Part 23

Enea Salmeggia, called Talpino, received instructions in the art from the Campi at Cremona, and from the Procaccini in Milan; whence proceeding to Rome, he studied for a period of fourteen years the models of Raffaello, imitating him during the remainder of his life. Orlandi and other writers join in extolling his San Vittore, at the Olivetani in Milan, as well as a few other of his works, observing that they had been even ascribed to Raffaello. And whoever attentively examines that fine specimen, will not feel inclined to refuse Salmeggia one of the most distinguished places in the rank of Raffaello's followers. The clearness of his contours (sometimes, however, carried to the borders of littleness) the expression of his youthful countenances, the smoothness of his pencil and the flow of his drapery, together with a certain graceful air in the motions and expressions, sufficiently mark him for an admirer of that sovereign master, however much inferior to him in point of dignity, in imitation of the antique, and in felicity of composition. His method of colouring was also different. He affects greater variety of colours in his draperies; the tints in a large portion of his works are at present faded; and the shades as in other pictures of the same period, are much altered. Yet it is probable that this great artist, as it has been observed of Poussin and of Raffaello himself, did not always bestow the same degree of care upon his colouring, satisfied with displaying from time to time his surpassing excellence in this department. In the church of La Passione at Milan, he produced his Christ praying in the Garden, as well as his picture of the Flagellazione, works conducted in his best style. The former of these is finely coloured in the manner of the Bassani; and the latter, of a more lofty and animated character, is superior to the other even in force of colouring. Bergamo boasts other specimens of him, and in particular in the two great altars of Santa Marta and of Santa Grata. There we meet with two noble pictures, each of which may boast its separate admirers who prefer it to the other; and each displays an union of colours, at once so fresh, clear, and beautiful, that we are never weary of contemplating them. In both he has observed the same general composition; the Virgin being represented on high, crowned with a glory, while below her are seen the figures of several saints; but in the second, perhaps, he has employed a greater degree of care. Here he has introduced a splendid variety of shortenings, of attitudes, and of lineaments; and even inserted the city of Bergamo, with some fine architecture in the style of Paul Veronese. The figures are arrayed with extreme care, among which appears a bishop in his sacred paraphernalia, that serves to remind us of Titian himself. His pictures for private ornament are rare and valuable, but not sufficiently known beyond his native province and its vicinity, a circumstance common to many very excellent artists belonging to all our schools. Italy, indeed, is too abundantly supplied with distinguished names to admit of the whole of them being generally known and estimated as they deserve.

The style of Enea was not such as to be easily maintained, without consulting the great examples of Raffaello as he had done. His two sons, Francesco and Chiara, although educated by their father, succeeded rather in imitating his studies and his figures, than in thoroughly penetrating into the principles of his art. The fruits, however, of a good education were sufficiently apparent in them; and when placed in competition with some of their contemporaries, they appear, if not very animated, at least very sedulous artists, and greatly exempt from the faults of the mannerists. The city is in possession of many of their public works; in some of the best of which their father is supposed to have afforded them his assistance.

Gianpaolo Cavagna seems in some way to have escaped the notice of Boschini, and even of Orlandi, who had bestowed so much commendation upon his rival. He ranks, in his native province, as high as Salmeggia, and he certainly appears to have possessed a still more enlarged genius, more decision, and more talent for extensive works. A pupil of Morone, the great portrait painter, as we have already mentioned, he evinced a taste for the Venetian School, attaching himself in particular to Paul Veronese, in whose style he conducted some of his best productions. He was ambitious of surpassing him likewise in point of design, which he assuredly did in his naked figures, exhibiting even the adult form with a degree of masterly power. He had acquired the best method of painting in fresco, in his native place, and he succeeded in it admirably, as appears from the choir of Santa Maria Maggiore, where he represented the Virgin received into Heaven, a very spirited and varied composition, abounding with figures of angels and of prophets, truly great; the distinguishing characteristic, perhaps, of this artist's genius. Nor did he appear to less advantage in oils, more particularly when the immediate vicinity of other celebrated painters put his talents to the test. Of this kind the most successful, perhaps, are his Daniel in the Lions' Den, and his picture of San Francesco receiving the stigmata, forming side pictures to one of the best altarpieces by Lorenzo Lotto at San Spirito; yet they are nevertheless worthy of that distinguished post. His Crucifixion, between various saints, placed at Santa Lucia, has been still more highly extolled as one of the finest productions the city has to boast, and preferred by many judges to any of the altarpieces of Talpino. I shall abstain from expressing an opinion upon a subject in which artists themselves would disagree, merely observing that it is more difficult to meet with inferior or careless pieces from the hand of Salmeggia than from Cavagna's. He had also a son a painter of the name of Francesco, called Cavagnuola, who, surviving his father, acquired some degree of celebrity. He attached himself wholly to the style of Gianpaolo, as well as certain foreigners sprung from the same school, such as Girolamo Grifoni, in whose productions we seem to trace the copy of a copy of the style of Paul. If the artists named Santa Croce belong to Bergamo, and to one family, as we are informed in the _Guida_ of Padua, we ought here to insert the name of Pietro Paolo, the least distinguished among the Santa Croce, but not unworthy of commemoration for one of his Madonnas at the Arena, and for other pictures at different churches in Padua, in all of which he appears attached to the school of Cavagna, or at least to the less mannered class of the Venetians.

Subsequent to the above two artists, we meet with the name of Francesco Zucco, a good pupil of the Campi at Verona, and of Moroni at Bergamo. From this last he acquired the art of giving a singular degree of spirit to his portraits, and from Paul Veronese the mode of ornamenting them with most taste and fancy. Even in his larger compositions he sometimes adhered so closely to the same artist, that several of them were ascribed even by his fellow citizens to Paul, a circumstance that occurred to his pictures of the Nativity and of an Epiphany, on the organ of San Gottardo. He adopted, moreover, a variety of manners, apparently ambitious of displaying to the public his power of imitating Cavagna or Talpino, as he pleased. Contemporary with these artists, he so far rivalled them, (as in his San Diego at Le Grazie, or in the large altar at the Cappuccine,) as to approve himself worthy of such emulation. In other works he gives us occasion to wish for a better union of his colours, in which he cannot be pronounced equal to the first masters of the school, so admirable in this department.

Subsequent to the year 1627, there was no want of artists of ability at Bergamo, among whom we may mention a Fabio di Pietro Ronzelli, whose style, if not sufficiently select and ideal, was at least solid and robust. To his we may add the name of Carlo Ceresa, an artist of much study and research, pleasing in his colouring, and having apparently formed his taste upon the models of the best age, successful in giving ideal beauty to his countenances. The former of these, most probably the son of one Piero, known as a good portrait painter, and respectable in point of composition, painted the Martyrdom of San Alessandro, for the church of Santa Grata, while the latter added the two side pictures without the least traces of mannerism. Contemporary with both these, Domenico Ghislandi distinguished himself as a painter of frescos, more particularly in architecture. He was the father of Fra Vittore, called likewise Frate Paolotto, whom we shall have occasion to mention hereafter. At present it will hardly be desirable that I should extend my remarks to other names scarcely heard of beyond the limits of their native province; though in justice to the city I must observe that in its dearth of native talent, it spared no expense in decorating public places with the works of the best foreign artists, of every country. Ample proofs of this liberality may be seen in the cathedral and the adjacent church of Santa Maria Maggiore. Such are among the advantages enjoyed by cities, which are equally in possession of taste and of riches. But when deficient in either of these, they will be compelled to adopt the plan pursued in rural occupations, where each agriculturist employs the oxen that belong to his own fields.

Crema, at this period, might pride itself on having produced such an artist as Carlo Urbini, who, though of limited genius, was very pleasing skilful in perspective, and equal to grand historical pieces. He had afforded a specimen of his powers in one of the public halls, in which he exhibited national battles and victories, besides having employed his talents in different churches. In ornamenting that of San Domenico, however, an artist of the name of Uriele, most probably of the Gatti family at Cremona, was preferred before him, though extremely inferior. This injustice seemed to alienate his mind from his native place, and he proceeded to Milan, by whose writers he has been recorded with honour. Yet his history piece at San Lorenzo, conducted in fresco, seems to contain rather the seeds than the fruits of noble painting, and he appears to greater advantage in oil colours, as we gather from his picture of our Saviour taking leave of his virgin mother previous to his sufferings, a production ornamenting Santa Maria near San Celso, where it may compete with the best Lombard masters of that time. Lomazzo makes mention of him in reference to such as produced pieces most suitable to the places for which they were intended; an useful practice, familiar to the old masters, who took care to adapt their pictures, not only to places, but to household furniture, insomuch that in many of their vases and drinking cups, which we meet with in the kingdom of Naples, are represented, for the most part, scenes of festivity, mysteries, and fables of the Bacchanalian God. Subsequent to him flourished Jacopo Barbello, whose paintings in various churches at Bergamo are extolled by Pasta, more particularly in that of San Lazzaro, an altarpiece representing the titular saint, remarkable no less for its dignity of design, than for decision of hand. In the series of this school I find mention of no other artist after him, a school distinguished in its origin by the name of Polidoro, and afterwards adorned by few but very select artists.

We shall next proceed, according to our plan, to treat of certain painters of landscape, of battle pieces, of perspective, flowers, and similar subjects. Henry de Bles, a Bohemian, better known under the name of Civetta, an owl, from the frequent introduction of that bird into his landscapes, was an artist who resided for a long period in the Venetian state. Besides his specimens of landscape to be met with in Venice, and which uniformly present some traces of ancient crudeness, he painted a Nativity of our Lord, for San Nazaro in Brescia, resembling in its style of composition the manner of Bassano. Its prevailing tone is sky-coloured, and in the features of its countenances it partakes of a foreign expression. I have also seen small pictures from his hand intended for cabinets, often thronged with minute figures, known by the name of _Chimere_ and _Stregozzi_, or witch pieces, a kind in which he was extremely fanciful. But on this head we shall have occasion to return to him in a short time, and proceed to a Flemish artist, who flourished, about the beginning of 1600, in the state. His name was Lodovico Pozzo, or Pozzoserrato, called also da Trevigi, from his long residence in that city, where he died, leaving it, as Federici relates, beautifully decorated with specimens of his hand. He excelled in the representation of distant objects, like his rival Paol Brilli of Venice, in such as were viewed near; and he is more pleasing and select than the latter in, his variation of clouds and distinctions of light; while at the same time he was celebrated for his altarpieces. Subsequent to these appeared several foreign artists, eminent for their skill in landscape, in the time of Boschini at Venice, where several specimens of their art must be still in existence. They were afterwards extolled likewise by Orlandi. There was a Mr. Filgher, a German, who very happily represented the different seasons of the year, and even the different lights throughout the day; a Mons. Giron, a French artist, extremely natural in all kind of views, both of a terrestrial and aerial character, and a M. Cusin who imitated the noble manner of Titian in his landscapes, with much success. Nor ought we to omit Biagio Lombardo, a citizen of Venice, an artist highly commended by Ridolfi, who declares that he rivalled both the best Italian and Flemish painters in his landscape. Girolamo Vernigo, surnamed also da' Paesi, and particularly celebrated in his native city of Verona, where he fell a victim to the plague in 1630, is entitled to rank in the same list. Jacopo Maffei succeeded admirably in his display of incidents at sea, a picture of which kind was engraved by Boschini. Another artist of the name of Bartolommeo Calomato has been pointed out to me by his excellency Persico, in his cabinet of medals; and he ought apparently to be referred to this epoch, judging from his less vigorous and less refined style, although graceful and lively in his expression. He was remarkable for his small pictures representing both rural and civic views, along with small figures very animated and well composed.

A taste for battle pieces had begun to gain ground in this part of Italy from the time of Borgognone. The first who procured for himself a name in this branch was Francesco Monti, of Brescia, and a pupil of Ricchi, as well as of Borgognone himself. He was commonly called II Brescianino delle Battaglie, the Brescian battle painter, in which line he exercised his talents in different Italian cities, ultimately establishing himself at Parma, where he opened a school, and instructed one of his sons in the same style of painting. He pursued, as far as lay in his power, his master's example, though he remained much inferior to him in point of colouring. His productions are not scarce, but in many collections they do not appear under his name, being frequently attributed to the school at large of Borgognone. One of his fellow citizens and scholars, called Fiamminghino, but whose real name was Angiolo Everardi, acquired great reputation also by his battle scenes, but they are seldom to be met with, owing to his having died young. Another of his disciples, a native of Verona, named Lorenzo Comendich, flourished also about the year 1700, in high repute at Milan. Antonio Calza, a Veronese, is to be referred to the same period. Being ambitious of representing military actions, he left the school of Cignani, and transferred his residence to Rome, where, assisted by Cortesi himself, he met with success. He spent his time in Tuscany, at Milan, and in particular at Bologna. There we meet with his pictures pretty abundantly, innumerable copies of them having been taken by his pupils, who by frequently varying the disposition of the groups, succeeded in giving a seeming novelty to his pictures. Upon the authority of the Melchiori MS., I am inclined to add to the list of good battle painters, Agostino Lamma, a Venetian, who employed himself for collections; and in that of Sig. Gio. Batista Curti, there is a piece of his representing the Siege of Vienna, very excellent in point of taste, modelled according to his custom upon that of Matteo Stom.

Towards the year 1660, when the three artists, Civetta, Bosch, and Carpioni, had already filled the galleries with that very tasteful class of pictures called capricci; when Salvator Rosa had produced such curious examples of his transformations and necromancies; and Brughel, surnamed _dall'Inferno_, had drawn from the scenes of that abyss, and from its monsters, a large supply for every capital in Italy; at that period another artist, Gioseffo Ens, or Enzo, the son of him I have mentioned in the preface, and father of Daniele, a tolerably good figurist, was acquiring rapid celebrity in Venice with some highly imaginative little pictures, partaking in some measure of the style of the above artists. For the chief part they represent allegorical fictions, in which are introduced sphinxes, chimerae, and monsters in grotesque shape; or to speak more correctly, perhaps, extravagances of imagination quite unauthorized by ancient example, and formed out of the grotesque union of various parts of different animals, much in the same manner as they are seen by persons in their delirious dreams. Boschini adduces an example of this strange poetical folly at page 604, where Pallas is seen putting to flight a troop of these wild fancies, haunting an old decayed mansion, buried in fire and smoke, as the symbol of Virtue dispersing the shades of ignorance and error. In such a career did Enzo arrive at the honour of being made a Chevalier of the Cross, by his Holiness Pope Urban VIII. Subsequently, however, he applied himself with more judgment to the study of truth, and left behind him, in Venice, several altarpieces, one of which adorning the church of the Ognissanti is extremely beautiful. I have also noticed in different collections some burlesques of dwarfs, &c. from the hand of Faustino Bocchi, a Brescian, and pupil to Fiamminghino. He was admirable in his portraits of these embryos, as it were, of the human race; representations by no means displeasing to some of the ancients, and of which we have examples afforded us in what are termed Etruscan vases. In the production of fables, in which the dwarfs were to appear as actors, he displayed the most fanciful combinations, and in the Carrara collection at Bergamo, there is represented a sacrifice of these pigmies, and a popular feast in honour of an idol, full of humour, in which one of them is seen caught in the claws of a crab, while some of his own party attempt to save him, and his mother hastens, half distracted, to his relief. In order to convey a better idea of their size he inserted a small water melon, which appears almost like a mountain by their side. The design does not seem to differ much from that of Timanthes, who introduced little satyrs, in the act of measuring one of the Cyclops' thumbs with their thyrsus, as he lies asleep, to give a just notion of his bulk. It is to be regretted that Bocchi became addicted to the sect of the _tenebrosi_, owing to which many of his labours seem to be fast losing their value.

The same period likewise abounded in painters of flowers and fruits, in every part of Italy; but I observe that their names are, for the most part, forgotten, or where they exist in books, are accompanied by no mention of their works. Fortunately, among the pictures at Rovigo, I meet with the name of Francesco Mantovano, whether his surname or patronymic is uncertain, an artist who excelled in similar works about the time of Borghini; besides those of Antonio Bacci and Antonio Lecchi, or Lech, both florists, and all mentioned by Martinioni in his _Additions to Sansovino_. To the number of these add the name of Marchioni, a native of Rovigo, an artist considered as the Bernasconi of the Venetian School, from her singular skill in flower painting, though not equalling the Roman lady in point of celebrity. Their works are to be seen in some of the collections at Rovigo, which abound also with many celebrated figure painters, no less of the Venetian than of other Italian Schools.

Pictures of animals do not seem to have been much in vogue with Venetian artists about this period, if, indeed, we are not to include Giacomo da Castello in the Venetian state. From verbal communications I learn that in collections at Venice he is not at all rare. I have seen only a few specimens at the Caza Rezzonico, and these consisting of various species of birds, drawn with great truth and force of colouring, as well as beautifully disposed. Domenico Maroli, a painter of flocks and herds, as well as of other rural subjects, was born at Messina, and exercised his talents in Venice. He was intimate with Boschini, who extolled him as a new Bassano, and as a specimen of his talents, inserted in his _Carta del Navegar_ an engraving after one of his designs. It represents a shepherd with his flocks, figures of cows with a dog, very forcibly and beautifully drawn; and it is altogether one of the best designs that has been engraved for that work. There resided also at Venice, where he was employed in the Casa Sagredo, and in that of Contarini, an artist named Gio. Fayt di Anversa, who, in addition to his paintings of fruits, and various rural implements, was esteemed one of the best copyists of animals, both alive and dead, in which he displayed a very polished, natural, and novel manner.