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 8: In the above named volume (vi) we find mention
of the son of this distinguished man: "_Magister Antonius
Pictor quondam Mag. Bictini Pictoris de Arimino_, 1456."
Footnote 9: I made a mistake in my former edition in
supposing him to have been a pupil of Bellino, who died in
1516. Concerning this Gio. who subscribed himself likewise
Gio. Francesco, we observe that Oretti, in his _Memorie_,
_MSS._, points out two pictures with the dates of 1459 and
1461. He adds, that there are accounts of his having been
living in 1470.
Forli, as far as I can learn, boasts no artist earlier than Guglielmo da
Forli, a pupil of Giotto. His paintings in fresco, conducted at the
Francescani, no longer survive, nor in the church of that order could I
meet with any specimen of the thirteenth century, besides a Crucifix by
some unknown hand. From that period, perhaps, a succession of artists
appeared, there being no scarcity of anonymous paintings from which to
conjecture such a fact; but history is silent until the time of Ansovino di
Forli, who has already been included among the pupils of Squarcione. I have
my doubts whether this artist could be the master of Melozzo, a name
venerated by artists, inasmuch as he was the first who applied the art of
foreshortening, the most difficult and the most severe, to the painting of
vaulted ceilings. Considerable progress was made in perspective after the
time of Paolo Uccello, with the aid of Piero della Francesca, a celebrated
geometrician, and of a few Lombards. But the ornamenting of ceilings with
that pleasing art and illusion, which afterwards appeared, was reserved for
Melozzo. It is observed by Scannelli, and followed by Orlandi, that in
order to acquire the art he studied the works of the best ancient artists,
and though born to fortune, he did not refuse to lodge with the masters of
his times, in quality of attendant and compounder of their colours. Some
writers give him as a pupil to Pietro della Francesca. It is at least
probable, that Melozzo was acquainted with him and with Agostino
Bramantino, when they were employed at Rome by Nicholas V., towards the
year 1455. However this may be, Melozzo painted on the ceiling of the great
chapel, at Santi Apostoli, the Ascension of our Lord, where, says Vasari,
"the figure of Christ is so admirably foreshortened as to appear to pierce
the vault; and in the same manner the angels are seen sweeping through the
field of air in two opposite directions." This painting was executed for
Card. Riario, nephew to Pope Sixtus IV. about the year 1472; and when that
edifice required to undergo repairs, it was removed and placed in the
Quirinal palace in 1711; where it is still seen, bearing this inscription:
"Opus Melotii Foroliviensis, qui summos fornices pingendi artem vel primus
invenit vel illustravit." Several heads of the apostles which surrounded
it, and were likewise cut away, were deposited in the Vatican palace.
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