An account of the 13 palazzi on Strada Nuova: Palazzo Bianco

Luigi Speranza

The Palazzo Bianco was presented to the city by the Duchessa di Galliera, and as it is destined to become the art gallery of Genoa it will be convenient, before touching on the contents of the rooms, to sketch out the history of the Genoese school.

It has to be confessed that Genoa's position was a very inferior one indeed, and it has been remarked that "nothing is more astonishing than the sterility of Genoa and Rome. Neither in painting nor in sculpture did these cities produce anything memorable."1

As far as Genoa is concerned this is still more noticeable in architecture, for between Marino Boccanegra, who built the first Palazzo Pubblico in 1291, and Carlo Barrabino, who lived only a century ago, Genoa did not produce a single architect worthy of the name.

There does not seem to be any well defined reason for it.

Such artists as did come to the fore were kept well employed by their richer fellow citizens, and the churches and palaces show that there was no lack of patronage.

But with the exception of Luca Cambiaso and Lazzaro Tavarone, who were employed to paint in the escurial by Philip II., no Genoese artist obtained important commissions outside the limits of the Republic.

A few wandered to Milan to fill minor positions, thers at Turin were appointed (1 J. A. Symonds, The Renaissance in Italy ; the Fine Arts, p. 181) court painters.

And the Genoese school may have felt a thrill of pride when Bernardo Castello was asked to paint one of the pictures for St. Peter's at Rome.

The subject was that of St. Peter walking on the sea, and native writers, led away by patriotism, affirm that it was one of the masterpieces in the basilica.

They tell us that Pomerancio, when he saw it, exclaimed:

"Per Dio, this Genoese wants to play the very devil, and rival our own painters in San Pietro!"

Crowds flocked to see it, and were unanimous in its praise.

Then in a mysterious manner the dust and damp so injured the picture that in less than a score of years it had faded from sight.

None of the other paintings were similarly affected, and when the authorities decided to have it repainted Castello was not employed again.

The Genoese claimed that the envy of the Romans had been the destructive agent, but it is more probable that the picture was considered unworthy to hang in St. Peter's, and was quietly removed.

When Andrea D' Oria built his sumptuous palace at Fassuolo, the Genoese school was still in its infancy.

It is to be supposed that he would have employed native artists had there been any.

But he was obliged to fall back upon Montorsoli, the Florentine, and Pierino del Vaga from the same city.

Giovanni da Fiesole with his nephew Silvio Cosini and Luciano Romano were brought here also to take their share in the work, while Geronimo da Treviglio had been decorating the fagade before the arrival of Pierino.

Both Pordenone and Domenico Beccafumi were introduced by the subtle Andrea D'Oria to make Pierino work a little faster.

To watch these artists at work, and to learn from hem, came a crowd of students, and it may almost be said that the Palace at Fassuolo formed the cradle of Genoese painting.

The commercial spirit of the Genoese may have enveloped art as it did everything else in the Republic.

The annalist Bonfadio has left two pictures of the upper classes in the city in the sixteenth century, which in some degree help towards an explanation.

Writing to the Conte Fortunato Martinengo he says:

"I have been reading the first book of Aristotle's Politica in one of the churches to an audience of elderly gentlemen, who are far more inclined to be merchants than scholars."

And in another letter to the same he writes:

"The conversation of my friends is most pleasing,

and if their minds were as much set on letters as

they are on their sailoring, I should like it

better, for their intellects are

of a high order."

When the Genoese took to painting they did so in a highly commercial spirit, as though great painters might be made by machinery.

Art was a trade.

And, moreover, a trade which ranked far below that of a cloth merchant, in the estimation of the worthy citizens.

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The action brought against G. B. Paggi
to show why, having adopted the profession
of painting, he should be deprived
of his title to nobility,
is full of illumination.
***************************************

One of the questions put to him by the judge was. .

"Do you then really mean to pretend

that your profession is far more

noble than that of the silk, cloth or

other merchants, in which it is permitted

to the nobles to engage by law?"

1

The artists of Genoa, it has already been pointed out, regarded painting in the same light as they did shop-keeping.

And when their children grew up they

(1 For details of this strange action see Soprani, Vite, etc., pp. no, harnessed them all indiscriminately to the same calling.

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So it is that the records of art speak of four of the Borzone family who were painters, and five of the Orsolini.

Seven of the Calvi, and a similar number of the Castelli, followed the arts.

Nine members of the Piola family were painters, while no less than thirteen Carloni, after the manner of a performing troupe, went round from church to church painting and carving in turn.

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The result of this wholesale thrusting of art on successive generations is to be read in the history of the Semino family.

Antonio of that name, one of the earliest of the Genoese school, has left pictures which rank among the best in the city, notably that in the Chapel of St. John Baptist in the Cathedral, and the Deposition from the Cross, which he painted in Sta. Maria della Consolazione.2

His two sons, Andrea and Ottaviano, in spite of studying in Rome and copying the pictures of Raphael, scarcely reached to their father's level.

Andrea had two sons, Cesare and Alessandro, "alike professors of painting, and from whose hands there are many pictures".

However, they were far inferior to their father and uncle.

They also had children who were artists.

But painted so badly that finally they were obliged to give it up and apply themselves to some other trade.2

Until comparatively recent years Lodovico Brea has been considered the father of the Genoese school, but the claims which have been adduced will not bear a careful examination.

It is not even true that (1 It is signed "Antonius de Semino pinxit 1547." It is said that the name of Piaggio has been erased from the blank space by some enemy of the latter artists. 1 Soprani, op. cit. p. 62) his works are the earliest which remain; for there is a well preserved fresco, now under glass, in the cloisters of Sta. Maria del Castello, by Justus d'Allemagna and inscribed— Justus, Dealla Magna. P1nx 1t. 1451.1

Lodovico Brea was born at Nizza, and his earliest picture in Genoa bears the date of 1480, while there is another by him at "Cimella near Nice" (Cimiez ?) painted five years earlier.

His latest known work is dated 1 5 19, giving him a range of twenty-four years which would have been ample for the foundation of a school if his residence in Genoa had been continuous, and supposing that he had successors who with justice might be called his followers. Alizeri thinks that Lodovico was the pupil of Justus d'Allemagna.

There is a very valuable manuscript preserved in the Beriana-Civica Library at Genoa entitled "Arte della Pittura," written in 1592, which incorporates what is known as the "Matricola artis pictoriae et scutariae," an evidently chronological list of one hundred and seventy painters, who were admitted to the arte between 1460 and 1470. Lodovico is not the first (1 It represents the Annunciation, and is arranged as a triptych. The Virgin wears a rich gilded and embroidered under-robe, and over it a blue cloak. She stands at a predella in which there are two cupboards full of books. Gabriel kneels before her with a rather heavy face and thick neck, wearing a magnificent cope of cloth of gold with embroidered orphreys. His wings are of peacock's" feathers. It is distinctly German in the multitude of details shown . . the Virgin has evidently been engaged in needlework, for on the seat under the window there is a box of carded wools left open, while on a shelf there are other boxes. A bird rests on the rim of a copper basin in the act of drinking. Through the open three-light window is seen a landscape with figures, not devoid of perspective)
on this list.

Indeed, he only occupies the twenty-sixth place, while a certain Giovanni d'Alessandria is the first mentioned, though all trace of his works has disappeared.

As far back as 1385 a mysterious Nicol6 de Voltri had been employed in Genoa, but little is known of him. Many of Lodovico's predecessors in the Matricola are known from existing contracts entered into by them for pictures. . of Carlo di Mantegna, or more properly, Carlo di Milano—sixth on the list— there are documents ranging between 1484 and 1501; and Giovanni Barbagelata, who fills the eighteenth place, is known to have worked in fresco in the cloisters of Sta. Maria delle Vigne, though not a single trace of these frescoes remains. The work was done in 1489.

It is impossible to doubt that many other painters, who, like Lodovico Brea and Justus d'Allemagna, wandered from town to town in search of commissions, would have established themselves in Genoa if they had not been prevented from so doing by the jealousy of those native artists who, in 1519, complained that foreigners from all sides came to rob them of their employment, "which was equivalent to taking the bread out of their children's mouths."

In the same year they obtained a decree enacting that while a native artist still had to serve a seven years' apprenticeship no foreign painter, whether he were a past master or not, might open a studio until he had worked eight years under a Genoese artist.

Soprani's statement that " Brea taught many youths his own profession, and amongst them Antonio Semino and Teramo Piaggia,1 were exact imitators of his (1 The correct spelling of this name, as Padre Spotorno (Storia Letteraria, vol. iv.) observes, is "Piaggio." Those of his works which beai his signature have the words "Teramus de Plaxius.") style," does not bear scrutiny, for when Ottaviano Fregoso, between 1513 and 1515, invited Carlo di Milano and Pier Francesco Sacco of Pavia1—sixtyfifth of the Matricola—to visit Genoa and instruct the youthful artists of the city, both Antonio Semino and Teramo Piaggio immediately gave up whatever method they had previously been following and copied the new masters; so that Lodovico Brea never exerted a permanent influence over the school at all.

The connection between the trio seems to have been accidental.

Brea was painting in the cell of Fra Nicol6 da Zoagli who was related to Teramo. Teramo saw him there, and perhaps brought his friend Semino to watch him at work . . but they never learnt to paint from him. Semino2 may have been the pupil of another Lodovico—of Pavia—who was established in Genoa.

Teramo di Piaggio was born at Zoagli, and died before 1562.

He and Semino were partners in the sense that they shared profits, and signed all their works with their joint names.

In only two instances, however, did they actually work on the same picture.

Cataneo, son of Teramo, is the 1 54th of the matricola.

The fact is that

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Genoa never developed
a clearly defined school
in the same sense that
Venice did.
**********************

Antonio Semino, so-called pupil of Lodovico Brea, came indirectly under the influence of Mantegna through his pupil Carlo di Milano.

Yet he set his own sons, not to follow the Paduan master, but to study (1 There is a picture by Sacco in Sta. Maria del Castello (fourth chapel of right) of SS. John Baptist, Thomas Aquinas and Antonio of Florence. It is dated 1526) (a Semino married the daughter of a painter named Lorenzo Fazolo, whose other child became the wife of Bombello, likewise an artist. Both these men painted in Genoa before the arrival of Brea) the Roman school, and imitate as best they might the works of Raphael.

Andrea Semino, therefore (1525-1593), became a follower of that artist, did a few paintings and frescoes in Genoa, and then went away to work in the larger field of Milan.

His brother, Ottaviano Semino followed Andrea, leaving an unenviable reputation behind for quick temper and slovenliness.

His skill in imitating was so great that for a long time one of his frescoes passed for the work of Raphael.

But with all his ability Ottaviano lived in such a manner that few people were inclined to employ him.

Even his brother refused to remain in the same house, fearing that the building would fall and crush them to death as a retribution for the sins of Ottaviano.

************************
In a fit of temper he had
killed a pupil, and was
sent into exile.
********************

When he returned he ran away with a young girl of good family, and kept her concealed from her enraged parents and the Bargello by dressing her up as a boy, and passing her off as one of his students.

Most of his time was spent in drinking at the lowest taverns in the city, and he had a rooted objection to personal cleanliness.

He generally went about in rags, and whenever he had holes in his stockings—by no means a rare occurrence—he saved the trouble of changing them by painting the exposed parts with a suitable tint.

He died in Milan in 1604.

Pierino del Vaga found followers in the two Calvi, Lazzaro and Pantaleo. . and Luca Cambiaso in his early days worshipped at the same shrine, working always at topmost speed from cartoons which were little better than caricatures.

The whole school worked with the conviction that time was money, and Lanzi considers rapidity to be its chief characteristic.

After Cambiaso came Lazzaro Tavarone (1556-1641), whose masterpiece is in the choir vault of San Lorenzo.

G. B. Paggi (1554-1627), also a pupil of Cambiaso, picked up a style of his own, driven to it by force of circumstances.

**********************
He was banished for
homicide,
*************

and took refuge in Florence where, owing to the refusal of the dead man's relatives to forget the little episode, he was obliged to remain twenty years.

This period he spent in improving his style, and when he contrived to circumvent the vindictiveness of his enemies by obtaining from the Senate a safe conduct "for a hundred years," he came back with a style faintly based on the Roman school, but reminiscent of every painter whose works were to be found in Florence.

He holds an important place in the Genoese school, teaching some of the best painters of the succeeding generation.

Pellegro and Domenico Piola, Giulio Benso and Sinibaldo Scorza, the first Genoese landscapist,1 were among his pupils; and G. D. Capellino (1580-1651) and Castellino Castello (died 1649) were his immediate followers. *

Another influence making itself felt at this time hailed from Florence, and was introduced by Passignano and his pupil Pietro Sori.

Bernardo Strozzi, il Cappuccino, or il Prete Genovese, and Giovanni Carlone both learnt in the bottega of the latter, though at a later period Carlone joined his brother Giambattista under Passignano.

Luciano (1 Scorza was born at Voltaggio in 1589 and died in 1631. "If he did but paint a flower he surpassed nature itself; his ripe fruits roused the envy of autumn ; and in the delineation of animals it is not too much to say that he was divine." Soprani, p. 130. The reader has but to look at the Sacrifice of Noah and the Parting of Abraham from Lot in the Palazzo Rosso to realise how grossly the painter has been flattered by the writer above mentioned) Borzone (born 1590) was the pupil of Titian; and at the end of the century G. A. Ansaldo (1584-1638) and his pupil Giacchino Assereto are to be found carrying on the traditions of Luca Cambiaso.

Then there came a new admixture of styles owing to the influx of foreign artists, which resulted in every youth following a different master and a different school. Native art is represented by such men as Domenico Fiasella, who painted just as his fancy dictated, sometimes in the manner of Raphael, sometimes aping Correggio, and sometimes Guido Reni.

Fiasella was the first of the " naturalists."

1657

The terrible plague which

visited Genoa in 1657 did not

spare her artists, and

S. Ponsello
G. Bissone,
G. Biscaino and his son, B.
T. Clerici,
G. Badaraco,
C. Borzone,
F. Merano with all his children,
G. Baiardo,
D. Corte,
G. Mainero,
G. Oderico,
S. Chiesa,
G. Monti,
O. de' Ferrari with his wife and all their children, and
G. Cervetto

all died in the same year.

Valerio Castello, Domenico Fiasella and Gianandrea de' Ferrari died in 1659.

The only survivors of the holocaust were Giambattista Carlone and Giulio Benso.

Strozzi had died in Venice in 1644.

Benso lived on till 1669, and Carlone survived him by eleven years, leaving two sons Andrea and Nicol6 to continue the traditions of the family.

His three pupils Bartolomeo Passano, Tommaso Ferro and Tereso Lagnasco, never attained distinction.

The unfinished works left by Carlone at his death were completed by Domenico Piola, who then became the first painter in Genoa.

He died in 1703, leaving as his successor his son-in-law Gregorio de' Ferrari.

As there were two men named

"Domenico Parodi"

it may be well to try and differentiate one from the other.

One of them married a daughter of Piola, and was a sculptor only.

He went to Rome with Filippo, father of the other Domenico, and studied under Bernino, but never rose above the position of understudy to his fellow student.

His best work is the font with the Baptism of Christ in Sta. Maria delle Vigne.

The other Domenico was a painter, sculptor and architect, though his claims to the latter title must be taken for granted, as there are no architectural works by him in Genoa.

As a sculptor his best known works are

the two lions on the staircase

of the Universita.

But the unhappy animals are placed in such an awkward position, with their tails up in the air, that they seemed perpetually engaged in trying not to slip off, while the ferocity of their expression may be due to hatred for the sculptor who placed them there.

His failure to obtain the commission for the Sala del Gran Consiglio in the Palazzo Ducale, which was ultimately given to Franceschini and Aldobrandini, caused him to bear a grudge against them for the rest of his life, for while he was employed in painting the roof of the conventual church of the PP. Somaschi, Aldobrandini was designing the perspectives.

Parodi maintained that "prospettivo" was not art, and showed his rival by all the means at his disposal that he despised both him and his calling.

The bitterness increased to such an extent that they refused to work together, and the difficulty was only overcome by Parodi working at the frescoes in the daytime, while Aldobrandini agreed to proceed with his perspectives by night.

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This Domenico Parodi died
from eating too much chocolate;
*********************

And strange to say his namesake came to an equally unusual end by asphyxiating himself while engaged in his favourite pursuit of alchemy.

It has already been said that the Genoese school produced little that was original at any period of its existence, and the names of

Lorezo de' Ferrari,
C. G. Ratti, and
P. P. Raggi

which bring us to the middle of the eighteenth century, call for no comment.

Bartolomeo Guidobono was the only painter of this epoch who produced anything worthy to be measured even by the low standards of the Genoese school.

SCULPTURE:


In sculpture the Genoese achieved
still less than in painting.


There is no evidence to show that the two Fieschi monuments
in Cattedrale di San Lorenzo are the work of
native sculptors.

Were they proved to be so it would go a long way towards demonstrating that during the century which elapsed between the erection of that to Luca Fieschi and the other to Giorgio the art made no progress whatever.

Montorsoli was not in Genoa sufficiently long
to exert any influence.

Neither the Carloni nor their successors ever attempted to imitate him.

Matteo Civitali found a follower in Taddeo Carlone, and doubtless Giuseppe and his two sons drank freely from the same fount.

The Parodi have already been referred to.

And Bernardo Schiaffino (1678-1725), pupil of that Domenico Parodi who was a sculptor only, is best represented by the marble group of the Virgin and Child with SS. Monica and Augustine in Sta. Maria della Consolazione.

He also finished the group of the Assumption begun by David Borgognone over the great portal of the Carignano church.

His brother Francesco Schiaffino (1689-1765) was his pupil, but also studied in Rome under Rusconi, staying there five years.

F. Schiaffino's best works are:

the Virgin and Child in the chapel of the Palazzo Ducale, and the group of St. Anna and the Virgin in the church of St. Anna.

It would not be possible within the limits of this chapter to give a complete list of all the objects collected in the Palazzo Bianco,1

and as the galleries are always undergoing rearrangement it would be useless to make the attempt.

*****************************


The vestibule and staircase are lined with sepulchral and mural tablets, together with many fragments of carving which have still to be catalogued.

The sepulchral slab of Simone Boccanegra is here.

Among the most interesting exhibits in the room downstairs is
an engraving (No. 106) representing
the Bombardment of Genoa in 1684, together with a
portion of one of the French bombs which fell on that occasion into the Hospital of Pammatone.

There are also several relics to remind the Genoese of the heroic events which accompanied the discomfiture of the Austrians in 1746.

The rising forms the subject of two crude pictures
(No. 126 and No. 138), and
the former is evidently intended to

represent the historic mortar stuck
fast in the mud with Ballila
behind it
hurling the first stone.

Not far off hang the remains of his banner cheek by jowl with the splintered pole of one of the Austrian flags.

A fragment of Pisa's harbour chain which

Corrado D'Oria

brought back in triumph in 1290 hangs between the windows.

And in the lobby leading to the picture galleries there is a cast of the model of Porto Pisano.

The original is on the angle of a 1A catalogue of the chief pictures will be found in the appendix.

house at the corner of the Vico Dritto and the Borgo de' Lanieri.

Beside it hung a piece of the same chain.

The inscription on the model is practically the same as that on the church of San Matteo.

The statutory weights and measures, some of them those which were formerly kept in the chamber over the great portal of San Lorenzo, should also be noticed.

Putting aside the minor attractions of Garibaldean and other modern relics there are two objects lying in a glass case which, could they speak, would tell of one of the most terrible episodes in Genoese history.

They are the instruments which were used in administering the Last Sacrament to the victims of the plague.

The Black Death was a frequent visitor to Genoa, but by far the worst outbreak was that which devastated the city ten years before it reached London in 1665.

It was first reported in Sardinia, and Naples became infected in March 1656.

Shortly afterwards Rome was attacked, and 16,000 died in the course of nine months.

In the first week of June it broke out simultaneously in two places in Genoa, and soon began to gain ground, helped by the ignorance of the day which placed plague patients indiscriminately in all the hospitals.

The city declared itself plague-stricken, and closed its gates to the outer world, grimly intent on wrestling with the scourge.

A vast hospital was opened in the Convent of la Consolazione, into which all the patients from the other hospitals were gathered.

But as, during the first two months not a single patient came out alive, the wretched victims, shaking as with an ague, distracted and possessed with a nameless dread, would stagger like drunken men and fall by the roadside, rather than enter the abode of Death, called by an unseemly irony, la Consolazione.

They lay in their hundreds in all stages of the disease, some suffering intense thirst, with swollen and blackened tongues lolling from between parched lips.

Others, seized by the most virulent form of the disease, relapsed into coma even before fever had set in, and died in an hour or two.

The bodies in many cases were covered with hemorrhagic spots which became livid, so that many of the corpses rapidly turned a greyish blue, striking terror into the hearts of the living.

At times a strong force of hospital attendants would raid the streets, and carry off the shrieking and struggling sufferers to die in la Consolazione, while every now and then one of the bearers would throw up his arms with a hideous cry as though he had been stabbed, and then fall prone on his face spitting blood, and with the deadly pustule of the plague upon him.

With the winter months the pest decreased, and by December the city was declared free.

But in the spring of 1657 it began afresh, and by April was gaining ground.

In the early days of June the city again shut itself up to cope with horrors which proved infinitely worse than those of the preceding autumn. Hospital after hospital was extemporised, until there were six of them; yet they were totally unable to cope with the number of patients. The grass grown streets and piazze were peopled with stricken men, women and children; lying helpless, feebly raising tortured limbs to implore assistance from the few who passed by, or crouching in horror as some one of their number, seized with the delirium of fever, fled towards the Cathedral shouting, "The sacred oil of San Lorenzo is the only cure for our ills! I have seen a vision, and an angel from Heaven told it to me! To San Lorenzo! To San Lorenzo!" He sped onwards, shrieking, singing, laughing and cursing, followed by an ever-increasing crowd. They reached the Cathedral, and in a moment had entered the building, filling the solemn nave and aisles to their utmost capacity, climbing on to the altars to clutch at the sanctuary lamps; fighting desperately in the struggle to gain possession of one drop of the magic oil. Many are reported to have died within the precincts, while hundreds who had hitherto escaped the visitation went home with their bodies racked by the premonitory symptoms of the disease.

In the hospitals the scenes were still more appalling. They were filled to overflowing, and at la Consolazione more than five thousand persons died in one day, while during July and August between two and three thousand corpses were sent out daily to the burial carts.1 As soon as one victim was dead, the blackening body was stripped naked and handed over to the burial parties, who dragged it out unceremoniously with tongs, while the next sufferer was thrown on to the rotten and filthy mattress.2 The fetor was indescribable, for there was no time to spare for cleanliness. Living, dying and dead lay huddled in utter confusion; the air was heavy

(1 For the sake of comparison it is worth mentioning that during the plague of London Samuel Pepys, writing to Lady Cartaret on September 4th, 1665, says that 7400 died in one week, of which 6000 deaths were due to the plague. In Genoa the weekly death rate averaged about 17,500 during the two months.)

(2 " I materazzi e i pagliaricci aspersi di sangue e di marcia, ed ancora fumanti davano immediatemente ricetti ... ad altri." Casoni Successi del Contagio della Liguria.).

with pollution, while a thick pestiferous steam gathered on the walls, and from every side there arose a wild uproar of groans and shrieks, rendered more awful by the frenzied madness of patients in delirium, who, springing from their reeking beds, would make brutal attacks on their fellow sufferers, and then hurl themselves headlong from the high windows to die on the stones below. Sometimes the madman was captured, and fighting desperately the while, would be fastened down on his pallet with ropes and chains, to lie till his heaving bleeding body quieted into death.

The disposal of the dead presented the gravest difficulties.

All the undertakers had died

at the first outbreak in the

execution of their duties, and

galley slaves were for the most part employed as buriers.

It was found that to save themselves trouble they had stacked the corpses near the hospitals, and the festering piles poisoned the air until the State ordered them to be removed.

Most of the dead were buried outside the Porta di Acquasole, carried thither heaped naked on carts, while the callous galley slaves sat up in front, and some even on the corpses themselves, making merry with deep draughts of wine.

Bodies which had lain long in the streets were covered with pitch and burnt where they lay.

But when the experiment of burning the dead on huge fires in the piazze was tried, the stench was so abominable that the authorities had to desist.

At length it was decided to burn the dead at sea, and accordingly an old hulk was filled to its unmost capacity with a cargo such as it had never carried before, and towed out of the harbour.

The men who had volunteered for the work set fire to it and rowed back to Genoa, whence the burning mass was clearly visible, and reported that their task had been satisfactorily fulfilled.

But such burial even as this was denied to the dead of the stricken city.

For the fire died out leaving the half consumed hulk to be the sport of the waves.

The grey dawn of next morning showed dimly to the watchmen at Sestri Ponente a black and shapeless ship drifting towards the shore, the manner of whose going showed that there was no one at the helm.

As the light increased and the Thing drew nearer it was recognised as the ship of Death, whose silent terrible crew brought a grim message from within the deserted walls of Genoa.

In September the ravages of the plague ceased, but not before it had claimed sixty-five thousand out of the sixty-seven thousand souls who had not the wherewithal to flee the city.

And it was many months before the twenty-eight thousand who had made good their escape at the first outbreak could be persuaded to return, and that the Republic made any attempt to reorganise the business of the state.

In the lobby at the top of the stairs there hangs a Flagellation by Assereto, which is noticeable as being one of his few oil paintings.

Three works by G. B. Carlone, the Miraculous Draught of Fishes, a Virgin and Child with Saints, and the Calling of St. Matthew. There is a Satyr by G. B. Castiglione, " il Greghetto," who was the pupil of Paggi, and finished his studies under Vandyk; and four pictures by Domenico Piola, the Child Christ teaching in the Temple, Charity, The Woman taken in Adultery, and a fragment of a fresco with the Blessing of Jacob.

As so many of his pictures have found their way into these galleries it is convenient here to speak more fully of Domenico and the other eight members of his family who were artists.

Of the paintings by

P. F. Piola (1555-1600) and

G. G. Piola (1583-1625)

little is known.

The latter was a miniaturist, who went to Spain and remained there until his death.

P. B. Piola is only noticeable as being the father of Pellegro, Domenico and Giovanni Andrea,1 but of these only Domenico was spared to prove his claim to the title of artist, for

Giovanni Andrea (or Gianandrea) was

driven mad by a cruel practical joke
perpetrated while he was still a student, and for
thirty-six years he remained a
harmless lunatic, living on
the charity of his relatives.

Pellegro Piola pupil of Capellino, was not more fortunate.

He seems to have earned both the envy and hatred of his fellows, who twitted him as "the new Parmeggiano."

He was murdered by one of them before completing his twenty-fourth year.

His few paintings are carefully preserved, and are regarded as the early fruits of a genius which was never allowed to reach maturity, and one which might have influenced the Genoese school for its good.

There is a Sta. Barbara by him in this palace, and in the Palazzo Rosso a graceful Virgin and Child with St. Elizabeth and the Infant St. John, which Franceschini declared to be the work of Andrea del Sarto.

His best and most interesting picture is that painted for the Compagnia degli Orefici, and now hanging (under glass) in the Via degli

1 Paolo Battista.

Pellegro, (Girolamo), Domenico, Gio. Andrea,

1617-1640. a priest. 1628-1703. 1629,1683.

Antonio Maria, Paolo Girolamo, Giaml

1654-1715. 1666-1724.

Orefici.

It was completed only a few days before his death, and it is said that envy of his success led to the tragedy.

Domenico Piola began to study under his brother, Pellegro Piola, at the tender age of seven, and only removed to the bottega of Capellino on his brother's death.

His best works are the Christ teaching the Doctors just mentioned, St. John the Evangelist (Sta. Maria delle Vigne), The Last Supper (Sto. Stefano), St. Thomas Aquinas before the Crucifix (Sta. Annunziata), and the Sojourn in Egypt (St. Ambrogio).

Domenico had three sons, of whom only Paolo Girolamo rose above mediocrity.

He was the pupil of Carlo Maratta, and his best work is the picture in the Carignano church representing Domenico, Ignazio and Caterina of Siena.

He is the opposite extreme from Cambiaso, and

was

slow to a fault, even
making completely finished studies
of his pictures before attempting the actual work.

In the First Room the most noticeable picture is that which was left unfinished at his death by Nicol6 Barrabino, representing the Last Hours of Vittorio Emanuele II.

Two pictures, St. James fighting the Moors and a Crucifixion, by G. B. Carlone, stand in close proximity to the work of his son Gianandrea, in which are depicted the Virgin with SS. Siro and Antonio.

The younger Carlone shows himself evidently influenced by his father's methods, but the bluish flesh tints coupled with the ultra pink extremities of the surrounding cherubs are unsatisfactory.

By Dom. Fiasella there is a Sposalizio of the Virgin with hard and unnatural draperies, and the first of many pictures by Bernardo Strozzi representing Sta.
Teresa accompanied by dissipated-looking cherubs.

Finally, there is the portrait of a young Genoese woman, with her hair falling over her shoulders, and her sleeves arranged in the fashion of the day.1

The Second Room, besides two pictures by Guido Reni, contains the Greek Palio with scenes from the lives of SS. Lorenzo, Sixtus and Hippolyte.

Each portion has an appropriate legend in which a part of the story is set out with pleasing simplicity. In the first row ..—

I. San Lorenzo has an argument with the Emperor Decius concerning the golden cups.

1 The dress of the Genoese women was always noticeable for its richness. When Louis XII. visited the city in 1502 the women, "whose costume differed from that worn in other parts of Italy, in that their gowns were cut very low on the shoulders and breast, wore short skirts which revealed their elegant white or red stockings, and dainty shoes to match. A large felt hat was carried suspended from the right shoulder, while their fair hair, after being caught up in a species of diadem, was allowed to fall in graceful curls round the shoulders. Their foreheads were adorned with jewels and precious stones ; and massive necklaces, from which hung gems of great price, encircled their white throats. The sleeves of their smocks (camicia), which were of fine Holland cloth, by no means concealed the delicate contour of their arms, nor the bracelets of gold with jewels of exquisite workmanship by which they were graced. The rubies, diamonds, sapphires and emeralds with which their fingers were loaded sparkled like the rays of the sun" (Arch. Stor. It., third series, vol. xiv.). The upper garment was usually of silk, and the hat was only used as a covering when the sun was too hot, or when it rained. A belt, often studded with jewels, and from which hung a silver knife and a purse, completed the every day dress (Atti di Stor. Pat. vol. xxiii. p. 783),

The distinctive head-dress, now unhappily no longer to be seen, which S. Vincenzo Ferreri commanded the women to wear whenever they went into the churches, was a veil. . "according to the precept of the Apostle." He was obeyed: and the custom was revived by which the Genoese women, no matter whether of noble birth, or the daughters of well-to-do tradesmen or persons of low estate, covered their heads with a white veil, more or less rich according to the circumstances of the wearer, whenever they went out into the streets "and especially upon all occasions of church-going " (Semeria, Stor. Eccles. p. 78).

2. San Lorenzo, having given the lame and

blind all the money that he received for the said cups, brings the cripples before the Emperor.

3. San Lorenzo is beaten.

4. San Lorenzo is put into prison.

5. San Lorenzo takes the Emperor Michael

Palaeologos into the church at Genoa.

6. St . Sixtus, Bishop of Rome, commands San

Lorenzo to sell the cups.

7. San Lorenzo sells the cups.

8. San Lorenzo distributes the money to the poor.

9. St . Sixtus has an argument with the Emperor

Decius.

10. St. Sixtus is beheaded.

In the second row..—

1. San Lorenzo in prison heals all who come

to him.

2. He converts Tiburtius Callinicus his gaoler.

3. He baptises him.

4. San Lorenzo is placed on a gridiron over the

fire.

5. St. Hippolyte buries him.

6. St. Hippolyte (foolishly) has an argument with

the Emperor Decius.

7. St. Hippolyte is cut in pieces by means of

copper choppers.

8. He is then dragged asunder by wild horses.

9. All that remains of St. Hippolyte is buried.

10. St. Sixtus is buried.

There is a sense of relief at this satisfactory disposal of all the characters in this little drama except the




while Strozzi continued to enjoy a somewhat secular existence. In consequence, his own order of Capuccini recalled him, and he was summoned to appear before the Corte Archiepiscopale. He was immediately seized, taken back and imprisoned in the convent. His friends made vain attempts to obtain his freedom, but the monks showed little inclination to part with their gay brother. At length, failing all other resources, Bernardo resolved to gain his liberty by dissimulation. He became fervidly religious; he repented him of his former worldly and wicked existence, and eagerly embraced the conventual life. He appeared especially to enjoy flagellations, and the other ingenious methods adopted in these days for the mortification of the flesh. The Prior smiled, the abbot was delighted, the monks chuckled and rubbed their hands with religious glee, and, after three years of close confinement, Bernardo was allowed to mix with the brethren. One day he obtained permission to visit his sister, accompanied by another friar, and leaving his companion in the anteroom he entered the apartment alone.

A few days later he arrived in Venice, where he remained until his death in 1644.

The Fifth Room contains the most notable collection of pictures by " foreign" artists in Genoa. The chief of them is the huge Crucifixion by Paolo Veronese, and near it is a Child praying by the same. Sassoferrato, the Madonna (replica of the one in the National Gallery), and a Madonna and Child. By Jacopo Bassano, a Presepio; Carlo Dolci, Agony in the Garden; Guido Reni, four Sibyls; Palma Vecchia, a Madonna and Child with Saints. By Filippino Lippi there is a large picture on wood inscribed "A. D. MCCCCHi, PHILIPPINUS FLORENTINUS FACIEBAT." of 5. Sebastian, with SS. John Baptist and Francis. By Correggio, a Madonna in Adoration.

The Sixth Room is chiefly given up to works by the earliest Genoese painters. Not only are there two pictures by Lodovico Brea, a half length S. Peter, and a Crucifixion with Saints; but another Brea— Francesco—suddenly appears on the scene, almost, it would seem, for the sole purpose of adding further complications to the vexed question of Lodovico's place in Geneose art. The researches of Alizeri1 have made it clear that there were three Brea, Lodovico, Antonio his cousin, and Francesco son of Antonio; the latter being the Brea so frequently cited as having worked with the Padre Maccarij at Taggia.

Lodovico, now deposed from his high position as founder of the school, did three pictures in St. Agostino (now desecrated) and at the same time was painting two for Ventimiglia. His All Saints in Sta. Maria di Castello is signed " Lodovicus Brea Niciensis faciebat anno 1512." It contains a remarkable number of figures arranged in groups and planes so skilfully as to present no sign of confusion while their is great diversity in the expressions. It is the only work by him in public which can really be certified as genuine. In the same church the Conversion of St. Paul is attributed to him and certainly strongly resembles his style in spite of retouching.

Among the other pictures in this room there is a Crucifixion on wood which was brought from the cloisters of Sta. Maria delle Vigne; a Madonna and

1 Notizie dei Professori del Disegno, p. xix. appendix to vol. ii.

Child with Saints on wood in six compartments with a gold background; a Virgin and Child with Saints by Lionardo di Pavia (signed and dated 1466); and another representation of the same subject, painted in the Byzantine manner. This interesting picture formerly adorned the walls of one of the Genoese churches in the colony of Pera. It was brought thence before the Republic lost her eastern possessions and for many years hung in the Church of St. Antonio di Pre. When that church was suppressed the picture was removed to its present position where it hangs to conjure up visions of the days when Genoa was a great maritime state. The Sta. Barbara, the only painting by Pellegro Piola in the palace, is in this room.

Then follows the First Gallery with paintings of little merit by G. B. Castiglione, Cambiaso, Dom. Piola, and P. P. Raggi; the latter an artist who was not above hurling chairs and other missiles through his works whenever a dispute arose with regard to payment.

The Seventh Room contains fragments of frescoes by Cambiaso, still waiting for arrangement. The same remark applies to the Etruscan remains exhibited in the glass cases. They were unearthed on the site of the Via Giulia (now the Via XX. Settembre) for the most part in front of the Church of La Consolazione. They date back to the third century B.C.

In the Eighth Room there is a Crucifixion by Tintoretto, an unknown Madonna, a SS. Cecilia and Caterina by Strozzi, and a modern painting by Cognet of the Duckessa di Galliera with her infant son Filippo.

The Second Gallery contains a collection of lace and a few vestments.

The Ninth Room is devoted to works by modern artists, and in the next and last room there is a collection of pottery and porcelain, much of it produced near Genoa or round Savona and Albissola.