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
Among his foreign scholars Simon Barabbino deserves remembrance, whose rare
genius created so strong a jealousy in Castello as to induce him to expel
him from his school. He retired from it, and afterwards painted at the
Nunziata del Guastato the S. Diego, which Soprani almost prefers to the
best work of Castello. But he did not obtain any great celebrity among his
countrymen. Milan rendered him that honour which his own native place
denied; in consequence of which he settled there, and worked in the palaces
and churches. There is by him, at S. Girolamo, a Madonna with a dead
Christ, accompanied by S. Michael and S. Andrew. The colour is true, the
heads are correctly drawn, the naked figure well understood, the contours
sufficiently accurate and well relieved. He would have attained still
greater perfection, but he turned to merchandize, where instead of wealth
he found only his ruin, and died in gaol.
Gio. Batista Paggi, a patrician by birth, was led to the profession of a
painter by his predilection for the art, which, in spite of the opposition
of his father, he indulged in from his earliest years. He was highly
accomplished in letters, and his various attainments in poetry, philosophy,
and history, all served to assist him in the composition of his pictures.
He was perhaps not so much extolled by the poets as Castello, but he
attained a greater celebrity among his brother artists. He was directed by
Cambiaso in his first studies, which was the drawing in chiaroscuro from
the casts of antique bassi-relievi, for the purpose of attaining a true
idea of the beautiful, and preparing himself for the study of nature. Being
well skilled in the practice of the crayon, with little labour, and almost
alone, he learnt the art of colouring; and without the instructions of a
master, taught himself architecture and perspective. Whilst he was rising
into notice, he was compelled to flee his country for homicide; and, for
about the space of twenty years, he resided in Florence, protected by that
court, and always profitably employed. Florence, at that time, abounded
with men of first rate genius; and it was then that Cigoli, and all the
young painters, abandoned their own languid style for the rich and vigorous
Lombard. Paggi had not so much occasion as the others to invigorate his
manner, as appears from the works he executed in Florence not long after
his arrival there. There remains by him a Holy Family, and another picture
in the church degli Angioli, and in the cloister of S. Maria Novella a
history piece of S. Catherine of Siena. It represents the saint liberating
a condemned person, and is a large composition, ornamented with beautiful
buildings, and so pleasingly executed that I have heard it preferred to all
in that convent. Nevertheless the great merit of Paggi was not at that time
vigour, but a certain nobleness of air, which always continued to be his
characteristic, and a delicacy and grace which have led some to compare him
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