Gregorio Guglielmi, a Roman, is not much known in his native place, although his fresco pictures in the hospital of the S. Spirito in Sassia, intitle him to be numbered amongst the most eminent young artists who painted in Rome in the pontificate of Benedict XIV. He left Rome early and went to Turin, where, in the church of S. S. Solutore e Comp. is a small picture of the Tutelar Saints. He was afterwards in Dresden, Vienna, and St. Petersburgh, where he painted in fresco with much applause, for the respective sovereigns of those cities. He was facile in composition, pleasing in his colour, and attached to the Roman style of design, which, like Lapis, he seemed to have carried from some other school into that of Conca. Among his most esteemed works is a ceiling, painted in the university of Vienna, and another in the imperial palace at Schoenbrunn. He did not succeed so well in oils, in which his efforts are mostly feeble; a proof that he belongs more to the school of Conca than that of Trevisani, to which some have assigned him.
Corrado Giaquinto was another scholar of Solimene. He came from Naples to Rome, where he attached himself to Conca to learn colouring, in which he chiefly followed his master's principles, though he was less correct and more of a mannerist, and was accustomed to repeat himself in the countenances of his children, which resemble the natives of his own country. He was not, however, without merit, as he possessed facility as well as vigour, and was known in the ecclesiastical state for various works executed in Rome, Macerata, and other places. He went afterwards to Piedmont, as we shall mention at the proper time; then to Spain, where he was engaged in the service of the court, and gave satisfaction to the greater part of the native artists. The public taste in Spain, which had for a long time retained the principles of the school founded by Titian, had been changed within a few years. Luca Giordano was become the favorite, and they admired his spirit, his freedom, and his despatch; qualities which were combined in Corrado. This partiality lasted even after Mengs had introduced his style, which in consequence appeared at first meagre and cold to many of the masters and connoisseurs of the day, when compared with that of Luca Giordano; until prejudice there, as in Italy, ultimately yielded to truth.
Some other artists flourished in Rome at the commencement, and as far as the middle of the century, and somewhat beyond, who may perhaps have a claim to be remembered. Of Francesco Fernandi, called L'Imperiali, the Martyrdom of S. Eustachio in the church of the saint of that name, is well conceived and scientifically coloured. Antonio Bicchierai, a fresco painter, is more particularly known at S. Lorenzo in Panisperna, in which church he painted a sfondo which did him honour. Michelangiolo Cerruti, and Biagio Puccini, a Roman, about the time of Clement XI. and Benedict XIII., were esteemed artists of good execution. Of others who acquired some reputation in the following pontificate, I shall write in other schools, or if I should not mention them, they may be found in the Guida of the city.
I shall now pass from native to foreign artists, and shall take a brief notice of them, since my work has grown upon me with so many new Italian names, which are its proper object, that I have not much spare room for foreigners, and a sufficient notice of them may be found in their own country. Not a few oltremonti painted at this period in Rome, celebrated for the most part in the inferior branches of painting, where they deserve commemoration. Some of them were employed in the churches, as Gio. Batista Vanloo di Aix, a favorite scholar of Luti, who painted the picture of the Flagellation at S. Maria in Monticelli. But he did not remain in Rome, but passed to Piedmont, and from thence to Paris and London, and was celebrated for his historical compositions, and highly esteemed in portrait. Some years after Vanloo, Pietro Subleyras di Gilles settled in Rome, and conferred great benefit on the Roman School; for whilst it produced only followers of the old manner, and thus fell gradually into decay, he very opportunely appeared and introduced an entirely new style. An academy had been founded in Rome by Louis XIV., about the year 1666. Le Brun had there cooperated, the Giulio Romano of France, and the most celebrated of the four Carli, who were at that time considered the supporters of the art; the others were Cignani, Maratta, and Loth. It had already produced some artists of celebrity, as Stefano Parocel, Gio. Troy, Carlo Natoire, by whom many pictures are to be found in the public edifices in Rome. There prevailed, however, in the style of this school a mannerism, which in a few years brought it into disrepute. Mengs designated it by the epithet of spiritoso, and it consisted, according to him, in overstepping the limits of beauty and propriety, overcharging both the one and the other, and aiming at fascinating the eyes rather than conciliating the judgment. Subleyras, educated in this academy, reformed this taste, retaining the good, and rejecting the feeble part, and adding from his own genius what was wanting to form a truly original manner. There was an engaging variety in the air of his heads, and in his attitudes, and he had great merit in the distribution of his chiaroscuro, which gives his pictures a fine general effect. He painted with great truth; but the figures and the drapery, under his pencil, took a certain fulness which in him appears easy, because it is natural; it remained his own, for although he left some scholars, none of them ever emulated the grandeur of style which distinguished their master.
He was mature in talent when he left the academy, and the portrait which he in preference to Masucci, painted of Benedict XIV., established his reputation as the first painter in Rome. He was soon afterwards chosen to paint the history of S. Basil, for the purpose of being copied in mosaic for the church of the Vatican. The original is in the church of the Carthusians, and astonishes, by the august representation of the Sacrifice solemnly celebrated by the saint in the presence of the emperor, who offers bread at the altar. The countenances are very animated, and there is great truth in the drapery and accompaniments, and the silks in their lucid and light folds appear absolutely real. From this production, and others of smaller size, and particularly the Saint Benedict at the church of the Olivetani di Perugia, which is perhaps his masterpiece, he deserves a place in the first collections, where, indeed, his pictures are rare and highly prized. Further notices of this artist may he found in the second volume of the Giornale delle belle Arti.
Egidio Alè, of Liege, studied in Rome, and became a spirited, pleasing, and elegant painter. His works in the sacristy dell'Anima, in fresco and oil, painted in competition with Morandi, Bonatti, and Romanelli, do him honour. Ignazio Stern was a Bavarian, who was instructed by Cignani in Bologna, and worked in Lombardy. An Annunciation in Piacenza, in the church of the Nunziata, exhibits a certain grace and elegance, which is peculiar to him, as is observed in the description of the public pictures in that city. Stern afterwards established himself in Rome, where he painted in fresco the sacristy of S. Paolino, and left some oil pictures in the church of S. Elisabetta, and in other churches. He was more particularly attached to profane history, conversations, and similar subjects, which have a place even in royal collections. Spain possessed a disciple of the school of Maratta, in Sebastiano Mugnoz, but dying young he left few works behind him.
In this place I ought to notice an establishment designed to revive the art in that quarter, where it seemed to have so much declined, as D. Francesco Preziado, of that country, says, in a letter which we shall shortly have occasion to mention with commendation. "The royal academy of S. Ferdinand, in Madrid, which owed its origin to Philip V., and was completed and endowed by Ferdinand VI., sent several students to Rome, and provided for their maintenance." They there selected the master the most agreeable to their genius, and had, in addition, a director, who was employed to superintend their studies; as I am informed by Sig. Bonaventura Benucci, a Roman painter, educated in that academy. Bottari and all Rome called it the Spanish academy, and I myself, in a former edition, followed the common report, and the two above named sovereigns I described as the founders of the academy. Having been censured for this statement, I have here thought proper to specify my authorities. It may without dispute be asserted, that the Spanish students have left in Rome many noble specimens of their talents and taste. D. Francesco Preziado was for many years the director of this academy, and painted a Holy Family at the S. S. Quaranta, in a good style. He made also a valuable communication to the Lettere Pittoriche (tom. vi. p. 308), on the artists of Spain, very useful to any one desiring information respecting this school, which is less known than it deserves to be.
An institution very much on the plan of the French academy was founded in Rome a few years ago, by his most faithful majesty, for Portuguese students, to the promotion of which, two celebrated Portuguese, the Cav. de Manique, intendant general of the police in Lisbon, and the Count de Souza, minister of that court in Rome, had the merit of contributing their assistance; the one having projected, and the other executed, the plan in the year 1791. The government of the academy was entrusted to the Sig. Gio. Gherardo de' Rossi, known for his very numerous and able writings, to which he has recently added an ingenious little work, intitled, Scherzi poetici e pittorici, with engravings by a celebrated academician. These establishments are of too recent a date to allow me to speak further respecting their productions.
The provincial painters have been occasionally noticed in connexion with their masters. I here add a supplement, which may be useful in the way of completion. Foligno possessed a Fra Umile Francescano, a good fresco painter, engaged in Rome by Cardinal Castaldi, to ornament the tribune of S. Margaret, while Gaulli and Garzi were commanded to paint the pictures for it. The Abbate Dondoli lived at Spello at the beginning of this century. He was more to be commended for his design than for his colouring. Marini has some celebrity in S. Severino, his native place. He was the scholar of Cipriano Divini, whom he surpassed in his art. Marco Vanetti, of Loreto, is known to me more from his life of Cignani, who was his master, than from his own works. Antonio Caldana, of Ancona, painted a very large composition in Rome, in the sacristy of S. Niccola da Tolentino, from the life of that saint. I do not know whether there remain any works of his in his native place; but there are a great number by a respectable artist, one Magatta, whose name was Domenico Simonetti, and who painted the gallery of the Marchesi Trionfi; he furnished many churches with his paintings, and distinguished himself in that of the church of the Suffragio, which is his most finished production. Anastasi di Sinigaglia was a painter less elegant and finished, but free and spirited. His works are not scarce in that city, and his best are the two historical subjects in the church della Croce. Three pictures by him also in S. Lucia di Monte Alboddo, are highly prized, and are called by the writer of the Guida, "Capi d'opera dell'Anastasi." Camillo Scacciani, of Pesaro, called Carbone, flourished at the beginning of the age we are writing on, and had a Caracciesque style allied to the modern. There is a S. Andrea Avellino by him in the Duomo of Pesaro; his other works are in private collections. This notice I deem sufficient, always excepting the living artists, whom I of course omit.[[90]]
Three masters who died successively in the pontificate of Pius VI. seem to require from me more than a transient notice, and with them I shall conclude the series of historical painters of the fifth epoch. I shall first commemorate the Cav. Raffaello Mengs, from whom our posterity may perhaps date a new and more happy era of the art. He was born in Saxony, and brought to Rome by his father while yet a boy, and was at that time skilled in miniature, and was a careful and correct draughtsman. On his arrival in Rome, his father employed him in copying the works of Raffaello, and chastised the young artist for every fault in his work, with an incredible severity, or rather inhumanity, inflicting on him even corporeal punishment, and reducing his allowance of food. Being thus compelled to study perfection, and endowed with a genius to appreciate it and perceive it, he acquired a consummate taste in art; he communicated to Winckelmann very important materials for his Storia delle belle arti, and was himself the author of many profound and valuable essays on the fine arts, which have materially contributed to improve the taste of the present age. They have different titles, but all the same aim, the discrimination of the real perfection of art.[[91]]