Castellino Castello possessed a sober style of composition, like that of Paggi his master, and, as far as we may judge from various pictures, was a correct and elegant artist. He highly distinguished himself in the picture of the Pentecost, placed on the great altar of the church of the Spirito Santo. He, however, like many others of this period, is indebted for his celebrity to his success in portrait painting; in confirmation of which it is sufficient to state, that Vandyck was desirous of being commemorated by him, and painted him in return. This fact exalts his reputation even more than the commendations he received from contemporary poets, among whom were Chiabrera and Marino, whose features he also preserved for posterity. He was appointed portrait painter to the court of Savoy, and in this department he had a rival in his own family, in Niccolo his son, who was in high reputation in Genoa when Soprani wrote. Some others of the school of Paggi, distinguished in landscape or in other branches of painting, are reserved for the conclusion of this epoch. Paggi had a rival in Sorri of Siena. His style is a mixture of Passignano and Paol Veronese; and, if I err not in my judgment, of Marco da Siena also, whose Deposition from the Cross in Araceli was, in a manner, repeated by Sorri at S. Siro in Genoa. He there instructed Carlone and Strozzi, two luminaries of this school. Gio. Carlone repaired soon to Rome, and afterwards to Florence, where he was taught by Passignano, the father-in-law and master of Sorri. Passignano was not so remarkable for his colouring as for his design and grandeur of composition; but we have already observed, that the style of colour is that portion of the art least influenced by precept, and which is formed more than any other by the individual genius of the painter. Carlone possessed as great talents for composition as any of his contemporaries; correct and graceful in design, decided and intelligent in expression; and above all, he had an extraordinary brilliancy of colour in his frescos. In this branch he was anxious to distinguish himself; and although he saw eminent examples at Florence and in Rome, he did not adhere to them so much as, if I am not wrong in my conjecture, he attempted to follow, or rather to surpass and to reduce to a more pleasing practice, the style exhibited by Tavarone, in the histories of S. Lorenzo. I have already described that style; the vigour, beauty, and freshness with which it prepossesses the spectator, and approximates the most distant objects. If, in respect of Giovanni, we wish to add any greater praise, it is that he surpassed Tavarone in these gifts; and besides, he is more correct in his contours, and more varied and copious in composition. But in all these qualities they were both excelled by Gio. Batista Carlone, a scholar also of Passignano, and a student in Rome, afterwards the associate of Giovanni, his elder brother, in principle