Page:Biographical catalogue of the principal Italian painters.djvu/209

 178 TESAURO— TIAEINI. Luca Giordano confessed tbat he him- self coold not have done these things hotter than they had heen executed hy Tesauro two hundred years hefore. A much earlier painter of this name, Filippo Tesauro (1260-1320), was pro- hahly <^ the same family; as also Baimo (U94-150I). By the former 81*6 some frescoes of the life of San. Niccol^ in Santa Bestituta. The latter was also a distinguished firesco-painter. {Dominici.) TESI, Maubo Antonio, 6. at Mont- alhano, in the Modenese, Jan. 15, 1730, d. at Bologna, July 18, 1766. Bo- lognese School. Originally placed with an heraldic painter. He studied the works of Mitelli and Colonna, and he- came the hest ornamental and archi- tectural painter of his time, owing much of his success to the patronage and advice of his firiend the celebrated Count Algarotti. The Zambeccari Gal- lery in Bologna is his principal work ; he left many designs and some pic-» tures, in the possession of the Algarotti family at Venice. Tesi also etched a few plates. He was buried in San Pe- tronio in Bologna, where is the follow- ing flattering inscription on his tomb : — EleganticB veteris, in pingendo omatu, et Architectural restitutori. (TiraboschL) TESTA, PiETRO, called II Lucohe- siNo, (. at Lucca 1611-1617, d, at Bome, 1650. Tuscan School. He stu- died first under Pietro Paolini at Lucca, then with Domeniohino, and Pietro da Cortona at Bome. Testa's few pictures show more influence of the last master than any other. He is chiefly distinguished for his engrav- ings. He appears to have been of a melancholy, dissatisfied character; he was not a courtier, and met; with, ac- cordingly, fewpatrons and fewer friends. He chose frequently gloomy and un- happy subjects for his pictures, as the Martyrdom of St. Erasmus, and his last work, the Death of Cato of Utica. His figures are 'somewhat in the sl^le of Poussin, with whom Testa had con- tracted a Mendship; |he excelled in landscape and in the representation of the ancient ruins of Bome; and was generally distinguished for his fertile and admirable invention. Fasseri speaks of his noble and elevated ge- nius, and to this attributes his love of solitude, and his misfortunes. He was found drowned in the Tiber at Bome, at the early age of less than forty, whether by his own act or by accident is unknown — ^both cases are asserted. His principal pictures are, in Bome, in San Martino a' Monte, the Death of the Carmelite Beato Angelo : Capitol, Galleiy, Joseph sold by his Brethren, according to some his master-piece: Palazzo Spada, the Slaughter of the Innocents. For Santa Croce de' Luc- chesi he painted the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, now in St. Petersburg (?). He executed a few works also for Lucca, for San Bomano, San Paolino, and the Bnonvisi Galleiy ; of his frescoes there Lanzi mentions a Liberty, in the Palazzo Pubblico, and the cupola of the oratory of the Casa Lippi. In galleries his pictures are uncommon. {Baldinucci, Passerij Lanzi.) TIABINI, Alessandro, 6. at Bo- logna, March 20, 1577, d, in Bologna, Feb. 8, 1668. Bolognese School. He was the scholar of Prospero Fontana and Bartolomeo Cesi ; but owing to a quarrel he fled from Bologna, and en- tered the school of Passignano at Florence, in which he remained seven years ; when he returned by invitation to Bologna. He now acquired a great reputation, and he eventually adopted the style of Ludovico Carracci. Tia- rini's works, chiefly in oil, are very numerous in Bologna, Mantua, Mo- dena, Beggio, Parma, Cremona, and Pavia. He is one of the most distin- guished masters of his school, and is