TURIN
FLORENCE 208¼ 82¾ [BOLOGNA], pop. 91,000. Hotels: Brun; Italia; Bologna; Aquila Nera; del Pellegrino; Tre Re; Venezia; Commercio. Restaurants: Stelloni; Felsineo. Omnibuses from the hotels meet the trains. Cabs—one horse, the course, 75 c.; by the hour, 1 fr. 50 c. To or from the railway station, without luggage, 1 fr.
Bologna is a walled city, with twelve gates, situate on a fertile plain near the foot of the Apennine range. The Bolognese school of painting is called the Scuola Caraccesca, from its founders, Lodovico Carracci (b. 1555, d. 1619), and his two cousins Annibale (b. 1560, d. 1609) and Agostino, a man of erudition, who furnished the general plan of the pictures. Their most distinguished pupils were Guido Reni (b. 1575, d. 1642), Domenichino (b. 1581, d. 1641), Lanfranco (b. 1581, d. 1647), G. Barbiere, called Il Guercino, from his squinting (b. 1590, d. 1666), Michel-Angiolo da Caravaggio (b. 1569, d. 1609), and Carlo Cignani (b. 1628, d. 1719); Bologna: Picture-Gallery. beautiful specimens of whose works are to be seen in the various churches, but especially in the picture-gallery of the “[Accademia delle Belle Arti],” situated at the north-east end of the town, near the Porta S. Donato (see plan). It occupies eight rooms of the first floor, contains 360 paintings, all bearing the names of the artists, and is open from 9 to 3. Free on Sundays. The gem is St. Cecilia, by Raphael.
The other best works are:—12. Guercino.—St. William; 13, St. Bruno; 15. St. John the Baptist; 18. St. John the Evangelist. 26. Bugiardini.—Marriage of St. Catharine. 34. Agostino Caracci.—Last Communion of St. Jerome, one of his finest paintings; 35. Assumption. 36. Annibale Caracci.—Virgin and Child, with Angels and Saints; 37 Virgin enthroned, with Saints. 39, 40. Lodovico Caracci.—Assumption;
42. Saints (Bargellini portraits) adoring the Virgin and Child; 43. Transfiguration; 44. Calling of St. Matthew; 46. St. John the Baptist; 47 to 53. Pictures by the same artist. 70. M. Desubleo.—Christ appearing as a Pilgrim to St. Augustine. 75. Lavinia Fontana.—St. Francis de Paul. 78. Fr. Francia.—Virgin and Saints (1490), extremely fine; 79. Annunciation; 80. Virgin and Saints; 81. Virgin and Saints. There are several other unnumbered pictures by this master on frames. 84. Giacomo Francia.—Virgin and Saints; 85. Virgin and Saints. 89, 90. Innocenzio da Imola (an imitator of Raffaello).—Virgin and Saints. 122. Nicola da Cremona—Descent from the Cross.. 134. Guido.—Madonna with the Protectors of Bologna; 135. Massacre of the Innocents; 136. Crucifixion; 137. Samson with the Ass’s Jawbone; 138. The Virgin of the Rosary (this is on silk, and was carried in processions); 139. Bishop Corsini; 143. Portrait of a Carthusian. 152. Raphael.—St. Cecilia, with other Saints, listening to the Music of the Angels (the instruments of secular music lie broken on the ground). This celebrated composition, painted in 1515, is well known from copies and engravings. 175. Elisabetta Sirani.—St. Anthony of Padua; 176. Madonna. 181. L. Spada.—Melchisedec blessing Abraham. 183. Tiarini.—St. Catharine of Alexandria. 197. Perugino.—Virgin and Saints. 204. Timoteo delle Vite.—Magdalene. 206. Domenichino.—Martyrdom of St. Agnes; 207. Madonna of the Rosary; 208. Martyrdom of St. Peter of Verona (the same subject as that treated by Titian in a picture lately burnt at Venice). 212. Unknown.—Sleeping Child. 291. Desubleo.—St. John the Baptist. 292. Innocenzio da Imola.—Virgin and Saints. 294. Bugiardini.—Madonna. 360. Aluno (Nicolo da Foligno).—Virgin and Saints (given to the Gallery by Pius IX.)
In the same building is a collection of old arms and armour (Oploteca), and on the ground-floor a few good modern pictures. A collection of original drawings is preserved in the library.
[ Bologna: University. S. Giacomo.]
Nearly opposite the Accademia is the University, with about 430 students, directed by 59 professors, of whom, among the most famous, have been Galvani, the first that observed the phenomena of Galvanism, Laura Bassi, a lady professor (d. 1778), and Giuseppe Mezzofanti (d. 1849), who spoke fluently upwards of forty-two languages. From the tower is a good view of the town. Attached to the University is a Museum of Antiquities and a Library. The Geological Museum is in a separate building. From the University, walking towards the leaning towers, we pass, in the Strada Donato or Luigi Zamboni (see plan), the oratory of St. Cecilia, the church of [S. Giacomo], and (14) the Palazzo Maloezzi-Medici; and shortly after, stand below two of the peculiar kind of watch-towers used in Italy during the middle ages.
S. Giacomo Maggiore was built in 1267, but subsequently restored. In the 6th chapel right is a fine work by Bart. Passarotti, the Virgin
on a Throne, with Saints; in the 7th, Prospero Montana’s St. Alexis; in the 8th, Innocenzo da Imola’s Marriage of St. Catharine; in the 11th, three pictures by Lor Sabbatini; in the 12th, two frescoes by Pellegrino Tibaldi, the Baptism in the same chapel is by P. Fontana. At the end of the church, to the left of the altar, is the Bentivoglio chapel, with Francesco Francia’s best work, a “Madonna,” the lunette above by Giacomo Francia. The 5th, 7th, and 10th chapels, on the left side of the church, contain good pictures, and in the 9th is Samacchini’s Presentation in the Temple, which was engraved by Agostino Caracci.
Bologna: The Two Towers.