Cerano, though engaged in a variety of other labours, instructed many pupils, and more particularly Melchiorre Giraldini, with success. He very happily caught the manner of his teacher, easy, agreeable, and harmonious, but still inferior to him in the more masterly power of his pencil. At the Madonna at S. Celso is seen a picture of S. Caterina da Siena by his hand, that has been greatly commended. Cerano gave him his daughter in marriage, and left him the whole of his studio. He engraved in acqua forte some minute histories and battle-pieces in the manner of Callot, and he instructed his son in the same branch, whose battle-pieces have been much prized in collections. He also taught a young artist of Gallarate, named Carlo Cane, who, devoting himself at a more advanced age to the manner of Morazzone, became a great proficient in it. He imitated with some success his strength of colouring and his relief; in other points he was common both in his forms and conceptions. He painted some altars, and in the larger one of the cathedral at Monza, there is one representing different saints, at the feet of whom is seen the figure of a dog, which he inserted in all his pieces, even that of Paradise, to express his name. He observed an excellent method in his frescos, his histories of Saints Ambrogio and Ugo, which he painted for the grand church of the Certosa at Pavia, as well as others, still retaining all their original freshness. He opened school at Milan, and we may form an idea of the character of his pupils from his own mediocrity. Cesare Fiori, indeed, acquired some degree of reputation, several of whose ornamental works on a great scale, have been made public. He too had a scholar named Andrea Porta, who aimed at catching the manner of Legnanino. There are others who approach the two best of the Cerani, namely, Giuliano Pozzobonelli, an artist of good credit, and Bartolommeo Genovesini,[60] by whom there remain works possessing some degree of grandeur; besides Gio. Batista Secchi, surnamed from his country Caravaggio, who painted for S. Pietro in Gessato, an altar-piece of the Epiphany with his name.
Morazzone had to boast a numerous list of pupils, imitators, and copyists, both at Milan and elsewhere. The Cav. Francesco Cairo reflected honour upon this school, who, having commenced his career, as is usual, by pursuing his master's footsteps, afterwards changed his manner on meeting with better models, which he studied at Rome and Venice. He also worked on a great scale, and coloured with effect, united, however, to a delicacy of hand and grace of expression, altogether forming a style that surprises us by its novelty. His pictures of the four saints, founders of the church at S. Vittore, of his S. Teresa swooning with celestial love at S. Carlo, his S. Saverio at Brera, various portraits in the Titian manner, and other pieces, public and private, at Milan, at Turin, and elsewhere, entitle him to rank high in the art, though he is not always free from the reproach of sombre colouring. Morazzone derived some credit from the two brothers Gioseffo and Stefano Danedi, more commonly called the Montalti. The first, after being instructed by him in the art, became more refined in his taste under Guido Reni, of whose style he sufficiently partakes, as we may perceive in his Slaughter of the Innocents at S. Sebastiano, and in his Nunziata its companion. Stefano frequented no foreign schools that I know of, though he did not wholly confine himself to Morazzone's manner, rather aiming at refining it upon the example of his brother, and painting with a degree of accuracy and study that he did not find recommended by the taste of his times. His martyrdom of S. Giustina, which he produced for S. Maria in Pedone, forms a specimen of this refinement, while it is moreover exempt from that cold and languid tone which diminishes the value of his other works. One of those artists most attached to Morazzone's style, and who nearest approaches him in the boldness of his pencil, is the Cav. Isidoro Bianchi, otherwise called Isidoro da Campione, a better fresco than oil painter, from what we gather at the church of S. Ambrosio at Milan, and in others at Como. He was selected by the Duke of Savoy, to complete a large hall at Rivoli, left imperfect by the decease of Pier Francesco. There he was declared painter to the ducal court in 1631.
About the same period flourished at Como, besides the Bustini,[61] the two brothers Gio. Paolo and Gio. Batista Recchi, whose chief merit was in painting frescos, disciples likewise of Morazzone. These artists decorated S. Giovanni, and other churches of their native place, two chapels at Varese, with others in the same vicinity. The second of them also became eminent beyond the state, particularly at S. Carlo in Turin, where he is placed near his master. His style is solid and strong, his colouring forcible, and in the skill of his foreshortening on ceilings, he yields to very few of his day. Pasta in his Guide for Bergamo has deservedly praised him on this score, when speaking of a Santa Grata, seen rising into heaven, a work, he observes, that is admirably delightful. In some of the chambers of the Veneria, at Turin, he was assisted by one Gio. Antonio his nephew. The Milanese Guide mentions several other artists, apparently, judging from their style, instructed by the preceding, such as Paolo Caccianiga, Tommaso Formenti, and Giambatista Pozzi.
Whilst the Milanese School was thus hastening to its close, and no longer afforded masters of equal promise, either to the first or second of its series, its youth were compelled to have recourse to richer and more genuine sources, and at this period began to disperse in search of new styles. I omit the family of the Cittadini, which established itself at Bologna, or to say truth, I reserve it to its own school. Stefano Legnani, called Il Legnanino, in order to distinguish him from his father Cristoforo, a portrait-painter, became one of the most celebrated artists in Lombardy towards the beginning of this century, having studied the schools of Cignani at Bologna, and Maratta at Rome. In either of these cities he would have been esteemed one of the best disciples of these two masters, had he left there any of his productions; although in course of time he fell into a degree of mannerism. He is tasteful, sober, and judicious in his compositions, with a certain strength and clearness of colouring, not common among the disciples of Maratta. He became famous for his fresco histories, which are seen at S. Marco and at S. Angiolo, where there is also one of his battles, which is won by the protection of St. James the Apostle, which shews a pictoric fire equal to handling the most difficult themes. He left too a variety of works in Genoa, Turin, and Piedmont, besides his painting of the cupola at Novara, in the church of S. Gaudenzio, than which he produced nothing more truly beautiful.
Andrea Lanzani, after receiving the instructions of Scaramuccia, pupil to Guido, who remained for some period at Milan, passed into the school of Maratta at Rome. But his genius finally decided him to adopt a less placid style, and he began to imitate Lanfranco. His best productions, as it has been observed of others, are those which on his first return from Rome he executed in his native place, while still fresh from the Roman maxims and the Roman models. A proof of this is seen in his S. Carlo Beatified, which on certain days is exhibited along with other pictures in the capital. He painted also a fine piece for the Ambrosian library, representing the actions of Cardinal Federigo, in which there is a rich display of imagination, of drapery, and good effect of chiaroscuro. He is for the most part praised on account of his facility, and the boldness of his hand. He died in Germany, after being honoured with the title of Cavalier, and left no better pupil behind him in Italy than Ottavio Parodi, who resided for a long period at Rome, and is mentioned with commendation by Orlandi. From Rome also, and from the school of Ciro Ferri, Ambrogio Besozzi returned to Milan, in order to study the Cortona manner as a counterpoise to that of Maratta. But he chiefly employed himself in ornamental, rather than historic painting, though very able in the last, as far as we may judge from his S. Sebastian, at S. Ambrogio. He studied Pagani at Venice, and likewise taught there, boasting the celebrated Pellegrini as one of his disciples. Zanetti remarks that he introduced into the academies of that city a new taste of design for the naked figure, somewhat overstrained, indeed, but of good effect. He left there a few pieces in public, and returned to close his days in Lombardy. The churches and collections of Milan abound with his pictures, and there are others in the Dresden gallery.
Pietro Gilardi passed from his native school into that of Bologna, and there, under Franceschini and Giangioseffo del Sole, greatly improved himself. His style is clear, easy, harmonious, and adapted to adorn cupolas, ceilings, and magnificent walls, as appears in the refectory of S. Vittore, at Milan, where his works do him credit. At Varese he completed the chapel of the Assumption, after the cartoons of Legnanino, who died before it was finished; and a few of his own works left imperfect by death were, in their turn, continued and finished by the Cav. Gio. Batista Sassi.
The style of this artist, who had assiduously employed himself under Solimene in Naples, is tolerable in regard to design. Though he painted for several churches in Pavia, and at Milan, he acquired most reputation from his small pictures, intended for private ornament. I am not certain whether he introduced into these parts those greenish tints in colouring, which, from Naples, spread through different schools, or whether it came by way of Turin, where one Corrado Giaquinto was employed in drawing figures, and in painting. Such method, however, did not here displease. Gioseffo Petrini da Carono, pupil to Prete of Genoa, has carried it to its highest point, while Piero Magatti of Varese is not wholly free from it, who flourished very recently: both were reputed good artists according to their time. Nor could so great a city be in want of some Venetian disciples, who have distinguished themselves in our own times; we behold some imitations of Piazzetta, and some of Tiepolo, in a few of the churches, it being usual with young artists to follow living masters in lucrative practice, in preference to the deceased whose emoluments are past. We ought here to insert the name of an eminent Milanese, who reflected honour on his native state in foreign parts. This was Francesco Caccianiga, well known at Rome, though little among his own countrymen. Having treated of him, however, in the Roman School, I shall merely recall his memory and merits to my readers. Neither must I omit his contemporary, Antonio Cucchi, who remained at Milan, not as his equal, but because he became eminent in the footsteps of the Romans, for the diligence, if not for the spirit of his pencil. Nor shall I pass over Ferdinando Porta, distinguished for a number of pictures, conducted in imitation of Coreggio; an artist, however, too inconstant and unequal to himself. These names will suffice for the present epoch, which produced, indeed, others of some note, but not known beyond the confines of their own state. Such works as the Pitture d' Italia, and the Nuova Guida di Milano, will furnish the curious with information respecting them, until some further accounts of them be presented to the public.
From the period when the capital began to encourage the foreign schools preferably to her own, the cities of the state followed the example, in particular that of Pavia, which, during this last century, has had to boast more professors than any other state. Yet none of these moderns are much known beyond the precincts of their native place. Carlo Soriani,[62] however, deserved to be better known, an artist who painted for the cathedral his picture of the Rosario, accompanied by fifteen mysteries, an elegant production in the taste of Soiaro. The series of the artists alluded to begins with Carlo Sacchi, who is said by Orlandi to have been taught by Rosso of Pavia, but most probably by Carlantonio Rossi, a Milanese, who painted for the cathedral of Pavia his S. Siro, and two lateral pieces in the best Procaccini taste, and is described in the Abbeccederio as an eccentric man, though well versed in his art. Sacchi continued his studies at Rome and Venice, and when he wished to imitate Paul Veronese, as in his Miracle of the Dead resuscitated by S. Jacopo, which is placed at the Osservanti, he succeeded admirably, shewing himself a good colourist, splendid in ornament, spirited in attitude, except that in these he is somewhat extravagant and affected. He supplied different collections, and I saw an Adam and Eve by him in possession of the Cav. Brambilla at Pavia, entitled to a place in that fine collection. It is doubtful whether Gio. Batista Tassinari ought to be ranked among his fellow disciples, if we only regard the period in which he flourished. But we may with more certainty, upon Orlandi's authority, pronounce Carlo Bersotti to have been his pupil, an excellent artist in inferior branches, to which he confined himself. Tommaso Gatti, together with Bernardino Ciceri, were, however, his best pupils, the first of whom pursued his studies at Venice, the second at Rome, and both succeeded at least as practical artists. Gatti instructed Marcantonio Pellini, and then consigned him to the schools of Venice and Bologna, which did not carry him beyond the sphere of his master. Ciceri was succeeded by his disciple Gioseffo Crastona, who, embued with Roman erudition, became a painter of figures and of landscapes in that city, of which a number may be seen at Pavia. Among the latest are Pierantonio Barbieri, pupil to Bastiano Ricci, and Carlantonio Bianchi, a disciple of the Roman manner. The artists whom I have described almost in a series, have filled all the churches of Pavia, though many, with their respective paintings and their frescos, conferring additional novelty perhaps, but little additional splendor upon their native state; and no one visits Pavia altogether on their account.
Others also belonging to the state and its vicinity, about the time of Sacchi, quitted their native place, and became celebrated in other quarters; as Mola, of the state of Como, of whom we have treated; and Pietro de' Pietri, who, born in the Novarese, studied and died at Rome, where he has been commended by us in the school of Maratta. Antonio Sacchi, also a native of Como, acquired his knowledge at Rome, whence returning into Lombardy, he undertook to paint a cupola for his native place, but fixing on too high a point of perspective, he made his figures so gigantic that he broke his heart and died. From Como likewise sprung one Fra Emanuele, of the order of the Minori Riformati, whose name is incorrectly inserted by Orlandi in the Abbeccedario, as a self-taught painter. The fact is, that on being sent to reside at Messina, he became a pupil to Silla, and improving the feeble manner he had acquired in his native town, he decorated a number of places belonging to his order, both in Rome and Sicily, in a better taste. There are two of his pictures at Como, at the Riformati; a Supper in the refectory, feebly executed in the style of the declining school of Milan, and a Pietà in the church, with different saints, in a better manner; such is the advantage of practice, reflection, and good guidance even at a mature age.
This epoch produced a fine perspective painter, of whom mention is made under the Roman School, in which he studied and left some works. This is Gio. Chisolfi, a pupil of Salvator Rosa, who, on his return to Milan, besides his architectural pieces, which were esteemed among the very first, devoted himself to large histories and altar-pieces, and executed frescos in a good taste for the Certosa of Pavia, and the Santuario of Varese. He was followed with success by one of his nephews, Bernardo Racchetti, whose perspectives, no less than those of Clemente Spera, are frequently met with in collections. Torre makes mention also of a native of Lucca, who succeeded in perspective and in figures, named Paolo Pini. I have seen only of his a history of Rahab, at S. Maria di Campagna, at Piacenza, of which the architecture is very fine, the figures light and touched with a spirited hand. In extensive works of ornamental fresco, Pier Francesco Prina is commended by Orlandi, with the two Mariani, Domenico and his son Gioseffo. The father remained stationary at Milan, and educated, among other pupils, Castellino da Monza; but the son visited Bologna, and there succeeded in improving his paternal manner so as to distinguish himself throughout Italy and Germany. These names will suffice to give a view of a period, not remarkable for the best taste in this species of painting.