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THE
HISTORY OF PAINTING
IN
ITALY.
VOL. IV.
THE
HISTORY OF PAINTING
IN
ITALY,
FROM THE PERIOD OF THE REVIVAL OF
THE FINE ARTS
TO THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY:
TRANSLATED
From the Original Italian
OF THE
ABATE LUIGI LANZI.
BY THOMAS ROSCOE.
_IN SIX VOLUMES._
VOL. IV.
CONTAINING THE SCHOOLS OF LOMBARDY, MANTUA,
MODENA, PARMA, CREMONA, AND MILAN.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR
W. SIMPKIN AND R. MARSHALL,
STATIONERS'-HALL COURT, LUDGATE STREET.
1828.
J. M'Creery, Tooks Court,
Chancery Lane, London.
CONTENTS
OF
THE FOURTH VOLUME.
HISTORY OF PAINTING IN UPPER ITALY.
BOOK THE SECOND.
SCHOOLS OF LOMBARDY.
CHAP. I.
MANTUAN SCHOOL.
Page
EPOCH I. _Of Mantegna and his successors_ 5
EPOCH II. _Giulio Romano and his school_ 14
EPOCH III. _Decline of the school, and foundation of
an academy in order to restore it_ 26
CHAP. II.
MODENESE SCHOOL.
EPOCH I. _The old masters_ 32
EPOCH II. _Imitation of Raffaello and Coreggio in
the sixteenth century_ 42
EPOCH III. _The Modenese artists of the seventeenth
century chiefly follow the example of the
Bolognese_ 57
CHAP. III.
SCHOOL OF PARMA.
EPOCH I. _The ancients_ 74
EPOCH II. _Coreggio, and those who succeeded him in
his school_ 79
EPOCH III. _Parmese school of the Caracci, and of
other foreigners until the period of the
foundation of the academy_ 134
CHAP. IV.
SCHOOL OF CREMONA.
EPOCH I. _The ancients_ 148
EPOCH II. _Camillo Boccaccino, Il Soiaro, the Campi_ 163
EPOCH III. _Decline of the school of the Campi.
Trotti and other artists support it_ 182
EPOCH IV. _Foreign manners introduced into Cremona_ 194
CHAP. V.
SCHOOL OF MILAN.
EPOCH I. _Account of the ancient masters until the
time of Vinci_ 206
EPOCH II. _Vinci establishes an academy of design at
Milan. His pupils and the best native artists
down to the time of Gaudenzio_ 238
EPOCH III. _The Procaccini and other foreign and
native artists form a new academy, with new
styles, in the city and state of Milan_ 283
EPOCH IV. _After the time of Daniele Crespi the art
declines. A third academy is founded for
its improvement_ 305
HISTORY OF PAINTING
IN
UPPER ITALY.
BOOK II.
THE SCHOOLS OF LOMBARDY.
After a consideration of the principles and progress of painting in
Lombardy, I came to the conclusion that its history ought to be treated and
arranged in a manner altogether different from the rest of the schools.
Indeed those of Florence, of Rome, of Venice, and of Bologna, may be almost
considered in the light of so many dramas, in which there occurs an
interchange of acts and scenes, for such are the epochs of each school; and
there is also a change of actors, for such are the masters of each new
period; but the unity of place, which is no other than the capital city, is
invariably preserved; while the principal actors, and as it were
protagonists of the story, always continue in action, at least in the way
of example. Every capital, it is true, is in possession of its own state,
and in that ought to be comprehended the various other cities, and the
revolutions in each; but these are in general so nearly connected with
those of the metropolis as to be easily reducible to the same leading law,
either because the state artists have acquired the art in the principal
city, or because they have taught it there, as may easily be gathered from
the history of the Venetian School; while the few who wander out of the
usual routine, cannot be said to infringe greatly upon the unity of the
school and the succession of its histories. But it happens differently in
the history of Lombardy, which, in the happier periods of the art, being
divided into many more districts than it now is, possessed in each state a
school distinct from all the others; enumerated also distinct eras; and
when the style of one influenced that of another, such a circumstance
occurred neither so universally, nor so near in regard to time, as to admit
of the same epoch being applied to many of them. Hence it is, that even
from the outset of this book, I renounce the received manner of speaking
which would mention the Lombard School, as if in itself constituting one
school, in such a way as to be compared for instance with the Venetian,
which in every place acknowledged the sway of its sovereign masters; of the
Bellini first, next of Titian and his noblest contemporaries, and then of
Palma; and moreover established several characteristics of design, of
colouring, of composition, of the use of the pencil, so as easily to
distinguish it from every other school. But in that which is called the
Lombard the case is otherwise. For its founders, such as Lionardo, Giulio,
the Campi, and Coreggio, are too widely opposed to each other to admit of
being brought under one standard of taste, and referred to the same epoch.
I am aware that Coreggio, being by birth a Lombard, and the originator of a
new style that afforded an example to many artists in that part of Italy,
has conferred the name of Lombard School upon the followers of his maxims;
and according to these characteristics the contours were to be drawn round
and full, the countenance warm and smiling, the union of the colours strong
and clear, the foreshortenings frequent, with a particular regard to the
chiaroscuro. But the school thus circumscribed, where shall we find a place
for the Mantuans, the Milanese, the Cremonese, and the many others who,
having been born, and having flourished in Lombardy, and moreover being the
tutors of a long extended line, justly deserve a rank among the Lombards.
From such considerations I have judged it most advisable to treat severally
of each school, enlarging upon them more or less, according as the number
of the professors and the information respecting them may seem to render it
requisite. For the accounts of some of these schools have been already
separately compiled; Zaist having treated of the Cremonese painters, and
Tiraboschi of the Modenese; thus conferring upon artists the same
obligations which he so richly conferred upon the literati in a still
greater work; a rare writer, for whose loss we yet indulge a mournful
recollection. In the rest of the schools I shall be supplied with ample
materials from Vasari, from Lomazzo, and the Guides of the cities, besides
some authors to be cited when requisite, together with my own observations
and sources of information borrowed from different places; whence it is
hoped that the pictoric history of Lombardy, the least known amongst all
the schools of Italy, may by my means have at least some additional light
thrown upon it.
CHAPTER I.
MANTUAN SCHOOL.
EPOCH I.
_Of Mantegna and his Successors._
I shall first commence with Mantua, from which there emanated two sister
schools, those of Modena and of Parma. Were any one desirous of
investigating the most ancient remains that the art of colouring in that
state can boast, he might record the celebrated anthem book, still
preserved at S. Benedetto at Mantua, a gift of the Countess Matilda to that
monastery, which being founded by her long preserved her remains,
transferred during the late century into the Vatican. In this book, shewn
me by the learned and courteous Abbate Mari, are exhibited several little
histories of the life and death of the Virgin, which, notwithstanding the
barbarous period in which they were produced, display some taste, insomuch
that I do not remember having seen any work of the same age at all equal to
it. Upon this subject it may not be useless to observe, that in ages less
uncivilized, and nearer our own, the art of miniature was practised in
Mantua by a great number of professors, among whom is Gio. de Russi, who,
about the year 1455, illustrated for the Duke Borso of Modena, the Bible of
Este, in large folio, one of the rarest specimens of that distinguished
collection. But in regard to pictures, I have been able to discover no
artist who flourished in that place previous to Mantegna; and it is only
some anonymous productions belonging to the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, that can be mentioned as remaining to this day. Of the former
age, I saw in the cloister of S. Francesco, a sepulchre, erected in 1303,
with a Madonna among various angels, all rude and disproportioned figures,
though coloured with such strong and animated tints as to appear truly
surprising. I doubt not but that the revival of painting in Lombardy,
through the genius of its natives, might be fairly proved from the
existence of this monument, as its age is anterior to that of the followers
of Giotto, scattered throughout Italy; besides the style is different. Of
the fifteenth, I have seen another Madonna upon an altar likewise of S.
Francesco; and whoever may have been the author, he has shewn that the art,
even in those days, had already emerged from its infancy, without arriving
at that rank to which the great Andrea Mantegna conducted it, of whom we
have twice already had occasion to speak shortly in the course of this
work; a subject which we now resume, and shall enlarge upon more fully.
Although the honour of having given birth to Mantegna can no longer, as
formerly, be denied to Padua, his school was, nevertheless, established in
Mantua, where, under the auspices of Marchese Lodovico Gonzaga, he settled
with his family, without, however, ceasing to exert his talents elsewhere,
and more particularly in Rome. The chapel which he painted at the desire of
Innocent VIII. in the Vatican still exists, though injured by time; and it
is clear that in the imitation of the antique constantly pursued by him he
greatly improved, through the number of examples to be found throughout the
city. He never varied his manner, which I described when I treated of him
as a pupil of Squarcione in Padua; but he still continued to perfect it.
Several works produced during his latter years are yet extant at Mantua;
and far surpassing the rest is his picture of Victory, painted upon
canvass. Another is the Virgin, amidst various saints, among whom S.
Michele the Archangel, and S. Maurizio, are seen holding her mantle, which
is stretched over Francesco Gonzaga; he is in a kneeling posture, while the
Virgin extends her hand over him in sign of protection: more in the
background appear the two patrons of the city, S. Andrea and S. Longino,
and the infant St. John before the throne, with S. Anna, as is supposed at
least by Vasari and Ridolfi, little exact in their description of this
picture, inasmuch as the rosary held in her hand distinguishes her for the
princess, consort of the Marchese, kneeling at her husband's side. Mantua,
perhaps, boasts no other specimen equally sought after and admired by
strangers; and though produced in 1495, it is still free, in a conspicuous
degree, from the effects of three ages, which it has already survived. It
is truly wonderful to behold carnations so delicate, coats of armour so
glittering, draperies so finely varied, with ornamental fruits still so
fresh and dewy to the eye. Each separate head might serve as a school, from
its fine character and vivacity, and not a few from imitation of the
antique; while the design, as well in its naked as in its clothed parts,
expresses a softness which sufficiently repels the too general opinion,
that the stiff style and that of Mantegna are much the same thing. There is
also an union of colours, a delicacy of hand, and a peculiar grace, that to
me appears almost the last stage of the art towards that perfection which
it acquired from Lionardo. His works upon canvass remind us of that
exquisite taste to which he had been habituated by Squarcione, who supplied
him with pictures of the same kind from various places, and indeed the
whole of the above specimen discovers him to have been an artist who spared
neither his colours nor his time, to produce works that might satisfy his
own ideas, as well as the eye of the spectator.
His great masterpiece, nevertheless, according to the judgment of Vasari,
is the Triumph of Caesar, represented in different pictures, which, becoming
the prey of the Germans in the sackage of the city, were finally sent into
England. They belonged to a great hall in the palace of S. Sebastiano,
"which was completed," says Equicola, an historian of his native place, "by
Lorenzo Costa, an excellent artist, who added to it all that pomp which
used to attend upon a triumph, besides the spectators before wanting." But
these pictures having perished, there yet remain other considerable relics
from the works of Andrea, in a saloon of the castle, entitled by Ridolfi
the _Camera degli Sposi_. We there behold copious productions executed in
fresco, and among them several portraits of the Gonzaga family, still in
good preservation; and some Genii drawn over a door-way, so joyous,
animated, and airy, that nothing can be supposed to surpass them. Among
collections of art we more rarely meet with specimens of him than is really
believed, his genuine hand being recognized, not only by its lightness, by
its rectilinear folds, or by its yellowish landscape, spread with certain
minute and broken little stones; but by the skill of its design and the
delicacy of its pencil. It does not appear that he produced many pictures
for private exhibition, engaged as he was in works of greater magnitude,
and upon many engravings. More than fifty of these last have been
enumerated, for the chief part abounding with figures; labours which must
have occupied a large portion of his best time. But there are some persons,
as I have observed, (vol. i. p. 136,) who would considerably reduce this
number, whether correctly or not posterity will, perhaps, ascertain.
The style of Andrea greatly influenced that of his age, and imitations of
it are to be seen even beyond his school, which was extremely flourishing
in Mantua. We enumerate among his most distinguished disciples Francesco,
and one of his other sons. There is a paper yet extant, in which they
undertake to complete the chamber of the castle just alluded to, of which
their father Andrea had only painted the walls. To these they added the
beautiful vaulted recess. Whoever examines it must confess that the science
of foreshortening, originally attributed to Melozio, was here improved and
nearly brought to perfection by Mantegna and his sons. In the same work
appear several exquisitely drawn infantine figures, under different points
of view, and admirably shortened, so as to lose nothing in comparison with
those of Melozio, though his painting of Paradise, drawn for the church of
SS. Apostoli, was afterwards cut down and placed in the grand Palazzo
Quirinale. The same sons of Mantegna likewise added lateral pictures to an
altar-piece of their father, in a family chapel they had, attached to the
church of S. Andrea; and in the same place they raised a beautiful monument
to his memory in 1517, which has been falsely supposed by some to be the
year of his death, whereas it appears, from many authentic works, that he
closed his days in 1505.
After the death of Mantegna, Lorenzo Costa held the first rank, an artist
of whom we shall treat more at length in the Bolognese School. He adorned
the palace with various histories, and the churches with many of his
pictures, continuing under Francesco to reside in the same place, and
afterwards under Federigo, until beyond the year 1525, in which time he
produced also his picture for his family chapel. There too, like Mantegna,
he wished to have his remains deposited. Following his example, he
established his family in Mantua, where some of his descendants will again
appear at a more modern epoch. But the young Mantegni must be referred to
this more ancient period, and along with them ought to be mentioned Carlo
del Mantegna, who having studied some length of time under Andrea, and
cultivated a complete acquaintance with his style, afterwards introduced
it, as we shall shew, into Genoa. Carlo is supposed to have assisted in the
labours of the palace and the chapel above mentioned, as well as in many
others ascribed to the disciples of Mantegna, among which are two histories
of the ark preserved in the monastery of S. Benedetto at Mantua, where
Andrea's manner appears somewhat more amplified, though boasting less
beautiful forms. But few certain productions of his followers can be fixed
upon, their labours being confounded by connoisseurs, from their
resemblance of their style and name to those of their master. And it has
thus happened in an extremely interesting historical point; for Coreggio
having studied, it appears, under Francesco Mantegna, was believed a
scholar of Andrea, already deceased before Allegri had attained his twelfth
year.
Still more celebrated than the preceding were the names of Gianfrancesco
Carotto and Francesco Monsignori, of Verona. Such was the progress made by
the former, that Andrea was in the habit of sending forth his labours as
the work of his own hand. He was celebrated for his portraits; and for his
composition, equally excellent in large as in small pieces; and he was
employed by the Visconti, at Milan, as well as in the court of Monferrato,
and to a still greater extent in his native place. Although an artist who
flourished at so early a period, in a few of his pictures he might be
pronounced more great and harmonious than Andrea himself; as we may gather
from his fine altar-piece of S. Fermo, at Verona, and from that of his
_Angioli_, at Santa Eufemia, whose side pictures represent two virgins,
very manifestly imitated from Raffaello. He is not to be confounded with
Giovanni Carotto, his brother and his pupil, and very greatly inferior to
him. Francesco Monsignori ought not to be referred to Verona, but to
Mantua, where he established himself, honoured by the Marchese Francesco
with his confidence, and remunerated in the most liberal manner. If this
artist, also, does not exhibit the beautiful forms, and the purity of
design so remarkable in the works of his master, he approaches nearer to
the modern taste; his contours more full, his drapery less trite, and his
softness more finely studied. In his drawings of animals, he was also
considered the Zeuxis of his age; insomuch that he succeeded in imposing
upon a real dog with a copy of the animal. In perspective he was a master;
and in the refectory of the Franciscans, there is a picture of our Lord
amidst the apostles, exhibiting an architecture, which, however much
retouched, does not fail to produce great effect. In the pulpit of the same
church is also a S. Bernardino, with a S. Lodovico, one of his most
beautiful pieces; and elsewhere altar-grades, with figures which appear
like miniature. He had a brother of the name of Girolamo, of the order of
S. Domenico, also an excellent artist. The Last Supper, to be seen in the
grand library of S. Benedetto, copied from that of Leonardo, in Milan, is
from his hand. By many it is esteemed the best copy of that miracle of art,
which now remains to us. I have before treated of several of Andrea's
scholars, natives of Vicenza; and another of Cremona, I shall have to
mention in due time. Yet the entire series of this school will not be
completed with these names, as there are specimens of many unknown artists
executed in fresco, interspersed throughout different places in Mantua.
They are for the most part to be met with on the facades of buildings, and
in the churches; while in several of the galleries we may observe pictures
in oil, which appear to exhibit more of the defects than of the excellences
of a Mantegna.
MANTUAN SCHOOL.
EPOCH II.
_Giulio Romano and his School._
The school of the Mantegni becoming extinct in Mantua, another of a more
beautiful and distinguished character arose, sufficient to excite the envy
even of Rome. Duke Federigo had succeeded to Francesco, a prince of much
enlargement of mind, and so much devoted to the fine arts, that no artist
of common genius would have been equal to execute his ideas. Through the
interest of Baldassar Castiglione, then extremely intimate with Raffaello,
Giulio Romano was prevailed upon to visit Mantua, where he became at once
engineer and painter to Duke Frederic. The duties, however, of the first,
occupied him more than those of the second. For the city having been
damaged by the waters of the Mincio, the buildings being insecure or badly
planned, and the architecture inferior to the dignity of a capital, he was
thus furnished with sufficient materials on which to employ his talents,
and to render him as it were a new founder of Mantua; insomuch, that its
ruler, in a transport of gratitude, was heard to exclaim, that Giulio was
in truth more the master of the city than he himself. The whole of these
works are extensively recorded in different books of architecture. The duty
here required of me is to point out to the reader the originality of this
artist's character; a solitary instance perhaps in history, of one who,
having erected the most noble and beautiful palaces, villas, and temples,
painted and ornamented a considerable portion of them with his own hand;
while at the same time a regular school of his pupils and assistants was
formed in Mantua, which continued for a length of years to do equal honour
to the country and to the city of Lombardy.
We have already considered Giulio, in treating of the Roman School, in the
character of scholar, as well as heir and continuator of the works of
Raffaello; but here he is to appear in that of a master, pursuing the
method of the head of this school, both in teaching and composition. When
he came to Mantua he found abundance of ancient marbles, to which he
continued to add specimens, out of which the statues, the busts, and the
bassi-relievi, still preserved in the academy, are mere relics. To such
materials, collected by the Gonzaghi, he united some of his own. He was
abundantly furnished with designs, as well copied from the antique in Rome,
as executed by the hand of Raffaello. Nor were his own immediate studies
less valuable, no designer having better succeeded in uniting freedom of
invention with selection, rapidity with correctness, a knowledge of fable
and of history with a certain popular manner, and facility in treating
them. Upon the death of his master he began to give a freer scope to his
natural genius, which inclined rather to the bold than to the beautiful,
and induced him more to adopt the experience acquired by many years of
application, than his own knowledge of nature and of truth. He considered
it, therefore, mere amusement to adorn the palace of Mantua, and the great
suburban of the Te, (to say nothing of his numerous other works,) in the
style that Vasari relates, and which is, in part, to be seen at the present
day. So many chambers with gilded entablatures; such a variety of beautiful
stucco work, the figures of which have been removed for the instruction of
youth; so many stories and _capricci_ finely conceived and connected with
one another, besides such a diversity of labours adapted to different
places and subjects, altogether form a collection of wonders, the honour of
which Giulio divided with no other artist. For he himself conceived,
composed, and completed these vast undertakings.
He was accustomed himself to prepare the cartoons, and afterwards having
exacted from his pupils their completion, he went over the entire work with
his pencil, removed its defects, impressing at the same time upon the whole
the stamp of his own superior character. This method he acquired from
Raffaello; and he is commended by Vasari as the best artist known for his
production of distinguished pupils. It was the misfortune of Giulio to have
the touches of his own hand in his labours at the Te, modernized by other
pencils, owing to which the beautiful fable of Psyche, the moral
representations of human life, and his terrible war of the giants with
Jove, where he appeared to compete with Michelangiolo himself in the
hardihood of his design, still retain, indeed, the design and composition,
but no longer the colours of Giulio. In these last his hand will more truly
appear in his War of Troy, preserved at the royal court; in his history of
Lucretia; and in those little cabinets ornamented by him with grotesques
and other ingenious fancies. There we might sometimes pronounce him a
Homer, treating of arms, or sometimes an Anacreon, celebrating the delights
of wine and love. Nor did he employ his powers less nobly in sacred
subjects, more particularly for the dome, which, by commission of the
Cardinal Gonzaga, brother to Federigo, and guardian of his young nephew, he
not only built, but in part ornamented, though his death occurred before he
was enabled to complete his celebrated work. The paintings produced for
other churches by his own hand are not very numerous; such, consisting more
particularly of his Three Histories of the Passion, coloured in fresco, at
S. Marco; of his Santo Cristoforo, in the large altar of that church, in
which he is represented with an uncommon degree of strength, yet groaning
under the burden of the Lord of the Universe, who in the figure of an
infant is borne upon his shoulders; an incident originating in the name
itself of _Cristoforo_. But let us come to the school of Giulio, in Mantua.
It will not occupy many pages; since it did not mix the style of this
artist, as in other places has happened, with foreign styles, being
peculiarly true to its prototype, so that in each countenance we may trace,
as it were, his own exact features, although copied unequally.
In his Mantuan School there appeared several foreigners, among whom
Primaticcio proved the most celebrated; an artist whom Giulio employed to
work in stucco, and whom, on being invited into the service of the king of
France, he sent to that country in his stead. But we shall take no further
notice of him here, having to treat of him more fully in our account of the
Bolognese. The Veronese, who are in possession of a beautiful fresco, in
the Piazza delle Erbe, with the name of _Alberto Cavalli Savonese_, have
supposed this painter a scholar of Giulio, but without any other foundation
beyond a strong resemblance to the style of Pippi, in the naked parts. It
is strange that no other specimen of such a distinguished hand should be
known in Italy, nor any memorial of him, notwithstanding the great
researches that have been made; nor is it very improbable that he also may
have changed his country, and died in foreign parts. Benedetto Pagni from
Pescia had already tried his abilities in Rome, together with Bartolommeo
da Castiglioni, with Paparello da Cortona, and with Gio. da Leone; artists
of whom I know not if there exist any thing beyond the name; while Pagni,
who accompanied Giulio into Mantua, has been as highly esteemed by Vasari
as any other name. From his hand, besides what remains in his native place,
we possess a S. Lorenzo, painted in S. Andrea, at Mantua, which does credit
to such a school. Companion to him in the numerous works of the Te, we find
Rinaldo Mantovano, considered by Vasari the most celebrated painter of the
city, while he laments the untimely termination of his days. His
altar-piece of S. Agostino, at the Trinita, proves him to have been great
even in his youth, so much is the design beyond the expectation of such an
age; and it has by some been pronounced the work of his master. Fermo
Guisoni had a longer career; he painted in the cathedral the Vocation of S.
Pietro and S. Andrea, copied from one of the most beautiful and studied
cartoons of Giulio. Other pieces of his are extant, in part designed by
Bertani, and in part from his own hand. Such is a picture of the
Crucifixion at S. Andrea, which both in point of design and force of
colouring is indeed admirable.
In this series Vasari has omitted to mention several others whom the
Mantuans have enumerated as belonging to the school of Giulio, and as
natives of their country. Among these is a Teodoro Ghigi, a Mantuan, as he
subscribes himself, an excellent designer, and so familiar with the manner
of the leader of his school, that on the decease of the latter, he was
employed in the service of the prince, to complete his labours in the city,
and in the country. Ippolito Andreasi also painted a good deal upon the
cartoons of Giulio, and produced pictures of merit in S. Barbara as well as
elsewhere. There are moreover two frescos in the dome, at the chapel of S.
Lorenzo, attributed to one Francesco Perla; an altar-piece at S. Cristoforo
by Gio. Batista Giacarolo, neither of them greatly celebrated in this
class. Raffaello Pippi was a son of the head of the school; and there only
remains of him the honourable recollection of the very promising efforts of
his youthful genius, cut off in its happiest spring.
Following Giulio, his pupil, the cavalier Gio. Batista Bertani continued to
labour, and to instruct the school. He had accompanied his master to Rome;
he was a great architect, and an excellent writer on the subject, as well
as a painter of no ordinary talent. Assisted by his brother of the name of
Domenico, he ornamented several chambers in the castle of the court; and he
committed various altar-pieces to different painters, in the dome erected
by Giulio, in Sta. Barbara, which is the work of Bertani himself, and in
other churches of the place. To some of these artists he gave his designs.
He was esteemed almost as another Giulio by Duke Vincenzio, though very
inferior to his predecessor. For what Vasari observes of him, that his
knowledge did not equal that of his master, is no less true, than that the
chief part of his own assistants surpassed him. His assistants were Gio.
Batista del Moro, Geronimo Mazzuola, Paol Farinato, Domenico Brusasorci,
Giulio Campi, Paol Veronese; whose works, displayed in that cathedral, do
no less honour to the sanctuary than to the city. Yet let this be said
without the least reflection upon his merit, which, particularly in design,
was undoubtedly very great. This, indeed, we gather from his picture of the
Martyrdom of Sta. Agata, which, executed from the design of Bertani by
Ippolito Casta, approaches much nearer to the composition of Giulio than
other works of Ippolito, drawn from his own invention.
There is reason to believe that Ippolito was of the family of Lorenzo
Costa, together with Luigi, and another Lorenzo, both named Costa, and both
Mantuans. Orlandi states Ippolito to have been a pupil of Carpi. Baldinucci
includes him in the school of Giulio, either from his having frequented his
academy, or in other ways having availed himself of his instructions and
his models; and, indeed, his style betrays no slight traces of them. Lamo,
who wrote an account of the artists of Cremona, describes him to us as a
master, who about 1538 instructed Bernardino Campi; and moreover gives us
reason to suppose that his brother Luigi was likewise initiated by him in
the art. But he proved an inferior artist, and drew his chief celebrity
from his surname. Among the assistants of Taddeo Zuccari, about 1560,
Vasari mentions Lorenzo Costa, a Mantuan; and it seems likely that he
sprung either from Luigi or from Ippolito; and had such name conferred upon
him, as was usual, in memory of Lorenzo Costa, his grandfather, or from
some other relationship to him. We frequently read in the Guide of Mantua,
written by Cadioli, that such a painting is from the hand of Costa, without
giving his proper name; and it appears probable, that pursuing their
labours in the same studio, they may have contracted a sort of family
style, not indeed very correct or learned, but of a practical kind. There
is a pleasing air about the heads, and some care in the colours; for the
rest it is minute; not exact, nor sufficiently shaded; and in fine,
modelled upon the composition of one who aimed at imitating the grace, not
of rivalling the power of Giulio. The Costa are esteemed in Mantua among
the last disciples of the great school; nor do I know of their having
produced any pupil besides Facchetti, who devoted himself altogether to
portraits.
It will here be proper to state that Giulio in imitation of Raffaello gave
rise, by the influence of his taste, to a great number of artificers, who
ornamented other professions. He was possessed of those general ideas of
beauty and proportion, from which he drew his rules for the particular
direction of every work; an enviable distinction of that age, in which the
leading men were at once painters, modellers, and architects, extending
their influence even from the noblest works of art down to vases and plates
of earthenware, and cornices of wood. I am not certain whether Giulio, like
Raffaello, formed the taste of another Gio. da Udine, in drawing fruits and
trees, &c.: but I know that Camillo, a Mantuan, declared by Vasari to be
most excellent in point of landscape,[1] flourished about this period. Some
specimens in fresco still continue to adorn his native place; but he
chiefly produced his works in Venice, in Urbino, and at the ducal palace in
Pesaro, where, in a chamber, since changed into an armour-room, he painted
a grove, executed with so much taste and truth, that it would not be
difficult to number every separate leaf upon the trees. It is certain that
Giulio educated a pupil as his Perino, for his stuccos; and this was,
besides Primaticcio, a Gio. Batista Briziano, commonly called Mantovano,
who likewise became his Marc Antonio, engraving on copper many of the
pictures of his master, as well as of other distinguished artists of his
day. To him ought to be added Giorgio Ghisi, or Ghigi, who flourished at
the same period; and to these succeeded Diana, daughter of Gio. Batista,[2]
celebrated for her fine engravings; and this branch of art, introduced into
Mantua by that eminent artist, continued to prosper there for a long course
of years.
Footnote 1: In the _Life of Genga_.
Footnote 2: She is also called _Civis Volaterrana_, from her
connexion with that city; an instance that ought to be
present to our recollection, when we find that different
writers ascribe different countries to the same painter.
Another branch of the fine arts, that of miniature, seemed to attain its
perfection under one of Giulio's scholars. His name was D. Giulio Clovio,
of Croazia, a regular Scopetine Canon, afterwards becoming a layman by a
dispensation from the Pope. He had first turned his attention to the higher
branches of the art, but Giulio, who saw he possessed a peculiar talent for
diminutive figures, prevailed upon him to apply himself to these; and
taught him the first of any in Rome, the method of applying tints and
colours in gum and water colours, while in miniature he obtained
instructions from Girolamo da' Libri of Verona. He is esteemed at the head
of his profession in this line. In his design he displays a good deal of
study of Michelangiolo, and of the Roman School, though approaching nearer
to the practice of a good naturalist, exquisitely graceful in his colours,
and admirable in his exactness of drawing the minutest objects. Great part
of his labours were undertaken for sovereigns and princes, in whose
libraries may be found books ornamented by him in miniature with such a
degree of truth and spirit, that we appear to view these diminutive objects
rather through some camera-optica, than in a picture. It is related by
Vasari, that in an Office of the Virgin, made for the Cardinal Farnese,
there were figures which did not exceed the size of a small ant; and that
each part was nevertheless distinctly drawn. It is worth while, indeed, to
read the whole description given by that historian of the miniatures there
inserted, in which he likewise selected subjects adapted for a multitude of
figures, such as the procession of the _Corpus Domini_ at Rome, and the
feast of the Monte Testaceo: a labour of nine years, which was distributed
into twenty-six little histories. He produced numerous small portraits
painted for private people; (an art in which he is said by Vasari to have
equalled Titian) besides a few little pictures. These are rarely to be met
with in collections. There is one of the _Deposizione_, in the library of
the Padri Cisterciensi, at Milan, a piece quite original in its
composition, but which breathes altogether the taste of the golden period.
Indeed, I am inclined to be of opinion that Giulio promoted this very study
in Mantua; having myself seen there some exquisite miniatures, though by
unknown hands. It is also worthy of notice, as Vasari remarks, that by
means of Giulio, the art advanced towards perfection, not only in Mantua,
but throughout all Lombardy, (a state which, in the native acceptation of
the term, includes also a portion of the modern Venetian territories). This
we have already in part seen; and in part shall continue to see more
clearly in the course of this history.
MANTUAN SCHOOL
EPOCH III.
_Decline of the School, and Foundation of an Academy in
order to restore it._
Subsequent to the period in which Giulio flourished, the school of Mantua
produced no new names which at all approached the reputation of the first.
The disposition of its sovereigns was always inclined rather to invite
painters of celebrity from elsewhere, with a sure prospect of being
speedily and well served, than to promote the education of their young
subjects in the study of an art, slow in producing fruits, and subject to
rapid decay. We have already recounted a tolerable number assembled by Duke
Vincenzio for the object of ornamenting his churches; of several of whom he
also availed himself for the decoration of the palaces. Antonmaria Viani,
called _il Vianino_, a native of Cremona and a scholar of the Campi, thus
filled the double capacity of an artist and an architect. The frieze
surrounding the gallery of the court presents a specimen of their style,
where, in a ground of gold, are seen a group of most beautiful boys,
painted in chiaroscuro, and playing amidst luxuriant festoons of flowers.
In the same taste of the Campi he produced several sacred pieces; such as
the picture of S. Michele at Sta. Agnese; the Paradiso at the Orsoline; and
subsequent to Duke Vincenzio, he was employed by his three successors, and
died in Mantua, after having established his family in that city.
Not very long afterwards, Domenico Feti from Rome was declared painter of
the same court, an artist of whose education, received under Cigoli, I have
treated elsewhere. Cardinal Ferdinando, succeeding to the dukedom of
Mantua, had brought him from Rome to his own court, where he had
opportunities of improving himself, by studying the finest Lombard models,
along with several of the Venetians. He produced many pictures in oil, for
various temples and galleries; one of which, representing the
Multiplication of Loaves, exists in the Mantuan academy, abounding with
figures rather truly noble than large; but varied, shortened, and coloured
in a very masterly style. A still more copious work was that in the choir
of the cathedral, though his pieces in fresco, like those of Cigoli, have
less merit than those painted in oil. With all the excellence of his
compositions, he has certainly the fault of being too symmetrical in his
groups, which consequently seem to correspond in an exact order, calculated
in architecture to please both the eye and the mind, but by no means so in
painting. His own youthful excesses deprived Venice of this fine genius,
and distinguished ornament of his art, in the very flower of his age. The
names of other artists likewise engaged in the service of the same court,
where a relish for the fine arts seems to have been almost indigenous, were
Titian, Coreggio, Genga, Tintoretto, Albani, Rubens, Gessi, Gerola,
Vermiglio, Castiglione, Lodovico Bertucci, with others of eminent
abilities; some of whom were invited for particular commissions, and others
permanently engaged for a length of time. Thus the city of Mantua became
one of the most richly ornamented in all Italy; insomuch that after
suffering the sackage of 1630, in which the ducal palace was despoiled of
the noble collection, now dispersed abroad, it still can boast, both in
private and public exhibitions, sufficient to engage the curiosity of
cultivated strangers for a period of many days.
The city in the meanwhile was not deficient in native artists of superior
genius, such as Venusti, Manfredi, and Facchetti; all of whom, on account
of their residence in Rome, we have treated of in that school; while in
that of Parma we shall have occasion to insert the name of Giorgio del
Grano, supposed to be of Mantua, and of Andrea Scutellari in that of
Cremona, in which he became fixed. Francesco Borgani is one of those who
resided in his native place, and who adopted a good style from the
paintings of Parmigianino, in which he composed several pictures in S.
Pietro, in S. Simone, in S. Croce, as well as in other places, by which he
deserves to be better known than he now is. This artist flourished until
the latter half of the past century.
Towards the same period Giovanni Canti, while yet young, came from Parma
and settled in Mantua, an artist whose merits, consisting in his landscapes
and battle-scenes, are to be sought for in galleries of art, not in the
specimens of his altar-pieces in churches, which are very inferior. He was
one of those who lay too much stress on their rapidity of hand.
Schivenoglia, whose proper name was Francesco Ranieri, was one of his
scholars, equally distinguished for his battles as for his landscape;
superior to his master in design, but inferior in point of colouring. Next
to him Giovanni Cadioli was considered a good landscape painter, and better
in fresco than in oils. He wrote an account of the pictures of Mantua, and
at the same period was one of the earliest founders and the first director
of the academy for design at that place.
Giovanni Bazzani, a pupil of Canti, was endowed with a higher genius for
the art than his master, and laid a better foundation for excellence by the
cultivation of his mind, by careful study, and by copying from the most
esteemed models. He more particularly directed his attention towards
Rubens, whose footsteps he diligently pursued to the end of his career. He
was long employed in Mantua and in its adjacent monastery, principally in
works of fresco, displaying an easy, spirited, and imaginative character,
in a manner that does credit to his genius. He was universally allowed to
possess uncommon powers, but being crippled and infirm, he was unable to
exhibit them as he wished; and besides, the rapid manner acquired from
Canti, diminished, for the most part, the value of his works.
Giuseppe Bottani of Cremona, educated at Rome under Masucci, afterwards
established himself in Mantua, where he acquired the reputation of a good
landscape painter in the manner of Poussin, and of a good figurist in that
of Maratta. His best pictures are found beyond the confines of the city; in
a church at Milan, dedicated to Saints Cosma and Damiano, is to be seen a
Santa Paola by his hand, taking farewell of the domestics, a piece by no
means inferior to that of Batoni, which is placed at its side. It had been
well for his reputation as an artist had he always exerted himself with
equal care, for in every composition he might have approved himself an
excellent disciple of the school of Rome. His extreme haste, however,
rendered him inconsistent with himself, so that in the city where he
taught, there can hardly be enumerated one or two specimens among the great
number he produced in public, which can at all vie with the Milanese. The
reader may have already learned, in the course of this work, that of all
faults celerity is one of the most fatal to the reputation of artists; the
rock upon which many of the finest geniuses have struck. To few, indeed,
has it been given to produce with rapidity and to produce well.
The academy of Mantua not only still exists, but has been furnished by the
princes of the house of Austria with splendid rooms, with select casts, and
other advantages for the improvement of youth, so as to render it one of
the finest academies in Italy.[3] There have appeared, under the auspices
of Signor Volta, one of its members, compendious notices of the artists of
Mantua, down from the year 1777; an earnest of a more extended work that we
are in hopes of receiving from his able and accomplished pen. With these
notices, as well as others afforded us in conversation with the same
enlightened scholar, we have been glad to enrich the present chapter. Nor
have we failed to keep in view the two Discourses upon the Letters and the
Arts of Mantua, recited in the academy, and afterwards made public by the
Sig. Abate Bettinelli, in which his character, as a fluent orator, and a
diligent historian, in the various notes he has added, appears to equal
advantage.
Footnote 3: Upon the establishment of the Italian republic,
according to what I have recently heard from the learned P.
Pompilio Pozzetti Scolopio, public librarian at Modena, the
academies were reduced to two; the one in Bologna, the other
in Milan; and in the rest of the cities they continue to
exist as schools of the fine arts. To both of these the
government is extremely favourable, as well as to letters,
both very interesting objects of public education. And now,
by the union of the Venetian states, the academy of Venice
is greatly strengthened and increased, established by decree
of the government in the year 1724.