The History of Italian Painting. Luigi Lanzi

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The proofs, therefore, of the niellatori on paper are to be found in all parts of Italy, and they may be particularly known from the position of the letters, which being written on the original models in the ordinary way, appear in the impression like the eastern characters, from right to left; and in like manner the other part of the impression is seen in reverse; as for instance, a saint is seen standing on the left hand, who, from his dignity, ought to have occupied the right, and the actors all write, play music, and do every thing with the left hand. There are other signs which serve to distinguish them; because, having been pressed by hand, or with a roller, they leave no mark or furrows in the outlines; nor are we to look for that delicacy and precision in the lines that appear in impressions from under the press. They are moreover characterized by their colour, which merely consisted of lamp black and of oil, or of some other very slight tint; though both this and the preceding are dubious signs, as we shall shew. It is conjectured that proofs of a similar[98] nature were made by silver carvers, in regard to their graphic labours, and to others in which the niello was not employed. At all events they preserved them in their studies, and in those of their pupils, to whom they afforded a model; and in this way several have been handed down to our own times.

From these early efforts, the art gradually advanced, as it appears to me, until it attained what I call the second state of the impression. When the pleasing effect of these proofs was seen, the idea was struck out, of forming works in the same delicate and finished taste, and for this purpose to make use of the same means as had been until then adopted for impressions in wood. We might thus observe, that in the workshop of the goldsmith was prepared the art of chalcography, and the first labours were executed upon silver, upon tin, or, as Heineken observes, upon some composition less hard than copper. We may remark, that such was the practice of the Italians, before they cut their subjects in copper; but whatever material the first goldsmiths might adopt, it was not difficult for them to substitute for the shadow they produced by the niello, the shadow of the cut itself, and to execute the subject on the reverse, in order to receive the impression right. From that time, they proceeded gradually to refine the art. Both the roller and the press which they had then in use were very imperfect, and, to improve the impression, they first enclosed the plate in a frame of wood, with four small nails to prevent its slipping; upon this they placed the paper, and over it a small moist linen cloth, which was then pressed down with force. Hence, in the first old impressions, we may plainly trace on the reverse the marks of the linen, for which felt was next substituted, which leaves no trace behind it.[99] They next made trial of various tints; and gave the preference to a light azure or blue, with which the chief part of the old prints are coloured.[100] The same method was adopted in forming the fifty cards, which are commonly called the game of Mantegna. I saw them, for the first time, in possession of his excellency the Marchese Manfredini, major-domo to the Duke of Tuscany, whose cabinet is filled with many of the choicest prints. Another copy I found in possession of the Ab. Boni, and a third formerly belonging to the Duke of Cassano, was afterwards transferred to the very valuable collection made by the Senator Prior Seratti. There is also a copy of this game on a large scale, with some alterations (as, for instance, La Fede bears a large instead of a small cross, as in the original), and is of a much later date. A second copy, not so very rare, with a number of variations, is in existence; and in this the first card bears the Venetian lion as ensign, with the two letters C. and E. united. The card of the Doge is inscribed the Doxe; and elsewhere we read in the same way, Artixan, Famejo, and other words in the Venetian idiom, which proves that the author of so large and fine a work must have belonged to the city of Venice or to the state. The design displays much of Mantegna, and of the Paduan school; though the cut is not ascertained to be that of Andrea, or of any other known master of that age. A careful but timid hand is discernible, betraying traces of a copyist of another's designs, rather than of an original invention. Time only may possibly clear up this doubt.

Proceeding from cards to books, we are made acquainted with the first attempts at ornamenting them with cuts in metal. The most celebrated of these consist of the Monte Santo di Dio, and the Commedia of Dante, both printed at Florence, and the two editions of Ptolemy's Geography, at Rome and Bologna; to which we may add the Geography of Berlinghieri, printed at Florence; all the three accompanied with tables. The authors of these engravings are not well known; except so far as we learn from Vasari, that Botticelli was one who acquired the most reputation. He represented the Inferno, and took the impression; and the two histories, executed by Gio. de Lamagna in his Dante, display all the design and composition of Sandro, so as to leave no doubt of their being his.[101] Other prints are likewise found pasted in a few of the copies of the same edition, amounting, more or less, to the number of nineteen; and their manner is more coarse and mean,[102] as we are informed by the Cav. Gaburri, who collected them for his cabinet. They must have been executed by some inferior hand, and with the knowledge of the printer, who had left blank spaces in parts of the work intended to receive the engravings, not yet completed on the publication of the work. Of a similar cast were other anonymous engravers of that period, nor is there any name, except those of Sandro and of Pollaiuolo, truly distinguished in the art among the Florentines. In Upper Italy, besides Mantegna, Bartolommeo Montagna, his pupil, from Vicenza, (to whom some add Montagna his brother,) and Marcello Figolino, their fellow citizen, were both well known. Figolino is asserted to have been the same artist as one Robetta, or rather one who subscribes himself so, or R. B. T. A.; yet he ought not to be separated from the Florentine school, to which Vasari refers him, which the character of his design confirms. The names of Nicoletto da Modena, F. Gio. Maria da Brescia, a Carmelite monk, and of his brother Gio. Antonio, have also survived; as well as Giulio and Domenico Campagnola of Padua. There are not a few anonymous productions which only announce that they were executed in the Venetian or Lombard manner. For such artificers as were in the habit of taking impressions from the roller, either wholly omitted names, or only affixed that of the designer, or merely gave their own initials, which are now either doubtful, or no longer understood. For instance, they would write M. F., which Vasari interprets into Marc-antonio Francia, while others read Marcello Figolino, and a third party, Maso Finiguerra; this last quite erroneously, as, after the most minute researches, made by the very able Cavaliere Gaburri, throughout Florence, there is no engraving of that artist to be found.[103] In the Durazzo collection, after twelve plates, which are supposed to be proofs of the silver engravers, printed in reverse, we find several others of the first impressions taken with the roller, and appearing to the right; but not unlike the proofs in the mechanical part of the impression, and in regard to the uncertainty of their artists. For this, and other information on the subject, I am indebted to the kindness of the Ab. Boni, who having enjoyed the familiar acquaintance of Count Giacomo, is now engaged in preparing a full account of his fine collection.

      The last state of engraving on copper I consider to be that in which the press and the printing ink being now discovered, the art began to approach nearer perfection; and it was then it became first separated from the goldsmith's art, like the full grown offspring, received pupils, and opened its studio apart. It is difficult to fix the precise epoch when it attained this degree of perfection in Italy. The same artificers who had employed the roller, were some of them living, to avail themselves of the press, such as Nicoletto da Modena, Gio. Antonio da Brescia, and Mantegna himself, of whose prints there exist, as it were, two editions; the one with the roller, exhibiting faint tints, the other in good ink, and from the press. Then the engravers first becoming jealous lest others should appropriate their reputation, affixed their own names more frequently to their works; beginning with their initials, and finally attaching the full name. The Germans held out the earliest examples, which our countrymen imitated; with one who surpassed all his predecessors, the celebrated Marc СКАЧАТЬ