P I c 
375 
P I C 
the article of this defcription being chiefly vended there.] 
A high collar, a kind of ruff.—They wore great cut-work 
bands 3nd piccadillies. WilJ'on's Hijl, of K. James I. 1612. 
•—How earned were fome preachers againft carelefs ruffs, 
yea, and againft fet ruff's too ! Both which they at length 
came to wear, rather than pickadilloes, which they thought 
had too much of the courtier; or little plain bands, 
which they liked not becaufe the Jefuits wore fuch. Bp. 
Taylor's Artif. HandJ'om. 
But that no more concerns the caufe, 
Than other perjuries do the laws; 
Which, when they’re prov’d in open court, 
Wear wooden peccadillos for’t. Hudibras. 
Ready to caft at one whofe band fits ill. 
And then leap mad on a neat pickardill. B. Jonfon. 
PIC'CAGE, f. [piccagium , low Lat.] Money paid at 
fairs for breaking ground for booths. Ainfworth. 
PICCHIAN'TI (Giovanni Dominico), an Italian en¬ 
graver, was born at Venice in 1670, and was the fcholar 
ot J. B. Foggini, a fculptor of fome eminence. The pro¬ 
ductions of Picchianti have no great fhare of excellence 
to recommend them, for he worked in a coarfe light ftyle, 
and his drawing is rather mannered than correCI. He 
engraved many of the plates from the pictures in the 
grand Florentine Gallery, in conjunction wfith Lorenzini, 
Ver-Cruys, and Mogalli ; and likewife fome portraits, 
among which are, thofe of an unknown female, from Ra¬ 
phael, in folio, a whole length of Sebaftian del Fiombo, 
from Titian, and cardinal Bentivoglio, from Vandyke; 
thofe of cardinals Louis de Rofli and Julius de Medicis, 
on the fame plate, are from Raphael, and all are of 
large folio fize. The belt hiftorical works of Picchianti 
are, 1. The Virgin fitting on a Chair, or the celebrated 
Madonna della Sedia of Raphael. 2. A half-figure of the 
Virgin, with the Infant Jefus and St. John, from Ca- 
racci, in folio. 3. Paying Tribute to Csefar, commonly 
called II Chrijlo della Monetta, from Titian. 4. Agar re¬ 
turning to the houle of Abraham, from P. de Cortona ; 
all of large folio dimenfions. 
PICCI'NI (Giacomo), an engraver of the Italian 
School, was born at Venice in 1657. Under what mafter 
he ftudied is not known ; but he worked chiefly with the 
graver, in a Iti 1Tlaboured ftyle, without much effeff; and 
the outlines of his figures are exceedingly incorreCI, 
His brother William was likewife a Venetian engraver, 
and engraved the portraits for the Conchilia Alefte, of J. 
B. Fabri. Giacomo, on fome of his plates, ftyles himfelf 
Engraver to the King of France. The moft confiderable 
works he executed were a fet of 30 Portraits of the 
principal Venetian Painters, affixed to an account of their 
lives by Carlo Ridolfi, published at Venice in 1648 ; moft 
of the plates for a book, entitled “ Le Glorie degli Incog¬ 
nita;” a portrait of Alexander Farnefe ; Diogenes, with 
bis Lanthorn, fitting at the Entrance of his Tub, from 
P. Liberi; a Holy Family, from the fame painter; Judith 
with the head of Holofernes at her feet,” from Titian ; 
all of folio dimenfions. 
PICCI'NI (Nicola), a celebrated mufical compofer, 
was born in 1728 at Bari in the kingdom of Naples. His 
father, whodefigned him for the church, would not fufter 
him to be taught mufic, till it was difcovered that he had 
made a confiderable progrefs by praCtifing in fecret. He 
was then placed in the confervatory of St. Onofrio, under 
Leo and Durante, where he ftudied afliduoufty for twelve 
years. He then commenced his career at the Florentine 
theatre in Naples,which is to that of San Carlo what Foote’s 
theatre ufed to be compared with Drury Lane or the 
Opera Houfe. His firft production there was “ Le Donne 
Difpettofe ;” and, the next year, “ Le Gelofie,” and “ II 
Curiofo dei fuo Proprio Danno;” of all which the fuccefs 
increafed in a duplicate ratio. At length, in 1756, he fet 
the lerious opera of “Zenobia” for the great theatre of 
San Carlo, which was crowned with ftill greater fuccefs 
than his comic operas. In 1758, he compofed “ Aleffan- 
4 ? 
dro nell’ Indie,” for Rome ; and, after this, every theatre 
was eager to engage him. In 1760, his celebrated comic 
opera of the Buona Figliuola had a fuccefs that no mufical 
drama could boaft before. It was no fooner heard at 
Rome than copies were multiplied ; and there was no 
mufical theatre in Europe where this burletta was not 
frequently performed, in fome language or other, during 
many years. In 1761, he compofed fix operas, three 
ferious and three comic, for different theatres of Italy ; 
and was at once applauded in Turin, Reggio, Bologna, 
Venice, Rome, and Naples. Sacchini allured us, in 1776, 
that Piccini had compofed at leaft three hundred operas, 
thirteen of which were produced in feven months. 
At length he was invited to Paris, where he arrived at 
a period when Gluck was pofl’effed of the higheft degree 
of reputation in that capital. Piccini was immediately 
patronized by all the friends of Italian mufic in oppolition 
to the German; and a kind of mufical civil war commen¬ 
ced, in which no amateur was fuffered to be neutral. 
“No door (fays Dr. Burney) was opened to a vifitor 
without thisqueftion beingafkedpreviousto hisadmiffion : 
Monjieur, ties vous Piccinijle ou Gluckijte? and it may 
be well fuppofed that many of the warmeft partifans of 
each were very inadequate judges of the merit of either.” 
Piccini fet a number of French operas, which had great 
fuccefs. Of thefe his Dido was accounted his maf- 
terpiece; and it proved that he was equally capable 
of exprefling the ftrongeft emotions, and of charming the 
ear with the fweetnefs of his melody. A finging-fchool 
was eftabliflied at Paris, of which he was the malter; and 
he continued in that capital till he was made uncomfort¬ 
able by the oppofition he met with from the partifans of 
his rival. He returned to Naples at a time when every¬ 
thing from France was fufpe&ed of a jacobinical taint j 
and was obliged to go back to Paris with a deranged 
fortune and declining health. He died at Pafly in 1800, 
at' the age of 72, much beloved for the mildnefs and 
difintereltednefs of his chara&er, and his domeftic virtues. 
Burney's Hijl. of Mufic. 
PICCINI'NI (Aleffandro), of Bologna, lived about the 
year 1570, and was in the lervice of the duke of Ferrara 
in 1594. He is author of a Treatife on the Tablature of 
the Lute, which was in great eftimation. In this work, 
we find the origin of the theorbo and pandore. He pre¬ 
tends to have been the inventor of the arch-lute. 
PICCIO'LO, /! A money of account in the ifland of 
Sicily. Thus, a taro contains 2 carlini, 15 ponti, or 120 
piccioli; a carlino, 10 grani; a ponto, 8 piccioli; and a 
grano, 6 piccioli. 
PICCIO'NI (Matteo-Thommafo), an Italian engraver, 
was born at Ancona in 1637, and became a member of 
the Academy of St. Luke in the year 1655. Piccioni 
holds a diftinguifhed rank among thofe artifts who 
worked in mofaic, and executed in that ftyle the pictures 
of the cupola of the chapel of St. Peter at Rome, in 
conjunction with Fabius Chriftoferi and Horace Manenti. 
He etched fome few plates, among which are the follow¬ 
ing, all of folio fize. St. Luke painting the Virgin, from 
a picture by Raphael ; The Adoration of the Shepherds, 
from Paul Veronefe; A Holy Family, from the fame; 
The Virgin with the infant Chrift, who is reprefented 
fleeping, and St. John at his fide, from Andrea Camaffei; 
and The infant Mofes carried by his Mother in the ark: 
of bulrufties, from the fame painter. 
PICCITO'NO (Parde Angelo da), author of a book 
entitled “ Fior Angelico di Mufica,” publithed at Venice 
in 1547 ; a work which, however difficult to find at pre- 
fent, is, from its dullnefs and pedantry, ftill more difficult 
to read. 
PICCOLOM'INI (Aleffandro), a learned Italian, was 
born at Sienna in 1508. He pafi’ed the early part of his 
life in his native place; and was a member of thecelebrated 
Academy degli Intronati, in which he bore the name of 
Stordito, ov Aftonifhed. He was probably in that city at 
the time of the vifit of the emperor Charles V. in 1536, 
when. 
