The name of this illustrious painter and architect was Berrettini, and
he was born at Cortona, near Florence, in 1596. At the age of fourteen
he went to Rome, where he studied the works of Raffaelle and Caravaggio
with the greatest assiduity. It is said that at first he betrayed but
little talent for painting, but his genius burst forth suddenly, to the
astonishment of those companions who had laughed at his incapacity; this
doubtless was owing to his previous thorough course of study. While yet
young, he painted two pictures for the Cardinal Sacchetti, representing
the Rape of the Sabines, and a Battle of Alexander, which gained him so
much celebrity that Pope Urban VIII. commissioned him to paint a chapel
in the church of S. Bibiena, where Ciampelli was employed. The latter at
first regarded with contempt the audacity of so young a man's daring to
attempt so important a public work, but Cortona had no sooner commenced
than Ciampelli's disgust changed to admiration of his abilities. His
success in this performance gained him the celebrated work of the
ceiling of the grand saloon in the Barberini palace, which is considered
one of the greatest productions of the kind ever executed. Cortona was
invited to Florence by the Grand Duke Ferdinand II., to paint the saloon
and four apartments in the Pitti palace, where he represented the
Clemency of Alexander to the family of Darius, the Firmness of Porsena,
the Continence of Cyrus, the History of Massanissa, and other subjects.
While thus employed, the Duke, one day, having expressed his admiration
of a weeping child which he had just painted, Cortona with a single
stroke of his pencil made it appear laughing, and with another restored
it to its former state; "Prince," said he, "you see how easily children
laugh and cry." Disgusted with the intrigues of some artists jealous of
his reputation, he left Florence abruptly, without completing his works,
and the Grand Duke could never persuade him to return. On his return to
Rome, he abounded with commissions, and Pope Alexander VII. honored him
with the order of the Golden Spur. Cortona was also distinguished as an
architect. He made a design for the Palace of the Louvre, which was so
highly approved by Louis XIV. that he sent him his picture richly set in
jewels. Cortona was a laborious artist, and though tormented with the
gout, and in affluent circumstances, he continued to paint till his
death, in 1699.
"KNOW THYSELF."
Mario Ballassi, a Florentine painter born in 1604, studied successively
under Ligozzi, Roselli, and Passignano; he assisted the latter in the
works he executed at Rome for Pope Urban XIII. His chief talent lay in
copying the works of the great masters, which he did to admiration. Don
Taddeo Barberini employed him to copy the Transfiguration of Raffaelle,
for the Church of the Conception, in which he imitated the touch and
expression of the original in so excellent a manner as to excite the
surprise of the best judges at Rome. At the recommendation of the
Cardinal Piccolomini, he was introduced to the Emperor Ferdinand III.,
who received him in an honorable manner. Elated with his success, he
vainly imagined that if he could imitate the old masters, he could also
equal them in an original style of his own. He signally failed in the
attempt, which brought him into as much contempt as his former works had
gained him approbation.