addition to Creara, an artist less celebrated; all of whom, on the death
of their master, pursued their studies at Rome. There they imbibed, more
or less, the prevailing style; and all of them occupy a distinguished
rank in the history of the art. Alessandro Turchi, surnamed _Orbetto_,
is, in particular, distinguished among the first of his age; he was
called Orbetto, observes Pozzo, because, when quite a boy, he was in the
habit of guiding an old blind mendicant, either his father, or some
other person. Passeri declares that he derived it from his having a
defect in one of his eyes; which was observable in his left eye, as I am
informed by Signor Brandolese, after having seen his portrait, engraved
after the original, in possession of the Signori Vianelli. Brusasorci,
from certain undoubted symptoms, discovered in him a fine genius for the
art; and, giving him the best instructions, in a few years encountered a
rival, rather than a disciple. Residing afterwards in Venice, under
Carlo Caliari, and thence proceeding to Rome, he formed a style wholly
his own, possessing some strength but more elegance. He established
himself in Rome, where he entered into competition with the followers of
the Caracci, with Sacchi, and with Berrettini; with whom he appears to
advantage in the church of the Concezione, as well as in a few others.
But no city has so many of his pieces in public as Verona, to say
nothing of those he painted for private persons. The family of the
Marchesi Girardini alone, who patronised him and supported him at Rome,
for which we have original letters and documents, possesses sufficient
to enrich several collections, among which it is amusing to trace his
progress from the inferior to the more correct specimens, and from a
lower degree of ornament to the highest. Some, indeed, have ventured to
put him in competition with Annibal Caracci; a comparison that, in other
times, would have created as great a sensation in Bologna as the
celebrated Rape of the Bucket, and one which ought not to be listened
to, indeed, any where. Annibal was a painter worthy of our veneration,
and Turchi succeeded in imitating his design in the "Sisara" of the Casa
Colonna and elsewhere. But he was not so happy in every instance, and,
generally, his naked figures, (which approach, in Annibal, to those of
the ancient Greeks,) are not equal to such as he has thrown into
costume. On the contrary, Passeri, in describing his picture at the
Camaldolesi, in Rome, admits that he did not display _perfect_ taste in
his art, while Pascoli, in his life of Gimignani, says he enjoyed _some_
degree of reputation at Rome; an incautious expression, if I mistake
not, but which at least shews that Turchi is not entitled to a
comparison with Annibal Caracci. Still he exhibits so many attractions,
that he never fails to please us in every subject. He seems to have
aimed at forming an union of various schools, and added to it a certain
originality in giving dignity to the portraits introduced into his
histories, with the most animated, yet the most delicate complexions. He
excelled in the choice and distribution of his colours, among which he
introduces a reddish tint, which much enlivens his pictures, and is one
of the indications by which we may recognise the author. He is said to
have employed exquisite care in the application of his tints, and to
have possessed some secret art, by means of which they continue to
attract the envy of posterity. The truth is, he selected, purified, and
kneaded well his colours, besides consulting chemists upon the subject.
From some pictures we feel inclined to turn away in disgust, so
extremely do the colours resemble the tints made use of by coach
painters; and we have reason to complain of want of refinement in many
instances. But how very few apply themselves seriously to select and
refine their materials, to make experiments, and to analyse those
colours that have been once applied.
At the church of San Stefano, in Verona, there is exhibited his "Passion
of the Forty Martyrs," a work that, in regard to depth of colours and
foreshortening, partakes much of the Lombard; in point of expression and
design, of the Roman; and in its colouring, of the Venetian School. It
is one of the most studied, finished, and animated pieces that he
produced: there is a choiceness in the heads that approaches Guido's;
and a skill of composition, that throws into the background of the
picture a great portion of the multifarious history, as appearing in a
field of vast extent, where his figures are admirably varied, according
to the distances in which they are supposed to appear. Yet he does not
belong to that class of artists who go about in search of personages for
their histories, in order to fill them with figures. On the other hand,
he appears to take more pleasure in introducing an inferior number. Thus
his picture of a Pieta painted for the church of La Misericordia, at
Verona, exhibits only a dead Christ, the Virgin, and Nicodemus; but the
whole so well designed, arranged, and animated, as well as coloured,
that it has been esteemed by many his masterpiece, and is certainly one
of the best paintings in Verona. In that of his Epiphany also, in
possession of the Signori Girardini, of which the rough draft is
preserved in the Casa Fattorini, at Bologna, he is by no means lavish of
his figures; but he succeeded in arraying those of the Magi in so noble
a manner, as to remind us of Titian and Bassano. Turchi died at Rome,
leaving behind him two excellent disciples in Gio. Ceschini, and Gio.
Batista Rossi, called il Gobbino. The first of these produced copies of
his master's works, that had all the appearance of originals. Both
continued to employ themselves at Verona, though declining in importance
and in credit in proportion as they advanced in years.
Pasquale Ottini, the same who, with Orbetto, completed some pictures by
Felice, was a good artist in regard to his forms, and of no common
expression, particularly in the works he conducted after having seen
Raffaello's. Of this we have a striking specimen in the "Slaughter of
the Innocents," placed at San Stefano, although it is subjected to an
unfavourable comparison, being placed opposite to one of the finest
productions of Orbetto. He appears to more advantage, perhaps, at San
Giorgio, where we meet with his picture of San Niccolo, with other
saints, in the best Venetian style of colouring; whereas, in other
instances, his colours are somewhat languid; a defect most probably
arising from time, and unfavourable situations. Finally, he is in high
repute in his own country; and in the learned Alessandro Carli's
_History of Verona_, he is mentioned as approaching the nearest of all,
in point of excellence, to Paul Veronese. Subsequent to him, and not
inferior in talent, we meet with Marc Antonio Bassetti, who, leaving his
fellow pupils, set out, very young, to complete his studies at Venice.
After again joining them, he next transferred his residence to Rome; and
having copied from the best models of both schools, he ultimately
returned to his native place. He is particularly commended by Ridolfi in
the branch of design, in which he was truly great; add to which, he was
an excellent colourist. And he was accustomed to advise those who aimed
at good colouring to return, in the first place, to Venice, and again to
consult the most beautiful productions of the art. There is one of his
altarpieces at San Stefano, in Verona, representing various holy bishops
of the city, all arrayed in their sacred habits, all admirably
contrasted, and in a taste nearly approaching that of Titian, were it
not for the vicinity of Turchi, who seems here again to throw him
somewhat into the shade. He left no succession of the school,[84] nor,
indeed, many works of his own, though they were highly valued. For he
was accustomed to say that painting ought not to be pursued by
journeymen, like a mechanic art, but with the leisure that is bestowed
upon literature, for the sake of the pleasure it affords. It would
appear that Dante adopted almost the same maxim in his poetry, when he
watched for, observed, and encouraged the impressions that nature, the
first guide of all true geniuses, implanted in his spirit.[85] These two
friends met their fate together, dying of the plague in the year 1630,
as well as many other scholars of Brusasorci, mentioned by the
Commendatore del Pozzo. But I omit their names, either because of their
early death, or want of talent to distinguish themselves. Thus, about
the same year, when Orbetto had already established himself in Rome, the
succession of Brusasorci's school ceased in Verona. The disciples of
Paul Veronese, mentioned subsequent to him, Montemezzano, Benfatto,
Verona, and others, died likewise about this period; insomuch that every
trace of the municipal school may be said to have disappeared, and it
was succeeded by a variety of foreign styles.
Indeed, for some time before, the young Veronese artists had become
attached to foreign academies, and several strangers had established
themselves in Verona. Dionisio Guerri had formed, under the direction of
Feti, a very striking and clear style; in himself equal to repairing the
loss of many artists. But he died young, in 1640, leaving few works
behind him, in a great measure dispersed through foreign collections;
and he was much lamented. Francesco Bernardi, called _Bigolaro_,
supposed to have been a native of Brescia, until the Commendatore del
Pozzo proved him to have been of Verona, was an artist educated by the
same master. He exhibited, in his picture of the Titular Saint, at the
church of S. Carlo, seen in the act of attending his infected brethren,
as well as in another piece, a companion to it, all the taste of his
master. But he produced much more for private collections, than for the
public. The Cavalier Barca was an artist who sprung from Mantua, though
he subsequently became a citizen of Verona. It is uncertain whether he
was instructed by Feti. His style is various; and in a Pieta of his,
remaining at San Fermo, he appears a painter capable of producing a good
effect; in other pieces, at the Scala, he abounds with pictorial grace
and beauty, and he is fully worthy of commemoration.
The city of Bologna, likewise, contributed to repair the loss sustained
by Verona of so many artists. Guido and Albani conferred great
obligations, by instructing the Cavalier Coppa (his real name, however,
was Antonio Giarola, or Gerola) who is to be enumerated in the list of
their best disciples, though he is somewhat too loaded in his
composition, and, with a view of catching the sweetness of Guido, became
wanting in strength of colouring. There is one of his Magdalens in the
Desert, however, placed at the Servi, which is full of fine expression.
And in the refectory, also, of the Veronese college, is his Supper of
Emmaus, a picture conducted in the style of the best Venetians. Although
addicted to the style of Guido, he was also considered by Albani as one
of his favourite pupils, who sent him as court painter to the Duke of
Mantua, as we are informed by Malvasia.[86] From the same academy sprung
Giacomo Locatelli, distinguished for several works, chiefly produced for
San Procolo, as well as on account of the merit of some of his pupils.
They rose into notice in the decline of the art, about the close of the
seventeenth century. Andrea Voltolino, a careful but cold painter, was
more fitted to succeed in portraits than in compositions; Biagio
Falcieri, instructed also by the Cavalier Liberi at Venice, possessed
much of the fire and imagination abounding in the Venetian School. Of
this he gave an example in his great picture representing the Council of
Trent, where the figure of St. Thomas, in the act of overthrowing
heretics, appears conspicuous on high, a piece that adorns the church of
the Domenicans. Santo Prunato was instructed by these two professors, an
artist who brought the Veronese School into fresh notice, as we shall
have occasion to observe in the following period.
The school of Moretto continued during this epoch to flourish in
Brescia; _a master exquisitely delicate in his colours, and extremely
diligent, as is evident from his works_. Such is the opinion expressed
by Vasari; but he did not always preserve the same excellence. There is
not the same degree of finish in his disciples, and it was, indeed, too
difficult, while so large a portion of the state put a high value upon
celerity of hand, to pursue more tedious processes. The Brescian artists
who succeeded him, having in part received a Venetian education, the
city abounded in mannerists and the class of _tenebrosi_. Still there
appeared among these some excellent painters. Antonio Gandini and Pietro
Moroni, or Maroni, are enumerated among the pupils of Paul. The former
sometimes imitated Vanni, without neglecting Palma; vast, varied, and
ornate in his compositions, an artist every way deserving of
consideration in the grand history of the Cross, which he painted in the
old cathedral, where his son Bernardino, a poor imitator of his father,
also employed himself. Moroni studied a good deal the works of Titian,
and was one of the most accurate and fine designers the school could, at
that time, boast; nor does he yield to any of his contemporaries in the
strong body, and in the clearness of his colouring. Such at least he
appeared to me at San Barnaba, in his picture of Christ going to Mount
Calvary, when compared with other productions of the same period
exhibited there.
Filippo Zanimberti, pupil to Peranda, and an artist of fine character,
and a fine hand, as well as a very natural colourist, has never been
sufficiently appreciated in Brescia. But in Venice, where he resided
many years, and where he painted with real genius and skill for
different churches, he is very highly esteemed. In Santa Maria Nuova
appears his grand picture of the Manna, so much commended by Ridolfi, by
Boschini, and by Zanetti; though he chiefly seems to have employed
himself in the ornament of palaces. He possessed singular talent for
drawing small figures, and composing fables and histories, which were
eagerly sought after, insomuch that the poet of the Venetian paintings
affirms that whoever possessed Zanimberti's pictures, was sure of his
money.
Francesco Zugni, of Brescia, is mentioned by Ridolfi among the best of
Palma's disciples. He could not compete with him in the beauty of his
forms and attitudes, though he surpassed him in the fulness of his
colouring, and in the spirit in which he conducted his works. These were
for the most part in fresco, and frequently exhibited the perspectives
of Sandrini, an architect of great merit. With him he was employed in
the hall of the Podesta, in that of the Capitano, and in several villas.
He displayed equal excellence in his oil paintings, as we gather from
that of the Circumcision at the Grazie, and from some small figures
adorning one of the choirs, designed and touched with great spirit.
Grazio Cossale, or Cozzale, produced a variety of pieces upon a large
scale, still remaining in his native province. He was gifted with a rich
imagination, and of a character, compared by Cozzando, the historian of
Brescia, to that of Palma; and he indeed appears to have emulated his
facility without abusing it. His picture of the Presentation, which he
left at the church of the Miracoli; his Epiphany at the Grazie, and
other pieces dispersed throughout Brescia, are all calculated to arrest
the eye of the spectator, who must likewise possess little feeling,
should he fail to lament the unhappy fate of so great a man, who fell by
the hand of one of his own sons. Neither in Camillo Rama, Ottavio
Amigoni, nor in Jacopo Barucco, all disciples of Palma, have I met with
any works of equal beauty throughout that city, the last of whom,
indeed, has loaded his pieces with a more than ordinary degree of shade.
Amigoni, who had been pupil to Gandino, likewise held his school, in
which he counted, among other scholars, Pompeo Ghiti, an artist who,
under Zoppo of Lugano, succeeded in improving his manner, or rendered it
at least more powerful. He possessed a rich imagination, excellent in
the art of design, and in his touch similar to, though perhaps not so
strong as the Luganese. Francesco Paglia was a pupil and imitator of
Guercino, and the father of Antonio and Angelo, both devoted to the art.
He was most successful in his portraits, though he painted also
scriptural pieces; one of the most esteemed of which is to be seen at La
Carita. He was excellent in the laying on of his colours, and in
chiaroscuro, but displayed little spirit, while his proportions were
frequently too long and slender. But to describe minutely the manner of
the successors of Ghiti and Paglia, would occupy too much of our space;
such are the names of Tortelli, very spirited in Venetian composition,
of Cappelli, instructed likewise by Pasinelli at Bologna, and by
Baciccio at Rome, along with some others of a more modern character, who
succeeded tolerably in the path marked out by the artists of Bologna,
and a few of whom may be referred to the ensuing epoch.
During the time of Palma and the Venetian mannerists, the art had been
maintained in Bergamo by the successors of Lotto, and of his
contemporaries. We meet with ample commendations of Gio. Paolo Lolmo, a
good artist in diminutive pictures. In the altarpiece of Santi Rocco and
Sebastiano at S. Maria Maggiore, and executed about 1587, not one of his
earliest pieces, he displayed a great partiality for the design of the
fourteenth century; diligent, a minute observer of refinements in
figures, though not sufficiently modern. But there were two excellent
artists, altogether in the modern style, who flourished at the same
period; Salmeggia and Cavagna, who competed with one another in perfect
amity, for many years, in ornamenting their native province. One of them
died in 1626, the other in the following year.
Enea Salmeggia, called Talpino, received instructions in the art from
the Campi at Cremona, and from the Procaccini in Milan; whence
proceeding to Rome, he studied for a period of fourteen years the models
of Raffaello, imitating him during the remainder of his life. Orlandi
and other writers join in extolling his San Vittore, at the Olivetani in
Milan, as well as a few other of his works, observing that they had been
even ascribed to Raffaello. And whoever attentively examines that fine
specimen, will not feel inclined to refuse Salmeggia one of the most
distinguished places in the rank of Raffaello's followers. The clearness
of his contours (sometimes, however, carried to the borders of
littleness) the expression of his youthful countenances, the smoothness
of his pencil and the flow of his drapery, together with a certain
graceful air in the motions and expressions, sufficiently mark him for
an admirer of that sovereign master, however much inferior to him in
point of dignity, in imitation of the antique, and in felicity of
composition. His method of colouring was also different. He affects
greater variety of colours in his draperies; the tints in a large
portion of his works are at present faded; and the shades as in other
pictures of the same period, are much altered. Yet it is probable that
this great artist, as it has been observed of Poussin and of Raffaello
himself, did not always bestow the same degree of care upon his
colouring, satisfied with displaying from time to time his surpassing
excellence in this department. In the church of La Passione at Milan, he
produced his Christ praying in the Garden, as well as his picture of the
Flagellazione, works conducted in his best style. The former of these is
finely coloured in the manner of the Bassani; and the latter, of a more
lofty and animated character, is superior to the other even in force of
colouring. Bergamo boasts other specimens of him, and in particular in
the two great altars of Santa Marta and of Santa Grata. There we meet
with two noble pictures, each of which may boast its separate admirers
who prefer it to the other; and each displays an union of colours, at
once so fresh, clear, and beautiful, that we are never weary of
contemplating them. In both he has observed the same general
composition; the Virgin being represented on high, crowned with a glory,
while below her are seen the figures of several saints; but in the
second, perhaps, he has employed a greater degree of care. Here he has
introduced a splendid variety of shortenings, of attitudes, and of
lineaments; and even inserted the city of Bergamo, with some fine
architecture in the style of Paul Veronese. The figures are arrayed with
extreme care, among which appears a bishop in his sacred paraphernalia,
that serves to remind us of Titian himself. His pictures for private
ornament are rare and valuable, but not sufficiently known beyond his
native province and its vicinity, a circumstance common to many very
excellent artists belonging to all our schools. Italy, indeed, is too
abundantly supplied with distinguished names to admit of the whole of
them being generally known and estimated as they deserve.
The style of Enea was not such as to be easily maintained, without
consulting the great examples of Raffaello as he had done. His two sons,
Francesco and Chiara, although educated by their father, succeeded
rather in imitating his studies and his figures, than in thoroughly
penetrating into the principles of his art. The fruits, however, of a
good education were sufficiently apparent in them; and when placed in
competition with some of their contemporaries, they appear, if not very
animated, at least very sedulous artists, and greatly exempt from the
faults of the mannerists. The city is in possession of many of their
public works; in some of the best of which their father is supposed to
have afforded them his assistance.