this branch of the art, indeed, he was not so greatly skilled; and the Cav. Titi, after commending his Assumption, which is exhibited in the entablature of the cathedral at Leghorn, adds, that not having been conducted according to the rules of foreshortening, some exceptions may be made to it.
[215] There is a Visitation by this artist, and inscribed with his name, in the church of S. Anthony of Pisa, which he executed in a weak style in 1606.
[216] In the great saloon he has poetically represented the protection afforded to literature by Lorenzo de' Medici. With some licences peculiar to that age, and usual with him, the composition and the figures are very beautiful; and there is an imitation of basso-relievo in his painting, that would deceive the most skilful, and tempt them to believe it absolutely raised from the wall. This work, left imperfect by him, was completed by Pagani, by Montelatici, and by Furini, with some semicircular pieces.
[217] This is expressed by the Italians by "il possesso del sotto in su." Tr.
[218] See tom. ii. of Signor Giachi, p. 202.
[219] The Ragged Cloak recovered.
[220] It was published with notes by Dr. Paolo Minucci, and was reprinted with other illustrations of Sig. Antonio Biscioni.
[221] Passeri, a great admirer of his tints, pronounces him a master of invention; and, treating of his engravings, says, "such vigour of conception, such novelty, and such variety, were never the gift of any other artist. He is a poet in all his historic pieces, his composition is full of fancy; this, however, is not equally commended by all, who look for the simple action without other accessaries."
[222] The Bully.
[223] Botti is pronounced a famous fresco painter by Magalotti, in Lett. Pitt. tom. v. p. 229. There are various mechanical works of Lorenzo. He painted the whole ceiling of the church of the Domenicans at Fiesole, which was considered by Conca among the respectable productions of his age.
[224] The Trumpet.
[225] The Swarthy.
[226] Lett. Pitt. tom. i. p. 308.
[227] The Ab. Conca, tom. ii. p. 53, writes of this artist, that with this and similar works he acquired so much reputation in Madrid, that the name of a principal street in which he lived was borrowed from his; from the time of Philip II. it has been called Jacome Trezzo.
[228] Tom. viii. p. 156.
FLORENTINE SCHOOL.
EPOCH V.
Pietro da Cortona and his followers.
After the middle of the seventeenth century, the Florentine school, and also that of Rome, underwent a remarkable revolution, occasioned by the vast number of the followers of Pietro da Cortona. Sects in painting have the same fate as sects in philosophy: one succeeds another; and the new principles are propagated more or less rapidly, according to the degree of opposition they have to encounter where they happen to be diffused. The manner of Cortona met with considerable opposition in Rome, as we shall find in the proper place. He was invited to Florence by Ferdinand II. about the year 1640, to ornament some of the apartments of the Pitti palace; and this work, in which he spent several years, has appeared to connoisseurs the most beautiful he ever performed. He was directed in this work by Michelangiolo Bonarruoti the younger, a literary man of great judgment; and Cortona appears also to display learning in the execution. In one apartment he painted the four ages of the world, which the poets of all nations have described in imitation of Hesiod; five other chambers were dedicated to five fabulous deities, from whom they were named the chamber of Minerva, of Apollo, of Mars, of Jupiter, and of Mercury. He united the mythology of each with history. Thus, for instance, in the chamber of Apollo, he represents this patron of the fine arts on the ceiling in the act of receiving the young Hercules, who is introduced by Minerva, that he may be instructed; and on the walls he painted Alexander reading the works of Homer, Augustus listening to Virgil, and other similar stories, which are fully described by Passeri in his Life of Cortona. The great work was finished by Ciro Ferri; for after Cortona had begun the chamber of Mercury, on some disgust, which is variously related, he secretly withdrew from court, returned to Rome, and always declined when repeatedly invited to revisit Florence. There, however, he had laid the foundations of a new school. Baldinucci remarks on the style of Pietro, that it was no sooner seen at Florence, than praised by the best judges.[229] The predilection of Cosmo III. contributed to bring it into credit; this prince pensioned Ciro Ferri in Rome, that he might instruct the Tuscans who came there to study. At that time there was no artist of that country who did not, more or less, imitate this style. We shall now describe it, and trace it to its origin.
Pietro Berrettini, a native of Cortona, the scholar of Comodi in Tuscany, and of Ciarpi at Rome, is mentioned also among the writers on the art.[230] He acquired his knowledge of design by copying antique basso-relievos, and the chiaroscuros of Polidoro, a man who appears inspired by the soul of an ancient. Pietro chose Trajan's column as his favourite study; and from it he may have drawn his heavy proportions, and the appearance of strength and robustness, that characterize even his female forms and his children: in their eyes, noses, and lips, he surpasses the medium standard; and their hands and feet are certainly not remarkable for their light elegance. But in contrast, or the art of opposing group to group, figure to figure, and part to part, in which he was distinguished, he appears to have followed Lanfranco, and partly to have formed it from the Bacchanalian vases, which are particularly mentioned in his life by Passeri. His taste may probably have been drawn, in some measure, from the Venetian school; since having gone to study there, and then returned to Rome, he destroyed what he had previously done, and executed his works anew in the Barberini palace, according to the account of Boschini, his great admirer. Generally speaking, he finishes nothing highly but what was intended to be most conspicuous; he avoids strong shadows, is fond of middle tints, prefers the less brilliant grounds, colours without affectation, and is reckoned the inventor and chief artist of a style, which, in the opinion of Mengs, combines facility with taste. He employed it in pictures of all sizes with applause; but in painting of furniture, and still more on ceilings, in cupolas, and recesses, he carried it to a pitch of beauty which will never fail to procure him panegyrists and imitators. The judicious division of his historical compositions, which derives aid from the architecture, that skilful gradation by which he represents the immensity of aerial space beyond the clouds, his knowledge in the art of foreshortening what is seen from below, that play of light seemingly celestial, that symmetrical disposition of his figures, are circumstances which enchant the eye and fascinate the soul.
It is true that this manner does not always satisfy the mind; for
