The History Of Painting In Italy Volume Iv Part 4

Footnote 26: He might have pleaded the example of the ancients, who in their draped statues, observed similar proportions, in order to avoid falling into vulgarity. The length of the fingers was rather subject of praise, as is noticed by the commentators on Catullus. (See his 44th Ode.) A long neck in virgins is inculcated by Malvasia, as a precept of the art, (tom. i. p. 303); and the Can. Lazzarini drew his Madonnas according to this rule. These observations are all intended to be applied with that judgment, which, in every art, is not presumed to be taught, but understood.

He would seem to have been slow in his conceptions, being accustomed to form the whole piece in idea, before he once handled his pencil; but was then rapid in his execution. Strokes of his pencil may sometimes be traced so very daring and decided, that Albano p.r.o.nounces them divine, and declares, that to his experience in design, he was indebted for that unequalled skill, which he always united to great diligence and high finish. His works, indeed, are not all equally well and powerfully coloured, nor produce the same degree of effect; though there are several which are conducted with so much feeling and enthusiasm as to have been ascribed to Coreggio himself. Such is the picture of Love, engaged in fabricating his bow, while at his feet appear two cherubs, one laughing and the other weeping; a piece, of which a number of duplicates, besides that contained in the imperial gallery, are enumerated, so great a favourite was it either with the artist or some other person. In regard to this production, I agree with Vasari, whose authority is further confirmed by Father Aff and other judges, whom I have consulted upon the subject; although it is true that this Cupid, together with the Ganymede, and the Leda, which are mentioned in the same context, (p. 302), have been positively a.s.signed by Boschini to Coreggio, an opinion that continues to be countenanced by many other persons.

His minor paintings, his portraits, his youthful heads, and holy figures, are not very rare, and some are found multiplied in different places. One that has been the most frequently repeated in collections, is a picture of the Virgin and Infant with S. Giovanni; while the figures of St. Catherine and Zaccarias, or some similar aged head, are to be seen very near them. It was formerly met with in the Farnese gallery, at Parma, and is still to be seen, sometimes the same, and sometimes varied, in the royal gallery, at Florence; in the Capitoline; in those of the princes Corsini, Borghesi, and Albani, at Rome. In Parma, also, it is in possession of the Abate Mazza,[27] and is found in other places; insomuch, that it is difficult to suppose that they could all have been repeated by Parmigianino, however old in appearance. He produced few copious compositions, such as the Preaching of Christ to the Crowd, which is contained in a chamber of the royal palace, at Colorno, forming a real jewel of that beautiful and pleasant villa. His altar-pieces are not numerous, of which, however, none is more highly estimated than his St. Margarita, at Bologna. It is rich in figures, which the Caracci were never weary of studying; while Guido, in a sort of transport of admiration, preferred it even to the St. Cecilia of Raffaello.

His fresco, which he began at the Steccata, is a singular production; besides the figure of Moses, exhibited in chiaroscuro, he painted Adam and Eve, with several Virtues, without, however, completing the undertaking for which he had been remunerated. The history of the affair is rather long, and is to be found in Father Aff, where it is divested of many idle tales, with which it had been confounded. I shall merely state, that the artist was thrown into prison for having abandoned his task, and afterwards led a fugitive life in Casale, where he shortly died, in his thirty-seventh year, exactly at the same age as his predecessor Raffaello. He was lamented as one of the first luminaries, not only of the art of painting, but of engraving; though of this last I must say nothing, in order not to deviate from the plan I have laid down.

Footnote 27: It is mentioned and compared with that of the Borghesi, (in both the virgin is seen on one side) by P.

Aff, in a letter edited by the Advocate Bramieri, in the notes to the _Elogio d'Ireneo Aff_, composed by P. D.

Pompilio Pozzetti; a very excellent scholar, (no less than his annotator,) and deserving to stand high in the estimation of all learned Italians.

Parma was in some degree consoled for the loss of Francesco, by Girolamo di Michele Mazzuola, his pupil and his cousin. They had been intimate from the year 1520, and apparently had contracted their friends.h.i.+p some years before Francesco set out for Rome, which was continued unabated after his return.

Most probably, however, it at length experienced an interruption, owing to which Francesco named two strangers his heirs, omitting his cousin. This last is not known beyond Parma and its confines, though he was deserving of more extensive fame, in particular for his strong impasto, and his knowledge of colouring, in which he has few equals. There is reason to suppose, that some of the works ascribed to Francesco, more especially such as displayed warmer and stronger tints, were either executed or repeated by this artist. Not having been in Rome, Girolamo was more attached to the school of Coreggio, than Francesco, and in his style composed his picture of the Marriage of St. Catherine, for the church of the Carmine; a piece that proves how well he could exhibit that great master's character. He was excellent in perspective, and in the Supper of our Lord, painted for the refectory of S. Giovanni, he represented a colonnade so beautiful, and well adapted to produce illusion, as to compete with the best specimens from the hand of Pozzo. He could, moreover, boast ease and harmony, with a fine chiaroscuro; while in his larger compositions in fresco, he was inventive, varied, and animated. No single artist, among his fellow citizens, had the merit of decorating the churches of Parma with an equal number of oil paintings; no one produced more in fresco for the cathedral and for the Steccata; to say nothing of his labours at S. Benedetto, in Mantua, and elsewhere. It is from this rage for accomplis.h.i.+ng too much, that we find so many of his pieces that are calculated to surprise us at first sight, diminish in merit upon an examination of their particular parts. Not a few defects are observable amidst all his beauties; the design in his naked figures is extremely careless; his grace is carried to a degree of affectation, and his more spirited att.i.tudes are violent. But these faults are not wholly attributable to him, inasmuch as he occasionally painted the same work in conjunction with other artists. This occurred in his large picture of the Multiplication of Loaves placed at S. Benedetto, in Mantua, in which, from doc.u.ments discovered by the Ab. Mari, Girolamo would appear to have been a.s.sisted in his labours; there are in it groups of figures, whose beauty would confer credit upon any artist; while, on the other hand, there are faults and imbecilities that must have proceeded from some other pencil. It is true that he has admitted the same in other of his works, and there they are wholly to be ascribed to his haste. We likewise find mention of an Alessandro Mazzuola, son of Girolamo, who painted in the cathedral, in 1571; but he is a weak imitator of the family style; the usual fate of pictoric families, when arrived at the third generation.

Such was the state of the art in Parma about the middle of the sixteenth century, at which period the Farnese family acquired dominion there, and greatly contributed to promote the interest of that school. Coreggio's disciples had already produced pupils in their turn; and though it be difficult to ascertain from what school each artist proceeded, it is easy to conjecture, from their respective tastes, that they were all inclined to pursue the career of the two most ill.u.s.trious masters of the school of Parma; yet Mazzuola was, perhaps, more followed than Coreggio. It is too favourite an opinion, both with dilettanti and artists, that the new style must invariably be the most beautiful; permitting fas.h.i.+on even to corrupt the arts. Parmigianino, perhaps, educated no other pupil besides his cousin; Daniel da Parma had studied also under Coreggio; and Batista Fornari, after acquiring little more than a knowledge of design from Francesco, turned his attention to sculpture, producing, among other fine statues, for the Duke Ottavio Farnese, the Neptune, which is now placed in the royal gardens. The name of Jacopo Bertoia, (often written by mistake Giacinto) has been added by some to this list. He was a good deal employed by the court at Parma and Caprarola; and not very long ago, some of his small paintings were transferred from the palace of the royal garden into the academy. The subjects are fabulous, and both in the figures of his nymphs, and in every thing else, the grace of Francesco is very perceptible. Yet the memorials discovered by P. Aff, do not permit us to name Parmigianino as his master. He was still young in 1573, and Lomazzo, in his "Tempio," calls him the pupil of Ercole Procaccini. He produced many small pictures for private ornament, which were at one time in great repute; nor does Parma possess any large painting by his hand, excepting two banners for companies or a.s.sociations.

It is rather, likewise, from a resemblance of style, than upon historical authority, that one Pomponio Amidano has been enumerated among the pupils of Parmigianino. He may be mentioned, however, as one of his most strenuous followers; insomuch as to have had one of his altar-pieces, which adorns the church of Madonna del Quartiere, attributed even by no common artists to the hand of Francesco. It is the most beautiful work of its author that the city of Parma has to boast. The style of this artist is full and n.o.ble, were it not, adds the Cav. Ratti, that it is sometimes apt to appear somewhat flat.

Pier Antonio Bernabei, called della Casa, does not belong to the school of Parmigianino, but is to be referred to some other a.s.sistant or pupil of Coreggio. I cannot account for the slight praise bestowed upon him by Orlandi, when his painting of the cupola at the Madonna del Quartiere is calculated to impress us with the opinion that his powers were equal to those of any artist who then flourished in Lombardy, or even in Italy, as a painter of frescos. He there represented, as was very common upon the cupolas, a Paradise, very full, but without any confusion; with figures in the Coreggio his tints are powerful, and relieved with a force which might be p.r.o.nounced superfluous in the more distant figures, from a deficiency of the due gradations. This cupola still remains perfectly entire after the lapse of more than two centuries, and is his great masterpiece, though some of his other paintings likewise produce a great effect. Aurelio Barili, and Innocenzio Martini, of Parma, must have enjoyed very considerable reputation in their day, having been employed at S. Giovanni and the Steccata: some specimens of their fresco work are still pointed out, but are cast into the shade by the vicinity of more attractive beauties.

About the same period another subject of the same state painted, in his native place of Piacenza. His name was Giulio Mazzoni, at one time pupil to Daniel da Volterra, in the life of whom he is much commended by Vasari.

Some figures of the Evangelists still remain in the cathedral by his hand, though the ceiling of S. M. di Campagna, which he adorned with histories, has been renewed by another pencil. He did not acquire a knowledge of foreshortening in the school of Daniello, and here he failed, however respectable in other points.

SCHOOL OF PARMA.

EPOCH III.

_Parmese Pupils of the Caracci, and of other Foreigners, until the period of the Foundation of the Academy._

In the year 1570, when the most celebrated imitators of the Coreggio manner were either greatly advanced in years, or already deceased, the Parmese School began to give place to that of Bologna; and I proceed to explain the mode, and the causes which, partly by design and partly by chance, led to that event. It was intended to ornament a chapel in the cathedral, a commission bestowed upon Rondani and Parmigianino, but which, through a variety of interruptions, had been so long deferred, that both artists died before undertaking it. Orazio Sammachini was then invited from Bologna; he gave satisfaction, and if I mistake not, derived great improvement from his study of Coreggio, whom he more nearly resembled than any other Bolognese artist of that age. Ercole Procaccini, likewise, painted in the dome itself; nor was it long before Cesare Aretusi was invited from Bologna, to become court painter to Duke Ranuccio. This artist, as we before observed, was employed in restoring the painting of the tribune at S. Giovanni. In order to lengthen the choir, it was resolved to destroy the old tribune; but such parts as Coreggio had there painted, were to be correctly repeated to adorn the new; an example that deserves to be adopted as a law, wherever the fine arts are held in esteem. We are informed by Malvasia, that Aretusi undertook this task, though he refused to take a copy of it upon the spot; observing, that such an employment was more adapted for a pupil than for a master. Annibal Caracci was in consequence of this called in, and a.s.sisted by his brother Agostino, he took a copy of that vast work in various portions, which are now at Capo di Monte. Guided by these, Aretusi was afterwards enabled to repaint the new edifice in the year 1587. To this account Aff opposes the contract of Aretusi, drawn out in 1586, where he binds himself "_to make an excellent copy of the Madonna Coronata_;" and provision is promised him for a boy who is to prepare the cartoons: a circ.u.mstance that cannot be made applicable to Annibal, who appeared in the character of a master as early as 1586. What conclusion we are to draw from such a fact, no less than from the cartoons so generally attributed to Annibal, and which are p.r.o.nounced worthy of his hand, _quaerere distuli; nec scire fas est omnia_. Hor. I shall merely observe, that Annibal, after spending several months in studying and copying Coreggio during 1580, frequently returned again to admire him, and that such devoted enthusiasm was of wonderful advantage to him in acquiring the character of his model.

It was at this time that he painted the picture of a Pieta for the Capuchin friars, at Parma, approaching the nearest that ever was seen to that at S.

Giovanni, and from that period the Duke Ranuccio gave him several commissions for pictures, which are now to be met with at Naples.

The duke was a great lover of the arts, as we gather from a selection of artists employed by him, among whom were Lionello Spada, Schedoni, Trotti, and Gio. Sons, an able figure and a better landscape painter, whom Orlandi believes to have been instructed in Parma, and perfected in the art at Antwerp. It appears, that he also had much esteem for Ribera, who painted a chapel, which is now destroyed, at Santa Maria Bianca, in so fine a style, that according to Scaramuccia, it might have been mistaken for Coreggio's, and it awakened emulation even in the breast of Lodovico Caracci.[28] The chief merit, however, of the duke, and of his brother, the cardinal, consisted in estimating and employing the genius of the Caracci. In that court they were both fairly remunerated, and held in esteem; though, owing to the arts of some courtiers, history has preserved circ.u.mstances regarding these great men, calculated to move compa.s.sion.[29] To this early patronage we may trace the events which we find in the history of the Caracci, at different periods: Annibal engaged to paint the Farnese Gallery at Rome; Agostino called to Parma, in quality of its court-painter, an office in which he died; and Lodovico sent to Piacenza, along with Camillo Procaccini, in order to decorate the cathedral of that city. Hence also arose the principles of a new style at Parma, or rather of several new styles, which during the seventeenth century continued to spread both there and throughout the state, and which were first introduced by the artists of Bologna.

Footnote 28: See Lettere Pittoriche, tom. i. p. 211.

Footnote 29: Bellori, in his Life of Annibal, pp. 34, 35.

See also Malvasia, tom. i. pp. 334, 404, 405, 442. And Orlandi under the head _Gio. Batt. Trotti_.

Their scholars, besides Bertoia, were Giambatista Tinti, pupil to Sammachini, Giovanni Lanfranco, and Sis...o...b..dalocchi, who, having been acquainted with the younger Caracci, at Parma, became first attached to the school of Lodovico, in Bologna, and afterwards followed Annibal to Rome, where they continued to reside with him. These, although they were educated by the Bolognese, resemble certain characters who, though they may abandon their native soil, are never able to divest themselves of its memory or its language. In respect to Lanfranco, it is agreed by all, that no artist better imitated the grandeur of Coreggio in works upon a large scale; although he is neither equal to him in colouring, nor at all approaches him in high finish, nor is dest.i.tute of an air of originality peculiar to the head of a school. At Parma, he produced a picture representing all the saints in the church that bears their name; and in Piacenza, besides his saints Alessio and Corrado at the cathedral, works highly commended by Bellori, he painted an altar-piece of St. Luke, at the Madonna di Piazza, as well as a cupola, so avowedly imitated from that of S. Giovanni at Parma, that it can scarcely escape the charge of servility. Sis...o...b..dalocchi,[30] no way inferior to Lanfranco in point of facility, and other endowments of the art, approached very nearly to his style. It was even doubted in Parma, whether the picture of S. Quintino, in the church of that name, was the production of Lanfranco or his. Of the rest who flourished for the most part among the disciples of the Caracci, beyond the limits of their own state, we shall treat more opportunely under the Bolognese School.

Footnote 30: By Malvasia, tom. i. p. 517, he is called _Sisto Rosa_.

Giambatista Tinti acquired the art of design and of colouring from Sammachini at Bologna; he studied Tibaldi with great a.s.siduity, and painted upon his model at S. Maria della Scala, not without marks of plagiarism.[31] Having subsequently established himself at Parma, he selected for his chief model the works of Coreggio, and next proceeded to the study of Parmigianino. The city retains many of his productions, both in private and in public, among which that of the a.s.sumption in the cathedral, abounding with figures, and the Catino, at the old Capuchin Nuns, are accounted some of the last grand works belonging to the old school of Parma.

Footnote 31: Malvasia, tom. i. p. 212.

From the time these artists ceased to flourish, the art invariably declined. Towards the middle of the seventeenth century we find mention, in the Guide of Parma, of Fortunato Gatti and Gio. Maria Conti, both Parmese, who were shortly followed, if I mistake not, by Giulio Orlandini. They are better qualified to shew the succession of Parmese artists than of great painters. The name of one Girolamo da' Leoni, of Piacenza, is also recorded, who was employed along with Cunio, a Milanese, about the time of the Campi. At Piacenza likewise, after the middle of the century, appeared one Bartolommeo Baderna, pupil to the Cavalier Ferrante, whose works display more diligence than genius; whence Franceschini took occasion to say, that he had knocked loudly at the door of the great painters without being able to gain admission. In the mean while the court continued to promote the study of the fine arts throughout the state. It even sent a young man of talent, named Mauro Oddi, under the direction of Berettini, with a salary to Rome. He fulfilled the expectations of his patrons by his productions at the villa of Colorno, and he adorned some churches with specimens of his altar-pieces; but still he aimed more at the fame of an architect than of a painter. At the same time there was employed at court an artist named Francesco Monti, who painted likewise for churches and private collections. He was mentioned in the Venetian School, and exercised a more marked influence over the art at Parma. presenting it in Ilario Spolverini with a disciple of merit. Ilario, no less than his master, acquired reputation from his battle-pieces; and whether owing to exaggeration or to truth, it was commonly said that the soldiers of Monti threatened, and that those of Spolverini seemed to kill. He threw no less fierceness and terror into some of his a.s.sa.s.sin scenes, which are esteemed equal to his battles. He painted chiefly for the Duke Francesco, though there are some of his works on a larger scale, in oil and in fresco, placed in the cathedral, at the Certosa, and other places throughout the city and the state.

Spolverini instructed in the art Francesco Simonini, a distinguished battle-painter of that period. Orlandi says he was a scholar of Monti, and educated at Florence upon the model of Borgognone. He long resided at Venice, where, in the Sala Cappello, and in different collections, he left pictures which abound in figures, ornamented with fine architecture, and varied with every kind of skirmish and military exploits. Ilario instructed several young Parmese in the art, among whom, perhaps, were Antonio Fratacci, Clemente Ruta, and more indisputably the Ab. Giuseppe Peroni. The first under Cignani became a better copyist of his master than a painter, being called _pittor pratico_, a mechanical hand, by Bianconi in his Guide to Milan, where, as well as in Bologna, a few of his pictures are to be seen. At Parma he was not employed in public, as far as I can learn, but for collections, in which he holds a pretty high rank. Ruta was likewise educated in the academy of Cignani at Bologna. Returning to his native state, whose paintings he has described, he there entered into the service of the Infant Charles of Bourbon, as long as he remained at Parma, after which he accompanied his patron to Naples. Subsequently returning to Parma; he continued to employ himself with credit, until, near the period of his decease, he lost the use of his eyes.

The Ab. Peroni, in the first instance, repaired to Bologna, where he received the instructions of Torelli, of Creti and of Ercole Lelli. He next visited Rome, where he became pupil to Masucci; though it is probable that he was struck with the colouring of Conca and Giacquinto, who were then much in vogue, as his tints partake more or less of their verds, and other false use of colouring. For the rest he could design well, and in elegant subjects partakes much of Maratta, as we perceive from his S. Philip in S.

Satiro at Milan, and from the Conception, in possession of the Padri dell'

Oratorio, at Turin. In Parma his productions are to be seen at S. Antonio Abbate, where his frescos appear to advantage, and there is an altar-piece of Christ Crucified, placed in compet.i.tion with Battoni and Cignaroli, and here more than elsewhere he is ent.i.tled to rank among the good painters of this last age. He adorned his native place and its academy with his pictures, and died there at an advanced age. The career of Pietro Ferrari was much shorter, although he had time to produce several fine pictures for the public, besides that of his B. da Corleone in the church of the Capuchins, as well as more for private collections. He imitated the ancient manner of his school, no less than more recent styles.[32]

Footnote 32: I wish here to offer a brief tribute to the merit of his deceased master, (he died two years since) who, though a native of Pavia, resided a long period at Parma. He studied in Florence under Meucci, next at Paris, where one of his pictures was greatly applauded, and the artist elected to a place in that distinguished academy of art. On his return he became first painter to the court at Parma, and produced works no less than pupils calculated to reflect credit on his country. His Prometheus freed by Hercules, placed at the academy, his large portrait-piece of the family of Philip, Duke of Parma, which is pointed out in the Guardarobas as his best specimen, fully justify the reputation he enjoyed while living, and which continues beyond the tomb. The name of this artist was Giuseppe Baldrighi, and he died at Parma, aged eighty years.

In Piacenza there flourished Pier Antonio Avanzini, educated by Franceschini at Bologna. He is said to have been wanting in imagination, which led him, for the most part, to copy from his master's designs. Gio.

Batista Tagliasacchi, from Borgo S. Donnino, sprung from the school of Giuseppe del Sole, and displayed a fine genius for elegant subjects, which induced him to study Coreggio, Parmigianino, and Guido. He was particularly ambitious of adding Raffaello to the list, but his parents would not permit him to visit Rome. He resided and employed himself chiefly at Piacenza, where there is a Holy Family much admired in the cathedral, which, in its ideal cast of features, partakes of the Roman style, and is not inferior to the Lombards in point of colouring. He was an artist, if I mistake not, of far greater merit than fortune.

Finally, the state was never in want of excellent masters in minor branches of the art. Fabrizio Parmigiano is commended by Baglioni amongst the landscape painters of his age. He was a.s.sisted by his wife Ippolita in drawing for Italian collections, and he visited a variety of places previous to his arrival at Rome, where he also adorned a few of the churches with his wood-scenes, and views, with hermits, &c. and died there at an early age. His style was, perhaps, more ideal than true, as it prevailed before the time of the Caracci; but it was spirited and diligent.

There is known also one Gialdisi, of Parma, whom, from his residence in Cremona, Zaist enumerates among the professors of that school as a celebrated painter of flowers. He frequently represented them upon small tables covered with tapestry, and he added also musical instruments, books, and playing-cards, the whole depicted with an air of truth and a fine colouring, that obtained for him from such inconsiderable objects a large portion of fame. I must also record Felice Boselli of Piacenza, who became, under the direction of the Nuvoloni, a tolerable artist in figures, though he succeeded best in copying ancient pictures, even so as to deceive the eye of experienced judges by the exactness of his imitations. Following the bent of his genius, he began to draw animals, sometimes with their skins, and at others, as they are exposed to view in the shambles; besides collections of birds and fishes, arranging them in order, and all coloured from the life. The palaces in Piacenza abound with them, Boselli, having survived beyond his eightieth year, and despatching them with facility and mechanically, whence all his productions are not equally ent.i.tled to esteem. Gianpaolo Pannini belonged to the Roman School, in which he both learned and taught, and in treating of which I rendered him that justice which the public admiration of his perspective views, and of his peculiar grace in small figures, seemed to require. Many fine specimens were sent from Rome to his native country, and among these the Signori della Missione possess a very rare picture, inasmuch as the figures are on a larger scale than those which he in general drew. It represents the Money Changers driven out of the Temple by our Lord; the architecture is truly magnificent, and the figures full of spirit and variety. The governor, Count Carasi, the able ill.u.s.trator of the public paintings in Piacenza, declared that he was the only artist then deceased, of whom the city could justly boast. Such deficiency ought not to be ascribed to its climate, abounding as it does with genius, but to the want of a local school, a want, however, which was converted into a source of great utility to the city. If we examine the catalogue of painters who flourished there, with which the Count Carasi closes his work, we shall find that, with the exception of the capitals, no other city of Italy was so rich in excellent painters belonging to every school. Had it possessed masters, they would have produced for every excellent disciple, at least twenty of only middling talent, whose works would have filled its palaces and churches, as it has happened to so many other secondary cities.

Like one university for letters, one academy for the fine arts is usually found sufficient for a single state; and in particular, where it is established, supported, and encouraged in the manner of that at Parma. It owed its origin to Don Philip of Bourbon, in 1757, the tenth year of his government; and his son, who at this time bears sway, continues to promote the interests of the inst.i.tution.[33] Nothing can be better calculated to revive among us the n.o.ble genius of the art of painting, than the method there adopted in the distribution of premiums. The subject of the painting being proposed, the young artists invited to the compet.i.tion are not confined to those of the state; and consequently the industry of the most able and best matured students is laid under contribution, in every place, for the service of Parma. The method of holding the a.s.sembly, the skill and integrity of the umpires, and the whole form of the decision, excludes every doubt or suspicion respecting the superiority of the piece adjudged.

The artist is largely remunerated; but his highest ambition is gratified in having been p.r.o.nounced the first among so many compet.i.tors, and before such an a.s.semblage. This is of itself always sufficient to raise the successful candidate above the common standard, and often leads to fortune. The prize painting a.s.sumes its perpetual station in one of the academic halls, along with the favourite pieces of previous years, forming a series which already excites a warm interest among the lovers of the fine arts. Since the period when the Cortona manner began to lose ground in Italy, a manner that, under such a variety of names and sects, had usurped so wide a sway, the art in our own times has approached a sort of crisis, which as yet forms an essay of new styles, rather than any prevailing one characteristic of this new era. It is in such a collection, better than in any book, that we may study the state of our existing schools; what maxims are now enforced; what kind of imitation, and with how much freedom, is allowed; from what source we are to look for a chance of recovering the ancient art of colouring; what profit painting has derived from the copies of the best pictures published in engravings, and from the precepts of the masters communicated through the medium of prints. I am aware that a variety of opinion is entertained on this head, nor would my own, were I to interpose it, give weight to any of the conflicting arguments in this matter. But I am happy to say, that finding at length appeals made to reason, which were formerly referred to practice, I feel inclined rather to indulge hopes than doubt or diffidence in regard to the future.

Footnote 33: The professors who reflect credit upon it are enumerated by P. Aff in the works cited in this chapter.

CHAPTER IV.

SCHOOL OF CREMONA.

EPOCH I.

_The Ancients._

I have never perused the history of Bernardino, and the rest of the pictoric family of the Campi, written some time since by Baldinucci, and more recently by Giambatista Zaist, without thinking that I see in the school which these artists established at Cremona, a sketch of that which was subsequently formed by the Caracci in Bologna. In both these cities a single family projected the formation of a new style of painting, which should partake of all the Italian schools, without committing plagiarism against any; and from each family in its respective city sprung a numerous series of excellent masters, who partly by themselves and partly by means of their disciples, adorned their country with their works, the art by their example, and history itself with their names. Why the Cremonese School did not keep pace with that of Bologna in reputation, nor continue so long as the Caracci's, and why the latter completed in a manner what the other only essayed, was occasioned by a variety of causes which I shall gradually explain in the course of the present chapter. In the outset, agreeably to my usual plan, I mean to investigate the origin and principles of this school, nor shall we need to go farther back than the foundation of the magnificent cathedral in 1107, which as speedily as possible was decorated with all that sculpture and painting could afford. Its specimens of both are such as to gratify the eye of the antiquary, who may wish to trace through what channels, and by what degrees, the arts first began to revive in Italy. The sculpture there does not indeed present us with any works that may not likewise be found in Verona, in Crema, and other places; whereas the paintings remaining in the ceiling of the two lateral naves, may be considered uniques, and deserve the trouble of examining them more nearly, on account of the smallness of the figures and the want of light.

They consist of sacred histories; the design is extremely dry, the colours are strong, and their drapery wholly novel, except that some of them still continue to be seen in the modern masks and theatres of Italy. Some specimens of architecture are introduced, presenting only right lines, like what we see in our oldest wood engravings, and explanations are also inserted, indicating the princ.i.p.al figures, in the manner of the more ancient mosaic-workers, when the eye, yet unaccustomed to behold pictoric histories, required some such ill.u.s.tration of the subject. Yet we can gather no traces of the Greek mosaics; the whole is Italian, national, and new. The characters leave us in doubt whether we ought to ascribe them to the age of Giotto, or to that preceding him, but the figures attest that their author was indebted neither to Giotto nor his master for what he knew. I can learn nothing of his name from the ancient historians of the school, neither from Antonio Campi, Pietro Lamo, nor Gio. Batista Zaist, whom I have already cited, and who compiled two volumes of memoirs of the old artists of Cremona, edited by Panni in the year 1774.

I may, however, safely a.s.sert that there were painters who flourished in the Cremonese as early as 1213; for on occasion of the city obtaining a victory over the people of Milan, the event was commemorated in a picture, in the palace of Lanfranco Oldovino, one of the leaders of the Cremonese army, and for this we have the testimony of Flameno in his History of Castelleone.[34] There is also recorded by the Ab. Sarnelli, in his "Foreigner's Guide to Naples," as well as by the Can. Celano, in the "Notices of the Beauties of Naples," a M. Simone of Cremona, who, about 1335, painted in S. Chiara, and is the same mentioned by Surgente, author of the "Naples Ill.u.s.trated," as Simon da Siena, and by Dominici as Simone Napolitano. In a former volume I adhered to the opinion of Dominici, inasmuch as he cites Criscuolo and his archives; but let the authority rest with them. Other names might be added, which Zaist has in part collected from MSS., and in part from published doc.u.ments, such as Polidoro Casella, who flourished about 1345, Angelo Bellavita in 1420, Jacopino Marasca, mentioned in 1430, Luca Sclavo, named by Flameno, subsequent to 1450, among excellent painters, and among the friends of Francesco Sforza, besides Gaspare Bonino, who became celebrated about the year 1460. Hence it may be perceived that this school was not dest.i.tute of a series of artists, during a long period, although no specimens of their art survive to confirm it.

Footnote 34: See Zaist, p. 12.

The earliest that is to be met with bearing a name and certain date, is a picture which belonged to Zaist, representing Julian (afterwards the saint) killing his father and mother, whom he mistakes for his wife and her paramour. Below the couch on which they are found, are inscribed the two following verses:--

Hoc quod Manteneae didicit sub dogmate clari, Antonii Cornae dextera pinxit opus.--MCCCCLXXVIII.

The name of Antonio della Corna is handed down to us by history, and from this monument he is discovered to have been a pupil of Mantegna, and a follower of the first rather than the second style of his master. But he does not appear to have flourished a sufficient time, or he was not in repute enough to have a place among the painters of the cathedral, in the fourteenth century, who left there a monument of the art that may vie with the Sistine chapel; and if I mistake not the figures of those ancient Florentines are more correct, those of the cathedral more animated. There is a frieze surrounding the arches of the church, divided into several squares, each of which contains a scriptural history painted in fresco.

Upon this work a number of Cremonese artists, all of high repute, were successively employed.

The first in this list, subscribed in one of these compartments, _Bembus incipiens_, and in the other compartment 14-- ... under his paintings of the Epiphany and the Purification. The remaining figures after the above, have long been concealed by a side wing of the organ. But the sense is very clear, the name and the date of the centuries appearing together; nor are we at a loss to perceive that the artist, in an undertaking to be conducted by many, and during many years, was desirous of commemorating his name, as the first who commenced it, and in what year. Some, nevertheless, have wished to infer, by detaching the words _Bembus incipiens_ from the rest, that the artist meant to inform us he was then first entering upon his profession; as if the people of Cremona, in the decoration of their finest temple, which was long conducted by the most celebrated painters, would have selected a novice to begin. It is, however, a question whether the inscription refers to Bonifazio Bembo, or to Gianfrancesco his younger brother; but apparently we ought to give it, with Vasari, to the former, a distinguished artist who was employed by the court of Milan as early as 1461, while Gio. Francesco flourished later, as we shall shortly have occasion to shew. In the two histories with which Bembo commenced his labours, as well as in those that follow, he shews himself an able artist, spirited in his att.i.tudes, glowing in his colours, magnificent in his draperies, although still confined within the sphere of the naturalists, and copying from the truth without displaying much selection, if he does not occasionally transgress it by want of correctness. Both our dictionaries of artists and Bottari have confounded this Bonifazio with a Venetian of the same name, whom we have mentioned in his place.