Carlo Caliari, generally entitled Carletto, the diminutive of his name, from the circumstance of his dying at the early age of twenty-four,[[72]] as we find in the register of his parish, owing to his excessive application to study, was gifted with a genius like that of his father. His disposition was particularly docile and attentive, and he was the boast of his parent, whose style he emulated better than any other artist. But Paul, ambitious that he should even excel him, was unwilling, that by forming himself upon a single model, he should succeed only in becoming a feeble sectarist. He sent him, therefore, to study the school of Bassano, the robustness of which blended with his own elegance, would, he expected, produce an original manner superior to either of the other two. At the period when Carletto closed the eyes of his beloved father, he was only in his sixteenth, or at farthest his eighteenth year, though he had attained such progress and reputation in the art as to be enabled to complete several pictures left unfinished by his parent, nor was he ever in want of commissions. His productions often appear by the hand of Paul; whether at that time he did not wholly depend upon his own resources, or that his father, at least, might have retouched his pieces, is not certain. Skilful judges, indeed, have pretended to discern, or rather to count the number, of the strokes traced by the paternal pencil, from their inimitable ease, lightness, and rapidity. Thus it has occurred in an altarpiece of San Frediano Vescovo, to which is added St. Catherine, and some other saint, placed in the Medicean Museum, and bearing the son's name, though boasting at the same time all the grace of his father. But, wherever Carlo executed his pieces alone, he is easily distinguishable; his pencil is somewhat more full and heavy, while his tints are stronger and deeper than those of his father. We have an instance in his San Agostino, at the church of La Carità, whose colouring betrays that union of the two schools so much desired by Paul.
Gabriele executed little in which he was not assisted by his brother. In several altarpieces we read as follows: "Heredes Pauli Caliari Veronensis fecerunt;" which alludes to such pieces as Paul himself left imperfect, the completion of which became a joint labour; a system they continued, likewise, in others, which they produced for churches, and for the public palace. Ridolfi awards the chief merit to Carlo, placing Gabriele second, and adding, that Benedetto had, likewise, his share, more especially in the architectural parts. Probably too some other pupil of Paul assisted them. For, in these, we find represented the maxims of the master, even his studies, and the same figures as his. Still there is occasionally some diversity of hand perceptible, as in the martyrdom of an Apostle at S. Giustina of Padua, where one of the figures appears so much loaded with shade, as not merely to betray a difference of hand, but of schools. Gabriele survived the other artists of his family; residing subsequently in Venice, more in the character of a merchant than a painter. Still he continued occasionally to produce a few portraits in crayons, extremely rare, or some picture of a cavalcade; nor did he desist from visiting the studio of the artists, where he assisted them, when agreeable, with his advice. Arriving at the period of 1531, memorable for the great pestilence in Italy, and impelled by those noble precepts of humanity inculcated in the gospel, he generously exposed his life in the service of his afflicted fellow citizens, and fell a sacrifice to the task.
Proceeding to the other disciples of Paul, and to his imitators, it will not be found easy to enumerate them. For having been interested beyond any other painter in the cultivation of an art, whose object is to give pleasure, so he excelled all others in the number of his followers. We are told by Zanetti, that many of them were also very successful, owing to which, less accurate judges are apt to confound the master with those of his school, if they do not cautiously attend to the two following points, in which none will be found to equal him. These are, 1st, the fineness and peculiar lightness of his pencil combined with sound judgment; 2d, a very ready and spirited expression of grace, and a dignity in his forms, particularly in the air of his heads. It must, however, be observed, that his scholars, in the progress of time, for the most part varied the grounds and the colouring, as they approached the style of the succeeding epoch. Among the Venetians, there is only enumerated by Zanetti the name of Parrasio Michele,[[73]] an artist who enriched with the designs of Paul, and experienced in the art of colouring them, produced several works worthy of him, more especially that of a Pietà, adorning a chapel within the church of San Giuseppe, a piece in which he added a portrait of himself. The people of Coneglia have preserved the recollection of one of their citizens named Ciro, to whom they attribute an altarpiece of the Nativity of Christ, as nearly resembling the style of Paul as possible, for which reason it was transferred from the church of the Riformati in that city to Rome; and they add, that its author was a youth, who never attained to mature age. Castelfranco boasts one Cesare Castagnoli as a pupil of Paul; though in his numerous paintings in fresco he cannot be said to display much power, at least beyond a certain degree of spirit, promptness, and copiousness of ideas. A few less shewy and fanciful productions from the hand of Bartolo, his brother, executed in oil, acquired for him higher reputation than that of Cesare. Angelo Naudi, an Italian, is much commended by Palamino for his labours in the royal palaces, and in various churches in Spain, when painter to the court of king Philip. There is reason to doubt whether he really received the instructions of Paul, instead of imbibing his manner by dint of study and copying, like Bombelli and many others; it being recorded of this writer, otherwise very estimable, that in regard to masters he was apt to embrace opinions by no means always true. Omitting the names of a great number of foreigners, we make mention here only of the Veronese, in order that their master should not appear unaccompanied by the noble train of disciples bestowed by him upon his country.
Luigi Benfatto, known by the name of dal Friso, a sister's son, and for many years the guest of Paul, copied him in the outset even to servility; though he afterwards gave himself up to an easy and rapid style of composition, little short of the licence of the mannerists. It has been supposed that he only availed himself of this facility in such commissions as were of small value. He approaches nearest to Paul in the church of San Raffaello; in other places he resembles Palma. A more free and spirited imitator of Paul was found in Maffeo Verona, a pupil and son-in-law to Luigi; but the quantity of vermilion with which he heightened the colour of his fleshes, detracts from his worth. Francesco Montemezzano, a Veronese, approached still more frequently than either of the preceding to the character of the head of his school. He acquired great reputation by a picture of the Annunciation, painted for the church of the Osservanti alla Vigna; and he was employed, also, in the Ducal Palace. He partakes of Caliari in his countenances, in his costume, and in the beauty of his figures: as to the rest, he was slow of hand, and feeble in his colouring. His picture at San Giorgio, in Verona, consisting of the Apparition of Christ to the Magdalen, appears extremely languid in competition with that of Paul, which is one of the most brilliant productions remaining of that period. To these we might add the names of other Veronese, as Aliprando, and Anselmo Canneri, characterised by Vasari as an able assistant to Paul his master.
Among all the Veronese artists most resembling Paul, when ambitious of doing so, was his friend and companion, though his rival, Batista Zelotti. Instructed in the same academy, he was occasionally the companion of his labours, and occasionally taught and executed works himself—always however observing the same rules. Vasari mentions him with commendation in his Life of San Micheli, where he entitles him Batista da Verona, and includes him among the disciples of Titian. I have seen a Holy Family by this artist in Titian's style in the Carrara collection, frequently extolled by us before; and from such a studio it would appear we are to look for that warmth of tints, in which, for the most part, he excels Caliari; as well as that power of design in which Zanetti is of opinion that he also surpassed him, although others think very differently. He often surpasses him, likewise, in grandeur, and in what appertains to painting in fresco; a circumstance Paul was aware of, and for that reason sought to obtain his assistance in works of that kind. He possessed great fertility of ideas, and a rapid hand, while he was profound and judicious in his compositions. Indeed, he might have been esteemed another Paul, had he been able to compete with him in the beauty of his heads, in variety, and in grace. In truth, his productions were frequently given to Paul, even those he painted for the Council of Ten having been engraved under the latter name by Valentino le Febre. He was doubtless one of the first artists of his time, though not estimated according to his deserts, from having worked chiefly in fresco, and at a distance from capital cities; in villages, in country seats, and palaces. One of his grandest works is seen at Cataio, a villa belonging to the Marchese Tommaso Obizzi, where, about 1570, he represented in different rooms, the history of that very ancient family, distinguished no less in council than in arms. The place is continually sought by foreigners, attracted thither by its splendour, by the fame of these pictures, and by the valuable museum of antiquities, collected by the hand of the Marchese; a task of few years, but in point of taste, abundance, and rarity of specimens, calculated to confer honour upon the state. In his oil paintings Zelotti could not compete with Caliari, though he approached him near enough, in his Fall of St. Paul, and his Fishing of the Apostles, which he executed for the dome of Vicenza, to merit the honour of having them attributed to the pencil of Caliari.
This city was his chief theatre of action; he remained there during some time, and initiated one Antonio, a youth called Tognone, in the art, from whose hand a few works in fresco are pointed out in the city, while he is honoured by Ridolfi both with a Life and Eulogy. Zelotti was in Vicenza, both alone and together with Paul; where with the help of one of his best pupils he established a school, which partook of the taste of both these masters. I reserve a list of his followers for the succeeding epoch.
It is here the place to inform our readers, that the various styles, hitherto described as attaching to the Venetian School, do not comprehend all that flourished in the state. Ridolfi remarks this in his preface, and laments, that owing to the conflagrations occurring in the city, or by the neglect of writers, not a few materials had perished, that might have added interest to his history. In truth, he was not merely ignorant of several of the more ancient artists, but in the period we are describing omitted the names of Jacopo Fallaro and Jacopo Pisbolica, whom Vasari, in his Life of Sansovino, records with praise, citing from the hand of the former a picture of San Gio. Colombino, at the Domenicani delle Zattere; and of the latter, his Ascension of Christ at Santa Maria Maggiore. He likewise passed over Vitrulio, several of whose productions are the ornament of Monte Novissimo, bearing his name. These artists, judging from their manner and other points, are to be referred to the age of Titian. Ridolfi made mention, and more at length, of another, who, exactly contemporary with Paul, continued to flourish many years after him, but always assailed by fortune; and though a good colourist, being greatly deficient in point of invention and design. His name was Antonio Foler; and, as a convincing proof of his mediocrity, it will be sufficient to allude to his Martyrdom of St. Stephen, at the church of that name; it is nevertheless, one of his best altarpieces. In small figures, however, he appears to have had merit.
Before concluding the present epoch, it will be proper to mention two painters; one a foreigner, the other a Venetian, both of whom followed a style altogether different from such as we have already described. The artist of Venice is Batista Franco, called Semolei. He has been treated of in the first volume in several parts, and especially in what relates to Baroccio, to whom he was master. He pursued his studies in Rome, and so great was his progress in the art of design, that he was accounted one of the best imitators of Michel Angiolo. In ornamenting San Gio. Decollato, a church belonging to the Florentines in Rome, he appears to have been ambitious of making a parade of his powers, and his style became somewhat loaded in the attempt. In his other pictures which I have seen in the dome at Urbino, and in that of Osimo, where he painted in 1547, in Bologna, and in Venice, I have not met with any thing similar. He invariably appears to have been an able follower of Michel Angiolo, and a more powerful colourist than the chief part of the Florentine artists. It is easier to become acquainted with him in the States of the Church than in his native city of Venice, whither he seems to have retired towards the close of his days, since, in 1556, he was among the artists selected to adorn the library of St. Mark. There he represented his fable of Actæon, along with several symbolical inventions; and a few other of his pictures are exhibited there in public. He died not long subsequently in the year 1561.
The foreign artist is Giuseppe Porta della Garfagnana, already mentioned, likewise, under the Roman School, in which he was instructed by Francesco Salviati, whose surname he assumed. For this reason he is sometimes entitled in history Salviati the younger. He accompanied his master to Venice, on the latter being invited by the Patriarch Grimani to embellish his palace, where he produced his celebrated Psyche, still to be seen there, near two pictures by the hand of Porta. Francesco, however, soon left Venice; Vasari adducing as a very sufficient reason, that it was no place for the residence of artists distinguished for excellence in design. But the success of Porta, who became established and died at Venice, clearly proves the contrary. Initiated in a knowledge of design by Francesco, he wholly retained the character of the Florentine School, only enlivening it with tints in the Venetian taste. Nevertheless, he was approved by Titian, and selected along with Paul and other leading names to paint in the library of St. Mark; he was continually engaged to work in fresco and in oil, both in public and in private; and was always distinguished there as one of the most able masters of his age.[[74]] Several of his altarpieces remain, and among others one of the Assumption; a beautiful piece, at the Servi, in Venice, besides a Christ taken from the Cross, at Murano, displaying powers of invention wholly original, full of expression, and an air of majesty not very usual in this school. He repeated the same subject frequently; and there was a duplicate in the Ducal collection at Modena, subsequently transferred to Dresden.
Following these artists, the reader must not be surprised to meet with the name of Jacopo Sansovino, who, as will appear from the index, derived his surname also from his master. He was much courted in Venice, owing to his excellence in the art of statuary, as well as in that of an architect, with which he ornamented public places. Still he failed not to exercise some influence over that of painting, at least of design; in which he had been well instructed by Andrea del Sarto, in Florence. Indeed, as the director of the edifice of St. Mark, numerous artists were dependent upon him; and it is known, that he received some commissions for designs in mosaic work, which I do not, however, find particularized; as well as others, most probably, in tapestry, for the altar of the sacrament, as it has been conjectured from their style, by Signor Zanetti. In regard to foreign styles, we must proceed, without dwelling upon the Cavalier Zuccaro, Passignano, and others already treated in their respective schools, to make brief mention of Giuseppe Calimberg, or Calimperg, by birth a German, who flourished a considerable time at Venice, where he died about 1570. There is the Battle of Constantine, by his hand, still preserved at the Servi; and had he always displayed the same taste, I should not scruple to pronounce him excellent, though somewhat heavy, in the practice of his art. Subsequent to him appears to have flourished Gio. de Chere Loranese, who ought to be mentioned, before we proceed to treat of the sect of mannerists, and of the Tenebrosi.[[75]] Ranking among the scholars of the best Venetian masters, he produced a history piece for the grand council hall. Other names of foreign artists are to be looked for in the Guida: it is my object in this school, as in the rest, to record only such as are most deserving of commemoration.