Francesco Antonio Cuniberti, of Savigliano, a fresco painter of some reputation in the decoration of cupolas and ceilings, worked in his native place and its neighbourhood. Pietro Gualla di Casalmonferrato also employed himself in fresco, and likewise painted in oil in many places of the state, and in the metropolis. Although he applied himself late to the study of his art, he became a portrait painter of great spirit. Nor ought he to have gone beyond this province, neither possessing a knowledge of design, nor genius equal to greater attempts. When verging on age, he assumed the habit of a friar of S. Paul, and in Milan undertook to ornament a cupola of the church of that order; but he died before he had finished his work.
Another department of the art was cultivated in a distinguished manner by Domenico Olivieri of Turin, a man born to amuse by his singular personal appearance, his lively conversation, and the humorous productions of his pencil. His cabinet pictures of spirited caricatures in the style of Laer, and other eminent Flemish artists, are well known in the collections of Piedmont. In his time the royal collection, by the death of Prince Eugene, was enriched by the addition of nearly four hundred Flemish pictures; which are still distinguishable from others by the highly finished carving and fine taste of the frames. No one profited more than Olivieri from the imitation of these works. If he had possessed the lucid clearness of their tints, he would have passed for a Flemish artist. He is happy in his subject, strong in his colours, and free in his touch. The court has two large pictures of his, crowded with figures of a span in size: one of which is a market scene, with charlatans, drawers of teeth, villagers quarrelling, and the variety of incident usually furnished by a busy assemblage of the vulgar. It might indeed, from its humour, be called a little Bernesque poem. He occasionally employed his talents in sacred subjects, as in the Miracle of the Sacrament, which he represented by a number of small figures in two pictures, which are preserved in the sacristy of the Corpus Domini. His style was inherited by one Graneri, who imitated him successfully, and died only a few years since.
The court had also a painter from Prague, of the name of Francesco Antonio Meyerle, commonly called Monsieur Meyer, who did not acquire so much fame from his larger works as from his small pictures in the Flemish style: in the latter he was indeed excellent. He was also a fine painter of portraits. The Bishop of Vercelli possesses one of an old man, scrutinizing some object or other with an eye-glass, executed with great truth and humour; and in the same city, where he spent his latter days, his works are frequently met with, and the more prized the smaller they are found in size. In landscapes and other ornamental pictures, painted in a bold Venetian style, and for distant effect, a Piedmontese, of the name of Paolo Foco, distinguished himself, who lived for a long time in Casale, where the greater number of his works are to be found. He, too, attempted figures on a larger scale, but with little success.
In portraits, in the time of Orlandi, a lady of the name of Anna Metrana, whose mother also was a painter, was much esteemed. In our days a similar reputation was obtained in Bologna, by Marcantonio Riverditi, of Alessandria, a very good follower of that school. He painted also in the churches in a clear chaste style, far removed from mannerism; and amongst other pictures which he painted for the church of the monks of Camoldoli, is a Conception, in which he manifested his predilection for Guido Reni. He died in the same city in the year 1774.
I have found, in the course of my reading, one Michela, whether or not of Piedmont I cannot determine, who, in the royal castle painted perspectives, ornamented with figures by Olivieri; a work executed in competition with Lucatelli, Marco Ricci, and Gian Paolo Pannini, celebrated artists of those times. For the more extensive decorations of the churches and the theatres we find two artists often employed; Dellamano, of Modena, mentioned by us in the second chapter of the Lombard Schools,[77] and Gio. Batista Crosato, of Venice, whose genius and fine taste are extolled by Sig. Zanetti. He has not, however, been able to adduce more than one public picture, in which branch, and in every other of a figurist, he was less admired than in perspective. He is one of those painters who deceive the eye by a strong relief, and he thus gives the semblance of reality to his imitations. He has left proofs of this quality in various parts of Piedmont, where he generally resided; and the works which do the most honour to his memory are at the Vigna della Regina. He conferred a benefit on the School of Piedmont, from his instruction of Bernardino Galliari, a celebrated perspective painter, particularly for the theatres, and of great fame in Milan, in Berlin, and in other places beyond the mountains. To this respected professor his scholars are indebted for their accurate taste in art. The state has also produced other painters in figures and in landscape; nor will any impartial person blame me for not having particularised every individual of them. On the contrary, I fear that several names here inserted by me, may appear to some of my readers scarcely worthy of admission. Such persons ought however to consider, that the mediocrity of the times compels the historian to notice artists of mediocrity.
The rules of the academy, introduced in Turin in 1778, have not subsisted sufficiently long to allow us to judge of their result, as I have done with regard to older establishments. They were given to the public the same year, from the royal press;[78] and do honour as well to the good taste as to the munificence of Victor Amadeus III. His august father had, indeed, already prepared a domicile for the fine arts in the halls of the university, and had founded the new academy of design, under the direction of the first painter of the court. It has since received fresh lustre from the patronage of the present king, and has been enlarged by professorships, stipends, and laws, and aids of all kinds for studious youth. Turin has, in the present day, exhibited productions in painting, such as, except in Rome, are to be found in few capitals of Italy; and in architecture, statuary, and bronze, stands almost unrivalled. I do not particularise the living artists, as they may easily be found in the New City Guide, or in the preface to volume xi. of Vasari, printed in Siena; and some of their names have become better known from the voice of public applause than from the pens of writers.
I here close my History of the Art of Painting. The Indexes, which form the sixth volume, the first, containing the nomenclature and the different ages of the artists; the second, a list of the writers from whom I have derived my information; and the third, a reference to some things more particularly deserving of notice, will complete the work.
[75] Galleria del Marini, p. 288.
[76] The mediocrity of some who are extolled in Marini's work, which was published about the year 1610, appears from the silence observed towards them by contemporary writers, or the little applause with which they are named. I never elsewhere found mention, to the best of my recollection, of Lucilio Gentiloni, of Filatrava, nor of Giulio Donnabella, who there figure as eminent designers; nor of Annibale Mancini, whence I know not, a painter of histories; nor of the two equally renowned Frenchmen, M. Brandin and M. Flaminet, elsewhere transformed into Fulminetto; much less a Raffaele Rabbia, and a Giulio Maina, who painted the poet's portrait; unless, indeed, the second be the Bolognese Giulio Morina, mutilated in his name, like not a few other artists of this truly ill assorted Gallery. [This artist would rather appear to be the Giulio Mayno, of Asti, the court painter, mentioned in p. 467, ante. Ed.]
[77] See [vol iv. p. 69].