The Marchese Venuti[87] extols this master above all others of his time for his accurate design, and his Caracciesque colouring. His monument is placed in the Pantheon, among those of the most celebrated painters, and to his bust is attached the eulogy bestowed on him by the Abate Giovenazzo, where he is particularly commended for his power of expression. The factions to which he gave rise still subsist, as if he were yet living. His admirers not being able to defend all his works, have fixed on the Flagellation at the Stimmate, painted in compet.i.tion with Muratori,[88] and S. Secondino at the Pa.s.sionisti, as the subjects of their unqualified approbation; pictures indeed, of such science, that they may challenge any comparison. To these may be added his S. Lorenzo and S. Stefano, in the Duomo of Viterbo, and a few others of similar merit, in which he evidently imitated Domenichino and his school. His enemies have designated him as an inferior artist, and adduce several works feeble in expression and effect. The impartial consider him an eminent artist, but his productions vary, being occasionally in a grand style, and at other times not pa.s.sing the bounds of mediocrity. This is a character which has been ascribed to many poets also, and even to Petrarch himself.
Our obligations are due to the Sig. Batista Ponfredi, his scholar, for the memoirs of this eminent man. They were addressed to the Count Niccola Soderini, a great benefactor of Benefial, and more rich in his works than any other Roman collector. His letter is in the fifth volume of the _Pittoriche_, and is one of the most instructive in the collection, although altered by the editor in some points. I shall transcribe a pa.s.sage from it, as it may be satisfactory to see the actual state of the art at that time, and the way in which Marco contributed to its support. "He was so anxious to revive the art, and so grieved to see it fall into decay, that he frequently consumed several hours in the day in declaiming against the prevailing conception of style, and urging the necessity of shunning mannerism, and adopting a style founded in truth, which few did, or if they did, attempted not to imitate its simplicity, but adapted it to their own manner. He directed the particular attention of his pupils to the difference between the production of a mannerist, and one which was studied and simple, and founded in nature; that the first, if it were well designed, and had a good chiaroscuro, had at first sight a striking effect from the brilliancy of its colours, but gradually lost ground at every succeeding view, while the other appeared the more excellent the longer it was inspected."--These and other precepts of the same kind he delivered in terms perhaps too cynical; not only in private, but in the school of design at the Campidoglio, at the time that he presided there; the consequence was that the inferior artists combined against him, deprived him of his employment, and suspended him from the academy. Some further information respecting Benefial was communicated to the public in the _Risposta alle Lett. Perugine_, p. 48.
From a scholar also of Cignani, (Franceschini,) Francesco Caccianiga received instructions in Bologna, whence he came to Rome, where he perfected his style and established himself. He was a painter to whom nothing was wanting, except that natural spirit and vigour which are not to be supplied by industry. He was employed by several potentates, and two of his works executed for the king of Sardinia were engraved by himself. Ancona possesses four of his altarpieces, among which are the Inst.i.tution of the Eucharist, and the Espousals of the Virgin; pictures coloured in a clear, animated, and engaging style, and easily distinguished among a thousand. Rome has few public works by him. In the Gavotti palace is a good fresco, and there are others in the palace and villa of the Borghesi, who generously extended to him a permanent and suitable provision, when overtaken by poverty and age.[89]
From the school of Guercino came Sebastiano Ghezzi of Comunanza, not far from Ascoli. He was eminent both in design and colouring, and at the church of the Agostiniani Scalzi di Monsammartino is a S. Frances...o...b.. him, which is esteemed an exquisite picture, and wants only the finishing hand of the artist. He was the father and teacher of Giuseppe Ghezzi, who studied in Rome, and was also a tolerable writer, considering the period at which he wrote. In his painting he seemed to adopt the style of Cortona. His name is frequently mentioned in the Guida di Roma, and more than once in the _Antichita Picene_, where it is stated that he was held in great esteem by Clement XI., and that he died secretary to the academy of S. Luke, (tom. xxv. p. 11). Pascoli, who has written his life, extols him for his skill in restoring pictures, in which capacity the queen of Sweden employed him exclusively on all occasions.
Pierleone, his son and scholar, possessed a style similar to that of his father, but less hurried, and became a more distinguished artist. He was selected with Luti and Trevisani, and other eminent masters, to paint the prophets of the Lateran, as well as other commissions. But for his chief reputation he is indebted to the singular talent he possessed in designing caricatures, which are to be found in the cabinets of Rome and other places. In these he humourously introduced persons of quality, a circ.u.mstance particularly gratifying in a country where the freedom of the pencil was thought a desirable addition to the licence of the tongue.
Other schools of Italy also contributed artists to the Roman School, who however did not produce any new manner, except that in respect of the two princ.i.p.al masters then in vogue, Cortona and Maratta, they have afforded an occasional modification of those two styles.
Gio. Maria Morandi came whilst yet a youth from Florence, and forsaking the manner of Bilivert, his first instructor, formed for himself a new style. This was a mixture of Roman design and Venetian colouring (for in travelling through Italy, he resided some time at Venice, and copied much there), while some part of it partakes of the manner of Cortona, and was esteemed in Rome. He established himself in this latter city, in the Guida of which he is often mentioned, and his works are not unfrequently found in collections. His Visitation at the Madonna del Popolo is a fine composition; and still more highly finished, and full of grand effect, is his picture of the death of the Virgin Mary, in the church della Pace. This may indeed be considered his masterpiece, and it has been engraved by Pietro Aquila. He was also celebrated for his historical pictures, which he sometimes sent into foreign countries, and more than in any other branch, he acquired a reputation in portraits, in which he was constantly employed by persons of quality in Rome and Florence, and was also called to Vienna by the emperor. There, besides the imperial family, he painted also the portraits of many of the lesser princes of Germany. Odoardo Vicinelli, a painter of considerable merit in these latter times, in vol. vi. of the Lett. Pitt. is said to have been a scholar of Morandi, and Pascoli does not hesitate to a.s.sert that he conferred greater honour than any other of his scholars on his master; I believe, in Rome, where Pietro Nelli alone could dispute precedence with him.
Francesco Trevisani, a native of Trevigi, was educated by Zanchi in Venice, where, in order to distinguish him from Angiolo Trevisani, he was called Il Trevisani Romano. In Rome, he abandoned his first principles, and regulated his taste by the best manner then in vogue. He possessed a happy talent of imitating every manner, and at one time appears a follower of Cignani, at another of Guido; alike successful whichever style he adopted. The Albiccini family, in Forli, possess many of his pictures in various styles, and amongst them a small Crucifixion, most spirited and highly finished, which the master esteemed his best work, and offered a large sum to obtain back again. His pictures abound in Rome, and in general exhibit an elegance of design, a fine pencil, and a vigorous tone of colour. His S. Joseph dying, in the church of the Collegio R., is a remarkably n.o.ble production. A subject painted by him to accompany one by Guido in the Spada palace is also highly esteemed.
He enjoyed the patronage of Clement XI. by whom he was not only commissioned to paint one of the prophets of the Lateran, but was also employed in the cupola of the Duomo in Urbino, in which he painted the four quarters of the world; a work truly estimable for design, fancy, and colouring. In other cities of the state we find pictures by him painted with more or less care, in Foligno, at Camerino, in Perugia, at Forli, and one of S. Antonio at S. Rocco in Venice, of a form more elegant than robust.
Pasquale Rossi, better known by the name of Pasqualino, was born in Vicenza, and from long copying the best Venetian and Roman pictures, attained without the instruction of a master, a natural mode of colour, and a good style of design. Few of his public works remain in Rome; Christ praying in the garden in the church of S. Carlo al Corso, the Baptism also of our Saviour at the Madonna del Popolo. The Silvestrini of Fabriano have several pictures by him, and among them a Madonna truly beautiful. His S. Gregory, in the Duomo of Matelica, in the act of liberating souls from purgatory, is in the style of Guercino, and is one of his best works. In private collections we find his cabinet pictures representing gaming parties, conversations, concerts, and similar subjects, carefully finished on a small scale, and little inferior to Flemish pictures. I have met with numerous specimens of them in various places; but in no place have I admired this artist so much as in the royal gallery at Turin, in which are some ornaments over doors, and pictures of considerable size by him, chiefly scriptural subjects, executed in an animated and vigorous style, and with so much imitation of the Roman School, that we should think them to be by some other master.
Giambatista Gaulli, commonly called Baciccio, studied first in Genoa.
Whilst still young he went to Rome, where under the direction of a Frenchman, and by the more valuable aid of Bernino, he formed himself on the style of the great machinists. As he was endowed by nature with a ready genius and a dexterity of hand, he could not have chosen any branch of the art more adapted to his talent. The vault of the Gesu is his most conspicuous work. The knowledge of the _sotto in su_, the unity, harmony, and correct perspective of its objects, the brilliancy and skilful gradation of the light, rank it among the best, if indeed it be not his best picture in Rome. It must, however, be confessed, that we must inspect it with an eye to the general effect, rather than to the local tints, or the drawing of the figures, in which he is not always correct. His faults in his easel pictures, which are very numerous in Italy and in foreign countries, are less obtrusive, and are abundantly atoned for by their spirit, freshness of tints, and engaging countenances. He varies his manner with his subject, a.s.signing to each a peculiar style. There is a delightful picture in his best manner, gracefully painted in the church of S. Francesco a Ripa, representing the Madonna with the divine Infant in her arms, and at her feet S. Anna kneeling, surrounded by Angels. In a grave and pathetic style on the contrary, is the representation of S. Saverio dying in the desert island of Sanciano, which is placed near the altar of S. Andrea at Monte Cavallo. His figures of children are very engaging and highly finished, though after the manner of Fiammingo, more fleshy and less elegant than those of t.i.tian or the Greeks. He painted seven pontiffs, and many persons of rank of his day, and was considered the first portrait painter in Rome. In this branch of his art he followed a custom of Bernino, that of engaging the person he painted in an animated conversation, in order to obtain the most striking expression of which the subject was susceptible.
Giovanni Odazzi, his first scholar, was ambitious of emulating him in celerity, but not possessing equal talent, he did not attain the same distinction. He is the most feeble, or at all events, the least eminent of the painters of the prophets of the Lateran, where his Hosea is to be seen; and indeed, in every corner of Rome, his pictures are to be met with, as he never refused any commission. Pascoli has preserved the memory of another of his scholars, a native of Perugia, in the lives of the painters of his native country. This was Francesco Civalli, initiated in the art by Andrea Carlone; he was a youth of talent, but impatient of instruction. He painted in Rome and other places, but did not pa.s.s the bounds of mediocrity. The Cav. Lodovico Mazzanti, was the scholar of Gaulli, and emulated his manner to the best of his ability; but his talents were not commanding, nor were his powers equal to his ambition. Gio. Batista Brughi, a worker in mosaic, rather than a painter, left notwithstanding some public pictures in Rome. He is called in the Guida sometimes Brughi, and sometimes Gio. Batista, the disciple of Baciccio, which makes it there appear as if they had been distinct individuals. I do not recollect any other artist contributed by Gaulli to the Roman School.
The Neapolitan School, which was in the beginning of this age supported by Solimene, sent some scholars to Rome, who adopted a Roman style.
Sebastiano Conca was the first that arrived there with an intention of seeing it, but he established himself there, together with Giovanni, his brother, to meliorate his style of design. Resigning the brush, he returned at forty years of age to the pencil, and spent five years in drawing after the antique, and after the best modern productions. His hand, however, had become the slave of habit in Naples, and would not answer to his own wishes; and he was kept in constant vexation, as he could appreciate excellence, but found himself incapable of attaining it. The celebrated sculptor, Le Gros, advised him to return to his original style, and he then became in Rome an eminent painter, in the manner of Pietro da Cortona, with considerable improvements on his early manner. He possessed a fertile invention, great facility of execution, and a colour which enchanted by its lucidness, its contrast, and the delicacy of the flesh tints. It is true, that on examination we find that he was not in reality a profound colourist, and that to obtain a grandeur of tone, he adopted in the shadows a green tint, which produced a mannerism. He distinguished himself in frescos, and also in pictures in the churches, decorating them with choirs of angels, happily disposed in a style of composition that may be called his own, and which served as an example to many of the machinists. He was indefatigable too in painting for private individuals, and in the states of the church there is scarcely a collection without its Conca. His most studied, finished, and beautiful work is the Probatica at the hospital of Siena. Of great merit in Rome is the a.s.sumption at S. Martina, and the Jonah among the prophets in the S. Giovanni Laterano. His works were in high esteem in the ecclesiastical state; his best appear to be the S. Niccolo at Loreto, S. Saverio in Ancona, S. Agostino at Foligno, S. Filippo in Fabriano, and S. Girolamo Emiliano at Velletri. Giovanni, his brother, a.s.sisted Sebastiano in his commissions, had an equal facility, a similar taste, though less beautiful in his heads, and of not so fine a pencil.
He shewed great talent in copying the pictures of the best masters. In the church of the Domenicans of Urbino are the copies which he made of four pictures to be executed in mosaic; they were by Muziani, Guercino, Lanfranco, and Romanelli. Conca is eulogized by Rossi with his usual intelligence and discrimination (v. tom. ii. of his _Memorie_, p. 81.)
Mengs perhaps censures him too severely, where he says, that by his precepts he contributed to the decay of the art. He had his followers, but they were not so numerous as to corrupt all the other schools of Italy. Every school, as we have seen, had within itself the seeds of its own destruction, without seeking for it elsewhere. It is true, indeed, that some of his scholars inherited his facility and his colouring, and left many injurious examples in Italy. Nor shall I give myself much trouble to enumerate his disciples, but shall content myself with the names of the most celebrated. Gaetano Lapis di Cagli was one of these, and brought with him good principles of design when he came to study under Conca. He was a painter of an original taste, as Rossi describes, not very spirited, but correct. Many of his works are found in the churches of his native place, and in the Duomo are two highly prized pieces on each side the altar, a Supper of our Lord, and a Nativity. In the various pictures I have seen of him at S. Pietro, S. Niccolo, and S.
Francesco, I generally found the same composition of a Madonna of a graceful form, attended by Saints in the act of adoring her and the Holy Infant. We find some of his works also in Perugia and elsewhere. The Prince Borghese, in Rome, has a Birth of Venus by him, painted on a ceiling, with a correctness of design, and a grace superior to any thing that remains of him, and no one can justly appreciate his talents, who has not seen this work. It should seem, that a timidity and diffidence of his own powers, prevented his attaining that high station which his genius seemed to have intended for him. Salvator Monosilio, who resided much in Rome, was of Messina, and trod closely in the footsteps of his master. In a chapel of S. Paolino della Regola, where Calandrucci furnished the altarpiece, he painted the vault in fresco; and others of his works are to be seen at the S. S. Quaranta, and at the church of the Polacchi. In Piceno, where Conca was in great reputation, Monosilio was held in high esteem, and was employed both in public and in private. At S. Ginesio is a S. Barnabas by him, in the church of that saint, which in the _Memorie_ so often quoted by us, is designated as an excellent work. Conca educated another Sicilian student, the Abbate Gaspero Serenari, of Palermo, who was considered a young man of talents in Rome, and painted in the church of S. Teresa, in compet.i.tion with the Abate Peroni of Parma. On his return to Palermo he became a celebrated master, and besides his oil pictures he executed some vast works in fresco, particularly the cupola of the Gesu, and the chapel of the monastery of Carita.
Gregorio Guglielmi, a Roman, is not much known in his native place, although his fresco pictures in the hospital of the S. Spirito in Sa.s.sia, int.i.tle him to be numbered amongst the most eminent young artists who painted in Rome in the pontificate of Benedict XIV. He left Rome early and went to Turin, where, in the church of S. S. Solutore e Comp. is a small picture of the Tutelar Saints. He was afterwards in Dresden, Vienna, and St. Petersburgh, where he painted in fresco with much applause, for the respective sovereigns of those cities. He was facile in composition, pleasing in his colour, and attached to the Roman style of design, which, like Lapis, he seemed to have carried from some other school into that of Conca. Among his most esteemed works is a ceiling, painted in the university of Vienna, and another in the imperial palace at Schoenbrunn. He did not succeed so well in oils, in which his efforts are mostly feeble; a proof that he belongs more to the school of Conca than that of Trevisani, to which some have a.s.signed him.
Corrado Giaquinto was another scholar of Solimene. He came from Naples to Rome, where he attached himself to Conca to learn colouring, in which he chiefly followed his master"s principles, though he was less correct and more of a mannerist, and was accustomed to repeat himself in the countenances of his children, which resemble the natives of his own country. He was not, however, without merit, as he possessed facility as well as vigour, and was known in the ecclesiastical state for various works executed in Rome, Macerata, and other places. He went afterwards to Piedmont, as we shall mention at the proper time; then to Spain, where he was engaged in the service of the court, and gave satisfaction to the greater part of the native artists. The public taste in Spain, which had for a long time retained the principles of the school founded by t.i.tian, had been changed within a few years. Luca Giordano was become the favorite, and they admired his spirit, his freedom, and his despatch; qualities which were combined in Corrado. This partiality lasted even after Mengs had introduced his style, which in consequence appeared at first meagre and cold to many of the masters and connoisseurs of the day, when compared with that of Luca Giordano; until prejudice there, as in Italy, ultimately yielded to truth.
Some other artists flourished in Rome at the commencement, and as far as the middle of the century, and somewhat beyond, who may perhaps have a claim to be remembered. Of Francesco Fernandi, called L"Imperiali, the Martyrdom of S. Eustachio in the church of the saint of that name, is well conceived and scientifically coloured. Antonio Bicchierai, a fresco painter, is more particularly known at S. Lorenzo in Panisperna, in which church he painted a sfondo which did him honour. Michelangiolo Cerruti, and Biagio Puccini, a Roman, about the time of Clement XI. and Benedict XIII., were esteemed artists of good execution. Of others who acquired some reputation in the following pontificate, I shall write in other schools, or if I should not mention them, they may be found in the Guida of the city.
I shall now pa.s.s from native to foreign artists, and shall take a brief notice of them, since my work has grown upon me with so many new Italian names, which are its proper object, that I have not much spare room for foreigners, and a sufficient notice of them may be found in their own country. Not a few _oltremonti_ painted at this period in Rome, celebrated for the most part in the inferior branches of painting, where they deserve commemoration. Some of them were employed in the churches, as Gio. Batista Vanloo di Aix, a favorite scholar of Luti, who painted the picture of the Flagellation at S. Maria in Monticelli. But he did not remain in Rome, but pa.s.sed to Piedmont, and from thence to Paris and London, and was celebrated for his historical compositions, and highly esteemed in portrait. Some years after Vanloo, Pietro Subleyras di Gilles settled in Rome, and conferred great benefit on the Roman School; for whilst it produced only followers of the old manner, and thus fell gradually into decay, he very opportunely appeared and introduced an entirely new style. An academy had been founded in Rome by Louis XIV., about the year 1666. Le Brun had there cooperated, the Giulio Romano of France, and the most celebrated of the four Carli, who were at that time considered the supporters of the art; the others were Cignani, Maratta, and Loth. It had already produced some artists of celebrity, as Stefano Parocel, Gio. Troy, Carlo Natoire, by whom many pictures are to be found in the public edifices in Rome. There prevailed, however, in the style of this school a mannerism, which in a few years brought it into disrepute. Mengs designated it by the epithet of _spiritoso_, and it consisted, according to him, in overstepping the limits of beauty and propriety, overcharging both the one and the other, and aiming at fascinating the eyes rather than conciliating the judgment. Subleyras, educated in this academy, reformed this taste, retaining the good, and rejecting the feeble part, and adding from his own genius what was wanting to form a truly original manner. There was an engaging variety in the air of his heads, and in his att.i.tudes, and he had great merit in the distribution of his chiaroscuro, which gives his pictures a fine general effect. He painted with great truth; but the figures and the drapery, under his pencil, took a certain fulness which in him appears easy, because it is natural; it remained his own, for although he left some scholars, none of them ever emulated the grandeur of style which distinguished their master.
He was mature in talent when he left the academy, and the portrait which he in preference to Masucci, painted of Benedict XIV., established his reputation as the first painter in Rome. He was soon afterwards chosen to paint the history of S. Basil, for the purpose of being copied in mosaic for the church of the Vatican. The original is in the church of the Carthusians, and astonishes, by the august representation of the Sacrifice solemnly celebrated by the saint in the presence of the emperor, who offers bread at the altar. The countenances are very animated, and there is great truth in the drapery and accompaniments, and the silks in their lucid and light folds appear absolutely real.
From this production, and others of smaller size, and particularly the Saint Benedict at the church of the Olivetani di Perugia, which is perhaps his masterpiece, he deserves a place in the first collections, where, indeed, his pictures are rare and highly prized. Further notices of this artist may he found in the second volume of the _Giornale delle belle Arti_.
Egidio Ale, of Liege, studied in Rome, and became a spirited, pleasing, and elegant painter. His works in the sacristy dell"Anima, in fresco and oil, painted in compet.i.tion with Morandi, Bonatti, and Romanelli, do him honour. Ign.a.z.io Stern was a Bavarian, who was instructed by Cignani in Bologna, and worked in Lombardy. An Annunciation in Piacenza, in the church of the Nunziata, exhibits a certain grace and elegance, which is peculiar to him, as is observed in the description of the public pictures in that city. Stern afterwards established himself in Rome, where he painted in fresco the sacristy of S. Paolino, and left some oil pictures in the church of S. Elisabetta, and in other churches. He was more particularly attached to profane history, conversations, and similar subjects, which have a place even in royal collections. Spain possessed a disciple of the school of Maratta, in Sebastiano Mugnoz, but dying young he left few works behind him.
In this place I ought to notice an establishment designed _to revive the art in that quarter, where it seemed to have so much declined_, as D.
Francesco Preziado, of that country, says, in a letter which we shall shortly have occasion to mention with commendation. "The royal academy of S. Ferdinand, in Madrid, which owed its origin to Philip V., and was completed and endowed by Ferdinand VI., sent several students to Rome, and provided for their maintenance." They there selected the master the most agreeable to their genius, and had, in addition, a director, who was employed to superintend their studies; as I am informed by Sig.
Bonaventura Benucci, a Roman painter, educated in that academy. Bottari and all Rome called it the Spanish academy, and I myself, in a former edition, followed the common report, and the two above named sovereigns I described as the founders of the academy. Having been censured for this statement, I have here thought proper to specify my authorities. It may without dispute be a.s.serted, that the Spanish students have left in Rome many n.o.ble specimens of their talents and taste. D. Francesco Preziado was for many years the director of this academy, and painted a Holy Family at the S. S. Quaranta, in a good style. He made also a valuable communication to the Lettere Pittoriche (tom. vi. p. 308), on the artists of Spain, very useful to any one desiring information respecting this school, which is less known than it deserves to be.
An inst.i.tution very much on the plan of the French academy was founded in Rome a few years ago, by his most faithful majesty, for Portuguese students, to the promotion of which, two celebrated Portuguese, the Cav.
de Manique, intendant general of the police in Lisbon, and the Count de Souza, minister of that court in Rome, had the merit of contributing their a.s.sistance; the one having projected, and the other executed, the plan in the year 1791. The government of the academy was entrusted to the Sig. Gio. Gherardo de" Rossi, known for his very numerous and able writings, to which he has recently added an ingenious little work, int.i.tled, _Scherzi poetici e pittorici_, with engravings by a celebrated academician. These establishments are of too recent a date to allow me to speak further respecting their productions.
The provincial painters have been occasionally noticed in connexion with their masters. I here add a supplement, which may be useful in the way of completion. Foligno possessed a Fra Umile Francescano, a good fresco painter, engaged in Rome by Cardinal Castaldi, to ornament the tribune of S. Margaret, while Gaulli and Garzi were commanded to paint the pictures for it. The Abbate Dondoli lived at Spello at the beginning of this century. He was more to be commended for his design than for his colouring. Marini has some celebrity in S. Severino, his native place.
He was the scholar of Cipriano Divini, whom he surpa.s.sed in his art.
Marco Vanetti, of Loreto, is known to me more from his life of Cignani, who was his master, than from his own works. Antonio Caldana, of Ancona, painted a very large composition in Rome, in the sacristy of S. Niccola da Tolentino, from the life of that saint. I do not know whether there remain any works of his in his native place; but there are a great number by a respectable artist, one Magatta, whose name was Domenico Simonetti, and who painted the gallery of the Marchesi Trionfi; he furnished many churches with his paintings, and distinguished himself in that of the church of the Suffragio, which is his most finished production. Anastasi di Sinigaglia was a painter less elegant and finished, but free and spirited. His works are not scarce in that city, and his best are the two historical subjects in the church della Croce.
Three pictures by him also in S. Lucia di Monte Alboddo, are highly prized, and are called by the writer of the _Guida_, "_Capi d"opera dell"Anastasi_." Camillo Scacciani, of Pesaro, called Carbone, flourished at the beginning of the age we are writing on, and had a Caracciesque style allied to the modern. There is a S. Andrea Avellino by him in the Duomo of Pesaro; his other works are in private collections. This notice I deem sufficient, always excepting the living artists, whom I of course omit.[90]
Three masters who died successively in the pontificate of Pius VI. seem to require from me more than a transient notice, and with them I shall conclude the series of historical painters of the fifth epoch. I shall first commemorate the Cav. Raffaello Mengs, from whom our posterity may perhaps date a new and more happy era of the art. He was born in Saxony, and brought to Rome by his father while yet a boy, and was at that time skilled in miniature, and was a careful and correct draughtsman. On his arrival in Rome, his father employed him in copying the works of Raffaello, and chastised the young artist for every fault in his work, with an incredible severity, or rather inhumanity, inflicting on him even corporeal punishment, and reducing his allowance of food. Being thus compelled to study perfection, and endowed with a genius to appreciate it and perceive it, he acquired a consummate taste in art; he communicated to Winckelmann very important materials for his _Storia delle belle arti_, and was himself the author of many profound and valuable essays on the fine arts, which have materially contributed to improve the taste of the present age. They have different t.i.tles, but all the same aim, the discrimination of the real perfection of art.[91]
The artist, as characterized by Mengs, may be compared to the orator of Cicero, and both are endued by their authors with an ideal perfection, such as the world has never seen, and will probably never see; and it is the real duty of an instructor to recommend excellence, that in striving to attain it, we may at least acquire a commendable portion of it.
Considered in this point of view, I should defend several of his writings, where in the opinion of others he seems to a.s.sume a dictatorial tone, in the judgment he pa.s.ses on Guido, Domenichino, and the Caracci; the very triumvirate whom he proposes as models in the art.
Mengs a.s.suredly was not so infatuated as to hope to surpa.s.s these great men, but because he knew that no one does so well but that it might be done still better, he shews where they attained the summit of art, and where they failed. The artist, therefore, described by Mengs, and to whose qualifications he also aspired, and was anxious that all should do the same, ought to unite in himself the design and beauty of the Greeks, the expression and composition of Raffaello, the chiaroscuro and grace of Coreggio, and, to complete all, the colouring of t.i.tian. This union of qualities Mengs has a.n.a.lyzed with equal elegance and perspicuity, teaching the artist how to form himself on that ideal beauty, which is itself never realised. If, on some occasions, he appears too enthusiastic, or in some degree obscure, it cannot excite our surprise, as he wrote in a foreign language, and was not much accustomed to composition. His ideas therefore stood in need of a refined scholar to render them clear and intelligible; and this advantage he would have procured, had he been resolved to publish them; but his works are all posthumous, and were given to the world by his excellency the Sig. Cav.
Azara. Hence it frequently happens in his works, that one treatise destroys another, as Tiraboschi has observed in regard to his notice of Coreggio, in his _Notizie degli Artefici Modenesi_; and hence concludes that the _Riflessioni di Mengs su i tre gran Pittori_, where he finds much to censure in Coreggio, were written by him before he saw the works of that master; and that his _Memorie_ on the life of the same master, where he extols Coreggio to the skies, and calls him the Apelles of modern painting, were written after having seen and studied him.[92] In spite however of all objections, he will retain a distinguished place, as well among the theorists or writers, as among professors themselves, as long as the art endures.
We perhaps should not say that Mengs was a whetstone which gave a new quality to the steel, which it could not otherwise have acquired; but that he was the steel itself, which becomes brighter and finer the more it is used. He became painter to the court of Dresden; every fresh work gave proof of his progress in the art. He went afterwards to Madrid, where in the chambers of the royal palace he painted the a.s.sembly of the G.o.ds, the Seasons, and the various parts of the day, in an enchanting manner. After repairing a second time to Rome to renew his studies, he again returned to Madrid, where he painted in one of the saloons the Apotheosis of Trajan, and in a theatre, Time subduing Pleasure; pictures much superior to his former pieces. In Rome there are three large works by him; the painting in the vault of S. Eusebio; the Parna.s.sus in the saloon of the Villa Albani, far superior to the preceding one;[93] and lastly, the cabinet of ma.n.u.scripts in the Vatican was painted by him, where the celestial forms of the angels, the majesty of Moses, and the dignified character of S. Peter, the enchanting colour, the relief, and the harmony, contribute to render this chamber one of the most remarkable in Rome for its beautiful decorations. This constant endeavour to surpa.s.s himself, would be evident also from his easel pictures, if they were not so rare in Italy; as he painted many of this description for London and the other capitals of Europe. In Rome itself, where he studied young, where he long resided, to which he always returned, and where at last he died, there are few of his works to be found. We may enumerate the portrait of Clement XIII. and his nephew Carlo, in the collection of the prince Rezzonico; that of Cardinal Zelada, secretary of state; and a few other pieces, in the possession of private gentlemen, more particularly the Sig. Cav. Azara. Florence has some large compositions by him in the Palazzo Pitti, and his own portrait in the cabinet of painters, besides the great Deposition from the Cross in chiaroscuro, for the Marchese Rinuccini, which he was prevented by death from colouring; and a beautiful Genius in fresco in a chamber of the Sig. Conte Senatore Orlando Malevolti del Benino.
Returning from the consideration of his works to Mengs himself, I leave to others to estimate his merit, and to determine how far his principles are just.[94] As far as regards myself, I cannot but extol that inextinguishable ardour of improving himself by which he was particularly distinguished, and which prompted him, even while he enjoyed the reputation of a first rate master, to proceed in every work as if he were only commencing his career. Truth was his great aim, and he diligently studied the works of the first luminaries of the art, a.n.a.lysed their colours, and examined them in detail, till he entered fully into the spirit and design of those great models. Whilst employed in the ducal gallery in Florence, he did not touch a pencil, until he had attentively studied the best pieces there, and particularly the Venus of t.i.tian in the tribune. In his hours of leisure he employed himself in carefully studying the fresco pictures of the best masters of that school, which is so distinguished in this art. He was accustomed to do the same by every work of celebrity which fell in his way, whether ancient or modern; all contributed to his improvement, and to carry him nearer to perfection; he was in short a man of a most aspiring mind, and may be compared to the ancient, who declared that he wished "to die learning." If maxims like these were enforced, what rapid strides in the art might we not expect!
But the greater part of artists form for themselves a manner which may attract popularity, and then relax their efforts, satisfied with the applause of the crowd; and if they feel the necessity of improving, it is not with a design of acquiring a just reputation, but of adding to the price of their works.
Notwithstanding the considerable s.p.a.ce which Mengs has occupied in our time, he has nevertheless left room for the celebrity of Pompeo Batoni, of Luca. The Cav. Boni, who has honoured this artist with an elegant eulogium, thus expresses himself in comparing him with Mengs. "The latter," he says, "was the painter of philosophy, the former of nature.
Batoni had a natural taste which led him to the beautiful without effort; Mengs attained the same object by reflection and study. Grace was the gift of nature in Batoni, as it had formerly been in Apelles; while the higher attributes of the art were allotted to Mengs, as they were in former days to Protogenes. Perhaps the first was more painter than philosopher, the second more philosopher than painter. The latter, perhaps, was more sublime, but more studied; Batoni less profound, but more natural. Not that I would insinuate that nature was sparing to Mengs, or that Batoni was devoid of the necessary science of the art, &c." If it were ever said with truth of any artist, that he was born a painter, this distinction must be allowed to Batoni. He learned only the principles of the art in his native country, and of the two correspondents from whom I have received my information, the one considers him to have been the scholar of Brugieri, the other of Lombardi, as already mentioned, vol. i. p. 360, and probably he was instructed by both. He came young to Rome, and did not frequent any particular school, but studied and copied Raffaello and the old masters with unceasing a.s.siduity, and thus learnt the great secret of copying nature with truth and judgment.
That boundless and instructive volume, open to all, but cultivated by few, was rightly appreciated by Batoni, and it was hence that he derived that beautiful variety in his heads and contours, which are sometimes wanting even in the great masters, who were occasionally too much addicted to the ideal. Hence, too, he derived the gestures and expressions most appropriate to each subject. Persuaded that a vivid imagination was not alone sufficient to depict those fine traits in which the sublimity of the art consists, he did not adopt any att.i.tudes which were not found in nature. He took from nature the first ideas, copied from her every part of the figure, and adapted the drapery and folds from models. He afterwards embellished and perfected his work with a natural taste, and enlivened all with a style of colour peculiarly his own; clear, engaging, lucid, and preserving after the lapse of many years, as in the picture of various saints at S. Gregorio, all its original freshness. This was in him not so much an art as the natural ebullition of his genius. He sported with his pencil. Every path was open to him; painting in various ways, now with great force, now with a touch, and now finishing all by strokes. Sometimes he destroyed the whole work, and gave it the requisite force by a line.[95] Although he was not a man of letters, he yet shows himself a poet in conception, both in a sublime and playful style. One example from a picture in the possession of his heirs, will suffice. Wishing to express the dreams of an enamoured girl, he has represented her wrapped in soft slumbers, and surrounded by loves, two of whom present to her splendid robes and jewels, and a third approaches her with arrows in his hand, while she, captivated by the vision, smiles in her sleep. Many of these poetical designs, and many historical subjects, are in private collections, and in the courts of Europe, from which he had constant commissions.
Batoni possessed an extraordinary talent for portrait painting, and had the honour of being employed by three pontiffs in that branch of the art, Benedict XIV., Clement XIII., and Pius VI.; to whom may be added, the emperor Joseph II. and his august brother and successor, Leopold II., the Grand Duke of Muscovy, and the Grand d.u.c.h.ess, besides numerous private individuals. He for some time painted miniatures, and transferred that care and precision which is essential in that branch to his larger productions, without attenuating his style by hardness. We find an extraordinary proof of this in his altarpieces, spread over Italy, and mentioned by us in many cities, particularly in Lucca. Of those that remain in Rome, Mengs gave the preference to S. Celso, which is over the great altar of that church. Another picture, the Fall of Simon Magus, is in the church of the Certosa. It was intended to have been copied in mosaic for the Vatican, and to have been subst.i.tuted for a picture of the same subject by Vanni, the only one in that church on stone. But the mosaic, from some cause or other, was not executed.
Perhaps the subject displeased, from not being evangelical, and the idea of removing the picture of Vanni not being resumed, the subject was changed, and a commission given to Mengs to paint the Government of the church conferred on S. Peter. He made a sketch for it in chiaroscuro with great care, which is in the Palazzo Chigi, but did not live to finish it in colours. This sketch evinces a design and composition superior to the picture of Batoni, but the subject of the latter was more vigorously conceived. At all events, however, Batoni must henceforth be considered the restorer of the Roman School, in which he lived until his 79th year, and educated many pupils in his profession.
The example of the two last eminent artists was not lost on Antonio Cavallucci da Sermoneta, whose name when I began to print this volume, I did not expect would here have found a place. But having recently died, some notice is due to his celebrity, as he is already ranked with the first artists of his day. He was highly esteemed both in Rome and elsewhere. The Primaziale of Pisa, who in the choice of their artists consulted no recommendation but that of character, employed him on a considerable work, representing S. Bona of that city taking the religious habit. It breathes a sacred piety, which he himself both felt and expressed in a striking manner. In this picture he wished to shew that the examples of christian humility, such as burying in a cloister the gifts of nature and fortune, are susceptible of the gayest decoration. This he effected by introducing a train of n.o.ble men and women, who, according to custom, a.s.sisted in the solemnity. In this composition, in which he follows the principles of Batoni rather than those of Mengs, we may perceive both his study of nature, and his judgment and facility in imitating her. Another large picture of the saints Placido and Mauro, he sent into Catania, and another of S.
Francesco di Paola, he executed for the church of Loreto, and which was copied in mosaic. In Rome are his S. Elias and the Purgatorio, two pictures placed at S. Martino a" Monti, and many works in the possession of the n.o.ble family of Gaetani, who were the first to encourage and support this artist. His last work was the Venus and Ascanius, in the Palazzo Cesarini, which has been described to me as a beautiful production by the Sig. Gio. Gherardo de" Rossi, who has declared his intention of publishing the life of Cavallucci, which will no doubt be done in his usual masterly manner.
The Roman School has recently had to regret the loss of two accomplished masters; Domenico Corvi of Viterbo, and Giuseppe Cades of Rome, who although younger than Corvi, and for some years his scholar, died before him. In my notice of them, I shall begin with the master who has been honoured and eulogized more than once in the respectable _Memorie delle belle Arti_, as well as his scholar, and also some other disciples; as there was not in Rome in the latter times any school more productive in talent. He was truly an accomplished artist, and there were few to compare with him in anatomy, perspective, and design; and from Mancini his instructor, he acquired something of the style of the Caracci.
Hence, his academy drawings are highly prized, and I may say, more sought after than his pictures, which indeed want that fascination of grace and colour which attracts the admiration alike of the learned and the vulgar. He maintained an universal delicacy of colour, and was accustomed to defend the practice by a.s.serting, with what justice I cannot say, that pictures painted in that manner were less liable to become black. His most esteemed works are his night pieces, as the Birth of our Saviour in the church of the Osservanti at Macerata, which is perhaps the summit of his efforts. Some amateurs went thither express towards the close of day; a lofty window opposite favoured the illusion of the perspective of the picture; and Corvi, who in other pictures is inferior to Gherardo delle Notti, viewed in this manner, here excels him, by an originality of perspective and general effect. He worked much both for his own countrymen and foreigners, besides the pictures which he kept ready by him, to supply the daily calls of purchasers, and many of which are still on sale in the house of his widow.
Cades recommends himself to our notice, princ.i.p.ally by a facility of imitation, dangerous to the art when it is not governed by correct principles. No simulator of the character of another handwriting, could ever rival him in the dexterity with which at a moment"s call he could imitate the physiognomy, the naked figure, the drapery, and the entire character of every celebrated designer. The most experienced persons would sometimes request from him a design after Michelangiolo or Raffaello, or some other great master, which he instantly complied with, and when confronted with an indisputable specimen of the master, and these persons were requested to point out the original, as Buonaruoti for example, they often hesitated, and frequently fixed on the design of Cades. He was notwithstanding, extremely honourable. He made on one occasion, a large design in the style of Sanzio, to deceive the director of a foreign cabinet, who boasted an infallible knowledge of the touch of Raffaello; and employing a person to shew it to him, with some fict.i.tious history attached to it, the director purchased it at 500 zecchins. Cades wishing to return the money, the other refused to receive it, insisting on retaining the drawing, and disregarding all the protestations of the artist, and his request to be remunerated by a smaller sum; and this drawing is at this moment probably considered as an original, in one of the finest cabinets of Europe. He was confident in his talents from his early years, and on a public occasion, he made a drawing after the bent of his own genius, regardless of the directions of Corvi, who wished it to be done in another style, and he was in consequence dismissed from that school. This drawing obtained the first premium, and now exists in the academy of S. Luke, where it is much admired. In the art of colouring, too, he owed little to the instruction of masters, and much to his native talent of imitation. I have seen exhibited in the church of the Holy Apostles, a picture by him, which in the upper part represents the Madonna with the Holy Infant, and in the inferior part five saints, an allegorical picture, as I have heard suggested, relating to the election of Clement XIV. That Pope was elected by the suffrages of the Cardinal Carlo Rezzonico and his friends, and contrary to the expectation of P. Innocenzio Buontempi, who ordered the picture, and who after this election was promoted by the Pope to the eminent station of Maestro nel S. Ordine Serafico, and afterwards to that of the Pope"s confessor. Hence this piece represents in the centre S. Clement reading the sacred volume; on his right is S.
Carlo, who appears to admire his learning, and by his att.i.tude seems to say, "This is a man justly ent.i.tled to the pontificate;" and in the last place S. Innocent the Pope, which representing the person of the P.
Maestro, must here for the sake of propriety yield the place to the Cardinal S. Carlo. In the background are S. Francis and S. Anthony, half figures. Cades here took for his model the picture of t.i.tian in the Quirinal, which he imitated as well in the composition as in the colour.
And in this, indeed, he proceeded too far, giving it that obscure tone which the works of t.i.tian have acquired only by the lapse of time. Cades here defended himself by saying that this piece was intended to be placed in the church of S. Francesco di Fabriano in a very strong light, where if the colours had not been kept low, they would have been displeasing to the spectator. There is an error in the perspective which cannot be overlooked. The allegorical figure of P. M. Innocenzio, who stands amazed at the sudden phenomenon, appears to be out of equilibrium, and would fall in real life. Other faults of colour, of costume, or of vulgarity of form, are noticed in others of his pictures by the author of the _Memorie_, in tom. i. and iii. But as he advanced in life he improved his style from study, and attending to the criticisms of the public. In tom. iii. just referred to, we find the description of one of his works executed for the Villa Pinciana, the subject of which is taken from Boccaccio; Walter Conte di Anguersa recognized in London. Let us weigh the opinion which this eminent author gives of this most beautiful composition, or let us compare it with the picture of S. Joseph of Copertino, which he painted at twenty-one years of age, as an altarpiece in the church of the Apostles, and we shall perceive the rapid strides which are made by genius. Other princely families, besides the Borghesi, availed themselves of his talents to ornament their palaces and villas; as the Ruspoli and the Chigi, and he executed several works for the empress of Russia. He died before he had attained his fiftieth year, and not long after he had so much improved his style. In the opinion of some, his execution still required to be rendered more uniform, since he sometimes displayed as many different manners in a picture, as there were figures. But in that he might plead the example of Caracci, as we shall notice on a proper opportunity.
We shall now pa.s.s to other branches of the art, and shall commence with landscapes. In this period flourished the scholars of the three famous landscape painters, described in their proper place, besides Grimaldi, mentioned in the Bolognese School, who resided a considerable time in Rome; and Paolo Anesi, of whom we made mention in speaking of Zuccherelli. With Anesi lived Andrea Lucatelli, a Roman, whose talents are highly celebrated in every inferior branch of the art. In the archbishop"s gallery in Milan are a number of his pictures, historical, architectural, and landscapes. In these he often appears original in composition, and in the disposition of the ma.s.ses; he is varied in his touch, delicate in his colouring, and elegant in his figures, which, as we shall see, he was also accustomed to paint in the Flemish style, separate from his landscapes.
Francis Van Blomen was a less finished artist, and from the hot and vaporous air of his pictures, obtained the name of Orizzonte. The palaces of the Pope and the n.o.bility in Rome, abound with his landscapes in fresco and oil. In the character of his trees, and in the composition of his landscapes, he commonly imitated Poussin. In his general tone there predominates a greenish hue mixed with red. His pictures are not all equally finished, but they rise in value as those of older artists become injured by time, or rare from being purchased by foreigners. At the side of Van Blomen we often find the works of some of his best scholars, as Giacciuoli and Francis Ign.a.z.io, a Bavarian.
At the same time lived in Rome Francesco Wallint, called M. Studio, who painted small landscapes and sea views, ornamented with very beautiful figures; devoid however of that sentiment which is the gift of nature, and that delicacy which charms in the Italian School. He imitated Claude: Wallint the younger, his son, attached himself to the same manner with success, but did not equal his father.
At the beginning of this epoch, or thereabouts, there flourished two artists in Perugia in the same line; Ercolano Ercolanetti, and Pietro Montanini, the scholar of Ciro Ferri and of Rosa. The last was ambitious of the higher walks of art, and attempted the decoration of a church, but failed in the attempt, as his talent was restricted to landscape; and even when he added figures to these, they were not very correct, and possessed more spirit than accuracy of design. He was nevertheless a pleasing painter, and his pictures were sought after by foreigners. In Perugia there is an abundance of his works, and some are to be seen in the sacristy of the Eremitani, which might be said to discover a Flemish style.
Alessio de Marchis, a Neapolitan, is not much known in Rome, although in the Ruspoli and Albani palaces, some pleasing pieces by him are pointed out. He is better known in Perugia and Urbino, and the adjacent cities.
It is said that, in order to obtain a study for a picture from nature, he set fire to a barn. For this act he was condemned to the galleys for several years, and was liberated under the pontificate of Clement XI.
whose palace in Urbino he decorated with architectural ornaments, distant views, and beautiful seapieces, more in the style of Rosa than any other artist. There is an extraordinarily fine picture by him of the Burning of Troy, in the collection of the Semp.r.o.ni family, and some landscapes in other houses in Urbino, in which he has displayed all his genius, and extended it also to figures. But in general there is little more to praise in him than his spirit, his happy touch, and natural colouring, particularly in fires, and the loaded and murky air, and the general tone of the piece, as the detached parts are negligent and imperfect. He left a son, also a landscape painter, but not of much celebrity.