ITALIAN SCHOOL OF ENGRAVING. 



very perfeiMon of (lyle, or at lead approximates the ncareft 

 to it of any painter whatever, except perhaps Fyt, wlio 

 exercifed his powers on fubjeds of quite a different 

 kind." 



Another 410. plate, which our artift engraved after a very 

 excellent picture by R. Smirki.', R. A. as an accompaniment 

 to Joel Barlow's Columbiad, and of which the fubjeft is 

 •' The Triumph of the Holy Inquifition ;" fome plates 

 which he engraved for Sharpe's Britifii ClafTics, and two 

 for an edition of Homer, after the academicians Fufeli and 

 Howard, poiTefa merits of a fimilar kind, though, on ac- 

 count of the fmalliiefs of tiie fcale, they could not be fo cf- 

 feftually difplayed. 



Tiie remainder of his finiflied engravings in lines, are 

 the hovel fcene in King Lear, after Sinirke ; and two 

 or three other plates for the fmaller edition of Boy dell's 

 Shakfpeare, which are among the very bell in that motley 

 and undigefted work ; and fome fmall portraits, particularly 

 one of Mr. W. Cunningham (an Irifh gentleman, diftin- 

 guifhed for his tafte and patronage of the fine arts) ; another, 

 of a writing mailer, ivell known and diftinguiflied in his pro- 



feflion, and a bud of Homer, from the celebrated 

 the Townleian Collection, all of 8vo. dimenlions. 



His falio print, engraved in tlie fourth remove from 

 Michael Angelo's celebrated Cartoon of Pifa, is of a mid- 

 dle charadler, lefs elaborate than his prints from the pic- 

 tures of Vandyke, though fomewhat more fo, than his 

 etchings after the poetical iketches of Mr. Blake : in fhort, 

 a graphic tranllation of a Cartoon, or preparatory fludy for 

 a high-finiflied picture. 



His academical knowledge and flcill were here, perhaps 

 more than in any other of his produftions, called into aftion, 

 and their ftrength put to the teft. Nothing flood higher in 

 thefe refpefts than the reputation of the great original, 

 which is even, by Benvenuto Cellini and other excellent 

 judges, efteemed the malferpicce of Michael Angelo : and 

 this high reputation Schiavonetti had not merely to fullain, 

 hut in fome degree to rellore ; for the Cartoon itfelf being 

 deftroyed (in a fit of envy, as it is faid, by Bandinelli, who 

 was entrufted with the key of the apartment where it was 

 placed,) and the details of its fuperlative merits being 

 known to us moderns, only through the media of San- 

 gallo's copies, and the feparate groups which have been en- 

 graven by Marc Antonio, Agoilino of Venice, and other 

 contemporary artiils, whofe works we have already enu- 

 merated under an early part of this article of the Italian 

 fchool, our engraver felt it to be his duty to collate thefe 

 verfions and fragments of the Cartoon of Pifa with con- 

 fcientious fcrupulofity, and, by balancing probabilities, to 

 reftore what may be called the true clallical reading. An 

 awful talk ! yet which ho has performed with the ability 

 and fuccefs of a confummate fcholar in art. 



The reader Ihould be apprifed, that the Holkham copy, 

 which is believed to be the work of Bafliano de Sangallo 

 (an artill who was never held in any very high degree of 

 eftimation) was painted in his old age, from a fmall drawing 

 which he had himfelf copied from the original Cartoon in 

 the year IJ4.2, during his pupilage. It was made at the 

 reqiiell of Vafari, and, through means of Monfignor Jovio, 

 came into the poirefliou of Francis I. of France, who highly 

 efteemed it ; from his collection it however difappeared, and 

 no mention is made ot it by the French writers for near 

 two centuries. It was probably difcovered at Paris, pur- 

 chafed, and brought to England by the father of the late 

 marquis To wnlhend. 



Schiavonetti had not even this copy to work fruitii but a 

 Vol. XIX. 



copy of this copy, and has therefore, with commendable 

 regard for his own reputation, and that of Michael Angelo, 

 and with due refpeft for the public, who always ouglit to 

 be rightly informed upon fuch occafions, followed the re- 

 commendation which was publicly laid before him in the 

 Review of Art, vol. i. and fcratched with his dry needle 

 under the few proofs which were received as prefents by his 

 friends, " Engraved by L. Schiavonetti, after a copy 

 painted by H. Howard, R. A. from da Sangallo's copy of 

 his own (hidy, after Michael Angelo's cartoon.'' 



The fame refpeft for truth and the public, which dictated 

 this recommendation and thii conduct, requires us to men- 

 tion that Schiavonetti has corrected a general heavir.efs of 

 drawing which prevails in Mr. Howard's piftnre, which 

 heaviiiefs that accompliflicd artilt no doubt found in the 

 Holkham copy, but which is perfectly ir.confiftent both with 

 the active fentiment of the fubjeft, and the earlier graces 

 of Michael Angelo's compofition. A foot of one of the 

 principal figures, which is there turned invs-ard, he has turned 

 outward ; and, befide fome other minor details, has added 

 requifite llrength to the hams of the figure who is climbing 

 the rocky bank of the Arno. Whether our artift had feen 

 the fmall fragment of Michael Angelo's original, which is 

 faid to be ilill in exillence at Mantua, or of what part or 

 parts that fragment may confift, the prefent writer is not 

 able to fay ; but Schiavonetti was in poiTeffion of various 

 old prints of its principal groups, of which we have already 

 fpoken in our accounts of Marc Antonio and his difciples, 

 and which were executed for the moll part during the life- 

 time of Michael Angelo, and from comparing them, and' 

 reflecting on the whole, has ventured on the above emenda- 

 tions of the extant copies. 



As this cartoon of Pifa is efteemed to have been one of 

 the moll extraordinary works that has been produced fince 

 the revival of art, the reader will not be difpleafed to find 

 here the following eloquent account of it, as delivered from 

 the profelTor's chair of the Royal Academy of London, by 

 M. Fufeh. It does not in all its details exaftly ti^Hy «'ith 

 the print, but its general fentiment of impatient anin!.:.tion 

 and patriotic ardour is precifely the fame. " It rcprefents 

 an imaginary moment relative to the war carried on by the 

 Florentines agamft Pifa ; and exhibits a numerous group of 

 warriors, roufed from their bathing in the Arno, by the 

 fudden fignal of a war-htirn, and rufliing to arms. In 

 imagining this tranfient moment from a (late of relaxation 

 to a ftate of Energy, the ideas of motion, to ufe the bold 

 figure of Dante, feem to have (liowered into the artift's 

 mind. From the chief, nearly placed in the centre, who 

 precedes, and wkofe war-voice accompanies the trumpet, 

 every age of iiuman agility, every attitude, every feature of 

 alarm, hafte, hurry, exertion, eageriiefs, burll into fo many 

 rays, like the fparks flying from a red-hot iron. Many 

 have reached, fome boldly ftep, fome have leaped, on the 

 rocky Ihore ; here two arms emerging from the water 

 grapple with the rock ; there two hands cry for help, aid 

 their companions bend over or rufli on to alfift them ; ohe;\ 

 imitated, but inimitable, is the ardent feature of the grim 

 veteran, whofe every finew labours to force over the drip, 

 ping limbs his clothes, whilft gnadiing, he pufhcs his foot 

 through the rending garment. He is contrafted by the 

 (lender elegance of a half averted youth, who feduloufiy 

 eager buckles the armour to his thigh and methodizes haite ; 

 another fwings the high-raifcd hauberk on his flioulder, 

 whilft one who feems a leader, mindlefs of drefs, ready for 

 combat, and with brandifhcd fpear, overturns a tnird, who 

 is crouched to grafp a weapon ; one naked, liin-iclf buckle* 

 • 4B4 on 



