The History of Painting in Italy. Luigi Lanzi
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Название: The History of Painting in Italy

Автор: Luigi Lanzi

Издательство: Bookwire

Жанр: Документальная литература

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isbn: 4064066390006

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СКАЧАТЬ We may there trace the school of Castagno, the master of Piero, in the harsh features, coloured in a strong and juicy manner. Antonio, the scholar of Piero, became one of the best painters of that age. In the chapel of the Marchesi Pucci, at the church of St. Sebastiano de' Servi, there is a martyrdom of the saint by him, which is one of the best pictures of the fifteenth century I have ever seen. The colouring is not in the best style; but the composition rises above the age in which he lived, and the drawing of the naked figure shews what attention he had bestowed on anatomy. He was the first Italian painter who dissected bodies in order to learn the true situations of the tendons and muscles. Both the Pollaiuoli died at Rome, where their tomb is to be seen in S. Piero in Vincoli, ornamented with a picture, which, according to some, typifies a soul in purgatory, and the efficacy of indulgences to deliver it; but whether it is by them, or of their school, I am unable to determine.

      The two following artists were brought to the Sistine Chapel from the Florentine territory, the painters of which I shall now consider after those of the capital. Luca Signorelli, the kinsman of Vasari of Arezzo, and the disciple of Piero della Francesca, was a spirited and expressive painter, and one of the first Tuscan artists who designed figures with a true knowledge of anatomy, though somewhat dryly. The cathedral of Orvieto evinces this; and those naked figures which even Michelangiolo has not disdained to imitate. Although in most of his works we do not discover a proper choice of form, nor a sufficient harmony of colouring in some of them, especially in the communion of the Apostles, painted for the Jesuits in his native city, there is beauty, grace, and tints approaching to modern excellence. He painted in Urbino, at Volterra, Florence, and many other cities. In the Sistine Chapel he painted the Journey of Moses with Sefora, and the Promulgation of the Old Law, paintings full of incident, and superior in composition to the confused style of that age. Vasari and Taia have assigned him the first place in this great assemblage of artists; to me he seems at least to have equalled the best of them, and to have improved on his usual style. He had two countrymen of noble families for pupils; Tommaso Bernabei, who followed him closely, and has left some works in S. M. del Calcinaio, and Turpino Zaccagna, whose style was different, as appears from a picture painted for the Church of S. Agatha in Cantalena near Cortona, in 1537.

      Don Bartolommeo della Gatta executed none of his own designs in the Sistine Chapel; he lent assistance to Signorelli and to Perugino. He had been educated in the monastery of the Angeli, at Florence, rather as a painter of miniatures than of history. On being appointed Abbot of S. Clement, in Arezzo, he exercised both; and was also skilled in music and in architecture. There is of his works only a S. Jerome, executed in the chapel of the cathedral, as we find from a MS. guide to the city, and which was transferred into the sacristy in 1794. The abbot instructed Domenico Pecori and Matteo Lappoli, two gentlemen of Arezzo, who improved themselves in the art on other models, especially the first, as is evident from a picture in the parish church, in which the Virgin receives under her mantle the people of Arezzo, who are recommended to her protection by their patron saints. In it are heads in the style of Francia, good architecture, judicious composition, and a moderate use of gold.

      I close the catalogue of old Tuscan painters with an illustrious native of Lucca, named the elder Zacchia, who was educated at Florence, though not invariably adhering to the taste of that ancient school, either in design, which was his chief excellence, or in an outline somewhat harsh and cutting, which was his greatest defect. He obtained the name of the elder, to distinguish him from another Zacchia, who, on the other hand, shewed more softness of contour, and more strength of colouring, but in design, and in every other respect, was held in less estimation. I know only of one picture by the latter artist, which is in the chapel of the Magistrates; but several altar-pieces by the former, are to be seen in the churches of Lucca, and among them an Assumption in that of S. Augustine; a picture displaying much study and elegance, and among his last works, as I am led to believe by its bearing the date 1527. One of his Madonnas, surrounded by saints, formerly in the parish church of S. Stefano, is now in the house of Sig. March. Jacopo Sardini, which is enriched by other paintings, by a valuable collection of drawings, and still more by the presence of its learned possessor, to whom I am indebted for many notices interspersed throughout this work.

      Such was the state of the art in Tuscany, about the beginning of the sixteenth century. Much was then attained, because nature began to be imitated, especially in the heads, to which the artists imparted a vivacity, that even at this day is surprising. On viewing the figures and portraits of those times, they actually appear to look at, and to desire to enter into conversation with the beholder. It still remained, however, to give ideal beauty to the figure, fulness to design, and harmony to colouring, a true СКАЧАТЬ