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BACCIO. 



BANKS, SIR JOSEPH. 



tit 



with Greek literature, and made an Italian translation of the ' Hecuba' 

 of Euripides. He also wrote a vast quantity of Italian verses on 

 various subject*. (Mazmchelli, .ScriHori d" Italia.) 



BAND1N ELLI, BACCIO, an eminent sculptor, was born at Florence 

 in 1487, and flourished during the brightest period of Italian art. He 

 was the son of a goldsmith of tome standing, and as goldsmiths then 

 wrought from their own designs, it is probable that Baccio learnt at 

 least the rudiments of art from his father. At the usual age he 

 became a pupil of Rustic!, who was not only a sculptor of celebrity, 

 but the iutiuiata friend of Leonardo da Vinci ; and from the latter, 

 Bandiuelli is believed to have derived much valuable professional 

 knowledge. His progress under Huttici was rapid, yet he was so far 

 dissatisfied as fur a time to turn from sculpture iu order to practice 

 painting. But in this art he was far from successful, though he 

 essayed both oil and fresco painting ; and he returned to the exclusive 

 practice of sculpture. 



Bandinelli. notwithstanding the eminent ability displayed in his 

 works, and the admiration which they generally excited, was fur 

 from popular with his brother artists. Ho ia said to have been 

 arrogant, envious, and intriguing. It is however from contemporaries 

 who disliked him that our information respecting him is chiefly 

 derived; and allowance must be made for the spirit in which his 

 character is portrayed. He was especially unfortunate in his oppo- 

 nents. He aspired to be the rival of Michel Angelo, and failing 

 to equal this great genius as an artist, displayed towards him the 

 keenest enmity, which the other returned by some contemptuous 

 criticism, although he admitted Bandinelli's general merits; and 

 Michel Angelo' s censure was not likely to be forgotten. But it is 

 chiefly from Benvenuto Cellini that the low estimate of Bandiuelli has 

 been derived. They appear to have been constant rivals and bitter 

 ntumjm; and Cellini in hU universally popular autobiography has 

 immortalised the feud. In his usual hyperbolical phraseology, Cellini 

 describes BandiueUi as a compound of everything bad ; as excessively 

 ugly naturally, but becoming perfectly hideous, when giving expression 

 to his evil passions : and, in fact, not only as one of the worst men, 

 but also one of the most worthless artists on the face of the earth. 

 Such censure ought to carry with it its own condemnation, especially 

 when, as in this case, there are at any rate the works of the man to 

 appeal to as a refutation of the artistic criticism and beyond doubt, 

 Cellini, one of the most self-willed, vainglorious, and passionate men 

 who ever existed, was far more competent to decide on the merits of 

 the artist, than of the man whom he regarded as at once a rival and 

 an enemy, and one whom he confesses to having been once on the point 

 of assassinating. Yet it is from Cellini that the biographers have 

 usually taken their estimate of BandinellL Vasari however endorses 

 the character given to him for pride and jealousy, and there is no 

 reason to doubt that he had an undue share of both. 



Bandinclli wa* largely patronised by Cosmo de Medici, Francis I., and 

 other eminent personages, during his long career, and produced a great 

 number of works. His most ambitious production was his Hercules 

 and Cacus, executed in rivalry with the David of Michel Angelo : 

 a work of no ordinary character though unfortunate in its competition ; 

 it wa* mercflenly attacked by the other Florentine sculptors. The 

 works by which he is now most favourably known are perhaps his 

 baasi-rilievi, especially those which adorn the screen of the high altar 

 in the Duomo at Florence, and some on a pedestal in the Place of Son 

 Lorenzo in the same city. The figure of Christ at the Tomb in the 

 church of the Annunziata at Florence, which he completed shortly 

 before hi* death for his own tomb, is also a work of great ability. 

 His monumental statues of several of the dukes of Florence, his 

 Adam and Eve at the Trre, and others of the numerous productions 

 uf his chisel, still to be seen in the palaces and churches of Florence, 

 his statues at Rome and elsewhere, attest his industry, mental 

 vigour, variety, and executive skill. Baudinelli doe* not take bis place 

 in til* very first rank of Italian sculptors, but he holds a prominent 

 place in the second rank. All his works are marked by largeness of 

 style, and great knowledge of anatomy and form, and often by grandeur 

 of conception ; bat there is almost always a strongly marked mannerism, 

 often affectation, and (onetimes extravagance. Bandinelli was created 

 a cavalier by Clement VIL and Charles V. He died in the beginning 

 of 1600, aged 72 years. 



(Benvenuto Cellini, Vita, and Trattalo topra la Scullura; Vasari, 

 Fife da Pillori ; Cloognara, Storia delta Seulittra, 4c.) 



BANE, or BEXN, DR. JAMES, Archdeacon, afterward* Bishop, 

 of St Andrews. In the former station we find him in 1319, when 

 the pope appointed him and certain other ecclesiastics to determine 

 a dispute between the monastery of Dunfermliue and the Bishop of 

 DunbUne respecting tithe*. In 1325 be wa* associated in an embassy 

 to France to renew the league with that crown, and is then called 

 Jacobus Bene, archidiaconua Sti. Andreic, et legum professor.' From 

 thin, a* well a* from other sources of information, it appears that the 

 rnon law was taught at St. Andrews nearly a century prior to Bishop 

 Wardlaws foundation there, which Dr. M'Crie regards as the earliest 

 oeadcmioal institution in Scotland. In 1328 Bane wa* chosen Biihop 

 of 8C Andrews by Ire* election of the canon* ; but being himself at 

 tb court of Rome at the time, he obtained the episcopate by the 

 collation of Pope John XXII., before an account of the election 

 arrived. He was bishop in 1329, and that year, in consideration of 



a sum of 200 marks, he granted a charter of favour and protection, 

 with a general acknowledgment of existing immunities, to the priory 

 of Coldingham. (Chalmers, ' Caledonia,' voL ii. p. 326.) In 1331 he 

 set the crown on the head of King David II., and was soon after con- 

 stituted Lord Chamberlain of Scotland, then an officer of groat import- 

 ance, and vested with large powers both ministerial and judicial. He 

 died 22nd September 1332 at Bruges, whither he had fled on tbo 

 success of Edward Baliol, and was buried in the abbey of Eckshot. 



BANKS, JOHN, was au attorney in London, but he quitted his 

 profession to write for the theatres. The seven tragedies which li 

 left in print bear dates extending from 1677 to 1696. He nm-t 

 have died at some time in the reign of Queen Anne. Though 1'. 

 dramatic writings do not display much literary ability, they have fi\r i 

 excellent scope to the skill of great acton, and were in their day highly 

 popular with the play-going public. The worst has been said of Banks 

 when the censure of Steele in the ' Tatler' is repeated, that, in his 

 beet known piece, ' The Unhappy Favourite, or the Earl of Essex,' 

 there is not one good line. His style gives alternate specimens of 

 vulgar meanness and of bombast. But even his dialogue is not des- 

 titute of occasional nature and pathos ; and the value of his works 

 as acting plays is very considerable. It is admitted by Steele, that 

 the play ho speaks of was never seen without drawing tears; and the 

 apt choice of a touching story, and the natural and dramatic arrange- 

 uient of incidents, to which the success of that play was owing, were 

 much admired by the great German critic Leasing, who bestows on 

 the work on elaborate analysis. The ' Karl of Essex' kept its place 

 on the stage till the middle of lost century, when it was superseded 

 by the plays of Jones and Brooke, who successively paid llanks the 

 compliment of stealing from him all the best parts of hu tragedy. Uf 

 his other works none was so popular, but even his extravagant ' Cyriu 

 the Qreat* abounds in effective dramatic situations. 



i:.\NKS, SIR JOSEPH, nn eminent naturalist and traveller, des- 

 cended from nn ancient Yorkshire family, was born in Argyle-stroet, 

 in the parish of St. James, Westminster, on January 4th, 1741!. 

 After studying for awhile under a private tutor, he was sent at nine 

 years of age to Harrow School, and was removed when thirteen to 

 Eton. He is described, in a letter from his tutor, as being well-dis- 

 posed and good-tempered, but BO immoderately fond of play, that 

 hi* attention could not be fixed to study. At fourteen years of ago 

 however his attention was suddenly and very strongly attracted to 

 the study of botany by the beauty of the flowers which adorned the 

 lanes about Eton ; and from that time he devoted his leisure hours 

 to botanical studies. In his eighteenth year he was entered a gentleman 

 commoner at Christ Church, Oxford. His love of botany increased at 

 the university, and there bis mind warmly embraced all the other 

 branches of natural history. HU ardour for the acquirement of 

 botanical knowledge was so great, that, finding no lectures were given 

 on that subject, he obtained permission of Dr. Sibthorpe, the botanical 

 professor, to procure a proper person, whose remuneration was to fal 1 

 entirely upon the students who formed his class. Banks accordingly 

 went to Cambridge, and brought back with him Mr. Israel Lyons, a 

 botanist and astronomer. This gentleman, many years after, procured, 

 through Mr. Banks's interest, the appointment of astronomer to the 

 voyage towards the North Pole, under Captain Phipps, afterwards 

 Lord Mulgrave. Mr. Bonks soon mode himself known in the univer- 

 sity by his superior knowledge in natural history. He left Oxford in 

 December 1703, after having taken an honorary degree. His father 

 had died in 1761, and he accordingly came into possession of his 

 paternal fortune in January 1764, when he became of age. On May 1, 

 1766, he was chosen into the Royal Society, and in the summer went 

 to Newfoundland with his friend Mr. Phipps, lieutenant in the imvy, 

 who afterwards made the voyage towards the North Pole. The object 

 of this voyage was collecting plant*. Ho returned to England the 

 following winter by way of Lisbon. It was after his return that the 

 intimacy commenced between him and Dr. Solander, a Swedish gentle- 

 man, the pupil of Linneous, who, visiting London with strong letters 

 of recommendation, had been recently appointed an assistant librarian 

 of the British Museum. 



Three or four years now elapsed before Mr. Banks again quitted 

 England. The interval was assiduously employed on the objects of 

 his established pursuit: his favourite relaxation was fishing. He 

 frequently passed days, and even nights, on Whittlesea Mere, a lake 

 in the vicinity of his seat, Ravesby Abbey, Lincolnshire, and, when 

 iu London, days, and sometimes nights, upon the Thames, chiefly in 

 company with the Earl of Sandwich, who was his neighbour iu tho 

 country, and quite as ardent in the sport as himself. His intimacy 

 with that nobleman is said to have procured for him the opportunity 

 of gratifying his taste for maritime enterprise, which he had soon after 

 the pleasure of finding within his reach. The commencement of a 

 new reign, the peace of 1763, and the administration of Lord 1'mtu 

 (himself a lover of science), hod been marked in England by public 

 efforts to explore those parts of the ocean which were still wholly 

 unknown, or only partially discovered. The South Sea having been 

 visited by Captain Wallace, and the position and general character of 

 the island of Otaheito being ascertained, this spot was determined by 

 the English astronomers to be peculiarly well adapted for observing 

 the transit of the planet Venus over the disc of the sun. The Royal 

 Society having made a representation to this effect to the government, 



