Other Bolognese artists, educated in the same academy, took up their residence also at Rome, or in its state; nor were they few in number, since, as was observed in the fourth epoch of that school, they were received there with distinguished favour. We shall commence with the least celebrated. Lattanzio Mainardi, called by Baglione Lattanzio Bolognese, had visited Rome previous to Annibal, and in the pontificate of Sixtus V., conducted several works for the Vatican, which augured well of his genius, had he not died there very young; as well as one Gianpaolo Bonconti, at an age still more immature, having vainly followed his master to Rome, where he had only time to make a few designs, but conceived in the best taste. Innocenzio Tacconi was kinsman, according to some, and assuredly enjoyed the confidence of Annibale. From him he received designs and retouches, tending to make him appear a more considerable artist than he really was. To judge from some of his histories of St. Andrew, painted for S. Maria del Popolo, and S. Angiolo, in the fish-market, he may be said to have rivalled his best fellow-pupils. But abusing his master's goodness, and alienating his regard from Agostino, from Albano, and from Guido, by misrepresentations, he received the usual recompence of slanderers. Annibal withdrew his support, deprived of which he gradually became more and more insignificant. Anton Maria Panico early left Rome, and, entering the service of Mario Farnese, resided upon his estates, being employed in painting at Castro, at Latera, and at Farnese, in whose cathedral he placed his picture of the mass, to which Annibal also put his hand, even conducting some of the figures. Baldassare Croce is an artist enumerated by Orlandi among the pupils of Annibal; by Malvasia, among the imitators of Guido. Baglione describes him as superior in age to all three of the Caracci, introducing him into Rome as early as the times of Gregory. Towards reconciling the accounts of these writers, it might be observed, that continuing to reside at Rome, he may have taken advantage, as he advanced in age, of the examples afforded by his noble fellow-citizens. His style, from what we gather of it in the public palace of Viterbo, and a cupola of the Gesù, as well as from his large histories of S. Susanna, and other places in Rome, is easy, natural, and entitling him to the name of a good mechanist and painter of frescos, but not so easily to that of a follower of the Caracci. Gio. Luigi Valesio entered, though late, into the same school, and chiefly attached himself to engraving and to miniature. Proceeding to Rome, he was there employed by the Lodovisi under the pontificate of Gregory XV., and obtained great honours. We find him commended in the works of Marini and other poets, though less for the art, in which he only moderately excelled, than for his assiduity and his fortune. He was one of those wits, who in the want of sound merit know how to substitute easier methods to advance themselves; seasonably to regale such as can assist them, to affect joy amidst utter humiliation, to accommodate themselves to men's tempers, to flatter, to insinuate, and to canvass interest, until they attain their object. By means like these he maintained his equipage in Rome, where Annibal, during many years, obtained no other stipend for his honourable toils, than a bare roof for his head, daily pittance for himself and his servant, with annual payment of a hundred and twenty crowns.[28] In the few pieces executed by Valesio at Bologna, such as his Nunziata of the Mendicants, we perceive a dry composition of small relief, yet exact according to the method of the miniaturists. He appears to have somewhat improved at Rome, where he left a few works in fresco and in oil, exhibiting his whole power, perhaps, in a figure of Religion, in the cloister of the Minerva. To these artists of the Caracci school it will be sufficient only to have alluded. They were indeed no more than gregarious followers of those elevated standards of their age.
The five, however, who next follow, deserve a nearer view, and more accurate acquaintance with their merits. These, remaining indeed at Rome, became leaders of new ranks, which from them assumed their name and device; and hence we have alternately been compelled to record the disciples of Albano, of Guido, and so of the rest. This repetition, however, in other places, will now permit us to treat of them in a more cursory view.
Domenico Zampieri, otherwise Domenichino, is at this day universally esteemed the most distinguished pupil of the Caracci; and has even been preferred by Count Algarotti to the Caracci themselves. What is still more, Poussin ranked him directly next to Raffaello; and in the introduction to the life of Camassei, almost the same opinion is given by Passeri. During the early part of his career his genius appeared slow, because it was profound and accurate; and Passeri attributes his grand progress more to his amazing study than to his genius. From his acting as a continual censor of his own productions, he became among his fellow pupils the most exact and expressive designer, his colours most true to nature, and of the best impasto, the most universal master in the theory of his art, the sole painter amongst them all in whom Mengs found nothing to desire, except a somewhat larger proportion of elegance. That he might devote his whole being to the art, he shunned all society, or if he occasionally sought it in the public theatres and markets, it was in order better to observe the play of nature's passions in the features of the people;—those of joy, anger, grief, terror, and every affection of the mind, and to commit it living to his tablets; and thus, exclaims Bellori, it was, he succeeded in delineating the soul, in colouring life, and rousing those emotions in our breasts at which his works all aim; as if he waved the same wand which belonged to the poetical enchanters, Tasso and Ariosto. After several years' severe study at Bologna, he went to Parma to examine the beautiful works of the Lombards; and thence to Rome, where he completed his erudite taste under Annibal, who selected him as one of his assistants.
His style of painting is almost theatrical, and he in general lays the scene amidst some splendid exhibition of architecture,[29] which serves to confer upon his compositions a new and elevated character in the manner of Paul Veronese. There he introduces his actors, selected from nature's finest models, and animated by the noblest impulses of the art. The virtuous have an expression so sweet, so sincere, and so affectionate, as to inspire the love of what is good. And in the like manner do the vicious, with their guilty features, create in us as deep aversion to their vice. We must despair to find paintings exhibiting richer or more varied ornaments, accessaries more beautifully adapted, or more majestic draperies. The figures are finely disposed both in place and action, conducing to the general effect; while a light pervades the whole which seems to rejoice the spirit; growing brighter and brighter in the aspect of the best countenances, whence they first attract the eye and heart of the beholder. The most delightful mode of view is to take in the whole scene, and observe how well each personage represents his intended part. In general there is no want of an interpreter to declare what the actors think and speak; they bear it stamped upon their features and attitudes; and though gifted with audible words, they could not tell their tale to the ear, more plainly than they speak it to the eye. Surely, of this, we have proof in the Scourging of St. Andrew, at S. Gregorio, at Rome, executed in competition with Guido, and placed opposite to his St. Andrew, in the act of being led to the gibbet. It is commonly reported that an aged woman, accompanied by a little boy, was seen long wistfully engaged with viewing Domenichino's picture, shewing it part by part to the boy, and next turning to the history by Guido, she gave it a cursory glance, and passed on. Some assert, that Annibal, being acquainted with the fact, took occasion from the circumstance to give his preference to the former piece. It is moreover added, that in painting one of the executioners, he actually threw himself into a passion, using threatening words and actions, and that Annibal surprising him at that moment, embraced him, exclaiming with joy, "To-day, my Domenichino, thou art teaching me!" So novel, and at the same time so natural it appeared to him, that the artist, like the orator, should feel within himself all that he is representing to others.
Yet this picture of the Scourging is in no way to be compared with the Communion of S. Jerome, or to the Martyrdom of S. Agnes, and other works, conducted in his riper years. The first of these is generally allowed to be the finest picture Rome can boast next to the Transfiguration of Raffaello; while the second was estimated by his rival Guido at ten times the merit of Raffaello's own pieces.[30] In these church paintings one great attraction consists in the glory of the angels, exquisitely beautiful in feature, full of lively action, and so introduced as to perform the most gracious offices in the piece; the crowning of martyrs, the bearing palms, the scattering of roses, weaving the mazy dance, and waking sweet melodies. In the attitudes we often trace the imitation of Coreggio; yet the forms are different, and for the most part have a flatness of the nose, which distinguishes them, and gives them an air of comeliness. Much, however, as Domenichino delighted in oil-painting, he is more soft and harmonious in his frescos; some of which are to be seen, besides those in Naples, at Fano, but the greatest part of them were destroyed by fire. They consist of scriptural histories in a chapel of the cathedral; of mythological incidents in villa Bracciano, at Frascati; the acts of S. Nilo, at Grotta Ferrata; and various sacred subjects interspersed through different churches at Rome. In the corbels of the cupolas at S. Carlo a' Catinari, and at S. Andrea della Valle, he painted, at the former, the four Virtues, at the latter, the four Evangelists, still regarded as models after innumerable similar productions. At S. Andrea also are seen various histories of that saint in the tribune, besides those of St. Cecilia, at S. Luigi; others at S. Silvestro, in the Quirinal of David, and other scriptural subjects, which in point of composition and taste of costume are by some esteemed superior to the rest.
It seems almost incredible, that works like these, which now engage the admiration of professors themselves, should once, as I have narrated, have been decried to such a degree, that the author was long destitute of all commissions, and even on the point of transferring his genius to the art of sculpture. This was in part owing to the arts of his rivals, who represented his very excellences as defects, and in part to some little faults of his own. Domenichino was less distinguished for invention than for any other branch of his profession. Of this, his picture of the Rosary at Bologna affords an instance, which neither at that period nor since has been fully understood by the public; and it is known not to have pleased even his own friends, which led the author to regret its production. Diffident thenceforward of his powers in this department, he often borrowed the ideas of others; imitated Agostino in his St. Jerome, the S. Rocco, of Annibal, in his almsgiving of St. Cecilia; and even other less eminent artists; observing, that in every picture he found something good, as Pliny said, that from every book we may cull some useful information. These imitations afforded occasion for his rivals to charge him with poverty of invention, procuring an engraving of Agostino's St. Jerome, of which they circulated copies, denouncing Domenico Zampieri as a plagiarist. Lanfranco, the chief agent in these intrigues, exhibited on the contrary only his own designs, invariably novel, and made a display of his own celerity and promptness of hand, as contrasted with his rival's want of resolution and despatch. Had Domenichino enjoyed the same advantages of party as the Caracci in Bologna, which he well deserved, he would soon have triumphed over his adversaries, by proving the distinction between imitation and servility,[31] and that if his works were longer in being brought to perfection than his rival's, their reputation would be proportionally durable. The public is an equitable judge; but a good cause is not sufficient without the advantage of many voices to sanction it. Domenichino, timid, retired, and master of few pupils, was destitute of a party equal to his cause. He was constrained to yield to the crowd that trampled him, thus verifying the observation of Monsig. Agucchi, that his worth would never be rightly appreciated during his lifetime. The spirit of party passing away, impartial posterity has rendered him justice; nor is there a royal gallery but confesses an ambition for his specimens. His figure pieces are in the highest esteem, and fetch enormous prices. He is rarely to be met with except in capital cities; his David is a first rate object of inquiry to all strangers visiting the college of Fano, who have the least pretensions to taste; the figure of the king, as large as life, being of itself sufficient to render an artist's name immortal.
There is a small, but inestimable picture of St. Francis, that belonged to the late Count Jacopo Zambeccari, at Bologna. The saint is seen in the act of prayer, and by the animated and flushed expression of the eyes, it appears as if his heart had just been dissolved in tears. Two pictures, likewise beautifully composed, I have seen at Genoa; the Death of Adonis bewailed by Venus, in the Durazzo Gallery just before mentioned, and the S. Rocco in the Brignole Sale, offering up prayers for the cessation of the plague. The attitude of the holy man; the eagerness of those who seek him; the tragic exhibition of the dying and the dead around him; a funeral procession going by; an infant seen on the bosom of its dead mother, vainly seeking its wonted nutriment; all shake the soul of the spectator as if he were beholding the real scene. Among his pictures from profane history the most celebrated is his Chase of Diana, in the Borghesi Palace, filled with spirited forms of nymphs, and lively incidents. In the same collection are some of his landscapes, as well as in that of Florence; and some of his portraits in others. Here too he is excellent, but they are the least difficult branches to acquire. Respecting his other works, and the most eminent of his pupils, enough has been stated in the Roman and Neapolitan schools. He educated for his native place Gio. Batista Ruggieri; and to his numerous other misfortunes was added the pain of finding him ungrateful, after having rendered him eminent in his art. This pupil united with Gessi in quality of assistant; and as we shall shew, also took his denomination from him. Passeri dwells on this disappointment of Domenichino incidentally in his life of Algardi, (p. 198).
Next to Zampieri comes his intimate friend Francesco Albani, "who, aiming at the same object," observes Malvasia, "and adopting the same means, pursued the like glorious career." They agree in a general taste for select design, solidity, pathetic power, and likewise in their tints, except in Albani's fleshes being ruddier, and not unfrequently faded, from his method of laying on the grounds. In point of original invention he is superior to Domenichino, and perhaps to any other of the school; and in his representation of female forms, according to Mengs, he has no equal. By some he is denominated the Anacreon of painting. Like that poet, with his short odes, so Albani, from his small paintings, acquired great reputation; and as the one sings Venus and the Loves, and maids and boys, so does the artist hold up to the eye the same delicate and graceful subjects. Nature, indeed formed, the perusal of the poets inclined, and fortune encouraged his genius for this kind of painting; and possessing a consort and twelve children, all of surprising beauty, he was at the same time blest with the finest models for the pursuit of his studies. He had a villa most delightfully situated, which farther presented him with a variety of objects, enabling him to represent the beautiful rural views so familiar to his eye. Passeri greatly extols his talent in this branch, remarking, that where others, being desirous of suiting figures to the landscape, or its various objects to one another, most frequently alter their natural colour, he invariably preserves the green of his trees, the clearness of his waters, and the serenity of the air, under the most lovely aspect; and contrived to unite them with the most enchanting power of harmony.
Upon such grounds, for the most part, he places and disposes his compositions, although he may occasionally introduce specimens of his architecture, in which he is equally expert. His pictures are often met with in collections, or to speak more correctly, they re-appear, inasmuch as both he himself made repetitions, and practised his pupils in them, giving them his own touches. He exhibits few bacchanals, avoiding figures that had already been so admirably treated by Annibal in many of his little pictures, from which, if I mistake not, Albano drew the first ideas of his style; adapting it to his own talent, which was not so elevated as that of Annibal. His most favourite themes are the sleeping Venus, Diana in her bath, Danae on her couch, Galatea in the sea, Europa on the bull, a piece which is also seen on a large scale in the Colonna and Bolognetti collections at Rome, and in that of the Conti Mosca at Pesaro. How beautifully do those figures of the Loves throw their veil over the virgin, in order to protect her from the sun's rays, while others are seen drawing forward the bull with bands of flowers, or goading him in the side with their darts. At times he introduces them in the dance, weaving garlands, and practising with their bows at a heart suspended in the air for a target. Occasionally he conceals some doctrine, or ingenious allegory, under the veil of painting; as in those four oval pictures of the Elements in the Borghesi palace, which he repeated for the royal gallery at Turin. There too are Cupids seen employed in tempering Vulcan's darts; spreading their snares for birds upon the wing; fishing and swimming in the sea; culling and wreathing flowers, as if intended to represent the system of the ancients, who referred every work of nature to Genii, and with Genii accordingly peopled the world. To sacred subjects Albano devoted less attention, but did not vary his taste. The entire action of such pieces was made to depend on the ministry of graceful cherubs, in a manner similar to that which was subsequently adopted by P. Tornielli in his marine canzonettes, where, in every history of the Virgin and Holy Child, he introduces a throng of them as a sacred train. Another very favourite repetition of idea is that of representing the Infant Christ, with his eye turned towards Heaven upon the angels, some in the act of bringing thorns, some the scourge, some the cross, or other symbols of his future passion. There is a picture of this kind in Florence, to which I alluded in the Description of the ducal gallery, and it is also found somewhat varied in two fine pieces; one at the Domenicani in Forli, the other in Bologna, at the Filippini. These, and other works of Albani, interspersed throughout different cities, as in Matelica, in Osimo, in Rimini, besides his fresco paintings in Bologna, at S. Michele in Bosco, at S. Jacopo, of the Spaniards at Rome, with the design of Annibal; these sufficiently exhibit his superior talent for large paintings, although he applied himself with greater zest and vigour to those on a smaller scale.
Albani opened an academy for several years at Rome, and at Bologna, invariably a competitor of Guido, both in his magisterial and his professional capacity.[32] Hence arose those strictures upon his style which Guido's disciples affected to despise as loose and effeminate, wanting elegance in the virile forms, while those of the boys were all of the same proportion, and his heads of the Holy Family, and of saints had always one idea. Similar accusations, advanced likewise against Pietro Perugino, are not calculated to depress so great an artist's merit, so much as the esteem of Annibal, his own writings, and his pupils, serve to raise him in our regard. It is matter of historical fact that Annibal, seized with admiration of some of his small pictures, and among others a bacchante, seen at a fountain pouring out wine, purchased it, and declared that he had not even paid for the drops of water so exquisitely coloured by the wine. Of his writings there remain only a few fragments, preserved by Malvasia, not indeed reduced to method, a task that ought to devolve on some other pen, but highly valuable from the information and maxims which they contain. Among his pupils Sacchi and Cignani are in themselves sufficient to reflect credit upon their master, the first of whom sustained the art at Rome, the other at Bologna, and to whose efforts it was owing that its reputation so long continued in both those schools. There, moreover, we recounted the names of Speranza, and Mola, of Lugano, his noble disciples; and to these, besides Cignani, to whom we refer elsewhere, we can add a considerable number. Gio. Batista Mola, a Frenchman, long continued with Albano, and, according to Boschini, resided with the other Mola at Venice, where they copied a vast work of Paul Veronese for Cardinal Bichi. He displayed surprising skill in drawing rural scenes and trees, and being preferred by many in this branch to his master, he often added landscape to his master's figures, and occasionally adapted figures to his own landscape, very beautiful, in Albani's style, but without his softness. In the excellent collection of the Marchesi Rinuccini, at Florence, is a picture of the Repose in Egypt, by the same hand. Two other foreign pupils also did him credit; Antonio Catalani, called Il Romano, and Girolamo Bonini, also from his native place, entitled l'Anconitano, who, in imitating Albani, was equalled by few, and who enjoyed his perfect confidence and friendship. Settling at Bologna, they there employed themselves with reputation in some elegant works, and left several histories in fresco in the public palace. In this last branch, Pierantonio Torri also distinguished himself, called, in Guarienti's lexicon, Antonio, dropping Pietro on the authority of the Passagiere disingannato; and Torrigli, in the Guide of Venice, where he painted the architectural parts in the church of S. Giuseppe for the figures of Ricchi. Filippo Menzani is known only as the attached disciple and faithful copyist of his master. Gio. Batista Galli, and Bartolommeo Morelli, the former called from his birth-place, Bibiena, the latter Pianoro, were similarly employed in taking copies from him; though the second applied to it with extreme reluctance, on account of Albani being "too highly finished, diligent, and laborious, for the task of copying." Both these artists are commended by the continuator of Malvasia. Bibiena, though he died early, conducted works that might be ascribed to Albani, in particular the Ascension at the Certosa, and his St. Andrew at the Servi in Bologna. Pianoro succeeded admirably well in his frescos, more especially in the chapel of Casa Pepoli at S. Bartolommeo di Porta, decorated by him throughout in such exquisite taste, that, were history silent, it would be said to have been designed and coloured by Albani's own hand.