After the death of both, Lazzaro Baldi still remained, another great ornament of the school of Cortona, and of Pistoia, his native place. He may be there recognised in two pictures, the Annunciation in the church of S. Francis, and the Repose in Egypt in that of the Madonna della Umiltà. This latter place is a most majestic octagonal temple, executed by Ventura Vitoni of Pistoia, the great pupil of Bramante, and surmounted by a cupola, which is reckoned among the noblest in Italy. Baldi finally established his abode in Rome; where he was much employed, as well as in other parts of the states of the Church. One of the most studied pictures he ever painted is at S. Camerino, and represents S. Peter receiving the pontifical power. A still more recent artist is Gio. Domenico Piastrini, a scholar of Luti, who in the porch of Madonna della Umiltà, filled two large spaces with pictures, illustrative of the history of thischurch, and who rivalled the best followers of Maratta, in S. Maria in Via Lata, at Rome. It is not foreign to this period to notice Gio. Batista Cipriani, who was born in Florence, but descended from a family of Pistoia;[237]especially as he left specimens of his pencil in the neighbourhood of the places we have just mentioned. Two of his altar-pieces were in the abbey of S. Michael-on-the-Sea; one of S. Thesaurus, the other of S. Gregory VII. which are valuable, as Cipriani painted but little. His excellence lay in design, which he acquired from the collection of the studies of Gabbiani, beforementioned. Having afterwards gone to London, he was much employed by the celebrated Bartolozzi, who has immortalized the painter by engraving his inventions. We might augment our catalogue with the two Giusti and Michele Paoli, a Pistoian of the school of Crespi; but they did not attain maturity, if we depend on the information afforded by the continuator ofFelsina Pittrice.[238]
Of those within the Florentine territory, the Pisans, and of those beyond it, the artists of Lucca, yet remain to be considered. Camillo Gabrieli, a scholar of Ciro, was the first who transplanted the style of Cortona into Pisa; and in this manner executed a good oil painting at the convent of the Carmelites, and also several for private individuals; in this kind of painting he was more happy than in fresco. In this line, however, his memory is honoured in his native place, both for his works in the grand saloon of the Alliata palace, and in the apartments of other noblemen's houses; and likewise on account of his pupils, the two Melani, who have contributed much to his reputation. We shall notice Francesco among the professors of architectural design: Giuseppe his brother, and a knight of the golden spur, became no common artist in figures, and was worthy of painting in the cathedral a large oil picture of the death of S. Ranieri. Although this piece ranks in the scale of mediocrity in this sanctuary of the arts, it does honour to its author; the invention is good, the perspective is regular, and exhibits no marks of carelessness, as is so often the case. But his place is among the painters in fresco; in which department he ornamented with figures the architectural works of his brother; and has shewn himself tenacious of the manner of Cortona, both in what is commendable in it, as the perspective, colouring, and harmony; and also where it is less praiseworthy, as in the heaviness and imperfect finish of the figures.
With a similar instance we shall commence the series of artists of Lucca: the two brothers, Ippolito and Giovanni Marracci, obtained equal applause in very different branches of the art; the former was a painter of architecture, the latter of figures; and of him only we shall here speak. Although little known beyond Lucca, he is reckoned among the eminent scholars and most successful imitators of Pietro da Cortona; and merits this name, either when he painted in fresco, as in the cupola of S. Ignatius, at S. Giovanni; or when he wrought in oil, as he did in several pictures in the possession of the brotherhood of S. Lorenzo, in the collegiate church of S. Michael, and in other places. With equal success two other artists, natives of Lucca, who had been educated in his school, became imitators, for a period, of Pier Cortona. These were Giovanni Coli and Filippo Gherardi, who were trained in the school of their native place, and resembled each other no less in style than in disposition; so that though they usually painted in the same piece, all their joint labours appear the work of a single artist. They afterwards adopted a manner that participates of the Venetian and Lombard schools; and in this style they painted the vast ceiling of the library of S. Giorgio Maggiore at Venice. Rome possesses some of their stupendous works in the church of the Lucchesi, and in the magnificent Colonna gallery. The most celebrated picture with which they ornamented their native place was the frescoof the tribune of the church of S. Martin, and next to it that in S. Matthew's, which they decorated with three oil pictures. After the death of Coli, his companion resided and continued to paint in Lucca: the whole cloister of the Carmelite monastery was painted by him alone.
The manner of Cortona was likewise adhered to by Gio. Batista Brugieri, a scholar of Baldi and of Maratta, who was in his day highly applauded for his works in the chapel of the Sacrament, at the Servi, and his other productions in public. P. Stefano Cassiani, from the fraternity to which he belonged, surnamed Il Certosino, or the Carthusian, painted in fresco the cupola of his church, and two large histories of our Lady, besides other reputable works in the style of Cortona, at the Certosa of Pisa, of Siena, and elsewhere. Girolamo Scaglia, a disciple of Paulini and of Gio. Marracci, is surnamed Parmegianino. In architecture he imitated Berrettini, as is remarked by Sig. da Morrona;[239]in his shadows he followed Paulini, and sometimes approached Ricchi: as a painter his effect was superior to his design; or as it was observed by the Cav. Titi, (p. 146) on beholding his picture of the Presentation, painted at Pisa, it exhibits extreme industry and very little taste. Gio. Domenico Campiglia was reckoned among the best designers in Rome; and of him the engravers of antiquities particularly availed themselves. He was not without merit as a painter;and in Florence, where he executed some pictures, his portrait has a place among those of eminent artists. A picture painted by Pietro Sigismondi, of Lucca, for the great altar of S. Nicholas in Arcione at Rome, is honourably mentioned by Titi: I know not whether any of his works remain in his native place; and the same is the case with Massei and with Pini, who will be considered in another school.
I shall close this series with two other artists; and had the age produced many like them, Italian painting would not have declined so much as it has done during the eighteenth century. Giovanni Domenico Lombardi lived not, like his pupil, Cav. Batoni, within the enlightening precincts of Rome, but in merit he was at least equal to Batoni. He formed his style on the works of Paulini, and improved it by studying the finest colourists at Venice, and also by paying attention to the school of Bologna. The genius of this artist, his taste, his grand and resolute tone, appear in several of his pictures, executed in his best time, and with real pains. Such are his two pieces on the sides of the choir of the Olivetani, which represent their founder, S. Bernard, administering relief to the citizens infected with the plague. There are two others in a chapel of S. Romano, which are painted with a magic force approaching to the best manner of Guercino; and one of them, in the opinion of the most rigid critics, seems the work of that artist himself. He should always have painted thus;and never have prostituted his pencil to manufacture pieces at all prices. Batoni, who will be noticed in our third book among the Roman masters, supported better his own dignity and that of the art. He adhered in a great measure to the maxims of this school, a circumstance which did not altogether please his first master, who on examining some of his early performances, remarked, that they required a greater covering of dirt, for they appear to him too trimly neat. One who has not an opportunity of examining his capital works, may satisfy himself in Lucca, either in the church of the Olivetine fathers, where he painted the Martyrdom of S. Bartolommeo; or in that of S. Catharine of Siena, where she is represented receiving the mystic wounds of the crucifixion.
I shall not here mention many artists in the inferior walks of the art. The example of Cortona influenced none in this class, except a few ornamental painters, and some artists who accompanied their figures by landscapes. The painters of landscapes, flowers, and the like, continued to follow their original models. Chiavistelli, for instance, has been followed by various artists in fresco of this age, who besides executing figures, have exercised, as before remarked, other branches of painting. Pure architectural and ornamental painting in a good taste are, however, distinct arts; and to attain excellence in them requires all the faculties of man. Angiol Rossi, of Florence, applied himself to it, as I believe, in Bologna; and assiduouslypractised it at Venice, as we are informed by Guarienti. Two artists of Lucca, Pietro Scorzini and Bartolommeo Santi, received their education at Bologna, and were the favourite decorators of many theatres. Francesco Melani, of Pisa, adhered strongly to Cortona. As learned in perspective as his brother was in figures, his style was so similar, that no architectural painter was so well suited to accompany the figures of the other. This will be allowed by all who view the ceiling in the church of S. Matthew at Pisa, which is their finest work, or their paintings in Siena, and at other places, where they were employed together. They educated a pupil worthy of them, in Tommaso Tommasi, of Pietra Santa, a man of vast conception, who succeeded in Pisa to the commissions bestowed upon his masters, and produced very pleasing specimens of his powers in the nave of the church of S. Giovanni. Ippolito Marracci, of Lucca, the scholar of Metelli, appears a successful rival of his master, either when he painted by himself, as in the Rotonda, at Lucca, or when associated with his brother, as was generally the case. Domenico Schianteschi, a disciple of Bibieni, lived in San Sepolcro; his perspectives in that city are to be seen in the houses of many of the nobility, and are much esteemed.
Florence has boasted professed portrait painters, even to the present time; among whom Gaetano Piattoli is particularly extolled. He was pupil to a French artist, Francesco Riviera, who had residedand died at Leghorn, and was very much prized in collections for the excellence of his Conversazioni and Turkish ballets. He is well known too, in other countries; for he was employed to take portraits of the foreign nobility who visited Florence. The portrait of himself, which he painted for the ducal gallery, indicates the style of the rest. An illustrious female artist emanated from the school of Gabbiani, although assisted in her studies by other masters, and this was Giovanna Fratellini, who was not without invention, and was most expert in portrait painting. She executed in oil, in crayons, in miniature, and in enamel, various portraits of the family of Cosmo III. and of other princes, to paint whom she was sent by her sovereign to several cities of Italy. That which she painted of herself, is in the ducal gallery: in it she has blended the employment of the artist with the affection of a mother. She is represented in the act of taking a likeness of Lorenzo, her only son and pupil, who died in the flower of his age. It is painted in crayons, an art in which she may be called the Rosalba of her time. Domenico Tempesti, or Tempestino, is rather included among engravers than painters; though he was instructed by Volterrano in Florence, in the latter art, and exercised it with credit both in landscape and portrait. He is mentioned by Vianelli in the catalogue of his pictures. It would appear that he was the same Domenico de Marchis, called Tempestino, whom Orlandi casually noticesin the article of Girolamo Odam, whom Domenico had initiated in the elements of landscape painting. Orlandi gives also a separate article, under the head of Domenico Tempesti, in which his voyages through Europe, and his long residence at Rome, are dwelt upon.
Many landscapes, chiefly rural views, painted by Paolo Anesi, are dispersed through Florence, and there are also many of them in Rome. Francesco Zuccherelli, a native of Pitigliano, born in the year 1702, was his scholar. On going to Rome, he resided there a long time, and first entered the school of Morandi, and afterwards of Pietro Nelli. His first intention was to study figures, but by one of those circumstances which discover the natural predilection, he applied himself to painting landscape; and pursued it in a manner that united strength and sweetness; and has been highly extolled not only in Italy, but over all Europe. His figures also were elegant, and these he was sometimes employed to introduce in the landscapes and architectural pieces of other artists. His principal field in Italy was Venice, where he was settled, until the celebrated Smith made him known in England, and invited him to that island, in which he remained many years, exercising his pencil for the court, and for the most considerable collections of pictures. He enjoyed the particular esteem of Count Algarotti; in the possession of whose heirs are two landscapes by Tesi, with figures by Zuccherelli: of the first artist I shallagain speak in the school of Bologna. Algarotti was commissioned by the court of Dresden to procure the works of the best modern painters, and suggested to Zuccherelli subjects for two pictures, in which he succeeded admirably, and was employed to repeat them for the king of Prussia. In his old age he returned to Rome, and was employed there, at Venice and in Florence, where he died in 1788. These anecdotes of Zuccherelli I obtained along with many others from the Sig. Avvocato Lessi, a gentleman deeply versed in the fine arts.
The name of this artist brings to a fair conclusion the series of Florentine painters, which has been continued for little less than six centuries, in an uninterrupted succession of native artists, without the intervention of one foreign master in this school, at least one so eminent as to mark an era. With the exception of the last years, in which art was on the decline throughout Italy, the Florentine school, with all its merit, and that is undoubtedly very great, owes its progress to native genius. It was not unacquainted with foreign artists, but from them it disdained to borrow; and its masters never adopted any other style on which they did not engraft a peculiarity and originality of manner.
I might write much in praise of masters now living,[240]but I propose not to enter on their merits,and shall leave them wholly to the judgment of posterity. In other arts I indulge a greater latitude, but not frequently. I may add with truth, that during the course of six centuries, the artists of Florence have been fortunate in a government most auspicious to the fine arts. The last princes however of the Medicean family had shewn moreinclination than activity in patronizing them; and the reign of the Emperor Francis I., though generally distinguished for enterprize,[241]was nevertheless that of an absent sovereign. The accession of the Grand Duke Peter Leopold to supreme power in Tuscany, in 1765, marked a new era in the history of the arts. The palace and royal villas were repaired and embellished; and amid the succession of undertakings that attracted the best artists, painting was continually promoted. The improvement of the ducal gallery was most opportune for it; and afforded new commissions to painters, and new specimens of the art: for the Prince ordered all the inferior pieces to be removed from the collection, and their place to be supplied by vast numbers of choice pictures. Fine specimens of antique marbles were likewise added: to him Florence owes the Niobe of Praxiteles,[242]the Apollo, and other statues; thebasso-relievos, and busts of the Cæsars, which complete the grand series in the corridore: the cabinets of the gallery were then only twelve in number, and they contained a confused assemblage of paintings, statues, bronzes, and drawings, antiquities and modern productions. Hereduced this chaos to order; he separated the different kinds, assigned separate apartments to each, made new purchases of what was before wanting, and increased the number of cabinets to twenty-one. This great work, one branch of which he was pleased to commit to my charge,[243]was worthy of record. I laid it before the public, in 1782, in a memoir, which was inserted also in the forty-seventh volume of the Journal of Pisa. Whoever compares this book with the Description of the Gallery, published in 1759, by Bianchi, will clearly perceive that Leopold was rather a second founder than a restorer of that emporium of the fine arts: so different is the arrangement, so remarkable are theadditions to the building, to its ornaments, and to the articles it contains.[244]I have been diffuse in my description of the antiquities which appeared to me deserving of more particular elucidation; of the pictures I merely indicated the artist and the subject. Since that period, other descriptions of the gallery, by very able writers, have been given to the public, in which my nomenclature and expositions of the antiquities have been adopted; but a fuller and better catalogue of the paintings is given on the plan of that of the imperial cabinet of Vienna, and similar works.
Ferdinand III. who now for five years has promoted the welfare of Tuscany, succeeded no less to the throne of his august father, than to the protection of the fine arts. The new buildings already completed, as the right wing of the Pitti palace, or now begun, as the vestibule of the Laurentian library, which is to be finished upon a design of Michelangiolo, are matters foreign to my subject. Not so, however, are the additions made by the prince to the gallery and the academy ofdesign. To the first he has added a vast number of prints and pictures of those schools in which it was formerly deficient; and the gallery is increased by a collection of Venetian and another of French masters, which are separately arranged in two cabinets.[245]The academy, since 1785, had been as it were created anew by his father; had obtained a new and magnificent edifice, new masters, and new regulations, circumstances already well known over Europe, and here unnecessary to be repeated. This institution, which required improvement in some particulars, has been at length completed, and its apartments and its splendour augmented by the son; seconded by the superintendence of those accomplished connoisseurs, the Marchese Gerini, the Prior Rucellai, and the Senator Alessandri. To the artists in every branch of the fine arts which were before in Florence, he has recently added the engraver Sig. Morghen, an ornament to the city and the state. The obligations of the fine arts to Ferdinand III., are eloquently stated by Sig. Cav. Puccini, a nobleman of Pistoia, and superintendant of the ducal gallery, in an oration on the arts, pronounced not long ago in this academy, of whichhe is the respected secretary, and since published, accompanied by engravings.[246]
[229]Life of Matteo Rosselli, in tom. x. p. 72.
[230]Tiraboschi, Storia della Lett. Ital. (tom. viii. p. 258.) ed. Ven. "Pietro Berrettini, in addition to the letters pointed out by Mazzucchelli (Scritt. Ital. tom. ii. p. 925,) wrote also along with P. Giandomenico Ottonelli da Fanano, a Jesuit, a 'Treatise upon painting and sculpture, their use and abuse; composed by a painter and a theologian.'" This work is become very rare.
[231]Lett. Pitt. tom. i. p. 44.
[232]In the Life of Luti. See Lett. Pitt. tom. i. p. 69.
[233]Lett. Pitt. tom. ii. p. 69.
[234]See Lett. Pitt. tom. ii. lett. 35.
[235]He was brother to Henry Hugford, a monk of Vallombrosa, to whom we owe, in a great measure, the progress of working inScagliola, which was afterwards successfully practised in Florence by Lamberti Gori, his pupil; and at this day by the Signor Pietro Stoppioni, who receives numerous commissions. Although the portraits, and in general the figures, of a variety of colours, are very pleasing, yet thedicromi, or yellow figures upon a black ground, attract most notice, copied from ancient vases formerly called Etruscan, and these copies either form separate pictures, or are inserted for ornament in tablets. The tragic poet Alfieri caused his epitaph to be inscribed on one of these small tables covered with scagliola work. Being found after his death, it quickly spread abroad, but was not inscribed on his tomb. Upon another of these he had written the epitaph of a great personage, whom he wished to be interred near him; and the two little tablets united together folded one upon another in the way of aditticoor small altar, or of a book, on the side of which was writtenAlfieri liber novissimus. In this way others write, on tablets of scagliola, fine precepts from scripture, a philosophy that comes from and leads to heaven, intended to be placed in private sanctuaries, to aid meditation in sight of the crucifix. The silver tablets I have seen for the same purpose are more valuable, but less artificial.
[236]In his larger works (such as the altar-pieces at the Missionari and at the Monastero Nuovo,) it would appear that Conti aimed at approaching the style of Trevisani.
[237]SeeSaggio Istorico della R. Galleria de Firenze, tom. ii. p. 72. This work, valuable for its learning and authenticity, is written by Sig. Giuseppe Bencivenni (formerly Pelli) a gentleman of Florence, and formerly director of the ducal gallery, who is also known by his other literary labours, on the lives of the most eminent painters, by the life of Dante, and by the learned dissertation on coins, appended to the lives of the followers of Cortona. He arranged the collection of modern coins, that of engravings and of drawings, and the paintings of the ducal gallery; of these, and also of the gems and medals, he has there left manuscript catalogues.
[238]See that work at p. 232.
[239]Tom iii. p. 113.
[240]It was necessary to confine myself thus in the preceding edition. In the present we may give free scope to our commendation of Tommaso Gherardini, a Florentine, and pupil to Meucci; and who, having completed his studies in the schools of Venice and Bologna, succeeded admirably in basso-relievo and chiaroscuro. He decorated a large hall in the Medicean gallery in fresco, and painted likewise much in oil for the imperial gallery of Vienna, for German and English gentlemen, and various countries that have ornamented their collections. He shewed, at least for his age, no less skill in fresco histories, which are seen in many Florentine palaces and villas. The best of these are such as he executed in mature age, or at his own suggestion; like hisParnaso in Toscana, placed in the Casa Martelli, one of his patrons from his early years; besides others in the noble houses of Ricciardi and Ambra. He died in 1797; the senator Martelli, on the decease of the Archbishop his uncle, and that of his father, continued his patronage to the artist, and considers him as one who has reflected the greatest degree of credit on his house. The clients of that family, from the time of Donatello, have been numerous, a taste for the fine arts being hereditary in the family. The master of the academy, Pietro Pedroni, ought not to be here omitted; an oil painter of merit, whose four pictures, executed subsequent to his studies at Parma and Rome, are an ornament to his native place. Owing to ill health, he produced little during his residence at Florence, which, added to other disappointments, induced him, always the best resource, to travel. If not a rare painter, he was at least an able master: profound in theory, and eloquent in conveying his knowledge to his pupils, of whom history will treat in the ensuing age. Their success, their affection and esteem for Pedroni, is the best eulogy on him which I can transmit to posterity.
[241]SeeIl Saggio Istoricoof Sig. Pelli, towards the conclusion.
[242]SeeLe Notizie su la Scoltura degli antichi e i vari suoi stili, p. 39. This short tract, illustrative of many marbles in the ducal gallery, is inserted in the third volume ofSaggio di Lingua Etrusca. It was intended as a preface to a full Description of the Museum, which was then in the press, but it was suspended in consequence of the numerous changes and additions made in that place.
[243]It was the cabinet of antiquities, not then arranged. In each class I have noticed the additions of Leopold. To the busts of the Cæsars I was able to add about forty, some of which had been purchased, and others removed from the royal palaces and villas. See the Description above quoted, p. 34. The collection of heads of philosophers and illustrious men was almost all new. I give an account of it in p. 85. The series of busts of the Medicean family was completed at the same time, and Latin inscriptions were added, which are to be found in various descriptions of the gallery, with some errors, that are not to be attributed to me, but to the printers; and this remark applies to other royal epitaphs, as published in many books. The cabinet of antique bronzes is described in p. 55. For the collection of antique earthenware, see p. 157; of Greek and Latin inscriptions on stones, see p. 81. For the Hetruscan and carved cinerary urns, see p. 46. This cabinet I also endeavoured to illustrate inSaggio di Lingua Etrusca, &c. published at Rome, in 1789. For the cabinet of antique medals, arranged by the celebrated Sig. Ab. Eckell, see p. 101; the others, arranged by Sig. Pelli, are mentioned a little before.
[244]After the departure of the prince, his bust in marble was erected, and beneath it the following inscription, of which he was pleased to approve:
petrvs. leopoldvs. francisci. avg. f. avstriacvs. m. d. ep
ad. vrbis. svae. decvs. et. ad. incrementvm. artivm. optimarvm
mvsevm. medicevm
operibvs. ampliatis. copIsqve. avctis
ordinandvm. et. splendidiore. cvltv. exornandvm. cvravit
anno. m.dcc.lxxxix.
[245]He employed in this work the highly esteemed Sig. Cav. Puccini, from whom I understand, that almost a third of the pictures now in the gallery were placed there by the munificence of Ferdinand. Sig. Puccini has arranged them in a manner so symmetrical and instructive as to form a model for all other collections.
[246]In 1801 Lodovico I. began his reign in Tuscany. Dying shortly after, he was succeeded by the infant Carlo I., under the regency of the Queen-mother Maria Louisa. From this period the arts have experienced new patronage and encouragement. The very copious and select Salvetti library has been appropriated for the use of the academy; a noble example to all parts of Italy, possessing similar institutions. A new improvement also here made, is the reunion in one place of masters in scagliola, and mosaic work, gems, and the restoring of pictures, an occupation recently introduced; and in place of a master, who formerly presided, a director, with greater authority and emolument, has been appointed. Sig. Pietro Benvenuti, whom I dare not venture to commend as he deserves, for he is still living, was selected for this charge. The addition of casts also by our new rulers is of great utility, in particular those from the works of the celebrated Canova, who has been requested to produce a new statue of Venus, on the model of the Medicean, lost to us by the chance of war. The honour conferred by the queen regent upon the arts, deserves likewise a place in history; who, in the meeting of the academy, held in 1803, Sig. Alessandri being president, distributed rewards to the young students, and encouraged them to do well. It was upon this occasion that the same Cavaliere Puccini, secretary to the institution, delivered another excellent discourse, intended to prove that the pursuit of the fine arts forms one of the most expeditious and least perilous paths to human glory;—a discourse that, equally for the credit of the writer and of the fine arts, was given to the world at Florence, in the year 1804.
The old Masters.
The Sienese is the lively school of a lively people; and is so agreeable in the selection of the colours and the air of the heads, that foreigners are captivated, and sometimes even prefer it to the Florentine. But this gaiety of style forms not the only reason of this preference; there is another, which few have attended to, and none have ever brought forward. The choicest productions of the painters of Siena are all in the churches of that place; and he who wishes to become acquainted with the school, after having seen these, need not be very solicitous to visit the private collections, which are numerous and well filled. In Florence it is otherwise: no picture of Vinci, of Bonarruoti, of Rosso, is to be seen in public; none of the finest productions of Andrea, or of Frate, and few of any other master who has best supported the credit of the school: many of the churches abound in pictures of the third and fifth epochs; which are certainly respectable, but do not excite astonishment like the works of the Razzi, the Vanni, and other first rateartists, every where to be met with in Siena. They are, moreover, two different schools, and ought not to be confounded together in any work of art; possessing, for a long period of time, different governments, other heads of schools, other styles; and not affected by the same changes. A comparison between the two schools is drawn by P. della Valle,[247]whom we have mentioned, and shall afterwards mention with respect; and his opinion appears to be, that the Florentine is most philosophical, the Sienese the most poetical. He remarks on this head, that the school of Siena, from its very beginning, displays a peculiar talent for invention; animating with lively and novel images the stories it represents; filling them with allegory, and forming them into spirited and well constructed poetic compositions. This originates in the elevated and fervid genius of the people, that no less aids the painter, whose poetry is addressed to the eye, than the bard who yields it to the ear. In the latter, and also in extemporary poets, the city abounds, and still maintains in public estimation, those laurels, which, after Petrarca and Tasso, her Perfetti won in the capital. He likewise observes that those artists particularly attended to expression. Nor was this difficult, in a city so adverse to dissimulation as Siena, whose natural disposition and education have adapted the tongue and countenance to express the emotions of the heart. This vivacity ofgenius has perhaps prevented their attaining perfection in design, which is not the great attribute of those masters, as it is reckoned of the Florentines. To sum up all, the character of the school of Siena is not so original as that of some others; and we shall find, during its best period, that some of its artists distinctly imitated the style of other painters. With regard to the number of its artists, Siena has been prolific in the proportion of its population; its artists were numerous while it had many citizens; but on the decrease of the latter, its professors of the fine arts also diminished, until every trace of a school was lost.
The accounts of the early painters of Siena are rather confused during the three first centuries by the plurality of the Guidi, the Mini, the Lippi, the Vanni (abbreviations of Giacomo, Filippo, Giovanni), and such sort of proper names as are used without a surname: hence it is not sufficient to peruse only such accounts; we must reflect on them and compare them. They are scattered in many histories of the city, especially in Ugurgieri, who was pleased to entitle his workLe Pompe Sanesi; in the Diary of Girolamo Gigli; and in several works of the indefatigable Cav. Gio. Pecci, whom we have before noticed. Many manuscripts, rich in anecdotes of painting, still remain in the libraries: of this number are the histories of Sigismondo Tizio, of Castiglione, who lived at Siena from 1482 to 1528;the Cathedral of Siena, minutely described by Alfonzo Landi; theTreatise on oldPaintingsof Giulio Mancini; and someMemoirsof Uberto Benvoglienti, whom Muratori denominatesdiligentissimus rerum suæ patriæ investigator. From these, and other sources,[248]P. della Valle has drawn what is contained in the Lettere Sanesi, and repeated in the notes on Vasari concerning the school of Siena. By the work of Della Valle it has acquired a celebrity to which it has long been entitled. I take him for my guide in the documents and anecdotes which he has given to the public;[249]in the older authorities I follow Vasari and Baldinucci in many circumstances, but dissent from them in others: and hostile to error, and anxious for the truth, I shall pursue the same plan with regard to the historians of the school of Siena. I shall omit many names of old masters, of whom no works now remain, and here and there shall add a few modern artists who have come to my knowledge, by the examination of pictures, or by the perusal of books.
The origin of the Sienese school is deduced either from the crusades in the east, whence some Grecian painter has been brought to Siena; or from Pisa, which, as we have seen, had its first artists from Greece. On such a question everyone may judge for himself: to me the data necessary for resolving it appear to be wanting. I know that Italy was never destitute of painters, and artists who wrought in miniature; that from such, without any Grecian aid, or example, some Italian schools took their origin. Siena must have had them in the twelfth century. TheOrdo officiorum Senensis Ecclesiæwhich is preserved in the library of the academy at Florence, was written in the beginning of the thirteenth century, and exhibits initial letters, surrounded with illuminations of little stories and ornaments of animals. They are painted in vermilion, in a very hard and meagre style; but they are valuable on account of their era, 1213, in which they were executed by Oderico Canonico of Siena.[250]Similar books were ornamented by the same painter in the parchment of the leaves, and painted on the covers without;[251]and afford a proof that thus the art of ornamenting with miniatures might lead to large compositions. All, however, more or less, savour of the Greek design; either because the Italians were originally disciples of the Greeks, dispersed over Italy, or becausethey regarded the Grecian masters as models, and ventured not to attempt much beyond them.
The most ancient pictures in the city, the Madonnaof the Graces, the Madonna of Tressa, the Madonna of Bethlehem, a S. Peter in the church dedicated to that saint, and a S. John the Baptist, surrounded by many small historical representations at S. Petronilla, are believed to be older than 1200; but it is by no means clear that they are the works of Italians, though often believed such from their initial characters, plaister, and design. On the two last the names of the saints near the figures are in Latin characters; a circumstance, however, which does not prove an Italian painter. On the mosaic works at Venice, on the Madonna of Camerino, brought from Smyrna,[252]and on other pictures executed by the Greeks for Italian cities, ignorant of their language, they wrote, or got others to write, inscriptions in Latin; and they did the same on statues.[253]The method of painting on gilt plaister, which we observe in some old pictures, decidedly Italian, is no argument; for I have several times observed a similar practice in what was unquestionably the work of a Greek artist. Thedrawing of the features in those pictures, the grimness of the aspect, and the composition of the stories, all accord with the productions of the Greeks. They may, therefore, have been painted by Greek artists, or by a scholar, or, at least, by an imitator of the Greeks. Who, then, can determine whence the artist came, whether he was a restorer of painting, and whether he executed those paintings at Siena, or sent them from some other place? This is certain, that painting quickly established itself at Siena, sent out roots, and rapidly multiplied its blossoms.
The series of painters known by name commences with Guido, or Guidone, already noticed in the beginning of this volume. He flourished before Cimabue of Florence saw the light; and seems to have been at the same time an illuminator of manuscripts and a painter. The writers of Siena have declaimed against Vasari and Baldinucci for omitting this artist; notices of whom could not have escaped the former, who was many times at Siena; nor the latter, who was made acquainted with them before the publication of hisDecennali. Cav. Marmi, a learned and celebrated Florentine, thus notices the omission in one of his letters.[254]"Baldinucci laboured to make us credit the restoration of painting by Cimabue and Giotto; and to give stability to his hypothesis, it is probable that he omitted to make any mention of the painters who, independent of the two just named, departedfrom the raw and feeble manner of the Greeks." And Guido certainly left it not a little behind, in his picture of the Virgin, now hung up in the Malevolti chapel in the church of S. Domenico. On it he has thus inscribed his name and the date:
Me Guido de Senis diebus depinxit amenisQuem Christus lenis nullis velit agere poenis.An. 1221.
And this example was often followed by the masters of this school, to the great benefit of the history of painting. The countenance of the Virgin is lovely, and participates not in the stern aspect that is characteristic of the Greeks; we may discover some trace of a new style in the drapery. The Madonnas of Cimabue which are at Florence, the one in the church of the Trinity, the other in S. Maria Novella, are not, however, inferior. In them we may discern the improvement of the art; a more vivid colouring, flesh tints more true; a more natural attitude of the head of the infant, while the accompaniments of the throne, and of the glory of angels, proclaim a superior style.
On this subject I make two remarks, in which I widely dissent from the opinion of the author of the Sienese Letters, without committing any breach of our long established friendship. The one is, that to prove Guido superior to Cimabue, he frequently compares the Madonna of S. Domenico, which is the only one of his pictures which he mentions,[255]with the paintings of Cimabue, whichare numerous, and full of subject; and without setting any value on the colouring, the fertility of invention, and the various other qualities in which the Florentine surpassed the artist of Siena, he dwells on certain little particulars, in which it appears that Guido was superior. An artist of whom it is not known that he ever attempted any picture but Madonnas, might become more or less perfect in this subject; but painting is not so much indebted to him, as to one who has carried it to the higher walks of the art; a merit which Marco of Siena, a writer not inclined to favour the Florentines, denies not to Cimabue, as we shall find in the fourth book. The other circumstance alluded to is, that when he mentions a picture which does honour to the fame of Cimabue, he attempts to discredit its history, and the tradition; as I have already observed with regard to the two large pictures in the church of Assisi, and am now under the necessity of remarking with regard to the two Madonnas at Florence above mentioned. He "strongly suspects"[256]them to be the work of Mino da Turrita, since mosaic, in which Mino was expert, is there represented by a skilful hand; and Cimabue was not dexterous in that art; as if a painter could not represent buildings without being an architect, or garments without knowing how to cut them out, or drapery without being versed in the art of weaving. He even doubts whether Giotto visited France, for, had this been the case, he, and not Simone da Siena, would have paintedthe portrait of Laura, as if history did not inform us that Giotto visited that country about 1316, long before the period when Petrarca first became enamoured of that beauty. He has introduced some other speculations, which he would not have admitted, had he not been betrayed into it, almost involuntarily, by a system which has some probable foundation, but is carried to an extravagant length. I should have been silent on this subject; but when writing of these artists it became me to recollect that theunicuique suumwas no less the duty of the historian than the judge.
The authors of chronicles require correction on the era of this painter. The most undoubted picture of Guido is that bearing the date 1221, for the other in the church of S. Bernardino, dated 1262, is ascribed to him without sufficient evidence. It is hardly probable that he who was so eminent in a new art in 1221, was still alive in 1295, as is affirmed by some,[257]on the faith of a sum of money paid to one Guido, a painter. The celebrated Guido must then have been at least 105 years of age: it is more probable that he was dead, and the name applied to another Guido, without any danger of a mistake.
It is generally believed that the elder Guido instructed F. Mino, or Giacomino da Turrita, the celebrated artist in mosaic, of whom we have spoken in the first book. On the era of Mino also much has been written without sufficient authority. Baldinucci says he died about 1300; and omits to mention in his life that he was employed in 1225;although this date is legible on the mosaic of Mino in the church of S. Giovanni at Florence, in letters a cubit in length.[258]This circumstance has likewise escaped the historians of Siena, some of whom have prolonged his life to the year 1298, on the authority of payment made to Minuccio, a painter; and others have extended it to about 1200, on account of the tomb of Boniface VIII. which is said to be the work of Turrita. The utmost period that can be granted them is about 1290: for Titi observes, in hisDescription of the Paintings in Rome, that Mino finished the mosaic of S. Maria Maggiore in 1289, and died, after beginning another in S. Giovanni Laterano, which was completed by Gaddo Gaddi in 1292. This renders it extremely doubtful that F. Mino was taught painting by Guido, that he imparted it not only to Giotto, whom, for other reasons, we have excluded from his school (p. 20) but to the Sienese artists, Memmi and Lorenzetti,[259]and even that he was a painter; all which is founded on the following memorandum, under the year 1289,in a manuscript in the library of Siena: "Paid on the twelfth day of August, nineteen lire to Master Mino, the painter, who painted the Virgin Mary, and other SS. in the council room of the public palace, the balance, &c."
He who is here denominatedMaestroMino, not Fra Mino; who is sometimes called Minuccio, a diminutive not fitted for an old monk; and appears to have been employed in Siena when Fra Mino was at Rome, is another artist. Thus we discover another eminent painter of the name of Mino, or Minuccio, who seems to be in reality the author of the picture of 1289, above alluded to, which remained in the council hall even within my memory, and of others, down to 1298. He there represented the Virgin and Child, surrounded by angels, and under a canopy, supported by Apostles and the patron saints of the city. The size of the figures, the invention and the distribution of the work, are surprising for that age; of the other qualities one cannot speak with certainty; for it was repaired in 1321 by Simone da Siena, and there are beauties in the features and the drapery that can be ascribed only to the restorer. The mistake thus occasioned by the same name being cleared up, the system of the learned author of the Lettere Sanesi, is in part confirmed, and in part falls to the ground. He is right in refusing to Giotto certain Sienese pupils, referred to him only from traces of a more modern style; for we here discover an artist who made some advances towards the new manner even previous to Giotto, who, in 1289,was only thirteen years of age. Now this Mino, and Duccio, of whom we shall soon treat, might certainly have formed pupils able to compete with the school of Giotto, and even in length of years to surpass Giotto himself. There is no reason, however, to prefer the Sienese painters to Cimabue, on the strength of this painting, as the author in question has so often done. Comparison ought to be employed between painter and painter, between contemporary and contemporary. F. Mino, to whom this single picture was attributed, is now shewn to have been merely a mosaic worker: Mino or Minuccio began to be known when Cimabue was fifty years of age; and is the author of a single work, not so free from retouches, nor so large as that of Assisi, already described. The comparison then is not just.
Every school thinks itself sufficiently honoured when it can produce two or three painters of the thirteenth century: the school of Siena is peculiarly rich in them, and these are recorded in the twenty-fifth letterOn the disciples of Guido. As usual I shall omit the names of those least entitled to recollection. I will not affirm that all of them proceeded from the school of Guido; for in a city where the fine arts flourished so rapidly, masters unknown to us may have been produced. Much less will I ascribe artists of other cities to this school. In the manuscripts of Mancini, one Bonaventura da Lucca is mentioned, who is the Berlingieri already mentioned.[260]I neither assign himto Guido nor to Giunta. Who can tell whether Lucca had not also in those early times an original school, now unknown to us? Setting aside uncertain points therefore, we can only assert, that after the middle of the century, Siena abounded in painters, more, perhaps, than any other city of Italy; and the causes of this are as follows.
The cathedral was begun several years before, in a style of magnificence suited to the lordly views of the citizens. It was not a work to be completed in a short time: hence it was frequently interrupted, and a long period had elapsed before it was finished. During this time many architects (magistri lapidum) and sculptors either were invited from other places, or were reared up in the city; and in 1250 they formed a corporate body, and required particular laws.[261]Although nothing is ascertained with regard to their mode of study, it is natural to suppose that the study of sculpture contributed to the advancement of painting, a sister art. The celebrated battle of Monte Aperto, in which the people of Siena defeated the Florentines, happened in 1260. This victory produced an era of peace and opulence to the city, and encouraged both in public and in private the arts depending on luxury. The victory was ascribed to the interference of the blessed Virgin Mary, to whom the city was consecrated; the adoration of her votaries increased, and her images were multiplied in the streets, and in all other places; and thence paintingobtained fresh encouragement, and new followers.
Ugolino da Siena should be referred to this era; he died decrepid in 1339, and consequently might have been born before 1260. We cannot agree with Vasari, who insinuates that he was the scholar of Cimabue; nor with Baldinucci, who ingrafts him on hisTree; nor yet with others who assert that he was the pupil of Guido; for the latter must have been dead when Ugolino was very young. That he was educated in Siena, seems to me highly probable, from the number of masters then in that city, and because the colouring of his Madonna of Orsanmichele at Florence is in the style of the old school of Siena; less strong and less true than that of Cimabue and the Florentines. This fact appears to me of importance, for it depends on the mechanism of the art, which was different in different schools. Design at that early period savoured more or less of the Greeks; and in this respect Ugolino adhered to them too closely. "He painted pictures and chapels over all Italy," says Vasari; and if I am not mistaken he came to Florence after his travels, and at length died at Siena.
Duccio di Boninsegna is another master of this age, of whom I shall speak in another place, as the inventor of a new species of painting. Tizio says he was the pupil of Segna, an artist now almost unknown in Siena. He must, however, have enjoyed great celebrity in his day among his countrymen; for Tizio informs us that he painted a picture atArezzo, containing a figure which he pronounces excellent and highly esteemed. He has transmitted to us the following remarkable testimony concerning Duccio: "DuciusSenensis inter ejusdem opificii artifices eâ tempestate primarius; ex cujus officinâ veluti ex equo Trojano pictores egregii prodierunt."
Theeâ tempestaterefers to 1311, when Giotto was at Avignon; and when Duccio was employed on the picture that still exists in the opera-house, which was completed in three years, and almost forms an era in the art. It was large enough to have formed a picture for the great altar of the metropolitan church for which it was intended. On the side facing the people he painted large figures of the Virgin, and of various saints; on that fronting the choir he represented scriptural subjects, in many compartments, in which he introduced a vast number of figures a palm in length. Pius II. relates in his Annals of Siena, which were never published, that it cost 2,000 florins; others raise it to 3,000; but not so much on account of the workmanship as the profusion of gold and ultramarine. The style is generally thought to approach the Greek manner; the work, however, is the most copious in figures, and among the best executed productions of that age. Duccio was employed in many parts of Tuscany, and in the church of the Trinity at Florence he painted an Annunciation which, in the opinion of Baldinucci, "leaves no doubt that he was a scholar of Giotto,or of his disciples." But this will not be granted or believed by those who have seen it; for both the colouring and the style are totally dissimilar. Chronology, too, opposes the conclusion; unless we introduce here also a confusion, arising from artists with similar names: Duccio painted from 1282,[262]and died about 1340.[263]
The history becomes more complete, when we arrive at the celebrated Simone Memmi, or Simone di Martino,[264]the painter of Laura, and the friend of Petrarca, who has celebrated him in two sonnets that will hand him down to the latest posterity. The poet has also eulogized him in his letters, where he thus speaks: "duos ego novi pictores egregios ... Joctum Florentinum civem, cujus inter modernos fama ingens est, et Simonem Senensem;" which is not, however, comparing him to Giotto, to whom he pays a double compliment, but it is giving Memmi the next rank. In such a convenient place the poet would not, in my opinion, have omittedJocti discipulum, had he been acquainted with such a circumstance: but he appears to have no knowledge of it; and this renders it doubtful whether Simone was the pupil of Giotto at Rome, notwithstanding the assertion of Vasari, who adds that the latter was then engagedin the mosaic of theNavicella. The writers of Siena contradict him with good reason; for in 1298 Simone was only fourteen years of age.[265]They reckon him the scholar of their Mino, and certainly he derived much from the large fresco before noticed: but as he retouched it himself we cannot put much faith on the resemblance. His colouring is more vivid than that of the followers of Giotto, and in floridness it seems a prelude to Baroccio. But if he was not the scholar of Giotto, he may have assisted him in some of his works, or, perhaps, studied him closely, as many eminent painters have often done with the best masters. This may account for his imitating Giotto so admirably in S. Peter's at Rome; a merit which procured him an invitation to the papal court at Avignon, where hedied. The picture of the Vatican has perished; but some of his other works still exist in Italy; and they are not so numerous at Siena as in Pisa and Florence. In the Campo Santo of Pisa we find various actions of S. Ranieri, and the celebrated Assumption of the Virgin, amid a choir of angels, who seem actually floating in the air, and celebrating the triumph. Memmi was excellent in this species of composition, as I believe, from the numerous pictures of this subject which he painted at Siena, where there is one at the church of S. John, which is more copious but not more beautiful than that at Pisa. Some of his larger works may be seen in the chapter house of the Spanish Friars at Florence; several histories of Christ, of S. Domenico, and of S. Peter Martyr; and there the Order of the Preaching Friars are poetically represented as engaged in the service of the church, in rejecting innovators, and in luring souls to paradise. Vasari, to whom the inventions of Memmi appear "not those of a master of that age, but of a most excellent modern artist," especially praises the last: and, indeed, it might be supposed that it was suggested by Petrarch, did not a comparison of dates refute such an idea. The picture was painted in 1332, and Simone went not to France till 1336; what is said about the portrait of Laura in the chapterhouse is a mere fable. Taddeo Gaddi, an undoubted pupil of the improved and dignified school of Giotto, was there his competitor; and as far surpassed Memmi in the qualities of that school, as he was excelledby the latter in spirit, in variety of the heads and attitudes, in fancy of the draperies, and in originality of composition. Simone paved the way to more complex pictures, and extended them over a whole façade, so as to be taken in at one glance of the eye; whereas Giotto used to divide a large surface into many compartments, in each of which he painted an historical picture.
Although I do not usually dwell on miniature painting, I cannot resist mentioning one which is to be seen in the Ambrosian library at Milan, which appears to me a singular production. In that place, there is a manuscript of Virgil, with the commentary of Servius, which formerly belonged to Petrarca. In the frontispiece is a miniature that is reasonably conjectured to have been suggested to Simone by the poet, who has subjoined the following verses: