Chapter IV: Book I: Venetian School (3)

The two Montagna flourished about the period 1500, in Vicenza, and were employed together, however unequal in genius, being equally followers of the Bellini, at least if we are to give credit to Ridolfi, who must have seen many of their productions, now no longer in existence. In those which I have seen, there appeared strong traces of the style of Mantegna. Benedetto is not mentioned by Vasari, who is apt to omit the names of all artists whom he accounted of inferior worth. He mentions Bartolommeo, as a pupil of Mantegna,[36] and he would certainly have done him more justice had he seen the works he produced in his native place, which, so far from having done, he asserts that the artist constantly resided in Venice. Vicenza boasts many of his pieces, which display the gradual progress of his style. If we wish to estimate the extent of his powers, we ought to consult his altarpiece at S. Michele, and another at S. Rocco, to which may be added a third, in that of the Seminary at Padua. In none of these are we able to discover any composition beyond what was in most general use at that period, already so frequently mentioned by us; and they retain more of the practice of gilding, which, in other places, was then becoming obsolete. In fine, this artist will be found to rank equal with the chief part of his contemporaries; exact in design, skilful in the naked parts, while his colours are fresh and warm. His cherubs are peculiarly graceful and pleasing, and in his altarpiece, at S. Michele, he has introduced an architecture which recedes from, and deceives the eye with a power of illusion, sufficient of itself to have rendered him conspicuous. Of Giovanni Speranza, there remain a few pieces which are much esteemed, though not remarkable for strength of colouring. But we can meet with no public specimens of Veruzio, and most probably his name is a mere equivoque of Vasari.[37] Giovanni Bonconsigli, called Marescalco, or the steward, was esteemed beyond any other of the artists of Vicenza, who flourished at this period, and he certainly approaches nearest to the modern style, and that of the Bellini. The practice, however, of ornamenting friezes with tritons and similar figures, taken from the antique, he most likely derived from the adjacent cities of Padua or Verona, one of which then professed the study of antiquity, the other that of monuments. Neither Vasari nor Ridolfi gives any account of his productions, except such as he painted in Venice, at this time either wholly perished or defaced. Those which he executed in Vicenza are still in good condition, nor ought a stranger of good taste to leave the place without visiting the chapel de' Turchini, to admire his Madonna in the style of Raffaello, seated upon a throne, between four saints, among which the figure of S. Sebastian is a masterpiece of ideal beauty. Indeed an able professor of the city considered it one of the finest specimens of the art the place could boast, though in possession of many of the first merit. In common with Montagna, Figolino, and Speranza, Bonconsigli abounds in perspective views, and discovers a natural genius for architecture; like them he appears to give promise of the approach of a divine Palladio, the glory of his country and of his art; along with the Scamozzi, and many other citizens, who have rendered Vicenza at once the boast and wonder, as well as the school of architects. There are two altarpieces of his hand remaining in Montagnana. This artist must not be confounded with Pietro Marescalco, surnamed lo Spada, (the sword,) whom the MS. history of Feltre mentions as a native of this city, and complains of Vasari's silence upon it. One of his altarpieces is to be seen at the Nunnery of the Angeli, at Feltre, where Signor Cav. de Lazara informs me that he read the name of _Petrus Marescalcus P_. Among other figures is a Madonna, between two angels, upon a large scale, and in good design, sufficient to entitle Pietro to an honourable rank in the history of art. If we compare him with Giovanni, he will be found less vivid in point of colouring, and, apparently, of a somewhat later age.

In the order of our narrative, we ought now to pass on to Verona, where Liberale, a disciple of Vincenzio di Stefano, at that time held sway. He had also been a scholar or rather imitator of Jacopo Bellini, to whose style, says Vasari, he invariably adhered. Moreover, in his picture of the Epiphany, to be seen in the cathedral, there is a choir of angels with a graceful folding of drapery, and a taste so peculiarly that of Mantegna, that I was easily led to believe him an artist belonging to that class. Certain it is that the vicinity of Mantua might also have facilitated his imitation of Mantegna, traces of which are visible in some other of his works, as well as in those of the more and less known Veronese artists of the time. He did not attain the excellence of Giovanni Bellini, nor did he give the same grandeur to his proportions, and the same enlargement of the ancient style, although he continued to flourish until the year 1535. The colour of his tints is strong; his expression studied and graceful; a very general merit in the painters of Verona; and his care is exquisite, especially in his diminutive figures, an art in which he became extremely expert, owing to his habit of illustrating books in miniature, which are still to be seen in Verona and in Siena.

He had a competitor, at his native place, in Domenico Morone, or rather the latter, educated also by a disciple of Stefano, is to be held second to him. This artist was succeeded in the course of time, by his son, Francesco Morone, superior to his father, and by Girolamo da' Libri. These two, bound by the strictest habits of friendship from their youth, were frequently employed in the same labours together, and may be said to have adopted the same maxims. The first has been commended by Vasari, for the grace, the design, the harmony, and the warm and beautiful colouring he contrived to bestow upon his pictures, in a degree inferior to none. From the same source we learn that the year of his decease is supposed to have been 1529. But Girolamo da' Libri was his superior, both in point of taste and general celebrity. The son of a miniature painter of choral books and of anthems, who had hence acquired the name of Francesco da' Libri, from his father he received both a knowledge of the art and his surname, both of which he also transmitted to his son, Francesco, as we again learn from Vasari.

It is not, however, within my province to enter into a consideration of their books; but in regard to the altarpieces of Girolamo, I cannot remain silent. That of S. Lionardo, near Verona, I have never seen; a picture in which the artist having drawn a laurel, the birds are said to have frequently entered at the church windows, fluttering around as if wishing to repose in its branches. Another which I beheld at S. Giorgio, with the date 1529, scarcely retains a trace of the ancient character. It represents the Virgin between two holy bishops, portraits select and full of meaning; together with three exquisitely graceful figures of cherubs, both in face and gesture. In this little picture may be traced, to a certain degree, the character of a miniaturist who paints, or a painter drawing miniature; while the charms of the several professions are seen there exhibited in one point of view. The church, indeed, is a rich gallery, containing numerous masterpieces of the art; among which the S. Giorgio of Paolo (Veronese) too far transcends the rest; but the painting of Girolamo shines almost like a precious jewel, surprising the spectator by an indescribable union of what is graceful, bright, and lucid, which it presents to the eye. He survived many years after the production of this piece, highly esteemed, and in particular for his miniatures, in which he was accounted the first artist in Italy; and as if to crown his reputation, he became the instructor, in such art, of Don Giulio Clovio, a sort of Roscius, if we may so say, of miniature painting.

However flourishing in valuable masters we may consider the city of Venice during this era, the fame of Mantegna, with the vicinity of Mantua, where he taught, attracted thither two artists from Verona, whom I reserve for that school, of which they were faithful followers. These were Monsignori, and Gio. Francesco Carotto, formerly a pupil of Liberale. His brother Giovanni, a noble architect, and designer of ancient edifices, was but a feeble imitator of his style. He richly deserves a place in history as the instructor of Paolo, an artist excellent in many branches of painting, and in architecture almost divine. It is supposed that Paolo must have acquired this degree of excellence by studying at first under Carotto, and afterwards perfecting himself, as we shall shew, by means of Badile. To such as are most known we might here add names less celebrated, which the Marchese Maffei, however, has already inserted in his history; as, for instance, a Matteo Pasti, commended by us in the first volume; but I have, perhaps, already treated sufficiently of the merits of the old Veronese artists.

About this period there flourished two distinguished artists in Brescia, who were present at the terrific saccage of that opulent city, in the year 1512, by Gaston de Foix. One of these is Fioravante Ferramola, who was honoured and remunerated upon that occasion by the French victor for his striking merit, and became sufficiently conspicuous in various churches of the country. His painting of S. Girolamo is seen at Le Grazie, extremely well conceived, with fine landscape, and in a taste so like that of Muziano, that we might almost suppose it prognosticated his appearance. And it might be said that he afforded the latter a prototype, if he does not aspire to the name of his master. The other is Paolo Zoppo, who depicted the above desolation of the city in miniature, upon a large crystal bason; a work of immense labour, intended to be presented to the doge Gritti: but in transporting it to Venice, the crystal was unfortunately broken, and the unhappy artist died of disappointment and despair. The specimens of his style remaining at Brescia, among which is one of Christ going up to Mount Calvary, at S. Pietro in Oliveto--a piece falsely attributed by others to Foppa--serve to shew that he approached near to the modern manner, and was not unacquainted with the Bellini.

Finally, Bergamo boasted in Andrea Previtali one of the most excellent disciples of Gian Bellini. He appears, indeed, less animated than his master, and less correct in the extremities of his figures; neither have I discovered any of his compositions which are free from the ancient taste, whether in the grouping of his forms, or in the minute ornamenting of the accessaries of his art. Nevertheless, in a few pictures produced, perhaps, later in life, such as his S. Giovanni Batista, at S. Spirito; his S. Benedetto, in the dome of Bergamo, and several more in the Carrara Gallery, he very nearly attained to the modern manner; and was indisputably one of the most distinguished artists, in point of colours and perspective, belonging to the school of the Bellini. His Madonnas are held in the highest esteem; in whose features he appears less a disciple of Gian Bellini, than of Raffaello, and of Vinci. Two of them at Milan I have seen, both bearing his name: one is in possession of the Cavalier Melzi; the other in that of Monsig. Arciprete Rosales, painted in 1522; and both are surrounded with figures of other saints, portraits executed with discrimination and truth. There is also a picture of Our Lord announced by the Angel, at Ceneda, a work so uncommonly beautiful in regard to the two heads, that Titian, in passing occasionally through the place, is said, according to Ridolfi, to have repeatedly contemplated it with rapture; charmed by the spirit of devotion it expressed. Upon the same boundaries, between the ancient and modern taste, we find various other painters, natives of the valleys of Bergamo, a fruitful source both of wealth and intellect to the city. Such is Antonio Boselli,[38] from the Valle Brembana, of whom there has recently been discovered a fine altarpiece at the Santo of Padua; besides two other artists of the same vale, who approach even nearer to the softness, if not to the elegance of Previtali. These are Gian Giacomo, and Agostino Gavasii di Pascante. We may add to these Jacopo degli Scipioni, of Averara, and Caversegno, of Bergamo, besides others handed down to us by Tassi. These, having flourished at a period so distinguished for the art of colouring, may be compared to certain writers of the fourteenth century, who throw little light upon learning; but who, observes Salvini, in respect to language, appear to me as if every separate page were embued with gold.

I have already pointed out to the reader, the best masters of the Venetian School, contemporary with, and followers of Gian Bellini; a number which, though we subtract from it several names of inferior note, will leave a larger proportion than is generally supposed. The state, indeed, is full of specimens founded upon his models, the authors of which remain doubtful; yet it is certain they composed in Bellini's style, while their designs partake more or less both of the modern and ancient taste.[39] Undoubtedly, no other school affords a proof of so great a number of disciples from one master, and following so closely in his footsteps. Granting this, I cannot easily give credit to the numerous specimens of Madonnas attributed to his single hand, besides other pictures in different collections. A cautious judge will not be apt to pronounce any work his, which displays much of ideal beauty; Bellini having, for the most part, repeated in his feminine figures an expression of countenance, partaking in some degree of an apish character. Nor will he be easily led to ascribe to him pictures which display a minute care and finish, approaching to the miniature style, inasmuch as he embodied and coloured his conceptions with a free and fearless hand. In short, a certain vigour of colour, warm and lively; a certain reddish tinge of the drapery, approaching a rosy hue; a certain brightness of varnish, are not the usual characteristics of his hand, however much his style of design may be mixed up with them; and such pieces may reasonably be presumed the production of those artists of the state bordering nearest upon Lombardy, whence, likewise, a few of the Venetian state derived the mechanical part of their colouring.

Within the limits proposed to myself, I may here annex to my consideration of the painters in water colours and in oil, other less distinguished branches of the art. Among these is that species of inlaid work with wood of different colours, which was intended more particularly for the ornament of choirs where the divine service was chaunted. I can trace nothing of its inventors, whether of German or other origin;[40] though it is said to have taken its rise in an imitation of mosaic work, and of works in stone. No other coloured woods besides black and white were at first in use; nor any other objects beyond large edifices, temples, colonnades, and in short ornaments with architectural views, attempted to be represented. Brunelleschi at Florence gave instructions in perspective to architects, that edifices might be drawn according to good rules; and Massaccio in painting, greatly availed himself of his precepts, as well as Benedetto da Majano in his inlaid works. There remain at Florence, as well as other places in Italy, several ancient choirs very highly prized in that age, but afterwards despised, when the art of staining wood with boiled water colours and penetrative oils, came into use. Thus, after the imitation of buildings, easily drawn from the number of their right lines, that of figures began to be practised in an able manner, though it had formerly been tried with less success. The chief merit of such improvement, or rather perfection of the art, was due to the Venetian School. Lorenzo Canozio, from Lendinara, a fellow student of Mantegna, who died about 1477, inlaid the entire choir of the church of S. Antonio, even, as it would appear, with figures. The whole, however, having been consumed by fire, there is nothing remaining but the epitaph of the artificer, in which he is highly applauded for his labours. There likewise exist other works of the same kind, in the armadj, chests, or presses, of the sacristy, and, as it is supposed, also in some of the confessionals. Besides Lorenzo, his brother Cristofano, and his son-in-law Pierantonio, who assisted him in these labours, are equally applauded by Matteo Siculo, as worthy of vieing with Phidias and Apelles themselves. Tiraboschi likewise enumerates the two brothers among the artists of Modena, whose fellow citizens they were.

But the fame of these soon expired. For Giovanni da Verona, a layman of Oliveto, not long after, surpassed them in the same art. He practised it in various cities of Italy, and at Rome itself, in the service of Pope Julius II; but still more successfully in the sacristy of his own order, where his works are still to be seen in the best condition. F. Vincenzo delle Vacche, also a native of Verona, and a layman of Oliveto, mentioned by the learned Morelli in his _Notizia_ of works of design, during the first half of the sixteenth century, deserves mention here for the merit of his inlaid works; and in particular for those wrought in Padua, at the church of S. Benedetto Novello. Unacquainted, however, with the period in which he flourished, I shall not venture to announce him either as a pupil or assistant to Fra Giovanni. Similar productions, from the hand of Fra Raffaello da Brescia, also of Oliveto, adorning the choir of S. Michele in Bosco at Bologna, might here be mentioned in competition with those in the sacristy of Verona, by natives of Oliveto.

Moreover, there remains Fra Damiano da Bergamo, a Dominican monk, who ornamented his own church at Bergamo, and that of Bologna in a still better style; in which the choir is inlaid with the greatest art. In S. Pietro, at Perugia, he also wrought the most beautiful histories. The same artist, as we find recorded in Vasari, succeeded also in refining the art of colours and of shades, to such a degree as to be held the very first in this line. He possessed either a rival, or a pupil, in Gianfrancesco Capodiferro, whose mansions at S. Maria Maggiore, in Bergamo, are the finest specimens of the kind, though occasionally betraying some traces of stiffness in their manner. There too he worked after the designs of Lotto, and instructed in the art his brother Pietro and his son Zinino, so that the city continued to be supplied with excellent artificers during a number of years. The largest and most artificially wrought figures I have seen in this line are in a choir of the Certosa at Pavia, distributed one by one upon each side. The artificer is said to have been one Bartolommeo da Pola, whose name I have not met with elsewhere. In each of the squares is represented a bust of one of the Apostles, or some other saint, designed in the taste of the Da Vinci School. A few of the pictures of these artists are to be found in galleries of art; among which, those from the hand of F. Damiano are the most esteemed. Finally, this species of workmanship, embracing materials too much exposed to the moth and to the fire, by degrees began to grow out of date: and if more lately it appears to have again revived, it has failed hitherto in producing any works deserving of commemoration.

[Footnote 6: Rannusio Guerra di Costantinopoli, book iii. p. 94.]

[Footnote 7: Vol. vi. p. 88, anno 1808.]

[Footnote 8: See his _Descrizione delle Pitture_, &c. p. 19. The learned Morelli also, in his Annotations to the _Notizia_, confirms, by fresh arguments, the same epoch, p. 146.]

[Footnote 9: Page 101.]

[Footnote 10: This was given to the public by Muratori, with the following title--_Riccobaldi Ferrariensis, sive anonimi scriptoris compilatio chronologica usque ad annum 1312._ (Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, vol. ix. p. 255.)]

[Footnote 11: Sig. Sasso observed one extremely like it in Venice, with the subscription _Guglielmus pinxit_, 1368; from which he inferred that he had belonged to the school of Guariento.]

[Footnote 12: This _Sebeto_ of Vasari appeared so new to Maffei, that he would willingly have substituted Stefano; (_see Ver. Illust._ p. iii. col. 152,) but Stefano da Verona, or da Zevio, is a name posterior to these times. The _Notizia_ of the anonymous writer, recently published, says, that the church of the before mentioned S. George was ornamented by "Jacopo Davanzo, a Paduan, or a Veronese, if not, as some will have it, a Bolognese; by Altichiero Veronese, according to Campagnuola, p. 6." It must be observed that Vasari also consulted the latter, or probably one of his Latin letters to Niccolo Leonico Tomeo, quoting it several times. (See Morelli, p. 101.) Now in this it was probably written, _ab Alticherio de Jebeto_; that is, da Zevio, which was at one time called _Jebetum_, and Vasari believed it to be the name of an unknown painter. Such is the conjecture communicated to me by Sig. Brandolese, and it appears extremely probable.]

[Footnote 13: Signor Abbate Morelli, since P. della Valle, has discovered another painting existing in the Sacristy of the Padri Conventuali, at Vicenza, with this inscription, 1333, PAULUS DE VENETIIS PINXIT HOC OPUS, (_Notiz._ p. 222). He adds also, two other Venetian painters, with whom I have enriched this new edition; the name of one found in a small picture of the Conventuali, at S. Arcangelo, under an image of the Virgin, among various saints, dated 1385. _Jachobelus de Bonomo Venetus pinxit hoc opus._ The other, in the territory of Verruchio, on a crucifixion, with the symbols of the four Evangelists, is in the possession of the Agostiniani, and inscribed 1404: _Nicholaus Paradixi miles de Venetiis pinxit_.]

[Footnote 14: Among these is counted Stefano Pievano, of St. Agnese, an able artist, who left his name along with the date, 1381, on an altarpiece of the _Assumption_:--a piece in which the Venetian colouring is displayed to advantage, while the expression, lively and full of meaning, compensates for its inaccuracy of design. Another artist deserving of being known is Jacopo di _Alberegno_, whose family still remains in Venice, and who has been ascertained to be the author of a painting without date, representing the Crucifixion of our Saviour, among various saints. Tommaso da Modena has also been referred to the Venetian School, who, about the period of 1351, produced two Holy Virgins at Venice; a St. Catherine, at present in the gallery of N. H. Ascanio Molin, together with the two preceding, and other rare Venetian pictures of the same epoch; and a S. Barbara, belonging to the Abbate Mauro Boni, so fraught with expression, grace, and power of colouring, as to lead me to conjecture he had flourished at a much later period, were it not for the inscribed date. His beginning to be known at Venice is some reason why he should be referred to this school, if the name of his native place, _de Mutina_, did not restrain us from so doing without some further doubt. The Ab. Boni, who has given us an account of these pictures in an article put forth by the Italian academy, was the first to discover them.]

[Footnote 15: Before their time, however, Bergamo could boast a school of painting, as witness what Count Tassi adduces in a parchment of the year 1296, naming a certain Guglielmo, _pittore_. It does not appear in what style he drew. One of his successors, who painted the tree of St. Bonaventura, abounding in sacred figures, shews himself an artist more rude, indeed, but more original than either of the brothers de Nova. Of his name we are, however, ignorant, as he only attached the date of 1347.]

[Footnote 16: In the work intitled _Narrazione dell'Isola di Murano_, by _G. A. Moschini_, the supposition I have above stated has been combated by its excellent author. A picture in the gallery of the N. H. Molin, at Venice, subscribed _Johannes Vivarinus_, seems to have persuaded him of my mistake. In a work embracing an account of some thousand painters, I cannot pretend to boast of its being free from some human errors, and was about to express my gratitude to the above mentioned author for having pointed one of them out. But I am now convinced that the picture is from the hand of another artist, and that the signature in question is a forgery, the author of which has confounded the character of what is called Gothic and Roman, in place of imitating the true character of those times, which he might very easily have done, inasmuch as he had before his eyes a small chart, with a most devout oration, _Deus meus charitas_, &c. in the most complete Gothic, or rather German character that can be conceived. The impostor therefore must have been extremely ignorant of his art. The examination was made by the cavalier Gio. da Lazara, Abate Mauro Boni, Bartolommeo Gamba, names sufficiently known to the public to justify our adoption of their opinion. The very able Brandolese has likewise pronounced the inscription false, and published thereon a little work, entitled "_Doubts respecting the existence of such a painter as Giovanni Vivarino da Murano, newly confirmed; and a refutation of some recently asserted authority, to confirm them_." And in this he displays much sound criticism, and many arguments, all tending to strengthen my own conjecture.]

[Footnote 17: This artist ought not to be confounded with Jacometto da Venezia, a miniature painter, and artist of the same age, but who flourished somewhat later. He also was celebrated in his day, and is frequently recorded in the _Notizia Morelli_, for his small pictures, adapted for private rooms, his portraits, and his miniatures. It was sometimes doubted whether a certain work was from the hand of John of Bruges, of Antonello da Messina, or of Jacometto da Venezia. (_See Notizia Morelli_, p. 74.)]

[Footnote 18: The picture referred to by the P. Moschini, in his _Narrazione dell'Isola di Murano_, is not to be admitted as genuine, the inscription upon it being forged by the same author, who counterfeited that of Giovanni Vivarini, before alluded to in the note to page 22.]

[Footnote 19: See _Morelli Notizia_, p. 157.]

[Footnote 20: I had supposed, in my first edition of this work, misled by the opposite names, that Sebeto was a different personage from this Stefano da Zevio. I was afterwards undeceived by the appearance of the work of the learned Brandolese, pronouncing them one and the same artist; and I willingly here retract what I had before advanced, expressing, at the same time, my acknowledgements for the emendation.]

[Footnote 21: _Drawn in the most perfect manner_, are the words of Vasari, while he adds, that the whole of his works were imitated and copied by Pietro di Perugia, an experienced artist in _fresco_, and more especially in miniature, with which "he ornamented the whole of the books in the library of Pope Pius," in the dome at Siena. He is not known, however, in Perugia, nor mentioned at Siena among those employed at the cathedral, as is noticed by Father della Valle; yet the present work abounds with examples of artists, unknown in their own cities, on account of having resided elsewhere; and the before mentioned annotator of Vasari was unable to discover the name of Liberal da Verona, an undoubted illustrator of the books, in such registers. I think we ought not to refuse to give credit, therefore, to Vasari, as Father Guglielmo insists; but to admit a new Pietro di Perugia, anterior to Vanucci, who might design the frescos of Stefano in Verona and Mantua, so extolled in the early part of 1400, and who copied them in those very beautiful and graceful miniatures at Siena; an art which he probably acquired at Verona, where it was then in such high repute.]

[Footnote 22: See on this head, the _Descrizione delle Bellezze di Vicenza_, P. 1. p. 7.]

[Footnote 23: In the cathedral of Pordenone, under one of his altarpieces, we read--

"Andreas Zeusis nostraeque aetatis Apelles
Hoc Bellunellus nobile pinxit opus." (_Altan._)]

[Footnote 24: Ruggieri indeed had acquired a great reputation in Italy as early as 1449, when Ciriaco Anconitano, being in Ferrara, saw a picture of Christ taken from the cross, belonging to the Duke. He thus writes respecting the artist: _Rugerus Brugiensis pictorum decus_ AGATHEI TUCHEI.--_Rugierius in Brussella post praeclarum illum Brugiensem picturae decus Joannem, insignis N. T. Pictor habetur_, &c. See Colucci A. P. vol. xxiii. p. 143. He is also commended in high terms by Bartolommeo Facio in his little work _De viris illustribus_. See Morelli, _Notizia_, p. 239.]

[Footnote 25: He arrived there, and was at Rome in the _anno Santo_. See Facius, lib. cit. p. 45.]

[Footnote 26: This is one of the usual mistakes found in Vasari. Baldinucci (tom. iv. p. 17) calls him Ans or Hans. This is his Flemish appellation, which in our tongue, signifies Giovanni; and in the _Notizia_ Morelli he is termed Gianes da Brugia; somewhat nearer our own tongue. With Sansovino he is Gio. di Bruggia, John of Bruges. See Morelli, p. 117; and by him he is distinguished from _Gio. Van Eych_.]

[Footnote 27: In a similar taste was the perspective introduced by Giovanni Bellino in his celebrated altarpiece at San Zaccaria, in Venice. Another was placed in the great altar of the dome at Capo d'Istria, by Carpaccio the elder, still more striking. In the background of the picture, the virgin appears seated on a magnificent throne, with the divine infant, in an upright posture, upon her knees, surrounded by six of the most venerable patrons of the place, disposed around her, in three ranks, displaying a fine diversity of drapery as well as of action. To these are added some cherubs, engaged in playing upon musical instruments, and apparently beholding the spectator with an air of puerile simplicity, as if inviting him to caress them. A long and lofty colonnade, in excellent perspective, leads the way to the throne, at one time united to a fine stone colonnade, which extended from the altarpiece through the chapel, producing a fine illusion, amounting to a sort of enchantment of perspective. It was removed along with the stone columns, in order to enlarge the tribune. The oldest citizens, who witnessed this beautiful spectacle, speak of it to strangers with delight, and I am glad to put it on record, before the recollection of it be entirely obliterated.]

[Footnote 28: _Notizia_, p. 63.]

[Footnote 29: Albert Durer, arriving the same year at Venice, bestowed on Giovanni one of the most favourable testimonies to his talents that now remains. After rebuking the envy of the other painters, who spoke of him with contempt, he says of him:--"Every one assures me that he is _Gran Galantuomo_, for which reason I wish him well. He is already very old, but, notwithstanding, the best painter we have." V. _Morel. Not._ p. 224.]

[Footnote 30: The country is impressed with this persuasion in spite of his own signatures, attached even to the pictures in Istria. In that, cited at page 48, it is written _Victor Charpatius Venetus pinxit, 1516_; in another, at San Francesco di Pirano, _Victoris Charpatii Veneti opus, 1519_. Benedetto Carpaccio, probably a son or nephew of the preceding, was also a Venetian, of whom there remains a picture of the Coronation of the Virgin, at Capo d'Istria, in the Rotunda, subscribed, _Benetto Carpathio Veneto pingeva, 1537_. At the Osservanti, is the picture of the _Nome di Gesu_, with the same words, but dated 1541. He is not mentioned in Venetian history, though highly deserving a place in it; for whatever traces he retains of the ancient stiffness of manner, in the extremity of his figures, yet he yields not to many in softness of tints; in the taste of his colours; expression of features, and the effect of his chiaroscuro. I am led to think, that from residing out of the capital, this artist was supposed to be a native of Istria, but he was indisputably of a Venetian family, most probably tracing its origin from Murano.]

[Footnote 31: We find traces of his paintings from the year 1507. See Tassi, in his _Lives of the Painters, &c._ p. 56, where he corrects a mistake of Zanetti, who, instead of one painter, had divided him into two. One of his pictures, in the parish church of Endine, will remove every doubt. There he signed himself, _Franciscus Rizus Bergomensis habitator Venetiis, 1529_. In another piece, in the parochial church of Serina, he wrote _Francesco Rizo da Santa Croxe depense, 1518_. His last work, of which I find any account, is also in the parochial church of Chirignano, in the Mestrina, dated 1541. Father Federici, who describes it, makes Francesco the son of Girolamo da S. Croce, or S. Croce, whose name we find subscribed in both ways, but not ever Rizo. I cannot agree with him, first, because Ridolfi says only, (p. 62,) that they were of _the same family_; second, because the pictures of Girolamo, according to Tassi, commence later, and are traced also later than those of Francesco, that is in 1549; and thirdly, because the style of Girolamo is incomparably more modernized, as we shall presently shew.]

[Footnote 32: Morelli _Notizia_, p. 212.]

[Footnote 33: In the _Statuti de' Pittori_, it is written Mireti; and the same work contains memoirs of him in 1423 and 1441; years, however, which do not accord with his dependence on the Bellini. This Girolamo might possibly have been the brother, or other relation, of that Gio. Miretto, for whom see p. 13. These two names will do away with the _Moreto_ of Vasari, and we must substitute Mireto or Miretto.]

[Footnote 34: I repeat the epigram, which is subscribed in ancient characters, on the strength of which we may believe that the work was esteemed one of the most valuable the art had produced up to that period, transcribed by the very frequently commended Sig. Co. Cav. Lazara; it is thus:

Non hic Parrhasio, non hic tribuendus Apelli,
Hos licet Auctores dignus habere labor.
Euganeus, vixdum impleto ter mense, Jacobus
Ex Montagnana nobile pinxit opus.]

[Footnote 35: He is thus named in the "Statuti de' Pittori," of Padua, and in the _MS. Zen._ whence we may correct Ridolfi, who calls him Girolamo.]

[Footnote 36: In vol. iii. ed. Rom. p. 427, it is written by mistake Mantegna, where it says that he, Speranza, and Veruzio, studied design under Mantegna.]

[Footnote 37: Padre Faccioli, in his third volume of the _Inscrizioni della Citta e territorio di Vicenza_, records the following epigraph, _Jo. Sperantiae de Vangeribus me pinxit_, in which Vangeribus may, perhaps, apply to some small village in the territory of Vicenza. He is wholly silent respecting Veruzio, thus confirming the suspicion that his name is a mere mistake of Vasari, whom it is hoped our posterity will still continue to correct, and yet leave sufficient employment for their children. The following is my conjecture. P. Faccioli gives an account of a picture that remains in S. Francesco di Schio; it is composed in the manner usually adopted in the composition of the marriage of S. Catherine; and there are also other saints well executed in the Mantegna style, as is observed by the Cav. Gio. de Lazara, whose authority I esteem excellent. It bears the inscription, "Franciscus Verlus de Vicentia pinxit xx. Junii. M. D. XII.;" and to this is added by Faccioli another old painting by the same hand, remaining at Sercedo. Now I contend that the name of this painter, being reported to Vasari, with its diminutive termination, like many others, borrowed either from the stature or the age, (in the Venetian dialect it was Verlucio or Verluzo) it was afterwards given by him in his history as Veruzio. The critics of the Greek writers will know how to do me justice in this, for this mode of discovering and correcting names I have derived from them.]

[Footnote 38: To judge from some pictures at Bergamo, we might suppose him educated in the style of the fourteenth century; but he afterwards approached nearer to the modern, as we perceive at Padua, where he resembles Palma Vecchio; and this is sufficiently conspicuous also in Friuli, where we make mention of him at a more cultivated era.]

[Footnote 39: In this character is the larger picture at S. Niccolo, a church of the Dominicans in Treviso, in which the cupola, the columns, and the perspective, with the throne of the virgin seated with the infant Jesus, and surrounded by saints standing, the steps ornamented by a harping seraph, all discover Bellini's composition; but I had not seen the work, until after the former edition of my history at Bassano. It was painted in 1520, by P. Marco Pensaben, assisted by P. Marco Maraveia, both Dominican priests, engaged for the purpose from Venice. They remained there until July, 1521, when the first of them secretly fled from the convent, and the altarpiece of Treviso was completed in a month by one Gian-Girolamo, a painter invited from Venice; supposed to be Girolamo Trevisano, the younger. This artist is not, however, mentioned, as I am aware, either, by the citizens, or by foreigners, by any other name than Girolamo, and calculating from the chronology of Ridolfi, he must then have been thirteen years of age. Until this subject be more clearly investigated, I must confess my ignorance of such a Gian-Girolamo. But I am better acquainted with the name of Pensaben, who was afterwards found, and in 1524 was, as before, a Dominican friar at Venice; but a few years after, in 1530, is mentioned in authentic books belonging to the order, being registered among those who had either left the order or were dead. P. Federici believes him to have been the same as F. Bastiano del Piombo, an untenable supposition, as I have elsewhere shown. I believe Pensaben to have been an excellent artist in the Bellini manner, though not commemorated in history, nor by his order. In an order so prolific with genius, and in an age abounding with great names, he is by no means a solitary instance of this: the present work being found to contain many other examples.]

[Footnote 40: As early as the eleventh century, or thereabouts, it would appear that some similar kind of art was in repute in Germany. The monk Theophilus, in the works before mentioned, "De omni scientia artis pingendi," alluding, at the commencement, to the most esteemed productions of every country, observes: "quidquid in fenestrarum varietate preciosa diligit Francia; quidquid in auri, argenti, cupri, ferri, lignorum, lapidumque subtilitate sollers laudat Germania." _Codice Viennese._]

VENETIAN SCHOOL.

SECOND EPOCH.

_Giorgione, Titian, Tintoret, Jacopo da Bassano, Paolo
Veronese._

Behold us at length arrived at the golden period of the Venetian School, which like the others of Italy, produced its most distinguished ornaments about the year 1500; artists who at once eclipsed the fame of their predecessors, and the hopes of attaining to equal excellence on the part of their successors. In reaching this degree of eminence, it is true they pursued different paths, though they all aimed at acquiring the same perfection of colouring; the most natural, the most lively, and the most applauded of any single school of the age; a distinction they likewise conferred upon their posterity, forming the distinguishing characteristic of the Venetian painters. The merit of this has been attributed to the climate by some, who assert, that in Venice, and the adjacent places, nature herself has bestowed a warmer and deeper colour upon objects than elsewhere; a frivolous supposition, and undeserving of much of our attention, inasmuch as the artists of Holland and Flanders, in climates so extremely opposite, have obtained the same meed of praise. Neither is it to be attributed to the quality of the colours; both Giorgione and Titian having been known to make use of few, and these, so far from being selected or procured elsewhere, exposed to sale in all the public shops in Venice. If it should again be objected, that in those days the colours were sold purer and less adulterated, I admit there may be some degree of truth in this, inasmuch as Passeri, in his life of Orbetto, complained at that time of the early decay of many pictures, "owing to the quality of the colours fraudulently sold by the retailers." But I would merely inquire, if it were possible, that materials thus pure and uncontaminated should so often fall into the hands of the Venetians and their Flemish imitators, yet be so seldom met with in the rest of the schools. The cause of their superiority is to be sought, therefore, in their mechanism and art of colouring; in regard to which the best Venetian painters conformed, in some points, to the most celebrated artists of Italy. In other points, however, they differed from them. It was a common practice at that period, to prepare with a chalk surface the altarpieces and pictures which were intended to be executed; and that white ground, favourable to every variety of tint the painter could lay upon it, equally favoured the production of a certain polish, floridity, and surprising transparency; a custom which, being laid aside out of indolence and avarice, I am happy to perceive seems about to be renewed. But in addition to this the Venetians were in possession of an art that may be considered peculiar to themselves. For it may be observed, that the chief part of them during these three centuries, produced the effect of their paintings, not so much by a strong layer of colours, as by separate strokes of the pencil; and each colour being thus adapted to its place, without much repeating or refining it, they still continued augmenting the work, by which the tints were preserved clear and virgin; a result which requires no less promptness of hand than of intellect, besides education, and a taste cultivated from the earliest period. Hence the artist Vecchia was accustomed to say, that by dint of copying pictures executed with diligence, a painter will acquire the same quality; but to succeed in copies from a Titian or a Paolo, and to imitate their stroke, is a task surmounted only by the Venetians, whether natives or educated in their school. (_Boschini_, p. 274.)

Should it here be inquired what good result may attend such a method, I reply that Boschini points out two very considerable ones. The first of them is, that by this mode of colouring, which he terms _di macchia_ and _di pratica_, a certain hardness of style may more easily be avoided; and the other, that, better than any other, it gives a bolder relief to paintings in the distance: and pictures being intended to be thus viewed, rather than closer to the eye, such an object is by this process most easily attainable. I am aware of the moderns having misapplied and abused these maxims; but they were meant to have been judiciously employed, and I only wish to propose as examples the most celebrated of the school who so ably comprehended the method, and the limits of such a practice. Nor was the harmony of colours better understood by any other artists, insomuch, that the mode of assimilating and of contrasting them, may be considered as the second source of the delightful and lively, so predominant in their works, and more especially in those of Titian and his contemporaries.

Such skill was not merely confined to the fleshy parts, in whose colour the disciples of Titian have so far excelled every other school; it extended also to the drapery. For indeed, there are no pieces of velvets, of stuffs, or of crapes, which they did not imitate to perfection, more particularly in their portraits, in which the Venetians of that period abounded, displaying specimens the most ornamental and beautiful. The cavalier Mengs is of opinion, that also to this branch of the art, requiring the strictest attention to truth, and conferring a peculiar kind of interest upon a picture, may be in some measure attributed the degree of power and truth acquired by those eminent colourists. Their merit was moreover conspicuous in imitating every kind of work in gold, in silver, and every species of metal; so much so, that there are no royal palaces or lordly feasts, read of in any poet, which do not appear more nobly represented in some Venetian paintings. It was equally remarkable in point of landscape, which sometimes surpassed the efforts of the Flemish painters, and in architectural views, which, with a magnificence unknown elsewhere, they succeeded in introducing into their compositions, as we had before occasion to observe of the artists of the fourteenth century; a species of industry extremely favourable, likewise, to the distribution, the variety, and to the complete effect of groups of figures.

In these extensive compositions, which about the period of the Bellini abounded in half-length or diminutive figures, there has since been displayed a grandeur of proportions which has led the way to the most enlarged productions, on the scale we have more recently seen. The most terrific among these is the Supper of Paolo Veronese at S. Giorgio, in which the gifts of nature are so nobly seconded by the exhibition of talent, which appears to have been transmitted by succession through this school, nearly until the present day. Such ability consists in finely designing all the details of any work, however great, including the transmission and gradations of light, so that the eye of itself seems to follow its track, and embraces the entire effect from one end of the canvass to the other. And it has been observed by several who have witnessed ancient paintings (a violation of good taste, of late but too common,) cut up and curtailed to adapt them to the size of walls and doors, that such an operation often succeeds tolerably well with the pictures of other schools, but is extremely difficult with those of the Venetians; so intimately is one part connected with another, and harmonized with the whole.

These, along with other similar qualities that flatter the eye of the spectator, that attract the learned and the unlearned, and seem to transport the mind by the novelty and the reality of the representation, constitute a style which is termed by Reynolds the ornamental, who, likewise, among all the schools, yields the palm in this to the Venetians; a style afterwards introduced by Vovet into France, by Rubens into Flanders, and by Giordano into Naples and into Spain. The same English critic places it in the second rank, next to the grand style, and remarks that the professors of the sublime were fearful of falling into luxurious and pompous exhibitions of the accessaries; no less because prejudicial to the artist's industry in point of design and in point of expression, than because the transitory impression which it produces upon the spectator, seldom reaches the heart. And truly, as the sublime of Tully is more simple than the ornament of Pliny, and seems to dread any excitement of admiration for the beautiful, lest its energy should be unnerved by too studied a degree of elegance; so is it with the grandeur of Michelangiolo and of Raffaello, that without seeking to occupy us with the illusions of art, goes at once to the heart; terrifies or inspires us; awakens emotions of pity, of veneration, and the love of truth, exalting us, as it were, above ourselves, and leading us to indulge, even in spite of ourselves, the most delicious of all feelings, in that of wonder. It is upon this account that Reynolds considered it dangerous for students to become enamoured of the Venetian style; an opinion, which, judiciously understood, may prove of much service to such artists as are calculated to succeed in the more sublime. But since amidst such diversity of talent, there must appear artists better adapted to adorn than to express; it would not be advisable that their genius should be urged into a career in which it will leave them always among the last, withdrawing them, at the same time, from another in which they might have taken the lead. Let him, therefore, who in this art of silent eloquence possesses not the energy and spirit of Demosthenes, apply himself wholly, heart and soul, to the elegance, the pomp, and the copiousness of Demetrius Phalereus.

Let it not from this be supposed, that the sole merit of the Venetians consists in surprising the spectator by the effects of ornament and colour, and that the customary style and true method of painting, were not understood in those parts. Yet I am aware of the opinion of many foreigners, who having never removed beyond their native spot, are inclined to pronounce a general censure upon these artists, as being ignorant of design, too laboured in their composition, unacquainted with ideal beauty, and even unable to understand expression, costume, and grace; finally, that the rapidity so much in vogue with the whole of the school,[41] led them to despise the rules of art, not permitting them to complete the work before them, out of an anxiety to engage in other labours, for the sake of the profits afforded by them. To some of their painters, doubtless, these observations may apply, but assuredly not to the whole; for if one city be obnoxious to them, another is not so much so; or if they can be affirmed of a certain epoch or class of artists, it would be an idle attempt to fix them upon all. This school is in truth most abundant, no less in artists than in fine examples in every characteristic of the art; but neither one nor the other are sufficiently known and appreciated. Yet it is hoped the reader will be enabled to form a more correct idea of both; and after having cultivated an acquaintance with the Bellini, the Giorgioni, and the Titians, besides other masters, will trace, as it were from one parent stock, the various offshoots transplanted throughout the state, imbibing, according to the nature of the soil, and the vicinity of other climes, new tastes and qualities, without losing at the same time their original and native flavour. And if in the progress of our history we shall here and there, among plants of nobler growth, meet with some "_lazzi sorbi_," to use the words of our poet, some bitter apples, growing at their side; let these only be attacked; but let not the disgrace attaching to a few careless artists be calumniously extended to the whole of their school.