labours seem to be fast losing their value. The same period likewise abounded in painters of flowers and fruits, in every part of Italy; but I observe that their names are, for the most part, forgotten, or where they exist in books, are accompanied by no mention of their works. Fortunately, among the pictures at Rovigo, I meet with the name of Francesco Mantovano, whether his surname or patronymic is uncertain, an artist who excelled in similar works about the time of Borghini; besides those of Antonio Bacci and Antonio Lecchi, or Lech, both florists, and all mentioned by Martinioni in his _Additions to Sansovino_. To the number of these add the name of Marchioni, a native of Rovigo, an artist considered as the Bernasconi of the Venetian School, from her singular skill in flower painting, though not equalling the Roman lady in point of celebrity. Their works are to be seen in some of the collections at Rovigo, which abound also with many celebrated figure painters, no less of the Venetian than of other Italian Schools. Pictures of animals do not seem to have been much in vogue with Venetian artists about this period, if, indeed, we are not to include Giacomo da Castello in the Venetian state. From verbal communications I learn that in collections at Venice he is not at all rare. I have seen only a few specimens at the Caza Rezzonico, and these consisting of various species of birds, drawn with great truth and force of colouring, as well as beautifully disposed. Domenico Maroli, a painter of flocks and herds, as well as of other rural subjects, was born at Messina, and exercised his talents in Venice. He was intimate with Boschini, who extolled him as a new Bassano, and as a specimen of his talents, inserted in his _Carta del Navegar_ an engraving after one of his designs. It represents a shepherd with his flocks, figures of cows with a dog, very forcibly and beautifully drawn; and it is altogether one of the best designs that has been engraved for that work. There resided also at Venice, where he was employed in the Casa Sagredo, and in that of Contarini, an artist named Gio. Fayt di Anversa, who, in addition to his paintings of fruits, and various rural implements, was esteemed one of the best copyists of animals, both alive and dead, in which he displayed a very polished, natural, and novel manner.