novel, appeared to me well worth historical mention. Somewhat at a later
period Giuseppe Caletti, called il Cremonese, came into notice. He acquired
the art rather from the models of the Dossi, and of Titian, than from
masters, imitating not only their manner of design, but their colouring,
which is so difficult. He contrived also to imitate that antique tone which
time gives to paintings, and thus adds to their harmony. He painted a good
deal for collections, such as half-length figures, bacchanals, and small
histories. Baruffaldi recognized several in some noble galleries at
Bologna, and has been compelled to argue the point with judges, who
maintained that they were Titian's. He farther relates, that an excellent
pupil of Pietro da Cortona purchased a great number, at a high price, at
Ferrara, being confident of reselling them at Rome for Titian's, or at
least for works of his school. In Ferrara, which is filled with his
pictures, it is difficult to succeed in these impostures. He is there
distinguished by fleshes of a sun-burnt hue, by certain bold lights,
strengthened by contrast with somewhat loaded shadows, by the fleeciness of
his clouds, and by other careless and ill-conducted accessories. Often too
the extravagance of the composition betrays the real author, when, for
instance, in a bacchanal, much resembling Titian, there is inserted a
chase, or some modern sport, which is like representing wild boars in the
sea, or dolphins in the woods. In a similar manner are his other fine
qualities impaired for want of judgment, without which no artist is well
calculated for the decoration of churches. In that of S. Benedict, however,
his four Holy Doctors, on an altar, are seen to advantage; and upon another
his admirable St. Mark, a grand and correct figure, full of expression, and
very picturesquely surrounded by abundance of volumes, in whose drawing he
is so true and natural, as to have been called the painter of books. Having
completed this work, il Cremonese disappeared out of the city, nor were
farther tidings heard of him, although some writers conjecture that he died
about 1660.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An invention, finally deserving of mention, and extremely useful to
painting, was made known during this last epoch by a Ferrarese, and
afterwards brought to perfection by others. Antonio Contri, son of a
Ferrarese lawyer, who, for domestic reasons, had long settled at Rome, and
next at Paris, feeling a natural bias for design, practised it in both
those cities; but first displayed greater excellence in embroidery than
painting. Returning into Italy, and establishing himself at Cremona, he was
instructed in landscape by Bassi, in which he was accustomed also to
introduce flowers, the branch of painting in which he most distinguished
himself. He also succeeded well in perspectives and in animals. His
pictures, and those of his son Francesco, who pursued his style, remain at
Cremona, Ferrara, and their vicinity; but it was his new discovery, just
alluded to, which obtained a more wide circulation and repute. This is the
method of removing from walls to canvass any picture without the least
injury to its design or colouring. Various trials of it, during the space
of a year, instructed him how to compose a sort of glue, or bitumen, which
he spread over a canvass of equal size with the picture he wished to
transfer to it. Having applied this to the painting, and beaten it firm
with a mallet, he cut the plaister round it, and applied to the canvass a
wooden frame well propped, in order that the work might take hold, and come
off equal throughout. In a few days he cautiously removed the canvass from
the wall, which brought with it the painting; and, having extended it on a
smooth table, he applied to the back of it another canvass, varnished with
a composition more adhesive than the former. He then placed over the work a
quantity of sand, which should equally compress it in all its parts; and,
after a week's space, he examined the two pieces of canvass, detached the
first by means of warm water, and there then remained on the second the
whole painting taken from the wall. He applied this method in different
houses of Cremona, for Baruffaldi in Ferrara, and in Mantua for Prince
d'Harmstadt, governor of the city; so as to enable him to send some heads,
or other works of Giulio Romano, thus removed from the ducal palace, to the
emperor. The secret composition of his glue Contri always concealed, but
similar attempts were made about the same period in foreign countries. In
the journal of Trevoux it is stated that Louis XV. caused the celebrated
painting of St. Michael, by Raffaello, to be removed from its original
canvass to a new one, a process which succeeded admirably, for on this last
the chinks and creases disappeared which had greatly injured the
former.[60] From this account I have been led to doubt whether Contri were
really the inventor of this art, as asserted by Ferrarese writers. I say
only doubted, since I am unable to judge the question with precision, for
want of ascertaining the exact year in which he first applied the method
with success. What is indisputable however is, that he was the first who
was induced to make such trial of it upon painted walls, and that the plan
which he adopted was only of his own invention. But whether he discovered
the art, or only the method of applying it, at this period his secret, or
something equivalent to it, is pretty well known in Italy. On passing
through Imola, I saw, in a private house, two histories of the Life of the
Virgin, which had been painted by Cesi in the cathedral of that city,
removed thence, and replaced on large new canvass. Had this invention been
elicited a few years previously, several of those ancient works might have
been preserved, mention of which is now only to be met with in books, to
the regret of every lover of the fine arts.

     Footnote 60: See Il Sig. Ab. Requeno, in his "Essays for the
     Re-establishment of the ancient Art of the Greek and Roman
     Painters." Ed. Ven. p. 108.

Here too we must give some account of an exceedingly interesting art, as
regards that of painting; an art which, after the lapse of centuries, in
some degree re-appeared in Italy, owing chiefly to the exertions of an
ingenious Spaniard. He resided many years at Ferrara, and was assisted by
the artists there in his experiments and undertakings. Some years before,
attempts had been made at Paris to recover the method of painting in
caustic, or that which the Greeks and Romans succeeded in by the medium of
fire.[61] A few words in Vitruvius and Pliny, and these very obscure in our
days, and to which various meanings are given by critics, formed the only
chart and compass to direct the inquirer. It was known that wax was
employed in ancient painting, much the same as oil in the modern; but how
to prepare it, to combine it with the colours, to use it in a liquid state,
and how to apply fire to the process until the completion of the work--was
the secret to be discovered. Count Caylus, who pursued antiquarian
researches less for the sake of history than of the arts, was perhaps the
principal promoter of so useful an inquiry. The royal Academy of
Inscriptions joined him, and offered a public premium for the discovery of
a method of painting in caustic, such as should be found worthy of its
approbation. Many experiments were at this period made; and philology,
chemistry, painting, all united in throwing light upon the subject. Among
various methods proposed by three academicians, Caylus, Cochin, and
Bachiliere, two of them received premiums, though in some measure the same,
and both proposed by the last of the three mentioned names. The whole
account may be read in the Encyclopedia, under the head of _Encaustique_.
Thenceforward native artists did not fail to make new trials, and practise
themselves in pictures _all'encausto_. One of these, who arrived at
Florence in 1780, exhibited to me a head, and some portion of the figure,
thus painted by himself. I likewise saw him so employed. He had near him a
brazier, on which were placed small pans filled with colours, all of a
different body, and mixed with wax, but with what third ingredient I know
not; whether salt of tartar, as recommended in the dissertation remunerated
at Paris, or some other composition. A second brazier was fixed behind the
cartoon or panel on which he painted, in order to preserve it always warm.
The work being finished, he went over the whole with a small hair brush,
and gave it a clear and vivid glow.

     Footnote 61: See the Encyclopedia, at the Art. _Encaustique_.

Some there were at that time in Italy who much admired this art. The
numerous reliques of ancient painting, preserved free from the effects of
time at Naples and at Rome, may be said to exhibit a manifest triumph over
modern productions, which so much sooner become aged and fade away. This it
was that induced the Ab. Vincenzo Requeno to publish the book shortly
before cited, at Venice, first in 1784. In him were united all the
requisite qualities for promoting the new discovery--the learning of a man
of letters, experience of an artist, philosophical reasoning, and
persevering experiment. His work is in every one's hands, so as to enable
them to form an opinion, for this is not the place to enter into a
discussion of its various merits. It has been done by the Cav. de Rossi in
three extracts from that work, published in the first volume of the
"Memorie delle Belle Arti," one of the most brief and at the same time
admired journals in Italy. My sole object is to do justice to his singular
penetration and industry. He gave a solution of the difficulty mentioned in
the Encyclopedia, and discovered a new process. He shewed that salt of
tartar was not made use of by the Greeks to dissolve wax, and adapt it to
the brush, because they were unacquainted with such a substance; while his
own experience convinced him it was useless for the purpose. He knew that
the application of fire to the back of the painting was not the method
adopted by the Greeks, inasmuch as it was inapplicable to their paintings
upon large walls. He tried many experiments, and he at length found that
the resinous gum, called mastic, would produce the effect which he had
vainly sought from salt of tartar. With the gum and wax he made crayons,
and found various ways of combining the colours, so as best to adapt them
for the use of painting. When the work was finished, he was accustomed
sometimes to give it a slight covering of wax, in place of varnish, and
sometimes to leave it without; but in every process which he observed, he
perfected the work by the application of fire, or as he himself observes,
by burning it. This he effected by holding a brazier near the front of the
picture, and lastly going over the work with a small linen cloth, which
clears and enlivens the tints.

I have seen the first trials, as made by the Ab. Requeno himself, or by
artists directed by him, in possession of his Excellency Pignatelli at
Bologna, who added to the discovery no small share of information and
patronage. But it was not to be expected that a new kind of painting could
be perfected by means of a single studio. Aware of this, the author of the
work thus expresses himself: "At the moment when a resinous gum shall be
found better, that is, more white and hard, and equally soluble with wax
and water as those employed by me, the pictures and caustics will become
more beautiful, consistent, and durable. I am not a painter by profession,
nor do I merit any particular commendation among dilettanti. My pictures
have been conducted solely for the purpose of shewing a method of painting
with ease and consistency in wax, without oil, without glue, and by means
of gums only, with wax and water." On this account he thenceforward invited
professors to join in promoting his discovery, and lived to witness its
effects.

Omitting to speak of the chemists who aided in throwing light upon the
progress of this art,[62] the pictoric school at Rome undertook in a manner
to promote and bring it to its last degree of perfection. At that period
lived counsellor Renfesthein, the friend of Mengs and of Winckelmann, a man
of exquisite taste in the arts of design, and ever surrounded by numbers of
artists, who either received from him the benefit of his advice, or
commissions from foreigners, private persons, and sovereigns. To these he
proposed sometimes one, sometimes another method of the caustic art; and in
a short time he beheld his cabinet filled with pictures on canvass, on
wood, and on different kinds of stones, which he had already submitted to
every proof, by putting them under ground, in water, and exposing them to
every variety of weather without injury. From this time the new discovery
spread to different studii, and was communicated successively to the
Italian cities, and to foreign nations. Entire chambers have thus been
painted by caustic, a specimen of which is seen in that which the Archduke
Ferdinand, governor of Milan, caused to be thus decorated in his villa of
Monza. And in ornamental paintings and landscape this art may hitherto
boast still more attractions than in figures. All however must be aware
that it has not yet attained that degree of softness and finish possessed
by the ancients in their paintings in wax, and in oil and varnish by the
moderns. But where many unite to perfect it, it may be hoped that some Van
Eyck may rise up, who will succeed in discovering, or more properly in
perfecting that which "all artists had long looked for and ardently
desired."[63]

     Footnote 62: See the _Discorso della Cera Punica_, by the
     Cav. Lorgna, Verona, 1785. Also _Osservazioni intorno alla
     Cera Punica_, by Count Luigi Torri, Verona, 1785. In the
     work of Federici is an account of another little production
     by Gio. Maria Astorri of Treviso, edited in Venice, 1786; in
     which Spanish honey is much praised for the purpose of
     preparing and whitening the wax; and being a painter he
     relates several experiments he made with this and other
     methods, which succeeded well. Gio. Fabroni, keeper of the
     royal cabinet at Florence, likewise wrote concerning it. See
     the Roman Anthology for the year 1797.

     Footnote 63: Vasari.

                     BOOK V.

                 GENOESE SCHOOL.

                     EPOCH I.

                 _The Ancients._

Last among the ancient schools of Italy is to be enumerated the Genoese, in
regard to the period in which it flourished, not to its merit, which I
consider as being equal to that of many others. In Liguria the first
revival of painting appeared tardy; not so its progress, which was rapid
and distinguished. In Genoa and Savona, as well as in other cities situated
on the sea-shore, there remain some ancient paintings by unknown hands, one
of which, over the gate of Savona, is distinguished by the date of 1101.
The first artist known by any extant production, is one _Franciscus de
Oberto_, as he signs himself on the edge of a painting of the Virgin
between two angels, which is in the church of S. Domenico, at Genoa,
displaying nothing of the Giottesque, and executed in 1368. It cannot be
ascertained that he was altogether a native artist, as may be confidently
asserted of the Monk of Ieres, and of Niccolo da Voltri, names known to
history though not by any surviving works. The Monk of the Isole d'Oro, or
of Ieres, or Stecadi, where he long resided, was not pointed out to us by
name by any ancient writer. His surname was Cybo, and historians place him
in the genealogical tree of Innocent VIII. Besides being a good Provençal
poet, and historian, it is said that he became an excellent miniaturist,
and on this account, a favourite with the King and Queen of Aragon, to whom
he presented several of his illuminated books. He also delighted in
representing in his paintings birds, fish, quadrupeds, trees with fruits,
ships of various forms, perspectives of cities and edifices, objects, in
short, which he beheld in the islands around him. It is conjectured by
Baldinucci that Giotto's models, in an age thronged with miniaturists, and
not wanting in painters, had influenced the efforts of this isolated
artist. How this assertion can be confirmed I know not, the more so as
history describes him as having devoted himself late in life to design, and
in the island of Lerino, where it is not known there were any followers of
Giotto. Voltri was also a figure painter; some of his altar-pieces survived
to the time of Soprani, who extols them, without, however, pointing out
with precision the peculiarities of his taste or school.

During the fifteenth century, and part of the following, the capital city,
and those depending on it, were supplied, for the most part, with foreign
painters, almost all unknown to their native schools on account of their
having, as it appears, resided in Liguria. Some account remains of a German
called Giusto di Alemagna, in a cloister of S. Maria di Castello, at Genoa.
He there painted in fresco an Annunciation in 1451, a precious picture of
its sort, finished in the manner of miniaturists, and which seems to
promise for Germany the style of an Albert Durer. At the same period Jacopo
Marone, of Alessandria, painted an altar-piece at S. Jacopo in Savona, in
distemper, consisting of various compartments, and in the midst of it a
Nativity with a landscape, a work conducted with exquisite care in every
part. At S. Brigida, in Genoa, too, are seen, by the same hand, two
altar-pieces, one with the date of 1481, the other of 1484. The author was
one Galeotto Nebea, of Castellaccio, a place not far from Alexandria. The
three principal Archangels in the first, and S. Pantaleone with other
martyrs in the second, are represented on a gold ground, very tolerably
executed, both in forms and draperies, which are extremely rich, with stiff
and regular foldings, not borrowed from any other school. It exhibits also
the grado or step, with minute histories, a work somewhat crude, but
displaying diligence.

Turning from the head city to Savona, a third native of Alexandria, called
Gio. Massone, painted about the year 1490, in the church erected by Sixtus
IV. for the sepulture of his family. Although not mentioned in history, he
must have been distinguished in his time, to have been selected for such a
work, and remunerated with one hundred and ninety-two ducats for his
labour. It is comprised in a small altar-piece, where, seen at the feet of
the Virgin, are the portraits of the pope, and the cardinal Giuliano, his
nephew, afterwards Julius II. The same city, preserving so many ancient
memorials, has also snatched from oblivion the names of one Tuccio di
Andria, an artist employed at S. Jacopo in 1487, and of two natives of
Pavia, who somewhat later perhaps painted on canvass, and signed
themselves, the one _Laurentius Papiensis_, the other _Donatus Comes Bardus
Papiensis_. Another foreigner, by birth a Brescian, and a Carmelite by
profession, presents us with a signature, to be found at S. Giovanni, below
an altar-piece of the Nativity of our Saviour. It has written on it, "_Opus
F. Hieronymi de Brixia Carmelitæ, 1519_." By the same hand, in the cloister
of the Carmelitani at Florence, is a Pietà with this inscription, _F.
Hieronymus de Brixia_. This artist is well deserving of notice, if only on
account of his knowledge in perspective, an art so much cultivated after
Foppa in Brescia, and throughout Lombardy. Doubtless he was a pupil of that
monastery, in which the art of painting was then cultivated; as it is
stated by Averoldi, who extols one F. Gio. Maria da Brescia, and the
cloister of the Carmine, decorated by him with a number of histories of
Elias and of Eliseas. This Girolamo I believe to have been his companion or
disciple, a name that has in some way escaped Orlandi, who belonged to the
same order.

No one of the foreign painters is known to have opened school in Liguria,
except a native of Nizza, who, through his succession, is almost regarded
as the progenitor of the ancient Genoese School. He is called Lodovico
Brea, and his works are by no means rare at Genoa and throughout the state,
with notices of him between the years 1485 and 1513. In point of taste he
is not equal to the best among his contemporaries in other schools,
employing gilding, and more strongly adhering to the old dryness of design.
His style, nevertheless, yields to that of few in the beauty of its heads,
and in the vividness of its colouring, which still remains almost
unimpaired. His folding is also good, his composition tolerable, he selects
difficult perspectives, and his attitudes are bold. From his whole painting
he might be rather pronounced the head of a new, than the follower of any
other school. He never attempted grand proportions; in smaller, as we see
in the Slaughter of the Innocents, at S. Agostino, he is excellent. His S.
Giovanni, in the chapel of the Madonna di Savona, executed by commission
for the Card. della Rovere, in competition with other artists, is highly
praised.

Thus, until the year 1513, painting in Genoa was in the hands of strangers,
and if the natives at all practised it they were few only, as we shall
shortly show, while both one and the other were far behind the best methods
of their age. Ottaviano Fregoso, elected doge in the above year, at length
shed new lustre on the arts. He invited to Genoa Gio. Giacomo Lombardo, a
sculptor, and Carlo del Mantegna, a painter, who succeeded, as we have
stated, both to the works and reputation of his master. Carlo not only
painted in Genoa but taught, and with a success that would seem quite
incredible, were it not that the works of his imitators are still in
existence. Thus the Genoese School first took its rise from Brea, and was
promoted by Carlo, as we find it described by two painters in two volumes;
a school of a long, uninterrupted, and illustrious succession. The first
volume is by Raffael Soprani, a patrician of the city, who wrote lives of
the Genoese professors of design up to 1667; and added also notices of
foreign ones who had been employed in that splendid capital. The second is
by the Cav. Carlo Ratti, secretary to the Ligustic academy, who, after
having republished the Lives of Soprani, accompanied by useful notes,
continued the same work in another volume and on the same plan, down to the
present day. He has moreover published, in two small volumes, a Guide,
intended to give an account of the best specimens of art, both in private
and public, which Genoa and every district of the state can boast; an
extremely useful undertaking, and, if I mistake not, without example either
in or beyond Italy. Thus, owing to the exertions of this deserving citizen,
the pictoric history of Liguria has become one of the most complete among
those of all Italy as respects the number of its artists, and the most
certain in enabling us to form a correct opinion of their merits. Directed
by these, and by other additional information received on the spot from
Sig. Ratti himself, as well as from others, I proceed to resume the thread
of my narrative.

About the period that Carlo arrived at Genoa, the same city was also so
fortunate as to become the residence of Pier Francesco Sacchi, commended by
Lomazzo, who calls him Pierfrancesco Pavese, an artist well skilled in the
style then prevailing at Milan. He was a good perspective painter,
delightful in landscape, and a diligent, correct designer. The public is
still in possession of his altar-piece of the Four Holy Doctors in the
oratory of S. Ugo. The style of Sacchi nearly resembles that of Carlo del
Mantegna, from what we gather from his works in Mantua, there remaining no
vestiges of them in Genoa. Two youths of very fine genius for the art were
at this period educating in the school of Lodovico Brea. One was named
Antonio Semini, the other Teramo Piaggia, or Teramo di Zoagli, the place of
his birth. There is no account of their being indebted either to the advice
or examples of the new masters, when they began to be employed for the
public, but their altar-pieces display the fact. They painted conjointly,
and affixed both their names to their productions. In that of the Martyrdom
of St. Andrew, which they conducted for the church of that name, they
likewise added their own portraits. None can have witnessed this very
beautiful altar-piece, without seeing traces of Brea's style already
enlarged and changed into one more modern. The figures are not of those
dimensions which we subsequently see in a better age, nor is the design
sufficiently soft and full, but there is a clearness in the countenances
that rivets attention, an union of colouring that attracts; the folding is
easy, the composition somewhat thronged, though not by any means
despicable. Few originators of the style which is now termed modern
antique, can be fairly preferred before these two artists and friends.
Teramo in his individual specimens at Chiavari and at Genoa itself, retains
somewhat more of the antique, particularly as regards composition, but is
always animated in his countenances, studied and graceful. Antonio appears
to me almost like the Pietro Perugino of his school. In his Deposition from
the Cross he approaches nearer the better age, a painting in possession of
the Dominicans at Genoa, as well as in some other pieces highly commended
for the figures, and the accessories of perspective and landscape, though
his great merit does not appear most conspicuous here. For this we should
consult his Nativity, painted for S. Domenico in Savona, and we shall be
convinced that he also emulated Perino and Raffaello himself.

Before proceeding to an improved epoch, we ought here to insert the names
of a few other native artists to whom we already alluded. It is doubtful
whether Aurelio Robertelli ranks in this list, by whom, at Savona, is a
figure of the Virgin painted on a column of the old cathedral, dated 1499,
and transferred to the new one, where it excites the particular veneration
of the people. A little subsequent appeared a painting by Niccolo Corso, at
Genoa, bearing the date of 1503. It represents a history of S. Benedict,
painted in fresco for the villa of Quarto belonging to the Padri Olivetani,
in whose refectory, cloister, and church near the Corso, he was much
employed. Soprani enumerates other histories, of which he extols the
richness of invention, the passionate expression, and especially the
vividness and durability of the colouring. He adds, that were he less hard,
he might rank among the very first of his profession. The same writer
commends Andrea Morinello for an altar-piece formerly seen at S. Martino di
Albaro, dated 1516; an artist very graceful in his countenances, excellent
in portrait, soft and clear in his outlines, and one of the first in those
parts who opened the way for the modern manner. He likewise praises F.
Lorenzo Moreno, a Carmelite, skilled in fresco, who painted the
Annunciation in a cloister of the Carmine, now cut out of the exterior wall
of the building in order to preserve it. Finally he extols an ecclesiastic
of the Franciscan order, by name F. Simon da Carnuli, who, in his church at
Voltri, painted two histories in one large altar-piece in 1519. One of
these represents the Institution of the Eucharist, the other the preaching
of St. Antony. Still it is not free from the hardness peculiar to the age
as regards the figures; but in the architecture of the edifices, and in the
gradual receding of the perspective, it is so perfect that the celebrated
Andrea Doria was eager at any price to purchase it, in order to present it
as a gift to the Escurial. But the people of Voltri refused every offer,
and still keep possession of it. A few others, who enjoyed a degree of
reputation from their sons, will be mentioned along with them in the epoch
of which we shall next proceed to treat.

                 GENOESE SCHOOL.

                     EPOCH II.

           _Perino and his Followers._

Whilst the art was advancing in Genoa and her territories, there occurred
the celebrated siege of Rome, and the calamities which accompanied and
followed it, in consequence of which the scholars of Raffaello were
dispersed, and established themselves some in one city and some in another.
We have seen in the course of this work Polidoro and Salerno in Naples,
Giulio in Mantua, Pellegrino in Modena, and Gaudenzio in Milan, distinguish
themselves as the masters of eminent schools; and we find one school
founded by Perino del Vaga in Genoa, which has maintained the splendour of
its origin in a way inferior to none. Perino arrived in Genoa in a state of
distress in 1528, after the sacking of Rome. He was there liberally
welcomed by Prince Doria, who employed him for several years in the
decoration of his magnificent palace without the gate of S. Tommaso. He
superintended as well the external decorations of the sculptures, as the
internal ornaments of the stuccos, the gilding, the arabesques, the
paintings in fresco and in oil. This place, in consequence, breathes all
the taste of the halls and loggie of the Vatican; the celebrated works of
which, at that time, attracted universal admiration, and in the execution
of part of which Perino had a considerable share. This artist has indeed no
where displayed his talents to such advantage as in the Doria palace; and
it is doubtful whether Perino in Genoa, or Giulio in Mantua, have best
sustained the style of Raffaello. We find in the palace some small
histories of celebrated Romans, of Cocles, for example, and Scævola, which
might pass for compositions of Raffaello; a group of Boys at Play,
likewise, has all the air of that master; and on a ceiling, in the War of
the Giants against the Gods, we seem to behold in conflict the same persons
whom Raffaello had represented as banqueting in the Casa Chigi. If the
expression be not so noble, the grace so rare, it is because that grand
specimen of art may be emulated by many, but equalled by none. It may be
added, that Perino's style is less finished than his master's, and that, in
his drawing of the naked figure, he, like Giulio, partakes of the style of
Michelangiolo. Four chambers, Vasari informs us, were painted in the palace
from the cartoons of Vaga, by Luzio Romano, and some Lombards, his
assistants; one of whom, of the name of Guglielmo Milanese, followed him to
Rome, and held in that court the office of Frate del Piombo. The others
have left no name behind them, and must have been individuals of inferior
talents and poorly paid, as we occasionally find rude and heavy figures.
Such defects are not uncommon in the works which Perino undertook, for when
he had made his cartoons or designs he gave them to his pupils to execute,
with material advantage to his pecuniary interests, but with detriment to
his reputation. This is observed by Vasari, nor do I know how he could have
the courage to mention in connexion with this circumstance the works which
were executed with the assistance of their scholars by Raffaello and Giulio
Romano, illustrious masters, irreproachable in the selection of their
assistants, indefatigable in their application, and contemning that avidity
of gain which drew down on Perino merited reprehension. There is still, in
the palace Doria, a frieze of boys, commenced by him in one of the loggie,
continued by Pordenone, and finished by Beccafumo; and the remains of what
was there painted by Girolamo da Trevigi, who, through jealous rivalry
towards Perino, forsook both the city and the state. Perino painted some
pictures for the churches in Genoa; where too we find some by eminent
foreign hands, amongst which is the St. Stephen, painted by Giulio Romano
for the church of that saint; an altar-piece perhaps the most copious in
composition, and the most striking that issued from the studio of that
master. It was at this time too that many noble individuals applied
themselves to collect foreign specimens of every school, and they have
since been emulated by their posterity, who in this pursuit perhaps surpass
all the private collectors in Italy, except those of Rome.

By these means the country became enriched with beautiful works, and began
to turn itself to a more perfect style, which it attained with a celerity
unknown to any other school. The transition from the style of Brea, which
was that of the thirteenth century, to that of Raffaello, occupied but a
few years; and even the scholars of Nizzardo, as we have observed, very
soon became worthy imitators of the first of modern masters. These
principles were sure to make the most prosperous advances amongst a people
rich in genius and industry; and amidst a nobility that abounded in wealth,
and who in no way lavished it more freely than in raising splendid
sanctuaries to religion, and sumptuous habitations for themselves, which in
grandeur, decorations, tapestries, and in other kinds of luxuries, scarcely
yielded to royalty. From munificence like this, the School of Genoa derived
aid and encouragement, though not much known abroad, as her artists were
sufficiently occupied at home. Its characteristic excellence, in the
opinion of Mengs, consisted in the number of its excellent fresco painters;
so that a church or palace of any antiquity is scarcely to be named which
does not possess the most beautiful works, or at least the memory of them.
And it is a remarkable fact, when we consider how exposed the city is to
the sea air, that so many works in fresco, executed by early artists,
should have remained in so perfect a state. Nor did the school of Genoa
want celebrity in oil paintings, particularly in the qualities of truth and
force of colouring, which excellences, derived first from Perino and
afterwards from the Flemish, it always retained; not yielding in this
respect to any school of Italy, except the Venetian. It has produced also
noble designers; although some, like other mannerists, have debased the
pencil by hasty and negligent performances. Not having in public many
examples of ideal excellence, it has supplied the deficiency by the study
of the natural; and in the figure it has rather adopted the healthy, and
the robust, and the energetic, than the delicate and the elegant. The study
of portraits, in which this school had excellent masters and most lucrative
practice, had a great influence on the figures of its first epoch; those of
its last, if they have more beauty, have less spirit. There existed a
talent for extensive composition, but in middle size rather than in great.
In these they had not epic masters, like Paolo and other Venetians; they
did not, however, so often violate decorum and costume. This was, perhaps,
the result of the attachment to literature entertained by many of the
Genoese painters, amongst whom are enumerated a greater number of men of
letters, and especially gentlemen, than in any other school. This latter
circumstance was, in a great measure, owing to Paggi, who, in a treatise of
considerable length, defended the nobility of the art,[64] and obtained a
public decree,[65] declaring the art honourable, and worthy of cultivation
by men of the noblest birth; an event from which the art derived the
greatest dignity. We now return to particulars.

     Footnote 64: It is inserted in the 7th vol. of the Lettere
     Pittoriche, p. 148.

     Footnote 65: The decree is given by the Cavalier Ratti in
     the notes to Soprani. The names of the noble painters,
     amateurs of the art, may be found in those two authors.

The first who attached themselves to Perino for instruction, were Lazzaro
and Pantaleo Calvi, the sons and scholars of an Agostino Calvi, a good
painter in the old style, and one of the first in Genoa who forsook the
gold ground for one of colour. Lazzaro was at that time twenty-five years
of age, his brother somewhat more; nor did the latter rise in reputation,
except in lending to the works of Lazzaro his aid and his name. These works
abounded in Genoa and her territories, at Monaco and at Naples, in every
variety of composition, arabesques, and stuccos with which are decorated
palaces and churches. Some of these are excellent, as the façades of the
palace Doria, (now Spinola,) with prisoners in various attitudes,
considered as a school of design; and several historical compositions in
colours and chiaroscuro, in the best taste.[66] In the palace Pallavicini,
at Zerbino, is a composition of theirs commonly called the Continence of
Scipio; a remark which I owe to Sig. Ratti, who not having included it in
his edition of 1768, obligingly communicated it to me for this work. To
this they also added naked figures, with so happy an imitation of Perino
that, in the opinion of Mengs, they might be adjudged to that master.
Moreover, we know that Perino was liberal to them in designs and cartoons;
whence, in these better works, we may always presume on the aid of the
master's hand. However it might be, Lazzaro indulged in a self-conceit of
his own powers, and left behind some specimens of an extravagance which no
painter has since followed, except Corenzio. He was particularly jealous of
any young artist, who he thought might interfere with his fame or
interests, and to gratify his envy had recourse to the blackest arts. One
of these rivals, Giacomo Bargone, he took off by poison; and to depress the
others he drew around himself a crowd of adherents and hirelings, who
influenced the opinion of the vulgar, by praising the works of Lazzaro to
the skies, and depreciating those of his competitors. These cabals were
more strongly instanced in the chapel Centurioni, where he painted the
Birth of St. John, in competition with Andrea Semini and Luca Cambiaso, who
there also painted other pictures from the history of that saint. This work
was one of his happiest efforts, and the most approaching to the style of
his master; but he could not crush the genius of Cambiaso, which after this
occasion appeared more brilliant than his own; whence the Prince Doria
selected that artist to execute a very considerable work in fresco for the
church of S. Matteo. This so enraged Calvi, that he gave himself up to a
sea life, and abandoned the pencil for twenty years. He ultimately resumed
it, and continued, though with a hardness of style, to paint till his
eighty-fifth year. One of his last works is to be seen on the walls and in
the cupola of S. Catherine; but it is cold, meagre, and bears all the marks
of senility. Indeed after his return to the art, and particularly after the
death of Pantaleo, who had assiduously assisted him in every work, Lazzaro
was only memorable for the extreme protraction of his life, which extended
to 105 years.

     Footnote 66: This work is extolled by Lomazzo as one of the
     best of Lazzaro; it is classed with the Triumphs of Giulio
     Romano, Polidoro, and other eminent artists, in the
     _Trattato della Pittura_, p. 398.

Of the two Semini, Andrea and Ottavio, it is not ascertained that they had
in Genoa any other master than their father Antonio; but after the example
of their father, they deferred much to Perino, as did also Luca their
contemporary. In confirmation of which it is said, that Perino having found
them engaged with a print of Titian, and hearing them remarking on some
incorrectness in the drawing, reproved them by observing, that in the works
of the great masters we ought to pass over their faults and extol their
excellence. But the two brothers, enchanted by the style of Raffaello,
became ambitious of drinking at the fountain of the art, and, repairing to
Rome, applied themselves to the diligent study of the works of that master,
and the remains of antiquity, particularly the Trajan column. They were
afterwards employed both at Genoa and in Milan, where they painted many
works, both in conjunction and separately, all in the Roman style,
particularly in their early career. Andrea discovered less talent than
Ottavio; and was, perhaps, more tenacious than he in his imitation of
Raffaello, especially in the contours of his faces. He sometimes wants
delicacy, as in a crucifixion lately come into the possession of the Duke
of Tuscany; and sometimes correctness, as in the Presepio, in the church of
St. Francis in Genoa, which is in other respects very Raffaellesque, and
may be reckoned among his best works. Ottavio, an unprincipled man, was an
eminent artist, and succeeded so well in the imitation of his master, as is
scarcely credible to those who have not seen his works. He painted the
façade of the palace Doria, now Invrea, and there displayed so fine a taste
in the architecture, and decorated it with busts and figures of such
relief, and particularly with a Rape of the Sabines, that Giulio Cesare
Procaccini took it for a performance of Raffaello, and asked if that great
master had left any other works in Genoa. Of equal merit, or nearly so,
were many of his frescos, painted for the nobility, until, as is often the
case with fresco painters, he ended his career in a freer but less finished
style. Of these latter he left many specimens at Milan, where he passed the
latter years of his life. In that city the entire decoration of the chapel
of S. Girolamo at S. Angelo is painted by him, the chief composition of
which is the funeral group which accompanies the saint to the sepulchre. It
possesses, if not a noble design, yet great fertility of invention, great
spirit, and a strong and beautiful colour, as he possessed that part of the
art in an eminent degree in works of fresco; for in oils he was either
unwilling or unable to colour well.

Luca Cambiaso, called also Luchetto da Genoa, did not quit his native
country to obtain instruction, nor did he frequent any other school than
that of his father; obscure indeed, but of a good method, and sufficient to
a mind of genius. Giovanni his father, a tolerable _quattrocentista_, and a
great admirer of Vaga and Pordenone, after having exercised him in copying
the designs of Mantegna, a master of chasteness of contour, and having
instructed him in the art of modelling, so useful in relief and
foreshortening, carried him to the palace Doria, and there pointed out to
his attention those great prototypes of art, with the addition of his own
instruction. The study of these performances, by a youth who was born a
painter, awakened in him such emulation, that he began in his fifteenth
year to produce works of his own invention; and gave promise of one day
ranking, as he did, with the first painters of his age. He displayed
facility, fire, and grandeur of design, and was on that account adduced by
Boschini as an example of fine contours, and held in high esteem in the
cabinets of the dilettanti. He embodied his ideas with such despatch and
success, that Armenini affirms that he had seen him paint with two pencils
at a time, and with a touch not less free, and more correct than
Tintoretto. He was, moreover, fertile and novel in his designs, skilful in
introducing the most arduous foreshortenings, and in surmounting the
difficulties of the art. He was deficient at first in the true principles
of perspective; but he soon acquired the theory from Castello, his great
friend and companion, as we shall shortly see. Through him he improved both
his colouring and his style of composition. In conjunction with Castello he
executed several works, so much alike, that one hand can scarcely be
distinguished from the other. These, however, were not his best
performances. He must be seen where he painted alone; and he shines no
where more than in Genoa, nor beyond a period of twelve years, within which
space Soprani circumscribes his best time. Let it not appear strange to
those who hear this opinion of that writer. Luca had not the good fortune
to benefit from those great masters who, with a word, put their scholars in
the right path; he went on, however, improving from his own resources, a
long and laborious course, in which a thousand wishes are formed before the
goal is reached. But Cambiaso attained it, and held it until an
ungovernable passion, as we shall see in the sequel, threw him back again.

Confining ourselves to the works of the best twelve years of his practice,
we see in him a man who possessed a high predilection for the Roman School;
deriving instruction from prints, and impelled by his own genius to attempt
I know not what of originality. Where this originality appears, we should
not wish Cambiaso other than himself, and where it does not appear, we
should not wish him any thing but an imitator. Of the first kind is the
Martyrdom of St. George in the church of that saint, which for the noble
character of the sufferer, the sympathy of the spectators, the composition,
variety, and force of chiaroscuro, is considered his chef d'oeuvre. Of the
second kind there are, perhaps, more specimens to be found; as the picture
at the Rocchettini, of S. Benedetto with John the Baptist and St. Luke,
very much in the style of Perino and Raffaello; and above all, the Rape of
the Sabines in Terralba, a suburb of Genoa, in the palace of the Imperiali.
Every thing combines to please in this work; the magnificence of the
buildings, the beauty of the horses, the alarm of the virgins, the ardour
of the invaders, the several episodes which, in various compartments, crown
the principal subject, and, as it were, continue the story. It is related
that Mengs, after having viewed this picture, said, that out of Rome he had
not seen any thing that more strongly brought to his recollection the
loggie of the Vatican, than these works. He also executed other works of
singular merit, particularly for private collections, among which I have
found more pictures of a free than of a devout description. Being left a
widower, he became enamoured of a female relative, whom he in vain
endeavoured to obtain permission from the Pope to marry. This
disappointment induced the neglect of his art. He then repaired to the
court of Madrid, with the view of facilitating his wishes, and when he
found himself deprived of all hope in this object, he fell sick and died.
He left many works in the Escurial, and amongst these the subject of
Paradise, in the vault of the church, a large composition, and a work very
much praised by Lomazzo, but not equally so by Mengs, who had seen and
examined it for several successive years.

Gio. Batista Castello, the companion of Cambiaso, is commonly called in
Genoa Il Bergamasco, to distinguish him from Gio. Batista Castello, a
Genoese, a scholar of Cambiaso, and the most celebrated miniature painter
of his age. Our present subject, born in Bergamo, and brought, when a
youth, to Genoa, by Aurelio Buso, (_v._ vol. iii. page 184) was, on his
sudden departure, left by him in that city. In this state of desertion he
found a patron in one of the Pallavicini family, who gave him a friendly
reception, and assisted him with the means of prosecuting his studies;
sending him to Rome, from whence he returned to Genoa an accomplished
architect, sculptor, and painter, not inferior to Cambiaso. His taste,
formed by studying at Rome, was similar to that of Luca, as I have already
observed; and in the church of S. Matteo are works painted by them in
concert. We may observe in these the style of Raffaello already verging on
mannerism, but not so much so as that which prevailed in Rome in the time
of Gregory and Sixtus. Connoisseurs discover in Cambiaso a greater genius
and more elegance of design; in the Bergamese more care, a deeper
knowledge, and colour occasionally partaking more of the school of Venice
than of Rome. It is however very probable that when so friendly an
intercourse subsisted they may have aided each other, even in those places
where they worked in competition, where each claimed his own work, and
distinguished it by his name. Thus at the Nunziata di Portoria Luca
represented on the walls the final state of the blest and the rejected in
the last judgment; while Gio. Batista, in the vault, painted the Supreme
Judge in the midst of the angelic choir, calling the elect to bliss. He
appears in the attitude of uttering the words _Venite benedicti_, appended
in capital letters. It is a highly finished performance, and of so exalted
a character that we should think that Luca, when he painted the laterals to
it, was asleep, so inferior are they in composition and expression. On many
other occasions he painted alone, as the S. Jerome surrounded by monks
terrified at a lion, in S. Francesco in Castelletto; and the S. Sebastian
in the church of that saint, receiving the crown of martyrdom; a picture
rich in composition, studied in execution, and far beyond any commendation
of mine. He painted in Genoa other pictures, and always discovered an air
of life in the countenances, a magnificence in the architecture, a strength
of colour and chiaroscuro, which makes one regret that he was so little
known in Italy; and possibly he was prevented from being known as an oil
painter by the numerous works in fresco which he executed in Genoa; the
largest of which is in the Palazzo Grillo. We there see a portico painted
in arabesque, and a saloon, in the ceiling of which is represented the
banquet given by Dido to Æneas; a beautiful work, particularly the
arabesques, but not sufficiently studied. This artist, in his latter years,
was painter to the court at Madrid, whither, on his death, Luca Cambiaso
was called to finish the larger historical subjects; but the grotesques,
and the ornamental parts interspersed with figures, were continued by the
two sons of Gio. Batista, whom he had carried with him to Madrid as his
assistants. Palomini makes honourable mention of them, and the Padre de'
Santi Teresiani, and the Padre Mazzolari Girolamino, in their description
of the Escurial, enumerate their works, commending their variety,
singularity, and beauty of colour. One was called Fabrizio, the other
Granello; and the latter, as Ratti conjectures, was the son of Nicolosio
Granello, an able fresco painter of the school of Semini, whose widow was
married to Castelli, and probably brought with her this son of her first
marriage.

Painters have in general been found to impart instruction more freely to
native scholars than to strangers; and yet the latter have always profited
more than the former, so that it rarely happened that on the death of the
chief of a school the reputation of that school has been continued by a son
or a nephew. Such was the case with the Genoese, where Calvi, the Semini,
and Cambiaso, had each a numerous progeny, and a progeny too attached to
the art; and yet amongst so many there was not one who passed the bounds of
mediocrity, except perhaps Orazio, the son of Luca Cambiaso, of whom
Soprani merely says that he followed in a praiseworthy manner his father's
style, and initiated some pupils in the art. It was therefore to his better
scholars that Cambiaso was indebted for assistance in his profession; one
of whom, Lazzaro Tavarone, followed him even into Spain, and remained there
for some years after his master's death. He afterwards returned to Genoa,
stored with the designs of Luca, and loaded with riches and honours. Luca
seemed to live again in his scholar, so fully did he possess his style. He
moreover distinguished himself by a method of colouring in fresco, which,
if I mistake not, raised him above all his predecessors in this school, and
above all who succeeded him, except Carloni. This peculiarity consisted in
a richness, brightness, and variety of colour, which brings distant objects
vividly to the sight, the whole composition appearing brilliantly
illuminated, and the tints splendidly and harmoniously blended. One may
perhaps occasionally wish in them more softness, but in general they have
all the richness of oil paintings. The tribune of the Duomo, where the
patron saints of the city are represented, particularly S. Lorenzo, from
whose history some passages are selected, is the chef d'oeuvre of his
public works. The façade of the palace of the doge is also a considerable
performance, representing St. George slaying the dragon; around it and
above are other numerous figures of citizens of eminence, of the virtues,
of genii with nautical weapons and the spoils of the enemy, some of which
might pass for the work of Pordenone. This grand work is exposed to the
sea, the spray of which has affected, but not destroyed it. In many other
churches and palaces also are to be found the works of Tavarone; histories,
fables, and imaginary compositions, often so well preserved that the
scaffolding and the steps by which the artists ascended and descended,
appear as if just removed. Fortunate, had his works been fewer in number,
and finished with equal care. Some pictures in oil are mentioned by him,
but more rare and of less merit than his frescos.

Cesare Corte was of Pavian extraction. Valerio, his father, who was born in
Venice, was the son of a gentleman of Pavia, and became, under the
instruction of Titian, an excellent portrait painter; and his talents
insuring him a favourable reception in Genoa, he settled there. He remained
in that city for the rest of his life, and died in poverty, his means being
all consumed in fruitless experiments in alchemy. He was the intimate
friend of Cambiaso, whose life he wrote; and to him he committed the
instruction of his son Cesare. This son did not indeed equal his father,
but he surpassed the greater number of his fellow scholars. In the church
of S. Piero he painted the tutelar saint at the foot of the Madonna,
surrounded by angels; a picture of chaste design and of a true and
harmonious colouring. His historical pictures and his portraits are found
in many collections: one of the former, in the Casa Pallavicino, on a
subject from the Inferno of Dante, was celebrated by Chiabrera in an
elegant sonnet. The fame of this artist was tarnished by his heretical
opinions, imbibed by the perusal of some pernicious work, as often happens
to the half informed, who read every thing, understand little, and finally
believe nothing. He however abjured his errors, though never released from
his prison, where he died. David, his son, restricted himself to the limits
of a copyist; and in this so highly distinguished himself, that his
pictures are placed in some collections at the side of the originals as
wonders of art.

Bernardo Castello frequented the school of Andrea Semini more than that of
Cambiaso; in his principles he inclined more to the latter, and in practice
he followed both indifferently. Travelling afterwards through Italy he saw
other works, and formed a style not devoid of grace, nor of correctness,
when he worked with care; as in the Martyrdom of St. Clement and St.
Agatagnolo, in the church of S. Sebastian, and the St. Anne at S. Matteo.
He had a fertile invention, in which he was aided by the poets of the age,
whose friendship he assiduously cultivated.[67] He was eulogized by
Lionardo Spinola, D. Angiolo Grillo, Ceva, Marino, Chiabrera, and by Tasso,
for whose Jerusalem he made the designs which were in part engraved by
Agostino Caracci. His reputation raised him not only to the rank of one of
the first masters of his school, but of Italy itself; and he was thus
selected to work in the Vatican, as has been mentioned. He there painted
St. Peter called to the apostleship, a picture which was soon afterwards
removed, and one by Lanfranco substituted in its place, either because it
was injured by damp, or had not given satisfaction. Castello indeed did not
possess that vigorous style which Rome at this time demanded, refusing her
applause to the Vasaris and Zuccaris. He had much of their style of colour,
nor was he exempt from their despatch; and, like them, he opened the way in
his school to facility instead of correctness. Genoa is filled, or rather
glutted, with his works, yet they still maintain their reputation, as they
are all sustained by a certain vigour and grace of style. He sometimes
appears in foreign collections, and in that of the Colonna in Rome I saw a
Parnassus by him with Poussin figures and a beautiful landscape, which may
be ranked amongst his most finished works. Soprani informs us that he was
again invited to Rome, to paint a picture of St. Peter, and that he died
whilst he was preparing himself for this journey, aged seventy-two. But at
so advanced a period of life one may doubt the truth of this report. He had
three sons, painters, of whom Valerio alone is deserving of commemoration,
and we shall notice him in his place.

     Footnote 67: A strict intimacy existed, especially between
     him and the Cav. Marino, among whose letters we may
     enumerate twenty-eight more to Castello than to any other
     person. It is pleasing to observe the dexterity of the poet,
     who often praises the "miraculous pencil" and the "divine
     hand" of the painter, an homage bestowed still more
     liberally in the _Galleria_; and the gratitude of the artist
     who designed and coloured for his friend gratis, and who
     exerts himself to requite every letter of the poet by some
     acceptable work of art, (p. 175).

Among his foreign scholars Simon Barabbino deserves remembrance, whose rare
genius created so strong a jealousy in Castello as to induce him to expel
him from his school. He retired from it, and afterwards painted at the
Nunziata del Guastato the S. Diego, which Soprani almost prefers to the
best work of Castello. But he did not obtain any great celebrity among his
countrymen. Milan rendered him that honour which his own native place
denied; in consequence of which he settled there, and worked in the palaces
and churches. There is by him, at S. Girolamo, a Madonna with a dead
Christ, accompanied by S. Michael and S. Andrew. The colour is true, the
heads are correctly drawn, the naked figure well understood, the contours
sufficiently accurate and well relieved. He would have attained still
greater perfection, but he turned to merchandize, where instead of wealth
he found only his ruin, and died in gaol.

Gio. Batista Paggi, a patrician by birth, was led to the profession of a
painter by his predilection for the art, which, in spite of the opposition
of his father, he indulged in from his earliest years. He was highly
accomplished in letters, and his various attainments in poetry, philosophy,
and history, all served to assist him in the composition of his pictures.
He was perhaps not so much extolled by the poets as Castello, but he
attained a greater celebrity among his brother artists. He was directed by
Cambiaso in his first studies, which was the drawing in chiaroscuro from
the casts of antique bassi-relievi, for the purpose of attaining a true
idea of the beautiful, and preparing himself for the study of nature. Being
well skilled in the practice of the crayon, with little labour, and almost
alone, he learnt the art of colouring; and without the instructions of a
master, taught himself architecture and perspective. Whilst he was rising
into notice, he was compelled to flee his country for homicide; and, for
about the space of twenty years, he resided in Florence, protected by that
court, and always profitably employed. Florence, at that time, abounded
with men of first rate genius; and it was then that Cigoli, and all the
young painters, abandoned their own languid style for the rich and vigorous
Lombard. Paggi had not so much occasion as the others to invigorate his
manner, as appears from the works he executed in Florence not long after
his arrival there. There remains by him a Holy Family, and another picture
in the church degli Angioli, and in the cloister of S. Maria Novella a
history piece of S. Catherine of Siena. It represents the saint liberating
a condemned person, and is a large composition, ornamented with beautiful
buildings, and so pleasingly executed that I have heard it preferred to all
in that convent. Nevertheless the great merit of Paggi was not at that time
vigour, but a certain nobleness of air, which always continued to be his
characteristic, and a delicacy and grace which have led some to compare him
to Baroccio, and even to Coreggio. It seems to me that he became more
vigorous as he advanced, and a proof of it is to be seen in the stupendous
Transfiguration, painted in S. Mark, which seems almost beyond his powers.
In the same style he painted for the Certosa at Pavia three pictures from
the Passion of our Saviour, which appear to me among his best works. He was
ultimately recalled by the republic about the year 1600 for his excellence
in his art, and the courts both of Pavia and Madrid invited, and were
desirous of employing him. His patriotism however precluded him from
accepting these honourable appointments. He illustrated his native city
with beautiful works in the churches and in collections. They have not all
equal merit, as this artist also was not exempt from the disadvantages of
bad priming, domestic anxieties, and the infirmities of age. His best
works, according to some, are the two pictures at the church of S.
Bartolommeo, and the Slaughter of the Innocents, in the possession of his
Excellence the Sig. Giuseppe Doria, painted in competition with Vandyke and
Rubens in 1606. He formed also some excellent scholars, the account of whom
we shall reserve to the succeeding epoch. We shall there again recur to
him, as he is placed on the confines of the two periods of his school, and
may be regarded in the one as a scholar, and in the other as a master.

                  GENOESE SCHOOL.

                    EPOCH III.

     _The Art relapses for some time, and is re-invigorated by
     the Works of Paggi and some Foreigners._

Every school, whatever may have been the celebrity of its founder, betrays
in the course of time symptoms of decay, and stands in need of restoration.
The Genoese, in the hands of Castello, experienced a decline about the
close of the sixteenth century, but soon afterwards revived, by the return
of Paggi, and the arrival of some foreigners, who established themselves
for a considerable period in that city. To this amelioration Sofonisba
Angussola not a little contributed by the assemblies of scholars and
professors of the art, which were held in his house, much to their
improvement, as we have before observed. Among these were Gentileschi,
Roncalli, and the Procaccini, who were employed in various public works.
Aurelio Lomi of Pisa settled in Genoa, taught there, and left some
excellent works at San Francesco di Castelletto, at the Nunziata del
Guastato and elsewhere. Nor ought we to omit Simon Balli, his scholar,
unknown in Florence, his native city, but deserving of being remembered for
his style, which partook considerably of Andrea del Sarto's, and for some
small cabinet pictures on copper. Antonio Antoniano of Urbino also resorted
thither, if we are to believe Soprani.[68] He brought with him the
beautiful picture painted for the Duomo by Baroccio, who was his master;
and he himself, in the church of S. Tommaso, painted the picture of the
saint and another picture; and, if I mistake not, some others for private
individuals, which are at the present day attributed to Baroccio, so
successful was his imitation of that master. There came to Genoa from Siena
Salimbeni and Sorri, and with them Agostino Tassi. The two latter remained
there for a length of time, both working and teaching; and besides these,
Ghissoni, who was also a Sienese of some merit, a scholar of Alberti in
Rome, and a fresco painter of a vigorous and engaging style. Simon Vovet
also repaired thither, but did not remain long; he however executed some
works, one particularly of the Crucifixion, at St. Ambrose, not unworthy,
as Soprani informs us, of his great name. Amongst the most considerable aid
which Genoa experienced from foreign talents we must enumerate Rubens and
Vandyck; the first of whom left there some noble public works, and a number
of private historical pieces, and the second a very great number of his
eloquent and animated portraits. Gio. Rosa of Flanders also established
himself there, mentioned by me in Rome, where he studied; a happy imitator
of nature in her most agreeable forms, especially animals. He died in
Genoa, and left there Giacomo Legi, his countryman and scholar; of whom
there remain some excellent pictures of animals, flowers, and fruit, though
few in number, as he died young. Godfrey Waals, a German, and Gio. Batista
Primi, a Roman, scholars of Tassi, and landscape painters of much merit,
resided there for some time; and Cornelio Wael, with Vincenzio Malò, two
Flemish painters, clever in battles, landscapes, and humorous pieces, and
the latter also in altar-pieces. Some other Flemish artists must have
resided there a shorter time, by whom I have seen in some palaces pictures
of large size, and to all appearance painted on the spot; and these I
regard as additional aids to a school that benefited at that time more from
example than from instruction.

     Footnote 68: In the Dictionary of the Artists of Urbino the
     existence of this artist is rejected as fabulous; and it is
     attempted to substitute for him, in Soprani's work, Antonio
     Viviani, who was indeed in Genoa. Considerable weight is
     given to the conjecture, from the family of Antoniano not
     being mentioned in Urbino; and I may add the circumstance of
     not finding any other works of this Antonio than those named
     by Soprani and his copyists. And how is it possible that one
     who came to Genoa an accomplished master, should not have
     left, either in Urbino or the neighbouring territory, even a
     vestige or memorial of his pencil?

The young artists of Genoa, thus enriched in the course of a few years by
fresh examples, entered on a new career, and adopted a more vigorous and
grander style than they had before practised. And not a few of them, after
receiving the rudiments of instruction in their native place, repaired to
Parma, or Florence, or Rome, to finish their studies; and from these and
other sources added celebrity to their country. Thus the seventeenth
century did not possess in Genoa so decided a character as the preceding,
nor so select or ideal: it had however an abundance of excellent artists,
and particularly of the best portrait painters and colourists, sufficient
indeed to supply Venice with at her least happy epoch. It would also have
attained a higher pitch of repute, if the plague of 1657 had not swept off
a vast number of promising artists; the names of some of whom, cut off at
an early period of life, may be found mentioned in Soprani. The primary
cause of this revival of the art in Genoa may be ascribed to the riches and
to the taste of her nobility, who invited and supported these eminent
foreign artists. And in the next place much of this merit is due to Paggi.
There was at one time great danger of these excellent colourists being
negligent designers; and it is indeed a common opinion, adopted also by
Algarotti, that the best colourists are seldom correct in design. Paggi, in
this important point, supported the credit of the school. He had studied
design among the Florentines, the best masters in Italy; and he composed
for the instruction of youth a small treatise, entitled _Diffinizione o sia
Divisione della Pittura_, which he published in 1607. Soprani considers it
a useful compendium, and containing, in plain and unaffected language, the
principles of the art. It is mentioned with particular commendation in a
letter of the younger Vasari, which must make us regret the loss of it; and
it would be desirable to search the libraries where papers of this
description are preserved, to ascertain whether it may be still in
existence. All that we at present possess by Paggi is the Treatise
mentioned by us a few pages back. In the mean time we shall commence a new
epoch with him and his school.

Domenico Fiasella is called il Sarzana, from being born in the city of that
name, where he obtained the rudiments of his style. He devoted himself to
the study of the noble picture of Andrea del Sarto, which was then in the
church of the Predicatori; and where there is at this day a beautiful copy
of it. After being instructed for some time by Paggi he repaired to Rome,
and studied Raffaello, and imbibed also other favourite styles. He there
spent ten years, and became an eminent master, much praised by Guido Reni,
and employed as an assistant by the Cav. d'Arpino and Passignano. He
finally returned to Genoa, and in that city and in others of higher Italy,
executed numerous works. A very considerable part of them he left
imperfect, being in the habit of neglecting them, or leaving them to be
finished by his scholars, as is the tradition of his native place.
Independent of this impatience he was a great artist, and possessed many
eminent qualities, a felicity in grand compositions, a style of design
often worthy of the Roman School, great life in the heads; an admirable
colour in his oil pictures, and an easy imitation of various styles. He is
very Raffaellesque in a S. Bernardo, which is to be seen at S. Vincenzio in
Piacenza; Caravaggesque in a S. Tommaso di Villanova, at S. Agostino in
Genoa; in the Duomo of Sarzana, where he painted the Slaughter of the
Innocents, and in the archiepiscopal gallery of Milan, in an infant Christ,
he is a follower of Guido; and in other places an imitator of Annibal
Caracci and his school. He can command our admiration when he pleases, and
has left a stupendous work in the church of the Augustines in Genoa,
representing St. Paul, the first hermit, for whose body, discovered in a
lonely forest by St. Antony the Abbot, a lion is in the act of scooping a
grave. Many of his pictures are found in private collections. I have met
with specimens at Sarzana, in the house of his Excellency the Marquis
Remedi, a house celebrated for the cordial and generous hospitality of the
owner; and in others too there and in the state. His Madonnas have for the
most part a similarity of features; not so ideal as those of Raffaello, but
still agreeable and prepossessing.

On the death of Paggi, Fiasella became the principal instructor in Genoa,
and I shall mention his most conspicuous scholars. We may commence with his
relative, Gio. Batista Casone, changed by Orlandi into Carlone, who did not
paint much in Genoa. If we may judge from the altar-piece delle Vigne,
representing the Virgin surrounded by saints, he retained the style of
Fiasella, the colouring of which he endeavoured to invigorate. Gio. Paol
Oderico, a noble Genoese, painted always with great care, was select in his
forms, and possessed a strong and rich colouring. The PP. Scolopi have a
picture by him of the S. Angiolo Custode, the work of a young hand, but
bearing promise of great talents. His historical compositions are also to
be found in galleries, but they are rare, according to Soprani, and placed
among the most precious possessions. His portraits are not of such rare
occurrence, and in these he displayed great talents, and had numerous
commissions. We find but few public works of Francesco Capuro, in
consequence of his being engaged by the court and individuals in Modena,
where he passed a great part of his life, at a distance from his own
country. He was among the stricter followers of Fiasella in regard to
design and composition, but in his colouring he partakes of Spagnoletto,
under whom he studied in Naples; and in the style of that painter he
executed some pictures of half-size, which probably procured him his
highest reputation. We have still fewer public works by the young Luca
Saltarello; but a S. Benedetto, in the church of S. Stefano, in the act of
restoring a dead person to life, a picture of sober colouring, beautifully
harmonized, and full of expression and knowledge, sufficiently denotes his
early maturity, and his capacity, if he had lived, of forming an epoch in
his school. Being desirous of adding to his other accomplishments the
advantages to be derived from the ancient marbles, he repaired to Rome, and
died there through excess of study.

Gregorio de' Ferrari of Porto Maurizio received from Sarzana instructions
conformable to his principles, but which did not correspond with the genius
of the scholar, which was naturally disposed to a style of greater freedom
and grandeur. He repaired to Parma to study the works of Coreggio, and
there made a most careful copy of the great cupola, which was purchased
many years after by Mengs; and he returned home with a very different style
to his first. Coreggio was his only prototype, and he imitated him most
happily in the air of the countenances, and in many individual figures; but
not in the general style of composition, in which he is not so ideal; nor
in the colouring, as in his frescos he is somewhat languid. He is in
general negligent in his drawing; so that, with the exception of the two
pictures at the Theatines of S. Pier d'Arena, this censure attaches to all
his works. In his foreshortenings and in his draperies he sometimes falls
into affectation. He possesses however considerable attractions: he is
ingenious and novel, and displays a vigorous, rich, and correct colouring,
particularly in the fleshes. By these qualities his S. Michele, at the
church of the Madonna delle Vigne, predominates amongst the pictures of
that church: and it may be justly ranked with those Venetian productions in
which the spirit and noble colourings atone for the inaccuracy of the
drawing. He was much employed in Turin and in Marseilles; and still more so
in the principal palaces in his own country, particularly in that of the
Balbi. There however the great names of that celebrated collection, both
foreign and native, wage against him, as we may say, a continual war.

Valerio Castello is one of the greatest members of the Genoese School. He
no sooner made his appearance amongst his fellow scholars than he distanced
the oldest of them, and soon afterwards even rivalled his masters. The son
of Bernardo, and the scholar of Fiasella, he followed neither the style of
the one nor the other, but selected other prototypes more consonant to his
genius, the Procaccini in Milan, and Coreggio in Parma; and from the study
of these, and a grace wholly his own, he formed a style unique and
peculiarly belonging to himself. If it is not the most correct, it seems to
deserve pardon for its select composition, for its beautiful colouring and
chiaroscuro, and for the spirit, facility, and expression, which always
distinguish his pencil. He excelled in frescos, so as to please even by the
side of Carloni; and is perhaps sometimes, as in S. Marta, even superior to
him. In his perspectives he occasionally employed Gio. Maria Mariani
d'Ascoli, who also lived in Rome. Nor was he inferior in oil pictures. He
painted in the oratory of S. Jacopo the baptism of that saint, in
competition with the chief of his contemporaries, and eclipsed them all,
with the exception perhaps of Castiglione. He worked also for collections;
and in the royal gallery of Florence his Rape of the Sabines is highly
prized, a subject which, on a more extended scale, but yet with some
resemblance both of figures and architecture, he repeated in the palace
Brignole. He is not however frequently met with, as he died early, and from
the great celebrity he acquired, his works were in much request in all the
first collections, and thus his productions were dispersed. He taught Gio.
Batista Merano, and, after his own example, sent him to study at Parma, in
which city he met with sufficient employment both from the prince and
private individuals. The Slaughter of the Innocents, at the Gesù in Genoa,
is pointed out to us as one of his best pictures, and is a copious and
careful composition, extremely well arranged. We must not confound this
artist with Francesco Merano, called, from his first employ, Il Paggio, a
scholar and a respectable follower of Fiasella.

Returning to the scholars of Gio. Batista Paggi, one of them, who was
himself the educator of a generous race to his country, was Gio. Domenico
Cappellino. He had an extraordinary talent for imitation, whence, in his
first works, he came very near his master. There was not in him that air of
nobility that in Paggi and Bordone seems to have been derived from their
birth and education. He possessed nevertheless other qualities of art which
fail not to interest the spectator. This is evident in the Death of S.
Francesco, placed in S. Niccolò; and at S. Stefano in the S. Francesca
Romana, who to a dumb girl imparts the powers of speech. They are works
which possess in the whole a peculiar originality, and in the separate
figures a natural charm, and an expression of the affections and a delicacy
of colouring highly attractive. He afterwards changed his style, as may be
seen in two pictures of the Passion at S. Siro, and in many others at
Genoa, always vigorous, but less spirited than at first, rather obscure in
tints, and removed from the manner of Paggi. He aimed at originality, and,
finding her, pursued her without a rival.

He had the good fortune to be the instructor of a foreigner, one of those
men of genius who in themselves illustrate a whole school. This artist was
of the family of Pioli, which had already produced an excellent miniature
painter called Gio. Gregorio, who died in Marseilles, and a Pier Francesco,
a scholar of Sofonisba, who died young, with the reputation of being one of
the best imitators of Cambiaso. Pellegro Piola, of whom we have now to
treat, enjoyed a still shorter period of life, being assassinated at the
age of twenty-three, by an unknown hand; and, as it is believed, through
envy of his rare talents. It is not easy to describe very precisely the
style of this young man; for, as a student, he studied all the best works
and formed himself upon them, and willingly inclined to the more beautiful.
He then tried a wider flight, and pursued it always with exquisite
diligence, and a taste which charms us; and whatever style he adopted he
seemed to have grown grey in it. A Madonna by him, which is now in the
great collection of the Marchese Brignole, was considered by Franceschini
an original of Andrea del Sarto. His S. Eligio, in the street of the
goldsmiths, was by Mengs ascribed to Lodovico Caracci. He however aspired
at something far beyond mere imitation, and said that he had a mental
conception of the beautiful, which he did not despair to attain if his life
should be spared. But he was prematurely cut off, as I have stated, and his
works in consequence are very rarely met with.

The rarity of the productions of Pellegro was compensated for by a brother,
who filled the city and the state with his works. This was Domenico Piola,
a scholar of Pellegro and Cappellini, the associate of Valerio Castelli in
many works, and for some time an imitator of that master, afterwards of
Castiglione; and, finally, the founder of a style bordering on that of
Cortona. There is not in it a sufficient contrast; the forms are various,
ideal for the most part, nor without beauty; the chiaroscuro is generally
little finished; the design partakes of the Roman. There is, however, a
considerable resemblance to Pietro in the distribution of the colours, and
in his facility and despatch. He had a singular talent for the
representation of children, and he refined it by the imitation of
Fiammingo. He enlivened every composition by their introduction, and in
some palaces he interwove them in elegant friezes. From this soft and easy
manner, examples of which are to be met with in every part of the Genoese
territories, he could occasionally depart, as in the picture of the Miracle
of St. Peter at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, painted at Carignano,
where the architecture, the fleshes, the gestures, are highly studied; and
there is a force of effect which seems to emulate the Guercino, which is
opposed to it. He also departs from his ordinary style in the Repose of the
Holy Family at the Gesù. Of three sons whom Domenico instructed, Paolo will
be mentioned among the most excellent artists of a future epoch; Antonio
commendably followed his father's style in his youth, but afterwards
changed his profession. Gio. Batista could copy or follow the designs of
others, but nothing beyond. This latter had a son, Domenico, who, whilst he
was beginning to emulate the glory of his family, was cut off by death, and
with him was extinguished a family which, for the course of nearly two
centuries, had conferred honour on the profession.

Giulio Benso, the scholar of Paggi, excelled all his school in architecture
and perspective. Genoa, perhaps, does not possess any work in this
department superior to that of Benso in the Nunziata del Guastato; in the
choir of which he represented one of those perspective pictures with
balustrades and colonnades, in which Colonna and Mitelli so much excelled.
These two artists were great admirers of this work of Giulio, but to us it
may perhaps appear too much loaded with ornament. He there represented the
Glorification of the Virgin, and added some histories, in which he
rigorously observed the laws of the _sotto in su_; an art then little
practised in his school. Giovanni and Batista Carloni, who painted so much
in this church, are surpassed by him in this department; nor do they much
exceed him in composition and colour. Benso left but few oil paintings in
Genoa; that of S. Domenico in the church of that saint is one of the best,
and partakes more of the School of Bologna than that of Genoa.

Castellino Castello possessed a sober style of composition, like that of
Paggi his master, and, as far as we may judge from various pictures, was a
correct and elegant artist. He highly distinguished himself in the picture
of the Pentecost, placed on the great altar of the church of the Spirito
Santo. He, however, like many others of this period, is indebted for his
celebrity to his success in portrait painting; in confirmation of which it
is sufficient to state, that Vandyck was desirous of being commemorated by
him, and painted him in return. This fact exalts his reputation even more
than the commendations he received from contemporary poets, among whom were
Chiabrera and Marino, whose features he also preserved for posterity. He
was appointed portrait painter to the court of Savoy, and in this
department he had a rival in his own family, in Niccolo his son, who was in
high reputation in Genoa when Soprani wrote. Some others of the school of
Paggi, distinguished in landscape or in other branches of painting, are
reserved for the conclusion of this epoch.

Paggi had a rival in Sorri of Siena. His style is a mixture of Passignano
and Paol Veronese; and, if I err not in my judgment, of Marco da Siena
also, whose Deposition from the Cross in Araceli was, in a manner, repeated
by Sorri at S. Siro in Genoa. He there instructed Carlone and Strozzi, two
luminaries of this school. Gio. Carlone repaired soon to Rome, and
afterwards to Florence, where he was taught by Passignano, the
father-in-law and master of Sorri. Passignano was not so remarkable for his
colouring as for his design and grandeur of composition; but we have
already observed, that the style of colour is that portion of the art least
influenced by precept, and which is formed more than any other by the
individual genius of the painter. Carlone possessed as great talents for
composition as any of his contemporaries; correct and graceful in design,
decided and intelligent in expression; and above all, he had an
extraordinary brilliancy of colour in his frescos. In this branch he was
anxious to distinguish himself; and although he saw eminent examples at
Florence and in Rome, he did not adhere to them so much as, if I am not
wrong in my conjecture, he attempted to follow, or rather to surpass and to
reduce to a more pleasing practice, the style exhibited by Tavarone, in the
histories of S. Lorenzo. I have already described that style; the vigour,
beauty, and freshness with which it prepossesses the spectator, and
approximates the most distant objects. If, in respect of Giovanni, we wish
to add any greater praise, it is that he surpassed Tavarone in these gifts;
and besides, he is more correct in his contours, and more varied and
copious in composition. But in all these qualities they were both excelled
by Gio. Batista Carlone, a scholar also of Passignano, and a student in
Rome, afterwards the associate of Giovanni, his elder brother, in principle
and practice, whom he survived fifty years, as if to carry their style to
the highest pitch of perfection.

The church of the Nunziata del Guastato, a splendid monument of the piety
and the riches of the noble family of Lomellini, and an edifice which
confers honour on the city, which has enlarged and ornamented it as its
cathedral, possesses no work more astonishing than the three naves, almost
nearly the whole of which are decorated by the two brothers. In the middle
one the elder brother represented the Epiphany of our Lord, his Entrance
into Jerusalem, the Prayer at Gethsemane, the Resurrection, the Ascension,
the Descent of the Holy Ghost, the Assumption of the Virgin, and other
passages of the New Testament. In one of the smaller naves, the younger
brother painted St. Paul preaching to the Multitude, St. James baptizing
the Neophytes, St. Simon and St. Jude in the Metropolis of Persia; and in
the opposite nave three histories from the Old Testament, Moses striking
the Rock, the Israelites passing the Jordan, and Joseph, on a high seat,
giving Audience to his Brethren. All these stories seem to be adopted as
giving scope to a fancy rich in invention, and capable of peopling these
immense compositions with figures almost innumerable. It is not easy to
mention a work on so vast a scale executed with so much zeal and care;
compositions so copious and novel, heads so varied and so animated,
contours so well expressed and so strongly relieved, colours so enchanting,
so lucid and fresh after such a lapse of years. The reds (which perhaps are
too frequent) are as deep as purple, the blues appear sapphires, and the
green, above all, which is a wonder to artists, is bright as an emerald. In
viewing the brilliancy of these colours we might almost mistake them for
paintings on glass or enamel; nor do I recollect to have seen in any other
artists of Italy so original, beautiful, and enchanting a style of colour.
Some persons who have compared these colours with those of Raffaello,
Coreggio, or Andrea del Sarto, have thought them too near bordering on
crudeness; but in matters of taste, where the sources of pleasing are so
many, and where there are so many gradations in the merits of artists, who
can possibly gratify all? The similitude of style would lead the unskilled
to believe them the works of the same master; but the more experienced are
able to ascertain the composition of Gio. Batista from a peculiar delicacy
of tints and of chiaroscuro, and from a grander style of design. It has
been attempted to ascertain more minutely his method of colouring; and it
has been discovered, "that in decorating the ceilings and walls of rooms,
he previously laid on the dry wall a colour ground, to protect his work
from the action of the lime. These paintings were executed with the most
delicate gradations, and the most surprising harmony; hence his frescos
have all the richness of oil colours." These are the words of Ratti, and
Mengs joins him in the encomium.

I have only enumerated the paintings which these artists exhibited in the
Guastato, but Giovanni left numerous works in the same style and on similar
subjects, at the Gesù and at S. Domenico in Genoa, and at S. Antonio Abate
in Milan, where he died; without mentioning the many fables and stories
with which he adorned various palaces in his native city. Of the other
brother it is not equally easy to recount all that he painted in private
houses, and in the before-mentioned churches, and at S. Siro and elsewhere.
The histories of the chapel in the Palazzo Reale are amongst his most
original and delightful works; Columbus discovering the Indies; the
Martyrdom of the Giustiniani at Scio; the Remains of the Baptist brought to
Genoa, and other Ligurian subjects. Nor is it easy to enumerate his many
altar-pieces and oil pictures to be found in the churches. I shall limit
myself here to the three histories of S. Clemente Ancirano at the Guastato;
pictures, characterised by such congruity, such truth, and such a peculiar
horror, as to force us to withdraw our eyes from the inhumanity of the
scene. Some persons may, perhaps, be indisposed to give full credit to all
that I have written of Gio. Batista; as it seems incredible that an artist
should be so little known, who united in himself the most opposite
qualities; a wonderful skill both in oil and fresco; equal excellence in
colour and design; facility and correctness; an immense number of works,
and a diligence shewn by few fresco painters. But they who have viewed the
works I have mentioned, with unprejudiced eyes, will not, I feel confident,
differ far from me in opinion. He lived to the age of eighty-five, and lost
neither his vigour of invention nor his genius for grand composition; nor
the freedom of hand, and incomparably fine pencil with which he treated
them. I shall allude, in another epoch, to his sons Andrea and Niccolo; but
I must not neglect to observe, that both Pascoli and Orlandi have written
of this family with little accuracy.

The other great colourist and scholar of Sorri was Bernardo Strozzi, better
known under the name of the Capuchin of Genoa, from his professing that
order. He is also called _il Prete Genovese_, because he left the cloister,
when a priest, to contribute to the support of an aged mother and a sister;
but the one dying and the other marrying, he refused to return to his
order; and being afterwards forcibly recalled to it and sentenced to three
years of imprisonment, he contrived to make his escape, fled to Venice, and
there passed the remainder of his days as a secular priest. The larger
compositions of this artist are only to be seen in Genoa, in the houses of
the nobility, and in San Domenico, where he executed the great picture of
the Paradiso, which is one of the best conceived that I have seen. There
too, in Novi and in Voltri, are various altar-pieces; and above all, an
admirable Madonna in Genoa, in a room of the Palazzo Reale. Some of his
works are also to be seen in Venice, where Strozzi was preferred to every
other artist, to replace a _Tondo_, executed in the best age of Venetian
art, in the library of St. Mark, and there painted a figure of Sculpture.

He, however, left few public works. Whoever wishes to see admirable
productions, must observe his pictures in eminent collections; as the St.
Thomas Incredulous, in the Palazzo Brignole. When placed in a room of
excellent colourists he eclipses them all by the majesty, copiousness,
vigour, nature, and harmony of his style. His design is not very correct,
nor sufficiently select; we there see a naturalist who follows neither
Sorri nor any other master; but one who, after the example of that ancient
master, derives instruction from the multitude. There is a deep expression
of force and energy in the heads of his men, and of piety in those of his
saints. In the countenances of his women and his youths he has less merit;
and I have seen some of his Madonnas and angels vulgar and often repeated.
He was accustomed to paint portraits, and in his compositions derived all
his knowledge from the study of nature; and often painted half figures in
the style of Caravaggio. The royal gallery at Florence has a Christ by him,
called _della Moneta_; the figures half-size, and exhibiting great
vivacity. He is esteemed the most spirited artist of his own school; and in
strong impasto, in richness and vigour of colour, has few rivals in any
other; or rather, in this style of colouring he is original and without
example. His remains were deposited at S. Fosca in Venice, with this
inscription: _Bernardus Strozzius Pictorum splendor, Liguriæ decus_; and it
is his great praise to have merited this encomium in the seat and near the
ashes of the greatest colourists.

Gio. Andrea de' Ferrari perfected himself under this master, having been
previously the scholar of Castelli, whose feeble style may be detected in
the Theodosius, painted by Ferrari as an altar-piece in the Gesù. In many
works he is a respectable follower of Strozzi; as in the Nativity in the
Duomo of Genoa, and in the Nativity of the Virgin, in a church of Voltri,
full of figures which seem inspired with life. Although little known, and
perhaps too little commended by Soprani, he is one of the first Genoese
artists; and, to establish his reputation, it is sufficient to state, that
he was the master of Gio. Bernardo Carbone, the chief of this school of
portrait painters. Even by the more experienced his portraits were often
mistaken for those of Vandyke, or purchased at prices little inferior to
those given for a true Vandyke. He also composed well, as may be seen in
his picture of the King S. Louis at the Guastato. But this picture did not
please the person who gave the commission, and a second was ordered in
Paris, and afterwards a third, which successively superseded each other on
the altar. But they did not prove satisfactory, and that of Carbone was
restored to its place, and the other two were added as laterals, as if to
attend on it.

Another deserving scholar of Strozzi resided a considerable time in
Tuscany, and there distinguished himself; Clemente Bocciardo, from his
great size called Clementone. He first studied in Rome, afterwards in
Florence, and practising much with Castiglione, he formed a style more
correct and ideal than that of his master, to whom, however, he is inferior
in truth of colour. Pisa was his theatre of art, where, in the Duomo and
elsewhere, he left some highly respectable works; over all of which, in his
life, the preference is given to S. Sebastian, placed in the church of the
Carthusians. He painted his own portrait for the royal gallery of Florence,
which has had a better fate than those of many common artists, and remains
there to the present day.

A third pupil of this school resided a considerable time in Venice,
afterwards in Mirandola. This was Gio. Francesco Cassana, a soft and
delicate colourist, and master of Langetti. By the Venetians he was but
little esteemed, and painted only for private collections. He afterwards
repaired to the court of Mirandola, and painted a S. Jerome for the Duomo
of that city, and other pictures in various churches, which enhanced his
reputation. He was the founder of a family that conferred honour on the
art. Niccolo, his eldest son, who became one of the most celebrated
portrait painters of his age, passed the chief part of his life at
Florence, and died at the court of London. The Grand Duke possesses some of
his historical compositions, and some portraits full of expression, in the
royal gallery, amongst which are two half figures of two court buffoons,
admirably executed. It is said that his style, which nearly approaches to
Strozzi, cost him great trouble, and that, when painting, he was so intent
on his work as not to hear a person addressing him; and sometimes, in a
rage, he would throw himself on the ground, exclaiming against his work as
deficient both in colour and spirit, till snatching his pencil again he
brought it to his wishes. Gio. Agostino, called l'Abate Cassana, from the
clerical dress which he always wore, was a good portrait painter, but
distinguished himself more in the representation of animals. There are many
of his pictures in the collections of Florence, Venice, and Genoa, and
Italy in general, and they often indeed pass under the name of Castiglione.
The third brother was Gio. Batista, and excelled in flowers and fruits,
which he painted with great effect. They had also a sister, of the name of
Maria Vittoria, who painted sacred figures for private collections, and who
died in Venice at the beginning of the last century. In all I have said of
the Cassana family I have adhered to Ratti, as to a native and correct
author. Some who have written on the gallery of Florence, where the
portraits of the three first are found, differ in some particulars,
ascribing to the one works belonging to the other. Niccolo was in fact the
one that there enjoyed the highest favour of Prince Ferdinand; and he it is
who is mentioned in the note to Borghini (p. 316) where it is said that the
picture by Raffaello, transferred from Pescia to the Pitti palace, was
finished by Cassana. But with respect to this notice, and others regarding
the Cassani, we may consult the Catalogo Vianelli, p. 97, where we find
described a remarkable portrait of a young man studying, painted by
Niccolò; and it is succeeded by a long memoir, which throws additional
light on the history of this family.

I must now speak of another celebrated Ligurian, but neither a scholar of
Paggi, nor of Sorri, nor indeed of any other considerable master, and
almost self-instructed; for the elements of the art, which he learned from
Orazio Cambiaso, a painter of mediocrity, could not carry him far. He was
born in Voltri, his name Gio. Andrea Ansaldo. He is the only one of the
school who contested precedency in perspective with Giulio Benso, by whom,
in a quarrel, prompted by jealous feelings of his talents, he was wounded:
an attempt which was repeated by an unknown hand, after an interval of some
years. Near the choir of the Nunziata, painted by Benso, we behold the
cupola of Ansaldo, injured by damp, yet notwithstanding remarkable for a
most beautiful division and grandeur of the architecture, and for many
figures which remain uninjured. When we survey this fine work, we cannot
refuse to this artist a great talent for the decoration of cupolas, which
may be esteemed the summit of the art of painting, as the colossal is of
sculpture. His other works in fresco, in churches and in private houses,
are very numerous; and he is particularly admired for his works in the
palace Spinola at S. Pier d'Arena, where he has represented the military
exploits in Flanders of the Marchese Federico, the boast of this family.
Amongst his oil pictures a St. Thomas baptizing three Kings in a church, is
celebrated. It is placed in the chapel of that saint, and exhibits much
vigour of design, a brilliant decoration of scenery and persons, and a
display of graceful and delightful harmony. Such is his prevailing
character, which is in part his own, acquired by an unwearied application,
and in part derived from the Venetians, and especially Paolo. Ansaldo is
one of those masters who painted both much and well.

Of his scholars, the one who followed him the closest was Orazio de'
Ferrari, his countryman and kinsman. He painted well in fresco, but better
in oil. We need only inspect the Last Supper in the oratory of S. Siro, to
form a most favourable idea of this young artist. Giovacchino Assereto
profited more from the design than the colour of Ansaldo; in general he
attempted his chiaroscuro in the manner of Borzone, his first master, as in
the picture of S. Rosario at S. Brigida. Giuseppe Badaracco was ambitious
of introducing a new style into his native place, and repaired to Florence,
where he remained many years copying and imitating Andrea del Sarto. He
left many works there in private collections, and I imagine they are there
still; but, as always happens to copyists and imitators, his name is never
mentioned, and his works pass as belonging to the school of Andrea. In
Genoa itself his name is almost lost. It is known that he in general
painted for collections; but not for what houses. I found in the house of a
gentleman of Novi an Achilles in Scyros, with the name of Badaracco, and
with the date of 1654. In this work the artist seems to have forgotten
Andrea, and to have followed the naturalists of his own country. There is
no public work by him except a S. Philip, which is preserved in the
sacristy of S. Niccolò in _Voltri_.

To the foregoing masters we may add Gio. Batista Baiardo, of I know not
what school, but certainly commendable for the talents displayed in his
pictures at the portico of S. Pietro, and in the convent of S. Agostino,
painted with vigour, freedom, and grace. The inferior works in that convent
are certainly by another hand. Baiardo, Badaracco, Oderico, Primi, Gregorio
de' Ferrari, and others in this school, were carried off by the plague in
1657. But we have now spoken sufficiently of the higher class of works, and
shall here pass to those of another kind, completing the notices which we
have occasionally interspersed before.

We have often spoken of portrait painting, a lucrative branch of the art in
every capital, and more cultivated in Genoa than in most cities. Besides
the noble models of art left, as we have before mentioned, by the best
Flemish artists, those of Del Corte, a scholar of Titian, and of his son
Cesare, were of great service. From the school of this master arose a
succession of noble portrait painters, instructed by Luciano Borzone, who
in the time of Cerano and Procaccini also studied in the Milanese School,
and derived benefit from it; an artist highly esteemed by Guido Reni. He is
entitled to a place in the higher walks of art for his numerous paintings
for the churches and for collections; where however his greatest merit is
the expression, which as a good portrait painter, or rather naturalist, he
gives to his heads, which partake more of natural truth than of select
beauty. The folds of his drapery are true and simple, and his style on the
whole is not so strong as that of Guercino, but sufficiently so to please
the eye. The Presentation at S. Domenico, and the B. Chiara at S.
Sebastiano, are of this character. But his best works are at S. Spirito,
where he painted six pictures, and amongst them the Baptism of Christ,
which is much extolled. He initiated in his own profession two sons, Gio.
Batista and Carlo, who on his death finished some of his pictures in a
manner not to be distinguished from his own hand. Carlo surpassed his
brother in small portraits; and with him Gio. Batista Mainero, Gio. Batista
Monti, Silvestro Chiesa, all scholars of Borzone, all worthy of
commemoration, and all of whom shared the same fate, being carried off by
the pestilence of the year 1657.

The first who distinguished himself in the lower branch of the art in the
Genoese School was Sinibaldo Scorza, born in Voltaggio, who, guided by a
natural genius, and directed by Paggi, proved an excellent painter of
landscapes enlivened by figures of men and animals in the style of Berghem.
It would be difficult to name an artist in Italy who so successfully
engrafted the Flemish style on his own. I have seen a picture of cattle
passing a stream, in the collection of the illustrious Carlo Cambiaso,
where the animals rival those of Berghem, and the human figures appear
painted by a superior artist. Other collections possess specimens of him in
sacred subjects and classical fables; in which he rises far above the
Flemish artists. He also painted in miniature, if indeed his oil paintings,
from the care bestowed on them, ought not themselves to be called
miniatures. His works were celebrated by the poets of the age, particularly
by Marini, who introduced him to the court of Savoy. He was engaged, and
employed there until hostilities took place between the governments of
Piedmont and Genoa, which obliged him to return home. He was then denounced
to the government by some malicious rivals as a partizan of Savoy, and
passed two years in exile between Massa and Rome. From thence he returned
much improved, whence his latter pictures far exceed the first in invention
and copious composition.

Antonio Travi, more commonly called Il Sestri, or Il Sordo di Sestri, from
being a grinder of colours in the studio of Strozzi, and a friend of the
Flemish artist Waals, soon emulated both the one and the other. He learned
from the latter the art of painting landscape, with buildings in
perspective, and ruins; and he afterwards copied from nature the beautiful
country of the Riviera, with avenues of trees and rich orchards. But as
Waals was a feeble painter of figures, Travi availed himself of the
instructions of Strozzi to enliven his landscapes with beautiful and
spirited figures, not so much painted as sketched with a few strokes by a
master's hand, to gratify the eye when viewed at a distance. Thus, although
his landscapes are not highly finished, they please us by their agreeable
disposition, by their azure skies, the verdure of the trees, and their
freedom of touch. The state abounds with his pictures; but a great
proportion of those that bear his name are by his sons, who succeeded him
in his profession, but not with their father's talents.

Ambrogio Samengo and Francesco Borzone deserve also to be enumerated among
the landscape painters. Ambrogio was the scholar of Gio. Andrea Ferrari, a
painter of flowers and fruit; and his works are rare in consequence of his
early death. Francesco, after a miraculous escape from the plague, applied
himself to the composition of marine subjects and landscapes in the style
of Claude and Dughet; and his pictures, from their clearness, sweetness,
and fine effect, attracted the notice of Louis XIV., who invited him to his
court, where he remained many years; and this is the reason of the scarcity
of his works in Italy. We might here mention Raffaele Soprani, the
biographer of the Genoese artists, and many noble Genoese with him; but in
a work where the names of many painters themselves are omitted, it will not
be expected that we should record all the amateurs of the art.

I may place in this class of artists Gio. Benedetto Castiglione; not that
he wanted talents for larger works, as many altar-pieces in Genoa, and
particularly the very beautiful Nativity in St. Luke, one of the most
celebrated pictures in the city, sufficiently prove, but because the great
reputation which he has acquired in Europe has been derived from his
cabinet pictures, where he has represented in a wonderful manner animals,
either alone or as accessories to the subject. In this department of the
art he is, after Bassano, the first in Italy; and between these two the
same difference exists as between Theocritus and Virgil; the first of whom
is more true to nature and more simple, the second more learned and more
finished. Castiglione, the scholar of those accomplished artists Paggi and
Vandyke, ennobles the fields and woods by the fertility and novelty of his
invention, by his classical allusions, and his correct and natural
expression of the passions. He displays a freedom of design, a facility,
grace, and generally a fulness of colour; but in some pictures a greater
richness is desired by Maratta. The general tone is cheerful, and often
reddish. We find by him in collections large pictures of animals with
figures, as in that belonging to his Excellency the Doge Agostino
Lomellino; at other times sacred subjects, among which the most celebrated
are those from Genesis, the creation of animals, and their entry into the
ark; and the return of Jacob with a numerous body of servants and cattle, a
stupendous performance in the Palazzo Brignole Sale. Sometimes we find
fabulous compositions, as the Transformations of Circe, in the collection
of the Grand Duke of Tuscany; at other times hunting pieces, as that of the
Bull in the collection of the Marchesi Riccardi at Florence; often markets
and shews of cattle in the Flemish manner, and always more finished and
more gay when painted on a smaller scale. Such is a Tobias in the act of
recovering his sight, a most elegant picture, which I saw in possession of
the Gregori family at Foligno. It would require a volume, as Soprani
observes, to describe all his pictures in Genoa; but there is an abundance
of them, not to mention those abroad, in every part of Italy, as he studied
both at Rome and Venice, and a longer time at Mantua, where he died in the
service of the court. He there, for the correctness and beauty of his
colouring, obtained the name of Grechetto; and, for his peculiar style of
etching, he was also called a second Rembrandt. In that city are to be
found some pictures in his manner by his son Francesco and his brother
Salvatore, in which they often make near approaches to him. Francesco
repaired afterwards to Genoa, where he employed himself in painting
animals, which less experienced connoisseurs sometimes ascribe to Gio.
Benedetto. No Genoese, except Francesco, rivalled him in this branch; for
Gio. Lorenzo Bertolotti, who studied under him for some time, dedicated
himself to the painting of altar-pieces; and in that of the church of the
Visitation he highly distinguished himself. Anton Maria Vassallo was a
reputable painter of landscape, flowers, fruits, and animals. His chief
merit is in his colouring, which he learned from Malò, the scholar of
Rubens. He excelled also in figures; but his short life did not allow him
to obtain a more extended celebrity.

                 GENOESE SCHOOL.

                     EPOCH IV.

     _The Roman and Parmesan succeed to the Native Style.
     Establishment of an Academy._

Many masters of this school being cut off by the plague in the year 1657,
others deceased in the course of nature, not a few incapacitated from age,
and some also turned to mannerism, the Genoese School fell into such a
state of decline, that most of the young artists had recourse to other
cities for instruction, and in most instances repaired to Rome. In
consequence, from the beginning of this century to our own days, the Roman
style has predominated among these painters, varying, according to the
schools from which it descended, and according to the scholars that
practised it. Few of them have preserved the style unmixed; and some have
formed from the Roman and the Genoese a third manner, deserving of
commendation. On this account my readers should be cautioned not to judge
of these artists from works which some of them left when studying in Rome,
as I have known to be sometimes the case. Artists ought to be estimated by
their mature works, which, in this art, are like the corrected editions of
a work in letters, by which every author wishes to be judged.

I noticed, in a former volume, Gio. Batista Gaulli. This artist, after many
years practice under Luciano Borzone, unwilling to remain in a city
depopulated by the plague, went to Rome; and there, by studying the best
masters and by the direction of Bernino, made himself master of a new
style, grand, vigorous, full of fire, his children gracefully drawn, and
altogether enchanting. He contributed some pupils to the Roman School, and
two of them he educated for their native school; Gio. Maria delle Piane,
called, from his father's profession, II Molinaretto, and Gio. Enrico
Vaymer. Their pictures were composed in a good style, and there are some of
their works in the churches of Genoa; particularly of the first, by whom
there is at Sestri di Ponente a Decollation of St. John the Baptist, highly
celebrated. But they owed both their fame and their fortune to portrait
painting. The accomplishments of their master in that respect, above all
other artists, insured them a reputation, whence they abounded in
commissions, both in Genoa, which on that account is full of portraits
painted by them, and also in foreign countries. Vaymer was three times
called to Turin to paint the king and royal family; and was invited by very
considerable offers to remain there, which he, however, always rejected.
Molinaretto, after several visits to Parma and Piacenza, where he furnished
the court with portraits, and left some pictures in the churches, was
invited by King Charles of Bourbon to Naples, where he died, in a good old
age, painter to the court.

Pietro da Cortona also contributed some good scholars to Genoa. A doubtful
celebrity remains to Francesco Bruno of Porto Maurizio, who left in his
native country some altar-pieces in the style of Pietro, and a copy of one
of the pictures of that master. He is an unequal painter, if, indeed, we