_Men of Letters_--_School of Painting_
A love of letters and a regard for men of learning has ever been a
marked characteristic throughout the history of Verona, and stamped the
early and after days of her existence with a special and distinctive
note.
The first name on a long and honoured roll is that of Valerius Catullus,
who was born at Verona about B.C. 84. As all classical students know he
owned a villa at Sirmione, where the ruins of an old mansion are pointed
out as the abode of the “tenderest of Roman poets nineteen hundred years
ago”--the poet who might well be called the Heine of his age.
The province of Verona claims Cornelius Nepos as one of her sons, though
the actual town in which he was born has never been satisfactorily
determined. Cornelius Nepos was the contemporary and friend of Catullus,
who addressed some of his poems to him, and together they passed most of
their lives in Rome, where Cicero formed one of their circle.
Æmilius Macer, a well-known poet and philosopher, the friend of Virgil
and of Ovid, was also a Veronese. There is a work in verse “treating of
the virtues of herbs and of the qualities and instincts of reptiles and
birds,” by one Macer, but opinions are divided as to whether the author
hailed from Verona or was another writer of the same name.
During the Augustan age in which the above named
[Illustration: PALAZZO DEL CONSIGLIO. ARCHITECT FRA GIACONDO.]]
authors lived, Verona also claimed among her citizens the celebrated
architect Vitruvius Cerdone; a claim not always, nor very generally,
recognised. His statue however stands among those of her greatest men
outside the Palazzo del Consiglio, and perpetuates the fame of the man
who designed the once glorious Arco de’ Gavi, that arch which formed one
of Verona’s greatest monuments up till 1805, when it was wantonly taken
down. Other writers who were natives of Verona, or of the surrounding
province, were Pomponius Secundus (a writer of tragedies, and who, in
his capacity of Veronese consul at Rome, gave a great supper to the
Emperor Titus, when according to Pliny who was one of the guests, some
wine one hundred and sixty years old was drunk); Cassius or Catius
Severus; Pliny the Elder, the famous naturalist whose misplaced zeal led
him to meet with his death by too close and too curious an investigation
of the eruption of Vesuvius, A.D. 81. Pliny the younger, though born at
Como, may almost rank as a Veronese. His mother was the elder Pliny’s
sister, his uncle looked upon him and loved him as his own son, and much
of his time was spent at or near Verona.
Verona too was early endowed with a University, or as it was termed in
those days, a “Cathedral School.” The great impetus given by Charlemagne
to public instruction in Italy is one of the traits which redounds most
to his honour, and Verona which had always been considered as a spot
where learning had met with encouragement, was one of the first towns to
profit by the French monarch’s generosity. Indeed it is declared that
she has done more for Italy with regard to learning than ever Greece or
Athens did. This assertion can easily be believed when we read that only
nine years after Charlemagne’s death an Imperial decree ordained that a
public school or college should be founded there, a decree that was
endorsed by the Emperor Louis XI. in 824. A bull of Pope Benedict XI. in
1339 sanctions this “University,” or more properly, public school, and
confirms to it the right of conferring degrees in law, in medicine, and
in the arts.
A goodly list could be given of several other writers, many of them
bishops and men of saintly lives, whose erudition added to the fame of
Verona and spread her renown as a centre of learning into ever-widening
circles. Nor were minstrels and troubadours excluded from the list,
especially at the beginning of the twelfth century. We read of singers
known in the history of minstrelsy, such as Hugues de St Cyr, Pietro
Villems, and Sordello, all coming to Verona and finding a welcome there.
All names however pale before that of Dante Alighieri, who, though in no
sense a Veronese, found here a haven in his day of adversity and exile,
and whose acknowledgment of the hospitality accorded him is of
world-wide renown. The causes that brought Dante to Verona have been
much discussed. It may be that the strong Ghibelline feelings which
predominated in the city made the Florentine exile certain of being
understood there--at least as far as his political sentiments were
concerned. The renown too possessed by Verona as to the encouragement
given within her walls to learning and men of letters may have attracted
him. Or more probably still, the knowledge that at the court of the
Scaligers he would find not a welcome only, but also a home where his
talents would be recognised and appreciated, may have induced him to
come to Verona. This last hypothesis may to some extent be borne out by
the opening words of the “epistola” written by Dante to Cangrande della
Scala at the time he dedicated the _Paradiso_ to him. This letter,
whose authenticity has given rise to much discussion, but which in these
latter times is generally accepted as being his, begins by saying: “I
heard the praise of your celebrated magnificence; I came to Verona to
assure myself of the same. There I saw your magnanimous doings; I saw, I
experienced your benefactions; and while I had at first believed that
the fame of them was superior to the deeds, I became convinced that the
deeds were superior to the fame.”
Dante’s choice of Verona was a wise one; and he found there a reception
and a refuge that must have soothed to some extent the angry wounded
susceptibilities of that “spirito sdegnoso.”
The first of the princely house of della Scala to receive Dante was
Bartolomeo, who, though he is not mentioned by name by the poet, was
without doubt the “grand Lombard” spoken of by Dante’s ancestor
Cacciaguida in _Paradiso_, canto xvii. 70. For Bartolomeo and Cangrande
della Scala Dante has only words of praise; but some other members of
their family come in for the full force of the poet’s wrath, and he
speaks in scathing terms of Alberto and Alboino, the former the
predecessor, the latter the successor of Bartolomeo. Nor is he less
bitter against an illegitimate son of Alberto della Scala, whom his
father had made abbot of S. Zeno, and who exercised that office from
1291 to 1314. Speaking of this deformed priest he says,
“ ... in his whole body, sick
And worse in mind, and who was evil born”
( ... mal del corpo intero--E della mente peggio, e che mal nacque.
_Purg._ xviii. 124, etc.), and how his father “with one foot in the
grave” (con un piè dentro la fossa) had “put him in the place of the
true pastor” (ha posto in loco di suo pastor vero).
The reason of Dante’s dislike for Alboino, who he must have known
intimately, has never come to light. The man’s want of energy, his
indifference as to the Ghibelline cause, his inefficiency as a warrior,
may perhaps have aroused that contempt for him which Dante expresses
most openly in the _Convito_, iv. 16. Cangrande on the other hand calls
forth his admiration; and that Dante dedicated to him the last part of
the _Divine Comedy_ is proof enough of the esteem and affection in which
he held him. Another proof too is forthcoming in the fact adduced by
Boccaccio and Giovanni Querini that Dante was wont to send the cantos of
the _Paradiso_ as he wrote them, and before submitting them to any other
eye, to the lord of Verona. The poet recognises too the renown of
Cangrande’s deeds by putting into the mouth of Cacciaguida the prophecy
as to “how notable his works shall be” (che notabile fien l’opere sue);
words so concise and so forcible in their depth and truth that they are
introduced in the epitaph above Cangrande’s tomb in a Latin form.
“Little is known for certain of Dante’s actual residence in Verona,”
says Cipolla; though he quotes from Ampère’s _Voyage Dantesque_ to show
the favourable impression that the town made on this pilgrim not
generally prone to be satisfied, nor minded to refrain from a sharp and
unfriendly criticism. “Here at last is an Italian city of which Dante
has said nothing injurious. She owes this almost unique exception to the
hospitality which she offered him.”
Dante alludes several times to the town itself in his writings. He
speaks so graphically of the game of the Palio (_Inf._ xv. 121) as to
make one fancy he must have witnessed it in person. It has been said
that his idea of the “bolgie” of the _Inferno_ came to him from the
shape of the arena at Verona, and that standing on the summit of that
vast building he conceived the notion of creating his Hell on the same
lines as those presented before his eyes. Whether this is really so or
not cannot be definitely affirmed, but it is certain that no other poet
has mapped out an Inferno on the same lines as that of Dante, while the
form he has given it resembles very closely that of the amphitheatre of
Verona.
Other memories than those which spoke to him only of the town were also
present to Dante’s mind when he was writing his great poem. The country
in the heart of the valley of the Adige is depicted by him at the
opening of the twelfth canto of the _Inferno_; and the surroundings of
the Lake of Garda are spoken of equally in the _Inferno_ at canto XX.
64, etc.
It was at Verona that the remarks as to Dante’s powers of visiting the
Infernal regions first arose. As his “melancholy, pensive” form walked
silently through the streets and byeways of the city, the women of the
lower classes pointed him out one to another as “he who went to Hell and
returned when he listed, and brought news up above of those who were
there below.” It may be that such unsolicited fame would bring a smile
to the solemn, set features, and prove more acceptable than the applause
vouchsafed by Cangrande’s herd of courtiers.
Another distinguished poet came to Verona in 1348, and indeed visited
the town several times. This was no other than Petrarch; and it was on
the occasion of his first visit to his friend Guglielmo da Pastrengo
that he dreamed the dream which came only too true, of Laura’s death
(April 6). This does not seem however to have given him a distaste for
Verona, where he had many friends, and from where he wrote in ecstasies
of the beauty of the Lake of Garda and of the country around.
The wives of the lords of Verona, with but one exception, were not
given to literature or the arts. The only one who endeavoured in any way
to attract men of letters to her court was Samaritana, wife of Antonio
della Scala. This daughter of the house of da Polenta of Ravenna was in
reality too vain and frivolous to care for learning for its own sake.
She thought it would redound to her glory to collect round her men whose
studies or writings would add to the lustre of her name, and for this
cause it came to pass that late in the fourteenth century the court of
the Scaligers was again frequented by “litterati.” The most conspicuous
among them was Gidino da Somma Campagna, who dedicated a book entitled
_Trattato dei Ritmi Volgari_ to Antonio della Scala. The original
manuscript of the _Trattato_ is preserved in the Biblioteca Capitolare,
and the beautiful designs and scrolls that adorn the margins of its
pages are an example of the miniature drawing of the day, deserving both
of study and admiration. Besides Gidino da Somma Campagna, mention may
be made of Leonardo da Quinto, a learned jurisconsult, astrologer, and
man of letters. He was, as Guglielmo da Pastrengo had been before him,
an ardent bibliophile, and both men were possessed of libraries as fine
as any which existed in private houses at that time. When Antonio della
Scala was in straits for money in 1386, Leonardo da Quinto was one of
the two emissaries whom he sent to Venice to sell his jewels. Marzagaia
and Matteo da Orgiano can also be added to the above literary set; the
former was Antonio’s tutor; and the latter, really of Vicenza, was a
Humanist of high repute who became chancellor at the court of Verona.
The possession of a fine library in those days was by no means the
privilege of the few. Not only did many of the churches own libraries of
no mean order, but most of the private individuals of note in Verona had
collections that were at once numerous and costly. The noble houses of
Ottolini, Trevisani, Pelligrini, Pindemonte, Moscardo, Maffei, and
Muselli had all famous libraries, while English readers will be
interested to learn that the great Ashburnham collection had its origin
in Verona. This collection was begun by the Marchese Giovanni Saibante
of Verona, who devoted many years of arduous and loving devotion to the
formation of this unique library. In 1734 it contained 5189 volumes, and
1321 manuscripts, of which 102 were Greek and 70 were Hebrew. The larger
part of this collection was sold in Paris; from there it passed into the
Earl of Ashburnham’s hands, and in 1884 the Italian Government bought it
back for the sum of £23,000.
To set down here the names of the Veronese whose fame in connection with
letters has added to the glory of their native land would be beside the
mark. Suffice it for the present purpose to mention the
following:--Guarino dei Guarini, the student of Greek and of Greek
science; Girolamo Fracastoro, whose statue by Danese Cattaneo in the
Loggia of the Palazzo del Consiglio, set up only two years after his
death, shows how generally his talents were recognised as a poet, a
philosopher, and an astronomer; Fra Giocondo, whose fame as an architect
was widely spread through France and Italy, and was so great as to leave
but little room wherein to speak of him as a writer and a scientist;
Giovanni Antonio Panteo, an author of various works in Latin, and a
friend of all the learned men of his day; Torello Saraina, whose book
_De Origine et amplitudine Urbis Veronæ_, published in folio at Verona
in 1540, and printed in 1586, is one of the first histories of Verona
both as to date and merit; Onofrio Panvinio, a finished Latin scholar,
and an elegant writer on all the Roman remains in his native town;
Giulio Cesare Bordoni, surnamed Scaligero, as famous as a doctor as he
was as a writer and man of science, who is universally known by the name
which he added to his own, and which was taken for the purpose of
deluding those who knew no better that he was a descendant of the
Scaligers. He was without doubt one of the most learned and scientific
men of his age, and was honoured and welcomed in every country in which
he set foot.
This list must not draw to its close without including the name of
Scipione Maffei, whose work _Verona Illustrata_, in eight volumes, and
often consulted in the construction of these pages, is one of the most
trustworthy and complete histories of Verona as far as it goes. Other
writings by Maffei confirmed his celebrity, and his fellow-citizens gave
expression to his merits, and to the esteem and affection in which they
held him, when they set up, during his lifetime, his statue in the
Piazza de’ Signori, where it stands to this day close to the Volto
Barbaro. Among modern writers, or rather poets, mention must be made of
Girolamo Pompei, Ippolito Pindemonte, and Aleardo Aleardi, all poets of
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and all of them belonging to
patrician families of Verona. Pompei and Pindemonte were apt translators
of the great classic poets of Rome; while Aleardi’s muse was attuned to
songs of love and patriotism.
The rôle of notable writers and men of letters is by no means exhausted
in this list, which has no pretence to do more than give an idea of
Verona’s chief literary sons, and to raise her renown in the scholastic
world, as well as in that of art and history.
* * * * *
The school of painting in Verona dates from the reign of Cangrande.
There were it is true paintings and frescoes in the town prior to the
Scaligers, but they could not come under the classification of a
“school,” and are of too remote and uncertain a character to be placed
as pertaining to a given date. The patronage bestowed by Cangrande on
learning and letters was extended also to painting, and Vasari tells how
that “Giotto did some pictures for Messer Cane in his palace; and
specially the portrait of that lord.” That Giotto came to Verona at the
bidding of this greatest of the Scaligers is well known, as it is also
known that he worked there to a considerable extent. Nothing remains,
however, of his work in the “Big Dog’s” Palace; and only small and
generally “restored” examples are to be found in a few of the churches.
The influence of Giotto is felt though markedly in Verona, where the
strong impetus given to painting by Cangrande developed steadily under
the rule of his descendants. A German critic (Jules von Schlosser) has
indeed said that Verona at that period was the centre of pictorial art
in Northern Italy; and were all else wanting, the wonderful miniature
painting of that time testifies in itself to the truth of such a
statement.
The actual founder of the Veronese school was Altichiero, born about
1300, and of whom some frescoes are to be seen in the church of St
Anastasia, and in that of S. Fermo Maggiore, though on this latter point
there is some doubt. Together with Altichiero must be mentioned his
friend and contemporary Jacopo d’Avanzo, for they frequently worked
together, and their dual work on the same picture is not easy to
dissever. It cannot be denied that they were greatly inspired by Giotto
but, on the other hand, they were by no means blind followers or even
pupils of the Florentine master, for they maintained a character in all
ways distinct from him, and portrayed their art in fuller, deeper,
richer colouring. They were also superior as draughtsmen, conveying too
a greater sense of life and movement in their figures, and presenting
all through their work a strong and marked individuality. Both artists
can really be studied better at Padua than in their native city where
little exists that can give a true idea of their talent.
With them may also be mentioned Martini of Verona; who though inferior
to Altichiero and d’Avanzo, lived and worked at the same time, and
prepared the way for the far greater Vittor Pisano or Pisanello, who was
born at S. Vigilio near the Lake of Garda in 1380. The doubt as to who
was Pisanello’s master remains unsolved to the present day. Morelli
inclines to the opinion that he was a pupil of Altichiero--an opinion
not shared by Crowe and Cavalcaselle. He doubtless derived much from a
study of Altichiero’s work, and from drawing from the antique; but his
own personality is revealed in his paintings, and more still in his
medals and in his treatment of portraits where he represented his
sitters “en profile,” and obtained a striking and lasting success from
this style of portraiture--till then untried and absolutely original.
His skill as a medallist caused him to find patrons in almost every
court in Italy and to be welcomed at them all in turn. He worked too in
conjunction with Gentile da Fabriano in the Ducal Palace at Venice,
decorating and restoring that princely building, and imbibing probably
much of Gentile’s feeling for finish, colour, and brilliancy. “But it is
in Verona,” says Mr Selwyn Brinton,[37] “that the best of his work in
fresco remains--damaged, almost ruined, but attesting to his vigorous
art, to his wonderful grasp of animal life.” This latter trait is very
marked in Pisanello, and shows that his love of animals, his study of
them, as well as of nature
[Illustration: MADONNA AND CHILD, VITTOR PISANELLO, MUSEO CIVICO]
in every possible form, was deep and true. He introduces some phase of
animal life into most of his pictures, and in the care and finish
bestowed on every bird or beast that he sets before us, we feel we have
to do with an artist who loves and understands his subject.
Pisanello is perhaps even more famous as a medallist than as a painter,
and speaking of his medallions, the author quoted above says: “They are
a gallery of contemporary portraits, priceless to the student of
Renaissance history. Leonello d’Este (who was his special friend and
patron), lord of Ferrara, with his strong, ugly face; Cecilia Gonzaga,
the delicate, refined head poised on the long swan-like neck; Inigo
d’Avalos, Marquis of Pescara; Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, the lord of
Rimini, the cultured tyrant, the lover of the fair Isotta degli Atti
...; Filippo Maria Visconti, so conscious of his appearance that he
lived hid in secret chambers, the last of the Visconti tyrants, his
brocaded cap pressed down on the coarse, heavy face; Alfonso of Aragon,
the patron of the Humanists; Gian Francesco Gonzaga, the Marquis of
Mantua; Johannes Palæologus, with pointed beard and strange Eastern head
attire--all these move before us; names of which Italian history is
full, and show in the living bronzes their very life and character. And,
lastly, the artist himself, a strong, good-tempered, square-set face,
clean shaved and cap on head, his broidered jacket just showing; he is
proud of his position as painter, and inscribes almost every
medal--‘Opus Pisani Pictoris.’ ”[38]
Pisanello was followed by pupils, who though never attaining to their
master’s height, were good painters, and have left some beautiful and
valuable work in the churches and gallery of Verona. The chief of these
were Stefano da Zevio (born 1393); Giovanni Oriolo; Giovanni Badile;
Girolamo, and Francesco Benaglio. In these painters the feeling for
religious art as interpreted from the Veronese point of view was
maturing ever more and more till it reached its consummation in the
works of Francesco Morone; Girolamo dai Libri; Paolo Morando or
Cavazzola; Liberale da Verona; and in those of Liberale’s great pupils:
Francesco Bonsignori; Gian Francesco Caroto; Francesco Torbido; and
Domenico del Riccio, or Brusasorci.
Francesco Morone, the son of Domenico Morone, surnamed Pelacani
(dogskinner) himself a painter of considerable merit, was born at Verona
in 1473. His work bears the impress of deep religious feeling, rendered
always with marvellous sweetness and refinement, and set in tones of
fine rich colouring. His frescoes in the Sacristy of Sta. Maria in
Organo are declared by Vasari to be among the most beautiful in Italy.
In the same church stands his famous Madonna and Child, with S.
Augustine and S. Martin below; a very beautiful composition, with its
graceful details of canopy flowers and angels. Morone, who died at
Verona in 1529, is best studied in his native town, though examples of
his work are to be found in the Brera at Milan, and in the National
Gallery in London.
Girolamo dai Libri, born at Verona in 1474, was a friend of Morone and a
fellow-worker with him at Sta. Maria in Organo. He was brought up, as
his father had been before him and as his son was after him, as a
miniaturist. This art followed by three generations gave its name to the
family, and this surname “of the books” might well be assumed by those
whose work had lain so constantly among them. Girolamo’s pictures often
abound with fruits, flowers, festoons, and backgrounds with
architectural details, while through
[Illustration: MADONNA, SS. ZENO AND LORENZO GUISTINIANI, GIROLAMO DAI
LIBRI
CHURCH OF ST GEORGE IN BRAIDA]
them all runs the soft rich colouring peculiar to the Veronese school
and which was inspired largely by the great miniature painters who
helped to form that school. The faces in his pictures breathe a spirit
of glad yet sober serenity, and the finished detail of trellis-work,
lemon trees heavy with their golden fruit, and blossoming flowers which
often surround the Madonna and Child bear witness to the training and
taste of a skilled miniaturist. Many of his miniatures are in the
Picture Gallery of Verona, where there are besides several of his
pictures, others being in the churches of that town, others in London,
in Berlin, and at Hamilton Palace in Scotland. Girolamo dai Libri died
in 1556.
Liberale da Verona, born in Verona in 1451, was like Girolamo dai Libri
educated as a miniaturist. Endowed perhaps with greater power than
Girolamo he does not always possess such poetic feeling, nor is his
colouring so harmonious and pleasant. His manner however underwent a
marked change when he came under the influence of Andrea Mantegna. A
broader and more forcible tone of feeling then makes itself apparent,
and though intense finish and detail are still evident they are
subservient to the subject represented in the picture, and in no way
detract from the grand lines and colours that now employ his brush. The
greater number of his paintings are to be found at Verona; but there is
a grand S. Sebastian--perhaps his masterpiece--in the Brera, and other
works by him in London, in several towns in Germany, and at Vienna.
Liberale had also the merit of forming a goodly array of followers or
pupils, whose talents carried on to all time the fame and honour of
their master.
Before enlarging on them however it would be well to pause for a moment
to speak of Paolo Morando, better known as Cavazzola, who was absolutely
distinct from Liberale and Girolamo dai Libri, though living and
working at the same time and in the same city. He was born at Verona in
1486, and died when only thirty-six years old. His early death cut short
a career of great promise, for Cavazzola had little in common with the
simple grave manner of the early Veronese masters, he moved along lines
of his own creating, and showed as Burckhardt says in speaking of him a
“transition from the realism of the fifteenth century to the noble free
character of the sixteenth.” As a colourist Cavazzola is cold and hard;
and though his tints are glowing as to brilliancy there is little in
them that delights the eye or excites pathos or devotion. His drawing
though is vigorous, his touch free, untrammelled and broad, with a power
and grasp of treatment that caused his contemporaries to speak of him as
the Veronese Raphael. Very fine are a series of his pictures, five in
number, which treat of the Passion of our Lord in the gallery at Verona.
There is in them a serious conception as to composition and vigour in
the technique that cause one to realise a master’s thought and
execution, and to feel what possibilities lay within his grasp when
death cut short his career. Nearly all Cavazzola’s work is in Verona,
though the National Gallery possesses two examples, and one is to be
found at Dresden.
To return to Liberale’s pupils, Francesco Bonsignori, also called
Francesco da Verona, is one of the first, being born at Verona in 1455.
His early education, begun in his native town, was continued at Mantua,
where he was patronised by the Gonzaghi, and where Mantegna’s influence
developed his style considerably. He is chiefly known as a portrait
painter, a fact that impressed Cosmo Monkhouse, who, ignoring or
forgetting Torbido’s work in the same direction, speaks thus of
Bonsignori: “At Verona, alone almost of all the cities of Italy, there
seems to have been little demand for portraits. It produced no portrait
painter of eminence, and though the fact does not prove much, it may be
noted that the only fine portrait by a Veronese in the National Gallery
(that by Bonsignori), is of a Venetian Senator.”
Most of his work is at Verona, though some is in Florence, some at
Milan, and as already stated one fine portrait is in London. Crowe and
Cavalcaselle’s criticism on Bonsignori is as follows: “We are reminded
of Masaccio by the breadth of the modelling, of Ghirlandajo by the
precision of form, of Mantegna there is no trace.” This judgment,
slightly modified at the close, is endorsed by Morelli who says: “Let
anyone study the signed work of Bonsignori (in the churches of S. Fermo,
S. Bernardino, S. Paolo and the Municipal Gallery of Verona), and I have
no doubt that every connoisseur will see therein the influence of Gian
Bellini, and of Alvise Vivarini, but certainly not of Mantegna. Later,
no doubt, when at Mantua, Bonsignori learned a good deal from his great
colleague.” Bonsignori died at Mantua in 1519.
Gian Francesco Caroto, another of Liberale’s pupils though influenced
besides by Fr. Morone and Mantegna, was born in 1470. He is a delightful
and graceful painter, recalling Luini at times; and Morelli speaking of
his early works (cir. 1500) writes thus: “The student of the early works
of Caroto in the galleries of Modena, of Maldura at Padua, and at
Frankfort, will admit that these small Madonnas of his in drawing and
modelling recall quite as much his master Liberale as Mantegna.”
Caroto is a forcible and striking master; his colouring is warm and soft
and harmonious, his drawing powerful. To show in what category his
pictures were ranked it is enough to relate how the fine Madonna and
Child with angels carrying large lilies, by him at Dresden was received
at that gallery with a forged signature of Leonardo. It passed as such
for years, though Morelli first, and now the director of the gallery
have restored it to Caroto. Selwyn Brinton considers this picture to be
“one of the loveliest paintings which all Italian art has bequeathed to
us.”[39]
Some traces of his fresco painting may yet be seen on the exterior of
several Veronese palaces, especially in the neighbourhood of St Thomas
of Canterbury, but much of that style of decoration--in which Liberale
and Morone also delighted--has perished beneath the ravages of time. In
common with the majority of his colleagues, the greater part of Caroto’s
paintings exist at Verona (his masterpiece there being at S. Fermo),
while Modena, Padua, Frankfort, Dresden and London all possess examples
of his skill. Gian Francesco had a brother Giovanni Caroto, who was not
only a painter but also an engraver. He is though very inferior to his
brother.
Francesco Torbido, surnamed Il Moro, is no whit inferior to Liberale’s
other pupils. Vasari has it that Torbido went first to Venice to study
under Giorgione, but that master and pupil did not get on together. From
words they came to blows, and Torbido left Venice, and at the same time
abandoned his art. He withdrew to Verona, where Liberale not only
persuaded him to resume his brush, but he taught him, loved him, and
finally made him his heir. His time in Venice had not however been
fruitless. Torbido combines a Giorgionesque feeling in his paintings
that has sometimes led his work to be ascribed to the great master
himself. He maintains at the same time the Veronese manner which he
knows how to blend in a most effective way with the Venetian, or as
Crowe and Cavalcaselle expresses it, “the double character of Venetian
art engrafted on the Veronese.” The much discussed portrait in the
Uffizi Gallery at Florence, called alternately a “Knight of Malta,” and
“Gattamelata and his Esquire,” and assigned generally to Giorgione, is
pronounced by the art-critics cited above as the unmistakable work of
Torbido. These same critics say: “This is the unmistakable work of
Torbido, illustrated by his strong and unmannered outline, effective
enough in chiaroscuro, but sharp in contrast of tints ... wanting the
power and modulation of the Venetian.” That this portrait hails from
Verona there can be little doubt, for besides Torbido, it has sometimes
been put down to Caroto, while Morelli assigns it to another and less
famous pupil of Liberale, Michele da Verona. Morelli though states that
Torbido has not received his lawful meed of praise from Vasari and later
writers, and speaks of him as “a personality that deserves to be more
closely studied.” He recognises how Torbido was influenced by Giorgione
and the elder Bonifazio, but adds, that in spite of all “he remained
faithful to his first master, Liberale.”
The last of Liberale’s greater pupils is Domenico del Riccio, whose
quaint surname of Brusasorci (burner of rats) has so far met with no
explanation. This artist’s love of rich glowing colour, of pageants, of
gorgeous robes and draperies was ever leading the way--soon to be
followed by Paolo Veronese--to the fusion of the art of Verona into that
of Venice. His paintings are nearly all at Verona, where the most
celebrated is the great fresco in the Palazzo Ridolfi, which has for its
subject the meeting of the Emperor Charles V. with Pope Clement VII. at
Bologna in 1530. Lanzi, speaking of this painting, says: “One could not
see a finer sight.... A great mass of people, effective grouping of
figures, animated faces, beautiful movements of men and of horses,
variety of raiment, pomp, splendour, dignity, and the joyousness
befitting the occasion.”
A drawing that Morelli considers to have been the preparatory sketch for
this fresco is in red chalk in the Dresden Gallery, and with regard to
it he remarks: “Before this drawing one easily discovers how many things
Paolo Veronese may have learned from his elder countryman.”
Domenico had a son, Felice Brusasorci, of whom several paintings exist
in the churches of Verona, and some are also in Milan and at the Louvre;
but he is inferior to his father who was at the same time his master.
A short account must be given of a few of Liberale’s lesser pupils, who
while far from equalling those already mentioned yet deserve to be
included among the painters of the Veronese school. One of these is
Giovanni Maria Falconetto, whose love of architecture is apparent in
nearly all his pictures, for he introduces buildings wherever it is
possible to do so, bestowing ever much care on this evident labour of
love. He lived to a good old age, and as years drew on he renounced
painting and became an architect.
Niccolŏ and Paolo Giolfino, who were brothers were also Liberale’s
pupils. They were friends of Mantegna who lodged with Niccolŏ (the
elder brother and the better painter) when he came to Verona, and
decorated the exterior of the house (close to the Porta de’ Borsari)
with frescoes, few of which have withstood the ravages of time.
Paolo Farinato and Antonio Badile, though influenced by Liberale were
not under his tutelage, but they belonged to the great school which he
founded, and they helped to the best of their ability to carry it on
worthily. Farinato can generally be recognised by the snail which he
introduces into his pictures, and which he would seem to adopt as his
badge. Badile’s glory lies almost exclusively in having been the uncle
and master of Paolo Cagliari, surnamed “Il Veronese.” This great genius
belongs so absolutely to Venice, where he lived and worked and where all
his masterpieces are to be found, that he cannot be included in the
Veronese school of painting. His surname though reminds everyone that
Verona gave him birth, and that he himself was proud to own his sonship,
and to subscribe himself to all time as “Paul of Verona.”
Speaking of the Veronese school Layard says of it: “No school in Italy,
except the Florentine, shows so regular and uninterrupted a development,
and none is consequently more deserving of the attention of the student
who seeks in art a phase of the human intellect, influenced by local and
special circumstances. Nowhere can this school be better studied and
understood than in the public gallery and churches of Verona.”[40]
[Illustration: THE ARMS OF VERONA]