Giulio

“ Never did he feel the bitter agony of merited humiliation so much as at that moment, when the Doge's splendid train, glittering with all the pomp of wealth and nobility, swept through the marble arch of the Rialto.
There is no crime, however foul, for which gold will not procure a pardon, both from church and state, in Italy; but Count Giulio was a beggar, without even one quattrino. ”

“ Morning came, and with it horror, dread, and doubt—to the unhappy Giulio at least: his cousin and adviser, Count Stephano, was a villain too hardened to feel compunction at having murdered a woman whose life was an obstacle to the accomplishment of any purpose of his. Morning came, and rumour with her thousand venomed tongues had poisoned the ears of all Venice with the hideous tidings. The church Della Salute was hung with black, the bells of San Marco tolled a knell, and the banner bearing the winged lion of the Republic hung half hoisted on the ramparts of the ducal palace. ”

“ He did the work mechanically, measuring it by the hour, and thinking of something else, and only counted the wrappers he had written on the following day. Slapping his son on one shoulder, he said to him:—
“Eh, Giulio! Your father is even a better workman than you thought. In two hours I did a good third more work than usual last night. My hand is still nimble, and my eyes still do their duty.” And Giulio, silent but content, said to himself, “Poor daddy, besides the money, I am giving him such satisfaction in the thought that he has grown young again. Well, courage!” ”

“ But, as if ashamed of his country and his birth, he affected to be a citizen of the world. Heaven help the world if it hold only such citizens!
“But, Giulio,” said Beatrice di Negra, speaking in Italian, “even granting that you discover this girl, can you suppose that her father will ever consent to your alliance? Surely you know too well the nature of your kinsman?”
“Tu to trompes, ma soeur,” replied Giulio Franzini, Count di Peschiera, in French as usual,—“tu to trompes; I knew it before he had gone through exile and penury. ”

“ Guercino is still a god at Cento, his statue in the piazza, his pictures in the gallery. Possagno has a shrine with casts of all Canova. With what a gusto did the cicerones of Mantua talk of Giulio Romano! How the name rolled from the tongue, how it brightened a dingy fresco and glorified a dubious canvas. Si! Si! Tutto di Giulio Romano! Poor Giulio Romano! Not that those giants of yours tumbling on their heads in the Palazzo Te are as detestable as Dickens said. Those of David and Goliath in the great courtyard are even charming. ”

“ Giulio complained to Alfonso of injustice, while the cardinal's numerous friends considered his banishment too severe a punishment. Ippolito had a great following in Ferrara. He was a lavish man of the world, while the duke, owing to his utilitarian ways and practical life, repelled the nobility. A party was formed which advocated a revolution. The house of Este had survived many of these attempts. One had occurred when Ercole ascended the throne.
Giulio succeeded in winning over to his cause certain disaffected nobles and conscienceless men who were in the service of the duke ”

“ The effect which the sight of the element made upon Maredata, was as unexpected as wonderful. Her eyes sparkled with delight, she spread out her arms, uttered a cry of joy, and threw herself into the waves. Giulio stood amazed, but soon he beheld her, who rose smiling and nodding at him, and swimming with an astonishing agility and grace. Her slender form appearing through the floods and the silver light of the moon, seemed not to be that of a mortal. Love and anxiety filled her husband’s bosom, and he followed her into the sea to protect her in the dangerous element. ”

“ Finding it impossible to cross the frontier, they threw themselves into the tower of Fana, a baronial hold of Count Giulio, near Gradiska, one of the strongest garrison towns in Austrian Friuli. On this impregnable castle, perched on a rock overhanging the fertile valley watered by the Isonza, Giulio hoisted his standard; but his half Sclavonian, half German vassals mustered unwillingly beneath it, when they found a siege was to be endured: the cavaliers from Venice, having invested it on every side, resolved to exterminate this infamous family. ”

“ Giulio.
All genius is capricious. You’ll admit
That men who lived like beasts have painted well.
The Stranger.
Yes; but not greatly, except when their own souls
Have gripped the beast within them by the throat,
And risen again to reassert the law.
Giulio.
Art lives by its technique, a fact the herd [107]
Will never understand. A noble soul
Is useless, if it cannot wield a brush.
The Stranger.
May not technique include control and judgment?
Alone, they are not enough; but, for the heights,
More is required, not less. I’d even add
Some factors you despise.
Giulio. ”

“ The unhappy Giulio, finding that no alternative was left but to die bravely sword in hand, or perish ignominiously on the scaffold, gathered a fierce courage from despair, and assisted in the defence of the walls with an energy which drew forth many a boisterous encomium from Stefano, who seemed quite in his element when the castle rocked to its base with the discharge and recoil of its artillery: he swaggered from place to place, blustering and swearing, dividing the time between draining deep flagons in the hall and urging the defence of the garrison. ”

“ Fra Giulio had crossed himself devoutly, as if confessing to some earthliness. "I measure not my simple mind with that of a genius, my brother; for so God hath endowed our lad. Yet it may be that He meaneth man to garner other blessings besides knowledge. We received him as a child into our fold, and we are responsible for his development. But his condition is not normal."
"Genius is abnormal," Fra Gianmaria had responded shortly.
"He hath no wish but for this ceaseless mental labor; all natural youthful fancies, all joy in the things of beauty—for these he careth naught." ”

“ At length a youth arrives, to enjoy the silent wonders of nature, a youth worthy of seeing the goddess without her girdle. Giulio, the only son of the rich and powerful Count Montefuoco, was now verging into manhood, yet there was none, even in that early age, who could vie with him in either the arts of knighthood, or the accomplishments of the mind. ”

“ There is no merry shouting of titles, no gay carnival dress, no glittering pageant now, as, on the morning of Sunday, the ninth of November, 1494, the young cardinal and his cousin Giulio pass anxiously down the grand staircase of the Medici palace to where in the great entrance-hall the pikestaffs and arquebuses of the Swiss guard ring on the marble floor.
"Think you the Signory will admit him?" Giulio asked of his cousin, as they awaited the return of Pietro from his demand for admittance to the palace of the Signory, the city hall of Florence. ”

“ Giulio, on the contrary, after having discoursed a long time with his parents, asserted, that he was himself perfectly happy, that such a soft affectionate being as Maredata, could never endanger his soul, and finished by asking his parents’ leave to go with his family to their castle in the interior of the country. ”

“ Giulio must at all events have been quite youthful when he first became the pupil of Raphael, and at Raphael’s death in 1520 he was at the utmost twenty-eight years of age. Raphael had loved him as a son, and had employed him in some leading works, especially in the Loggie of the Vatican ”

“ Hippolito, pressing her one day to acknowledge the ground of her preference, she laid the blame of her love on Giulio's beautiful eyes. The cardinal secretly determined to dissolve that charm; and soon after, accompanying his brother on the chase, in a solitary situation, he led him into an ambush of assassins, who sprang upon the unsuspecting youth, dragged him from his horse, and tore out his eyes, while Hippolito stood by, directing the operation, and exulting in the extinction of those fatal luminaries that stood in his light. ”

“ But whoever is experienced in the freedom and delicacy of the chief of this school, need not fear confounding his productions with those of the scholars, or Giulio himself; who, besides having a more{78} timid pencil, made use of a darker tint than his master was accustomed to do. I have met with an experienced person, who declared that he could recognize the character of Giulio in the dark parts of the flesh tints, and in the middle dark tints, not of a leaden color as Raffaello used, nor so well harmonized ”

“ He was buried in the church of S. Barnaba in Mantua. At the time of his death Giulio enjoyed an annual income of more than 1000 ducats, accruing from the liberalities of his patrons. He left a widow, and a son and daughter. The son, named Raffaello, studied painting, but died before he could produce any work of importance; the daughter, Virginia, married Ercole Malatesta.
Wide and solid knowledge of design, combined with a promptitude of composition that was never at fault, formed the chief motive power and merit of Giulio Romano’s art. ”

“ When the Duke Federigo died, Giulio Romano, who had been much favoured by that prince, nay, beloved by him more than words could express, was so deeply grieved that he would have left Mantua, if the Cardinal, the brother of the Duke, on whom the government of the state had devolved, because his children were very young, had not retained him in that city; persuading him to abide where he had a wife and children, and possessed houses and villas, with every other means of enjoyment that needs to be demanded by the richest nobleman. ”

“ John Cornaro can respect bravery even in a ruffian. Away! but remember this affair ends not here. Both with Count Giulio and yourself a stern reckoning must be made. I swear by San Marco! that this right hand, which never suffered insult to pass unrevenged or wrong unpunished, shall, without appeal to council or to senate, redress most amply the outrage offered to the child of my brother. Wretch! save such as you, every man in Venice would have respected the daughter of Paolo Cornaro, the bravest admiral that ever led the fleets of our republic to battle. Begone to the infamous Giulio! ”

“ Thus Carlo Francesco, the elder, early adopted the manner of Giulio Cesare; and in Giuseppe we every where trace a composition and colouring derived from that school. The former, however, impelled by his genius, became a follower of Guido, and so far succeeded as to deserve the name, which he still enjoys, of the Guido of Lombardy. He does not abound in figures, but in these he is pleasing and graceful, elegant in his forms and the turn and air of his heads, united to a sweetness and harmony of tints which are seldom met with. ”

“ Leo had ruined the finance of Rome. France and Spain were still contending for the possession of Italy. While acting as Vice-Chancellor, Giulio de' Medici had seemed to hold the reins with a firm grasp, and men expected that he would prove a powerful Pope; but in those days he had Leo to help him; and Leo, though indolent, was an abler man than his cousin. He planned, and Giulio executed. Obliged to act now for himself, Clement revealed the weakness of his nature. That weakness was irresolution, craft without wisdom, diplomacy without knowledge of men. ”

“ Giuliano, red and fresh as a rose, smooth, clear, and bright as a mirror, joyous and with those contemplative eyes. Messer Giovanni also looks well, not much colour, but healthy and natural; and Giulio has a brown and healthy complexion. [320] All, in short, were happiness itself. And thus with great joy and delight we went a happy party by Via Maggio, Ponte a S. Trinità, S. Michele Berteldi, S. Maria Maggiore, Canto alla Paglia, Via de’ Martelli, and entered the house, per infinita asecula aseculorum eselibera nos a malo amen. ”

“ Of this perhaps enough is now said; but let none ever laugh at the prognostications of any worthy man whom he has wrongfully insulted; because it is not he who speaks, nay, but the very voice of God through him.
Note 1. This Cardinal and Pope was Giulio, a natural son of Giuliano, Lorenzo de’ Medici’s brother, who had been killed in the Pazzi conspiracy, year 1478. Giulio lived to become Pope Clement VII., to suffer the sack of Rome in 1527, and to make the concordat with Charles V. at Bologna in 1529-30, which settled for three centuries the destiny of Italy. ”

“ Messer Giulio lost no time in speaking of me to the Duke in terms of the warmest praise. [14] That Prince commissioned me to make a model for a reliquary, to hold the blood of Christ, which they have there, and say was brought them by Longinus. Then he turned to Giulio, bidding him supply me with a design for it. To this Giulio replied: "My lord, Benvenuto is a man who does not need other people's sketches, as your Excellency will be very well able to judge when you shall see his model." ”

“ Suppose, now, that it should not be his own soul that has come back into him, wife, but some bad spirit, that all your working and water--I am sure it was not holy water--has brought back into his poor, miserable corpse!"
"Jesu Maria! do not put such thoughts into my head, Giovanozzo," exclaimed the old lady with a look of horror; "but that cannot be, either, for I made Giulio put some salt into the water, and the devil can never stand that; so go along with you. You cannot frighten me. Go and try to get back your senses, for you seem to have lost them, good man." ”

“ The fame of the two masters, just celebrated, did not then extend far beyond their native districts, being eclipsed by the celebrity of many contemporaries, who swayed the regions of the art; in the list of whom was Giulio Romano. His reputation drew to Mantua Francesco Primaticcio, instructed in design by Innocenzio, and by Bagnacavallo in colouring. Under Giulio he afterwards became a painter on a great scale, and a very copious composer of large histories, as well as a decorator in wood and stucco in a magnificent style suitable only for a palace. ”