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 the Bolognese pupils of Guido, Domenico Maria Canuti obtained great
celebrity. He was employed by the Padri Olivetani, (an order the most
distinguished for its patronage of first rate artists,) in several
monasteries, more particularly at Rome, Padua, and Bologna, whose library
and church he decorated with numerous paintings. One of these, the Taking
down from the Cross by torch-light, is greatly admired, several copies of
which are met with, in general called the Night of Canuti; also a St.
Michael, painted in part within the arch, and in part on the exterior, is
considered a rare triumph of the power of perspective. His entire work in
that library was afterwards described and printed by the Manolessi. He left
immense works also in two halls of the Pepoli palace, in the Colonna
gallery at Rome, in the ducal palace at Mantua, and elsewhere, being
esteemed one of the best fresco painters of his time. His fertility and
vivacity please more than his colouring, while his individual figures are,
perhaps, more attractive than the general effect of the picture. He was
excellent too in oil, and succeeded admirably in copying Guido, whose
Magdalen of the Barberini was taken so exactly, that it appears the best
among all the copies seen at S. Michele in Bosco. Canuti opened school at
Bologna; but his pupils, during his tour to Rome, attached themselves
chiefly to Pasinelli, in whose school, or in that of Cignani, they will be
found included during the last epoch.
Other of Guido's scholars are indicated by Malvasia, among whom he highly
extols Michele Sobleo, or Desubleo, from Flanders, though resident at
Bologna. But he left little in public there, and that is a mixture of
Guercino and of Guido. Several churches at Venice were decorated by his
hand, and the altar-piece at the Carmelite friars, representing also
various saints of that order, is among his most celebrated works. From the
same country was Enrico Fiammingo, whom we must not confound with Arrigo
Fiammingo, an artist made known to us by Baglione. Both fixed their abode
in Italy, and the follower of Guido, formerly pupil to Ribera, painted some
pictures at S. Barbaziano in Bologna, that may compete with those of Gessi,
were it not for the fleshes being of a darker tinge. A few pictures by
another foreigner are preserved at the Capuccini and elsewhere; his name,
Pietro Lauri, or rather De Laurier, a Frenchman, whose crayons were
frequently retouched by Guido, and whose oil pictures also shew traces of
the same hand. Respecting another, whose name only remains, it will be
sufficient to mention an altar-piece of the Magdalen, placed in the oratory
of S. Carlo, at Volterra, relating to which is a letter of Guido to the
Cav. Francesco Incontri, stating that he had retouched it, particularly in
the head; but that, with the aid of Guido's design, it was painted by the
Signor Camillo. He is said to have been a member of that noble family, of
whom memorials have been preserved by his house.
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