103 



GIOCONDO, FRA GIOVANNI. 



QIOJA, MELCHIORRE. 



110 



The Jesuits alone were dissatisfied, and Gioberti attacked them in his 

 ' Prolegomeni," Svo, 1S45. Pius IX., on his accession to the papal 

 chair in 1846, adopted the views of Gioberti, and began to carry out 

 the reforms recommended in 'II Primato ;' and as the opposition of 

 the Jesuits still continued, Gioberti produced his great attack on their 

 principles and practice, under the title of ' II "Gesuita Moderno/ 

 5 vols. Svo, Lausanne, 1847. 



When the French revolution of February 1848 occurred, Goberti 

 was at Paris occupied with his plans for the renovation of Italy. On 

 the 25th of April he quitted Paris, after an exile of fifteen years, to 

 return to his native city of Turin, where his arrival was welcomed by 

 a display of banners by day. and illuminations and fireworks at night, 

 accompanied with music and dancing and patriotic songs ; and after- 

 wards, when he passed through Milan, Genoa, Florence, Rome, and 

 other places, he was everywhere received with the greatest enthu- 

 siasm, so that Ms journey resembled a triumphal procession. On 

 his return to Turin he was elected a member of the chamber of deputies, 

 of which he was unanimously chosen president. He was opposed to 

 all violent reforms, but the tide of political excitement in the year 

 1848 threw him into the ranks of the opposition, and on the ICth of 

 December the king appointed him the prime minister of a democratic 

 cabinet. He soon found himself to be in a false position, and the 

 differences of opinion between himself and his colleagues led to a 

 dissolution of the ministry on the 18th of February 1849. He was 

 succeeded by Pinelli, and goon afterwards was sent to Paris to solicit 

 aid from the French government in the approaching contest with 

 Au.-tria. Ilia mission was of no avail. Milan was reconquered by 

 Radetzky, Charles- Albert defeated at Novara, and Victor-Emmanuel II. 

 haa alone, of all the rulers of Italy, preserved for his subjects a con- 

 stitutional government, a free press, and a just administration of the 

 laws. Gioberti remained in Paris, and the fruit of his renewed studies 

 was his work 'Del Rinnovamento Civile d'ltalia,' 2 vols. Svo, 1851. 

 He died October 26, 1852, at Paris. 



GIOCONDO, FRA GIOVANNI, an Italian architect of Verona, 

 was born about the middle of the 15th century. He was celebrated 

 for his almost universal acqniiements, was a Greek and Latin scholar, 

 a theologian, philosopher, and engineer, and was skilled iu perspective 

 and in decoration, especially in in-laid wood-work. He is mentioned 

 in the highest terms by many contemporary writers, and particularly 

 by his countryman Julius Caisar Scaliger, who was his pupil in the 

 Greek and Latin languages. Giocoudo served the Emperor Maxi- 

 milian in Germany, Louis XII. in France, and Leo X. at Rome : he 

 built the Ponte della Pietra at Verona, that of N6tre-Dame at Paris, 

 and succeeded Brauiante as architect of St. Peter's, the foundations 

 of which he much improved. Vasari mentions other of his archi- 

 tectural works; he also says that he built two bridges over the Seine. 

 He turned a great portion of the waters of the Brenta from the 

 Venetian lagoons, directing them to Brontolo, many miles to the south 

 of Venice, by which means the Venetian waters were kept perfectly 

 free from the vast quantities of inud brought down from tho Alps by 

 the Brenta ; this Vasari terms Giocondo's greatest work, and a signal 

 service for Venice : the same or a similar channel still exists, and is 

 called the Brenta Xuovis-ima. Amongst Giocondo's literary services 

 Vasari mentions a great collection of ancient inscriptions which he 

 copied in Rome and presented to Lorenzo de' Medici : he also first 

 discovered several of the letters of the younger Pliny in an old library 

 .at Paris ; and he published an illustrated edition of ' Vitruvius ' at 

 Venice in 1511. 



In the continuation of St. Peter's, Giocondo was appointed con- 

 jointly with Giuliano da San Gallo and Raffaelle, and the latter speaks 

 of Giocondo in the following terms in a letter (published by Richard- 

 ion, and inserted in recent Lives of RaQaelle) to his uncle, dated 

 July 1, 1514 : " He (the pope) has given me a companion, a very 

 learned old friar, who is upwards of eighty years of age; and as the 

 pope sees that he cannot live long, and as he has the reputation of 

 great knowledge, his holiness has given him to me as an assistant, 

 that I may learn of him, and discover any great secret he may have 

 in architecture, and thus perfect myself in the art. He is called Fra 

 Giocondo." According to this, if Raffaelle was a correct judge of age, 

 or had ascertained the fact of Giocondo's age, be must have been 

 born about 1430, twenty years earlier than the data given by Vasari. 

 Singularly enough, though not with unusual inconsistency, Vasari, in 

 mentioning Giocondo incidentally iu the ' Life of Raffaelle,' says that 

 he died in 1537, aged eighty-seven, yet in Giocondo's own life, which 

 follows soon afterwards, he (ays, " He died at length very old ; but 

 it is not known exactly when or where." It is not known with 

 certainty to what religious order he belonged, but he is supposed to 

 have been a Franciscan. He was living in 1521. 



(Viuiari, Vi't de" Pittori, <tc. ; Dal I'ozzo, Vite de' Ptilori, <<:., 

 Vtronai ; Milizia, (Jpere ; Quatremere de Quincy, Dictimnaire 

 tC Architecture, tkc.) 



GIOKKHK'I it i, MARIO GAETANO, one of the few good architects 

 that Naples has produced, was born in that city, May 14, 1718. 

 Greatly to the dissatisfaction of his parents, who intended him for 

 the law, (lioffredi determined that architecture should be his pursuit; 

 and he was accordingly placed under Martino Buouocore, an architect 

 of considerable reputation, but of little talent. The pupil was not 

 long in finding out the mediocrity of big master, and commenced a 



course of private self-instruction by studying the best Neapolitan 

 edifices, those by Fansaga and Domenico Fontana, and the writings of 

 Vitruvius and Palladio. He further extended his studies not only to 

 mathematics, but to antiquities and history in their connection with 

 art, and also took lessous in design and figure-composition. 



GiofFredo at the age of twenty-three began to practise in his pro- 

 fession, but for some time found no opportunity to distinguish 

 himself. On one of his visits to Rome he solicited permission to 

 compete for the church of San Giacomo degli Spaguuoli, then about 

 to be rebuilt there : his application was very coldly received by the 

 Spanish dignitary Herreros, who observed that they got their singers 

 and not their architects from Naples ; to which Gioffredo replied, he 

 would convince them that Naples had architects also worth having. 

 Nor did he fail to make good his word, for his designs obtained the 

 preference, although he had to contend with Sardi, Fuga, and Vanvi- 

 telli, to the second of whom, we may observe, Miiizia erroneously 

 attributes the building. 



Afterwards, though he had full employment at Naples, and on 

 government works in Calabria Ultra, where he was for some time 

 engaged in superintending the working of the iron-mines in the Valle 

 di Canneto, he had not many opportunities of signalising himself as 

 an architect. The principal buildings of architectural note by him 

 at Naples are the two palazzi Campolieto and Coscia, and the Chiesa 

 dello Spirito Santo ; for though great public improvements, the two 

 new streets, that of Monti) Oliveto and the one called De' Pellegrini, 

 do not properly come under the head of architectural works. He has 

 however another claim to notice in an excellent work on architecture 

 which he published in 1768, which however he did not carry on to 

 the extent he originally contemplated. 



In 1783 his services were rewarded by his being appointed the chief 

 government architect, with a liberal salary. Soon afterwards a 

 disorder of his eyes, brought on by excessive study, terminated in 

 total blindness. He fell at last iuto a state of profound melancholy, 

 from which death relieved him on March S, 1785. 



GIO'JA, MELCHIO'RRE, born at Piacenza in 1767, studied in the 

 college Alberoui of that town, aftsr which he was ordained priest. 

 He showed at an early age a predilection for the mathematical 

 sciences. AVhen Napoleon I. invaded Lombardy in 1796, Gioja went 

 to live at Milan, adopted republican opinions, and became a political 

 writer. The provisional government at Milan having offered a prize 

 for the solution of the question, " Which of the various forms of free 

 government is beat suited to Italy ?" Gioja obtained the prize. He 

 advocated a constitution on the model of the French one of 1795, 

 with two elective chambers, an executive directory, &c., but with 

 some modifications, by which he really believed that the establishment 

 of liberty and political equality would be secured. The result proved 

 unfavourable ; the Cisalpine Republic, a mere dependant of France, 

 after changing its constitution two or three times in as many years, 

 fell before the arms of Austria and Russia in 1799. During this 

 turbulent period Gioja wrote the following pamphlets, chiefly iu reproof 

 of those revolutionists who advised measures of confiscation and pro- 

 scription against all whose opinions were different from their own : 

 1. ' Quadro Politico di Milano ; ' 2, ' Cosa e Patriotismo ? ' 3, ' I Partiti 

 chiamati all' Ordine;' 4, ' La Causa di Dio e degli Uomini difesa dagl' 

 Insulti degli Empj e dalle Pretensioui dei Fanatici." All these are 

 curious memorials of the aberrations of opinion in those times. Gioja, 

 after being imprisoned as a republican in 1799, was liberated in 1800, 

 after the battle of Marengo. He now applied himself chiefly to political 

 economy, and it is upon his works on that science that his reputation 

 is founded. He wrote, in favour of a free trade in coru and other 

 provisions, ' Sul Commercio dei Comestibili, e caro prezzo del vitto,' 

 Milan, 1801. The price of bread continued however to be fixed for 

 years after by the municipal authorities in the towns of Lombardy. 

 His description of the department dell' Olona, or of Milan, and of that 

 del Lario, or of Como, was considered as a model for statistical works. 

 When Napoleon I. crowned himself king of Italy, Gioja resumed his 

 political pamphlets, and wrote ' I Tedeachi, i Frances!, e j Russi iu 

 Lombardia,' in which he maintained that the dominion of the French 

 was more congenial to Italy than that of the other two. He was soon 

 after appointed historiographer of the kingdom. 



Gioja's reputation rests on his ' Nuovo Prospctto delle Scienze 

 Economiche,' 6 vols. 4to, Milan, 1815-17; a work of considerable 

 research and labour, in which the author has collected and examined 

 the opinions of most economists, Italian and foreign, and tried them 

 by a comparison with the historical facts and institutions of various 

 nations, ancient and modern. The greater part of the work is in a 

 tabular form, the tables being furnished with quotations and notes. 

 Gioja prefers large properties to subdivided ones, arts aud manu- 

 factures to agriculture, and he advocates the principle of association 

 as a powerful means of production ; he is also in favour of a system 

 of universal popular education. At the end of the sixth volume he 

 gives a list of cases in which the interference of the government may 

 be useful to industry, and another of those in which it is mischievous. 

 As a sequel to this work he published a treatise, 'Del Merito e delle 

 Ricompense,' 2 vols. 4to, 1818-19, a work full of bold and original 

 ideas, many of which may be useful, whilst others appear impracticable 

 in the present state of society. In it the author exhibits a total in- 

 dependence of all political systems, very different in this respect from 



