produced his works in Venice, in Urbino, and at the ducal palace in Pesaro, where, in a chamber, since changed into an armour-room, he painted a grove, executed with so much taste and truth, that it would not be difficult to number every separate leaf upon the trees. It is certain that Giulio educated a pupil as his Perino, for his stuccos; and this was, besides Primaticcio, a Gio. Batista Briziano, commonly called Mantovano, who likewise became his Marc Antonio, engraving on copper many of the pictures of his master, as well as of other distinguished artists of his day. To him ought to be added Giorgio Ghisi, or Ghigi, who flourished at the same period; and to these succeeded Diana, daughter of Gio. Batista,[2] celebrated for her fine engravings; and this branch of art, introduced into Mantua by that eminent artist, continued to prosper there for a long course of years.

Another branch of the fine arts, that of miniature, seemed to attain its perfection under one of Giulio's scholars. His name was D. Giulio Clovio, of Croazia, a regular Scopetine Canon, afterwards becoming a layman by a dispensation from the Pope. He had first turned his attention to the higher branches of the art, but Giulio, who saw he possessed a peculiar talent for diminutive figures, prevailed upon him to apply himself to these; and taught him the first of any in Rome, the method of applying tints and colours in gum and water colours, while in miniature he obtained instructions from Girolamo da' Libri of Verona. He is esteemed at the head of his profession in this line. In his design he displays a good deal of study of Michelangiolo, and of the Roman School, though approaching nearer to the practice of a good naturalist, exquisitely graceful in his colours, and admirable in his exactness of drawing the minutest objects. Great part of his labours were undertaken for sovereigns and princes, in whose libraries may be found books ornamented by him in miniature with such a degree of truth and spirit, that we appear to view these diminutive objects rather through some camera-optica, than in a picture. It is related by Vasari, that in an Office of the Virgin, made for the Cardinal Farnese, there were figures which did not exceed the size of a small ant; and that each part was nevertheless distinctly drawn. It is worth while, indeed, to read the whole description given by that historian of the miniatures there inserted, in which he likewise selected subjects adapted for a multitude of figures, such as the procession of the Corpus Domini at Rome, and the feast of the Monte Testaceo: a labour of nine years, which was distributed into twenty-six little histories. He produced numerous small portraits painted for private people; (an art in which he is said by Vasari to have equalled Titian) besides a few little pictures. These are rarely to be met with in collections. There is one of the Deposizione, in the library of the Padri Cisterciensi, at Milan, a piece quite original in its composition, but which breathes altogether the taste of the golden period. Indeed, I am inclined to be of opinion that Giulio promoted this very study in Mantua; having myself seen there some exquisite miniatures, though by unknown hands. It is also worthy of notice, as Vasari remarks, that by means of Giulio, the art advanced towards perfection, not only in Mantua, but throughout all Lombardy, (a state which, in the native acceptation of the term, includes also a portion of the modern Venetian territories). This we have already in part seen; and in part shall continue to see more clearly in the course of this history.

[1] In the Life of Genga.

[2] She is also called Civis Volaterrana, from her connexion with that city; an instance that ought to be present to our recollection, when we find that different writers ascribe different countries to the same painter.

MANTUAN SCHOOL

EPOCH III.

Decline of the School, and Foundation of an Academy in order to restore it.

Subsequent to the period in which Giulio flourished, the school of Mantua produced no new names which at all approached the reputation of the first. The disposition of its sovereigns was always inclined rather to invite painters of celebrity from elsewhere, with a sure prospect of being speedily and well served, than to promote the education of their young subjects in the study of an art, slow in producing fruits, and subject to rapid decay. We have already recounted a tolerable number assembled by Duke Vincenzio for the object of ornamenting his churches; of several of whom he also availed himself for the decoration of the palaces. Antonmaria Viani, called il Vianino, a native of Cremona and a scholar of the Campi, thus filled the double capacity of an artist and an architect. The frieze surrounding the gallery of the court presents a specimen of their style, where, in a ground of gold, are seen a group of most beautiful boys, painted in chiaroscuro, and playing amidst luxuriant festoons of flowers. In the same taste of the Campi he produced several sacred pieces; such as the picture of S. Michele at Sta. Agnese; the Paradiso at the Orsoline; and subsequent to Duke Vincenzio, he was employed by his three successors, and died in Mantua, after having established his family in that city.

Not very long afterwards, Domenico Feti from Rome was declared painter of the same court, an artist of whose education, received under Cigoli, I have treated elsewhere. Cardinal Ferdinando, succeeding to the dukedom of Mantua, had brought him from Rome to his own court, where he had opportunities of improving himself, by studying the finest Lombard models, along with several of the Venetians. He produced many pictures in oil, for various temples and galleries; one of which, representing the Multiplication of Loaves, exists in the Mantuan academy, abounding with figures rather truly noble than large; but varied, shortened, and coloured in a very masterly style. A still more copious work was that in the choir of the cathedral, though his pieces in fresco, like those of Cigoli, have less merit than those painted in oil. With all the excellence of his compositions, he has certainly the fault of being too symmetrical in his groups, which consequently seem to correspond in an exact order, calculated in architecture to please both the eye and the mind, but by no means so in painting. His own youthful excesses deprived Venice of this fine genius, and distinguished ornament of his art, in the very flower of his age. The names of other artists likewise engaged in the service of the same court, where a relish for the fine arts seems to have been almost indigenous, were Titian, Coreggio, Genga, Tintoretto, Albani, Rubens, Gessi, Gerola, Vermiglio, Castiglione, Lodovico Bertucci, with others of eminent abilities; some of whom were invited for particular commissions, and others permanently engaged for a length of time. Thus the city of Mantua became one of the most richly ornamented in all Italy; insomuch that after suffering the sackage of 1630, in which the ducal palace was despoiled of the noble collection, now dispersed abroad, it still can boast, both in