_Dawn of the Art, and Progress to the Sixteenth Century._
Piedmont, like the other states of Italy, cannot boast of a series of ancient masters; but it does not on that account forfeit its claim to a place in the history of painting. That enchanting art, the daughter of peace and contemplation, shuns not only the sound but the very rumour of war. Piedmont, from her natural position, is a warlike country; and if she enjoys the merit of having afforded to the other parts of Italy the protection necessary for the cultivation of the fine arts, she is at the same time under the disadvantage of not being able to insure them safety in her own territory. Hence, though Turin has ever been fruitful in talent, to obtain the decorations suitable to a metropolis, she has been compelled to seek at a distance for painters, or at least for pictures; and whatever we find excellent either in the palace or the royal villas, in the churches, in the public buildings, or in private collections, will be found to be wholly the work of foreigners. I may be told that the artists of Novara and Vercelli, and others from the Lago Maggiore, are not strangers. That might be true after those communities were included in the dominions of the house of Savoy; but they, who were the first in this epoch, were born, lived, and died subjects of other states: and after the new conquests, these artists no more became Piedmontese from that circ.u.mstance, than Parrhasius and Apelles became Romans from the moment that Greece was subjected to Rome.
For this reason I have cla.s.sed these artists in the Milanese School; to which, though they had not belonged as subjects, they ought still to be a.s.signed by education, residence, or neighbourhood. This plan I have hitherto persevered in: the subject of my history being not the states of Italy, but her schools of painting. Nor on that account will the artists of Monferrato be excluded from this place. This is also a recent addition to the house of Savoy, which first possessed it in 1706; but it is anterior to the other acquisitions, and its artists are scarcely ever named among the pupils of the Milanese School. We must also recollect that they either left many works in Piedmont, and that this is therefore the proper place to mention them, or that they did not quit their native country; and as it is impracticable to devote a separate book to that place, I have judged it best to include it in this state, on the confines of which it is situated, and to which it eventually became subject.
Confining ourselves therefore to the ancient state of Piedmont, and noticing also Savoy, and other neighbouring territories not yet considered, we shall find little written of,[71] nor have we much to praise in the artists; but the ruling family, who have been always distinguished by their love of the arts, and have used all their influence to foster them, are ent.i.tled to our grateful recollections. At the time of their first revival Amadeus IV. invited to his court one Giorgio da Firenze, a scholar, I know not whether of Giotto or some other master: it is however certain that he painted in the castle of Chambery in 1314, and we find remains of him to 1325, in which year he worked at Pinarolo. That he from this time coloured in oil is doubted in Piedmont; and the Giornale of Pisa published a letter on that subject the last year. I know not that I can add any thing further to what I have already written on this question in many places of this work. Giorgio da Firenze is unknown in his native place, like some others who are commemorated only in this book, who lived much in Piedmont, or at least were better known there than elsewhere. In the same age there worked at S. Francesco di Chieri, quite in the Florentine style, an artist who subscribed himself _Johannes pintor pinxit_ 1343; and some feeble fresco painters in the baptistery of the same city. There are also some other anonymous artists in other parts, whose manners differ in some respects from the style of Giotto; among whom I may mention the painter of the Consolata, a picture of the Virgin held in great veneration at Turin.
Footnote 71: A catalogue of the painters of Piedmont, and their works, is given by the Count Durando in the notes to his _Ragionamento su le belle Arti_, published in 1778. The P. M. della Valle has also written of them in his prefaces to the tenth and eleventh volumes of Vasari. Some valuable information respecting them has also been contributed by the author of the _Notizie patrie_, and more is to be found in the New Guide of Turin of Sig. Derossi, and in the first volume of the _Pitture d"Italia_. And, lastly, further notices are to be gathered from various works on art, of which we shall avail ourselves in the proper place.
At a later period, that is, about the year 1414, Gregorio Bono, a Venetian, was invited also to Chambery by Amadeus VIII., in order to paint his portrait. He executed it on panel; nor is it probable that he ever returned to Venice, as we find no mention made of him there. A Nicolas Robert, a Frenchman, was painter to the duke from 1473 to 1477; but his works have either perished, or remain unknown; and probably he was a miniature painter, or an illuminator of books, as they were at that time designated, artists who from the proximity of their professions are called painters, as well as the n.o.bler masters of the art. About the same time it appears that there worked in Piedmont Raimondo, a Neapolitan, who left his name on a picture of several compartments in S. Francesco di Chieri, a piece estimable from the vivacity of the countenances and the colouring, though the drapery is loaded with gold, a mark of the little refinement of the times. Of another painter of this period there remains an indication in the church of S. Agostino in that city, from this inscription on an ancient picture, _Per Martinum Simazotum, alias de Capanigo_, 1488. I find noticed also in the hospital of Vigevano a picture with a gold ground by Gio.
Quirico da Tortona.
But no territory at this period furnishes us with such interesting matter as Monferrato, then the feudal state of the Paleologhi. We learn from P.
della Valle, that Barnaba da Modena was introduced into Alba in the fourteenth century, and he certainly was among the first artists that obtained applause in Piedmont. We have cursorily noticed him in his school; for to judge from the way in which his works are scattered, he must have lived at a distance. Two pictures remain by him at the Conventuals at Pisa; one in the church, the other in the convent; both figures of the Virgin, of whom the second picture represents the coronation, where she is surrounded by S. Francis and other saints of his order. Sig. da Morrona praises the beautiful character of the heads, the drapery, and the colouring; and prefers him to Giotto. And P. della Valle speaks in the same terms of another picture of the Virgin, remaining in the possession of the Conventuals of Alba, which he says is in a grander style than any contemporary works; and he states that the year 1357 is signed to it. As to his a.s.sertion that the art in Piedmont had derived from him much light and advancement, I know not how to confirm it, as I have never been in Alba, and as I find a great interval between him and his successors in that very city. Afterwards in the church of S. Domenico a Giorgio Tuncotto painted in 1473; and in that of S. Francesco a M. Gandolfino in 1493. To these may be added Gio. Peroxino and Pietro Grammorseo, well known for two pictures which they left at the Conventuals; the one in Alba in 1517, the other in Casale in 1523.
But the most distinguished artist in those parts, and in Turin itself, was Macrino, a native of Alladio, and a citizen of Alba; whence, in a picture which is in the sacristy of the metropolitan church in Turin, he subscribes himself _Macrinus de Alba_. His name was Gian Giacomo Fava, an excellent painter, of great truth in his countenances, careful and finished in every part, and sufficiently skilled in his colouring and shadowing. I am aware that the Sig. Piacenza has mentioned him in his notes to Baldinucci, a work which, to the loss of the history of art and just criticism, remains imperfect, and which I have not now at hand. I know not where Macrino studied; but in his picture at Turin, which is much in the style of Bramante and his Milanese contemporaries, he has placed as an ornament in his landscape the Flavian amphitheatre; whence we may conclude that he had seen Rome; or, if not Rome, at least the learned school of Da Vinci. I found by him in the Certosa of Pavia another picture, with S. Ugo and S.
Siro; an inferior performance with respect to the forms and the colouring, but very carefully painted in all its parts. But, wherever he studied, he is the first artist in these countries who made advances to the modern style; and he seems to have been held in esteem, not only in Asti and in Alba, which contain many of his large works and cabinet pictures, but in Turin, and in the palace of the prince; to whose family, as I conjecture, belonged a cardinal, represented at the feet of the Virgin, and of the saints surrounding her, in the picture at the cathedral. I am persuaded that he left other pictures in Turin; but that city, above all the other capitals of Italy, has perhaps been the most addicted to subst.i.tute modern pictures for the ancient. Contemporary with Macrino was Brea of Nizza, whom I mentioned in the school of Genoa, together with three painters of Alessandria della Paglia, all having lived in that state. I shall here only add Borghese of Nizza della Paglia, where, and in Ba.s.signana, are pictures inscribed _Hieronymus Burgensis Niciae Palearum pinxit_.
In the beginning of the sixteenth century, whether it was that the troubled state of Italy called the attention of the princes to more serious objects, or from some other cause, I do not find any interesting records. About the middle of that century it is supposed that Antonio Parentani flourished, who at the Consolata painted within the chapter house a Paradise with numerous angels. I do not know his country, but he followed the Roman taste of that age, and in a certain way diminished it. At this period the books of the public Treasury stand in the place of history, and guide us to the knowledge of other artists. I am indebted for the information to the Baron Vernazza de Fresnois, secretary of state of his majesty, a gentleman not less rich in knowledge than obliging in communicating it. The before-mentioned books record a Valentin Lomellino da Raconigi; and after 1561, in which year he died, or relinquished his place, a Jacopo Argenta of Ferrara. Both the one and the other bore the t.i.tle of painter to the duke; but the world cannot judge of their talents, as no work by them is known either in Turin or elsewhere; and it is probable they were rather illuminators than painters. A Giacomo Vighi is noticed by Malvasia and by Orlandi, who painted for the court of Turin about 1567, and was presented with the castle of Casal Burgone. The works of this painter too are unknown to the public; but not so the works of those who follow.
Alessandro Ardente of Faenza, though some make him a Pisan, and others a Lucchese,[72] Giorgio Soleri of Alessandria, and Agosto Decio, a Milanese miniaturist before mentioned by me, painted the portrait of Charles Emanuel, duke of Savoy, for which all three are praised by Lomazzo in his treatise, at p. 435. The two first were also appointed painters to the court. They excelled in historical compositions as well as being celebrated portrait painters. By Alessandro we see in Turin at the Monte della Pieta the Fall of St. Paul, in a style that would lead us to believe he had studied in Rome. More of his works remain in Lucca; in one of which, a Baptism of Christ painted at S. Giovanni by this Ardente, the subject is treated in a highly original manner. (_Guida di Lucca_, p. 261.) In the neighbourhood also of that city are many of his works. The Sig. da Morrona also names him in the second volume of his _Pisa ill.u.s.trata_, and informing us that he has not a sufficient account of him, concludes that he lived a long time out of Tuscany. I believe that he resided a considerable time in Piedmont, as I find some works by him out of Turin; as an Epiphany in Moncalieri, inscribed with his name and the year 1592; and knowing further, that on his death, in 1595, a pension was a.s.signed by the prince to his widow and sons; a proof in my mind that Ardente must have served the court many years.
Footnote 72: We ought to credit his own testimony. He painted three pictures at S. Paolino di Lucca, and in that of S. Antonio Abate he subscribes himself _Alexander Ardentius Faventinus_, 1565; so says Monsig. Mansi, Archbishop of Lucca, in his Diario. He however in other places in that little work, and Sig. Morrona in his _Pisa_, call him a Pisan, and others a Lucchese.
Of Soleri, the son-in-law of Bernardino Lanini, I have given some account in the Milanese School, (tom. iv. p. 278). He is also mentioned by Malvasia in tom. ii. p. 134, and compared with Pa.s.serotti, Arcimboldi, Gaetano, and with Del Monte of Crema, in portrait painting. His professional education however remains obscure, except as far as we are able to conjecture from his works. I have only been able to find two of his performances; and I am not aware that any other are known. The one is in Alessandria, and serves as an altar-piece to the domestic chapel of the Conventuals. It represents the Virgin and the Saints Augustin and Francis recommending to her protection the city of Alessandria, which is represented in the background.
The landscape is in the style of Bril, as usual with our painters before the Caracci; the figures are painted with more labour than spirit; the colour is languid; and the whole presents the style of one desirous of imitating the best period of the Roman School, but who had not seen or studied it sufficiently. But there is a more authentic picture in the church of the Domenicans of Casale, with the inscription, _Opus Georgii Soleri Alex. 1573_. It represents S. Lorenzo kneeling at the feet of the Virgin, who has with her the holy infant; near the saint three angelic boys are playing with a huge gridiron, his customary symbol; and are straining to raise it from the ground. Here we most distinctly trace the follower of Raffaello, in the chasteness of design, the beauty and grace of the countenances, and the finished expression; if indeed the design of these angels is not taken from Coreggio. To render the picture more engaging, there is represented a landscape, with a window, whence there appears in the distance a beautiful country, with fine buildings; nor are there many pictures remaining in the city at this day to be compared with it. If it had possessed a more vigorous colouring, and a stronger chiaroscuro, there would be nothing more to wish for. When I consider the style, I know not to what school to a.s.sign it; for it is not that of Lanini, although his father-in-law; nor that of any Milanese, although he was in Milan. Perhaps, like others of his day, he formed himself on the engravings after Raffaello; or if he copied any other painter, it was Bernardino Campi, whom, if we except a certain timidity of touch, he resembles more than any other.
Soleri had a son, a painter of mediocrity, as may be seen in Alessandria in the sacristy of S. Francesco. The father, to propitiate his success in the art to which he destined him, had given him the two most ill.u.s.trious names of the profession, calling him Raffaele Angiolo. But these names served only to flatter parental fondness.
With Alessandro Ardente and Giorgio Soleri we find mentioned a Jacopo Rosignoli of Leghorn, who was at that time painter to the court. His character is described in an epitaph placed over him at S. Thomas in Turin, which thus extols him: _quibusc.u.mque naturae amoenitatibus exprimendis ad omnigenam incrustationum vetustatem_; meaning grotesques, in which he imitated with success Perino del Vaga. We also find memorials of another painter to the court about the same time. The books of the Treasury call him Isidoro Caracca, and he seems to have succeeded to Ardente; for in 1595 his name begins to be found, to which others may perhaps add, in progress of time, his country, school, and works. To me it seems that persons who have received such a mark of distinction, ought at least not to be placed among the vulgar; nor should a notice of them be neglected when they fall in our way.
We may add to these some others of doubtful schools, as Scipione Crispi of Tortona, who has derived celebrity from the Visitation, placed in S.
Lorenzo in Voghera; and in Tortona itself there is a picture representing S. Francis and S. Dominick with the Virgin, with his name, and the date 1592. Contemporary with Crispi was Cesare Arbasia, of Saluzzo, supposed by Palomino, but incorrectly so, to be a scholar of Vinci, as I mentioned when I spoke of him before.[73] He resided some time in Rome, and taught in the academy of St. Luke, and is mentioned with commendation by the P. Chiesa in his life of Ancina, as one of the first of his age. He went also to Spain, where, in the cathedral of Malaga, there still exists his picture of the Incarnation, painted in 1579; and there is an entire chapel painted by him in fresco in the cathedral of Cordova. He painted too the vault of the church of the Benedictines of Savigliano; in the public palace of his native place he executed also some works in fresco; and he was held in esteem by the court, who granted him a pension in 1601.
Footnote 73: Tom. iv. p. 257. One truth prepares the way for another. I have read in Sig. Conca, tom. iii. p. 164, that the style of Arbasia partakes of that of Federigo Zuccaro; an opinion I believe of Sig. Ponz, the princ.i.p.al guide of Conca. If Federigo about the same time was chief, and Arbasia master in the academy of Rome, the style of the first might be caught by the other. When we reflect that the style of Da Vinci is highly finished, correct, and strong, diametrically opposed to the facility and popular style of Federigo, we cannot accord to Palomino that authority and veneration which Conca bestows on him. What should we think of a critic who should endeavour to palm on us, as the production of the time of Horace, an ode written in the style of Prudentius?
There is ground for believing that Soleri, who was married in Vercelli, and who lived in Casale, had a share in the instruction of the celebrated Caccia, surnamed Il Moncalvo, who gave to Monferrato its brightest days of art. We may with propriety say a few words on this subject before we return to Turin. Monferrato was some time under the Paleologhi; afterwards under the Gonzaghi; this is a sufficient reason for us to believe that it was willingly frequented by excellent artists. Vasari relates that Gio.
Francesco Carotto was considerably employed by Guglielmo, Marquis of Monferrato, as well in his court at Casale as in the church of S. Domenico.
After him other artists of merit resorted thither, whose works still remain to the public. We further know that these princes had a collection of marbles and pictures, which were afterwards removed to Turin, where they contributed to the ornament of the palace and royal villas. After what we have stated we cannot be surprised that the arts should have flourished in this part of Italy and the adjacent country, and that we should there meet with painters deserving of our admiration.
Such an one was Moncalvo, so called from his long residence in that place.
He was however born in Montabone, and his true name was Guglielmo Caccia.
No name is more frequently heard by cultivated foreigners who pa.s.s through this higher part of Italy. He commenced his career in Milan, where he painted in several churches. He proceeded afterwards to Pavia, where he did the same, and where he was presented with the freedom of the city. But he is still more frequently named in Novara, Vercelli, Casale, Alessandria, and in the tract of country leading from thence to Turin. Nor is this the whole itinerary of such as wish to see all his works. We must often deviate from the beaten road, and visit in this district castles and villas, which frequently present us with excellent specimens, particularly in Monferrato.
He there pa.s.sed a great part of his life; having been brought up in Moncalvo, says P. Orlandi, an estate of Monferrino, where he had both a home and school of painting. He seems to have begun his career in these parts; and as his first works they point out, in the Sacro Monte di Crea, some small chapels with pa.s.sages from the sacred writings.
P. della Valle describes his style at Crea as that of the infant Graces. He remarks that there are indications of his inexperience in fresco painting, and that by comparing his early works with his last we may trace the improvement in his style. He attained such a degree of excellence as to be considered as an example to fresco painters for his great skill in this department. He is to be seen in Milan at S. Antonio Abate, by the side of the Carloni of Genoa: he there painted the t.i.tular saint, with S. Paul, the first hermit; and maintains himself in this dangerous contest. His picture in the cupola of S. Paul at Novara is a beautiful and vigorous painting, with a glory of angels, painted, as he generally did, in a delightful manner. In oils he was perhaps not so successful. I have seen few of his pictures painted with that strength with which he represented in Turin St.
Peter in the pontifical habit, in the church of S. Croce. The picture of S.
Teresa, in the church of that saint, is also well coloured; and it is celebrated for its graceful design, in which is represented the saint between two angels, overpowered at the appearance of the holy family, which is revealed to her in her ecstacy. To this may be also added the Deposition from the Cross at S. Gaudenzio di Novara, which is there by some considered his masterpiece, and it is indeed a work of the highest merit. In general his tints are so delicate, that in our days at least he appears somewhat languid, the fault perhaps of not having retouched his pictures sufficiently.
His style of design does not accord with that of the Caracci, which leads me to question the opinion prevalent in Moncalvo, that he was a pupil of that school. One of the Caracci school would have studied fresco in Bologna, not in Crea; nor would he have adopted in his landscape the style of Bril, as Moncalvo has done; nor have discovered a preference of the Roman style to that of Parma. Caccia"s style of design seems derived from the elder schools, as we may observe in it a manner which partakes of Raffaello, of Andrea del Sarto, and Parmigianino, the great masters of ideal beauty. And in his Madonnas, which are to be seen in many collections, he sometimes seems the scholar of the one, and sometimes of the other; one of those in the royal palace of Turin seems designed by Andrea. But the colouring, though accompanied by grace and delicacy, as I said before, is different, and even borders often on debility, in the manner of the Bolognese School which preceded the Caracci, and more especially of Sabbatini. He resembles that master also in the beauty of the heads and in grace; and if it could be satisfactorily proved that Moncalvo studied in Bologna, we need not look further for a master than Sabbatini.
But I have before made the remark that two painters frequently fall into the same style, as two different writers sometimes adopt the same characters. And I have also observed, in regard to Moncalvo, that in Casale he had Soleri, a painter of a lively and elegant style; and that there, in Vercelli, and in other cities where he resided, there was not wanting to him the best examples of that graceful style to which his genius inclined.
He did not however shun n.o.bler subjects; as his works in the church of the Conventuals at Moncalvo will shew, where there is a rich gallery of his pictures. Chieri also has specimens of him in two historical pictures in a chapel of S. Domenico. He there painted the two laterals of the altar; in the one is the resuscitation of Lazarus, in the other the miracle of the loaves in the desert; works remarkable for their richness of fancy, their excellent disposition, the correctness of the drawing, the vivacity of the action, and the first of which inspires both devotion and awe. They would confer honour on the n.o.blest churches.
He executed many works, a.s.sisted by scholars of mediocrity; a thing which ought to be avoided by every good master. In Casale I heard a Giorgio Alberino enumerated among his best scholars; and on the relation of P.
della Valle I may add to them Sacchi, also of Casale, as his companion in Moncalvo; who possessed a more energetic pencil perhaps, and more learning than Caccia. He painted in S. Francesco a Drawing of Lots for Marriage Portions; in which is seen a great a.s.semblage of fathers, mothers, and young daughters; and in the latter the sentiments are most vividly expressed, so that we read the fate of each in her countenance; the face of one beaming with delight at the mention of her name, while another stands wishful, yet fearing to hear herself called. And at S. Agostino di Casale is a standard, with the Virgin and saints, and certain portraits of the Gonzaghi princes; a picture ascribed to Moncalvo: but if we consult the style and the mode of colouring, I should rather attribute it to Sacchi.
Caccia taught, and was a.s.sisted in his labours by two daughters, who may be called the Gentilesche, or the Fontane of Monferrato, where they painted not only cabinet pictures but more altar-pieces than perhaps any other females. The contours of their figures are exactly copied from their father, but they are not so animated. It is said that their manner was so similar, that, in order to distinguish them, the younger, Francesca, adopted the symbol of a small bird; and Ursula, who founded the convent of Ursulines in Moncalvo, that of a flower. Of the latter her church and Casale also have some altar-pieces, and not a few cabinet pictures with landscapes touched in the style of Bril, and ornamented with flowers. A Holy Family by her in this style is in the rich collection of the Palazzo Natta.
Lastly I may record the name of Niccol Musso, the boast of Casalmonferrato, where he lived, and left works which possess an originality of style. He is said by Orlandi to have been the scholar of Caravaggio for ten years in Rome; and there is a tradition in his native place that he studied under the Caracci in Bologna. Musso leans to Caravaggio, but his chiaroscuro is more delicate and more transparent; he is very select in his figures and in expression; and is one of those admirable painters almost unknown to Italy itself. He did not live long, and generally painted for private individuals. He left however some works in public, and more than one in the church of S. Francis, representing that saint at the feet of Christ crucified, and angels partaking his lamentations and devotions. The portrait of this artist, painted by himself, is also in Casale, in the possession of the Marchese Mossi; and some memoirs of him were published by the Canonico de" Giovanni, as I read in P. M. della Valle.[74]
Footnote 74: Pref. al tomo xi. del Vasari, p. 20.
SCHOOL OF PIEDMONT AND THE ADJACENT TERRITORY.
EPOCH II.
_Painters of the Seventeenth Century, and first Establishment of the Academy._
Returning now to Turin and to the seventeenth century, in the early part of which the painters, whom we have mentioned with commendation, were either still surviving, or only lately deceased, we meet with Federigo Zuccaro, who, in his journey through the various states of Italy, (of which Baglione speaks,) did not fail to visit Turin. He there painted some pictures in the churches, and commenced the decoration of a gallery for the duke; a work which, from some cause or other, was left unfinished. Baglione does not inform us that this gallery was destined for the reception of works of art, but it is highly probable that it was so; since, at that time, a considerable collection of ancient marbles,[75] designs, and cartoons, was already formed, which has been since enlarged, and is now preserved in the Archivio Reale; and a select cabinet of pictures, to which similar additions have been made, and which is now the princ.i.p.al ornament of the royal palace, and the villas of the sovereign. We there find the works of Bellini, Holbein, and the Ba.s.sani; the two large compositions of Paolo, executed for the Duke Charles, and described by Ridolfi; several pictures of the Caracci and their best scholars, amongst which are the Four Elements by Albano, an admirable production; without mentioning others by Moncalvo and Gentileschi, both of whom resided for some time in Turin, and by other eminent Italian artists, or the best Flemish painters, some of whom remained a considerable time in that city. Hence, in this cla.s.s of pictures, the house of Savoy surpa.s.ses every single house in Italy, or even many taken together.
Footnote 75: Galleria del Marini, p. 288.
But, to proceed in due course, we may observe, that, at the commencement of the seventeenth century, there existed in Turin a rich collection of pictures and drawings, the ornament of the throne, and subservient to the instruction of young artists, the care of which was entrusted to a painter of the court. We first find one Bernardo Orlando invested with this charge, who was appointed painter to the duke in 1617. This honour, in succeeding years, was conferred on many others, whose pencils were employed in Turin and the castle of Rivoli; where, however, many of their works were effaced in the present century, and others subst.i.tuted by the two Vanloos. Some of these are unknown in the history of art, as Antonio Rocca and Giulio Mayno, the first a native of I know not what place, the latter of Asti. A della Rovere is also an unknown artist, mentioned in the Registers from the year 1626; nor can this be the same who left, in the convent of St. Francis, a picture of very original invention, the subject of which is Death. It expresses the origin of death, in the transgression of Adam and Eve; and the fulfilment of it, by the thread spun, wound, and severed, by the three Fates, with other fancies in which profane and sacred ideas are confounded together. If the design of this picture cannot command our approbation, its other qualities are still prepossessing, and conciliate our esteem for the painter, who subscribes himself, _Jo. Bapt. a Ruere Taur._ f. 1627. But the name of the court painter was Girolamo. Baglione acquaints us with another, called Marzio di Colantonio, a Roman by birth, who excelled in grotesques and landscapes. There are also some others included in the list of ducal painters, whom we have before mentioned in various schools; as Vincenzo Conti in the Roman, Morazzone in the Milanese, and Sinibaldo Scorza in the Genoese. These and others, who painted in Turin and the neighbourhood about this time, will be found in the _Lettere_ and the _Galleria_ of the Cav.
Marini, who resided for some time at this court. We must, however, consult him with caution, as he was a poet, and very readily augmented his gallery, by devoting a sonnet to every picture and drawing, so that artists of mediocrity valued themselves more on his applause than painters of merit.[76] Thus Malvasia informs us, that he had frequently heard Albano boast of having refused Marini"s request, the gift of a picture, for fear the poet should make it the subject of a sonnet, (tom. ii. p. 273).
Footnote 76: The mediocrity of some who are extolled in Marini"s work, which was published about the year 1610, appears from the silence observed towards them by contemporary writers, or the little applause with which they are named. I never elsewhere found mention, to the best of my recollection, of Lucilio Gentiloni, of Filatrava, nor of Giulio Donnabella, who there figure as eminent designers; nor of Annibale Mancini, whence I know not, a painter of histories; nor of the two equally renowned Frenchmen, M.
Brandin and M. Flaminet, elsewhere transformed into Fulminetto; much less a Raffaele Rabbia, and a Giulio Maina, who painted the poet"s portrait; unless, indeed, the second be the Bolognese Giulio Morina, mutilated in his name, like not a few other artists of this truly ill a.s.sorted _Gallery_. [This artist would rather appear to be the Giulio Mayno, of Asti, the court painter, mentioned in p. 467, _ante._ _Ed._]
The painters whom I have just mentioned were, most probably, the instructors of those artists of Turin and the states who flourished elsewhere; as Bernaschi in Naples, Garoli in Rome, and others who are said to have been also taught by foreigners, and who distinguished themselves in Piedmont. None of this number possess a stronger claim to our notice than Mulinari, (or, as he is more frequently called, Mollineri) whether with regard to merit, or the order of time. Most writers have considered him a scholar of the Caracci in Rome; from the imitation of whom he received the surname of Caraccino from his own countrymen. But I apprehend that this supposed residence of his in Rome proceeds from the common source of such mistakes, the resemblance of style, true or supposed. Della Valle mentions him as being settled in his native place in 1621, and of forty years of age; languid and feeble in his contours, and improving himself by the a.s.sistance of some masters, his friends; to which we may perhaps add, the study of the prints of the Caracci, and some of their paintings. My suspicions are confirmed by the Count Durando, a well informed and cautious writer, who denies that positive proof can be given of the reported instruction of Mulinari, notwithstanding the surname of Caraccino, a t.i.tle not difficult to acquire from the vulgar, in a city so remote from Bologna and Rome; as in some countries which have little knowledge of the true style of Cicero, a writer may pa.s.s for an elegant latinist, while imitating Arn.o.bius. In other respects, in the pictures which have acquired him celebrity, he is correct, energetic, and, if not dignified, yet animated and varied in his male heads; for, as Durando himself confesses, his females are all deficient in grace. His colouring is also good, though not resembling the Caracci; his tints being more clear, differently disposed, and sometimes feeble. At Turin, the Deposition from the Cross at S.
Dalmazio, is cla.s.sed amongst his best works; but the composition is crowded, and very different from the principles of the Bolognese. In Savigliano, where Mulinari was born, and where he lived many years, pictures by him are found in almost every church; and his talent and merit are, in fact, only known in that place. There, and in Turin, we find some works by a worthy Flemish artist, named Gio. Claret, by some considered the scholar, by others the master of Gio. Antonio in colouring, but at all events his intimate friend. He is an artist of a free and spirited pencil, and painted in several churches in compet.i.tion with Mulinari.
Giulio Bruni, a Piedmontese, was a clever pupil of the Genoese School, first under Tavarone, then under Paggi, and remained painting in Genoa, until he was expelled by war. His works there, though not very finished, and too darkly coloured, were well designed, harmonious, and well composed.
Such is, in the church of St. James, his St. Thomas of Villanova giving alms. History also mentions one Gio. Batista, his brother and scholar.
Giuseppe Vermiglio, although born in Turin, is not named in the _Guide_ of that city. We find pictures by him in Piedmont, as at Novara and Alessandria; and beyond that dominion, in Mantua and Milan, in which last city is a work which is perhaps his masterpiece. The subject is a Daniel amidst Lions, in the library of the Pa.s.sione, a large composition, well disposed, with fine architectural decorations, in the Paolesque style. The king and people are seen on a balcony admiring the prophet, untouched by the ferocious animals, while his accusers are, at the same instant, precipitated amidst the ravenous beasts, and torn to pieces. In the same composition is also represented the other prophet, borne through the air by an angel, by the hair of his head. We cannot exactly commend the design, which thus unites events incongruous in point of time. But with this exception, this is one of the most valuable pictures painted in Milan, after Gaudenzio, for correctness, beautiful forms, expression highly studied, and colours warm, varied, and lucid. From the imitative style of the heads, it is evident that he studied the Caracci, and was not a stranger to Guido; but in the colouring it seemed as if he had imitated the Flemish artists. It is reported in Milan, perhaps from the resemblance of the style, that he instructed Daniel Crespi; a circ.u.mstance very improbable, since Vermiglio continued to work to the year 1675. For we find this date at the foot of a large picture of the Woman of Samaria, in the refectory of the PP. Olivetani, in Alessandria, which must be one of his last works, decorated with a beautiful landscape, and a magnificent view of the city of Samaria in the distance. I consider him the finest painter in oil that the ancient state of Piedmont can boast, and as one of the best Italian artists of his day. Why he painted so near Turin, and yet had no success in that city, and why he was not distinguished by his own sovereign, though well received at the court of Mantua, I have not been able to discover. We find one Rubini, a Piedmontese, certainly not of equal merit with the last artist, who, about the time of Vermiglio, worked in the church of S. Vito, in Trevigi, and whom we find mentioned in the MSS. of that city, or in the description of its pictures.
Giovenal Boetto, celebrated amongst the engravers in Turin, deserves a place amongst superior artists, from a saloon painted by him in Fossano, his native place. It is in the Casa Garballi, and contains four pictures in fresco. The subject is the ill.u.s.tration of various arts and sciences.
Theology is represented by a dispute between the Thomists and Scotists; and in that piece, and in the others, we must admire the truth of nature in the portraits, and the powerful chiaroscuro, as well as the design. Little else of him remains.
Gio. Moneri, some of whose descendants were also painters, was born near Acqui, and being instructed by Romanelli, he brought with him from Rome the style of that school. The first proofs of his art were given in Acqui, in 1657, where he painted in the cathedral the picture of the a.s.sumption, besides a Paradiso in fresco, much commended. He continued to advance in his art, as we see both in the Presentation in the church of the Capuchins, and in other pictures of him remaining in the neighbourhood, exhibiting a greater copiousness, a finer expression, and a stronger relief. It is known that he worked in Genoa and Milan and their dependencies, and in several places in Piedmont; but among these we cannot include Turin; nor could it be easy for a provincial painter to find commissions, when the capital had artists in sufficient number to form an academy.
Until the year 1652 the professors of the art in Turin did not possess the form of a society, much less the appearance of an academy. In the above year they first began to form themselves into a company, which had the name of St. Luke given to it; and which, in a few years, grew into the academy of Turin. We may consult, on this subject, the _Memorie Patrie_, published by the Baron Vernazza. The court, in the mean time, continued their salaries to the foreign painters, who were the ornament and support of the academy. They were about this time engaged in embellishing the palace, and afterwards that delightful residence, which was built from the design of the same Duke Charles Emanuel II., and had the name of the Veneria Reale.
Their frescos, portraits, and other works, remain to the present day. After one Balda.s.sar Matthieu of Antwerp, by whom there is a highly prized Supper of our Lord in the refectory of the Eremo, Gio. Miel, also from the neighbourhood of Antwerp, a scholar, first of Vandyk, and afterwards of Sacchi, was appointed painter to the court; a man of a delightful genius, extolled in Rome for his humorous, and in Piedmont for his serious subjects. In the soffitto of the great hall, where the body guard of the king is stationed, are some pictures of Miel, in which, under the fabulous characters of the heathen divinities, are represented the virtues of the royal house; he executed some others, and perhaps more beautiful ones, in the above named villa; and there is an altar-piece by him at Chieri, with the date of 1654. We trace in all his works his study of the Italian School; a grandeur and sublimity of ideas, an elevation beyond his countrymen, an accurate knowledge of the _sotto in su_, and a fine chiaroscuro, not unaccompanied by great delicacy of colour, particularly in his cabinet pictures. The talent which he possessed in an extraordinary manner in figures of a smaller size, he exhibited more especially in the Veneria Reale, where he painted a set of Huntings of wild Beasts, in eight pieces, which are amongst the finest of his works in this department of the art. After him we read of one Banier, a painter to the court; in whose time, about the year 1678, the company of St. Luke, united since the year 1675 to that of Rome, was, with the royal a.s.sent, erected into an academy; and from this year may be dated the birth of that professional society so much enlarged in our own days. But of all who were at that time or afterwards in the service of the royal house, the most celebrated was Daniel Saiter, or Seiter, of Vienna. I have mentioned him as well as Miel in the Roman School, nor have I pa.s.sed him over in the Venetian, in which he learnt his art, perfecting his style by the study of all the schools of Italy. His works are found in the palace and in the villas; nor has he occasion to fear the proximity of Miel himself. He yields to the latter, indeed, in grace and beauty, but is superior both to him and others in the force and magic of his colouring. Nor in Turin do we find in him that incorrect design which Pascoli attributes to him in Rome. But his oil pictures are by far the most highly finished of his works; as for example, a Pieta in the court, which we should say was designed in the academy of the Caracci. He also painted the cupola of the great hospital, and it is one of the finest frescos of the capital. We also meet with him in the churches in various places in the state; and we find his works in many private collections out of Piedmont, as he painted considerably in Venice and in Rome.
Another foreigner, Carlo Delfino, a Frenchman, also flourished at this time; an artist of very considerable merit. From the registers of the archives we learn that he was painter to Prince Philibert; and from an inspection of his works we may conjecture that he was more employed in the churches than at the court, where we find him an animated and lively portrait painter and colourist. He painted some altar-pieces for the city, in which is displayed a genius more disposed to the natural than to the ideal, and a fire which gives life to the gestures and composition; but sometimes, if I do not estimate him wrongly, his ideas seem forced. Thus at the church of S. Carlo, wishing to paint a S. Agostino overpowered by the love of G.o.d, he represented a S. Joseph holding in his arms the infant Christ, who from a cross-bow directs an arrow against the breast of the saint. The saint struck, falls into the arms of angels, who employ themselves in supporting and comforting him. Delfino had a scholar in Gio.