Such, as just described, was the degree of excellence to which the pictoric art arrived under the Esti, whose dominion over Ferrara terminated in the person of Alfonso II., who died in 1597. These princes beheld nearly all the classic styles of Italy transferred into their own capital by classic imitators, which no other potentates could boast. They had their Raffaello, their Bonarruoti, their Coreggio, their Titian, and their Paul Veronese. Their memory yet affords an example to the world; because, like true citizens of their country, they fostered its genius, the love of letters, and all the arts of design. The change of government occurred in the pontificate of Clement VIII. for whose solemn entry into the place the artists Scarsellino and Mona were employed about the public festivals; being selected as the ablest hands, equal to achieve much in a short space of time. Various other painters were subsequently employed, in particular Bambini and Croma, who were to copy different select altar-pieces of the city, which the court of Rome was desirous of transferring into the capital; leaving the copies only at Ferrara, to the general regret of the Ferrarese historians. Subsequently the Card. Aldobrandini, nephew to the Pope, was there established as legate; a foreigner indeed, but much attached to the fine arts. Like other foreigners, he was more bent upon purchasing the works of old masters, than upon cultivating a genius for painting among the citizens. The same feeling may, for the most part, be supposed to have influenced his successors; since, about 1650, Cattanio, as we read in his life, ascribed the decline of the art to its want of patrons, and induced Card. Pio, a Ferrarese, to allot pensions to young artists, to enable them to study at Bologna and at Rome. But such temporary aids afforded no lasting support to the school, so that if the others of Italy were greatly deteriorated during this last century, that of Ferrara became almost extinct. It may, therefore, boast greater credit for having retrieved itself under less favourable circumstances, and for having continued so long to emulate the most distinguished originals.
About the beginning of the seventeenth century, when the new civil government commenced at Ferrara, a new epoch also occurred in its pictoric school, which I call that of the Caracci. I can furnish no account respecting that Pietro da Ferrara, mentioned by Malvasia, along with Schedone, among the pupils of Lodovico Caracci. I have no where met with his name in any other work. Dismissing him, therefore, I may award the chief station in this epoch to two able artists, who acquired the taste, without entering into the academy of the Caracci. These were Bonone of the city of Ferrara, and Guercino belonging to the state; of whom, as residing so long with his school at Bologna, I have there written what need not here be repeated. They were succeeded by other painters in the Legation, nearly the whole of them pupils of Caracci's followers, or again of their disciples; insomuch, that what now remains of the Ferrarese School, is almost a continuation of that of Bologna. It is the crowning glory of the Ferrarese to have boasted superior emulators of the final school of Italy, as they had of all the preceding. But it is now time to proceed to the particulars.
Carlo Bonone, called by the admirable Cochin invariably Bourini, was pupil to Bastaruolo. On being deprived of his master, he continued to exercise his acquired manner; but he subsequently inclined to the strong, to contrast of light and shadow, and to the difficult parts of composition, more than any other contemporary Ferrarese. I suspect that, despairing of competing in grace with Scarsellino, he intended to oppose him by a more robust and enlarged manner. Nor had he far to seek for it, while the Caracci flourished in Bologna. He left his native place; and perhaps passing through that city, he conceived the first idea of his new style. Arrived at Rome, he there continued above two years designing the beautiful from nature in the academy, and out of it from the works of art; and then returned to Bologna. Here he remained a year, "until he had mastered the character and colouring of the Caracci, and devoted himself exclusively to the principles and practice thus adopted, entirely renouncing all other manners." Thus states Baruffaldi; and adds, that he resided also at Venice, whence he departed more confounded than instructed, with the fixed intention of never in the least departing from the Caraccesque manner. He went also to Parma, and saw the works of Coreggio, according to some, though without departing from his maxim. What progress he made in the path thus selected, may be easily gathered from the opinions of experienced Bolognese, contained in different histories, who, on examining one of his works, ascribed it, without hesitation, to Lodovico Caracci; and it is also to be inferred from the public voice, which extols him as the Caracci of Ferrara.
This mistake is apt to be made in those compositions with few figures, rather than in his large histories. In the former his dignity of design is calculated to deceive us; as well as the conception and attitudes of his heads of men, the form and fulness, the fall and folding of the drapery, the choice and distribution of the colours, and the general tone which in some works, more correctly conducted, greatly resemble the Bolognese style. But in his compositions on a grand scale, he does not closely imitate the Caracci, always sparing in their figures, and anxious to make them conspicuous by a certain disposition peculiarly their own; but rather follows the Venetians, and adopts methods to multiply the personages on the scene. The grand Suppers which he painted (of a few of which we have engravings by Bolzoni) might be almost pronounced from the genius of Paul Veronese, so greatly do they abound with perspective, stages, and staircases; so thronged is every situation with actors and spectators. His Herod's Feast, at S. Benedetto, is much celebrated, as well as the Marriage of Cana, at the Certosini, at S. Maria in Vado, and other places in Ferrara, but, in particular, his Supper of Ahasuerus, in the refectory of the Canonici Regolari of S. Giovanni, at Ravenna. The canvass is large, as well as the vestibule which fills it, while the multitudes which there appear, thronged together, is excessive; guests, spectators, domestics, musical choirs and companies in the balconies, and in a recess, through which is seen the garden, appear other tables surrounded by guests, with so beautiful an illusion of aerial perspective, as at once to relieve and to gratify the eye with infinite variety. There is as much diversity also in the attitudes, novelty of drapery, richness of plate, &c., of which it seems impossible to finish the inspection. A few figures too are more studied, such as that of Ahasuerus, of the master of the feast, and of a kneeling page, in the act of presenting the royal crown to the king. To these add several of the singers, which rivet the eye by their respective dignity, vivacity, or grace. In no other work did Bonone succeed equally well in captivating others and in pleasing his own taste.
Yet the church of S. Maria in Vado boasts so great a number of his paintings on the walls, so many in the vault and in the ceiling, conducted too with so perfect a knowledge of foreshortening, that, in order to estimate the vastness of his talents, we ought to see that magnificent temple itself. When Guercino left Cento for Ferrara, he used there to spend hours devoted only to the contemplation of Bonone. I find mention that, for such productions, "he was elevated even to a competition with Coreggio and the Caracci," and he assuredly adhered much to that method, designing accurately, modelling his figures in wax, arranging the foldings, and exhibiting them to a nocturnal light to examine their best effect, which he aimed at even more than the Caracci. Still I have too great deference for public opinion, which acknowledges no rivals to these noble masters, though they had imitators; and I have heard judges express a wish for more constant accuracy of design, choice in his heads, stronger union of colours, and a better method of laying on his grounds, than they find in Bonone. Notwithstanding similar exceptions, however, this artist stands as one of the very first, after the Caracci. Though inferior in age, he could not be called inferior in merit, to Scarsellino; and the city, divided into parties, could not agree to award the palm either to the elder or to the younger. They pursued different manners; each was eminent in his own, and when they came into competition each exerted his utmost industry not to be outshone, which left the victory still doubtful. There were a few years ago at the Scala, and are yet at other places, a number of these rival productions, and it is wonderful to see how Bonone, accustomed so much to fill his canvass on a large scale, can adapt his genius, equal to any, to study and refinement, even painting his figures of small proportion almost in the style of miniature, in order that Scarsellino, in these ornaments of the cabinet, should not excite greater admiration than himself. Different collections, and particularly that of the noble Bevilacqua, possess fine specimens of him; in public is his Martyrdom of St. Catherine, in that church, a real treasure, much sought for by foreigners, who have frequently offered for it large sums without success.
No disciple of Bonone's school acquired much celebrity, and, least of any, Lionello, nephew to Carlo, and his heir. He was indebted to his uncle for his knowledge of the art, but could never be induced to practise it with diligence. What he has left was either executed with Carlo's assistance, and from his designs, or is of very middling merit. Others, who had successfully attained the manner of this master, died young, as Gio. Batista della Torre, born at Rovigo, and Camillo Berlinghieri, both artists of genius and highly estimated in collections. Some early pieces of great promise adorn the church of S. Niccolo, where the former painted the vaulted ceiling, but on some defect in the work being pointed out by the master, he refused to complete it, and setting out in anger for Venice he there took up his residence, and shortly came to an untimely end. By the second was painted the picture of the Manna, at S. Niccolo, besides several others throughout the city, and a few also at Venice, where he obtained the name of the Ferraresino, and where he died before completing his fortieth year.
The highest reputation was obtained by Alfonso Rivarola, likewise called, from some property left to him, Il Chenda. On his master's death he was proposed, as the most familiar with his style, by Guido Reni, to complete an unfinished work of Bonone. At S. Maria in Vado is the Marriage of the Virgin, sketched by Bonone, and which Chenda painted, Lionello having declined to venture upon such a task. This picture has a powerful rival in one of Bonone's, placed opposite to it, though it still displays a hand not unworthy of following that of Bonone. His fellow citizens entertained the same opinion of his other early efforts, such as the Baptism of the Saint, exhibited in a temple of noble architecture at S. Agostino, in a style of foreshortening that displays a master. His Fables, too, from Guarini and Tasso, conducted in the Villa Trotti, as well as the pictures yet belonging to the same nobles, and to different houses in the city, are held in esteem. But he executed little for churches and collections, aiming more at popular admiration, which he obtained by exercising at once the office of architect and of painter at public festivals, and in particular at tournaments, then so very prevalent in Italy. One of these, which he conducted at Bologna, laid the foundation of his early decease. Either he met with little applause, and took it to heart, or, according to others, had such success as to lead to his being carried off by poison. Thus, in few years, Carlo Bonone's school approached its close, not without leaving, however, numerous works which, owing to their uniform style, are now attributed generally to the school, not in particular to any artist.
I reserved for the series of the Caracci the name of Francesco Naselli, a Ferrarese noble, though stated by some to have been initiated in the art by Bastaruolo. This, however, is uncertain; it is only known that he designed from the naked model with assiduity in an academy opened in conjunction with his efforts, at Ferrara; and that going thence to Bologna, he took copies of various works by the Caracci and by their disciples. In the churches of his native place, and in private cabinets, numerous proofs of these studies are met with, the most laborious of which are two miracles of St. Benedict, copied in the cloister of S. Michele in Bosco, and now placed at S. Giorgio of the Olivetani in Ferrara. Of these, one is borrowed from Lodovico, the other from Guido; but preferred to both is his Communion of S. Girolamo, which decorates the Certosa, a copy from the original by Agostino. Guercino also was one of his favourites; of his he copied every thing he could meet with, having selected him, after the Caracci, for his first guide. By such practice Francesco succeeded in designing and painting with good success in his own manner, on a large scale, animated, soft, with rapid execution and strong union of colours, inclining in those of his fleshes to a sun-burnt hue. Of his own design is the S. Francesca Romana at the Olivetani, the Assumption at S. Francesco, several Suppers, abounding in figures, belonging to private institutions, five of which are in the Cistercian monastery. He likewise painted at the Scala in competition with one of the Caracci, with Bonone, and with Scarsellino. Nor was he judged unworthy of them; and at the sale of those valuable paintings for the relief of the Hospital, in 1772, considerable prices were offered for his productions. Although noble, and in easy circumstances, he never ceased to persevere, and it would appear that he was desirous of promoting the success of one of his domestics in the same art. Crespi declares that he had read a statement, showing Alessandro Naselli to be the son of Francesco, but, according to historians, he was an artist of mediocrity, the omission of whose works will scarcely be any loss to my readers.
It is here necessary to interrupt for a moment our series of the Caracci's disciples, to make mention of two geniuses, who also became painters, like Naselli, but in the Venetian taste. Gio. Paolo Grazzini, one of Bonone's best friends, professed the goldsmith's art, and it was owing only to his bias for painting, imbibed from Bonone and other contemporaries, that he acquired its principles in familiar conversation. Eager to put them to the test, he commenced his altar-piece of S. Eligio, for the Goldsmith's School. It occupied him eight years in its completion, but it was executed in such a masterly style as alone to decide his excellence, approaching quite as nearly as any to the manner of Pordenone. Being then about fifty years of age, it excited the utmost surprise throughout Ferrara, yet he still persevered, and conducted some minor pieces, which decorate private buildings, in the same taste. So rare an example, or rather one so wholly novel, appeared to me well worth historical mention. Somewhat at a later period Giuseppe Caletti, called il Cremonese, came into notice. He acquired the art rather from the models of the Dossi, and of Titian, than from masters, imitating not only their manner of design, but their colouring, which is so difficult. He contrived also to imitate that antique tone which time gives to paintings, and thus adds to their harmony. He painted a good deal for collections, such as half-length figures, bacchanals, and small histories. Baruffaldi recognized several in some noble galleries at Bologna, and has been compelled to argue the point with judges, who maintained that they were Titian's. He farther relates, that an excellent pupil of Pietro da Cortona purchased a great number, at a high price, at Ferrara, being confident of reselling them at Rome for Titian's, or at least for works of his school. In Ferrara, which is filled with his pictures, it is difficult to succeed in these impostures. He is there distinguished by fleshes of a sun-burnt hue, by certain bold lights, strengthened by contrast with somewhat loaded shadows, by the fleeciness of his clouds, and by other careless and ill-conducted accessories. Often too the extravagance of the composition betrays the real author, when, for instance, in a bacchanal, much resembling Titian, there is inserted a chase, or some modern sport, which is like representing wild boars in the sea, or dolphins in the woods. In a similar manner are his other fine qualities impaired for want of judgment, without which no artist is well calculated for the decoration of churches. In that of S. Benedict, however, his four Holy Doctors, on an altar, are seen to advantage; and upon another his admirable St. Mark, a grand and correct figure, full of expression, and very picturesquely surrounded by abundance of volumes, in whose drawing he is so true and natural, as to have been called the painter of books. Having completed this work, il Cremonese disappeared out of the city, nor were farther tidings heard of him, although some writers conjecture that he died about 1660.
Returning to the disciples of the Bolognese, the first deserving of mention here is Costanzo Cattanio, a pupil of Guido. His portrait, both on canvass and in prints, I have seen, and it has always a threatening kind of expression. That martial, or bravo character, affected by so many artists about the times of Caravaggio, also misled this excellent genius from the right career. At times Costanzo was an exile, now at open defiance, and now wholly occupied in shielding his protectors, who never ventured out unarmed, from dread of their rivals, and to whom he pledged himself that they should not be assassinated in his presence. When he applied himself to his art his peculiar disposition appeared stamped on the expression of his figures. The characters whom he was most fond of introducing into his histories were soldiers and bullies, whose fierce aspects seemed but ill adapted to the soft style of his master. These, and many other ideas, he borrowed from the prints of Durer, and Luca of Holland, which he reduced to his own diligent and studied manner, particularly in his heads and his steel armours. Although attached to strong expression, and borrowing something from the other schools of Italy which he saw, he nevertheless at times betrays sure traces of Guido's school. Thus, in his S. Antonio, painted for the parish church of Corlo, and in our Lord's Supper, which he placed in the refectory of S. Silvestro, and in every other instance when he aimed at the Guidesque, he succeeded to admiration.