who filled the city and the state with his works. This was Domenico Piola,
a scholar of Pellegro and Cappellini, the associate of Valerio Castelli in
many works, and for some time an imitator of that master, afterwards of
Castiglione; and, finally, the founder of a style bordering on that of
Cortona. There is not in it a sufficient contrast; the forms are various,
ideal for the most part, nor without beauty; the chiaroscuro is generally
little finished; the design partakes of the Roman. There is, however, a
considerable resemblance to Pietro in the distribution of the colours, and
in his facility and despatch. He had a singular talent for the
representation of children, and he refined it by the imitation of
Fiammingo. He enlivened every composition by their introduction, and in
some palaces he interwove them in elegant friezes. From this soft and easy
manner, examples of which are to be met with in every part of the Genoese
territories, he could occasionally depart, as in the picture of the Miracle
of St. Peter at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, painted at Carignano,
where the architecture, the fleshes, the gestures, are highly studied; and
there is a force of effect which seems to emulate the Guercino, which is
opposed to it. He also departs from his ordinary style in the Repose of the
Holy Family at the Gesu. Of three sons whom Domenico instructed, Paolo will
be mentioned among the most excellent artists of a future epoch; Antonio
commendably followed his father's style in his youth, but afterwards
changed his profession. Gio. Batista could copy or follow the designs of
others, but nothing beyond. This latter had a son, Domenico, who, whilst he
was beginning to emulate the glory of his family, was cut off by death, and
with him was extinguished a family which, for the course of nearly two
centuries, had conferred honour on the profession.
Giulio Benso, the scholar of Paggi, excelled all his school in architecture
and perspective. Genoa, perhaps, does not possess any work in this
department superior to that of Benso in the Nunziata del Guastato; in the
choir of which he represented one of those perspective pictures with
balustrades and colonnades, in which Colonna and Mitelli so much excelled.
These two artists were great admirers of this work of Giulio, but to us it
may perhaps appear too much loaded with ornament. He there represented the
Glorification of the Virgin, and added some histories, in which he
rigorously observed the laws of the _sotto in su_; an art then little
practised in his school. Giovanni and Batista Carloni, who painted so much
in this church, are surpassed by him in this department; nor do they much
exceed him in composition and colour. Benso left but few oil paintings in
Genoa; that of S. Domenico in the church of that saint is one of the best,
and partakes more of the School of Bologna than that of Genoa.
Castellino Castello possessed a sober style of composition, like that of
Paggi his master, and, as far as we may judge from various pictures, was a
correct and elegant artist. He highly distinguished himself in the picture
of the Pentecost, placed on the great altar of the church of the Spirito
Santo. He, however, like many others of this period, is indebted for his
celebrity to his success in portrait painting; in confirmation of which it
is sufficient to state, that Vandyck was desirous of being commemorated by
him, and painted him in return. This fact exalts his reputation even more
than the commendations he received from contemporary poets, among whom were
Chiabrera and Marino, whose features he also preserved for posterity. He
was appointed portrait painter to the court of Savoy, and in this
department he had a rival in his own family, in Niccolo his son, who was in
high reputation in Genoa when Soprani wrote. Some others of the school of
Paggi, distinguished in landscape or in other branches of painting, are
reserved for the conclusion of this epoch.
Paggi had a rival in Sorri of Siena. His style is a mixture of Passignano
and Paol Veronese; and, if I err not in my judgment, of Marco da Siena
also, whose Deposition from the Cross in Araceli was, in a manner, repeated
by Sorri at S. Siro in Genoa. He there instructed Carlone and Strozzi, two
luminaries of this school. Gio. Carlone repaired soon to Rome, and
afterwards to Florence, where he was taught by Passignano, the
father-in-law and master of Sorri. Passignano was not so remarkable for his
colouring as for his design and grandeur of composition; but we have
already observed, that the style of colour is that portion of the art least
influenced by precept, and which is formed more than any other by the
individual genius of the painter. Carlone possessed as great talents for
composition as any of his contemporaries; correct and graceful in design,
decided and intelligent in expression; and above all, he had an
extraordinary brilliancy of colour in his frescos. In this branch he was
anxious to distinguish himself; and although he saw eminent examples at
Florence and in Rome, he did not adhere to them so much as, if I am not
wrong in my conjecture, he attempted to follow, or rather to surpass and to
reduce to a more pleasing practice, the style exhibited by Tavarone, in the
histories of S. Lorenzo. I have already described that style; the vigour,
beauty, and freshness with which it prepossesses the spectator, and
approximates the most distant objects. If, in respect of Giovanni, we wish
to add any greater praise, it is that he surpassed Tavarone in these gifts;
and besides, he is more correct in his contours, and more varied and
copious in composition. But in all these qualities they were both excelled
by Gio. Batista Carlone, a scholar also of Passignano, and a student in
Rome, afterwards the associate of Giovanni, his elder brother, in principle
and practice, whom he survived fifty years, as if to carry their style to
the highest pitch of perfection.
The church of the Nunziata del Guastato, a splendid monument of the piety
and the riches of the noble family of Lomellini, and an edifice which
confers honour on the city, which has enlarged and ornamented it as its
cathedral, possesses no work more astonishing than the three naves, almost
nearly the whole of which are decorated by the two brothers. In the middle
one the elder brother represented the Epiphany of our Lord, his Entrance
into Jerusalem, the Prayer at Gethsemane, the Resurrection, the Ascension,
the Descent of the Holy Ghost, the Assumption of the Virgin, and other
passages of the New Testament. In one of the smaller naves, the younger
brother painted St. Paul preaching to the Multitude, St. James baptizing
the Neophytes, St. Simon and St. Jude in the Metropolis of Persia; and in
the opposite nave three histories from the Old Testament, Moses striking
the Rock, the Israelites passing the Jordan, and Joseph, on a high seat,
giving Audience to his Brethren. All these stories seem to be adopted as
giving scope to a fancy rich in invention, and capable of peopling these
immense compositions with figures almost innumerable. It is not easy to
mention a work on so vast a scale executed with so much zeal and care;
compositions so copious and novel, heads so varied and so animated,
contours so well expressed and so strongly relieved, colours so enchanting,
so lucid and fresh after such a lapse of years. The reds (which perhaps are
too frequent) are as deep as purple, the blues appear sapphires, and the
green, above all, which is a wonder to artists, is bright as an emerald. In
viewing the brilliancy of these colours we might almost mistake them for
paintings on glass or enamel; nor do I recollect to have seen in any other
artists of Italy so original, beautiful, and enchanting a style of colour.
Some persons who have compared these colours with those of Raffaello,
Coreggio, or Andrea del Sarto, have thought them too near bordering on
crudeness; but in matters of taste, where the sources of pleasing are so
many, and where there are so many gradations in the merits of artists, who
can possibly gratify all? The similitude of style would lead the unskilled
to believe them the works of the same master; but the more experienced are
able to ascertain the composition of Gio. Batista from a peculiar delicacy
of tints and of chiaroscuro, and from a grander style of design. It has
been attempted to ascertain more minutely his method of colouring; and it
has been discovered, "that in decorating the ceilings and walls of rooms,
he previously laid on the dry wall a colour ground, to protect his work
from the action of the lime. These paintings were executed with the most
delicate gradations, and the most surprising harmony; hence his frescos
have all the richness of oil colours." These are the words of Ratti, and
Mengs joins him in the encomium.
I have only enumerated the paintings which these artists exhibited in the
Guastato, but Giovanni left numerous works in the same style and on similar
subjects, at the Gesu and at S. Domenico in Genoa, and at S. Antonio Abate
in Milan, where he died; without mentioning the many fables and stories
with which he adorned various palaces in his native city. Of the other
brother it is not equally easy to recount all that he painted in private
houses, and in the before-mentioned churches, and at S. Siro and elsewhere.
The histories of the chapel in the Palazzo Reale are amongst his most
original and delightful works; Columbus discovering the Indies; the
Martyrdom of the Giustiniani at Scio; the Remains of the Baptist brought to
Genoa, and other Ligurian subjects. Nor is it easy to enumerate his many
altar-pieces and oil pictures to be found in the churches. I shall limit
myself here to the three histories of S. Clemente Ancirano at the Guastato;
pictures, characterised by such congruity, such truth, and such a peculiar
horror, as to force us to withdraw our eyes from the inhumanity of the
scene. Some persons may, perhaps, be indisposed to give full credit to all
that I have written of Gio. Batista; as it seems incredible that an artist
should be so little known, who united in himself the most opposite
qualities; a wonderful skill both in oil and fresco; equal excellence in
colour and design; facility and correctness; an immense number of works,
and a diligence shewn by few fresco painters. But they who have viewed the
works I have mentioned, with unprejudiced eyes, will not, I feel confident,
differ far from me in opinion. He lived to the age of eighty-five, and lost
neither his vigour of invention nor his genius for grand composition; nor
the freedom of hand, and incomparably fine pencil with which he treated
them. I shall allude, in another epoch, to his sons Andrea and Niccolo; but
I must not neglect to observe, that both Pascoli and Orlandi have written
of this family with little accuracy.
The other great colourist and scholar of Sorri was Bernardo Strozzi, better
known under the name of the Capuchin of Genoa, from his professing that
order. He is also called _il Prete Genovese_, because he left the cloister,
when a priest, to contribute to the support of an aged mother and a sister;
but the one dying and the other marrying, he refused to return to his
order; and being afterwards forcibly recalled to it and sentenced to three
years of imprisonment, he contrived to make his escape, fled to Venice, and
there passed the remainder of his days as a secular priest. The larger
compositions of this artist are only to be seen in Genoa, in the houses of
the nobility, and in San Domenico, where he executed the great picture of
the Paradiso, which is one of the best conceived that I have seen. There
too, in Novi and in Voltri, are various altar-pieces; and above all, an
admirable Madonna in Genoa, in a room of the Palazzo Reale. Some of his
works are also to be seen in Venice, where Strozzi was preferred to every
other artist, to replace a _Tondo_, executed in the best age of Venetian
art, in the library of St. Mark, and there painted a figure of Sculpture.
He, however, left few public works. Whoever wishes to see admirable
productions, must observe his pictures in eminent collections; as the St.
Thomas Incredulous, in the Palazzo Brignole. When placed in a room of
excellent colourists he eclipses them all by the majesty, copiousness,
vigour, nature, and harmony of his style. His design is not very correct,
nor sufficiently select; we there see a naturalist who follows neither
Sorri nor any other master; but one who, after the example of that ancient
master, derives instruction from the multitude. There is a deep expression
of force and energy in the heads of his men, and of piety in those of his
saints. In the countenances of his women and his youths he has less merit;
and I have seen some of his Madonnas and angels vulgar and often repeated.
He was accustomed to paint portraits, and in his compositions derived all
his knowledge from the study of nature; and often painted half figures in
the style of Caravaggio. The royal gallery at Florence has a Christ by him,
called _della Moneta_; the figures half-size, and exhibiting great
vivacity. He is esteemed the most spirited artist of his own school; and in
strong impasto, in richness and vigour of colour, has few rivals in any
other; or rather, in this style of colouring he is original and without
example. His remains were deposited at S. Fosca in Venice, with this
inscription: _Bernardus Strozzius Pictorum splendor, Liguriae decus_; and it
is his great praise to have merited this encomium in the seat and near the
ashes of the greatest colourists.
Gio. Andrea de' Ferrari perfected himself under this master, having been
previously the scholar of Castelli, whose feeble style may be detected in
the Theodosius, painted by Ferrari as an altar-piece in the Gesu. In many
works he is a respectable follower of Strozzi; as in the Nativity in the
Duomo of Genoa, and in the Nativity of the Virgin, in a church of Voltri,
full of figures which seem inspired with life. Although little known, and
perhaps too little commended by Soprani, he is one of the first Genoese
artists; and, to establish his reputation, it is sufficient to state, that
he was the master of Gio. Bernardo Carbone, the chief of this school of
portrait painters. Even by the more experienced his portraits were often
mistaken for those of Vandyke, or purchased at prices little inferior to
those given for a true Vandyke. He also composed well, as may be seen in
his picture of the King S. Louis at the Guastato. But this picture did not
please the person who gave the commission, and a second was ordered in
Paris, and afterwards a third, which successively superseded each other on
the altar. But they did not prove satisfactory, and that of Carbone was
restored to its place, and the other two were added as laterals, as if to
attend on it.
Another deserving scholar of Strozzi resided a considerable time in
Tuscany, and there distinguished himself; Clemente Bocciardo, from his
great size called Clementone. He first studied in Rome, afterwards in
Florence, and practising much with Castiglione, he formed a style more
correct and ideal than that of his master, to whom, however, he is inferior
in truth of colour. Pisa was his theatre of art, where, in the Duomo and
elsewhere, he left some highly respectable works; over all of which, in his
life, the preference is given to S. Sebastian, placed in the church of the
Carthusians. He painted his own portrait for the royal gallery of Florence,
which has had a better fate than those of many common artists, and remains
there to the present day.
A third pupil of this school resided a considerable time in Venice,
afterwards in Mirandola. This was Gio. Francesco Cassana, a soft and
delicate colourist, and master of Langetti. By the Venetians he was but
little esteemed, and painted only for private collections. He afterwards
repaired to the court of Mirandola, and painted a S. Jerome for the Duomo
of that city, and other pictures in various churches, which enhanced his
reputation. He was the founder of a family that conferred honour on the
art. Niccolo, his eldest son, who became one of the most celebrated
portrait painters of his age, passed the chief part of his life at
Florence, and died at the court of London. The Grand Duke possesses some of
his historical compositions, and some portraits full of expression, in the
royal gallery, amongst which are two half figures of two court buffoons,
admirably executed. It is said that his style, which nearly approaches to
Strozzi, cost him great trouble, and that, when painting, he was so intent
on his work as not to hear a person addressing him; and sometimes, in a
rage, he would throw himself on the ground, exclaiming against his work as
deficient both in colour and spirit, till snatching his pencil again he
brought it to his wishes. Gio. Agostino, called l'Abate Cassana, from the
clerical dress which he always wore, was a good portrait painter, but
distinguished himself more in the representation of animals. There are many
of his pictures in the collections of Florence, Venice, and Genoa, and
Italy in general, and they often indeed pass under the name of Castiglione.
The third brother was Gio. Batista, and excelled in flowers and fruits,
which he painted with great effect. They had also a sister, of the name of
Maria Vittoria, who painted sacred figures for private collections, and who
died in Venice at the beginning of the last century. In all I have said of
the Cassana family I have adhered to Ratti, as to a native and correct
author. Some who have written on the gallery of Florence, where the
portraits of the three first are found, differ in some particulars,
ascribing to the one works belonging to the other. Niccolo was in fact the
one that there enjoyed the highest favour of Prince Ferdinand; and he it is
who is mentioned in the note to Borghini (p. 316) where it is said that the
picture by Raffaello, transferred from Pescia to the Pitti palace, was
finished by Cassana. But with respect to this notice, and others regarding
the Cassani, we may consult the Catalogo Vianelli, p. 97, where we find
described a remarkable portrait of a young man studying, painted by
Niccolo; and it is succeeded by a long memoir, which throws additional
light on the history of this family.
I must now speak of another celebrated Ligurian, but neither a scholar of
Paggi, nor of Sorri, nor indeed of any other considerable master, and
almost self-instructed; for the elements of the art, which he learned from
Orazio Cambiaso, a painter of mediocrity, could not carry him far. He was
born in Voltri, his name Gio. Andrea Ansaldo. He is the only one of the
school who contested precedency in perspective with Giulio Benso, by whom,
in a quarrel, prompted by jealous feelings of his talents, he was wounded:
an attempt which was repeated by an unknown hand, after an interval of some
years. Near the choir of the Nunziata, painted by Benso, we behold the
cupola of Ansaldo, injured by damp, yet notwithstanding remarkable for a
most beautiful division and grandeur of the architecture, and for many
figures which remain uninjured. When we survey this fine work, we cannot
refuse to this artist a great talent for the decoration of cupolas, which
may be esteemed the summit of the art of painting, as the colossal is of
sculpture. His other works in fresco, in churches and in private houses,
are very numerous; and he is particularly admired for his works in the
palace Spinola at S. Pier d'Arena, where he has represented the military
exploits in Flanders of the Marchese Federico, the boast of this family.
Amongst his oil pictures a St. Thomas baptizing three Kings in a church, is
celebrated. It is placed in the chapel of that saint, and exhibits much
vigour of design, a brilliant decoration of scenery and persons, and a
display of graceful and delightful harmony. Such is his prevailing
character, which is in part his own, acquired by an unwearied application,
and in part derived from the Venetians, and especially Paolo. Ansaldo is
one of those masters who painted both much and well.
Of his scholars, the one who followed him the closest was Orazio de'
Ferrari, his countryman and kinsman. He painted well in fresco, but better
in oil. We need only inspect the Last Supper in the oratory of S. Siro, to
form a most favourable idea of this young artist. Giovacchino Assereto
profited more from the design than the colour of Ansaldo; in general he
attempted his chiaroscuro in the manner of Borzone, his first master, as in
the picture of S. Rosario at S. Brigida. Giuseppe Badaracco was ambitious
of introducing a new style into his native place, and repaired to Florence,
where he remained many years copying and imitating Andrea del Sarto. He
left many works there in private collections, and I imagine they are there
still; but, as always happens to copyists and imitators, his name is never
mentioned, and his works pass as belonging to the school of Andrea. In
Genoa itself his name is almost lost. It is known that he in general
painted for collections; but not for what houses. I found in the house of a
gentleman of Novi an Achilles in Scyros, with the name of Badaracco, and
with the date of 1654. In this work the artist seems to have forgotten
Andrea, and to have followed the naturalists of his own country. There is
no public work by him except a S. Philip, which is preserved in the
sacristy of S. Niccolo in _Voltri_.
To the foregoing masters we may add Gio. Batista Baiardo, of I know not
what school, but certainly commendable for the talents displayed in his
pictures at the portico of S. Pietro, and in the convent of S. Agostino,
painted with vigour, freedom, and grace. The inferior works in that convent
are certainly by another hand. Baiardo, Badaracco, Oderico, Primi, Gregorio
de' Ferrari, and others in this school, were carried off by the plague in
1657. But we have now spoken sufficiently of the higher class of works, and
shall here pass to those of another kind, completing the notices which we
have occasionally interspersed before.
We have often spoken of portrait painting, a lucrative branch of the art in
every capital, and more cultivated in Genoa than in most cities. Besides
the noble models of art left, as we have before mentioned, by the best
Flemish artists, those of Del Corte, a scholar of Titian, and of his son
Cesare, were of great service. From the school of this master arose a
succession of noble portrait painters, instructed by Luciano Borzone, who
in the time of Cerano and Procaccini also studied in the Milanese School,
and derived benefit from it; an artist highly esteemed by Guido Reni. He is
entitled to a place in the higher walks of art for his numerous paintings
for the churches and for collections; where however his greatest merit is
the expression, which as a good portrait painter, or rather naturalist, he
gives to his heads, which partake more of natural truth than of select
beauty. The folds of his drapery are true and simple, and his style on the
whole is not so strong as that of Guercino, but sufficiently so to please
the eye. The Presentation at S. Domenico, and the B. Chiara at S.
Sebastiano, are of this character. But his best works are at S. Spirito,
where he painted six pictures, and amongst them the Baptism of Christ,
which is much extolled. He initiated in his own profession two sons, Gio.
Batista and Carlo, who on his death finished some of his pictures in a
manner not to be distinguished from his own hand. Carlo surpassed his
brother in small portraits; and with him Gio. Batista Mainero, Gio. Batista
Monti, Silvestro Chiesa, all scholars of Borzone, all worthy of
commemoration, and all of whom shared the same fate, being carried off by
the pestilence of the year 1657.
The first who distinguished himself in the lower branch of the art in the
Genoese School was Sinibaldo Scorza, born in Voltaggio, who, guided by a
natural genius, and directed by Paggi, proved an excellent painter of
landscapes enlivened by figures of men and animals in the style of Berghem.
It would be difficult to name an artist in Italy who so successfully
engrafted the Flemish style on his own. I have seen a picture of cattle
passing a stream, in the collection of the illustrious Carlo Cambiaso,
where the animals rival those of Berghem, and the human figures appear
painted by a superior artist. Other collections possess specimens of him in
sacred subjects and classical fables; in which he rises far above the
Flemish artists. He also painted in miniature, if indeed his oil paintings,
from the care bestowed on them, ought not themselves to be called
miniatures. His works were celebrated by the poets of the age, particularly
by Marini, who introduced him to the court of Savoy. He was engaged, and
employed there until hostilities took place between the governments of
Piedmont and Genoa, which obliged him to return home. He was then denounced
to the government by some malicious rivals as a partizan of Savoy, and
passed two years in exile between Massa and Rome. From thence he returned
much improved, whence his latter pictures far exceed the first in invention
and copious composition.
Antonio Travi, more commonly called Il Sestri, or Il Sordo di Sestri, from
being a grinder of colours in the studio of Strozzi, and a friend of the
Flemish artist Waals, soon emulated both the one and the other. He learned
from the latter the art of painting landscape, with buildings in
perspective, and ruins; and he afterwards copied from nature the beautiful
country of the Riviera, with avenues of trees and rich orchards. But as
Waals was a feeble painter of figures, Travi availed himself of the
instructions of Strozzi to enliven his landscapes with beautiful and
spirited figures, not so much painted as sketched with a few strokes by a
master's hand, to gratify the eye when viewed at a distance. Thus, although
his landscapes are not highly finished, they please us by their agreeable
disposition, by their azure skies, the verdure of the trees, and their
freedom of touch. The state abounds with his pictures; but a great
proportion of those that bear his name are by his sons, who succeeded him
in his profession, but not with their father's talents.
Ambrogio Samengo and Francesco Borzone deserve also to be enumerated among
the landscape painters. Ambrogio was the scholar of Gio. Andrea Ferrari, a
painter of flowers and fruit; and his works are rare in consequence of his
early death. Francesco, after a miraculous escape from the plague, applied
himself to the composition of marine subjects and landscapes in the style
of Claude and Dughet; and his pictures, from their clearness, sweetness,
and fine effect, attracted the notice of Louis XIV., who invited him to his
court, where he remained many years; and this is the reason of the scarcity
of his works in Italy. We might here mention Raffaele Soprani, the
biographer of the Genoese artists, and many noble Genoese with him; but in
a work where the names of many painters themselves are omitted, it will not
be expected that we should record all the amateurs of the art.
I may place in this class of artists Gio. Benedetto Castiglione; not that
he wanted talents for larger works, as many altar-pieces in Genoa, and
particularly the very beautiful Nativity in St. Luke, one of the most
celebrated pictures in the city, sufficiently prove, but because the great
reputation which he has acquired in Europe has been derived from his
cabinet pictures, where he has represented in a wonderful manner animals,
either alone or as accessories to the subject. In this department of the
art he is, after Bassano, the first in Italy; and between these two the
same difference exists as between Theocritus and Virgil; the first of whom
is more true to nature and more simple, the second more learned and more
finished. Castiglione, the scholar of those accomplished artists Paggi and
Vandyke, ennobles the fields and woods by the fertility and novelty of his
invention, by his classical allusions, and his correct and natural
expression of the passions. He displays a freedom of design, a facility,
grace, and generally a fulness of colour; but in some pictures a greater
richness is desired by Maratta. The general tone is cheerful, and often
reddish. We find by him in collections large pictures of animals with
figures, as in that belonging to his Excellency the Doge Agostino
Lomellino; at other times sacred subjects, among which the most celebrated
are those from Genesis, the creation of animals, and their entry into the
ark; and the return of Jacob with a numerous body of servants and cattle, a
stupendous performance in the Palazzo Brignole Sale. Sometimes we find
fabulous compositions, as the Transformations of Circe, in the collection
of the Grand Duke of Tuscany; at other times hunting pieces, as that of the
Bull in the collection of the Marchesi Riccardi at Florence; often markets
and shews of cattle in the Flemish manner, and always more finished and
more gay when painted on a smaller scale. Such is a Tobias in the act of
recovering his sight, a most elegant picture, which I saw in possession of
the Gregori family at Foligno. It would require a volume, as Soprani
observes, to describe all his pictures in Genoa; but there is an abundance
of them, not to mention those abroad, in every part of Italy, as he studied
both at Rome and Venice, and a longer time at Mantua, where he died in the
service of the court. He there, for the correctness and beauty of his
colouring, obtained the name of Grechetto; and, for his peculiar style of
etching, he was also called a second Rembrandt. In that city are to be
found some pictures in his manner by his son Francesco and his brother
Salvatore, in which they often make near approaches to him. Francesco
repaired afterwards to Genoa, where he employed himself in painting
animals, which less experienced connoisseurs sometimes ascribe to Gio.
Benedetto. No Genoese, except Francesco, rivalled him in this branch; for
Gio. Lorenzo Bertolotti, who studied under him for some time, dedicated
himself to the painting of altar-pieces; and in that of the church of the
Visitation he highly distinguished himself. Anton Maria Vassallo was a
reputable painter of landscape, flowers, fruits, and animals. His chief
merit is in his colouring, which he learned from Malo, the scholar of
Rubens. He excelled also in figures; but his short life did not allow him
to obtain a more extended celebrity.
GENOESE SCHOOL.
EPOCH IV.
_The Roman and Parmesan succeed to the Native Style.
Establishment of an Academy._
Many masters of this school being cut off by the plague in the year 1657,
others deceased in the course of nature, not a few incapacitated from age,
and some also turned to mannerism, the Genoese School fell into such a
state of decline, that most of the young artists had recourse to other
cities for instruction, and in most instances repaired to Rome. In
consequence, from the beginning of this century to our own days, the Roman
style has predominated among these painters, varying, according to the
schools from which it descended, and according to the scholars that
practised it. Few of them have preserved the style unmixed; and some have
formed from the Roman and the Genoese a third manner, deserving of
commendation. On this account my readers should be cautioned not to judge
of these artists from works which some of them left when studying in Rome,
as I have known to be sometimes the case. Artists ought to be estimated by
their mature works, which, in this art, are like the corrected editions of
a work in letters, by which every author wishes to be judged.
I noticed, in a former volume, Gio. Batista Gaulli. This artist, after many
years practice under Luciano Borzone, unwilling to remain in a city
depopulated by the plague, went to Rome; and there, by studying the best
masters and by the direction of Bernino, made himself master of a new
style, grand, vigorous, full of fire, his children gracefully drawn, and
altogether enchanting. He contributed some pupils to the Roman School, and
two of them he educated for their native school; Gio. Maria delle Piane,
called, from his father's profession, II Molinaretto, and Gio. Enrico
Vaymer. Their pictures were composed in a good style, and there are some of
their works in the churches of Genoa; particularly of the first, by whom
there is at Sestri di Ponente a Decollation of St. John the Baptist, highly
celebrated. But they owed both their fame and their fortune to portrait
painting. The accomplishments of their master in that respect, above all
other artists, insured them a reputation, whence they abounded in
commissions, both in Genoa, which on that account is full of portraits
painted by them, and also in foreign countries. Vaymer was three times
called to Turin to paint the king and royal family; and was invited by very
considerable offers to remain there, which he, however, always rejected.
Molinaretto, after several visits to Parma and Piacenza, where he furnished
the court with portraits, and left some pictures in the churches, was
invited by King Charles of Bourbon to Naples, where he died, in a good old
age, painter to the court.
Pietro da Cortona also contributed some good scholars to Genoa. A doubtful
celebrity remains to Francesco Bruno of Porto Maurizio, who left in his
native country some altar-pieces in the style of Pietro, and a copy of one
of the pictures of that master. He is an unequal painter, if, indeed, we
may not conclude, with Sig. Ratti, that some inferior works are improperly
ascribed to him by common report. With still less foundation Francesco Rosa
of Genoa is conjectured to have sprung from this school, who studied about
the same time in Rome. The frescos and oil pictures which he left in that
city, at S. Carlo al Corso, and particularly at the churches of S.
Vincenzio and Anastasio, evince him a follower of a different style. He
there approaches Tommaso Luini and the dark mannerists of that period. He
painted in a much better style, at Frari in Venice, a Miracle wrought by S.
Antonio; a large composition, in which besides a most beautiful
architecture he displays much knowledge of the naked figure, good effect of
chiaroscuro, great vivacity in the heads; in the latter, however, little
select, and in the general effect partaking more of Caracci than Cortona.
There is no doubt that Gio. Maria Bottalla was instructed by Cortona. The
Cardinal Sacchetti, his patron, from his happy imitation of Raffaello
surnamed him Raffaellino; an appellation which I am not sure was confirmed
to him in Rome, and it certainly was refused to him in Genoa. In both those
cities he left very considerable works, in which he did not go so far in
his imitation of Pietro, as to neglect the style of Annibal Caracci. A
large composition of Jacob, by his hand, is to be seen in the collection of
the Campidoglio, formerly in the Sacchetti; and there exists in the Casa
Negroni in Genoa, a picture in fresco by him. Both are very considerable
works for a painter who had not passed his thirty-first year. Another
undoubted scholar of Pietro was Gio. Batista Langetti, although in his
colouring he adhered more to the elder Cassana, his second master. Langetti
is one of the foreign painters who, after 1650, flourished in Venice, and
excited the poetic genius of Boschini. He extols him as an artist eminent
in design and execution;[69] and this commendation is confirmed by Zanetti;
with an understanding, however, that this extends only to his more studied
pictures; as, for instance, his Crucifixion in the church delle Terese. As
to the rest he generally painted for profit; painting heads of old men,
philosophers, and anchorets, for which he is very remarkable in Venetian
and Lombard collections. It is said that he was accustomed to paint one a
day; his portraits were always drawn with truth, without adding that ideal
grandeur which we so much admire in the Greek sculptures in similar
subjects. He animated these countenances, however, with a strength of
colour and with a vigour of pencil that caused them to be highly sought
after; often receiving for them not less than fifty ducats a-piece. His
name is not found in the Abbeccedario, which is not to be wondered at, for
in so vast a work it is impossible to notice every individual artist.
Footnote 69:
L'opera con bon arte, e colpi franchi,
L'osserva el natural con bon giudizio,
In l'atizar l'atende al bon ofizio,
Che i movimenti sia vivi e no stanchi.
_Carta del Navegar Pittoresco_, p. 538.
But the greater number of scholars that Genoa sent to Rome attached
themselves to Maratta. Gio. Stefano Robatto of Savona repaired twice to his
school, and remained in it several years. He matured his genius, by
visiting other schools of Italy, and went also into Germany, and at a
mature age settled in his own country. He there executed some works that
confer honour on her; as the St. Francis receiving the Stigmata, painted in
fresco in the cloister of the Cappuchins. Others of these, his first works,
have obtained unqualified praise, especially for their colouring, which
excited even the admiration of the professors of Genoa, accustomed to study
the first works of art. But he afterwards gave himself up to gaming, and,
losing all desire of distinction, he degraded both his pencil and his name,
producing, like a mechanic, works of mediocrity at a trifling price. Hence
it may be said, that Savona had not a better nor a worse painter than
Robatto.
Gio. Raffaello Badaracco, the son of Giuseppe, who is mentioned in a former
epoch, passed from the school of his father to that of Maratta; and
afterwards, aspiring to a freer style, he became in a great measure
Cortonesque, very soft in execution, of a good impasto, with an abundance
of the finest ultramarine, which has conferred on his pictures both
durability and celebrity. His historical subjects are very numerous in
collections; the Certosa of Polcevera possesses two of the largest, from
the history of the patron saint. A Rolando Marchelli was a fine scholar of
Maratta; but, attaching himself to merchandise, he left few works.
The most remarkable in this band are the sons of three celebrated masters;
Andrea Carlone, Paolgirolamo Piola, and Domenico Parodi. The first was son
of Giambatista, from whose style and that of Rome, and afterwards from that
of Venice, he formed a mixed manner, which, if I mistake not, is more
pleasing in oil than in fresco. He painted much in Perugia and the
neighbouring cities; far from the finish and grace of his father, and less
happy in composition; but displaying a Venetian style of freedom, vigour,
and spirit; particularly in some histories of S. Feliciano, painted at
Foligno, in the church of that saint. Returning to Rome, he improved his
manner; and his works after that period are much his best. Such are some
passages from the life of S. Xavier, at the Gesu in Rome; and many poetical
subjects at Genoa, in the palaces Brignole, Saluzzo, and Durazzo. This
painter affords an excellent admonition to writers on art, not to form
their judgment too hastily on the merit of artists, without having first
seen their best productions. Whoever judged of Carlone from the picture he
painted at the Gesu in Perugia, would not persuade himself that he could,
in Genoa, have left so many fine works as to be ranked, according to Ratti,
among the painters of Genoa most worthy of commemoration. Niccolo, his
brother, may be also added as his scholar. He is the least celebrated of
the family; not that he wanted talent, but it was not of a transcendant
kind.
Piola, the son of Domenico, as I have noticed in a former place, is one of
the most cultivated and finished painters of this school; a true disciple
of Maratta, as regards his method of carefully studying and deliberately
executing his works, but otherwise not his close imitator. In this respect
it should seem he attached himself more to the Caracci, whom he very much
copied in Rome; and traces of this style may be seen in his beautiful
picture of S. Domenico and Ignazio, in the church of Carignano, and in
every place where he painted. It is known that he was rebuked by his father
for slowness; but by this he was not moved; intent on a more exalted walk
than his father, and exhibiting more selection, grandeur, tenderness, and
truth. He had singular merit in works in fresco; and being a man of
letters, he designed extremely well fables and historical subjects, in
decorating many noblemen's houses. His Parnassus, painted for Sig. Gio.
Filippo Durazzo, has been much praised; and it is added, that that nobleman
said, that he was glad he had not sent for Solimene from Naples, whilst
Genoa possessed such an artist. Had he painted less on walls and more on
canvass, his merit would have become known also to foreigners.
Domenico Parodi was, like his father, a sculptor, and moreover an
architect; but he owed his reputation to painting. Less equal to himself
than Piola, he enjoyed a greater fame; as he had a more enlarged genius, a
more extended knowledge of letters and the arts, a more decided imitation
of the Greek design, and a pencil more pliable to every style. He first
studied in Venice under Bombelli, and there remain, in a casa Durazzo, some
excellent copies of Venetian pictures made at that period; nor did he
forsake this style during the many succeeding years that he studied in
Rome. He painted, in a good Marattesque style, the noble picture of S.
Francesco di Sales at the Filippini, and several other pictures; but of
him, as well as of the Caracci, we find works partaking in an extraordinary
manner of the style of Tintoretto or Paolo, and which are described in his
life. His most celebrated work is the Sala of the palace Negroni. Some
professors have expressed their opinion, that there is not so fine a
performance in all Genoa; and it is a fact, that Mengs's attention was
there arrested for several hours by a painter that he had never before
heard of. A correct design, a vigour and harmony of colour, a mode of
decorating the walls peculiarly his own, attempted by many, but not
understood by any, render this a most remarkable production; nor is it a
little aided by the poetical invention and the beautiful distribution and
grouping of the figures. The whole is devoted to the glory of this noble
family, whose escutcheon is crowned by Prudence, Continence, and other
virtues, expressed by their several symbols; and there are also fables of
Hercules slaying the Lion, and Achilles instructed by Chiron, which
indicate the honours acquired by this family in letters and in arms.
Portraits are added to these decorations, and every part is so well
connected, and so well varied, and so enriched by vestures, drapery, and
other ornaments, that, though many noble families may boast of being more
highly celebrated by the muse, few have obtained such distinguished honours
from the sister art. Other noble houses were also ornamented by him in
fresco; and the gallery of the Sig. Marcello Durazzo, decorated with
stories, and fables, and chiariscuri, which might be taken for
bassi-relievi, is a work much resembling the one just described. In some
pictures, as in the S. Camillo de' Lellis, he does not seem the same; and
probably some of his scholars had the greater share in them. His most
celebrated scholar was the priest Angiolo Rossi, one of the best imitators,
in humorous subjects, of Piovan Arlotto; and in painting a good follower of
Maratta, though he left but few works. Batista Parodi was the brother of
Domenico, but not the scholar; he partook of the Venetian School;
expeditious, free, fertile in invention, and brilliant in colouring, but
not sufficiently select, nor equal to the better artists. He lived for some
time in Milan and Bergamo. Pellegro, the son of Domenico, resided in
Lisbon, and was a celebrated portrait painter in his day.
The Abate Lorenzo, the son of Gregorio Ferrari, though educated in Genoa,
had much of the Roman style. He was one of the most elegant painters of
this school, and an imitator of the foreshortenings and the graces of
Coreggio, as was his father, but more correct than he, and a good master of
design. In refining on delicacy he sometimes falls into languor; except
when he painted in the vicinity of the Carloni, (as in the palace Doria, at
S. Matteo), or some other lively colourist. He then invigorated his tints,
so that they possess all the brilliancy of oil, and yield the palm to few.
He excelled in fresco, like most of this school, and is almost unrivalled
in his chiaroscuro ornaments. The churches and palaces abound with them;
and in the palace of the noble family of Carega is a gallery, his last
work, decorated with subjects from the AEneid, and ornamented with
arabesques, stuccos, and intaglios, by artists under his direction. He also
painted historical subjects. In his first public works he painted from his
father's designs; afterwards, as in the picture of various saints of the
Augustine order, at the church of the Visitation, he trusted to his own
genius, and enriched his school with the best examples. He too was a
painter whose reputation was not equal to his merits.
In Bartolommeo Guidobono, or Prete di Savona, we find the delicate pencil
of Ferrari, and an imitation of Coreggio, but with less freedom of style.
This artist, who was in the habit of painting earthenware with his father,
at that time in the employ of the royal court of Savoy, established the
first rudiments of the art in Piedmont; and I have seen, in Turin, some
pictures by him partaking of the Neapolitan style of colour, which was at
one time in favour there. He afterwards went to Parma and Venice, and by
copying and practising became a very able painter, and had an abundance of
commissions in Genoa and the state. He is not so much praised for
correctness of design in his figures, as for his skill in the ornamental
parts, as flowers, fruits, and animals; and this excellence is particularly
seen in some fabulous subjects in the Palazzo Centurioni. He had diligently
studied the style of Castiglione, and made many copies of him, which are
with difficulty distinguished from the originals. He is not, however, a
figurist to be despised; and it is his peculiar praise to unite a great
sweetness of pencil with a fine effect of chiaroscuro; as in the
Inebriation of Lot, and in three other subjects in oil, in the palace
Brignole Sale. In Piedmont too there remain many works by him, and by his
brother Domenico, also a delicate and graceful painter, by whom there is in
the Duomo of Turin a glory of angels, which might belong to the school of
Guido. He would have been preferred to Prete if he had always painted in
this style; but this he did not do, and in Genoa there remain of his,
amongst a few good, many very indifferent pictures.
Before I quit the followers of the school of Parma, I shall return to the
Cav. Gio. Batista Draghi, to whom I alluded in the third book. He was a
scholar of Domenico Piola, from whom he acquired his despatch; and was the
inventor of a new style, which I know not where he formed, but which he
practised very much in Parma, and more in Piacenza, where he long lived and
where he died. We may trace in it the schools of Bologna and Parma; but in
the character of the heads and in the disposition of the colours there is a
novelty which distinguishes and characterizes him. Though he painted with
extraordinary celerity, yet we cannot accuse him of negligence. To a
vivacity and fancy that delight us, he added an attention to his contours
and colouring, and a powerful relief, particularly in his oil pictures.
There are many pictures by him in Piacenza, and amongst them the Death of
St. James in the church of the Franciscans, in the Duomo his St. Agnes, in
S. Lorenzo his picture of the titular saint, and the great picture of the
Religious Orders receiving their regulations from S. Augustin; a subject
painted already in the neighbouring town of Cremona by Massarotti, and well
executed, but inferior to Draghi. The Sig. Proposto Carasi particularly
praises the picture he painted at Busseto, in the palace Pallavicino. In
Genoa he painted, I believe, only some pictures for private collections.
Orlandi, who does not even notice this excellent painter, places among the
first artists of Europe Gioseffo Palmieri, who, together with the preceding
artist, flourished in the early part of the eighteenth century. This praise
seems exaggerated, and he probably refers only to the merit which Palmieri
exhibited in his pictures of animals, which he was employed to paint even
for the court of Portugal. Still in the human figure he is a painter of
spirit, and of a magic and beautiful style of colour; very harmonious and
pleasing in those pictures where the shades do not predominate. He is,
however, reprehended for his incorrect drawing, although he studied under a
Florentine painter, who seems to have initiated him well; for in the
Resurrection at the church of St. Dominic, and in other pictures more
carefully painted, judges of the art find little to reprove.
A Pietro Paolo Raggi obtained also celebrity in invention and colouring. I
know not to what school to assign him, but he was certainly a follower of
the Caracci in a S. Bonaventura contemplating a Crucifix; a large picture
in the Guastato. There are Bacchanal subjects by him in some collections,
which partake of the style of Castiglione, as Ratti has observed, and also
of that of Carpioni, as we read in one of the _Lettere Pittoriche_,
inserted in the fifth volume. We there find him highly extolled. Nor is he
any where better known than in Bergamo; where, amongst other works which he
executed for the church of St. Martha, a Magdalen borne to Heaven by Angels
is particularly esteemed. He is described as a man of a restless
disposition, irascible, and dissatisfied with every place he inhabited.
This truant disposition carried him to Turin, then to Savona, then afresh
to Genoa, now to Lavagna, now to Lombardy, and last to Bergamo, where death
put an end to his wanderings. About this time died in Finale, his native
place, Pier Lorenzo Spoleti, formerly a scholar of Domenico Piola. His
favourite occupation was to copy in Madrid the pictures of Morillo and
Titian. By this practice he was prevented from distinguishing himself by
any works of invention; but he became a very accomplished portrait painter,
and was employed in that branch of the art at the courts of Spain and
Portugal. He had also the habit of copying the compositions of others, and
of transferring them with remarkable ability from the engraving to the
canvass, enlarging the proportions and expressing them with a colouring
worthy of his great originals. A copyist like this painter has a better
claim to our regard than many masters, whose original designs serve only to
remind us of our ill fortune in meeting with them.
Among these native artists I may be allowed to commemorate two foreigners,
who came to Genoa and established themselves there, and succeeded to the
chief artists of this epoch, or were their competitors. The one was Jacopo
Boni of Bologna, who was carried to Genoa by his master Franceschini as an
assistant, when he painted the great hall of the Palazzo Publico. Boni from
that time was esteemed and employed there, and established himself there in
1726. There are some fine works by him, especially in fresco, in the
Palazzo Mari and in many others; and the most remarkable which he executed
in the state is in the oratory of the Costa, at S. Remo: but we have spoken
sufficiently of him in the third Book.
The other, who repaired thither three years afterwards, was Sebastiano
Galeotti, a Florentine, and in his native city a scholar of Ghilardini, in
Bologna of Giangioseffo dal Sole, a man of an eccentric and facile genius;
a good designer when he pleased, a bold colourist, beautiful in the air of
his heads, and fitted for large compositions in fresco, in which he was
sometimes assisted in the ornamental parts by Natali of Cremona. He
decorated the church of the Magdalen in Genoa; and those frescos, which
first made him known in the city, are among his most finished productions;
but he was obliged, after painting the first history, to soften his tones
in some degree. He worked little in his native city, and that only in his
early years; whence he does not there enjoy so high a reputation as in
Upper Italy. He traversed it almost all in the same manner as the Zuccheri,
Peruzzini, Ricchi, and other adventurers of the art, whose lives were spent
in travelling from place to place, and who repeated themselves in every
city, giving the same figures, without any fresh design, and often the same
subject entire. Hence we still find the works of this painter, not only in
many cities of Tuscany, but also in Piacenza and Parma, where he executed
many works for the court; and also in Codogno, Lodi, Cremona, Milan,
Vicenza, Bergamo, and Turin, in which latter city he was appointed director
of the academy. In this office he ended his days in 1746. Genoa was however
his home, where he was succeeded by two sons, Giuseppe and Gio. Batista,
who were living in 1769, and are mentioned with commendation by Ratti as
excellent painters.
From the middle of the century to our own days, what from the evils of war
in which Genoa was involved, and the general decline of the art in Italy,
but few artists present themselves to our notice. Domenico Bocciardo of
Finale, a scholar and follower of Morandi, possessed considerable merit in
historical cabinet pictures; a painter of not much genius, but correct, and
a beautiful colourist. At S. Paolo in Genoa there is by him a S. Giovanni
baptizing the Multitude; and although there are many better pictures by him
in the state, still this is sufficient to render him respectable. Francesco
Campora, a native of Polcevera, also possessed some reputation. He had
studied in Naples under Solimene, from whose school came also Gio. Stefano
Maia, an excellent portrait painter. A Batista Chiappe of Novi, who had
spent much time in Rome in drawing, and had become a good colourist in
Milan, gave great promise of excellence. In the church of S. Ignazio of
Alessandria there is a large picture of the patron saint, one of his best
performances, well conceived and well composed; a noble ground, a beautiful
choir of angels, a fine character in the principal figure, except that the
head does not present a true portrait. We should have seen still better
works, but the author was arrested in his career by death; and he is
described by Ratti as the last person of merit of the Genoese School.
This school was for some time scanty in good perspective painters. Although
Padre Pozzi was in Genoa, he did not form any scholars there. Bologna, more
than any other place, supplied him with them. From thence came Colonna and
Mitelli, at that time so much esteemed; thither also repaired Aldovrandini
and the two brothers Haffner, Henry and Antony. The latter joined the monks
of the order of St. Philip in Genoa, and decorated the church of that saint
and other places, and initiated in the profession Gio. Batista Revello,
called Il Mustacchi. His works were also studied by Francesco Costa, who
was an ornamental painter from the school of Gregorio de' Ferrari. These
two young men, from the similarity of their profession, one which combines
in itself the greatest rivalry and the greatest friendship, became in
process of time inseparable. They both conjointly served, for nearly the
space of twenty years, the various historical painters mentioned in this
epoch, preparing for them the perspectives and ornaments, and whatever else
the art required. They are both alike commended for their knowledge of
perspective, their grace, brilliancy, and harmony of tints; but Revello, in
the embellishment of flowers, is preferred to his companion. Their best
performance is considered to be at Pegli, in the Palazzo Grillo, where they
ornamented a saloon and some chambers. There are also many works which they
conducted separately, being considered as the Colonna and Mitelli of their
country.
The most justly celebrated landscape painter of this epoch is Carlo Antonio
Tavella, the scholar of Tempesta in Milan, and of Gruenbrech, a German,
who, from the fires he introduced into his landscapes, was called
Solfarolo. He at first emulated this artist; he then softened his style,
from studying the works of Castiglione and Poussin, and the best Flemish
painters. Amongst the Genoese landscape painters he ranks the next after
Sestri. His works are easily distinguished in the collections of Genoa,
particularly in the palace Franchi, which had more than three hundred
pictures by him, and acquired for him the reputation of one of the first
artists of the age. We are there presented with warm skies, beautiful
distances in the landscape, pleasing effects of light; the trees, flowers,
and animals are gracefully touched, and with wonderful truth of nature. In
his figures he was assisted by the two Pioli, father and son; and oftener
by Magnasco, with whom he was associated in work. He sometimes inserted
them in his pictures himself, copying them indeed from the originals
designed by his comrades, but identifying them by a style peculiarly his
own. Tavella had a daughter of the name of Angiola, of a feeble invention,
but a good copyist of her father's designs. He had also many other
imitators; amongst whom one Niccolo Micone, or as he is commonly called by
his fellow-citizens Lo Zoppo, most nearly resembles him.
Alessandro Magnasco, called Lissandrino, was the son of one Stefano, who
was instructed by Valerio Castello, afterwards resided many years in Rome,
and died young, leaving behind him few pictures, but extreme regret for the
death of an artist of so much promise. His son was instructed by Abbiati in
Milan; and that bold and simple stroke of the pencil, which his master used
in his larger pictures, he transferred to his subjects of humour, shows and
popular meetings, in which he may be called the Cerquozzi of his school.
His figures are scarcely more than a span large. Ceremonies of the church,
schools of maids and youths, chapters of friars, military exercises,
artists' shops, Jewish synagogues, are the subjects he painted with humour
and delight. These eccentric pieces are not rare in Milan, and there are
some in the Palazzo Pitti at Florence, where Magnasco resided some years, a
great favourite with the Grand Duke Gio. Gastone and all his court. When he
accompanied other painters in their works, as often happened to him, he
added very apposite subjects; this he did, not only in the landscapes of
Tavella and others, but also in the ruins of Clemente Spera in Milan, and
in other pictures of architecture. This artist was more esteemed by
foreigners than by his own countrymen. His bold touch, though joined to a
noble conception and to correct drawing, did not attract in Genoa, because
it is far removed from the finish and union of tints which these masters
followed; hence Magnasco worked little in his native country, and left no
scholar there. In the school of Venice he educated a celebrated scholar,
Sebastian Ricci, of whom mention has been made more than once.
Not many years since died Gio. Agostino Ratti of Savona, a painter of
delightful genius. He ornamented the theatres with beautiful scenes, and
the cabinets with lively caricatures, which he also engraved. He was clever
in church paintings, as may be seen in the church of S. Giovanni at Savona,
where, besides other subjects of the Baptist, there is a much praised
Decollation. He painted also in the church of S. Teresa in Genoa; and was
always a follower of Luti, whose school he had frequented when in Rome. He
was also a good fresco painter; and I have seen his works in the choir of
the Conventual church in Casale di Monferrato, where he added figures to
the perspective of Natali of Cremona. But subjects of humour were his
forte. In these he had an exhaustless fancy, fertile and ever creative.
Nothing can be more amusing than his masks, representing quarrels, dances,
and such scenes as form the subjects of comedy. Luti, who was his master in
Rome, extolled him as one of the first artists in this line, and even
equalled him to Ghezzi. This information respecting Gio. Agostino was
communicated to me by his son, the Cavaliere often mentioned in the course
of this work,[70] and who died in 1795.
Footnote 70: He had prepared for the press some further
information respecting this school, both with regard to
ancient and modern times. The MS. with which he favoured me
to perfect this edition of my work, I have unfortunately,
and to the great detriment of my own work, mislaid. He was
not a great painter, but certainly not deserving of the
contempt with which he has been treated. Gratitude,
friendship, truth, and humanity itself call on me to say all
the good I can of him; every thing that malevolence could
dictate has been already recorded against him. We may
therefore refer the reader to the perusal of the Defence of
him before mentioned by us, and noticed afterwards with its
true title, in our second index, under the head _Ratti_.
There (whoever may be the author of it,) many works are
enumerated which, in our opinion, would confirm to him the
title of a praiseworthy artist. But he derives peculiar
honour from the opinion of him expressed by Mengs, who
proposed him as director to the academy of Milan; and some
historical and national subjects being required in the royal
palace in Genoa, Ratti was recommended to this honourable
commission both by Mengs and Batoni, and he executed them to
the entire satisfaction of the public. The more experienced
judges pretend to detect in these works something more than
an imitation of the great masters; and it is acknowledged,
indeed, that he willingly availed himself of the designs of
others, either painted or engraved; but how few are there of
whom the same may not be said? Afterwards in Rome, where he
lived four years in the house of Mengs, he executed under
his eye some excellent works; as a Nativity, for which Mengs
made the sketch; which, when painted on a larger scale by
Ratti, was placed in a church in Barcelona. Being called on
to paint a St. Catherine of Genoa, afterwards placed there
in the church of that saint, Mengs designed for him the face
of the saint, of an enchanting expression, and afterwards
retouched the picture, rendering it a delightful
performance. On this it may be observed, that great masters
were not accustomed to shew such favours to their scholars
and friends, except when they discovered in them
considerable talent. As a copyist Ratti excelled in the
opinion of Mengs; the latter purchasing, at a considerable
sum, a copy of the S. Jerome of Coreggio, which Ratti had
made in Parma. Another proof of the esteem in which he held
him was his instigating him to write on art; for which they
must have amassed great materials during the four years they
lived together. In the before-mentioned _Difesa_ we read of
the academies that elected him, the poets and men of letters
that extolled him, the cross of a cavalier that he obtained
from Pius VI., the direction of the academy of Genoa,
conferred on him for life if he had chosen to retain it;
finally, the numerous commissions for pictures he received
from various places; all these things have their weight, but
the favourable opinion of Mengs is the strongest protection
that this Defence affords to shield him from his enemies.
When the materials were prepared for the new edition, the
_Elogio_ of the Cav. Azara was published, where it is said
that the MSS. of Mengs were given in a confused mass into
the hands of Milizia, who took the liberty of modifying at
his pleasure the opinions of Mengs respecting the great
masters. This information, which comes from a very
creditable quarter, I have wished to insert here for many
reasons. It takes away from Mengs the odium of some
inconsiderate criticism, or at least lessens it. It confirms
what the _Difesa_ of Ratti says respecting the true author
of the Life of Coreggio, who was in fact Ratti; but, with
some retouching, it was published as the work of Mengs,
without reflecting that the author was there placed in
contradiction with himself. It also shews us that Mengs, for
his great name, was indebted not only to his acknowledged
merit, but also to his good fortune, which gave him greater
patrons and friends than were perhaps ever enjoyed before by
any painter in the world.
The artists of this school, of our own day, will doubtless also receive
their meed of praise from posterity. They are now industriously occupied in
establishing their own fame, and conferring honour on their country. The
rising generation, who are entering upon the art, may look for increased
support from the Genoese academy, recently founded for the promotion of the
three sister arts. Within these few years the members of this academy have
been furnished with a splendid domicile, with an abundant collection of
select casts and rare designs. With such masters and so many gratuitous
sources of assistance to study, this institution may be already numbered
amongst the most useful and ornamental of the city. This establishment owes
its existence to the genius and liberality of a number of noblemen, who
united together in its splendid foundation, and who continue to support it
by their patronage.