ITALIAN SCHOOL OF ENGRAVING. 



bx-idagcd, nnd four fom;;!es tormenting him. 5. The fame 

 fiibjert, diiTerently treated. 6. Eight fmall ovals enclofed 

 in a circular border of fo'iage. In the middle are two pro- 

 tiles of character, a'ld in each of the rcit a little cupid 

 playing on fome mufical inllrumcnt. 7. A fimilar fvibjeft, 

 except that in a circle in the middle, a cavalier and lady are 

 reprcfcntcd dancing. 8. Another circle bordered with 

 fruit. In the middle part, a bear in a landfcape is attacked 

 by five dogs, and at the top are two cartouches, on the 

 fcrolls of which the arms of the Medicis are traced with 

 pen and ink. 9. Another circle, bordered with foliage. The 

 fubjetl a mufica! party, confifti:ig of a cavaher and two 

 ladies in a garden. 10. A monflrous vifage, the mouth of 

 which is extended by two hands, in a circular border. 

 II. Contains two profiles en medallion bordered with lau- 

 rel ; above them are three hunting fubjecls, in one of which 

 a dog is attacking a (lag, whilll ahare is efcaping. 12. A 

 lady careillng a unicorn. A dog is at her feet, and her 

 head enwrcathed wi'h flowers. 13. Judith and Holofernes, 

 in which the heroine is habited in the antiqae tafte. 14. The 

 f'.m;- i' ;bi -ci, except that Judith is here more richly drelfed 

 ■:ier, and crowned. 15. A cavalier and lady 

 , prefs grove, vvhilil a youth plays the tam- 

 , Jaibn and iMedea, who appear as fupportcrs 

 i) an a;-:r!o;ial bearing. 17. Two fupporters to a fphere : 

 one of whom (the man) holds a II reamer, on which is written 

 " Amor vuol fe, a dove fe nonne ;" the other is a female 

 dreiTed m the antique talte, and holding the motto " Amor 

 r.on pico." iS. Another heraldic fubjad, in the mid 11 of 

 which a circular fpace is left blank for an arm.orial bearing. 

 The left fupporter is a young lady, and on the ri;Hit hand is 

 a cavalier holding a wreath of laurel ; a winged cupid is 

 fluttering above, and beneath, a dog is afleep. 19. An- 

 other circular armorial bearing, with a male and a female 

 fupporter. 20. A guardian angel, with expanded v.-ings 

 in a pontifical habit. 21. Cupids holding wreaths of flowers 

 and fruit; one with his eyes bandaged. 22. Bacchanals; in 

 the midlt of which is a- car drawn by cupids, furmountedby 

 a trophy of gabions throwing out fire. Some of the cupids 

 are plaving on inflruments of mufic, others bearii^ flambeaus. 

 The proceffion is led by one carrying a flag, on which is 

 vs-ritten " Ptirita,'' and clofed by another, whofe motto is 

 '•' Al fecogedit." 23. Two women elegantly attired, fitting 

 in a landfcape, fupporting a border of cornucopias. 24. Two 

 warriors, with each a knee on the ground, fupporting 

 an ocl*gonal efcutclieon, on which is a female with her 

 hands raifed towards heaven. N. B. The four latter are 

 ovals. 



" An edition of the " Inferno of Dante," printed at Flo- 

 rence in the year 148 1, has long been fuppofed to contain 

 the earliell Italian engravings, excepting the maps to an edi- 

 tion of Ptolemy printed at Rome in 147S, of which the tiate 

 is afcertained, and to liave been the firil: book ever embel- 

 lifticd with copper-plate prints, in which human figures, or 

 other natural objefts, were attempted to be reprefentcd. 

 This is, however, a miftake. The extenfive and well 

 chofen bibliographical colledion of car! Spencer contains a 

 more pcrfcft book, printed alfo at Florence, (by Niccolo 

 Lorenzo della Magna,) but in the year 1477, which is four 

 years anterior to the " Dante." Its title is " Monte Santo 

 di Dio ;" its author Antonio Bettini, bifliop of Fuligno ; 

 and of the three engravir:gs it contains, one is much larger 

 than the embeilifhments of Dan'e. 



" The prints that accompany both thefe books are the joint 

 performance of Baccio Baldini and Alefandrd Boticello, or 

 Boticelli ; and no..e of them difcover much (Icill either ia the 

 defign or execution. The fame artills have alfo engraven a 



fet of the Prophets, fingle figures ; and a much larger pla' 

 than had yet appeared in Italy, of which the fubjcdl is " TI.l 

 Lafl Judgment," and where the damned are reprefented 

 in feparate places of torment, which refemble ovens, each 

 infcribed with a particular vice or mortal fin. But it mull 

 be add'.d, that all the engravings which thcfe artifts per- 

 formed in conjunttion, are Gothic, vulgar, and inferior to 

 thofe of their German contemporaries." 



Baldini was a Florentine by birth, and was brought up to 

 the butinefs of a goldfmith. Judging from his engraving, 

 and his obfcurity in every other refpeft, he feems to have 

 been one of thofe men of flender talent, who are pretty 

 numerous in all times and places ; whofe mere want of em- 

 ployment affords them leifure to catch at, and avail them- 

 felves of the advantages of, the inventions and difcovt-ries of 

 others. From Finiguerra he obtained his method of print- 

 ing ; and Boticelli furnifhing him with defigns, he engraved, 

 ■with the help of the latter, nineteen plates for the above- 

 mentioned edition of the " Inferno of Dante." The whole 

 of his other engravings, with which we are acquainted, have 

 been already mentioned. 



Sandro Boticelli, furnamed Filipipi, goldfmith, painter, 

 defigner, and engraver, was born at Florence in the year 

 1437, and died in the fame city in 15 15. Though appren- 

 ticed to a goldfmith, he lludied the art under Filippo Lippi 

 the painter, and acquired fome reputation by his piftuies, 

 but more by his drawings. His biographers fay, that he 

 learned engraving (probably printing by ineaii.s of the roller) 

 of Finiguerra ; and befide the defigns for Dante's poem, and 

 thofe which follow, Vafari mentions with dillinftion, as his 

 very belt performance v.ith the graver, a print, entitled 

 " Le Triomphe de la Foi de Fra Girolamo Savanarola." 



" St. Jerome on his Knees, extending his right Hand to- 

 ward a Crucifix ;" " St. Seballian with the Virgin Mary," 

 ii.fcribed " O Malcr Dei, memento mci — O beate Zebaf- 

 tiano ;" a fet of twelve of " The .Sybils," with each a fcroU, 

 and eight Italian verfes beneath ; " The feven Planets." 

 (N.B. It is one of them, namely, the planet Venus, which 

 Strntt has copied, and afcribed to Finiguerra.) " The 

 Triumph of Paulus Emihus," infcribed on a medallion, 

 " Paulo Emilio Aug. ;" a fet of the "Vices" and " Pafilons," 

 with " Innocence" and "Truth ;" "The glorified Sa /iourrifing 

 in Judgment, attended by the Prophets and Saints." The 

 three latter are of imall folio dimenfions ; and of the la(l of 

 all we have already particularly fpoken wider the title of 

 " The Laft Judgment," the joint produftion of Boticelli 

 and Baldini. 



"Antonio Pollajuolo or Pollajuoli, %\ho was alfo of Flo- 

 rence, and born fome time about the year 1426, may with 

 more propriety be called an artift. From the antique 

 fculpture, which was now beginning to re-appear, he feems 

 to have learned attention to the anatomy of his figures : to 

 which moil important requifite of hiftorical art, Pollajuolo 

 has the diltinguifhed honour of having been the firiT; to at- 

 traft critical attention. He has (hewn his prcdiieftionTor 

 this lludy, by reprefenting the confpirators naked in the 

 m.edal which he cut to commemorate the affafiination of 

 Juliano, and tlie attack on Lorenzo de Medici ; and alfo 

 in a much larger engraving than had hitherto been executed, 

 of which the iubjeft is a battle, and wherein he has repre- 

 fented ail the combatants naked. There is an impreffion of 

 this very fcarce print in the Cracherodean colledion, printed 

 on reddifh paper : each figure is nearly eleven inches in 

 height ; the heads have fome faint dawnings of rxpi-clfion ; 

 and the fhadows are produced without croffirgs, by dia- 

 gonal lines, apparently done to imitate the hatcr-ings of a 

 1 en, and in the faire dircftion in which it is cu'lomary to 

 7 write ; 



