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
Returning to the Bolognese artists, Gio. Maria Tamburini will be found to
hold a high rank, the author of many fresco histories in the portico of the
Conventuals, and of the Nunziata at the Vita, a very graceful painting
drawn from his master's sketch. Yet he was surpassed by Gio. Batista
Bolognini, by whose hand there is a S. Ubaldo at S. Gio. in Monte,
altogether in the style of Guido. This artist had a nephew and pupil in
Giacomo Bolognini, who painted large pictures and capricci, and is
mentioned by Zanotti and Crespi. Bartolommeo Marescotti is hardly deserving
notice; at S. Martino he appears only as a hasty imitator, or rather a
corrupter of the Guido manner. Mentioned, too, by various writers, is a
Sebastiano Brunetti, a Giuliano Dinarelli, a Lorenzo Loli, and in
particular a Pietro Gallinari, on whom his master's predilection conferred
also the name of Pietro del Sig. Guido. His earliest pieces, retouched by
Reni, are held in high esteem, and others which he produced for the court,
and in various churches at Guastalla, are valuable. He was an artist of the
noblest promise, but cut off prematurely, not without suspicion of poison.
Many foreigners who acquired the art from Guido, particularly at Bologna,
were dispersed throughout various schools, according to the places where
they resided; such were Boulanger, Cervi, Danedi, Ferrari, Ricchi, and
several more. Two artists who chiefly dwelt in Bologna and Romagna in high
esteem, I have reserved for this place, named Cagnacci and Cantarini. Guido
Cagnacci, referred by Orlandi to Castel Durante, though the Arcangelesi
more properly claim him for their fellow-citizen, was a rare exception to
Italian artists, in having sought his fortunes in Germany, where he was
highly deserving of the success he met with at the court of Leopold I. What
he has left in Italy, such as his St. Matthew and St. Teresa, in two
churches of Rimini, or the Beheading of St. John, in the Ercolani palace at
Bologna, shew him to have been a diligent and correct, as well as a refined
artist, in his master's latest style. Malvasia was of opinion that he
carried the colour of his fleshes, now rather faded, somewhat too high; to
others it appeared that he drew the extremities too small in proportion to
his figures; while some have remarked a capricious degree of freedom, shewn
in sometimes representing his angels at a more advanced age than was
customary. All, however, must acknowledge Guidesque beauties apparent in
every picture, added to a certain original air of nobility in his heads,
and fine effect of his chiaroscuro. His pictures for the most part were
painted for the ornament of cabinets, such as are seen in the ducal gallery
at Modena, and in private houses. There is his Lucretia in the Casa
Isolani, and his magnificent David, which is esteemed one of the noblest
pieces, in possession of the princes Colonna; two pictures abundantly
repeated both in the Bolognese and Roman Schools, and of which, indeed, I
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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