accounts his country is considered as consisting of the entire state, as
he himself, indeed, affixed to his picture of S. Cristoforo di Loreto,
_Laurentius Lottus Pictor Venetus_.[43] The late annotator of Vasari,
observing the grace of countenance and the turn of the eyes remarkable
in his pictures, supposed him to be a disciple of Vinci, an opinion that
might be supported by the authority of Lomazzo, who mentions the names
of Cesare da Sesto and Lorenzo Lotto together, both being imitators, in
the distribution of their lights, of da Vinci. Lotto most likely
profited by his vicinity to Milan, in order to cultivate an acquaintance
with, and to imitate Vinci in many points; though I am not, therefore,
inclined to discredit the account which gives him for a pupil to
Bellini, and a rival to Castelfranco. But the style of the disciples of
Lionardo, so uniform in Luini and in the other Milanese, is very
slightly perceptible in the productions of Lotto. His manner is, in
truth, wholly Venetian, bold in its colours, luxurious in its draperies,
and like Giorgione, of a deep red in the fleshy parts. His hand,
however, is less bold and free than that of the latter, whose loftier
character he is fond of tempering with the play, as it were, of his
middle tints; selecting, at the same time, lighter forms, to whose heads
he gives a character more placid and a beauty more ideal. In the
background of his pictures he often retains a peculiar clear or azure
colour, which if it do not harmonize so much with the figures, confers
distinctness on each individual, and presents them in a very lively
manner to the eye. His pictures of S. Antonino, at the Dominicans in
Venice, and of S. Niccolo, at the Carmine, which design he repeated in
the S. Vincenzio of the Dominicans at Recanati, are compositions
extremely novel and original. In his others he varies little from the
usual style; that of a Madonna seated on a throne, surrounded with
saints, with cherubs in the air, or upon the steps. Yet these he
relieves by the novelty of perspective, or by attitudes, or contrasted
views. Thus in his specimen of the S. Bartolommeo, at Bergamo, entitled
by Ridolfi wonderful, he bestows upon the Virgin and the infant Jesus
such finely diversified and contrasted motions, that they seem as if
conversing with the holy bystanders, the one on the right and the other
on the left hand. And in that of S. Spirito, sparkling as it were with
graces, we meet with a figure of S. John the Baptist, drawn as a child,
standing at the foot of the throne, in the act of embracing a lamb, and
expressing so natural and lively a joy, at once so simple and innocent,
with a smile so beautiful, that we can hardly believe while we gaze upon
it, that Raffaello or Correggio could have gone beyond it.
Such masterpieces as these, with others that are to be seen at Bergamo,
in churches and private collections, place him almost on a level with
the first luminaries of the art. If Vasari did not fairly appreciate his
merits, it arose only from his having viewed several of his less studied
and less noble pieces. And it is true that he has not always exhibited
the same degree of excellence, or force of design. The period in which
he chiefly flourished may be computed from the year 1513, when he was
selected, among many professors of reputation, to adorn the altar for
the church of the Dominicans at Bergamo; and, perhaps, the decline of
his powers ought to be dated from 1546, an epoch inscribed upon his
picture of San Jacopo dell'Orio, in Venice. He was employed also at
Ancona, and in particular at the church of S. Dominico, at Recanati,
where, interspersed among pieces of superior power, more especially in
his smaller pictures, we detect some incorrectness in his extremities,
and stiffness of composition, resembling that of Gian Bellini; whether,
as it is conjectured by Vasari, they were among the earliest, or more
probably among some of his latest efforts. For it is well known, that
when far advanced in years, he was accustomed to retire to Loreto, a
little way from Recanati, and that engaged in continual supplication to
the Virgin, in order that she might guide him into a better method, he
there closed the period of his days in tranquillity.
Jacopo Palma, commonly called _Palma Vecchio_, to distinguish him from
his great-nephew Jacopo, was invariably considered the companion and
rival of Lotto, until such time as Combe first confused the historical
dates relating to him. By Ridolfi we are told that Palma employed
himself in completing a picture left imperfect by Titian, at the period
of his death in 1576. Upon this, and similar authorities, Combe takes
occasion to postpone the birth of Palma, until 1540; adding to which the
forty-eight years assigned him by Vasari, the time of his decease is
placed in 1588. In such arrangement the critic seems neither to have
paid attention to the style of Jacopo, still retaining some traces of
the antique, nor to the authority of Ridolfi, who makes him the master
of Bonifazio, any more than to Vasari's testimony, in the work published
in 1568, declaring him to have died several years before that period in
Venice. He does not even consider, what he might more easily have
ascertained, that there was another Jacopo Palma, great-nephew of the
elder, who, according to the authority of Boschini (p. 110), was a pupil
of Titian's as long as the latter survived; and that Ridolfi, on this
occasion, entitled him _Palma_, without the addition of _younger_, on
account of its being so extremely unlikely that any would confound him
with the elder Palma. Such, notwithstanding, was the case, and is, in
fact, only a slight sample of the inaccuracies of the whole work. The
same error has been repeated by too many authors, even among the
Italians; and the most amusing of all is, that Palma the elder is said
to have been born about the year 1540, while almost, in the same breath,
the younger Palma is declared to have been born in 1544. So much must
here suffice as to his age, proceeding in the next instance to his
style.
Much attached to the method of Giorgione, he aimed at attaining his
clearness of expression, and vivacity of colouring. In his celebrated
picture of Saint Barbara, at S. Maria Formosa, one of his most powerful
and characteristic productions, Jacopo more especially adopted him as
his model. In some of his other pieces, he more nearly approaches
Titian, a resemblance we are told by Ridolfi, consisting in the peculiar
grace which he acquired from studying the earliest productions of that
great master. Of this kind is the Supper of Christ, painted for Santa
Maria _Mater Domini_, with the Virgin at San Stefano di Vicenza,
executed with so much sweetness of expression as to be esteemed one of
his happiest productions. There are many examples of both styles to be
met with in the grand Carrara collection, as given in the list of Count
Tassi, (p. 93). Finally, Zanetti is of opinion that in some others he
displays a more original genius, as exemplified in the Epiphany of the
island of Saint Helena, where he equally shines in the character of a
naturalist who selects well, who carefully disposes his draperies, and
who composes according to good rules. The distinguishing character then
of his pieces is diligence, refinement, and a harmony of tints, so great
as to leave no traces of the pencil; and it has been observed by one of
his historians, that he long occupied himself in the production of each
piece, and frequently retouched it. In the mixture of his colours, as
well as other respects, he often resembles Lotto, and if he be less
animated and sublime, he is, perhaps, generally speaking, more beautiful
in the form of his heads, especially in those of boys and women. It is
the opinion of some, that in several of his countenances he expressed
the likeness of his daughter Violante, very nearly related to Titian,
and a portrait of whom, by the hand of her father, was to be seen in the
gallery of Sera, a Florentine gentleman, who purchased at Venice many
rarities for the House of the Medici, as well as for himself, (Boschini,
p. 368). A variety of pictures intended for private rooms, met with in
different places in Italy, have also been attributed to the hand of
Palma; besides portraits, one of which has been commended by Vasari as
truly astonishing, from its beauty; and Madonnas, chiefly drawn along
with other saints, on oblong canvass; a practice in common use by many
artists of that age, some of whom we have already recounted, and others
are yet to come. But the least informed among people of taste, being
ignorant of their names, the moment they behold a picture between the
dryness of Giovanni Bellini and the softness of Titian, pronounce it to
be a Palma, and this, more particularly, where they find countenances
well rounded and coloured, landscape exhibited with care, and roseate
hues in the drapery, occurring more frequently than any of a more
sanguine dye. In this way Palma is in the mouths of all, while other
artists, also very numerous, are mentioned only in proportion as they
have attached their own names to their productions. One of these,
resembling Palma and Lotto, but slightly known beyond the precincts of
Bergamo and some adjacent cities, is Giovanni Cariani, as to whom Vasari
is altogether silent. One of his pieces, representing our Saviour, along
with several saints, and dated 1514, I have myself seen at Milan, which
appears to have been altogether formed upon the model of Giorgione. If I
mistake not, it is a juvenile production, and when compared with some
others, which I saw at Bergamo, very indifferent in its forms. The most
excellent of any from his hand, is a Virgin, preserved at the Servi,
with a group of beatified spirits, a choir of angels, and other angels
at her feet, engaged in playing upon their harps in concert. It is an
exceedingly graceful production, delightfully ornamented with landscape
and figures in the distance; very tasteful in its tints, which are
blended in a manner equal to the most studied specimens of the two
artists of Bergamo, already mentioned; thus forming with them a
triumvirate, calculated to reflect honour upon any country. It has been
stated by Tassi, that the celebrated Zuccherelli never visited Bergamo,
without returning to admire the beauties of this picture, pronouncing it
one of the finest specimens of the art he had ever beheld, and the best
which that city had to boast. Cariani was also no less distinguished as
a portrait painter, as we gather from a piece belonging to the Counts
Albani, containing various portraits of that noble family; and which,
surrounded with specimens of the best colourists; would almost appear to
be the only one deserving of peculiar admiration.
The city of Trevigi may boast of two artists belonging to the same
class, though widely differing from each other. One of these is Rocco
Marconi, distinguished by Zanetti among some of the best disciples of
Bellini, and erroneously referred by Ridolfi to the school of Palma. He
excelled in accuracy of design, taste of colouring, and diligence of
hand, though not always sufficiently easy in his contours, and for the
most part exhibiting a severity almost approaching to plebeian
coarseness in his countenances. Even in the earliest production
attributed to him, executed in the year 1505, and preserved in the
church of San Niccolo, at Trevigi, Ridolfi detects that peculiar
clearness of style, which may be traced also so strongly in his Three
Apostles, at SS. Giovanni and Paolo, as well as in his few other
pictures dispersed among the public places. Indeed half-length figures
of this artist are by no means of rare occurrence in private
collections, though he can boast no single specimen so beautiful, or so
completely _Giorgionesque_ as his Judgment of the Adulteress, to be seen
in the chapter of San Giorgio Maggiore, and of which there is either a
duplicate or a copy at San Pantaleo, and in other places. The other of
these two artists is Paris Bordone, the elevation of whose mind and
genius seemed to correspond with that of his birth. After having been a
pupil of Titian for a short period, he became an enthusiastic imitator
of Giorgione, finally adopting an originality of manner, whose peculiar
grace bears no resemblance to that of any other painter. His forms may
truly be said to breathe, to glow, and even to laugh, with a force of
colouring, which, incapable of displaying a greater degree of truth than
that of Titian, aimed, nevertheless, at more variety and attraction;
while, at the same time, they were not wanting in delicacy of design,
novelty of drapery, propriety of composition, and a peculiarly lively
air of the heads. In the church of S. Giobbe he produced a picture of S.
Andrew embracing his Cross, with an angel seen hovering above, in the
act of bestowing upon him the crown of martyrdom; while in one of the
two saints, represented at the side, he drew the figure of S. Peter, in
the act of gazing upon him with a kind of envy; an idea equally novel
and picturesque. A similar method he adopted in other of his works,
produced in great part for the ornament of his native place and its
vicinity. Not a subject but is taken from the antique; yet each of them
is treated with originality. Of such kind, is that picture of a true
Paradise, seen in the Ognissanti at Trevigi, and those evangelical
mysteries in the cathedral of the same city, represented in an
altarpiece, divided into six different groups, at the request, it is
presumed, of the person who engaged him to execute it. Here we behold,
assembled in a small space, every thing of the most pleasing and
beautiful kind, which he has elsewhere scattered throughout the whole of
his works. In Venice, his representation of the restoration of the ring
to the Doge by a fisherman, possesses a high reputation; and this,
accompanied with that of the Tempest, shortly before described, by
Giorgione, forms an admirable contrast in its beauty to the terrors
abounding in the latter. Decorated with the finest specimens of
architecture, and a profusion of animated and well adapted figures, as
varied in their actions as in their draperies, it has been commended by
Vasari as the masterpiece of his labours. The same artist is, likewise,
highly prized in collections. Madonnas of his are to be met with,
characterized by the uniformity of their countenance, as well as some of
his portraits, often attired in the manner of Giorgione, and composed
with fine and novel embellishments. Being invited to the court of
Francis II., he acquired the favour of that monarch and of his
successor, thus enriching himself by the exercise of his talents. He had
a son who pursued the same branches of the art; but from his picture of
Daniel, remaining at Santa Maria Formosa in Venice, it is evident how
very inferior he must have been.
At the same time flourished one Girolamo da Trevigi, a different artist
to his namesake already mentioned by us, who, induced probably by the
example of his noble fellow citizen, and turning his attention to a more
select style than the generality of the Venetian School, applied himself
to the models of Raffaello, and the Romans. He is entitled by Padre
Federici, upon the authority of Mauro, Pennacchi, and is considered by
him the son of that Piermaria, of whom we made brief mention before,
(page 62). There is little from his hand remaining at Venice, but more
in Bologna, particularly at San Petronio, where he painted in oil the
histories of S. Antony of Padua, with judgment and grace, combined with
an exquisite degree of polish, which obtained for him the commendation
of Vasari. It was here he happily succeeded in uniting the excellences
of the two schools, though he did not flourish long enough to mature
them, having devoted himself to the military occupation of an engineer,
to which service he fell a victim in 1544, while in England; he was
killed, according to Vasari, in his thirty-sixth year. On this last
point we can scarcely admit the emendation offered us by the author of
the Description of Vicenza, who would substitute for this earlier date
the age of seventy-six years, a period of life when men seldom encounter
their final doom in the field. In this instance, perhaps, the emendator
was not aware that there exist signatures of a Girolamo da Treviso, met
with upon pictures from the year 1472 to that of 1487, uniformly of
ancient design; an artist, who could not, in the common course of life,
have survived to become an excellent disciple of Raffaello, and the
assistant of Pupini at Bologna, about the year 1530. He failed,
therefore, to make a distinction between two painters of the same name,
as it will be perceived we have done, followed by the authority of Padre
Federici.
Finally, in this list must be enumerated Gio. Antonio Licinio, either
Sacchiense, or Cuticello,[44] until such period, as happening to be
wounded in the hand by his brother, he renounced all title to his family
name, assuming the appellation of Regillo. He is commonly, however,
called Pordenone, from his native place, formerly a province, and now a
city of the Friuli. "In this province," it is observed by Vasari, "there
flourished, during his time, a great number of excellent artists, who
had never visited either Florence or Rome; but he stood pre-eminent
above all, surpassing his predecessors in the conception of his pieces,
in design, in boldness, in the use of his colours, in his frescos, in
rapidity, in grandeur of relief; and, indeed, in every other attribute
of the arts." It is uncertain whether he attended the School of
Castelfranco, as it has been supposed by some, and much more so, whether
he was a fellow student along with him and Titian, under Giovanni
Bellini, a supposition started by Rinaldis, (p. 62). To me, the opinion
reported by Ridolfi appears nearer the truth, that having first studied,
in his youth, the productions of Pelligrino, at Udine, he subsequently
adopted the manner of Giorgione, following the bias of his own genius,
invariably the artist's safest guide in the formation of a style. Other
disciples of Giorgione, more or less resembled him in manner, but
Pordenone seemed to vie with him in spirit, a spirit equally daring,
resolute, and great; surpassed by no other, perhaps, in the Venetian
School. Yet in lower Italy he is little known beyond his name. The
picture with the portraits of his family, preserved in the Palazzo
Borghese, is the best production of his that I have met with in these
parts. And elsewhere, indeed, we rarely behold such histories as his
exquisite picture of the Raising of Lazarus, in possession of the Conti
Lecchi, at Brescia. Nor does he abound in altarpieces, beyond the
province of Friuli, which boasts of several in different places, though
not all equally genuine. The few executed in Pordenone, are
unquestionably his, inasmuch as he has himself described them in a
memorial still extant.[45] The collegiate church possesses two of these;
one consisting of a Holy Family, with S. Christopher, executed in 1515,
very finely coloured, but not exempt from some inaccuracies. The other
bears the date of 1535, representing S. Mark in the act of consecrating
a bishop, along with other saints, and with perspective; a piece, says
its author, _posta in opera, non finita_, begun, indeed, but not
finished. A more complete specimen was to be seen at San Pier Martire di
Udine, in his Annunciation, since re-touched and destroyed. Some there
are who have preferred, before every other, that preserved in S. Maria
dell'Orto, at Venice. It consists of San Lorenzo Giustiniani, surrounded
by various saints; among whom S. John the Baptist appears naked
according to the rules of the most learned schools; while the arm of S.
Augustine is seen, as it were, stretched forth out of the picture, an
effect of perspective this artist has repeated in various other places.
The most beautiful of his pieces in Piacenza, where he had established
himself, is his picture of the Marriage of S. Catherine, upon a dark
ground, which gives a roundness to the whole of the figures; it is full
of grace in those of a more tender character, and displays grandeur in
the forms of S. Peter and S. Paul, represented on the two sides; in the
last of whom, as well as in the S. Rocco of Pordenone, he gave a
portrait of himself.
But his works in fresco display the highest degree of merit; great part
of which he produced in the Friuli, besides numerous others scattered
throughout castles and villas, no longer distinguished by strangers,
except from the circumstance of possessing some painting of Pordenone.
Such places are Castions, Valeriano, Villanova, Varmo, Pallazuolo, where
he is with certainty known to have employed his talents. A few remnants
are likewise preserved in Mantua, in the Casa de' Cesarei, and in the
palazzo Doria, at Genoa; some at S. Rocco, and the cloisters of S.
Stefano, in Venice, and many specimens in high preservation in the dome
of Cremona, and at Santa Maria di Campagna, in Piacenza, where, in
collections, and in the facades of houses, other pieces of his are
pointed out. His labours in fresco, however, are not all equally studied
and correct; more particularly those in his native Friuli, which he
produced at an early age in great abundance, and for a small price. He
is more select in his male forms than in those of his women, whose model
he appears to have frequently taken from very robust rather than very
beautiful subjects, most probably met with in the adjacent province of
Carnia, where he is said to have indulged his early passions. But in
every thing he undertook we may invariably trace the workings of a
vigorous fancy, rich in conceiving, in varying, and developing his
ideas; powerful in his exhibition of the passions, displaying the
master-hand that encounters the difficulties of the art with the most
novel combinations in the science of foreshortening, with the most
laboured perspective, and with a power of relief which appears perfectly
starting from the canvass.
In Venice, he seemed to surpass all he had before done. The competition,
or rather enmity subsisting between him and Titian, served as a spur
both by day and night, to actuate him to fresh exertions. He was at
times even accustomed to paint with arms at his side; and it is the
opinion of many, that such emulation was of no less advantage to Titian,
than was the rivalship of Michelangiolo to Raffaello. In this instance,
also, the one excelled in strength, the other in grace of hand; or, as
it has been observed by Zanetti, nature prevailed in Titian in a
superior degree to manner, while in Pordenone both shone with an equal
degree of excellence. To have competed with Titian is a circumstance not
a little honourable to his name, and has acquired for him in the
Venetian School the second rank at least, in a period so prolific in
excellent artists. A portion of the people, indeed, then preferred him
to Titian; for, as I have elsewhere observed, there is nothing so well
calculated to surprise the multitude as the production of fine effect
and of the chiaroscuro, in which art he is known to have first preceded
Guercino. Pordenone was highly favoured, and presented with the title of
cavalier by Charles V.; and being subsequently invited to the court of
Ercole II. duke of Ferrara, he died there shortly after, not without
suspicion of having been poisoned. We have in the next place to give an
account of his school.
Bernardino Licinio, from his surname probably a relation of the
foregoing, was an artist who is here deserving of mention. We gather
from history, as well as from his manner, that he was also a pupil of
Pordenone; and there remains at the Conventuali, in Venice, an
altarpiece of the usual antique composition, quite in the style of the
other Licinio, from his hand. It is reported, likewise, that some of his
portraits are preserved in different collections which have been
erroneously ascribed to the elder Pordenone. Sandrart makes mention of
Giulio Licinio da Pordenone, a nephew and scholar to Gio. Antonio,
adding that he employed himself in Venice; thence transferred his
residence to Augusta, where he left behind him some truly surprising
specimens in fresco, which obtained for him with some a higher
reputation than his uncle. He would appear to be the same Giulio Lizino,
who, in competition with Schiavone, Paul Veronese, and other artists,
produced the three tondi, in the library of St. Mark, in the year 1556.
By Zanetti he is considered of Roman origin,[46] but this is a mistake,
arising from Giulio's having assumed the title of Romano during his
residence in the capital; while he retained it in Venice, the better to
distinguish him from the other _Licinj_, in the same manner as we have
already observed of one of the Trevisani, about the same period.
Giannantonio Licinio the younger, was a brother to Giulio, and more
commonly named Sacchiense, an artist who has been highly commended, but
whose works are no longer to be seen, not even in Como, as far as we can
learn, where he died.