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
disgusts another, I know not, and every one must judge for himself. For
myself, however much disposed I should be to pardon him for many
omissions, which in a work like his, are almost unavoidable, still I
cannot exculpate him for this total silence. Nor have the writers of
Naples ever ceased complaining of this neglect, and some indeed have
bitterly inveighed against him and accused him of contributing to the
deterioration of taste. So true is it, that an offence against a whole
nation is an offence never pardoned.
The other imitator, and a favourite of Michelangiolo (but not his
scholar, as some have asserted) that painted in Naples, was Marco di
Pino, or Marco da Siena, frequently before mentioned by us. He appears
to have arrived in Naples after the year 1560. He was well received in
that city, and had some privileges conferred on him; nor did the
circumstance of his being a stranger create towards him any feeling of
jealousy on the part of the Neapolitans, who are naturally hospitable to
strangers of good character; and he is described by all as a sincere,
affable, and respectable man. He enjoyed in Naples the first reputation,
and was often employed in works of consequence in some of the greater
churches of the city, and in others of the kingdom at large. He repeated
on several occasions the Deposition from the Cross, which he painted at
Rome, but with many variations, and the one the most esteemed was that
which he placed in S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini, in 1577. The Circumcision
in the Gesù Vecchio, where Parrino traces the portrait of the artist and
his wife,[110] the adoration of the Magi at S. Severino, and others of
his works, contain views of buildings, not unworthy of him, as he was an
eminent architect, and also a good writer on that art. Of his merit as a
painter, I believe I do not err, when I say that among the followers of
Michelangiolo, there is none whose design is less extravagant and whose
colour is more vigorous. He is not however, always equal. In the church
of S. Severino, where he painted four pictures, the Nativity of the
Virgin is much inferior to the others. A mannered style was so common in
artists of that age, that few were exempt from it. He had many scholars
in Naples, but none of the celebrity of Gio. Angelo Criscuolo. This
artist was the brother of Gio. Filippo, already mentioned, and exercised
the profession of a notary, without relinquishing that of a miniature
painter, which he had learnt in his youth. He became desirous of
emulating his brother in larger compositions, and under the direction of
Marco succeeded in acquiring his style.
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