ROM 



not always arranged by tafte ; whilft thofe of his men fre- 

 quently border on the grotefque. 



After he had completed the Hall of Conftantine in the 

 Vatican from the delign of his maftcr Raphael, he went to 

 Mantua, where the increafed practice and authority, derived 

 from the fuperintendance of the great works he had juft com- 

 pleted, eftablifhed his reliance on himfelf ; and the patronage 

 of the Gonzaghi roufed that loftinefs of conception, and 

 gave birth to thofe magnificent plans, from which Mantua 

 and the palace del T., as from enchantment, rofe. To the 

 ftores of antique treafures belonging to this great family, of 

 which the ftatues, butts, and bailo-relievos at prefent in the 

 academy are but infignificant remains, he added his own ; 

 rich in deligns of Rapiiael, and in ftudies and plans from the 

 antique. No defigner ever poiM'ed fuch induilry with fo 

 much fire, fo much confideration with fuch fecundity, or 

 combined with equal rapidity fuch correftnefs, with great 

 recondite knowledge in mythology and hittory, and that 

 popularity and care in treating it. 



The palace delT. furnifhes fpecimens in every clafs of pic- 

 turefque imagery. Whatever be the dimenfion, the fubject, 

 or the fcenery, minute or colofl'al, fimple or complex, ter- 

 rible or pleating, we trace a mind bent to furprife or to 

 dazzle by poetic fplendour ; but fure to ftrike by the ori- 

 ginality of his conception, he often neglects propriety in 

 conducting his fubjefts, confidered as a feries : and in the 

 arrangement or choice of the connecting parts, hurried into 

 extremes by the torrent of a fancy more lyric than epic, he 

 difdains to fill the intermediate chafms, and too often leaves 

 the talk of connection to the fpeftator. 



In this palace, Giulio adopted the method of his matter. 

 He prepared the cartoons, and the piftures were executed 

 by his pupils ; but he retouched, corrected, and gave the 

 lait finifh to them : unfortunately, his malter-ftrokes have 

 been covered again by modern pencils ; and the fable of 

 Pfyche, the Allegories of Human Life, the Giants ftorming 

 Heaven, exhibit now indeed his compoiitiop and defign, 

 but not his hand : this is better preferved in the paintings 

 of the old palace, or, as it is now called, the Corte of Man- 

 tua ; which are in frefco, and relate chiefly the hi (lories of 

 the Trojan war. They have the fame beauties and defefts as 

 thofe of the palace delT. : each fir.gly confidered is a proof 

 of the poetic fpirit and the practical powers of the mailer ; 

 as a cyclu6 they want connection and evidence. Helen 

 deeping, Vulcan forging Arms for Achilles, are beautiful ; 

 and Minerva in the aft of flaying Ajax, the fon of Oileus, 

 fublime. Nor is his vcrfatility lefs admirable in the Bacchic 

 or amorous fubjefts ; the capricci and grotefque conceits 

 with which he decorated the fmall cabinets of the fame 

 palace. 



The altar-pieces of Giulio are not numerous. He did not 

 live to finifh thofe which he had begun for the cathedral of 

 Mantua. The mod remarkable of thofe which he finifhed 

 with his own hand, are the three frefcoes at St. Marco ; and 

 in the church of St. Criltofero, the athletic figure of that 

 faint, groaning- under the weight of the divine Infant on his 

 moulders. They are, however, far inferior, for genuine 

 pathos and claffic execution, to the Martyrdom of St. Ste- 

 phen, on the head altar of the church of St. Stephen at 

 Genoa. 



Of Giulio's fcholars and affiltants, the moll celebrated 

 were F. Primaticcio, chiefly employed in the iluccoes and 

 ornaments of the palace del T. ; Benedetto Pagni of Pcfcia, 

 who accompanied Giulio from Rome to Mantua ; and Ri- 

 naldo Mantovano, the moll expert of the three, and in the 

 opinion of Vafari, who laments the fhortnefs of his life, the 

 greatell painter that Mantua ever produced : the altar-piece 



ROM 



of Sta. Agoftina alia Trinita has a grandeur of flyle above 

 his age, and has by fome been fufpefted to be the defign of 

 Giulio. To thefe may be added Fermo Guifoni, who co- 

 loured in the cathedral the Call of St. Peter and St. An- 

 drew, from the moil iludied and moll beautiful cartoon of 

 the matter ; and Theodore Ghigi, or as he fubfcribes him- 

 felf, Theodore Mantovano, a great defigner, and fo prac- 

 tifed in the ftyle of Giulio, that after his death he was fe- 

 lefted by the prince to finifh feveral of his works. 



In addition to his powers as a painter, Giulio Romano 

 poffeffed a v«ry confiderable knowledge of the principles of 

 architecture ; and was employed in plans for feveral of the 

 palaces at Rome and Mantua. His lad architeftural exer- 

 tion was the ereftion of a fplendid manfion for himfelf at 

 Mantua. Vafari relates, that upon the death of San Gallo, 

 the architeft of St. Peter's, Guilio was felefted by the pope 

 for his fucceffor, but was prevented leaving Mantua by the 

 interett of the cardinal Duke, and the entreaties of his wife 

 and her immediate friends and relations ; and whilft he was 

 endeavouring to furmount thefe difficulties, and enjoy the 

 proffered honour and emolument, he was feized with illnefs, 

 and borne to the grave in the year 1546, and in the 54th of 

 his age. He left a fon, called, after his refpefted matter, 

 Raphael, of whom nothing remains, but the tradition that 

 he poffeffed talents worthy of his father. He died in 1560, 

 at the age of 30. Fufeh's Pilkington. 



Romano, in Geography, a town of Italy, in the de- 

 partment of the Adda and Oglio ; 11 miles S.S.E. of 

 Bergamo. 



Romano, or Ramano Cayo, a fmall ifland off the N. 

 fhore of the ifland of Cuba ; it is long and narrow, and lies 

 at the E. extremity of the clutter of ifles called the King's 

 Garden. 



Romano, St., a town of Italy, in the department of the 

 Panaro ; 18 miles S.W. of Modena. 



ROMANOV, a town of Ruffia, in the government of 

 Jaroflavl, on the Volga ; 16 miles W.N.W. of Jaroflavl. N. 

 lat. 57 46'. E. long. 39 40'. 



ROMANOVA, a town of Ruffia, in the government 

 of Irkutflv, on the Angara; 60 miles W. S.W. of Ilimfk. 

 — Alio, a town of Ruffia, in the government of Tambov, 

 on the Olonetz ; 16 miles S. of Lipetzk. 



ROMANOVKA, a town of Ruffia, in the country of 

 the Coffacks, on the Don ; 116 miles E.N.E. of Azoph. — 

 Alio, a town of Ruffia, in the government oi Upha ; 64 

 miles N.E. of Orenburg. 



ROMANOW, a town of Ruffian Poland, in the pala- 

 tinate of Kiev ; 8 miles N.E. of Zytomiers. — Alfo, a town 

 of Auftrian Poland, in Galicia ; 33 miles W. of Przemyl. 

 — Alfo, a town of Lithuania, called alfo Romanowo, in 

 the palatinate of Novogrodek ; 18 miles N. ol Sluck. 



ROMANS, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Drome, and chief place of a canton, feated on the Ifere ; 

 two polls N.E. of Valence. The place contains 6173, and 

 the canton 15,180 inhabitants, on a territory of 225 kilio- 

 metres, in 1 1 communes. N. lat. 45 2'. E. long. 5 8'. 



Romans, Romant, Romanic, or Romance, the polite lan- 

 guage formerly fpoken at the court of France ; in contradif- 

 tinftion to the Waloon, or ancient Gaulifh, fpoken by the 

 common people. 



The Romans having fubd'ued the Gauls, introduced part 

 of their language among them ; and a mixture of half Latin, 

 half Gaulifh, or Celtic, conftituted the Romans ; of which 

 the modern French is only an improvement. 



Hence, to enromance was to write in romance, &c. See 

 Romance. 



Covarruvias, a learned Spanifh writer, obferves, that the 

 4 name 



