The History Of Painting In Italy Volume V Part 7

From Zanotti, who was an excellent master, Ercole Lelli acquired his knowledge of design. His extraordinary genius, his anatomical preparations in wax, made by himself and Manzolini for the inst.i.tution, and his great influence in the instruction of young artists, in the three branches of the fine arts, acquired him great reputation in Italy. At the same time, it is known that he lectured much better than he painted; the art requiring, like a knowledge of languages, close and persevering application, such as Lelli could not command. One of his altar-pieces is reported in the Bolognese Guide; and standing in need of defence, it was truly stated, that it was among his earliest pieces. In the Guide to Piacenza, another, his S.

Fedele, at the Cappuccini, is also noticed; though it is added, with more candour, that his highest merit did not consist in painting.

Gio. Viani was fellow-pupil to Pasinelli in the school of Torre; but it is only a conjecture that he was also his a.s.sistant. He was a learned painter, not inferior in design to any contemporary of the same school; and added to his powers by a.s.siduous drawing from the living model in the academy, and the study of anatomy, until the close of his career. To such knowledge he united elegance in his forms, softness of colouring, engaging att.i.tudes, lightness of drapery, studying much from life, and giving it an air of grace, in the manner of Torre, or of Guido. That exquisite picture of St.

John di Dio, at the hospital of the Buonfratelli, is such a specimen of his art. In the portico of the Servi he represented, in a lunette, S. Filippo Benizi, borne up to heaven by two angels; a figure which, both in countenance and action, breathes an expression of beat.i.tude, conspicuous, even at the side of another history, by Cignani. In other lunettes of the same portico he does not excite equal admiration, and gives us an idea of an artist able to compete with the best masters, but obliged to work with a much larger share of study than they were accustomed to bestow.

Viani opened school opposite that of Cignani, and taught to some extent; in which he was succeeded by his son Domenico, whose life was written by Guidalotti, who, in point of merit, prefers him to his father. Few will subscribe to this opinion, he not having attained to that exactness, much less to that dignity of design, exhibited by his father; and inferior to him in the nature, truth, and clearness of his colouring. Still he possessed a grander character in his outline, a stronger execution, like Guercino's, more splendid ornaments, like the Venetians, whom he a.s.siduously studied in their own capital. There is his St. Antony, at S.

Spirito, in Bergamo, in the act of convincing a sceptic by a miracle; a surprising picture, extolled by Rotari and Tiepolo, and perhaps the best work which he left at Bologna. At the same place is his Jove, painted on copper, for the Casa Ratta, besides other works in private houses, to which he chiefly devoted himself.

His fellow-pupils in the paternal school were four Clementine academicians, whose altar-pieces we find mentioned among the "Paintings of Bologna."

These were Gian Girolamo Bonesi, who renounced both the name and style of Viani, in order to follow Cignani, and complained of being included in Viani's school. However this might be, his pictures pleased, by adding to the beautiful a peculiar delicacy and sweetness that characterize him.

Carlo Rambaldi, imitating both the Viani, was not the less employed by Bonesi; and pictures of both are met with, especially half-length figures, in select galleries at Bologna, and a few historical pieces in the royal collection at Turin. Antonio Dardani possessed more universal talent than either of the preceding, but was not equally refined. Pietro Cavazzi was a fine connoisseur in prints, and only on this account was celebrated in Italy and abroad. Tronchi, Pancaldi, Montanari, with others, not admitted into the Clementine academy, may be found mentioned in Crespi. No one, I imagine, would desire an account of the under graduates, when the academicians who enjoyed the first rank, were many of them, according to Zanotti, only artists of mediocrity.

From the school of Cignani, to which I now proceed, scarcely any disciple issued who ultimately adhered to his style. A master, whose maxim it was to labour every picture, as if his entire reputation depended on it; who preferred to cancel, rather than retouch his less successful pieces, might, perhaps, have scholars, but not many emulators. Two of his family, however, imitated him; Count Felice his son, who long a.s.sisted him, particularly in the Cupola at Forli; and the Count Paolo his grandson, whom he, perhaps, instructed in the outset; while his father indisputably employed him at Forli, and Mancini at Rome. Both were gifted with facility of genius; but being sufficiently wealthy, they only devoted themselves to the art for the sake of the pleasure it afforded. Felice is seldom mentioned in the Guide to Bologna; in which, however, his St. Antony, at the Carita, meets with praise. At Forli is the altar-piece of St. Philip, by some ascribed to him, and by others to Count Carlo, in his declining years; so inferior is it to the best style of that artist. In collections his paintings are not rare; though appearing, like a young boy in the presence of his father. Of Count Paolo's I only recollect a single altar-piece at Savignano, representing St. Francis in the act of appearing to St. Joseph da Copertino, and putting a demon to flight. The scene appears illuminated by torch-light, and has a fine effect; and the figures, in regard to their studied and finished manner, display the taste of his grandfather.

After the relatives of Carlo comes Emilio Taruffi, his fellow-pupil with Albani, as well as his a.s.sistant, first at Bologna, in decorating the public hall, and next at Rome, where he resided three years, sometimes employed at S. Andrea della Valle, at others for private houses. No artist then better conformed to Cignani's style; and Taruffi could at least second him in painting histories. But his genius lay more in minor compositions.

He was an excellent copyist of any ancient manner; a portrait painter of great spirit, and, in landscape, one of the best pupils formed by Albani.

In these three branches he obtained his usual commissions, which he ever discharged with credit. He also conducted some altar-pieces, and that of S.

Pier Celestino, at the church of that name, yields to few of the same period.

Cignani's most distinguished pupils and heads of new schools were Franceschini and Crespi. The Cav. Marcantonio Franceschini left the school of Gio. Batista Galli for that of Cignani, and became his most effective a.s.sistant and intimate friend. This friends.h.i.+p was cemented by his union with Cignani's cousin, sister of Quaini, whom I shall shortly again mention. Some productions of Franceschini might be taken for Cignani's himself; but these were among his earliest, before he had formed his characteristic manner. He remained with his friend many years, and possessing peculiar gracefulness of design, Cignani availed himself of it to draw from life the individual portions of his compositions, engaging him to consult various models, in order to select the best forms from each. By this study of nature, in which he persevered, and by copying from the designs and under the eye of his master, he attained much of the taste, the nice selectness, and the grandeur of Cignani. To these he added a certain grace of colouring, and a facility which gave a novel character to his productions; besides an originality, equal to any other artist, in the form of his heads, in his att.i.tudes, and in the costume of his figures. His freshness, his harmony, his just equilibrium of full and retreating parts; in short, his whole style presents a glowing spectacle never before seen.

If we trace in his works, especially on an extended scale, a degree of mannerism, it may almost be excused: would that his disciples had restrained themselves within the same limits! But easy roads to painting are like walking on a declivity, where it is difficult to count one's steps, or restrain one's motions. Franceschini seemed born to execute works on a large scale, fertile in ideas, and with facility to dispose them in every point of view, and to colour them at any distance. He was accustomed to compose his cartoons in chiaroscuro, and, having fixed them in the intended spot, to judge of the success of his proposed work; a method it would be desirable to inculcate and adopt more generally.

His large fresco paintings are numerous; the recess in the Ranuzzi palace, the cupola and ceiling in the church of Corpus Domini, the tribune of S.

Bartolommeo at Bologna. Among those in other states we shall mention only the corbels of the cupola, with three histories, in the cathedral of Piacenza, and the grand ceiling of the Hall of Public Counsel at Genoa.

This painting, of which it is enough to state that Mengs devoted many hours in examining it in detail, the n.o.blest of Franceschini's performances, perished by fire, without a single engraving having been taken to commemorate its grandeur of conception. The same fertility of ideas and attraction of style are conspicuous in his grand histories, dispersed among the first galleries of Europe, and in his no less copious altar-pieces.

Such is the S. Tommaso da Villanova, in the act of dispensing alms, placed at the Agostiniani di Rimini; a picture truly imposing by its magnificent workmans.h.i.+p, and which surprises by the beauty of its figures. What is equally surprising, the Cavalier Franceschini, when nearly an octogenarian, displayed pictorial powers equal to his best days; as we gather from his Pieta, at the Agostiniani of Imola, and his BB. Fondatori, at the Serviti in Bologna, which betray no traces of decline. This artist rejected the most advantageous offers from courts, which all vied in soliciting his services. Giordano even was not invited to that of Madrid, until the situation had been refused by Franceschini. He chose to reside in Upper Italy, there a.s.suming the same rank, as head of his school, with almost the same success as Cortona in Lower Italy. Both schools adhered much to the Caracci's style, and in some measure rendered it more popular; and hence, those who at Rome are not familiar with the features and contrasts characteristic of Cortona's sect, would easily confound them with the more modern artists of Bologna.

Luigi Quaini, cousin to Carlo Cignani, and brother-in-law to Franceschini, was one of the most animated characters of his time; equally well versed in history, in architecture, and in poetry. The pupil, first of Guercino, next of Cignani, he was employed by the last as an a.s.sistant, and with such success, that, in painting, his hand could not be distinguished from that of his master. In distributing their labours to Franceschini and to Quaini, he ordered the former to paint the fleshes for the roundness and softness he gave to them; while to the latter he committed certain gay and spirited countenances, and a certain finis.h.i.+ng of parts, in which, from his peculiar talent, he admirably succeeded. Later in life, he united with Franceschini, and leaving to him the inventive parts, he followed him in the style of the figures; inferior, doubtless, to that of Cignani, in force of chiaroscuro and colouring, but more attractive from its peculiar beauty and felicity.

He would, afterwards, wholly ornament the composition by himself, with flowers, armour, beautiful landscape, and n.o.ble perspective; an art acquired from Francesco, his own father, a fine pupil of Mitelli. In this way did these two artists continue to paint, conjointly, at Bologna, at Modena, Piacenza, Genoa, and Rome; at which last place they composed some cartoons for the cupola of St. Peter's, which were afterwards executed in mosaic. Quaini also painted many historical pictures of his own invention.

They decorate private houses; his only composition in public being his St.

Nicholas visited in prison by our Lady, a beautiful altar-piece, occupying the best place in the church of that name.

Marcantonio's school, from which he also derived those a.s.sistants who followed Quaini, dates its commencement from his son, the Canon Jacopo Franceschini. The Bolognese historians only represent him in the character of an honorary academician; so that, by their account, I ought here to omit him. The Cav. Ratti, however, informs us that Marcantonio, coming to Genoa to adorn the church of S. Filippo, brought with him his son as his a.s.sistant, together with Giacomo Boni. In the same city, too, I saw a large history, in the hall of the Marchese Durazzo, as well as other pieces by him, well worthy commendation. At Bologna, also, are several paintings in public, all conducted in the style, and with the a.s.sistance of his father.

Boni was employed by Franceschini in many of his works, more particularly in that at Rome. He had been pupil also to Cignani, along with a few more, to be mentioned in the same school; under whose care he chiefly had in view works of a more difficult cast. Such was the ceiling of S. Maria della Costa, at S. Remo, and of S. Pier Celestino, at Bologna; besides several paintings at Genoa, where he became established. Two of his pictures, at the church of the Magdalen, met with great applause; namely, a Preaching at Gethsemane, and a Pieta. He more particularly distinguished himself in fresco; and in a chamber of his Excel. Pallavicini is an infant Jove, in the act of receiving nutriment from a goat, executed in the most elegant style. He was much employed in that capital, where, says Crespi, "there is neither palace, nor church, nor monastery, nor house, in which his works are not met with; all striking and commendable." Nor did he produce little at Brescia, at Parma, and at Remo; besides being honoured with commissions from Prince Eugene of Savoy, and the King of Spain, for whose chapel he forwarded an altar-piece. This artist sometimes betrays the haste of a mere mechanist, not completing fully, or polis.h.i.+ng his work; besides colouring with a degree of lightness of hand which easily yields to age. Yet he always retains a delicacy and a precision in his contours, with a certain open spirit and joyousness which delight the eye.

Antonio Rossi never conducted works on so large a scale as Boni, but he surpa.s.sed him in diligence; which induced his master, when entrusting commissions to his pupils, to prefer him to any other. He exercised himself in painting pictures for churches, and greatly added to his reputation by his Martyrdom of S. Andrea, placed at S. Domenico. He was much occupied, also, with architectural pictures and landscape, to which he added small figures, so well adapted as to appear by the same hand. On this account he was an artist much liked by the artificers of similar representations, particularly by Orlandi and Brizzi. Girolamo Gatti was less employed for churches than Rossi, but is distinguished for small figure pieces, with one of which he decorated the hall of the Anziani. It exhibited the coronation of Charles V. in S. Petronio, and shewed the artist to be as good a figurist as a painter of perspective. Although educated by Franceschini, as we learn from the new _Guide_, he did not imitate his colouring: this he sought to attain from Cignani. Giuseppe Pedretti long resided in Poland; and on his return to Bologna executed a number of works in a good style.

Giacinto Garofolini, a pupil and kinsman of Marcantonio, displayed very middling ability when employed alone; but in conjunction with his relative, and with Boni, he conducted various works in fresco, from which he is ent.i.tled to what reputation he obtained. To these Bolognese artists and academicians various foreigners might be added, as one Gaetano Frattini, known at Ravenna by some altar-pieces at the _Corpus Domini_, and a few others whom we have referred to different schools. We shall now return to that of Cignani.

Giuseppe Maria Crespi, whom for his neatness of attire his fellow pupils surnamed Lo Spagnuolo, was instructed first by Canuti, next by Cignani; being early grounded in the best principles of taste. With unwearied a.s.siduity he copied the Caracci paintings at Bologna; and at his leisure studied those of the first Venetians in that capital. He examined, too, Coreggio's at Modena and Parma, and long sojourned in Urbino and Pesaro to consult the works of Baroccio. Some of these he copied, and sold at Bologna for the originals. His object invariably was, to form a new manner out of many others, which he accomplished; at some times Baroccio would be his most admired model; at another, when he wished to employ more shade, he chose Guercino; nor did he dislike Cortona in respect to taste of composition. To the examples, too, of the dead, he added the observation of the living; and was averse, if we may credit his son, to the labours of a mere mechanist. He drew every thing from nature, and even had a camera optica in his house, from which he copied the objects that offered themselves to view, and remarked the various play and picturesque reflections of the vivid light. His compositions, indeed, teem with these novelties, and his shortenings also are as singular; so that he often places a number of figures in a small s.p.a.ce, while the conceptions which he interweaves in his pictures, are more peculiarly fanciful.

This turn for novelty at length led his fine genius astray; insomuch that Mengs is brought to lament that the Bolognese School should approach its close in the capricious Crespi, (vol. ii. p. 124). In his heroic pieces, and even in scriptural subjects, he left room occasionally for caricature.

Wis.h.i.+ng to exhibit novelty in his shadows and in his draperies he fell into mannerism; and varying his first method of colouring similar to the old painters, he adopted another more lucrative but less excellent. It consists of few colours, selected chiefly for effect, and very common and oily; gums applied by him to colouring, as other artists use them for a veil, or varnish; few strokes, employed indeed with judgment, but too superficial and without strength or body. Such was the method which we see pursued in so many of his pictures; or to speak more correctly, which are no longer to be seen, the tints having decayed or disappeared, so as to require them to be newly copied by another hand. His son did not attempt to conceal this fault, though he wished to excuse it. The reader may peruse the defence in his _Felsina Pittrice_, p. 225; and should he feel convinced by it, with similar benignity he may apologize for Piazzetta, who acquired his method of colouring from Crespi; with others who more or less pursued the same practice, at this period extinct.

As a specimen of his more solid style, the picture of the BB. Fondatori, at the church of the Servi, appears to much advantage; our Lord's Supper, also, in Casa Sampieri; a few pieces in the royal Pitti palace, where he was long employed by the great Prince Ferdinando; besides a few other of his first productions. In his other style are various pictures conducted for the galleries of the Roman n.o.bility; the SS. Paolo and Antonio as eremites, for the Princes Albani; the Magdalen for the Chigi palace; the Seven Sacraments for the Card. Ottoboni, of which I have seen copies in the Albani palace at Urbino. The whole of these seven pictures display certain bold coruscations and contrasts which dazzle the eye; all shew novelty of idea; in particular that of the Spousals between a young girl and an octogenarian, to the visible mirth of the spectators. Spagnuolo lived to advanced age, honoured by the pope with the insignia of cavaliere, esteemed among the first of his age, while his paintings everywhere abounded.

Different houses, both in and beyond Bologna, possess them in great number; histories, fables, and familiar pieces. He received most part of his commissions from the Signori Belloni, who decorated various chambers with his historical pieces, remunerating him with one hundred crowns each, though they contained but few figures, and all of an ell's length.

Spagnuolo's manner was not one that could be pursued by every pupil with applause. Those artists who were unable to direct it with equal imagination, power of design, spirit and facility, produced very trifling results. Even his own sons, D. Luigi the canon, and Antonio, who painted for various churches, did not wholly follow their father's style, but appear invariably more studied. The canon wrote much upon the art, as the lives of the Bolognese artists, or the third volume of the _Felsina Pittrice_, edited in 1769; notices of the painters of Ferrara and Romagna, still unpublished; various treatises; with numerous letters inserted by Bottari in the pictoric collection. To few of his age is the history of painting so much indebted, although in certain national subjects he failed to satisfy the whole of his fellow citizens. The authors of the new Guide of Bologna require from him more diligence in examining doc.u.ments; greater fidelity as a public instructor; more justice to the real merit of Ercole Lelli. The four dialogues in defence of his _Felsina Pittrice_, written by a friend, were published by Bottari in the seventh volume of the work just cited, and are worth perusal. In the same volume (p. 143) we also meet with a letter of Crespi, in which he confesses his different errors, declaring that he would correct them in the fourth volume of his _Felsina_, which he was then composing, and which I am uncertain whether he ever completed.

From these notices we gather, that, notwithstanding his violent temper, he was not wanting in fidelity as an historian, and in that readiness to retract his own errors, without which none can pretend to maintain the true literary or historical character.

For the rest, he must have afforded occasion for those clamours against his _Felsina_ and other writings by some satirical strokes, which are a.s.suredly severe, accompanied by many personal reflections on his contemporaries.

Concerning that very respectable academy he relates some observations of his deceased father, which had better have been consigned to oblivion. He disapproves the methods introduced into his school, and laments, that owing to the failure of good masters, Bologna was no longer frequented as formerly by students. He detects, too, certain little impositions introduced into the art; such for instance as displaying in the studio a number of pictures prepared for colouring, to convey an idea of possessing abundance of commissions; p.r.o.nouncing in a breath a number of anatomical terms on the bones and muscles, to inspire a high opinion of the artist's learning; publis.h.i.+ng eulogiums on some particular painting in an article of the day, which only the artist himself could have conceived, and written, paid for, and believed to be true. Such, or similar details, which must have sufficed to recognize particular individuals, doubtless provoked many replies from persons not publicly known, as the author gave no contemporary names, but deeply offended and provoked to retaliate upon him.

Among the pupils of Crespi was Gionima, who survived only, as I have stated, to his thirty-fifth year. Nor did Cristoforo Terzi reach a much more advanced age, the pupil also of different masters. From his outset he boasted a decision of hand, able to sketch at few strokes very spirited heads, which, however, by dint of excessive retouching, he deprived of much of their expression. This defect he remedied under Crespi, and improved himself by residing several years at Rome. Many collections at Bologna possess some of his half-length figures and heads of old men, which are mistaken by less experienced judges for those of Lana. In the list of Crespi's pupils, too, are Giacomo Pavia of Bologna, who flourished in Spain; Gio. Morini d'Imola; Pier Guarienti, a Veronese, who flourished at Venice, and was afterwards appointed director of the Dresden gallery; and the same who wrote the additions to Orlandi's dictionary. Francesco l'Ange of Savoy, a pupil of Crespi, became a Philippine monk at Bologna. His chief merit lay in small scriptural pictures, some of which I saw in Vercelli, in possession of his Eminence Martiniana, bearing the author's name, and quite deserving, by their design and colouring, of a place in that collection.

Besides Franceschini and Crespi, many others were educated by Cignani.

Their names have been given by Zannelli, who published their lives; a book I have vainly endeavoured to obtain while engaged in writing the present work. By Crespi we have an account of some pupils whom he instructed in perspective and landscape, as well as in flowers; this skilful preceptor being accustomed to ascertain the young artists' talents, and confine them to the inferior, when not competent to the higher branches of art, and even to direct them to other professions when unequal to these. Such pupils as he retained, ought not, then, to be lightly contemned, although little celebrated, either because they died young, were dispersed abroad, or obscured by brighter names. Among such are Balda.s.sare Bigatti, Domenico Galeazzi, Pietro Minelli, known in history by a few altar-pieces. Matteo Zamboni died young, leaving in some private houses a few specimens of his works, as much in Cignani's style as those of any artist. I am uncertain what public works he conducted in Bologna; but he acquitted himself well, for his age, in two histories at S. Niccolo in Rimini; the one representing St. Benedict, the other S. Pier Celestino. Antonio Castellani is included by Guarienti in the school of Cignani, though I think by mistake, as he belongs to that of the Caracci. Not so Giulio Benzi, also mentioned in the Guide of Bologna, and to be distinguished from the Genoese of that name. I may observe the same of Guido Signorini, recorded by Crespi, and not to be confounded with another Guido Signorini, heir to Guido Reni. So far of the artists of Bologna.

Federigo Bencovich was a foreigner of a Dalmatian family, and I give his name as he himself wrote it.[51] In the Dictionaries it is spelt Boncorich and Bendonich; and by Zannelli, Benconich; so that foreigners may be well excused for often mistaking the names of Italian painters. Federigo, commonly called in his own time, Federighetto, acquired more of Cignani's solidity than amenity of style; correct in his design, strong in his execution, and well informed in the best principles of his art. Some of his altar-pieces are at Milan, Bologna, and Venice; though most of his productions adorn collections, even in Germany, where he resided many years. In that of the Signori Vianelli of Chioggia, mention is made of his S. Jacopo Sedente; and in another collection, of Count Algarotti, at Venice, his landscape, with a village girl, to which Piazzetta added another figure. Occasionally, his manner is somewhat too much loaded with shadows, but by no means to be p.r.o.nounced contemptible, as a.s.serted by Zanetti, (p. 450) in opposition to the opinion of Guarienti.

Footnote 51: In his two letters, directed to Rosalba Carriera. See Catalogue of the deceased Canon Vianelli's Collection, (p. 34). This artist also published a _Diary_, in 1720 and 1721, written at Paris by the same lady; in which she notices her own works, her remuneration, and honours. It is accompanied by learned notes. I have recently received notice of the work, which causes me to mention it in this school.

Girolamo Donnini also resided out of his country; born at Coreggio, he lived at Bologna; and being inclined to that school, was first treated of by Crespi, next by Tiraboschi. He had studied under Stringa at Modena, and under Giangioseffo dal Sole at Bologna. Thence he went to Forli, at the instigation of Cignani, not so much to become a machinist and a painter in fresco, as in order to treat less difficult subjects in oil. His chief merit lay in painting for private ornament, and Orlandi, then living, bore testimony that his pictures were held in high request for the decoration of houses. He excelled also on a larger scale; one of his altar-pieces of S.

Antonio, at the Filippini in Bologna, being conducted in a very masterly style; as well as others, dispersed about Romagna, at Turin, in his native place, and elsewhere, the manner of which, as is remarked by Crespi, clearly displays the hand of Cignani's disciple. A favourite pupil of Donnini, and whom he a.s.sisted in a variety of circ.u.mstances, was Frances...o...b..ni, termed also il Gobbino[52] de' Sinibaldi, from being in the service of those lords. He was from Faenza, and left several good pictures in his native place; among others, a S. Teresa, with S. Gio. della Croce, at the Carmelitani; a _Noli me tangere_, and the Meeting of S. Domenico and S.

Francesco, in the church which formerly belonged to the Domenicans. Pietro Donzelli, of Mantua, placed an altar-piece in the cathedral of Pescia, in which he represented S. Carlo administering to the sick of the plague, displaying the style of a pupil of Cignani; and this const.i.tutes all the information I could obtain respecting him.

Footnote 52: Gobbino, the little hunch-back.

The other foreign pupils of the Cav. Carlo, who diffused his manner through the Italian schools, are commemorated in the places where they flourished; as Lamberti, for instance, at Rome, and Parolini at Ferrara. Here I shall add a brief sketch of the artists of Romagna, whom I unite to those of Bologna. Antonio Santi was an Ariminese, whose school only is mentioned by Crespi; but in the Guide of Rimini, where a few of his works remain, he is extolled as one of its best pupils, though he died young. The same Guide makes mention of some paintings in oil and fresco, particularly in the church of the Angioli, attributed to Angiolo Sarzetti, pupil to Cignani; from whom, also, he obtained a design for an altar-piece at S. Colomba.

Innocenzio Monti is included by Crespi among the Bolognese, and by Orlandi among the painters of Imola, where he left some works. One, of the Circ.u.mcision of our Lord, at the Gesu of Mirandola, executed in 1690, is extolled in a little book of poems. He was more industrious than ingenious, and more successful in Germany and in Poland than in Italy. Gioseffo Maria Bartolini, also of Imola, is esteemed, in his native place, for a Miracle of S. Biagio, and for other works at S. Domenico, and in other churches. He was employed a good deal at Imola, where he opened school, and throughout Romagna; an artist of great facility, and partaking, in some degree, of the manner of Pasinelli, his first master.

The artists of Forli, among whom Cignani lived during some years, are not a few. Filippo Pasquali was colleague to Franceschini, whose grand altar-piece at Rimini he surrounded with a very pleasing ornament. Some of his earliest efforts are met with in Bologna, at the portico of the Serviti; but not equal to the altar-piece in the church of S. Vittore at Ravenna, which he painted at a more advanced age, and which does him great credit. Andrea and Frances...o...b..ndi, two brothers, are recorded by Guarienti; though, in the Guides of Pesaro and Ravenna only one is alluded to, whose name is not given; and what pieces I saw at Forli itself would seem to have proceeded from one hand; such as the chapel of S. Antonio, at the Carmelites, the Crucifixion at S. Filippo, besides others. He boasts the fine execution of Cignani; but the forms and expressions are not equally select. Among other artists of Forli, instructed by Cignani, was the priest Sebastiano Savorelli, employed in some church paintings even in the adjacent cities. To him we may add Mauro Malducci, and Francesco Fiorentini, both priests, too, of Forli; of all of whom there is found some account in the life of Cignani.

Under the Roman School we treated of Francesco Mancini, from S. Angelo in Vado, who, along with Agostino Castellacci, from Pesaro, was instructed by Cignani; both nearly contiguous to Romagna, but of unequal powers. Agostino is little known, even in his own state; but Mancini was celebrated throughout Lower, as much as Franceschini in Upper Italy; and he also educated several artists for the countries adjacent to Romagna. Sebastian Ceccarini was Mancini's pupil, born at Urbino, and often mentioned in the Guide of Rome, where, in the time of Clement XII., he painted the altar-piece for the Swiss chapel at the Quirinal. He is more known, however, at Fano, where he was established, and long continued to live, with a handsome salary from that city. There he appears an artist of various styles, who would have shone little inferior to his master, had he always adhered to his best manner. His S. Lucia, at the Agostiniani, and different sacred histories, in the public palace at Fano, display many fine imitations, strong chiaroscuro, and well-varied tints.

The Canon Gio. Andrea Lazzarini, from Pesaro, also acquired his knowledge from Mancini. He was both a good poet and prose writer, and truly well informed in sacred and profane literature. Few Italian writers can compare with him in treating pictoric subjects. His "Account of the Paintings in the Cathedral at Osimo,"[53] and particularly, his "Catalogue of the Pictures in the Churches at Pesaro," cited by us elsewhere, afford ample proofs of his superiority, no less than those brief "Observations" on the best works there met with, and that very full "Dissertation upon the Art of Painting," that has been often republished. It relates wholly to the branch of "invention;" and he has other unedited works of equal merit, on "Composition," on "Design," on "Colouring," and on "Costume," which were read in the academy of Pesaro, as early as 1753. These embrace a true course of painting, an art which he taught gratuitously in his native place.[54] Count Algarotti, in drawing up his Essay on Painting, both read and profited by them, as I heard, at least, from Lazzarini; and as the Count, indeed, candidly himself confessed, in a letter which he forwarded to him with the work. He also evinced his high regard for his pictoric talents, by giving him a commission for two paintings to adorn his select gallery, which were afterwards inserted in the catalogue. The subjects consist of Cincinnatus called to the Dictators.h.i.+p, and Archimedes absorbed in his scientific studies, during the storming of Syracuse. These two histories are well executed, inasmuch as Lazzarini was perfectly master of good painting, as well as good writing; easy, yet always studied in every part; at once n.o.ble and graceful, with depth of learning to throw an air of antiquity round his productions, but, at the same time, free from all affectation and parade. His first colouring was of a strong character, as appears from a Pieta, at the hospital of Pesaro, conducted, I believe, after having studied the Venetian and the Lombard Schools, in the course of a pictoric tour. Subsequently, he imbibed a certain sweetness, which I may call more like Maratta's, in which his rivals discover a want of vigour.

Though he enjoyed long life, he did not leave many works, as he applied himself with a.s.siduity to his clerical duties. Frequently he had occasion to paint for private families, and succeeded admirably in his Madonnas; one of which, seen weeping, in the Varani collection at Ferrara, is among his most studied pieces. His native place possesses three altar-pieces at the Magdalen, three at S. Caterina, others in different churches, and in general upon a small scale. But his genius is more clearly apparent in some larger pictures, which are to be seen in the cathedrals of Osimo and of Foligno; at S. Agostino, of Ancona; and the two at S. Domenico, in Fano.

One of these contains various saints of the order, placed around the Virgin, whose portraits, positions, and action, exhibit singular variety and grace. The other represents S. Vincenzio, seen in the act of healing the sick, before the people a.s.sembled by sound of bell; nor is it easy, in this immense throng, to find any one figure resembling another, or superfluous, or less happy in expressing what it ought. But the work in which he appears, as I have been informed, to surpa.s.s himself, adorns the chapel of the Counts Fantuzzi, in Gualdo, a diocese of Rimini. He had spent several years at Rome, at the house of Monsig. Gaetano, afterwards Cardinal Fantuzzi; for whom he made that fine collection of pictures, from each school, which afterwards went to his heirs, one of whom, Count Marco, is well known to the public by his "Monuments of Ravenna," edited and ill.u.s.trated in several volumes, with much research and erudition; and to whose courtesy I owe much of my information respecting Lazzarini. In this collection are several of the canon's paintings, of various kinds; landscape, a branch in which he appears to perfection; instruments and books of music, porcelain, and fruits that deceive the eye; and, in particular, two pictures, on imperial canva.s.s, one exhibiting the Baptism of Christ; the other, the Flight out of Egypt; where, in the Egyptian plants and monuments we seem to recognize that ancient land itself. Still the altar-piece at Gualdo shews a greater degree of originality, as he here displayed his utmost care in imitating Raffaello, whom he had accurately studied, so as to derive from his forms and composition all that could go to adorn a picture of the Virgin and Holy Child, seen between St. Catherine the martyr, and the B. Marco Fantuzzi, a Franciscan, who will, perhaps, obtain the honours of a solemn canonization. The place is decorated with architecture, the pavement variegated with marbles of different colours.

The Holy Child, placed with the Divine Mother, upon a pedestal, is seen putting a crown on St. Catherine's head; while the Mother holds another in her hand, in order that the B. Marco may be crowned by her in his turn. Two angels form the train, one of whom points to the wheel, a symbol used by the saint, and indeed touches with his finger a sharp point, the better to give an idea of the sufferings of her martyrdom. The other is an Angel of the Apocalypse, with book and sword; a figure well suited to the last judgment, whose terrors the B. Marco inculcated in his sermons. There are two other beautiful cherubs, which add to the interest; one standing near St. Catherine, holds a roll of Egyptian papyrus, with some Coptic characters, in which were described the acts of her pa.s.sion; while his companion points the attention of the spectator to a maxim continually repeated by the B. Marco, "Nolite diligere mundum," inscribed upon marble.

How widely different, in point of invention, appears an artist versed in literature, and one with no taste for letters! This, however, is not the whole merit of such a painting: the saint and one of the angels are truly Raffaellesque figures; the Beato in extasy, brings to mind the B. Michelina of Baroccio; the other figures are all exceedingly well studied, and seem intended to display the artist's refined grat.i.tude towards his patrons.

Footnote 53: These paintings, executed in the abside of the cathedral, with the a.s.sistance of his pupils, const.i.tute his most celebrated frescos. In this "Account" there is a Discourse, well worth notice, on Ancient Marbles of different Colours, which he introduced in those paintings, and the method he adopted in uniting them. Such a treatise, not to be found in any other writer, renders this little volume valuable; which shews, too, that he likewise excelled in architecture.

Footnote 54: These Treatises were published at Pesaro in 1806; and, although, as the industrious editor well observes, they were drawn up from unfinished sketches, they still gratify us, no less by their extensive information, than by the ingenuity which they display.

The best professors that Romagna could boast at this period have already been recounted in different Bolognese Schools; for which reason, without treating them separately, I shall proceed to the painters of landscape.

Among these, excelling as well in drawing as in figuring, Orlandi gives us the name of Maria Elena Panzacchi, instructed in the art by Taruffi; but her landscapes are now little known, even in Bologna; and Crespi has indicated not more than two. Those of Paolo Alboni, her contemporary, are recognized in Naples and Rome itself, and in Germany, where he pa.s.sed many years. Those which are seen in the Pepoli palace, at the March. Fabri's, and in other n.o.ble galleries, might be mistaken, according to Crespi, for the productions of Holland or Flanders, on whose models he was almost incessantly employed. Angiol Monticelli formed a style under Franceschini and the younger Viani, which the same biographer highly extols. No artist, at this period, better knew how to dispose his colours; none tinged his leaves, his earths, his buildings, and his figures, with more nature and variety. But he was cut short in mid-career: he became blind when his talents were in their perfection.

Nunzio Ferraiuoli, called also Degli Afflitti, was born at Nocera de'

Pagani, not a Bolognese. From the studio of Giordano, he went to that of Giuseppe dal Sole, in Bologna, in which city he was established. He incessantly employed himself in taking rural views, both in oil and fresco, and succeeded to admiration, equal, says P. Orlandi, to Claude and Poussin; an opinion to be attributed to the friends.h.i.+p subsisting between them. He had a mixed style, half foreign and half Albanesque, if we except his colouring, which is not so natural. Cavazzone provided him with two pupils, who, urged by their own genius, a.s.sisted by Ferraiuoli, became tolerably good landscape painters; namely, Carlo Lodi and Bernardo Minozzi. The first was an excellent disciple of his master; the second formed a manner peculiar to himself. Besides his ability in frescos, he was distinguished for his landscape in water-colours, which he illuminated on pasteboard, and it met with much admiration both at home and abroad. Gaetano Cittadini, nephew to Pier Francesco, excelled in the same manner, his rural views displaying singular taste, fine effect of the lights, and spirited figures.

I have met with them throughout Romagna, as well as in Bologna. In Romagna, however, Marco Sanmartino, a Neapolitan, or Venetian, is more generally met with; and, in particular, at Rimini, where he some time fixed his residence. His pieces are ornamented with beautiful little figures, in which he excelled. He also attempted more extensive works, such as the Baptism of Constantine, in the cathedral of Rimini, and the Saint preaching in the Desert, in the college of S. Vincenzio, at Venice; though there, too, he is distinguished by his landscape, which formed, indeed, his profession. In the Guide of Rimini, he is named Sammartino, as well as by Zanetti and Guarienti. This last declares that he remained at Venice most part of his life; and, in the next article, gives the name of one Marco Sanmarchi, a Venetian, both a landscape and a figure painter, on a small scale, much extolled by Malvasia, and flouris.h.i.+ng about the time of Sammartino. On the authority of Melchiori, who names him Sammartino, or Sanmarchi, I believe that these two landscape-painters of Guarienti resolve themselves into one; and that the mistake arose from the resemblance of the two names, by which one and the same person was popularly known; as we have had occasion to observe in other instances. Moreover, what could be the reason that this Sanmarchi, a Venetian, is not known in Venice itself, but only in Bologna, where it does not appear that he ever had a permanent abode?

The elder Cittadini, who excelled in flowers, and fruits, and animals, is commended in the preceding epoch. In the present, we shall make mention of his three sons, Carlo, Gio. Bastista, and Angiol Michele, who, however able in figures, at least the two first, are known to have a.s.sisted their father, and imitated him in the subjects most familiar to him; hence they were termed by Albano, syndic to the Bolognese professors,[55] the fruiterers and florists. From Carlo sprung Gaetano, the landscape painter, and Gio. Girolamo, who down to our own days, though without attempting figures, excelled in painting different animals, fruits, and vases of flowers. But this family was successfully rivalled by Domenico Bettini, a Florentine professor in the same line; who, after remaining a long time at Modena, where we have mentioned him, came to establish himself at Bologna, towards the end of the sixteenth century. He had learnt design under Vignali, and next continued to improve himself in the school of Nuzzi, at Rome. He was among the first, says Orlandi, who dismissing those obscure and dismal grounds, painted more clear and openly; adding attractions to such paintings, by the invention of situations, and by the introduction of perspective: he was frequently invited to different Italian cities, to decorate halls and cabinets. But the favourite artist in this kind, of his day, was Candido Vitali, who, taught by Cignani, always attentive to the peculiarities of his pupils, made rapid progress in these attractive branches of the art. The freshness which appears in his flowers and fruits, the beauty of his quadrupeds and birds, are farther recommended by a taste of composition, and a delicacy of hand, which are prized both in Italy and abroad. Baimondo Manzini, a miniaturist rather than a painter, painted less in oil; but with such a degree of nature, that his animals, exhibited in cartoons, and placed by him in a certain light, have deceived even painters themselves; for which he has been extolled by Zanotti as a modern Zeuxis.

An a.s.semblage of his fishes, birds, and flowers, is to be seen in the fine gallery of the Casa Ercolani.

Footnote 55: Malvasia, vol. ii. p. 265.

At the same period the art was indebted to the judgment of Cignani for a good painter of battle-pieces in Antonio Calza, a Veronese, mentioned in the third volume; where it is observed that, being subsequently a.s.sisted by Borgognone, he became master of that branch of art at Bologna. Contemporary with him was another pupil of Cortese, who resided during several years in the same city, named Cornelio Verhuik, of Rotterdam. Besides his battle-pieces in his master's manner, displaying strong and vivid colouring, he painted in the Flemish style markets, fairs, and landscape, which he enlivened with small figures, like those of Callot. From Cignani also the Bolognese School received an excellent portrait painter in Sante Vandi, more commonly called Santino da' Ritratti. Few of his age were qualified to compete with him in point of talent, grace, and correctness in the characteristic features, particularly when drawn in small proportions, such as were calculated even to decorate boxes and rings. For these he had constant commissions, both from private persons and from princes, most of all from the Grand Duke Ferdinando of Tuscany, and Ferdinando, Duke of Mantua, who gave him a salary at his court, until his return to Bologna on the duke's death. But he remained there only a short time, being still invited to different cities, so that he educated no pupils for his native place, and died abroad. With him, observes Crespi, "disappeared the manner of producing portraits at once so soft and powerful, combined with such natural expression."