Architecture -- Italy -- Ravenna; Ravenna (Italy) -- History
There are five pictures by Luca Longhi in the Accademia besides three
portraits. In Sala I. we have an early work painted at the age of
twenty-two, the Marriage of S. Catherine (No. 14); a Madonna and Child
with S. Benedict, S. Apollinaris, S. Barbara, and S. Paul (No. 23). In
Sala II. the Dead Christ between S. Bartholomew and Don Antonio da
Pisa, abbot of the monastery of Classe (No. 17), and two pictures of
the Adoration of the Shepherds (Nos. 15, 16). Here, too, are the three
portraits from his hand which represent Raffaele Rasponi (No. 22),
Giovanni Arrigoni (No. 21), and Girolamo Rossi (No. 20). By Luca's son
Francesco there is a feeble Crucifixion (No. 29) in Sala I.;[1] and
happily in Sala II. three pictures by Barbara, Luca's daughter, of
whom Vasari speaks; a S. Catherine, which is really a portrait of the
painter (No. 81), a Madonna and Child (No. 27), and a Judith (No.
28).[2]
[Footnote 1: There is another work, an Annunciation, by Francesco
Longhi in S. Croce.]
[Footnote 2: Another work by Barbara Longhi, S. Peter visiting S.
Agata in Prison, may be seen in S. Maria Maggiore.]
Only one picture by a Bolognese master is really worthy of much notice
here; I mean the S. Romuald of Guercino (No. 33) in Sala I. In the
floor of this first room there is set a fine mosaic from S. Apollinare
in Classe which should be noted.
The third room in the Accademia, filled with various works of little
merit of the sundry schools of Italy, may be neglected. The fourth
room, however, is devoted to the beautiful tomb of Guidarello
Guidarelli, the very glorious work of Tullio Lombardi. Of old this
exquisite tomb stood in the Cappella Braccioforte at S. Francesco.
Guidarello of Ravenna was killed in battle at Imola in 1501, and
Tullio Lombardi, the son of Pietro, was employed to make his tomb. "I
doubt," says M. de Vogue, "whether, apart from the work of Donatello,
the early Renaissance produced anything more beautiful." Guidarello
the knight is represented in marble, a life-size figure, lying on his
back, his body encased in armour, his helmet on his head, his visor
raised, his gloved hands crossed over his sword which lies along his
body. He seems, weary of fighting at last, to be sleeping, but the
sweet expression upon the tired face makes us think rather of a monk
than a soldier. In truth he was a knight of the olden time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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