Upon this point it is much to be regretted, that the Cavalier Mengs did not

obtain a sight of some paintings in fresco, executed by Coreggio, as it is

said, in his early youth, during the period he was employed by the Marchesa

Gambara; but which have now perished. For, doubtless, he would thus have

been enabled to throw much light upon the subject; and at least I could

have wished that he had met with two pictures produced by Antonio in his

native place, though but recently discovered, as in these, perhaps, he

might have detected that sort of middle style, which is seen to exist

between his St. Antony and his St. George at Dresden. The first of these

has been called in question by Tiraboschi, on the ground of there being no

authentic document assigning it to Coreggio; though I think it ought to be

admitted as his, until stronger arguments, or the authority of experienced

professors of the art, compel us to deny it. This picture was formerly

placed in the chapel of _La Misericordia_, and very old copies of it are

still preserved in many private houses at Coreggio. It represents a

beautiful landscape, together with four figures of saints, St. Peter, St.

Margherita, the Magdalen, and another, most likely St. Raimond, yet

unborn.[18] The figure of St. Peter bears some resemblance to one of

Mantegna, in his Ascension of St. Andrew, just alluded to; while the wood

and the ground are extremely like that master's composition. This fine

piece was much damaged by the lights, or, as some suspect, by the varnish,

purposely laid on, in order, by decreasing its value, to prevent its being

carried away; but, on the contrary, it appears for this very reason to have

been removed from the altar, and a copy substituted, in which the last of

the above figures was exchanged for one of St. Ursula. The original

afterwards came into the possession of Signor Antonio Armanno, one of the

best connoisseurs at this time known, in respect to the value of

engravings, as well as of other productions of our best artists, which he

has likewise, in a singular degree, the art of restoring even when much

defaced. So in this instance, by the most persevering care, during a whole

year, he at length succeeded in removing this ugly veil, which concealed

the beauty of the work, now renewed in all its pristine excellence, and

attracting crowds of accomplished strangers to gaze upon its merits. It is

generally allowed to exhibit a softer expression, in the modern style, than

the St. Antony, of Dresden; though yet far distant from the perfection of

the St. George and others, produced about the same time.

Footnote 18: Tiraboschi, p. 257, gives a different account of

it, and appears to confound the original with the copy,

which for a long time has been placed on the altar, also

considerably defaced and discoloured. Respecting this

picture, likewise, we hope we shall be better informed by

the Dottor Antonioli, to whom we here confess our

obligations for much information inserted in this chapter,

obtained from his own mouth upon the spot.

About this period, Allegri painted in the church of the Conventuals, at

Coreggio, what is termed an ancona, a small altar-piece in wood, consisting

of three pictures. It appears certain, that the two altar-pieces already

mentioned, opened the way also to this fresh commission; for from the

written agreement, he seems to have been in his twentieth year, and the

price fixed upon was one hundred gold ducats, or one hundred zecchins,

which proves the esteem in which his talents were held. He here represented

St. Bartholomew and St. John, each occupying one side;[19] while in the

middle department, he drew a Repose of the Holy Family flying into Egypt,

to which last was added a figure of St. Francis. So greatly was Francesco

I. Duke of Modena, delighted with this picture, that he sent the artist

Boulanger with orders to copy it for him; and thus obtaining possession of

the original, he dexterously contrived to substitute his own copy in its

place, a deception which he afterwards repaired by presenting the convent

with some fresh lands. It is believed that it was afterwards presented to

the Medicean family, and by them was given in exchange, to the house of

Este, for the Sacrifice of Abraham, from the hand of Andrea del Sarto. It

is certain that it was to be seen in the royal gallery at Florence, from

the end of the last century, and was there commended by Barri, in his

_Viaggio Pittoresco_, as original. In progress of time, it began to be less

esteemed, because less perfect, perhaps, than some of the masterpieces of

Coreggio, and not long after, assuming another name, it began to be pointed

out by some as a Baroccio, and by others as a Vanni. The same Signor

Armanno, before mentioned, who was the first to recall to mind the copy

remaining at Coreggio, presented us, also, with this hidden treasure. Its

originality, however, was disputed from the first, it being objected, in

particular, that Allegri had depicted the subject upon board, whereas this

Medicean painting was found to be upon canvass. But this doubt was removed

on comparing the work with the copy of Boulanger, made upon canvass; for

certainly if the genuine production were really painted upon board, the

imitator could hardly have succeeded in palming upon the holy brethren one

of his copies upon canvass. The probability of its genuineness is still

greater when we reflect, that no gallery was ever in possession of a Repose

similar to it, so as to have contested with the city of Florence the

possession of the original; so frequent an occurrence, both now and in

other times, with works of art repeated in different places. Besides, the

hand of the master is, in itself, nearly enough to pronounce it genuine; we

see the remains of a varnish peculiar to the author; a tone of colouring

perfectly agreeing with his pictures at Parma; insomuch, that many very

experienced judges of art, and among others Gavin Hamilton, whose opinion

carries great weight, have united in giving it to Coreggio. At the same

time, they admit, that it is a piece partaking of an union of his styles,

during the progress of the second; and if we are careful in comparing it

with his other representation of the Repose, at S. Sepolcro, in Parma,

commonly entitled the Madonna della Scodella, we shall discover much the

same difference as between Raffaello's paintings in Citta di Castello and

those at Rome. Such a distinction was noticed by some very respectable

professors, even during the heat of the controversy, who agreed in

declaring, that the Medicean picture in part resembled Coreggio in his best

manner, and in part differed from it.

Footnote 19: These two saints had already been withdrawn from

the altar, (Tiraboschi, p. 253,) nor does a copy of them

remain at San Francesco. That made by Boulanger is in the

convent, and was evidently produced in haste, and upon a bad

ground; hence it is neither very exact, nor in good

preservation. It is, nevertheless, valuable as throwing

light upon Coreggio's history, and his different styles;

while it also tends to prove, that if the ancona was made of

wood, the picture was made portable, and painted on

canvass.

There are two other pictures of his, mentioned by the Cavalier Mengs, which

may be referred to the same class. One of them is the "_Noli me tangere_,"

in the Casa Ercolani, but which subsequently passed into the Escurial; the

other a picture of the Virgin in the act of adoring the Divine Infant,

which adorns the royal gallery in Florence; both of which he declares are

in a taste which he failed to discover in the most sublime and celebrated

pictures of Coreggio. To these we may add the Marsyas of the Marchesi

Litta, at Milan, with a few other works of Coreggio's, inserted in the

catalogue of Tiraboschi, which is the most copious extant. From such

evidence it must, in short, be admitted, that this artist was possessed of

a sort of middle style, between that which he formed as a scholar and that

which he completed as a master. And we have equal reason for believing what

has been stated respecting Coreggio's having attempted a variety of styles,

before he made choice of the one by which he so greatly distinguished

himself, and thus laid the foundation for his pieces being attributed, as

they have been, to different masters. In fact, his conceptions of the

beautiful and the perfect were deduced in part from other artists, and in

part created by himself; conceptions that could not be matured without much

time and labour; on which account he was compelled, as it were, to imitate

those natural philosophers who try an infinite number of different

experiments to discover some single truth which they have in view.

During a progress thus gradually pursued, and by an artist who in every new

production succeeded in surpassing himself, it is difficult to fix the

precise epoch of his new style. I once saw in Rome a very beautiful little

picture, representing, in the background, the taking of Christ in the

garden; and in the fore part, the youth Joseph, who, in the act of flying,

leaves his mantle behind him; the original of which is in England, and a

duplicate at Milan, in possession of Count de Keweniller; the picture at

Rome bore in ancient character the date of 1505, indisputably false. A more

correct one, however, is to be found upon that of the Marriage of St.

Catherine, in possession of Count Brull, late prime minister to the king of

Poland, which is every way corresponding to the other, remaining at Capo di

Monte; it bears the date of 1517. It is probable, that in this year, when

the artist was just twenty-three, he had already sufficiently mastered his

new style, from the fact of his having about 1518, or 19, produced in Parma

the picture which is still in existence at the monastery of St. Paul. This,

after various disputes, has recently been acknowledged to be "one of the

most grand, spirited, and laboured productions that ever proceeded from

that divine hand;" and it has been illustrated with its real epoch, from an

excellent little work of the celebrated Padre Affo. Such a work, indeed,

confers a benefit upon history. He there explains the manner in which

Coreggio might have imitated the ancients with such advantages only as he

found in Parma; and endeavours to account for the difficulty presented to

us in the silence of Mengs, who, having beheld this very picture, omitted

to mention it among Antonio's other works. We are relieved, also, from

another difficulty in respect to the manner in which a piece representing

the Chase of Diana, abounding with such a variety of loves and cupids,

could have been painted for a holy monastery, accompanied by those profane

representations distributed throughout the same chamber, in various

circular pieces, such as the Graces, the Fates, the Vestals; a naked Juno,

suspended from the heavens, in the method described by Homer, in his

fifteenth book of the Iliad; with other similar objects, still less

becoming the sphere of a cloister. But our wonder will cease when we

reflect, that the same place was once the residence of a lady abbess, at a

time in which the nuns of S. Paolo lived unguarded by grates; in which

every abbess sought to enjoy herself; held jurisdiction over lands and

castles, and, independent of the bishop, lived altogether as a secular

personage, a license in those days extremely general, as is justly observed

by Muratori, in his "Italian Antiquities," tom. iii. p. 332. The above work

was a commission given by a Donna Giovanna di Piacenza, who was then the

superior of the monastery; and whatever degree of learning we meet with in

the painting, and in the devices or conceits, was, most probably,

communicated to the artist by Giorgio Anselmi, a celebrated scholar, whose

own daughter belonged to the same establishment. But we must not allow

ourselves to proceed further in our notice of a dissertation, assuredly one

of the most profound and ingenious that we ever recollect to have read. The

pictures are about to be engraved by the hand of Signor Rosaspina, after

those of S. Giovanni, in which the learned Abate Mazza is at present so

laudably engaged, no less to the advantage of the arts than of his own

reputation.

The vast undertaking, so finely executed by Coreggio, at S. Paolo, obtained

for him so high a name, that the Padri Cassinensi invited him to engage in

the equally extensive one of San Giovanni, entered upon in 1520,[20] and

completed in 1524, as we find mentioned in the books. There, also, in

addition to several minor works, he decorated the tribune, which being

afterwards removed, in order to extend the choir, and rebuilt, was

repainted, as we shall notice elsewhere, by Aretusi. On the demolition of

the tribune, the picture of the Incoronation of the Virgin, the leading

subject in the fresco, was saved, and is now exhibited in the royal

library; and various heads of angels, which in like manner escaped the same

destruction, are preserved in the Palazzo Rondanini at Rome. There are,

now, in the church of San Giovanni, two pictures in oil, placed opposite to

one another, in one of the chapels; one, a Christ taken from the Cross; the

other, the Martyrdom of St. Placidus, both painted on canvass made for the

purpose, like some of the pictures of Mantegna. On the exterior of one of

the other chapels is a figure of St. John the Evangelist, executed in the

noblest manner. And, finally, there is the grand cupola, where the artist

represented the Ascension of Jesus to his Father; the apostles looking on

in mingled veneration and surprise; a production in which, whether we

regard the proportion, and the shortening of the figures, the naked parts,

or the draperies, or gaze upon it as a whole, we must alike confess that it

was an unexampled specimen of the art, in its kind; the terrific Judgment

of Michelangiolo,[21] not having then assumed its place in the Vatican.

Footnote 20: Tiraboschi was unable to discover any certain

work from the hand of Antonio, between the years 17 and 20,

of the same age. This gave rise to the assertion of Vasari's

annotator, that he remained in Rome in quality of

Raffaello's pupil during this interval, and on his master's

death, in 1520, returned to Lombardy. Such a supposition

becomes utterly void, after the above epochs adduced by us.

Footnote 21: It is worth notice, that Ratti, persuaded of

Coreggio's residence at Rome, has availed himself of the

argument of certain figures being borrowed by him from the

Judgment, _before Michel Angiolo had painted it_. Equally

valid is his conjecture, founded upon several figures of

Raffaello's, which he detected in Coreggio, as if these two

artists had never studied from the same book of nature. Such

an opinion is asserted also by Padre della Valle, cited in

our second volume, p. 121. But writers will always be liable

to these mistakes, as long as they pretend to make

discoveries and throw light upon ancient facts, without

adhering to historical dates, and in their conjectures

rather consult novelty and their own vanity than truth. But

this fault, brought into vogue about the middle of the

eighteenth century, has produced no little evil, both in

letters and religion, and surely cannot continue to receive

encouragement at this enlightened period. Let us rather

trust, that the love of truth, never altogether

extinguished, will resume its former influence in the

investigation of historical points, and that one of its

leading objects will be to free both sacred and profane

history from those foolish sophisms that so much obscure

it.

Astonishing, however, as such a production must be allowed to be, it will

still be found to yield the palm to another, which the hand of Coreggio

alone could have rendered superior. This is the celebrated Assumption of

the Virgin, in the cathedral of Parma, completed in the year 1530. It is

indisputably more ample; and in the background the figures of the same

apostles are reproduced, as was customary, expressing feelings of surprise

and piety, though in a manner altogether different from the former. In the

upper part is represented an immense crowd of happy spirits, yet

distributed in the finest order, with a number of angels of all dimensions,

all full of action; some employed in assisting the flight of the Virgin,

others singing and dancing, and the rest engaged in celebrating the triumph

with applause, songs, torches, and the burning of celestial perfumes. In

all, the countenances beam with mingled beauty, hilarity, and triumph; a

halo of light seems to envelope the whole, so that notwithstanding the

piece is much defaced, it is still calculated to awaken such an enchantment

of the soul, that the spectator almost dreams he is in elysium. These

magnificent works, as it has been observed of the chambers of Raffaello,

were calculated to promote the dignity of his manner, and led the way to

that height of perfection he attained in the difficult art of working in

fresco. To estimate it aright, we ought to approach near, to mark the

decision and audacity as it were of every stroke; the parts, that at a

distance appear so beautiful, yet effected by few lines; and that

colouring, and that harmony which unites so many objects in one, produced,

as it were, in sportful play. The renowned artist survived only four years,

subsequent to the completion of the cupola; without commencing, during the

interval, the painting of the tribune, for which he had pledged himself,

and received part of the remuneration, which was afterwards restored to the

revenues of the cathedral by his heirs. It has been conjectured, that the

conductors of the works must, in some way, have given him offence; since

the artist Soiaro, on being invited to paint at the _Steccata_, objects to

it in the following terms: "Not wishing to remain at the discretion of so

many different heads; for you know," he continues to his friend, "what was

said to Coreggio in the dome." Now this, it would appear, must have

consisted of some expressions derogatory to his talents; probably some

words which one of the artificers is said to have applied to the

diminutiveness of his figures: "Ci avete fatto un guazzetto di rane." "You

have presented us with a hash of frogs." Words from a workman, for which

Coreggio might easily have consoled himself, as they did not express the

opinion of the city of Parma.

He died, however, about four years afterwards, at his native place, before

he had completed his undertaking; and without leaving any portrait of

himself which can be considered genuine. Vasari's editor, at Rome, produces

one of a bald old man, little agreeable to our ideas of Coreggio, who died

at the age of forty. It is taken from a collection of designs by the Padre

Resta, which he entitled, the "Portable Gallery," and which both the

Cavalier Tiraboschi and the Padre della Valle mentioned as having been

lost. Nevertheless it exists in the Ambrosian collection, and contains,

among other designs, one which Resta, in the notes added thereto, declares

to be the family of Coreggio, consisting of the portrait of himself, his

wife, and his sons; altogether forming one female and three male heads,

poor, and wretchedly attired. But it betrays evident marks of its want of

genuineness, and not the least in the description of the family; inasmuch

as Antonio is known to have had one son and three daughters, two of whom

appear to have died at an early age. The portrait remaining at Turin, in

the Vigna della Regina, engraved by the very able Valperga, bears an

inscription, in part obliterated by the cornice. Still I contrived to

decypher the words, _Antonius Corrigius, f_--(that is, _fecit_), one of the

first arguments for not admitting it, as some have done, to be a head of

Coreggio. A further one may be derived from the inscription itself being

written in large letters, and in a space occupying the whole length of the

canvass, a method occasionally adopted to explain the subject of the piece,

but never the name of the artist. There was another portrait sent from

Genoa into England, with an inscription upon the back, indicating it to be

that of Antonio da Coreggio, drawn by Dosso Dossi, which is to be found in

the memoirs of Ratti. I have no sort of ground for asserting such a

signature to have been introduced several years subsequent; a plan which

was, and still is frequently adopted, by an accurate imitation of the

ancient characters; I would merely observe, that there was also a

distinguished painter in miniature, of the name of M. Antonio da Coreggio,

who traversed Italy about the time of Dosso, and whose merits I shall treat

of hereafter. Of the portrait taken of Coreggio, by Gambara, in the

cathedral of Parma, it would here be improper to speak, otherwise than as

an idle popular rumour. In conclusion, therefore, I am inclined to admit

the seeming truth of what is advanced by Vasari, that this noble artist

entertained no idea of transmitting his likeness to posterity, not justly

estimating his own excellence, but adding to his numerous other

accomplishments that of a remarkable modesty, conferring real honour upon

our history.

The latest and most perfect style of Coreggio has been minutely analysed by

the Cavalier Mengs, in the same manner as he examined that of Raffaello and

of Titian. And in this famous triumvirate he accorded to him the second

rank, after Raffaello, observing, that this last depicted more exquisitely

the affections of the soul, though inferior to him in the expression of

external forms. In this, indeed, Coreggio was a true master, having

succeeded by his colouring, and yet more by his chiaroscuro, in introducing

into his pictures an ideal beauty, surpassing that of nature, and at the

same time attracting the admiration of the most learned, by an union of art

and nature in its rarest forms, such as they never before beheld. And such

admiration, and such applauses, were in particular bestowed upon his St.

Jerome, preserved in the academy at Parma. Algarotti declares, that he was

inclined to prefer it to any other of his productions; and to exclaim in

his heart: "Tu solo mi piaci!" "Thou alone pleasest me!" Annibal Caracci

himself, upon first beholding this picture, as well as a few others from

the same hand, declares, in the letter already cited to his brother

Lodovico, that he would not even exchange them with the St. Cecilia of

Raffaello, which is still to be seen in the city of Bologna. And it may be

truly said, that the same art that had been carried to such a pitch of

sublimity by Michelangiolo; to such an exquisite degree of natural grace

and expression by Raffaello; and from Titian received such inimitable

perfection in its tones of colouring; displayed in Coreggio such an union

of excellences, as in the opinion of Mengs, carried the whole of these to

their highest point of perfection, adding to all their dignity and truth

his own peculiar elegance, and a taste as captivating to the eye as to the

heart of the spectator.

In design he exhausted not all that depth of knowledge, so conspicuous in

Bonarruoti; but it was at once so great and so select, that the Caracci

themselves adopted it for their model. I am aware, that Algarotti

considered him to be somewhat incorrect in the expression of his contours;

while Mengs, on the other hand, defends him very warmly from such a charge.

Truly, there does not appear the same variety in his lines as is to be

found in Raffaello and the ancients, inasmuch as he purposely avoided

angles and rectilinear lines, preserving, as much as lay in his power, an

undulating sweep of outline, sometimes convex and sometimes concave; while

it is maintained, that his grace results, in a great measure, from this

practice: so that Mengs in uncertainty appears at one time to commend, and

at another to excuse him for it. He is lavish of his praises on the design

of his draperies, on whose masses Coreggio bestowed more attention than on

the particular folds; he being the first who succeeded in making drapery a

part of the composition, as well by force of contrast as by its direction;

thus opening a new path which might render it conspicuous in large works.

In particular, his youthful and infantile heads are greatly celebrated; the

faces beaming with so much nature and simplicity, as to enchant, and to

compel us, as it were, to smile as they smile.[22] Each separate figure may

be pronounced original, from the infinite variety of foreshortenings he has

introduced; there is scarcely a single head that is not seen from a point

of view either above or below; not a hand, not a whole figure, whose

attitude is not full of an ease and grace of motion, beyond example. By his

practice of foreshortening figures upon ceilings, which was avoided by

Raffaello, he overcame many difficulties still remaining to be vanquished

after the time of Mantegna, and in this branch of perspective is justly

entitled to the merit of having rendered it complete.

Footnote 22: This is an expression of Annibal Caracci.

Elsewhere he observes: "This kind of delicacy and purity,

which is rather truth itself than verisimilitude, pleases me

greatly. It is neither artificial nor forced, but quite

natural."

His colouring is allowed to correspond beautifully with the grace and

selection of his design, Giulio Romano having been heard to assert that it

was altogether the best he had ever seen; nor was he averse to the Duke of

Mantua giving the preference to Coreggio above himself, when about to make

a presentation of pictures to the emperor Charles V. Equal commendation is

bestowed upon him by Lomazzo, when he pronounces that, among the

colourists, he is to be considered rather as unique than as rare in point

of merit. No artist before him ever bestowed so much attention upon his

canvass, which, after a slight covering of chalk, received his colours,

both in point of quantity and quality, as we have before stated, from a

lavish hand.[23] In the _impasto_, or laying on his colours, he approaches

the manner of Giorgione, in their tone he resembles Titian, though in their

various gradations, in the opinion of Mengs, he is even more expert. There

prevails likewise in his colouring a clearness of light, a brilliancy

rarely to be met with in the works of others; the objects appear as if

viewed through a glass, and towards evening, when the clearness of other

paintings begins to fade with the decay of light, his are to be seen as it

were in greater vividness, and like phosphoric beams shining through the

darkness of the air. Of the kind of varnish for which Apelles has been so

commended by Pliny, we appear to have no idea since the revival of the art,

or if, indeed, we at all possess it, we must confess our obligations to

Coreggio. Some there have been who could have liked more delicacy in his

flesh tints; but every one must allow, that according to the age and the

subjects he had to deal with, he has succeeded in varying them admirably,

impressing them at the same time with something so soft, so juicy, and so

full of life, as to appear like the truth itself.

Footnote 23: One of the professors being employed in restoring

a piece of Coreggio, analyzed the mode of colouring. Upon

the chalk, he said, the artist appeared to have laid a

surface of prepared oil, which then received a thick mixture

of colours, in which the ingredients were two thirds of oil

and one of varnish; that the colours seemed to have been

very choice, and particularly purified from all kind of

salts, which in progress of time eat and destroy the

picture; and that the before-mentioned use of prepared oil

must have greatly contributed to this purification by

absorbing the saline particles. It was, moreover, his

opinion, that Coreggio adopted the method of heating his

pictures, either in the sun, or at the fire, in order that

the colours might become as it were interfused, and

equalized in such a way as to produce the effect of having

been poured, rather than laid on. Of that lucid appearance

which, though so beautiful, does not reflect objects, and of

the solidity of the surface, equal to the Greek pictures, he

remarks, that it must have been obtained by some strong

varnish unknown to the Flemish painters themselves, who

prepared it of equal clearness and liveliness but not of

equal strength. See vol. i. p. 49.

But his grand and mastering quality, his crowning triumph and distinction

above all other artists known to us, is his thorough knowledge of lights

and shades. Like nature herself he does not present objects to us with the

same force of light, but varied according to the surfaces, oppositions, and

distances; it flows in a gradation insensibly increasing and diminishing, a

distinction essential in aerial perspective, in which he is so great, and

contributing finely to the general harmony. He observed the same principle

in his shades, representing the reflection of colour upon each, in so

delicate a degree, that though using them so abundantly, his shadows are

always varied like nature's, never monotonous. This quality is eminently

conspicuous in his night-piece in the Dresden gallery;[24] and in his

Magdalen, there seen reposing in a cave; a small picture it is true, but

estimated in the purchase at twenty-seven thousand crowns. By the use of

his chiaroscuro he not only gave superior softness and rotundity to his

forms, but displayed a taste in the whole composition, such as had never

been witnessed before. He disposed the masses of his lights and shades with

an art, purely natural in its foundation, but in the selection and effect

altogether ideal. And he arrived at this degree of perfection by the very

same path pursued by Michelangiolo, availing himself of models in clay and

wax, the remains of some of which are said to have been found in the cupola

at Parma not many years ago. It is also currently reported, that while

employed in that city, he engaged the assistance of the famous modeller

Begarelli, whom he conducted thither at his own expense.

Footnote 24: It is more accurately entitled by others the

Opening of Day.

Though excellent in all, in other portions of his art he cannot be

pronounced equally excellent. His conceptions were good, but occasionally

they betrayed a want of unity, representing as he did one and the same

story in different parts. Thus in the fable of Marsyas, in the Palazzo

Litta at Milan, his contest with Apollo, Minerva consigning him over to

punishment, and the punishment itself, are distributed into separate

groups. The same kind of repetition will, I think, be found in the story of

Leda, executed for Charles V. in which the swan is twice brought into view,

proceeding by degrees to familiarize himself with her charms, until in the

third group he wholly possesses her. In fact his inventions, for the most

part, are like the strains of Anacreon, in which the young loves, and in

sacred themes the angels, are introduced under the most agreeable forms and

actions. Thus in the picture of S. George, they are seen sporting about the

sword and helmet of the saint; and in S. Jerome an angel is engaged in

shewing our Lord the book of that great doctor of our holy church, while

another is holding under his nose the uncovered vase of ointment belonging

to the Magdalen. Of his powers of composition we have a proof in the

execution of the cupola, already so highly commended, in which it appears

as if the architecture had been formed for the effect of the painting, so

admirably is this last adapted, and not the production for the place. He

was fond of contrasts, no less in whole figures than their parts; but he

never arbitrarily affected them, or carried them to the extravagant degree

we have since beheld, in violation of all decorum and truth. In force of

expression, more particularly upon tenderer subjects, he stands, perhaps,

without a rival or an example; such is his Magdalen just alluded to, as she

is seen bending to kiss the feet of the Holy Child, with a countenance and

action expressive of all the different beauties, scattered over the works

of many other artists, a sentiment more fully expressed by Mengs: of this

picture we may truly say with Catullus, "Omnibus una omnes surripuit

Veneres." Grief was a passion likewise depicted by him with singular power;

admirably varied according to circumstances in his Dead Christ at Parma,

most heartfelt in that of the Magdalen, profound in the Virgin, and in a

middling degree in the other female face. And though we do not meet with

many examples of a loftier cast, still he could depict the fiercer passions

with sufficient power, as witness the Martyrdom of S. Placidus, in which

piece an executioner is so nobly drawn, that Domenichino avowedly imitated

it in his celebrated picture of S. Agnes.

Finally the costume of his sacred history-pieces is deficient in nothing we

could desire; though in his fables, indeed, he might have improved it, by

adhering, like Raffaello and the moderns, more closely to the ancients.

Thus in his Leda he has represented Juno in the guise of an elderly lady,

full of spite and jealousy, secretly beholding the stolen embraces of her

lord. She approaches in nothing to the antique, either in her countenance

or in her symbols, and hence in the usual interpretations she is considered

as a mere cypher. In the fable of Marsyas, he bears no resemblance to the

Faun; Minerva has no AEgis, nor any other of her usual attributes; while

Apollo is endued neither with the limbs nor aspect which are awarded him at

this day; and so far from boasting of his lyre, he plays upon a violin.

Here again we might adduce a fresh argument for Coreggio having never

visited Rome, where even artists of mediocrity, instructed in a knowledge

of the antique, knew how to avoid similar errors. In him, however, they are

scarcely blemishes, and rather flattering to the name of Coreggio, inasmuch

as they serve more fully to convince us that he partakes not the glory of

his sovereign style with many masters or many assistants, standing great

and alone. Regarded in this view he appears indeed something more than

mortal; and in his presence, as Annibal Caracci truly wrote, Parmigianino

and others of his rank seem to shrink into nothing.[25] But the productions

of this great master are daily becoming more rare in Italy, such are the

prices offered, such is the eagerness of strangers to obtain them, and the

esteem in which he is held. We are still consoled for their loss by several

ancient copies, more especially of his smaller pictures, such as the

Marriage of S. Catherine, the Reposing Magdalen, the Young Man's Escape,

pieces already mentioned; but to which we may add his Christ praying in the

Garden, placed in the Escurial, and his Zingherina, the Gipsey Girl, in the

gallery at Dresden. The most estimable among the old copies are by

Schidone, Lelio da Novellara, Girolamo da Carpi, and by the Caracci, who,

by dint of copying Coreggio's pieces, approached very nearly the style of

the originals; though more in point of design than in skill and delicacy of

colouring.

Footnote 25: His words are, "It is my unalterable opinion that

Parmigianino in no way approaches Coreggio, whose thoughts

and fine inventions are all clearly drawn from himself,

always original. All other artists look out for some

support, some foundations for their efforts taken from other

sources; one to models, one to statues, another to cartoons:

all their productions are represented such as they might

have been, Coreggio's such as they really are." (_See second

Letter to Lodovico, Malvasia_, vol. i. p. 367.)

Hitherto I have treated of the manner of Antonio, and in so doing have

described the manner of his school; not, indeed, that any single artist at

all equalled or approached him, but that all held very nearly the same

maxims, mixed, in some instances, with different styles. The prevailing

character of the school of Parma, by way of distinction likewise called the

Lombard school, is the excellence of its shortenings, like the delineation

of the nerves and muscles in that of Florence. Nor is it any reproach that

its artists, in some instances, have become extravagant and affected in

their foreshortening, as the Florentines in their representations of the

naked limbs: to imitate well is in all places a difficult art. Its

character may further be said to consist in a fine study of the chiaroscuro

and of draperies, rather than of the human figure, in which few artists of

the school can boast much excellence. Their contours are broad, their

countenances selected rather from among the people, than of an ideal cast,

being well rounded, high coloured, and exhibiting those features and that

joyousness esteemed so original in Coreggio, as it has been well remarked

by a professor long resident in Parma. There we have reason to believe that

our artist instructed more pupils than have been recorded by Vasari, to

whose observations and opinions much additional matter has been supplied by

writers of the present age, though doubts continue to prevail respecting

some of his reputed scholars. I shall treat this great master as others

have done in regard to Raffaello, comprehending, within the limits of his

school, all those assistants and others who, educated in different

academies, subsequently attached themselves to his, availing themselves of

his instructions and examples.

First upon the list, therefore, I place his own son, Pomponio Allegri. He

had hardly time to benefit by his father's instructions, or to receive his

earliest rudiments, having lost him at the age of twelve. His grandfather

then took him under his care, until the period of his death, occurring five

years after, when he left a pretty handsome provision for the orphan, who

boasted likewise no common degree of talent. With whom he pursued his

education, however, is not known, whether with Rondani, a faithful disciple

of his father, or with some other of the same school. It is certain he was

a youth of fair abilities, and that with the aid of his father's studies he

acquired some reputation, and established himself at Parma. In the

cathedral there appears, wrought upon a large earthen bason, the story of

the Israelites awaiting the arrival of Moses, to whom the Lord has just

consigned the tablets of the law. Though not very successful as a whole,

the work displays great merit in particular parts; many of the heads are

beautiful, many of the motions spirited, and there are tones of colouring

extremely clear and natural. It was believed that Pomponio had early

abandoned the use of his pencil, disposing of his property in Coreggio, and

afterwards dying in great poverty at an early age. These false or uncertain

reports, however, have been rendered nugatory by authentic documents

brought forward by Father Affo, stating him to have enjoyed, in Parma, high

reputation and honourable public commissions, and confirmed by a public

decree recording him, while the best disciples of the school of Parma were

yet alive, as being _ottimo pittore_.

We now proceed to other artists belonging to the city and state of Modena.

Among these we find the name of Francesco Cappelli, a native of Sassuolo,

who established himself in Bologna, without, however, leaving there any

public specimen of his labours. Most probably he was employed by private

persons, or, as Vedriani is led to conjecture, also by princes; though in

respect to their names he is certainly mistaken. There is an altar-piece in

S. Sebastiano at Sassuolo, commonly attributed to his hand, representing a

figure of the Virgin, with some saints, among which last appears the

Titular, the most noble and conspicuous of the whole, in such fine impasto

and relief, as to be attributed to the pencil of his master.

Another of the school is Giovanni Giarola da Reggio, whose productions

there in fresco are to be seen in the Palazzo Donelli and other places,

though they have perished in Parma. He cannot, however, be pronounced

exempt from the usual negligence of fresco painters in their contours;

still he was much esteemed, while he flourished, for the spirit and

delicacy of his manner. Although epitaphs are by no means the most

desirable sort of testimony to the worth of the deceased, it will be,

nevertheless, worth while to recall that of Giarola, from which, if we

deduct even nine parts of the commendation, the tenth will confer upon him

no slight honour;--"Io. Gerolli, qui adeo excellentem pingendi artem

edoctus fuerat, ut alter Apelles vocaretur;" who had arrived at such a

masterly degree of excellence in this noble art that he was entitled to the

name of another Apelles. To him we have to add a fellow citizen and

namesake of Coreggio, called Antonio Bernieri, sprung from a noble stock,

and who having lost his master at the age of eighteen years, inherited, in

a manner, the appellation of Antonio da Coreggio, thus giving rise to

several historical doubts and inaccuracies. He is enumerated by Landi, and

by Pietro Aretino, among the most distinguished of the miniature painters;

and also mentioned by D. Veronica Gambara, Marchioness of Coreggio. There

is no genuine painting by him, however, in oil, though I have no reason for

refusing him the degree of reputation so general among the miniaturists;

and the portrait at Turin, described in the present volume (p. 101), ought

certainly I think to be attributed to him rather than to Antonio Allegri.

He long flourished in Venice, visited Rome, and died at his native place.

The next I have to add to this list is a name unknown, as far as I can

learn, to history, and one which I only discovered from a beautiful design

I happened to meet with in a collection by Father Fontana Barnabita, a

collection mentioned by me with commendation in my first volume (p. 75).

His name is Antonio Bruno, a native of Modena, and an artist who ably

emulated the genius of Coreggio in his grace, his nature, his

foreshortenings, and his broad lights, though with far less correct a

pencil.

Further, among the scholars of Parma, there remain several who acquired

less fame. A Daniello de Por is mentioned by Vasari in his life of Taddeo

Zuccaro, who, according to his account, received some assistance from

Daniello, more in the way of instructions than example. Yet he records no

other of his productions besides a piece in fresco, to be seen at Vito,

near Sora, where he invited Zuccaro to join him as an assistant; nor does

it appear that he commends him for any thing beyond having acquired from

Coreggio and Parmigianino a tolerable degree of softness of manner. In fact

he must have rather occupied the place of a journeyman than of an assistant

of Coreggio, and I suspect he is the same from whom Vasari obtained some

information respecting this artist, in particular, such as related to his

avarice, which the historian had assuredly no reason either for

disbelieving or inventing. But a superior pupil of the same school will be

found in M. Torelli, called a native of Milan in the MS. of Resta, where he

is mentioned as the companion of Rondani, in executing the Frieze at San

Giovanni in Parma, painted in chiaroscuro. It was taken from the design of

Coreggio, who received likewise the proceeds from the work. It is added by

Ratti, that the first cloister of the same monastery was also adorned with

singular felicity by the same hand.

The names of the following artists all enjoy more or less celebrity in

Italy at the present day; but it is not therefore certain that they were

all the pupils of Coreggio, nor that they all observed the same manner.

Like young swimmers, some of them seem cautious of leaving the side of

their master, while others appear fearful only of being seen to approach

him too nearly, as if proud of the skill they had already acquired. To the

first class belongs Rondani, who was employed along with Coreggio at the

church of S. Giovanni, and to him is chiefly attributed a grotesque

contained in the monastery, assigned to the school of Antonio, though we

may detect some figures of cherubs which appear from the master's hand. Yet

Rondani was accustomed to imitate his master pretty accurately in his

individual figures; and on the exterior of the church of S. Maria

Maddalena, he drew a Madonna, that in want of historical evidence, might

have been attributed to Coreggio. There is also an altar-piece at the

Eremitani, representing saints Agostino and Geronimo, so much in the

Coreggio manner as to be esteemed one of the best pictures in Parma. But

Rondani was unable to reach the grandeur of the head of the school; he is

accused on the other hand of having been too careful and minute in the

accessaries of his art, which we gather, indeed, from one of his frescos in

a chapel of the cathedral, and in general from his other works. They are

rarely to be met with in collections, though I have seen one of his

Madonnas, with a Child, in possession of the Marchesi Scarani at Bologna,

the figure bearing a swallow in her hand, in allusion to the painter's

name; besides the portrait of a man, draped and designed in the Giorgione

taste, at the house of the Sig. Bettinelli in Mantua.

I have already alluded to Michelangiolo Anselmi, in the school of Siena,

and I again prepare to treat of him more fully, from documents since

published, or which I have since read. Upon the authority of these it is

very certain that he traced his family several generations back to the city

of Parma; though he is denominated _da Lucca_, from the circumstance of his

having been born at that place, according to Ratti, in 1591; and he has

been also called _da Siena_, because, as I am inclined to conjecture, he

may have resided and pursued his studies there while young. Resta, in the

MS. I have so frequently cited, contends that he acquired his art from

Sodoma; Azzolini, from Riccio, son-in-law to Sodoma, both of whom are known

to have remained a considerable time at Lucca. There he may have been

instructed in the first rudiments, and afterwards have completed his

studies at Siena, where he produced the altar-piece of Fontegiusta, which

bears no traces of the Lombard style. When practised in the art he returned

to Parma, he was older than Coreggio, and then only capable of improving

his style by availing himself of his advice and example, in the same way as

Garofolo and many others, by the example of Raffaello.

When in the year 1522 Coreggio was engaged to paint the cupola of the

cathedral and the great tribune, Anselmi, together with Rondani, and

Parmigianino, were fixed upon to adorn the contiguous chapels. The

undertaking was never executed; but such a selection shews that he was

esteemed capable of accompanying the style of Coreggio, and his works

sufficiently attest that he became a devoted follower of it. He is full in

his outlines, extremely studied in the heads, glowing in his tints, and

very partial to the use of red, which he contrives to vary and to break as

it were into different colours in the same picture. Perhaps his least merit

consists in his composition, which he sometimes overloads with figures. He

painted in various churches at Parma; and one of the most pleasing of his

productions, approaching nearest to his great model, is at S. Stefano, in

which S. John the Baptist, along with the titular saint, is seen kneeling

at the feet of the Virgin. His largest work, however, is to be met with at

the Steccata, where, upon the testimony of Vasari, he executed the cartoons

of Giulio Romano. But this is disproved by the contract, which assigns to

Anselmi himself a chamber in which to compose his cartoons; nor did Giulio

do more than send a rough sketch of the work to Parma. In collections his

specimens are rare and valuable, although he flourished, to say the least,

as late as the year 1554, in which he added a codicil to his will.

Bernardino Gatti, named from his father's profession Soiaro, of whom I

shall again make mention in the Cremonese School, is an artist, who, in

different countries, left various specimens of his art. Parma, Piacenza,

and Cremona abound with them. He ranks among the least doubtful disciples

of Coreggio, and was strongly attached to his maxims, more especially in

regard to the subjects treated by the hand of his master. His picture of a

Pieta, at the Magdalen, in Parma, that of his Repose in Egypt, at S.

Sigismond, in Cremona, with his Christ in the Manger, at S. Peter's, in the

same city, afford ample evidence of his power of imitating Coreggio without

becoming a servile copyist. No one has emulated him better in the delicacy

of his countenances. His young girls and his boys appear animated with the

spirit of innocence, grace, and beauty. He is fond of whitish and clear

grounds, and infuses a sweetness into his whole colouring which forms one

of his characteristics. Nor does he want relief in his figures, from which,

like the head of the school, he seems never to have removed his hand until

he had rendered them in every way perfect and complete. He possessed

singular talent for copying, as well as for imitating those masters whom he

had engaged to assist. He succeeded to the place of Pordenone, in Piacenza,

where he painted the remainder of the tribune at S. M. di Campagna, of

which Vasari observes, that the whole appeared the work of the same hand.

His picture of S. George, at the same church, is deserving of mention,

placed opposite that of S. Augustine by Pordenone, a figure displaying

powerful relief and action, which he executed from the design of Giulio

Romano, at the request, it is supposed, of the person who gave the

commission. We may form an estimate of his unassisted powers by what he has

left in the churches of Parma, and more particularly in the cupola of the

Steccata. It is an excellent production in every part, and in its principal

figure of the Virgin truly surprising. Another of his pieces representing

the Multiplication of Loaves, is highly deserving of mention. It was

executed for the Refectory of the Padri Lateranensi at Cremona, and to this

his name, with the date of 1552, is affixed. It may be accounted one of the

most copious paintings to be met with in any religious refectory, full of

figures larger than the life, and varied equal to any in point of features,

drapery, and attitudes, besides a rich display of novelty and fancy; the

whole conducted upon a grand scale, with a happy union and taste of

colouring, which serves to excuse a degree of incorrectness in regard to

his aerial perspective. There remain few of his pieces in private

collections, a great number having been transferred into foreign countries,

particularly into Spain.

Giorgio Gandini, likewise surnamed del Grano, from the maternal branch of

his family, was an artist formerly referred to Mantua, but who has since

been claimed by Padre Affo, who traced his genealogy for the city of Parma.

According to the account of Orlandi he was not only a pupil of Coreggio,

but one whose pieces were frequently retouched by the hand of his master.

P. Zapata, who illustrated in a latin work the churches of Parma, ascribes

to him the principal painting in S. Michele, the same which, in the Guide

of Ruta, was attributed by mistake to Lelio di Novellara. It is one

calculated to reflect honour upon that school, from its power of colouring,

its relief, and its ease and sweetness of hand, though it occasionally

displays a somewhat too capricious fancy. How highly he was esteemed by his

fellow citizens may be inferred from the commission which they allotted him

to paint the tribune of the cathedral, as a substitute for Coreggio, who

died before he commenced the task which he had accepted. The same happened

to Gandini, and the commission was bestowed upon a third artist, Girolamo

Mazzuola, whose genius was not then sufficiently matured to cope with such

vast undertakings.

The names of Lelio Orsi and Girolamo da Carpi, I assign to another place,

both of whom are enumerated by other writers in the school of Parma. For

this alteration I shall give a sufficient reason when I mention them. The

last belonging to the present class, are the two Mazzuoli; and I commence

with Francesco, called Parmigianino, whose life, by Father Affo, has been

already written. This writer does not rank him in the list of Coreggio's

scholars, but in that of his two uncles, in whose studio he is supposed to

have painted his Baptism of Christ, which is now in possession of the Conti

Sanvitali, and as the production of a boy of fourteen years of age, it is

indeed a wonderful effort of genius. It is remarked by the same historian

of his life, that having seen the works of Coreggio, Francesco began to

imitate him; and there are some pictures ascribed to him at that period,

which are evidently formed upon that great model. Of such kind, is a Holy

Family, belonging to the President Bertioli, and a S. Bernardino, at the

Padri Osservanti, in Parma. Independently of these, the fact of Francesco's

having been chosen, together with Rondani and Anselmi, to decorate a chapel

near the Cupola of Coreggio, shews, that he must have acquired great

similarity of style, and possessed docility, equal to the other two, in

following the directions of such a master. He had too much confidence,

however, in his own powers, to be second in the manner of another artist,

when he was capable of forming one of his own. And this he subsequently

achieved; for owing to the delays experienced in the above undertaking, he

had time to make the tour of Italy, and meeting with Giulio, in Mantua, and

Raffaello, at Rome, he proceeded to form a style that has been pronounced

original. It is at once great, noble, and dignified; not abounding in

figures, but rendering a few capable of filling a large canvass, as we may

observe in his S. Rocco, at San Petronio, in Bologna; or in his Moses, at

the Steccata of Parma, so celebrated a specimen of chiaroscuro.

The prevailing character, however, in which this artist so greatly shone,

was grace of manner; a grace which won for him at Rome that most flattering

of all eulogies, that the spirit of Raffaello had passed into Parmigianino.

Among his designs are to be seen repeated specimens of the same figure,

drawn for the purpose of reaching the highest degree of grace, in the

person, in the attitudes, and in the lightness of his drapery, in which he

is admirable. It is the opinion of Algarotti, that he sometimes carried his

heads to an extreme, so as to border upon effeminacy; a judgment analogous

to the previous observation of Agostino Caracci, that he could wish a

painter to have a little of Parmigianino's grace; not all, because he

conceived that he had too much. In the opinion of others, his excessive

study of what was graceful led him sometimes to select proportions somewhat

too long, no less in respect to stature than in the fingers and the neck,

as we may observe in his celebrated Madonna, at the Pitti Palace, which,

from this defect, obtained the appellation of _collo lungo_, or long

neck;[26] but it boasted likewise of its advocates. His colouring, also,

evidently aims at grace, and for the most part is preserved moderate,

discreet, and well tempered, as if the artist feared, by too much

brilliancy, to offend the eye; which, both in drawings and paintings, is

apt to diminish grace. If we admit Albano as a good judge, Parmigianino was

not very studious of expression, in which he has left few examples; if,

indeed, we are not to consider the grace that animates his cherubs and

other delicate figures, as meriting the name of expression, or if that term

apply only to the passions, as very abundantly supplying its place. It is,

in truth, on account of this rare exhibition of grace, that every thing is

pardoned, and that in him defects themselves appear meritorious.

Footnote 26: He might have pleaded the example of the ancients,

who in their draped statues, observed similar proportions,

in order to avoid falling into vulgarity. The length of the

fingers was rather subject of praise, as is noticed by the

commentators on Catullus. (See his 44th Ode.) A long neck in

virgins is inculcated by Malvasia, as a precept of the art,

(tom. i. p. 303); and the Can. Lazzarini drew his Madonnas

according to this rule. These observations are all intended

to be applied with that judgment, which, in every art, is

not presumed to be taught, but understood.

He would seem to have been slow in his conceptions, being accustomed to

form the whole piece in idea, before he once handled his pencil; but was

then rapid in his execution. Strokes of his pencil may sometimes be traced

so very daring and decided, that Albano pronounces them divine, and

declares, that to his experience in design, he was indebted for that

unequalled skill, which he always united to great diligence and high

finish. His works, indeed, are not all equally well and powerfully

coloured, nor produce the same degree of effect; though there are several

which are conducted with so much feeling and enthusiasm as to have been

ascribed to Coreggio himself. Such is the picture of Love, engaged in

fabricating his bow, while at his feet appear two cherubs, one laughing and

the other weeping; a piece, of which a number of duplicates, besides that

contained in the imperial gallery, are enumerated, so great a favourite was

it either with the artist or some other person. In regard to this

production, I agree with Vasari, whose authority is further confirmed by

Father Affo and other judges, whom I have consulted upon the subject;

although it is true that this Cupid, together with the Ganymede, and the

Leda, which are mentioned in the same context, (p. 302), have been

positively assigned by Boschini to Coreggio, an opinion that continues to

be countenanced by many other persons.

His minor paintings, his portraits, his youthful heads, and holy figures,

are not very rare, and some are found multiplied in different places. One

that has been the most frequently repeated in collections, is a picture of

the Virgin and Infant with S. Giovanni; while the figures of St. Catherine

and Zaccarias, or some similar aged head, are to be seen very near them. It

was formerly met with in the Farnese gallery, at Parma, and is still to be

seen, sometimes the same, and sometimes varied, in the royal gallery, at

Florence; in the Capitoline; in those of the princes Corsini, Borghesi, and

Albani, at Rome. In Parma, also, it is in possession of the Abate

Mazza,[27] and is found in other places; insomuch, that it is difficult to

suppose that they could all have been repeated by Parmigianino, however old

in appearance. He produced few copious compositions, such as the Preaching

of Christ to the Crowd, which is contained in a chamber of the royal

palace, at Colorno, forming a real jewel of that beautiful and pleasant

villa. His altar-pieces are not numerous, of which, however, none is more

highly estimated than his St. Margarita, at Bologna. It is rich in figures,

which the Caracci were never weary of studying; while Guido, in a sort of

transport of admiration, preferred it even to the St. Cecilia of Raffaello.

His fresco, which he began at the Steccata, is a singular production;

besides the figure of Moses, exhibited in chiaroscuro, he painted Adam and

Eve, with several Virtues, without, however, completing the undertaking for

which he had been remunerated. The history of the affair is rather long,

and is to be found in Father Affo, where it is divested of many idle tales,

with which it had been confounded. I shall merely state, that the artist

was thrown into prison for having abandoned his task, and afterwards led a

fugitive life in Casale, where he shortly died, in his thirty-seventh year,

exactly at the same age as his predecessor Raffaello. He was lamented as

one of the first luminaries, not only of the art of painting, but of

engraving; though of this last I must say nothing, in order not to deviate

from the plan I have laid down.

Footnote 27: It is mentioned and compared with that of the

Borghesi, (in both the virgin is seen on one side) by P.

Affo, in a letter edited by the Advocate Bramieri, in the

notes to the _Elogio d'Ireneo Affo_, composed by P. D.

Pompilio Pozzetti; a very excellent scholar, (no less than

his annotator,) and deserving to stand high in the

estimation of all learned Italians.

Parma was in some degree consoled for the loss of Francesco, by Girolamo di

Michele Mazzuola, his pupil and his cousin. They had been intimate from the

year 1520, and apparently had contracted their friendship some years before

Francesco set out for Rome, which was continued unabated after his return.

Most probably, however, it at length experienced an interruption, owing to

which Francesco named two strangers his heirs, omitting his cousin. This

last is not known beyond Parma and its confines, though he was deserving of

more extensive fame, in particular for his strong impasto, and his

knowledge of colouring, in which he has few equals. There is reason to

suppose, that some of the works ascribed to Francesco, more especially such

as displayed warmer and stronger tints, were either executed or repeated by

this artist. Not having been in Rome, Girolamo was more attached to the

school of Coreggio, than Francesco, and in his style composed his picture

of the Marriage of St. Catherine, for the church of the Carmine; a piece

that proves how well he could exhibit that great master's character. He was

excellent in perspective, and in the Supper of our Lord, painted for the

refectory of S. Giovanni, he represented a colonnade so beautiful, and well

adapted to produce illusion, as to compete with the best specimens from the

hand of Pozzo. He could, moreover, boast ease and harmony, with a fine

chiaroscuro; while in his larger compositions in fresco, he was inventive,

varied, and animated. No single artist, among his fellow citizens, had the

merit of decorating the churches of Parma with an equal number of oil

paintings; no one produced more in fresco for the cathedral and for the

Steccata; to say nothing of his labours at S. Benedetto, in Mantua, and

elsewhere. It is from this rage for accomplishing too much, that we find so

many of his pieces that are calculated to surprise us at first sight,

diminish in merit upon an examination of their particular parts. Not a few

defects are observable amidst all his beauties; the design in his naked

figures is extremely careless; his grace is carried to a degree of

affectation, and his more spirited attitudes are violent. But these faults

are not wholly attributable to him, inasmuch as he occasionally painted the

same work in conjunction with other artists. This occurred in his large

picture of the Multiplication of Loaves placed at S. Benedetto, in Mantua,

in which, from documents discovered by the Ab. Mari, Girolamo would appear

to have been assisted in his labours; there are in it groups of figures,

whose beauty would confer credit upon any artist; while, on the other hand,

there are faults and imbecilities that must have proceeded from some other

pencil. It is true that he has admitted the same in other of his works, and

there they are wholly to be ascribed to his haste. We likewise find mention

of an Alessandro Mazzuola, son of Girolamo, who painted in the cathedral,

in 1571; but he is a weak imitator of the family style; the usual fate of

pictoric families, when arrived at the third generation.

Such was the state of the art in Parma about the middle of the sixteenth

century, at which period the Farnese family acquired dominion there, and

greatly contributed to promote the interest of that school. Coreggio's

disciples had already produced pupils in their turn; and though it be

difficult to ascertain from what school each artist proceeded, it is easy

to conjecture, from their respective tastes, that they were all inclined to

pursue the career of the two most illustrious masters of the school of

Parma; yet Mazzuola was, perhaps, more followed than Coreggio. It is too

favourite an opinion, both with dilettanti and artists, that the new style

must invariably be the most beautiful; permitting fashion even to corrupt

the arts. Parmigianino, perhaps, educated no other pupil besides his

cousin; Daniel da Parma had studied also under Coreggio; and Batista

Fornari, after acquiring little more than a knowledge of design from

Francesco, turned his attention to sculpture, producing, among other fine

statues, for the Duke Ottavio Farnese, the Neptune, which is now placed in

the royal gardens. The name of Jacopo Bertoia, (often written by mistake

Giacinto) has been added by some to this list. He was a good deal employed

by the court at Parma and Caprarola; and not very long ago, some of his

small paintings were transferred from the palace of the royal garden into

the academy. The subjects are fabulous, and both in the figures of his

nymphs, and in every thing else, the grace of Francesco is very

perceptible. Yet the memorials discovered by P. Affo, do not permit us to

name Parmigianino as his master. He was still young in 1573, and Lomazzo,

in his "Tempio," calls him the pupil of Ercole Procaccini. He produced many

small pictures for private ornament, which were at one time in great

repute; nor does Parma possess any large painting by his hand, excepting

two banners for companies or associations.

It is rather, likewise, from a resemblance of style, than upon historical

authority, that one Pomponio Amidano has been enumerated among the pupils

of Parmigianino. He may be mentioned, however, as one of his most strenuous

followers; insomuch as to have had one of his altar-pieces, which adorns

the church of Madonna del Quartiere, attributed even by no common artists

to the hand of Francesco. It is the most beautiful work of its author that

the city of Parma has to boast. The style of this artist is full and noble,

were it not, adds the Cav. Ratti, that it is sometimes apt to appear

somewhat flat.

Pier Antonio Bernabei, called della Casa, does not belong to the school of

Parmigianino, but is to be referred to some other assistant or pupil of

Coreggio. I cannot account for the slight praise bestowed upon him by

Orlandi, when his painting of the cupola at the Madonna del Quartiere is

calculated to impress us with the opinion that his powers were equal to

those of any artist who then flourished in Lombardy, or even in Italy, as a

painter of frescos. He there represented, as was very common upon the

cupolas, a Paradise, very full, but without any confusion; with figures in

the Coreggio his tints are powerful, and relieved with a force which might

be pronounced superfluous in the more distant figures, from a deficiency of

the due gradations. This cupola still remains perfectly entire after the

lapse of more than two centuries, and is his great masterpiece, though

some of his other paintings likewise produce a great effect. Aurelio

Barili, and Innocenzio Martini, of Parma, must have enjoyed very

considerable reputation in their day, having been employed at S. Giovanni

and the Steccata: some specimens of their fresco work are still pointed

out, but are cast into the shade by the vicinity of more attractive

beauties.

About the same period another subject of the same state painted, in his

native place of Piacenza. His name was Giulio Mazzoni, at one time pupil to

Daniel da Volterra, in the life of whom he is much commended by Vasari.

Some figures of the Evangelists still remain in the cathedral by his hand,

though the ceiling of S. M. di Campagna, which he adorned with histories,

has been renewed by another pencil. He did not acquire a knowledge of

foreshortening in the school of Daniello, and here he failed, however

respectable in other points.

SCHOOL OF PARMA.

EPOCH III.

_Parmese Pupils of the Caracci, and of other Foreigners,

until the period of the Foundation of the Academy._

In the year 1570, when the most celebrated imitators of the Coreggio manner

were either greatly advanced in years, or already deceased, the Parmese

School began to give place to that of Bologna; and I proceed to explain the

mode, and the causes which, partly by design and partly by chance, led to

that event. It was intended to ornament a chapel in the cathedral, a

commission bestowed upon Rondani and Parmigianino, but which, through a

variety of interruptions, had been so long deferred, that both artists died

before undertaking it. Orazio Sammachini was then invited from Bologna; he

gave satisfaction, and if I mistake not, derived great improvement from his

study of Coreggio, whom he more nearly resembled than any other Bolognese

artist of that age. Ercole Procaccini, likewise, painted in the dome

itself; nor was it long before Cesare Aretusi was invited from Bologna, to

become court painter to Duke Ranuccio. This artist, as we before observed,

was employed in restoring the painting of the tribune at S. Giovanni. In

order to lengthen the choir, it was resolved to destroy the old tribune;

but such parts as Coreggio had there painted, were to be correctly repeated

to adorn the new; an example that deserves to be adopted as a law, wherever

the fine arts are held in esteem. We are informed by Malvasia, that Aretusi

undertook this task, though he refused to take a copy of it upon the spot;

observing, that such an employment was more adapted for a pupil than for a

master. Annibal Caracci was in consequence of this called in, and assisted

by his brother Agostino, he took a copy of that vast work in various

portions, which are now at Capo di Monte. Guided by these, Aretusi was

afterwards enabled to repaint the new edifice in the year 1587. To this

account Affo opposes the contract of Aretusi, drawn out in 1586, where he

binds himself "_to make an excellent copy of the Madonna Coronata_;" and

provision is promised him for a boy who is to prepare the cartoons: a

circumstance that cannot be made applicable to Annibal, who appeared in the

character of a master as early as 1586. What conclusion we are to draw from

such a fact, no less than from the cartoons so generally attributed to

Annibal, and which are pronounced worthy of his hand, _quaerere distuli; nec

scire fas est omnia_. Hor. I shall merely observe, that Annibal, after

spending several months in studying and copying Coreggio during 1580,

frequently returned again to admire him, and that such devoted enthusiasm

was of wonderful advantage to him in acquiring the character of his model.

It was at this time that he painted the picture of a Pieta for the Capuchin

friars, at Parma, approaching the nearest that ever was seen to that at S.

Giovanni, and from that period the Duke Ranuccio gave him several

commissions for pictures, which are now to be met with at Naples.

The duke was a great lover of the arts, as we gather from a selection of

artists employed by him, among whom were Lionello Spada, Schedoni, Trotti,

and Gio. Sons, an able figure and a better landscape painter, whom Orlandi

believes to have been instructed in Parma, and perfected in the art at

Antwerp. It appears, that he also had much esteem for Ribera, who painted a

chapel, which is now destroyed, at Santa Maria Bianca, in so fine a style,

that according to Scaramuccia, it might have been mistaken for Coreggio's,

and it awakened emulation even in the breast of Lodovico Caracci.[28] The

chief merit, however, of the duke, and of his brother, the cardinal,

consisted in estimating and employing the genius of the Caracci. In that

court they were both fairly remunerated, and held in esteem; though, owing

to the arts of some courtiers, history has preserved circumstances

regarding these great men, calculated to move compassion.[29] To this early

patronage we may trace the events which we find in the history of the

Caracci, at different periods: Annibal engaged to paint the Farnese Gallery

at Rome; Agostino called to Parma, in quality of its court-painter, an

office in which he died; and Lodovico sent to Piacenza, along with Camillo

Procaccini, in order to decorate the cathedral of that city. Hence also

arose the principles of a new style at Parma, or rather of several new

styles, which during the seventeenth century continued to spread both there

and throughout the state, and which were first introduced by the artists of

Bologna.

Footnote 28: See Lettere Pittoriche, tom. i. p. 211.

Footnote 29: Bellori, in his Life of Annibal, pp. 34, 35.

See also Malvasia, tom. i. pp. 334, 404, 405, 442. And

Orlandi under the head _Gio. Batt. Trotti_.

Their scholars, besides Bertoia, were Giambatista Tinti, pupil to

Sammachini, Giovanni Lanfranco, and Sisto Badalocchi, who, having been

acquainted with the younger Caracci, at Parma, became first attached to the

school of Lodovico, in Bologna, and afterwards followed Annibal to Rome,

where they continued to reside with him. These, although they were educated

by the Bolognese, resemble certain characters who, though they may abandon

their native soil, are never able to divest themselves of its memory or its

language. In respect to Lanfranco, it is agreed by all, that no artist

better imitated the grandeur of Coreggio in works upon a large scale;

although he is neither equal to him in colouring, nor at all approaches him

in high finish, nor is destitute of an air of originality peculiar to the

head of a school. At Parma, he produced a picture representing all the

saints in the church that bears their name; and in Piacenza, besides his

saints Alessio and Corrado at the cathedral, works highly commended by

Bellori, he painted an altar-piece of St. Luke, at the Madonna di Piazza,

as well as a cupola, so avowedly imitated from that of S. Giovanni at

Parma, that it can scarcely escape the charge of servility. Sisto

Badalocchi,[30] no way inferior to Lanfranco in point of facility, and

other endowments of the art, approached very nearly to his style. It was

even doubted in Parma, whether the picture of S. Quintino, in the church of

that name, was the production of Lanfranco or his. Of the rest who

flourished for the most part among the disciples of the Caracci, beyond the

limits of their own state, we shall treat more opportunely under the

Bolognese School.

Footnote 30: By Malvasia, tom. i. p. 517, he is called

_Sisto Rosa_.

Giambatista Tinti acquired the art of design and of colouring from

Sammachini at Bologna; he studied Tibaldi with great assiduity, and painted

upon his model at S. Maria della Scala, not without marks of

plagiarism.[31] Having subsequently established himself at Parma, he

selected for his chief model the works of Coreggio, and next proceeded to

the study of Parmigianino. The city retains many of his productions, both

in private and in public, among which that of the Assumption in the

cathedral, abounding with figures, and the Catino, at the old Capuchin

Nuns, are accounted some of the last grand works belonging to the old

school of Parma.

Footnote 31: Malvasia, tom. i. p. 212.

From the time these artists ceased to flourish, the art invariably

declined. Towards the middle of the seventeenth century we find mention, in

the Guide of Parma, of Fortunato Gatti and Gio. Maria Conti, both Parmese,

who were shortly followed, if I mistake not, by Giulio Orlandini. They are

better qualified to shew the succession of Parmese artists than of great

painters. The name of one Girolamo da' Leoni, of Piacenza, is also

recorded, who was employed along with Cunio, a Milanese, about the time of

the Campi. At Piacenza likewise, after the middle of the century, appeared

one Bartolommeo Baderna, pupil to the Cavalier Ferrante, whose works

display more diligence than genius; whence Franceschini took occasion to

say, that he had knocked loudly at the door of the great painters without

being able to gain admission. In the mean while the court continued to

promote the study of the fine arts throughout the state. It even sent a

young man of talent, named Mauro Oddi, under the direction of Berettini,

with a salary to Rome. He fulfilled the expectations of his patrons by his

productions at the villa of Colorno, and he adorned some churches with

specimens of his altar-pieces; but still he aimed more at the fame of an

architect than of a painter. At the same time there was employed at court

an artist named Francesco Monti, who painted likewise for churches and

private collections. He was mentioned in the Venetian School, and exercised

a more marked influence over the art at Parma. presenting it in Ilario

Spolverini with a disciple of merit. Ilario, no less than his master,

acquired reputation from his battle-pieces; and whether owing to

exaggeration or to truth, it was commonly said that the soldiers of Monti

threatened, and that those of Spolverini seemed to kill. He threw no less

fierceness and terror into some of his assassin scenes, which are esteemed

equal to his battles. He painted chiefly for the Duke Francesco, though

there are some of his works on a larger scale, in oil and in fresco, placed

in the cathedral, at the Certosa, and other places throughout the city and

the state.

Spolverini instructed in the art Francesco Simonini, a distinguished

battle-painter of that period. Orlandi says he was a scholar of Monti, and

educated at Florence upon the model of Borgognone. He long resided at

Venice, where, in the Sala Cappello, and in different collections, he left

pictures which abound in figures, ornamented with fine architecture, and

varied with every kind of skirmish and military exploits. Ilario instructed

several young Parmese in the art, among whom, perhaps, were Antonio

Fratacci, Clemente Ruta, and more indisputably the Ab. Giuseppe Peroni. The

first under Cignani became a better copyist of his master than a painter,

being called _pittor pratico_, a mechanical hand, by Bianconi in his Guide

to Milan, where, as well as in Bologna, a few of his pictures are to be

seen. At Parma he was not employed in public, as far as I can learn, but

for collections, in which he holds a pretty high rank. Ruta was likewise

educated in the academy of Cignani at Bologna. Returning to his native

state, whose paintings he has described, he there entered into the service

of the Infant Charles of Bourbon, as long as he remained at Parma, after

which he accompanied his patron to Naples. Subsequently returning to Parma;

he continued to employ himself with credit, until, near the period of his

decease, he lost the use of his eyes.

The Ab. Peroni, in the first instance, repaired to Bologna, where he

received the instructions of Torelli, of Creti and of Ercole Lelli. He next

visited Rome, where he became pupil to Masucci; though it is probable that

he was struck with the colouring of Conca and Giacquinto, who were then

much in vogue, as his tints partake more or less of their verds, and other

false use of colouring. For the rest he could design well, and in elegant

subjects partakes much of Maratta, as we perceive from his S. Philip in S.

Satiro at Milan, and from the Conception, in possession of the Padri dell'

Oratorio, at Turin. In Parma his productions are to be seen at S. Antonio

Abbate, where his frescos appear to advantage, and there is an altar-piece

of Christ Crucified, placed in competition with Battoni and Cignaroli, and

here more than elsewhere he is entitled to rank among the good painters of

this last age. He adorned his native place and its academy with his

pictures, and died there at an advanced age. The career of Pietro Ferrari

was much shorter, although he had time to produce several fine pictures for

the public, besides that of his B. da Corleone in the church of the

Capuchins, as well as more for private collections. He imitated the ancient

manner of his school, no less than more recent styles.[32]

Footnote 32: I wish here to offer a brief tribute to the merit

of his deceased master, (he died two years since) who,

though a native of Pavia, resided a long period at Parma. He

studied in Florence under Meucci, next at Paris, where one

of his pictures was greatly applauded, and the artist

elected to a place in that distinguished academy of art. On

his return he became first painter to the court at Parma,

and produced works no less than pupils calculated to reflect

credit on his country. His Prometheus freed by Hercules,

placed at the academy, his large portrait-piece of the

family of Philip, Duke of Parma, which is pointed out in the

Guardarobas as his best specimen, fully justify the

reputation he enjoyed while living, and which continues

beyond the tomb. The name of this artist was Giuseppe

Baldrighi, and he died at Parma, aged eighty years.

In Piacenza there flourished Pier Antonio Avanzini, educated by

Franceschini at Bologna. He is said to have been wanting in imagination,

which led him, for the most part, to copy from his master's designs. Gio.

Batista Tagliasacchi, from Borgo S. Donnino, sprung from the school of

Giuseppe del Sole, and displayed a fine genius for elegant subjects, which

induced him to study Coreggio, Parmigianino, and Guido. He was particularly

ambitious of adding Raffaello to the list, but his parents would not permit

him to visit Rome. He resided and employed himself chiefly at Piacenza,

where there is a Holy Family much admired in the cathedral, which, in its

ideal cast of features, partakes of the Roman style, and is not inferior to

the Lombards in point of colouring. He was an artist, if I mistake not, of

far greater merit than fortune.

Finally, the state was never in want of excellent masters in minor branches

of the art. Fabrizio Parmigiano is commended by Baglioni amongst the

landscape painters of his age. He was assisted by his wife Ippolita in

drawing for Italian collections, and he visited a variety of places

previous to his arrival at Rome, where he also adorned a few of the

churches with his wood-scenes, and views, with hermits, &c. and died there

at an early age. His style was, perhaps, more ideal than true, as it

prevailed before the time of the Caracci; but it was spirited and diligent.

There is known also one Gialdisi, of Parma, whom, from his residence in

Cremona, Zaist enumerates among the professors of that school as a

celebrated painter of flowers. He frequently represented them upon small

tables covered with tapestry, and he added also musical instruments, books,

and playing-cards, the whole depicted with an air of truth and a fine

colouring, that obtained for him from such inconsiderable objects a large

portion of fame. I must also record Felice Boselli of Piacenza, who became,

under the direction of the Nuvoloni, a tolerable artist in figures, though

he succeeded best in copying ancient pictures, even so as to deceive the

eye of experienced judges by the exactness of his imitations. Following the

bent of his genius, he began to draw animals, sometimes with their skins,

and at others, as they are exposed to view in the shambles; besides

collections of birds and fishes, arranging them in order, and all coloured

from the life. The palaces in Piacenza abound with them, Boselli, having

survived beyond his eightieth year, and despatching them with facility and

mechanically, whence all his productions are not equally entitled to

esteem. Gianpaolo Pannini belonged to the Roman School, in which he both

learned and taught, and in treating of which I rendered him that justice

which the public admiration of his perspective views, and of his peculiar

grace in small figures, seemed to require. Many fine specimens were sent

from Rome to his native country, and among these the Signori della Missione

possess a very rare picture, inasmuch as the figures are on a larger scale

than those which he in general drew. It represents the Money Changers

driven out of the Temple by our Lord; the architecture is truly

magnificent, and the figures full of spirit and variety. The governor,

Count Carasi, the able illustrator of the public paintings in Piacenza,

declared that he was the only artist then deceased, of whom the city could

justly boast. Such deficiency ought not to be ascribed to its climate,

abounding as it does with genius, but to the want of a local school, a

want, however, which was converted into a source of great utility to the

city. If we examine the catalogue of painters who flourished there, with

which the Count Carasi closes his work, we shall find that, with the

exception of the capitals, no other city of Italy was so rich in excellent

painters belonging to every school. Had it possessed masters, they would

have produced for every excellent disciple, at least twenty of only

middling talent, whose works would have filled its palaces and churches, as

it has happened to so many other secondary cities.

Like one university for letters, one academy for the fine arts is usually

found sufficient for a single state; and in particular, where it is

established, supported, and encouraged in the manner of that at Parma. It

owed its origin to Don Philip of Bourbon, in 1757, the tenth year of his

government; and his son, who at this time bears sway, continues to promote

the interests of the institution.[33] Nothing can be better calculated to

revive among us the noble genius of the art of painting, than the method

there adopted in the distribution of premiums. The subject of the painting

being proposed, the young artists invited to the competition are not

confined to those of the state; and consequently the industry of the most

able and best matured students is laid under contribution, in every place,

for the service of Parma. The method of holding the assembly, the skill and

integrity of the umpires, and the whole form of the decision, excludes

every doubt or suspicion respecting the superiority of the piece adjudged.

The artist is largely remunerated; but his highest ambition is gratified in

having been pronounced the first among so many competitors, and before such

an assemblage. This is of itself always sufficient to raise the successful

candidate above the common standard, and often leads to fortune. The prize

painting assumes its perpetual station in one of the academic halls, along

with the favourite pieces of previous years, forming a series which already

excites a warm interest among the lovers of the fine arts. Since the period

when the Cortona manner began to lose ground in Italy, a manner that, under

such a variety of names and sects, had usurped so wide a sway, the art in

our own times has approached a sort of crisis, which as yet forms an essay

of new styles, rather than any prevailing one characteristic of this new

era. It is in such a collection, better than in any book, that we may study

the state of our existing schools; what maxims are now enforced; what kind

of imitation, and with how much freedom, is allowed; from what source we

are to look for a chance of recovering the ancient art of colouring; what

profit painting has derived from the copies of the best pictures published

in engravings, and from the precepts of the masters communicated through

the medium of prints. I am aware that a variety of opinion is entertained

on this head, nor would my own, were I to interpose it, give weight to any

of the conflicting arguments in this matter. But I am happy to say, that

finding at length appeals made to reason, which were formerly referred to

practice, I feel inclined rather to indulge hopes than doubt or diffidence

in regard to the future.

Footnote 33: The professors who reflect credit upon it are

enumerated by P. Affo in the works cited in this chapter.