The first who distinguished himself in the lower branch of the art in the Genoese School was Sinibaldo Scorza, born in Voltaggio, who, guided by a natural genius, and directed by Paggi, proved an excellent painter of landscapes enlivened by figures of men and animals in the style of Berghem. It would be difficult to name an artist in Italy who so successfully engrafted the Flemish style on his own. I have seen a picture of cattle passing a stream, in the collection of the illustrious Carlo Cambiaso, where the animals rival those of Berghem, and the human figures appear painted by a superior artist. Other collections possess specimens of him in sacred subjects and classical fables; in which he rises far above the Flemish artists. He also painted in miniature, if indeed his oil paintings, from the care bestowed on them, ought not themselves to be called miniatures. His works were celebrated by the poets of the age, particularly by Marini, who introduced him to the court of Savoy. He was engaged, and employed there until hostilities took place between the governments of Piedmont and Genoa, which obliged him to return home. He was then denounced to the government by some malicious rivals as a partizan of Savoy, and passed two years in exile between Massa and Rome. From thence he returned much improved, whence his latter pictures far exceed the first in invention and copious composition. Antonio Travi, more commonly called Il Sestri, or Il Sordo di Sestri, from being a grinder of colours in the studio of Strozzi, and a friend of the Flemish artist Waals, soon emulated both the one and the other. He learned from the latter the art of painting landscape, with buildings in perspective, and ruins; and he afterwards copied from nature the beautiful country of the Riviera, with avenues of trees and rich orchards. But as Waals was a feeble painter of figures, Travi availed himself of the instructions of Strozzi to enliven his landscapes with beautiful and spirited figures, not so much painted as sketched with a few strokes by a master's hand, to gratify the eye when viewed at a distance. Thus, although his landscapes are not highly finished, they please us by their agreeable disposition, by their azure skies, the verdure of the trees, and their freedom of touch. The state abounds with his pictures; but a great proportion of those that bear his name are by his sons, who succeeded him in his profession, but not with their father's talents.