229 



SACCHETTI, QIAMBATTISTA. 



SACHEVERELL, HENRY, D.D. 



230 



works of both to the same individual, whom they describe as an 

 eminent poet and historian, and writer of tales. 



Although his sonnets, canzoni, capitoli, and other metrical compo- 

 sitions obtained for him great repute as a poet among his contempo- 

 raries and bis countrymen, it is chiefly by his 'Novelle' thattbe elder 

 Franco is now known as a writer. It is singular however that 

 although the ' Novelle ' had previously been quoted as authorities for 

 the language in the dictionary 'Delia Crusca,' and gpoken of by critics 

 as next, both in style and merit, to those of Boccaccio, they existed 

 only in manuscript copies until 1724, when they first issued from the 

 press, edited by Bottari. The collection originally consisted of three 

 hundred tales, but of that number only two hundred and fifty-five 

 now remain. They do not show much invention, nor indeed do they 

 correspond to their title, being for the most part not narratives, but 

 merely short anecdotes, whose matter is frequently very trivial, owing 

 to which their interest now consists almost entirely in their relating 

 to historical personages, and in their throwing light upon many 

 customs and other obscure matters. Some of them have been appro- 

 priated and adapted by modern writers; Burger, for instance, has 

 taken Sacchetti's fourth novella, and transformed it into his popular 

 comic ballad entitled the ' Emperor and Abbot/ without mentioning 

 the source of it. 



Bottari mentions a comic poem entitled ' La Battaglia delle Vecchie 

 colle Fanciulle,' existing in manuscript in the Gaddi Library, as 

 attributed to Sacchetti, merely observing that he had never been able 

 to procure a sight of it. This production, which is in two cantos, and 

 consists altogether of only one hundred and thirty stanzas in rima ottava, 

 was printed for the first time at Bologna in 1819, and dedicated to 

 Lord Byron ; and was reprinted in the ' Scelta di Poemi Giocosi,' 

 published by Bettoni at Milan, 1833. Amati, the first editor, sup- 

 poses it to have been written about 1354, and it may be allowed to 

 entitle Sacchetti to the honour of being considered the father of 

 Italian heroic-comic poetry. 



SACCHETTI, aiAMBATTISTA, was born at Turin, where he 

 studied architecture under Juvara, who, in his last illness, recom- 

 mended him as his successor for carrying into execution the designs 

 for the new palace at Madrid. He was accordingly summoned to that 

 capital by Philip V. in 1736. The original design by Juvara was upon 

 a most extraordinary scale, the plan forming altogether a square of 

 1700 feet to the' side; but as the king insisted upon the new edifice 

 being erected on the precise site of the former one (destroyed by fire 

 in 1734), notwithstanding all remonstrances and advice to the con- 

 trary, both on the part of the architect and of many other individuals, 

 Juvara's design was laid aside altogether, and his successor had to 

 prepare an entirely new one, in which the plan was greatly curtailed, 

 being reduced to a square of 470 feet. Even thus abridged, the 

 present edifice (begun in April, 1737) is a vast pile, and one of unusual 

 loftiness ; for, owing to the great declivity of the ground, the height 

 in some parts is about 150 feet, and, including those in the substruc- 

 ture and basement, there are no fewer than nine different floors. But 

 so many different ranges of windows do not contribute to grandeur ; 

 on the contrary, they occasion a certain character of littleness, and 

 give the whole the appearance of being too much cut up and crowded. 

 This important work occupied Sacchetti so much as to leave him 

 little leisure for anything else of importance, except completing the 

 facade of the palace of St. Ildefonso as designed by Juvara. He 

 was also director of the public school of architecture at Madrid ; and 

 on the Academy of St. Ferdinand being established, 1752, he was 

 complimented with the honorary title of director in it, being excused, 

 on account of his other avocations, from attending to its duties. Ill 

 health at length compelled him to resign bis professional engagements 

 altogether in 1760, some time previously to his death, which did not 

 happen till December 3, 1764. 



SACCHI, ANDREA, one of the greatest masters of the Roman 

 school of painting, was the natural son of Benedetto Sacchi, an obscure 

 painter, and was born in the vicinity of Rome, about 1599. He 

 acquired the rtidiments of his art from his father, who, perceiving the 

 ability of his son, placed him at an early age in the studio of Albano, 

 with whom he remained several years. He soon distinguished himself 

 as the most promising of all Albano's scholars, and in a short time 

 surpassed his master also, whom while still his pupil, he excelled :n 

 every respect. 



Sacchi enjoyed a local reputation while very young, and upon the 

 accession of Urban VIII. in 1623, through his interest with the Bar- 

 berini family, he was appointed to execute one of the great altar- 

 pieces of St. Peter's ; and he painted a large picture for the altar of 

 Gregory the Great, representing the performance of a miracle by that 

 saint. This piece, which in 1771 was copied in mosaic by Alexander 

 Cocchi, is equally conspicuous for correctness of design and simplicity 

 and harmony of colouring, aud it established Sacchi's fame. A great 

 allegorical composition, representing the Divine Wisdom, which he 

 executed in fresco in the Barberini Palace for Cardinal Antonio 

 Barberini, the nephew of Urban VIII., gained for Sacchi the repu- 

 tation of being the greatest painter in Rome. He painted many 

 other works for the same cardinal, who granted him a pension 

 for life, 



His next great work was St. Romualdo relating his vision to five 

 monks of his order, which is considered Sacchi's masterpiece, and not- 



withstanding its remarkable simplicity, both of composition and 

 colour, has been generally pronounced to be one of the finest works 

 in Rome. The scene ia in the valley of Camaldoli in the Apt nninee, 

 aud the saint is represented seated at the foot of a great tree ; the 

 monks are standing in simple and attentive attitudes around him ; all 

 the figures are similarly attired in white, but the shadow of the tree 

 is so admirably arranged as to give the whole a pleasing and grand 

 effect. This picture was carried away by the French, but it is now in 

 the museum of the Vatican ; it has been excellently engraved by 

 Frey. Sacchi also executed the following great works : the Death of 

 St. Ann (also engraved by Frey) ; the miracle of St. Antony ; St. 

 Joseph ; St. Andrew ; and eight pictures from the life of John the 

 Baptist, for the church of San Giovanni in Laterano; and others of 

 less importance. 



Considering the great powers of Sacchi and the age to which he 

 lived, he produced remarkably few pictures. It was a maxim with 

 him that the merit of a painter consisted not in executing much of 

 moderate merit, but little and excellent; ho was however a man 

 of decidedly dilatory habits. He spent much of bis time in contem- 

 plating the great works of his favourite masters, and of all the pictures 

 in Rome those which he most admired were the ' Transfiguration ' by 

 Raffaelle, the ' Communion of St. Jerome ' by Domenichino, and ' St. 

 Peter healing the Cripple ' by Cigoli (since destroyed). When 

 reproached for his inactivity, he used to reply that Raffaelle and 

 Aunibal Caracci had disheartened him and filled him with despair. 

 His admiration of Raffaelle amounted to absolute veneration ; his con- 

 temporary Passen relates that occasionally when some one of his 

 scholars had shown him a study from that great painter, he has been 

 led away from the consideration of the design before him into the 

 contemplation of the great powers of the designer, and has passionately 

 exclaimed, " What ! they would make me believe that Raffaelle was a 

 man ; no, he was an angel." And when he made a tour through the 

 north of Italy, subsequently to his painting the St. Romualdo, for 

 the purpose of examining the works of the Lombard and the Venetian 

 masters, being much struck with the delicacy and richness of effect 

 of Correggio and Titian, he expected to feel a deficiency in the works 

 of Raffaelle upon his return to Rome ; but immediately ha saw the 

 ' Mass of Bolsena ' in the Vatican he exclaimed, " here I find not only 

 Titian and Corregio, but Raffaelle also." 



Sacchi's manner of execution was very broad, and his colouring 

 subdued and perfectly harmonious ; he is considered one of the best 

 colourists of the Roman school. His design was pure and elevated ; 

 and his composition natural and simple : repose and dignity of 

 character prevail throughout all his works. His forms are classical, 

 though natural ; he was thoroughly acquainted with the great works 

 of antiquity. Sacchi died in 1661. He had many imitators, and not- 

 withstanding the rivalry of Pietro da Cortona and the opposition of 

 Bernini, he formed a numerous and celebrated school. Nicolas Poussin 

 attended hia academy, but bis greatest scholar was Carlo Maratta, 

 who, after the death of Sacchi, became the leader of the faction which 

 was opposed to the imitators of Cortona. 



SACCHl'NI, ANTONIO GASPARO, a composer, whose strains 

 once resounded in every lyric theatre in Europe, but of whom little 

 more than the name remains, was born at Naples, ia 1735, and there 

 educated, at the ' Conservatorio di Santa Maria,' under the once famous 

 Durante, who himself is now nearly forgotten. So successful were 

 Sacchini's studies, that the moment they were completed he was 

 engaged to compose an opera for Milan, whither he proceeded for the 

 purpose ; but there the prima donna made so sudden and so deep an 

 impression on a mind always too susceptible, that to her he devoted 

 the time that ought to have been bestowed on his work, which at 

 length he was compelled to begin and finish, we are told, in four days. 

 This was ' L'Isola d'Amore/ an opera that pleased not only the public, 

 but the critics. Sacchini then went to Venice, next to Stuttgardt, 

 afterwards to London, and finally to Paris, in which cities his 

 numerous operas were performed, but with most success in the last, 

 where he set his music to French words for the Acade'mie Royale. 

 The Parisians, Dr. Burney tella us, almost adored Sacchini, and when 

 he died overwhelmed with debt and exhausted with gout in 1786, 

 he was honoured with a splendid public funeral, at which Piccini, once 

 his rival, now his panegyrist, spoke his e"loge. 



SACHEVERELL, HENRY, D.D., was descended from a family 

 which, according to Boyer ('Reign of Queen Anne,' p. 406), had in 

 one of its branches made a considerable figure in Derbyshire. His 

 grandfather, John Sacheverell, who had been educated for the Church, 

 joined the Puritans in the reign of Charles I., and, after the overthrow 

 of episcopacy, officiated as Presbyterian minister at Wiucanton in 

 Somersetshire ; but, refusing to conform, was of course silenced at 

 the Restoration, and, being afterwards apprehended at a conventicle, 

 endured an imprisonment of three years, which is said to have 

 occasioned his death. Joshua, his sou by a first marriage, however 

 grew up a zealous churchman, and tlie,d minister of St. Peter's church, 

 Marlborough, leaving a widow, with a numerous family, in very poor 

 circumstances. Henry, one of the sons, the subject of the present 

 notice, who appears to have been born about 1672, was adopted by 

 one Edward Hearst, an apothecary of the place, who was his god- 

 father; and by Hearst's widow he was, after having attended the 

 grammar-school of Marlborough, sent to Magdalen College, Oxford. 



