The History of Painting in Italy. Luigi Lanzi

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Название The History of Painting in Italy
Автор произведения Luigi Lanzi
Жанр Документальная литература
Серия
Издательство Документальная литература
Год выпуска 0
isbn 4064066390006



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than any of them, although he was not his scholar, and, perhaps, had not been out of Siena before 1535. In that year there happened an insurrection of the people against the government of that city, in which he was a ringleader, and would have suffered an ignominious death, had he not been saved by the Osservantine fathers, who concealed him for some time within a tomb. From thence he secretly withdrew to France, where he assisted Rosso, and is supposed to have died. Siena possesses several of his cabinet pictures and altar-pieces, in the style of Perugino; especially a very beautiful one in the church of S. Christopher. In his frescos, in the church of S. Catherine and of S. Bernardino, where he emulated the ablest artists of Siena, he appears great in composition. The most admired is the copious picture representing the Visit of the Virgin, S. Catherine, to the body of S. Agnes of Montepulciano: the others are executed in a similar taste. He unquestionably appears to have studied Raffaello with the greatest care; and there are heads and whole figures so lively, and with such a grace in the features, that, to some connoisseurs, they seem to possess the ideal beauty of that great artist. Nevertheless, Pacchiarotto is almost unknown beyond the limits of his native place, for he is only incidentally mentioned by Vasari; and his works have passed under the name of Perugino, or of his school.

      Giannantonio Razzi, surnamed Il Sodoma, undoubtedly enjoyed the citizenship of Siena; but it is disputed whether he was born at Vergelle, a Sienese village, or at Vercelli, in Piedmont. Vasari expressly states, that he was invited to Siena by some of the noble family of Spannocchi, and that he was a native of Vercelli; in which opinion he is supported by Tizio, Giovio, Mancini, and all who wrote before Ugurgieri. I am confirmed in it by observing his carnations, his style of chiaroscuro, and other peculiarities of the old school of Milan, and of Giovenone, who flourished at Vercelli in the early years of Razzi; and of this style there appears to me traces in the works of Gio. Antonio; especially in those he executed shortly after he had left his master. I have not observed the historical pictures of S. Benedict, which he painted at Monte Oliveto about 1502, and are so ably described by Sig. Giulio Perini, secretary to the academy of Florence. I have seen those he executed at Rome in the pontificate of Julius II. He painted several in the Vatican, that were defaced, because they did not satisfy the Pope. Raffaello substituted other pictures, but spared the grotesques. Razzi afterwards executed some pictures from the life of Alexander the Great, in the Chigi, now the Farnese palace. The nuptials of Roxana, and the suppliant family of Darius, are the best of them. They do not exhibit the facility, grace, and dignified heads, that characterize the style of Vinci; but they shew much of his chiaroscuro, which was then greatly followed by the Lombards: perspective, their hereditary attribute, is there conspicuous; they abound in gay images, in little Cupids with their arrows, and a pomp that is captivating.