Page:Biographical catalogue of the principal Italian painters.djvu/165

 134 PRETI— PRIMATICCIO. been much more reeklessness than tnalice in his disposition. He painted some large frescoes at Borne, Modena, Kaples, and Malta; his oil pictures are namerous and he holds a high place among the Naturalists. He was scarcely rivalled in the Sonth, until Lnoa Giordano supplanted him. Many of his works are engraved, and he etched several plates himself. There is a fresco in San Gaiio de' Catenari, at Borne, by his brother Gregorio, who was President of the Academy^of St. Lnke. Works, Borne, Sant' Andrea della Valle, subjects from the life of St. Andrew. Siena, cathedral, the Preach- ing of St Bernard; Naples, San Do- menioo, San Pietro a M^jella ; church of the Carthusians, frescoes. Dres- den, the Martyrdom of St. Bartholo- mew; and the Incredulity of St. Tho- mas. Louvre, St. Paul and St Anthony in the Desert; the Martyrdom of St. Andrew. {Dominici,) PBEVITALI, Andbea, of Bergamo, painted from 1506 to 1528. Venetian School. He was the scholar of Gio. Bellini, and adhered to the traditional character of the quattrocento. But his figures are not without the tranquil dignity and simplicity of the Bellini school ; he excelled in perspective, and ui landscape, and especiaUy in colour. He painted also some charming Ma- donnas. Previtali adhered also to the early taste in his ornamental acoesso- xies. Bidolfi states that his portraits passed for works of Bellini. His chief irorks are still at Bergamo, where he died of the plague. Works, Bergamo, Santo Spirito, the Baptist Preaching, with other Saints {1515) : cathedrfd, San Benedetto, and other Saints: Sant* Andrea, Deposi- tion from the Cross. Carrara Gallery, several works. Venice, Manfrini Gal- lery, a Holy Family. Berlin Gallery, three Female Saints; the Pietj^ or Dead Christ, mourned by the Virgin, St John, and other Women. (Tasn,) PBIMATICCIO, Francesco, b. at Bologna, 1504, d, at Paris, 1570. This painter studied first under Innoeenzio da Imola, and then under Bagnaea- vallo. He afterwards, in 1525, entered the service of Giulio Bomano, whom he assisted for several years in deco- rating the Palazzo del T^ at Mantua, and in other numerous works, staecoes as well as paintings. He was invited to France by Francis X-* ^ decorate the new palace at Fontainebleaa ; be visited Paris in 1531; Niccolo dell' Abate arrived about the same time; n Bosso had preceded them. Prima- ticcio and Niccolo received a first pay** ment in 1533 ; Bosso and they were the first who executed frescoes and stuocoes in France. Primaticcio represented scenes from the ** Odyssey ; " and was assisted by Niccolo dell' Abate, who painted from his designs. The frescoes in the Saloon of the Guards, or Gallery of Henry XL, alone are preserved. About IMl Primaticcio was sent to collect casts in Bome, where he was aided in that object by Vignola. He returned to France, in 1543, with a great collection of works of art; H Bosso had died during his absence, in 1541. In 1559 he was employed as superintendent of the Boyal buildingSi with a salary of 1200 francs the year. There are few easel pictures by Prima- ticcio, and most of his frescoes have perished. ** Ulysses returned to Pe- nelope," in the collection at Castle Howazd, is therefore a valuable work ; it shows careful execution, and (says Dr. Waagen) is noble in character and in style, but the colouring is feeble. His figures are, however, in general like those of bis model, Parmegiano* lank and affected. H Bosso and Pri- maticcio gave a great impulse to the arts in France; they had numerons scholars, and their school went by the