But, to proceed in due course, we may observe, that, at the commencement of the seventeenth century, there existed in Turin a rich collection of pictures and drawings, the ornament of the throne, and subservient to the instruction of young artists, the care of which was entrusted to a painter of the court. We first find one Bernardo Orlando invested with this charge, who was appointed painter to the duke in 1617. This honour, in succeeding years, was conferred on many others, whose pencils were employed in Turin and the castle of Rivoli; where, however, many of their works were effaced in the present century, and others substituted by the two Vanloos. Some of these are unknown in the history of art, as Antonio Rocca and Giulio Mayno, the first a native of I know not what place, the latter of Asti. A della Rovere is also an unknown artist, mentioned in the Registers from the year 1626; nor can this be the same who left, in the convent of St. Francis, a picture of very original invention, the subject of which is Death. It expresses the origin of death, in the transgression of Adam and Eve; and the fulfilment of it, by the thread spun, wound, and severed, by the three Fates, with other fancies in which profane and sacred ideas are confounded together. If the design of this picture cannot command our approbation, its other qualities are still prepossessing, and conciliate our esteem for the painter, who subscribes himself, _Jo. Bapt. a Ruere Taur._ f. 1627. But the name of the court painter was Girolamo. Baglione acquaints us with another, called Marzio di Colantonio, a Roman by birth, who excelled in grotesques and landscapes. There are also some others included in the list of ducal painters, whom we have before mentioned in various schools; as Vincenzo Conti in the Roman, Morazzone in the Milanese, and Sinibaldo Scorza in the Genoese. These and others, who painted in Turin and the neighbourhood about this time, will be found in the _Lettere_ and the _Galleria_ of the Cav. Marini, who resided for some time at this court. We must, however, consult him with caution, as he was a poet, and very readily augmented his gallery, by devoting a sonnet to every picture and drawing, so that artists of mediocrity valued themselves more on his applause than painters of merit.[76] Thus Malvasia informs us, that he had frequently heard Albano boast of having refused Marini's request, the gift of a picture, for fear the poet should make it the subject of a sonnet, (tom. ii. p. 273).