Page:Biographical catalogue of the principal Italian painters.djvu/202

 SOLAEIO—SOLIMENi. 171 the pictnres.now attributed to him are of a later date, and belong to some of his numerous scholars. In the Studj Gallery,; in the Museo Borbonico, there are three pictures attributed to him; the most remarkable of them is the Madonna and Child enthroned, be- tween Saints. The heads are life-like, and probably mostly portraits ; the head of the Virgin is the Portrait of the Queen, Jeanne II. of Anjou, the figure behind St Peter is the wife of the painter, and he has represented himself standing up behind the bishop, St. Asprenus. There are also in this gallery — the Virgin, with two Saints; and tile Descent of the Holy Ghost. In San Lorenzo Maggiore, at Naples, is a picture of St. Francis giving the Bules of his Order. In the library of the convent of San Filippo Neri is a MS. of the Tragedies of Seneca, ^dth Illuminations, attributed to Lo Zin- garo. Some of the Neapolitan writers have assumed that he painted in oil, but this appears to have been an error. SOLE, Gio. GiosEFFO dal, b, at Bologna, 1654, d. 1719. Son of Anto- nio dal Sole, the landscape-painter, called, because he painted with his left hand, Ii< Monchino, da' paesi. Bo- lognese School. He studied under Domenico Canuti and Lorenzo Pasi- nelli. He has been called the modem Guide, from a resemblance of his second manner to that of that master. He executed several great works in fresco, and painted much for private collections. He excelled in composi- tion, in costume, in architecture, and in landscape. Of his landscapes (says Lanzi) the best specimens ai'e — ^Even- ing, Night, and Morning, in the Casa Zappi, in Imola. His master-piece is a fresco in San Biagio, at Bologna : he painted also at Parma, Verona, Lucca, &c. There are a few etchings by Dal Sole. SOLIMENA, Francesco, called L'Abbate Giccio, (. at Nocera de' Pagani, Oct 4, 1657, d. at Naples, April 5, 1747. Neapolitan School. He was the scholar of his father, Augelo Solimena, then studied with Francesco di Maria, and Giacomo del Po. After the death of Luca Giordano, Solimena was considered the ablest painter of his time. He possessed extraordinary facility of execution both in oil and fresco, and copied and imitated with accuracy the works of various masters. He sometimes imitated Pietro da Cor- tona, to whose school he more entirely belonged ; sometimes Guide ; and some- times Carlo Maratta, Lanfranco, Luca Giordano, or Preti Calabrese. He painted not only historical subjects and portraits, but also landscapes, animals, and architecture. Solimena possessed such considerable technical powers, that these, with his love of imitation, or rather rivalry, of masters of reputa- tion, led him into a mechanical style ; and he was one of the most successful and influential of the Machinists of the eighteenth century, who confirmed the declining tendency of modem painting in Italy, which was reduced to a state of mere imitation and mechanical dis- play, from which the purely technical rules and practical routine of acade- mies will not revive it His scholars were the last distinguished painters of Naples. Solimena's style was orna- mental, a play of forms and colours, with which mind had litUe to do. He lived to a great age, acquired an un^^ rivalled name in his time, and amassed an immense fortune. His works are very numerous, especially in Naples and at Monte Gassino, and are well known in prints : a few etchings exist by his own hand. The Last Supper, in the refectory of the Conventuali, at Assisi, is one of his greatest works. Vienna possesses several of his better works; and some are in the Dresden