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Our Italian collection is formed, chiefly, from the busts of the Capitoline Museum, at Rome, where Pius VII., in 1820, founded a portrait gallery of celebrated Italians, to which he gave the name of the Protomoteca. This gallery contains about 70 busts, and though dedicated especially to the honour of Italians, still finds room for some of the distinguished foreigners who derived much of their eminence from studying at Rome. These are Nicolas Poussin of France, Raffaelle Mengs the Bohemian, Winckelmann the German antiquary, Angelica Kauffman, the most accomplished painter of her sex, and Giuseppe Suée, a French painter. The busts of living men are not admitted, and the honour of joining the famous company is awarded by the Academy of Rome, assisted by men learned or skilled in any special science or art.
The series is a very complete one, and begins as early as the XIIIth century. It is to be regretted that so few of these busts have been done from the life; although it must be understood that none is the work of mere imagination, some authenticated portrait having in every case furnished a model. Most of these busts are the work of sculptors of the time of Canova, and many of themwere executed at his expense, and presented to the collection. In general, it will be remarked that a certain grandeur prevails in the treatment of the heads, an element that seems to belong, naturally, to the works of the best Italian artists, whether in painting or sculpture. Even where existing casts from the face prove to us that in these busts there has been a certain departure from the real features, we see it has been done only to afford a more exalted idea of the person, and to give the stamp of that nobleness and dignity which characterize the finest efforts of portraiture. A comparison of the busts of Galileo, Nos. 185 and 185A, and of Michael Angelo, Nos. 143 and 143A, will illustrate this point.
There is also in the Capitoline Museum, a large collection of antique portrait busts, embracing many of the ancient philosophers, poets, and Roman Emperors, a selection from which, as we have already stated, is found in the Greek and Roman Courts.
In the Vatican (the palace of the Pope, at Rome), a splendid edifice, which has, from time to time, been constructed and enlarged by various eminent architects, and decorated by the greatest painters of the world, are preserved manychefs d’œuvreof art that are to be seen in no other place. The collection of the Vatican includes many portraits of every kind; but one portion of the vast structure is exclusively devoted to portrait-statues and busts. This is a spacious and magnificent apartment called the Rotonda, paved with antique mosaics, and surrounded with antique statues and busts on pedestals of the rarest marbles. Adjoining this saloon is another noble gallery, built by Pius VII. which contains many statues of the Greek sages, and of other illustrious men.
In the Florence gallery there is a most interesting series of portraits of painters by their own hands—a unique and unrivalled collection, begun by the Cardinal Leopold, the brother of Ferdinand II., and increased by the addition of the portraits from the collection of the Abbé Pazzi, purchased by the Grand Duke Leopold in 1765. Besides these paintings, there is a collection of more than 4,000 engraved gems and cameos, amongst which are many antique portraits. There are also about 100 antique portrait busts, of which the rarest and best preserved are Cicero, Marc Antony, Julius Cæsar, Augustus, Caligula, Galba, and Otho. As the visitor will observe, several of these are in our portrait gallery.
The Naples collection, besides many fine works of antiquity of every kind, has contributed in the most important manner to the subject of antique portraiture. It contains the invaluable relics found atHerculaneum and Pompeii: and amongst these have, from time to time, appeared portrait busts, statues, and even pictures with names upon them, by which busts elsewhere have been recognised. There are in this Museum, about 200 portraits in marble and bronze, from which our collection has been enriched.
(The portraits of Italians begin immediately behind the Statue of Rubens, in the great Transept, on the east side of the Nave.)
129.Niccola Pisano.Sculptor and Architect.
[Born at Pisa, in Italy, 1205-7. Died at Sienna, in Italy, about 1290.]
The early reviver of Sculpture in Italy; memorable for being the first Italian artist who quitted the dry, stiff, traditional forms which had long prevailed, and founded a school based upon Truth and Nature. His finest productions preceded those of Cimabue; and it was said of him that “he was the first to see the light and to follow it.” His great work is the marble pulpit, with bas-reliefs from Scripture, in the Baptistery at Pisa.
[By Alessandro d’Este. Vasari mentions a Bust of him by his son Giovanni, from which this may have been taken.]
130.Andrea di Cione, better known by his surnameOrcagnaorOrgagna.Painter, Sculptor, Architect.
[14th century.]
Precise time of his birth unknown; it appears that he died about 1370. Executed several works in his three vocations. The dignified grandeur and admirable grouping of the figures in his paintings were at a later period copied or adopted, even by Michael Angelo and Raffaelle. Orcagna was a good as well as a great man. His chief works still exist, though in a half-ruined state, in the Campo Santo at Pisa, and in the Strozzi Chapel, and the Or-San-Michele at Florence.
[This Bust is by the Cav. Massimiliano Laboureur. There is, however, a mezzo-relievo, by his own hand, behind the altar in Or-San-Michele, at Florence, which contains his portrait. He is there represented as an Apostle, shaven, and wearing a hood.]
131.Filippo Brunelleschi.Sculptor and Architect.
[Born at Florence, 1377. Died there, 1446. Aged 69.]
The self-taught constructor of the Cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore, at Florence, which, though smaller than that of St. Peter’s at Rome, surpasses it in elegance and lightness. A builder of churches, palaces, and fortifications. Michael Angelo declared that it was difficult to imitate and impossible to excel him. Small and insignificant in person, but of commanding genius. With many competitors, his goodness and prudence preserved him from enmity.
[His tomb is next to that of Giotto, in the Cathedral at Florence, and bears an epitaph by Aretino. This bust was done by Alessandro d’Este. It is no doubt taken from that in the Church of Sta. Maria del Fiore, at Florence, which was done from the life, in marble, by his pupil, Il Buggiano. In 1830, statues of him and Arnolfo, his fellow architect, were placed in the new chapter-house: they are by Luigi Pompaloni, a Florentine.]
132.Lorenzo Ghiberti, orLorenzo di Cione.Sculptor.
[Born at Florence, 1378. Died, 1455. Aged 77.]
One of the most memorable of the great Italian artists of the fifteenth century. At the age of 23, he competed with Brunelleschi and Donatello for the execution of the side doors of San Giovanni at Florence. His two rivals confessed themselves vanquished and retired in his favour. These gates were twenty-one years in course of completion, and are divided into 20 panels, each containing a bas-relief cast in bronze, from a subject in the New Testament. Another twenty years were spent in producing the central doors of the same Baptistery, representing in ten compartments the principal events of the Old Testament. Of these, Michael Angelo said they were beautiful enough to stand at the entrance of Paradise. A reproduction of these gates occupies the centre of the south end of the Renaissance Court. Ghiberti modelled and cast statues, worked in gold, painted on glass, and wrote a MS. history of Ancient and Modern Artists.
[Buried in Sta. Croce, Florence; his tomb is now lost. This Bust is by Carlo Finelli. There is an interesting portrait of him by his own hand, amongst the heads on his celebrated gates in the Renaissance Court. The two heads in the centre, between the upper corners of the second panels from the ground, are portraits of Ghiberti and Bartoluccio, the caster; the right-hand one, with the bald head, being Ghiberti. In the original gates his name is inscribed near the head, with thewords,—
“Laurentii Cionis de Ghibertis mirâ arte fabricatum.”]
133.Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi; called by his contemporariesDonatello.Sculptor.
[Born at Florence, 1386. Died there, 1468. Aged 83.]
He was the generous competitor and friend of Lorenzo Ghiberti. Employed and patronized by Cosmo de’ Medici. Was one of the first Italian sculptors who gave to their figures freedom of movement and force of expression. A very fine work of this artist is the equestrian statue of Gattamelata, in the city of Padua. A cast from it will be found in the Gothic and Renaissance Sculpture Court. The character of Donatello was remarkable for simplicity and generosity; he took no thought for himself, and was devoted wholly to his art.
[This Bust is by Giovanni Ceccarini.]
134.Fra Angelico da Fiesole; called alsoFra Giovanni da Fiesole, andIl Beato.Painter.
[Born at Vicchio, in Tuscany, 1387. Died at Rome, 1455. Aged 67.]
This charming painter of the early Florentine school became, when a youth, a friar of the Dominican order. Began by illuminating missals; afterwards enlarged his style, and executed frescos. The finest of these are in the church of San. Marco, and in the chapel of Nicholas V. at Rome. His works are distinguished by simple grace, tenderness of colour, and the most profound religious feeling. He excelled particularly in painting angels.
[This Bust is by Leandro Biglioschi; but there is a life-size bust of him upon his tomb, in Minerva di Roma.]
135.Tommaso Guidi, also calledMassaccio.Painter.
[Born at San-Giovanni, in the Val d’ Arno, 1402. Died at Florence, 1443. Aged 41.]
Massaccio-Tomasaccio (big or heavy Tom) was a nickname given to him when a boy. A devoted student of the works of Brunelleschi andDonatello. He lived for the most part in Rome and Florence, and died in the last-named city. Time has destroyed the greater number of his works. His frescos, which still remain in the Brancacci chapel of the Carmelite church in Florence, representing the history of St. Peter, are remarkable for their freedom, and for the absence of the conventionalities of the early mediæval painters. Some of his noble figures became models for the later Florentines, and were imitated by Raffaelle himself. He excelled his contemporaries in the nude form, and gave to his draperies a style unknown before, adapting them naturally and gracefully to the human shape.
[By Carlo Finelli.]
136.Andrea Mantegna.Painter and Engraver.
[Born at Padua, in Italy, 1430. Died at Mantua, in Italy, 1506. Aged 76.]
This painter is celebrated among the early artists of Italy, and belongs to the Paduan school of art. Hischef-d’œuvre, theMadonna della Vittoria, in the Louvre, is grandly treated, and remarkable for its admirable finish. His cartoons of the triumphs of Cæsar are at Hampton Court; the composition is grand and spirited, and knowledge of the antique is blended with a feeling for nature. To Mantegna is attributed the art of engraving with the burin, and also the invention of the art of foreshortening figures, especially on ceilings. Distinguished for his good and amiable qualities.
[He was buried in the Church of S. Agnese, in Mantua. His tomb is in one of the chapels, and bears his statue, in bronze. This bust is by Rainaldo Rinaldi.]
137.Luca Signorelli.Painter.
[Born at Cortona, in Tuscany, 1440. Died 1521. Aged 81.]
An ancestor of Vasari, the author of “Lives of the Painters,” and a distinguished painter of the early Tuscan school. Assisted in the works of the Sistine Chapel at Rome; and his pictures there, according to Vasari, are superior to those of his contemporaries. His great frescos in the Cathedral of Orvieto, representing the Day of Judgment and the History of Antichrist, are his principal works. His productions show too great anxiety to mark the form with anatomical correctness. In this he was the precursor of Michael Angelo; and Fuseli has frequently imitated him. As a man he was upright, sincere, and kind-hearted. He lived and decorated himself with great splendour.
[By Pietro Pierantoni.]
138.Francesco Lazzari Bramante.Architect, Painter, Poet.
[Born at Castel Durante, in Italy, 1444. Died at Rome, 1514. Aged 70.]
Memorable as the architect employed by Julius II. and Leo X. to rebuild the church of St. Peter’s, at Rome, and to construct the famous Loggie of the Vatican, afterwards completed and adorned by Raffaelle. Bramante was a bold and original genius, but vain, impetuous, and impatient. As a consequence of his recklessness, most of his works have speedily decayed.
[By Alessandro d’Este. Bramante was buried in the crypt of S. Peter’s, at Rome, called the “Grotte Vaticane.”]
139.Pietro Perugino, orPietro Vanucci della Pieve.Painter.
[Born at Pieve, in Italy, 1446. Died there or at Perugia, 1524. Aged 78.]
Immortal as the instructor of Raffaelle, and himself a celebrated painter of the Umbrian school. He was opposed to the more modern style of whichMichael Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and his own great pupil Raffaelle, are the renowned masters. His pictures are religious, earnest, and graceful, but wanting in variety of character. In his best pictures, his colouring is excellent, and the expression of his heads very beautiful, but his numerous works are of very unequal value and merit. Vasari has branded this painter as avaricious, eccentric, sordid, and irreligious. Modern writers have attempted to rescue him from the harsh verdict pronounced by his early biographer.
[By Raimondo Trentanove.]
140.Domenico Ghirlandaio.Painter.
[Born at Florence, 1449—51. Died sometime between 1490 and 1498.]
The son of a goldsmith who adopted the name Ghirlandaio (the garland-maker) on account of his skill in making the gold and silver ornaments worn by Florentine girls. The first work of Domenico was a portrait of Amerigo Vespucci who had the honour of giving his name to America. Devoted to his art, preferring honour and glory to riches. Painted in fresco, in tempera, and in mosaic, but excelled in the first. In his sacred historical pictures, he introduced portraits of remarkable persons as spectators, which gives them a peculiar value. He was the early instructor of Michael Angelo, and his finest works are in the churches of Florence.
[By Massimiliano Laboureur. His portrait, by his own hand, is in one of the pictures of the Choir of S. Maria Novella, at Florence.]
141.Leonardo da Vinci.Painter.
[Born at Vinci, in Tuscany, 1452. Died at Amboise, in France, 1519. Aged 67.]
One of the greatest names of the fifteenth century. His genius was all but universal, and his faculty of acquiring knowledge of all kinds, prodigious. He is most generally known and appreciated as a painter; but he was also a distinguished writer, a man of general science, an architect, an engineer, an accomplished musician, and a discoverer in Natural Philosophy. As painter he was the pupil of Andrea Verrochio, and the founder of the Milan school. It was at Milan that he painted his great and universally known picture, of the “Last Supper.” From 1504 to 1515, he travelled through Italy as architect and engineer to Cæsar Borgia, Duke of Valentino. He is the undoubted head of the highest development of art, in which the most elevated subjects were represented in the noblest Form. Every branch and attribute of Fine Art was intimately known to him. In the expression of the passions, his eye and mind were quick and eager; and he investigated every phase of life to its minutest modifications. He was familiar with the spirit of the humblest ranks, and could stamp divine subjects with a beauty and sentiment which only the very highest genius is competent to attain. There was great rivalry between Leonardo and Michael Angelo.—A Titanic emulation! The faculties of both were mighty and analogous; their grasp similarly broad and powerful. Leonardo passed his last years in France, protected by Francis I., who showered favours upon this gifted man. A story is current that the painter died in the arms of the monarch, but there appears no good foundation for the statement.
[From the marble, by Filippo Albaccini. The bust resembles the painted portraits, of which there are several of undoubted accuracy and truth, painted by himself, at Florence, Venice, Paris, and Milan. The works of Leonardo on Anatomy and Painting are still invaluable to students in art. His treatise on Painting was first printed at Paris in 1651. The MS. was in a curious hand-writing, and written backwards with the left hand.]
142.Fra Bartolomeo, orBaccio della Porta.Painter.
[Born at Savignano, in Italy, 1469. Died 1517. Aged 49.]
At an early age he carefully studied the works of Leonardo da Vinci, and the effect of the study is visible in his own productions. Whilst his fame was growing, he became deeply influenced by the preaching of Savonarola, at whose instigation he publicly burnt some of his finest studies of the undraped figure. In 1500, Bartolomeo assumed the habit of a Dominican friar, and forsook painting. But after the lapse of four years he resumed his art, made the acquaintance of Raffaelle at Florence, and the influence of these two eminent painters on each other was mutually advantageous. Among the finest works of Fra Bartolomeo are, the large picture of St. Mark, esteemed in painting equal to the “Moses” of Michael Angelo in sculpture, and the “Madonna della Misericordia.” He was the inventor of the lay figure, which he was the first to employ. His style is characterized by calm seriousness, unaffected dignity, and grace. The religious expression of his holy figures reveals conscious elevation, not mere sentimentality; and in his Madonnas holiness is always exquisitely blended with beauty. But Bartolomeo lacked inward power. Sometimes he is cold and formal; at others, impetuous and wanting in repose. The colouring of flesh is peculiarly soft in his pictures, and his draperies are excellent.
[By Domenico Manera. In the last work of Bartolomeo, which is now in the Uffizzi, at Florence, representing the patron saints of Florence, and others, he has introduced his own portrait.]
143.Michael Angelo Buonarotti.Sculptor, Painter, Architect.
[Born at Caprese, in Tuscany, 1474. Died at Rome, 1563. Aged 89.]
A demigod in art. All learning and all knowledge came to Michael Angelo, perhaps even more than to Leonardo da Vinci, his mighty contemporary, as a rightful inheritance, to be magnificently accepted and sumptuously enjoyed. Poet, musician, sculptor, architect, engineer, painter, anatomist, man of science—his titles to renown are inexhaustible. His genius was universal, his grasp boundless. All his works, of whatever kind, bear the broad, deep stamp of his haughty, masculine spirit, and constitute the immortal expression of strength, energy, and sublimest passion. The feeling of Michael Angelo was strong, intense, grand, penetrating; his thought as clear as it was profound. His life is a series of conquests in the world of intellect. Domenico Ghirlandaio has the honour of claiming Buonarotti for his pupil. By Ghirlandaio the stripling was introduced to Lorenzo de’ Medici, who, as well as his successor, became the steady friend of the great artist. Upon the expulsion of the Medici, he went to Bologna, thence to Florence, and thence again, upon the invitation of the Pope, to Rome. In 1503, commissioned to paint one end of the great Hall of Council, Leonardo da Vinci being intrusted with the other. Never before had two such spirits met to contend for glory. His statue of Moses, and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, were produced under Pope Julius II. Under Leo X., and Adrian, works of equal power issued from his inspired brain. In 1546, he was commanded by the Pope to undertake the direction of the works at St. Peter’s. He consented only upon condition that he received no salary, and laboured “for the love of God alone.” For seventeen years he prosecuted the pious service, and raised the sacred edifice as far as the base of the cupola. The undying memorials of his chisel and pencil speak the intellectual supremacy of the man beyond all words of praise. They will commandwonder, delight, admiration, respect, and awe, whilst the world lasts. There is nothing factitious, no studied allurement, no imposture in his work. It is all true, simple, sublime. Michael Angelo, in 1530, directed in person the defence of Florence, and erected its fortifications—which yet exist—when that city was besieged, and, after a year of heroic defence, taken by the army of Charles V. The fall of Florence, at this time, witnessed the last breath of Italian independence. Look on his face! You see many furrowed lines there, and a potent brow. The features and expression betray irascibility of temper, jealous self-consciousness, towering sense of power. Michael Angelo had all these. He was a lion aware of his strength. What if he used it as a lion, at times vehemently, and regardless of the pain inflicted upon others! He was also a staunch friend, disinterested, liberal, temperate, upright, conscientious. The ancients had their Titans. Michael Angelo too is the son of Heaven and Earth.
[This Bust is from the marble by Alessandro d’Este, and one of those contributed to the Capitoline Museum, at the expense of Canova, when he was President of the Academy of Saint Luke, at Rome. It conveys an idea of coarseness which would hardly seem to belong to Michael Angelo’s natural expression, marked as it is with power and energy. It will be remembered how his nose was broken by a blow from his fellow-student, Torrigiano. He was buried in Sta. Croce, at Florence, his noble monument there being designed and executed under the superintendence of Vasari, the historian of the painters. It consists of a sarcophagus, supported by three figures, representing Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, and surmounted by his bust (of which No. 143Ais a cast) and three crowns, with the motto “tergeminis tollit honoribus.” This tomb and the bust were executed by three sculptors, Domenico Lorenzi, a pupil of Bandinelli, Valerio Cioli, and Giovanni dell’ Opera. There is, in the Capitoline Museum a bust of Michael Angelo, said to be by his own hand; the head is of bronze, and the rest of marble; and in the same place a painted portrait of him, by Andrea del Sarto. Vasari mentions an alto-relievo of him in bronze, by Danielo Ricciarelli, and a medal (“a very close resemblance”) by Cav. Lioni, which was abundantly copied and distributed in his honour.]
143A.Michael Angelo Buonarotti.Sculptor, Painter, Architect.
144.Titian, or,Tiziano Vecellio.Painter.
[Born at Pieve di Cadore, in Lombardy, 1477. Died at Venice, 1576. Aged 99.]
In the works of Titian, Venetian art reached its culminating point. He was the pupil of Bellini; but the disciple soon surpassed his master. Titian first instituted the custom of painting full-length portraits, and his pictures of this kind, of which he painted many, have never been surpassed. In the representation of undraped female forms he also displayed the hand of a master. In softness, transparency, and delicacy of colouring, he stands alone. All his figures seem to express a high consciousness and enjoyment of existence. He was followed, throughout his career, with great honours. Charles V., whose portrait he painted, made him Count Palatine, and he received invitations from other crowned heads. He died of the plague in Venice, and was buried with great ceremony, at a time when raging pestilence had suspended the ordinary rites of burial. Towards the close of his life his subjects were chiefly religious.
[He was buried at the Chiesa delle Frazi, at Venice. This Bust is by Alessandro d’Este. There is in the Church of St. John and St. Paul, at Venice, a fine bust of Titian, which stands by the side of that of Palma Vecchio; it was placed there forty-five years after his death, by Palma il Giovine. There is little doubt that this and its companion of Palma were the work of Jacops Albarelli, the intimate friend of Palma Giovine, whose bust he also executed.Ridolfi mentions a Bust of the great painter, by his friend Jacopo Sansovino. There is, in the Vienna Gallery, a superb portrait of him, by his own hand.]
145.Benvenuto Tisio, commonly calledGarofalo.Painter.
[Born at Garofalo, 1481. Died at Ferrara, in Italy, 1559. Aged 78.]
A distinguished painter of the Ferrarese school. The sight of Raffaelle’s works, in the Sistine Chapel, determined him to follow art, and he became a friend of the great artist himself, though in style most unlike him—brilliant but mannered. On festival days it was his custom to work without payment at a convent in Ferrara, “for the love of God.” Blind for the last few years of his life—cheerful in disposition, and resigned under affliction.
[By Massimiliano Laboureur. In the Louvre are two portraits said to be of Garofalo, but they are of doubtful authenticity. This bust is probably done from a picture.]
146.Raffaelle Sanzio, commonly calledRaffaelle.Painter.
[Born at Urbino, in Italy, 1483. Died at Rome, 1520. Aged 37.]
The founder of the Roman school of painting. He was the son of a painter, and the pupil of Perugino, whom his first style resembles, and whom he quickly surpassed. He was already eminent in his art at the age of seventeen. In 1506, he first saw Michael Angelo’s great and celebrated “Cartoon of Pisa,” and a closer study of anatomy and form is manifest in his works after this time. In 1508, in the pontificate of Julius II., he was invited to Rome, where he continued until his death, painting his exquisite frescos in the Vatican. Whilst executing these works, Michael Angelo was completing the Sistine chapel, and a rivalry arose between these two consummate artists, which was never extinguished. Raffaelle was a sculptor and architect as well as painter. In 1514, he directed the works at St. Peter’s, and was subsequently very zealous in superintending the exhumation of the remains of antique art, and in designing a restoration of ancient Rome. In the midst of his fine labours, he contracted a fever and died. In his works, beauty of Form is the expression of the utmost elevation of mind and perfect purity of soul. Some of Raffaelle’s cartoons on scriptural subjects are at Hampton Court Palace. Several of his pictures are in France, obtained by Francis I., who tried in vain to allure Raffaelle to his capital. His “Transfiguration,” in the Vatican, left unfinished at his death, and carried in his own funeral procession, is considered by some the finest picture in the world. It was finished by his pupil, Giulio Romano. Little or nothing is known of his private life, save that his nature was sweet and gracious, and that all men loved him. He was of a slender frame, and five feet seven inches high. His skull was beautifully formed.
[Raffaelle was buried in the Pantheon at Rome, now called Sta. Maria Ritonda. His tomb was ordered by himself, and executed by Lorenzo Lotti, who, it is said, restored one of the ancient tabernacles there at Raffaelle’s request, and added an altar, with a figure of the Virgin. Upon this monument there is a bust of him by Paolo Naldini, a sculptor who lived in the early part of the 17th century. The tomb was opened in 1833, and the remains were found entire, so that the skull long exhibited in the Academy of S. Luke as that of Raffaelle was proved to be a fabulous relic. Portraits of Raffaelle are to be found in several celebrated pictures; in the Duomo and Sacristy of Siena, in the Borghese Gallery at Rome, and one by his own hand in the picture of St. Luke; but the most authentic one, and that which alone possesses the beautiful expression of his remarkable countenance, is the picture by himself in the Gallery of Portraits of Painters by their own hands at Florence. This bust is from one probably by Carlo Maratta, a greatadmirer and copier of Raffaelle’s works, and who presented it to the Capitoline Museum. There was in 1791, in the Spada Palace at Rome, a portrait of Raffaelle when 12 years old, by himself. (See “Martyn’s Tour in Italy,” p. 242.)]
147.Michele Sanmicheli.Architect.
[Born at Verona, in Italy, 1484. Died there, 1559. Aged 75.]
His works were chiefly fortifications. At the age of seventeen, he went to Rome to study the remains of its ancient architecture, and there gained the friendship of Buonarotti, Bramante, Sansovino, and Sangallo. For Pope Clement VII. he fortified, with Sangallo, the cities of Parma and Placentia. In 1527, entered the service of the Venetians, and for them, at Verona, first employed angular bastions, which he invented. The principle being generally adopted, Sanmicheli was employed to fortify many of the Italian cities, as well as the islands of Candia and Corfu. He then strengthened his native city with fortifications, and adorned it with palaces and other works. One of these, the Capella di Guareschi, is a masterpiece of architecture.
[Bust by Domenico Manera.]
148.Fra Sebastiano del Piombo, sometimes calledSebastiano Veneziano.Painter.
[Born at Venice, 1485. Died at Rome, 1547. Aged 62.]
The pupil of Bellini and Giorgione. At Rome he competed with Raffaelle, and gained the friendship and approval of Michael Angelo, some of whose designs he executed,—amongst others that of the “Raising of Lazarus”—a picture now in our National Gallery. Besides painting in oils and fresco, he invented a method of painting on stone, which was much admired. His portraits are celebrated, and he excelled in beauty of colouring. It is said that he was slow of execution, and not a lover of his art, which he deserted for other pleasures when he attained competency. His principal works are in Venice and Rome. He was calledFra del Piombo(Monk of the Signet), from the office of sealer of briefs, which he held in the Pope’s Chancery.
[By Massimiliano Laboureur.]
149.Giovanni da Udine, orGiovanni di Nani.Painter.
[Born at Udine, in Italy, 1487. Died at Rome, 1564. Aged 77.]
A pupil of Raffaelle, whose style he so thoroughly imitated that it is difficult to distinguish his work from that of his master, whenever he acted as his assistant. In this capacity he was the chief painter of the Loggie of the Vatican. Some ancient grottos having been discovered near Rome, he detected the composition of their stucco ornaments; and so successfully imitated the material, that he may be called the inventor of modern stucco work. Excelled in painting birds, fruits, and animals.
[By Massimiliano Laboureur.]
150.Andrea del Sarto, orAndrea Vannuchi.Painter.
[Born at Florence, 1488. Died there, 1530. Aged 42.]
Called Del Sarto, from the trade of his father, who was a tailor. Long trouble followed his early and unfortunate marriage. Visited France, where he painted pictures for Francis I., who loaded him with gifts, and commissioned him to buy works of art in Florence. Spent the money entrusted to him, and bought neither pictures nor statues for his illustrious patron.Disgraced, neglected, and poor, he died deserted by his wife. This painter—whose works are admirable in design and colour, and remarkable for the elegance and majesty of the figures, is deficient in elevation and refinement of expression. His own character was morally weak and degraded.
[By Antonio D’Este. A monument was erected to him by Raffaelle da Monti Lupo at the expense of Domenico Conti, the heir of Andrea, in the Church of the Servites. It was removed by the authorities, but in 1606 a Prior had another tomb erected in the cloister, between the Madonna del Sacco and another of his frescos. A life-size bust in marble, by Giovanni Caccini, surmounts this tomb.]
151.Marcantonio Raimondi.Engraver.
[Born at Bologna, in Italy, about 1489. Died there, about 1537.]
The most celebrated of all the early engravers. The first impression from any engraved metal plate is dated 1454. Within sixty years, Marcantonio had carried the art to perfection. At Rome he was patronized for some years by Raffaelle, who employed him to engrave some of his most exquisite designs. The finest works of Marcantonio now bear a very high value for their beauty and rarity. Unhappily he was a bad man. He began his career as an artist by using his skill to pirate some of the works of Albert Durer. After Raffaelle’s death, he was banished from Rome by Clement VII. for gross immorality, fled to Bologna, fell into poverty, and is supposed to have died assassinated.
[By Massimiliano Laboureur. The best specimens of Marcantonio’s engraving are in the Imperial collection at Vienna.]
152.Correggio, orAntonio Allegri.Painter.
[Born at Correggio, in Italy, 1493 or 1494. Died there, 1534. Aged 40 or 41.]
Of his private life and character little is known, but his works are justly admired throughout the civilized world, while his frescos in the cupola of the Cathedral at Parma have earned for him undying fame. He painted in oil and fresco. In our National Gallery we have several of his admirable productions. As an artist, remarkable for exquisite sensibility. “In his compositions,” says Kugler, “all is life and motion. All his pictures express the overflowing consciousness of life; the impulse of love and pleasure.” Delicate in perception, with great quickness, subtlety, and depth of feeling. His forms not always beautiful, but his treatment of light and shade masterly, and almost unique.
[There is no bust of Correggio from the life; this is by Philippo Albacini, and no doubt from some authentic painted portrait.]
153.Polidoro Caldare da Caravaggio.Painter.
[Born at Caravaggio, in Lombardy, 1495. Died at Messina, 1543. Aged 48.]
Was employed by Raffaelle to assist him in the Vatican, having been originally a mason. Afterwards became distinguished as an ornamental painter. He was assassinated by his servant for the sake of his money.
[He was buried in the Cathedral at Messina. The Bust is by Massimiliano Laboureur.]
154.Giulio Romano, orGiulio Pippi de’ Giannuzzi.Architect and Painter.
[Born at Rome, 1499. Died at Mantua, 1546. Aged 47.]
A pupil of Raffaelle, by whom he was employed on works at the Vatican. Invited by the Marquis of Mantua to the city of that name, where he wasraised to the rank of nobility, provided with a house, a salary of 500 gold ducats, board for himself and his pupils, a horse, and some yards of silk velvet and cloth for clothing. Built many palaces in Mantua, and painted much in fresco. His later works are wanting in grace and purity, and display wildness and even coarseness. Yet he has a memorable name as one of the Roman school of art.
[This bust is by Alessandro d’Este.]
155.Andrea Palladio.Architect.
[Born at Vicenza, in Italy, 1518. Died there, 1580. Aged 62.]
He largely and accurately studied and described the Roman style of architecture, and adapted it to modern purposes with admirable success. Inigo Jones may be called his disciple; and the Banquetting House at Whitehall is a good example of the style calledPalladian. He was small in stature, and agreeable in countenance. His most celebrated buildings are at Venice, Verona, and Vicenza.
[This bust is by Leandro Biglioschi.]
156.Paolo Cagliari, calledVeronese.Painter.
[Born at Verona, 1528. Died at Venice, 1588. Aged 60.]
One of the great masters of the Venetian school of painting, whose principle was the study and imitation of nature, but whose peculiar excellence was colour, which the leaders of the school carried to the highest point of perfection. The works of Veronese are remarkable for splendour of colour, for the clear and transparent treatment of shadows, and for comprehensive keeping and harmony. He represented festivals and banquets suggested by Sacred History. The “Marriage at Cana,” now in the Louvre at Paris, is a magnificent example of his style. He was a man of courteous manners and generous disposition, and left a family of sons and brothers, who pursued the same calling.
[By Domenico Manera.]
157.Giovanni Pierluigi, surnamedDi Palestrina.Musical Composer.
[Born 1524. Died 1594. Aged 70.]
Palestrina is justly described in his epitaph as “Musicæ Princeps.” He was the greatest musician of his time, and the creator of Church music. Before his day the music of profane, and even immoral songs, had been allied with church masses. He reformed the custom by the production of a sacred composition that ravished every hearer. In 1555, he was Musical Director to the Church of St. John Lateran. Ten years afterwards, he was named Composer to the Pontifical Chapel. But he was in straitened circumstances throughout his career. His music continues a model at this hour. He had a singular capacity for apprehending the poetic character of his subject.
158.Annibale Carracci.Painter.
[Born at Bologna, 1560. Died at Rome, 1609. Aged 49.]
One of the three Carracci who founded a new school of painting (the Bolognese school), the fundamental principles of which were the study of nature, and a close imitation of the great masters. At Rome, painted the gallery of the Farnese palace with mythological frescos, which display masterly drawing, excellent arrangement of draperies, and an agreeable, clear colouring. Produced landscapes as well as historical works. His facility in drawing marvellous.Amongst the pupils of the Carracci school were Domenichino, Guercino, and Guido Reni.
[The author of this bust is not known. It was executed at the expense of Carlo Maratta.]
159.Domenichino, also calledDomenico Zampieri.Painter.
[Born at Bologna, 1581. Died at Naples, 1641. Aged 60.]
A famous painter of the Bolognese school. A pupil of the Carracci. At Rome, painted some frescos, and other pictures, but was poorly paid. His life one series of misfortunes. His fame and skill excited the jealousy of the Roman and Neapolitan artists, who destroyed his paintings, mixed deleterious compounds with his colours, and—it is believed—at last poisoned him. His works occasionally reveal artlessness, and a clear conception of nature, but he never escapes from the trammels of the imitative school of the Carracci. His great work, the “Communion of St. Jerome,” pronounced by Poussin only inferior to the Transfiguration of Raffaelle. Yet for this picture, Domenichino received fifty scudi—about ten guineas. In person, stout and short—hence his name, Domenichino (little Dominic). Passionately fond of music, and devoted to study and tranquillity. Whilst he painted, he would have his house as quiet and as noiseless as a monastery.
[By Alessandro d’Este. There is another bust of him in the Louvre by Mlle. Charpentier.]
160.Pietro di Cortona, orPietro Berettini.Painter.
[Born at Cortona, 1596 or 1609. Died at Rome, probably about 1669.]
A painter of the modern and degenerate school of art, who lived and worked at Florence and Rome. So stupid in his youth, that he was called “Ass’s Head.” Was employed to paint a ceiling in the Barberini palace—perhaps the largest picture ever undertaken by a single artist. At Florence he executed the ceilings of the Pitti palace.
[This bust is by Pietro Pierantoni.]
161.Arcangelo Corelli.Violinist and Composer.
[Born at Fusignano, near Bologna, 1653. Died at Rome, 1713. Aged 60.]
Corelli’s playing was distinguished by the most perfect sweetness and smoothness. Of execution, as now understood, he had none. But he possessed grace, finish, and an exquisite power of expression. His works still keep their ground as an indispensable study for all who would acquire a broad and artist-like style of playing. He was a modest and unaffected man, and enjoyed an equable temper, which not even the rough outbursts of Handel could disconcert. He had also humour. He would lay down his violin if folks talked whilst he was playing, and apologize for interrupting the conversation.
[Corelli was buried in the Pantheon at Rome. The author of this bust is not mentioned; it was executed at the cost of Cardinal Ottoboni, Corelli’s constant friend and patron.]
162.Ludovico Antonio Muratori.Antiquary.
[Born at Vignola, in Italy, 1672. Died at Modena, in Italy, 1750. Aged 78.]
Contributed much valuable material towards the History of Italy in the Middle Ages. Librarian to the Duke of Modena for the space of fifty years.
[By Adamo Tadolino.]
163.Benedetto Marcello.Writer and Musician.
[Born at Venice, 1686. Died at Brescia, in Italy, 1739. Aged 53.]
A lawyer and public officer; he was also a distinguished poet, and a musical composer of a high order. His most celebrated work is a Paraphrase of the first fifty Psalms, arranged for one, two, three, or four voices; it is remarkable for great tenderness, united with the religious feeling, and vehemence of style, which have obtained for the author from his fond countrymen the appellation of the Pindar and Michael Angelo of musicians. He also composed sonnets, madrigals, and dramatic pieces.
[By Domenico Manera.]
164.Giambatista Piranesi.Engraver.
[Born at Rome, 1707. Died there, 1778. Aged 71.]
An excellent and laborious artist. Has produced a great work in sixteen volumes upon the antiquities and curiosities of Rome. Has never been surpassed for his skill in representing architectural ruins and restorations. He also displays singular powers of invention, and his fancy subjects show consummate execution. He acquired great and widely extended fame during his life.
[By Antonio d’Este.]
165.Giovanni Paisiello.Musical Composer.
[Born at Tarento, in Italy, 1741. Died at Naples, 1816. Aged 75.]
A dramatic composer of extraordinary fertility. His works remarkable for their number, rather than for their eminence. He was the son of a veterinary surgeon. In 1777, he came to St. Petersburgh, upon the invitation of Queen Catharine, and remained there, in great honour, during eight years. In 1802, he answered Napoleon’s summons to Paris, and composed the mass and other music for the coronation, in 1804. Shortly after this event, he retired to Naples, where, in consequence of his many political tergiversations, he fell into disgrace, and closed a brilliant career in neglect and chagrin. His character as a man is not pleasing. He was jealous, unscrupulous, mean, and cringing.
[By Pietro Pierantoni.]
166.Niccolo Zingarelli.Musician.
[Born at Naples, 1752. Died 1837. Aged 85.]
The author of several operas no longer performed. One, his most celebrated work, “Romeo and Juliet,” still represented in France and Germany, and rendered popular in England by Pasta’s personation of Romeo. The last of the Italian composers for the church. His oratorio of “The Destruction of Jerusalem,” a noble composition, written in the classical style of the old ecclesiastical school. During his later years he led the life of a recluse.
167.Domenico Cimarosa.Musical Composer.
[Born at Aversa, near Naples, 1755. Died at Venice, 1801. Aged 47.]
A cobbler’s son and a baker’s apprentice. It was the duty of the lad to fetch daily a batch of dough from the house of Aprili, the great singing master of his time: and the musical sounds always ringing through the house touched his spirit and elicited his genius. Aprili caught him listeningat the keyholes, and considerately sent him to a free musical school in Naples. At the age of 19, Cimarosa quitted the Conservatorio, and immediately afterwards wrote his first work—the music to a farce called “Baroness Stramba.” From this time forward his compositions for the theatre were incessant, and invariably successful. In 1787, Catharine of Russia invited him to St. Petersburgh, whither he went; but his health failing, he betook him, in 1792, to Vienna, and there entered the service of the Emperor Leopold. In his 38th year, after he had written 70 operas and dramatic works, he composed his masterpiece, “Il Matrimonio Segreto.” The Emperor of Austria was so delighted with the performance, that after supping the composer and the singers, he took the whole of them back to the theatre, and made them sing the opera through again. The operas of Mozart, then dying a few miles off, had fallen at the same theatre upon cold and unfeeling ears. Few compositions of Cimarosa are known at the present day, though his innumerable productions were highly popular whilst he lived. His music exhibits some originality and a prodigal flow and variety of ideas. His scoring is peculiarly brilliant, and his comic powers were great.
[By Canova.]
168.Antonio Canova.Sculptor.
[Born at Passagno, in Upper Italy, 1757. Died at Venice, 1822. Aged 65.]
One of the most celebrated of modern sculptors. When five years old, evinced a taste for his art, and at fourteen was a pupil of Tonetto, a sculptor at Venice. From Venice went to Rome, where he executed many works. A favourite of Buonaparte, whose portrait, for the colossal statue of the Emperor (in the possession of the Duke of Wellington) he modelled at Paris, and from which was taken the bust No. . He had no pupils; for he used to say that “the master’s compositions were the best instructors.” His works are very numerous; casts from some of the most celebrated are to be found in the court of modern Italian Sculpture. His imaginative pieces more successful than his portraits, although many of these are master-pieces of art. In execution he was unrivalled; but his taste is not always pure. In person Canova was below the middle height, his eyes full of expression, and the general character of his face indicative of good-nature. He was much beloved at Rome as the generous friend of his brother artists.
[From the colossal marble bust by his own hand, in the Protomoteca of the Capitol at Rome.]
169.Gasparo Spontini.Musician.
[Born at Majolatti, in the Roman States, 1778. Died there, 1851. Aged 73.]
Educated at Naples, and at the early age of seventeen commenced his musical career as the composer of an opera, which was rapidly followed by sixteen more. In 1803, he went to Paris, and continued composing operas. In 1807, appointed musical Director to the Empress Josephine; and in 1808, produced with great success his best work, “La Vestale.” From 1810 to 1820, Director of the Italian Opera in Paris. Then invited to Berlin, where he wrote some more operas, and remained until the death of the late king in 1840. The greater part of the music composed by Spontini is forgotten. He was eclipsed by the genius of Rossini, but he had remarkable ability as a dramatic composer. His instrumentation was original, and his music abounds in melody.
[By Rauch, 1827. From the marble on the Monument to Spontini, at Tesi, in Italy.]
170.Niccolo Paganini.Violinist.
[Born at Genoa, 1784. Died at Nice, 1840. Aged 56.]
The greatest of modern fiddlers, who performed in the principal cities of Europe, and acquired more fame and money by playing on one string, than any of the brotherhood ever gained on all four. He looked like a magician, and his playing justified his looks.
[By Dantan, 1837.]
171.Maria Felicitas Malibran.Actress.
[Born in Paris, 1808. Died at Manchester, 1836. Aged 28.]
A wonderfully gifted dramatic genius, too soon cut off by death. In France, England, Germany and Italy, she created enthusiastic admiration, as much by her histrionic powers, as by her efforts as a songstress. She was a child of nature, and as benevolent as she was richly endowed with intellectual gifts. She made the noblest uses of the earnings of her industry, and was beloved by her fellow artists for the unaffected goodness of her heart. No actress of her time equalled her for truth and passion. Whatever art was in her, lay concealed. It never came to view. Her acting assailed the feelings of men, and took them prisoner. Escape was its own punishment.
[By Flosi.]
171A.Maria Felicitas Malibran.Actress.
[For account of this statue, see Handbook to Modern Sculpture, No. 108.]
172.Giulia Grisi.Italian Singer.
[Born in 1816. Still living.]
Made her first appearance in London during the season of 1834, being then 18 years old. From that time until her retirement from the English stage in 1854, not absent for a single season. Her voice a soprano of great power and of exquisite purity. Her histrionic talents, of the highest order, displayed equally in the artless peasant girl, and in the passionate and revengeful Semiramis. During twenty years she reigned supreme as queen of the lyric drama, finding many rivals, but no equal.
[By Flosi.]
173.Dante Alighieri.Poet.
[Born at Florence, 1265. Died at Ravenna, 1321. Aged 56.]
The eldest and greatest poet of modern Italy. He was of a noble Florentine family. He came into stormy times, and his life was tempestuous. His native city was then split between the fierce hostile factions of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, the two great parties that distracted Germany and Italy in the middle ages. Anurbanfaction in Florence was that of the Blacks and Whites. Dante was a Ghibelline, and a White: a keen partisan, and a distinguished citizen, he shared the passions and the vicissitudes of his party. Two battles are mentioned in which he gained honour as a soldier. At thirty-five, he was in the supreme magistrature of the city. When Charles of Anjou, in passing through Florence, took the part of the Blacks, Dante was amongst the sufferers. He was condemned to exile, and confiscation of his property: but, on a revision of the sentence, to be burned alive. Hewandered long, in France and in Italy, and rested at last, under the shelter of Guido Novelli, at Ravenna. He died there. He was once married, but not happily. A boyish love for Beatrice Portinari lives, as a sort of ethereal idea, throughout his poetry and life. He wandered and sang. His marvellous poem, “The Divine Comedy,” was composed during his long exile. It at once raised the modern Italian to the rank of a classical tongue, and the poetry of modern Italy to a height to which it has never again soared. The poet relates his journey, as a living man, through the three invisible worlds, which receive, as his church teaches, the souls of other men when released from the body: Hell, Purgatory, Heaven. Through Hell and Purgatory he is led by the shade of the poet Virgil—indeed his beloved leader in their common art. Through Paradise, his Beatrice herself, in whom he impersonates Theology, guides him. The ghosts he sees, those under punishment especially, are chiefly his deceased contemporaries, and Italians: so that the other shadowy world is with him almost a reflexion of his own world here. From the first step of his pilgrimage to the last, he sees sights of his own imagining, transcending all experience, almost all conception, yet delineated with such vivid precision, in language so simply real, that a feeling only short of belief accompanies the reader, and remains with him. Italian peasants meeting the poet, pointed out, as they looked with awe on “his pale and visionary brow,” the man who had been down to Hell. Prominent characteristics of his poetry are strength, daring, intensity, grace, absolute self-reliance, and boundless invention: above all, the continual self-presence of the poet as the centre to his own thoughts, and to the worlds which he traverses and describes. He began to write his poem in Latin verse; but Dante was too essentially a poet to write out of his mother-tongue;—a poet expresseshimselfin his verse, and only the mother-tongue is near enough to him for that.
[This Bust is by Alessandro d’Este, and was placed in the Protomoteca at the expense of Canova. It corresponds in the chief characteristics of the face with the portraits taken from the life, of which there are several. In Florence Cathedral, near the tomb of Giotto, is an authentic portrait. The one lately discovered on a wall in the palace of the Podestà at Florence, is extremely interesting, as being a youthful likeness by the hand of his friend Giotto. The monument to Dante in S. Croce is the work of Stefano Ricci. It was erected in 1829, at the public expense.]
174.Francesco Petrarca.Poet.
[Born in Tuscany, 1304. Died at Argua, near Padua, 1374. Aged 70.]
The crown around the brow of Petrarch has many gems. He is poet, diplomatist, scholar, and restorer of ancient letters. To the world, he is the great Italian sonnetteer. This extremely artificial metrical scheme, which seems, however, singularly congenial to his native speech, afforded him the temptation, in the means, to write incessant effusions on one love, really or ideally entertained. He was an ecclesiastic under a law of celibacy. Thus separated from the object of his presumed affections, he allied his soul to hers in verse. His love-strains are studies, without number, of the passion, in its endlessly varying moods and moments—half of them wreaths laid at the feet of the living Laura—half, strewings on her untimely tomb. The flowers, disclosed by the rapidly advancing Spring of the language, breathe the freshness, sweetness, and innocent grace of the season. Ever since, every son of song in Italy strikes this lute of a few chords, but Petrarch remains its Apollo.
[By Carlo Finelli.]
175.Giacomo Sanazzaro.Poet.
[Born at Naples, 1458. Died there, 1530. Aged 72.]
A devoted adherent of the House of Arragon, whom he followed in their disastrous campaign in defence of the Church. During his travels he published his poem of “Arcadia,” which gave a new phase to Italian poetry. A great admirer of Virgil and Propertius.
[From his tomb in Santa Maria del Parto at Naples, by Girolamo Santa Croce, a Neapolitan sculptor of the 15th century. His tomb is one of the most beautiful monuments of the time; designed by Santa Croce, and sculptured by Montorsoli. Two weeping angels lean over the bust which bears the nameActius Sincerus, under which he published many of his works. At the sides of the tomb are statues of Apollo and Minerva, said to be antique, but now called David and Judith.]
176.Luigi Ariosto.Poet.
[Born at Reggio, in Italy, 1474. Died at Ferrara, 1533. Aged 59.]
A poet from the cradle: constrained by his father to bestow five years on the study of the law: then released to literature. He was Gentleman of the Court to two princes: from both he received scanty pay: from the one 75 crowns (or about £15 a year), from the other 84 crowns. He lived and died poor, having enjoyed great independence of spirit, and the barren respect of Italian princes. His talents for business were remarkable. His great poem the “Orlando Furioso” is of a species which then deluged Italian literature. It is a web of adventures of knight errantry. These turn round the person of Charlemagne, and the invasion of France by the Moors—poetically misdated to his reign. The copious flow and untiring spirit of the narrative is without comparison. The skill with which Ariosto carries on a labyrinth of separate adventures, and brings them to meet, is peculiar to himself. The variety in the invention of the characters, and the flexibility of the pure and musical style to the humorous or the pathetic, the warlike or the tender, the natural and the marvellous, are singularly characteristic of the power of this poet; who grasps his subject meanwhile like a man of business and of the world, and whose tone is, on the whole, rather that of intellectual superiority to his subject than of passionate absorption by it. A vein even of irony breaks through; and the enthusiastic lover of romance suffers a pang of scepticism from the suggested incredulity of his priest. They tell, how, when governor of a wild Appenine province, he fell, on a solitary walk, into the hands of banditti. The captain, on recognising the poet of the Orlando Furioso, apologized for the rudeness of his men, and set his captive at liberty.
[By Carlo Finelli. There is a life-size bust upon his monument in the Benedictine Monastery at Ferrara, where he is buried.]
177.Torquato Tasso.Poet.
[Born at Sorrento, near Naples, 1544. Died at Rome, 1595. Aged 51.]
One of the small cluster of spirits whose uttered thoughts have fastened upon the world’s ear for all time. One of the still smaller group whose personal history, growing out of the poetical temperament, weighs in interest against their consummate work. We discover too little of the life of Shakspeare. We know too much of the story of Torquato Tasso. The Swan of Avon sings, and not a milk-white feather is ruffled in the song. Personal anguish quivers through the high heroic strain of him who, in Italian, with unequalled art, told the inspiriting story of the recovered Holy City. How shall Torquato’s touching and saddening tale be concentrated in a sentence? He wasalready a scholar when a child—delicately organized in the flesh—wondrously endowed in soul. At eighteen he had given forth a poem—worthy sign of his coming strength. He was at the Court of Alphonso II., Duke of Ferrara, when he commenced his great epic, and dared—he was a poet’s son—to fix his strong affection upon the Princess Leonora, sister of the Duke. In 1575, the “Jerusalem Delivered” was completed. Its beauty was too evident, for it raised a pitiless storm of envy, enmity, and persecution. His passion for the princess was detected, and he was imprisoned as a madman. Breaking loose, he wandered footsore from place to place, but found his way too speedily back to Ferrara. Caught again, he was again confined, suffering new imprisonment for seven long years. He came forth at last, a melancholy man. It availed him little that at Rome, in 1595, he was solemnly crowned with laurel by the pope, and every honour showered upon his illustrious head. He died, worn out with troubles of heart and mind, only a few days after his sublime coronation. The “Jerusalem Delivered” is built upon the essential basis of epic poetry—the profound and associated sympathy of innumerable hearers. In the poem, as out of it, the universal heart of Christendom is arrayed against the misbelieving world. Tasso wrote in an age when the religious passion, which was the soul of the Crusades, survived sufficiently for a hope in the poet that his strain would reanimate the Red-cross warfare. As man, and as poet, enthusiasm was predominant in him. The salient characters of the poem are well-defined, each complete in itself, and all standing well apart from, and relieving one another, although hardly, perhaps, flung forth in desirable plenitude of dramatic life and effect. The subject, as we all know, was the successful first Crusade—which took Jerusalem—under the pious, magnanimous, and truly heroic Godfrey of Bouillon. The structure of the plot is well balanced: the art of the writing exquisite: possibly too much so. It is generally self-conscious and elaborate, rather than inspired and impetuous.
[By Alessandro d’Este, and presented to the Capitoline Museum by Canova. Tasso’s tomb in St. Onuphrius was not erected until some time after his death. There is a portrait in mosaic over it.]
178.Pietro Bonaventura Metastasio.Poet.
[Born at Rome, 1698. Died at Vienna, 1782. Aged 84.]
Born of poor parents. When ten years old, improvised in the streets of Rome; then adopted and educated by Gravina, a rich juris-consult, who left the poet all his fortune. Forty editions of Metastasio’s works were published before his death. He wrote many tragic operas, besides numerous smaller compositions. Invited by Charles VI. of Austria, he settled in Vienna, and received the title of Imperial Poet. His style is singularly chaste, harmonious, and elegant. Attracted to, and attracting by, the delineation of characters, morally pure and elevated. Pathetic, but his passion lacks individuality. When we have read a few of his works, we have read all. In person tall and commanding.
[By Ceracchi. There is a fine bust of him by Vinnazar of Vienna. Metastasio was buried in St. Michael’s Church, at Vienna, but the place is not known.]
179.Carlo Goldoni.Poet.
[Born at Venice, 1707. Died at Paris, 1793. Aged 86.]
The most celebrated Italian comic poet of the eighteenth century, and the renovator of the comic stage in his country. When eight years old,sketched out a play. After some reverses of fortune, settled in Paris, where he wrote his last work, “Materials for a History of his Life and Theatre.” He wrote 150 pieces for the stage, introducing all classes of men, whom he described with surprising truth. He reformed the Italian drama by extinguishing the fashion of playing in masks, and by doing away with certain conventional characters before introduced into every play. His works are not without the defects of an over-abundant and extraordinarily rapid composition; but he has the great merit of faithfully portraying men in their affections, their habits, follies, and vices.
[By Leandro Biglioschi.]
180.Vittorio Alfieri.Poet.
[Born at Asti, in Piedmont, 1749. Died at Florence, 1803. Aged 54.]
He was of noble origin, and acceded, at the age of 14, to large hereditary estates. His passions were strong, ardent, and irregular: his education was neglected. He travelled much,—rapidly and impatiently, like a man fleeing from himself, or seeking, without finding, objects to satisfy the capacity of a mind, large but unstored. He was first drawn with passion to literature by Plutarch’s Lives; and his first tragedy, “Cleopatra,” was acted at Turin in 1775, when he was 26 years old. Thenceforward he was devoted to the study of his art. The subjects of his tragedies, which follow the simplicity of the Greek model, are chiefly from ancient mythology, or history. They are distinguished by intense absorption of the poet in his dramatic action and persons, by the austere exclusion from the plot of everything accidental or inoperative to the main purpose and catastrophe, and by the rejection of all accessory ornament from his sedulously laboured style. In his hands the flowing and languishing Italian speech becomes abrupt, concentrated, darted, fiery; harsh, often, until it is dilated into harmony by the swelling and emphatic intonations of the actual theatre. He raised at once the prostrate Italian tragedy to the rank of an art, and to a competition with the nations. He was a passionate lover of horses, licentious in his attachments, and an ardent partisan of liberty.
[Alfieri was buried in Santa Croce. Canova, commissioned by the Countess of Albany, sculptured his tomb and the medallion of him which is upon it. This bust is by Domenica Manera, and no doubt is a good likeness, having been executed under Canova’s eye.]
181.Alessandro Gavazzi.Monk and Orator.
[Born at Bologna, in Italy, 1809. Still living.]
At the age of 16, entered the religious order of St. Barnabas. Subsequently appointed Professor of Rhetoric at Naples. Upon the accession of Pope Pius IX. to the pontifical chair, Gavazzi warmly upheld the liberal policy then announced by the head of the Catholic Church. He was the “Peter the Hermit” of the crusade in Lombardy against Austria in 1848: and shared the dangers of the troops, whom he animated by his eloquence. Upon the entry of the French under Oudinot into Rome, Gavazzi quitted Italy with the patriots. He has since lived in London, where his extraordinary political discourses have created a marked impression upon his listeners. His oratory is adapted to large masses, his memoir is extraordinary, and his manner exceedingly picturesque and striking. He is not a scholar, and his patriotism is not of the kind that suffers by defeat. Gavazzi makes a good income as a popular preacher. Mazzini lives upon a crust.