THE “MANNERISTS”
Giulio Romano (1492?–1546) was content to imitate the works of Raphael; and Daniele da Volterra (1509–1566) tried, as we have seen in his David overcoming Goliath (No. 1462), to reproduce the swelling muscles of Michelangelo. Baroccio (1526–1612) in his Circumcision (No. 1149), which is signed and dated 1570, and in his Virgin in Glory, with St. Anthony and St. Lucy (No. 1150), sought to reproduce the ineffable grace of Correggio; while others endeavoured to repeat the enigmatic smile, the “greyhound” eye, and the mysterious chiaroscuro of Leonardo da Vinci.
Although the “Mannerists” were to be met with in most of the centres of painting in the sixteenth century, they made Rome the centre of their operations. Domenico Feti (1589–1624) is represented in the Louvre by four canvases, Nero (No. 1286), Life in the Country (No. 1287), Melancholy (No. 1288), and The Guardian Angel (No. 1289), the subjects being highly significant.
In the Holy Family (No. 1493) by Sassoferrato (1605–1685) are shown the shallowness and empty formalism which produced the fair-haired, blue-eyed, hyper-sentimental Madonnas with which his name is associated. Carlo Dolci is not represented in the Louvre.
One of the more estimable artists in the Late Roman school is Carlo Maratta (1625–1713), who may be judged by the unsigned Portrait of Marie Madeleine Rospigliosi (No. 1379) and His Own Portrait (No. 1380).
Two paintings of Fruit (Nos. 1254, 1255) stand to the credit of M. A. Cerquozzi (1602–1660), and the art of G. B. Castiglione, of Genoa (1616–1670), is seen in his Abraham and Melchizedek (No. 1250) and Animals and Utensils (No. 1252).