The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. 4 (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. 4 (of 6): From the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End of the Eighteenth Century
Lanzi, Luigi
Painting -- Italy -- History
His most esteemed works in fresco, for which he was honoured with the title
of cavaliere, were exhibited in the palace called del Giardino, at Parma.
His labours in the Cupola of S. Abbondio, before-mentioned, were on a
magnificent scale, though designed from Giulio Campi. But they display a
mastery of hand, and strength of colouring, fully equal, if not superior,
to the invention of the work. For Giulio, indeed, did not possess the same
skill in varying his groups of angels as the Caracci; inasmuch as both he
and his family were accustomed to arrange them like the horses we see in
the ancient chariots, all drawn up in a line, or in some other manner
unusual in the best schools. The Cremonese historian endeavours, in some
degree, to defend Trotti from the charge of harshness, casting it upon his
assistants and disciples, whose altar-pieces have been attributed to
Malosso, by Baldinucci. This may be the case with some, but there are
others inscribed with the name of Trotti, especially at Piacenza, which
more or less exhibit the same fault. Nor ought we to cast reflections upon
an artist of a secondary character, on account of some errors, as these are
precisely the cause of his exclusion from the rank of the very first
masters.
Trotti educated a number of artists who flourished about the year 1600,
devoted to his manner, although in course of time the method of preparing
grounds becoming corrupted throughout Italy, and the age attached to a more
sombre style of colouring, they were induced to abandon much of that
clearness which forms a chief characteristic of his colouring. Baldinucci
gives some account of Ermenegildo Lodi, as well as Orlandi, who could not
discern which of two paintings belonged to the master, and which to the
scholar. This, I conjecture, arose from painting under the eye of his
preceptor, whom he assisted in many of his labours, together with his
brother Manfredo Lodi. When we consult the few which he executed alone,
particularly at S. Pietro, they discover nothing to have excited the
jealousy of Agostino Caracci, nor to have gained for the artist the
appellation of Malosso. The productions likewise of Giulio Calvi, called Il
Coronaro, might be mistaken for the least perfect of those of Trotti, says
Zaist, where they are not inscribed with his name. The same may be averred
of two other artists, Stefano Lambri and Cristoforo Augusta, a youth of
great promise, cut off in the flower of his age; and both excellent
disciples of the school. These, no less than Coronaro, may be seen and
compared with each other in the church and convent of the Padri
Predicatori, which possess specimens of each.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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