ITALIAN SCHOOL OF ENGRAVING. 



tuano ; and nfter tLe fame mafter, " The Judgment of 

 Paris," " The Grecian Heroes before Troy," " The De- 

 ftrudion of Troy," and " The Cemetery," fometimes 

 called " The Refurreclion of dry Bones," a fine fpecimen 

 of the artiiVs ability, wherein flveletons, tombs, and ema- 

 ciated figures form a grand compofition. 



Adam Gliifi, alfo known by the cognomen of Mantuano, 

 was a younger brother of George, and engraved much in 

 the fame llyle, though he was certainly fomewhat inferior 

 to his elder brother, both in correftnefs of outline, and the 

 ability with which he handled the graver. The cypher 

 with which he fometimes marked his engravings, will be 

 found in our Plate I. of thofe of the Italian School, and 

 among his beil works are tlie following : — " Nativita de 

 Noftra Signore," aft-er Julio Romano, which is thus treated: 

 In the lieavens is the Deity furroundcd by the heavenly 

 lioft ; lower in the compofition is the Holy Ghoil, fur- 

 roimded by a radiance, and on the earth is the Holy Virgin 

 and Cliild, and St. Jofeph ; " The Prefentation in the 

 TcmpL-," after Nicolas INIartinelli ; a group from the 

 marble of Michael Angclo, called " The Virgin of Pity," 

 of which the fubjeA is a dead Chrift laying acrofs the 

 knees of his afflifted mother. Colleftors fliould be careful 

 to no:e, that in the early impreffions, as the plate came 

 from the hands of Adam Ghifi, the back ground is blank, 

 bat it has lince been re-touched, and a landfcape back- 

 ground added by Ant. Lefreri, who, however, has affixed 

 )iis own name to the print. The above are all of large 

 folio dimenfions. 



In 4to. our artift has produced, " Mars preparing for 

 Battle," and " Diana preparing for the Chace," cither 

 after Julio Romano, or from defigns by himfelf; " An- 

 gelica and Medora ;" " Diana and Endymion ;" " Her- 

 cules and loli;" " The Clioice of Hercules;" " Two 

 Cupids conducting a Car with a river- God ;" and " Two 

 Cupids riding on Dolphins," both of the oval form ; and 

 " The God Pan playing on the Syrinx, with Venus and 

 Cupid lirtening." 



Diana Ghifi, of Mantua, was fitter to the two preceding. 

 The year of her birth has not been recorded. She was 

 a woman of confiderable ingenuity, and probably learned 

 drawing and engraving from her brother George, whofe 

 llyle file fucccf^fully imitated. She employed no mono- 

 gram or cypher, but marked her engravings, of which the 

 following are the principal, with the name of Diana, fome- 

 times without any addition : — " A Converfation Party of 

 three Figures," and " The Holy Family," both of anony- 

 mous invention, and perhaps done from compofitions by 

 hcrfelf ; another " Holy Family," in a landfcape ornamented 

 with ruined edifices, after Correggio, in large folio, dated 

 1 577 ; another " Holy Family," after Raphael, where the 

 little St. John is prefeiiting a fcroll to the Infant Saviour, 

 while St. Jofeph, in the back ground, repofes on the bafe 

 of a column, in folio; " The Virgin Mary carefling the 

 Infant Chriil," after F. Salviati, in fmall folio ; " The 

 Holy Virgin and Child fitting on Clouds, and attended by 

 liic Archangels Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael :" this plate 

 is probably engraved from lier own compofition, and the 

 earlier impreffions are without the infcription " Regina 

 Angclorum :" it is in large folio; " The Inftitution of 

 the Papacy, or St. Peter appointed Head of the Church," 

 after Raphael ; " The Woman taken in Adultery," after 

 Juho Romano ; " The Heroifm of Horatio Codes," after 

 the fame mailer, all in large folio ; " The Continence of 

 Scipio," in fmall folio ; and " The Birth of Cailor and 

 Pollux," which latter is perhaps the very belt of Diana's 

 engravings, are alfo after Julio Romano. 



We (hall add to this lift but one more, natriely, " The 

 grand Feftival of the Gods," after the fame great painter, 

 done from the celebrated pifture in the palace del T. at 

 Mantua. It is a very large produftion, which Diana, 

 from a motive of convenience, has engraven on three plates. 

 Of Domenico del Barbiere, better known by the name 

 of Fiorentino, we (hall fay but little ; for, as an engraver, 

 he merits not much, though he painted in ftucco, under 

 the fuperintendence of Roflb, with coiifiderable abihty. 

 He was born at Florence in the year I Jo6, or thereabouts ; 

 and travelling to Fountainbleau in the year 1544, worked 

 with credit from the defigns of Primaticcio and Rofib. His 

 engravings, which are executed in a ftiffand incorreft manner, 

 are fometimes marked with his name at length, with the 

 occafional addition of Fiorentino, and at others with the 

 cypher which will be found in our Piute II. of the mono- 

 gram, &c. of the Italian Engravers, 



Befides feveral plates of groups, and fometimes fingle 

 figures, from the Lail Judgment of Michael Angelo, he 

 engraved a " Repofo," in which the holy family are attended 

 by angels, in large folio ; " A dead Chrift," from Salviati ; 

 and an antique Banquet, from Primaticcio, both in fmall 

 foho ; " Mars and Venus," from Roflb, in 410. ; and " An 

 Angel, or Figure of Fame, Handing on a Globe holding two 

 Trumpets," in folio. 



We have now to fpeak of that extraordinary artift, 

 Frrsncefco Mazzuoh of Parma, more commonly known by 

 his cognomen Parmegiano. He was born A.D. 1505, 

 and died, at Cafiel Maggiore, at the early age of 3J ; yet 

 in that fliort life very high degrees of excellence were at- 

 tained in the art of painting and etching, notwithftanding 

 that no inconfiderable portion of it was fruitlefsly fpent in 

 alchemical purfuits. 



For an account of his merit as a painter, fee Mazzuoli. 

 He acquired the firft rudiments of art under the tuition of 

 his two uncles at Parma, and at the age of 16 furprifed tlie 

 partiality of relationfhip, and even aftonifiied the exifting 

 tafte of that part of Italy, by the produftion of a piclure 

 of " St. John baptizing the Saviour in the River Jordan ;" 

 but the fame i-f Raphael and Michael Angelo foon at- 

 trafted him from his native city to Rome, where he remained 

 till Rome itfelf was facked, ftudying with ardour from the 

 works of thofe great artiils, yet at times retarded, in no 

 trifling degree, by his unfortunate prediledion for alchemy. 

 It has been flated by fome writers, and is generally be- 

 lieved, that Parmegiano (if not the inventor of etching) 

 was the firft Italian who fuccefsfuUy praftifed that art. 

 Strutt fays of him, with great jnilice, that " in the etchings 

 of this great mafter we difcover the hand of the artilt, 

 working out a fyftem, as it were, from his own imagina- 

 tion, and ftrivingto produce the forms he wanted to exprefs. 

 We fee the difficulty he laboured under ; and cannot doubt, 

 from the examination of the mechanical part of the exe- 

 cution of his works, that he had no inftruftion. It ap- 

 pears to be fomcthing entirely new to him without the 

 knowledge of any thing better. We know that he cer- 

 tainly was not the fini inventor of etching, becaufe it was 

 praftifed in Germany before he was of age to attempt it ; 

 yet It appears as if he had been unacquainted with the prior 

 difcovcry, or only knew of it imperfeft ly by report ; and in 

 the latter cafe he might have been nearly as much at a lofs as 

 in the former. The fpirit and genius which appear through 

 the clouds are fuch as julUy render his etchings exceedingly 

 valuable ; and on this account they have been often copied, 

 and fometimes indittVrently. Tlie mechanical part of them 

 is fcratched in with the point, often badly corroded with 

 the aquafortis, and re-touched with the gvavcr, without 



the 



