So far we have treated of the followers of the Caracci employed at Rome; and these in general, judging from their style, shewed more deference to Annibal than any other of the family. Many others remained at Bologna, who either never visited Rome, or produced nothing there worthy of consideration. These were chiefly attached to Lodovico, in whose studio they had been educated, with the exception of Alessandro Tiarini, who sprung from another school, though he benefited by his advice and example, as much as if Lodovico had really been his master. But he was pupil to Fontana, subsequently of Cesi, and finally also of Passignano at Florence. He had fled thither from his native place on account of a quarrel; and after a lapse of seven years, through the intervention of Lodovico, he was enabled to return to Bologna, leaving at Florence and some places in the state a few paintings in his first easy style, resembling Passignano's. In such style he conducted his S. Barbara, at S. Petronio, a work which failed to please the Bolognese public. To give it greater attractions, he next proceeded to copy from, and to consult Lodovico, not in order to attain his manner, but with the view of improving his own. This task was short to a man of genius, well grounded in the theory of his art, and perhaps more philosophical than any other artist of Bologna. He soon became a different painter, and in his novel taste of composing, of distributing his lights and expressing the passions, he shone like a disciple of the Caracci. Nevertheless he preserved a character distinct from the rest, grounded upon his naturally severe and melancholy disposition. All in him is serious and moderate; the air of his figures, his attitudes, his drapery, varied with few, but noble folds, such as to excite the admiration of Guido himself. He avoids, moreover, very gay and animated colours, chiefly contenting himself with light violets or yellows, and tawny colours, tempered with a little red; but so admirably laid on and harmonized, as to produce the finest feeling of repose to enchant the eye. His subjects, too, are well adapted to his taste, as he generally selected, when he could, such as were of a pathetic and sorrowful cast. For this reason his Magdalens, his S. Peters, and his Madonnas in grief—one of which, presented to the Duke of Mantua, drew tears from his eyes—are held in high esteem.
Subsequently he became expert in foreshortening, and all the intricacies of the art, more particularly in point of invention. There is scarcely one of his works to be met with, that does not exhibit a certain air of novelty and originality of idea. On occasion of representing the Virgin in grief, in the church of S. Benedict, he drew her seated together with St. John and the Magdalen; the one upright, the other kneeling, in the act of contemplating the Redeemer's crown of thorns. Other incidents of his passion also are alluded to; all are silent indeed, but every eye and attitude is eloquent in its silence. Obtaining a commission for an altar-piece in S. Maria Maggiore, to represent St. John and St. Jerome, he shunned the trite expression of drawing them in a glory; but he feigned an apparition, through which the holy doctor, while intent at his studies, appears to receive from the beatified evangelist lectures in theology. His most distinguished production, however, is at S. Domenico, the saint seen raising a man from the dead; a picture abounding with figures varied in point of feature, attitude, and dress; every thing highly select. Lodovico expressed his astonishment at it, and declared that he knew of no master then to compare with Tiarini. It is true that, in this instance, having to compete with Spada, he raised his tone of colouring, and shunned every common form; two precautions which, had he introduced into every work, would have left him perhaps second to none of the Bolognese. He survived until his ninetieth year, and during a long period dwelt at Reggio, whence he had often occasion to proceed to other cities of Lombardy, which preserve many of his altar-pieces, and cabinet pictures. The Modenese gallery abounds with them, his St. Peter being more particularly extolled, seen struck with remorse as he stands outside the prætorium. The architecture, the depth of night lighted up with torches, Christ's judgment beheld in the distance, all conspire to raise the tragic interest of the scene. He was employed also by the Duke of Parma, for whose garden he painted some incidents from the Jerusalem Delivered, conducted in fresco; but which, though much extolled, are no longer met with. In short Tiarini was one of the most eminent artists next to the Caracci, at least in point of composition, expression of features and of the passions, perspective, power and durability of colouring, if not of the most exact elegance.
Lionello Spada was one of the leading geniuses of the school. Sprung from the lowest origin, and employed by the Caracci as a grinder of colours, by dint of hearing their conferences, and observing the process of their labours, he began to design; first under them, and next with Baglione, he acquired a knowledge of the art; during several years studying no other models besides the Caracci. He lived on familiar terms with Dentone, and thus became skilful in the use of perspective. Incensed by a jest of Guido's, he determined to seek revenge by opposing his delicacy of manner with another more full and strong; for which purpose going to Rome, he studied both there and in Malta under Caravaggio, and returned home master of a new style. It does not indeed lower itself to every form, like his, but still is not so elevated as that of the Caracci: it is studied in the naked parts, but not select; natural in point of colouring, with good relief in the chiaroscuro, but too frequently displaying a ruddy tone in the shadows, giving an expression of mannerism. One of Lionello's most characteristic marks is a novelty and audacity, the result of his natural disposition, which was equally agreeable for its pleasantry, and hateful for its insolence. He often competed with Tiarini, always superior in point of spirit and force of colouring; but inferior in all the rest. Thus at S. Domenico, where he represented the saint in the act of burning proscribed books; and this is the best picture on canvass which he exhibited at Bologna. At S. Michele in Bosco also is seen his Miracle of St. Benedict, which the young artists call the Scarpellino of Lionello; a picture so wholly novel as to induce Andrea Sacchi, who was greatly struck with it, to copy the design. In a similar way at the Madonna di Reggio, where both artists painted as usual in competition, as well in oils as in fresco, they appeared, as it were, to go beyond themselves. We often meet with specimens of Spada in private galleries; holy families and scripture histories in half-length figures, like those of Caravaggio and Guercino; his heads full of expression, but not very select. He seems most frequently to have repeated the decollation of St. John the Baptist, often met with in the Bolognese galleries, and the best perhaps is in that of the Malvezzi.
He became painter to Duke Ranuccio at Parma, where he decorated that admirable theatre, which then stood unrivalled. In that city, and at Modena, as well as other places, I have seen some of his pictures in a taste wholly opposed to those of Bologna, displaying a mixture of the Caracci and of Parmigianino. His histories in the ducal gallery at Modena are highly beautiful; such as the Susanna and the Elders, and the Prodigal Son. One of his most remarkable is the Martyrdom of a Saint, at S. Sepolcro in Parma, and the St. Jerome, in the Carmelitani, in the same city. Specimens such as these must have been among his last, at a period when he was residing in affluence at court, and enabled to conduct his works at leisure. His good fortune terminated with the life of Ranuccio; for with the loss of such a patron his talent, too, seemed to have deserted him, and he shortly followed to the tomb. The names of some of his scholars occur in the schools of Lombardy. Here too we ought to add that of Pietro Desani of Bologna, who following him into Reggio, there established himself; a young artist of rapid hand and quick genius, whose works are to be met with very frequently in Reggio and its vicinity.
Lorenzo Garbieri was an artist of more learning and caution than Lionello, though resembling him in point of style. His austere, and almost fiery disposition, with an imagination abounding in wild and mournful ideas, impelled him to a style of painting less open than that of the Caracci. To this cause must be added his emulation of Guido, whom, like Lionello, he wished to humble, by adopting a very powerful manner; and, though he did not put himself under Caravaggio, he eagerly copied his pictures, including all the best at Bologna. Garbieri was one of the most successful imitators of Lodovico; less select in the heads, but grand in the forms, expressive in the attitudes, and studied in his large compositions; insomuch that his paintings at S. Antonio in Milan, which are less loaded with shade, were attributed by Santagostini in his Guide to the Caracci. To this style of the Caracci he added the daring character of Caravaggio, and he was skilful in selecting always funereal subjects most suitable to his genius; so that we meet with little else than scenes of sorrow, slaughter, death, and terror, from his hand. At the Barnabiti, in Bologna, he painted for the chapel of S. Carlo an altar-piece with two lateral pictures; it presents us with the horrors of the Milanese plague, amidst which is seen the saint visiting the sick, and conducting a penitential procession. He painted also at the Filippini in Fano a picture of St. Paul, near the St. Peter of Guido, in the act of raising the young man from the dead; a work of such power of hand and expression as to excite at once terror and pity in the beholders. At S. Maurizio, in Mantua, he exhibited in a chapel the Martyrdom of S. Felicita and her seven children; a piece inferior indeed to the Miracle of St. Paul in point of vigour, but containing such variety of images, and such deathly terror, as not to be surpassed in tragic interest by any thing from the same school. He had the choice of establishing himself as court-painter at Mantua, an office he rejected, preferring to take a wife with a handsome dowry at Bologna. This step was a loss, however, to the art, as mentioned by Malvasia; since from that period finding himself rich, and occupied with family cares, he painted little, and with as little study, leaving his final labours by no means equal to the preceding. His son Carlo applied still less than his father to the profession, though he gave proofs in several works exhibited in public, that in time he would have equalled his father. Lorenzo educated few other pupils, but he was highly esteemed for his profound knowledge, and for his method of communicating it, at once easy and precise, resting upon few but comprehensive maxims.
Giacomo Cavedone was from Sassuolo, and hence included among the artists of the Modenese state by Tiraboschi, in whose work we may read the origin of his career. His genius was more limited, his spirit less animated, than those of the preceding; but being assisted by the Caracci in the right path, he attained to equal, and even greater celebrity. Leaving the intricacies of the art to the more enterprising, he fixed upon attitudes comparatively easy and devoid of foreshortening, gentle expressions distinct from the stronger passions, correct design in his figures, and more particularly in the hands and feet. Nature had endued him with promptness and facility; so that on occasion of designing models, or copying pictures, he with rare exactness took the substance of the subject, and afterwards reduced the whole by a more easy method in his own peculiarly resolute and graceful touch, in which he has always remained original. He was equally novel in his frescos; employing few tints, but so attractive, that Guido was induced to make him his pupil, and retained him at Rome as his assistant. Another striking characteristic was his strength of colouring, which he acquired from those Venetians themselves, who shone the masters of his masters. Here he attained to such excellence, that Albani, when asked whether there were any pictures of Titian's at Bologna, replied, there were not; but we may substitute the two at S. Paolo by Cavedone (a Nativity and an Epiphany) which look like Titian's, and are executed with a bolder hand. One of his most distinguished productions at Bologna is the S. Alò at the Mendicanti, in which Girupeno discovers, besides its fine design, a Titianesque taste that excites astonishment; and a French tourist entitles it a most admirable work, such as might be fairly attributed to the Caracci. The mistake indeed has occurred to persons of first rate tact, most frequently at Imola, on contemplating the beautiful picture of St. Stephen at that church; and yet more out of Italy, in regard to his pictures of private ornament, in which he is more than usually attractive and perfect. Judges know how to recognize Cavedone's hand by his very compendious manner of treating the hair and beards, as well as by that graceful and rapid touch, loaded with much lightish yellow, or burnt terra gialla. Length of proportions is likewise considered another peculiarity, with a flow of the folds more rectilinear than in other artists of the same school. Such ascendancy in the art was maintained by Cavedone during some years, till the death of a favourite son, who had early distinguished himself in the same career, united to other heavy sorrows, deprived him of his powers, and he subsequently executed nothing of importance. A specimen of that period is in possession of the fathers of S. Martino; an Ascension that excites only our compassion, with similar pieces met with throughout Bologna, that can boast no glimpse of grace. Still deteriorating, he was at length deprived of commissions and reduced to penury, which, in his old age, attended him to the tomb.
Lucio Massari possessed a more joyous spirit, ever glad and festal; devoted to the theatre and to the chase, rather than to his academy and his pallet; being usually impatient and averse to commence his subjects, until his genius and good humour were propitious. For this reason his works are few, but conducted in a happy vein, graceful and finished, both in colour and in taste appearing to breathe of cheerfulness. His style most resembles Annibal's, whose works he copied to admiration, and after whose example, while a few months at Rome, he designed the most finished and noble remnants of Grecian sculpture. There shines also in his countenances the spirit of Passerotti, his earliest master, and more frequently the gracefulness of his near friend, Albani, whose society he enjoyed both in his studio and his villa, and in works undertaken in conjunction. His S. Gaetano, at the Teatini, is crowned with a glory of exquisitely graceful cherubs, that seem from the hand of Albani; and in his other pictures we often recognise those full countenances, those delicate fleshes, that sweetness, and those sportful expressions, in which revelled the genius of Albani. In point of beauty, the Noli me tangere, at the Celestini, and the Nuptials of St. Catherine, at S. Benedetto, are among his most esteemed pieces; to say nothing of his histories at the Cortile of S. Michele in Bosco, where he left many very elegant specimens.
On occasion of treating strong or tragic subjects, he did not shrink from the task; and although he had a real knowledge of the art, he conducted them without that extreme study of foreshortenings and naked parts, of which others make so lavish a display. He shewed noble clearness and decision, fine colouring, a grand spirit, enlivening them with light and graceful figures, more particularly of women. Such is the Slaughter of the Innocents, at the Bonfigliuoli palace, and the Fall of Christ, at the Certosini, a most imposing production, from the number, variety, and expression of the figures, whose pictoric fire surpasses all we could mention from the hand of Albani. He has left some cabinet pictures, always in good design, and mostly possessing soft and savoury tints; so that all we would farther look for is, occasionally, a more gradual distribution of tints in the background of his pieces. Among other pupils, he instructed Sebastiano Brunetti, polished by Guido, a sweet and delicate artist, but of brief career; and Antonio Randa of Bologna. Malvasia has observed, that there is little good to be said respecting him, apparently alluding to a deed of homicide committed by him at Bologna. In other respects, he includes him among the best pupils, first of Guido, next of Massari, to whose style he became attached. On account of his reputation the Duke of Modena granted him an asylum in his state, declaring him, according to Orlandi, his court-painter, in 1614. Here he was much employed, and subsequently at Ferrara, for the most part at S. Filippo; also in many places of the Polesine, where I find his Martyrdom of S. Cecilia, in possession of the Sign. Redetti, at Rovigo, the most celebrated of his productions. Finally, he betook himself to the cloister, a fact unnoticed by Malvasia, which might have induced him to speak of him in milder terms.
Pietro Facini entered late into the profession, at the suggestion of Annibal Caracci, who from one of his playful sketches in charcoal, declared how excellent a painter he would become, if he were to enter his school. Annibal subsequently regretted the discovery, not only because Facini's progress excited his jealousy, but, because, on leaving the academy, he became his rival in educating young artists, and even plotted against his life. He has two striking characteristics, vivacity in his gestures, and in the expression of his heads, such as to place him on a footing with Tintoretto, and a truth of carnations, which induced Annibal himself to observe, that he seemed to have ground human flesh in his colours. With this exception, he has nothing superior; feeble in point of design, too large in his naked figures of adults, incorrect in the placing of his hands and heads. Neither had he time to perfect himself, dying young, and before the Caracci, in 1602. There is a picture of the Patron Saints, at S. Francesco, in Bologna, with a throng of cherubs, which is indeed among his best works. In the Malvezzi collection, and in others of the city, are much esteemed some of his Country Dances, and Sports of Boys, in the manner of Albani, but on a larger scale. He had a pupil in Gio. Mario Tamburini, who afterwards attached himself to Guido, forming himself on his manner, as we have already stated.
Francesco Brizio, gifted with rare genius, was, up to his twentieth year, employed as a shoe-maker's boy. Impelled, at length, by his bias for the art, he acquired a knowledge of design from Passerotti, and of engraving from Agostino Caracci. Lastly, he commenced painting under Lodovico, and very soon arrived at such celebrity, that by some he has been pronounced the most eminent disciple of the Caracci. Doubtless, if we except the previous five, he was equal to any others, and, excepting Domenichino, gifted with the most universal genius. He was not deficient, like Guido, in perspective; nor in the branch of landscape, like Tiarini; nor in splendour of architecture, like so many others. In these accessaries he surpassed all his rivals, as we gather from his histories, painted for S. Michele in Bosco; at least such was the opinion of Andrea Sacchi. He is extremely correct in his figures, and perhaps approached Lodovico more closely than any other artist. The graceful beauty of his cherubs excites admiration, an excellence at that period so greatly studied by all the school; and here, in the opinion of Guido, he outshone even Bagnacavallo. His chief talent lay in imitation; owing to which, and his character for indecision, in addition to the number of great artists, superior to him in manners, he was deprived of assistants and commissions, and reduced to execute such as he had solicited at very insignificant prices. One of the most extensive altar-pieces in the city is from his hand, representing the Coronation of the Virgin, at S. Petronio, with a few figures in the foreground truly joyous and well arranged; besides others in the distance grouped and diminished with art; a picture of great merit even in strength of colouring. He produced also for the noble family Angelelli the Table of Cebes, in one grand painting; the work of an entire year, which displayed all the depth, imagination, and genius of a great artist. There are also a number of small engravings from his hand, in which he often approaches Guido.