Chapter VII: Book I: Venetian School (6)

Vicenza boasts the name of Giambatista Maganza, the head of a family of artists, who long devoted themselves, both in public and private, to the ornament of their native province. His descendants, however, adopted various styles, as we shall see, while Giambatista was only ambitious of treading in the steps of Titian, his master, which he did with success. He was an excellent portrait painter, and also left several works of pure invention at Vicenza, in which he displayed the same easy genius as in his poetry. He wrote in the rustic idiom of Padua, under the name of _Magagno_, while such contemporaries as Sperone, Trissino, Tasso, and other celebrated wits, not ignorant of the dialect, applauded the excellence of his rude and sylvan strains. Giuseppe Scolari was an artist, supposed by most to have been a native of Vicenza, though referred by the Cavalier Pozzo to Verona. A pupil of Maganza, he excelled in works in fresco, and in chiaroscuro, enlivened by certain yellow tints, at that period in great vogue. He was a good designer, which appears from his works, both in Vicenza and Verona; and he likewise produced several large pictures in oil at Venice, much commended by Zanetti. Possibly another disciple of Maganza, from the period at which he flourished, was Gio. de Mio of Vicenza, an artist who competed with Schiavone, Porta, Zelotti, Franco, and with Paul Veronese himself, in the library of S. Mark, though history makes no mention of his master any more than of Mio; if, indeed, he should not be the same as Fratina, recorded by Ridolfi, as one of the assistants in ornamenting the library. The name of Gio. de Mio was met with in one of the archives, and Fratina was possibly his surname.

Among the Veronese disciples of Titian, we have to mention Brusasorci, and, according to some writers, also Farinato. Both at least visited Venice, either for the purpose of studying his works, or in his school. Zelotti has been pronounced in more open terms the scholar of Titian. But of these and other distinguished artists of Verona, it will be preferable to give the reader some account when treating on the merits of Paul Caliari, a plan that will bring under immediate view the state of that noble school during its most flourishing period.

About the same time several Brescian artists greatly distinguished themselves, although too little known for want of enjoying a metropolitan city for their sphere of action. Luca Sebastiano, an Aragonese, who died towards the close of the sixteenth century, was celebrated, we are told, rather as a fine designer than a painter. An altarpiece with the initial letters _L. S. A._ has been attributed to his hand. It is the Saviour represented between two saints, the composition of which is common; the foldings of the drapery want softness; but the figures, the colours, and the attitudes are excellent. I apprehend that, however learned in his art, he would have been anxious to avoid competition with the two celebrated citizens, of whom we shall now give some description. The first is Alessandro Bonvicino, commonly called Moretto of Brescia, who was among the earliest of Titian's school, to introduce his master's whole style of composition into his native district. This is clearly seen in his picture of S. Niccolo, painted in 1532 for the Madonna de' Miracoli, in which he depicted several figures of children, and of a man presenting them to the saint; portraits in Titian's best manner. Subsequently attracted by the composition of Raffaello, as exhibited in some pictures and engravings, he changed his style, adopting one altogether new, and so rich in its attractions, that many dilettanti have gone out of their way, and visited Brescia, for the sole purpose of feasting their eyes with them. The manner of Raffaello may be as strongly traced as we can imagine possible for a painter who had never seen Rome; we meet with graceful features, elegant proportions, if they do not sometimes appear too slender; accuracy in the attitudes and expression, which, in his sacred subjects, display, as it were, the peculiar feeling of remorse, of pity, and even of charity itself. The drapery is diversified, but not sufficiently select, while all the accessaries of the perspective and other embellishments are as splendid as in any Venetian artist, although not lavished with so much profusion; and he displays an exact, diligent, and delicate hand, which appears, to use a modern expression often applied, to write what it paints. In regard to colouring, Moretto pursued a method, which surprises by its combined novelty and effect. Its chief characteristic consists of a very beautiful play of light and shadow, not disposed in great masses, but finely tempered and contrasted with each other. The same degree of art he applies both to his figures and his skies, where he sometimes depicts clouds whose colours are contrasted in a similar way. For the most part his grounds are clear and bright, from which the figures seem to rise with admirable relief. His fleshy parts often remind us of the freshness of Titian's; in his tints, moreover, he is more varied than the latter, or any other of the Venetians. Little azure appears in his draperies, the union of reds and yellows in a picture having been apparently more to his taste. It is the same with other colours, a circumstance I have noticed in some of his contemporaries, both of Brescia and Bergamo. Vasari, who has recorded his name, along with that of many other Brescian artists, in his life of Carpi, commends him for his skill in imitating every kind of velvet, satin, or other cloth, either of gold or silver; but as he did not see, or failed to commemorate, some of his choicest works, he has by no means done justice to his character.

Moretto produced some works in fresco, though, if I mistake not, he coloured better in oils; as is the case where diligence and depth of parts are not equally matched with pictorial rapidity and fire. He employed himself a good deal in his native province and the adjacent parts, in general distinguishing himself more by his delicacy than by his grandeur of hand. A fine specimen of this last, however, may be seen in his terrific picture of Elias, placed in the old cathedral. He was intimate with all the best methods of his art; but he did not always care to practise them. His picture of S. Lucia, in the church of S. Clemente, is not so much studied as that of S. Catherine, and even this yields to his painting of the great altar, representing our Lady in the air, with the titular and other saints seen below. The composition is conducted in every part with exquisite taste, and the piece is considered one of the best the city has to boast. An altarpiece, consisting of various saints at S. Andrea, in Bergamo, another at S. Giorgio, in Verona, with the Fall of S. Paul, at Milan, with which last he appears to have been so much pleased, as to subscribe, which was very unusual with him, his name--are all likewise of the most finished composition. He was esteemed excellent in portrait, and educated for this branch of art Gio. Batista Moroni.

This last was a native of Albino, in the territory of Bergamo, where he produced, both for the city and the state, a variety of altar and history pieces, which he continued to supply from early youth, until within a few months of his decease. So much has been made out, from authentic documents, by the Conte Tassi, who brought forward a long series of his noble compositions. This artist is not, however, at all comparable to his master in point of invention, of composition, or design; which last sometimes betrays a dryness approaching that of the _quattrocentisti_. Pasta notices the same defect, in his Incoronazione of our Lord at the Trinita, although very finely coloured, and a work equalling any of his others in point of merit. For the rest, it is certain that no artist of the Venetian School, besides Titian, has excelled him in the truth and nature of his portraits, and in the life and spirit of his heads, insomuch that Titian was in the habit of recommending him to the governors of Bergamo, as the best face painter he could offer them. There exist specimens in the Carrara collection, in possession of the Conti Spini, and in other noble houses, which still appear to breathe and live; the drapery is in the Titian manner, and if any thing can be said to be wanting, it is a greater degree of mastery in the design and attitude of the hands.

Francesco Ricchino, of Brescia, is another name deserving of record among the better disciples of Moretto, even in point of colouring. He was desirous, however, from what we learn from his pieces at San Pietro in Oliveto, of extracting improvement from the pictures, or at least from the engravings of Titian. Luca Mombelli followed him in some of his earliest works, until giving into too great delicacy of manner, his productions became somewhat feeble and tame. Girolamo Rossi, another pupil or imitator, has, if I mistake not, better displayed his master's manner than any other, particularly in an altarpiece, placed at San Alessandro, representing the Virgin between various saints. Bagnatore was also a good copyist of the same style, an artist who, in his Slaughter of the Innocents, subscribes his name _Balneator_, and who, if not displaying great power, is nevertheless judicious, correct, and sober in his works in oil; and he was one to whom was committed by public order the task of copying a picture by Moretto.

Contemporary with Moretto flourished Romanino, of Brescia, about the year 1540; the same who in S. Giustina at Padua subscribes his name _Hieronymus Rumanus_. He was the rival of Bonvicino, inferior to him in the opinion of Vasari, but his equal according to Ridolfi. And truly it would appear that he surpassed him in genius and boldness of hand; but could boast neither the same taste nor diligence, several of his works appearing to be executed with a hasty pencil. Still he in general displays the qualities of a great master, both in his altarpieces and his histories, to say nothing of his burlesque compositions. The same character he maintained at Verona, where he painted the martyrdom of the titular saint, at S. Giorgio, in four large pictures abounding with great variety of figures, some of the most spirited, and the most terrible, in the executioners, that I ever saw. The same richness of invention, accompanied even with more select forms, is displayed in his altarpiece of the Holy Virgin in Calcara, at Brescia, in which he represented the bishop, S. Apollonio, administering the Eucharist to the crowd. It is a work altogether charming, the splendour of the place, and of the sacred vessels; the religious aspect of the prelate, of the Levites, and of the people; the great variety of features and of rank; so many singular pictorial beauties are all placed within the limits of propriety and truth. Less full, but no less perfect, is his Descent of Christ from the Cross, at SS. Faustino and Giovita, a piece commended by Palma for its extreme resemblance to the Venetian style, most probably alluding to that of Titian, although in some other works he very strongly resembles Bassano. Titian, however, would appear to have been his model, to which he wholly devoted himself; whether he acquired so high a regard for him from his own master, Stefano Rizzi, an artist of mediocrity, or despairing of forming a new style, like his rival, he was in hopes of surpassing him by such means. And, in fact, he still retains admirers in those parts, who prefer him to Moretto, as well for grandeur of composition and energy of expression, as for a capacity of genius that embraced every variety of subject.

Girolamo Muziano acquired the art of design from Romanino, and taking his style of colouring from the works of Titian, he subsequently flourished at Rome, in which school he has been already mentioned. In this place we must include Lattanzio Gambara, the pupil and companion of Romanino, as well as his son-in-law, at least if we are to credit Ridolfi and other writers, in this last point sanctioned by the popular tradition of Brescia. Vasari alone, who resided in his house only a short time before he gave some account of him, observes that he was son-in-law to Bonvicino, a point in which his memory, doubtless, betrayed him. Lattanzio was not inferior to his master in spirit, and, at the same time, better instructed in the rules of the art, and more learned. Having attended the academy of Campi, in Cremona, until his eighteenth year, and cultivated an acquaintance with the best foreign masters that he always retained, he added to this knowledge all the richest and most tasteful colours of the Venetian School. Like Pordenone, he employed his talents, for the most part, in frescos, which are still to be seen at Venice, as well as within and without the confines of the state. His manner, however, was less strong and shaded, but in other points much resembling him in the beauty and variety of his forms, variously coloured according to his subjects; in his knowledge of anatomy, without affectation, spirited attitudes, difficult foreshortenings; in a relief that deceives the eye, and in novelty and play of invention. To these we may add even a greater propriety of ideas, and sweetness of tints, acquired from other schools; Lattanzio having studied Giulio Romano at Mantua, and Coreggio in Parma. In the Corso de' Ramai, at Brescia, there yet remain three facades, adorned with various histories and fables, truly beautiful, executed by his hand. They are not, however, so imposing as some of his scriptural pieces, to be seen in still better preservation in the cloister of S. Euphemia, engravings of which have been promised to the public. The spectator often recurs to them, and always with fresh pleasure. When for want of space the figures could not be put in an upright posture, he foreshortened them with admirable nature and facility, so that no other attitudes could be imagined so becoming to each figure. Professors have detected some degree of imperfection in the naked parts, very common, indeed, to the most celebrated painters of frescos; but it is such as cannot be perceived at a distance, or if seen, resembles only some false quantity in a good poet, easily to be pardoned in the number of poetical beauties with which his verses abound. He painted still more copious histories for the cathedral at Parma, containing, perhaps, his greatest and most studied production, and which fails not to please, even in the presence of those of Coreggio. There are several altarpieces likewise in oil at San Benedetto, in Mantua, all of which are not equally happy. A Nativity of our Lord, at SS. Faustino and Giovita, is his only picture in oil remaining at his native place in public; it is very graceful, displaying certain traits of the Raffaello manner. His picture of a Pieta, at San Pietro, in Cremona, is also highly esteemed by professors, one among whom, who had designed a good deal from the works of Lattanzio, declared to me that he had never witnessed any other so exquisite in point of design, nor coloured with so much delicacy, clearness, and taste and softness of tints. Yet this great artist only reached his thirty-second year, leaving in Giovita, a Brescian artist, (likewise called Brescianino) an excellent disciple, particularly of works in fresco.

Geronimo Savoldo, sprung of a noble family in Brescia, flourished also about 1540, and is ranked by Paolo Pino among the best artists of his age. I know not where he acquired the rudiments of his art; but from a specimen which I saw at Brescia, he must have possessed great accuracy and delicacy of hand. Upon transferring his residence to Venice, he is known to have become one of the most formidable of Titian's rivals; not, indeed, in works of a large scale, but in smaller pieces conducted with an exquisite degree of care, which may, in a manner, be said to have been his chief characteristic. With such as these he beguiled his time, presenting them gratuitously as ornaments for churches. He produced others for private persons, now extremely rare and valuable, in different collections.

Zanetti, in his description of his little _Presepio_, (Christ in the manger), recently retouched, which is to be seen at San Giobbe, observes that the tint of his pictures is truly beautiful, and the whole composition conducted with a singular degree of care. In Venice, says Ridolfi, he is known by the name of Girolamo Bresciano, neither Romanino nor Muziano having employed themselves there, with whom he might possibly have been confounded. There he resided for many years, and terminated his days at the same place. His happiest production, though unknown to the historian, was placed in the Altar-Maggiore, of the Padri Predicatori, at Pesaro, a noble piece, which produces a striking impression upon the eye. Our Lord is seen placed on high, seated upon a cloud, which appears truly illuminated by the sun, and on the foreground are represented four saints, drawn with a force of colouring that seems to bring them as near to the eye, as the soft colour of the perspective and of the upper part of the picture throws its objects into the distance. A small, but beautiful piece, in excellent preservation, is also seen in the Royal Gallery of Florence, exhibiting the Transfiguration of our Lord, placed there along with specimens of other Venetian artists, by the Cavalier Puccini, one who has conferred so many obligations upon that princely collection of art.

Finally, after Savoldo, may be placed, among the Brescian disciples of Titian, Pietro Rosa, son of Cristoforo, and nephew to Stefano Rosa, both excellent artists in oil. He was one of those pupils whom Titian, induced by the friendship he bore his father, instructed with most care, and the best success. Hence it is, we trace that clear and true force of colouring, which shines in every one of his pieces. Brescia boasts several, at the church of San Francesco, in the Dome, and at the Grazie, where such as have the fewest figures produce the happiest effect. In his composition he is not so perfect as in other parts, whether it were that he had not naturally the best talent for it, or, as is more probable, that it is a branch of the art most difficult to young practitioners. For he died in the outset of his career, at the same period as his father, in 1576, whether from the plague or from poison is not known.

Although Bergamo, at that period, boasted many distinguished imitators of Giorgione, it yet produced an artist, Girolamo Colleoni, who ought to be included in the present list. Some frescos from his hand are found at Bergamo, and an oil painting in the Carrara Gallery. It exhibits the marriage of S. Catherine, which the best judges, on a first view, pronounced to be the work of Titian, till the superscription, with the name of _Hieronymus Colleo, 1555_, vindicated it for his own. This distinguished artist, conscious of his merit, and not finding himself appreciated in his own country, foreign and inferior painters being preferred before him, sought better fortune at the court of Madrid. But before setting out, he painted upon a facade the figure of a horse, of which great encomiums, in different works, are all that remain; and to this he affixed as a motto, _Nemo propheta in patria_. He is known to have employed, as an assistant, Filippo Zanchi, who, together with a brother of the name of Francesco, has more recently been brought into view by Count Tassi, besides some others who might here add to the number, but not to the eminence, of so rich a school. An artist celebrated also by Ridolfi, ought not, in this place, to be omitted; the beauty of his tints, the design of his infant figures, and the nature of his landscape, all shewing that he aspired to the Titian manner. He painted in fresco, but possessed an universal genius, as has been pronounced by Muzio, in his "Teatro di Bergamo;" the truth of which more clearly appears from his own works. His name was Giovan-Batista Averara, and he died young about the middle of the most flourishing period of the art. Another artist deserving commemoration is Francesco Terzi, who long resided at the Austrian court, and is distinguished in most of the capitals of Italy for works he has there left. He has been mentioned by Lomazzo, in whose native place are still seen, at San Sempliciano, two noble histories, representing our Lord with his Apostles, somewhat dry in point of design, but bold in colouring.

In Gio. da Monte, Crema boasted a disciple of Titian, as he is described by Torre, who numbers him among the more distinguished artists who ornamented Milan. A grado, executed by him in chiaroscuro for an altar of Santa Maria, at San Celso, where he ought also to have painted the altarpiece, obtained for him a high reputation; but he was deprived of the altarpiece, owing to the intrigues of Antonio Campi.[62] The work of Campi still remains there, and the opinion is that though it was paid for at a higher rate than the grado itself, it is yet a work of inferior merit to that of Giovanni, which much resembles Polidoro da Caravaggio, giving rise to a suspicion that Aurelio Buso, of Cremona, a scholar and assistant of Polidoro's, in Rome, may have been the only, or at least the earliest master of Giovanni. We know from Ridolfi that Buso produced various histories, in his native place, in the manner of his master, and historians of Genoese art record other works from his hand in their city. They assert that he departed thence unexpectedly, while Ridolfi concludes his life, by saying, that notwithstanding his worth, he died in poverty. From the period in which he flourished, he might possibly have been the master of Gio. da Monte, no less than Titian.

Callisto Piazza is likewise announced, by Orlandi, as another imitator of the latter, which is very evident from his picture of the Assumption, in the collegiate church of Codogno. It contains figures of apostles, and two portraits of the Marchesi Trivulzi, not unworthy of any of Titian's disciples. And for such, indeed, was Callisto esteemed, both elsewhere and in Lodi, possessing, in the church of the Incoronata, three chapels, each ornamented with four of his very beautiful histories. One of these contains the mysteries of the Passion, another the acts of S. John the Baptist, and the third displays histories in the life of the Virgin. A report is current there, that Titian, in passing through Lodi, produced several heads, probably only a story originating in the exceeding beauty that may be observed in some. It appears, however, certain, that he also imitated Giorgione, in whose style he conducted his altarpiece, representing the Virgin between various saints, at San Francesco, in Brescia, esteemed one of the most beautiful in the whole city. He produced others for Brescia, for Crema, for the dome of Alessandria, and for Lodi, though in this last he succeeded better in fresco than in oil. From the circumstance of his residing in so many different places, I shall not refer him to the school of Milan, preferring to place him here, no less because of the vicinity of Crema to Lodi, than from his belonging to the list of the imitators of Titian.[63] Little justice has been done to the memory of such a man by Ridolfi, who commends him for nothing besides his colouring in fresco, and water colours; when, in fact, he boasts very noble design, and forms tolerably select, more particularly in the Assumption already mentioned. Moreover, he calls him Callisto da Lodi Bresciano, as if da Lodi were a family name; although in signing his own name, he gave it _Callixtus de Platea_, at the Incoronata, and elsewhere desirous of marking his country, _Callixtus Laudensis_. Ridolfi, too, says little or nothing of the period in which he flourished. Padre Orlandi found, affixed to one of his pictures, at Brescia, the date of 1524. I may add, that in Lodi he gave the years 1527 and 1530; and that, in the Nuptials of Cana, in the refectory of the Padri Cisterciensi, at Milan, he marked 1545. It is truly a surprising production, no less for its boldness of hand than for the number of its figures, although the whole of them are not equally well studied, and a few, among others that seem to breathe and live, are really careless and incorrect.[64] He painted in the same city, within a courtyard, the choir of the muses, including the portraits of the president Sacco, the master of the house, and of his wife; respecting which, writes Lomazzo, I may, without fear of temerity, observe, that it is impossible to produce any thing more perfectly graceful and pleasing, more beautiful in point of colouring, among works in fresco. (_Trat._ p. 598.)

We next arrive at the name of Jacopo Robusti, the son of a Venetian dyer, and for this reason surnamed Tintoret. He was pupil to Titian, who, jealous of his talents, soon banished him from his studio. He did not aspire, like the preceding artists, to the name of Titian's follower; for he burned with ambition to become the head of a new school which should carry his manner to perfection, adding to it all that was yet wanting; a vast idea, the offspring of a grand and fervid genius, and as bold as it was great, not even banishment from his master's school being able to damp his ardour. Constrained by circumstances to confine himself to an incommodious apartment, he ennobled it with specimens of his early studies. Over the door of it he wrote, "Michelangiolo's design, and the colouring of Titian;" and as he was an indefatigable imitator of the latter, so he was equally studious, both night and day, in copying the models, taken from the statues in Florence, belonging to the former. To these he added many more of bassi relievi, and of ancient statues. In a catalogue of ancient pieces of sculpture, cited by Morelli, and belonging to the year 1695, is recorded a head of Vitellius, upon which "_Tintoretto was always employed in designing and learning_," (note, p. 152). He was frequently in the habit of designing his models by lamplight, the better to obtain strong shades, and thus acquire skill in the use of a bold chiaroscuro. With the same view he wrought models in wax and chalk, and having clothed them carefully, he adapted them to little houses, composed of pasteboard, and slips of wood, supplying them through the windows with small lights, by which he might thus regulate his own lights and shades. The models themselves he suspended from the ceiling by cords, placing them in a variety of positions, and designing them from different points of view, the better to acquire a mastery of the _sotto in su_, or foreshortening on the ceiling, a science not so familiar to his school as to that of Lombardy. Nor did he neglect the study of anatomy, to obtain a thorough knowledge of the muscles, and the structure of the human frame. He designed also the naked parts, as much as possible, in various shortenings and attitudes, in order to render his compositions as diversified as nature herself. By such studies he prepared himself to introduce the true method to be pursued by his followers, beginning with designing from the best models, and having obtained the idea of a correct style, proceeding to copy the naked parts, and to correct their defects.[65] To such aids he united a genius which extorted the admiration of Vasari, one of his severest critics, who pronounced it the most terrible of which the art could boast--an imagination fertile in new ideas, and a pictorial fire which inspired him with vigour to conceive well the boldest character of the passions, and continued to support him until he had given full expression to them on his canvass.

Yet to what did it amount?--what is the noblest genius, and all the rarest qualities meeting in a single artist, without diligence, a virtue which of itself, says Cicero, seems to include all the rest. Tintoretto possessed it for a period, and produced works in which the most captious of critics could not find a shade of defect. Of such kind is that Miracle of the Slave, adorning the college of St. Mark, a piece he executed in his thirty-sixth year, and which is held up as one of the wonders of Venetian art. The colours are Titian's; the chiaroscuro extremely strong; the composition correct and sober; select forms; studied draperies; while equally varied, appropriate, and animated beyond conception, are the attitudes of the men assisting at the spectacle, in particular of the saint who flies to succour, giving an idea of the swiftness of an aerial being. There, too, he painted other beautiful pieces, whose merit extorted from the lips of Pietro da Cortona these words: "Did I reside in Venice, not a festival should pass without still resorting to this spot, in order to feast my eyes with such objects, and above all, with the design!" His picture of the Crucifixion at the college of San Rocco, is also esteemed a work of singular merit; displaying as it does, so much novelty upon so hackneyed a subject. Nor are other examples of his sovereign power wanting in the same place, filled with pictures as various as new; but, for brevity's sake, I shall merely record, in the third place, his Supper of our Lord, now at the Salute, having been removed from the refectory of the Crociferi, for which it was drawn. Those who have beheld it in its place, write of it as a miracle in the art, inasmuch as the construction of the place was so well repeated in the picture, and imitated with so much knowledge of perspective, as to make the apartment appear double its real size. Nor are these three works to which he affixed his name, as his favourite productions, the only ones worthy of his genius, Zanetti having enumerated many more, conducted with the most finished care; the whole exhibited to the Venetian public, without including those dispersed throughout the different cities of Europe.

But diligence is rarely found long united to a rage for achieving much; the true source in this instance, as in numerous others, of false, or at least of inferior composition. Hence, Annibale Caracci observed, that in many pieces Tintoretto was inferior to Tintoretto; while Paul Veronese, so ardent an admirer of his talents, was in the habit of reproaching him with doing injustice to the professors of the art, by painting in every manner, a plan that went far to destroy the reputation of the profession (_Ridolfi_). Similar exceptions will be found to apply to such of his works as, conceived at a heat, executed by habit, and in great part left imperfect, betray certain errors both in point of judgment and design. Sometimes there appears a crowd of superfluous or badly grouped figures, and most generally all in the most energetic actions, without any spectators regarding them in quiet, as was practised by Titian and all the best composers. Neither in these figures are we to look for that senatorial dignity, which Reynolds discovers in Titian.

Tintoretto aimed rather at liveliness than at grace, and from the studied observation of the people of his native state, perhaps the most spirited in Italy, he drew models for his heads, as well as his attitudes, sometimes applying them to the most important subjects. In a few specimens of his Suppers, the Apostles might occasionally be taken for gondoliers, just when their arm is raised, ready to strike the oar, and with an air of native fierceness they raise the head either to look out, to ridicule, or to dispute. He likewise varied Titian's method of colouring, making use of primary grounds no longer white, and composed of chalk, but shaded; owing to which his Venetian pictures have felt the effects of time more than the rest. Neither were the choice, nor the general tone of his colouring the same as Titian's; the blue, or the ash coloured, being that which predominates; one which assists the effect of the chiaroscuro, as much as it diminishes the amenity of the whole. In his fleshes there appears a certain vinous colour, and more particularly in his portraits. The proportions of his bodies are also different; he does not affect the fulness of Titian; he aims more at lively action than the latter, and sometimes attenuates his figures too much. The least correct portion of his pictures is the drapery; few of them being free from those long and straight folds, or flying abroad, or in some other way too common and obvious. It would be useless to insist upon his want of judgment, or rather his pictorial extravagances, Vasari having already said too much of them, upon the subject of his Universal Judgment, at Santa Maria dell'Orto.

He ought to have tempered the severity of his criticism, however, by admitting, that if the author of that great picture had bestowed as much pains upon the several parts as upon the whole, it would have been a magnificent production. Even in those pictures, in which he wished to display the talent as it were of an _improvvisatore_, he still vindicated his title to the name of a great master, in the command and rapidity of his pencil, in his manifestations of original powers, where he seems to triumph in his play of light, in the most difficult shortenings, in fanciful inventions, in his relief, in harmony, and, in the best supported of his pieces, even in the beauty of his tints. But his sovereign merit consisted in the animation of his figures, it being an universal opinion, that has almost acquired the force of a proverb, that the power of action ought to be studied in Tintoretto. Upon this point Pietro da Cortona used to observe, that if we carefully examine the whole of those pictures which have been engraved, no artist will be found equal to him in the pictorial fire he infused into his forms (_Boschini_, p. 285). He flourished for a long period, exerting his talents until we could with difficulty make a catalogue of his works, still giving the rein to his divine ardour in many pieces of great size, or at least abounding with a great variety of actors. Among these last, his picture of the Paradiso, in the hall of the great council, was greatly esteemed, even by the Caracci; and though the production of advanced age, the figures are almost innumerable. Had they only been better grouped and distributed, the artist would not have given occasion for Algarotti to criticize such a painting as he did, adducing it as an example of badly conceived composition. Tintoretto's genuine productions are not often met with in the different collections of Italy. In Venice, however, they are not rare, and there we may learn, what appears so very improbable in Ridolfi, that Tintoretto wrought with a degree of finish equal to that of a miniature painter. The noble Casa Barbarigo, at S. Polo, possesses a _Susanna_ of this character, where, in small space, is included a park, with birds and rabbits disporting, together with every thing desirable in a pleasure garden; the whole as studiously finished as his figures.

There is little to add relating to his school on which none conferred greater credit than his son, Domenico Tintoretto. He trod in the steps of his father; but, like Ascanius following AEneas, "non passibus aequis." Still he may boast much resemblance in his countenances, in his colouring, and in harmony, but there is a wide distinction in point of genius, though some of his most spirited pieces have been ascribed to his father, or at least suspected of having been chiefly indebted to his hand. Many works, however, upon a large scale, are attributed to the son; those which he has filled with portraits being far the most commended; his merit in this branch having been thought equal by Zanetti to that of his father. One of these is seen at the college of St. Mark, where, as in the rest of his compositions, the figures are disposed with more sobriety than those of Jacopo, as well as finished with more care, and with more enduring colours. As he grew older his style fell somewhat into that of a mannerist, which at that period, as we shall see, much prevailed. By these distinctions his productions may be frequently known from his father's, and we may be enabled to refute the assertions of dealers, who, to obtain a higher price, attribute them indiscriminately to Jacopo. Yet Domenico produced many pieces, more especially portraits for different collections, besides several mythological and scriptural histories, to which he sometimes added his name, as in his picture boasting such exquisite tints which adorns the Campidoglio; the subject of which is a penitent Magdalen. Contemporary with Domenico, we ought not to omit the name of his sister Marietta, so exquisite a painter of portraits, as to receive invitations from the Emperor Maximilian, and from Philip II. of Spain, to visit their respective courts. But her father would never consent to such a measure, in order to enjoy her society at home, though he was deprived of her not long afterwards, cut off in the flower of her genius and her age.

Jacopo possessed few disciples beyond his two children, though he profited in some measure from these few. Paolo Franceschi, or de' Freschi, a Fleming, and Martino de Vos d'Anversa, were artists he employed to draw his landscapes. The former was esteemed one of the best landscape painters of his time, while he succeeded also in figures. He was engaged to paint for the Palazzo Publico, and several churches in Venice, where he terminated his days. The second resided also at Rome; and, in the church of San Francesco a Ripa, painted his _Concezione_, a picture, indeed, abounding with too many figures, but beautiful and exquisite in its tints. With still greater felicity he depicted the four seasons for the Colonna family, very pleasing little pictures, presenting a happy union of various schools, fine perspective, fine relief, with correct and graceful design. Passing into Germany, and increasing in reputation no less by his works than by the engravings made of them by Sadeler, there, full of years and fame, he died. Lamberto Lombardo has been just before recorded as the assistant of Tintoretto, but not his disciple.

Odofardo Fialetti, a native of Bologna, was educated in the school of Tintoretto, where he acquired a reputation for good design, and a thorough acquaintance with all the precepts of the art, yet he was still far from emulating his master, not possessing vivacity of genius equal to the task. To avoid a competition with the Caracci he long continued, and died at Venice, where many of his works are highly esteemed, and in particular his picture of the Crucifixion, painted for the Croce.

Among the imitators of Tintoretto appears the name of Cesare dalle Ninfe, an artist who aimed at reaching the sharp expression of ridicule, the novelty of ideas, and the rapidity of hand, so remarkable in his prototype; though unequal in his design. Flaminio Floriano seems to have been ambitious of imitating only the more correct parts of his model; so uniformly exact, temperate, and precise does he appear in his picture of San Lorenzo, to which he affixed his name.

The name of Melchior Colonna also occurs, though hardly known in Venice, and some perhaps would add that of Bertoli, a Venetian, to be met with affixed to a picture at the chapel of San Niccola, in Tolentino. It represents the Plague that visited that city, if I mistake not, and which disappeared at the solicitation of the patron saint. There is also an account of another artist, who from his age might have received the instructions of Tintoretto, or at all events obtained them from his works; his name was Gio. Rothenamer di Monaco. Arriving in Italy with but a small fund of knowledge, acquired in the studio of a poor national artist, he distinguished himself at Rome, and perfected his style in Venice, adopting in a great measure the maxims of Tintoretto. There, at the Incurabili, he left a Santa Cristina, a Nunziata at San Bartolommeo, and, as we have reason to believe, other works in private possession, by which he obtained some degree of credit. Subsequently arriving at a handsome practice in England, he nevertheless contrived to die there in poverty, his funeral expenses being defrayed by the alms of some Venetians. But few others, observes Zanetti, pursued the same path, probably because at that period more pleasing and popular styles were in vogue. Ridolfi, on the other hand, asserts, that all young artists towards the end of the century were anxious to study him for their model; and we shall find, in treating of the _mannerists_, that he was acknowledged by them as their sovereign master. We must, in the next place, enter upon a consideration of the school of Bassano.

Jacopo da Ponte, son to that Francesco, who, in the preceding epoch, was commended as one of the better artists who flourished during the fourteenth century, was nearly contemporary with Tintoretto, and was instructed by his father in the art. His earliest efforts, that are seen in the church of San Bernardino, in his native place, bear the impress of such an education. On resorting to Venice he was recommended to Bonifazio, a master no less jealous of his art than Titian or Tintoretto; insomuch that Jacopo never obtained the advantage of seeing him colour, except by secretly watching him through a crevice in the door of his studio. He resided but a little time in Venice, employed in designing the cartoons of Parmigianino, and in taking copies of the pictures of Bonifazio and Titian, whose scholar, upon the authority of some manuscript, he had also been. And, if conformity of manner were sufficient evidence, by no means always a certain guide, we might admit the truth of such supposition; his second style being altogether that of Titian. A few of his pictures are met with in his native place, such as his Flight into Egypt, at San Girolamo, and a Nativity of the Redeemer, in possession of Sig. Dottor Larber, both youthful productions, but which seemed to promise another Titian; so richly were they imbued with his sweetness of taste.

Upon his father's death Jacopo was compelled to return, and settle in his own province, whose city is at this day both rich and populous, and in those times it was esteemed by no means despicable; its situation delightful, abounding with flocks and herds, and well adapted for the sale of merchandize, and for fairs. From these elements arose by degrees his formation of a third style, full of simplicity and grace, and which gave the first indications in Italy of a taste altogether foreign; that of the Flemish. In the use of his pencil, Jacopo may be said to have pursued two different methods. The first of these is much softened with a fine union of tints, and at last determined with free strokes. The second, resulting in a great measure from the other, was formed by simple strokes of the pencil, with clear and pleasing tints, and with a certain command, or rather audacity of art, that, nearly viewed, appears a confused mixture, but forms in the distance an enchanting effect of colouring. In both of these he displays the originality of his own style, chiefly consisting in a certain soft and luscious composition. It partakes at once of the triangular and the circular form, and aims at certain contrast of postures; so that if one of the figures is in full face, the other turns its shoulders; and at the same time at a kind of analogy, so that a number of heads shall meet in the same line, or in a want of these, some other form elevated in the same direction. In regard to his lights, he appears partial to such as are confined to one part, and displayed masterly power in rendering it subservient to the harmony of the whole; for with these rare lights, with the frequent use of middle tints, and the absence of deep obscure, he succeeded admirably in harmonizing the most opposite colours. In the gradation of lights he often contrives that the shadow of the interior figure shall serve as a ground for one more forward; and that the figures should partake of few lights, but extremely bold and vivid at their angles; as for instance, on the top of the shoulder, on the knee, and on the elbow; for which purpose he makes use of a flow or sweep of folds, natural to all appearance, but in fact highly artificial, to favour his peculiar system. In proportion to the variety of his draperies, he varies the folds with a delicacy of judgment that falls to the share of few. His colours every where shine like gems; in particular his greens, which display an emerald tinge peculiar to himself. Whoever would become more familiar with the mechanism, and at the same time peruse a very full analysis, of Bassano's style, may refer to Sig. Verci, the able historian of the Marca Trevigiana, who drew it up from the _MS. Volpati_, cited by us in another epoch, and in the index to the writers.

At the outset Jacopo aspired to a grandeur of style, which is apparent from some of his pictures remaining in the facade of the Casa Michieli. Among these, a Samson slaying the Philistines meets with much praise, and indeed they all partake of the boldness of Michel Angiolo. But, whether the result of disposition or of judgment, he afterwards confined himself to smaller proportions, and to subjects of less power. Even the figures in his altarpieces are generally less than life, and so little animated, that it was observed by some one, that in Tintoretto even his old men were spirited, but that the youths of Bassano were mere dotards. We do not meet with any of that noble architecture in his paintings, that adds so much dignity to those of the Venetian School. He appears rather anxious to find subjects in which to introduce candlelight, cottages, landscape, animals, copper vessels, and all such objects as passed under his eye, and which he copied with surprising accuracy. His ideas were limited, and he often repeated them, a fault to be attributed to his situation, it being an indisputable fact, that the conceptions both of artists and of writers become enlarged and increased in great capitals, and diminish in small places. All this may be gathered from his pictures produced for private ornament, the most familiar occupation of his life, inasmuch as he executed very few large altarpieces. He conducted them at leisure in his studio, and, assisted by his school, he prepared a great number of various dimensions. He then despatched them to Venice, and sometimes to the best frequented fairs, thus rendering the number so very great, as to make it rather a disgrace for a collection not to possess copies by his hand, than an honour to have them. In these may be viewed, almost invariably, the same subjects; consisting of acts of the Old and New Testament; the Feasts of Martha, of the Pharisee, of the Glutton, with a splendid display of brazen vessels; the Ark of Noah, the Return of Jacob, the Annunciation of the Angel to the Shepherds, with great variety of animals. To these we may add, the Queen of Sheba; the three Magi, with regal pomp of dress, and the richest array; the Deposition of our Lord from the Cross, by torchlight. His pieces upon profane subjects exhibit the sale of beasts and of brazen vessels; sometimes rural occupations, corresponding to the seasons of the year; and sometimes without human figures, merely a kitchen, furniture, a fowl yard, or similar objects. Nor is it only the histories or the compositions themselves that recur in every collection to the eye; but even countenances taken from individuals of his own family; for instance, arraying his own daughter either as a Queen of Sheba, or a Magdalen; or as a villager, presenting fowls to the infant Jesus. I have likewise seen entire pieces, with the title of the _Family of Bassano_, sometimes in small size, and sometimes in larger. Of the former, I remarked a specimen in Genoa, in possession of Signor Ambrogio Durazzo, where the daughters of the painter are seen intent upon their feminine occupations, a little boy playing, and a domestic in the act of lighting a candle. One of the second kind may be seen in the _Medicean Museum_, a picture which represents an academy of music.

By this method he seemed to confess the poverty of his imagination, though he derived from it a very remarkable advantage. By dint of continually repeating the same things, he brought them to the utmost point of perfection of which they were susceptible; as we may gather from his picture of the Nativity of our Lord, placed at San Giuseppe, in Bassano; the master not only of Jacopo, but in point of force of colours and the chiaroscuro, of every thing that modern painting has to boast. The same is seen in his Burial of Christ, at the Seminario of Padua, a picture of which an engraving was taken by order of Madame Patin, among the portraits of celebrated painters; having met with no other that seemed to breathe such a spirit of pity and holy terror. Finally, in his Sacrifice of Noah, at Santa Maria Maggiore in Venice, in which he collected specimens of all the birds and animals he had drawn elsewhere, he preserved the same character; and by this production so far won the regard of Titian, that he wished to purchase a copy for the ornament of his own studio.

Hence it happens, that the works of Bassano, conducted at a certain age and with singular care, are estimated very highly, and purchased at large sums, though not altogether exempt from some errors of perspective, from some awkwardness of posture, and some fault in composition, particularly in point of symmetry. Indeed it was the general belief, that he possessed little practical skill in designing the extremities, thus avoiding, as much as lay in his power, the introduction of feet and hands into his pictures. These accusations, with others before alluded to, might be greatly extenuated by producing such examples of Bassano as would fully prove, that he could, when he pleased, draw much better than he was accustomed to do. He knew how to vary his compositions, as we perceive in his Nativity, at the Ambrosiana in Milan; and he might as easily have varied his other pieces. He was capable also of conceiving with equal novelty and propriety, as we gather from his San Rocco, at Vicenza; and he might thus have shone on other occasions. Moreover, he knew how to draw the extremities, as appears from his picture of S. Peter, at Venice, adorning the church of the Umilta; and he could give dignity to his countenances, as in his Queen of Sheba, which I have seen in Brescia; and he might have displayed the same dignity in other pieces. But whether he found such a task too irksome, or from whatever other cause, he displayed his powers rarely; content with having arrived at his peculiar method of colouring, of illuminating, and of shading, with a sovereign skill. So universally was he admired, that he received innumerable commissions from various courts, and an invitation to that of Vienna. What is more honourable, notwithstanding his defects, he extorted the highest praises, if not from Vasari, from many of the most renowned artists; from Titian, from Annibal Caracci, who was so much deceived by a book painted upon a table, that he stretched out his hand to take it up; and from Tintoretto, who commended his colouring, and in some measure wished to imitate him. Above all, he was highly honoured by Paul Veronese, who entrusted him with his son Carletto, for a pupil, to receive his general instructions, "and more particularly in regard to that just disposition of lights reflected from one object to another, and in those happy counterpositions, owing to which the depicted objects seem clothed with a profusion of light." Such is the flattering testimony given by Algarotti to the style of Jacopo da Ponte.