DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL CATALOGUE OF THE PICTURES IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY WITH l3iogtap1^cal 0otict^ of tf^t )|atitter0. BY RALPH N. WORNUM. REVISED BY C. L. EASTLAKE, R.A. LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, FOR HER majesty's STATIONERY OFFICE. 1847. Price One Shilling, I DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL CATALOGUE OF THE PICTURES IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY; WITH l3iograp1&i(al ^otim of tf^t ^aintev^. BY RALPH N. WORNUM. REVISED BY C. L. EASTLAKE, R.A. 13b 'autj^oritg. LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, FOR HER majesty's STATIONEBY OFHCE. 1847. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/descriptivehistoOOworn NOTICE. In using this catalogue in the Gallery, reference should be made from the painter's name on the frame of the picture to the corresponding name at the head of the page in the catalogue, where the order is alphabetical. When more than one designation occurs, as, for example, Sebastiano del Piombo, the name to be looked for in the catalogue may be found by referring to the number in the Index-list, page 8, corresponding with that on the picture-frame. The same list may be consulted, if the name of the master on the picture- frame should not be easily legible. The plan of the catalogue is historical, as well as descriptive. Biographical notices of the several painters precede, in most cases, the descriptions of their works : the history, as far as known, of each picture is also given ; together with its dimensions, the material on which it is executed, and other details, which may sometimes serve to identify it. Among the sources of information which have reference to the history of the art, the opinions of eminent critics on the merits of par- ticular masters, and of remarkable works, have not been overlooked. A certain degree of historical knowledge, as regards both the art itself and its criticism, is perhaps indis- pensable for the due appreciation of some works; the a2 4 NOTICE. merit of which, depending on the time and circumstances of their production, is in a great measure relative. The information thus offered, without superseding individual predilections, may sometimes assist in the formation of a correct judgment, which is the basis of a correct taste. The present catalogue is thus designed, not merely as a book of reference for visitors in the Gallery, but also as a guide to the history of painting, as represented by the examples in the collection : it may be used likewise, so far as it extends, as a Biographical Dictionary of Painters. The Gallery is open to the public on Mondays, Tues- days, Wednesdays, and Thursdays ; and on Fridays and Saturdays to students only. It is open from Ten to Five from November 1 until April 30, inclusive ; and from Ten to Six from May 1, inclusive, until the middle of September, when it is wholly closed until the latter part of October following. THE NATIONAL GALLERY. The British National Gallery of Pictures was founded in 1824, during the administration of the Earl of Liver- pool, by the purchase of the collection of the late John Julius Angerstein, Esq., which thus formed the nucleus of the present national collection. The establishment of a National Gallery had long been desired, and His Majesty George IV. is said to have been the first* to suggest the propriety of pur- chasing the Angerstein collection. Sir George Beau- moot, also, and the late Lord Dover, then the Hon. George Agar Ellis, took an active part towards the accomplishment of this object. Lord Dover first brought the subject before Parliament in 1823 ;t and Sir George Beaumont was so desirous to see a National Gallery established, that he offered to give his own pictures to the nation as soon as the Government should allot a proper place for their reception. The Angerstein collection, consisting of thirty-eight pictures^ was accordingly secured to the nation, and a * Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, speech of Sir C. Long, April 2, 1824. f Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, July 1, 1823 ; Cunningham, Lives of the most Eminent British Painters, Sfc, Sir George Beaumont, vol. vi. + The entire collection was not included in the Government purchase; a few pictures were excepted. See the Catalogue of the Pictures of J, J. Angerstein, Esq., with Historical and Biographical Notices, by- John Young, fol, 1823, which contains etchings of all the pictures. 6 THE NATIONAL GALLERY. grant of Parliament of 60,000/., proposed by Govern- ment, was voted April 2, 1824, to defray the charge of purchase and the expense incidental to the preservation and public exhibition of the collection for that year — 57,000/. for the pictures, and 3000/. for the incidental expenses.* A National Gallery was thus established. It was opened to the public, in the house of Mr. Angerstein, in Pall Mall, May 10, 1824. In 1826 the collection was increased by the munificent donation of sixteen pictures from Sir George Beaumont, as well as by farther purchases on the part of the Government. In 1831 it was enriched by the valuable collection (consisting of thirty-five pic- tures) which was bequeathed to the nation by the Rev. William Holwell Carr ; and from that time to this, works have been constantly added to it, by donation, by bequest, and by Government purchase. The principal donations and bequests besides those already mentioned, are : six pictures presented in 1836 by William IV.; seventeen- bequeathed, in 1837, by Lieutenant- Col. John Harvey Ollney ; fifteen bequeathed, in 1838, by Lord Farnborough ; fourteen bequeathed, in 1846, by Richard Simmons, Esq.; and six presented at different times by the Governors of the British Insti- tution. The " Corn Field," by John Constable, R. A., and " Serena rescued by Sir Calepine," by William Hilton, R.A., were purchased, by subscription, by the respective friends of the painters, from their executors, and presented by them to the National Gallery. Of the 214 pictures which now constitute the national collection, 148 have been presented or bequeathed,! the * Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, April 2, 1824 ; and the Report from the Select Committee on National Monuments and Works of Art, with the Minutes of Evidence and Appendix, 1841. Appendix. f Complete lists of pictures purchased for, and of donations and be- quests to the National Gallery, are given at the end of the Catalogue. THE NATIONAL GALLERY. 7 remaining 66* have been purchased by Government, by- grants of Parliament. The building in which the col- lection is at present deposited was erected, at the national expense, expressly for the purpose, after a design by William Wilkins, R. A., architect. It was commenced in 1832, and was opened to the public April 9, 1838. t * It may not be uninteresting to the reader to compare the number of pictures in the National Gallery, with the number, according to the pub- lished catalogues, in the several principal national collections in Europe. In Rome, in the gallery of the Vatican, there are only 32 pictures ; in that of the Capitol there are 225 ; at the academies of Bologna and of Venice, there are in each about 280 ; in the Stadel Institution, at Frankfort, there are about 330 ; at Naples, there are 700, exclusive of the ancient paintings from Pompeii and Herculaneum ; in the Berlin Gallery, recently established, there are about 1200 pictures; in the new Pinacothek, at Munich, there are about 1270 ; in the gallery of the Belvedere, at Vienna, there are upwards of 1300 ; in the Imperial Gallery of Florence (Degl' Ufllzj), there are upwards of 1200, and about 500 in the Pitti Palace. At Amsterdam, there are 386 ; at the Hague, in the Museum, there are 304, and 173 in the King's collection. The collection of Antwerp, contains between 300 and 400; but they are not yet catalogued. There are 1406 in the Louvre, exclusive of the Spanish pictures; in the Museo of the Prado, at Madrid, there are 1833; and the cele- brated gallery of Dresden contains about 1850 pictures. At Versailles, there are about 3300 works of art, chiefly paintings, and almost exclusively illustrative of French history. The Borghese Gallery, at Rome, which is the best and largest private collection in Europe, contains, according to Melchiorri, about 1 700 pictures. In the Grosvenor Gallery there are 143 ; in the collection of the Duke of Sutherland, 323 ; in the Bridgewater Gallery, belonging to the Earl of Ellesmere, there are 318. The largest private collection in England is that of Burleigh House, Northampton- shire, belonging to the Marquis of Exeter, in which there are upwards of 600 pictures. t The number of visitors to the National Gallery has, with one or two exceptions, annually increased from the date of its opening up to the present time. It has already been visited in a single year by upwards of 500,000 persons, — Report from Select Committee on National Monuments : Appendix. 8 INDEX TO THE NAMES OF THE MASTERS OF THE PICTURES IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY, ARRANGED ACCORDING TO THE NUMBERS OF THE PICTURES. No. 1 Sebastiano del Piomho 2 Claude ^^Titian g| Claude 7 Correggio 8 Michelangelo y Carracci, An. 10 Correggio 11 Guido 12 Claude 13 Murillo 14 Claude 15 Correggio 16 Tintoretto 1 7 Sarto, Andrea del 18 Vinci, Leonardo da 19 Claude 20 Sebastiano del Piombo 21 Bronzino 22 Giiercino 23 Correggio 24 Sebastiano del Piombo 25 Carracci y An. 26 Ferc?2e.s^(?, Pao/o 27 Raphael 28 Carracci, Lod. No, 29 Barocci 30 C/rtwtfe 31 Poussin, G. 32 33 Parmigiano 36 Poussin, G. 31/ Correggio 38 i^M^^g/w 41 Giorgione 42 Poussin, N. 43 Rembrandt 44 Romano, Giulio 45 Rembrandt 46 Rubens 47 Rembrandt 48 Domenichino Vandgck 51 Rembrandt 52 Vandgck 53 C?/?//? 54 Rembrandt bb Claude 56 Carracci, An. INDEX TO NAMES OE MASTERS. 9 No. 57 Ruhens 58 Claude 59 Ruhens 60 Bassano^ Leandro 61 Claude 62 Poussin, N. 63 Carracci, An. 64 Bourdon, Sebastien 65 Poussin N. ^^Rubens 68 Poussin, G, 69 Mala, P. F. 70 Padovanino 71 5o^/i 72 Rembrandt 73 Ercole da Ferrara 74 Murillo 75 Domenichino 76 Correggio 77 Domenichino 78] ^f^^ Reynolds, Sir Joshua 80 Gainsborough 81 Garofalo 82 Mazzolini 83 Poussin, N. 84 ^05^, Salvator 85 Domenichino 86 Carracci, Lod. 87 Guido 88 Carracci, An, 89 Velazquez 90 G^MiWo 91 Poussin, N. 92 Veronese, Alessandro ^^Carracci, An, 95 Poussin, G. 96 Ca?Tacciy Lod, Lancret No. 97 Veronese, Paolo 98 Poussin, G. 99 ^z7/«e 100 CWZe?/ lor 102 103 104 105 Beaumont, Sir George Reynolds, Sir Joshua 108 ^7/5072 109 Gainsborough 110 ^toz 111 Reynolds, Sir Joshua 112) 113 114 115 )Hoqarth 116 ^ 117| 118j 119 Beaumont, Sir G, 120 Beechey, Sir W. 121 ^^'si^ 122 ^zY^^ze 123 Williams V24 Jackson 125 Huysman 126 ^^5^ 127 Canaletto 128 Reynolds, Sir Joshua 129 Lawrence, Sir Thomas 130 Constable ^^}^West 133 Hoppner 134 i^ec^er, P. 135 Canaletto 136 Lawrence, Sir Thomas A 3 10 INDEX TO NAMES OF MASTERS. 1 1 Teiiiers No. 137 Goyen, J. Van 138 Pannini 139 Kaiifynann, Angelica 140 Vander Heist 141 Steimoyck 142 Lawrence, Sir Thomas 143 Reynolds, Sir Joshua 144 Lawrence, Sir Thomas 145 Vander Heist 146 Stork, Abraham 1 48 1 Agostino 151 Mola,P. F. 152 Vander Neer, A. 153 Maas^ Nicolas 154; 155J 1 56 Vandyck 157 Rubens 158 Teniers 159 ik/aas, Nicolas 160 M)/^z, P. P. 161 Poussin, G. 162 Reynolds, Sir Joshua 163 Canaletto 164 Jordaens 165 Poussin, N. 166 Rembrandt 167 Peruzzi, Baldassare 168 Raphael 169 Mazzolini 170 Garofalo 171 Jackson 172 Caravaggio, M. da 173 Bassano, Jacopo 174 Maratti, Carlo 175 Vander Plaas No. 176 i^fi^r^7/^? 177 GwzWo 178 M/^oTi JgQ|pra?2aa 181 Perugino, Pietro 182 Reynolds, Sir Joshua 183 Phillips, Thomas 184 Raphael 185 Reynolds, Sir Joshua 186 J". 187 Rubens 188 Lawrence, Sir Thomas 189 Bellini, Giovanni 190 Rembrandt 191 G^mif(? 192 Gerar^/ 193 G^M2^f(? 194 195 Unknown 196 197 Velazquez 198 Carracci, An. 199 Schalken 200 Sassoferrato 201 Vernet,C.J. 202 Hondekoeter, M, 203 J^arp, G. 204 Bakhuizen 205 Dietrich 206 G?-eMze 207 Mza5, Nicolas 208 Breenberg 209 a72e 213 Raphael 214 G^^^^f^) THE SCHOOLS OF PAINTING. The word school has various significations wdth writers on art : in its general and widest sense it denotes all the painters of a given country, without special reference to time or subdivisions of style ; as, the Italian School. In a more limited sense, it refers to the characteristic style which may distinguish the painters of a particular locality or period ; as, the Bolognese School. In its strictest sense, it signifies the distinctive style of a particular master ; as, the School of Raphael : whence it is also applied to the scholars or imitators of an individual, who are said to be of the school of such master. In the following table, the word is used in its wider senses. With regard to the chronology there observed, it must be apparent, that it is impossible to fix with precision the commencement of any school. There are isolated facts of very remote dates, connected with the history of painting in many countries ; but such facts cannot be assumed to indicate the existence of a class of painters having a more or less common and definite style. It is only when such a class exists that a school can be said to be established ; and when there is evidence of the practice of painting in a more limited degree yet tending to such development, the school is said to have com- menced. 12 THE NATIONAL GALLERY. Tabular View of the Schools of Painting^ as represented by the Pictures in the National Gallery. TUSCAN OR FLORENTINE SCHOOL. Established in the thirteenth century, in Florence, in Pisa, and in Siena.* Distinguished chiefly for form. Fifteenth Century. Leonardo Da Vinci, 1452 — 1519. Sixteenth Century. Michelangelo, 1475—1564. Baldassare Peruzzi, 1481 — 1536. Andrea del Sarto, 1488—1530. Seventeenth Century. Cristoforo Bronzino, 1577 — 1621. ROMAN SCHOOL. Commencement in the thirteenth century, in Assisi, Perugia, Gubbio, and other cities of Umbria.f Distin- guished for form and expression. Fifteenth Century. Pietro Perugino, 1446 — 1524. Sixteenth Century. Raphael, 1483—1520. Giulio Romano, 1492—1546. Barocci, 1528—1612. * The Sienese school may be considered to have a character of its own, but as it is represented, as yet, in the National Gallery, by Baldassare Peruzzi only, it is for the present comprehended in the Florentine school. t The Umbrian school, like that of Siena, has a character of its own, but being scarcely represented in the Gallery, it is here comprehended in the Eonian school. SCHOOLS OF PAINTING. Seventeenth Century. Michelangelo da Caravaggio, 1569 — 1609.* N. Poussin, 1594—1665. Claude Lorrain, 1600—1682. G. Poussin, 1613—1675. II Sassoferrato, 1605—1685. Carlo Maratti, 1625—1713. Eighteenth Century. Paolo Pannini, 1691—1764. VENETIAN SCHOOL. Established in the thirteenth century. Distinguished chiefly for colour. Fifteenth Century. Giovanni Bellini, 1426—1516. Sixteenth Century, Giorgione, 1477—1511. Titian, 1477—1576. Sebastiano del Piombo, 1485 — 1547. JacopoBassano, 1510—1592. Tintoretto, 1512—1594. Paolo Veronese, 1528—1588. Seventeenth Century. Leandro Bassano, 1558 — 1623. Alessandro Veronese, 1582 — 1648-50. Padovanino, 1590—1650. Eighteenth Century. Canaletto, 1697—1768. BOLOGNESE SCHOOL. Distinguished, in its later and chief period, for execu- tion, or general technical excellence. Commencement in the fourteenth century. Fifteenth Century. Francia, about 1450^ — 1518. * According to the sense, before explained, in which the word school is here used, it must be apparent that individual painters may sometimes have but slender claims to the characteristic attributes of those chiefly constituting the school. 14 THE NATIONAL GALLERY. Sixteenth Century. Lodovico Carracoi, 1555 — 1619. Agostino Carracci, 1559 — 1602. Annibale Carracci, 1560—1609. Seventeenth Century. Domenichino, 1581—1641. Guido, 1575—1642. Guercino, 1590—1666. Pier Francesco Mola, 1612—1668.* FERRARESE SCHOOL. Established in the fifteenth century. Mazzolini da Ferrara, 1481 — 1530. Garofalo, 1481—1559. Ercole da Ferrara, 1491—1531. PARMESE (LOMBARD) SCHOOL. The Parmese is one of several subdivisionsf of the Lombard School, which is distinguished chiefly for chiaro- scuro. ^ Established in the fifteenth century. Sixteenth Century. Correggio, 1494—1534. Parmigiano, 1503—1540. NEAPOLITAN SCHOOL. Established in the fifteenth century. Seventeenth Century. Salvator Rosa, 1615—1673. ♦ For a concise history and account of the above four Italian schools of painting, see the articles " Bolognese," " Roman," « Tuscan," and " Venetian" Schools of Painting, in the Penny CycLopcedia of the Society for the DifiFusion of Useful Knowledge. + Lanzi, in his History of Painting in Italy, treats of five several schools of Lombardy — the Mantuan, the Modenese, the Parmese, the Cremonese , and the 5lilanese. — Storia Pittorica dell' Italia, vol. iv. I Chiaroscuro (literally light-dark) means the mutual relation of bright and obscure masses ; it is therefore not limited to light and shade, but comprehends also light and dark colours. SCHOOLS OF PAINTING. 15 FLEMISH SCHOOL. Established in the fourteenth century. Fifteenth Century. Johan Van Eyck, about 1395 — 1445. Seventeenth Century Rubens, 1577— 1640. Vandyck, 1599—1641. Jordaens, 1594—1678. Teniers, 1610—1694. Huysman, 1656—1696. G. Van Harp. DUTCH SCHOOL. Commencement in the fifteenth century. Sixteenth Century. Steinwyck, 1550—1603. Seventeenth Century. C. Poelenburg, 1586—1666. T. De Keyser, between 1595 and 1660. Van Goyen, 1596—1656. Rembrandt, 1606—1664. Both, 1610—1656. Cuyp, 1605—1683. Gerard Dow, 1613—1680. Vander Heist, 1613—1670. A. Vander Neer, about 1613—1691. Breenberg, about 1620 — 1660. Nicolas Maas, 1632—1693. M. Hondekoeter, 1636—1695. W. Vandevelde, 1633—1707. Schalken, 1643—1706. Huchtenburg, 1646—1733. L. Bakhuizen, 1631—1709. Vander Plaas, 1647—1704. Eighteenth Century. Stork, 1650—1708. Decker, 1684—1751. GERMAN SCHOOL. Established in the fifteenth century. Eighteenth Century. C. W. E Dietrich, 1712—1774. 16 THE XATIOXAL GALLERY. SPANLSH SCHOOL. Established in the fourteenth century. Seventeenth Century. Velazquez de Silva, 1599—1660. Esteban Murillo, 1618—1682. FRENCH SCHOOL. Established in the fifteenth century. Seventeenth Century. Sebastien Bourdon, 1616 — 1671. Eighteenth Century. Nicolas Lancret, 1690—1745. Claude Joseph Vernet, 1714—178?. Jean Baptiste Greuze, 1726 — 1805. ENGLISH SCHOOL. Commencement in the sixteenth century. Eighteenth Century. Hogarth, 1697—1764. Wilson, 1713—1782, Sir J. Reynolds, 1723—1792. Gainsborough, 1727—1788. Copley, 1737—1815. West, 1738—1820. Angelica Kaufinann, 1742—1807. Sir W. Beechey, 1753—1839. Hoppner, 1759—1810. Nineteenth Century. Sir T. Lawrence, 1769—1830. Jackson, 1778—1831. Constable, 1776—1837. Sir D. Wilkie, .1785—1841. Hilton, 1786—1839. Phillips, 1770—1845. Williams. 17 BAKHUIZEN. LuDOLF Bakhuizen was born at Emden, Dec. 18, 1631. His father was a government secretary at Em- den, and Ludolf acted as his clerk until 1650, when he was placed with a merchant at Amsterdam, to learn commercial business. While thus engaged, Bakhuizen commenced making drawings of ships from nature, for which he soon found willing purchasers. He eventually studied painting under Aldert van Everdingen, and he received also some instruction in the style which he had chosen from the marine-painter Hendrik Dubbels. Bakhuizen's favourite subjects were wrecks and stormy seas, which he frequently sketched from nature in an open boat, at the great peril of himself and the boatmen. He engraved a few pieces : there are some etchings of the Y,* and other marine views, executed by him when old. He made also many constructive drawings of ships for the Czar Peter the Great, who took lessons of the painter, and frequently visited his painting-room. Among his other avocations, Bakhuizen also gave lessons in writing, in which he had introduced a new and approved method. He died at Amsterdam, in 1709. Ludolf Bakhuizen, called the younger, a battle-painter, was the nephew of the subject of this notice. t No. 2»0^. Dutch Shipping. A Dutch ship of war, firing a salute ; with fishing-boats, and other vessels, in a fresh breeze, off the Dutch coast. On canvas, 3 ft. 4| in. h. by 4 ft. 6f in. w. * That part of the Zuider Zee on which Amsterdam is situated. f Houbraken, Groote Schouburg der Nederlantsche KonstscMlders, Sfc. Amsterdam, 1718-21. Immerzeel, De Levens en Werken der HoUandsche en Vlaamsche Kunstschilders, &c. Amsterdam, 1842. 18 BAROCCI. Bequeathed to the National Gallery, in 1846, by Richard Simmons, Esq. BARO'CCI.* Federigo Barocci, called also Baroccio, was born at Urbino, in the Papal State, in 1528. His father Am- brogio Barocci, a sculptor, originally of a Milanese family, gave him his first instruction in design ; he was afterwards placed with the distinguished painter Battista Franco, who spent some time at Urbino in the service of the Duke Guidubaldo II. After the departure of Franco, Barocci also left Urbino, and accompanied his uncle Bar- tolomeo Genga, the duke's architect, who taught him perspective, to Pesaro, then under the dominion of the Dukes of Urbino ; his uncle procured him permission to copy some pictures by Titian in the ducal gallery there. In 1548, in his twentieth year, Barocci visited Rome, and remained there a few years, devoting his time chiefly to the study of the works of Raphael. At Rome he made the acquaintance of Taddeo Zuccaro, and of Giovanni da Udine, one of Raphael's most distinguished scholars ; he attracted also the notice of Michelangelo, then an old man, who encouraged him to persevere in his studies. After his return to Urbino, he painted several pictures for which he obtained great reputation ; and his admira- tion was at this time excited by some parts of cartoons and crayon drawings of heads by Correggio, which a painter had brought from Parma, and which Barocci successfully imitated. This appears to have been * The mark here inserted against the second vowel is not an accent, but merely a guide to the emphasis in pronunciation of the name, as on all other occasions where it so occurs in this catalogue. It may not be superfluous to add, for the benefit of the reader unacquainted with Italian pronunciation, that ir all Italian words c before e or i is pronounced ch, and I as the letter e in English, as ci-che ; ch on the contrary in Italian is pronounced as k, and e as a in English, as che-^a. BAROCCI. 19 his only opportunity of studying after Correggio ; yet he may have acquired his peculiar softness of light and shade in some measure from copying these fragments. The great knowledge of chiaroscuro, which they no doubt exhibited, may have fixed his attention ; and to one accustomed to the works of the Roman School, such a quality would, in some degree, have the charm of novelty, in addition to its own inherent attraction. In 1560, Barocci returned to Rome, and was employed in the following year by Pius IV., with Federigo Zuccaro, in the Vatican. While engaged in this work he was nearly poisoned, by some rival, as supposed. The at- tempt failed ; but nevertheless it wholly incapacitated Barocci for painting, for four years, and afflicted 'him for the remainder of his life, fifty-two years, with a disease of the stomach which rendered it impossible for him to work for more than two hours in the day. From the period of this misfortune, with the exception of three years passed at Perugia, and during which he paid a short visit to Florence, Barocci spent the remainder of his long life at Urbino, where he died of apoplexy on the last day of September, 1612, aged 84 : he was buried there in the church of San Francesco, with all the ceremony due to his great merits and reputation. Barocci painted almost exclusively religious subjects ; he has executed several large and excellent altar-pieces, some of which he etched himself — as the Pardon of San Francesco d'Assisi, at Urbino, in 1581 ; and The Annun- ciation, at Loreto, a few years later ; two of his master- pieces. According to his biographer Bellori, he invariably sketched his attitudes from nature ; and he is said to have generally made models of his figures, which he dressed in the required costume. He first designed his compositions in chiaroscuro ; from the sketch he made a cartoon of the size of the intended picture, from which he traced the 20 BAROCCI. outline upon his canvas, and he then painted from a coloured sketch. Barocci is generally said to have founded his style upon the works of Raphael and Correggio : his design is correct and his colouring rich and varied, but his productions bear little resemblance in either respect to the works of those masters ; they have, however, considerable resemblance to those of Correggio in delicacy of light and shade. In colouring Barocci was peculiar ; Mengs* has observed, that his works are deficient in yellow tints. Bellori has also pointed out the defects of his colouring, remarking that he used too much vermilion and too much ultramarine, f Reynolds observes that Barocci " falls under the criticism that was made on an ancient painter, ' that his figures looked as if they fed upon roses.' He was not without imitators : his style had considerable influence upon the painters of bis time, both at Rome and Florence. Of all his followers, the most distinguished was Lodovico Cardi, commonly called Cigoli, who, partly through the example of Barocci's works, became a great reformer of the Florentine school. No. Z9. A " Holy Fa^iily," kno^-n as " La Ma- donna del Gatto," from the circumstance of a cat being introduced into the picture. Though the subject is ostensibly holy, it is here treated merely as an ordinary domestic scene. The little St. John, leaning with his left arm upon the lap of the Virgin, is playfully teasing a cat, by holding up a little bird beyond its reach. The Madonna is pointing with her right hand to the cat, as if to direct the attention of her infant son, who has just turned from * Mengs, Hinterlassne JVerke, vol. i. p. 252. t Bellori, Vite de' Pittori, Scultori, ed Architetti moderni, ^t. Rome, 1672 ; Baldinucci, Notizie de Professori del Disegnoda Cimabue in qua. Florence, 1G81-88. X Sir J. Reynolds, Notes on Du Fresnoys Art of Painting, note It. BASSANO, J. 21 the breast, to the incident. Behind is Joseph, who, with his left hand resting upon a table, is leaning forward, and appears to be equally engrossed by the trivial circumstance. Engraved by C. Cort, in 1577 ; and by A. Garden, and others. On canvas, 3 ft. 9 in. h. by 3 ft. w. A " Madonna del Gatto" is noticed by Bellori, and he appears to allude to this picture, though he calls the little bird a swallow, and mentions that it is tied with a piece of string, which is not evident at present, and the bird is a gold- finch. Bellori terms the composition a scherzo (a playful piece), and adds that it was painted for the Count Antonio Brancaleoni. It was long in the Cesare Palace at Perugia, whence it was procured by a collector in 1805, of whom it was subsequently purchased by the late Rev. W. H. Carr, who bequeathed it in 1831 to the National Gallery. There are several old copies of it. BASSA'NO, JA'COPO. Jacopo da Ponte, commonly called II Bassano, or Jacopo da Bassano, from his native place, in the Venetian State, was born in 1510. His father Francesco da Ponte, who was a painter of the school of the Bellini, was his first instructor in letters and in the arts ; he studied after- wards under Bonifazio at Venice. After a short stay in Venice, which he spent chiefly in copying the drawings of Parmigiano, and the pictures of Bonifazio and of Titian, Jacopo returned, in consequence of the death of his father, to Bassano, where he established himself for the remainder of his life, visiting neighbouring places only as his engagements required. He died at Bassano, Feb. 13, 1592.* The works of Bassano are conspicuous for Venetian * Ridolfi, Le Maraviglie deU'Arte, ovvero le Vite degli illustri Pittori Veneti, e dello Sfato. Venice, 1648 ; Verci, Notizie intorno alia Vita e alle Opere de' Pittori, Scultori, ed Intagliatori della citta di Bassano. Venice, 1775; Lanzi, Storia Pittorica deW Italia, Florence, 1822. 22 BASSANO, J. excellence of colour, and for masterly chiaroscuro ; and some of his best pictures are not unworthy of Titian. In a few years, however, he forsook what may be termed the grand style, for one more in unison with untutored appre- hensions, and characterised by the introduction of all sorts of familiar objects, whatever may be the subject of the picture. He was perhaps the earliest Italian genre-* painter. Even when he painted religious subjects from the Old or New Testament, which was very fi-equently, he treated them as familiar scenes of his own time. He ex- celled in painting landscape and animals, particularly the latter, in which he took great delight ; and he introduced them on all occasions when admissible with, or even with- out, propriety. His works are very numerous in the Venetian state, and they are frequent in picture-galleries generally : his masterpieces are considered the Nativity, at San Giuseppe, and the Baptism of Santa Lucilla, at Santa Maria delle Grazie, in Bassano. Portraits by Jacopo Bassano are comparatively rare. Of his four sons — Francesco, Giambattista, Leandro, and Girolamo, all of * Genre is a term borrowed from the French, for which we have no equivalent in English. As it is a term of frequent occurrence in works which treat of painting, an explanation of it may not be out of place here. Strictly speaking a peintre de genre, or genre-j)a.mteY, signi- fies a painter of any particular class of subject ; and, according to some explanations, any painter except an historical painter — but this is a meaning too vague for any critical purpose. Common usage has now limited the signification of the term genre-painting to a less elevated class of painting. The full expression is apparently peintre da genre has, painter of a low class of subjects, which occasionally occurs (Millin, Dictionnaire des Beaux-Arts, vol. iii. p. 160). It does not however fol- low that a genre-picture is low in its subject ; yet, it must be a picture of some familiar object, or ordinary custom or incident ; and every such picture which does not belong to any other recognised class of paintings, as history, portrait, animal, landscape, marine, fruit and flower, or still- life, but which may nevertheless be something of all, is a genre-picture. The Dutch have hitherto been the great ^e72re-painters ; indeed, their pictorial fame is so closely associated with this class of painting, that genre and the Dutch style are nearly synonymous. BASSANO, L. 23 whom he brought up as painters, Francesco, the eldest, was the most distinguished. No. 173. Portrait of a Gentleman, standing, dressed in a black robe trimmed with fur; his right hand rests on a table placed before an open window, and on which is a silver vase containing a sprig of myrtle ; in his left hand he holds a black cap. Three-quarter-length. On canvas, 3 ft. 11 in. h. by 3 ft. 2 in. w. Presented, in 1839, by Henry Gaily Knight, Esq. BASSA'NO, LEANDRO. Leandro da Ponte, Cavaliere, called also Leandro Bassano from his birth-place, was the third son of Jacopo da Ponte, and was born in 1558. He was the pupil, imitator, and assistant of his father ; and obtained distinction as a portrait-painter. He lived much at Venice, where he was created Cavaliere di San Marco, by the Doge Grimani, whose portrait he painted. He died at Venice in 1623. Leandro Bassano, like his father, was also a good animal- painter, and according to Lanzi he surpassed his father in portraiture. His masterpieces are considered — The Coro- nation of the Virgin, in San Francesco at Bassano ; and the Resurrection of Lazarus, formerly in the church Delia Carita, now in the Academy, at Venice.* No. 60. The Building of the Tower of Babel. Many small figures busily engaged in the various occupa- tions connected with building — as wheeling barrows, sift- ing, mixing mortar, hewing stone, carrying, fixing scaffolding, &c. On canvas, 4 ft. 6 in. h. by 6 ft. 2 in. w. Bequeathed to the National Gallery, in 1837, by Lieut. Col. Ollney. * See the works of Eidolfi, Verci, and Lanzi, quoted ia the preceduig article. 24 BEAUMONT. Sir George Rowland Beaumont, seventh baronet of the ancient family of the Beaumonts, of Stoiighton Grange, Leicestershire, was born at Dunmow, in Essex, in 1753. He succeeded to the baronetcy in 1762, and was educated at Eton School and at New College, Oxford. In 1778 he married Margaret Welles, granddaughter of Lord Chief Justice Welles, and in 1782 he made a tour, with Lady Beaumont, in Italy. During this tour he im- proved a taste which he had always shown for the fine arts, and became a painter, having already had some instruction, from Richard Wilson, in landscape-painting, the branch of the art which he adopted. He had, how- ever, a generally cultivated taste in all matters of art, and he was ever the kind friend and the liberal patron of artists. His munificent donation of his own collection of pictures to the National Gallery, and the active interest which he took in the foundation of the institution, have been already noticed in this catalogue (p. 5). Sir George was returned to Parliament, for Beeralston, in 1790. He died at the family seat of Coleorton, in Leicestershire, Feb. 7, 1827.* No. 105. A Small Landscape. The wooded bank of a river, with a dark cluster of trees in the middle- ground ; two figures in full light in the fore-gi'ound ; mountains in the distance, and a stormy sky. Engraved by R. Brandard, for Jones's National Gallery of Pictures^ ^c. On panel, 7^ in. h. by 9J in. w. Presented to the National Gallery, in 1828, by the dowager Lady Beaumont. * Jones, National Gallery of Pictures, &c. ; there is a life of Sir G. Beaumont, and some account of the origin of the National Gallery, in Cunningham's Lives of the most eminent British Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, vol. vi. BEECHEY. 25 No. 119. A Landscape, with Jaques and the WOUNDED Stag, fi-om Shakspere's As You Like It^'^ act ii. "He lay along Under an oak, whose antique root peeps out Upon the brook that brawls along this wood ; To the which place a poor sequester'd stag, That from the hunter's aim had ta'en a hurt, Did come to languish." A woody landscape, representing a scene in the Ardennes. In the midst is a running stream, arched over by spread- ing oaks, admitting a glimpse of light from the distance. Jaques, part only of whose figure is seen, reclines under the shade of an old oak in the fore-ground, and is con- templating the wounded stag, which is drinking on the opposite side of the stream. In the middle-distance is a small herd of deer, disturbed by the approach of a huntsman and his dogs. Engraved by J. C. Bentley, for Jones's National Gallery. On canvas, 2 ft. 6 in. h. by 3 ft. 4 in. w. Presented to the National Gallery, in 1828, by the dowager Lady Beaumont. BEECHEY. Sir William Beechey was born at Burford, in Oxfordshire, in 1753, and was originally articled to a conveyancer at Stow. But having a strong love for art, he determined to follow painting as a profession, and in 1772 he obtained admission, as a student, into the Royal Academy of Arts in London. He early obtained reputa- tion as a portrait-painter, and became ultimately one of the most distinguished painters of that class. In 1793 he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy, and was appointed in the same year portrait-painter to the queen. He was elected an academician in 1798, after the completion of his large equestrian picture of George III., the Prince of Wales, and the Duke of York, attended by Generals Dundas, Sir W. Fawcett, and Goldsworthy, reviewing 26 BELLINI, G. the Third and Tenth Dragoons ; for this picture, which is now at Hampton Court, he was knighted ; being the first artist since Sir J. Re^Tiolds who had received that honour : West had declined it. Sir WilHam died at Hampstead in 1839, at the advanced age of 86.* No. 120. Portrait of Joseph Nollekens, R.A, Sculptor. Nollekens was a distinguished sculptor of busts, and was the predecessor of Sir F. Chantrey in the public favour in this respect. He died, possessed of great wealth, in London, in 1823, aged eighty-six.f Engraved by C. Turner. On canvas, 2 ft. 6 in. A. by 2 ft. 1 in. to. Presented to the National Gallery, in 1835, by the Rev. R. E. Kerrick. BELLI'NI, GIOVA'NNL Giovanni Bellini, the most distinguished of the quattrocentisti^ or painters of the fifteenth century, at Ve- nice, was bom in that city about 1426. He was the son and pupil of Jacopo, and the younger brother of Gentile, Bellini, both distinguished painters in their time, but in- ferior to Giovanni. Ridolfi observes, that the style of Gio- vanni was an aggregate of all that was beautiful in painting in his time ; and Lanzi remarks, that had his outline been less hard, he would have been a just representative of even the modern, or cinquecento style — that of the great mas- ters of the sixteenth century. His style is individual, and rather full than meagre in form ; it is positive in colour, and is distinguished for much detail of costume and ornament. His works, which are still very numerous, though probably many have perished, range in their dates from 1464 to 1516. The celebrated pictures described * Art- Union Journal, 1839. t J. T. Smith, Nollekens and his Times, &c., London, 182S. BELLINI, G. 27 by Vasari, which he painted with Luigi Vivarini and his brother Gentile, in the Sala del Gran Consiglio, in the ducal palace of Venice, were destroyed in the fire of 1577. They were, however, replaced by others painted by the great Venetian masters of the sixteenth century. Giovanni Bellini's earlier works were executed in dis- temper ; but upon seeing some of the oil pictures of Anto- nello da Messina, who settled in Venice about 1470, he perceived the great advantage of the new method, and, according to an improbable story told by Ridolfi, he dis- guised himself as a Venetian cavaliere, sat to Antonello for his portrait, and by watching the painter's proceedings during the sittings, contrived to discover his secret.* Bellini's best works are in oil, and consist chiefly of Madonnas and portraits. The last picture painted by Joannes Bellinus^ as he wrote his name, is the Madonna of Santa Giustina at Padua, mentioned by Brandolese and others, which bears the date 1516. Ridolfi erro- neously states that his last picture was the Bacchanalian piece, painted in 1514 for Alfonso I. of Ferrara, long * It must have been after 1473 that Giovanni practised the new method ; for according to Zanetti, the first oil picture known to have been executed in Venice by a Venetian master, was painted in that year, by Bartolomeo Vivarini, for the church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo. It does not appear that Antonello executed any pictures in Venice during his first short visit there on his return from Flanders, about 1455 ; and Domenico Veneziano, to whom he communicated his secret, must have returned immediately to Florence, where he was soon after employed. Lanzi (vol. i.) appears to think that Domenico painted several pictures in Venice after his acquaintance with Antonello. Had this been the case, or had Antonello made known his secret at once to others besides Domenico (as Vasari in one place seems to say), oil painting must have been practised in Venice much earlier than 1473. The first oil pictures known to have been executed in Italy by Italian artists, in consequence of Antonello's communication, were those (now no longer existing) by Domenico Veneziano and Andrea del Castagno on the walls of the Por- tinari chapel in Santa Maria Nuova, at Florence. The execution of those works must have taken a considerable time, the middle period of which may have been about 1460. 28 BOTH. preserved subsequently in the Aldobrandini Villa at Rome, and now in the Cammuccini collection there. Giovanni died without finishing it, and it was completed by Titian, who painted the landscape back-ground to it. Giovanni Bellini died at the advanced age of 90, November 29, 1516.* Albert Diirer, who was in Venice in 1506, de- scribes him, in a letter to Pirkheimer, though very old, as the best of all the Venetian painters. Giorgione and Titian were two of his many eminent scholars. | No. 189. Bust Portrait of the Doge Leonardo LoREDANo, IN HIS State Robes. He died in 1521, having filled the office of Doge from 1500. Joannes Bellinus is written on an unfolded scrip of paper. On wood, 2 ft. h. by 1 ft. 5^ in. w. This picture was formerly in the Grimani Palace at Venice, whence it was brought to England by the late Lord Cawdor. It passed subsequently into the possession of the late Mr. Beckford, from whom it was purchased by the Government, for the National Gallery, in 1844. BOTH. Jan or John Both was born at Utrecht about 1610. He and his younger brother Andries, or Andrew, both learnt the first rudiments of their art under their father, a painter on glass, who placed them afterwards with Abra- ham Bloemart. The two brothers visited France and Italy together, and spent some time in Rome. Jan was an excellent landscape-painter, and Andries embellished * Cadorin, Dello Aviore ai Veneziani di Tiziano Vecellio. Venice, 1833. f Vasari, Vite, Sec, and Schorn's translation — Lehen der ausgezeich- netsten Maler, &c., Notes ; Kidolfi, Zc Maraviglie deW Arte, &c. ; Zanetti, Delia Pittura Veneziami, e delle opere puhhliche de' Veneziani Maestrij Venice, 1771 ; Lauzi, Storia Pittorica dell' Italia ; Von Murr, Journal zur Kinistgeschichte, vol. x. p. 7. BOURDON. 29 his landscapes with figures and cattle, which his brother had little skill in painting. Andries Both fell into a canal at Venice, and was drowned, in 1650 ; Jan returned to Utrecht, and died there in 1656.* No. 71. Landscape, a Party of Muleteers, WITH Laden Mules : Morning. Mountain scenery ; a dark picturesque rocky fore-ground, with a lake in the middle-ground, and blue mountains in the distance, con- trasting forcibly with the fore-ground. Engraved by W. Byrne ; and by J. C. Bentley, for Jones's National Gallery. On canvas, 3 ft. 9 in. h. by 5 ft. 3 in. w. Presented to the nation, in 1826, by Sir G. Beaumont. No. Z09. Landscape, with Figures. A rocky and woody landscape, with figures, by Cornelis Poelenburg,t representing the Judgment of Paris. On canvas, 3 ft. 3 in h. by 4 ft. 3^^ in. w. Bequeathed to the National Gallery, in 1846, by Richard Simmons, Esq. BOURDON. Sebastien Bourdon was born at Montpellier in 1616. He was instructed by his father, and exhibited great ability at a very early age ; he painted a ceiling in fresco in a chateau near Bordeaux, in his fourteenth year. He studied afterwards at Paris, and subsequently three years at Rome ; and obtained great reputation in 1643, by his celebrated picture of the Crucifixion of St. Peter, which * Sandrart, Teutsche Acad€mie,\675. Houbraken has corrected the mistakes of some writers respecting these painters, in his Groote Schou- hurg der Nederlantsche Konstschilders, &c., Amsterdam, 1718-21; Descamps, La Vie des Peintres Flamands, Allemands et Hollandois, Paris, 1753-63. f Poelenburg was born at Utrecht in 1586, and studied first under Abraham Bloemart,and afterwards in Italy. He died at Utrecht in 1666. 30 BOURDON. was originally placed in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, at Paris, but is now in the Louvre. Bourdon was a Pro- testant, and being anxious to avoid the troubles of the civil wars of the time, he went in 1652 to Sweden, where he was appointed by Christina her principal painter. On the abdication of Christina he returned to France, and in 1663 again settled in Paris, where he executed many works in different styles, history, landscape, and genre, by which he added greatly to his reputation. He was one of the original twelve anciens of the old academy of painting, established at Paris in 1648 : he died rector of the academy May 8, 1671. The landscapes of Bourdon somewhat resemble those of Salvator Rosa, and have a wild melancholy character. In his historical works, colour and effect appear to have engrossed more of his attention than foi-m ; his less finished works, says D'Argenville, are his best. Bourdon has also executed many masterly etchings, the most cele- brated of which are the "Seven Acts of Mercy."* No. 64. The Return of the Ark from Captivity. The Philistines " took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and they laid the ark of the Lord upon the cart, and the cofier with the mice of gold, and the images of their emerods. And the kine took the straight ■way to the way of Beth-shemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand, or to the left ; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Beth-she- mesh. And they of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley : and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Beth-shemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone." — I Samuel, vi. 10-14. A dark rocky landscape, intersected by a large river : in the middle-ground is the "great stone of Abel," and by the side of it is the city, Beth-shemesh. The ark * D'Argenville, Ahn'ge de la Vie des plus fameux PeintrcA, Paris, 1745-52; Gault de Saint- Germain, Les Trois Siecles de la Peinture en France, Paris, 1808. BREENBERG. is represented in the fore-ground as having crossed the river, and the car is standing still near the " great stone": the five lords of the Philistines are on the bridge over which the ark has passed ; the Beth-shemites are rejoic- ing, and returning thanks for its restoration. Engraved by J. C. Varral, for Jones's National Gallery. On canvas, 3 ft. 5 in. h. by 4 ft. 5 in. w. This picture was long in the possession of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and was much admired by him. He instanced it, and a picture of " Jacob's Dream " by Salvator Rosa, as happy examples of the poetical style of landscape, in his discourse on the character of Gainsborough, to the students of the Royal Academy in 1788. It was bequeathed by Sir Joshua to Sir George Beaumont, by whom it was presented to the nation in 1826. BREENBERG. Bartolomeus Breenberg, landscape and figure painter, was born at Utrecht, about 1610-20. He went early to Italy, and studied there some time, chiefly in Rome, where he was commonly known as Bartolomeo. His favourite subjects were landscapes with ruins, in which he often introduced figures illustrating some fable or ancient story. His smaller pictures are most prized. Breenberg executed also a considerable number of etchings, some of which are described by Bartsch : among them is a col- lection of Roman ruins engraved in 1640. He died, ac- cording to Houbraken, in 1660.* No. 203. Landscape, with Figures, representing the finding of Moses. In the middle-ground, on the banks of a river, over which is a lofty bridge, are some tombs and ancient ruins, beyond which is a view of a city, with blue mountains in the extreme distance. On panel, 1 ft. 4^ in. h. by 1 ft. lOJ in. w. * Houbraken, Groote Scliouhurg, &c. ; Immerzeel, Levens en Werken der HoUandsche en Vlaamsche Kunstschilders, &c. ; Bartsch, Ze Peintre- Graveur, 32 BROXZIXO, C. Bequeathed to the National Gallen-, in 1846, by Richard Simmons, Esq. BRONZFNO, CRISTOTORO. Cristoforo Allori, sometimes called also after his great uncle, Bronzino, because his father Alessandro Allori went generally by that name, was born at Florence, in 1577. He was by some considered the best painter of his time in execution. He was first the pupil of his father, a devoted admirer of Michelangelo, but they soon dis- agi'eed ; the son pronounced the taste of his instructor to be perverted, and entered the studio of Gregorio Pagani, one of the reformers of the Florentine school, and a painter distinguished for his brilliant colouring. Cristoforo was a great admirer of the works of Cigoli and Pagani, and had a proportionate dislike to the anatomical school of Michelangelo, to which his father belonged. He was fastidious in his execution, which at times was ex- tremely delicate, and he has consequently finished but few pictures. His style was suited to portraiture, in which he was excellent. His masterpieces are, the Miracle of San Giuliano in the Pitti Palace, the Beato Manetto in the church de' Servi at Florence, and Judith with the head of Flolophernes in the Pitti Palace. There is a small repeti- tion or copy of the last picture in the Dulwich Gallery. The Judith is said to have been painted from his own mis- tress, and the head of Holophernes from himself: the picture was engraved by Gandolfi for the ' Musee Na- poleon.* The Judith and the San Giuliano were both in the Louvre in 1814. Cristoforo is said to have made some copies, with slight alterations in the back-grounds, of Correggio's Magdalen, which have passed as du- plicates by Correggio : he was the best landscape-painter of Florence in his time. He died at Florence in 1621.* ♦ Baldiuucci, Notizie de' Professori del Disegno^ &c. ; Lanzi, Storia Pittorica delV Italia ; Fiorillo, Geschichte der Mahlerei in Toscana, vol. i. CANALETTO. 33 ^ No. 2il. Portrait of a Lady, in a white bodice with red sleeves, and a head-dress richly ornamented with gold : the red sleeves are relieved by a green cur- tain, which constitutes the back-ground. Engraved by J. Jenkins, for Jones's National Gallery. On panel, 1 ft. 1 1 in. h. by 1 ft. 6f in. w. From the collection of the Duke of San Vitale, at Parma, whence it was procured by the Rev. W. H. Carr, who be- queathed it in 1831 to the National Gallery. CANALE^TTO. Antonio Canal, commonly called Canaletto, was born in Venice, in 1697. His father, Bernardo Canal, was a scene-painter, and Antonio practised the same art for several years : he, however, gave it up while still young, and went to Rome, where he devoted the whole of his time to the study of architectural prospects and an- cient ruins. He was accompanied while at Rome by his nephew and pupil, Bernardo Bellotto, who painted similar pictures to those of his uncle, and is known by the same name ; whence the works of the two are often confounded together. After his return to Venice, Canaletto painted pictures of that city, one of the most remarkable of which is a view on the Grand Canal, in which he has substituted a design by Palladio for the Rialto instead of the actual scene ; he took also other liberties with the disposition of the buildings. Tiepolo occasionally painted the figures in his pictures. In 1746 he came to England, but remained here only two years. Walpole possessed an interior of King's College Chapel, Cambridge, by him. His nephew was in the same year made a member of the Academy of Dresden, where he was known by the title of Count Bel- lotto. He painted many pictures there : twenty-five of them are still preserved under the name of Canaletto, in a distinct collection at Dresden. He died at Prague in 1780. Canaletto, the uncle, died at Venice in 1768, aged b3 34 CANALETl'O. 71.* Many of his works have been engraved, especially his Venetian views, of which there are three sets, one by himself, another by Vicentino, and a third by Fletcher and Boitard. The two Canaletti painted so much alike that it is very difficult, if practicable, to distinguish their works. Bellotto being long the pupil of his uncle, completely acquired his manner of execution. Canaletto's style is prospect- portraiture, distinct in forms, individual in colour, and effective in light and shade ; it displays so much or so little of contrivance, that, as Lanzi has remarked, the common observer perceives nature, and the artist art in his works. He used the camera lucida, which, says Lanzi, he was the first to apply to its proper use, to the linear perspective only ; aerial effects he commonly painted from nature. No. 1Z7. A ViEvsr IN Venice. In the fore-ground are the sheds and yard of a stone mason ; in the middle- distance are a quay and a broad canal, with gondolas upon it; beyond these are various buildings, the most conspicuous of which is the tall campanile of the church of Santa Maria de' Frari, built in 1250, after a design by Niccolo Pisano. The campanile was built by Giacopo and his son Pietro Paolo Collega, in 1361-96. Engraved by H. Le Keux, in the series of prints published for the ' Associated Engravers ;' and by E. Challis for Jones's National Gallery. On canvas, 4 ft. h. by 5 ft. 4 in. w. Presented to the nation in 1826 by Sir G. Beaumont, Bart. No. 135. Ruins and Figures, with a city in the back-ground. Italian scenery ; a composition. On canvas, 1 ft. 10 in. h. by 2 ft. 5 in. w. Bequeathed to the National Gallery, in 1837, by Lieut. Col. Ollney. * Zanetti, Delia Pittxira Fcneziajia, &c. ; Lanzi, Storia Pittorica, &c. ; Matthay, Beschreihung der neu errichtetcn Sammlimg Vaterlun- discher Prospecte von Alexander Thiele und Canaletto, Dresden, 1834. CARAVAGGIO, M. DA. 35 No. 163. A View on the Grand Canal, Venice. The church of Santa Maria della Salute, which is a prin- cipal feature in this picture, was built in commemoration of the cessation of the plague, in 1630, after a design by Baldassare Longhena. The pictures by Titian, which the church and sacristy contain, were originally in Santo Spirito. On canvas, 4 ft. 1 in. Ji. by 6 ft. 8^ in. w. Bequeathed to the National Gallery, in 1838, by Lord Farnborough No. 2m\0. View of the Church, Campanile, and Piazza, of San Marco, at Venice. The building of the church was commenced in the tenth and finished in the eleventh century ; the Campanile, which was com- menced in the ninth, was not completed until the four- teenth century. On canvas, 2 ft. 4 in. h. by 3 ft. 11 J in. w. Bequeathed to the National Gallery, in 1846, by R. Sim- mons, Esq. CARAVA'GGIO, M. DA. Michelangelo Merigi was born at Caravaggio in the Milanese, in 1569, and on this account is generally known as Michelangelo da Caravaggio. His father was a mason ; and it is remarkable that the history of the two most celebrated painters of Caravaggio is much the same. Po- lidoro and Michelangelo Merigi both commenced life as masons' labourers ; were subsequently employed to attend upon fresco-painters, the former at Rome, the latter at Milan ; and from this humble beginning each became one of the most celebrated painters of his time : in their deaths too they somewhat resembled each other. Polidoro was assassinated when about to return to Rome ; Caravaggio' s death was, under similar circumstances, scarcely less unhappy. This artist maintained himself for about five years 36 CARAVAGGIO, M. DA. painting portraits at Milan ; he then went to Venice, where he studied the works of Giorgione, and painted some pictures which gave indications of a fine taste in colour. From Venice he proceeded to Rome ; but there, owing to his poverty, he could not procure the requisite materials to produce a picture; he therefore entered the service of the Cavaliere Cesare d'Arpino, who employed him in painting fruit and flowers and other ornamental parts of his own works. Caravaggio at length produced the celebrated picture of " II Giuoco di Carte," or the Card-players ; it was purchased by the Cardinal del Monte, and estab- lished the independence and the reputation of its author. He also painted about this time the portrait of the poet Marino, through whose kind offices he became acquainted with Virgilio Crescenti, the heir of Cardinal Contarelli : Caravaggio was, in consequence of this introduction, selected to execute several oil pictures for the Contarelli Chapel, in the Church of San Luigi de' Francesi. His first altarpiece in this chapel, " St. Matthew writing the Gospel," was removed by the priests as too vulgar for such a subject ; Caravaggio painted a second, which gave satisfaction, and the first was purchased by the Marchese Vincenzio Giustiniani. His masterpiece at Rome is " The Pieta," or Deposition of Christ, formerly in the Chiesa Nuova de' Padri delF Oratorio, or Santa Maria in Val- licella, now in the gallery of the Vatican ; a copy was substituted in the church for the original, and there is a mosaic of it in the Chapel of the Sacrament in St. Peter's. Caravaggio was now fully established, with a reputation equal to that of any painter of his time. He was intro- duced to Pope Paul v., and painted Cardinal Barberini, who became afterwards Urban VIH. ; but his disposition was violent and his habits peculiar, and he owed entirely to himself the change which now took place in his fortimes. He used to paint only a few hours in the early part of the day ; the rest of his time he spent in parade with his CARAVAGGIO, M. DA. 37 sword at his side, or in amusement. It was on one of these afternoons, that as he was playing at tennis with an acquaintance, he became so violent in a dispute, that he killed his companion. He immediately fled to Naples, whence, after executing a few pictures, he proceeded to Malta, where he obtained the favour of the Grand-master Vignacourt, who sat to Caravaggio for two portraits, and made him a knight of the Cross of Malta. Here again his temper was his enemy, he quarrelled with one of the knights, and was cast into prison : he contrived, however, to escape, and fled to Syracuse. He afterwards visited Messina and Palermo : having executed a few pictures in those cities he returned to Naples, where after a little time he hired a felucca and set out for Rome, having by means of his friends at length procured the pope's pardon for the offence which caused his flight from that city. On his way, however, he fell in with a Spanish coast-guard, who arrested him, mistaking him for another person, and when he was at length liberated he found that the people of the felucca had gone off" with all his property. He wandered despondingly along the coast until he came to Porto Ercole, where, partly from his disappointment and partly from the extreme heat of the weather, he was seized with a fever and died in a few days, in 1609, aged only forty.* The follovfers of Caravaggio have been called natur^ alists : their style, which was founded on a literal imita- tion of the model, was thus opposed to that more ideal view of nature which is founded on selection. Caravaggio's manner is well characterized by his biographer Bellori, who refers to some of the opinions of the painter's contempo- raries. He was said (for example) never to emerge from his cellar ; this alludes to his habit of painting with a high small light, which cast an isolated illumination upon his * Bellori, Vite de' Pittori Scultori, ed Architetti Moderni, &c., Rome, 1672. 38 CARAVAGGIO, M. DA. model ; but Instead of leading Caravaggio to the produc- tion of a gradual concentration of light, with a transparent mass of shade, as we find it expressed in the works of Rembrandt, it caused him only to make strong contrasts and shadows without transparency. In spite of the vul- garity of his taste and his defective design, his influence upon many of his contemporaries was great. Bellori accounts for this by the emptiness of the prevailing ideal style, which w^as founded exclusively upon examples and precepts, while nature was overlooked. Caravaggio had a host of imitators among the younger painters of the age ; even Guido and Domenichino were not exempt from the influence. Guercino in part adopted his style, but Bartolomeo Manfredi, Spagnuoletto, Carlo Saracino, Valentin, and Gerard Honthorst (Gherardo della Notte) became his decided imitators. An objection advanced by Bellori to this school, is its custom of painting only half figures, a practice detrimental to high art generally, as precluding a knowledge of the human figure. N. Poussin is reported to have said that Caravaggio came into the world to destroy painting — "costui era venuto per distruggere la pittura."* On the other hand, Annibale Carracci, while he often regretted that Caravaggio was not more refined in his taste, ex- pressed his admiration of the unaffected truth of his colouring, and observed, that " he did not grind colours, but flesh." No. 17Z. Christ and the two Disciples at Emmaus. As he sat at meat with them, — " He took bread and blessed it, and brake and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they kntw him."— Zw/fe xxiv. 30, 31. A composition of four half-length figures. Christ breakin