[Footnote 200: Tom. viii. p. 123.]
[Footnote 201: "Although I do not deny, that he shews himself a little too much the partizan, he ought not to be defrauded of his due praise, as is attempted by the ignorant and invidious; for the completion of such an elegant and finished history must have cost him great study and research, and demanded much ingenuity and discrimination." Idea del Tempio, &c. cap. iv.]
[Footnote 202: Lett. Pittor. tom. i. p. 190.]
[Footnote 203: Lett. Pittor. tom. iii. p. 51.]
[Footnote 204: He examines the question, then keenly contested, whether Sculpture or Painting was the most n.o.ble art. He decides in favour of his own profession: and there are some other letters in that volume on the opposite side of the question worthy of perusal. Bonarruoti, on being asked this question by Varchi, was unwilling to give a decision.
(See tom. i. p. 7, and p. 22.) After Bonarruoti"s decease the contest was renewed, and prose and verse compositions appeared on both sides.
Lasca wrote in favour of painting, while Cellini defended sculpture.
(See Notes to the Rime of Lasca, p. 314.) Lomazzo is well worthy of notice in his Treatise, lib. ii. p. 158, in which he gives a MS. of Lionardo, drawn up at the request of Lodovico Sforza, where he prefers painting to the sister art.]
[Footnote 205: For an account of this writing desk, which was made during the life of Cosmo I., see Baldinucci, tom. x. p. 154 and 182.]
[Footnote 206: We there may read Allori, t.i.ti, Buti, Naldini, Cosci, Macchietti, Minga, b.u.t.teri, Sciorini, Sanfriano, Fei, Betti, Casini, Coppi, and Cavalori; besides Vasari, Stradano, and Poppi, already noticed.]
[Footnote 207: Baglione, in the Life of P. Biagio Betti.]
[Footnote 208: Pictores Hetrusci.]
[Footnote 209: Vasari calls him Michele Fiorentino, and the painter of the Slaughter of the Innocents, which we have noticed at page 187.
Orlandi makes him the father of Cherubino, an a.s.sertion which is not contradicted by Bottari. I follow Baglione, the contemporary of Cherubino, who says that he was the son of Alberto Alberti, an eminent engraver on copper.]
[Footnote 210: Vasari writes the name _da Carigliano_, in which he has been followed by other writers on the art, including myself, until I was informed by Sig. Ansaldi that it ought really to be written _Cutigliano_, taken from a considerable territory in the Pistoiese.]
[Footnote 211: Tom. vi. p. 25.]
FLORENTINE SCHOOL.
EPOCH IV.
_Cigoli and his a.s.sociates improve the style of Painting._
Whilst the Florentines regarded Michelangiolo and his imitators as their models, they experienced the fate of the poets of the fifteenth century, who fixed their eyes on Petrarca and his followers alone; they contracted a strong similarity of style, and differed from each other only according to their individual talents and genius. As we have above remarked, they began to exhibit some diversity after the age of t.i.ti; but they were still languid colourists, and required to be impelled into another career. About 1580 the period had at length arrived, when they began to abandon the manner of their countrymen for that of foreign artists; and then, as we shall have occasion to shew in treating of this epoch, the Florentine styles became firm and varied. This revolution originated with two young artists, Lodovico Cigoli and Gregorio Pagani.
We learn from Baldinucci, that, attracted by the celebrity of Barocci, and a picture which he had recently sent from Urbino to Arezzo, which is now in the royal gallery at Florence, they went together to see it; they examined it attentively, and were so captivated with the style, that they immediately renounced the manner of their master. Pa.s.signano followed their steps, continues Baldinucci, and Cigoli, in his company, took a second journey as far as Perugia, when Barocci had completed his celebrated Deposition from the Cross; but here the historian fell into a chronological error, inasmuch as Bellori, the accurate writer of Barocci"s life, describes his picture at Perugia as anterior to that at Arezzo by several years. In whatever way the mistake ought to be cleared up, it is certain that Pa.s.signano promoted the views of Cigoli. Their example turned the rising generation from the old manner to a more vigorous style. This was more especially the case with Empoli, with Cav.
Curradi, and some of those above mentioned, who were followed by Cristofano Allori, and Rosselli, artists that transmitted the new method to their new disciples. They did not, however, imitate Barocci so much as Correggio, who was the model of Barocci. Unable to visit Lombardy, they studied the few copies of his pictures, and still fewer originals, that were to be met with in Florence, in order to acquire his management of chiaroscuro, a branch of the art then neglected in Florence, and even at Rome. To this end they began to model in clay and wax; they wrought in plaster; they studied attentively the effects of light and shade; they paid less attention to practical rules, and more to nature. Hence arose a new style which, in my opinion, is among the best hitherto attempted in Italy; corrected upon the model of the Florentine school; soft and well relieved on that of Lombardy. If their forms had approached to Grecian elegance, if their expression had been more refined, the improvement of painting, which about this time took place in Italy, should have been ascribed no less to Florence than to Bologna.
Some favourable circ.u.mstances a.s.sisted the progress of the Florentine school; among these we may mention a succession of princes friendly to the art;[212] the readiness with which the celebrated Galileo imparted to artists his discoveries, and the laws of perspective; the travels of several Florentine masters to Venice, and through Lombardy; and the long residence of foreign artists, eminent as colourists, at the court of Florence. But it was chiefly owing to Ligozzi, who studied under the Venetian masters, then considered as the best in Italy, and who animated the old Florentine style with greater spirit and brilliancy than it had hitherto displayed. After noticing the good style of that period, we must not omit to mention one less praiseworthy; a sombre manner, which usurped the place of the other, and at this day renders many pictures of that period of little or no value. Some ascribe the fault to the method of mixing the colours, which was everywhere changed; and hence it is not peculiar to the Florentines, but is found diffused over Italy. It was partly owing likewise to the rage for chiaroscuro carried to excess. It is the characteristic of every school of long standing to carry to an erroneous excess the fundamental maxims of its master: this we have remarked in the preceding epoch, this we shall find exemplified in every period of painting, and this, if it were consistent with our present undertaking, we might demonstrate to have happened in literature; for a good rule extravagantly pursued leads to the corruption of taste. We shall now direct our attention to the fourth epoch, in which, omitting the two older authorities, Vasari and Borghini, we shall chiefly follow Baldinucci, who was acquainted with the artists we are now to consider, or with their successors.[213]
Lodovico Cardi da Cigoli, the scholar of Santi di t.i.to, first awakened his countrymen to a n.o.bler style, as we have already observed. The additional observation of Baldinucci, that he perhaps surpa.s.sed all his contemporaries, and that few or none derived such benefit as he did, from the study of Correggio, will not readily be granted by those who are conversant with Schedone, the Caracci, or even Barocci, when they chose to imitate the manner of that great master. From the pictures that have reached our time, Cigoli appears to have acquired a fine effect of light and shade from Correggio; to have united this to a scientific design, to a judicious perspective, the rules of which were previously taught him by Buontalenti, and to a vivacity of colouring superior to his countrymen, among whom he unquestionably holds a high rank. His works, however, exhibit not that contrast of colouring, that mellowness and clearness, that grace in foreshortenings and features, that characterize the ornament of the Lombard school. In short he was the inventor of a style always beautiful, but not always equal; especially if we compare his early works with his pictures executed after his visit to Rome. His general colouring savours of the school of Lombardy, his draperies sometimes resemble those of Paolo Veronese, and he often rivals the bold style of Guercino.
Independent of the great number of his pictures in the royal gallery, and many in the possession of the n.o.ble family of Pecori, there are a few in some private houses in Florence. The following are his most esteemed pictures: the Trinity, in S. Croce; the S. Alberto, in S. Maria Maggiore; the Martyrdom of St. Stephen, in the nunnery of Monte Domini, which Pietro da Cortona considers one of the finest pictures in Florence. Of the same cla.s.s is the picture which he placed in the church of the Conventualists at Cortona, in which S. Anthony is represented in the act of converting an unbeliever, by a miracle of a mule that is seen kneeling before the holy sacrament: in this piece he aspired at surpa.s.sing any work of art in that highly decorated city. In the Vatican he painted S. Peter healing the Lame, a wonderful production, which, among the pictures in Rome, was reckoned by Sacchi next in excellence to the Transfiguration by Raffaello, and the S. Girolamo by Domenichino.
The Florentine school may well be proud of this opinion, p.r.o.nounced as it was by a profound connoisseur, by no means usually lavish of his commendations. This masterpiece, which obtained him the honour of knighthood, is, however, utterly ruined by the dampness of the church, and the ignorance of one who undertook to repair it: but his frescos in the church of S. Maria Maggiore at Rome still remain; and there, by some error in perspective, he appears inferior to himself;[214] nor was he permitted to retouch them, notwithstanding that he employed both interest and entreaties to that effect. Fortune, in some degree, persecuted this great artist; for had those frescos perished, and that oil painting remained to our times, Cigoli would have enjoyed a higher fame, and Baldinucci obtained more credit.
Andrea Comodi and Giovanni Bilivert, nearly approached Cigoli; Aurelio Lomi followed at a greater distance. Of the latter, I shall speak among the Pisan artists, a few pages further on; and of two Romans, belonging to the same school, in the third book. Comodi, the a.s.sociate rather than the scholar of Cigoli, is almost unknown at Florence; but there are many of his copies after celebrated masters, which often pa.s.s for originals, both in that city and at Rome. This was his peculiar talent; in this he was unrivalled; and it employed his best years. He produced, however, several original works that are highly valuable for the design, the exquisite finish, and the strong body of colouring they display. In these we may trace the friend of Cigoli, and the copyist of Raffaello.
They are chiefly Madonnas, and are greatly admired for the disposition of the fingers, which are somewhat spread out, for the graceful slender neck, and a certain virgin air peculiarly his own. The Corsini family at Rome possess a very fine one. Some of his fresco pictures remain in the church of S. Vitale, in that city; and there is a picture of the t.i.tular saint in S. Carlo a" Catinari, which appears dark and cloudy; an uncommon circ.u.mstance with so good a colourist.
Gio. Bilivert is a name which we in vain look for in Orlandi, who has transformed him into two painters, one of whom he calls Antonio Biliverti, and the other, in imitation of Baglione, whose knowledge of him was inaccurate, Gio. Ballinert; both Florentines, and pupils of Cigoli. Like the preceding artist, Bilivert is not always equal to himself. He finished some pictures that had been left imperfect by Cigoli, to whose design and colouring he endeavoured to unite the expression of t.i.ti, and a more avowed and frequent imitation of the ornaments of Paolo Veronese. Bilivert is not sufficiently choice in heads; but he abounds in expression, as may be seen at S. Gaetano and S.
Marco, where there are many of his historical pictures, particularly the Raising of the Cross, esteemed one of his best performances. Those pieces which he engaged to execute, and in which he never appears able to satisfy himself, are repeated by his scholars: sometimes inscribed with the initials of his name, especially when he himself retouched them; at other times they are without an epigraph. None of his productions are so worthy of being copied as Joseph with Potiphar"s wife; which arrests the eye of every spectator in the ducal gallery.
Many copies of it are to be found in Florence; it may be seen in foreign collections, in the Barberini Palace at Rome, in the Obizzo collection at Cattaio, and in several other places.
The ornamented style of Bilivert had many imitators, whose works, in galleries and in private houses, would pa.s.s for those of Venetian artists, had they greater spirit and a better colouring. Bartolommeo Salvestrini is at their head; but he was cut off in his prime, by the plague of 1630, so disastrous to Italy and the art. Orazio Fidani, an a.s.siduous artist, and skilled in the style of his master, painted much at Florence; where his Tobias, that was finished for the fraternity of Scala, but is now removed, is especially commended. Frances...o...b..anchi Buonavita was engaged in few public works. He was chiefly employed in copying ancient pictures, which the court presented to foreign princes, and in furnishing cabinets with little historical pieces, that were at that time in great request in countries beyond the Alps. They were painted on jasper, agate, lapis lazzuli, and other hard stones; the spots in which a.s.sisted in forming the shadows of the pictures. Agostino Melissi contributed much to the tapestry of the ducal family, by furnishing cartoons from the works of Andrea del Sarto, and also some of his own invention. He likewise possessed a genius for oil painting; in which branch his S. Peter at the Gate of Pilate, which he painted for the n.o.ble family of Gaburri, is particularly praised by Baldinucci.
Francesco Montelatici, by some supposed a Pisan, by others a Florentine, and surnamed Cecco Bravo, from his quarrelsome disposition, abandoned the style of Bilivert, or at least mixed it with that of Pa.s.signano. He was a fanciful and spirited designer, and not a bad colourist. A fine painting of S. Niccolo Vescovo, by this artist, is to be seen at the church of S. Simone; but his works are rare in churches, for he was chiefly employed in painting for private, and sometimes for royal collections. He died painter to the court of Inspruck. Giovanni Maria Morandi remained but a little time with Bilivert, and on going to Rome, adopted the style of that school.
Gregorio Pagani was the son of Francesco, who died young; but was highly esteemed by his countrymen. He had studied the works of Polidoro and of Michelangiolo, at Rome, and executed admirable imitations of them for private gentlemen in Florence. Gregorio himself could scarcely distinguish them. He received the rudiments of his art from t.i.ti, but was initiated in a better style by Cigoli. Strangers praised him as a second Cigoli, whilst his country possessed at the Carmine the picture of the Finding of the Cross, which has been engraved; but when the painting, with the church, was consumed by fire, no great work of his remained in public, except a few of his frescos; one of which, though somewhat injured by time, is an ornament to the cloister of S. Maria Novella. He is rarely to be met with in Florentine collections, as he chiefly painted for foreigners. Of his school I here say nothing: it only produced one eminent pupil; but this one was so conspicuous that he may be said to form a new era, as we shall find in the sequel.
Another a.s.sociate of Cigoli was Domenico da Pa.s.signano, the scholar of Naldini and of Federigo Zuccaro, whom he resembles most, from his long residence at Venice; where he likewise married. He became so decided an admirer of the merits of this school, that he was accustomed to say that he who had not seen Venice, ought not to boast that he was a painter.
This circ.u.mstance sufficiently accounts for his style, which is not the most profound, nor the most correct; but it exhibits contrivance, is vast, rich in architecture and in drapery, resembling more the manner of Paolo Veronese, than that of the Florentine school. Sometimes he resembles Tintoretto in his att.i.tudes, and in that oily colouring which ought to have been avoided; and through which many works of both artists have perished. This has been the fate of his Crucifixion of St. Peter, which he executed for the great church in Rome, under Paul V. and of the Presentation of M. V. which he also painted at the same place under Urban VIII. Several pictures, however, remain in some Italian cities, that were begun by his scholars and finished by him, with a degree of care that hands him down to posterity as a great artist. A dead Christ, in the chapel of Mongradone, at Frascati, is in this style; as are an Entombing of Christ, in the Borghese palace, at Rome; a Christ bearing the Cross, in the college of S. Giovannino, and some other works of his at Florence. Pa.s.signano, his native place, possesses what is perhaps his most perfect work, in the font of the Church of the Fathers of Vallombrosa. He there painted a Glory, that proclaims him an excellent artist, and worthy of a place with his pupils, Lodovico Caracci, the founder of the Bolognese school, and Tirani, one of its great ornaments.
His Tuscan pupils did not attain equal celebrity. Sorri of Siena, whom we reserve for that school, is the one best known in Italy; having painted with applause in several of her cities. Here we must consider those artists connected with Florence.
Fabrizio Boschi is a spirited painter, whose characteristic excellence appears to consist in novelty of composition, united to a precision superior to the generality of his school. A S. Bonaventura in the act of celebrating ma.s.s, in All Saints" church at Florence, is much praised: and, perhaps, his two historical frescos of Cosmo II. which he painted in the palace of Cardinal Gio. Carlo de" Medici, in emulation of Rosselli, are superior to any of his other works. Ottavio Vannini became eminent in colouring and was very attentive to every other branch of painting; but he was sometimes poor and cold; and although good in each part of his pictures, was not happy in the whole. Cesare Dandini, a disciple of several schools, imitated Pa.s.signano in design, in brilliancy, and also in the perishable nature of his colours: he was diligent in other things, and very a.s.siduous. His best picture is a S.
Carlo, surrounded by other saints, in the church of Ancona: the composition is fine, and the whole in good preservation. Many works of this artist, and of Vannini, decorate collections.
Nicodemo Ferrucci, the favourite pupil of Pa.s.signano, and the companion of his labours at Rome, possessed much of the boldness and spirit of his master. By his example he was led to affix a good price to his pictures, mostly frescos executed at Florence, Fiesole, and for the State. He died young at Fontebuoni; but many of his works, too good to be here omitted, still remain in Rome; one of the most esteemed of which is found at S.
Gio. de" Fiorentini, besides two histories of Maria S. S. which, if I mistake not, have suffered from being retouched.
Cristofano Allori was at perpetual variance with Alessandro, his father and preceptor, on account of his attachment to the novel maxims of the three masters we have just commended. In the opinion of many he is the greatest painter of this epoch. When the excellence he attained, during a long life, is considered, he appears to me in some degree, the Cantarini of his school. They resembled each other in the beauty, grace, and exquisite finish of their figures; with this difference, that the beauty of Cantarini partakes more of the ideal, and that the flesh tints of Allori are more happy. This circ.u.mstance is the more surprising, inasmuch as he knew nothing of the Caracci, nor of Guido; but supplied all by a nice discrimination, and an unwearied perseverance; for it was his custom never to lift his pencil from the canva.s.s until his hand had obeyed the dictates of his fancy. From this method, and from vicious habits that often seduced him from his labours, his pictures are extremely rare, and he himself is little known. The S. Julian of the Pitti palace is the grandest effort of his genius; and if it is not among the finest pictures in this magnificent collection, it undoubtedly claims the highest rank in the second cla.s.s. His picture of Beato Manetto, in the church of the Servi, a small piece, but excellent in its kind, is reckoned the next in merit.
Many young men were sent to be instructed by him in the art of painting; but few of them remained long: most of them were disgusted at the dissipation of the master, and the insolence of some of their fellow students. He formed some landscape painters, whom we shall notice under their cla.s.s; and also some copyists, whose labours may boast of hues and retouching, the work of his hand. Of this cla.s.s were Valerio Tanteri,[215] F. Bruno Certosino, and Lorenzo Cerrini. These, and other artists of this school, continued the Giovian series of the later race of ill.u.s.trious men, by transmitting to us many of their portraits, to which he also lent his hand. To them we owe numerous duplicates of his most celebrated pictures, which are scattered through Florence, and over all Italy; more especially of that Judith, so beautifully and magnificently attired, which is a portrait of his mistress; while her mother appears in the character of Abra, and the head of Holofernes is that of the painter, who permitted his beard to grow a considerable time for this purpose. Zan.o.bi Rosi lived to a later period, and finished some pieces that were left imperfect by the death of Cristofano; but he never obtained the praise of invention. The name of Giovanni Batista Vanni is superior to any other scholar of the school of Allori. The Pisans claim him as their countryman; Baldinucci a.s.signs him to Florence. After taking lessons from Empoli and other masters, he attended Allori for six years; and whilst he imitated this master admirably in colouring, and rivalled him in design, he also imbibed his lessons of intemperance. Had he conducted himself with more propriety, and adhered more to fixed principles, the genius he possessed might have raised him to more celebrity. He visited the best schools of Italy, and copied on the spot, or at least designed, the choicest productions of each. Many praise some of his copies of Tiziano, of Correggio, and of Paolo Veronese: from the works of the two last he likewise made etchings. Notwithstanding such studies his colouring degenerated, and he became so much a mannerist, that he has not left behind him a truly cla.s.sical work. The S. Lorenzo in the church of S. Simone, which is reckoned the masterpiece of Vanni, has nothing uncommon, except it be that the light of the fire invests the spectators, and gives the picture novelty and surprising harmony.
Jacopo da Empoli, a scholar of Friano, retains in most of his works the stamp of his early education; but he adopted a second manner which is not deficient in fulness of design, nor in elegance of colouring. Such is his S. Ivo, which, among painters of great name in a cabinet of the ducal gallery, surprises most strangers more than the other pictures. He executed other works on similar principles, from which we might infer that he belongs to an era favourable to the art. Painters cannot, like authors, amend the first on a second edition of the same subject: their second editions, by which they should be judged, pa.s.s as other pictures superior to their first performances. Two of Jacopo"s pictures in fresco are commended by Moreni (tom. ii. p. 113), one belonging to the Certosa, the other to the monastery of Boldrone; both which prove the extent of his ability in this branch of the art; but after the period of his fall from the scaffolding in the Certosa, he abandoned this method and devoted himself wholly to painting in oil. Empoli gave all the beauty and fine effect of large works to those pleasing pictures he painted for private individuals, and in this style he was very successful.
This artist taught Vanni the principles of painting; but his greatest pupil was Felice Ficherelli; a man of the most indolent disposition, lazy in every occupation, and, as if afraid of disturbing his tongue, usually silent unless when asked a question: hence he was named Felice Riposo by the Florentines. He executed few pictures; but what proceeded from his studio may be held up as an example of industry in the art; simple, natural, and studied, without appearing to be so. There is a picture of S. Anthony by him in S. Maria Nuova, where he seems to have been directed by his intimate friend Cristofano, whose work it strongly resembles. He is rare in collections; but always makes a good figure there by his graceful design, his full body of colouring, and his softness. The Adam and Eve driven out of Paradise, in the gallery of the Rinuccini palace, is worthy such a collection. He copied Pietro Perugino, Andrea del Sarto, and some other masters so well, that his work might pa.s.s for the originals; and to this employment we may chiefly attribute the exquisite finish of his pictures.
To this period we may a.s.sign some other artists, who, from whatever cause, are, perhaps, less commended by historians than they deserve. Of this number is Giovanni Martinelli, of whom there is a capital work in the Conventualists of Pescia, viz. the Miracle of S. Anthony, a subject mentioned a little above, as having been also executed by Cigoli. His Feast of Belshazzar, in the ducal gallery at Florence, and his Guardian Angel at S. Lucia de" Bardi, are pictures of note, but inferior to that at Pescia. Of the same cla.s.s also is Michel Cinganelli, a scholar of Poccetti, who was employed in the metropolitan church of Pisa, where he ornamented the corbels of the cupola, and strove to emulate the best Tuscan artists of his age in an historical picture of Joshua. Such is Palladino, mentioned in the Guide of Florence in reference to a S.
Giovanni Decollato; a work deserving notice, for its freedom from the beaten track of his school. He seems to have studied the Lombard more than native artists, and to have been acquainted with Baroccio. I saw his altar-piece at S. Jacopo a" Corbolini. I suspect that this artist is the same as Filippo Paladini, pointed out by Hackert, born and educated at Florence, and who resided in foreign parts. He was compelled to fly from Milan on account of some disturbance, and took refuge in Rome, where he was received by Prince Colonna, and being pursued he went to Sicily, and resided at Mazzarino, an estate belonging to the Colonna family. There, as well as at Syracuse, Palermo, Catania, and elsewhere, he left works that display much elegance and fine colouring, but not free from mannerism, the fault also of the picture above cited at Florence. Benedetto Veli painted in the cathedral of Pistoia an Ascension of Christ, placed at the entrance to the presbytery, upon an immense scale. It is the companion to one of the Pentecost by Gregorio Pagani, which sufficiently proves that it has no common merit. There lived some other painters about this time, of whom Tuscany, as far as I know, retains no trace; but they are recognized in other schools: thus Vaiano is recognized in the Milanese, and Mazzoni in the Venetian schools, where we shall give some account of them.
Last among the great masters of this period I place Matteo Rosselli, a scholar of Pagani and of Pa.s.signano, as likewise of several old masters, under whom he studied a.s.siduously at Rome and at Florence. He became so distinguished a painter that he was invited to the court of the Duke of Modena, and was retained by Cosmo II. Grand Duke of Tuscany, in his own service. In painting, however, he had many equals; but very few in the art of teaching, for which he was adapted by a facility of communicating instruction, a total want of envy, and a judicious method of discovering the talents of each pupil, and of directing his progress: hence his school, like that of the Caracci, produced as many different styles as he had pupils. His placid genius was not fitted for the conception of novel and daring compositions, nor for pursuing them with the steadiness that characterizes the painter of elevated fancy. His merit lies in correctness in the imitation of nature; in which, however, he is not always select; and there is a peculiar harmony and repose in the whole, by which his pictures (though they are generally in a sombre tone) please, even when compared with works of the most lively and brilliant colouring. He excels in dignity of character; some of the heads of his apostles, to be seen in collections, so strongly resemble the works of the Caracci, that connoisseurs are sometimes deceived. At times he strove to rival Cigoli: as in his Nativity of our Saviour at S. Gaetano, which is thought to be his masterpiece, and in the Crucifixion of S.
Andrew in All Saints church, which has been engraved at Florence. His fresco paintings are greatly admired: so well do his labours, on the principles of the past age, preserve their freshness and brilliancy. The cloister of the Nunziata has many of his semicircular pieces; and that representing Alexander IV. confirming the Order of the Servi, appeared a grand work to Pa.s.signano and Cortona. He ornamented a ceiling in the royal villa of Poggio Imperiale with some histories of the Medicean family. The chamber where this painting was placed was ordered to be demolished in the time of the Grand Duke Peter Leopold; but so highly was Rosselli esteemed that the ceiling was preserved, and transferred to another apartment. His chief praise, however, arises from his preserving that fatherly regard for pupils, which Quintilian thinks the first requisite in a master: hence he became the head of a respectable family of painters whom we shall now consider.
Giovanni da S. Giovanni (this is the name of his native place; his family name was Manozzi), could boast of being one of the best fresco painters that Italy ever possessed. Gifted by nature with a fervid and bold genius, a lively and fertile imagination, celerity and freedom of hand, he painted so much in the dominions of the Church, and even in Rome, especially in the church of the Four Saints, so much in Tuscany, in Florence, and even the Pitti palace,[216] we can scarcely believe that he began to study at the age of eighteen, and died when only forty-eight years old. His style is very far from the solid manner of his master; he carried the celebrated maxim of Horace "_All is allowable_" to excess; and in many of his works he preferred whim to art. Amid choirs of angels he introduced the singular novelty of female angels; if we may ascribe this to him, and not to the Cavalier d"Arpino or Alessandro Allori, as some are inclined to do. But whatever exertions he made (if we may so express it) to discredit himself, he did not succeed. His spirit is greatly superior to the conceits of other artists; and his performances at Florence, in which he bridled his eccentricities, prove that he knew more than he was ambitious to shew.
Among these we may notice his Flight into Egypt in the royal academy, some semicircular pieces in the church of All Saints, the Expulsion of the Sciences from Greece, of the Pitti palace, in which the blind Homer appears groping his way with great nature, as he is exiled from his native land. It is related of Pietro di Cortona, that on seeing some one of the works of Giovanni, which did him no credit, he did not therefore condemn him; but, pointing to the piece, only observed, "Giovanni painted that when he was already conscious of being a great man." His pictures on panel and on canva.s.s are less admired, nor are they always exempt from crudity. He had a son called Gio. Garzia, who produced several fresco works at Pistoia, tolerably well executed.
Balda.s.sare Franceschini, surnamed Volterrano, from the place of his nativity, and also the younger Volterrano, to distinguish him from Ricciarelli, seemed to have been formed by nature to adorn cupolas, temples, and magnificent halls, a style of work in which he is more conspicuous than in painting cabinet pictures. The cupola and nave of the Niccolini chapel, in the church of the Holy Cross, is his happiest effort in this way; and surprises even an admirer of Lanfranco. That of the Nunziata is most beautiful; and we must not omit the ceiling of a chapel in S. Maria Maggiore, where Elias appears so admirably foreshortened, that it calls to mind the S. Rocco of Tintoretto, by the optical illusion occasioned by it. His talents excited the envy of Giovanni da S. Giovanni, who having engaged him as his a.s.sistant in the decoration of the Pitti palace, speedily dismissed him. His spirit is tempered by judgment and propriety; his Tuscan design is varied and enn.o.bled by an imitation of other schools; to visit which, he was sent to travel for some months by his n.o.ble patrons of the house of Niccolini. He derived great advantages from studying the schools of Parma and of Bologna. He knew Pietro di Cortona, and adopted some of his principles, which was a thing not uncommon among the artists of this epoch.
Volterrano painted a great many frescos in Florence, one in the Palazzo del Bufalo at Rome, and some at Volterra, that are noticed by Baldinucci. The praise bestowed on him by the historian appears rather scanty than extravagant to those who duly consider the propriety of his inventions, the correctness of his design, qualities so rare in this cla.s.s of artists, his knowledge of the perspective, of foreshortening figures in ceilings,[217] the spirit of his att.i.tudes, the clearness of his graduated, well balanced, and properly united colours, and the pleasing and quiet harmony of the whole. The same talents are proportionally evident in his oil pictures, as may be observed in his S.
Filippo Benizi, in the Nunziata of Florence; in his S. John the Evangelist, a n.o.ble figure which he painted along with other saints in S. Chiara at Volterra; his S. Carlo administering the communion to those sick of the plague, in the Nunziata of Pescia, and some of his other paintings that are well finished, which was not the case with all his works. The same observations apply to his cabinet pictures, which abound in the ducal palace, and in the houses of the n.o.bility of Volterra, especially in those of the families of Maffei and Sermolli.
Cosimo Ulivelli is also a good historical painter; and his style is sometimes mistaken for that of his master by less skilful judges; but a good connoisseur discovers in him forms less elegant, a colouring less strong and clear, a character approaching to mannerism and to meagreness. We ought to form an opinion from the works of his best period, such as his semicircular pieces in the cloister of the Carmine.
Antonio Franchi, a native of Lucca, who lived at Florence, is reckoned by many inferior to Ulivelli; but he is generally more judicious, if I do not mistake, and more diligent. His S. Joseph of Cala.s.sanzio, in the church of the Fathers of Scolopi, is a picture of good effect, and is commended also for the design. Another of his fine works is in the parish church of Caporgnano, in the state of Lucca; it represents Christ delivering the keys to S. Peter, and I am informed by an experienced artist that it is the most esteemed of his productions; many more of which may be found in the account of his Life, published at Florence, by Bartolozzi. He was painter to the court, by which he was much employed, as well as by private individuals. He was a moderate follower of Cortona. He wrote a useful tract on the _Theory of Painting_, in which he combated the prejudices of the age, and enforced the necessity of proceeding on general principles. It was printed in 1739; and afterwards defended by the author against certain criticisms made on it. Giuseppe and Margherita, his two sons, have met with some commendation, and I am told there is a fine altar-piece by the former, which adorns the parish church at Borgo Buggiano. It is retouched, however, by his father, who honourably makes mention of the fact. I repeat, honourably; because many fathers are known to have aided their sons with a view of obtaining for them a reputation beyond their deserts. Michelangiolo Palloni da Campi, a pupil of Volterrano, is well known in Florence by a good copy of the Furius Camillus, of Salviati, in the old palace; which was placed by the side of the original. He resided long, and was much employed in Poland.
An eminent pupil of Balda.s.sare, named Benedetto Orsi, was omitted by Baldinucci. A fine picture of S. John the Evangelist, in the church of S. Stephen, at Pescia, his native place, is attributed to him. He also painted the Works of Mercy, for the religious fraternity of n.o.bles.
These oil paintings were shewn to strangers among the curiosities of that city; but they were dispersed on the suppression of the order.
There still exists a large circular picture which he produced at Pistoia for S. Maria del Letto, enumerated by good judges among the finest works of Volterrano, until an authentic doc.u.ment discovered the real author.
Last in this list I have to mention Arrighi, the fellow citizen of Franceschini, and his favourite pupil. He has nothing remaining in public, in which his master cannot boast a great share.[218]