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

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

Girolamo Muziano acquired the art of design from Romanino, and taking his style of colouring from the works of t.i.tian, he subsequently flourished at Rome, in which school he has been already mentioned. In this place we must include Lattanzio Gambara, the pupil and companion of Romanino, as well as his son-in-law, at least if we are to credit Ridolfi and other writers, in this last point sanctioned by the popular tradition of Brescia. Vasari alone, who resided in his house only a short time before he gave some account of him, observes that he was son-in-law to Bonvicino, a point in which his memory, doubtless, betrayed him. Lattanzio was not inferior to his master in spirit, and, at the same time, better instructed in the rules of the art, and more learned. Having attended the academy of Campi, in Cremona, until his eighteenth year, and cultivated an acquaintance with the best foreign masters that he always retained, he added to this knowledge all the richest and most tasteful colours of the Venetian School. Like Pordenone, he employed his talents, for the most part, in frescos, which are still to be seen at Venice, as well as within and without the confines of the state. His manner, however, was less strong and shaded, but in other points much resembling him in the beauty and variety of his forms, variously coloured according to his subjects; in his knowledge of anatomy, without affectation, spirited att.i.tudes, difficult foreshortenings; in a relief that deceives the eye, and in novelty and play of invention. To these we may add even a greater propriety of ideas, and sweetness of tints, acquired from other schools; Lattanzio having studied Giulio Romano at Mantua, and Coreggio in Parma. In the Corso de" Ramai, at Brescia, there yet remain three facades, adorned with various histories and fables, truly beautiful, executed by his hand. They are not, however, so imposing as some of his scriptural pieces, to be seen in still better preservation in the cloister of S.

Euphemia, engravings of which have been promised to the public. The spectator often recurs to them, and always with fresh pleasure. When for want of s.p.a.ce the figures could not be put in an upright posture, he foreshortened them with admirable nature and facility, so that no other att.i.tudes could be imagined so becoming to each figure. Professors have detected some degree of imperfection in the naked parts, very common, indeed, to the most celebrated painters of frescos; but it is such as cannot be perceived at a distance, or if seen, resembles only some false quant.i.ty in a good poet, easily to be pardoned in the number of poetical beauties with which his verses abound. He painted still more copious histories for the cathedral at Parma, containing, perhaps, his greatest and most studied production, and which fails not to please, even in the presence of those of Coreggio. There are several altarpieces likewise in oil at San Benedetto, in Mantua, all of which are not equally happy. A Nativity of our Lord, at SS. Faustino and Giovita, is his only picture in oil remaining at his native place in public; it is very graceful, displaying certain traits of the Raffaello manner. His picture of a Pieta, at San Pietro, in Cremona, is also highly esteemed by professors, one among whom, who had designed a good deal from the works of Lattanzio, declared to me that he had never witnessed any other so exquisite in point of design, nor coloured with so much delicacy, clearness, and taste and softness of tints. Yet this great artist only reached his thirty-second year, leaving in Giovita, a Brescian artist, (likewise called Brescianino) an excellent disciple, particularly of works in fresco.

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

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

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

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

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

Callisto Piazza is likewise announced, by Orlandi, as another imitator of the latter, which is very evident from his picture of the a.s.sumption, in the collegiate church of Codogno. It contains figures of apostles, and two portraits of the Marchesi Trivulzi, not unworthy of any of t.i.tian"s disciples. And for such, indeed, was Callisto esteemed, both elsewhere and in Lodi, possessing, in the church of the Incoronata, three chapels, each ornamented with four of his very beautiful histories. One of these contains the mysteries of the Pa.s.sion, another the acts of S. John the Baptist, and the third displays histories in the life of the Virgin. A report is current there, that t.i.tian, in pa.s.sing through Lodi, produced several heads, probably only a story originating in the exceeding beauty that may be observed in some. It appears, however, certain, that he also imitated Giorgione, in whose style he conducted his altarpiece, representing the Virgin between various saints, at San Francesco, in Brescia, esteemed one of the most beautiful in the whole city. He produced others for Brescia, for Crema, for the dome of Alessandria, and for Lodi, though in this last he succeeded better in fresco than in oil. From the circ.u.mstance of his residing in so many different places, I shall not refer him to the school of Milan, preferring to place him here, no less because of the vicinity of Crema to Lodi, than from his belonging to the list of the imitators of t.i.tian.[63] Little justice has been done to the memory of such a man by Ridolfi, who commends him for nothing besides his colouring in fresco, and water colours; when, in fact, he boasts very n.o.ble design, and forms tolerably select, more particularly in the a.s.sumption already mentioned.

Moreover, he calls him Callisto da Lodi Bresciano, as if da Lodi were a family name; although in signing his own name, he gave it _Callixtus de Platea_, at the Incoronata, and elsewhere desirous of marking his country, _Callixtus Laudensis_. Ridolfi, too, says little or nothing of the period in which he flourished. Padre Orlandi found, affixed to one of his pictures, at Brescia, the date of 1524. I may add, that in Lodi he gave the years 1527 and 1530; and that, in the Nuptials of Cana, in the refectory of the Padri Cisterciensi, at Milan, he marked 1545. It is truly a surprising production, no less for its boldness of hand than for the number of its figures, although the whole of them are not equally well studied, and a few, among others that seem to breathe and live, are really careless and incorrect.[64] He painted in the same city, within a courtyard, the choir of the muses, including the portraits of the president Sacco, the master of the house, and of his wife; respecting which, writes Lomazzo, I may, without fear of temerity, observe, that it is impossible to produce any thing more perfectly graceful and pleasing, more beautiful in point of colouring, among works in fresco. (_Trat._ p.

598.)

We next arrive at the name of Jacopo Robusti, the son of a Venetian dyer, and for this reason surnamed Tintoret. He was pupil to t.i.tian, who, jealous of his talents, soon banished him from his studio. He did not aspire, like the preceding artists, to the name of t.i.tian"s follower; for he burned with ambition to become the head of a new school which should carry his manner to perfection, adding to it all that was yet wanting; a vast idea, the offspring of a grand and fervid genius, and as bold as it was great, not even banishment from his master"s school being able to damp his ardour. Constrained by circ.u.mstances to confine himself to an incommodious apartment, he enn.o.bled it with specimens of his early studies. Over the door of it he wrote, "Michelangiolo"s design, and the colouring of t.i.tian;" and as he was an indefatigable imitator of the latter, so he was equally studious, both night and day, in copying the models, taken from the statues in Florence, belonging to the former. To these he added many more of ba.s.si relievi, and of ancient statues. In a catalogue of ancient pieces of sculpture, cited by Morelli, and belonging to the year 1695, is recorded a head of Vitellius, upon which "_Tintoretto was always employed in designing and learning_," (note, p. 152). He was frequently in the habit of designing his models by lamplight, the better to obtain strong shades, and thus acquire skill in the use of a bold chiaroscuro.

With the same view he wrought models in wax and chalk, and having clothed them carefully, he adapted them to little houses, composed of pasteboard, and slips of wood, supplying them through the windows with small lights, by which he might thus regulate his own lights and shades.

The models themselves he suspended from the ceiling by cords, placing them in a variety of positions, and designing them from different points of view, the better to acquire a mastery of the _sotto in su_, or foreshortening on the ceiling, a science not so familiar to his school as to that of Lombardy. Nor did he neglect the study of anatomy, to obtain a thorough knowledge of the muscles, and the structure of the human frame. He designed also the naked parts, as much as possible, in various shortenings and att.i.tudes, in order to render his compositions as diversified as nature herself. By such studies he prepared himself to introduce the true method to be pursued by his followers, beginning with designing from the best models, and having obtained the idea of a correct style, proceeding to copy the naked parts, and to correct their defects.[65] To such aids he united a genius which extorted the admiration of Vasari, one of his severest critics, who p.r.o.nounced it the most terrible of which the art could boast--an imagination fertile in new ideas, and a pictorial fire which inspired him with vigour to conceive well the boldest character of the pa.s.sions, and continued to support him until he had given full expression to them on his canva.s.s.

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

But diligence is rarely found long united to a rage for achieving much; the true source in this instance, as in numerous others, of false, or at least of inferior composition. Hence, Annibale Caracci observed, that in many pieces Tintoretto was inferior to Tintoretto; while Paul Veronese, so ardent an admirer of his talents, was in the habit of reproaching him with doing injustice to the professors of the art, by painting in every manner, a plan that went far to destroy the reputation of the profession (_Ridolfi_). Similar exceptions will be found to apply to such of his works as, conceived at a heat, executed by habit, and in great part left imperfect, betray certain errors both in point of judgment and design.

Sometimes there appears a crowd of superfluous or badly grouped figures, and most generally all in the most energetic actions, without any spectators regarding them in quiet, as was practised by t.i.tian and all the best composers. Neither in these figures are we to look for that senatorial dignity, which Reynolds discovers in t.i.tian.

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

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

Polo, possesses a _Susanna_ of this character, where, in small s.p.a.ce, is included a park, with birds and rabbits disporting, together with every thing desirable in a pleasure garden; the whole as studiously finished as his figures.

There is little to add relating to his school on which none conferred greater credit than his son, Domenico Tintoretto. He trod in the steps of his father; but, like Ascanius following aeneas, "non pa.s.sibus aequis."

Still he may boast much resemblance in his countenances, in his colouring, and in harmony, but there is a wide distinction in point of genius, though some of his most spirited pieces have been ascribed to his father, or at least suspected of having been chiefly indebted to his hand. Many works, however, upon a large scale, are attributed to the son; those which he has filled with portraits being far the most commended; his merit in this branch having been thought equal by Zanetti to that of his father. One of these is seen at the college of St. Mark, where, as in the rest of his compositions, the figures are disposed with more sobriety than those of Jacopo, as well as finished with more care, and with more enduring colours. As he grew older his style fell somewhat into that of a mannerist, which at that period, as we shall see, much prevailed. By these distinctions his productions may be frequently known from his father"s, and we may be enabled to refute the a.s.sertions of dealers, who, to obtain a higher price, attribute them indiscriminately to Jacopo. Yet Domenico produced many pieces, more especially portraits for different collections, besides several mythological and scriptural histories, to which he sometimes added his name, as in his picture boasting such exquisite tints which adorns the Campidoglio; the subject of which is a penitent Magdalen. Contemporary with Domenico, we ought not to omit the name of his sister Marietta, so exquisite a painter of portraits, as to receive invitations from the Emperor Maximilian, and from Philip II. of Spain, to visit their respective courts. But her father would never consent to such a measure, in order to enjoy her society at home, though he was deprived of her not long afterwards, cut off in the flower of her genius and her age.

Jacopo possessed few disciples beyond his two children, though he profited in some measure from these few. Paolo Franceschi, or de"

Freschi, a Fleming, and Martino de Vos d"Anversa, were artists he employed to draw his landscapes. The former was esteemed one of the best landscape painters of his time, while he succeeded also in figures. He was engaged to paint for the Palazzo Publico, and several churches in Venice, where he terminated his days. The second resided also at Rome; and, in the church of San Francesco a Ripa, painted his _Concezione_, a picture, indeed, abounding with too many figures, but beautiful and exquisite in its tints. With still greater felicity he depicted the four seasons for the Colonna family, very pleasing little pictures, presenting a happy union of various schools, fine perspective, fine relief, with correct and graceful design. Pa.s.sing into Germany, and increasing in reputation no less by his works than by the engravings made of them by Sadeler, there, full of years and fame, he died.

Lamberto Lombardo has been just before recorded as the a.s.sistant of Tintoretto, but not his disciple.

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

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

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

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

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

Volpati_, cited by us in another epoch, and in the index to the writers.

At the outset Jacopo aspired to a grandeur of style, which is apparent from some of his pictures remaining in the facade of the Casa Michieli.

Among these, a Samson slaying the Philistines meets with much praise, and indeed they all partake of the boldness of Michel Angiolo. But, whether the result of disposition or of judgment, he afterwards confined himself to smaller proportions, and to subjects of less power. Even the figures in his altarpieces are generally less than life, and so little animated, that it was observed by some one, that in Tintoretto even his old men were spirited, but that the youths of Ba.s.sano were mere dotards.

We do not meet with any of that n.o.ble architecture in his paintings, that adds so much dignity to those of the Venetian School. He appears rather anxious to find subjects in which to introduce candlelight, cottages, landscape, animals, copper vessels, and all such objects as pa.s.sed under his eye, and which he copied with surprising accuracy. His ideas were limited, and he often repeated them, a fault to be attributed to his situation, it being an indisputable fact, that the conceptions both of artists and of writers become enlarged and increased in great capitals, and diminish in small places. All this may be gathered from his pictures produced for private ornament, the most familiar occupation of his life, inasmuch as he executed very few large altarpieces. He conducted them at leisure in his studio, and, a.s.sisted by his school, he prepared a great number of various dimensions. He then despatched them to Venice, and sometimes to the best frequented fairs, thus rendering the number so very great, as to make it rather a disgrace for a collection not to possess copies by his hand, than an honour to have them. In these may be viewed, almost invariably, the same subjects; consisting of acts of the Old and New Testament; the Feasts of Martha, of the Pharisee, of the Glutton, with a splendid display of brazen vessels; the Ark of Noah, the Return of Jacob, the Annunciation of the Angel to the Shepherds, with great variety of animals. To these we may add, the Queen of Sheba; the three Magi, with regal pomp of dress, and the richest array; the Deposition of our Lord from the Cross, by torchlight. His pieces upon profane subjects exhibit the sale of beasts and of brazen vessels; sometimes rural occupations, corresponding to the seasons of the year; and sometimes without human figures, merely a kitchen, furniture, a fowl yard, or similar objects. Nor is it only the histories or the compositions themselves that recur in every collection to the eye; but even countenances taken from individuals of his own family; for instance, arraying his own daughter either as a Queen of Sheba, or a Magdalen; or as a villager, presenting fowls to the infant Jesus. I have likewise seen entire pieces, with the t.i.tle of the _Family of Ba.s.sano_, sometimes in small size, and sometimes in larger. Of the former, I remarked a specimen in Genoa, in possession of Signor Ambrogio Durazzo, where the daughters of the painter are seen intent upon their feminine occupations, a little boy playing, and a domestic in the act of lighting a candle. One of the second kind may be seen in the _Medicean Museum_, a picture which represents an academy of music.

By this method he seemed to confess the poverty of his imagination, though he derived from it a very remarkable advantage. By dint of continually repeating the same things, he brought them to the utmost point of perfection of which they were susceptible; as we may gather from his picture of the Nativity of our Lord, placed at San Giuseppe, in Ba.s.sano; the master not only of Jacopo, but in point of force of colours and the chiaroscuro, of every thing that modern painting has to boast.

The same is seen in his Burial of Christ, at the Seminario of Padua, a picture of which an engraving was taken by order of Madame Patin, among the portraits of celebrated painters; having met with no other that seemed to breathe such a spirit of pity and holy terror. Finally, in his Sacrifice of Noah, at Santa Maria Maggiore in Venice, in which he collected specimens of all the birds and animals he had drawn elsewhere, he preserved the same character; and by this production so far won the regard of t.i.tian, that he wished to purchase a copy for the ornament of his own studio.

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

Ba.s.sano educated four of his sons to the same profession, which thus became transmitted to others, so that the Ba.s.sanese school continued for the length of a century, though still declining and departing fast from its primitive splendour. Francesco and Leandro were the two members of Jacopo"s family best disposed to pursue his footsteps, and he was accustomed to pride himself upon the inventive talents displayed by the former, and the singular ability of the latter for portrait painting, Of his two other sons, Giambatista and Girolamo, he used to observe, that they were the most accurate copyists of his own works. All of these, more especially the two latter, were instructed by their father in those refinements of the art he himself practised, and they so far succeeded, that many of their copies, made both during and after the lifetime of their father, very frequently imposed upon professors, being received for the originals of Jacopo. The whole of them, however, produced original works, and Francesco the eldest, having established himself in Venice, gave ample proof of it in those histories drawn from Venetian records, which he painted for the Palazzo Grande. They are placed near those of Paul Veronese, and appear to advantage even in such compet.i.tion. His father here a.s.sisted him with his advice; himself attending upon the spot, and instructing him where he found occasion, how to add force to his tints, to improve his perspective, and to bring the whole work to the most perfect degree of art. His pencil may be very clearly traced in that of his son, as well as his style, which in the opinion of critics is somewhat too much loaded, especially in his shades. Francesco, likewise, produced several beautiful altarpieces, in which, on the other hand, he appears less vigorous than his father; as may be seen in his Paradiso, at the Gesu, in Rome, or in his San Apollonio, at Brescia, one of the most beautiful pieces in the church of S. Afra, and much admired by foreigners. And he would have achieved still greater things, had he not been afflicted with severe fits of melancholy, such as to deprive him of the use of his faculties and his time, until he was driven by sudden desperation to throw himself from a window, and, by this accident, still in the prime of his days, he lost his life.

The works which he left imperfect in the Ducal Palace, and in other places, were completed by Leandro, the third son of Jacopo, and a professor in high repute. He followed the same maxims in the art, except that by his practice in portrait taking, he acquired more originality of countenance; and in the use of his pencil approaches nearer to the first than to the second style of Jacopo. He is, moreover, more variable in it, and inclines somewhat to the mannerism of his age. One of his best performances perhaps, is to be seen at San Francesco, in Ba.s.sano; Santa Caterina crowned by our Lord; amidst various saints, distributed upon the steps of the throne, with figures larger than customary in the Ba.s.sanese school. His pictures likewise of the Resurrection of Lazarus, placed at the Carita; and of the Nativity of the Virgin, at Santa Sofia; besides others he produced at Venice, as well as for the state, are distinguished by their large proportions. If familiar with the father"s productions, we may often detect domestic plagiarisms in Leandro; who often repeats the family of da Ponte, copied in innumerable pieces by Jacopo, by his sons, and by their descendants. Even in his pictures for private ornament, conducted according to his own style and fancy, he was fond of adopting paternal subjects and examples; being skilful in drawing animals of every kind from nature. But nothing proved so favourable to his reputation, both in Italy and throughout Europe, as the immense number of his portraits, admirably executed, and not unfrequently with a certain original fancy, both for private persons and for princes. Those that he executed for the Imperial Palace were particularly relished; insomuch that he received an invitation from Rodolph II., to accept the place of his court painter; an honour which Leandro thought fit to refuse. He was more ambitious of enjoying fame at Venice than at Vienna; for the Doge Grimani, the better to obtain a n.o.ble portrait of himself, had already created him his cavalier. And Leandro supported his dignity with an imposing demeanour: he lodged, dressed, and maintained his table in a n.o.ble manner. He appeared in public ornamented with a collar of gold, and with the insignia of St.

Mark, accompanied by a train of disciples, who dwelt at his house. One of these bore his gold cane, another the repertory, in which he noted down all that was to be done during the day. The same were bound to attend upon him at table; and as he was suspicious of poison, he was accustomed, like the great, to have his tasters, who took something of every dish he eat; but they were ordered not to taste much, as in such case the great man became little, and gave rise to much mirth. Like his brother, he was subject to fits of melancholy, but he contrived to manage them so well, as only to give birth to comic, never to tragic scenes.

Giambatista da Ponte, is a name almost unmentioned in history; nor is there any production attributed to him, besides an altarpiece in Gallio, with his name, and which by some writer has been given, from its style, to Leandro. Girolamo, the last of the family, is better known by an altarpiece which he conducted in Venice, after the composition of Leandro, as well as for others executed in Ba.s.sano and its vicinity. He cannot be denied a certain graceful air in his countenances; and in some of his works, displaying the simplest composition, very graceful colouring. Such is his picture of S. Barbara, adorning the church of S.

Giovanni, at Ba.s.sano, where the saint is seen between two upright virgin figures, with their eyes fixed upon heaven, where the holy virgin is represented in the usual manner of the times.

Not only was Jacopo attached to the soil and very walls of his native country, from which no prospects of honour or of profit could tempt him away; but he liberally granted his instructions to his fellow citizens, which both his sons and their family continued after his decease. The best disciple whom they produced, was Jacopo Apollonio, the offspring of Jacopo"s daughter. Though only acquainted with the two least celebrated of his uncles, he made rapid progress in his art, a case in which he may be compared to certain writers, who have wholly made use of their native dialect, without mingling it with any of a foreign growth. In like manner he is _Ba.s.sanese_ in his ideas, in his draperies, in his architecture, and more than all, in his landscape, which he touched with a master"s hand. He might easily at times be mistaken for the real Ba.s.sani, were he not inferior to them in the vigour of his tints, in the delicacy of his contours, and in the strokes of his pencil. Some of his best works consist of a Magdalen, seen in the Dome of Ba.s.sano, a San Francesco at the Riformati, which present fair examples by which to judge of his style. Yet above all, his picture of the t.i.tular with various other saints at San Sebastiano, is one of the most exquisite finish, and possesses every estimable quality in the art, except that of softness. Some have considered him the only artist among the disciples of this school worthy of commemoration. Yet the natives of Ba.s.sano set some store by two brothers named Giulio and Luca Martinelli, very estimable scholars of Jacopo. They also hold in some esteem Antonio Scaiario, son-in-law to Giambatista da Ponte, as well as his heir, owing to which he sometimes signs himself _Antonio da Ponte, Antonio Ba.s.sano_.

Nor do they omit the name of Jacopo Guadagnini, the offspring of a daughter of Francesco da Ponte, who acquired some merit in face painting, and in copying, however feebly, the works of his ancestors.

Upon his decease in 1633, every vestige of the manner and of the school of Jacopo became extinct in Ba.s.sano. There nevertheless arose about the same period in Cittadella, a place adjacent to Ba.s.sano, a young genius of the name of Gio. Batista Zampezzo, who, directed by Apollonio, and having concluded his studies at Venice, devoted himself to copying the works of Jacopo. So well did he imitate his Santa Lucilla baptized by San Valentino, a piece at the Grazie in Ba.s.sano, that Bartolommeo Scaligero p.r.o.nounced it comparable with the original. He flourished about 1660;[66] and subsequent to him appeared the n.o.ble Gio. Antonio Lazzari, a Venetian, who succeeded in deceiving the most skilful artists, says Melchiori, by dint of copying Jacopo, and pa.s.sing for him.

It will not have been irksome, I trust, to my readers, thus to have connected together a series of the school of Ba.s.sano, by aid of which the copies taken by so many artists, at different periods, and with various degrees of merit, may be better distinguished.[67]

Whilst the Ba.s.sanese school employed itself in drawing the simplest objects of rural nature upon a small scale, a different one sprung up in Verona, which surpa.s.sed all others by copying, upon the most ample grounds, every thing most beautiful in art; such as architecture, costume, ornaments, the splendour of trains of servants, and luxury worthy of kings. This then remained still to be completed, and it was reserved for the genius of Paul Caliari to accomplish. The son of Gabriele, a sculptor at Verona, he was destined by his father for the same art. Instructed in a knowledge of design, and modelling in clay, he nevertheless evinced so strong a genius for painting, as to induce his father to give him as a pupil to Badile, under whom, in a short time, he made an astonishing progress. He had, however, appeared in an age that made it inc.u.mbent on him to exert himself greatly, such were the splendid talents that distinguished the Veronese School. It is deserving, indeed, of separate mention, inasmuch as it might of itself form a school apart, were it not that its princ.i.p.al masters had acquired a knowledge of their art, either from Mantegna of Padua, or from the Venetian Bellini; from Giorgione, or as we shall have occasion to see, from t.i.tian. It was thus derived rather from the artists of the state, than from its own or from foreign sources; though it flourished by its own industry, and produced as many various styles as any other place in the terra firma. I have already alluded to the remark of Vasari, that "Verona having constantly devoted itself, after the death of F.

Giocondo, to the study of design, produced at all times excellent artists, &c." such praise as he bestowed on no other city of the Venetian state. I noticed also its superiority in force of expression, and its very general taste, in animating and giving an air of liveliness to its heads, so general indeed as to be almost characteristic of the nation. To these it added a beauty peculiar to itself; more light and elegant, and less full than in the Venetian paintings, though not so fresh and rubicund in the fleshy parts. It is also equally happy with any other in its inventions, availing itself of mythology and history to form fanciful compositions, and for the ornament of palaces and villas.

The national genius so well adapted for poetry, aided the artists in the conception of such compositions; while the advice of able men, always abounding in the city, helped to perfect them. The climate too was favourable for the production, as well as for the preservation of paintings; for while at Venice the saltness of the air destroyed many beautiful pieces in fresco, in Verona and its adjacent towns a great number remained entire.

We have already alluded to its leading masters of the preceding epoch, observing that many were ent.i.tled from their works to rank in this brighter period. To these I add Paolo Cavazzola, pupil to Moroni, and in the opinion of Vasari, much superior to him. He died at the age of thirty-one, leaving many fine specimens of a mature judgment in different churches. The two Falconetti were also worthy of some notice.

Gio. Antonio, an excellent draughtsman of fruits and animals; and Gio.

Maria, a scholar of Melozzo (_Notizia_, p. 10,) and a celebrated architect and painter, though not one of the most copious, more especially in fresco. These two brothers were descendants of old Stefano da Verona, or da Sevio, whichever he is to be called. Nor less worthy in the opinion of Vasari was one Tullio, or India il Vecchio, an able artist in fresco, a portrait painter, and a celebrated copyist. His son Bernardino appears to advantage, no less in a bold than a delicate style; in which last, if I mistake not, he is superior, as we perceive from specimens in the churches, and other collections in Verona. Many of his pictures betray a style approaching that of Giulio Romano. He is recorded by Vasari, together with Eliodoro Forbicini, famous for his grotesques, and a.s.sistant in many of his labours to India, as well as to various other artists of no mean fame.

Dionis...o...b..ttaglia distinguished himself by an altarpiece of Santa Barbara, mentioned by Pozzo as being at Santa Eufemia; no less than did Scalabrino by his two scriptural histories placed at San Zeno. Two other artists of the same period are very deserving of mention, both on account of their productions and their pupils; Niccolo Giolfino (in Vasari called Ursino) the master of Farinato; and Antonio Badile, the tutor and the uncle of Caliari. Giolfino, or Golfino, according to Ridolfi, partakes something of the dryness of the Quattrocentisti, less select and animated than the best of his contemporaries, his colours not very vivid, but pleasing and harmonious. Most probably educated by some one of these miniaturists, he succeeded better in pictures upon a small than upon a large scale, such as in his Resurrection of Lazarus, to be seen in the church of Nazareth. Born in 1480, Badile flourished during another eighty years, and was the first, perhaps, of any in Verona, to exhibit painting altogether free from traces of antiquity, while he excelled no less in external forms than in depicting the inward affections and pa.s.sions of the mind. He was moreover the author, at the same time, of a peculiar softness, yet freedom of hand; though it is not known from whom he acquired it. He affixed to his works only the first syllable of his name, formed in a cypher. His picture of the raising of Lazarus, painted for San Bernardino, and another with some holy bishops at San Nazaro, both so much commended by Ridolfi, serve to shew from what source his two pupils, Paolo and Zelotti, derived that elegant manner, which they mutually improved by a.s.sisting one another. A similar style was for some years displayed by Orlando Fiacco, or Flacco, from which he is supposed to have been a scholar of Badile, though Vasari, who extols him particularly in portrait, gives him to another school.

However this may be, it is certain he inclined to a boldness of style, approaching that of Caravaggio. He flourished but a short period, during which he acquired more merit than fortune.

This resulted from the too great abundance of good artists in Verona, a circ.u.mstance that induced many to seek better fortune in foreign parts.

Orlandi, on the authority of Vasari, has inserted in the Abecedario a professor of the name of Zeno, or Donato, a native of Verona, who in the church of San Marino at Rimino, painted the t.i.tular saint with singular care. I saw it, and it displayed great simplicity of composition, good design, and still better colouring, more particularly in the dress of the bishop, which he laboriously ornamented with little figures of saints. He seems to have belonged to the golden period of art; and it is known that he left other works at the same place, and most probably never changed his residence, or at least did not return, so far as we know, to Verona. Two other artists, named Batista Fontana, much engaged at the imperial court of Vienna; and Jacopo Ligozzi, who long flourished at the court of Tuscany, as I have observed in its place, also adopted the resolution of quitting their native city. Of the former scarcely any thing remains there; though there are a few pieces by the hand of the second, among which at S. Luca a Saint Helena, who, surrounded by her court ladies, a.s.sists in the discovery of the Holy Cross, a picture displaying the best Venetian taste in its tints, and in the richness of its draperies; but certainly all the worst, in regard to transferring our own customs to more ancient times. Giovanni Ermanno had either a brother or other relation who approached him very nearly in point of merit, as may clearly be seen at the Santi Apostoli in Verona.

But those who had there obtained the ascendancy, when Paul Veronese first began to make himself known, were three fellow citizens, who still maintain a high character in their native place, inferior only to that of Paul himself. Their names are Batista d"Angelo, surnamed del Moro, as the son-in-law and pupil of Torbido; Domenico Ricci, called il Brusasorci, from his father"s custom of burning rats; and Paul Farinato, likewise called degli Uberti. All three were invited by the Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga to Mantua, in order that each might exhibit in the cathedral an altarpiece; while together with these appeared Paul, the youngest of the whole; but who according to Vasari and Ridolfi, surpa.s.sed them in the compet.i.tion. But it is not yet time to enter upon his merits, having first to treat of his rivals, before we venture upon him and his followers, so as not to have occasion for interrupting the remainder of this history, until we arrive at a new epoch.

Giambatista was the least celebrated of the three, though each of his works obtained so much credit, that when Santa Eufemia had one of its walls demolished to make way for a new edifice, his picture of St. Paul before Ananias, that adorned it, was carefully preserved at considerable expense, and replaced over the door of the church; yet this was one of his earliest productions. He produced a great many others, both in oil and in fresco, not unfrequently in compet.i.tion with Paul. He follows Torbido in point of diligence, and in his strong and unctuous colouring.

He has more softness, however, of design; and, if I mistake not, more grace; of which he gave a distinguished specimen in an Angiolo at San Stefano, in the act of distributing the palms to the SS. Innocenti. He was employed, also, in Venice, where the most studied and animated production, going by his name, is not positively p.r.o.nounced his by Ridolfi, but only _esteemed to be his_, while it is ascribed by Boschini to Francesco Alberti, a Venetian, known merely by this single production. It is an altarpiece in Santa Maria Maggiore, representing the Virgin between St. John and St. Mark, and several lords in ducal robes, with their sons, in the act of adoring her; very lively portraits of the Marcello family, for whom the altar was painted. Vasari gives a brief account both of him and his son Marco, his pupil and a.s.sistant, though he did not mention Giulio, brother to Batista, who distinguished himself alike in all the arts, and is called by Zanetti _dotto pittore_.

Both, like Batista, exercised their talents in Venice, and whoever compares the four _Coronati_ of Giulio, placed at San Apollinare, with the _Paradiso_ of Marco at San Bartolommeo, will discover an elegance, a precision, and an arrangement of style, sufficient to mark them for disciples of the same school.

Brusasorci may be termed the t.i.tian of this school. It is not known that he received the instructions of any other master besides Giolfino, but it is certain that he studied the works of Giorgione and of t.i.tian, in Venice. He has exhibited the style of the latter in a few of his pictures with great accuracy, as we see in his _San Rocco_, in the church of the Padri Agostiniani at Verona, and in several other pictures for private persons, among which he has drawn nymphs and Venuses. An eye accustomed to the originals of the best Venetians, detects a diversity of tints which in the artist of Verona are less glowing. His genius could not confine itself to the imitation of a single model, like some of the Venetians; he became fond of Giorgione, and to judge from one of his pieces remaining at Mantua, also of Parmigianino. There in the ducal palace we meet with the Fable of Phaeton exhibited in different pieces, which, however much defaced by time, are still admired for the fancy and vivacity they display, no less than for their abundance of figures, and the difficult foreshortenings he has inserted. But his chief merit was shewn in his frescos, with which he decorated villas and palaces with the erudition of a fine poet and the execution of a fine painter. He produced, likewise, his histories; and the masterpiece of all I have seen is the procession of Clement VIII. and of Charles V. through Bologna, a picture exhibited in a hall of the n.o.ble casa Ridolfi, and which has been engraved. A n.o.bler spectacle cannot well be imagined; and although other specimens, both of this and similar subjects are met with very generally at Rome, in Venice, and in Florence, none produce equal effect; combining in one piece, a large concourse, fine distribution of figures, vivacity of countenances, n.o.ble att.i.tudes in the men and horses; variety of costume, pomp, and splendour and dignity, all bearing an expression of pleasure adapted to such a day. This piece may compete with another in the palazzo Murari at Ponte Nuovo, also in fresco, though this last is preferred in the estimation of many before that of the casa Ridolfi, as I have been informed by the learned Signor