Chapter VII: Book III: Bolognese School (3)

Footnote 13: This worthy writer would appear to have been
aware that he sometimes exceeded due bounds. In the course
of that work we meet with other expressions highly
creditable to Vasari; and it is well known, that having
spoken contemptuously of Raffaello, by designating him
_boccalaio Urbinate_, the potter of Urbino, because some
vases there had been painted from his designs, "he repented
of the expression so much as to lead him to erase it from as
many copies of the work as he could meet with." _Lett.
Pitt._ vol. vii. p. 130.

Dionisio Calvart, born at Antwerp, and hence also called Dionisio the Fleming, came, when young, into Bologna, and displayed some ability in landscape painting. In order to become a figure painter, he entered first the school of Fontana, and next that of Sabbatini, whom he greatly assisted in his labours for the Vatican. But after quitting also this master, and occupying himself, some little time, in designing from Raffaello's pictures, he returned to Bologna, opened a studio, and there educated as many as a hundred and thirty-seven masters in the art, some of whom were excellent. He was a fine artist for his age; understood perspective well, which he acquired from Fontana, and designed both correctly and gracefully in the taste of Sabbatini. He moreover possessed the art of colouring, in the taste of his own countrymen, a quality which induced the Bolognese to regard him as a restorer of their school, which in this branch of painting had declined. If there were some degree of mannerism in his style, some action in his figures too little dignified, or too extravagant; the former was the fault of his age, and the latter of his temperament, which is described as extremely restless and violent. Notwithstanding, he instructed his pupils with assiduous care, and from the cartoons of the most celebrated inventors he gave them lectures in the art. Different collections abound with his small pictures, painted chiefly on copper, representing incidents from the Gospel, which attract by the abundance of the figures, by their spirit, and by the lusciousness of their tints. Similar commissions in this line were then very frequently given in Bologna; most times proceeding from the noviciate nuns, who were in the habit of carrying with them into the cloister similar little paintings to decorate their lonely cells; and Calvart provided abundance of them, with the assistance of his young men, whose pieces he retouched; and they obtained immense circulation both in Italy and Flanders. In particular those conducted by Albano and Guido, his two pupils, boast the most attractive graces, and may be known by a certain superior decision, knowledge, and facility. In the list of his altar-pieces, the S. Michele, at S. Petronio, and the Purgatory, at the Grazie, bear the palm; and from these, as well as others, the best disciples of the Caracci confessed the assistance which they received.

On the rise of the new Bolognese School, the pupils of Calvart for the most part changed their manner, attaching themselves some to one master, and some to another. Those who preserved most evident traces of their former education, in other words, who continued more feeble and less natural than the Caracceschi, were but few. Malvasia enumerates Gio. Batista Bertusio in this list, who vainly aspired at resembling Guido, leaving a variety of paintings both at Bologna and its villages, displaying beauties more apparent than real. Two other artists, Pier Maria da Crevalcore, a painter in oil, and Gabriel Ferrantini, known by his frescos, called also Gabriel degli Occhiali, seem both to have seen, and attempted to imitate the Caracci. Emilio Savonanzi, a Bolognese noble, attached himself to the art when nearly arrived at manhood, but he attended Cremonini more than Calvart; and strongly addicted to changing masters, entered the school of Lodovico Caracci, next that of Guido at Bologna, of Guercino at Cento, and finally the studio of Algardi, an excellent sculptor at Rome. By such means he became a good theorist and an able lecturer, applauded in every particular of his art; nor was he wanting in good practice, uniting many styles in one, in which however that of Guido most prevails. Still he was not equally correct in all his pieces, even betraying feebleness of touch, and not scrupling to denominate himself an artist of many hands. He resided at Ancona, next at Camerino, at which places, as well as in the adjacent districts, he left a variety of works. Of another Bolognese, who flourished at the same period, there remains at Ancona a picture of the offering of the Infant Jesus at the Temple, ornamenting the larger altar of S. Jacopo. The inscription shews him to have resided at Brescia, _F. Tiburtius Baldinus Bononiensis F. Brixiæ_, 1611. This date proves him to have belonged to the present epoch. His taste, from what I am informed by Sig. Cav. Boni, extremely well informed on subjects of the fine arts, reminds us of the excellent school that flourished in 1500: magnificence in the architecture, great copiousness of composition, and clearness of effect, except that in the general tone of his tints, and in his fleshes, he is somewhat cold. One artist there was, who declared that he had laid down for himself a maxim, never to alter with other styles that of Calvart; and this was Vincenzo Spisano, called likewise Spisanelli. He however is inferior in solidity and truth of design, and displays quite as much caprice and mannerism as any of the practitioners of his time. Nor does he always preserve the colours peculiar to his school; but deadens them with a leaden hue, which is still not unpleasing. His altar-pieces, executed at Bologna, and in the neighbouring cities, are less celebrated than his small pictures for private ornament, which abound in Bologna, and which he was in the habit of enlivening with very attractive landscape. It has already been observed that those who were mannerists in their style, like Zuccaro and Cesari, always when working on a small scale, improved upon themselves.

Bartolommeo Cesi fills the rank also of head of a school, among those who cleared the path to the good method pursued by the disciples of the Caracci. From him Tiarini acquired the art of painting fresco, and his works gave the first impulse to Guido in attaining to his sweet and graceful manner. On examining a work by Cesi, it sometimes seems doubtful whether it may not have been that of Guido when young. He dares little, copies every thing from nature, selects fine forms of each period of life, and makes sparing use of the ideal; his lines and folds are few, his attitudes measured, and his tints more beautiful than strong. He has some paintings at San Jacopo, and at San Martino, which are extremely pleasing; and it is said that Guido, during his early youth, was in the habit of sitting to contemplate them sometimes for hours. His frescos, perhaps, display more power, where he has introduced many copious histories with great judgment, variety, and mastery; and such are those of Æneas, in the Favi palace. His Arch of Forli, painted for Clement VIII., with different exploits, surprises us even more. Though exposed to the action of the open air, during so many years, this piece retains the vividness of its tints to a surprising degree. Malvasia's opinion, in commendation of this artist, is very remarkable, that he had a manner which at once satisfies, pleases, and enamours the beholder, as truly exquisite and sweet as any style of the best Tuscan masters in fresco. In the larger chapel of the Bolognese monastery of Carthusians, there are distinguished examples in both kinds of painting; and the describer of the Carthusian monastery, in his account of them, likewise enumerates Cesi's works for other monasteries of the same order, those of Ferrara, of Florence, and Siena. He was held in esteem by the Caracci, and very generally so by the different professors, no less for the candour of his character, than for his love of the art. To his efforts it was chiefly owing that the company of painters, in 1595, obtained a separation from the artificers of swords, of saddles, and of scabbards, with all of whom they had for centuries been united in the same corporation, and that a new one being formed of painters and of cotton manufacturers,[14] it not being possible wholly to exclude the latter, they were to rank inferior to the artists, or, to use the words of Malvasia, "that they should condescend to furnish to the amount of two hundred, or more, crowns, rich purple cloaks to decorate the wearer of the laurel crown, preceding their vice steward."[15]

Footnote 14: In the original the term used for these cotton
merchants is _bambagiai_.

Footnote 15: In the Italian called _promassaro_.

Cesare Aretusi, a son, perhaps, of Pellegrino Munari,[16] was distinguished as a colourist in the Venetian taste, but in point of invention weak and dull; while Gio. Batista Fiorini, on the other hand, was full of fine conceptions but worthless in his colouring. Friendship, that introduces community in the possessions of friends, here achieved what is narrated in the Greek anthology of two poor rogues, one of whom was blind and stout, and carried on his shoulders a sharp-eyed cripple, who thus provided himself with a friend's pair of feet, while he afforded him the advantage of as many eyes. So it fared with our two artists, who separately could accomplish very little; though in uniting their powers they produced paintings of considerable merit. In the _Guida di Bologna_ they are very properly rarely divided from each other; and I believe, that in every painting we find attributed to Aretusi, we ought farther to seek for some companion of his labours. Of such kind is a Nativity of the Virgin at S. Afra in Brescia, passing under his name, and painted in a very powerful style. Respecting this picture, however, Averoldi is of opinion that it was in part the workmanship of Bagnatore, in part of other painters, or, perhaps, only painter; in other words that of his useful friend Aretusi. Nevertheless in the branch of portrait, Cesare possessed merit above sharing it with others, and in this capacity he was employed by different princes, and he also succeeded in copying the works of excellent masters better than any other of his age. He could assume the style of almost every painter, and even pass off his imitations for the originals. In his imitation of Coreggio, he was more particularly successful, and received a commission to execute a painting from the celebrated Night, by that master, for the church of S. Gio. di Parma, where it still remains. Mengs, who saw it, declared that were the original at Dresden by any accident lost, it might be well supplied by so fine a duplicate. It was this performance that obtained him the honour of restoring the painting, formerly executed by Coreggio for the same church, of which mention was made in the school of Parma, and to which we here refer the reader. Here too we should add, that such was the success of that picture, "from its accurate imitation of the taste displayed in the original, of its conception, and of its harmony, as to lead those unacquainted with the fact to suppose it to be the work of Allegri." Such are the words of Ruta in his _Guida_.

Footnote 16: See vol. iv. p. 43.

Little attention seems to have been given to inferior branches of the art during this epoch, if, indeed, we except that of portrait, whose leading artists must not again be introduced here, having treated of their merits in the proper place. Nor probably were there then wanting painters in oil, who severally produced ornamental pieces of landscape and animals, besides Cremonini and Baglione, whose ability in this line we shall shortly notice, in the class of ornamental fresco painters; though none, as far as I can learn, acquired celebrity. In one instance only I meet with handsome eulogiums on a miniature painter, occasionally mentioned throughout this work. He was called Gio. Neri, also Gio. degli Ucelli, from his peculiar talent in delineating all kinds of birds from the life. With these, and with fish of various species, with quadrupeds and other animals, he filled seven folio volumes, which are cited by Masini in the studio of Ulisse Aldovrandi.

Throughout the whole of this epoch we find no mention in Malvasia of any ornamental or perspective painters, except, perhaps, some figurist, who paid little attention to decorations. There is reason, however, to suppose that the celebrated Sebastiano Serlio, while yet a youth, painted perspectives. The Cav. Tiraboschi, in the seventh volume of his history, remarks that "there is no account of Serlio's occupation during the early part of his life." But the _Guida_ of Pesaro, p. 83, alludes to him at the close of 1511, and subsequently in 1514, as residing in that city in quality of an artist; and in what branch can we more probably suppose him to have been engaged than in perspective? For this, indeed, was the tirocinium of other able architects, where, previous to being entrusted with the anxious duties of their profession, they were enabled, with more facility, to sustain themselves, until their reputation permitted them to assume the character of architects, and abandon the pursuit of painting. Indisputably he could not have been an architect at Pesaro, otherwise there would never have been written on a parchment of 1514, remaining in the archives of the Servi:--_Sebastiano qu. Bartholomæi de Serlis de Bononia pictore habitatore Pisauri_. And it is about 1534 that we have an account of his being at Venice, no longer handling the pencil, but the square. Masini, who had written his _Bologna Perlustrata_ only a short period before the _Felsina Pittrice_, commends an Agostino dalle Prospettive, who had reached such a degree of perfection in that art, as even to deceive animals and men with his illusive staircases and similar works, executed at Bologna. It is doubtful whether he did not belong to another school, and may have been omitted by Malvasia as a foreigner. I suspected him to be a Milanese in my fourth volume (p. 231), and pupil to the great Soardi, not inferior to his master. Next to him, and to Laureti, Gio. Batista Cremonini of Cento was employed in such commissions more than any other artist. He had received rather superior instructions in the rules of perspective, and respectable practice in the line of statues, figures, and histories, with whatever went to give splendour and effect to a façade, a theatre, or a hall; more particularly he succeeded in delineating animals, however ferocious and wild. There was scarcely a house of any account in all Bologna, which, if nothing more, could not boast some specimen of his chiaroscuro, some frieze for ornament, chimney-piece, or vestibule, decorated by Cremonini; to say nothing of his numerous works in fresco which filled the churches. He was also employed for the adjacent cities, and in different courts of Lombardy kept open school and instructed Guercino, Savonanzi, Fialetti, who flourished in Venice as before stated. He had for his companion Bartolommeo Ramenghi, cousin of Gio. Batista, with whom also lived Scipione Ramenghi, son of Gio. Batista himself, and both eminent ornamental painters during that period.

Cremonini had a rival in one Cesare Baglione, an artist in the same sphere, and of the same eager and expeditious character in the art. He was, moreover, a better painter of landscape, and even surpassed all others, including the most ancient, in the method of drawing his foliage. In his inventions too, both of a serious and comic kind, he displayed greater novelty and variety than Cremonini. He thus became a favorite at Parma, where in the ducal palace he left some of his best works, all in harmony with the places which he painted; in the larder illusive eatables of every kind, and cooks employed in dressing them; in the bakehouse utensils for the bakers, and incidents relating thereto; in the washhouses women were seen busied in their different duties, and all in dismay at some untoward or comic accidents; works abounding in spirit and reality sufficient to procure him reputation in his line, had he shewn less eagerness in the execution. This praise will not apply, however, to his decorative taste, which excited the ridicule of the Caracci, who were in the habit of laughing at the fantastic ornaments of his capitals, and those arabesques, most resembling, they declared, the staves of barrels; as well as that custom of filling his compositions with useless ornaments, without rule or discretion, which his own pupils afterwards proceeded to introduce, especially Spada and Dentone. Several others were instructed by him in the art, as Storali and Pisanelli, and some of less note, who painted well in perspective, without aspiring to the reputation of figurists.

Thus we have taken a brief survey of the state of painting in Bologna from the time of Bagnacavallo to the Caracci, who already rising into repute about 1585, in some measure competed with the elder artists, and in some measure by their example, and the spirit of emulation, tended to improve them, of which more in the following epoch. Meanwhile, let us turn our attention to what was passing during this period in Romagna.

Ravenna prides herself on the name of Jacopone, a pupil of Raffaello, who, by his paintings at S. Vitale, introduced into that city the principles of the modern style, and of whom we shall shortly state our opinion, not without some degree of novelty. Another of Raffaello's disciples, if what is averred of him be correct, nourished at Ravenna about 1550, called Don Pietro da Bagnaia, a canon of the Lateran. In the church of his order he painted the altar-piece of S. Sebastian; in the Refectory, the scriptural history of the Loaves and Fishes, besides leaving in another place a history-piece of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, abounding in figures equal to the preceding. To these, enumerated by Orlandi, may be added the picture of Padua, with the Virgin between St. John the Baptist and St. Augustine, executed for the church of S. Giovanni di Verdara; in the sacristy of which is a Holy Family by him, imbued with all the graces of Raffaello in every feature and action, but sadly wanting in strength and harmony of colouring. There is another Holy Family at the Lateran Friars in Asti, on a larger scale, designed and composed with equal grace, but with similar feebleness of tints, even more lifeless; and to both pieces is appended an inscription, entreating the beholder to pray for the soul of the painter. I am not aware whether this worthy ecclesiastic was in Ravenna in 1547, at the period of Vasari's visit thither, but the latter makes no mention of his name.

Yet he mentioned, among the excellent artists who still flourished there, Luca Longhi, whose ability in the essentials of the art is highly praised. He regrets, however, that he should always have resided in his native place, which had he left for objects of improvement, he might have become a very distinguished artist. He was a good portrait-painter, and produced a great number of pictures for Ravenna. Some, too, he sent elsewhere, and they are met with at San Benedetto in Ferrara, in the Abbey at Mantua, in that of Praglia near Padua, at S. Francesco in Rimini, with the date of 1580, in Pesaro, and other places. They are chiefly composed in the ancient manner, but on comparing some of the earlier with those that follow, a more modern air is perceptible, a circumstance attributed by Vasari to his own conversations with the artist. Longhi's style, however, was opposed to that of Vasari, being very correct and highly finished; his conceptions sweet, varied, and graceful; with a powerful union of colours; more nearly resembling Innocenzo da Imola, if I mistake not, than any other artist of the times, though inferior to him in point of grandeur and beauty. Luca's most perfect pictures that I have met with in Ravenna are those of S. Vitale, of S. Agata, of S. Domenico, all with a representation of the Virgin between two or more saints, and with some graceful cherubs playing above. There are others more laboured, which please us less, and demonstrate that to succeed in grand compositions, it is previously necessary to have studied the great schools. Luca had a daughter, named Barbara, yet a child at the period when Vasari published his work, but who had begun to paint "with a tolerable degree of grace and manner." From the hand of this lady there is only a single specimen remaining in public. Respecting a son of Luca, named Francesco, the historian is wholly silent, being, doubtless, at the time he wrote, still younger than his sister, but who became an artist in maturer years. In 1576 he produced a picture for the church of the Carmine, and there are accounts of him, even down to 1610. He chiefly pursued the steps of his father, though he is more common in his countenances, and more feeble in point of colouring, which he copied rather from Vasari.

Francesco Scannelli mentions a pupil of Raffaello at Cesena, omitted by all other historians, named Scipione Sacco. He painted a picture of S. Gregory for the cathedral of Cesena, in a grand style,[17] and the Death of St. Peter the Martyr for the church of S. Domenico. Doubtless he was of Raffaello's school, and not remembered out of Romagna.

Footnote 17: On this picture is inscribed, _Cæsenas_, 1545.
_Oretti_, _Memorie_, MSS.

While the family of the Longhi was employed at Ravenna, that of the Minzocchi, which was surnamed San Bernardo, was distinguishing itself at Forli. Francesco, called also the elder di S. Bernardo, studied the works of Palmigiani in his native place; and there remain pictures conducted in his youth, but feeble in point of design, such as his Crucifixion at the Padri Osservanti. But under Genga, according to Vasari, and, as some writers add, under Pordenone, he changed his manner, assuming a more correct style, graceful, animated, and of an expression which looks like nature herself in these his subsequent productions. Among the works he executed with most care are two lateral pictures at the cathedral of Loreto, in a chapel of S. Francesco di Paola. These consist of a Sacrifice of Melchisedec, and the miracle of the Manna, in which the prophets and the principal characters boast all the dignity and nobleness of drapery becoming the school of Pordenone. The crowd, however, is represented in the most popular features and attitudes, sufficient almost to excite the envy of Teniers, and the most natural artists of the Flemish school. His delineations in these pictures, of numerous and various animals, are expressed to the life, with baskets and different utensils like reality, though the attempt to excite our mirth in treating serious subjects has a bad effect. Scannelli extols a specimen of his works in fresco at S. Maria della Grata in Forli, representing the Deity on the ceiling, surrounded by a number of angels; figures full of spirit, majestic, varied, and painted with a power and skill of foreshortening, which entitles him to greater celebrity than he enjoys. He left a variety of productions, likewise, at S. Domenico, at the cathedral, and at private houses in his native place, where such is his reputation, that on the chapels being taken down, his least celebrated frescos were carefully cut out, and replaced elsewhere. Among his sons and pupils were Pietro Paolo, mentioned also by Vasari, and Sebastiano, both artists of the same natural style, not very select, with little relief, and mediocrity of invention. To Pietro Paolo belong several figures at the Padri Francescani at Forli, of feeble execution; and to Sebastiano a picture at S. Agostino, composed in 1593 in the ancient taste, and of a style like his other works, inferior to the character of his age.

Subsequent to the elder Minzocchi, Forli produced two other artists deserving commemoration; namely, Livio Agresti, conspicuous in the histories of Vasari and Baglione, as a daring designer, a copious composer, and universal in point of manner; the other, Francesco di Modigliana, an artist of more limited genius, but still deserving to be known. Of Livio, I spoke in the third epoch of the Roman School, to which, as pupil to Perino, and resident in Rome, where he was employed at the Castello, in the Vatican, at S. Spirito and elsewhere, he doubtless belongs. His native place, however, seems to have culled the fairest fruit of his labours, Rome possessing nothing nearly so Raffaellesque, as are his Scriptural Histories in the public palace at Forli. Nor ought we to pass over that finely decorated chapel in the cathedral, where he represented the Last Supper, with some majestic figures of the prophets upon the ceiling; a work that for depth and intricacy of perspective yields in nothing to Minzocchi. I shall not stop to inquire, with Malvasia, whether having gone to Rome in a moment of disgust and in haste, instead of there advancing himself, he wholly failed; but of this I am convinced, that his history in the Cappella Paolina, is by no means his masterpiece.

Francesco di Modigliana is said to have been pupil to Pontormo, in whose school he almost fills the same rank as Bronzino in that of Florence; not remarkably powerful, nor always consistent with himself, but very graceful and beautiful, and deserving a place in our pictoric Lexicons, where his name is wanting. His works at Urbino consist of those which are pointed out under the name of Francesco da Forli; a picture of Christ taken down from the cross, in oil, at S. Croce; and some angels in fresco at S. Lucia; productions much commended, and resembling in style his best at the Osservanti in Forli, and at the Rosario in Rimini. Here, perhaps, he most distinguished himself; in his picture of Adam driven from Eden, his Deluge, the Tower of Babel, with similar histories already treated by Raffaello at Rome, and by Agresti in Forli, from imitating whom, if I mistake not, he greatly improved and advanced himself. Dying suddenly he left his work imperfect, afterwards continued by Gio. Laurentini, called Arrigoni, who painted the Death of Abel at the same place.

After Bartolommeo da Rimini, who inclined more towards the modern than the ancient style, I find no other artist of celebrity in that city besides Arrigoni. Even his name has not been recorded by Orlandi, nor by his continuator. He diligently employed himself in his native place, and two of his pictures representing martyrdoms, met with surprising success; one of St. John the Baptist, at the Augustine friars, and another of the Saints John and Paul, at the church bearing their name. Yet they do not display that _beau ideal_, so attractive at that period in the productions even of the inferior disciples of the Roman School; but they convey the impression of grand compositions, a vivacity of action, a boldness of hand, a splendor in the retinue of horse and arms, and military ensigns, calculated to compete with the chief part of the painters employed at Rome in the service of Gregory and of Sixtus.

Faenza, too, at the opening of this epoch, boasted her Jacopone, or Jacomone, of whom we treated among the assistants of Raffaello, and among the masters of Taddeo Zuccaro. Vasari makes brief mention and smaller account of this artist; recording only one of his productions, the tribune of S. Vitale at Ravenna, and which has ceased to exist. In the cupola of the church, however, subsequently repainted by another hand, there were visible, in the time of Fabri, author of "Ravenna Ricercata," (researches in that city) several figures of saints richly apparelled, bearing this inscription: "Opus Jacobi Bertucci et Julii Tondutii Faventinorum. Pari voto f. 1513."[18] At present I no longer doubt but that under this Jacopo was concealed the name of Jacopone di Faenza, though according to Orlandi they were two several painters, and though it has never occurred to Baldinucci and Bottari, and other writers of pictoric history, to unite them into one. My conjecture is founded upon a picture which I saw in the church of the Dominican nuns in Faenza, representing the Birth of the Virgin, with the name of Jacopo Bertucci of Faenza, and dated 1532. It is a work which arrests the eye by its resemblance to the style of Raffaello, though his harmonious gradations have not been well observed, and the colouring inclines more to the strong than to the beautiful. The women busied about the couch of St. Anne are beautiful, graceful, and animated figures, and there are some animals, and in particular a fowl, which a Bassano himself would not have been sorry to have painted. Now what other Jacopo of Faenza could in the year 1532, have painted in this style, with more shew of reason and probability than Jacopone da Faenza, whose family would here appear to be discovered?

Footnote 18: Sig. Abbate Zannoni, a librarian in Faenza,
assisted by Sig. Zauli, a distinguished professor of design
in that Lyceum, has made some clever remarks upon that
school. They observe that this date of Fabri must be
erroneous, it not being possible for Jacopone to have
commenced painting in 1513, and much less Tonduzzi, pupil to
Giulio Romano, probably, in Mantua: I suspect that the order
of the last two figures should be inverted, so as to read
1531.

They inform me that I was misled in supposing the picture of
the Dominican Nuns to be from the hand of Jacopone, its
great height preventing me from distinguishing the name. It
belongs to his nephew and pupil, Gian Batista, and thus
resembles his style, though coloured with stronger tints in
the taste of Titian, whom he is known to have greatly
consulted in after years. Other pictures of Jacopone might
be cited, that still exist, but injured by time and by
retouches of other destroyers. Yet, they continue, all are
surpassed by a figure that was placed at the Celestini, and
is now in the general collection. It represents St. John
pointing out to the ecclesiastic who ordered the picture,
the Virgin crowned, between Saints Celestino and Benedetto;
a grand piece wonderfully preserved, formed upon the
composition of Raffaello, and coloured after Titian. On the
right side is written, "F. Jo. Bapt. Para Brasius hoc opus
ob devotionem fieri jussit anno domini 1565:" (the most
assured epoch of his life;) and on the left hand, "Et semper
Jacobius Bertusius F. (for Faventinus) invicto tandem Momo
faciebat." Who this Momo was, against whose desire (since we
must read _invito_) he completed the picture, I know not;
whether a painter, or perhaps a friar, whom Jacopone's
dilatoriness had offended, and who wished to substitute
another artist, in which good office he did not succeed.

The same city possesses a variety of other pieces by this Bertucci, and in the soffitto of S. Giovanni, various histories, both of the Old and New Testament, were pointed out to me as his. There too are several of inferior character attributed to another Bertucci, his son, an artist who in his heads repeats the same idea, even to satiety. Still his merit ought not, I think, to be estimated from a single work, but rather from some pictures cited by Crespi.[19] One of these is the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, animated and high toned in its colours, beautiful in point of design and character, and worthy of decorating the Ercolani collection at Bologna. Upon it is inscribed "Bertucius pinxit, 1580." The other is at the Celestini of Faenza, a singular work, as Crespi denominates it, from which he appears to have learnt the proper name of this younger Bertucci, whom he calls Giambatista. Baldinucci treats of Jacopone at the commencement of his fifth volume, and on the credit of Count Laderchi, he enumerates his different paintings, which then remained at Faenza. Of his surname he mentions nothing; nothing of his altar-piece of the Nativity; nothing of S. Vitale; nothing of the son, or the other artist of Faenza lately alluded to. He adds, that works of Jacopone were to be seen up to the year 1570, but I believe these last to have belonged to the son, inasmuch as the father, at the period when Vasari wrote, was already deceased. Other pictures by this artist are mentioned, painted in glowing and attractive colours, and in particular the Baptizing of Christ, preserved in the public collection, valuable from its giving the epoch of 1610, which must have been towards the close of his days.

Footnote 19: Lettere Pittoriche, vol. vii. p. 66.

By Giulio Tonduzzi there is pointed out at Ravenna the Stoning of St. Stephen, on the large altar of a church consecrated to that saint, a beautiful picture, but not indisputably proved to be his. I conjecture it to be a copy of the St. Stephen that decorates the church of Faenza, in which the whole style of Giulio Romano is apparent; so much so, that it has been attributed to him, a mistake arising from resemblance of names; but Tonduzzi is known to have been Giulio's pupil. I omit other productions of this excellent artist, though I ought to notice, that in the soffitto of S. Giovanni, he also painted several sacred histories, in competition with all the first artists, who then flourished at Faenza, on which account that very cultivated city has preserved the whole of these paintings, although much defaced by age, in the Lyceum collection, belonging to the commune, mentioned in other places. I also find one M. Antonio da Faenza, commended by Civalli for a very excellent picture, possessing fine relief, at the church of the Conventuali of Monte Lupone, in the Marca, dated 1525. Contemporary with these must have been Figurino da Faenza, enumerated by Vasari among the best disciples of Giulio Romano, though I meet with no mention of him elsewhere. It is conjectured, however, with good reason, that Figurino was only a surname given to Marc Antonio Rocchetti, a painter of great reputation at Faenza, who in youth took great delight in minute drawing, producing, among other pieces, little histories of St. Sebastian, for the ornament of that church, now destroyed, when they came into possession of various individuals who treasure them up in the present day. In maturer years he enlarged his manner, attaching himself to the imitation of Baroccio, which he did with a simplicity of composition and sweetness of tints, that made him conspicuous in different churches which he adorned, as we may gather from the picture of the titular Saint at S. Rocco, with the year 1604, the latest period which we find mentioned on his productions. In the Communal collection, also, there is seen a picture of the Virgin, known in Faenza under the name of the Madonna of the Angels, with a St. Francis, a holy bishop, and two portraits below. It bears the inscription, _M. Antonius Rochettus Faventinus pingebat, 1594_. It was requisite to mention this picture, which I find extolled above all other specimens that have remained. The name of Niccolo Paganelli, before unknown to us, is also met with in the Oretti correspondence, contained in a letter of Zanoni, which we cite in treating of Benedetto Marini. He is supposed to have been a good pupil of the Roman School, and some attribute to him the fine picture of S. Martino, in the cathedral of Faenza, the supposed work of Luca Longhi. His genuine pictures are recognized by the initials N.+P.

Subsequent to the period of Jacopone, who never acquired fortune, Marco Marchetti greatly distinguished himself. So at least he is named by Baglione, or Marco da Faenza, according to Vasari, who observes that he was "particularly experienced in regard to frescos; bold, decided, terrible; and especially in the practice and manner of drawing grotesques, not having any rival then equal to him." Nor perhaps has any artist since appeared who equals him in this respect, and in happily adapting to grotesques little histories, full of spirit and elegance, and with figures which form a school for design. Such is the Slaughter of the Innocents, in the Vatican. He succeeded Sabbatini in the works of Gregory XIII. and entered the service of Cosmo I. for whom he decorated the Palazzo Vecchio at Florence. He painted little in his own country, though a few pieces in oil are still pointed out, and an arch in a public way, with festoons of flowers, monsters, and capricci, resembling the work of an ancient artist. The whole reminds us of mythology and erudition, while at subsequent periods it became customary in this kind of painting to dare every extravagance and excess. Perhaps his most finished piece adorns the Communal collection, representing the Feast of Christ in the house of the Pharisee. His death occurred in 1588. Contemporary with him flourished Gio. Batista Armenini, also of Faenza, an able artist, and author of the "True Precepts of Painting,"[20] published at Ravenna in 1587, a work that re-appeared in the ensuing century at Venice. In fact Armenini was a better theorist than a practitioner; nor has he any production in his native place, except a large picture of the Assumption, on which he inscribed _Jo. Bapt. Armenini primiliæ_, meaning, that it was among the first, or perhaps the very first altar-piece which he ever painted. Perotti, the author of certain _Farragini_,[21] which are still preserved in the library of the Seminary at Faenza, there observes, that Armenini was a pupil of Perin del Vaga. Nor is there a great interval between him and Cristoforo Lanconello, an artist of Faenza, first discovered to us in the letter of Crespi, just before cited. He is celebrated for his picture in the Casa Ercolani, in which the Virgin appears crowned with a glory, attended by Saints Francis and Chiara, and two more; a work displaying great freedom of hand, beauty of colouring, fine airs of the heads, and altogether in the composition of Barocci.

Footnote 20: _Veri Precetti della Pittura._

Footnote 21: A mixture of all styles and subjects

We must not take our leave of the Cinquecentisti[22] without first noticing a cavalier of Faenza, who flourished till the year 1620, in which he died at the age of 83. His name was Niccolo Pappanelli, and such was his enthusiasm for the art, that he attended all the most distinguished masters then in vogue at Rome. On his return to his native place, he produced, along with some pieces of mediocrity, a few of an exquisite character, such as his picture of S. Martino at the cathedral, so well executed in point of design, force of colouring, and expression, as to be truly admirable. He, too, attempted to follow in the track of Barocci.

Footnote 22: Artists of the fifteenth century.

Other artists of Romagna, belonging to this period, are treated of in the schools where they chiefly flourished, such as Ingoli of Ravenna, at Venice, Zaccolini of Cesena at Rome, and Ardente, a native of Faenza, in Piedmont.

BOLOGNESE SCHOOL.

EPOCH III.

_The Caracci, their Scholars, and their Successors, until
the time of Cignani._

To write the history of the Caracci and their followers would in fact be almost the same as to write the pictoric history of all Italy during the last two centuries. In our preceding books we have taken a survey of almost every school; and everywhere, early or late, we have met with either the Caracci or their pupils, or at least with their successors, employed in overthrowing the ancient maxims, and introducing new, until we reach the period when there was no artist who, in some respect or other, might not be said to belong to their school. Now, as it is grateful to the traveller, after long following the course of some royal river, to ascend still higher to its source, so I trust it will, in like manner, prove delightful to my readers, to be here made acquainted with those principles that conferred this new style upon the world of art, and in a short time filled with its specimens, and took the lead of every individual school. What, in my opinion, too, is still more surprising is, that it should owe its origin to Lodovico Caracci, a young artist, who appeared of a slow, inactive intellect in early years, and better adapted to grind colours than to harmonize and apply them. He was advised, both by Fontana, his master at Bologna, and by Tintoretto, who directed his studies in Venice, to adopt a new profession, as quite unqualified for the art of painting; his fellow pupils likewise bantering him with the epithet of the ox, in allusion to his extreme dulness and tardiness. Indeed, every thing seemed to conspire to discourage him; he alone did not despair; from the obstacles he had to encounter he only gathered courage, and inducements to rouse, not to alarm himself. For this, his dilatory character, did not spring from confined genius, but from deep penetration; he shunned the ideal of the art as a rock on which so many of his contemporaries had suffered shipwreck; he pursued nature every where; he exacted of himself a reason for every line he drew; and considered it the duty of a young artist to aim only at doing well, until at length it grows into a habit, and such habit assists him in expediting his work.

Resolute, then, in his purpose, after having studied the best native artists in Bologna, he proceeded to do the same under Titian and Tintoretto at Venice. Thence he passed to Florence, and improved his taste from the pictures of Andrea, and the instructions of Passignano. At that period, the school of the Florentines had attained to that crisis, described in treating of its fourth epoch. Nothing could be more advantageous to young Lodovico than to observe there the competition between the partizans of the old and the new style; nor could there be better means of ascertaining the causes of the decline, and of the revival of the art. Such a scene was assuredly of the greatest use to him, though hitherto not much noticed, in attempting the reform of painting, and carrying it to a higher degree of perfection. The most eminent Florentines, with the view of improving the languid colouring of their masters, turned to the models of Coreggio and his followers; and their example, I am of opinion, induced Lodovico to leave Florence for Parma, where, observes his historian, he wholly devoted himself to that master and to Parmigianino. On his return to Bologna, although well received and esteemed as a good artist, he soon became aware that a single individual, so reserved and cautious as he was, could ill compete with an entire school; unless, following the example of Cigoli at Florence, he were to form a party among the rising pupils at Bologna.

In the first instance, he sought support in his own relatives. His brother Paolo cultivated the art, but was deficient both in judgment and in ability, and calculated only to execute with mediocrity the designs of others. On him he placed no reliance, but a good deal on two of his cousins. He had a paternal uncle named Antonio, by profession a tailor, who educated his two sons, Agostino and Annibale, at home. Such was their genius for design, that Lodovico was accustomed to say in his old age, that he had never had, during his whole professional career, a single pupil to equal them. The first devoted his attention to the goldsmith's art--always the school of the best engravers; the second was at once the pupil and assistant of his father in his calling. Though brothers, their dispositions were so opposite, as to render their society insufferable to each other, and they were little less than enemies. Accomplished in letters, Agostino always sought the company of learned men; there was no science on which he could not speak; at once a philosopher, a geometrician, and a poet; of refined manners, ready wit, and averse to the pursuits of the crowd. Annibale, on the contrary, neglected letters, beyond the mere power of reading and writing, while a natural bluntness of manner inclined him to taciturnity, and when compelled to speak, it was mostly in a satirical, contemptuous, or disputing tone.

On devoting themselves, at the suggestion of Lodovico, to the pictoric art, they still found themselves opposed to each other in genius, as they were in manners. Agostino was timid, and extremely select, backward in resolve, difficult to please himself, and was never aware of a difficulty that he did not encounter, and attempt to vanquish it. Annibal, in common with numbers of artificers, was an expeditious workman, intolerant of doubts and delays, eagerly seeking every remedy for the intricacies of the art, trying the most easy methods, and to perform much in little time. Had they indeed fallen into other hands, Agostino would have become a new Samacchini, Annibal a new Passerotti; and painting would have owed no improvement to their efforts. But their cousin's fine judgment led him, in their education, to imitate Isocrates, who, instructing Ephorus and Theopompus, was accustomed to say, that he was compelled to apply spurs to the one, and a rein to the other. With similar views he consigned Agostino to Fontana, as an easy and rapid master, and retained Annibal in his own studio, where works were carried to higher perfection. By such means too he kept them apart, until riper age should by degrees remove the enmity subsisting between them, and convert it into a bond of amity, when devoted to the same profession, they might unite their capital, and mutually assist each other. In a few years he succeeded in reconciling them, and in 1580 he placed them at Parma and at Venice, of which an account has been given under those schools. During this period Agostino collected materials for his varied learning, and enlarged his design; and as before leaving Bologna he had made great progress in engraving under Domenico Tibaldi, he continued in Venice to practise it under Cort with such success, as to excite his master's jealousy, who drove him, but in vain, from his studio; for Agostino was already esteemed the Marc Antonio of his time. Annibal, devoted to a single aim, both at Parma and Venice continued to paint, availing himself of the works and conversation of illustrious men, with whom at that period the Venetian School abounded. It was then, or shortly subsequent, that he executed his beautiful copies of Coreggio, Titian, and Paul Veronese; in whose taste he also conducted some small pictures. Several specimens of these I saw in possession of the Marchese Durazzo at Genoa, displaying opposite, but very graceful styles.

Returning accomplished artists into their native place, they struggled long and nobly with their fortunes. Their first undertakings consisted of the exploits of Jason, in a frieze of the Casa Favi; these, though conducted with the assistance of Lodovico, were vituperated with excessive scorn by the old painters, as deficient both in elegance and correctness. To this censure, the credit of these masters who had flourished at Rome, who were extolled by the poets, adorned with diplomas, and regarded by the declining age as pillars of the art, seemed to give weight. Their disciples echoed their words, and the crowd repeated them; and such murmurs proceeding from a public, gifted with as much volubility in conversation as would suffice for purposes of declamation or controversy elsewhere, wounded the feelings of the Caracci, overwhelmed and depressed them. I was informed by the accomplished Cav. Niccolò Fava, that Lodovico's change of fortune, along with that of his cousins, occurred on an occasion, and at a period little differing from the above; which is supported by a tradition to the same effect. The two cousins had executed the frieze in the same hall where Cesi adorned another, in opposition to it, with histories of Æneas, which we have already mentioned, (p. 74). The work, conducted in the old style, was certainly beautiful, but Lodovico, in the new, painted another chamber with other histories, twelve in number, of Æneas, of which mention is made in the Guide of Bologna, (p. 14); histories in no way inferior to those in the Casa Magnani. Here was the beginning of the Caracci's fortune, and of the fall of the old masters, Bologna at length preparing to do justice to the worth of that divine artist, and to verify in respect to Cesi that sentence of Hesiod, of which, to the best of my ability, I here offer a version from the Greek, as follows:

Folle chi al più potente fa contrasto!
Che perde la vittoria; e sempre al fine,
Oltra lo scorno, di dolor si è guasto!
_Opera_ V. 210.

Fool, that will dare to cross the path of one
More powerful! and ever to the loss
Of victory, at last add scorn and grief.

It was now that the Caracci, more than ever confident in their style, answered the voice of censure only by works full of vigour and nature, opposed to the works of older masters, feeble and void of truth. By such means that revolution of style which had so long been meditated, at length took place; but it became necessary, in order to accelerate it, to bring over the students of the art to their party, the better to insure the hopes of a new and improved era. This too the Caracci achieved, by opening an academy of painting at their house, which they entitled _Degli Incamminati_, supplying it with casts, designs, and prints, in the same manner as those of their rivals; besides introducing a school for the drawing of the naked figure, and for the study of anatomy and perspective: in short, every thing requisite to the art; directing the whole with a skill added to a kindness that could not fail to procure it abundance of pupils. In particular, the fiery temper of Dionisio Calvart contributed to fill it, who, being in the habit of striking, and even wounding his disciples, drove Guido, Albano, and Domenichino, to transfer their talents to the studio of the Caracci. Panico too entered it from the school of Fontana, and from all sides the best young artists assembled, drawing after them fresh ranks of students. Finally, the other academies were closed; every school was left to solitude; every name gave way before that of the Caracci; to them the best commissions, to them the meed of praise were accorded. Their humbled rivals soon assumed another language, especially when the grand hall of Magnani was thrown open, presenting the wonders of the new Carraccesque art. It was then Cesi declared that he would become a disciple of the new school; and Fontana only lamented that he was too grey-headed to keep pace with it, while Calvart alone, with his usual bravado, ventured to blame the work, being the last of all to recant, or at least to become silent.

It is now time to record the pursuits and the maxims of an academy, which, besides educating many illustrious pupils, perfected the art of their masters; and confirmed the axiom, that the shortest method of learning much is that of teaching. The three brothers were on the most perfect understanding as to the art of teaching, as free from venality as from envy; but the most laborious branches of the professorship were sustained by Agostino. He had drawn up a short treatise of perspective and architecture, from which he expounded to the school. He explained the nature of the bones and muscles, designating them by their names, in which he was assisted by Lanzoni the anatomist, who also secretly provided the school with bodies for such dissections as were required. His lectures were sometimes founded upon history, at others upon fictions; and these he illustrated, and offered for designs, which being exhibited at stated intervals, were examined by skilful judges, who decided upon their respective merits; as we gather from a ticket written to Cesi, one of the arbiters. The meed of fame was sufficient for the crowned candidates, round whom the poets collected to celebrate their name; with whom Agostino enthusiastically joined both with harp and voice, applauding the progress of his scholars. These last were likewise instructed in true criticism, and to give due praise or blame to the works of others; they were also taught to criticise their own works, and whoever could not give good reasons for what he had done, and defend his own work, must cancel it upon the spot. Each, however, was at liberty to pursue what path he pleased, or rather each entered upon that to which nature had best adapted him, which gave rise to so many original manners from the same studio; yet each style was to be founded upon reason, nature, and imitation. In all more doubtful points, recourse was had to the opinion of Lodovico; the cousins presided over the daily exercises of design, full of assiduity, industry, and perseverance. Even the recreations of the academicians had a view to art; to draw landscapes from nature, or to sketch caricatures, were the customary amusements of Annibale and the disciples of the school, when they wished to relax from study.[23]