The History Of Painting In Italy Volume I Part 13

After Franceschini, who may be considered the Lanfranco of the Rosselli, or rather Florentine school, we proceed to Francesco Furini, who is its Guido and its Albano. Foreigners recognized him as such: hence he was invited to Venice, for the express purpose of painting a Thetis, as a companion to an Europa by Guido Reni. He had seen the works of masters of this cla.s.s at Rome, and appears to have aspired at rivalling, rather than at imitating them. His ideas certainly do not seem borrowed from them, nor from any other artists. He spent a long time in meditating on his subject, and was accustomed to consider his picture completed when he had finished his studies for it; so little time and trouble did it cost him to embody his ideas in colours. Having been ordained a priest about his fortieth year, and becoming curate of S. Ansano in Mugello, he executed some pictures truly valuable, both on account of the rarity of his works and their excellence, for the neighbouring town of S. Lorenzo.

Above all, we may notice with admiration a S. Francis receiving the Stigmata, and a Conception of the Blessed Virgin, in which, elevated above mortality, she appears soaring and resplendent. But his great name in Italy arose from his cabinet pictures, which are rare out of Florence, and in Florence are highly esteemed, though considerable numbers of them remain there. His Hylas carried away by the Nymphs, which he painted for the family of Galli, and in which he introduced n.o.ble figures that are grandly varied, is highly celebrated; not to mention the three Graces of the Strozzi palace, and the many historical pieces and half-length figures dispersed through the city that are unnoticed in his life. They chiefly consist of nymphs, or of Magdalens, no less naked than the nymphs; for Furini was a very expert painter of delicate flesh, but not one of the most modest. Furini must have had a great number either of pupils or imitators, as his pictures for private houses before mentioned, which were copied, are of frequent occurrence in Florence. They are often of a dusky hue, through the defect of their ground, and Simone Pignone is made, often erroneously so, their most common author. He was Francesco's best pupil; very delicate in the colours of his fleshes, as we may judge from the altar-piece of B.

Bernardo Tolomei, at Monte Oliveto, where the Virgin and the Infant are coloured very beautifully in the flesh, if not handsome in their features. His picture of St. Louis, king of France, at S. Felicita, is still more celebrated. It was much commended by Giordano, and the artist received five hundred crowns for its execution. In the first volume of Lettere Pittoriche we are informed, that Maratta only esteemed Gabbiani and Pignone among all the Florentine painters of his time. He was also praised by Bellini in the work ent.i.tled _Bucchereide_, where he coins a new term for Pignone, (a liberty extremely common among our jocose poets,) I know not how far susceptible of imitation in another tongue: "_e l'arcipittorissimo de' buoni_."

Lorenzo Lippi, like his friend Salvator Rosa, divided his hours between poetry and painting. His Malmantile Racquistato,[219] which is a model of Tuscan purity of language,[220] is a work less read perhaps, but more elegant than the satires of Salvator; and is sprinkled with those graceful Florentine idioms that are regarded as the Attic salt of Italy.

In looking for a prototype among the artists of his own school, guided by similarity of genius, he made choice of Santi di t.i.to. A delineator of the pa.s.sions sufficiently accorded with the genius of the poet, and a painter of the choicest design was highly congenial to so elegant a writer. He, however, added to his style a greater force of colouring; and in drapery he followed the practice of some Lombard masters and of Baroccio, in modelling the folds in paper, a practice of which their works retain some traces. The delicacy of pencil, the clearness, harmony, and to sum up all, the good taste, pervading his pictures, demonstrate that he had a feeling of natural beauty superior to most of his contemporaries. His master admired him, and said, with a liberality not always to be found among history painters, "Lorenzo, thou art more knowing than I." His pictures are not very rare at Florence, although he resided far from it for many years, for he was painter to the court of Inspruck. A Crucifixion, among his best performances, is in the ducal gallery. The n.o.ble family of Arrighi possesses a S. Saverio recovering from the claws of a crab, the Crucifix which he had dropped into the sea. Baldinucci and the author of _The Series of the most Ill.u.s.trious Painters_ have spoken very highly of his Triumph of David, painted for the hall of Angiol Gaddi, who wished him to represent his eldest son as the son of Jesse, and his other sixteen children as the youths and virgins, that with songs and timbrels greet the victor, and hail the deliverance of Israel. In this celebrated piece, the artist was enabled to give full scope to his talent for portrait painting, and to the style approaching to nature, which he loved, without troubling himself about studied and artful embellishments. It was his maxim to write poetry as he spoke, and to paint what he observed.

Mario Bala.s.si perfected himself under Pa.s.signano, and after the choicest examples of the Roman and other schools. He was an excellent copyist of the old masters, and a painter of invention above mediocrity. Some of his small historical pictures, and a few pieces representing eatables, are to be met with in private houses; and, above all, there are many of his half-length figures finely coloured and relieved. In his old age he changed his manner, and retouched as many of the works of his youth as he could lay his hands on; but in striving to improve, he only injured them.

Frances...o...b..schi, the nephew and scholar of Rosselli, was an excellent portrait painter. In the cloister of All Saints, where his uncle Fabrizio also painted, there are some of his portraits that seem absolutely alive, and are executed in fresco so admirably, that they clearly shew the school from which he proceeded. He finished some pieces in oil, that were left imperfect by the death of Rosselli, and painted others entirely his own, the subjects of which were chiefly religious, where the countenances are strikingly expressive of probity and sanct.i.ty. As he grew older he a.s.sumed the ecclesiastical habit, and sustained its dignity by his exemplary conduct, the account of which Baldinucci has extended at some length. During twenty-four years in which he lived a priest, he did not resign his pencil; but he employed it less frequently, and generally less successfully, than in his youth.

His elder brother Alfonso promised much, and even attained a great deal, though cut off in early life.

The style of Jacopo Vignali has some resemblance to that of Guercino, but less in the forms than in the dark shadows and the grounds. He is amongst those scholars of Rosselli who are seldom mentioned, although he painted more than any of the rest for the prince and the state. He often is weak, especially in att.i.tude; often, however, he appears praiseworthy, as in the two pictures at S. Simone, and in the S.

Liborio, which is possessed by the Missionaries. He is most conspicuous in fresco painting, with which he ornamented the chapel of the Bonarruoti. He painted good historical pictures in the palaces of many of the n.o.bility, and he even boasts n.o.ble pupils, none of whom did so much honour to his memory as Carlo Dolci.

Dolci holds the same rank in the Florentine, that Sa.s.soferrato holds in the Roman school. Both, though dest.i.tute of great powers of invention, obtained great reputation for Madonnas and similar small subjects, which have now become extremely valuable; for the wealthy, desirous of possessing pictures, at once estimable and religious, to hang up in their oratories, have brought those two masters into great request, notwithstanding that they operated on very different principles. Carlo is not so celebrated for beauty, (for he was like his master, a mere _naturalist_,) as for the exquisite pains with which he finished every thing, and the genuine expression of certain affecting emotions; such as the patient suffering of Christ, or of the Virgin Mary; the penitential compunction of a Saint, or the holy confidence of a Martyr devoting himself as a victim for the living G.o.d. The colouring and general tone of his pictures accord with the idea of the pa.s.sion; nothing is turgid or bold; all is modesty, repose, and placid harmony. In him we may retrace the manner of Rosselli brought to perfection, as we sometimes can view the features of the grandsire in his descendants. A few of his larger works still remain, such as the S. Antonio, in the royal museum; the Conception of our Lady, in the possession of the Marquis Rinuccini; also a very few of his subjects from profane story, a few of his portraits, and the celebrated figure of Poetry in the palace of Prince Corsini. His small pictures, for each of which he usually received 100 crowns, are very numerous; and were frequently repeated by himself or by his pupils, Alessandro Lomi and Bartolommeo Mancini; and often by Agnese Dolci, his daughter, a good artist and follower of the style of her father; but not his equal. His two Madonnas in the cabinet of the Grand Duke, and his martyrdom of S. Andrew, in the possession of the Marquis Gerini, have been often copied.

Of Onorio Marinari, the cousin and scholar of Carlo, but few pictures remain at Florence, either in private or in public. After imitating his master, (which usually is the first exercise of students in the art, and often, from dissimilarity of genius, is their great bane,) he formed another style, by yielding to the bent of his natural powers; which was more grand, had more of the ideal, and deeper shadows; and of this several specimens remain in the churches of S. Maria Maggiore, and S.

Simone. This artist died young, very unfortunately for the school to which he belonged.

About the period we have been describing, some foreign artists resided at Florence for a considerable time, to the no small advantage of the native painters, as we have already observed. Paggi came there in the reign of the Grand Duke Francis I., remained there twenty years, and left some works behind him. About the same time Salvator Rosa, Albani, Borgognone, Colonna, Mitelli, and many more, either invited by the princes from abroad, or coming there of their own accord, were retained by them for the decoration of the palace and the city. We shall consider them particularly under the schools of the countries where they were born, or in which they taught; but here we shall give a place to Jacopo Ligozzi, whom the Florentine school may claim on account of his residence, his employment, and his scholars. He had studied at Verona under Paolo Veronese, according to Baldinucci; but under Gio. Francesco Carrotto, according to the emendation of Maffei, without reflecting that this artist died when Jacopo was scarcely three years old. Some foreign writers make him the son of Gio. Ermanno, the painter; a circ.u.mstance unknown to Cav. del Pozzo, the townsman and historian of them both.

Ferdinand II. appointed him painter to the court, and superintendant of the gallery. This was very honourable, when conferred by such a prince on him, in preference to many eminent Florentines. Ligozzi executed some works at Rome, and introduced at Florence a freedom of pencil, an art in composition, a taste for the ornamental, and a grace and gaiety, till then rare in that city. His design was sufficiently correct, and uniformly improved while he remained in Tuscany. As to his colouring, although it was not that of Paolo, it was not deficient in truth and vigour.

His seventeen semicircular pictures in the cloisters of All Saints, are valued at Florence; especially the interview between S. Francis and S.

Domenick, the founders of the order. On this picture he wrote, _To the confusion of our friends_, meaning the envious and malignant. This is his masterpiece in fresco. He painted more frequently in oil colours in several churches. The S. Raymond in the act of reanimating a child, in S. Maria Novella, is a picture full of art; and there is another in the same style at the Scalzi of Imola, representing the four Crowned Saints.

The martyrdom of S. Dorothea, I do not hesitate to call a wonderful picture; in which we recognize a follower of Paolo, and which is in possession of the Conventual Friars of Pescia. The scaffold, the executioner, the Prefect on horseback who is ordering him to strike, the great crowd of spectators variously affected, and all the apparatus of a public punishment, strike and astonish equally the connoisseur and the unskilled in painting; the holy martyr especially interests us, who, on her knees, with a placid composure, willingly resigns her life, and is about to receive from angels the eternal crown purchased with her blood.

In other performances he shews more simplicity, as in the S. Diego at All Saints, or in the Angels at the P. P. Scolopi; but he is an artist who always pleases, and who shews that he felt what he painted. Ligozzi painted much for private individuals. In his very small pictures, a style in which he was expert, he finished as highly as if they were miniatures. Several of his works were published by Agostino Caracci, and other engravers.

None of his Florentine pupils is esteemed equal to Donato Mascagni, for such was his real name, which may be seen subscribed to two Scriptural pieces, in possession of Sig. Ab. Giachi, at Volterra. Having entered the order of Servi, he a.s.sumed the name of Fra a.r.s.enio; and several of his works painted after that period are to be seen in Florence, executed in a manner not very full and soft, but diligent; of which there are several other specimens in his Miracles of the Nunziata, which are engraved and ill.u.s.trated in the little work of Padre Lottini. What does him greatest honour is the picture preserved in the library of the monastery of Vallombrosa. It represents the donation of the State of Ferrara to the Holy Seat, by the Countess Matilda, as is believed by some, or rather the distribution of some privileges by her to the order of Vallombrosa, and is a picture full of subject, and the chief glory of this master.

In casting our eyes over other cities of Tuscany, we find some painters very capable of decorating houses and altars. Francesco Morosini, surnamed Montepulciano, may be recognized in the church of S. Stephen, of Florence, where he painted a Conversion of S. Paul, in the manner of his master Fidani. Arezzo produced the two Santini. Of one of them, there named the Elder, several pictures were pointed out to me by the accomplished Cav. Giudici; among which was a S. Catherine, in possession of the Conventual Friars: it savours of the Florentine manner during this epoch; except that the use of changing tints is more frequent.

Bartolommeo and Teofilo Torre, of Arezzo, are noticed as fresco painters by Orlandi, who mentions halls, and even whole houses, being ornamented by the latter with historical pieces; which, if deficient in design, he praises for their colouring. Frances...o...b..ini left a good picture of the Immaculate Conception, at Volterra: of his country and school I am ignorant. I do not know the master of Pompeo Caccia; it is certain that he called himself a native of Rome, perhaps because it is easy to subst.i.tute the capital, so well known, for places in the state of less notoriety. In Rome, however, I do not find any traces of him. I find, indeed, that he left several pictures at Pistoja; among which is the Presentation (at the Selesiane) of Jesus in the Temple, to which is affixed the date 1615. Alessandro Bardelli was a native of Pescia; in his style we find traces of his preceptor Curradi and of Guercino. He was a good painter, and executed the ornamental border for the portrait of S. Francis, painted by Margaritone, for his church in Pescia: he represented around it the virtues of the Saint, and a choir of Angels above. I am doubtful whether we should include Alessio Gimignani, one of a family of artists in Pistoia, to be recorded in the fifth epoch, among the pupils of Ligozzi, but he was undoubtedly his follower.

About this period two schools arose, highly deserving of notice, those of Pisa and of Lucca. The Pisan school recognizes as its founder, Aurelio Lomi, first a scholar of Bronzino, and afterwards of Cigoli. His very correct performances, in the cathedral of Pisa, are executed after both masters; but when compared to Cigoli he is more minute, and has much less softness. His aim appears to be to surprise the mult.i.tude by an agreeable colouring, and a magnificence of draperies and ornaments.

This style pleased at Florence, in Rome, and more especially at Genoa, where he was preferred to Sorri, many years established and in good repute. His works in that city are very full of subject; as his S.

Anthony, belonging to the Franciscans, and his Last Judgment, in S.

Maria of Carignano; pictures which surprise by an air of novelty: the first is graceful, rich, but modest in the tints; the second terrible, and the colours more vivid than those he employed on any other occasion.

A S. Jerome, in the Campo Santo, is less glowing, but it is esteemed by the Pisans his capital work; at the bottom of this piece he put his initials and the date 1595.

He most probably taught the principles of the art to his brother, Orazio Lomi; who was called Gentileschi, from the surname of an uncle.

Gentileschi formed his style, however, on the finest examples in Rome, a.s.sisted by his friend Agostino Ta.s.si. Ta.s.si was an eminent ornamental landscape painter, and Gentileschi executed appropriate figures to his inventions in the Loggia Rospigliosi, in the saloon of the Quirinal palace, and in other places. He also painted some smaller pictures in Rome, particularly at the Pace, from which we cannot ascertain his merit, either because they were performances of his unripe years, or because they have become black from age. He had not then attained the beautiful colouring, nor the Lombard-like manner of managing the shadows, which we observe in many of his cabinet pictures. A fine specimen, representing S. Cecilia with S. Valerian, is in the Borghesi palace. The choicest adorn the royal palace of Turin, and some houses in Genoa. In the collection of his Excellency Cardinal Cambiasi, there is a David standing over the dead Goliath; so relieved, and with tints so vivid and so well contrasted, that it gives the idea of a style entirely new. He was esteemed by Vandyck, and inserted by him in his series of portraits of one hundred ill.u.s.trious men. When already old he went to the English court, where he died at the age of eighty-four.

Artemisia, his daughter and disciple, followed her father into that island; but she pa.s.sed her best years in Italy. She was respected for her talents, and celebrated for the elegance of her manners and appearance. She is noticed both by Italian and foreign writers, and by Walpole among the latter, in his _Anecdotes of Painting in England_. She lived long at Naples, married there a Pier Antonio Schiattesi; and was there a.s.sisted and improved in the art by Guido Reni, studied the works of Domenichino, and was not unskilled in other approved styles. She shews variety of style in her few remaining historical pictures. Some of them are at Naples and Pozzuolo, and there are two in Florence inscribed with her name; one in the ducal gallery, and the other in possession of my n.o.ble and learned friend Sig. Averardo de' Medici; the former representing Judith slaying Holofernes, is a picture of a strong colouring, of a tone and perspicuity that inspires awe; the latter, a Susanna and the Elders, is a painting that pleases by the scene, the elegance of the princ.i.p.al figure, and the drapery of the others.

Artemisia, however, was more celebrated for her portraits, which are of singular merit; they spread her fame over all Europe, and in them she surpa.s.sed her father.

Orazio Riminaldi was a scholar of the elder Lomi in Pisa, and of the younger in Rome, but imitated neither of them; from the beginning he gave himself up to the guidance of Manfredi, in the manner of Caravaggio, and afterwards became a follower of Domenico Zampieri, to rival whom he seems intended by nature. From the time that the art of painting revived in Pisa, that city had not perhaps so eminent a painter, nor have many better been born on the banks of the Arno, a soil so propitious to the arts. Grand in contour and in drapery, after the manner of the Caracci, pleasing and agreeable in his carnations, full, free, and delicate in the management of his pencil, he would have been faultless, had not the wretched style of engraving raised prejudices against him. Excessive fatigue, or, as others will have it, the plague of 1630, s.n.a.t.c.hed him in early life from his country; for the fame of which alone he seems to have lived to maturity. He there ornamented many altars with fine pictures, one of which representing the martyrdom of S.

Cecilia, was afterwards placed in the Pitti palace. In the choir of the cathedral there are two of his scriptural pieces, that form a perfect study for any one who wishes to become acquainted with this epoch. The judgment of the master of the works was conspicuous in engaging Riminaldi to paint the cupola, even before he had finished the above pictures, and in making choice of him in preference to any other artist.

The a.s.sumption of the Virgin Mary, which he painted in oil, is one of the best conceived and most perfect works that Tuscany had ever beheld, and it was the last labour of Orazio. His brother Girolamo completed it feebly, by introducing some figures that were wanting, and the family received 5,000 crowns as its price. Girolamo is rarely to be met with in Pisan collections, and still more rarely in other places. He was, however, well known in his day, having been invited to Naples to ornament the chapel of S. Gennaro, and to the court of Paris by the queen.

From among many Pisan artists of this period recorded by Sig. da Morrona, or Sig. Tempesti, we shall select some of the most considerable. Ercole Bezzicaluva is worthy of notice, both for his engravings and his picture representing various saints in the choir of St. Stephen's at Pisa. So likewise is Gio. del Sordo, otherwise called Mone da Pisa; but his colouring seems superior to his invention.

Zaccaria Rondinosi, I believe, of the Florentine school, was more skilled in ornamental than in any other branch of painting. He repaired the pictures in the Campo Santo, and on that account was honoured by the citizens with a tomb there, and near it an inscription on the marble. I know not whether any picture of Arcangela Paladini, an excellent embroiderer, except her own portrait, has reached our times. It was hung in the ducal gallery among the portraits of ill.u.s.trious painters: to be deposited in such a place, and to remain there from 1621, is an unequivocal proof of its merit; since it is the custom of the place not lightly to refuse the portraits of tolerably good painters, but to keep them there as if only lodgers, and then send them to some villa of the prince, when new guests arrive, to take a place in the cabinets which are named _de' Pittori_. Gio. Stefano Marucelli, both an engineer and a painter, was not born in Pisa, but he may be reckoned a Pisan from his long residence and attachment to the place. Having come from Umbria into Tuscany, according to the tradition of the Pisans, he became a pupil of Boscoli, and remaining at Pisa, he contended with the celebrated artists whom we have noticed as employed from time to time in ornamenting the tribune of the cathedral. The Abraham entertaining the three angels is a work of his, commended for felicity of invention, and beauty of colouring. In the church of S. Nicolas at Pisa, there remains a memorial of Domenico Bongi of Pietrasanta, who was a follower of Perino del Vaga.

He flourished in 1582.

The series of the princ.i.p.al artists of Lucca commences with Paol Biancucci, the best scholar of Guido Reni, whose grace and full power of colour he has imitated in many of his works. He sometimes so strongly resembles Sa.s.soferrato as to be mistaken for him. The Purgatory which he painted at Suffragio, the picture representing various saints which he left at the church of S. Francis, two in possession of the n.o.ble family of Boccella, and many others scattered over the city, are of such merit, that Malvasia should have noticed him among the pupils of Guido, which he has not done. He has also omitted Pietro Ricchi of Lucca, who went to Bologna from the school of Pa.s.signano. It is true that the preceptors.h.i.+p of Guido is in this instance doubtful, though Baldinucci and Orlandi both a.s.sert it: for Boschini, who was his intimate friend, says not a word upon the matter, merely observing that Ricchi regretted he had not studied in Venice. It is certain he frequently imitated the forms of Guido; but in colouring and design adhered to the manner of Pa.s.signano; he also imbibed the principles of the Venetian school, as we shall relate in the proper place. Two of his pictures are preserved at the church of S. Francis in Lucca, and some others remain in private hands; small remains of a genius very fertile in invention, and of a hand most rapid and almost indefatigable in execution. He painted in several cities of France, in the Milanese, and still more in the Venetian states, where he died at Udine, in the MS. guide to which place he is often named.

Pietro Paolini long lived and taught at Lucca; he was a pupil of the Roman school, as history informs us; but to judge from his works one would p.r.o.nounce him of the Venetian. In Rome he frequented the study of Angelo Caroselli, who was by education a follower of Caravaggio, but exceedingly expert in copying and imitating every style. Under him Paolini acquired a manner that shews good drawing, broad shadows, and firm touches, compared by some to the style of t.i.tian, and by others to that of Pordenone: one also remarks in his works undoubted imitations of Veronese. The martyrdom of S. Andrew, that exists at S. Michele, and the grand picture, sixteen cubits long, preserved in the library of S.

Frediano, would be sufficient to immortalize a painter. In this he represented the pontiff S. Gregory, entertaining some pilgrims; it is a magnificent picture, ornamented in the style of Veronese, with plate and architectural perspective, full of figures, and possessing a variety, harmony, and beauty, that have induced many poets to extol it as a wonderful production. His cabinet pictures of conversations and rural festivals, which are not rare at Lucca, are exquisite. Two, of the Ma.s.sacre of Valdestain, belonging to the Orsetti family, were especially commended by Baldinucci. The historian remarks that he had a particular talent for such tragic themes, and in general for the energetic; he admires him less in the delicate, and even accuses him of marking the action of his female figures too strongly. That he could however be very pleasing when he inclined, we are led to believe from his large work in the church of the Trinity; which he is said to have conducted in this graceful style, to demonstrate that he was not inferior to his rival Biancucci.

It is uncertain whether Pietro Testa, called at Rome Il Lucchesino, was his disciple; but it appears highly probable, when his age is compared with that of Paolini, that he learnt from the latter the principles of the art, which he had undoubtedly acquired in Lucca before he came to Rome. He there had several masters, and was chiefly under Pietro da Cortona, from whose school he was expelled, because he treated the maxims of the master with contempt. He then put himself under Domenichino, on whose principles, says Pa.s.seri, he gloried to rely; but his style, in his own despite, at times approaches nearly to that of Cortona. He has also some resemblance to his friend Poussin, both in his figures (which at one time he made too slender), in his landscapes, and in his study of the antique, of which he was deeply enamoured; having applied himself to designing the finest specimens in architecture and in sculpture that Rome afforded. In this branch he is excellent. The death of B. Angelo, placed in S. Martino a' Monti, a picture of great force, is the only piece before the public. Testa is more frequently recognized in galleries: there is a Joseph sold to the Ishmaelites by him in the capitol; a Murder of the Innocents, in the Spada palace; but there are not many of his pictures elsewhere; for he engraved more than he painted.[221] He left some oil paintings at Lucca, one in a feeble style at S. Romano, several at S. Paolino, in the Buonvisi gallery, and in other places, in his best manner. Two of his works in fresco remain there; viz. the allegorical picture of Liberty in the senate house, and the small very elegant cupola of the oratory in the Lippi palace. He settled at Rome, where he lived unhappily, and either from despair, or some affront, drowned himself in the Tiber. His fate may teach young artists of genius not to overrate their own talents, nor to despise those of others. By these failings, Testa alienated the minds of his contemporaries, so that neither in reputation nor in employment was he so successful as many others; and his perpetual complaints occasioned doubts even of his sanity.

Omitting some scholars of Paolini less addicted to his manner, we shall notice the three brothers, Ca.s.siano, Francesco, and Simone del Tintore.

I find nothing recorded of the first that exalts him above mediocrity; and when one meets with an indifferent picture of the school of Paolini, it is ascribed to Ca.s.siano, or some such pupil; or sometimes to the dotage of Paolini, when he produced sketches rather than paintings.

Francesco is recognized as an able artist in the Visitation, in the apartments of his excellency the Gonfaloniere; and in some pieces in the Motroni collection. Simone was expert in depicting birds, fruit, and other objects in the inferior walks of the art, to which, as I usually do at the end of each epoch, I shall here devote a few pages.

And to pursue this pleasing branch of painting, I may observe that Angiol Gori and Bartolommeo Bimbi of Florence, distinguished themselves in fruit, and more especially in flowers: the second was the scholar of the first in this line, and of Lippi in figures. Lippi himself induced Andrea Scacciati to abandon figures for fruit and flowers, and animals, in which department he succeeded well, and sent many pictures into foreign countries. Bimbi was the Mario of his school. He instructed Fortini, whom we shall notice by and by along with Moro, a painter of flowers and animals. All these gave place to Lopez of Naples, who visited Florence in his journeys through Italy, and shall be afterwards mentioned.

The art of painting landscapes, and their introduction into collections, began during this epoch: the first style that became fas.h.i.+onable at Florence was that of Adriano Fiammingo: but Cristofano Allori excelled all by the neat and firm touch of his pencil, and by the exquisite figures which he introduced into his landscapes. Guasparre Falgani surpa.s.sed him in the number of such subjects: he was initiated in the art by Valerio Marucelli, and imitated by Giovanni Rosi, and Benedetto Boschi, the brother and fellow student of Francesco. The landscapes of this age have often their greens changed into black; and are reckoned of the old school by Baldinucci. The new style was introduced into Florence by Filippo d'Angeli, or Philip the Neapolitan, who was long retained at the court of Cosmo II; but chiefly by Salvator Rosa. This artist was brought to Florence by Cardinal Gio. Carlo, and remained there for seven years; where in the capacity of painter, poet, and author of comedies, he was constantly applauded for his fine genius, and his society courted by men of learning; with whom, in every department of letters, the country then abounded. He formed no pupils at that place, but many young men there became his copyists and imitators; as Taddeo Baldini, Lorenzo Martelli, and many others. Antonio Giusti, a pupil of Cesare Dandini, was particularly skilled in this art; but he likewise practised every other branch of painting; and Orlandi has described him as an universal painter. Signor da Morrona notices the Poli, two brothers, who executed many pleasing landscapes, which are known in the collections of Florence and of Pisa.

Pa.s.sing from landscape to sea-views, I do not find any Tuscan who in this respect equalled Pietro Ciafferi, otherwise called Lo Smargia.s.so,[222] and recorded among the Pisan artists. It is said that he resided long at Leghorn, a place well suited to his genius. He there decorated facades of houses with disembarkations and naval enterprizes; and of such subjects, ports, sea-coasts, and s.h.i.+ps, he composed oil paintings, that are usually highly finished, and ornamented with small figures, well designed and fancifully draped. He likewise succeeded greatly in architectural views. Leghorn and Pisa are rich in his easel pictures; and one in possession of Sig. Decano Zucchetti of this place bears the name of the artist and the date 1651.

Perspective was much cultivated at Florence about this period; and the Bolognese had carried it to a degree of excellence, that will claim attention in the proper place. Lessons in it were given by Giulio Parigi, an excellent architect; and afterwards by Baccio del Bianco, who became engineer to his Catholic Majesty Philip IV. Their theoretic views were seconded by the example of Colonna, who came to Florence in 1638, along with Mitelli, a native of that place, and remained six years in the service of the court. After this period Florence produced many painters of cabinet pieces, and in the ornamental line, or rather a new school of painting was founded by Jacomo Chiavistelli, a painter of sound and more chaste taste than was common in that age. One may form an idea of him in several churches, and in many saloons in the city; as for instance, in that of the Cerretani palace, which is among his most elegant works. He likewise painted for cabinets, where his perspective pieces are frequently to be met with. Orlandi notices his most considerable pupils, Rinaldo Botti, and his cousin Lorenzo del Moro,[223] Benedetto Fortini, and Giuseppe Tonelli, who also studied at Bologna. To these may be added, Angiol Gori, Giuseppe Masini, and others who a.s.sisted him about 1658, in painting the corridore of the ducal gallery, which is not their best performance. I find in the anecdotes of Mondina and Alboresi, edited by Malvasia, that Antonio Ruggieri contended with them in Florence: he was, I believe, a scholar of Vannini, and a S. Andrew by him exists in the church of S. Michele, in Berteldi, now commonly called S. Gaetano. Nor were these the only artists capable of introducing figures into their perspective pieces; but a great many of the painters in fresco were, if we may say so, ambidexter, for each could paint perspectives and figures at the same time.

Portrait painting, the school of the best artists who aspire to fidelity of representation, was greatly promoted by Pa.s.signano, who instructed Filippo Furini, surnamed Sciameroni, the father of the celebrated Francesco. He also taught the art to Domenico and Valore Casini, two brothers celebrated by Baldinucci: Valore was remarkable for a free pencil, and was a faithful copyist of every lineament. The capital is filled with his portraits. Cristofano Allori painted portraits, both on commission and for exercising his hand in the delineation of the most beautiful forms. His portraits on canva.s.s are reckoned valuable, even when the subjects are not known: this is the case with that in possession of the senator Orlandini; and some on small pieces of copper, in the grand Medicean collection. Cerrini, among his disciples, followed his steps; he is, I think, also admitted into that museum. Giovanni Batista Stefaneschi, a monk of Monte Senario, a scholar of Comodi, and an excellent miniature painter, was conspicuous among the painters of portraits and copyists.

Justus Subtermans, a native of Antwerp, who was educated by William de Vos, was also greatly admired. Having fixed his residence at Florence, in the time of Cosmo II., he was retained by the court to the end of the reign of Cosmo III.; and went to other princes in Germany and Italy, who were ambitious of having a specimen of a portrait painter, esteemed little inferior to Vandyck. He was much esteemed by the latter, who requested his portrait, prefacing his request by sending him his own.

Peter Paul Rubens likewise honoured him, and presented him with one of his own historical pictures, regarding him as an honour to their country. Subtermans painted all the living members of the Medicean family, in a variety of att.i.tudes; and when Ferdinand II. ascended the throne, while still a young man, Subtermans executed a stupendous picture, wholly composed of portraits. He represented in it the ceremony of swearing allegiance to the new sovereign; and pourtrayed him not only with his mother and grandmother, but the senators and n.o.bility who were present. This picture was very large: it has been engraved on copper and still remains in the gallery. The artist had a neatness and elegance of pencil that appeared extraordinary even in the school to which he belonged; and possessed moreover a peculiar talent of enn.o.bling every countenance without injuring the likeness. It was his practice to study the peculiar and characteristic air of the person, and to impart it to his work; so that when he would sometimes conceal the face of a portrait, the bystanders could with certainty tell whom it represented, from the disposition of the hands and the figure.

Jacopo Borgognone remained long in Florence, and was highly respected by Prince Matthias; whose military achievements in Germany and in Italy, and the places where they happened, he represented to the life, as an historian would have described them. This artist's battle-pieces are not rare in Florence; but I do not know that he had any pupils in that place. The person who promoted most the imitation of Jacopo, and whose works are everywhere, was Pandolfo Reschi, of Danzig, who was one of his best scholars; eminent in landscape in the style of Salvator Rosa, and in architectural subjects. In the hands of Dr. Viligiardi, I saw a picture by him, with a view of the Pitti palace, and the additions to it then wanting; but which were afterwards supplied by the Austrian princes, to the great ornament of the royal residence. Those additions were from a design of Giacinta Marmi; but the whole picture was the work of Pandolfo. He enlivened it with figures, and excites surprise by the whole, excepting the distribution of the light and shadow, in which he is not so happy. One Santi Rinaldi, surnamed Il Tromba,[224] a painter of battle-pieces and of landscapes, formed himself under Furini: he was contemporary with Pandolfo; but is less known in Florence.

Baccio del Bianco, having become a good designer and tolerable painter in the school of Bilivert, went into Germany with Pieroni, the imperial architect and engineer, from whom he learnt perspective. He afterwards taught it with applause in Florence, as we have said; and did not omit to exercise his pencil, especially in fresco. Naturally facetious, he became distinguished by his burlesques, which, for the most part, were only designed with the pen. He coloured some small oil pictures of much force, which were portraits in the style of the Caracci, and sometimes painted freaks of scaramouches, and similar abortions of nature.

Gio. Batista Brazze, called Il Bigio,[225] a scholar of Empoli, employed his genius in another branch of the capricious style: it consisted of what appeared human figures when seen at a distance, but a nearer approach shewed them to be composed of different sorts of fruit, or machines, artfully arranged. Baldinucci reckons him the inventor of this art; but to me it appears, that prior examples may be found in the Milanese school, in which I treat of them fully at the end of the second epoch.

Lastly, mosaic work in hard stone owes its rise in Florence to this epoch; and after gradually improving during two centuries, is now everywhere known as a work of this capital, and almost exclusively its own. In a letter of Teofilo Gallaccini,[226] we read that this species of mosaic "had been invented in Florence, in the time of Ferdinand I.;"

an a.s.sertion which is not true. Before that period it flourished in Lombardy. The Carthusian Monastery of Pavia had in its pay a family of the name of Sacchi; which has existed there to our own times, and has filled the great church with this kind of mosaic. There are specimens of it in Milan of very ancient date. In that place Giacomo da Trezzo, who executed the tabernacle for the church of the Escurial, which is esteemed the most beautiful and magnificent in Christendom,[227]

received his instruction. About the time of Cosmo I., Florence herself witnessed the rudiments of this art in a "small picture composed of gems" which she possessed, as is recorded by Vasari.[228] A similar one was executed for Francis I., from a design of Vasari, by Bernardino di Porfirio of Leccio, (a district of the Florentine state) "composed of oriental alabaster, and large slabs of jasper, heliotrope, cornelian, lapis lazzuli, agate, and other stones and gems, which they estimate at 20,000 crowns." But pictures so wrought in large pieces, were not of that perfect kind of mosaic that contained a vast variety of colours and middle tints. Such are executed in every shade of colour, from the natural stains of the stone itself; and the tints are lowered, heightened, and managed, so as almost to rival painting. For this purpose, every species of hard stone is collected and sawed; innumerable colours are thence selected, graduating from the deepest to the lightest shade, which are kept ready for use. This art was in request at Milan; where, on account of the vicinity of Alpine countries abounding in every species of hard stone, it arrived at great perfection. Francesco I.

meditating the erection of the magnificent chapel for the sepulture of the royal family, in the church of S. Lorenzo, and the ornamenting it with urns and altars wrought in hard stone, invited Giovanni Bianchi from that city to his court, in the year 1580, and committed the works in mosaic to his direction. Soon after Ferdinando ascended the throne, and the new art gained ground under him; it was promoted by Constantino de' Servi, and afterwards by other artists, who progressively improved it. The tables, cabinets, and coffers, small landscapes, and architectural pieces which were there executed, and sent as presents to princes, are dispersed over Europe. In one cabinet of the ducal gallery there is an exquisite octagonal table, the round central piece of which was designed by Poccetti, and the ornamental border by Ligozzi. Jacopo Autelli executed the work, on which, with numerous a.s.sistants, he was employed for sixteen years, and finished it in 1649. In the cabinet of cameos and engraved gems, there are figures in mezzo-relievo, and entire little statues in hard stone, fabricated by the same company of artists; not to mention what is in the Pitti palace and the church of S. Lorenzo.

A similar company still exists, under the direction of the Signori Siries, and abounding in subordinate artists, which is supported with royal magnificence by the prince, for whom it is constantly employed.

[Footnote 212: The new style began in the reign of Francesco I., who was greatly skilled in design, which he had learnt of Buontalenti. He was succeeded by Ferdinando I., Cosmo II., Ferdinando II., all of them celebrated for their magnificent works in ornamenting the city and the palace: Cardinals Gio. Carlo and Leopoldo de' Medici also flourished there, both of them patrons of the arts; and the latter is recorded in history for his knowledge of them, and the splendid collection which he formed. We may add to these Prince Mattia, and others of that family.]

[Footnote 213: He was born in 1624, and died in 1692, leaving materials for the completion of the work, which were afterwards arranged by Saverio, his son, a gentleman of the law, who put the finis.h.i.+ng hand to the whole. Piacenza. Ristretto della Vita di Filippo Baldinucci, p.

xvi.]

[Footnote 214: In this branch of the art, indeed, he was not so greatly skilled; and the Cav. t.i.ti, after commending his a.s.sumption, which is exhibited in the entablature of the cathedral at Leghorn, adds, that not having been conducted according to the rules of foreshortening, some exceptions may be made to it.]

[Footnote 215: There is a Visitation by this artist, and inscribed with his name, in the church of S. Anthony of Pisa, which he executed in a weak style in 1606.]