The History Of Painting In Italy Volume Iii Part 10

Gregorio Lazzarini was pupil to Rosa, and not only freed himself from the sombre sect, but rising into great reputation, wholly banished it from the Venetian School, of which, for accuracy of design, he might be p.r.o.nounced to be the Raffaello. Whoever contemplates the pictures of Lazzarini would, at first, suppose he must have received his education at Bologna, or rather, perhaps, at Rome. Yet he never left Venice, and by the strength of his genius alone, acquired the esteem of the most learned professors in the art, and particularly of Maratta, a very scrupulous panegyrist of his contemporaries. Thus the Venetian amba.s.sador at Rome, having occasion to apply to him for a picture, intended to ornament the hall of the Scrutinio, he declined the commission, expressing his surprise that it should be deemed requisite to apply to him at Rome, while they had Lazzarini at Venice. And the latter artist produced a piece which justified the judgment of Maratta, representing in the n.o.blest manner the triumphal memory of Morosini, surnamed by the Venetians, Peloponnesiaco, which adorns the forementioned hall. He most distinguished himself by his picture of San Lorenzo Giustiniani, painted for the patriarchal church; perhaps the best specimen in oil displayed by the Venetian School during this period, whether for its taste of composition, its elegance of contours, or the original beauty and variety of its countenances and its att.i.tudes. It possesses, likewise, force of colouring, in which he was not always equally successful. In small figures he was extremely graceful, a specimen of which may be seen in a choir of Santa Caterina, at Vicenza, where he executed some very beautiful histories, in the most glowing colours imaginable. The last altarpiece, bearing his own name, was completed by his excellent pupil, Giuseppe Camerata, who in this, as well as other pieces produced for churches, pursued the same career as his master. Another of Lazzarini's pupils, however, Silvestro Manaigo, persevered in an opposite course, for though of a fine character, he was too rapid, and too much of a mannerist.

There flourished, likewise, at that period, two artists of Trevisi, Francesco, included in the list of the Roman School, and Angiolo Trevisani, who, both by birth and domicile, must be claimed for that of Venice. Fine in his inventive pieces, as we gather from those at La Carita, and various other churches in the capital, he was still more celebrated for his portraits. In exercising this branch, he formed a style founded upon nature, not, indeed, sublime, but very select, and in part conformable to the schools then in vogue. His pencil displayed diligence and research, especially in his management of the chiaroscuro.

Jacopo Amigoni can scarcely be justly estimated in Venice, where, if we except his picture of the Visitation at the monastery of San Filippo, there is nothing of his remaining in public in his best manner; that which he acquired by studying the masterpieces of the Flemish School in Flanders. It was there that his genius, naturally fertile and animated, uniting with facility qualities of grandeur and of beauty, and seizing upon the finest subject for copious histories, also discovered the kind of colouring he had in vain sought for at Venice. There, too, he "_achieved the art of attaining, by force of shades, even to pure black, which colour he employed to produce perfect clearness, without injuring the beauty of his piece_:" thus we are informed by Signor Zanetti. Had he succeeded in giving a little more relief to his pictures, and employed less care in giving brilliance to every part of his composition, he would have appeared to more advantage; but only in the eyes of good judges, as the mult.i.tude could not well be presented with any thing more calculated to enchant them than one of his pictures. Nor was it without reason that his style was so much applauded throughout England, Germany, and Spain, in which last country he died, when painter to the court, in 1752. Various productions of his hand are to be met with, though but rarely, in possession of private families in Italy, chiefly consisting of little histories, conversations, and similar pieces, in the manner of the Flemish artists. Of the Flemish, I say, in respect to the size, not the perfection of the drawing, this artist being accustomed to alter his tints in some degree, particularly in the shifting hues, to labour by touching, often leaving his outline undefined, and to raise the colour so as to produce effect in the distance. His pieces upon a larger scale are more rare, though I have seen several exhibiting great truth in the expression of countenance, and a rich flow of drapery, in possession of the celebrated musician, Farinello, at Bologna. And in these portraits the musician himself always appeared, as received at different courts, and in the act of being applauded and rewarded by the European Sovereigns.

Giambatista Pittoni, though less generally known than the preceding, is still ent.i.tled to a rank among the first artists of his age. The disciple and nephew of Francesco Pittoni, here mentioned, rather from his pupil's merit than his own, he subsequently became attached to foreign schools, and formed a style which displays some novelty in the warmth of its colouring, and in a certain pictorial amenity and attraction which prevail throughout the whole. He cannot, indeed, be said to be very select, but he is in general correct, polished, and intelligent in his entire composition. He particularly shone in figures, smaller than the life; and the galleries in the Venetian state are thus by no means scantily furnished with his histories; while we may observe of his altarpieces that they seem to increase in beauty in proportion to the diminution of their size. This we perceive at the Santo in Padua, where he painted in compet.i.tion with the best of his contemporaries, the Martyrdom of San Bartolommeo, which he coloured upon a small canva.s.s. A very rapid tourist attributes it to the pencil of Tiepolo, whose manner is altogether different.

Gio. Batista Piazzetta, on the other hand, was an artist of as sombre a cast as the two preceding were animated and lively. He had acquired a good knowledge of design, either under his father, a tolerably skilful statuary in wood, or under some very exact naturalist; and in his early attempts he painted in a free and open style. Afterwards he embraced an opposite manner, and employing himself with Spagnolo at Bologna, and there likewise studying Guercino, he aimed at producing an effect by strong contrasts of lights and shades, and in this he succeeded. He had long, as it is supposed, observed the effects of light applied to statues of wood and models in wax; and by this he was enabled to draw, with considerable judgment and exact precision, the several parts that are comprehended in the shadowing, owing to which art his designs were eagerly sought after, and his works repeatedly engraved with a.s.siduity.

One of these, placed at the Domenicani delle Zattere was engraved by the celebrated Bartolozzi; another by his school; that is to say, his San Filippo, painted for the church of that name in Venice. Many were engraved also by Pitteri, by Pelli, and by Monaco, besides other prints that were executed in Germany. His method of colouring, however, diminished in a great measure the chief merit of his pictures. Thus his shades having increased and altered, his lights sunk, his tints become yellow, there remains only an inharmonious and unformed ma.s.s, which the venerators of names, indeed, may admire, but can hardly give a reason why. Where we happen to meet with a few of his pictures in good preservation, the effect is altogether so novel and original as to make a strong impression at first sight, more especially where the subject requires a terrific expression, as that of his beheading of St. John the Baptist in prison, produced at Padua, a work placed in compet.i.tion with those of the first artists in the state, and at that period esteemed the best of all. Yet if we examine him more narrowly he will not fail to displease us by that monotonous and mannered colour of lakes and yellows, and by that rapidity of hand, by some called spirit, though to others it often appears neglect, desirous of abandoning its labour before it is complete.

Piazzetta could hardly boast strength enough to deal with pictures abounding with figures, and having received a commission from a Venetian n.o.ble, to represent the Rape of the Sabines, he spent many years in conducting it. In his altarpieces and other sacred subjects he produced a pleasing effect from the spirit of devotion, but never for the dignity he displayed in them. Duly estimating his own ability, he was more desirous of painting busts and heads for pictures adapted for private rooms than any other subjects. In his caricatures he succeeded admirably, several of which in possession of the Conti Leopardi d'Osimo would excite the risible muscles of a professed enemy to mirth. At one period this artist had a great number of followers, a fashion nevertheless that soon ceased. Francesco Polazzo, a good painter, but a better restorer of ancient pictures, somewhat softened down the style of Piazzetta with that of Ricci. Domenico Maggiotto also tempered it in his Miracle of San Spiridione, and in his other works engraved at Venice and in Germany. Various artists of this school in the same way gave softness to his manner by studying other models. Perhaps the one most addicted to his method was Marinetti, from the name of his native place more commonly called Chiozzotto.

The last of the Venetian artists who procured for himself a great reputation in Europe, was Gio. Batista Tiepolo, so frequently commended by Algarotti. He was honoured likewise with a poetical eulogy by the Ab.

Bettinelli, became celebrated in Italy, in Germany, and in Spain, where he died painter to the court of Madrid. Pupil to Lazzarini, whose deliberate and cautious style served to curb his too great warmth and rapidity, he subsequently studied Piazzetta, animating and enlivening as it were his manner, as he appears to have done in his picture of the Shipwreck of San Satiro at San Ambrogio in Milan. He next became an a.s.siduous imitator of Paul Veronese, whom, though inferior to him in the airs of his heads, he very nearly approached in his folds and his colouring. From the engravings also of Albert Durer, that storehouse of copious composers, he derived no little advantage. Nor did he at any time abandon the study of nature in observing all the accidents of light and shade, and the contrasts of colour best adapted to produce effect.

In this branch he succeeded admirably, particularly in his works in fresco, for which he appears to have been endued by nature with promptness, rapidity, and facility in great compositions. While others were accustomed to display the most vivid colours, he only availed himself in his frescos of what are termed low and dusky colours; and by harmonizing them with others of a common kind, but more clear and beautiful, he produced a species of effect in his frescos, a beauty, a sunlike radiance, unequalled, perhaps, by any other artist. Of this the grand vault belonging to the Teresiani in Venice presents a fine specimen. He has there represented the Santa Casa, accompanied by numerous groups of angels finely foreshortened and varied, surrounded by a field of light that appears to rise into the firmament. Such an artist would have been truly great, had he, in works upon this scale, succeeded in observing equal correctness in every part; in the whole he always produces an agreeable effect. He appears more correct and careful in his oil pieces, which we find dispersed throughout the metropolitan city as well as the state. At San Antonio in Padua we meet with his Martyrdom of Santa Agatha, a picture alluded to by Algarotti as a very rare example of fine expression, at once uniting that of terror at approaching fate, and of joy for the glory of beat.i.tude in view. Many other beauties are remarked by Rossetti in this picture, which he admits, however deeply interested in defending it from every imputation cast upon it by Cochin, is not altogether perfect in point of design.

In the list of his disciples we find the name of Fabio Ca.n.a.le, mentioned with honour in the work so often cited, from the pen of Zanetti; and to such of his pictures as he mentions we may add those he produced in Palazzo Zen at the Frari, and in that of the Priuli at the bridge of the Miglio. To this artist we might join a few others of this last age, recorded in the Guide to Venice, the same that was published by Zanetti in 1733, and some of whom are likewise mentioned in the _Pittura Veneziana_, where, beginning at p. 470, he gave a catalogue of the names of such of the members of that estimable academy, as were then alive, some of whom are still in existence. But whoever is desirous of cultivating an acquaintance with them and with their works which are in possession of the public, may consult the above books as well as some of the more recent Guides of the city, which have continued from time to time to appear. I ought to add, that the Signor Alessandro Longhi has presented us with the portraits and the Elogj of the most celebrated of these moderns, in the year 1762, and this work also may supply what my brevity or my silence has omitted or compressed.

Proceeding in the next place from Venice to the cities of the state, we shall find that these also have produced many memorable artists. The Friuli will occupy but little of our attention, boasting few masters, and none of them distinguished for their figures. Pio Fabio Paolini, a native of Udine, studied at Rome, where he produced in fresco his San Carlo, which adorns the Corso, and was united to the academy there in 1678. Returning thence into his own country he painted several altarpieces and other minor pictures, such as to ent.i.tle him to a high place among the followers of Cortona. Giuseppe Cosattini, born at the same place, and canon of Aquileja, devoted himself to the same pursuit, and rose into so much estimation as to be declared painter to the Imperial Court. He particularly distinguished himself by his picture of San Filippo, preparing to celebrate ma.s.s, painted for the Congregation of Udine; the work of a real artist not of a dilettante, as he appears in some other of his paintings. Pietro Venier, a disciple of the Venetian artists, displayed some merit in his oil pieces, not uncommon at Udine; and more in his frescos in the ceiling of the church of San Jacopo, where he appears to great advantage. But the best painter of frescos in these later times, amongst his countrymen, was Giulio Quaglia, a native of Como. From his age and style I should suspect that he belonged to the school of the Recchi, although his design is less finished than that of Gio. Batista Recchi, the head of that family of painters. It would appear that he visited Friuli young, towards the close of the last century, and there he conducted works, for the most part, in fresco, to an amount that almost defies enumeration. His histories of our Saviour's Pa.s.sion, ornamenting the chapel of the Monte di Pieta at Udine, are held in high estimation, although he conducted works upon a much larger scale, for various halls of many n.o.ble families, in all which we trace a fecundity of ideas, a decision of pencil, a power for vast compositions, sufficient to have distinguished him in his age not only in the limits of Como but at Milan. I omit the names of those professors of the art who merely designed without colouring, or who never attained to mature age; and those of a few others I have to reserve for foreign schools, and for different branches of painting.

Proceeding towards the Marca Trevigiana, I meet with an artist's name that has been claimed by different schools of Italy, according to the place in which he painted, or studied, or gave instructions in the art.

For this reason I have judged it best to speak of him as connected with his native place, which boasts a sufficient number of his works. This artist is Sebastiano Ricci, which the Venetians write Rizzi, one who can be reckoned second to none among the professors of our own epoch, in point of genius for the art, and the taste and novelty of his style. He was born in Cividal di Belluno, educated, as we have observed, by Cervelli at Venice, and afterwards conducted by his master into Milan; he there acquired, both from him and from Lisandrino, every thing that was of importance in the pursuit of his profession. Thence he went to study at Bologna and at Venice, subsequently transferring his residence to Rome and Florence. Lastly he made the tour of all Italy, employing his pencil wherever he received commissions, at any price. Having acquired reputation, and being invited by different potentates, he pa.s.sed into Germany, England, and Flanders, in which last country he perfected his style of colouring, which had been always very pleasing and spirited, even in his first attempts. From his acquaintance with such a variety of schools, he stored his mind with fine images, and by dint of copying many models, his hand became practised in different styles. In common with Giordano he possessed the art of imitating every manner; some of his pictures in the style of Ba.s.sano and of Paul, continuing yet to impose upon less skilful judges, as in the instance of one of his Madonnas at Dresden, for some time attributed to Coreggio.

The chief advantage he derived from his travels was, that on having occasion to represent any subject, he was enabled to recollect the manner in which different masters might have treated it, availing himself of it without plagiarism accordingly. Thus the Adoration of the Apostles at the Last Supper, a piece adorning the church of Santa Giustina at Padua, betrays many points of resemblance to the painting on the cupola of San Giovanni at Parma, while his San Gregorio at San Alessandro in Bergamo recalls to mind one by Guercino, executed at Bologna. The same method he observed in his scriptural histories, produced for SS. Cosmo and Damiano, which are preferred to any others he conducted in Venice, or perhaps in any other parts, and which frequently present us with fine imitations, but never with plagiarisms. He did not early acquire a good knowledge of design, but he afterwards succeeded in this object, which he cultivated with extreme a.s.siduity in the academies, even in mature age. The forms of his figures are composed with beauty, dignity, and grace, like those of Paul Veronese; the att.i.tudes are more than usually natural, prompt, and varied, and the composition appears to have been managed with truth and with good sense.

Although rapid in the handling, he did not abuse his celerity of hand, as so many artists have been known to do. His figures are accurately designed, and appear starting from the canva.s.s, most frequently coloured with a very beautiful azure, in which they shine conspicuous over all.

Such pieces as he conducted in fresco, still preserve the native freshness of their tints; while some of his others seem to have suffered, owing to the badness of the grounds, or of the body of colour, which was weaker in the later than in the earliest Venetian artists. The amenity of Ricci's style soon procured for him disciples, in the list of whom Marco, his nephew, greatly distinguished himself, and subsequently devoting himself to the composition of landscape, he accompanied his master upon his travels, employing himself a good deal, both at Paris and in London. Gasparo Diziani, his fellow countryman, was an artist who excelled in his facility of painting large theatrical works, and in that line was employed in Germany. He was, moreover, a very pleasing composer of pictures for private ornament, several of which are now to be met with in the collections of the Sig. Silvestri and Sig. Casalini at Rovigo. Francesco Fonteba.s.so, a pupil also of Bastiano, succeeded, notwithstanding some degree of crudeness, in acquiring celebrity in his day, both in Venice and the adjacent cities.

In the Guide of Padua Rosetti includes, in the list of its painters, Antonio Pellegrini, as being the son of one of its citizens, who had established himself, however, at Venice, where Antonio was born. And the Venetians, indeed, may concede him to that city without much sacrifice of fame. For the surprising success he met with in some of the most civilized kingdoms of Europe, is to be attributed to the decline of the art, and to the lively and mannered style he a.s.sumed, which found a welcome reception in all parts. He may be p.r.o.nounced an artist of some ingenuity, facility, and sprightly conception; but he was by no means well grounded in the art; and he expressed his ideas with so little decision, that the objects which he represents sometimes appear to float in a kind of half-existence between visible and invisible. He was so very superficial a colourist, that even in his own times it was said his productions would not continue to last during a half century. And, in truth, those I have seen at Venice and at Padua are already become extremely pallid; while such as he executed at Paris will, doubtless, be in the same state. Yet in that city he obtained a large sum in the year 1720, for merely painting a frieze in the celebrated hall of the Mississippi, which he executed in about six weeks. His best work is, perhaps, to be found at San Moise, consisting of the Serpent of Bronze, erected by Moses in the Desert; no other equal to it having issued from his studio.

As the preceding one is considered the last of the Paduan artists of any note, we may mention, as the last among those of Bergamo, at least of any merit in composition, Antonio Zifrondi, or Cifrondi, pupil to Franceschini. Indeed he greatly resembled the former in his natural bias for the art, in an imagination adapted for great compositions, in facility and rapidity of hand, to such a degree as to dash off a picture in two hours. He likewise pa.s.sed into France, though without meeting with success, and then resided in his native place, employing himself for those churches that are adorned with so many of his pictures, few of which are free from errors of over haste and carelessness. Thus he did not scruple at the church of S. Spirito, to place near his picture of a Nunziata, conducted in his best style, three other historical pieces of quite an opposite character. We meet with his name mentioned more than once, in the Lettere Pittoriche, with much commendation. Several other artists, whose names are to be met with in Ta.s.si, and his continuator, are known to have flourished at the same period. Nor ought we, by any means, here to omit that of Vittore Ghislandi, who, though little skilled in works of invention, yet in his portraits, and some of his heads, in the way of capricci, has almost equalled in our own times the excellence of the ancients. He was instructed in the art by Bombelli, and by dint of very a.s.siduous study, particularly in the heads of t.i.tian, in order to develop his whole artifice, he attained a degree of perfection that is truly surprising. Whatever can be esteemed most desirable in a portrait painter, such as lively features, natural fleshes, imitations of the most varied drapery, to make a distinction in dresses; these const.i.tute a portion of his merits. The Carrara collection, above any other, may boast of several, distinct both in point of age and costume; and though surrounded by very select pictures from every school, and though mere portraits, they fail not to attract and surprise us. Less celebrated than many others, he is nevertheless an artist whose productions would do no discredit to any palace. One more generally known, however, is Bartolommeo Nazzari, pupil to Trevisani in Venice, and afterwards under Luti, and the other Trevisani, he perfected himself at Rome. Finally he established himself at Venice, though he continued to visit various capitals, both of Italy and of Germany, invariably extolled, as well for his portraits of princes and of their courtiers, as for his heads of old men and youths, drawn from life, very fancifully dressed and ornamented.

Pietro Avogadro was a Brescian, and the scholar of Ghiti, who adopted the models of Bologna, imitating them without affectation, adding some mixture of Venetian colour, more particularly in his ruddier fleshes.

The contours of his figures are correct, his shortenings pleasing and appropriate, and his compositions very judicious; the whole expressing great harmony and beauty. Next to the three leading artists of this city, he is ent.i.tled to the fourth place, at least in the esteem of many. Perhaps his masterpiece is to be seen in the church of San Giuseppe, representing the Martyrdom of the saints Crispino and Crispiniano. Andrea Toresani was also a Brescian, who flourished at the same period; excellent in design, with which he ornamented the cities of Venice and Milan more than his native place. His chief merit, however, lay in an inferior branch, that of painting animals, sea views, and landscapes in the t.i.tian manner, often accompanied with figures in tolerably good taste.

Having taken a hasty view of the other cities of the state, we must dwell some little while on that of Verona, which, from the beginning of the century, until the present time, has enjoyed a high degree of reputation. Though ravaged by the plague, we have already seen how it again flourished, with the aid of other Italian schools, to which we might add that of the French, inasmuch as Louis Dorigny, a Parisian, and pupil of Le Brun, arriving in Italy at an early age, devoted himself to the study of Roman and Venetian models. He established himself at Verona, where, having for some time employed his talents, and obtained several pupils, he died in the year 1742. He also left works behind him in Venice, the most esteemed of which adorns the church of San Silvestro, as well as in other cities, both of the state and of all Italy. He resided likewise with Prince Eugene in Germany.

There was another foreigner, who, about the same period, became a resident at Verona. His name was Simone Brentana, a Venetian, well versed in literature, as well as in the information necessary to form an artist. He devoted himself with extreme a.s.siduity to the works of Tintoretto, whom he emulated in his pictorial enthusiasm, which scarcely permitted him to bestow sufficient time upon the completion of his labours. In his forms and colouring he partakes of the Roman manner of his time, and displays something extremely novel and original in his compositions. His pictures were sought after to adorn the galleries of sovereigns, no less than for private persons. Several are to be met with in the churches of the state, and in that of S. Sebastiano at Verona is one representing the t.i.tular Saint, well drawn, without drapery, in the act of consummating his Martyrdom, while an angel is supporting him in his arms, a figure both in aspect and in att.i.tude extremely graceful.

Girolamo Ruggieri, an artist born at Vicenza, was pupil to Cornelio Dusman of Amsterdam, and having established himself at Verona, he there produced several history pieces, landscapes, and battle scenes, in the Flemish style.

Approaching the Veronese artists and their neighbours, some of them will be found to have flourished in the beginning of the century, whose merits deserve to be here recorded. One of these is Alessandro Marchesini, pupil to Cignani, of whom there remains little exhibited in public at Venice, and not much at Verona. He chiefly employed himself for private persons, with fables and histories, consisting of small figures, in which he succeeded, though having addicted himself to these compositions as a trade, he despatched them with more facility than care. In similar little pieces Frances...o...b..rbieri also displayed the most merit, an artist called il Legnago, from his native place. An imitator of Ricchi, and in some measure of Carpioni, he displayed great pictorial enthusiasm in every kind of history, in capricci, and in rural views; but he was inferior in point of design, having applied himself to it too late in life.

Antonio Balestra of Verona was at first devoted to a mercantile life, until at the age of twenty-one, after studying in Venice under Bellucci, and thence pa.s.sing to Bologna, and afterwards to Rome, under Maratta, he selected the best from every school, uniting a variety of beauties in a style of his own, which partakes least of all of the Venetian. He is an artist of judgment and high finish, well versed in design, of a rapid hand, lively and animated, but always with a solidity of talent that makes us respect him. He taught in Venice and in the college of La Carita, where he painted the Nativity of our Lord, and the Taking down from the Cross, while he competes equally well with the first artists of his time in other places. Commissions from foreign courts and the cities of the state, never allowed him to be idle. He was particularly employed at Padua in an altarpiece for the church del Santo, representing Santa Chiara. He painted also a good deal for his native place; his picture of San Vincenzo at the Domenicans,[89] being one of the finest altarpieces he ever produced, and one of the best preserved, for his method of colouring with boiled oils has been found injurious to many of his pieces. Such as he painted, however, in oil less boiled, have better resisted the effects of time. Many of these figures are in possession of the Conti Gazzola, ornamenting one of their halls, and in particular a very beautiful one of Mercury. He promoted the reputation of the Venetian School, both by his lectures and example, besides affording an excellent imitator in Gio. Batista Mariotti, and in his pupil Giuseppe Nogari, a painter of portraits, as well as of half-length figures, held in much esteem, insomuch as to recommend him, for a great length of time, to the service of the court of Turin. In pieces of composition, such as his San Piero, placed in the cathedral of Ba.s.sano, he appears a respectable artist, and somewhat ambitious of reconciling his master's style with that of Piazzetta. Another Venetian of the name of Pietro Longhi, first instructed by Balestra, and afterwards by Crespi, aimed at pleasing the eye in collections, by those humourous representations of masks, of conversazioni, landscapes, &c. which we find in various n.o.ble houses. Angelo Venturini, also a Venetian, is mentioned in the Guida of Zanetti, for his paintings in the church of Gesu e Maria, of which he adorned the ceiling, and various portions of the walls. Another pupil of Balestra's, in Verona, was Carlo Salis, who approached very near his style, more particularly in the handling of his colours. He prosecuted his first studies in Bologna, under Giuseppe dal Sole. Some of his pictures are also to be met with in the state, such as his San Vincenzio, in the act of administering to the sick at Bergamo, a piece finely mellowed, and more than commonly spirited. An artist named Cavalcab, a native of a district in Roveredo, was instructed by Balestra, and afterwards by Maratta. In the choir of the Carmine at his native place, he left behind him a very beautiful altarpiece, representing the Holy Simone Stoch, with four lateral pieces of great merit. For a more particular account of these and other works by this artist, we may refer the reader to his life, written by the Cavalier Vannetti.

The whole of the names, however, we have here mentioned, scarcely excepting that of Balestra himself, have been thrown into the shade by the talent of the Conte Pietro Rotari. He was honoured with the t.i.tle of painter to her court, by the empress of all the Russias, and in her dominions he closed the period of his days. This very elegant artist, who devoted many years to the art of design, succeeding in attaining a grace of feature, a delicacy of outline, united to a vivacity of motion and expression, and to a natural and easy mode of drapery, that would have left him second to none of his age, had he possessed, in an equal degree of perfection, the art of colouring. But his productions often partake so much of the chiaroscuro, or at least of a strong ash colour, as to render them remarkable among all. Some, indeed, have attributed this defect to want of clearness of sight, while others conjecture it must have been owing to his long practice in design, previous to his attempting colours, in the same manner as Polidoro da Caravaggio and the Cavalier Calabrese are known to have failed as colourists, falling like him into a weak and languid tone. The education he received from Balestra may also have tended to produce it, as both he and the disciples of Maratta were somewhat addicted to a certain duskiness of style, which we may particularly observe in several examples seen at Naples, where he resided for some time. Whatever it be owing to, there still prevails a repose and harmony in that melancholy expression of his colouring, that is far from unpleasing, in particular where he affords somewhat warmer touches to his tints. This he appears to have done in his picture of a Nunziata at Guastalla, in that of San Lodovico in the church del Santo at Padua, and in a Nativity of the Virgin at San Giovanni, in the same city. This last specimen, indeed, is almost unequalled in its attractions, and seems to authorize the praises bestowed upon Rotari by a poet, "that he resembled his fellow citizen Catullus in being nursed by the Graces," a species of eulogy applicable also to Balestra and to other Veronese artists.

Santo Prunati was contemporary with Marchesini and Balestra, and after receiving the instructions of Voltolino and Falcieri in Verona, he attended those of Loth in Venice. Better to acquire superior correctness and dignity of manner, he next proceeded to Bologna. In that school he found the taste in colouring that he wanted, at once soft and natural.

In the design, and in the expression of his heads, he displays more of the naturalist, if I mistake not, than any of those who preceded him. He was engaged also for larger compositions, in which he distinguished himself, both in his own district and elsewhere, and left behind him a son named Michelangiolo, who pursued, as far as lay in his power, the footsteps of his father. In the cathedral of Verona, however, is one of his pictures, placed near the San Francesco di Sales of his father, which serves to mark the wide difference that exists between them.

In the same school, along with Michelangiolo, studied Gio. Bettino Cignaroli, an artist instructed also by Balestra. Until about the year 1770 he ranked among the first of his time, receiving very flattering invitations from foreign courts, to which he invariably preferred the convenience of his own house and country. The prices he was in the habit of attaching to his works, were, nevertheless, those of a court painter; and many were executed for the princ.i.p.al royal galleries, as well as for the cities of the state, and those of other parts of Italy; but which, we must admit, are by no means of equal merit. I omit his paintings in fresco, on account of his having abandoned that branch of the art, owing to his state of health, while yet young, though not until he had afforded specimens of his powers in the n.o.ble house of l.a.b.i.a at Venice, during a four years' residence there. It is his pictures in oil, of which we here speak, and to which he owed his great reputation. The one at Pontremoli, however, representing, as it is said, a San Francesco in the act of receiving the marks of Christ, and extremely well executed, I have not seen. His San Zorzi at Pisa stands conspicuous among a number of excellent pencils, all employed in the ornament of that single cathedral. Perhaps his finest is his Journey into Egypt, seen at San Antonio Abate in Parma. In this he has represented the Virgin with the Holy Child, in the act of pa.s.sing a narrow bridge, while S. Joseph appears engaged in a.s.sisting them to cross it in safety. In the countenance and whole action of the saint, his anxiety for them is strongly depicted, which is beautifully expressed by his disregarding a part of his mantle, fallen from his shoulders into the water below, an image equally skilful and natural in every point of view. The rest of the picture is also in his best style. The angels in attendance, the Divine Infant, the Holy Virgin, all drawn, as he so well knew how, with a sedate and dignified beauty, in the usual manner of Maratta. In some points, indeed, Cignaroli much resembled him; in certain att.i.tudes, in a peculiar sobriety of composition, in a certain choice and vicinity of colours, though not in their just and equal tone. His fleshes, too much mannered with green, in a few places touched with red, render his colouring less agreeable to admirers of what is true, while his chiaroscuro, sometimes sought for beyond the limits of nature, is apt to produce an effect in his paintings, not so pleasing to the judgment as to the eye. He often displays novelty in the individual parts, availing himself of architecture, of sea views, and of landscape, in a manner above common; besides introducing into his compositions, for the most part of a scriptural character, the playful figures of cherubims, with other enlivening incidents. This artist was indisputably possessed of a fine genius, and born in times favourable to the eminence he enjoyed.

Memoirs of him were collected and published by the celebrated Padre Bevilacqua dell'Oratorio in the year 1771, and eulogies were p.r.o.nounced upon him both in prose and verse, by a number of literary characters connected with that city, so highly polished and so grateful to such of its citizens as reflect honour upon their native place. A collection of these was subsequently made, and put forth in the year 1772, and from such publications it would appear that few artists had received equal honours, during their lifetime, from the great, particularly from the Emperor Joseph II., who was used to declare, "that he had beheld two very rare sights in Verona--one the Amphitheatre, and the other the most celebrated painter in Europe." He appears, likewise, to have been an artist of great learning, as well as fond of conversing with learned men; he was acquainted with philosophical systems, wrote Tuscan poetry, relished the Roman cla.s.sics, besides producing treatises upon his own art, written with so much taste and sound judgment, that we have only to regret, for the sake of the art he loved, the too sparing use he made of such talents. The academy, on which he bestowed the whole of his works upon Painting, after his decease, still preserves his bust along with his eulogy, a farther honour conferred upon him by the liberality of his country. He left several pupils, among whom Giandomenico, his brother, produced some paintings in Bergamo that have been commended by Pasta.

The Padre Felice Cignaroli, Minore Osservante, is an artist likewise worthy of mention. He painted little, and his masterpiece appears in the refectory of San Bernardino, his convent at Verona, consisting of a Supper of Emmaus, in which, though less studied, he displays no less invention than his brothers.

Next to these, who escaped oblivion as belonging to the family of Cignaroli, an artist named Giorgio Anselmi deserves best to be put upon record, and in particular for his painting of the Cupola of San Andrea at Mantua, ably executed in fresco: at one time he was the pupil of Balestra. Marco Marcola was an almost universal artist, rapid in his labours, abundant in his inventions, though I am unable to learn who had been his master. Tiepolo gave instructions to Francesco Lorenzi, distinguished both for his frescos and his oils, and always by his adherence to his master's example. There are various ceilings painted by his hand in Verona, and Brescia presents a Holy Family, all of which display an able artist, according to the manner of the age.

In inferior branches of the art, there flourished, during this period, professors of much repute. The art of drawing in crayons rose to a high degree of excellence, through the genius of a distinguished lady of the name of Rosalba Carriera,[90] whose paintings in miniature have been highly commended by Orlandi. She next proceeded to the use of oils, but finally devoted her talents to that of crayons. So great was her progress in this branch that her specimens in point of force were often equal to oil pieces. They were in much request from the period in which she flourished, both in Italy and other parts; nor did they merely please by their clearness and beauty of colouring, but were remarkable for the grace and dignity of design, with which she animated every thing she drew. Her Madonnas and other scriptural subjects at once unite elegance and majesty of manner, while her portraits continued to increase in value without losing any thing of their truth. We meet with another excellent portrait paintress in Niccola Gra.s.si, pupil to Ca.s.sana, of Genoa, and a rival of Rosalba. Nor was she unequal to works of invention, one of the most extensive of which adorns the church of San Valentino in Udine, where she painted the a.s.sumption in the ceiling, a fine piece on the large altar, and drew figures for other pictures of various saints belonging to the Order of the Serviti. Pietro Uberti, son of Domenico, an artist of mediocrity, is celebrated in the Guida of Zanetti for his portraits, of which he produced eight, representing the Avogadori of his times, for the Avogaria or courthouse, which was considered a very honourable commission, bestowed formerly upon Paolo de' Freschi, Domenico Tintoretto, Tinelli, Bombelli, artists all celebrated in the same career. Orlandi bestows great commendation upon Gio. Batista Canziani of Verona, distinguished likewise in this branch, and who, on being banished from his native place for an act of homicide, continued to exercise it with success in Bologna.

I do not recollect to have seen the landscapes of Pecchio in Verona, though the fine encomium bestowed upon him by Balestra, in one of his _Lettere Pittoriche_, leads me to hold him in high esteem. In the adjacent parts at Sal appeared Gio. Batista Cimaroli, a pupil of Calza, who was much admired, both by foreigners and natives at Venice. Among landscape painters I find in several galleries the name of Formentini, the figures of whose pieces were from the pencil of Marchesini. D.

Giuseppe Roncelli of Bergamo is another artist who acquired reputation, and whose virtues procured for him, from the pen of Mazzoleni, the honour of a life, while his singular skill in depicting nocturnal conflagrations, as well as landscapes, induced Celesti to add figures to them. In Padua the landscapes of Marini were in high repute, to which Brusaferro likewise added variety with his figures. Still more than these Luca Carlevaris, an excellent painter of landscape at Udine, rose into notice, no less distinguished also by his perspectives and sea views. Public specimens of his labours still remain at Venice, though not so numerous as in private houses, particularly in possession of the Zen.o.bri family, who so far patronized his talents as to procure for him the name of Luca di Ca Zen.o.brio. To him succeeded the nephew of Sebastiano Ricci, named Marco, who, pursuing the safe career chalked out by t.i.tian, and availing himself of the delightful site of his native place at Belluno, became one of the ablest landscape painters belonging to the Venetian School. It would be no exaggeration to say that few before his time distinguished themselves with equal force of truth, and that those who succeeded him have never equalled him in this respect. In order to estimate his worth, we are not to consult such landscapes as he painted for sale and disposed of to dealers; nor those executed in water colours upon goatskin, which, though very pleasing, are wanting in solidity. We ought to consult only his oil productions, conducted with far more care, and more commonly to be met with in England than in Italy. Indeed he had a much more extended taste than he displayed in his works. The two brother artists named Valeriano, declared that he had afforded them the most enlightened views of the art. These were Domenico, a painter of perspectives, and Giuseppe, a figure painter, both employed in ornamenting different churches, and more particularly theatres, in Venice, and indeed throughout Italy and other parts of Europe. Francesco Zuccarelli pa.s.sed a great portion of his life in the city of Venice, an artist already recorded by us among the Florentines, and by whose example Giuseppe Zais was formed as a landscape painter, being particularly employed in that branch by the British Consul Smith, a distinguished patron of youthful genius devoted to the art. In point of invention he was more varied and copious than his master, but inferior to him in the mellowness of his tints. He had acquired from Simonini, who also resided during a long period at Venice, the art of painting battle pieces, in which he shewed equal skill. But he failed to sustain either his own dignity or that of his art, and giving himself up to carelessness and dissipation, he died a common mendicant in the hospital of Trevigi.

Carlevaris and Ricci are names likewise highly esteemed in architectural painting. Several specimens of this are to be seen in possession of his Excellency Girolamo Molin, placed as it were in compet.i.tion with each other in one of the halls. If we compare them, the former will appear somewhat languid and monotonous, although he must be allowed to be an accurate observer of perspective, and succeeds in harmonizing his figures well with the picture. The latter, however, displays more strength, partaking of the erudite taste of Viviano, while the figures introduced into it by his uncle are full of pictorial fire and attraction, and greatly add to its worth. But both of these, to use the language of Dante, were afterwards _cacciati di nido_, driven from their nest, by Antonio Ca.n.a.l, more generally called Ca.n.a.letto. Sprung from a painter of theatres of the name of Bernardo, he embraced the profession of his father, attaining to a novelty of design, and a promptness of hand in this branch, that were afterwards of great use to him in painting innumerable smaller pictures for private ornament. Disgusted with his first profession, he removed while still young to Rome, where he wholly devoted himself to drawing views from nature, and in particular from ancient ruins. On returning into Venice he continued in like manner to take views of that city, views that nature and art seem to have vied with each other in rendering the most novel and magnificent in the world. A great part he drew exactly as he saw them, a pleasing illusion for the satisfaction of those who were never so fortunate as to behold the Adriatic Queen with their own eyes. He moreover composed a great number of inventive pieces, forming a graceful union of the modern and the antique, of truth and of fancy together. Several of these he produced for Algarotti; but the most novel and instructive of any, as it seems to me, is the production in which the grand bridge of Rialto, designed by Palladio, instead of that which at present is seen, overlooks the great ca.n.a.l, crowned beyond with the cathedral of Vicenza, and the Palazzo Chericato, Palladio's own works, along with other choice edifices, disposed according to the taste of that learned writer, who has so much contributed to improve that of all Italy, and even beyond Italy itself. For the greater correctness of his perspectives, Ca.n.a.letto made use of the optic camera, though he obviated its defects, especially in the tints of the airs. The first indeed to point out the real use of it, he limited it only to what was calculated to afford pleasure. He aimed at producing great effect, and in this partakes somewhat of Tiepolo, who occasionally introduced figures into his pieces for him. In whatever he employs his pencil, whether buildings, waters, clouds, or figures, he never fails to impress them with a vigorous character, always viewing objects in their most favourable aspect. When he avails himself of a certain pictorial license, he does it with caution, and in such a way that the generality of spectators consider it quite natural, while true judges only are sensible of its art, an art that he possessed in a very eminent degree.

His nephew and pupil, Bernardo Bellotto, approached so nearly to his style, that it is with difficulty their respective pieces are distinguished. He also visited Rome, though when Orlandi bestowed his encomiums upon him in his work, he was at Dresden, and it is uncertain whether he again returned into Italy. Francesco Guardi was recently esteemed a second Ca.n.a.letto, his views of Venice having attracted the admiration not only of Italy but of foreign parts, yet with such persons alone who are satisfied with the spirit, the taste, and the fine effect which he invariably studied; as in other points, in accuracy of proportions, and in judgment as regards the art, he cannot pretend to vie with his master. Several others likewise excelled in this species of painting, whose pictures I saw in the Algarotti collection and in other places; such as Jacopo Marieschi, who was also a good figurist, and Antonio Visentini, whose views were ornamented with the figures of Tiepolo and Zuccherelli. Gio. Colombini of Trevigi, pupil to Bastian Ricci, whose Pecile was the Domenican convent in that place, succeeded in his perspectives, in giving illusion to the eye, and in the masterly gradation of the different objects of view. The figures he has introduced are his own, though he was less skilful in this branch. He filled that place with his portraits, introducing another family as it were of painted Domenicans, and not without some appearance of caricature.

In other minor branches of the art, the flowers of Domenico Levo were extremely admired. He was pupil to Felice Bigi of Parma, who opened school in Verona. To his we may add those of one Caffi and a few other natives, though the most choice collectors pride themselves upon the specimens of Gaspero Lopez, a Neapolitan. Thus at least he subscribes himself in one of his most beautiful works, in possession of the Conti Lecchi at Brescia, where, as well as in the capital, he resided during a long period. About the middle of the century there appeared one of his imitators, named in various collections Duramano, an artist somewhat too much given to mannerism.

Both the flowers and birds of Count Giorgio Durante of Brescia were eagerly sought after, no less on account of their exact imitation of the life, than for their taste of composition, and the truly beautiful and picturesque att.i.tudes in which they were drawn. They are rarely to be met with beyond Brescia, though several n.o.ble Venetian families, and among these that of Nani, possess a few specimens; but the best, perhaps, of all is to be seen in the royal court at Turin. The name of Ridolfo Manzoni is distinguished in the same line of composition; he was a native of Castelfranco, and several of his little pictures in oil, in the best taste, are there found in possession of different individuals.

But he derived his chief reputation, as well as profit, from his miniature productions. In the History of Painting in the Frioul, we meet with the name of another artist, Paolo Paoletti, a native of Padua. He pa.s.sed his early youth in Udine, and was employed for many years in the house of the Conti Caiselli. Although more particularly celebrated in his flowers, he drew with great truth all kind of fruits, herbs, fishes, and game. The family in which he was domesticated possesses quite a museum of these rarities, and numerous specimens are met with in other hands, both within and beyond the limits of the Frioul. In his flower paintings he is compared by Altan even with the celebrated Segers, an extent of liberality in which I by no means agree.

In the last place we have here to treat of an art that received great improvement during this century in Venice, an art which, though not directed to the increase of copies, is nevertheless of some importance to painting, inasmuch as it favours the duration of ancient productions, by adopting the most judicious means of preserving and restoring them.

Such methods were more valuable also to Venice than to any other city, its climate being particularly unfavourable to paintings in oil, owing to the salts with which the air is impregnated, gradually eating away or injuring the colours. For this reason the government very judiciously appointed a number of artists to inspect the public exhibitions, and watch over the preservation of the paintings which were found inclined to decay, restoring them without incurring the risk, as it sometimes happens, of a new one being subst.i.tuted for an ancient specimen. A studio for this purpose was opened in 1778, consisting of a large saloon at the Santi Giovanni e Paolo, the superintendence of which was entrusted to the care of the learned Peter Edwards, who received the t.i.tle of President. The various processes adopted in the restoration of each specimen are extremely long and tedious, and executed with surprising accuracy; and in instances where the picture has not suffered too greatly from the effects of injury or time, it returns with renewed youth from the studio, calculated to survive the lapse of many more years.

Other equally useful methods have been adopted by the Republic for the preservation of the fine models that adorn its churches, in order that they should not run the risk of being sold and carried away. Hence it is that the state, even throughout its most diminutive districts and towns, has been enabled to preserve so many valuable paintings; while, at the same time, it has furnished provision for its youthful artists, best calculated to facilitate their improvement. During several centuries the ancient company of painters, enn.o.bled by the names of distinguished pupils, continued to flourish; but there was still wanting the sort of reputation arising from dignity of situation and establishment, from the number and a.s.siduity of its masters, and from the distribution of rewards. Since the year 1724 it was decreed, and confirmed in 1766, that a magnificent academy should be erected, devoted to the fine arts, "upon the plan," as was further stated, "of the princ.i.p.al inst.i.tutions in Italy and throughout Europe." And it forms indeed an object gratifying to the mind of the most accomplished foreigners, to behold this seat of art, and to cultivate an acquaintance with its objects and pursuits.

These views of the government have been promoted by the private individuals of that most splendid body of n.o.bility, an a.s.sembly in which the Abate Filippo Fa.r.s.etti very liberally distinguished himself, by presenting the inst.i.tution with a large collection of paintings, and casts taken from the finest antique statues. Their successors have displayed the same kind of spirit, nor do they merely afford students access to the study of these monuments; but their finest productions, in every year, are selected according to the judgment of public professors, and rewarded with all the ceremony and munificence worthy of such an inst.i.tution.

Nor have other n.o.bles and gentlemen throughout the city and the state of Venice been wanting in liberality towards young artists of genius, enabling them to pursue their studies both at home and abroad, until they have completed their education. Few contributions indeed confer so much honour upon families as these; for in addition to the merit of succouring a fellow creature, and a fellow citizen, there are thus expectations to be indulged that some genius may rise up capable of conferring honour upon the arts, and perhaps restoring them to their ancient merit. We have it in our power to record various instances of this liberal spirit; we could mention a number of excellent artists who express their grat.i.tude for the kindness of their patrons, did not the rule we have laid down for ourselves not to introduce the eulogies of living artists, in order to avoid occasion of complaint to such as may be omitted, forbid the enumeration of them. Still I may allude to an instance of it in another branch of the art, which is very generally known, and this is the generous encouragement afforded by their Excellencies Falier and Zulian, to Antonio Canova, the celebrated sculptor, encouragement to which Rome and Italy are in a great degree indebted for such an artist. He suffices to convince us, that though Fortune may indeed deprive our country of her great masterpieces of art, she cannot destroy the genius capable of reproducing them.

[Footnote 87: Melchiori mentions also with commendation, Gio. Batista, father of Antonio, and pupil to Vecchia, who had been unable to a.s.sist his son Antonio, left an orphan at a very tender age.]

[Footnote 88: Father Federici mentions also his son Gio. Batista, citing a fine altarpiece of his at Sorigo, and adds, that he would have become celebrated, had he not preferred the ease permitted him by a handsome fortune, to the glory of a great painter.]

[Footnote 89: In the Guide of Verona, of which I availed myself, I only found one picture by Rotari in the refectory at Santa Anastasia. I inquired by whom that of S. Vincenzo, which appeared extremely beautiful, was painted. I received for answer, that it was by Balestra, but it is in fact from the hand of Rotari, and engraved by Valesi.]

[Footnote 90: Melchiori gives us an account of this lady's master, not undeserving of being added to the last edition. This was the n.o.ble Gio.

Antonio Lazzari, a Venetian, who had talents that rivalled those of Rosalba in crayons, had not his natural timidity proved a bar to his fame. In painting also he attempted little of an inventive character, copying much, and more particularly from Ba.s.sano with great success, as we have observed at page 211.]

END OF VOL. III.