Luigi Lanzi

“ 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 passed 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. ”

“ For this, his dilatory character, did not spring from confined genius, but from deep penetration; he shunned the ideal of the art as a rock on which so many of his contemporaries had suffered shipwreck; he pursued nature every where; he exacted of himself a reason for every line he drew; and considered it the duty of a young artist to aim only at doing well, until at length it grows into a habit, and such habit assists him in expediting his work. ”

“ He had formed a peculiar manner, which both in design and expression partakes of the Caracci's, while the composition is drawn from Coreggio. It is a manner at once easy, and elevated by the dignity of the countenances and actions, by the ample and well disposed masses of light and shade, by the nobleness of the drapery and its imposing folds, broad and wholly novel in the art. ”

“ Some persons may, perhaps, be indisposed to give full credit to all that I have written of Gio. Batista; as it seems incredible that an artist should be so little known, who united in himself the most opposite qualities; a wonderful skill both in oil and fresco; equal excellence in colour and design; facility and correctness; an immense number of works, and a diligence shewn by few fresco painters. ”

“ Andrea Sighizzi, the father and master of three artists, was employed also at Turin, Mantua, and Parma, where he received a salary from the court, and had Pasinelli for his best companion. It would carry us too far, to recount all the quadraturists sprung from these schools; nor would all, perhaps, deserve commemoration. Though no art was more rapidly extended, none sooner degenerated; caprice usurped the place of sound rules of architecture, and was carried to a pitch of extravagance and impertinence, when the Borrominesque taste began to extend through Italy. ”

“ Whoever wishes to see admirable productions, must observe his pictures in eminent collections; as the St. Thomas Incredulous, in the Palazzo Brignole. When placed in a room of excellent colourists he eclipses them all by the majesty, copiousness, vigour, nature, and harmony of his style. His design is not very correct, nor sufficiently select; we there see a naturalist who follows neither Sorri nor any other master; but one who, after the example of that ancient master, derives instruction from the multitude. ”

“ In point of taste he is not equal to the best among his contemporaries in other schools, employing gilding, and more strongly adhering to the old dryness of design. His style, nevertheless, yields to that of few in the beauty of its heads, and in the vividness of its colouring, which still remains almost unimpaired. His folding is also good, his composition tolerable, he selects difficult perspectives, and his attitudes are bold. From his whole painting he might be rather pronounced the head of a new, than the follower of any other school. ”

“ Agostino Caracci had there decorated the ceiling of a chamber; there Cignani exhibited, on the walls, various fables, illustrative of the power of Love; in which, if he surpassed not that great master, he, in the opinion of many, at least equalled him. In design he invariably emulated Coreggio; but, in his outlines, in his beauteous and noble countenances, and in his grand, ample folds, he preserved something original, and distinct from the Lombards; while he is less studious than they respecting the use of foreshortening. ”

“ In particular, the fiery temper of Dionisio Calvart contributed to fill it, who, being in the habit of striking, and even wounding his disciples, drove Guido, Albano, and Domenichino, to transfer their talents to the studio of the Caracci. Panico too entered it from the school of Fontana, and from all sides the best young artists assembled, drawing after them fresh ranks of students. Finally, the other academies were closed; every school was left to solitude; every name gave way before that of the Caracci; to them the best commissions, to them the meed of praise were accorded. ”

“ 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 attitudes, 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! ”

“ Moreover, he may be pronounced inimitable to most artists, in those rare gifts, which nature had lavished upon him: enthusiasm, fertility of invention, sensibility, and skill in depicting the passions; to which he added a correct eye, and ability both to design and compose, in the decoration of friezes for the institute, exotic plants and other rarities of nature, as well as to engrave with much elegance, and skill to paint in oil as well as in fresco. A really impartial biographer must pass his opinion on every man, and let his verdict result from an examination of his masterpieces. ”

“ Ferrara, once the capital of a small principality under the dukes of Este, but, since the year 1597, reduced into a legation, dependant upon the see of Rome, lays claim to a series of excellent artists, greatly superior to its power and population. This, however, will appear less extraordinary, if we call to mind the number of its illustrious poets, commencing even before the time of Boiardo and Ariosto, and continued down to our own days; a sure indication of national genius, equally fervid, elegant, and inventive, adapted, more than common, to the cultivation of the agreeable arts. ”

“ To write the history of the Caracci and their followers would in fact be almost the same as to write the pictoric history of all Italy during the last two centuries. In our preceding books we have taken a survey of almost every school; and everywhere, early or late, we have met with either the Caracci or their pupils, or at least with their successors, employed in overthrowing the ancient maxims, and introducing new, until we reach the period when there was no artist who, in some respect or other, might not be said to belong to their school. ”

“ Lorenzo, an artist, as is elsewhere observed, of Venice more probably than of Bologna, [4] who produced the history of Daniel, on which he inscribed his name, painted during the same period, and attempted copious compositions. He was greatly inferior to the Memmi, to the Laurati, to the Gaddi, though he is represented as their equal in reputation by Malvasia. He betrays the infancy of the art, no less in point of design than in the expressions of his countenances, whose grief sometimes provokes a smile; and in his forced and extravagant attitudes in the manner of the Greeks. ”

“ Possessing such means appeared Cosimo Tura, whom Vasari and other historians term Cosmè, and give him as pupil to Galasso. He was court-painter in the time of Borso d'Este and Tito Strozzi, who left a poetic eulogy upon him. His style is dry and humble, as was customary in that age, still far removed from true dignity and softness. The figures are treated in the style of Mantegna, the muscles clearly expressed, the architecture drawn with care, the bassi-relievi highly ornamented, and laboured in the most minute and exact taste. ”

“ Here we most distinctly trace the follower of Raffaello, in the chasteness of design, the beauty and grace of the countenances, and the finished expression; if indeed the design of these angels is not taken from Coreggio. To render the picture more engaging, there is represented a landscape, with a window, whence there appears in the distance a beautiful country, with fine buildings; nor are there many pictures remaining in the city at this day to be compared with it. If it had possessed a more vigorous colouring, [Pg 457] and a stronger chiaroscuro, there would be nothing more to wish for. ”

“ How difficult then to persuade ourselves that a genius, described by Dante as lofty and full of vaunting, should demean himself by deigning to design at the school of a contemporary, near the seat of a mere child; and subsequently surviving only thirteen years, should acquire the fame of the first miniaturist of his age, besides forming the mind of a pupil superior to himself. It is no less incredible that Oderigi, after having seen Giotto's specimens in miniature, [Pg 12] "should in a short time become famous." ”

“ 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 polishing his work; besides colouring with a degree of lightness of hand which easily yields to age. ”

“ 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. ”

“ And true it is that the painter, like the writer, is formed by the study of great models; but the one may behold them all collected in the same library, while the other has to seek them in different cities, and in every city to study them at different places. At Rome his only public works are a picture at the church dell'Anima, a history of S. Carlo at the Vallicella, and an altar-piece of S. Bernardo, at the Cisterciensi, highly commended in the Guide of Rome. The rest of his works, and they are but few, belong to private persons ”

“ Ottavio, an unprincipled man, was an eminent artist, and succeeded so well in the imitation of his master, as is scarcely credible to those who have not seen his works. He painted the façade of the palace Doria, now Invrea, and there displayed so fine a taste in the architecture, and decorated it with busts and figures of such relief, and particularly with a Rape of the Sabines, that Giulio Cesare Procaccini took it for a performance of Raffaello, and asked if that great master had left any other works in Genoa. ”

“ This honour was reserved for Bologna, whose destiny was declared to be the art of teaching, as governing was said to be that of Rome; and it was not the work of an academy, but of a single house. Gifted with genius, intent upon attaining the secrets more than the stipends of their art, and unanimous in their resolves, the family of the Caracci discovered the true style of imitation. First, they inculcated it through the neighbouring state of Romagna, whence it was communicated to the rest of Italy; so that in a little while nearly the whole country was filled with its reputation. ”

“ He belonged to the state of Modena, and, when young, was put to the school of a very poor painter of arms in Bologna. Thus it was his lot, writes Algarotti, to have had not a single master of architecture among the moderns. By means of a peculiar natural genius, and studying the designs of Mitelli and Colonna, examining at the same time their models throughout the city, he re-conducted the art to a style, solid in architecture, sparing in decoration, as it had formerly been, and in some parts still more philosophical and learned. ”

“ The best of all, however, is his Deposition from the Cross, placed in the Sagrestia Capitolare of the cathedral. A number of others only approach mediocrity, though still pleasing by their spirit, and a general effect which proclaims superior genius. Even his colouring, when he studied it, is calculated to attract by its warmth and vividness, though not very natural. A few of his works are in such bad taste as to have induced his pupil, Jacopo Bambini, out of compassion, to retouch them; and Baruffaldi also notices this singular inequality. ”