During this period of the decline of the art, one branch of painting, perspective, made an extraordinary progress by the talents of P. Andrea Pozzo, a Jesuit, and a native of Trent. He became a painter and architect from his native genius, rather than from the instruction of any master. His habit of copying the best Venetian and Lombard pictures, had given him a good style of colour, and a sufficiently correct design, which he improved in Rome, where he resided many years. He painted also in Genoa and Turin, and in these cities and in both the states, we find some beautiful works, the more so as they resemble Rubens in tone, to whose style of colour he aspired. There are not many of his oil paintings in Italy, and few of them are finished, as S. Venanzio in Ascoli, and S. Borgia at S. Remo. Even the picture of S. Ignatius at the Gesù in Rome, is not equally rendered in every part. Nevertheless, he appears on the whole a fine painter, his design well conceived, his forms beautiful, his colours fascinating, and the touch of his pencil free and ready. Even his less finished performances evince his genius; and of the last mentioned picture, I heard from P. Giulio Cordara, an eminent writer in verse and prose, an anecdote which deserves preservation. A painter of celebrity being directed to substitute another in its place, declared that neither himself nor any other living artist could execute a superior work. His despatch was such, that in four hours he began and finished the portrait of a cardinal, who was departing the same day for Germany.
He occupies a conspicuous place among the ornamental painters, but his works in this way would be more perfect if there was not so great a redundance of decoration, as vases, festoons, and figures of boys in the cornices, though this indeed was the taste of the age. The ceiling of the church of S. Ignatius is his greatest work, and which would serve to show his powers, if he had left nothing else, as it exhibits a novelty of images, an amenity of colour, and a picturesque spirit, which attracted even the admiration of Maratta and Ciro Ferri; the last of whom, amazed that Andrea had in so few years, and in so masterly a manner, peopled, as he called it, this Piazza Navona, concluded that the horses of other artists went at a common pace, but those of Pozzo on the gallop. He is the most eminent of perspective painters, and even in the concaves has given a convex appearance to the pieces of architecture represented, as in the Tribune of Frascati, where he painted the Circumcision of Jesus Christ, and in a corridor of the Gesù at Rome. He succeeded too in a surprising manner in deceiving the eye with fictitious cupolas in many churches of his order; in Turin, Modena, Mondovi, Arezzo, Montepulciano, Rome, and Vienna, to which city he was invited by the emperor Leopold I. He also painted scenes for the theatres, and introduced colonnades and palaces with such inimitable art, that it renders more credible the wonderful accounts handed down to us by Vitruvius and Pliny of the skill of the ancients in this art. Although well grounded in the theory of optics, as his two volumes of perspective prove, it was his custom never to draw a line without first having made a model, and thus ascertained the correct distribution of the light and shade. When he painted on canvass, he laid on a light coat of gum, and rejected the use of chalk, thinking that when the colours were applied, the latter prevented the softening of the lights and shadows, when requisite.
He had many scholars who imitated him in perspective; some in fresco; others in oil, taking their designs from real buildings, and at other times painting from their own inventions. One of these was Alberto Carlieri, a Roman, a painter also of small figures, of whom Orlandi makes mention. Antonio Colli, another of his scholars, painted the great altar at S. Pantaleo, and decorated it in perspective in so beautiful a manner, that it was by some taken for the work of his master. Of Agostino Collaceroni of Bologna, considered of the same school, we have before spoken.
There were also architectural painters in other branches. Pierfrancesco Garoli, of Turin, painted the interior of churches, and Garzi supplied the figures. Tiburzio Verzelli, of Recanati, is little known beyond Piceno, his birthplace. The noble family of Calamini of Recanati, possess perhaps his best picture, the elevation of S. Pietro in Vaticano, one of the most beautiful and largest works of this kind that I ever saw, which occupied the master several years in finishing. Gaspare Vanvitelli, of Utrecht, called Dagli Occhiali, may be called the painter of modern Rome; his pictures, which are to be found in all parts of Europe, represent the magnificent edifices of that city, to which landscapes are added, when the subject admits of it. He also painted views of other cities, seaports, villas, and farm houses, useful alike to painters and to architects. He painted some large pictures, though most of his works are of a small size. He was correct in his proportions, lively and clear in his tints, and there is nothing left to desire, except a little more spirit and variety in the landscape or in the sky, as the atmosphere is always of a pale azure, or carelessly broken by a passing cloud. He was the father of Luigi Vanvitelli, a painter, who owed his great name to architecture, as we shall see was the case also with the celebrated Serlio.
But no painter of perspective has found more admirers than the Cav. Gio. Paolo Pannini, mentioned elsewhere; not so much for the correctness of his perspective, in which he has many equals, as for his charming landscape and spirited figures. It cannot indeed be denied, that these latter are sometimes too high in proportion to the buildings, and that also, to shun the dryness of Viviani, he has a mannered style of mixing a reddish hue in his shadows. For the first defect there is no remedy; but the second will be alleviated by time, which will gradually subdue the predominant colour.
Lastly, to this epoch the art of mosaic owes the great perfection which it attained, in imitating painting, not only by the means of small pieces of marble selected and cemented together, but by a composition which could produce every colour, emulate every tint, represent each degree of shade, and every part, equal to the pencil itself. Baglione attributes the improvement in this art to Muziani, whom he calls the inventor of working mosaics in oil; and that which he executed for the Cappella Gregoriana, he praises as the most beautiful mosaic that has been formed since the time of the ancients. Paolo Rossetti of Cento was employed there under Muziani, and instructed Marcello Provenzale, his fellow countryman. Both left many works beautifully painted in mosaic; and the second, who lived till the time of Paul V. painted the portrait of that Pope, and some cabinet pictures. An extensive work, as has often been the case, was the cause of improving this art. The humidity of the church of S. Peter was so detrimental to oil paintings, that from the time of Urban VIII. there existed an idea of substituting mosaics in their place. The first altarpiece was executed by a scholar of Provenzale, already mentioned, Giambatista Calandra, born in Vercelli. It represents S. Michael, and is of a small size, copied from a picture of the Cav. d'Arpino. He afterwards painted other subjects in the small cupolas, and near some windows of the church, from the cartoons of Romanelli, Lanfranco, Sacchi, and Pellegrini; but thinking his talents not sufficiently rewarded, he began to work also for individuals, and painted portraits, or copied the best productions of the old masters. Among these Pascoli particularly praises a Madonna copied from a picture of Raffaello, in possession of the Queen of Sweden, and of this and other similar works he judged that from their harmony of colour and high finishing, they were deserving of close and repeated inspection.
At this time great approaches were made towards the modern style of mosaic; but this art was afterwards carried to a much higher pitch by the two Cristofori, Fabio, and his son Pietro Paolo. These artists painted the S. Petronilla, copied from the great picture of Guercino, the S. Girolamo of Domenichino, and the Baptism of Christ by Maratta. For other works by him and his successors, I refer the reader to the Descrizione of the pictures of Rome above cited. I will only add, that when the works were completed for S. Peter's, lest the art might decay for want of due encouragement, it was determined to decorate the church of Loreto with similar pictures, which were executed in Rome, and transferred to that church.
Before I finish this portion of my work, I would willingly pay a tribute to the numerous living professors, who have been, or who are now resident in Rome; but it would be difficult to notice them all, and to omit any might seem invidious. We may be allowed, however, to observe that the improvement which has taken place in the art of late years, has had its origin in Rome. That city at no period wholly lost its good taste, and even in the decline of the art was not without connoisseurs and artists of the first merit. Possessing in itself the best sources of taste in so many specimens of Grecian sculpture, and so many works of Raffaello, it is there always easy to judge how near the artists approach to, and how far they recede from, their great prototypes of art. This criterion too is more certain in the present age, when it is the custom to pay less respect to prejudices and more to reason; so that there can be no abuse of this useful principle. The works too of Winckelmann and Mengs have contributed to improve the general taste; and if we cannot approve every thing we there find, they still possess matter highly valuable, and are excellent guides of genius and talent. This object has also been promoted by the discovery of the ancient pictures in Herculaneum, the Baths of Titus, and of the Villa Adriana, and the exquisite vases of Nola, and similar remains of antiquity. These have attracted every eye to the antique; Mengs and Winckelmann have admirably illustrated the history of ancient sculpture, and the art of painting may be more advantageously studied from the valuable engravings which have been published, than from any book. From these extraordinary advantages the fine arts have extended their influence to circles where they were before unknown, and have received a new tone from emulation as well as interest. The custom of exhibiting the productions of art to a public who can justly appreciate them, and distinguish the good from the bad; the rewards assigned to the most meritorious, of whatever nation, accompanied by the productions of literary men, and public rejoicings in the Campidoglio; the splendour of the sacred edifices peculiar to the metropolis of the Christian world, which, while the art contributes to its decoration, extends its protection in return to the professors of that art; the lucrative commissions from abroad, and in the city itself, from the munificence and unbounded liberality of Pius VI. and that of many private individuals;[[96]] the circumstance of foreign sovereigns frequently seeking in this emporium for masters, or directors for their academies; all these causes maintain both the artists and their schools in perpetual motion, and in a generous emulation, and by degrees we may hope to see the art restored to its true principles, the imitation of nature and the example of the great masters. There is not a branch, not only of painting, but even of the arts depending on it, as miniature, mosaic, enamel,[[97]] and the weaving of tapestry, that is not followed there in a laudable manner. Whoever desires to be further informed of the present state of the Roman School, and of the foreign artists resident in Rome, should peruse the four volumes entitled, Memorie per le belle arti, published from the year 1785, and continued to the year 1788, a periodical work deserving a place in every library of the fine arts, and which was, I regret to add, prematurely discontinued.
[85] With regard to drapery, Winckelmann conjectures, (Storia delle Arti del Disegno, tom. i. p. 450,) that the erroneous opinion that the ancients did not drape their figures well, and were surpassed in that department by the moderns, was at that time common among the artists. This opinion still subsists among some sculptors, who disapprove particularly of the ancient custom of moistening the drapery, in order to adapt it the better to the form of the figure. The ancients, they say, ought to be esteemed, not idolized. To carry nature to the highest degree of perfection, was always allowable, but not so to degrade her by mannerism.
[86] He was the pupil of Niccolas Poussin, and from him acquired his taste for drawing after the antique. He employed this talent in copying the finest bassirilievi, and the noblest remains of ancient Rome. These were engraved by him, and circulated through Europe. He also copied a great number of ancient pictures from the Sotterranei, which passed into private hands unpublished. Pascoli mentions many more of his works in engraving, the pursuit of which branch of the art led him gradually to forsake painting. Of his pictures we find one in the church of Porto, and a very few more of his own designing. He devoted himself to the copying the pictures of the best masters, and carried his imitation even to the counterfeiting the effects of time on the colours; and he copied some pictures of Poussin with such dexterity, that it was with difficulty the painter himself could distinguish them.