Footnote 13: This worthy writer would appear to have been

aware that he sometimes exceeded due bounds. In the course

of that work we meet with other expressions highly

creditable to Vasari; and it is well known, that having

spoken contemptuously of Raffaello, by designating him

_boccalaio Urbinate_, the potter of Urbino, because some

vases there had been painted from his designs, "he repented

of the expression so much as to lead him to erase it from as

many copies of the work as he could meet with." _Lett.

Pitt._ vol. vii. p. 130.

Dionisio Calvart, born at Antwerp, and hence also called Dionisio the

Fleming, came, when young, into Bologna, and displayed some ability in

landscape painting. In order to become a figure painter, he entered first

the school of Fontana, and next that of Sabbatini, whom he greatly assisted

in his labours for the Vatican. But after quitting also this master, and

occupying himself, some little time, in designing from Raffaello's

pictures, he returned to Bologna, opened a studio, and there educated as

many as a hundred and thirty-seven masters in the art, some of whom were

excellent. He was a fine artist for his age; understood perspective well,

which he acquired from Fontana, and designed both correctly and gracefully

in the taste of Sabbatini. He moreover possessed the art of colouring, in

the taste of his own countrymen, a quality which induced the Bolognese to

regard him as a restorer of their school, which in this branch of painting

had declined. If there were some degree of mannerism in his style, some

action in his figures too little dignified, or too extravagant; the former

was the fault of his age, and the latter of his temperament, which is

described as extremely restless and violent. Notwithstanding, he instructed

his pupils with assiduous care, and from the cartoons of the most

celebrated inventors he gave them lectures in the art. Different

collections abound with his small pictures, painted chiefly on copper,

representing incidents from the Gospel, which attract by the abundance of

the figures, by their spirit, and by the lusciousness of their tints.

Similar commissions in this line were then very frequently given in

Bologna; most times proceeding from the noviciate nuns, who were in the

habit of carrying with them into the cloister similar little paintings to

decorate their lonely cells; and Calvart provided abundance of them, with

the assistance of his young men, whose pieces he retouched; and they

obtained immense circulation both in Italy and Flanders. In particular

those conducted by Albano and Guido, his two pupils, boast the most

attractive graces, and may be known by a certain superior decision,

knowledge, and facility. In the list of his altar-pieces, the S. Michele,

at S. Petronio, and the Purgatory, at the Grazie, bear the palm; and from

these, as well as others, the best disciples of the Caracci confessed the

assistance which they received.

On the rise of the new Bolognese School, the pupils of Calvart for the most

part changed their manner, attaching themselves some to one master, and

some to another. Those who preserved most evident traces of their former

education, in other words, who continued more feeble and less natural than

the Caracceschi, were but few. Malvasia enumerates Gio. Batista Bertusio in

this list, who vainly aspired at resembling Guido, leaving a variety of

paintings both at Bologna and its villages, displaying beauties more

apparent than real. Two other artists, Pier Maria da Crevalcore, a painter

in oil, and Gabriel Ferrantini, known by his frescos, called also Gabriel

degli Occhiali, seem both to have seen, and attempted to imitate the

Caracci. Emilio Savonanzi, a Bolognese noble, attached himself to the art

when nearly arrived at manhood, but he attended Cremonini more than

Calvart; and strongly addicted to changing masters, entered the school of

Lodovico Caracci, next that of Guido at Bologna, of Guercino at Cento, and

finally the studio of Algardi, an excellent sculptor at Rome. By such means

he became a good theorist and an able lecturer, applauded in every

particular of his art; nor was he wanting in good practice, uniting many

styles in one, in which however that of Guido most prevails. Still he was

not equally correct in all his pieces, even betraying feebleness of touch,

and not scrupling to denominate himself an artist of many hands. He resided

at Ancona, next at Camerino, at which places, as well as in the adjacent

districts, he left a variety of works. Of another Bolognese, who flourished

at the same period, there remains at Ancona a picture of the offering of

the Infant Jesus at the Temple, ornamenting the larger altar of S. Jacopo.

The inscription shews him to have resided at Brescia, _F. Tiburtius

Baldinus Bononiensis F. Brixiae_, 1611. This date proves him to have

belonged to the present epoch. His taste, from what I am informed by Sig.

Cav. Boni, extremely well informed on subjects of the fine arts, reminds us

of the excellent school that flourished in 1500: magnificence in the

architecture, great copiousness of composition, and clearness of effect,

except that in the general tone of his tints, and in his fleshes, he is

somewhat cold. One artist there was, who declared that he had laid down for

himself a maxim, never to alter with other styles that of Calvart; and this

was Vincenzo Spisano, called likewise Spisanelli. He however is inferior in

solidity and truth of design, and displays quite as much caprice and

mannerism as any of the practitioners of his time. Nor does he always

preserve the colours peculiar to his school; but deadens them with a leaden

hue, which is still not unpleasing. His altar-pieces, executed at Bologna,

and in the neighbouring cities, are less celebrated than his small pictures

for private ornament, which abound in Bologna, and which he was in the

habit of enlivening with very attractive landscape. It has already been

observed that those who were mannerists in their style, like Zuccaro and

Cesari, always when working on a small scale, improved upon themselves.

Bartolommeo Cesi fills the rank also of head of a school, among those who

cleared the path to the good method pursued by the disciples of the

Caracci. From him Tiarini acquired the art of painting fresco, and his

works gave the first impulse to Guido in attaining to his sweet and

graceful manner. On examining a work by Cesi, it sometimes seems doubtful

whether it may not have been that of Guido when young. He dares little,

copies every thing from nature, selects fine forms of each period of life,

and makes sparing use of the ideal; his lines and folds are few, his

attitudes measured, and his tints more beautiful than strong. He has some

paintings at San Jacopo, and at San Martino, which are extremely pleasing;

and it is said that Guido, during his early youth, was in the habit of

sitting to contemplate them sometimes for hours. His frescos, perhaps,

display more power, where he has introduced many copious histories with

great judgment, variety, and mastery; and such are those of AEneas, in the

Favi palace. His Arch of Forli, painted for Clement VIII., with different

exploits, surprises us even more. Though exposed to the action of the open

air, during so many years, this piece retains the vividness of its tints to

a surprising degree. Malvasia's opinion, in commendation of this artist, is

very remarkable, that he had a manner which at once satisfies, pleases, and

enamours the beholder, as truly exquisite and sweet as any style of the

best Tuscan masters in fresco. In the larger chapel of the Bolognese

monastery of Carthusians, there are distinguished examples in both kinds of

painting; and the describer of the Carthusian monastery, in his account of

them, likewise enumerates Cesi's works for other monasteries of the same

order, those of Ferrara, of Florence, and Siena. He was held in esteem by

the Caracci, and very generally so by the different professors, no less for

the candour of his character, than for his love of the art. To his efforts

it was chiefly owing that the company of painters, in 1595, obtained a

separation from the artificers of swords, of saddles, and of scabbards,

with all of whom they had for centuries been united in the same

corporation, and that a new one being formed of painters and of cotton

manufacturers,[14] it not being possible wholly to exclude the latter, they

were to rank inferior to the artists, or, to use the words of Malvasia,

"that they should condescend to furnish to the amount of two hundred, or

more, crowns, rich purple cloaks to decorate the wearer of the laurel

crown, preceding their vice steward."[15]

Footnote 14: In the original the term used for these cotton

merchants is _bambagiai_.

Footnote 15: In the Italian called _promassaro_.

Cesare Aretusi, a son, perhaps, of Pellegrino Munari,[16] was distinguished

as a colourist in the Venetian taste, but in point of invention weak and

dull; while Gio. Batista Fiorini, on the other hand, was full of fine

conceptions but worthless in his colouring. Friendship, that introduces

community in the possessions of friends, here achieved what is narrated in

the Greek anthology of two poor rogues, one of whom was blind and stout,

and carried on his shoulders a sharp-eyed cripple, who thus provided

himself with a friend's pair of feet, while he afforded him the advantage

of as many eyes. So it fared with our two artists, who separately could

accomplish very little; though in uniting their powers they produced

paintings of considerable merit. In the _Guida di Bologna_ they are very

properly rarely divided from each other; and I believe, that in every

painting we find attributed to Aretusi, we ought farther to seek for some

companion of his labours. Of such kind is a Nativity of the Virgin at S.

Afra in Brescia, passing under his name, and painted in a very powerful

style. Respecting this picture, however, Averoldi is of opinion that it was

in part the workmanship of Bagnatore, in part of other painters, or,

perhaps, only painter; in other words that of his useful friend Aretusi.

Nevertheless in the branch of portrait, Cesare possessed merit above

sharing it with others, and in this capacity he was employed by different

princes, and he also succeeded in copying the works of excellent masters

better than any other of his age. He could assume the style of almost every

painter, and even pass off his imitations for the originals. In his

imitation of Coreggio, he was more particularly successful, and received a

commission to execute a painting from the celebrated Night, by that master,

for the church of S. Gio. di Parma, where it still remains. Mengs, who saw

it, declared that were the original at Dresden by any accident lost, it

might be well supplied by so fine a duplicate. It was this performance that

obtained him the honour of restoring the painting, formerly executed by

Coreggio for the same church, of which mention was made in the school of

Parma, and to which we here refer the reader. Here too we should add, that

such was the success of that picture, "from its accurate imitation of the

taste displayed in the original, of its conception, and of its harmony, as

to lead those unacquainted with the fact to suppose it to be the work of

Allegri." Such are the words of Ruta in his _Guida_.

Footnote 16: See vol. iv. p. 43.

Little attention seems to have been given to inferior branches of the art

during this epoch, if, indeed, we except that of portrait, whose leading

artists must not again be introduced here, having treated of their merits

in the proper place. Nor probably were there then wanting painters in oil,

who severally produced ornamental pieces of landscape and animals, besides

Cremonini and Baglione, whose ability in this line we shall shortly notice,

in the class of ornamental fresco painters; though none, as far as I can

learn, acquired celebrity. In one instance only I meet with handsome

eulogiums on a miniature painter, occasionally mentioned throughout this

work. He was called Gio. Neri, also Gio. degli Ucelli, from his peculiar

talent in delineating all kinds of birds from the life. With these, and

with fish of various species, with quadrupeds and other animals, he filled

seven folio volumes, which are cited by Masini in the studio of Ulisse

Aldovrandi.

Throughout the whole of this epoch we find no mention in Malvasia of any

ornamental or perspective painters, except, perhaps, some figurist, who

paid little attention to decorations. There is reason, however, to suppose

that the celebrated Sebastiano Serlio, while yet a youth, painted

perspectives. The Cav. Tiraboschi, in the seventh volume of his history,

remarks that "there is no account of Serlio's occupation during the early

part of his life." But the _Guida_ of Pesaro, p. 83, alludes to him at the

close of 1511, and subsequently in 1514, as residing in that city in

quality of an artist; and in what branch can we more probably suppose him

to have been engaged than in perspective? For this, indeed, was the

tirocinium of other able architects, where, previous to being entrusted

with the anxious duties of their profession, they were enabled, with more

facility, to sustain themselves, until their reputation permitted them to

assume the character of architects, and abandon the pursuit of painting.

Indisputably he could not have been an architect at Pesaro, otherwise there

would never have been written on a parchment of 1514, remaining in the

archives of the Servi:--_Sebastiano qu. Bartholomaei de Serlis de Bononia

pictore habitatore Pisauri_. And it is about 1534 that we have an account

of his being at Venice, no longer handling the pencil, but the square.

Masini, who had written his _Bologna Perlustrata_ only a short period

before the _Felsina Pittrice_, commends an Agostino dalle Prospettive, who

had reached such a degree of perfection in that art, as even to deceive

animals and men with his illusive staircases and similar works, executed at

Bologna. It is doubtful whether he did not belong to another school, and

may have been omitted by Malvasia as a foreigner. I suspected him to be a

Milanese in my fourth volume (p. 231), and pupil to the great Soardi, not

inferior to his master. Next to him, and to Laureti, Gio. Batista Cremonini

of Cento was employed in such commissions more than any other artist. He

had received rather superior instructions in the rules of perspective, and

respectable practice in the line of statues, figures, and histories, with

whatever went to give splendour and effect to a facade, a theatre, or a

hall; more particularly he succeeded in delineating animals, however

ferocious and wild. There was scarcely a house of any account in all

Bologna, which, if nothing more, could not boast some specimen of his

chiaroscuro, some frieze for ornament, chimney-piece, or vestibule,

decorated by Cremonini; to say nothing of his numerous works in fresco

which filled the churches. He was also employed for the adjacent cities,

and in different courts of Lombardy kept open school and instructed

Guercino, Savonanzi, Fialetti, who flourished in Venice as before stated.

He had for his companion Bartolommeo Ramenghi, cousin of Gio. Batista, with

whom also lived Scipione Ramenghi, son of Gio. Batista himself, and both

eminent ornamental painters during that period.

Cremonini had a rival in one Cesare Baglione, an artist in the same sphere,

and of the same eager and expeditious character in the art. He was,

moreover, a better painter of landscape, and even surpassed all others,

including the most ancient, in the method of drawing his foliage. In his

inventions too, both of a serious and comic kind, he displayed greater

novelty and variety than Cremonini. He thus became a favorite at Parma,

where in the ducal palace he left some of his best works, all in harmony

with the places which he painted; in the larder illusive eatables of every

kind, and cooks employed in dressing them; in the bakehouse utensils for

the bakers, and incidents relating thereto; in the washhouses women were

seen busied in their different duties, and all in dismay at some untoward

or comic accidents; works abounding in spirit and reality sufficient to

procure him reputation in his line, had he shewn less eagerness in the

execution. This praise will not apply, however, to his decorative taste,

which excited the ridicule of the Caracci, who were in the habit of

laughing at the fantastic ornaments of his capitals, and those arabesques,

most resembling, they declared, the staves of barrels; as well as that

custom of filling his compositions with useless ornaments, without rule or

discretion, which his own pupils afterwards proceeded to introduce,

especially Spada and Dentone. Several others were instructed by him in the

art, as Storali and Pisanelli, and some of less note, who painted well in

perspective, without aspiring to the reputation of figurists.

Thus we have taken a brief survey of the state of painting in Bologna from

the time of Bagnacavallo to the Caracci, who already rising into repute

about 1585, in some measure competed with the elder artists, and in some

measure by their example, and the spirit of emulation, tended to improve

them, of which more in the following epoch. Meanwhile, let us turn our

attention to what was passing during this period in Romagna.

Ravenna prides herself on the name of Jacopone, a pupil of Raffaello, who,

by his paintings at S. Vitale, introduced into that city the principles of

the modern style, and of whom we shall shortly state our opinion, not

without some degree of novelty. Another of Raffaello's disciples, if what

is averred of him be correct, nourished at Ravenna about 1550, called Don

Pietro da Bagnaia, a canon of the Lateran. In the church of his order he

painted the altar-piece of S. Sebastian; in the Refectory, the scriptural

history of the Loaves and Fishes, besides leaving in another place a

history-piece of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, abounding in figures

equal to the preceding. To these, enumerated by Orlandi, may be added the

picture of Padua, with the Virgin between St. John the Baptist and St.

Augustine, executed for the church of S. Giovanni di Verdara; in the

sacristy of which is a Holy Family by him, imbued with all the graces of

Raffaello in every feature and action, but sadly wanting in strength and

harmony of colouring. There is another Holy Family at the Lateran Friars in

Asti, on a larger scale, designed and composed with equal grace, but with

similar feebleness of tints, even more lifeless; and to both pieces is

appended an inscription, entreating the beholder to pray for the soul of

the painter. I am not aware whether this worthy ecclesiastic was in Ravenna

in 1547, at the period of Vasari's visit thither, but the latter makes no

mention of his name.

Yet he mentioned, among the excellent artists who still flourished there,

Luca Longhi, whose ability in the essentials of the art is highly praised.

He regrets, however, that he should always have resided in his native

place, which had he left for objects of improvement, he might have become a

very distinguished artist. He was a good portrait-painter, and produced a

great number of pictures for Ravenna. Some, too, he sent elsewhere, and

they are met with at San Benedetto in Ferrara, in the Abbey at Mantua, in

that of Praglia near Padua, at S. Francesco in Rimini, with the date of

1580, in Pesaro, and other places. They are chiefly composed in the ancient

manner, but on comparing some of the earlier with those that follow, a more

modern air is perceptible, a circumstance attributed by Vasari to his own

conversations with the artist. Longhi's style, however, was opposed to that

of Vasari, being very correct and highly finished; his conceptions sweet,

varied, and graceful; with a powerful union of colours; more nearly

resembling Innocenzo da Imola, if I mistake not, than any other artist of

the times, though inferior to him in point of grandeur and beauty. Luca's

most perfect pictures that I have met with in Ravenna are those of S.

Vitale, of S. Agata, of S. Domenico, all with a representation of the

Virgin between two or more saints, and with some graceful cherubs playing

above. There are others more laboured, which please us less, and

demonstrate that to succeed in grand compositions, it is previously

necessary to have studied the great schools. Luca had a daughter, named

Barbara, yet a child at the period when Vasari published his work, but who

had begun to paint "with a tolerable degree of grace and manner." From the

hand of this lady there is only a single specimen remaining in public.

Respecting a son of Luca, named Francesco, the historian is wholly silent,

being, doubtless, at the time he wrote, still younger than his sister, but

who became an artist in maturer years. In 1576 he produced a picture for

the church of the Carmine, and there are accounts of him, even down to

1610. He chiefly pursued the steps of his father, though he is more common

in his countenances, and more feeble in point of colouring, which he copied

rather from Vasari.

Francesco Scannelli mentions a pupil of Raffaello at Cesena, omitted by all

other historians, named Scipione Sacco. He painted a picture of S. Gregory

for the cathedral of Cesena, in a grand style,[17] and the Death of St.

Peter the Martyr for the church of S. Domenico. Doubtless he was of

Raffaello's school, and not remembered out of Romagna.

Footnote 17: On this picture is inscribed, _Caesenas_, 1545.

_Oretti_, _Memorie_, MSS.

While the family of the Longhi was employed at Ravenna, that of the

Minzocchi, which was surnamed San Bernardo, was distinguishing itself at

Forli. Francesco, called also the elder di S. Bernardo, studied the works

of Palmigiani in his native place; and there remain pictures conducted in

his youth, but feeble in point of design, such as his Crucifixion at the

Padri Osservanti. But under Genga, according to Vasari, and, as some

writers add, under Pordenone, he changed his manner, assuming a more

correct style, graceful, animated, and of an expression which looks like

nature herself in these his subsequent productions. Among the works he

executed with most care are two lateral pictures at the cathedral of

Loreto, in a chapel of S. Francesco di Paola. These consist of a Sacrifice

of Melchisedec, and the miracle of the Manna, in which the prophets and the

principal characters boast all the dignity and nobleness of drapery

becoming the school of Pordenone. The crowd, however, is represented in the

most popular features and attitudes, sufficient almost to excite the envy

of Teniers, and the most natural artists of the Flemish school. His

delineations in these pictures, of numerous and various animals, are

expressed to the life, with baskets and different utensils like reality,

though the attempt to excite our mirth in treating serious subjects has a

bad effect. Scannelli extols a specimen of his works in fresco at S. Maria

della Grata in Forli, representing the Deity on the ceiling, surrounded by

a number of angels; figures full of spirit, majestic, varied, and painted

with a power and skill of foreshortening, which entitles him to greater

celebrity than he enjoys. He left a variety of productions, likewise, at S.

Domenico, at the cathedral, and at private houses in his native place,

where such is his reputation, that on the chapels being taken down, his

least celebrated frescos were carefully cut out, and replaced elsewhere.

Among his sons and pupils were Pietro Paolo, mentioned also by Vasari, and

Sebastiano, both artists of the same natural style, not very select, with

little relief, and mediocrity of invention. To Pietro Paolo belong several

figures at the Padri Francescani at Forli, of feeble execution; and to

Sebastiano a picture at S. Agostino, composed in 1593 in the ancient taste,

and of a style like his other works, inferior to the character of his age.

Subsequent to the elder Minzocchi, Forli produced two other artists

deserving commemoration; namely, Livio Agresti, conspicuous in the

histories of Vasari and Baglione, as a daring designer, a copious composer,

and universal in point of manner; the other, Francesco di Modigliana, an

artist of more limited genius, but still deserving to be known. Of Livio, I

spoke in the third epoch of the Roman School, to which, as pupil to Perino,

and resident in Rome, where he was employed at the Castello, in the

Vatican, at S. Spirito and elsewhere, he doubtless belongs. His native

place, however, seems to have culled the fairest fruit of his labours, Rome

possessing nothing nearly so Raffaellesque, as are his Scriptural Histories

in the public palace at Forli. Nor ought we to pass over that finely

decorated chapel in the cathedral, where he represented the Last Supper,

with some majestic figures of the prophets upon the ceiling; a work that

for depth and intricacy of perspective yields in nothing to Minzocchi. I

shall not stop to inquire, with Malvasia, whether having gone to Rome in a

moment of disgust and in haste, instead of there advancing himself, he

wholly failed; but of this I am convinced, that his history in the Cappella

Paolina, is by no means his masterpiece.

Francesco di Modigliana is said to have been pupil to Pontormo, in whose

school he almost fills the same rank as Bronzino in that of Florence; not

remarkably powerful, nor always consistent with himself, but very graceful

and beautiful, and deserving a place in our pictoric Lexicons, where his

name is wanting. His works at Urbino consist of those which are pointed out

under the name of Francesco da Forli; a picture of Christ taken down from

the cross, in oil, at S. Croce; and some angels in fresco at S. Lucia;

productions much commended, and resembling in style his best at the

Osservanti in Forli, and at the Rosario in Rimini. Here, perhaps, he most

distinguished himself; in his picture of Adam driven from Eden, his Deluge,

the Tower of Babel, with similar histories already treated by Raffaello at

Rome, and by Agresti in Forli, from imitating whom, if I mistake not, he

greatly improved and advanced himself. Dying suddenly he left his work

imperfect, afterwards continued by Gio. Laurentini, called Arrigoni, who

painted the Death of Abel at the same place.

After Bartolommeo da Rimini, who inclined more towards the modern than the

ancient style, I find no other artist of celebrity in that city besides

Arrigoni. Even his name has not been recorded by Orlandi, nor by his

continuator. He diligently employed himself in his native place, and two of

his pictures representing martyrdoms, met with surprising success; one of

St. John the Baptist, at the Augustine friars, and another of the Saints

John and Paul, at the church bearing their name. Yet they do not display

that _beau ideal_, so attractive at that period in the productions even of

the inferior disciples of the Roman School; but they convey the impression

of grand compositions, a vivacity of action, a boldness of hand, a splendor

in the retinue of horse and arms, and military ensigns, calculated to

compete with the chief part of the painters employed at Rome in the service

of Gregory and of Sixtus.

Faenza, too, at the opening of this epoch, boasted her Jacopone, or

Jacomone, of whom we treated among the assistants of Raffaello, and among

the masters of Taddeo Zuccaro. Vasari makes brief mention and smaller

account of this artist; recording only one of his productions, the tribune

of S. Vitale at Ravenna, and which has ceased to exist. In the cupola of

the church, however, subsequently repainted by another hand, there were

visible, in the time of Fabri, author of "Ravenna Ricercata," (researches

in that city) several figures of saints richly apparelled, bearing this

inscription: "Opus Jacobi Bertucci et Julii Tondutii Faventinorum. Pari

voto f. 1513."[18] At present I no longer doubt but that under this Jacopo

was concealed the name of Jacopone di Faenza, though according to Orlandi

they were two several painters, and though it has never occurred to

Baldinucci and Bottari, and other writers of pictoric history, to unite

them into one. My conjecture is founded upon a picture which I saw in the

church of the Dominican nuns in Faenza, representing the Birth of the

Virgin, with the name of Jacopo Bertucci of Faenza, and dated 1532. It is a

work which arrests the eye by its resemblance to the style of Raffaello,

though his harmonious gradations have not been well observed, and the

colouring inclines more to the strong than to the beautiful. The women

busied about the couch of St. Anne are beautiful, graceful, and animated

figures, and there are some animals, and in particular a fowl, which a

Bassano himself would not have been sorry to have painted. Now what other

Jacopo of Faenza could in the year 1532, have painted in this style, with

more shew of reason and probability than Jacopone da Faenza, whose family

would here appear to be discovered?

Footnote 18: Sig. Abbate Zannoni, a librarian in Faenza,

assisted by Sig. Zauli, a distinguished professor of design

in that Lyceum, has made some clever remarks upon that

school. They observe that this date of Fabri must be

erroneous, it not being possible for Jacopone to have

commenced painting in 1513, and much less Tonduzzi, pupil to

Giulio Romano, probably, in Mantua: I suspect that the order

of the last two figures should be inverted, so as to read

1531.

They inform me that I was misled in supposing the picture of

the Dominican Nuns to be from the hand of Jacopone, its

great height preventing me from distinguishing the name. It

belongs to his nephew and pupil, Gian Batista, and thus

resembles his style, though coloured with stronger tints in

the taste of Titian, whom he is known to have greatly

consulted in after years. Other pictures of Jacopone might

be cited, that still exist, but injured by time and by

retouches of other destroyers. Yet, they continue, all are

surpassed by a figure that was placed at the Celestini, and

is now in the general collection. It represents St. John

pointing out to the ecclesiastic who ordered the picture,

the Virgin crowned, between Saints Celestino and Benedetto;

a grand piece wonderfully preserved, formed upon the

composition of Raffaello, and coloured after Titian. On the

right side is written, "F. Jo. Bapt. Para Brasius hoc opus

ob devotionem fieri jussit anno domini 1565:" (the most

assured epoch of his life;) and on the left hand, "Et semper

Jacobius Bertusius F. (for Faventinus) invicto tandem Momo

faciebat." Who this Momo was, against whose desire (since we

must read _invito_) he completed the picture, I know not;

whether a painter, or perhaps a friar, whom Jacopone's

dilatoriness had offended, and who wished to substitute

another artist, in which good office he did not succeed.

The same city possesses a variety of other pieces by this Bertucci, and in

the soffitto of S. Giovanni, various histories, both of the Old and New

Testament, were pointed out to me as his. There too are several of inferior

character attributed to another Bertucci, his son, an artist who in his

heads repeats the same idea, even to satiety. Still his merit ought not, I

think, to be estimated from a single work, but rather from some pictures

cited by Crespi.[19] One of these is the Beheading of St. John the Baptist,

animated and high toned in its colours, beautiful in point of design and

character, and worthy of decorating the Ercolani collection at Bologna.

Upon it is inscribed "Bertucius pinxit, 1580." The other is at the

Celestini of Faenza, a singular work, as Crespi denominates it, from which

he appears to have learnt the proper name of this younger Bertucci, whom he

calls Giambatista. Baldinucci treats of Jacopone at the commencement of his

fifth volume, and on the credit of Count Laderchi, he enumerates his

different paintings, which then remained at Faenza. Of his surname he

mentions nothing; nothing of his altar-piece of the Nativity; nothing of S.

Vitale; nothing of the son, or the other artist of Faenza lately alluded

to. He adds, that works of Jacopone were to be seen up to the year 1570,

but I believe these last to have belonged to the son, inasmuch as the

father, at the period when Vasari wrote, was already deceased. Other

pictures by this artist are mentioned, painted in glowing and attractive

colours, and in particular the Baptizing of Christ, preserved in the public

collection, valuable from its giving the epoch of 1610, which must have

been towards the close of his days.

Footnote 19: Lettere Pittoriche, vol. vii. p. 66.

By Giulio Tonduzzi there is pointed out at Ravenna the Stoning of St.

Stephen, on the large altar of a church consecrated to that saint, a

beautiful picture, but not indisputably proved to be his. I conjecture it

to be a copy of the St. Stephen that decorates the church of Faenza, in

which the whole style of Giulio Romano is apparent; so much so, that it has

been attributed to him, a mistake arising from resemblance of names; but

Tonduzzi is known to have been Giulio's pupil. I omit other productions of

this excellent artist, though I ought to notice, that in the soffitto of S.

Giovanni, he also painted several sacred histories, in competition with all

the first artists, who then flourished at Faenza, on which account that

very cultivated city has preserved the whole of these paintings, although

much defaced by age, in the Lyceum collection, belonging to the commune,

mentioned in other places. I also find one M. Antonio da Faenza, commended

by Civalli for a very excellent picture, possessing fine relief, at the

church of the Conventuali of Monte Lupone, in the Marca, dated 1525.

Contemporary with these must have been Figurino da Faenza, enumerated by

Vasari among the best disciples of Giulio Romano, though I meet with no

mention of him elsewhere. It is conjectured, however, with good reason,

that Figurino was only a surname given to Marc Antonio Rocchetti, a painter

of great reputation at Faenza, who in youth took great delight in minute

drawing, producing, among other pieces, little histories of St. Sebastian,

for the ornament of that church, now destroyed, when they came into

possession of various individuals who treasure them up in the present day.

In maturer years he enlarged his manner, attaching himself to the imitation

of Baroccio, which he did with a simplicity of composition and sweetness of

tints, that made him conspicuous in different churches which he adorned, as

we may gather from the picture of the titular Saint at S. Rocco, with the

year 1604, the latest period which we find mentioned on his productions. In

the Communal collection, also, there is seen a picture of the Virgin, known

in Faenza under the name of the Madonna of the Angels, with a St. Francis,

a holy bishop, and two portraits below. It bears the inscription, _M.

Antonius Rochettus Faventinus pingebat, 1594_. It was requisite to mention

this picture, which I find extolled above all other specimens that have

remained. The name of Niccolo Paganelli, before unknown to us, is also met

with in the Oretti correspondence, contained in a letter of Zanoni, which

we cite in treating of Benedetto Marini. He is supposed to have been a good

pupil of the Roman School, and some attribute to him the fine picture of S.

Martino, in the cathedral of Faenza, the supposed work of Luca Longhi. His

genuine pictures are recognized by the initials N.+P.

Subsequent to the period of Jacopone, who never acquired fortune, Marco

Marchetti greatly distinguished himself. So at least he is named by

Baglione, or Marco da Faenza, according to Vasari, who observes that he was

"particularly experienced in regard to frescos; bold, decided, terrible;

and especially in the practice and manner of drawing grotesques, not having

any rival then equal to him." Nor perhaps has any artist since appeared who

equals him in this respect, and in happily adapting to grotesques little

histories, full of spirit and elegance, and with figures which form a

school for design. Such is the Slaughter of the Innocents, in the Vatican.

He succeeded Sabbatini in the works of Gregory XIII. and entered the

service of Cosmo I. for whom he decorated the Palazzo Vecchio at Florence.

He painted little in his own country, though a few pieces in oil are still

pointed out, and an arch in a public way, with festoons of flowers,

monsters, and capricci, resembling the work of an ancient artist. The whole

reminds us of mythology and erudition, while at subsequent periods it

became customary in this kind of painting to dare every extravagance and

excess. Perhaps his most finished piece adorns the Communal collection,

representing the Feast of Christ in the house of the Pharisee. His death

occurred in 1588. Contemporary with him flourished Gio. Batista Armenini,

also of Faenza, an able artist, and author of the "True Precepts of

Painting,"[20] published at Ravenna in 1587, a work that re-appeared in the

ensuing century at Venice. In fact Armenini was a better theorist than a

practitioner; nor has he any production in his native place, except a large

picture of the Assumption, on which he inscribed _Jo. Bapt. Armenini

primiliae_, meaning, that it was among the first, or perhaps the very first

altar-piece which he ever painted. Perotti, the author of certain

_Farragini_,[21] which are still preserved in the library of the Seminary

at Faenza, there observes, that Armenini was a pupil of Perin del Vaga. Nor

is there a great interval between him and Cristoforo Lanconello, an artist

of Faenza, first discovered to us in the letter of Crespi, just before

cited. He is celebrated for his picture in the Casa Ercolani, in which the

Virgin appears crowned with a glory, attended by Saints Francis and Chiara,

and two more; a work displaying great freedom of hand, beauty of colouring,

fine airs of the heads, and altogether in the composition of Barocci.

Footnote 20: _Veri Precetti della Pittura._

Footnote 21: A mixture of all styles and subjects

We must not take our leave of the Cinquecentisti[22] without first noticing

a cavalier of Faenza, who flourished till the year 1620, in which he died

at the age of 83. His name was Niccolo Pappanelli, and such was his

enthusiasm for the art, that he attended all the most distinguished masters

then in vogue at Rome. On his return to his native place, he produced,

along with some pieces of mediocrity, a few of an exquisite character, such

as his picture of S. Martino at the cathedral, so well executed in point of

design, force of colouring, and expression, as to be truly admirable. He,

too, attempted to follow in the track of Barocci.

Footnote 22: Artists of the fifteenth century.

Other artists of Romagna, belonging to this period, are treated of in the

schools where they chiefly flourished, such as Ingoli of Ravenna, at

Venice, Zaccolini of Cesena at Rome, and Ardente, a native of Faenza, in

Piedmont.

BOLOGNESE SCHOOL.

EPOCH III.

_The Caracci, their Scholars, and their Successors, until

the time of Cignani._

To write the history of the Caracci and their followers would in fact be

almost the same as to write the pictoric history of all Italy during the

last two centuries. In our preceding books we have taken a survey of almost

every school; and everywhere, early or late, we have met with either the

Caracci or their pupils, or at least with their successors, employed in

overthrowing the ancient maxims, and introducing new, until we reach the

period when there was no artist who, in some respect or other, might not be

said to belong to their school. Now, as it is grateful to the traveller,

after long following the course of some royal river, to ascend still higher

to its source, so I trust it will, in like manner, prove delightful to my

readers, to be here made acquainted with those principles that conferred

this new style upon the world of art, and in a short time filled with its

specimens, and took the lead of every individual school. What, in my

opinion, too, is still more surprising is, that it should owe its origin to

Lodovico Caracci, a young artist, who appeared of a slow, inactive

intellect in early years, and better adapted to grind colours than to

harmonize and apply them. He was advised, both by Fontana, his master at

Bologna, and by Tintoretto, who directed his studies in Venice, to adopt a

new profession, as quite unqualified for the art of painting; his fellow

pupils likewise bantering him with the epithet of the ox, in allusion to

his extreme dulness and tardiness. Indeed, every thing seemed to conspire

to discourage him; he alone did not despair; from the obstacles he had to

encounter he only gathered courage, and inducements to rouse, not to alarm

himself. For this, his dilatory character, did not spring from confined

genius, but from deep penetration; he shunned the ideal of the art as a

rock on which so many of his contemporaries had suffered shipwreck; he

pursued nature every where; he exacted of himself a reason for every line

he drew; and considered it the duty of a young artist to aim only at doing

well, until at length it grows into a habit, and such habit assists him in

expediting his work.

Resolute, then, in his purpose, after having studied the best native

artists in Bologna, he proceeded to do the same under Titian and Tintoretto

at Venice. Thence he passed to Florence, and improved his taste from the

pictures of Andrea, and the instructions of Passignano. At that period, the

school of the Florentines had attained to that crisis, described in

treating of its fourth epoch. Nothing could be more advantageous to young

Lodovico than to observe there the competition between the partizans of the

old and the new style; nor could there be better means of ascertaining the

causes of the decline, and of the revival of the art. Such a scene was

assuredly of the greatest use to him, though hitherto not much noticed, in

attempting the reform of painting, and carrying it to a higher degree of

perfection. The most eminent Florentines, with the view of improving the

languid colouring of their masters, turned to the models of Coreggio and

his followers; and their example, I am of opinion, induced Lodovico to

leave Florence for Parma, where, observes his historian, he wholly devoted

himself to that master and to Parmigianino. On his return to Bologna,

although well received and esteemed as a good artist, he soon became aware

that a single individual, so reserved and cautious as he was, could ill

compete with an entire school; unless, following the example of Cigoli at

Florence, he were to form a party among the rising pupils at Bologna.

In the first instance, he sought support in his own relatives. His brother

Paolo cultivated the art, but was deficient both in judgment and in

ability, and calculated only to execute with mediocrity the designs of

others. On him he placed no reliance, but a good deal on two of his

cousins. He had a paternal uncle named Antonio, by profession a tailor, who

educated his two sons, Agostino and Annibale, at home. Such was their

genius for design, that Lodovico was accustomed to say in his old age, that

he had never had, during his whole professional career, a single pupil to

equal them. The first devoted his attention to the goldsmith's art--always

the school of the best engravers; the second was at once the pupil and

assistant of his father in his calling. Though brothers, their dispositions

were so opposite, as to render their society insufferable to each other,

and they were little less than enemies. Accomplished in letters, Agostino

always sought the company of learned men; there was no science on which he

could not speak; at once a philosopher, a geometrician, and a poet; of

refined manners, ready wit, and averse to the pursuits of the crowd.

Annibale, on the contrary, neglected letters, beyond the mere power of

reading and writing, while a natural bluntness of manner inclined him to

taciturnity, and when compelled to speak, it was mostly in a satirical,

contemptuous, or disputing tone.

On devoting themselves, at the suggestion of Lodovico, to the pictoric art,

they still found themselves opposed to each other in genius, as they were

in manners. Agostino was timid, and extremely select, backward in resolve,

difficult to please himself, and was never aware of a difficulty that he

did not encounter, and attempt to vanquish it. Annibal, in common with

numbers of artificers, was an expeditious workman, intolerant of doubts and

delays, eagerly seeking every remedy for the intricacies of the art, trying

the most easy methods, and to perform much in little time. Had they indeed

fallen into other hands, Agostino would have become a new Samacchini,

Annibal a new Passerotti; and painting would have owed no improvement to

their efforts. But their cousin's fine judgment led him, in their

education, to imitate Isocrates, who, instructing Ephorus and Theopompus,

was accustomed to say, that he was compelled to apply spurs to the one, and

a rein to the other. With similar views he consigned Agostino to Fontana,

as an easy and rapid master, and retained Annibal in his own studio, where

works were carried to higher perfection. By such means too he kept them

apart, until riper age should by degrees remove the enmity subsisting

between them, and convert it into a bond of amity, when devoted to the same

profession, they might unite their capital, and mutually assist each other.

In a few years he succeeded in reconciling them, and in 1580 he placed them

at Parma and at Venice, of which an account has been given under those

schools. During this period Agostino collected materials for his varied

learning, and enlarged his design; and as before leaving Bologna he had

made great progress in engraving under Domenico Tibaldi, he continued in

Venice to practise it under Cort with such success, as to excite his

master's jealousy, who drove him, but in vain, from his studio; for

Agostino was already esteemed the Marc Antonio of his time. Annibal,

devoted to a single aim, both at Parma and Venice continued to paint,

availing himself of the works and conversation of illustrious men, with

whom at that period the Venetian School abounded. It was then, or shortly

subsequent, that he executed his beautiful copies of Coreggio, Titian, and

Paul Veronese; in whose taste he also conducted some small pictures.

Several specimens of these I saw in possession of the Marchese Durazzo at

Genoa, displaying opposite, but very graceful styles.

Returning accomplished artists into their native place, they struggled long

and nobly with their fortunes. Their first undertakings consisted of the

exploits of Jason, in a frieze of the Casa Favi; these, though conducted

with the assistance of Lodovico, were vituperated with excessive scorn by

the old painters, as deficient both in elegance and correctness. To this

censure, the credit of these masters who had flourished at Rome, who were

extolled by the poets, adorned with diplomas, and regarded by the declining

age as pillars of the art, seemed to give weight. Their disciples echoed

their words, and the crowd repeated them; and such murmurs proceeding from

a public, gifted with as much volubility in conversation as would suffice

for purposes of declamation or controversy elsewhere, wounded the feelings

of the Caracci, overwhelmed and depressed them. I was informed by the

accomplished Cav. Niccolo Fava, that Lodovico's change of fortune, along

with that of his cousins, occurred on an occasion, and at a period little

differing from the above; which is supported by a tradition to the same

effect. The two cousins had executed the frieze in the same hall where Cesi

adorned another, in opposition to it, with histories of AEneas, which we

have already mentioned, (p. 74). The work, conducted in the old style, was

certainly beautiful, but Lodovico, in the new, painted another chamber with

other histories, twelve in number, of AEneas, of which mention is made in

the Guide of Bologna, (p. 14); histories in no way inferior to those in the

Casa Magnani. Here was the beginning of the Caracci's fortune, and of the

fall of the old masters, Bologna at length preparing to do justice to the

worth of that divine artist, and to verify in respect to Cesi that sentence

of Hesiod, of which, to the best of my ability, I here offer a version from

the Greek, as follows:

Folle chi al piu potente fa contrasto!

Che perde la vittoria; e sempre al fine,

Oltra lo scorno, di dolor si e guasto!

_Opera_ V. 210.

Fool, that will dare to cross the path of one

More powerful! and ever to the loss

Of victory, at last add scorn and grief.

It was now that the Caracci, more than ever confident in their style,

answered the voice of censure only by works full of vigour and nature,

opposed to the works of older masters, feeble and void of truth. By such

means that revolution of style which had so long been meditated, at length

took place; but it became necessary, in order to accelerate it, to bring

over the students of the art to their party, the better to insure the hopes

of a new and improved era. This too the Caracci achieved, by opening an

academy of painting at their house, which they entitled _Degli

Incamminati_, supplying it with casts, designs, and prints, in the same

manner as those of their rivals; besides introducing a school for the

drawing of the naked figure, and for the study of anatomy and perspective:

in short, every thing requisite to the art; directing the whole with a

skill added to a kindness that could not fail to procure it abundance of

pupils. In particular, the fiery temper of Dionisio Calvart contributed to

fill it, who, being in the habit of striking, and even wounding his

disciples, drove Guido, Albano, and Domenichino, to transfer their talents

to the studio of the Caracci. Panico too entered it from the school of

Fontana, and from all sides the best young artists assembled, drawing after

them fresh ranks of students. Finally, the other academies were closed;

every school was left to solitude; every name gave way before that of the

Caracci; to them the best commissions, to them the meed of praise were

accorded. Their humbled rivals soon assumed another language, especially

when the grand hall of Magnani was thrown open, presenting the wonders of

the new Carraccesque art. It was then Cesi declared that he would become a

disciple of the new school; and Fontana only lamented that he was too

grey-headed to keep pace with it, while Calvart alone, with his usual

bravado, ventured to blame the work, being the last of all to recant, or at

least to become silent.

It is now time to record the pursuits and the maxims of an academy, which,

besides educating many illustrious pupils, perfected the art of their

masters; and confirmed the axiom, that the shortest method of learning much

is that of teaching. The three brothers were on the most perfect

understanding as to the art of teaching, as free from venality as from

envy; but the most laborious branches of the professorship were sustained

by Agostino. He had drawn up a short treatise of perspective and

architecture, from which he expounded to the school. He explained the

nature of the bones and muscles, designating them by their names, in which

he was assisted by Lanzoni the anatomist, who also secretly provided the

school with bodies for such dissections as were required. His lectures were

sometimes founded upon history, at others upon fictions; and these he

illustrated, and offered for designs, which being exhibited at stated

intervals, were examined by skilful judges, who decided upon their

respective merits; as we gather from a ticket written to Cesi, one of the

arbiters. The meed of fame was sufficient for the crowned candidates, round

whom the poets collected to celebrate their name; with whom Agostino

enthusiastically joined both with harp and voice, applauding the progress

of his scholars. These last were likewise instructed in true criticism, and

to give due praise or blame to the works of others; they were also taught

to criticise their own works, and whoever could not give good reasons for

what he had done, and defend his own work, must cancel it upon the spot.

Each, however, was at liberty to pursue what path he pleased, or rather

each entered upon that to which nature had best adapted him, which gave

rise to so many original manners from the same studio; yet each style was

to be founded upon reason, nature, and imitation. In all more doubtful

points, recourse was had to the opinion of Lodovico; the cousins presided

over the daily exercises of design, full of assiduity, industry, and

perseverance. Even the recreations of the academicians had a view to art;

to draw landscapes from nature, or to sketch caricatures, were the

customary amusements of Annibale and the disciples of the school, when they

wished to relax from study.[23]

Footnote 23: It must be observed that the two younger

Caracci visited Rome, where they continued to instruct their

pupils on the same plan. Passeri, in his life of Guido,

says, that they were joined by literary men, who proposed

history-pieces to them, with premiums for such as should be

best executed; and that on one occasion Domenichino, one of

the youngest, being preferred above all, Guido was seized

with the most lively emulation to eclipse him. The historian

adds, that the same method was soon adopted in the Roman

academy, and that Car. Barberini, nephew to Urban VIII.,

presided at the election of the first, and rewarded him with

money, and those that next followed, to the fourth member.

Moreover he gave the first a commission for a picture from

the same subject as the design. What a secret is here shewn

for promoting the fine arts.

The maxim of uniting together the study of nature, and the imitation of the

best masters, already touched upon in the outset of this book, formed the

real foundation of the school of Caracci; although they took care to modify

it according to particular talents, as we have seen. Their object was to

collect into one whatever they found most valuable in other schools, and in

this process they observed two methods. The first resembles that of the

poets, who, in several Canzoni, propose different models for imitation; in

one, for instance, borrowing from Petrarch, in another from Chiabrera, in a

third from Frugoni. The second method is like that of those, who, being

masters of these three styles, form and harmonize them into one, like

Corinthian metal, composed of various other kinds. Thus the Caracci, in

some of their compositions, were accustomed to present different styles in

a variety of different figures. So Lodovico, in his Preaching of St. John

the Baptist, at the church of the Certosini (where Crespi is especially

opposed to Paul Veronese), has exhibited the audience of the saint in such

a manner that a judge described them by these names:--the Raffaellesque,

the Tizianesque, and the imitator of Tintoretto. Annibal too, who had long

admired only Coreggio, having finally adopted Lodovico's maxim, painted his

celebrated picture for the church of St. George, where, in his figure of

the Virgin, he imitated Paolo; in that of the Divine Infant and St. John,

Coreggio; in St. John the Evangelist he exhibited Titian; and in the very

graceful form of St. Catherine, the sweetness of Parmigianino. Most

generally, however, they pursued the second path, and still more examples

might be adduced of less apparent and more free and mixed imitations, so

modified as to produce a whole of a perfectly original character. And the

ingenious Agostino, emulating the ancient legislators, who embodied all

their laws in a few verses, composed that very picturesque, rather than

poetical sonnet, in praise of Niccolino Abati, but which also well explains

the maxim of their school, in selecting the peculiar merits of each

different style. It has been handed down to us by Malvasia, in his life of

Primaticcio, and runs as follows:--

Chi farsi un buon pittor brama e desia

Il disegno di Roma abbia alla mano,

La mossa coll'ombrar Veneziano,

E il degno colorir di Lombardia;

Di Michelangiol la terribil via,

Il vero natural di Tiziano,

Di Coreggio lo stil puro e sovrano,

Di un Raffael la vera simmetria;

Del Tibaldi il decoro e il fondamento,

Del dotto Primaticcio l'inventare,

E un po' di grazia del Parmigianino:

Ma senza tanti studii e tanto stento

Si ponga solo l'opre ad imitare

Che qui lasciocci il nostro Niccolino.

To paint for fame, who nurtures high desire,

Will Rome's design keep ever in his view;

To the Venetian shade and action true,

Of Lombardy's whole colouring never tire;

Kindle at Michael's terrors, and his fire,

Seize Titian's living truth, who nature drew;

Allegri's pure and sovereign graces too;

To heavenly Raphael's symmetry aspire:

Tibaldi's solid sense, appropriate air,

And Primaticcio's learn'd inventive thought,

With Parmigiano's graceful sweetness fraught.

And should all these ask too much studious care,

Turn to our Niccolino's bright display

Of wondrous works, the envy of his day.

It is not easy to ascertain how far the Caracci may have carried this

project, though it must always reflect the highest degree of credit upon

them to have executed it in a superior manner to all other artists. In the

outset they most felt their deficiency in their imitation of the antique,

called by Agostino the design of Rome. He and Annibal, however, while

residing there as strangers, in some measure reproduced and restored it to

Roman artists themselves; and Lodovico, though remaining at Bologna, shewed

that he was by no means unacquainted with it. At first, observes Mengs,

they devoted much study to Coreggio, both in their ample outline and in

their general design, although they did not observe the same exact

equilibrium in their concave and convex lines, but rather affected the

latter. There were other points which they did not attempt to include in

such imitation, as in the shortening of the heads, and exhibiting them so

very frequently with that smile so much repeated by the Parmigiani, by

Barocci, and Vanni. They took their heads from life, and improved upon them

by general ideas of the beautiful. Hence Annibal's Madonnas, many of them

of a small size on copper, exhibit a peculiar and original beauty derived

from his studies; and the same may be said of Lodovico, who, in his softer

heads, often gives the portrait of a lady named Giacomazzi, celebrated for

her beauty at that time. The Caracci were extremely well-grounded in a

knowledge of anatomy, and of the naked figure; and it would be manifest

injustice not to give them credit for due estimation of Michelangiolo, whom

they also imitated. One of them indeed is known to have said, with some

acrimony towards the rival school, that Bonarruoti ought to have covered

his bones with a little flesh, in the manner of their own Tibaldi. It is

true they availed themselves less of the naked form in composition than the

Florentines, though more largely than the other schools. In their costume,

they were not so anxious to observe the exactness and richness of Paul

Veronese, as the grandeur of his folds and form; nor did any other school

give more ample flow of drapery, or arrange it with dignity more suitable

to the figures.

Yet Mengs denies that they were consummate colourists, though they studied

the Lombard and Venetian schools, an opinion confirmed by Lodovico's

paintings in oil, which are faded and almost gone. This arose, either from

the nature of his grounds, from too abundant use of oil, or from not

allowing due time between preparing his canvass and colouring it. The same

remark will not apply to his frescos, which, on a near view, exhibit a

boldness of hand equal almost to Paolo's; nor, in the opinion of Bellori,

was there any work which, in point of colouring, reflected higher credit on

the Caracci, and on the age, than their pictures in the Casa Magnani. They

boast a truth, force, mixture, and harmony of colours, such as to entitle

them also in this portion of the art to the praise of being reformers of

the age. They effectually banished those wretched yellows, and other weak,

washy tints, introduced from parsimony, in place of the azures and

different colours of higher price. In this Bellori accords most merit to

Annibal; declaring it was owing to him that Lodovico himself renounced his

first method of colouring, which was formed on that of Procaccini.

In action and expression they aimed at vivacity, but without ever losing

sight of propriety, of which they were extremely observant; and to which

they were ready to sacrifice any of the graces of the art. In taste of

invention and composition, they come near that of Raffaello. The Caracci

were not lavish of their figures, conceiving twelve sufficient for any

historical piece, except in crowds, or in battle-pieces, where they were

still moderate, in order to give greater relief to particular groups. That

they were competent to compose with judgment, learning, and variety, is

fully apparent from their sacred histories represented on altars, where

they avoided, as much as possible, the very trite representation of a

Madonna between various saints. This truth is still more remarkably shewn

in their profane histories, and in none better than those of Romulus, in

the family just before mentioned. The three relations there appear

universal in the art, as perspective, landscape, and ornamental painters,

masters of every style, and concentering in one point of view whatever is

most desirable in any single work. The three artists seem to disappear in

one; and the same is observed also in several galleries and churches of

Bologna. They followed the same maxims, and in the same studio designed in

union with one another, conferring and taking measures how best to complete

every work in hand. In several instances it still remains matter of doubt

whether pictures are to be attributed to Annibal or to Lodovico; and the

three scriptural histories of the Sampieri, in which the three relations

wished to display their respective powers, do not exhibit a diversity which

might essentially characterize their respective authors. Some indeed there

are who may detect in Lodovico a more general imitation of Titian, than is

observable in the cousins, Agostino inclining more to the taste of

Tintoretto, Annibal to that of Coreggio. It has sometimes been remarked

that the figures of the first of the three are light in form, those of the

third, robust; while those of Agostino hold a middle rank. At Bologna I

found Lodovico enjoying most repute for a certain elevation and grandeur;

Agostino for his inventive powers; Annibal for grace. Every one must judge,

however, according to his own views. It is now my duty to consider these

separately.

Lodovico, doubtless, rises into the sublime in many of his works at

Bologna. His picture of the "_Probatica_" so excellent both in point of

architecture and the design of the figures; that of S. Girolamo, who,

suspending his pen, turns towards heaven with a look and gesture so truly

impressive and dignified; his Limbo of holy fathers, which, as if to renew

his delight in it, he repeated in the cathedral of Piacenza, and sketched

also under a Crucifixion at Ferrara: these have ever been regarded in that

school as models of the sublime. Nevertheless, if we examine the

"Assumption," at the Teresiani, the "Paradise," at the Barnabiti, or the

"S. George," in which is represented that admirable virgin, who is seen

seized with terror in the act of flight, it will be allowed that Annibal

himself could not have exhibited more grace in his drawing of young maidens

or of boys. More excelling, therefore, than great, Lodovico may be said to

be transcendant in every character; and it would even seem that he had

aimed at this boast in the two frescos that have perished, with which he

decorated, at S. Domenico, the chapel of the Lambertini. In one he

exhibited the holy founder, with S. Francis, in a manner very easy and

pleasing to the eye, with few lights and as few shades, but both powerful,

and with few folds in the drapery; the countenances full of piety; insomuch

that the whole performance, in the words of Malvasia, "rose to a pitch of

grandeur not to be excelled." In the other piece he represented "Charity,"

in a style equally soft, graceful, and polished, and which was

subsequently, says the historian, esteemed "the model and the rule of

modern painting." He proceeds to relate, that Albani, Guido, and

Domenichino all derived their sweetness from this source, in the same way,

most probably, that Cavedoni took his first style from the S. Domenico; and

from his Paul at the Conventuali Guercino acquired his grand power of

chiaroscuro. In short, if we may give credit to history, Lodovico in his

own school ranks like Homer among the Greeks, _fons ingeniorum_. Individual

artists in him have recognized what constituted the character of their own

knowledge, because in every branch of painting he was truly profound.[24]

Footnote 24: See Crespi's analysis of the two pictures at

the church of the Certosa, (p. 32,) one representing the

Scourging of Christ, the other his Crown of Thorns, where

the most beautiful art of disposing the light to produce the

desired effect is remarkable; with an exquisite effect of

perspective, and a degree of invention not to be surpassed

in representing the suffering of our Redeemer.

The masterly dignity of his character appears to most advantage in the

cloister of S. Michele in Bosco, where, assisted by his pupils, he

represented the actions of St. Benedict and St. Cecilia in thirty-seven

separate histories. By his hand is the Conflagration of Mount Cassino, and

some other portions; the remaining parts are by Guido, by Tiarini, by

Massari, by Cavedoni, by Spada, by Garbieri, by Brizio, and other young

artists. These paintings have been engraved, and are worthy of the

reformers of that age. On beholding what we may term this gallery by

different hands, we should be almost inclined to bestow upon the school of

Lodovico this trite eulogy; that from it, as from the Trojan horse, there

issued only princes. What does him still more honour is, that his relatives

themselves, down to the least and last, uniformly venerated him as a

preceptor, insomuch that Annibal, on the completion of the Farnese gallery,

invited him to Rome, as the adviser, arbiter, and umpire of that work. He

remained there less than two weeks, and then returning to his beloved

Bologna, he survived Agostino seventeen years, and Annibal ten. Being

separated from the two cousins, he employed himself at an advanced age in a

manner less studied, but still exemplary and masterly. Nor ought a few

slight inaccuracies of design to detract from the praise due to him,

inaccuracies which he fell into about this period, as in the drawing of the

hand of the Redeemer, in the act of calling St. Matthew to follow him, or

in the foot of the Madonna of the Annunciation painted at S. Pietro, a

fault which he saw too late, and it may be added, for which he died of

affliction. Other less well founded criticisms advanced against him by a

traveller have been fully rebutted and confuted by the Can. Crespi.[25]

Footnote 25: _Lettere Pittoriche_, tom. vii. lettera 4.

Agostino, occupied for the most part in engraving, painted but little, this

employment supplying him at once with the means of subsistence, and of

shining in the class of artists. Doubtless painting here sustained a loss,

deprived of a genius equally calculated as his relations to promote the

art. His powers of invention surpassed those of the other Caracci, and many

rank him foremost in point of design. It is certain that in his engraving

he corrected and improved upon the outlines of his originals. On his return

from Venice he applied himself more effectually to colouring, and succeeded

in that of a horse, so far as to deceive the living animal, a triumph so

much celebrated in Apelles. He once competed with his brother Annibal for

an altar-piece intended for the church of the Carthusians. His design was

preferred; and it was then that in his Communion of S. Girolamo he produced

one of the most celebrated pictures of which Bologna can boast. Nothing can

be imagined finer than the expression of devotion in the aged saint, the

piety of the priest at the communion, the looks of the spectators, who

support the dying, who catch his last accents, committing them instantly to

writing, lest they escape; countenances finely varied and animated, each

breathing and speaking, as it were, peculiar mind. On its first exhibition,

the pupils thronged around the picture to make their studies, insomuch that

Annibal, urged by jealousy, assumed more of his brother's taste, becoming

more select and slow, contriving further to addict his brother to

engraving; a plan in which he succeeded. He returned, as a painter, to

Rome; and the fine representation of Poetry, so much admired in the Farnese

gallery, was, in great part, owing to his talent; and the same may be said

of the fables of Cephalus and Galatea, exquisitely graceful productions,

which seem dictated by a poet, and executed by a Greek artist. Hence it was

rumoured that in the Farnesian paintings the engraver had surpassed the

painter; at which Annibal, no longer able to subdue his envy, removed his

brother from the undertaking under a variety of false pretences; nor was

any humility on the part of Agostino, any advice of his elders, or any

mediation of the great, sufficient to appease him. Quitting Rome, Agostino

entered into the service of the Duke of Parma, for whom he painted

Celestial Love, Terrestrial Love, and Venal Love, to adorn one of the

halls, a very beautiful work, which he terminated only just before his

death. A single figure remained wanting, and this the duke would never

consent to have supplied by any other hand. At the point of death he was

seized with lively remorse, on account of his many licentious engravings

and prints, and even wept bitterly. At that period he designed a picture of

the Last Judgment, which, however, he was unable to complete. In the

account of his funeral, and in the oration recited on that occasion by

Lucio Faberio, mention is made of a head of Jesus Christ, in the character

of the universal judge, painted at that time, though unfinished, upon a

black ground. Such a head is pointed out in the Albani palace at Rome, and

duplicates exist elsewhere. In the features we see exhibited all that is at

once most majestic and most terrible within the limits of the human

imagination.

Annibal was greatly celebrated in Lombardy in every peculiar taste which he

chose to pursue. In his earliest works Mengs declares that he traces the

appearance, but not the depth and reality of Coreggio's style; but it is an

appearance so extremely plausible, that it compels us to pronounce him one

of the most perfect imitators of that consummate master. His Taking down

from the Cross, at the church of the Capuccini in Parma, may challenge the

most distinguished followers of the Parmese School. His picture of S. Rocco

is still more celebrated, comprising the perfections of different artists,

a piece engraved in aqua forte by Guido Reni. It was executed for Reggio,

thence transferred to Modena, and from the last place to Dresden. He

represented the saint, standing near a portico on a basement, and

dispensing his wealth to poor mendicants; a composition not so very rich in

figures as in knowledge of the art. A throng of paupers, as different in

point of infirmity as in age and sex, is admirably varied, both in the

grouping and the gestures. One is seen receiving with gratitude, another

impatiently expecting, a third counting his alms with delight; every object

is misery and humiliation, and yet every thing seems to display the

abundance and dignity of the artist. But proceeding to Rome in the year

1600, he entered on another career; "he checked his fire," observes Mengs,

"he improved the extravagance of his forms, imitated Raffaello and the

ancients, retaining at the same time a portion of the style of Coreggio to

support dignity." (Tom. ii. p. 19.) Albano makes use of nearly the same

words in a letter given by Bellori, (p. 44,) adding, that Annibal, in the

opinion of competent judges, "far surpassed his cousin, from a knowledge of

the works of Raffaello, in addition to that of the most beautiful ancient

statues." He was there employed in various churches, though his crowning

effort, and nearly the whole foundation of the art, as restored by his

means, are to be sought for in the Farnese palace. The subjects were

selected by Monsig. Agucchi; and together with the allegories may be read

in Bellori. In a small chamber he gave representations of the Virtues, such

as his _Choice of Hercules_, _Hercules sustaining the World_, _Ulysses the

Liberator_; in the gallery various fables of Virtuous Love, such as those

of Arion and Prometheus; with others of Venal Love, among which a wonderful

figure of a Bacchanal is one of the most conspicuous. The work is admirably

distributed and varied with ovals, cornices, and with a variety of

ornamental figures, sometimes in stucco, at others in chiaroscuro, where

the effect of his assiduous studies of the Farnesian Hercules is very

apparent, as well as of the _torso_ of the Belvidere, which he accurately

designed, without even having the model before him. The whole of the other

parts breathe Attic elegance combined with Raffaellesque grace, and

imitations not only of his own Tibaldi but of Bonarruoti himself, no less

than all the sprightly and the powerful added to the art by the Venetians

and Lombards. This was the earliest production, where, as in Pandora's box,

all the geniuses of the Italian schools united their several gifts; and in

its fit place I described the astonishment created by it at Rome, with the

revolution it occasioned in the whole art.

On account of this work he is ranked by Mengs next after the three leading

masters in the fourth degree, and even esteemed supereminent in regard to

the form of his virile figures. Poussin asserts, that after Raffaello there

were no better compositions than these, and he prefers the decorative heads

and figures already mentioned, with the other naked forms, in which the

artist was said to have surpassed himself, even to his fables so

beautifully painted. To him Baglione refers the method of colouring from

nature, which was nearly lost, as well as the true art of

landscape-painting, afterwards imitated by the Flemish. To these might

likewise be added the use of caricatures, which no one better than he knew

how to copy from nature, and to increase with ideal power. In the Roman

galleries many of Annibal's pictures are to be met with, conducted in this

new style; and there is one in the Lancellotti palace, small, and painted

_a colla_,[26] rivalling, I had almost said, the best pieces of Ercolani.

It is a Pan teaching Apollo to play upon the pipe; figures at once

designed, coloured, and disposed with the hand of a great master. They are

so finely expressive, that we see in the countenance of the youth,

humility, and apprehension of committing an error; and in that of the old

man, turning another way, peculiar attention to the sound, his pleasure in

possessing such a pupil, and his anxiety to conceal from him his real

opinion, lest he might happen to grow vain.[27]

Footnote 26: In colours, of which yolk of egg, or a kind of

glue, is the vehicle.

Footnote 27: See the _Dissertazione su la Pittura_, by the

Canon Lazzarini, in the Catalogue of Pictures at Pesaro, p.

118.

No other pieces so exquisitely finished are found by his hand at Bologna,

where there prevails the same strong party, commenced in the time of the

Caracci, and which prefers Lodovico to Annibal. When we reflect that

Annibal, in addition to the patrimony left by his school, conferred upon it

the riches which the genius of the Greeks, throughout many ages and many

places had collected to adorn their style; when we reflect on the progress,

which, on observing his new style at Rome, was made by Domenichino, Guido,

Albano, Lanfranco, with the new light which it afforded to Algardi,

according to the supposition of Passeri, in respect to sculpture, and the

improvement which by his means took place in the very pleasing and

attractive painting of Flanders and of Holland, we feel inclined to

coincide with the general sentiment entertained beyond the limits of

Bologna, that Annibal was the most eminent artist of his family. At the

same time we may allow, that Agostino was the greater genius, and Lodovico,

to whom we are indebted for both, the greater teacher of these three. As

such, too, the learned Ab. Magnani, librarian and lecturer upon eloquence

to the institution, assigns to him the office of teacher, in an able

oration upon the fine arts, printed at Parma by Bodoni, along with others

by the same author.

The three Caracci may be almost said to define the boundaries of the golden

age of painting in Italy. They are her last sovereign masters, unless we

are willing to admit a few of their select pupils, who extended that period

during the space of some years. Excellent masters, doubtless, flourished

subsequently; but after their decease, the powers of such artists appearing

less elevated and less solid, we begin to hear complaints respecting the

decline of the art. Nor were there wanting those who contended for a

secondary age of silver, dating from Guido down to the time of Giordano, as

well on account of the minor merit of the artists, as for the prices, so

much greater than formerly, which Guido introduced into the art. The

Caracci themselves had been only scantily remunerated. Count Malvasia

admits this fact, not omitting to point out the small dwelling, and to

describe the narrow circumstances in which Lodovico died, while his two

relatives left the world still more impoverished than himself. The Caracci,

moreover, did not, like other painters, leave legitimate sons to perpetuate

their school; they never married, and were accustomed to observe that the

art was sole partner of their thoughts. And this beloved mistress they

adored and served with a love so passionate, as to abandon almost all

worldly care for themselves. Even while sitting at their meals they had the

implements of their art before them; and wherever they observed an action

or gesture adapted to adorn it, they took instant note of it. And to this

their free estate, more than to any other cause, were they indebted for

their noble progress and improvement. Had they "taken to themselves a

wife," how easily would their agreeable friendship and attachment, from

which each of the three derived light and knowledge from the rest, have

been broken in upon by tattling and trifles beneath their care. Most

probably, too, it might have occasioned too great rapidity of hand, at the

expense of study; such at least having been the result with regard to many,

who, to indulge a woman's taste, or to provide for the wants of a family,

have addicted themselves to carelessness and despatch. At the period, then,

of the decease of the two cousins, and the advanced age of Lodovico, there

remained of the family only two youths, one, named Francesco, at Bologna,

the other, Antonio, in Rome.

Francesco was a younger brother of Agostino and Annibal. Confiding in his

connexions and in his own talent, excellent in point of design, and

reasonably good in colouring, he ventured to oppose a school of his own to

that of Lodovico, his master, inscribing upon the door: "This is the true

school of the Caracci." He enjoyed no reputation at Bologna, but was rather

held in dislike, on account of his opposition to and detraction of

Lodovico, to whom he owed what little he executed at that place, namely, an

altar-piece, with various saints, at S. Maria Maggiore, the whole of which

had been retouched by his kind and able cousin. Having gone to Rome, he was

first received with applause, but becoming better known he was soon

despised; and, without leaving a single specimen of his pencil, he died

there in his twenty-seventh year, in the hospital. Antonio Caracci, a

natural son of Agostino, and pupil to Annibal, was of a totally different

disposition. Prudent, affectionate, and grateful to his relatives, he

received Annibal's last sighs at Rome, bestowed upon him a splendid funeral

in the same church of the Rotonda, where Raffaello's remains had been

exhibited, and deposited his ashes at the side of that great artist. He

survived, a valetudinarian, during some years, and died at the age of

thirty-five, in Rome, where he left some works in the pontifical palace,

and at S. Bartolommeo. They are rarely met with in cabinets, though I saw

one in Genoa, a Veronica, in possession of the Brignole family. Bellori Had

written his life, which, although now lost, leads to the supposition that

he possessed great merit, inasmuch as that writer confined himself to the

commemoration of only first rate artists. Baldassare Aloisi, called

Galanino, a kinsman and scholar of the Caracci, yielded to few of his

fellow-pupils in his compositions. His picture of the Visitation, at the

church of the Carita in Bologna, so much extolled by Malvasia, to say

nothing of various other pictures, executed at Rome, and favourably

recorded by Baglione, affords ample proofs of it. His fortune, however, was

not equal to his merit; so that he wholly devoted himself to portraiture,

and as we have stated, in the Roman School, he there for some period

boasted the chief sway in the branch of portraits, which were uniformly

characterized by great power and strong relief.

Other Bolognese artists, educated in the same academy, took up their

residence also at Rome, or in its state; nor were they few in number,

since, as was observed in the fourth epoch of that school, they were

received there with distinguished favour. We shall commence with the least

celebrated. Lattanzio Mainardi, called by Baglione Lattanzio Bolognese, had

visited Rome previous to Annibal, and in the pontificate of Sixtus V.,

conducted several works for the Vatican, which augured well of his genius,

had he not died there very young; as well as one Gianpaolo Bonconti, at an

age still more immature, having vainly followed his master to Rome, where

he had only time to make a few designs, but conceived in the best taste.

Innocenzio Tacconi was kinsman, according to some, and assuredly enjoyed

the confidence of Annibale. From him he received designs and retouches,

tending to make him appear a more considerable artist than he really was.

To judge from some of his histories of St. Andrew, painted for S. Maria del

Popolo, and S. Angiolo, in the fish-market, he may be said to have rivalled

his best fellow-pupils. But abusing his master's goodness, and alienating

his regard from Agostino, from Albano, and from Guido, by

misrepresentations, he received the usual recompence of slanderers. Annibal

withdrew his support, deprived of which he gradually became more and more

insignificant. Anton Maria Panico early left Rome, and, entering the

service of Mario Farnese, resided upon his estates, being employed in

painting at Castro, at Latera, and at Farnese, in whose cathedral he placed

his picture of the mass, to which Annibal also put his hand, even

conducting some of the figures. Baldassare Croce is an artist enumerated by

Orlandi among the pupils of Annibal; by Malvasia, among the imitators of

Guido. Baglione describes him as superior in age to all three of the

Caracci, introducing him into Rome as early as the times of Gregory.

Towards reconciling the accounts of these writers, it might be observed,

that continuing to reside at Rome, he may have taken advantage, as he

advanced in age, of the examples afforded by his noble fellow-citizens. His

style, from what we gather of it in the public palace of Viterbo, and a

cupola of the Gesu, as well as from his large histories of S. Susanna, and

other places in Rome, is easy, natural, and entitling him to the name of a

good mechanist and painter of frescos, but not so easily to that of a

follower of the Caracci. Gio. Luigi Valesio entered, though late, into the

same school, and chiefly attached himself to engraving and to miniature.

Proceeding to Rome, he was there employed by the Lodovisi under the

pontificate of Gregory XV., and obtained great honours. We find him

commended in the works of Marini and other poets, though less for the art,

in which he only moderately excelled, than for his assiduity and his

fortune. He was one of those wits, who in the want of sound merit know how

to substitute easier methods to advance themselves; seasonably to regale

such as can assist them, to affect joy amidst utter humiliation, to

accommodate themselves to men's tempers, to flatter, to insinuate, and to

canvass interest, until they attain their object. By means like these he

maintained his equipage in Rome, where Annibal, during many years, obtained

no other stipend for his honourable toils, than a bare roof for his head,

daily pittance for himself and his servant, with annual payment of a

hundred and twenty crowns.[28] In the few pieces executed by Valesio at

Bologna, such as his Nunziata of the Mendicants, we perceive a dry

composition of small relief, yet exact according to the method of the

miniaturists. He appears to have somewhat improved at Rome, where he left a

few works in fresco and in oil, exhibiting his whole power, perhaps, in a

figure of Religion, in the cloister of the Minerva. To these artists of the

Caracci school it will be sufficient only to have alluded. They were indeed

no more than gregarious followers of those elevated standards of their age.

Footnote 28: See _Malvasia_, vol. i. p. 574.

The five, however, who next follow, deserve a nearer view, and more

accurate acquaintance with their merits. These, remaining indeed at Rome,

became leaders of new ranks, which from them assumed their name and device;

and hence we have alternately been compelled to record the disciples of

Albano, of Guido, and so of the rest. This repetition, however, in other

places, will now permit us to treat of them in a more cursory view.

Domenico Zampieri, otherwise Domenichino, is at this day universally

esteemed the most distinguished pupil of the Caracci; and has even been

preferred by Count Algarotti to the Caracci themselves. What is still more,

Poussin ranked him directly next to Raffaello; and in the introduction to

the life of Camassei, almost the same opinion is given by Passeri. During

the early part of his career his genius appeared slow, because it was

profound and accurate; and Passeri attributes his grand progress more to

his amazing study than to his genius. From his acting as a continual censor

of his own productions, he became among his fellow pupils the most exact

and expressive designer, his colours most true to nature, and of the best

_impasto_, the most universal master in the theory of his art, the sole

painter amongst them all in whom Mengs found nothing to desire, except a

somewhat larger proportion of elegance. That he might devote his whole

being to the art, he shunned all society, or if he occasionally sought it

in the public theatres and markets, it was in order better to observe the

play of nature's passions in the features of the people;--those of joy,

anger, grief, terror, and every affection of the mind, and to commit it

living to his tablets; and thus, exclaims Bellori, it was, he succeeded in

delineating the soul, in colouring life, and rousing those emotions in our

breasts at which his works all aim; as if he waved the same wand which

belonged to the poetical enchanters, Tasso and Ariosto. After several

years' severe study at Bologna, he went to Parma to examine the beautiful

works of the Lombards; and thence to Rome, where he completed his erudite

taste under Annibal, who selected him as one of his assistants.

His style of painting is almost theatrical, and he in general lays the

scene amidst some splendid exhibition of architecture,[29] which serves to

confer upon his compositions a new and elevated character in the manner of

Paul Veronese. There he introduces his actors, selected from nature's

finest models, and animated by the noblest impulses of the art. The

virtuous have an expression so sweet, so sincere, and so affectionate, as

to inspire the love of what is good. And in the like manner do the vicious,

with their guilty features, create in us as deep aversion to their vice. We

must despair to find paintings exhibiting richer or more varied ornaments,

accessaries more beautifully adapted, or more majestic draperies. The

figures are finely disposed both in place and action, conducing to the

general effect; while a light pervades the whole which seems to rejoice the

spirit; growing brighter and brighter in the aspect of the best

countenances, whence they first attract the eye and heart of the beholder.

The most delightful mode of view is to take in the whole scene, and observe

how well each personage represents his intended part. In general there is

no want of an interpreter to declare what the actors think and speak; they

bear it stamped upon their features and attitudes; and though gifted with

audible words, they could not tell their tale to the ear, more plainly than

they speak it to the eye. Surely, of this, we have proof in the Scourging

of St. Andrew, at S. Gregorio, at Rome, executed in competition with Guido,

and placed opposite to his St. Andrew, in the act of being led to the

gibbet. It is commonly reported that an aged woman, accompanied by a little

boy, was seen long wistfully engaged with viewing Domenichino's picture,

shewing it part by part to the boy, and next turning to the history by

Guido, she gave it a cursory glance, and passed on. Some assert, that

Annibal, being acquainted with the fact, took occasion from the

circumstance to give his preference to the former piece. It is moreover

added, that in painting one of the executioners, he actually threw himself

into a passion, using threatening words and actions, and that Annibal

surprising him at that moment, embraced him, exclaiming with joy, "To-day,

my Domenichino, thou art teaching me!" So novel, and at the same time so

natural it appeared to him, that the artist, like the orator, should feel

within himself all that he is representing to others.

Footnote 29: He was likewise very eminent in this branch,

being named by Gregory XV. as architect for the Apostolic

Palace.

Yet this picture of the Scourging is in no way to be compared with the

Communion of S. Jerome, or to the Martyrdom of S. Agnes, and other works,

conducted in his riper years. The first of these is generally allowed to be

the finest picture Rome can boast next to the Transfiguration of Raffaello;

while the second was estimated by his rival Guido at ten times the merit of

Raffaello's own pieces.[30] In these church paintings one great attraction

consists in the glory of the angels, exquisitely beautiful in feature, full

of lively action, and so introduced as to perform the most gracious offices

in the piece; the crowning of martyrs, the bearing palms, the scattering of

roses, weaving the mazy dance, and waking sweet melodies. In the attitudes

we often trace the imitation of Coreggio; yet the forms are different, and

for the most part have a flatness of the nose, which distinguishes them,

and gives them an air of comeliness. Much, however, as Domenichino

delighted in oil-painting, he is more soft and harmonious in his frescos;

some of which are to be seen, besides those in Naples, at Fano, but the

greatest part of them were destroyed by fire. They consist of scriptural

histories in a chapel of the cathedral; of mythological incidents in villa

Bracciano, at Frascati; the acts of S. Nilo, at Grotta Ferrata; and various

sacred subjects interspersed through different churches at Rome. In the

corbels of the cupolas at S. Carlo a' Catinari, and at S. Andrea della

Valle, he painted, at the former, the four Virtues, at the latter, the four

Evangelists, still regarded as models after innumerable similar

productions. At S. Andrea also are seen various histories of that saint in

the tribune, besides those of St. Cecilia, at S. Luigi; others at S.

Silvestro, in the Quirinal of David, and other scriptural subjects, which

in point of composition and taste of costume are by some esteemed superior

to the rest.

Footnote 30: The Cav. Puccini very justly condemns this

opinion in his _Esame Critico del Webb_, p. 49.

It seems almost incredible, that works like these, which now engage the

admiration of professors themselves, should once, as I have narrated, have

been decried to such a degree, that the author was long destitute of all

commissions, and even on the point of transferring his genius to the art of

sculpture. This was in part owing to the arts of his rivals, who

represented his very excellences as defects, and in part to some little

faults of his own. Domenichino was less distinguished for invention than

for any other branch of his profession. Of this, his picture of the Rosary

at Bologna affords an instance, which neither at that period nor since has

been fully understood by the public; and it is known not to have pleased

even his own friends, which led the author to regret its production.

Diffident thenceforward of his powers in this department, he often borrowed

the ideas of others; imitated Agostino in his St. Jerome, the S. Rocco, of

Annibal, in his almsgiving of St. Cecilia; and even other less eminent

artists; observing, that in every picture he found something good, as Pliny

said, that from every book we may cull some useful information. These

imitations afforded occasion for his rivals to charge him with poverty of

invention, procuring an engraving of Agostino's St. Jerome, of which they

circulated copies, denouncing Domenico Zampieri as a plagiarist. Lanfranco,

the chief agent in these intrigues, exhibited on the contrary only his own

designs, invariably novel, and made a display of his own celerity and

promptness of hand, as contrasted with his rival's want of resolution and

despatch. Had Domenichino enjoyed the same advantages of party as the

Caracci in Bologna, which he well deserved, he would soon have triumphed

over his adversaries, by proving the distinction between imitation and

servility,[31] and that if his works were longer in being brought to

perfection than his rival's, their reputation would be proportionally

durable. The public is an equitable judge; but a good cause is not

sufficient without the advantage of many voices to sanction it.

Domenichino, timid, retired, and master of few pupils, was destitute of a

party equal to his cause. He was constrained to yield to the crowd that

trampled him, thus verifying the observation of Monsig. Agucchi, that his

worth would never be rightly appreciated during his lifetime. The spirit of

party passing away, impartial posterity has rendered him justice; nor is

there a royal gallery but confesses an ambition for his specimens. His

figure pieces are in the highest esteem, and fetch enormous prices. He is

rarely to be met with except in capital cities; his David is a first rate

object of inquiry to all strangers visiting the college of Fano, who have

the least pretensions to taste; the figure of the king, as large as life,

being of itself sufficient to render an artist's name immortal.

Footnote 31: See the defence set up by Crespi, both for

Domenichino and Massari, another imitator of Agostino's

picture. It is inserted in the _Certosa di Bologna_,

described at p. 26. He has also been commended by Bellori

for his slowness of hand, who brings forward some of his

maxims, such as that, "no single line is worthy of a real

painter which is not dictated by the genius before it is

traced by the hand; that excellence consists in the full and

proper completion of works;" and he used to reproach those

pupils who designed in sketch, and coloured by dashes of the

pencil (p. 213). We meet with a third apology in Passeri,

(p. 4,) for some figures borrowed from the Farnese Gallery,

and imitated by Domenichino in the histories of St. Jerome

in the portico of S. Onofrio. At p. 9 too he defends him in

regard to the style of his folds, in which by some he was

thought too scanty, and too hard in their disposition.

There is a small, but inestimable picture of St. Francis, that belonged to

the late Count Jacopo Zambeccari, at Bologna. The saint is seen in the act

of prayer, and by the animated and flushed expression of the eyes, it

appears as if his heart had just been dissolved in tears. Two pictures,

likewise beautifully composed, I have seen at Genoa; the Death of Adonis

bewailed by Venus, in the Durazzo Gallery just before mentioned, and the S.

Rocco in the Brignole Sale, offering up prayers for the cessation of the

plague. The attitude of the holy man; the eagerness of those who seek him;

the tragic exhibition of the dying and the dead around him; a funeral

procession going by; an infant seen on the bosom of its dead mother, vainly

seeking its wonted nutriment; all shake the soul of the spectator as if he

were beholding the real scene. Among his pictures from profane history the

most celebrated is his Chase of Diana, in the Borghesi Palace, filled with

spirited forms of nymphs, and lively incidents. In the same collection are

some of his landscapes, as well as in that of Florence; and some of his

portraits in others. Here too he is excellent, but they are the least

difficult branches to acquire. Respecting his other works, and the most

eminent of his pupils, enough has been stated in the Roman and Neapolitan

schools. He educated for his native place Gio. Batista Ruggieri; and to his

numerous other misfortunes was added the pain of finding him ungrateful,

after having rendered him eminent in his art. This pupil united with Gessi

in quality of assistant; and as we shall shew, also took his denomination

from him. Passeri dwells on this disappointment of Domenichino incidentally

in his life of Algardi, (p. 198).

Next to Zampieri comes his intimate friend Francesco Albani, "who, aiming

at the same object," observes Malvasia, "and adopting the same means,

pursued the like glorious career." They agree in a general taste for select

design, solidity, pathetic power, and likewise in their tints, except in

Albani's fleshes being ruddier, and not unfrequently faded, from his method

of laying on the grounds. In point of original invention he is superior to

Domenichino, and perhaps to any other of the school; and in his

representation of female forms, according to Mengs, he has no equal. By

some he is denominated the Anacreon of painting. Like that poet, with his

short odes, so Albani, from his small paintings, acquired great reputation;

and as the one sings Venus and the Loves, and maids and boys, so does the

artist hold up to the eye the same delicate and graceful subjects. Nature,

indeed formed, the perusal of the poets inclined, and fortune encouraged

his genius for this kind of painting; and possessing a consort and twelve

children, all of surprising beauty, he was at the same time blest with the

finest models for the pursuit of his studies. He had a villa most

delightfully situated, which farther presented him with a variety of

objects, enabling him to represent the beautiful rural views so familiar to

his eye. Passeri greatly extols his talent in this branch, remarking, that

where others, being desirous of suiting figures to the landscape, or its

various objects to one another, most frequently alter their natural colour,

he invariably preserves the green of his trees, the clearness of his

waters, and the serenity of the air, under the most lovely aspect; and

contrived to unite them with the most enchanting power of harmony.

Upon such grounds, for the most part, he places and disposes his

compositions, although he may occasionally introduce specimens of his

architecture, in which he is equally expert. His pictures are often met

with in collections, or to speak more correctly, they re-appear, inasmuch

as both he himself made repetitions, and practised his pupils in them,

giving them his own touches. He exhibits few bacchanals, avoiding figures

that had already been so admirably treated by Annibal in many of his little

pictures, from which, if I mistake not, Albano drew the first ideas of his

style; adapting it to his own talent, which was not so elevated as that of

Annibal. His most favourite themes are the sleeping Venus, Diana in her

bath, Danae on her couch, Galatea in the sea, Europa on the bull, a piece

which is also seen on a large scale in the Colonna and Bolognetti

collections at Rome, and in that of the Conti Mosca at Pesaro. How

beautifully do those figures of the Loves throw their veil over the virgin,

in order to protect her from the sun's rays, while others are seen drawing

forward the bull with bands of flowers, or goading him in the side with

their darts. At times he introduces them in the dance, weaving garlands,

and practising with their bows at a heart suspended in the air for a

target. Occasionally he conceals some doctrine, or ingenious allegory,

under the veil of painting; as in those four oval pictures of the Elements

in the Borghesi palace, which he repeated for the royal gallery at Turin.

There too are Cupids seen employed in tempering Vulcan's darts; spreading

their snares for birds upon the wing; fishing and swimming in the sea;

culling and wreathing flowers, as if intended to represent the system of

the ancients, who referred every work of nature to Genii, and with Genii

accordingly peopled the world. To sacred subjects Albano devoted less

attention, but did not vary his taste. The entire action of such pieces was

made to depend on the ministry of graceful cherubs, in a manner similar to

that which was subsequently adopted by P. Tornielli in his marine

canzonettes, where, in every history of the Virgin and Holy Child, he

introduces a throng of them as a sacred train. Another very favourite

repetition of idea is that of representing the Infant Christ, with his eye

turned towards Heaven upon the angels, some in the act of bringing thorns,

some the scourge, some the cross, or other symbols of his future passion.

There is a picture of this kind in Florence, to which I alluded in the

_Description_ of the ducal gallery, and it is also found somewhat varied in

two fine pieces; one at the Domenicani in Forli, the other in Bologna, at

the Filippini. These, and other works of Albani, interspersed throughout

different cities, as in Matelica, in Osimo, in Rimini, besides his fresco

paintings in Bologna, at S. Michele in Bosco, at S. Jacopo, of the

Spaniards at Rome, with the design of Annibal; these sufficiently exhibit

his superior talent for large paintings, although he applied himself with

greater zest and vigour to those on a smaller scale.