The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. 5 (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. 5 (of 6): From the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End of the Eighteenth Century
Lanzi, Luigi
Painting -- Italy -- History
Footnote 56: Previous to the present edition, Gaetano
Gandolfi breathed his last; Ubaldo, his elder brother,
having already preceded him to the tomb, at the time he was
preparing to decorate the cupola of S. Vitale in Ravenna.
Ubaldo had been pupil to Torelli, to Graziani, and in
particular under Lelli had exercised his talents in drawing
successfully from the naked model, and to such a foundation
added dignity of style. Of this, several works in painting
conducted with extreme care, as well as some in clay and
stucco, at Bologna, and other places in Romagna, are the
proof. But to judge more particularly of his merits, we
ought to examine his academical designs. In his ideas he was
common, and not very natural in his colouring, and generally
considered on this account inferior to his brother Gaetano,
who was esteemed in Italy one of the most able artists of
his day. Bologna, always grateful to its eminent citizens,
expressed at his decease the degree of esteem in which he
was held while living. His obsequies, of which a separate
account was published in folio, equal what we read in
Malvasia respecting those of Agostino Caracci; and the
oration there recited in his praise by Sig. Grilli, deserves
insertion in any of the most select works written on the
art. There too, Gandolfi, very judiciously, is not held up
as a model in painting; a forbearance which he himself
displayed, even refusing to receive pupils, and observing
that he was himself in want of instruction. Yet from the
influence of his great reputation he was frequently
imitated, and, as it happened, with most success in his
worst qualities, more particularly in his tints. In this
respect he had been ill grounded by his elder brother; but
improved himself by studying for the space of a year at the
fountain head of colourists, in Venice, and by copying for a
Venetian dilettante the finest pieces of the Caracci at
Bologna. It is difficult to account for his fine colouring
in some paintings, equal at least to the good artists of his
time, and his inferior colouring in others, as that of the
Death of Socrates, at Monsig. Trenta's, bishop of Foligno.
It is feeble and deficient in truth, owing either to caprice
or to age. In his preparations of paintings he was more
commendable: his first conceptions were sketched on slate
with pencil, and more carefully on paper. He next began to
select; modelled the figures in chalk, and draped them;
afterwards forming the design on a large scale, and by aid
of his experiments, and of the living model, he went on
completing and retouching his work. He has been accused of
borrowing a little too freely from ancient models; but
whoever had seen him, aged as he was, devoting himself in
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