Page:Biographical catalogue of the principal Italian painters.djvu/180

 ROMANO— RONCALLT. 149 Ireneion of life, and nnoommon powers of execution: his composition and drawing were Roman, his colouring was warm hut heavy ; his composition occasionally displays even a poetic grandeur, but he altogether wanted that delicacy and purity of expression which distinguishes the best works of Raphael. like most great painters, he was unequal in his execution, and in some of his best works he was both extravagant and feeble, and dirty in colour; though he always pre- served the fulness of form charac- teristic of his school. An altar.piece in San Stefano at Genoa, representing the Martyrdom of that Saint, is one of Giulio's most important works, in oil (while in Paris the head of St. Ste- phen was restored by Oirodet) : also, a Holy Family in the Dresden Gallery known as La Sainte Famille au Bo- nny is a noble picture of its class, possessing. all the sterner qualities of Raphaers style, and admirably drawn ; it is, however, heavy and brown in colour. Another noble work is a Ma- donna enthroned, with Angels and Saints, above the high-altar in Santa Maria dell' Anima, at Rome. His easel pictures are rare. Some of his earlier and more celebrated produc- tions are in the Ducal Palaces at Man- tua. Giulio entered the service of Federigo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, in 1524; he rebuilt the Palazzo del T^, and decorated it with his greatest works — ^the frescoes of the " Fall of the Giants," and the << Story of Cupid and Psyche;" though they appear to have been chiefly carried out by his pupils, Primadccio, and others. Giu- lio's ornamental works in this palace and the Palazzo Vecehio have acquired him the title of the Prince of Decorators. In the Palazzo Vecehio, also restored by Oiulio, are '^ Diana at the Chase ;" and frescoes from the Trojan War. Oiulio was as celebrated as an archi- tect as he was as a painter; he erected several palaces and churches ; and was invited to Rome to undertake the pro- secution of St Peter's after the death of Antonio da San Gallo; his own death, however, intervened. He had numerous scholars, and established a great school at Mantua, surpassing that of Mantegna, and rivalling that of Rome. Mantegna's school was then extinct, says Lanzi. Giulio Romano's "Dance of the Muses" in the Pitti Palace, was, however, as M.Rio(Po«<te Chritienne, Ssc, p. 450) has observed, evidently borrowed from Andrea Man- tegna's Muses in the " Parnassus," or Apollo and the Muses, in the Louvre. Raphael and Michelangelo had the same recourse to the works of their predecessors. In addition to the works already mentioned, are in Rome, the Scourging of Christ in Santa Prassede ; and re^ mains of frescoes in the Villas Lante and Madama (with rich cinquecento ara- besque), and the Famesina. His own Portrait and three other pictures are at the Louvre: others are at Berlin, at St. Petersburg, Munich, Vienna, Ve- nice, Hampton Court, (fee. The prints after Giulio Romano exceed 300. {Vasari, Bottari, Count D*Arco, Gaye.) RONCALLI, Cav, Cbistofobo, called Dalle Pomabance, b. 1552, d. 1626. Roman School. He was a follower of Barocci, and studied at Rome under Niccolo Circignano, called also Dalle Pomarance, from his birth-place near Volterra. He was distinguished in oil and fresco, but, Uke his master Niccolo, trusted too much to his pvQ)ils, and ac- cordingly many of his works are indif- ferent; while his colouring in fresco, says Lanzi, was gay, that of his oil pictures is sombre. The same writer complains that Koncalli repeated him- self too often. His taste was a mix- ture of the Florentine and Roman. Among his best works are those of the