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
In design he exhausted not all that depth of knowledge, so conspicuous in
Bonarruoti; but it was at once so great and so select, that the Caracci
themselves adopted it for their model. I am aware, that Algarotti
considered him to be somewhat incorrect in the expression of his contours;
while Mengs, on the other hand, defends him very warmly from such a charge.
Truly, there does not appear the same variety in his lines as is to be
found in Raffaello and the ancients, inasmuch as he purposely avoided
angles and rectilinear lines, preserving, as much as lay in his power, an
undulating sweep of outline, sometimes convex and sometimes concave; while
it is maintained, that his grace results, in a great measure, from this
practice: so that Mengs in uncertainty appears at one time to commend, and
at another to excuse him for it. He is lavish of his praises on the design
of his draperies, on whose masses Coreggio bestowed more attention than on
the particular folds; he being the first who succeeded in making drapery a
part of the composition, as well by force of contrast as by its direction;
thus opening a new path which might render it conspicuous in large works.
In particular, his youthful and infantile heads are greatly celebrated; the
faces beaming with so much nature and simplicity, as to enchant, and to
compel us, as it were, to smile as they smile.[22] Each separate figure may
be pronounced original, from the infinite variety of foreshortenings he has
introduced; there is scarcely a single head that is not seen from a point
of view either above or below; not a hand, not a whole figure, whose
attitude is not full of an ease and grace of motion, beyond example. By his
practice of foreshortening figures upon ceilings, which was avoided by
Raffaello, he overcame many difficulties still remaining to be vanquished
after the time of Mantegna, and in this branch of perspective is justly
entitled to the merit of having rendered it complete.
Footnote 22: This is an expression of Annibal Caracci.
Elsewhere he observes: "This kind of delicacy and purity,
which is rather truth itself than verisimilitude, pleases me
greatly. It is neither artificial nor forced, but quite
natural."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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