He, however, left few public works. Whoever wishes to see admirable productions, must observe his pictures in eminent collections; as the St. Thomas Incredulous, in the Palazzo Brignole. When placed in a room of excellent colourists he eclipses them all by the majesty, copiousness, vigour, nature, and harmony of his style. His design is not very correct, nor sufficiently select; we there see a naturalist who follows neither Sorri nor any other master; but one who, after the example of that ancient master, derives instruction from the multitude. There is a deep expression of force and energy in the heads of his men, and of piety in those of his saints. In the countenances of his women and his youths he has less merit; and I have seen some of his Madonnas and angels vulgar and often repeated. He was accustomed to paint portraits, and in his compositions derived all his knowledge from the study of nature; and often painted half figures in the style of Caravaggio. The royal gallery at Florence has a Christ by him, called della Moneta; the figures half-size, and exhibiting great vivacity. He is esteemed the most spirited artist of his own school; and in strong impasto, in richness and vigour of colour, has few rivals in any other; or rather, in this style of colouring he is original and without example. His remains were deposited at S. Fosca in Venice, with this inscription: Bernardus Strozzius Pictorum splendor, Liguriæ decus; and it is his great praise to have merited this encomium in the seat and near the ashes of the greatest colourists.
Gio. Andrea de' Ferrari perfected himself under this master, having been previously the scholar of Castelli, whose feeble style may be detected in the Theodosius, painted by Ferrari as an altar-piece in the Gesù. In many works he is a respectable follower of Strozzi; as in the Nativity in the Duomo of Genoa, and in the Nativity of the Virgin, in a church of Voltri, full of figures which seem inspired with life. Although little known, and perhaps too little commended by Soprani, he is one of the first Genoese artists; and, to establish his reputation, it is sufficient to state, that he was the master of Gio. Bernardo Carbone, the chief of this school of portrait painters. Even by the more experienced his portraits were often mistaken for those of Vandyke, or purchased at prices little inferior to those given for a true Vandyke. He also composed well, as may be seen in his picture of the King S. Louis at the Guastato. But this picture did not please the person who gave the commission, and a second was ordered in Paris, and afterwards a third, which successively superseded each other on the altar. But they did not prove satisfactory, and that of Carbone was restored to its place, and the other two were added as laterals, as if to attend on it.
Another deserving scholar of Strozzi resided a considerable time in Tuscany, and there distinguished himself; Clemente Bocciardo, from his great size called Clementone. He first studied in Rome, afterwards in Florence, and practising much with Castiglione, he formed a style more correct and ideal than that of his master, to whom, however, he is inferior in truth of colour. Pisa was his theatre of art, where, in the Duomo and elsewhere, he left some highly respectable works; over all of which, in his life, the preference is given to S. Sebastian, placed in the church of the Carthusians. He painted his own portrait for the royal gallery of Florence, which has had a better fate than those of many common artists, and remains there to the present day.
A third pupil of this school resided a considerable time in Venice, afterwards in Mirandola. This was Gio. Francesco Cassana, a soft and delicate colourist, and master of Langetti. By the Venetians he was but little esteemed, and painted only for private collections. He afterwards repaired to the court of Mirandola, and painted a S. Jerome for the Duomo of that city, and other pictures in various churches, which enhanced his reputation. He was the founder of a family that conferred honour on the art. Niccolo, his eldest son, who became one of the most celebrated portrait painters of his age, passed the chief part of his life at Florence, and died at the court of London. The Grand Duke possesses some of his historical compositions, and some portraits full of expression, in the royal gallery, amongst which are two half figures of two court buffoons, admirably executed. It is said that his style, which nearly approaches to Strozzi, cost him great trouble, and that, when painting, he was so intent on his work as not to hear a person addressing him; and sometimes, in a rage, he would throw himself on the ground, exclaiming against his work as deficient both in colour and spirit, till snatching his pencil again he brought it to his wishes. Gio. Agostino, called l'Abate Cassana, from the clerical dress which he always wore, was a good portrait painter, but distinguished himself more in the representation of animals. There are many of his pictures in the collections of Florence, Venice, and Genoa, and Italy in general, and they often indeed pass under the name of Castiglione. The third brother was Gio. Batista, and excelled in flowers and fruits, which he painted with great effect. They had also a sister, of the name of Maria Vittoria, who painted sacred figures for private collections, and who died in Venice at the beginning of the last century. In all I have said of the Cassana family I have adhered to Ratti, as to a native and correct author. Some who have written on the gallery of Florence, where the portraits of the three first are found, differ in some particulars, ascribing to the one works belonging to the other. Niccolo was in fact the one that there enjoyed the highest favour of Prince Ferdinand; and he it is who is mentioned in the note to Borghini (p. 316) where it is said that the picture by Raffaello, transferred from Pescia to the Pitti palace, was finished by Cassana. But with respect to this notice, and others regarding the Cassani, we may consult the Catalogo Vianelli, p. 97, where we find described a remarkable portrait of a young man studying, painted by Niccolò; and it is succeeded by a long memoir, which throws additional light on the history of this family.
I must now speak of another celebrated Ligurian, but neither a scholar of Paggi, nor of Sorri, nor indeed of any other considerable master, and almost self-instructed; for the elements of the art, which he learned from Orazio Cambiaso, a painter of mediocrity, could not carry him far. He was born in Voltri, his name Gio. Andrea Ansaldo. He is the only one of the school who contested precedency in perspective with Giulio Benso, by whom, in a quarrel, prompted by jealous feelings of his talents, he was wounded: an attempt which was repeated by an unknown hand, after an interval of some years. Near the choir of the Nunziata, painted by Benso, we behold the cupola of Ansaldo, injured by damp, yet notwithstanding remarkable for a most beautiful division and grandeur of the architecture, and for many figures which remain uninjured. When we survey this fine work, we cannot refuse to this artist a great talent for the decoration of cupolas, which may be esteemed the summit of the art of painting, as the colossal is of sculpture. His other works in fresco, in churches and in private houses, are very numerous; and he is particularly admired for his works in the palace Spinola at S. Pier d'Arena, where he has represented the military exploits in Flanders of the Marchese Federico, the boast of this family. Amongst his oil pictures a St. Thomas baptizing three Kings in a church, is celebrated. It is placed in the chapel of that saint, and exhibits much vigour of design, a brilliant decoration of scenery and persons, and a display of graceful and delightful harmony. Such is his prevailing character, which is in part his own, acquired by an unwearied application, and in part derived from the Venetians, and especially Paolo. Ansaldo is one of those masters who painted both much and well.
Of his scholars, the one who followed him the closest was Orazio de' Ferrari, his countryman and kinsman. He painted well in fresco, but better in oil. We need only inspect the Last Supper in the oratory of S. Siro, to form a most favourable idea of this young artist. Giovacchino Assereto profited more from the design than the colour of Ansaldo; in general he attempted his chiaroscuro in the manner of Borzone, his first master, as in the picture of S. Rosario at S. Brigida. Giuseppe Badaracco was ambitious of introducing a new style into his native place, and repaired to Florence, where he remained many years copying and imitating Andrea del Sarto. He left many works there in private collections, and I imagine they are there still; but, as always happens to copyists and imitators, his name is never mentioned, and his works pass as belonging to the school of Andrea. In Genoa itself his name is almost lost. It is known that he in general painted for collections; but not for what houses. I found in the house of a gentleman of Novi an Achilles in Scyros, with the name of Badaracco, and with the date of 1654. In this work the artist seems to have forgotten Andrea, and to have followed the naturalists of his own country. There is no public work by him except a S. Philip, which is preserved in the sacristy of S. Niccolò in Voltri.
To the foregoing masters we may add Gio. Batista Baiardo, of I know not what school, but certainly commendable for the talents displayed in his pictures at the portico of S. Pietro, and in the convent of S. Agostino, painted with vigour, freedom, and grace. The inferior works in that convent are certainly by another hand. Baiardo, Badaracco, Oderico, Primi, Gregorio de' Ferrari, and others in this school, were carried off by the plague in 1657. But we have now spoken sufficiently of the higher class of works, and shall here pass to those of another kind, completing the notices which we have occasionally interspersed before.
We have often spoken of portrait painting, a lucrative branch of the art in every capital, and more cultivated in Genoa than in most cities. Besides the noble models of art left, as we have before mentioned, by the best Flemish artists, those of Del Corte, a scholar of Titian, and of his son Cesare, were of great service. From the school of this master arose a succession of noble portrait painters, instructed by Luciano Borzone, who in the time of Cerano and Procaccini also studied in the Milanese School, and derived benefit from it; an artist highly esteemed by Guido Reni. He is entitled to a place in the higher walks of art for his numerous paintings for the churches and for collections; where however his greatest merit is the expression, which as a good portrait painter, or rather naturalist, he gives to his heads, which partake more of natural truth than of select beauty. The folds of his drapery are true and simple, and his style on the whole is not so strong as that of Guercino, but sufficiently so to please the eye. The Presentation at S. Domenico, and the B. Chiara at S. Sebastiano, are of this character. But his best works are at S. Spirito, where he painted six pictures, and amongst them the Baptism of Christ, which is much extolled. He initiated in his own profession two sons, Gio. Batista and Carlo, who on his death finished some of his pictures in a manner not to be distinguished from his own hand. Carlo surpassed his brother in small portraits; and with him Gio. Batista Mainero, Gio. Batista Monti, Silvestro Chiesa, all scholars of Borzone, all worthy of commemoration, and all of whom shared the same fate, being carried off by the pestilence of the year 1657.
The first who distinguished himself in the lower branch of the art in the Genoese School was Sinibaldo Scorza, born in Voltaggio, who, guided by a natural genius, and directed by Paggi, proved an excellent painter of landscapes enlivened by figures of men and animals in the style of Berghem. It would be difficult to name an artist in Italy who so successfully engrafted the Flemish style on his own. I have seen a picture of cattle passing a stream, in the collection of the illustrious Carlo Cambiaso, where the animals rival those of Berghem, and the human figures appear painted by a superior artist. Other collections possess specimens of him in sacred subjects and classical fables; in which he rises far above the Flemish artists. He also painted in miniature, if indeed his oil paintings, from the care bestowed on them, ought not themselves to be called miniatures. His works were celebrated by the poets of the age, particularly by Marini, who introduced him to the court of Savoy. He was engaged, and employed there until hostilities took place between the governments of Piedmont and Genoa, which obliged him to return home. He was then denounced to the government by some malicious rivals as a partizan of Savoy, and passed two years in exile between Massa and Rome. From thence he returned much improved, whence his latter pictures far exceed the first in invention and copious composition.
Antonio Travi, more commonly called Il Sestri, or Il Sordo di Sestri, from being a grinder of colours in the studio of Strozzi, and a friend of the Flemish artist Waals, soon emulated both the one and the other. He learned from the latter the art of painting landscape, with buildings in perspective, and ruins; and he afterwards copied from nature the beautiful country of the Riviera, with avenues of trees and rich orchards. But as Waals was a feeble painter of figures, Travi availed himself of the instructions of Strozzi to enliven his landscapes with beautiful and spirited figures, not so much painted as sketched with a few strokes by a master's hand, to gratify the eye when viewed at a distance. Thus, although his landscapes are not highly finished, they please us by their agreeable disposition, by their azure skies, the verdure of the trees, and their freedom of touch. The state abounds with his pictures; but a great proportion of those that bear his name are by his sons, who succeeded him in his profession, but not with their father's talents.