a.s.sisted by such models, the talents of Dosso Dossi, and of his brother, Gio. Batista, born at Dosso, a place near Ferrara, may have been considerably improved. They were, first, pupils to Costa, and afterwards, says Baruffaldi, resided six years at Rome, and five in Venice, devoting themselves to the study of the best masters, and drawing portraits from life. By such means they formed their peculiar character, but of different kinds. Dosso succeeded admirably in figures, while Gio. Batista was perhaps below mediocrity. Still he aimed at them; sometimes even in spite of his brother's remonstrances, with whom he lived at continual variance, though unable to separate from him by command of the prince who gave him as his brother's a.s.sistant. He was thus like a slave at the oar, ever drudging against his will; and when obliged to consult respecting their common labours, he wrote what suggested itself, refusing to communicate by word of mouth. Envious and spiteful in his mind, he was equally deformed in person, expressing as it were the picture of his internal malignity. His real talent lay in ornamenting, and still more in landscape, a branch in which, according to Lomazzo, he was inferior neither to Lotto, to Gaudenzio, to Giorgione, nor to t.i.tian. There remain some specimens of his friezes in the palace of the Legation, and in still better preservation some works noticed by Baruffaldi at the villa of Belriguardo.

The two brothers obtained constant employment at Alfonso's court, and subsequently from Ercole II. They, likewise, composed the cartoons for the tapestries at the cathedral of Ferrara, and for those which are in Modena, part at S. Francesco and part at the ducal palace, representing various exploits of the Esti. How far Vasari may be ent.i.tled to credit in his account of Ercole's invitation of Pordenone to compose cartoons for his tapestries, there being no good figurists at Ferrara for "themes of war,"

it is difficult to decide. He adds, that Pordenone died there, shortly after his arrival, in 1540, as was reported, by poison. This a.s.sertion, by no means flattering to the Dossi who then flourished, has not been noticed, I believe, by any Ferrarese writers, who else would, doubtless, have defended their reputation by citing the exploits of arms figured in a variety of tapestries. On other points, indeed, this has been done, particularly in regard to their paintings, which decorated a chamber of the Imperiale, a villa belonging to the dukes of Urbino. It is observed by Vasari, that "the work was conducted in an absurd style, and they departed from the Duke Francesco Maria's court in disgrace, who was compelled to destroy all they had executed, and cause the whole to be repainted from designs by Genga." The answer made to this is, that the destruction of that work was owing to the jealousy of their compet.i.tors, and still more "to the policy of that prince, who did not wish his artists of Urbino surpa.s.sed by those of Ferrara." These are the words of Valesio, from Malvasia, (vol. ii.

p. 150) though I believe that too much deference was paid to Valesio in adopting such an excuse; as it seems inconsistent with the judgment and taste of the prince to suppose him capable of this species of barbarism, and from the motive which is adduced. I rather apprehend that the work must have failed by the fault of Gio. Batista, who, dissatisfied with his allotted grotesques and landscapes, insisted on shining as a figurist.

There is a similar example in a court-yard of Ferrara, where he inserted some figures against Dosso's wishes, and acquitted himself ill. For the rest, a much better defence of their talents was made by Ariosto. For he not merely availed himself of Dosso's talents to draw his own portrait, and the arguments to the cantos of his Furioso, but has immortalized both his and his brother's name, along with the most eminent Italian painters when he wrote, "Leonardo, Andrea Mantegna, e Gian Bellino, Duo Dossi;" names which are followed by those of Michelangiolo, Raffaello, Tiziano, and Sebastiano del Piombo. Such commendation was not a mere tribute to friendship, but to Dosso's merit, always highly extolled likewise by foreigners. His most distinguished works are now perhaps at Dresden, which boasts seven of them, and in particular the altar-piece of the four Doctors of the Church, one of his most celebrated pieces. His St. John in Patmos is at the Lateranensi in Ferrara; the head, free from any retouching, is a masterpiece of expression, and acknowledged by Cochin himself to be highly Raffaellesque. But his most admired production was at the Domenicani of Faenza, where there is now a copy, the original having been removed on account of its decay. It exhibits Christ disputing among the doctors; the att.i.tudes so naturally expressive of surprise, and the features and draperies so well varied, as to appear admirable even in the copy. There is a little picture on the same subject in the Campidoglio, formerly belonging to Card. Pio of Ferrara, full of life, polish, and coloured with most tasteful and mellow tints. By the same hand I have seen several "Conversazioni" in the Casa Sampieri at Bologna, and a few Holy Families in other collections, one in possession of Sig. Cav. Acqua at Osimo. In pictoric works I sometimes find him compared with Raffaello, sometimes with t.i.tian or Coreggio; and certainly he has the gracefulness, the tints, and chiaroscuro of a great master. He retains, however, more of the old style than these artists, and boasts a design and drapery which attract the spectator by their novelty. And in some of his more laboured pieces he adds to this novelty by a variety and warmth of colours which nevertheless does not seem to diminish their union and harmony.

Dosso survived Gio. Batista some years, during which he continued to paint, and to form pupils, until infirmity and old age compelled him to desist.

The productions of this school are recognised in Ferrara by their resemblance of style; and from their great number it is conjectured that the Dossi directed the works, while their a.s.sistants and disciples executed them. Few of these however are known, and among them one Evangelista Dossi, who has nothing to recommend him but his name, and whose works Scannelli did not care to point out to posterity. Jacopo Pannicciati, by birth a n.o.ble, is mentioned by historians as a first rate imitator of the Dossi, though he painted little, and died young, about the year 1540. Niccolo Rosselli, much employed at Ferrara, has been supposed to belong to this school, from his resemblance in some pictures to Dosso, particularly in that of Christ with two angels, on an altar of the Battuti Bianchi. But in his twelve altar-pieces at the Certosa, he imitated also Benvenuto and Bagnacavallo, with several other artists. His school, then, must remain uncertain; the more so as his composition, so very laboured, soft, and minute, with reddish tints like those of crayons, leaves it even doubtful whether he studied at Ferrara at all. The same taste was displayed by Leonardo Brescia, more a merchant than a painter; from which some have supposed him Roselli's pupil.

Better known than these is the name of Caligarino, in other words the little shoe-maker, a t.i.tle derived from his first profession. His real name was Gabriel Cappellini; and one of the Dossi having said, in praise of a pair of shoes made by him, that they seemed to be painted, he took the hint and relinquished his awl to embrace his new profession. The old Guide of Ferrara extols his bold design and the strength of his colours. The best that now remains is his picture of the Virgin between two Saints John, at S. Giovannino; the ground of which has been retouched, or rather spoiled.

An altar-piece, in good preservation, is also ascribed to him in S.

Alessandro, at Bergamo, representing our Lord's Supper. The manner partakes in some degree of that of the fourteenth century, though very exact and boasting good tints. In time, however, he approached nearer to the moderns, as we gather from another Holy Supper, a small picture in possession of Count Carrara. This new style has led to the supposition that he was pupil to Paul Veronese, which it is difficult to believe respecting an artist who was already employed in his art as early as 1520.

Gio. Francesco Surchi, called Dielai, was pupil and a.s.sistant to the Dossi, when employed in painting at Belriguardo, at Belvedere, at the Giovecca, and at Cepario, in which palaces they gave the most distinguished proofs of their merit. Thus instructed by both brothers, he became perhaps the most eminent figurist among his fellow-pupils, and beyond question the best ornamental painter. He left few specimens in the second branch, but many in the first. In rapidity, vivacity, and grace in his figures, he approaches Dosso, and in a similar manner in his easy and natural mode of draping. In the warmth of his colouring, and in his strong lights, he even aimed at surpa.s.sing him; but, like most young artists who carry to excess the maxims of their schools, he became crude and inharmonious, at least in some of his works. Two of his Nativities at Ferrara are highly extolled, one at the Benedettini, the other at S. Giovannino, to which last is added the portrait of Ippolito Riminaldi, a distinguished civilian of his age.

Writers are divided in opinion respecting the comparative excellence of these two altar-pieces, but they agree in awarding great merit to both.

We proceed to treat of Benvenuto, another great luminary of this school; and we must first premise that there are some mistakes as to his name, which has often betrayed our dilettanti into errors. Besides Benvenuto Tisio, surnamed from his country Garofolo, there flourished at the same period Gio. Batista Benvenuti, by some said to have been also a native of Garofolo, and from his father's occupation denominated Ortolano, the gardener. Now, by many, he has been confounded with Tisio, both from resemblance of name and taste, so far as to have had even his portrait mistaken for the former, and as such inserted in Vasari's edition that appeared at Bologna. There Ortolano had pursued his studies about 1512, from the works of Raffaello, which were few, and from those of Bagnacavallo, whose style he afterwards emulated in some pictures. Leaving that place sooner than he had intended, owing to an act of homicide, he never attained to a complete imitation of Raffaello. But he excelled in his taste for design and perspective, united to more robust colouring, observes Baruffaldi, than what we see in Raffaello himself, and it is habitual in this school during nearly the whole of the sixteenth century. Several of his altar-pieces have been transferred into the Roman galleries, where in the present day they are attributed, I believe, to Tisio, whose first manner, being more careful than soft and tasteful, may easily be mistaken for that of Ortolano. There are others at Ferrara, both in public and private, and one in the usual old style of composition at S. Niccolo, with the date affixed of 1520. In the parochial church of Bondeno there is another, which is extolled by Scannelli (p. 319), in which are represented the Saints Sebastian and Rocco, and Demetrius, who, in military dress, is seen leaning on the hilt of his sword, absorbed in thought; the whole att.i.tude so picturesque and real as at once to attract the eye of the beholder.

We cannot be surprised that his name should have been eclipsed by Tisio, an artist deservedly extolled as the most eminent among Ferrarese painters. Of him we have treated rather at length in the Roman School, both as occupying a high station in the list of Raffaello's pupils, and as the one most frequently met with in the Roman collections. We have a little before mentioned Benvenuto's first education under Panetti, from whose school he went to Cremona, under Niccolo Soriani, his maternal uncle, and next under Boccaccio Boccacci. On Niccolo's death, in 1499, he fled from Cremona, and first resided during fifteen months in Rome, with Gian Baldini, a Florentine. Thence he travelled through various Italian cities, remained two years with Costa in Mantua, and then returning for a short s.p.a.ce to Ferrara, finally proceeded back to Rome. These circ.u.mstances I here give, on account of a number of Benvenuto's works being met with in Ferrara and elsewhere, which partake little or nothing of the Roman style, though not excluded as apocryphal, as they are attributed to his earlier age. After remaining a few years with Raffaello, his domestic affairs recalled him to Ferrara; having arranged these, he prepared to return to Rome, where his great master anxiously awaited him, according to Vasari, in order to accomplish him in the art of design. But the solicitations of Panetti, and still more, the commissions of Duke Alfonso, retained him in his native place, engaged with the Dossi in immense undertakings at Belriguardo and other places. It is observed by Baruffaldi, that the degree of Raffaellesque taste to be traced in the two brothers' works, is to be attributed to Tisio. He conducted a great number of other paintings, both in fresco and in oil.

His most happy period dates from 1519, when he painted in S. Francesco the Slaughter of the Innocents; availing himself of earthen models, and copying draperies, landscape, and in short every thing from the life. In the same church is his Resurrection of Lazarus, and his celebrated Taking of Christ, commenced in 1520, and finished in 1524. No better works appeared from his hand, nor better composed, more animated, conducted with more care and softness of colouring. There only remains some trace of the fourteenth century, in point of design; and some little affectation of grace, if the opinion of Vasari be correct. The district formerly abounded with similar specimens of his in fresco; and they are also met with in private, as that frieze in a chamber of the Seminary, which in point of grace and Raffaellesque taste is well deserving of being engraved. Many of his works, also, in oil remain, exhibited here and there throughout the churches and collections of Ferrara; at once so many and so beautiful as alone to suffice for the decoration of a city. His St. Peter Martyr was more particularly admired by Vasari; a picture ornamenting the Dominicans, remarkable for its force, which some professors have supposed to have been painted in compet.i.tion with St. Peter Martyr, by t.i.tian; and in case of its loss to have been able to supply its place. His Helen, too, a picture of a more elegant character, at the same place, is greatly admired; this gracefulness forming one of Benvenuto's most peculiar gifts. And, indeed, not a few of his Madonnas, his Virgins, and his boys, which he painted in his softer manner, have occasionally been mistaken for Raffaello's. His picture of the Princes Corsini deceived good judges, as we are informed by Bottari; and the same might have happened with the portrait of the Duke of Modena, and others scattered through the Roman galleries, where are many of his pieces on a large scale, particularly in the Chigi palace. All these must be kept in view, in forming an estimate of Garofolo. His little pictures, consisting of scriptural histories, are very abundant in different cabinets, (Prince Borghesi himself being in possession of about forty) and although they bear his mark, a gilly-flower or violet, they were, I suspect, merely the production of his leisure hours. Those without such impress are frequently works of Panelli, who was employed along with him; often copies or repet.i.tions by his pupils, who must have been numerous during so long a period. Baruffaldi gives him Gio. Francesco Dianti, of whom he mentions an altar-piece at the Madonnina, in the style of Garofolo, and his tomb, also at the same place, with the date of his decease in 1576.

Batista Griffi and Bernardin Flori, known only by some ancient legal instrument belonging to the period of 1520, do not seem to have surpa.s.sed mediocrity; which is also remarked by Vasari of all the others who sprung from the same school. We may except a third, mentioned in the same legal act, and this was Carpi, of whom I shall now proceed to treat.

It is uncertain whether the proper t.i.tle of Girolamo be da Carpi, as stated by Vasari, or de' Carpi, as is supposed by Superbi; questions wholly frivolous, inasmuch as his friend Vasari did not call him a native of Carpi, but of Ferrara; and Giraldi, in the edition of his _Orbecche_ and of his _Egle_, premised that the painter of the scene was Mes. Girolamo Carpi, from Ferrara. And in this city he was instructed by Garofolo, whose young attendant, in the parchment before cited, he is said to have been in 1520.

He afterwards went to Bologna, where he was a good deal employed in portrait painting; until happening to meet with a small picture by Coreggio, he became attached to that style, copying every piece he could meet with, both at Modena and Parma, by the same hand. From Vasari's account we are to conclude that he was never acquainted with Coreggio, Raffaello, and Parmigianino, whatever other writers may have said. It is true he imitated them; and from the latter, more particularly, he derived those very gracefully clasped and fringed garments; and those airs of heads, which, however, appear rather more solid and less attractive. On removing to Bologna, in addition to what he conducted in company with Pupini, he singly executed a Madonna with S. Rocco and other saints, for S.

Salvatore; and an Epiphany, with smaller figures, full of grace, and partaking of the best Roman and Lombard manner, for the church of S.

Martino. Returning at length to Ferrara, he conducted, along with his master, several pictures in fresco, particularly in the ducal Palazzina, and in the church of the Olivetani, where Baruffaldi clearly recognised his style, invariably more loaded with shadow than that of Benvenuto. In 1534 he himself represented, in a loggia of the ducal palace of Copario, the sixteen princes of Este; twelve of whom with the t.i.tle of marquis, the rest as dukes, had swayed the sceptre of Ferrara. The last was Ercole II., who committed that work to Girolamo, honourable to him for the animation and propriety of the portraits, for the decoration of the termini, of the landscape, and of the perspective, with which he adorned that loggia.

t.i.tian himself had raised Carpi in that prince's consideration; not at the time when he came to Ferrara to continue the work of Bellini, since Girolamo was then only a child, but when he returned at another period; and this I mention in order to correct one of Vasari's mistaken dates.

His altar-pieces in oil are extremely rare; the Pentecost at S. Francesco di Rovigo, and the S. Antonio at S. Maria in Vado di Ferrara, are the most copious, and perhaps the most celebrated which he produced. He was employed also for collections, mostly on tender and graceful subjects; but there too he is rarely to be met with. His diligence, the commissions of his sovereigns, the study of architecture, a profession in which he served Pope Julius III. and Duke Ercole II., his brief career, all prevented him from leaving many productions for the ornament of cabinets. In his style of figures he had no successors: in the art of decorating with feigned ba.s.si-relievi, colonnades, cornices, niches, and similar architectural labours, he was rivalled by Bartolommeo Faccini, who in that manner embellished the grand court-yard of the palace. He afterwards painted there, as Carpi had done elsewhere, the Princes of Este, or more correctly, placed in the niches a bronze statue of each of them; in constructing which work he fell from the scaffolding, and died in 1577. He was a.s.sisted in the same labour by his brother Girolamo, by Ippolito Casoli, and Girolamo Gra.s.saleoni, all of whom continued to serve their native place in quality of ornamental painters.

Whilst Benvenuto and Girolamo were thus bent on displaying all the attractions of the art, there was rising into notice, from the school of Michelangiolo at Rome, one who aspired only to the bold and terrible; a character not much known to the artists of Ferrara up to that period. His name was Bastiano Filippi, familiarly called Bastianino, and surnamed _Gratella_,[59] from his custom of covering large pictures with crossed lines, in order to reduce them with exactness to a small scale; which he acquired from Michelangiolo, and was the first to introduce into Ferrara.

He was son to Camillo, an artist of uncertain school, but who, in the opinion of Bononi, "painted with neatness and clearness, as in his Annunziata at S. Maria in Vado;" in the ground of which is a half-figure of St. Paul, which leads to the conjecture, that Camillo aspired to the style of Michelangiolo. It would seem, therefore, that Bastiano imbibed from his father his ardent attachment to that style, on account of which he secretly withdrew from his father's house, and went to Rome, where he became one of the most indefatigable copyists and a favourite disciple of Bonarruoti. How greatly he improved may be seen in his picture of the Last Judgment at Ferrara, completed in three years, in the choir of the Metropolitana; a work so nearly approaching Michelangiolo that the whole Florentine School can boast nothing of the kind. It displays grand design, great variety of figures, fine grouping, and very pleasing repose. It seems incredible that, in a theme already treated by Michelangiolo, Filippi should have succeeded in producing such novel and grand effect. Like all true imitators, he evidently aimed at copying the genius and spirit, not the figures of his model. He abused the occasion here afforded him, like Dante and Michelangiolo, to gratify his friends by placing them among the elect, and to revenge himself on those who had offended him, by giving their portraits in the group of the d.a.m.ned. On this unhappy list, too, he placed a young lady who had broken her vows to him; elevating among the blessed, in her stead, a more faithful young woman whom he married, and representing the latter in the act of gazing on her rival with looks of scorn. Baruffaldi and other Ferrarese prefer this painting before that of the Sistine chapel, in point of grace and colouring; concerning which, the piece having been retouched, we can form no certain opinion. There is, moreover, the testimony of Barotti, the describer of the Ferrarese paintings, who, at page 40, complains, that "while formerly those figures appeared like living flesh, they now seem of wood." But other proofs of Filippi's colouring are not wanting at Ferrara; where, in many of his untouched pictures, he appears to much advantage; except that in his fleshes he was greatly addicted to a sun-burnt colour; and often, for the union of his colours, he overshadowed in a peculiar taste the whole of his painting.

Footnote 59: Gratella, literally a gridiron, or lattice-work.

Besides this, his masterpiece, Filippi produced a great number of other pictures at Ferrara, in whose Guide he is more frequently mentioned than any artist, except Sca.r.s.ellino. Where he represented naked figures, as in his grand S. Cristofano at the Certosa, he adhered to Michelangiolo; in his draped figures he followed other models; which is perceptible in that Circ.u.mcision in an altar of the cathedral, which might rather be attributed to his father than to him. Being impatient, both in regard to invention and to painting, he often repeated the same things; as he did in one of his Annunciations, reproduced at least seven times, almost invariably with the same ideas. What is worse, if we except the foregoing Judgment, his large altar-piece of St. Catharine, in that church, with a few other public works, he conducted no pieces without losing himself either in one part or other; satisfied with stamping upon each some commanding trait, as if to exhibit himself as a fine but careless painter to the eyes of posterity.

There are few of his specimens in collections, but these are more exactly finished. Of these, without counting those of Ferrara, I have seen a Baptism of Christ in Casa Acqua at Osimo, and several copies from Michelangiolo at Rome. Early in life he painted grotesques, but subsequently employed in such labours, Cesare, his younger brother, a very excellent ornamental painter, though feeble in great figures and in histories.

Contemporary with, and rival of Filippi, was Sigismondo Sca.r.s.ella, popularly called by the Ferrarese Mondino, a name he has ever since retained. Instructed during three years in the school of Paul Veronese, and afterwards remaining for thirteen at Venice, engaged in studying its best models along with the rules of architecture, he at length returned to Ferrara, well practised in the Paolesque style, but at considerable distance as a disciple. If we except his Visitation at S. Croce, fine figures and full of action, we meet with nothing more by him in the last published Guide of Ferrara. The city possesses other of his works, some in private, some retouched in such a manner that they are no more the same, while several are doubtful, and most commonly attributed to his son. This is the celebrated Ippolito, called, in distinction from his father, Lo Sca.r.s.ellino, by whom singly there are more pictures interspersed throughout those churches, than by many combined artists. After acquiring the first rudiments from Sigismondo, he resided almost six years at Venice, studying the best masters, and in particular Paul Veronese. His fellow-citizens call him the Paul of their school, I suppose on account of his Nativity of the Virgin at Cento, his S. Bruno, in the Ferrarese Certosa, and other paintings more peculiarly Paolesque; but his character is different. He seems the reformer of the paternal taste; his conceptions more beautiful, his tints more attractive; while some believe that he influenced the manner of Sigismondo, and directed him in his career. On comparison with Paul it is clear that his style is derived from that source, but that his own was different, being composed of the Venetian and the Lombard, of native and foreign, the offspring of an intellect well founded in the theory of the art, of a gay and animated fancy, of a hand if not always equal to itself, always prompt, spirited, and rapid. Hence we see a great number of his productions in different cities of Lombardy and Romagna, to say nothing of his native place.

There, his pictures of the a.s.sumption and the Nuptials of Cana, at the Benedettini; the Pieta, and the S. John Beheaded, in that church; with the _Noli me tangere_, at S. Niccolo, are among the most celebrated; also at the Oratorio della Scala, his Pentecost, his Annunciation, and his Epiphany, conducted in compet.i.tion with the Presentation of Annibal Caracci; of all which there are seen, on a small scale, a number of repet.i.tions or copies in private houses. They are to be met with too at Rome, where Sca.r.s.ellino's paintings are not rare. Some are at the Campidoglio, and at the palaces of the Albani, Borghesi, Corsini, and in greater number at the Lancellotti. I have sometimes examined them in company with professors who never ceased to extol them. They recognised various imitations of Paul Veronese in the inventions, and the copiousness; of Parmigianino in the lightness and grace of the figures: of t.i.tian in the fleshes, and particularly in a Baccha.n.a.l in Casa Albani; of Dossi and Carpi in his strength of colour, in those fiery yellows, in those deep rose-colours, in that bright tinge given also to the clouds and to the air.

What sufficiently distinguishes him too, are a few extremely graceful countenances, which he drew from two of his daughters; a light shading which envelopes the whole of his objects without obscuring them, and that slightness of design which borders almost on the dry, in opposition, perhaps, to that of Bastiano Filippi, sometimes reproached with exhibiting coa.r.s.e and heavy features.

Ippolito's school, according to Baruffaldi, produced no other pupil of merit except Camillo Ricci, a young artist who, Sca.r.s.ellino declared, would have surpa.s.sed himself, and whom, had he appeared a little later, he would have selected for his own master. From a pupil, however, he became Sca.r.s.ellino's a.s.sistant, who instructed him so well in his manner, that the most skilful had difficulty to distinguish him from Ippolito. His style is almost as tender and attractive as his master's, the union of his colours is even more equal, and has more repose, and he is princ.i.p.ally distinguished by less freedom of hand, and by his folding, which is less natural and more minute. His fertile invention appears to most advantage in the church of S. Niccol, whose entablature is divided into eighty-four compartments, the whole painted by Camillo with different histories of the holy bishop. His picture of Margherita, also at the cathedral, is extremely beautiful, and might be referred to Sca.r.s.ellino himself. His smaller paintings chiefly adorn the n.o.ble house of Trotti, which abounds with them; and there too is his own portrait, as large as life, representing Genius naked, seated before his pallet with his pencil in hand, surrounded by musical books, and implements of sculpture and architecture, arts to which he was wholly devoted. Among the pupils of Ippolito, Barotti enumerates also Lana, a native of Codigoro, in the Ferrarese, though I leave him to the state of Modena, where he flourished. Cittadella also mentions Ercole Sarti, called the mute of Ficarolo, a place in the Ferrarese. Instructed by signs he produced for his native place, and at the Quadrella sul Mantovano, some pictures nearly resembling the style of Sca.r.s.ellino, except that the outline is more marked, and the countenances less beautiful. He was also a good portrait painter, and was employed by the n.o.bility at Ferrara as well as for the churches. There is mentioned, in the Guide, an altar-piece in the sacristy of S. Silvestro, and the author is extolled as a successful imitator both of Sca.r.s.ellino and of Bononi.

Contemporary with the Filippi and the Sca.r.s.ellini is Giuseppe Mazzuoli, more commonly called Bastaruolo, or, as it means in Ferrara, the vender of corn, an occupation of his father's, not his own. He is at once a learned, graceful, and correct artist, probably a pupil of Surchi, whom he succeeded in painting for the entablature of the Gesu some histories left unfinished by the death of his predecessor. Mazzuoli was not so well skilled in perspective as in other branches. He injured his rising reputation by designing some figures in too large proportion, owing to which, added to his slowness, he became proverbial among his rivals, and considered by many as an artist of mediocrity. Yet his merit was sufficiently marked, particularly after the formation of his second manner, more elevated in design, as well as more studied in its colouring. The foundation of his taste is drawn from the Dossi; in force of chiaroscuro, and in his heads he would seem to have owed his education to Parma; in the natural colour of his fleshes, more particularly at the extremities, he approaches t.i.tian; and from the Venetians too seem to have been derived those varying tints and golden hues, introduced into his draperies. The church of Gesu contains, besides two medallions of histories, admirably composed, an Annunciation and a Crucifixion, both very beautiful altar-pieces. The Ascension at the Cappuccini, conducted for a princess of the Estense family, is a magnificent piece, while an altar-piece of the t.i.tular saint, with half figures of virgins that seem to breathe, at the Zitelle of S.

Barbara, is extremely beautiful. Several other pieces, both in public and private, are met with at Ferrara. Mazzuoli was drowned, while bathing for his health, at that place; an artist every way worthy of a better fate, and of being more generally known beyond the limits of his own country.

Domenico Mona (a name thus read by Baruffaldi from his tomb, though by others called Monio, Moni, and Monna,) attached himself to the art after trying many other professions, ecclesiastical, medical, and legal. He possessed great fervour and richness of imagination, learning, and rapidity of hand. Instructed by Bastaruolo, he soon became a painter, and exhibited his pieces in public. But not yet founded in technical rules, monotonous in his heads, hard in his folding, and unfinished in his figures, he was ill adapted to please a city already accustomed to behold the most finished productions at every step, so as no longer to relish any thing like mediocrity or inferiority of hand. Mona then applied with fresh diligence to the art, and corrected, at least, some of his more glaring faults. From that time he was more readily employed by his fellow citizens, though his works were by no means equally approved. Some, however, were good, such as the two Nativities at S. Maria in Vado, one of which represented the Virgin, the other the Divine Child; both displaying a taste of colouring nearly resembling the Florentine of that period, here and there mingled with a Venetian tone. The best of all, however, is his Deposition from the Cross, placed in the Sagrestia Capitolare of the cathedral. A number of others only approach mediocrity, though still pleasing by their spirit, and a general effect which proclaims superior genius. Even his colouring, when he studied it, is calculated to attract by its warmth and vividness, though not very natural. A few of his works are in such bad taste as to have induced his pupil, Jacopo Bambini, out of compa.s.sion, to retouch them; and Baruffaldi also notices this singular inequality. For, after greatly extolling his Deposition from the Cross, he adds: "It must surprise the spectator to contrast this with his other pieces, nor can he reconcile how he should possess such capacity, and yet show such indifference for his own fame." All, however, is explained when we know that he was naturally subject to insanity, of which he finally became the victim, and having slain a courtier of the Card. Aldobrandino, he ended his days in banishment from his native place. By some, however, the deed was attributed, not to insanity, but to hatred of the new government; and in fact, so far from acting like a madman, he concealed himself, first in the state, and next at the court of Modena. Finally, he sought refuge in that of Parma, where he is declared to have produced pieces, during a short period, in his best taste. Orlandi calls him Domenico Mora, and has extolled his two large pictures of the Conversion and the Martyrdom of St. Paul, which adorn the presbytery of that church at Ferrara. He moreover adds, that he flourished in 1570, for which date I am inclined to subst.i.tute that of 1580, as it is known that he commenced the practice of the art late in life, and died, aged fifty-two years, in 1602.

From his school is supposed to have sprung Gaspero Venturini, who completed his education under Bernardo Castelli, in Genoa. This, however, is mere conjecture, founded on the style of Gaspero, which, in point of colouring, partakes of that ideal taste so pleasing to Castelli, to Vasari, Fontana, Galizia, and others of the same period; nor was Mona himself free from it.

Jacopo Bambini, whom we have before commended, and Giulio Cromer, commonly called Croma, were a.s.suredly from the school of Mona, though they acquired little from it. Subsequently they became more correct designers by studying from the naked model in the academy, which they were the first to open at Ferrara, and from the best antiques which they possessed in their native place--an art in which they attained singular excellence. Nor were they dest.i.tute of invention; and to Cromer was allotted the honour of painting the Presentation and the Death of the Virgin, at the Scala; a fraternity, which, previous to its suppression, was regarded as a celebrated gallery, decorated by superior artists. Bambini had studied also in Parma, whence he brought back with him a careful and solid style; and, if he sometimes displayed the colouring of Mona, he corrected its hardness, and excluded its capriciousness. This artist was a.s.siduously employed at the Gesu, in Ferrara, and in that at Mantua. Croma was a painter of high reputation, and much inclined to the study of architecture, which he introduces in rather an ostentatious manner in nearly all his pictures. In other respects he more resembles Bambini than Mona, invariably studied, ruddy in his complexions, somewhat loaded in all his tints, and the whole composition sufficiently characteristic to be easily distinguished. He may be well appreciated in his large histories of the saint at St. Andrea, near the chief altar, and in several pictures belonging to the minor altars.

Superbi, in his _Apparato_, describes one Gio. Andrea Ghirardoni as an able artist. He left some respectable works, but coloured in a languid, feeble style, with more of the effect of chiaroscuro than of painting. The names of Bagnacavallo, Rossetti, Provenzali da Cento, and others belonging to the Ferrarese state, who properly appertain to this epoch, have been already described under other schools.

SCHOOL OF FERRARA.

EPOCH III.

_The Artists of Ferrara borrow different styles from the Bolognese School.--Decline of the Art, and an Academy inst.i.tuted in its support._

Such, as just described, was the degree of excellence to which the pictoric art arrived under the Esti, whose dominion over Ferrara terminated in the person of Alfonso II., who died in 1597. These princes beheld nearly all the cla.s.sic styles of Italy transferred into their own capital by cla.s.sic imitators, which no other potentates could boast. They had their Raffaello, their Bonarruoti, their Coreggio, their t.i.tian, and their Paul Veronese.

Their memory yet affords an example to the world; because, like true citizens of their country, they fostered its genius, the love of letters, and all the arts of design. The change of government occurred in the pontificate of Clement VIII. for whose solemn entry into the place the artists Sca.r.s.ellino and Mona were employed about the public festivals; being selected as the ablest hands, equal to achieve much in a short s.p.a.ce of time. Various other painters were subsequently employed, in particular Bambini and Croma, who were to copy different select altar-pieces of the city, which the court of Rome was desirous of transferring into the capital; leaving the copies only at Ferrara, to the general regret of the Ferrarese historians. Subsequently the Card. Aldobrandini, nephew to the Pope, was there established as legate; a foreigner indeed, but much attached to the fine arts. Like other foreigners, he was more bent upon purchasing the works of old masters, than upon cultivating a genius for painting among the citizens. The same feeling may, for the most part, be supposed to have influenced his successors; since, about 1650, Cattanio, as we read in his life, ascribed the decline of the art to its want of patrons, and induced Card. Pio, a Ferrarese, to allot pensions to young artists, to enable them to study at Bologna and at Rome. But such temporary aids afforded no lasting support to the school, so that if the others of Italy were greatly deteriorated during this last century, that of Ferrara became almost extinct. It may, therefore, boast greater credit for having retrieved itself under less favourable circ.u.mstances, and for having continued so long to emulate the most distinguished originals.

About the beginning of the seventeenth century, when the new civil government commenced at Ferrara, a new epoch also occurred in its pictoric school, which I call that of the Caracci. I can furnish no account respecting that Pietro da Ferrara, mentioned by Malvasia, along with Schedone, among the pupils of Lodovico Caracci. I have no where met with his name in any other work. Dismissing him, therefore, I may award the chief station in this epoch to two able artists, who acquired the taste, without entering into the academy of the Caracci. These were Bonone of the city of Ferrara, and Guercino belonging to the state; of whom, as residing so long with his school at Bologna, I have there written what need not here be repeated. They were succeeded by other painters in the Legation, nearly the whole of them pupils of Caracci's followers, or again of their disciples; insomuch, that what now remains of the Ferrarese School, is almost a continuation of that of Bologna. It is the crowning glory of the Ferrarese to have boasted superior emulators of the final school of Italy, as they had of all the preceding. But it is now time to proceed to the particulars.

Carlo Bonone, called by the admirable Cochin invariably Bourini, was pupil to Bastaruolo. On being deprived of his master, he continued to exercise his acquired manner; but he subsequently inclined to the strong, to contrast of light and shadow, and to the difficult parts of composition, more than any other contemporary Ferrarese. I suspect that, despairing of competing in grace with Sca.r.s.ellino, he intended to oppose him by a more robust and enlarged manner. Nor had he far to seek for it, while the Caracci flourished in Bologna. He left his native place; and perhaps pa.s.sing through that city, he conceived the first idea of his new style.

Arrived at Rome, he there continued above two years designing the beautiful from nature in the academy, and out of it from the works of art; and then returned to Bologna. Here he remained a year, "until he had mastered the character and colouring of the Caracci, and devoted himself exclusively to the principles and practice thus adopted, entirely renouncing all other manners." Thus states Baruffaldi; and adds, that he resided also at Venice, whence he departed more confounded than instructed, with the fixed intention of never in the least departing from the Caraccesque manner. He went also to Parma, and saw the works of Coreggio, according to some, though without departing from his maxim. What progress he made in the path thus selected, may be easily gathered from the opinions of experienced Bolognese, contained in different histories, who, on examining one of his works, ascribed it, without hesitation, to Lodovico Caracci; and it is also to be inferred from the public voice, which extols him as the Caracci of Ferrara.

This mistake is apt to be made in those compositions with few figures, rather than in his large histories. In the former his dignity of design is calculated to deceive us; as well as the conception and att.i.tudes of his heads of men, the form and fulness, the fall and folding of the drapery, the choice and distribution of the colours, and the general tone which in some works, more correctly conducted, greatly resemble the Bolognese style.

But in his compositions on a grand scale, he does not closely imitate the Caracci, always sparing in their figures, and anxious to make them conspicuous by a certain disposition peculiarly their own; but rather follows the Venetians, and adopts methods to multiply the personages on the scene. The grand Suppers which he painted (of a few of which we have engravings by Bolzoni) might be almost p.r.o.nounced from the genius of Paul Veronese, so greatly do they abound with perspective, stages, and staircases; so thronged is every situation with actors and spectators. His Herod's Feast, at S. Benedetto, is much celebrated, as well as the Marriage of Cana, at the Certosini, at S. Maria in Vado, and other places in Ferrara, but, in particular, his Supper of Ahasuerus, in the refectory of the Canonici Regolari of S. Giovanni, at Ravenna. The canva.s.s is large, as well as the vestibule which fills it, while the mult.i.tudes which there appear, thronged together, is excessive; guests, spectators, domestics, musical choirs and companies in the balconies, and in a recess, through which is seen the garden, appear other tables surrounded by guests, with so beautiful an illusion of aerial perspective, as at once to relieve and to gratify the eye with infinite variety. There is as much diversity also in the att.i.tudes, novelty of drapery, richness of plate, &c., of which it seems impossible to finish the inspection. A few figures too are more studied, such as that of Ahasuerus, of the master of the feast, and of a kneeling page, in the act of presenting the royal crown to the king. To these add several of the singers, which rivet the eye by their respective dignity, vivacity, or grace. In no other work did Bonone succeed equally well in captivating others and in pleasing his own taste.

Yet the church of S. Maria in Vado boasts so great a number of his paintings on the walls, so many in the vault and in the ceiling, conducted too with so perfect a knowledge of foreshortening, that, in order to estimate the vastness of his talents, we ought to see that magnificent temple itself. When Guercino left Cento for Ferrara, he used there to spend hours devoted only to the contemplation of Bonone. I find mention that, for such productions, "he was elevated even to a compet.i.tion with Coreggio and the Caracci," and he a.s.suredly adhered much to that method, designing accurately, modelling his figures in wax, arranging the foldings, and exhibiting them to a nocturnal light to examine their best effect, which he aimed at even more than the Caracci. Still I have too great deference for public opinion, which acknowledges no rivals to these n.o.ble masters, though they had imitators; and I have heard judges express a wish for more constant accuracy of design, choice in his heads, stronger union of colours, and a better method of laying on his grounds, than they find in Bonone. Notwithstanding similar exceptions, however, this artist stands as one of the very first, after the Caracci. Though inferior in age, he could not be called inferior in merit, to Sca.r.s.ellino; and the city, divided into parties, could not agree to award the palm either to the elder or to the younger. They pursued different manners; each was eminent in his own, and when they came into compet.i.tion each exerted his utmost industry not to be outshone, which left the victory still doubtful. There were a few years ago at the Scala, and are yet at other places, a number of these rival productions, and it is wonderful to see how Bonone, accustomed so much to fill his canva.s.s on a large scale, can adapt his genius, equal to any, to study and refinement, even painting his figures of small proportion almost in the style of miniature, in order that Sca.r.s.ellino, in these ornaments of the cabinet, should not excite greater admiration than himself. Different collections, and particularly that of the n.o.ble Bevilacqua, possess fine specimens of him; in public is his Martyrdom of St. Catherine, in that church, a real treasure, much sought for by foreigners, who have frequently offered for it large sums without success.

No disciple of Bonone's school acquired much celebrity, and, least of any, Lionello, nephew to Carlo, and his heir. He was indebted to his uncle for his knowledge of the art, but could never be induced to practise it with diligence. What he has left was either executed with Carlo's a.s.sistance, and from his designs, or is of very middling merit. Others, who had successfully attained the manner of this master, died young, as Gio.

Batista della Torre, born at Rovigo, and Camillo Berlinghieri, both artists of genius and highly estimated in collections. Some early pieces of great promise adorn the church of S. Niccolo, where the former painted the vaulted ceiling, but on some defect in the work being pointed out by the master, he refused to complete it, and setting out in anger for Venice he there took up his residence, and shortly came to an untimely end. By the second was painted the picture of the Manna, at S. Niccolo, besides several others throughout the city, and a few also at Venice, where he obtained the name of the Ferraresino, and where he died before completing his fortieth year.

The highest reputation was obtained by Alfonso Rivarola, likewise called, from some property left to him, Il Chenda. On his master's death he was proposed, as the most familiar with his style, by Guido Reni, to complete an unfinished work of Bonone. At S. Maria in Vado is the Marriage of the Virgin, sketched by Bonone, and which Chenda painted, Lionello having declined to venture upon such a task. This picture has a powerful rival in one of Bonone's, placed opposite to it, though it still displays a hand not unworthy of following that of Bonone. His fellow citizens entertained the same opinion of his other early efforts, such as the Baptism of the Saint, exhibited in a temple of n.o.ble architecture at S. Agostino, in a style of foreshortening that displays a master. His Fables, too, from Guarini and Ta.s.so, conducted in the Villa Trotti, as well as the pictures yet belonging to the same n.o.bles, and to different houses in the city, are held in esteem. But he executed little for churches and collections, aiming more at popular admiration, which he obtained by exercising at once the office of architect and of painter at public festivals, and in particular at tournaments, then so very prevalent in Italy. One of these, which he conducted at Bologna, laid the foundation of his early decease. Either he met with little applause, and took it to heart, or, according to others, had such success as to lead to his being carried off by poison. Thus, in few years, Carlo Bonone's school approached its close, not without leaving, however, numerous works which, owing to their uniform style, are now attributed generally to the school, not in particular to any artist.

I reserved for the series of the Caracci the name of Francesco Naselli, a Ferrarese n.o.ble, though stated by some to have been initiated in the art by Bastaruolo. This, however, is uncertain; it is only known that he designed from the naked model with a.s.siduity in an academy opened in conjunction with his efforts, at Ferrara; and that going thence to Bologna, he took copies of various works by the Caracci and by their disciples. In the churches of his native place, and in private cabinets, numerous proofs of these studies are met with, the most laborious of which are two miracles of St. Benedict, copied in the cloister of S. Michele in Bosco, and now placed at S. Giorgio of the Olivetani in Ferrara. Of these, one is borrowed from Lodovico, the other from Guido; but preferred to both is his Communion of S. Girolamo, which decorates the Certosa, a copy from the original by Agostino. Guercino also was one of his favourites; of his he copied every thing he could meet with, having selected him, after the Caracci, for his first guide. By such practice Francesco succeeded in designing and painting with good success in his own manner, on a large scale, animated, soft, with rapid execution and strong union of colours, inclining in those of his fleshes to a sun-burnt hue. Of his own design is the S. Francesca Romana at the Olivetani, the a.s.sumption at S. Francesco, several Suppers, abounding in figures, belonging to private inst.i.tutions, five of which are in the Cistercian monastery. He likewise painted at the Scala in compet.i.tion with one of the Caracci, with Bonone, and with Sca.r.s.ellino. Nor was he judged unworthy of them; and at the sale of those valuable paintings for the relief of the Hospital, in 1772, considerable prices were offered for his productions. Although n.o.ble, and in easy circ.u.mstances, he never ceased to persevere, and it would appear that he was desirous of promoting the success of one of his domestics in the same art. Crespi declares that he had read a statement, showing Alessandro Naselli to be the son of Francesco, but, according to historians, he was an artist of mediocrity, the omission of whose works will scarcely be any loss to my readers.

It is here necessary to interrupt for a moment our series of the Caracci's disciples, to make mention of two geniuses, who also became painters, like Naselli, but in the Venetian taste. Gio. Paolo Grazzini, one of Bonone's best friends, professed the goldsmith's art, and it was owing only to his bias for painting, imbibed from Bonone and other contemporaries, that he acquired its principles in familiar conversation. Eager to put them to the test, he commenced his altar-piece of S. Eligio, for the Goldsmith's School. It occupied him eight years in its completion, but it was executed in such a masterly style as alone to decide his excellence, approaching quite as nearly as any to the manner of Pordenone. Being then about fifty years of age, it excited the utmost surprise throughout Ferrara, yet he still persevered, and conducted some minor pieces, which decorate private buildings, in the same taste. So rare an example, or rather one so wholly novel, appeared to me well worth historical mention. Somewhat at a later period Giuseppe Caletti, called il Cremonese, came into notice. He acquired the art rather from the models of the Dossi, and of t.i.tian, than from masters, imitating not only their manner of design, but their colouring, which is so difficult. He contrived also to imitate that antique tone which time gives to paintings, and thus adds to their harmony. He painted a good deal for collections, such as half-length figures, baccha.n.a.ls, and small histories. Baruffaldi recognized several in some n.o.ble galleries at Bologna, and has been compelled to argue the point with judges, who maintained that they were t.i.tian's. He farther relates, that an excellent pupil of Pietro da Cortona purchased a great number, at a high price, at Ferrara, being confident of reselling them at Rome for t.i.tian's, or at least for works of his school. In Ferrara, which is filled with his pictures, it is difficult to succeed in these impostures. He is there distinguished by fleshes of a sun-burnt hue, by certain bold lights, strengthened by contrast with somewhat loaded shadows, by the fleeciness of his clouds, and by other careless and ill-conducted accessories. Often too the extravagance of the composition betrays the real author, when, for instance, in a baccha.n.a.l, much resembling t.i.tian, there is inserted a chase, or some modern sport, which is like representing wild boars in the sea, or dolphins in the woods. In a similar manner are his other fine qualities impaired for want of judgment, without which no artist is well calculated for the decoration of churches. In that of S. Benedict, however, his four Holy Doctors, on an altar, are seen to advantage; and upon another his admirable St. Mark, a grand and correct figure, full of expression, and very picturesquely surrounded by abundance of volumes, in whose drawing he is so true and natural, as to have been called the painter of books. Having completed this work, il Cremonese disappeared out of the city, nor were farther tidings heard of him, although some writers conjecture that he died about 1660.

Returning to the disciples of the Bolognese, the first deserving of mention here is Costanzo Cattanio, a pupil of Guido. His portrait, both on canva.s.s and in prints, I have seen, and it has always a threatening kind of expression. That martial, or bravo character, affected by so many artists about the times of Caravaggio, also misled this excellent genius from the right career. At times Costanzo was an exile, now at open defiance, and now wholly occupied in shielding his protectors, who never ventured out unarmed, from dread of their rivals, and to whom he pledged himself that they should not be a.s.sa.s.sinated in his presence. When he applied himself to his art his peculiar disposition appeared stamped on the expression of his figures. The characters whom he was most fond of introducing into his histories were soldiers and bullies, whose fierce aspects seemed but ill adapted to the soft style of his master. These, and many other ideas, he borrowed from the prints of Durer, and Luca of Holland, which he reduced to his own diligent and studied manner, particularly in his heads and his steel armours. Although attached to strong expression, and borrowing something from the other schools of Italy which he saw, he nevertheless at times betrays sure traces of Guido's school. Thus, in his S. Antonio, painted for the parish church of Corlo, and in our Lord's Supper, which he placed in the refectory of S. Silvestro, and in every other instance when he aimed at the Guidesque, he succeeded to admiration.

Another Ferrarese, Antonio Buonfanti, called il Torricella, is said to have sprung from the school of Guido, though Baruffaldi is silent on this point.

Two large scripture histories by him are at S. Francesco; but there are few other paintings or accounts of him at Ferrara; and he seems to have taken up his residence elsewhere. It is certain that the young artists who succeed this period are all ascribed to the school of Cattanio. Such are Francesco Fantozzi, called Parma, Carlo Borsati, Alessandro Naselli, Camillo Setti, artists who scarcely awaken the curiosity of their countrymen. Giuseppe Avanzi is more known by his very numerous works, for the most part confused, and painted almost at a sitting. He is described more like an artisan bent on earning good wages by his day's labour. His picture of St. John beheaded, however, at the Certosa, is extremely Guercinesque; and some others on canva.s.s and on copper, which he retouched and studied a good deal, do him great credit.

But Cattanio's chief praise consists in his education of Gio. Bonatti, and in his recommendation of him to Card. Pio, who greatly a.s.sisted him, by placing him first at Bologna under Guercino, afterwards under Mola at Rome.

He long supported him also at Venice, studying the heads of that school; besides defraying his pictoric tours through Lombardy, and giving him the custody of his paintings at court. In fact, he bestowed upon him such favours that the public, considering him as the dependant of that prince, always termed him _Giovannino del Pio_. At Rome he was esteemed among the best of his age; select, diligent, learned in the different styles of Italian schools; the view of which, during his picturesque tour, he declared was highly advantageous to him. And true it is that the painter, like the writer, is formed by the study of great models; but the one may behold them all collected in the same library, while the other has to seek them in different cities, and in every city to study them at different places. At Rome his only public works are a picture at the church dell'Anima, a history of S. Carlo at the Vallicella, and an altar-piece of S. Bernardo, at the Cisterciensi, highly commended in the Guide of Rome.

The rest of his works, and they are but few, belong to private persons; his health declining at the age of thirty-five, he lingered eleven years afterwards, and died at Rome.

Lanfranco likewise supplied a pupil to this school, called by Pa.s.seri, Antonio Richieri, a Ferrarese. He followed his master to Naples and Rome, where he painted at the Teatini after the designs of Lanfranco:--the sole information I have been enabled to collect respecting his paintings. I am well aware that he devoted himself to engraving, as we learn also from Pa.s.seri, and that at Naples he engraved an altar-piece by his master, which was rejected by the person who gave the commission for it. There is more known of Clemente Maiola, whom the Ferrarese a.s.sert to be their fellow-citizen and pupil to Cortona. He conducted many works at Ferrara; one of S. Nicola supported by an angel, in the church of S. Giuseppe. He is moreover mentioned as a fine pupil of Pietro, in the Notizie of M. Alboddo, for works there extant. t.i.ti gives account of others left in Rome at the Rotonda and in other temples; but he differs respecting his master, declaring that he was instructed by Romanelli.

Meanwhile Cignani's academy rose into notice, owing to its master's reputation, and among those who repaired thither from Ferrara were Maurelio Scannavini and Giacomo Parolini. Maurelio must be included among the few whose object was to emulate their master in that scrupulous exactness, which we noticed in its place. He was naturally slow, nor could he prevail on himself to despatch his work from the studio until he beheld it already complete in all its points. Though impelled by domestic penury to greater haste, he varied not his method; and, free from envy, beheld the rapidity of Avanzi, who abounded with commissions and money, whilst he and his family were dest.i.tute. The n.o.ble house of Bevilacqua a.s.sisted him much; and it redounds to its honour, that on remunerating him for some figures in an apartment where Aldrovandini had conducted the architecture, a very large sum was added to the price agreed upon. He produced few other pieces in fresco; a process that requires artists of more rapid hand. He painted more in oil; among the most esteemed of which is his S. Tommaso di Villanova, at the Agostiniani Scalzi; and at the church of the Mortara his St. Bridget in a swoon, supported by angels. The families of Bevilacqua, Calcagnini, Rondinelli, and Trotti, possess some of his pictures for private ornament; among which are portraits that display Maurelio's singular talent in this branch; and histories of half-length figures in the manner of Cignani. They exhibit gracefulness, union of colouring, and strength of tints, which leave him nothing to envy in the artists by whom he is surrounded, except their fortune.