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 most celebrated pupil of the Dandini was Anton Domenico Gabbiani,
not long ago mentioned; before he was the pupil of Vincenzio, he had
lessons from Subtermans, and finished his education at Rome under Ciro
Ferri, and at Venice by studying the best masters. We must not give
credit to Pascoli, who has represented him as a mean artist.[232]
Gabbiani ranks amongst the best designers of his age; a collection of
his drawings is in the possession of Sig. Pacini, which was often
inspected and commended by Mengs for the facility and elegance he there
discovered. Many of his designs were engraved and published in his life
by Ignatius Hugford. His colouring sometimes borders on the languid, but
is generally good: he is correct and natural, especially in fleshy
tints; juicy, and tempered by a pleasing harmony. The greatest fault in
the style of this artist is in his draperies, which, though correct, and
studied with his usual diligence, always exhibit a degree of heaviness
in the execution, are too confined, and sometimes are not quite true in
the colouring. His merit is very great in light subjects: in the Pitti,
and other palaces of some of the nobility of Florence, his dances of
genii and groups of boys are to be met with, and yield little to those
of Baciccio. One of the finest is in the house of the Orlandini family;
and the Marquis of Riccardi has specimens among the mirrors placed in
his collection. His largest and most celebrated work in fresco is the
vast cupola of Cestello, which he did not wholly finish. His oil
pictures are esteemed precious even in the ducal gallery. Several of his
works of unequal merit are preserved in churches; but his S. Philip, in
possession of the fathers Dell' Oratorio, justifies the assertion of
Redi, that, except Maratta, there was then no painter in Rome that could
eclipse him.[233] The catalogue of his scholars is extensive; but some
of them, as happens to every master, may be also claimed by other
preceptors. Benedetto Luti was an honour to Gabbiani and to Florence.
Having formed himself in this school, he went to Rome, in hopes of
receiving the instructions of Ciro Ferri; but the death of that master
intervening, he was guided by his own genius, and the monuments of art
existing in that city. The style he there formed may be considered a
compound of various imitations, select in the forms, pleasing and bright
in colouring, shewing art in the distribution of light and shade, and as
harmonious to the eye as is the orator to the ear, who enchants an
audience by his well turned periods; the delightful fascination is felt,
but the source of it cannot be assigned. In that metropolis we shall
find him master of the new style; but in Tuscany we cannot point out
many of his pictures besides those in the ducal palace: private
collections are rich only in his crayon pieces, which are likewise well
known out of Italy. There is one of his large pictures on canvass at
Pisa, the subject of which is the Vestment of S.
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