BRIZIO, FRANCESCO. 



BROCCHI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA. 



930 



In conjunction with hia friend Brayley, Brittou promptly undertook 

 to 'get up 5 from ready sources an 'Account of Wiltshire," and as 

 their first preparation for it, the friends set out on a tour, not, as 

 might be supposed, through Wiltshire, but through Wales. In due 

 time however the ' Beauties of Wiltshire ' were completed in 2 vols. 

 8vo (1801), to the satisfaction of the publishers ; and at their invitation 

 the joint authors immediately set to work on the ' Beauties of Bedford- 

 shire.' Eventually the ' Beauties' of all the other counties of England 

 were published in 26 vols., but only the first nine volumes were written 

 by the original authors. While compiling his ' Wiltshire,' Mr. Britton 

 not only became conscious of his deficiencies, but endeavoured reso- 

 lutely to supply them ; and the criticisms and advice of various auti- 

 quaries and topographers with whom the work brought him into 

 connection materially assisted his progress. Finding his publisher averse 

 to the admission of antiquarian matter, he began to collect materials 

 for another and more elaborate work, the ' Architectural Antiquities 

 of England,' of which the first part was published in 1805, and which 

 was above nine years in progress. It eventually formed five splendid 

 quarto volumes. Henceforth Mr. Britten's course was one of laborious 

 and persevering authorship in the path which he made for many years 

 in a special manner liis own that of architectural and topographical 

 description andantiquities. It wouldoccupy too much space to enumerate 

 his many publications, which in his own chronological list, in the second 

 part of his 'Autobiography,' numbers eighty-seven distinct productions. 

 The most important of them is the ' Cathedral Antiquities of England," 

 a magnificent work, which was commenced in 1814 by the publication 

 in a detached form of the ' Antiquities of Salisbury Cathedral,' and 

 ultimately embraced a series of elaborate illustrations of the entire 

 cathedrals of England. In its completed form the ' Cathedral Anti- 

 quities ' occupy 14 vols. fol. and 4to, 1814-35, with upwards of 300 

 highly-finished steel-engravings. 



The production of these works was carried on throughout under 

 Mr. Britton's immediate superintendence, many of the artists working 

 in his own house, and being trained to their work by himself; and 

 the facility he thus acquired in the production of this class of publi- 

 cations led to th" preparation of many other works of a similar kind. 

 Among the illustrated works of which he was either author or editor 

 may be named an ' Historical Account of Corsham House," 1806; 

 the ' Fine Arts of the English School,' 4to, 1812 ; ' Historical Account 

 of Redclifle Church,' 4to, 1813 ; ' Illustrations of Fonthill Abbey,' 1823; 

 'Historical Account of Bath Abbey Church,' 1825; the 'Public 

 Buildings of London, from Drawings by A. Pugin,' 2 vols. royal 8vo, 

 1825-28; 'Architectural Antiquities of Normandy, drawn by A. Pugiu," 

 1825-27; 'Picturesque Antiquities of English Cities,' 4to, 1830 ; 'A 

 Dictionary of the Architecture and Archaeology of the Middle Ages,' 

 4to, 1832-38; 'A History, &c., of the Ancient Palace and Houses of 

 Parliament at Westminster,' jointly with E. W. Brayley, 8vo, 1834-36 ; 

 ' Historical Account of Toddiugton, Gloucestershire,' 1841 ;' Historical 

 Notices of Windsor Castle," 1842 ; &c. &c. But besides these Mr. 

 Britton has written on many subjects connected with general literature, 

 cither as distinct works or as contributions to literary journals, &c. lu 

 biography he published in 1845 a 'Memoir of John Aubrey," and in 

 1848 an essay entitled 'The Authorship of the Letters of Junius 

 Elucidated, including a Biographical Memoir of Colonel Barrd, M.P." 

 Mr. Britton wrote the articles 'Avebury,' ' Stoneheiigo,' and 'Tumulus,' 

 for the ' Penny Cyclopaedia." 



In 1847 the literary and other friends of Mr. Britton gave the veteran 

 author a dinner on his retirement from the active pursuit of his oiling; 

 and it being determined to mark their esteem for him by a permanent 

 testimonial, a social gathering called the 'Brittou Club ' was organised 

 to carry out the project. The form of the testimonial, at Mr. Britton's 

 own suggestion, it was eventually agreed should be an ' Autobiography,' 

 which he was to prepare and to print with the testimonial funds. 

 Despite of his advanced age, Mr. Britton has continued to labour at 

 his self-imposed task; but the 'Autobiography' has assumed so dis- 

 cursive a form, that though the parts already issued are of considerable 

 bulk, the real life has advanced very little further than that which 

 appeared in an autobiographical sketch prefixed to vol. iii. of the 

 ' Beauties of Wiltshire' in 1825. Mr. Britton is not a man of marked 

 originality or great mental power, but as a careful and diligent writer 

 in a branch of literature which had been cultivated chiefly by minute 

 antiquarians, he did excellent service in calling the attention of the 

 educated public to the long-neglected topographical and architectural 

 antiquities of England ; and there can be little doubt that his elegantly- 

 illustroted works have been a chief exciting cause in bringing about 

 the improved state of public feeling with reference to our national 

 antiquities. The career of Mr. Britton is moreover an admirable illus- 

 tration, as he himself describes it, " of what may be effected by zeal 

 and industry, with moderate talents, and without academic learning." 



BRI'ZIO, FHANCESCO, a distinguished Bolognese painter, and one 

 of the best of the scholars of the Carracci, was born at Bologna in 

 1574. He was a journeyman shoemaker until his twentieth year, 

 when by the permission of an uncle, he was allowed to learn painting 

 under Passerotti. He however soon made sufficient progress to 

 perceive that the school of Ludovico Carracci was a surer road to 

 success than the instruction of Passerotti, whom he accordingly left. 

 In the school of the Carracci he devoted himself to engraving as well 

 ai painting, and became a favourite both of Ludovico and Agostino. 



BIOO. DIV. VOL. I. 



Erizio did not, as is too often the case, restrict his studies in painting 

 to the human figure and it* draperies, but he divided his labours 

 between the _ figure, perspective, architecture, and landscape. He 

 was superior in these accessory parts of painting to all his Bologuesa 

 contemporaries, and saya Lanzi, was, with the exception of Domeni- 

 chino, the most universal genius of the school of the Carracci. His 

 masterpiece is the 'Coronation of an image of the Virgin' in the church 

 of San Petronio. He died in 1623, aged forty -nine. His son Filippo 

 Brizio, and Domenico degli Ambrogi, called Mem'chino del Brizio, 

 were his principal scholars, and were both very able painters. 



Gandellini describes many prints by Brizio after the Carracci, 

 Correggio, and others; 31 are noticed by Bartsch in the 'Peintre- 

 Graveur." They are executed in the style of Agostino Carracci, are 

 scarce, and are much prized by collectors. Brizio is better known for 

 his prints than his pictures. 



(Malvasia, Felsina Pittrice ; Gandellini, Notizie htoriche degli 

 Jntagliatori, etc. ; Lanzi, Storia Pittorica, efcc.) 



BKO'CCHI, GIOVA'NNI BATTISTA, was born at Bassano, in the 

 Venetian territory, in February 1772. He studied in the college of 

 his native town, aud afterwards at the university of Padua, his father 

 intending him for the profession of the law; but young Brocchi's chief 

 attention was directed to botany and mineralogy, aud when the time 

 came for his examination previous to his taking his doctor's degree, he 

 left Padua abruptly and went to Rome, where he became acquainted 

 with the learned Lanzi, with whose assistance he became well versed 

 in Roman and Greek archaeology. He paid particular attention to 

 the Egyptian antiquities at. Rome, and wrote some dissertations on 

 Egyptian sculpture. Having returned to Bassano, he continued his 

 studies of the natural sciences, aud in 1802 was appointed professor of 

 botany in the newly-established Lyceum of Brescia. He was made 

 secretary to the Athenaeum, or scientific academy of that city, and he 

 was the first editor of the memoirs of that institution. He also made 

 excursions in the valleys and mountains of the province of Brescia, 

 and having examined their geology and their mineral productions, he 

 published ' Trattato Mineralogico sulle Miuiere di Ferro del Diparti- 

 mento del Mella, con 1'Esposizione della Costituzione fisica delle 

 Montague metallifere della Val Trompia,' 2 vols. 8vo, Brescia, 1807. 

 In 1808 he was made inspector of the mines of the kingdom of Italy, 

 and soon after he was chosen a member of the Italian Institute. The 

 results of his geological and mineralogical observations, made during 

 his frequent excursions in various parts of Italy, were published in 

 various works: 1. 'Memoria Mineralogica sulla Valle di Fassa nel 

 Tirolo,' Milano, 1811. The valley of Fassa, in the Italian Tyrol, near 

 Brixeu, which is very rich in magnificent crystals, stalactites, &c., had 

 not been examined before by any of the explorers of the Alpine 

 regions. 2. ' Coachiologia fossile subapeunina, con Osservazioni 

 Geologiche sugli Apenniui e sul Suolo adjacente,' 2 vols. 4to, Milano, 

 1814. This, the principal work of Brocchi, is the result of his 

 repeated visits to the central aud southern parts of Italy. It begins 

 with an interesting historical sketch of the progress of geological studies 

 in Italy, and of the persons who had cultivated the science previous to 

 the author's time. This is followed by a general view of the structure 

 of the Apennines, and a sketch of the physical constitution of the 

 lower hills lying between these mountains aud the sea, their various 

 formations, and relative ages. It was to these subapennine hills and 

 the adjacent valleys aud plains, which abound in organic remains, that 

 Brocchi's investigations were chiefly directed. He examined the 

 numerous varieties of shells found among them, and identified those 

 species which still exist in the seas of Italy, and which form nearly 

 one-half of the whole. It should however be noticed that the rocks 

 to which Brocchi assigned the name subapenuine are not all precisely 

 of the same geological age, and that the amount of recent shells 

 detected in them has been since found to vary according to the 

 relative antiquity of the rock in which they occur, the newer rocks 

 containing the larger proportion of these shells. The second volume 

 consists of a descriptive catalogue of the fossil shells, with the living 

 analogues where they are known to exist. The work is accompanied 

 with plates. 3. ' Catalogo ragiouato di una racolta di rocce disposto 

 con ordiue geografico per servire alia geognosia dell' Italia," 8vo, 

 Milano, 1817. This work contains a catalogue of more than 1500 

 specimens of rocks collected by Brocchi in various parts of Italy, and 

 especially in the Campagna of Rome, the Terra di Lavoro and Puglia, 

 the Marches, Tuscany, and Modena. It is preceded by a well-written 

 introduction on the geology and mineralogy of the different regions 

 of Italy. Several other minor works of Brocchi are printed in various 

 numbers of the ' Biblioteca Italiana," between the years 1816-23. In 

 1820 Brocchi, after residing some time at Rome, published 'Dello 

 Stato fisico del suolo di Roma, Memoria per servire d'illuatrazione alia 

 carta geoguostica di questa Citta." The work is divided into two 

 parts : he treats first of the ancient condition and appearance of the 

 surface of the ground on which Rome, both ancient and modern, now 

 stands ; and, secondly, of the character of the soil, of the various rocks 

 and strata of the hills and of the valleys between them and the Tiber. 

 The map which accompanies the work gives a very correct idea of the 

 physical topography of Rome. Brocchi's observations are accurate and 

 valuable ; but some of his inferences and hypotheses have met with 

 much opposition, especially those in the latter part of the work, which 

 consists of a ' Discourse on the Condition of the Air of Rome iu 



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