Chapter XV: Book IV: School of Ferrara (2)

Whilst Benvenuto and Girolamo were thus bent on displaying all the attractions of the art, there was rising into notice, from the school of Michelangiolo at Rome, one who aspired only to the bold and terrible; a character not much known to the artists of Ferrara up to that period. His name was Bastiano Filippi, familiarly called Bastianino, and surnamed _Gratella_,[59] from his custom of covering large pictures with crossed lines, in order to reduce them with exactness to a small scale; which he acquired from Michelangiolo, and was the first to introduce into Ferrara. He was son to Camillo, an artist of uncertain school, but who, in the opinion of Bononi, "painted with neatness and clearness, as in his Annunziata at S. Maria in Vado;" in the ground of which is a half-figure of St. Paul, which leads to the conjecture, that Camillo aspired to the style of Michelangiolo. It would seem, therefore, that Bastiano imbibed from his father his ardent attachment to that style, on account of which he secretly withdrew from his father's house, and went to Rome, where he became one of the most indefatigable copyists and a favourite disciple of Bonarruoti. How greatly he improved may be seen in his picture of the Last Judgment at Ferrara, completed in three years, in the choir of the Metropolitana; a work so nearly approaching Michelangiolo that the whole Florentine School can boast nothing of the kind. It displays grand design, great variety of figures, fine grouping, and very pleasing repose. It seems incredible that, in a theme already treated by Michelangiolo, Filippi should have succeeded in producing such novel and grand effect. Like all true imitators, he evidently aimed at copying the genius and spirit, not the figures of his model. He abused the occasion here afforded him, like Dante and Michelangiolo, to gratify his friends by placing them among the elect, and to revenge himself on those who had offended him, by giving their portraits in the group of the damned. On this unhappy list, too, he placed a young lady who had broken her vows to him; elevating among the blessed, in her stead, a more faithful young woman whom he married, and representing the latter in the act of gazing on her rival with looks of scorn. Baruffaldi and other Ferrarese prefer this painting before that of the Sistine chapel, in point of grace and colouring; concerning which, the piece having been retouched, we can form no certain opinion. There is, moreover, the testimony of Barotti, the describer of the Ferrarese paintings, who, at page 40, complains, that "while formerly those figures appeared like living flesh, they now seem of wood." But other proofs of Filippi's colouring are not wanting at Ferrara; where, in many of his untouched pictures, he appears to much advantage; except that in his fleshes he was greatly addicted to a sun-burnt colour; and often, for the union of his colours, he overshadowed in a peculiar taste the whole of his painting.

Footnote 59: Gratella, literally a gridiron, or lattice-work.

Besides this, his masterpiece, Filippi produced a great number of other pictures at Ferrara, in whose Guide he is more frequently mentioned than any artist, except Scarsellino. Where he represented naked figures, as in his grand S. Cristofano at the Certosa, he adhered to Michelangiolo; in his draped figures he followed other models; which is perceptible in that Circumcision in an altar of the cathedral, which might rather be attributed to his father than to him. Being impatient, both in regard to invention and to painting, he often repeated the same things; as he did in one of his Annunciations, reproduced at least seven times, almost invariably with the same ideas. What is worse, if we except the foregoing Judgment, his large altar-piece of St. Catharine, in that church, with a few other public works, he conducted no pieces without losing himself either in one part or other; satisfied with stamping upon each some commanding trait, as if to exhibit himself as a fine but careless painter to the eyes of posterity. There are few of his specimens in collections, but these are more exactly finished. Of these, without counting those of Ferrara, I have seen a Baptism of Christ in Casa Acqua at Osimo, and several copies from Michelangiolo at Rome. Early in life he painted grotesques, but subsequently employed in such labours, Cesare, his younger brother, a very excellent ornamental painter, though feeble in great figures and in histories.

Contemporary with, and rival of Filippi, was Sigismondo Scarsella, popularly called by the Ferrarese Mondino, a name he has ever since retained. Instructed during three years in the school of Paul Veronese, and afterwards remaining for thirteen at Venice, engaged in studying its best models along with the rules of architecture, he at length returned to Ferrara, well practised in the Paolesque style, but at considerable distance as a disciple. If we except his Visitation at S. Croce, fine figures and full of action, we meet with nothing more by him in the last published Guide of Ferrara. The city possesses other of his works, some in private, some retouched in such a manner that they are no more the same, while several are doubtful, and most commonly attributed to his son. This is the celebrated Ippolito, called, in distinction from his father, Lo Scarsellino, by whom singly there are more pictures interspersed throughout those churches, than by many combined artists. After acquiring the first rudiments from Sigismondo, he resided almost six years at Venice, studying the best masters, and in particular Paul Veronese. His fellow-citizens call him the Paul of their school, I suppose on account of his Nativity of the Virgin at Cento, his S. Bruno, in the Ferrarese Certosa, and other paintings more peculiarly Paolesque; but his character is different. He seems the reformer of the paternal taste; his conceptions more beautiful, his tints more attractive; while some believe that he influenced the manner of Sigismondo, and directed him in his career. On comparison with Paul it is clear that his style is derived from that source, but that his own was different, being composed of the Venetian and the Lombard, of native and foreign, the offspring of an intellect well founded in the theory of the art, of a gay and animated fancy, of a hand if not always equal to itself, always prompt, spirited, and rapid. Hence we see a great number of his productions in different cities of Lombardy and Romagna, to say nothing of his native place.

There, his pictures of the Assumption and the Nuptials of Cana, at the Benedettini; the Pietà, and the S. John Beheaded, in that church; with the _Noli me tangere_, at S. Niccolo, are among the most celebrated; also at the Oratorio della Scala, his Pentecost, his Annunciation, and his Epiphany, conducted in competition with the Presentation of Annibal Caracci; of all which there are seen, on a small scale, a number of repetitions or copies in private houses. They are to be met with too at Rome, where Scarsellino's paintings are not rare. Some are at the Campidoglio, and at the palaces of the Albani, Borghesi, Corsini, and in greater number at the Lancellotti. I have sometimes examined them in company with professors who never ceased to extol them. They recognised various imitations of Paul Veronese in the inventions, and the copiousness; of Parmigianino in the lightness and grace of the figures: of Titian in the fleshes, and particularly in a Bacchanal in Casa Albani; of Dossi and Carpi in his strength of colour, in those fiery yellows, in those deep rose-colours, in that bright tinge given also to the clouds and to the air. What sufficiently distinguishes him too, are a few extremely graceful countenances, which he drew from two of his daughters; a light shading which envelopes the whole of his objects without obscuring them, and that slightness of design which borders almost on the dry, in opposition, perhaps, to that of Bastiano Filippi, sometimes reproached with exhibiting coarse and heavy features.

Ippolito's school, according to Baruffaldi, produced no other pupil of merit except Camillo Ricci, a young artist who, Scarsellino declared, would have surpassed himself, and whom, had he appeared a little later, he would have selected for his own master. From a pupil, however, he became Scarsellino's assistant, who instructed him so well in his manner, that the most skilful had difficulty to distinguish him from Ippolito. His style is almost as tender and attractive as his master's, the union of his colours is even more equal, and has more repose, and he is principally distinguished by less freedom of hand, and by his folding, which is less natural and more minute. His fertile invention appears to most advantage in the church of S. Niccolò, whose entablature is divided into eighty-four compartments, the whole painted by Camillo with different histories of the holy bishop. His picture of Margherita, also at the cathedral, is extremely beautiful, and might be referred to Scarsellino himself. His smaller paintings chiefly adorn the noble house of Trotti, which abounds with them; and there too is his own portrait, as large as life, representing Genius naked, seated before his pallet with his pencil in hand, surrounded by musical books, and implements of sculpture and architecture, arts to which he was wholly devoted. Among the pupils of Ippolito, Barotti enumerates also Lana, a native of Codigoro, in the Ferrarese, though I leave him to the state of Modena, where he flourished. Cittadella also mentions Ercole Sarti, called the mute of Ficarolo, a place in the Ferrarese. Instructed by signs he produced for his native place, and at the Quadrella sul Mantovano, some pictures nearly resembling the style of Scarsellino, except that the outline is more marked, and the countenances less beautiful. He was also a good portrait painter, and was employed by the nobility at Ferrara as well as for the churches. There is mentioned, in the Guide, an altar-piece in the sacristy of S. Silvestro, and the author is extolled as a successful imitator both of Scarsellino and of Bononi.

Contemporary with the Filippi and the Scarsellini is Giuseppe Mazzuoli, more commonly called Bastaruolo, or, as it means in Ferrara, the vender of corn, an occupation of his father's, not his own. He is at once a learned, graceful, and correct artist, probably a pupil of Surchi, whom he succeeded in painting for the entablature of the Gesù some histories left unfinished by the death of his predecessor. Mazzuoli was not so well skilled in perspective as in other branches. He injured his rising reputation by designing some figures in too large proportion, owing to which, added to his slowness, he became proverbial among his rivals, and considered by many as an artist of mediocrity. Yet his merit was sufficiently marked, particularly after the formation of his second manner, more elevated in design, as well as more studied in its colouring. The foundation of his taste is drawn from the Dossi; in force of chiaroscuro, and in his heads he would seem to have owed his education to Parma; in the natural colour of his fleshes, more particularly at the extremities, he approaches Titian; and from the Venetians too seem to have been derived those varying tints and golden hues, introduced into his draperies. The church of Gesù contains, besides two medallions of histories, admirably composed, an Annunciation and a Crucifixion, both very beautiful altar-pieces. The Ascension at the Cappuccini, conducted for a princess of the Estense family, is a magnificent piece, while an altar-piece of the titular saint, with half figures of virgins that seem to breathe, at the Zitelle of S. Barbara, is extremely beautiful. Several other pieces, both in public and private, are met with at Ferrara. Mazzuoli was drowned, while bathing for his health, at that place; an artist every way worthy of a better fate, and of being more generally known beyond the limits of his own country.

Domenico Mona (a name thus read by Baruffaldi from his tomb, though by others called Monio, Moni, and Monna,) attached himself to the art after trying many other professions, ecclesiastical, medical, and legal. He possessed great fervour and richness of imagination, learning, and rapidity of hand. Instructed by Bastaruolo, he soon became a painter, and exhibited his pieces in public. But not yet founded in technical rules, monotonous in his heads, hard in his folding, and unfinished in his figures, he was ill adapted to please a city already accustomed to behold the most finished productions at every step, so as no longer to relish any thing like mediocrity or inferiority of hand. Mona then applied with fresh diligence to the art, and corrected, at least, some of his more glaring faults. From that time he was more readily employed by his fellow citizens, though his works were by no means equally approved. Some, however, were good, such as the two Nativities at S. Maria in Vado, one of which represented the Virgin, the other the Divine Child; both displaying a taste of colouring nearly resembling the Florentine of that period, here and there mingled with a Venetian tone. The best of all, however, is his Deposition from the Cross, placed in the Sagrestia Capitolare of the cathedral. A number of others only approach mediocrity, though still pleasing by their spirit, and a general effect which proclaims superior genius. Even his colouring, when he studied it, is calculated to attract by its warmth and vividness, though not very natural. A few of his works are in such bad taste as to have induced his pupil, Jacopo Bambini, out of compassion, to retouch them; and Baruffaldi also notices this singular inequality. For, after greatly extolling his Deposition from the Cross, he adds: "It must surprise the spectator to contrast this with his other pieces, nor can he reconcile how he should possess such capacity, and yet show such indifference for his own fame." All, however, is explained when we know that he was naturally subject to insanity, of which he finally became the victim, and having slain a courtier of the Card. Aldobrandino, he ended his days in banishment from his native place. By some, however, the deed was attributed, not to insanity, but to hatred of the new government; and in fact, so far from acting like a madman, he concealed himself, first in the state, and next at the court of Modena. Finally, he sought refuge in that of Parma, where he is declared to have produced pieces, during a short period, in his best taste. Orlandi calls him Domenico Mora, and has extolled his two large pictures of the Conversion and the Martyrdom of St. Paul, which adorn the presbytery of that church at Ferrara. He moreover adds, that he flourished in 1570, for which date I am inclined to substitute that of 1580, as it is known that he commenced the practice of the art late in life, and died, aged fifty-two years, in 1602.

From his school is supposed to have sprung Gaspero Venturini, who completed his education under Bernardo Castelli, in Genoa. This, however, is mere conjecture, founded on the style of Gaspero, which, in point of colouring, partakes of that ideal taste so pleasing to Castelli, to Vasari, Fontana, Galizia, and others of the same period; nor was Mona himself free from it. Jacopo Bambini, whom we have before commended, and Giulio Cromer, commonly called Croma, were assuredly from the school of Mona, though they acquired little from it. Subsequently they became more correct designers by studying from the naked model in the academy, which they were the first to open at Ferrara, and from the best antiques which they possessed in their native place--an art in which they attained singular excellence. Nor were they destitute of invention; and to Cromer was allotted the honour of painting the Presentation and the Death of the Virgin, at the Scala; a fraternity, which, previous to its suppression, was regarded as a celebrated gallery, decorated by superior artists. Bambini had studied also in Parma, whence he brought back with him a careful and solid style; and, if he sometimes displayed the colouring of Mona, he corrected its hardness, and excluded its capriciousness. This artist was assiduously employed at the Gesù, in Ferrara, and in that at Mantua. Croma was a painter of high reputation, and much inclined to the study of architecture, which he introduces in rather an ostentatious manner in nearly all his pictures. In other respects he more resembles Bambini than Mona, invariably studied, ruddy in his complexions, somewhat loaded in all his tints, and the whole composition sufficiently characteristic to be easily distinguished. He may be well appreciated in his large histories of the saint at St. Andrea, near the chief altar, and in several pictures belonging to the minor altars. Superbi, in his _Apparato_, describes one Gio. Andrea Ghirardoni as an able artist. He left some respectable works, but coloured in a languid, feeble style, with more of the effect of chiaroscuro than of painting. The names of Bagnacavallo, Rossetti, Provenzali da Cento, and others belonging to the Ferrarese state, who properly appertain to this epoch, have been already described under other schools.

SCHOOL OF FERRARA.

EPOCH III.

_The Artists of Ferrara borrow different styles from the
Bolognese School.--Decline of the Art, and an Academy
instituted in its support._

Such, as just described, was the degree of excellence to which the pictoric art arrived under the Esti, whose dominion over Ferrara terminated in the person of Alfonso II., who died in 1597. These princes beheld nearly all the classic styles of Italy transferred into their own capital by classic imitators, which no other potentates could boast. They had their Raffaello, their Bonarruoti, their Coreggio, their Titian, and their Paul Veronese. Their memory yet affords an example to the world; because, like true citizens of their country, they fostered its genius, the love of letters, and all the arts of design. The change of government occurred in the pontificate of Clement VIII. for whose solemn entry into the place the artists Scarsellino and Mona were employed about the public festivals; being selected as the ablest hands, equal to achieve much in a short space of time. Various other painters were subsequently employed, in particular Bambini and Croma, who were to copy different select altar-pieces of the city, which the court of Rome was desirous of transferring into the capital; leaving the copies only at Ferrara, to the general regret of the Ferrarese historians. Subsequently the Card. Aldobrandini, nephew to the Pope, was there established as legate; a foreigner indeed, but much attached to the fine arts. Like other foreigners, he was more bent upon purchasing the works of old masters, than upon cultivating a genius for painting among the citizens. The same feeling may, for the most part, be supposed to have influenced his successors; since, about 1650, Cattanio, as we read in his life, ascribed the decline of the art to its want of patrons, and induced Card. Pio, a Ferrarese, to allot pensions to young artists, to enable them to study at Bologna and at Rome. But such temporary aids afforded no lasting support to the school, so that if the others of Italy were greatly deteriorated during this last century, that of Ferrara became almost extinct. It may, therefore, boast greater credit for having retrieved itself under less favourable circumstances, and for having continued so long to emulate the most distinguished originals.

About the beginning of the seventeenth century, when the new civil government commenced at Ferrara, a new epoch also occurred in its pictoric school, which I call that of the Caracci. I can furnish no account respecting that Pietro da Ferrara, mentioned by Malvasia, along with Schedone, among the pupils of Lodovico Caracci. I have no where met with his name in any other work. Dismissing him, therefore, I may award the chief station in this epoch to two able artists, who acquired the taste, without entering into the academy of the Caracci. These were Bonone of the city of Ferrara, and Guercino belonging to the state; of whom, as residing so long with his school at Bologna, I have there written what need not here be repeated. They were succeeded by other painters in the Legation, nearly the whole of them pupils of Caracci's followers, or again of their disciples; insomuch, that what now remains of the Ferrarese School, is almost a continuation of that of Bologna. It is the crowning glory of the Ferrarese to have boasted superior emulators of the final school of Italy, as they had of all the preceding. But it is now time to proceed to the particulars.

Carlo Bonone, called by the admirable Cochin invariably Bourini, was pupil to Bastaruolo. On being deprived of his master, he continued to exercise his acquired manner; but he subsequently inclined to the strong, to contrast of light and shadow, and to the difficult parts of composition, more than any other contemporary Ferrarese. I suspect that, despairing of competing in grace with Scarsellino, he intended to oppose him by a more robust and enlarged manner. Nor had he far to seek for it, while the Caracci flourished in Bologna. He left his native place; and perhaps passing through that city, he conceived the first idea of his new style. Arrived at Rome, he there continued above two years designing the beautiful from nature in the academy, and out of it from the works of art; and then returned to Bologna. Here he remained a year, "until he had mastered the character and colouring of the Caracci, and devoted himself exclusively to the principles and practice thus adopted, entirely renouncing all other manners." Thus states Baruffaldi; and adds, that he resided also at Venice, whence he departed more confounded than instructed, with the fixed intention of never in the least departing from the Caraccesque manner. He went also to Parma, and saw the works of Coreggio, according to some, though without departing from his maxim. What progress he made in the path thus selected, may be easily gathered from the opinions of experienced Bolognese, contained in different histories, who, on examining one of his works, ascribed it, without hesitation, to Lodovico Caracci; and it is also to be inferred from the public voice, which extols him as the Caracci of Ferrara.

This mistake is apt to be made in those compositions with few figures, rather than in his large histories. In the former his dignity of design is calculated to deceive us; as well as the conception and attitudes of his heads of men, the form and fulness, the fall and folding of the drapery, the choice and distribution of the colours, and the general tone which in some works, more correctly conducted, greatly resemble the Bolognese style. But in his compositions on a grand scale, he does not closely imitate the Caracci, always sparing in their figures, and anxious to make them conspicuous by a certain disposition peculiarly their own; but rather follows the Venetians, and adopts methods to multiply the personages on the scene. The grand Suppers which he painted (of a few of which we have engravings by Bolzoni) might be almost pronounced from the genius of Paul Veronese, so greatly do they abound with perspective, stages, and staircases; so thronged is every situation with actors and spectators. His Herod's Feast, at S. Benedetto, is much celebrated, as well as the Marriage of Cana, at the Certosini, at S. Maria in Vado, and other places in Ferrara, but, in particular, his Supper of Ahasuerus, in the refectory of the Canonici Regolari of S. Giovanni, at Ravenna. The canvass is large, as well as the vestibule which fills it, while the multitudes which there appear, thronged together, is excessive; guests, spectators, domestics, musical choirs and companies in the balconies, and in a recess, through which is seen the garden, appear other tables surrounded by guests, with so beautiful an illusion of aerial perspective, as at once to relieve and to gratify the eye with infinite variety. There is as much diversity also in the attitudes, novelty of drapery, richness of plate, &c., of which it seems impossible to finish the inspection. A few figures too are more studied, such as that of Ahasuerus, of the master of the feast, and of a kneeling page, in the act of presenting the royal crown to the king. To these add several of the singers, which rivet the eye by their respective dignity, vivacity, or grace. In no other work did Bonone succeed equally well in captivating others and in pleasing his own taste.

Yet the church of S. Maria in Vado boasts so great a number of his paintings on the walls, so many in the vault and in the ceiling, conducted too with so perfect a knowledge of foreshortening, that, in order to estimate the vastness of his talents, we ought to see that magnificent temple itself. When Guercino left Cento for Ferrara, he used there to spend hours devoted only to the contemplation of Bonone. I find mention that, for such productions, "he was elevated even to a competition with Coreggio and the Caracci," and he assuredly adhered much to that method, designing accurately, modelling his figures in wax, arranging the foldings, and exhibiting them to a nocturnal light to examine their best effect, which he aimed at even more than the Caracci. Still I have too great deference for public opinion, which acknowledges no rivals to these noble masters, though they had imitators; and I have heard judges express a wish for more constant accuracy of design, choice in his heads, stronger union of colours, and a better method of laying on his grounds, than they find in Bonone. Notwithstanding similar exceptions, however, this artist stands as one of the very first, after the Caracci. Though inferior in age, he could not be called inferior in merit, to Scarsellino; and the city, divided into parties, could not agree to award the palm either to the elder or to the younger. They pursued different manners; each was eminent in his own, and when they came into competition each exerted his utmost industry not to be outshone, which left the victory still doubtful. There were a few years ago at the Scala, and are yet at other places, a number of these rival productions, and it is wonderful to see how Bonone, accustomed so much to fill his canvass on a large scale, can adapt his genius, equal to any, to study and refinement, even painting his figures of small proportion almost in the style of miniature, in order that Scarsellino, in these ornaments of the cabinet, should not excite greater admiration than himself. Different collections, and particularly that of the noble Bevilacqua, possess fine specimens of him; in public is his Martyrdom of St. Catherine, in that church, a real treasure, much sought for by foreigners, who have frequently offered for it large sums without success.

No disciple of Bonone's school acquired much celebrity, and, least of any, Lionello, nephew to Carlo, and his heir. He was indebted to his uncle for his knowledge of the art, but could never be induced to practise it with diligence. What he has left was either executed with Carlo's assistance, and from his designs, or is of very middling merit. Others, who had successfully attained the manner of this master, died young, as Gio. Batista della Torre, born at Rovigo, and Camillo Berlinghieri, both artists of genius and highly estimated in collections. Some early pieces of great promise adorn the church of S. Niccolo, where the former painted the vaulted ceiling, but on some defect in the work being pointed out by the master, he refused to complete it, and setting out in anger for Venice he there took up his residence, and shortly came to an untimely end. By the second was painted the picture of the Manna, at S. Niccolo, besides several others throughout the city, and a few also at Venice, where he obtained the name of the Ferraresino, and where he died before completing his fortieth year.

The highest reputation was obtained by Alfonso Rivarola, likewise called, from some property left to him, Il Chenda. On his master's death he was proposed, as the most familiar with his style, by Guido Reni, to complete an unfinished work of Bonone. At S. Maria in Vado is the Marriage of the Virgin, sketched by Bonone, and which Chenda painted, Lionello having declined to venture upon such a task. This picture has a powerful rival in one of Bonone's, placed opposite to it, though it still displays a hand not unworthy of following that of Bonone. His fellow citizens entertained the same opinion of his other early efforts, such as the Baptism of the Saint, exhibited in a temple of noble architecture at S. Agostino, in a style of foreshortening that displays a master. His Fables, too, from Guarini and Tasso, conducted in the Villa Trotti, as well as the pictures yet belonging to the same nobles, and to different houses in the city, are held in esteem. But he executed little for churches and collections, aiming more at popular admiration, which he obtained by exercising at once the office of architect and of painter at public festivals, and in particular at tournaments, then so very prevalent in Italy. One of these, which he conducted at Bologna, laid the foundation of his early decease. Either he met with little applause, and took it to heart, or, according to others, had such success as to lead to his being carried off by poison. Thus, in few years, Carlo Bonone's school approached its close, not without leaving, however, numerous works which, owing to their uniform style, are now attributed generally to the school, not in particular to any artist.

I reserved for the series of the Caracci the name of Francesco Naselli, a Ferrarese noble, though stated by some to have been initiated in the art by Bastaruolo. This, however, is uncertain; it is only known that he designed from the naked model with assiduity in an academy opened in conjunction with his efforts, at Ferrara; and that going thence to Bologna, he took copies of various works by the Caracci and by their disciples. In the churches of his native place, and in private cabinets, numerous proofs of these studies are met with, the most laborious of which are two miracles of St. Benedict, copied in the cloister of S. Michele in Bosco, and now placed at S. Giorgio of the Olivetani in Ferrara. Of these, one is borrowed from Lodovico, the other from Guido; but preferred to both is his Communion of S. Girolamo, which decorates the Certosa, a copy from the original by Agostino. Guercino also was one of his favourites; of his he copied every thing he could meet with, having selected him, after the Caracci, for his first guide. By such practice Francesco succeeded in designing and painting with good success in his own manner, on a large scale, animated, soft, with rapid execution and strong union of colours, inclining in those of his fleshes to a sun-burnt hue. Of his own design is the S. Francesca Romana at the Olivetani, the Assumption at S. Francesco, several Suppers, abounding in figures, belonging to private institutions, five of which are in the Cistercian monastery. He likewise painted at the Scala in competition with one of the Caracci, with Bonone, and with Scarsellino. Nor was he judged unworthy of them; and at the sale of those valuable paintings for the relief of the Hospital, in 1772, considerable prices were offered for his productions. Although noble, and in easy circumstances, he never ceased to persevere, and it would appear that he was desirous of promoting the success of one of his domestics in the same art. Crespi declares that he had read a statement, showing Alessandro Naselli to be the son of Francesco, but, according to historians, he was an artist of mediocrity, the omission of whose works will scarcely be any loss to my readers.

It is here necessary to interrupt for a moment our series of the Caracci's disciples, to make mention of two geniuses, who also became painters, like Naselli, but in the Venetian taste. Gio. Paolo Grazzini, one of Bonone's best friends, professed the goldsmith's art, and it was owing only to his bias for painting, imbibed from Bonone and other contemporaries, that he acquired its principles in familiar conversation. Eager to put them to the test, he commenced his altar-piece of S. Eligio, for the Goldsmith's School. It occupied him eight years in its completion, but it was executed in such a masterly style as alone to decide his excellence, approaching quite as nearly as any to the manner of Pordenone. Being then about fifty years of age, it excited the utmost surprise throughout Ferrara, yet he still persevered, and conducted some minor pieces, which decorate private buildings, in the same taste. So rare an example, or rather one so wholly novel, appeared to me well worth historical mention. Somewhat at a later period Giuseppe Caletti, called il Cremonese, came into notice. He acquired the art rather from the models of the Dossi, and of Titian, than from masters, imitating not only their manner of design, but their colouring, which is so difficult. He contrived also to imitate that antique tone which time gives to paintings, and thus adds to their harmony. He painted a good deal for collections, such as half-length figures, bacchanals, and small histories. Baruffaldi recognized several in some noble galleries at Bologna, and has been compelled to argue the point with judges, who maintained that they were Titian's. He farther relates, that an excellent pupil of Pietro da Cortona purchased a great number, at a high price, at Ferrara, being confident of reselling them at Rome for Titian's, or at least for works of his school. In Ferrara, which is filled with his pictures, it is difficult to succeed in these impostures. He is there distinguished by fleshes of a sun-burnt hue, by certain bold lights, strengthened by contrast with somewhat loaded shadows, by the fleeciness of his clouds, and by other careless and ill-conducted accessories. Often too the extravagance of the composition betrays the real author, when, for instance, in a bacchanal, much resembling Titian, there is inserted a chase, or some modern sport, which is like representing wild boars in the sea, or dolphins in the woods. In a similar manner are his other fine qualities impaired for want of judgment, without which no artist is well calculated for the decoration of churches. In that of S. Benedict, however, his four Holy Doctors, on an altar, are seen to advantage; and upon another his admirable St. Mark, a grand and correct figure, full of expression, and very picturesquely surrounded by abundance of volumes, in whose drawing he is so true and natural, as to have been called the painter of books. Having completed this work, il Cremonese disappeared out of the city, nor were farther tidings heard of him, although some writers conjecture that he died about 1660.

Returning to the disciples of the Bolognese, the first deserving of mention here is Costanzo Cattanio, a pupil of Guido. His portrait, both on canvass and in prints, I have seen, and it has always a threatening kind of expression. That martial, or bravo character, affected by so many artists about the times of Caravaggio, also misled this excellent genius from the right career. At times Costanzo was an exile, now at open defiance, and now wholly occupied in shielding his protectors, who never ventured out unarmed, from dread of their rivals, and to whom he pledged himself that they should not be assassinated in his presence. When he applied himself to his art his peculiar disposition appeared stamped on the expression of his figures. The characters whom he was most fond of introducing into his histories were soldiers and bullies, whose fierce aspects seemed but ill adapted to the soft style of his master. These, and many other ideas, he borrowed from the prints of Durer, and Luca of Holland, which he reduced to his own diligent and studied manner, particularly in his heads and his steel armours. Although attached to strong expression, and borrowing something from the other schools of Italy which he saw, he nevertheless at times betrays sure traces of Guido's school. Thus, in his S. Antonio, painted for the parish church of Corlo, and in our Lord's Supper, which he placed in the refectory of S. Silvestro, and in every other instance when he aimed at the Guidesque, he succeeded to admiration.

Another Ferrarese, Antonio Buonfanti, called il Torricella, is said to have sprung from the school of Guido, though Baruffaldi is silent on this point. Two large scripture histories by him are at S. Francesco; but there are few other paintings or accounts of him at Ferrara; and he seems to have taken up his residence elsewhere. It is certain that the young artists who succeed this period are all ascribed to the school of Cattanio. Such are Francesco Fantozzi, called Parma, Carlo Borsati, Alessandro Naselli, Camillo Setti, artists who scarcely awaken the curiosity of their countrymen. Giuseppe Avanzi is more known by his very numerous works, for the most part confused, and painted almost at a sitting. He is described more like an artisan bent on earning good wages by his day's labour. His picture of St. John beheaded, however, at the Certosa, is extremely Guercinesque; and some others on canvass and on copper, which he retouched and studied a good deal, do him great credit.

But Cattanio's chief praise consists in his education of Gio. Bonatti, and in his recommendation of him to Card. Pio, who greatly assisted him, by placing him first at Bologna under Guercino, afterwards under Mola at Rome. He long supported him also at Venice, studying the heads of that school; besides defraying his pictoric tours through Lombardy, and giving him the custody of his paintings at court. In fact, he bestowed upon him such favours that the public, considering him as the dependant of that prince, always termed him _Giovannino del Pio_. At Rome he was esteemed among the best of his age; select, diligent, learned in the different styles of Italian schools; the view of which, during his picturesque tour, he declared was highly advantageous to him. And true it is that the painter, like the writer, is formed by the study of great models; but the one may behold them all collected in the same library, while the other has to seek them in different cities, and in every city to study them at different places. At Rome his only public works are a picture at the church dell'Anima, a history of S. Carlo at the Vallicella, and an altar-piece of S. Bernardo, at the Cisterciensi, highly commended in the Guide of Rome. The rest of his works, and they are but few, belong to private persons; his health declining at the age of thirty-five, he lingered eleven years afterwards, and died at Rome.

Lanfranco likewise supplied a pupil to this school, called by Passeri, Antonio Richieri, a Ferrarese. He followed his master to Naples and Rome, where he painted at the Teatini after the designs of Lanfranco:--the sole information I have been enabled to collect respecting his paintings. I am well aware that he devoted himself to engraving, as we learn also from Passeri, and that at Naples he engraved an altar-piece by his master, which was rejected by the person who gave the commission for it. There is more known of Clemente Maiola, whom the Ferrarese assert to be their fellow-citizen and pupil to Cortona. He conducted many works at Ferrara; one of S. Nicola supported by an angel, in the church of S. Giuseppe. He is moreover mentioned as a fine pupil of Pietro, in the Notizie of M. Alboddo, for works there extant. Titi gives account of others left in Rome at the Rotonda and in other temples; but he differs respecting his master, declaring that he was instructed by Romanelli.

Meanwhile Cignani's academy rose into notice, owing to its master's reputation, and among those who repaired thither from Ferrara were Maurelio Scannavini and Giacomo Parolini. Maurelio must be included among the few whose object was to emulate their master in that scrupulous exactness, which we noticed in its place. He was naturally slow, nor could he prevail on himself to despatch his work from the studio until he beheld it already complete in all its points. Though impelled by domestic penury to greater haste, he varied not his method; and, free from envy, beheld the rapidity of Avanzi, who abounded with commissions and money, whilst he and his family were destitute. The noble house of Bevilacqua assisted him much; and it redounds to its honour, that on remunerating him for some figures in an apartment where Aldrovandini had conducted the architecture, a very large sum was added to the price agreed upon. He produced few other pieces in fresco; a process that requires artists of more rapid hand. He painted more in oil; among the most esteemed of which is his S. Tommaso di Villanova, at the Agostiniani Scalzi; and at the church of the Mortara his St. Bridget in a swoon, supported by angels. The families of Bevilacqua, Calcagnini, Rondinelli, and Trotti, possess some of his pictures for private ornament; among which are portraits that display Maurelio's singular talent in this branch; and histories of half-length figures in the manner of Cignani. They exhibit gracefulness, union of colouring, and strength of tints, which leave him nothing to envy in the artists by whom he is surrounded, except their fortune.

Giacomo Parolini, pupil to the Cav. Peruzzini in Turin, afterwards to Cignani at Bologna, was present at Maurelio's decease, and completed a few works left imperfect, out of regard to his friend, and for the relief of his orphan family. He did not possess that true finish peculiar to the followers of Cignani; though he still maintained the reputation of his second school, by the elegance of his design, the propriety and copiousness of his composition, and his very attractive colouring, particularly in the fleshes. Aware of his own power in this difficult part of painting, he is fond of introducing into his pieces the naked figure, more especially of boys, from the proportions of which judges are enabled to recognize their author. His bacchanals, his Albanesque country-dances, his capricci, are all of such frequent occurrence at Ferrara, as to render it more easy to enumerate the collections in want of them, than those where they are. Foreigners also possess specimens; and there are engravings in acqua forte by the designer's own hand. His picture of the Cintura, representing the Virgin among various saints, nearly all of the order of St. Augustine, a piece engraved by Andrea Bolzoni, is held in much esteem. Nor are the three altar-pieces in the cathedral unworthy of notice; and in particular the entablature of S. Sebastiano at Verona, which greatly raised his reputation, representing the saint in the act of mounting into glory, amidst groups of angels; a beautiful and well executed work. Parolini is the last among the figurists whose life was written at length by Baruffaldi; the last, also, on whose tomb was inscribed the eulogy of a good painter. With him was buried for a season the reputation of Ferrarese painting in Italy.

The author of the "Catalogue," in the fourth volume has collected the names and drawn up the lives of certain other painters, interspersing several episodes. Concerning these figurists, little else is related than mere failures and misfortunes. For instance, Gio. Francesco Braccioli, pupil to Crespi, though promising well in some of his works for galleries, subsequently fell into infirmity of mind; one lost his taste for the profession; another cultivated the art with remissness, or only as a dilettante; a third produced some tolerable efforts, but was mostly extravagant; one had genius and died early; another long life without a spark of talent. Meanwhile, this dearth of native artists was for some years supplied by Gio. Batista Cozza, from the Milanese; a painter of a copious, easy, and regulated style. Not that he was invariably correct, though very popular, and when he pleased satisfying even judges of the art; as in that picture representing different SS. Serviti, in the church called di Cà Bianca.

After him appeared the modern artists, who now enjoy deserved reputation in the academy of Ferrara, which, owing to the particular patronage of his eminence Card. Riminaldi, has recently risen into distinguished notice. With the name of this noble citizen and of the professors whom he himself selected and promoted, future writers will doubtless commence a fourth epoch of painting. By him the academy was supplied with laws, and took its established form. To his care and munificence several young artists were indebted for their residence at Rome, and all the rest for the benefit of a well regulated institution at Ferrara. He also did much for the cause of letters in the university. But this is not the place to give an account of it; and his merits, commended as they are to posterity in numerous books and monuments, and impressed on the hearts of his grateful fellow citizens, are not likely soon to fall into oblivion.

It remains to speak of other kinds of painting, and it will be best to commence with perspective. After this art had assumed a new aspect at Bologna, and spread through Italy, as already stated, it was introduced by Francesco Ferrari, born near Rovigo, into Ferrara. He had been instructed in figure painting by a Frenchman, and afterwards became professor of architectural and ornamental painting under Gabriel Rossi, the Bolognese, of whose name, to say nothing of his style, I find no traces left at Bologna. To those who had the means of comparing the manners of these two artists, it appeared that Francesco did not equal him in the dignity of his architecture, but surpassed him in strength and durability of colouring, and in that relief so attractive in these performances. Moreover, he had a considerable advantage over his master, in his knowledge of appropriately painting histories. The Dispute of S. Cirillo is still to be seen, and the Rain granted to the Prayer of Elias, in the church of S. Paolo: pictures, observes Baruffaldi, which rivet the eye. Other proofs of his genius for history pieces are met with at the Carmine and at S. Giorgio, but still they yield to his architectural labours, which may be said to have formed his trade. He worked also for theatres, and in different Italian cities, and in the service of Leopold I. at Vienna. Being constrained to leave Germany on account of his health, he returned to Ferrara, and there opened school.

Among his pupils were Mornassi, Grassaleoni, Paggi, Raffanelli, Giacomo Filippi, and one who surpassed all the rest, Antonfelice Ferrari, his son. This artist did not attempt figures, but confined himself to architecture, in which he added to the somewhat minute style of his father, a magnificence well adapted to attract the public eye. He was employed with success in the Calcagnini palace, in that of the Sacrati, Fieschi, and in other private and public places in Ferrara, as well as at Venice, Ravenna, and elsewhere. Suffering much however in health by painting in fresco, and on this account being reduced to live with less comfort, he conceived such aversion for the art, that on making his will he enjoined that his son was to forfeit his inheritance if he ever became a fresco painter. Some of his pupils therefore succeeded him, among whom Giuseppe Facchinetti most distinguished himself. He painted at S. Caterina da Siena and other places, at once in a delicate and sound style, and is almost reputed the Mitelli of his school. Maurelio Goti of Ferrara nearly approached his style, not without marks of plagiarism. From the same country and school was Girolamo Mengozzi Colonna, who became a long resident at Venice. He accompanied the figures of Zompini with ornamental work at the church of the Tolentini, and those of Tiepolo at the Scalzi; and conducted the architecture in the ducal palace and elsewhere. Zanetti, in his Guide, mentions his name as above; but, in his "Pittura Veneziana," (thirty-eight years afterwards) he calls him Colonna Mengozzi, and a native of Tivoli. Guarienti extols him as the first architectural and ornamental painter of his time.

The art of landscape painting, which, after the age of the Dossi, had almost fallen into disuse at Ferrara, was revived there by some foreigners. Giulio Avellino, called, from his native place, the Messinese, resided some time in this city, and died there at the beginning of the century. He had been pupil to Salvator Rosa, whose style he somewhat softened, and richly ornamented with views of ruins and architecture, as well as with some small and well composed figures. The Signori Cremona and Donati possess select specimens; and there is scarcely a collection in Ferrara or Romagna which does not value itself on possessing them. After him appeared Giuseppe Zola, born, according to Crespi, at Brescia, a landscape painter, of a taste devoted to no single master, but formed upon many. He was exceedingly rich in conception and in expedients; his buildings are of a rustic kind; his ruins partake of the modern, and are picturesquely covered with creeping plants and ivy; the backgrounds of an azure hue, and great variety of objects and figures, in which he was less happy than in his landscape. His earlier works are held in most esteem; when he obtained greater commissions, he performed them with a more mechanical hand, and, with the exception of his colouring, which he always studied, he bestowed little care on the rest. Those pictures are in general most complete, in which he introduced the smallest figures; and such may be seen even out of private houses, in the Monte della Pietà, and in the sacristy of S. Leonardo. He formed several pupils, the best of whom was Girolamo Gregori. Instructed as a figurist by Parolini, and afterwards by Gioseffo dal Sole, he failed for want of perseverance, except very rarely, in greater works. Yet he produced many, and his landscapes have been highly extolled. The same may be observed of Avanzi, mentioned by us shortly before; who, in addition to his very pleasing landscapes on canvass and on copper, surpassed all his fellow citizens in the drawing of flowers and fruits.