ITALIAN SCHOOL OF ENGRAVING. 



fine arts, and it is faid, travelled from Lucca to Rome in the 

 haWit of a pilgrim. Here, i-cgnrdlefsof external appearances, 

 and eren of the ordinary means of fubfillence, he employed 

 his time in drawing with the utmoll affidiiity from the an- 

 tique (latiies, relievos, and ruins, and in iludying from the 

 celebrared piftures with which that great metropolis 

 abounded. 



Under fuch circutnftanccs, and entirely unknown to the 

 great, Telia was focn reduc d to dillrefs ; according to one 

 of liis biographers, his fituation was mod miferable, havitig 

 fcarcely wherewithal to cover his nakednefs, or fatisfy the 

 cravings of hunger, and in this fituation he was found by 

 Sandrart, fitting among ruins, abftradled from all around 

 him, and copying an antique hss-relief. 



Struck with fuch meritorious raggcdncfs, and naturally 

 benevolent, Sandrart took our young enthufiaft home with 

 him, provided him with food and raiment, employed him 

 to make copies of tiie great works in the JulUnian gal- 

 lery, recommended him to other employ, introduced him to 

 the fchools of Dominichino and Pietro da Cortona, and 

 would in other refpeils have rendered him a focial being, as 

 well as a great artift, but for Telia's natural averiion to 

 company and converfation, which was fo great, that even his 

 patron could feldom obtain a word from him. 



His propealities to art, folitude, and lilence, which, vvitli 

 Sandrart's friendfliip, condufted him to the high degree of 

 excellence which he attained, occafioned alfo his death. In 

 reaching for his hat, which the wind liad blown into tlie 

 Tiber, as he fat drawing alone, upon the banks of that river, 

 he unfortunately fell in, and was drowned in the thirty-ninth 

 year of his age. 



Tiie following fummary is partly copied from the ju!l efti- 

 mate which Strutt has formed of the merits of this artill. He 

 drew with great ta'.le, aiyd marked the extremities of liis 

 - figures in a very mafterly manner. Tlie charailer of his 

 Leads are lin*ly expreffed, and the female faces are often very 

 beautiful. When tlie extravagance of his fancy did not 

 hurry him beyond the bounds of nature, hib outlines are cor- 

 rc£l and elegant. The draperies of his female iigures efpe- 

 cially, are ample, flowing, and eafy, and the forms of the 

 naked parts beneath are accurately and fuiliciently indicated, 

 witliout academical oitentation. Yet, though his com- 

 pofition is frequently grand, and many of his figures higlily 

 graceful, it mull be owned that awkward and conllrained 

 attitudes are fometimes introduced. 



His ilyle of etching is mafterly and free, bearing fnpe- 

 rior rcfemblance to that of Antonio Tempefta, and every 

 where animated by the wild energy of his nature; but his 

 light and thsdes are not coUefted into broad malTes, and of 

 courfe his chiarofcuro, like that of moil of Italian engravers 

 of the age of Teita, is deficient in force. 



The monogram with which our artiil ufually marked his 

 engravings, is copied in our third plate of thofe of the Italian 

 Majlcrs. His prints, in general, of which Mariette poiielled 

 Linety-two,are held in higli requeft by artillsand coiinoiifeurs, 

 and among them ilie follosving are diftinguifhed. They are 

 all of folio dimenfions, and forae of them very large. 



" The Sacrifice of Abraham ;" " Angels miniilering to 

 the Holy Family,'' an emblematical fubjeil, in whi^h the 

 Infant Saviour is embracing a crofs held by angels, very 

 large ; a large upright print of " Our Saviour crucified 

 between the Tuo Thieves;" " Tlie Martyrdom of St. 

 Erafmus," infcribcd " S Erafme oia pro nobis;" "St. 

 Jerome at Devotion ;" " St. Roch and Two Bi(hops pray- 

 ing for a Ceffation of the Ph-.gue ;" " The Sacrifice 

 of Camnui," who having drunk of a pc-ifoned cup at 

 the celebration of her uiarriage with Siuorii, the alla.Tm 



of her firft hufband, prcfents Iiim with tlie cup, a lar^e 

 print ; " Thetis plunging Achilles into the Styx ;" " Achil- 

 les dragging the Body of HeClor round the Walls of 

 Troy ;" " The Death of Cato ;" " The Sacrifice of Iphi- 

 genia,'" an allegorical print in honour of pope Innocent X. 

 with his medallion on a monument ; " Soera'.es, at a Table 

 witlihis Friends ;" " The Study of Paintmg,'' dedicated to 

 cardinal Francotti ; "The Lyceum of Painting," infcribod 

 " II Liceo dclla Pittnra," (with a dedication) ; '« The Pal- 

 fions explained ;" " Merit recompenced, and ParnalTus tri- 

 umpiiant ;" " The Triumph of Love ;" and " The Triumph 

 of Bacchus." 



Jean Csfar Teila was born at Rome in the year i6j6, and 

 palled for the nephew of Pietro, whole ftyle of engraving 

 he imitated. The following (wc are all we know of his 

 works. A fmall quarto portrait of his uncle, entitled 

 " Petrus Tefta Lucenfis, Piclor ac Incifor celeberrimus. 

 Cefar Tefta fc." " The Death of Dido, with Iris pluck- 



off the Fatal Lock 



The Centaur Chii 



Achilles to play on the Lyre, ?,nd throw the Javelin ;" 

 " The Emperor Titus confulting the Prophet Bafilides on 

 his Expedition againll Jerufalem,'' from a piclure by P. Tef- 

 ta, in the church of St. Martin du Mont, at Rome ; all of 

 large folio dimenfions : and a very large and very rare print 

 of " The Laft Communion of St. Jerome ;" from a pidlure 

 by Dominichino, which has fince been engraved by Farjat 

 and Giacomo Frey. 



Hyacinth, or Jacinto Gemignano, or .leminiani, was born 

 at Piitoia in the year 1611. from whence he travelled to 

 Rome, avid became the difciple of Pietro da Cortona. Here 

 lie reiided for many vcars with great reputation. - He after- - 

 wards returned to Puloia, and died there at the age of 

 feventy. 



His plates are not numerous, and confift almoft entirely 

 of etchings, performed in a flight manner, and from his 

 own compofitioiis, of wlijch the following are the chief. 



A fet of twelve, in quarto, of groups of children va- 

 rioufly occupied ; " Cleopatra dillolving the Pearl," in folio, 

 and another folio plate from the reign of Semirainis, entitled 

 " Semiramis jurat non niii deviato holti rehgaturjium ca- 

 pillos.'' 



Giovanni Batifta Bolognini was born at Bologna A.D. 

 l6[i, and died in the fame city in the year 1688. He was 

 intlructed in the principles of painting by Guido, and foon 

 became one of his beft pupils. He painted in the Ilyle of 

 his mailer, and his works are held in very great cReeni. 



We have many fpirited etchings by Bolognini, from tlie 

 compofitions cf' Guido, which are executed in a flight 

 ftyle, refembling that of his mailer, but inferior in merit ; 

 among thefe, the following will probably be found moft worthy 

 of the coUedor's notice. " A Crucifixion," with St. John and 

 the tv/o Maries, Handing at the foot of the crofs, in foiio ; 

 " Bacchus and Ariadne," a large print, lengthways, en- 

 graved on three plates; " St. Peter receiving the Keys ;'' 

 and " The Murder of the lonocents," all of foLo dimen- 

 fions. 



Salvator Rofa, (for an account of whom as a painter fee 

 Rcs.\, S.VLVATOK,) was born at Rinella, in the environs of 

 Naples, A D. 1615, and died at Rome in 1673. ^'^ etch- 

 ings, though bold, prefent not the dilcrimiuatmg and cha- 

 racleriftic ruggednefs of his pencil. . His drawing is incor- 

 rect ; the heads of his figures are occafionally characleriilic, 

 bat generally mean, but his chiarofcuro is broader and bet- 

 ter than is to be found in the gcnerjlity of the etchings of the 

 Italian painters. Yet it is to be obfcrved that, in point of 

 executive. posver and feeling, his prints are far from being 

 always alike. In his " Alexander viliting Diogenes," his 



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