Cignaroli, an artist named Giorgio Anselmi deserves best to be put upon
record, and in particular for his painting of the Cupola of San Andrea
at Mantua, ably executed in fresco: at one time he was the pupil of
Balestra. Marco Marcola was an almost universal artist, rapid in his
labours, abundant in his inventions, though I am unable to learn who had
been his master. Tiepolo gave instructions to Francesco Lorenzi,
distinguished both for his frescos and his oils, and always by his
adherence to his master's example. There are various ceilings painted by
his hand in Verona, and Brescia presents a Holy Family, all of which
display an able artist, according to the manner of the age.
In inferior branches of the art, there flourished, during this period,
professors of much repute. The art of drawing in crayons rose to a high
degree of excellence, through the genius of a distinguished lady of the
name of Rosalba Carriera,[90] whose paintings in miniature have been
highly commended by Orlandi. She next proceeded to the use of oils, but
finally devoted her talents to that of crayons. So great was her
progress in this branch that her specimens in point of force were often
equal to oil pieces. They were in much request from the period in which
she flourished, both in Italy and other parts; nor did they merely
please by their clearness and beauty of colouring, but were remarkable
for the grace and dignity of design, with which she animated every thing
she drew. Her Madonnas and other scriptural subjects at once unite
elegance and majesty of manner, while her portraits continued to
increase in value without losing any thing of their truth. We meet with
another excellent portrait paintress in Niccola Grassi, pupil to
Cassana, of Genoa, and a rival of Rosalba. Nor was she unequal to works
of invention, one of the most extensive of which adorns the church of
San Valentino in Udine, where she painted the Assumption in the ceiling,
a fine piece on the large altar, and drew figures for other pictures of
various saints belonging to the Order of the Serviti. Pietro Uberti, son
of Domenico, an artist of mediocrity, is celebrated in the Guida of
Zanetti for his portraits, of which he produced eight, representing the
Avogadori of his times, for the Avogaria or courthouse, which was
considered a very honourable commission, bestowed formerly upon Paolo
de' Freschi, Domenico Tintoretto, Tinelli, Bombelli, artists all
celebrated in the same career. Orlandi bestows great commendation upon
Gio. Batista Canziani of Verona, distinguished likewise in this branch,
and who, on being banished from his native place for an act of homicide,
continued to exercise it with success in Bologna.
I do not recollect to have seen the landscapes of Pecchio in Verona,
though the fine encomium bestowed upon him by Balestra, in one of his
_Lettere Pittoriche_, leads me to hold him in high esteem. In the
adjacent parts at Salo appeared Gio. Batista Cimaroli, a pupil of Calza,
who was much admired, both by foreigners and natives at Venice. Among
landscape painters I find in several galleries the name of Formentini,
the figures of whose pieces were from the pencil of Marchesini. D.
Giuseppe Roncelli of Bergamo is another artist who acquired reputation,
and whose virtues procured for him, from the pen of Mazzoleni, the
honour of a life, while his singular skill in depicting nocturnal
conflagrations, as well as landscapes, induced Celesti to add figures to
them. In Padua the landscapes of Marini were in high repute, to which
Brusaferro likewise added variety with his figures. Still more than
these Luca Carlevaris, an excellent painter of landscape at Udine, rose
into notice, no less distinguished also by his perspectives and sea
views. Public specimens of his labours still remain at Venice, though
not so numerous as in private houses, particularly in possession of the
Zenobri family, who so far patronized his talents as to procure for him
the name of Luca di Ca Zenobrio. To him succeeded the nephew of
Sebastiano Ricci, named Marco, who, pursuing the safe career chalked out
by Titian, and availing himself of the delightful site of his native
place at Belluno, became one of the ablest landscape painters belonging
to the Venetian School. It would be no exaggeration to say that few
before his time distinguished themselves with equal force of truth, and
that those who succeeded him have never equalled him in this respect. In
order to estimate his worth, we are not to consult such landscapes as he
painted for sale and disposed of to dealers; nor those executed in water
colours upon goatskin, which, though very pleasing, are wanting in
solidity. We ought to consult only his oil productions, conducted with
far more care, and more commonly to be met with in England than in
Italy. Indeed he had a much more extended taste than he displayed in his
works. The two brother artists named Valeriano, declared that he had
afforded them the most enlightened views of the art. These were
Domenico, a painter of perspectives, and Giuseppe, a figure painter,
both employed in ornamenting different churches, and more particularly
theatres, in Venice, and indeed throughout Italy and other parts of
Europe. Francesco Zuccarelli passed a great portion of his life in the
city of Venice, an artist already recorded by us among the Florentines,
and by whose example Giuseppe Zais was formed as a landscape painter,
being particularly employed in that branch by the British Consul Smith,
a distinguished patron of youthful genius devoted to the art. In point
of invention he was more varied and copious than his master, but
inferior to him in the mellowness of his tints. He had acquired from
Simonini, who also resided during a long period at Venice, the art of
painting battle pieces, in which he shewed equal skill. But he failed to
sustain either his own dignity or that of his art, and giving himself up
to carelessness and dissipation, he died a common mendicant in the
hospital of Trevigi.
Carlevaris and Ricci are names likewise highly esteemed in architectural
painting. Several specimens of this are to be seen in possession of his
Excellency Girolamo Molin, placed as it were in competition with each
other in one of the halls. If we compare them, the former will appear
somewhat languid and monotonous, although he must be allowed to be an
accurate observer of perspective, and succeeds in harmonizing his
figures well with the picture. The latter, however, displays more
strength, partaking of the erudite taste of Viviano, while the figures
introduced into it by his uncle are full of pictorial fire and
attraction, and greatly add to its worth. But both of these, to use the
language of Dante, were afterwards _cacciati di nido_, driven from their
nest, by Antonio Canal, more generally called Canaletto. Sprung from a
painter of theatres of the name of Bernardo, he embraced the profession
of his father, attaining to a novelty of design, and a promptness of
hand in this branch, that were afterwards of great use to him in
painting innumerable smaller pictures for private ornament. Disgusted
with his first profession, he removed while still young to Rome, where
he wholly devoted himself to drawing views from nature, and in
particular from ancient ruins. On returning into Venice he continued in
like manner to take views of that city, views that nature and art seem
to have vied with each other in rendering the most novel and magnificent
in the world. A great part he drew exactly as he saw them, a pleasing
illusion for the satisfaction of those who were never so fortunate as to
behold the Adriatic Queen with their own eyes. He moreover composed a
great number of inventive pieces, forming a graceful union of the modern
and the antique, of truth and of fancy together. Several of these he
produced for Algarotti; but the most novel and instructive of any, as it
seems to me, is the production in which the grand bridge of Rialto,
designed by Palladio, instead of that which at present is seen,
overlooks the great canal, crowned beyond with the cathedral of Vicenza,
and the Palazzo Chericato, Palladio's own works, along with other choice
edifices, disposed according to the taste of that learned writer, who
has so much contributed to improve that of all Italy, and even beyond
Italy itself. For the greater correctness of his perspectives, Canaletto
made use of the optic camera, though he obviated its defects, especially
in the tints of the airs. The first indeed to point out the real use of
it, he limited it only to what was calculated to afford pleasure. He
aimed at producing great effect, and in this partakes somewhat of
Tiepolo, who occasionally introduced figures into his pieces for him. In
whatever he employs his pencil, whether buildings, waters, clouds, or
figures, he never fails to impress them with a vigorous character,
always viewing objects in their most favourable aspect. When he avails
himself of a certain pictorial license, he does it with caution, and in
such a way that the generality of spectators consider it quite natural,
while true judges only are sensible of its art, an art that he possessed
in a very eminent degree.
His nephew and pupil, Bernardo Bellotto, approached so nearly to his
style, that it is with difficulty their respective pieces are
distinguished. He also visited Rome, though when Orlandi bestowed his
encomiums upon him in his work, he was at Dresden, and it is uncertain
whether he again returned into Italy. Francesco Guardi was recently
esteemed a second Canaletto, his views of Venice having attracted the
admiration not only of Italy but of foreign parts, yet with such persons
alone who are satisfied with the spirit, the taste, and the fine effect
which he invariably studied; as in other points, in accuracy of
proportions, and in judgment as regards the art, he cannot pretend to
vie with his master. Several others likewise excelled in this species of
painting, whose pictures I saw in the Algarotti collection and in other
places; such as Jacopo Marieschi, who was also a good figurist, and
Antonio Visentini, whose views were ornamented with the figures of
Tiepolo and Zuccherelli. Gio. Colombini of Trevigi, pupil to Bastian
Ricci, whose Pecile was the Domenican convent in that place, succeeded
in his perspectives, in giving illusion to the eye, and in the masterly
gradation of the different objects of view. The figures he has
introduced are his own, though he was less skilful in this branch. He
filled that place with his portraits, introducing another family as it
were of painted Domenicans, and not without some appearance of
caricature.
In other minor branches of the art, the flowers of Domenico Levo were
extremely admired. He was pupil to Felice Bigi of Parma, who opened
school in Verona. To his we may add those of one Caffi and a few other
natives, though the most choice collectors pride themselves upon the
specimens of Gaspero Lopez, a Neapolitan. Thus at least he subscribes
himself in one of his most beautiful works, in possession of the Conti
Lecchi at Brescia, where, as well as in the capital, he resided during a
long period. About the middle of the century there appeared one of his
imitators, named in various collections Duramano, an artist somewhat too
much given to mannerism.
Both the flowers and birds of Count Giorgio Durante of Brescia were
eagerly sought after, no less on account of their exact imitation of the
life, than for their taste of composition, and the truly beautiful and
picturesque attitudes in which they were drawn. They are rarely to be
met with beyond Brescia, though several noble Venetian families, and
among these that of Nani, possess a few specimens; but the best,
perhaps, of all is to be seen in the royal court at Turin. The name of
Ridolfo Manzoni is distinguished in the same line of composition; he was
a native of Castelfranco, and several of his little pictures in oil, in
the best taste, are there found in possession of different individuals.
But he derived his chief reputation, as well as profit, from his
miniature productions. In the History of Painting in the Frioul, we meet
with the name of another artist, Paolo Paoletti, a native of Padua. He
passed his early youth in Udine, and was employed for many years in the
house of the Conti Caiselli. Although more particularly celebrated in
his flowers, he drew with great truth all kind of fruits, herbs, fishes,
and game. The family in which he was domesticated possesses quite a
museum of these rarities, and numerous specimens are met with in other
hands, both within and beyond the limits of the Frioul. In his flower
paintings he is compared by Altan even with the celebrated Segers, an
extent of liberality in which I by no means agree.
In the last place we have here to treat of an art that received great
improvement during this century in Venice, an art which, though not
directed to the increase of copies, is nevertheless of some importance
to painting, inasmuch as it favours the duration of ancient productions,
by adopting the most judicious means of preserving and restoring them.
Such methods were more valuable also to Venice than to any other city,
its climate being particularly unfavourable to paintings in oil, owing
to the salts with which the air is impregnated, gradually eating away or
injuring the colours. For this reason the government very judiciously
appointed a number of artists to inspect the public exhibitions, and
watch over the preservation of the paintings which were found inclined
to decay, restoring them without incurring the risk, as it sometimes
happens, of a new one being substituted for an ancient specimen. A
studio for this purpose was opened in 1778, consisting of a large saloon
at the Santi Giovanni e Paolo, the superintendence of which was
entrusted to the care of the learned Peter Edwards, who received the
title of President. The various processes adopted in the restoration of
each specimen are extremely long and tedious, and executed with
surprising accuracy; and in instances where the picture has not suffered
too greatly from the effects of injury or time, it returns with renewed
youth from the studio, calculated to survive the lapse of many more
years.
Other equally useful methods have been adopted by the Republic for the
preservation of the fine models that adorn its churches, in order that
they should not run the risk of being sold and carried away. Hence it is
that the state, even throughout its most diminutive districts and towns,
has been enabled to preserve so many valuable paintings; while, at the
same time, it has furnished provision for its youthful artists, best
calculated to facilitate their improvement. During several centuries the
ancient company of painters, ennobled by the names of distinguished
pupils, continued to flourish; but there was still wanting the sort of
reputation arising from dignity of situation and establishment, from the
number and assiduity of its masters, and from the distribution of
rewards. Since the year 1724 it was decreed, and confirmed in 1766, that
a magnificent academy should be erected, devoted to the fine arts, "upon
the plan," as was further stated, "of the principal institutions in
Italy and throughout Europe." And it forms indeed an object gratifying
to the mind of the most accomplished foreigners, to behold this seat of
art, and to cultivate an acquaintance with its objects and pursuits.
These views of the government have been promoted by the private
individuals of that most splendid body of nobility, an assembly in which
the Abate Filippo Farsetti very liberally distinguished himself, by
presenting the institution with a large collection of paintings, and
casts taken from the finest antique statues. Their successors have
displayed the same kind of spirit, nor do they merely afford students
access to the study of these monuments; but their finest productions, in
every year, are selected according to the judgment of public professors,
and rewarded with all the ceremony and munificence worthy of such an
institution.
Nor have other nobles and gentlemen throughout the city and the state of
Venice been wanting in liberality towards young artists of genius,
enabling them to pursue their studies both at home and abroad, until
they have completed their education. Few contributions indeed confer so
much honour upon families as these; for in addition to the merit of
succouring a fellow creature, and a fellow citizen, there are thus
expectations to be indulged that some genius may rise up capable of
conferring honour upon the arts, and perhaps restoring them to their
ancient merit. We have it in our power to record various instances of
this liberal spirit; we could mention a number of excellent artists who
express their gratitude for the kindness of their patrons, did not the
rule we have laid down for ourselves not to introduce the eulogies of
living artists, in order to avoid occasion of complaint to such as may
be omitted, forbid the enumeration of them. Still I may allude to an
instance of it in another branch of the art, which is very generally
known, and this is the generous encouragement afforded by their
Excellencies Falier and Zulian, to Antonio Canova, the celebrated
sculptor, encouragement to which Rome and Italy are in a great degree
indebted for such an artist. He suffices to convince us, that though
Fortune may indeed deprive our country of her great masterpieces of art,
she cannot destroy the genius capable of reproducing them.
[Footnote 87: Melchiori mentions also with commendation, Gio. Batista,
father of Antonio, and pupil to Vecchia, who had been unable to assist
his son Antonio, left an orphan at a very tender age.]
[Footnote 88: Father Federici mentions also his son Gio. Batista, citing
a fine altarpiece of his at Sorigo, and adds, that he would have become
celebrated, had he not preferred the ease permitted him by a handsome
fortune, to the glory of a great painter.]
[Footnote 89: In the Guide of Verona, of which I availed myself, I only
found one picture by Rotari in the refectory at Santa Anastasia. I
inquired by whom that of S. Vincenzo, which appeared extremely
beautiful, was painted. I received for answer, that it was by Balestra,
but it is in fact from the hand of Rotari, and engraved by Valesi.]
[Footnote 90: Melchiori gives us an account of this lady's master, not
undeserving of being added to the last edition. This was the noble Gio.
Antonio Lazzari, a Venetian, who had talents that rivalled those of
Rosalba in crayons, had not his natural timidity proved a bar to his
fame. In painting also he attempted little of an inventive character,
copying much, and more particularly from Bassano with great success, as
we have observed at page 211.]
END OF VOL. III.
J. M'Creery. Tooks Court,
Chancery-lane, London.
Transcriber's Notes:
Standardized spacing after apostrophes in Italian names and phrases.
Standardized hyphenation.
Retained archaic spelling and punctuation, except as noted below.
Moved footnotes to the end of each chapter.
Other adjustments:
For consistency in the text, standardized 'bassirilievi', 'bassi
rilievi', and 'bassi relievi' as 'bassi relievi'.
Changed 'thereis' to 'there is'
...there is made mention of his...
Changed 'alter-pieces' to 'altarpieces'
...under one of his altarpieces, we read...
Added missing close quotes in Footnotes 21 and 23
...in the library of Pope Pius,"...
...Hoc Bellunellus nobile pinxit opus."...
Added 'in' to ...'in spite of the authority of Vasari'...
Deleted duplicate word 'of'
...a picture of the engravings of Parmigiano...
Changed 'develope' to 'develop'
...sought to develop itself...