vivacity, is Andrea Schiavone, of Sebenico, surnamed _Medula_. Few
artists have so early evinced a decided taste for their profession, of
which it is said his father became aware when accompanying him through
the city, yet a child, in order to fix upon his future destination.
Observing him highly entertained with productions of the art, he
instantly applied to the artists, and devoted him to the profession. But
fortune was not favourable to him, and he became compelled, by penury,
to obtain a subsistence rather as a daily hireling, than as an artist.
Hence it was, that, destitute of a knowledge of design, he was obliged
to paint, meeting with no other patrons than some master _muratore_, or
wall painter, who had it in his power to recommend him for the facades,
or some painter of household articles to employ him as an assistant.
Titian conferred upon him some degree of credit, by proposing him, along
with others, for ornamenting the library of S. Mark, where he worked
more correctly, perhaps, than in any other place. Tintoret, also, did
him justice, often aiding him in his labours, to observe the artifice of
his colouring; and even gave one of his pictures a place in his own
studio, observing that it would be well if every other artist would
follow his example, though he would do ill not to design better than his
model. Moreover he wished to imitate him, and placed an altarpiece at
the church of the Carmini, so much resembling his style, that Vasari
pronounced it to be the work of Schiavone. Yet the same historian held
him in such slight esteem, as to say that it was _only by mistake that
he occasionally produced a good piece_; a sentence severely criticised
by Agostin Caracci, as we gather from Bottari, in his "Life of Franco."
And, in truth, except for design, the whole composition of Schiavone is
highly commendable; spirited in his attitudes, drawn from the engravings
of Parmigianino; his colours, approaching to the sweetness of Andrea del
Sarto, beautiful; and his hand altogether that of a great master. His
fame increased after his death, and his paintings, for the most part, of
a mythological character, were removed from the chests and benches to
adorn the cabinets of connoisseurs. Guarienti cites three of these in
the collection at Dresden, and Rosa four, in the Cesarean one of Vienna.
I have seen several very graceful specimens in the Casa Pisani, at San
Stefano, and almost in every other gallery in Venice. In Rimini, also, I
saw two of his pictures, painted as companions, at the Padri Teatini;
the Nativity of our Lord, and the Assumption of the Virgin, small
figures upon the Poussin scale, and among the most beautiful he ever
drew. Santo Zago, and Orazio da Castelfranco, called dal Paradiso, are
known for a very few works in fresco, but too well executed to be here
omitted. Cesare da Conegliano, also, is the author of a single
altarpiece, at the Santi Apostoli, of the same place, which represents
our Lord's Supper, and sufficient of itself to place him near Bonifazio,
and the best of that class.
Vasari, who has omitted some of the preceding, twice makes honourable
mention of Gio. Calker, or Calcar, as it is written by others, an
excellent portrait painter, of Flemish extraction. He was also a good
painter, both of small and large figures, several of which, according to
Sandrart, have been attributed to Titian; and others, when he changed
his manner, to Raffaello. He died young, in 1546, at Naples. Treating of
Dietrico Barent, in Venice known by the name of Sordo Barent, Baldinucci
supposes him to have been Titian's pupil, by whom he was regarded as his
son. To these Ridolfi adds three excellent foreigners, one Lamberto, a
German,[56] who is supposed the Lombardo, or Sustermans, who gave
assistance in their landscapes alternately to Titian and to Tintoret,
and left a very beautiful picture of San Girolamo, at the Teresiani, in
Padua; the others were Cristoforo Scuarz, and one Emanuel, a German.
These, like many others, resorting to Titian for instruction, on their
return to their native place introduced a taste for the Venetian School;
and there continued to flourish. He must have presented more disciples
to Spain, when being invited by Charles V. he removed to his court, and
founded in his dominions a school, which acquired and continued to boast
of excellent artists, particularly in point of colouring. One Don Paolo
de las Roelas is mentioned by Preziado, who, in mature age, became a
priest and canon. There is a grand picture from his hand in the
parochial church of San Isidoro, at Seville, representing the death of
the bishop. The style is altogether that of Titian, though he could not
have been his disciple, if he was, indeed, born in 1560, when that
artist was no longer in Spain. But in regard to foreigners, it is enough
to have alluded to them in a history of Italians; and we must return to
those natives of Italy, in particular of the state of Venice, who are
esteemed among Titian's imitators. We may begin with the Friuli;
although, the school of the great Pordenone there holding the sway, the
genuine followers of Titian, excepting the Cadorini already mentioned,
are very few and almost forgotten in history. Among others of Friuli,
Ridolfi mentions a Gaspero Nervesa, who painted at Spilimbergo, and
calls him Titian's scholar. No genuine picture of his, however, is
pointed out, though Father Federici discovered one at Trevigi. The same
author likewise extols Irene de' Signori di Spilimbergo, a lady of
singular accomplishments, highly celebrated by the poets of the
fifteenth century. She left behind her three little pictures of sacred
histories, preserved by the noble family of Maniago, and which are still
to be seen at the house of Conte Fabio, equally distinguished for his
acquaintance with science and with art. They display but little skill in
the design, though they are coloured with a degree of masterly power,
not unworthy the first artist of the happiest period. A Bacchanal, by
the same hand, is at Monte Albodo, in possession of the Claudj family.
Titian took the portrait of this lady, being known to be extremely
intimate with her family; and for this reason it is believed that he
must have had some share in the pictorial education of the fair artist.
Lodovico Fumicelli was an artist of Trevigi, reported to have been a
pupil of Titian. At all events he was one of his most distinguished
imitators. One of his pieces, adorning the great altar of the church of
the Eremitani, at Padua, displays both the design and colouring of a
great master. His native place can boast works that have been equally
extolled. It is mortifying then to recall to mind that he abandoned his
profession for the art of fortification. One of his assistants, in
Trevigi, was Francesco Dominici, who may be said to rival him in the
cathedral of the city, in those two processions which they painted,
opposite to each other. This young artist, of great promise, especially
in portraits, produced little, being cut off in the flower of his days.
With pleasure I annex to these a friend of Paolo, and excellent pupil of
Titian's, whom, in some things, he imitated; but who has been
erroneously denominated by historians:[57] my information respecting
him, as well as other artists of Castelfranco, has been obtained from a
MS. communicated to me by the learned Dottore Trevisani.[58] He took the
name of Gio. Batista Ponchino, and the surname of Bozzato, a city of his
native place, where several of his paintings in fresco still exist,
together with his celebrated piece of the Limbo,[59] in San Liberale,
the finest, if we except the works of Giorgione, which that city has to
boast, and it is greatly admired by strangers. He painted also at Venice
and Vicenza, during the lifetime of his consort, a daughter of Dario
Varotari; but on her death he assumed the ecclesiastical habit, nor
interested himself much in his art.
Padua boasted two noble scholars from the hand of Titian; Damiano Mazza,
and Domenico Campagnola. The former, however, was rather promised than
conferred upon us; dying very young, after producing a single piece
deserving of commemoration, in his native place. This was a Ganymede
borne away by the Eagle, depicted on an entablature, which, for its
exquisite beauty, was attributed to the hand of Titian, and removed from
the place. Venice must have been his sphere of action; a few of his
pictures remaining in different churches, executed with striking power
and relief, if not with much delicacy of hand. The other artist is
better known, said to have been of the family of Campagnola, though with
no authority for the assertion. He was nephew to the Girolamo mentioned
by Vasari among the disciples of Squarcione, and son to that Giulio,[60]
whose genius is commended in the Literary History of Tiraboschi, (vol.
vi. p. 792) and in the _Storia Pittorica_ of Vasari. He was a fine
linguist, miniature painter, and engraver, and the author of several
altarpieces, which betray some traces of the ancient style. Domenico's
appears more modern, so much so, as to have awakened, it is said, the
jealousy of Titian; an honour he enjoyed in common with Bordone, with
Tintoret, and other rare artists. And his works give authority to the
tradition, not so much in Venice as in Padua, a city for whose
embellishment he would appear to have risen up. He painted in fresco, at
the college of the Santo, in the style of an able scholar, emulating an
incomparable master of his art. His pictures in oil resemble him the
nearest of any, as we see in the college of S. M. del Parto, a complete
cabinet of his works. He represented on the entablature, the Holy
Evangelists, with other saints, in various compartments; and he seems to
have aspired to a vastness of design, beyond that of Titian; and to mark
the naked parts with a more evident degree of artifice.
Contemporary with Campagnola, though scarcely heard of beyond Padua,
were Gualtieri, one of his relatives, and a Stefano del Arzere, who, in
his picture of Christ upon the Cross, at San Giovanni di Verzara,
appears ambitious, however rudely, of imitating Titian. Both were,
nevertheless, esteemed by Ridolfi for their paintings in fresco, and
both, together with Domenico, were employed in ornamenting a large hall,
representing the figures of emperors and illustrious characters, upon
nearly a colossal scale. For this reason it was denominated the Sala de'
Giganti, afterwards converted into a public library. These figures are,
for the most part, of an ideal cast, various in point of design, in some
dignified, in others heavy. The antique costume is not always strictly
observed, but the colouring is rich and of a fine chiaroscuro, and it
would be difficult to find in all Italy a piece which appears to have
suffered less from time. Niccolo Frangipane is supposed to have been a
Paduan, though his birthplace is disputed,[61] and he is not mentioned
by Ridolfi. Still he may be esteemed worthy of being recorded for his
exquisite style as a _naturalist_, in which he painted his picture of
the Assumption, at the Conventuali, in Rimini, dated 1565, and a
half-length figure of San Francesco, with that of 1588, at S.
Bartolommeo, in Padua. A picture also of San Stefano is attributed to
him by the _Guide of Pesaro_, though his genius was more adapted to
burlesques, several specimens of which are yet in the possession of
private individuals.
Vicenza boasts the name of Giambatista Maganza, the head of a family of
artists, who long devoted themselves, both in public and private, to the
ornament of their native province. His descendants, however, adopted
various styles, as we shall see, while Giambatista was only ambitious of
treading in the steps of Titian, his master, which he did with success.
He was an excellent portrait painter, and also left several works of
pure invention at Vicenza, in which he displayed the same easy genius as
in his poetry. He wrote in the rustic idiom of Padua, under the name of
_Magagno_, while such contemporaries as Sperone, Trissino, Tasso, and
other celebrated wits, not ignorant of the dialect, applauded the
excellence of his rude and sylvan strains. Giuseppe Scolari was an
artist, supposed by most to have been a native of Vicenza, though
referred by the Cavalier Pozzo to Verona. A pupil of Maganza, he
excelled in works in fresco, and in chiaroscuro, enlivened by certain
yellow tints, at that period in great vogue. He was a good designer,
which appears from his works, both in Vicenza and Verona; and he
likewise produced several large pictures in oil at Venice, much
commended by Zanetti. Possibly another disciple of Maganza, from the
period at which he flourished, was Gio. de Mio of Vicenza, an artist who
competed with Schiavone, Porta, Zelotti, Franco, and with Paul Veronese
himself, in the library of S. Mark, though history makes no mention of
his master any more than of Mio; if, indeed, he should not be the same
as Fratina, recorded by Ridolfi, as one of the assistants in ornamenting
the library. The name of Gio. de Mio was met with in one of the
archives, and Fratina was possibly his surname.
Among the Veronese disciples of Titian, we have to mention Brusasorci,
and, according to some writers, also Farinato. Both at least visited
Venice, either for the purpose of studying his works, or in his school.
Zelotti has been pronounced in more open terms the scholar of Titian.
But of these and other distinguished artists of Verona, it will be
preferable to give the reader some account when treating on the merits
of Paul Caliari, a plan that will bring under immediate view the state
of that noble school during its most flourishing period.
About the same time several Brescian artists greatly distinguished
themselves, although too little known for want of enjoying a
metropolitan city for their sphere of action. Luca Sebastiano, an
Aragonese, who died towards the close of the sixteenth century, was
celebrated, we are told, rather as a fine designer than a painter. An
altarpiece with the initial letters _L. S. A._ has been attributed to
his hand. It is the Saviour represented between two saints, the
composition of which is common; the foldings of the drapery want
softness; but the figures, the colours, and the attitudes are excellent.
I apprehend that, however learned in his art, he would have been anxious
to avoid competition with the two celebrated citizens, of whom we shall
now give some description. The first is Alessandro Bonvicino, commonly
called Moretto of Brescia, who was among the earliest of Titian's
school, to introduce his master's whole style of composition into his
native district. This is clearly seen in his picture of S. Niccolo,
painted in 1532 for the Madonna de' Miracoli, in which he depicted
several figures of children, and of a man presenting them to the saint;
portraits in Titian's best manner. Subsequently attracted by the
composition of Raffaello, as exhibited in some pictures and engravings,
he changed his style, adopting one altogether new, and so rich in its
attractions, that many dilettanti have gone out of their way, and
visited Brescia, for the sole purpose of feasting their eyes with them.
The manner of Raffaello may be as strongly traced as we can imagine
possible for a painter who had never seen Rome; we meet with graceful
features, elegant proportions, if they do not sometimes appear too
slender; accuracy in the attitudes and expression, which, in his sacred
subjects, display, as it were, the peculiar feeling of remorse, of pity,
and even of charity itself. The drapery is diversified, but not
sufficiently select, while all the accessaries of the perspective and
other embellishments are as splendid as in any Venetian artist, although
not lavished with so much profusion; and he displays an exact, diligent,
and delicate hand, which appears, to use a modern expression often
applied, to write what it paints. In regard to colouring, Moretto
pursued a method, which surprises by its combined novelty and effect.
Its chief characteristic consists of a very beautiful play of light and
shadow, not disposed in great masses, but finely tempered and contrasted
with each other. The same degree of art he applies both to his figures
and his skies, where he sometimes depicts clouds whose colours are
contrasted in a similar way. For the most part his grounds are clear and
bright, from which the figures seem to rise with admirable relief. His
fleshy parts often remind us of the freshness of Titian's; in his tints,
moreover, he is more varied than the latter, or any other of the
Venetians. Little azure appears in his draperies, the union of reds and
yellows in a picture having been apparently more to his taste. It is the
same with other colours, a circumstance I have noticed in some of his
contemporaries, both of Brescia and Bergamo. Vasari, who has recorded
his name, along with that of many other Brescian artists, in his life of
Carpi, commends him for his skill in imitating every kind of velvet,
satin, or other cloth, either of gold or silver; but as he did not see,
or failed to commemorate, some of his choicest works, he has by no means
done justice to his character.
Moretto produced some works in fresco, though, if I mistake not, he
coloured better in oils; as is the case where diligence and depth of
parts are not equally matched with pictorial rapidity and fire. He
employed himself a good deal in his native province and the adjacent
parts, in general distinguishing himself more by his delicacy than by
his grandeur of hand. A fine specimen of this last, however, may be seen
in his terrific picture of Elias, placed in the old cathedral. He was
intimate with all the best methods of his art; but he did not always
care to practise them. His picture of S. Lucia, in the church of S.
Clemente, is not so much studied as that of S. Catherine, and even this
yields to his painting of the great altar, representing our Lady in the
air, with the titular and other saints seen below. The composition is
conducted in every part with exquisite taste, and the piece is
considered one of the best the city has to boast. An altarpiece,
consisting of various saints at S. Andrea, in Bergamo, another at S.
Giorgio, in Verona, with the Fall of S. Paul, at Milan, with which last
he appears to have been so much pleased, as to subscribe, which was very
unusual with him, his name--are all likewise of the most finished
composition. He was esteemed excellent in portrait, and educated for
this branch of art Gio. Batista Moroni.
This last was a native of Albino, in the territory of Bergamo, where he
produced, both for the city and the state, a variety of altar and
history pieces, which he continued to supply from early youth, until
within a few months of his decease. So much has been made out, from
authentic documents, by the Conte Tassi, who brought forward a long
series of his noble compositions. This artist is not, however, at all
comparable to his master in point of invention, of composition, or
design; which last sometimes betrays a dryness approaching that of the
_quattrocentisti_. Pasta notices the same defect, in his Incoronazione
of our Lord at the Trinita, although very finely coloured, and a work
equalling any of his others in point of merit. For the rest, it is
certain that no artist of the Venetian School, besides Titian, has
excelled him in the truth and nature of his portraits, and in the life
and spirit of his heads, insomuch that Titian was in the habit of
recommending him to the governors of Bergamo, as the best face painter
he could offer them. There exist specimens in the Carrara collection, in
possession of the Conti Spini, and in other noble houses, which still
appear to breathe and live; the drapery is in the Titian manner, and if
any thing can be said to be wanting, it is a greater degree of mastery
in the design and attitude of the hands.
Francesco Ricchino, of Brescia, is another name deserving of record
among the better disciples of Moretto, even in point of colouring. He
was desirous, however, from what we learn from his pieces at San Pietro
in Oliveto, of extracting improvement from the pictures, or at least
from the engravings of Titian. Luca Mombelli followed him in some of his
earliest works, until giving into too great delicacy of manner, his
productions became somewhat feeble and tame. Girolamo Rossi, another
pupil or imitator, has, if I mistake not, better displayed his master's
manner than any other, particularly in an altarpiece, placed at San
Alessandro, representing the Virgin between various saints. Bagnatore
was also a good copyist of the same style, an artist who, in his
Slaughter of the Innocents, subscribes his name _Balneator_, and who, if
not displaying great power, is nevertheless judicious, correct, and
sober in his works in oil; and he was one to whom was committed by
public order the task of copying a picture by Moretto.
Contemporary with Moretto flourished Romanino, of Brescia, about the
year 1540; the same who in S. Giustina at Padua subscribes his name
_Hieronymus Rumanus_. He was the rival of Bonvicino, inferior to him in
the opinion of Vasari, but his equal according to Ridolfi. And truly it
would appear that he surpassed him in genius and boldness of hand; but
could boast neither the same taste nor diligence, several of his works
appearing to be executed with a hasty pencil. Still he in general
displays the qualities of a great master, both in his altarpieces and
his histories, to say nothing of his burlesque compositions. The same
character he maintained at Verona, where he painted the martyrdom of the
titular saint, at S. Giorgio, in four large pictures abounding with
great variety of figures, some of the most spirited, and the most
terrible, in the executioners, that I ever saw. The same richness of
invention, accompanied even with more select forms, is displayed in his
altarpiece of the Holy Virgin in Calcara, at Brescia, in which he
represented the bishop, S. Apollonio, administering the Eucharist to the
crowd. It is a work altogether charming, the splendour of the place, and
of the sacred vessels; the religious aspect of the prelate, of the
Levites, and of the people; the great variety of features and of rank;
so many singular pictorial beauties are all placed within the limits of
propriety and truth. Less full, but no less perfect, is his Descent of
Christ from the Cross, at SS. Faustino and Giovita, a piece commended by
Palma for its extreme resemblance to the Venetian style, most probably
alluding to that of Titian, although in some other works he very
strongly resembles Bassano. Titian, however, would appear to have been
his model, to which he wholly devoted himself; whether he acquired so
high a regard for him from his own master, Stefano Rizzi, an artist of
mediocrity, or despairing of forming a new style, like his rival, he was
in hopes of surpassing him by such means. And, in fact, he still retains
admirers in those parts, who prefer him to Moretto, as well for grandeur
of composition and energy of expression, as for a capacity of genius
that embraced every variety of subject.