of Poland, Augustus III., for the sum of 20,000
ducats, or 40,000 Roman scudi (rather more than
8000£.). I should consider it an insult to my readers
if I attempted the slightest description of this famous
picture, painted somewhat in the style of the Madon-
na del Pesce, and in the same powerful manner.
Every one knows the Madonna di Sun Sisto, at least
by copies and engravings, amongst others by that of
the poor Miiller, who from having so long contemplat-
ed the picture lost both his reason and his life when
he had completed his patient and magnificent work.*
I shall then only say a very few words of preliminary
warning about this picture. In order to understand
it well, we must not forget what the artist meant to
express and what the exact subject is. We should be
mistaken if we were to seek in it a simple Madonna,
a representation of the mother of our Lord, such as
the artist imagined her and offered to the piety and
admiration of men. There is more here ; it is like
a revelation of heaven to earth ; it is an Appearance
of the Virgin. This word explains the whole render-
ing of the picture ; the green curtains drawn aside in
* A new engraving, by Steinla, of the Madonna di San Sisto wan
published at Dresden in 1858, which in raj opiuion is the most faithful
copy of Raphael's master-piece.
1 1
210 WONDEES OF ITALIAN ART.
the upper part, the balustrade at the bottom, on which
the two little angels lean, who seem by their upturned
glance, to point to the celestial vision ; and St. Sixtus
and St. Barbara, kneeling on either side of the Virgin,
like Moses and Elias on Mount Tabor at the Trans-
figuration. We must also notice that the two angel*
at the bottom, whose presence few people understand,
give a third plane to the picture, or as the Italians
say, three orizouli, first these angels, then St. Sixtus
and St. Barbara, and lastly the Madonna and Child,
who are thus placed at a greater distance.
When we understand this, we can appreciate all
the merits of this composition. What symmetry and
variety are to be found in it ! What noble attitudes,
in what wonderfully graceful positions are the Virgin
and the Child in her arms, and also the two saints in
adoration ! And what ineffable beauty there is in
everything that composes the group, old man, Child,
and women ! What could be more thoughtful, pious,
and holy than the venerable head of Sixtus I., crowned
by the glory of the saints, the thin golden circle of
which shines brightly on the blue back-ground, com-
posed of innumerable faces of cherubim ! • What
could be more noble, more tender, and more graceful
than the holy martyr of Nicomedia, who unites every
kind of beauty, even that creamy complexion so
celebrated by the old fathers of the primitive church!
What could we find more astonishing, more super-
human than that Child with the meditative forehead,
-vith the serious mouth, with the fixed and penetrat-
SOMAN SCHOOL. 211
ing eye, that Child who will become the wrathful
Christ of Michael Angelo ! And is not Mary reallj
a radiant and celestial being? is she not an appari-
tion ? What eye could gaze on her without falling I
None, I am convinced, even of the most ignorant or
incredulous. And what strikes us even more than
the look, what moves even the depths of our hearts,
is not a skilful combination of light and shadow, a
prepared effect of chiaroscuro, imitating the light of
everlasting day ; it is the irresistible power of moral
beauty which beams in the face of the Virgin mother,
whose veil is lightly thrown aside as if by the breeze ;
it is her deep glance, her noble forehead, her look, at
once grave, modest, and sweet ; it is that indefinable
look of something primitive and wild, which marks
the woman brought up far from the world, out of thr
world, and having never kuown its pomps or deceit
ful gayeties.
I have always thought — what I have already said
— that no one attains, I will not say to a knowledge,
but to a feeling for the arts, without a sort of revela-
tion which he experiences, at some period of his life,
before some special work, which would seem to have
been reserved especially for him. It also frequently
happens when any one follows the works of one
master— "Raphael, Poussin, or Rembrandt, for ex-
ample — from gallery to gallery, that at the sight of
one particular picture, all the merits of that master
are seen at once, and also the merits of other works
which had not been either understood or appreciated
212 WONDERS OF ITALIAN ART.
until then. Decidedly superior to any other painting
in the north of Europe, the Madonna di San Sisto is
especially adapted for producing this double result :
to make Raphael both known and admired, and to
awaken in minds who have not experienced the
instinct for the beautiful, not only a taste for the
arts, but even taste in art.
I must now say a few words to conclude the
praises of Raphael. In all the schools of painting,
and still more in the whole history of modern art,
there has been no one to equal him. After three
centuries and a half of animated discussions, of fre-
quent revolts, after the interminable debates which
have taken place in every party and every sect around
the name of Raphael, as formerly the Greeks and
Trojans fought around the body of Patroclus, Ra-
phael, calm and tranquil, has ever occupied the throne
of painting, and no other artist, however great he
might be, whether fellow-countryman or foreigner,
whether bearing the name of Titian, Albert Durer,
Rubens, Rembrandt, Murillo, or Poussin, has ever
disputed his legitimate empire.
Michael Angelo and Raphael had transported the
school of Florence to Rome ; after them and their im-
mediate disciples (I have already mentioned the prin-
cipal ones) this imported school declined, and was
soon entirely extinguished. No endeavor in the
Roman school responded to that iu the Bulognese.
During this irremediable decay, we need do no more
than mention two second-rate painters, who never
LOMBARD SCHOOL. 213
rose above anecdotal painting: Pietro di Cortano
(1596-1669), and Carlo Maratti (1625-1713), who
was, indeed, the '" last of the Romans." After him
the only eminent artists at Rome were foreigners, all
coming from Germany, Raphael Mengs, Angelica
Kaufmann, and Friedrieh Overbeck.
Lombard School.
I shall unite under this name all the masters of
the north of Italy who are not Venetians. Leonardo
da Yinci carried the Florentine school to Milan, as
Michael Angelo and Raphael had to Rome. lie was
not more fortunate than his illustrious rivals ; like
them he had some eminent disciples, but these had no
successors, and with them the school was extinguished.
At their head was Bernardino Luini (about 1460 till
after 1530), who may almost be considered the riva'
of Leonardo as well as his pupil. It is in him as a
painter of frescoes and easel-pictures that the master
has survived. If it frequently happens that works of
Luini are attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, as those
of Bonifazio to Titian, and those of Arnold of Guel-
ders to Rembrandt, this fact, although it sinks the
renown the pupils have justly acquired in the glory
of the master, must be to the honor of the pupils,
since it proves that the mistake was possihle. We
can see this in the Louvre: the Sommdl de Jisus,
the Holy Family, half the size of life, and still more
the Daughter of He rod las receiving the head of John
214 WONDERS OF ITALIAN ART.
the Baptist, are excellent paintings, in which the
Milanese almost equals the Florentine, although it is
by imitating him. We might also mention in this
Florentine school at Milan, Andrea Solario (1458
until after 1509), Cesare da Cesto, Francesco Melzi,
and Gaudenzio Ferrari (1484-1549), the only painter
whom the kingdom of Piedmont added to those of
Italy. To name after them the Procaccini, would be
to descend into the period of decadence.
But before Leonardo da Vinci a great painter had
arisen in the Lombard provinces, and he did not
come from Florence. This is Andrea Mantegna
(1431-1506), whose work and destiny render him
almost equal to Giotto, allowing for the century and
a half between them. Andrea Mantegna was, like
Giotto, a shepherd in his childhood, then under the
lessons of the old Squarcione almost as precocious as
Raphael under Perugino. He was born at Padua,
and after his marriage with the sister of the Bellini,
joined the primitive Venetian school, and by his
works exercised a happy influence over the schools of
Milan, Ferrara, and Parma. Ariosto was right then
in mentioning him among the three great names in
painting, of the period immediately preceding Raph-
ael.* This illustrious artist has left numerous works
in the principal towns of Italy. Three of the most
important of these are in the Tribune of Florence, an
Adoration of the Kings, a Circumcision, and a Resur-
* Leonardo, Andrea Mantegna, Gian Bellini. (Orlando Furioao,
canto xxiii.)
LOMBARD SCHOOL. 215
rection. The museum of Naples possesses his St.
Kuphejnia, which is considered bis masterpiece.
However, in order to dwell a little on the qualities
and style of Mantegna, I prefer to select those of his
works which are to be found in the Louvre.
There are four of these : first, a Calvary, painter,
in distemper, perhaps before he had adopted or even
known the processes of the Fleming Jan van Eyck,
which were not generally employed in Italy until the.
middle of the fifteenth century. This conjecture
seems probable, if we consider that, when eighteen
years of age, Mantegna painted the high altar of
Santa Sofia of Padua, — as Raphael the Sposalizio y
and, as his biographers declare, was admitted into
the corporation of painters of Padua at the age of
ten, as Lucas Dammesz was at Leyden. This Cal-
vary shows great firmness in the drawing, and a deep
expression of sadness. The soldier who is seen in the
foreground is thought to be a portrait of Mantegna
himself. Next comes the Yier<j? a, la Vietoire, a
beautiful Christian allegory in honor of the marquis
of Mantua, Francesco di Gonzaga, who could not,
however, even with the help of the Venetians, stop
the passage or the return of the French troops under
Charles VIII. He was the zealous protector of the
painter, and was repaid ir. flattering praises during
his life, and eternal fame after his death. This pic-
ture, intended for the church of Santa Maria della
Vittoria, which was bunt on plans furnished by Man-
tegna, who practised all the arts, was painted in dis-
216 WONDEES OF ITALIAN ART.
temper, according to Vasari, by whom he is mentioned
with praise. Now as this Yierge d la Victoire cannot
be anterior to the retreat of the French in 1495, it is
evident that Mantegna returned by taste and vol-
ontary choice to the old Byzantine processes. This
is curious, and shows us how it happened that in
Flanders great artists, such* as Hemling of Bruges,
adhered to the primitive processes a long time after
the discovery of the brothers Van Eyck. Lastly,
there are the Parnassus, and Wisdom Victorious over
the Vices, both allegories, this time pagan and painted
in oil. Mantegna does not merely show in these his
great artistic powers, elevation of style, firmness of
lines and contours, justice and solidity of coloring;
he also displays that uncommon knowledge, 1 was
going to say divination of the antique, in which he
preceded Poussin by two centuries.
But there is another of his works in which he has
shown a far greater degree of this knowledge or
divination. We must seek it in England, in the old
palace of Hampton Court. It is a series of nine
cartoons, painted in distemper. These had doubtless
been prepared for the long circular fresco which Man-
tegna painted for the Marquis Ludovico Gonzaga, in
the Castle of San Sebastiano, at Mantua, the first
sketches for which are preserved in the Belvedere at
Vienna. They are called the Triumph of Julius
Ccesar on his return from Gaul. There must be an
error, at least in the second part of the title. In the
first place the figure of the conqueror is wanting,
LOMBARD SCHOOL. 217
which fact leaves the field open to suppositions.
Again, in the procession are carried statues, vases,
and picture.-, the tabular pictce, the simulacra pugna-
rumjncta, of which Livy and Pliny speak, all things?
rather resembling the spoils taken from the Greeks than
from the Gauls or Britons. It must be rather the
triumph of Paulus ^Emilius after his victory over
Perseus, or of Sylla after the taking of Athens, or of
Caesar after Pharsalia. It would be better to name
these cartoons, as at Vienna, a Roman Triumph.
Whatever the title, the collection no less interesting
than curious, for these mural paintings noble and
vigorous in their drawing, learned and ingenious in
their composition, in a style worthy of the ancients,
are certainly without equals in the works of Mantegna
for both material and moral grandeur.
It would be unjust after the eulogy of the most
illustrious of the Paduan artists, not to grant at least
a mention to the most celebrated painter of the little
school of Ferrara. This is Benvenuto Tisio(14Sl-
1559), who is usually called Garofalo, either because
he often signed his pictures with a pink as a mono-
gram, or because he had received in his youth the
name of the village where he was born — Garofalo in
the Duchy of Ferrara. lie seldom endeavored to
attain a grand style by depending on large propor-
tions. We onlv find four lar^e paintings bv him — the
Sibyl before Augustus, in the Museum of the Vatican ;
the Descent from the Cross, in the Borghese Palace ;
the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, in the museum at
218 W0NDEE8 OF ITALIAN ABT.
Naples ; and the Apparition of the Virgin to St.
Bruno, in the gallery of Dresden. This last, a very
large picture, bearing the signature of the master, and
the date, 1530, may be considered as the best work
of this painter, whose almost constant custom was to
paint small figures. In this painting he displays his
graceful and elegant, as well as firm style, which,
even when confined within narrow limits, rises to
grandeur.
It was between Ferrari and Milan, in the town of
Correggio, that there was born, in 1494, the greatest
painter of all the schools in the north of Italy, An-
tonio Allegri, who, from the name of his birthplace,
is called Correggio. He never quitted the small
states between Lombardy, Tuscany, and Bo magna ;
he had no other masters than one of his uncles named
Lorenzo, and perhaps some inferior artist of Modena.
He died when forty years of age (1 534), without hav-
ing seen either Florence, Borne, or Venice, and with-
out having known any of the great works of his time
except that picture of Baphael (no doubt the Saint
Cecilia of Bologna), before which he uttered his well-
known exclamation, AncK io son jpittore. Unknown,
solitary, and so poor as even sometimes to suffer from
hunger, he sold his pictures at miserable prices, for a
few crowns, a sack of corn, and a load of wood.
"This melancholy artist," say the annotators of Va-
Bari, " who introduces us to ancient grace and pagan
voluptuousness, who imprinted the serenity of his
loul on his immortal paintings, and died on the high
LOMBARD SCHOOL. 219
road, like a beast of burden," * owed his progress, his
final success, his honor, and his glory, entirely to
himself. The work of his pencil is really mysterious.
No one can understand it. Annibal Carracci wrote
justl} T : "The pictures of this great master really
arise from his own thought and understanding.
Others found theirs on something which does not
belong to them, some on a copy, some on statues or
even on engravings.. Correggio's paintings belong to
himself alone : he only is original."
Correggio always lived at Parma, and at Parma
are the greater part of his works. Such an education
and mode of life must have contributed to his origin-
ality equally with the power of his natural genius.
At twenty-six years of age he painted the cupola of
the church of San Giovanni. It has been thought,
on seeing the gigantic figures and imposing effect of
these frescoes, that it had been suggested by the Last
Judgment of Michael Angelo ; but, besides the fact
that Correggio had never seen the Sistine chapel, the
dates forbid any accusation of plagiarism. The cupola
of San Giovanni was painted between 1520 and 1524,
whilst the fresco in the Sistine was only terminated
in 1541. If, as is asserted, there was imitation, Cor-
reggio was certainly not the imitator. He could only
have known through drawings the colossal tigures on
the ceiling. This Ascension was only a sort of essay
• It is related that having received a payment from the monks of a
convent in heavy copper money, he carried it away in a bag on hit
buck Lti'oaiue heated ou the road, was attacked with pleurisy, and died
220 WONDEKS OF ITALIAN AET.
or prelude, to enable him to undertake the magnificent
Assumption which fills the whole cupola of the Gothic
cathedral called the Duorao of Parma. This com
position, which he finished in 1530, is still larger than
the other. The apostles, a number of saints, and all
the heavenly hosts, from the archangels with unfold-
ed wings to the faces of the cherubim without bodies,
who welcome the Virgin at her entrance into heaven,
in the midst of songs of joy and the honors of a tri-
umph, are the actors in this immense scene. The
churchwardens of the time, perplexed by such a
number of figures, said to the painter, " You have
served us with a dish of frogs ! " But it was in
speaking of this Assumption that Ludovico Oarracci
said to his cousins: u Study Correggio; in him every-
thing is grand and graceful." Annibal Carracci
did not know how to express his admiration of it.
" In this painting," says Vasari, " the foreshortenings
and the perspective from the bottom to the top are
really wonderful." Domenichino, Guido, Lanfranc,
and many others, have imitated him in analogous
compositions ; and Louis David, who at first rather
copied the style of his uncle Boucher, said he had
begun his return to the beautiful in presence of this
fresco of Correggio.
At the close of the last century there was found,
in a convent of the Benedictines, after having been
forgotten two hundred years, another admirable fresco
by Correggio, divided into several parts, and contain-
ing a number of small subjects, all of them pagan.
LOMBARD SCHOOL. 221
Diana, Minerva, Adonis, Endymion, Fortuna, the
Graces, and the Fates. This fresco had been ordered
by his patroness, the abbess Giovanna di Piacenza
It was she also who procured him the order for the
Ascension and the Assumption.
These are the works which Correggio has left in
the buildings of Parma. The little museum of the
town also boasts the possession of some, amongst
them two of his greatest masterpieces, the San Girol-
amo, and the Madonna della Scodella.
It is not well known why the first of these pic-
tures, sometimes called 11 Giorno (the day), in opposi-
tion to la Notte (the night), of Dresden, has received
the name of St. Jerome. It represents Mary holding
on her knees the Holy Child, whilst Mary Magdalen
humblv kisses His feet; two angels and St. Jerome
with his lion complete the scene. The great doctor
of the Latin church is only a secondary personage,
placed in profile in a corner of the picture, like St.
Paul in the St. Cecilia of Raphael. There is nothing
more singular than the destiny of this famous picture,
painted in 1524, the same year in which Correggio fin-
ished the cupola of San Giovanni. Brisei de Cossa, or
Colla, the widow of a gentleman of Parma named Ber-
gonzi, who had ordered it of Correggio, paid 47 sequins
(about 22£.) ibr it, and supplied him with food during
the six months he was working at it ; she gave him
besides two loads of wood, several measures of wheat,
and a fat pig. The good lady left this picture to the
church of San Antonio Abbatte, where it remained
222 WONDERS OF ITALIAN ART.
until 1749. At that time the kiug of Portugal (others
say of Poland), offered a considerable sum for it
(14,000 sequins according to some authorities, 40,000
according to others) to the abbot of San Antonio, who
would have sold and given it up, to obtain money to
finish the church, if the duke don Filippo, informed
of it by public clamor, had not carried off the picture.
It was placed at first in the sacristy of the cathedral ;
but seven years later, a French painter, not having
succeeded in getting permission from the canons to
copy it, complained to the duke, who had the work
of Correggio carried off by twenty-four grenadiers,
and conveyed to his country seat at Colorno. The
following year, 1756, the duke presented it to the
Academy, after having bought it of the cardinal
Bussi, then preceptor of the church of San Antonio,
for the sum of 1500 Roman crowns, besides 250 se-
quins as the price of another picture ordered of Bat-
toni to replace that of Correggio. In 1798, the time
of what Paul Louis Courier called nos illustres pil-
lages, the duke of Parma offered a million francs
(40,000Z.) to be allowed to keep this picture, for which
the widow Bergonzi had paid 47 sequins ; but
although the military chests were empty, the French
commissaries Monge and Berthollet remained firm,
and the picture of Correggio was brought to Paris,
where it remained until 1815.
Perhaps it is owing to this circumstance that it is
more generally known than the Madonna della Sco-
della, which is a flight into Egypt. I know that
LOMBARD SCHOOL. 223
Annibal Carrao;;i said that he preferred this St.
Jerome even to the St. Cecilia of Raphael ; I know
that it is in this picture that is to be seen the greatest
degree of that delicate charm "which first appears in
the works of Correggio ; I know that elegance could
not be carried further without affectation, that grace
is here united to grandeur and the magic effect of
coloring. But it seems to me that the Madonna detta
Scodella, which Yasari called divine, yields to the St.
Jerome neither in the general effpet or in the details,
in expression or in execution ; it has also the advan-
tage of being better preserved. It is rare, indeed, for
a picture to retain after three centuries its firmness
and freshness. I believe it is because of these two
works, so often copied and engraved, that Correggio
has been placed by Raphael Mengs immediately after
the painter of the Madonna delta Sedia.
After Parma it is in Naples that the best works of
Correggio are to be sought. We must stop one
moment at Florence, however, to admire in the
Tribune of the Uffizi a Virgin adoring the Infant
Jesus, presented by a duke of Mantua to Cosmo II.
de Medici. This picture, in every respect worthy of
Correggio, is remarkable for its arrangement; the
same drapery which envelops the body of the Virgin
is also drawn over her head, and on the end of the
drapery the Holy Child is sleeping, so that he would
he awakened by the slightest movement of His mother.
This arrangement seems to explain the immobility ot
the personages, and gives the spectator a sort of
anxiety which is not without a charm.
224 WONDERS OF ITALIAN ART.
The paintings of Correggio are everywhere as rare
as they are eagerly sought after ; there are only four
compositions by him in the Stucli at Naples. These
are, a simple sketch of a Madonna, and three master-
pieces of delicacy and fine execution ; the Madonna,
called by some del Corisiglio, by others della Zinga-
reila / Hag ar in the Desert ; and the Marriage of St.
Catherine. The Hagar is a perfect jewel, of the most
exquisite feeling and wonderful execution. As for
the Marriage of St. Catherine, which has been so
often imitated, copied, and engraved, it is quite un-
necessary to praise that. Although its purchase by
the kings of Naples was made a long time ago, it is
said to have cost 20,000 ducats.
In the palaces of the kings of Spain there was
only one copy of Correggio, and there was therefore
nothing in them to give up to the Museo del Rey.
But the Escurial was able to supply this deficiency,
as it had done in the works of Leonardo da Yinci.
It has given to the museum one of the most beautiful
as well as least known works of Correggio. This
precious picture had been hidden under a cover of
paint, with which it had been outrageously smudged,
under pretence of veiling some very innocent nudities.
Happily some one guessed what was concealed under
this sacrilegious covering ; it was removed skilfully,
and now the picture of Correggio, which had beeu
thus protected from the ravages of time, has resumed