PAINTING. 91 
(Brachettone). The Last Judgment attracted immense attention, and 
artists studied it with such zeal that they neglected to observe the medium 
which Michael Angelo had himself already deserted, so that this painting 
originated a peculiar but by no means lovely style of art, which was now 
adopted by many. We cannot here enter into a more particular description 
of the picture itself, but must merely remark that with all its grandeur and 
its many beauties, there is in it much that is defective in composition and 
exaggerated in execution. The last considerable works in painting which 
Michael Angelo undertook were two large pictures in the Pauline chapel, 
one representing the Conversion of St. Paul, the other the Crucifixion of 
St. Peter. Of his achievements as a sculptor we have already spoken, p. 52; 
and his architectural performances we have reviewed in another division of 
this work. He died in the year 1564. 
Shortly after the time of Michael Angelo the art declined considerably, 
partly through an excessive and injudicious imitation of the manner of this 
master, and partly through the heedlessness of the artists themselves, who 
preferred doing a great deal to doing it well. The influence which Michael 
Angelo exerted on the practice of art was not confined to Italy alone, but 
spread over the whole of the artistic world of that period; for when art was 
in its most flourishing condition, at the beginning of the 16th century, most 
foreign artists went for a time to Italy to study both the antique and the 
works of the great masters, and thus the new manner which had become so 
popular, of giving an excessive prominence to anatomy, was transplanted to 
Spain, Portugal, France, and even to Germany. 
Immediately after Michael Angelo, the following masters, who were in 
part, at least indirectly, his pupils, rose to distinction, viz. Rosso di Rossi, 
by whom there are several very beautiful paintings, in his fiery but clever 
manner, in the church of Florence, although most of his finest works in 
France (in Fontainebleau) have totally perished. Daniele Ricciarelli, also 
called Daniele da Volterra, where he was born in 1509, studied under Bal- 
dassare Peruzzi, and then worked for Perino del Vaga, until he gave him- 
self wholly to the study of Michael Angelo. His best picture, which is also 
reckoned among the four best pictures in Rome (comp. p. 84), is the 
Descent from the Cross in the church of the Trinita de’ Monti. It is sup- 
posed that this picture was planned and drawn by Michael Angelo, who 
showed great kindness to Daniel of Volterra. Daniel engaged also in 
sculpture, and made a great many plaster casts of Michael Angelo’s 
statues. 
Giorgio Vasari, born at Arezzo in 1512, was a pupil of Andrea del Sarto 
and of Michael Angelo. In addition to his merits as a painter, he has 
acquired fame in the literary world, by his Lives of the Painters, Sculptors, 
and Architects from Cimabue to his own times, which, besides admirable 
notices respecting the history of art, contain so many useful precepts for the 
practice of art in general, that they must form an indispensable study for 
every young artist. His work has been translated into English by Mrs. 
_ Foster, and is published in Bohn’s Standard Library. He executed many 
large and fine paintings in Florence, Rome, and Arezzo, and founded a 
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