ITALIAN SCHOOL OF ENGRAVING. 



Tsrgcd plates feldom exceeded the common folio Cze. He 

 ufually ilgned his name at length ; but, in fomc few in- 

 {laiices, he ufed the two monogiams \vhic!> wc have copied 

 itf our PlaU I. of thofe of the Ilal'um Sclnol. We have en- 

 graven by him, " The Adoration of tiie Shepherds," a mid- 

 dling-fized upright plate, marked with his name at k-ngth ; 

 " St. Sebaftian," a middling-fized upright plate, marked 

 %vith his baptifmal name ; '• Nicoleto,'' on a tablet ; an- 

 other " St. Scballian,'' infcribed with his monogram ; " .'" . 

 Jerome;" "St. George;" "St. Martin;" " A Triton 

 embracing a Syren ;" beilJe other works of Icfs ri>pute. 



Benedetto Montagna, was born at Venice fome time about 

 the year 1458, and died at Verona in t jjo. He engraved on 

 copper, and the graver was the fole inftrument of his art. 

 His engravings are dated from a very early period of llie art 

 in Italy, and it is more than poflible thai -lie prints of Albert 

 "Durer, which were brought to Venice as an article both of 

 talle and commerce, and thofe of Marc Antonio, who had 

 now been following the profcffion of engraving for fome 

 time in that city, might induce him to take up the novel art 

 either as a matter of proiit or of curiofity. The efforts of 

 MonCagna, however, are but feeble ; his outline is exceed- 

 ingly defective, and his manual execution hailh and rude, 

 though in fome few inltances he attempted to afiift the blend- 

 ing of his lights and half-tints by means of ilipplintj. 



Benedetto engraved from his own compofitions ; and the 

 refcmblance which fome of his prints bear to the earliell and 

 rudell produdlions of Marc Antonio, of which we lliall pre- 

 fently fpeak, may well be thought to ilrengthen our fuppofi- 

 tion, that from them he learned the rudiments of the art. 

 His engravings, of which the following will probably be 

 found the belt, are very rare, and are generally, if not 

 in every inllance, marked with his name at length : — 

 " An Holy Family," in which the Virgin Mary appears 

 feated, holding the Infant Chriil : St. John is Handing 

 bcfide her naked, and St. Jofeph appears below. A view of 

 a town, with a river and bridge over it, conilitutes the back 

 ground : at the top is the artill's name. " The Judgment 

 of Midas,' ' a fmali upright. A naked figure ilanding by 

 a tree, fomewhat larger. An elderly man and a youth; 

 the former playing 0:1 the bag-pipes, the latter upon the 

 vii.iin. A landfcape, with a hamkt in view, and an old 

 man feated on a bank, both hiiall uprights. Another land- 

 fcape, with three women on the foreground. A young 

 man fitting on a rock, paffmg a cord round a palm tree. 

 " The Rape of Europa." "Venus chaftifmg Cupid." 



Strutt fays, that Rubetta, or H. Robetta, flourilhed in 

 1610. This is evidently a miltake. The French writers 

 on art, with much more probability, fay that he was born 

 at Florence in the year 1460 ; but the events of his life are 

 very obfcure, and liis engravings of no value but from their 

 antiquity and rarity, for they are wretchedly executed. 

 The fuiijed'ts of moil of them are devotional, and he fomc- 

 times affixed his name at length, and at others the initial 

 letters R.B.T.A. on a little tablet. 



His moll elteemed engravings are, " Adam and Eve," a 

 fmall upright folio ; " Tlie Adoration of the Magi," of a 

 nearly fquare form; "The Refurreclion of Jefus Chrift," 

 a fmall upright folio; and " The Golden Age," a large 

 upright folio. 



Titian alfo etched fome plates about this time, probably 

 in the way of recreation, and it is faid, performed fome 

 engravings on wood. Among the former are feveral large 

 landfcapes from his own compofitions, the fubjeift of tlie moll 

 remarkable of which is a palloral, where a fliepherd is 

 playing on a (lute, before his Hock, bv the fide of a llream. 

 In aiioihcr a traveller is ikcpir.g by moL-aiiiiht. lie like- 



wife etched an allegorical print of Death habited in tfi» 

 armour of a knight. 



The moll remarkable of his wood-cuts, if thefe are really 

 by the hand of Titian, which appears very doubtful, are, 

 ' The Marriage of St. Cathennc," a large upright, executed 

 in a flight but mallerly manner, and infcribed " Titianus 

 V^celiius Inventor Lineavit." "The Triumph of Faith,'' 

 repr f.nted by a procefTion of patriarchs, prophets, evange- 

 lilis, apollles, faints, martyrs, preceding and following 

 Je''us Ciu-ill : it is compofed of from eiglit to ten prii-ts, 

 forming, when palled together, a very long frie/e, and dated 

 15c;. " The Dellruaion ..f Pharaoh and his Holt," a 

 very large print lengthways, compofed of fix parts. This- 

 is very rougli and rudely cur, and by no means equal to the 

 "Triumph of Faith," which is a very mallerly performance. 

 " Sampfon betrayed by Ualllah." " The Deli-ge," a 

 larger engraving, printed on two (heels, of whicir Papillon 

 fays, that it is very corret\ and admirable; but Strutt, 

 (who had feen the print) verj- properly obferves, that tliis 

 boalled precifion feems to make againll its being from the 

 graver of Titian, who would fcarcely have bellowed fo 

 much time and labour as mull have been required to compleat 

 it in fo neat and regular a manner. 



Tlie famous fatirical engraving of an old ape and two 

 young monkics, in the attitudes of Laocoon and his fons, 

 \\hich was long afcribed to Titian, is now known to be the 

 performance of Nicolo Vicentino. It was done to fatirize 

 Baccio Bandinelli, who boalled of having executed a Lao- 

 coon, uhieh was fuperior to the ai.tique. 



But Strutt thinks, and with great appearance of proba- 

 bility, that moll, if not all of the wood engravings afcribed 

 to Titian, are really the work of his younger brother Cefare 

 Vecelli, who alio produced a fet of 8vo. prints, executed in 

 a very fplrited and mallerly llyle, from the defigns of Titian, 

 of ancient and modern drefies, which was publilhed at Venice 

 in 1590; but perhaps there had been a former edition. The 

 title of t!ie edition of 1590 runs thus, " Degli Hubite 

 Antichi et Moderni di diverfe parte del mondo, Libri due 

 fatti da Cefare Vecellio;"' and in a fubfequent edition, pub- 

 lidied in 1664, it is more fully exprefied ai follows : " Rac- 

 colla di figure delineate dal gran Titiano, e da Cefare Ve- 

 cellio fuo Fiatello deligentemcnte intagliate." 



A fingle print in cliiarofcuro, ferves to mark the talent, in 

 that mode of engraving, of Baldalfare Pcru/zi, an extra- 

 ordinary architect, painter, engraver, and antiquary of this 

 period. He is generally fuppofed to have been a native of 

 Sienna, but Vafari fays, and probably with truth, tiiat he 

 was born at Volterra, in the year 14S1. Befide buikling 

 churches and palaces at Sienna, and other parts of Italy, he 

 cmbelh(hed them with his pict;nes ; and wrote a trcatiie on 

 the antiquities of Rome. He left behind him a commentary 

 on Vitruvius, which Papillon informs us he intended, but 

 that the Iiand of death prevented him, to have illull rated, 

 with engravings on wood. It is reported, hut we cannc;!; 

 fay on what foundation, that lie was poifoned by IV.me- 

 artiit who envied his fuperior talents. 



The print to which we have alluded is an upright folio, 

 reprefenting Apollo, Minerva, and the Mufcs, with Her- 

 cules expelling Avarice from their prelence. It appears to 

 be engraven on three blocks ; one for the outlines, another 

 for the half-tiut, and a tliird for the deeper (hadows. It is 

 executed in a bold and fpirited ftyle, and infcribed " BaL 

 Sen," over wiiich letters is a live-pointed (lar. 



Domenico Campagnola was born at Padua A.D. 14R2. 

 He was the fon of Jerome Campagnola, the fculptor, and 

 the difciple of Titian. He chiefly excelled in landkape, and 

 lias produced a conlldecable luimbcr of prints, fome of which 



