Siena, who, having remarked him when a shepherd boy designing something
on a stone, augured favourably of his genius; and obtaining the consent
of his father, brought him to the city, and according to Gigli,
recommended him to Capanna as a scholar. He there employed himself in
copying the designs of eminent artists, and in imitating the pictures of
Pietro Perugino, whose manner he at first adopted; nor did he ever
wholly get rid of it; and his works in the cathedral of Pisa exhibit a
dryness, though they are the productions of his maturer years.[285]
Having gone to Rome in the pontificate of Julius II., a new scene was
opened to him in the specimens of ancient sculpture, of which he was a
most sedulous designer, and in the pictures in which Michelangiolo and
Raffaello had assayed their skill. After two years he returned home, and
there continuing his close attention to design, he found himself strong
enough to contend with Razzi; and, if we may credit Vasari, even to
surpass him. He had acquired skill in perspective, and was fertile in
invention as a painter. In Siena, Mecherino is ranked after Razzi; and
the many places where they vied with each other, facilitates the
comparison to those who are disposed to make it. At first he humoured
his placid disposition by painting in a sweet style; at that time he
made choice of beautiful airs for his heads; and very frequently
inserted the portrait of his mistress in his pictures. In this style is
his fine picture at the church of the Olivetines of S. Benedict; in
which he has represented the titular saint, with S. Jerome, and the
Virgin S. Catherine, and where he has added some circumstances of her
life in small figures. The last annotator on Vasari prefers this work to
many other pictures of Mecherino, and laments, that, captivated by the
energy of Bonarruoti, he had deviated from his original manner. And,
indeed, when he aspired to more vigour he frequently appears coarse in
his proportions, negligent in his extremities, and harsh in his heads.
This defect so increased in his old age that his heads of that period
appeared without beauty even to Vasari.
His mode of colouring is not the most true; for it was mannered with a
reddish hue, which is, however, fascinating and cheerful to the eye; it
is neat, clear, and of such a body that it remains on walls at this day,
in the highest preservation. A few of his works remain in Genoa, where
he painted the palace of Prince Doria; they are not numerous at Pisa;
but they abound in his native place, both in public and in private. His
merit was greater in distemper than in oil colouring; and his historical
frescos do him greater honour than his other paintings. His skill was
great in distributing them to suit the place, and in adapting them to
the architecture; he ornamented them with grotesque decorations in such
a manner that he required not the aid of gilt stucco, or other gaudy
trappings. These inventions have such felicity, that a single glance
recals the story to the memory of one acquainted with its circumstances.
He treats his subject copiously, with dignity, and with perfect nature:
he imparts grandeur to it by his architectural views, and elegance by
introducing the usages of antiquity. He peculiarly delighted in the more
recondite principles of the art, which were then less generally
employed; as peculiar reflections of fires and other lights; difficult
foreshortenings, especially as applied to ceilings, which were then very
rare in lower Italy. Vasari has minutely described his figure of
Justice; the feet of which are in dark shadow, gradually diminishing to
the shoulders, which are invested with a most brilliant celestial light:
"Nor is it possible," says he, "to imagine, much less to find, a more
beautiful figure ... amongst all that ever were painted to appear
foreshortened when viewed from below." According to this verdict,
Mecherino deserves the appellation of the Coreggio of lower Italy, in
this very difficult branch of painting; for no modern artist had
attempted so much before his time. The above mentioned figure is painted
on the vaulted ceiling of the consistory of the government; and the
artist has arranged below it various oval and square pictures, each
representing some memorable exploit of a republican hero. He pursued the
same idea in an apartment in the mansion now in possession of the Bindi
family, which P. della Valle reckons his masterpiece. The figures
resemble those in the _Logge_ of Raffaello: they are better coloured
than those in the consistory, and being smaller are, on that account,
better designed: for the style of Mecherino resembles a liquor which
retains its qualities when shut up in a phial, but evaporates and is
dissipated when poured into a larger vessel. This circumstance, however,
was common to many others: his peculiarity consists in what he
communicated to Vasari; that, "out of the atmosphere of Siena, he
imagined he could not paint successfully;" an effect, according to P.
Guglielmo, of the climate; which would be a happy secret for peopling it
with painters. Perhaps it is to be explained by the greater degree of
quiet and tranquillity that he enjoyed at home, in the society of his
friends, among a people ready to encourage him by praise, not to chill
him by reproach, and surrounded by all the spectacles and the lively
genius of his country; objects eagerly desired by the natives of Siena,
but not easily found in other places.
The style of Mecherino, now described, expired with him: for his pupil,
Giorgio da Siena, became a painter of grotesques, and imitated Gio. da
Udine, both in his own country and at Rome: Giannella, or Gio. da Siena,
turned his attention from painting to architecture; and Marco da Pino,
surnamed also da Siena, united a variety of styles. Baglione, and the
historians of Siena, say, that he was there educated by Beccafumi, and
Baldinucci adds, likewise by Peruzzi: P. della Valle, from his brilliant
colouring, denies him to them, and assigns him to Razzi. All, however,
are agreed that he obtained his knowledge principally from Rome, where
he first painted from the cartoons of Ricciarelli or of Perino; and if
we may credit Lomazzo, was also instructed by Bonarruoti. We cannot
readily find any Florentine capable of following the precepts of
Michelangiolo, without ostentation; but he acquired the principles
without the affectation of displaying his knowledge. His manner is
grand, select, and full of elegance: it is adduced by Lomazzo as a
perfect model for the human figure, and for the just distribution of the
light according to the distance of objects; a department of the art in
which he shares the glory with Vinci, Tintoretto, and Baroccio. He
painted little in Siena except a picture, with which I am not
acquainted, in the mansion of the Francesconi family; and few of his
works are to be seen at Rome, with the exception of a Pieta, in an altar
of Araceli, and some frescos in the church Del Gonfalone. Naples was his
field; and there he will again appear as a master and historian of that
school.
If conjecture were allowable in assigning masters to painters of the old
schools, I should be inclined to reckon Daniele di Volterra rather the
scholar of Mecherino, than of Razzi or Peruzzi. We know for certain that
he studied at Siena in early life, when those three artists kept an open
academy. Peruzzi was wholly a follower of Raffaello; Razzi disliked the
Florentine style; and Beccafumi alone aspired to be esteemed a faithful
imitator of Bonarruoti: by regarding him, therefore, as the master of
Daniele, we can best account for the already noticed predilection of the
latter for the style of Michelangiolo. No artist was capable of
initiating him better in the art of casting in bronze than Mecherino; or
afford him more frequent examples of that strong opposition of bright
and sombre colours that appears in some works of Daniele. Yet I will not
depart from the more correct rule which forbids us in such doubtful
points to depart readily from history: for each painter was always free
to choose his style; he might be directed in one path by his master, and
drawn a different way by his own genius, or by accidental circumstances.
Baldassare Peruzzi is one of the numerous individuals whose merit must
not be measured by their good fortune. Born in indigent circumstances in
the diocese of Volterra, but within the territory of Siena, and of a
Sienese father,[286] he was nurtured amid difficulties, and through life
was the perpetual sport of misfortune. Reckoned inferior to his rivals,
because he was as modest and timid as they were arrogant and impudent;
despoiled of his whole property in the sack of Rome; constrained to
exist on a mere pittance at Siena, at Bologna, or at Rome,[287] he died
when he began to be known, not without suspicion of being poisoned, and
with the affliction of leaving a wife and six children almost beggars.
His death demonstrated to the world better than his life the greatness
of his genius; and the justness of his epitaph, in which he is compared
to the ancients, is allowed by posterity. General consent ranks him
among the best architects of his age; and he would also have been
classed with the greatest painters, had he coloured as well as he
designed, and had always been equal to himself; a thing he could not
command during a life so chequered and wretched.
After Peruzzi had received the elements of the art in his native place
from an unknown master, he went to Rome for the completion of his
studies, in the time of Alexander VI. He knew, admired, and imitated
Raffaello (of whom some suppose him a pupil), especially his Holy
Families.[288] He approached him nearly in some works in fresco; such as
the Judgment of Paris in the castle of Belcaro, which is deemed his best
performance, and the celebrated Sybil foretelling the birth of Christ to
Augustus, in the Fonte Giusta, of Siena, which is admired as one of the
finest pictures in that city. He imparted to it such a divine
enthusiasm, that Raffaello himself never surpassed him in treating this
subject; nor Guido, nor Guercino, of whom so many Sybils are exhibited.
In great compositions, such as the Presentation in the Pace at
Rome,[289] he designs well, gives a faithful representation of the
passions, and embellishes the subject by appropriate edifices. His oil
paintings are very rare; those representing the Magi, which are shewn in
many collections at Florence, Parma, and Bologna, are copies from one of
his chiaroscuros, which was afterwards coloured by Girolamo da Trevigi,
as we are informed by Vasari. I was told at Bologna, that the picture of
Girolamo was lost at sea, and that the picture which the Rizzardi family
of that place possess, is a copy by Cesi. His small altar-pieces are
uncommonly scarce likewise: and I am unable to point out any of them but
one, which contains three half-length figures of the Virgin, the
Baptist, and S. Jerome, and is at Torre Babbiana, eighteen miles from
Siena.
What I have here related would have added to the glory of any other
artist; but is little to the merit of Baldassare. The genius of this man
was not limited to the production of excellent cabinet pictures and
frescos. I have already said he was an architect; or, as Lomazzo has
expressed it, a universal architect: and in this profession, the fruit
of his assiduous study of ancient edifices, he ranks among the foremost,
and is even preferred to Bramante. The encomiums bestowed on him by the
most celebrated writers on architecture are mentioned in the third
volume of the Sienese Letters.[290] No one, however, has done him
greater honour than his scholar Serlio, who declares in the introduction
to his fourth book, that, whatever merit his work possesses, is not due
to himself, but to Baldassare da Siena, of whose manuscripts he became
the heir, and the plagiarist, if we are to credit Giulio
Piccolomini,[291] and his other townsmen. The declaration above stated
absolves Serlio from this imputation, unless it is insisted that he
ought to have affixed the name of Baldassare to every anecdote that he
learnt or took from those manuscripts; a thing which it would be
unreasonable to demand. He has, indeed, frequently mentioned him, and
commended him for a sound taste, for facility, and elegance, both in
designing edifices, and in ornamenting them. To say the truth, his
peculiar merit lies in giving a pleasing effect to his works; and I have
not observed any idea of his which in some way does not exhibit the
stamp of a lively imagination. This character is apparent in the portico
of the Massimi at Rome, the great altar of the metropolitan church of
Siena, and the large gateway of the Sacrati palace at Ferrara, which is
so finely ornamented that it is named among the rarities of that city,
and, in its kind, even of Italy. But what chiefly establishes his
reputation as a man of excellent and various genius, is the Farnese
palace, which is "executed with such exquisite grace that it appears
created by enchantment, rather than built by human hands."[292]
He was eminently skilled in ornamenting facades; in painting so as to
represent real architecture, and basso-relievos of sacrifices,
Bacchanalian scenes, and battles, which "serve to maintain the buildings
sound and in good order, while they improve their appearance," according
to Serlio.[293] He left fine specimens of this art at Siena and in Rome,
where he was followed by Polidoro, who carried it to the summit of
perfection. Peruzzi practised it at the Farnese palace in those pictures
in green earth, with which he covered the outside, and still more in the
internal decorations. Not to mention F. Sebastiano, Raffaello himself
was employed in the same place: and in one apartment, finished without
assistance, the celebrated Galatea. Baldassare painted the ceiling and
the corbels with some fables of Perseus, and other heroes: the style is
light, spirited, and resembles that of Raffaello, but is unequal to that
of his model. Though inferior in figures he was not behind in some other
branches. His imitation of stucco ornaments appears so relieved that
even Titian was deceived by it, and found it necessary to change his
point of view before he could be convinced of his error. A similar
ocular deception is produced by the hall where a colonnade is
represented, the intercolumniations of which make it appear much larger
than it really is. This work induced Pietro Aretino to say, that the
palace "contained no picture more perfect in its kind."[294] And if the
scenes which he painted for the plays, represented in the Apostolical
palace for the amusement of Leo X. had survived to our days, the
perspective paintings of Peruzzi would have obtained greater fame than
the Calandra of Card. da Bibbiena; and it would have been said of him,
as of the ancient, that he discovered a new art, and brought it to
perfection. The observation of Vasari, Lomazzo, and other old writers,
that Peruzzi was not to be surpassed in perspective, has been recently
confirmed by Sig. Milizia in the Memoirs of Architects. In this art he
appears to me to have given the first and most classic examples. When I
have occasion hereafter to notice celebrated perspectives in Rome, in
Venice, or Bologna, we must recollect, that if others surpassed him in
the vastness of their works, they never did so in their perfection.
Maestro Riccio is praised in Siena as second to him in perspective, and
was his scholar for some time; but afterwards he imitated the figures of
his father-in-law.
The merit of Baldassare in grotesque is better seen at Siena than in
Rome. This sort of painting, always the offspring of a whimsical fancy,
was congenial to Mecherino and to Razzi; and both practised it with
success. The latter seemed born to conceive and to execute it with
unpremeditated facility; he painted in this style in the Vatican, and
obtained the approbation of Raffaello, who was unwilling to cancel his
grotesques as he did his historical compositions: he also executed some
at Monte Oliveto that are highly facetious, and may be called an image
of his own brain. Cristoforo Rustici and Giorgio da Siena obtained great
fame in this style; but none of them equalled Peruzzi. This artist,
graceful in all his works, was most elegant in grotesque; and amid the
freedom that a subject wholly capricious inspires, he preserved an art
which Lomazzo has studied, in order to comprehend its principles. He
employs every species of idea; satyrs, masks, children, animals,
monsters, edifices, trees, flowers, vases, candelabra, lamps, armour,
and thunderbolts; but in their arrangement, in the actions represented,
and in every other circumstance, he bridled his caprice by his judgment.
He distorts and connects those images with a surprising symmetry, and
adapts them as devices emblematic of the stories which they surround.
This man, living in the brightest period of modern art, is in short, one
of the individuals most interesting in its history. He had many pupils
in architecture, but few in painting: among the latter are a Francesco
Senese, and a Virgilio Romano, who are commended by Vasari for their
frescos, and to whom grotesques, of uncertain origin, are sometimes
attributed in Siena.
Somewhat later, but certainly before the complete revival of the art at
Siena, I am disposed to class a fresco painter, whom Baglione and Titi
call Matteo da Siena; but who is named Matteino in his native place,
that he may not be confounded with the Matteo of the fourteenth century.
He lived at Rome in the time of Niccolo Circignani, in whose pictures,
and in those of artists of the same class, he inserted perspectives and
landscapes. The efforts of his pencil may be seen at S. Stefano Rotondo,
in thirty-two historical pictures of martyrs painted by Circignani,
which have been engraved by Cavalieri. Many of his landscapes are in the
Vatican gallery, which are beautiful, although in the old style. At the
age of fifty-five he died at Rome, where he was established in the
pontificate of Sixtus V. These circumstances make it appear to me
unlikely, that he had painted in the Casino of Siena, about 1551, or in
the Lucarini palace, along with Rustichino: the first period I consider
too early, and the latter too late.
I shall now give some account of the chiaroscuros executed in mosaic,
which owe their perfection to the school of Siena, during the epoch of
which we are about to finish our account. I have already mentioned the
erection of the magnificent cathedral of Siena, a work of many years;
and may now add, that though it was grand in all its parts, nothing
shewed such originality, or was so generally admired as the pavement
around the great altar, all storied with subjects taken from the New
Testament, of which the figures were surrounded by appropriate
ornaments, which served to vary and divide the immense ground of the
painting. A succession of artists always labouring to improve this work,
carried it in a few years to an astonishing pitch of excellence. The
nature of the stone quarries in the Sienese territory, afforded also
facilities to the art which could not be so easily attained in other
places. It originated like other arts from small and rude beginnings.
Duccio commenced this ornamented pavement. The part which he executed is
constructed of stones, in which the limbs and contours of the figures
are scooped out: it is a dry but not ungraceful production of the
thirteenth century. The young woman in the choir who kneels with her
arms leaning on a cross, and, as an inscription informs us, implores the
mercy of the Lord, is the work of Duccio: it probably represents
Christian piety; and certainly both the attitude and the countenance are
expressive of what she asks. Those who continued the pavement
immediately after Duccio, are not so well known. We read of an Urbano da
Cortona, and an Antonio Federighi, who designed and executed the two
Sybils; the rest was in like manner the work of artists of little note.
They all, however, improved the art in some degree, cutting the figures
with the chisel, and filling up what was removed by the iron, with pitch
or some black composition; and this was a rude sort of chiaroscuro. To
them succeeded Matteo di Giovanni, who, from an attentive consideration
of what his predecessors had done, fell on a method of surpassing them.
He remarked a vein of the marble in the drapery of a figure of David,
which formed a very natural fold, and by the contrast of the colours
made the knee and leg appear in relief: in like manner he discovered in
a figure of Solomon a shade of colour in the marble, well suited to
produce effect. He then selected marbles of different colours; and
joining them after the manner of an inlaying with stained wood, produced
a work that was entitled to the name of a marble chiaroscuro. In this
manner he executed without assistance a Slaughter of the Innocents, a
composition which he frequently repeated, as we before remarked. He thus
opened the path for Beccafumi's histories, who wrought in a superior
style a large part of that pavement, which his exertions, says Vasari,
rendered "the most beautiful, the largest, and most magnificent that was
ever executed." This work employed his leisure hours till he attained to
old age; and though painting interrupted his labours, he did not abandon
it until his death, and hence, some of the historical compositions were
completed by other hands, as is supposed from his cartoons. He executed
the Sacrifice of Isaac, in figures as large as life; and Moses striking
the Rock, with a crowd of Hebrews rushing to catch the water, and slake
their thirst; besides several other subjects, which are described by
Vasari; and more minutely by Landi.[295] I shall subjoin a few
observations on the mechanism of the art. The first attempt of Beccafumi
was to compose a picture of inlaid wood, which was long preserved in the
studio of Vanni, and afterwards was in the possession of the Counts of
the Delci family. He represented the Conversion of S. Paul in this
piece, by employing wood of the colours only that were necessary to
produce a chiaroscuro. After this model he selected white marble for the
light parts of his figures, and the very purest for the catching lights;
grey marble for the middle tints, black for the shadows, and for the
darkest lines he sometimes employed a black stucco. He cut the pieces of
these marbles, which are all indigenous, and inlaid them so nicely that
the joinings are not easily discernible. This has induced some to
believe that white marble is alone employed in this pavement, and that
the middle tints and shadows are formed by certain very penetrating
colours, capable of softening the marble and of colouring it throughout.
We learn from a letter of Gallaccini, that this idea was adopted by some
natives of Siena, and it appears from another of Mariette, that this
great connoisseur was impressed with it, and gained over Bottari to his
opinion.[296] Inspection overturns this supposition, for we may discover
the seams between the different colours; and this circumstance induces
the author of the Sienese Letters and the best informed persons, to
disbelieve the artificial colouring of the marble. The truth is, the
secret of colouring marble was not then known, but was afterwards
discovered in Siena by Michelangiolo Vanni, who has transmitted the
memory of his invention to posterity.[297] He erected a monument for his
father, Cav. Francesco, with columns, ornaments, festoons, and figures
of children; accompanied by a genealogy of the family, which were all
designed on a white slab, and every part carefully and appropriately
coloured, so as to resemble mosaic of different marbles. It is supposed
that the colours were imparted to the marble by some mineral essences to
impregnate it, because they penetrated a considerable way. He entitles
himself the inventor of this art, in the monumental inscription. A
secret of this nature was known to Niccolo Tornioli, of Siena, about the
year 1640; and this artist is said to have painted a Veronica in that
manner, the marble of which he caused to be sawed, and the same picture
was found on each side of the section.[298] He was probably a scholar of
Vanni; and the latter seems anxious by the inscription that he should
not claim the honour of the invention. The connexion of the subject has
led me to notice these two artists in this place. Their true place is in
the third epoch of the Sienese school, to which I shall immediately
proceed.
[Footnote 275: Baldinucci, in his Life of Antonio Veneziano, contends
that this artist resided, during some time, at Siena; but the silence of
the city historians as to such a fact, leads us to doubt the truth of
his assertion.]
[Footnote 276: Vasari calls him "a pretty good master" in the Life of D.
Bartolommeo: from the note of Bottari on this passage we collect that he
flourished about 1500. Gigli makes him the master of Beccafumi.]
[Footnote 277: There is a Coronation of the Virgin by him at Fonte
Giusta, and a picture, representing various saints, at Carmine, dated
1512.]
[Footnote 278: See _Lett. Sanesi_, tom. iii. p. 320, where the
inscription of Signorelli on his pictures in the Petrucci palace is
quoted, and Vasari is corrected.]
[Footnote 279: He is thus named by Baldinucci; but Vasari, in his Life
of Razzi, mentions a Girolamo del Pacchia, a rival of Razzi himself; and
this person appears to be Pacchiarotto. He also mentions Giomo, or
Girolamo del Sodoma, who died young; and whom both Orlandi and Bottari
have confounded with Pacchiarotto; when we ought rather to believe that
he was a pupil of Razzi, and died while he was yet young.]
[Footnote 280: Mattaccio signifies a buffoon. Tr.]
[Footnote 281: In P. della Valle, in the Supplement to the life of
Razzi, See Vasari, edit. of Siena, p. 297. In the following page there
is a chronological error. He agrees with Baldinucci that Razzi was born
in 1479, and says that his picture of S. Francis was executed in 1490,
that is, when the artist was about eleven years of age.]
[Footnote 282: See also Perini, in his _Lettera su l' Archicenobio di
Monte Oliveto_, p. 49, where he defends Razzi from the charge of
indecorum made by Vasari, on a view of the grotesques and fancy subjects
which he painted in that place.]
[Footnote 283: Tom. iii. p. 243.]
[Footnote 284: I am in doubt as to his native place. The name of one
_Scalobrinus Pistoriensis_, a painter of merit, and belonging to the
same age, is found inscribed at the church of S. Francesco, without the
Tuscan gate, where he left seven specimens of altar-pieces. _Memorie per
le belle Arti_, tom. ii. p. 190.]
[Footnote 285: See Sig. da Morrona, tom. i. p. 116. Mecherino there
painted the Evangelists, and some historical pieces from the life of
Moses: Razzi executed in the same place a Descent from the Cross, and an
Abraham offering his Son, which are among his last, and not his best
works.]
[Footnote 286: The Sienese historians prove this in opposition to
Vasari, who makes him by descent a Florentine. See Lett. Sen. tom. iii.
p. 178.]
[Footnote 287: For his labours in the cathedral of Siena he had thirty
crowns a year; as the architect of S. Peter's, two hundred and fifty. He
derived little advantage from private commissions, for people generally
took advantage of his modesty, in either not paying him at all, or
rewarding him scantily.]
[Footnote 288: I saw one in the possession of Cav. Cavaceppi in Rome, of
which this great connoisseur used to say, that it might pass for a
Raffaello, if it had been as like in colouring as in every thing else.
The Sergardi family at Siena have another, and a Holy Family, by Razzi,
as its companion. These are reckoned among their first performances, and
are believed to have been painted in competition with each other. In
that of Peruzzi one recognizes, even at that time, that elegance of
design which he delighted afterwards to exhibit in his figures,
especially in the Chigi, now called the Farnese palace.]
[Footnote 289: It is a fresco, and, though retouched, surprises at once
by the novelty and expression of the figures. A. Caracci designed it for
one of his studies.]
[Footnote 290: Lett. vii.]
[Footnote 291: Siena Illustre.]
[Footnote 292: The expression in the original is: "condotto con quella
bella grazia che si vede-non murato, ma veramente nato." _Vasari._]
[Footnote 293: P. 191.]
[Footnote 294: Serlio, 1. c.]
[Footnote 295: _Lettere Senesi_, tom. iii. lett. 6. See also lett. 8.
page 223, where there are many observations on the design of Mecherino,
and on the execution committed to the Martini, brothers, and eminent
sculptors of that period. For the prints from their works by Andreani
and Gabuggiani, see the notes of Bottari on the life of Mecherino, p.
435.]
[Footnote 296: See Lett. Pittoriche, tom. i. p. 311, and tom. iv. p.
344. See also Notes on Vasari, tom. iv. p. 436. Ed. Fiorentin.]
[Footnote 297: He inscribed the monument, "Francisco Vannio ... Michael
Angelus ... novae hujus in petra pingendi artis inventor et Raphael ...
Filii parenti optimo m. p. a. 1656.]
[Footnote 298: See the note of Bottari on Gallaccini's letter. tom. i.
p. 308.]
SIENESE SCHOOL.
EPOCH III.
_The art having declined in Siena through the disasters of
the state, is revived by the labours of Salimbeni and his
sons._
We have related the progress and best works of the Sienese school from
the beginning, to about the middle of the sixteenth century; but we have
not yet considered a circumstance that adds greatly to the merit of the
artists and works of that period. If we search into the history of that
half century, we shall find that all Italy groaned under the pressure of
public calamities; but Siena, to a greater degree, and for a longer
period than any other place, endured an accumulation of the most
terrible evils. Famine, pestilence, and a suspension of commercial
intercourse, afflicted other states, but here they seem to have
exhausted their rage: civil commotions and external enemies agitated
other states, but here, during a period of many years, they allowed not
a moment of tranquillity. The republic of Siena, strong in the valour of
her citizens, was feeble in every thing besides; and hence it resembled
a gulph, where tempests are more frequent and more violent than on the
ocean. The usurpation of the Petrucci, the dissensions between the
nobles and the people, and jealousy of foreign powers, who sought her
subjugation, kept Siena in constant alarm, and often incited to arms and
to bloodshed. The remedy which they now expected in the protection of
the emperor, at another time from France, only served to aggravate
internal commotion and foreign aggression. Amid this perpetual
agitation, I know not whether most to admire the genius of the people,
ever directed to the decoration of their houses and public edifices, or
the spirit of the artists, who could summon all the powers of their
minds to such efforts: this I know, that similar instances are rare in
other countries. The year 1555 at length arrived, when Cosmo I. deprived
the Sienese of their long defended liberty. To any enemy but the
Florentines they would have submitted with less reluctance; and on this
account our astonishment is lessened on finding that, on this occasion,
two thirds of the inhabitants abandoned their native soil, refusing to
live subject to enemies so abhorred.
At this time, and in the disasters above alluded to, the city lost many
able artists, and also several families, from whom eminent artists were
descended, and whose Sienese origin is confirmed by history. Baglione
says of Camillo Mariani, that he was born at Vicenza, and that his
father was a native of Siena, who had expatriated himself on account of
the wars; and he praises the cabinet pictures of this artist, who died
at Rome with the reputation of an excellent sculptor. I likewise find at
Bologna an Agostino Marcucci, of Siena, who is wholly unknown in that
place, probably because he was the son of an emigrant. He was a disciple
of the Caracci, till a schism arose in that school, which we shall
notice in its proper place, when he ranged himself with the foremost
adherents of Facini, the leader of the party, and they had the boldness
to set up a new academy in opposition to that of the Caracci. He
continued to reside in Bologna, and to teach to the time of his death,
and is reckoned by Malvasia among "the first men" of that age. Of his
scholars Malvasia mentions only Ruggieri, and he only notices one of his
pictures at the Concezione;[299] to which several others, however, are
added in the New Guide.
Siena, in the mean time, began to breathe from her misfortunes, and to
be reconciled to the new government, which, through the prudence of
Cosmo, appeared rather a reformation in the old, than a new domination.
No long time elapsed before the void left in the city by the artists who
had emigrated was filled up by others. Rustico had remained there, as
well as his superior, Riccio, who painted the celebrated scene, already
noticed, on the coming of Cosmo. Siena also possessed Tozzo and Bigio,
whom Lancillotti reckons "among the most famous painters," I believe, in
small figures; and it is not easy to distinguish between those two
artists, who had an extraordinary similarity of style. Arcangiolo
Salimbeni, who is expressly said by Baldinucci to be a "scholar of
Federigo Zuccari," may have received the rudiments of the art from one
of them. Perhaps, as the historian goes on to say, during his residence
at Rome he might contract an intimate friendship with Zuccari; but the
style of Salimbeni discovers very opposite principles from those of that
master; and notwithstanding all researches, no one has succeeded in
finding pictures of his that bear indications of that school. He loved
precision more than fulness of design; and we may even observe in him an
attachment to the manner of Pietro Perugino, as was observed by Della
Valle with regard to a Crucifixion attended by six Saints, in the parish
church of Lusignano. In his other pictures at Siena, especially in the
S. Peter-Martyr, in possession of the Dominicans, he appears wholly
modern;[300] but diligent, and free from the defects which we often
observe in Federigo, who may be considered as a professed mannerist of
that period. It was the good fortune of the Sienese school, that Riccio
was succeeded by this artist, who, if he had not a lofty genius,
possessed, at least, the judgment to avoid the faults of his
contemporaries. Hence, amid the degeneracy of the neighbouring schools
this remained uncontaminated, or but slightly infected; and the new
disciples it sent forth contributed to the improvement of the art in
Italy. They were not so much attached to home as Mecherino; they painted
equally well beyond the territory of Siena; they visited very distant
cities, and in them all left specimens of their art, both in public and
in private, which are still preserved. After receiving the first
instruction from Salimbeni, or some less known artist, each chose his
own guide. We shall here proceed with their history.
After receiving the rudiments of the art at Siena, Pietro Sorri went to
Florence, under Passignano, and became his son-in-law, and the associate
of his labours in that place and in Venice. He emulated the style of
Passignano, which partook, as we have observed, of the Florentine and
the Venetian: he succeeded so well, that their works bear a perfect
resemblance, and are held in equal estimation. He painted less
expeditiously than his father-in-law; but his colouring was more
durable, and, if I mistake not, his design more graceful. The convent of
S. Sebastian, which was ornamented by a competition of the best Sienese
artists of this epoch, has one of his pictures, which are rather
uncommon in Siena; for his best years were spent in other places. He was
much at Florence: and afterwards visited many other Tuscan cities; and
there is scarcely any considerable place among them which cannot boast
the efforts of his easy and graceful pencil; but particularly Pisa, the
cathedral of which could not but attract such an artist. He there
represented the Consecration of that church on one large canvas, and, on
another, Christ disputing with the Doctors, which is inscribed with his
name: and never did he approach nearer to the excellence of Paul
Veronese in architecture and other accompaniments. He was employed in
the Carthusian monastery of Pavia, and also in Genoa, where we shall
find him as a preceptor in that school.
Casolani took his surname from Casole, the little town from which his
family removed to Siena. In the ducal gallery of Florence there is a
portrait of a lady with three men, in the same piece, which is said to
represent Lucrezia Piccolomini, with her three sons, Alessandro
Casolani, Francesco Vanni, and Ventura Salimbeni, whom she bore to
different husbands, in the course of a few years. This makes Alessandro
the stepson of Arcangiolo Salimbeni, and the uterine brother of Ventura
and of Vanni. I cannot find this story in any author, except in Niccolo
Pio, a Roman writer of no authority, whose manuscript, containing
notices of two hundred and fifty artists, which was drawn up about 1724,
is preserved in the Vatican library.[301] The old writers of Siena have
taken no notice of so remarkable an event, and we cannot, therefore,
give credit to Pio, a stranger, and a modern author. The relation then
in which Alessandro stands to Arcangiolo is that of scholar; but he
learnt more from Cav. Roncalli in Siena and in Rome. He remained long in
the latter city: he designed the finest works it contained, and obtained
some idea of different styles. This knowledge was increased by a journey
which he made some years afterwards to Pavia, where he painted in the
Carthusian monastery, and in other places. His manner is prodigiously
varied. It exhibits traces of the best style of Roncalli, a good design,
sobriety of composition, a modesty of colouring, and tranquil harmony.
He seems also to have aimed at originality, for he was continually
altering his style, mingling it with the graces of various artists, and
sometimes striking out into a novel path. He possessed promptness of
genius and of execution: he was quick in committing his ideas to the
canvas; and when dissatisfied with his work, he often chose to cancel
the whole, rather than to correct a part. Although unacquainted with
ideal beauty, he was esteemed by Guido, who may be considered as the
father of modern painters, and who said of him "this truly is a
painter." Whoever would see his best work, may examine the martyrdom of
S. Bartholomew, at the Carmine of Siena. It is a picture of considerable
size, with great variety in the figures and in the expression, and
altogether excites surprise. We are told that when Roncalli examined it,
he at length exclaimed, that the art of that period was comprised in
that picture. But the short life of Casolani prevented him attaining the
excellence which this specimen promised. His works are in various cities
of Tuscany, and also in Naples, Genoa, and Fermo, in the metropolitan
church of which there is a picture of S. Louis of France, that is
numbered among the choice paintings in that city.
A good many of his works in Siena shew traces of, and even whole figures
by other hands; having been finished by Vanni, and Ventura Salimbeni, or
by other artists, either of his own or of different schools. Ilario
Casolani, his son, by a daughter of Rustici, finished the Assumption for
the Church of S. Francis; and afterwards went to Rome, where he was
"noticed by Cav. Pomaranci, out of respect to his father," says Mancini,
as of a thing he knew, and adds, that Pomaranci had good hopes of him.
Baglione and Pio called him Cristoforo, a name he, perhaps, received
along with several others at baptism; and which probably the Sienese
artist thought more becoming at Rome than Ilario, since he is named
Cristoforo, by Roncalli. Under Pomaranci he became a proficient in his
style in fresco, and imitated it particularly at Madonna de' Monti, in
some pictures from the history of the Virgin, and in an Ascension on the
ceiling; the best work, perhaps, produced in the short course of his
life. Titi uniformly names him Cristoforo Consolano; but a consideration
of the anecdotes of Mancini and Baglione leads us to convert it into
Casolano. A Resurrection of Lazarus, begun by Alessandro for the church
of S. Francis, was finished by Vincenzio Rustici; who was probably his
scholar and his kinsman, and who is the least celebrated among this
family of painters. One of his pictures, intended for Santuccio, was
finished by Sebastiano Folli. The frescos of this artist are more
numerous at Siena than his oil pictures: the ornamental parts of them
are superior to his figures, in which he inclined to mannerism; his
compartments are beautiful, his architecture finely conducted, his
imitations of stucco deceive the eye, and he was expert in
foreshortening what was to be seen from below. In 1608 he painted the
frescos of S. Sebastian, in competition with various artists, and in
this trial of skill he only yields to Rutilio Manetti. In the Guide of
the Cav. Pecci I find mention made of designs of Casolani, executed in
fresco by Stefano Volpi, whose name not unfrequently occurs in that
work, and who was probably a scholar of that excellent artist.
Cav. Ventura, the son of A. Salimbeni, is reckoned the third scholar of
that master, though his lessons from Arcangiolo must have been but few.
The young man left his home early, and journeying through the cities of
Lombardy, he studied the works of Correggio and others, whose taste
began to be applauded in Tuscany. He went to Rome in the pontificate of
Sixtus V. and raised a very favourable opinion of his genius, which,
giving himself up to dissipation, he did not afterwards fulfil. In that
city he left many frescos that are praised by Baglione, among which, the
Abraham entertaining the Angels, in a chapel of the Gesu, appears, on
the whole, the work of a consummate painter. It has something lively and
graceful in the colouring and the countenances, which he always
retained: it also shews attention to design and chiaroscuro, which, in a
great measure, he afterwards neglected in his paintings. In conjunction
with Vanni he executed some ceilings, and, perhaps, derived advantage
from observing this painter, though his junior by eight years. In many
of his works he undoubtedly resembles him in his imitation of Baroccio,
and hardly yields to him in grace of contour, in expression, and in
delicacy and clearness of colouring. He is admired in the church of S.
Quirico, and in that of S. Domenick: in the one is his Appearance of the
Angel at the Sepulchre; in the other a Crucifixion, with various Saints
around, which are superior to the generality of his works. In several
other places in Siena there are others of great merit, especially where
he painted in the vicinity of the works of the best masters of his
school. He likewise executed some beautiful historical pieces when he
vied with Poccetti, in the cloister of the Servi at Florence, and in the
cathedral of Pisa, where he was surrounded by such great painters. His
Marriage of the Virgin, in the cathedral of Foligno, his S. Gregory, in
the church of S. Peter at Perugia, his works in Lucca, in Pavia, and in
various cities of Italy, justify the remark of Baglione, that Salimbeni
was impatient of remaining long in any one place. In Genoa, however, his
stay was not so short. The beautiful chamber in the Adorno palace, and
other works which he there executed, are still in existence, while many
others have perished. He went to Genoa at the same time with Agostino
Tassi, who served him for an ornamental and landscape painter, and,
perhaps, it was through him that Ottavio Ghissoni, of Siena, came to
that place; an artist, if I am not mistaken, forgotten in the annals of
his own country; in fresco he was more lively than correct. He studied
at Rome under Cherubino Alberti; but his country, his style, and the
time of his arrival at Genoa, afford ground to suspect that he had also
received the lessons of Salimbeni. Soprani gives Ventura the surname of
Bevilacqua, which is rather an addition to his name granted him by
Cardinal Bevilacqua when he knighted him in Perugia.
Cav. Francesco Vanni, in the opinion of many, is the best painter of
this school; and is reckoned one of the restorers of Italian painting in
the sixteenth century. The early instruction of his genius is to be
assigned with greater probability to his brother than to his
stepfather. At sixteen years of age he went to Rome, for the purpose of
designing after Raffaello and the best masters. He was for some time
under the tuition of Gio. de' Vecchi, whose style he introduced into his
native country. There are specimens of him in many churches, and it is
related that they were not relished by his fellow citizens; a
circumstance which might occasion him uneasiness at the time, but soon
after afforded him a lasting source of satisfaction. It induced him to
examine the pictures of Lombardy, as his brother had done: and having
remained in Parma to design some of them, he afterwards went to Bologna,
where he was assiduously occupied. Ugurgieri writes that he was at that
place in 1667, at which time he was twelve years old: this I believe to
be incorrect; for it was unknown to Mancini, who was acquainted with
Vanni. Malvasia repeats it on the authority of Ugurgieri; but he can
discover nothing further of Vanni, at Bologna, than his being there
after he had arrived at manhood, and designing in the academy of Facini
and Mirandola, to which he was probably introduced by his countryman
Marcucci. He left some works at Bologna, in the style of the Caracci, if
he is the painter of a Madonna, which was shewn me as a Vanni, in a
cabinet of the Zambeccari collection. His Flight into Egypt, painted for
the church of S. Quirico, in Siena, bears also undoubted marks of the
Bolognese school.
Although he attempted other styles, he was not like Casolani an adherent
to none. Vanni attached himself to the elegant and florid manner of
Barocci, in which he was eminently successful. Of this, the Humiliation
of Simon the Sorcerer, which he painted on a stone slab for the church
of S. Peter at Rome, affords a proof; a picture which, though recently
cleaned with little judgment, is still an object of admiration. Both the
design and colouring are in the manner of Barocci; and it is prepared
with a due regard to the humidity of that church; nor has it been found
necessary to remove it, as has happened to other pictures. He also
painted in Siena, and in other Italian cities, where he has approached
the manner of Barocci more closely than Viviani, or any other pupil of
that artist. His Marriage of S. Catherine, with a numerous group of
angels, at the Refugio, is much praised in Siena: as is the Madonna,
surrounded by saints, painted for the church of Monna Agnese; and the S.
Raymond walking on the Sea, in the possession of the Domenican Fathers,
which is supposed by some to be his best picture in Siena, where his
works are very numerous. Among the finest pictures in the cathedral of
Pisa, is the Dispute about the Sacrament, painted in emulation of his
brother Ventura, who had surpassed his usual style in the altar-piece of
the angels. At the Umilta of Pistoia, in the convent of the Camaldules
of Fabriano, and in that of the Capuchins of S. Quirico, are some of his
most exquisite works; and they are so numerous in other places, that I
do not imagine a full catalogue of them has ever been made out. He is
generally a follower of Barocci, as we have observed; and amateurs,
deceived principally by his colouring, and the heads of his boys, which
appear cast in the mould of Barocci, frequently confound the latter with
Vanni: but one, well acquainted with Federigo, observes in him more
grandeur of design, and greater freedom in the touches of the pencil.
The pictures which Vanni executed negligently, or at low prices (of
which there are several at Siena), can hardly be recognized as his.
By the example and lessons of Vanni, the honour of painting was long
supported at Siena. He taught many pupils, who did not, however, rigidly
adopt his style; but, as is usually the case, imitated the master most
recently in vogue, or, in other words, followed the fashion of the time.
We shall begin with his two sons, to whom he had given the names most
celebrated in the art. Michelangiolo, the eldest, we have mentioned with
applause, as the inventor of staining marble: but he did not attain much
celebrity except in this art. I know not whether he ever was out of
Siena, and there we find few of his paintings, except a S. Catherine in
the act of praying with the Redeemer, which was painted for the
Olivetine monks. Raffaele, the second, left an orphan at the age of
thirteen, was recommended to Antonio Caracci, and in that school,
according to Mancini, made such progress as even to surpass his father;
but this is not the opinion of posterity. All allow that he possessed
grandeur of design, and a fine taste in shadows and in colouring, with
some resemblance to Cortona, who, in his day, drew after him even his
contemporaries. The birth of the Virgin Mary, in the Pace at Rome, and
several of his other pictures, have no small portion of the ideas and
contrasts of the followers of Cortona. He lived long in Rome, and on
that account is frequently mentioned by Titi. Tuscany is not deficient
in his works. At the church of S. Catherine, at Pisa, there is a picture
of the titular Saint; Florence possesses the pictures of the Riccardi
saloon; and at the church of S. George, in Siena, is his Procession of
our Saviour to Calvary. These are esteemed among his finest productions;
and the last is characterized as his masterpiece. Both brothers had the
honour of knighthood; but it was more worthily bestowed on the second
than on the first.
Contemporary with the Cav. Raffaello, as well as his assistant at S.
Maria della Pace at Rome, and in several places at Siena, we find the
name of Bernardino Mei. I am unacquainted with that of his master; and
P. della Valle, who saw several of his works, sometimes compares him to
the Caracci, at others to Paul Veronese, and to Guercino, much as the
eclectic philosophers adopt or change the maxims of the different
schools. He commends him for the airs of his heads, and, as one of his
best productions, alludes to a fresco in the Casa Bandinelli, with an
Aurora in a ceiling, and with several other elegant figures and designs.
Francesco di Cristofano Rustici, called Rustichino, is better known in
Siena than those just mentioned. He obtained the name of Rustichino,
either because he was the last of a family that had produced three
painters before him, or because he died in the outset of life. This
circumstance, perhaps, has contributed to his reputation. All his
remaining works are beautiful, which seldom happens to artists who live
to a great age, and who abate in diligence as they advance in reputation
and in years. He is a graceful follower of Caravaggio; and particularly
excels in confined or candle lights, much in the style of Gherardo della
Notte; but he is perhaps more select. The Dying Magdalen, in possession
of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and the S. Sebastian, cured by S. Irene,
which belongs to Prince Borghese, in Rome, are in this style. But it was
not the only one in which Rustichino painted. He had visited Rome, and
had studied the works of the Caracci and of Guido, of which traces may
be discovered in several of his works; but, at the same time, all of
them possess a certain originality, and something peculiarly his own.
The best of all his pictures at Siena is an Annunciation, in Provenzano,
before which the Virgin, S. Catherine, prays, surrounded by a multitude
of angels. If Rustichino pleases in other works, in this he enchants us.
He began a work on the history of the city in the public palace, in
which his father, whose figures were not equal to his decorations, was
also employed, and it was finished by other artists.
Rutilio Manetti, or, as Pecci writes it, Mannetti, followed Caravaggio
with less discrimination, but with greater force in the shadows. His
pictures at Siena are easily recognized by invariably partaking of a
certain sombre hue, which deranges the due balance and participation of
light and shade. The same objection lies against many of his
contemporaries of every school. The method of purifying colours, and of
composing vehicles,[302] had degenerated; and the injury sustained from
this defect was not observed in the pictures: the artist only looked to
the grand effect, to which the age so much aspired. Manetti united an
improved design to ideas above the common order, and beautiful
architecture; and hence, at times, he approaches rather to Guercino than
to Caravaggio. In the cathedral of Siena is his Elijah under the juniper
tree, in which the historian of that church commends the force of the
colouring, which is juicy and natural. Many of his works remain in the
Carthusian monastery of Florence, and in several churches of Siena, the
most admired of which is the Repose of the Holy Family, in S. Peter's of
Castelvecchio. In private collections, where pictures are better
preserved than in churches, we find very beautiful Madonnas by this
artist; and there is a most exquisite Lucretia in the possession of the
Bandinelli family. He sometimes departed from his usual manner, as in
the Triumph of David, in the ducal gallery, in which the shadows are not
so dark, and the tone of the whole is more lively. Mention is made in
the _Lettere Pittoriche_,[303] of Bernardino Capitelli, a scholar of
Manetti, and an etcher: and in the third volume there is casual mention
of one Domenico Manetti, probably of the same family, but not to be
mistaken for the great individual of the same name. He appears rather to
have employed himself in ornamenting private collections, and painted a
Baptism of Constantine for the casa Magnoni, that has been much
commended.
Astolfo Petrazzi, as well as Vanni, was a pupil of the younger Salimbeni
and of Sorri; and seems, more than any other, to have adhered to the
manner of his master. He frequently aims at pleasing the eye, and not
unfrequently chooses his models from the schools of Upper Italy. A
Marriage-feast of Cana, by his hand, in a private house, brings Paolo
strongly to our recollection. His Communion of S. Jerome, in the
possession of the Augustine friars, partakes, perhaps, too strongly of
the manner of the Caracci. This picture, which he painted at Rome, was
much admired at Siena, and was the origin of his great employment in
that city, where his pictures are always decorated with most pleasing
choirs of angels. His cabinet pictures were also lively; witness the
four Seasons at Volte, a seat of the noble family of Chigi. He kept an
open academy for painting in his house, which was much frequented by
natives of Siena, and honoured by the attendance of Borgognone, who
stopt some months with Astolfo before he went to Rome. Hence, many of
this artist's early battle-pieces and landscapes are to be met with at
Siena: the house of Sig. Decano Giovanelli, a literary ornament of that
city, abounded with them.
I find some other painters of this school who are known beyond the state
of Siena. Antiveduto Grammatica, an eminent painter, of Sienese
extraction, was known at Rome, where he was president of the academy of
S. Luke. It is true that he was deprived of that office for attempting
to substitute one of his own copies for a S. Luke, by Raffaello, which
he had sold to a gentleman. He had a peculiar talent in the art of
copying, especially heads, and, on this account, he was a good
portrait painter. Although we are not certain that he had any master but
one Domenico Perugino, a painter of little wooden scenes,[304] he
obtained applause in large compositions. There is an Annunciation by
Grammatica of a most brilliant colouring, in the hospital of the
Incurables; and several of his other pictures, in different churches. He
died at Rome in 1626.
Two other artists, unknown in their native place, are made known to me
by their signatures. On a Last Supper, in the convent of the Angioli,
below Assisi, I discovered _Franciscus Antonius Senensis_, 1614, or
thereabouts. The style has enough of Baroccio to lead me to suspect that
he was the scholar of Vanni, or of Salimbeni: nor must he be reckoned
the meanest of that school, for he was master of expression in a degree
superior to mediocrity. The figure of the departing Judas is the image
of desperate resolve, and would be much better had he not given it the
feet of a bat; a grotesque conceit. In the same neighbourhood, at the
church of Foligno, I read, beneath a Holy Family, the name of
_Marcantonio Grecchi_, and the date 1634. The style is solid,
expressive, and correct; more resembling Tiarini di Bologna than any
master of Siena. Niccolo Tornioli, lately mentioned, painted in the
church of S. Paul, at Bologna, in various cities of Italy: in Siena he
left, perhaps, no picture in public but the Vocation of S. Matthew,
still remaining in the custom-house. Towards the close of the century,
painting was practised at Siena chiefly by foreigners. Annibale
Mazzuoli, a fresco painter of rapid execution but of little merit, was
most employed: he afterwards went to Rome, and is the last name inserted
in the Eulogies of Pio.
Painting, however, came again into repute at Siena, about 1700, when its
credit was restored by Cav. Giuseppe Nasini, a scholar of Ciro Ferri.
Nasini possessed the qualities for which I have commended many of his
nation, a fervid genius, a fertile imagination, and a poetic vein; but
his poetry was of the species that prevailed in Italy during his younger
days, a composition unrestrained by fixed rules. To this spirit we not
unfrequently discover some analogy in his paintings, in which we could
desire to find more order, a more choice design, and colouring less
vulgar. He always shews, however, a taste for allegory, great command of
pencil, and an imposing air on the whole; and the observation of Redi,
that "he stuns the beholder," is not without some foundation.[305] This
remark was made when Nasini had finished the cupola of the chapel of S.
Anthony, in the church of the Apostles at Rome; in which chapel there is
a picture by Luti. He afterwards entered into a competition with Luti,
and the first artists then in Rome, in the large prophets of the lateran
cathedral. His masterpiece is supposed to be the S. Leonard, in Madonna
del Pianto, at Foligno, the ceiling of which he painted with good
frescos. Siena contains some of his finest productions of every kind;
above all, the pictures of the Novissimi, intended for the Pitti palace,
but transferred from it to the church of the Conventuals of Siena. It
contains a great number of figures neither so select nor so well
arranged as to arrest the eye of the spectator; but he who would
contemptuously overlook it, let him say how many painters then in Italy
could have produced such a picture.
Giuseppe brought up two pupils in his house. He had a brother named
Antonio, who was a priest, whose likeness is among the eminent portrait
painters in the gallery at Florence. Cav. Apollonio Nasini, the son of
Giuseppe, was inferior to his father in the profession; yet assisted him
in his greatest works, and held an honourable rank among his
contemporaries. Gioseffo Pinacci, of Siena, a disciple of Mehus in
figures, and of Borgognone in battle-pieces, lived in the time of
Nasini. He was a good painter of portraits, and made a considerable
fortune, first at the court of Carpio, Viceroy of Naples, and afterwards
in the service of the grand duke Ferdinand, at Florence, where several
of his works remain. But his chief merit consisted in a knowledge of the
pencilling of the old masters. Nicolo Franchini distinguished himself
rather by restoring the work of other hands than by his own productions,
and thus furnished Pecci with much convenient information for his City
Guide; "by his skill," says the Cavaliere, "in restoring injured
specimens to their original beauty, without applying to them a fresh
pencil, and in supplying the faded colours with others taken from
paintings of less value, he entitled himself, in fact, to the praise of
a new discovery." We shall here conclude the school of Siena; and shall
add in its praise, that if it did not produce painters of the very
highest class, it at least boasts many artists, eminent when we consider
their era, and few inferior, or not above mediocrity.[306] It indeed
appears, that either a genius for painting is natural to that people, or
that none of them have embraced the art who were not capable of
prosecuting it successfully.
[Footnote 299: See Malvasia, tom. i. p. 571; and tom. ii. p. 355.]
[Footnote 300: It has his name and the year 1579, which date must be
false. The widow of Arcangiolo married again, and bore Francesco Vanni
in 1565. Consequently the latter could not be the scholar of Arcangiolo,
though such an idea is very prevalent; and he could give lessons only
for a short time to his son, Ventura, or to Sorri, and Casolani, if the
period of their birth is true.]
[Footnote 301: See letter 127 in vol. v. of _Lett. Pittor._, in which
there is a catalogue of those painters.]
[Footnote 302: The idea that the brilliant colouring of the Venetian
school was owing to the use of a peculiar vehicle for the colours, or a
certain varnish, has been long entertained by artists and connoisseurs;
and the opinion has been sanctioned by great names: yet it is highly
probable that the great secret of the Venetian painters consisted not in
vehicles nor in varnishes, but in employing mineral colours, and in
laying them on the canvas as little mixed as possible. No colour derived
from the vegetable kingdom will stand well when mixed with oil, and our
best colours are composed of metallic oxides, or earthy bodies highly
charged with those oxides. When colours are much mixed on the palette
they become invariably muddy, and to him who aims at brilliancy of
colouring no maxim is of greater consequence than _to keep his palette
as clean as possible_. The use of transparent colours in the shadows is
another great cause of brilliancy, and this cannot be obtained by the
use of mixed colours. It is produced by what is called glazing, or
laying transparent colours one over another. In nothing is the effect of
glazing, in giving transparency, more obvious, than in the astonishing
clearness of the skies and water in the works of the best Dutch artists.
That the magical effect of Kuyp's pictures is thus produced, I had an
opportunity of knowing, from the blunder of a picture-cleaner, who
thought he had made a great discovery when he found the _Rhine_ of a
deep blue in a picture by this master; from which, along with the
varnish, he had removed a thin coating of yellow, with which the blue
was glazed over, to produce the beautiful greenish hue of the water.
(_Note by_ Dr. Traile.)]
[Footnote 303: Tom. i.]
[Footnote 304: His name alone survives in Perugia; though it is believed
that one of his pictures remains in the church of S. Angelo Magno, at
Ascoli, where the figure of S. Giovanni is ascribed by Lazzeri, in his
_Ascoli in Prospettiva_, to one Giandomenico da Perugia, and the
landscape to Gio. Francesco da Bologna, that is to say, to Grimaldi. The
figure is in the Guercino taste, according to the opinion of Sig.
Orsini; but I cannot conceive how he or the Sig. Mariotti (p. 273)
should not have remarked that it must be the production of Giandomenico
Cerrini, of Perugia, contemporary with Grimaldi and Guercino, and not of
that Domenico, the painter of wooden scenes, who lived about an age
anterior to them.]
[Footnote 305: Lett. Pittoriche, tom. ii. p. 69.]
[Footnote 306: A few of the names that obtained least celebrity in Siena
are pointed out by P. M. della Valle in the third volume of the Lettere
Senesi, (p. 459,) among which are found Crescienzio Gamberelli
Nasinesco, Deifobo Burbarini, a poor artist, Aurelio Martelli, called Il
Mutolo, Gio. Batista Ramacciotti, a priest and connoisseur in painting;
and the same may be said of Bernardino Fungai, and of the noble Marcello
Loli, of Galgano Perpignano, with others of like merit, either omitted
or slightly mentioned by Sig. Pecci. P. della Valle excuses himself from
the task of treating of them in favor of happier writers, but as we do
not pretend to aspire to that felicity, we shall leave others to avail
themselves of the Father's liberality.]
END OF VOL. I.
J. M'Creery, Tooks Court,
Chancery-lane, London.
Transcriber's Notes:
Archaic punctuation and spelling of words, names, titles, and places,
were not changed.
Minor punctuation errors were corrected. Inconsistent hyphenation
was standardized.
Footnotes were moved to the end of each chapter.
A chapter heading was added to Florentine School, Epoch I, Section III,
for consistency with remaining chapters.
In the original, footnote 244 contains an oversized letter 'I' in the
word 'COPISQVE,' to represent a double 'I' of the word 'COPIISQVE.'
In the phrase 'signed _f_. 4 _s_', the figure '4' is rotated 180
degrees in the original text.
The following changes were made for consistency within the text.
'basso rilievos' and 'bassorilievos' to 'basso-relievos'
'mezzo-rilievo' and 'mezzorilievo' to 'mezzo-relievo'
'Pieta' to 'Pieta'
'Trinita' to 'Trinita'
'Winckelman' to 'Winckelmann'
'Zannetti' to 'Zanetti'
Other Changes:
Page reference for Epoch V in the Table of Contents corrected from 353
to 335.
'1720' to '1790' based on another copy of the book and the sequence of
events in the text.
...In the year 1790, Lanzi,...
'christian' to 'Christian'
...Lanzi was a good Christian,...
'Teofilos's' to 'Teofilo's'
...Teofilo's treatise is inserted...
'lamp blank' to 'lamp black'
...the ink (lamp black or printer's...
'Desart' to 'Desert'
...S. John in the Desert...
'croud' to 'crowd'
...and a crowd of devotees...
'cotemporaries' to 'contemporaries'
...and his contemporaries painted...
'Pysche' to 'Psyche'
...The features of Psyche have nothing...
'groupes' to 'groups'
...groups of boys...