1S6 



ITALY (ART.) 



centre. Imola, Conto, Ferrara, Modena, Ileggio, 

 Parma, Mantua, and Milan were afterwards consider- 

 ed the seats of this school. Galasio, who lived about 

 1220, Alighieri, Alghisi, Cosimo Tura, Ercole Grandi, 

 and especially Dosso Dossi (born 1479, died 1560), 

 were tlie principal painters of Ferrara. The last, a 

 friend of Ariosto, possesses a remarkable grandeur 

 of style, united with a richness of colouring which 

 may bear comparison with that of Titian. Bramante, 

 (born 1444, died 1514), who was likewise a great 

 architect, Lippo Dalmasi, and especially Francesco 

 Raibolini (born 1450), called Francesco Francia, were 

 highly distinguished among the Bolognese masters. 

 The latter, who was marked by a tender religious ex- 

 pression and uncommon industry, had the greatest 

 veneration for Raphael. It is asserted that, at the 

 siu'ht of the St Cecilia of this master, he was so 

 si nick with the impossibility of attaining the same 

 perfection, that he fell into a deep melancholy, and 

 soon after died. Here also belongs the charming 

 limocenzo da Imola. But all these were far surpassed 

 l>y the incomparable Antonio Allegri da Correggio, 

 who, in fact, first founded the character of the Lom- 

 bard school, so distinguished for harmony of colours, 

 expression replete with feeling, and genuine grace. 



Second Period. We now come to the greatest 

 masters of any age, who, almost at the same time, as 

 heads of the four schools, carried every branch of the 

 art to the highest perfection. In Italy, they and 

 their scholars are called Cinquecentisti, from the cen- 

 tury in which they flourished. This period of perfec- 

 tion passed away rapidly, and soon required the violent 

 restoration, with which the third period commences. 

 After Leonardo da Vinci, in the Florentine school, 

 had settled the proportions of figures, and the rules 

 of perspective and of light and shade, and his 

 scholars, Luini (who united Raphael's style with 

 that of'his master), Salaino and Melzo, besides the 

 admirable Baccio della Porta, who is famous under 

 the name of Fra Bartofommeo, (born 1469), and 

 whose works are distinguished for elevated concep- 

 tion, warmth of devotion, and glowing colours, had 

 done much for the art, and after the gentle and 

 feeling Andrea del Sarto (born 1488, died 1530), the 

 intellectual Balthasar Peruzzi and the gay Razzi had 

 made this school distinguished, arose the most 

 extraordinary of all masters, Michael Angelo Buo- 

 narotti (born 1474, died 1564). His gigantic mind 

 grasped, with equal power, statuary, architecture, 

 and painting. His fire of composition, his knowledge 

 of anatomy, the boldness of his attitudes and fore- 

 shortenings, leave him without a rival ; but, as a 

 model, he was detrimental to the art, because his 

 imitators necessarily fell into exaggeration and con- 

 tempt of a simple style. In grandeur, his fresco 

 painting, the Last Judgment, in the Sistine chapel at 

 Rome, is inimitable. Beauty was never so much his 

 object, as power and sublimity, especially since, in 

 the former, he could never equal Raphael, but in the 

 latter stood alone. Dante was his favourite poet. 

 In his later years, the erection of St Peter's church 

 almost entirely engrossed his thoughts. Rosso de' 

 Rossi, Daniel of Volterra, Salviati, Angelo Bronzino, 

 Alessandro Allori, and many others, were his scholars 

 and imitators. In 1580, Ludov. Cigoli and Greg. 

 Pagani began to awaken a new spirit. They 

 returned to nature, and sought to create a better 

 taste in the cltiaro oscv.ro. Domenico Passignani, 

 Cristoforo Allori, and Comodi were their followers. 

 If we turn our attention to the Roman school, we 

 find at its head the first of artists Raphael Sanzio 

 da Urbino (born 1483, died 1520.) His genius 

 showed itself as elevated in his fresco paintings, in 

 the stanzc and loggie of the Vatican (the former of 

 which contain the School of Athens, the Parnassus, 



and the Conflagration of the Borgo, while the latter 

 contain scriptural scenes, from the creation through 

 the whole Old Testament), as it appears lovely, 

 spiritual and original in the frescos of the Farnesina 

 (representing the life of Psyche) . No less superior 

 are his oil paintings, of which we shall only mention 

 his madonnas, celebrated throughout the world, 

 especially the Madonna del Sisto (in the Dresden 

 gallery), the Madonna della Sedia (in Florence), 

 Madonna della Pesce (in Madrid), Maria Giardiniera 

 (in Paris), Madonna di Foligno (in Rome), his St 

 Cecilia (in Bplogna), and his last work, the Trans- 

 figuration of Christ. His scholars and successors 

 the bold Giulio Romano (born 1492, died 1546), the 

 more gloomy Franc. Penni il Fattore (born 1488, 

 died 1528;, the lofty Bartolommeo Ramenghi, sur- 

 named Bagnacavallo, Pierino del Vaga, Polidoro da 

 Caravaggio, Gemigniani, Benvenuto Tisi, called 

 Garofolo, and many others were skilful masters ; 

 but they forsook the path of their great pattern, and 

 degenerated into mannerism. Federico Baroccio 

 (born 1528, died 1612) endeavoured to counteract 

 this tendency. In spirit, he belonged to the Lombard 

 school, as he aimed at the grace of Correggio. He 

 possesses an uncommon degree of grace ana expres- 

 sion. With his scholars Francesco Vanni, Pellegrini, 

 and the brothers Zuccheri, he infused a new life into 

 the Roman school, though the latter produced pleas- 

 ing rather than great works, and fell into man- 

 nerism. Muziano was distinguished in landscape 

 painting, and Nogari, Pulzone, and Facchetti in por 

 trait painting. At the head of the Venetian school, 

 we find the two excellent colourists Giorgione Bar- 

 barelli di Castelfranco (born 1477, died 1511) and 

 Tiziano Vercelli (born 1477, died 1576). The por- 

 traits of the former are celebrated for their warmth 

 and truth. The latter was great in all the depart- 

 ments of art, inimitable in the disposition of his car- 

 nations, excellent as an historical and portrait painter, 

 and the first great landscape painter. Even in 

 extreme old age, his powers were unimpaired. 

 Ariosto and Aretino were friends of the gay, happy 

 Titian. He executed many works for the Spanish 

 kings. Some of his most famous works are the altar- 

 piece of St Pietro Martire, his pictures of Venus, his 

 Bacchanal, and his Children Playing, in Madrid, his 

 Cristo della Moneta, &c. He first understood the 

 art of painting with transparent colours. In groups, 

 he selected the form of a bunch of grapes for a 

 model. His successors Sebastiano del Piombo, 

 Palma Vecchio, Lorenzo Lotto, Paris Bordone, 

 Pordenone are distinguished, especially in colouring. 

 Schiavone, whose chiaro oscv.ro and richness of 

 colour are truly remarkable ; Giacomo da Ponto, 

 called Bassano, who imitated reality, even in common 

 things, to deception, and who was the head of a 

 whole family of painters; the ardent, inspired 

 Robusti, called II Tintoretto (born 1512, died 1594), 

 whom Titian, through jealousy, dismissed from his 

 school ; the fantastic, splendid Paul Veronese (born 

 1532, died 1588), who painted boldly and brilliantly 

 with a free pencil, but neglected all propriety of 

 costume, and frequently mingled masks in historical 

 paintings, and the Veronese Cagliari, were ornaments 

 of the Venetian school. It likewise degenerated, 

 and its mannerists were worse than those of the other 

 schools, because they did not study the antiques and 

 the ideal. At the head of the Lombard school, we 

 find the charming Antonio Allegri, called Correggio 

 (born 1494, died 1534), whose works are full of 

 feeling. (See Correggio.) His successors and schol- 

 ars were Francesco Rondani, Gatti, Lelio Orsi, and 

 especially Francesco Mazzola il Parmegianino (born 

 1503, died 1540). This artist possessed much ease, 

 fire, and a i eculiar grace, which frequently borders 



