Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/627

 MORIARTY

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MORIGI

important plate, Raphael's " Transfiguration ", was be- gun in 1795, but so many were his commissions that it was not finished until 1812. While somewhat lacking in tone and aerial perspective, this engraving exhibits brilliant technique and immense dexterity. The first edition brought him one hundred and forty thousand francs. The dedication of this plate to Napoleon I resulted in a summons to Paris, where he was urged to establish a school of engraving; but the French pro- tested that this would be detrimental to their own artists and the plan was never carried out. Morghen engraved a portrait of Napoleon, poor in resemblance and weak in execution.

The most celebrated work of the Volpato School and Morghen's chef-d' aeuvre was his engraving from da Vinci's "Last Supper", begun in 1794 and published in 1800. It was immensely successful de.spite the fact that it is flat and the figures resemble Sanzio's more than da Vinci's. This flatness, however, is not a serious fault, since the original is practically in one plane. Morghen's greatest artistic success is the equestrian portrait of Frangois de Moncade (Van Dyck), wherein he shows m.ore of sentiment, tempera- ment, and vigour than in any of his two hundred and fifty-four engravings. His plates are pleasing, quiet, harmonious, typifying the graver's art at the begin- ning of the nineteenth century, and mark the revival of classical line engraving in Italy. Great paintings were to him more themes for technical skill than models to be rigorously followed; hence his reproduc- tions of the Masters are all much alike. His prolific burin "flew over the plate" to witness his mastery of hatch, dot, and flick. Morghen began many of his plates by etching the salient lines and was probably the first engraver to dry-point the flesh-tints of his portraits. He etched some very spirited and delicate coppers and produced many vignettes. He was pro- fessor in the Florence Academy, engraver to the Grand Duke of Tuscany and associate of the Inslitul de France (1803). Louis XVIII gave him the Cordon de St. Michel, and made him a member of the Legion d'Honneur. When he died Italy resounded with son- nets to "the imperishable glory of the illustrious engraver of the Last Supper". Among his works should be noted the "Miracle of Bolsena" (Raphael Sanzio), "Charity" (Correggio), and "Shepherds in Arcady" (Poussin).

De CHENNEviiiREa, Hist, de CentAns de Gravurein L'Art (18S9) ; LiPPMAN, Engraving and Etching (New York, 1906); Beradi, Graieur.-: du XIX' Sihcle (Paris, 1890); he Cabinet de V Amateur (Paris, 1842) (after Palmieri's catalogue).

Leigh Hunt.

Moriarty, David, bishop and pulpit orator, b. in Ardfert, Co. Kerry, in 1812; d. 1 October, 1877. He received his early education in a classical school of his native diocese, and later was sent to Boulogne-sur- Mer, France. From there he passed to Maynooth, and after a distinguished course in theology was elected to the Dunboyne establishment, where he spent two years. While yet a young priest he was chosen by the episcopal management of the Irish College in Paris, as vice-president of that institution; which position he occupied for about four years. So satisfactory was his work that, on the death of Father Hand, he was appointerl President of All Hallows missionary college, Dublin; and for years guided, fashioned, and made effective the disri])lino and ti'ach- ing of that well known institution. It was during this time he gave evidence of the noble oratory, so chaste, so elevated, so various, and so convincing, that has come to be associated with his name. In 1854 ho was ap|)oiiiled coadjutor, with the right of succes-sion, to the Si'c of Kerry, under the title of Hisliiip of Anti- gonia; and two years later succeeded to that see. His work as bishop is testified to by several churches and schools, a diocesan college, antl many conventual establishments. He found time to conduct retreats

for priests, and his addresses which have come down to us under the title "Allocutions to the Clergy" are characterized by profound thought, expressed in an elevated and oratorical style. In his political views he ran counter to much of the popular feeling of the time, and was a notable opponent of the Fenian organ- ization, which he denounced strongly. Still, he was a patriot of the type of O'Connell, for whom he had a great admiration. His prmcipal works are: "Allocu- tions to the Clergy" and two volumes of sermons.

P. A. Beecher.

Morigi (Caravaggio), Michelangelo, Milanese painter, b. at Caravaggio in 1569; d. at Porto d'Ercole in 1609. His family name was Morigi, but he as- sumed that of his birthplace, and was known by that almost exclusively. He was the son of a mason, and as a boy worked at preparing the plaster for the fresco painters of Milan, acquiring from them a great desire to become an artist. He received no instruction as a youth, but trained himself by copying natural objects, doing the work with such rigid ac- curacy that in later life he was seldom able to rid himself of a habit of sla- vish and almost mechanica' imita- tion. After five years of strenuous work he found his way to Venice, where he carefully studied the works of Giorgione, and received instruc- tion from an un- known painter. Thence he went to Rome, and on account of his poverty engaged himself to Cesare Michei.\xgelo Morigi

d'Arpino, who em- By himself

ployed him to execute the floral and ornamental parts of his pictures. He soon, however, acquired a reputa- tion for his own work, and his accurate imitations of natural objects were attractive. The artist's hot tem- per, however, led him into trouble, and in a fit of anger he killed one of his friends and had to leave Rome in haste. For a while he was at Naples, and then in Malta, where twice he painted the portrait of the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, but he quar- relled with one of the Order, who threw him into prison, and it was with diflSculty that he escaped, fled to Syracuse and returned to Naples. There he ob- tained a pardon for the manslaughter of his compan- ion, set out again for Rome, was taken prisoner on the way by some Spaniards who mistook him for another person, and when set at liberty found that he had lost his boat and all that it contained. At Porto d'Ercole he fell ill and died of a violent fever.

His paintings are to be found at Rome, Berlin, len, Paris, St. Petersburg, Malta, Copenhagen,

Munich, and in the National Gallery, London. Hia colouring is vigorous, extraordinary, and daring; in design he is often careless, in drawing frequently inac- curali', liUl his tlrsh tints are exceedingly good, and his skill in lif^liliiig, although inaccurate" :ind full of tricks, is very at Iraclivc. His pictures are distin- guislK'd by si art liHK.vMitnist sin light and shadow and by extraordinary effects of light on half-length figures, giving the desiretl appearance of high relief, the gen- eral effect of the remainder of the picture being over sombre.