The art of landscape painting, which, after the age of the Dossi, had almost fallen into disuse at Ferrara, was revived there by some foreigners. Giulio Avellino, called, from his native place, the Messinese, resided some time in this city, and died there at the beginning of the century. He had been pupil to Salvator Rosa, whose style he somewhat softened, and richly ornamented with views of ruins and architecture, as well as with some small and well composed figures. The Signori Cremona and Donati possess select specimens; and there is scarcely a collection in Ferrara or Romagna which does not value itself on possessing them. After him appeared Giuseppe Zola, born, according to Crespi, at Brescia, a landscape painter, of a taste devoted to no single master, but formed upon many. He was exceedingly rich in conception and in expedients; his buildings are of a rustic kind; his ruins partake of the modern, and are picturesquely covered with creeping plants and ivy; the backgrounds of an azure hue, and great variety of objects and figures, in which he was less happy than in his landscape. His earlier works are held in most esteem; when he obtained greater commissions, he performed them with a more mechanical hand, and, with the exception of his colouring, which he always studied, he bestowed little care on the rest. Those pictures are in general most complete, in which he introduced the smallest figures; and such may be seen even out of private houses, in the Monte della Pietà, and in the sacristy of S. Leonardo. He formed several pupils, the best of whom was Girolamo Gregori. Instructed as a figurist by Parolini, and afterwards by Gioseffo dal Sole, he failed for want of perseverance, except very rarely, in greater works. Yet he produced many, and his landscapes have been highly extolled. The same may be observed of Avanzi, mentioned by us shortly before; who, in addition to his very pleasing landscapes on canvass and on copper, surpassed all his fellow citizens in the drawing of flowers and fruits.