The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. 2 (of 6) / From the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End of the Eighteenth Century

A little beyond the middle of the 17th century, Luca Giordano began to flourish in Naples. This master, though he did not excel his contemporaries in his style, surpassed them all in good fortune, for which he was indebted to his vast talents, confidence, and unbounded powers of invention, which Maratta considered unrivalled and unprecedented. In this he was eminently gifted by nature from his earliest youth. Antonio, his father, placed him first under the instructions of Ribera, and afterwards under Cortona in Rome,^[121] and having conducted him through all the best schools of Italy, he brought him home rich in designs and in ideas. His father was an indifferent painter, and being obliged in Rome to subsist by his son's labours, whose drawings were at that time in the greatest request,^[122] the only principle that he instilled into him was one dictated by necessity, despatch. A humorous anecdote is related, that Luca, when he was obliged to take refreshments, did not retire from his work, but, gaping like a young bird, gave notice to his father of the calls of hunger, who, always on the watch, instantly supplied him with food, at the same time reiterating with affectionate solicitude, Luca fa presto. Upon this incident he was always afterwards known by the name of Luca fa presto, among the students in Rome, and which is also his most frequent appellation in the history of the art. By means like these, Antonio acquired for his son a portentous celerity of hand, from which quality he has been called il Fulmine della pittura. The truth however is, that this despatch was not derived wholly from rapidity of pencil, but was aided by the quickness of his imagination, as Solimene often observed, by which he was enabled to ascertain, from the first commencement of his work, the result he proposed to himself, without hesitating to consider the component parts, or doubting, proving, and selecting like other painters. He also obtained the name of the Proteus of painting, from his extraordinary talent in imitating every known manner, the consequence of his strong memory, which retained every thing he had once seen. There are numerous instances of pictures painted by him in the style of Albert Durer, Bassano, Titian, and Rubens, with which he imposed on connoisseurs and on his rivals, who had more cause than any other persons to be on their guard against him. These pictures are valued by dealers at more than double or triple the price of pictures of his own composition. There are examples of them even in the churches at Naples; as the two pictures in the style of Guido at S. Teresa, and particularly that of the Nativity. There is also at the court of Spain a Holy Family, so much resembling Raffaello, that, as Mengs says in a letter, (tom. ii. p. 67,) whoever is not conversant with the quality of beauty essential to the works of that great master, would be deceived by the imitation of Giordano.

He did not however permanently adopt any of these styles as his own. At first he evidently formed himself on Spagnoletto; afterwards, as in a picture of the Passion at S. Teresa a little before mentioned, he adhered to Paul Veronese; and he ever retained the maxim of that master, by a studied decoration to excite astonishment, and to fascinate the eye. From Cortona he seems to have taken his contrast of composition, the great masses of light, and the frequent repetition of the same features, which, in his female figures, he always copied from his wife. In other respects he aimed at distinguishing himself from every other master by a novel mode of colouring. He was not solicitous to conform to the true principles of art; his style is not natural either in tone or colour, and still less so in its chiaroscuro, in which Giordano formed for himself a manner ideal and wholly arbitrary. He pleased, notwithstanding, by a certain deceptive grace and attraction, which few attempt, and which none have found it easy to imitate. Nor did he recommend this style to his scholars, but on the contrary reproved them when he saw them disposed to imitate him, telling them that it was not the province of young students to penetrate so far. He was well acquainted with the principles of design, but would not be at the trouble of observing them; and in the opinion of Dominici, if he had adhered to them too rigidly he would have enfeebled that spirit which is his greatest merit; an excuse which perhaps will not appear satisfactory to every amateur. Another reason may with more probability of truth be assigned, which was his unbounded cupidity, and his habit of not refusing commissions from the meanest quarter, which led him to abuse his facility to the prejudice of his reputation. Hence, among other things, he has been accused of having often painted superficially, without impasto, and with a superabundance of oil, so that some of his pictures have almost disappeared from the canvass.

Naples abounds with the works of Giordano both public and private. There is scarcely a church in that great city which does not boast some work by him. A much admired piece is the Expulsion of the sellers and buyers from the Temple at the P. P. Girolamini: the architectural parts of which are painted by Moscatiello, a good perspective painter. Of his frescos, those at the Treasury of the Certosa are esteemed the best. They were executed by him when his powers were matured, and appear to unite in themselves all the best qualities of the artist. Every one must be forcibly struck by the picture of the Serpent raised in the desert, and the throng of Israelites, who, assailed in a horrible manner, turn to it for relief. The other pictures on the walls and in the vault, all scriptural, are equally powerful in effect. The cupola of S. Brigida is also extolled, which was painted in competition with Francesco di Maria, and in so very short a time, and with such fascinating tints, that it was preferred by the vulgar to the work of that accomplished master, and thus served to diffuse less solid principles among the rising artists. As a miracle of despatch we are also shewn the picture of S. Saverio, painted for the church of that saint in a day and a half, full of figures, and as beautiful in colour as any of his pictures. Luca went to Florence to paint the Capella Corsini and the Riccardi Gallery, besides many works in the churches and for individuals, particularly for the noble house of Rosso, who possessed the Baccanali of Giordano, afterwards removed to the palace of the Marchese Gino Capponi. He was also employed by the Grand Duke; and Cosmo III., in whose presence he designed and painted a large picture in less time than I dare mention, complimented him by saying that he was a fit painter for a sovereign prince. The same eulogium was passed on him by Charles II. of Spain, in whose court he resided thirteen years; and, to judge from the number of works he left there, it might be supposed that he had consumed a long life in his service. He continued and finished the series of paintings begun by Cambiasi of Genoa, in the church of the Escurial, and ornamented the vault, the cupola, and the walls with many scriptural subjects, chiefly from the life of Solomon. He painted some other large compositions in fresco in a church of S. Antonio, in the palace of Buonritiro, in the Hall of the Ambassadors; and for the Queen Mother a Nativity, most highly finished, which is said to be a surprising picture, and perhaps superior to any other of his painting. If all his works had been executed with similar care, the observation, that his example had corrupted the Spanish School, might perhaps have been spared.^[123] In his old age he returned to his native place, loaded with honours and riches, and died lamented and regretted as the greatest genius of his age.

His school produced but few designers of merit; most of them were contaminated by the maxim of their master, that it is the province of a painter to please the public, and that their favour is more easily won by colour than by correct design; so that, without much attention to the latter, they gave themselves entirely to facility of hand. His favorite scholars were Aniello Rossi of Naples, and Matteo Pacelli della Basilicata, whom he took with him to Spain as assistants, and who returned with him home with handsome pensions, and lived after in leisure and independence. Niccolo Rossi of Naples became a good designer and colourist in the style of his master, although somewhat too red in his tints. In some of his more important works, as in the soffitto of the royal chapel, Giordano assisted him with his designs. He painted much for private individuals, and was considered next to Reco in his drawings of animals. The Guida of Naples commends him and Tommaso Fasano, for their skill in painting in distemper some very fine works for Santi Sepolcri and Quarantore. Giuseppe Simonelli, originally a servant of Giordano, became an accurate copyist of his works, and an excellent imitator of his colouring. He did not succeed in design, though he is praised for a S. Niccola di Tolentino in the church of Montesanto, which approaches to the best and most correct manner of Giordano. Andrea Miglionico had more facility of invention, and equal taste in colour, but he has less grace than Simonelli. Andrea also painted in many churches in Naples, and I find him highly commended for his picture of the Pentecost in the S. S. Nunziata. A Franceschitto, a Spaniard, was so promising an artist that Luca was accustomed to say, that he would prove a greater man than his master. But he died very young, leaving in Naples a favourable specimen of his genius in the S. Pasquale, which he painted in S. Maria del Monte. It contains a beautiful landscape, and a delightful choir of angels.

But his first scholar, in point of excellence, was Paolo de' Matteis, mentioned also by Pascoli among the best scholars of Morandi, and an artist who might vie with the first of his age. He was invited to France, and during the three years that he resided there, obtained considerable celebrity in the court and in the kingdom at large. He was then engaged by Benedict XIII. to come to Rome, where he painted at the Minerva and at the Ara Cœli. He decorated other cities also with his works, particularly Genoa, which has two very valuable pictures by him at S. Girolamo; the one, that saint appearing and speaking to S. Saverio in a dream; the other, the Immaculate Conception with an angelic choir, as graceful as ever was painted. His home was, notwithstanding, in Naples, and that is the place where we ought to view him. He there decorated with his frescos the churches, galleries, halls, and ceilings in great number; often rivalling the celerity without attaining the merit of his master. It was his boast to have painted in sixty-six days a large cupola, that of the Gesù Nuovo, a few years since taken down in consequence of its dangerous state; a boast which, when Solimene heard, he sarcastically replied, that the work declared the fact itself without his mentioning it. Nevertheless there were so many beauties in it in the style of Lanfranco, that its rapid execution excited admiration.

When he worked with care, as in the church of the Pii Operai, in the Matalona Gallery, and in many pictures for private individuals, he left nothing to desire, either in his composition, in the grace of his contour, in the beauty of his countenances, though there was little variety in the latter, or in any of the other estimable qualities of a painter. His colouring was at first Giordanesque; afterwards he painted with more force of chiaroscuro, but with a softness and delicacy of tint, particularly in the madonnas and children, where he sometimes displays the sweetness of Albano, and a trace of the Roman School, in which he had also studied. He was not very happy in his scholars, who were not numerous. Giuseppe Mastroleo is the most distinguished, who is much praised for his S. Erasmus at S. Maria Nuova. Gio. Batista Lama was a fellow disciple, and afterwards a relative of Matteis, and received some assistance from him in his studies. Excited by the example of Paolo, he attained a suavity of colour and of chiaroscuro, much praised in his larger works, as the gallery of the Duke of S. Niccola Gaeta, and particularly in his pictures of small figures in collections. In these he was fond of representing mythological stories, and they are not unfrequent in Naples and its territories.

Francesco Solimene, called L'Abate Ciccio, born at Nocera de' Pagani, was the son of Angelo, a scholar of Massimo. Early imbibing a love of painting, he forsook the study of letters, and after receiving the first rudiments of the art from his father, he repaired to Naples. He there entered the school of Francesco di Maria, but soon left it, as he thought that master too exclusively devoted to design. He then frequented the academy of Po, where he industriously began at the same time to draw from the naked figure and to colour. Thus he may be said to have been the scholar of the best masters, as he always copied and studied their works. At first he imitated Pietro da Cortona, but afterwards formed a manner of his own, still retaining that master as his model, and copying entire figures from him, which he adapted to his new style. This new and striking style of Solimene approached nearer than any other to that of Preti. The design is not so correct, the colouring not so true, but the faces have more beauty: in these he sometimes imitated Guido, and sometimes Maratta, and they are often selected from nature. Hence by some he was called il Cav. Calabrese ringentilito. To the style of Preti he added that of Lanfranco, whom he named his master, and from whom he adopted that curving form of composition, which he perhaps carried beyond propriety. From these two masters he took his chiaroscuro, which he painted strong in his middle age, but softened as he advanced in years, and then attached himself more to facility and elegance of style. He carefully designed every part of his picture, and corrected it from nature before he coloured it; so that in preparing his works, he may be included among the most correct, at least in his better days, for he latterly declined into the general facility, and opened the way to mannerism. He possessed an elegant and fruitful talent of invention, for which he is celebrated by the poets of the day. He was also characterised by a sort of universality in every style he attempted, extending himself to every branch of the art; history, portrait, landscape, animals, fruit, architecture, utensils; and whatever he attempted, he seemed formed for that alone. As he lived till the age of ninety, and was endowed with great celerity of pencil, his works, like those of Giordano, were spread over all Europe. Of that artist he was at the same time the competitor and the friend, less powerful in genius, but more correct in his principles. When Giordano died, and Solimene became the first painter in Italy, notwithstanding what his rivals said of his colours not being true to nature, he began to ask extravagant prices for his pictures, and still abounded in commissions.

One of his most distinguished works is the sacristy of the P. P. Teatini detti di S. Paolo Maggiore, painted in various compartments. His pictures also in the arches of the chapels in the church of the Holy Apostles deserve to be mentioned. That work had been executed by Giacomo del Po, to correspond with the style of the tribune, and the other works which Lanfranco had painted there: but Po did not satisfy the public expectation. The whole work was therefore effaced, and Solimene was employed to paint it over again, and proved that he was more worthy of the commission. The chapel of S. Filippo in the church of the Oratory, is a proof of his extreme care and attention; every figure in it being almost as finely finished as a miniature. Among private houses the most distinguished is the Sanfelice, so called from the name of his noble scholar Ferdinand, for whom he painted a gallery, which afterwards became an academy for young artists. Of his large pictures we may mention that of the great altar in the church of the monks of S. Gaudioso, without referring to others in the churches and in various parts of the kingdom; particularly at Monte Cassino, for the church of which he painted four stupendous pictures in the choir. They will be found in the Descrizione Istorica del Monistero di Monte Cassino, edited in Naples, in 1751. He is not often met with in private collections in Italy, beyond the kingdom of Naples. In Rome the princes Albani and Colonna have some large compositions by him, and the Bonaccorsi family a greater number in the gallery of Macerata; and among them the death of Dido, a large picture of fine effect. His largest work in the ecclesiastical state, is a Supper of our Lord, in the refectory of the Conventuals of Assisi, an elegant composition, painted with exquisite care, where the artist has given his own portrait among the train of attendants.

Solimene instilled his own principles into the minds of his disciples, who formed a numerous school, which extended even beyond the kingdom of Naples, about the beginning of the eighteenth century. Among those who remained in Naples, was Ferdinando Sanfelice, lately noticed by us, a nobleman of Naples, who put himself under the instructions of Francesco, and became as it were the arbiter of his wishes. As the master could not execute all the commissions which crowded on him from every quarter, the surest mode to engage him was to solicit him through Sanfelice, to whom alone he could not deny any request. By the assistance of Solimene, Sanfelice attained a name among historical painters, and painted altarpieces for several churches. He took great delight in fruit, landscapes, and views, in which he particularly excelled, and had also the reputation of an eminent architect. But perhaps none of the disciples of Solimene approached nearer to the fame of their master than Francesco de Mura, called Franceschiello. He was a Neapolitan by birth, and contributed much to the decoration of his native city, both in public and private. Perhaps no work on the whole procured him a greater degree of celebrity than the frescos painted in various chambers of the Royal Palace of Turin, where he competed with Beaumont, who was then in the height of his reputation. He there ornamented the ceilings of some of the rooms which contain the Flemish pictures. The subjects which he chose, and treated with much grace, were the Olympic Games, and the Deeds of Achilles. In other parts of the palace he also executed various works. Another artist, who was held in consideration, was Andrea dell'Asta, who after being instructed by Solimene, went to finish his studies in Rome, and engrafted on his native style some imitation of Raffaello and the antique. We may enumerate among his principal works, the two large pictures of the Nativity, and the Epiphany of Christ, which he painted in Naples for the church of S. Agostino de' P. P. Scalzi. Niccolo Maria Rossi was also reputably employed in the churches of Naples, and in the court itself. Scipione Cappella excelled all the scholars of Solimene in copying his pictures, which were sometimes touched by the master and passed for originals. Giuseppe Bonito had a good invention, and was a distinguished portrait painter, and was considered one of the best imitators of Solimene. He was at the time of his death painter to the court of Naples. Conca and he excel their fellow disciples in the selection of their forms. Other scholars in Naples and Sicily,^[124] less known to me, will be found in the history of painting in Naples, which has been recently published by the accomplished Sig. Pietro Signorelli, a work which I have not in my possession, but which is cited by me, as is the case with several more, on the authority of others.

Some artists, who resided out of the kingdom, we shall notice in other schools, and in the Roman School we have already spoken sufficiently of Conca and Giaquinto; to whom we may add Onofrio Avellino, who resided some years in Rome, executing commissions for private persons, and painting in the churches. The vault of S. Francesco di Paola is the largest work he left. The works of Maja and Campora are to be found in Genoa, those of Sassi in Milan, and of others of the school of Solimene in various cities. These artists, it is to be regretted, sometimes passed the boundaries prescribed by their master. His colouring, though it might be more true to nature, is yet such as never offends, but possesses on the contrary a degree of amenity which pleases us. But his scholars and imitators did not confine themselves within their master's limits, and it may be asserted, that from no school has the art suffered more than from them. Florence, Verona, Parma, Bologna, Milan, Turin, in short, all Italy was infected with their style; and by degrees their pictures presented so mannered a colouring, that they seemed to abandon the representation of truth and nature altogether. The habit too of leaving their pictures unfinished after the manner of Giordano and Solimene, was by many carried so far, that instead of good paintings, many credulous buyers have purchased execrable sketches. The imitation of these two eminent men carried too far, has produced in our own days pernicious principles, as at an earlier period did the imitation of Michelangiolo, Tintoretto, and even of Raffaello himself, when carried to an extreme. The principal and true reason of this deterioration is to be ascribed generally to the masters of almost all our schools; who, abandoning the guidance of the ancient masters, endeavoured in their ignorance to find some new leader, without considering who he might be, or whither he might lead them. Thus, at every proclamation of new principles, they and their scholars were ready to follow in their train.

In the time of Giordano and Solimene, Niccola Massaro was considered a good landscape painter. He was a scholar of Salvator Rosa, but rather imitated him in design than in colour. In the latter he was insipid, nor even added the accompaniment of figures to his landscapes, but was assisted in that respect by Antonio di Simone, not a finished artist, but of some merit in battle pieces.^[125] Massaro instructed Gaetano Martoriello, who was a landscape painter of a free style, but often sketching, and his colouring not true to nature. In the opinion of connoisseurs a better style was displayed by Bernardo Dominici, the historiographer, and the scholar of Beych in landscape, a careful and minute painter of Flemish subjects and bambocciate. There were two Neapolitans, Ferraiuoli and Sammartino, who settled in Romagna, and were good landscape painters. In perspective views Moscatiello was distinguished, as we observed, when we spoke of Giordano. In the life of Solimene, Arcangelo Guglielmelli is mentioned as skilled in the same art. Domenico Brandi of Naples, and Giuseppe Tassoni of Rome, were rivals in animal painting. In this branch, and also in flowers and fruits, one Paoluccio Cattamara, who flourished in the time of Orlandi, was celebrated. Lionardo Coccorante, and Gabriele Ricciardelli, the scholar of Orizzonte, were distinguished in seaviews and landscapes, and were employed at the court of King Charles of Bourbon.^[126]

By the accession of this prince, a munificent patron of the fine arts, wherever he reigned, the Neapolitan School was regenerated and invigorated; employment and rewards awaited the artists; the specimens of other schools were multiplied, and Mengs, who was invited to paint the Royal Family, and a large cabinet picture, laid the foundations of a more solid style, at the same time improving his own fortune, and giving a considerable impulse to art. But the greatest benefit this monarch has conferred on the arts is to be found at Ercolano, where under his orders so many specimens of sculpture and ancient paintings, buried for a long lapse of ages, have been brought to light, and by his direction accurately drawn and engraved, and illustrated with learned notes, and communicated to all countries. Lastly, in order that the benefits which he had conferred on his own age, might be continued to the future masters of his country, he turned his attention to the education of youthful artists. Of this fact I was ignorant at the time of my first edition, but now write on the information afforded me at the request of the Marchese D. Francesco Taccone, treasurer of the kingdom, by the very learned Sig. Daniele, Regio Antiquario, both of whom, with truly patriotic feelings, have devoted themselves to the preservation of the antiquities of their country, and are equally polite in communicating to others that information for which they are themselves so distinguished. There formerly existed at Naples the academy of S. Luke, founded at the Gesù Nuovo, in the time of Francesco di Maria, who was one of the masters, and taught in it anatomy and design. This institution continued for some years. King Charles in some measure revived this establishment by a school for painting, which he opened in the Laboratory of mosaics and tapestry. Six masters of the School of Solimene were placed there as directors, and some good models being provided in the place, young artists were permitted to attend and study there. Bonito was engaged as the acting professor, and after some time Mura was associated with him, but died before the professor. Ferdinand IV. treading in the steps of his august father, has, by repeated instances of protection to these honorable pursuits, conferred fresh honours on the Bourbon name, and rendered it dearer than ever to the fine arts. He transferred the academy to the new royal Museum, and supplied it with all requisites for the instruction of young artists. On the death of Bonito he bestowed the direction of it on the first masters, and having established pensions for the maintenance in Rome of a certain number of young men, students in the three sister arts, he assigned four of these to those students who were intended for painters; thus confirming by his suffrage to the city of Rome, that proud appellation which the world at large had long conceded to her, the Athens of Modern Art.

[121] Cortona had in Sicily a good scholar in Gio. Quagliata, who, in the Memorie Messinesi, is said to have been favored and distinguished by his master; and to have afterwards returned to his native country to paint in competition with Rodriguez, and what surprises me still more, with Barbalunga. If we may be allowed to judge of these two artists by their works which remain in Rome, Barbalunga in S. Silvestro at Monte Cavallo, appears a great master; Quagliata at the Madonna di C. P. a respectable scholar. The former is celebrated and known to every painter in Rome, the latter has not an admirer. In Messina he perhaps painted better. His biographer commends him as a graceful and sober painter, as long as his rivals lived; and adds, that after their death he devoted himself to frescos, when the exuberance of his imagination is evident in the strong expression of character, and in the superfluity of architectural and other ornaments. Andrea, his brother, was not in Rome; he is, however, in Messina, considered a good artist.

[122] Giordano is said at this period to have copied the Chambers and the Gallery of Raffaello no less than twelve times, and perhaps twenty times the Battle of Constantine, painted by Giulio Romano, without reckoning his designs after the works of Michelangiolo, Polidoro, and other great masters. See Vite del Bellori, edited in Rome in 1728, with the addition of the life of Giordano, page 307.

[123] It may be observed, that if he had followers, some of them did not copy him implicitly. Palomino, although much attached to Giordano, forsaking letters for painting, when his style was so much in vogue, did not imitate him servilely, but in conjunction with the style of other distinguished painters of his age; a good artist, and appointed by Charles II. painter to himself. This is the same Palamino who has merited the appellation of the Vasari of Spain, and whom I have so often cited. They who are acquainted with that noble language highly commend his style, which is perhaps the reason that copies of his Teorica e Pratica della Pittura (2 vol. fol.) are so rare out of Spain. But in point of accuracy, like Vasari himself, he often errs. I fancy that he frequently adopted traditions, without sufficiently weighing them, which I am led to suspect from the circumstance that in the scholars assigned to masters, he is guilty of many anachronisms.

[124] The Memorie de' Messinesi Pittori mentions a Gio. Porcello, who, after studying under Solimene, returned, it is said, to his native country, where he found the art at an extremely low ebb; and he attempted to revive it by opening an academy in his house, and diffusing the taste of his master, which he fully possessed. A still better style of painting was brought from Rome by Antonio and Paolo, two brothers, who, fresh from the school of Maratta, also opened an academy in Messina, which was greatly frequented. They worked in conjunction in many churches, and excelled in fresco, but in oil Antonio was much superior to his brother. There was also a third brother, Gaetano, who executed the ornamental parts. Their works on the walls and on canvass are to be seen in S. Caterina di Valverde, in S. Gregorio delle Monache, and elsewhere. There flourished at the same time with the Filocami, Litterio Paladino, and Placido Campolo, a scholar of Conca in Rome, where he derived more benefit from the antique marbles than from the instructions of his master. Both these artists executed works on a very large scale; and of the first they particularly commend the vault of the church of Monte Vergine, and, of the second, the vault of the gallery of the Senate. Both are esteemed for their correct design; but the taste of the second is more solid and more free from mannerism. The above named five artists all died in the fatal year of 1743. Luciano Foti survived them, an excellent copyist of every master, but particularly of Polidoro, whose style he adopted in his own composition. But his characteristic merit consisted in his penetration into the secrets of the art, which enabled him to detect every style, every peculiar varnish, and the various methods of colouring, so that he not only ascertained many doubtful masters, but restored pictures, damaged by time, in so happy a manner as to deceive the most experienced. A man of such talents outweighs a host of common artists.

To these we may add other artists of the island itself, born in different places. Marcantonio Bellavia, a Sicilian, who painted in Rome, at S. Andrea delle Fratte, is conjectured, though not ascertained, to be a scholar of Cortona. Calandrucci, of Palermo, is named among the scholars of Maratta. Gaetano Sottino painted the vault of the oratory at the Madonna di C. P., a respectable artist. Giovacchino Martorana, of Palermo, was a machinist, and in his native city they boast of the Chapel de' Crociferi, and at S. Rosalia, four large pictures from the life of S. Benedict. Olivio Sozzi, of Catania, painted much in Palermo; particularly at S. Giacomo, where all the altars have pictures by him, and the tribune three large subjects from the infancy of Christ. Another Sozzi, of the name of Francesco, I find praised for a picture of Five Saints, Bishops of Agrigentum, in the Duomo of that city. Of Onofrio Lipari, of Palermo, there are two pictures of the Martyrdom of S. Oliva in the Church de' Paolotti. Of Filippo Randazzo, there are to be seen in Palermo some vast works in fresco, as well as of Tommaso Sciacca, who was an assistant of Cavalucci in Rome, and who left some large compositions at the Duomo and at the Olivetani of Rovigo.

[125] Gio. Tuccari of Messina, the son of an Antonio, a feeble scholar of Barbalunga, although he painted much in other branches of the art, owes the celebrity of his name to his battle pieces, which, by the despatch of his pencil, were multiplied beyond number. They were frequently sent into Germany where they were engraved. He had a fruitful and spirited genius, but was not a correct designer.

[126] Among the painters of Messina is mentioned Niccolo Cartissani, who died in Rome with the name of a good landscape painter, and Filippo Giannetti, a scholar of Casembrot, who in the vastness of his landscapes and his views surpassed his master; but he will not bear a comparison in the correctness of his figures and in finishing; though he was, from his facility and rapidity of pencil, denominated the Giordano of landscape painters. He was esteemed and protected by the Viceroy Co. di S. Stefano, and painted in Palermo and Naples.