elsewhere, all of the usual composition of the quattrocentisti, which goes to redeem his fault. One of these, exhibiting very beautiful perspective, is in possession of the Serviti at Pesaro, where the Virgin is seen on a throne, before which, in a kneeling posture, is the Marchesa Ginevra Sforza, with her son Constantius II.; nor is this the only specimen of his works conducted in the service of royal houses. The design is rather dry, but the colour very pleasing; the heads grand, the draperies well disposed; and in short, were it the only production of his hand, he would well deserve to rank among the most illustrious painters in the old style. That he obtained no reputation at Rome, or Naples, as Vasari observes, was owing to his arriving in those cities too late, namely, in the pontificate of Paul III.; so that his style being then regarded merely in the light of an article out of fashion, he was unable to make his way. He died during the same pontificate, between the interval of 1534 and 1549. Orlandi, who brings in the decease of Cotignola as early as 1518, is not only refuted by the above dates marked by Vasari, and, with slight difference, by Baruffaldi, but moreover by a picture of S. Girolamo at the church of the conventual friars of S. Marino, executed in 1520.

Amico Aspertini is enrolled by Malvasia (pp. 58, 59) in the school of Francia, a fact that Vasari did not choose to notice, being wholly bent on amusing posterity with a portrait of the person and manners of "Mastro Amico," who was indeed a compound of pleasantry, eccentricity, and madness. He had adopted a maxim in painting, which in regard to literature, was commonly received in that age; to wit, that every individual ought to impress upon his works the image of his own genius; and, like Erasmus, who exposed to ridicule Cicero's imitators in writing, this artist was fond of deriding those of Raffaello in painting. It was his leading principle to take the tour of Italy, to copy here and there, without discrimination, whatever most pleased him, and afterwards to form a style of his own, "like an experienced inventor," to preserve an expression of Vasari. Conducted on this plan is a Pietà by him, in the church of S. Petronio, which may be compared with the trecentisti in point of forms, the attitudes, and the grouping of the figures. We may add, however, with Guercino, that this artist seemed to handle two pencils; with one of which he painted for low prices, or out of despite, or for revenge; and this he made use of in S. Petronio and several other pieces; the other he practised only on behalf of those who remunerated him honourably for his labours, and were cautious how they provoked him; and with this he displayed his art in various façades of palaces, commended by Vasari himself; in the church of S. Martino; and in many other works cited by Malvasia, who describes him as a good imitator of Giorgione.

He had an elder brother of the name of Guido, a youth who employed uncommon diligence and care, carried perhaps to excess, in his art. He died at the age of thirty-five, and was lamented by his more poetical fellow citizens in elegiac strains. Malvasia is of opinion, that, had he survived, he would have equalled the fame of Bagnacavallo; such was the promise held forth by a painting of the Crucifixion under the portico of S. Pietro, and by his other works. According to the same biographer, it was Vasari's malice which led him to assign Ercole of Ferrara for Guido's master, being jealous of affording M. Amico the fame of forming such a pupil. I feel persuaded, with Vasari, no less from the age of Guido than from his taste, and from the date of 1491, which he inscribed on this highly commended picture, that assuredly it cannot belong to the pupil of a pupil formed by Francia. Similar critical errors we have already noticed in Baldinucci; and they are not very easily to be avoided where a party spirit is apt to prevail.

Gio. Maria Chiodarolo, a rival of the preceding, and subsequently of Innocenzo da Imola, in the palace of Viola, left behind him a name above the generality of this school. Malvasia mentions twenty-four other scholars of Francesco Francia, in which he was followed by Orlandi, when treating of Lorenzo Gandolfi. By some mistake these pupils are referred by him to Costa; while Bottari, misled by Orlandi, fell into the same error, although he laments "that men, in order to spare trouble, are apt to follow one another like sheep or cranes." Yet in very extensive and laborious works it is difficult sometimes not to nod; nor should I occasionally note down others' inequalities, except in the hope of finding readers considerate enough to extend the same liberality towards mine. The forementioned names will prove of much utility to those who, in Milan, in Pavia, in Parma, and other places in Italy, may turn their attention to works in the ancient Bolognese style, and may hear them attributed, as it often happens, to Francia, instead of the pupils formed by him to practice in those districts, and invariably tenacious of his manner. He had also others, who from their intercourse with more modern artists, claim place in a better epoch; and for such we shall reserve them.

We must previously however take a survey of some cities of Romagna, and select what seems to belong to our present argument. We shall commence with Ravenna, a city that preserved design during periods of barbarism better than any other in Italy. Nor do we elsewhere meet with works in mosaic so well composed, and in ivory, or in marble, cut in so able a manner; all vestiges of a power and grandeur worthy of exciting the jealousy of Rome, when the seat of her princes and exarchs was removed to Ravenna. This city too having fallen from its splendour, and after many vicissitudes being governed by the Polentani, was no less indebted to them for an illustrious poet in the person of Dante, than a great painter in Giotto.[6] This artist painted in the church called Porto di Fuori, several histories from the evangelists, which still remain there; and at S. Francesco and other places in the city, we may trace reliques of his pencil, or at least of his style. The Polentani being expelled, and the state brought under the subjection of Venice, from this last capital the city of Ravenna derived the founder of a new school.

This was Niccolo Rondinello, mentioned by Vasari as one "who, above all others, imitated Gian Bellini, his master, to whom he did credit, and assisted him in all his works." In the life of Bellini, and in that of Palma, Vasari gives a list of his best paintings, exhibited in Ravenna. In these his progress is very perceptible. He displays most of the antique in his picture of S. Giovanni, placed in that church, for which he also executed one of the Virgin, upon a gold ground. His taste is more modern in the larger altar-piece of San Domenico; whose composition rises above the monotony of the age, giving a representation of saints in great variety of attitudes and situations. The design is exact, though always inclining to dryness, the countenances less select, and the colouring less vivid than those of his master; with equal care in his draperies, richly ornamented with embroidery in the taste of those times. It is, however, uncertain whether he had obtained any idea of the last and most perfect style of Bellini.

He had a pupil and successor in his labours at Ravenna in Francesco da