No. 5. DOMENICHINO. SAINT JOHN. This Picture, previously to the French Revolution, formed one of the principal ornaments of the Giustiniani Gallery, at Rome, and is allowed to be the finest single figure painted by this distinguished disciple of the Carracci. The leading excellence in the Pictures of Domenichino is expression, for which he has been considered as inferior only to Raphael. The purity and grandeur of the design, the inspired expression of the countenance, the splendour of the colouring, with the harmony of the accompaniments, all tend to fill the mind with awe and admiration. The Artist has repeated this design, with little variation, in a fresco painting of the four Evangelists, in the church of Saint Andrea in Valle, at Rome; and which is still in high preservation. Domenichino received his first instructions in the art under Denis Calvert, at Bologna; but having been detected in copying a drawing of Annibale Carracci, he was treated with unmerited severity, and, at his particular desire, removed to the school of the Carracci. In that distinguished seminary, it was customary to excite the emulation of the students, by offering rewards to those who produced the best drawings. Such was the humble opinion which Domenichino conceived of himself, that he would willingly have declined entering into competition with those whom he regarded as his superiors: but, when his drawing was pronounced by Annibale to be the best, this decision, far from inspiring him with confidence and presumption, had the effect of encouraging a close application to the principles of his art. His reputation was established by the works which he executed at Rome, amongst which was his well-known Picture of the Communion of Saint Jerome, which ranked in reputation next to Raphael's Transfiguration. It is remarkable that, although he was endowed by nature with shining talents, his works were the result of the most vigorous and uninterrupted study. In Music and Architecture he was equally distinguished as in Painting; but his talents excited SO much envy, that he was even denied the merit of having executed his own works. Through the malice and cabals of his professional brethren he was driven from Rome, and afterwards from Naples; and upon his return to that city, their conduct assumed the most cruel and vindictive shape; the manner of his death leaving a reproach on his contemporaries to which history offers no parallel. |