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tial, but at that time the best attended in all Italy. The founder of the Paduan school, therefore, was Francesco Squarcione, to whom is due the merit of reviving the study of the master-pieces of antique sculpture. The peculiarity of the Paduan school was a sculpturesque rather than pictorial treatment of form, the compositions of its masters resembling bass-reliefs rather than paintings. Squarcione was more a teacher than a painter; and only one picture by him a group of a S. Jerome and other Saints, at Padua have been preserved. His fame rests principally on his having been the master of Mantegna. Marco Zoppo (1445-1498), a native of Bologna, also aided

in the development of Paduan art.

Andrea Mantegna was undoubtedly the greatest painter of the north of Italy in the fifteenth century, and the first to engrave his own designs. The most remarkable of his works are a series of nine cartoons,executed in tempera in nine divisions, of the Triumphs of Julius Casar after the Conquest of Gaul, painted

for the Duke of Mantua-now at Hampton Court; and the frescoes in the Chapel of S. Chris

form, chiaroscuro and perspective, which entitle him to the high rank universally assigned to him, and account for the wide influence he exercised over his contemporaries.

None of Mantegna's numerous pupils attained to remarkable eminence; but we must mention Bono di Ferrara (fl. ab. 1461) and Francesco Bonsignori (1455-1519), the former of whom was a pupil, and the latter an imitator, of Mantegna. By Bono, the National Gallery possesses a S. Jerome in the Desert, and by Bonsignori, a Portrait of a Venetian Senator.

Various Venetian, Veronese, Ferrarese, Milanese,

THE TRIUMPH OF JULIUS CAESAR, BY MANTEGNA.

topher in the Church of the Eremitani, at Padua, representing scenes in the lives of S. Christopher and S. James. Of his altar-pieces, we may name that of the high altar of S. Zeno at Verona; and the Madonna of Victory, in the Louvre. The National Gallery contains by Mantegna a Holy Family, and the Triumph of Scipio. The latter, executed in tempera on canvas, is especially valuable, as being one of the latest, if not the last, picture he ever painted. In all these works Mantegna displayed a complete acquaintance with ancient Roman art, a richness of imagination, a power of design, and a knowledge of

and other masters copied Mantegna's peculiarities with more or less success. He was the son-inlaw of Jacopo, and the brother-in-law of Giovanni and Gentile Bellini, and through them had great influence on the school of Venice.

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THE VENETIAN
SCHOOL.

We have now to turn to Venice, where we find an important school arising, founded by the brothers Bellini, in which brilliancy and harmony of coloring reached their fullest development.

Before these in point of time, however, were Antonello da Messina (ab. 1440-1493), who introduced into Italy the oil-painting practiced by the Van Eycks, and the Vivarini, of whom the principal was Bartolommeo (fl. ab. 1450-1499), who executed the first oil painting exhibited in Venice. Carlo Crivelli must also be noticed here, though he adhered to the old method of tempera painting. The National Gallery possesses a Salvator Mundi by Antonello da Messina; a Virgin and Child by Bartolommeo Vivarini, and figures of SS. Peter and Jerome by his brother Antonio Vivarini (fl. 1449

1464), and no less than eight works by Carlo Crivelli.

Giovanni Bellini (fl. 1464-1516) was the greater of the two brothers. Giovanni's best pictures were

painted in oils (Antonello da Messina having, as we have seen, introduced the new medium to the Venetians in the latter part of the fifteenth century), and are characterized by a spiritual beauty of expression, combined with truth to nature and a brilliancy and transparency of coloring hitherto never attained. Most of Giovanni Bellini's pictures are in the galleries and churches of Venice; they consist principally of portraits and Madonnas, of which we must name an altar-piece in the sacristy of S. Maria de' Frari, a Madonna in the Academy, and a Madonna and Saints in S. Zaccaria; his large altar-piece in SS. Giovanni e Paolo perished in the same fire which destroyed Titian's Peter Martyr in 1867. Another extremely fine work is a picture in S. Salvator, Christ at Emmaus. The National Gallery contains several

GIOVANNI BELLINI.

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in the Brera at Milan; and a Miracle of the Cross, in the Academy of Venice. The brothers worked together for some time in the Council Hall of the Ducal Palace of Venice, at a series of pictures illustrative of the Venetian wars in 1177, which were unfortunately destroyed by fire in 1577. They were replaced by works by the great painters of Venice of a later period.

Giovanni had many celebrated scholars, of whom Giorgione and Titian, to be presently noticed, were the chief. We must also name Cima da Conegliano, Girolamo Mocetto, Martino da Udine, Vittore Carpaccio, Lazzaro Bastiani, Giovanni Mansueti, Marco Marziale, Catena, Previtali, Bissolo, and Marco Basaiti, all Venetian artists who were influenced by the Paduan school, and combined something of its severity of form with Venetian softness of coloring.

OTHER SCHOOLS OF UPPER ITALY.

Before touching on the Umbrian school we must notice several towns which, beside Venice, played a part in the history of Painting at this time. Bartolommeo Montagna (fl. ab. 1470-1523), a Brescian by birth, though resident in Vicenza, where his best works are to be found, was a painter whose style was formed on a judicious blending of those of Mantegna and the contemporary Venetians. Vittore Pisano, called Pisanello, and better known as a medalist than a painter, who painted in the early half of the fifteenth century; Liberale (1451-1536), Girolamo dai Libri (1474-1556) and Paolo Morando all flourished at Verona, where their works are still preserved; except Liberale, they may be studied in the National Gallery, where are also pictures by Ambrogio di Stefano, called Borgognone, a native of Piedmont, who worked at Pavia from about 1475 to 1493. His paintings, which are either in tempera or fresco, are best seen in the Milanese.

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the Pitti Palace; an Ascension in the museum of Lyons, and the frescoes in the Cambio at Perugia. The National Gallery possesses three paintings by Perugino-a Madonna and Child, a Madonna adoring the Infant Christ, with the Archangels Michael and Raphael, and a Madonna and Child with SS. Francis and Jerome. Perugino's best works are remarkable for an enthusiastic earnestness of expression and a grace and softness of coloring seldom surpassed; they are, however, somewhat wanting in energy of composition and variety. Our illustration may serve to give some idea of his peculiarities.

Perugino's greatest pupil was Raphael, of whom we shall presently speak. We must here name Bernardino di Biagio, called Pinturicchio (14541513), who was a pupil of Perugino, and who probably assisted his master in the Sistine Chapel, and executed some fine frescoes in the cathedral of Spello, and in the Libreria of the cathedral of Siena —his master-piece, K scenes from the Life of Enea Silvio Piccolomini,-besides sev

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'Greater than either of these, however, and equal, if not superior, to Perugino, was Francesco Raibolini, of Bologna (1450-1517)-known as Francia, the sobriquet of his first master, a goldsmith-whose chief characteristic was his fervent piety. Originally a goldsmith, Francia did not turn his attention to Painting until late in life. His earliest pictures are in oils, but he also executed many frescoes. His

MADONNA AND CHILD WITH A BIRD. BY FRANCIA. IN THE DRESDEN GALLERY.

eral easel pictures-of which the best, the Virgin between SS. Jerome and Augustine, is in the Academy at Perugia-and four good specimens (one, the Story of Griselda, is in three parts) in the National Gallery; we must also notice the Spaniard, Giovanni di Pietro (called Lo Spagno), who died about 1530. An Ecce Homo by him is in the National Gallery. The Glorification of the Virgin, there, is doubted by some writers, who ascribe to him the Agony in the Garden, catalogued as of the Umbrian School.

style is distinguished

for richness of coloring and earnestness of expression. His works, principally painted for the churches of Lombardy, are now scat

tered throughout Europe. The National Gallery pos

sesses three, two of which are a beautiful altar-piece, representing the Virgin and S. Anne, with other Saints, with a lunette, containing a Pietà, in which the grief and despair of the mourners are admirably expressed. Our space forbids us to attempt an enumeration of Francia's various works, but we may add that the frescoes in S. Cecilia, at Bologna, are considered the best. The Sienese school

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of this period produced, by means of such artists as Matteo da Siena (1435-ab. 1500), numerous works which are best studied in Siena; they show grace and feeling, but a lack of any forward move

ment.

In the fifteenth century the school of Naples rose into considerable importance. Its distinctive peculiarity was the blending of Flemish and Umbrian features, the details, accessories, and landscape backgrounds reminding us of the works of the Van

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