213 



PAINTING. 



PAINTING. 



2H 



There is mention also of three other ancient painters of Gubbio : 

 Cecco and Puccio, who were employed in 1321 in painting the dome 

 of Orvieto ; and Guido Palmerucci, who was employed about 1321, in 

 the town-hall of his native city. 



A still more important name in the early history of the Roman 

 school is that of Pietro Cavallini, who is said to have received 

 instruction from Giotto while at Rome. A Crucifixion by this master, 

 still extant at Assisi, is a remarkable production. The return of the 

 papal government from Avignon to Rome gave a new impulse to the 

 arts ; the most skilful artists were sought throughout Italy to decorate 

 the temples and palaces of the luxurious pontiffs of Rome. Of these 

 the principal were Ottaviano Martis, and Gentile da Fabriano, a master 

 of much greater merits. Fabriano was surnamed Magister Magistrorum, 

 and practised his art in many parts of Italy. In 1417 we find him 

 engaged at Orrieto; he resided afterwards at Venice, where he 

 obtained the rank of patrician, and was the master of Giacopo Bellini, 

 whose sons were the founders of the Venetian school. His style, 

 which by Michel Angelo was pronounced to be, like his name, 

 " Gentile," somewhat resembled that of Fra Angelico da Fiesole, though 

 it was much inferior to it. 



Piero della Franeesca, or Piero Borghese, advanced the art still 

 f urther ; he was reckoned one of the best geometricians of his time, 

 and was the first Italian who had any knowledge of the principles of 

 perspective. He introduced immense improvements in the manage- 

 ment of draperies, and also greatly enlarged the manner of treating 

 the naked figure. Bramante studied the works of Piero, who was 

 .f introducing architectural backgrounds in his pictures, which 

 he executed in tolerable perspective. Additional improvements were 

 made by Bartolomeo Corradini of Urbino, called Fra Carnevale, who 

 gave great character to his heads, and was the first to introduce por- 

 traits into historical compositions, in which practice he was afterwards 

 followed by Raffaelle, who paid great attention to the works of this 

 painter at the commencement of his career. 



Niccolo Alunno of Foligno and Benedetto Bonfigli complete the 

 list of the considerable artists of this school previous to and contem- 

 porary with Pietro Perugino, the master of Raffaelle, and Giovanni 

 Sanzio of Urbino, his father. Although, through the united efforts of 

 the above masters, painting had attained to many high and pleasing 

 '[unities, true taste in design may be said to have totally failed them. 

 They had not yet discovered what was beautiful and what was not, or 

 what belonged to the individual and what to the class. Their art was 

 not truly imitative, nor does it seem that an appearance of reality 

 was an object with these painters ; they seem to have considered that 

 their end was sufficiently accomplished in an intelligible indication of 

 whatever they represented. The deficiency of this school could only 

 be supplied through the study of the antique, and to supply it in a 

 great degree was a distinction which fell to the lot of Hasaccio, who 

 must be looked upon as the leader of the great painters of the 15th 

 century, or the Quatrocentisti, as the Italians have termed them, 

 among whose works we first perceive any distinctive characteristics 

 of style. 



It cannot be denied that Perugino owed his great superiority over 

 his predecessors to his visit to Florence, where, whether he became 

 the pupil of Verocchio or not, which is a matter of dispute, he was at 

 least enabled to study the noble works of Masaccio. His taste was 

 however still dry and mean, his design was meagre and feeble, though 

 <irrect, his draperies were stiff and in a little manner, yet his 

 colouring was sometimes exceedingly rich, and for graceful delicacy of 

 attitude and motion, and a softness and simplicity of expression, he 

 surpassed all bis contemporaries. But there is a symmetrical repetition 

 and similarity in the disposition of his figures, which betray a total 

 absence of anything like vigour or truth of composition , and which 

 place him at an immeasurable distance from bis great scholar. No 

 'vi-r imitated their master so closely as, with the exception of 

 Itatfaelle, did those of Perugino ; and many of their works are reputed 

 works of their master. His most celebrated scholars were, Bernardino 

 Pinturicchio ; Andrew Luigi of Assisi. called L'Ingegno on account of 

 his great abilities, who became blind when still young ; Domenico ami 

 his son Urazio di Paris Alfani ; Eusebio da S. Uiorgio ; Giannicola da 

 Perugia ; Lo Spagna ; Berto di Giovanni ; Sinibaldo da Perugia ; 

 Adone Doni of Assist ; and Palmerini of Urbino. The works of all 

 these masters were more or less conspicuous for symmetrical com- 

 position and a profuse application of gold. 



\V. ; now arrive at the pride of| Perugino and the glory of the 



lUffaello Sanzio d'Urbino, the first of painters; for 



1 force in allegory and history, unrivalled ; for fidelity in portrait, 



iossed; who has never been approached in propriety of invention, 



composition, or expression ; who is almost without a rival in design ; 



and in sublimity and grandeur, inferior to Michel Angelo alone, whosi? 



prophets and sibyls in the Capella Sistina are in these respects unques- 



tional.ly the triumphs of modern art. 



It must not be supposed that Raffaelle attained these great qualities 



intuitively : they were the result of long and intense application; and 



in the works of no artist is the progress of improvement so apparent 



as in those of Raffaelle. He painted in three styles : his first was that 



ugino. His second was an enlargement of that style in the taste 



Bartolomeo, and is termed his Florentine ; but this change or 



improvement in style wa not effected through an acquaintance with 



that great painter alone, but also through the impression made upon 

 Raffaelle's mind by the works of Masaccio, of Lionardo da Vinci, and 

 also of Michel Angelo, at Florence. His third style, which is the 

 subject we have now more particularly to consider, was peculiarly hi. 

 own ; although those magnificent works the Prophets and Sibyls of 

 Michel Angelo were the principal causes of its ultimate fulness and 

 grandeur. This third style, which is the proper style of Raffaelle, 

 constitutes the Roman school in its full development, which is the least 

 defective of all the schools of painting. 



There is a degree to which the powers of imitation may be com- 

 bined with those of the imagination, which, when regulated by a just 

 refinement of feeling or taste, constitutes the perfection of painting, 

 and this degree, though not attained, was in the aggregate approxi- 

 mated more nearly by Raffaelle than by any other painter. He never 

 designed a figure which he did not inspire with appropriate sentiment; 

 the affections of mankind were the sphere of his genius ; from the 

 calculating sage to the thoughtless infant, his works are the history of 

 the human heart, and deservedly has he been entitled the " painter of the 

 passions." The elements of his style are nowhere more apparent than 

 in the Cartoons at Hampton Court. To particularise amidst so much 

 excellence, and to single out the works in which Raffaelle has been 

 most eminently successful, is rather a delicate task ; yet perhaps the 

 following examples may be instanced as being more decidedly con- 

 spicuous for those particular qualities which characterise his style : 

 for grandeur of design, the Heliodorus ; for sublimity of character and 

 conception, the Madonna di San Sisto ; for composition and expression, 

 the Cartoons ; and perhaps for invention and general technical excel- 

 lence, the Transfiguration, his lost performance. [RAFFAELLE, in 

 BIOG. Drv.] 



The style of Raffaelle has seldom been found congenial to their tasto 

 by the lovers of colour, and certainly those who consider the perfection 

 of painting to consist in splendid colouring must not look for it in the 

 works of the Roman school, but in those of Paul Veronese or of 

 Rubens. Many critics have regretted that Raffaelle did not colour like 

 Titian ; but colour was to Raffaelle a meant, and not an end, as it was 

 with the majority of the Venetian painters ; and its effect is to dazzle 

 and to obscure, rather than to enhance the essential qualities of the 

 grand style. For as the painted face of a player harmonises with the 

 accompanying spectacle and the tone of light around, and would as 

 certainly be ridiculous if exposed to the light of day, so the Venetian 

 colouring, which is in such perfect harmony with the subjects of that 

 school and their general treatment, would as certainly be in discordance 

 with those qualities which characterise the style of Raffaelle. Even 

 Ludovioo Caracci, the founder of the Eclectic school of Bologna, dis- 

 covered that Venetian colouring was inapplicable to the subjects which 

 he chose for his own pencil. And Raffaelle would not have been the 

 great painter that he proved himself to be, had he chosen any other 

 than the sombre colour for which he is so conspicuous, and which, so 

 far from being a defect in his style, is indeed an additional evidence of 

 his profound genius. These remarks do not refer to the carnations 

 particularly, which should always harmonise with the draperies, but to 

 the composition of colours generally, to their choice and intensity, and 

 also to the stuffs and materials of which the draperies are composed. 

 Raffaelle rarely if ever painted silks or satins ; most of the Venetians 

 seldom painted anything else. 



Raffaelle had many scholars and many imitators ; of the former, the 

 principal were Giulio Romano, Gianfrancesco Penni (with Giulio, 

 Raffaelle's principal heir), and Perino del Vaga : these painters com- 

 pleted, from Raffaelle's designs, the great works in the Vatican, which 

 he had left unfinished. 



(iiulio I'ippi, called Giulio Romano, certainly the most eminent of 

 all Raffaelle's scholars and imitators, was conspicuous for the correct 

 and powerful design of his master, but in other respects he never 

 approached him. Although he had great powers of invention, an 

 unpleasing expression and an evident absence of sentiment prevail 

 throughout hia works. He is also heavy both in design and colour- 

 ing ; but his particular employment under Raffaelle, that of dead- 

 colouring and preparing his works in oil, may have greatly contributed 

 to this effect. Giulio left Rome during the pontificate of Clement VII., 

 shortly after the completion of the Constantino series in the Vatican, 

 and, at the invitation of Federigo Gonzaga, repaired to Mantua, where 

 he founded a school and painted his famous works, the Fall of the 

 Giants, and the Loves of Cupid and Psyche. [GiULio ROMANO, in 

 Bioo. Div.] 



Gianfrancesco Penni, with little less vigour than Giulio, was con- 

 spicuous for more of the grace of his master. Pierino Buonaccorsi, 

 called Perino del Vaga, displayed nearly equal powers. Other pupils 

 and assistants of Raffaelle in the stanze and the loggie of the Vatican, 

 were Giovanni da Udinej'Polidoro Caldara da Caravaggio, celebrated 

 for his imitations of ancient bassi rilievi ; Pellegrino da Modena ; Bar- 

 tolomeo Kamenghi, called II Bagnacavallo ; Vincenzio di 8. Gimignano ; 

 Timoteo della Vite ; Raffaellino del Colle ; Benvenuto Tisi, called II 

 Garofolo ; and many others too numerous to mention here. 



The accession of Adrian VI. to the papal chair had for a time 

 paralysed the arts, but they were shortly inspired with new vigour by 

 his successor Clement VII., Guilian de' Medici, who continued the 

 works that had been interrupted by Adrian. But a more serious 

 interruption succeeded in the sack of Rome, in 1527, by the soldiers of 



