Whilst these two celebrated men thus promoted their profession, there was

rising into notice one Agostino Mitelli, a youth of very prolific genius,

not unacquainted with the figure, which Passeri supposes he acquired from

the Caracci, and well-grounded in perspective and architecture, under

Falcetta. When the two friends were engaged in decorating the

archiepiscopal palace at Ravenna, and at the courts of Parma and Modena,

Mitelli alternately assisted the figurist and the quadraturist. This last,

however, was the art he most affected, and to which, on separating from his

masters, he finally devoted himself. His first labours proved very

attractive to the public; not that they equalled the force, solidity, and

reality of Dentone, but on account of their peculiar grace and beauty, such

as almost to obtain for him the fame of the Guido of the quadraturists.

Employing his own taste, he softened down the harder features of the art,

made the elevations more delicate, the tints more mild, and added a style

of foliage, scrolls, and arabesques, decorated with gold, such as seemed to

breathe of grace. The play of the ornaments varied with the nature of the

edifices; some ideas were adapted to halls, some to churches, and others to

theatres. Each ornament filled its appropriate place, at just intervals;

the entire work finally according with a delightful symmetry and harmony,

so as to take by surprise people not yet familiar with similar illusions,

and to remind them, as it were, of the enchanted palaces of the romancers.

Mitelli's first assistants were two of his fellow pupils in this art,

Andrea Sighizzi and Gio. Paderna, with occasionally the figurist Ambrogi;

names not unworthy of a place in the history of the arts, though unequal to

compete with such a colleague.

Colonna alone seemed born to associate with him, as he did after the death

of his favourite Curti. An intimacy ensued, which was like the second act

of Angiol Michele's life; an intimacy which, strengthened by mutual esteem

and interest, and cherished by habit and kind offices, continued during

twenty-four years, until terminated by the death of Mitelli. These two

friends added greatly to the excellent models of the art at Bologna; and

among their most celebrated labours are the chapel of Rosario, and the hall

of the Conti Caprara. Elsewhere, as in the Bentivogli and Pepoli palaces,

Agostino produced only specimens of architecture; and in others we see his

pictures of perspective conducted _a guazzo_, with figures by Gioseffo, his

son, a disciple of Torre, who engraved even better than he painted. In

their commissions beyond Bologna, Mitelli and Colonna were always invited

together; as to Parma, to Modena, to Florence, by their respective rulers;

by the Marchesi Balbi to Genoa, and by Cardinal Spada to Rome, whose ample

hall they enlarged, as it were, and dignified by means of feigned

colonnades, artful recesses, and magnificent steps, where numbers of

figures, arrayed in varied and novel drapery, were seen ascending and

descending. Called subsequently to the court of Philip IV., they decorated

three chambers and a magnificent hall in Madrid, where Colonna, too,

produced his so highly extolled Fable of Pandora. They here sojourned for

the space of two years, the last of Mitelli's life, who died much regretted

by the whole court, and by the Spanish artists, at whose head stood Diego

Velasquez.

Colonna returned into Italy, and as a third act of his life, we may record

the twenty-seven years which he afterwards lived; during the earlier

portion, availing himself, for his architectures, of the services of

Giacomo Alboresi, Mitelli's great pupil; and in the latter, of Giovacchino

Pizzoli, his own scholar, known also among painters of landscape. Crespi

adds the name of Gio. Gherardini, and Antonio Roli, or Rolli according to

the Cav. Titi, whose specimens in this branch, at the Certosa of Pisa, he

extols as perfect miracles of the art (p. 301). In this trio are included

all belonging to Colonna's school. It is observed by Malvasia, that from

Mitelli's society, Angiol Michele himself derived utility, as regarded

architecture; not that he ever equalled his deceased friend, but from

adopting thenceforward a more elegant manner. This progress is apparent in

the cupola of S. Biagio; as well as in the ceiling and in a chapel of S.

Bartolommeo, decorated by him after his return from Spain. Other specimens

he produced at this period, at Ponzacco, a villa of the Marchese Nicolini,

of Florence; in the Morisini palace, at Padua, and at Paris, for M. Lionne,

state secretary to the French king. Colonna attained the age of eighty-six,

and left, at his death, numerous professors of an art, which he and his two

colleagues may almost be said to have invented, and given to the public.

I have enumerated different young artists of these schools; and they, too,

united together, traversing Italy in the service of princes and nobles, and

forming pupils in every place; so that no art ever spread more rapidly.

Gio. Paderna, pupil to Dentone, and next an accomplished imitator of

Mitelli, became the colleague of Baldassare Bianchi; and the latter, at the

death of Paderna, having become Mitelli's son-in-law, was placed companion,

by the father-in-law, with Gio. Giacomo Monti. This partnership also met

with success in Italy, in particular at Mantua, where they both received

regular salaries. Their figure-painter was Gio. Batista Caccioli, of

Budrio, pupil to Canuti, and a good disciple of Cignani, who left frescos,

altar-pieces, and private pictures; in particular, his heads of old men, in

high request. Another son-in-law of Mitelli, Giacomo Alboresi, was much

employed at the court of Parma, in that of Florence, and in the villa

Capponi, of Colonnata. He was assisted in his figures by Fulgenzio Mondini,

and on his death, by Giulio Cesare Milani, who was esteemed the best pupil

of Torre. Domenico Santi, named Mengazzino, was also one of the ablest

among Mitelli's pupils, and left, at the Servi, in S. Colombano, and in the

Ratta palace, some fine works in perspective, with figures by Giuseppe

Mitelli, by Burrini, and most of all by Canuti, never having left his

native place. His perspectives, on canvass, are highly esteemed in

cabinets, and are sometimes hardly to be distinguished from those of

Agostino. Andrea Sighizzi, the father and master of three artists, was

employed also at Turin, Mantua, and Parma, where he received a salary from

the court, and had Pasinelli for his best companion. It would carry us too

far, to recount all the quadraturists sprung from these schools; nor would

all, perhaps, deserve commemoration. Though no art was more rapidly

extended, none sooner degenerated; caprice usurped the place of sound rules

of architecture, and was carried to a pitch of extravagance and

impertinence, when the Borrominesque taste began to extend through Italy.

Architecture itself, which forms the basis of this profession, began, in

course of time, to be regarded as an accessary; a greater share of study

was employed in the vases of flowers, in festoons, in fruits, and foliages,

and certain novelties of grotesque, against which both Algarotti and Crespi

have so justly and successfully inveighed.

We cannot close this account without the name of Giovannino da Capugnano,

an artist very fully treated of by Malvasia and Orlandi, and highly

extolled in the studies of the painters, even in our own days. Misled by a

pleasing self-delusion, he believed himself born to become a painter; like

that ancient personage, mentioned by Horace, who imagined himself the owner

of all the vessels that arrived in the Athenian port. His chief talent lay

in making crucifixes, to fill up the angles, and in giving a varnish to the

balustrades. Next, he attempted landscape in water-colours, in which were

exhibited the most strange proportions, of houses less than the men; these

last smaller than his sheep; and the sheep again than his birds. Extolled,

however, in his own district, he determined to leave his native mountains,

and figure on a wider theatre at Bologna; there he opened his house, and

requested the Caracci, the only artists he believed to be more learned than

himself, to furnish him with a pupil, whom he intended to polish in his

studio. Lionello Spada, an admirable wit, accepted this invitation; he went

and copied designs, affecting the utmost obsequiousness towards his master.

At length, conceiving it time to put an end to the jest, he left behind him

a most exquisite painting of Lucretia, and over the entrance of the chamber

some fine satirical octaves, in apparent praise, and real ridicule of

Capugnano. His worthy master only accused Lionello of ingratitude, for

having acquired from him in so short a space the art of painting so

beautifully from his designs; but the Caracci at last acquainted him with

the joke, which acted as a complete antidote to his folly. In some

Bolognese galleries his pictures are preserved as specimens, in some degree

connected with pictorial history;[47] and which, though composed with all

becoming gravity, are as diverting as any caricature of Miel or of

Cerquozzi. Were we to desire a second example of such imbecility in the

art, it would be found in Crespi,[48] who gives some account of one Pietro

Galletti. Equally persuaded of having been born a painter, Pietro became a

laughing-stock to the students, who solemnly invested him with a doctorial

degree in the art, assembling for that purpose in the cellar of a

monastery.

Footnote 47: See Lettere Pittoriche, vol. ii. p. 53.

Footnote 48: Crespi, p. 141.

BOLOGNESE SCHOOL.

EPOCH IV.

_Pasinelli, and in particular Cignani, cause a Change in the

Style of Bolognese Painting. The Clementine Academy and its

Members._

The commencement of the final epoch of the Bolognese School may be dated

some years previous to 1700; when Lorenzo Pasinelli and Carlo Cignani had

already produced a striking alteration in painting. The disciples of the

Caracci, who had imitated Lodovico, and those who had produced new manners,

had all disappeared; while the pupils who still continued attached to their

taste were very few; consisting of Guercino's Gennari, of Gio. Viani,

formerly pupil to Torre, and some other less distinguished names. Pasinelli

himself ceased to exist, on the opening of the new century, leaving the

entire credit of the preceptorship in the hands of Cignani. This, too, was

shortly increased by the formation of a public academy of the fine arts in

the city, to which he was appointed president during life. These details

are to be met with in the excellent "History of the Clementine Academy"

composed by Giampietro Zanotti. Here we are made acquainted with the

principles and progress of that celebrated society, which, in the year

1708, received from Pope Clement XI. its sanction and its name, from the

Senate its rooms, and its organization from Count Luigi Ferdinando Marsili;

besides effectual support both from him and other nobles; and here also we

are presented with the lives of the academicians up to the year 1739. To

Zanotti's History, as well as to others of an older date, much useful

supplement was added by the Canon Crespi; and upon these two recent works,

with a due degree of caution, I propose to rest the authority of my

succeeding narrative.

In tracing the origin of the new taste, it will be requisite to go back to

1670, or near that period; when Pasinelli and Cignani, after their return

from Rome, commenced teaching and operating, each in their respective

method. Lorenzo pursued the design of Raffaello, combined with the

fascination of Paul Veronese; while Carlo delighted in the grace of

Coreggio, united to Annibal's learning; and both had executed at Rome

studies agreeable to their genius. It is reported, that one day they

happened to enter upon a long discussion of the relative merits of

Raffaello and Coreggio. Would that they had been joined by some new

Borghini, as a third party, who might have put the discourse into the form

of a dialogue, and have preserved it for posterity! In course of time,

Cignani came into higher repute than Pasinelli, though this excited no kind

of jealousy; they had both of them wisdom enough to be satisfied each with

his own share of genius, and to commend his competitor; thus abstaining

from that indulgence of rivalry which gives, even to the most celebrated

artists and writers, an air of meanness. Thus, when the Clementine academy

was instituted, the pupils of both masters readily united in serving that

new assembly; voluntarily submitting to the direction of Cignani, placed by

the pontifical diploma at their head. Thenceforward the style of Cignani

came into vogue; though others sprung from it, composed of two or more

manners, which may yet be called national. Each has in it something of the

Caraccesque, owing to the young artists having commenced their career by

designing from the works of the three brothers. A few of these painters

exhibit even too much of their manner, and that of the best among other

artists; we find figures taken partially from different ancient masters,

and worked up into one composition; as we see sometimes done in poetry,

with the lines of one or more writers. About this period the study of the

beau-ideal received some accession, by means of the casts with which the

academy was supplied. The style of coloring is far from careless; though in

the principles then adopted, there was a certain method pursued by

different artists, from which their shadows have grown deeper, and assumed

a rusty colour; and towards the middle of the same epoch, false and

capricious colours came into use, and long continued to find patrons. Nor

was this error confined solely to the Bolognese School. Balestra, in one of

his letters, dated 1733, inserted in the Pictoric Collection, (vol. ii.)

laments the decline of "all the Italian schools," from their having fallen

into mistaken methods. Possessing himself in Verona three scholars, capable

of great performances, namely, Pecchio, who became a fine landscape

painter, Rotari, and Cignaroli, he seems to have had his fears even for

them. In particular, speaking of the last, he says, "I fear lest he, too,

should suffer himself to be borne away by the prevailing stream, and become

enamoured of certain ideal manners, and of a rapid touch; consequently

careless of good practice and of rules." Respecting these alterations,

however, it is not yet time to treat.

To come down, at present, to the two heads of the school; Pasinelli, who

first ceased to live, will first come under our consideration. He received

his education in the art from Cantarini; subsequently from Torre, whose

school he too early left, owing to which, most probably, he never attained

to perfect correctness of design. In this, nevertheless, he surpassed Paul

Veronese, who formed his great prototype. He did not imitate him, according

to the sectarists; he borrowed from him that effective and majestic

composition; but the ideas of the faces, and the distribution of the

colours he acquired elsewhere. He was naturally too inclined to create

surprise by the display of copious, rich, and spirited compositions; such

as his two pictures at the Certosa, of Christ's Entrance into Jerusalem,

and his Return into Limbo; and such too is his History of Coriolanus, in

the Casa Ranuzzi, a piece found repeated in many collections. No one can

behold these paintings without granting to Pasinelli a true painter's fire,

great novelty of idea, and a certain elevated character, never the boast of

middling artists. With these gifts, however, he is sometimes too

extravagant in his attitudes, and in his Paolesque imitation of spectacles,

and strange novel draperies, which he is thought to have carried to an

extreme, as in his Preaching of John the Baptist, in which his rival,

Taruffi, found, instead of the desert of Judea, the piazza of St. Mark, in

Venice. He knew, withal, to restrain his fire according to the genius of

his themes, as we may see in that Holy Family in possession of the Scalzi;

a work partaking of Albani. He painted more for private persons than for

the public; uniform in the spirit, varied in the colours of his pictures.

Some of these private pictures boast, at once, a softness of hand, and a

peculiarly vivid and gay light, that might be taken for those of the

Venetians or Lombards; in particular, a few of his Venuses, which are

supposed to be portraits of one of his three wives. In a few of his other

specimens he displays very little relief, whole colours, a tint almost like

that of the Bolognese artists preceding the Caracci; and these I should

either attribute to his early youth, or his closing days.

One of the four leading artists of his age was the Cav. Carlo Cignani, as

elsewhere stated, a genius more profound than prompt; a hand eager to

engage in labours, but most difficult, and ever dissatisfied in their

completion. His picture of Joseph's Flight into Egypt, belonging to the

Counts Bighini, of Imola, cost him six months' labour; and many similar

instances are recorded. Nevertheless, he always appears complete, never

hard or laborious; and his facility is esteemed one of his rarest gifts.

Cignani's inventions are often referable to Albani, who was his master. He

produced, for a monastery of Piacenza, a picture of the Conception of the

Virgin, who, robed in a white garment, is seen bruising the serpent's head;

and arrayed in a garment of rich purple, her infant son at her feet, who,

with an air at once of dignity and grace, places his foot upon that of his

mother;--what a language does this speak, how truly sublime! There is much,

too, of a novel and poetic cast, in his Birth of the Virgin, at the

cathedral of Urbino; a picture that at Rome was censured even for its

novelty. Cignani was likewise a good composer, and so disposed his figures,

by the example of the Caracci, as to give his pictures an air of larger

dimensions than they really have. His four Scriptural Histories, in four

ovals, each sustained by two cherubs, among the most perfectly beautiful in

Bologna, are truly attractive ornaments of S. Michele in Bosco; nor are two

others less so, of the public hall, where he represented Francis I., in the

act of healing the lepers; and Paul III. seen entering into Bologna. Less

majestic, perhaps, but more beautiful, is one of his paintings, in the

palace of the ducal garden at Parma. Agostino Caracci had there decorated

the ceiling of a chamber; there Cignani exhibited, on the walls, various

fables, illustrative of the power of Love; in which, if he surpassed not

that great master, he, in the opinion of many, at least equalled him. In

design he invariably emulated Coreggio; but, in his outlines, in his

beauteous and noble countenances, and in his grand, ample folds, he

preserved something original, and distinct from the Lombards; while he is

less studious than they respecting the use of foreshortening. He aimed at a

strong layer of colours, which were clear and animated like Coreggio's, to

which he added, also, a sweetness derived from Guido. He was especially

careful in his chiaroscuro, and gave a great degree of roundness to all his

objects; which, though in certain subjects it may appear overwrought, and

more ample than in nature, is nevertheless pleasing.

His historical pieces are rare; but not so a number of others, containing

one or two half-length figures, and still less his Madonnas. One of the

most beautiful is in the Albani palace, painted for Clement XI., with the

Holy Child; and another, representing her grief, belongs to the Princes

Corsini, extremely graceful, as is also the Angel seen consoling her. It

would be difficult to decide whether he excelled most in oils or in fresco,

which last is the kind of painting in which great artists have ever

distinguished themselves. He spent the closing years of a long life at

Forli, where he established his family, and left the proudest monument of

his genius in that grand cupola, perhaps the most remarkable of all the

pictoric productions belonging to the eighteenth century. The subject is

the Assumption of our Lady, the same as in the cathedral at Parma; and

here, too, as there, it exhibits such a real paradise, that the more we

contemplate it, the more it delights us. Near twenty years were devoted to

its production, from time to time; the artist, occasionally, during that

period, visiting Ravenna, to consult the cupola by Guido, from whom he took

his fine figure of St. Michael, and some other ideas. It is reported that

the scaffolds were, against his wish, removed, as he appeared to be never

satisfied with retouching and bringing the work to his usual degree of

finish.

From these two masters I now proceed to their disciples, and shall annex,

also, a few others, who sprung from other schools. Pasinelli had the good

fortune to inherit, from Canuti, an excellent master, a number of fine

scholars, on the latter quitting Bologna. One of these was Gio. Antonio

Burrini, who, while he retained his first master's manner, became attached,

also, to the composition of Paolo, so much to the taste of Pasinelli.

Indeed, he himself appeared naturally inclined to it, by the richness of

his imagination, and his surprising eagerness and industry in his works. He

devoted much time to Paolo Veronese, at Venice, often imitating him in

those pictures which are referred to his first style. Distinguished among

these is an Epiphany, painted for the noble Ratta family, which yields to

very few pieces in their collection. He subsequently executed a martyrdom

of S. Vittoria for the cathedral of Mirandola, in competition with Gio.

Gioseffo dal Sole; who on beholding it so greatly superior to his own

picture, was bitterly mortified. He was reassured, however, by Pasinelli,

their common master, who predicted he would become a better artist than

Burrini, whose own facility of genius would at length betray him into a

mere practical line. And this prediction was very exactly fulfilled, though

he continued upwards of fifteen years to paint with tolerable care, both

for the Prince of Carignano at Turin, and at Novellara. He in particular

appeared to advantage as a fresco painter at Bologna, being by some termed

the Pier da Cortona, or the Giordano of his school. His fresco histories in

the Casa Albergati are well deserving notice, as are those in the

Alamandini and the Bigami families, with others produced in early youth.

Impelled at length by the cares of an increasing family to look for greater

profits, he gave way by degrees to his facility of hand, and formed a

second style, which, owing to the indolence of human nature, obtained more

disciples than his first.

Gio. Gioseffo dal Sole, on the contrary, burned to become each day more

perfect, and raised himself to one of the first posts among the artists of

his age. He had constant commissions from noblemen, both native and

foreign, and received invitations also from the courts of Poland and of

England. For some time he preserved a style conforming to Pasinelli's; and

in order to improve it from the same sources he frequently returned to

Venice, though he never attained to that degree of beauty, in his more

elegant subjects, that formed the boast of his master. In many particulars,

however, he displays exquisite grace; as in the hair and plumes of the

angels, and equally in the accessaries, such as the veils, bracelets,

crowns, and armour. He seems to have been inclined also more than Pasinelli

to treat powerful themes; more observant of costume, more methodical in

composition, and more informed in point of architecture and landscape. In

these indeed he is almost unique; and the most beautiful specimens,

perhaps, are to be seen at the Casa Zappi in Imola, representing Evening,

Night, and Morning, all very pleasingly distributed, and with sober tints,

such as the subject required. His other works display, in most instances,

the most lovely play of vivid fluctuating light, more especially in his

holy pieces and celestial visions, as we see in the St. Peter of Alcantara,

at S. Angiolo in Milan. Moreover, he was more exact and polished than

Pasinelli; not that he was by any means deficient in celerity in conducting

his works, but esteemed it unworthy of an upright character to confer upon

them less perfection than he was capable of bestowing. Being employed at

Verona for the noble family of Giusti, where he left several mythological

pieces and scriptural histories, truly beautiful, he completed one of

Bacchus and Ariadne, which artists pronounced excellent, within a week. Yet

he cancelled almost the whole, to remodel it according to his own wish,

declaring that it was enough to have shewn his rapidity of hand to satisfy

others, but that it became his duty, by additional accuracy, to satisfy

also himself. Hence his fresco at S. Biagio in Bologna, which is his

greatest work, cost him an infinite deal of labour in its completion; and

in conducting his altar-pieces, few and valuable, as well as in his private

pictures, which are very numerous, he called for high remuneration,

persevering in his determination to paint only with care. In this artist,

as many others, two manners are observable, of which the second partakes of

Guido Reni's. It is on record, that he became attached to it late in life,

and was less successful in it. It appears to me that a large portion of his

pictures nearly approach the taste of Guido, and that the surname of the

modern Guido, conferred upon him by so many, has not been granted as matter

of favour, nor at the expense of little time.

No artist of these times could boast more disciples than Giangioseffo dal

Sole, if we except Solimene, who was held by him in high esteem. In order

to study his paintings, executed for the Counts Bonaccorsi, Dal Sole went

to Macerata, where he conducted a few works for the church of the Vergini,

and for the house of the said nobles. I am uncertain if he derived from

this visit that style of colouring, more attractive than natural, such as

we find it in some of his smaller pictures, and in some Bolognese artists

who succeeded him. From his school sprung Felice Torelli of Verona, and

Lucia Casalini, his wife, of a Bolognese family. Torelli came to it already

instructed in the art, acquired in his native place from Sante Prunato,

whose taste he, in a great measure, preserved. He became a painter of

strong character, fine chiaroscuro, and of no common merit in canvass

paintings for altars. These are found at Rome, Turin, Milan, and other

cities of Italy. That of S. Vincenzio is most conspicuous, in the act of

freeing a female possessed, at the Domenicans of Faenza; a picture finely

varied in the heads, in the draperies, and the attitudes. Lucia likewise

painted for some churches, as nearly as she could in her consort's style;

but her chief merit lay in portrait, such as to obtain for her admission of

her own in the royal gallery at Florence. Another artist of her sex,

initiated in the art of design by Sirani, and in colouring by Taruffi and

Pasinelli, received her last instructions from Gioseffo dal Sole. Her name

was Teresa Muratori Scannabecchi, who was in the habit of painting a good

deal by herself, and with great credit. Assisted by her master, she

executed a picture of St. Benedict in the act of preserving the life of a

child; a very graceful production and of good effect, exhibited in a chapel

of S. Stefano.

Francesco Monti, another pupil of the same school, was endowed by nature

with an enthusiasm for ample and copious subjects, to which he applied

himself without much previous culture, either from imitation or from art.

He executed for the Counts Ranuzzi, who patronised him, a picture of the

Rape of the Sabines; and for the court of Turin the Triumph of Mardocheo;

works abounding with figures, and highly extolled; besides many other oil

paintings for different collections and churches. But his surpassing merit

is to be sought for in his frescos, and more particularly at Brescia, in

which city he fixed his residence. He also conducted many pieces for the

adjacent places, applauded for his fertile genius and his masterly style of

colouring. A number of churches and noble houses, such as the Martinengo,

the Avogadro, the Barussi, were also decorated by him on a very extended

scale of painting. Some portraits, too, executed by his daughter Eleonora,

who received constant commissions from the same nobility, are held in high

esteem.

Gio. Batista Grati and Cesare Mazzoni remained at Bologna, and as belonging

to the Clementine Academicians who then flourished, we meet with their

lives in Zanotti. Subsequent to their decease, Crespi was enabled to treat

their memory with more fairness. He praises the accuracy of the former, and

regrets his want of talent; the second he pronounces a commendable artist,

observing that he was long employed at Faenza, Turin, and Rome, as well as

at Bologna itself; though not with good fortune. Antonio Lunghi also

flourished for the most part in foreign states; at Venice, in Rome, and the

kingdom of Naples. He returned, at an advanced age, to his native place,

where there is his picture of S. Rita at S. Bartolommeo, and others in

different churches, which merited for their author some favourable

consideration of Crespi. Yet he has omitted him, for the purpose, as I

suppose, of reserving him for the fourth volume of the "Felsina Pittrice."

It would be too much to attempt a complete sketch of Gio. Gioseffo's

disciples who flourished in other schools, such as Francesco Pavona of

Udine, a good painter in oil, and better in crayons; superior in his large

altar-pieces, and still more in his portraits. He afterwards studied at

Milan, and thence proceeded to Genoa; next into Spain, Portugal, and

Germany, being well received in all these courts; after which he married

and had a family at Dresden. Subsequently he returned to Bologna, which he

left in the course of a few years for Venice, where he shortly afterwards

died. Francesco Comi also left Bologna, called il Fornaretto,[49] and the

Mute of Verona, being deprived both of speech and hearing. Nevertheless he

was distinguished in the art, and is commemorated by Pozzo among the

artists of his country, and also by Orlandi. There are others, of whom we

make mention in almost every school.

Footnote 49: Literally, the little baker.

Donato Creti, a cavalier of the gold spurs, ranks as one of the most

eminent of Pasinelli's pupils, and as the most attached to his manner;

though he was inclined to modify it with that of Cantarini, and of both

composed a third, sufficiently noble and graceful. He would have made it

still more free and original, had he applied himself diligently in early

youth; which he omitted to do, and carried his regrets for such omission

down with him to the tomb. His merit is impaired by his colouring, which

has in it something hard and crude; entertaining a maxim, that tints, such

as they are in nature, ought to be employed, and left to time for sobering

and harmonizing--a maxim by some attributed to Paul Veronese. If there were

ever a painter who knew not when to remove his hand from the canvass, it

was Creti. In painting his S. Vincenzio, intended to be placed opposite the

S. Raimond of Lodovico, he completed it with every attention to the art;

yet was dissatisfied with the work, insomuch that the person who gave the

commission was compelled to take it by force out of his studio, in order to

place it in the grand church of the Padri Predicatori. This is, perhaps,

his best altar-piece. His Alexander's Feast also boasts some merit,

executed for the noble Fava family; by some even it is supposed to be his

masterpiece. Creti had a pupil, named Ercole Graziani, who added greater

power of execution to his master's style, a more enlarged character,

greater freedom of hand, with other qualities which display his

superiority. He approached Franceschini and others who succeeded to the

school of Cignani. He has been accused by one of his rivals of too much

effeminacy in his painting, and study of minutiae in his ornaments. Others

seek for a more just equality in his colours; others more spirit; though

all must give him credit for genius and industry equal to compete with the

eminent artists of his day, and to surpass many, had he enjoyed the good

fortune to have met with an experienced master. He painted for S. Pietro,

that Apostle in the act of ordaining S. Apollinare; a history both copious

and full of dignity; commissioned by the Cardinal Lambertini, who, on

becoming pope, caused him to make a duplicate for the church of S.

Apollinare at Rome. Also his pictures of S. Pellegrino, in Sinigaglia, the

princes of the Apostles, who take leave, with the most beautiful

expression, to meet their martyrdom, placed at S. Pietro in Piacenza, with

others belonging to his happier hours, are equally excellent. To Creti and

Graziani we have to add Count Pietro Fava, in whose house both were, during

some time, brought up, at once assistants and companions in the studies of

this noble artist. He is ranked among Pasinelli's pupils and the Clementine

academicians; and we have an account of his studying the works of the

Caracci, to whose manner, equally with any other artist, he became

attached. Although the cavalier is described as a dilettante in the art,

yet on beholding his altar-pieces of the Epiphany and of the Resurrection

of Christ, which he presented to the cathedral of Ancona, with a few other

productions at Bologna, he appears more worthy of enrolment among its noble

professors.

Aureliano Milani acquired the principles of painting from Cesare Gennari

and Pasinelli; but, struck with the Caracci's style, he devoted his whole

time to copying their compositions entire, as well as separate, repeating

his designs of the heads, the feet, the hands, and the outlines. He caught

their spirit, without borrowing their forms. It is remarked by Crespi, that

no Bolognese shewed more of the Caraccesque in the naked figure, and in the

whole symmetry and character of his painting. After Cignani, too, I have

heard it noticed, that no one better maintained the design and the credit

of the school. In colouring he was not so excellent; sometimes a follower

of Gennari, as in his St. Jerome, at the church of the Vita in Bologna, and

in some degree in his St. John beheaded, at the church of the Bergamaschi

in Rome. Here he took up his residence, being ill able to support a family

of ten children at Bologna. Here, too, he abounded with commissions, and

promoted with Muratori, another pupil of Pasinelli, established there from

early youth, the honour of his native place. Of the last one, however, we

have treated under that school.

Aureliano taught during many years at Bologna, and among other pupils of

his was the celebrated Giuseppe Marchesi, called il Sansone. He first

studied under Franceschini, whose taste he nearly approaches in the vaulted

ceiling of the Madonna di Galiera. It is even the opinion of some, that, in

his skill of foreshortening, and in the tone of his colours, no artist

succeeded in imitating him so well. He took his design from Milani; though

at times his naked portion is rather too much loaded, which I would not

venture to say of his master. Among his best pictures is the Martyrdom of

S. Prisca, in the Rimini cathedral; an altar-piece of many and fine

figures, and good tints, for which the S. Agnese of Domenichino supplied

him with some ideas. He painted much for galleries, and among other pieces,

one of his pictures representing the four seasons, (where it now is I

cannot say,) is reputed, by a first rate judge, among the first works of

the modern Bolognese school.

Antonio Gionima was some time also a pupil of Milani. He was a Paduan of

obscure birth, whose father and grandfather had been artists; educated

first by Simone his father (p. 171), afterwards by Milani, and for a longer

period by Crespi. He died young, leaving works highly prized at Bologna for

their inventive spirit and for the high tone and clearness of their

colouring. His picture of St. Florian and accompanying martyrs was engraved

by Mattioli; and a grand canvass history of Haman is shewn in the Ranuzzi

apartment, conspicuous among numbers in the same place, where no common

artists gained admittance.

Leaving aside certain other pupils of Pasinelli, of less account, as

Odoardo Orlandi, or Girolamo Negri, who had a place, however, in the

Dictionary of Painters, we shall close this catalogue with two others, who,

becoming friends in the school of Lorenzo, continued their intimacy to

extreme old age; Giuseppe Gambarini and Gian Pietro Cavazzoni Zanotti.

Gambarini attended the studio of Cesare Gennari, whose rapidity of touch

and power of natural effect, he afterwards retained. He added no dignity of

forms; owing to which his few altar-pieces and other serious subjects

obtained him no reputation. Applying himself subsequently to Flemish

composition, he represented women intent on domestic affairs, boys'

schools, mendicants begging alms, with similar popular objects, copied

faithfully from life; in all which he abounded with commissions. At Bologna

such familiar pieces by him and his able pupil Gherardini are very common,

and please by their spirit and their exactness. Sometimes he represented

also serious subjects, as in that picture in Casa Ranuzzi, exhibiting the

coronation of Charles V. during the government of a Gonfalonier of the

family.

Zanotti is well known among the writers on pictoric subjects; and few have

been more successful in wielding with equal excellence both pencil and pen.

His "Directions for the Progress of young Artists" contain some learned

maxims, which were meant to stem the corruption of the art, by rescuing it

from a low mechanical manner, and replacing it upon its true principles.

Upon the same maxims he composed his "History of the Clementine Academy,"

although he was not enabled to adopt corresponding freedom of style; having

there written the lives of the academicians, then lately deceased, or still

alive. This work, printed by Lelio dalla Volpe, in 1739, with a splendor

nearly unknown, up to that period, in Italy, excited some degree of

indignation in good artists, who found, next their own, many names of mere

mediocrity distinguished by portraits and lives, on a footing with

themselves. The complaints raised by Spagnuolo, are recorded by the Canon

Crespi in his Felsina, (p. 227, &c.). Other accusations were doubtless

advanced against him by inferior parties, who, though commended beyond

their merits, secretly, perhaps, believed themselves deserving of still

higher praise. Zanotti, too, inserted notices relating to himself, who held

in that assembly the offices of president and of secretary, for a much

longer period. But domestic and literary matters combined, withdrew his

attention from painting in his maturer years; whence we may date his more

feeble performances, which convey no great idea of him. Before, however, he

had conducted works which exempted him from the pictoric crowd; in which

list we may include his grand picture of an Embassy from the People of

Romagna to the Bolognese, which ornaments the public palace. In private

houses, too, are other compositions, either historical or mythological,

composed in excellent taste, one of which is in possession of the Signore

Biancani Tazzi, a piece greatly admired by Algarotti, as a perfect model of

refined taste. A similar graceful little picture of a Cupid and nymphs,

which I saw at Signor Volpi's, displays much poetical imagination, this

artist delighting in poetical composition, very different from Lomazzo's

and Boschini's, to an extreme old age.[50]

Footnote 50: See Lett. Pittor. tom. iv. p. 136.

From Zanotti, who was an excellent master, Ercole Lelli acquired his

knowledge of design. His extraordinary genius, his anatomical preparations

in wax, made by himself and Manzolini for the institution, and his great

influence in the instruction of young artists, in the three branches of the

fine arts, acquired him great reputation in Italy. At the same time, it is

known that he lectured much better than he painted; the art requiring, like

a knowledge of languages, close and persevering application, such as Lelli

could not command. One of his altar-pieces is reported in the Bolognese

Guide; and standing in need of defence, it was truly stated, that it was

among his earliest pieces. In the Guide to Piacenza, another, his S.

Fedele, at the Cappuccini, is also noticed; though it is added, with more

candour, that his highest merit did not consist in painting.

Gio. Viani was fellow-pupil to Pasinelli in the school of Torre; but it is

only a conjecture that he was also his assistant. He was a learned painter,

not inferior in design to any contemporary of the same school; and added to

his powers by assiduous drawing from the living model in the academy, and

the study of anatomy, until the close of his career. To such knowledge he

united elegance in his forms, softness of colouring, engaging attitudes,

lightness of drapery, studying much from life, and giving it an air of

grace, in the manner of Torre, or of Guido. That exquisite picture of St.

John di Dio, at the hospital of the Buonfratelli, is such a specimen of his

art. In the portico of the Servi he represented, in a lunette, S. Filippo

Benizi, borne up to heaven by two angels; a figure which, both in

countenance and action, breathes an expression of beatitude, conspicuous,

even at the side of another history, by Cignani. In other lunettes of the

same portico he does not excite equal admiration, and gives us an idea of

an artist able to compete with the best masters, but obliged to work with a

much larger share of study than they were accustomed to bestow.

Viani opened school opposite that of Cignani, and taught to some extent; in

which he was succeeded by his son Domenico, whose life was written by

Guidalotti, who, in point of merit, prefers him to his father. Few will

subscribe to this opinion, he not having attained to that exactness, much

less to that dignity of design, exhibited by his father; and inferior to

him in the nature, truth, and clearness of his colouring. Still he

possessed a grander character in his outline, a stronger execution, like

Guercino's, more splendid ornaments, like the Venetians, whom he

assiduously studied in their own capital. There is his St. Antony, at S.

Spirito, in Bergamo, in the act of convincing a sceptic by a miracle; a

surprising picture, extolled by Rotari and Tiepolo, and perhaps the best

work which he left at Bologna. At the same place is his Jove, painted on

copper, for the Casa Ratta, besides other works in private houses, to which

he chiefly devoted himself.

His fellow-pupils in the paternal school were four Clementine academicians,

whose altar-pieces we find mentioned among the "Paintings of Bologna."

These were Gian Girolamo Bonesi, who renounced both the name and style of

Viani, in order to follow Cignani, and complained of being included in

Viani's school. However this might be, his pictures pleased, by adding to

the beautiful a peculiar delicacy and sweetness that characterize him.

Carlo Rambaldi, imitating both the Viani, was not the less employed by

Bonesi; and pictures of both are met with, especially half-length figures,

in select galleries at Bologna, and a few historical pieces in the royal

collection at Turin. Antonio Dardani possessed more universal talent than

either of the preceding, but was not equally refined. Pietro Cavazzi was a

fine connoisseur in prints, and only on this account was celebrated in

Italy and abroad. Tronchi, Pancaldi, Montanari, with others, not admitted

into the Clementine academy, may be found mentioned in Crespi. No one, I

imagine, would desire an account of the under graduates, when the

academicians who enjoyed the first rank, were many of them, according to

Zanotti, only artists of mediocrity.

From the school of Cignani, to which I now proceed, scarcely any disciple

issued who ultimately adhered to his style. A master, whose maxim it was to

labour every picture, as if his entire reputation depended on it; who

preferred to cancel, rather than retouch his less successful pieces, might,

perhaps, have scholars, but not many emulators. Two of his family, however,

imitated him; Count Felice his son, who long assisted him, particularly in

the Cupola at Forli; and the Count Paolo his grandson, whom he, perhaps,

instructed in the outset; while his father indisputably employed him at

Forli, and Mancini at Rome. Both were gifted with facility of genius; but

being sufficiently wealthy, they only devoted themselves to the art for the

sake of the pleasure it afforded. Felice is seldom mentioned in the Guide

to Bologna; in which, however, his St. Antony, at the Carita, meets with

praise. At Forli is the altar-piece of St. Philip, by some ascribed to him,

and by others to Count Carlo, in his declining years; so inferior is it to

the best style of that artist. In collections his paintings are not rare;

though appearing, like a young boy in the presence of his father. Of Count

Paolo's I only recollect a single altar-piece at Savignano, representing

St. Francis in the act of appearing to St. Joseph da Copertino, and putting

a demon to flight. The scene appears illuminated by torch-light, and has a

fine effect; and the figures, in regard to their studied and finished

manner, display the taste of his grandfather.

After the relatives of Carlo comes Emilio Taruffi, his fellow-pupil with

Albani, as well as his assistant, first at Bologna, in decorating the

public hall, and next at Rome, where he resided three years, sometimes

employed at S. Andrea della Valle, at others for private houses. No artist

then better conformed to Cignani's style; and Taruffi could at least second

him in painting histories. But his genius lay more in minor compositions.

He was an excellent copyist of any ancient manner; a portrait painter of

great spirit, and, in landscape, one of the best pupils formed by Albani.

In these three branches he obtained his usual commissions, which he ever

discharged with credit. He also conducted some altar-pieces, and that of S.

Pier Celestino, at the church of that name, yields to few of the same

period.

Cignani's most distinguished pupils and heads of new schools were

Franceschini and Crespi. The Cav. Marcantonio Franceschini left the school

of Gio. Batista Galli for that of Cignani, and became his most effective

assistant and intimate friend. This friendship was cemented by his union

with Cignani's cousin, sister of Quaini, whom I shall shortly again

mention. Some productions of Franceschini might be taken for Cignani's

himself; but these were among his earliest, before he had formed his

characteristic manner. He remained with his friend many years, and

possessing peculiar gracefulness of design, Cignani availed himself of it

to draw from life the individual portions of his compositions, engaging him

to consult various models, in order to select the best forms from each. By

this study of nature, in which he persevered, and by copying from the

designs and under the eye of his master, he attained much of the taste, the

nice selectness, and the grandeur of Cignani. To these he added a certain

grace of colouring, and a facility which gave a novel character to his

productions; besides an originality, equal to any other artist, in the form

of his heads, in his attitudes, and in the costume of his figures. His

freshness, his harmony, his just equilibrium of full and retreating parts;

in short, his whole style presents a glowing spectacle never before seen.

If we trace in his works, especially on an extended scale, a degree of

mannerism, it may almost be excused: would that his disciples had

restrained themselves within the same limits! But easy roads to painting

are like walking on a declivity, where it is difficult to count one's

steps, or restrain one's motions. Franceschini seemed born to execute works

on a large scale, fertile in ideas, and with facility to dispose them in

every point of view, and to colour them at any distance. He was accustomed

to compose his cartoons in chiaroscuro, and, having fixed them in the

intended spot, to judge of the success of his proposed work; a method it

would be desirable to inculcate and adopt more generally.

His large fresco paintings are numerous; the recess in the Ranuzzi palace,

the cupola and ceiling in the church of Corpus Domini, the tribune of S.

Bartolommeo at Bologna. Among those in other states we shall mention only

the corbels of the cupola, with three histories, in the cathedral of

Piacenza, and the grand ceiling of the Hall of Public Counsel at Genoa.

This painting, of which it is enough to state that Mengs devoted many hours

in examining it in detail, the noblest of Franceschini's performances,

perished by fire, without a single engraving having been taken to

commemorate its grandeur of conception. The same fertility of ideas and

attraction of style are conspicuous in his grand histories, dispersed among

the first galleries of Europe, and in his no less copious altar-pieces.

Such is the S. Tommaso da Villanova, in the act of dispensing alms, placed

at the Agostiniani di Rimini; a picture truly imposing by its magnificent

workmanship, and which surprises by the beauty of its figures. What is

equally surprising, the Cavalier Franceschini, when nearly an octogenarian,

displayed pictorial powers equal to his best days; as we gather from his

Pieta, at the Agostiniani of Imola, and his BB. Fondatori, at the Serviti

in Bologna, which betray no traces of decline. This artist rejected the

most advantageous offers from courts, which all vied in soliciting his

services. Giordano even was not invited to that of Madrid, until the

situation had been refused by Franceschini. He chose to reside in Upper

Italy, there assuming the same rank, as head of his school, with almost the

same success as Cortona in Lower Italy. Both schools adhered much to the

Caracci's style, and in some measure rendered it more popular; and hence,

those who at Rome are not familiar with the features and contrasts

characteristic of Cortona's sect, would easily confound them with the more

modern artists of Bologna.

Luigi Quaini, cousin to Carlo Cignani, and brother-in-law to Franceschini,

was one of the most animated characters of his time; equally well versed in

history, in architecture, and in poetry. The pupil, first of Guercino, next

of Cignani, he was employed by the last as an assistant, and with such

success, that, in painting, his hand could not be distinguished from that

of his master. In distributing their labours to Franceschini and to Quaini,

he ordered the former to paint the fleshes for the roundness and softness

he gave to them; while to the latter he committed certain gay and spirited

countenances, and a certain finishing of parts, in which, from his peculiar

talent, he admirably succeeded. Later in life, he united with Franceschini,

and leaving to him the inventive parts, he followed him in the style of the

figures; inferior, doubtless, to that of Cignani, in force of chiaroscuro

and colouring, but more attractive from its peculiar beauty and felicity.

He would, afterwards, wholly ornament the composition by himself, with

flowers, armour, beautiful landscape, and noble perspective; an art

acquired from Francesco, his own father, a fine pupil of Mitelli. In this

way did these two artists continue to paint, conjointly, at Bologna, at

Modena, Piacenza, Genoa, and Rome; at which last place they composed some

cartoons for the cupola of St. Peter's, which were afterwards executed in

mosaic. Quaini also painted many historical pictures of his own invention.

They decorate private houses; his only composition in public being his St.

Nicholas visited in prison by our Lady, a beautiful altar-piece, occupying

the best place in the church of that name.

Marcantonio's school, from which he also derived those assistants who

followed Quaini, dates its commencement from his son, the Canon Jacopo

Franceschini. The Bolognese historians only represent him in the character

of an honorary academician; so that, by their account, I ought here to omit

him. The Cav. Ratti, however, informs us that Marcantonio, coming to Genoa

to adorn the church of S. Filippo, brought with him his son as his

assistant, together with Giacomo Boni. In the same city, too, I saw a large

history, in the hall of the Marchese Durazzo, as well as other pieces by

him, well worthy commendation. At Bologna, also, are several paintings in

public, all conducted in the style, and with the assistance of his father.

Boni was employed by Franceschini in many of his works, more particularly

in that at Rome. He had been pupil also to Cignani, along with a few more,

to be mentioned in the same school; under whose care he chiefly had in view

works of a more difficult cast. Such was the ceiling of S. Maria della

Costa, at S. Remo, and of S. Pier Celestino, at Bologna; besides several

paintings at Genoa, where he became established. Two of his pictures, at

the church of the Magdalen, met with great applause; namely, a Preaching at

Gethsemane, and a Pieta. He more particularly distinguished himself in

fresco; and in a chamber of his Excel. Pallavicini is an infant Jove, in

the act of receiving nutriment from a goat, executed in the most elegant

style. He was much employed in that capital, where, says Crespi, "there is

neither palace, nor church, nor monastery, nor house, in which his works

are not met with; all striking and commendable." Nor did he produce little

at Brescia, at Parma, and at Remo; besides being honoured with commissions

from Prince Eugene of Savoy, and the King of Spain, for whose chapel he

forwarded an altar-piece. This artist sometimes betrays the haste of a mere

mechanist, not completing fully, or polishing his work; besides colouring

with a degree of lightness of hand which easily yields to age. Yet he

always retains a delicacy and a precision in his contours, with a certain

open spirit and joyousness which delight the eye.

Antonio Rossi never conducted works on so large a scale as Boni, but he

surpassed him in diligence; which induced his master, when entrusting

commissions to his pupils, to prefer him to any other. He exercised himself

in painting pictures for churches, and greatly added to his reputation by

his Martyrdom of S. Andrea, placed at S. Domenico. He was much occupied,

also, with architectural pictures and landscape, to which he added small

figures, so well adapted as to appear by the same hand. On this account he

was an artist much liked by the artificers of similar representations,

particularly by Orlandi and Brizzi. Girolamo Gatti was less employed for

churches than Rossi, but is distinguished for small figure pieces, with one

of which he decorated the hall of the Anziani. It exhibited the coronation

of Charles V. in S. Petronio, and shewed the artist to be as good a

figurist as a painter of perspective. Although educated by Franceschini, as

we learn from the new _Guide_, he did not imitate his colouring: this he

sought to attain from Cignani. Giuseppe Pedretti long resided in Poland;

and on his return to Bologna executed a number of works in a good style.

Giacinto Garofolini, a pupil and kinsman of Marcantonio, displayed very

middling ability when employed alone; but in conjunction with his relative,

and with Boni, he conducted various works in fresco, from which he is

entitled to what reputation he obtained. To these Bolognese artists and

academicians various foreigners might be added, as one Gaetano Frattini,

known at Ravenna by some altar-pieces at the _Corpus Domini_, and a few

others whom we have referred to different schools. We shall now return to

that of Cignani.

Giuseppe Maria Crespi, whom for his neatness of attire his fellow pupils

surnamed Lo Spagnuolo, was instructed first by Canuti, next by Cignani;

being early grounded in the best principles of taste. With unwearied

assiduity he copied the Caracci paintings at Bologna; and at his leisure

studied those of the first Venetians in that capital. He examined, too,

Coreggio's at Modena and Parma, and long sojourned in Urbino and Pesaro to

consult the works of Baroccio. Some of these he copied, and sold at Bologna

for the originals. His object invariably was, to form a new manner out of

many others, which he accomplished; at some times Baroccio would be his

most admired model; at another, when he wished to employ more shade, he

chose Guercino; nor did he dislike Cortona in respect to taste of

composition. To the examples, too, of the dead, he added the observation of

the living; and was averse, if we may credit his son, to the labours of a

mere mechanist. He drew every thing from nature, and even had a camera

optica in his house, from which he copied the objects that offered

themselves to view, and remarked the various play and picturesque

reflections of the vivid light. His compositions, indeed, teem with these

novelties, and his shortenings also are as singular; so that he often

places a number of figures in a small space, while the conceptions which he

interweaves in his pictures, are more peculiarly fanciful.

This turn for novelty at length led his fine genius astray; insomuch that

Mengs is brought to lament that the Bolognese School should approach its

close in the capricious Crespi, (vol. ii. p. 124). In his heroic pieces,

and even in scriptural subjects, he left room occasionally for caricature.

Wishing to exhibit novelty in his shadows and in his draperies he fell into

mannerism; and varying his first method of colouring similar to the old

painters, he adopted another more lucrative but less excellent. It consists

of few colours, selected chiefly for effect, and very common and oily; gums

applied by him to colouring, as other artists use them for a veil, or

varnish; few strokes, employed indeed with judgment, but too superficial

and without strength or body. Such was the method which we see pursued in

so many of his pictures; or to speak more correctly, which are no longer to

be seen, the tints having decayed or disappeared, so as to require them to

be newly copied by another hand. His son did not attempt to conceal this

fault, though he wished to excuse it. The reader may peruse the defence in

his _Felsina Pittrice_, p. 225; and should he feel convinced by it, with

similar benignity he may apologize for Piazzetta, who acquired his method

of colouring from Crespi; with others who more or less pursued the same

practice, at this period extinct.

As a specimen of his more solid style, the picture of the BB. Fondatori, at

the church of the Servi, appears to much advantage; our Lord's Supper,

also, in Casa Sampieri; a few pieces in the royal Pitti palace, where he

was long employed by the great Prince Ferdinando; besides a few other of

his first productions. In his other style are various pictures conducted

for the galleries of the Roman nobility; the SS. Paolo and Antonio as

eremites, for the Princes Albani; the Magdalen for the Chigi palace; the

Seven Sacraments for the Card. Ottoboni, of which I have seen copies in the

Albani palace at Urbino. The whole of these seven pictures display certain

bold coruscations and contrasts which dazzle the eye; all shew novelty of

idea; in particular that of the Spousals between a young girl and an

octogenarian, to the visible mirth of the spectators. Spagnuolo lived to

advanced age, honoured by the pope with the insignia of cavaliere, esteemed

among the first of his age, while his paintings everywhere abounded.

Different houses, both in and beyond Bologna, possess them in great number;

histories, fables, and familiar pieces. He received most part of his

commissions from the Signori Belloni, who decorated various chambers with

his historical pieces, remunerating him with one hundred crowns each,

though they contained but few figures, and all of an ell's length.

Spagnuolo's manner was not one that could be pursued by every pupil with

applause. Those artists who were unable to direct it with equal

imagination, power of design, spirit and facility, produced very trifling

results. Even his own sons, D. Luigi the canon, and Antonio, who painted

for various churches, did not wholly follow their father's style, but

appear invariably more studied. The canon wrote much upon the art, as the

lives of the Bolognese artists, or the third volume of the _Felsina

Pittrice_, edited in 1769; notices of the painters of Ferrara and Romagna,

still unpublished; various treatises; with numerous letters inserted by

Bottari in the pictoric collection. To few of his age is the history of

painting so much indebted, although in certain national subjects he failed

to satisfy the whole of his fellow citizens. The authors of the new Guide

of Bologna require from him more diligence in examining documents; greater

fidelity as a public instructor; more justice to the real merit of Ercole

Lelli. The four dialogues in defence of his _Felsina Pittrice_, written by

a friend, were published by Bottari in the seventh volume of the work just

cited, and are worth perusal. In the same volume (p. 143) we also meet with

a letter of Crespi, in which he confesses his different errors, declaring

that he would correct them in the fourth volume of his _Felsina_, which he

was then composing, and which I am uncertain whether he ever completed.

From these notices we gather, that, notwithstanding his violent temper, he

was not wanting in fidelity as an historian, and in that readiness to

retract his own errors, without which none can pretend to maintain the true

literary or historical character.

For the rest, he must have afforded occasion for those clamours against his

_Felsina_ and other writings by some satirical strokes, which are assuredly

severe, accompanied by many personal reflections on his contemporaries.

Concerning that very respectable academy he relates some observations of

his deceased father, which had better have been consigned to oblivion. He

disapproves the methods introduced into his school, and laments, that owing

to the failure of good masters, Bologna was no longer frequented as

formerly by students. He detects, too, certain little impositions

introduced into the art; such for instance as displaying in the studio a

number of pictures prepared for colouring, to convey an idea of possessing

abundance of commissions; pronouncing in a breath a number of anatomical

terms on the bones and muscles, to inspire a high opinion of the artist's

learning; publishing eulogiums on some particular painting in an article of

the day, which only the artist himself could have conceived, and written,

paid for, and believed to be true. Such, or similar details, which must

have sufficed to recognize particular individuals, doubtless provoked many

replies from persons not publicly known, as the author gave no contemporary

names, but deeply offended and provoked to retaliate upon him.

Among the pupils of Crespi was Gionima, who survived only, as I have

stated, to his thirty-fifth year. Nor did Cristoforo Terzi reach a much

more advanced age, the pupil also of different masters. From his outset he

boasted a decision of hand, able to sketch at few strokes very spirited

heads, which, however, by dint of excessive retouching, he deprived of much

of their expression. This defect he remedied under Crespi, and improved

himself by residing several years at Rome. Many collections at Bologna

possess some of his half-length figures and heads of old men, which are

mistaken by less experienced judges for those of Lana. In the list of

Crespi's pupils, too, are Giacomo Pavia of Bologna, who flourished in

Spain; Gio. Morini d'Imola; Pier Guarienti, a Veronese, who flourished at

Venice, and was afterwards appointed director of the Dresden gallery; and

the same who wrote the additions to Orlandi's dictionary. Francesco l'Ange

of Savoy, a pupil of Crespi, became a Philippine monk at Bologna. His chief

merit lay in small scriptural pictures, some of which I saw in Vercelli, in

possession of his Eminence Martiniana, bearing the author's name, and quite

deserving, by their design and colouring, of a place in that collection.

Besides Franceschini and Crespi, many others were educated by Cignani.

Their names have been given by Zannelli, who published their lives; a book

I have vainly endeavoured to obtain while engaged in writing the present

work. By Crespi we have an account of some pupils whom he instructed in

perspective and landscape, as well as in flowers; this skilful preceptor

being accustomed to ascertain the young artists' talents, and confine them

to the inferior, when not competent to the higher branches of art, and even

to direct them to other professions when unequal to these. Such pupils as

he retained, ought not, then, to be lightly contemned, although little

celebrated, either because they died young, were dispersed abroad, or

obscured by brighter names. Among such are Baldassare Bigatti, Domenico

Galeazzi, Pietro Minelli, known in history by a few altar-pieces. Matteo

Zamboni died young, leaving in some private houses a few specimens of his

works, as much in Cignani's style as those of any artist. I am uncertain

what public works he conducted in Bologna; but he acquitted himself well,

for his age, in two histories at S. Niccolo in Rimini; the one representing

St. Benedict, the other S. Pier Celestino. Antonio Castellani is included

by Guarienti in the school of Cignani, though I think by mistake, as he

belongs to that of the Caracci. Not so Giulio Benzi, also mentioned in the

Guide of Bologna, and to be distinguished from the Genoese of that name. I

may observe the same of Guido Signorini, recorded by Crespi, and not to be

confounded with another Guido Signorini, heir to Guido Reni. So far of the

artists of Bologna.

Federigo Bencovich was a foreigner of a Dalmatian family, and I give his

name as he himself wrote it.[51] In the Dictionaries it is spelt Boncorich

and Bendonich; and by Zannelli, Benconich; so that foreigners may be well

excused for often mistaking the names of Italian painters. Federigo,

commonly called in his own time, Federighetto, acquired more of Cignani's

solidity than amenity of style; correct in his design, strong in his

execution, and well informed in the best principles of his art. Some of his

altar-pieces are at Milan, Bologna, and Venice; though most of his

productions adorn collections, even in Germany, where he resided many

years. In that of the Signori Vianelli of Chioggia, mention is made of his

S. Jacopo Sedente; and in another collection, of Count Algarotti, at

Venice, his landscape, with a village girl, to which Piazzetta added

another figure. Occasionally, his manner is somewhat too much loaded with

shadows, but by no means to be pronounced contemptible, as asserted by

Zanetti, (p. 450) in opposition to the opinion of Guarienti.

Footnote 51: In his two letters, directed to Rosalba

Carriera. See Catalogue of the deceased Canon Vianelli's

Collection, (p. 34). This artist also published a _Diary_,

in 1720 and 1721, written at Paris by the same lady; in

which she notices her own works, her remuneration, and

honours. It is accompanied by learned notes. I have recently

received notice of the work, which causes me to mention it

in this school.

Girolamo Donnini also resided out of his country; born at Coreggio, he

lived at Bologna; and being inclined to that school, was first treated of

by Crespi, next by Tiraboschi. He had studied under Stringa at Modena, and

under Giangioseffo dal Sole at Bologna. Thence he went to Forli, at the

instigation of Cignani, not so much to become a machinist and a painter in

fresco, as in order to treat less difficult subjects in oil. His chief

merit lay in painting for private ornament, and Orlandi, then living, bore

testimony that his pictures were held in high request for the decoration of

houses. He excelled also on a larger scale; one of his altar-pieces of S.

Antonio, at the Filippini in Bologna, being conducted in a very masterly

style; as well as others, dispersed about Romagna, at Turin, in his native

place, and elsewhere, the manner of which, as is remarked by Crespi,

clearly displays the hand of Cignani's disciple. A favourite pupil of

Donnini, and whom he assisted in a variety of circumstances, was Francesco

Boni, termed also il Gobbino[52] de' Sinibaldi, from being in the service

of those lords. He was from Faenza, and left several good pictures in his

native place; among others, a S. Teresa, with S. Gio. della Croce, at the

Carmelitani; a _Noli me tangere_, and the Meeting of S. Domenico and S.

Francesco, in the church which formerly belonged to the Domenicans. Pietro

Donzelli, of Mantua, placed an altar-piece in the cathedral of Pescia, in

which he represented S. Carlo administering to the sick of the plague,

displaying the style of a pupil of Cignani; and this constitutes all the

information I could obtain respecting him.

Footnote 52: Gobbino, the little hunch-back.

The other foreign pupils of the Cav. Carlo, who diffused his manner through

the Italian schools, are commemorated in the places where they flourished;

as Lamberti, for instance, at Rome, and Parolini at Ferrara. Here I shall

add a brief sketch of the artists of Romagna, whom I unite to those of

Bologna. Antonio Santi was an Ariminese, whose school only is mentioned by

Crespi; but in the Guide of Rimini, where a few of his works remain, he is

extolled as one of its best pupils, though he died young. The same Guide

makes mention of some paintings in oil and fresco, particularly in the

church of the Angioli, attributed to Angiolo Sarzetti, pupil to Cignani;

from whom, also, he obtained a design for an altar-piece at S. Colomba.

Innocenzio Monti is included by Crespi among the Bolognese, and by Orlandi

among the painters of Imola, where he left some works. One, of the

Circumcision of our Lord, at the Gesu of Mirandola, executed in 1690, is

extolled in a little book of poems. He was more industrious than ingenious,

and more successful in Germany and in Poland than in Italy. Gioseffo Maria

Bartolini, also of Imola, is esteemed, in his native place, for a Miracle

of S. Biagio, and for other works at S. Domenico, and in other churches. He

was employed a good deal at Imola, where he opened school, and throughout

Romagna; an artist of great facility, and partaking, in some degree, of the

manner of Pasinelli, his first master.

The artists of Forli, among whom Cignani lived during some years, are not a

few. Filippo Pasquali was colleague to Franceschini, whose grand

altar-piece at Rimini he surrounded with a very pleasing ornament. Some of

his earliest efforts are met with in Bologna, at the portico of the

Serviti; but not equal to the altar-piece in the church of S. Vittore at

Ravenna, which he painted at a more advanced age, and which does him great

credit. Andrea and Francesco Bondi, two brothers, are recorded by

Guarienti; though, in the Guides of Pesaro and Ravenna only one is alluded

to, whose name is not given; and what pieces I saw at Forli itself would

seem to have proceeded from one hand; such as the chapel of S. Antonio, at

the Carmelites, the Crucifixion at S. Filippo, besides others. He boasts

the fine execution of Cignani; but the forms and expressions are not

equally select. Among other artists of Forli, instructed by Cignani, was

the priest Sebastiano Savorelli, employed in some church paintings even in

the adjacent cities. To him we may add Mauro Malducci, and Francesco

Fiorentini, both priests, too, of Forli; of all of whom there is found some

account in the life of Cignani.

Under the Roman School we treated of Francesco Mancini, from S. Angelo in

Vado, who, along with Agostino Castellacci, from Pesaro, was instructed by

Cignani; both nearly contiguous to Romagna, but of unequal powers. Agostino

is little known, even in his own state; but Mancini was celebrated

throughout Lower, as much as Franceschini in Upper Italy; and he also

educated several artists for the countries adjacent to Romagna. Sebastian

Ceccarini was Mancini's pupil, born at Urbino, and often mentioned in the

Guide of Rome, where, in the time of Clement XII., he painted the

altar-piece for the Swiss chapel at the Quirinal. He is more known,

however, at Fano, where he was established, and long continued to live,

with a handsome salary from that city. There he appears an artist of

various styles, who would have shone little inferior to his master, had he

always adhered to his best manner. His S. Lucia, at the Agostiniani, and

different sacred histories, in the public palace at Fano, display many fine

imitations, strong chiaroscuro, and well-varied tints.

The Canon Gio. Andrea Lazzarini, from Pesaro, also acquired his knowledge

from Mancini. He was both a good poet and prose writer, and truly well

informed in sacred and profane literature. Few Italian writers can compare

with him in treating pictoric subjects. His "Account of the Paintings in

the Cathedral at Osimo,"[53] and particularly, his "Catalogue of the

Pictures in the Churches at Pesaro," cited by us elsewhere, afford ample

proofs of his superiority, no less than those brief "Observations" on the

best works there met with, and that very full "Dissertation upon the Art of

Painting," that has been often republished. It relates wholly to the branch

of "invention;" and he has other unedited works of equal merit, on

"Composition," on "Design," on "Colouring," and on "Costume," which were

read in the academy of Pesaro, as early as 1753. These embrace a true

course of painting, an art which he taught gratuitously in his native

place.[54] Count Algarotti, in drawing up his Essay on Painting, both read

and profited by them, as I heard, at least, from Lazzarini; and as the

Count, indeed, candidly himself confessed, in a letter which he forwarded

to him with the work. He also evinced his high regard for his pictoric

talents, by giving him a commission for two paintings to adorn his select

gallery, which were afterwards inserted in the catalogue. The subjects

consist of Cincinnatus called to the Dictatorship, and Archimedes absorbed

in his scientific studies, during the storming of Syracuse. These two

histories are well executed, inasmuch as Lazzarini was perfectly master of

good painting, as well as good writing; easy, yet always studied in every

part; at once noble and graceful, with depth of learning to throw an air of

antiquity round his productions, but, at the same time, free from all

affectation and parade. His first colouring was of a strong character, as

appears from a Pieta, at the hospital of Pesaro, conducted, I believe,

after having studied the Venetian and the Lombard Schools, in the course of

a pictoric tour. Subsequently, he imbibed a certain sweetness, which I may

call more like Maratta's, in which his rivals discover a want of vigour.

Though he enjoyed long life, he did not leave many works, as he applied

himself with assiduity to his clerical duties. Frequently he had occasion

to paint for private families, and succeeded admirably in his Madonnas; one

of which, seen weeping, in the Varani collection at Ferrara, is among his

most studied pieces. His native place possesses three altar-pieces at the

Magdalen, three at S. Caterina, others in different churches, and in

general upon a small scale. But his genius is more clearly apparent in some

larger pictures, which are to be seen in the cathedrals of Osimo and of

Foligno; at S. Agostino, of Ancona; and the two at S. Domenico, in Fano.

One of these contains various saints of the order, placed around the

Virgin, whose portraits, positions, and action, exhibit singular variety

and grace. The other represents S. Vincenzio, seen in the act of healing

the sick, before the people assembled by sound of bell; nor is it easy, in

this immense throng, to find any one figure resembling another, or

superfluous, or less happy in expressing what it ought. But the work in

which he appears, as I have been informed, to surpass himself, adorns the

chapel of the Counts Fantuzzi, in Gualdo, a diocese of Rimini. He had spent

several years at Rome, at the house of Monsig. Gaetano, afterwards Cardinal

Fantuzzi; for whom he made that fine collection of pictures, from each

school, which afterwards went to his heirs, one of whom, Count Marco, is

well known to the public by his "Monuments of Ravenna," edited and

illustrated in several volumes, with much research and erudition; and to

whose courtesy I owe much of my information respecting Lazzarini. In this

collection are several of the canon's paintings, of various kinds;

landscape, a branch in which he appears to perfection; instruments and

books of music, porcelain, and fruits that deceive the eye; and, in

particular, two pictures, on imperial canvass, one exhibiting the Baptism

of Christ; the other, the Flight out of Egypt; where, in the Egyptian

plants and monuments we seem to recognize that ancient land itself. Still

the altar-piece at Gualdo shews a greater degree of originality, as he here

displayed his utmost care in imitating Raffaello, whom he had accurately

studied, so as to derive from his forms and composition all that could go

to adorn a picture of the Virgin and Holy Child, seen between St. Catherine

the martyr, and the B. Marco Fantuzzi, a Franciscan, who will, perhaps,

obtain the honours of a solemn canonization. The place is decorated with

architecture, the pavement variegated with marbles of different colours.

The Holy Child, placed with the Divine Mother, upon a pedestal, is seen

putting a crown on St. Catherine's head; while the Mother holds another in

her hand, in order that the B. Marco may be crowned by her in his turn. Two

angels form the train, one of whom points to the wheel, a symbol used by

the saint, and indeed touches with his finger a sharp point, the better to

give an idea of the sufferings of her martyrdom. The other is an Angel of

the Apocalypse, with book and sword; a figure well suited to the last

judgment, whose terrors the B. Marco inculcated in his sermons. There are

two other beautiful cherubs, which add to the interest; one standing near

St. Catherine, holds a roll of Egyptian papyrus, with some Coptic

characters, in which were described the acts of her passion; while his

companion points the attention of the spectator to a maxim continually

repeated by the B. Marco, "Nolite diligere mundum," inscribed upon marble.

How widely different, in point of invention, appears an artist versed in

literature, and one with no taste for letters! This, however, is not the

whole merit of such a painting: the saint and one of the angels are truly

Raffaellesque figures; the Beato in extasy, brings to mind the B. Michelina

of Baroccio; the other figures are all exceedingly well studied, and seem

intended to display the artist's refined gratitude towards his patrons.

Footnote 53: These paintings, executed in the abside of the

cathedral, with the assistance of his pupils, constitute his

most celebrated frescos. In this "Account" there is a

Discourse, well worth notice, on Ancient Marbles of

different Colours, which he introduced in those paintings,

and the method he adopted in uniting them. Such a treatise,

not to be found in any other writer, renders this little

volume valuable; which shews, too, that he likewise excelled

in architecture.

Footnote 54: These Treatises were published at Pesaro in

1806; and, although, as the industrious editor well

observes, they were drawn up from unfinished sketches, they

still gratify us, no less by their extensive information,

than by the ingenuity which they display.

The best professors that Romagna could boast at this period have already

been recounted in different Bolognese Schools; for which reason, without

treating them separately, I shall proceed to the painters of landscape.

Among these, excelling as well in drawing as in figuring, Orlandi gives us

the name of Maria Elena Panzacchi, instructed in the art by Taruffi; but

her landscapes are now little known, even in Bologna; and Crespi has

indicated not more than two. Those of Paolo Alboni, her contemporary, are

recognized in Naples and Rome itself, and in Germany, where he passed many

years. Those which are seen in the Pepoli palace, at the March. Fabri's,

and in other noble galleries, might be mistaken, according to Crespi, for

the productions of Holland or Flanders, on whose models he was almost

incessantly employed. Angiol Monticelli formed a style under Franceschini

and the younger Viani, which the same biographer highly extols. No artist,

at this period, better knew how to dispose his colours; none tinged his

leaves, his earths, his buildings, and his figures, with more nature and

variety. But he was cut short in mid-career: he became blind when his

talents were in their perfection.

Nunzio Ferraiuoli, called also Degli Afflitti, was born at Nocera de'

Pagani, not a Bolognese. From the studio of Giordano, he went to that of

Giuseppe dal Sole, in Bologna, in which city he was established. He

incessantly employed himself in taking rural views, both in oil and fresco,

and succeeded to admiration, equal, says P. Orlandi, to Claude and Poussin;

an opinion to be attributed to the friendship subsisting between them. He

had a mixed style, half foreign and half Albanesque, if we except his

colouring, which is not so natural. Cavazzone provided him with two pupils,

who, urged by their own genius, assisted by Ferraiuoli, became tolerably

good landscape painters; namely, Carlo Lodi and Bernardo Minozzi. The first

was an excellent disciple of his master; the second formed a manner

peculiar to himself. Besides his ability in frescos, he was distinguished

for his landscape in water-colours, which he illuminated on pasteboard, and

it met with much admiration both at home and abroad. Gaetano Cittadini,

nephew to Pier Francesco, excelled in the same manner, his rural views

displaying singular taste, fine effect of the lights, and spirited figures.

I have met with them throughout Romagna, as well as in Bologna. In Romagna,

however, Marco Sanmartino, a Neapolitan, or Venetian, is more generally met

with; and, in particular, at Rimini, where he some time fixed his

residence. His pieces are ornamented with beautiful little figures, in

which he excelled. He also attempted more extensive works, such as the

Baptism of Constantine, in the cathedral of Rimini, and the Saint preaching

in the Desert, in the college of S. Vincenzio, at Venice; though there,

too, he is distinguished by his landscape, which formed, indeed, his

profession. In the Guide of Rimini, he is named Sammartino, as well as by

Zanetti and Guarienti. This last declares that he remained at Venice most

part of his life; and, in the next article, gives the name of one Marco

Sanmarchi, a Venetian, both a landscape and a figure painter, on a small

scale, much extolled by Malvasia, and flourishing about the time of

Sammartino. On the authority of Melchiori, who names him Sammartino, or

Sanmarchi, I believe that these two landscape-painters of Guarienti resolve

themselves into one; and that the mistake arose from the resemblance of the

two names, by which one and the same person was popularly known; as we have

had occasion to observe in other instances. Moreover, what could be the

reason that this Sanmarchi, a Venetian, is not known in Venice itself, but

only in Bologna, where it does not appear that he ever had a permanent

abode?

The elder Cittadini, who excelled in flowers, and fruits, and animals, is

commended in the preceding epoch. In the present, we shall make mention of

his three sons, Carlo, Gio. Bastista, and Angiol Michele, who, however able

in figures, at least the two first, are known to have assisted their

father, and imitated him in the subjects most familiar to him; hence they

were termed by Albano, syndic to the Bolognese professors,[55] the

fruiterers and florists. From Carlo sprung Gaetano, the landscape painter,

and Gio. Girolamo, who down to our own days, though without attempting

figures, excelled in painting different animals, fruits, and vases of

flowers. But this family was successfully rivalled by Domenico Bettini, a

Florentine professor in the same line; who, after remaining a long time at

Modena, where we have mentioned him, came to establish himself at Bologna,

towards the end of the sixteenth century. He had learnt design under

Vignali, and next continued to improve himself in the school of Nuzzi, at

Rome. He was among the first, says Orlandi, who dismissing those obscure

and dismal grounds, painted more clear and openly; adding attractions to

such paintings, by the invention of situations, and by the introduction of

perspective: he was frequently invited to different Italian cities, to

decorate halls and cabinets. But the favourite artist in this kind, of his

day, was Candido Vitali, who, taught by Cignani, always attentive to the

peculiarities of his pupils, made rapid progress in these attractive

branches of the art. The freshness which appears in his flowers and fruits,

the beauty of his quadrupeds and birds, are farther recommended by a taste

of composition, and a delicacy of hand, which are prized both in Italy and

abroad. Baimondo Manzini, a miniaturist rather than a painter, painted less

in oil; but with such a degree of nature, that his animals, exhibited in

cartoons, and placed by him in a certain light, have deceived even painters

themselves; for which he has been extolled by Zanotti as a modern Zeuxis.

An assemblage of his fishes, birds, and flowers, is to be seen in the fine

gallery of the Casa Ercolani.

Footnote 55: Malvasia, vol. ii. p. 265.

At the same period the art was indebted to the judgment of Cignani for a

good painter of battle-pieces in Antonio Calza, a Veronese, mentioned in

the third volume; where it is observed that, being subsequently assisted by

Borgognone, he became master of that branch of art at Bologna. Contemporary

with him was another pupil of Cortese, who resided during several years in

the same city, named Cornelio Verhuik, of Rotterdam. Besides his

battle-pieces in his master's manner, displaying strong and vivid

colouring, he painted in the Flemish style markets, fairs, and landscape,

which he enlivened with small figures, like those of Callot. From Cignani

also the Bolognese School received an excellent portrait painter in Sante

Vandi, more commonly called Santino da' Ritratti. Few of his age were

qualified to compete with him in point of talent, grace, and correctness in

the characteristic features, particularly when drawn in small proportions,

such as were calculated even to decorate boxes and rings. For these he had

constant commissions, both from private persons and from princes, most of

all from the Grand Duke Ferdinando of Tuscany, and Ferdinando, Duke of

Mantua, who gave him a salary at his court, until his return to Bologna on

the duke's death. But he remained there only a short time, being still

invited to different cities, so that he educated no pupils for his native

place, and died abroad. With him, observes Crespi, "disappeared the manner

of producing portraits at once so soft and powerful, combined with such

natural expression."

Above every other branch of inferior painting, however, the ornamental and

perspective then flourished at Bologna. This art, as we have stated, after

the solid foundations on which it had been placed by Dentone and Mitelli,

aimed too much at a pleasing and beautiful, without consulting a natural

effect. But the school did not all at once deteriorate, being some time

maintained by imitators of some of the most correct models. In this number

Zanotti extols Jacopo Mannini, a most accurate artist, who decorated a

chapel at Colorno for the Duke of Parma, in which the Cav. Draghi was

employed as figurist, whose genius was at once as eager and rapid as

Mannini's was slow. Much like two steeds of opposite temper yoked to the

same vehicle, their sole occupation seemed that of biting and kicking each

other; and it became necessary to separate them, the slow one being sent

back to his native Bologna, where owing to this blemish he never met with

any encouragement. Arrigo Haffner, a lieutenant, with Antonio his brother,

who died a Philippine friar in Genoa, were also followers of Mitelli in

delicacy and harmony of colour. They had been much employed at Rome under

Canuti, their master in figures, and the former was chosen by Franceschini

to paint the perspectives in the church of Corpus Domini. They produced

also a good deal at Genoa and its state, sometimes with one, sometimes with

another of the more eminent figurists. Antonio acquired most reputation,

superior perhaps in all but invention to his brother, particularly in the

sweet union of his tints, as well as in the estimation of distinguished

personages. He was called by the Grand Duke Gio. Gastone to Florence, to

consult him respecting the altar of _pietre dure_, intended for the chapel

of the Depositi at S. Lorenzo.

A still higher station in this profession was attained by Marcantonio

Chiarini, an excellent architect as well as writer in that department. He

had frequent invitations from Italian princes and lords, and even from

Germany, where he painted along with Lanzani in the palace of Prince Eugene

of Savoy. Many of his pictures, conducted in perspective for noble

Bolognese families, still remain, and are held as models of a sound and

true taste, imitating the ancient colouring and design, without giving

admission to certain marbles, which appear like gems, but please only the

inexperienced. From Chiarini's manner was derived that of Pietro

Paltronieri, universally known under the name of the _Mirandolese dalle

prospettive_. He was the Viviano of this latter age, and his architectural

pieces on the ancient model are met with, not only in Bologna, where he

resided, but in Rome, where he long continued, and in a number of other

cities. They consist of arches, fountains, aqueducts, temples, ruins,

tinged with a certain reddish colour, which serves to distinguish them

among many others. To these he adds skies, fields, and waters, which appear

real; nor do they want appropriate figures, introduced by Graziani and

other select young artists at Bologna. We must not confound Mirandolese

with Perracini, also known in Bologna by the name of Mirandolese, who

flourished at the same period, but with no sort of reputation beyond that

of a tolerable figurist.

The school of Cignani increased that of the perspective painters. It first

presented them with Tommaso Aldrovandini, nephew to Mauro; both of whom

accompanied Cignani's figures in the public palace of Forli. Tommaso was

employed with Cignani himself at Bologna and Parma. Conforming himself,

under the eye of this celebrated master, to his best style, he so far

succeeded, that the whole appears the work of Carlo alone, more especially

in the chiaroscuro. His ornamental portion, too, is there conducted so that

neither the precise extent of the light, nor of the shade, is apparent, but

only an effect resulting from them, as we see it in nature. He executed the

architectural ornaments in the grand hall of Genoa, painted, as we have

said, by Franceschini; and he left other works in that capital. It was his

invariable custom to modify his style, alternately soft or strong, in the

manner of the figurist. He instructed in the art Pompeo, son of Mauro, and

his cousin, who, after having displayed some specimens at Turin, Vienna,

Dresden, and in many other foreign cities, resided, and died at Rome, with

the reputation of a very elegant artist. From the school of Pompeo sprung

two ornamental painters, Gioseffo Orsoni, and Stefano Orlandi, who, in

conjunction, painted some able frescos in various Italian cities, besides

many theatrical pieces for the same places.

Whatever splendor of ornament may have been conferred upon the theatre by

the Aldrovandini family, so greatly devoted to it; that of the Galli, in

the present age, sprung from Gio. Maria, pupil to Albani, surnamed, from

his country, Bibiena, has acquired still greater celebrity. By the same

surname were distinguished Ferdinando and Francesco, his sons, with their

posterity; nor has any pictoric family, either in this or any other age,

advanced higher claims to public notice. There was hardly any court that

invited not some of the Bibieni into its service; nor was any sphere more

eligible for that family than the great courts, whose sovereign dignity was

equalled by the elevation of their ideas, which only princely power could

carry into execution. The festivals which they directed on the occasion of

victories, of nuptials, or of royal entrances, were the most sumptuous that

Europe ever witnessed. The genius of Ferdinando, formed for architecture,

and for this reason wholly directed to it by Cignani, attained such

excellence, that he was enabled to teach it, in a volume which he printed

at Parma. He afterwards corrected some parts of it, in two little volumes

published at Bologna; the one upon civil architecture, the other on the

theory of perspective. Indeed, his genius and works gave new form and

character to the theatres. He was the real inventor of those magnificent

scenes which we now witness, and of that rapid mechanic motion with which

they are seen to move and change. He spent great part of his life in the

Duke of Parma's service; a good deal at Milan, and at Vienna, in the court

of Charles VI.; always more esteemed as an architect than as a painter. But

here, too, he shone, not only in colouring scenes, and similar productions

for public festivals; but in perspectives for palaces and temples, more

particularly for the state of Parma. Francesco, less learned, but an

equally prompt and elevated designer, pursued the same line, and extended

it in different cities, being invited to Genoa, Naples, Mantua, Verona, and

Rome, at which last he remained three years. He entered the service of the

Emperors Leopold and Joseph, who changed his resolution of proceeding to

England, and subsequently to Spain, where Philip V. had already declared

him his architect. In different collections the perspective pieces of the

two brothers appear; and they are occasionally enlivened with figures by

the hand of Francesco, who acquired his knowledge from Pasinelli and

Cignani, instances of which I have seen in different collections at

Bologna.

Ferdinando had a numerous family, of whose members we shall mention

Alessandro, Antonio, and Giuseppe; not because equal to their predecessors,

but as being versed in the practice of their manner, both in oil and

fresco; and on this account eagerly sought after by the different courts of

Europe. The first entered into the service of the Elector Palatine, in

which he terminated his days. The second was much employed at Vienna and in

Hungary. On returning into Italy, too, he still removed from place to

place, being retained by all the first cities in Tuscany; and still more in

Lombardy, until the period of his death, which occurred at Milan. He was an

artist more admired for his facility of genius than for his correctness.

Giuseppe, who, on his father's departure from Vienna on account of illness,

was substituted architect and painter of court festivals in his twentieth

year, afterwards left that city for Dresden, where he enjoyed the same

office, and, after the lapse of many years, also at Berlin. He was

invariably patronised by princes, who gave him regular salaries; and by

other members of the empire, who engaged him, at the moment, to adorn their

festivals and theatres. His son Carlo pursued the same career, being

pensioned first by the Margrave of Bareith, and afterwards by the King of

Prussia, as successor to his father; but he acquired greater reputation in

foreign countries. For, Germany becoming involved in war, he took occasion

to make the tour of France, proceeding through Flanders and Holland, and

visiting Rome on his return into Italy. Last of all he made a voyage into

England, and at the court of London rejected very advantageous offers to

take up his residence in that city. Many of the decorations invented by

Giuseppe and Carlo, on occasion of public festivals, have been engraved

from their designs, in the production of which they were equally rapid,

masterly, and refined.

Where the Bibieni had failed in introducing their novel inventions for

grand spectacles, their disciples finally succeeded. In this list,

according to the history of Zanotti and of Crespi, the most eminent rank is

held by Domenico Francia, once the assistant of Ferdinando at Vienna,

afterwards architect and painter to the King of Sweden. After his term with

that court had elapsed, he visited Portugal, and again proceeded to Italy

and Germany, till his arrival in his native place, where he died. To him we

may add the name of Vittorio Bigari, mentioned in high terms by Zanotti, an

artist employed by different sovereigns of Europe, and the father of three

sons, who pursued the same career. He also displayed singular merit in his

figures. Nor must we omit Serafino Brizzi, who obtained equal reputation

for his perspectives in oil interspersed both throughout foreign and native

cities. It would form, however, an undertaking no way adapted to a

compendious history, to collect the names of all the professors of so

extended an art; and the more so as, in the course of the present age, it

was becoming the general opinion that in many respects such art was greatly

on the decline, owing to the prevalence of only middling and inferior

artificers.

Not many years ago, however, it seemed to revive, and a new epoch opened

upon the public, the praise of which is due to Mauro Tesi, to whom his

friends raised a marble monument in S. Petronio, with a bust and the

following inscription: "Mauro Tesi elegantiae veteris in pingendo ornatu et

architectura restitutori." He belonged to the state of Modena, and, when

young, was put to the school of a very poor painter of arms in Bologna.

Thus it was his lot, writes Algarotti, to have had not a single master of

architecture among the moderns. By means of a peculiar natural genius, and

studying the designs of Mitelli and Colonna, examining at the same time

their models throughout the city, he re-conducted the art to a style, solid

in architecture, sparing in decoration, as it had formerly been, and in

some parts still more philosophical and learned. His patron, the excellent

Count Algarotti, assisted in perfecting his taste, and made him his

companion on his tours, encouraging him to make very excellent observations

on the works of the ancients. Whoever has perused his life and

publications, a fine edition of which appeared at Venice, edited by the

learned Aglietti, will have perceived that he was as much attached to Tesi

as if he had been his own son. Nor did Tesi shew less respect to Algarotti

than to a father; and when the latter went to Pisa for his health, his

young friend devoted himself so assiduously to him, as to contract the same

disease, of which he died two years afterwards, still very young, at

Bologna. Here he left various works, the most conspicuous consisting of a

gallery belonging to the deceased Marquis Zambeccari, with marbles, camei,

and figures, very well executed; a picture displaying grand relief combined

with the most finished exactness. In Tuscany also are some remains of his

taste, at S. Spirito in Pistoia, and in the hall of the Marquis Gerini at

Florence. I saw, too, in possession of the count's heirs at Venice, two

pictures, conceived by Algarotti and painted by Mauro. One of these, which

he has described (vol. vi. p. 92) represents a temple of Serapis, decorated

in the Egyptian manner, with bassi-relievi and pyramids in the distance;

fit to adorn the choicest cabinet. It is enriched with figures by

Zuccherelli, in the same way as Tiepolo added them to Tesi's other pieces.

There are engravings of some of Mauro's works in possession of the same

nobles, as well as his whole studio of designs, landscapes, views of

architecture, capitals, friezes, figures; a rich and copious assemblage of

materials, almost superfluous in so short but bright a career. After Mauro,

no greater proofs of esteem in this art were shewn by Algarotti to any one

than to Gaspero Pesci, to whom he directed a number of his letters; of him

too Algarotti's heirs possess two pictures, consisting of ancient

architecture, with slight sketches of figures, scarcely indicated.

But at length we approach a conclusion. The Bolognese academy still

continues to flourish in pristine vigour; the aids afforded to the pupils

have even been extended; and, in addition to the academical prizes, there

are dispensed others, which the noble families Marsili and Aldrovandi

established at stated meetings, and which still go by their name. I cannot,

however, as in other schools, record very splendid remunerations to the

masters. But this forms the more rare and distinguished honour of the

Bolognese artists--to labour for distinction, and to confer their

preceptorial services in the arts and sciences upon their country, not only

without reward, but even to their own loss, a subject fully treated of by

Crespi (pp. 4, 5) in his _Felsina_. Notwithstanding these disadvantages

they have continued to maintain, during two centuries, the character of

masters in the art. From the time the Caracci first spoke, almost every

other school listened and was silent. Their disciples followed, divided

into a variety of sects; and these continued, for a long period, to hold

sway in Italy. The reputation of the figurists being somewhat on the

decline, a substitute sprang up in the decorative and perspective painters,

who established laws, and produced examples, still eagerly imitated both in

Italy and other parts. Neither the Bibieni, the Tesi, nor the others whom I

have mentioned towards the close, are so exclusively entitled to historical

consideration, but that the Gandolfi[56] family, with several others, which

have either recently become extinct, or still flourish, may claim a share.

Doubtless these will not be in want of deserved eulogy from other pens,

that will successively follow mine.

Footnote 56: Previous to the present edition, Gaetano

Gandolfi breathed his last; Ubaldo, his elder brother,

having already preceded him to the tomb, at the time he was

preparing to decorate the cupola of S. Vitale in Ravenna.

Ubaldo had been pupil to Torelli, to Graziani, and in

particular under Lelli had exercised his talents in drawing

successfully from the naked model, and to such a foundation

added dignity of style. Of this, several works in painting

conducted with extreme care, as well as some in clay and

stucco, at Bologna, and other places in Romagna, are the

proof. But to judge more particularly of his merits, we

ought to examine his academical designs. In his ideas he was

common, and not very natural in his colouring, and generally

considered on this account inferior to his brother Gaetano,

who was esteemed in Italy one of the most able artists of

his day. Bologna, always grateful to its eminent citizens,

expressed at his decease the degree of esteem in which he

was held while living. His obsequies, of which a separate

account was published in folio, equal what we read in

Malvasia respecting those of Agostino Caracci; and the

oration there recited in his praise by Sig. Grilli, deserves

insertion in any of the most select works written on the

art. There too, Gandolfi, very judiciously, is not held up

as a model in painting; a forbearance which he himself

displayed, even refusing to receive pupils, and observing

that he was himself in want of instruction. Yet from the

influence of his great reputation he was frequently

imitated, and, as it happened, with most success in his

worst qualities, more particularly in his tints. In this

respect he had been ill grounded by his elder brother; but

improved himself by studying for the space of a year at the

fountain head of colourists, in Venice, and by copying for a

Venetian dilettante the finest pieces of the Caracci at

Bologna. It is difficult to account for his fine colouring

in some paintings, equal at least to the good artists of his

time, and his inferior colouring in others, as that of the

Death of Socrates, at Monsig. Trenta's, bishop of Foligno.

It is feeble and deficient in truth, owing either to caprice

or to age. In his preparations of paintings he was more

commendable: his first conceptions were sketched on slate

with pencil, and more carefully on paper. He next began to

select; modelled the figures in chalk, and draped them;

afterwards forming the design on a large scale, and by aid

of his experiments, and of the living model, he went on

completing and retouching his work. He has been accused of

borrowing a little too freely from ancient models; but

whoever had seen him, aged as he was, devoting himself in

the public academy to the practice of modelling, will not

unjustly confound him with those plagiarists, so notorious

in our own day. Moreover, he may be pronounced inimitable to

most artists, in those rare gifts, which nature had lavished

upon him: enthusiasm, fertility of invention, sensibility,

and skill in depicting the passions; to which he added a

correct eye, and ability both to design and compose, in the

decoration of friezes for the institute, exotic plants and

other rarities of nature, as well as to engrave with much

elegance, and skill to paint in oil as well as in fresco. A

really impartial biographer must pass his opinion on every

man, and let his verdict result from an examination of his

masterpieces. Such belonging to Gandolfi are his Assumption,

in the ceiling at S. M. della Vita, and the Nuptials of

Cana, at the refectory of S. Salvatore in Bologna; not to

insist on the Martyrdom of S. Pantaleone, at the church of

the Girolimini in Naples, with some other works scattered

through various parts of Italy.