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Giovio, no hiftoiinn fince Taciius lias equalled BiionaccoiTi. 

 Many unpiiblifhfd works are prcfcrvtd i\\ the Vatican, and 

 otiicr libraries. Tirabofclii. Gen. Bio;;. 



Bl'ONACCCRSI. Sec PlERINO DEL VaGA. 



BUONAMICI, Castkuccio, was born at Lucca in 

 1710, and iKivini; tiitertd into tlie ccclc-fMilical ftate, fought 

 advancement at Romt ; but being dif.ippoiutcd in his views, 

 he affumed a military charafler, and eiin;aged in the fcrvice 

 of the king of the two Sicilies. He llill, however, indulged 

 histafte for the purfuit.s of literature. His priiicijjal works 

 area relation ia l.alln of the war of Vilktii in 174J, between 

 the Audrians and Neapolitans, printed in 17.16, under the 

 title of" De Rebus ad Wlitras gcftis Cnmnieutarius," 4to. ; 

 for which work hr was recompenftd with a penlion by the 

 kin^ of Naples, a id the rank of commlflary-general of 

 Artillery: and •« De Btllo Italico Commciuaiii," 4to. in 

 ;^ books, l7i;o, 1751 ; co!itainin;r the hlllory of the war i\ 

 Italy, for which he w as honoured by the duke of Parma with 

 the title of count. ' Thefe hidories, equally admired for ac- 

 curacy of detail, and piu-ity of Latin, have been feveral times 

 re-prinied. The author's treatife " De Scientia Militari," 

 remains unpubliHied. He died at Lucca, in 1761. Nouv. 



Dia. Hill. 



BuoNAMici, Lazzari, was born at Baflano in 1479, 

 and educated in the univerfity of Padua, where he gained 

 fuch reputation, that Poniponazzi, his tutor in philofophy, 

 fometimei applied to him for the explanation of a palTage in 

 Arillotle. From Bologna, where he wa"! employed in the 

 inllruftion of the young perfons of the Campeggi family, 

 he removed to Rome, and became profeffbr of the belles 

 lettres in the college of Sapienza. Li 1527, when the city 

 was fackcd, he loll his library, writings, and all liis effefts, 

 and with difliculty faved his life. At Padua he occupied the 

 chair of Greek and Latin eloquence, to which he was invited 

 in ijjO, and in this fituation, where he was highly refpcfted, 

 and where he had a great concourfe of lludents, he remained, 

 notwithilanding feveral applicat'ons made for removing him 

 br'univeifities and fovcreign princes, till his death, which 

 happened in 1552. He was borne to his grave on the 

 fliouldcrs of his Rudents. His vriilings, conlifting of letters, 

 prefaces, and Latin poems, are few, but they are fufficient 

 to eftablifli his character as an elegant writer. Notwith- 

 Aanding his profefiioiuil reputation, he diffipated much of his 

 time in the ir.tercourfes of fociety and in play, to which he 

 was lo much addicted, that he fomttimes devoted whole 

 nights to it. His dread of crilicifm might alfo prevent his 

 appearing before the public as an auihor. A colkdlion of 

 his poems was printed for the liril time at Venice in 1572. 

 Tirabofchi. Gen. Biog. 



BUONAMICO, of Cristophano, called Bufjal- 

 ■MACCo, wasa Florentine painter, born in the year 1262, and a 

 pupilof Andrea Tafi. He was an arliii of great merit, and by 

 Boccaccio celebrated for his wit and humour (vide II Deca- 

 mcronc); and Fraiico Sacchetti in his " Tre Cento Novelle," 

 relates a (lory of him when he was a boy, which (hews the 

 early bias of his mind ; and as it pourtrays the charnfler of 

 the man, it may not be without its i.itcreft. Andrea Tafi 

 \«as a painter of great induftry, and ufed to r;fe before it 

 was light to purf'jc his avocation, conlldtring the gain more 

 than the ho;;our of his profefTion. Early riling, unfortu- 

 nately, had no charms for his fchohir, and therefore he devifcd 

 a fchemeto make liim lie in bed till daylight. At. the hour 

 Tafi was about to rife, having previoufly provided liimfelf 

 with thirty black beetles, and on their backs faftcned fniall 

 pieces of wax taper, he lit them up, and fent them one by 

 one, through a hole in the dnor, into his mafter's bed room; 

 making a procillion of moving light myllerioufly uniiitcUi- 



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giblc J vvMich fo alarmed the old man, tliat he prayed and 

 recommended h's foul to mercy, and hid iiis face u;ider the 

 bed clothes. In the morning he teld Buonamico he had feen 

 ten tluiufand devils, and that his thoughts were fo difturbcd 

 he could not rife to purfue his proftfrion,, On the fucceed- 

 ing ni'.jht, Buonamico diniinilhed the number of the beetle; ; 

 but the repetition produced tiie i'ame effefl, and fo frightened 

 his mafler, that he determined to remove, being perfuadcd 

 the houfe was haunted by evil fpirits. Buonainico then fent 

 to the parilh priell that he might adminifter comfort. The 

 pried came and foothed his mind : and Buonamico availed 

 liiniftlf of the opportunity to make his obftrvat'ons on the 

 probable caufe of this perplexing event. He obtervcd that 

 he h'J. always heard devils w,-re great enemies to God ; and 

 confequently they mull be [0 to all painters, as their praiSice 

 was to paint faints and angels as perfedl as pofTiblc, and en- 

 deavour to improve mankind, by fhewing through all the 

 ci;cumflanccs of human life the happiuefs of heaven and the 

 tornicnts of he!! ; btfides, whenever fiends were rcprefcnted, 

 they were made as hideous as the painters' imagination 

 could fugged : and as it was well known that devils had more 

 power by night than by day, they pl.iyed him this trick to 

 ke.'p him in bed, that he might not interfere with their re- 

 gion of darknefs : by fuch obiervations, which the prieft 

 thought very plaulible, the old man was perfuadcd that it 

 would be proper to lie in btd till daylight. After a few- 

 months, however, as the devils grew fainter in his recollec- 

 tion. Tail's indurtry returned ; but as they had played their 

 part fo wr.ll, Buonamico recurred to his former expedient, 

 which produced an effeft not lefs frightful and imprtflive. 

 Priefts were again fent for to reftore h'm to tranquillity, who 

 agreeing with Buonamico in ihc probable caufe ot this Itrange 

 appearance, he determined to paint no more by candle light; 

 and this (lory was fo generally circulated and believed, that 

 all the painters in Florence were afterwards afraid to paint 

 at night. 



Among the firft v^'orks of Buffalmacco, were a feries of 

 religious piftures reprefenting the life of Chrill, painted in 

 a church at Faenza, and otlier fubjefts from the Old and 

 New Teftament ; among which the maffacre of the Inno- 

 cents is particularly mentioned by Vafari, where defpair and 

 terror, agony and diftrefs were forcibly exprtfTed. Of this 

 work nothing now remains, except th.-: original dra'-vings be 

 in exillence, which the fame author defcribcs to have been 

 preferved in his time. He alfo painted in the cloifters o£ 

 the abbey of Septimus, feveral hiftorical fubjefts relating to 

 St. James, to whom the church was dedicated ; and on the 

 ceiling he painted the four evangcliils. He painted alfo 

 many hiftorical piilures on the outlide of this buildings 

 which were well compofed, and executed with fkiil. In 

 thefe piclures he employed fait in the purple ufed for the 

 fliade tint of the fledi, whicli fo corroded and dell roved all 

 the other colours, that, in Vafari's time, nothing remained 

 but tiie purple ; wliich premature decay this author at firil 

 attributed to dampnefs, but, upon minute infpeftion, found' 

 it was owing to the fait that was employed. 



For the monaftery of the Carthufi'ans at Florence he 

 painted upon panel two pidtures in dillemper; and for the 

 church of San Giovanni feveral, which were dellroyed when 

 the vi-alls were beaten down in the war of 1529. He exe- 

 cuted other works at Cortona and Pcruggia, Afcefe and 

 Arezzo, and painted feveral pifturesin the church of St. Pe- 

 tronio in Bologna. 



In the cathedral of Sienna is a Mofaic pavement, made 

 from his drawings ; which at tliis day 'u a fpecimen of his 

 abilities in defign and compofition, very honourable to his re- 

 putation. Some of his lateil vv«rks were executed at Pifa, 



for 



