shall find that these also have produced many memorable artists. The
Friuli will occupy but little of our attention, boasting few masters,
and none of them distinguished for their figures. Pio Fabio Paolini, a
native of Udine, studied at Rome, where he produced in fresco his San
Carlo, which adorns the Corso, and was united to the academy there in
1678. Returning thence into his own country he painted several
altarpieces and other minor pictures, such as to entitle him to a high
place among the followers of Cortona. Giuseppe Cosattini, born at the
same place, and canon of Aquileja, devoted himself to the same pursuit,
and rose into so much estimation as to be declared painter to the
Imperial Court. He particularly distinguished himself by his picture of
San Filippo, preparing to celebrate mass, painted for the Congregation
of Udine; the work of a real artist not of a dilettante, as he appears
in some other of his paintings. Pietro Venier, a disciple of the
Venetian artists, displayed some merit in his oil pieces, not uncommon
at Udine; and more in his frescos in the ceiling of the church of San
Jacopo, where he appears to great advantage. But the best painter of
frescos in these later times, amongst his countrymen, was Giulio
Quaglia, a native of Como. From his age and style I should suspect that
he belonged to the school of the Recchi, although his design is less
finished than that of Gio. Batista Recchi, the head of that family of
painters. It would appear that he visited Friuli young, towards the
close of the last century, and there he conducted works, for the most
part, in fresco, to an amount that almost defies enumeration. His
histories of our Saviour's Passion, ornamenting the chapel of the Monte
di Pieta at Udine, are held in high estimation, although he conducted
works upon a much larger scale, for various halls of many noble
families, in all which we trace a fecundity of ideas, a decision of
pencil, a power for vast compositions, sufficient to have distinguished
him in his age not only in the limits of Como but at Milan. I omit the
names of those professors of the art who merely designed without
colouring, or who never attained to mature age; and those of a few
others I have to reserve for foreign schools, and for different branches
of painting.
Proceeding towards the Marca Trevigiana, I meet with an artist's name
that has been claimed by different schools of Italy, according to the
place in which he painted, or studied, or gave instructions in the art.
For this reason I have judged it best to speak of him as connected with
his native place, which boasts a sufficient number of his works. This
artist is Sebastiano Ricci, which the Venetians write Rizzi, one who can
be reckoned second to none among the professors of our own epoch, in
point of genius for the art, and the taste and novelty of his style. He
was born in Cividal di Belluno, educated, as we have observed, by
Cervelli at Venice, and afterwards conducted by his master into Milan;
he there acquired, both from him and from Lisandrino, every thing that
was of importance in the pursuit of his profession. Thence he went to
study at Bologna and at Venice, subsequently transferring his residence
to Rome and Florence. Lastly he made the tour of all Italy, employing
his pencil wherever he received commissions, at any price. Having
acquired reputation, and being invited by different potentates, he
passed into Germany, England, and Flanders, in which last country he
perfected his style of colouring, which had been always very pleasing
and spirited, even in his first attempts. From his acquaintance with
such a variety of schools, he stored his mind with fine images, and by
dint of copying many models, his hand became practised in different
styles. In common with Giordano he possessed the art of imitating every
manner; some of his pictures in the style of Bassano and of Paul,
continuing yet to impose upon less skilful judges, as in the instance of
one of his Madonnas at Dresden, for some time attributed to Coreggio.
The chief advantage he derived from his travels was, that on having
occasion to represent any subject, he was enabled to recollect the
manner in which different masters might have treated it, availing
himself of it without plagiarism accordingly. Thus the Adoration of the
Apostles at the Last Supper, a piece adorning the church of Santa
Giustina at Padua, betrays many points of resemblance to the painting on
the cupola of San Giovanni at Parma, while his San Gregorio at San
Alessandro in Bergamo recalls to mind one by Guercino, executed at
Bologna. The same method he observed in his scriptural histories,
produced for SS. Cosmo and Damiano, which are preferred to any others he
conducted in Venice, or perhaps in any other parts, and which frequently
present us with fine imitations, but never with plagiarisms. He did not
early acquire a good knowledge of design, but he afterwards succeeded in
this object, which he cultivated with extreme assiduity in the
academies, even in mature age. The forms of his figures are composed
with beauty, dignity, and grace, like those of Paul Veronese; the
attitudes are more than usually natural, prompt, and varied, and the
composition appears to have been managed with truth and with good sense.
Although rapid in the handling, he did not abuse his celerity of hand,
as so many artists have been known to do. His figures are accurately
designed, and appear starting from the canvass, most frequently coloured
with a very beautiful azure, in which they shine conspicuous over all.
Such pieces as he conducted in fresco, still preserve the native
freshness of their tints; while some of his others seem to have
suffered, owing to the badness of the grounds, or of the body of colour,
which was weaker in the later than in the earliest Venetian artists. The
amenity of Ricci's style soon procured for him disciples, in the list of
whom Marco, his nephew, greatly distinguished himself, and subsequently
devoting himself to the composition of landscape, he accompanied his
master upon his travels, employing himself a good deal, both at Paris
and in London. Gasparo Diziani, his fellow countryman, was an artist who
excelled in his facility of painting large theatrical works, and in that
line was employed in Germany. He was, moreover, a very pleasing composer
of pictures for private ornament, several of which are now to be met
with in the collections of the Sig. Silvestri and Sig. Casalini at
Rovigo. Francesco Fontebasso, a pupil also of Bastiano, succeeded,
notwithstanding some degree of crudeness, in acquiring celebrity in his
day, both in Venice and the adjacent cities.
In the Guide of Padua Rosetti includes, in the list of its painters,
Antonio Pellegrini, as being the son of one of its citizens, who had
established himself, however, at Venice, where Antonio was born. And the
Venetians, indeed, may concede him to that city without much sacrifice
of fame. For the surprising success he met with in some of the most
civilized kingdoms of Europe, is to be attributed to the decline of the
art, and to the lively and mannered style he assumed, which found a
welcome reception in all parts. He may be pronounced an artist of some
ingenuity, facility, and sprightly conception; but he was by no means
well grounded in the art; and he expressed his ideas with so little
decision, that the objects which he represents sometimes appear to float
in a kind of half-existence between visible and invisible. He was so
very superficial a colourist, that even in his own times it was said his
productions would not continue to last during a half century. And, in
truth, those I have seen at Venice and at Padua are already become
extremely pallid; while such as he executed at Paris will, doubtless, be
in the same state. Yet in that city he obtained a large sum in the year
1720, for merely painting a frieze in the celebrated hall of the
Mississippi, which he executed in about six weeks. His best work is,
perhaps, to be found at San Moise, consisting of the Serpent of Bronze,
erected by Moses in the Desert; no other equal to it having issued from
his studio.
As the preceding one is considered the last of the Paduan artists of any
note, we may mention, as the last among those of Bergamo, at least of
any merit in composition, Antonio Zifrondi, or Cifrondi, pupil to
Franceschini. Indeed he greatly resembled the former in his natural bias
for the art, in an imagination adapted for great compositions, in
facility and rapidity of hand, to such a degree as to dash off a picture
in two hours. He likewise passed into France, though without meeting
with success, and then resided in his native place, employing himself
for those churches that are adorned with so many of his pictures, few of
which are free from errors of over haste and carelessness. Thus he did
not scruple at the church of S. Spirito, to place near his picture of a
Nunziata, conducted in his best style, three other historical pieces of
quite an opposite character. We meet with his name mentioned more than
once, in the Lettere Pittoriche, with much commendation. Several other
artists, whose names are to be met with in Tassi, and his continuator,
are known to have flourished at the same period. Nor ought we, by any
means, here to omit that of Vittore Ghislandi, who, though little
skilled in works of invention, yet in his portraits, and some of his
heads, in the way of capricci, has almost equalled in our own times the
excellence of the ancients. He was instructed in the art by Bombelli,
and by dint of very assiduous study, particularly in the heads of
Titian, in order to develop his whole artifice, he attained a degree of
perfection that is truly surprising. Whatever can be esteemed most
desirable in a portrait painter, such as lively features, natural
fleshes, imitations of the most varied drapery, to make a distinction in
dresses; these constitute a portion of his merits. The Carrara
collection, above any other, may boast of several, distinct both in
point of age and costume; and though surrounded by very select pictures
from every school, and though mere portraits, they fail not to attract
and surprise us. Less celebrated than many others, he is nevertheless an
artist whose productions would do no discredit to any palace. One more
generally known, however, is Bartolommeo Nazzari, pupil to Trevisani in
Venice, and afterwards under Luti, and the other Trevisani, he perfected
himself at Rome. Finally he established himself at Venice, though he
continued to visit various capitals, both of Italy and of Germany,
invariably extolled, as well for his portraits of princes and of their
courtiers, as for his heads of old men and youths, drawn from life, very
fancifully dressed and ornamented.
Pietro Avogadro was a Brescian, and the scholar of Ghiti, who adopted
the models of Bologna, imitating them without affectation, adding some
mixture of Venetian colour, more particularly in his ruddier fleshes.
The contours of his figures are correct, his shortenings pleasing and
appropriate, and his compositions very judicious; the whole expressing
great harmony and beauty. Next to the three leading artists of this
city, he is entitled to the fourth place, at least in the esteem of
many. Perhaps his masterpiece is to be seen in the church of San
Giuseppe, representing the Martyrdom of the saints Crispino and
Crispiniano. Andrea Toresani was also a Brescian, who flourished at the
same period; excellent in design, with which he ornamented the cities of
Venice and Milan more than his native place. His chief merit, however,
lay in an inferior branch, that of painting animals, sea views, and
landscapes in the Titian manner, often accompanied with figures in
tolerably good taste.
Having taken a hasty view of the other cities of the state, we must
dwell some little while on that of Verona, which, from the beginning of
the century, until the present time, has enjoyed a high degree of
reputation. Though ravaged by the plague, we have already seen how it
again flourished, with the aid of other Italian schools, to which we
might add that of the French, inasmuch as Louis Dorigny, a Parisian, and
pupil of Le Brun, arriving in Italy at an early age, devoted himself to
the study of Roman and Venetian models. He established himself at
Verona, where, having for some time employed his talents, and obtained
several pupils, he died in the year 1742. He also left works behind him
in Venice, the most esteemed of which adorns the church of San
Silvestro, as well as in other cities, both of the state and of all
Italy. He resided likewise with Prince Eugene in Germany.
There was another foreigner, who, about the same period, became a
resident at Verona. His name was Simone Brentana, a Venetian, well
versed in literature, as well as in the information necessary to form an
artist. He devoted himself with extreme assiduity to the works of
Tintoretto, whom he emulated in his pictorial enthusiasm, which scarcely
permitted him to bestow sufficient time upon the completion of his
labours. In his forms and colouring he partakes of the Roman manner of
his time, and displays something extremely novel and original in his
compositions. His pictures were sought after to adorn the galleries of
sovereigns, no less than for private persons. Several are to be met with
in the churches of the state, and in that of S. Sebastiano at Verona is
one representing the Titular Saint, well drawn, without drapery, in the
act of consummating his Martyrdom, while an angel is supporting him in
his arms, a figure both in aspect and in attitude extremely graceful.
Girolamo Ruggieri, an artist born at Vicenza, was pupil to Cornelio
Dusman of Amsterdam, and having established himself at Verona, he there
produced several history pieces, landscapes, and battle scenes, in the
Flemish style.
Approaching the Veronese artists and their neighbours, some of them will
be found to have flourished in the beginning of the century, whose
merits deserve to be here recorded. One of these is Alessandro
Marchesini, pupil to Cignani, of whom there remains little exhibited in
public at Venice, and not much at Verona. He chiefly employed himself
for private persons, with fables and histories, consisting of small
figures, in which he succeeded, though having addicted himself to these
compositions as a trade, he despatched them with more facility than
care. In similar little pieces Francesco Barbieri also displayed the
most merit, an artist called il Legnago, from his native place. An
imitator of Ricchi, and in some measure of Carpioni, he displayed great
pictorial enthusiasm in every kind of history, in capricci, and in rural
views; but he was inferior in point of design, having applied himself to
it too late in life.
Antonio Balestra of Verona was at first devoted to a mercantile life,
until at the age of twenty-one, after studying in Venice under Bellucci,
and thence passing to Bologna, and afterwards to Rome, under Maratta, he
selected the best from every school, uniting a variety of beauties in a
style of his own, which partakes least of all of the Venetian. He is an
artist of judgment and high finish, well versed in design, of a rapid
hand, lively and animated, but always with a solidity of talent that
makes us respect him. He taught in Venice and in the college of La
Carita, where he painted the Nativity of our Lord, and the Taking down
from the Cross, while he competes equally well with the first artists of
his time in other places. Commissions from foreign courts and the cities
of the state, never allowed him to be idle. He was particularly employed
at Padua in an altarpiece for the church del Santo, representing Santa
Chiara. He painted also a good deal for his native place; his picture of
San Vincenzo at the Domenicans,[89] being one of the finest altarpieces
he ever produced, and one of the best preserved, for his method of
colouring with boiled oils has been found injurious to many of his
pieces. Such as he painted, however, in oil less boiled, have better
resisted the effects of time. Many of these figures are in possession of
the Conti Gazzola, ornamenting one of their halls, and in particular a
very beautiful one of Mercury. He promoted the reputation of the
Venetian School, both by his lectures and example, besides affording an
excellent imitator in Gio. Batista Mariotti, and in his pupil Giuseppe
Nogari, a painter of portraits, as well as of half-length figures, held
in much esteem, insomuch as to recommend him, for a great length of
time, to the service of the court of Turin. In pieces of composition,
such as his San Piero, placed in the cathedral of Bassano, he appears a
respectable artist, and somewhat ambitious of reconciling his master's
style with that of Piazzetta. Another Venetian of the name of Pietro
Longhi, first instructed by Balestra, and afterwards by Crespi, aimed at
pleasing the eye in collections, by those humourous representations of
masks, of conversazioni, landscapes, &c. which we find in various noble
houses. Angelo Venturini, also a Venetian, is mentioned in the Guida of
Zanetti, for his paintings in the church of Gesu e Maria, of which he
adorned the ceiling, and various portions of the walls. Another pupil of
Balestra's, in Verona, was Carlo Salis, who approached very near his
style, more particularly in the handling of his colours. He prosecuted
his first studies in Bologna, under Giuseppe dal Sole. Some of his
pictures are also to be met with in the state, such as his San
Vincenzio, in the act of administering to the sick at Bergamo, a piece
finely mellowed, and more than commonly spirited. An artist named
Cavalcabo, a native of a district in Roveredo, was instructed by
Balestra, and afterwards by Maratta. In the choir of the Carmine at his
native place, he left behind him a very beautiful altarpiece,
representing the Holy Simone Stoch, with four lateral pieces of great
merit. For a more particular account of these and other works by this
artist, we may refer the reader to his life, written by the Cavalier
Vannetti.
The whole of the names, however, we have here mentioned, scarcely
excepting that of Balestra himself, have been thrown into the shade by
the talent of the Conte Pietro Rotari. He was honoured with the title of
painter to her court, by the empress of all the Russias, and in her
dominions he closed the period of his days. This very elegant artist,
who devoted many years to the art of design, succeeding in attaining a
grace of feature, a delicacy of outline, united to a vivacity of motion
and expression, and to a natural and easy mode of drapery, that would
have left him second to none of his age, had he possessed, in an equal
degree of perfection, the art of colouring. But his productions often
partake so much of the chiaroscuro, or at least of a strong ash colour,
as to render them remarkable among all. Some, indeed, have attributed
this defect to want of clearness of sight, while others conjecture it
must have been owing to his long practice in design, previous to his
attempting colours, in the same manner as Polidoro da Caravaggio and the
Cavalier Calabrese are known to have failed as colourists, falling like
him into a weak and languid tone. The education he received from
Balestra may also have tended to produce it, as both he and the
disciples of Maratta were somewhat addicted to a certain duskiness of
style, which we may particularly observe in several examples seen at
Naples, where he resided for some time. Whatever it be owing to, there
still prevails a repose and harmony in that melancholy expression of his
colouring, that is far from unpleasing, in particular where he affords
somewhat warmer touches to his tints. This he appears to have done in
his picture of a Nunziata at Guastalla, in that of San Lodovico in the
church del Santo at Padua, and in a Nativity of the Virgin at San
Giovanni, in the same city. This last specimen, indeed, is almost
unequalled in its attractions, and seems to authorize the praises
bestowed upon Rotari by a poet, "that he resembled his fellow citizen
Catullus in being nursed by the Graces," a species of eulogy applicable
also to Balestra and to other Veronese artists.
Santo Prunati was contemporary with Marchesini and Balestra, and after
receiving the instructions of Voltolino and Falcieri in Verona, he
attended those of Loth in Venice. Better to acquire superior correctness
and dignity of manner, he next proceeded to Bologna. In that school he
found the taste in colouring that he wanted, at once soft and natural.
In the design, and in the expression of his heads, he displays more of
the naturalist, if I mistake not, than any of those who preceded him. He
was engaged also for larger compositions, in which he distinguished
himself, both in his own district and elsewhere, and left behind him a
son named Michelangiolo, who pursued, as far as lay in his power, the
footsteps of his father. In the cathedral of Verona, however, is one of
his pictures, placed near the San Francesco di Sales of his father,
which serves to mark the wide difference that exists between them.
In the same school, along with Michelangiolo, studied Gio. Bettino
Cignaroli, an artist instructed also by Balestra. Until about the year
1770 he ranked among the first of his time, receiving very flattering
invitations from foreign courts, to which he invariably preferred the
convenience of his own house and country. The prices he was in the habit
of attaching to his works, were, nevertheless, those of a court painter;
and many were executed for the principal royal galleries, as well as for
the cities of the state, and those of other parts of Italy; but which,
we must admit, are by no means of equal merit. I omit his paintings in
fresco, on account of his having abandoned that branch of the art, owing
to his state of health, while yet young, though not until he had
afforded specimens of his powers in the noble house of Labia at Venice,
during a four years' residence there. It is his pictures in oil, of
which we here speak, and to which he owed his great reputation. The one
at Pontremoli, however, representing, as it is said, a San Francesco in
the act of receiving the marks of Christ, and extremely well executed, I
have not seen. His San Zorzi at Pisa stands conspicuous among a number
of excellent pencils, all employed in the ornament of that single
cathedral. Perhaps his finest is his Journey into Egypt, seen at San
Antonio Abate in Parma. In this he has represented the Virgin with the
Holy Child, in the act of passing a narrow bridge, while S. Joseph
appears engaged in assisting them to cross it in safety. In the
countenance and whole action of the saint, his anxiety for them is
strongly depicted, which is beautifully expressed by his disregarding a
part of his mantle, fallen from his shoulders into the water below, an
image equally skilful and natural in every point of view. The rest of
the picture is also in his best style. The angels in attendance, the
Divine Infant, the Holy Virgin, all drawn, as he so well knew how, with
a sedate and dignified beauty, in the usual manner of Maratta. In some
points, indeed, Cignaroli much resembled him; in certain attitudes, in a
peculiar sobriety of composition, in a certain choice and vicinity of
colours, though not in their just and equal tone. His fleshes, too much
mannered with green, in a few places touched with red, render his
colouring less agreeable to admirers of what is true, while his
chiaroscuro, sometimes sought for beyond the limits of nature, is apt to
produce an effect in his paintings, not so pleasing to the judgment as
to the eye. He often displays novelty in the individual parts, availing
himself of architecture, of sea views, and of landscape, in a manner
above common; besides introducing into his compositions, for the most
part of a scriptural character, the playful figures of cherubims, with
other enlivening incidents. This artist was indisputably possessed of a
fine genius, and born in times favourable to the eminence he enjoyed.
Memoirs of him were collected and published by the celebrated Padre
Bevilacqua dell'Oratorio in the year 1771, and eulogies were pronounced
upon him both in prose and verse, by a number of literary characters
connected with that city, so highly polished and so grateful to such of
its citizens as reflect honour upon their native place. A collection of
these was subsequently made, and put forth in the year 1772, and from
such publications it would appear that few artists had received equal
honours, during their lifetime, from the great, particularly from the
Emperor Joseph II., who was used to declare, "that he had beheld two
very rare sights in Verona--one the Amphitheatre, and the other the most
celebrated painter in Europe." He appears, likewise, to have been an
artist of great learning, as well as fond of conversing with learned
men; he was acquainted with philosophical systems, wrote Tuscan poetry,
relished the Roman classics, besides producing treatises upon his own
art, written with so much taste and sound judgment, that we have only to
regret, for the sake of the art he loved, the too sparing use he made of
such talents. The academy, on which he bestowed the whole of his works
upon Painting, after his decease, still preserves his bust along with
his eulogy, a farther honour conferred upon him by the liberality of his
country. He left several pupils, among whom Giandomenico, his brother,
produced some paintings in Bergamo that have been commended by Pasta.
The Padre Felice Cignaroli, Minore Osservante, is an artist likewise
worthy of mention. He painted little, and his masterpiece appears in the
refectory of San Bernardino, his convent at Verona, consisting of a
Supper of Emmaus, in which, though less studied, he displays no less
invention than his brothers.