The History Of Painting In Italy Volume Iii Part 6

Surviving the whole of these, and almost all the Caliari family, we meet with the name of Paolo Farinato, as grand an artist perhaps as his namesake was beautiful. After leaving the school of Giolfino, he is supposed to have studied the works of t.i.tian and Giorgione, at Venice; and if we may judge also from his style, he must have received the instructions of Giulio Romano in design; though he made use of the Venetian tints, out of which he formed a system of his own. He survived till his eighty-first year, still preserving his natural good humour; and as is customary with men of so advanced an age, he prided himself upon it, affixing his name to a picture he produced at San Giorgio, placed opposite to one by Felice, stating he had painted it in his seventy-ninth year. It is a representation of the multiplication of loaves in the desert, abounding with very numerous figures, in part portraits of his own family, and in part ideal heads. He is one of the few painters whose merit did not deteriorate in advanced age, for though in some early pieces he betrays a certain dryness of manner, in this last he left nothing imperfect, neither in fulness of contours, in the fancy of his draperies and embellishments, nor in the study of his figures and landscape. His design has been much commended, which was the case with few others of his school; and even in the time of Ridolfi his sketches, the cartoons of his first studies, and his models of figures in wax, were all eagerly sought after for ornamental cabinets. A San Onofrio is pointed out at the church of San Tommaso, in a sitting posture, taken from the celebrated torso di Belvedere; which, as well as many other of his att.i.tudes, and subjects where he introduced naked figures, discovers an acquaintance with the ancient style not common among the Venetians. To his fleshes he gives a bronze colour, which produces a pleasing effect, and harmonizes well with his tints, for the most part sober and even flat in his grounds; giving a repose to the eye which attracts without dazzling it. He is generally esteemed, however, a weak colourist, and better in his frescos than in oil. I know not whether it may be owing to partiality, or to the merit of this great man, but certain it is, that on my quitting Bologna he was the only artist, the whole of whose works I regretted not having seen; so much of all that is rare and beautiful did I meet with in those I saw. More likewise I beheld in Mantua, in San Sisto at Piacenza, in the Ducal Gallery at Modena, in Padua, and other places. I have sometimes observed a kind of snail that Paolo is said to have chosen for his device, remarking that he likewise bore his house upon his head.

His son Orazio practised the art only for a few years. His best praise is, that during that short period he made approaches towards the style and merit of his father. There is one of his pieces at San Stefano, representing the Faithful receiving the Holy Spirit from the Apostles;[68] and, if we except only Paul Veronese, it makes a distinguished figure, placed near some of the best artists of Verona.

Resuming here the thread of our former discourse, we must observe that Paul Caliari found the public prepossessed in favour of the three foregoing artists, and obtained little consideration in his own district while young. The world, ever disinclined to admit the claims of rising reputation, either knew not, or believed not, that in his compet.i.tion with the Mantuan artists he had surpa.s.sed them all; insomuch that this youthful genius was compelled by penury to quit Verona, leaving behind him, upon an altar at San Fermo, a Madonna between two Saints, with a few other proofs of his early powers. He first went to Vicenza, and thence pa.s.sed on to Venice. His genius was naturally n.o.ble, and even magnificent and vast, as well as pleasing; and no provincial city was capable of supplying him with ideas proportionate to his genius, like Venice. There he aimed at improving his style of colouring, upon the models of t.i.tian and Tintoretto, as well as to surpa.s.s them, as it would appear, in elegance and variety of ornament. Hence his pupils were accustomed to say, that at that time he devoted himself to the study of casts taken from ancient statues, to the engravings of Parmigiano, and to those of Albert Durer. The first works that he produced for the sacristy of S. Sebastiano in Venice, present us only with the elements of that style he subsequently acquired, in the air of the heads, and in the variety of drapery and of att.i.tudes. For the rest his pencil was still timid, inclined rather to unite his tints with care, than to a bold and free manner of handling. But it was not long before he displayed more freedom, and more attraction, in painting the ceilings of the same church, where he represented the history of Esther, a work whose novelty conciliated public admiration and became a stepping stone to very honourable commissions from the senate.

In the meanwhile he enjoyed an opportunity of visiting Rome, in company with the amba.s.sador Grimani, where, surrounded by its grand ancient and modern productions, "_al volo suo sent crescer le penne_," he felt his wings enlarging as he rose, of which he soon gave proofs in the Palazzo Pubblico, at Venice. Here his imagination seems to revel in every piece coloured by his hand; but particularly in that which may be called the apotheosis of Venice, in regal costume, seated on high, crowned by Glory, celebrated by Fame, attended by Honour, Liberty, and Peace. Juno and Ceres are seen a.s.sisting at the spectacle, as symbols of grandeur and felicity. The summit is decorated with specimens of magnificent architecture, and with columns; while lower down appears a great concourse of ladies with their lords and sons, in various splendid habits, all represented in a gallery; and on the ground are represented warriors upon their chargers, arms, ensigns, prisoners, and trophies of war. This oval picture presents us with an union of those powers, with which Paul so much fascinates the eye, producing a general effect altogether enchanting, and includes numerous parts all equally beautiful; bright aerial s.p.a.ces, sumptuous edifices, which seem to invite the foot of the spectator; lively features, dignified, selected for the most part from nature, and embellished by art. Add to these, very graceful motions, fine contrasts and expressions; n.o.ble vestments, both for their shape and materials; with crowns and sceptres, magnificence worthy of so august a scene; perspective that gives distance to objects, without displeasing us when near;[69] the most lively colours,[70] whether similar or contrasted, and harmonized with a peculiar degree of art, such as is not to be taught. Not inferior to these was the handling of his pencil, which to the utmost rapidity unites the greatest judgment, that effects, decides, and achieves something in every stroke; gifts which he had at that age rendered familiar to him, and which form the character of his genius. Whoever has resolution enough to read Boschini (for it is not every one in Italy that can boast as much) will find at p. 643 and further, in addition to the description of this picture, the commendations he bestowed on it, along with Strozza, Mignard, and other able artists, as one of the rarest specimens in the world. Yet this did not obtain for him so high a reputation as his "Suppers." Whoever undertakes to describe his style, ought by no means to pa.s.s over a representation, perhaps the most familiar to him of all, having repeated it so many times, until by force of exercising his powers and varying it in different ways, the first sovereigns in the world became desirous of obtaining copies. Several I have seen upon a small scale, but always beautiful; one, the Supper of the Eucharist, at Santa Sofia, in Venice; another, upon the same subject, and of exquisite workmans.h.i.+p, at the Casa Borghese, in Rome; and the feast given by San Gregorio to the poor, belonging to the Serviti, in Vicenza; besides others in different collections. In Venice he painted four Suppers for the same number of refectories in religious houses, both large and rich in point of invention. The first representing the Marriage of Cana, is still preserved at San Giorgio Maggiore, thirty palms in length, copies of which every where abound, and which is highly estimable on account of the great number of the figures, amounting to one hundred and thirty, as well as for its portraits of princes and ill.u.s.trious men, who flourished at the period.

It was nevertheless executed for the price of only ninety ducats. The second is in better preservation, placed at San Giovanni and San Paolo, representing the supper prepared by Matthew for our Lord; and is very highly extolled for its heads, all of which Ricci, at a mature age, copied for his studio. The third is at San Sebastiano, consisting of the Feast of Simon. The fourth, along with the same Feast, formerly placed at the Refectory of the Servi, was presented to Louis XIV. of France, and deposited at Versailles; and this was preferred by Venetian professors to all the rest. For this reason numerous copies were presented by them to the world; although the artist himself took one for the refectory of the monks of SS. Nazario and Celso, along with the same Supper, now in the fine Doria collection at Genoa; and which, however inferior in size to the rest, is considered equal to any of the preceding, and has been engraved by the hand of the celebrated Volpato.

Another, likewise of Simon, was sent from Venice to Genoa, which I saw in possession of the Durazzo family; with a Magdalen that may be esteemed a miracle of art; and I also met with an old copy in the Casa Paolucci, at Pesaro. What novel methods he adopted in all these to decorate the place with architecture, and how well he availed himself of them to add to the spectators at the festival! What pa.s.sions depicted in each of the princ.i.p.al actors, and how appropriate to the period! What splendour in the preparation, luxury of dishes, and pomp of guests!

Whoever considers these, will easily excuse such an artist for some occasional imperfection of design, and for inattention to ancient costume, in which he is always faulty.[71] Even Guido, an artist so highly celebrated, so far excused them, that he was accustomed to say, "were it given me to choose what painter I would be, I should prefer being Paul Veronese; for in others every thing appears the effect of art, but he alone seems all nature."

He continued to produce specimens until he was sixty years of age, though he cannot, like many others, be accused of having painted too much; each piece is worthy of Paul Veronese, and each has been multiplied by some copyist; an honour that artists have not bestowed upon the works of Tintoretto, or those of many others. His method of making use of clear grounds, and as much as possible of virgin colours, has greatly contributed to the preservation and freshness of his colouring. In Venice we meet with several of his pictures yet glowing with the peculiar grace he shed over them. A remarkable specimen is seen in that belonging to the n.o.ble house of Pisani, exhibiting the family of Darius presented to Alexander, which surprises as much by its splendour as it affects us by its expression. Equal admiration was at one time evinced for his Rape of Europa, which he drew upon a large scale, in various groups, much in the same manner as Coreggio, in his Leda. In the first she appears among her virgins in the act of caressing the animal, and desirous of being borne upon him: in the second, she is seen carried along, applauded by her companions, as she enjoys the scene riding along the sh.o.r.e. In the third, (the only one in grand dimensions) she cleaves the sea in terror, in vain desired and lamented by her virgin train.

This work, ornamenting the Ducal Palace, suffered much from the effects of time, and has subsequently been restored.

In Verona, boasting a clime more favourable to paintings, we more frequently meet with his pictures in complete preservation. Many n.o.ble houses, in particular that of Bevilacqua, at one period his patrons, are in possession of several. As an expression of his grat.i.tude, he represented in a portrait of one of the Bevilacqua family, his own figure standing upright, with the air of his attendant. But his San Giorgio, surrounded by the two grand histories of Farinato and of Brusasorci already described, by some esteemed to be the best painting in Verona, is, perhaps, in the most perfect state of any that remain.

The San Giuliano of Rimini is likewise a valuable piece, which may, perhaps, compete with the San Giorgio. The San Afra, at Brescia, and the S. Giustina, at Padua, placed in their respective churches, have also suffered little; but the last, indeed, is in too lofty a situation. His labours for different collections were very great, consisting of portraits, Venus, Adonis, Cupids, Nymphs, and similar figures, in which he displayed the most rich and varied beauty of forms, fancy in their embellishment, and novelty in his inventions; all subjects indeed familiar to his pencil, and which are to be seen in different galleries, not omitting even the imperial one. Among his sacred subjects he was more particularly attached to the marriage of St. Catherine, one of the most laboured of which fell to the share of the royal collection of Pitti. He produced, also, several Holy Families, in which the better to depart from the common practice, he gave birth to new inventions. They are to be met with in Ridolfi (p. 307), copied from one of his own MSS.

But his devotional pieces were also, for the most part, copious histories; such as the Slaughter of the Innocents, laboured in the miniature style, at the Palazzo Borghese; the Esther, at Turin, in possession of the King of Sardinia. The Queen of Sheba, among a troop of handmaids at the throne of Solomon, a picture lately acquired by the reigning sovereign at Florence. Halls, chambers, and facades likewise, decorated by him in fresco with allegorical poems and representations of histories, are frequently met with in Venice, and in the palaces and seats belonging to the state. Highly meriting notice is the palace of His Serene Highness Manin, Doge of Venice, to be seen in the territory of Asolo; the architecture is that of Palladio; the stuccoes, of Vittoria; while the pictures of the Muses, and of many other Pagan deities, are from the hand of Paul; forming an union of artists sufficient to render the place as celebrated among modern villas, as was that of Lucullus among the ancients.

The school of Paul Veronese commences like those already described, with his own family; in the first place, with Benedetto, his younger brother, and with his two sons, Carlo and Gabriele. Benedetto was remarkable for the fraternal affection he displayed towards Paul, a.s.sisting him in the ornamental part of his labours, particularly in his perspectives, in which he possessed considerable skill. And, after his death, he shewed the same affection to the two sons, directing them by his advice, supporting them in their undertakings, and leaving his inheritance to their family. His genius for the art was not very great, and in the pieces conducted by his own hand, he appears only as an imitator of Paul, occasionally happy however in a few heads, or in his drapery, but by no means equal with himself. There is hardly a work in which the connoisseur may not easily detect something weak or faulty, as in the Last Supper, in the Flagellation, in the Appearance of the Saviour before the Tribunal of Pilate, which he painted for the church of San Niccolo, and which are some of his best productions. If he ever appears to have surpa.s.sed himself, as in the instance of his picture of St.

Agatha, placed at the Angeli, in Murano, the work has been ascribed to Paul, and has even been engraved under his name. According to Ridolfi he succeeded better in fresco than in oils; and both he and Boschini, who examined his Roman histories, and his mythological fables, painted in stone colour, in the Cortile of the Mocenighi, give us a very favourable idea of them; and the same where they speak of his ornamental work, in halls and other places, which admitted of his introducing a display of architecture and embellishments, rather than of figures.

Carlo Caliari, generally ent.i.tled Carletto, the diminutive of his name, from the circ.u.mstance of his dying at the early age of twenty-four,[72]

as we find in the register of his parish, owing to his excessive application to study, was gifted with a genius like that of his father.

His disposition was particularly docile and attentive, and he was the boast of his parent, whose style he emulated better than any other artist. But Paul, ambitious that he should even excel him, was unwilling, that by forming himself upon a single model, he should succeed only in becoming a feeble sectarist. He sent him, therefore, to study the school of Ba.s.sano, the robustness of which blended with his own elegance, would, he expected, produce an original manner superior to either of the other two. At the period when Carletto closed the eyes of his beloved father, he was only in his sixteenth, or at farthest his eighteenth year, though he had attained such progress and reputation in the art as to be enabled to complete several pictures left unfinished by his parent, nor was he ever in want of commissions. His productions often appear by the hand of Paul; whether at that time he did not wholly depend upon his own resources, or that his father, at least, might have retouched his pieces, is not certain. Skilful judges, indeed, have pretended to discern, or rather to count the number, of the strokes traced by the paternal pencil, from their inimitable ease, lightness, and rapidity. Thus it has occurred in an altarpiece of San Frediano Vescovo, to which is added St. Catherine, and some other saint, placed in the Medicean Museum, and bearing the son's name, though boasting at the same time all the grace of his father. But, wherever Carlo executed his pieces alone, he is easily distinguishable; his pencil is somewhat more full and heavy, while his tints are stronger and deeper than those of his father. We have an instance in his San Agostino, at the church of La Carita, whose colouring betrays that union of the two schools so much desired by Paul.

Gabriele executed little in which he was not a.s.sisted by his brother. In several altarpieces we read as follows: "_Heredes Pauli Caliari Veronensis fecerunt_;" which alludes to such pieces as Paul himself left imperfect, the completion of which became a joint labour; a system they continued, likewise, in others, which they produced for churches, and for the public palace. Ridolfi awards the chief merit to Carlo, placing Gabriele second, and adding, that Benedetto had, likewise, his share, more especially in the architectural parts. Probably too some other pupil of Paul a.s.sisted them. For, in these, we find represented the maxims of the master, even his studies, and the same figures as his.

Still there is occasionally some diversity of hand perceptible, as in the martyrdom of an Apostle at S. Giustina of Padua, where one of the figures appears so much loaded with shade, as not merely to betray a difference of hand, but of schools. Gabriele survived the other artists of his family; residing subsequently in Venice, more in the character of a merchant than a painter. Still he continued occasionally to produce a few portraits in crayons, extremely rare, or some picture of a cavalcade; nor did he desist from visiting the studio of the artists, where he a.s.sisted them, when agreeable, with his advice. Arriving at the period of 1531, memorable for the great pestilence in Italy, and impelled by those n.o.ble precepts of humanity inculcated in the gospel, he generously exposed his life in the service of his afflicted fellow citizens, and fell a sacrifice to the task.

Proceeding to the other disciples of Paul, and to his imitators, it will not be found easy to enumerate them. For having been interested beyond any other painter in the cultivation of an art, whose object is to give pleasure, so he excelled all others in the number of his followers. We are told by Zanetti, that many of them were also very successful, owing to which, less accurate judges are apt to confound the master with those of his school, if they do not cautiously attend to the two following points, in which none will be found to equal him. These are, 1st, the fineness and peculiar lightness of his pencil combined with sound judgment; 2d, a very ready and spirited expression of grace, and a dignity in his forms, particularly in the air of his heads. It must, however, be observed, that his scholars, in the progress of time, for the most part varied the grounds and the colouring, as they approached the style of the succeeding epoch. Among the Venetians, there is only enumerated by Zanetti the name of Parrasio Michele,[73] an artist who enriched with the designs of Paul, and experienced in the art of colouring them, produced several works worthy of him, more especially that of a Pieta, adorning a chapel within the church of San Giuseppe, a piece in which he added a portrait of himself. The people of Coneglia have preserved the recollection of one of their citizens named Ciro, to whom they attribute an altarpiece of the Nativity of Christ, as nearly resembling the style of Paul as possible, for which reason it was transferred from the church of the Riformati in that city to Rome; and they add, that its author was a youth, who never attained to mature age.

Castelfranco boasts one Cesare Castagnoli as a pupil of Paul; though in his numerous paintings in fresco he cannot be said to display much power, at least beyond a certain degree of spirit, promptness, and copiousness of ideas. A few less shewy and fanciful productions from the hand of Bartolo, his brother, executed in oil, acquired for him higher reputation than that of Cesare. Angelo Naudi, an Italian, is much commended by Palamino for his labours in the royal palaces, and in various churches in Spain, when painter to the court of king Philip.

There is reason to doubt whether he really received the instructions of Paul, instead of imbibing his manner by dint of study and copying, like Bombelli and many others; it being recorded of this writer, otherwise very estimable, that in regard to masters he was apt to embrace opinions by no means always true. Omitting the names of a great number of foreigners, we make mention here only of the Veronese, in order that their master should not appear unaccompanied by the n.o.ble train of disciples bestowed by him upon his country.

Luigi Benfatto, known by the name of dal Friso, a sister's son, and for many years the guest of Paul, copied him in the outset even to servility; though he afterwards gave himself up to an easy and rapid style of composition, little short of the licence of the mannerists. It has been supposed that he only availed himself of this facility in such commissions as were of small value. He approaches nearest to Paul in the church of San Raffaello; in other places he resembles Palma. A more free and spirited imitator of Paul was found in Maffeo Verona, a pupil and son-in-law to Luigi; but the quant.i.ty of vermilion with which he heightened the colour of his fleshes, detracts from his worth. Francesco Montemezzano, a Veronese, approached still more frequently than either of the preceding to the character of the head of his school. He acquired great reputation by a picture of the Annunciation, painted for the church of the Osservanti alla Vigna; and he was employed, also, in the Ducal Palace. He partakes of Caliari in his countenances, in his costume, and in the beauty of his figures: as to the rest, he was slow of hand, and feeble in his colouring. His picture at San Giorgio, in Verona, consisting of the Apparition of Christ to the Magdalen, appears extremely languid in compet.i.tion with that of Paul, which is one of the most brilliant productions remaining of that period. To these we might add the names of other Veronese, as Aliprando, and Anselmo Canneri, characterised by Vasari as an able a.s.sistant to Paul his master.

Among all the Veronese artists most resembling Paul, when ambitious of doing so, was his friend and companion, though his rival, Batista Zelotti. Instructed in the same academy, he was occasionally the companion of his labours, and occasionally taught and executed works himself--always however observing the same rules. Vasari mentions him with commendation in his Life of San Micheli, where he ent.i.tles him Batista da Verona, and includes him among the disciples of t.i.tian. I have seen a Holy Family by this artist in t.i.tian's style in the Carrara collection, frequently extolled by us before; and from such a studio it would appear we are to look for that warmth of tints, in which, for the most part, he excels Caliari; as well as that power of design in which Zanetti is of opinion that he also surpa.s.sed him, although others think very differently. He often surpa.s.ses him, likewise, in grandeur, and in what appertains to painting in fresco; a circ.u.mstance Paul was aware of, and for that reason sought to obtain his a.s.sistance in works of that kind. He possessed great fertility of ideas, and a rapid hand, while he was profound and judicious in his compositions. Indeed, he might have been esteemed another Paul, had he been able to compete with him in the beauty of his heads, in variety, and in grace. In truth, his productions were frequently given to Paul, even those he painted for the Council of Ten having been engraved under the latter name by Valentino le Febre. He was doubtless one of the first artists of his time, though not estimated according to his deserts, from having worked chiefly in fresco, and at a distance from capital cities; in villages, in country seats, and palaces. One of his grandest works is seen at Cataio, a villa belonging to the Marchese Tommaso Obizzi, where, about 1570, he represented in different rooms, the history of that very ancient family, distinguished no less in council than in arms. The place is continually sought by foreigners, attracted thither by its splendour, by the fame of these pictures, and by the valuable museum of antiquities, collected by the hand of the Marchese; a task of few years, but in point of taste, abundance, and rarity of specimens, calculated to confer honour upon the state. In his oil paintings Zelotti could not compete with Caliari, though he approached him near enough, in his Fall of St. Paul, and his Fis.h.i.+ng of the Apostles, which he executed for the dome of Vicenza, to merit the honour of having them attributed to the pencil of Caliari.

This city was his chief theatre of action; he remained there during some time, and initiated one Antonio, a youth called Tognone, in the art, from whose hand a few works in fresco are pointed out in the city, while he is honoured by Ridolfi both with a Life and Eulogy. Zelotti was in Vicenza, both alone and together with Paul; where with the help of one of his best pupils he established a school, which partook of the taste of both these masters. I reserve a list of his followers for the succeeding epoch.

It is here the place to inform our readers, that the various styles, hitherto described as attaching to the Venetian School, do not comprehend all that flourished in the state. Ridolfi remarks this in his preface, and laments, that owing to the conflagrations occurring in the city, or by the neglect of writers, not a few materials had perished, that might have added interest to his history. In truth, he was not merely ignorant of several of the more ancient artists, but in the period we are describing omitted the names of Jacopo Fallaro and Jacopo Pisbolica, whom Vasari, in his Life of Sansovino, records with praise, citing from the hand of the former a picture of San Gio. Colombino, at the Domenicani delle Zattere; and of the latter, his Ascension of Christ at Santa Maria Maggiore. He likewise pa.s.sed over Vitrulio, several of whose productions are the ornament of Monte Novissimo, bearing his name.

These artists, judging from their manner and other points, are to be referred to the age of t.i.tian. Ridolfi made mention, and more at length, of another, who, exactly contemporary with Paul, continued to flourish many years after him, but always a.s.sailed by fortune; and though a good colourist, being greatly deficient in point of invention and design. His name was Antonio Foler; and, as a convincing proof of his mediocrity, it will be sufficient to allude to his Martyrdom of St. Stephen, at the church of that name; it is nevertheless, one of his best altarpieces. In small figures, however, he appears to have had merit.

Before concluding the present epoch, it will be proper to mention two painters; one a foreigner, the other a Venetian, both of whom followed a style altogether different from such as we have already described. The artist of Venice is Batista Franco, called Semolei. He has been treated of in the first volume in several parts, and especially in what relates to Baroccio, to whom he was master. He pursued his studies in Rome, and so great was his progress in the art of design, that he was accounted one of the best imitators of Michel Angiolo. In ornamenting San Gio.

Decollato, a church belonging to the Florentines in Rome, he appears to have been ambitious of making a parade of his powers, and his style became somewhat loaded in the attempt. In his other pictures which I have seen in the dome at Urbino, and in that of Osimo, where he painted in 1547, in Bologna, and in Venice, I have not met with any thing similar. He invariably appears to have been an able follower of Michel Angiolo, and a more powerful colourist than the chief part of the Florentine artists. It is easier to become acquainted with him in the States of the Church than in his native city of Venice, whither he seems to have retired towards the close of his days, since, in 1556, he was among the artists selected to adorn the library of St. Mark. There he represented his fable of Actaeon, along with several symbolical inventions; and a few other of his pictures are exhibited there in public. He died not long subsequently in the year 1561.

The foreign artist is Giuseppe Porta della Garf.a.gnana, already mentioned, likewise, under the Roman School, in which he was instructed by Francesco Salviati, whose surname he a.s.sumed. For this reason he is sometimes ent.i.tled in history Salviati the younger. He accompanied his master to Venice, on the latter being invited by the Patriarch Grimani to embellish his palace, where he produced his celebrated Psyche, still to be seen there, near two pictures by the hand of Porta. Francesco, however, soon left Venice; Vasari adducing as a very sufficient reason, that it was no place for the residence of artists distinguished for excellence in design. But the success of Porta, who became established and died at Venice, clearly proves the contrary. Initiated in a knowledge of design by Francesco, he wholly retained the character of the Florentine School, only enlivening it with tints in the Venetian taste. Nevertheless, he was approved by t.i.tian, and selected along with Paul and other leading names to paint in the library of St. Mark; he was continually engaged to work in fresco and in oil, both in public and in private; and was always distinguished there as one of the most able masters of his age.[74] Several of his altarpieces remain, and among others one of the a.s.sumption; a beautiful piece, at the Servi, in Venice, besides a Christ taken from the Cross, at Murano, displaying powers of invention wholly original, full of expression, and an air of majesty not very usual in this school. He repeated the same subject frequently; and there was a duplicate in the Ducal collection at Modena, subsequently transferred to Dresden.

Following these artists, the reader must not be surprised to meet with the name of Jacopo Sansovino, who, as will appear from the index, derived his surname also from his master. He was much courted in Venice, owing to his excellence in the art of statuary, as well as in that of an architect, with which he ornamented public places. Still he failed not to exercise some influence over that of painting, at least of design; in which he had been well instructed by Andrea del Sarto, in Florence.

Indeed, as the director of the edifice of St. Mark, numerous artists were dependent upon him; and it is known, that he received some commissions for designs in mosaic work, which I do not, however, find particularized; as well as others, most probably, in tapestry, for the altar of the sacrament, as it has been conjectured from their style, by Signor Zanetti. In regard to foreign styles, we must proceed, without dwelling upon the Cavalier Zuccaro, Pa.s.signano, and others already treated in their respective schools, to make brief mention of Giuseppe Calimberg, or Calimperg, by birth a German, who flourished a considerable time at Venice, where he died about 1570. There is the Battle of Constantine, by his hand, still preserved at the Servi; and had he always displayed the same taste, I should not scruple to p.r.o.nounce him excellent, though somewhat heavy, in the practice of his art. Subsequent to him appears to have flourished Gio. de Chere Loranese, who ought to be mentioned, before we proceed to treat of the sect of mannerists, and of the _Tenebrosi_.[75] Ranking among the scholars of the best Venetian masters, he produced a history piece for the grand council hall. Other names of foreign artists are to be looked for in the Guida: it is my object in this school, as in the rest, to record only such as are most deserving of commemoration.

In the progress of the present history, the reader may probably have observed, that no distinction had yet been made between certain species of painting, previous to the sixteenth century. The figurist copied every thing, and availed himself of every thing to adorn his compositions; landscapes, animals, fruits, flowers, and perspective, were all employed as accessaries in favour of the leading art; the execution of which was about as difficult to the great masters as the throne of Jupiter to Phidias, after having completed the figure of the G.o.d. By degrees, however, they began to separate, and to treat these parts of painting severally. The Flemish were among the first, who, pursuing the bent of their genius, selected the respective branches, and composed pictures, in which, landscape for example, became the princ.i.p.al object, while the figure in its turn became an accessary. And we may here remark, with Bellori, that "the best of these artists dipped their pencil in those fine Venetian colours;" by no means one of the least boasts of the Venetian School. The Italians, likewise, attended severally to these branches of the art, and in particular to landscapes.

It was t.i.tian who opened the true path to our landscape painters; although nearly the whole of his champaign scenery was introduced in aid of his figures; never the contrary. One of these, consisting of a Holy Family, was in possession of the d.u.c.h.ess of Ma.s.sa and Carrara, lately deceased, who left it as a legacy to the Prince Carlo Albani, of Milan.

It is one of the most beautiful of the kind I ever saw. t.i.tian was imitated by many Flemish artists; and among the Venetians by Gio. Maria Verdizzotti, one of his literary friends, who painted under his direction several landscapes, much esteemed in different collections, where they are rarely to be seen.

The Ba.s.sani produced examples of small pictures of quadrupeds and birds, which consisting of copies taken from those seen in their histories, are easily recognized. They are not so numerous, however, as their history pieces; nor do I recollect having seen specimens of them except in the Venetian state. In drawing fish, an artist of the name of Genzio or Gennesio Liberale, a native of Friuli, has been mentioned with praise by Vasari, and afterwards by Ridolfi.

A taste for grotesque, was introduced into Venice from Rome, by a citizen of the republic, recorded by me elsewhere as the master of this kind of art. His name was Morto da Feltro, who, in the company of Giorgione, employed himself in Venice, though without leaving any traces of his hand. There are specimens of grotesque, in the Ducal Palace, painted by Batista Franco, who had likewise beheld ancient examples of them at Rome. There were others painted for the Patriarch of Aquileja, his patron, by Giovanni di Udine, mentioned by Vasari under the names of Manni and Ricamatore; an artist very celebrated in his line, and almost unique in drawing every kind of birds, quadrupeds, fruits, and flowers.

I have included him in the school of Giorgione; and he is stated more at length in that of Raffaello; for he remained but little while with his first master, and in Upper Italy; but longer in Rome, and during some time in Florence. His pictures of birds, or fruits, executed in oil, are pointed out in different collections, though, if I mistake not, they are not all genuine. It is not, indeed, that he produced no specimens in oil, although it is extremely difficult to discover any that are certain; nor that he was incapable of drawing larger figures than such as we see in his satyrs, in his boys, and nymphs, with which he diversified the little landscapes and the tracery of his grotesques.

Vasari mentions some of his standards, one of which, executed in Udine, for the Fraternity of Castello, presents in rather large proportions, a blessed virgin with the divine child, and an angel making her an offering of the same castle. The original, though much defaced, still exists, and there is also a copy in the chapel, executed by Pini in 1653. There likewise remains in the archiepiscopal palace, a chamber containing, among some grotesques, two scriptural histories, drawn in half-length figures, not so perfect as the ornamental part, but valuable from their rarity. His other productions, both in Udine and the state, have been enumerated in a learned letter written by the Ab. Boni, upon the standard or gonfalone, just described. If we might hazard a conjecture relative to the school of Giovanni and of Feltro, we should be inclined to give for a pupil to one of these, Giorgio Bellunese, an artist, as we are informed by Cesarini, "_very excellent in friezes and in minute ornaments_," and moreover an able portrait painter. He flourished at San Vito, a place in the Friuli, about the middle of the sixteenth century; so that the time, the place, and his employment in ornamental work, seem equally to favour our opinion.

The art of architectural design received great a.s.sistance in Venice during this period, from the works of Sansovino, Palladio, and other consummate architects, who gave finished examples of magnificent edifices; while Daniel Barbaro composed very useful treatises upon perspective; and it became an attribute of the art to feign colonnades, galleries, and rich cornices, for those halls in which real architecture would not admit of them. In this, Cristoforo and Stefano Rosa more particularly distinguished themselves. They were from Brescia, very intimate with t.i.tian, and merited the honour of being employed by him, in his architectural ornaments for several of his pieces. In Brescia, in Venice, and particularly in the anti-chamber to the library of S. Mark, we may meet with some of their perspectives, so admirably executed as to surprise us by their air of majesty, cheating the eye by their relief; and when beheld in different points of view, always producing a good effect. Their school continued to flourish during many years, in their native state; and was subsequently supported by Bona, excellent also in figures, as well as by other artists. Boschini bestows many commendations upon it in different parts of his work in verse; and in particular at p. 225, where he declares, that Brescia was the source of this art; which applies of course to the Venetian state.

Finally, the art of mosaic work, in stone and coloured gla.s.s, at that time, attained such a degree of perfection in Venice, that Vasari observed with surprise, "that it would not be possible to effect more with colours."[76] The church and portico of S. Mark remains an invaluable museum of the kind; where, commencing with the eleventh century, we may trace the gradual progress of design belonging to each age up to the present, as exhibited in many works in mosaic, beginning from the Greeks, and continued by the Italians. They chiefly consist of histories from the Old and New Testament, and at the same time furnish very interesting notices relating to civic and ecclesiastical antiquity.

A portion of the most ancient specimens had long either perished, or fallen into decay, and it had been resolved to subst.i.tute fresh ones in their place. It is not improbable, that after the year 1400, upon the revival of painting, a desire prevailed to banish the taste of the Greeks; and certain it is, that in the mosaics of that age we meet with the modern antique style, the same as in regard to pictures. It will be enough to cite the chapel of the _Mascoli_, decorated by Michele Zambono with histories of the life of the virgin, executed with extraordinary care, and designed in the best taste of the Vivarini.

The same taste prevailed in the time of t.i.tian; and to this he gave a renewed spirit, and even furnished several of these artists with designs. Marco Luciano Rizzo and Vincenzo Bianchini are the first, who, about 1517, succeeded in a complete reform of the art. To the last is referred that celebrated Judgment of Solomon, which adorns the portico, or vestibule. Both these, however, were surpa.s.sed by Francesco and Valerio Zuccati of Treviso, or rather of the Valtelline, sons of the same Sebastian who initiated t.i.tian in the first rudiments of the art.

Of these, likewise, there appears in the portico a San Marco, among various prophets and doctors, and with two histories that may be p.r.o.nounced the best mosaic works, produced during the age of painting. I have seen altarpieces for churches, and pictures for private ornament, in the same taste. The Royal Gallery at Florence possesses a portrait from life of Cardinal Bembo, worked by Valerio; and a San Girolamo, by Francesco, is known to have been presented by the republic to the court of Savoy. Subsequent to these, whom Vasari erroneously calls sometimes Zuccheri, sometimes Zuccherini, Arminio, a son of Valerio, was in much repute. Nor did this family only possess the art of colouring stone and gla.s.s with admirable skill; but they understood the principles of design, more particularly Francesco, who had been a painter before entering upon mosaic works. The family of Bianchini, and the other artists then employed at S. Mark, were not equally well instructed; and, stimulated by feelings of envy, they declared open enmity against the Zuccati, for having a.s.sisted with the brush to supply some parts of the design to be executed in mosaic; nor did they fail to cry down the ability of Valerio, to whom it would appear that t.i.tian and his son afforded succour. It would be tedious here to relate the various persecutions, litigations, and losses, owing to this quarrel; the particulars of which were extracted by Zanetti from authentic doc.u.ments, and minutely described. Enough, that he concludes with extolling the Zuccati, together with Vincenzio Bianchini; to whom, as being acquainted with design, it was sufficient to furnish a rough draught for the intended work. Others were, for the most part, in want of cartoons, and complete paintings, in order to model their mosaic works, and even then they conducted them with skill much inferior to their predecessors. In this list he computes Domenico, the brother, and Gio. Antonio, the son of Vincenzio Bianchini, as well as Bartolommeo Bozza, at one time a pupil, and then an accuser along with the rest, of the Zuccati. In the time of these were first adopted, and practically applied, the works and designs of Salviati and of Tintoretto. The names succeeding these, were Gio. Antonio Marini, a pupil of Bozza, and Lorenzo Ceccato, both admirable artificers; Luigi Gaetano and Jacopo Pasterini, with Francesco Turestio, notices of whom are brought up to the year 1618. They worked after the cartoons of the two Tintoretti, of Palma the younger, of Maffeo Verona, of Leandro Ba.s.sano, of Aliense, of Padovanino, of Tizianello, besides several others. About the year 1600 commenced a series of artists less generally known; a list of whose works may be consulted at the close of that very valuable publication, "_Della Pittura Veneziana_." These last, however, have confined their labours to the decoration of new walls, from modern designs; as since 1610, a decree has been in force against the destruction of ancient mosaic works, in however rude or Greekish a taste; but in case of impending destruction, they were to be removed and restored with care, and afterwards refixed in the same place. By this measure a series of monuments is preserved to posterity, which, in its kind, is quite unique in Italy, and the world.

[Footnote 41: It is related by Vasari, that t.i.tian was in the habit of painting natural objects from the life, without making any previous design, "a practice adopted for many years by the Venetian painters, by Giorgione, by Palma, by Pordenone, and others who never visited Rome, nor studied other specimens of greater perfection than their own." I know not how far the above writer was acquainted with their method. But their designs are still extant in various collections; and the Cartoon of the celebrated S. Agostino, painted by Pordenone in that city, is now in possession of the Count Chiappini in Piacenza, in good condition.]

[Footnote 42: I made mention elsewhere of P. Federici's supposition, as being at least probable, that F. Sebastiano was the same person as F.

Marco Pensaben, a Dominican. The year of their birth is certainly the same. But other dates are too discordant; if, indeed, we are not to suppose that the whole of what Vasari has written of Sebastiano, in his life of him, as well as in those of Sanzio and Peruzzi, is merely fanciful. It is by no means worth our while to draw minute comparisons between the epochs of these two painters. In 1520, we found Pensaben in Venice; next at Trevigi, where he remained till July, 1521. Now Sebastiano, the Venetian, was, at this very period, at Rome. The Car.

Giulio de'Medici had committed to Raffaello the picture of the _Transfiguration_, which having hardly completed, that artist died on Good Friday, 1520; and during the same time, as if in compet.i.tion with Raffaello, Sebastiano was employed in painting the Resurrection of Lazarus, for the same Cardinal, which, soon after, was exhibited along with the Transfiguration, and then sent into France. More still--he likewise drew the Martyrdom of Santa Agata, for the Cardinal of Aragona; a piece which, in the time of Vasari, was in possession of the Duke of Urbino; then in the Palazzo Pitti at Florence, whence it pa.s.sed into France. There is the name of _Sebastia.n.u.s Venetus_, and the year 1520 affixed to it. This artist therefore can, by no means, be confounded with F. Marco, nor the painting of this last at Trevigi be ascribed to the former. Such a mistaken opinion has been attributed to me by the learned P. Federici; (vol. i. p. 120) but on what ground I know not.]

[Footnote 43: We confess our obligations to Sig. Giuseppe Beltramelli, who informs us, in a work published in 1806, that this painter, generally supposed from Bergamo, was really a Venetian, being thus mentioned in a public contract: _M. Laurentius Lottus de Venetiis nunc habitator Bergomi_. Father Federici, who, on the strength of some historian, p.r.o.nounces him of Trevigi, brings forward another doc.u.ment in which Lotto is called: _D. Laurentii Lotti pictoris, et de presenti Tarvisii commorantis_. If, therefore, _habitator Bergomi_ does not prove him a native of Bergamo, will the words _Tarvisii commorantis_ make him a native of Trevigi? But Father Aff, in one of his earliest pictures, found him ent.i.tled _Tarvisinus_. Who, however, can a.s.sure us that it is in fact the handwriting of Lotto, which he there found written?]

[Footnote 44: Thus called by the oldest writers, though, from his father's testament, recently brought to light, it appears to be erroneous. Here his father is ent.i.tled, _Angelus de Lodesanis de Corticellis_, (or in a MS. of the Signori Mottensi of Pordenone _de Corticelsis Brixiensis_).]

[Footnote 45: It is inserted in a _Transunto_ of MSS. belonging to the n.o.ble Ernesto Mottensi of Pordenone, communicated to me by the P. D.

Michele Turriani Barnabita, extremely skilled in the parchments and ancient memorials of Friuli.]

[Footnote 46: See his work on Venetian Painting, p. 250.]

[Footnote 47: By means of Sig. Ab. Gei, of Cadore, a young man of the most promising abilities, I have obtained notice of an artist belonging to that place, who, from various authorities, is supposed to have been the instructor of the great t.i.tian. It is certain he flourished towards the close of the fifteenth century; nor does there exist accounts of any other artist of Cadore, capable of initiating his countrymen in a knowledge of the art. Three of his pictures in water colours, in the usual style of composition at that time, so frequently described, are yet extant; the first, a fine altarpiece, adorning the parish church at Selva, in which the t.i.tular S. Lorenzo, with others, in an upright posture, are seen surrounding the throne of the Virgin; a second, of smaller size, is in the Oratory of Sig. Antonio Zamberlani, in the parish church of Cadore, where the throne appears encompa.s.sed with cherubs playing upon instruments; the third, placed at San Bartolommeo of Nabiu, is divided into six compartments; the best, or at least the most free from harshness of manner of the whole. It is inferior, however, in design to Jacopo Bellini, though equal, perhaps, in point of diligence and colouring, and similar in its style. Upon the first he has inscribed, _Antonius RUBEUS de Cadubrio pinxit_; upon the second, _Opus Antonii_ RUBEI: but the letter E being defaced, the word looks like RUBLI; upon the third is found _Antonius Zauda.n.u.s_ (da Zoldo) _pinxit_.

Thus if we combine these inscriptions it will appear that this ancient painter, whom we now place at the head of the artists belonging to that prolific clime, was Antonio Rossi Cadorino.]

[Footnote 48: See Ridolfi. This picture is now in Dresden, and Italy abounds with copies. One of these I saw at S. Saverio di Rimini, inscribed with the name of t.i.tian on the band of the Pharisee, a very beautiful production, and believed by many to be a duplicate rather than a copy. Albert was in Italy in 1495 and in 1506. In Venice, one of his pictures, in the council of the Ten, is cited by Zanetti; it is Jesus Christ shewn to the people; and an altarpiece is also mentioned by Sansovino, placed at S. Bartolommeo, commended both by him and by other writers. (See the Sig. Morelli's Annotations on the _Notizia_, p. 223.)]

[Footnote 49: Opere, tome i. p. 177.]

[Footnote 50: See his Life of t.i.tian.]

[Footnote 51: See Bottari, Notes to Vasari, in the Life of t.i.tian.]

[Footnote 52: See _Idea della Pittura, Edizione Rom._ p. 287.]

[Footnote 53: See Pa.s.seri.]

[Footnote 54: On the Arts of Design, Discourse, &c.]