Part 16

"This Narrative, which exhibits the traces of the utmost diligence and the most scrupulous regard to accuracy, is interspersed with critical views, so philosophical, so eloquent, and so just, as to convince us of the thorough competence of the Abbe Lanzi for the task which he has undertaken. The extent of his general erudition appears abundantly throughout his work. To vast and varied acquirements, he united uncommon powers of intellect, together with an enthusiastic love for the beauties of the Art, to the study of which he devoted himself from an early period of life;--with what success, is attested by the favourable reception of his labours. Completeness and impartiality as to its details, are not the only merits of this work. To the connoisseur it will form a guide to facilitate his acquaintance with the peculiar styles, and their varieties, of the great masters; a species of knowledge which it is difficult to convey, although of the greatest importance to possess. Nor is the utility of this work to be overlooked, in disseminating amongst all classes a just taste for, and sound opinions upon, the Arts. To pretend that, in the foregoing notice, we have furnished anything like an indication of the multitude of interesting details contained in these volumes, would be as offensive to truth, as it would be unjust to the author of as singular a monument of labour and diligence as modern literature can boast of. Neither do we attempt to insinuate that we have been able to suggest any adequate notions of the admirable tact and skill shewn in his arrangement, in which, without excluding any topics necessary to the purposes of his history, the Abbe Lanzi disposes of every personage and event in the rank that is due to their relative importance. And if we have been deficient in these respects, we feel that we have still more failed in giving a proper idea of the accurate and discriminating mind of the critic, or of the perfectly judicial impartiality of his opinions; and when we compare our imperfect analysis of his work with our own impressions of the author, we are sensible how little we have been able to transfer to our pages any portion of those lineaments of taste, graceful propriety, and eloquence of language, or of that spirit of regulated enthusiasm, which are diffused through the 'History of Painting in Italy.' With respect to the merits of the translator, the most obvious one is that of having given to British literature a work of the very highest value, at no inconsiderable sacrifice of time and trouble. His version, in general, has all the force and precision of style which belong to the original."

FROM THE FOREIGN QUARTERLY REVIEW.

"Luigi Lanzi was a learned churchman, a skilful antiquarian, a lover of painting and sculpture, a sensible critic, something of a poet, and in all those matters remarkably diligent and enthusiastic. He travelled, he examined, he collected, he studied, and he wrote; and early acquired the reputation of a candid judge of art, and a sagacious antiquarian. His admirable work has been recently translated into English by Mr. Thomas Roscoe, a gentleman whose varied knowledge in foreign literature entitles him to much respect. His name is sufficiently known to the public, not to need any great recommendation at our hands; but we must indeed say, that the translator has conferred a great benefit on that portion of his readers who are not professed Italian scholars. The work of Lanzi is full of difficulties, even to Italians themselves, on account of the terms of Art with which almost every page is full: it thus very much redounds to the credit of Mr. Roscoe, to have produced so excellent and faithful a translation, and written wherewithal with great elegance of diction. Of this our readers cannot fail to be at once convinced, when we inform them that he was materially assisted by his own respectable father; by Mr. W. H. Ottley; by Dr. Traill; and by Signor Panizzi, at present resident at Liverpool, one of the profoundest scholars and best of Italian critics."

Transcriber's Notes:

The prior five volumes of this series are identified in the indexes with lower case Roman letters. At the time of posting, these volumes can be found in the Project Gutenberg collection as follows:

i--https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34479 ii--https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34585 iii--https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34645 iv--https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38967 v--https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39996

Although we verify the correctness of these URLs at the time of posting, they may not work, for various reasons, for various people, at various times.

In the first index, names beginning with "I" and "J" are alphabetized as though the I and J are the same letter, so that Ja... entries appear before Ib... and Jo... after In.... Names beginning with "U" and "V" are treated in the same manner.

Some dates of birth and death cited by the author are at variance from those reported by subsequent sources. Dates that are clearly typographical errors were adjusted, as listed below. Otherwise, dates were left as printed, even though the given dates lead to illogical results (e.g., see entries for Stephano and Alessandro Magnasco).

Some page numbers in the indexes are not in numerical order and may not correspond to the item indexed. The numbers were not changed. Several entries omit the volume number associated with the listed page numbers.

Volume 5 of this set of books had two extra pages, identified as *63 and 64*, inserted following pages 63 and 64. In the version of that volume at www.gutenberg.org, these two pages are identified as 63A and 64A. References within this volume to those two pages were printed as 63* and 64*.

Punctuation was standardized.

"Ib." was changed to "ib." for consistency within the text.

A bindery note at the bottom of the first page of "Critical Opinions" indicates that the reviews following "THE END" should have been published at the beginning of Volume 1.

Other changes:

First Index: Date of birth for Barbalunga (Antonio Ricci) from 1690 to 1600. Date of birth for G. B. Calandra from 1686 to 1586. Entry for Cimatori: 'Visacei' to 'Visacci.' 'Galti' to 'Gatti' Dates of notices for Lorenzo Lotto from 1613 to 1513. Removed duplicate 'd.' from entry for Jacopo Marieschi. Date of death for Tammaso Salini from 4625 to 1625. Date of death for Tommaso Sandrino from 1530 to 1630. 'Costantino' to 'Constantino' (de' Servi). Second Index: 'Where-ever' to 'Wherever' under Guides for Ferrara. Section symbol to the word 'section' under entry for Meerman. Third Index: 'Punic Wax' to 'Punic War' under entry for Luigi Torri. Page number from 234 to 334, under listing for Animals, volume ii. 'respectacle' to 'respectable' in text of Foreign Quarterly Review.