profited in some measure from these few. Paolo Franceschi, or de'
Freschi, a Fleming, and Martino de Vos d'Anversa, were artists he
employed to draw his landscapes. The former was esteemed one of the best
landscape painters of his time, while he succeeded also in figures. He
was engaged to paint for the Palazzo Publico, and several churches in
Venice, where he terminated his days. The second resided also at Rome;
and, in the church of San Francesco a Ripa, painted his _Concezione_, a
picture, indeed, abounding with too many figures, but beautiful and
exquisite in its tints. With still greater felicity he depicted the four
seasons for the Colonna family, very pleasing little pictures,
presenting a happy union of various schools, fine perspective, fine
relief, with correct and graceful design. Passing into Germany, and
increasing in reputation no less by his works than by the engravings
made of them by Sadeler, there, full of years and fame, he died.
Lamberto Lombardo has been just before recorded as the assistant of
Tintoretto, but not his disciple.
Odofardo Fialetti, a native of Bologna, was educated in the school of
Tintoretto, where he acquired a reputation for good design, and a
thorough acquaintance with all the precepts of the art, yet he was still
far from emulating his master, not possessing vivacity of genius equal
to the task. To avoid a competition with the Caracci he long continued,
and died at Venice, where many of his works are highly esteemed, and in
particular his picture of the Crucifixion, painted for the Croce.
Among the imitators of Tintoretto appears the name of Cesare dalle
Ninfe, an artist who aimed at reaching the sharp expression of ridicule,
the novelty of ideas, and the rapidity of hand, so remarkable in his
prototype; though unequal in his design. Flaminio Floriano seems to have
been ambitious of imitating only the more correct parts of his model; so
uniformly exact, temperate, and precise does he appear in his picture of
San Lorenzo, to which he affixed his name.
The name of Melchior Colonna also occurs, though hardly known in Venice,
and some perhaps would add that of Bertoli, a Venetian, to be met with
affixed to a picture at the chapel of San Niccola, in Tolentino. It
represents the Plague that visited that city, if I mistake not, and
which disappeared at the solicitation of the patron saint. There is also
an account of another artist, who from his age might have received the
instructions of Tintoretto, or at all events obtained them from his
works; his name was Gio. Rothenamer di Monaco. Arriving in Italy with
but a small fund of knowledge, acquired in the studio of a poor national
artist, he distinguished himself at Rome, and perfected his style in
Venice, adopting in a great measure the maxims of Tintoretto. There, at
the Incurabili, he left a Santa Cristina, a Nunziata at San Bartolommeo,
and, as we have reason to believe, other works in private possession, by
which he obtained some degree of credit. Subsequently arriving at a
handsome practice in England, he nevertheless contrived to die there in
poverty, his funeral expenses being defrayed by the alms of some
Venetians. But few others, observes Zanetti, pursued the same path,
probably because at that period more pleasing and popular styles were in
vogue. Ridolfi, on the other hand, asserts, that all young artists
towards the end of the century were anxious to study him for their
model; and we shall find, in treating of the _mannerists_, that he was
acknowledged by them as their sovereign master. We must, in the next
place, enter upon a consideration of the school of Bassano.
Jacopo da Ponte, son to that Francesco, who, in the preceding epoch, was
commended as one of the better artists who flourished during the
fourteenth century, was nearly contemporary with Tintoretto, and was
instructed by his father in the art. His earliest efforts, that are seen
in the church of San Bernardino, in his native place, bear the impress
of such an education. On resorting to Venice he was recommended to
Bonifazio, a master no less jealous of his art than Titian or
Tintoretto; insomuch that Jacopo never obtained the advantage of seeing
him colour, except by secretly watching him through a crevice in the
door of his studio. He resided but a little time in Venice, employed in
designing the cartoons of Parmigianino, and in taking copies of the
pictures of Bonifazio and Titian, whose scholar, upon the authority of
some manuscript, he had also been. And, if conformity of manner were
sufficient evidence, by no means always a certain guide, we might admit
the truth of such supposition; his second style being altogether that of
Titian. A few of his pictures are met with in his native place, such as
his Flight into Egypt, at San Girolamo, and a Nativity of the Redeemer,
in possession of Sig. Dottor Larber, both youthful productions, but
which seemed to promise another Titian; so richly were they imbued with
his sweetness of taste.
Upon his father's death Jacopo was compelled to return, and settle in
his own province, whose city is at this day both rich and populous, and
in those times it was esteemed by no means despicable; its situation
delightful, abounding with flocks and herds, and well adapted for the
sale of merchandize, and for fairs. From these elements arose by degrees
his formation of a third style, full of simplicity and grace, and which
gave the first indications in Italy of a taste altogether foreign; that
of the Flemish. In the use of his pencil, Jacopo may be said to have
pursued two different methods. The first of these is much softened with
a fine union of tints, and at last determined with free strokes. The
second, resulting in a great measure from the other, was formed by
simple strokes of the pencil, with clear and pleasing tints, and with a
certain command, or rather audacity of art, that, nearly viewed, appears
a confused mixture, but forms in the distance an enchanting effect of
colouring. In both of these he displays the originality of his own
style, chiefly consisting in a certain soft and luscious composition. It
partakes at once of the triangular and the circular form, and aims at
certain contrast of postures; so that if one of the figures is in full
face, the other turns its shoulders; and at the same time at a kind of
analogy, so that a number of heads shall meet in the same line, or in a
want of these, some other form elevated in the same direction. In regard
to his lights, he appears partial to such as are confined to one part,
and displayed masterly power in rendering it subservient to the harmony
of the whole; for with these rare lights, with the frequent use of
middle tints, and the absence of deep obscure, he succeeded admirably in
harmonizing the most opposite colours. In the gradation of lights he
often contrives that the shadow of the interior figure shall serve as a
ground for one more forward; and that the figures should partake of few
lights, but extremely bold and vivid at their angles; as for instance,
on the top of the shoulder, on the knee, and on the elbow; for which
purpose he makes use of a flow or sweep of folds, natural to all
appearance, but in fact highly artificial, to favour his peculiar
system. In proportion to the variety of his draperies, he varies the
folds with a delicacy of judgment that falls to the share of few. His
colours every where shine like gems; in particular his greens, which
display an emerald tinge peculiar to himself. Whoever would become more
familiar with the mechanism, and at the same time peruse a very full
analysis, of Bassano's style, may refer to Sig. Verci, the able
historian of the Marca Trevigiana, who drew it up from the _MS.
Volpati_, cited by us in another epoch, and in the index to the writers.
At the outset Jacopo aspired to a grandeur of style, which is apparent
from some of his pictures remaining in the facade of the Casa Michieli.
Among these, a Samson slaying the Philistines meets with much praise,
and indeed they all partake of the boldness of Michel Angiolo. But,
whether the result of disposition or of judgment, he afterwards confined
himself to smaller proportions, and to subjects of less power. Even the
figures in his altarpieces are generally less than life, and so little
animated, that it was observed by some one, that in Tintoretto even his
old men were spirited, but that the youths of Bassano were mere dotards.
We do not meet with any of that noble architecture in his paintings,
that adds so much dignity to those of the Venetian School. He appears
rather anxious to find subjects in which to introduce candlelight,
cottages, landscape, animals, copper vessels, and all such objects as
passed under his eye, and which he copied with surprising accuracy. His
ideas were limited, and he often repeated them, a fault to be attributed
to his situation, it being an indisputable fact, that the conceptions
both of artists and of writers become enlarged and increased in great
capitals, and diminish in small places. All this may be gathered from
his pictures produced for private ornament, the most familiar occupation
of his life, inasmuch as he executed very few large altarpieces. He
conducted them at leisure in his studio, and, assisted by his school, he
prepared a great number of various dimensions. He then despatched them
to Venice, and sometimes to the best frequented fairs, thus rendering
the number so very great, as to make it rather a disgrace for a
collection not to possess copies by his hand, than an honour to have
them. In these may be viewed, almost invariably, the same subjects;
consisting of acts of the Old and New Testament; the Feasts of Martha,
of the Pharisee, of the Glutton, with a splendid display of brazen
vessels; the Ark of Noah, the Return of Jacob, the Annunciation of the
Angel to the Shepherds, with great variety of animals. To these we may
add, the Queen of Sheba; the three Magi, with regal pomp of dress, and
the richest array; the Deposition of our Lord from the Cross, by
torchlight. His pieces upon profane subjects exhibit the sale of beasts
and of brazen vessels; sometimes rural occupations, corresponding to the
seasons of the year; and sometimes without human figures, merely a
kitchen, furniture, a fowl yard, or similar objects. Nor is it only the
histories or the compositions themselves that recur in every collection
to the eye; but even countenances taken from individuals of his own
family; for instance, arraying his own daughter either as a Queen of
Sheba, or a Magdalen; or as a villager, presenting fowls to the infant
Jesus. I have likewise seen entire pieces, with the title of the _Family
of Bassano_, sometimes in small size, and sometimes in larger. Of the
former, I remarked a specimen in Genoa, in possession of Signor Ambrogio
Durazzo, where the daughters of the painter are seen intent upon their
feminine occupations, a little boy playing, and a domestic in the act of
lighting a candle. One of the second kind may be seen in the _Medicean
Museum_, a picture which represents an academy of music.
By this method he seemed to confess the poverty of his imagination,
though he derived from it a very remarkable advantage. By dint of
continually repeating the same things, he brought them to the utmost
point of perfection of which they were susceptible; as we may gather
from his picture of the Nativity of our Lord, placed at San Giuseppe, in
Bassano; the master not only of Jacopo, but in point of force of colours
and the chiaroscuro, of every thing that modern painting has to boast.
The same is seen in his Burial of Christ, at the Seminario of Padua, a
picture of which an engraving was taken by order of Madame Patin, among
the portraits of celebrated painters; having met with no other that
seemed to breathe such a spirit of pity and holy terror. Finally, in his
Sacrifice of Noah, at Santa Maria Maggiore in Venice, in which he
collected specimens of all the birds and animals he had drawn elsewhere,
he preserved the same character; and by this production so far won the
regard of Titian, that he wished to purchase a copy for the ornament of
his own studio.
Hence it happens, that the works of Bassano, conducted at a certain age
and with singular care, are estimated very highly, and purchased at
large sums, though not altogether exempt from some errors of
perspective, from some awkwardness of posture, and some fault in
composition, particularly in point of symmetry. Indeed it was the
general belief, that he possessed little practical skill in designing
the extremities, thus avoiding, as much as lay in his power, the
introduction of feet and hands into his pictures. These accusations,
with others before alluded to, might be greatly extenuated by producing
such examples of Bassano as would fully prove, that he could, when he
pleased, draw much better than he was accustomed to do. He knew how to
vary his compositions, as we perceive in his Nativity, at the Ambrosiana
in Milan; and he might as easily have varied his other pieces. He was
capable also of conceiving with equal novelty and propriety, as we
gather from his San Rocco, at Vicenza; and he might thus have shone on
other occasions. Moreover, he knew how to draw the extremities, as
appears from his picture of S. Peter, at Venice, adorning the church of
the Umilta; and he could give dignity to his countenances, as in his
Queen of Sheba, which I have seen in Brescia; and he might have
displayed the same dignity in other pieces. But whether he found such a
task too irksome, or from whatever other cause, he displayed his powers
rarely; content with having arrived at his peculiar method of colouring,
of illuminating, and of shading, with a sovereign skill. So universally
was he admired, that he received innumerable commissions from various
courts, and an invitation to that of Vienna. What is more honourable,
notwithstanding his defects, he extorted the highest praises, if not
from Vasari, from many of the most renowned artists; from Titian, from
Annibal Caracci, who was so much deceived by a book painted upon a
table, that he stretched out his hand to take it up; and from
Tintoretto, who commended his colouring, and in some measure wished to
imitate him. Above all, he was highly honoured by Paul Veronese, who
entrusted him with his son Carletto, for a pupil, to receive his general
instructions, "and more particularly in regard to that just disposition
of lights reflected from one object to another, and in those happy
counterpositions, owing to which the depicted objects seem clothed with
a profusion of light." Such is the flattering testimony given by
Algarotti to the style of Jacopo da Ponte.
Bassano educated four of his sons to the same profession, which thus
became transmitted to others, so that the Bassanese school continued for
the length of a century, though still declining and departing fast from
its primitive splendour. Francesco and Leandro were the two members of
Jacopo's family best disposed to pursue his footsteps, and he was
accustomed to pride himself upon the inventive talents displayed by the
former, and the singular ability of the latter for portrait painting, Of
his two other sons, Giambatista and Girolamo, he used to observe, that
they were the most accurate copyists of his own works. All of these,
more especially the two latter, were instructed by their father in those
refinements of the art he himself practised, and they so far succeeded,
that many of their copies, made both during and after the lifetime of
their father, very frequently imposed upon professors, being received
for the originals of Jacopo. The whole of them, however, produced
original works, and Francesco the eldest, having established himself in
Venice, gave ample proof of it in those histories drawn from Venetian
records, which he painted for the Palazzo Grande. They are placed near
those of Paul Veronese, and appear to advantage even in such
competition. His father here assisted him with his advice; himself
attending upon the spot, and instructing him where he found occasion,
how to add force to his tints, to improve his perspective, and to bring
the whole work to the most perfect degree of art. His pencil may be very
clearly traced in that of his son, as well as his style, which in the
opinion of critics is somewhat too much loaded, especially in his
shades. Francesco, likewise, produced several beautiful altarpieces, in
which, on the other hand, he appears less vigorous than his father; as
may be seen in his Paradiso, at the Gesu, in Rome, or in his San
Apollonio, at Brescia, one of the most beautiful pieces in the church of
S. Afra, and much admired by foreigners. And he would have achieved
still greater things, had he not been afflicted with severe fits of
melancholy, such as to deprive him of the use of his faculties and his
time, until he was driven by sudden desperation to throw himself from a
window, and, by this accident, still in the prime of his days, he lost
his life.
The works which he left imperfect in the Ducal Palace, and in other
places, were completed by Leandro, the third son of Jacopo, and a
professor in high repute. He followed the same maxims in the art, except
that by his practice in portrait taking, he acquired more originality of
countenance; and in the use of his pencil approaches nearer to the first
than to the second style of Jacopo. He is, moreover, more variable in
it, and inclines somewhat to the mannerism of his age. One of his best
performances perhaps, is to be seen at San Francesco, in Bassano; Santa
Caterina crowned by our Lord; amidst various saints, distributed upon
the steps of the throne, with figures larger than customary in the
Bassanese school. His pictures likewise of the Resurrection of Lazarus,
placed at the Carita; and of the Nativity of the Virgin, at Santa Sofia;
besides others he produced at Venice, as well as for the state, are
distinguished by their large proportions. If familiar with the father's
productions, we may often detect domestic plagiarisms in Leandro; who
often repeats the family of da Ponte, copied in innumerable pieces by
Jacopo, by his sons, and by their descendants. Even in his pictures for
private ornament, conducted according to his own style and fancy, he was
fond of adopting paternal subjects and examples; being skilful in
drawing animals of every kind from nature. But nothing proved so
favourable to his reputation, both in Italy and throughout Europe, as
the immense number of his portraits, admirably executed, and not
unfrequently with a certain original fancy, both for private persons and
for princes. Those that he executed for the Imperial Palace were
particularly relished; insomuch that he received an invitation from
Rodolph II., to accept the place of his court painter; an honour which
Leandro thought fit to refuse. He was more ambitious of enjoying fame at
Venice than at Vienna; for the Doge Grimani, the better to obtain a
noble portrait of himself, had already created him his cavalier. And
Leandro supported his dignity with an imposing demeanour: he lodged,
dressed, and maintained his table in a noble manner. He appeared in
public ornamented with a collar of gold, and with the insignia of St.
Mark, accompanied by a train of disciples, who dwelt at his house. One
of these bore his gold cane, another the repertory, in which he noted
down all that was to be done during the day. The same were bound to
attend upon him at table; and as he was suspicious of poison, he was
accustomed, like the great, to have his tasters, who took something of
every dish he eat; but they were ordered not to taste much, as in such
case the great man became little, and gave rise to much mirth. Like his
brother, he was subject to fits of melancholy, but he contrived to
manage them so well, as only to give birth to comic, never to tragic
scenes.
Giambatista da Ponte, is a name almost unmentioned in history; nor is
there any production attributed to him, besides an altarpiece in Gallio,
with his name, and which by some writer has been given, from its style,
to Leandro. Girolamo, the last of the family, is better known by an
altarpiece which he conducted in Venice, after the composition of
Leandro, as well as for others executed in Bassano and its vicinity. He
cannot be denied a certain graceful air in his countenances; and in some
of his works, displaying the simplest composition, very graceful
colouring. Such is his picture of S. Barbara, adorning the church of S.
Giovanni, at Bassano, where the saint is seen between two upright virgin
figures, with their eyes fixed upon heaven, where the holy virgin is
represented in the usual manner of the times.
Not only was Jacopo attached to the soil and very walls of his native
country, from which no prospects of honour or of profit could tempt him
away; but he liberally granted his instructions to his fellow citizens,
which both his sons and their family continued after his decease. The
best disciple whom they produced, was Jacopo Apollonio, the offspring of
Jacopo's daughter. Though only acquainted with the two least celebrated
of his uncles, he made rapid progress in his art, a case in which he may
be compared to certain writers, who have wholly made use of their native
dialect, without mingling it with any of a foreign growth. In like
manner he is _Bassanese_ in his ideas, in his draperies, in his
architecture, and more than all, in his landscape, which he touched with
a master's hand. He might easily at times be mistaken for the real
Bassani, were he not inferior to them in the vigour of his tints, in the
delicacy of his contours, and in the strokes of his pencil. Some of his
best works consist of a Magdalen, seen in the Dome of Bassano, a San
Francesco at the Riformati, which present fair examples by which to
judge of his style. Yet above all, his picture of the Titular with
various other saints at San Sebastiano, is one of the most exquisite
finish, and possesses every estimable quality in the art, except that of
softness. Some have considered him the only artist among the disciples
of this school worthy of commemoration. Yet the natives of Bassano set
some store by two brothers named Giulio and Luca Martinelli, very
estimable scholars of Jacopo. They also hold in some esteem Antonio
Scaiario, son-in-law to Giambatista da Ponte, as well as his heir, owing
to which he sometimes signs himself _Antonio da Ponte, Antonio Bassano_.
Nor do they omit the name of Jacopo Guadagnini, the offspring of a
daughter of Francesco da Ponte, who acquired some merit in face
painting, and in copying, however feebly, the works of his ancestors.
Upon his decease in 1633, every vestige of the manner and of the school
of Jacopo became extinct in Bassano. There nevertheless arose about the
same period in Cittadella, a place adjacent to Bassano, a young genius
of the name of Gio. Batista Zampezzo, who, directed by Apollonio, and
having concluded his studies at Venice, devoted himself to copying the
works of Jacopo. So well did he imitate his Santa Lucilla baptized by
San Valentino, a piece at the Grazie in Bassano, that Bartolommeo
Scaligero pronounced it comparable with the original. He flourished
about 1660;[66] and subsequent to him appeared the noble Gio. Antonio
Lazzari, a Venetian, who succeeded in deceiving the most skilful
artists, says Melchiori, by dint of copying Jacopo, and passing for him.
It will not have been irksome, I trust, to my readers, thus to have
connected together a series of the school of Bassano, by aid of which
the copies taken by so many artists, at different periods, and with
various degrees of merit, may be better distinguished.[67]