures by her hand that are no less
beautiful and precious than those of her sister described above, as may
be seen at Cremona from a portrait that she executed of Signor Pietro
Maria, an eminent physician, but even more from another portrait,
painted by that gifted maiden, of the Duke of Sessa, which was
counterfeited by her so well, that it would seem impossible to do better
or to make a portrait with a more animated likeness.
The third of the sisters Anguisciuola, called Europa, is still a child
in age. To her, a girl all grace and talent, I have spoken this very
year; and, in so far as one can see from her works and drawings, she
will be in no way inferior to Sofonisba and Lucia, her sisters. This
Europa has executed many portraits of gentlemen at Cremona, which are
altogether beautiful and natural, and one of her mother, Signora Bianca,
she sent to Spain, which vastly pleased Sofonisba and everyone of that
Court who saw it. Anna, the fourth sister, although but a little girl,
is also giving her attention with much profit to design: so that I know
not what to say save that it is necessary to have by nature an
inclination for art, and then to add to that study and practice, as has
been done by those four noble and gifted sisters, so much enamoured of
every rare art, and in particular of the matters of design, insomuch
that the house of Signor Amilcare Anguisciuola, most happy father of a
fair and honourable family, appeared to me the home of painting, or
rather, of all the arts. But, if women know so well how to produce
living men, what marvel is it that those who wish are also so well able
to create them in painting?
But to return to Giulio Campo, of whom I have said that those young
women are the disciples; besides other works, a painting on cloth that
he has made as a cover for the organ in the Cathedral Church, is
executed with much study in distemper, with a great number of figures
representing the stories of Esther and Ahasuerus and the Crucifixion of
Haman. And in the same church there is a graceful altar-piece by his
hand on the altar of S. Michael; but since Giulio is still alive, I
shall say no more for the present about his works. Of Cremona, likewise,
were the sculptor Geremia, who was mentioned by us in the Life of
Filarete,[2] and who has executed a large work in marble in S. Lorenzo,
a seat of the Monks of Monte Oliveto; and Giovanni Pedoni, who has done
many works at Cremona and Brescia, and in particular many things in the
house of Signor Eliseo Raimondo, which are beautiful and worthy of
praise.
[Footnote 2: Really in the Life of Filippo Brunelleschi, p.
236, Vol. II.]
[Illustration: THE CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN
(_After the painting by =Alessandro Bonvicino [Il Moretto _or_ Moretto
da Brescia]=. Brescia: SS. Nazaro e Celso_)
_Alinari_]
In Brescia, also, there have been, and still are, persons most
excellent in the arts of design, and, among others, Girolamo Romanino
has executed innumerable works in that city. The altar-piece on the
high-altar of S. Francesco, which is a passing good picture, is by his
hand, and so also the little shutters that enclose it, which are painted
in distemper both within and without; and his work, likewise, is another
altar-piece executed in oils that is very beautiful, wherein may be seen
masterly imitations of natural objects. But more able than that Girolamo
was Alessandro Moretto, who painted in fresco, under the arch of the
Porta Brusciata, the Translation of the bodies of SS. Faustino and
Jovita, with some groups of figures that are accompanying those bodies,
all very well done. For S. Nazzaro, also in Brescia, he executed certain
works, and others for S. Celso, which are passing good, and an
altar-piece for S. Piero in Oliveto, which is full of charm. At Milan,
in the house of the Mint, there is a picture by the hand of that same
Alessandro with the Conversion of S. Paul, and other heads that are very
natural, with beautiful adornments of draperies and vestments, for the
reason that he much delighted to counterfeit cloth of gold and of
silver, velvets, damasks, and other draperies of every kind, which he
used to place on the figures with great diligence. The heads by the hand
of that master are very lifelike, and hold to the manner of Raffaello da
Urbino, and even more would they hold to it if he had not lived so far
from Raffaello.
The son-in-law of Alessandro was Lattanzio Gambara, a painter of
Brescia, who, having learned his art, as has been related, under Giulio
Campo of Verona,[3] is now the best painter that there is in Brescia. By
his hand, in the Black Friars Church of S. Faustino, are the altar-piece
of the high-altar, and the vaulting and walls painted in fresco, with
other pictures that are in the same church. In the Church of S. Lorenzo,
also, the altar-piece of the high-altar is by his hand, with two scenes
that are on the walls, and the vaulting, all painted in fresco almost in
the same manner. He has also painted, besides many other facades, that
of his own house, with most beautiful inventions, and likewise the
interior; in which house, situated between S. Benedetto and the
Vescovado, I saw, when I was last in Brescia, two very beautiful
portraits by his hand, that of Alessandro Moretto, his father-in-law,
which is a very lovely head of an old man, and that of the same
Alessandro's daughter, his wife. And if the other works of Lattanzio
were equal to those portraits, he would be able to compare with the
greatest men of his art. But, since his works are without number, and he
himself besides is still living, it must suffice for the present to have
made mention of those named.
[Footnote 3: Rather, of Cremona.]
By the hand of Gian Girolamo Bresciano are many works to be seen in
Venice and Milan, and in the above-mentioned house of the Mint there are
four pictures of Night and of Fire, which are very beautiful. In the
house of Tommaso da Empoli at Venice is a Nativity of Christ, a very
lovely effect of night, and there are some other similar works of
fantasy, in which he was a master. But, since he occupied himself only
with things of that kind, and executed no large works, there is nothing
more to be said of him save that he was a man of fanciful and inquiring
mind, and that what he did deserves to be much commended.
Girolamo Mosciano of Brescia, after spending his youth in Rome, has
executed many beautiful works in figures and landscapes, and at Orvieto,
in the principal Church of S. Maria, he has painted two altar-pieces in
oils and some Prophets in fresco, which are good works; and the drawings
by his hand that are published in engraving, are executed with good
design. But, since he also is alive, serving Cardinal Ippolito d'Este in
the buildings and restorations that he is carrying out in Rome, in
Tivoli, and in other places, I shall say no more about him at present.
There has returned recently from Germany Francesco Ricchino, likewise a
painter of Brescia, who, besides many other pictures that he has painted
in various places, has executed some works of painting in oils in the
above-named S. Piero in Oliveto at Brescia, which are done with much
study and diligence.
[Illustration: THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS
(_After the painting by =Gian Girolamo Bresciano [Savoldo]=. Brescia:
Palazzo Martinengo_)
_Alinari_]
The brothers Cristofano and Stefano, painters of Brescia, have a great
name among craftsmen for their facility in drawing in perspective; and,
among other works in Venice, they have counterfeited in painting on the
flat ceiling of S. Maria dell'Orto a corridor of double twisted columns,
similar to those of the Porta Santa in S. Pietro at Rome, which,
resting on certain great consoles that project outwards, form a superb
corridor with groined vaulting right round that church. This work,
when seen from the centre of the church, displays most beautiful
foreshortenings, which fill with astonishment everyone who sees them,
and make the ceiling, which is flat, appear to be vaulted; besides that
it is accompanied by a beautiful variety of mouldings, masks, festoons,
and some figures, which make a very rich adornment to the work, which
deserves to be vastly extolled by everyone, both for its novelty and for
its having been carried to completion excellently well and with great
diligence. And, since this method gave much satisfaction to that most
illustrious Senate, there was entrusted to the same masters another
ceiling, similar, but small, in the Library of S. Marco, which, for a
work of that kind, was very highly extolled. Finally, those brothers
have been summoned to their native city of Brescia to do the same with a
magnificent hall which was begun on the Piazza many years ago, at vast
expense, and erected over a theatre of large columns, under which is a
promenade. This hall is sixty-two full paces long, thirty-five broad,
and likewise thirty-five in height at the highest point of its
elevation; although it appears much larger, being isolated on every
side, and without any apartment or other building about it. On the
ceiling of this magnificent and most honourable hall, then, those two
brothers have been much employed, with very great credit to themselves;
having made a roof-truss for the roof (which is covered with lead) of
beams of wood that are very large, composed of pieces well secured with
clamps of iron, and having turned the ceiling with beautiful artistry in
the manner of a basin-shaped vault, so that it is a rich work. It is
true that in that great space there are included only three pictures
painted in oils, each of ten braccia, which were painted by the old
Tiziano; whereas many more could have gone there, with a richer, more
beautiful, and better proportioned arrangement of compartments, which
would have made that hall more cheerful, handsome, and ornate; but in
every other part it has been made with much judgment.
[Illustration: THE HOLY FAMILY
(_After the panel by =Bramantino=. Milan: Brera, 279_)
_Anderson_]
Now, having spoken in this part of our book, up to the present, of the
craftsmen of design in the cities of Lombardy, it cannot but be well to
say something about those of the city of Milan, the capital of that
province, of whom no mention has been made here, although of some of
them we have spoken in many other places in this our work. To begin,
then, with Bramantino, of whom mention has been made in the Life of
Piero della Francesca of the Borgo, I find that he executed many more
works than I have enumerated above; and, in truth, it did not then
appear to me possible that a craftsman so renowned, who introduced good
design into Milan, should have executed works so few as those that had
come to my notice. Now, after he had painted in Rome, as has been
related, some apartments for Pope Nicholas V, and had finished over the
door of S. Sepolcro, in Milan, the Christ in foreshortening, the Madonna
who has Him on her lap, the Magdalene, and S. John, which was a very
rare work, he painted in fresco, on a facade in the court of the Mint in
Milan, the Nativity of Christ our Saviour, and, in the Church of S.
Maria di Brera, in the tramezzo,[4] the Nativity of Our Lady, with some
Prophets on the doors of the organ, which are foreshortened very well to
be seen from below, and a perspective-view which recedes with a
beautiful gradation excellently contrived; at which I do not marvel, he
having always much delighted in the studies of architecture, and having
had a very good knowledge of them. Thus I remember to have seen once in
the hands of Valerio Vicentino a very beautiful book of antiquities,
drawn with all the measurements by the hand of Bramantino, wherein were
those of Lombardy and the ground-plans of many well-known edifices,
which I drew from that book, being then a lad. In it was the Temple of
S. Ambrogio in Milan, built by the Lombards, and all full of sculptures
and pictures in the Greek manner, with a round tribune of considerable
size, but not well conceived in the matter of architecture; which temple
was rebuilt in the time of Bramantino, after his design, with a portico
of stone on one side, and with columns in the manner of trunks of trees
that have been lopped, which have in them something of novelty and
variety. There, likewise, was drawn the ancient portico of the Church of
S. Lorenzo in the same city, built by the Romans, which is a great work,
beautiful and well worthy of note; but the temple there, or rather, the
church, is in the manner of the Goths. In the same book was drawn the
Temple of S. Aquilino, which is very ancient, and covered with
incrustations of marble and stucco, very well preserved, with some large
tombs of granite. In like manner, there was the Temple of S. Piero in
Ciel d'Oro at Pavia, in which place is the body of S. Augustine, in a
tomb that is in the sacristy, covered with little figures, which,
according to my belief, is by the hands of Agostino and Agnolo, the
sculptors of Siena. There, also, was drawn the tower of brick built by
the Goths, which is a beautiful work, for there may be seen in it,
besides other things, some figures fashioned of terra-cotta after the
antique, each six braccia high, which have remained in passing good
preservation down to the present day. In that tower, so it is said, died
Boetius, who was buried in the above-named S. Piero in Ciel d'Oro, now
called S. Agostino, where there may be seen, even at the present day,
the tomb of that holy man, with the inscription placed there by
Aliprando, who restored and rebuilt the church in the year 1222. And,
besides all these, there was in that book, drawn by the hand of
Bramantino himself, the very ancient Temple of S. Maria in Pertica,
round in shape, and built with fragments by the Lombards; in which place
now lie the bones from the slaughter of the Frenchmen and others who
were routed and slain before Pavia, when King Francis I of France was
taken prisoner there by the Emperor Charles V.
[Footnote 4: See note on p. 57, Vol. I.]
[Illustration: A WARRIOR
(_After the fresco by =Bramantino=. Milan: Brera, No. 494_)
_Alinari_]
But let us now leave drawings on one side: Bramantino painted in Milan
the facade of the house of Signor Giovan Battista Latuate, with a most
beautiful Madonna, and on either side of her a Prophet. On the facade of
Signor Bernardo Scacalarozzo he painted four Giants in imitation of
bronze, which are reasonably good; with other works that are in Milan,
which brought him credit, from his having been the first light of a good
manner of painting that was seen in Milan, and the reason that after him
Bramante became, on account of the good form that he gave to his
buildings and perspective-views, an excellent master in the matters of
architecture; for the first things that Bramante studied were the works
of Bramantino. Under the direction of Bramante was built the Temple of
S. Satiro, which pleases me exceedingly, for it is a very rich work,
adorned both within and without with columns, double corridors, and
other ornaments, with the accompaniment of a most beautiful sacristy
all full of statues. But above all does the central tribune of that
place merit praise, the beauty of which, as has been related in the Life
of Bramante, was the reason that Bernardino da Trevio followed that
method in the Duomo of Milan, and gave his attention to architecture,
although his first and principal art was painting; having executed, as
has been related, in a cloister of the Monastery of S. Maria delle
Grazie, four scenes of the Passion in fresco, and some others in
chiaroscuro.
[Illustration: SALOME
(_After the panel by =Cesare da Sesto=. Vienna: Imperial Gallery, 91_)
_Bruckmann_]