[71] A catalogue of the painters of Piedmont, and their works, is given by the Count Durando in the notes to his Ragionamento su le belle Arti, published in 1778. The P. M. della Valle has also written of them in his prefaces to the tenth and eleventh volumes of Vasari. Some valuable information respecting them has also been contributed by the author of the Notizie patrie, and more is to be found in the New Guide of Turin of Sig. Derossi, and in the first volume of the Pitture d'Italia. And, lastly, further notices are to be gathered from various works on art, of which we shall avail ourselves in the proper place.
[72] We ought to credit his own testimony. He painted three pictures at S. Paolino di Lucca, and in that of S. Antonio Abate he subscribes himself Alexander Ardentius Faventinus, 1565; so says Monsig. Mansi, Archbishop of Lucca, in his Diario. He however in other places in that little work, and Sig. Morrona in his Pisa, call him a Pisan, and others a Lucchese.
[73] [ Tom. iv. p. 257]. One truth prepares the way for another. I have read in Sig. Conca, tom. iii. p. 164, that the style of Arbasia partakes of that of Federigo Zuccaro; an opinion I believe of Sig. Ponz, the principal guide of Conca. If Federigo about the same time was chief, and Arbasia master in the academy of Rome, the style of the first might be caught by the other. When we reflect that the style of Da Vinci is highly finished, correct, and strong, diametrically opposed to the facility and popular style of Federigo, we cannot accord to Palomino that authority and veneration which Conca bestows on him. What should we think of a critic who should endeavour to palm on us, as the production of the time of Horace, an ode written in the style of Prudentius?
[74] Pref. al tomo xi. del Vasari, p. 20.
SCHOOL OF PIEDMONT AND THE ADJACENT TERRITORY.
EPOCH II.
Painters of the Seventeenth Century, and first Establishment of the Academy.
Returning now to Turin and to the seventeenth century, in the early part of which the painters, whom we have mentioned with commendation, were either still surviving, or only lately deceased, we meet with Federigo Zuccaro, who, in his journey through the various states of Italy, (of which Baglione speaks,) did not fail to visit Turin. He there painted some pictures in the churches, and commenced the decoration of a gallery for the duke; a work which, from some cause or other, was left unfinished. Baglione does not inform us that this gallery was destined for the reception of works of art, but it is highly probable that it was so; since, at that time, a considerable collection of ancient marbles,[75] designs, and cartoons, was already formed, which has been since enlarged, and is now preserved in the Archivio Reale; and a select cabinet of pictures, to which similar additions have been made, and which is now the principal ornament of the royal palace, and the villas of the sovereign. We there find the works of Bellini, Holbein, and the Bassani; the two large compositions of Paolo, executed for the Duke Charles, and described by Ridolfi; several pictures of the Caracci and their best scholars, amongst which are the Four Elements by Albano, an admirable production; without mentioning others by Moncalvo and Gentileschi, both of whom resided for some time in Turin, and by other eminent Italian artists, or the best Flemish painters, some of whom remained a considerable time in that city. Hence, in this class of pictures, the house of Savoy surpasses every single house in Italy, or even many taken together.
But, to proceed in due course, we may observe, that, at the commencement of the seventeenth century, there existed in Turin a rich collection of pictures and drawings, the ornament of the throne, and subservient to the instruction of young artists, the care of which was entrusted to a painter of the court. We first find one Bernardo Orlando invested with this charge, who was appointed painter to the duke in 1617. This honour, in succeeding years, was conferred on many others, whose pencils were employed in Turin and the castle of Rivoli; where, however, many of their works were effaced in the present century, and others substituted by the two Vanloos. Some of these are unknown in the history of art, as Antonio Rocca and Giulio Mayno, the first a native of I know not what place, the latter of Asti. A della Rovere is also an unknown artist, mentioned in the Registers from the year 1626; nor can this be the same who left, in the convent of St. Francis, a picture of very original invention, the subject of which is Death. It expresses the origin of death, in the transgression of Adam and Eve; and the fulfilment of it, by the thread spun, wound, and severed, by the three Fates, with other fancies in which profane and sacred ideas are confounded together. If the design of this picture cannot command our approbation, its other qualities are still prepossessing, and conciliate our esteem for the painter, who subscribes himself, Jo. Bapt. a Ruere Taur. f. 1627. But the name of the court painter was Girolamo. Baglione acquaints us with another, called Marzio di Colantonio, a Roman by birth, who excelled in grotesques and landscapes. There are also some others included in the list of ducal painters, whom we have before mentioned in various schools; as Vincenzo Conti in the Roman, Morazzone in the Milanese, and Sinibaldo Scorza in the Genoese. These and others, who painted in Turin and the neighbourhood about this time, will be found in the Lettere and the Galleria of the Cav. Marini, who resided for some time at this court. We must, however, consult him with caution, as he was a poet, and very readily augmented his gallery, by devoting a sonnet to every picture and drawing, so that artists of mediocrity valued themselves more on his applause than painters of merit.[76] Thus Malvasia informs us, that he had frequently heard Albano boast of having refused Marini's request, the gift of a picture, for fear the poet should make it the subject of a sonnet, (tom. ii. p. 273).
The painters whom I have just mentioned were, most probably, the instructors of those artists of Turin and the states who flourished elsewhere; as Bernaschi in Naples, Garoli in Rome, and others who are said to have been also taught by foreigners, and who distinguished themselves in Piedmont. None of this number possess a stronger claim to our notice than Mulinari, (or, as he is more frequently called, Mollineri) whether with regard to merit, or the order of time. Most writers have considered him a scholar of the Caracci in Rome; from the imitation of whom he received the surname of Caraccino from his own countrymen. But I apprehend that this supposed residence of his in Rome proceeds from the common source of such mistakes, the resemblance of style, true or supposed. Della Valle mentions him as being settled in his native place in 1621, and of forty years of age; languid and feeble in his contours, and improving himself by the assistance of some masters, his friends; to which we may perhaps add, the study of the prints of the Caracci, and some of their paintings. My suspicions are confirmed by the Count Durando, a well informed and cautious writer, who denies that positive proof can be given of the reported instruction of Mulinari, notwithstanding the surname of Caraccino, a title not difficult to acquire from the vulgar, in a city so remote from Bologna and Rome; as in some countries which have little knowledge of the true style of Cicero, a writer may pass for an elegant latinist, while imitating Arnobius. In other respects, in the pictures which have acquired him celebrity, he is correct, energetic, and, if not dignified, yet animated and varied in his male heads; for, as Durando himself confesses, his females are all deficient in grace. His colouring is also good, though not resembling the Caracci; his tints being more clear, differently disposed, and sometimes feeble. At Turin, the Deposition from the Cross at S. Dalmazio, is classed amongst his best works; but the composition is crowded, and very different from the principles of the Bolognese. In Savigliano, where Mulinari was born, and where he lived many years, pictures by him are found in almost every church; and his talent and merit are, in fact, only known in that place. There, and in Turin, we find some works by a worthy Flemish artist, named Gio. Claret, by some considered the scholar, by others the master of Gio. Antonio in colouring, but at all events his intimate friend. He is an artist of a free and spirited pencil, and painted in several churches in competition with Mulinari.