The History of Italian Painting. Luigi Lanzi

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СКАЧАТЬ 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.

His works in Siena, the fruit of his studies in Rome, and of his mature age, are still superior. The Epiphany, in the church of S. Augustino, appeared wholly in the style of Vinci to an eminent foreign connoisseur, who mentioned it to me with rapture. The Flagellation of Christ, in the cloister of S. Francis, is preferred to the figures of Michelangiolo by those who are reckoned judges of the art: their unanimous opinion seems to be that Razzi never produced a finer picture. Some think as highly of his S. Sebastian, now in the ducal gallery, which is supposed to have been copied from an antique Torso. The Swoon of S. Catherine of Siena, which he painted in fresco in a chapel of S. Domenico, is a picture in the manner of Raffaello. Peruzzi greatly admired it, and affirmed that he had never seen a swoon so naturally represented. The air and varied expression in the heads of his picture, however, are not borrowed from any artist, and on this account he seems to have extorted the applause even of Vasari. His models, as was usual with the other artists of this school, were selected from among the Sienese, whose heads possess a great degree of innate gaiety, openness, and spirit. He painted frequently in a hurried manner, without any preparatory study; especially in his old age, when reduced to poverty at Siena, he sought for employment at Pisa, at Volterra, and at Lucca: but in all his pictures I discover traces of an able artist, who, though careless of excellence, never painted badly. Vasari, the great enemy of his fame, who generally styles him Mattaccio,[280] has ascribed to chance, to fortune, or to fancy, whatever he performed well; as if his usual style had been that of a bad painter. Here Vasari betrays a want of memory; for he confessed in the life of Mecherino, that Razzi "possessed the grand principle of design;" in another passage he has praised the brilliant colouring he brought with him out of Lombardy; and before noticing the works of his old age, he has often pronounced the others beautiful, or sometimes most beautiful and wonderful: hence it may be said of him, modo ait, modo negat. Guided by public estimation, Giovio has written of Razzi in a different manner, when speaking of the death of Raffaello, he subjoins: "plures pari pene gloriâ certantes artem exceperunt, et in his Sodomas Vercellensis."[281] He who objects to the testimony of this eminent scholar, will receive that of a celebrated painter: Annibale Caracci, passing through Siena, said, "Razzi appears a very eminent master of the greatest taste, and (speaking of his best works at Siena) few such pictures are to be seen."[282]

During the many years that Giannantonio lived at Siena, he must have educated many pupils. A few of them only are noticed by Mancini in one of his Fragments;[283] and these are Rustico, the father of Cristofano, an excellent painter of grotesques, with which he filled Siena; Scalabrino, a man of genius, and a poet;[284] and Michelangiolo Anselmi, or Michelangiol da Siena, a painter claimed by several places. We shall consider him in the school of Parma, as he left no work in Siena, except a fresco in the church of Fonte Giusta, a production of his youth, and not worthy of so great a name. A scholar of Razzi, then his assistant, and finally his son-in-law, was Bartolommeo Neroni, otherwise called Maestro Riccio, who after the death of the four great pillars of the school of Siena, supported its reputation for many years, and probably educated one of its restorers. He may be recognized at the Osservanti, in a Crucifixion with three saints standing around, and people in the distance. But his masterpiece was a Descent from the Cross, much in the manner of Razzi, at the Derelitte. Some of his other pictures yet remain in the city, in which he sometimes appears to mingle the style of his father-in-law, with a certain resemblance to the manner of Vasari, in the distribution of his tints. He is known to have been very excellent in perspective, and particularly so in painting scenery; a specimen of which was engraved by Andreani. He was also greatly skilled in architecture, and had a pension from the magistrates of Lucca for his assistance in their public works. Some books include among his disciples Anselmi, who was rather his kinsman; and Arcangiolo Salimbeni, who finished some of his works after his death, and on this account only has been supposed his scholar. From him we shall commence a new epoch in this school.

Domenico Beccafumi derived the surname of Mecherino from a citizen of Siena, who, having remarked him when a shepherd boy designing something on a stone, augured favourably of his genius; and obtaining the consent of his father, brought him to the city, and according to Gigli, recommended him to Capanna as a scholar. He there employed himself in copying the designs of eminent artists, and in imitating the pictures of Pietro Perugino, whose manner he at first adopted; nor did he ever wholly get rid of it; and his works in the cathedral of Pisa exhibit a dryness, though they are the productions of his maturer years.[285] Having gone to Rome in the pontificate of Julius II., a new scene was opened to him in the specimens of ancient sculpture, of which he was a most sedulous designer, and in the pictures in which Michelangiolo and Raffaello had assayed their skill. After two years he returned home, and there continuing his close attention to design, he found himself strong enough to contend with Razzi; and, if we may credit Vasari, even to surpass him. He had acquired skill in perspective, and was fertile in invention as a painter. In Siena, Mecherino is ranked after Razzi; and the many places where they vied with each other, facilitates the comparison to those who are disposed to make it. At first he humoured his placid disposition by painting in a sweet style; at that time he made choice of beautiful airs for his heads; and very frequently inserted the portrait of his mistress in his pictures. In this style is his fine picture at the church of the Olivetines of S. Benedict; in which he has represented the titular saint, with S. Jerome, and the Virgin S. Catherine, and where he has added some circumstances of her life in small figures. The last annotator on Vasari prefers this work to many other pictures of Mecherino, and laments, that, captivated by the energy of Bonarruoti, he had deviated from his original manner. And, indeed, when he aspired to more vigour he frequently appears coarse in his proportions, negligent in his extremities, and harsh in his heads. This defect so increased in his old age that his heads of that period appeared without beauty even to Vasari.

      His mode of colouring is not the most true; for it was mannered with a reddish hue, which is, however, fascinating and cheerful to the eye; it is neat, clear, and of such a body that it remains on walls at this day, in the highest preservation. A few of his works remain in Genoa, where he painted the palace of Prince Doria; they are not numerous at Pisa; but they abound in his native place, both in public and in private. His merit was greater in distemper than in oil colouring; and his historical frescos do him greater honour than his other paintings. His skill was great in distributing them to suit the place, and in adapting them to the architecture; he ornamented them with grotesque decorations in such a manner that he required not the aid of gilt stucco, or other gaudy trappings. These inventions have such felicity, that a single glance recals the story to the memory of one acquainted with its circumstances. He treats his subject copiously, with dignity, and with perfect nature: he imparts grandeur to it by his architectural views, and elegance by introducing the usages of antiquity. He peculiarly delighted in the more recondite principles of the art, which were then less generally employed; as peculiar reflections of fires and other lights; difficult foreshortenings, especially as applied to ceilings, which were then very rare in lower Italy. Vasari has minutely described his figure of Justice; the feet of which are in dark shadow, gradually diminishing to the shoulders, which are invested with a most brilliant celestial light: "Nor is it possible," says he, "to imagine, much less to find, a more beautiful figure … amongst all that ever were painted to appear foreshortened when viewed from below." According to this verdict, Mecherino deserves the appellation of the Coreggio of lower Italy, in this very difficult branch of painting; for no modern artist had attempted so much before his time. The above mentioned figure is painted on the vaulted ceiling of the consistory of the government; and the artist has arranged below it various oval and square pictures, each representing some memorable exploit of a republican hero. He pursued the same idea in an apartment in the mansion now in possession of the Bindi family, which P. della Valle reckons his masterpiece. The figures СКАЧАТЬ