The History Of Painting In Italy Volume Iii Part 7

[Footnote 55: He drew his head of San Niccolo a' Frari from a cast of the Laoc.o.o.n; and from other models of the antique, that of S. John the Baptist, and of the Magdalen of Spain. From a Greek ba.s.so relievo he likewise copied the angels of his S. Peter Martyr. The same artist drew the Cesars, at Mantua, a work very highly commended, and impossible to have been so well executed without a knowledge of ancient sculpture, of which there yet exists a fine collection at Mantua. But what he drew from the antique, he also inspired with nature, the sole method of profiting by it, when a painter aspires to a higher character than that of a mere statuary. See Ridolfi, p. 171.]

[Footnote 56: Lamberto Lombardo, of Liege, is the artist whose life was written in Latin, by his disciple Golzio, a work edited in Bruges in 1565. In his youth he adopted the surname of Suterman, or Susterman, in the Latin tongue _Suavis_, and having likewise been an excellent engraver, his signature was sometimes L. L., at others, L. S. The whole of this account is to be met with in Orlandi, and other books. Yet Orlandi and the new Guide of Padua, acknowledge another Lamberti, also surnamed Suster, upon the authority of Sandrart, who mentions him, p.

224. According to Orlandi, this artist was the a.s.sistant to t.i.tian and Tintoret, by whom he is first recorded as Lamberto Suster, and again as Lamberto Tedesco. The same author mentions a Federigo di Lamberto, whose name occurs in our first volume, (p. 268), likewise called del Padovano and _Sustris_, certainly from _Suster_, for which see Vasari and his annotators. These Lamberti, founded upon the diversity between the Liege and German names of Susterman and Suster, received upon the authority of Sandrart, not always very critical, are, I have reason to think, one and the same artist. For in Venice one Lamberto only is alluded to by Ridolfi, Boschini, and Zanetti, without a surname, but by the last held to be the same as Lombardo; and what signifies it, whether he was called Suster or Susterman, of Germany, or of Liege, in Italy.]

[Footnote 57: He is called by Vasari, Zanetti, and Guarienti, Bazzacco and Brazzacco da Castelfranco, and Guarienti makes him a scholar of Badile.]

[Footnote 58: They consist only of a few pages relating to the painters of Castelfranco. I cannot explain why Padre Federici (Pref. p. 17) supposes that I should have announced this as the MS. Melchiori, although Sig. Trevisani may have drawn various notices from that quarter.]

[Footnote 59: Padre Coronelli, in his Travels in England, (part i. p.

66), ascribes this picture to Paul Veronese, a mistake that is cleared up by the tenor of the contract, preserved in the archives of San Liberale. He adds that the picture contained a number of naked figures, to which draperies were afterwards adapted by another hand--an a.s.sertion wholly groundless.]

[Footnote 60: In a MS. by a contemporary author cited in the new Guide of Padua, he is called Domenico Veneziano, educated by Julio Campagnola.]

[Footnote 61: Thus stated in the _Lettere Pittoriche_, vol. i. p. 248.

Recent writers of Friuli make him a native of Udine, a modern supposition, inasmuch as Gra.s.si, a very diligent correspondent of Vasari, would hardly have been silent upon such a name. It took its rise, most likely, from the existence of a n.o.ble family of the same surname, in Udine, and from three of the artist's pictures having been discovered in the same place, one with the date 1595. Yet none are to be seen at Casa Frangipane, a circ.u.mstance very unusual in regard to excellent artists. We must look, therefore, for other proofs before we can p.r.o.nounce him a native of Udine, and before we can a.s.sent to the conjecture of Rinaldis, who would admit two artists of the name of Niccolo Frangipane, the one a painter by profession, and the other a dilettante; and yet contemporaries, as appears from the authority of the dates of the pictures, already referred to.]

[Footnote 62: This fact cannot easily be refuted, in the manner attempted by Zaist, in his "Historical Notices of the Cremonese Painters," with true party zeal, p. 162. (See the New Guide of Milan, p.

139.)]

[Footnote 63: To these the name of _Francesco da Milano_ has recently been added, on the strength of an altarpiece, quite _t.i.tianesque_, exhibited with his name in the parish church of Soligo, to which is added the date of 1540:--time may probably clear up the mystery of this.]

[Footnote 64: He flourished several years subsequent, as appears from the _New Milan Guide_, with MS. corrections, by Signor Bianconi, of which the Cavalier Lazara has a copy. He there remarks that he had seen in the greater monastery, now suppressed, belonging to the nuns of San Maurizio, other paintings by Piazza; as Was.h.i.+ng the Disciples' feet, in the Refectory, and the Multiplication of Loaves, upon canva.s.s. Also within the interior church, among other scriptural stories in fresco, is found, the Adoration of the Magi, the Marriage of Cana, and the Baptism of Christ, bearing the date of 1556.]

[Footnote 65: Zanetti, p. 147. See also Ridolfi, parte ii. p. 10, where he informs us that Tintoret, in the maturity of his powers, being employed in painting for the church of La Trinita, Adam and Eve seduced by the Serpent, and the Death of Abel, "designed the figures from nature, placing over them a thin veil. To which figures he added a peculiar grace of contours, which he acquired from studying relievi."]

[Footnote 66: This date is pointed out by Boschini, and corresponds with the fortieth year of the artist, who, on the authority of Melchiori, made a n.o.ble copy of Giorgione's San Liberale, at Castelfranco, besides producing several original works in his native place and the vicinity.

Specimens of his labours exist in water colours, taken from pictures in fresco executed by Paolo and by Zelotti, in different palaces belonging to Venetian n.o.blemen. The cavalier Liberi, his Venetian master, aware of his singular talent for such species of painting, often employed him, to the no small advantage both of his art and his fortune.]

[Footnote 67: It would be too difficult to attempt to enumerate the names of his foreign imitators, particularly the Flemish, who were much devoted to his style, some of whose copies I have seen in collections believed to be originals. But the handle of their pencil, the clearness of colouring, and sometimes, the diminution of the figures, not common to the Ba.s.sani, afford means to distinguish them; not however with such a degree of certainty, but that connoisseurs themselves are of different opinions. This occurred in my own time at Rome, respecting a fine picture of the Nativity of Jesus Christ, in the Rezzonico collection.

One of the best imitators of that style was David Teniers, who, by his exquisite skill acquired the surname of Ba.s.sano. To him I am happy to add another foreigner, Pietro Orrente di Murcia, whom Spanish writers give as a pupil to Jacopo; and were there no other authority, we might upon that of Sig. Conca, receive him as his very exact imitator. In his two pictures referred to (vol. i. p. 266) he is p.r.o.nounced superior to the Ba.s.sani, meaning, perhaps, superior to the sons of Jacopo; it would be too absurd a proposition to prefer him to the head of the school.]

[Footnote 68: It is, as I am informed by Signor dalla Rosa, a picture of the Pentacost.]

[Footnote 69: He attained this effect by drawing these figures with rather bold contours, and the other parts after his works were completed. Owing to his knowledge, as well as his felicity and grace of hand, they are not in the least disagreeable to those who observe them near. (_Zanetti_, p. 181.)]

[Footnote 70: This was easily produced by his rapidity of execution, by which his tints always remained clear and simple. The artist who repeats his touches frequently, and uses much research, can with difficulty preserve freshness, to obtain which another method must undoubtedly be pursued. (_Zanetti_, p. 163.)]

[Footnote 71: It has been stated in his defence, that had he clothed the whole of his figures with those tunics and ancient mantles, he would have become monotonous, and consequently uninteresting in his great history pieces. But I am of opinion, that whoever is familiar with ancient statues and ba.s.si relievi, will find means of varying his compositions. The Cavalier Canova has recently produced two ba.s.si relievi, on the condemnation of Socrates. The Greek vests are two, the tunic and pallium; yet these are finely varied, though there are a number of spectators.]

[Footnote 72: According to Ridolfi, however, he is said to have attained his twenty-sixth year; but certainly not more.]

[Footnote 73: Father Federici has, in the course of this year, 1803, brought to light another scholar of Paul, and afterwards of Carletto, born, like Parrasio, in Venice. He calls him Giacomo Lauro, and Giacomo da Trevigi, because, having established himself in that city, with his family, while still a youth, no one could distinguish him by any other patronymic than that of Trevigiano. Thus speak several anonymous contemporaries, from whose MSS. the reverend father has extracted no slight information relative to the pictures executed by Lauro in his new country. There he enjoyed the friends.h.i.+p of the fathers of San Domenico, for whose church he painted his celebrated picture of St. Rocco, in which he exhibited, with great tragic power, the terrific scourge of the plague. It is honourable to this artist, who died young, that this altarpiece, as well as his other pictures, both in oil and in fresco, have, until lately, been attributed either to Paul or to Carlo, or to some less celebrated hands, but always to good and experienced artists.]

[Footnote 74: See Boschini, Carta, p. 160. Zanetti, p. 494.]

[Footnote 75: A cla.s.s of artists so called, from their excessive use of deep shades and dark colours. _Tr._]

[Footnote 76: There was an attempt to revive it, made in Florence.

Roscoe, in his "Life of Lorenzo de' Medici," (vol. ii. p. 220, 6th ed.) relates, that, with Gherardo, Lorenzo a.s.sociated Domenico Ghirlandajo to work in mosaic at the chapel of San Zen.o.bio: but that this undertaking, so admirably begun, was interrupted by Lorenzo's death; insomuch that "his attempts," observes the historian, "were thus in a great degree frustrated." This honour appeared to be reserved for Venice.]

VENETIAN SCHOOL.

THIRD EPOCH.

_Innovations of the Mannerists of the Seventeenth Century.

Corruption of Venetian Painting._

A sort of fatality seems to prevail in all human things, rendering their duration in the same state of short continuance; so that after attaining their highest elevation, we may a.s.suredly at no distant period look for their decline. The glory of precedency, of whatever kind, will not long remain the boast of one place, or in possession of a single nation. It migrates from country to country; and the people that yesterday received laws from another, will tomorrow impose them. Those who today are the instructors of a nation, will tomorrow become ambitious of being admitted in the number of its disciples. Numerous examples might be adduced in support of this proposition, but it would be quite superfluous. For whoever is even slightly acquainted with civil or literary history, whoever has observed the pa.s.sing events of the age in which we live, will easily furnish himself with proofs, without the aid of writers to direct him. We have already traced the same revolution of affairs in the art of painting, in the two schools of Rome and Florence, which, arriving at the zenith of their fame, fell into decay precisely at the period when that of Venice began to exalt itself. And we shall now perceive the decline of the latter, during the same age in which the Florentine began to revive, in which the school of Bologna acquired its highest degree of reputation; and what is still more surprising, seemed to rise by studying the models of the Venetian. So indeed it was: the Caracci were much devoted to t.i.tian, to Giorgione, to Paul Veronese, and Tintoretto, and thence formed styles, and produced pupils that conferred honour upon the whole of the seventeenth century. The Venetians, too, studied the same examples, and derived from them a certain mannerism reprehensible enough in them, but much more so in their disciples.

These, devoting themselves in their first studies to more cla.s.sical artists, and attaining a certain practice both in design and colouring, next aimed at displaying upon a grand scale, figures, not so much taken from life, as from engravings and pictures, or from their own imaginations; and the more rapidly these were executed, the better did they suppose they had succeeded. I am inclined to believe, that the examples of Tintoretto proved, in this respect, more prejudicial than useful. Few were ambitious of emulating his profound knowledge, which in some measure serves to veil his defects; but his haste, his carelessness, and his grounds, they more willingly adopted; while his great name was advanced as a s.h.i.+eld to cover their own faults. And the earliest of these, not yet unmindful of the maxims of a better age, did not rush blindly into all these errors and excesses; but by their superiority of spirit, and by their tints, maintained their ground better than the mannerists of the Roman and Florentine styles. But to these succeeded others, whose schools degenerated still more from the ancient rules of art. We advance this without meaning the least imputation upon really good artists, who flourished even during this period; for an age rarely occurs in which good sense becomes altogether extinct. Even during the barbarity of the dark ages, we meet with specimens of some marble busts of the Caesars, and some of their medals, which approach a better taste; and thus also in the age we are describing appeared geniuses, who either wholly, or in great measure, kept themselves free from the general infection; "et tenuere animum contra sua saecula r.e.c.t.u.m." _Propert._

Jacopo Palma the younger, so called to distinguish him from the other Palma, his great uncle, was an artist who might equally be ent.i.tled the last of the good age, and the first of the bad. Born in 1544, after receiving the instructions of his father Antonio, a painter of a confined genius, he exercised himself in copying from t.i.tian, and the best of the national artists. At the age of fifteen years he was taken under the patronage of the Duke of Urbino, and accompanied him to his capital. He afterwards spent eight years in Rome, where he laid a good foundation for his profession, by designing from the antique, copying Michelangiolo and Raffaello; and, in particular, by studying the chiaroscuros of Polidoro. This last was his great model, and next to him came Tintoretto; he being naturally inclined, like them, to animate his figures with a certain freedom of action, and a spirit peculiarly their own. On his return to Venice, he distinguished himself by several works, conducted with singular care and diligence; nor are there wanting professors who have bestowed on him a very high degree of praise, for displaying the excellent maxims of the Roman, united to what was best in the Venetian School. It is observed by Zanetti, that some of his productions were attributed by professors to the hand of Giuseppe del Salviati, whose merit, in point of design and solidity of style, has been already noticed. The whole of these are executed with peculiar facility, a dangerous gift both in painting and in poetry, which this artist possessed in a remarkable degree. Though he made the greatest exertions to bring himself into notice, he was little employed; the post was already occupied by men of consummate ability, by Tintoretto and Paul Veronese; and these monopolized all the most lucrative commissions.

Palma, however, obtained the rank of third; chiefly by means of Vittoria, a distinguished sculptor and architect; whose opinion was adopted in the distribution of the labours even of artists themselves.

Displeased at the little deference shewn him by Robusti and Paul, he began to encourage Palma, and to a.s.sist him also with his advice, so that he shortly acquired a name. We have related a similar instance in regard to Bernini, who brought forward Cortona against Sacchi, at Rome, besides several more, productive of the greatest detriment to the art.

So true it is that the same pa.s.sions prevail in every age, every where pursue the same track, and produce the same results.

Nor was it long before Palma, overwhelmed with commissions, remitted much of his former diligence. In progress of time, he became even yet more careless, until upon the death of his eldest rivals, including Corona, who in his latest works had begun to surpa.s.s him, free from compet.i.tion he a.s.serted unquestioned sway, and despatched his pieces rapidly. His pictures, indeed, might often be p.r.o.nounced rough draughts, a t.i.tle bestowed upon them in ridicule by the Cavalier d'Arpino. In order to prevail upon him to produce a piece worthy of his name, it became requisite, not only to allow him the full time he pleased, but the full price he chose to ask, without further reference, except to his own discretion, in which truly he did not greatly abound. Upon such terms he executed that fine picture of San Benedetto, at the church of SS. Cosmo and Damiano, for the n.o.ble family of Moro. It resembled many of those he had produced in his best days at Venice, and in particular that celebrated naval battle of Frances...o...b..mbo, placed in the Palazzo Pubblico. Other valuable specimens are found scattered elsewhere, in part mentioned by Ridolfi, and in part unknown to him. Such are his Santa Apollonia, at Cremona, his San Ubaldo and his Nunziata, at Pesaro, and his Invenzione della Croce, at Urbino, a piece abounding in figures, and full of beauty, variety, and expression. His tints are fresh, sweet, and clear, less splendid than those of Paul, but more pleasing than in Tintoretto; and though scantily applied, they are more durable than those of certain foreign pictures more heavily laid on. In the animation of his figures he approaches the two preceding artists, particularly in his more studied works, as he has shewn in his Chastis.e.m.e.nt of the Serpents, a picture that seems embued with horror. In every other instance he has always sufficient art to please; and it is surprising how a man who led the way to the most corrupt period in Venice, as it has been observed of Vasari at Florence, and of Zuccaro at Rome, could thus exhibit so many attractions, both of nature and of art, calculated to feast the eye, and to fix the soul of the spectator. Both Guercino and Guido were sensible of the power of his pencil; and when examining one of his altarpieces, at the Cappucini, in Bologna, "What a pity,"

they exclaimed, "that the master of such a pencil should be no more."

(Boschini, p. 383.)

In observance of my plan of accompanying each master with his train of followers, I set out with Marco Boschini, a Venetian, who flourished during this same deterioration of a n.o.bler age. He was a pupil to Palma, and has left some memorials of the different professors of the third epoch, not to be met with in any other work. Professing the art of engraving, rather than that of painting, he had, nevertheless, so much merit in the latter, as to approach the manner of Palma, in his picture of the Supper of our Lord, in the Sacristy of San Girolamo; as well as that of Tintoretto, as we gather from a few of his altarpieces in the territory of Padua, and his pictures for private ornament, remaining at Venice, at least as far as I can learn. He was the author of several works recorded in the preface to this work, the most remarkable of which is composed in Quartine, with the following t.i.tle; and, by this production, he is perhaps best known: "The Chart of pictorial Navigation, a Dialogue between a Venetian senator (a dilettante) and a professor of painting, under the names of Ecelenza and Compare, divided into eight _venti_, or winds, with which the Venetian vessel is borne into the deep Sea of Painting, as its Absolute Mistress, to the confusion of such as do not understand the loadstone and the compa.s.s."

Thus, much in the same manner as we judge from the facade of the style of a whole edifice in the gothic taste, the reader may gather, from this very loaded t.i.tle, the exact nature of Boschini's work. It is, indeed, written in the most verbose style of the Seicentisti; a mixture of unsound reasoning, strange allegory, tame allusions, frivolous conceits invented on every name, and phraseology that surpa.s.ses even that of Ciampoli and Melosio; for these at least wrote in the Italian dialect, whereas Boschini protests that he does not pretend to a _foreign idiom_, but to speak like the Venetian people. From this undistinguis.h.i.+ng kind of nationality arises his malevolence against Vasari, and the methods of the foreign schools, as well as his exaggerated praise of the Venetian artists, whom he prefers, as we learn from his t.i.tle page, to all the painters in the world, not merely as respects their manner of colouring, but in point of invention and design. What is worse, he makes no distinction between the fine old painters and the mannerists of his own times, and speaks as if the masters of the former age were still flouris.h.i.+ng, and teaching in their schools, or as if the modern possessed the same powers and the same reputation; a gross equivocation into which the tiresome _Compare_, or gossip, is continually falling, and which his credulous Excellency as frequently commends.

If, however, in treating of Vasari, I in some measure excused his partialities, in consideration of the prejudices acquired by his education, which are afterwards with difficulty eradicated; I ought to make use of the same liberality in regard to Boschini, more especially as he possessed fewer opportunities of ridding himself of them, never having visited Rome or Florence, and giving his opinions upon foreign schools, from the hearsay relations of others. It is true that he cites in favour of the Venetians the opinion of many distinguished men; as that of Velasco, who protested to Salvator Rosa, that Raffaello was no longer a favourite with him after having seen Venice; or that of Rubens, who, after spending upwards of six years at Rome to little purpose, formed his style on the models of t.i.tian. Albano likewise regretted that he had not commenced his studies in Venice, preferably to Rome; and Pier da Cortona having seen the works of the Venetian School, cancelled some of his labours, and ornamented afresh two chambers of the Palazzo Pitti, and one in the Casa Barberini. But these authorities, which he adduces along with others, taken chiefly from artists who preferred beauty of colouring to accuracy of design, do not prove much, and might be opposed by other authorities, even of great painters, more particularly English and French, who embraced a contrary opinion. Besides, the panegyrists thus cited by him, did not commend the modern so much as the ancient Venetian painters, so as by no means to possess the weight he would attribute to them. Moreover, in the present day, when so much has been written upon Italian painting, we shall not, on investigating what is to be admired and imitated, and what to be shunned or approved in the examples of the Venetians, appeal to the vain boastings of the sixteenth century, but to the critics of our own times. Still we do not mean to deny, but that the work in question, however strangely written, contains many valuable historical notices, and many pictorial precepts, particularly useful to such as cannot aspire to any thing beyond the character of mere naturalists, incapable of drawing a stroke that does not appear in their model, and content with portraying the dimensions of any kind of head or body, provided they be of the human shape, inventing with infinite difficulty, slow in resolving, and quite incapable of forming a grand history, more especially of battles, of flights, in short of any objects they never saw. This sect, which at that period boasted many followers, and which is not even yet extinct, is there ridiculed in a vein it is impossible to surpa.s.s, and would that the party proceeding to the opposite extreme of mannerism, at that time triumphant in Venice, had not met with equal applause! But how difficult is it to observe the golden mean! though the artists of Bologna will point out the way in due time. At present we must return to those of Venice.

Numerous other artists very nearly approached the style of Palma.

Boschini enumerates six, whose manner so extremely resembles him, as to impose upon those who have not tact enough to detect the peculiar characteristics of each; (and in Palma there is a mixture of the Roman and Venetian,) consisting of the names of Corona, Vicentino, Peranda, Aliense, Malombra, and Pilotto. The same author extols them as ill.u.s.trious painters; and truly, besides the splendour of their colouring, they composed upon a magnificent scale, emulating, for the most part, the fire and the striking contrasts that produced such an impression after the time of t.i.tian, executing pictures every way deserving of a place in good collections.

Leonardo Corona, of Murano, who, from a copyist, succeeded in becoming a painter, was the rival of Palma, and nevertheless enjoyed the patronage of Vittoria; whether to keep alive the emulation of the former, or for some other reason, is uncertain. He sometimes prepared models in clay, to discover the best distributions of his chiaroscuro. By aid of these he painted his Annunciation, at SS. Giovanni and Paolo, a work very highly commended, as well as his picture at San Stefano, displaying a grandeur that arrests the eye, and reminds us more of t.i.tian than any other model. In general, however, Corona exhibited more of Tintoretto, if not in his colouring, which in the present day appears to more advantage, at least in many other points. He produced a crucifixion so much in this artist's style, that Ridolfi has defended him with the utmost difficulty from the charge of theft. He availed himself likewise of the engravings of Flemish artists, particularly in the composition of his landscape. He did not long flourish; but left an excellent imitator of his style in Balda.s.sare d'Anna, an artist of Flemish origin, who completed a few of his master's pieces. He also produced some original pieces for the Servi and other churches, which, though inferior to those of Corona in the selection of forms, yet surpa.s.s them in the softness, and sometimes in the force of their chiaroscuro.

Andrea Vicentino was, according to some writers, a Venetian, and pupil to Palma; not excelling in point of taste, he was nevertheless very skilful in the handling of his colours, and shewed great power of invention. Being employed in many labours, both within and without the boundaries of Venice, and even in depicting histories of the Republic, which still continue to adorn several halls in the Palazzo Grande, he was one of the most popular artists of his time. He rarely fails to exhibit in his works some perspective, or some figure borrowed, according to the custom of the plagiarists, from the best masters: including even Ba.s.sano, an artist of few ideas constantly repeated, and so far less easily pillaged with impunity. At the same time he bestows upon his plagiarisms a beauty of composition, and a general effect that does honour to his talents, applicable to every variety of subject. He could also employ a very delicate, tasteful, and effective pencil, when he chose to exert himself. In his grounds, however, he must have been less successful, many of his paintings being already much defaced. In collections, always more favourable to their duration than public places, we may find several in good preservation, and deserving of much commendation, as we gather from his Solomon Anointed on becoming king of Israel, preserved in the Royal Gallery at Florence. Marco Vicentino, son of Andrea, also acquired some celebrity by his imitations, and more by the name of his father.

Santo Peranda, a scholar of Corona and of Palma, and tolerably well versed in Roman design, having pa.s.sed some time at Rome, aimed at a diversity of styles. His usual manner a good deal resembles that of Palma, while, in his large histories, which he produced at Venice and at Mirandola, he appears in a more poetical character of his own. Yet he was naturally of a more slow and reflective turn, and more studious of art, qualities that in the decline of age led him to adopt a very delicate and laboured manner. He was not ambitious of equalling his contemporaries in the abundance of his works; his aim was to surpa.s.s them in correctness; nor did he any where succeed better in his object than in his Christ taken from the Cross, painted for the church of San Procolo. Among his disciples, Matteo Ponzone, from Dalmatia, more particularly distinguished himself, a.s.sisting Peranda in his great works executed at Mirandola. In progress of time he formed an original style, which surpa.s.ses in softness that of his master, though not equal to it in point of elegance. He was fond of copying from the life, without attempting much to add to its dignity. His scholar, Gio. Carboncino, pursued his studies at Rome also, where we do not, however, find mention of him,[77] owing probably to his speedy return to Venice. Among the few pieces produced by him for churches, there is a Bto. Angelo, at the Carmini, which has been much commended by Melchiori, and a San Antonio, at La Pieta, mentioned by Guarienti. Two others, named Maffei, of Vicenza, and Zanimberti, of Brescia, will come under consideration in their respective states.

Antonio Va.s.silacchi, called Aliense, a native of the island of Milo, inherited from the line climate of Greece a genius adapted to confer honour upon the arts, and particularly on works of a vast and imaginative character. Paul Veronese, struck with his first efforts, banished him, with a feeling of jealousy, from his studio, advising him at the same time to confine himself to small pictures. Aliense observing Paul engaged in reviving the examples of t.i.tian, renewed as far as lay in his power those of Tintoretto. He studied casts taken from the antique, designing from them both day and night; he exercised himself in acquiring a knowledge of the human frame, modelled in wax, copied Tintoretto with the utmost a.s.siduity, and, as if wholly to forget what he had learnt from Paul, he sold the designs made at his school. Yet he could not so far divest himself of them, but that in his earliest productions, remaining at the church of Le Vergini, he displayed the manner of Paul. He has been accused by historians of having abandoned this style for one less adapted to his genius; and moreover of having been misled by the innovations of the mannerists. Sometimes, however, he painted with extreme care, as in his Epiphany, for the Council of Ten, though in general he abused the facility of his genius, without fear of risking his credit, inasmuch as his rivals Palma and Corona pursued the same plan. In order better to oppose his great enemy Vittoria, he attached himself to another architect, who possessed much influence, named Girolamo Campagna, the disciple of Sansovino; and he moreover enjoyed the favour of Tintoretto. In this manner Aliense obtained many commissions, both for the public palace and the Venetian churches, besides being engaged in many works for other cities, more especially for Perugia, at S. Pietro, all upon a magnificent scale; yet without acquiring that degree of estimation which the felicity of his genius deserved. He was a.s.sisted by Tommaso Dolobella, of Belluno, a good pract.i.tioner, and well received in Poland, where he long continued in the service of Sigismond III. In his Life of Aliense, Ridolfi makes mention also of Pietro Mera, a Fleming, whose portrait Aliense painted, as being his friend; but neither from history, nor from his own style, can we gather that he was Aliense's disciple. He resided, and employed himself much in Venice, at SS. Giovanni and Paolo, at La Madonna dell'

Orto, and elsewhere: while the judgment p.r.o.nounced upon him by Zanetti is, that he appeared to have greatly attached himself to the Venetian artists, and to have derived sufficient profit.

Pietro Malombra, a Venetian by birth, deserves almost to be excluded from the list of Palma's disciples, and even from that of the mannerists. If he sometimes deviated from the right path, it must rather be attributed to human error, than to erroneous maxims. Born in a degree of comparative ease, he acquired from education a sense of the value of that excellent axiom, "that honour is better than gain." After employing himself in the studio of Salviati, where he obtained a good knowledge of design, he continued to paint for his own pleasure. But equally intelligent and docile, he never scrupled to bestow the utmost pains to bring his works to a higher degree of perfection, than was the usual practice of his times. Afterwards experiencing a reverse of fortune, he entered upon the art as his profession, and ornamented parts of the Ducal Palace. In his portraits and pictures upon a small scale, he was also very successful. He represented at San Francesco di Paola, various miracles of the saint, in four pictures; and his figures display a precision in their contours, a grace, and an originality which lead us to doubt whether they can belong, not merely to the epoch, but to the school of which we are here treating. Similar specimens he produced for galleries, sometimes enlivening with them his perspective views, in which he possessed equal skill and a.s.siduity. Those in which he exhibited the grand piazza, or the great hall of council, representing in them their respective sacred or civil ceremonies, processions, ingresses, public audiences, great spectacles, to which the place adds an air of grandeur, extorted the plaudits of all ranks.

Girolamo Pilotto occupies the sixth place among those, who, in the opinion of Boschini, are apt to be confounded with Palma. Zanetti is content with observing, that he was a true follower of that style, and that in his works may be recognized the ideas of his master, conducted in a very happy manner. Venice boasts few of his pieces, although we are elsewhere informed that he died at an advanced age. His picture of the Nuptials of the Sea, painted for the public palace, is extolled in high terms by Orlandi, while others have greatly admired his San Biagio, which he produced for the great altar of the Fraglia, in Rovigo; a picture displaying great sweetness of manner, and signed with his name.

To attempt a full list of the rest of the mannerists, who followed more or less the composition of Palma, would only weary the reader with a repet.i.tion of names. From these I select, therefore, merely a few of the most remarkable in Venice and its vicinity, having to make mention of others in the respective schools of terra firma. Girolamo Gamberati, a scholar of Porta, acquired the art of colouring from Palma, upon whose model he painted at Le Vergini, and other places. It is still suspected, however, that the character displayed in his pieces, must have come from the hand of Palma, whose friends.h.i.+p occasionally a.s.sisted him. In the Guide by Zanetti, we find mention of a Jacomo Alberelli, a disciple of Palma, who painted the Baptism of Christ at the church of the Ognisanti.

There is a slight allusion to him in Ridolfi, by whom he is ent.i.tled Albarelli; and he adds, that he produced the bust for the tomb of his master, in whose service he lived during thirty-four years. Camillo Ballini is also recorded among the Palmese mannerists, whether a native of Venice or of the state is not certain. In his manner he is pleasing, though neither spirited nor vigorous; and he was likewise employed in the Ducal Palace. Boschini moreover extols Bianchi, Dimo, and Donati, all Venetians, and his own friends; but I would omit them, finding no commendations in any other work. I omit also Antonio Cecchini da Pesaro, whose age, as reported in the index, cannot be brought to agree with the period of Palma's professors.h.i.+p.