Carpaccio, either a Venetian or a native of Capo d'Istria,[30] and along
with these he was selected to ornament the ducal palace. It was
destroyed by fire in 1576, when that noble collection of ancient
historic pieces perished, though subsequently restored by the most
celebrated artists of later times. Yet there still remains a specimen of
Vittore's style in the Oratory of Santa Ursula, sufficient to entitle
him to rank among the best artists of the age. It consists of eight
histories drawn from the acts of that saint, and of her eleven thousand
companions, which were all about that time very generally admitted to be
true. The production is not wanting in power of conception, developing
numerous and novel combinations, nor in the order of their distribution;
in richness of ideas, both in varying the features and costume, nor in
architectural skill and landscape, serving to adorn them. Still more
remarkable is its expression of nature and simplicity; an expression
which so frequently invited Zanetti himself to a renewed contemplation
of it. He there remarked the various passions of the people, who
appeared to understand every thing passing; and, in their earnest
attention, expressed sentiments in unison with the representation;
whence he concludes his description by saying that Carpaccio felt the
truth in his very heart.
He produced still nobler specimens of his genius in the college of San
Girolamo, which rivalled those of Giovanni Bellini, without, in this
instance, yielding to them. His character, which might frequently be
confounded with that of Gentile, shines most conspicuous, perhaps, in
his altarpieces, where he is original in almost every composition. The
most celebrated in Venice is one of the Purification at San Giobbe, in
which, however, the S. Vecchio Simeone is represented in a pontifical
dress, between two servants arrayed like cardinals. If we except this
error, in point of costume, and add a little more warmth of colours to
the flesh, more delicacy of contour, the piece would not discredit the
first artist of any times. Owing to the fault of his early education,
however, these qualities he never attained. This, also, happened to
Lazzaro Sebastiani, his disciple and follower; to Giovanni Mansueti, to
Marco, and to Pietro Veglia, as well as to Francesco Rizzo, of San
Croce, a territory in the district of Bergamo;[31] artists who, however
nearly they touched upon the golden period, did not succeed in freeing
themselves from the influence of the old and uniform taste, and for this
reason are often confounded with each other. I do not here treat of the
paintings left by them at Venice, as they have so frequently been
described elsewhere. It will be enough to inform the reader that in
these, also, we discover several noble traces of the style of Gentile
and Carpaccio, more especially in the architecture, and that their
colouring, which, in this school, is considered cold and languid, would
be termed, in several of the others, both soft and animated enough for
that period. The one who, if I mistake not, approaches nearer to the
modern, and in some degree towards the style of Giorgione, is Benedetto
Diana, as well in his altarpiece of Santa Lucia, at the SS. Apostoli, as
in the Limosina de' Confratelli di San Giovanni, painted at their
college in competition with the Bellini.
We next come to Marco Basaiti, sprung from a Greek family in the Friuli,
and a rival also of Giovanni; but more successful than Carpaccio. The
church of San Giobbe, here mentioned for the third time, possesses his
picture of Christ praying in the Garden, painted in 1510. It is now a
little defaced, but has been highly extolled by Ridolfi and others, who
beheld it in a more perfect condition. Above all his productions,
however, the Vocation of San Pietro to the Apostleship, in the church of
the Certosa, is the most celebrated; a piece, of which there is seen a
duplicate in the imperial gallery at Vienna. It is certainly one of the
most beautiful pictures of that age; and most generally there is no kind
of merit in Gian Bellini, in which Basaiti does not either equal, or
very closely approach him. Indeed he appears to exhibit even a freer
genius, a more happy composition, and a more skilful art in uniting the
grounds of his pictures with the figures. These are beautiful, and for
the most part incline to the free style; their look is full of fire; the
tints of the fleshy parts of a rosy glow; the middle tints inclining
sometimes to paleness, but not without grace. Though not a native, he
resided a long period at Venice, which contains a good number of his
works, a few of which are in the ancient taste, but the most part
bordering upon the modern. His native place of Friuli possesses no other
specimen besides a Christ taken from the Cross, in the monastery of
Sesto, consisting of large figures, with a fine group in the background
of the picture, and with a landscape full of nature. In several parts it
is defaced by age; but a true connoisseur will still, perhaps, prefer it
to the others, for being free from the retouches of modern art.
Among the pupils of Gian Bellini, who were very numerous, are some who
ought to be referred to another epoch, like Giorgione, and to different
schools, like Rondinello of Ravenna; several, however, take their place
here, who, in the opinion of their national contemporaries, did not
fully attain to the possession of the new style. The family of the heads
of the school, produced also a Bellin Bellini, who being educated in
that academy, very happily imitated its manner. He painted Madonnas for
private individuals, which, their author being little known, are for the
most part attributed to Gentile, or to Giovanni. The artist who is
mentioned by Vasari as the pupil of Giovanni, named Girolamo Mocetto,
was one of the earliest and least polished among his disciples. He did
not reach the sixteenth century; and left behind him some engravings
upon copper, now become extremely rare; besides small pictures, one of
which, subscribed with the author's name, in 1484, is in the possession
of the before mentioned house of Corer. The Veronese, who are in
possession of his portrait, amongst those of the painters of their town,
in the Scuola del Nudo, can also boast one of his altarpieces, bearing
the name and date of 1493, in their church of S. Nazario e Celso. Such
information I obtained from Signor Saverio dalla Rosa, a Veronese
painter of merit. Another less distinguished, and somewhat stiff scholar
or imitator of Bellini, has affixed his name in several places, at the
foot of sacred figures, as follows: "_Marcus Martialis Venetus_;" and in
a _Purificazione_, existing in the Conservatory of the Penitents, we
meet with the year 1488. And from a _Supper of Emmaus_, belonging to the
family of the Contarini, with the painter's name, we learn that in the
year 1506 he was still alive.
An artist of a better taste appeared in Vincenzio Catena, a wealthy
citizen, who obtained a good deal of celebrity by his portraits and
pictures for private rooms. His masterpiece consists of a Holy family,
in the style of Giorgione, ornamenting the noble Pesaro gallery; and if
he had produced nothing more than this, he would no longer be included
in the present epoch; but his other pieces, exhibiting more traces of
the old style, which remain at San Maurizio, at San Simeone Grande, at
the Carita, and elsewhere, authorise our enumeration of them here. They
are beautiful; but not sufficiently in the modern taste. His reputation,
however, while living, was so great, that in a letter written by Marc
Antonio Michiel from Rome, to Antonio di Marsilio in Venice, dated 11th
of April, 1520, when Raffaello was just deceased and Buonarotti infirm,
it is recommended to Catena to be upon his guard, "since danger seems to
be impending over all very excellent painters."[32] One Giannetto
Cordegliaghi enjoyed also a high reputation, if he be rightly named by
Vasari, who commends him for his soft and delicate manner, superior to
many of his contemporaries; adding, that he had produced an infinite
number of pictures for private persons. In Venice he is termed, I
suppose for the sake of brevity, Cordella; and to him is attributed the
beautiful portrait of the Cardinal Bessarione in the college of La
Carita, with a few other specimens, the rest having dropt into oblivion.
Probably his real name was double, _Cordella Aghi_. It is certain that
Zanetti read, upon a beautiful Madonna, belonging to the learned Zeno,
_Andreas Cordelle Agi, F._ This last is of the same family as Giannetto;
or perhaps also in place of Giannetto, Vasari ought to have written
Andrea; as instead of Jacopo he ought to have said Francesco Squarcione.
Nor can it be denied, that if we except the artists of Verona and
Friuli, this historian was deficient in information, as he himself
declares, relating to the Venetian School. It is sufficient to turn to
his proemium of the life of Carpaccio, in order to observe how many
times, in a very few lines, he is guilty of making mistakes. Of Lazzaro
Sebastiani, he made two painters; two others out of Marco Basaiti,
dividing him into Marco Basarini and Marco Bassiti, and assigning to
each his several works. Moreover, he wrote Vittore Scarpaccia, Vittor
Bellini, Giambatista da Cornigliano, and confounded the labours of all
the three together. Elsewhere we meet with Mansuchi for Mansueti;
Guerriero and Guarriero, instead of Guariento; Foppa is made into Zoppa,
Giolfino into Ursino, Morazone into Mazzone, Bozzato into Bazzacco,
Zuccati into Zuccheri and Zuccherini; and thus he continued to blunder
through other Lombard and Venetian names, insomuch as almost to vie with
Harms, with Cochin, and with similar inaccurate foreigners.
The following names were slightly esteemed or slightly known by Vasari,
and therefore omitted in his history: Piermaria Pennacchi of Trevisi,
and Pier Francesco Bissolo, a Venetian. Of the former there remain two
entablatures, painted for churches, more excellent in point of colouring
than design. One is in Venice, the other at Murano. Of these artists,
Pier Francesco painted on the least extensive scale, but was more
finished and beautiful. His altarpieces in Murano, and in the cathedral
of Trevigi, may be put in competition with those of the elder Palma; and
one in possession of the family of Renier, representing The Meeting of
Simeon, still nearer approaches to the fulness and softness of the
moderns.
Girolamo di San Croce was still more deserving of commemoration than
these. Yet Vasari omitted him; Boschini is silent on the subject; and
Ridolfi has found in him more to blame than to praise, asserting that he
had never freed himself from the ancient style, though flourishing at a
period when the less celebrated geniuses attempted to modernise their
taste. Happily, however, for this distinguished man, not a few of his
best labours have been preserved, of which Zanetti has pronounced his
opinion that, "he approaches nearer to the manner of Giorgione and
Titian, than any of the others." And such commendation is justified by
his altarpiece of S. Parisio, so highly mentioned in the Guide of
Treviso, and which is to be seen at the church of that saint. In Venice
itself there are some of his pictures which display uncommon merit, such
as the _Supper of our Saviour_, with the name of Santa Croce, which is
in S. Martino; and a _Salvatore_, at S. Francesco della Vigna, which
though in a precise taste, shows extreme richness of colouring. There
also appears, at the same place, his picture of the Martyrdom of S.
Lorenzo; a repetition of which is found in the noble house of Collalto,
nearly resembling the original, and in other places. It abounds in
figures of about a palm's length, imitated, in some part, from the
celebrated composition of Bandinelli, engraved by Marc Antonio, whose
impressions to Girolamo proved a rich mine of art, affording originals
for those small but valuable paintings, meant to adorn private rooms. In
none of them, however, was he a mere copyist; he varied the figures, and
more especially the landscapes, in which he was a very skilful hand. In
this manner he produced many of those Bacchanals, which are to be met
with in different collections. In that of the Casa Albani, at Bergamo,
is a S. Gio. Elemosinario (almsgiver) in grand architecture, seen among
a crowd of paupers; and in the collection of Count Carrara, also at
Bergamo, there is a Saviour taken from the Cross, highly valued for the
portrait of the artist, which points to a holy cross, the symbol of his
name. Not any of these productions are embued with traces of the ancient
style. They display a grace of composition, study of foreshortening, and
of the naked parts, a harmony of colours, forming a mixture of different
schools, in which the Roman predominates, and least of all the Venetian.
Further we would refer the reader to what has already been stated at
page 57.
To these Venetian professors, or at least, established in Venice, it
will be proper to add several educated by Giovanni, in the provinces,
and in this way resume the thread of our pictoric history of the state.
There was no place in the whole dominion which did not boast either of
his disciples or imitators. We shall proceed to treat severally of
these, beginning with the name of Conegliano, which he derived from a
city in the Marca Trevigiana, his native place, whose mountainous views
he has introduced into his paintings, as if to serve for his device.
The artist's name, however, is Giambatista Cima, and his style most
resembles the better part of that of Gian Bellini. The professors indeed
may often be confounded together, to such a degree do we find Conegliano
diligent, graceful, lively in his motions and his colouring, although
less smooth than Bellini. Perhaps one of his best pieces that I have
seen, is in the cathedral at Parma, though it is omitted in the
catalogue of his works. That at the church of Santa Maria dell' Orto,
one of the most rich in paintings, in all Venice, possesses less
softness; but in point of architecture, in the air of its heads, and in
the distribution of its colours, there is something so extremely
attractive, that we are never weary of contemplating it. The different
collections in Italy, no less than those in other parts, are many of
them in possession, or said to be in possession, of specimens from this
artist's hand; and if we add to these his altarpieces, sufficiently
numerous, they will be found to amount to a very considerable class. We
are informed, however, by Padre Federici, that one of Cima's sons, of
the name of Carlo, imitated so closely the style of his father, that
there are pictures which ought often to be attributed to the former
instead of to the latter.
This artist resided but a short time in his own province; and the
altarpiece placed by him in the cathedral of his native place, in 1493,
is considered a youthful performance. He continued to exercise his art
until the year 1517, according to Ridolfi, and died in the maturity of
his powers. The date of 1542, which we find at San Francesco di Rovigo
placed upon an altarpiece of Conegliano, (if it be not a copy,) marks
only the era of the erecting of the altar, which was painted afterwards.
He is said by Boschini to have been the tutor of Vittor Belliniano, by
Vasari called Bellini; the same who represented in the college of St.
Mark's, the martyrdom of the saint. The best portion of this history is
the architecture it displays.
The artists, educated in the school of Giovanni, who flourished at
Friuli, were two natives of Udine: Giovanni di M. Martino, as he is
entitled in some family documents, and Gio. Martini, by Vasari; and
Martino d'Udine, who in the _Storia Pittorica_, is called Pellegrino di
S. Daniello. The style of the former was harsh and crude, though not
destitute of grace in the countenances and in the colouring. The name of
Pellegrino was bestowed upon the latter by Bellini, in honour of his
rare genius, while the name of the country was attached to him from his
long residence in S. Daniello, a territory not far from Udine. This city
is, nevertheless, the place where he appears to most advantage, in
competition with Giovanni; as the same emulation they had felt while
fellow pupils, continued, as sometimes happens, when they became
masters. In that city appear the labours of each, and more particularly
in the two chapels contiguous to the dome, where the first of them was
employed in the year 1501, the second in 1502. Giovanni, in his
altarpiece of St. Mark, there produced the richest specimen which
appeared from his hand; and Pellegrino left that of his St. Joseph,
preferred by Vasari, in some degree, to the work of Martini. I have seen
the last mentioned picture in oil, faded indeed in colour, and in other
respects defaced; yet still worthy of admiration for its architecture,
which gives a graceful fulness to the whole canvass, and a striking
relief to the three figures, consisting of S. Joseph with the holy child
in his arms, and S. John the Baptist, each of which displays the finest
contours and the best forms. Other specimens of the same pencil are to
be seen in Udine, among which are the SS. Agostino and Girolamo, in the
public council hall, a picture remarkable also for its power of
colouring.
As this artist advanced in age, he improved in the softness of his
tints, as well as in every other quality. The altarpiece at Santa Maria
de' Battuti, which is in Cividale, and represents the Virgin seated
between the four virgins of Aquileja, besides the Saints Batista and
Donato, and a cherub, partakes of Giorgione; it is enumerated among the
rarest paintings of Friuli, and was executed in the year 1529. Yet above
any of his productions, are esteemed those various histories of the life
of our Saviour, painted in fresco at S. Daniele, in the church of S.
Antonio, together with the titular saint, and several other portraits of
the brethren of that chapel, so richly adorned by his hand, all
breathing and glowing proofs of his art. By his means, also, one of the
pictoric schools of Friuli rose into high repute, and will be elsewhere
described.
At Rovigo, in possession of the noble family of Casalini, is a picture
of the Circumcision of our Saviour, bearing this memorandum: _Opus Marci
Belli discipuli Johannis Bellini_. He is a good disciple of the school,
and would appear to be a different artist from that Marco, son of Gio.
Tedesco, who was employed in 1463 at Rovigo.
In the adjacent city of Padua, the style of the Bellini was less
followed, a very natural circumstance in a place where Squarcione, the
avowed rival of Giovanni, held supreme sway. Still there are several
pictures belonging to this age remaining there, which partake of the
Venetian style; and Vasari, in his life of Carpaccio, records, that in
fact Niccolo Moreto executed many works in Padua,[33] besides many other
artists connected with the Bellini. A picture of Christ risen from the
dead, merits particular mention; it adorns the episcopal palace at
Padua, along with the portraits of all the Paduan bishops, and the busts
of the apostles, including several of their acts, executed with much
elegance in chiaroscuro. The work is dated 1495, in which the painter
subscribes his name _Jacobus Montagnana_; not Montagna, as it is written
in Vasari and Ridolfi.
There remains of his a very extensive altarpiece, at the Santo, the
style inclining as much as in any others, to the modern; and to whatever
degree it may partake of the Venetian in taste of colours, in its design
it partakes of a more precise and spare expression upon the principle of
the Paduan School. To this, also, he very manifestly conformed himself,
in that celebrated picture left in Belluno, at the hall of council, in
which he represented[34] Roman histories. It is an immense production,
and at the first view would incline us to attribute it to the pencil of
Mantegna, such is the design, the drapery, and the composition of the
figures; while even several of them are known to have been accurately
copied, with the same forms and motions, from those Mantegna had already
introduced into his grand chapel at the Eremitani. Here we have a clear
proof that both received the same education, or at least, that
Montagnana had profited much by the Paduan School. I say only _much_,
for in point of costume he does not shew any traces of the erudite
instructions of Squarcione; but commits faults resembling those of the
Bellini, to whom by popular opinion, recorded by the very diligent
author of the new Guide of Padua, he has been given as a pupil.
I have before treated of Squarcione, and of his method, reserving for a
fitter place the consideration of his disciples, more especially Andrea
Mantegna. He will, however, be included in the present list as a
scholar; although, as a master of the school of Lombardy, we are bound
to speak of him with more commendation, in another chapter. But even the
first essays of great characters are valuable; and Vasari does not
scruple to commend Andrea's first altarpiece as a work worthy of his old
age. It was placed in Santa Sofia, where the artist has signed himself
_Andreas Mantinea Patavinus annos VII. et X. natus sua manu pinxit,
1448_. Squarcione was so much delighted with his early genius, that he
adopted him for his son. But he afterwards regretted his own generosity,
when the young artist took to wife the daughter of his rival, Jacopo
Bellini; so that he then began to blame him, yet at the same time to
instruct him better. Andrea having been educated in an academy which
adopted the study of marbles, indulged great admiration of several Greek
bassi relievi, in the ancient style, such as is that of the Primarii
Dei, in an altar of the capitol. He was therefore extremely bent upon
acquiring the chasteness of the contours, the beauty of the ideas and of
the bodies; but not content with adopting that straitness of the
garment, those parallel folds, and that study of parts which so easily
degenerates into stiffness, he neglected that portion of his art which
animates the otherwise uninformed images--expression. In this respect he
greatly failed in his picture of the Martyrdom of S. Jacopo, placed in
the church of the Eremitani, and from which Squarcione took occasion to
reprehend him severely. These complaints led him to adopt a better
method, and in his representation of the history of S. Cristoforo,
placed opposite his S. Jacopo, he threw more expression into his
figures; and in particular, his production about the same period of San
Marco, in the act of writing the gospel, painted for Santa Giustina,
displays in the features the absorbed mind of the philosopher and the
enthusiasm of a saint. If Squarcione thus contributed by his reproaches
to render this artist great, the Bellini, perhaps, co-operated with him
by friendship and relationship, in producing the same result. He resided
little in Venice, but during that time he did not fail to avail himself
of the best portion of that school; and we thus perceive in some of his
pictures, landscapes and gardens quite in the Venetian character,
besides a knowledge of colours not inferior to the best Venetian artists
of the age. I am uncertain whether he or some other communicated to the
Bellini that species of perspective so much commended by Barbaro; but I
know that Lomazzo, in his "Tempio della Pittura," page 53, has put on
record _that Mantegna was the first who gave us true notions relating to
this art_: and I know that the most distinguished characters of those
times were equally eager, either to become scholars in such points as
they were themselves deficient in, or masters in such as were wanting in
others.