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 MEDRANO

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MEEHAK

Medrano, Francisco, Spanish lyric poet, b. in Seville, not to be confounded with Sebastian Francisco de Medrano who was also a poet and lived at about the same time. The dates of his birth and death are un- known, but he lived during the latter part of the six- teenth and the beginning of the seventeenth centuries. Little is known of his life except that he visited Rome. His works were published at Palermo (1617) as an ap- pendix to ths imitation of Ovid's " De Remedio Amo- ris" by Pedro \'enegas, a poet of Seville. According to the Spanish critic Adolfo de Castro, Medrano is the best of the Spanish imitators of Horace, comparing favourably in that respect with Fray Luis de Leon. Endowed with literary taste, he writes in good Span- ish, and his style is free from the gongorism of his time. Among the odes of Medrano, his "La profecia del Tajo" is very similar to one of Fray Luis de Leon of the same title. Although both are based upon Hor- ace's ode to Mark Antony in which he would separate him and Cleopatra, there is a great difference between them. Leon's ode departs from the original of Horace, while Medrano's is an imitation of the latter so close as to amount almost to a translation. The poems of Medrano are reprinted in "La Biblioteca de Autores Espaiioles".

Biblioteca de Autores Espafioles, Vols. XXXII, XXXV. and XLII (Madrid, 1848-86).

VENTtJR.\ FUENTE8.

Medulid, Andreas, Croatian painter and engraver,

called by Italian authors Medola, Medula, Schiavone, Schiaon, etc., b. at Sibenik, Dalmatia, 1522; d. at Venice, 15S2. The son of poor parents, Andreas was accustomed, while still a boy, to study closely the pictures and woodwork on the walls of the churches and public buildings of his native town, and, on his return home, to sketch on paper all that he had seen. So tireless was his devotion to his drawing that his father took him to Venice, and there entrusted him to his godfather, Rocco, a painter of very little merit. Under Rocco Medulic, first as apprentice and then as salaried assistant, compelled to work from early morning till evening to procure bare nourishment and clothing, strove to perfect himself in his art. He began by studying and copying the works of the then renowned painter, Francesco Mazzuola (known as Parmigiano), and the paintings of Titian. From these celebrated painters Medulic learned that grace and delicate lightness of touch, that animation of col- our, which constitute the pre-eminent characteristics of his own pictures. While still young in years, chance procured for him the acquaintance of Pietro Aretino, commonly known as " the Divine " and the "scourge of princes" (Flagellum principum), from whom Medulic received always a most friendly re- ception and much valuable instruction. About this time Medulic began to copy the engravings of Parmigiano, the first to execute pictures on copper with nitric acid. J. Paolo Loraazzo, contemporary painter and writer, states that Parmigiano was Medulid's instructor in this branch. Meduli(5, how- ever, was no mere imitator; the individual character of his painting gave rise to a special school in Venice, the "Scuola di Schiavone".

Tintoretto was not ashamed to work with the needy youth, to assist him, and even to study his beautiful style of colouring, recommending in writing all paint- ers to study colour from Medulie's pictures, adding that "every painter is blameworthy, who does not possess at least one picture of Medulie's in his studio." Among those who occasionally purchased his pictures and greatly prized them, was Titian himself who when commissioned by the Venetian Government to choose the best painters in Venice to decorate with mural paintings the public library of St. Mark, in- cluded Medulid's name with those of Tintoretto, Paul Veronese, Battista Zelotti, Giuseppe Salviati, and Battista Franco. Medulid retained throughout life X.— 10

great veneration for Titian and is indeed proclaimed by many authors (Filibeau, Rahmdor, Nagler) his most celebrated imitator. For the l^uzzini family in Venice, Medulid painted the " Baptism of Jesus", but the subdued colouring cannot bear comparison with his other artistic achievements. For the Pelle- grini he painted: "Jesus at Emmaus with Luke and Cleophas", for colour one of the greatest masterpieces of the Venetian school; " Pilate Washing his Hands", an equally typical example of Medulie's style ; " Ma- donna with Child in the Desert, with St. Joseph and St. John the Baptist". For the Gussoni he painted "St. Cecilia Playing the Organ" (half length), with two attendant angels, and " Madonna Presenting her Son to Holy Simeon". In the house of the Priuli in the Via San Salvadore, Medulic painted in fresco some scenes from the life of St. John; for the Foscarini the "Descent of the Holy Ghost". A great number of works, now scattered throughout the world, were pamted for the churches of Venice and other cities and for individual collectors. On 22 May, 1 563, the judges appointed from among the celebrated painters of Venice to decide the process of the brothers Zuccati were Titian, Jacob of Pistoia, Andreas Medulic, Paul Veronese, and Tintoretto. Medulid ajso worked with nitric acid on copper, and, according to some author- ities, was the first to engrave with a dry needle. His etchings are highly praised for their special elegance, beauty, and vigour ; among his best works of this class may "be mentioned, "Moses Saved by Pharaoh's Daughter", "Abduction of the Trojan Helen", "Sts. Peter and Paul", "Curing of the Lame Man" (after Raphael). Medulid died in poverty, leaving scarcely sufficient to pay for his interment in the church of St. Luke at Venice. The following works must be placed in the same rank as the pictures of Titian himself: "The Last Supper" in the Borghese Palace, Rome; "Madonna and Child, with Sts. Francis and Jerome" in the Royal Academy of Arts, Venice; "Jesus Bound Between a Malefactor and Two Sol- diers" at Paris; "Pilate Washing his Hands" in the Royal Academy, Venice.

Caodry, Description of the Pictures at the Earl of Pembroke's House at Wilton (London. 1751); Pilkington, The Gentleman's and Connoisseur's Dictionary of Painters (London, 1798); FoREL, Etchings after Drawings and Engravings by Parmegianino and Meldolla (hondon, 1822); Hasan, Dictionnaire des graveurs anciens et modernes (Paris, 1767); Brdluot. Dictionnuire de Monogrammes, etc. (Munich, 1832) ; Hirsching, Nachrichten von sehenswurdigen Gemiildcn undKupferstichsammlungen inDeutsch- lund (Eriangen, 1786): Nagler, Neues allgemeines Kiinstler- lexikon (Munich. 1835-52); Kukuuevic'. Andreas MeduliS Schiavone (Zagreb, 1863); Pezzou, Elogio di Andrea Schiavone (Venice, 1840).

Anthony-Lawbence G.^J^CEVIC.

Meehan, Charles Patrick, Irish historical writer and translator, b. in Dublin, 12 July, 1812; d. there 14 March, 1890. His parents, natives of Ballymahon, Co. Longford, where his ancestors for thirteen centu- ries were custodians of the Shrine of St. Molaise, now one of the most famous relics in the Royal Irish Acad- emy, Dublin, sent him to the Irish College, Rome, to study for the priesthood. Ordained priest in 18.34, he returned to Ireland, then in enjoyment of five years of Catholic Emancipation. His first mission was the rural parish of Rathdrum in Wicklow, from which he was soon transferred to the metropolitan parish of Sts. Michael and John, where he remained until his death. While working zealously in the ministry, he was un- tiring in historical research. From materials gathered while in Wicklow, he compiled a "History of the O'Tooles, Lords Powcrscourt", published without his name and long out of print. His other works, with date of publication are: " History of the Confederation of Kilkenny" (1846); "The Geraldines, their Rise, Increase and Ruin" (1847); translation of Man- zoni's "La Monaca di Monza" (1848), out of print; " Portrait of a Christian Bishop, Life and Death of the Most Rev. Francis Kirwan, Bishop of KillaJa, trans-