The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. 3 (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. 3 (of 6): From the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End of the Eighteenth Century
Lanzi, Luigi
Painting -- Italy -- History
Among his pupils was Alessandro Maganza, son of the same Giambatista
whose name I recorded among Titian's followers. Fasolo inspired him with
his own taste; and we may likewise consider him a fine imitator of
Zelotti and of Paul Veronese; as he has shown in his Epiphany, at San
Domenico; and in his Martyrdom of S. Giustina, at San Pietro. In his
architecture he was excellent, judicious in his composition, very
pleasing in his countenances; in his fleshes inclining towards white; in
his folds somewhat hard and monotonous; and for the most part wanting in
expression. Vicenza has an abundance of his paintings, both private and
in public; besides the provinces and the adjacent cities, to such an
amount, that we have no difficulty in believing that he flourished till
his seventy-fourth year; that he painted for good prices, and with
little trouble. A few of his pictures, such as we meet with at Vicenza,
are amply sufficient to give us an idea of the rest; not unfrequently
presenting us with the same features and the same attitudes and motions.
We are to look for the cause of this, not so much in his genius, which
he shows in many of his works to have been excellent, as in his domestic
anxieties, occasioned by a numerous family for whom he had to provide.
This artist was extremely unfortunate as a father. Giambatista, the
eldest of his sons, emulated him in knowledge; and if we may venture to
judge from one of his histories, of San Benedetto, at the church of S.
Giustina, in Padua, he was superior to him in point of elegance. But the
support he derived from this young man's talents was soon cut off by his
early death, leaving a young family of his own to the care of their
grandfather. His second son, Girolamo, who had also to make provision
for his own children, and Marcantonio, quite a youth, afterwards
assisted their father in his productions, and already began to acquire
some degree of reputation from their own. When, in the year 1630, their
native place was ravaged by the plague, Alessandro had the grief to
witness the death of his two sons, and, one by one, of the whole of his
grandchildren; until left "the last of his race," to lament over the
destruction of his kindred, he shortly followed them to the tomb,
closing with his death that noble school which the two illustrious
Veronese had founded in Vicenza.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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