Padua boasted two noble scholars from the hand of Titian; Damiano Mazza, and Domenico Campagnola. The former, however, was rather promised than conferred upon us; dying very young, after producing a single piece deserving of commemoration, in his native place. This was a Ganymede borne away by the Eagle, depicted on an entablature, which, for its exquisite beauty, was attributed to the hand of Titian, and removed from the place. Venice must have been his sphere of action; a few of his pictures remaining in different churches, executed with striking power and relief, if not with much delicacy of hand. The other artist is better known, said to have been of the family of Campagnola, though with no authority for the assertion. He was nephew to the Girolamo mentioned by Vasari among the disciples of Squarcione, and son to that Giulio,[[60]] whose genius is commended in the Literary History of Tiraboschi, (vol. vi. p. 792) and in the Storia Pittorica of Vasari. He was a fine linguist, miniature painter, and engraver, and the author of several altarpieces, which betray some traces of the ancient style. Domenico's appears more modern, so much so, as to have awakened, it is said, the jealousy of Titian; an honour he enjoyed in common with Bordone, with Tintoret, and other rare artists. And his works give authority to the tradition, not so much in Venice as in Padua, a city for whose embellishment he would appear to have risen up. He painted in fresco, at the college of the Santo, in the style of an able scholar, emulating an incomparable master of his art. His pictures in oil resemble him the nearest of any, as we see in the college of S. M. del Parto, a complete cabinet of his works. He represented on the entablature, the Holy Evangelists, with other saints, in various compartments; and he seems to have aspired to a vastness of design, beyond that of Titian; and to mark the naked parts with a more evident degree of artifice.
Contemporary with Campagnola, though scarcely heard of beyond Padua, were Gualtieri, one of his relatives, and a Stefano del Arzere, who, in his picture of Christ upon the Cross, at San Giovanni di Verzara, appears ambitious, however rudely, of imitating Titian. Both were, nevertheless, esteemed by Ridolfi for their paintings in fresco, and both, together with Domenico, were employed in ornamenting a large hall, representing the figures of emperors and illustrious characters, upon nearly a colossal scale. For this reason it was denominated the Sala de' Giganti, afterwards converted into a public library. These figures are, for the most part, of an ideal cast, various in point of design, in some dignified, in others heavy. The antique costume is not always strictly observed, but the colouring is rich and of a fine chiaroscuro, and it would be difficult to find in all Italy a piece which appears to have suffered less from time. Niccolo Frangipane is supposed to have been a Paduan, though his birthplace is disputed,[[61]] and he is not mentioned by Ridolfi. Still he may be esteemed worthy of being recorded for his exquisite style as a naturalist, in which he painted his picture of the Assumption, at the Conventuali, in Rimini, dated 1565, and a half-length figure of San Francesco, with that of 1588, at S. Bartolommeo, in Padua. A picture also of San Stefano is attributed to him by the Guide of Pesaro, though his genius was more adapted to burlesques, several specimens of which are yet in the possession of private individuals.
Vicenza boasts the name of Giambatista Maganza, the head of a family of artists, who long devoted themselves, both in public and private, to the ornament of their native province. His descendants, however, adopted various styles, as we shall see, while Giambatista was only ambitious of treading in the steps of Titian, his master, which he did with success. He was an excellent portrait painter, and also left several works of pure invention at Vicenza, in which he displayed the same easy genius as in his poetry. He wrote in the rustic idiom of Padua, under the name of Magagnò, while such contemporaries as Sperone, Trissino, Tasso, and other celebrated wits, not ignorant of the dialect, applauded the excellence of his rude and sylvan strains. Giuseppe Scolari was an artist, supposed by most to have been a native of Vicenza, though referred by the Cavalier Pozzo to Verona. A pupil of Maganza, he excelled in works in fresco, and in chiaroscuro, enlivened by certain yellow tints, at that period in great vogue. He was a good designer, which appears from his works, both in Vicenza and Verona; and he likewise produced several large pictures in oil at Venice, much commended by Zanetti. Possibly another disciple of Maganza, from the period at which he flourished, was Gio. de Mio of Vicenza, an artist who competed with Schiavone, Porta, Zelotti, Franco, and with Paul Veronese himself, in the library of S. Mark, though history makes no mention of his master any more than of Mio; if, indeed, he should not be the same as Fratina, recorded by Ridolfi, as one of the assistants in ornamenting the library. The name of Gio. de Mio was met with in one of the archives, and Fratina was possibly his surname.
Among the Veronese disciples of Titian, we have to mention Brusasorci, and, according to some writers, also Farinato. Both at least visited Venice, either for the purpose of studying his works, or in his school. Zelotti has been pronounced in more open terms the scholar of Titian. But of these and other distinguished artists of Verona, it will be preferable to give the reader some account when treating on the merits of Paul Caliari, a plan that will bring under immediate view the state of that noble school during its most flourishing period.
About the same time several Brescian artists greatly distinguished themselves, although too little known for want of enjoying a metropolitan city for their sphere of action. Luca Sebastiano, an Aragonese, who died towards the close of the sixteenth century, was celebrated, we are told, rather as a fine designer than a painter. An altarpiece with the initial letters L. S. A. has been attributed to his hand. It is the Saviour represented between two saints, the composition of which is common; the foldings of the drapery want softness; but the figures, the colours, and the attitudes are excellent. I apprehend that, however learned in his art, he would have been anxious to avoid competition with the two celebrated citizens, of whom we shall now give some description. The first is Alessandro Bonvicino, commonly called Moretto of Brescia, who was among the earliest of Titian's school, to introduce his master's whole style of composition into his native district. This is clearly seen in his picture of S. Niccolo, painted in 1532 for the Madonna de' Miracoli, in which he depicted several figures of children, and of a man presenting them to the saint; portraits in Titian's best manner. Subsequently attracted by the composition of Raffaello, as exhibited in some pictures and engravings, he changed his style, adopting one altogether new, and so rich in its attractions, that many dilettanti have gone out of their way, and visited Brescia, for the sole purpose of feasting their eyes with them. The manner of Raffaello may be as strongly traced as we can imagine possible for a painter who had never seen Rome; we meet with graceful features, elegant proportions, if they do not sometimes appear too slender; accuracy in the attitudes and expression, which, in his sacred subjects, display, as it were, the peculiar feeling of remorse, of pity, and even of charity itself. The drapery is diversified, but not sufficiently select, while all the accessaries of the perspective and other embellishments are as splendid as in any Venetian artist, although not lavished with so much profusion; and he displays an exact, diligent, and delicate hand, which appears, to use a modern expression often applied, to write what it paints. In regard to colouring, Moretto pursued a method, which surprises by its combined novelty and effect. Its chief characteristic consists of a very beautiful play of light and shadow, not disposed in great masses, but finely tempered and contrasted with each other. The same degree of art he applies both to his figures and his skies, where he sometimes depicts clouds whose colours are contrasted in a similar way. For the most part his grounds are clear and bright, from which the figures seem to rise with admirable relief. His fleshy parts often remind us of the freshness of Titian's; in his tints, moreover, he is more varied than the latter, or any other of the Venetians. Little azure appears in his draperies, the union of reds and yellows in a picture having been apparently more to his taste. It is the same with other colours, a circumstance I have noticed in some of his contemporaries, both of Brescia and Bergamo. Vasari, who has recorded his name, along with that of many other Brescian artists, in his life of Carpi, commends him for his skill in imitating every kind of velvet, satin, or other cloth, either of gold or silver; but as he did not see, or failed to commemorate, some of his choicest works, he has by no means done justice to his character.
Moretto produced some works in fresco, though, if I mistake not, he coloured better in oils; as is the case where diligence and depth of parts are not equally matched with pictorial rapidity and fire. He employed himself a good deal in his native province and the adjacent parts, in general distinguishing himself more by his delicacy than by his grandeur of hand. A fine specimen of this last, however, may be seen in his terrific picture of Elias, placed in the old cathedral. He was intimate with all the best methods of his art; but he did not always care to practise them. His picture of S. Lucia, in the church of S. Clemente, is not so much studied as that of S. Catherine, and even this yields to his painting of the great altar, representing our Lady in the air, with the titular and other saints seen below. The composition is conducted in every part with exquisite taste, and the piece is considered one of the best the city has to boast. An altarpiece, consisting of various saints at S. Andrea, in Bergamo, another at S. Giorgio, in Verona, with the Fall of S. Paul, at Milan, with which last he appears to have been so much pleased, as to subscribe, which was very unusual with him, his name—are all likewise of the most finished composition. He was esteemed excellent in portrait, and educated for this branch of art Gio. Batista Moroni.
This last was a native of Albino, in the territory of Bergamo, where he produced, both for the city and the state, a variety of altar and history pieces, which he continued to supply from early youth, until within a few months of his decease. So much has been made out, from authentic documents, by the Conte Tassi, who brought forward a long series of his noble compositions. This artist is not, however, at all comparable to his master in point of invention, of composition, or design; which last sometimes betrays a dryness approaching that of the quattrocentisti. Pasta notices the same defect, in his Incoronazione of our Lord at the Trinità, although very finely coloured, and a work equalling any of his others in point of merit. For the rest, it is certain that no artist of the Venetian School, besides Titian, has excelled him in the truth and nature of his portraits, and in the life and spirit of his heads, insomuch that Titian was in the habit of recommending him to the governors of Bergamo, as the best face painter he could offer them. There exist specimens in the Carrara collection, in possession of the Conti Spini, and in other noble houses, which still appear to breathe and live; the drapery is in the Titian manner, and if any thing can be said to be wanting, it is a greater degree of mastery in the design and attitude of the hands.
Francesco Ricchino, of Brescia, is another name deserving of record among the better disciples of Moretto, even in point of colouring. He was desirous, however, from what we learn from his pieces at San Pietro in Oliveto, of extracting improvement from the pictures, or at least from the engravings of Titian. Luca Mombelli followed him in some of his earliest works, until giving into too great delicacy of manner, his productions became somewhat feeble and tame. Girolamo Rossi, another pupil or imitator, has, if I mistake not, better displayed his master's manner than any other, particularly in an altarpiece, placed at San Alessandro, representing the Virgin between various saints. Bagnatore was also a good copyist of the same style, an artist who, in his Slaughter of the Innocents, subscribes his name Balneator, and who, if not displaying great power, is nevertheless judicious, correct, and sober in his works in oil; and he was one to whom was committed by public order the task of copying a picture by Moretto.
Contemporary with Moretto flourished Romanino, of Brescia, about the year 1540; the same who in S. Giustina at Padua subscribes his name Hieronymus Rumanus. He was the rival of Bonvicino, inferior to him in the opinion of Vasari, but his equal according to Ridolfi. And truly it would appear that he surpassed him in genius and boldness of hand; but could boast neither the same taste nor diligence, several of his works appearing to be executed with a hasty pencil. Still he in general displays the qualities of a great master, both in his altarpieces and his histories, to say nothing of his burlesque compositions. The same character he maintained at Verona, where he painted the martyrdom of the titular saint, at S. Giorgio, in four large pictures abounding with great variety of figures, some of the most spirited, and the most terrible, in the executioners, that I ever saw. The same richness of invention, accompanied even with more select forms, is displayed in his altarpiece of the Holy Virgin in Calcara, at Brescia, in which he represented the bishop, S. Apollonio, administering the Eucharist to the crowd. It is a work altogether charming, the splendour of the place, and of the sacred vessels; the religious aspect of the prelate, of the Levites, and of the people; the great variety of features and of rank; so many singular pictorial beauties are all placed within the limits of propriety and truth. Less full, but no less perfect, is his Descent of Christ from the Cross, at SS. Faustino and Giovita, a piece commended by Palma for its extreme resemblance to the Venetian style, most probably alluding to that of Titian, although in some other works he very strongly resembles Bassano. Titian, however, would appear to have been his model, to which he wholly devoted himself; whether he acquired so high a regard for him from his own master, Stefano Rizzi, an artist of mediocrity, or despairing of forming a new style, like his rival, he was in hopes of surpassing him by such means. And, in fact, he still retains admirers in those parts, who prefer him to Moretto, as well for grandeur of composition and energy of expression, as for a capacity of genius that embraced every variety of subject.
Girolamo Muziano acquired the art of design from Romanino, and taking his style of colouring from the works of Titian, he subsequently flourished at Rome, in which school he has been already mentioned. In this place we must include Lattanzio Gambara, the pupil and companion of Romanino, as well as his son-in-law, at least if we are to credit Ridolfi and other writers, in this last point sanctioned by the popular tradition of Brescia. Vasari alone, who resided in his house only a short time before he gave some account of him, observes that he was son-in-law to Bonvicino, a point in which his memory, doubtless, betrayed him. Lattanzio was not inferior to his master in spirit, and, at the same time, better instructed in the rules of the art, and more learned. Having attended the academy of Campi, in Cremona, until his eighteenth year, and cultivated an acquaintance with the best foreign masters that he always retained, he added to this knowledge all the richest and most tasteful colours of the Venetian School. Like Pordenone, he employed his talents, for the most part, in frescos, which are still to be seen at Venice, as well as within and without the confines of the state. His manner, however, was less strong and shaded, but in other points much resembling him in the beauty and variety of his forms, variously coloured according to his subjects; in his knowledge of anatomy, without affectation, spirited attitudes, difficult foreshortenings; in a relief that deceives the eye, and in novelty and play of invention. To these we may add even a greater propriety of ideas, and sweetness of tints, acquired from other schools; Lattanzio having studied Giulio Romano at Mantua, and Coreggio in Parma. In the Corso de' Ramai, at Brescia, there yet remain three façades, adorned with various histories and fables, truly beautiful, executed by his hand. They are not, however, so imposing as some of his scriptural pieces, to be seen in still better preservation in the cloister of S. Euphemia, engravings of which have been promised to the public. The spectator often recurs to them, and always with fresh pleasure. When for want of space the figures could not be put in an upright posture, he foreshortened them with admirable nature and facility, so that no other attitudes could be imagined so becoming to each figure. Professors have detected some degree of imperfection in the naked parts, very common, indeed, to the most celebrated painters of frescos; but it is such as cannot be perceived at a distance, or if seen, resembles only some false quantity in a good poet, easily to be pardoned in the number of poetical beauties with which his verses abound. He painted still more copious histories for the cathedral at Parma, containing, perhaps, his greatest and most studied production, and which fails not to please, even in the presence of those of Coreggio. There are several altarpieces likewise in oil at San Benedetto, in Mantua, all of which are not equally happy. A Nativity of our Lord, at SS. Faustino and Giovita, is his only picture in oil remaining at his native place in public; it is very graceful, displaying certain traits of the Raffaello manner. His picture of a Pietà, at San Pietro, in Cremona, is also highly esteemed by professors, one among whom, who had designed a good deal from the works of Lattanzio, declared to me that he had never witnessed any other so exquisite in point of design, nor coloured with so much delicacy, clearness, and taste and softness of tints. Yet this great artist only reached his thirty-second year, leaving in Giovita, a Brescian artist, (likewise called Brescianino) an excellent disciple, particularly of works in fresco.