polito de Medici, the patron of the artist, and of Se-
bastian himself, holding in his hand the piombo or
seal of his office. The composition is the Raising of
Lazarus. This last picture enjoys a great celebrity.
Having come from the collection of the dukes of Or-
leans, it was sold in 1792, by Philippe Egalite. In
the catalogue of the National Gallery it is marked
No. i, as it was in some degree the foundation stone
of the collection. Its history alone would be sufficient
to give it a high importance. "We know that the
Transfiguration was ordered of Raphael by the car-
dinal Giulio de Medici, afterwards Clement TIL, for
the high altar in the cathedral at Narbonne, of which
he was archbishop. But, not wishing to deprive
Rome of the painter's masterpiece, Giulio de Medici
ordered of Sebastian del Piombo another picture of



VENETIAN SCHOOL. 293

equal dimensions to replace it at Narbonne:it was
this Raising of Lazarus. It is said that Michaei
Angelo, charmed to see another rival to Raphael arise,
not only encouraged Sebastian in the contest, but
traced the whole composition and even painted the
figure of Lazarus. " I thank Michael Angelo/' wrote
Raphael, " for the honor he has done me in consider-
ing me worthy to strive with him, and not with Sebas-
tian alone." These historical circumstances give
much interest to the work of the Venetian ; but on
the other hand they provoke a formidable comparison,
which he could not sustain, and which perhaps lessens
his real value. It is not when we are still agitated
with enthusiasm at the remembrance of that work,
which is considered the finest work of painting, that
we are able to appreciate justly one that pretends to
equal it. In the liaising of Lazarus we see a rather
confused scene, and without desiring all the theatrical
arrangements of a picture by Jouvenet, we may wish
that it possessed rather more clearness and vivacity.
The details are liner than the ensemble, the attitude*
are rather varied than combined with a view to the
whole subject ; in short, it is a collection of admirable
parts rather than an admirable composition. Tlu
firm drawing of Michael Ange'o is abused in it, 9<
well as the violent chiaroscuro of Giorgione, which real
ly seems to transform all the personages into mulattoes
we might almost believe that the scene took place iu
Ethiopia. The perspective also is cramped, and tre*»t
ed somewhat iu the Chinese fashion, which suppo-MH



294 WONDERS OF ITALIAN ART.

the spectator, not to be opposite, but above the sub-
ject and looking down upon it. Certainly this work
of Sebastian del Fiombo is noble, learned, and of a
severe and imposing style; but I do not hesitate to
prefer to it the Holy Family, at Naples, and still more
the Descent into Hades, at Madrid. It was again the
Escurial which gave this fine work to the Museo del
Rey. The Descent into Hades contains fewer figures
than the Raising of Lazarus ; but there are no faults
of coldness in the composition, of exaggeration in the
shadows, or of narrowness of perspective. The style
is no less severe and imposing, but it has an advan-
tage over the other in the scene being better grouped,
more animated, and of powerful coloring, worthy in
every respect of Giorgione, and perfectly in accordance
with the subject. This magnificent Christ in Hades
seems to me to present, in its highest expression, the
severe and vigorous style of Sebastian del Piombo.

The name of Bassano, a small town in the north
of Italy, has been given to a numerous family of paint-
ers, who were natives of the place : first Francesco
da Fonte, il Yecchio, then his son Jacopo, then his four
grandsons, Francesco, Leandro, Giam-Battista, and
Girolamo. Bnt Jacopo da Fonte (1510-1592), the
most celebrated of the six, the pupil of Titian through
Bonifazio, he who was the founder of a small school,
and who obtained the honor of being the first genre
painter in Italy, is the one usually termed The Bas-
sano.

He cannot be known or appreciated well in Italv



VENETIAN SCHOOL. 29£

or in France; it is at Madrid we must seek him, for
Titian sent his best works to Charles V. and Philip II.
There are from eight to ten in the Museo del Rey,
most of them of the large size he principally adopted,
and on subjects which suit wonderfully the habit he
had of introducing animals everywhere, so as to turn
a drawing-room or a temple into a farmyard. With
him animals constitute the principal part of the com-
position. One of these subjects chosen by him is the
Entrance into the Ark, in which all kinds of living
creatures on the earth, in the air, and in the water,
advance in couples towards the floating dwelling of
Noah, like an army marching in double file, in a thou-
sand uniforms. Another is the Leaving the Ark,
which is only a pendant of the other, though its sub-
ject is of smaller dimensions and of less importance.
We might also mention a View of Eden, in which the
Almighty reproaches our first parents with their dis-
obedience, the subject being a mere pretext for assem-
bling around them all the animal races; on Orpheus
attracting even wild beasts by the sounds of his lyre ; a
Journey of Jacob, a picture of beasts of burden, camels,
horses, asses and mules, etc. The style of Bassano is
more elevated in his Moses and the Hebrews, which
represents the people resuming their march after the
miracle of the water oushinsr from the rock ; but he
attained the highest grandeur in the painting of
Christ driving the Money- Changers from the Temple.
This picture, taken from the Escurial, and in which
his much-loved animals come in quite naturally, ia



296 WONDERS OF ITALIAN ART.

perhaps the finest of all the works of Bassaiio. Nevei
has he shown himself more ingenious and animated
in the composition, more natural and brilliant in the
coloring ; and never has he displayed more fully the
various qualities of the painter who first introduced
into Italy the worship of simple nature and painted
scenes of real life. lie was the forerunner of the
Dutch school.

"We must now pass by all the painters of the time of
the Venetian decadence, including even Tiepolo and his
warm sketches, to come to another genre-painter,
Antonio Canale (1697-1768), usually called Canal etto,
or Canaletti. He constituted himself portrait-painter,
not of the Venetians, but of Venice. He confined
himself to painting the exterior of Venice, its squares,
churches, palaces, bridges, and the cana's which form
the streets. He never leads the spectator into the
interior of the buildings, or into the life of the inhab-
itants. But he lias left different views of his native
town under every aspect, with so much truth, talent,
and love, that if ever the discrowned queen of the
Adriatic were to be engulfed in the marshes, she might
yet be known by his pictures.

It is strange that the native country of Canaletto
has not preserved any of his works, not even the two
Vieios, which were seen there in 1739 by the presi-
dent de Brosses, and whose author he calls Carnava-
letto. There is no doubt that, having Venice itself
before them, the Venetians thought it useless to have
views of it. We must go as far as Naples to find a



VENETIAN SCHOOL. 297

valuable series of twelve Views of Venice, all of the
same size, and treated with that fulness and delicacv
for which their author is known. His works are dis-
persed over all Europe, and are often to be found in
the cabinets of amateurs, for which they are espe-
cially adapted by the smallness of the canvas, the
beauty of the subjects, and the perfection of the exe-
cution. Fifty years ago there were none of them to
be found in the Louvre. It was in 1818 that Hiis
museum acquired one of Canaletto's masterpieces :
A View of the Church of the Madonna delta Salute,
built from the designs of the architect Longheno, on
the cessation of the plague in 1030. There are few
pictures by this master so large as this, and still fewer
as beautiful ; perhaps no other can equal this admira-
ble view of La Salute. It is alone sufficient to secure
a right estimation of this master.

Under the common name of Canaletto, the
nephew of Antonio Canale, Bernardo Belotto, is
usually confounded with him. But Belotto did not
remain stationary at Venice ; he travelled much, and
has left numerous works in England, at Munich,
Vienna, Dresden, St. Petersburg, and at Warsaw,
where he died in 1780. The school of Antonio Ca-
nale is completed by the distinguished and elegant
works of his pupil Francesco Guardi (1712-1793),
who, even while imitating his master, is yet original
and celebrated. Guardi far surpassed him in variety
and movement ; he was, perhaps, the greater paint-
er, if Canaletto ^as the;jy^a^r7a^chitect. With

t£ Stapl-ton Branch, *f-
83 Cj.uf Street.

'„r xV



298 WONDERS OF ITALIAN ART.

him, in his limited but charming speciality, termi
nated the great school inaugurated by Bellini, and
rendered celebrated by Giorgione, Titian, Tintoietto,
Paul Veronese, and Sebastian del Piombo.

Bolognese School.

If in the Bolognese School we follow the same
method as in the Venetian, passing by rapidly the
essays in painting, and the precursors of the great
masters, we must ascribe the foundation of this school
to Francesco Raibolini, usually called Francia (about
1451 to 1517). At first a goldsmith, engraver of
medals and director of the mint, Francia, who studied
secretly under the old Marco Zoppo, suddenly pro-
duced before the astonished eyes of his contempora-
ries an excellent painting, which he had modestly
signed Franciscus Francia aurifex. This was in
1490, and the new artist was almost forty years of
age. The well-merited praises he received for this
picture induced him to add the profession of a paint-
er to that of a goldsmith, which, nevertheless, he
still carried on, signing his works in gold by the
name of Francia jpictor. He became also a master,
and the two or three generations of artists who suc-
ceeded him, make up the Bolognese school. But his
style, as we shall see, was completely changed by the
Carracci. There is not yet a single certain work of
Francia in the Louvre ; and hence this old painter
has not received in France all the consideration to



BOLOGNE8E SCHOOL. 299

which he is entitled. In order to make him better
known and appreciated, I do not think I could do
better than quote the opinion of Raphael, who, iu a
letter written in 1508, compares Francia to his mas-
ter, Perugino, and the Venetian Giovanni Bellini.
He is indeed their equal, both from the merit of hia
works and also from having founded a great school.
Raphael had the highest opinion of Francia ; he
loved him, consulted him, and often wrote to him,
and when he sent his St. Cecilia to Bologna, modest-
ly begged Francia to correct any detects he might
find in it. It is not known on what Vasari founded
his assertion that the old man died of grief and jeal-
ousy on seeing the superiority of the young man's
work. Vasari was mistaken. Francia lived for sev-
eral years after the arrival of the St. Cecilia in his
native town, as the Bolognese Malvasia, the author
of the Fdsina pittrice, has proved, thus vindicating
his illustrious fellow-citizen from the careless accusa-
tion of the Florentine.

The Pinacotheca (this Greek name was given to
the Museum of Bologna lomr before the kinir of Ba-
varia, Ludwig I., gave it to the Museum of Munich)
contains six important works by Francia. We must
mention in particular a Nativity, in the manger at
Bethlehem, where there are grouped around the Vir-
gin-mother not only several angels, and some saints
who lived long after the event, but also Antonio
Galea Bentivoglio, the son of John II., who ordered
the picture, and the poet Pandolfi de Casio, crowned



300 WONDERS OF ITALIAN ART.

with laurels, who, perhaps, had sung of him in his
poems. We must also mention a Glorified Madon-
na, whose throne is surrounded hy St. Augustine, St.
Francis of Assisi, St. John the Baptist, St. Proculus
the warrior, St. Sebastian, St. Monica, and a certain
Bartoloineo Felicini, who had ordered the picture.
This last work is signed Opus Francice aurificis. It
speaks more in favor of its author than the others,
for it is easy to make the comparison suggested by
Raphael. Near this picture is one by Perugino, on
the same subject, a Madonna worshipped by St.
Catherine, the Archangel Michael, John the Baptist,
and St. Apollonius. It is one of the finest works of
the much loved master of Raphael, and was as such
selected to be brought to the Louvre, wheu Italy was
a province of the French empire, and conquest gave
the right or the power to take from it the master-
pieces of all ages. Let any one take the pains to
compare attentively these two analogous works, and
it will be soon allowed that Francia deserves the high
renown which he has attained. According to Ra-
phael, he formed an intermediate school between
those of Florence and Venice, between Perugino and
Bellini, by uniting form and color.

The National Gallery has not only one of those
Glorified Madonnas, which were a favorite subject
with the old master, and indeed with painters of
every time ; it also possesses a second work wdiich,
although of small dimensions and ungraceful form,
seems to me at least equal to the other, because it is



BOLOGNE8E SCHOOL. 301

a less common subject tor Francia. This is a Dead
Christ, whose body, extended the whole length of the
frame, rests on the knees of His mother, who is in the
centre. Two kneeling angels fill the corners, fn this
picture the style and expression are admirable. And
what gives it the greatest merit is, I believe, the pow-
erful coloring, rare even in this master, who was more
of a colorist than his contemporaries. At Munich
also there are several line Madonnas by Francia, and
at Dresden, among several other pictures, may be
noticed a Baptism of Christ, dated 1508. Jesus
only places His feet on the water, as He did later
when calling St. Peter to Him in order to prove his
faith. Ilis figure is long and thin, as is also that of
St. John, like the figures of Perugino, Bellini, Cima,
and all the masters of that time. Put this Baptism,
a great and lofty composition, may be considered one
of the best works of Raphael's old friend. In the
Louvre the half-length portrait of a young man
clothed in black, which until lately was ascribed to
Raphael, is now thought to have been the work of
Franeia. Some of those who had the arrangement
of the museum thought that there was a certain seek-
ing after effect, and strength of ehiaroscuro, ap-
proaching to the energetic style of Giorgione and
Sebastian del Piombo, which did not allow this paint-
ing to be attributed to Raphael. But why ascribe it
to Francia ? Born more than thirty years before
Raphael, and dying three years before him, Francia,
far from affecting great effects of chiaroscuro, always



302 WONDERS OF ITALIAN ART.

remained more simple in his style than the author of
the Madonna delta Sedia and of the Transfigura-
tion. After having seen the authentic works of
Francia in all the galleries of Europe, and learnt his
particular characteristics, it is scarcely possible to
accept him as the author of the portrait in question ;
and if the Louvre had possessed any other of his
works with which this might have been compared, no
one would probably have dreamed of ascribing this
to him.

Francia, as Raphael says, resembles both Peru-
gino and Bellini. It was not he, then, who founded
the true Bolognese school, such as it is understood in
the history of art, and which was really a renovation
of the whole of Italian art. The Carracci founded it
a century later. We may take up the question so
many times asked, " Was this a decay or a progress
in art? " To reply with truth and justice, we mast
first understand how the question is put, and also
how it is to be decided. Certainly, if we compare
the period of the Carracci with the great age of
painting which extends from the beginning of the
artistic career of Leonardo da Vinci to the close of
the life of Titian, and of which Raphael is the cen-
tre ; if we notice that the disciples of this school sub-
stituted for simple unstudied inspiration mere calcu-
lation and acquired talent ; that they abandoned the
simple and perhaps somewhat uniform style of the
Florentine school, to which Francia and his imme-
diate disciples belonged, to adopt the eclectic style,



i



fHE NEW ■



,



BOLOGNESK SCHOOL. 305

that of universal imitation ; that in lieu of purity of
form and power of expression, they aimed at grand
and picturesque effect — we should have to reply, that
it was a decay. But if we compare this time of the
Carracci with that which had immediately preceded
it ; if we remember, on the one hand, the abuses of
that free and hasty manner which, succeeding to the
grand fulness of the great Venetians, neglected every
serious study to give attention only to the handling
of the brush ; on the other hand the still more de-
plorable abuse of the startling innovations of Michael
Angelo into which all his imitators fell, who, recall-
ing the ancient Etruscans, saw in nature notliing but
exaggerated force, foreshortenings, contortions, and
who represented the nude as said Leonardo da Vinci,
" more like a bag of walnuts or a bunch of radishes
than like human nature ; " then we must reply that
it was indeed progress. It was at all events a sensi-
ble, if not a complete, return to the really beautiful ;
it was a revival in art. Is it necessary to support
this opinion by a regular demonstration? It will
suffice to quote as proofs the works which issued from
the school of the Carracci, the works both of the
masters and of disciples still greater than their mas-
ters.

Lroovico Carracci (1555-1619) was the real
founder of this school, for he directed the studies of
his two cousins, Agostino and Annibal, before calling
on them to help in the direction of his Academy
degli Desiderosi (" Those who regret the past, despise
30



306 WONDERS OF ITALIAN ART.

the present, and aspire to a better future "). It is a
striking proof how, even in the arts, assiduous labor
and a strong and persevering will may serve in place
of natural gifts and instinctive facility. The two
masters whom he had chosen, Fontana of Bologna
and Tintoretto of Yenice, counselled him to abandon
the career of an artist, considering him incapable of
ever succeeding in it ; and his fellow-students called
him the Ox, not because he was the son of a butcher,
but on account of the slowness and heaviness of his
mind, and also because of his continual determined
and indefatigable application. I cannot resist re-
minding my readers here that Thomas Aquinas was
called the silent Ox before becoming the Angel of the
School / and that Bossuet in his youth received the
same surname from his companions ; he was also
called, by a play on his name, Bos suetus aratro.
That ox accustomed to the plough became the Eagle
of Meaux, and all three, Carracci, Thomas Aquinas,
and Bossuet, proved beforehand the correctness of
the definition which Buffon has given of genius : " A
great power of attention."

The painters of the Bolognese school have now
declined much from their celebrity, which was not
only contemporary with them, but lasted until the
beginning of the present century. They had been
raised too high ; perhaps now they are too much de-
preciated. It reminds us of the just and profound
saying of Horace Walpole : " The bad taste which
precedes good taste is better than the bad taste which



B0L0GNE8E SCHOOL. 307

follows it ; " and we prefer the simple old masters of
the first, the true Renaissance, to the Bolognese.
Whether just or too severe, this opinion will shorten
onr labor, and enable us to dispense with long and
minute details.

We shall find works of all the Bolognese school in
the Museum of Bologna. There are as many aa
twelve works by Ludovico Carracci in his native
town, such as a Glorified Madonna surrounded by
the Bargellini family, etc. In general they are of
larger proportions than life, according to his constant
custom for church pictures, and do not show to ad-
vantage when taken from the height for which they
were destined and ranged against walls. In the
place of real genius we rind in them great and solid
qualities, and, if not a complete return to the simple
and severe style of the great period, at least the
happy abandonment of the excesses, the abuses, and
egregious faults in taste which, in the intermediate
period, had marked a precocious decay. The eldest
of his cousins, Agostino Cakracci (1557-1602), is
represented by two great compositions, an Assump-
tion and a Communion of St. Jerome, which were
both brought for a time to Paris. These are perhaps
the finest works of this learned and conscientious
artist, at first a goldsmith, like Francia, then an en-
graver under the lessons of Cornelius Cort, and after-
wards a professor in the academy of his cousin Ludo-
vico. Death too soon removed him from the study
and teaching of an art of which he would have be^»



308 WONDERS OF ITALIAN ART.

a worthy interpreter. It was from his Commumo;
of St. Jerome that Domenichino took the idea ami
even the details for his well-known work, the pendant
for the Transfiguration in the Vatican and (in mo-
saic) in St. Peter's at Rome. If Domenichino sur-
passed the young; Carracci, it was by making use of
the subject and ideas chosen by him ; he only van-
quished by imitating him.

As for the fertile Annibal Carracci (1560-1609)
he was the boldest of the three, the most original in
a style that imitated every one, and during a life less
than fifty years in length his works were very numer-
ous. There are twenty-six of his works in the Louvre
alone. This is much — too much, and we cannot even
name them all. It is enough that among the sacred
subjects we recommend a large Appearance of the
Virgin to St. Luke and St. Catherine, in the form,
manner, and colossal proportions of the pictures of
Ludovico Carracci, though, perhaps, in a grander
style and more vigorous execution ; then a charming
Madonna, called the Vierge aux Cerises y then an-
other Madonna still more charming, called the Silence
of Carracci, because Mary watches over her sleeping
child ; then a Resurrection, half the size of life ; and
a Martyrdom of St. Stephen in small figures ; so that
every possible proportion is represented, and each
with the execution required. We may also recom-
mend to the attention of our readers two animated
landscapes, and two pendants called La Chasse and
La Peche. They are valuable works although very




THE THEEE MAET9.-BT AXNIB.U. CAREACCI.
At Custle ZIoicard.



PUBLIC L1B V

TH.DBN f^^ xr ' OH *L



B0L0GNE8E SCHOOL. 311

dark, because, in their style, their form, and their
treatment, they recall the six celebrated Lunettes in
the Doria palace at Rome, and because they also
prove that it was indeed Annibale Carracci, who im-
parted, first to Domenichino, and through him to
Poussin, the idea and example of historical landscape.
We owe him then, in this particular, gratitude as well
as admiration.

To find the best works of the pupils of the Car-
racci, we must return to Bologna. The first of these
is Domenichino (Domenico Zampieri, 1581-1641).
As it was first rendered celebrated by a family of
goldsmiths, that of the Francia (Eaibolini), the Bo-
lognese school seems to have been kept up by arti-
zans. Ludovico Carracci was the son of a butcher ;
Agostino and Annibal were, like Andrea del Sarto,
the sons of a tailor ; their best pupil was, like Ma-
saccio, the son of a shoemaker. It would seem that
his humble origin left him an unconquerable timid-
ity, which betrays itself in the general character of
his works as well as in his own character and the
actions of his life. It is loftiness of style as well as
of character that is wanting in Domenichino. This
loftiness of style is scarcely found in any of his
works, except in those which do not entirely belong
to him, but which he copied from his predecessors,
such as the Murder of St. Peter of Verona, taken
from Titian, and merely altered ; and the Communion
of St. Jero?ne, after Agostino Carracci. We need not
speak of the former painting, which is at Bologna,



312 WONDEKS OF ITALTAN ART.

and is placed near two other large works, the Mar
tyrdom of St. Agnes and the Madonna of the Ro
sari/, both brought to Paris under the Empire. It i.i
well known to what comparative perfection this mas-
ter, patient, laborious, thoughtful, jet often unequal