Page:Bryan's dictionary of painters and engravers, volume 1.djvu/34

 inclination for the arts from his ehiklhood, l)is parents were desirous of bringing him up to his father's profession ; but his uncle, thinking he per- ceived in him indications of genius, prevailed on his father to place the lad, at the age of thirteen years, under the care of Denijs Calvaert, whose academy was at that time in great repute. Guido Reni, who was then a student under Calvaert, conceived a friendship for the young Albani, and assisted him in his studies. Later on Guido, having learned all he could acquire from his first instructor, be- came a scholar of Lodovico Carracci. He was soon followed by Albani, and they continued their studies under that distinguished master with great assiduity, accompanied by an emulation conducive to the advancement of both. Guido, on leaving the Carracci, visited Rome, whither he was soon after followed by his friend and fel- low-student. It was not long before the talent of Albani brought him into notice in that metro- polis of art; and Annibale Carracci (who was at that time employed in painting the chapel of San Diego, in the national church of the Span- iards), falling sick, recommended Albani to be em- ployed to finish it, and the greater part of the work was completed by him, in a manner that gained him great reputation. He was afterwards ei gaged in some considerable works in the Verospi (now the Torlonia) Palace at Rome, where he represented diti'erent subjects from Ovid, treated with great ingenuity. These performances established the fame of Albani throughout all Italy. The Duke of Mantua invited him to liis court, where he painted several pictures, representing the story of ' Diana and Actaeon,' and ' Venus and Cupid.' On his return to Rome he executed the large works which are in the tribune of the Madonna della Pace. In the church of San Sebastiano is an altar-piece representing the martyrdom of th it saint, entir ly in the manner of Carracci, and a picture of the 'Assumption,' painted in conjui.c- tion with Guido Reni.

He died at Bologna, in 1660, in the arms of his pupils — with his brush in his hand— in his 82nd year. The four allegorical pictures of the 'Elements,' now in the Bor^hese Palace, which he painted for the Cardinal .Maurice of S voy, are reckoned among the finest of his works, and have been copied repeatedly, some so successfully as to pass for the original works.

The following is a list of some of his principal works : BologTia. Pinacoteca. DresJen. Gallery.

Florence. Uffisi. Milan. Brera. Paris. Louvre, Rome. 5. Mar. de P. „ Colonna P. Torlonia P. Petrsbrg. Hermitaye. Turin. Gallery. Annunciation. Baptism of Christ. Amorini dancing — with the Bape of Proserpine. Diana and Actaeon. Venus and Vulcan. Creation of Eve. His own Portrait. Infant Christ (with Angels), The Rape of Prosei-pine. Amorini disarmed. Venus and Adonis. Children (fresco). Europa and the Bull, Scenes from Ovid. Europa and the Bull. Baptism of Christ, Four Elements.

The style of Albani is more beautiful than grand ; his compositions are ingenious and abund- ant, and his figures are both elegant and graceful. The landscapes which occupy the backgrounds of his pictures are extremely pleasing, touched with great taste, and there is a freshness and delicacy in his colouring that charm the beholder. It cannot, however, be denied, that he is to be regarded rather as an agreeable than as a great painter.

Albani had many pupils, among whom Giovanni Battista Mola, Carlo Cignani, Andrea Sacchi, and Giovanni Maria Galli, called ' Bibiena,' were the most famous, A very rare etching, representing the ' Death of Dido,' has been attributed to this eminent painter.

ALBANIS DE BEAUMONT, Jean FRANgois, an amateur artist, born in Piedmont, came in the latter half of the 18th century to England and was naturalized. He published at Genoa, in 1787, ' Voyage Pittoresque aux Alpes Pennines,' with twelve coloured plates, and during the next twenty years several other books of travels in the Alps and the South of France, illustrated from his own drawings, which he engraved in aquatint. It is believed that he died in England soon after 1806.

ALBANO. See Albani. ALBARA. See Carboni. ALBAKELLI. See Ai.ekbkli.i. ALBARETI, —, born at Rome, painted about 1520. The name was discovered on a picture of ' Christ in Glory,' after the manner of the pupils of Raphael, when the work, which is in the Panna Academy, was cleaned at Paris. It had formerly been ascribed to Raphael himself.

ALBE, Bacler d'. See Bacler d'Albe.

ALBERELLI, Giaoomo (or Albarelli). This painter was a native of Venice, and flourished about the year 1600. He was a disciple of Jacopo Palma the younger, with whom he worked as a coadjutor for thirty-four years. He painted his- torical subjects, and there are several of his works in the public edifices at Venice, of which one of the most esteemed is a picture of the ' Baptism of Christ,' in the church of the Ognissanti. He died about the year 1650. Bidolfi tells us he was also a sculptor.

ALBERICI, Enrico (or Albrizzi), was born at Vilminore, near Bergamo, in 1714, and was a scholar of Ferdinando Cairo, of Brescia, under whom he studied three years. He is stated by Tassi, in his account of the Bergamesque painters, to have been a very reputable artist ; and several of his works are particularly described by that author. He died in 1775 at Bergamo. He painted many works for the churches and buildings of Brescia, Bergamo, and the villages in the Valle di Scalve. Among many others he painted for the church Santa Maria dei Miracoli, at Brescia, the ' Woman of Samaria,' the ' Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican,' the ' Raising of Lazarus,' the 'Prodigal Son,' and the 'Good Shepherd.'

ALBERT, Simon, a distinguislied historical painter, born at Haarlem in 1523, was a scholar of Jan Mostaert. He lived to a great age, but the exact year of his death is not recorded.

ALBERT VON WESTPHALEN. See Aldk- geever.

ALBERTI, Alessandro, the eldest son of Alberto, was born at Borgo San Sepolcro in 1551. He received instruction in art from a painter of the name of Gaspero di Silvestro, of Perugia. In 1566, Alessandro's uncle Lodovico took him to Rome, where he subsequently executed in the