Alessandro Gherardini, a rival of Gabbiani, and in the opinion of many, his superior in genius as a painter, had wonderful facility in counterfeiting different styles. He would have equalled any of his contemporaries, had he always painted in the style of his Crucifixion of our Lord in Candeli, in which he calls to mind a happy imitation of different schools. It is a work studied in every part, especially in the general tone, which artfully expresses the darkness of that hour. A history piece of Alexander the Great, in Casa Orlandini, with figures of half-length, and executed with great industry, is also held in high esteem; but he aimed at painting pictures of every degree of merit. One of his pupils, no less fertile in talent, and named Sebastiano Galeotti, is rather remembered than known at Florence. He left his native place when young, travelled about a long time without any fixed residence, and has left specimens behind him in many parts of Upper Italy. He at length settled at Genoa, where we shall again notice him. The ducal gallery contains portraits both of the master and of the scholar, by the side of those of Gabbiani and Redi. Other considerable painters of this epoch have obtained a similar honour; among whom we may mention Agostino Veracini, a scholar of Sebastian Ricci, Francesco Conti, a disciple of Maratta, and Lapi, a follower of Giordano; each of these has successfully imitated his guide.[236] The S. Apollonia of the first, painted for the church of that name; various Madonnas of the second, in the hands of private gentlemen; and the Transfiguration of the last, in the ducal gallery, are calculated to do them honour, and even to shed a lustre on some of their less refined productions. Some others now dead have been equally honoured by a portrait, of whom I have not discovered any other work. Of this number are Vincenzio Bacherelli, Gio. Francesco Bagnoli, Anton Sebastiano Bettini, Gio. Casini, Niccolo Nannetti, and others, who are mentioned in the _Museo Fiorentino_.