The History of Painting in Italy. Luigi Lanzi

by Vasari as his assistants in the decoration of the palace, in the preparations for the marriage of Prince Francesco, in the funeral obsequies of Bonarruoti, or in the collection of pictures on the writing desk, the masters are unknown; and the knowledge would be of little consequence. Such artists are Domenico Benci, and Tommaso del Verrocchio, whom he names in his third volume at page 873, and Federigo di Lamberto, a Fleming, called F. del Padovano, whom he had a little before noticed as a new citizen of Florence, and as a considerable ornament to the academy. Omitted by Vasari, but inscribed on the writing desk, we find the names of Niccolo Betti, who painted the story of Cæsar; of Vittor Casini, who there represented the Forge of Vulcan; of Mirabello Cavalori, who pourtrayed Lavinia Sacrificing, and also the emblems of the art of weaving; of Jacopo Coppi, who there painted the Family of Darius, and the invention of gunpowder. I suspect that they were all scholars of Michele; and Vasari has more than once thus generally noticed them. Perhaps Cavalori is the Salincorno mentioned in another place, and Coppi is believed to be that Jacopo di Meglio, who is more severely treated by Borghini than any other in the church of the Holy Cross; and not without reason; for his Ecce Homo in that place has all the defects of this epoch. Whether Coppi is to be identified with this person or not, he cannot be equally reprehended for his pictures on the writing desk; and in S. Salvator at Bologna, he produced a picture of the Redeemer Crucified by the Jews, that might vie with the best pictures in that city previous to the time of the Caracci, and is yet one of those most full of subject and most carefully studied. He imitated Vasari in colouring, and in propriety of invention, in variety of figures, and in diligence in every part, I have seen no picture of Vasari by which it is surpassed. It bears the date of 1579, together with his name. There is an account of two of his frescos in the Guida di Roma; one of which, very copious in subject, is placed in the tribune of S. Pietro in Vincoli.

      To the same period belongs the name of Piero di Ridolfo, by whom there is a large altar-piece, consisting of the Ascension, and bearing the date 1612; it is supposed that he took his name from the last of the Ghirlandai, in whose service he may have been during his early life. Whoever may be desirous of adding to the list of names, will find a great number in a letter of Borghini to the Prince D. Francesco (Lett. Pittor. tom. i. p. 90), in which he suggests a plan for the preparations of the Prince's nuptials, as well as the artists best qualified to conduct them. The names, however, I here give would be more than amply sufficient, were it not my wish to illustrate Vasari by every means in my power.

After considering the artists of Florence, on turning to the rest of Tuscany, we find in many places other associates of Giorgio, who, perhaps, had as many assistants in painting as bricklayers in architecture. Stefano Veltroni, of Monte Sansavino, his cousin, was a man of slow parts, but very respectable in the art. He assisted Vasari in the vineyard of Pope Julius; or rather he superintended the grotesque works in that place; and followed his cousin to Naples, to Bologna, and to Florence. I know not whether Orazio Porta, likewise a native of Sansavino, and Alessandro Fortori of Arezzo, ever left Tuscany; they appear to have painted chiefly in their native city and its vicinity. Bastiano Flori and Fra Salvatore Foschi, both natives of Arezzo, were employed in the Roman Chancery, along with Bagnacavallo, and the Spaniards Ruviale and Bizzerra. Andrea Aretino, the scholar of Daniello, lived at a later period, or at least until 1615.[207]

About this time Città San Sepolcro was a seminary for painters, who were either wholly or chiefly educated by Raffaellino; and from this place Vasari invited not only the master, but several of the scholars to assist him in his labours. He was greatly assisted by Cristoforo Gherardi, surnamed Doceno, whose life he has written. This artist was his right hand, if we may be allowed the expression, in almost every place where he was much employed. Gherardi followed his designs with a freedom resulting from a genius pliant, copious, and natural, adapted to ornamental works. Such was his talent for managing fresco colours, that Vasari pronounces himself his inferior: but the grotesques of the Vitelli palace, which are wholly his own, shew him not to have been more vigorous in his colouring. The oil picture of the Visitation in the church of S. Domenico, at Città di Castello, is entirely his own; but Vasari does not mention it. The upper part of the picture of S. Maria del Popolo, at Perugia, is likewise his; and is no less elegant and graceful, than the lower part, which is the work of Lattanzio della Marca, is firm and vigorous. Doceno died in his native place in 1552; and Cosmo I. honoured his tomb with a bust of marble, and an epitaph, in which he is said to be Pingendi arte præstantissimus, and Vasari, who had approved of his labours in the old palace, is called hujus artis facile princeps. It is written in the name of all the Tuscan painters,[208] and is alone sufficient to demonstrate the state of this school, and the taste of Cosmo. After this specimen, it is not surprising that the prince neglected to have his portrait painted by Tiziano, whom he would esteem little in comparison to his own Vasari. It is a true observation that virtues are not hereditary, or, as it is expressed by the poet, they rarely spring up again in the branches. Leo X. was the patron of the arts, and he knew how to appreciate them; but Cosmo encouraged, without possessing taste to discriminate.

      The Three Cungi (or Congi, as some will have it) are also claimed by San Sepolcro. Gio. Batista was the servant of Vasari for seven years; Lionardo is described to us as an eminent designer, in the life of Perino, and in that of Zuccaro is said to have been a painter employed in the pontifical palace about 1560, along with his countryman Durante del Nero. For a knowledge of the third brother, Francesco, I am indebted to my learned friend Sig. Annibale Lancisi; and I have since received more particular information from Sig. Giachi, who gives an account of an altar-piece of S. Sebastiano, in the cathedral at Volterra, together with the receipt for its purchase money in 1587, where he is called Francesco di Leonardo Cugni da Borgo. At Rome we cannot judge properly of their style, but it may be discovered in their own country, in the church of S. Rocco, at the convent of the Osservanti, and in other places. Their compositions display great simplicity, their ideas are chiefly drawn from nature, and they attended sufficiently to colouring. Raffaele Scaminossi, a scholar of Raffaellino, painted in a similar but somewhat more lively manner. I learn nothing of Giovanni Paolo del Borgo, except that he was the assistant of Vasari in his very hasty labours in the Chancery, about 1545. He cannot be the Gio. de' Vecchi who painted so much in Rome, as we are informed by Baglione; and who chiefly excelled at Caprarola, when contending with Taddeo Zuccaro, and in the church of S. Lorenzo in Damaso, in the various histories of the Martyr. He appears to have arrived at a later period, as did the three Alberti, who were of a family in San Sepolcro, abounding in painters. They went to study at Rome, and easily formed themselves on the style common to artists in the time of Gregory XIII. There they took up their abode, and there died, after having executed many works, especially in fresco, in that city, and also some memorials of their art in their native country.

The cathedral contains a Nativity by Durante, a subject which he handled better in the Vallicella of Rome, and which is, perhaps, his best performance in that city: in others he is often languid, both in design and colouring, and appears rather a laborious artist than a man of genius. Cherubino, the reputed son of Michele, and the assistant of Daniel di Volterra,[209] was a celebrated engraver on copper, and from this art he derived great assistance in design. Although late in applying to painting, he obtained a name in those times. His proportions were light and spirited; his choirs of angels were agreeable and original; his penciling and whole composition were dexterous and spontaneous. Such is the character of his Trinity in the cathedral of Borgo, in which place there remains the façade of a palace, well conceived, ornamented with arms, genii, and other fanciful devices. He painted the ceiling of the chapel of Minerva in Rome with various ornaments and figures, on a golden ground; in that city, however, he generally assisted his younger brother Giovanni, who introduced a new era in perspective; not only by his works, existing in the houses of private individuals at San Sepolcro, and other cities, but by the fresco perspectives which he executed at Rome. He claims admiration in the sacristy of the church of S. Gio. Laterano, where he imitated the salient and receding angles of architecture; and still more in the grand Clementine salon, the most prodigious and exquisite work in perspective then existing. Baglione highly commends the S. Clement and other figures with which it is ornamented; and remarks that they are admirably foreshortened,