Soleri had a son, a painter of mediocrity, as may be seen in Alessandria in the sacristy of S. Francesco. The father, to propitiate his success in the art to which he destined him, had given him the two most illustrious names of the profession, calling him Raffaele Angiolo. But these names served only to flatter parental fondness.
With Alessandro Ardente and Giorgio Soleri we find mentioned a Jacopo Rosignoli of Leghorn, who was at that time painter to the court. His character is described in an epitaph placed over him at S. Thomas in Turin, which thus extols him: quibuscumque naturæ amœnitatibus exprimendis ad omnigenam incrustationum vetustatem; meaning grotesques, in which he imitated with success Perino del Vaga. We also find memorials of another painter to the court about the same time. The books of the Treasury call him Isidoro Caracca, and he seems to have succeeded to Ardente; for in 1595 his name begins to be found, to which others may perhaps add, in progress of time, his country, school, and works. To me it seems that persons who have received such a mark of distinction, ought at least not to be placed among the vulgar; nor should a notice of them be neglected when they fall in our way.
We may add to these some others of doubtful schools, as Scipione Crispi of Tortona, who has derived celebrity from the Visitation, placed in S. Lorenzo in Voghera; and in Tortona itself there is a picture representing S. Francis and S. Dominick with the Virgin, with his name, and the date 1592. Contemporary with Crispi was Cesare Arbasia, of Saluzzo, supposed by Palomino, but incorrectly so, to be a scholar of Vinci, as I mentioned when I spoke of him before.[73] He resided some time in Rome, and taught in the academy of St. Luke, and is mentioned with commendation by the P. Chiesa in his life of Ancina, as one of the first of his age. He went also to Spain, where, in the cathedral of Malaga, there still exists his picture of the Incarnation, painted in 1579; and there is an entire chapel painted by him in fresco in the cathedral of Cordova. He painted too the vault of the church of the Benedictines of Savigliano; in the public palace of his native place he executed also some works in fresco; and he was held in esteem by the court, who granted him a pension in 1601.
There is ground for believing that Soleri, who was married in Vercelli, and who lived in Casale, had a share in the instruction of the celebrated Caccia, surnamed Il Moncalvo, who gave to Monferrato its brightest days of art. We may with propriety say a few words on this subject before we return to Turin. Monferrato was some time under the Paleologhi; afterwards under the Gonzaghi; this is a sufficient reason for us to believe that it was willingly frequented by excellent artists. Vasari relates that Gio. Francesco Carotto was considerably employed by Guglielmo, Marquis of Monferrato, as well in his court at Casale as in the church of S. Domenico. After him other artists of merit resorted thither, whose works still remain to the public. We further know that these princes had a collection of marbles and pictures, which were afterwards removed to Turin, where they contributed to the ornament of the palace and royal villas. After what we have stated we cannot be surprised that the arts should have flourished in this part of Italy and the adjacent country, and that we should there meet with painters deserving of our admiration.
Such an one was Moncalvo, so called from his long residence in that place. He was however born in Montabone, and his true name was Guglielmo Caccia. No name is more frequently heard by cultivated foreigners who pass through this higher part of Italy. He commenced his career in Milan, where he painted in several churches. He proceeded afterwards to Pavia, where he did the same, and where he was presented with the freedom of the city. But he is still more frequently named in Novara, Vercelli, Casale, Alessandria, and in the tract of country leading from thence to Turin. Nor is this the whole itinerary of such as wish to see all his works. We must often deviate from the beaten road, and visit in this district castles and villas, which frequently present us with excellent specimens, particularly in Monferrato. He there passed a great part of his life; having been brought up in Moncalvo, says P. Orlandi, an estate of Monferrino, where he had both a home and school of painting. He seems to have begun his career in these parts; and as his first works they point out, in the Sacro Monte di Crea, some small chapels with passages from the sacred writings.
P. della Valle describes his style at Crea as that of the infant Graces. He remarks that there are indications of his inexperience in fresco painting, and that by comparing his early works with his last we may trace the improvement in his style. He attained such a degree of excellence as to be considered as an example to fresco painters for his great skill in this department. He is to be seen in Milan at S. Antonio Abate, by the side of the Carloni of Genoa: he there painted the titular saint, with S. Paul, the first hermit; and maintains himself in this dangerous contest. His picture in the cupola of S. Paul at Novara is a beautiful and vigorous painting, with a glory of angels, painted, as he generally did, in a delightful manner. In oils he was perhaps not so successful. I have seen few of his pictures painted with that strength with which he represented in Turin St. Peter in the pontifical habit, in the church of S. Croce. The picture of S. Teresa, in the church of that saint, is also well coloured; and it is celebrated for its graceful design, in which is represented the saint between two angels, overpowered at the appearance of the holy family, which is revealed to her in her ecstacy. To this may be also added the Deposition from the Cross at S. Gaudenzio di Novara, which is there by some considered his masterpiece, and it is indeed a work of the highest merit. In general his tints are so delicate, that in our days at least he appears somewhat languid, the fault perhaps of not having retouched his pictures sufficiently.
His style of design does not accord with that of the Caracci, which leads me to question the opinion prevalent in Moncalvo, that he was a pupil of that school. One of the Caracci school would have studied fresco in Bologna, not in Crea; nor would he have adopted in his landscape the style of Bril, as Moncalvo has done; nor have discovered a preference of the Roman style to that of Parma. Caccia's style of design seems derived from the elder schools, as we may observe in it a manner which partakes of Raffaello, of Andrea del Sarto, and Parmigianino, the great masters of ideal beauty. And in his Madonnas, which are to be seen in many collections, he sometimes seems the scholar of the one, and sometimes of the other; one of those in the royal palace of Turin seems designed by Andrea. But the colouring, though accompanied by grace and delicacy, as I said before, is different, and even borders often on debility, in the manner of the Bolognese School which preceded the Caracci, and more especially of Sabbatini. He resembles that master also in the beauty of the heads and in grace; and if it could be satisfactorily proved that Moncalvo studied in Bologna, we need not look further for a master than Sabbatini. But I have before made the remark that two painters frequently fall into the same style, as two different writers sometimes adopt the same characters. And I have also observed, in regard to Moncalvo, that in Casale he had Soleri, a painter of a lively and elegant style; and that there, in Vercelli, and in other cities where he resided, there was not wanting to him the best examples of that graceful style to which his genius inclined. He did not however shun nobler subjects; as his works in the church of the Conventuals at Moncalvo will shew, where there is a rich gallery of his pictures. Chieri also has specimens of him in two historical pictures in a chapel of S. Domenico. He there painted the two laterals of the altar; in the one is the resuscitation of Lazarus, in the other the miracle of the loaves in the desert; works remarkable for their richness of fancy, their excellent disposition, the correctness of the drawing, the vivacity of the action, and the first of which inspires both devotion and awe. They would confer honour on the noblest churches.
He executed many works, assisted by scholars of mediocrity; a thing which ought to be avoided by every good master. In Casale I heard a Giorgio Alberino enumerated among his best scholars; and on the relation of P. della Valle I may add to them Sacchi, also of Casale, as his companion in Moncalvo; who possessed a more energetic pencil perhaps, and more learning than Caccia. He painted in S. Francesco a Drawing of Lots for Marriage Portions; in which is seen a great assemblage of fathers, mothers, and young daughters; and in the latter the sentiments are most vividly expressed, so that we read the fate of each in her countenance; the face of one beaming with delight at the mention of her name, while another stands wishful, yet fearing to hear herself called. And at S. Agostino di Casale is a standard, with the Virgin and saints, and certain portraits of the Gonzaghi princes; a picture ascribed to Moncalvo: but if we consult the style and the mode of colouring, I should rather attribute it to Sacchi.
Caccia taught, and was assisted in his labours by two daughters, who may be called the Gentilesche, or the Fontane of Monferrato, where they painted not only cabinet pictures but more altar-pieces than perhaps any other females. The contours of their figures are exactly copied from their father, but they are not so animated. It is said that their manner was so similar, that, in order to distinguish them, the younger, Francesca, adopted the symbol of a small bird; and Ursula, who founded the convent of Ursulines in Moncalvo, that of a flower. Of the latter her church and Casale also have some altar-pieces, and not a few cabinet pictures with landscapes touched in the style of Bril, and ornamented with flowers. A Holy Family by her in this style is in the rich collection of the Palazzo Natta.
Lastly I may record the name of Niccolò Musso, the boast of Casalmonferrato, where he lived, and left works which possess an originality of style. He is said by Orlandi to have been the scholar of Caravaggio for ten years in Rome; and there is a tradition in his native place that he studied under the Caracci in Bologna. Musso leans to Caravaggio, but his chiaroscuro is more delicate and more transparent; he is very select in his figures and in expression; and is one of those admirable painters almost unknown to Italy itself. He did not live long, and generally painted for private individuals. He left however some works in public, and more than one in the church of S. Francis, representing that saint at the feet of Christ crucified, and angels partaking his lamentations and devotions. The portrait of this artist, painted by himself, is also in Casale, in the possession of the Marchese Mossi; and some memoirs of him were published by the Canonico de' Giovanni, as I read in P. M. della Valle.[74]