101 



RIDLEY, NICHOLAS. 



RIGHINI, VINCENZO. 



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drawings, which are executed with great accuracy and taste. The 

 largest and most choice collection of them (about 1400) are in the 

 possession of Mr. Weigel at Leipzig. His copper-plates or etchings 

 are very numerous, of which the following are considered as the best : 

 eight plates of wild animals ; forty plates of observations of wild 

 animals ; fables of animals, sixteen plates ; hunting of animals of the 

 chase by dogs, twenty-eight plates ; Paradise, in twelve plates. The 

 coppers are in the possession of Schlossin, repository of arts at 

 Augsburg. Old impressions are scarce, and pretty high in price." 

 Ridinger was chosen in 1757 director of the Academy of Painting at 

 Augsburg, where he died in 1767. His sons, Martin Elias and John 

 Jacob, followed their father's profession. The first, and Ridinger's 

 son-in-law, John Gottfried Seuter, had some share in the execution of 

 his copper-plates. The latter engraved in mezzotinto. 



RIDLEY, NICHOLAS, was born in the county of Northumberland, 

 near the beginning of the 16th century. He was educated first at 

 Newcastle, and aftewards at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He 

 received further instruction in France, and having gained some repu- 

 tation for learning, returned to Cambridge, took orders, and became 

 master of his college. His knowledge and power of preaching having 

 attracted the attention of Cranmer, he was presented with clerical 

 preferment, became one of the king's chaplains, and in. 1547 was 

 nominated Bishop of Rochester. His denunciations from the pulpit 

 of the use of images and of holy water soon showed him the strenuous 

 supporter of Protestant doctrines, and his abilities caused him to be 

 associated with the principal reformers both in their chief undertakings 

 and discussions. He frequently disputed on transubstantiation and 

 other doctrines ; and he sat as a member of the commission appointed 

 to examine into charges brought agninst Bonner, bishop of London. 

 The commission deprived Bouner of his dignities, and after some time 

 had elapsed, Ridley was appointed his successor in the see of London. 

 Soon after bis appointment he commenced a visitation of his diocese, 

 actively endeavouring to diffuse Protestant doctrines, for the better 

 understanding of which he assisted Cranmer in framing forty-one 

 articles, which were subsequently promulgated. He was nominated 

 Bishop of Durham, but his appointment was never completed. Three 

 instances are mentioned in which he attempted great ends by the force 

 and power of his preaching : he aimed at the conversion of the Princess 

 Mary, went to her residence at Hunsdon, and requested permission 

 to preach before her. This permission she peremptorily refused, and 

 so offended Ridley, who afterwards showed considerable generosity 

 and a ready sense of forgiveness, by interceding with Edward VI. on 

 Mary's behalf that she should be allowed the free, exercise of her 

 religion. Secondly, he endeavoured through his preaching to direct 

 the young king's mind to works of charity, describing three sorts of 

 poor such as were so by infirmity, by accident, or by idleness. 

 Edward, deeply impressed by this sermon, ordered Grey Friars' church, 

 with its revenues, to be a house for orphans ; St. Bartholomew's, near 

 Smithfield, to be an hospital ; and gave his own house of Bridewell 

 to be a place of correction and work for such as were wilfully idle. 

 (Burnet.) Thirdly, at the instigation of the supporters of Lady Jane 

 Gray, whose case he espoused, he set forth her title in a sermon at St. 

 Paul's, warning the people of the dangers they would be in, and the 

 ruin that would befal the Protestant cause, if the Princess Mary should 

 come to the throne. 



On Mary's accession, Ridley was immediately imprisoned. Her 

 detestation of his opinions was aggravated both by the services he had 

 rendered to the Protestant cause and his opposition to her accession. 

 She committed him to the Tower in July 1553, and did not suffer him 

 to be removed until complaints were made that the most learned 

 Protestants were restrained from attending the discussions maintained 

 by the Catholics and the Reformers on different disputed points. In 

 April 1554 a convocation was appointed at Oxford, at which the 

 doctrine of the real presence was to be discussed ; and since Cranmer, 

 Ridley, and Latimcr were esteemed the most learned men of their 

 persuasion, the queen granted a warrant for removing them from the 

 Tower to the prisons at Oxford. Each disputed in his turn amidst 

 great disorder, shoutings, tauntings, and reproaches ; all were con- 

 sidered to be defeated, and all were adjudged obstinate heretics. Ridley 

 never again left Oxford. He was reconducted to prison, and after 

 resisting many efforts to induce him to recant, was led with Latimer 

 to the stake on the 16th of October 1555. The place of his execution 

 was in front of Baliol College. Gunpowder was hung to his neck, but 

 it was long before the flames penetrated the mass of fuel, and explosion 

 did not terminate his miserable sufferings until his extremities were 

 consumed: he bore his tortures with undaunted courage. Burnet says 

 that for his piety, learning, and solid judgment, he was the ablest man 

 of all that advanced the reformation. A list of his works is given in 

 Wood's ' Athense Oxonienses.' 



RIDOLFI, CARLO, an eminent Venetian painter of the 17th century, 

 was born at Vicenza about 1600 or 1602. He learned his art at Venice, 

 but subsequently studied both at Vicenza and Verona. When Ridolfi 

 began the practice of his art the Venetian school was already rapidly 

 declining from its original eminence, the manner of Caravaggio and 

 the naturalist! having supplanted that of Titian and Giorgione. 

 Ridolfi however adhered to the better style, and produced works of 

 real excellence. His 'Visitation,' painted in the church of the 

 Agnissanti, is especially praised by Lanzi for its colour and correct 



drawing and composition. But Ridolfi was not a man of genius like 

 the great founders of the Venetian school, and his example was insuffi- 

 cient to arrest its decay. Besides historical pieces he painted numerous 

 portraits, chiefly half-lengths. He was a man of information and literary 

 attainments, and a member of the Delia Crusca Academy. He is now 

 best known as the author of the lives of the Venetian painters, ' Le 

 Maraviglie dell' Arte, ovvero le Vite degli illustri Pittoci Veneti e dello 

 Stato,' 2 vols. 4to, Venice, 1648 a work less naive and amusing than 

 that of Vasari, but greatly superior in erudition and precision, and 

 altogether perhaps the best work of the kind which had up to that 

 time been produced in Italy. In his epitaph, given by Sansovino, a 

 contemporary, and by Zanetti, Ridolfi is said to have died in 1658 ; 

 but Boschini, ' La Carta del Navegar Pittoresco,' published at Venice 

 in 1660, speaks of him as then alive. It is not unlikely however, as 

 Laozi suggests, that Boschini may have written the passage two or 

 three years earlier, and neglected to alter it. 



RIES, FERDINAND, an eminent composer of the German school, 

 was born at Bonn on the Rhine, in 1785. He was at first educated 

 under his father, afterwards received instructions from Bernhard Rom- 

 berg, and finally had a few lessons in composition from Albrechts- 

 berger, the celebrated theorist, to whom he was recommended by 

 Beethoven, the great composer candidly confessing that he possessed 

 not the talent for teaching, which he considered a " particular gift." 

 But the young musician was studious and industrious, and acquired 

 from books more knowledge than he obtained from oral communication. 

 His first professional attempts were made at Munich; his next at 

 Vienna, where he remained till 1805, when he was drawn as a con- 

 script for the French army, which then occupied the capital of Austria, 

 but having early lost the use of one eye, he was declared disqualified 

 for military service. He afterwards went to Paris, and composed 

 much, but not successfully. The Beethoven school, to which he 

 belonged, was then but little understood out of Germany. He after- 

 wards proceeded, through Hamburg, Copenhagen, and Stockholm, to 

 St. Petersburg, where fortune began to smile on bis efforts, and was 

 preparing to set out for Moscow, but the French army again deranged 

 all his plans, and he finally determined to visit England, in the hope 

 that he might there at least pursue his peaceful art undisturbed. He 

 arrived in London in 1813, and was immediately received by the 

 liberal violinist Solomon, who procured his admission into the Phil- 

 harmonic Society, where his symphonies were performed with great 

 applause, and he exhibited his talents as a first-rate pianoforte player. 

 He now was most actively engaged, both as a composer and teacher, 

 and by his unwearied exertions amassed a handsome independence. 

 In 1824 he returned to his native country, continuing however to 

 exercise his talents as a composer, and, besides many works for the 

 pianoforte, produced two German operas, and an oratorio, ' David/ a 

 work of more than ordinary merit. He died at Frankfurt in 1838. 



RIGAUD, HYACINTHS, an eminent French portrait-painter, was 

 born at Perpignau on the 25th of July 1659. He was the son of 

 Matthias Rigaud, an artist, from whom he learned the rudiments of 

 painting, and upon whose death he was sent by his mother to Mont- 

 pellier, and placed under various masters, among whom was Ranc, a 

 portrait-painter. In 1681 he returned to Paris, and in the following 

 year gained the chief prize given by the Academy. He intended to 

 follow historical composition, but was advised by Charles le Brun to 

 practise portrait-paintiug, and the same artist dissuaded him from 

 visiting Italy. In 1700 he was admitted a member of the Academy of 

 Paris, and presented as his admission-picture a portrait of the sculptor 

 Desjardins a performance which gained him a high reputation. His 

 success as an artist was now most brilliant ; he frequently painted the 

 portrait of Louis XIV., those of the royal family, the principal nobility 

 of the court, and many of the most illustrious personages of Europe. 

 In 1727 he was pensioned and decorated with the order of St. Michael. 

 He was successively professor, rector, and director of the Academy. 

 Grief for the loss of his wife, who died in 1742, coupled with his 

 advanced age, hastened his own death, which happened on the 19th of 

 December in the following year. He left no issue, and no pupil of 

 note except Jean Ranc, who married his niece, and who became prin- 

 cipal painter to the king of Spain. Works by Rigaud are contained in 

 most of the collections of Europe. In the Louvre, besides others, are 

 the portraits of Le Brun, Mignard, and Bossuet. His pictures have 

 been engraved by Edelinck, the Drevets, J. Audran, and other eminent 

 artists, and consist of two hundred historical portraits. 



Rigaud is considered one of the best portrait-painters of the French 

 school ; his heads display much character and expression, his touch is 

 bold and free, yet delicate, and his colouring, though gay, generally 

 speaking free from gaudiness. In his draperies however he was too 

 apt to express a fluttering effect inconsistent with the repose of the 

 other parts of his work, and the attitudes of his figures frequently 

 exhibit unnecessary violence of action. With regard to the title given 

 him of ' the French Vandyck,' it seems difficult to reconcile it with 

 truth, for simplicity and purity of style one of the most prominent 

 merits of that great painter is entirely wanting in the works of 

 Rigaud ; nor do the two more resemble each other in their style of 

 colouring and in their management of chiaroscuro. 



RIGHI'NI, VINCENZO, a composer of great merit, whose works 

 deserve to be better known, and will probably ere long be rescued 

 from the ill-deserved neglect into which they have fallen, was born at 



