Gio. Batista Paggi, a patrician by birth, was led to the profession of a painter by his predilection for the art, which, in spite of the opposition of his father, he indulged in from his earliest years. He was highly accomplished in letters, and his various attainments in poetry, philosophy, and history, all served to assist him in the composition of his pictures. He was perhaps not so much extolled by the poets as Castello, but he attained a greater celebrity among his brother artists. He was directed by Cambiaso in his first studies, which was the drawing in chiaroscuro from the casts of antique bassi-relievi, for the purpose of attaining a true idea of the beautiful, and preparing himself for the study of nature. Being well skilled in the practice of the crayon, with little labour, and almost alone, he learnt the art of colouring; and without the instructions of a master, taught himself architecture and perspective. Whilst he was rising into notice, he was compelled to flee his country for homicide; and, for about the space of twenty years, he resided in Florence, protected by that court, and always profitably employed. Florence, at that time, abounded with men of first rate genius; and it was then that Cigoli, and all the young painters, abandoned their own languid style for the rich and vigorous Lombard. Paggi had not so much occasion as the others to invigorate his manner, as appears from the works he executed in Florence not long after his arrival there. There remains by him a Holy Family, and another picture in the church degli Angioli, and in the cloister of S. Maria Novella a history piece of S. Catherine of Siena. It represents the saint liberating a condemned person, and is a large composition, ornamented with beautiful buildings, and so pleasingly executed that I have heard it preferred to all in that convent. Nevertheless the great merit of Paggi was not at that time vigour, but a certain nobleness of air, which always continued to be his characteristic, and a delicacy and grace which have led some to compare him to Baroccio, and even to Coreggio. It seems to me that he became more vigorous as he advanced, and a proof of it is to be seen in the stupendous Transfiguration, painted in S. Mark, which seems almost beyond his powers. In the same style he painted for the Certosa at Pavia three pictures from the Passion of our Saviour, which appear to me among his best works. He was ultimately recalled by the republic about the year 1600 for his excellence in his art, and the courts both of Pavia and Madrid invited, and were desirous of employing him. His patriotism however precluded him from accepting these honourable appointments. He illustrated his native city with beautiful works in the churches and in collections. They have not all equal merit, as this artist also was not exempt from the disadvantages of bad priming, domestic anxieties, and the infirmities of age. His best works, according to some, are the two pictures at the church of S. Bartolommeo, and the Slaughter of the Innocents, in the possession of his Excellence the Sig. Giuseppe Doria, painted in competition with Vandyke and Rubens in 1606. He formed also some excellent scholars, the account of whom we shall reserve to the succeeding epoch. We shall there again recur to him, as he is placed on the confines of the two periods of his school, and may be regarded in the one as a scholar, and in the other as a master.
GENOESE SCHOOL.
EPOCH III.
The Art relapses for some time, and is re-invigorated by the Works of Paggi and some Foreigners.
Every school, whatever may have been the celebrity of its founder, betrays in the course of time symptoms of decay, and stands in need of restoration. The Genoese, in the hands of Castello, experienced a decline about the close of the sixteenth century, but soon afterwards revived, by the return of Paggi, and the arrival of some foreigners, who established themselves for a considerable period in that city. To this amelioration Sofonisba Angussola not a little contributed by the assemblies of scholars and professors of the art, which were held in his house, much to their improvement, as we have before observed. Among these were Gentileschi, Roncalli, and the Procaccini, who were employed in various public works. Aurelio Lomi of Pisa settled in Genoa, taught there, and left some excellent works at San Francesco di Castelletto, at the Nunziata del Guastato and elsewhere. Nor ought we to omit Simon Balli, his scholar, unknown in Florence, his native city, but deserving of being remembered for his style, which partook considerably of Andrea del Sarto's, and for some small cabinet pictures on copper. Antonio Antoniano of Urbino also resorted thither, if we are to believe Soprani.[68] He brought with him the beautiful picture painted for the Duomo by Baroccio, who was his master; and he himself, in the church of S. Tommaso, painted the picture of the saint and another picture; and, if I mistake not, some others for private individuals, which are at the present day attributed to Baroccio, so successful was his imitation of that master. There came to Genoa from Siena Salimbeni and Sorri, and with them Agostino Tassi. The two latter remained there for a length of time, both working and teaching; and besides these, Ghissoni, who was also a Sienese of some merit, a scholar of Alberti in Rome, and a fresco painter of a vigorous and engaging style. Simon Vovet also repaired thither, but did not remain long; he however executed some works, one particularly of the Crucifixion, at St. Ambrose, not unworthy, as Soprani informs us, of his great name. Amongst the most considerable aid which Genoa experienced from foreign talents we must enumerate Rubens and Vandyck; the first of whom left there some noble public works, and a number of private historical pieces, and the second a very great number of his eloquent and animated portraits. Gio. Rosa of Flanders also established himself there, mentioned by me in Rome, where he studied; a happy imitator of nature in her most agreeable forms, especially animals. He died in Genoa, and left there Giacomo Legi, his countryman and scholar; of whom there remain some excellent pictures of animals, flowers, and fruit, though few in number, as he died young. Godfrey Waals, a German, and Gio. Batista Primi, a Roman, scholars of Tassi, and landscape painters of much merit, resided there for some time; and Cornelio Wael, with Vincenzio Malò, two Flemish painters, clever in battles, landscapes, and humorous pieces, and the latter also in altar-pieces. Some other Flemish artists must have resided there a shorter time, by whom I have seen in some palaces pictures of large size, and to all appearance painted on the spot; and these I regard as additional aids to a school that benefited at that time more from example than from instruction.
The young artists of Genoa, thus enriched in the course of a few years by fresh examples, entered on a new career, and adopted a more vigorous and grander style than they had before practised. And not a few of them, after receiving the rudiments of instruction in their native place, repaired to Parma, or Florence, or Rome, to finish their studies; and from these and other sources added celebrity to their country. Thus the seventeenth century did not possess in Genoa so decided a character as the preceding, nor so select or ideal: it had however an abundance of excellent artists, and particularly of the best portrait painters and colourists, sufficient indeed to supply Venice with at her least happy epoch. It would also have attained a higher pitch of repute, if the plague of 1657 had not swept off a vast number of promising artists; the names of some of whom, cut off at an early period of life, may be found mentioned in Soprani. The primary cause of this revival of the art in Genoa may be ascribed to the riches and to the taste of her nobility, who invited and supported these eminent foreign artists. And in the next place much of this merit is due to Paggi. There was at one time great danger of these excellent colourists being negligent designers; and it is indeed a common opinion, adopted also by Algarotti, that the best colourists are seldom correct in design. Paggi, in this important point, supported the credit of the school. He had studied design among the Florentines, the best masters in Italy; and he composed for the instruction of youth a small treatise, entitled[TN15] Diffinizione o sia Divisione della Pittura, which he published in 1607. Soprani considers it a useful compendium, and containing, in plain and unaffected language, the principles of the art. It is mentioned with particular commendation in a letter of the younger Vasari, which must make us regret the loss of it; and it would be desirable to search the libraries where papers of this description are preserved, to ascertain whether it may be still in existence. All that we at present possess by Paggi is the Treatise mentioned by us a few pages back. In the mean time we shall commence a new epoch with him and his school.
Domenico Fiasella is called il Sarzana, from being born in the city of that name, where he obtained the rudiments of his style. He devoted himself to the study of the noble picture of Andrea del Sarto, which was then in the church of the Predicatori; and where there is at this day a beautiful copy of it. After being instructed for some time by Paggi he repaired to Rome, and studied Raffaello, and imbibed also other favourite styles. He there spent ten years, and became an eminent master, much praised by Guido Reni, and employed as an assistant by the Cav. d'Arpino and Passignano. He finally returned to Genoa, and in that city and in others of higher Italy, executed numerous works. A very considerable part of them he left imperfect, being in the habit of neglecting them, or leaving them to be finished by his scholars, as is the tradition of his native place. Independent of this impatience he was a great artist, and possessed many eminent qualities, a felicity in grand compositions, a style of design often worthy of the Roman School, great life in the heads; an admirable colour in his oil pictures, and an easy imitation of various styles. He is very Raffaellesque in a S. Bernardo, which is to be seen at S. Vincenzio in Piacenza; Caravaggesque in a S. Tommaso di Villanova, at S. Agostino in Genoa; in the Duomo of Sarzana, where he painted the Slaughter of the Innocents, and in the archiepiscopal gallery of Milan, in an infant Christ, he is a follower of Guido; and in other places an imitator of Annibal Caracci and his school. He can command our admiration when he pleases, and has left a stupendous work in the church of the Augustines in Genoa, representing St. Paul, the first hermit, for whose body, discovered in a lonely forest by St. Antony the Abbot, a lion is in the act of scooping a grave. Many of his pictures are found in private collections. I have met with specimens at Sarzana, in the house of his Excellency the Marquis Remedi, a house celebrated for the cordial and generous hospitality of the owner; and in others too there and in the state. His Madonnas have for the most part a similarity of features; not so ideal as those of Raffaello, but still agreeable and prepossessing.
On the death of Paggi, Fiasella became the principal instructor in Genoa, and I shall mention his most conspicuous scholars. We may commence with his relative, Gio. Batista Casone, changed by Orlandi into Carlone, who did not paint much in Genoa. If we may judge from the altar-piece delle Vigne, representing the Virgin surrounded by saints, he retained the style of Fiasella, the colouring of which he endeavoured to invigorate. Gio. Paol Oderico, a noble Genoese, painted always with great care, was select in his forms, and possessed a strong and rich colouring. The PP. Scolopi have a picture by him of the S. Angiolo Custode, the work of a young hand, but bearing promise of great talents. His historical compositions are also to be found in galleries, but they are rare, according to Soprani, and placed among the most precious possessions. His portraits are not of such rare occurrence, and in these he displayed great talents, and had numerous commissions. We find but few public works of Francesco Capuro, in consequence of his being engaged by the court and individuals in Modena, where he passed a great part of his life, at a distance from his own country. He was among the stricter followers of Fiasella in regard to design and composition, but in his colouring he partakes of Spagnoletto, under whom he studied in Naples; and in the style of that painter he executed some pictures of half-size, which probably procured him his highest reputation. We have still fewer public works by the young Luca Saltarello; but a S. Benedetto, in the church of S. Stefano, in the act of restoring a dead person to life, a picture of sober colouring, beautifully harmonized, and full of expression and knowledge, sufficiently denotes his early maturity, and his capacity, if he had lived, of forming an epoch in his school. Being desirous of adding to his other accomplishments the advantages to be derived from the ancient marbles, he repaired to Rome, and died there through excess of study.
Gregorio de' Ferrari of Porto Maurizio received from Sarzana instructions conformable to his principles, but which did not correspond with the genius of the scholar, which was naturally disposed to a style of greater freedom and grandeur. He repaired to Parma to study the works of Coreggio, and there made a most careful copy of the great cupola, which was purchased many years after by Mengs; and he returned home with a very different style to his first. Coreggio was his only prototype, and he imitated him most happily in the air of the countenances, and in many individual figures; but not in the general style of composition, in which he is not so ideal; nor in the colouring, as in his frescos he is somewhat languid. He is in general negligent in his drawing; so that, with the exception of the two pictures at the Theatines of S. Pier d'Arena, this censure attaches to all his works. In his foreshortenings and in his draperies he sometimes falls into affectation. He possesses however considerable attractions: he is ingenious and novel, and displays a vigorous, rich, and correct colouring, particularly in the fleshes. By these qualities his S. Michele, at the church of the Madonna delle Vigne, predominates amongst the pictures of that church: and it may be justly ranked with those Venetian productions in which the spirit and noble colourings atone for the inaccuracy of the drawing. He was much employed in Turin and in Marseilles; and still more so in the principal palaces in his own country, particularly in that of the Balbi. There however the great names of that celebrated collection, both foreign and native, wage against him, as we may say, a continual war.