one of the most richly ornamented in all Italy; insomuch that after suffering the sackage of 1630, in which the ducal palace was despoiled of the noble collection, now dispersed abroad, it still can boast, both in private and public exhibitions, sufficient to engage the curiosity of cultivated strangers for a period of many days. The city in the meanwhile was not deficient in native artists of superior genius, such as Venusti, Manfredi, and Facchetti; all of whom, on account of their residence in Rome, we have treated of in that school; while in that of Parma we shall have occasion to insert the name of Giorgio del Grano, supposed to be of Mantua, and of Andrea Scutellari in that of Cremona, in which he became fixed. Francesco Borgani is one of those who resided in his native place, and who adopted a good style from the paintings of Parmigianino, in which he composed several pictures in S. Pietro, in S. Simone, in S. Croce, as well as in other places, by which he deserves to be better known than he now is. This artist flourished until the latter half of the past century. Towards the same period Giovanni Canti, while yet young, came from Parma and settled in Mantua, an artist whose merits, consisting in his landscapes and battle-scenes, are to be sought for in galleries of art, not in the specimens of his altar-pieces in churches, which are very inferior. He was one of those who lay too much stress on their rapidity of hand. Schivenoglia, whose proper name was Francesco Ranieri, was one of his scholars, equally distinguished for his battles as for his landscape; superior to his master in design, but inferior in point of colouring. Next to him Giovanni Cadioli was considered a good landscape painter, and better in fresco than in oils. He wrote an account of the pictures of Mantua, and at the same period was one of the earliest founders and the first director of the academy for design at that place. Giovanni Bazzani, a pupil of Canti, was endowed with a higher genius for the art than his master, and laid a better foundation for excellence by the cultivation of his mind, by careful study, and by copying from the most esteemed models. He more particularly directed his attention towards Rubens, whose footsteps he diligently pursued to the end of his career. He was long employed in Mantua and in its adjacent monastery, principally in works of fresco, displaying an easy, spirited, and imaginative character, in a manner that does credit to his genius. He was universally allowed to possess uncommon powers, but being crippled and infirm, he was unable to exhibit them as he wished; and besides, the rapid manner acquired from Canti, diminished, for the most part, the value of his works.