The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. 2 (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. 2 (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 works of Pietro in Rome, and in the states of the church, are not at
all rare. They are to be found also in other states of Italy, and those
pieces are the most attractive in which he had the greatest opportunity
of indulging his love of architecture. His largest compositions, which
might dismay the boldest copyist, are S. Ivo at the Sapienza of Rome,
and the S. Charles in the church of that saint, at Catinari, in the act
of relieving the infected. The Preaching of S. James in Imola, in the
church of the Domenicans, is also on a vast scale. The Virgin attended
by S. Stephen, the Pope, and other saints in S. Agostino, in Cortona, is
a picture of great research, and is considered one of his best
performances. There is an enchanting picture of the Birth of the Virgin,
in the Quirinal palace; and the Martyrdom of S. Stephen, at S. Ambrogio,
in Rome, and Daniel in the Den of Lions, in the church of that saint, in
Venice, are most beautiful works, superior to those of most of his
competitors in this school, in regard to composition, and equal to them
in colour. His historical subjects are not met with in the galleries of
the Roman nobility. In that of the Campidoglio, is the battle between
the Romans and the Sabines, full of picturesque spirit; and in
possession of the Duke Mattei, is the Adultery, half figures, more
studied and more highly finished than was customary with him. This brief
notice of him may suffice for the present. Of the scholars whom he
formed in the Roman School, I shall speak more opportunely in the
subsequent epoch.
At this period we find three Veronese artists, Ottini, Bassetti, and
Turchi, studying in Rome; and we shall speak of them more at length in
the Venetian School. The first returned home without executing any
public work. The second left, in the church dell'Anima, in Rome, two
pictures in fresco, the Birth, and the Circumcision of Christ. The
third, known under the name of Orbetto, took up his residence, and died
in that capital; but I am not aware that he left there any disciples of
merit, except some of his own countrymen, who returned to their native
place. This engaging and elegant painter, who possessed great
originality and beauty of colour, worked still more in Verona than in
Rome, and we ought to see his works in the former city, in order justly
to appreciate them. But he is not on that account held in the less
esteem in Rome for his cabinet pictures, which are highly prized, as the
Sisara de' Colonnesi, and for his scriptural subjects, as the Flight
into Egypt, in the church of S. Romualdo, and the S. Felice Cappuccino,
at the Conception, where, as we before observed, the Barberini family
employed the most eminent artists.
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