The History of Painting in Italy. Luigi Lanzi
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at that place in 1667, at which time he was twelve years old: this I believe to be incorrect; for it was unknown to Mancini, who was acquainted with Vanni. Malvasia repeats it on the authority of Ugurgieri; but he can discover nothing further of Vanni, at Bologna, than his being there after he had arrived at manhood, and designing in the academy of Facini and Mirandola, to which he was probably introduced by his countryman Marcucci. He left some works at Bologna, in the style of the Caracci, if he is the painter of a Madonna, which was shewn me as a Vanni, in a cabinet of the Zambeccari collection. His Flight into Egypt, painted for the church of S. Quirico, in Siena, bears also undoubted marks of the Bolognese school.
Although he attempted other styles, he was not like Casolani an adherent to none. Vanni attached himself to the elegant and florid manner of Barocci, in which he was eminently successful. Of this, the Humiliation of Simon the Sorcerer, which he painted on a stone slab for the church of S. Peter at Rome, affords a proof; a picture which, though recently cleaned with little judgment, is still an object of admiration. Both the design and colouring are in the manner of Barocci; and it is prepared with a due regard to the humidity of that church; nor has it been found necessary to remove it, as has happened to other pictures. He also painted in Siena, and in other Italian cities, where he has approached the manner of Barocci more closely than Viviani, or any other pupil of that artist. His Marriage of S. Catherine, with a numerous group of angels, at the Refugio, is much praised in Siena: as is the Madonna, surrounded by saints, painted for the church of Monna Agnese; and the S. Raymond walking on the Sea, in the possession of the Domenican Fathers, which is supposed by some to be his best picture in Siena, where his works are very numerous. Among the finest pictures in the cathedral of Pisa, is the Dispute about the Sacrament, painted in emulation of his brother Ventura, who had surpassed his usual style in the altarpiece of the angels. At the Umiltà of Pistoia, in the convent of the Camaldules of Fabriano, and in that of the Capuchins of S. Quirico, are some of his most exquisite works; and they are so numerous in other places, that I do not imagine a full catalogue of them has ever been made out. He is generally a follower of Barocci, as we have observed; and amateurs, deceived principally by his colouring, and the heads of his boys, which appear cast in the mould of Barocci, frequently confound the latter with Vanni: but one, well acquainted with Federigo, observes in him more grandeur of design, and greater freedom in the touches of the pencil. The pictures which Vanni executed negligently, or at low prices (of which there are several at Siena), can hardly be recognized as his.
By the example and lessons of Vanni, the honour of painting was long supported at Siena. He taught many pupils, who did not, however, rigidly adopt his style; but, as is usually the case, imitated the master most recently in vogue, or, in other words, followed the fashion of the time. We shall begin with his two sons, to whom he had given the names most celebrated in the art. Michelangiolo, the eldest, we have mentioned with applause, as the inventor of staining marble: but he did not attain much celebrity except in this art. I know not whether he ever was out of Siena, and there we find few of his paintings, except a S. Catherine in the act of praying with the Redeemer, which was painted for the Olivetine monks. Raffaele, the second, left an orphan at the age of thirteen, was recommended to Antonio Caracci, and in that school, according to Mancini, made such progress as even to surpass his father; but this is not the opinion of posterity. All allow that he possessed grandeur of design, and a fine taste in shadows and in colouring, with some resemblance to Cortona, who, in his day, drew after him even his contemporaries. The birth of the Virgin Mary, in the Pace at Rome, and several of his other pictures, have no small portion of the ideas and contrasts of the followers of Cortona. He lived long in Rome, and on that account is frequently mentioned by Titi. Tuscany is not deficient in his works. At the church of S. Catherine, at Pisa, there is a picture of the titular Saint; Florence possesses the pictures of the Riccardi saloon; and at the church of S. George, in Siena, is his Procession of our Saviour to Calvary. These are esteemed among his finest productions; and the last is characterized as his masterpiece. Both brothers had the honour of knighthood; but it was more worthily bestowed on the second than on the first.
Contemporary with the Cav. Raffaello, as well as his assistant at S. Maria della Pace at Rome, and in several places at Siena, we find the name of Bernardino Mei. I am unacquainted with that of his master; and P. della Valle, who saw several of his works, sometimes compares him to the Caracci, at others to Paul Veronese, and to Guercino, much as the eclectic philosophers adopt or change the maxims of the different schools. He commends him for the airs of his heads, and, as one of his best productions, alludes to a fresco in the Casa Bandinelli, with an Aurora in a ceiling, and with several other elegant figures and designs.
Francesco di Cristofano Rustici, called Rustichino, is better known in Siena than those just mentioned. He obtained the name of Rustichino, either because he was the last of a family that had produced three painters before him, or because he died in the outset of life. This circumstance, perhaps, has contributed to his reputation. All his remaining works are beautiful, which seldom happens to artists who live to a great age, and who abate in diligence as they advance in reputation and in years. He is a graceful follower of Caravaggio; and particularly excels in confined or candle lights, much in the style of Gherardo della Notte; but he is perhaps more select. The Dying Magdalen, in possession of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and the S. Sebastian, cured by S. Irene, which belongs to Prince Borghese, in Rome, are in this style. But it was not the only one in which Rustichino painted. He had visited Rome, and had studied the works of the Caracci and of Guido, of which traces may be discovered in several of his works; but, at the same time, all of them possess a certain originality, and something peculiarly his own. The best of all his pictures at Siena is an Annunciation, in Provenzano, before which the Virgin, S. Catherine, prays, surrounded by a multitude of angels. If Rustichino pleases in other works, in this he enchants us. He began a work on the history of the city in the public palace, in which his father, whose figures were not equal to his decorations, was also employed, and it was finished by other artists.
Rutilio Manetti, or, as Pecci writes it, Mannetti, followed Caravaggio with less discrimination, but with greater force in the shadows. His pictures at Siena are easily recognized by invariably partaking of a certain sombre hue, which deranges the due balance and participation of light and shade. The same objection lies against many of his contemporaries of every school. The method of purifying colours, and of composing vehicles,[302] had degenerated; and the injury sustained from this defect was not observed in the pictures: the artist only looked to the grand effect, to which the age so much aspired. Manetti united an improved design to ideas above the common order, and beautiful architecture; and hence, at times, he approaches rather to Guercino than to Caravaggio. In the cathedral of Siena is his Elijah under the juniper tree, in which the historian of that church commends the force of the colouring, which is juicy and natural. Many of his works remain in the Carthusian monastery of Florence, and in several churches of Siena, the most admired of which is the Repose of the Holy Family, in S. Peter's of Castelvecchio. In private collections, where pictures are better preserved than in churches, we find very beautiful Madonnas by this artist; and there is a most exquisite Lucretia in the possession of the Bandinelli family. He sometimes departed from his usual manner, as in the Triumph of David, in the ducal gallery, in which the shadows are not so dark, and the tone of the whole is more lively. Mention is made in the Lettere Pittoriche,[303] of Bernardino Capitelli, a scholar of Manetti, and an etcher: and in the third volume there is casual mention of one Domenico Manetti, probably of the same family, but not to be mistaken for the great individual of the same name. He appears rather to have employed himself in ornamenting private collections, and painted a Baptism of Constantine for the casa Magnoni, that has been much commended.
Astolfo Petrazzi, as well as Vanni, was a pupil of the younger Salimbeni and of Sorri; and seems, more than any other, to have adhered to the manner of his master. He frequently aims at pleasing the eye, and not unfrequently chooses his models from the schools of Upper Italy. A Marriage-feast of Cana, by his hand, in a private house, brings Paolo strongly to our recollection. His Communion of S. Jerome, in the possession of the Augustine friars, partakes, perhaps, too strongly of the manner of the Caracci. This picture, which he painted at Rome, was much admired at Siena, and was the origin of his great employment in that city, where his pictures are always decorated