FRE 
in its appearance, unpleafing to the common obferve er, on 
too a an a It lacks the full rich fweetnela of 
hue whic h oil paintings poffefs ; and though it 
eee more frefhnels, and retains it ; fr rom the confined. 
aie and the minute graces ot execution, ee never yet 
with eae in oil. 
s lai 
ith ene ges foluble in in 
was salle covere ed with a varnifh, to pee it non 
rubbing, and to give the ee more force and luftre. 
The ee works that have been produced in frefco, 
are the feries of biblical a ena hiftoric pictures 
which adorn the walls and cie ling of the chapel of Sixtus 
V. at Rome, ce A. acai gee a cage a S the 
atican, known by the the Stanze of ael s 
which confift principally cs icon hiftories, Gieeictet 
with fome oa tales relative to the popes; and the 
cupola of the duomo of Parma, or church of St. Giovanni 
in that city, by A. Cm o. It reprefents the afcenfion of 
the Virgin amidft a choir of ange ee ‘and with a number of 
figures ‘of faints below regarding rt. One beautiful and 
aniel Ricciarelli, common!y calle 
Trinita da Monte, 
Ita th 
the fubject of which is taking Chiift down from the crofs, 
is faid to have been deitroyed by the French, in their_en- 
it “rance. ‘They had fucceeded in 
d 
feparatiag it from the wall on a perpendicular fcaffold ; but 
in doin it, they fo. weakened the Heer that in the night the 
roof fell in upon the picture, and broke it to pieces. Such 
at leaft is the report of its fate, whieh in the prefent un- 
fettled ue of the continent, there are no means o de- 
ony has en- 
ie) 
hae 
Bs 
i] 
oy 
co 
$ 
ot 
p 
he 
few] 
ho 
3 
09 
ot 
= 
yy 
ao 
i) 
my 
made of it, either for improve- 
ment, anafeent or ole. 
in frefco is not much practifed now. The want 
of eee de neceflarily produces a waut of fkill. None 
but thofe poffefled of large fortunes can be expected to call 
for it, and without being {pecially employed m it, no artift 
can be expected to pra€ Gife it. ‘The ufe of it wou 
haps not be fo fecure here as in Italy, as the fev 
froft, a ial dampnefs of the air, might prove cqineu to 
its exiften 
afari, Soaeen gives the aes powerful reafon for its 
difufe: he fays, “many of our painters excel in oil and 
water colours, and yet fail in frefeo 3 ; becaufe, of all kinds 
of painting, this requires the greateft itrength of genius to 
execute 3 great re efolution and great knowledge to give 
every ftroke its juit charaét: er, and to employ them with 
expreffion and propriety.’’? If in the period whercin he 
lived, and he i not till 1578; if in that Aa when fo 
oe gee a genius flouri in the art 
be found either feilfal or hardy 
Prey to Gidea works in frefco, we cannot be fur- 
diving in 
FRE 
prized that it is not now pr adtifed oy when the tafte 
of the time, delighting in prettineffes and trifles, does not 
call for fuch repre efentations of oy eg glares nor aad 
grandeur of fy art fou d 
- fari a See Watelet, velei, cai ae Peaecs 
itru 
FRE. SCOBALDI, aa ROLAMO, in RK ig — 
performer on the. and harpfichord, and the beit c 
the feventeenth century, was a nativ errara, nt 
ear _ in his life to Rome with his matter Milleville, a 
eleéted organiil ‘of St. Peter’s church. All the 
sinter wie. of ‘Italy have celebrated his talents ; and his 
w ae which ftill remain, are indifputable vouchers of the 
truth of their encomiums. Quadrio fays, that early in his 
youth, as a linger, he delighted every ae and was praifed 
y every tongue in the principal cities of Italy. But his 
chief excellence confilted in compofing 
organ ae harpfichord, for which he fo re 
that works, both printed an areteat were in the 
hands of all een ad colleétors of mufical compofi- 
. The emp r Ferdinand an fent eed Sal a 
o Rome, on purpofe 
— 
7 
Q 
profited fo well, that he was appointed impcrial oo 
on his saeees ella Ls alle, eke a wa 
ork, entitled * Ric e 
anzoni Frat fatte oe ‘diver "obl hi in eae 
libro p » 1615,” contains the firit i Gai we have 
feen Lear! in fcore, and with bars. They are likewife 
the firft regular fugues that we have found ee on fubject, 
or of two “fabjeas. carried cn at the fame time, from the | 
beginning of a movement to the end. Ricercari oe fan- 
tafie preceded fonatas and concertos, and were the com- 
pofitions exprefsly made for inftru ments s, after the i 
re) — The fugues of Frefcobaldi have great 
merit, if we confider the ftate of inftrumental mufic at the 
time they were produced: the fubjects are mere the 
harmony ure, and the ftyle chafe and clear. Frefco- 
yee and whereve 
poffeffed of hand and hei 
sas aa b r was a great organ player, we 
m o doubt but that re were firlt produced by and for 
that aie, as all the four parts are fo compact and 
clofely conneéted, that they are ftill within the grafp of the 
two hands. Notwithftandin many of thefe fugues are upon 
two, three, and evén four fubjects, and _every pled arti- 
fice of inverfion, se era tag diminution, and m 
trario, is ufed, page aie a cee - avoid confulion, 
But as he is faid +t ne otets and mafies 
for the church, de paplieey of ae > fabjetts of the fugues 
canzoni were probably thofe of his 
«Sonate d’intavolatura di cimbalo ed 
arte € cor 
Palle 
ore by age than the 
have all the implicit of vocal Fagus in the rd 2 yi 
But even in his toceate and variatio old e find 
more tafte and paflages which have fea bee aad. than 
in any ether harpfichord mufic of the fame period. a 
ur 
