ITALIAN SCHOOL OF ENGRAVING. 



■ohderftood ; as is fufficiently obvious to an intelligent eye. 

 He generally marked his prints, of which we feleft the fol- 

 lowing as the moll worthy of notice, with the initials of his 

 name, but not combined in a cypher. " A Madonna and 

 Child, furromded by Angels," in 410. ; " A Holy Family, 

 wherein St. Jof -ph is leaning his Head upon his Hand ;" 

 " The Holy Virgin fuckling the Infant Chrift ;" « A 

 Holy Family, in which the Virgin Mary is reading a 

 Book," all in fmall folio ; " Samfon killing the Lion," in 

 4to. ; Frontifpiece to the poems of Cefar Rinaldi, and a 

 folio print of the armorial bearings of die family of 

 Bonfigliovoli, in which the figures of Hercules and Mer- 

 cury are allegorically introduced. 



Agoftino Caracci was the fon of a tailor of Bologna, 

 •who, defiroas of educating his family in a fupcrior manner, 

 intended Agoftino for a fcholar, but a ftrong inclination for 

 the purfnits of the fine arts becoming very manifeft, the father 

 was induced to alter his defigii, a; :;1 placed his fon under a 

 goldfmith: here he learned the rudiments of engraving, for 

 the Bolognefe goldfmiths of that lime were accuftomcd to 

 ornament their produclions with engraving, which was often 

 executed with a degree of tafte and beauty correfponding 

 ■with the general e.\i'Aing ftale of art. 



From this purfuit, however, the great fuccefs of his 

 y^ inger brother Annibal, as a painter, appears to have at- 

 trafied him for a time, and he placed himfelf for inftruftinn 

 in that art under Fontana, then under Pafleroti, and finally 

 under his coufin Ludovico. 



Under thefe mailers he attained a degree of excellence 

 in the art of painting, of which we have already fpoken, 

 but was afterwards induced, from local circumllances, 

 ■with which we are unacquainted, to refume the graver^ and 

 for further improvement went to ftudy in the fthool of 

 Cornelius Cort. 



The profefTor Fufeli fays, it was « a fwgiihr modejly 

 •which prompted him rather to propagate the fame of 

 others by his graver, than by fteady exertion to rely on his 

 own powers for perpetuity of name :"' but he who has pro- 

 duced the engravings which we (hall enumerate, even if he 

 had done no more, muft certainly have pofiefled fome fteadi- 

 nefs of exertion, could fcarcely, indeed, have been " lefs af- 

 fiduous than his brother," and might furely rely on the art 

 which he did prattife fo fuccefsfully, for perpetuity of 

 name. 



The truth has been, that his great merit as an engraver 

 remains unimpaired by time, and unimpeached by pofterity, 

 while his picture of " The Three Nymphs in the Garden 

 Scene of St. Michael in Bofco," was nearly <' in a ftatc of 

 evanefcence," when M. Fufeli was in Italy. 



Strutt fays that Agoftino imitated the ftyle of Cort " fo 

 exa<ftly, with refpcft to the mechanical part of it, that were 

 it not for the great fuperiority which appears in the drawing 

 of the prints of Caracci, it would be difiicult to dillinginfti 

 them from each other: a ftriking inftance of wiiich may be 

 feen in "The Holy Family with St. Jerome," from Cor- 

 reggio, which was engraved by both artifts." 



Agoftino Caracci worked entirely with the graver, in a 

 bold free ftyle ; and his drawing of the naked parts of the 

 fi^'Ure are admirable. The heads are remarkably fine ; and 

 the extremities arc marked in the moft accurate and mafterly 

 manner. His draperies are frequently ftifF, and crofted with 

 a fquare fecondftroke, which gives them an unpleafing elTeil. 

 But, perhaps, his greateil defect is the prevalent fault of the 

 age in which he lived, namely, the httle attention paid to the 

 cniarofcuro. The lights are too much fcattered, and left 

 imtinted, as well upon the dift-ancej, as upon the fore-ground 



Vol. XIX. 



and principal objefts ; which not only deftroys the har- 

 mony of the efFett, but gives a flight unfinifhed appearanctr 

 even to the neateft engraving. Bafan fpeaks of him in thefe 

 words : " This excellent artift, equally verfed in the fclcnccs 

 and fine arts, treated his engravings in fo perfeft a ftyle, that 

 one knows not which to admire moft, the correftnefs of hi* 

 drawing, or the beauty of the performance. All yo'.ino- 

 artifts ought carefully to obferve, with what facility and perl ' 

 fcftion he exprefied the extremities of his figures, and wi;i» 

 what art he executed even landlcape with the graver." 



The engravings of Agoftino are numerous, though their 

 dimenfions, generally fpeaking, are large. The following 

 lift will be found to contain thofe of moft merit and impor- 

 tance. His prints arc marked either with the initial letter^*, 

 or fome contraction of his names, but not combined in a 

 cypher. 



Port rain anil Hiflorkal Prints from his own Compnfitions. — 

 Anthony Caracci, the father of Agoftino and Annibal, a 

 fmall print, but very rare ; his own portrait ; Henry IV.- 

 of France, at the age of thirty-fix ; the em.peror Auguftui, 

 en medallion, with a reverfe ; butt of Cofmo I., with orna- 

 mental figures ; a fine fem.ale head, cited by Malvafia ; por- 

 trait of a duthefs with a pearl necklace ; portraits of Jean 

 Tomafo Coftanzo, the princefs Chriftiana of Lorraine, 

 Ulyftes Aldrovandus, Marc Antonio Raimondi, Titiano 

 Vecelli, Anthonv Carrachi, as St. Jofeph ; " Adam re- 

 ceiving tlie fatal Apple ;" " The Virgin and Ciii'd ;" " The 

 Virgin fuckling the Infant Jefus ;" " A Repofo ;" " The 

 Virgin in the Clouds, with the Infant Jef-.is," was engraved 

 by Marc Antonio, after Raphael ; but Aiigullino, having 

 got the plate into his pofTeffion, added two fine heads of 

 Cherubs ; " The Virgin in Heaven, giving the Scapulary 

 to a Saint," a very fine engraving ; " The Virgin fitting on 

 a Step near St. Jufeph and an Angel, accompanied by the 

 Infant Chritl and St. John," a large folio print, very rare ; 

 " The good Sainaritan," in folio. (Tlie impreflions of this 

 plate, without letters, are very rare ; and thofe with the 

 name of Bertelli are re-touched.) ''The myftcrious Cru- 

 cifix," where a female figure reprefents Chriftianity and 

 another Judaifm, in folio ; " The Refun-eflion of Jefus 

 Chrift," in folio ; " Le Nome di Dio," reprefenting the 

 pope and fenate of Venice fupphcating the Virgin and 

 faints to intercede for them, in an oval, furrounded willi 

 acceftbries, and fubfcribed " Luc. Bertelli furmi:," but with- 

 out the name of Auguftino, who certainly engraved it, in 

 large folio; " The Pea-hen, with Diana en Medallion ;" 

 beneath is a landfcape, with the fable of Salmacis and Her- 

 maphrodite ; and lower down in the plate are three ovals, 

 with the difpute between Neptune and Minerva, the Three 

 Graces, and a buft of Minerva ; thefe are all on ore plate, 

 in large foho ; the frontifpiece to the book of Aide Ma- 

 nuce, entitled " Vita di Cofimo de Medicis," in folio. 

 Another frontifpiece, after Antonio Campi, for the book, 

 entitled " Cremona Fideliffima," in fol. (This is a very 

 rare book, confifting of thirty-three portraits, engraved by 

 Auguftino.) Nine plates, from Taftb's " Jofufalem Deli- 

 vered," publiftied A.D. 1590. The reft of the plates for 

 this work were engraved by Giacomo Franco j " St. 

 Francis receiving the Stigmatics," a large folio print ; " Tho 

 Girdle of St. Francis," a grand compofiiion, reprefcnti:;g 

 a faint diftributing the girdle of his order to difieic-nt Chrif- 

 tian fcdts ; a large folio print of " St. Jerome kneeling at 

 the Entrance of his Cave.'" There arc imprelGons of this 

 plate when it was about three parts finiflied, wiiich are ex- 

 tremely rare ; the remaining part is a mere ikctch, marked 

 with a very free touch. An infucftion-of Uuo print flicw.-! 



3X "ia» 



