BAS8AXTIV, JAMFS. 



BASSOMPIERRE. FRANCOIS DR. 



He MkUd here daring the remainder of hi. life ; and hi. 

 tyle of landscape, dnwn from th* scenery which surrounded him, 

 riv** something of grandeur even to hit least successful performance* ; 

 hU borisoni are usually high, and tcrminato in a range of blue moun- 

 tains illuminated by the ruing or letting ran. With little power of 

 election, Baasano had surprising facility in representing whatever he 

 aw. He delighted in rural nibjeoU and their accompaniment*, and 

 each wai hU fondneM for painting cattle that he sometime* introduced 

 them without the leait attention to propriety. Exterior* and interior* 

 of country -inns were aleo favourite tubjecU with Basaano : these he 

 often make* the site for aome hUtorical or scriptural subject, but the 

 principal characten are always made subordinate ; groups of peasants, 

 the hoste**, or the cook, busy among her kitchen utensils, domestic 

 animals, or still life, occupy the prominent place*. Little however is 

 loet by this want of subordination, nor is any wish excited to see the 

 superior acton brought more forward ; for Bassano, as Sir Joshua 

 Reynolds observes, " painted the boors of the district of Baraano, and 

 called them patriarchs and prophets." His animals however are 

 touched with admirable truth and discrimination ; and in spite of 

 all his defect*, such is the spirit, clearness, snd decision of his touch, 

 the depth and richness of his tones, and the general picturesqueness of 

 his effects, that his works not only command the respect of contem- 

 porary artists, but have been always valued by judges of painting for 

 qualities so important in the art Bassano painted with extraordinary 

 dispatch, and such of his works as were not commissioned were tent 

 for sale to the neighbouring towns of Vicenza, Brescia, Treviao, and 

 Padua, where they found ready purchasers. His fame rose so high 

 that ho was invited by the emperor Rudolph II. to settle at his court; 

 bat Baseano's attachment to his established habits of life induced him 

 to decline this proposal He painted for that monarch pictures of the 

 twelve months and the four seasons of the year. Bassano occasionally 

 painted portraits, and several of the most distinguished persons in 

 Venice sat to him during his residence in that city among them, 

 Sebastiano Venerio, the doge, Tasso, and Ariosto. 



In a few instances during his latter practice Bassano showed that the 

 feeling for grand design which he had manifested in his youth was not 

 quite extinguished. His altar-pieces of the Entombing of Christ, in 

 the church of Santa Maria in Vanzo, at Padua; St. Roche interceding 

 with the Virgin for the People infected with the Plague, at Vicenza ; 

 and the picture of the Seizure of Christ in the Garden ore distin- 

 guished not only by a sublimity in the general effect, but by a grandeur 

 in the character of the figures, resembling the style of the Roman 

 school. Bassano died in February 1592. There is a prodigious number 

 of his pictures in the palaces of Rome and Venice, and they are fre- 

 quently seen in English collections. There are many engravings from 

 his works. 



FRASCESCO DA POXTK, was the son of the preceding, and a painter 

 of considerable merit. Oiacomo Da Ponte had four sons who followed 

 his profession. Francesco, the eldest, born in 1543, is called the 

 ' younger Bassano ;' he studied with his father and practised in Venice, 

 where he obtained considerable reputation by various altar-pieces, one 

 in particular of St. Apollonia, in the church of Santa Afra, at Brescia. 

 His most distinguished performances were a series of pictures painted 

 for the ducal palace at Venice, commemorative of the leading events 

 in the history of the republic. Francesco threw himself from a window 

 in a fit of delirium, and died on the spot, in 1591. 



OIOVAXSI DA POKTE was the second son of Qiacomo, and born in 

 1653. He is chiefly known as a copyist of his father's works, which he 

 imiUted with such accuracy, that his copies are scarcely distinguishable 

 from the originals : he died in 1613. 



LKAXDBO DA POXTE, the third son of Oiacomo, was born in 1558. 

 He distinguished himself as a portrait-painter, and was knighted by the 

 DOM Orimani, who sat to him. He occasionally painted historical 

 and mend subjects; among the beat are the Birth of the Virgin 

 and the Resuscitation of Luaroa, the former in the church of Santa 

 Sophia, the latter in that of U Canto, at Venice. Leandro died in 

 ; . . 



UIKOI.AMO DA POXT* was the youngest son of Oiacomo, born in 

 1540. II* was much employed by his father in copying, but contri- 

 buted an original performance, an altar-piece of great merit, of St. 

 Barbara snd the Virgin, to the church of San Oiovanni at Bastano : 

 be died in 1422. The same style predominates in the works of all the 

 BsstMio*. which exhibit, with the exception of a few picture*, much 

 nior* of lh manual than the mental capacity of art 



BASRA NTIN. or BA83INTOUN, JAMKS, wo* the son of a Scotch 

 laird of that ilk (no doubt Bawendean in Berwickshire). James was 

 educated at Glasgow, and afterwards travelled in the Netherlands, 

 Bwitatrland, Italy, and Germany. He finally settled at Parin, where 

 he taught mathematics and astronomy, and acquired considerable 

 reputation and *om* fortune. Of hi* personal life we know little but 

 that h. was addicted to astrology, returned to Scotland in 1562, and 

 adh*r*d to th* party of the Earl of Murray against Mary, and died 

 IMS. H* wrote various works on matbenutici, astronomy, and 

 arithmetic, some of which are now only known by th* title* which 

 bav* b**n recorded. One of th* works which was best known was a 

 Disooon Aatroooniqa*,' Lyoo, 1557, which appear* to have been 

 toto Utin by D* Toon** (Tornosiui), under th* title of 

 1. BasMtfei, Soot!,' OettVB, 1669, imprinted, 1613. Hi* 



planetary system is that of Ptolenuras. (Delambre, 7/wtoi're dt FAKro- 

 nomie Moderne.) 



BASSOMPIKKKK, FRANCOIS DK, Marshal of France, and Cap- 

 tein-Ueneral of the Swiss Guards, was born in Lorraine on the 1 'Jth 

 of February 1579. His education was, all things considered, excellent 

 for the times in which ho lived. Bassompierru tells us, for example, 

 in his memoirs, among other particulars of his studie*, that in his 

 seventieth year he devoted one hour a day singly to the study " of 

 Uw, of casuistry, of Hippocrates, the ethics and politics of Aristotle," 

 and that, like our own Lord Herbert of Cherbury, whom he reaembled 

 in his admiration of the usage* of chivalry, he prided himself on bis 

 enrly proficiency in martial exercises, particularly " riding the great 

 horse." 



In 1598 Banompierre, having first visited Italy and Germany, 

 Arrived at Paris. He was first introduced to the French king's notice 

 in a ballet, which some young courtiers had got up to amuso Henry 

 on his recovering from an illness, in which the illness, and still more 

 the mode of cure, were held up to laughter. Bassompierre took a 

 part in the ballet, and quickly caught the attention of Henry. Th* 

 result was a warm friendship on both sides ; and Basaompierre became 

 for life a deroted Frenchman. 



The incidents of Bassompierre's career are only interesting to the 

 general reader so far as they illustrate the manners of the time*. 

 Basaompierre was young, ardent, and accomplished, and distinguished 

 for his personal beauty and courage ; and the court of France was at 

 that time one scene of gaiety, intrigue, and licentiousness. In 1609 

 BasKompierre was on the point of being married to the most bmutiful 

 woman in France, the daughter of the Constable de Montmuivu-y. 

 He was preferred among a host of suitors by Mademoiselle de Mont- 

 moreney herself, and hud obtained the consent of her father and the 

 king, who had not then seen the lady. The match was however broken 

 off, because the king fell in love with the lady informed Bassom- 

 pierre of the fact, and induced him to forego the marriage. Bassom- 

 pierre served in all the civil wars, mostly of a religions character, in 

 which France was engaged in his time, and rone through successive 

 steps to the highest military honours, having been appointed by Henry 

 captain-general of the Swiss Guards, a high court appointment, and 

 promoted to the rank of marshal in the next reign. He assisted at 

 the siege of Rochelle, under the eye of Cardinal Richelieu, and is 

 reported to have said on that occasion, " We shall be fools enough to 

 take the place for the cardinal," meaning that the capture of that lost 

 fortress of the Huguenots would so strengthen the hands of Richelieu 

 as to place the party of the queen-mother and the Guises at his mercy ; 

 and the result proved that Bassompierre was right. 



Bassompierre stood so high in the favour of the indolent monarch, 

 Louis XIII., as to convert the favourite Luynes into a fierce enemy. 

 After an explanation between them, Bassompierre accepted the offer 

 of an embassy, and Luynes declared himself his devoted friend. He 

 was accordingly sent ambassador extraordinary to Spain, and after- 

 wards to the Swiss, in the years 1624-25. The particulars of these 

 embassies are detailed in his ' Ambassodes ' and his ' Mtimoirei!,' but 

 do not possess general interest In 1626 he was sent to England, at 

 the instance of the Cardinal Richelieu, in order to enforce the observ- 

 ance of the treaty of marriage between Henrietta Maria and Charles I., 

 so far as it applied to the toleration of the Roman Catholic wor- 

 ship, in which he displayed dexterity and boldness, but had no great 



mco**m 



The remainder of Bassompierre's career is soon told. He attached 

 himself to the interest* of the house of Guise, and the queen-mother 

 Mary de Mcdicis, who was the great obstacle to Richelieu's attaining 

 absolute power, and he paid the penalty of his adhesion. The imme- 

 diate cause of his incurring the cardinal's displeasure was, as he tells 

 us in his ' Mdmoiret,' his neglecting to keep an appointment to dinner. 

 On the day preceding the memorable Day of the Dupes (la Journoe 

 de* Dupes), the 30th of November 1630, Bassompierre met the cardi- 

 nal in one of the passages of the Louvre. He accosted him, and 

 Richelieu feigned to receive the courtesy as a flavour to a 'poor dis- 

 graced minister.' Basaompierre, in the fulness of his benevolence, 

 condescended to invite himself to dine with the cardinal, and the offer 

 was accepted. It happened however unfortunately that two noble- 

 men, enemies of the cardinal, met Busompicrre in the course of tin- 

 day, nod ' debauched ' him to dine with them, and the ' poor disgraced 

 minister' was forgotten. 



On the 23rd of February 1631, Bassompierre was arrested, by 

 Richelieu's orders, and sent to the Bastille, where he was confined for 

 twelve years ; that is till the death of the cardinal. He tells us, that 

 the day before he was arrested he burned upwards of 6000 loveletters 

 which he had received at different time* from his female admirers a 

 pretty decisive proof of the reputation which induced Madame de 

 Montpeniiier, when recalling the brilliant visions of her youth, to 

 designate him as " cet illustre Bassompierrre." 



(Preface to the translation of 'Bassompierre's English Embassy, 

 scribed on personal knowledge by Mr. D'Israeli to the Right Hon 

 J. W. Croker.) 



He employed his time during his Imprisonment in writing his 

 ' Memoir**,' and revising his ' Ambasmde* ; ' but both are so very dull 

 and jejune, that we cannot help regarding him a* one of those men 

 whose fame has been mainly owing to the advantages of a good person 



