ITALIAN SCHOOL OV ENGRAVING. 



he generally painted his Virgin Mai-ies from his lifter, and 

 Infant Clirills from his little nephew. 



He engraved feveral pictures from his own compofitions, 

 which, though flight, and not well managed with refpcft to 

 the mechanical part, are neverthclefs moll admirable, on ac- 

 count of tlie exprefiion and excellent drawing difcovered in 

 them. His heads are very beautiful and charadleridic ; and 

 the other extremities of his figures finely marked. Amidd 

 all the difiiculties he appears to liave met with, in corroding 

 his plates with the aquafortis after he had etched them, 

 and his unfltilfulncfs in handling the graver to harmonize and 

 finirti them, the powvrs of a mailer appear like the orb of 

 the fun, xvlien feeii through the thin clouds of morning. 

 The following are among his bcft engravings, all of which 

 are from his own compofitions. A fma!l print of " The 

 Virgin and Child," which was never completely finifhed 

 at tlie bottom ; " The Virgin and Infiant Jefus in the 

 Clouds," finned F. B. V. F. in'^4to. ; « The Annunciation," 

 a large upright plate, of which the good impreflions are 

 very rare ; " St. Francis receiving the Stigmata," a fmall up- 

 right plate ; " The extatic Vifion of St. Francis,' ' in which 

 our Saviour and the Virgin appear to him, a large upright 

 plate arched at the top, efteemed the moll cai)ital of the 

 engravings of Baroccio. 



Battiila da Parma, or Parmenfis, was a native of Parma, 

 born A. D. 1530. Huber, without adverting to dates, fays 

 " he was probably a difciple of Parmcgiano ;" now Paripe- 

 jjiano, as Wv have already dated, died in the year 1540. 



The truth ■«, Battiila ftudied at Rome, but under what 

 mafter it is not known ; and here he praftifed the art of en- 

 graving in a ftyli- fosnewhat refembling that of Cornehus 

 Cort. 



Among the motl e;>eemed of his prodnftions are the fol- 

 lowing : — " The Virgin and Child appearing to St. John 

 the Divine," from Frederico Baroccio, ligned Baptiiia 

 Parmenfis fee. Roms 1588, in folio; " Phihppus II. Hif- 

 paniarum Rex, 1589," in large folio ; " Chnil baptifed in 

 the River Jordan," Bapt. Parmenfis dcdicavit, in large 

 folio ; " The Chaftity of Jofeph," in large folio, dated 

 1592 ; and ♦' Mount Calvary," a very grand compofition, 

 marked as formerly. 



Jacques, or Jacobus Parmenfis, was another artitl, probably 

 of ilie fame family, irom whofe hand we have a print exe- 

 cuted in the ftyle of Caraglio, of " The Martyrdom of St. 

 Peter and St. Paul," and a ir.iddling-fized print lengtliv.ays, 

 from Parmegiano ; it is executed with the graver, in a flight 

 ftvle, and has often been attributed to Caraglio, but the 

 heads and other extremities are not fo well drawn as we find 

 them in the works of that artift. 



Gafpar ab Avibus, likewife called Gafpar Patavinus, or 

 Padovano, was born at Padua in the year 1530. He ap- 

 pears to have been the pupil of George Ghili Mantuanus, 

 whofe ilyle he imitated, but never equalled. His prints are 

 dated from the year 156./ to 1580, and figned in different 

 manners, fometimes with the monogram of Gafpar, which 

 will be found in Plate U. of thofe- of the Ita/mn En- 

 gravers. 



We (hall notice the folloiving of his produftions : a print, 

 in large folio, of " The Marriage of the Virgin Mary," 

 from Paul Vcronefe, infcribcd Gafpar ab Avibus Citadel- 

 enfis fecit, 1577 ) " The Woman taken in Adultery," 

 marked with his cypher ; " The Scourging of our bleffed 

 Saviour," a large upnght piate, figned Galpar ab Avibus 

 Citadelenfis fecit, Lucx Bertelli Formis ; " Our Saviour 

 crowned wuh Thorns,' ' marked as before, in large folio ; 

 *' The Laft Supper," from Lamb. Lombard, in large 



folio ; '• Apollo on Mount ParnafTus, w ith Pegafus and the 

 Mufes, Homer, and Virgil," from L Penni ; a large vo- 

 lume in folio, in five pans, containing the portraits of the 

 Emperors, Archdukes, Princes, &c. of the Auftrian fa- 

 mily. Each portrait is a whole length figure, ornamented 

 with an appropriate border. Here Gafpar has changed his 

 ufiial manner cf engraving, and fomething more of the Ilyle 

 of the Sadelers appears in it : the figures, though ftiff, are 

 neatly engraven, and well proportioned. 



Giovanni Battifta Cavaleriis was born at Laghcrino fome 

 time about the year 1530. He worked at Rime from 

 I350 to 1590. His Ilyle of engVaving bears confidcrabJe 

 refomblance to that of Eneas Vico, the difciple of Marc 

 Antonio ; though he has not, in every inftance, attained 

 the fame degree of excellence. 



Cavaleriis underllood the mechanical part of his art very 

 well ; but his prints are defective both in chiarofcuro and 

 drawing, particularly in the extremities of his figures. He 

 was a very induftrious engraver, and, according to the abbe 

 MaroUes, his works amount to upwards of three hundred 

 and twenty-feven ; a great part of which, however, were- 

 but copies from the engravings of other mailers He fome- 

 times figned his prints with his name, and at others with hie 

 cypher, which will he found in Plate H. of thofe of the 

 Engravi'rs of Italy. 



Among the moll efteemed of his works are the Frontif- 

 piece and Heads to the " Lives of the Popes,"' dated 1588 ; 

 tlie plates to a work on the " Life and Miracles of ApoUi- 

 naris, firll Biihop of Ravenna," in folio, which are coarfely 

 etched, and flightly finifiied with the gr.iver ; " Ecclefis 

 AngHcanx Trophia," in folio, from Nicolaum Circignano; 

 •• The Ruins of Rome," from Jean Antonio Dollius, in 

 30 plates ; " Jefus Chrill teaching among the Doiflors," 

 from his own deiign ; " The Laft Supper," from his own 

 defign ; " The Statue of the Virgin of Loretto ;" " The 

 Houfe or Chapel of Loretto, and the Miracles which were 

 fuppofed to be done there," 1569; " The Celebration of 

 the Jubilee of 1585," in the back-ground of which is a view 

 of the cathedral church of St. Peter. (Here the engraver 

 is called, for what reafon has not been explained, Triden- 

 tinus.) And " A Naval Combat againft the Turks," for 

 the Viook of Ciacioni, of folio dimenlions. 



" The Virgin of Silence," wliere the Virgin is readings 

 and the infant St. John making a fig'i not to dillurb the 

 deeping Chrift, accompanied by St. Jofepli, from Michael 

 Angelo, is in large foho ; " The Converfion of St. Paul," 

 after a piclure of Michael Angelo, in foho; "The Mar- 

 tyrdom of St. Peter,'' in large folio, all figned with the 

 engraver's name; «' The Apoftle St. Paul," after Michael 

 Angelo, in large folio ; " The Animals returning from the 

 Ark," after Raphael, of the fame fi/.e ; " Moles diewing 

 the Tables of the Law to the People," from the fame maf- 

 ter ; " The Miracle of feeding the five thoufand," in two 

 large plates ; " Jefus Chrill appearing to St. Peter at the 

 Gaes of Rome," with the cypher of the engraver, dated 

 1569; " The Battle of Conftantiiic againft Maxentius," a 

 large upright, all from Raphael ; " The Slaughter of the 

 Innocents," after Bavcio B'andinelli, a grand compofitior.; 

 which was likewife engraved by M..rk of RaveniJa ; " Su- 

 fannah and the Elders,'; from Titian, in folio, dated 15S6 ; 

 " St. John preaching in the Wildtrnefs," from .vndrea del 

 Sarto ; a large fo'io print of •• The Delcent from the 

 Crofs," from Daniel de Voltcrro. The fame fubjeft was 

 engraved by Dorigny. " The Virgin fcated on the Cloudsj 

 with the Infant Jefusand .Angels miniftering to her," from 

 Ijvio Agrcdi, in 'large folio ;•* The Elevation- of the 



Crofs,:* 



