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
of the question?" Some answered Cimabue, others Stefano, some Bernardo,
and some Buffalmacco. Taddeo Gaddi, who was in the company, said, "truly
these were very able painters, but the art is decaying every day, &c."
He is mentioned up to 1352, and he might possibly survive several years.
He left at his death several disciples, who became eminent teachers of
painting in Florence, and other places. D. Lorenzo Camaldolese is
mentioned with honour. He instructed pupils in the art; and several old
pictures by him and his scholars are in the monastery of the Angeli. At
that time the fraternity of Camaldulites furnished some miniature
painters, one of whom, named D. Silvestro, ornamented missals, which
still exist, and are amongst the best that Italy possesses. The most
favoured pupils of Taddeo were Giovanni da Milano, whom I shall notice
in the school of Lombardy, and Jacopo di Casentino, who also will find a
place there, together with his imitators. To these two he recommended on
his death-bed his two sons and disciples: Giovanni, who died
prematurely, with a reputation for genius; and Angiolo, who being then
very young, most needed a protector. The latter died, according to
Vasari, at 63 years of age; in 1589, according to the date of
Baldinucci. He did not improve the art in proportion to his abilities,
but contented himself with imitating Giotto and his father, in which he
was astonishingly successful. The church of S. Pancrazio possessed one
picture by him, containing several saints, and some histories from the
Gospel, which may still be seen in the monastery, divided into several
pieces, and coloured in a taste superior to what was then usual. There
is another in the same style in the sacristy of the Conventual friars,
by whom he was employed in the choir of the church, to paint in fresco
the story of the recovery of the Cross, and its transportation in the
time of Heraclius; a work inferior to the others, because much larger,
and to him somewhat new. He afterwards lived at Venice, as a merchant
rather than as a painter; and Baldinucci, who seizes every opportunity
of supporting his hypothesis, says, that if he was not the founder of
that school, he, at least, improved it. But I shall demonstrate, in the
proper place, that the Venetian school was advancing to a modern style,
before Angiolo could have taught in that place; and in the many old
pictures I saw at Venice, I was unable to recal to mind the delicate
style of Angiolo. The Venetians owe to him the education of Stefano da
Verona, whom I shall consider in the second volume; and he gave the
Florentines Cennino Cennini, praised by Vasari as a colourist, of whom
as a writer I shall soon make mention.
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