The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. 1 (of 6): From the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End of the Eighteenth CenturyLanzi, Luigi
History
The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. 1 (of 6): From the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End of the Eighteenth Century
Lanzi, Luigi
Painting -- Italy -- History
Santi Titi, of Città San Sepolcro, a scholar of Bronzino and Cellini,
studied long at Rome, whence he returned, with a style full of science
and of grace. His beautiful is without much of the ideal; but his
countenances exhibit a certain fulness, an appearance of freshness and
of health, that is surpassed by none of those who took nature for their
model. Design was his characteristic excellence; and for this he was
commended by his imitator, Salvator Rosa. In expression he has few
superiors in other schools, and none in his own. His ornaments are
judicious; and having practised architecture with applause, he
introduced perspectives, that gave a dignity and charm to his
compositions. He is esteemed the best painter of this epoch, and belongs
to it rather from the time in which he lived than his style; if we
except his colouring, which was too feeble, and without much relief.
Borghini, at once his critic and apologist, remarks that even in this
department he was not deficient, when he chose to exert himself; and he
seems to have studied it in the Feast of Emmaus, in the church of the
Holy Cross at Florence, in the Resurrection of Lazarus, in the cathedral
of Volterra, and in a picture at Città di Castello, in which he
represents the faithful receiving the Holy Spirit from the hands of the
Apostles; a painting that may be viewed with pleasure, even after the
three by Raffaello which adorn that city.
Among his numerous pupils in design, we may reckon his son Tiberio; but
this artist attended less to the pursuits of his father, than to
painting small portraits in vermilion, in which he had singular merit;
these were readily received into the collection formed by Cardinal
Leopold, which now forms a single cabinet in the royal museum. Two other
Florentines are worthy of notice, viz. Agostino Ciampelli, who
flourished in Rome under Clement VIII.; and Lodovico Buti, who remained
at Florence. They resemble twins by the similarity between them; less
scientific, less inventive, and less able in composition, than Titi,
they possessed fine ideas, were correct in design, and cheerful in their
colouring, beyond the usage of the Florentine school; but they were
somewhat crude, and at times profuse in the use of red tints not
sufficiently harmonized. Frescos by the first may be seen in the
Sacristy at Rome, and the chapel of S. Andrea al Gesù, and an oil
painting of the Crucifixion at S. Prassede, in his best manner. A
Visitation, with its two companions, at S. Stephen of Pescia, may be
reckoned among his choicest works; to which the vicinity of Tiarini does
little injury. The second may be recognised by a picture of the miracle
of the loaves and fishes, abounding in figures, which is in the royal
gallery. Baccio Ciarpi, a pupil of the same school, is celebrated as the
master of Berrettini, and deserves to be commended for his diligence and
correctness. He was thought worthy of being employed at La Concezione at
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