The History Of Painting In Italy Volume V Part 4

Domenico Zampieri, otherwise Domenichino, is at this day universally esteemed the most distinguished pupil of the Caracci; and has even been preferred by Count Algarotti to the Caracci themselves. What is still more, Poussin ranked him directly next to Raffaello; and in the introduction to the life of Cama.s.sei, almost the same opinion is given by Pa.s.seri. During the early part of his career his genius appeared slow, because it was profound and accurate; and Pa.s.seri attributes his grand progress more to his amazing study than to his genius. From his acting as a continual censor of his own productions, he became among his fellow pupils the most exact and expressive designer, his colours most true to nature, and of the best _impasto_, the most universal master in the theory of his art, the sole painter amongst them all in whom Mengs found nothing to desire, except a somewhat larger proportion of elegance. That he might devote his whole being to the art, he shunned all society, or if he occasionally sought it in the public theatres and markets, it was in order better to observe the play of nature's pa.s.sions in the features of the people;--those of joy, anger, grief, terror, and every affection of the mind, and to commit it living to his tablets; and thus, exclaims Bellori, it was, he succeeded in delineating the soul, in colouring life, and rousing those emotions in our b.r.e.a.s.t.s at which his works all aim; as if he waved the same wand which belonged to the poetical enchanters, Ta.s.so and Ariosto. After several years' severe study at Bologna, he went to Parma to examine the beautiful works of the Lombards; and thence to Rome, where he completed his erudite taste under Annibal, who selected him as one of his a.s.sistants.

His style of painting is almost theatrical, and he in general lays the scene amidst some splendid exhibition of architecture,[29] which serves to confer upon his compositions a new and elevated character in the manner of Paul Veronese. There he introduces his actors, selected from nature's finest models, and animated by the n.o.blest impulses of the art. The virtuous have an expression so sweet, so sincere, and so affectionate, as to inspire the love of what is good. And in the like manner do the vicious, with their guilty features, create in us as deep aversion to their vice. We must despair to find paintings exhibiting richer or more varied ornaments, accessaries more beautifully adapted, or more majestic draperies. The figures are finely disposed both in place and action, conducing to the general effect; while a light pervades the whole which seems to rejoice the spirit; growing brighter and brighter in the aspect of the best countenances, whence they first attract the eye and heart of the beholder.

The most delightful mode of view is to take in the whole scene, and observe how well each personage represents his intended part. In general there is no want of an interpreter to declare what the actors think and speak; they bear it stamped upon their features and att.i.tudes; and though gifted with audible words, they could not tell their tale to the ear, more plainly than they speak it to the eye. Surely, of this, we have proof in the Scourging of St. Andrew, at S. Gregorio, at Rome, executed in compet.i.tion with Guido, and placed opposite to his St. Andrew, in the act of being led to the gibbet. It is commonly reported that an aged woman, accompanied by a little boy, was seen long wistfully engaged with viewing Domenichino's picture, shewing it part by part to the boy, and next turning to the history by Guido, she gave it a cursory glance, and pa.s.sed on. Some a.s.sert, that Annibal, being acquainted with the fact, took occasion from the circ.u.mstance to give his preference to the former piece. It is moreover added, that in painting one of the executioners, he actually threw himself into a pa.s.sion, using threatening words and actions, and that Annibal surprising him at that moment, embraced him, exclaiming with joy, "To-day, my Domenichino, thou art teaching me!" So novel, and at the same time so natural it appeared to him, that the artist, like the orator, should feel within himself all that he is representing to others.

Footnote 29: He was likewise very eminent in this branch, being named by Gregory XV. as architect for the Apostolic Palace.

Yet this picture of the Scourging is in no way to be compared with the Communion of S. Jerome, or to the Martyrdom of S. Agnes, and other works, conducted in his riper years. The first of these is generally allowed to be the finest picture Rome can boast next to the Transfiguration of Raffaello; while the second was estimated by his rival Guido at ten times the merit of Raffaello's own pieces.[30] In these church paintings one great attraction consists in the glory of the angels, exquisitely beautiful in feature, full of lively action, and so introduced as to perform the most gracious offices in the piece; the crowning of martyrs, the bearing palms, the scattering of roses, weaving the mazy dance, and waking sweet melodies. In the att.i.tudes we often trace the imitation of Coreggio; yet the forms are different, and for the most part have a flatness of the nose, which distinguishes them, and gives them an air of comeliness. Much, however, as Domenichino delighted in oil-painting, he is more soft and harmonious in his frescos; some of which are to be seen, besides those in Naples, at Fano, but the greatest part of them were destroyed by fire. They consist of scriptural histories in a chapel of the cathedral; of mythological incidents in villa Bracciano, at Frascati; the acts of S. Nilo, at Grotta Ferrata; and various sacred subjects interspersed through different churches at Rome. In the corbels of the cupolas at S. Carlo a' Catinari, and at S. Andrea della Valle, he painted, at the former, the four Virtues, at the latter, the four Evangelists, still regarded as models after innumerable similar productions. At S. Andrea also are seen various histories of that saint in the tribune, besides those of St. Cecilia, at S. Luigi; others at S.

Silvestro, in the Quirinal of David, and other scriptural subjects, which in point of composition and taste of costume are by some esteemed superior to the rest.

Footnote 30: The Cav. Puccini very justly condemns this opinion in his _Esame Critico del Webb_, p. 49.

It seems almost incredible, that works like these, which now engage the admiration of professors themselves, should once, as I have narrated, have been decried to such a degree, that the author was long dest.i.tute of all commissions, and even on the point of transferring his genius to the art of sculpture. This was in part owing to the arts of his rivals, who represented his very excellences as defects, and in part to some little faults of his own. Domenichino was less distinguished for invention than for any other branch of his profession. Of this, his picture of the Rosary at Bologna affords an instance, which neither at that period nor since has been fully understood by the public; and it is known not to have pleased even his own friends, which led the author to regret its production.

Diffident thenceforward of his powers in this department, he often borrowed the ideas of others; imitated Agostino in his St. Jerome, the S. Rocco, of Annibal, in his almsgiving of St. Cecilia; and even other less eminent artists; observing, that in every picture he found something good, as Pliny said, that from every book we may cull some useful information. These imitations afforded occasion for his rivals to charge him with poverty of invention, procuring an engraving of Agostino's St. Jerome, of which they circulated copies, denouncing Domenico Zampieri as a plagiarist. Lanfranco, the chief agent in these intrigues, exhibited on the contrary only his own designs, invariably novel, and made a display of his own celerity and promptness of hand, as contrasted with his rival's want of resolution and despatch. Had Domenichino enjoyed the same advantages of party as the Caracci in Bologna, which he well deserved, he would soon have triumphed over his adversaries, by proving the distinction between imitation and servility,[31] and that if his works were longer in being brought to perfection than his rival's, their reputation would be proportionally durable. The public is an equitable judge; but a good cause is not sufficient without the advantage of many voices to sanction it.

Domenichino, timid, retired, and master of few pupils, was dest.i.tute of a party equal to his cause. He was constrained to yield to the crowd that trampled him, thus verifying the observation of Monsig. Agucchi, that his worth would never be rightly appreciated during his lifetime. The spirit of party pa.s.sing away, impartial posterity has rendered him justice; nor is there a royal gallery but confesses an ambition for his specimens. His figure pieces are in the highest esteem, and fetch enormous prices. He is rarely to be met with except in capital cities; his David is a first rate object of inquiry to all strangers visiting the college of Fano, who have the least pretensions to taste; the figure of the king, as large as life, being of itself sufficient to render an artist's name immortal.

Footnote 31: See the defence set up by Crespi, both for Domenichino and Ma.s.sari, another imitator of Agostino's picture. It is inserted in the _Certosa di Bologna_, described at p. 26. He has also been commended by Bellori for his slowness of hand, who brings forward some of his maxims, such as that, "no single line is worthy of a real painter which is not dictated by the genius before it is traced by the hand; that excellence consists in the full and proper completion of works;" and he used to reproach those pupils who designed in sketch, and coloured by dashes of the pencil (p. 213). We meet with a third apology in Pa.s.seri, (p. 4,) for some figures borrowed from the Farnese Gallery, and imitated by Domenichino in the histories of St. Jerome in the portico of S. Onofrio. At p. 9 too he defends him in regard to the style of his folds, in which by some he was thought too scanty, and too hard in their disposition.

There is a small, but inestimable picture of St. Francis, that belonged to the late Count Jacopo Zambeccari, at Bologna. The saint is seen in the act of prayer, and by the animated and flushed expression of the eyes, it appears as if his heart had just been dissolved in tears. Two pictures, likewise beautifully composed, I have seen at Genoa; the Death of Adonis bewailed by Venus, in the Durazzo Gallery just before mentioned, and the S.

Rocco in the Brignole Sale, offering up prayers for the cessation of the plague. The att.i.tude of the holy man; the eagerness of those who seek him; the tragic exhibition of the dying and the dead around him; a funeral procession going by; an infant seen on the bosom of its dead mother, vainly seeking its wonted nutriment; all shake the soul of the spectator as if he were beholding the real scene. Among his pictures from profane history the most celebrated is his Chase of Diana, in the Borghesi Palace, filled with spirited forms of nymphs, and lively incidents. In the same collection are some of his landscapes, as well as in that of Florence; and some of his portraits in others. Here too he is excellent, but they are the least difficult branches to acquire. Respecting his other works, and the most eminent of his pupils, enough has been stated in the Roman and Neapolitan schools. He educated for his native place Gio. Batista Ruggieri; and to his numerous other misfortunes was added the pain of finding him ungrateful, after having rendered him eminent in his art. This pupil united with Gessi in quality of a.s.sistant; and as we shall shew, also took his denomination from him. Pa.s.seri dwells on this disappointment of Domenichino incidentally in his life of Algardi, (p. 198).

Next to Zampieri comes his intimate friend Francesco Albani, "who, aiming at the same object," observes Malvasia, "and adopting the same means, pursued the like glorious career." They agree in a general taste for select design, solidity, pathetic power, and likewise in their tints, except in Albani's fleshes being ruddier, and not unfrequently faded, from his method of laying on the grounds. In point of original invention he is superior to Domenichino, and perhaps to any other of the school; and in his representation of female forms, according to Mengs, he has no equal. By some he is denominated the Anacreon of painting. Like that poet, with his short odes, so Albani, from his small paintings, acquired great reputation; and as the one sings Venus and the Loves, and maids and boys, so does the artist hold up to the eye the same delicate and graceful subjects. Nature, indeed formed, the perusal of the poets inclined, and fortune encouraged his genius for this kind of painting; and possessing a consort and twelve children, all of surprising beauty, he was at the same time blest with the finest models for the pursuit of his studies. He had a villa most delightfully situated, which farther presented him with a variety of objects, enabling him to represent the beautiful rural views so familiar to his eye. Pa.s.seri greatly extols his talent in this branch, remarking, that where others, being desirous of suiting figures to the landscape, or its various objects to one another, most frequently alter their natural colour, he invariably preserves the green of his trees, the clearness of his waters, and the serenity of the air, under the most lovely aspect; and contrived to unite them with the most enchanting power of harmony.

Upon such grounds, for the most part, he places and disposes his compositions, although he may occasionally introduce specimens of his architecture, in which he is equally expert. His pictures are often met with in collections, or to speak more correctly, they re-appear, inasmuch as both he himself made repet.i.tions, and practised his pupils in them, giving them his own touches. He exhibits few baccha.n.a.ls, avoiding figures that had already been so admirably treated by Annibal in many of his little pictures, from which, if I mistake not, Albano drew the first ideas of his style; adapting it to his own talent, which was not so elevated as that of Annibal. His most favourite themes are the sleeping Venus, Diana in her bath, Danae on her couch, Galatea in the sea, Europa on the bull, a piece which is also seen on a large scale in the Colonna and Bolognetti collections at Rome, and in that of the Conti Mosca at Pesaro. How beautifully do those figures of the Loves throw their veil over the virgin, in order to protect her from the sun's rays, while others are seen drawing forward the bull with bands of flowers, or goading him in the side with their darts. At times he introduces them in the dance, weaving garlands, and practising with their bows at a heart suspended in the air for a target. Occasionally he conceals some doctrine, or ingenious allegory, under the veil of painting; as in those four oval pictures of the Elements in the Borghesi palace, which he repeated for the royal gallery at Turin.

There too are Cupids seen employed in tempering Vulcan's darts; spreading their snares for birds upon the wing; fis.h.i.+ng and swimming in the sea; culling and wreathing flowers, as if intended to represent the system of the ancients, who referred every work of nature to Genii, and with Genii accordingly peopled the world. To sacred subjects Albano devoted less attention, but did not vary his taste. The entire action of such pieces was made to depend on the ministry of graceful cherubs, in a manner similar to that which was subsequently adopted by P. Tornielli in his marine canzonettes, where, in every history of the Virgin and Holy Child, he introduces a throng of them as a sacred train. Another very favourite repet.i.tion of idea is that of representing the Infant Christ, with his eye turned towards Heaven upon the angels, some in the act of bringing thorns, some the scourge, some the cross, or other symbols of his future pa.s.sion.

There is a picture of this kind in Florence, to which I alluded in the _Description_ of the ducal gallery, and it is also found somewhat varied in two fine pieces; one at the Domenicani in Forli, the other in Bologna, at the Filippini. These, and other works of Albani, interspersed throughout different cities, as in Matelica, in Osimo, in Rimini, besides his fresco paintings in Bologna, at S. Michele in Bosco, at S. Jacopo, of the Spaniards at Rome, with the design of Annibal; these sufficiently exhibit his superior talent for large paintings, although he applied himself with greater zest and vigour to those on a smaller scale.

Albani opened an academy for several years at Rome, and at Bologna, invariably a compet.i.tor of Guido, both in his magisterial and his professional capacity.[32] Hence arose those strictures upon his style which Guido's disciples affected to despise as loose and effeminate, wanting elegance in the virile forms, while those of the boys were all of the same proportion, and his heads of the Holy Family, and of saints had always one idea. Similar accusations, advanced likewise against Pietro Perugino, are not calculated to depress so great an artist's merit, so much as the esteem of Annibal, his own writings, and his pupils, serve to raise him in our regard. It is matter of historical fact that Annibal, seized with admiration of some of his small pictures, and among others a bacchante, seen at a fountain pouring out wine, purchased it, and declared that he had not even paid for the drops of water so exquisitely coloured by the wine. Of his writings there remain only a few fragments, preserved by Malvasia, not indeed reduced to method, a task that ought to devolve on some other pen, but highly valuable from the information and maxims which they contain. Among his pupils Sacchi and Cignani are in themselves sufficient to reflect credit upon their master, the first of whom sustained the art at Rome, the other at Bologna, and to whose efforts it was owing that its reputation so long continued in both those schools. There, moreover, we recounted the names of Speranza, and Mola, of Lugano, his n.o.ble disciples; and to these, besides Cignani, to whom we refer elsewhere, we can add a considerable number. Gio. Batista Mola, a Frenchman, long continued with Albano, and, according to Boschini, resided with the other Mola at Venice, where they copied a vast work of Paul Veronese for Cardinal b.i.+.c.hi. He displayed surprising skill in drawing rural scenes and trees, and being preferred by many in this branch to his master, he often added landscape to his master's figures, and occasionally adapted figures to his own landscape, very beautiful, in Albani's style, but without his softness.

In the excellent collection of the Marchesi Rinuccini, at Florence, is a picture of the Repose in Egypt, by the same hand. Two other foreign pupils also did him credit; Antonio Catalani, called Il Romano, and Girolamo Bonini, also from his native place, ent.i.tled l'Anconitano, who, in imitating Albani, was equalled by few, and who enjoyed his perfect confidence and friends.h.i.+p. Settling at Bologna, they there employed themselves with reputation in some elegant works, and left several histories in fresco in the public palace. In this last branch, Pierantonio Torri also distinguished himself, called, in Guarienti's lexicon, Antonio, dropping Pietro on the authority of the Pa.s.sagiere disingannato; and Torrigli, in the Guide of Venice, where he painted the architectural parts in the church of S. Giuseppe for the figures of Ricchi. Filippo Menzani is known only as the attached disciple and faithful copyist of his master.

Gio. Batista Galli, and Bartolommeo Morelli, the former called from his birth-place, Bibiena, the latter Pianoro, were similarly employed in taking copies from him; though the second applied to it with extreme reluctance, on account of Albani being "too highly finished, diligent, and laborious, for the task of copying." Both these artists are commended by the continuator of Malvasia. Bibiena, though he died early, conducted works that might be ascribed to Albani, in particular the Ascension at the Certosa, and his St. Andrew at the Servi in Bologna. Pianoro succeeded admirably well in his frescos, more especially in the chapel of Casa Pepoli at S. Bartolommeo di Porta, decorated by him throughout in such exquisite taste, that, were history silent, it would be said to have been designed and coloured by Albani's own hand.

Footnote 32: This rivals.h.i.+p is questioned in many places by Malvasia, and denied by Orlandi, who in the article Francesco Albano, designates him as the sworn friend of Guido Reni, in close union with whom he prosecuted their delightful art; but this can only apply to their early years.

By some, Guido Reni is esteemed the great genius of the school; nor did any other single artist excite so much jealousy in the Caracci. Lodovico was unable to disguise it; and from a pupil he made him his rival, and in order to humble him, bestowed his favour on Guercino, an artist in quite another taste. Annibal too, after some years, on seeing him at Rome, blamed Albani for inviting him thither; and, in order to depress him, he put Domenichino in opposition to him. Even from the age of twenty, when he left the school of Calvart, the Caracci discovered in him a rare genius for the art, so elevated and ambitious of distinction, that he aspired to something great and novel from the outset of his career. Some of his early efforts are to be seen in the Bonfigliuoli palace, and in other choice collections, displaying a variety of manner. He devoted much study to Albert Durer, he imitated the Caracci, studied the forms of Cesi, and, like Pa.s.serotti, aimed at giving strong relief and accuracy to the drawing of the muscles.

In some instances he followed Caravaggio, and in the aforesaid palace is a figure of a sibyl, very beautiful in point of features, but greatly overlaid with depth of shade. The style he adopted arose particularly from an observation on that of Caravaggio one day incidentally made by Annibal Caracci, that to this manner there might be opposed one wholly contrary; in place of a confined and declining light, to exhibit one more full and vivid; to subst.i.tute the tender for the bold, to oppose clear outlines to his indistinct ones, and to introduce for his low and common figures those of a more select and beautiful kind.

These words made a much deeper impression on the mind of Guido than Annibal was aware of; nor was it long before he wholly applied himself to the style thus indicated to him. Sweetness was his great object; he sought it equally in design, in the touch of his pencil, and in colouring; from that time he began to make use of white lead, a colour avoided by Lodovico, and at the same time predicted the durability of his tints, such as they have proved.

His fellow pupils were indignant at his presuming to depart from the Caracci's method, and returning to the feeble undecided manner of the past century. Nor did he pretend to be indifferent to their remarks and advice.

He still preserved that strength of style, so much aimed at by his school, while he softened it with more than its usual delicacy; and by degrees proceeding in the same direction, he, in a few years, attained to the degree of delicacy he had proposed. For this reason I have observed that in Bologna, more than elsewhere, his first is distinguished from his second manner, and it is made a question which of the two is preferable. Nor do all agree with Malvasia, who p.r.o.nounced his former the most pleasing, his latter manner the most studied.

In these variations, however, he never lost sight of that exquisite ease which so much attracts us in his works. He was more particularly attentive to the correct form of beauty, especially in his youthful heads. Here, in the opinion of Mengs, he surpa.s.sed all others, and, according to Pa.s.seri's expression, he drew faces of Paradise. In these Rome abounds more richly than Bologna itself. The Fortune in the capitol; the Aurora, belonging to the Rospigliosi; the Helen to the Spada; the Herodias to the Corsini; the Magdalen to the Barberini, with other subjects in possession of several princes, are regarded as the wonders of Guido's art. This power of beauty was, in the words of Albano, his most bitter and constant rival, the gift of nature; though the whole was the result of his own intense study of natural beauty, and of Raffaello, and of the ancient statues, medals, and cameos. He declared that the Medicean Venus and the Niobe were his most favourite models; and it is seldom we do not recognize in his paintings either Niobe herself, or one of her children, though diversified in a variety of manner with such exquisite skill, as in no way to appear borrowed. In the same way did Guido derive advantage from Raffaello, Coreggio, Parmigianino, and from his beloved Paul Veronese; from all of whom he selected innumerable beauties, but with such happy freedom of hand as to excite the envy of the Caracci. And, in truth, this artist aimed less at copying beautiful countenances, than at forming for himself a certain general and abstract idea of beauty, as we know was done by the Greeks, and this he modulated and animated in his own style. I find mention, that being interrogated by one of his pupils, _in what part of heaven, in what mould_ existed those wondrous features which he only drew, he pointed to the casts of the antique heads just alluded to, adding, "You too may gather from such examples beauties similar to those in my pictures, if your skill be equal to the task." I find, moreover, that he took for model of one of his Magdalens, the extremely vulgar head of a colour-grinder; but under Guido's hand every defect disappeared, each part became graceful, the whole a miracle. Thus too in his naked figures he reduced them, whatever they were, to a perfect form, more especially in the hands and feet, in which he is singular, and the same in his draperies, which he often drew from the prints of Albert Durer, enriching them, freed from their dryness, with those flowing folds or that grandeur of disposition best adapted to the subject. To portraits themselves, while he preserved the forms and age of the originals, he gave a certain air of novelty and grace, such as we see in that of Sixtus V., placed in the Galli palace at Osimo, or in that wonderful one of Cardinal Spada, in possession of some of his descendants at Rome. There is no one action, position, or expression at all injurious to his figures; the pa.s.sions of grief, terror, sorrow, are all combined with the expression of beauty; he turns them every way as he lists, he changes them into every att.i.tude, always equally pleasing, and every one equally ent.i.tled to the eulogy of displaying in every action, and in every step, the beauty which secretly animates and accompanies it.[33]

Footnote 33: Illam quidquid agat, quoquo vestigia vertat, Componit furtim, subsequiturque decor.--TIBUL.

What most surprises us is the variety which he infuses into this beauty, resulting no less from his richness of imagination than from his studies.

Still continuing to design in the academy up to the close of his career, he practised his invention how best to vary his idea of the beautiful, so as to free it from all monotony and satiety. He was fond of depicting his countenances with upraised looks, and used to say that he had a hundred different modes of thus representing them. He displayed equal variety in his draperies, though invariably preferring to draw the folds ample, easy, natural, and with clear meaning, as to their origin, progress, and disposition. Nor did he throw less diversity into the ornaments of his youthful heads, disposing the tresses, whether loose, bound, or left in artful confusion, always different, and sometimes casting over them a veil, fillet, or turban, so as to produce some fresh display of grace. Nor were his heads of old men inferior in this respect, displaying even the inequality of the skin, the flow of the beard, with the hair turned as we see on every side, and animating the features with a few bold, decided touches, and few lights, so as to give great effect at a distance, altogether with a surprising degree of nature; specimens of which are seen at the Pitti palace, the Barberina and Albana galleries; and yet among the least rare of this artist's productions. He bestowed similar attention to varying his fleshes; in delicate subjects he made them of the purest white, adding, moreover, certain livid and azure, mixed among middle tints, open to a charge, at least by some, of mannerism.[34]

Footnote 34: The harmony and union of colour of this artist would seem to excuse some trifling licenses, respecting which see Lazzarini upon the Paintings of Pesaro, p. 29.

The preceding commendations, however, will not extend to the whole of Guido's works. His inequality is well known, but not owing to any maxim of his art. It arose from his love of play, a failing which obscured his many moral qualities. His profits were great; but he was kept continually in a state of indigence by his losses, which he endeavoured to repair by the too negligent practice of his art. Hence we trace occasional errors in perspective, and deficiency of invention, a defect so much insisted upon by the implacable Albani. Hence too his incorrectness of design, the disproportion of his figures, and his works put to sale before their completion. Yet these are not excluded from royal cabinets, and that of Turin possesses one of Marsyas, a finely finished figure, before which is seen standing little more than the sketch of an Apollo. To form then a fair estimate of Guido, we must turn to other efforts which raised him to high reputation. Among his most excellent pieces I am of opinion that his Crucifixion of St. Peter, at Rome, is a specimen of his boldest manner; the Miracle of the Manna at Ravenna, the Conception at Forli, the Slaughter of the Innocents at Bologna; and there too his celebrated picture of Saints Peter and Paul in the Casa Sampieri. Specimens of his more tender manner may be found in the St. Michael at Rome, the Purification at Modena, the Job at Bologna, St. Thomas the Apostle at Pesaro, the a.s.sumption at Genoa, one of Guido's most studied pieces, and placed directly opposite the St.

Ignatius of Rubens.

Guido taught at Rome, and gave his pupils, as we have stated, to that city.

He educated still more for his native place, where he opened a school, frequented by more than two hundred pupils, as we are informed by Crespi.

Nor are we by this number to measure the dignity of his character as a master. He was an accomplished head of his school, who, in every place, introduced into the art a more sweet and engaging manner, ent.i.tled in the times of Malvasia the modern manner. Even his rivals took advantage of it, the fact being indisputable that Domenichino, Albano, and Lanfranco, along with their best disciples, derived that degree of delicacy, in which they sometimes surpa.s.s the Caracci, from none but Guido. He would not permit the scholars in his studio to copy in the first instance from his own works, but exercised them in those of Lodovico, and the most eminent deceased masters. It is conjectured also by Crespi, that he grounded his scholars in the principles of the art of imitation, and all the first requisites, without reference to the minutiae, which are easily acquired in the course of practice. Guido particularly prided himself on Giacomo s.e.m.e.nza, and Francesco Gessi, whom he thought equal to any masters at that time in Bologna. He employed them in that chapel of the cathedral at Ravenna, a perfect miracle of beauty, and gave them commissions from the court of Mantua and Savoy, a.s.sisting them also, both at Rome and his native place; in return for all which he was repaid by s.e.m.e.nza with grat.i.tude, but by Gessi with bitter persecutions. He was followed by both in point of style, and specimens are to be seen in some choice collections.

s.e.m.e.nza emulated Guido in both his manners, and displayed more correctness, erudition, and strength. His pictures at Araceli and other places sufficiently distinguish him from the immense crowd of fresco-painters at Rome. There too are many of his altar-pieces, none more beautiful, perhaps, than the S. Sebastian, at S. Michele in Bologna. Gessi surpa.s.sed him in spirit, invention, and rapidity, for which last quality even Guido envied him. This enabled him too, from the first, to vary his works in point of manner until he hit upon the right one, as in his very beautiful St.

Francis at the Nunziata, little inferior to Guido, as well as in several others conducted in his earlier and best days. To these he was indebted for his name of a second Guido; but subsequently he abused his talents, as is the case with those who are held in slight esteem for performing much and rapidly. Thus Bologna abounds with his pictures, in which, with the exception of their fine character and much delicacy, there is nothing to commend; his pictures are cold, his colouring is slight; the shape and features are often too large, and not seldom incorrect. He is known to have invariably affected the second manner of Guido, and hence he is always more feeble, dry, and less harmonious than his master. By these distinctions are the differences between salesmen and purchasers usually decided, as to whether such a piece be a poor Guido or a Gessi.

Yet Gessi had a numerous school at Bologna, on Guido's retiring, and formed scholars of some reputation, such as Giacomo Castellini, Francesco Coreggio, and Giulio Trogli, who, devoting himself to perspective, under Mitelli, and publis.h.i.+ng a work ent.i.tled Paradossi della Prospettiva, went ever afterwards by the name of the _Paradox_. Ercole Ruggieri was a faithful follower of Gessi's style, insomuch as at first sight to be mistaken for his master. He was called Ercolino del Gessi, and his brother Batistino del Gessi, an artist of rare talent, commended by Baglione, and much esteemed by Cortona, in whose arms he breathed his last. Batistino was first a pupil of Domenichino, as before mentioned; and might more properly be named dello Zampieri than del Gessi, from his education and his style.

He accompanied Gessi to Naples, and subsequently became his rival, and surpa.s.sed him at S. Barbaziano in Bologna. Finally he fixed his residence at Rome, where remain some of his paintings in fresco, in the cloister of the Minerva, in the Cenci palace, and elsewhere, which shew in him the promise of a very distinguished artist; but he did not survive his thirty-second year.

To Guido Reni belongs Ercole de Maria, or da S. Giovanni, called Ercolino di Guido. So pliant was his genius to that of his master, that when the latter had half completed a picture, his pupil made a copy and subst.i.tuted it for the original, and Guido continued the work, unsuspicious of the cheat, as if it had been his own. He willingly employed him, therefore, in multiplying his own designs, two of which copies are yet seen in public, extremely beautiful, though not displaying the same freedom as others which he conducted on private commission, at a more advanced age. In these there appears a decision and flow of pencil which imposed upon the best judges, a talent that procured him admiration at Rome, with an honour received by no other copyist, being created a Cavalier by Urban VIII.; but this artist also died in the flower of his age.

Another good copyist and master of Guido's style appeared in Gio. Andrea Sirani. On his master's death he completed the great picture of St. Bruno, left unfinished at the Certosini, with others throughout the city in the same state. Whether owing to Guido's retouches, or want of freedom, Sirani's earliest works bear much resemblance to that master's second manner, more particularly his Crucifixion in the church of S. Marino, which seems like a repet.i.tion of the S. Lorenzo in Lucina, or that in the Modenese gallery, in whose features death itself appears beautiful. In progress of time Sirani is supposed to have aimed at the stronger style of Guido in his early career, and conducted in such taste are his pictures of the Supper of the Pharisee, at the Certosa, the Nuptials of the Virgin, at St. Giorgio, in Bologna, and the Twelve Crucifixions, in the cathedral of Piacenza, an extremely beautiful painting, ascribed by some to Elisabetta Sirani, a daughter and pupil of Gio. Andrea.

This lady adhered faithfully to Guido's second manner, to which she added powerful relief and effect. She is nearly the sole individual of the family, whose name occurs in collections out of Bologna. Anna and Barbara, her two sisters, also artists, as well as their father himself, yield precedence to her single name. How surprising that a young woman, who survived not her twenty-sixth year, should have produced the number of paintings enumerated by Malvasia, still more that she should execute them with so much care and elegance; but most of all, that she could conduct them on a grand scale and in histories, with none of that timidity so apparent in Fontana, and in other artists of her s.e.x. Such is her picture of Christ at the River Jordan, painted for the Certosa; her St. Antony, at S. Leonardo, and many other altar-pieces in different cities. In the subjects which she most frequently painted by commission, she still improved on herself, as we perceive in her Magdalens and figures of the Virgin and infant Christ, of which some of the most finished specimens are in the Zampieri, Zambeccari, and Caprara palaces, as well as in the Corsini and Bolognetti collections at Rome. There are also some small paintings of histories on copper, extremely valuable, from her hand, as that of Lot, in possession of Count Malvezzi, or the St. Bastian, attended by S. Irene, in the Altieri palace; the former at Bologna, the latter at Rome. I have also discovered some portraits, no unfrequent commissions which she received from a number of sovereigns and innumerable distinguished personages throughout Europe. Of this cla.s.s I saw a singularly beautiful specimen at Milan, being her own likeness crowned by a young cherub. It is in the possession of Counsellor Pagave. Elisabetta died by poison, administered by one of her own maids, and was bewailed in her native place with marks of public sorrow. She was interred in the same vault which contained the ashes of Guido Reni. Besides her two sisters, who imitated her in the art, were many other ladies; Veronica Franchi, Vincenzia Fabri, Lucrezia Scarf.a.glia, Ginevra Cantofoli; of which last, as well as of Barbara Sirani, there remain some fine pictures, even in some churches of Bologna.[35]

Footnote 35: See Crespi, p. 74.

Among the Bolognese pupils of Guido, Domenico Maria Canuti obtained great celebrity. He was employed by the Padri Olivetani, (an order the most distinguished for its patronage of first rate artists,) in several monasteries, more particularly at Rome, Padua, and Bologna, whose library and church he decorated with numerous paintings. One of these, the Taking down from the Cross by torch-light, is greatly admired, several copies of which are met with, in general called the Night of Canuti; also a St.

Michael, painted in part within the arch, and in part on the exterior, is considered a rare triumph of the power of perspective. His entire work in that library was afterwards described and printed by the Manolessi. He left immense works also in two halls of the Pepoli palace, in the Colonna gallery at Rome, in the ducal palace at Mantua, and elsewhere, being esteemed one of the best fresco painters of his time. His fertility and vivacity please more than his colouring, while his individual figures are, perhaps, more attractive than the general effect of the picture. He was excellent too in oil, and succeeded admirably in copying Guido, whose Magdalen of the Barberini was taken so exactly, that it appears the best among all the copies seen at S. Michele in Bosco. Canuti opened school at Bologna; but his pupils, during his tour to Rome, attached themselves chiefly to Pasinelli, in whose school, or in that of Cignani, they will be found included during the last epoch.

Other of Guido's scholars are indicated by Malvasia, among whom he highly extols Michele Sobleo, or Desubleo, from Flanders, though resident at Bologna. But he left little in public there, and that is a mixture of Guercino and of Guido. Several churches at Venice were decorated by his hand, and the altar-piece at the Carmelite friars, representing also various saints of that order, is among his most celebrated works. From the same country was Enrico Fiammingo, whom we must not confound with Arrigo Fiammingo, an artist made known to us by Baglione. Both fixed their abode in Italy, and the follower of Guido, formerly pupil to Ribera, painted some pictures at S. Barbaziano in Bologna, that may compete with those of Gessi, were it not for the fleshes being of a darker tinge. A few pictures by another foreigner are preserved at the Capuccini and elsewhere; his name, Pietro Lauri, or rather De Laurier, a Frenchman, whose crayons were frequently retouched by Guido, and whose oil pictures also shew traces of the same hand. Respecting another, whose name only remains, it will be sufficient to mention an altar-piece of the Magdalen, placed in the oratory of S. Carlo, at Volterra, relating to which is a letter of Guido to the Cav. Francesco Incontri, stating that he had retouched it, particularly in the head; but that, with the aid of Guido's design, it was painted by the Signor Camillo. He is said to have been a member of that n.o.ble family, of whom memorials have been preserved by his house.

Returning to the Bolognese artists, Gio. Maria Tamburini will be found to hold a high rank, the author of many fresco histories in the portico of the Conventuals, and of the Nunziata at the Vita, a very graceful painting drawn from his master's sketch. Yet he was surpa.s.sed by Gio. Batista Bolognini, by whose hand there is a S. Ubaldo at S. Gio. in Monte, altogether in the style of Guido. This artist had a nephew and pupil in Giacomo Bolognini, who painted large pictures and capricci, and is mentioned by Zanotti and Crespi. Bartolommeo Marescotti is hardly deserving notice; at S. Martino he appears only as a hasty imitator, or rather a corrupter of the Guido manner. Mentioned, too, by various writers, is a Sebastiano Brunetti, a Giuliano Dinarelli, a Lorenzo Loli, and in particular a Pietro Gallinari, on whom his master's predilection conferred also the name of Pietro del Sig. Guido. His earliest pieces, retouched by Reni, are held in high esteem, and others which he produced for the court, and in various churches at Guastalla, are valuable. He was an artist of the n.o.blest promise, but cut off prematurely, not without suspicion of poison.

Many foreigners who acquired the art from Guido, particularly at Bologna, were dispersed throughout various schools, according to the places where they resided; such were Boulanger, Cervi, Danedi, Ferrari, Ricchi, and several more. Two artists who chiefly dwelt in Bologna and Romagna in high esteem, I have reserved for this place, named Cagnacci and Cantarini. Guido Cagnacci, referred by Orlandi to Castel Durante, though the Arcangelesi more properly claim him for their fellow-citizen, was a rare exception to Italian artists, in having sought his fortunes in Germany, where he was highly deserving of the success he met with at the court of Leopold I. What he has left in Italy, such as his St. Matthew and St. Teresa, in two churches of Rimini, or the Beheading of St. John, in the Ercolani palace at Bologna, shew him to have been a diligent and correct, as well as a refined artist, in his master's latest style. Malvasia was of opinion that he carried the colour of his fleshes, now rather faded, somewhat too high; to others it appeared that he drew the extremities too small in proportion to his figures; while some have remarked a capricious degree of freedom, shewn in sometimes representing his angels at a more advanced age than was customary. All, however, must acknowledge Guidesque beauties apparent in every picture, added to a certain original air of n.o.bility in his heads, and fine effect of his chiaroscuro. His pictures for the most part were painted for the ornament of cabinets, such as are seen in the ducal gallery at Modena, and in private houses. There is his Lucretia in the Casa Isolani, and his magnificent David, which is esteemed one of the n.o.blest pieces, in possession of the princes Colonna; two pictures abundantly repeated both in the Bolognese and Roman Schools, and of which, indeed, I have seen more copies than even of the celebrated David by Guido Reni.

Simone Cantarini da Pesaro became an exact designer under Pandolfi, greatly improved in the school of Claudio Ridolfi, and by incessant study of the Caracci engravings. For colouring he studied the most eminent Venetian artists, and, more than all, the works of Barocci. In one of his Holy Families he shews great resemblance to this last artist, a picture preserved in Casa Olivieri, along with several others, and some portraits, of different taste, but by the same hand. This was caused by the arrival of the grand pictures by Guido, of St. Thomas at Pesaro, and the Nunziata, and the St. Peter, in the adjacent city of Fano, after which he so wholly devoted himself to the new style, as to induce him to emulate, and, if possible, to attempt to surpa.s.s that artist. In the same chapel where Guido placed his picture of St. Peter receiving the Keys, Simone displayed his miracle of the Saint at the Porta Speciosa, where he so nearly resembled, as to appear Guido himself; and even in Malvasia's time, foreigners were unable to detect any difference of hand. It is certain he possessed much of that artist's more powerful manner, which is shewn in his princ.i.p.al picture; the heads very beautiful and varied, the composition natural; fine play of light and shade, except that the chief figure of his history is too much involved in the latter. The better to approach his prototype, Simone proceeded to Bologna, and became Guido's disciple, affecting at first much humility and deference, while he artfully concealed the extent of his own skill. Then gradually developing it, he soon rose in high esteem, no less with his master than the whole city, aided as he was by his singular talent for engraving. Shortly he grew so vain of his own ability, as to presume to censure not only artists of mediocrity, but Domenichino, Albano, and even Guido. To the copies made by the pupils from their master's pieces, he gave bold retouches, and occasionally corrected some inaccuracy in their model, until at length he began to criticise Guido openly, and to provoke his resentment. Owing to such arrogance, and to negligence in executing his commissions, he fell in public esteem, left Bologna for some time, and remained like a refugee at Rome. Here he studied from Raffaello, and from the antique, then returned and taught at Bologna, whence he pa.s.sed into the Duke of Mantua's service. Still to whatever country he transferred his talents, he was accompanied by the same malignant disposition; a great boaster, and a despiser of all other artists, not even sparing Giulio and Raffaello, insomuch that the works could not be so greatly esteemed as the man was detested. Incurring also the duke's displeasure, and not succeeding in his portrait, his pride was so far mortified as to throw him ill, and pa.s.sing to Verona, he there died, aged 36, in 1648, not without suspicion of having been poisoned, no very rare occurrence with defamers like him.

Baldinucci, supported by most of the dilettanti, extols him as another Guido; and a.s.suredly he approaches nearer to him than to any other, and with a decision which belonged to few imitators. His ideas are not so n.o.ble, but in the opinion of many they were even more graceful. He is less learned, but more accurate; and may be p.r.o.nounced the only artist who in the hands and feet very a.s.siduously studied the manner of Lodovico. He was extremely diligent in modelling for his own use, and one of his heads in particular is commended, from which he drew those of his old men, which are extremely beautiful. From the models, too, he derived his folds, though he never attained to the same majestic and broad sweep as Guido and Tiarini, a truth which he as candidly admitted. In point of colouring he is varied and natural. His greatest study was bestowed upon his fleshes, in which, though friendly to the use of white lead, he was content with moderate white, avoiding what he called the cosmetics of Domenichino and the shades of the Caracci. In his outlines and shadows, dismissing the use of the lacca and terra d'ombra,[36] he introduced ultramarine and terra verde, so much commended by Guido. He animated his fleshes with certain lights from place to place, never contrasting them with vivid colours, except in as far as he frequently studied to give them from depth of shadow, that relief which serves to redouble their beauty. If there was nothing decidedly bold in his painting, yet he covered the whole with an ashy tone, such as Guido applied in his St. Thomas, and which became so perfectly familiar to Cantarini as to acquire for him from Albani the surname of _pittor cenerino_. Spite of this opinion, however, he is considered by Malvasia as _the most graceful colourist_, and he adds, the _most correct designer_ of his age. His most beautiful pictures that I have seen, in which his heads of saints are always conspicuous for beauty and expression, are the St. Antony, at the Franciscans di Cagli; the St. James, in the church of that name in Rimini; the Magdalen, at the Filippini of Pesaro; and, in the same city, his St.

Dominick, at the Predicatori; in whose convent are also two Evangelists, half-size figures, animated to the life. There is also a S. Romualdo, in possession of the n.o.ble Paolucci, a figure that seems to start from the canva.s.s, and at the Casa Mosca, besides various other works, is a portrait of a young nun that rivets every beholder. Many of his Holy Families also are to be seen in Bologna, in Pesaro, and at Rome; nor are his heads of St.

John very rare, any more than his half-figures, or heads of apostles, a specimen of which is to be seen in the Pitti palace.

Footnote 36: Lacca, a dark red; terra d'ombra, umber.

Simon Cantarini educated a few of his fellow-citizens to the art. One of these was Gio. Maria Luffoli, many of whose paintings, which display the school, are to be met with in his native place, particularly at S. Giuseppe and at S. Antonio Abate. Gio. Venanzi (or Francesco) had been already instructed by Guido, when he entered the school of Cantarini, though he resembles neither of these masters so nearly as he does the Gennari. When we inspect the two beautiful histories of St. Antony, in the church of that name, we might p.r.o.nounce him their disciple. An ancient MS. of Pesaro, edited along with the pictures of the city,[37] places him at the court of Parma, most probably for the purpose of decorating the palace, there being nothing from his hand in the churches. In the same MS. mention is made of Domenico Peruzzini, as born at Pesaro, and the pupil of Pandolfi. In Orlando's Lexicon and other books there is frequent mention made of one Cav. Giovanni, and he is given out as belonging to Ancona, and a disciple of Simone. The Pesarese Guide, in which the very diligent Can. Lazzarini indisputably took part, informs us that these artists were brothers, both born at Pesaro, and that they transferred their services to Ancona, their adopted country, (p. 65). From the dilettanti of Ancona I could gather tidings of only one Peruzzini; and I doubt whether his being named Domenico by the author of the MS. may not have arisen from mistake, as he proceeds to relate matters chiefly appertaining to Giovanni. However this be, there is a picture of S. Teresa by Peruzzini at the Carmelite Friars in Ancona, bearing some traces of Baroccio's manner. That of the Beheading of St.

John, at the hospital, is extremely beautiful; and here he appears rather a disciple of the Bolognese. He seems to have displayed a similar character elsewhere; it being known that this artist, after forming a style partic.i.p.ating of those of the Caracci, of Guido, and of Pesarese, took to a wandering life, and painted in various theatres and churches, if not with much study, with tolerable correctness, a knowledge of perspective, in which he was excellent, and with a certain facility, grace, and spirit, which delight the eye. His paintings are dispersed through various places in the Picenum, even as far as Ascoli on the confines, where are a number of works by his hand. There are some at Rome and at Bologna, where he painted in the cloister of the Servi a lunette,[38] very fairly executed within twenty-four hours; at Turin, where he was made a cavalier; and in Milan, where he died. At Rome are some specimens too from the hand of his son and pupil, Paolo, ent.i.tled in the aforesaid MS. a good and decided painter.

Footnote 37: See p. 75. This MS. is said to have been drawn up previous to 1680. I believe it must be somewhere about 1670, Venanzi being therein described as still young.

Notices of the artists of Pesaro and Urbino, collected by Giuseppe Montani, a good landscape-painter, who flourished some time at Venice, are now lost. (Of him, see Malvasia, vol. ii. p. 447.) I have recently read a letter from Sig.

Annibale Olivieri to the Prince Ercolani, in which, computing the age of Venanzi, he is unable to make him out a pupil of Cantarini; from which it would appear that he was ignorant of the date of Venanzi's birth, which was about 1628. I admit that he could not have been long instructed by him, nor by Guido, and am more than ever confirmed in my conjecture that he was pupil to Gennari.

Footnote 38: Lunetta, an architectural term; meaning that semicircular s.p.a.ce, or any other portion of a circle, placed in the walls between the different supports of ceilings.

An undoubted scholar of Simone was Flamminio Torre, called _dagli Ancinelli_, who came from the studio of Cavedone and Guido. His chief talent consisted in an easy perfect imitation of every style, which brought him as high a price for his copies as was given for the originals of eminent artists, sometimes even more. Though not learned in the theory of the art, by his practical ability he acquired the manner of Cantarini, dismissing, however, his ashy colour, and often turning to the imitation of Guido. He was court-painter at Modena; and at Bologna in particular are preserved both scriptural and profane histories, displaying very pleasing figures as large as Poussin, or on the same scale. Some I saw in possession of Monsig. Bonfigliuoli, others in the collection of the librarian Magnani; and some still more firm, and in the best style of colouring, in the Ratta palace. Yet we rarely meet with them uninjured by the use of rock oil, which he carried to excess; and his church paintings, such as a Depositing from the Cross at S. Giorgio, as they have been least attended to, have suffered the most. On the death of Simone, as his first pupil, he succeeded to his magisterial office, and promoted the progress of the scholars whom he left. Girolamo Rossi succeeded better in engraving than in painting.

Lorenzo Pasinelli became an excellent master, but of a different style, as we shall see in another epoch. The most eminent among Torre's disciples was Giulio Cesare Milani, rather admired in the churches of Bologna, and extolled in many adjacent states. But it is now time to turn our attention from Guido and his disciples to Guercino, which will afford the same pleasure, I trust, to my readers, as the dilettanti enjoy, in beholding two styles, so strikingly opposed, immediately contrasted. In a similar manner, to adduce an instance taken from the Spada Gallery, it yields delight to turn our eye from Guido's Rape of Helen to the funeral pyre of Dido, painted by Guercino, and placed directly opposite.