Chapter VI: Introduction (4)

The Church of S. Giorgio fuori le Mura at Ferrara also at one time contained another altarpiece painted by Cosimo Tura. It was placed over the altar of St. Maurelius, but has long ago been dismembered. One of its panels is the _Flight into Egypt_, in the collection of Mr. R. H. Benson; two others, representing a _Scene from the Life of St. Maurelius_ and _The Martyrdom of St. Maurelius_, are in the Ferrara Gallery; another is the _Adoration of the Magi_, in the possession of the Contessa di Santa Fiora, in Rome; while a fifth, the _Circumcision_, belongs to the Marchesa Passeri, in Rome.

The Louvre possesses an arched panel of _A Monk_ (No. 1557) by Tura. The panel is split and the cheek of the saint injured.

The seriousness of purpose which inspired Cosimo Tura was absorbed by his pupil Francesco Cossa (1435-1477), whose art is not seen at the Louvre. One of Cossa’s pupils was Lorenzo Costa, who in 1483 passed from Ferrara to Bologna, to which city he carried the principles of Tura’s training. Francesco Bianchi (1460-1510) was another of Tura’s pupils, but he belongs more strictly to the school of Modena. Another pupil in the studio of the _chef d’ecole_ of Ferrarese painting was Ercole Roberti (1430?-1496), who also worked at Padua. This painter, whose full name was Ercole de’ Roberti Grandi, has been justly claimed as the author of the two small panels representing _St. Apollonia_ (No. 1677A), holding in her hand the pincers, the symbol of her martyrdom, and _St. Michael_ (No. 1677B). These companion pictures are officially described under the ambiguous designation of “Ferrarese School, XVI century.” They, however, clearly belong to the earlier century, and are probably by Roberti.

The Louvre contains nothing by Ercole Roberti’s pupil, Ercole di Giulio Cesare Grandi (1465?-1531). Ercole Grandi’s influence is sometimes seen in the exceedingly rare pictures of Giovanni Battista Benvenuto, who is better known under the name of Ortolano (“the gardener”), and takes his name from the occupation of his father. The art of Ortolano (1460-1529) is seen to the greatest advantage in the _St. Sebastian, St. Roch, and St. Demetrius_, in the National Gallery (No. 669). An immature work by him is apparently the _Nativity_ in this Gallery (No. 1401), which in the opinion of the compilers of the Catalogue is by Domenico Panetti (1450?-1512?), a pupil of Lorenzo Costa. Panetti’s works are rarely met with out of Italy.

Among the pictures of this school, those of Lodovico Mazzolino (1478?-1528) are perhaps the easiest to recognise. His _Holy Family_ (No. 1387) is not now exhibited, but the _Christ preaching to the Multitude on the Sea of Galilee_ (No. 1388) is evidently by him, although it has been ranked by one critic as a Flemish picture painted under the inspiration of Mazzolino and Dosso Dossi.

Panetti was the master of Benvenuto Tisi, a very prolific painter who is better known by the name of Garofalo (1481?-1559), owing to his occasionally painting a gillyflower into his pictures as a signature. Although the Catalogue includes four small works by this artist, a _Circumcision_ (No. 1550), a _Holy Family_ (No. 1552), a _Madonna and Child_ (No. 1554), and a _Sleeping Child Jesus_ (No. 1553), only the last of them is now exhibited.

Another artist in this school who signed his pictures with a _rebus_ was Giovanni Lutero (1479?-1542), who is better known under the name of Dosso Dossi. A typical instance of this punning use of his name is the _Money Changers driven out of the Temple_, in the Doria Gallery at Rome; it is signed with a “D” traversed by a bone (_osso_), obviously a play on his name of Dosso or D OSSO. No picture by Dosso Dossi is now exhibited.

Francesco Bonsignori (1455-1519), Marco Zoppo (fl. 1471-1498), Michele Coltellini (1480-1542), Ippolito Scarsellino (1551-1620), Girolamo da Carpi, and other Ferrarese painters are unrepresented in this collection.

THE SCHOOL OF MILAN

The painters who practised in Milan in the fourteenth century were little better than provincial craftsmen who had come within the range of the Giottesque tradition without grasping the more vital of its principles. Those who worked in Milanese territory in the first half of the fifteenth century acquired some of the reflected influences which passed from the work of Pisanello and Jacopo Bellini in Verona, and from the more striking achievements of the Paduan and early Venetian schools, but their work lacked all trace of originality.

A painter of the name of Michelino Molinari da Besozzo (fl. 1394-1442), or Michele da Pavia, was painting at Milan about 1420. However, there cannot be said to have been a school of painting, but only an aggregation of painters in Milanese territory, prior to the arrival at Pavia and Milan of the Brescian-born master, Vicenzo Foppa, about 1458. Previous to that important event, if not throughout the whole range of its activity, Milanese art lacked the higher elements of genius in all matters æsthetic. As a school it was to the end too inclined to mere prettiness and superficial sweetness.

The Umbrian-born architect and painter, Bramante (1444-1514), who had received his education in Florence, painted in Lombardy from 1472-1474, as his Panigarola frescoes now in the Brera testify. Bramante also influenced Foppa, whose work is well defined and whose colouring is subdued.

Side by side with Foppa at the head of the Milanese school comes Bernardino Butinone (fl. 1450-1507), a great deal of whose work may still be seen at Milan. A _Madonna and Child_ (No. 1523), which is doubtfully ascribed in the Catalogue to Gregorio Schiavone, a pupil of Squarcione at Padua, may possibly be by Butinone, whose art is marked by an austerity and dryness which are absent from the paintings of Zenale, who was the partner and perhaps a pupil of Butinone.

The _Circumcision, with the Portrait of the Donor_ (No. 1545), although catalogued under the name of Bramantino, may be by Zenale (1436-1526). This panel is inscribed “XL. ANNO 1491. F͞R] I͞A LAPUGNANVS P͞P HVMIL CAN̄.” Bramantino (1455?-1536?), whose name was Bartolommeo Suardi, came under the influence of Foppa and Bramante, and from the latter acquired his _sobriquet_.

The pictures of Borgognone (1455?-1522?) are easily recognised by the ashen grey pallor of his faces, relieved occasionally by eyelids reddened by grief. He was a prolific painter of religious pictures which show simple pathos. With the possible exception of the _Family Portraits_ in the National Gallery (Nos. 779-780), which are indeed fragments of a standard, and may have been painted by Zenale, Borgognone, whose name was Ambrogio da Fossano, is not known to have painted a secular subject. This typical Milanese painter was another of the pupils of Foppa. Being an architect as well as a painter, Borgognone delighted in giving an architectural setting to his compositions. He also loved to introduce brightly coloured carpets and draperies, and minutely painted jewellery into his pictures. These characteristics are seen in his companion pictures of _St. Peter Martyr and a Donoress_ (No. 1182), and _St. Augustine and a kneeling Donor_ (No. 1182A). The latter of this pair of panels of his early period was purchased from Lord Aldenham in 1899 for 1000 guineas. They originally formed part of a dismembered altarpiece, the centre panel of which is now lost or unidentified. His _Presentation of Christ in the Temple_ (No. 1181), although originally painted on panel, was transferred to canvas in 1885. Borgognone might almost be termed the Perugino of the Milanese school.

ANDREA SOLARIO

Andrea Solario (1460?-1515?), who was perhaps the pupil of his brother Cristoforo a sculptor and architect, went with him to Venice in 1490 and remained there at least three years. During this time he came under the influence of Alvise Vivarini and Giovanni Bellini. Earlier in his career he was impressed by the pictures of Antonello da Messina, who was in Venice and Milan in 1475-1476. Solario can hardly have become Antonello’s pupil at that early age. He must also have come within the sphere of Leonardo da Vinci’s influence. Leonardo, who worked in Milan between 1482 and 1500 and from 1506 to 1513, was asked by the Cardinal George of Amboise to decorate a chapel in the Château at Gaillon in Normandy. He, however, advised the Cardinal to employ Solario. Solario in consequence went to France in August 1507 to undertake the work. The Louvre is rich in his pictures. His charming _Madonna of the Green Cushion_ (No. 1530) is inscribed:

_Andreas de Solario fa._

This small panel was once the property of Marie de Médicis. The _Crucifixion_ (No. 1532) was formerly catalogued under the name of Andrea de Milan, which led some to confuse Andrea Solario with the much less efficient painter, Andrea Salaino. This picture is inscribed:

ANDREAS MEDIOLANENSIS FA 1503,

a form of signature which is said to have been employed by Solario only for such of his pictures as were destined for other towns than Milan. The _Head of St. John the Baptist on a Charger_ (No. 1533) is said to be signed and dated

ANDREAS DE SOLARIO, FAT, 1507.

The _Portrait of Charles d’Amboise, Seigneur of Chaumont and Governor of Milan_ (No. 1531), like many other of Solario’s pictures, has in the past, when the range of his art was not so well understood, been attributed to other artists.

BERNARDINO LUINI

In Bernardino Luini (1475?-1533?) we have a lyrical artist. He is said to have been a pupil of one Stefano Scotto, but he was deeply impressed by the art of Borgognone, and early in the sixteenth century came under the influence of Leonardo. Indeed, it was almost impossible at that period of Milanese art for a painter in that school to resist the style of Leonardo. Although Luini’s works are reminiscent of the greater master, he strove after originality; he was an industrious painter rather than an artist of genius. Luini is never very emotional, never passionate, never dramatic. His figures are characterised by sweetness and grace; his types are refined but insipid and are apt to become monotonous. It is as a painter of frescoes that he succeeds best, and the Louvre is fortunate in possessing several of his works in that medium. The best are a _Nativity_ (No. 1359), and an _Adoration of the Magi_ (No. 1360). The _Head of Christ_ (No. 1361) is inscribed:

POSCE NE DUBITA QUOD
QUODCV̄ PATRI IN NOMINE MEᵒ
PETIERIS FIET TIBI.

They were acquired in 1867 from the collection of the Duke Antonio Litta Visconti Arese, of Milan. The Louvre also contains fragments of large fresco paintings of the _Forge of Vulcan_ (No. 1356), a _Child Seated_ (No. 1357), and a _Child Kneeling_ (No. 1358). They form part of the series, which is now preserved in Milan, but formerly decorated the Villa Pelucca near Monza; they were removed from there in 1817. These three fragments have been transferred from plaster to canvas or panel. The four frescoes (Nos. 1362-1365) are by a pupil. The art of Luini as a painter on panel is seen to advantage in the _Holy Family_ (No. 1353), the _Virgin and the Infant Christ_ (No. 1354), and _Salome receiving the Head of St. John the Baptist_ (No. 1355).

The arrival of Leonardo da Vinci, when little over thirty years of age, at the court of Lodovico Sforza at Milan revolutionised art in that city. The exquisite rhythm and balance and the remarkable gestures and facial expression seen in his _Last Supper_ must have made a profound impression on all the Milanese, people and painters alike. Not having been educated in the profound principles that gradually built up the school of Florence, whence the great painter came, the majority of the native artists were so overcome by his power that in time they became enslaved by the magic of his brush.

Ambrogio da Predis (1455?-1506?), who worked as Leonardo’s assistant on the National Gallery’s replica of the _Virgin of the Rocks_ in this collection (No. 1599), is not represented here. Another assistant and pupil of Leonardo was Bernardino de’ Conti. As we have seen, he may be the painter of the _Profile Portrait of a Lady_—or _La Belle Ferronnière_ (No. 1605)—which is officially regarded as being of the “School of Leonardo.” A similar attribution is also given to the _Madonna of the Scales_ (No. 1604), which should rather be assigned to Cesare da Sesto (1477-1523), a sickly and insipid imitator of the master. Another of Leonardo’s imitators was Marco d’Oggiono (1470?-1540). His copy of Leonardo’s _Last Supper_ (No. 1603) is perhaps of greater interest than his own _Holy Family_ (No. 1382) and _Madonna and Child_ (No. 1382A).

One of the more original of the imitators of Leonardo was Boltraffio (1467-1516), whose _Madonna of the Casio Family_ (No. 1169) was formerly in the Milan Gallery, where any picture containing a portrait of that poet might reasonably have been expected to remain. This picture is the painter’s masterpiece.

THE SCHOOL OF LOMBARDY

After the activity which had prevailed in Milan during the last half of the fifteenth century and the first quarter of the sixteenth century, art in Lombardy rapidly deteriorated. Before the decline had passed into decadence Pier Francesco Sacchi (fl. 1512-1527) painted at Pavia his _Four Doctors of the Church_ (No. 1488), which is signed in the cartouche

PETRI FRANCISCI
SACHI DE PAPIA
OPUS 1516.

Each of the Doctors duplicates the part of an Evangelist. On the left St. Augustine, with his book inscribed “De Civitate Dei,” is also shown as St. John with his eagle; St. Gregory, with his dove, is also St. Luke with his bull; St. Jerome, with his cardinal’s hat, is also St. Matthew with his angel; while St. Ambrose, with his scourge, is also St. Mark with his lion. The scourge held by St. Ambrose, a patron saint of Milan, alludes to his refusing the Emperor Theodosius admittance into the church at Milan in consequence of the general massacre he ordered with a view to subduing a sedition at Thessalonica in A.D. 390.

Another early-sixteenth-century Pavian painter was Bartolommeo Bononi, whose only known picture is the _Madonna and Child, St. Francis, a Bishop, and a Monk_ (No. 1174). It is signed

OPUS BARTOLOMEI BONONII CIVIS PAPIENSIS 1501.

on the stump of the tree in the centre foreground.

A striking, although mediocre, _Family of the Virgin_ (No. 1284) by Lorenzo de’ Fasoli, who is also known as Lorenzo di Pavia, and who died about 1520, illustrates the tradition that St. Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary, was three times married, Joachim being her third husband; the other two were Cleophas and Salome. This composition of seventeen figures is signed

LAURENTIVS PAPIEN FECIT MDXIII,

and is one of the latest examples of this tradition, which about 1520 passed out of art.

A large Triptych (No. 1384), signed

JOH̄NES MAZONVS
DE ALEXĀ PINXIT,

is by Giovanni Massone, who worked at Alessandria in the second half of the fifteenth century; it contains the portraits of Pope Sixtus IV. with St. Francis of Assisi and Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere under the protection of St. Anthony of Padua. Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere was Bishop of Savona about 1483; he was in 1503 elected Pope under the title of Julius II., and became the patron of Raphael.

The remaining pictures of this school are of little account. Bernardino Campi (1522-1592?) is represented by a _Mater Dolorosa_ (No. 1202); and Bartolommeo Manfredi (1580?-1617) by a _Fortune Teller_ (No. 1368), a subject which demonstrates the Decadence in full operation. Giovanni Paolo Panini (1695-1764), who came to Paris in 1732 and became an Academician, seems to have got some satisfaction out of committing to canvas a _Concert given at Rome on Dec. 26, 1729, in Honour of the Birth of the Dauphin, the son of Louis XV._ (No. 1409) and a large _Interior of St. Peter’s at Rome_ (No. 1408), the latter being signed and dated 1730.

THE SCHOOL OF FERRARA-BOLOGNA

The city of Bologna was visited in 1268 by Oderigi of Gubbio (fl. 1268-1295), who had the benefit of personal intercourse with Giotto in Rome. Bologna produced a skilled miniature painter in Franco Bolognese in the fourteenth century, but gave birth to few native painters of merit. Until Francesco Cossa removed from Ferrara to Bologna in 1470, art in the City of the Colonnades was in an undeveloped state. The school of Bologna, which may be considered as an offshoot of the Ferrarese school, was further strengthened by the arrival of Lorenzo Costa.

Lorenzo Costa (1460-1535), who had been a pupil of Francesco Cossa at Ferrara, worked for the Bentivogli family in Bologna until 1509. In that year he was induced to fix his abode in Mantua at the instance of the Marquis Francesco Gonzaga and his wife Isabella d’Este, whose court painter, Andrea Mantegna, had died three years earlier. Costa there painted about 1510 his _Court of Isabella d’Este in the Garden of the Muses_ (No. 1261), which is signed