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
The cathedral contains a Nativity by Durante, a subject which he handled
better in the Vallicella of Rome, and which is, perhaps, his best
performance in that city: in others he is often languid, both in design
and colouring, and appears rather a laborious artist than a man of
genius. Cherubino, the reputed son of Michele, and the assistant of
Daniel di Volterra,[209] was a celebrated engraver on copper, and from
this art he derived great assistance in design. Although late in
applying to painting, he obtained a name in those times. His proportions
were light and spirited; his choirs of angels were agreeable and
original; his penciling and whole composition were dexterous and
spontaneous. Such is the character of his Trinity in the cathedral of
Borgo, in which place there remains the façade of a palace, well
conceived, ornamented with arms, genii, and other fanciful devices. He
painted the ceiling of the chapel of Minerva in Rome with various
ornaments and figures, on a golden ground; in that city, however, he
generally assisted his younger brother Giovanni, who introduced a new
era in perspective; not only by his works, existing in the houses of
private individuals at San Sepolcro, and other cities, but by the fresco
perspectives which he executed at Rome. He claims admiration in the
sacristy of the church of S. Gio. Laterano, where he imitated the
salient and receding angles of architecture; and still more in the grand
Clementine salon, the most prodigious and exquisite work in perspective
then existing. Baglione highly commends the S. Clement and other figures
with which it is ornamented; and remarks that they are admirably
foreshortened, and are superior to those of Cherubino, who was not so
eminent in perspectives. Baglione mentions a Francesco, the son of
Durante, who died at Rome. I am uncertain whether he is the
Pierfrancesco to whom we attribute the Ascension, in the church of S.
Bartholomew at Borgo, with some pictures of no great merit in the church
of S. John, and in other places. History mentions also Donato, Girolamo,
Cosimo, and Alessandro Alberti, of whom I can collect nothing further.
The writers of Prato exalt their countryman, Domenico Giuntalocchio,
pupil to Soggi, in whose life Vasari mentions Domenico more as an
engineer than a painter. He describes him as a correct portrait painter,
but so extremely tardy in his works in fresco, that he became tiresome
to the Aretini, with whom he for some time dwelt. I cannot point out any
genuine picture from his hand; but his memory is still fresh in the
minds of his fellow citizens, because, instead of leaving his native
place ornamented with his pictures, he left 10,000 crowns as a fund to
be appropriated to the education of young artists.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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