and then retired to Holland, where he died at an advanced age, and not a
young man, as Passeri has imagined.

His place and his employ in Rome were soon filled up by Cerquozzi, who
had for some time past exchanged the name of M. A. delle Battaglie, for
that of M. A. delle Bambocciate. Although the subjects which he
represents are humourous, like those of Laar, the incidents and the
characters are for the most part different. The first adopted the
Flemish boors, the other the peasantry of Italy. They had both great
force of colour, but Bamboccio excels Cerquozzi in landscape, while the
latter discovers more spirit in his figures. One of Cerquozzi's largest
compositions is in the Spada palace at Rome, in which he represented a
band of insurgent Lazzaroni applauding Maso Aniello.

Laar had another excellent imitator in Gio. Miel, of Antwerp, who having
imbibed a good style of colouring from Vandyke, came to Rome and
frequented the school of Sacchi. From thence, however, he was soon
dismissed, as his master wished him to attempt serious subjects, but he
was led both by interest and genius to the burlesque. His pictures
pleased from their spirited representations and their excellent
management of light and shade, and brought high prices from collectors.
He afterwards painted on a larger scale, and besides some altarpieces in
Rome, he left some considerable works in Piedmont, where we shall notice
him again. Theodore Hembreker, of Haerlem, also employed himself on
humourous subjects, and scenes of common life, although there are some
religious pieces attributed to him in the church della Pace in Rome, and
a number of landscapes in private collections. He passed many years in
Italy, and visited most of the great cities, so that his works are
frequently found not only in Rome, where he had established himself, but
in Florence, Naples, Venice, and elsewhere. His style is a pleasing
union of the Flemish and Italian.

Many artists of this period attached themselves to the painting of
animals. Castiglione distinguished himself in this line, but he resided
for the most part of his time in another country. M. Gio. Rosa, of
Flanders, is the most known in Rome and the State, for the great number
of his paintings of animals, in which he possessed a rare talent. It is
told of him, that dogs were deceived by the hares he painted, thus
reviving the wonderful story of Zeuxis, so much boasted of by Pliny. Two
of his largest and finest pictures are in the Bolognetti collection, and
there is attached to them a portrait, but whether of the painter
himself, or some other person, is not known. We must not confound this
artist with Rosa da Tivoli, who was also an excellent animal painter,
but not so celebrated in Italy, and flourished at a later period, and
whose real name was Philip Peter Roos. He was son-in-law of Brandi, and
his scholar in Rome, and rivalled his hasty method in many pictures
which I have seen in Rome and the states of the church; but we ought not
to rest our decision of his merits on these works, but should view the
animals painted by him at his leisure, particularly for the galleries of
princes. These are to be found in Vienna, Dresden, Monaco, and other
capital cities of Germany; and London possesses not a few of the first
value in their way.[84]

After Caravaggio had given the best examples of flowers in his pictures,
the Cav. Tommaso Salini, of Rome, an excellent artist, as may be seen in
a S. Niccola at S. Agostino, was the first that composed vases of
flowers, accompanying them with beautiful groups of corresponding
foliage, and other elegant designs. Others too pursued this branch, and
the most celebrated of all, was Mario Nuzzi della Penna, better known by
the name of Mario da' Fiori; whose productions during his life were
emulously sought after, and purchased at great prices; but after the
lapse of some years, not retaining their original freshness, and
acquiring, from a vicious mode of colouring, a black and squalid
appearance, they became much depreciated in value. The same thing
happened to the flower pieces of Laura Bernasconi, who was his best
imitator, and whose works are still to be seen in many collections.

Orsini informs us, that he found in Ascoli some paintings of flowers by
another of the fair sex, to whose memory the Academy of S. Luke in Rome
erected a marble monument in their church, not so much in compliment to
her talents in painting, as in consequence of her having bequeathed to
that society all her property, which was considerable. In her epitaph
she is commemorated only as a miniature painter, and Orlandi describes
her as such, adding, that she resided for a long time in Florence, where
she left a large number of portraits in miniature of the Medici, and
other princes of that time, about the year 1630. She also painted in
other capitals of Italy, and died at an advanced age in Rome, in 1673.

Michelangiolo di Campidoglio of Rome, was greatly distinguished for his
masterly grouping of fruits. Though almost fallen into oblivion from the
lapse of years, his pictures are still to be met with in Rome, and in
other places. The noble family of Fossombroni in Arezzo, possess one of
the finest specimens of him that I have ever seen. More generally known
is Pietro Paolo Bonzi, called by Baglione, Il Gobbo di Cortona, which
was his native place; by others, Il Gobbo de' Caracci, from his having
been employed in their school; and by the vulgar, Il Gobbo da' Frutti,
from the natural manner of his painting fruit. He did not pass the
bounds of mediocrity in historical design, as we may see from his S.
Thomas, in the church of the Rotonda, nor in landscapes; but he was
unrivalled in painting fruits, and designing festoons, as in the ceiling
of the Palazzo Mattei; and in his elegant grouping of fruit in dishes
and baskets, as I have seen in Cortona, in the house of the noble family
of Velluti, in the Olivieri gallery in Pesaro, and elsewhere. The
Marchesi Venuti, in Cortona, have a portrait of him painted, it is
believed, by one of the Caracci, or some one of their school, and it is
well known, that the drawing of caricatures was a favourite amusement of
that academy.

At this brilliant epoch, the art of perspective too was carried to a
high degree of perfection in deceiving the eye of the spectator. From
the beginning of the seventeenth century, it had made great advances by
the aid of P. Zaccolini, a Theatine monk of Cesena, in whose praise it
is sufficient to observe, that Domenichino and Poussin were instructed
by him in this art. S. Silvestro, in Montecavallo, possesses the finest
specimen of this power of illusion, in a picture of feigned columns, and
cornices and other architectural decorations. His original drawings
remain in the Barberini library. Gianfrancesco Niceron de' P. P. Minimi
added to this science by his work entitled _Thaumaturgus opticus_, 1643;
and in a gallery of his convent at Trinità de' Monti, he painted some
landscapes, which, on being viewed in a different aspect, are converted
into figures. But the most practised artist in the academy of Rome, was
Viviano Codagora, who drew from the ruins of ancient Rome, and also
painted compositions of his own invention in perspective. He engaged
Cerquozzi and Miel, and others in Rome, to insert the figures for him,
but he was most partial to Gargiuoli of Naples, as we shall mention in
our account of that school. Viviano may he called the Vitruvius of this
class of painters. He was correct in his linear perspective, and an
accurate observer of the style of the ancients. He gave his
representations of marble the peculiar tint it acquires by the lapse of
years, and his general tone of colour was vigorous. What subtracts the
most from his excellence is a certain hardness, and too great a quantity
of black, by which his pictures are easily distinguished from others in
collections, and which in the course of time renders them dark and
almost worthless. His true name is unknown to the greater number of the
lovers of art, by whom he is called Il Viviani; and who seem to have
confounded him with Ottavio Viviani of Brescia, who is mentioned by the
Dictionaries; a perspective painter also, but in another branch, and in
a different style, as we shall hereafter see.

[Footnote 71: He excelled chiefly in architecture, although he had given
a proof of his talents in painting, in some subjects in the gallery,
executed under Gregory XIII.]

[Footnote 72: In the, not very accurate, catalogue of the pictures in
Fabriano, besides the above mentioned fourteen, seven more are mentioned
by the same master.]

[Footnote 73: Mention is also made of one Basilio Maggieri, an excellent
painter of portraits.]

[Footnote 74: V. Le Pitture pubbliche di Piacenza, p. 81.]

[Footnote 75: In a letter of the Oretti correspondence, written in 1777,
from Andrea Zanoni to the Prince Ercolani, I find Marini classed in the
school of Ferraù da Faenza, and there still remain many pictures by him
in the style of that master.]

[Footnote 76: Pascoli has restored to him the picture of S. Rosalia at
the Maddalena, which Titi had ascribed to Michele Rocca, called _Il
Parmigianino_, an artist of repute, and proper to be mentioned, as by
those who are not acquainted with his name and style, he might be
mistaken for Mazzuola, or perhaps Scaglia. The same author, soon
afterwards, mentions Grecolini, and thereby renders any further notice
of that artist on my part unnecessary.]

[Footnote 77: We ought to judge of him from the Visitation, at the
church of the Orfanelli, rather than from the picture of various Saints,
in _Ara Coeli_. This kind of observation may be extended to many other
artists, who are commemorated for the sake of some superior work.]

[Footnote 78: Memoirs of this painter have been long a desideratum, as
may be seen from the Lett. Pitt. tom. v. p. 257. I give such information
as I have been able to procure in his native place, assisted by the
researches of the very obliging Monsignore Massajuoli, Bishop of Nocera.
Gio. Batista was born in Sassoferrato on the 11th July, 1605, and died
in Rome on the 8th August, 1685. And I may here correct an error of my
first edition, where it is printed 1635.]

[Footnote 79: There is a picture of the Rosario in the church of the
Eremitani, with his name, and the year 1573. It is a large composition.]

[Footnote 80: In the Oretti Correspondence there is a letter from an
anonymous writer to Malvasia respecting this painter, who is there
called Francesco, and is declared to be _Pittore di molta stima_. He
then painted in Ancona, as appears from letters under his own hand to
Malvasia, where he invariably subscribes himself Francesco.]

[Footnote 81: Passeri, Vite de' Pittori, page 363. He was remarkable for
being the first to adopt a new style in trees in landscapes, where by a
strong character of truth and attention to the forms of the trunk,
foliage, and branches, he denoted the particular species he wished to
express.]

[Footnote 82: He painted for his _studio_ a landscape enriched with
views from the Villa Madama, in which a wonderful variety of trees was
introduced. This he preserved for the purpose of supplying himself, as
from nature, with subjects for his various pictures, and refused to sell
it to the munificent pontiff, Clement IX., although that prince offered
to cover it with pieces of gold.]

[Footnote 83: V. Salvator Rosa, sat. iii. p. 79, where he reprehends not
only the artists, but also the great, for affording such pictures a
place in their collections.]

[Footnote 84: He was the ancestor of the Sig. Giuseppe Rosa, director of
the imperial gallery in Vienna, who has given us a catalogue of the
Italian and Flemish pictures of that collection, and who will, we hope,
add the German. Of this deserving artist he possesses a portrait,
engraved in 1789, where we find a list of the various academies that had
elected him a member, and these are numerous, and of the first class in
Europe. We find him also amongst those masters whose drawings were
collected by Mariette; and he is also mentioned in the Lessico
Universale delle Belle Arti, edited in Zurich, in 1763.]

  ROMAN SCHOOL.

  FIFTH EPOCH.

  _The Scholars of Pietro da Cortona, from an injudicious
  imitation of their Master, deteriorate the art. Maratta
  and others support it._

It may with equal justice be asserted of the fine arts, as of the belles
lettres, that they never long remain in the same state, and that they
experience often great changes even in the common period assigned to the
life of man. Many causes contribute to this; public calamities, such as
I mentioned to have occurred after the death of Raffaello; the
instability of the human mind, which in the arts as in dress is guided
by fashion and the love of novelty; the influence of particular artists;
the taste of the great, who from their selection or patronage of
particular masters, silently indicate the path to those artists who seek
the gifts of fortune. These and other causes tended to produce the
decline of painting in Rome towards the close of the seventeenth
century, at a time too when literature began to revive; a clear proof
that they are not mutually progressive. This was in a great measure
occasioned by the calamitous events which afflicted Rome and the state,
about the middle of that century; by the feuds of the nobles, the flight
of the Barberini family, and other unfortunate circumstances, which,
during the pontificate of Innocent X., as we are informed by Passeri,
(p. 321,) rendered the employment of artists very precarious; but more
than all the dreadful plague of 1655, under Alexander VII. To this state
of decay too the evil passions of mankind contributed in no small
degree, and these indeed in all revolutions are among the most active
and predominant sources of evil, and often even in a prosperous state of
things sow the seeds of future calamities.

The Cav. Bernini, a man of more talents as an architect than as a
sculptor, was under Urban VIII. and Innocent X., and also until the year
1680, in which he died, the arbiter of the public taste in Rome. The
enemy of Sacchi and the benefactor of Cortona, he obtained more employ
for his friend than for his rival; and this was easily accomplished, as
Cortona was rapid as well as laborious, while Sacchi was slow and
irresolute, qualities which rendered him unacceptable even to his own
patrons. In course of time Bernini began to favour Romanelli, to the
prejudice of Pietro; and, instructing that artist and Baciccio in his
principles, he influenced them to the adoption of his own style, which,
though it possessed considerable beauty, was nevertheless mannered,
particularly in the folds of the drapery. The way being thus opened to
caprice, they abandoned the true, and substituted false precepts of art,
and many years had not elapsed before pernicious principles appeared in
the schools of the painters, and particularly in that of Cortona. Some
went so far as to censure the imitation of Raffaello, as Bellori attests
in the Life of Carlo Maratta, (p. 102,) and others ridiculed, as
useless, the study of nature, preferring to copy, in a servile manner,
the works of other artists. These effects are visible in the pictures of
the time. All the countenances, although by different artists, have a
fulness in the lips and nose like those of Pietro, and have all a sort
of family resemblance, so much are they alike; a defect which Bottari
says is the only fault of Pietro, but it is not the only fault of his
school. Every one was anxious to avoid the labour of study, and to
promote facility at the expense of correct design; the errors in which
they endeavoured to conceal by overcharging rather than discriminating
the contours. No one can be desirous that I should enter into further
particulars, when we are treating of matters so very near our own times,
and whoever is free from prejudice may judge for himself. I now return
to the state of the Roman School about one hundred and twenty years
back.

The schools most in repute, after the death of Sacchi, in 1661, and of
Berrettini, in 1670, when the best scholars of the Caracci were dead,
were reduced to two, that of Cortona supported by Ciro, and that of
Sacchi, by Maratta. The first of these expanded the ideas, but induced
negligence; the second enforced correctness, but fettered the ideas.
Each adopted something from the other, and not always the best part; an
affected contrast pleased some of the scholars of Maratta, and the
drapery of Maratta was adopted by some of the followers of Ciro.[85] The
school of Cortona exhibited a grand style in fresco; the other school
was restricted to oils. They became rivals, each supported by its own
party, and were impartially employed by the pontiffs until the death of
Ciro, that is, until 1689. From that time a new tone was given to art by
Maratta, who, under Clement XI., was appointed director of the numerous
works which that pontiff was carrying on in Rome and in Urbino. Although
this master had many able rivals, as we shall see, he still maintained
his superiority, and on his death, his school continued to flourish
until the pontificate of Benedict XIV., ultimately yielding to the more
novel style of Subleyras, Batoni, and Mengs. Thus far of the two schools
in general: we shall now notice their followers.

Besides the scholars whom Pietro formed in Tuscany, as Dandini of
Florence, Castellucci of Arezzo, Palladino of Cortona, and those whom he
formed in other schools, where we shall see them as masters, he educated
others in the Roman state, of whom it is now time to speak. The number
of his scholars is beyond belief. They were enumerated by Sig. Cav.
Luzi, a nobleman of Cortona, who composed a life of Berrettini with more
accuracy than had been before done, but his death prevented the
publication of it. Pietro continued to teach to the close of his life,
and the picture of S. Ivo, which he left imperfect, was finished by Gio.
Ventura Borghesi, of Città di Castello. Of this artist there are also at
S. Niccola, two pictures, the Nativity, and the Assumption of the
Virgin, and I am not acquainted with any other public specimens of his
pencil in Rome. His native place possesses many of his performances, and
the most esteemed are four circles of the History of S. Caterina, V. M.,
in the church of that saint. Many of his works are to be found also in
Prague, and the cities of Germany. He follows Pietro with sufficient
fidelity in design, but does not display so much vigour of colour. Carlo
Cesi, of Rieti, or rather of Antrodoco, in that neighbourhood, was also
a distinguished scholar of Pietro. He lived in Rome, and in the Quirinal
gallery, where the best artists of the age painted under Alexander VII.,
he has left a large picture of the Judgment of Solomon. He worked also
in other places; as at S. M. Maggiore, at the Rotunda, and was
patronized by several cardinals. He was correct in his design, and
opposed, both in person and by his precepts and example, the fatal and
prevailing facility of his time. Pascoli has preserved some of his
axioms, and this among others, that the beautiful should not be crowded,
but distributed with judgment in the composition of pictures; otherwise
they resemble a written style, which by the redundancy of brilliant and
sententious remarks fails in its effect. Francesco Bonifazio was of
Viterbo, and from the various pictures by him, which Orlandi saw in that
city, I do not hesitate to rank him among the successful followers of
Pietro. We may mention Michelangiolo Ricciolini, a Roman by birth,
although called of Todi, whose portrait is in the Medici gallery, where
is also that of Niccolo Ricciolini, respecting whom Orlandi is silent.
Both were employed in decorating the churches of Rome; the second had
the reputation of a better designer than the first, and in the cartoons
painted for some mosaics for the Vatican church, he competed with the
Cav. Franceschini. Paolo Gismondi, called also Paolo Perugino, became a
good fresco painter, and there are works remaining by him in the S.
Agata, in the Piazza Nova, and at S. Agnes, in the Piazza Navona. Pietro
Paolo Baldini, of whose native place I am ignorant, is stated by Titi to
have been of the school of Cortona. Ten pictures by him are counted in
the churches of Rome, and in some of them, as in the Crucifixion of S.
Eustace, a precision of style derived from another school is observable.
Bartolommeo Palombo has only two pictures in the capital. That of S.
Maria Maddelena de' Pazzi, which is placed at S. Martino a' Monti,
entitles him to rank with the best of his fellow scholars, the picture
possesses so strong a colouring, and the figures are so graceful and
well designed. Pietro Lucatelli, of Rome, was a distinguished painter,
and is named in the catalogue of the Colonna gallery, as the scholar of
Ciro, and in Titi, as the disciple of Cortona. He is a different artist
from Andrea Lucatelli, of whom we shall shortly speak. Gio. Batista
Lenardi, whom, in a former edition, I hesitated to place in the list of
the pupils of Pietro, I now consider as belonging to that school, though
he was instructed also by Baldi. In the chapel of the B. Rita, at S.
Agostino, he painted two lateral pictures as well as the vault; he also
ornamented other churches with his works, and particularly that of
Buonfratelli, at Trastevere, where he painted the picture of S. Gio.
Calibita. That of the great altar was ascribed to him, probably from a
similarity of style; but is by Andrea Generoli, called Il Sabinese, a
pupil either of Pietro himself, or of one of his followers.

Thus far of the less celebrated of this school. The three superior
artists, whose works still attract us in the galleries of princes, are
Cortesi, and the two elder scholars of the academy of Pietro, Romanelli
and Ferri. Nor is it improbable that having competitors in some of his
first scholars, he became indisposed to instruct others with the same
degree of good will, as those noble minds are few, in whom the zeal of
advancing the art exceeds the regret at having produced an ingrate or a
rival.

Guglielmo Cortesi, the brother of P. Giacomo, like him named Il
Borgognone, was one of the best artists of this period; and a scholar
rather than an imitator of Pietro. His admiration was fixed on Maratta,
whom he followed in the studied variety of his heads, and in the
sobriety of the composition, more than in the division of the folds of
his drapery or in colour; in which latter he manifested a clearness
partaking of the Flemish. His style was somewhat influenced by that of
his brother, whose assistant he was, and by his study of the Caracci. He
often appears to have imitated the strong relief and azure grounds of
Guercino. His Crucifixion of S. Andrea, in the church of Monte Cavallo,
the Fight of Joshua in the Quirinal palace, and a Madonna attended by
Saints, in the Trinità de' Pellegrini, merit our attention. In these
works there is a happy union of various styles, exempt from mannerism.

Francesco Romanelli was born at Viterbo, and, as well as Testa, studied
some time under Domenichino. He afterwards placed himself with Pietro,
whose manner he imitated so successfully, that on Pietro going on a
journey into Lombardy, he left him, together with Bottalla (called
Bortelli by Baldinucci) to supply his place in decorating the Barberini
palace. It is reported that the two scholars, in the absence of their
master, endeavoured to have the work transferred to themselves, and were
on that account dismissed. It was at this time that Romanelli, assisted
by Bernini, changed his style, and adopted by degrees a more elegant and
a seductive manner in his figures, but possessing less grandeur and
science than that of Pietro. He used more slender proportions, clearer
tints, and a more minute taste in folding his drapery. His Deposition in
S. Ambrogio, which was extolled as a prodigy, stimulated Pietro to paint
opposite to it that wonderful picture of S. Stephen, on seeing which
Bernini exclaimed, that he then perceived the difference between the
master and the scholar. Romanelli was twice in France, having found a
patron in the Cardinal Barberini, who had fled to Paris; and he
participated in the spirited manner of that country, which gave an
animation before unknown to his figures. This at least is the opinion of
Pascoli. He decorated a portico of Cardinal Mazarine with subjects from
the metamorphoses of Ovid, and afterwards adorned some of the royal
saloons with passages from the Æneid. He was preparing to return to
France with his family for the third time, when he was intercepted by
death at Viterbo. He left in that city, at the grand altar of the Duomo,
the picture of S. Lorenzo, and in Rome, and in other cities of Italy,
numerous works both public and private, although he died at about
forty-five years of age. He had the honour of painting in the church of
the Vatican. The presentation which he placed there is now in the church
of the Certosa, the mosaic in S. Peter. He did not leave behind him any
scholars who inherited his reputation. Urbano, his son, was educated by
Ciro after the death of his father. He is known for his works in the
cathedral churches of Velletri and Viterbo: those in Viterbo are from
the life of S. Lorenzo, the patron saint of the church, and prove him to
have been a young man of considerable promise, but he was cut off
prematurely.

Ciro Ferri, a Roman by birth, was, of all the disciples of Cortona, the
one the most attached in person, and similar to him in style; and not a
few of the works of Pietro were given to him to complete, both in
Florence and in Rome. There are indeed some pictures so dubious, that
the experienced are in doubt whether to assign them to the master or the
scholar. He displays generally less grace in design, a less expansive
genius, and shuns that breadth of drapery which his master affected. The
number of his works in Rome is not proportioned to his residence there,
because he lent much assistance to his master. There is a S. Ambrogio in
the church of that saint just mentioned, and it is a touchstone of merit
for whoever wishes to compare him with the best of his fellow scholars,
or with his master himself. His works in the Pitti palace have been
already mentioned in another place, and we ought not to forget another
grand composition by him in S. M. Maggiore in Bergamo, consisting of
various scriptural histories painted in fresco. He speaks of them
himself in some letters inserted in the Pittoriche, (tom. ii. p. 38,)
from which we gather, that he had been reprehended for his colouring,
and contemplated visiting Venice in order to improve himself. He did not
leave any scholar of celebrity in Rome. Corbellini, who finished the
Cupola of S. Agnes, the last work of Ciro, which has been engraved,
would not have found a place in Titi and Pascoli, if it had not been to
afford those writers an opportunity of expressing their regret at so
fine a composition being injured by the hand that attempted to finish
it.

But another scion of the same stock sprung up to support the name and
credit of the school of Ciro, transferred from Florence to Rome. We
mentioned in the first book, that when Ciro was in Florence he formed a
scholar in Gabbiani, who became the master of Benedetto Luti. Ciro was
only just dead when Luti arrived in Rome, who not being able to become
his scholar, as he had designed when he left his native place, applied
himself to studying the works of Ciro, and those of other good masters,
as I have elsewhere remarked. He thus formed for himself an original
style, and enjoyed in Rome the reputation of an excellent artist in the
time of Clement XI., who honoured him with commissions, and decorated
him with the cross. It is to be regretted that he attached himself so
much to crayons, with which he is said to have inundated all Europe. He
was intended by nature for nobler things. He painted well in fresco, and
still better in oils. His S. Anthony in the church of the Apostles, and
the Magdalen in that of the Sisters of Magnanapoli, which is engraved,
are highly esteemed. Nor would it add a little to his reputation, if we
had engravings of his two pictures in the Duomo of Piacenza, S. Conrad
penitent, and S. Alexius recognised after death; where, amidst other
excellences, a fine expression of the pathetic predominates. Of his
profane pieces, his Psyche in the Capitoline gallery, is the most
remarkable, and breathes an elegant and refined taste. Of the few
productions which Tuscany possesses by him, we have written in the
school of Gabbiani. We shall here mention a few of his scholars, who
remained in Rome, noticing others in various schools.

Placido Costanzi is often mentioned with approbation in the collections
of Rome for the elegant figures he inserted in the landscapes of
Orizzonte; he also painted some altarpieces in a refined style. In the
church of the Magdalen is a picture of S. Camillo attended by Angels, so
gracefully painted, that he seems to have aspired to rival Domenichino.
He also distinguished himself in fresco, as may be seen in the S. Maria
in Campo Marzio, where the ceiling in the greater tribune is the work of
Costanzi.

Pietro Bianchi resembled Luti more than any of his scholars in elegance
of manner, and excelled him in large compositions, which he derived from
his other master, Baciccio. His extreme fastidiousness and his early
death prevented him from leaving many works. A very few of his pictures
are found in the churches of Rome. At Gubbio is his picture of S.
Chiara, with the Angel appearing, a piece of grand effect, from the
distribution of the light. The sketch of this picture was purchased by
the King of Sardinia at a high price. He painted for the church of S.
Peter a picture, which was executed in mosaic in the altar of the choir:
the original is in the Certosa, in which the Cav. Mancini had the
greatest share, as Bianchi did little more than furnish the sketch.

Francesco Michelangeli, called l'Aquilano, is known to posterity from a
letter written by Luti himself, (Lett. Pitt. tom. vi. p. 278,) where the
annotator informs us, that his master frequently employed him in copying
his works, and that he died young. This notice is not without its use,
as it acquaints us with the origin of the beautiful copies of Luti which
are so frequently met with.

We may lastly notice an artist of mediocrity of this school, who is
nevertheless said to be the painter of some beautiful pictures; the two
pictures of S. Margaret, in Araceli; S. Gallicano, in the church of that
saint; and the Nativity, in the church of the Infant Jesus. His name was
Filippo Evangelisti, and he was chamberlain to the Cardinal Corradini,
through whose influence he obtained many commissions. Being himself
incapable of executing these well, (if we may rely on a letter in the
_Pittoriche_) he engaged Benefial, whom we shall shortly notice, to
assist him. They thus painted in partnership, the gain was divided
between them, but the celebrity was the portion of the principal; and if
any piece came out under the name of the assistant, it was rather
censured than praised. The poor artist at last became impatient of this
treatment, and disdaining any longer to support a character which did
him no honour, he left his companion to work by himself; and it was then
that Evangelisti, in his picture of S. Gregory, in the church of the
Saints Peter and Marcellino, appeared in his true colours, and the
public thus discovered that he was indebted to Benefial for genius as
well as labour.

The school of Sacchi may boast of one of the first artists of the age in
Francesco Lauri, of Rome, in whom his master flattered himself he had
found a second Raffaello. The disciple himself, in order to justify the
high expectation which the public had conceived of him, before opening a
school in Rome, travelled through Italy, and from thence visited
Germany, Holland, and Flanders, and resided for the space of a year in
Paris; thus adding greatly to the funds of knowledge and experience
already obtained by him in his native place. He was, however, cut off
very early in life, leaving behind him, in the Sala de' Crescenzi, three
figures of Goddesses painted in the vault in fresco; but no other
considerable work, as far as my knowledge extends. This artist must not
be confounded with Filippo, his brother, and scholar in his early years,
who was afterwards instructed by Caroselli, who espoused his sister. He
was not accustomed to paint large compositions; and the Adam and Eve,
which are seen in the Pace, it should seem, he represented on so much
larger a scale, lest any one should despise his talent, as only capable
of small works, on which he was always profitably employed. We meet with
cabinet pictures by him in the Flemish style, touched with great spirit,
and coloured in good taste, evincing a fund of lively and humorous
invention. He sometimes painted sacred subjects, and at S. Saverio, in
the collection of the late Monsignor Goltz, I saw an enchanting picture
by him, a perfect gem, and greatly admired by Mengs. He painted in the
Palazzo Borghese some beautiful landscapes in fresco, in which branch
his family was already celebrated, as his father, Baldassare, of
Flanders, who had been a scholar of Brill, and lived in Rome in the time
of Sacchi, was ranked among the eminent landscape painters, and is
commemorated by Baldinucci.

The immature death of Lauri was compensated for by the lengthened term
of years accorded to Luigi Garzi and Carlo Maratta, who continued to
paint to the commencement of the eighteenth century; enemies to
despatch, correct in their style, and free from the corrupt prejudices
which afterwards usurped the place of the genuine rules of art. The
first, who is called a Roman by Orlandi, was born in Pistoja, but came
while yet young to Rome. He studied landscape for fifteen years under
Boccali, but being instructed afterwards by Sacchi, he discovered such
remarkable talents, that he became highly celebrated in Naples and in
Rome in every class of painting. In the former city, his decoration of
two chambers of the royal palace is greatly extolled; and in the latter,
where he ornamented many churches, he seemed to surpass himself in the
Prophet of S. Giovanni Laterano. He is praised in general for his forms
and attitudes, and for his fertile invention and his composition. He
understood perspective, and was a good machinist, though in refinement
of taste he is somewhat behind Maratta. In his adherence to the school
of Sacchi we may still perceive some imitation of Cortona, to whom some
have given him as a scholar, as well in many pictures remaining in Rome,
as in others sent to various parts; among which is his S. Filippo Neri,
in the church of that saint at Fano, which is a gallery of beautiful
productions. But on no occasion does he seem more a follower of Cortona,
or rather of Lanfranco, than in the Assumption in the Duomo of Pescia,
an immense composition, and which is considered his masterpiece. It is
mentioned in the _Catalogo delle migliori Pitture di Valdinievole_,
drawn up by Sig. Innocenzio Ansaldi, and inserted in the recent History
of Pescia. Mario, the son of Luigi Garzi who is mentioned twice in the
_Guida di Roma_, died young. We may here also mention the name of
Agostino Scilla of Messina, whom we shall hereafter notice more at
length.

Carlo Maratta was born in Camurano, in the district of Ancona, and
enjoyed, during his life, the reputation of one of the first painters in
Europe. Mengs, in a letter "On the Rise, Progress, and Decline of the
Art of Design," assigns to Maratta the enviable distinction of having
sustained the art in Rome, where it did not degenerate as in other
places. The early part of his life was devoted to copying the works of
Raffaello, which always excited his admiration, and his indefatigable
industry was employed in restoring the frescos of that great master in
the Vatican and the Farnesina, and preserving them for the eyes of
posterity; a task requiring both infinite care and judgment, and
described by Bellori. He was not a machinist, and in consequence neither
he nor his scholars distinguished themselves in frescos, or in large
compositions. At the same time he had no fear of engaging in works of
that kind, and willingly undertook the decoration of the Duomo of
Urbino, which he peopled with figures. This work, with the Cupola
itself, was destroyed by an earthquake in 1782; but the sketches for it
are preserved in Urbino, in four pictures, in the Albani palace. He was
most attached by inclination to the painting of cabinet pictures and
altarpieces. His Madonnas possess a modest, lively, and dignified air;
his angels are graceful; and his saints are distinguished by their fine
heads, a character of devotion, and are clothed in the sumptuous costume
of the church. In Rome his pictures are the more prized the nearer they
approach to the style of Sacchi, as the S. Saverio in the Gesù, a
Madonna in the Panfili palace, and several others. Some are found beyond
the territories of the church, and in Genoa is his Martyrdom of S.
Biagio, a picture as to the date of which I do not inquire, but only
assert that it is worthy of the greatest rival of Sacchi. He afterwards
adopted a less dignified style, but which for its correctness is worthy
of imitation. Though he had devoted the early part of his life to the
acquisition of a pure style of design, he did not think himself
sufficiently accomplished in it, and again returned, when advanced in
years, to the study of Raffaello, of whose excellences he possessed
himself, without losing sight of the Caracci and Guido. But many are of
opinion that he fell into a style too elaborate, and sacrificed the
spirit of his compositions to minute care. His principal fault lay in
the folding of his drapery, when through a desire of copying nature he
too frequently separates its masses, and neglects too much the naked
parts, which takes away from the elegance of his figures. He endeavoured
to fix his principal light on the most important part of his
composition, subduing rather more than was right, the light in other
parts of his picture, and his scholars carried this principle afterwards
so far as to produce an indistinctness which became the characteristic
mark of his school.

Though not often, he yet painted some few pictures of an extraordinary
magnitude, as the S. Carlo in the church of that saint at the Corso, and
the Baptism of Christ in the Certosa, copied in mosaic in the Basilica
of S. Peter. His other pictures are for the most part on a smaller
scale; many are in Rome, and amongst them the charming composition of S.
Stanislaus Kostka, at the altar where his ashes repose; not a few others
in other cities, as the S. Andrea Corsini in the chapel of that noble
family in Florence, and the S. Francesco di Sales at the Filippini di
Forli, which is one of his most studied works. He contributed largely,
also, to the galleries of sovereigns and private individuals. There is
not a considerable collection in Rome without a specimen of his pencil,
particularly that of the Albani, to which family he was extremely
attached. His works are frequently met with in the state. There is a
valuable copy of the Battle of Constantine, in possession of the
Mancinforti family in Ancona. It is related, that, being requested to
copy that picture, he proposed the task to one of his best scholars, who
disdained the commission. He therefore undertook the work himself, and
on finishing it, took occasion to intimate to his pupils, that the
copying such productions might not be without benefit to the most
accomplished masters. He had a daughter whom he instructed in his own
art; and her portrait, executed by herself, in a painting attitude, is
to be seen in the Corsini gallery at Rome.

Maratta, in his capacity of an instructor, is extolled by his
biographer, Bellori (p. 208); but is by Pascoli accused of jealousy, and
of having condemned a youth of the most promising talents in his school,
Niccolo Berrettoni di Montefeltro, to the preparation of colours. This
artist, however, from the principles which he imbibed from Cantarini,
and from his imitation of Guido and Coreggio, formed for himself a mixed
style, delicate, free, and unconstrained, and the more studied, as that
study was concealed under the semblance of nature. He died young,
leaving very few works behind him, almost all of which were engraved, in
consequence of his high reputation. The Marriage of the Virgin Mary,
which he executed for S. Lorenzo in Borgo, was engraved by Pier Santi
Bartoli, a very distinguished engraver of those times, an excellent
copyist, and himself a painter of some merit.[86] Another of his
pictures, a Madonna, attended by saints at S. Maria di Monte Santo, and
the lunettes of the same chapel, were engraved by Frezza. An account of
this artist may be found in the Lettere Pitt. tom. v. p. 277.

Giuseppe Chiari of Rome, who finished some pictures of Berrettoni and of
Maratta himself, was one of the best painters of easel pictures of that
school. Many of his works found their way to England. He painted some
pictures for the churches of Rome, and probably the best is the
Adoration of the Magi in the church of the Suffragio, of which there is
an engraving. He also succeeded in fresco. Those works in particular,
which he executed in the Barberini palace, under the direction of the
celebrated Bellori, and those also of the Colonna gallery, will always
do him credit; he was sober in his colours, careful and judicious; rare
qualities in a fresco painter. He did not inherit great talents from
nature, but by force of application became one of the first artists of
his age. Tommaso Chiari, a pupil also of Maratta, and whose designs he
sometimes executed, did not pass the bounds of mediocrity. The same may
be observed of Sigismond Rosa, a scholar of Giuseppe Chiari.

To Giuseppe Chiari, who was the intimate friend of Maratta, we may add
two others, who were, according to Pascoli, the only scholars whom he
took a pleasure in instructing; Giuseppe Passeri, the nephew of
Giambatista, and Giacinto Calandrucci of Palermo. Both were
distinguished as excellent imitators of their master. Passeri worked
also in the state. In Pesaro is a S. Jerome by him, meditating on the
Last Judgment, which may be enumerated among his best works. In the
church of the Vatican, he painted a pendant to the Baptism of Maratta,
S. Peter baptizing the centurion, which after being copied in mosaic,
was sent to the church of the Conventuals in Urbino. This picture, which
was executed under the direction of Maratta, is well coloured; but in
many of his works his colouring is feeble, as in the Conception at the
church of S. Thomas in Parione, and in other places in Rome.
Calandrucci, after having given proof of his talents in the churches of
S. Antonio de' Portoghesi, and S. Paolino della Regola, and in other
churches of Rome, and after having been creditably employed by many
noble persons, and by two pontiffs, returned to Palermo, and there, in
the church del Salvatore, placed his large composition of the Madonnas,
attended by S. Basil and other saints, which work he did not long
survive. He left behind him in Rome a nephew, who was his scholar,
called Giambatista; and he had also a brother there of the name of
Domenico, a disciple of Maratta and himself; but there are no traces of
their works remaining.

Andrea Procaccini and Pietro de' Petri, also hold a distinguished place
in this school, although their fortunes were very dissimilar.
Procaccini, who painted in S. Giovanni Laterano, the Daniel, one of the
twelve prophets which Clement XI. commanded to be painted as a trial of
skill by the artists of his day, obtained great fame, and ultimately
became painter to the court of Spain, where he remained fourteen years,
and left some celebrated works. Petri on the contrary continued to
reside in Rome, and died there at a not very advanced age. He was
employed there in the tribune of S. Clement, and in some other works. He
did not, however, obtain the reputation and success that he deserved, in
consequence of his infirm health and his extreme modesty. He is one of
those who engrafted on the style of Maratta, a portion of the manner of
Cortona. Orlandi calls him a Roman, others a Spaniard, but his native
place in fact was Premia, a district of Novara. Paolo Albertoni and Gio.
Paolo Melchiorri, both Romans, flourished about the same time; less
esteemed, indeed, than the foregoing, but possessing the reputation of
good masters, particularly the second.

At a somewhat later period, the last scholar of Maratta, Agostino
Masucci presents himself to our notice. This artist did not exhibit any
peculiar spirit, confining himself to pleasing and devout subjects. In
his representations of the Virgin he emulated his master, who from his
great number of subjects of that kind, was at one time called Carlo
dalle Madonne; as he himself has commemorated in his own epitaph. Like
Maratta he imparted to them an expression of serene majesty, rather than
loveliness and affability. In some of his cabinet pictures I am aware
that he occasionally renounced this manner, but it was only through
intercession and expostulation. He was a good fresco painter, and
decorated for pope Benedict XIV. an apartment in a casino, erected in
the garden of the Quirinal. He painted many altarpieces, and his angels
and children are designed with great elegance and nature, and in a novel
and original style. His S. Anna at the Nome S. S. di Maria, is one of
the best pictures he left in Rome; there is also a S. Francis in the
church of the Osservanti di Macerata, a Conception at S. Benedetto di
Gubbio, in Urbino a S. Bonaventura, which is perhaps his noblest
composition, full of portraits (in which he was long considered the most
celebrated painter in Rome), and finished with exquisite care. Lorenzo,
his son and scholar, was very inferior to him.

Stefano Pozzi received his first instructions from Maratta, and
afterwards became a scholar of Masucci. He had a younger brother,
Giuseppe, who died before him, ere his fame was matured. Stefano lived
long, painting in Rome with the reputation of one of the best masters of
his day; more noble in his style of design than Masucci, and if I err
not, more vigorous, and more natural in his colouring. We may easily
estimate their merits in Rome in the church just mentioned, where we
find the Transito di S. Giuseppe of Pozzi, near the S. Anna of Masucci.
Of the Cav. Girolamo Troppa, I have heard from oral tradition that he
was the scholar of Maratta. He was certainly his imitator, and a
successful one too, although he did not live long. He left works both in
oil and fresco in the capital, and in the church of S. Giacomo delle
Penitenti, he painted in competition with Romanelli. I have found
pictures by him in the state; and in S. Severino is a church picture
very well conducted. Girolamo Odam, a Roman of a Lorena family, is
reckoned among the disciples of the Cav. Carlo, and is eulogized in a
long and pompous article by Orlandi, or perhaps by some friend of Odam,
who supplied Orlandi with the information. He is there described as a
painter, sculptor, architect, engraver, philosopher, mathematician, and
poet, and accomplished in every art and science. In all these I should
imagine he was superficial, as nothing remains of him except some
engravings and a very slender reputation, not at all corresponding to
such unqualified commendation.

Of other artists who are little known in Rome and its territories, such
as Jacopo Fiammingo, Francesco Pavesi, Michele Semini, there is little
information that can be relied on. Respecting Subissati, Conca is
silent, though information might possibly be obtained of him in Madrid,
at which court he died. In Urbino, which was his native place, I find no
picture of him remaining, except the head of a sybil: Antonio Balestra
of Verona and Raffaellino Bottalla will be found in their native
schools, but I must not here omit one, a native of the state, who after
being educated in the academy, returned to his native country, and there
introduced the style of Carlo, at that time so much in vogue. Orlandi
mentions with applause Gioseffo Laudati of Perugia, as having
contributed to restore the art, which after the support it had found in
Bassotti and others, had fallen into decay.

Lodovico Trasi, of Ascoli, is deserving of particular notice. He was for
several years a fellow disciple of Maratta in the school of Sacchi, and
was afterwards desirous of becoming his scholar. After studying some
time in his academy, he returned to Ascoli, where he has left a great
number of works both public and private, in various styles. In some of
his smaller pictures he discovers a good Marattesque style; but in his
fresco and altarpieces he is negligent, and adheres much to Sacchi, yet
in a manner that discovers traces of Cortona. His picture of S. Niccolo
at the church of S. Cristoforo is beautiful, and is one of the pieces
which he finished with more than usual care. He has there represented
the enfranchisement of a slave, at the moment the pious youth is serving
at his master's table. There are some remarkable pictures of this artist
in the cathedral, painted in distemper, particularly that of the
martyrdom of S. Emidio. Trasi was the instructor of D. Tommaso Nardini,
who continued on his master's death the decoration of the churches of
the city, and his best work is perhaps in S. Angelo Magno, a church of
the Olivetani. The perspective was by Agostino Collaceroni of Bologna, a
scholar of Pozzi. Nardini supplied the figures, representing the
mysteries of the Apocalypse and other scriptural events. It displays
great spirit and harmony, richness of colouring and facility, which are
the distinguishing characteristics of this master, and are perhaps
better expressed in this picture than in any other. We may add to the
two before mentioned painters, Silvestro Mattei, who studied under
Maratta, Giuseppe Angelini, the scholar of Trasi, and Biagio Miniera,
also of Ascoli, whom Orsini has noticed in his _Guida_.

There flourished about the same time in the neighbouring city of Fermo,
two Ricci, scholars of Maratta, who were probably instructed before
going to Rome by Lorenzino di Fermo, a good artist, though doubtful of
what school, and who is said to have painted the picture of S. Catharine
at the church of the Conventuals, and other pictures in the adjoining
territories. The one was named Natale, the other Ubaldo; the latter was
superior to the former, and is much extolled for his S. Felice, which he
painted for the church of the Capucins, in his native place. He did not
often pass the bounds of mediocrity, which is frequently the case with
artists residing at a distance from a capital, and who have not the
incitement to emulation and an opportunity of studying good examples.
The same observation is, I think, applicable also to another scholar of
Maratta, Giuseppe Oddi, of Pesaro, where one of his pictures remains in
the church della Carità. We shall now return to the metropolis.

A fresh reinforcement to support the style of the Caracci in Rome, was
received from the school of Bologna. I speak only of those who
established themselves there. Domenico Muratori had been the scholar of
Pasinelli, and painted the great picture in the church of the Apostles,
which is probably the largest altarpiece in Rome, and represents the
martyrdom of S. Philip and S. James. The grandeur of this composition,
its judicious disposition and felicity of chiaroscuro, though its
colouring was not entirely perfect, gave him considerable celebrity. He
was also employed in many smaller works, in which he always evinced an
equally correct design, and perhaps better colouring. He was chosen to
paint one of the prophets in the Basilica Lateranense, and was employed
also in other cities. In the cathedral of Pisa, he painted a large
picture of S. Ranieri, in the act of exorcising a demon, which is
esteemed one of his most finished works. Francesco Mancini di S. Angiolo
in Vado, and Bonaventura Lamberti di Carpi, had better fortune in
Bologna, in having for their master Carlo Cignani. Mancini, when he came
to Rome, did not adhere exclusively to his master's manner, as he was
rather more attached to the facility and freedom of Franceschini, his
fellow scholar, whom he somewhat resembles in style. He seems, however,
to have had less despatch, and certainly painted less. He was chaste in
his invention, and followed the example of Lazzarini; he designed well,
coloured in a charming manner, and was numbered among the first artists
of his age in Rome. He painted the Miracle of S. Peter at the beautiful
gate of the temple, a picture which is preserved in the palace of Monte
Cavallo, and is copied in mosaic in S. Peter's. This picture, which is a
spirited composition, and well arranged in the perspective, is his
principal work, and does not suffer from a comparison with those
mentioned in the Guida di Roma, and others scattered through the
dominions of the church. Such are pictures with various saints in the
church of the Conventuals of Urbino, and in that of the Camaldolesi of
Fabriano; the appearing of Christ to S. Peter in that of the Filippini,
in Città di Castello, and the various works executed in oil and in
fresco at Forli and at Macerata. He painted many pictures for foreign
collections, and was commended for his large compositions. From his
studio issued the Canonico Lazzarini before named, whom, as he lived
amongst other followers of Cignani, I shall reserve with them to the
close of the Bolognese school. Niccola Lapiccola, of Crotone, in
Calabria Ultra, remained in Rome; and a cupola of a chapel in the
Vatican painted by him, was copied in mosaic. There are some pictures by
him in other churches; the best are, perhaps, in the state, particularly
in Velletri. I have heard that he was a disciple of Mancini, though in
his colouring he somewhat adhered to his native school.

Bonaventura Lamberti is numbered by Mengs among the latest of the
successful followers of the school of Cignani, whose style he preserved
more carefully than Mancini himself. He did not give many works to the
world. He had, however, the honour of having his designs copied in
mosaic by Giuseppe Ottaviani, in S. Peter's, and one of his pictures
engraved by Frey. It is in the church of the Spirito Santo de'
Napolitani, and represents a miracle of S. Francesco di Paola. The
Gabrieli family, which patronised him in an extraordinary manner,
possesses a great number of historical pictures by him, which are in
themselves sufficient to engage the attention of an amateur for several
hours. Lamberti had the honour of giving to the Roman School the Cav.
Marco Benefial, born and resident in Rome, a painter of great genius,
though not always equal to himself, rather perhaps from negligence, than
deficiency of powers.

The Marchese Venuti[87] extols this master above all others of his time
for his accurate design, and his Caracciesque colouring. His monument is
placed in the Pantheon, among those of the most celebrated painters, and
to his bust is attached the eulogy bestowed on him by the Abate
Giovenazzo, where he is particularly commended for his power of
expression. The factions to which he gave rise still subsist, as if he
were yet living. His admirers not being able to defend all his works,
have fixed on the Flagellation at the Stimmate, painted in competition
with Muratori,[88] and S. Secondino at the Passionisti, as the subjects
of their unqualified approbation; pictures indeed, of such science, that
they may challenge any comparison. To these may be added his S. Lorenzo
and S. Stefano, in the Duomo of Viterbo, and a few others of similar
merit, in which he evidently imitated Domenichino and his school. His
enemies have designated him as an inferior artist, and adduce several
works feeble in expression and effect. The impartial consider him an
eminent artist, but his productions vary, being occasionally in a grand
style, and at other times not passing the bounds of mediocrity. This is
a character which has been ascribed to many poets also, and even to
Petrarch himself.

Our obligations are due to the Sig. Batista Ponfredi, his scholar, for
the memoirs of this eminent man. They were addressed to the Count
Niccola Soderini, a great benefactor of Benefial, and more rich in his
works than any other Roman collector. His letter is in the fifth volume
of the _Pittoriche_, and is one of the most instructive in the
collection, although altered by the editor in some points. I shall
transcribe a passage from it, as it may be satisfactory to see the
actual state of the art at that time, and the way in which Marco
contributed to its support. "He was so anxious to revive the art, and so
grieved to see it fall into decay, that he frequently consumed several
hours in the day in declaiming against the prevailing conception of
style, and urging the necessity of shunning mannerism, and adopting a
style founded in truth, which few did, or if they did, attempted not to
imitate its simplicity, but adapted it to their own manner. He directed
the particular attention of his pupils to the difference between the
production of a mannerist, and one which was studied and simple, and
founded in nature; that the first, if it were well designed, and had a
good chiaroscuro, had at first sight a striking effect from the
brilliancy of its colours, but gradually lost ground at every succeeding
view, while the other appeared the more excellent the longer it was
inspected."--These and other precepts of the same kind he delivered in
terms perhaps too cynical; not only in private, but in the school of
design at the Campidoglio, at the time that he presided there; the
consequence was that the inferior artists combined against him, deprived
him of his employment, and suspended him from the academy. Some further
information respecting Benefial was communicated to the public in the
_Risposta alle Lett. Perugine_, p. 48.

From a scholar also of Cignani, (Franceschini,) Francesco Caccianiga
received instructions in Bologna, whence he came to Rome, where he
perfected his style and established himself. He was a painter to whom
nothing was wanting, except that natural spirit and vigour which are not
to be supplied by industry. He was employed by several potentates, and
two of his works executed for the king of Sardinia were engraved by
himself. Ancona possesses four of his altarpieces, among which are the
Institution of the Eucharist, and the Espousals of the Virgin; pictures
coloured in a clear, animated, and engaging style, and easily
distinguished among a thousand. Rome has few public works by him. In the
Gavotti palace is a good fresco, and there are others in the palace and
villa of the Borghesi, who generously extended to him a permanent and
suitable provision, when overtaken by poverty and age.[89]

From the school of Guercino came Sebastiano Ghezzi of Comunanza, not far
from Ascoli. He was eminent both in design and colouring, and at the
church of the Agostiniani Scalzi di Monsammartino is a S. Francesco by
him, which is esteemed an exquisite picture, and wants only the
finishing hand of the artist. He was the father and teacher of Giuseppe
Ghezzi, who studied in Rome, and was also a tolerable writer,
considering the period at which he wrote. In his painting he seemed to
adopt the style of Cortona. His name is frequently mentioned in the
Guida di Roma, and more than once in the _Antichità Picene_, where it is
stated that he was held in great esteem by Clement XI., and that he died
secretary to the academy of S. Luke, (tom. xxv. p. 11). Pascoli, who has
written his life, extols him for his skill in restoring pictures, in
which capacity the queen of Sweden employed him exclusively on all
occasions.

Pierleone, his son and scholar, possessed a style similar to that of his
father, but less hurried, and became a more distinguished artist. He was
selected with Luti and Trevisani, and other eminent masters, to paint
the prophets of the Lateran, as well as other commissions. But for his
chief reputation he is indebted to the singular talent he possessed in
designing caricatures, which are to be found in the cabinets of Rome and
other places. In these he humourously introduced persons of quality, a
circumstance particularly gratifying in a country where the freedom of
the pencil was thought a desirable addition to the licence of the
tongue.

Other schools of Italy also contributed artists to the Roman School, who
however did not produce any new manner, except that in respect of the
two principal masters then in vogue, Cortona and Maratta, they have
afforded an occasional modification of those two styles.

Gio. Maria Morandi came whilst yet a youth from Florence, and forsaking
the manner of Bilivert, his first instructor, formed for himself a new
style. This was a mixture of Roman design and Venetian colouring (for in
travelling through Italy, he resided some time at Venice, and copied
much there), while some part of it partakes of the manner of Cortona,
and was esteemed in Rome. He established himself in this latter city, in
the Guida of which he is often mentioned, and his works are not
unfrequently found in collections. His Visitation at the Madonna del
Popolo is a fine composition; and still more highly finished, and full
of grand effect, is his picture of the death of the Virgin Mary, in the
church della Pace. This may indeed be considered his masterpiece, and it
has been engraved by Pietro Aquila. He was also celebrated for his
historical pictures, which he sometimes sent into foreign countries, and
more than in any other branch, he acquired a reputation in portraits, in
which he was constantly employed by persons of quality in Rome and
Florence, and was also called to Vienna by the emperor. There, besides
the imperial family, he painted also the portraits of many of the lesser
princes of Germany. Odoardo Vicinelli, a painter of considerable merit
in these latter times, in vol. vi. of the Lett. Pitt. is said to have
been a scholar of Morandi, and Pascoli does not hesitate to assert that
he conferred greater honour than any other of his scholars on his
master; I believe, in Rome, where Pietro Nelli alone could dispute
precedence with him.

Francesco Trevisani, a native of Trevigi, was educated by Zanchi in
Venice, where, in order to distinguish him from Angiolo Trevisani, he
was called Il Trevisani Romano. In Rome, he abandoned his first
principles, and regulated his taste by the best manner then in vogue. He
possessed a happy talent of imitating every manner, and at one time
appears a follower of Cignani, at another of Guido; alike successful
whichever style he adopted. The Albiccini family, in Forli, possess many
of his pictures in various styles, and amongst them a small Crucifixion,
most spirited and highly finished, which the master esteemed his best
work, and offered a large sum to obtain back again. His pictures abound
in Rome, and in general exhibit an elegance of design, a fine pencil,
and a vigorous tone of colour. His S. Joseph dying, in the church of the
Collegio R., is a remarkably noble production. A subject painted by him
to accompany one by Guido in the Spada palace is also highly esteemed.
He enjoyed the patronage of Clement XI. by whom he was not only
commissioned to paint one of the prophets of the Lateran, but was also
employed in the cupola of the Duomo in Urbino, in which he painted the
four quarters of the world; a work truly estimable for design, fancy,
and colouring. In other cities of the state we find pictures by him
painted with more or less care, in Foligno, at Camerino, in Perugia, at
Forli, and one of S. Antonio at S. Rocco in Venice, of a form more
elegant than robust.

Pasquale Rossi, better known by the name of Pasqualino, was born in
Vicenza, and from long copying the best Venetian and Roman pictures,
attained without the instruction of a master, a natural mode of colour,
and a good style of design. Few of his public works remain in Rome;
Christ praying in the garden in the church of S. Carlo al Corso, the
Baptism also of our Saviour at the Madonna del Popolo. The Silvestrini
of Fabriano have several pictures by him, and among them a Madonna truly
beautiful. His S. Gregory, in the Duomo of Matelica, in the act of
liberating souls from purgatory, is in the style of Guercino, and is one
of his best works. In private collections we find his cabinet pictures
representing gaming parties, conversations, concerts, and similar
subjects, carefully finished on a small scale, and little inferior to
Flemish pictures. I have met with numerous specimens of them in various
places; but in no place have I admired this artist so much as in the
royal gallery at Turin, in which are some ornaments over doors, and
pictures of considerable size by him, chiefly scriptural subjects,
executed in an animated and vigorous style, and with so much imitation
of the Roman School, that we should think them to be by some other
master.

Giambatista Gaulli, commonly called Baciccio, studied first in Genoa.
Whilst still young he went to Rome, where under the direction of a
Frenchman, and by the more valuable aid of Bernino, he formed himself on
the style of the great machinists. As he was endowed by nature with a
ready genius and a dexterity of hand, he could not have chosen any
branch of the art more adapted to his talent. The vault of the Gesù is
his most conspicuous work. The knowledge of the _sotto in su_, the
unity, harmony, and correct perspective of its objects, the brilliancy
and skilful gradation of the light, rank it among the best, if indeed it
be not his best picture in Rome. It must, however, be confessed, that we
must inspect it with an eye to the general effect, rather than to the
local tints, or the drawing of the figures, in which he is not always
correct. His faults in his easel pictures, which are very numerous in
Italy and in foreign countries, are less obtrusive, and are abundantly
atoned for by their spirit, freshness of tints, and engaging
countenances. He varies his manner with his subject, assigning to each a
peculiar style. There is a delightful picture in his best manner,
gracefully painted in the church of S. Francesco a Ripa, representing
the Madonna with the divine Infant in her arms, and at her feet S. Anna
kneeling, surrounded by Angels. In a grave and pathetic style on the
contrary, is the representation of S. Saverio dying in the desert island
of Sanciano, which is placed near the altar of S. Andrea at Monte
Cavallo. His figures of children are very engaging and highly finished,
though after the manner of Fiammingo, more fleshy and less elegant than
those of Titian or the Greeks. He painted seven pontiffs, and many
persons of rank of his day, and was considered the first portrait
painter in Rome. In this branch of his art he followed a custom of
Bernino, that of engaging the person he painted in an animated
conversation, in order to obtain the most striking expression of which
the subject was susceptible.

Giovanni Odazzi, his first scholar, was ambitious of emulating him in
celerity, but not possessing equal talent, he did not attain the same
distinction. He is the most feeble, or at all events, the least eminent
of the painters of the prophets of the Lateran, where his Hosea is to be
seen; and indeed, in every corner of Rome, his pictures are to be met
with, as he never refused any commission. Pascoli has preserved the
memory of another of his scholars, a native of Perugia, in the lives of
the painters of his native country. This was Francesco Civalli,
initiated in the art by Andrea Carlone; he was a youth of talent, but
impatient of instruction. He painted in Rome and other places, but did
not pass the bounds of mediocrity. The Cav. Lodovico Mazzanti, was the
scholar of Gaulli, and emulated his manner to the best of his ability;
but his talents were not commanding, nor were his powers equal to his
ambition. Gio. Batista Brughi, a worker in mosaic, rather than a
painter, left notwithstanding some public pictures in Rome. He is called
in the Guida sometimes Brughi, and sometimes Gio. Batista, the disciple
of Baciccio, which makes it there appear as if they had been distinct
individuals. I do not recollect any other artist contributed by Gaulli
to the Roman School.

The Neapolitan School, which was in the beginning of this age supported
by Solimene, sent some scholars to Rome, who adopted a Roman style.
Sebastiano Conca was the first that arrived there with an intention of
seeing it, but he established himself there, together with Giovanni, his
brother, to meliorate his style of design. Resigning the brush, he
returned at forty years of age to the pencil, and spent five years in
drawing after the antique, and after the best modern productions. His
hand, however, had become the slave of habit in Naples, and would not
answer to his own wishes; and he was kept in constant vexation, as he
could appreciate excellence, but found himself incapable of attaining
it. The celebrated sculptor, Le Gros, advised him to return to his
original style, and he then became in Rome an eminent painter, in the
manner of Pietro da Cortona, with considerable improvements on his early
manner. He possessed a fertile invention, great facility of execution,
and a colour which enchanted by its lucidness, its contrast, and the
delicacy of the flesh tints. It is true, that on examination we find
that he was not in reality a profound colourist, and that to obtain a
grandeur of tone, he adopted in the shadows a green tint, which produced
a mannerism. He distinguished himself in frescos, and also in pictures
in the churches, decorating them with choirs of angels, happily disposed
in a style of composition that may be called his own, and which served
as an example to many of the machinists. He was indefatigable too in
painting for private individuals, and in the states of the church there
is scarcely a collection without its Conca. His most studied, finished,
and beautiful work is the Probatica at the hospital of Siena. Of great
merit in Rome is the Assumption at S. Martina, and the Jonah among the
prophets in the S. Giovanni Laterano. His works were in high esteem in
the ecclesiastical state; his best appear to be the S. Niccolo at
Loreto, S. Saverio in Ancona, S. Agostino at Foligno, S. Filippo in
Fabriano, and S. Girolamo Emiliano at Velletri. Giovanni, his brother,
assisted Sebastiano in his commissions, had an equal facility, a similar
taste, though less beautiful in his heads, and of not so fine a pencil.
He shewed great talent in copying the pictures of the best masters. In
the church of the Domenicans of Urbino are the copies which he made of
four pictures to be executed in mosaic; they were by Muziani, Guercino,
Lanfranco, and Romanelli. Conca is eulogized by Rossi with his usual
intelligence and discrimination (v. tom. ii. of his _Memorie_, p. 81.)

Mengs perhaps censures him too severely, where he says, that by his
precepts he contributed to the decay of the art. He had his followers,
but they were not so numerous as to corrupt all the other schools of
Italy. Every school, as we have seen, had within itself the seeds of its
own destruction, without seeking for it elsewhere. It is true, indeed,
that some of his scholars inherited his facility and his colouring, and
left many injurious examples in Italy. Nor shall I give myself much
trouble to enumerate his disciples, but shall content myself with the
names of the most celebrated. Gaetano Lapis di Cagli was one of these,
and brought with him good principles of design when he came to study
under Conca. He was a painter of an original taste, as Rossi describes,
not very spirited, but correct. Many of his works are found in the
churches of his native place, and in the Duomo are two highly prized
pieces on each side the altar, a Supper of our Lord, and a Nativity. In
the various pictures I have seen of him at S. Pietro, S. Niccolo, and S.
Francesco, I generally found the same composition of a Madonna of a
graceful form, attended by Saints in the act of adoring her and the Holy
Infant. We find some of his works also in Perugia and elsewhere. The
Prince Borghese, in Rome, has a Birth of Venus by him, painted on a
ceiling, with a correctness of design, and a grace superior to any thing
that remains of him, and no one can justly appreciate his talents, who
has not seen this work. It should seem, that a timidity and diffidence
of his own powers, prevented his attaining that high station which his
genius seemed to have intended for him. Salvator Monosilio, who resided
much in Rome, was of Messina, and trod closely in the footsteps of his
master. In a chapel of S. Paolino della Regola, where Calandrucci
furnished the altarpiece, he painted the vault in fresco; and others of
his works are to be seen at the S. S. Quaranta, and at the church of the
Polacchi. In Piceno, where Conca was in great reputation, Monosilio was
held in high esteem, and was employed both in public and in private. At
S. Ginesio is a S. Barnabas by him, in the church of that saint, which
in the _Memorie_ so often quoted by us, is designated as an excellent
work. Conca educated another Sicilian student, the Abbate Gaspero
Serenari, of Palermo, who was considered a young man of talents in Rome,
and painted in the church of S. Teresa, in competition with the Abate
Peroni of Parma. On his return to Palermo he became a celebrated master,
and besides his oil pictures he executed some vast works in fresco,
particularly the cupola of the Gesù, and the chapel of the monastery of
Carità.

Gregorio Guglielmi, a Roman, is not much known in his native place,
although his fresco pictures in the hospital of the S. Spirito in
Sassia, intitle him to be numbered amongst the most eminent young
artists who painted in Rome in the pontificate of Benedict XIV. He left
Rome early and went to Turin, where, in the church of S. S. Solutore e
Comp. is a small picture of the Tutelar Saints. He was afterwards in
Dresden, Vienna, and St. Petersburgh, where he painted in fresco with
much applause, for the respective sovereigns of those cities. He was
facile in composition, pleasing in his colour, and attached to the Roman
style of design, which, like Lapis, he seemed to have carried from some
other school into that of Conca. Among his most esteemed works is a
ceiling, painted in the university of Vienna, and another in the
imperial palace at Schoenbrunn. He did not succeed so well in oils, in
which his efforts are mostly feeble; a proof that he belongs more to the
school of Conca than that of Trevisani, to which some have assigned him.

Corrado Giaquinto was another scholar of Solimene. He came from Naples
to Rome, where he attached himself to Conca to learn colouring, in which
he chiefly followed his master's principles, though he was less correct
and more of a mannerist, and was accustomed to repeat himself in the
countenances of his children, which resemble the natives of his own
country. He was not, however, without merit, as he possessed facility as
well as vigour, and was known in the ecclesiastical state for various
works executed in Rome, Macerata, and other places. He went afterwards
to Piedmont, as we shall mention at the proper time; then to Spain,
where he was engaged in the service of the court, and gave satisfaction
to the greater part of the native artists. The public taste in Spain,
which had for a long time retained the principles of the school founded
by Titian, had been changed within a few years. Luca Giordano was become
the favorite, and they admired his spirit, his freedom, and his
despatch; qualities which were combined in Corrado. This partiality
lasted even after Mengs had introduced his style, which in consequence
appeared at first meagre and cold to many of the masters and
connoisseurs of the day, when compared with that of Luca Giordano; until
prejudice there, as in Italy, ultimately yielded to truth.

Some other artists flourished in Rome at the commencement, and as far as
the middle of the century, and somewhat beyond, who may perhaps have a
claim to be remembered. Of Francesco Fernandi, called L'Imperiali, the
Martyrdom of S. Eustachio in the church of the saint of that name, is
well conceived and scientifically coloured. Antonio Bicchierai, a fresco
painter, is more particularly known at S. Lorenzo in Panisperna, in
which church he painted a sfondo which did him honour. Michelangiolo
Cerruti, and Biagio Puccini, a Roman, about the time of Clement XI. and
Benedict XIII., were esteemed artists of good execution. Of others who
acquired some reputation in the following pontificate, I shall write in
other schools, or if I should not mention them, they may be found in the
Guida of the city.

I shall now pass from native to foreign artists, and shall take a brief
notice of them, since my work has grown upon me with so many new Italian
names, which are its proper object, that I have not much spare room for
foreigners, and a sufficient notice of them may be found in their own
country. Not a few _oltremonti_ painted at this period in Rome,
celebrated for the most part in the inferior branches of painting, where
they deserve commemoration. Some of them were employed in the churches,
as Gio. Batista Vanloo di Aix, a favorite scholar of Luti, who painted
the picture of the Flagellation at S. Maria in Monticelli. But he did
not remain in Rome, but passed to Piedmont, and from thence to Paris and
London, and was celebrated for his historical compositions, and highly
esteemed in portrait. Some years after Vanloo, Pietro Subleyras di
Gilles settled in Rome, and conferred great benefit on the Roman School;
for whilst it produced only followers of the old manner, and thus fell
gradually into decay, he very opportunely appeared and introduced an
entirely new style. An academy had been founded in Rome by Louis XIV.,
about the year 1666. Le Brun had there cooperated, the Giulio Romano of
France, and the most celebrated of the four Carli, who were at that time
considered the supporters of the art; the others were Cignani, Maratta,
and Loth. It had already produced some artists of celebrity, as Stefano
Parocel, Gio. Troy, Carlo Natoire, by whom many pictures are to be found
in the public edifices in Rome. There prevailed, however, in the style
of this school a mannerism, which in a few years brought it into
disrepute. Mengs designated it by the epithet of _spiritoso_, and it
consisted, according to him, in overstepping the limits of beauty and
propriety, overcharging both the one and the other, and aiming at
fascinating the eyes rather than conciliating the judgment. Subleyras,
educated in this academy, reformed this taste, retaining the good, and
rejecting the feeble part, and adding from his own genius what was
wanting to form a truly original manner. There was an engaging variety
in the air of his heads, and in his attitudes, and he had great merit in
the distribution of his chiaroscuro, which gives his pictures a fine
general effect. He painted with great truth; but the figures and the
drapery, under his pencil, took a certain fulness which in him appears
easy, because it is natural; it remained his own, for although he left
some scholars, none of them ever emulated the grandeur of style which
distinguished their master.

He was mature in talent when he left the academy, and the portrait which
he in preference to Masucci, painted of Benedict XIV., established his
reputation as the first painter in Rome. He was soon afterwards chosen
to paint the history of S. Basil, for the purpose of being copied in
mosaic for the church of the Vatican. The original is in the church of
the Carthusians, and astonishes, by the august representation of the
Sacrifice solemnly celebrated by the saint in the presence of the
emperor, who offers bread at the altar. The countenances are very
animated, and there is great truth in the drapery and accompaniments,
and the silks in their lucid and light folds appear absolutely real.
From this production, and others of smaller size, and particularly the
Saint Benedict at the church of the Olivetani di Perugia, which is
perhaps his masterpiece, he deserves a place in the first collections,
where, indeed, his pictures are rare and highly prized. Further notices
of this artist may he found in the second volume of the _Giornale delle
belle Arti_.

Egidio Alè, of Liege, studied in Rome, and became a spirited, pleasing,
and elegant painter. His works in the sacristy dell'Anima, in fresco and
oil, painted in competition with Morandi, Bonatti, and Romanelli, do him
honour. Ignazio Stern was a Bavarian, who was instructed by Cignani in
Bologna, and worked in Lombardy. An Annunciation in Piacenza, in the
church of the Nunziata, exhibits a certain grace and elegance, which is
peculiar to him, as is observed in the description of the public
pictures in that city. Stern afterwards established himself in Rome,
where he painted in fresco the sacristy of S. Paolino, and left some oil
pictures in the church of S. Elisabetta, and in other churches. He was
more particularly attached to profane history, conversations, and
similar subjects, which have a place even in royal collections. Spain
possessed a disciple of the school of Maratta, in Sebastiano Mugnoz, but
dying young he left few works behind him.

In this place I ought to notice an establishment designed _to revive the
art in that quarter, where it seemed to have so much declined_, as D.
Francesco Preziado, of that country, says, in a letter which we shall
shortly have occasion to mention with commendation. "The royal academy
of S. Ferdinand, in Madrid, which owed its origin to Philip V., and was
completed and endowed by Ferdinand VI., sent several students to Rome,
and provided for their maintenance." They there selected the master the
most agreeable to their genius, and had, in addition, a director, who
was employed to superintend their studies; as I am informed by Sig.
Bonaventura Benucci, a Roman painter, educated in that academy. Bottari
and all Rome called it the Spanish academy, and I myself, in a former
edition, followed the common report, and the two above named sovereigns
I described as the founders of the academy. Having been censured for
this statement, I have here thought proper to specify my authorities. It
may without dispute be asserted, that the Spanish students have left in
Rome many noble specimens of their talents and taste. D. Francesco
Preziado was for many years the director of this academy, and painted a
Holy Family at the S. S. Quaranta, in a good style. He made also a
valuable communication to the Lettere Pittoriche (tom. vi. p. 308), on
the artists of Spain, very useful to any one desiring information
respecting this school, which is less known than it deserves to be.

An institution very much on the plan of the French academy was founded
in Rome a few years ago, by his most faithful majesty, for Portuguese
students, to the promotion of which, two celebrated Portuguese, the Cav.
de Manique, intendant general of the police in Lisbon, and the Count de
Souza, minister of that court in Rome, had the merit of contributing
their assistance; the one having projected, and the other executed, the
plan in the year 1791. The government of the academy was entrusted to
the Sig. Gio. Gherardo de' Rossi, known for his very numerous and able
writings, to which he has recently added an ingenious little work,
intitled, _Scherzi poetici e pittorici_, with engravings by a celebrated
academician. These establishments are of too recent a date to allow me
to speak further respecting their productions.

The provincial painters have been occasionally noticed in connexion with
their masters. I here add a supplement, which may be useful in the way
of completion. Foligno possessed a Fra Umile Francescano, a good fresco
painter, engaged in Rome by Cardinal Castaldi, to ornament the tribune
of S. Margaret, while Gaulli and Garzi were commanded to paint the
pictures for it. The Abbate Dondoli lived at Spello at the beginning of
this century. He was more to be commended for his design than for his
colouring. Marini has some celebrity in S. Severino, his native place.
He was the scholar of Cipriano Divini, whom he surpassed in his art.
Marco Vanetti, of Loreto, is known to me more from his life of Cignani,
who was his master, than from his own works. Antonio Caldana, of Ancona,
painted a very large composition in Rome, in the sacristy of S. Niccola
da Tolentino, from the life of that saint. I do not know whether there
remain any works of his in his native place; but there are a great
number by a respectable artist, one Magatta, whose name was Domenico
Simonetti, and who painted the gallery of the Marchesi Trionfi; he
furnished many churches with his paintings, and distinguished himself in
that of the church of the Suffragio, which is his most finished
production. Anastasi di Sinigaglia was a painter less elegant and
finished, but free and spirited. His works are not scarce in that city,
and his best are the two historical subjects in the church della Croce.
Three pictures by him also in S. Lucia di Monte Alboddo, are highly
prized, and are called by the writer of the _Guida_, "_Capi d'opera
dell'Anastasi_." Camillo Scacciani, of Pesaro, called Carbone,
flourished at the beginning of the age we are writing on, and had a
Caracciesque style allied to the modern. There is a S. Andrea Avellino
by him in the Duomo of Pesaro; his other works are in private
collections. This notice I deem sufficient, always excepting the living
artists, whom I of course omit.[90]

Three masters who died successively in the pontificate of Pius VI. seem
to require from me more than a transient notice, and with them I shall
conclude the series of historical painters of the fifth epoch. I shall
first commemorate the Cav. Raffaello Mengs, from whom our posterity may
perhaps date a new and more happy era of the art. He was born in Saxony,
and brought to Rome by his father while yet a boy, and was at that time
skilled in miniature, and was a careful and correct draughtsman. On his
arrival in Rome, his father employed him in copying the works of
Raffaello, and chastised the young artist for every fault in his work,
with an incredible severity, or rather inhumanity, inflicting on him
even corporeal punishment, and reducing his allowance of food. Being
thus compelled to study perfection, and endowed with a genius to
appreciate it and perceive it, he acquired a consummate taste in art; he
communicated to Winckelmann very important materials for his _Storia
delle belle arti_, and was himself the author of many profound and
valuable essays on the fine arts, which have materially contributed to
improve the taste of the present age. They have different titles, but
all the same aim, the discrimination of the real perfection of art.[91]

The artist, as characterized by Mengs, may be compared to the orator of
Cicero, and both are endued by their authors with an ideal perfection,
such as the world has never seen, and will probably never see; and it is
the real duty of an instructor to recommend excellence, that in striving
to attain it, we may at least acquire a commendable portion of it.
Considered in this point of view, I should defend several of his
writings, where in the opinion of others he seems to assume a
dictatorial tone, in the judgment he passes on Guido, Domenichino, and
the Caracci; the very triumvirate whom he proposes as models in the art.
Mengs assuredly was not so infatuated as to hope to surpass these great
men, but because he knew that no one does so well but that it might be
done still better, he shews where they attained the summit of art, and
where they failed. The artist, therefore, described by Mengs, and to
whose qualifications he also aspired, and was anxious that all should do
the same, ought to unite in himself the design and beauty of the Greeks,
the expression and composition of Raffaello, the chiaroscuro and grace
of Coreggio, and, to complete all, the colouring of Titian. This union
of qualities Mengs has analyzed with equal elegance and perspicuity,
teaching the artist how to form himself on that ideal beauty, which is
itself never realised. If, on some occasions, he appears too
enthusiastic, or in some degree obscure, it cannot excite our surprise,
as he wrote in a foreign language, and was not much accustomed to
composition. His ideas therefore stood in need of a refined scholar to
render them clear and intelligible; and this advantage he would have
procured, had he been resolved to publish them; but his works are all
posthumous, and were given to the world by his excellency the Sig. Cav.
Azara. Hence it frequently happens in his works, that one treatise
destroys another, as Tiraboschi has observed in regard to his notice of
Coreggio, in his _Notizie degli Artefici Modenesi_; and hence concludes
that the _Riflessioni di Mengs su i tre gran Pittori_, where he finds
much to censure in Coreggio, were written by him before he saw the works
of that master; and that his _Memorie_ on the life of the same master,
where he extols Coreggio to the skies, and calls him the Apelles of
modern painting, were written after having seen and studied him.[92] In
spite however of all objections, he will retain a distinguished place,
as well among the theorists or writers, as among professors themselves,
as long as the art endures.

We perhaps should not say that Mengs was a whetstone which gave a new
quality to the steel, which it could not otherwise have acquired; but
that he was the steel itself, which becomes brighter and finer the more
it is used. He became painter to the court of Dresden; every fresh work
gave proof of his progress in the art. He went afterwards to Madrid,
where in the chambers of the royal palace he painted the assembly of the
Gods, the Seasons, and the various parts of the day, in an enchanting
manner. After repairing a second time to Rome to renew his studies, he
again returned to Madrid, where he painted in one of the saloons the
Apotheosis of Trajan, and in a theatre, Time subduing Pleasure; pictures
much superior to his former pieces. In Rome there are three large works
by him; the painting in the vault of S. Eusebio; the Parnassus in the
saloon of the Villa Albani, far superior to the preceding one;[93] and
lastly, the cabinet of manuscripts in the Vatican was painted by him,
where the celestial forms of the angels, the majesty of Moses, and the
dignified character of S. Peter, the enchanting colour, the relief, and
the harmony, contribute to render this chamber one of the most
remarkable in Rome for its beautiful decorations. This constant
endeavour to surpass himself, would be evident also from his easel
pictures, if they were not so rare in Italy; as he painted many of this
description for London and the other capitals of Europe. In Rome itself,
where he studied young, where he long resided, to which he always
returned, and where at last he died, there are few of his works to be
found. We may enumerate the portrait of Clement XIII. and his nephew
Carlo, in the collection of the prince Rezzonico; that of Cardinal
Zelada, secretary of state; and a few other pieces, in the possession of
private gentlemen, more particularly the Sig. Cav. Azara. Florence has
some large compositions by him in the Palazzo Pitti, and his own
portrait in the cabinet of painters, besides the great Deposition from
the Cross in chiaroscuro, for the Marchese Rinuccini, which he was
prevented by death from colouring; and a beautiful Genius in fresco in a
chamber of the Sig. Conte Senatore Orlando Malevolti del Benino.

Returning from the consideration of his works to Mengs himself, I leave
to others to estimate his merit, and to determine how far his principles
are just.[94] As far as regards myself, I cannot but extol that
inextinguishable ardour of improving himself by which he was
particularly distinguished, and which prompted him, even while he
enjoyed the reputation of a first rate master, to proceed in every work
as if he were only commencing his career. Truth was his great aim, and
he diligently studied the works of the first luminaries of the art,
analysed their colours, and examined them in detail, till he entered
fully into the spirit and design of those great models. Whilst employed
in the ducal gallery in Florence, he did not touch a pencil, until he
had attentively studied the best pieces there, and particularly the
Venus of Titian in the tribune. In his hours of leisure he employed
himself in carefully studying the fresco pictures of the best masters of
that school, which is so distinguished in this art. He was accustomed to
do the same by every work of celebrity which fell in his way, whether
ancient or modern; all contributed to his improvement, and to carry him
nearer to perfection; he was in short a man of a most aspiring mind, and
may be compared to the ancient, who declared that he wished "to die
learning." If maxims like these were enforced, what rapid strides in the
art might we not expect!

But the greater part of artists form for themselves a manner which may
attract popularity, and then relax their efforts, satisfied with the
applause of the crowd; and if they feel the necessity of improving, it
is not with a design of acquiring a just reputation, but of adding to
the price of their works.

Notwithstanding the considerable space which Mengs has occupied in our
time, he has nevertheless left room for the celebrity of Pompeo Batoni,
of Luca. The Cav. Boni, who has honoured this artist with an elegant
eulogium, thus expresses himself in comparing him with Mengs. "The
latter," he says, "was the painter of philosophy, the former of nature.
Batoni had a natural taste which led him to the beautiful without
effort; Mengs attained the same object by reflection and study. Grace
was the gift of nature in Batoni, as it had formerly been in Apelles;
while the higher attributes of the art were allotted to Mengs, as they
were in former days to Protogenes. Perhaps the first was more painter
than philosopher, the second more philosopher than painter. The latter,
perhaps, was more sublime, but more studied; Batoni less profound, but
more natural. Not that I would insinuate that nature was sparing to
Mengs, or that Batoni was devoid of the necessary science of the art,
&c." If it were ever said with truth of any artist, that he was born a
painter, this distinction must be allowed to Batoni. He learned only the
principles of the art in his native country, and of the two
correspondents from whom I have received my information, the one
considers him to have been the scholar of Brugieri, the other of
Lombardi, as already mentioned, vol. i. p. 360, and probably he was
instructed by both. He came young to Rome, and did not frequent any
particular school, but studied and copied Raffaello and the old masters
with unceasing assiduity, and thus learnt the great secret of copying
nature with truth and judgment.

That boundless and instructive volume, open to all, but cultivated by
few, was rightly appreciated by Batoni, and it was hence that he derived
that beautiful variety in his heads and contours, which are sometimes
wanting even in the great masters, who were occasionally too much
addicted to the ideal. Hence, too, he derived the gestures and
expressions most appropriate to each subject. Persuaded that a vivid
imagination was not alone sufficient to depict those fine traits in
which the sublimity of the art consists, he did not adopt any attitudes
which were not found in nature. He took from nature the first ideas,
copied from her every part of the figure, and adapted the drapery and
folds from models. He afterwards embellished and perfected his work with
a natural taste, and enlivened all with a style of colour peculiarly his
own; clear, engaging, lucid, and preserving after the lapse of many
years, as in the picture of various saints at S. Gregorio, all its
original freshness. This was in him not so much an art as the natural
ebullition of his genius. He sported with his pencil. Every path was
open to him; painting in various ways, now with great force, now with a
touch, and now finishing all by strokes. Sometimes he destroyed the
whole work, and gave it the requisite force by a line.[95] Although he
was not a man of letters, he yet shows himself a poet in conception,
both in a sublime and playful style. One example from a picture in the
possession of his heirs, will suffice. Wishing to express the dreams of
an enamoured girl, he has represented her wrapped in soft slumbers, and
surrounded by loves, two of whom present to her splendid robes and
jewels, and a third approaches her with arrows in his hand, while she,
captivated by the vision, smiles in her sleep. Many of these poetical
designs, and many historical subjects, are in private collections, and
in the courts of Europe, from which he had constant commissions.

Batoni possessed an extraordinary talent for portrait painting, and had
the honour of being employed by three pontiffs in that branch of the
art, Benedict XIV., Clement XIII., and Pius VI.; to whom may be added,
the emperor Joseph II. and his august brother and successor, Leopold
II., the Grand Duke of Muscovy, and the Grand Duchess, besides numerous
private individuals. He for some time painted miniatures, and
transferred that care and precision which is essential in that branch to
his larger productions, without attenuating his style by hardness. We
find an extraordinary proof of this in his altarpieces, spread over
Italy, and mentioned by us in many cities, particularly in Lucca. Of
those that remain in Rome, Mengs gave the preference to S. Celso, which
is over the great altar of that church. Another picture, the Fall of
Simon Magus, is in the church of the Certosa. It was intended to have
been copied in mosaic for the Vatican, and to have been substituted for
a picture of the same subject by Vanni, the only one in that church on
stone. But the mosaic, from some cause or other, was not executed.
Perhaps the subject displeased, from not being evangelical, and the idea
of removing the picture of Vanni not being resumed, the subject was
changed, and a commission given to Mengs to paint the Government of the
church conferred on S. Peter. He made a sketch for it in chiaroscuro
with great care, which is in the Palazzo Chigi, but did not live to
finish it in colours. This sketch evinces a design and composition
superior to the picture of Batoni, but the subject of the latter was
more vigorously conceived. At all events, however, Batoni must
henceforth be considered the restorer of the Roman School, in which he
lived until his 79th year, and educated many pupils in his profession.

The example of the two last eminent artists was not lost on Antonio
Cavallucci da Sermoneta, whose name when I began to print this volume, I
did not expect would here have found a place. But having recently died,
some notice is due to his celebrity, as he is already ranked with the
first artists of his day. He was highly esteemed both in Rome and
elsewhere. The Primaziale of Pisa, who in the choice of their artists
consulted no recommendation but that of character, employed him on a
considerable work, representing S. Bona of that city taking the
religious habit. It breathes a sacred piety, which he himself both felt
and expressed in a striking manner. In this picture he wished to shew
that the examples of christian humility, such as burying in a cloister
the gifts of nature and fortune, are susceptible of the gayest
decoration. This he effected by introducing a train of noble men and
women, who, according to custom, assisted in the solemnity. In this
composition, in which he follows the principles of Batoni rather than
those of Mengs, we may perceive both his study of nature, and his
judgment and facility in imitating her. Another large picture of the
saints Placido and Mauro, he sent into Catania, and another of S.
Francesco di Paola, he executed for the church of Loreto, and which was
copied in mosaic. In Rome are his S. Elias and the Purgatorio, two
pictures placed at S. Martino a' Monti, and many works in the possession
of the noble family of Gaetani, who were the first to encourage and
support this artist. His last work was the Venus and Ascanius, in the
Palazzo Cesarini, which has been described to me as a beautiful
production by the Sig. Gio. Gherardo de' Rossi, who has declared his
intention of publishing the life of Cavallucci, which will no doubt be
done in his usual masterly manner.

The Roman School has recently had to regret the loss of two accomplished
masters; Domenico Corvi of Viterbo, and Giuseppe Cades of Rome, who
although younger than Corvi, and for some years his scholar, died before
him. In my notice of them, I shall begin with the master who has been
honoured and eulogized more than once in the respectable _Memorie delle
belle Arti_, as well as his scholar, and also some other disciples; as
there was not in Rome in the latter times any school more productive in
talent. He was truly an accomplished artist, and there were few to
compare with him in anatomy, perspective, and design; and from Mancini
his instructor, he acquired something of the style of the Caracci.
Hence, his academy drawings are highly prized, and I may say, more
sought after than his pictures, which indeed want that fascination of
grace and colour which attracts the admiration alike of the learned and
the vulgar. He maintained an universal delicacy of colour, and was
accustomed to defend the practice by asserting, with what justice I
cannot say, that pictures painted in that manner were less liable to
become black. His most esteemed works are his night pieces, as the Birth
of our Saviour in the church of the Osservanti at Macerata, which is
perhaps the summit of his efforts. Some amateurs went thither express
towards the close of day; a lofty window opposite favoured the illusion
of the perspective of the picture; and Corvi, who in other pictures is
inferior to Gherardo delle Notti, viewed in this manner, here excels
him, by an originality of perspective and general effect. He worked much
both for his own countrymen and foreigners, besides the pictures which
he kept ready by him, to supply the daily calls of purchasers, and many
of which are still on sale in the house of his widow.

Cades recommends himself to our notice, principally by a facility of
imitation, dangerous to the art when it is not governed by correct
principles. No simulator of the character of another handwriting, could
ever rival him in the dexterity with which at a moment's call he could
imitate the physiognomy, the naked figure, the drapery, and the entire
character of every celebrated designer. The most experienced persons
would sometimes request from him a design after Michelangiolo or
Raffaello, or some other great master, which he instantly complied with,
and when confronted with an indisputable specimen of the master, and
these persons were requested to point out the original, as Buonaruoti
for example, they often hesitated, and frequently fixed on the design of
Cades. He was notwithstanding, extremely honourable. He made on one
occasion, a large design in the style of Sanzio, to deceive the director
of a foreign cabinet, who boasted an infallible knowledge of the touch
of Raffaello; and employing a person to shew it to him, with some
fictitious history attached to it, the director purchased it at 500
zecchins. Cades wishing to return the money, the other refused to
receive it, insisting on retaining the drawing, and disregarding all the
protestations of the artist, and his request to be remunerated by a
smaller sum; and this drawing is at this moment probably considered as
an original, in one of the finest cabinets of Europe. He was confident
in his talents from his early years, and on a public occasion, he made a
drawing after the bent of his own genius, regardless of the directions
of Corvi, who wished it to be done in another style, and he was in
consequence dismissed from that school. This drawing obtained the first
premium, and now exists in the academy of S. Luke, where it is much
admired. In the art of colouring, too, he owed little to the instruction
of masters, and much to his native talent of imitation. I have seen
exhibited in the church of the Holy Apostles, a picture by him, which in
the upper part represents the Madonna with the Holy Infant, and in the
inferior part five saints, an allegorical picture, as I have heard
suggested, relating to the election of Clement XIV. That Pope was
elected by the suffrages of the Cardinal Carlo Rezzonico and his
friends, and contrary to the expectation of P. Innocenzio Buontempi, who
ordered the picture, and who after this election was promoted by the
Pope to the eminent station of Maestro nel S. Ordine Serafico, and
afterwards to that of the Pope's confessor. Hence this piece represents
in the centre S. Clement reading the sacred volume; on his right is S.
Carlo, who appears to admire his learning, and by his attitude seems to
say, "This is a man justly entitled to the pontificate;" and in the last
place S. Innocent the Pope, which representing the person of the P.
Maestro, must here for the sake of propriety yield the place to the
Cardinal S. Carlo. In the background are S. Francis and S. Anthony, half
figures. Cades here took for his model the picture of Titian in the
Quirinal, which he imitated as well in the composition as in the colour.
And in this, indeed, he proceeded too far, giving it that obscure tone
which the works of Titian have acquired only by the lapse of time. Cades
here defended himself by saying that this piece was intended to be
placed in the church of S. Francesco di Fabriano in a very strong light,
where if the colours had not been kept low, they would have been
displeasing to the spectator. There is an error in the perspective which
cannot be overlooked. The allegorical figure of P. M. Innocenzio, who
stands amazed at the sudden phenomenon, appears to be out of
equilibrium, and would fall in real life. Other faults of colour, of
costume, or of vulgarity of form, are noticed in others of his pictures
by the author of the _Memorie_, in tom. i. and iii. But as he advanced
in life he improved his style from study, and attending to the
criticisms of the public. In tom. iii. just referred to, we find the
description of one of his works executed for the Villa Pinciana, the
subject of which is taken from Boccaccio; Walter Conte di Anguersa
recognized in London. Let us weigh the opinion which this eminent author
gives of this most beautiful composition, or let us compare it with the
picture of S. Joseph of Copertino, which he painted at twenty-one years
of age, as an altarpiece in the church of the Apostles, and we shall
perceive the rapid strides which are made by genius. Other princely
families, besides the Borghesi, availed themselves of his talents to
ornament their palaces and villas; as the Ruspoli and the Chigi, and he
executed several works for the empress of Russia. He died before he had
attained his fiftieth year, and not long after he had so much improved
his style. In the opinion of some, his execution still required to be
rendered more uniform, since he sometimes displayed as many different
manners in a picture, as there were figures. But in that he might plead
the example of Caracci, as we shall notice on a proper opportunity.

We shall now pass to other branches of the art, and shall commence with
landscapes. In this period flourished the scholars of the three famous
landscape painters, described in their proper place, besides Grimaldi,
mentioned in the Bolognese School, who resided a considerable time in
Rome; and Paolo Anesi, of whom we made mention in speaking of
Zuccherelli. With Anesi lived Andrea Lucatelli, a Roman, whose talents
are highly celebrated in every inferior branch of the art. In the
archbishop's gallery in Milan are a number of his pictures, historical,
architectural, and landscapes. In these he often appears original in
composition, and in the disposition of the masses; he is varied in his
touch, delicate in his colouring, and elegant in his figures, which, as
we shall see, he was also accustomed to paint in the Flemish style,
separate from his landscapes.

Francis Van Blomen was a less finished artist, and from the hot and
vaporous air of his pictures, obtained the name of Orizzonte. The
palaces of the Pope and the nobility in Rome, abound with his landscapes
in fresco and oil. In the character of his trees, and in the composition
of his landscapes, he commonly imitated Poussin. In his general tone
there predominates a greenish hue mixed with red. His pictures are not
all equally finished, but they rise in value as those of older artists
become injured by time, or rare from being purchased by foreigners. At
the side of Van Blomen we often find the works of some of his best
scholars, as Giacciuoli and Francis Ignazio, a Bavarian.

At the same time lived in Rome Francesco Wallint, called M. Studio, who
painted small landscapes and sea views, ornamented with very beautiful
figures; devoid however of that sentiment which is the gift of nature,
and that delicacy which charms in the Italian School. He imitated
Claude: Wallint the younger, his son, attached himself to the same
manner with success, but did not equal his father.

At the beginning of this epoch, or thereabouts, there flourished two
artists in Perugia in the same line; Ercolano Ercolanetti, and Pietro
Montanini, the scholar of Ciro Ferri and of Rosa. The last was ambitious
of the higher walks of art, and attempted the decoration of a church,
but failed in the attempt, as his talent was restricted to landscape;
and even when he added figures to these, they were not very correct, and
possessed more spirit than accuracy of design. He was nevertheless a
pleasing painter, and his pictures were sought after by foreigners. In
Perugia there is an abundance of his works, and some are to be seen in
the sacristy of the Eremitani, which might be said to discover a Flemish
style.

Alessio de Marchis, a Neapolitan, is not much known in Rome, although in
the Ruspoli and Albani palaces, some pleasing pieces by him are pointed
out. He is better known in Perugia and Urbino, and the adjacent cities.
It is said that, in order to obtain a study for a picture from nature,
he set fire to a barn. For this act he was condemned to the galleys for
several years, and was liberated under the pontificate of Clement XI.
whose palace in Urbino he decorated with architectural ornaments,
distant views, and beautiful seapieces, more in the style of Rosa than
any other artist. There is an extraordinarily fine picture by him of the
Burning of Troy, in the collection of the Semproni family, and some
landscapes in other houses in Urbino, in which he has displayed all his
genius, and extended it also to figures. But in general there is little
more to praise in him than his spirit, his happy touch, and natural
colouring, particularly in fires, and the loaded and murky air, and the
general tone of the piece, as the detached parts are negligent and
imperfect. He left a son, also a landscape painter, but not of much
celebrity.

At the beginning of the century Bernardino Fergioni displayed in Rome an
extraordinary talent in sea views, and harbours, to which he added a
variety of humourous figures. He was first a painter of animals, and
afterwards tried this line with better success; but his fame was a few
years afterwards eclipsed by two Frenchmen, Adrian Manglard, of a solid,
natural, and correct taste; and his scholar, Joseph Vernet, who
surpassed his master by his spirit and his charming colouring. The first
seemed to paint with a degree of timidity and care, the latter in the
full confidence of genius; the one seemed to aim at truth, the other at
beauty. Manglard was many years in Rome, and his works are to be seen in
the Villa Albani, and in many other palaces. Vernet is to be seen in the
Rondanini mansion, and in a few other collections.

There were not many painters of battles during this epoch, except the
scholars of Borgognone. Christiano Reder, called also M. Leandro, who
came to Rome about 1686, the year of the taking of Buda, devoted
himself, in conformity with the feelings of the times, to painting
battles between the Christians and the Turks; but his pictures, though
well touched, were soon depreciated from the great number of them. The
best in the opinion of Pascoli, was that in the gallery de' Minimi; and
he left many also in the palaces of the nobility. He was also expert in
landscape and humourous subjects, and was assisted by Peter Van Blomen,
called also Stendardo, the brother of Francis Orizzonte. Stendardo also
painted battle pieces, but he was more attached to Bambocciate, in the
Flemish style, wherein he delights to introduce animals, and
particularly horses, in designing which he was very expert, and almost
unrivalled. His distances are very clear, and afford a fine relief to
his figures.

In Rome, and throughout the ecclesiastical state, we find many pictures
of this sort by that Lucatelli who has been mentioned among the
landscape painters. The connoisseurs attribute to him two different
manners; the first good, the second still better, and exhibiting great
taste, both in colouring and invention. In some collections we find
Monaldi near him, who although of a similar taste, yielded to him in
correctness of design, in colour, and in that natural grace which may be
called the _Attic salt_ of this mute poetry.

I have not ascertained who was the instructor of Antonio Amorosi, a
native of Comunanza, and a fellow countryman of Ghezzi, and his
co-disciple also in the school of the Cav. Giuseppe (Vernet). I only
know that he is in his way equally facetious, and sometimes satirical.
Like Ghezzi he painted pictures in the churches, which are to be found
in the Guida di Roma; he did not, however, succeed so well in them as in
his _bambocciate_, which would appear really Flemish if the colours were
more lucid. He is less known in the metropolis than in Piceno, where he
is to be seen in many collections, and is mentioned in the Guida
d'Ascoli. He pleased also in foreign countries, and represented subjects
from common life, as drinking parties in taverns in town and country, on
which occasion he discovered no common talent in architecture,
landscape, and the painting of animals.

Arcangelo Resani, of Rome, the scholar of Boncuore, painted animals in a
sufficiently good taste, accompanying them with large and small figures,
in which he had an equal talent. In the Medici gallery is his portrait,
with a specimen attached of the art in which he most excelled, the
representation of still life. In the same way Nuzzi added flowers, and
other artists landscapes, to their portraits.

Carlo Voglar, or Carlo da' Fiori, was a painter of fruit and flowers in
a very natural style, and was also distinguished in painting dead game.
He had a rival in this style in Francesco Varnetam, called Deprait, who
was still more ingenious in adding glass and portraits, and composed his
pieces in the manner of a good figurist. This artist after residing
several years in Rome, was appointed painter to the Imperial Court, and
died in Vienna, after having spread his works and his fame through all
Germany. In the time of the two preceding artists, Christian Bernetz was
celebrated, who on the death of the first, and the departure of the
second artist, remained in Rome the chief painter in this style. All the
three were known to Maratta, and employed by him in ornamenting his
pictures; and he enriched theirs in return with children and other
figures, which have rendered them invaluable. The last was also a friend
of Garzi, in conjunction with whom he painted pictures, each taking the
department in which they most excelled. Scipione Angelini, of Perugia,
improperly called Angeli by Guarienti, was celebrated by Pascoli for
similar talents. His flowers appear newly plucked and sparkling with dew
drops. In the _Memorie Messinesi_, I find that Agostino Scilla when he
was exiled from Sicily, repaired to Rome, where he died. Whilst in Rome,
he seemed to shun all competition with the historical painters, and
occupied himself (with a certainty of not being much celebrated), in
designing animals, and in other inferior branches of the art. In this
line both he and Giacinto, his younger brother, had great merit.
Saverio, the son of Agostino, who, on the death of them both, continued
to reside and to paint in Rome, did not equal them in reputation.

During this period of the decline of the art, one branch of painting,
perspective, made an extraordinary progress by the talents of P. Andrea
Pozzo, a Jesuit, and a native of Trent. He became a painter and
architect from his native genius, rather than from the instruction of
any master. His habit of copying the best Venetian and Lombard pictures,
had given him a good style of colour, and a sufficiently correct design,
which he improved in Rome, where he resided many years. He painted also
in Genoa and Turin, and in these cities and in both the states, we find
some beautiful works, the more so as they resemble Rubens in tone, to
whose style of colour he aspired. There are not many of his oil
paintings in Italy, and few of them are finished, as S. Venanzio in
Ascoli, and S. Borgia at S. Remo. Even the picture of S. Ignatius at the
Gesù in Rome, is not equally rendered in every part. Nevertheless, he
appears on the whole a fine painter, his design well conceived, his
forms beautiful, his colours fascinating, and the touch of his pencil
free and ready. Even his less finished performances evince his genius;
and of the last mentioned picture, I heard from P. Giulio Cordara, an
eminent writer in verse and prose, an anecdote which deserves
preservation. A painter of celebrity being directed to substitute
another in its place, declared that neither himself nor any other living
artist could execute a superior work. His despatch was such, that in
four hours he began and finished the portrait of a cardinal, who was
departing the same day for Germany.

He occupies a conspicuous place among the ornamental painters, but his
works in this way would be more perfect if there was not so great a
redundance of decoration, as vases, festoons, and figures of boys in the
cornices, though this indeed was the taste of the age. The ceiling of
the church of S. Ignatius is his greatest work, and which would serve to
show his powers, if he had left nothing else, as it exhibits a novelty
of images, an amenity of colour, and a picturesque spirit, which
attracted even the admiration of Maratta and Ciro Ferri; the last of
whom, amazed that Andrea had in so few years, and in so masterly a
manner, peopled, as he called it, this Piazza Navona, concluded that the
horses of other artists went at a common pace, but those of Pozzo on the
gallop. He is the most eminent of perspective painters, and even in the
concaves has given a convex appearance to the pieces of architecture
represented, as in the Tribune of Frascati, where he painted the
Circumcision of Jesus Christ, and in a corridor of the Gesù at Rome. He
succeeded too in a surprising manner in deceiving the eye with
fictitious cupolas in many churches of his order; in Turin, Modena,
Mondovi, Arezzo, Montepulciano, Rome, and Vienna, to which city he was
invited by the emperor Leopold I. He also painted scenes for the
theatres, and introduced colonnades and palaces with such inimitable
art, that it renders more credible the wonderful accounts handed down to
us by Vitruvius and Pliny of the skill of the ancients in this art.
Although well grounded in the theory of optics, as his two volumes of
perspective prove, it was his custom never to draw a line without first
having made a model, and thus ascertained the correct distribution of
the light and shade. When he painted on canvass, he laid on a light coat
of gum, and rejected the use of chalk, thinking that when the colours
were applied, the latter prevented the softening of the lights and
shadows, when requisite.

He had many scholars who imitated him in perspective; some in fresco;
others in oil, taking their designs from real buildings, and at other
times painting from their own inventions. One of these was Alberto
Carlieri, a Roman, a painter also of small figures, of whom Orlandi
makes mention. Antonio Colli, another of his scholars, painted the great
altar at S. Pantaleo, and decorated it in perspective in so beautiful a
manner, that it was by some taken for the work of his master. Of
Agostino Collaceroni of Bologna, considered of the same school, we have
before spoken.

There were also architectural painters in other branches. Pierfrancesco
Garoli, of Turin, painted the interior of churches, and Garzi supplied
the figures. Tiburzio Verzelli, of Recanati, is little known beyond
Piceno, his birthplace. The noble family of Calamini of Recanati,
possess perhaps his best picture, the elevation of S. Pietro in
Vaticano, one of the most beautiful and largest works of this kind that
I ever saw, which occupied the master several years in finishing.
Gaspare Vanvitelli, of Utrecht, called _Dagli Occhiali_, may be called
the painter of modern Rome; his pictures, which are to be found in all
parts of Europe, represent the magnificent edifices of that city, to
which landscapes are added, when the subject admits of it. He also
painted views of other cities, seaports, villas, and farm houses, useful
alike to painters and to architects. He painted some large pictures,
though most of his works are of a small size. He was correct in his
proportions, lively and clear in his tints, and there is nothing left to
desire, except a little more spirit and variety in the landscape or in
the sky, as the atmosphere is always of a pale azure, or carelessly
broken by a passing cloud. He was the father of Luigi Vanvitelli, a
painter, who owed his great name to architecture, as we shall see was
the case also with the celebrated Serlio.

But no painter of perspective has found more admirers than the Cav. Gio.
Paolo Pannini, mentioned elsewhere; not so much for the correctness of
his perspective, in which he has many equals, as for his charming
landscape and spirited figures. It cannot indeed be denied, that these
latter are sometimes too high in proportion to the buildings, and that
also, to shun the dryness of Viviani, he has a mannered style of mixing
a reddish hue in his shadows. For the first defect there is no remedy;
but the second will be alleviated by time, which will gradually subdue
the predominant colour.

Lastly, to this epoch the art of mosaic owes the great perfection which
it attained, in imitating painting, not only by the means of small
pieces of marble selected and cemented together, but by a composition
which could produce every colour, emulate every tint, represent each
degree of shade, and every part, equal to the pencil itself. Baglione
attributes the improvement in this art to Muziani, whom he calls the
inventor of working mosaics in oil; and that which he executed for the
Cappella Gregoriana, he praises as the most beautiful mosaic that has
been formed since the time of the ancients. Paolo Rossetti of Cento was
employed there under Muziani, and instructed Marcello Provenzale, his
fellow countryman. Both left many works beautifully painted in mosaic;
and the second, who lived till the time of Paul V. painted the portrait
of that Pope, and some cabinet pictures. An extensive work, as has often
been the case, was the cause of improving this art. The humidity of the
church of S. Peter was so detrimental to oil paintings, that from the
time of Urban VIII. there existed an idea of substituting mosaics in
their place. The first altarpiece was executed by a scholar of
Provenzale, already mentioned, Giambatista Calandra, born in Vercelli.
It represents S. Michael, and is of a small size, copied from a picture
of the Cav. d'Arpino. He afterwards painted other subjects in the small
cupolas, and near some windows of the church, from the cartoons of
Romanelli, Lanfranco, Sacchi, and Pellegrini; but thinking his talents
not sufficiently rewarded, he began to work also for individuals, and
painted portraits, or copied the best productions of the old masters.
Among these Pascoli particularly praises a Madonna copied from a picture
of Raffaello, in possession of the Queen of Sweden, and of this and
other similar works he judged that from their harmony of colour and high
finishing, they were deserving of close and repeated inspection.

At this time great approaches were made towards the modern style of
mosaic; but this art was afterwards carried to a much higher pitch by
the two Cristofori, Fabio, and his son Pietro Paolo. These artists
painted the S. Petronilla, copied from the great picture of Guercino,
the S. Girolamo of Domenichino, and the Baptism of Christ by Maratta.
For other works by him and his successors, I refer the reader to the
_Descrizione_ of the pictures of Rome above cited. I will only add, that
when the works were completed for S. Peter's, lest the art might decay
for want of due encouragement, it was determined to decorate the church
of Loreto with similar pictures, which were executed in Rome, and
transferred to that church.

Before I finish this portion of my work, I would willingly pay a tribute
to the numerous living professors, who have been, or who are now
resident in Rome; but it would be difficult to notice them all, and to
omit any might seem invidious. We may be allowed, however, to observe
that the improvement which has taken place in the art of late years, has
had its origin in Rome. That city at no period wholly lost its good
taste, and even in the decline of the art was not without connoisseurs
and artists of the first merit. Possessing in itself the best sources of
taste in so many specimens of Grecian sculpture, and so many works of
Raffaello, it is there always easy to judge how near the artists
approach to, and how far they recede from, their great prototypes of
art. This criterion too is more certain in the present age, when it is
the custom to pay less respect to prejudices and more to reason; so that
there can be no abuse of this useful principle. The works too of
Winckelmann and Mengs have contributed to improve the general taste; and
if we cannot approve every thing we there find, they still possess
matter highly valuable, and are excellent guides of genius and talent.
This object has also been promoted by the discovery of the ancient
pictures in Herculaneum, the Baths of Titus, and of the Villa Adriana,
and the exquisite vases of Nola, and similar remains of antiquity. These
have attracted every eye to the antique; Mengs and Winckelmann have
admirably illustrated the history of ancient sculpture, and the art of
painting may be more advantageously studied from the valuable engravings
which have been published, than from any book. From these extraordinary
advantages the fine arts have extended their influence to circles where
they were before unknown, and have received a new tone from emulation as
well as interest. The custom of exhibiting the productions of art to a
public who can justly appreciate them, and distinguish the good from the
bad; the rewards assigned to the most meritorious, of whatever nation,
accompanied by the productions of literary men, and public rejoicings in