Handbook of painting: the Italian schools. Based on the Handbook of Kugler

Handbook of painting: the Italian schools. Based on the Handbook of KuglerGIFT OF
Charles Perm
ORIGINALLY EDITED
FOURTH EDITION.
BY LADY EASTLAKE.
1874.
LOVDON :
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SO\S, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARISG CROSS.
Art Library
CHAPTER III.
SCHOOLS OF UPPER ITALY.
AMONG the Florentines the study of form was chiefly pursued on a principle of direct reference to nature, their especial
object being the imitation of the appearances and circum-
stances of life. A similar tendency showed itself also in
certain painters of Upper Italy, for instance in Vittore
Pisano, called Pisanello, a Veronese (year of birth unknown, but still living in 1455), who was both medallist and painter.
He laboured in Venice on a fresco in the great Council Hall,
afterwards replaced by a canvas picture by Luigi Vivarini
in Ferrara in the Castello at Pavia and in Rome, where
he completed works left unfinished by Gentile da Fabriano,
in St. John Lateran. All these have perished, but speci-
mens in fresco, more or less ruined, exist in Verona viz. :
an Annunciation in S. Fermo Maggiore, signed " Pisanus
pinxit," and a fresco, placed too high to be investigated, in
S. Anastasia St. George mounting his horse to fight the
Dragon.* The style of Pisano partakes of the tenderness
* There is no proof that Pisano was the author of the two prett) but feeble pictures usually assigned to him
; one in the Verona Gallery,
the other belonging to the late Dr. Bernasconi. Both represent the
Virgin and Child attended by angels, and with accompanying animals
* U
845814
and grace of Gentile da Fabriano, with that predilection
for introducing animals which characterised the Veronese
painters and which may he considered the legacy of the
school of miniaturists who especially flourished in Verona.
The only example hy which the painter can be fairly judged is the small signed picture presented to the National Gallery and formerly in the collection of Sir Charles Eastlake
the Virgin and Child in glory above, with St. Anthony of
Padua with his boar, and St. George with his horse, below.
This is believed to have been executed for his patron Leo-
nello d'Este of Ferrara, whose head is perpetuated in Pisano's
medal. This picture displays the hand of an undoubtedly
great artist, with a fine feeling for colour, and with that
careful modelling and severe drawing in the heads of the
Saints, especially in that of St. George, proper to a medallist.*
The same practice of embossed ornaments, seen in Gentile da
Fabriano, and in the Murano school, is observable here.
Giovanni Oriolo was evidently a pupil of Pisano. A portrait of Leonello d'Este, of agreeable character and
colour, in the National Gallery, is signed with his name.
Stefano da Zevio, a weak painter, known to have been forty
years of age in 1433, was n, cotemporary and follower of
Pisano. He was a miniaturist, and grandfather to Girolamo
dai Libri. A fresco by him, signed " Stefanus pinxit," is
above the side portal in S. Eufemia, Verona ; a picture in
tempera, an Adoration of the Kings, similarly signed, and
dated 1435, is in the Brera.
Other names, representing still feebler hands, are those of
Giovanni Badile, Girolamo Benaglio, and Cecchino. Signed
pictures by Badile and Benaglio are in the Verona Gallery. Cecchino is also seen in a signed work in the Cathedral at
Trent.
The study of form was very differently developed in Padua.
Here the influence of antique sculpture, producing an aim
and flowers, executed in the gay and delicate tones proper to a minia-
turist, but with a form of outline furthest removed from the style of a
medallist. * The medals of Vittore Pisano are well known. For a list of his prin-
cipal works of this kind, see Paolo Giovio and Vasari.
Chap. III. PADUAN SCHOOL. 291
at ideal beauty, and combined with a close and realistic
imitation of nature, raised a school of remarkable power and character. This direction may be compared with that
already spoken of as existing among the cotemporaries of
the celebrated sculptor Niccolb Pisano ; but it is more
decided in the Paduan school of the fifteenth century, which
shows little impress of Byzantine or even Giottesque influence. The occasional imitation of the antique, which
we have remarked among the Florentines of the fifteenth
century, is to be considered as merely accidental, or may perhaps be ascribed to a direct influence of the Paduan
school.
antique sculpture) to modern practice, and of having led the
way in applying them. We shall seek, however, in vain for
a deeper comprehension of the idealising principle of classic
art. What the Paduans borrowed from the antique was
limited at first to mere outward decoration, and subsequently to the desire for the utmost possible plastic representation of
form. This tendency was also doubtless furthered by the
works of Donatella existing in Padua the bronze bas-reliefs
in the Santo, and the equestrian monument to Gattemalata.
In truth the peculiarity of this school consists in a style of
conception and treatment more plastic than pictorial. The forms are severely and sharply defined : the drapery shows
the outlines of the body by clinging to the figure. The
general arrangement more frequently resembles that of basso-
rilievo than of rounded groups. The accessories display in like manner a special attention to antique models, par-
ticularly in the architecture and ornaments : the imitation of
antique embellishments also is very perceptible in the fre-
quent introduction of festoons of fruit in the pictures of this
school. It is worthy of remark how the study of antique
sculpture, combined with the naturalising tendency of the
day, led to an exaggerated sharpness in the marking of the
forms, which sometimes bordered on excess. In the drapery, the same imitation led to the use of a multitude of small
u2
sharp, oblique folds, which break the large flowing lines, and
sometimes even injure the effect of the leading forms.
The founder, in some measure and in an inferior sense,
of this school, was Francesco Squarcione, 1394-1474. This
artist was born and bred to the calling of an embroiderer
one of no small importance at that period, and closely allied
to the practice of art. He is stated to have travelled in Italy
and Greece and to have collected specimens and made drawings from objects of ancient art. On his return to Padua he started
a school richly furnished with such models, which soon
became largely frequented. At the same time he seems to
have had but small ability himself as a painter, but to have
officiated rather as undertaking, by means of his staff of
pupils and workmen, to execute commissions of various
kinds, ranging from designs for altar-cloths and tarsia, to
the grand works of the Eremitani Chapel. It is difficult
to identify any certain work existing by Squarcione, though his name is liberally given to productions of peculiar un-
attractiveness. An altar-piece in the Paduan Gallery, and
a Virgin and Child in tlie Casa Lazzara, are both assigned to him. The latter is signed
" Opus Squarcioni pictoris."
These two show a dissimilarity only to be reconciled by sup-
posing one or both to be the work of a scholar the master's
name being attached to whatever issued from his school.*
The list of Squarcione's scholars includes names we must
allude to here such as Niccolb Pizzolo, Bono Ferrarese,
Ansuino of Forfi, and Marco Zoppo ; who are believed to
have all assisted in the frescoes of the Eremitani ChapeL a great work undertaken by Squarcione, and finished about
1459-60. Of these artists, Pizzolo is considered to have
been the foremost. He is believed to have laboured with
Fra Filippo, in the chapel of the Podesta at Florence, and
also to have served under Donatella in the church of II
Santo at Padua. According to Vasari, Pizzolo executed the
subject of the First Person of the Trinity among Saints in
the semidome of the Eremitani Chapel, and the Assumption
* The signature of Squarcione on a small picture of the Madonna and
Child, with patron, in the Maufrin Collection, Venice, is now pronounced to be a forgery.
Chap. III. PADUAN SCHOOL. 293
of the Virgin supported by cherubs, on the apsis below. In
this latter work a marked affinity to Mantegna is seen, whom he preceded by many years in age, and who is stated to
have been influenced in early youth by Pizzolo's example.
Pizzolo is recorded by Vasari to have perished while yet
young in a street brawl.
Bono Ferrarese, obviously a native of Ferrara, has signed
his name " Opus Boni
" to the St. Christopher with the Infant
Christ on his shoulder in the upper course of frescoes on
the right wall of the chapel. Little is known of him. A small picture in the National Gallery, a St. Jerome in a land-
scape, bears witness to his having been a pupil of Pisano,
being signed "Bonus Ferrariensis Pisani Discipulus."
The part taken in this chapel by Marco Zoppo known as
Marco Zoppo di Squarcione is not denned, though he is be-
lieved to be the author of St. James Curing the Cripple in
Presence of the King. A small picture in the Manfriu
Collection the Virgin nursing the Child a very grotesque
work, with festoons of fruits and half-nude boys playing on musical instruments, is signed
" Opera del Zoppo di
Berlin Museum, bears his signature and the date 1471. This
is equally grotesque in character, and rendered still more
so by its large size. A work of more attractive class
St. Domenick as founder of the Rosary is in the National
Gallery.
character. He executed St. Christopher surrounded by his
votaries, in the Eremitani, which is signed " Opus Ansuini."
Little else is known of him except that he also laboured with
Fra Filippo in the chapel of the Podesta.
Another Squarcione scholar, who does not appear in the
Eremitani chapel, is Gregorio Schiavone a Dalmatian a
very quaint painter, after the manner of Marco Zoppo. He also gives the signature of the Squarcione atelier. A picture in the Berlin Museum is signed
" Opus Sclavoni
picture in the National Gallery.
Other workmen in the same widely extended bottega were
294 MASTERS OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. Book IV.
Dario and Girolamo da Treviso, and the Canozzi, known as
Lorenzo and Cristoforo da Lendinara. The first-named de-
corated house-fronts with coarse frescoes seen in Conegliano and Treviso the last were known for their designs in tarsia
for stalls in choirs.
Jacopo Montagnana is a Paduan who laboured in the Gat-
temalata Chapel in the Santo ;
also in the town-hall of Bel-
luno on frescoes of classic subjects. These have perished,
but exist in the form of engravings, which show spirited
compositions (see woodcut). Montagnana is later than Man-
tegna, and was classed by Vasari among the pupils of
Giovanni Bellini. His signature and the date 1495 are seen
on the greatly ruined decorations of an old chapel in the
Episcopal Palace, Padua.
The name of Bernardino Parentino is attached as scholar
both to Squarcione and Mantegna. He is seen in a signed
picture of Christ Bearing His Cross, with St. Jerome and a
bishop, in the gallery at Modena, and in three scenes from
the lives of SS. Anthony and Louis in the Doria Palace,
Rome. Various inferior works ascribed to Mantegna may be
fearlessly distributed among the names given above.
We now come to the true founder of the great Paduan
school, Andrea Mantegna, one whose strength made itself
felt in almost every school of Italian art, and from the
connection with whom all these men, as well as Squarcione
himself, derive their chief importance. And here we must
remind the reader that whatever advantage of models
Mantegna may have derived from Squarcione's workshop, his real forerunner in art was Jacopo Bellini, subsequently his father-in-law of whom we shall speak further between
whose art, as seen in existing works, and that of Mantegna a far closer affinity is traceable than any that can be
supposed to have existed between Squarcione and Mantegna. Andrea Maniegna was born in Padua 1431, died 1506. His
parentage is not known, but his subsequent connection with
Squarcione is accounted for by the fact that he was regularly
adopted by that artist in 1441. No more remarkable painter than Mantegna has lived. He combined an intensely realistic
tendency with an ardent love of the antique, adding to these
S. EDFEM1A, by Mantegna. Br*ra f. 295
Chap. III. ANDREA MANTEGNA. 295
great powers of invention, a solemn poetry of feeling, the
grandest expression of passion, and a mastery of hand which
is almost unique. Whoever has learned to relish this great
master will never overlook a scrap by him ; for while his
works sometimes show a certain austerity and harshness
bordering on grimace, they have always a force and an
energy of will which belong to no one else. In power of
drawing the human figure, Mantegna is almost unrivalled,
though his figures are occasionally too long. His hands
and feet have the precision of sculpture, and his powers of
action range from the most vehement to the most tender.
In the treatment of the human features no problem was too
difficult for him, and in the expression of uncontrolled
emotion, such as his St. John roaring aloud with anguish in
his etching of the Entombment, an attempt which in most
hands would degenerate into a mere contortion, he preserves
a dignity which redeems him from caricature. His drapery is always sculpturesque, and of the highest order of beauty of arrangement, sometimes clinging to the form in a multitude
of minute folds, and finished in lights, half lights, shadows
and reflections, with the most patient truth. Mantegna was a
tempera painter, of harmoniously broken tones ; his draperies
frequently of shot colours and watered stuffs ; but with little
attempt at those rich and deep effects which by the practice
of oil his later Venetian contemporaries initiated.
The chronological course of Mantegna's labours is now not
easily traceable. The St. Luke in the Brera* a picture
in compartments, with eight Saints and a Pieta, on gold
grounds, grouped round the Evangelist known to have
been painted for S. Giustina of Padua in 1454 is already a decided specimen of his fine and peculiar qualities. S.
Eufemia, a statue-like figure of exquisite drapery, with a
sword in her breast (see woodcut), and a portly bishop in full
canonicals, have all his scrupulous accuracy of outline and
details. Another picture of the time is the single figure of
S. Eufemia in the Naples Museum, which has much darkened
and otherwise suffered.
The picture of the Virgin and Child, in the Casa Scotti in
* See ' Pinacoteca di Milano,' vol. ii., Scuola Mantovana.
296 MASTERS OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTUKY. Book IV.
Milan, is now pronounced to bear a false inscription of his
name, and is believed to be the work of Liberate.
The great works of Mantegna's youth were a portion of
the frescoes in the Eremitani Chapel at Padua, undertaken, as
described, by Squarcione. Mantegna's hand is readily distin-
guishable in the histories of SS. James and Christopher. Of
these, three of the former St. James baptizing, the same Saint
before the Judge, and again blessing a Convert on his way to Martyrdom (see woodcut) and two of St. Christopher
the martyrdom of the giant Saint, and the removal of the
body are his. In the subjects of St. James, the qualities
and great range of Mantegna's art viz. stately and sculp-
turesque composure, momentary action, and realistic detail
and simplicity are seen in marvellous combination. The
figures are at once monumental and portrait-like ; the
children, introduced, full of nature; the architecture and
accessories of the grandest antique taste ; while the cobbled
sole of the shoe of the convert who kneels before St. James
with his back to the spectator, is only mentioned here as
showing how well Mantegna could afford to give the most
servile and accidental detail. In the picture of St. Christo-
pher bound to a tree, and shot at by archers, the figure of
the Saint is almost obliterated; one of the feet still re-
maining shows the severe anatomy which was familiar to
the great master. The archers aim at him from under a
rich pergola of vines ; at the window of a massive building,
with antique rilievi and inscriptions, spectators appear, one
of whom, the judge, is wounded by an arrow miraculously diverted from its course.
The dead body of the giant Saint, dragged away by ropes,
is almost as much ruined, but nothing can obliterate the
grand foreshortening of the figure, which is one of the most
remarkable feats of modern art. In these frescoes Mantegna worked out many a problem of perspective, showing equally the as yet imperfect development of the art and the untiring
patience with which he tested it. Finally, the execution of
these works shows a care and finish rarely before applied to
fresco a monument, however ruined, of the energetic per- severance of the master.
HISTORY OF ST. JAMES ; by Andrei. Mautegna, Ereroitani Chapel, Padua.
Chap. III. ANDREA MANTEGNA. 297
To this period of exquisite finish belongs the altar-piece
at S. Zeno, at Verona, once over the high altar, but now
placed at so great a height in the choir as only to be
satisfactorily seen with a ladder. This represents the
Virgin and Child on a marble throne, with four grandly
draped Saints on each side, in a classic portico, with festoons
of fruits and coral overhanging. Eight infant angels, of the
utmost beauty of form and execution, are playing and singing
on each side of and below the throne. This picture, carried
off to Paris by Napoleon, was restored to Verona without its
fine predella, the centre-piece of which the Crucifixion
remains one of the chief ornaments of the Louvre ; while
the Christ in the Garden and the Ascension made their way to the Museum at Tours.
The Agony in the Garden, in the late Mr. Baring's collec-
tion, formerly in the Fesch Gallery, belongs to this decade
between 1450 and '60. This is a marvellous combination of
the fantastic and the realistic, with fine drawing, foreshorten-
ing, and drapery in the figures of the sleeping apostles.
A triptych, slightly concave, in the Tribune of the Ufiizi
the Adoration of the Magi, the Circumcision, and the Ascen-
sion is another specimen of solemn grandeur of conception,
combined with the minutest finish ; Mantegna's finish being
never mere labour, but simply the conscientious satisfaction
of the keenest eye and most intelligent hand.
About 1470 Mantegna is believed to have entered the
service of Lodovico Gonzaga, and to have removed from
Padua to Mantua, where he chiefly resided for the rest of
his life. Eemains of frescoes by him are seen here in a
room called the Camera degli Sposi, in the Castello del
Corte, representing events in the Gonzaga family ; these are
greatly injured, and reduced to a cold iron colour, though
showing in parts the hand that never failed in mastery of
drawing. The ceiling, which simulates an elaborate dome with a circular opening to the sky in the centre, surrounded
by a balustrade over which figures of children look down into the room, is celebrated as a specimen of foreshortening from which later masters derived inspiration. The date of
this work is 1474.
298 MASTERS OF THE FIFIEEXTH CENTURY. Book IV.
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