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
any other place, as he passed his latter years in that and the
neighbouring cities, as in Bergamo, and particularly in Piacenza. His
epitaph is given in the Guida di Milano, page 129.
Il Montagna, another artist from Holland, was also a painter of sea
views, which may almost indeed be called the landscapes of the Dutch. He
left many works in Italy, more particularly in Florence and in Rome,
where he is sometimes mistaken for Tempesta in the galleries and in
picture sales; but Montagna, as far as I can judge, is more serene in
his skies, and darker in his waves and the appearance of the sea. A
large picture of the Deluge, which is at S. Maria Maggiore in Bergamo,
placed there in 1668, in which the figures are by the Cav. Liberi, is
supposed to be by Montagna, from the tone of the water. This however is
an error, for the Montagna of whom we speak, called by Felibien (tom.
iii. p. 339,) Montagna di Venezia, certainly died in Padua; and in a MS.
by a contemporary author, where he is mentioned as a distinguished sea
painter, he is said to have died in 1644. I apprehend this is the same
artist whom Malvasia (tom. ii. p. 78,) calls Mons. Rinaldo della
Montagna, and states that he was held in esteem by Guido for his
excellence in sea views. I also find a Niccolo de Plate Montagna,
favourably mentioned by Felibien, also a marine painter, who died about
1665; and I formerly imagined that this might be the artist who painted
so much in Italy, but I now retract that opinion.
Tempesti was the first to introduce the custom of decorating landscapes
with battles and skirmishes. A Flemish artist of the name of Jacopo
succeeded to him in this branch, but his fame was eclipsed by his own
scholar Cerquozzi, a Roman, who from his singular talent in this
respect, was called Michelangiolo delle Battaglie. He was superior to
Tempesti in colouring, but inferior to him in designing horses. In the
human figure, too, he is less correct, and more daring in the style of
his master Cesari. It must however be remembered, that when Cerquozzi
painted battles he was not in his prime, and that his chief merit lay in
subjects on which I shall presently make some remarks.
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