Guercino

“ 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. ”

“ This great picture exhibits, in a surpassing degree, the merits and defects of Guercino; it is effective, dramatic, deeply and forcibly coloured, and arrests attention: on the other hand, it is coarse, crowded, vulgar in sentiment, and repugnant to our better taste. There is a standing figure of Petronilla in the Duomo at Lucca, by Daniel di Volterra, very fine. [195]
The life of St. ”

“ La tête haute, l'œil tourné vers le ciel, il semble répéter le mot de sa race: 'Je ne crains qu'une chose, c'est que le ciel tombe sur ma tête.'"—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 207.
At the end of the gardens, to the left, is another casino, from whose roof a most beautiful view may be obtained. Here are the most famous frescoes of Guercino. On the ceiling of the ground-floor, Aurora driving away Night and scattering flowers in her course, with Evening and Daybreak in the lunettes ”

“ In every other instance he has always sufficient art to please; and it is surprising how a man who led the way to the most corrupt period in Venice, as it has been observed of Vasari at Florence, and of Zuccaro at Rome, could thus exhibit so many attractions, both of nature and of art, calculated to feast the eye, and to fix the soul of the spectator. Both Guercino and Guido were sensible of the power of his pencil; and when examining one of his altarpieces, at the Cappucini, in Bologna, "What a pity," they exclaimed, "that the master of such a pencil should be no more." (Boschini, p. 383.) ”

“ His style was somewhat influenced by that of his brother, whose assistant he was, and by his study of the Caracci. He often appears to have imitated the strong relief and azure grounds of Guercino. His Crucifixion of S. Andrea, in the church of Monte Cavallo, the Fight of Joshua in the Quirinal palace, and a Madonna attended by Saints, in the Trinità de' Pellegrini, merit our attention. In these works there is a happy union of various styles, exempt from mannerism. ”

“ The gayer tints of Guido vanish before his as insipid, [26] Domenichino appears laboured, and the Carracci dim. Nor was Guercino a stranger to the genuine expressions of untaught nature, and there is more of pathos in the dog which he introduced caressing the returned prodigal, than in all the Farnese gallery; as the Argus of Ulysses, looking up at his old master, then dropping his head and dying, moves more than all the metamorphoses of Ovid. If his male figures be [109] brought to the test of style, it may be said, that he never made a man; their virility is tumour or knotty labour ”

“ Another, by a feeble artist of the Carlo Dolce school, had been converted, by a substitution of names and sundry touchings-up, into a brilliant Guercino, at the cost of nearly one thousand dollars, of which the owner got about one-third, the confederates pocketing the rest.
Some amateurs deceive themselves after a manner which acquits the dealer of any participation in their illusions. A gentleman entered a well-known studio in Florence, not many years since, and inquired the price of a picture. ”

“ It should not, however, be forgotten, that the best works of Guercino, the later pictures of Annibale Carracci, and the important works of Domenichino and Salvator Rosa belong to this period.
The second school was that of the Naturalists, who professed to study Nature alone, representing with brutal realism her repulsive aspects. Naples was the centre of these painters, and the poisoning of Domenichino and many other dark and terrible deeds have been attributed to them. ”

“ The style of Jacopo Vignali has some resemblance to that of Guercino, but less in the forms than in the dark shadows and the grounds. He is amongst those scholars of Rosselli who are seldom mentioned, although he painted more than any of the rest for the prince and the state. He often is weak, especially in attitude; often, however, he appears praiseworthy, as in the two pictures at S. Simone, and in the S. Liborio, which is possessed by the Missionaries. He is most conspicuous in fresco painting, with which he ornamented the chapel of the Bonarruoti. ”

“ Of painting I know nothing; but I like a Guercino—a picture of Abraham putting away Hagar and Ishmael—which seems to me natural and goodly. The Flemish school, such as I saw it in Flanders, I utterly detested, despised, and abhorred; it might be painting, but it was not nature; the Italian is pleasing, and their ideal very noble.
"The Italians I have encountered here are very intelligent and agreeable. In a few days I am to meet Monti. By the way, I have just heard anPg 301 anecdote of Beccaria, who published such admirable things against the punishment of death. ”

“ He worked very rapidly, completing 106 large altar-pieces for churches, besides 144 other pictures. His greatest work is said to be his Sta. Petronilla, which is now in the Capitol at Rome. Guercino died in 1666, having amassed a large fortune by his labours. There is a good photograph of L’Angelo Custode, in the Illustrations to Browning’s Poems, part i., published by the Browning Society. An angel with wings outspread is standing in a protecting attitude by a little child, and the angel’s left arm embraces the infant, while the right hand encloses the hands of the child clasped in prayer. ”

“ After examining his manner, and in particular his tints, I believe him to have been a pupil, or at least a disciple of P. Pronti of Rimini, shortly before commended among Guercino's disciples along with Gennari, also from that place. Here likewise we shall mention a third, sprung from the school of Padovanino, but residing in his native place; a painter more of pictures for private ornament than for churches. His name was Carlo Leoni, and he competed with Centino in his picture of the Penitence of David, at the Oratorio, and with other excellent figurists who then flourished in Romagna. ”

“ The detail of this picture is exquisite; the composition powerful, and the grace and dignity of each figure in turn is striking. There are fine paintings throughout the church all by Veronese masters, the most marked among them being by Brusasorci, Giolfino, Farinato, Caroto, Balestra, Zavoldo, Torbido. The chapel in the right transept contains a Sta. Francesca Romano by Guercino, with paintings on the side by Cavazzola. In the chapel to the left of the choir is a picture of St Benedict by Brentana. ”

“ Grotto Ferrata is a convent seated on the edge of a little valley, with some foundations, which are said to have belonged to the villa of Cicero, and boasts some very beautiful frescos of Domenichino, particularly the celebrated demoniac boy. I continued my walk as far as Marino, to see some other paintings, one of which is an admirable production of Guercino. In returning, I followed a road higher up the hill, but it would have been better to have kept lower down, where several fragments of antiquity are distinguishable. ”

“ He excelled in the knowledge of the sotto in su, and displayed extraordinary skill in his foreshortenings. The painters in Naples have often compared among themselves, says Dominici, the two pictures of S. Michael, [Pg 416] the one by Lanfranco, and the other by Benaschi, in the church of the Holy Apostles, without being able to decide to which master they ought to assign the palm of merit.
Guercino himself was never in Naples, but the Cav. Mattia Preti, commonly called il Cav. Calabrese, allured by the novelty of his style, repaired to Cento, to avail himself of his instructions. ”

“ We had no time to explore the town, and we could only get glimpses of it from the train going in. It is called “le Superb.” Has some of the finest churches in Italy; is also a city of Commerce, of Shipping. It is a garrisoned city, and has fortifications considered impregnable. It is a city of palaces. Also has a picture gallery containing some fine paintings by the old masters, one by Guercino, in the very best colouring, “Virgin and Child.” This has been a favourite subject p. 33of the Artists, as both in oils and in marble and stone, this subject is prominent. ”

“ Guido cried.
Pavona opened her eyes.
They were fearful. They were like the eyes designed on the plumes of a peacock, a white peacock.
Guido swooned and awoke in his cell, an assassin, a thief, a perjurer.
"I am a wretch," he thought, after a moment, "a wretch unworthy of his own pity. The crimes one commits in dreaming, one is really capable of committing. What occurs in the dream lay dormant in the caves of the will, or rather, they are prophecies and the celestial admonition of an irrevocable predestination. Ah! rather to have been criminal than to live in the certitude of a future crime. ”

“ Guicciardini, an Italian statesman and historian, born in Florence; studied law; became professor of Jurisprudence there; was a disciple of Macchiavelli; did service as a statesman in the Papal territories; took a leading part in the political changes of Florence; secured the restoration of the Medici to power, and on his retirement composed a “History of Italy during his Own Time,” which he had all but completed when he died (1485-1540) .
Guichard, Karl, a Prussian officer, born at Magdeburg; joined Frederick the Great at Breslau, “a solid staid man, of a culture unusual for a soldier ”

“ Caonabo might know well the mountains of Cibao, but this sierra that was straight behind Guarico, Guarico knew. It is a blessed habit of their priests to go wandering in the forest, making their medicine, learning the country, discovering, using certain haunts for meditation. Sometimes they are gone from their villages for days and weeks. None indeed of these wild peoples fear reasonable solitude. Out of all which comes the fact that Guarin knew this mountain. We were not far, as flies the bird, from the burned town of Guarico, from the sea without sail, from the ruined La Navidad. ”

“ During all the years of [Pg 36] the fourteenth century the feudal society of Switzerland, although so fiercely attacked by the rising bourgeoisie power, blazed like the leaves in autumn in a passing October glory with the snows of winter seemingly still afar. At Chambéry, the court of Amédée VII of Savoy, called Le Comté Vert from the emerald color of the velvet in which he and his courtiers were clad, the brother rulers of Gruyère took part in all the fêtes and tourneys. ”

“ There, helped by other fugitive Christians, he began to clear away the primeval forest, and founded the castle and town which bear his name.
Gruyère thus became the cradle of a new race, which, constantly increasing in wealth and power, soon ruled over a vast extent of land peopled by many vassals. The Counts of Gruyère were in general good masters; and the land, carefully tilled by their dependants, grew more and more productive, until many villages dotted the country, while the tinkle of cow-bells was heard for miles around. ”

“ Then night fell and it seemed to Guido that a most notable miracle had suspended, for several instants, the sun at the horizon's edge.
"He is guilty, quite guilty," Veltro reflected, "but he has piety, he regrets his crimes. May the madonna listen to him!"
"Listen to me, my lord," added the jailor, "and know that there is no better recourse in the world than to implore the Novella. You see it is not for nothing that she is called the Madonna of the Orphans! Her arms always are open and she does not carry a babe because all God's creatures are her children. ”

“ Their long rule, extending through six centuries of internal wars, during times when oppression was the prerogative of their order, was stained by no single act of cruelty. In the peculiar charm of their race, in the unique influence of their position in Europe, as in the unbroken length of their rule, the counts of Gruyère were the most important of all the noble Swiss families. Titles and aristocratic privileges have long since vanished from republican Switzerland, where liberty triumphant, the age-wrought jewel of a thousand years, shines clearly among the tumults of the warring nations. ”

“ Guicciardini, Francesco (1483-1540) , the Italian historian and statesman, was born at Florence. Undertook in 1512 an embassy from Florence to the Court of Ferdinand the Catholic, and learned diplomacy in Spain. In 1515 he entered the service of Pope Leo X. His principal book is his History of Italy. The Istoria d’Italia appeared in Florence in ten volumes between 1561 and 1564. His Recordi Politici consists of some 400 aphorisms on political and social topics and has been described by an Italian critic as “Italian corruption codified and elevated to a rule of life.” ”

“ In 1531 Guicciardini was advanced to the governorship of Bologna, the most important of all the Papal lord-lieutenancies. This post he resigned in 1534 on the election of Paul III., preferring to follow the fortunes of the Medicean princes at Florence. In this sketch of his career I must not omit to mention that Guicciardini was declared a rebel in 1527 by the popular government on account of his well-known Medicean prejudices, and that in 1530 he had been appointed by Clement VII. to punish the rebellious citizens. ”