Another Ferrarese, Antonio Buonfanti, called il Torricella, is said to have sprung from the school of Guido, though Baruffaldi is silent on this point. Two large scripture histories by him are at S. Francesco; but there are few other paintings or accounts of him at Ferrara; and he seems to have taken up his residence elsewhere. It is certain that the young artists who succeed this period are all ascribed to the school of Cattanio. Such are Francesco Fantozzi, called Parma, Carlo Borsati, Alessandro Naselli, Camillo Setti, artists who scarcely awaken the curiosity of their countrymen. Giuseppe Avanzi is more known by his very numerous works, for the most part confused, and painted almost at a sitting. He is described more like an artisan bent on earning good wages by his day's labour. His picture of St. John beheaded, however, at the Certosa, is extremely Guercinesque; and some others on canvass and on copper, which he retouched and studied a good deal, do him great credit.
But Cattanio's chief praise consists in his education of Gio. Bonatti, and in his recommendation of him to Card. Pio, who greatly assisted him, by placing him first at Bologna under Guercino, afterwards under Mola at Rome. He long supported him also at Venice, studying the heads of that school; besides defraying his pictoric tours through Lombardy, and giving him the custody of his paintings at court. In fact, he bestowed upon him such favours that the public, considering him as the dependant of that prince, always termed him Giovannino del Pio. At Rome he was esteemed among the best of his age; select, diligent, learned in the different styles of Italian schools; the view of which, during his picturesque tour, he declared was highly advantageous to him. And true it is that the painter, like the writer, is formed by the study of great models; but the one may behold them all collected in the same library, while the other has to seek them in different cities, and in every city to study them at different places. At Rome his only public works are a picture at the church dell'Anima, a history of S. Carlo at the Vallicella, and an altar-piece of S. Bernardo, at the Cisterciensi, highly commended in the Guide of Rome. The rest of his works, and they are but few, belong to private persons; his health declining at the age of thirty-five, he lingered eleven years afterwards, and died at Rome.
Lanfranco likewise supplied a pupil to this school, called by Passeri, Antonio Richieri, a Ferrarese. He followed his master to Naples and Rome, where he painted at the Teatini after the designs of Lanfranco:—the sole information I have been enabled to collect respecting his paintings. I am well aware that he devoted himself to engraving, as we learn also from Passeri, and that at Naples he engraved an altar-piece by his master, which was rejected by the person who gave the commission for it. There is more known of Clemente Maiola, whom the Ferrarese assert to be their fellow-citizen and pupil to Cortona. He conducted many works at Ferrara; one of S. Nicola supported by an angel, in the church of S. Giuseppe. He is moreover mentioned as a fine pupil of Pietro, in the Notizie of M. Alboddo, for works there extant. Titi gives account of others left in Rome at the Rotonda and in other temples; but he differs respecting his master, declaring that he was instructed by Romanelli.
Meanwhile Cignani's academy rose into notice, owing to its master's reputation, and among those who repaired thither from Ferrara were Maurelio Scannavini and Giacomo Parolini. Maurelio must be included among the few whose object was to emulate their master in that scrupulous exactness, which we noticed in its place. He was naturally slow, nor could he prevail on himself to despatch his work from the studio until he beheld it already complete in all its points. Though impelled by domestic penury to greater haste, he varied not his method; and, free from envy, beheld the rapidity of Avanzi, who abounded with commissions and money, whilst he and his family were destitute. The noble house of Bevilacqua assisted him much; and it redounds to its honour, that on remunerating him for some figures in an apartment where Aldrovandini had conducted the architecture, a very large sum was added to the price agreed upon. He produced few other pieces in fresco; a process that requires artists of more rapid hand. He painted more in oil; among the most esteemed of which is his S. Tommaso di Villanova, at the Agostiniani Scalzi; and at the church of the Mortara his St. Bridget in a swoon, supported by angels. The families of Bevilacqua, Calcagnini, Rondinelli, and Trotti, possess some of his pictures for private ornament; among which are portraits that display Maurelio's singular talent in this branch; and histories of half-length figures in the manner of Cignani. They exhibit gracefulness, union of colouring, and strength of tints, which leave him nothing to envy in the artists by whom he is surrounded, except their fortune.
Giacomo Parolini, pupil to the Cav. Peruzzini in Turin, afterwards to Cignani at Bologna, was present at Maurelio's decease, and completed a few works left imperfect, out of regard to his friend, and for the relief of his orphan family. He did not possess that true finish peculiar to the followers of Cignani; though he still maintained the reputation of his second school, by the elegance of his design, the propriety and copiousness of his composition, and his very attractive colouring, particularly in the fleshes. Aware of his own power in this difficult part of painting, he is fond of introducing into his pieces the naked figure, more especially of boys, from the proportions of which judges are enabled to recognize their author. His bacchanals, his Albanesque country-dances, his capricci, are all of such frequent occurrence at Ferrara, as to render it more easy to enumerate the collections in want of them, than those where they are. Foreigners also possess specimens; and there are engravings in acqua forte by the designer's own hand. His picture of the Cintura, representing the Virgin among various saints, nearly all of the order of St. Augustine, a piece engraved by Andrea Bolzoni, is held in much esteem. Nor are the three altar-pieces in the cathedral unworthy of notice; and in particular the entablature of S. Sebastiano at Verona, which greatly raised his reputation, representing the saint in the act of mounting into glory, amidst groups of angels; a beautiful and well executed work. Parolini is the last among the figurists whose life was written at length by Baruffaldi; the last, also, on whose tomb was inscribed the eulogy of a good painter. With him was buried for a season the reputation of Ferrarese painting in Italy.
The author of the "Catalogue," in the fourth volume has collected the names and drawn up the lives of certain other painters, interspersing several episodes. Concerning these figurists, little else is related than mere failures and misfortunes. For instance, Gio. Francesco Braccioli, pupil to Crespi, though promising well in some of his works for galleries, subsequently fell into infirmity of mind; one lost his taste for the profession; another cultivated the art with remissness, or only as a dilettante; a third produced some tolerable efforts, but was mostly extravagant; one had genius and died early; another long life without a spark of talent. Meanwhile, this dearth of native artists was for some years supplied by Gio. Batista Cozza, from the Milanese; a painter of a copious, easy, and regulated style. Not that he was invariably correct, though very popular, and when he pleased satisfying even judges of the art; as in that picture representing different SS. Serviti, in the church called di Cà Bianca.
After him appeared the modern artists, who now enjoy deserved reputation in the academy of Ferrara, which, owing to the particular patronage of his eminence Card. Riminaldi, has recently risen into distinguished notice. With the name of this noble citizen and of the professors whom he himself selected and promoted, future writers will doubtless commence a fourth epoch of painting. By him the academy was supplied with laws, and took its established form. To his care and munificence several young artists were indebted for their residence at Rome, and all the rest for the benefit of a well regulated institution at Ferrara. He also did much for the cause of letters in the university. But this is not the place to give an account of it; and his merits, commended as they are to posterity in numerous books and monuments, and impressed on the hearts of his grateful fellow citizens, are not likely soon to fall into oblivion.
It remains to speak of other kinds of painting, and it will be best to commence with perspective. After this art had assumed a new aspect at Bologna, and spread through Italy, as already stated, it was introduced by Francesco Ferrari, born near Rovigo, into Ferrara. He had been instructed in figure painting by a Frenchman, and afterwards became professor of architectural and ornamental painting under Gabriel Rossi, the Bolognese, of whose name, to say nothing of his style, I find no traces left at Bologna. To those who had the means of comparing the manners of these two artists, it appeared that Francesco did not equal him in the dignity of his architecture, but surpassed him in strength and durability of colouring, and in that relief so attractive in these performances. Moreover, he had a considerable advantage over his master, in his knowledge of appropriately painting histories. The Dispute of S. Cirillo is still to be seen, and the Rain granted to the Prayer of Elias, in the church of S. Paolo: pictures, observes Baruffaldi, which rivet the eye. Other proofs of his genius for history pieces are met with at the Carmine and at S. Giorgio, but still they yield to his architectural labours, which may be said to have formed his trade. He worked also for theatres, and in different Italian cities, and in the service of Leopold I. at Vienna. Being constrained to leave Germany on account of his health, he returned to Ferrara, and there opened school.
Among his pupils were Mornassi, Grassaleoni, Paggi, Raffanelli, Giacomo Filippi, and one who surpassed all the rest, Antonfelice Ferrari, his son. This artist did not attempt figures, but confined himself to architecture, in which he added to the somewhat minute style of his father, a magnificence well adapted to attract the public eye. He was employed with success in the Calcagnini palace, in that of the Sacrati, Fieschi, and in other private and public places in Ferrara, as well as at Venice, Ravenna, and elsewhere. Suffering much however in health by painting in fresco, and on this account being reduced to live with less comfort, he conceived such aversion for the art, that on making his will he enjoined that his son was to forfeit his inheritance if he ever became a fresco painter. Some of his pupils therefore succeeded him, among whom Giuseppe Facchinetti most distinguished himself. He painted at S. Caterina da Siena and other places, at once in a delicate and sound style, and is almost reputed the Mitelli of his school. Maurelio Goti of Ferrara nearly approached his style, not without marks of plagiarism. From the same country and school was Girolamo Mengozzi Colonna, who became a long resident at Venice. He accompanied the figures of Zompini with ornamental work at the church of the Tolentini, and those of Tiepolo at the Scalzi; and conducted the architecture in the ducal palace and elsewhere. Zanetti, in his Guide, mentions his name as above; but, in his "Pittura Veneziana," (thirty-eight years afterwards) he calls him Colonna Mengozzi, and a native of Tivoli. Guarienti extols him as the first architectural and ornamental painter of his time.
The art of landscape painting, which, after the age of the Dossi, had almost fallen into disuse at Ferrara, was revived there by some foreigners. Giulio Avellino, called, from his native place, the Messinese, resided some time in this city, and died there at the beginning of the century. He had been pupil to Salvator Rosa, whose style he somewhat softened, and richly ornamented with views of ruins and architecture, as well as with some small and well composed figures. The Signori Cremona and Donati possess select specimens; and there is scarcely a collection in Ferrara or Romagna which does not value itself on possessing them. After him appeared Giuseppe Zola, born, according to Crespi, at Brescia, a landscape painter, of a taste devoted to no single master, but formed upon many. He was exceedingly rich in conception and in expedients; his buildings are of a rustic kind; his ruins partake of the modern, and are picturesquely covered with creeping plants and ivy; the backgrounds of an azure hue, and great variety of objects and figures, in which he was less happy than in his landscape. His earlier works are held in most esteem; when he obtained greater commissions, he performed them with a more mechanical hand, and, with the exception of his colouring, which he always studied, he bestowed little care on the rest. Those pictures are in general most complete, in which he introduced the smallest figures; and such may be seen even out of private houses, in the Monte della Pietà, and in the sacristy of S. Leonardo. He formed several pupils, the best of whom was Girolamo Gregori. Instructed as a figurist by Parolini, and afterwards by Gioseffo dal Sole, he failed for want of perseverance, except very rarely, in greater works. Yet he produced many, and his landscapes have been highly extolled. The same may be observed of Avanzi, mentioned by us shortly before; who, in addition to his very pleasing landscapes on canvass and on copper, surpassed all his fellow citizens in the drawing of flowers and fruits.