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 hisStoria delle belle arti, and was himself the author of many profound and valuableessays 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 assuredlywas 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 hisNotizie degli Artefici Modenesi; and hence concludes that theRiflessioni 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 thathisMemorieon 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 afterwardsto 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. Wemay 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 extolthat 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 nativecountry, 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 naturalebullition 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 sometime 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, whosename 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 meas 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 respectableMemorie 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 amateurswent 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 thetouch 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. OrdineSerafico, 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 theMemorie, 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 descriptionof 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 thearchbishop'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, andextended 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, thoughwell 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 theAttic saltof 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 inthe Guida di Roma; he did not, however, succeed so well in them as in hisbambocciate, 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 onthe 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 theMemorie 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, andfigures 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 correctdistribution 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, calledDagli Occhiali, may be called the painter of modern Rome; his pictures, which are to be found in all parts of Europe, representthe 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 ofmarble 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 theold 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 theDescrizioneof 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 andartists 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 mostmeritorious, of whatever nation, accompanied by the productions of literary men, and public rejoicings in the Campidoglio; the splendour of the sacred edifices peculiar to the metropolis of the Christian world, which, while the art contributes to its decoration, extends its protection in return to the professors of that art; the lucrative commissions from abroad, and in the city itself, from the munificence and unbounded liberality of Pius VI. and that of many private individuals;[96]the circumstance of foreign sovereigns frequently seeking in this emporium for masters, or directors for their academies; all these causes maintain both the artists and their schools in perpetual motion, and in a generous emulation, and by degrees we may hope to see the art restored to its true principles, the imitation of nature and the example of the great masters. There is not a branch, not only of painting, but even of the arts depending on it, as miniature, mosaic, enamel,[97]and the weaving of tapestry,that is not followed there in a laudable manner. Whoever desires to be further informed of the present state of the Roman School, and of the foreign artists resident in Rome, should peruse the four volumes entitled,Memorie per le belle arti, published from the year 1785, and continued to the year 1788, a periodical work deserving a place in every library of the fine arts, and which was, I regret to add, prematurely discontinued.
[85]With regard to drapery, Winckelmann conjectures, (Storia delle Arti del Disegno, tom. i. p. 450,) that the erroneous opinion that the ancients did not drape their figures well, and were surpassed in that department by the moderns, was at that time common among the artists. This opinion still subsists among some sculptors, who disapprove particularly of the ancient custom of moistening the drapery, in order to adapt it the better to the form of the figure. The ancients, they say, ought to be esteemed, not idolized. To carry nature to the highest degree of perfection, was always allowable, but not so to degrade her by mannerism.
[86]He was the pupil of Niccolas Poussin, and from him acquired his taste for drawing after the antique. He employed this talent in copying the finest bassirilievi, and the noblest remains of ancient Rome. These were engraved by him, and circulated through Europe. He also copied a great number of ancient pictures from theSotterranei, which passed into private hands unpublished. Pascoli mentions many more of his works in engraving, the pursuit of which branch of the art led him gradually to forsake painting. Of his pictures we find one in the church of Porto, and a very few more of his own designing. He devoted himself to the copying the pictures of the best masters, and carried his imitation even to the counterfeiting the effects of time on the colours; and he copied some pictures of Poussin with such dexterity, that it was with difficulty the painter himself could distinguish them.
[87]In theRisposta alle Riflessioni Critiche di Mons. Argens.
[88]This artist had painted one of the two laterals of the chapel, asserting that there was no artist living capable of painting a companion to it. Benefial painted one very superior, and represented in it an executioner with his eyes fixed on and deriding the picture of Muratori.
[89]SeeMemorie per le Belle Arti, tom. ii. p. 135, where Sig. Giangherardo de' Rossi gives an account of this artist, derived principally from information furnished by Sig. Cav. Puccini, who has been occasionally mentioned with approbation in the first volume of this work.
[90]Francesco Appiani, of Ancona, a scholar of Magatta, and not long since deceased, did not find a place in my former edition, but is fully entitled to one in this. He studied a considerable time in Rome, whilst Benefial, Trevisani, Conca, and Mancini, flourished there; and through the friendship of these masters (particularly of the latter), was enabled to form an agreeable style, of which he there left a specimen at S. Sisto Vecchio. It is the death of S. Domenico, painted in fresco, by order of Benedict XIII. who remunerated him with a gold medal. He went afterwards to Perugia, where he was presented with the freedom of the city, and continued his labours there with unabated ardour, until ninety years of age, an instance of vigour unexampled, except in the case of Titian. Perugia abounds with his paintings of all kinds, and his best works are to be found in the churches of S. Pietro de' Cassinensi, S. Thomas, and Monte Corona. He also decorated the church of S. Francis, and the vault of the cathedral, where he rivalled the freedom of style and composition of Carloni. Both he himself, and one of his pictures, placed in a church of Masaccio, are eulogised in the Antich. Picene (tom. xx. p. 159). He painted many pictures also for England.
[91]For a more particular catalogue of these works, see theMemorie delle belle arti, 1788, in which year they were republished in Rome, with the remarks of the Sig. Avvocato Fea, in one vol. 4to. and 2 vols. 8vo. The most celebrated treatise of Mengs is theRiflessioni sopra i tre gran pittori, Raffaello, Tiziano, e Coreggio, e sopra gli antichi. On the life and style of Coreggio he wrote a separate paper, which was afterwards the subject of a controversy; for as, at the close of the year 1781, appeared theNotizie storiche del Coreggioof Ratti, accompanied by a letter from Mengs, dated Madrid, 1774, in which he entreats Ratti to collect and publish them, Ratti was by several writers accused of plagiarism, and of having endeavoured, by a change of style and the addition of some trifling matter, to appropriate to himself what in reality belonged to Mengs. Not long afterwards there appeared an anonymous Defence of Ratti, without date or place, for which I refer to the next note.
[92]In theDifesa del Ratti, accusedde repetundis, this very obvious contradiction is adduced as a proof that theMemoriewere really composed by that author. It is there asserted that he wrote them in a clear and simple style, and then communicated them to Mengs, on whose death they were found among his writings, and published as his. Some other things are indeed said, that do not favour the cause of Ratti; as that when he was in Parma he consulted Mengs on what he should say of the works of Coreggio in that city, and as he could not see those in Dresden, he had from him a minute account of them; and also that Mengs was accustomed to add remarks to the MS. on which his friends consulted him. If, therefore, it be conceded that Mengs had such a share in this MS. (which would appear to have been drawn up by the scholar under the direction of the master, as to opinions on art, and as to a catalogue of the best pictures, accompanied too with remarks,) who does not perceive that the best part of that work, and the great attraction of its matter and style, is due to Mengs?
[93]This picture is one of the most finished compositions since the restoration of art. Each muse is there represented with her peculiar attribute, as derived from antiquity; and the artist is deservedly eulogized by the Sig. Ab. Visconti, in the celebratedMuseo Pio Clementino, tom. i. p. 57.
[94]This eminent man was not without his enemies and calumniators, excited by his criticisms on the great masters, and still more by his animadversions on artists of inferior fame, and some recently deceased. Cumberland wrote against him with manifest prejudice; and the anonymous author of theDifesa del Cav. Ratti, the work of Ratti himself, or for which at least he furnished the materials, speaks of him in a contemptuous manner. He particularly questions his literary character and his discernment, and ascribes to his confidential friend, Winckelmann, the merit of his remarks. In point of art he estimates Mengs as an excellent, but by no means an unrivalled painter. Descending to particulars, he publishes not a few criticisms, which he received either in MS. or from the mouths of different professors, and adds others of his own. Of these the experienced must form their own judgment. With regard to his colouring, indeed, with which his rival Batoni found great fault, the most inexperienced person may perceive that it is not faultless, as the flesh tints are already altered by time, at least in some of his works. Lastly, in theDifesaare some personal remarks regarding Mengs, which, if Ratti, from respect to his late deceased friend, thought it right to omit them in his life of him, printed in 1779, might with still greater propriety have been spared in this subsequent work.
[95]See theElogio di Pompeo Batoni, page 66, where the illustrious author, who, to his other accomplishments, adds that of painting, expatiates at length, and in the style of a professor, on this wonderful talent of Batoni.
[96]The decoration of the Villa Pinciana, in which the prince Borghesi has given encouragement to so many eminent artists, is an undertaking that deserves to be immortalized in the history of art.
[97]I refer to what I have written on the art of enamel, in the school of Ferrara, in which city the art may be said to have been revived by the Sig. Ab. Requeno. It was also greatly improved in the school of Rome, where in 1788 an entire cabinet was painted in enamel for the empress of Russia, as was publicly noticed in theGiornale di Roma, of the month of June. Il Sig. Consigl. Gio. Renfestein, had the commission of the work, which was executed from the designs of Hunterberger, by the Sigg. Gio. and Vincenzio Angeloni. They were both assisted in their task by the Sig. Ab. Garcia della Huerta, who greatly facilitated the inventions of Requeno, as well by his experience as by his work, intitledCommentarj della pittura encaustica del pennello, published in Madrid, a very learned work, and which obtained for the author from Charles IV. an annuity for life.
We are now arrived at a school of painting which possesses indisputable proofs of having, in ancient times, ranked among the first in Italy; as in no part of that country do the remains of antiquity evince a more refined taste, no where do we find mosaics executed with more elegance,[98]nor any thing more beautiful than the subterranean chambers which are ornamented with historical designs and grotesques. The circumstance of its deriving its origin from ancient Greece, and the ancient history of design, in which we read of many of its early artists, have ennobled it above all others in Italy; and on this account we feel a greater regret at the barbarism which overwhelmed it in common with other schools. We may express a similar sentiment with regard to Sicily, which from its affinity in situation and government, I shall include in this Fourth Book; but generally in the notes.[99]Thatisland, too, possessed many Greek colonies, who have left vases and medals of such extraordinary workmanship, that many have thought that Sicily preceded Athens in carrying this art to perfection. But to proceed to the art of painting in Naples, which is our present object, we may observe that Dominici and the other national writers, the notice of whom I shall reserve for their proper places, affirm, that that city was never wholly destitute of artists, not only in the ancient times, which Filostrato extols so highly in the proemium of hisImmagini, but even in the dark ages. In confirmation of this, they adduce devotional pictures by anonymous artists, anterior to the year 1200; particularly many Madonnas in an ancient style, which were the objects of adoration in various churches. They subjoin moreover a catalogue of these early artists, and bitterly inveigh against Vasari, who has wholly omitted them in his work.
The first painter whom we find mentioned at the earliest period of the restoration of the art, is Tommasode' Stefani, who was a contemporary of Cimabue, in the reign of Charles of Anjou.[100]That prince, according to Vasari, in passing through Florence, was conducted to the studio of Cimabue, to see the picture of the Virgin, which he had painted for the chapel of the Rucellai family, on a larger scale than had ever before been executed. He adds, that the whole city collected in such crowds thither to view it, that it became a scene of public festivity, and that that part of the city in which the artist resided, received in consequence the name of Borgo Allegri, which it has retained to the present day. Dominici has not failed to make use of this tradition to the advantage of Tommaso. He observes that Charles would naturally have invited Cimabue to Naples, if he had considered him the first artist of his day; the king however did not do so, but at the same time employedTommaso to ornament a church which he had founded, and he therefore must have considered him superior to Cimabue. This argument, as every one will immediately perceive, is by no means conclusive of the real merits of these two artists. That must be decided by an inspection of their works; and with regard to these, Marco da Siena, who is the father of the history of painting in Naples, declares, that in respect to grandeur of composition, Cimabue was entitled to the preference. Tommaso enjoyed the favour also of Charles II. who employed him, as did also the principal persons of the city. The chapel of the Minutoli in the Duomo, mentioned by Boccaccio, was ornamented by him with various pictures of the Passion of our Saviour. Tommaso had a scholar in Filippo Tesauro, who painted in the church of S. Restituta, the life of B. Niccolo, the hermit, the only one of his frescos which has survived to our days.
About the year 1325, Giotto was invited by King Robert to paint the church of S. Chiara in Naples, which he decorated with subjects from the New Testament, and the mysteries of the Apocalypse, with some designs suggested to him at a former time by Dante, as was currently reported in the days of Vasari. These pictures were effaced about the beginning of the present century, as they rendered the church dark; but there remains, among other things in good preservation, a Madonna called della Grazia, which the generous piety of the religious possessors preserved for the veneration ofthe faithful. Giotto painted some pictures also in the church of S. Maria Coronata; and others which no longer exist, in the Castello dell'Uovo. He selected for his assistant in his labours, a Maestro Simone, who, in consequence of enjoying Giotto's esteem, acquired a great name in Naples. Some consider him a native of Cremona, others a Neapolitan, which seems nearer the truth. His style partakes both of Tesauro and Giotto, whence some consider him of the first, others of the second master; and he may probably have been instructed by both. However that may be, on the departure of Giotto he was employed in many works which King Robert and the Queen Sancia were prosecuting in various churches, and particularly in S. Lorenzo. He there painted that monarch in the act of being crowned by the Bishop Lodovico, his brother, to whom upon his death and subsequent canonization, a chapel was dedicated in the Episcopal church, and Simone appointed to decorate it, but which he was prevented from doing by death. Dominici particularly extols a picture by him of a Deposition from the Cross, painted for the great altar of the Incoronata; and thinks it will bear comparison with the works of Giotto. In other respects, he confesses that his conception and invention were not equally good, nor did his heads possess so attractive an air as those of Giotto, nor his colours such a suavity of tone.
He instructed in the art a son, called Francesco di Simone, who was highly extolled for a Madonnain chiaroscuro, in the church of S. Chiara, and which was one of the works which escaped being effaced on the occasion before mentioned. He had two other scholars in Gennaro di Cola, and Stefanone, who were very much alike in their manner, and on that account were chosen to paint in conjunction some large compositions, such as the pictures of the Life of S. Lodovico, Bishop of Tolosa, which Simone had only commenced, and various others of the Life of the Virgin, in S. Giovanni da Carbonara, which were preserved for a long period. Notwithstanding the similarity of their styles, we may perceive a difference in the genius of the two artists; the first being in reference to the second, studied and correct, and anxious to overcome all difficulties, and to elevate the art; on which account he appears occasionally somewhat laboured: the second discovers more genius, more confidence, and a greater freedom of pencil, and to his figures he gives a spirit that might have assured him a distinguished place, if he had been born at a more advanced period of art.
Before Zingaro (who will very soon occupy our attention) introduced a manner acquired in other schools, the art had made little progress in Naples and her territories. This is clearly proved by Colantonio del Fiore, the scholar of Francesco, who lived till the year 1444, of whom Dominici mentions some pictures, though he is in doubt whether they should not be assigned to MaestroSimone; which is a tacit confession, that in the lapse of a century the art had not made any considerable progress. It appears, however, that Colantonio after some time, by constant practice, had considerably improved himself; having painted several works in a more modern style, particularly a S. Jerome, in the church of S. Lorenzo, in the act of drawing a thorn from the foot of a lion, with the date of 1436. It is a picture of great truth, removed afterwards, for its merit, by the P. P. Conventuali, into the sacristy of the same church, where it was for a long time the admiration of strangers. He had a scholar of the name of Angiolo Franco, who imitated better than any other Neapolitan the manner of Giotto; adding only a stronger style of chiaroscuro, which he derived from his master.
The art was, however, more advanced by Antonio Solario, originally a smith, and commonly called lo Zingaro. His history has something romantic in it, like that of Quintin Matsys, who, from his first profession, was called il Fabbro, and became a painter from his love to a young girl, who promised to marry him when he had made himself a proficient in the art of painting. Solario in the same manner being enamoured of a daughter of Colantonio, and receiving from him a promise of her hand in marriage in ten years, if he became an eminent painter, forsook his furnace for the academy, and substituted the pencil for the file. There is an idle tradition of a queen ofNaples having been the author of this match, but that matter I leave in the hands of the narrators of it. It is more interesting to us to know that Solario went to Bologna, where he was for several years the scholar of Lippo Dalmasio, called also Lippo delle Madonne, from his numerous portraits of the Virgin, and the grace with which he painted them. On leaving Bologna he visited other parts of Italy in order to study the works of the best artists in the various schools; as Vivarini, in Venice; Bicci, in Florence; Galasso, in Ferrara; Pisanello, and Gentile da Fabriano, in Rome. It has been thought that he assisted the two last, as Luca Giordano affirmed that among the pictures in the Lateran he recognized some heads which were indisputably by Solario. He excelled in this particular, and excited the admiration of Marco da Siena himself, who declared that his countenances seemed alive. He became also a good perspective painter for those times, and respectable in historical compositions; which he enlivened with landscape in a better style than other painters, and distinguished his figures by drapery peculiar to the age, and carefully drawn from nature. He was less happy in designing his hands and feet, and often appears heavy in his attitudes, and crude in his colouring. On his return to Naples, it is said, that he gave proof of his skill, and was favorably received by Colantonio, and thus became his son-in-law nine years after his first departure; and that he painted and taught there under KingAlfonso, until the year 1455, about which time he died.
The most celebrated work of this artist was in the choir of S. Severino, in fresco, representing, in several compartments, the life of S. Benedict, and containing an incredible variety of figures and subjects. He left also numerous pictures with portraits, and Madonnas of a beautiful form, and not a few others painted in various churches of Naples. In that of S. Domenico Maggiore, where he painted a dead Christ, and in that of S. Pier Martire, where he represented a S. Vincenzio, with some subjects from the life of that saint, it is said that he surpassed himself. Thus there commenced in Naples a new epoch, which from its original and most celebrated prototype, is called by the Cav. Massimo, the school of Zingaro, as in that city those pictures are commonly distinguished by the name of Zingaresque, which were painted from the time of that artist to that of Tesauro, or a little later, in the same way that pictures are every where called Cortonesque, that are painted in imitation of Berettini.
About this time there flourished two eminent artists, whom I deem it proper to mention in this place before I enter on the succeeding scholars of the Neapolitan School. These were Matteo da Siena, and Antonello da Messina. The first we noticed in the school of Siena, and mentioned his having painted in Naples the Slaughter of the Innocents. It exists in the church of S. Caterina aFormello, and is engraved in the third volume of the Lettere Senesi. The yearm.cccc.xviii.is attached to it, but we ought not to yield implicit faith to this date. Il P. della Valle, in p. 56 of the above mentioned volume, observes, that Matteo, in the year 1462, when he painted with his father in Pienza, was young, and that in the portrait which he painted of himself in 1491, he does not appear aged. He could not therefore have painted in Naples in 1418. After this we may believe it very possible, that in this date an L has been inadvertently omitted, and that the true reading ism.cccc.lxviii.Thus the above writer conjectures, and with so much the more probability, as he advances proofs, both from the form of the letters and the absence of the artist from his native place. Whoever desires similar examples, may turn to page 141 of vol. i., and he will find that such errors have occurred more than once in the date of books. Guided by this circumstance we may correct what Dominici has asserted of Matteo da Siena having influenced the style of Solario. It may be true that there is a resemblance in the air of the heads, and the general style, but such similarity can only be accounted for by Matteo deriving it from Solario, or both, as often happens, deriving it from the same master.
Antonello, of the family of the Antonj, universally known under the name of Antonello da Messina, is a name so illustrious in the history of art, that it is not sufficient to have mentioned him in thefirst book and to refer to him here again, as he will claim a further notice in the Venetian School, and we must endeavour too to overcome some perplexing difficulties, to ascertain with correctness the time at which he flourished, and attempt to settle the dispute, whether he were the first who painted in oil in Italy, or whether that art was practised before his time. Vasari relates, that when young, after having spent many years in Rome in the study of design,[101]and many more at Palermo, painting there with the reputation of a good artist, he repaired first to Messina, and from thence passed to Naples, where he chanced to see a large composition painted in oil by Gio. da Bruggia, which had been presented by some Florentine merchants to King Alfonso. Antonello, smitten with this new art, took his departure to Flanders, and there, by his affability, and by a present of some drawings of the Italian School, so far ingratiated himself with Giovanni, as to induce him to communicate to him the secret, and the aged painter dying soon afterwards, thus left him instructed in the new art. This must have happened about the year 1440, since that time is required to support thesupposition that Giovanni, born about 1370, died at an advanced age, as the old writers assert, or exactly in 1441, as is asserted by the author of theGalleria Imperiale. Antonello then left Flanders, and first resided for some months in his native place; from thence he went to Venice, where he communicated the secret to Domenico Veneziano; and having painted there a considerable time, died there at the age of forty-nine. All this we find in Vasari, and it agrees with what he relates in the life of Domenico Veneziano, that this artist, after having learnt the new method from Antonello in Venice, painted in Loreto with Piero della Francesca, some few years before that artist lost his eyesight, which happened in 1458. Thus the arrival of Antonello in Venice must have occurred about the year 1450, or some previous year; but this conclusion is contrary to Venetian evidence. The remaining traces of Antonello, or the dates attached to his works there, commence in 1474, and terminate according to Ridolfi in 1490. There does not appear any reason whatever, why he should not have attached dates to his pictures, until after residing twenty-four years in Venice. Besides, how can it be maintained, that Antonello, after passing many years in Rome as a student, and many in Palermo as a master, and some years in Messina and Flanders, should not in Venice, in the forty-ninth year after the death of Giovanni, have passed the forty-ninth year of his age. Hackert quotes the opinion of Gallo, who in theAnnalidi Messina, dates the birth of Antonello in 1447, and his death at forty-nine years of age, that is, in 1496. But if this were so, how could he have known Gio. da Bruggia? Yet if such fact be denied, we must contradict a tradition which has been generally credited. I should be more inclined to believe that there is a mistake in his age, and that he died at a more advanced period of life. Nor on this supposition do we wrong Vasari; others having remarked what we shall also on a proper opportunity confirm; that as far as regards Venetian artists, Vasari errs almost in every page from the want of accurate information. I further believe that respecting the residence of Antonello in Venice, he wrote with inaccuracy. That he was there about the year 1450, and communicated his secret to Domenico, is a fact, which after so many processes made in Florence on the murder of Domenico, and so much discussion respecting him, must have been well ascertained, not depending on the report contained in the memoirs of the painters by Grillandajo, or any other contemporary, in whose writings Vasari might search for information. But admitting this, I am of opinion, that Antonello did not reside constantly in Venice from the year 1450 until his death, as Vasari insinuates. It appears that he travelled afterwards in several countries, resided for a long time in Milan, and acquired there a great celebrity; and that he repaired afresh to Venice, and enjoyed there for some years a public salary. Thiswe gather from Maurolico, quoted by Hackert:Ob mirum hic ingenium Venetiis aliquot annos publicè conductus vixit: Mediolani quoque fuit percelebris, (Hist. Sican. pl. 186, prim. edit.), and if he was not a contemporary writer, still he was not very far removed from Antonello. This is the hypothesis I propose in order to reconcile the many contradictory accounts which we find on this subject in Vasari, Ridolfi, and Zanetti; and when we come to the Venetian School, I shall not forget to adduce further proofs in support of it. Others may perhaps succeed better than I have done in this task, and with that hope I shall console myself: as in my researches I have no other object than truth, I shall be equally satisfied whether I discover it myself, or it be communicated to me by others.
That therefore Antonello was the first who exhibited a perfect method of practising painting in oil in Italy, is an assertion that, it seems to me, may be with justice maintained, or at least it cannot be said that there is proof to the contrary. And yet in the history of the art in the Two Sicilies, this honour is strongly disputed. In that history we find the description of a chapel in the Duomo of Messina, called Madonna della Lettera, where it is said there exists a very old Greek picture of the Virgin, an object of adoration, which was said to be in oil. If this were even admitted, it could not detract from the merit of Antonello in having restored a beautiful art that hadfallen into desuetude; but in these Greek pictures, the wax had often the appearance of oil, as we observed in vol. i. p. 89. Marco da Siena, in the fragment of a discourse which Dominici has preserved, asserts, that the Neapolitan painters of 1300 continued to improve in the two manners of painting in fresco and in oil. When I peruse again what I have written in vol. i. p. 90, where some attempt at colouring in oil anterior to Antonello is admitted, I may be permitted not to rely on the word of Pino alone. There exist in Naples many pictures of 1300, and I cannot imagine, why in a controversy like this, they are neither examined nor alluded to, and why the question is rested solely on a work or two of Colantonio. Some national writers, and not long since, Signorelli, in hisColtura delle due Sicili(tom. iii. p. 171), have pretended, that Colantonio del Fiore was certainly the first to paint in oil, and adduce in proof the very picture of S. Jerome, before mentioned, and another in S. Maria Nuova. Il Sig. Piacenza after inspecting them, says, that he was not able to decide whether these pictures were really in oil or not. Zanetti (P. V. p. 20) also remarks, that it is extremely difficult to pass a decided judgment on works of this kind, and I have made the same observation with respect to Van Eyck, which will I hope, convince every reader who will be at the trouble to refer to vol. i. p. 87. And unless that had been the case, how happened it that all Europe was filled with the name of Van Eyck in the courseof a few years; that every painter ran to him; that his works were coveted by princes, and that they who could not obtain them, procured the works of his scholars, and others the works of Ausse, Ugo d'Anversa, and Antonello; and of Ruggieri especially, of whose great fame in Italy we shall in another place adduce the documents.[102]On the other hand, who, beyond Naples and its territory, had at that time heard of Colantonio? Who ever sought with such eagerness the works of Solario? And if this last was the scholar and son-in-law of a master who painted so well in oil, how happened it that he was neither distinguished in the art, nor even acquired it? Why did he himself and his scholars work in distemper? Why did the Sicilians, as we have seen, pass over to Venice, where Antonello resided, to instruct themselves, and not confine themselves to Naples? Why did the whole school of Venice, the emporium of Europe, and capable of contradicting any false report, attest, on the death of Antonello, that he was the first that painted in oil in Italy, and no one opposed to him either Solario or Colantonio?[103]They either could not at that time have been acquainted with this discovery, or did not know it to an extent that can contradict Vasari, and the prevailing opinions respecting Antonello. Dominici has advanced more on this point than any other person, asserting that this art was discovered in Naples, and was carried from thence to Flanders by Van Eyck himself, to which supposition, after the observations already made, I deem it superfluous to reply.[104]