ITALIAN SCHOOL OF ENGRAVING. 



The etchings of Spagnoletto ( for an account of whofe 

 extraordinary talents as a painter, fee the article Ribera) 

 ■are executed in a bold, firm, and free ftyle : his chiarofcuro 

 is broad, powerful, and pleafing ; and he drew with ad- 

 mirable Hull. His heads, hands, and feet, are marked in 

 a maftcrly manner ; and among the former, thofe of his old 

 men, which he was fond of introducing into his compofitions, 

 are defervedly admired. 



In P/,7te 111. of the monograms of the Italian Engravers, 

 ■will be found the various cyphers with which he occafionally 

 marked his performances, of which the following are juftly 

 held in elkem : " A dead Chrill ;" " The Martyrdom of 

 St. Bartholomew,'' both of folio dimenfions ; in fmall folio, 

 " A penitent St. Jerome, with an Angel blowing a Trum- 

 pet.'' (Note. — There are two plates of this fubjeft, in one 

 of which the angel is omitted.) Another St. Jerome, a 

 fmall upright, where a (ItuU lies on the ground, and the 

 faint is reading ; a folio plate of « Bacchns made drunk by 

 Satyrs," dated 1628; two fmall heads of old men, one of 

 them with the face covered ; " Dante crowned with Laurel, 

 fitting in a Defert ;" " Dtin Juan of Aullria on Horfeback," 

 a folio plate. 



The above are all from his own compofitions ; and we 

 know of but one work of Spagnoletto that is after another 

 painter, namely, " A Repofe, during the Flight into 

 Egypt," from Charles Saracenus, wherein angels are 

 foothincf the holy travellers with divine mulic. 



Olivfero Gatti was of the Bolognefe fcliool, and ap- 

 parently ftndicd engraving under Agoftino Caracci. He 

 was boi-n at Parma in the year 1598 ; but the time or man- 

 ner of his death have not been recorded. 



Gatti worked chiefly, if not entirely, with the graver ; 

 and his prints have a confiderable Iharc of merit. He at- 

 tended bat little to the textures of various fubltancei, and 

 hence his e.Kecution is fomewhat dry ; but he poffeffed that 

 firft requifite of a good engraver, — found drawing. 



His bell prints are " St. Francis Xavier kneeling on the 

 Sea-diore to take up a floating Crucifix," from his own 

 compofition, and of foho dimenfions ; a half figure of " The 

 Holy Virgin careffing the Infant Chritl," in 410., after 

 Garbieri ; "St. Jerome embracing a Crucifix,'' a foHo 

 plate, after Auguftino Caracci, dated 1602 ; an emblematic 

 or heraldicjnbjecl from Lodovico Caracci, reprefenting an 

 armed knight, furroundcd by Jupiter, Hercules, Neptune, 

 Apollo, and Pallas, and an 'armorial bearing fupported by 

 two river gods, of a folio fize ; and a fet of four ovals, in 

 4to , after Pordenone, of which the fubjefts are " The 

 l)eity forming the World," "The Creation of Adam," 

 " Abraham's Sacrifice," and " Judith with the Head of 

 Holofernes." 



Giovanni Baptifta Vanni was celebrated to a certain de- 

 gree in the three arts of architeclurc, painting, and engrav- 

 ing. ' He was born at Pifa in the year 1599, and died at 

 Florence in 1660. He frequented difl"erent fchools, and is 

 believed to have learned etching of Julio Parigi. 



His etchings are performed in a painter-like manner, with 

 freedom and fpirit, but are deficient in corrednefs ; and are 

 marked cither with the initial letters, or fome contraftiou of 

 his names. Of thefe the inoit diihnguiflied arc " The Dome 

 of the Cathedral at Parma," after Correggio, engraved on 

 fifteen plates, and dated 1642 ; " The Martyrdom of two 

 .Saints,'' alfo from a picture by Correggio ; and " The Mar- 

 riage of Cana in Galilee," a laj-ge foho print, engraved 011 

 two plates, alter Paul Yeronefe, dated 1637, 'and juftly 

 reckoned the mafter-piece of "Vanni. 



Giovanni Baptifta Mercati alfa produced fome fpirited 

 etchings about this period. He was a native of Sienna, 



born about the beginning of the feventeenth century, but 

 refided for the greater part of his life at Rome. His prints 

 are flight, yet manifell fome tafte ; and he etched both hif- 

 tory and landfcape. 



The following will probably afford the coUeftor the molt 

 fatisfaftory fpecimens of his powers : a fet of fifty fmall 

 plates of the ruined edifices of Italy, in a ftyle which might 

 be fufpefted to be borrowed from that of Silveftre, if Sjl- 

 veftre had then appeared ; a fet of four of the bas-reliefs 

 which adorn the arch of Conftantine, of the folio fize, and 

 circular form ; " St. Bibian refufing to facrifice to Jupiter," 

 after Pietro da Cortona, in folio, dated 1626; and " A 

 Holy Family, with St. Catherine," a fmall folic, after 

 Correggio, dated 1620. 



Giufcppe, or Jofcph Cremonefe, was born at Cremcna in 

 the year 1600, and refided at Ferrara. There is a piftiire 

 of Lis, of St. Mark, preferved at the church of St. Ben- 

 net, at Ferrara, which is mentioned with great praife in 

 the Italian tour of Cochin. The following prints of me- 

 diocre pretenfions are engraved by this artift from his own., 

 defigns : — " Samfon and Dahlah ;" " David, with the Head, 

 of Goliah ;" a kneeling figure of " St. Roch,'' all of folio 

 dimenfions ;" " David contemplating the Head of Goliah ;'' 

 a bifhop of the order of St. Bernard j and, a ftudy of a 

 naked female ; all of quarto fize. 



Pietro, and Jacques-.Antonio StefFanoni, father and fon,- 

 were born at Venice, the father in the year 1600, and the 

 fon in 1620. They went to Rome, where they engraved iij- 

 conjunction with each other. There is a book, etched by 

 Pietro, of inftruAions in drawing, confilting of forty plates ; 

 and fome prints for a work of antique gems, by Fortunius 

 Licetus. This book was firft printed at Rome A.D. 

 1627, and reprinted by J. A. Steil'anoni at Padua in 1664. 

 We have, among others, the following etchings by the 

 fon, which pofl'efs fome merit : — " The Virgin and Child, 

 with St. John and feveral Angels," known by the name of 

 " The Virgin of the Swallow," from L. Caracci ; another 

 " Virgin and Child, with St. John," half figures, from 

 Aug. Caracci, both in quarto ; a middling-fized upright 

 print, of "A Merchant and his Family reduced to Beggary;" 

 two more fubjefts of Holy Families, from Aug. Caracci ; 

 " Tlie S aughtei of the Innocents,'' from Guido ; " The 

 Miracle of St. Antony of Padua," from Lorenzo Pafli- 

 nelli, in large foho ; and " The Mai-tyrdora of St. L^rfula, 

 and her Companions," of the fame fize. 



Jean Baptifta Pafcalini, or Pafquahno, was born at Cento, 

 a village near Bologna, A.D. 1600, and frequented the 

 fchool of Cyrus Ferri ; though he does not appear to have 

 made any meritorious progrefs in painting. He engraved a 

 great number of prints from various Bolognefe painters, 

 but particularly from his countryman Guerchino ; whofc 

 bold fpirited ftyle in drawing with a pen he attempted to 

 imi'ate with tlie graver, but he did not pofl'efs fulBcient 

 command of that inftrument to fiiccecd, neither is it at all 

 adapted to fuch a purpofe. The etchings of Pafcalini, ac- 

 cording to Huber, always convey the idea of original com- 

 pofitions, but in this praife we cannot confcieutioutiy join. 

 Thofe ainong them which are entitled to moil commendation, 

 are " St. Felix, a Capuchin, kneeling before the Virgin and 

 Infant Chrift," in foho; "St. Diego," from L. Caracci, 

 marked J. B. Centenfis ; a large folio print of " The Death 

 of St. Cecilia,'' from Dominicliino ; "The Aurora," a 

 large print lengthways, on two plates, from the celebrated 

 picture of Guido, which has lince been finely engraven by 

 Giacomo Frey, and alfo by Audenardc. 



The follo'wing Subjc&s are from Guerchino : — A fm.all print 

 of " Jefus Chrift diftating to St. John ;" a large upright 



print 



